Some of you know about this already, but I figure now is a good time to let everyone take a peek :)
A few weeks ago, I started building an application for the iPhone and iPod touch that lets me track my golf score while I'm out playing. The first version is done now, as is the website and blog that accompany it. The application, called TeeShot, will be available for sale through the iTunes application store on Friday - the same day that the new iPhone 3G is released.
TeeShot Live, is more than just an "about this application" website. It is the place where users go to upload and download courses and will eventually be a place where they can keep in touch with their friends who are out playing golf. Today, though, it shows off the features of TeeShot and lets users start downloading courses (there are already over 100 courses up there).
I am really excited to see what folks think of the application and how it does at the iTunes Application Store. TeeShot costs $19.99 (less than a half dozen golf balls) so I'm hoping lots of people pick it up just to give it a try.
The cool thing is that the new iPhone 3G has a GPS receiver in it, so an upcoming version of TeeShot will use that to help golfers figure out how far they hit each shot and how far they are from the green and more!
At least for me- this year's batch of 4th of July fireworks photos are my best yet. Perhaps it is the Canon 1D Mark III which is new for me this year. Perhaps it is just figuring out a few more tricks in Lightroom. Either way, I am quite pleased with this year's batch of shots.
Two things that certainly helped were being invited by Megan and Anh to their gorgeous home in Seattle (thanks again!) and the clearly improved Seattle fireworks - nice new pastels this year. Sweet!
The interactive live concerts at DeepRockDrive are an amazing experience, but most of the internet, it turns out, didn't get to see all of the shows, so we've created a new feature on the website to answer our most common email request.
"Can I see a replay of the show?"
Starting yesterday, we are uploading full songs from our catalog of shows and you can watch them in our vault player, where you can pick the songs you want to hear and discuss the shows with other fans right in the player.
O.A.R. is playing at DeepRockDrive next week. If you're into the Dave Matthews Band you should check it out. There are definite similarities, in fact, they tour with DMB and will be playing together at the Gorge this September.
Also, check out this Sprout I made - what an amazing site for creating live web widgets. Amazingly simple and hugely powerful.
Thanks, Jeff, for making me build my first one. I'm hooked!
Zach and I went to the Gorge Amphitheater last night to see Rush play. It was really fantastic! The location is really quite stunning with the Columbia River gorge as a backdrop to the stage and with no roof, there is very little echoing so the sound was really clear for a big concert.
Those guys still have it. They played for about three and half hours with a brief intermission and played a good blend of new songs and old songs. I've been a fan since the Permanent Waves album in 1980 and this is fourth time I've seen them live. They do a great job of recreating their complex songs live and the huge crowd was really into the show. Sure, we're a lot older than we used to be though it was fun to watch a new generation of people who are getting into Rush thanks to either overenthusiastic parents such as myself, or to the prominent position of Tom Sawyer on Rock Band.
If only I'd brought my big camera with me, I could've gotten some much better shots but they were pretty clear that professional cameras were not welcome. That said, the guy next to me had a 30D. Perhaps I should have just tried :)
If you're curious about what they played, the whole set list is on Wikipedia here. My one disappointment was that they don't seem to vary their setlist from night to night. With as much material as they have, it sure would be great to see a bunch of different songs at each show.
Wow, we had an amazing show at DeepRockDrive tonight. Disturbed played to a HUGE crowd of 10,000 people and the show went great! It wasn't that long ago that relatively tiny shows had our web servers overheating but DeepRockDrive 2.0 really showed its stuff yesterday handling 10,000 people from 71 countries and over 1.34 MILLION interactive events(*) without breaking a sweat.
Disturbed was really great too. I hadn't heard them much before but I'm a fan now.
It took a ton of great work from the dev team in Seattle and and the production team Las Vegas to pull this off but it was an amazing feeling to watch so many people really enjoying the show and to see everything working just like we thought it would.
Woo hoo!!!!!
(*) What's an interactive event? That is either a vote for a song, a shoutout to the band, or a click on an emotapplause icon to clap or send a fist in the air to the band
We put together a cool demo of how the DeepRockDrive interactive experience actually works. Not just how the video looks, but how to use all of the interactive features. Check it out!
A bunch of us went out for a bike ride today. We went 26.25 miles round trip at a pretty good pace. It was a blast and the weather was fantastic. This is my 3rd ride in 4 days (having ridden to work on Thursday and Friday).
Now if the weather can just keep cooperating, I can do my part to avoid the insane gas prices and reduce both my carbon footprint and my own girth :)
Plus, it is great training for the rapidly approaching RSVP.
Marié Digby played a show at DeepRockDrive today and it was fantastic! Thousands of people from around the world came together to watch the show. It was crazy busy with shoutouts and emotapplauses flying like they never have before. Her performance was great and she was all over keeping the fans engaged and involved.
This was a great example of the kind of experience that can only happen on the 'net. She was "discovered" on YouTube and has used the social networking sites to build her name. The show at DeepRockDrive is another step in building her career and what a great way to reach her fans all around the world. 66 countries, to be exact - 1/3 of the world's countries tuned in to today's show.
Thanks to Pepsi for sponsoring today's free show. Check out the schedule for upcoming shows!
Well, we shipped a big release of DeepRockDrive last Friday. We are now available on Facebook! The site has been streamlined to let us really focus on delivering great interactive shows and leaving the social networking features to the social networking sites!
The Spokane Spokesman Review did a couple of vidblog articles on us, including this one where they take a quick tour of our office in Bellevue.
Heck, you can watch it right now!
Check out some of the great upcoming shows on the site, grab a ticket and I'll see you at the show!
I have this theory that all sports can be broken down into two categories:
1) Games involving balls, holes and/or sticks
2) Games that involve doing things that people do in their real lives, but some people just do them better or faster.
