May 21, 2008
“ It’s the mid-1990s for the mobile industry: lots of walled gardens, lots of fragmentation, and lots of promise.
Quote from CNet.com article describing how the mobile industry is going through its ‘AOL in the 1990s’ phase.
May 15, 2008
Yo everybody, Gene Simmons is in the house. Actually, we’re in Gene Simmons’ house. WAI worked with A&E Television Networks to give fans of their hit show Gene Simmons Family Jewels the chance to get an up-close and personal view of Gene’s life by interacting with a timeline rich with images and video clips. Check it out here to find out more about Gene’s rockin’ family history.

Yo everybody, Gene Simmons is in the house. Actually, we’re in Gene Simmons’ house.

WAI worked with A&E Television Networks to give fans of their hit show Gene Simmons Family Jewels the chance to get an up-close and personal view of Gene’s life by interacting with a timeline rich with images and video clips.

Check it out here to find out more about Gene’s rockin’ family history.

April 30, 2008
Imagine giving large quantities of your hard-earned cash to some slightly odd strangers to throw around as they please. In the UK, this national pastime has been given the name “politics”. But whether you’re on the left, right, center or somewhere in between - one thing that’s certain is that politics gives us the chance to work on some pretty cool data visualization projects. WAI recently launched this very nifty mapping appliction for The Telegraph as part of its coverage of the UK Local Elections. Users can navigate the map and find a wealth of information on their local governement, from crime statistics to taxation levels. All-in-all a great project that not only looks good, but is also provides a great service to the electorate.

Imagine giving large quantities of your hard-earned cash to some slightly odd strangers to throw around as they please. In the UK, this national pastime has been given the name “politics”.

But whether you’re on the left, right, center or somewhere in between - one thing that’s certain is that politics gives us the chance to work on some pretty cool data visualization projects.

WAI recently launched this very nifty mapping appliction for The Telegraph as part of its coverage of the UK Local Elections. Users can navigate the map and find a wealth of information on their local governement, from crime statistics to taxation levels. All-in-all a great project that not only looks good, but is also provides a great service to the electorate.

April 24, 2008
Imagine if you went to the grocery store and discovered that Boeing had decided to start making vanilla cupcakes. You might feel compelled to try them, but it would probably come as a shock to your sweet treat snacking sensibilities. Well something very simlar is happening in the interactive space. Intel - the chip manufacturingi giant - recently rolled out a new Mash-up Maker browser plug-in. The plug-in allows users to create their own mash-ups, and also add mash-ups to specific pages that others have built. Right now there’s some interesting mash-ups available for Facebook, CraigsList and Expedia which range from mapping applications to address finders. Exactly why Intel would release such a product is somewat intriguing, but nevertheless this illustrates how the Web 2.0 philosophy continues to march into the mainstream. Users want to digest and interact with content on their terms, removing many of the restrictions that were inherent in the Web browsing experience. We’ll be watching this one with interest.

Imagine if you went to the grocery store and discovered that Boeing had decided to start making vanilla cupcakes. You might feel compelled to try them, but it would probably come as a shock to your sweet treat snacking sensibilities.

Well something very simlar is happening in the interactive space. Intel - the chip manufacturingi giant - recently rolled out a new Mash-up Maker browser plug-in.

The plug-in allows users to create their own mash-ups, and also add mash-ups to specific pages that others have built. Right now there’s some interesting mash-ups available for Facebook, CraigsList and Expedia which range from mapping applications to address finders.

Exactly why Intel would release such a product is somewat intriguing, but nevertheless this illustrates how the Web 2.0 philosophy continues to march into the mainstream. Users want to digest and interact with content on their terms, removing many of the restrictions that were inherent in the Web browsing experience. We’ll be watching this one with interest.

April 15, 2008
Another week brings another award for the World Archipelago team - this time courtesy of the IVCA. We were declared a bronze winner in the Online Sales and Promotion category for a multi-player game we developed for Jetix Power Rangers. You can check it out here.
Another week brings another award for the World Archipelago team - this time courtesy of the IVCA. We were declared a bronze winner in the Online Sales and Promotion category for a multi-player game we developed for Jetix Power Rangers. You can check it out here.
April 10, 2008
We’re a fairly modest bunch at WAI but every now and again we like to give ourselves a pat on the back. The 12th Annual Webby Awards list of Honorees has been published and we have been recognized in the Newspapers Category for a user generated content project we worked on with the Daily Telegraph. Titled the Ford Film Challenge, the project encouraged budding movie makers to submit their short films to the site. At the end of the submission period, users were asked to vote for their favorite. Well done to everyone involved.

We’re a fairly modest bunch at WAI but every now and again we like to give ourselves a pat on the back. The 12th Annual Webby Awards list of Honorees has been published and we have been recognized in the Newspapers Category for a user generated content project we worked on with the Daily Telegraph.

Titled the Ford Film Challenge, the project encouraged budding movie makers to submit their short films to the site. At the end of the submission period, users were asked to vote for their favorite. Well done to everyone involved.

April 9, 2008
After weeks of hard work a really interesting project is ready for prime-time, and if we dare say so we’ve hit this one right out of the park. The NY Daily News launched its New York Yankees Stadium special yesterday, which includes an interactive timeline and image gallery slideshow built by the lovable scamps at WAI Central. What makes this project interesting is that these components form part of an interactive “toolbox” that we’re developing. This toolbox gives content owners the ability to create, configure and publish an unlimited number of components - such as polls, sweepstakes, quizzes and video players - using our unique Asset Library tool. A CMS component builder that is intuitive and actually benefits the end user? Now there’s a thought…

After weeks of hard work a really interesting project is ready for prime-time, and if we dare say so we’ve hit this one right out of the park.

The NY Daily News launched its New York Yankees Stadium special yesterday, which includes an interactive timeline and image gallery slideshow built by the lovable scamps at WAI Central.

What makes this project interesting is that these components form part of an interactive “toolbox” that we’re developing. This toolbox gives content owners the ability to create, configure and publish an unlimited number of components - such as polls, sweepstakes, quizzes and video players - using our unique Asset Library tool.

A CMS component builder that is intuitive and actually benefits the end user? Now there’s a thought…

April 3, 2008

Novel Idea For Google Maps

While there are a wealth of possible applications for data visualization/location based services, using the technology to write a short story isn’t one that immediately springs to mind. But that’s exactly what publishing giant Penguin is doing as part of its We Tell Stories digital fiction initiative.


The 21 Steps by Charles Cumming is a short story that was written for a Google Maps mash-up. You can read the story and progress through each chapter by clicking on various points on the map. We’re not convinced this format is going to replace paper and ink anytime soon, but the concept is interesting and is a sign that publishers are starting to reach-out to embrace the digital age.

April 2, 2008
Imagine the scenario. You’re walking out the door after a scintillating visit to your favorite wild bird sanctuary and suddenly the uncontrollable urge to buy an illustrated book on the feeding habits of the Northern Pygmy Owl blankets your entire body. Driving over to the nearest book store means sitting in traffic, and waiting until you get home to hop on you PC just seems so….well so darn far away. So what is a frustrated owl lover to do in this situation? Enter Amazon TextBuyIt - a new service introduced by the e-commerce giant that lets users purchase items by sending an SMS text message on their mobile phone. Mobile commerce has been somewhat slow to get off the ground, but with a company like Amazon throwing their hat in the ring this is definitely one to watch…
Imagine the scenario. You’re walking out the door after a scintillating visit to your favorite wild bird sanctuary and suddenly the uncontrollable urge to buy an illustrated book on the feeding habits of the Northern Pygmy Owl blankets your entire body. Driving over to the nearest book store means sitting in traffic, and waiting until you get home to hop on you PC just seems so….well so darn far away. So what is a frustrated owl lover to do in this situation? Enter Amazon TextBuyIt - a new service introduced by the e-commerce giant that lets users purchase items by sending an SMS text message on their mobile phone. Mobile commerce has been somewhat slow to get off the ground, but with a company like Amazon throwing their hat in the ring this is definitely one to watch…
March 31, 2008
New location based/mapping products are emerging all the time - albeit in some very unlikely areas. The folks over at Trapster are using GPS-enabled phones and a mapping application to alert drivers of active speed traps based on their location. The speed trap locations come from members of the site, who are encouraged to sign-up and submit their sightings - thus creating a huger user generated database of traps.
New location based/mapping products are emerging all the time - albeit in some very unlikely areas. The folks over at Trapster are using GPS-enabled phones and a mapping application to alert drivers of active speed traps based on their location. The speed trap locations come from members of the site, who are encouraged to sign-up and submit their sightings - thus creating a huger user generated database of traps.