Well about the only perk of being at Wimbledon working is the breakfast.
Apart from the free strawberies, champagne, constant waiter service and personal assistants running around sorting everything.
Saturday, July 07, 2007
Breakfast @ wimbledon
Wednesday, July 04, 2007
Wimbledon darth vader vibe part ii
We were going to recreate the vader scene live in the canteen. I had to cut it short as my star here decided to swear too much.
However, and for those of you who have heard the izzard sketch, I nearly dropped my tray of breakfest when the guy behind me was talked to by the chef as he said "hello jeff".
Its all linked I tell you !
Made even funnier by Andy, who is known as chubby finding these on fire box
However, and for those of you who have heard the izzard sketch, I nearly dropped my tray of breakfest when the guy behind me was talked to by the chef as he said "hello jeff".
Its all linked I tell you !
Made even funnier by Andy, who is known as chubby finding these on fire box
Tuesday, July 03, 2007
Wimbledon Darth Vader vibe
Every year at wimbedon we sit in the bunker giving tours to people and this year hanging around on IBM 7 in SL talking to loads of people.
The mix of adrenalin, boredom and stress all in one for 14 days solid creates a massive team bond. This year is no exception.
This time its darth vader. After the "dont you know who I am" and the fact we eat in a canteen where every morning we do the "this trays wet, this ones wet" etc. We also stand in a queue and quote "jeff vader" and "I can kill you with a thought"
Rob who works with Jay doing loads of the photo editing and manipulaiton for the site said go and find vader and python on youtube. So we did. I know its been around a while but when something fits into a teams train of thought its even funnier.
We will always have vader.
The mix of adrenalin, boredom and stress all in one for 14 days solid creates a massive team bond. This year is no exception.
This time its darth vader. After the "dont you know who I am" and the fact we eat in a canteen where every morning we do the "this trays wet, this ones wet" etc. We also stand in a queue and quote "jeff vader" and "I can kill you with a thought"
Rob who works with Jay doing loads of the photo editing and manipulaiton for the site said go and find vader and python on youtube. So we did. I know its been around a while but when something fits into a teams train of thought its even funnier.
We will always have vader.
Saturday, June 30, 2007
Being internet famous
As epredator potato and epredator on lots of other systems all the work with IBM, Eightbar and Wimbledon has brought a lot of press and little bit of internet fame. I even sumbitted my google hits for epredator and IBM into part of the horrible career perfomance stuff we have to go through. I am not sure if it counts as evidence.
However, having sat here in Wimbledon in the bunker giving tours in Second Life on IBM 7 Wimbledon and in Real Life I just had a funny experience during the rain delay.
One of the guests very kindly was so happy to hear my enthusiastic pitch, and had heard of me they wanted to take a photo :-)
Anyway, I am internet famous(ish) not sure what to do with that. Maybe I will get paid more or something one day.
*Update* - Tour just now "Have you heard of Second Life", "yes I read it in the times today, oh- it was you I read about!"
However, having sat here in Wimbledon in the bunker giving tours in Second Life on IBM 7 Wimbledon and in Real Life I just had a funny experience during the rain delay.
One of the guests very kindly was so happy to hear my enthusiastic pitch, and had heard of me they wanted to take a photo :-)
Anyway, I am internet famous(ish) not sure what to do with that. Maybe I will get paid more or something one day.
*Update* - Tour just now "Have you heard of Second Life", "yes I read it in the times today, oh- it was you I read about!"
Saturday, June 16, 2007
Rallytastic, Dirt on the xbox 360
I have been playing colin mcrea Dirt on the 360. It is very good! A whole heap of things to try, still though the real life rally stages in the scooby are the best
*updated video, longer and with some cool 2 wheel action in a lorry
I was also very pleased to get some decent times in
*updated video, longer and with some cool 2 wheel action in a lorry
I was also very pleased to get some decent times in
Summer Fair - Odd Music
At the predlets preschool summer fair the band were playing dueling banjos, an odd choice but good fun.
Media Flower
I love this picture that Eric Rice/Spin Martin has posted on Flickr.
The centre of the media flower is where people need to be.
Web 2 is Web do :-)
Wii usability wow
Any doubts about just how clever the wii interface is. Sophie(4) got par on her first go at wii golf. Even I was amazed, as I took about 12 to get around first hole
Wii tastic
Our US wii's arrived a peoples choice award from the virtual universe community.
Being an import has its challenges, power, region lockout, hard to buy online wii points.
But its the thought that counts, and as it is the console i failed to buy on launch day, having got the others, it is very special to me.
Friday, June 15, 2007
More fun with the mobile
Out in the woods last weekend I took a video of the forest on my N95.
Whilst strolling around I then did an automatic "muvee" where the phone edits the video, adds some sound and makes it a little mini 3gp movie for sending.
I used a Cubism style and ended up making it a bit like predator vision :-)
Then I have just had the fun of trying to get a decent editor to deal with the original mp4. As Vista and windows and Nokia don't want to play nice with it.
The AVS video editor handled it well, though it claims to handle FLV's (from ustream) but I cant seem to get that working
Whilst strolling around I then did an automatic "muvee" where the phone edits the video, adds some sound and makes it a little mini 3gp movie for sending.
I used a Cubism style and ended up making it a bit like predator vision :-)
Then I have just had the fun of trying to get a decent editor to deal with the original mp4. As Vista and windows and Nokia don't want to play nice with it.
The AVS video editor handled it well, though it claims to handle FLV's (from ustream) but I cant seem to get that working
Running live and running scared in Second Life at Wimbledon
Yesterday a team of us ran a mixed mode live event at Wimbledon. It was an amazing set of thigns we were trying to mesh together, with real people, press, telephones second life and live webcasting and recording of audio and photography.
Between Roo, Andy, Mark and I we managed to hit all the areas we wanted to hit. It was an amazing bit of teamwork for teh entire day. That teamwork and trust does nto come easy, Roo and I were in the main roon Andy and Mark we in a remote room.
Also though we had amazing support and trust from the attendees for teh press conference and the IBM and Text 100 team there. The press conference had been all arranged by Bill and Karolina, and Chris (the project director for IBM at Wimbledon) put a great deal of faith in us 4 mad SL/Web2.0 crew to work this.
Picture by Roo @ Flickr
The notion of a live event with RL speakers represented in SL we had observed was one that kind of works, but needed something else. We had Ian, Anne and Ivan providing their insight, via a telephone conference. They were not all going to be able to drive the Second Life interaction, so their words were transcribed and actions puppeteered into SL by Andy and Mark, who were listening to the conference.
Roo, and to some extent me, we in SL as ourselves to act as facilitators, back channels conversationalists and reporters on the event.
I was attempting a ustream, with my video cam pointed at my screen. It became very apparent that to run a camera and provide a live feed is also a puppeteer mode of operation and makes it much harder to enagage with SL audience with the same depth I would normally.
We ran 3 events, including one aimed at IBMers. We had all sort of people turn up aswell due to the map green dot effect.
I was a little bit annoyed at the number of times I lost SL, my laptop either crashing or SL dying, and I am also getting some very weird behaviour with my ctrl alt zoom on that machine (all of which made camera work a bit rough)
I am trying to edit up some of the video as I recorded a lot on ustream, but editing FLV files seems to be a little tricky with the application I have at the moment!
Anyway, I am really proud of everyone for both doing this and taking the risk. WE all learned a whole lot, which is a feature of the metaverse and of the rise of Web 2.0. You get to learn by doing, everything is live all the time.
Between Roo, Andy, Mark and I we managed to hit all the areas we wanted to hit. It was an amazing bit of teamwork for teh entire day. That teamwork and trust does nto come easy, Roo and I were in the main roon Andy and Mark we in a remote room.
Also though we had amazing support and trust from the attendees for teh press conference and the IBM and Text 100 team there. The press conference had been all arranged by Bill and Karolina, and Chris (the project director for IBM at Wimbledon) put a great deal of faith in us 4 mad SL/Web2.0 crew to work this.
Picture by Roo @ Flickr
The notion of a live event with RL speakers represented in SL we had observed was one that kind of works, but needed something else. We had Ian, Anne and Ivan providing their insight, via a telephone conference. They were not all going to be able to drive the Second Life interaction, so their words were transcribed and actions puppeteered into SL by Andy and Mark, who were listening to the conference.
Roo, and to some extent me, we in SL as ourselves to act as facilitators, back channels conversationalists and reporters on the event.
I was attempting a ustream, with my video cam pointed at my screen. It became very apparent that to run a camera and provide a live feed is also a puppeteer mode of operation and makes it much harder to enagage with SL audience with the same depth I would normally.
We ran 3 events, including one aimed at IBMers. We had all sort of people turn up aswell due to the map green dot effect.
I was a little bit annoyed at the number of times I lost SL, my laptop either crashing or SL dying, and I am also getting some very weird behaviour with my ctrl alt zoom on that machine (all of which made camera work a bit rough)
I am trying to edit up some of the video as I recorded a lot on ustream, but editing FLV files seems to be a little tricky with the application I have at the moment!
Anyway, I am really proud of everyone for both doing this and taking the risk. WE all learned a whole lot, which is a feature of the metaverse and of the rise of Web 2.0. You get to learn by doing, everything is live all the time.
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Wimbledon second life
So I am on the wimbledon build on IBM 7, but watching me on a tv ad talking about the wimbledon build in Second Life.
I was also webcasting this to ustream aswell, all wheels within wheels :-)
Monday, June 11, 2007
Yet more media coverage
Ok, this is a minor virtual worlds media bit of coverage, but I was driving home at lunchtime and Edith's show on BBC radio 1 was all about virtual worlds, and a discussion. Initing people to say has it all gone too far, do we need social networking or should we just talk.
Normally I let these ones wash me by, but I heard some good discussions going on and equally the "saddo" and "no mates" and "if you have a good first life tou have no need for a second life. ha blooming ha not heard that one before.
So I pulled over, parked, took the keys out of the ignition as the law requires and texted to 81199.
Something along the lines of "Virtual worlds do not have to just be fantasy, they allow people to communicate and understand one another around the globe and that is a good thing. Ian from eightbar"
I got home, turned the main house DAB radio on and heard my comment read out :-) Jan missed it, so I hit rewind (as thats what the technology is for) and we laughed at hearing "ian from eightbar" and hopefully adding to a sensible argument.
So Radio 4(via tims book of the week) and Radio 1 via text in less than a week.
Maybe mrs serendipity is launching me to a media career :-)
Normally I let these ones wash me by, but I heard some good discussions going on and equally the "saddo" and "no mates" and "if you have a good first life tou have no need for a second life. ha blooming ha not heard that one before.
So I pulled over, parked, took the keys out of the ignition as the law requires and texted to 81199.
Something along the lines of "Virtual worlds do not have to just be fantasy, they allow people to communicate and understand one another around the globe and that is a good thing. Ian from eightbar"
I got home, turned the main house DAB radio on and heard my comment read out :-) Jan missed it, so I hit rewind (as thats what the technology is for) and we laughed at hearing "ian from eightbar" and hopefully adding to a sensible argument.
So Radio 4(via tims book of the week) and Radio 1 via text in less than a week.
Maybe mrs serendipity is launching me to a media career :-)
Sunday, June 10, 2007
Honda, F1, Our car from Alan day
We got back from a friends 4 years old birthday party and started to watch the Formula 1 race from canada on Sky +.
It was vyer amusing that Button's Honda did not get any drive off the grid. Given our recent hassle getting the FRV and the engine management chip being broken we can only assume that the Honda part has been removed from Jenson's car and is on its way to Alan Day honda for them to finally resolve our new car teething troubles :-)
It was vyer amusing that Button's Honda did not get any drive off the grid. Given our recent hassle getting the FRV and the engine management chip being broken we can only assume that the Honda part has been removed from Jenson's car and is on its way to Alan Day honda for them to finally resolve our new car teething troubles :-)
Saturday, June 09, 2007
I want one of these
On Jools Hollands show on the BBC last night Bjork was performing. A member of the band had a reacTable. I want one please !
Friday, June 08, 2007
Web 2 is Web Do!
Increasigly I am ending up talking with people who say things like "how can I get involved in....." or "We should get our people doing ...." or "we need to initiate a project and plan to do ....."
You can replace the dots with blog, wiki, podcast, second life or anything that is about user created content and self organizing groups.
I usually have to be a bit gentle, but the answer is just get on and start doing it.
How do you find out about blogs, well.... blog. You do not have to start with a lofty goal, massive investment, huge targets. You do have to start by doing.
So web 2 is web do.
The democratizing nature of it though can be a threat to a control structure. The need to direct and tell people what to do still is part of most groups. However, even in that structure it means that the person at the "top" needs to do it as much as the person at the "bottom". Leading by example. A bit scary for some people, but thats the world :-)
"Web 2 is Web do. " my gift for the day.
You can replace the dots with blog, wiki, podcast, second life or anything that is about user created content and self organizing groups.
I usually have to be a bit gentle, but the answer is just get on and start doing it.
How do you find out about blogs, well.... blog. You do not have to start with a lofty goal, massive investment, huge targets. You do have to start by doing.
So web 2 is web do.
The democratizing nature of it though can be a threat to a control structure. The need to direct and tell people what to do still is part of most groups. However, even in that structure it means that the person at the "top" needs to do it as much as the person at the "bottom". Leading by example. A bit scary for some people, but thats the world :-)
"Web 2 is Web do. " my gift for the day.
Wednesday, June 06, 2007
A packed day
I nearly entitled this post "packing it in" but that may have cuase some confusion.
I am sure between us we will write some posts on eightbar.com but yesterday was insanely busy.
Roo got invited to a social media conference in London and I tagged along with him as we both needed to be in London that day anyway.
He did a superb job on stage, and rather embarrisingly name checked me duting his pitch. I was also busy contwitting or whatever twittering when at a conference needs to be called.
We also then rand an ad hoc session for about 40 people around metaverse, both Second Life and our internal IQ metaverse, the how, where, what etc.
Then it was off to see Mindcandy, the makers of perplexcity. Even though the ARG is on ice the cards are still going to be going. This ended up being a very wide conversation with a great bunch of people.
Finally the evening was spent at Tim Guests book launch at Rivers Run Red. Tim has written his book Second Live (check you local amazon for this).
This all seemed a little bit rock and roll. The fact we are in the book, as part of the corporate chapter, and eightbar made it even more interesting.
There was even some joking, or not, about some deal and some film rights. I have no idea if that was a wind up :-) It added to the memorable nature of the event.
Then back on the train, much discussion of history, future etc then I got back home to do baby Sam's midnight feed and then into bed.
So 6am to midnight yesterday was varied
I am sure between us we will write some posts on eightbar.com but yesterday was insanely busy.
Roo got invited to a social media conference in London and I tagged along with him as we both needed to be in London that day anyway.
He did a superb job on stage, and rather embarrisingly name checked me duting his pitch. I was also busy contwitting or whatever twittering when at a conference needs to be called.
We also then rand an ad hoc session for about 40 people around metaverse, both Second Life and our internal IQ metaverse, the how, where, what etc.
Then it was off to see Mindcandy, the makers of perplexcity. Even though the ARG is on ice the cards are still going to be going. This ended up being a very wide conversation with a great bunch of people.
Finally the evening was spent at Tim Guests book launch at Rivers Run Red. Tim has written his book Second Live (check you local amazon for this).
This all seemed a little bit rock and roll. The fact we are in the book, as part of the corporate chapter, and eightbar made it even more interesting.
There was even some joking, or not, about some deal and some film rights. I have no idea if that was a wind up :-) It added to the memorable nature of the event.
Then back on the train, much discussion of history, future etc then I got back home to do baby Sam's midnight feed and then into bed.
So 6am to midnight yesterday was varied
Saturday, June 02, 2007
Bikes that rock
Our next door neighbour had some visitors today. These two awesome bikes rolled up the drive. The one on the left is a complete custom build by its owner. Just look at the tyres on it.
The sound as they pulled away was incredible. It was great the kids were so interested so I could hang around and see the bikes without looking like too much of a geek with my camera phone.
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