“Google Me” Social Network Rumors Fueled: It’s Real, Heavily Staffed
7diggsdigg Those rumors about Google’s Facebook-rivaling social network just got a whole lot more interesting. A former Facebook exec has been quizzing contacts inside Google and discovered that it’s all real, with large numbers of Google staff busy on task.
Month: June 2010
Pop Culture: Drainspotting
Drainspotting: A Book About Japan’s Manhole Cover Subculture
Kenji Summers points to Drainspotting – a photography book of Japan’s custom manhole covers, found across nearly 95% of the country’s 1780 municipalities.The book features a curated selection of over 100 photographs, capturing the best and most visually compelling of Japan’s 6000 distinct manhole cover designs, part of a 20-year beautification program — orchestrated by what’s essentially Japan’s version of the WPA — aiming to make manholes reflect the uniqueness of each city — its mythology, its aesthetic sensibility, its legacy and essence.
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- Drainspotting (coolhunting.com)
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Architecture & Design: Urban Outfitters Fake Block, Dutch Home from Home
(Pic) Dutch Hotel Is Your Temporary Home Away From Home
With the help of Dutch architects, WAM architecten, Inntel Hotels’ newly designed hotel pays homage to Zaandam’s industrial history. Situated minutes via train from Amsterdam, Zaandam, was one of the world’s premiere hotbeds for industry and an ideal place for construction as its rich history was modernized through the playful design for Inntel Hotels‘ new location. The unique structure is comprised of stacked green wooden houses popular to the Zaan region, symbolizing that the hotel is your temporary house.
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Now Booking | Dutch Treat (tmagazine.blogs.nytimes.com)
Bizarre Dutch hotel looks like a pile of stacked houses (dvice.com)
A pile of modest, traditional houses stretching into the sky (boingboing.net)
Retail Watch: For a new store at Broadway… (ny.curbed.com)
Stacked Houses: New Hotel in Amsterdam by WAM Dezeen (apartmenttherapy.com)
Dutch Hotel Eats Up Smaller Houses For Lunch [Architecture] (gizmodo.com)
Hotel Inntel by Wilfried van Winden (design-milk.com)
Stacked Houses Apartment Building in Tokyo Muuuz (apartmenttherapy.com)
Much of a Dutchness: the Hotel Inntel Zaandam (guardian.co.uk)
Badges
Everyone loves a badge this day it seems. Nerd Merit badges are embroidered representations of achievements users acquire on social games such as Foursquare or other such challenges that are becoming a regular habit for a generation immersed in technology. Badges can be pride symbols for being featured in Boingboing.net to processing an email inbox down to zero emails.

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The 11 Best Online Merit Badges [Badge Of Honor] (jezebel.com)
“Merit Badges” for adults (adafruit.com)
Automobile Merit Badges – The Subaru Badge of Ownership Lets You Show off Your Subaru’s Achievement (GALLERY) (trendhunter.com)
Subaru letting owners show loyalty, hobbies with free badge program (autoblog.com)
Subaru: The Badge of Ownership (ridelust.com)
[BONUS] Skull In Use: Nerd Merit Badge (skulladay.blogspot.com)
What Merit Badge Would You Create? (learning.blogs.nytimes.com)Automobile Merit Badges – The Subaru Badge of Ownership Lets You Show off Your Subaru’s Achievement (GALLERY) (trendhunter.com)
Subaru letting owners show loyalty, hobbies with free badge program (autoblog.com)
Subaru: The Badge of Ownership (ridelust.com)
World Cup v Sponsors
World Cup lets down multi-million pound partners
Brands have yet to benefit from their sponsorship of the World Cup, according to an exclusive Marketing poll, carried out by Lightspeed Research. The mobile research, conducted during the England vs USA game last Saturday, shows that 88% of respondents did not feel that their opinion of the official sponsors had changed as a result of their link to the World Cup. Only 8% claimed that sponsorship had a positive effect on their view of the brands, while 84% were no more likely to buy a brand in the future as a result of its sponsorship of the tournament.
SHOCK! HORROR! World Cup sponsors NOT most associated with World Cup
It should come as no surprise whatsoever that non-World Cup sponsors have out-scored official World Cup sponsors in on line buzz according to research commissioned by Nielsen.
FIFA cracks down on ambush marketing
Yesterday at the World Cup match between the Netherlands and Denmark, FIFA continued to confiscate several flags bearing brand names from fans as the football governing body attempts to crack down on ambush marketing. According to law firm Mallesons Stephen Jaques, ambush marketing is an attempt by a third party to create an association with an event without permission and can deprive official sponsors and suppliers of public recognition, weakening their commercial investment.
Facebook Fans worth $136 a piece.
A Facebook fan is worth about $136, according to a survey of the site’s users by Syncapse. A company’s fans spend more, are more likely to be loyal and will recommend the brand to their friends, according to the firm’s research.
How To Stand Out In The Facebook
There are nearly 500 million users on Facebook every month. And, according to Facebook, approximately 25 billion pieces of content are also shared on the site. That’s a lot of people and brands generating and sharing a lot of content.
Mashup: Historypin v Google Maps
Historypin, created by the social movement We Are What We Do, who are partners with Google, is a virtual time machine that allows users to take a peek at what the world looked like way back when. The website, which launched in London in June 2010 uses Google Maps and Street View tech and hopes to become the largest user-generated archive of historical images.
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- Historypin Overlays Google Street View with Historical Images (neatorama.com)
- Mapping stories and historical images on Google Street View (blogs.journalism.co.uk)
- Historypin records the past on Google Street View (computeractive.co.uk)
“The Man” Online: China Shuts down Foursquare, BP’s SEM
BP buying “oil spill” and other terms on Google
As consumers turn online for information regarding the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, BP is looking to do some damage control by buying search ads on relevant keywords, and by broadcasting its cleanup initiatives on a dedicated YouTube channel. BP is said to be putting between $600,000 and $1 million into its paid search ad effort and $50 million more on TV ads.
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- BP buying Google and Yahoo search results on oil spill (newstatesman.com)
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- BP Wants To Friend You On YouTube For Gulf Oil Spill (techie-buzz.com)
- BP Buys Top Google Result for “Oil Spill” (mashable.com)
- BP’s Social Media Campaign Going About As Well As Capping That Well [Bp] (gizmodo.com)