We're pleased to announce a new site for the International Watch Company of Schaffhausen, IWC.com. The site marks another excellent partnership with our friends at Undercurrent and has resulted in a beautiful experience that aims to set a new standard for luxury online. With rich interactive features, editorial content presented in clean, concise layouts and extraordinary attention to each watch, IWC.com offers fans everything they expect from the brand. Further details on the project are available on odopod.com here.

Please let us know what you think.

This year's Consumer Electronics Show (CES) was the biggest one yet - attendance-wise and number of exhibitors. There were tens of thousands of square feet to cover and lots of meetings to schedule, so it felt pretty darn big to me. We were there to spend some quality time with our clients at UFC and Sony and get a first-hand look at all the new electronics and gadgetry, of course.

Here's a quick look at what stood out.

Everyone’s excited about tablets!
There are a ton of new ones. Some from larger names, like the Samsung Galaxy or the Blackberry PlayBook, some from smaller names like Acer and AOC.

The jury seems split on the perfect size. Some like the larger size (10 – 12”) since they have big screens and are perfect for around the house. Others like the more portable 7” size. And the 4-5” tablet/smartphones seem to confuse a lot of people in terms of the purpose and whether it’s really all that different from a smartphone. I spent some time playing around with the Galaxy and liked it. To me, it seems easier to tote around than an iPad.

The Perfect TV
It seems like the manufacturers have no idea what anyone wants in the perfect TV so they’re trying a bunch of different things to see what sticks.

Connected / Smart TVs — Sony’s and Samsung’s connected TVs were big hits and everyone is excited about the potential but I wonder how people will end up using the smart functionality in real life.

Thinner and Sleeker — Some of the new TVs are super, super thin and mega huge.

3D — Despite slow adoption, everyone is still plugging away at 3D TVs. The prediction is (and I agree) that until they manage to do away with the glasses, people are not going to be buying these in huge numbers. Despite my best efforts, I was not able to find a 3D TV that didn’t make me feel car sick.

TV Everywhere — Beyond just the manufacturers, it’s all about having access to TV on every device, in any situation.

“Smart” Everything
Electronics are getting “smarter.” Cars that teach you how to brake better to save electricity. Washers that text you when the cycle is complete. Gadgets that update you to where your dog has wandered off to. Bands and widgets that track how you’re sleeping. I really liked all the smart appliances but again, wonder how people will use the functionality in their real lives. Lots of cool ideas here, we’ll see what pans out.

Gadgets Need Accessories
A big surprise for me was the number of booths (there were whole sections dedicated to accessories) that just showed the latest accessories for your gadgets — sleeves, skins, speakers, battery extenders, holographic external keyboards, etc.

But CES wasn’t just about seeing all the latest electronics. We had several productive meetings with existing and prospective clients. We'll continue working with Sony as they roll out their marketing plan for 2011. We’re forging new relationships with UFC departments, bringing some proactive sponsorship ideas their way that leverage the new and improved UFC.com. And finally, we’ve been asked to put together some proposals for a few new clients.

All in all, a successful and somewhat exhausting few days.

It's been a wonderfully busy year for us here at Odopod. We've experienced tremendous growth from hiring a ton of new talented people (and we're still looking for more) to taking on several new large digital accounts. Our Hack Days projects went on with great success, we celebrated our 10th anniversary and we launched some amazing work with our clients and partners around the world.

Here's a look back at some of things we've done in 2010 with a huge thanks to all of those who contributed to our incredible year.

DonQ Master Of All Skills :: Routesy 3 :: Golden Gate Park Field Guide :: Sony PIIQ Facebook
Sony PIIQ Showcase :: Tesla Motors :: DonQ Rum :: YouTube Trends
Sony HD TV with 3D :: Flock Social Browser :: Sony BRAVIA :: Ford Fiesta Movement
EA Download Manager :: Sony Internet TV :: UFC.com :: PlayStation Redesign

At Odopod we love projects that challenge us to make information accessible, relevant, digestible and engaging. That’s why we were really excited when YouTube approached us to help make the YouTube Trends project a reality.

YouTube Trends allows users to get a timely view of what’s being watched around the world as well as use tools to compare viewership across cities, states, countries and age ranges. If you haven’t heard about it yet, watch this entertaining video introduction featuring the Gregory Brothers.

The project presented an interesting set of challenges. First of all, with the immense wealth of viewership data that YouTube has at its disposal, how could we slice the information to make it relevant? How could we make the data accessible in meaningful ways? What interactions could we add that would provide value without getting in the way of the experience? What existing Google tools could we leverage to get the job done right?

The vision was for YouTube Trends to become part of the YouTube brand universe and even though it couldn’t be too much of a departure from an aesthetic point of view, it definitely needed to be an exciting new product with a unique voice. So it was our goal to help define an identity and design that would remain on brand but could also stand on its own. Ultimately, the design had to serve as a great vessel for all the content to come.

More after the jump »

Google’s new Web Store offers themes, extensions and apps for Google’s web browser, Chrome.

Themes and extensions are not new to Chrome; the store simply brings them together with apps to provide improved discoverability.

Outwardly, the applications might not seem all that different, but for those using the Chrome browser, Google has added a layer of functionality that app developers can take advantage of.

More after the jump »

Everyday at Odopod, we're challenged with a huge spectrum of client needs. We get to dive deep into their businesses and create innovative work for some amazing brands. But there are some ideas that we just don't get to make. Some skills that we just don't get to use. So we decided to turn inward, develop our own ideas and make things.

For two glorious days, Odopod shut down to work exclusively on projects of our own devising - and for those 48 hours, it was all invention...

Here's how it all went down:

A few weeks before Hack Days we put out a call for project submissions to our entire studio with only one rule: describe your idea in less than 100 words. At the end of the call, we selected eight projects to prototype.

We split up into small teams comprised of all disciplines - everyone participated, bringing a unique set of skills to the table. People soldered and sketched, filmed and photographed, coded and glued. There were acts of physical computing, drafts of architectural plans, and a ton of work we don't see everyday.

It was hard work, but well worth it. Here's a quick overview of the prototypes we created:

More after the jump »

Odopod and Undercurrent teamed up yet again to produce DonQ's Master of All Skills, a series of puzzling quizzes and challenges testing your master knowledge of all things interesting. We collaborated with some of the most visited sites on the Internet to gather questions from categories across a variety of themes. Foodspotting tests your gastronomy wits. BuzzFeed challenges your humor and Internet memes. NOTCOT tries to stump you with Mixology trivia.

With nine categories to unlock over time, there's so many chances to get it right. If you prove yourself to be the ultimate master of everything, you might just win a trip to Puerto Rico to visit the land of rum and learn from DonQ's own Master Distiller.

Check it out »

Tonight we're celebrating 10 years of amazing work, clients, partners and friends with a semi-respectable night of debauchery. We're looking forward to kicking back with all of our favorite people who have helped shape the last 10 incredible years. Here's to another decade of fine work to come.

As a follow-up to my earlier post on Flash and Web Standards, I put together a presentation about how these evolving technologies can be used in our work. By looking more closely at the boundaries of what each technology is capable, we inform our decisions about the experiences we can create for different platforms and how to build them.

The slides are now available here and my notes for the presentation can be found here.

In a previous post on how brands might take advantage of the coming Internet of Things (wherein most of the everyday objects in our lives are connected and equipped with sensors gathering data about the world around them), I introduced a notion I called the "Media of Things." This post envisions this new idea in more detail.

Take your average city. Imagine all the advertising media plastering its streets - sidewalk kiosks, bus shelters, billboards, posters, screens in malls and on top of subway stations. The occasional bit of video aside, all this out-of-home media is static. Closed. Unconnected. A one-way broadcast.

Now, what if you were to take that media and add the technologies behind the Internet of Things: ubiquitous connectivity and suddenly cheap sensors streaming out data. Suddenly you've turned every billboard and bus shelter into an intelligent, communicative node in the Internet of Things. You've just created a wildly-versatile infrastructure for new advertising ideas.

I saw a first glimmer of the Media of Things when we worked on Chapter 2 of the Fiesta Movement with Undercurrent + Team Detroit. As part of that program, we asked people to check-in at Fiesta billboards using FourSquare - turning each billboard into a crude "people sensor." We then reflected that check-in activity on the Movement's website. That's a Media of Things idea - albeit in cardboard and duct-tape form.

Since it's a bit of an abstract notion, let's bring it to life in a simple scenario which I'll call: Go Giants Orange (Apologies, we're still psyched about our World Series win.)

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So, to break it down:

1. Connect out-of-home media to Internet

2. Pack sensors of all kinds into it

3. Provoke interactions and gather data

4. Use that data to create interesting, interactive stories and experiences

5. Do it again, but totally different this time

This scenario is just one idea - if you have any thoughts about how you would utilize the Media of Things, or any other thoughts on the matter, I'd love to hear them.