Sunday, November 11, 2007
Our 2007 Oxygen Halloween Party
Here's our photos and video clips from the 2007 Oxygen Halloween Party that Phyllis and I hosted on October 26, 2007. It was great fun!
Here's a link to the whole photo set on Flickr.com and a link to the slide show format. Please send me links to any of your photo sets from the party and I will list them here as well.
This video is on Youtube.com and is part of our traditional Karaoke contest. This one is Chiara, Jeanhee, Phyllis and Kathie.
This one is Meredith, Lissy, Zach, Olivia and Samantha
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Stephen Colbert for President
Colbert, what if you don't win?
Stephen Colbert appeared on Meet the Press today with Tim Russert talking about his run for President of the United States. I usually try to avoid politics on my blog but it was so hilarious that I have to link their video in honor of this spoof.
Monday, October 15, 2007
What I Want in My Next Gig
Given all the news this week its a good time for reflection about what I want in my next gig (aka job, work, assignment, etc.). Granted things are a bit up in the air right now so that could be with Oxygen Media, NBC Universal, or anywhere really.
First and foremost I want to be a part in a great team of people just like I am now. The most important quality here is that I want to work with professionals that are dedicated to getting A's in their craft.
Second, I want to work on and build products that are consumer facing. While there are great jobs and careers to be had farther back in the supply chain, I have been awakened for the second time in my career about the excitement with consumer products.
Finally, I want a real "seat at the table" with the business to help reach a successful outcome with these products. The marketplace is tough. I recognize there aren't easy answers to getting significant returns with the consumer. Nevertheless I want the challenge to help create this value and return.
All industries have their proven business models but these models are changing quickly due to technology advances. I don't want to work for a place that doesn't recognize this changing dynamic and has a bunch of sloganeering and jingoism about the "established business model". The business model is where some of the most interesting innovation will need to come in order to be successful in the marketplace of the future.
First and foremost I want to be a part in a great team of people just like I am now. The most important quality here is that I want to work with professionals that are dedicated to getting A's in their craft.
Second, I want to work on and build products that are consumer facing. While there are great jobs and careers to be had farther back in the supply chain, I have been awakened for the second time in my career about the excitement with consumer products.
Finally, I want a real "seat at the table" with the business to help reach a successful outcome with these products. The marketplace is tough. I recognize there aren't easy answers to getting significant returns with the consumer. Nevertheless I want the challenge to help create this value and return.
All industries have their proven business models but these models are changing quickly due to technology advances. I don't want to work for a place that doesn't recognize this changing dynamic and has a bunch of sloganeering and jingoism about the "established business model". The business model is where some of the most interesting innovation will need to come in order to be successful in the marketplace of the future.
Sunday, September 30, 2007
Should I Pace My Lifestyle to Games of Chance?
I really like games of chance. I enjoy playing card games like Texas Hold'em with my wife Phyllis and my good friends Ilio and Keith. On occassion, I even enjoy going to a big time casino like in Atlantic City or Las Vegas and shooting some Craps or playing a little Black Jack. I play the lottery at home and with my good friend and colleague David M.
In all these games, I would of course love to win but I don't expect to win. I don't plan my budget around winning. I don't pace my lifestyle like I am going to win. Why not?
It's because of course none of these games of chance are predictable at all. I also am not an expert at any of these games either making it even less likely that I would plan or pace my life around doing such games. That would be absolutely insane.
How do I pace and plan my life? I do it just about like everybody else. I have a plan that I think is reasonable. I follow the plan based on my skills and needs and what I think is truly attainable. Of course there are set backs and I adjust as needed in an agile way.
In all these games, I would of course love to win but I don't expect to win. I don't plan my budget around winning. I don't pace my lifestyle like I am going to win. Why not?
It's because of course none of these games of chance are predictable at all. I also am not an expert at any of these games either making it even less likely that I would plan or pace my life around doing such games. That would be absolutely insane.
How do I pace and plan my life? I do it just about like everybody else. I have a plan that I think is reasonable. I follow the plan based on my skills and needs and what I think is truly attainable. Of course there are set backs and I adjust as needed in an agile way.
Saturday, September 29, 2007
Nintendo really gets it…Sponsor your own hack / crack event!
Yesterday I had the pleasure to take my son Zachary and his best friend Michael to a really cool event. Nintendo and ToysRus had teamed up to do a nationwide Pokemon meet up event.
The idea was that kids come to the store armed with their Nintendo DS devices. When we arrived there were probably 200 kids in the store with their DS's and pokemon games running. You walked up to counter and each kid was quickly given two sealed character cards with a special code attached. This code talked to a local wifi server they had staged in the store and allowed the kids to download two new super charged characters -- Manaphy and Electivire.
So what was in it for both companies? For ToysRus obviously the hope is that you are in the store and buy more product (and indeed we did). For Nintendo obviously they can sell more product too but there were other beneficial behaviors that I observed.
Kids of all ages (6 to 18) were interacting not only with their new characters but several were making deals and exchanging other characters from their devices over the wifi connections in the store. Of course there were also many discussions about specific game strategy and tactics. Many of the kids were discussing how the DS system interfaced with their Wii systems at home and uploading and syncing characters on their devices to the home systems.
Overall the event felt like a bricks and mortar viral event that was truly authentic!
So what was in it for both companies? For ToysRus obviously the hope is that you are in the store and buy more product (and indeed we did). For Nintendo obviously they can sell more product too but there were other beneficial behaviors that I observed.Kids of all ages (6 to 18) were interacting not only with their new characters but several were making deals and exchanging other characters from their devices over the wifi connections in the store. Of course there were also many discussions about specific game strategy and tactics. Many of the kids were discussing how the DS system interfaced with their Wii systems at home and uploading and syncing characters on their devices to the home systems.
Overall the event felt like a bricks and mortar viral event that was truly authentic!
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
OpenID and related XFN matters
I have to say that I have been a fan of OpenID since our leadership in the development team (Luke and Ken) both turned me on to it. The concept is a fantastic advance and beside that I have long been a fan of a client side solution for identity management called Roboform.
The latest article on the O'Reillly site is very interesting in that it points to an even further advance using XFN to create what is called a social graph using XML. I really like this idea as social networks proliferate. One of my favorite applications that me and my CEO have taken a liking to on Facebook is the Interactive Friends Graph application. It allows you to dynamically see all your friends and your relationships and connections between them and you. I highly recommend it!
I am looking forward to seeing what more fun can come from OpenID and XFN.
The latest article on the O'Reillly site is very interesting in that it points to an even further advance using XFN to create what is called a social graph using XML. I really like this idea as social networks proliferate. One of my favorite applications that me and my CEO have taken a liking to on Facebook is the Interactive Friends Graph application. It allows you to dynamically see all your friends and your relationships and connections between them and you. I highly recommend it!
I am looking forward to seeing what more fun can come from OpenID and XFN.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)