Unless your granddad used to brew his own beer and take you through the process at a young, slightly bored age, chances are you have little to no idea about how it’s all made. From now on, we’re taking the below advert as gospel. The process has been broken down in this new commercial from the Hahn Brewery, who make beer over in Australia. It involves a number of stages with just one thing in common: total awesomeness. We don’t want to ruin it so take a look below. You can then join us in manically Googling how we can import Hahn Super Dry as soon as humanly possible.
It is not often when browsing through Google street view that you come across anything of real beauty but Aaron Hobson has found some rather rare examples of what the Google car cam has caught while traveling around the world.
Google streetview is well known, it’s an easy tool to explore unknown area’s etc.. But there are also some weird and accidental captures by Google’s Streetview car. Check out some bizarre Google Streetview findings.
You have to give it up to Google always trying something new or stealing everyone else’s winning idea. By now I’m sure most of us use or at least have a dropbox account, But with only 2 free gigs of space upon sign up it might not be enough unless you pay to upgrade. According to the official blog post, paid tiers are available for 25 GB, 100 GB or 1 TB storage upgrades, priced at $2.49, $4.99 or $49.99 per month, respectively. The question is will you use a Google Drive or does it look like yet another me-too crappy service from Google? Only time will tell.
Instagram rocketed to 30 million iOS users in 18 months and was named iPhone app of the year in 2011. It is one of the best apps for taking and sharing photos from the iPhone. Its square images and assorted image filters let anyone make retro, techno and pretty pictures out of mundane shots of their kids, pets, food. Instagram’s Android version, released last week, got millions of downloads immediately. But $1 billion, if true, is still a crazy number. Instagram doesn’t make any money. Nor did it say it was focusing on revenue. It is still chasing big users. Kevin Systrom, Instagram’s CEO, wrote this to calm down his users in response to the deal. An excerpt:
It’s important to be clear that Instagram is not going away. We’ll be working with Facebook to evolve Instagram and build the network. We’ll continue to add new features to the product and find new ways to create a better mobile photos experience.
It’s not clear what the Facebook deal means for the Series B funding round that may have closed last week, led by Sequoia Capital, Thrive, Benchmark and Greylock at a reported $500 million valuation. But the fact that Facebook would pay 2x what the company was supposedly worth within a week’s time suggests this is a defensive move. Facebook has the money (almost $4 billion in cash on hand as of December 2011), and certainly isn’t desperate for more users, most if not all of whom are already on Facebook (which greatly influences the price-per-new-active-user Facebook is paying. See crude math below.)
Fred Wilson has said that Facebook is really about photos and this only underscores that. The mobile-social photo sector is still amorphously led but if anyone is harmed by this deal it is Yahoo. Facebook is really going after its Flickr property here, to put the nail further in Yahoo’s coffin. (To its discredit, Yahoo hasn’t done anything with Flickr lately). Zuckerberg is playing chess, making a defining move in how it stands in the photo space. It’s like what Google did with YouTube.
One problem this will solve for Instagram’s 30-something million users is that sharing an Instagram photo on Facebook from your phone pretty much sucks right now. Here comes the much needed integration: bigger photos, more detailed info about the filters, etc. Right now all you get when you post an Instagram photo on Facebook from your phone is a small link and a thumbnail image. A better integration will stimulate more sharing through Instagram.
But a $1 billion for 30 million users that pay nothing for the service? Sounds crazy but consider this: Instagram is getting bought for $33 per user. Facebook is supposedly trading with a market cap of close to $100 billion and has 850 million users, giving it a value of $117 per user. So it looks like a decent bit of funny-money arbitrage, using well-endowed Facebook shares to acquire users and solidify hold of a strategic asset at a lower valuation. We don’t yet know how much of the deal is in cash vs. stock, so this calculation could be less favorable sounding but it still makes sense with Facebook currency.
Here’s a video Forbes editor Michael Noer did with Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom for our 30 Under 30 special. According to Wired’s Mike Isaac, Systrom netted $400 million from the sale.
The existence of Google X was first disclosed late last year and reports that the researchers there were exploring augmented reality surfaced in February. This is the first time Google has officially acknowledged this particular project. Writing for the New York Times, Nick Bilton notes that Babak Parviz is known for creating contact lenses embedded with electronics, which suggests that Google’s augmented reality might be available in a form factor smaller than sunglasses at some point.
Google has posted a video on YouTube that explores how the glasses might work. The scenes shown are not actual production footage of the glasses in the field. They’re augmented with post-production graphics that show how Project Glass might work. But the video conveys what Google hopes to achieve: a seamless experience where the technology enhances activities and doesn’t interfere with them. The future you’ve seen in movies over the last decade is starting to get closer.
Everyone knows about Yelp, Four Square, and any of the other typical means to find a good restaurant, bar, or meeting place. But for those of us who just want to straight up get a drink as close as possible to where we’re standing that second… there’s “Where The F*ck Should I Go For Drinks.com”. Quite a simple solution to finding a close by bar. Simply put in your address, and you’ll be pointed to the nearest watering hole. No separation by class, or price, or status, or type… just a direct line to where you can get your drink on. Click the pic to try it out.
When most people think about a fashion show, they might picture something like the above. Well put together models, walking down a runway being examined in their freshly created looks by a mass of teaming critics, all the while a scene of chaos and mayhem ensues behind the stage as designers and make up artists scramble to get the next model prepared to adorn a new set of garments. But the good folks at Google have presented a fashion show concept that’s a bit more simple. The new Google ads feature a gaggle of Japanese girls engaged in the “Virtual Fashion Show”, a fun and interesting activity brought about with a projector, a computer, and Google. Check the method below.
Aston Martin has been named the coolest brand in the UK, it has been revealed. The carmaker has come top in the latest study by independent brand research firm Superbrands, which questioned more than 2,000 consumers. However technology brands continue to lead the Superbrands Cool Brands survey with the rest of the top five spots taken by tech brands. Apple’s iPhone takes second place, Blackberry is fourth and upmarket audio-visual brand Bang & Olufsen takes fifth place. Vivienne Westwood topped the list of fashion brands, beating Chanel, Alexander McQueen and Jimmy Choo.
Superbrands – TOP 10
1. Aston Martin
2. iPhone
3. iPod
4. BlackBerry
5. Bang & Olufsen
6. Harley-Davidson
7. Nintendo Wii
8. Google
9. Ferrari
10. Dom Perignon
