I remember when the dot-bomb happened in 2000. A lot of our clients breathed a great sigh of relief and said, “This is great! I don’t have to worry about that pesky web stuff anymore!” And we all know what happened: the rise of web marketing, user-generated content, blogging, the ongoing death of traditional media, [...]
It’s funny how different two points of view can be. Recently, my wife and I had friends over. One couple brought their mother, who started a conversation with Lisa about her antique dolls. And by conversation, I mean, "Endless rant about the shiftless and worthless people today who are too lazy to do anything by [...]
It may have fallen out of fashion for brands to make forays into immersive 3D virtual worlds, but that doesn’t mean that development has stopped. And, in the last week, two important developments may help pave the way for much broader adoption of "place-based" virtualities online. 3D in a Browser Gains Steam. One of the [...]
Pretty much the same as today, right? I mean, we still drove cars and worked in office buildings and factories, right? Until you look a little closer. Yeah, 1981 was the same as today, except for cellphones. And computers. And email. And widespread use of fax machines. And websites. And social media. And mobile apps. [...]
Yes, I know. We haven’t exactly been lighting the blogworld on fire lately. But we have a good excuse: we’ve been busy. Yes, busy. Now, this isn’t to gloat. I know that we’re heading into uncharted economic waters. I know things can change in a heartbeat. But, this year, we’ve talked to more interesting people [...]
What will the internet be like, in, say 2020? An interesting question, especially considering that Google itself was only just getting started 10 years ago. We’ve already experienced massive change in the way we get information and entertain ourselves. In fact, we could make the case that the leading edge of entertainment, news, and culture [...]
It seems to be so. Recently, Centric helped Reason.tv (home of The Drew Carey Project) launch their compelling and honest exploration of Libertarian values in Second Life through the eyes of Drew Carey. So what values did Drew find in Second Life? Well for one, “Second Life: A Virtual Frontier,” exposes libertarians to a virtual [...]
Let’s bring Don Draper forward to the Centric offices today. At first, he’s cool. He sees posters of our print work on the walls, he’s stunned by the big flat-panel television (and high definition shows), and he thinks that computers are just an evolution of a typewriter. Then we start going to websites. "What the [...]
For the past two days, I’ve been playing with the Spore Creature Creator. Did I say "playing"? I meant "researching." All in the name of Science, of course. Oh, hell, who am I kidding? This is a bundle of ridiculous joy, a Frankenstein lab with Play-Doh bodies, Mr. Potato Head parts, and Pixar life. You [...]
Okay, it’s time for some more bold pronouncements. I think that today marks the end of corporate wankery as we know it. Meaningless mission statements, impenetrable double-speak, chest-pounding talk of "leadership" and "global front-runners" all fall away. The traditional notion of "the big box brand" is dead. The bigger, better, grow-at-all-costs mentality is over. Why? [...]
