Skating hard and skating art Comments Off

Some people skate and some people are artists on 4 small wheels. Kilian Martin is an artist, no doubt about it.

There’s a plugin for that Comments Off

As a developer every time I have and idea the first impulse is to think of how to do it, technically. Marketing be damned, first let’s see how I can make that thing in the sidebar slide exactly as I want it. Right…

As you can guess, fascinating as it is, it’s not the best business approach. Too much time, too much effort. The result might be great but hey, for anything I can think off, there is a plugin for that. I’ve been using WordPress for a couple of years now and it really has a plugin for anything.

Caching? No problem! Better meta tags, for SEO? Just make you choice, if you can! Flickr gallery? You better have some continuous scrolling plugin because the list is long!

There is really a plugin for everything. This is what makes WordPress and Joomla and the popular open source platforms so powerful. Now, let’s search for some plugin that will code in my place, typing is such a hassle!

Twit your moves – RFID in everything Comments Off

This is new(ish)… For me at least. It turns out Nokia and some other partners have been trying to put RFID chips is skateboards and now they are going for snowboards.

The idea is that the chips track your moves, communicate with your phone and let you twit or send to Facebook or just share in some other way that you managed to pull a 360 or some other move. Cool, right?

Maybe, I don’t think so. Besides the fact that it extends the plague of always being connected to some activities that are sacred in my mind. Sacred from the point of view that it’s only about you and your board / skis and the mountain, full focus and no outsiders are allowed while the run lasts.

I can not see this kind of things not adding some unnecessary pressure to compete with… somebody. Sports are competitive by nature, grant you that, but since when it has to be a game in which we all compete. You compete with yourself, first of all.

To jump on the other side of the argument, I have to admit, having detailed data about how the skis moved while going down the slope, kind of race-car data, would be interesting.

So give me the gadget the collects the data and leave me out of the yet another social-media driven competitive game. Get out of my sanctuary. Thanks!

The picture and the thousand words Comments Off

The saying goes that a picture is worth a thousand words but some seem that are worth more than that. For one reason or the other I’ve started paying more attention to photography in the last weeks. By doing so a whole new world just opened the door a little more. There are some brilliant pictures taken at the exactly right time and some brilliant photographers that know how to be at the right place and at the right time.

Below are 3 examples of absolutely brilliant photography. I’ve linked the pictures to their appropriate source so just click on them to find out their story.

Trees (credit goes to Kottke.org for lead):

Friends:

Afghan girl (Won Pulltzer price)

Shameless plug: I think this picture I made is quite good and this one too.

Go tell a story, make pictures!

Write with a smile Comments Off

Putting emotion into what you write is hard. It’s hard to make something feel happy, light, funny. Note there is a difference between writing a story with a happy end  and your text actually radiating happiness.

But there is a trick to do adding emotions to your writing. Make yourself feel the emotions you desire while you write. You want people to feel all warm and fuzzy and happy when they read whatever masterpiece your produced? Yes? Than smile and feel happy, and light, and warm and fuzzy inside when you write, don’t furrow your brow, don’t concentrate extensively.

And you will notice that words will just feel… happier, the way the phrases flow, everything. It has always worked for me and I’m sure it will work for you, try it, write with a smile.

Melting rocks, the eco-friendly way Comments Off

I don’t know about you but as a kid I used to burn things with a magnifiyng glass every time the sun was shining. But these guys take this to a whole new level. Check out the video.

Source here.

A little lie never hurt anybody, or did it? Comments Off

A few months ago I stumbled on the clip below, in which a few guys were practicing some sort of a new sport of walking on water. Truth be told, they got me! I thought it was real and so did some very smart people I talked to about it.

But guess again, it turns out it was a marketing hoax, a very succesful marketing hoax, bust still a hoax. Here is the how to of the clip and an explanation to why it worked, if you listen carefully.

If you watched the clip you might have heard one of the guys saying: “Somebody mailed us how they can get to 10 steps, they only got to 5 steps”. Well, if you can do 5 steps, there is a grain of truths in it.

And that’s the secret. All good legends have a kernel of solid, verifiable facts in it. That’s how you tell a story, that’s how you make a great lie.

Oh, yeah, I forgot, they don’t call it lies anymore, it’s called a successful marketing viral campaign.

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