To be honest – the future is not looking so good. As much as I personally love my Leaf, and as much as I enjoy smirking when I pass by Toronto gas stations with ever-increasing prices – the bottom line is this: not enough people are driving them. And that’s the biggest factor that Nissan, Mitsubishi, Chevy, Tesla – and anyone else developing electric  vehicles – should be concerned about. Cars on roads. Products shipped. Current customers.

Granted, my Leaf mobile app, and Electric Charger app keep adding new stations in the area, and yes, most of them are free (see above map). So it looks like some smart businesses are getting on board and installing (relatively inexpensive) chargers to bring in customers, or keep people on their property longer (ahem, restaurants). That’s just good ol’ entrepreneurial spirit. And I’m seeing these stations pop up at government buildings and city halls – that’s more of a vehicle fleet savings for them, than a convenience for me, the driver. A good move – but it’s driven by their budget needs, not forward-thinking transit analysis. I also just found out that Leaf is coming out with a new model – one that charges faster, and battery lasts a little longer. That’s hopeful – should lead to more sales, easier adoption among skeptics. But it’s still not enough.

In fact, just to show how backwards-thinking the City of Toronto is – my ‘green vehicle’ license, which allows me to use high-occupancy lanes on highways, even if I’m driving alone (another great benefit of an electric vehicle) is not ‘recognized’ by the city. So as I drive south of Steeles ave. on Hwy404, I cannot stay in high-occupancy lane, even though GREEN VEHICLES ARE ALLOWED IN THEM… in any other civilized city. Even more confusing, this link above says one thing, and the cop who stopped me a few months ago said ‘no, you can’t be in this lane if you’re driving solo, regardless of our green plates’. So there’s a whole level of miscommunication between the city and its citizens, and between the police force and their … taxpayers. A different rant, for a different day…

Ok, back to the future of electric cars. Why aren’t they being marketed more aggressively? Why is the only electric car I keep hearing about (in media) is Tesla – which is about 2x more expensive, most certainly designed for warmer climates, and is absolutely being marketed to a specific, high-end customers? Nothing wrong with Tesla, it’s a beautiful piece of technology, and if I ever won a lottery, I would get it – as a toy that can also be used as a vehicle But it simply cannot compete with other vehicles in terms of value, cost. Also, Tesla is a small company – which is clever enough to retain an amazing marketing/PR firm to help them push the product. And they have plenty of good connections in tech blogs – which have slowly become part of regular media. They only have one product – electric cars – they either make it or die in this market. No hedged bets, no wishy-washy marketing. The recent Tesla vs. New York Times review scandal is proof that Tesla is a niche company, with a lot to lose, so naturally it’s very prominent in media.

So why don’t we hear more about other electric cars, from established car-makers? Maybe the simple fact is that traditional media still has many expensive, ongoing, valuable ad campaigns for Chevy Tahoe, so why bother promoting Chevy Volt? If there are so many Nissan Altimas on the roads (and therefore, in car dealerships, assembly lines), why would (from an advertizing, market-share standpoint) anyone spend time promoting a Leaf? If Mitsubishi has just entered North-American market a few years ago, and is best known for Legacy – why take the risk and create new campaigns, make new videos for I-Miev? It takes money, so wouldn’t be easier to just re-cycle the same campaign for Legacy we ran back in 2009? Again, it’s a simple cost/benefit scenario for the people who decide what ad you see in paper/magazine/tv spot. Supply and demand. Quickly, which cars were advertised at this year’s Superbowl? What about the Oscars? Exactly. Not a lot of mass media love for the tree-hugger’s car.

So green vehicles remain outliers – not well known, not aggressively promoted, but with loyal ownership. I crunched my numbers before making the jump, so I’m happy with this decision, and will not go back to fossil-burning easily. Filling up is just more expensive – for me. But I’m just one guy – no marketing plan, no advertizing budget. Problem is, gas cars have become such a big part of our lifestyle, and culture, it’s a habit. It’s a convenience. So it’s not enough to inform people, and communicate the benefits and cost-savings – green car companies have a giant task of breaking people’s habits. How do you do that? How do you promote the ‘green’ aspect of your new product, while encouraging a habit change? Not something a car company can undertake.

Ironically enough, Tesla might have the motivation and sheer survival behind its push of their product – but not enough resources; whereas Toyota, Chevy, Nissan and Mitsubishi – have the resources; but not the dire need. They’re just hedging bets, and counting on some early adopters (like myself) to help them leverage their oil-dependent product line. For now, I’m just glad it’s more than one company trying this out, and I’m glad to see more of electric cars (and stations) pop up around Toronto. But in the long term – the very same people who are whining about the price of gas every April to October – will either commit to breaking a few habits and rush to buy more electric cars, or we’ll all be back to whining about gas prices. And then some smartass will do a sequel to the ‘Who Killed the Electric Car‘ documentary.

Yeah, the future looks pretty gloomy in this scenario… Meanwhile I’ll just keep driving my Leaf, and giggling at SUVs and gasoline prices. Especially around long weekends. It’s the least I can do. That, and occasionally reminding you that I filled up maybe 3 times since last May. And that my car produces zero emissions. And that it’s cheaper than you think. And that it’s quite convenient and cool… Maybe you should just re-read my entire 3-part tirade again Maybe it will change your mind. I’m staying optimistic.

PS: this is it for now – but I’m sure there will be a part 4 sometime in a few months.

The post So I got an electric car – part 3 – the future appeared first on Pixel Studioz.

Now I don’t know whether this fake-hack was successful for MTV/BET (which just happened a day later), nor do I care. I’m not the target audience for either network, nor am I a follower. Typically, if I see something out-of-place in my feed, I check its validity, and block/report spam. However, seeing an out-of-place, out-of-tone tweet from an account I follow, made me pause. Now, normally I watch Colbert with a little delay (a day or two, whenever the episode is available on their site in entirety, especially if they have extra-long episodes). Occasionally, I watch live, when the guest is good, or when I happen to stay up late. So obviously, I didn’t see the show last night. Too bad – because, in his typical tongue-in-cheek way, Stephen not only faked the twitter hack, he also skewered the entire concept (which, by last night, was only 2 days old).

Now that’s timely and clever. Dunno where the concept originated, but it definitely went through Colbert’s writing room, and a bit, or a segment, was top notch. Of course, I’m seeing it now, the next morning, late to the game as usual. But as of last night, 11:40-ish, this was a cool, subversive, very timely TV sketch, that instantly went viral on web (or did it). Without the subtext of the show, a simple tweet in my feed, just before midnight, made little sense. And here’s the part where this campaign, or meta-campaign, or satire-campaign (whatever the true intent is) began to fall apart.

Colbert Report (and #colbertnation) is largely a satirical, counter-culture brand, with a sharp, young audience (4.6M is a nice following if you can get it). It can (and often does) jump quickly on memes, deconstruct them into the ground, or ride them to a viral sensation. In this case, the timing was impeccable, the audience match of Colbert and VH1 – maybe less of a fit – but the duration fails miserably. Apparently, the fake-tweets continued through the night, and are still going on Friday morning.

If Colbert airs M-R, why do the segment on Thursday night, and leave it be for the weekend? It’s much too long for a social campaign, and if anything, a stunt like that will result in bigger viewership for Colbert, not VH1. Why not do the hack Wednesday night, and just sit back and watch a bump in viewers on Thursday? That’s the goal, right? Immediate lift, short-term gains. Who cares if either Colbert or VH1 brands (on twitter at least) are tarnished or massively un-followed? That’s a whole separate discussion, and in a cold world of marketers, where ‘as long as they talk about us, who cares if it’s negative or positive’, that discussion doesn’t even belong.

So why leave this stunt for the last show of the week? And more importantly, after it became clear (to me – after 5th fake tweet, I’m slow like that ) that the hack was faked, and after I checked with the actual episode the next morning (staying informed is kinda critical) – why continue the charade? As far as I know, the fake tweets are still going out there, the sentiment around the fake #vh1classichack is getting more and more negative. What was clever and funny at midnight is no longer so – social media audiences are finicky and very impatient.

Don’t know if people are actually unfollowing or just threatening to – but the negative sentiment is going to stay. Some fans – got it right away. Others (like myself) arrived a little late. But it’s gone on too long, and the tone of both Colbert’s audience and the fake hashtag – have soured. Unless I’m missing some long-term counter-counter-culture meta-meta goal, I think this one was played a few hours too long.

Nevertheless, kudos for great timing, and great audience match (Viacom doesn’t have many brands that fit Colbert tone, and I understand why they needed to go outside of Comedy Central family to make a point). But this could have been done with half-a-dozen tweets, and some conclusion – referral, call to action, mock press-conference.

But it’s Friday morning, a slow news days, the tech blogs will no doubt talk about it, and the mass-media (constantly late to everything time-sensitive) will fill their headlines. Meanwhile, the audience that this was aimed at – has moved on. Give us the next meme.

As for the social media ninjas – ask yourselves what exactly were you trying to do? Deconstruct a meme while trying to build brand awareness, or take this thing so far that both brands lose edge and audiences? Unless of course you find the 20th fake-tweet from an orchestrated marketing campaign either cool, or informative.

Maybe I’m wrong here?

UPDATED: merely 30 minutes after I posted the above (wow, timing is really tight on the webs), @stephenAthome has ‘regained’ control of his twitter account. The bit is over. The campaign has completed. Now what? Count followers? Unfollowers? Track the uptick in VH1 programming? Wait for Monday evening to see if Colbert Report does a callback bit? I’m curious to find out the metrics, and the goals of this. But so far – looks like it cost Colbert some cred and edge. Even though it was intended as satire.

The post Stephen Colbert’s Fake Twitter Hack appeared first on Pixel Studioz.

Well, it’s Sunday afternoon, I’m catching up on the week’s reading, and decided to check out the app. Indeed, the setup is very intuitive, it quickly connects to existing FB/TW accounts, allows you to follow people you may know, so you can instantly build a little network of followers/fans. And it starts you up with a little how-to tutorial, you make a video, or rather, assemble together a collage of short clips, give it a description, some hashtags and (similar to Instagram process) hit ‘upload’.

And this is where the app lost me.

It is now Sunday early evening, and I’m still hitting ‘upload’. I’ve restarted the app, came closer to my WIFI spot, made sure that I’m not streamling/downloading anything from the computer – you know – to make the upload of a 0.6MB video file a little faster – to stop seeing the bloody ‘upload failed’ message. No luck.

Disappointed at my fate of never meeting any cool video-making people online, I went online to see how these clips actually look in browser, and guess what – they are not loading either. Now I’m sure that it’s just a capacity issue, first weekend, early adopters, and initial curiosity wave of users. Add to that the media’s ridiculous reports that (GASP!) some people are able to upload rather lewd and inappropriate clips onto the Vine network. Naturally, there will be increased interest in both the app (Apple is notorious for removing apps that allow 18+ material to be easily posted and found), and its content.

But c’mon – it’s a 568KB file. I already emailed it to myself and saw it on my desktop. It’s just not the same. I want my brilliant video creations to be seen by millions (okay, a few dozen) followers, so what gives?

Upload failed? Just how many people are on this platform already? Who miscalculated the server load?

… Ok, rant over. As soon as the platform stabilizes, and I’m able to share vids instantly (as the app intends), I’m surely going to revise this post, and make it into another glowing, positive review of a new social platform. Because, if you think about it – a 6-second video clip can be quite informative, emotional, effective. And I can certainly play around with some of my home videos to put together a nice collage to share with the world. It’s too bad my WIFI and Vine servers cannot upload my massive 568KB #firstpost.

To be updated…

It’s been over a week, VineApp has released a few updates, and I’m FINALLY able to easily upload and share my precious videos:

He’s either saying ‘hi’ or ‘feed me’ or ‘leave me alone’ vine.co/v/b1pEJuzLHLO

(@beniaminov) February 3, 2013

And now that the upload issues have been resolved, let me take back some of the above, and admit that indeed, once it works ‘as advertised’, the app is very cool. I do wish they added a few tweaks to it – and I’m sure they will be released shortly:

1. allow to upload from phone’s media library. Just in case your last upload failed, or you recorded something earlier and couldn’t share at the time. I UNDERSTAND the concept is to share what’s immediately happening to the user: tap -> record -> upload, but the app will have a much wider appeal if people can upload previously recorded clips

2. give me a basic, simple video-clipping tool. This leads is a massive (content+revenue) opportunity. I want to take a massive 2-3 minute video from my library, and easily (tap, swipe, hold, tap) reduce it into a 6 second clip and share it. I believe this is the future of the app, but the tool needs to be VERY easy to use. This is where brands/publishers can jump on that functionality and add VALUABLE content, and not just some hand-held footage of approaching trains and meowing cats (ahem)

3. to attract the hipster crowd, add some video effects. Yes, you’re replicating Instagram, and yes, there will be criticism. But admit it – Instagram took micro-blogging to a whole new level – got massive following, and just-as-massive buyout. Twitter missed out on that opportunity, and just to keep the social platform scales in balance – should not be coy about replicating the last-great-thing. Just add some video filters. I don’t care what they are. It’s for ‘cool kids’ – it will grow the audience, and again, can simplify video production, and sharing – for all.

4. stop focusing so much on the 17+ issues. Yes, Vine has adult content on it – so does twitter, instagram, path, facebook, g+, tumblr, pinterest and any other social platform. You give people an ability to share something, the first thing they do is show off their genitals. It’s stupid (and rather reckless), but we’ve seen it all before. You can filter it and flag it. You can report abusers and either delete that content, or isolate them in their own ‘x-rated’ sections. But you can’t weed them out. And the longer tech blogs focus on that issue, the more of a distraction this will be for Twitter and Vine engineers and programmers. You have something really neat on your hands, don’t waste time walling it off from adult content, make it more usable for EVERYONE, and deal with filtering later.

I see the latest version of VineApp has the ability to ‘report’ inappropriate material. I hope it puts all those tech bloggers to rest, and I look forward to more features in this platform. It’s really powerful – in both content-sharing, and monetization aspects. And it’s very cheap to get into it – whether you’re an amateur filmmaker, or an advertiser looking for non TV outlet for your visual creations. Or, like me, you just want the world to see your cat meow

Well done!

The post Some premature thoughts on Twitter’s Vine appeared first on Pixel Studioz.

Well, here comes the most surprising discovery – which didn’t hit me until I was behind the wheel for a few weeks. How ballsy it was for Nissan to take a risk and build a Leaf. Essentially, they designed a car that goes against most tenets that the car industry has been focusing on all these years. No engine. No transmission. No gas tank. No exhaust pipe. Think about how many parts DID NOT have to be made to get this off the assembly line. Think about how many traditional auto jobs were NOT required to make this happen. Think of the trips to the garage I DO NOT have to make. Yes, as a consumer, I’m happy. No oil changes, no leaks, no wasted weekends in my father’s friend’s garage tweaking something or replacing a part (that would cost me more if I went to my “own” dealership). But as a member of an industry (that’s currently in trouble), it’s admirable for Nissan to stand out and say – no, we’re not doing hybrids, and we’re not adding more parts and mechanics to our product. We’re simplifying it. We’re putting in technologies that our customers want (more on that later), and we’re removing oil dependency altogether. No. Fucking. Oil. That’s brave. Risky – but also very, very brave.

Instead, Leaf comes with tons of tech improvements which – while not groundbreaking – are usually reserved for luxury vehicles, or included at an extra $ cost. Small things – like GPS, and a regularly-updated map of nearby charging stations. Things like XM radio, Bluetooth and USB charging/playback functionality. Again – you see these on most cars today – but included ‘out-of-the-box’? Ready-to-use? Things like rear-view camera, programmable garage opener, heated seats and even a small solar panel on the roof. As a person trying to save money on a new vehicle, I probably wouldn’t be looking for these features, but they’re already included, and they’re oh-so-convenient, and intuitive.

The dashboard itself is another well-designed element that slowly reveals its purpose. The biggest number on it is obviously, the speed at which you’re going. That much is clear – you always need to know how fast you’re going. In fact, the speed/current time indicators are physically separated to the very top of the dashboard. But the second-biggest number on the screen (and it’s positioned just off-center to the right), is your range. And this is where Leaf (or any electric car, for that matter) is showing off its true potential and capacity. That number slowly goes up when you drive downhill, or are stuck in a stop-and-go gridlock. That number also quickly shrinks as you floor the gas pedal, while having all windows open, with AC at full volume, climbing uphill. It basically encourages you to drive better. Drive slower, use AC wisely, avoid unnecessary accelerations. It gradually, but visibly, changes your driving patterns. It’s one thing to know (somewhere in the back of your mind) that going under speed limit is not just a safer way to get around, it’s also fuel-efficient. But it’s completely different when it’s in your face. When that range indicator is staying unchanged, even if you know you already traveled more than 1-2km – it’s a cool feeling. And when it suddenly goes up, you begin to realize that indeed this is the new tech, a new way of driving. More responsible, more efficient. Greener. Yeah, the naysayers can just dismiss it as ‘slower’ driving, but the constant visual encouragement of optimal driving habits is right there, on the dashboard.

Don’t get the wrong impression – Nissan Leaf can ‘go fast’, and is quite responsive if you’re in regular drive mode (btw, there are only three driving modes – Reverse, Drive and Drive-Eco; self-explanatory). It is quite comparable to Civics, and Altimas – the torque is impressive. Especially since the car is so light. But if the whole purpose of the car is to be efficient, why drain the battery? You CAN go further, when you just slow down. And when you’re stuck in traffic and not moving – you’re not burning any fuel. You’re not idling and poisoning the air around you.

So, I’m driving around with my nose up these days, getting some approving nods from other drivers, and occasionally turning heads at intersections. Who knew, it would take a small, efficient, compact car to get noticed these days? Whatever happened to muscle cars and roaring engines to get impressed looks at red lights? Of course, as I (re)write this in the middle of a (Canadian, snowy) winter, likely most of the strange looks are of surprised disbelief – an electric car – in this weather – in Canada?!? But hey, it’s still worth it. I initially dismissed the cold-weather issue, and indeed, the battery charge does seem to be draining faster when it’s -15C outside. I was warned about it during the sales pitch. But even at a reduced range, I’m still capable of getting all my family members around, and come back home to recharge at night, and it’s still costing me pennies compared to gas prices today. Let’s see if in spring the battery capacity goes back to where it was.

So this is the present – saving 50-80 bucks a month (it not more), burning no gasoline, fewer trips to the garage, quiet car, super-convenient gadgets and turned heads. I still get around everywhere I need, and burn no fuel to do that. Occasionally, I rent cars for long-range, out-of-town weekend drives. I regularly check the map of charging stations, to see if I can make longer trips, with a couple of re-chargers along the way. The network is growing … slowly (more on that later). I’m living in the futuristic world, free of ‘terrorist oil’, courtesy of ‘our allies in the region’. Or am I? Part 3 is coming up – about the actual future for this type of transportation.

The post So I got an electric car, part 2 – the harsh reality appeared first on Pixel Studioz.

I envisioned this post to be a part of a series, so bear with me. Right off the bat, a quick disclaimer. This is not a sponsored post, nor is it supported by any company or individual. I’m not getting kickbacks, or perks. I’d like to – but that’s not what this is about. I just wanted to share my personal thoughts on driving (and owning) an electric car in Toronto, Canada. I should have posted this story months ago – but kept pulling out – there were many reasons. Regardless, better late than never.

So here we go – I got a Nissan Leaf a few months ago – back in May 2012. A fully electric vehicle, no stinky gas tank, no loud engine, no expensive transmission, no tailpipe. End of story, right? Actually, there’s a bit more to that. For me, it was a decision a few years in the making, and sadly – after having multiple chats about it with family members, friends, co-workers, neighbors – for some of you, seems like a decision you simply refuse to even consider. So let me try to convince you to take a closer look at electric cars. Let me sell you. At the very least, make you chuckle a little.

There’s always a back-story

I almost bought into the hype of hybrids back in 2008, when it was time to return back the ol’ Civic, and move up to something bigger. My family’s just grown to 4.0 units (not counting the cats), and Toyota Prius was all the rage. Sleek-looking, quiet, full of wonderful new technology that allowed you to … gasp … charge the battery as you were slowing down for red lights, converting that kinetic energy in brakes into an electrical charge. Spend enough time in a morning commute, and you have a few extra kilometers in the evening. Use less gas, save the environment, feel pretty good about yourself. Sounds like a win-win solution. The future. And I almost got that Prius, except the difference in price (even after heavy Provincial and Federal incentive discounts) did not add up. And the extra battery in the back of the car, filling up a third of the trunk – did not impress. With a new baby on board, a more expensive car, which I would still need to fill up (albeit, about 30%-40% less frequently) would just be too much to take on. No matter how cool, and efficient the Prius was, that was not the financial decision I could afford make at the time. So I passed – after a lot of arithmetics (with and without some very patient car salesmen). And I went with a roomier Nissan Altima. All four of us fit in there nicely, the extra horsepower helped us get around faster, further, and more often. And as for the bigger tank – well, that only became an issue a couple of years ago – when gas prices over 1.20/L became the norm. But most surprisingly, luxury SUVs started polluting the streets of Toronto and my suburban streets. Either all my neighbors suddenly became rich, or stopped looking at their car maintenance costs. Something was wrong with that picture. I knew I was spending more on gas – and I was convinced that bigger, roomier cars guzzled even more. But they were everywhere – what was I missing?

Time to change

So when the time came to part with the Altima earlier this year (ahem, last year – this post has been ‘in draft’ for over 8 months), I decided to do a little homework. Yes, I could replace a mid-size vehicle (remember, all 4 family members are now a little older, a little heftier, and going back to Honda Civic days was now just a dream) with something similar, in the $350-400/mo range, and be stuck with the same routine. Fill up every week, a tank of 70 or so litres (that’s about 90 bucks or more), or try something different. Try to change the routine, change the game. I remember when Nissan Leaf and Chevy Volt came to Toronto in fall of 2011. There was a lot of brouhaha (did I really just use that word?) about the next generation of cars – completely tank-free, and emission-free – and a few happy early customers drove away in sleek, compact new cars. There was also a talk of Mitsubishi selling electric cars. So I decided to follow up. My trip to a Chevy dealership was pretty quick. Volt is a great little car, but it compromises its range for more room. And it does have a gas tank. So it`s still a hybrid. You`re still using gas. Kudos for adding the many-many efficiencies, but it won’t get me far. Definitely kudos on marketing itself as an electric car The visit to Mitsubishi was also very brief. Car was too small. Affordable, really cute, but we’d have to actually lose weight as a family, and I wasn’t ready for such drastic measures just to get a cheaper car ride. I’m fat, get it?

Don’t even get me started on the transit option. I live in Maple, a suburb of Toronto. I do regularly (and happily) use the train to get to work, but things like shopping, family visits, movie nights – out of question. Bus routes are so few, and so poorly mapped, I can only rely on GO Transit – and it only has two lines in my vicinity. Both going North-South. Yep, Toronto is a world-class-city, when it comes to transit. But that’s a rant for another day.

So back we went to Nissan, and had a few test-drives. I admit, I planned these test-drives strategically. First, with my 7-year-old (who was instantly impressed with it – well, it’s a small space, lots of buttons, he can charge it all by himself, and knows his way around the dashboard – he was sold on it instantly; the sad reality is that I know a few grown men who make their car-buying decisions based on shiny buttons, bluetooth capabilities, and back-lit dashboards). The next test-drive was with my wife, and this is where the practical mind prevailed. How much? No, really, all-in, how much? So here are the numbers, to (hopefully) win you over.

Those pesky numbers

Nissan Leaf, even after all the discounts and incentives, would still cost around $600/mo. That’s about 240 bucks more than we had paid before – but add up the zero dollars spent on gas – literally zero – there’s nowhere to put it – and suddenly the car is beginning to look like a practical, actually, efficient vehicle. Of course, you still need to charge it up – either at home overnight, or in-between destinations, on the road. Currently the road charging stations are mostly free. Some government buildings install them, some parking lots. You pay for parking, but the plug-in is free. So the costs for that are minimal. And the home charging – after a few months of getting into the groove – add up to $30/month. A far cry from the weekly $90 payments to the oil companies. The car is more expensive up front, but a lot of invisible, assumed costs are near nil. Another pleasant surprise was finding out that insurance on it would be about 20% cheaper. After all, it’s a smaller car – but any savings are welcome. So all-in, dollar for dollar – an electric car is cheaper to maintain than a gas alternative (for similar package). And yes, we do drive quite a bit – but more about this later. So at the end of the day, I’m not just feeling good about my (non-existent) environmental impact and the (doomed) future I’m ensuring for descendants (he-he-he). I’m actually spending less on getting around.

After a few rather interesting weeks, we’ve checked the bills, checked our schedules, and were surprised. The math adds up, the family fits, the car is sleek and silent. It really is a cheaper alternative, and somehow we don’t miss the weekly trips to the gas station. So why didn’t I brag about it back in May? Come back in a few days for part two – the reality of driving an electric vehicle. Things do get interesting once you’re behind the wheel of a Leaf.

The post Driving an electric car, part 1 – it’s about time appeared first on Pixel Studioz.

The post Twitter Weekly Updates for 2012-10-14 appeared first on Pixel Studioz.

Guess the artist – early Tim Burton or my 4-year-old? The answer might surprise you http://t.co/WEZSli5k #

Sure, first stop selling ads on CPM model RT @vangerwen Stop f*#!ing paginating websites. http://t.co/subkLYsg… #

constant drinking helps RT @kelkord: How do parents not just die from constant worrying? #

but i just need 3 or 4 RT @SAI: Ranked The Only 11 Smartphones Worth Buying Right Now $VZ $T $DT $S by @stevekovach http://t.co/NFCjf7ck #

The post Twitter Weekly Updates for 2012-10-07 appeared first on Pixel Studioz.

My grandpa beat prostate cancer a few years ago. He was a tough bird, but complications from injections, and the side effects from the many meds he took resulted in his heart weakening, so he had a stroke. And even though he continued fighting it, and restored most of his functions, he was just too old to recover, so we lost him. Two years ago this May. Technically, his heart gave out, but I’d like to think that it was cancer that started the long, painful domino-effect collapse. So, to begin with, fuck cancer.

Then there was grandma. She stood by and supported Grandpa through his ordeal, and didn’t even show a hint of weakness. All was hunky-dory, upbeat, ready to take on the world – her typical attitude. Even after he was gone, she was a pillar of strength and leadership in the family. And then, one day, we found a growth in her lungs. Mere seven months later she was gone, dissolved into a mess of tumors. That was Thanksgiving 2011. I remember exactly what I was doing when I took that call – apple-picking with my wife and kids. I love apples. Haven’t been to that farm since. Irrational, of course, since the farm is not to blame for anything. There might even be a lyrical ‘an-apple-a-day’ metaphor in this story somewhere, but let’s reduce the the argument to simple, short statements. So once again, fuck cancer.

Earlier this year, there was also a small fright with another close family member. Without going into much detail, it came out of nowhere, blasted the gastro-intestinal system into near oblivion, but we managed to recover that person and avoid another loss. For now. So in this case, don’t you fucking dare, cancer.

But it’s not all gloom and doom – there is a cancer survivor in our family, and she’s been kicking ass ever since her ‘second’ birthday. The only reason she’s with us today is early detection and treatment. The others – were just too old to manage the recovery properly, or just didn’t bother to check in early. Which brings me to Movember. You know, that gimmicky month-long event when men grow their mustaches for prostate cancer awareness and campaign for early detection. Actually, the campaign has recently expanded to include ‘men health’ in general, but at its roots, it’s about early detection of cancer. And you probably know what comes next – I’m looking for a few guys (or girls) to join the team, and let it grow wild for a month.

It’s silly, it’s irreverent, and I believe it’s the right way to battle cancer – with terrible facial hair experiments and juvenile prostate puns. We raise some money for a good cause, make fun of our unruly hair, encourage people to get checked early and often, and we take lots of pictures along the way. Do not believe me – take a look at some past shenanigans. And if you don’t want to do it specifically for cancer, do it for a man in your life. For your husband, brother, father. For whatever ails him, whatever you can prevent – it’s your choice. Find your goal, and focus on that person. Change that life.

Who’s with me? Ping/email/dm/fb/tw, or whatever else you young kids do these days. Clicking right here is another good route. Or, you can just walk over to my desk, dear co-worker, and say ‘I’m in’. Think of it – no shaving for a month! Join me for Movember this year, and bring along your cameras. Gonna be a lot of fun. And cancer can go fuck itself!

UPDATE: apparently my Movember profile removed all the photos from previous years, which means I gotta do a retrospective. Stay tuned for a photo collage. And join my team already.

The post Movember 2012 – call for participants appeared first on Pixel Studioz.

congrats @DouglasThomson @presentingmrfox on your @NatMagAwards appointments! I would call that an inside track. So thanks in advance #

had a lovely little Caribbean extra-long weekend. thanks @groupontoronto, @digicelGroup @appletonEstate for ensuring my state of … calm #

The post Twitter Weekly Updates for 2012-09-30 appeared first on Pixel Studioz.

The Voice of Toronto approves this message RT @pattonoswalt Oh that's right, Toronto is an amazing city to do comedy in. #JFL42 #

however, it is very bad news for my swimwear #

Shana Tova to all our Jewish friends. Have a peaceful year, plant some trees, respect your mothers. Also, something about honeyed apples #

The post Twitter Weekly Updates for 2012-09-23 appeared first on Pixel Studioz.