eROI NYC Interactive Agency

Hey Nation…crazy stuff happening in my hood when I got home today. Gossip Girl filming literally in front of my apartment. What a town. I have never seen an episode of this show but its still interesting that all this happens on a daily basis in this city. And…I am glad I filmed these way to skinny tv stars eating. I mean seriously…take a look.

Hey Nation…I love hearing about how the internet evolves. Here is some crazy behind the scenes stuff. Posted by www.timesonline.co.uk:

A network of 100,000 computers providing the greatest data processing capacity yet unleashed has been created to cope with information pouring from the world’s largest machine.
The Grid is the latest evolution of the internet and the world wide web and computer scientists will announce on Friday that it is ready to be connected to the Large Hadron Collider (LHC).

Scientists at CERN, where the world wide web was invented, created the €500 million Grid because they realised that a single computer would not be able to cope with the amount of data the LHC is expected to produce each year – 15 petabytes, or 15 million gigabytes, which would fill 20 million CDs.
It is designed for schemes where huge quantities of data need crunching, such as large research and engineering projects. The Grid has the kind of power required to download movies in seconds, and the ability to make high-definition video phone calls for the same price as a local call. More importantly, it should help to narrow the search for cures for diseases. However, it is unlikely to be directly available to most internet users until telecoms providers build the fibre-optic network required to use it.

The Grid allows scientists at CERN, the European Organisation for Nuclear Research, to get access to the unemployed processing power of thousands of computers in 33 countries to deal with the data created by the LHC. They said that it was an extra facility laid on top of the internet, which originally linked computers around the world in the Seventies.

Dr Bob Jones, a CERN scientist, said: “The [world wide] web allows you to access information on other computers. What the Grid allows you to do is not only access the information, but make use of their computing resources and power.”

He likened it to the National Grid. Users would be able to tap into massive amounts of processing power, but the source of the power would change, depending on availability. Processing tasks will be distributed between 11 gateway computer centres in ten countries, including Britain, which will share them out between more than 140 sites. One of the first jobs the Grid will tackle is handling the raw data for CERN’s experiments into finding proof of the Higgs boson, the so-called God particle.

Hey Nation,
I called it. From the LA Times yesterday:

Microsoft is preparing to pull its TV ads featuring comedian Jerry Seinfeld and Microsoft’s co-founder and chairman Bill Gates.

The news, broken this afternoon by Valleywag, comes just days after Microsoft aired the latest in the series of commercials, produced by Crispin Porter + Bogusky, featuring the two men in comic situations. The ads have been largely panned as a strained effort on the software giant’s part to not only promote Windows but also portray Microsoft as cool and in touch with regular consumers — basically, to counter the stodgy image painted in Apple’s “I’m a Mac, I’m a PC” ads.

Seinfeld, who reportedly received $10 million for his efforts, was a superstar in the 1990s with his hit show. Using him now, in 2008, only added to Microsoft’s image as being behind the times, critics said.

Hey Nation,
My wife Tatom is currently studying interior design at Paron’s in NYC. I am sure some of you have seen this, but I want to share what one of her Professors showed her. Talk about crazy creative with a mind from outer space. His official site and blog are also used extensively in his class. This will blow your mind.

Hey Nation,
If you haven’t heard by now eROI works with CBS Sports on their email campaigns from both a creative and development perspective. That partnership is one of my most valuable for several reasons…1. They are intelligent clients. The whole CBS team gets it and are very easy to work with. 2. The value our expertise and show it. 3. Its an organic relationship that grew from conversation and engagement. Those connections rock and are super motivating because you are working REAL people doing GREAT work.
As our relationship grows we need to learn more about their business and how it runs so we recently set up a eROI Fantasy League brought to us by CBS Sports. Tonight is the first annual draft. I was stoked as a ton of people wanted to participate…for some this is their first time. This is certainly my first time being a “commissioner” but I am diving in. It will give me a first hand account of the action.
Look for progress reports via crosspixelnyc.

Good Luck to my ballers who signed up….hike!

Hey Nation,
I am not sure about you all, but I loved Family Guy from the first episode. That show just get’s it and week after week it makes me laugh. The fact that they constantly push the envelope with the FCC is probably why I like them the most…not to mention their relevancy to current pop culture and of course their great musical numbers.
Creator of Family Guy, Seth McFarlane, is now embarking on a new internet venture. The new site sethcomedy.com features ad supported comedy shorts. The content of the site is dubbed “Seth MacFarlane’s Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy” and is part of Google’s Content Network.

Currently there are only snippets on the site but it looks hilarious. The interesting thing about the venture however is the revenue distribution model. I could rehash it but Jacqui Cheng from arstechnica.com explains it well enough:

“As with much web video these days, episodes of the Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy can be shared with friends and embedded onto blogs and websites. The videos will be run on sites across the web, basically as both content and advertising. Each time a viewer clicks on a Cavalcade video or ad, advertisers will pay a fee that gets split between MacFarlane, Google, the production company partner Media Rights, and the site hosting the video. Media Rights declined in July to offer details on pricing for ads in the Cavalcade series, saying only that its rates are “significantly higher” than if the same ad was placed in AdSense alone. Whether or not you dig McFarlane’s style of humor, the novel approach to content distribution could help change how content creators and advertisers approach this kind of thing in the future. Videos don’t have to be limited to a kiddie pool of online destinations—paired with advertising, they can be blasted across the web as ads themselves.”

Nice work Seth and Google. Let’s see how it pans out. Here is one of the shorts from the site. Great stuff.

Nation…
I learned this week from one of my client’s blogs that Master Artist Drew Struzan announced his retirement. Who is Drew Struzan? I’ll let www.famoumonstersoffilmland.com tell you. Also, I highly suggest you check out his official site which is so killer it blows my mind.

From www.famousmonstersoffilmland.com:

Drew Struzan, one of our industry’s most recognized and celebrated artists has retired from his 40-year career in illustrations to “have more time for his family and be able to work on his own paintings.”

Struzan is best known for his poster artwork for each installment of the Star Wars and Indiana Jones franchises.  He also created the artwork for other franchises such as Back to the Future, The Goonies (one of my all time favorites), The Muppet Movie, Blade Runner, Harry Potter, Hellboy and was the “only artist who received authorization by Spielberg to illustrate the iconic character E.T.”  Over the last 40 years, Struzan has created the artwork poster for over 150 films.

”I am grateful and honored to have had the opportunity to do all the work I did,” Struzan expressed in a statement on The Raider. “I am well pleased to have been able to give a gift of beauty and peace through my artwork to so many throughout the world. Now I have laid down the burden and have peace and happiness as the reward for my day’s labor.”

Struzan’s most recent work includes a poster for Frank Darabont’s The Mist and a painting for Roland from King’s Dark Tower series that Thomas Jane is seen painting in the beginning of the film.  For more on Drew Struzan’s work, visit his official site, which also contains new Young Indy concept art and paintings.  Struzan’s work will be greatly missed, but we are so thankful for all that he’s contributed in the movie industry.

Nation..

Earlier this month I wrote about Microsoft hiring Jerry Seinfeld as their spokesman. Well folks here is the out put. My opinion stands…pretty weak sauce.

Nation….
Google is set to launch its new Open Source browser dubbed CHROME. News of the browser came from and “accidentally” leaked comic book aimed at promoting the new software. They hired famed comic book writer Scott McCloud to author the comic book. A pretty interesting way to introduce a product.
Check it out:

There are a ton of opinions on whether or not the browser will measure up but I gotta admit I am curious. I would consider myself a loyal Google supporter so I hope it really does raise the bar on search. Here is an excerpt from Google’s blog:

A fresh take on the browser
9/01/2008 02:10:00 PM
At Google, we have a saying: “launch early and iterate.” While this approach is usually limited to our engineers, it apparently applies to our mailroom as well! As you may have read in the blogosphere, we hit “send” a bit early on a comic book introducing our new open source browser, Google Chrome. As we believe in access to information for everyone, we’ve now made the comic publicly available — you can find it here. We will be launching the beta version of Google Chrome tomorrow in more than 100 countries.