As London’s East End hurries its Tech City toward being the European Silicon Valley, others have different ideas. Quite different ideas.

Enter Blueseed. Blueseed is a project which could manifest as a ship, or a “seastead” moored 11 miles off the coast of California in international waters – just enough to subvert any requirement for visas, to abide with tax laws, or any other irritations commonly associated with living on land these days. A billionaire sponsor, one of the founders of PayPal, is keen to beat the antiquated systems which he believes stifle innovation. It’s a bold scheme, set to cause quite a stir, and is winning the attention of many aspiring foreign entrepreneurs. [Take a look].

Who can say whether it’ll work, or what the implications could be. The TV license guys will probably track them down.

Location based services, popular as they are, haven’t yet taken over the world. But how’s progress? Are people still checking in to get brand deals, subscribe to loyalty schemes, and meet with friends?

Foursquare, although slightly slowing in growth, now has a community of 20 million users who have checked in 2 billion times. These significant figures are the reason that brands like American Express are keenly interested, and active on Foursquare.

In fact, American Express have 70k followers on Foursquare itself. That’s a huge brand influence on a platform Forrester CEO George Colony calls ‘nonsense’. AmEx’s noteworthy partnerships with H&M and Dunkin’ Donuts to name a few, suggest brands see plenty of opportunities.

Foursquare does lack the sheer scale of Facebook, which has a rudimentary check-in equivalent, Facebook Location. But that service is not yet complete. After launching and revoking Facebook Places last year, Facebook will be keen to get their next offering absolutely right. And their acquisition of Tagtile opens new potential for the social network.

Elsewhere, Google Latitude recently upgraded its offering, by ‘gamifying’ check-ins – similar to Foursquare. Its ultimate marriage with the constantly improving Google+ can’t be far off, and that could be another boost for checking in.

Even so, do people want to check in? In data terms, every time we use a credit card, we are effectively checking in. The potential of data held by banks, for example, is staggering – as Bank of America (above) are keen to explore.

But social check-ins are different. Some people don’t want to be ‘found’, and others may be concerned for security. And it’s not an unfounded concern: Foursquare recently shut down an incredibly creepy app, GirlsAroundMe, which sought to locate women in any given vicinity. Not great PR.

Others, however, do want to be ‘found’. One app receiving extra attention at SXSW 2012 was Highlight. This app seeks to introduce mutually proactive networkers who are close to one another. And elsewhere, location apps for dating are abundant. SinglesAroundMe and Grindr have proven surprisingly popular, the latter with 3.5m members.

And those regularly checking in enjoy various benefits from doing so. Clearly, special offers, tips on the restaurant you’re eating in, or knowing where your friends are, have appeal. New features, such as the Foursquare booking service ReserveMyCity, are adding layers of value for users.

PlaceMe is a new app that doesn’t focus on sharing location, but instead creating a personal diary by automatically checking in to locations: [Watch]. There is after all, real insight to be gained from understanding our own movements.

And when anonymised human data is added to maps, they are brought to life like never before. Carnegie Mellon University recently established Livehoods.org, a brilliant tool designed to understand the human aspects of cities, and their vibrancy. It cleverly groups check-ins on Foursquare, illuminating footfall hotspots, and identifying unique aspects of neighbourhoods. It highlights peaks and troughs in buzz – and adds other intriguing layers of character to previously ’2D’ maps. Check out this map of New York, for example: Beautiful. [Go].

Proactively checking in hasn’t taken over the world yet, but one way or another, it’ll have a huge role to play over the coming years. In many ways, the game is wide-open…

We’re always intrigued to see how Financial Institutions use social media to engage their audiences. It’s widely seen as an under-exploited territory.

Brazilian bank Itau’s newest offering is particularly interesting. It’s an interactive Facebook game, which looks to educate kids about trading stocks & shares. It incorporates a couple of clever dynamics. Users’ stocks and shares and their company valuations will depend on the amount of social sharing they do, helping the campaign to grow virally. And the game comes complete with rewards (badges) too. [Look].

Virtual trading games have proven popular, with UK based Bullbearings being particularly successful among universities.

Contagious point out that Itau’s effort lacks the simplicity of other Facebook-based games such as Farmville – yet positioning as an educator can certainly help build loyalty & trust. Investment.

Pepsi have launched an ambitious new global strategy, Live For Now, which places social media at its heart. The newly launched dashboard website almost has a Pinterest feel, and is heavily focused on entertainment.

The new direction emphasis ‘the moment’, and as such collects popular tweets, pics and news from the world of entertainment in ‘semi-realtime‘. Interestingly, it will also feature daily deals, stream live concerts, and will be backed by celebrities, who will set challenges and competitions to bolster the platform’s appeal.

Another key component will see users collecting loyalty points, redeemable for many of Pepsi’s sponsored live events. [Check it out].

Two claims were staked this week: one for the ‘longest’ banner ad ever, and the other for the ‘smallest’.

First up, the ever-impressive IKEA again showed creative prowess with their banner ad, which contained 2,800 items from their store. Brilliantly living their message of storage and space-saving, users were able to hover their cursor over the ad for close-ups – and click through for more. It’s great. [Watch].

And echoing themes we’ve featured previously, Stride Gum, who were out to show that their product is ‘ridiculously long-lasting’, used their banner ad to challenge users to hold a mouse click, amid distractions, on a moving spot across the banner. With $500 at stake, the current record stands at 40 minutes. [Watch]. Time is money.

On first viewing of this video, we were shocked. It’s startling. A Russian man nonchalantly introduces a lethal flying invention; a remote controlled “weapon of the future”.

Embarking on a mad spree of destruction, he goes on to explain that the weapon is some years away from production. A slightly unnerving showcase follows as he shoots at dummy civilians and blows up cars – complete with slow motion replays. [Watch].

The video has become something of a viral sensation, snapping up an incredible 9m views – in just one week. But all is not as it seems. It’s in fact, a rather clever ad. What do you think?

Two digital billboard campaigns caught our eyes this week by using smartphones to deliver a more interactive experience.

First up, London Euston Station played host to the National Centre for Domestic Violence ads, showing an abusive man yelling at his partner. Commuters were encouraged to visit the charity’s website live via their smartphone, and literally ‘swipe’ the aggressor away from the woman. [Watch].

And elsewhere, in Germany banking group ING-DiBa created a live basketball game, aligning with their Basketball Federation sponsorship. Targeting young people across Germany, a mobile website allowed smartphones to ‘flick’ shots into virtual hoops on a digital billboard. [Watch].

Creating plenty of interaction, action-shots were uploaded to Facebook to extend the campaign’s reach. Which it did – significantly. Ballin’.

Some cynicism has been aimed in the direction of brands jumping on the “deals & discounts” bandwagon. Bank of America are undeterred, and are piloting a deal-based loyalty scheme with a difference. The service, BankAmeriDeals, offers targeted discounts for department stores, fast food chains and local restaurants.

The scheme is unique. Offers are associated with the individual customer’s Bank of America debit or credit card. The service profiles individuals according to their spending and offers relevant third-party discounts via their online banking. In order to redeem they need only purchase using their card – and the discount will be refunded on their next bank statement. And that means no more flashing your phone or bits of printed paper to check-out staff. [Watch].

A financial behemoth of Bank of America’s stature taking such initiative is interesting in itself. Naturally, the proof of the deal-pudding will be in the redeeming. For now though, BankAmeriDeals promises an authentic, sophisticated and seamless deployment of customer data that most loyalty schemes would envy. Efficient.

Facebook hit the headlines with two interesting developments this week. The first was a surprise: users In Britain & America will soon see new profile page functionality allowing them to indicate their wish to be organ donors. It’s a move that could transform healthcare. See what Zuck had to say on that: [Watch].

Facebook then announced they are to launch The App Centre in coming weeks. Concerned about losing out on mobile revenues, the networking giant will be centralising all apps which use Facebook logins. It’s a welcome simplification for users. And a new opportunity for brands. Developers will be able to charge for apps, similar to Google’s Play, and Apple’s App Store.

It’s a massive move, and partly a response to Zynga (the social games company responsible for 15% of Facebook’s Q1 revenue) launching their own platform. And it means a facebook phone is nearly inevitable. Tectonic.

It’s been a big week in Robot development. The University of Toronto has created a learning robot, used for rehabilitating stroke victims. According to The Verge, the new robot has Artificial Intelligence (AI) which allows it to taylor rehabilitation to individual patients – exciting progress.

Elsewhere, apparently key to developing better AI, a new robot has been developed that mimics the human body’s interactions – the first of its kind. It is hoped that with physical understanding, robots’ AI will improve: [Watch].

(We imagine no-one is more excited than this man, who has been busily developing interactive posters to mimic kissing… [Watch])

Next, three leading universities in the US are to develop ‘print-your-own’, ready to go robots, which the US National Science Foundation is calling ‘a game-changer’. [Read On].

Here in the UK, be ready for the imminent re-release of the University of Cambridge backed Raspberry Pi, which passed its safety checks this week. It’s the experimental credit card-sized computer that will soon be inviting innovation in schools and businesses up and down the country. Potential. [Watch].