eROI NYC Interactive Agency

Our extended eROI family out in Portland are a constant reminder of what it feels like to live in a community and not just a city.  Sure, New York City is full of festivals and parties where, if you’re lucky you’ll see 5 or 6 familiar faces, but when’s the last time you gathered hundreds of your neighbors together to rally around a community cause?  Probably never.
The Old Town / Chinatown section of Portland, where eROI is based, was graced for 60 years with the beautiful and odd Hung Far Low Chinese Restaurant sign.  The sign was considered a landmark in the hood; one of those things that “keeps Portland weird”.  Big props to a city that embraces its weirdness!  When the sign was removed last year, it sparked some anger from its loyal friends.   Approaching the anniversary of its removal, eROI, along with some of its neighbors, rallied together to throw the Old Town Block Party on September 12th to honor the sign and raise money for its restoration.  The sweet email and site done by our Portland brothers, Tom and Quang, set the tone for a beautiful day in Old Town, where friends and family came out for food, drinks, music, shopping and of course, to  support the resurrection Hung Far Low.

I have blogged about this a couple of times over the last year but I had to weigh in on the lastest announcement by FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski regarding net neutrality. In a speech given on Monday Genachowski proposed the FCC turn its four principles of network transparency officially into regulation. He also purposes that they add 2 more “principles” to the mix. Marguerite Reardon of Cnet describes these “principles” well:

“Network operators cannot prevent users from accessing lawful Internet content, applications, and services of their choice, nor can they prohibit users from attaching non-harmful devices to the network. Now Genachowski is proposing two new principles. The first would prevent Internet access providers from discriminating against particular Internet content or applications, while allowing for reasonable network management. The second principle would ensure that Internet access providers are transparent about the network management practices they implement.”

Why is this a big deal? First of all the fact that they want to make it official will finally give some one the authority to make judgments and garnish sanctions should some one pull a Comcast and start cheating. Second its a big step for the little guy. For once the FCC seems to be taking the appropriate steps to keep the internet for the people. Reardon goes on to explain:

“The debate over so-called Net neutrality began heating up about three years ago, when congressional leaders first held hearings on potential laws to ensure that Internet service providers couldn’t monkey with traffic. There is no clear definition of the term “Net neutrality,” but in general it refers to the concept that Internet users  should have unfettered access to content and services. In other words, service providers should not be allowed to either impede or favor access to particular sites or applications.”

In other words…internet service providers that might have some stake in a particular website cannot make that website perform better than a competitors. Although the status quo still remains, it’s refreshing to hear that the FCC is actually trying to fight for the rights of individuals rather than be the conduit for coroprate or government agendas.

My friends and I love using astrology to explain the way people act.  You’ll always hear one of us say, “she’s the life of the party, she’s a typical Gemini” or “he’s so arrogant yet so attractive, is he by any chance an Aquarius?”.  I’ll admit though, that I’ve always been a little skeptical of how ALL people of the same sun sign can embody the same characteristics?  Moonit, the new site launched by eROI last week, gets way more specific with it.  By using the year, day and even time someone was born, Moonit breaks your relationships down for so you can do as they say and  “take control of your own destiny”.  So how does it work?  The folks at Moonit explain that they use “thousands of years of data from the stars to help determine whether two people are compatible from a romantic, platonic and professional perspective.”

Using Moonit is simple.  You login, pick the type of relationship you are testing and enter all of the birthday data you can remember.  The best part is if you are totally clueless about the other person’s info, Moonit can access all of that information directly from your contacts on Facebook.

Moonit calculates your compatibility and hooks you up with some tips on how to handle your relationship with that person.  Your results are then stored in your relationship profile along with all of the results from past readings.

This profile also allows you to track your relationships as things take shape, complete with a chart of the ups and downs of your time together.  This can serve as your own personal, online relationship journal.  Of course there’s always the very ‘09 option of sharing your thoughts about your relationship with the Facebook or Twitter world.

If you have a burning relationship question or if you’re like me and love to help others solve their problems, visit The Couch section of Moonit.  The site’s resident Psychologist Dr. Block gives his opinion on the issue at hand and the rest is up to the Mooniverse.  Questions about anything involving relationships; be it office flings, jealous friends, or cheating are answered by your peers from around the world.

And of course, what fun would it be without the ability to dissect the readings of our favorite celebs and celeb couples?  Moonit uses their data to explain the lives of those celebrities and then leaves it to you to give your input.  It’s definitely interesting to see what the stars have to say about Kanye’s recent meltdown at the VMAs.

I’ve got to admit it’s pretty addictive and I’m definitely not the only one out there who would suggest you try mooning someone.  Check out all the recent press its been getting:

forbes

techcrunch

shoemoney

blogher

wealth…uncomplicated

trend hunter

Thought this was so dope…from College Humor

In the August edition of Wired there is a great article called The New Rules for Highly Evolved Humans: A scientific approach to 21st century predicaments. What I liked about the article is that it attempts to put some guidelines around our digital lives.  As technology advances so to do the rules of social norms and how we interact with them.  You know how irritating it is when you are in a cramped elevator and blasting in your ear is some dude on his cell phone reviewing his grocery list at ungodly volumes so everyone can hear about how healthy his choices are.  Wired attempts to right the ship and offer us some key guidelines to this digital age.  Here are some highlights:

Texting is OK While in the Company of Others – So they reference a study of teen texting that said “texting those who couldn’t be there lets everyone feel they’re apart of a larger social network”. I can buy that. We all have texted our friends who couldn’t be there to tell them we miss them or just to rub it in. Either way it makes me feel good. Here is their “rule of thumb”: Feel free to text while talking or dining with Friends-but only if you are trying to include someone who isn’t there. If your motive is to shut out  people you are with you already know the answer.

Don’t Lie With Your Facebook Photo: They take it a bit far by saying that Facebook is a window to the soul. But in a sense they are right.  It gives people a glimpse into who  you are as a person. The subtle variations in our Facebook pages serve as cues for other’s interpretation of us. They references another research study that concluded “Just by looking at photos, strangers were able to correctly peg the narcissim scores of subjects with excessive self-regard.” In other words keep it real son. If you are bald don’t use a photo from when you had hair, don’t use your glamour shot from 1987, and for pete’s sake “stick with a recent, normal snapshot-unless you want to look like a tool.”

Never Broadcast Your Relationship Status: Man I couldn’t agree with this more. Seriously, we all know breakups suck and that fights with your BF or GF are the worst but are they really what peeps want to hear about? Do you really want the world to know that you are crying your self to sleep tonight because he said she said. Wired puts it best…”Matters of the heart are too fraught to boil down to the choices offered in a dropdown. Sharing such news is best done in person….Using such short hand to declare a breakup is like announcing you are going to sleep by pouding the lamp with a hammer. It gets the point across, but you are likely to leave a mess behind.” Amen to that.

Ditch the Headset: I don’t think I have heard anyone put it better….”Let’s be clear: Walking around with a Blue Tooth device in your ear is pure douchebaggery. There is no excuse for it.”

Check out the August 2009 edition of Wired for more….