It’s no secret that I’m eager to get my hands on an iPhone. While initially I really wasn’t interested ($400+ for a phone???), recently I’ve been getting more and more workload and I need to find a way to become more organized and connected without being stuck to my computer. Already having an Apple 12″ Powerbook G4 (laptop) since mid 2005, I don’t see me leaving for another laptop brand (this laptop has beyond proven itself). Since I plan to stick with Apple products, I find that synchronizing between the laptop and the iPhone would be a seamless and intuitive way to organize myself. It would really leave me with absolutely no reason not to keep my appointments, tasks, contacts, and life in order (unless I just slack completely). Why haven’t I gotten an iPhone yet? Because it’s EXPENSIVE! Plus I’m on T-Mobile (not that it can’t be hacked) and I’m being extra cheap at the moment since I’m looking for a house and also need to purchase a new laptop soon… but anyway…
Now with 3rd party software being added to the iPhone it’s getting even harder to resist getting one. Just thinking of the countless applications that could be developed for the iPhone makes me antsy. Applications such as skype and buying and selling stocks (preferably on zecco) would be incredible, and today I stumbled on the above video of ViPR of what could be a revolutionary product.
To make this short, ViPR is an application that allows you to take a photo of any product (CD, DVD, book, etc.) and allows you to see info about it. This makes me soooo excited, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been at a store torn between two items and wished there was a quick way to compare them or to just get information on them. Sometimes I’ve had a doubt about a movie because of similar titles… this could have solved my dilemma!
This technology is amazing and I can only wonder in awe at what might come out and be available from my pocket in the next year, five years, or twenty years (I’ll be 44 years old by then, ouch) from now! To learn more about ViPR, visit http://www.evolution.com/core/ViPR/.
I just finished watching this video and it’s hilarious. Few things make me laugh more than whacky translations (even though this isn’t a translation at all but merely a dictation of what it sounds like). This is an Indian music video that has been masterfully converted into the above comedic work of art.
John Clifford, pictured above (source: nypost.com), claims to be bringing proper etiquette back into the rail road system by screaming and cursing at people who might be on the cell phone having a conversation to the point of even slapping the phones off of their hands. He even admitting to “‘clocking’ a barely 5-foot-tall female passenger in the head with his fist.” according to the original post.
Mr. Clifford has been to court numerous times for this but was once again cleared of all charges.
There’s a fine line between asking politely to stop what you’re doing and being a piece of shit. Mr. Clifford is a piece of shit. I don’t know how someone hasn’t put their foot down and confronted this man. There is NO WAY I would sit by while this man “clocks” a woman or severely disrespects others. Mr. Clifford needs to mind his own damn businesses and keep to himself, maybe buy an iPod or something. Nobody asked you to be a rail road enforcer and nobody cares that you were an ex-cop turned lawyer. Sit down and keep sucking down those cigars. Hopefully someone will come running up to you complaining about how you’re polluting the air and blowing smoke on people.
Pretty amazing what some people can do when they have enough time on their hands. The video above is a Mario Paint Music video rendition of Risk Astley’s amazing “Rick Roll” song - Never Going To Give You Up. In case you’ve been living under the internets rock, this song was a top pop hit in the 1980’s and has been recently revived as the “Rick Roll”. In case you don’t know what being Rick Roll’d is, you basically link someone to the youtube or any site to the music video for Rick Astley’s - Never Going To Give You Up. Once your victim has clicked the link, they’ve been Rick Roll’d.
Anyway, the video above deserved recognition so I decided to post it up. Enjoy
I’ve never watched the Jimmy Kimmel show and the only time I ever saw him was back in high school on Comedy Centrals The Man Show. Nothing ever struck me as overtly hilarious about the show or him but it was just random stuff that I could see right before going to sleep (it WAS funny sometimes).
I ran into the above video while doing my usual web surfing and thought it was pretty hilarious. Most or all of the bleeping is perfectly timed. The very last skit was out of hand! If his show is anything like this skit, I could see myself taking some time to give the show a shot. Although honestly, I rather spend my time doing other things than watch a late night show. Funny how things change.
Ok, so I’m a sucker for a good viral video. This one I came across while seeing the recreation of the above video in by two drunk girls. I’ve always liked Daft Punk, ever since “Around the World” came out, which was in middle school for me (how old is Daft Punk? Sheesh) so when you combine Daft Punk with some cool choreography and add some ladies into the mix then I give it my seal of approval!
Seriously, I’m not sure what possessed these ladies to do the above video but it is a really well done piece that deserves to be recognized. I don’t know how long it took them to get the timing of it all down correctly but it looks great. Both ladies do an excellent job and the one on the left moves with a little extra “swing”, hard to keep the eye off of her moves.
Anyway, while watching that first video I noticed the video below which is a remake of the first. These girls do a great job too! At first it seems like they might be off but they pretty much nailed it too! Also have to mention the one on the right strikes me as being from Argentina (Argentinean or Argentine, depending on how you say it), she has the “look”. Plus she’s pretty cute and has a nice body but looks like she’s underage so I’ll stop now. Sebaz, if she’s located in over there in Argyland you should look her up!
So I was visiting the digg front page and noticed a post of Kevin Rose (digg founder) wearing a Hitler mustache. I then refresh the page about 5 minutes later and see that the post has vanished.
Digg gets a lot of criticism for the “cover ups” that they do sometimes. They got a ton of press and ravaged fans when they deleted posts which included the key code to decrypt HD-DVD movies. Funny enough, HD-DVD was a sponsor of Digg/Diggnation.
I personally could care less but it’s funny to see the Digg staff protect the founder from embarrassing himself and others. I haven’t seen the episode yet, but I’m sure that the following equation might ring true:
Amsterdam Trip + Legal Narcotics = Do Crazy Shit That Seems Right At The Moment.
I was reminiscing about games I used to play back in the day when I decided to stop by the id Software website to see if they were working on anything of note. I clicked on the “We’re Hiring” image and was amazed at what I found. Some of you may already be aware of this but I sure wasn’t. id Software, known for their first-person shooter (fps) games such as the Doom and Quake series (man, do I MISS playing Quake and Quake II! My all time favorites!) are developing games for mobile platforms!
For the Nintendo DS they already released Orcs & Elves, which from id’s perspective is a drastic departure. Most notably I noticed in their platforms section that they already have the iPhone games either in or about to start production. I would love to see Quake on the iPhone (even though I don’t own one, mainly because of the AT&T stranglehold on the device. And yes, I can unlock it, but the last thing I want is to buy a $400 phone and mess up it’s firmware or something. I guess I’m not as hardcore as I used to be) but I don’t know how well the controls would be on a touch screen. Maybe I’m old school but multiple buttons and not having your hands over the screen seem a bit necessary when playing a fast-twitch game like that.
Anyway, there’s another strike for me to get an iPhone. But between the unlocking that I mentioned, the rumored new iPhone coming in the next few months, and my affordable T-Mobile plan (3,000 minutes for $49.99) it’s tough to decide. And Whoop! to id Software for keeping up with the times. And Carmack, keep your chin up with the Armadillo Aerospace program.
Isn’t April Fools a lovely time of year? A day where pranks are pulled to unsuspecting folks and laughter is had by all (except, maybe, the prankee). Recently more and more corporate America has been getting in on the action. And today’s top corporate prank has been done by Google. *Applaud*
I was trying to find a FAQ for Gmail when I stumbled on this interesting feature called Custom Time. At first I didn’t think about it much and thought “Damn, that’s pretty cool.” but then I thought “Wait, wtf?” After reading some of the clever testimonials and especially this quote…
Is there a limit to how far back I can send email?
Yes. You’ll only be able to send email back until April 1, 2004, the day we launched Gmail. If we were to let you send an email from Gmail before Gmail existed, well, that would be like hanging out with your parents before you were born — crazy talk.
It was pretty obvious that I had been pranked. It’s geeky but pretty funny stuff. Coming from a major corporation, it’s good to see some humor being thrown at the world rather than to maintain the traditional lack of corporate personality.Well done Google! You at least made me smile today.
So last week while making my second visit ever to upcoming.org I see this Network Solutions event featuring Guy Kawasaki in Miami and I decide to sign up (after all, it’s not often that you see any web or Silicon Valley mogul show up in Miami, let alone for FREE). Before seeing a blog post of his emailed to me about a year ago by a friend, you could have told me he was the creator of the motorcycles with the same name and I would’ve believed you. To keep this short, Guy worked for about 3 or 4 years at Apple marketing the Macintosh and then later went on to become a venture capitalist at Garage.com funding potential start-ups and also to turn down the position of CEO of Yahoo (Silly Guy…) For more information visit his Wikipedia entry.
So the event took place last night and it went pretty well. His speech was short (about 20-30 minutes) but pretty sweet. Guy seems to be a pretty down to earth person, wearing his “Aloha” shirt and always having a smile on his face (not sure if that’s a PR scheme or just natural). Anyway, the following are some key points he shared with us (I text this to myself, so I am putting my own 2 cents and paraphrasing a lot here):
Have a two or three word mantra (not a slogan, more a mission statement). A mantra such as Nike “Authentic athletic performance” was cited by him (and his blog). Nike’s mantra should not be confused with its slogan “Just do it.”
Keep things simple and uncluttered.
Have perspective to spend more time on your product, PR, and marketing. Try to have a clear path to go on.
Be innovative with your ideas. Guy cited ice as an example for both perspective and innovative. At first ice was harvested from icy regions and shipped. Later, technology evolved to creating ice in factories and shipping out to customers. Finally, with the refrigerator/freezer ice was in your house at all times. None of the companies that harvested the ice turned into ice factories and none of the ice factories turned into refrigerator companies. They lacked both perspective AND (some) innovation.
Have depth in your products. He cited Network Solutions (I wonder why…) as a company with depth since it offers domain renewals, web hosting, SEO and Marketing services, etc.
Your company and product must have intelligence. This is self-explanatory.
Your product must be a complete product. You must encompass most or all of your target audiences needs.
Create an elegant design, and ease of use. Guy cited the iPod as an example of elegant design, navigate, scroll, and select any song or video you want through a single click-wheel.
“Don’t worry, be crappy“. Guy states that it’s “OK” to be crappy if you’re ahead of the curb in a technology or an idea. If you have a product or service that no one has it’s fine to release it “crappy”. It’s actually a good sign!
Fix the crap! Once you release the crap, you need keep working on it to make it excellent. It’s OK to release crap in innovation as long as you continue to refine and work on it.
Market in a niche. The ideal situation is for you to create a product that people need but no other person or company does. You need to find a niche otherwise you will continue to compete in saturated markets.
It’s fine for customers you didn’t have in mind to use your product. Don’t be scared off because of it or change your model. Guy recommends you “take the money!”
There was a bit more but my text message says *\Missing Text\*. The one time I need text messaging to work and the only time it doesn’t! The only other point to mention was that an audience member asked about “Enemies”, Guy thinks enemies are good in business because they drive competition and therefore stimulate innovation. That was about it.
At the end, they had a business card drawing where I ACTUALLY FREAKING WON! Guy pulled out the card and it was yours truly that got picked! I’ve never won anything like that so I was ecstatic! So I now hold TWO SOLD OUT World Golf Championships CLUBHOUSE TICKETS that will be held in the Doral golf course. Whoop! Tiger Woods FTW! I’d love to go but the only problem is that it’s for Sunday March 23, 2008 which is Easter (filled with family events). So I’m accepting offers if anyone is interested. They supposedly go for $250 each ticket and all the proceeds will go directly into my “Buying a house fund”. Email me at enragedamigos@gmail.com if you want proof of pictures or more info.
