Head to the nearest supermarket or quick-stop and you’ll see the walls of freezer cabinets stacked to the brim with teas, soft drinks, and waters. Some interesting visualizations from Philip H. Howard show how all of the variety is merely in your own perception, with most of the actual product tracing back to 3 big firms.
Three firms control 89% of US soft drink sales [1]. This dominance is obscured from us by the appearance of numerous choices on retailer shelves. Steve Hannaford refers to this as “pseudovariety,” or the illusion of diversity, concealing a lack of real choice [2]. To visualize the extent of pseudovariety in this industry we developed a cluster diagram to represent the number of soft drink brands and varieties found in the refrigerator cases of 94 Michigan retailers, along with their ownership and/or licensing connections.
Retailers like Best Buy expected a quick burst of sales of 3D TVs at the end of the year as Christmas sales came through, but found quite the opposite. Ending the year down, 5% for Best Buy, it seems that 3D TV’s have not had quite the commercial success that vendors hoped. Citing the usual complaints about excessive price, poor selection of content, and other reasons, I find this discovery particularly damning:
An earlier Nielsen study also found that U.S. consumers became less likely to purchase a 3-D TV set after they experienced using one. That could again be the glasses or an overexposure to 3-D marketing that, in the end, led to a disappointing experience.
If actually experiencing the product makes people actively avoid it, you’ve got a problem.
Want to see your computer, but not be physically near it? Maybe hook it up to your TV, but not deal with the whirring fans or sheer size & ugliness of the case? Galaxy’s KFA2 brand hears your complaints, and has just announced the new ‘GTX460 WHDI’ that enables wireless communication to a single display at full 1080p 60fps resolution using WHDI protocols in the 5GHz frequency band.
WHDI has a range of 30m (around 100ft for those still working in Imperial), and can work through obstacles and walls. This, says KFA2, provides a ‘hassle-free way to connect sources anywhere within a room or enable multiple connections.’ The WHDI standard supports HDCP 2.0, so it can route protected content (Blu-ray films, for example) without a problem.
We start today’s selection with some recent numbers about America, presented on a cool chart by The Nwe York Times. We also take a look on how the Recession changed us, with a help from The Atlantic. Credit Sesame explains the difference between a good and a bad debt, and from Affiliate Tip comes a great report: What do people think of Gurus? College Football by the numbers, presented by Fast Company, closes today’s edition of the Daily Viz.
Search Engine Journal has a short post up of the 5 Unbeatable types of infographics.
An infographic (information graphic) has been a very effective way to bait for links and social media votes for ages. Like anything else, it can be done right or wrong (I am sure you have seen dozens of poorly implemented infographics by now and maybe a few really good ones). How to create a good one?
Perhaps showing how Infographics have become SEO & linkbait fodder, their list is 4 of the 5 most overused types: Periodic Tables, US Maps, Venn Diagrams, and Flowcharts. I do, however, agree with this one statement:
The secret is in days (maybe months) of brainstorming. A cool concept doesn’t even have to be too very well-designed. All you need is a great idea and some time of putting it together.
Fans of Machinima and GTA 4 should check out the latest project from Mathieu Weschler, the 88-minute long film ‘The Trashmaster’.
The “trashmaster” divides his time between collecting garbage and cleaning up other forms of trash fouling up New York City’s streets: dealers, small-time criminals… When the dancers in his favourite strip club are mysteriously killed, the trashmaster finds himself hot on the trail of a particularly twisted serial killer.
I haven’t watched the whole thing yet, but so far I’m impressed!
2010 was, undoubtedly, the year of the Mobile Web, and the folks at The Next Web made a nice infographic about it. The year was also marked by the rise of collective sopping sites, and Groupon is, without question, the most recognized in the world, as we can see in Focus‘ recent design. From Nielsen comes the analysis of the U.S. Media Universe, and Wilson Electronics launched the Ultimate Cell Phone Plan picker. Finally, The Washington Post made a great overview on the past – and future – of gadgets.
Retailers like Best Buy expected a quick burst of sales of 3D TVs at the end of the year as Christmas sales came through, but found quite the opposite. Ending the year down, 5% for Best Buy, it seems that 3D TV’s have not had quite the commercial success that vendors hoped. Citing the usual complaints about excessive price, poor selection of content, and other reasons, I find this discovery particularly damning:
Want to see your computer, but not be physically near it? Maybe hook it up to your TV, but not deal with the whirring fans or sheer size & ugliness of the case? Galaxy’s KFA2 brand hears your complaints, and has just announced the new ‘GTX460 WHDI’ that enables wireless communication to a single display at full 1080p 60fps resolution using WHDI protocols in the 5GHz frequency band.
We start today’s selection with some recent numbers about America, presented on a cool chart by 
Search Engine Journal has a short post up of the 5 Unbeatable types of infographics.
Fans of Machinima and GTA 4 should check out the latest project from Mathieu Weschler, the 88-minute long film ‘The Trashmaster’.
2010 was, undoubtedly, the year of the Mobile Web, and the folks at 
VizWorld.com 
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