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.
Recently I’ve noticed a lot of “HTML Expert” claims from numerous companies management and designers. For those that don’t know, HTML stands for HyperText Markup Language, which is basically the language of the internet. Being an “expert” in HTML these days is like saying you’re an expert at simultaneously walking and chewing gum.
Did you know thatI learned the word simultaneously because of Nintendo manuals? Yep, those wonderful NES manuals taught me that holding both the A and B buttons at the same time is called simultaneous.
Anyhow, claiming you’re an HTML expert merely implies that you understand the basics of web design. Nothing more really. I was an “expert” by the time I was 15 (and I started a couple weeks before turning 15).
Having said that, I learned yesterday of an HTML tag I didn’t know existed. The <pre></pre> tag, which marks text as pre-formatted. Of little use for me, but nevertheless pretty cool.
So I wanted to see if I found a file I was curious about on thepiratebay.org and tried for several minutes to log on to the site only to find it completely down. The pirate bay is known for it’s stand up fight against copyright laws but recently has been seeing pressure from within it’s own country.
This could be the end of something good or just maintenance on the servers. No need to fret yet folks. No need to fret…
UPDATE: Phew! False alarm. I guess the site was just down for a few minutes. It’s back up now and running just fine.
Oh the stuff people with a lot of time can come up with. This is the band Slipknot with a voice over of the song Lambada. Needless to say I was laughing out loud. The best parts for me are the guitar solos and whatnot.
Have any funny voice over videos? Post them in the comments!
Is it sad that a Walrus actually dances better than me? Don’t answer that. This walrus freaking kicks major dance floor ass compared to a lot of people I know. YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE! Anyway, it would be cool to challenge this Walrus to a dance-off. Zoolander style!
It’s no surprise to those that know me that I LOVE St. Patricks Day. It’s one of the few “holidays” I look forward to and definitely the one I take most religiously. There’s just something magical about getting together with a group of friends on St. Patty’s and just drinking for no good reason. Brings a tear to my eye.
There’s only one problem I see this year. St. Patty’s falls on Monday, March 17 which is the Roman Catholic Church Holy Monday. Apparently some people have rescheduled St. Patty’s to Saturday (which makes much more party sense.)
Anyway, I just saw this post on cracked.com and couldn’t stop laughing at the would-be St. Patricks Day cards. VERY stereotypical but VERY funny! My personal favorite of the bunch turns out to be the most “controversial”.
Check it out:
It may be stupid but damn, did I crack up. And negative, I am not a racist.
So for a couple of months I’ve been hearing the song in the above video and didn’t know exactly who sand it. Yesterday I get a call from my cousin and I pick up to hear on the other end “Ah duh duh duh duh duh duh duh duh…” My first reaction was “wtf” but then I realized that the song has made its viral way through the internet and to my cousin.
Apparently the “singer” of the song is a Reggaeton artist. His stage name is “El Mudo” which translates into “The Mute”. This would explain the vocals. Regardless if he is mute or note, the song is HILARIOUS for those of you not having heard it yet. Take a look at the above video (especially 1:34 in)!
I was actually introduced to the song by the below video. It’s “the dancing drake”. It’s basically a collection of moves the character from the game Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune can pull off to look like he’s dancing. The kicker is that it plays to the Chacarron Macarron tune. I couldn’t stop cracking up when I first saw/heard this. Enjoy!
