Sterling Cooper to open its doors again this summer…

I hear with glee that series 3 of Mad Men is airing in the US this summer.  This means it should hit our shores during the autumn.  This is a very good thing.

Communications folks like me enjoy Mad Men as it takes us back to a bygone age where a hard day’s work involved rolling up around 11am, attending the odd meeting, lunching heartily and putting away more Old Fashioneds than you could shake a stick at.  And that’s not to mention the frequent and passionate discussions of the Ugandan situation with female co-workers.

Setting aside the naughtiness however, Mad Men includes some truly classic pieces of TV.  Don Draper’s presentation of the Kodak Carousel at the end of S1 is compulsory viewing for anyone who has to pitch for a living.  His wife Betty shooting ducks in her dressing gown, cigarette in mouth, during S2 is another.

Consider your cards duly marked.

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Friday Fun: musical edition

We couldn’t decide what to share for your dose of Friday fun this week, so we’ve gone for two. Awesome piano… and awesome Beatbox.

Have a great bank holiday weekend, everyone.

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Augmented reality magic is *awesome*

I’ve read about augmented reality a number of times, most recently in Charles Stross’ extremely fun novel, Halting State, and think it has huge potential (more than 3D TV, touch computing or other next gen techs) for how we work, live and play. The idea is – you wear some ‘goggles’ that introduce a digital layer on reality, onto which anything can be virtually imposed. Imagine (as Mr Stross did) activating the Google Maps overlay, so you can find your way as you walk around, or turning on the World of Warcraft mod and seeing everyone around you wearing their Avatars. So much fun, and potentially massively useful.

I’ve just come across this video of augmented reality magic, which is not only really cool, but also represents narrative magic at its best. Going to be checking out this guy again in the future:

Via: Engadget. 5 out of 5 for awesome.

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