Hello, I'm Mike Prasad.

Mixology 101: My First Shot

Mon, 09 Apr 2012 00:21:57 -0700

So if you’ve traveled with me or been over to my place, you know I’m big into mixology and fine drinks. In my travels to Hawaii, I’ve become friends with one of the best bartenders/mixologists in the world, Sam @ Lobby Bar at the Edition Waikiki. I seriously spend all night there giving him drink challenges or him showing off his skills in recreating classic early/mid-century cocktails. My 2 favorite bars on the planet (thus far) are Park Hotel Tokyo’s Bar a Vins Tateru Yoshino tended by Takayuki Suzuki & Yuki Yamazaki in Tokyo, Japan and the Waikiki Edition’s Lobby Bar tended by Sam & Christian. I’ve spent many nights hanging out with the mixologists and even had a few private tastings, but biggest reason I love the these bars is because the unique creativity, balance, impeccable skill, and precise perfection that goes into each drink. These guys seriously take drink making from profession to an art.

So over time, I’ve picked up a few techniques, insights, and recipes, etc.. and recently I’ve decided to give mixology a shot (pun intended). I’d thus far only messed around at home and with recipe ideas with Sam @ Lobby Bar (That said, there’s a version of Bar a Vins’ Blanc Manger that I concocted and Sam refined called the Blanc Vanille that you can now order from Sam). So last week at @cyuskoff’s #EatsNGeeks event, instead of bringing a shared food plate, I decided to bring half my bar and play mixologist. It was my first time, but my drinks garnered some surprisingly positive reviews. I made a Spiced Daiquiri that Sam had showed me and of course my Blanc Vanille, but since I didn’t have anything else memorized, I ended up mixing my own concoctions based on ingredients on hand, including a bacon drink. Here are the recipes I made up, feel free to mix, share, improve, comment, and gimme feedback!:

Blanc Vanille

1 oz Stoli Vanil
1 oz Licor 43
1 oz Disaronno
1 oz Heavy Cream (or Heavy Whipping Cream)
1/2 to 3/4 oz Egg White (based on preference)
Pinch of Cinnamon

Shake vigorously and serve chilled. Garnish with cinnamon and 2 dashes of chocolate bitters.

Orange Monkey

1.5 oz Tuaca
1.5 oz Amarula
3/4 oz Licor 43
Optional: 3/4 oz Egg White

Shake vigorously and serve chilled.

Bitter Creamsicle

3/4 oz Aperol
1 oz Licor 43
1 oz Egg White
1/2 oz Heavy Cream

Shake vigorously and serve chilled.

McDonalds Apple Pie

1 oz Licor 43
1.5 oz Fresh ‘N Easy (or any brand) Apple Cider
Pinch of Cinnamon

Stir together and serve over ice.

MG Kiss

1.5 oz Ciroc Coconut
1.5 oz Ginger Ale
1 oz Marie Brizard Coconut Liqueur
1 oz Falernum
1/4 oz to 1/2 oz Mint Syrup
1/2 oz Disaronno

Shaken vigorously with 3/4 oz Egg White OR blended with ice, depending preference.

Ginger Puff

1 oz Licor 43
1.5 oz Ginger Ale
1/2 oz Heavy Cream
3/4 oz Egg White
1/2 oz Barenjager Honey Liquor
2- 3 pieces Crystallized Ginger, Crumbled

Shake vigorously and serve chilled. Garnish with additional Crystallized Ginger.

Bacon & Honey

1 oz Amarula
1/2 oz to 3/4 oz Honey Liqueur
1/2 oz Bacon Syrup
1/2 Strip Bacon, blended
1/2 Strip Bacon, crumbled or whole for garnish
Optional: 1 Whole Small Egg
Optional: 1/2 oz Scotch (Preferably Laphroig, for smokiness)

Shake vigorously and serve chilled.

"With the goal of making Twitter a “canvas for creative people,” Sladden constantly brings the issue..."

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 00:10:30 -0800

“With the goal of making Twitter a “canvas for creative people,” Sladden constantly brings the issue back to the question of “storytelling”—how to create a narrative that engages users beyond passive viewing on the flat screen. On Glee, characters tweet commentary. On the Syfy network, programs use Twitter to trace alternate story lines. The NBC series Community has experimented with characters tweeting in their own voice while the show is being aired. “One of our best rules is, can we see an example of it out there already, or is there someone who will come and do it with us,” she says. “What’s so special about Twitter is that it’s essentially collaborative.””

- Fast Company: The Women of Twitter - Magazine - Vogue

Really fascinating piece on @chloes and @kateb, how they’ve reshaped media and a look into the culture at Twitter.

(via violetmae)

QUOTED in the Australian Financial Review!

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 14:05:00 -0800

I just got word that I was heavily quoted in the Australian Financial Review (paid article link) in an article talking about investment funds leveraging data and social media analytics for fund intelligence! I can’t post the whole article but it was printed in the newspaper on December 22, 2011. Below are excerpts of my quotes:

I love the chance to talk about applications of social media in industries that typically shy away from it. Plus the AFR is a big deal in the financial world. Big thanks to Claire Stewart for including me!

MXLGY: WRAPUP: MXLGY Triple Shot Oahu #HIMXLGY

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 21:47:31 -0800

MXLGY: WRAPUP: MXLGY Triple Shot Oahu #HIMXLGY:

mxlgy:

Last night’s Triple Shot Oahu event was an awesome success! Our first event featured 3 spirits: Oxley Gin, Corzo Tequila and Bacardi 8 Aged Rum along with 3 epic mixologists: Joey Gottesman of Better Brands, Josh Perez of thirtyninehotel and Kyle Reutner of Imbibe Hawaii….

My Stay @ Marriott LAX a.k.a. #FAIL

Sun, 08 Jan 2012 18:08:00 -0800

Pardon the rough draft writing, since now have less than 24 hours to do at least 36 hours of productive work. I have to make this fast.

There are just some things you expect when you stay at a decent hotel: A clean room, hot water, amicable staff, and a parking spot.. Sadly almost none of those were right during my stay at Marriott LAX..

So every year my team at www.ani.me covers Anime Los Angeles, which is held at the LAX Marriott hotel. Every year the convention is held there and hotel has always been aware of that. This year we had 3 rooms, 2 under the convention group rate block and 1 room (mine) under a standard AAA rate. I had to manage my team coverage and panel at the convention but I also had a bunch of consulting work to do for a 4pm deadline on Monday. I figured by getting an extra room for myself, I could save drive time and get both coverage/panel work and consulting work done. The premise was that the cost of the extra hotel room was worth the hours of productive work.

Let me also say that I’ve stayed in a hotel nearly 100 nights in the past year alone and this was the most frustrating hotel stay I can remember. This is also the only hotel issue I’ve ever blogged about. To the credit of the few staff that did help, the issues were eventually solved but only after I proactively took initiative and only after adamant resistance each time.

Here’s what happened:

Thursday

Checked in late night Thursday January 5th: no problems.
Woke up in middle of the night and got out of bed to step on a soaked carpet. Was too tired to care, washed feet, went back to bed.

Friday

Woke up, and noticed the floor was significantly more wet, called guest services, told them they had a possible under floor leak. They sent an engineer who told me a 5th floor pipe had leaked and they were working on it. Offered to bring in air movers to dry out the carpet.. and that housekeeping could towel carpet.. I said I have bad allergies and mold is a real issue, or worse if it was a sewage pipe issue. I also noticed the entire wall was soaked and deformed and needing to be torn out. Engineer agreed but said he couldn’t work on it while I was in the room.. I wasn’t staying in a torn up room or leaky room. He said to talk to front desk. Called Front Desk, and no new room but they offered to send housekeeping.. which wasn’t a solution. I went to the front desk in person and told the person there that the Engineer needed to tear open the wall and as such, he sent me to be moved to a new room.
Got moved to a new room, Pepe the bellhop helped me move and upon walking into new room, we both reacted to a heavy smoke smell, which eventually made my eyes itch. I made a comment about it and Pepe agreed that the room was pretty bad. He called the Front Desk from the room to try to get me moved again, but no response, so he left and went in person to get me to a different room. Came back 15 minutes later saying he wasn’t able to get me moved but they told him housekeeping would come spray the room. He suggested that I talk to a manager. I thanked him for his help, tipped him well for his effort and walked to the Front Desk again. Found an assistant manager Michael who recognized the issue, and moved me to another room with a small upgrade. Thanked Michael and finally moved into a non-smoky non-soaked room.
Morning = wasted all work time
Went to Front Desk again to check into other 2 rooms that I was paying for for my staff. Asked to add my staff names to room, and was told they could only add their names to request keys. Right after, when I finally get to sit down to start working, I get a call from my staff saying self parking was full and valet won’t let them park because the room is not in their name therefore they “are NOT a hotel guest” and cannot park.. Even though they are the ones actually staying in the other 2 rooms. I have to stop, walk out and deal with that in person. More wasted time. Also this happened separately to 2 other members of my staff, and all 3 times the attendants were rude. A 4th staff member had to park blocks away on the street. I don’t understand how with 3 rooms, why 5 people aren’t considered guests because the room is paid in my name.

Saturday

Wake up to no hot water. Take a cold shower after hearing there is no estimated time to repair and I have a panel to host.
Ask for 30 to 60 minute late checkout for next day so I can get some work done before meeting and was told it was impossible. (Fair enough.)

Sunday

4am-ish power goes out for a few and resets my devices..
Wake up, shower, pack all my stuff up, call bellhop to make regular checkout time.. and wait for OVER AN HOUR for bellhop to come. Bellhop gets to room and sees my 7 bags and 3 boxes (smaller boxes) of gear and am told they arbitrarily CANNOT ACCEPT THE BOXES FOR CHECK IN. Only the bags. I obviously can’t carry all the boxes myself, and can’t stay in room, so bellhop offers to take all my bags and boxes down to the lobby where I can “sit with it”. Um, no, I need the hotel to hold it so I can go work, meet with my team and continue coverage of the last day of the convention. Thankfully on the way to the lobby, I bump into Pepe who asked how things are and he solved the problem by allowing me to check in my small boxes.
3:30pm I go to get car from valet, and wait nearly 45 minutes, after giving ticket, with another bellhop (Slovakian guy), After waiting, the Slovakian bellhop is wondering where my car is, and so he goes to look into it, and comes out with my car keys, still in the booth. No one had gone to get it. Mind you, every person in front of me had left already. I thank him and tip him well and finally leave the hotel.

Here’s why I’m frustrated

Each time there was an issue, the hotel’s strong first response was never a solution. You can’t use air blowers to dry out a continuous leak. Neither does spraying a ton of air freshener make smokiness do away. It makes it smell nasty and more irritating. Also each time, it often took hours and pushing or luck to reach a solution. Which meant I was screwed out of work time, which was the whole reason I was paying for the hotel. I also had drastically less time to do my job at the convention itself.

Even worse, I felt that I only even got a response (though never a solution) because they saw my room was NOT a convention rate room. Often they would apologize for the convention crowd to me, as if that was some excuse or justification or something that needed apologizing for. They were much less helpful when I called for other things from the convention rate rooms of my staff.

All in all, I ended up wasting at least 6+ hours waiting or arguing with the hotel to convince them to solve problems that shouldn’t have even been questioned. Dealing with the hotel meant my team got much less covered and each time the hotel tried to get away with not solving the issue. If it weren’t for Pepe, Michael or the Slovakian Bellhop, or my not accepting their fake “fixes”, it would have been worse. Also, every one of my staff that drove up had to deal with rude parking attendants and issues with them being considered “guests” of the hotel.

In summary, worst hotel experience, with issues EVERY day and an adamant initial pushback to solve the issues. I will not be staying at a Marriott again, and will do whatever is possible to make sure none of my staff do either.

/EndRant

30 minutes of more wasted time writing this. Now I have to get back to not sleeping tonight to get all my work done..

UPDATE

To the credit of the @MarriottIntl social media team, they saw my tweets and promised to look into the experience. On a Sunday no less.I wonder what they will find/do/say.

Also, my staffer (who was in a convention block room), upon reading this, said that Pepe was the only bellhop who came to accomodate his bags, after calling 4 times and being told there would be someone coming in 5 minutes. On the last call, upon saying he called 4 times and was told 5 minutes each time, he was rudely told that he “would need to wait” because “all you guys” are checking out right now. All he needed to know on call #1 was an accurate time. Seriously Pepe needs to get a raise.

What I don’t get is why it was so bad this year? Last year, the staff was much more accommodating AND CONSIDERATE to the convention attendees.

Shopify Mod: Collection or Page Based Smart Sub-Navigation Menus

Mon, 12 Sep 2011 14:26:00 -0700

So I’ve been working on (among other things) launching a Daily Deals site for Ani.ME and decided since we were closer to Woot.com than GroupOn AND we wanted to offer branded swag, so a modified shopping cart / eCommerce system would be best. After much deliberation and research I went with Shopify, and so far its been great.

SIDENOTE: As far as I researched, IMHO the best hosted SaaS ecommerce platforms are Shopify and BigCommerce, and the best self-hosted solutions are Magento and OSCommerce.

Customizing Shopify has been relatively easy and the Liquid templating system can be very powerful. One thing it doesn’t support by default however is easy sub-navigation. It has Link Lists for main navigation but it doesn’t allow more than 1 level of menus. There are a few posted workaround methods to create dropdowns and tag based sorting but I wanted a solution that met the following requirements:

Functional Requirements

Once setup, be able to edit/manage each sub-menu using Link Lists, a menu/link management feature in the Shopify admin, and not have to edit template code. This allows you to use the link list filters and other dynamic features and easily create smart collection-based sub menu links.
Each sub-menu should automatically load up the correct Link List based on page it is on.
If no sub-menu exists for the page, automatically either display a specified message or simply not load any sub-menu at all. This means you only have to define the pages you want a sub-menu on, while not requiring you to specify every instance or mess up the rest of your store pages.

Assumptions

You already have an area defined where you want the sub-menu to appear.
This sub-menu area already appears where desired in the template (as with most themes).
You use pages or collections on your main menu navigation, at least on the pages where you want a sub-nav.
NOTE 1: The example below is shown using collections as the list identifier, if you use pages then change collection.title to page.title.
NOTE 2: I use sub-menu, subnav and sub-nav interchangeably. They refer to the same thing.

How To

Determine which main menu/top level pages or collections you want to have a sub-menu for.
For each such page/collection that you want a sub-menu for, go to the NAVIGATION in the Shopify Admin and create a Link List with the desired sub-menu links.
Write down the Handle of each Link List. In this case it is daily-deals.
Go to the Template Editor and open the theme template file that contains the area where you want your subnav to appear. In this case, I am using the free Structure theme, and it is in the subnav.liquid snippet.

In the above image and below snippet, you see the code we are about to create already inserted. The code consists of 2 parts. The first part identifies the page that is loaded and pulls the page title or (as above) the collection title. It then creates a variable value that corresponds to load the correct Link List. The second part, simply outputs the links in the format you specify. If a link list doesn’t exist for the page that is loaded, you can specify a different output or none at all.

<!-- BEGIN COLLECTION-BASED SMART SUB-NAVIGATION -->
<!-- From mikeprasad.com, visit for detailed instructions. -->

<!-- Determine Page or Collection and assign matching LinkList Handle -->
<!-- Edit 'Title' and 'link-list-handle' to match each main nav page.collection with the desired link list -->

{% if collection.title == 'Title 1' %}
{% assign linklistHandle = 'link-list-handle-1' %}

<!-- Repeat additional 2-line sets of elsif and assign code for each additional submenu -->

{% elsif collection.title == 'Title 2' %}
{% assign linklistHandle = 'link-list-handle-2' %}

{% elsif collection.title == 'Title 3' %}
{% assign linklistHandle = 'link-list-handle-3' %}

{% else %}
{% endif %}

<!-- Print the matching linklist as a sub-nav -->

{% if linklists.[linklistHandle].links.size > 0 %}
{% for link in linklists.[linklistHandle].links %}

<!-- This formats the output of each link, modify as needed -->
<a href="{{ link.url }}"{% if link.url == collection.url %} class="active"{% endif %}>{{ link.title | escape }}</a>

<!-- This is the divider HTML that is output between each link, modify as needed -->        
{% unless forloop.last %} <span>&#124;</span>{% endunless %}

{% endfor %}
{% else %}

<p>This is the output if there is no matching linklist for {{ collection.title }}. Modify or delete this line as desired.</p>     

{% endif %}

<!-- END COLLECTION-BASED SMART SUB-NAVIGATION -->

If you have any basic experience, you can stop at this step and simply copy and paste the above code, then follow the inline comments. If you don’t, the next steps should help you out.
For the first page or collection you want a submenu for, you simply replace Title 1 with the page or collection title that Shopify generates. This is the title (with spaces and capitalization) you input when you created the page or collection in the Shopify admin.

NOTE: To make it easy, once you save the above code snippet in your theme (but before you modify the last few lines), it should display this in the subnav area when you browse each page in the statement saying there is no matching subnav. You can also insert {{ collection.title }} anywhere to display this.

Next for the corresponding link list that you want to show as the subnav for this page/collection, just replace link-list-handle-1 with the correct link list handle as shown when you edit the link list in the Shopify admin.
```
{% if collection.title == 'Title 1' %}
{% assign linklistHandle = 'link-list-handle-1' %}
```
For each additional page of collection, simply add the following 2 lines of code, replacing Title and link-list-handle as done in the last step.
```
{% elsif collection.title == 'Title 2' %}
{% assign linklistHandle = 'link-list-handle-2' %}
```
This line determines how each subnav link is output. Edit as needed. Also, the active class part will show the link as the active link if its url is the same as the loaded page. This class is usually already in the css of most themes, if not, the link style will default to your normal theme look.
```
<a href="{{ link.url }}"{% if link.url == collection.url %} class="active"{% endif %}>{{ link.title | escape }}</a>
```

This outputs the divider separating each link. Edit as needed.

{% unless forloop.last %} <span>&#124;</span>{% endunless %}

This last part is what is output when there is no defined link list for the loaded page/collection. You can delete this line if you want to display nothing or edit it as desired.
```
<p>This is the output if there is no matching linklist for {{ collection.title }}. Modify or delete this line as desired.</p>     
```

That’s it. The code should load wherever your theme template has a subnav area and automatically populate it based on the loaded page. You can now manage each sub-menu using the Link List/Navigation screen in the Shopify Admin. If you decide you want to remove a sub-menu for a defined page/collection, just remove its links in its matched Link List. The only time you need to go into the template code again is to define new sub-menus for new pages or collections.

Enjoy!

epic4chan: Star Fox is down 画

Mon, 12 Sep 2011 13:36:51 -0700

epic4chan:

Star Fox is down 画

You know you want me at SXSW! (aka vote for my talk!)

Sat, 20 Aug 2011 16:31:00 -0700

It’s SXSW Panel Voting time again and I’m really hoping to talk this coming year, as its been a while and I think a revised version of my social media talk I gave at iStrategy Melbourne this year would be perfect. The talk was the most tweeted, referenced, and requested at iStrategy but since it deals with all U.S. based case studies, I’d very much like to present it here at SXSW.

Help make that happen by taking a look at the slides below and VOTING AND COMMENTING FOR THE TALK HERE!

The Secret to Social Media: What do you love?

AT&T + Apple #FAIL (How to cancel iPad 3G Service without the iPad)

Tue, 16 Aug 2011 19:26:00 -0700

I love my iPad 2 with AT&T 3G Service. It’s great, and I get more utility out of my iPad because of it. In fact, 3 months ago, when a colleague of mine was in town from out of the country and we had to collaborate, they bought iPad’s and I prepaid 1 month for 3G over AT&T. It worked wonderfully..

Fast forward to now.. When I realize that despite the 2 iPads 3G being disabled before leaving the country and never used again, my credit card was still being charged every month.

Now before I highlight multiple points of EPIC FAIL and possibly consumer deception, I’m going to admit there is a possibility that the 2 iPad’s were not properly canceled via the iPad settings. EVEN if this is the case, it should not be as impossible to cancel a AT&T Prepaid Data plan without access to the device.

FOR EXAMPLE: What if you lost your iPad/device? Or it got stolen?

Anyway, here’s what happened and how also the solution to canceling your iPad 3G plan in all but 1 circumstance:

First thing I did, naturally, was check the email receipt you get on signup for a customer service number. Nope, no number at all. IN FACT, no contact information whatsoever.
Next, logically, check the website on managing and iPad 3G Account. Nope, no mention of the iPad or related service anywhere on the homepage.
Ok.. so then I called AT&T Wireless and spoke to a rep.. Who told me iPad’s did not have “real accounts” and therefore she had no way to look up the recurring charges. I was also told that as a prepaid, they have no way to track down the account records.. But apparently they can still charge and track usage..
BUT WAIT! Don’t you create an account with an email and password on the iPad when you sign-up for service? YES! Surely you can look it up that way? Apparently not, as they aren’t “real accounts”
So I asked her what I should do? ACCORDING TO THE AT&T REP, THERE IS NO WAY TO CANCEL A RECURRING iPAD 3G DATA SERVICE WITHOUT ACCESS TO THE DEVICE. Her solution was to for me to call my credit card company and dispute the charge. I asked if the dispute would cancel recurring charges or would I have to dispute in perpetuity? She couldn’t say. Not to mention, how was my credit card company going to know which AT&T charges to block, as I have an iPhone4 and my own iPad with 3G.. She did offer to give me Apple’s general Apple Care support number however, suggesting it was Apple’s issue, not AT&T’s. I politely said thank you and hung up.

TO THE WEB! Surely some others must have had the same issue right? Yes, quite a few, as the 26,500,000~ results suggest. Go forums go! After a bit of searching, I found the following link in a AT&T Forums post directing me to a somewhat confusing sales page: http://www.att.com/shop/wireless/devices/ipad.jsp

ON THE BOTTOM of this page which advertises buying an iPad, there is the following box offering the purchase of more data:

Now if one was to click on the unintuitive “Shop Now” button, you would be prompted for the mythical user/pass login you created when you signed up for 3G on the iPad. If you happen to know it, you can log in, then “Edit/Upgrade” your plan, and once there, find the small cancel link to cancel and close the 3G Data account. SOLUTION AT LAST!
BUT? What if you really did have your iPad stolen or just don’t remember the login for the account? Well your S.O.L. then, because to recover the login info, you need the IMEI and Device ID off the iPad itself, so in the end, you’ll likely have to call your credit card company and dispute the charge and hope for the best.

So one might say, “Mike, why are you pissed enough to write a post? You got it canceled.” To which I would reply, “I did get it canceled, after paying $150 for 3 months x 2 of unused data fees..” BUT MORE SO “I got it canceled despite the AT&T lack of solution and responsibility. Here are a few of the points of failure that annoy me:

No contact information on the signup receipt/confirmation email
No way to find on website a way to cancel
No solution by customer service AND denying responsibility + ability to close my account, yet still be able to charge me
That in the end, I had to find my own solution provided by other frustrated consumers as AT&T said the only way was to dispute the charge.
FINAL FAIL is that the only way to cancel the account without access to the iPad was to (in a hidden, non-offered and non-apparent manner) go to the website, go to a shop page to buy the iPad plan, click on an Add Data link, login (assuming you have the access), then edit a plan, to FINALLY FIND A CANCELLATION LINK.

The only positive I can say is that when I tweeted about the issue, AT&T’s twitter rep for back to me, but this was AFTER I solved it on my own, and they may not have even had a solution.

Am I ranting for no reason? Or do you agree that this is ridiculous and misleading? Let me know in the comments.

My iStrategy Melbourne Keynote: The Secret to Social Media

Tue, 17 May 2011 16:45:00 -0700

My Opening Keynote deck as presented at iStrategy Melbourne on May 17, 2011. Among other amazing presenters from Coca-Cola, Facebook, Lonely Planet and more, this was the most tweeted, referenced, and requested presentation at the iStrategy conference. Keep in mind, it’s meant to presented live:

The Secret to Social Media: Perspectives, Strategies and Case Studies that can Change Your Business

Key Takeaways:

What is the secret to implementing social media?
How to create passionate self-sustaining engagement (and revenue)
Key implementable strategies for all types of businesses
Three case studies for three very different businesses

The Secret to Social Media: What do you love?

View more presentations from Mike Prasad

What I've been up to A.K.A. #Progress

Mon, 28 Mar 2011 12:21:00 -0700

It’s been a crazy while since I’ve updated here, and with SXSW 2011 come and gone and tons happening, here’s the latest on what I’ve been up to:

Bit Love Media | GirlGamer.com, DreadCentral.com & Ani.ME Teamup!

I started GirlGamer with a core team around the idea of creating online cultural communities around super-niche enthusiast audiences. The platform we developed combined editorial publishing, social networking, and a lifestyle brand to create a unique engaged digital space for fans. Recently, we’ve taken the same platform to launch a new site Ani.ME (which has just hit over 100,000 Facebook Fans & announced a HUGE partnership) and we’ve teamed up with DreadCentral to make a first-of-its-kind enthusiast lifestyle network. Check out the new site and network at Bit Love Media. Combining operations under one network also allows us to run more effeciently, reduce cost, and increase focus. We are currently considering an angel round to allow us to scale. Contact me over twitter @mikeprasad or email mike at bitlovemedia.com if interested.

RaiseGood.org | Consumers & Brands team up to raise donations for causes.

At SXSW I was hanging out with a bunch of people working in the cause space talking about the Japan Crisis, and realized that while there were many ways to donate, the mode value of the average donation rarely changes, that is, most people donate less than $20. I also saw big brands wanting to help but many of them stumbling or not optimally being effective. After thinking for a while and randomly being on Kickstarter checking out a project I backed, I came up with the idea of combining big brands, Kickstarter-esque incentivizing and GroupOn/Woot style deals. Over the second half of SXSW Interactive I rapidly developed the idea into what is now called Raise Good. I brought in @Jerram to help with development, along with teaming up with MissionFish to facilitate 100% charity donations (no fees) and we are now getting ready to launch this week! Right now we are looking for big brands to work with for our launch to benefit the current Japan crisis!

Aperture {M} | My photography portfolio.

I actually launched this a bit ago and most of my photography can be found on my Flickr, but I wanted to start offering canvas prints for sale. Prices range from $250 to $2,000 depending on size. Through at least the end of April, any of my photo prints or canvas prints sold will have all profits go to the Red Cross and Save The Children Japan. If you’d like to order one, let me know!

I’m also still doing limited consulting work via {M} Consultancy but am being very selective. Let me know if you have any interest and we can see if it’s a good fit.

So now you know what I’ve been up to.. What have you been up to?

Welcome to the #NewMyspace

Wed, 27 Oct 2010 13:58:00 -0700

Ever since Myspace sucked up all the cool kids in L.A. (@Percival, @TonyAdam, etc..) I had been wondering what kind of awesome they had been working on. Well today, the #NewMyspace Preview launched, and a few lucky people also received a preview box in the mail. The #NewMyspace is to be all about showcasing your creative life. See the unboxing pics below, and here’s hoping we have a viable competitor to the big FB.

Check out the #NewMyspace at http://www.myspace.com/newmyspace

3 Real Examples of Facebook Groups

Wed, 06 Oct 2010 17:23:46 -0700

Facebook launched their new and much talked about Groups feature today. Mashable has full coverage on the live event this morning about each feature (definitely worth a read) but decided to get my digital hands dirty and test out Facebook Groups around some specific use cases. But before I get to those, let me give you a quick overview of some key aspects that make it interesting beyond just group status updates:

Groups have Privacy Types which allow for very different uses. Open, Closed, and Secret which hide or show the group members and/or content.

Group Members must be invited or approved by request which allows for peer and admin curated growth.

Groups have Events which are owned by the Group and Group Admin and in addition to normal event features, can be limited to only Group Members.

Groups have Shared Docs which, while admittedly simplistic, can be used for collaboration and wiki-type information sharing and updating.

Groups have Real-Time Group Chat which could allow for real-time virtual meetings and live private discussion.

So now you about Facebook Groups unique features. Now here are the 3 Groups I created, each for a different type of use case:

Real Example #1: WOWee Ambassadors of Sound (link)

This is an example of a group for a business and marketing/branding use. I created it for {M} Consultancy’s new client WOWee One for which we are working on growing a grassroots community base. The idea is to offer a VIP group for fans from the existing WOWee One Fanpage that really love, support and want to represent the brand and product, which is a portable rechargeable power bass speaker for iPhone/iPad/Portable Gaming/etc.. I made it a closed group (members are publicly visible but content is not) because we will have special offers and access only for fans that decide to become brand ambassadors. Also, the private content adds to the “VIP’ness”. Fans can request to become an Ambassador or other Ambassadors can invite a friend into the program. This allows WOWee to support and award fans who really help grow the brand community.

Tip: Don’t forget to upload a group avatar and write a decent description.

Real Example #2: #LAFoodieCrew (link)

This is an example of a enthusiast community group. If you know me, then you know I’ve been a huge foodie way before my involvement with @KogiBBQ. A lot of us LA Tech people are always meeting up for dinners, tastings, and other random noms. To date, it’s always been organized by a mishmash of tweets, texts, calls or occasionally eventbrite . Inevitably, someone misses out. Solution? Create a space on Facebook, where we all have profiles, to suggest and coordinate around our meetups and share our love for good food! Within 20 minutes, we already had our first meetup scheduled! Since I like brands, I came up with a quick name and logo to bring it all together. I setup a Group Doc to list meetup ideas and used Group Events for setting up official meetups. Since it is an Open Group, anyone can see and share meetup details, local foodie posts, and join via any member. This allows us to coordinate and share both as a group and with potentially interested Facebook users. One nice aspect is that a Group Event is owned by the Group, but can also be shared and opened up for anyone to RSVP.

Group Events and Docs are shown on the #LAFoodieCrew Group Page

Group Docs is used to organize, propose and collect meetup ideas

Group Events are automatically related to the group and members are automatically invited. Making it a public event also allows anyone else to RSVP.

Real Example #3: Pivotal LA

This is an example of a private community group. Years ago, when the L.A. Tech Community and Scene all but existed, a number of key organizers, influencers and community leaders teamed up as an unofficial group called Prototype LA. We shared resources, hookups, advice, and coordinated to foster and grow a tech scene in L.A. Over the years, we’ve kept in touch via an unofficial mailing list, but most of us still worked directly, which limited our individual effectiveness when helping each other out. Another thing that happened is that the people that I considered pivotal within L.A. tech grew, moved, and moved across areas of focus. I wanted to connect all these people and give the original Prototype LA group an update. By creating a closed (but not secret) Facebook group, anyone could see who is involved and but we now have private space to collaborate and share resources. This type of limited-but-not-hidden visibility also allows us to slowly grow the group via peer approval and hopefully the fact that it exists on Facebook, a platform we all interact with daily, will assure that the group doesn’t stagnate when all of us get too busy, as we frequently do.

So there you have it, 3 real examples and use cases for Facebook Groups. Whether they will all prove useful in the long-term, we will have to see. But they each are off to a good start. Each case solves a specific problem or provides a specific use for the parties involved. More than just a list, which are much more limited, I’m sure we will see some more interesting uses of Groups in the next weeks.

Is there anything I think Facebook Groups is lacking? Sure, I’d love to see some Twitter integration, or even more some, Shared Group Files that can be uploaded, which would rock for clubs, college groups, private business uses, etc.. but it’s a pretty good start as is. And this is coming from a guy who generally hates Facebook..

Have any examples of how you are using Facebook Groups? Think some of the above examples have could be better? Post below along with your comments!

Help L.A. TECH Represent @ SXSW 2011!

Tue, 17 Aug 2010 14:12:00 -0700

All of us in the Los Angeles Tech Community have been working our asses off the this year, and in that time, we’ve been doing some pretty innovative things! Help us bring those ideas and innovations to SXSW 2011 by voting and commenting via SXSW Panel PIcker. I’ve compiled a list of L.A. people with panel ideas for SXSW 2011, pick your favorites (check mine out!) and support the community! Voting ends August 27 so don’t wait!

If your panel isn’t listed, leave a comment here or @/DM me and I’ll add it!

List last updated August 26:

Open Source Movies by @rynda @kevinwinston
Your Web Developer Thinks You’re an Idiot by @bakespace
Startup Success: Entrepreneurial Women by @rynda @acoolong @bakespace @staceysoleil
Zombies Must Eat: How Genre Communities Make Money by @KW
Food Goes Social! Marketing Kogi, Fatburger & Calbi by @MikePrasad =)
Score Great PR for your Start-Up on the Cheap by @erikdeustch
Fueling Fun: Customer Loyalty Through Location-Based Marketing by @heathermeeker
The Social Media Dilemma for Publicly-Held Companies by @serena
A Conversation about Social Change Throughout Social Media by @invisiblepeople
“Social Network”: Been There, Done That, Got Hoodie by @lisaborodkin
Social Network Users’ Bill of Rights: You Decide by @lisaborodkin @gagnier
Decision Trees: YouTube’s New Breed of Interactive Storytellers by @tubefilter @MarcHustvedt
Help! I Need Somebody: Musicians With A Cause by @Rynda @Vertigal @SweetRelief @GreenMusicGroup
The Power of Prizes: Crowdsourcing Breakthroughs by @alias_amanda of @XPrize
Independent and Interactive Film in the 21st Century by @MatchesMalone
Behind the Tweet: Responding to Consumer Motivations by @KirkSkodis
Developing Multi Platform Applications for Social Media by the @writeonglass team
APIs in Social Media: Changing the Developer Landscape by the @writeonglass team
Next Generation Conversations: Where will the talk go? by the @writeonglass team
Designing Multi Platform Applications for Social Media by the @writeonglass team

If you want to support even more, RT this list! -> RT @mikeprasad: Support #LAtech! Check out our panels for @SXSW, vote & RT! http://bit.ly/laatsxsw

My take on Inception

Fri, 06 Aug 2010 01:13:00 -0700

I’m sure there are lots of people with lots of theories for the movie Inception.. I haven’t read any and just saw the movie 30 minutes ago. I’m sure my quotes aren’t verbatim, but heres my take:

*** CONTAINS SPOILERS ***

Theory:

The entire “real world” in the movie is a dream. We’ll call it Layer 0 (Since they go 3 layers deep in the movie). Cobb represents himself, all others are projections of his subconscious which, as he says, he cannot control. The entire movie is a battle between his conscious and subconscious. Overall theme = is ignorance bliss?

Key Roles:

Cobb = His conscious self

- All rules are “set” by him.
- Only he “breaks” the rules.
- He’s the top Extractor in his world.
- Its ALWAYS about him.
- Cobb’s totem is a top, representing him spinning himself around within a false reality, and he never stops spinning.

Ariadne = a free version of him

- Can do what Cobb won’t let himself do
- Inner child/innocence.
- Cobb brings her into his path, helps him control/own himself. Professor states this before introducing him to her. He has to own her role to progress.

Saito = Aspect of Himself from a higher layer (call it layer -1 / true reality)

- The only person within the world that has control over Cobb.
- He sets the original test and determines worthiness, which Cobb fails (foreshadowing)
- He has the power to give Cobb what he wants, or force him to fail in his path.
- Old man in Limbo, almost forced to “die alone”
- Has to fulfill his agreement to Cobb.

Fischer = The battle between his conscious and subconscious

- Fights against himself
- Cobb has to play him to get hat he wants i.e. Cobb has to convince himself to believe what he wants to believe.

Mal = His active subconscious, the “messenger” between conscious and subconscious

- Represents the knowledge that Cobb deep down knows but wants to bury and forget, that his world is a dream.
- Is buried and stated “locked in” by false memories
- Its stated that Mal is his inseparable other half.

Plot:

Movie starts with Cobb failing due to Mal intercepting in dream. Mal is protecting Saito which represents a wise, real Cobb in a higher level who knows. Saito considers Cobb’s proposal and states this was all a test and Cobb failed (forshadowing). Cobb is forced into a situation where he must face Saito’s presented dilemma. Most of the main part of the movie is Cobb fighting with his subconscious, to determine what will ultimately become of him. Fischer represents the same thing Cobb is doing to himself, and just like it is stated that catharsis is most powerful in changing Fischer, catharsis for Cobb is moving beyond Mal and ultimately seeing his children.. It allows both Fisher and Cobb to live a life based on a false premise. Saito is injured as he is then incapable of choosing for Cobb, and beyond presenting the dilemma of choice, only plays a contributing role at the end. Cobb also plants the “inception” in Mal shows that the real Cobb knows the truth, and has to fight himself to an extreme to bury it, as inceptions are powerful, grow and can “come to define or destroy a man”. Everything happening to each character represents the issues Cobb has with himself, such as Mal locking away a truth = him locking away the same truth. In the end, despite Mal trying to convey the message that his reality is a dream and convince him, Cobb fights so hard and chooses to stay in a world thats a bit too perfect. His desire to remain ignorant and denial is so strong and he fights what he otherwise knows “deep inside” that he may be happier that way. Cobb can’t make a leap of faith, and so his chosen ignorance is his bliss. And so at the end, when he looks at the spinning top about to go awry, it seems about to fall until he looks at his “too perfect” children. Then when he looks away, it’s spinning perfectly in the center (away from where it was before), signifying he is still in a dream but he has decided what he wants to believe after being given the choice.

Hmm, that’s my theory at least. If you assume the theory and the key roles, I think you’ll see that all the key details within the movie fall into place to support it. To me the whole movie is a macro look at the process someone goes through when they choose ignorance as bliss and fight what they know to deny something they aren’t happy with or to avoid facing uncertainty and make a leap of faith. The only uncertain gap I see is what type of reality would drive Cobb to bury himself in a false one to determinedly? Well perhaps its what Saito says in the beginning and in the end to convince Cobb to make a choice: He doesn’t want to be fated to become “old and die alone, waiting for something that will never come.” The same fear we all have, on some level, and the same fear that often drives us to accept lives that are often not what we dreamed, yet convince ourselves is best.

Interesting sidenote: Mal could be short for Malachi which has a Hebrew etymology meaning “my messenger”

So that’s my 2 cents, for what its worth… Agree or disagree, leave me a comment!

Getting started with Git on Mac! a.k.a. Git For Non-Dev N00bs like me)

Tue, 20 Jul 2010 15:10:00 -0700

Let me preface this. I’m NOT a programmer.

That said, I like to think that I’m as close to being a programmer that a non-programmer can be. I’ve directed and/or worked with dev teams in 3 languages (PHP, Django/Python, Java), and can spec out and work with everything from database details to core functionality to top-level architecture to UI/UX with awesome HTML + CSS + Javascript. All that aside, I’ve only had limited hands-on experience with revision control systems, and then only with Subversion, and not Git.

Since my current (and awesomely awesome) dev team uses Git, and I’ve been doing a lot of template revisions, changes and drafts myself, I had to learn to how get Git on the fly today. Nothing like jumping all the way in eh?

If you don’t know what Git is, according to Wikipedia:

Git is a distributed revision control system with an emphasis on speed. Git was initially designed and developed by Linus Torvalds for Linux kernel development. Every Git working directory is a full-fledged repository with complete history and full revision tracking capabilities, not dependent on network access or a central server.

A.K.A. it helps teams of software developers work together and coordinate on the same project without screwing up each others work. Since I’m making tons of template changes, my dev team needed an easy way to track my changes between my local copy through implementation on the live site (in this case www.girlgamer.com and www.ani.me). At its core, Git runs entirely via command line.

Oh, Command Line, I love you for your awesome power but hate you for your syntax.

The beauty of Git via command line is that is that it is super-powerful and execute many advanced functions that have no easy way to be done via a graphical user interface (GUI). The downside for me is that for my use case, mainly changing and committing front end template HTML, I would never need any of the advanced functions. Ideally for me, a good easy GUI would suffice, and be optimal. Even better, would be having built-in support from Coda (OS X/MAC), which I use for my edits, but that doesn’t exist yet. After reviewing TONS of options, and finding ideally great, but now defunct, GUI projects, I’ve come up with the following:

- Install Git and link it with your repository @ GitHub (see below for a quick and dirty how to)

- Grab GitX (Great for viewing commits, or alternatively BrotherBard’s fork) & GitY (For most other things) + Plugins for Coda http://justinhileman.info/git-for-coda

- Grab GitBox (An alternative to GitX + GitY) http://gitbox.pierlis.com/

Once setup via command line, I should never have to go back to command line. I can use GitX/GitY as a plugin from Coda for tracking updates, else I can use GitBox for pushing/committing my changes.

Getting set up, quick and dirty.. well not so dirty.

If you don’t know how to set up Git on OS X, here’s the process that @brosner led me through (it’s easier and shorter than it looks):

Set up an account and repository on www.GitHub.com (Also I hear Beanstalk is pretty awesome too)
Grab and install Git http://code.google.com/p/git-osx-installer/downloads/detail?name=git-1.7.1.1-intel-leopard.dmg
Jump into OS X (Snow Leopard)’s Terminal
Type and run: git
- You should see basic info on the Git install.
Navigate to your directory with the initial files for the repository via the command cd
Once your in the directory, run: git init
Then run: git add .
- Note the “.”
Now all files and subfolders in that folder should be indexed/added to Git for push to the remote (Github) repository.
- Run this to see what has been “staged” for the next commit: git status
- Staged files are files that haven’t been pushed to the remote repository yet
If you don’t have TextMate installed and hooked up to Terminal, do that (unless you prefer command-line vi):
- Once installed, open TextMate, go to Help, and choose Terminal Usage, then Create Link (use default setting)
Run: mate ~/.gitconfig
- Within the new file in TextMate, paste the text from here (using your own name and email of course): http://dpaste.de/MqbD/
Save then close file.
Go back to Terminal (assuming you’re still in your repository directory)
Make your first commit and note (quotes ARE needed) by running: git commit -m “my message about this commit”
Now to add Github as the remote repository, run the line provided in your Github admin, similar to: git remote add origin git@github.com:username/repositoryname.git
Next we need to set up a secure RSA key so you can securely push to GitHub, this is a one-time thing only:
- Create a RSA ID by running: ssh-keygen -t rsa
- - When prompted for which file to save key in (unless otherwise desired), press Enter.
- - When prompted for a passphrase (unless otherwise desired), press Enter and re-confirm.
- - That created a key, now to copy it, run: cat ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub | pbcopy
- - Go to https://github.com/account and click SSH Public Keys then Add Public Key
Choose any Title and in the Key area, you should be able to paste the previously copied key. Then save that.
Back in Terminal, push your local files to GitHub by running: git push origin master
Once that’s done, back at Github, view the repository, you should see your files.
- Add any collaborators in Github, and you should be setup.

Now from here onward, I plan on using Coda to edit and GitBox or GitY to commit and push changes to GitHub. I’ll let you guys know how that goes. But you should be good to go. If you have a better way or a suggestion, or if Coda finally starts supporting Git, let me know!

Also, here are some resources for jumping in a bit more (also from @brosner):

Now back to work for me..

"Arbitrary exclusivity & non-resource-based caps on access is such bullshit. It only hurts PR..."

Wed, 16 Jun 2010 03:01:16 -0700

“Arbitrary exclusivity & non-resource-based caps on access is such bullshit. It only hurts PR & growth. Sadly, seeing a lot @ E3 this year.”

"Employing tricks like needless pagination, auto-refreshing (see Salon.com), misleading headlines,..."

Tue, 15 Jun 2010 11:52:01 -0700

“Employing tricks like needless pagination, auto-refreshing (see Salon.com), misleading headlines, and the like is cheating. You didn’t earn those pageviews, you tricked people into giving them to you. And then you look at shit like popups, popunders, double underlined links, Snap previews, Tynt scripts, and so on, and it’s pretty clear how hostile it all is. It’s nothing but money-grabbing. If you’ve got it set up so bad that your readers are employing things like ad blockers and Safari’s Reader, you fucked up. You did something wrong. You overestimated how much your readers are willing to tolerate.”

- Richard Dunlop-Walters (via marco) (via bui)

the new guy: What I’ve Learned in Geeks On a Plane (SO FAR) - Explained in Board Games

Thu, 27 May 2010 20:43:00 -0700

the new guy: What I’ve Learned in Geeks On a Plane (SO FAR) - Explained in Board Games:

China Vs. Other BRICs & Developing Countries

As a communist government, China is incredibly efficient. Shanghai (now #1 by population) and Beijing (now #9) are two of the largest and most advanced cities in the world - through the ’08 Olympics and ’10 World Expo the government poured ton’s…

#GOAP | Geeks in a Lounge, Korea

Sat, 22 May 2010 02:57:00 -0700

Welcome aboard geeks! :) RT @davemcclure: wheels up SFO. #GOAP on way to Shanghai, by way of Korea. China here we come! #FTWless than a minute ago via web
Asiana Airlines

After a very, very, very long flight via @AsianaAirlines into Incheon Airport, Korea, us geeks are getting a much needed interwebs and power fix at the Asiana Business Lounge before we catch our flight to Shanghai. On a side note, service on Asiana was REALLY good, once we took off, EVERY passenger was personally greeted and tier assigned steward/stweardess introduced themselves (and this is economy folks, not business class).

Anyway, so far, its been fun, I got to sit next to the always fun @DaveMcclure on the flight in, and even setup an ad hoc wifi network for a little inter-plane chatting I sort of hacked together.. but more on that later (here’s a teaser by @DanielGruneberg).. for now here are some pics so far (after the jump)!

(Also, you can live vicariously through the #GOAP Twitter List, kindly setup by @Edaz)

BIG THANK YOU TO @ASIANAAIRLINES FOR THE LOUNGE ACCESS!!

Just off the plane!

The Geek Army headed to Asiana Lounge

Mr. @DanielGruneberg

Dave McClure’s personal VIP line.

Which way to go?

Dave and (I’m damn jealous of) his personal videographer.

Us geeks getting our fix.