The California Academy of Sciences and Odopod came together to make a pretty awesome iPhone app to navigate all the great features, wildlife and landmarks inside Golden Gate Park. It's called the Golden Gate Park Field Guide and you can pick it up in the App Store.

Last weekend I decided to test it out for an adventure. The thing about the park is that it's massive and if you don't know what you're doing or where you're going, it's very easy to get lost. There are museums and lakes, bison and waterfalls, plants and animals, gardens and playgrounds. Having an app like this one to know where all these hidden gems are is incredibly useful.

The app is filled with all kinds of activities. You've got Sightings where you can report exact locations of the wildlife you've seen. There are Scavenger Hunts where you try your luck at finding specific species at varying degrees of difficulty and Nature Walks to choose from. You can also simply browse a list of all the species in the park and learn about their histories.

I chose the Nature Walk, "Around Stowe Lake" (with handy Time, Distance and Difficulty indicators) and went on to explore and learn the lay of the land.

With the app in hand, arriving at the location was super easy - especially since it's location aware and knew exactly where I was within the park at all times. The trail and all of the way points were marked clearly on the map indicating start and end points and all the really neat landmarks along the way. I started at the Boathouse and made my way along the route.

Each milestone marker in the interface offered a bit of history about that location. Some points had little tips, others had insights and trivia. I walked around the lake finding things I never even knew were there, hiked up hills with stunning views of San Francisco, came back down again snapping tons of pictures, and managed to spot turtles and birds and fish and other creatures that I failed to report in the app, but I could have.

In total, I spent about two hours on the walk, exploring, taking pictures and enjoying nature, giving a proper moment to each of the waypoints along the tour. I could have easily stayed all day as there are so many other adventures to take - some on bikes, some on foot, some long, some short - all available in this remarkable app for those with a sense of curiosity and adventure. I will be back to use it again soon.

Learn more about the Golden Gate Park Field Guide »
Available now in the App Store »

We're thrilled to announce the site launch of the new Sony Internet TV with Google TV! Visit a playful world where you can explore video question and answers, tweets and specs about the new TV - a perfect place to get excited about the future of television. Let us know what you think.

Sony Internet TV »

Today we announced to the world the launch of the new UFC.com. Check of the full press release:

Over the last five years UFC President Dana White has listened intently as fans spoke about the kind of web site they want. About how the site should look, and what it should do. Some of these conversations took place in restaurants and on sidewalks, others on the arena floor and at Q&As. Others through text, Twitter and email. But no matter where, or how, the message was communicated, he heard it and shared the concepts with the team at the UFC.

Today, after a year of work involving a project team of designers, programmers and technicians across three companies led by digital agency Odopod, White officially introduced to fans the brand new UFC.com.

Read the full article »

Over the last year we've been fully immersed in the intense world of the Ultimate Fighting Championships. We've been a part of everything from a behind the scenes look at how an event comes together to experiencing super fandom at the UFC Fan Expo.

From the beginning, our digital agency of record relationship has been highly collaborative starting with deep strategic conversations with the UFC's executive team on how the brand can grow digitally and globally. From there, we've been involved with every detail including platform development with multiple partners, innovative digital advertising methods and design and execution over a number of devices such as the Roku and mobile phones.

We're extremely proud to finally announce the launch of the new UFC.com. With a slick navigation, a powerful new visual language and a clearer focus on fights, fighters and how to watch, the new site is easier to use, brings in key social interactions from the fans and fighters and offers tons of compelling content for regulars and new visitors alike - and is meant to evolve and grow as fast as the sport itself.

As UFC President Dana White says, "This is just the start – we are gonna continue to build this thing into the best web site in sports.”

Check it out »

We're thrilled to announce our latest collaboration with our friends at Undercurrent - the new DonQ! The site is filled with some slick features, including a cocktail recipe finder filled with delicious DonQ libations and an interactive infographic demonstrating DonQ's sustainable rum making process. The site is also filled with countless moments of delight all made possible through loads of HTML, Javascript and SVG goodness.

We're really proud of the work and it's always nice to celebrate with a little product from the client.

Check it out »
Read more about the project »

Tesla Motors has had a big year. The brand new Roadster 2.5 was just unveiled. Last week, they debuted a much anticipated public stock offering with investors hot for shares. In May, they announced a partnership with Toyota to build vehicles in Northern California. And even before, the announcement that a more affordable sedan, the Model S, would soon be available, brought excitement to masses.

Today, we share some of our own big news with Tesla. As their digital agency of record, Odopod has spent the past several months on our first assignment with their team: reinventing the brand online. With the launch of the new Tesla Motors Website, we focused on designing an experience that makes owning an electric car easy by communicating complex technologies in simple, accessible ways, bringing the car to the center stage and letting the owners tell their stories all within a clean and compelling interface.

We're thrilled to be a part of the Tesla vision and to work on such an innovative and progressive brand. Our goal is to seamlessly connect all aspects of the Tesla customer experience - from the website to the showroom and on the road as we continue to work together into the future.

Check out the site »
Read more about the work »

The UFC Roku channel just launched marking the first of many initiatives that Odopod and The UFC are currently working together to design and develop. The first UFC live streaming pay-per-view event coming to the Roku Player will be Rampage vs. Evans on May 29th. The channel also includes access to previous fights as well as pre-fight and post-fight content.

As The UFC's digital agency of record, Odopod is fully engaged on a series of projects that include digital strategy, mobile and web development.

For more on the Roku launch check out:
Engadget »
Mashable »
VentureBeat »
Roku »

We just launched another site with our clients at Sony Style introducing their new brand of headphones, PIIQ. The PIIQ brand is colorful, expressive and surprising - qualities we aimed to evoke with this immersive, web experience.

We created a big, bold way for users to explore the PIIQ products and features with full screen video details and a fun, compelling menu for fast, engaging product browsing. We love the result and hope you do too. Check it out and let us know what you think.

We're pleased to announce the launch of the new PlayStation.com, an enormous entertainment platform that beautifully tells the PlayStation brand story while simply communicating the complex offering of PlayStation products.

The overall look and feel is dramatic, bold and refreshing featuring a compact navigation that is friendly and informative, a huge promotional marquee to promote PlayStation offerings in a highly compelling and visually stunning way, and a powerful membership area to encourage user sign in and participation.

We're extremely proud of the tremendous effort put forth from the team here at Odopod and our partners. The site came together beautifully.

Check it out, we'd love to hear what you think.

YouTube came to Odopod to develop a video browsing interface, allowing users to browse and view multiple videos in a unique and compelling way. The interface is fully customizable to match any page design and provides the YouTube team the option of setting up video contests and promotions with a voting mechanism built right in. The first use of the video grid interface launched last year with YouTube’s Ad Blitz 2009 - a channel dedicated to browsing and voting on the best ads of the Super Bowl. And this year they've done it again.

YouTube recently shared the results of this year's Adblitz and we wanted to share them with you. Read More »