Just noticed today that ComScore started measuring Internet audience in Portugal, and the numbers do look solid.

The study points to more than 3.8 million people age 15 and older, spending an average 1.9 hours online per person during the month, numbers that will probably be discussed the next 26th November at CAEM i-com National Roundtable (on Twitter @icomglobal).

The last few months i’ve also noticed a renewed interest on giving solid data about Internet behavior, as the market grows bigger with droves of new users consuming more bandwidth (either broadband or mobile).

The data on social networks is finally shedding some public light (disclaimer: Fullsix Portugal has also some panel data on user behavior), with no surprises on the top place for Hi5.com. Facebook numbers show some solid growth, but i’m still a bit far on my prediction that Hi5 would be surpassed by the end of 2009 (even if i seriously suspect that already happened in terms of active users). Twitter is a lot bigger than i expected, and something that most marketeers in my country have been ignoring.

Source: ComScore

Since Cannes doesn’t matter anymore, we’d better start thinking about a new kind of awards, that are somehow different from the usual creative masturbation, more in tune with the future of advertising.

Lisbon Ad School and Torke are announcing the first Guerrilla Advertising Awards, showcasing works in categories as diverse as ambush marketing, urban intervention, PR Stunt, ambient media or viral and interactive. And just to make sure guerrilla is for everyone, there’s an Old Croquette Awards, for senior creatives.

You can submit your work for FREE, as a team or on behalf of your agency, with winners announced the next July, 24th.

Disclaimer: I’ll be one of the online categories jurors

Oops … seems the exit train station is Oeiras. Google Maps, don’t be evil.

Fired up and ready to OFFF ? If you’re packing your stuff and looking for a way around Lisbon, look no further. Here’s a snack size post with all you need to know to enjoy your time in Lisbon and find your way to the festival.

Lisbon

The city of seven hills, the Frisco of Europe, with the yellow trams and the iconic bridge, it’s asking you to be discovered with their hospitality and unforgettable gastronomy (try the fish).
Start at St Jorge’s Castle and go downhill to Alfama’s historic district, or explore Belem and the two World Heritage buildings: Jeronimo’s Monastery and Belem’s Tower.

Photo by Pedro Moura Pinheiro

When you’re done with monuments, get ready for a bit of shopping at the commercial district near Restauradores and take a ride on Santa Justa Lift to Carmo, one of the landmarks of Abril’s peaceful revolution. You can then rest for a while at Brasileira or walk a bit further to see the sunset at Graça. Now ready for the nightlife, head to Bairro Alto district, where you can eat on the more traditional Fado houses or have a go at the several ethnic restaurants, getting strengths for the non-stop movida (well, until 3am at least). For those still standing, time for a few clubs at Cais do Sodré or dance until the day dawns at Lux.

If you’re looking where to stay, there’s plenty to choose from, with accommodation for all budgets, starting with Hotel Açores to the hostels of 2 close friends: Lisbon Calling and Albergo Odisseo (I did the website of the last one a few years ago :). You could try any of these, and even if all booked, they’ll point you other good choices.

How to get there

Now that you got acquainted with Lisbon and the hangover from last night at Bairro Alto is long gone, time to OFFF.
The easiest way is by subway taking the green line all the way to the end (even if you’re commuting from the blue line), reaching Cais do Sodré station.

Photo by ghostboy

Get to the street level and buy a ticket to Oeiras, on the train leaving to Cascais (PDF timetable).
Now don’t you get distracted with the seaside scenery and forget to get out on time.

If you’re driving there, take N6 (Avenida Marginal) and exit in Oeiras (at the right side of the beach). On the roundabout a few meters ahead turn left and then right all the way up to Fundição de Oeiras, right across the train station.

View OFFF 2009 / Oeiras.Portugal in a larger map

Hope to meet you there on Thursday.

Less than a 5 minutes walk from were i live, stands a 75 meters wide outdoor, that a few weeks ago had only written a strange URL: www.o-que-e-isto.com (translated as what-is-this.com).

Once you got to the website you could upload your photo and had a chance to be featured on this huge outdoor, as one of the 68 face drawings on the final illustration.

UGO (english version) from FullSix on Vimeo.

The integrated campaign, developed by Fullsix Portugal for mobile carrier TMN is a great example how the boundaries between online and offline life are disappearing, extending our presence not only on multiple platforms but now also AFK (away from keyboard). The User Generated Content went offline to online and back again, with the outdoor sharing the iterative nature of digital communication.

After a few months absent, my favorite Portuguese online magazine has returned. Rua de Baixo launched today their second version, a truly 2.0 release, as the site is being powered by Wordpress and it’s still in beta.

Started in 2003, it achieved a recognition as one of the main online references of portuguese urban culture, publishing the latest news, events and featuring a wide range of artists and projects. The quality of their online publishing efforts is testified by their faithful readers and newsletter subscribers and more than 40 contributing writers.

Rua de Baixo V2 Launch Teaser on Youtube
The team/collective did a great job on the new version, with new features and a more acessible website (the old one was a frame nightmare). Congratulations, David Carvalho, Hugo Pinheiro, Mário João Camolas and Pedro Marques and to the tech team at Spirituc.

The relaunch edition goes by the theme of DIY, a look on the Do It Yourself spirit of 7 portuguese artists: Joana Bastos (Art); António Aleixo (Cinema); Photonz (Production/DJ); Paulo Almeida (Fashion); Noiserv (Music); Rui Vieira (Design) and Cristina Miguel (Fashion).

On the regular sections, you can fin the usual great news coverage of music, with a a new X-Wife video (canIHaz embedded video player, plz ?), the always surprising cult findings, and an interview with the director of with my latest tv series addiction, made in Portugal, Um Mundo Catita.

Even if you don’t understand a word of Portuguese, have a look and bookmark it as one of the main online references on portuguese urban culture.

OFFF, The International Festival For the Post Digital Creation Culture will have their 2009 edition in Portugal (7, 8, 9 May), with the new venue at Fundação de Oeiras, with lots of artists and speakers already confirmed. If you haven’t noticed, the tickets have been on sale for a while, but you can still get early bird prices until the end of this week.

Kyle Cooper, UVA (United Visual Artists), Multitouch Barcelona, Stefan Sagmeister, Paula Scher (Pentagram), Renascent, James Paterson (Presstube), Digital Kitchen, Joshua Davis, Karsten Schmidt (Toxi & PostSpectacular), Universal Everything, Aaron Koblin, Hillman Curtis, Si Scott Studio, Chris Milk, Kozyndan, Jason Bruges Studio, Ivan Franco, Neubau Berlin, This Is Pacifica, Alva, R2, Musa Worklab, Robert L. Peters, Suprb and Eva Vermandel are lined up for Roots with more to come the next few months.

The new venue is really close to the beach and will offer better conditions, with lots of space for artists who want to show their work at the catalogue. The Swedish digital media school, Hyperisland will be around (though not as part of their World Tour) for a special workshop and a 2 hours lecture.

Personally, it will be the chance to finally meet the men who inspired me to work in interactive, Mr. Hillman “MTIV (Making the Invisible Visible)” Curtis. Almost 10 years since his first Shockwave Flash animation for Macromedia, it will be a great year to discuss the state of digital creativity with him and the other great speakers.

Photo by sushi-sunday under a CC license

Starting next January, i’ll be posting profiles on the artists and projects, with a few selected interviews so you can get a feel of what to expect at the festival and help you to choose which talks to attend.

Grab your tickets before they’re gone and visit Portugal next year. Besides the great weather and delicious food, we’ll also have a wicked digital culture festival.

My friend Andre, and blogger at AdvertisingEtc, just directed a visual delicacy using a Phantom camera at 1000fps. The commercial announces the release of a new magazine: Relance.

On his own words “the concept of the ad is that the subjects are being compressed into the magazine“. And, boy, they look pretty good to me. Congrats Andre.

Credits
Agency: Uzina (Portugal)
Creative Director: Gustavo Suarez
Art Director: André Breda
Copywriter: Roberto Ferraz
Account Director: António Roquette
Production Company: Garage Films (Portugal)
Director: Enrique Escamilla
Photography Director: Carlos Lopes (Cácá)
Executive Producer: Miguel Varela
Editor: Marcos Castiel
Post-production Director: Marta Metrass
Phantom Operator: Raoul Rodriguez
Post-Production: Ingreme (Portugal)
Music Supervision: Level Two Music (Australia)
Song: QUA – Painting Monsters
Composer: Cornel Wilczek
Sound post-production: Ameba (Portugal)

Last week i was fully immersed at Shift08, the Lisbon conference on Social and Human Ideas for Technology. First, let me thank the readers who bought the ticket with my promo code, as it awarded me with a golden ticket (full refund). Awesome #1.

The first day was full of FREE workshops, with a guerrilla usability workshop by Andy Budd involving wine tasting, courtesy of Cortes de Cima and Adegga. Awesome #2.

On Thursday, the sessions started with a massive amount were to choose from. As far as i could find out on the coffe breaks, highlights were Julian Bleecker’s Design Fiction and Mark Wuben’s Home Made Ubiquitous Computing (today i’ve realized he’s also the co-author of always useful sIFR). I really enjoyed the session on Designing with common sense, by the folks of AllOfUs. Even more after i had the chance of having a great talk at lunch with Nick and Sandy. Andy Budd closed the day with a great presentation on User Experience, an appetizer for the last day main theme. Awesome #3.

Friday started with another great session by Brian Suda about semantic web and microformats, and the morning ended with our own robotic curator Leonel Moura discussing Artificial Creativity. The afternoon had the most expected sessions with Stowe Boyd and Tara Hunt focusing on social flow and social capital. Awesome #4.

If you couldn’t attend (shame on you), grab the presentations, now highlighted on Slideshare.net homepage as Shift08. Awesome #5.

And did i mentioned that it was a great chance to meet a lot of interesting people, from all over Europe, and start a true Shift movement? Awesome #6.

If further prove is needed how awesome it was, check the video testimonials below:

Loved it in 2006, 2008 was awesome, can’t wait for 2009. A big thanks to all of Shift’s team. Awesome.

UPDATE: Add the promo code gt-sourceinsp20a895d and get 20% off on registration

We’re almost there: the 2nd edition of Shift – Social and Human Ideas for Technology is taking place the next 15th to 17 October.

Having attended the 1st one – and loving it – i’m expecting the same amount of enthusiasm and interesting discussions on how technology is shaping society and our daily lifes.

The event is organized by close friends Bruno and Pedro (at non-profit), with 60 speakers during the 3 days, at Parque das Nacoes FIL (Lisbon). The subjects in discussion include: Education, History, Genetics, Economics, Accessibility, Usability, Mobile Technologies, Open Source, Transportation, Energy, Architecture and Art. Quite a treat, eh?

With confirmed speakers like Andy Budd, August de los Reyes, Julian Bleeker, Leonel Moura, Manuel Lima, Stowe Boyd and Tara Hunt, it shows how Portugal is becoming a great place for tech/digital conferences, after OFFF’s success the past May.

I’ve just registered but hurry up and get one the last available tickets. Shift !