Digimarc was chosen as App of the Day by Apple’N’Apps.com! We are honored and pleased to be in such excellent company as Apple’s Store app and Mint.com.

House Beautiful magazine first began using Digimarc Discover™ technology in their July/August issue. Their adventure with digital watermarks was a success, and the October edition contained seven watermarks and introduced a new digital Table of Contents section. You can read the full press release here. The momentum continued to build when they announced that their November cover would be their first to be digitally watermarked. The payoff was a fantastic video short that paid homage to early Andy Warhol films. As of late, House Beautiful has also announced that they will begin leveraging digital watermarks in their advertising and marketing beginning in February 2012. Take a peek at the video below of Digimarc Discover in action in their November pages:

 

I'm very excited to announce that the Digimarc Discover™ Online Services Portal now offers two new tools for customers to create print-to-mobile campaigns that can deliver even richer media experiences and help drive ongoing engagement.  The new Pop-Up Label Overlay and Menu Button Overlay templates empower consumers to choose the product and/or experience that they want to have prior to being connected to an online landing page.

We’ve had increasing interest by our customers on how to best maintain the integrity of digital watermarks. Here are a few tips and tricks that should help in the long run:

High strength watermarks survive the best.
Make sure to embed your images with a higher strength; this just means you are putting more watermark signal into your image. With our new "Chroma" technology, we suggest using an embed strength of 3 or 4, as the watermark should still be imperceptible. It is also easier for your watermark to survive when you save your final image at a maximum quality setting in Photoshop.

I’m a newbie at Digimarc and have dived headfirst into all the possibilities that digital watermarking has to offer. Prior to Digimarc, my only exposure to action codes was of the QR variety. The graphic designer in me shouted, “They’re so ugly!” Now that I’ve been introduced to Digimarc Discover™, I’m thrilled with the possibilities of an imperceptible solution. With digital watermarking, magazines and catalogs wanting to provide print-to-mobile experiences no longer have to sacrifice valuable real estate with square barcodes. House Beautiful is a great example of a publication doing some cutting edge mobile initiatives with Digimarc Discover.

In my quest to find information to share in our social media world, I came across Stereo Abstract who is an Online Services Portal customer. It’s exciting to see that our customers have taken the possibilities of digital watermarking and created their own pieces of art. Check out the preview of his interactive art book powered by Digimarc Discover.  He’s upped the value factor and plans on taking his readers on a journey – not just to his website but to content-rich videos about his artist background and influences. Thank you for the inspiration Stereo Abstract, and we look forward to your upcoming creation!

InPublishing just wrote an exciting article about how Armani launched a campaign that uses digital watermarks. This campaign was delivered by Digimarc's partner Digital Space in the UK.

You've probably noticed that a lot of campaigns today are starting to incorporate different types of codes that enable consumers to interact with the brand or product. Digital watermarks are an imperceptible alternative; much more appealing than your typical QR code or machine readable codes. We like to say: The bridge from print to online doesn't have to be square!

We've already seen magazines like House Beautiful, Xbox 360, Photoshop User, and many more integrate digital watermarks into their publication. And we're starting to see a lot of traction and interest with digital watermarks, so we'll continue to update you as more publications hit the street using technology enabled by Digimarc Discover.

Australia’s Public Accountant is the first financial magazine to use digital watermarking. There are five digital watermarks in the October/November issue of Public Accountant. There’s also an entire page educating readers on the technology, informing readers where to find the watermarked content throughout the issue, and how to use the Digimarc Discover app.

Interested in learning about Consumer Law in the Land Down Under? On page 33, you’ll find an
explanatory video on The Australia Consumer Law that went into effect on January 1, 2011. Check it out – you might learn something.

In the Oct/Nov issue, you can also order accounting handbooks and guidelines right from the printed page. If you’re an IPA member, you get 15% membership discount that can be applied immediately. And if you’re not an IPA member, find out how on page 79.

(Sorry, Velvet Underground and Andy Warhol fans. The banana on the cover is not a peel off sticker.)

For some reason smartphone manufacturers neglect to tell us that your smartphone camera does NOT take a photo when you tap on the shutter button. The camera takes the photo when you RELEASE the shutter button, or at least it does on iPhone and Android phones that follow the OS specs.

So... when you are trying to get that photo of your kids, pet or a group that's in motion, try this: Place your finger on the shutter button and release it when you see the shot you want to take.

You'll avoid shaking the phone by not tapping on the shutter button. You could get a shot of your friends or kids smiling! Better photos in less than 30 seconds.

 
Yes, our friends at House Beautiful are working their digital magic once again. The October issue of House Beautiful includes 7 interactive features ranging from a photo slideshow of October’s Master Class designer, Jeffrey Bilhuber, to Chef Tyler Florence taking readers on a video tour of House Beautiful’s 2011 Kitchen of the Year in Rockefeller Center. You’ll even find inspiration from Artists Craig Schumacher and Joseph La Piana as their designs come alive right from the magazine!House Beautiful is making it easy for readers to identify the enhanced content by including a special Table of Contents specifically highlighting the digitally watermarked special features.
Grab your copy today!

If you exhibit at tradeshows, you know you're paying a small fortune to spend a few moments communicating your message to potential customers. To reinforce that momentary connection you give them a memento, AKA tradeshow swag. Can that notepad, mug or T-shirt communicate with them?

Let's make that notepad, mug or T-shirt tell your story long after the event!

By adding a digital watermark to that coffee mug, the customer's smartphone could be playing your video, getting your latest product updates, adding you to their contacts or entering your contest. This could be done with a QRcode, but which mug would you prefer to give away?

Learn how to accomplish this with Digimarc Discover...

Join John Batdorff, professional photographer and author of Black and White: From Snapshots to Great Shots, as he shares with you his vision and straight forward techniques for creating compelling black and white images — protected by Digimarc for Images. Registration is free!

Check out some of John's great photos and read his blog at http://www.batdorffphotography.com.