NorthGeek

My friend, Phil Part II

One of our first posts on NorthGeek.com was a short film starring our good friend, Phil Dubrovsky in an elevator. It was funny stuff. This video is a bit different, as it shows our buddy Phil outside, and it’s a TV commercial, not a short film. It’s a great ad! That’s my unbiased opinion.

Stellar performance, Phil. Enjoy:

The Phantom HD camera, high-speed filmography, music, & Stephen Hawking – all very cool things.

This is a very cool clip of some high-speed footage captured with the impressive Phantom HD camera (in my opinion, a RED with uber-cool high-speed capabilities), and interesting music which I am assuming is taking either actual audio from, or at least quotes from acclaimed theoretical physicist, Stephen Hawking. Enjoy!

[UPDATE 03/09/10] — For those of you interested in purchasing this beast of an HD cam to capture your home videos, you’ll have to prioritize your purchases… If you’re into nice cars, don’t buy one, you’ll need your $118K for this Phantom HD camera. If you want some kick-ass HD capabilities in a smaller form factor and smaller budget, I would check out the RED Scarlet -- here.

For those interested in high-speed filmography, check this video out, too -- also shot with the Phantom:

Layar: Augmented reality on your mobile

Have a look at a new “life browsing” experience, available now! Check out layar.com.

Not Olympics, but sport: World’s biggest dodgeball game

1,200 students at the University of Alberta competed in a new Guinness World Record-breaking dodgeball game earlier this month. Check this out!

A first look at Panasonic’s new Full HD 3D experience!

NorthGeek was lucky enough to have been invited to the media-only opening of the Panasonic Pavilion at LiveCity Yaletown in Vancouver today for a sneak peak at Panasonic’s new Full HD 3D technology. The awesome new technology is both for large-format theater and home theaters.

The best part of all was that we got to be among an elite group of reporters who enjoyed, first-hand, this new 3D entertainment experience. We started in a theater, similar to a movie theater, only a bit smaller -- then we got to see it in “real-life” in a typical home theater set-up. Both were equally as impressive.

We had a chance to interview Panasonic North America Chief Technology Officer Eisuke Tsuyuzaki -- here’s what he had to say about their exciting new 3D technology (the video will soon become available in HD if it hasn’t yet -- YouTube needs to finish processing):

The first demo (which happened before the above interview) was on an extremely impressive, 103″ Plasma 3D television. I tried to take it home, they didn’t let. It was, as Borat would say, VERY NIIICE!!

Next up, we witnessed what our homes could look like as soon as April 2010 and for (apparently, still not clear) as little as $3,000 -- equipped with a 3D-ready Panasonic TV, Blu-Ray player, 3D Blu-Ray media, and spiffy (battery-powered) 3D glasses.

The demos of 3D content included a bunch of winter Olympic sports, summer Olympic sports, clips from the movie Avatar, and a recently released music video featuring Soprano sensation Sarah Brightman. The sports (especially basketball, track, gymnastics, skiing, and cycling) were, in my opinion, the most impressive in 3D. The music video and movie just don’t look “real” enough for me to truly appreciate, whereas seeing a basketball net in the foreground and fans in the background looked really, really cool.

I should note, that what impressed me as much as anything else, was the lineup of (what I assume were) Viera Neo Plasma TVs, all color and temperature synched with each other, it was true perfection. I’d love to have that guy come to my home and calibrate my TV!

Leaving the venue, we had a chance to appreciate what LiveCity Yaletown actually looks like, without the zillions of international Olympic fans that are soon to cover each and every recently installed fake brick:

Google Streetview goes Snowview for Vancouver 2010

You’ve seen the streets around Vancouver and Whistler, and have been able to get up-close and personal with the various Olympic venues. But thanks to some really cool dudes and an awesomely high-tech snowmobile, now you can experience the snowy trails of the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics. Check this out!

Miss NorthGeek 2010 – Win a new phone courtesy of NorthGeek and Sony Ericsson Canada!

It’s true! You could win this brand new, PINK, Fido-branded Sony Ericsson T715 phone. Win it for yourself or that special someone in your life – a perfect gift for this coming Valentine’s Day!

Miss NorthGeek 2010 is awarded to the most tech-savvy, geekiest (in the coolest way possible), awesomest femenita in the NorthGeekosphere. To win it, you can either nominate yourself, or nominate the Geekette in your life. She will win the T715 phone, the glory, and the respect of kajillions of adoring fans.

All you have to do, is tweet your story (be sure to include #NorthGeek) or comment in this post, with your best tech-enabled (so that means it could be a text message, an email, or some social media form of communication) romantic story. Maybe you asked someone out on a date by SMS, or perhaps you wrote a song, recorded it, and posted it to YouTube? Whatever it is, let us know, and you could be our lucky winner! Remember, the story has to involve the person you’re nominating as Miss NorthGeek 2010!

We’ll be announcing the winner – selected by an esteemed panel of NorthGeek judges and industry experts – on Valentine’s Day – February 14th 2010, at 12:00pm PST.

Good luck, internet lovers!!

Some info on the handset:
- 3G high-speed experience
- Quad-band phone
- 3.2 megapixel camera with video recorder
- Integrated Facebook application
- MP3 player
- External memory expandable(MicroSD)
- Bluetooth® technology
- Handsfree speaker
- Picture and Video Messaging (MMS)
- Flight mode, calendar, to-do list, calculator, unit converter
- World clock, alarm and note pad

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Zedmo secures substantial investment from local business

(digg this story!)

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA – February 4th 2009
John Stapleton, Business Tech, AP

“Thursday was a huge, huge day for us” exclaimed Noah Bloom, co-founder of Zedmo, a Vancouver-based startup developing the universe’s greatest location-based mobile social community.

“I was just going about my day as I normally would – checking my email, browsing the news stories on my America Online portal, and updating my eHarmony profile, when I received a phone call from an angel, who claimed his name was Mike” continues Bloom. “I didn’t believe Mike for a second, so I quickly looked around the room of 2010 cohort enemies – uh, I mean companies – to see who could be playing this evil trick on me. Anthony was sitting in his chair not on the phone, Jamie was busy tweeting his next publishable masterpiece, Mack was under his desk wearing a hood, and Team Romania was hard at work shining their Google pens. Daniel, my co-founder, was busy complaining about his recent ski accident, so it surely wasn’t him pranking me.”

What happened next, forever changed the face of Zedmo. A struggling startup duo of Bloom and Wolfe, who dropped everything to join the 2010 Bootup Labs Cohort, were, until yesterday, surviving off leftover sandwiches found in dumps around the city, and the occasional “fresh” peanut butter and tuna sandwich.

“Being a startup is very tough,” says Wolfe. “It’s not like in the movies where you can rub a lamp and a naked woman comes out of it. It’s tougher than that.”

As you can tell by now, the Associated Press mandates us writers to write our stories in such a way that the reader needs to read all the way to the end of a story to find out what the story is actually about. But, because I know my audience is fairly small, I will cut to the chase here.

Nester’s, a top-notch grocer (according to some, but not all… ANTHONY NICALO…) located just steps from the Bootup Labs office in one direction, and steps from Zedmo’s underground home lair in the other, has made a significant investment in Zedmo. Without acquiring any equity in Zedmo, Nester’s has injected $5,200 worth of groceries into the startup. Terms of the deal are still a bit shady, but a spokesperson for Nesters, Mr. Michael Grocerman, has told the Associated Press that, “…the orange juice cannot be diluted.”

So, how did Daniel Wolfe ever score such a great co-founder, with the ability to close investments so early in the game? We asked, and he explained.

“I have what’s called a silver tongue. That’s it.”

And you thought the Olympics were the biggest story out of Vancouver.

When asked what Zedmo plans to do with this influx of food, they were quick to point us in the direction of their appointed PR agency, for reasons of secrecy and not giving too much away to the competition:

“First, they supplied the 2010 Cohort with Odwalla juices, so as not to cause any unfriendly conflict or envy around the office. Further to this, Zedmo hopes to build on this investment by purchasing fancy foods and supplies, such as turkey, cheese and crackers, and non-generic cling wrap. No further comments, my clients are very tired from the celebrations last night.”

Although this recent investment has placed Zedmo founders Noah and Daniel in the spotlight among “everybody who’s anybody” from the Valley up to Vancouver, the dynamic duo promises to remain down to earth, although sources tell the AP that Daniel was spotted drinking Tropicana orange juice, while Noah was seen washing his hands with a bar of Lever 2000 – for all his 2,000 body parts (including hands).

For more information on Zedmo and their location-based mobile application, please contact info@zedmo.com

PLEASE NOTE: Zedmo is still accepting further investment, so don’t be shy.

Bud Light makes excellent commercials!

Something (else) to do in Quebec when you’re bored

Have you ever sat around with a bunch of friends, not knowing what to do? Bored, and playing a game of Life or making s’mores just won’t cut it? Try this:

Whip out your Quebec Medicare card (RAMQ). Notice the first four letters on your card are made up of the first three letters of your last name, followed by the first letter of you first name.

Go around the circle (because these days, all friends sit on the floor in a circle, right?) with everyone coming up with a made-up name that would make an awesome Quebec Medicare card.

To get things started, I’ve provided some inspiration:

- Natasha Poorsly and her father, Peter Poorsly
- Tara Shire
- Tom Cunningsworth
- Paul Cranshaw
- Wilma Bloomberg
- Tanya Farnham
- Scott Asserman
- Kelly Wang (hehe, her last name is funny already)

And so on, and so forth. Please, send us your best names!

Enjoy the hours and hours of laughs.