If you've seen the classic Alice in Wonderland, you probably remember the scene where Alice falls down the rabbit hole and is consequently introduced to a new way of seeing life. To this day, "rabbit holes" are synonymous with adventure, discovery, and new dimensions. This notion is exactly the reason "RabbitHoles," the Canadian 3D Motion Hologram company, bears it's name.

The company's mission statement is to give the world a new way of seeing by bringing 3D and motion to life, in print. To accomplish this mission, they have developed an entirely new print medium: a 3D Motion Hologram printed into a 2-dimensional film surface, which displays full-color 3D and action visible without special eyewear.

A RabbitHole works much like a flip-book, with an embedded sequence of 1280 digital images acting in place of drawings on pages...using film instead of paper...and the viewers' thumbs being replaced by the viewers themselves. The digital images each provide a unique perspective of the scene or object that varies gradually from one image to the next.

The technical side of the "how it works" all comes down to lasers:

Red, green, and blue pulsed-lasers are used to embed a diffraction grating within a small thickness of holographic film. Each digital image in the sequence is divided into a given number of holo-pixels using proprietary algorithms. The holo-pixels are then assigned to their necessary location amongst a given number of rows and columns. This grid of unique holo-pixels is submitted to the Company's patented printers, which utilize red, green, and blue pulse-lasers to embed the data into the specially formulated emulsion film. The resulting prints must be front-lit from either the top or the bottom at a 45-degree angle by a direct white-light source such as a Halogen fixture or sunlight. With the white-light shining properly on a RabbitHole, the diffraction gratings bounce the light in an extremely specific wavelength, and therefore color, which allows RabbitHoles to reflect full-color images.

According to RabbitHole's website, three characteristics make this new communication tool unique and particularly memorable:

3D/Z-plane: RabbitHoles are completely flat (0.7mm thick), yet the 3D imagery appears further in front of, and deeper beyond the surface than people imagine is possible.

Motion: Using CGI (computer generated imagery) or live-action digital video, RabbitHoles can hold motion sequences up to ten seconds long to tell a short story, or bring a character to life.

Interactivity: Viewers' movement in front of a RabbitHole triggers the immersive and animated content, provided by the image sequence embedded in the surface.

Like most promising new technologies, obstacles like high costs and technical complexity of production stand in the way of mainstream consumer usage of RabbitHoles. Currently, a single movie-poster-size piece takes four hours to print and costs about $2,000, but don't be too quick to discount the tech as a possibility just yet. RabbitHoles is working on bringing down the prices and speeding up the production and the medium has the potential to add a whole new dimension to visual communication...literally.

Check them out for yourself on their website. Be sure to watch the video on the homepage, it gives the most "realistic" view.

AppVee has video reviews of two new apps for Google's Android phone platform - bar code scanners that use your phone's camera for image capture. (see YouTube links at bottom).
From MIT's Ad Lab article:

These applications seem to be among the few with one or two natural business models built into them from the start. Placing contextual recommendations next to price look-up results is one; powering branded wishlists and registries is another.

MIT Ad Lab article about the apps

Previous MIT Ad Lab article about Instant price Checking at retail

YouTube videos:

URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2zMPbVFIYE

URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZkxkvWq9zE

New research into the effects of stimuli on consumer focus reveal a direct link between scents and purchases.

From Canadian Broadcasting Corp:

The mere whiff of a chocolate chip cookie can cause a shopper to stray off-course, abandoning their budget for unplanned, impulse purchases, according to a study on consumer behaviour.

The study, published in the February issue of the Journal of Consumer Research, suggests stimuli that trigger the appetite can cause consumers to opt for immediate pleasures.

"We found that an appetitive stimulus not only affects behaviour in a specific behaviour domain but induces a shared state that propels a consumer to choose smaller-sooner options in unrelated domains," said researcher Xiuping Li, of the National University of Singapore, in the study.

"The findings demonstrated that an appetitive stimulus could induce a general motivational state, called the hot state, which focuses one's attention on the immediate environment."

Two tests involving students at the University of Toronto were conducted. In the first study, participants were asked to select photographs of either food or nature for use in a magazine. Researchers later asked participants if they would prefer playing a lottery that pays out a lower amount sooner or one that pays a higher amount at a later date.

The study found that those who were shown the photos of food were nearly 20 percentage points more likely to select the lottery with the smaller jackpot.

In a second test, researchers found that 67 per cent of women assigned to a room with a hidden cookie-scented candle were more likely to make an impulse sweater purchase, even when told they were on a strict budget. By comparison, only 17 per cent of women in a room without the scented candle decided to make the impulse buy.

The stimulus prompted participants to lose sight of future goals, focusing instead on the present, the study said.

"The scent of the appetitive stimulus led to reduced happiness with remote gains, which implied that participants in a present-oriented state were less sensitive to future values," the study said.

Li noted that retailers might use the findings to create an atmosphere that would entice shoppers to stay longer.

"If retailers want to push their customers to shop more rather than stay longer, they should not only maintain a pleasant environment but also an environment full of temptations and excitement," Li said in a release.

Looking to other continents has always been an effective way to predict what may be on the horizon within the U.S. retail sector. This becomes even more true when dealing with aesthetics and design. The export of the McDonald's brand to European markets has been a long and tedious exercise for the burger giant. Not satisfied with just catering offerings to the significantly different palate of our friends across the pond, McDonald's has been making a concerted effort to not only alter their menu but now their environments. A Parisian design studio was tasked with creating 9 different looks that walk the tight rope of retaining brand identity while overhauling aging environments. Could this signal a new trend in U.S. retail exporting their brands for "freshening" overseas?

McCafe in Germany

McDonald's in Germany

McDonald's Milan, Italy

Mashable notes the debut of Kinset, an immersive shopping application (Windows only at this point).

Notes Mashable's Adam Ostrow:

It’s cool technology no doubt, but is there really value for customers?

Perhaps the answer is to make Kinset social – allow you to interact with other shoppers as you navigate the store and discuss the items you are viewing. This seems to be missing at the moment, but would make the shopping experience more realistic and potentially much more worthwhile.

Now, combine this with the ability to move your avatars between virtual worlds (Link) and you'll be able to shop with friends from anywhere. Conversely, I can imagine a portal being opened from an RPG or Second Life-type environment - why not just step into a bookstore in-world?

Link


Review coming soon, once I'm back in Parallels...

Last week, EK3 announced the WalMart Canada deal - 20 screens each in 350 stores.

Link and Link

Now, Information Week has a piece with interesting detail - apparently WalMart are planning to key the content on the screens to inventory levels.

Once tied into store inventory systems, the EK3 systems could automatically trigger messages promoting overstocked items, for example. They also can be programmed to detect changes in weather, and serve up promotions for beach supplies or tank tops, for example, if the weather suddenly turns warm.

Wal-Mart Canada plans to talk about its plans at the National Retail Federation Show in New York City in January, according to EK3...

Tim Horton's, a chain of 2,500 Canadian coffee shops that throws out any unsold fresh doughnuts after four hours, uses EK3 displays in its stores to promote doughnuts that are approaching their expiration time.

Link

This is an interesting angle, undoubtedly heavily dependent on their RFID efforts – wonder how they’ll tie those together? After all that’s the best route to tracking actual inventory levels (as opposed to “Here’s what we think we have” levels) in-store.
Their RFID push seems to be morphing, with more emphasis on the front of the store – see here

Thanks to Rob Webber for the InfoWeek piece

Baseline has a piece on how WalMart is rethinking its RFID strategy. "Faltering" is a bit strong, based on the article's actual content, but I'll bet the author didn't write the headline.

Looks like WalMart's trying to find ways of using the technology effectively even though it's not fully rolled out – fully enabling a single supply chain, for example, rather than counting on having all the distribution centers online and all the products tagged any time soon.

Quote:

Wal-Mart's change of plan demonstrates the need for retailers and suppliers alike to tread carefully with RFID. As retailers such as Best Buy have observed, widespread adoption is still years, not months, away. At the same time, some of the greatest benefits may not be in applications first thought to be ripe for the technology, such as automating distribution centers. Instead, retailers are finding early gains closer to the sales floor, where they are using RFID to track consumer buying patterns and ensure products are on shelves in time for promotions.

Link

Advertising Age - Digital - Nokia Moves Closer to Being an Ad Seller

In addition to Nokia's interesting partnership with Adobe (they had their own spotlight time on stage at the Creative Suite conference, are rolling out millions of devices enabled with Flash Light in the next few years, and are all over Device Central) - now Nokia has the workings of a real content delivery network.

Note that consumers are likely to react very negatively to this unless the advertising is highly targeted - another reason to embrace more and more customization and personalization of content. Luckily, with Nokia driving, the relationship is already there - though I'm still not sure I'll appreciate getting SPAM from my phone company.