Last Friday Adobe celebrated its 25th anniversary. And what a party it was… jugglers, ballet dancers, hip-hop dance troupes, Segway races, galore. And to top it all off, the evening ended with an amazing private concert from the band Smashmouth!
Smashmouth Jams with Adobe!
The New Terminator Army
This is just plain cool. The new military.. Terminator-esque exoskeletons, ruggedized Segway transports, and unmanned vehicles (UAVs). It all makes me wish I was still active duty! I just hope this stuff doesn’t run on Windows!(Note, I Googled “Vista Problems“, and got 4.5 million results vs 997k for Leopard.)
Can't Keep Art Down.
What a good way to start off the holiday season. My uncle Art (newly adopted) underwent some major surgery last week – was given the all-clear and released from the hospital yesterday! I’ll say this… amongst the amazing suburban sprawl that is outer Las Vegas, their hospitals are a-mazing. Most of them look better (inside and out) than most hotels here in the Bay Area. Contrast that with the festering sewage pits they call hospitals in Los Angeles. If I get sick, ship me to Vegas baby!
2000 prices vs 2007
It’s amazing how things can change in just 7 short years. The attitunidish blog has posted some depressing contrasts between then and now. It’s a good thing salaries have kept pace with these increases… not.Value of a barrel of oil:November, 2000: $10November, 2007: $100Value of the British Pound Sterling versus the US Dollar:November, 2000: $1.42November, 2007: $2.05Value of the Euro against the US Dollar:November, 2000: 83 cents (note: the Euro was only a valuation at this point)November, 2007: $1.47Value of the Canadian dollar against the US Dollar:November, 2000: 46 centsNovember, 2007: $1.02Median price of a home in San Francisco:November, 2000: $417,000November, 2007: $827,000National debt (in USD billions):November, 2000: 5,674.2November, 2007: 9,007.7
Barack Obama Speaks in San Francisco!
Ok, this is TOTALLY not photography related, but…On Wednesday, November 14th, I made my way up to San Francisco to see presidential candidate Barack Obama speak on his plans to change/save the nation. This was my first time seeing a presidential candidate in person, and I have to say it was quite an experience. Just to get in, my friend Joseph and I stood in line or hours – but for some reason it didn’t seem that bad. I think the vibe in the crowd was that this was something historic, and what difference would a few hours of inconvenience make?I didn’t have a decent camera with me… just my old Canon Digital Elph (that I carry everywhere). Joseph however, came to play… he brought along his Canon 5D and a very nice 70-200mm lens. The shots below are his… and the YouTube video is from my Elph. I figured, since he had the stills covered, I could at least grab a few moments of video/audio.I still haven’t made up my mind whom to vote for. But I can say that it felt kind of nice to see someone who looks like me, talks like me, and that’s from my hometown (Chicago) be up on stage addressing so many adoring people of varying ethnic backgrounds.At the very least, the 2008 elections will have changed American policies forever. And going forward, regardless of who wins… things can only get better (a Howard Jones reference).
Photos by Joseph Linaschke
Get in the ZONE!
On Saturday I went to see my friend Jason O’Hare and his band “The Zone” rock the house at Bar Melody in Los Angeles (near LAX). Jason and I used to work together, but I had no idea he was so talented! Those guys ROCK!! Check out their MySpace page to hear some of their jams and for their next gig date.
Amp'd Mobile is… Dead.
The company has been in (public) death throes for several months now. Today they posted a notice on their website saying they will “potentially” be suspending operations on July 24th. This is a real milestone for me for several reasons, the most significant of which is that I was Vice President of Marketing for the company for a while. So it sucks to see such promise circling the drain (counter-clockwise for the companies Australian founders). If you happen to be an Amp’d Mobile subscriber, follow this link to find out what to do… but what ever you plan to do, I suggest you do it quickly. Their customer service shuts down on July 23rd.
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I thought it fitting to write a quick post about this “tragic” event, and share a few memories from my time with Amp’d Mobile. Here are a few photos from my Amp’d Mobile Flickr photoset:
Straight from the company’s website:Is Amp’d going out of business?Amp’d is potentially suspending US operations on July 24th.How long will customer service be provided to help with issues such as ports or credits?Customer Service will not be available after July 23rd.Will Amp’d be bought by another carrier?Amp’d is currently in discussions with several parties.When I decide on my new wireless service provider – can I take my phone?Yes, if your service provider of choice uses CDMA.
If you’ve never seen an Amp’d Mobile commercial, it’s probably because you’re not in the target demographic. You’ll know who that target is…er, was… after you’ve watched the videos.First there was Dead Rockstar. Part of the Amp’d Mobile “Try not to Die” teaser campaign. This commercial depicts a drugged out rockstar who’s had a bit too much. The maid finds the twitching body and yells at him/it because now that he’s dead he won’t be able to enjoy the cool new upcoming phone from Amp’d Mobile. Priorities.Second was Dead Senator also part of the “Try not to Die” teaser advertising campaign for Amp’d Mobile. This commercial features a fictitious U.S. Senator that couldn’t take the stress of being with his bouncy prostitute. She’s trying to revive him so that he doesn’t miss the hot new upcoming Amp’d Mobile phone. And who could forget the Bus commercial… with the girl shaking her “junk”.Rest in peace Amp’d Mobile. And may its founders learn from their numerous mistakes.
Been There, Streamed That.
Sometimes it really sucks being “ahead of your time”. The Yahoo! FinanceVision project was just that – it was a revolutionary streaming video financial news network… Yahoo! kicked off the project in 2001 and killed it a few years later. But in that window of time, we had some serious fun. I was part of an amazing team of people at Yahoo! that could have moved mountains, and in many cases did just that. Check out these videos for a taste of some of the good times (and bad) during our pioneering run as FinanceVisionaries… the original NetCasters!
See more videos on my Video page
Aperture for iPhoto Users
Over at Apple’s web site my good friend Joe Schorr, Product Manger for Apple’s Aperture, has posted a series of videos in which he discusses some of the comparisons between Aperture and iPhoto. Joe gets into things such as how zooming differs, keywording improvements, as well as slideshows. If you’re a user of either iPhoto or Aperture, you should really take a look at these videos.
SurveyMonkey Learns New Tricks
So, after months of struggling with a horrendous UI to send out customer satisfaction surveys for my employer Pictage, it looks like SurveyMonkey has finally gotten their act together and splashed a fresh coat of Web 2.0 all over their web survey management system.
Along with the cosmetic overhaul, they’ve added a ton of new features… and improved on a half-ton more. For example little things like letting the user know if respondents on their proposed email list have previously opted out. Duh! you may think… but prior to this update, knowing who had said “leave me alone” was less than intuitive.
Surveys are an excellent way of keeping in touch with your customers, while simultaneously letting them know you’re listening. Check out the new SurveyMonkey – the chimp has learned a new trick or two.
