Our weekly wrap of good things, strange things, funny things and other things from inside the intertubes.

With the rise of smartphone photography, it’s tough out there for most camera manufacturers. The experienced and enthusiast photography market is the logical place for them to play and Canon is doing just that in a new campaign to show off its lenses and the difference they can make to telling a story. PLUS: how Apple, Samsung and other mobile manufacturers are changing the industry.

Imagine being able to travel to a destination simply by imagining it. Well, with Russian Airline S7, you can in a sense with the Imagination Machine (created by Wieden+Kennedy Amsterdam in collaboration with Tellart), a unique installation that uses EEG-technology to turn participants’ minds into game controllers.

CallPlus Group and ByPass Network Services Limited (BNSL) yesterday responded to the cease and desist letters sent out by Global Mode opponents Sky, MediaWorks, TVNZ and Spark. And rather than bowing down to the corporate juggernauts, the pair of organisations instead responded with a level of competitive enthusiasm that rarely makes it through the corporate PR force field.

Since its inception, Skype has served as means by which people living on opposite sides of the world could see and hear each other. For some time, it was the market leader and functioned independently without too much competition from other players. However, Google’s move into online calling when combined other services such as Whatsapp and Viber have placed pressure on Skype to evolve its offering—and the service has done just that.

NZME recently helped to raise in excess of $300,000 for children caught up in the Syrian strife through World Vision’s ‘Forgotten Millions’ campaign, which was fronted by journalist Rachel Smalley. And now, the company is turning its attention to another good cause by using all its available channels to raise funds for the RSA in the lead up to the centennial anniversary of Anzac Day.

The frisson of live musical events is what makes them so appealling, both for musicians and fans. And while video games aren’t likely to replace that sensation, the latest iteration of Guitar Hero is offering a dose of reality by allowing gamers to play in front of live crowds.

For many years, one of the primary tourism marketing strategies has been to pay for high-profile humans to come visit. Generally, that’s been in the form of travel writers. But as social media democratises publishing and individuals gain huge audiences through various social channels, that’s changing quickly. Tourism New Zealand has been embracing this for a while now (as has Contiki, which recently announced local YouTube star Jamie Curry would join its fourth roadtrip) and Tourism Wanaka got in on the act recently with its first official #instameet last weekend.

Yup, it’s that time of year again (already?), when FOMO-suffering tech lovers get all wound up about another new gadget. And this time it’s Samsung’s turn, with the Samsung Galaxy S6 and the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge released in New Zealand over the weekend. Here’s how Samsung and the main telcos are ensuring the upgrades continue. PLUS: the environmental perils of obsolescence and the idea of modular phones.

Nielsen data from 2014 shows interest in cycling is increasing across all our major cities, with Christchurch showing the highest interest relative to its population size at 32 percent (since 2010 Auckland’s interest in cycling has increased the most, at seven percent to 29 percent). This is leading to a few tense discussions about safety and appropriate infrastructure to inspire more of it. But Spark has decided to tap into that interest and, in another slightly surprising marketing initiative that it says aligns with its ‘Never Stop Starting’ tagline, has announced it will be helping to launch a public bike share scheme in Christchurch in June.

Through its ongoing ‘Easy As’ campaign, Mitre 10 has shown that the Kiwi appetite for DIY extends beyond home renovation TV shows. In September 2013, the first phase of the intiative, which consisted of 27 clips, reached one million YouTube views. But general manager of marketing Dave Elliott says that this is only small part of what underpins the company’s digital strategy.

With driverless cars seemingly written in the automotive stars, those who get a thrill out of controlling their own vehicle might soon be forced to do it in private, rather than in public. And VW has riffed on the joy of driving with a great spot about a man with a very unusual dilemma.

Lightbox has released two new TVCs by creative agency Consortium and production company Kontent in a continuation of its campaign, which has been rolling out since March with the aim of drawing attention to some of the SVOD provider’s more popular shows. But the Spark-owned SVOD service is by no means the only player in the market eager to get viewers’ attention, as Netflix, Quickflix and Neon also running campaigns that showcase their respective shows.

Extreme close-ups can cause everyday items to look virtually unrecognisable as the characterising details are magnified under the photographer’s lens. And this serves as a reminder that though these tiny details might not be immediately apparent to the naked eye it doesn’t mean that they don’t exist. So, in an effort to draw attention to the design details that went into the new Kia Sorento, Work Communications has launched a new spot that gives viewers a close-up look at the various sections of the vehicle’s bodywork.