Michael Galpert

be well, do good

Archive for January, 2007

100 Bloggers, 100 Boxes: The Charity Superbowl Wiki

January 30, 2007 at 10:20 am · Filed under "Charlie O'Donnell", SuperbowlLXI, charity, collaboration, wiki

Charlie O’Donnell over at This is going to be BIG!: created a wiki to raise money for charity in light of this sunday’s superbowl. The goal is to get 100 Bloggers to fill 100 Boxes and then give $1000 to a charitable organization of the winner’s choice. In his own words he is testing out

an experiment in non-profit collaboration on the web and to give us reason to keep watching in case Rex Grossman throws 4 INTs, I’ve created The Charity Superbowl Wiki for 100 bloggers to participate in a charity game.

I’ll be honest I wasnt planning on watching “The Big Game” I was just going to watch the commercials on Youtube on monday but who knows now that I’m invested… I love collaborating with peers for charitable organizations and love this idea. Nice one Charlie. I took the #47, what spot are you going to take?

Wiki URL

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Google NYC Speaker Series

January 30, 2007 at 9:29 am · Filed under "Adam Bosworth", "Google Speaker Series", UI, google, googlenyc, minicooper, nextny, schwag, t-shirts

Google is trying to help build up the NY tech scene, so nextNY-ers dont have to fantasize about working out west, with their monthly Speaker Series. Last night they kicked it off with a talk given by Adam Bosworth, entitled “Physics, Speed, and Imprecision: What Works and What Doesn’t in Software, and Why”. Adam discussed how back when he was working at Microsoft [read: evil] in 1997 AJAX was developed, but it didnt take off because it was hideously slow. Now it has been given a second life thanks to broadband technology. Adam tried to stress that when creating web applications one must stick to the KISS rule. (Keep It Simple & Stupid) If you are creating anything on the web today you should be implementing the KISS model. I usually describe it as building apps that are so simple that your grandma can use (I’ll give KISS a try). All in all the speaker (intentionally) kept his talk simple and stupid but here are some points I think are worth noting:

  • Products fail because of [lack of] human psychology not poor engineering
  • Top 3 keypoints of UI:
    1. Speed
    2. Speed
    3. Speed
  • Your app should be a tool, it shouldn’t leave the user feeling like one
  • Search isn’t perfect but it is far better than any human can do so it is tolerable.
  • Analyze the frequency of use of feature and implement those first
  • If your app takes more than 2 seconds to load – forget about it
  • The Motorola RAZR was cool enough so the poor UI (narrow keypad) didnt matter

Google NYC Women's T-shirt

At the end of the event Google was handing out free schwag that would make Kathy Sierra proud. (they had women sized t-shirts). I thought I was being nice and got one for my girlfriend, but I forgot she HATES technology. So I’m left with a Women’s Google NYC t-shirt (size small), if you want it, leave me a comment of why you want/need it.

They were also taking names down for potential future employees. Speaking of which, if you put your name down on that list and want to work in a Google-like environment (we have a lounge with a ping pong table and a Nintendo Wii), I’m always looking to hire great talent. Feel free to drop me a line. (Requirements: Passion)

On my way out I noticed this posted near the elevator

It's your choice

Is Google trying to save the planet? Or did Camelbak buy the adspace?

My adventure didn’t end there, when I was leaving the parking garage I noticed a row of MiniCoopers they were 5 in total all different colors with a designated area called ME.

Mini ME

I wonder if they were zipcars, Google company cars, or if they were just parked there to maximize storage space. I would also like to know who was clever enough to tag ME on the wall?

More of my photos from last night’s Google Speaker Series event.

Lastly, to those waiting for the Google Unbound recap please be patient Caroline and I have been busy, but we are almost done with it.

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Camp of Rock

January 24, 2007 at 5:36 pm · Filed under clapyourhandssayyeah, concerts, kimyadawson, tinymastersoftoday, williemaerockcamp

After the social media club event, I went to the Willie Mae Rock Camp for Girlsbenefit concert at Bowery Ballroom to listen to Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. I’ll be honest, at first I was not excited about going. But now I am grateful that my girlfriend persuaded to me come along . I was introduced to two new artists, the first one was The
Tiny Masters of Today

Tiny Masters of Today

Brooklyn’s pre-teen punk rock sensation is comprised of twelve year old Ivan and his ten year old sister Ada!!!! It was a site to see. At one point Fred Schneider of the B52’s came on stage and rocked out with these guys.

Fred Schneider Rockin' Out

Imagine being 10 and being on the same bill as one of the hottest indie bands, let alone performing with the frontman of the B52s.
check out this youtube clip:

The second artist was Kimya Dawson

Kimya Dawson

She has a way with words that totally took me aback. Her lyrics are uniquely simple and smart. And very funny. I almost choked on the water I was drinking. Check out a few of her songs on her myspace page let me know what you think.

Clap Your Hands seemed a bit confused. We were standing near the stage had a full view of their setlist and noticed that they didn’t follow nor finish what was planned. They didn’t even perform an encore or play their self-titled song. They seemed ready for it with the megaphone on stage. So it was weird.

All in all, I’m glad I went and glad I supported Rock Camp If you want to check out more of my pics from the event, they are here.

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Social Media and its Club

January 24, 2007 at 2:23 pm · Filed under nextny, socialmediaclub howardgreenstein "social media"

Last night I went to the January edition of the Social Media Club , a for profit (“but not a lot of,” as co-founder Howard Greenstein noted) event that took place at Fleishman-Hillard. The night was recorded — no link at this time — but for now you can check out my pics. I think it has improved since the last of their monthly events I attended, albeit I came late to that one. I liked that after a few of the topics that were discussed we broke into small groups and discussed various issues — fake blogs, transparency, and authenticity (see: all i want for xmas is a psp and walmart edelman scandal). Howard rightly predicted that all four groups would approached these topics differently.

The notable quote of the night was from Eric Skiff, “moo cards are the social media secret handshake”. I actually have a personal limited edition set (that I got for free from skype), and once photogami picks a logo, I will order a batch of 100. I received one last night from Brett who is working on a new site called, Esprsso which is trying to be a Flickr for news. It’s a social and collaborative twist on the ol’ web-based feed reader with an emphasis on simple sharing, filtering, and conversational features. I’m going to test it out and give my two cents in the future. If you want an invitation, you can send me an email or leave a comment here.

Final thoughts: Howard and Chris have created a solid startup that will educate the masses on social media. But will the masses engage in social media? Only time will tell.

For a more detailed write up check out Monetizing the conversation: Social Media Club goes pro by ZDNet’s Donna Bogatin — Social Media Club’s entrepreneurial venture.

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Perceptive Pixels

January 19, 2007 at 7:12 pm · Filed under Uncategorized

I know I said I would post about yesterdays Unbound event.
I am working on a collaborative post with Caroline because it was a long day and a lot was said. Stay tuned.

Check out this amazing video of these 2 nyu students.

http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid271543545/bctid422563006

(i had to take down the embedded video for some reason it would play automatically. anybody know how to turn that function off with brightcove?)

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Google Unbound Event Update

January 18, 2007 at 3:40 pm · Filed under Uncategorized

Wow!! I truly am in awe of the guys at engadget for their abilities to liveblog (see iphone at macworld) and stenographers worldwide.
I have been taking notes but most of them are esoteric. I will attempt to post coherent posts during the breaks. For now to keep your palates wet you can check out my smartset at zooomr

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Live-Blogging From the Google Unbound Event NYC

January 18, 2007 at 1:47 pm · Filed under cory doctorow, google, nyc, unbound event

or at least I’ll try….

If you havent noticed I am not quite the blogging extraordinaire (yet).
I will attempt to blog from throughout the day, to keep you posted.
So far I got some neat gifts compliments of google.

  • 128 MB Flash Drive
  • Google Pen
  • Google Notepad
  • Seth Godin’s “Small is the new big” Book
  • Unbound Laptop Totebag

Today’s agenda is pretty intense, have a look.

Well that’s all for now, stay tuned…

Cory Doctorow of BoingBoing shmoozing with the crowd.
He is scheduled to speak at 1pm

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Netflix On Demand Looks Awesome!!

January 16, 2007 at 5:14 pm · Filed under Uncategorized

Check out this video demo from Mike K over at Hackingnetflix.com

I can’t wait ’til this finally roles out to the masses.

More info: NYTIMES ARTICLE

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Come on Google (OS)…

January 14, 2007 at 6:52 pm · Filed under gmail, google, google calendar, google os

I am really surprised that it is taking Google so long to integrate all their features. Hopefully they will get their act together in 2007. (Disclaimer: I heart my big brother google) Yesterday I signed up to attend the Unbound event in NYC this week. I received a confirmation email from Google.

I then wanted to add it to my google calendar by clicking the “add this event” feature in gmail. But to my dismay the form field was filled out incorrectly.

Would it be so hard to arrange their confirmation email to look like this.

It wasn’t a big deal to fill out the form myself, but it should have been filled out automatically!! It’s so simple to set up! Why is there a lack of communication between google features. I guess the day they do communicate we can officially call Google an Operating System.

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Do you want to shave your head?

January 14, 2007 at 12:31 am · Filed under Uncategorized


My friend Michael does.
This is from an email he recently sent out.

St. Baldrick’s is an organization that raises money to help find a cure for childhood cancer. Each year around St. Patrick’s Day, hundreds of “shaving centers” are set up all over the country where people have their heads shaved to show their support for the cause.

I lost my older sister, Stacy to cancer in 1991. I was only 5 when Stacy got sick and I didn’t understand the magnitude of her illness. To me, cancer meant hospital stays and hair loss. When I found out about St. Baldrick’s, it felt like the perfect way to honor Stacy’s memory and raise money for a cure.

Please visit the website below and donate in support of a very worthy cause. Thank you in advance!

Until there’s a cure,

Michael

http://www.stbaldricks.org/participants/shavee_info.html?ShaveeID=426

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