Welcome to the highly-anticipated 2nd Photo Contest. Photo Showdown II, if you will. As you may or may not know, the first contest was won by Nick, with his fountain pic that some viewers called, “Amazing”, and “It freezes time”. Can Nick live up to these high-standards once again? You decide.

The Goods:

A.

B.

C.

I am often, a bit too often, criticized for bringing up technology and the Internet in conversations that, according to others, have nothing to do with technology. You can hear me say “I love Google” or “I heart the Internet” a few times a day (but then again who doesn’t love Google?). I might have even compared Google, Opera Mini and all other browsers to romantic relationships. According to many, this love for the Internet is a typical trait of my generation (you know the digital natives who grew up online, shared every single thought that popped in our brains and have a cell phone glued to our hands.)

But… the truth is I don’t love the Internet nor do I love Google. I love what they allow me to do. I love the clever ways people around the world use the interwebs to create, collaborate and just make the world a better place. I love the Internet not because of the new shiny toys that appear every day nor because of the funniest LOLCats you can find online. I love the online world because it provides tremendous utility to my personal and professional life. I love the ideas and the people behind them. As my dear friends at Nokia say, “It’s not technology, it’s what you do with it.”

And it is true. Technology doesn’t excite people. Not ordinary people, not geeks, not even engineers. Technology has never excited people even when we invented the wheel because technology is just a tool. Ideas excite us. Utility excites us. What we do with tools excites us. Think about it. People don’t care about the medium or the message. They care about the idea. The only time this isn’t true is when a new channel is the idea itself.

In my mind Internet = Ideas. On the one hand, it allows us to collaborate with people we’ve never met or to exchange ideas with people whom we’ve admired since high school. On the other hand, it is perfect for spreading these ideas and sharing them with the people in our communities. I didn’t share the MINI Getaway video because I cared about the MINI Cooper or the game. I shared it because it is a cool idea that makes me excited regardless of the fact that I can’t participate. I love Google’s India Music Labs albeit Hindi music is not my cup of tea. It is a great idea, how can you not love it?

What’s the point of this rant? It’s not a defense of my tendencies to bring up the Internet in almost every conversation, although I get paid to hang out on the interwebs, so what do you really expect from me? It’s not a defense of the Internet, or technology in general. The point is to realize the power of technology and how much easier it is to create now than it was 20 years ago. Isn’t that what people in this business do: create?

So here is the question: How do you use the tools?

Photo credit: Courtney Bolton

It shouldn’t surprise you when I say the first official Friday Photo Showdown was one of the most suspenseful races ever witnessed . . . on this blog. Partly, because it was the only race ever on this blog, but mostly because it was an exhilarating, head-to-head-to-head battle that came down to the very end. The results are; Photo A (Water Fountain) 36.49%, Photo B (Parking Structure Pano) 31.08%, and Photo C (Parking Structure Loop) 32.43%. This makes Nick Pipitone the very first photo contest winner. Congrats Nick, and thanks to everyone who voted!

There will be more exciting battles to come, so stay tuned.

Official Record

Nick: 1-0

Ben: 0-1

Trevor: 0-1

Hey good news! The election season is almost over. But now, in the last week, we are in for it! It’s an attack ad extravaganza! An onslaught of haymakers are being thrown — democrat to republican, republican to democrat and tea partier to everyone else. It’s ugly, entertaining, infuriating. It’s like a chronically unfunny celebrity roast. Except for the “rent is way too high” guy. Now he’s funny.

But these are not laughing matters, obviously. We have serious matters to consider! Billions of dollars have been wasted on something called pork! And taxes! Healthcare?  And more pork! The price of pork has gone up but my supermarket still sells it relatively affordably.  But that’s besides the point! There’s stimulus plans to fight about! Would you stop talking over me? Have you no civility? No decency?

Still the mud is going to fly. Wait, it doesn’t just fly — it is jettisoning itself off of television screens! Poorly art directed direct mailers! Televised debates are like mudslinging cage matches! They’re mud projectiles!

But wait, are you a deodorant manufacturer? With all the mud flying around, people tend to get, um, dirty, right? Which means it’s likely that a shower is in order. And after their shower, they’re going to need a deodorant, right? Maybe you, deodorant manufacturer, should start slinging some mud yourself! Go right after your competition with fighting words! Hey! Do an attack ad!

Oh but wait, this is an ad for Canada’s #1 men’s deodorant. Don’t they have universal healthcare? That apparently doesn’t work!

I obviously need to get off my horse.

The Hope is___ initiative for St. Vincent Regional Cancer Center at St. Mary’s Hospital is on the CLIO Healthcare Awards shortlist for Integrated Campaign with eight other international nominees. The three-stage project was executed in partnership with Adobe XD, in San Francisco. All components focused on sharing messages of hope among cancer patients, survivors, their families and the community with an interactive exhibit wall, an experiential minisite and an interactive travel exhibit.

“Hope is___ is not an advertising campaign. It is an initiative that utilized technology to empower cancer patients and their families to fight cancer together online and offline,” Miguel Jasniewski, an interactive director at Jigsaw, said.

“The project received a lot of attention from cancer survivors, advertising professionals and design bloggers, but a CLIO Healthcare Award is an incredible recognition for us,” Jennifer Kuhn, an art director who worked on the project, said.

The CLIO Healthcare Winners will be announced on November 12^th, 2010 at Good Units in the Hudson Hotel, New York City.