The team has just refreshed our AIR-based Top 100 Video widget with a great new Intel-sponsored skin. Download the latest version to apply a groovy new Intel desktop to your computer. To get to the desktop file click the in-stream Intel ads that appear at the bottom of the videos. Several performance improvements were also made to this release.

As if that were not enough: the FUZE "unbreakable" campaign microsite has just launched within AOL Music. Conceived in a brainstorm with Coke's online media agency, this advertiser program shows just how advantageous it can be to wrap great programming around a rich advertiser experience. The Flash site was built by the development team within two weeks (!), after a design gestation period of approximately three weeks (that is concept to sketch to approved design). We were fortunate in that the work was accepted by the clients very early in the process. They were great partners in that regard and helped us make the deadline by expediting approvals and empowering the AOL team to make it happen.


Check out the hammer and try to find the hidden clues :-)

Well, considering that that experience has little to do with words, I'll just say "check it out"...



But, if you like to read, the site says: "VUVOX is excited about the coming introduction of a new personal expression platform - called COLLAGE. This dynamic media creation suite will enable everyone to easily turn their photos, videos, text and audio clips into interactive story panoramas." At last someone finally built one of those. Been waiting... Thanks to Jonathan Meyers for the tip.

PIXCETERA is a fully fleshed-out celebration of the craft of photography and has, as its central innovation, the ability to dynamically "read" galleries being published across the AOL network and consolidate them into one website (some innovations are not so obvious). Our users clicked billions of photos last year so we're hopeful that bringing all of this amazing programming work into one website fulfills an unmet need for them.

It is important to note that the site is not trying to compete with flickr as a UGC play (I myself am a faithful user of the site). Though we do have plans for user upload and gallery publishing and favorites, the main concept here is to bring the best programmed photography experiences in our network into one simple interface and provide the user the ability to "skip" across topics effortlessly.

One of my favorite little features is the ability to reskin the interface to white, gray or black so you can view photos in your own neutral tone of choice.

We've only just begun so expect some interesting innovations out of the pixcetera team over the coming months. And please let us know what you think.

I am sooooo tired of my mouse. Move-click-move-click-move-click-move-click-click-move. We've been using mice for almost 25 years now while movies like Minority Report have shown us a glimpse of a future where all you have to do is wave your hands around a bit to get the job done (OK, you also have to live with Tom Cruze in a distopian future (OK, some might argue that we already are living with Tom Cruze in a distopian future)). Yes, there are some extremely big expensive systems thate promise to do some cool things, but we need something cheap and portable.

The portfolio for Publicis & Hal Riney are taking us into the future with a Flash site that allows you to navigate with hand gestures using your Web cam. Just move your hand over certain "hot spots" in front of your computer (shown in a handy mini-window on the bottom right of the screen) and you can move around their portfolio to see their ideas, news, and examples of their work. It may not be replacing your mouse anytime soon, but it's still pretty cool.

AOL Television has an informative microsite dedicated to the show America cannot get enough of: Idol. But whether or not you are totally sick of Simon Cowell (um, like me), or hanging on every potentially off note you'll dig this nice poll interface. Though we have been using this format for some time, somehow the team keeps making it more and more interesting visually. Great build and drama in the movements. Check it out.

It was a heartbreaking loss for Memphis but for the first time in 20 years the Jayhawks are the NCAA BB Champions. The final game tonight capped off a tumultuous final on March Madness and was the end of a record year for AOL Sports. The March Madness package was the best to date, surpassing our goals and setting page view records, that included editorial coverage of each region, live bracket scores via an interactive flash scoreboard and individual gamepages with news, team and player stats.

The heart of the package was built on original coverage, realtime game data, player stats and differentiated further by a strong edgier look and feel that made the package stand out on its own. Top it off with a first class sponsor in Audi.

We rounded off the experience with a host of games for tournament fans. Starting off with the best looking printable bracket to the interactive bracket games built in collaboration with our partner Stats, inc. -- Bracket Challenge, Bracket Manager and Second Chance Challenge.

To commemorate the five year anniversary of the war in Iraq, Reuters joined with MediaStorm to create a multimedia project portraying the agency's coverage and bureau. The presentation 'Bearing Witness' is both succinct and substantial, extracting stories and images epitomizing the futility of this war and iconography representing the agency's ubiquity.

I am consistently impressed with MediaStorm productions, and this is no exception. The chronology of the war was beautifully interlaced with the chronology of coverage, of personalized accounts from within the bureau representative of the greater conflict. The most harrowing account came from Samia Nakhoul, the Gulf Bureau Chief who had been covering Iraq since 1991. She explains the destitution of watching a country destroyed, her own body mauled, and the weight of Post-Trauma after seeing children killed. She cannot cover war any longer.

A despondent thread ran through all of the interviews. Most mentioned that this was like any other war. Civilians are always effected in wartime, but the account painted was one of complete inseparability from all involvement; of complete defenselessness within Iraq. There was no insinuation of positivity, just a tributary nod to all involved and a sad remembrance of the lost. There is a huge amount of heroism in war coverage, but the price is an irreversible reverence for lost relationships, and lost pieces of ones self.

I previously wrote about my exhilaration while seeing photographer Ryan McGinley's work in Amsterdam, but I have to say, The New York Times has fulfilled me more.

The most recent NYT magazine featured a surreal spread of McGinley's young Hollywood portraits. The implementation of the content online allowed for an interactive multimedia template and the integration of audio commentary. The images were highlighted by the online interplay, but in the end, the images stand formidably alone.

McGinley's portraits have a voyeuristic sentiment; as if you were catching a spontaneous moment during a camping trip. The faces are often obfuscated through weeds, water, snow, like a snapshot during a water break, afternoon nap. The colors are unpredictable, evoking the visual landscape of a Cindy Sherman nightmare in lieu of a dreamy, white-balanced studio-setting. Instead of portraying an idealized glamor, McGinley converts the hyper-movie star to a self-conscious friend. It's refreshing to see images of Hollywood not about the beautification of face, but about the idiosyncrasies of a personality we are privy enough to discover.

The race for the presidency starts tonight. As the first of many caucuses and primaries for the 2008 elections gets underway tonight in Iowa, it signals the start of our official election results coverage.

We've developed one of the most comprehensive election websites at AOL to date. There are many significant achievements to cover, such as the interactive maps with detailed state by state results to the fully automated modules and widgets (the list goes on and on). Thanks to the entire team for all the dedication, hard work and attention to detail.

After the polls close tonight at 9pm, the results will start pouring in and the site will come alive.

Check it out: Full Election Coverage | Iowa Democratic Results | Iowa Republican Results

Yes, it is that time of year when every agency tries to outdo each other with the ultimate Holiday card site. I am giving the award to RGA this year for this hilarious use of new Flash "Papervision 3D" technology. After Christmas R/GA can just change the subject to Cupid and have a huge hit on Valentine's day as well. You'll know what I mean after you send your loved one a personalized tattooed Santa card.

If you want to know more about "how they did that" you can check out this overview and tutorial by Paul Spitzer, an ActionScript Architect writing on the Adobe Developer site. He says, "With the introduction of a new 3D engine, Papervision 3D, the creative control you can exert over Flash video has gotten a whole lot wilder". Just when you thought video playback was becoming a stable and standard "viral play" implementation. This new wildcard will ultimately allow ads and other related video to be played on the surfaces WITHIN a video! Far out.

Our Key Experiences team is already thinking of ways to leverage this within our programming and interfaces in 2008. I can't wait to see what they come up with.

This past week we launched an entirely new AOL News product called Hot Seat.

The concept is simple. Take a question of controversial nature, put it in front of an audience with an average of 25 million pageviews per day and it will start a conversation, maybe even a heated debate.

The main objective is to get the candidate to respond. In our first few days of launching, the John Edwards campaign responded to Mark Halperin's question, "Could John Edwards really win Iowa?".

So far the poll has generated 70,914 votes from users across the nation and has spurred Edwards' campaign to respond. His response appears just below the poll results along with hundreds of user comments.

We've gathered a few of the best minds in the political blogesphere to engage the candidates that will be on the Hot Seat. This group includes Arianna Huffington and Bill Maher from the Huffington Post, the Politico's John Harris, Slate's chief political writer John Dickerson and many more.

John Edwards this past Friday. Who will be next? New Polls each weekday...

Political Machine | Hot Seat Archive | Most Commented

Sometimes an experience isn't interactive and is PURELY aesthetic as in this experimental animation using icons and illustrations from nature. And sometimes an experience is best seen and not written about, just like this one. Sure it could be better if the user caused something to happen within it, but the show is tantalizing and captivating nonetheless. Check it out.

Aside from the animation I do like the transparent nav panel that collapses on the left. I have been trying to do something like this at AOL for the last 4 years though our research shows that if you want someone to click on something it is best to expose it.

It's the most wonderful time of the year, right? The whole world decorates, the lights are up, the candles are ready, the air is crisp and full of spirit. We've all received holiday catalogs, been spammed with wonderful offers, and are struggling to schedule our holiday calendars to be full of cheer and low of stress. It's a time to give good tidings to all and special gifts of thanks and love.

This also happens to be the time when really cool interactive greeting cards make their way onto the stage. Instead of our usual daily gruel of news and RSS we finally get a chance to sink our dentures into some figgy pudding. This was my favorite from last year:


http://www.bigspaceship.com/holidaycard2006/

Brilliant! Make your own Mystery Science Theater 2000 piece... send it to others. How funny. How creative. How easy. How.. well, jolly!

Please sir, may I have some more?
Tell us about some of the best ones you remember?

Let's all try to put some silly (Ger. selig "blessed, happy, blissful") into our holidays (O.E. haligdæg, from halig "holy" + dæg "day").

Sun Sachs, Director of Key Experiences demos the AIR applications AOL featured at Adobe Max in Chicago. Click here to Download Widget.

The Key Experiences team recently launched the My Favorite Artists widget on the Facebook platform, you can select your top 10 for the list of a 100 artists from AOL Music. This is our first outing on the Facebook platform, but this definitely takes a lot of the thinking and customization we put into all the widgets we produce and delivers a great experience including photo and videos in compact form factor.

We are now working on an AIR version that will be desktop based and will include all artists on AOL Music. These smaller vehicles are great ways for us share our content creating a more intimate relationships with our users with content that they choose to engage with.

These widgets are free and if you have a Facebook account add this to your profile page, it's free, customizable and fun. For more information and to see a full suite of the desktop and web based apps click here.