There is no better way for me to describe 2008 than with this snapshot from ‘my’ Swirl. Thanks to all who replied on Twitter by the way for the best screengrabbing solution to get this snapshot to begin with :) I used the Screengrab plugin for Firefox which some of you suggested, worked like a charm. Enjoy.
I’m pretty sure the guys at Buzzing Bees won’t mind but I have copy their latest post, it’s too good. They show the latest commercial made for Electrabel by Famous – filmed in Stop Motion with 288.000 candles. Note – Electrabel is a energy provider.
Here’s the making of:
Great stuff Famous!
My buddy Matth from Absoluut just sent me this little video of Papervision – Augmented Reality. I haven’t tried yet if it really works as smooth as shown in the video but it sure looks pretty cool. All you need is a piece of paper, a webcam and Flash installed. Check it out.
I still have to order new business cards after I changed jobs early October. I didn’t just want the corporate default though so instead I waited until this week to add some gapingvoid magic to it. The front of the card will still be the classic Microsoft design but on the back I will have this (see below) from now on. It sort of says the same as on the front but just in another language :) Can’t wait to get these printed.
And in case you wonder where the ‘geek marketer’ comes from, read this.
Right about a year ago I wrote this thought:
“With more and more agencies adopting new ways to get the connection between their clients the advertisers and the consumer, I think it’s time they rethink themselves as well and look at how they can serve their clients, their customers a bit better. Just a thought.”
It was at a time that I was working simultaneously with several different agencies across Europe and it struck me how all of them were telling me to focus more on the customer etc while in the meantime operating on a very self-centric approach themselves.
I was reminded of this post (and discussion) this week as Alain Thys and Stefan Kolle from FutureLab released a new report around exactly that topic:
“This is the free version of the Futurelab report on the growing disconnect between what advertising agencies offer, and what their clients are looking for. If you wish to purchase the full report with 60 pages of strategic insights and recommendations, go to: www.futurelab.net/agencyreport.”
Enjoy.
As I mentioned about a week ago in the ‘Blue Monster in Paris’ post, Hugh MacLeod was a regular guest at the Microsoft BizSpark and Live Mesh booth at LeWeb in Paris this year. We had agreed with Hugh to try out something different than usual and everybody who stopped by while Hugh was there could get a personal Hughcard and maybe even something more… like say a signed Blue Monster wine bottle for instance.
It was great to see a lot of people stopped by and had cartoons drawn on business cards, wine bottles, body parts, computers, etc. All good fun and a lot of times real conversation starters, just like we hoped it to be.
Those of you that were interested in the event will all probably have read what The Guardian had to say about it, well if you did then make sure you read Thomas Crampton’s answer to that as well. Every year when I look back at LeWeb it is with the eyes of both an attendee as a sponsor. Every year there are some things that could have been better (yes it was cold, yes I liked last year’s venue more, yes we were definitely spoilt re food last year, …) and there are always plenty of reasons why I will be back next year.
It’s still one of the best conferences for networking, there’s all kinds of great content to be discovered and you just know it’ll start a conversation just like the years before. When I checked with the program manager for BizSpark or the startups that were able to show off what they got as part of that program, feedback was very good. When I checked with the Live Mesh guys, feedback was good. And quite a few people went home with a personal cartoon… yeah it was good for me. Thanks again for joining us Hugh!
Okay so you already know that the Blue Monster is coming to Paris, now I’m also happy to announce that Live Mesh is coming to LeWeb in Paris as well next week. And with a twist:
“We’re pleased to announce that to celebrate LeWeb’08 and Microsoft’s official partnership with the event, we are providing attendees exclusive access to 30GB of free Live Mesh online storage. To claim your 30GB storage on Live Mesh please stop by the Live Mesh booth in the Microsoft zone and register with either myself (James Senior), Angus Logan or Jeff Hansen.
Attendees will also be getting exclusive access to Live Mesh for Windows Mobile and Mac, again stop by the booth for more info.”
Yet another reason to come and see us at the Microsoft booth thanks to the guys from Live Mesh!
Not long after we organized our blogger meetup in the Coach and Horses to chat about the new release of Windows Live there’s yet another blogger meetup organized by Microsoft at the same location – this time for Live Mesh and cloud computing. Here are the details:
Where: The Coach and Horses pub, 29 Greek Street, Soho, London W1V 5LL
When: 11th December from 6pm to 8pm (and onwards for anyone that fancies it)
Who’d enjoy this? Anyone who’s interested in discussing cloud computing with two of the leaders from Microsoft
These 2 leaders are Angus Logan (Sr Technical Product Manager on Live Services) and Jeff Hansen (GM for Live Mesh) will be present to discuss about cloud computing and Live Mesh for all that are interested. Steve Clayton and Steve Lamb have all the information on his blog and here’s the link to the wiki for signup in case you would like to join.
I won’t be there myself unfortunately but if you are interested in cloud computing and you’re in London that evening I would think this is a good meetup to go to.
Sometimes there are these websites/services that you stumble upon after following a link in search, twitter, … and for which you wonder how it is possible you hadn’t heard of it before? Recognize that situation? Well Fabchannel.com is such a website – I only heard about it for the first time this week.
This time it was a tweet from someone (can’t find it anymore) that notified me about a LIVE concert of dEUS (in Paradisio, Amsterdam) that caught my eye. And what can I say, I pretty much liked everything about that site. I liked how it had a nice countdown clock to the concert (custom for your time zone), I liked the live stream itself which was pretty good, I like the search functionality, the ability to watch older concerts and especially how you navigate through the tracks, the speed in which it gets connected to the streams, … fabulous! Seriously, how did I not notice this before?
Currently watching/listening to an old Zita Swoon concert, with Bettie Serveert and some Frank Black as well (for the Pixies stuff really).
Next week we’re heading to Paris again for what is probably one of the most exiting tech/web events in Europe: LeWeb. This year Microsoft is the main sponsor and so make sure you come and check us out. And while you’re at it, bring your business cards as Hugh Macleod will be a regular guest and he might just end up drawing a cartoon on the back of it ;)
We’re also going to bring some Blue Monster Sauvignon Blanc with us but more on that later. For those that would like to get a chance to get one of those right now already, I’m actually going to give away 6 bottles right here, right now. (that is 1 bottle per winner to be clear). All you have to do is let me know in the comments why you should win it. By the start of LeWeb next week I will pick the winners (with the help of Hugh) out of the hopefully numerous comments ;) Make it original. Oh and just so you know, these bottles aren’t for sale.
Come and say hi if you’re going to be at LeWeb. Go here if you’re interested in finding out more about the Blue Monster.
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