just another technology blog on “the interweb”
While in visiting Austin, TX for the great and fantabulous SXSW Interactive Festival for 2008, my friend Cory put together a few short interviews (30 sec/ea) that encapsulate some of the moments surrounding the event.
The videos were captured on the Nokia N95 and the platform for distrubution is called Vimeo. Here’s my 30 seconds of internet fame.
The soon-to-be latest trend in counting calories is now mobile! Sure, you can “ask your restaurant for the nutritional information on any meal” or click on what sized latte you drink on the web, both completely logical methods of obtaining the essential health information when dining out.
However, what if you are already at the restaurant (and not a nerd like me who carried your laptop everywhere) or what if you don’t want to ask the caloric measurements on every single dish on the menu for a comparative analysis on the most appropriate for your dietary needs? Enter Nutrition on the Go, the mobile service that allows you to access nutrition information from your mobile phone.
Simply send the item name (aka starbucks latte skim milk) via text message to short code (aka phone number) 34381.
You will receive a text message that sends you the nutritional information for the specific food about which you are inquiring. The report s below. I had to lower the grade for accuracy because I typed in “Starbucks latte skim milk tall” and it returned a “Starbucks Tazo Chai Tea Latte Nonfat Milk (btw, its 90 cal.)” On second attempt, “Starbucks latte skim milk” returned “Starbucks flavored latte nonfat milk grande.” Better, but still not exactly what I had wanted. The estimates could be helpful, though. I guess there are still a few kinks, but overall super idea!!
REPORT:
A for concept
A+ for being free
B- for accuracy
Okids Phone, by Sung-Kyu Nam
Here is the synopsis: “This product targets kids aged 5-6 years as the main customers. Given that kids purchase products with the help of their parents, this product has been developed targeting kids as a second consumer market. Since children should be protected from any danger, a pill shape and a heart design are combined to represent our love for children. With the motif of protection and love.”
With the motif of protection and love. Okay. Cool idea. Personally, though, if I had a 5-year-old, I would find other ways to represent my protection and love. And call me old-fashioned, but he/she would also not even have a mobile phone. Not at age five atleast.
Most people subscribe to the theory that women, and likewise girls, play games. And actually- it’s true! (atleast according to Forbes.)
I admit, I couldn’t resist the play on words, also the recent evidence that pertains to the female gaming atmosphere. Turns out female boomers are really into games like WoW and some suspicious-sounding, female-targeted game called, “Wedding Dash.” (gag)
Okay, well the good thing is that woman are into the same games as men (for the most part) and because of that, companies are beginning to recognize their target audience has expanded to include this diverse and unrealized market.
Here come the pink graphics!!
Geolocation is used to link a string of robberies performed by Ohio resident, wearing an ankle bracelet- kind of like the one Martha Stewart sported not too long ago.)
Now, if they had incorporated an information system, I don’t know… maybe like eParole?! … they wouldn’t have had to wait until the SIXTH robbery to identify this pattern. (Shameless promotion, yet again)
SXSW- Tuesday Keynote w/ Jane McGonigal
What makes people happy?
1. Satisfying work to do.
2. Experience of being good at something
3. Spending time with people we like.
4. Being part of something bigger.
Therefore, MMG = the ultimate happiness industry. Enough said.
These are some of the films I saw so far:
Then She Found Me
Director: Helen Hunt
Cast: Helen Hunt, Colin Firth, Bette Midler, Matthew Broderick
Synopsis: Adapted from Elinor Lipman’s novel of the same name, Helen Hunt makes her feature directing debut with THEN SHE FOUND ME, a touching story of schoolteacher April Epner (Hunt) and her very unlikely path towards personal fulfillment. Following the separation from her husband (Matthew Broderick) and the death of her adopted mother, April is contacted by her apparent birth month (Bette Midler), who turns out to be a local talk show host Bernice Graves. As Bernice tries to become the mother to April that she was never able to be, April seems to find solace in the arms of the parent of one of her students (Colin Firth), only to find that the mystery to life’s questions cannot be solved by a simple revelation.
Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay
Director: Jon Hurwitz & Hayden Schlossberg
Cast: Kal Penn, John Cho, Rob Corddry, Roger Bart, Neil Patrick Harris
Synopsis: HAROLD AND KUMAR ESCAPE FROM GUANTANAMO BAY marks the triumphant return of these two hilarious, slacker anti-heroes. The movie stars John Cho (AMERICAN PIE I & II, AMERICAN DREAMZ) as Harold and Kal Penn (VAN WILDER 2: THE RISE OF TAJ, EPIC MOVIE) as Kumar, two stoners who can’t seem to get a break. Their last adventure found them traveling across country to find a White Castle hamburger in order to satisfy a weed-induced case of ‘the munchies.’ This time, the boys get themselves in trouble trying to sneak a bong onboard a flight to Amsterdam. Now, being suspected of terrorism, they are forced to run from the law and try to find a way to prove their innocence. What follows is an irreverent and epic journey of deep thoughts, deeper inhaling and a wild trip around the world that is as ‘un-PC’ as it gets.
Animated Shorts
Director: varied
Cast: varied
Synopsis: See film details below.
| 2:30 PM | Paradise | ||
| 2:30 PM | Rock in a Hard Place | ||
| 2:30 PM | My First Crush | ||
| 2:30 PM | Office Buddies | ||
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2:30 PM | Shut Eye Hotel | |
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2:30 PM | Blindspot | |
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2:30 PM | Fish, but No Cigar | |
| 2:30 PM | MY BIODEGRADABLE HEART | ||
| 2:30 PM | I hate you don’t touch me or Bat and Hat | ||
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2:30 PM | Madame Tulti-Putli | |
| 2:30 PM | Tower of Grantville | ||
| 2:30 PM | Blissful | ||
| 2:30 PM | Ideation | ||
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2:30 PM | Jeu | |
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2:30 PM | For You, My People |
ps. gold badges rawk!
Jason Fried @37signals says some interesting stuff:
- get things done fast when ideas are fresh, people are passionate about what is new
- copy is VERY important in web design experience, often overlooked however crucial to user experience
- better to get 3 things in one week, than one thing done in 3 weeks
- invest in what doesn’t change (google>fast info; amazon>customer service); focus on the core strengths
- learn from great chefs who build their empire by sharing things; be an expert at something and share that as much as you can; you reach a huge audience and become an expect; people pay attention as you become an authority; giving away knowledge & technique; “Figure out what your cookbook is and write one.”
- the closest you are to people, the more apt you are to interrupt them and a frangmented day is not a productive day (think: YouTube links you “must” see), chunking the day is not productive
- think about future but done write it down
- being clear during crisis, what’s going on and what’s going wrong; open, honest and public actually works to your benefit; people understand that sh!t happens.
- get people excited about stuff, new is always more exciting
- book recommendation: “The 7-Day Weekend”
- if you make tiny decisions, you make tiny mistakes
- large decisions are scary, they take lots of meetings and gaining backing on projects- basically just one big cover your a$$ session
- “Everything single thing you do should matter.” (if it doesn’t matter, don’t do it.)
i read the book by steven johnson book,”everything bad is good for you,” after i saw him speak about two years ago. the people at his company (outside.in) are doing some pretty cool stuff. here are some notes from the talk:
how do we build an infrastructure that enables collaborative engagement? wisdom of the crowd- collective vs individual intelligence (different models of expertise on this issue)
today’s school system currently does not facilitate the kind of environment for this generation. right now, people work in the way of: everyone knows something about something and therefore the community as a whole knows everything but not every one person can know all of the information at a given time and the information they do know is accessible through the group as a whole on an ad hoc basis.
mapping stuff > mapping conversations through facebook
jenkins tells his kids: “keep an eye on the ratio of what you’re consuming to what you’re creating”
helping kids navigate in an online world. instead of watching over their shoulders, stand behind their backs.
virtual life vs real life, addiction to online gaming? Jenkins told a great story about a girl who lost her boyfriend to a MMORPG. (of course, i don’t know ANYTHING about what that’s like. haha) they had a date one night and he wasn’t ready and she walked into his room and it was dark and he was playing his game on the computer. she said, “honey i thought we had a date tonight.” he snapped back,”cant you see- i’m getting stronger!”
augmenting facebook encounters and managing the overwhelming complexities of human interaction
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