Tonic

The idea is to write a word that sums up your day, press the button and your photo is uploaded online to the Southbank communal flickr account. A lovely bit of summer fun.

The live installation is running daily from 10:00 - 20:00 until 31st August, 2009.

Tonic’s managing director Ranzie was a guest speaker at the Glug London ‘Notworking’ event which is held monthly by Studio Output and Made Studios at The Queen of Hoxton in Shoreditch.

Speaking alongside Ranzie included Iain Tait, Creative Director of Poke London & William Rowe, founder of Protein London

Here’s some photos from the night taken by Paul Spence : spot Tonic’s client services director Mark chuckling away in the crowd!

It has been a few days now since Google publicly declared their plan to introduce a new operating system named Chrome OS. Obviously Linux based, Chrome OS will first target netbooks and later, laptops and desktops as well.
I reckon this news is relevant on many levels because it will affect the current web experience and all the players involved – from the computer itself through to the content served by the browser.

I’ve had time these last couple of days to think about the eventual implications and hear/read some other people’s opinions. Here are some points I would like to highlight.

Why is Google doing it?

Google’s main aim is to make people use the web even more. To do that they have to make the web experience better for everyone by improving the content, and the consumption tools.
So far, Google has been working a bit on all the aspects of this flow. In addition to web applications, such as the Google search engine, GMail and Google Docs, Google has also released an open-source mobile platform (Android), and a desktop web browser (Google Chrome).

While the search engine (obviously), GMail and Android are doing pretty well, Google Docs and Google Chrome are struggling – the first because Google is still pretty weak in the enterprise world, and the second, because competing with Firefox is pretty tough. Android is gaining interest because, apart from being built well, given today’s climate (financial crisis as well as tough competition in the smart phone landscape), it is much better for hardware vendors without a competitive operating system not to reinvent the wheel.

To tackle the client consumption tools (browser) on a desktop environment, Google has definitely a long way to go, and considering their means, I think it’s reasonable to try to go a step further – building an OS conceived for the web – from the ground up.

Why is the desktop environment still important in a mobile world?

I think it is important to define the roles people have in the digital world. Some people create content (text, images, video, or more complex combinations of all of these) and some people just consume the content someone else created.
While content viewers these days can easily do so using a mobile, the creators still need much more powerful devices. Historically it has always been the case – from the books created on printing presses to the TV shows we watch being shot in studios. I’m not saying that in the future it won’t be possible to create any digital content on a mobile phone – just that if that does happen, we will likely be consuming the content on our wrist watch or sun glasses.

Is there going to be competition with Android?

Despite the rumors of Android moving into the netbook market, it remains a very different product to what Google Chrome OS is meant to be, especially technically.
Think of Android more like a runtime for widgets. It obviously has a web browser, but given the limitations and potentialities of the experience on a small device filled with sensors, is likely to use the web more interestingly through native applications (Java based). The iPhone already demonstrates this with the success of the AppStore.

Google Chrome OS, on the other hand, is going to be clearly more web browser focused. By taking advantage of bigger screens and more power it could be the ideal device to use Rich Internet Applications based on web standards.

It’s true there is some overlap across the two projects, but Google definitely needs to gain more ground in the productivity/enterprise world (content creation).
I like how Google addressed the competition with Android: “While there are areas where Google Chrome OS and Android overlap, we believe choice will drive innovation for the benefit of everyone, including Google”.

The introduction of a new web browser focused operating system will definitely help push applications onto the cloud, so that developers can focus more on web standards and less on platform dependencies. I reckon there probably won’t be the need to build native applications for Google Chrome OS at all (apart from browser plug-ins) and that the applications that do run there, including locally, will be built entirely with web technologies, à la Adobe AIR.

What about the competition between Windows, MacOS and other Linux distros?

The first time I heard the news I thought, “great, another operating system designed by engineers…” I’m a happy user of Google search engine and GMail, but I definitely have some concerns over how Google approaches design. I would compare Google more to Microsoft than Apple of course. Apple is clearly the only business that can design the total user experience (being directly involved with the hardware manufacturing).
So I can see how Chrome OS can steal users currently based on Linux distros (every time I use Ubuntu, I get pretty annoyed about some basic UI instability issues), and on Windows (not in the enterprise world for a while though), more than on MacOS.
By the way, at the moment there is no MacOS netbook, so it is definitely too early to think about this possible scenario. It’s also fair to say that this competition won’t be restricted to the OS level (see Chrome browser VS Firefox).

What are the implications for the browser plugins?

I read recently the introduction of Chrome OS would push web technologies Google uses already in their products, such as Ajax and Flash – the example given for Flash was YouTube. Considering that there is Flash Player 9 running on Android, and a Flash Player 10 for Linux, I don’t see how a Flash Player for Chrome OS wouldn’t exist, but it is also fair to say that HTML5 will arrive soon or later and at that point you won’t need any plugins to see video in a web browser. This of course doesn’t mean there won’t be flash websites in the future.

The reason I think plugins like Flash will continue to be crucial for Chrome OS, is that if Google wants to push editing applications – such as image or video editors – built with web technologies, they will need powerful plugins like Flash which can provide optimized performances and a robust developing environment, i.e. Aviary suite.

Can Google pull it off?

One of the first comments to the news from Microsoft was that Google is underestimating the complexity of building an OS. I can definitely see Microsoft concerns – considering how much they are struggling with the recent Windows versions – but it’s fair to say that Google is doing a good job with Android and that Google doesn’t lack for talent considering what’s coming out of from there. Politically it might be challenging to deal with the various constructors, but I don’t think this will be a problem, and in the end will probably only encourage people to assemble fewer computers by themselves, like in the netbook world.

An interesting rumor I heard mentioned is that Google hastened the press release because Microsoft will soon be launching a product that could affect Google business (i.e. an innovative new browser). We will soon see if this is the case, but there is no doubt the battle between Google and Microsoft is just getting warmed up.

If you have similar or different opinions, please leave a comment!

Tonic designer Jamie recently posted an article on the Design Assembley blog entitled:

‘Is a photo worth a thousand words?’

“We live in an age where we are able to view an almost endless amount of content (TV shows, films, images and more importantly user-generated content) whenever we choose through the internet. On demand is a phrase that is constantly being used in the media, and this week Channel 4 announced they were adding their back catalogue of over 10,000 titles to 4OD…..Read full article

Tonic talk at RSVP London 09

Our managing director Ranzie gave a seminar at this year’s RSVP event on how digital technology can enhance events through emerging technology.
We talked about how to most effectively employ forward-thinking strategies to enhance your events without breaking the budget.

Feel free to get in touch for a copy of the presentation

A collection of creative talents have come together to produce the new advert for the housing charity Shelter, entitled ‘House of Cards’, to highlight the fragility of the UK housing situation.

House of cards was created by Leo Burnett  Framestore, Blink, Outsider, Saddington & Baynes, soundtracked by Radiohead and voiced by actress Samantha Morten;

All of whom donated their time and services for free.

How lovely

Watch the full advert here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sa8DVemL33g

In the aftermath of the very successful Tonic party and after party…

There must be calm.

I’ve been in Brighton soaking up some culture and preparing for flash on the beach

If you don’t know what FOTB is

“Flash on the Beach conference is the premier Flash conference in Europe!”

“Nearly 50 of the world’s most talented designers, developers, creatives, film makers and artists presenting on 3 tracks over 3 full days”

Check this space over the next couple of days for some more posts on the best things going on down here by the sea.

We have just launched a website to support a new film produced for Shelter to highlight bad housing. Starring EastEnders actress Patsy Palmer and shot by Tony Imi, the interactive film lets you make decisions for the crisis-struck family. The film aims to educate and wake people up to the fact that one in seven children live in bad housing or are homeless in the UK. It aims to inspire the audience into feeling this is a situation they personally want to do something about. And also make them feel that it is a scandal that the Government must address. See it here

We have just launched a new portfolio site for the photographer Damon Heath. The site was designed to showcase the work as large as possible in the browser and allows photos to be uploaded through flickr. Check it out here

We have completed the first phase of a website redesign programme for Kingston University. The project involved a combination of user experience, visual design and web specialist teams. One of the most interesting aspects of the project was involving University students in reviewing the initial creative concepts.