Director Scott T. Chan, founder of L.A.-based creative agency Whirled, recaps the emotional touch points of 2011 in a web film titled Google Zeitgeist 2011. The film is a powerful snapshot of the year’s highlights captured and shared via Google online tools such as Search, Google+, Maps and more. Zeitgeist, or “the spirit of the times,” is revealed through Google’s aggregation of billions of search queries received on the site this year. Whirled was also responsible for “Google Zeitgeist 2010,” which racked up nearly 3 million views on YouTube. The boutique agency was tapped once again to take the reigns for this year’s video.
Chan related, “Ultimately, I wanted this year’s video to feel much more intimate and personal. This year, more than ever before, we saw a fundamental shift in the way we actually experienced these events–now we’re living these moments in real time through social media and online video.” While stepping back and taking a look at the year as a whole, Chan saw that 2011 was a year where the world endured numerous hardships: devastating natural disasters, the loss of many dynamic and inspirational people and the downturn of the global economy. He chose to not simply highlight these moments, but also shine a glimmer of hope around them. He added, “The theme and story of the video and year, to me, is really about progress.”
The video opens with a Google search window completed with the text, “2011 was a year of–” The images shift as the search query is completed with words encapsulating the essence of the year, “adversity; crossroads; revolution; remembrance; possibility; inspiration.” The pace livens to reveal snapshots via Google searches of the devastating Japan earthquake and tsunami, the treacherous floods in Brazil. Moving on to crossroads we experience major milestones such as the capturing and killing of Osama bin Laden as announced by President Barack Obama, the 10th anniversary of 9/11, the final launch of NASA’s space shuttle Atlantis and the end of the wars in the Middle East told through US soldiers coming home to their loved ones. The year’s spirit of revolution blazes through the fierce dedication of protestors in Sudan, Tunisia, Egypt, Greece and the United States’ “occupy” movement.
Next, we revisit those who have left us in 2011 including Elizabeth Taylor, Saudi Arabia’s Sultan bin Abdul-Aziz, funny man Ryan Dunn, American football pioneer Al Davis, former First Lady Betty Ford, Indian guru Sathya Sai Baba, American radio and television writer Andy Rooney, Olympic boxing champ Joe Frazier and the legendary Steve Jobs.
Ordinary people soared to online viral celebrity status as seen through the “Homeless Man with a Golden Voice,” Rebecca Black, Chinese artist-activist Ali Weiwei and 29-year-old Sloan Churman hearing herself for the first time after a lifetime of deafness. Recently-launched Google+ provides a backdrop for the sharing of some of this year’s inspirational moments including the Royal Wedding, 2011 Women’s World Cup, Novak Djokovic’s incredible winning streak and the poignant live video feed of a 21-year-old soldier revealing to his dad for the first time that he is gay after the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell.
A selection of this year’s most touching and memorable snapshots, ends on a Google search window, simply reading, “We made it.”
Apple and Google Face UK Investigation Into Mobile Browser Dominance
Apple and Google aren't giving consumers a genuine choice of mobile web browsers, a British watchdog said Friday in a report that recommends they face an investigation under new U.K. digital rules taking effect next year.
The Competition and Markets Authority took aim at Apple, saying the iPhone maker's tactics hold back innovation by stopping rivals from giving users new features like faster webpage loading. Apple does this by restricting progressive web apps, which don't need to be downloaded from an app store and aren't subject to app store commissions, the report said.
"This technology is not able to fully take off on iOS devices," the watchdog said in a provisional report on its investigation into mobile browsers that it opened after an initial study concluded that Apple and Google effectively have a chokehold on "mobile ecosystems."
The CMA's report also found that Apple and Google manipulate the choices given to mobile phone users to make their own browsers "the clearest or easiest option."
And it said that the a revenue-sharing deal between the two U.S. Big Tech companies "significantly reduces their financial incentives" to compete in mobile browsers on Apple's iOS operating system for iPhones.
Both companies said they will "engage constructively" with the CMA.
Apple said it disagreed with the findings and said it was concerned that the recommendations would undermine user privacy and security.
Google said the openness of its Android mobile operating system "has helped to expand choice, reduce prices and democratize access to smartphones and apps" and that it's "committed to open platforms that empower consumers."
It's the latest move by regulators on both sides of the Atlantic to crack down on the... Read More