Internet Ad Competition

I was a judge for the recent Internet Ad Competition. There was some great work submitted and the winners have been announced.

• Fishbowl Marketing for Shamrock The Vote
  (Best Ads the Client Did Not Pick)


• IQ Interactive for "Explorer" Video Newsletter
  (Best of Show Email Message)


• NASCAR.com/Datran Media for NASCAR.com Revs Up Fans with Email Marketing
  (Best of Show Email Message Campaign)


• TMX Communications for Find the Time Capsule Campaign
  (Best of Show Integrated ad campaign)


• Hornall Anderson Design Works for My Family
  (Best of Show Interactive Application)


• Wunderman Team Detroit for My Dream
  (Best of Show Microsite/Landing Page)


• Idea Integration for Sony Noise Canceling Headphones
  (Best of Show Online ad)


• Palm Communication for Oryctolagus cuniculus
  (Best of Show Online Campaign)


• Coldwell Banker Seal for Coldwell Banker Barbara Sue Seal eNews
  (Best of Show Online Newsletter Campaign)


• Ayzenberg Group for Mobile Suite Gundam: CROSSFIRE rich media creative
  (Best of Show Rich Media Online Ad)


• Profero for Mess With Your Mind
  (Best of Show Rich Media Online Campaign)

And, TMX Communications of Conshohocken, PA was recognized with the 2006 Top Agency Award. Congratulations to all the winners.

R2D2 mail

The Force has a brief article and some snaps of some R2D2 mailboxes to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Star Wars. Checking the url on the sample mailboxes shows that the USPS has indeed registered the domain: uspsjedimaster.com. Check it out.

<a href="http://www.dylanhearsawho.com/home.htm">Dylan Seuss?</a>

Dylan Hears a Who. One of the funniest albums never produced. This combines the wit and genius of Dr. Seuss with the legendary style of Bob Dylan. It is one of those albums that you wish was real; especially now with such a burgeoning market of quality children's music. For anyone who watches Jack's Big Music show, they will get it.

<a href="http://www.redrockmicro.com">Red Rock Micro & the M2

This has got to be one of the cooler items I have found just recently. Profiled in the latest issue of Studio Monthly, Red Rock Micro's M2; a 35mm lens adapter for small format video cameras. Essentially the M2 is an adapter that connects your video camera to all of your 35mm lenses floating around your studio.

One of the biggest drawbacks of digital photography/video is the the lack of depth in the imagery; physically and aesthetically. There is an overalll hyper-focus and crispness to digital photography that decreases some of the warmth captured using more traditional means. With digital cameras it is easier to compensate and make the image feel more traditional.

With video it is a bit harder. The M2 increases the ability to capture that essence of film while shooting with your regular DV/HDV camera. Using the M2you connect your traditional camera lenses on one side, while on the opposite side you hook up your video camera. There is an industry standard rails system in place for mounting the system, as well as some very cool accessories, but the equipment looks pretty straightforward.

I have been in contact with them since their site does not state if the gear works with my JVC HD cam. The folks responded nearly instantaneously to my questions and I am seriously considering how I can incorporate this into my workflow. Most of my work is web-based, but the ability to shoot more film-like footage has some great appeal. Items like this showcase the ingenuity and niche marketing that creates some great products. I plan on learning more about this product and will offer some more insight if I can get my hands on one.

BTW, if you haven't checked out Studio - do! It is a great mag and the site has a lot of useful information for anyone working in video today.

Pulp

Dashboard Stats

There are some cool little utilities out there for your Dashboard. I have recently discover Dashalytics, a great little widget that shows a brief overview of your Google Analytics info. Another indispensable widget is the Mint widget. These 2 items combined keep me apprised of the traffic on my sites and I highly recommend them to any web developer that wants to monitor site traffic.

Loghound

John, over at Loghound is another big brain creating some great plugins for the junior cms known as Rapidweaver. The open architecture that Ben and Dan have implemented in their software has allowed small developers like Loghound and YourHead to flourish. In and of itself, Rapidweaver is just another tool that allows some restricted development of websites; offering a sacrifice in functionality for ease of use. The beauty of their software lies in its simplicity and its ability to use plugins that make up for those shortcomings.

Loghound has developed plugin that fills that void RW users have been screaming for; Rapidblog. Up 'til now RW was a desktop app and your site had to be updated through that application. With the addition Rapidblog and the associated blogger account, you can now update your blog from any internet connection.

You install the plugin like any other RW plug; double-click it and then restart the app. From then on you add a new RapidBlog page to your site, associate it with your blogger account and publish the site to your host. From that point on you never have to open RW again; although you will want to. You can now update your blog from RW or from any computer able to access your blogger account.

This is a great addition to the app and shows what some ingenuity can do. RW is a good app, but combining a few select plugins from Loghound and YourHead turns it into a great application capable of far more complex development.