Crazy Wild Parties. Boobs. Bourbon Street. Drink ‘Till You Drop. If somebody was playing the word association game with Mardi Gras, you’d probably hear the following words or phases pop up. For locals, the Mardi Gras atmosphere is second nature. I’ve never missed a Mardi Gras season in my life so things like nudity, public drunkenness, and other crazy acts aren’t out of character during this time of year. But this has also painted a picture for out-of-towners that they may not be so fond of.
Tom Martin, President of Zender Communications wants to create an “experience” to combat this. His plan rides on his own experience with the way social media can change people’s perception about something. Last Mardi Gras, Tom used his cell phone to send out tweets and photos to people that could not participate in the festivities. But instead of showing the X rated version of carnival that so many people hear of, he showed the family side of Mardi Gras. The side that welcomes families, promotes southern hospitality, and the feel good aura of the season. He wanted to change the brand perception of what people thought about Mardi Gras because most people base it off what they hear or read.
In our interactive world, we pretty much expect immediate or ASAP response time. With the common availability of WiFi, 3G, smartphones, etc., there’s almost no reason NOT to be connected, especially if you are in a position that might require you to provide answers in a time-sensitive fashion.
With this in mind, I was excited to see Electionland pop up on the Gambit’s Best of New Orleans blog with the promise of interacting with mayoral candidates in an open online forum. Readers were encouraged to submit questions and expectations were set that mayoral candidates would answer them on January 6. As of the day of this writing (January 19), nine questions were asked and the breakdown is as such:
- One question was directed specifically at James Perry. He answered that question and one other.
- Seven of the 8 relevant questions were answered by Troy Henry.
- Only one of the 8 relevant questions were answered by both John Georges and Mitch Landrieu. Coincidentally, it was the same question about the crime/education link.
With the Saints having a magical season, local shops that sell Saints merchandise are riding the wave of excitement by promoting local sayings. Local t-shirt shop owner, Lauren Thom of the Fleurty Girl t-shirt shop is doing just this with her catch phrased inspired shirts. You’ll notice all of her shirts have some type of New Orleans themed topic such as Makin Groceries or There No Place Like Houma, but her #WhoDat inspired t-shirt got her a cease and desist letter from the NFL saying “NoDat”.
No one has been immune to the recent news about the devastating earthquakes that rocked Haiti. Support in the form of money, clothes, and food have already poured out to aid the the nation. But technologist across the country have found an unique way to support the disaster. Under a cause called Crisis Commons programmers, developers, and everyday volunteers have united together to use their skills for good. Crisis Commons spawned from talks that happened at Transparency Camp 09 and Government 2.0 Camp. Several “campers” exchanged ideas about how to better connect people, utilize social networks, and disseminate information through the use of technology, especially during times and places of crisis.
NewOrleans Tech is giving away a free iTrip Auto Universal FM Transmitter & Car Charger. What does it do? If you have a device with a standard flush 1/8” headphone jack (whether CD, MP3, iPhone 3G/3GS, iPod or, yes, cassette) you can play music through your car speakers. For people that have iPhones/iPods you can also charge your device because of a USB port. Rules for the giveaway after the break…..
Check in here. Check in there. Gotta be my points and badges. Everybody seems to be going gaga over Foursquare these days. For those of you that are late to the party, Foursquare is an application that allows people to “check-in” from your phone at any location. Check-in to a local business, eatery, or venue in order to get points, special badges, and become mayor. Points are awarded whenever you check-in to the same place or add in a new venue. Badges are given away under certain criteria such as the Superstar badge, for checking into to 50 locations or JetSetter badge, whereby you must check-in to five different airports. Doing this enough times at one location gives the the prestigious mayor status. For socialites it gives them the ability to connect with friends that may be at the local watering hole or coffee shop. For businesses, it can be a marketing opportunity in the new wave of advertising tech tools.
The 2008 election set a precedent on how candidates embraced social media and web apps to connect with voters. Ever since then, these models have trickled down to elections of all types. Local candidates have come to understand the important of using these tools to campaign to a hyperlocal market.
Election Hub brings a new dimension of information and media to the political landscape. It’s an additional medium that can be used to inform citizens and facilitates a two-way dialogue between candidates and the people
-Zach Kupperman, President of PolicyPitch, LLC
The 2010 New Orleans elections is no different with its first ever iPhone app called ElectionHub. A joint venture between Susco Solutions, a company that specializes in custom web & software development andPolicyPitch.com, a crowd-powered platform that allows citizens to pitch new policy ideas at the local and state level.
The purpose of the app is for citizens to have election information at their fingertips. Some of it’s features include candidate bios, campaign finance reports, the ability for users to communicate with candidates, incoming news feeds, and weekly voting. The app doesn’t just focus on the upcoming mayoral race but council races as well.
After a successful run of nearly 29 web episodes, LaunchPad TV is back on January 8th for a new season with more focused goals. LPTV originally came from the brains behind LaunchPad NOLA, a collaborative working space. It began as an experiment with the goal of creating a campfire that the community could gather around and celebrate what was happening in NOLA. Every Friday LPTV would host a 30 minute web show focused on entrepreneurs, tech, the arts, and music.
Many of the “up & coming” have been featured on LPTV, giving them a platform to talk about their invention, talents, product or services. As the new season of LPTV starts the crew has now honed in on what LPTV really stands for. “We want LPTV to be THE go-to place to catch up on what’s going on in the nola entrepreneurship scene. This of course includes tech, creative, arts, and everyone from freelancers to CEO’s of fast growing companies, but the consistent angle we’ll be coming from is learning what makes entrepreneurs tick, and gaining insights from their story.” says Chris Schultz, Co-Host of LPTV.
You can find the most beautiful artwork on the streets of New Orleans, sometimes on sidewalks or hanging in cozy shops. Even the guys that hang their paintings off the gates of Jackson Square bring to mind the memories of how New Orleans artists have always told our story.
Two NOLA artists, one a graphic designer another a web developer want to infuse the cities art scene with the power of the Internet by providing an online artist portfolio engine dubbed postMedium. Created by Erik Kiesewetter & Rami Sharkey, postMedium is an online system that would allow artist to have a digital art gallery. According to the postMedium site, most artists are without the time, money, knowledge or resources to establish an effective online web presence. With the systems portfolio management tool, artists can update their online portfolios, add new content and images, and take control of their online presence.
To bring this idea to fruition, the dual is using kickstarter, a website that allows people to donate money to their project to get it off the ground. We talked to Erik & Rami about postMedium, their vision, and what artists will get out of it.
It’s one thing to love what you do. It’s another to be passionate about what you do. So passionate that you would tell each person you run into, every single day of your life. For a handful of speakers, that’s the environment IgniteNOLA provides. The idea behind IgniteNOLA is nothing new. Speakers have 5 minutes, 20 slides, and 15 seconds in between each to ignite the audience about a topic they are passionate about. Not just any topic, but informative, witty, and interesting topics. At past events, speakers have talked about things such as:
- Pump Up Your Volume: Building a Pirate Radio Station
- How to Solve Any Puzzle in Less Than 47 Minutes
- Robots Growing Up: The Future of Robotic Movement
- Fighting Dirty in Scrabble
- The Six Hour Startup
- History of Online Advertising
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No two topics are alike and every one of them are interesting enough to hold your attention, leaving you asking more questions. The Ignite Series started in 2006, by Brady Forrest and Bre Pettis in Seattle and since then there have been Ignite events all over the world from Paris to Portland. The idea was to “Spread The Knowledge Of Innovators…But Make It Quick”. If nothing can sway you, the tagline should. IgniteNOLA will be about spreading the knowledge that local New Orleans innovators have to offer without making it a long and drawn out talk. We’ve all been to events where we are super excited before but feel mentally drained once we leave.
IgniteNOLA will be a splash of everything that is great about New Orleans. Network with locals. Come have some free food and drinks. Gain a little knowledge while your out. Get a laugh from some of the more entertaining topics. Enjoy an evening with some good people. Did we also mention that the venue will be in the newly restored Roosevelt Hotel?
You can sign up to become a speaker at the event, follow them on Twitter, and register for free before January 26th, 2010.
Event Details
| Event | Location | Date/Time | Cost | RSVP |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| IgniteNOLA | Roosevelt Hotel 123 Baronne Street New Orleans, LA 70112 | 2/1/2010 (From 7PM to 9PM) | Free | Register On EventBrite |
Check Out A Past Ignite Video
As a bonus, check out this witty ignite video on The Plight Of The Digital ChickenYes, just like you we have our own resolutions for the new year. Our hope is that we can continue to bring you quality information about local New Orleans technology news. Read about some of our enhancements for 2010! Connecting With Others: We love the support that we have gotten from the New Orleans tech community but we want others to know about the great things that are going on in regards to local tech. Look for NOLA Tech to broaden it’s readership and reach more people in the city. Guest Authors: Starting in January, we’ll have guest authors post articles on our site. Our guest will write stories about what they are passionate about with a slant on technology. Want to be a guest author yourself? Fill out our guest author article form and let’s see if you got what it takes. Community Outreach Projects: Highlighting technology is one thing but we can also use our powers for good. If you know of any small community service projects that an organization would need some tech help with, feel free to contact us. More Multimedia: We’ll be adding more multimedia on the site and in our articles. We also have a Tumblr page and a Posterous page. Why? We’ll be using them for some “behind the scenes” info, news articles, and stuff that you wouldn’t normally see on the site. Contest & Giveaways: You heard that right: Free Stuff! Be on the look out for free gadgets, services, and geek products. Cross Promotional Ad Campaign: Got a business, service, website, or organization you want to promote on NOLA Tech? Take part in our cross promotional ad campaign and help us promote the NewOrleans Tech brand while we promote yours. Anything else you want to see from us? Let us know in the comments!
Griffin Technology, who produces a wide variety of iPhone accessories is gearing up for the Customer Electronic Show (CES). This year in Las Vegas, CES will host companies ready to show their latest and greatest in technology and customer electronic products. Like warriors getting ready for battle, most companies suit up with business cards, nick nack giveaways, book flights, reserve hotel rooms, and polish up on their speeches about why their product is better than the next guy.
Griffin Technology, on the other hand, got back to their geek roots and embarked on a road trip to CES. Stating in Nashville, the group ventured through Tennessee, Alabama, and Mississippi documenting their trip with the social media tools of the land: Brightkite, a blog, twitter and YouTube. They must drive 2,476 miles in a 37 year old (somewhat restored) VM camper van, filled to the brim with Griffin toys.
[caption id=”attachment_1087” align=”alignleft” width=”490” caption=”Some Of The CES Bound Crew”]
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Last night the crew dubbed @cesbound stopped in New Orleans before departing to Texas, Arizona, and then finally Las Vegas, NV. Even though the New Orleans weather wasn’t forgiving, geeks still poured into the second floor of Avenue Pub to talk about gadgets, tech, and share iPhone stories. After battling the road in New Orleans, the crew finally found a spot to park their rides and got a taste of southern hospitality. We found out that the van was not only transportation but part of their display exhibit. When they get to CES, they’ll give the van one last scrub down and pull it right onto the showroom floors.
Follow the @cesbound crew on Twitter or track their moves on Britekite. If that’s not enough, they even have some crazy must see videos on YouTube. We also got some photos on our Flickr account of the event!
Disclosure: Not only was the crew some cool geeks to hang out with but they brought presents as well. Participants that showed up got free iPhone covers, t-shirts, duo chargers, and other items. Yea we like getting free stuff too!
