The times, they are a’ changin’, and therefore so are our favorite holidays. Halloween, with its costumes and over-the-top decorations, lends itself to technology (almost as well as Christmas).
CNN has a great round-up of some Halloween tech gadgets this year, including the Cylon Pumpkin (pictured above), amazing hydraulic angel wings, and a costume made of lights.
Over in Avon and Somerset, UK, the local police force will be tweeting for the evening, as they give tours of the jail and even if they arrest anyone.
Miriam Brown, Media Relations Officer for Somerset West will be out and about in Taunton with local officers, on Saturday night, making sure it is a happy rather than horrible Halloween for the residents of the town. She will be providing live updates of the evening via the police Twitter feed: www.twitter.com/aspolice
Chief Superintendent Yannis Georgiou will then be giving a live update of the evenings progress including any arrests. Miriam will be “Tweeting” on Twitter during the evening to update you with the evening’s progress, so follow the events while they happen by logging on to the Avon and Somerset Twitter page and following our Relentless event.
Don’t get arrested. They’ll tweet it.
You can, of course, come up with creative tech-related costumes. I personally think Mac and PC (from the ads) would be easy and hilarious, especially if you’re a two-OS household. (And that’s why I’m a geek.) A black turtleneck , jeans, and an iPod will transform you into Steve Jobs, even without the cash. Speaking of Steve Jobs, iPods/iPhones seem to be a popular costume,
Cheers!
Tweet Michelle @writetechnology, send her technology news at michelle[at]writetech[dot]net, visit her wine blog when you’re thirsty, and drop by her day job.
The Internet has made it hard for Santa to do anything in secret this year. In fact, it appears he’s teamed up with the good folks at NORAD to bring you a slew of ways to track him. (Santa has actually been working with NORAD since 1955.)
NORADSanta.org: The old standby. You can always track Santa online at the NORAD site. There are Panaramio photos for each of Santa’s stops (just click on the presents). You can even download a plug-in for Google Earth and track Santa in 3-D from your computer.
Twitter: This is perhaps my favorite Santa tracking application. Santa is busy driving the sleigh (don’t tweet and drive), but Bitz the Twittering Elf, apparently moonlighting at NORAD, is keeping everyone up to date on Santa’s progress. He’s even reassuring folks about potential puppy presents … In one tweet, he mentioned magic chimneys that instantly affix to your house. Bitz has a great sense of humor. You can find him @noradsanta.
iGoogle Gadget: You can add the Norad tracker as a gadget to your iGoogle page. Through the gadget you can watch videos and track Santa around the world.
Mobile: Google Maps for Mobile lets you track Santa by searching for “norad santa” on your mobile device.
Getting impatient? Tide yourself over by watching Santa’s flight from last year, conveniently uploaded to You Tube.
Have you found otherwise to track the jolly old elf? Were you one of the lucky 5,000 to friend him on Facebook? Leave your thoughts in the comments and have a wonderful holiday!
Hosted by Bub.blicio.us, AD-Village.com, Zinette Magazine, and S1 Management
12/2 11:19pm: SPONSOR LIST IS NOW FULL
12/4 11:18am: SEE NOTES BELOW RE: AFTERPARTY
Fa-la-la-la-la, where’s the holiday moolah?? Show me the money.
In the old days, it was “Let’s set aside $50 grand of our $12mm b-round and effen host a holiday party.”
While we WILL miss the carving station, Cirque du Soleil ballet dancers and gift baskets, we are in a borderline depression. Chin up ol’ sport!, because we are architecting a party — a holiday party where we make money, build awareness of our start-up and wow our partners and sponsors with 10x ROI on their $100-200 sponsorship.
Remember, anything worth doing is worth doing for money. Why should holiday partying be any different= We fully expect surprises to be laced between now and FRIDAY (yes, four short days away).
The party is Dec 5th, 7-9pm at Roe Restaurant (651 Howard St.) in San Francisco.
In the spirit of Holiday 2.0, it’s “Let’s make some moneyhosting a holiday party by inviting co-hosts like Brian Solis, Jackie Peters, Barney Pell, Sun Startup Essentials, Founders Fund, Involver.com, Yoono.com, and Rimon Law Group.
Because we are ZOMGmonetizing , we will invite you to come celebrate Holiday 2.0.
** Chiang SURVEY QUESTIONS: **
Should we tip, bribe, comp and tip bloggers to come?
Should we charge a $5 cover?
Should we charge a $15-75 cover to VCs?
Most likely you’ve seen this by now. But if you’re like me and were with relatives all weekend without access to the Internet, AND you missed the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade (I got through the 3 hour parade in less than an hour on my Tivo), you might have missed this.
The Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends (Cartoon Network) float rick-rolled the parade with, as Announcer Guy put it, “Rick Astley singing Rick-Rolling phenom Never Gonna Give You Up.”
When a good friend of mine, Kurt Daradics, gave me a call and asked if I would help him organize a tech holiday party, I have to admit, I was a bit reluctant – time has been a bit tight lately. But, when he shared his vision for connecting pioneers of 1.0 with the catalysts for 2.0 wrapped in a holiday theme, I was more than inspired to contribute.
On Thursday, December 11th from 5:00pm to 10:00pm, the Digital Family Reunion is uniting Southern California technology and business communities for the holidays at the Skirball Cultural Center. In association with some of the region’s top trade associations and real world social networks, the DFR will reignite old relationships, spark new alliances, and set the stage to kick off 2009 with a bright new hope and a headstart.
The DFR creates the optimum conditions for 1.0 + 2.0 to synergize with one another and inspire opportunities that will serve our industries, our region, and our society at large.
“If we knew how connected we all are, how would that change everything?”
Join us for this unique business networking event, which includes a leadership panel forecasting 2009, a conversation with the recipient of the DFR “Outstanding Achievement Honor”, promotion of an important non-profit initiative, showcase tables from over 25 technology associations and networking groups, entertainment and much more.
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=ccee916e-12f3-45a5-aaf1-1f5d5767ed94)
