Subscribe to RSS feed
           
 
A Pixie Adventure

Yesterday, the whole agency went on a Monopoly-inspired treasure hunt across London. Glenn Doherty took along a blow-up doll of our creative director, Grant Hunter.



Here are several more photos of Pixie's (mis)adventure. While Grant was having his inflated adventure, I was having one of my own with some of London's finest ...



Don't worry, it was just a gag. When Marcus sent the pic around, however, more than a handful of people thought it was real.

The hunt was followed by a gathering at Jongleurs (a comedy club/disco) in East London. It was a lot of fun, and comedian Jim Jeffries' edgy style made a lot of people laugh and provoked some interesting reactions. See for yourself.

Have an excellent weekend.

Friday, March 30, 2007   permalink to archived copy   del.icio.us   DiggIt     0  comments




Crowdsourcing 101



I'm a big fan of James Surowiecki’s "Wisdom of Crowds", and I also like Read/Write web's blog ... So, when the latter posted about the former's theories you can just imagine my delight.



The post ("Crowdsourcing: A Million Heads is Better than One") reviews several concepts/site and provides some advice for approaching crowd-sourced projects.

1. Crowds should operate within constraints. To harness the collective intelligence of crowds, there need to be rules in place to maintain order.

/>2. Not everything can be democratic. Sometimes a decision needs to be made, and having a core team (or single person) make the ultimate decision can provide the guidance necessary to get things done and prevent crazy ideas and groupthink from wreaking havoc on your product.



3. Crowds must retain their individuality. Encourage your group to disagree, and try not to let any members of the group disproportionately influence the rest.



4. Crowds are better at vetting content than creating it. It is important to note that in most of the above projects, the group merely votes on the final product; they do not actually create it (even at Cambrian House, where the group collaborates to create the product, individuals are still creating each piece on their own and the group votes on whose implementation of an idea is best).





Technorati Tags: ,

Friday, March 23, 2007   permalink to archived copy   del.icio.us   DiggIt     0  comments




NBC and News Corp launch YouTube rival

Just a tiny bit of buzz out there about this one ...

Business Wire:
NBC Universal and News Corp. Announce Deal with Internet Leaders AOL, MSN, MySpace And Yahoo! to Create a Premium Online Video Site with Unprecedented Reach — Charter Advertisers, Including Cadbury Schweppes, Cisco, Esurance, Intel and General Motors, Will Now Reach 96% of U.S. Internet Audience Through This Groundbreaking Venture
RELATED:

Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Notes From News Corp./NBC Universal Media Call — I've just joined the "NewTube" media call with NBC Universal CEO Jeff Zucker and News Corp. COO Peter Chernin. Notes to follow. — Chernin is kicking things off. It took him about 2 minutes to say "Web 2.0? for the first time.

CNET News.com:
NBC, News Corp. push new Web rival to YouTube
Discussion: ContentBlogger

Staci D. Kramer / PaidContent: NBCU-News Corp.: More Like The Anti-YouTube Than YouTube Killer

Mark Cuban / Blog Maverick:
Why the NBC/Newscorp Video Venture is a Great Idea

Mathew / mathewingram.com/work:
Hey Ma! They got TV on the Internet now!
Discussion: MarketWatch

Scott Karp / Publishing 2.0: NBC Universal/News Corp Online Video Deal Demonstrates That The …

Jacqui Cheng / Ars Technica:
News Corp. and NBC announce partnership to create YouTube competitor
Discussion: Neowin.net, Slashdot and digg

Paul Kedrosky's Infectious Greed:
The NewTube (NBC + NewsCorp + YouTube Clone) Playbook

Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Confirmed: TV Networks Launch New Company To Counter Perceived Google/YouTube Threat
And then ...


Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Dear Clown Co.: Name This Thing Fast Before Its Too Late — For the last twenty-four hours we've been reporting a nearly non-stop stream of facts (and some speculation) about the new, unamed News Corp./NBC Universal joint venture to launch later this year. First the rumor, then the confirmation …
Greg Sandoval / CNET News.com:
Microsoft temporarily closes video site — Microsoft is closing its video-sharing site, Soapbox, to new users for up to two months so it can create better safeguards against pirated content. — The software giant, which agreed earlier Thursday to distribute movies and TV shows for big media companies …

Richard Siklos / New York Times:
News Corp. and NBC in Web Deal — In a long-anticipated challenge to YouTube and other online video sites, two big media companies yesterday announced a new venture to showcase their own programming across the Internet's biggest Web sites, as well as a new jointly owned Web destination.
Discussion: Epicenter and Boing Boing

Heather Green / Blogspotting: Details from Call on NBC and News Corp.'s Video Joint Venture

Scott Karp / Publishing 2.0:
NBC Universal/News Corp Online Video Deal Demonstrates That The …
Discussion: TechCrunch

Staci D. Kramer / PaidContent:
Microsoft Takes Soapbox Private Again; Will Add Copyright Filtering
Discussion: Mashable!

Staci D. Kramer / PaidContent: NBCU-News Corp.: More Like The Anti-YouTube Than YouTube Killer


Technorati Tags: , , , ,

Friday, March 23, 2007   permalink to archived copy   del.icio.us   DiggIt     0  comments




The modern mess



If you need proof, just stop by my desk. ;-)



Here are some quotes from the Reuters article, Clutter and mess trump clean and neat

"We think that being more organized and ordered and neat is a good thing and it turns out, that's not always the case," said Freedman.



"Most of us are messy, and most of us are messy at a level that works very, very well for us," he said in an interview. "In most cases, if we got a lot neater and more organized, we would be less effective."



Barry Izsak, head of the National Association of Professional Organizers, disputes the authors' claims, saying they oversimplify and confuse mess with disorganization.



"The bottom line is, the average person feels negatively affected by disorganization in many ways: increased stress, missed deadlines, lost opportunities, that sinking, drowning feeling," Izsak said. "For the average person, disorganization and chaos simply doesn't feel good."



Freedman argues that it is neatness that is expensive.



"People who are really, really neat, between what it takes to be really neat at the office and at home, typically will spend anywhere from an hour to four hours a day just organizing and neatening," he said.



Yet messy people are often cast in a negative light. In one study cited by NAPO, two-thirds of respondents believed workers with messy desks were seen as less career-driven than their neater colleagues.



"If you walk into my office at home, you would think, 'Oh my God, something just exploded in that room,'" said Jackson, the contest winner. "But it's an organized mess. It's a mess I made, and I know where everything is."



Messiness has overtaken neatness as modern lives have changed, the book argues. Many women used to be at home, cleaning up, rather than working outside the house, while jobs used to be simpler and more linear with less multi-tasking.


Thursday, March 22, 2007   permalink to archived copy   del.icio.us   DiggIt     0  comments




The new Ning

The relaunch of Ning allows you to build your own social networks in a few clicks.

Arrington is impressed, as am I:
I have to hand it to Ning - it took them well over a year after their initial beta launch to fulfill their promise of allowing “anyone” to create social applications, but they’ve done it. Ning relaunches tonight with new functionality and an interface that allows even the most novice of web users to create their own highly customized social network in moments.

If you haven’t taken the time to try out the new Ning today, Robert Scoble has filmed an excellent demo of the product (basically the same demo I saw yesterday) from CEO Gina Bianchini. There’s a lot of coverage from other bloggers as well.


Technorati Tags: , ,

Thursday, March 22, 2007   permalink to archived copy   del.icio.us   DiggIt     0  comments




Apple TV

If DVDs are doomed, Apple TV could be the grim reaper.

Here are the reviews from the 3 sources I trust the most in terms of new gadgets and technology: WSJ's Walter Mossberg: From PC to TV — via Apple ... NYT's David Pogue: Apple TV Has Landed ... Engadget's Thomas Ricker (who I think is a bit jealous of Walt getting one before him) comments on Mossberg's review.


Technorati Tags: , , ,

Thursday, March 22, 2007   permalink to archived copy   del.icio.us   DiggIt     1  comments




Alpha of Apollo

Any thoughts out there about this? Here is what Arrington has to say. Here is a review of some demos.

Public Alpha of Apollo Debuts on Adobe Labs

New Technology Enables Web Developers to Extend RIAs to the Desktop
SAN JOSE, Calif. — March 19, 2007 — Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq: ADBE) today announced that the first public alpha version of Apollo is now available for developers on Adobe Labs. Apollo is the code name for a cross-operating system application runtime that allows web developers to leverage their existing skills in HTML, JavaScript and Ajax, as well as Adobe® Flash® and Adobe Flex™ software to build and deploy rich Internet applications (RIAs) on the desktop. Apollo combines the reach of Internet technologies with the richness of desktop applications, working seamlessly across operating systems and outside the browser to deliver a more consistent and engaging user experience. The alpha version of the Apollo application runtime and the Apollo Software Developer’s Kit (SDK) can be downloaded for free from www.adobe.com/go/apollo.

Technorati Tags: , , ,

Monday, March 19, 2007   permalink to archived copy   del.icio.us   DiggIt     0  comments




Social networks: 6.5% of web traffic

From Steve:
Hitwise dug into the the top 20 social networks and found that they grew by 11.5 percent from January to February 2007. They now account for 6.5 percent of all Internet visits. Myspace, an Edelman client, continues to be the big daddy. They have 8x the market share of their closes competitor - Facebook

Technorati Tags: , ,

Monday, March 19, 2007   permalink to archived copy   del.icio.us   DiggIt     0  comments




Twitter

Repeat after me:

I will not blog about Twitter.
I will not blog about Twitter.
I will not blog about Twitter.

Why?

Because, at least for now, it seems like a total waste of time. The last thing I need is a running stream of consciousness from everyone I know and a random group of others. If I want to know "what I/you are doing right now," I'll call you. Otherwise, I've got better things to do. And it is expensive if you don't have unlimited text service for your mobile ... View Jason's latest comments:
Crushed by twitter bill... Ugh. Be careful people!

oh sh@#$%@#$%t... jsut checked my tmobile bill: 2,367 extra messages... $236.70 in extra charges!!! does tmobile have unlimited?!?!?!?! about 12 hours ago from web
I will not write about it again unless there is some dramatic change to their business model.


Technorati Tags: , ,

Monday, March 19, 2007   permalink to archived copy   del.icio.us   DiggIt     0  comments




re: email from Adam


Not only is this a reply to Adam's email, it is a nice test of PollDaddy's free service. Kinda nice. A bit more flexible than dPolls, and it looks like it is much easier to integrate into MySpace, hi5 and/or Friendster via WildFire. Also, if you want to customize the design template of your survey, PollDaddy is a good option.

Shout-out to Cory Miller who wrote a nice review of 12 free web poll and survey tools.

Technorati Tags: , , ,

Monday, March 12, 2007   permalink to archived copy   del.icio.us   DiggIt     0  comments




Bob vs Bill

AdAge's Bob Garfield interviews Bill Gates.

Good stuff in text or via Podcast.


Technorati Tags: , ,

Monday, March 12, 2007   permalink to archived copy   del.icio.us   DiggIt     0  comments




 
Email: george (at) i-boy.com
Profiles: LinkedIn and Facebook
Subscribe:
Postcards by email


Powered by FeedBlitz
Rewind: In case
you missed it
Now showing on
crossprocess.com
Vienna: Old-school charm meets new-school photography.
Strong voices in
the blogosphere
Blogroll Me!
Parlez-vous Deutsch?
In Heavy Rotation

 
i-boy.com web





Previously


Archive
12/01/2001 - 01/01/2002
01/01/2002 - 02/01/2002
02/01/2002 - 03/01/2002
03/01/2002 - 04/01/2002
04/01/2002 - 05/01/2002
05/01/2002 - 06/01/2002
06/01/2002 - 07/01/2002
07/01/2002 - 08/01/2002
08/01/2002 - 09/01/2002
09/01/2002 - 10/01/2002
10/01/2002 - 11/01/2002
11/01/2002 - 12/01/2002
12/01/2002 - 01/01/2003
01/01/2003 - 02/01/2003
02/01/2003 - 03/01/2003
03/01/2003 - 04/01/2003
04/01/2003 - 05/01/2003
05/01/2003 - 06/01/2003
06/01/2003 - 07/01/2003
07/01/2003 - 08/01/2003
08/01/2003 - 09/01/2003
09/01/2003 - 10/01/2003
10/01/2003 - 11/01/2003
11/01/2003 - 12/01/2003
12/01/2003 - 01/01/2004
01/01/2004 - 02/01/2004
02/01/2004 - 03/01/2004
03/01/2004 - 04/01/2004
04/01/2004 - 05/01/2004
05/01/2004 - 06/01/2004
06/01/2004 - 07/01/2004
07/01/2004 - 08/01/2004
08/01/2004 - 09/01/2004
09/01/2004 - 10/01/2004
10/01/2004 - 11/01/2004
11/01/2004 - 12/01/2004
12/01/2004 - 01/01/2005
01/01/2005 - 02/01/2005
02/01/2005 - 03/01/2005
03/01/2005 - 04/01/2005
04/01/2005 - 05/01/2005
05/01/2005 - 06/01/2005
06/01/2005 - 07/01/2005
07/01/2005 - 08/01/2005
08/01/2005 - 09/01/2005
09/01/2005 - 10/01/2005
10/01/2005 - 11/01/2005
11/01/2005 - 12/01/2005
12/01/2005 - 01/01/2006
01/01/2006 - 02/01/2006
02/01/2006 - 03/01/2006
03/01/2006 - 04/01/2006
04/01/2006 - 05/01/2006
05/01/2006 - 06/01/2006
06/01/2006 - 07/01/2006
07/01/2006 - 08/01/2006
08/01/2006 - 09/01/2006
09/01/2006 - 10/01/2006
10/01/2006 - 11/01/2006
11/01/2006 - 12/01/2006
12/01/2006 - 01/01/2007
01/01/2007 - 02/01/2007
02/01/2007 - 03/01/2007
03/01/2007 - 04/01/2007
04/01/2007 - 05/01/2007
05/01/2007 - 06/01/2007
06/01/2007 - 07/01/2007
07/01/2007 - 08/01/2007
08/01/2007 - 09/01/2007
09/01/2007 - 10/01/2007
10/01/2007 - 11/01/2007
11/01/2007 - 12/01/2007
12/01/2007 - 01/01/2008
01/01/2008 - 02/01/2008
02/01/2008 - 03/01/2008
03/01/2008 - 04/01/2008
04/01/2008 - 05/01/2008
05/01/2008 - 06/01/2008
06/01/2008 - 07/01/2008
07/01/2008 - 08/01/2008
08/01/2008 - 09/01/2008
09/01/2008 - 10/01/2008
10/01/2008 - 11/01/2008
11/01/2008 - 12/01/2008
12/01/2008 - 01/01/2009
01/01/2009 - 02/01/2009
02/01/2009 - 03/01/2009
03/01/2009 - 04/01/2009
04/01/2009 - 05/01/2009
05/01/2009 - 06/01/2009
06/01/2009 - 07/01/2009
07/01/2009 - 08/01/2009
08/01/2009 - 09/01/2009
09/01/2009 - 10/01/2009


Author.ity
 
             
             
  © 2001-2007 George Nimeh & i-boy.com. All rights reserved. This site is licensed under a Creative Commons License. You may not use or distribute the materials on this site without the expressed consent of the author. Design by i-boy.com. Blog powered by Blogger. Atom enabled. Profiles: Technorati. LastFM. Common Content. LinkedIn. Newsvine. Ryze. Facebook.