It combines an iPhone, a remote control car, an on board microphone, a Virtual Reality headset, Wifi and an Arduino board to create a top driving experience for its user! Gavin is currently developing the project as his major for his degree in Interactive Media Production, and invited me along with his course mates to beta test in the University sports hall (which made the test even better with its slippery surface!).

He has two key objectives for the project:

• WiDrive’s primary objective is to allow a user to control a remote control car using a mobile device, currently this is an iPhone. The user is able to steer the car by tilting the phone using the iPhone’s accelerometer to measure the amount inertia being exerted at each axis of the iPhone. This is then translated to an integer value of which the car can respond to. This data is sent to a third party module on the car using a wireless socket connection, this module takes the place of the standard remote control receiver and sends a pulse width modulation signal to the car’s onboard servo which steers the car from the left to the right. This same method is used to increase and decrease the acceleration of the car.

• WiDrive’s secondary objective is one of immersion. A driver can be mentally transported into the car using a combination of an onboard wireless camera and a pair of video glasses. The aim of this is two fold. It allows the driver to drive out of line of sight and covertly into areas of interest. The second aim is to immerse the user within the driving experience offering something not currently found on the market today.

Having had a play with the it myself, I can say I have not experienced anything quite like it! Initially, I had a go without the headset, but found that I was a little heavy handed with the turning and speed. Once I had the headset on, I found that I was much more aware of the sensitivity of both the acceleration and of the turning.

After a bit of practice and getting comfortable, you become well immersed in the experience and despite crashing it twice (on one occasion the camera flew out like a passenger not wearing a seatbelt), it was still a hell of a lot of fun too!

Gavin Williams is an extremely talented developer on the Interactive Media Production Course at Bournemouth University, a course which continues to produce some truly brilliant design and development talent. I have an array of students I can recommend for placements, grad schemes and internships, so get in touch and I will try and put you in touch with some quality candidates.

In the meantime, check out the awesome video of WiDrive in action below, and pictures of the project in development in Flickr!!

WiDrive Open Beta from Gavin Williams on Vimeo.

Some smart alec Apple fan boy has replied with their very own take on the Droid Does viral.

The iPhone/Android battle is heating up, and with analysts predicting the open source OS to overtake Apples 2nd place slot behind Symbian on OS market share, its going to get very interesting over the next few months!

O2 have launched their latest ad campaign with the help of a few brutes from the England Rugby Union team. Completed by those clever clogs at VCCP, it has been created to help promote the free sim cards promotion that many operators are involved in nowadays. Its brilliantly executed, and the England lads are showing footballers how to at least try and act in an advertisement! Amelia Torode has written a nice piece on her blog about the thought behind the campaign, but before you do that, watch the video below!

Make sure you go and check out the website in full at www.simrugby.co.uk and why not follow VCCP on Twitter while you’re at it.

So after much anticipation, Vodafone 360 has landed! V360 integrates a host of social networks, such as Facebook and Twitter, and includes a store of applications that will eventually be available to the company’s more than 315 million global customers.

It will replace the Vodafone Live suite of mobile internet services, which was heralded as the company’s most important launch ever when it was unveiled seven years ago but has been made to look “tired” by the recent proliferation of mobile applications and the success of devices such as the iPhone, Palm Pre and handsets using Google’s Android software.

This is an attempt by the world’s largest network to retain the direct connection between mobile phone operators and consumers, especially as nowadays consumers are downloading directly from device and OS App stores such as the Android Marketplace.

Mobile widgets, accompanied by the boom of touch screen handsets, is the hottest thing in mobile technology and has given handset manufacturers a way of making revenues from users above and beyond the initial sale of a handset. Nokia, with its Ovi store, RIM, with its Blackberry App World, and Samsung have all leapt into the applications market.

Vodafone is marking the launch with the release of the V360 H1 by Samsung, which sports a 3.5-inch multi-touch, high definition OLED screen, 720p video recording, 16GB memory, Wi-Fi and a 5-megapixel camera.

Check out a brief glimpse of V360 in action in the video below.

This is another official update to the original “Shift Happens” video. This completely new Autumn 2009 version includes facts and stats focusing on the changing media landscape, including convergence and technology, and was developed in partnership with The Economist.

Here are a few cheeky mobile facts taken from the video:

• The Mobile Device will be the worlds primary connection tool to the internet in 2020
• The computer in mobile phones today is 1 million times cheaper, 1000 times more powerful, and 100,000 times smaller than the computer built by MIT in 1965

There has been an influx of new technologies and social media innovations in the past few years that are significantly influencing the future media landscape for marketers. Citizen behaviour and attitudes are constantly changing and as a result, advertisers and marketers must change their own.

Citizens are not easy to please and the majority are beginning to form strong opinions. As marketers however, we are beginning to slowly but surely understand the way the consumer thinks, yet we need to ensure we use this knowledge in order to develop strategy as how best to reach them. However the plethora of tools at a marketers disposal is not easy to navigate and real learning comes from a real understanding of the future of media convergence.

And for the hell of it, here is another sterling video about the social media revolution happening every second of every day.

Augmented Reality is very much the tech of the moment, and is slowly but surely being phased into mobile handsets across the board. Although the market is becoming quickly saturated with augmented reality applications and brand campaigns, as a functional utility it is proving fruitful. Layar is a current favourite of mine, but there are plenty of applications out there already.

However what for the future?

Augmented reality until 12 months ago was nothing but a sci fi nerds wet dream, but its rapid rise into the public eye has seen it employed by several big brands including BMW. Now, as the technology approaches the ‘peak of inflated expectations’, Nokia has released its view on its potential use as not only a utility, but enhancing the experience of the mobile handset.

Here is what Nokia have to say:

This concept allows to you to experience immersion and effortless navigation in an Augmented Reality environment. New types of interactions involving near-to-eye displays, gaze direction tracking, 3D audio, 3D video, gesture and touch. Through these new types of social linkages people will be connected in innovative ways between the physical and digital worlds.

For a start, its not ‘technically’ augmented reality. The term is defined for a live direct or indirect view of a physical real-world environment whose elements are merged with, or augmented, by virtual computer-generated imagery – creating a mixed reality. This simply overlays the contents of a mobile screen onto your current viewpoint.

It has its perks of further building on the concept of ‘hands free’, however surely current lessons learnt from hands free should show that its not a popular choice. The modern mobile user enjoys the interaction of the physical world, and I get the impression that much like mobile phone watches, this will never truly take off. Besides, how much kit is that to remember to put on first thing in the morning! This kind of technology will develop over time, and who knows, it may further transform the way we live, but in the mean time, lets send this back into Minority Report.

What are your thoughts? Would you use this technology? Leave a comment below!

Further Reading:

• A look at the future technology of film Minority Report
• Nokia’s Sad Augmented Reality