It seemed his prize tomatoEs had been compromised. …it seemed right.

These were pretty bad…

… but things quickly got way worse…

Then I saw it. 1/2 manatee 1/2 sharpei.

YES. I’m cereal. This was 4realz on my porch… in BK…  wreaking havoc… with fangs.

Upon further inspection, he (Petey) was pretty shy.

And long!

Josh was hiding inside where it was safe. I decided to hang out for a while. I clearly had mixed emotions about he inevitable next steps.

I did my best to describe to Josh what was happening outside.

He screamed and said, “WTF!?!”

I dropped Petey off the side of the building. I like to think the leaves he was still clutching onto softened the fall.

The end. Literally.

Everyone’s seen ads projected on to buildings… but have they seen the source lurking on the opposite site of the street? As of last Saturday night, I have. Sorry to ruin the illusion, but it’s just some dude sticking a projector out of his beat up car window. This is the BEST IDEA EVER. Who’s down for splitting the $800 to pick one of these babies up for some serious adulko.com promotion? PS. the ad the jalopy dude was projection was for Hustler Club.

The BetaCup competition (partnered with Starbucks) called for a new, sustainable coffee cup. What better answer than something that is not a cup at all? An entry of the same name, BetaCup, turned the competition upside down by implementing a loyalty system that requires not one additional cup to be produced.

Users are given an RFiD-enhanced sticker to place of the beverage container of his or her choosing. That sticker tracks refill purchases across a variety of shops and chains and can be used to fulfill the reward system of that particular venue’s choosing. Genius! See ya later punch cards!

I was lucky enough to be featured in this demo. See of you can spot me… right next to the laser beams.

http://www.jovoto.com/contests/drink-sustainably/ideas/5364

PS. Thanks to everyone who voted. The site lets you know who did so don’t bother frontin

PPS: Sweet logo design by Mina Cheong

http://www.urlesque.com/2010/06/07/sad-keanu-reeves-the-latest-image-meme/

I had the chance to work on an awesome project with Thinc Design. They had been commissioned by the Gapminder Foundation to produce a physical gaming interface around world health data visualizations. While some cringed at the thought of associating a gambling aesthetic with the drawing of comparisons between such topics as children per woman and life expectancy, Gapminder Director, Hans Rosling did not shy away.

The game’s first iteration launched at the Global Health Council’s 2009 annual conference in Washington DC and was a great success. During play, the croupier draws an oversized card depicting a random country. Players place chips on the game table where they feel the life expectancy for that country overlaps the average number of children per woman based of this year’s metrics. The table is constructed of an overhead video projection controlled by RFID. Videos for each country are triggered when each country card is swiped. Video playback speed and direction is also controlled by RFID and the croupier rake.

Variations on the game include placing bets on which of two countries had a higher life expectancy or average number of children per woman in a given year.

It was great working with Thinc, Josh Berry, Taylor Levy & Che-Wei Wang, and Gapminder on this project.

TeamReport is a series of iPhone apps focused on individual clubs. Fans can instantly get realtime scores as well as post chat-style comments. Additionally, each app can restrict use to a specific geographical radius (ie Arena/Bar).

Tangent alert!!

Let’s face it, apps are useless with a few exceptions. Google Maps is great when speed is not an issue. Facebook is of course great for stalking.  I’m am also a huge fan of breaking news. I’d go so far as to say that access to breaking news (and news in general) is the best example of the benefits of consume mobile technology. At the moment, my fav apps on this front are AP and CNN.

Also dope: SkiReport.com. A user gets quick stats about nearby/their fav areas. Basically… Are they open? How much snow? If you choose to click deeper, there are more details as well as a message board feature. As we all know, I love the idea of conversation based around a location or an event. In online forums, no matter the starting subject, the conversation inevitably seems to turn to porn or a mess of people calling each other dbags. That is not the case here because, I feel, participants are focused on a specific, real-life, tangible idea. The posts are pretty useful and give a more realistic report of conditions then the area’s official sites sometimes do.

</tangent>

I decided the SkiReport format would lend itself perfectly to many niche topics. After being frustrated about how difficult it is to navigate to the scores you are looking for in many general sports apps, I decided to translate the format over to a NY Rangers App. I created this as something I would actually use. Open the app and instantly get current real-time score, results or the last game, or the next match-up and game time… whichever is most relevant. There is also an anonymous post option similar to the SkiReport model. As a bonus feature, I though it would be cool to have the option to restrict posting to a certain geographical radius. So there’s that. You can view posts from anywhere, but only contribute if you are in the designated bar/arena vicinity.

TIMELY UPDATE – 5/11/10!!!

OK so I made this a while ago. Since then, ESPN launched the BEST SPORTS APP EVER. ScoreCenter. It’s complete with customizable real-time score push notifications. I love the dun-ne-ne duh-ne-ne sound effect every time one comes in. Others really know I’m interested because of it.

You know what else??? ESPN Mobile has “Section 140″, which encourages real-time chat around particular games. Same concept as TeamReport… sans the GPS restrictions… interesting.

I liked the idea of suppling an environment for the creation of a collaborative work, while simultaneously providing a practical area guide that could be used passively.

Check out the full essay-ish description here.

Available as a sleek iPhone app OR 1997-style mobile optimized website!!!