The new service, available at http://images.google.com/hosted/life, debuted Tuesday with about 2 million photos. Eventually, Google plans to scan all 10 million photos from Life’s library so they can be viewed on any computer with an Internet connection.

About 97 percent of Life’s archives have not been publicly seen, according to Life.

The photos can be printed out for free as long as they aren’t being used as part of an attempt to make money. Time Warner Inc., Life’s parent company, hopes to make money by selling high-resolution, framed prints. The orders will be processed through Qoop.com.

Read The Rest—>Google gives online life to Life mag’s photos

And it is real. It is a newly opened high-security data center run by one of Sweden’s largest ISPs, located in an old nuclear bunker deep below the bedrock of Stockholm city, sealed off from the world by entrance doors 40 cm thick (almost 16 inches).

(For the curious there is plenty of more information further down.)

Above: The space-themed conference room is suspended about the server hall.

Read The Rest—> The world’s most super-designed data center – fit for a James Bond villain

Apple Launches DRM-free ‘Plus’ Store

Apple has finally pulled the long-anticipated trigger and begun selling DRM-free songs from EMI on iTunes, reports InformationWeek.

The non-copyright-protected files will be sold through a sub-section of the iTunes Music Store, dubbed iTunes Plus. Songs in this section are priced at $1.29 per track versus the standard $0.99 fee.

Records from classic rock artists like Paul McCartney, The Rolling Stones and Pink Floyd, as well as newer artists Joss Stone and Norah Jones, are all available as DRM-free tracks.

The move is meant to encourage iTunes compatibility with any MP3 player on the market and increase the iTunes share of the digital music download market.

Amazon has a similar DRM-free music store in the planning stages for later this year.

Circus of Awesome Promo Lands Heavy Series

A user-generated online talent show for the Circus of Awesome, intended to promote a mint-flavored candy by Hot Tamales, was so well-liked by Heavy.com audiences that the network is turning it into an original series, according to Inside Branded Entertainment.

The Circus of Awesome, a contest in which participants could showcase unique talents, has been streamed over 3.5 million times by over 1 million unique viewers.

Heavy’s VP of programming, Jason Marks, calls this the first time Heavy.com has taken a branded entertainment campaign built for an advertiser and turned it into an original series on the network.

The series will be hosted on channel 1516 in the Heavy.com network.

Social Computer Hits Doorsteps of Third World

Little green laptops are Third World-friendly

Nicholas Negroponte, founder of One Laptop Per Child, is on a mission to put open-source computing systems into the hands of Third World Children.

The durable green XO laptop is a low-power, lightweight system able to withstand a number of extremes, including heavy rains, bright sunlight, five-foot falls and small hands. It is typically both electric- and crank-operated and costs approximately $175 per unit to manufacture, according to The Boston Globe.

Negroponte aspires to put one of these in the control of at least 1 billion children between ages 6 and 16 in developing countries. Partners include Advanced Micro Devices, Red Hat and Chi Mei Group.

There are no distribution costs associated with the project and, writes Groundswell, no profits for One Laptop Per Child either. Citibank handles financing and credit information, then distributes money to every member of the supply chain.

This September manufacturers will ramp production up to 400,000 laptops per month, but hundreds have already been distributed for the testing phase in seven launch countries: Argentina, Brazil, Nigeria, Uruguay, Libya, Pakistan and Thailand.

The laptop’s functionality includes Windows capabilities (though it presently houses an open source menu), a tablet function and games that range from Tetris-style BlockParty to a virtual orchestra.

The pure open source XO has already caused a competitive stir. Microsoft has lowered its cost to $3 for Windows and applications in developing countries. Intel is also producing its own low-cost unit, the ClassMate.

Designed for social computing, one of the main apps on the laptop tells children who else in the village is online. Other applications are collaboration-based, which means students can work on projects together, and work is auto-saved onto a Google server.

“How big is the horizon for the kids in some of these villages?” asked Josh Bernoff, analyst at Forrester Research. “Now they will have a way to communicate with the rest of the world.”

Posted April 30th, 2007 by Amy Corr

We’ve all heard of user-generated content. But here’s an interactive user-generated campaign that comes to life when the user (pedestrian) walks past.

Submedia made a name for itself in 2000 when it first placed 350-foot light box displays in subway tunnels. Here’s how it works: As the subway moves, straphangers see ads in the form of 15-second movies, best described as a flipbook come to life. The light boxes play Jedi mind-tricks on eyeballs via small slits that manipulate the compressed, stationary images into something movable.

The technology has seen the light, having been brought above ground to be used for shorter, four-second movies viewed by passing pedestrians.

Using a set of fifteen 6- by 4-foot light boxes, Submedia launched a campaign this month for Land Rover’s LR2 vehicle in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Miami.

“We’ve been able to retrofit our technology from 350-foot displays to a mere four feet so any OOH execution can be brought to life with only the motion of walking required to [trigger] a four-second movie,” said Peter Corrigan, CEO of Submedia. “This allows marketers to repurpose their television spots in just about any outdoor location. Fashion ads to be turned into a catwalk, consumer products can be demonstrated and movie posters can show an action sequence,” he continued.

Be on the lookout for ads at the American Airlines Arena in Miami and Gramercy Park in New York.

The automotive industry uses the technology heavily, for it gives passersby the illusion that a car is moving. Past and present clients include BMW, Hummer, Nissan, Jeep and Lincoln.

The media buy is just like a normal outdoor buy, and Submedia works with vendors such as Fuel Outdoor and Equity Office for ad buy locations.

Creative is installed in roughly four minutes and usually consists of repurposed screen grabs from existing TV spots, bringing the feeling of the TV medium outdoors.