Microsoft unveiled the box art for the upcoming Halo 4 game by emailing Xbox community members one of the 32 pieces of puzzle that when assembled together reveal the image. The puzzle was cracked in about an hour, probably helped by the fact that the remaining 31 pieces could be seen by changing the last two digits of the image URL before the “.jpg” part, a fact that wasn’t lost on the fans:
http://image.engage.xbox.com/lib/feca167070610c7c/m/4/12993-H4_02.jpg
Google’s Screenwise research project announced back in February is designed to collect data on more than just Internet behavior. In addition to custom wireless routers that gather information on participants’ browsing and downloading habits, the recently mailed recruiting brochure describes a device “a little bigger than a smartphone” called Screenwise TV Tab. TV Tab “captures audio signals that enables the study to identify which TV programs are being viewed.”
The information TV Tab collects includes:
[source: Screenwise Select privacy policy]
I haven’t seen the device, but I think it could be based on Android and powered by this TV Tab app developed by Mobile Research Labs. Android market lists the number of installs for this app at between 10 and 50.
In addition, a different Screenwise app (which looks like a version of Lumi’s AnalyzeMe) captures participants’ smartphone habits. Among the more interesting things the app collects are:
[source: Screenwise Select privacy policy]
Google, who is conducting this research together with GfK, is offering a sign-up incentive of $100 with up to an additional $50 for each month the participating household stays in the study.
Some people who were randomly selected to receive a recruiting mailer (accompanied with a crispy two-dollar bill), are concerned it might be a scam, or worse: “The money is real too! A $2 Dollar bill? SO weird man… never heard of anything like this.”
Land Rover in the United Arab Emirates printed 5,000 edible copies of a desert survival guide. Twenty-eight pages of potato-based starch paper have a slightly sugary taste from the glycerin-based ink and are bound by a spiral that can be used as skewers. The book comes in a reflective cover that can be used to send help signals.
— Y&R Dubai; thank you, Guillaume
