Cool Handmade Poker Table

Amazing craftsmanship is something we love to see here at cool pictures and today we feature a stunning handmade poker table featuring neon lights and of course cup holders, nice touch! How cool is this!

Cool Halloween Carved Pumpkins

Showcasing cool pictures of amazing halloween carved pumpkins from around the world. Some amazing designs here, check these out!

Halloween Light Show 2011 - Party Rock Anthem

Some people really go to town at Halloween. Take for example this Halloween decorated house!

Cool Halloween Pumpkin 'Jack O' Lanterns' Designs

Cool pictures of amazing artistic carved halloween pumpkin designs or 'jack o' lanterns'. Also a cool video showing how pumpkin carving is done. Let us know which one of these pumpkins is your favorite by commenting below. Jack o' lanterns originated in Ireland as hollowed out turnips with candles packed in them to keep away evil ghosts and spirits on the Samhain holiday.

Where's Wall.E Poster

Here's a cool picture or poster of 'Where's Wall E'. This picture makes a great desktop wallpaper.

Tribute to Steve Jobs in pictures

Here at cool pictures we are a massive Apple fans so here we feature pictures of Steve Jobs (1955 – 2011) as we pay our tribute to the great man behind some of the coolest gadgets the world has seen. There may be no greater tribute to Steve’s success than the fact that much of the world learned of his passing on a device he invented.

3 Apples changed the world. 

The one that Eve ate, the one that fell on Newton's head and the one that Steve Jobs built.

 

Steve Jobs Infographics - immensely interesting facts

Our tribute to Steve Jobs (1955 – 2011) features some cool infographics about the great man behind the iPod and Pixar and some interesting facts you may not have known about him.

What is gamification and cool examples

Gamification examples can be seen from the likes of Foursquare, Nike, Farmville and the Navy but what is gamification? Gamification is fundamentally rewriting the rules of engagement for product design and marketing and involves mechanics like points, badges, levels, challenges, rewards and leaderboards used by businesses to engage and interact with it's consumers. Many companies are 'gamifying' their products and services by adding cool fun game mechanics to them so people can interact with companies more. Over the past couple of decades, gaming has become massive business so of course tapping into this market is a goldmine.

On Facebook alone, 927 million hours are spent gaming on Facebook each month worldwide. That's the same as every adult in London gaming as a full-time job! Also the video game, Modern Warfare Black Ops grossed $1bn sales within 6 weeks of being released which is amazing considering that the entire set of Harry Potter films spanning 10 years grossed $4bn (excluding the latest film).

So here we look at the next big thing that is gamification and some examples of where gamification is being used already.

Farmville
The most successful example of gamification to date is Farmville. Farmville is a game played online via Facebook and has arguably set the standard for all other meta games.

Farmville achieves all of the gamification points mentioned in the above paragraph and more. At the peak of its powers, Farmville is able to attract over 30 million users every day, illustrating it is a reliable blueprint for companies that wish to follow in their footsteps. The company that created Farmville, Zynga, which is based in California, is now estimated to be worth nearly $4 billion due to the success of the game and other meta games like it which have also reached vast audiences via Facebook.

Ebay
Yes even Ebay involves gamification processes using a highly effective method of selling and buying items that may either be specialist pieces or items no longer sold or advertised in a retail environment. The method for bidding on items is a game in itself, as the ‘best’ player will eventually win the prize by outbidding other challengers. In the end, the best player is determined by placing the highest accepted bid. It’s a competitive rush to constantly bet higher amounts of money on a desirable item against a huge number of anonymous opponents.

 Other Gamification Examples:

• XBox Live
• starbucks
• Nike
• FourSquare
• Linkedin
• Hallmark

Gamification Videos
Finally, we end with two cool gamification videos for you to learn more about gamification.

Meaningful Play: Getting Gamification Right

Divers Dwarfed by Whales

A collection of cool pictures of swimmers and divers photographed next to colossal whales so you can see the sheer scale of these epic animals. 

Frozen Planet Trailer - "A World Beyond Imagination"

Attenborough is back with this stunningly cool trailer of BBC's Frozen Planet "A World Beyond Imagination". Years in the making this brand new series reveals a world as alien to most of us as the surface of the moon.

These are places of breathtaking beauty and survival against all the odds, lonely lands that feed our imagination and whose wonders we may be witnessing for the last time.

For more info check out http://www.bbc.co.uk/frozenplanet