There is nothing more fun than spending the summer months with friends. My only fear to this activity is that I might break something or lose my suit! Can’t wait for summer!
Human Slingshot by Devinsupertramp
Archives For Brilliance
There are so many great coders out there. Some that do it by the book so close that everything is cleanly laid out and others who may not be as entirely clean but are pulling off some amazing work. What about those who are running highly creative movements but don’t have the same chops in coding.
This look by PBS Off Book, gives a look into some new options!
Thanks to Brian Craig for pointing it out to me!
As I think about going to the polls tomorrow, this clip from HBO‘s The Newsroom comes to mind. Is America the greatest country in the world? When you go to the polls tomorrow, remember you are a part of a country that has been united in great tragedy, but why is it in our worst times that we come together and not in our greatest? Tomorrow we get to exercise a right that so many around the world can not. No matter what your political stance is, on November 7th we still live a privileged life.
The Next Web 2012 Conference took place in Amsterdam at the end of April, and as most conferences that I don’t get a chance to attend, I later go back and look at videos from the conference. This morning I came across a great keynote! Gabe Zichermann provided an incredible talk at the TNW conference as he looked at the world of Gamification. What is gamification?
Here is the definition from Wikipedia:
Gamification is the use of game design techniques[1], game thinking and game mechanics to enhance non-game contexts.
We love badges, we love rewards, how does this all play into our world? How do you use this technique to engage people?
I don’t mean.. Create someone else’s game for your industry, but rather how do you find what works best for your industry to bring engagement to another level. There is a great story of a teacher who uses this to engage his students!
**pre-warning**
This video is 35 minutes long so be aware that it is a bit of an investment to watch it but well worth your time!
The start of any show or movie can set the tone of the entire watching experience. If you have enjoyed great title sequences, then you’ll love this video!
This clip is from the PBS show Off Book. It looks like a great show on the artistic side of movies, print, etc..
There was an interesting insight that I came across tonight, a brands advertising impacts my kids. Some would say that advertising negatively impacts children; and with many brands I would say that you could agree. The ads around alcohol, self-image, and other areas of vanity can be highly destructive people of all ages. But this is much more set for a future post about the impact of advertising on the population, but for tonight something that stuck out to me was far different.
Many brands have figured out the fact that if connect kids with your product, and it is a positive experience, then they will begin to build loyalty to your brand. This spoke very true when the latest iPhone commercial came on. Here it is:
It’s a fun showing of the features of the iPhone 4s with Siri. Now, you may have not had the best experience with Siri, but the way that commercial portray’s it is pretty sweet. Now the phrase that came from my daughter showed how Apple is pulling her in all while marketing to me. She finished watching the commercial and then said “wow.. that is really cool”. This phrase was said with a stunned demeanor of amazement and they began to create a loyal fan for the future.
Now granted, I don’t help in this process because we own all macs in our home and I am a raving Apple fan.
Either way, as kids grow up they form their own opinion about the things they want to buy, some even go towards the opposite of their parents just out of pure spite. No matter how they view what their parents want, they will form their own opinion so if a brand captures them early and they can tend be pulled in to stay with that brand. Well that plus a large input into the “cool factor”. hahaha..
Just a few fun thoughts out of my house tonight!
Breathe in the masterful work for Bryon Rossi, Seth Stark, and the arts team at Kensington Church
This video is hilarious!
“This C is for Chicago”
Love it! Go Cubs!!
Congrats to Purdue University for blowing out the record for the largest Rube Goldberg Machine!
