TechGuruHere

Technology has played an important role not only in getting relief to those affected by the Haiti earthquake, but in getting information out about how the quake affected the island nation.

CNN contributes a new series of immersive information visualizations in these 360 degree panoramic videos, where you can completely control the camera’s view during playback as well as zoom in and out.

Shot over the last week in Haiti’s capital of Port-au-Prince, the videos are powered by technology from Immersive Media — the same company that helped power much of Google’s Street View.

Have a look at the interactive videos at full size and let us know what you think.

Now open in wide theatrical release is a film that remakes one of the formative books of many a childhood. Typically that’s cause for fear that a special and rare experience hasn’t been done justice.

But in this case, Where the Wild Things Are has world class director Spike Jonze going for it as well as the explicit blessing and accolades of the author Maurice Sendak. It also has a very plugged-in and intelligent social media campaign going on to promote the film.

Case in point, a creative iPhone app (warning: iTunes link) and Facebook page that’s seen impressive growth up to at current count over 1.6 million fans.

In the iPhone app you can watch trailers and view photos of the film as well as hear the soundtrack. But most notably, the creative and delightful part of the app sees the Carol monster as a creature kids (and adults!) can interact with. If put to sleep at night he’ll gobble up your contacts’ photos from your phone — a playful and yet appropriately modern element that’s true to the spirit of the Where the Wild Things Are universe.

The Facebook page is also done well, with a continuous stream of updates featuring behind the scenes information, videos, media coverage, interviews and more. It also features a custom app where users can upload images of themselves to be inserted in place of Max’s face in one of the film’s promotional images.

It’s certainly not the first example of a mainstream film taking advantage of social media promotion tools, but it’s definitely an example of one done well. Did you hear about the film via its social media promotions or its more mainstream publicity campaigns?