Occasionally Interesting
Ford is doing a little campaign involving their 2011 Fiesta. They’re giving away 100 cars to 100 bloggers / social medians for six months. During that time, the “agents” are supposed to create content around the car with monthly “missions.”
I decided to participate, and this is my video application:
My submission went through right at the buzzer, so I’m far behind many of the other applicants with video views. I figured posting it around a little bit would help me catch up!
I have never made a peep about this side project here on my blog. For about eight months, now, I have been doing a weekly live video broadcast. The only mention it has gotten from me has been on Twitter, right before going live.
The Super Wicked Awesome Show
with Chris Tingom and Brian Shaler
Every Monday evening after work (6:30pm MST) Chris and I fire up a live video stream and chat room. We talk and joke around. We showcase great stuff we have found around the Internet during the previous week and weekend. We’re always good for a laugh and you’ll probably see something very cool that you’ve never seen before! Though, we don’t always show content. It just depends on how the conversation goes. The goal of the show is simple: Bring a half hour of awesomeness.
The main reason I haven’t been heavily promoting it is because it has been a slowly evolving side-of-the-side project. For the first 5 months, the web site was simply black text on a white background, saying “Super Wicked Awesome” with a timer until the next episode.
Lately, we have been recording the shows and posting them on the Super Wicked Awesome Blog. It didn’t make sense to spend time week after week and only reach the 10-100 people who would tune in throughout the live episode.
Tonight, the show took another gradual step forward. We are now providing a podcast feed, with iPod/iPhone-compatible video downloads. I submitted the feed to iTunes and it may show up in a week or two.
We’re toying with the idea of giving away free stuff. Does your company have cool stuff to give away? Let me know! We have a small but growing international audience.
I thought I would share this video I made after an interesting lunch encounter:
You are cordially invited to watch and participate in a LIVE web demo of XID at http://ustream.tv/channel/brianshaler, starting at (about) 1:00pm MST/Arizona Saturday 2/2/2008.
Update: For time conversion and the current MST time, check out timeanddate.com
What is XID?
The XID project is intended to provide a free, open, and decentralized method of sharing your online presence with your friends.
The most important thing about social networks is being connected with your friends. By storing and filtering your friends’ XID information, you will easily be able to see which of your friends already have accounts on any given social network. No email address book importing. No searching for each of your friends’ names. You don’t need to rely on the web site’s friend-finding mechanisms if you have XID.
What will be Demo’d?
XID is a platform, and when the platform is launched, so will a set of complementary applications. The applications involved are not yet complete. I will be showing and explaining what has been completed so far. Currently, there is an optional web application that is intended to allow new users to quickly and easily set up an XID card without looking at any code. There is also a Firefox extension that allows users to import and manage their friends’ XID cards.
Web Application
The web application consists of these key features:
Those features have been at least partially implemented and they can be previewed right now. There will be more features in the near future.
Firefox Extension
The Firefox sidebar extension consists of these key features:
Again, those are features that are at least partially implemented and there will be more to come.
NOT Just a Tour
There is no scheduled end time for this Live web demo. After an initial tour is complete, I will discuss current and future features with anyone in the UStream chat room (UStream account NOT required to participate!). I will also work on writing code to implement features while discussing them. Live.
At the expense of a little productivity, I will attempt to multi-task.
I finally made it to Social Media Club. It was my first time and overall, it was a worthwhile evening.
The topic was a presentation by Arizona-based white label video site, V:social. I have heard about the site, but it was great to see a more detailed view of their platform. It was also great to see some of the implementations of their product. As a white label video player, you can be watching V:social video without even knowing it (and I have!). Great company. Great product. Great presentation. Glad to hear about companies like this thriving in Phoenix.
There were two other highlights of the night. As I introduced myself, Francine Hardaway, an “uber” networking maven if I’ve ever seen one, interrupted me immediately after I said my name. “Oh HEY!” she said. “I (@hardaway) follow you (@brianshaler) on Twitter.” That happens from time to time with people I’ve never met, and it’s always awkward. But because this was Francine, it was awkward + awesome.
The other highlight was the guy that introduced himself by saying “I invented Web 2.0 in 1991.” Yes, an Al Gore joke inevitably followed (it wasn’t me, I promise…. but it was definitely on the tip of my tongue).
Social Media Club meetings are on the second Thursday of every month. Check out SMCphoenix.com for more information.