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  • Wes Novack 2:08 pm on January 20, 2011 Permalink | Reply  

    I am a winner in the “I Want My Google TV” contest! 

    I am extremely PSYCHED to announce that I have been selected as 1 of 100 winners of the “I Want My Google TV” contest. Thanks to being selected as a winner, I now have a brand new Sony NSX46GT1 46″ LCD HDTV with Google TV on the way to my house.

    Contest placing and scoring

    My video submission landed me in 42nd place out of 100 winners (and thousands of entries). Not too shabby at all.

    The videos submitted to the contest were scored by a panel of judges on the following criteria :

    How original/creative/entertaining is the Video Submission?
    How well do you explain why you love Google TV?
    Why are you excited about watching YouTube videos on Google TV?
    How is the technical execution (e.g., Camera/Sound/Lighting/Editing)?
    Does your Video Submission inspire others to want to have a Google TV in their home?

    My I Want My Google TV contest submission

    Embedded below is my submission.

    The story behind my last minute submission

    I actually found out about this contest on the very last day (or the day before) that they were accepting submissions. Due to this, I didn’t have much time to come up with a good concept, do any fancy cinematography or do any editing. Nonetheless, even with these time constraints, I recognized that there was a good probability of winning if I submitted a video and adhered to the scoring guidelines as much as possible, specifically because they were giving out 100 prizes. I whipped up my webcam recorded video very quickly on the last night (December 22nd) that they were accepting submissions and fired it off to the contest.

    To be frank, I actually wasn’t very happy with my submission. I thought it was crude, poorly made and not very unique. Even so, you can’t win if you don’t apply, so I had to give it a shot and it paid off!

    Ye ole notary and document requirements

    On January 5th, I was notified by the Google TV contest team that I had been selected as “a Potential Winner or an Alternate”. In order to be eligible, I had to download three documents; (1) an Affidavit of Eligibility (2) an Entrant Release Form, and (3) a W9 Tax Form to file taxes and return them to the contest administrators by January 13th. The affidavit required notarization.

    I was actually out of town during this time frame, so I had to find a notary in unknown lands. I eventually found one via a UPS Store that was close to where I was staying, who popped me with a $10 notary charge. I wasn’t happy about that, but hey, it was worth it!

    I was also notified that I was a winner last week, but they asked us not to disclose that we won until the official announcement (today). I was so stoked that I wanted to announce it to everyone right away, but I awaited their announcement as requested.

    I’m really looking forward to my new Sony HDTV with Google TV. THANK YOU to Google, YouTube, Sony and everyone else involved in this contest!

     

    • Elizabeth 8:40 pm on February 3, 2011 Permalink | Reply

      That’s really rad about the TV. seriously. and great vid! very natural.

    • Kimberley 3:13 pm on February 5, 2011 Permalink | Reply

      Oh, snap! I didn’t even know about the contest. You took the very words out of my mouth, too. I am so excited about what’s coming down the pipe with Google’s synthesis with TV. Congrats, Wes!

      • Wes Novack 12:03 pm on February 7, 2011 Permalink | Reply

        Thanks Kimberley!

  • Wes Novack 6:46 pm on January 14, 2011 Permalink | Reply  

    My Life in DailyBooth Photos 

    Pummelvision is a handy new service that aggregates your photos from a specific source (such as Facebook photos your tagged in, Flickr, Tumblr, Dropbox, etc) and then generates a video that quickly flashes through all of those photos.

    I welcomed this service with open arms, as I had already planned to make a video of all my DailyBooth photos as a video experiment. Alas, when I first checked out Pummelvision, they did not support DailyBooth. Not one to give up easily, I emailed Pummelvision support and requested that they add DailyBooth support. A few weeks later, they emailed me thanking me for the suggestion and letting me know that DailyBooth is now supported. Check out my DailyBooth Photo montage video below!

    Thanks Pummelvision!

     

  • Wes Novack 2:26 pm on November 11, 2010 Permalink | Reply  

    Hot Air Balloon Ride in North Phoenix 

    Tera bought me a hot air balloon ride with Hot Air Expeditions for my birthday. We had a great time on the ride. Here’s some video of the experience.

    We really got lucky with the pilot and the balloon that we were on. Our pilot had the most flight hours logged in the entire country, he took us through the hills at low altitude, we were in the air longer than any of the other balloons, we flew the highest and our balloon flew farther than anyone else in our “fleet”. It was a ton of fun and I really enjoyed the experience as well as the views. I’d definitely do it again.

     

  • Wes Novack 12:17 pm on October 13, 2010 Permalink | Reply  

    Fruit & veggie smoothies 

    Lately, we’ve been making some fantastic fruit + veggie smoothies in the morning. We’ve both noticed a tremendous amount of energy & alertness after drinking these smoothies the first couple of days (almost like caffeine, but better).

    As far as the recipe goes, we’ve really been switching it up a lot, using whatever we have available. We like to use one banana, some berries (strawberries/raspberries/blackberries/blueberries), other fruit if available, some spinach or cruciferous vegetables (especially Kale, due to it’s high Calcium & micronutrient content), ground flaxseed, fortified rice or almond milk and ice.

    The use of large amounts of fruit and berries really masks the veggie flavor, so these type of smoothies should be enjoyable to just about anyone. The only one that we really haven’t liked was a smoothie that we decided to try brussel sprouts in. The brussel sprouts were a bit too overbearing in taste and we didn’t dig that one.

    From Tera:

    my recipe varies- for 2 smoothies

    usually use around 3 to 4 cups of spinach, 1 or 2 bananas, strawberries, blueberries, 1 peach, 1 pear, a little rice milk (fortified) and some ice. today I used 1 container of soy strawberry yogurt also.

    when we get a better blender I want to add some other veggies- like carrots =)

    and I’ll probably use some apples next time.

     

  • Wes Novack 5:24 pm on September 25, 2010 Permalink | Reply  

    Hat tricks: flipping, tossing & throwing 

    One fateful afternoon in West Valley City, Utah, two courageous souls decided to explore the possibilities of doing tricks with a hat. The result is the video embedded below. Enjoy.

     

  • Wes Novack 2:35 pm on September 9, 2010 Permalink | Reply  

    Talking Tom Cat app hits Android 

    The iPhone has long had a bunch of cool 3D animated cartoon character apps that you could speak to, and then the character will speak back (repeating your words) in their own voice.

    Now Android has some too. I recently tested out the Talking Tom Cat app from Outfit7 (available for free on the Android Market) and made a couple of videos for my wife Tera and my mom-in-law Kim. Check em out below.

    Talking Tom Cat does impressions for Tera

    Talking Tom Cat wishes Kim a Happy Birthday!

    Unfortunately, the options to “Share to YouTube” and “Share to Facebook” were broken when I tested it on my Motorola Droid running Android 2.2. Thankfully, the “Share via email” still worked, so I emailed them to myself and then manually uploaded the videos to YouTube. I’ve reported the issues to the Devs and hopefully they’ll be able to fix them soon.

    Do you know of another cartoon character app for Android that you like better? If so, let me know what it is!

     

  • Wes Novack 11:31 pm on September 4, 2010 Permalink | Reply  

    The Grobal Challenge 

    Grobal, a company who produces and sells self-watering pots for plants, recently made a call for participants in what they have dubbed “The Grobal Challenge“. The call to action stated that 25 people would be selected to participate in a contest that they were sponsoring.

    To apply to be a part of the challenge, fans were required to “Like” the Grobal Facebook page and then post something on the wall stating that they wanted to enter the challenge and why.

    I don’t know all the specific details of the challenge quite yet, but the premise is that Grobal is sending one Grobal self-watering pot to each of the 25 participants, who are asked to grow an indoor plant in their pot. Participants must then post weekly updates to the Grobal Facebook page wall over a period of 9 weeks to show their progress. One person will be selected to win an Apple iPad at the end of the challenge.

    Grobal also indicated that users who posted photos or video would have an increased chance of being selected. I believe that I was the only person to post a video to the Grobal wall, which I have embedded below.

    Since I was the lone applicant to actually submit a video, I figured my chances of being selected to be a participant were pretty high. I was right!

    I’m happy to announce that I have been selected as 1 of the 25 Grobal Challenge participants. I’ll be receiving my Grobal pot in the mail next week and I look forward to getting my new indoor plant growing! I’ve got my eye on that iPad prize too. :-)

     

  • Wes Novack 3:37 pm on July 30, 2010 Permalink | Reply  

    I love hummingbirds! Their insanely fast wings have amazed me since the first time I set my eyes on one of the speedy little birds flitting around in the air. Thankfully, here in Arizona, there are plenty of hummingbirds in my area to satisfy my craving to view their aeronautic acrobatics.

    To help me see even more of their amazing antics, I installed a hummingbird feeder on my office window. Below you can view one video of my home office window hummingbird feeder, with a bird visiting for a drink.

    Note: For a better view of the video, click the four arrows box icon to watch in full screen or watch it here on the full screen mode page.

     

  • Wes Novack 11:14 am on June 22, 2010 Permalink | Reply  

    Credit card price matching is back! 

    Starting August 2nd 2010, the Chase Freedom credit card will begin providing “price protection” or price matching, up to $250 per purchase. Get a refund for the difference in price – up to $250 – during the first 60 days after your eligible purchase.

    Stipulations:
    $1,000 per year maximum.
    You must save your receipts.
    You must file a claim with Chase.
    Price match claim must be to a printed store advertisement price.
    Internet prices not valid.
    Other restrictions apply.

    But even with these restrictions, it’s nice to see Chase offering this feature to Freedom card holders. My Chase Freedom card is my favorite credit card and I get hundreds of dollars in cash back from it every year. The new price matching feature is just icing on the cake.

     

  • Wes Novack 11:27 am on June 7, 2010 Permalink | Reply  

    Bite Nite charity event at Scottsdale Resort 

    Tera and I attended Bite Nite at the Scottsdale Resort and Conference center last Saturday night.

    Bite Nite is a charity event and fundraiser for the Arizona chapter of the ALS Association, who is working to find a cure for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.

    The Locals Only Phoenix show with Jenn Maggiore and Heather Long was recorded live at the event. Tera and I make an appearance on the show around the 00:20:40 mark. Check out the video below to see us on the show! Note: the video takes a minute or so to load after clicking play.

    If you have trouble playing the embedded video above, try playing it directly on the Ustream website instead.

    Thank you to Locals Only Phoenix and AZ ALS for hooking us up with tickets!

    I’d say the event was a smashing success. We had a fabulous time and they raised a lot of money to help fund research for curing ALS and for services for ALS patients in need.

    The event was made possible by many generous sponsors, but 5 valley restaurants were crucial, all who donated time, money and other resources to this great cause. Huge kudos to 5th and Wine, Oregano’s, Cien Agaves, Va Bene and Ling & Louie’s for their outstanding contributions.

     

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