Advertising/Marketing
jtoney | March 21, 2012
Chester Bennington from Linkin Park performing at Sonisphere Festival in Kirjurinluoto, Pori, Finland. {Kallerna}
Ring tones that are felt, not heard, could be on their way.
From The Wall Street Journal TechEurope blog:
According to the patent application, Nokia is proposing "a material attachable to skin, the material capable of detecting a magnetic field and transferring a perceivable stimulus to the skin, wherein the perceivable stimulus relates to the magnetic field."
Or to put it another way, a vibrating tattoo.
That magnetic field would interact with the tattoo, causing it to…
jtoney | March 5, 2012Ads of the World.
Can business cards evoke creativity, spark interest? Standard business cards seem outdated, dull, uninspiring. Liberate your shoelaces, your flexagons!
Consider shoelace business cards for Adidas employees, a highly creative approach to grabbing attention, and importantly, explaining what you do for a living.
A design colleague of mine, Prof. Rose Gonella, suggested that I use a flexagon business card, because my job involves so many facets - teaching, research, administration,...
It's easy to make a flexagon:
Give up those dull business cards! What's your design?
jtoney | February 9, 2012
MetLife Stadium: NY Giants vs. Washington Redskins, Dec. 18, 2011 (my own photo.)
This may be a sign of football withdrawal syndrome, but the day after the NY Giants won the Super Bowl I was searching for 2012 season tickets (more on that later.) I was reminiscing about last December when I took my son to his first professional football game at MetLife stadium. It was a bright, freezing cold day and the stadium was packed with more than 80,000 fans. The NY Giants were having a bad day battling the Washington Redskins; several times the announcer excitedly reported "Touchdown!" followed…
jtoney | February 4, 2012
Sources: PetaPixel and Photo Vatika (Sony India)
No, I'm not the first to discovery this extraordinary brain trick. I did want to share this, though, as an example of how our brain processes and stores images. Give it a try - amazing!
Sony India Interesting Ad : stare at the colored dots on this girl's nose for 30 seconds, then quickly look at a white wall or ceiling (or anything pure white) and start blinking rapidly. Congratulations, you just processed a negative with your brain!
I invite any neuroscientists to explain the mechanism!
jtoney | January 26, 2012
Photo AP.
The release of Gov. Mitt Romney's tax returns on Tuesday highlights the Presidential candidate's wealth and the low 14% tax rate that investors enjoy, far less than the 25-35% tax rate that the average American pays for wages.
Yes, Gov. Romney's annual earnings of about $20 million indicate that his dividends and interest received in one day are close to the average household annual income of about $57,000. This should surprise no one. Let's put some perspective on this, relative to individuals with his business expertise - by some accounts, he is underpaid.
Gov. Romney…
jtoney | January 24, 2012Photo: :The New York Giants in a December 2008 game against the w:Cincinnati Bengals (Flickr tedkerwin)
In 2004, I had a memorable evening dining with NY Giants player Michael Strahan (see "Football Helmet Hits and Brain Injury - What Should Be Done?") With a repeat match of the NY Giants battling with the New England Patriots coming up in the Super Bowl on February 5, I was reminded of this:
From Michael's Facebook page:
New York Giants Fans, remember this?
Will history repeat itself?
jtoney | January 16, 2012
MetLife Stadium: NY Giants vs. Washington Redskins, Dec. 18, 2011 (my own photo.)
The New York Giants-Green Bay Packers divisional playoff last night had a whopping 40.1 million viewers, with numerous commercial breaks, some amusing, some annoying, some dull. What is the value of those commercials? Do they really allure new customers to their products?
I have a confession to make. I'm not really a football fan, at least not in the usual sense. This all changed when my son began to approach his teenage years. This post is about a common but idiosyncratic little tale about fathers and…
jtoney | December 20, 2011
Photo source.
With the news of availability of generic Lipitor, a cholesterol lowering drug, sales of the prescription brand have plummeted, as expected. Is generic Lipitor really the same as prescription Lipitor? Consider this:
"Generic drugs are identical to brand name drugs." True or False?
We know that generic drugs cost less than their brand name equivalents, offering a savings of 50% or more. But are they "identical"?
Behind every pill is a story. US patents grant the inventor a 20 year property right; only the inventor can manufacture and sell the medicine. When the patent…
jtoney | July 30, 2011
"Daddy, do you know where this cheese came from?"
I absolutely love this video demonstrating that learning science can be - and should be - fun. Enjoy!
This series is a result of a collaboration between broadcast media (NBC) and scientists (National Science Foundation.)
From Eureka Alert:
National Science Foundation and NBC Learn launch 'Chemistry Now' video series
Videos celebrate International Year of Chemistry; available cost-free to students, teachers and fans of chemistry.
In celebration of the International Year of Chemistry, the National Science Foundation (NSF) and NBC Learn, the…
jtoney | July 20, 2011
Fourteen year old internet sensation Rebecca Black just released a follow up video "My Moment" after her debut of "Friday" that went viral with more than 167 million views. Attention at this scale landed her a spot on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno and a music video with Katy Perry, "Last Friday Night".
Such opportunities for seemingly instant fame can affect these teens, and pre-teens, in a profound way: IRL (In Real Life)...
Rebecca Black has had to endure the backlash of cyberbullying after her first video.
And Black, 13, certainly never anticipated the social media uproar, mainstream…
jtoney | July 18, 2011
FILE - In this July 7, 2011 photo, Casey Anthony sits in the courtroom before a sentencing hearing in Orlando, Fla. Anthony was acquitted on charges of killing her 2-year-old daughter Caylee in 2008, and was found guilty on four charges of lying to law enforcement officers. She is to be released from jail Sunday, July 17, 2011. (AP Photo/Joe Burbank, Pool)
Who would you choose as a lunch partner? Your decision could benefit some very important charities.
Charitybuzz, whose motto is "Do Good, Live Well," has developed an innovative model for fundraising for non-profit organizations. The…
jtoney | July 13, 2011
Those late nights of coffee-induced creativity sessions. Whether they're a memory or a recurring event, how we share them has changed dramatically.
In our 24 hour/seven days per week cycle of news media and activity in general, there is yet another mode of expression and sharing of what's going on this instant....Instagram.
Peaks such as this used to be reserved for an inner circle of friends. Now fans {I am one of them} can take a gander, if they wish, into the creative process. I am lucky to have close friends who are composers, musicologists, and my mother was an artist. In this…
jtoney | July 12, 2011Ridue's Flickr photostream. This is not an endorsement for use of marijuana.
I've always known that scientists and the news media don't get along so well, but this is a bit much.
A study just published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences describes how fatty foods can increase your appetite:
UC Irvine researchers Daniele Piomelli, Nicholas DiPatrizio and colleagues found that fats in these foods make them nearly irresistible and trigger a surprising biological mechanism that likely drives our gluttonous behavior. The apparent culprit? Natural marijuana-like chemicals in…
jtoney | July 10, 2011
Love can be explosive. This may be a bit much, or it may be just right.
From Molla Space:
War is destructive and bombs take away lives. But these beautifully sculpted ceramic love grenade coin banks are designed and made to plant seeds for future growth and prosperity. Convert your love to change and save it in "A Love Grenade" and donate it to those who are in need.
Part of proceeds benefits Biaugust's cause A.N.S.W.E.R. (Act Now to Stop War & End Racism).
I fully support efforts to promote human rights. This particular example is visually provocative, and raises an interesting…
jtoney | July 6, 2011Stop smoking? Absolutely. Easy as swallowing a pill? Think again.
A study just published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal by my colleague Dr. Sonal Singh indicates that Chantix can lead to "increased risk of a major harmful cardiovascular event" by 72% compared to placebo.
"People want to quit smoking to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease but in this case they're taking a drug that increases the risk for the very problems they're trying to avoid," says Sonal Singh, M.D., M.P.H., an assistant professor of general internal medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of…
jtoney | June 29, 2011
Wolfram Meier-Augenstein
Tragic Trajectory Forensic researchers used this 14-cm lock of hair to map a dead man's route to the U.K.
Measuring isotopes has come a long way. Recent reports describe an emerging field of environmental forensics. Where did those illegal drugs come from? Is that $1,000 bottle of scotch the real deal?
According to Chemical & Engineering News:
An analytical chemist at James Hutton Institute, in Dundee, Scotland, Meier-Augenstein has pioneered a way to help determine where unidentified victims like this one lived or traveled. To do so, he measures the stable…
jtoney | June 29, 2011
Photo source.
My recent post "Inquiring Readers Want to Know: "Why is My Poop Green?" generated an extraordinary amount of interest. Why?
In the previous post, I was exploring search terms that ScienceBlogs readers most commonly use as an indicator of their interest. I could have chosen any title, but decided to go with reference to the search term "Why is my poop green?"
Did readers' interest respond to a "poop factor," {silliness? scatological humor?} or was it because of the more extensive list I included from the top 500 terms that included, in my opinion, many more interesting…
jtoney | June 20, 2011Miss California Alyssa Campanella wins the 2011 Miss USA Pageant. In preliminary judging, Campenella supported teaching evolution in public schools. In the finals, she gave a complex answer on legalizing marijuana.
Photo Credit: By Valerie Macon, AFP/Getty Images
This is my favorite story of the day:
The newly crowned Miss USA, Alyssa Campanella, 21, of Los Angeles said:
I was taught evolution in high school. I do believe in it. I'm a huge science geek...I like to believe in the big bang theory and, you know, the evolution of humans throughout time.
Of course, other contestants did not…
jtoney | June 16, 2011I have been writing recently about the role of science in advertising as the "new glam." A Yoplait television ad brings a new dimension to this discussion. Is it possible for TV ads to deliver subliminal potentially harmful messages, whether intentional or not?
Ads are everywhere, of course, in all forms of media. The market research firm Yankelovich estimates that we are exposed to, incredibly, up to 5,000 ads per day!
Below is the commercial that sparked considerable controversy from a health advocacy group:
According to the National Eating Disorders Association:
"The language in this…
jtoney | June 10, 2011
Dear readers,
I am delighted that I have joined journalist Chris Mooney at The Intersection, his blog for Discover magazine as a guest blogger. My first post addresses the question, Sexy Science: The New "Sizzle" in Advertising? I look forward to your comments.