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'!)
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.
Where's the Poke 'cam?
Well...hopefully you're looking right at it! If not, click below: live.pokenewyork.com
Hey! We're Poke. Nice to meecha.
Click this link to chat with POKE live at live.pokenewyork.com
It started out pretty simple. A live feed in front of the “Don’t give up” sign. If you show up and don’t see anyone, you can ring the POKE-bell to see if you can coax a Poker in front of the camera. It all sounds good…however, the constant ringing of the POKE-bell by excited internetters sometimes makes us a wittle crazy.
We're still amazed by how many cool interactions we’ve had with people on the site. Job interviews, new business conversations, chats with loved ones and even magazine interviews! It's funny, sometimes we'll log in after hours and people will be up there just talking away. About the darndest things.
It's really become an ongoing experiment. Truth be told, we didn’t really have a plan for adding the webcam - just some messing around a little with Red5 - then came the added chat feature. Before we knew it, people actually started using it. Lots.
Even a year into it's existence, our little cam still has a few bugs but boy has it really been a fun ride. Below are some funny highlights to check out:
- High_five gave us our first ever ASCII Shout Out.
- POKE friend, David Armano dropped by and we just shot the breeze. Then he very kindly blogged us at Logic+Emotion’s after playing with us for a bit.
- The folks at pocketfuzz.com took turns with us turning our cameras and touring around our respective offices. They've got a great pad!
- We've received heaps of responses to our webcam driven recruitment campaign.
- The cam even caught Data Bananna filming his pilot show!
The cam has most recently found redefinition as the masthead of our new and improved Pokenewyork.com. But fear not! Follow the link "live" link above to be taken to the cam/chat experience in all its glory.
Getting crazy with KY!
Ok.
We didn’t shoot this one. But it needed to be shared. We’re doing some work with KY. They have a street team going around in an RV giving out free samples and taking pictures of people in their selection of…props. Nedim, Scott, and Ray seemed to enjoy, so if you see the KY truck don’t hesitate to check it out!
Bing Bong We Gatch Yer Bannerz
Psst!
Hey you.
Yeah, You. That brand that is beholden to terrible interactive media buying and pointless bannerdom.
Right...YOU.
The one who gets giddy with excitement at your last .064 CTR.
It is time to go. Now. Read this.
Better yet. Skip that. Read THIS.
Still not getting the picture? Howzabout this:
A study released Tuesday found that about half of all clicks on display ads were by a tiny, non-representative, and economically unattractive group of Web users. These "natural-born clickers," according to the study by ad agency Starcom USA, Web analytics firm Tacoda, and digital audience measurement firm comScore, comprise a 6% slice of the population that is between 25 and 44 years old and in households with income of less than $40,000 a year.
Don't get us wrong, we measure 2x and cut once and all that. We'll even do a banner or two every now and again. Especially if it brings a valuable experience with it. But banners are definitly moving into more of a supporting role. And if they are - how's that going to help you if a less than generally less than desireable target is the only person you're attracting?
