Asterpix recently launched the ability to add tags and links on top of videos. Essentially, you can create your own hotspots.

Here you can see the hotspot in action with two surfers video below:

UPDATE: Apparently the embed was causing problems on some browser versions, so I have removed it. Check out the link here.

I can think of a few reasons why you might want to use hotspotting:

• Hotspots could be great for advertisers who want to provide more product info in an additional link
• Helps to highlight a particular scene or frame that you want to call out to other viewers
• I’m guessing you could even use these as tags to make searching within a video a lot easier

There doesn’t seem to be a ton of traction with this format yet (the most popular video only has 85K in views), but I would imagine that this type of functionality will be de rigeur for video sites in the future. This isn’t true “interactive” video, but it does add more depth to the current online video viewing experience.

I really like Hugh McLeod’s discussion of social markers and social objects on Gapingvoid. His definition of a social object is that it is the “node” that permits interaction between two people. A social marker is a type of social object that provides context of your position in a given social ecosystem.

For example, in NYC, a form of social marker is telling people what neighborhood you live in. If someone tells you that they live in Chelsea, and you do as well, then you have a shared context through that social marker. You may then proceed to discuss all the insider places to go in Chelsea (Grand Sichuan, Chelsea Markets, Cafe Grumpy, galleries, etc.). If someone tells you that they live in Williamsburg, and you live in Chelsea, you still have context through that social marker. It is an information point that *can* provide context for your interaction.

Hugh also has a calling card/biz card service where you can order blogcards and choose from a selection of his illustrations on one side of the card, and put your contact information on the other side. It is kinda funny that Hugh started out by drawing doodles on the back of business cards that were given to him, and now you can buy cards that have his illustrations and hand them out to others. Nice turn of events if you ask me!

Butch from TAOW just shared this really cool 360 video below on their blog - once the video loads, simply put your mouse in the screen and move your mouse right/left or up/down to see a larger view. I think there are a ton of interesting ways that this technology could be used for brands. For example, imagine a narrative idea that benefits from watching the video a couple times, each from a different angle to put together a larger story. And this works in Flash - which is cool as it means you don’t need to worry about QT or Java plug-ins to have this functionality work.

Google recently snagged Andy Berndt from Ogilvy to head up their new Google Creative Lab. Not much has been revealed about what Andy will be doing there, but this interview with David Kaplan at Paidcontent.org starts to shed some light on what Andy’s philosophy is in regards to the future of advertising, and how Google fits in that picture.

Google has recently opened up their iGoogle themes so you can create your own custom themes. There aren’t a ton of themes right now, but there are a few designed by fuseproject designer Yves Behar, simplicity design guru John Maeda, Boing Boing writer Mark Frauenfelder, and Troy Lee. All are very pretty! I installed Behar’s which is a cool dynamic projection of the world. Very smart for Google to include these design stars in launching a new functionality from a marketing POV - I’ll bet that it will help in both the adoption and design of new themes.