The View From Above: In Hard Focus Round-up (August 16, 2011)

3D advertisements coming to a smartphone or tablet near you: MediaPost reports that mobile ad platform Amobee is teaming up with Cooliris to promote Cooliris’ newly launched 3D ad unit called AdJitsu. While the thought of more advertisements is not that enticing, just think of how this concept can be extended to other apps – from 3D shopping experiences to games. Check out the video above to see how one can interact with the technology.

Banjo app make you feel a part of the action: Banjo, an app that presents users with a layer of social network information, now allows you to tap into specific locations to see what the social buzz is all about, as TechCrunch reports. Imagine missing out on the Superbowl, or being halfway around the world from history-making news, yet feeling a part of the action thanks to a rich feed of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, FourSquare and other social networking information from people experiencing it first hand.  The app accesses all public posts, not just those from your friends, which makes us think about just how public our data really is…

Facebook Gets Even More Interactive with New Video Service

As we all know, consumers often fall victim to advertising overload. But Mark Zuckerberg is hard at work discovering new ways to cure ad fatigue--and reach out to customers like never before.

Today, White Square Media, LLC. launched "ME," a new patent-pending On Demand interactive video service on Facebook.

Want to buy a pair of shoes Kim Kardashian is wearing in a video? Just click on them! Watching the "Hold It Against Me" video by Britney Spears posted on Jive Records' fan page, and want to know who made Britney's custom jewelry? Just click on it. Any object in streamed video can now be made interactive with ME.

Consumers can now watch streamed video without annoying pre-rolls, commercial spots, or overlays. When the viewer wants to interact with an object in the video just simply click the ME button.

Facebook brands now have the opportunity to convert social media traffic to direct sales without ruining the Facebook experience. Simply register for a free trial account or commercial account on whitesquaremedia.me, upload the flash video, use ME to make it interactive, and then embed it on the brand page or post it to a Facebook wall.

"We're the game changer that many have been waiting for and literally we stepped in the ring between Facebook vs. Google +. It's an exciting and a very bold move!" said Andrew Incorvia, White Square Media's CEO.

"Consumers and advertisers are so tired of the current video advertising machine that's being forced upon them, and social media advertisers grow weary of costly low-quality traffic," Incorvia said. "Consumers aren't buying goods or services through social media. Yet consumers spend hours searching the Internet for something they saw on video. Those days of fruitless searches are gone."

ME can be used anywhere as demonstrated in this interactive press release. Currently ME is offered as a free service for content owners and trial Facebook business users.

White Square Media is a tech start-up, entirely self-funded, and offers a service that gives consumers an "it's about f'n time" feeling. Once you play with ME, you'll never want to go back to non-interactive video.

For more information about the ME service, click here.

Disturbed by FourSquare? 'Creepy' is Even Creepier

Creepy is a geolocation information aggregator that takes cyberstalking to a new level. 

The application compiles information from FourSquare, Twitter, Flickr and Facebook to "map" a person's route. 

Yiannis Kakavas, the app's programmer, says part of the reason he created Creepy is to point out the potential consequences of social media. It's definitely an interesting concept -- and one I would be way too paranoid to use.

Mapping Tool Tracks Oil Spill Effects

The Louisiana Bucket Brigade has created a Google Maps-based tool that gathers information from residents on the impact of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill as it reaches the coast.

Using Twitter, text messages and e-mail, citizens can file reports regarding anything from wildlife endangerment to job loss. The same open-source software used to create the program was designed to record post-election violence in Kenya. It's also employed in Atlanta to precisely track crime statistics, which helps with urban security efforts.