Monthly Archive for October, 2008

Ms.Pixel Goes to Jeff Pulver’s Breakfast in NYC

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Bukola Ekundayo
on October 28, 2008
in The Pixel Life
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This morning I attended Jeff Pulver’s breakfast in New York. It was held at Friend of a Farmer, a cute and down to earth venue 5 blocks of North of Union Square.

The event was scheduled to start at 8:00 am. I woke up super early to get there but it was worth it. I met good people! I regret not taking any pictures. Every time I cover an event I forget to take pictures. I also regret not collecting more business cards. So the list of people I met is filled with holes.

Awesome people who gave me their business cards:

Allison Blass - Allison is a writer who is all about web 2.0 apps. I think we’re around the same age (early to mid-twenties). She blogs about health issues and living with Type 1 diabetes.

Brett M. Petersel - This guy is a super connector. I was amazed by the number of people he was able to engage in meaningful conversations.  In crowded situations I tend to gravitate to few folks and then hang out with them until I leave. Brett is the Events Director at Mashable. I told him how much I loved SummerMash NYC. I took 3 of those color change cups home.

Adam Hirsch - He has a very good voice. He should star in his own podcast if he hasn’t already. Adam writes for Mashable.

People I’m looking for (Meaning: I forgot to get their business cards)

Yuki - A young woman with a zest for dancing. She’s taken classes in swing, hip hop and jazz.

Social Media Strategist from 360i - She helps 360i’s clients conduct social media marketing campaigns. We had a great conversation about our jobs, the delectable breakfast food, and my gaming addition. Her name escapes me at the moment. I’m hoping David Berkowitz can help me track her down.

Tall Man with Stylish Green Socks (Amus?) - I think his name was Amus. He works for a start-up that provides back-up solutions for mobile phones.He made a point of showing me his green socks when I asked about his green tie.  He likes to match.

If you recognize these individuals could you let me know?

Obama Launches Ads…on the XBox

Published
by
Bukola Ekundayo
on October 14, 2008
in Uncategorized
. Comments

It looks like Barack Obama understands the power of in-game ads. So much so that he’s launched a couple on Xbox Live.  His campaign placed an ad in the online racing game, Burnout Paradise. In it he urges players of the open-ended racing game to vote early.

This is brilliant because it’s completely unexpected and gaming has the potential to reach multiple targets. I’d love to know if this was part of a media buy package (in which you get a mix of marketing channels to advertise on) or if Obama woke up one morning and felt compelled to place an ad on Burnout.

Warner Beat Obama to Gaming

Obama isn’t the first politician to campaign in games. Mark Warner broke the mold when he attended a Press Conference in Second Life back in 2006.  One could argue that he pushed the envelope further than Obama did. Warner made a personal appearance via avatar and took questions from the audience on issues ranging from the War in Iraq to abortion rights.

Conclusion

Obama’s campaign continues to impress me. They’ve pursued marketing channels that most people overlook. And since they are literally rolling in cash they can afford to pursue voters anywhere.

How will Google use Social Media & Gaming?

Published
by
Bukola Ekundayo
on October 7, 2008
in Gaming News and The Pixel Life
. Comments

Google has taken bold steps to get into gaming. First, they acquired the in-game ad firm, Adscape for $23 million. Then Google released Lively, an answer to Second Life. Now Google reps are showing up at gaming conferences like GDC. But where is Google going with this? How will they impact gaming in the future?

Google as an Online Games Platform

At GDC Austin,Kevin Hanna revealed that Google plans on releasing an API for Lively. The long term effects of such a move would make Lively available as an online ‘gaming platform’.

Integration with Google Services

Most importantly, Hanna quietly announced that while you can currently embed any Google Gadget into Lively’s world – such as YouTube videos or weather reports running on virtual TVs - the company will soon be providing an API for developers to create new interactive gadgets to run in the space. [Via - GameIndustry.Biz]

So now we can embed Youtube videos into gaming environments. That’s really cool. It doesn’t make me want to risk crashing my PC trying to play Lively again. It’s a nice development nonetheless.

I’d imagine that soon players will be able to interact with their Google Chat friends within the Lively interface too. Again, a cool development. But why wouldn’t I just do that in the real world? What kind of added benefit would I get?

What are your thoughts? Leave a comment here, on facebook, or twitter to discuss.

Pac-Man Invades London Fashion Week

Published
by
Bukola Ekundayo
on October 6, 2008
in The Pixel Life and Women and Gaming
. Comments

Pac-man inspired head gear made the rounds at London Fashion week. Fashion designer, Giles, obviously had Pac-man on the brain when he concocted these looks. I happen to think they’re rather cute. I like the yellow head and pink dress combination.

The dress below threw me for a loop. Perhaps Pac-Man is the culprit behind the rail thin models at Fashion Week?

 

How to Use Google as a Personal Time Machine

Published
by
Bukola Ekundayo
on October 1, 2008
in The Pixel Life and Women and Gaming
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How I Started Writing About Technology and Gaming

I started an e-zine with my best friend Jennifer. We were both teenagers who were hooked on our AOL accounts. We spent hours on AOL Instant Messenger chatting about homework, gaming and anime. Jennifer introduced me to the thriving world of e-zines. We both loved to write so we decided to start our own.

Pro tip: An e-zine is simply an online publication or magazine. Back then (Am I dating myself?) they were distributed via e-mail.

We each took on pen names to write under back then.  Since our AOL screen names were so awesome (Jennifer was Misty22782 while I was Neptunekix) we decided to use them when we were brainstorming about the project. And so the e-zine was affectionately named, Misty and Neptune.

How to Use Google as a Personal Time MachineOld School Google Logo

This was more than 10 years ago. Since then I haven’t been able to find any remnants of the ezine in Google. That is…until now! Google brought back their 2001 archive:

In honor of our 10th birthday, we’ve brought back our oldest available index. Take a look back at Google in January 2001. [Google]

I’m a vain woman so the first search I did was for my name. Nothing relevant came up. The next search I conducted was for Misty and Neptune. And this is what I found:

My fellow blogger, Noah Brier, found the domain for his now defunct web development company and an old student project. You’ll be amazed at the stuff that’s still out there. Check out the link and have Google jog your memory.

Misty & Neptune: A Slice of Ms. Pixel’s History

With Misty and Neptune we wanted to provide young girls with a source of fresh articles on fashion and entertainment. We dreamt of becoming the online version of YM or Seventeen magazine. But our content landed outside of the mainstream. We loved anime and we were hooked on Nintendo and Sega. Our passions were reflected in our content. YM and Seventeen were glossy mags about the girls we thought we wanted to be. Misty and Neptune helped us become more comfortable with who we were. We were passionate about games, anime and sugary advice columns. As hundreds of girls signed up for our subscriber list we discovered we weren’t alone.

Can you imagine two 14 year old girls writing anime fan fiction and games? Were we ahead of the curve? I don’t think so. We ran into a bunch of young female editors like us who loved online publishing and were completely obsessed with e-zines.

How Misty and Neptune Prepared me for Business

Looking back on it now I’m surprised at how ambitious we were. We managed to snag two companies as sponsors: Oop! Juice and Gwen’s Jewelry. Both provided us with products to use in contests and giveaways. It was a perfect match between the interests of our readers and the products they had to share.

We did the e-zine for a while releasing monthly issues via email. And then Jennifer and I went off to college and sort of forgot about it. Until now.

Thank you Google!

I want to thank Google for doing this. A lot of the details surrounding the ezine have honestly slipped my mind until now.  I forgot that we had the gumption to land sponsors, recruit other writers and even set up our own webpages.

I penned some articles for my local paper as an intern but Misty and Neptune is where I really started to write about my passions. And now I remember it more clearly. Thanks Google!

[Via - Noah Brier]