Archive for the ‘Fanbase’ Category

Avatar Fanbase Launch and New Press

Friday, December 18th, 2009

Two mentions for Fanbase came out in the wake of our launch of the Avatar Soundtrack Fanbase. We worked alongside Fox to launch both Fanbase Social and Fanbase Desktop for Avatar.

Check out the link on the official movie site below.

We also received two great mentions for the platform with TrendHunter.com calling Fanbase “trail blazing music promotion” and GetToTheFuture.com giving us a great review. Check it out!

New Apple iTunes App Store Layout

Friday, December 11th, 2009

Apple has slowly been pushing out updates to it’s app store today. Not all apps are benefiting yet from the new cleaned up interface, but our Rob Thomas Fanbase application was switched over a few hours ago. The layout has a lot more whitespace, larger download/buy button and multiple detail images of the application on screen at once. This update brings the app store visually more in line with new store look that was part of the iTunes 9 upgrade.

Check out the new layout.

new apple app store screenshot

Geekend 2009 Recap

Wednesday, November 11th, 2009

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This year I was lucky enough to be a speaker at the first annual Geekend conference. For three days last weekend self proclaimed geeks descended up Savannah Georgia for talks about design, social networking, technology and gaming.

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The keynote speaker Friday night was Aaron Draplin from Draplin Design. He set a hilarious, open and friendly vibe that carried through for the rest of the conference. Get the full list of speakers on the Geekend Facebook page.

Saturday I gave a talk entitled “Connecting Fans With Bands” centered around how at Atlantic Records we are using design and new technology to promote our artists. My goal was to shed some light on how a designer can progress from print, to web and eventually to non-traditional devices using my story as a backdrop. I tried to make the talk one part backstory, one part examples and one part how to with some specific dos and don’ts when making the switch.

And after my talk (and more importantly) I had AMAZING BBQ at Angel’s BBQ. In an alley. Behind a church.

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All in all it was an amazing time filled with some of the best discussions about design I’ve had in years. I left energized and excited to get back to making work in NYC. I highly recommend checking out the conference next year.

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The 4G Connected Car Prototype

Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009

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Today Alcatel-Lucent and QNX announced the 4G connected car prototype in New York. As part of the NG Connect program (an ecosystem built around 4G connectivity) Atlantic Records was proud to create a version of our award winning Fanbase platform for the music fan on the road. The car contains 4 internet connected screens allowing for an in car music experience like never before.

Check out a (shaky) video of an early version of Fanbase running in the car.

NG Connect also launched a micro site with detailed information on the program and the prototype.

Check out a video on the connected car staring yours truly.

Details on all the participants.

The press buzz surrounding the launch was great, with some standout coverage from Wired, Mashable and Reuters.

Wired

Mashable

Reuters

A great overview video from CNN.

As well as a great Fanbase mention.

NY Convergence

A full press rundown can be found on the NG Connect site.

The complete list

Check out the video below for an overview of the car and the possibilities that a nationwide 4G network can bring.

MAX 2009

Sunday, November 1st, 2009

Last month, I attended the 2009 Adobe Max conference and wanted to share a few exciting developments at Atlantic Records in conjunction with Adobe and the Flash platform. We were nominated for a Max Award and showcased two new products, one for connected TVs and set top boxes and another for the connected car.

Below is the booth where David Brown from Agencynet and I answered questions about our award nominated mobile application, Fanbase Mobile, for the conference attendees prior to final voting.

Fanbase Mobile MAX Booth

MAX Award Booth

While we’ve been working on a prototype of Fanbase for connected TVs with developer Rhett Woods for a few months now, this was the first time I got to see the app running on a device. This is on a Vizio TV running Stagecraft, Adobe’s Flash Lite implementation for the digital home. Right now connected home products are pretty hard to come by, so it was really exciting to see a working demo of our app.

Fanbase TV

Fanbase TV

Fanbase TV Video

I was also able to see the QNX connected car for the first time. This is another partner (along with Alcatel-Lucent) and I built this version of Fanbase for a custom implementation of Flash Lite 3.1 they have running in the car. I had seen it in emulators and on demo boxes, but there is no comparison to see the app running on a 4G network in the car.

QNX Car

QNX Car

Fanbase Car

Fanbase Car

Fanbase Car Video

Interview in Adobe’s Edge Newsletter

Tuesday, October 13th, 2009

I was interviewed a few months ago by Adobe for an article titled “From black box to contextual applications” which ran in this month in Adobe’s Edge newsletter and on the Adobe.com site. The goal of a contextual application is to provide a unified experience across multiple devices, while leveraging the unique capabilities and qualities of each. The article discusses the key tennants of contextual apps, Atlantic Record’s Fanbase applications as well as the Open Screen Project which Atlantic officially joined last week.

Check out the article.

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Atlantic and Fanbase in Wired and Billboard

Tuesday, October 6th, 2009

Today Atlantic Records and Fanbase received amazing mentions in Billboard and Wired Magazines.

Rob Thomas was named one of Billboard’s Top 10 Wireless artists today in an article that highlights his early adoption of the Fanbase platform. They discuss his use of Fanbase Desktop, Fanbase Mobile for Flash Lite, and Fanbase for the iPhone as well as his continued use Twitter to communicate directly with his fans. Calling him “The Trailblazer” underscores both his willingness to embrace new technology, and the forward thinking nature of Atlantic Records.

Rob Thomas - Billboard - October 10 2009

In an interview with Livia Tortella (GM/EVP of Atlantic) Wired Magazine highlights our use of Cisco’s EOS platform to bring artist specific communities to music fans alongside a small mention of Fanbase.

Check out the Wired interview.