What we're getting into.

These are screen grabs from an amazing viral video called "People in Order" which you can find on YouTube. In it, one hundred people, aged 1 to 100 pronounce their age and hit the symbolic drum. Watching this short-but-brilliant film, hatched from a simple idea, is quite an experience. In a matter of minutes, a parade of humanity marches past you, and you can’t help but feel like a tiny spec, and feel connected to everyone else making this same journey. It’s the ultimate experience — the human experience. And it’s way cool. Watch it.

When I was a kid, my little brother got a game called Simon for Christmas. It was the coolest, most addictive, fun thing we kids had ever seen. It had four lights that lit in random sequence, which you had to duplicate. Each round added one more light to the sequence. I think our record was 20 or something, with four of us playing at once, one person assigned to each color.

So imagine the warm sense of nostalgia that washed over me when I encountered a Web banner that replicates Simon online. Of course, I played. How far did I make it? Let’s just say it wasn’t to 20. More like 4. Pathetic, I know. But I’ve had a long day. Lots of meetings. Client reviews. Fires to put out. And I um….I saved a poodle’s life on my lunch hour. While on a conference call.

Anyway, I’m sure many of you know the game. What struck me while playing (which could be what distracted me so I only got to 4) was the old adage "There are no new ideas." While I’ve never really believed that’s true, and people disprove it every day, it certainly applies to this communication. Sony is banking on the emotional response of people like me who remember the original game, loved it, and long to play it again in its new and improved version. They recognized too that the original creators of Simon were onto something. And they were.

Here are two pictures: one of the old Simon, one of the new.
To play the new version online, which has much cooler sound effects and way more sophisticated graphics than the original, go here.

I’m an unabashed Amazon.com fan. Even though they’re considered the Wal-Mart of the literary world it’s hard to deny that they’ve created a great user experience. And it keeps getting better. Here’s a screen shot from a page touting a new feature. Now, instead of merely typing in a review of a book, CD, DVD, or whatever, you can upload a video of yourself making the comments. And, of course, right beneath the part of the page that tells you about this new feature is a promo for the video camera that makes it so easy to use. It’ll be interesting to see how popular this new feature becomes.