Congrats Ryan!
Tuesday, August 19th, 2008ArcStonian Ryan Brown celebrated a productive Monday of programming by letting his coworkers decorate his desk!
ArcStonian Ryan Brown celebrated a productive Monday of programming by letting his coworkers decorate his desk!
The traveling Star Wars exhibit “Star Wars — Where Science Meets Imagination” has finally come to Minnesota. I had the opportunity to check it out, and I can say it certainly lives up to the hype.
Patrons are invited to view original movie costumes and props, examine the incredible detail of model ships, watch exclusive behind the scenes clips, meet storm troopers, and even climb into the Millennium Falcon’s cockpit for the jump to light speed.
To get a small glimpse of what’s in store for you, see my photos above. I used Wonderfile’s tag sharing feature to create the interactive slide show. To start making and sharing your own slide shows for free, sign up for Wonderfile.
I helped a friend move some furniture this weekend. Up at 7:00 am! Earliest I’ve been up on a Saturday in several months.
Reed DeLapp spotted quite the photo opportunity near the IKEA furniture pick-up, and his iPhone came to the rescue. The quality of iPhone and Treo photos is quite impressive. I don’t think I would even attempt a photo like this with my Motorola Razr, and when these photo opps com along, it’s nice to be prepared (ask Nick Longtin if you’re not convinced).
Check out this tool!
Here at ArcStone, we only dream of the kind of corporate office angst that spawns entertainment like this:
Edit: I forgot one. Get Yourself Fired. For those who *really* hate their jobs.
One of my favorite days of the year. Endless possibilities for marketers, and so much fun.
Highlights in the ‘net-o-sphere today:

A new study proves what I have known for a long time: a fun office environment is a productive one. At ArcStone we believe in this so much, it is even part of our core values.
The basic idea is that as people form tighter bonds through fun shared experiences they open up more, trust each other more, and can generally work better as a team.
To all my past bosses who frowned on my antics: I told you so.

Part blog, part polling system, Oobject picks topics of interest and lets users submit their top picks, sort of like a pageant of gadgets. Sometimes the lists are full of beautiful things, old things, or just supremely weird things.
Each day a new topic is highlighted for users to peruse. I urge you to take a look, there is a good chance you’ll see something you never knew existed.
Working late at night on a project, all alone, your cubicle can seem so much larger and more lonely. I suggest filling it with little paper friends from ReadyMech. They have many designs, catering to all sorts of tastes. All you need is a printer, scissors, and some tape to whip up a companion.
If you are skilled with the scissors, and have some time on your hands, I suggest making them all. Take a picture and send it to me; I will reward you with my personal kudos and a hearty round of applause.
Here is my new friend:

If you have been following the console wars you are surly aware of Nintendo’s success with the uniquely named, and marketed Wii. Although I don’t own one yet, my son and I stop at our local GameStop every chance we get to play.
Before we started doing these freeloading recreational excursions, my son had never played a video game. He immediately picked up the Wii, and was able to play games without instruction or frustration.
This got me thinking about how the Wii was different from other gaming systems. By making the game controls a natural extension of the user, Nintendo has tapped into a very powerful control mechanism: the human body.
Although my son had not yet mastered a mouse, keyboard, or complicated button combinations, he had already mastered his body, and therefore the Wii.
Here is a video of my four year old playing a racing game on the Wii: