Field Notes Inside an Integrated Communications Agency

There is some big news coming out of this weeks Consumer Electronics Show: 3D television from Sony!

The possibilities include: 
3D gaming (on your existing PS3 with just a firm ware update)
3D movies (starting now with "Cloudy with a chance of meatballs") 
3D sports (once they can convince the NCAA, NFL, NBA et al. to shoot with 3D capable equipment) 

WOW. Can you imagine Duke beating Carolina in 3D this spring? Oh wait, it doesn't all come out until this summer, so I'm getting ahead of myself. 

Of course, to view any of this 3D entertainment, you will need a new Sony 3D capable HDTV. For gaming, all your PS3 needs is a firmware upgrade. For movies, you'll need to acquire a 3D capable blue ray player and some 3D authored blue ray discs. 

My safe bet is that 3D at home will take forever to become commonplace. I would look at the slow adoption rate of HD over the last 7 years and multiply that by 10. I'm also willing to bet that one group of traditionally early adopters, the gamers, will jump at the opportunity to see heads exploding in their favorite 3D first-person shooter. 

However, danger looms on the horizon... Sony has stated that "other 3D compatible products such as “VAIO” and digital still camera product will also be introduced in 2010 and will facilitate the 3D experience at home." Does this means that consumers will be able to shoot and edit their own 3D content?! What's next, the 3D flip camera?!

Oh dear, this just got ugly, really ugly. Have any of your friends forced you to watch their shaky home movies on their HDTV? Now just imaging this experience in 3D. BLARRRRRGGGFFFFFFFFF!!!!!


http://www.sony.net/united/3D/#vision/message/

Today I come to you in the midst of what we, in my inner friend circle, refer to as "NP1." No, it's not code for a top secret mission, but rather, for us, represents "nuptials – phase 1." You know what I'm talking about, the first wave of marriages post college graduation, when approximately 50% of your college posse trade in their roles as your Friday night drinking buddies for two rings, wedded bliss and a mortgage.

I suppose it's this whirlwind of bridesmaids dresses, vows and a changing dynamic in my post-college friend group that's got me thinking about marriage in today's society. As we move into 2009, technology and the web are more a part of our lives than ever.

Army wives all over the world are using Skype to have web cam dates with their deployed husbands in Afghanistan. Is the internet becoming the new love letter from home?

Significantly increasing numbers of individuals continue to explore shared interests and intense experiences through video games in the virtual world, sometimes leading to marriages based on interpersonal relationships built through gaming. Is gaming replacing convening at the watering hole after work to meet the new, hot singles?

All of this seems second nature to my generation, it is true, but in our web saturated world, it's sometimes interesting to step back and reflect upon our definition of marriage and dream of what it could potentially mean in a completely virtual world.

In a world where emoticons replace kisses and personify physical embraces, I continue to be intrigued as the line between traditional marriages and online marriages becomes hazier with each passing day.