Proof that you can never second guess what will fly in terms of viral, here's an animation that has picked up more than 18 million views:
 

(Sorry, I should warn you that is no comedic or violent pay-off at the end, and you'll never get those three minutes back.)     

Before you order a wreath (or break out the bunting) never fear, Ms Kardashian and Gaga are alive and well. However, on World AIDS day (1 December) they will be committing digital suicide  in an usual fund-raising move for the Keep A Child Alive charity.

Kardashian and Gaga will be joined by well known personalities like Ryan Seacrest and Elijah Wood who will close down their public Facebook and Twitter accounts on 1 December 2010, and not reactivate them until the public pledge a total of US$1,000,000 (£650,00).

It's an interesting spin on the usual deployment of social media in fund raising. Where we once had sponsored silences or fasts, it seems that sacrificing your digital social life is a sufficient hardship to endure in a good cause. Those taking part have recorded "last Tweet and testament" video clips to explain their actions, urging their fans to donate. 

Luckily for the celebrities involved, the requisite US$1,000,000 is a group figure - nobody wants to be the last celebrity left without a Twitter account because none of the public care enough to pledge any cash!

The involvement of Lady Gaga alone, with her 7 million followers guarantees the success of what promises to be an short, sharp effective fund raising scheme. More information available on the Keep A Child Alive site.

The News:

The Chinese brand of women's lingerie, Jealousy International, has released a print ad featuring a Princess Diana look-alike, playing a cello in underwear. A young boy (Prince William?) holds a music score for her to read, with the headline “Feel the Romance of British Royalty”.

The promotion was spotted by a British journalist in China’s Shenzhen airport in September 2010. Since then, photos of the ad have been posted in newspapers and websites around the world, leading to a wave of disapproval in British media. The ad was characterized as “blatant exploitation” by the Diana Appreciation Society.

Behind the News:

Jealousy International clearly had no intent to offend, and has promoted its Diana range in China since 1996 as a badge of British style. The story may have been amplified due to the unfortunate fact that the ad was released on 31^st August 2010, which was the 13^th anniversary of Diana's death.

The use of celebrities to promote different products or services, not always with their prior authorization, is common in China since 2000. Pictures of Barack Obama and Bill Clinton have been used, for example, to promote smart phones or housing estates development projects. These practices usually go unnoticed, but can sometimes create backlash. For instance Sean Connery, David Beckham and Keanu Reeves have taken legal action when used in local promotions for erectile dysfunction drugs.

Inspired by this innovative use of a derelict billboard perhaps, Samsung has applied the same logic to this 3D TV advert. The frame simulates a real 3D FULL HD Samsung. Two infant swings were attached and placed in city parks to give the sensation of a 3D image coming out of the screen. 

Nokia researchers in Tampere, Finland have created an interactive touch-screen on blocks of ice. The surface of the ice is melted with a heat gun, then an infra-red light is projected onto the ice so that when the surface is touched by human hands, the light is reflected back off them and colours appear on the ice. A computer tracks the movement to create interesting light patterns. This is potentially a new way for brands to advertise in cold climates.

Pop artist David Hockney has been using his iPhone and iPad to draw pictures for friends for a while, but now these pictures can be seen in an a new Parisian exhibition, Fleurs Fraîches (fresh flowers).

 “The British artist achieves stunning effects of texture and light on the iPad,” writes AI’s Grégory Picard about the show. “The iPhone images, while less detailed and more stylized, also present intriguing explorations of color and line.”

In  2009, Hockney told the Telegraph’s Martin Gayford, “I draw flowers every day on my iPhone and send them to my friends, so they get fresh flowers every morning. And my flowers last. Not only can I draw them as if in a little sketchbook, I can also then send them to 15 or 20 people who then get them that morning when they wake up. Picasso would have gone mad with this. So would Van Gogh. I don’t know an artist who wouldn’t, actually.”

Using the Brushes app, the artist manipulates the iPhone with his thumbs and the iPad with his fingers to make luminous works. Although Hockney has made more than 600 drawings, the Paris exhibition, which was organized by his longtime friend, curator and cultural historian Charlie Scheips, presents around 300 pieces. Works in the Ali Tayer-designed exhibition are being shown on actual iPhones and iPads, as well as being projected at a larger size. New works are being added throughout the run of the show.

“This is a serious component of work, in the context of David’s five-decade career,” Scheips told Vogue.com. “These flowers are ‘fresh’ in how new they are, how they’ve been sent, how they’re viewed, and the way they generate light.”

David Hockney: Fleurs Fraîches remains on view at the Fondation Pierre Bergé – Yves Saint Laurent in Paris through January 30.

[Source: Flavorwire]

Tim Berners-Lee, the man to thank for inventing the worldwide web, has spoken out about social networks and the danger they pose to internet usage. Now you would think that Tim would advocate any platform that made it easier for people to interact with the internet - he once apologised for including the "unnecessary" forward slashes in web addresses at the birth of the web - but the father of the internet has recently announced that social networks are a "threat to the web". 

(Tim Berners-Lee: Inventor of the internet, social network sceptic and the man to blame for the forward slashes in web addresses.) 

Tim's beef is essentially about the way social network sites encourage the compartmentalising of data across the internet in a series of "walled garden" environments. As this practice becomes more widespread, he argues that this will lead to a fragmented web - a far cry from the "single universal information space" he originally envisaged. 

He also highlighted the habit of social network sites to solicit information from members, and then remove control over how that information is put to use. 

These comments come just a few weeks after Facebook Messages was announced by Mark Zuckerberg, a service which would unite Facebook members communications - text, email and direct messaging - into one place, which perfectly illustrates Tim's point about the silo of information. 

The actual need that Facebook Messages fulfils for its users is still debatable (personally I like getting SMS messages to my phone and emails to my inbox)- although no doubt for some people, Facebook will soon become their main platform for their web experiences. Assuming it hasn't already. I'm guessing Tim Berners-Lee wont be signing up. 

Theo Watson and Emily Gobeille, who run the creative studio Design I/O, developed this interactive puppet prototype with an Xbox Kinect hack. Using a 3D depth camera for tracking, they created an animated puppet, which mirrors the action of the user, even squawking when the hand is opened.

With brands using increasingly innovative and interactive technologies in their communications - like Ralph Lauren's 4th dimension show - it's fun designs like this that will be utilised.