What does Pac-Man have to do with charity?

What Next?

The longer you look…

Though we know bad things happen in this world, sometimes its hard to see how we can make a difference. UK charity Women’s Aid is using clever billboard technology to generate action against domestic violence through its interactive campaign, ‘Look at me’. The billboards feature the image of a woman’s bruised face which ‘heals’ as more people take the time to look at her. Facial recognition technology helps to make the point: if we can see it, we can change it. Outside the non-profit sector, facial recognition tech has been used to tailor advertising screens based on shoppers’ gender and age, but is still a controversial marketing tool due to privacy concerns.

Viral video of the week

Still really, really ridiculously good looking

Valentino was the show to be at during Paris Fashion Week. Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson reprised their Zoolander roles and hit the catwalk to promote the long-awaited sequel to the film (due to be released early next year). But while Derek and Hansel may have been out of the public eye for over a decade, they’ve certainly got the art of the selfie down pat. See Maison Valentino on Instagram for more blue steel.

tv ratings

I’m A Celeb & Formula One put Ten back in the race

National Free to Air Station Audience
My Kitchen Rules-Tue Ch 7 1,780,000
My Kitchen Rules-Wed Ch 7 1,575,000
My Kitchen Rules-Mon Ch 7 1,554,000
My Kitchen Rules-Thu Ch 7 1,433,000
Nine News-Sun Ch 9 1,302,000
The Block Room Reveal-Sun Ch 9 1,205,000
I’m A Celebrity… Winner Announced Ch 10 1,144,000
The Block Triple Threat -Sun Ch 9 1,103,000
Nine News-Mon Ch 9 1,097,000
Formula One World Championship-Sun Ch 10 1,066,000
09/03/15 – 15/03/15

Would you swipe right at SXSW?

Sci-fi movie Ex Machina created buzz ahead of its US premiere at SXSW, setting up a Tinder profile for one of its main characters. Would-be suitors messaged ‘Ava’, before being directed to her Instagram – a promotional site for the movie. While this isn’t the first time Tinder has been used in a campaign (Gap, Amnesty International and Domino’s have given it a go), the decidedly spammy approach here might be one to admire, not imitate. A bot from a movie becomes a bot on Tinder? That’s a good conceptual fit but when you’re targeting a millennial demographic pre-programmed to desert at the mere whiff of spam, it might be a risky move.

App of the week

Google with what you see

The eternally curious (and impatient) amongst us will rejoice with Blippar’s latest update introducing Visual Search. See something and want to know more? It’s as simple as aiming your smartphone’s camera at any item – from that weird, spiky fruit in the Chinese supermarket to that cute but unidentifiable puppy in the park. Think of it as tapping into an all-encompassing, omnipotent visual search engine.

What does Pac-Man have to do with charity?

An airport in Stockholm has found a way to encourage travellers to donate their unwanted foreign change to charity. They’ve taken retro video games, including Pac-Man and Space Invaders, and installed them to make the airport’s own little arcade – conveniently located in the bag collection area. It’s a clever and more refined version of the traditional collecting box, with the machines accepting any currency and all proceeds going to the Red Cross.

website of the week

A website against productivity

Cards Against Humanity, the extremely popular and hilariously crude party-game, is now available online for free. Cards Against Originality is a free, unofficial web app implementation of the game, including all five expansions, created on a lark by the best kind of Internet trolls. So say goodbye to your productivity at work, prepare to be appalled and play a hand of C.A.H. today!

Did you catch last week’s issue of What Next? Or would you like to browse our previous issues?

Back to all issues