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Mochi pointed this out to me this morning as we were watching LOST finale on Tivo before work (in preparation for the watercooler, of course): HBO promoting True Blood with a QR code on TV.

I’ve heard the execution tossed around and have always recommended against it. Promoting use of QR codes on TV seems like a bad idea for many reasons: camera accuracy with environment lighting and screen contrast/reflection, viewers not familiar with the process and unable to get their handset to the screen fast enough to get the experience, viewers not understanding how to use a QR code or attempting the experience without a smart phone. There are a lot of risks, but HBO took them on with their design shop, Warbasse Design, to promote it’s True Blood series. That being said, it did catch our eyes when we saw it. It would be interesting to see what the success rate is here. Maybe we’ll be seeing this more often? (Ironically) I think I’ll be pulling this up on Tivo tonight to test the user experience myself.

/via FashionablyMarketing

Levi Strauss is connecting with innovative consumers and fashionistas to uncover the most innovative and energy efficient method of drying clothing through their new “Care Air Design Challenge” launching June 1.

Why Levi’s wants consumers to care? Because all of this clothes drying is going to give their product a bigger footprint.

“Your favorite pair of jeans consumes energy throughout its life cycle, giving this fashion staple a carbon footprint. A complete third party lifecycle assessment on a pair of Levi’s® 501® jeans revealed that, on average, almost 60% of the climate impact comes during the consumer phase. Nearly 80% of that is due to the energy intensive method we choose for drying. Levi Strauss & Co. is taking strides to bring its carbon footprint down to zero and build sustainability into everything they do..”

Levi’s has taken a great approach in their attempt to increase their consumer’s awareness and responsibility, which will ultimately reflect better on the company and the denim industry down the road. I’m interested to see what the winning idea is & who takes home the $10K reward.

/via PSFK

Google’s ever-changing homepage logo has turned into a playable game of Pacman to celebrate Pacman’s 30th anniversary! (Note: the “Insert Coin” button in place of the usual “I’m Feeling Lucky”)

‘The game is just as addictive as the original, and as Google’s Marcin Wichary says, “[We] made sure to include PAC-MAN’s original game logic, graphics and sounds, bring back ghosts’ individual personalities, and even recreate original bugs from this 1980s masterpiece.”

/via Mashable

A short film by SMART Technologies showcasing the magic of their touch screen interactive whiteboards.

YouTube – The Magical Classroom™

/via @mochipark

Booyah goes “beyond the check-in” and gains another $20M in investment funding for MyTown. MyTown’s has a current user base of 2.1 millision and has drawn a lot of attention for its quick growth. The Palo Alto, Calif.-based company has just 24 employees. Booyah CEO Keith Lee said one of the main ways he’d be spending the new funding is to hire great talent to support its flagship app.

Booyah CEO Keith Lee said his strategy is to go “beyond the check-in” — meaning the now-standardized activity of users actively registering their current location at a venue by using the GPS on their phone. “I think people are fighting in this red ocean for check-ins,” he said. “You have Facebook coming in — that’s ‘good game’ right there.”

/via gigaom

Starbucks is now going above and beyond the unique 4sq badge and starting up their experimental Foursquare loyalty program with the first-ever  mayor special.

Starting today, mayors of individual Starbucks stores can unlock the Mayor Offer, $1 discount on a Frappucino. “As mayor of this store, enjoy $1 off a NEW however-you-want-it Frappuccino blended beverage. Any size, any flavor. Offer valid until 6/28.”

I’m sure Foursquare business development team is happy to own this partnership for the next month. “Starbucks — which is one of the most “Liked” brands on Facebook — is making a conscious choice to go with Foursquare, which should serve to legitimize Foursquare as the key player in the space for now.”

Personally, I’d need the offer to extend beyond a Frappucino, to start stalking my favorite Starbucks location for mayorship again, but kudos to Starbucks for their choice to invest in location aware for their loyalty program.

/via Mashable

Huffington Post has a series called ‘Twitter Powerhouses’ that focuses on individuals that contribute to expand, influence and define how we see social media. Today’s Powerhouse is Glen Gilmore (@TrendTracker).

Gilmore has been called a “a trailblazer and a Renaissance Man for the new millennium” and “man of action”. He’s someone you should follow and listen to. Gilmore started on Twitter using the network to track trends for his own knowledge and use. And by using the platform’s inherent sharing functionality, he to turn into an insight and trend tracker himself.

In this interview, Gilmore eleborates on how the social sphere allows us to connect on a global level where timezones are no longer a boundary for conversations, how communities and individuals flock to social networks in times of crisis and the power of social conversation and content/opinion sharing.

“The biggest secret to success on Twitter is sharing: You are what you share.”

Read more on Gilmore, his experiences and his advice on how to tap into the power of social media here on Huffington Post.

A big deal for WordPress users. WP 3.0 is set to drop this month and includes features that could make a big difference in how you post your WP content. Here’s a top 5 “most important” 3.0 new feature list from Mashable:

1. Custom post types (post beyond just “posts” and “pages”)
2. Menu navigation (control your site navs with easy drag & drop functionality)
3. Custom taxonomies (no more single categorization)
4. New default theme (“TwentyTen” theme with increased customization)
5. Multi-site (manage all your WP sites with a single login)

Another one that I’m looking forward to is the custom “get shortlink” that will allow users the ability to get a shortlink for your post based on your own domain name, so you don’t need to through  bit.ly type service.

Exciting stuff here. Looking forward to the release.

Fashion + Technology = Hipster to Hippie in 6 easy steps meme.

Fashion Hipster to Hippie In Six Steps

The Mint Julep has been the official drink of the Kentucky Derby for over 70 years and each year over 120,000 of these drinks will be poured at Churchill Downs. That’s a lot of Bourbon over the 2 day period.

“…that requires over 10,000 bottles of Bourbon, 1,000 pounds of freshly harvested mint and 60,000 pounds of ice.”

My only experience with the Mint Julep was not the most memorable, possibly because it was at Tony’s in DTLA, and drink #3 of the night. E*starLA recommends Dominick’s & The Thirsty Crow for a good minty pour here in LA.

Aqua Vitae: Kentucky Derby Edition.