I just had to share this very cool video with you as I have watched it over and over again in wonder and amazement! Randy Noland, my colleague and the editor at our MachineControlOnline put together this awesome video on a recent trip to Australia… its the largest terrestrial vehicle on Earth and what’s amazing is that the GPS technology can get this mammoth machine to within 50mm of it’s target location! Simply awesome Randy… and nice video editing too! you can see more of Randy’s videos over on MachineControlOnline
Archives for July 23, 2009
Ranking the #ESRIUC Twitter Posts – impossible?
Trying to rank “the best” Twitter posts… sorry, but I have to jump on this one as to me it seems simply crazy! I’m into contests and marketing etc… (heck, who doesn’t dig free stuff?) but the idea of trying to decide which tweet out of thousands is the best is a little crazy in my mind. I guess I’ll give APB some credit for trying to grab some attention from the popular #ESRIUC twitter stream but I’d have to say the efforts could be in vain… kudos on them for offering up some nice prizes to people who tweeted from the conference though!
I’m a steadfast believer that there really isn’t any right or wrong way to tweet (although there are acceptable practices evolving) and it often irks me when I hear or see people writing about how to properly tweet or how to do it right… come on, its a Tweet.. you have a140 characters to say what’s on your mind. If I happen to get a tweet from a conference organizer reminding me that a session is starting in 10 minutes and I forgot about it well, that’s a great tweet. If I’m walking the Gaslamp and get a tweet telling me about a great party at Dick’s with free beer and free grub, hell, that’s a great tweet; if I’m a mobile GIS geek and I hear about ArcPad 8 features that include real-time connect to the GeoDatabase, hell, that’s a great Tweet.
The publication (I’m sorry but I’m not permitted to actually say the name here) and their blog did indeed encourage people to tweet for cash, however, I’d have to say that they may have missed out on a few good Tweets for some prizes! Kudos to everyone on the #ESRIUC hashtag that had something interesting (and even not interesting) to say and no dis-respect meant to any of the contest winners at all (I actually follow them!) As for ranking tweets, realistically, I’d have to think the only way you could qualify a tweet would be to perhaps look at the amount of Re-Tweets, any other way of judging them will likely result in some TwitterFail backlash! Another lesson learned I guess.
The ESRIUC party Vine People video!
I’ve had a number of people ask me if I have photos or videos of the “vine” or tree people that were entertaining us at the ESRI user conference party in San Diego. Jack always lines up some great entertainment and this year was no exceptions! Check out these very cool vine people as they wow the crowd!
Fireworks from the ESRI User Conference, San Diego, CA
I was going through some videos and I just realized that I live streamed a video from the fireworks show at the ESRI user conference in San Diego… always an amazing light show, this year was no exception… a perfect way to wind down from a long week! Nice stuff
Sidewalk.com Offering LBS Developers A Chance to win $$ and an Equity Stake
A reminder… Citysearch and IAC are on the hunt for a killer, local mobile/web application for their site at Sidewalk.com. The team recently announced the launch of their “right here, right now” contest to find a brilliant idea for a local mobile/web app that focuses on making life easier. The creator of the winning application will win a $10,000 grand prize, and possibly, the opportunity to develop and manage a new business venture with up to $1 million dollars in funding and receive an equity stake in the new Sidewalk.com venture, and access to the Citysearch publisher network allowing them to instantly monetize traffic. Check out details on the contest at http://sidewalk.com and follow updates at twitter.com/sidewalkdotcom