Poke Punkin' Carving 2.0
What do you get when you mix beer, nerds, knives and melons? I don't know but probably smells like the corner of the 6th floor here at POKE. Peek at the hilarious hijinx here. (Thanks Rich for all the shootin'!)
How do you spell change?
Dear friends, go to http://www.spellingchange.com/ and spread the CHANGE that is important to you.
As we move ever-closer to the upcoming election, it's only natural that we take a moment to take stock of, and reflect on, the current state of affairs in our country. Amidst a variety of often-polarized opinions, amidst what can only be deemed a financial crisis, we find ourselves in a unique position. We find ourselves faced with an opportunity that only presents itself every four years – a time period that's proving vast despite it's consistent measure of passage. We're faced with an opportunity to make a difference...an opportunity for CHANGE.
POKE has teamed up with a few people from Mother and other creative professionals around the world to ask "How do you spell CHANGE?" The challenge we've posed to our artist and designer friends is simple: show us how you spell CHANGE by reinterpreting one letter of the alphabet in a way that represents what Obama's candidacy means to you. Their letters were then printed on t-shirts and given to photographers who took pictures of them worn by enthusiastic Obama supporters, creating a living alphabet.
But that is just the beginning. The challenge that began with our friends and colleagues we're now issuing to the world... Stand up and take part! Make a difference! Voice your CHANGE! Everyone can take part in our effort by designing a letter of your own and submitting it to the collection at SpellingChange.com. Or, create your own personal statement using the letters we've collected to spell your own words and phrases demonstrating support for Obama and for CHANGE in our country.
Everyone can help to aid the Obama campaign by spelling "change" in their own unique way. Use these inspired letters and photographs to email an important message to a friend or to post some words meaningful to you on your blog. Your words and phrases can also be custom-ordered on t-shirts, posters, bumper stickers, and post cards, allowing you to voice your CHANGE out in the world.
Oh and, before anyone mentions it: yes, we recognize the irony of a campaign created by a bunch of internet liberals trying to prove that Obama's supporters are more than just coffee shop liberals. But we're "real" Americans, too. And we know that we're just the tip of the iceberg. Please help us show the true range of Barack Obama's appeal and bring authentic CHANGE to Washington.
Fun with Mozilla Ubiquity
So by now you've probably heard of Ubiquity for Firefox by Aza Raskin. If not, watch this:
Yay. Done? Excellent. This app ran through the office like Databanana on a skateboard this week so POKE Charles and POKE Chuck here in NY decided to add a few plugins to it's already growing list of awesomeness.
They are:
Seeqpod: Click to download / install
Our Seeqpod tool allows you to search for any MP3 using the Seeqpod API directly from your browser. Just type "sp" and whatever song you're looking for and it will give you direct acces to the Seeqpod search results page (by pressing enter) and direct acces to the audio file (by clicking on a result).
UPl8: Click to download / install
A little easier access to our UPL8 app. Learn more about UPL8 here. Just type the word Bored and the thing you'd like to see video about to cure your boredom (ex: Bored Boobies) and off you go, to a "boobie" channel rolled just for you.
Tumblr: Click to download / install
Yet another easy way to post to your Tumblr. It covers all types of Tumbr postings except audio: text, photo, quote, video, chat and link. (All the instructions are behind the download link.) Rock.
Embrace Your Grace!
Hey there. Please help us welcome EmbraceYourGrace.com, a fan site centered around TNT's hot new show Saving Grace. This isn't your everyday fan-page though-EmbraceYourGrace pulls together the show's creator, Nancy Miller, and a few of the TV show's writers to craft discussions about the themes found in this provocative drama. Fans are invited to share the moments from their own lives that they feel connect them to Grace Hanadarko, the shows fiery main character.
We've also introduced the theme of competitive commenting, an idea that Tom won't shut up about. Not only can fans share their inner Grace moments, they can also comment and cast their vote in agreement (or not) with others' statements as well.
And comment they have! Fans have been flocking to the site since the start of season 2 just a couple of weeks ago, and the comments have come flooding in. Swing by the site to read through some of what these fans are saying about Saving Grace.
the internets killed the video star
YouTube has become the world’s largest pile of videos, sure. But for all its inter-excellence there's one thing the new tube hasn't been able to reconcile with the boob tube: channel surfing. Mindless, 2am *next...next...next...* channel surfing. You know, the kind that invariably ended up on Skin-a-max, HSN, or some bizzarro japanese gameshow...
POKE is 1!
Yes, it's true! Believe it or not, POKE NY stepped into the world just over a year ago now! We've come a long way in a year — learning to walk, mumbling our first words... Go ahead, you can say it, "Awww, they grow up so fast."
As you can see from the shot above, we've filled out a little bit since our first days. Though, to be fair, we've welcomed some friends to share a corner of our space. Ya know, just to keep things interesting.
You can have a look at what we've accomplished over the last year by clicking through to our portfolio. We've poured our hearts, along with a lot of blood, sweat, and tears, into our first year of work. We've redefined the way that people shop online with Teroforma. We've been told how people like to Keep Life Sexy. We've even won an award for innovative design with our work for BBC's Love Earth. And, of course, our POKE Cam has received plenty of love. Overall, not a bad start for a bunch of passionate geeks doing what we love. And fear not, we've got plenty more lined up to make the upcoming year even more exciting than our first!
So, what did we do to celebrate our first year? Well, we thought about cupcakes, but those just didn't seem to do it. We debated grabbing a beer or two, but we do that every Thursday (and we've been joined by some amazing people along the way!). We considered doing something fun like driving go-carts, but they told us no-way after looking at our driving histories. So instead, we closed the office, threw everyone in a bus, and went away for a weekend. The POKE NY 1-year anniversary party was held on Block Island. That sleepy oceanside retreat never knew what hit them, especially when we spent an afternoon racing around the island on mopeds during our very own POKE scavenger hunt. Some Pokers even wore lipstick for the event — they had to keep life sexy!
And, of course, we're never without a camera handy. We've documented our adventures over the last year in the POKE NY Flickr Group. Feel free to take a spin through it if you'd like to see how we've grown up. And don't be shy! Swing by the POKE Cam and say "Oh Hai!" sometime.
SynchStep for your iPhone
SynchStep, meet world. World, meet SynchStep!
Designed and developed single-handedly by Greg Elliott, SynchStep is a fun and easy experimental way to plays songs from your music library that match your pace. That means when you're out struttin your stuff down "My Favorite Street", every step you take lands in-time with a drum hit, a bass slap, a piano chord. It's kind of like being in your own music video, where your your music becomes the soundtrack to your life. Ya, it's just like a your own music video, except you don't have to pay 3 hundo to some smug director and let his smarmy crew use your bathroom.
The idea behind SynchStep was to create an interface-less device. See, each person has a unique gait, and SynchStep is built to adapt to your individual walking style. It doesn't require people to wrap themselves around bizarre, non-ergonomic devices (keyboards? are you listening?).
Originally, Greg created SynchStep was a hand-made, custom built MP3-player in 2005. His experimental interface didn't even have a display - only an on-off switch. He gave it to people from age 10 to 65 to play with. Without explaining the device to any of them, each tester was told to go for a walk. Surprisingly, everyone got it, probably because the "user interface" is really the user's body. Unfortunately, it was tough to hand out hundreds of hand-made, fragile gadgets that cost $250 each and countless hours of sanding and cursing.
Then along came the iPhone and iPod Touch, both packed with all the hardware needed to run SynchStep. This meant that if SynchStep was re-written, it could be given to everyone who had one of these little gadgets. So, Greg rebuilt SynchStep from the ground-up to run on this new, shiny platform.
While eventually SynchStep will be available to everyone for free, it's currently available only as a private beta. It's being tested pretty intensely to make sure it's a great experience.
The final version will be a one-stop shop, with minimal setup required. Installing SynchStep will make you happier, wealthier, and more satisfied*
*SynchStep in no way promises to make you happier, wealthier or more satisfied.
ZOMFG! Teroforma is (was) live!
Quietly one night on the LES, a new baby was born at POKE New York. The labor was intense (I believe I heard someone say "passing a watermelon throught a garden hose is easier"? But it happened...
It's (was) live. It (was) called Teroforma. And we'd loved for you to have played with it.
Poke was contracted last Fall to begin ideation in collaboration with a few great folks from Norwalk, CT on a new kind of tableware company. This brand, its values, its vision and its identity were all born here at 44 Bond street. In October of last year we even launched the Tero blog (http://blog.teroforma.com) to detail and track our progress bringing this new brand and company to life. But alas, none of this is available for the public. All you need to do is contact us if you're interested.
