Sunday, July 27, 2008

me and the fly

was sitting at pool deck of my estate, and i was looking at this fly on the table. flying around from point A to point B, and i thought how cool it would be if us humans could be granted the same privilege.

but then it started walking, and it wouldn't travel very far. but we could, with our bipedal biological design, we were designed to walk vast and great distances.

and there was a purpose to everything, the way it was designed, to do certain things, and perhaps certain things alone.

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

What humour are you?

Your result for The 3 Variable Funny Test...




Your sense of humor is off-the-cuff and kind of gross. Is it is also sinister, cynical, and vaguely threatening to the purer folks of this world. You probably get off on that. You would cut a greasy fart, then blame it on your mom, and then just shrug when someone pointed out that she's dead.

Yours is hands-down the most outrageous sense of humor; you like things trangressive and hardcore. It's highly likely (a) you have no limits (b) you have no scruples and (c) you have no job. Ironically, it's your type of humor that can make the biggest bucks in show business.

PEOPLE LIKE YOU: Howard Stern - Adam Sandler - Roseanne Barr

the Shock Jock

(57% dark, 50% spontaneous, 53% vulgar)


your humor style:
VULGAR | SPONTANEOUS | DARK




go do a test now. like this one!

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

SPREAD IT! (ideas that spread are like an STD)

okay, so what makes a piece of content shareable? almost everyday, i reach out to influencers, but is my content influencing? or even spreadable?

marketers like to call ideas that spread, the viral effect. it's like a disease, and then it becomes an epidemic. scary init?

but it still doesn't address that magick that makes you wanna go tell someone else, or in this case, infect.

let's look at the disease analogy more closely. in fact, let's look at it imagining it to be a sexually transmited disease like say.. syphyllis. (or genital warts)

so you suddenly find yourself with gential warts, you have an itch that needs scratching, and you don't sign yourself into rehab, in fact, what you still want to do, is sleep around regardless of the consequence.

okay, i exaggerate, but what i want to drive at, is this desire to fulfil your own needs, and in the process, you spread your disease. (unknowingly perhaps?) and your infected victims unknowingly spread it to someone else.

see, the idea is not genital warts (no one would sleep with you if you had them. note: make sure your ideas are not genital warts), the idea is desire.

you're sharing the desireability of your idea, that could be:

1. making someone else laugh
2. helping someone solve a problem
3. making someone more money
4. lifehacking someone else's processes
5. making myself / someone else extremely popular

we all have an itch that needs scratching, and that's what makes us want to spread it.

Trivia: how many times i've said "genital warts" in this post - 5

Friday, July 4, 2008

Inane MSN conversation with Nadnut

so sue me if i'm borrowing nadnut's awesome star power to draw some more attention to my blog. but this was rather cute and i had to share it:

nadnut™ [save some trees! have a blog!] says:
actually i think most men are scared of me
nadnut™ [save some trees! have a blog!] says:
weird
brian. firing solutions to the main batteries. says:
hahaha, srsly?
nadnut™ [save some trees! have a blog!] says:
yeap
nadnut™ [save some trees! have a blog!] says:
lol
brian. firing solutions to the main batteries. says:
hahahaha, this is a potentially trapping question
brian. firing solutions to the main batteries. says:
if i say you're not.. you might think i dont give you enough credit
brian. firing solutions to the main batteries. says:
if i say you are.. then you might so im spineless and can't stand up for myself
nadnut™ [save some trees! have a blog!] says:
lol this isnt a trapping question
nadnut™ [save some trees! have a blog!] says:
im just wondering some men are scared of me
nadnut™ [save some trees! have a blog!] says:
aside from squeezing manboobs, i think im rather harmless
nadnut™ [save some trees! have a blog!] says:
even more harmless than your bananas

hevaens no! nadnut, you are absolutely adorable -)))

nadnut™ [save some trees! have a blog!] says:
but seriously, do i seem fierce
brian. firing solutions to the main batteries. says:
nono.. heaven's no
brian. firing solutions to the main batteries. says:
you're adorable
nadnut™ [save some trees! have a blog!] says:
o.O
nadnut™ [save some trees! have a blog!] says:
that's new
nadnut™ [save some trees! have a blog!] says:
lol
brian. firing solutions to the main batteries. says:
hahaha
brian. firing solutions to the main batteries. says:
i have a wide vocabulary
brian. firing solutions to the main batteries. says:
and i try to choose my words carefully
nadnut™ [save some trees! have a blog!] says:
lol
nadnut™ [save some trees! have a blog!] says:
damnit
nadnut™ [save some trees! have a blog!] says:
adorable is like cute = ugly but adorable
nadnut™ [save some trees! have a blog!] says:
eck
nadnut™ [save some trees! have a blog!] says:

lol
brian. firing solutions to the main batteries. says:
AHA!
brian. firing solutions to the main batteries. says:
but in the equation
brian. firing solutions to the main batteries. says:
cute = ugly + adorable
brian. firing solutions to the main batteries. says:
adorable = cute - ugly
nadnut™ [save some trees! have a blog!] says:
lol

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Touching Is The New Secks

You see it everywhere these days, many mobile devices are moving toward touch interfaces, from the Apple iPhones, HTC Touches and Samsung (I can't remember).

Design-wise, i think this is a good thing. handheld devices and touch technology go hand-in-hand, because i think it's intuitive. check out this video of firefox mobile for the iPhone if you need any more evidence that touch is more than just a fancy marketing gimmick, but it changes the way you interact with your tools:


Firefox Mobile Concept Video from Aza Raskin on Vimeo.

So imagine my eyes-widening when uniquefrequency and melvin invited me to their HP TouchSmart Blogger event. Now, this is interesting, i've always been organising Open Room events for bloggers, now it was a chance to finally be a blogger. And a tech event no less!

this is what we all came to see:

le touchsmart by HP

I hope I'll be honest and objective here. I do like the HP Touch Smart, i think HP have gone a long way to design a desktop that is intuitive to use, is a speaking point in any home or as a living room feature. this is a very sexy lifestyle product.

it runs on a special version of Windows Vista, so the aero interface goes very well with the physical black aesthetics, and it has the main entertainment features in play, coverflow for your music and videos, 22" HD screen to enjoy your digital photo albums, all at the touch of your fingertips. it literally causes you to rethink the way you approach a personal computer, especially when you're brought up using a mouse or keyboard. HP have included these peripherals, but i think if you want the true experience, you'd be touching. *ahem*

but i think beyond that, it's a regular PC with some touch technology (which in itself interesting, i learn there are cameras all over the screen that track the movement of your fingers - it aint pressure sensitive though.)

for something that looks like an apple imac (which starts at 24"), sustainable graphic cards, wireless mouse and keyboard, and in itself a space saver, yet offers enough power to edit videos and images without much hassle, the HP TouchSmart has found itself a worthy competitor.

But you can't touch an iMac, and i think that is enough of a unique proposition that might sway your decision. Could this be the first step toward new desktop based products that will be more intuitive to use, not just in terms of aesthetics and usability, but the backend programming that makes using such touch-focused products easier rather than more difficult?

as i maintain, i'm a big fan of the aesthetics, i'd get it if i had money to burn, but it ain't no desktop replacement. not at this point at least.

Apart from that, it was nice to see how other agencies approach blogger engagement. my personal experience was that I was well attended to, met up with old and new friends, and it was social, not some marketing babble schpwel. if any, it was kept to a bare minimum.

if I can refer any client executives to the way the HP reps conducted themselves in blogger-produced vodcasts, check this example out from the fine folks at the Geek Goddess Show:



intelligible, simple, clear and articulate. and use of visual aids! anything to help us understand your product or service better -)

of course the food was stellar, and the beer was *muackz*

i'll leave you now with some pictures because i'm too lazy to fit them contextually into this post:

Bloggers are not an unruly bunch! they listen to what you have to say!
How many of you were really listening?

bitbot streaming live to Qik:
streaming to Qik

bitbot and me
me & the bitbot

now with the incredible nadnut
nadnut & me

clicktokill is another rock grrl
ClicktoKill & Me

Nicole always smiling when i see her
Nicole85 & Me

and my homies, beatmastermark and uniquefrequency
litford, beatmastermark & uniquefrequency

More photos at: social media misadventures

Other posts:
uniquefrequency
nicole
clicktokill
clauds
bitbot