Seat Geek is a free service that helps users find tickets when they're cheapest. Currently focused on Major League Baseball games and select concerts in the US, Seat Geek employs a sophisticated algorithm to predict whether the price of a queried ticket is set to rise or fall—similar to what Bing Travel (formerly Farecast) does for flight tickets. If the price is expected to go down, users can sign up to receive a free email alert when it's at rock bottom. Seat Geek also scours the web in for the best deals at any moment, linking to affiliated ticket merchants like StubHub, RazorGator and eBay.

Seat Geek's patent-pending algorithm draws on a large pool of data that includes millions of historical ticket transactions. This data is crunched together with other factors, such as, for baseball games: team statistics, the weather, the venue, the price-level of the seat—even who'll be pitching. According to SeatGeek co-founder Jack Groetzinger, the algorithm is accurate 80% of the time, and it's also self-training, meaning it gets better every day.

As our sister-site explains in its latest briefing, consumers increasingly expect instant gratification. Seat Geek and other 'prediction engines' take that one step further, by drawing on the web's informational riches to tell consumers how things will be, enabling them to make better decisions now. The future has never been as near, and opportunities abound for entrepreneurs that can bring it even closer. (Related: Zigabid ticketing marketplace — Real-time pricing error alerts for consumers to pounce on.)

Website: www.seatgeek.com
Contact: admin@seatgeek.com

Spotted by: Cecilia Biemann

There's no shortage of real-world games that use technology to add a virtual element, as we've already seen in such examples as Treasure World, The Hidden Park, LocoMatrix and Swinxs. What's less common is to see classic board games add technological features to their game play, yet that's just what Hasbro has done to its decades-old game Clue.

Clue: Secrets & Spies is a new twist on the classic board game that adds text messaging to its game play. Players in the game are challenged to stop the nefarious Agent Black, who is plotting an assortment of evil capers. To do so, they must go undercover as international agents, complete missions and attend secret meetings. An included "spy light" can be used to reveal secrets, while players' cell phones can be used to receive Spy Text messages that could help or hinder their game. Players need only text the word "SPY" to 90445 to start receiving messages, which will number six in total during the course of a game. Participating mobile operators are AT&T, T-Mobile US, Nextel, Boost, Virgin, US Cellular, NTelos, Dobson, Sprint, Verizon Wireless and Cincinnati Bell Wireless; the cost of text messages is not included in the game's USD 24.99 price.

By adding a thoroughly modern twist to a classic game, Hasbro not only stands to attract a younger crowd of mobile-minded users, it also provides yet another illustration of what our sister site calls the OFF=ON trend, whereby the lines separating the online and offline worlds are increasingly blurring. Other game makers: what about you...?

Website: www.hasbro.com/clue/default.cfm?page=Products/Detail&product_id=24609
Contact: hasbro.custhelp.com

Spotted by: nytimes via Judy McRae

When we recently reported on Verizon's sponsorship of the New York Mets' interactive big screen, we noticed that the telecom giant is also bringing social media to the small screen, with a Twitter widget for its FiOS fiber optic TV service. The widget, freely available to all FiOS subscribers, is displayed on one half of the TV screen, allowing viewers to continue watching their favourite show while following a related feed or discussing it with their followers on Twitter.

The Twitter widget, available to the approximately 2.5 million households with FiOS TV, has been very successful so far, with some 1 million users in the first few days. It's part of a suite of applications available to FiOS customers through the service's 'Widget Bazaar', which also includes a Facebook app—proving popular for picture sharing—and Blip.tv, which hosts user-produced video content. Following in the footsteps of Apple's trendsetting App Store, Verizon has announced that it will also be opening the Widget Bazaar to third-party developers.

Older technologies that have sought to integrate the web and TV have failed to make much of an impact, and it remains to be seen whether new television interfaces will be able to compete with the laptops, netbooks and smartphones that have already joined their owners on the living room couch. The larger implications are less uncertain: by giving viewers real-time connectivity as they watch, Verizon is tapping into a growing consumer trend. More about that in our sister-site's latest briefing on nowism.

Website: www.verizon.com/fios
Contact: www22.verizon.com/content/ContactUs

Spotted by: Duncan Rickelton

It's no secret that record labels are searching for new ways of doing business. Earlier this year we spotted Groove Armada's distribution partnership with Bacardi. Now Mariah Carey is joining the fun, orchestrating several sponsorships for her latest album, 'Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel'.

Carey recorded the album in the Bahamas, so sponsorship by the Bahamas Board of Tourism was a natural fit. As was Elizabeth Arden, which sells Carey's Forever perfume. Other sponsors include Métier De Beauté beauty cosmetics and Angel champagne. Sponsorship comes in the form of a small booklet that accompanies the album, filled with glossy advertisements that promote a Mariah Carey-esque lifestyle. The content of the 'mini-magazine' will be written by Elle's editorial staff, and the magazine will be distributed to the first 1.5 million buyers of the CD, which comes out later this month. According to an article in The Sunday Times, the sponsorship reportedly covered the cost of making the album (GBP 4 million) album.

The initiative has great potential for sponsors. “We sell records to people who buy lots of other stuff,” says Antonio Reid, chairman of Mariah's label—Island Def Jam Records—in The Sunday Times. “My artists sell two, five, eight million records, and people hold on to them for years. Most magazines are not that successful.” The label says it’s now ready to try out sponsorship with a few other 'commercially-minded' artists like Kanye West and Bon Jovi.

While this level of commmercialism will no doubt be viewed as selling out by many artists and fans, a considered and appropriate approach makes it a model that could work for other performing artists.

Website: www.islanddefjam.com

Spotted by: Bjorn Verbrugghe

Although street art is experiencing a renaissance, the old issue of vandalism remains. YrWall is an interactive virtual graffiti wall that avoids the drips and damage because, quite simply, there's no paint involved. Users paint on a projection screen using a can that's actually an infra-red beam controlled by a button and tracked using a computer vision system. By pressing the faux spray can's button, users draw on the wall much like using their computer's draw function, but without the mouse and on a much larger scale. A pop-up interface provides an array of digital paint colours and also allows users to select themes like nature or urban; grabbing images from these themes to add to their piece.

YrWall, which can be hired short- or long-term or installed bespoke, has already been quite a hit at events like the UK's Secret Garden Party. Adding to the concept's appeal and branding opportunities, people can receive a free digital copy of their art to share with friends, or can have their design printed on t-shirts and stickers right after they've finalized their piece.

While YrWall isn't going to eclipse the interest in genuine street art and good old spray-can graffiti, it’s an appealing mix of physical and digital, and of performance and play. Which could make for an irresistible offering for event organizers and their novelty-seeking clients.

Website: www.yrwall.com
Contact: www.yrwall.com/contact.aspx

Spotted by: Frank Meeuwsen

Consumers can already tap the wisdom of the crowds for advice about their image, their style or even their marital disputes. Now taking the notion a step further, Instant Jury gives them a way to resolve conflicts of most any kind—marital or otherwise.

People stuck in a dead-end argument about virtually anything under the sun can open a "case" on Instant Jury to bring it to "the court of public opinion." Current examples include a disgruntled man who claims his female coworker cheated to win a sales contest by wearing revealing shirts, and another man who wants his neighbour to buy some headphones while he's learning to play guitar. Users of the site choose a username, give their case a name and description, and then list the stakes—lunch, for example, in the case of the sales contest dispute. Once that's done, the defendant in the case receives an email asking them to participate—also anonymously, via the username of their choice—and give their own side. If they agree within 24 hours, the case becomes live and both sides get the chance to present opening and closing arguments in their defense, as well as uploading supporting evidence such as photos, emails, etc. The jury—made up of at least three interested visitors to the site—then "deliberates" and casts its votes, leading ultimately to a final decision; if fewer than seven votes are received, the site's resident "judge"—dubbed "Hugh D. Cyde"—gets the final say.

Potential jurors can search for interesting cases by category ("classmates," for example, or "office politics") as well as by descriptors including "Ending Soon," "Cold Cases" and "Most Viewed." They can leave comments as the case progresses, and each case they serve on earns them juror credits that increase their rank and—ultimately—will get them special privileges. Ad-supported Instant Jury is based in New Jersey. One to localize and bring to the bickering masses near you...?

Website: www.instantjury.com
Contact: info@instantjury.com

Spotted by: Brett Reilly

Much the way Webkinz pets are more than just stuffed animals, so t-shirts can be more than just t-shirts when they forge links to the online world. The conversation-starters offered by Reactee, Shyno and Augme are one type of example; now bringing a new purpose to such connections comes The Music Tee, a shirt that gives wearers the right to free music downloads.

The new offering from Invisible DJ and fashion house LnA features album art on the front of the t-shirt and a list of tracks on the back. Included on a separate hang tag, meanwhile, are a URL and a unique code that can be used to download one copy of each of the tracks printed on the shirt. The first such unisex tee features an eclectic compilation of artists from around the world, curated by Invisible DJ; with 14 tracks, it's priced at USD 60. The second Music Tee—due to become available on July 7—features The Ecstatic by Mos Def. With 16 tracks, it costs USD 39. Both are available exclusively at Ron Herman and LNAclothing.com.

Band t-shirts have long given fans a way to visibly proclaim their musical taste, but bundling with downloads adds an extra incentive for consumers to buy, and at a considerably higher price. Indeed, the OFF=ON connection is giving companies in industries far and wide new ways to connect with customers—not to mention new revenue streams. How about your brand...? (Related: Premium concert tickets come with free love — Indie download cards — Music by Groove Armada, distribution by Bacardi.)

Website: www.lnaclothing.com/musictee
Contact: info@invisibledj.com

Spotted by: Judy McRae

Two years ago, we covered a few mobile services that help users find the nearest public restroom. Focusing instead on when to go, RunPee is a web-based service and soon-to-be mobile app that maps out loo-break moments for popular movies.

Users can choose from an extensive list of movies currently in theatres, and a few classics like Aliens and Star Wars. A time graph of the film indicates when it's safe to disappear for a minute or two. The website lists a cue line to listen for, and the approximate amount of time before something important happens. For those who want to find out what they missed, a box of scrambled text can be clicked on to reveal what was missed. The site will also note if there's a scene after the credits, so movie-goers don't run out of the cinema before the film is actually over.

Anyone can contribute suggested break times to the listed films, which as they say, makes RunPee a Wiki-pee-dia of sorts. (Sorry…) An iPhone application is currently awaiting approval from Apple, meaning weak-bladdered users will soon be able to check in from the theatre. Which is, of course, where the concept shines. One for drinks manufacturers to sponsor, encouraging sales of 48-ounce colas?

Website: www.runpee.com
Contact: polygeek@runpee.com

Spotted by: Susanna Haynie