Google is showing popular times in its local listings

This is an excellent innovation from Google - its Local Search cards (mobile only, I think) now shows the most popular times for the day you are searching.  It's presumably quite easy to do, if Google can track historic visits), and give you some very practical information if you want to avoid busy times.

From Google's blog here is info on The Louvre

& from my phone, here is info on the British Museum

It only seems to be for very popular attractions at the moment - I tried a restaurant and Selfridges without finding a search card - but it's a great innovation.

More info here

MUJI To GO - A story told with products

Muji has created a story told through products.  It starts with people packing for a journey, then follows them to their destination, and then shows why they travelled.

Short clips exist on their website here and also on Instagram.

ポリエステル持ち歩ける整理ポーチ・ショルダー付 - 荷物の整理からお出かけまで。 SHOULDER BAG IN BAG - From organizing luggage to going out on the town #muji #無印良品 #mujitogo #travel

A video posted by MUJI無印良品 (@muji_global) on Jul 7, 2015 at 8:01pm PDT

The complete film is here

Scan a Dorito

There are lots of brands who let you scan a code or a logo to win a prize or 'unlock content' like videos, but this is the first one I've seen where you scan the actual product.

Doritos are letting you scan a new 3D Bacon Ranch snack to watch exclusive videos on your phones.

As image recognition get better I expect we'll see more of these - it's easier to recognise a logo than a product, but now we may see a space to scanning biscuits, chocolate bars and more.

More here

Publishers vs Ad Blockers

Ad blockers are big news.  It's said that anything from 15 to 39% of UK internet users use ad blockers, and since they're viewing pages with no ads on them, publishers are losing lots of money as a result.

Publishers can tell if someone is using an ad blocker, and some are starting to put up notices on the site asking people - with varying levels of politeness - to turn them off.

danydanielrt.com

Lonely Planet

Expressen.se (What makes me Grumpy?  It's that you use AdBlock - stop that!)

Forbes

The Guardian (very polite, very 'Guardian', at the bottom of the page)

Wired - Banner at the top ('Do us a solid?  Me neither)

& also Channel 4 - which disables video playing for people with ad blockers

Washington Post - active from 10th September 2015

The Atlantic

Axel Springer's Bild.de - asks people to turn off ad blocker, or pay to access the site

The Mirror and The Telegraph test a similar policy

The NYT is starting to test blocking the blockers

I think we may see more people adopting Channel 4's approach - but then if people can get what you have elsewhere people will just choose to visit a different site.

Seen any other good examples?  Let me know in the comments, or on Twitter - I'm @dancall