The computer lab, once a beacon of nerdiness and Championship Manager 99/00, has now become a thriving social networking hub, with every computer bearing witness to the Bebo revolution. Pictures of smiling teenagers, holding bottles of Jack Daniels (which they are not drinking) with hilarious captions glow from every screen. Joyful freshers laugh so hard they piss their Abercrombie and Fitch joggy bottoms (£299 inc. VAT) - and since when was A+F the official uniform of Glasgow's Youth? You're not in the fucking OC - the rain is actually being sponged up by the concrete and you think it's appropriate to bounce around in your A+F sweater and white canvas trainers? Fucking imbecile. If you can get the qualifications to get to university*, surely you can comprehend that "wet + cold = bad". Sorry, anyway. So aye, no one in this room is using the computers for anything close to study - at least I've admitted I'm here to fuck about. They call themselves students.

Ok, I've read my e-mails so I need another reason to be in here now.

Nope can't think of one. I must leave this strange and worrying place and return to the reality of another piss day in Glasgow. I just heard a girl call it Glasvegas. Not the band, the city. This city. Unironically.

This is no longer the palace of learning and wonder I once resentfully trudged to daily.

Cheers, tools.

DS

*Count to 10 and write a sentence using the word "the". Welcome to Strathy.

Well anyway , TODAY AsHiEe came to my house &nd I helped her with the Art-Crap (: LOL ; I like accidently kicked the chair..  and the ink jar was opened and it poured all over the floor D: I ran to get a towel &nd cleaned it up. Whilst cleaning AsHiEe was on the phone with Steven. That guy is like an Art-Judger o_o 'There's no meaning in it' LOL ! 'Yellow doesn't go with Black' Mee; -thinks of 'Bee' outfit- :L

 OMFG;  Friggin'  hell .  I am already like really put off and now my GP comes :@ &nd says ' Get off @9 ' WTF ! It's 9PM ALREADY $_)%*$@%*$#_^*_&&$ I need a friggin' chill pill I am so pisssed off . OMFG ;  WHUT IS HE DOING RIGHT NOW STANDING THERE WAITING FOR ME TO  GET OFF AND WONDERING WHY I AM EVIL-STARING AT MY SCREEN !?!?!  OMFGOFMGF  HE JUST GRINNED. THAT)&*^%)*()^%& -SIGH-  He's gonee !! FINAAALLY .  I can't wait till I move out &nd purchase an apartment with Ashiee&Jazzy ! Daaam.. . I can see it already -Drools- Us driving in our sexyy car and living in a pretty apartment (:  The future.. holds some Good-Shiet :P  No suiciding !

Laterss 

         foonie   ♥

The theme for the panel was centered around the decline of innovation coming from east coast start ups and businesses. Rather than innovating it is widely believed that east coast ventures are "incrementalizing" on existing innovation rather than driving new ideas forward. The group of distinguished entrepreneurs vigorously discussed many innovations currently in process but also discussed a macro environment that is pervasive on the east coast that is probably slowed the rate and quantity of innovative businesses setting up shop:

- the population of the New England region has been static while California has been growing. Today there is roughly 5 million people in the metro Boston area versus 15 million people in the Bay area. This aids in hiring which is so critical to launching and building a successful venture. Coincidently West coast VC investing is roughly 3:1 over East Coast so this is one point in relation to funding. In relative terms maybe our rate of investment in the East is not that out of whack but the mix of this investment probably is.

- the entrepreneurial community on the west coast is more open and transparent about ideas in a way that is supportive whereas their East Coast colleagues are too "stealth" afraid that someone will steal their idea. This limits hiring to smaller networks, not enough debate on the substance of ideas and a lack of "buzz" which can create momentum which is crucial for launching businesses. Mike Hirshland of Polaris Ventures, also known as VCMike, blogged on the value of PR recently. Having myself worked to grow a company from 1 to 175 in the last few years I can attest that you need buzz to attract talent.

- the East Coast Venture Capital community seems to have changed since the bubble. The large funds have forced these VC's to put bigger sums of money to work on fewer deals which has limited the number of deals being funded and there is not enough attention being focused on seed and early stage companies which is what venture captial is supposed to be all about. This risk averse behavior has also been evidenced in East Coast Venture Capitalists being biased to fund executives who have succeeded before with proven teams. The acid test is not good ideas with passionate committed energy as much as it is proven teams with a conservative model.

- The overall community has not enabled the vast number of students to get involved in starting businesses while in school and then staying here to build them. We talked at length about the "Zuckerberg Effect" with Mark Zuckerberg fleeing Boston to build Facebook out west. This also includes the state and cities being asleep at the wheel to incent and promote technology start ups to build here.

Om Malik, the distinguished journalist and blogger who operates GigaOM, was the moderator for the panel and he shared his experiences on the East and West Coasts from firsthand experience. Om surely supported the notion that there is a conservatism that has always existed in the East but it is more prevalent now. Om also shared his view that great entrepreneurs are risk takers and lets face it anything with risk has a chance to fail for many reasons. In the East Om was "scared to fail" as I believe many of us are. It is rooted in this culture. Out West Om indicated for himself operating in a culture that was free of this pressure has allowed him to be more free wheeling and creative and this has contributed to his ability to succeed. I fully agree with Om on this point as we often learn the greatest lessons in failure. If an entrepreneur is afraid to fail due to future consequences on funding and the community he or she will not maximize their learnings and probably never reach full potential for their ideas.

We discussed the rise of various technology sectors in the past here, Route 128 was and I still contend is, "Americas Technology Highway." This label was bestowed on the region when the big defense contractors were leveraging connections to the colleges and government funding to design and build large systems right here. At the same time we had some gutsy entrepreneurs like Ken Olsen, An Wang, Edson deCastro who founded and built the mini computer industry right here with Digital, Wang Labs and Data General. These companies spawned many start ups and their ranks went onto guide new ventures in other technology related sectors.

I am a product of this era as I began my career at Wang Labs. During my tenure at Wang where I worked for Bob Davis who later went onto found Lycos. The Web 1.0 world spawned many ventures in this region with Lycos and Monster sitting at the top of all of this activity. Monster served the business market to gain job listings but it became an enormous success as a consumer brand. Lycos was one of the four horseman in the early search wars with Yahoo, Excite and Infoseek and clawed its way the the #4 spot in Internet Traffic. Of course the bubble burst on all of the Internet in the early 2000's. Monster weathered the storm and the new owner of Lycos was not equipped to do so. Many start ups in this region evaporated as well. Jeff Taylor, Monster's founder and now the founder of Eons was present last evening, and made his presence felt as an audience contributor.

For many reasons we have not been able to spawn the next Lycos or Monster yet. All of the factors above are the contributors to this. I am an optimist and I am committed to the East Coast. I contend that we have the ingredients in this area to be much better than we are. I do not subscribe to the fact that the way forward is to "copy cat" west coast ideas, methodologies or culture. We have to be who we are and celebrate this. As one member of the audience said last evening, the reason we don't all hang out in cybercafes at night is that in Boston we have a more diverse lifestyle, we have winning sports teams, we have theater, we have museums we have a life here. He is right we have all these things and this is what makes the Boston area so rich. Having said that we need as a community to look, embrace and act on several at several factors for the future:

- Entrepreneurs need to come together more, not only in events sponsored by VC's, but as a community to share and support each other. There are several groups that are splintered, we need more of a concerned effort to unite and help each other. We need to celebrate ideas and create buzz around them for the betterment of our whole community. I look to the Boston blog network that has emerged for sharing of information and ideas. I point you to Scott Kirsner's blog on the Innovation Economy in New England and his blog roll as a good launching pad and encourage others to join in on this activity.

- Enhanced ties to the colleges.  The kids at these schools are the source of the future. As an entrepreneurial community we must embrace these students and get them involved in ventures and welcome them into this community so they will want to stay here.

- VC's need to shift their approach and models. In a world where a cunning entrepreneur can mash up open source leveraging off shore resources, smart marketing and build a viral audience quickly, there is no need for huge sums of capital. VC's need to spread their investments around to stimulate these efforts. All the effort cant be on the "deal" it should be on how do we do entrepreneur friendly agreements and get lots of activity going. Now is not the time to hunker down and do nothing for the next two years. Now is the time to be bold and help create the next billion company in the East.

-The state and cities must be interested in keeping a technology base here. It appears that all the talk is on green and biotech. Great we need to focus there. We should not turn our back on the tech community though as this can be a rich source of employment and tax dollars for the future

It is great that Google and Microsoft have set up shop here. It is testament that there is talent in this region still. I caution all about this though. These companies are going to "tie up" talent with Massachusetts arcane noncompete agreements and be a detriment to our entrepreneurial future. We must not let them over run our community by saying that they will be great sources of jobs and stimulation. All I hear is the beginning of a large sucking sound taking our talent to benefit their stock price. We need to support home grown businesses so we can help support a whole generation of new companies right here that aspire to be Microsoft and Google.

As we look around the region we cited many stories that are unfolding that have great promise. The glass is more than half full. We must as a community though look to the future and redefine how we work together so that we can enable and support more ideation, smaller investments and the launch of more ventures.

Joining me on the panel were Andy Miller the CEO of Quattro Wireless, Rich Miner who is VP Mobile Technology of Google, Andy Payne the Co-Founder of Lab256, and Jim Scheinman the Co-Founder of Bebo and now Executive-In-Residence at Charles River Ventures. I represented the consumer Internet based on my role as President of NameMedia and formerly Lycos.

Thank you to Charles River Ventures for hosting a very interesting evening.

Related Posts:

Om Coming to heart of Red Sox Nation

Om's Review Of The Week And Recommendation on JeffBennett.Org

--Extends Partnership with ITN On, Appoints Head of Original Productions

Bebo, a social networking company that targets an under-30 demographic, has generated a fair amount of news in the broadband TV space over the past few weeks (note: the company's social networking service has previously served as the home site of a number of high-profile broadband TV series, including "KateModern," "The Gap Year" and "Sofia's Diary"; it describes its "vision for online media" as combining "community, self-expression and entertainment to enable its users to consume, create, discover and share content through...dedicated channels"):

• Earlier this month, the company launched an online documentary series, called "Meet the Freshers!" which is hosted, produced and devised by 18-year-old Tom Thurlow, who made a name for himself through an earlier Bebo series called "Hollyoaks on the Streets" (note: the latter show featured Thurlow interviewing people in his home town of Cheltenham about the soap opera, "Hollyoaks"; according to Bebo, the first three episodes of the show, which Thurlow uploaded to his "Hollyoaks" fanclub page on Bebo, garnered over 150,000 views; he was subsequently talent-spotted by Channel 4's E4.com Web site, for which he hosted a similar show entitled "Big Brother on the Streets"; his newly established production company is called--appropriately--Teen Star, Inc.). The show--which can be viewed at bebo.com/meetthefreshers--features Thurlow traveling to 16 different campuses around the UK and questioning first-year university students on such topics as drinking and relationships, in order to discover "what really goes on in those first few unforgettable weeks at university."
  
• ITN's multimedia division, ITN On, has extended its relationship with the company to launch a new channel, called "Game On," on the latter's self-service Open Media platform, where it already operates four other channels: "Planet Goss," "Sports Fix," "Bollywood Insider" and "Crazy Wild Cool" (note: ITN's Bebo channels, including "Game On," are monetized through pre-rolls delivered via blinkx's AdHoc platform). The new channel is devoted to video gaming, and features news, reviews and previews, and also allows Bebo members to interact via polls and debates. "Bebo has a very strong offering that caters to a very desirable youth market and this elusive audience that appeals to ITN On and our advertisers," ITN On managing director, Nicholas Wheeler, said in a prepared statement. "There is a large community of gaming fans on the Bebo platform and 'Game On' is made specifically with that audience in mind. This newly created channel encourages them to interact, share their opinions, gaming tricks, build a community and make the channel their own." Added Sarah Gavin, Bebo's global director of communications: "ITN's 'Game On' channel delivers a new interactive experience and opportunity for mass participation."
  
• The company is teaming with Vogue.TV and IMG Media on a 12-episode interactive broadband video series, called "Model.Live," that documents the lives of three IMG models as they ply their trade in fashion shows around the world. The show, which premiered on Vogue.TV last month (it is also available on Bebo, Express.com, YouTube, Hulu, TiVo, Tidal TV, Veoh and Juice Caster), is complemented by a presence on Bebo's social networking service that allows viewers to interact with the models and receive instant updates on their activities and experiences throughout the day: each of the three models updates her Bebo profile on a daily basis with video diaries, text messages, photos, blogs, schedules and other information. Bebo users can then comment on each model's progress and post messages of support and advice. They can also submit questions on Express.com, the show's sponsor, where one of the questions will be featured and answered each week (the site also features video outtakes and sweepstakes). The show also features Express.com merchandise that can be purchased through Vogue.TV or Express.com, and an application is available that allows viewers to send detailed product information and Express store locations to their mobile phones. According to Bebo, as of September 10th, "Model.Live" had been viewed more than a million times in the three weeks since its launch; around 750 fans had signed up for the show's social network; and viewers had interacted with the show (by posting comments, advice and messages of support) around 1.25 million times.
  
• The company has named Kelly Brett head of original productions. For the past year, Brett has worked alongside Bebo on the broadband video series, "KateModern," which garnered 67 million views within 12 months and which secured two BAFTA Nominations and a British Press Guild Award for innovation. Prior to joining the "KateModern" production team, Bebo says, Brett worked on over 20 TV productions for the BBC, Sky, ITV and others. She will be based in London and will be tasked with, among other things, vetting potential projects and with building a collaborative relationship with Bebo's production partners and advertisers. "At Bebo we are committed to creating one of the most exciting and unique social media experiences on the Web, and the success of 'KateModern,' 'Sofia's Diary' and 'The Gap Year' shows that Beboers are enthusiastic about truly engaging with media," Kate Burns, managing director of Bebo Europe, said in a prepared statement. "We're proud that Bebo is seen as the place for outstanding original content online and Kelly will bring with her a depth of experience and knowledge in this field to further strengthen our already fantastic team."
  
• The company has commissioned an online drama series called "The Secret World of Sam King." The series, which is being distributed across several AOL channels as well as on Bebo's own site, is produced by Universal Music UK's production arm, Globe Productions, in partnership with Monkey Kingdom, and is set amongst the real-life operations of Universal Music UK's West London headquarters. It revolves around Sam King, a junior employee at Universal Music who secretly starts his own record label in the post room. According to Bebo, it draws on real-life experiences and features cameo appearances from Universal artists. The company says that its end-users can participate in the show and "shape the creative output of both the show and Sam's label" and that it should thus appeal to "prospective marketers, journalists, video producers, A&R scouts, sound engineers, stylist, designers and song writers alike." The new commission also sees two of the show's supporting characters, Sam's love interest, Katie, and his friend, Johnny, being featured in spin-off formats: a broadband video series entitled "Katie's Love-In" and a radio podcast respectively. "This is a hugely exciting new commission for Bebo and a first between a social network and a music company," Bebo CEO, Joanna Shields, said in a prepared statement. "Both 'KateModern' and 'Sofia's Diary' have demonstrated that Bebo has an active user base that is drawn to quality drama that they can interact with and share with their friends. We're confident that the subject matter for 'The Secret World of Sam King' and the opportunities for involvement will resonate well with our community." According to Bebo, like the company's previous commissions, "KateModern" and "Sofia's Diary," "The Secret World of Sam King" is financed via brand integration. Sponsors that have signed up to date include Ericsson and Virgin Mobile.
  

With the creation of all sorts of distractions such as MySpace, Bebo, numerous blogs about nothing in particular and of course, the queen bee of the privacy invaders that is Facebook; we’ve never been more able to hide behind a virtual façade. 

Now, no-one likes confrontation, but is it right for these ‘networking’ websites with applications such as ‘meet new people’, ‘compare people’ and ‘my hottest friends’ to replace actually meeting someone in a bar, park or tube and actually coughing up the confidence to ask for their number? Surely nothing webwise can replace that effervescent thrill of butterflies? On the plus side, those who are merely a mouse on the dating front will benefit from this non-confrontational platform to ‘poke’, play and ‘throw’ whatever they like at someone without the embarrassment of actually having to have to ‘talk’. Not to mention all of the other stalking activities you wouldn’t even contemplate practicing in the real world.

So I guess the question you have to ask is does social networking hamper our ability to bond in person? Well, I’m still in the process of working that one out, I’ll let you know what I discover once I’m able to put the ‘Texas hold ‘em’ to one side, worked out my ‘stripper name’ and hatched an answer out of my virtual ‘growing gift’.

Joining me on the panel will be Andy Miller the CEO of Quattro Wireless, Rich Miner who is VP Mobile Technology of Google, Andy Payne the Co-Founder of Lab256, and Jim Scheinman the Co-Founder of Bebo and now Executive-In-Residence at Charles River Ventures. The theme for the panel will be centered around the decline of innovation coming from east coast start ups. Rather than innovating it is widely believed that east coast ventures are "incrementalizing" on existing innovation rather than driving new ideas forward.

The panel will be moderated by award winning journalist Om Malik of GigaOM.

Related Link: Om Coming to Beantown

1. Friendster Proxy
2. Hi5 Proxy
3. Bebo Proxies
4. orkut Proxies

All these proxy lists are derived from user/proxy owner submitted proxies and though the chances are many of them may not support the designated site, still most of them work you.

And you just need 1 working proxy, right ? :) Please keep rating the proxies so it helps others too.

This session was moderated by the fantastically dressed Mattias Miksche who is the CEO of StarDoll. StarDoll is a fantastic combination of social media, virtual world and pink. Essentially it drags the concept of kids paper dolls kicking and screaming into the digital age. Not being a 10 year old girl (although my friends might disagree) I'm possibly not best placed to judge how good it is.

What I can say is that it looks fantastic and seems to offer the engaging platform that advertisers crave.

Kate Burns (MD Bebo), Martin Verdon-Roe (Head of UK Sales at Tripadvisor) and David Courtier-Dutton (CEO Slice the Pie) joined Mattias on stage.

Each member of the panel presented a short introduction to demonstrate how they built and grew their own online communities.

Kate Burns from Bebo used an interesting anaolgy to start her presentation. She claimed that:

Facebook was a like a Blackberry, while Bebo was more akin to the iPhone.

Some would see this as quite arrogant and I'm sure her Facebook counterpart would hold a different view. However I have to agree with her. Having used both sites in the past, the level of engagement and utility with Bebo is different from Facebook and in my view is more 'fun'.

However as a social network aimed at grown ups (I'm on the fringe of adulthood?!?) Facebook is more for me, because it is aimed at me.

She talked about initiatives such as the 'Nike Dance Clash' and 'Kate Modern' that in her view:

..bridge the gap between TV and Online

It was genuinely refreshing to see the creativity that Bebo has used with major brands.

Key Concept - Consumers can welcome 'advertising messages' only when they are relevant, engaging and above all entertaining.

The move follows a government-commissioned report by psychologist Tanya Byron earlier this year, which called for the setting up of a child safety council, as part of a drive to protect children using the internet and digital technologies. They will work together to create a child internet safety strategy to be published next year. The membership of the council is here . Given BECTA are there I would have thought there would have been scope for Learning Teaching Scotland to be onboard?

A new internet watchdog has been launched to help protect children from "harmful" web content, such as cyber-bullying and violent video games.
The UK Council for Child Internet Safety (UKCCIS) brings together social networking sites and technology firms.
It aims to teach children about web dangers, target harmful net content and establish a code of conduct for sites featuring material uploaded by users.

[From BBC NEWS | Education | Children's web watchdog launched]

Facebook - The biggest time waster EVER on the internet. With the 10 zillion applications 24hours and 7 days a week could be spent sending plants, building up your band, poking people, throwing sheep, listening to music and watching videos, checking and joining groups, adding pages, gambling, killing people and such things. The upside is that with the amount of people who have joined from around the world is it easier to stay in touch with friends who have moved to the far reaches of this planet. It's a great online community as it is easy to find friends and stalk strangers. If you have a crush on someone you can poke them like a 10 year old showing their interest. Instead of having a conversation with someone you can just throw sheep at each other and pretend like you are good friends. Then their is the wall, which can be used for real conversations between friends. The layout is OK. I like the New Facebook layout as everything is tabbed and so it doesn't all have to load at the same time.

Myspace - I joined 2005. This was once my favourite online community site. Mainly for its ability to handle html code in the profile sections which edits the whole page. From my observations, I haven noticed that more bands have Myspace profiles and therefore, it is easier to stay in the loop with updates from your favourite bands and listen to their music. The layout is not as nice as Purevolume but everything is still there. Including a blog section for all members, including the artists. Main downside of Myspace are the profile pages. Most contain so much large content that loading the whole page can take several minutes. There are photos, moving images, music players and videos. For someone, like me, who likes things to be more instant this is annoying and a problem. When it comes to talking to people this is where I prefer Facebook, and when it comes to listening to music this is where I prefer Purevolume. Myspace is great when it comes to the combination of them both. The layout is, in my opinion, shabby.

Bebo - I joined 2006. Is a favourite with mainly teenagers. I like that you can make your own skins which are easy to make and upload. I don't, however, like that there is so much spam going around. People leaving comments and sending messages about webcams and videos. This is not cool and makes me want to delete my bebo account but I can't at the moment because it's how I keep in contact with a few of our Youth in Firebreed. It annoyed me when bebo started to become like Facebook and added applications. Bebo is easy to use and means you can keep in touch with people but they need to sort out the spam problem before I can think highly of it again.

Race Saanson Ki
Race Chahat Ki
Race Dhadkan Ki
My Heart Is Racing On

Race Saanson Ki
Race Chahat Ki
Race Dhadkan Ki
My Heart Is Racing On - (2)

Nasha Tera… Nasha… Nashila Nashila Hai

Allah Duhai Hai
Betabi Chaayi Hai
Muskil Judai Hai
Haan Tere Pyaar Mein

Allah Duhai Hai
Betabi Chaayi Hai
Muskil Judai Hai
Haan Tere Pyaar Mein

When I M Touching Your Body
All My Touches Are Driving Me Crazy
Leave It Just On Baby No Need To Worry
…

Hasraton Ki Jalan
Hum Bade Din Sahe
Haal Jo Bhi Raha
Na Kisi Se Kahe

Teri Zulfon Tale
Ab To Jeena Mujhe
Mang Le Tu Agar
Jaan Bhi Doon Tujhe

Ada…Aadaaa…Aaadddaaa…Ada Ne Hi Loota Hai

Allah Duhai Hai
Betabi Chaayi Hai
Muskil Judai Hai
Haan Tere Pyaar Mein

Allah Duhai Hai
Betabi Chaayi Hai
Muskil Judai Hai
Haan Tere Pyaar Mein

Faslon Se Mile
Ab Yeh Mumkin Nahi
Zindagani Meri
Kuch Tere Bin Nahi

Teri Hi Khwaab Hai
Teri Hi Pyaas Hai
Arzoo Meri Kya
Tera Ehsaas Hai

Fida…Fidaaa…Fidaa…Fidaaa Tujhpe Dil Mera

Allah Duhai Hai
Betabi Chaayi Hai
Muskil Judai Hai
Haan Tere Pyaar Mein

Race Saanson Ki
Race Chahat Ki
Race Dhadkan Ki
My Heart Is Racing On

Nasha Tera…. Nasha Nashila Nashila Hai

(Allah Duhai Hai
Betabi Chaayi Hai
Muskil Judai Hai
Haan Tere Pyaar Mein ) … —- 2

I have a friend who use to get heaps of comments on his photos. I remember one that made me laugh went something along the lines of "do your friends walk around with their eyes closed because you're hot." I have seen other comments similar to the YouTube video comments like "i love you" "you have an amazing smile" "you don't know it now but you love me too" "do you have a bf/gf" "you have amazing eyes". I dunno about you but it seems kinda stalkerish to me. Do these people think that by writting a comment along these lines they will score in some way? It fascinates me. Maybe it's all about getting the attention or people think that if the other person thought that they too had nice eyes, they would some how feel accepted and loved?

Most things are about love. Everyone wants to be loved in one way or another. Thats why people have sex before they get married. Thats why people end up in crappy relationships. They want love and end up looking for it in the wrong places. If they would wait and keep searching, then they would find someone who is perfect for them. The person God made especially for them. As humans, we find it so hard to wait for the right time. Our hormones make us feel like we are in "love" and so end up doing stupid things, getting with the wrong person. Then later on we somehow "fall out of love". Love isn't just about feelings. It isn't seeing someones photo or video and thinking that they are hot. That's lust, not love. You don't love them, you lust after them. It's different. There's a verse in the Bible, a very famous one, and part of it says "love is patient". Love waits! It's not about rushing into things. It's about waiting for the right person and right time, and then waiting till you get married and for the right time for you to get married.

Back to comments - it's so easy to write things like "i love you" etc but is their really a point. If you were to ask yourself "why am I writing this?" what would be the answer? Then ask yourself "is this a good reason to write this?" This post is really branching in to relationship and I could keep writing about relationships but that deserves a post on its own, thats how important it is.

So, goodbye for now. I have to get back to work =) bless you!

Five people.  Five busy jobs.  Five relationships - spouses, significant others, pets.  Five schedules of demanding classes.  Five homes spread across metro Atlanta.
One group presentation.

At Portfolio Center, crazy situations like this happen.  Five people without a single common minute in the day are to come together and work on a group project and deliver a professional presentation before a professional panel.

However, we had one extra variable.  Alas, we had one group member with a very pregnant wife and a half finished house full of contractors.  In the final days before our presentation we knew we had a lot of work ahead of us, but struggled with our different schedules and locales.  We could have given our very busy member an absentee pass considering the circumstances, but our loyal member wanted to remain involved in between doctors appointments and housing dilemmas.

So what do you do with a member who has a wife days from giving birth and a house full of construction workers?  Easy.  Move in with him.

Yes, we moved in, pets and all.  Those who lived furthest away showered, slept, and borrowed pre-pregnancy clothes and shoes from our host.  A pull-out sofa and picnic table outback provided a place when fatigue overcame us. Take-out, Pirate's Booty, and Starbucks became our regular diet.  And somehow amongst barking dogs, sweaty construction workers, and a very pregnant wife, a marketing plan was born.

As for all this started -this quarter 10 students were given the opportunity to take a class called Marketing for Designers.  For many in the creative field, the idea of taking a marketing class sends shivers, but fortunately we were given freedom to make the best of it.

Our class was divided into two groups and given the task to present a marketing plan for a new fictitious Proctor & Gamble product.  In 45 minutes we were to pitch a new Crest product for cleaning teeth on the go: a small capsule that dissolves in the mouth, all natural, small pellet size.  We could change the name (it was introduced to us a Crest-On-The-Go) and market it any way we saw fit, as long as we had a strong objective with strategies and tactics to back it up.

In our research, we looked into the way the day is used, divided and spent and the opportunities P&G was missing.  We analyzed the typical shelf space for Crest and studied their color pallets and packaging.  We attempted to create a sub brand for Crest, kind of a Mini Cooper for BMW, in an attempt to appeal to Generation Y.  We called our product Re*fresh and added a new logo instead of using that of the dated Crest. We didn't want to get away from the reputation of Crest, yet we wanted a fresh look to attract the huge dispensable income of the upcoming ginormous group of consumers, Generation Y.

We struggled much in the beginning, as establishing a unified objective and strategies among us provided to be quite difficult.  We bribed my boss from Kimberly-Clark - senior designer for the Innovation Design departments, and also an industrial designer to shed some light on how to successfully market a new product with a creative mind.  Over lunch they shared an immeasurable amount of advice and inspired us to get on the ball.

Through challenging one another, doing immeasurable amounts of research, and spending too much time in a small space together, we made out plan come together in the end.  We managed to conduct video interviews with our target market, fit in a photo shoot for our ad campaign, and create three forms of packaging mock-ups.  We each used our strengths to make our presentations come alive, weather it be in public speaking, making keynote charts, or comping last minute designs.

Our instructor, posing as the CMO of P&G, wanted a surprise at our presentation and did not want to see any of our work throughout the quarter...we hope we gave him something to enjoy, as we definitely gave ourselves something to remember.

The expecting

Lunch with the fine folks from Kimberly-Clark

Confidential Dog

Testing the competition

Re*fresh logo

Poster #1

Poster #2

Poster #3

Billboard #1

Billboard #2

Bebo Site

YouTube Contest Ad

YouTube Contest Page

Ad for business class (future Gen Y)

Shelf mock-up

Packaging concept sketches (sorry, I don't have pics of the final comps)

World reknown dentist, Dr. Yuri Zhopov

Gen Y tells all!

A few minutes with a corporate bigshot and his thoughts on dental care

Our P&G work padges

After Party

ILB has always been one to shout out exciting new talent, be it toilet circuit-touring indie act, eight-bars-on-a-100-CD-run mixtape rapper, or Wigan Athletic striker Amr Zaki. So let us give some credit to certainly my favourite 20-year-old in the world right now, Joe Mofrad.Joe first came to my attention around the arse-end of last week, when I received two reasoned and considered comments on a previous article we'd written about how anyone involved with either Clash Magazine or the funneling of large amounts of taxpayers' money into Clash Magazine is a fucking idiot.

Let us get all embedded images up in here and see what they said:

You see, this is why I like Joe. He starts off impetuous, angry, more Pesci than Mofrad. Being as he's a man who's on the grind for Clash Magazine, he wants to defend his publication's honour. But then, realising that this makes him come across a little hasty and reflects badly on the publication he writes for, he cleverly posts a second message, still using a little play on words incorporating the term "drown", and posts as Robin, cleverly using a fake email address and website to come from. He doesn't care that he used pretty much an identical message, that less than a minute passed between the two comments, or that they come from EXACTLY THE SAME FUCKING IP ADDRESS. Joe clearly takes inspiration from Dana Carvey's classic movie The Master of Disguise, and he knows that nobody can trace those steps. He's gotten away scot free.

Unfortunately, some of us are elite uber-hackers with access to exciting tools like Google. Indeed, t'were it not for the fact that I have actually touched a breast at some point in my life I could easily be hanging and banging with Anonymous right now. I think it important that we get to know a little about Joe Mofrad, because in my honest opinion this kid is going places.

First off, ladies love cool Joe. The man is from Newcastle and has clearly been taking some lessons from Tyneside's other silver-tongued charmer Sid the Sexist. Check out the game he's running on Faceparty:

He gets hella retro points for using Faceparty in the first place, but those lines push him into the top sphere. Weirdly, for such a player who has apparently been using Faceparty for three years and logged in within the past month or so, he sadly only has one friend on the site. "lil_angelgirl" is her name, and let's have a good look at her:

Interestingly, lil_angelgirl is down as being 16 and doesn't list her hometown in America. Being as, presumably, Joe added her to his Faceparty out of a desire to tap that ass rather than discuss Ladyhawke, and that sex with a 16-year-old is illegal in 19 states, this means there is a 38% chance that he's a paedophile.

Let's have another look at our boy:

I used to have a shirt like that. When I was four in 1986.

Sadly, JoJo's Bebo account doesn't reveal too much excitement, although he's not a fan of "fucking queers", which considering the way he dre... you're way ahead of me. He does consider the Mighty Boosh heroes, which considering he's not a fan of fucking que... again, you're ahead of me.

But Joey's a journo. He lives and dies by his written words, or at least the ones that aren't about "fucking queers". Here's our boy on the new Mogawai (ask your grandparents) EP:

Play the title track opener as loud as you can! Its one of those songs you imagine seeing in an epic zombie film, as an aerial camera pans over the streets and you watch an army of newly converted flesh eaters wander the streets eating cats and... stuff. It oozes massive electronic and metal influences that power out through disgustingly heavy riffs! 

10/10 here easily, from the "lol random" zombies reference, the improv night open mic "and stuff", influences being from niche, easily identifiable genres like "metal" and "electronic", and to end it all an exclamation mark. Fantastic. Although Joe's highpoint contribution to Clash so far has to be this awesome "music game" posted to their forums. Any Scots who happen to be reading this post will no doubt be struck by the injustice of how little of their paycheck goes to directly funding this, and will probably want to set up a CHAPS payment of 3k a month directly to Clash's office immediately.

I have no idea where Joe's hate comes from though. The man used to be on DrownedInSound's side. Look at "Chopper Shadowpants"'s contributions here on some article about some guy from Maximo Park (ask your ex-girlfriend). If you love the narcissism of small differences that exists between people from Sunderland and Newcastle, white guys using the phrase "pon", or comedy "this sounds like band x doing action y to band z" style madlibs, then you'll go mad for it. Hey, over the course of today, we've all gone mad over Joe Mofrad. He's my friend, and he's certainly yours. And how better can we end than with a live action video of his flaccid cock running through university halls?

Breaking kayfabe for a second, seriously, fucking kids need to realise that FUTURE EMPLOYERS WILL PUT YOUR FUCKING NAME INTO A SEARCH ENGINE YOU TARDS STOP POSTING PICTURES OF YOUR SAGGY ARSE ONTO THE INTERNET UNDER YOUR OWN NAME.

Still, weirdly enough former Drowned In Sound editor Mike Diver has just joined Clash Magazine in some capacity or other. I do hope Joe will man the fuck up and let the real Mike D know that he considers his entire career arc to day "pathetic". Joe Mofrad: a true renaissance man.

I remember when I first laid eyes on you
My man Tom introduced us but I was too shy to say hi
When I finally built up enough nerve to drop a line
You made it clear you wasn't just another myspace mistress
And I didn't take it personal
When you ignored my request to be your friend I spilled my guts and hit send
2 weeks for a response and got nothing
Honestly it only made me want you more
Week 4 rolled around and I was this close to letting go
But something wouldn't let me even though I hardly knew you
It was plain to see we were meant to lock lips
You knock me out with the brass knuckle tats on your hips
I was on this website late night lurking
When I got a message from you that was labled urgent
You said you weren't impressed by lame dudes with no game
They're all the same trying to get your instant messenger name
But the fact that you're hitting me back made me smile
You must've saw something you liked when you was skimming through my profile
You caught me at the most pivotal moments
And now I'm emailing my love a dozen digital roses

So click approve, so simple
Show me some kind of sign and let me know it's time to make my move
Just click approve, come on girl
Baby I'm one of a kind and I ain't got time to lose
Just click approve, you're killing me here
Show me some kind of sign and let me know it's time to make my move
Just click approve, come on girl
Baby I'm one of a kind and I ain't got time to lose

Let's face it, it's a sad situation when we have to resort to keyboards as a means of making relations
But I don't have the patience, I get straight to the point
So this is me at my most honest
No egos, no Gym Class status, just Travis
Love it or leave it, but you gotta admit
On a scale of 1 to awesome I'm the shit
Just get over it, it happened god damnit, I'd been waiting too long
I even wrote a song about, like to hear it, here it go
If I'm being too annoying, let me know (just let me know)
But its hard for me to not hate
When I'm on myspace I never see my face in your "Top 8"
Approaching 6 weeks now, it's kinda obvious that you're either occupied or playing a game
All my money's on the latter, this is not a "lol" matter
Why would you pass up a chance this great?
If there were two forces and I split them down the middle, I could swing back and forth for 3 days (Rephrase)
If I had two horses, and I beat them with authority, I'd gallop all the way to Canada to see your face
But all I got is this Powerbook and Ichat
Besides I hit you all the time and you never write back
I stay on my feet (shit)
And be persistent until my name is under "who you'd like to meet"

So click approve, so simple
Show me some kind of sign and let me know it's time to make my move
Just click approve, come on girl
Baby I'm one of a kind and I ain't got time to lose
Just click approve, you're killing me here
Show me some kind of sign and let me know it's time to make my move
Just click approve, come on girl
Baby I'm one of a kind and I ain't got time to lose

Who cares if we don't know each other's last name
All I know is that I'm smittin with your pictures wishing you would feel the same
I'll admit I get a lil jealous when other dudes leave you comments
Don't let it gas you up, it's all nonsense
Make me out, romancing the thought of me and you speaking in tongues in this mansion I bought
But it's all wishful thinking
Just give me some kind of sign to let me know I'm not freaking you out
And if you love then what I'm speaking about, then say something
I check my inbox 10 times and there ain't nothing
You probably busy doing something sexy
I just hope I'm in your thoughts next time you log in
And if not, ain't no love lost between you and me
I'll be here when your man ain't fully down as he used to be
So yeah its time to sign out, my vision's getting blurry
This is madness, xoxo dash Travis

So click approve, so simple
Show me some kind of sign and let me know it's time to make my move
Just click approve, come on girl
Baby I'm one of a kind and I ain't got time to lose
Just click approve, you're killing me here
Show me some kind of sign and let me know it's time to make my move
Just click approve, come on girl
Baby I'm one of a kind and I ain't got time to lose
So click approve

Sorry this blog is so lame! Hopefully this meant something to you- It does to me!! 

Peace Out

Mr Happy xxxx

Odpowiednio przetworzone strony mogą też zawierać dodatkowe treści i elementy. ExitReality opracowało również metodę umożliwiającą prezentowanie na ekranie monitora awatarów przeglądających zawartość strony w miejscach, które aktualnie są odwiedzane przez innych użytkowników. Dodatkowo między postaciami, które znalazły się na tych samych witrynach, istnieje możliwość nawiązania interakcji, dzięki czemu można też organizować wirtualne spotkania awatarów użytkowników.

Niektóre popularne serwisy, np. MySpace, Facebook, Bebo, eBay czy MSN, zostały już przygotowane do kooperacji z ExitReality i np. wielkie korporacje zostały zobrazowane jako wieżowce, YouTube wygląda jak kino, a serwisy społecznościowe to wygodne kluby, po których mogą się poruszać  użytkownicy.

Wtyczkę można pobrać na stronie ExitReality. Na razie dostępna jest tylko wersja do systemów Windows.

Źródło & Obrazek: PC Format, Autor: Agnieszka Serafinowicz

Wordia es un diccionario donde las definiciones son aportadas por los usuarios y grabadas en vídeo. Disponen de un canal de Youtube con todas las definiciones además de tenerlas en su propia web en orden alfabético. En su lanzamiento el sitio ya cuenta con 76.000 palabras y 120.000 definiciones en vídeo. Esto es un trabajo inmenso pensando en que todas las definiciones están en vídeo.

Wordia es una iniciativa de Edward Baker, que anteriormente trabajaba en Televisión. El proyecto está apoyado por Michael Birch el fundador de Bebo, recientemente comprado por AOL.

Online Video CPMs Higher Than Display Ads; new poll from Bain and Co. shows the average CPM for video ad was $43, while the average for a display ad was $15. (eMarketer)

Ryder Cup Goes Mobile; golf match between the U.S. and Europe will be broadcast over Qualcomm's MediaFLO service. (Broadcasting & Cable)

Lionsgate Launches YouTube Channel; site will use clips from films like 3:10 to Yuma and Good Luck Chuck as promotion for sales of the packaged versions of the movies. (The Hollywood Reporter)

Bebo Launches New Docu-Series; Meet the Freshers goes to 16 different universities in England to find out what first-year students are up to. (Bebo)

Web Stars to Judge eBillme Video Contest; iJustine and Gary Vaynerchuk to judge entrants who confess hidden shopping splurges. (eBillme)

Her outstanding performances in Asoka and Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham Kareena put her critics to rest. With recent hits like Jab We Met, keep a look out for this suave beauty.

Black and red are the two favorite colors of Kareena Kapoor.

She loves to hang out in jeans and T-shirt but for formal functions she prefers ethnic Indian wear. For Kareena Kapoor her mom and sister are her greatest strengths. Reading, swimming, eating making friends and cooking are her leisure activities. She is very beautiful, talented, independent, and intelligent girl who loves frankness and honesty but at the same time hate liars and hypocrites

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