Digital Interactif

Wild Light - California on My Mind

Tapes N' Tapes is playing at the Paradise Rock Club here in Boston on February 24th (Tuesday) in what is sure to be great show.  Tape N' Tapes have a Pixie-esque sound to them, putting together solid rock progressions that most music fans could digg. 

An equally cool thing about the show is that Wild Light is currently on tour with Tapes N' Tapes and will be opening the show.  Check out Wild Light's "California on My Mind" video below.  Excellent video for sure: 

Wild Light-"California on My Mind" from Drew Innis on Vimeo.

Online Music Promotion / Distribution

For the past several months, DayTrotter has been helping me get back up to speed with new bands that are currently on tour.  The idea of the site is genius because it's so simple: Have bands record a few tracks in your studio and in return you write them up and promote them on your website.  Ok, I'm sure there's a lot more to it than that - but I've been enamored with site's offerings, which have lead me to many shows in the past year such as Black Kids, Ra Ra Rot, Vampire Weekend, and Delta Spirit, among others. 

Apparently this business model is not so unique.  Shortly after I stumbled upon DayTrotter, Matt Shaer alerted me to a local boston website, Band In Boston, that promotes local bands from Boston's rock scene.  The Band In Boston sessions are then placed into podcast form and can be downloaded or steamed from the website.  It's my opinion that every city should have such a site.  Thanks to Band In Boston, I'm getting myself to a Muy Cansado show in the next month and I expect to find more local bands via the site in the future.  

New York Yankees Legacy Jacket

Next time I go to Yankee Stadium I'll be sure to bring a bunch of "Asterix" patches for those lame "World Series Champions" Yankees 'super fan' jackets.

 

 

 

12th Annual MITX Award Winners

Last night I attended the 12th Annual MIXT (Massachusetts Innovation and Technology Exchange) Awards event at the Marriott Copley Hotel.  MIXT sponsors events focusing on emerging technologies and digital media in the Boston area.

Special thanks goes out to EyeWonder for sponsoring the fantastic after-party at 711 Bistro.  EyeWonder has been behind the iPhone Flash Banner ads you've seen online.  Not only do they produce great work but they also employ cool people.   

And now, without further ado...

12th Annual MITX Award Winners   

Awards

• Applied Techology
  • Outsight Interactive LLC
    • FootJoy: DryJoys Microsite
• Biotechnology/Pharmaceuticals
  • One-to-One Interactive (OTOi)
    • Start the Talk  Valtrex Unbranded DTC Campaign   
• Consumer Goods
  • Mullen
    • Stanley FUBAR
• Corporate Training and Support
  • Weymouth Design
    • RSA enVision Product Demo
• Education and Learning
  • Six Red Marbles for Merriam-Webster, Inc.
    • Merriam-Webster Inc.'s Word Central web site
• Educational Institution
  • BigBad, Inc.
    • Connecticut College Web Site
• Entertainment/Sports
  • RDVO, Inc.
    • The Gillette Young Guns
• Financial Services
  • Avenue A | Razorfish
    • Prudentials Retirement Income Calculator
• Government
  • RDVO, Inc.
    • MBTA.com | Official Website for Greater Boston's Public Transportation System
• Health and Fitness
  • Bridgeline Software, Inc.
    • Center for Connected Health Website
• Human Resources
  • Staples, Inc.
    • Employment Brand Website - Staples Jobs
• Kids, 'Tweens & Teens
  • WGBH Educational Foundation
    • Curious George
• Nonprofit
  • ISITE Design
    • Solano County (Calif.) Library Website
• Online Commerce
  • Envisa, Inc.
    • Smith+Noble Site Redesign
• Professional Services
  • Kel & Partners
    • www.bicbac.com
• Real Estate
  • Lightfin Studios
    • Fars Realty Group Website
• Rich Media Application
  • Brightcove
    • Brightcove Aftermix
• Social Computing
  • Bit Group, Inc.
    • Web 2.0 Entertainment Portal
• Technology
  • PHT Corporation
    • www.phtcorp.com
• Travel, Tourism, and Hospitality
  • Kelliher Samets Volk
    • Stowe Find Yours
• BEST OF SHOW
  • WGBH Educational Foundation
    • Curious George

"Best of" Awards

• Acquisition/Direct Marketing Campaign
  • Digitas / Make 3D
    • The Home Depot Holiday Decorating Site
• Best Integrated Campaign
  • Carat
    • Reebok "Run Easy" Integrated Campaign
• Best Use of Mobile
  • Hill Holliday
    • Breaking the Code of Silence with Text
• Best Use of Search
  • Charles River Interactive
    • Bernardi Auto Group -  Fuel Efficient SEM!!!
• Best Use of Social Media
  • OTOi, a One to One Interactive Company
    • Comcastic! Island in Second Life
• Best Use of Sponsorship
  • Carat
    • Get it Done with John Deere
• Best Use of Video
  • Pod Design / Mittcom Advertising
    • Raw Talk from the raw bar
• Best Engagement
  • WGBH Educational Foundation
    • Curious George

The next MITX event, Mobile Social Networking: The Next Revolution in 24/7 Personal Broadband Engagement, takes place at the Hynes Convention Center on Tuesday, 11/13.   

Blogstonians come together at Blogtoberfest

This past Thursday, I had the fortune of attending the 2nd Annual Blogtoberfest held in the basement of the Pour House on Boylston Street. 

I met some great bloggers, both professional and casual.  Eileen keeps up Divine Comedy of Errors a funny observational and anecdotal blog.  John Petit of the Bostonist keeps his site going with the help of a team of enthusiastic contributors and editors.  The Bostonist is part of a larger network of Gothist blogs and it is supported by the Gothist's ad-network. 

I was pretty excited to meet Adam from Universal Hub, an aggregator of local news and opinion.  Adam was the first person to ever link to Digital Interactif online and it was great to get a chance to speak with him, especially about his ninja-like Feed Demon skills.

Another highlight of the event was meeting Wade Rush, one of the three editors of the local business blog Xconomy.  Wade has made a career in Journalism and has brought the same professionalism and dedication to the Xcomony blog.  Whereas the Boston Business Journal will typically rewrite press releases, Xconomy preforms the traditional leg work that is the core of serious journalism (conducting interviews, fact checking, ect) while posting new articles throughout the day.   

I also had the opportunity to speak with Michael Krigsman who runs Project Failures, a blog that examines why IT projects fail and many of the issues surrounding successful implementation of IT software.  Michael's blog was recently acquired by ZDnet so I suggest checking it out. 

George Jenkins keeps up a blog on identity theft.  I've been following George's blog since he began it this past summer and he provides thought provoking and informed comment on issues/news pertaining to identity theft. 

Another great blogger at the event was Ryan Barrett who keeps up her Cheap Thrills blog.  Ryan posts on an eclectic mix of consumer products and events in the Boston area.  Ryan clearly has a flair for writing and I was surprised to find out that she was one of the creative minds behind the ever popular, though currently on DL, BarFrog. 

This event was awesome and I look forward to the one!      
    

5 Reasons to start a Blog for your Business

Tonight I went to the Tech Blogs with Scott Kirsner panel in Cambridge, Massachusetts and I came away feeling great about both Boston and the future of digital advertising.  Thankfully Dan Bricklin, podcaster extraordinaire, recorded the event and has posted the audio on his website.  If your business doesn't have a company blog yet, listening to this podcast may very well convince you to start one.    

5 - Give your employees/partners a creative outlet for their ideas.  It can serve as a platform for exchanging ideas as well as highlight the talent that your company can offer. 

4 - A blog provides you with greater credibility when speaking with a potential client or investor for the first time.  It offers them a glimpse of the ideas and insights that you can bring to the table.   

3 - Fills the void in between press releases.  This will keep your company in the headlines and create more interaction between you and your clients and investors.   

2 - Adds a human dimension to your business.  Your company blog should let readers know that your firm is run by thinking/innovative/talented people, not a bunch of automatons. 

1 - Three letters: SEO!(Search Engine Optimization) A blog will direct traffic on your website.  Google ranks a page higher when it receives links from other websites and a blog is a great way to generate quality links by hosting original content. 

Norman B. Leventhal Map Center

The other day I read in the Boston Globe that Philanthropist/Map Collector Norman Leventhal had donated $10 million to the Boston Public Library and loaned them 178 of his best maps.  So today I had a few free minutes and took a look at the Boston Public Library Norman B. Leventhal Map Center's website.  I can honestly say that I have officially found the coolest online historical resource ever!  check it out.

Essentially, you can scan thousands of historical maps in the online collection and you can sort them by location, subject, date, publisher, author, and mercator.  The site allows you to zoom in on the maps and the quality is superb.   There are 93 maps of Boston alone and there is even a map of my hometown, Andover, from 1882.   The online is pretty heavy on New England maps so this resource is great if you are from the Boston area. 

It's amazing to step back for a moment and compare this type of resource to Flash Earth and think about how far we as humans have come in recognizing where we are, literally, in the world.  How have our perceptions of self/neighbor/unknown changed as we have been given greater access to maps and knowledge of our surroundings?  The affect that the maps in this collection have likely had on societies and perception is unknown, but I am certain that it is definitely one of the cooler things I've stumbled across online is a long, long, long time. 

Cheers to you, Norman Leventhal.  You rock.