Monthly Archives: July 2008
Social Media Club LA Wrap-Up
pic used w/permission of Wm. Marc Salsberry of TechZulu (more pics & videos can be found at their site) I had the pleasure of attending the LA Social Media Club event at Mahola‘s headquarters here in LA this past Monday night. Approximately 200 people in and outside of the social media realm attended the event which included dinner, drinks, networking, and a panel discussion emceed by Jackie Peters of HeavyBag Media and including Nicole Jordan from Rubicon Project, Michael Dorausch a chiropractor who’s use social media as a pioneer in …
Read Full Post
Can free networks save the world?
We stand at a time in history unlike any other. Technological advances have made the spread of information nearly instantaneous. Pictures, words, audio and video fly around the globe on a network made of wires and radio waves. A little known Republican presidential candidate with views radically different from the established elite took up to twenty percent of primary votes in some states. He broke fundraising records and built an unparalleled grass roots network using only the internet. The ongoing war in Iraq provides another example of the ways our …
Read Full Post
Going the way of the buffalo, what’s the future of social news?
I’ve been thinking lately about social news sites. Sites like reddit and digg. They were interesting ideas at their inceptions, but increasingly lend themselves towards complete crap. If I see another lolcat, another duplicate article about this or that presidential candidate, or something else on global warming, I just might have to take my own life. I rarely visit these sites (that I used to spend hours on a day) anymore. I tend to let my friends filter the news for me, they seem to do a much better job …
Read Full Post
Has Anybody Seen My Freaking Prozac?
We are conditioned to think from an early age that the wealthiest people are the ones we ought to emulate. We’re bombarded with their actions on television and in the news. Entire magazines are dedicated to following the lives of the usually rich, and generally famous. It’s not that our parents told us money would make us happy. Most of us were told that money isn’t ‘everything’. We humans have this tendency to ignore words, then listen to actions. When dad worked through the weekend, or mom gushed over that …
Read Full Post
Twiistup, Social Media Camp & LA SummerMash Wrap-Up
The latter part of last week was a whirlwind for the LA social media / tech scene and it was oh-so nice to have the weekend to relax and finally put everything in perspective! Starting off the festivities, Thursday night was the fantastic Twiistup 4 at the Viceroy in Santa Monica, which certainly lived up to expectation, what with smart people, good conversation and walking on water (yes, it’s ok to be jealous). Other highlights of the night included: BookRenter.com My only qualms with these guys is that they failed …
Read Full Post
Less is more, in life as much as design.
Design gurus often talk about simplicity in design. That by using less to convey your point you actually are able to convey your message to a broader audience. That you’re able to be more relevant with less rather than more. I think this idea would be better applied in our everyday lives. In my life the most fulfilling moments, the most life altering times, have happened when I cared very little for what I possessed, or what I wanted to posses. Since George Carlin died I’ve been watching quite a …
Read Full Post
[EssentiaList] Own CSS
In 1994, Hakon Wium Lie proposed the concept of Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) to the world, moving web design one small, significant step closer to perfection (read a brief history here). For the virgin, the W3C has a short tutorial for those of us who have never used CSS before. There’s also a more robust tutorial (by the W3C) here, and another by The Web Design Group here, all of which are well worth bookmarking. In addition to the above, html.net’s CSS section is also a good place to go …
Read Full Post
Textless Tuesday: What Matters to You // Me?
What Matters to You // Me? from Jr.canest on Vimeo.
How do social networks build community?
I’ve thought about this quite a bit lately. I’ve actually come to wonder if they do help build community at all. I seem to experience less community now than I did before I had a Myspace, Facebook, or Virb membership. I think part of this is because of the isolation that telecommunications seems to foster. Talk is cheap, we can talk with anyone we want to any time we want. Since supply is so high, we value people’s words and opinions very little. Community, real community that matters, that has …
Read Full Post
