360 DEGREES Weblog

The made-to-order muesli mixers of mymuesli recently created the first TV commercial filmed and edited entirely on the iPhone 4.

In the three years since mymuesli started, they’ve expanded to the UK, Switzerland and the Netherlands, and have been joined by similar concepts in other countries, including [Me]&Goji in the US. They’ve also forged smart alliances with established health, fitness and beauty brands, and developed a convenience product: mymuesli2go.

Which brings us back to the iPhone. mymuesli’s founders were so impressed by the phone’s video quality, that they decided to use it to shoot and edit an ad for their new product. Highlighting the convenience aspect of mymuesli2go, the ad features a skydiver eating cereal before jumping out of a plane. (The video below shows both the ad and ‘the making of’.) The commercial aired on German and Austrian television over the weekend.

Whether or not you’re an Apple fanboy, there’s no denying the buzz surrounding their product launches. And latching on to that early fervor can be an inexpensive way for young brands to draw some attention their way.

mymuesli2go, a tv commercial - filmed and edited on an iPhone 4 from Max Wittrock on Vimeo.

Potholes, stray garbage, broken street lamps? Citizens of Eindhoven can now report local issues by iPhone, using the BuitenBeter app that was launched today. After spotting something that needs to be fixed, residents can use the app to take a picture, select an appropriate category and send their complaint directly through to the city council. A combination of GPS and maps lets users pinpoint the exact location of the problem, providing city workers with all the information they need to identify and resolve the problem.

The application covers a wide range of familiar nuisances, from broken sidewalks to loitering youth (who will hopefully respond favourably to having their picture taken by concerned citizens). Compared with lodging a complaint by phone or in writing, BuitenBeter creates a nearly frictionless experience and will no doubt prompt a wider group of people to become active reporters of issues that need the city’s attention.

Besides giving people an easy way to send through detailed reports, city officials also believe the concept will create shorter lines of communication, and will facilitate quicker feedback from local government to citizens. Developed by mobile solutions provider Yucat, the BuitenBeter app will soon be available for Android and Windows Mobile phones, too. Eindhoven has signed on for a twelve-month trial, and Yucat hopes to roll out the system to other cities in the near future.

If you’ve been trying to find a way to convey your feelings towards a gadget-loving significant other, but those feelings don’t necessarily equate to the cost of a brand new iPhone, this collection of iPhone app icon chocolates is a happy medium. The 20-piece box set includes 4 different flavors, and the artwork on each icon isn’t a wrapper, but is actually printed in edible ink directly onto the chocolates. Each box will set you back $46.44, but that’s without a contract so it’s quite literally a lot easier to swallow than buying the real thing.

If you thought Mercedes-Benz can make money only through car sales and sponsoring events, they have successfully embraced a new phenomenon of technology! They have just managed to raise a whopping $2.5 Million through the Apple iPhone and smartphone applications. Of this amount, $2 million alone was generated from the iPhone app launched six months ago, and the rest from apps launched as early as February this year. The apps enables Mercedes-Benz customers to pay for their monthly leases or car loans, manage their accounts, locate the nearest Mercedes-Benz dealer, contact a customer service representative or read any of the company news and announcements.

The strangely funny Stachetastic iPhone, iPod Touch app is free today only, normally priced at $1.99. This software lets “you can take a new picture or select one from your photo library and instantly add a mustache or beard from a selection of sweet facial hair.” Video after the break. Click here to download now.

Fashion fanatics have a number of online tools at their disposal—including countless places to design their own creations—but expert industry forecasts have traditionally been available only to paying professionals. Proving once again the increasing clout of the creative masses, London forecasting firm Trendstop now offers a free mobile app that delivers high-end fashion predictions to anyone.

Trendstop typically provides forecasts and analysis to fashion industry professionals, with clients paying some USD 3,495 a year for full access. Now, however, any mobile user with a passion for fashion can download the company’s Trendtracker application for free. Available for iPhone, Android, Blackberry and other mobile platforms, Trendtracker lets users monitor the latest runway looks, fashion news, trend ideas and inspiration right from their mobile phones. Coverage includes daily trend reports, news and photos from fashion shows from around the world, and runway schedules and event guides.

Website: www.trendstop.com/mobile_app

Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars ($18 Nintendo DS; $10 iPhone) places players in the shoes of young Triad member Huang Lee as he navigates Liberty City in search of vengeance for his father’s killing, as well as a large cash inheritance. Featuring rampages, an in-game economic system, wi-fi connectivity for stat tracking, and more, it’s a must-have title for anyone wanting GTA action on the go.

The iPhone’s application capabilities continue to astound us. We’ve seen on-the-fly multitrack recording already in our a cappella review of Sonoma’s 4Track app, but this one takes it to a whole new level. Voice band is a multitrack recording app that lets you build up the sound of a full band, including guitars, bass, drums, sax, synths and vocals, using only your voice as an input. The demo video after the jump shows just how simple this process is, and how astoundingly good the results are. Amazing stuff.

iTunes App Store $ 2.99

LinkedIn, a social networking site for professionals, recently issued a major upgrade to its iPhone app. It’s darn gorgeous.

The app’s user interface mimics the large, bubbly buttons of the iPhone’s home screen. Each button directs you to a different part of LinkedIn: status updates, profiles, connections, inbox and so on. The app is fast and smooth, although it encountered a bug that also appears on the LinkedIn website: connection invitations that never seem to go away, even after you approve or reject them.

The most interesting addition to the LinkedIn app is a feature called “In Person.” It enables LinkedIn iPhone users to swap contact information by simply bumping their phones together; the connection is made over Bluetooth. It’s very similar to an iPhone app called Bump, which does practically the same thing.

The LinkedIn app’s massive makeover is similar to the one Facebook received with its 3.0 update. Frankly, I think the Facebook and LinkedIn iPhone apps have better UIs than their actual websites. LinkedIn.com and Facebook.com, in my opinion, are pretty rough to navigate. Both iPhone apps make the user experience far more pleasant, though they don’t completely replace usage of the actual website. (You probably wouldn’t wish to fill out your LinkedIn profile with the iPhone app, for example, lest you believe employers won’t care about touchscreen-induced typos.)

The LinkedIn app is free in the App Store.

The WakeMate is a smart wrist band that monitors your sleep and gives you a gentle nudge to wake up. Unlike normal alarm clocks which just blast you into consciousness the WakeMate is supposed to leave you bright and refreshed when you wake up. It even works with naps. You program the WakeMate to wake you within a 20 minute window and it will find the right spot.

The WakeMate uses a science called actigraphy to analyze your sleep. Actigraphy uses an actigraph (the WakeMate unit) placed on a subject’s wrist to monitor the motion. The motion data is then analyzed to determine sleep patterns and circadian rhythms of the subject. For more information, you can download a paper on actigraphy here.
It works with all bluetooth phones apparently and it’s not available just yet but it will be US$49.99.