Elfster at GEL 2009
By Jeff Johnson | Published June 23rd, 2009I recently attended Good Experience Live – or GEL – hosted by Mark Hurst in New York City. GEL is very hard to describe, but suffice it to say, it’s a gathering of like minded people who focus on delivering good experience to their users, their customers, their families, their world around them. When such talent gathers together it’s very interesting what comes up and what ideas are shared. Mark has posted several of the presentations from the past several years on his website, and I wanted to share some of the videos that I have found interesting, informative, or just plain fun. There were some VERY good presentations this year and I will share them when they become available. One presentation this year by the founder of Treehugger.com has actually even gotten me to go vegetarian since the conference. There really is some powerful stuff here. We hope you enjoy a small tasting.
“The Bubble Project”
Is it graffiti? Is it smart advertising? Ji Lee’s Bubble Project has turned “bubbling” into a verb much like Google has done for search. Communities are popping up around the country and around the world for people doing their own bubbling. This is a very interesting take on how we need to look at media differently in a new age of advertising, how interactive advertising can be far more interesting and engaging than traditional print campaigns and how people want to be more involved with the images around them.
Ji Lee at Gel 2006 from Gel Conference on Vimeo.
Elf Wanted : Software Engineering Internship
By Peter Imburg | Published June 2nd, 2009We are seeking an Elf that wants to get busy in our digital workshop! Do you know anybody that likes to have fun and make cool stuff? Please pass it on!
SOFTWARE ENGINEERING INTERNSHIP at ELFSTER:
Part time or full time.
LOCATION:
Telecommute & Company Headquarters, Jack London Square, Oakland, CA
INTERNSHIP DESCRIPTION:
The software engineer intern will be immersed in a world of professional development working directly with seasoned engineers. You will have an opportunity to learn and understand how a distributed, multi talented team collaborates to build great software.
A great engineer is like a great elf. They take pride in their work, are committed to excellence and improvement in everything they do, and know how to work well with others. A passion for building great things will get you far and your internship at Elfster will help tap that passion while setting you up for a rewarding future in product development.
FUNCTIONS:
The software engineer intern will collaborate on design and implement technologies to delight Elfster’s 1,000,000 + user base.
• Research and create proof of concept “spikes” of potential technologies for integration into the Elfster system.
• Implement new features and enhance existing technologies.
• Potential application aspects include:
o Social networking apps and plug ins (e.g. Facebook Apps/ Facebook Connect),
o Mobile technologies (e.g. IPhone Apps),
o Browser plug-ins, Bookmarklets
o Core web site development.
QUALIFICATIONS:
We are looking for the most promising candidates. Candidates will have the following qualifications:
• Entrepreneurial spirit.
• Excellent academic record.
• Current college undergraduate students or graduate students in computer science or related experience.
• Passion for superior product design.
• Humility, integrity, passion, and a self-starter attitude
• Experience with some of the following technologies: HTML, Javascript, AJAX, Relational Databases, C#, Java, IPhone SDK, Facebook Applications, Twitter API, JSON, REST, SOAP, Internet Gaming
ABOUT ELFSTER:
Gift-giving 2.0 – Elfster provides fun and easy tools for group gift giving, like Secret Santa. With 1 million visitors over the past year and traffic doubling each year since our launch in 2004, Elfster is on a mission to help people experience the joy of giving, one of the most basic and essential human interactions. Oh yeah, and we love to have sneaky fun, too!
APPLICATION:
Please email your resume and cover letter to intern@elfster.com. In addition, please tell us your favorite site on the web and explain why you love it.
Comment on Wish Fullment w/ Facebook
By Peter Imburg | Published May 26th, 2009Today we have just made available “Facebook Connect” on the Elfster Blog, Wish Fulfillment. What is this and why would you care?
If you are not a Facebook reader, stop reading now, this won’t help you!
But if you are a Facebook user, here is the scoop. With Facebook Connect you don’t have to enter any personal information to comment on the blog. You can simply click the “Facebook Connect” button and then confirm, and you will instantly be ready to comment.
In addition, you can display your Facebook profile photo right next to your comment.
We are just testing things out, so please give it a try and let us know what you think. Depending on how smoothly things go, we may incorporate Facebook Connect registration into our main site, elfster.com.
Thanks for checking back and as always, big thanks for being a great elf!
Hello Twitter, From Wish Fulfillment!
By admin | Published May 16th, 2009We are now using the very handy Word Press plug-in WP To Twitter to publish all the Elfster Blog, Wish Fulfillment, posts to twitter. You can see all our posts on the elfster twitter page, follow us there!
Colbert Continues to Fight War on Christmas Off Season
By elfster | Published May 7th, 2009We’ve got to hand it to Stephen Colbert whose Cinco de Mayo show (about 3o seconds into the show) kept up the pressure on the war on Christmas. You may recall this war from “A Colbert Christmas” show last November. Here’s a classic clip with Toby Keith.
| The Colbert Report | Mon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
| A Colbert Christmas: Preview – Toby Keith | ||||
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You Don’t Have to Be Irish to be a Leprechaun
By Mary Ann | Published March 12th, 2009Everyone should be a leprechaun at least once in their life.
Leprechauns are cute. They are clever. And they are, well, let’s face it, rich. Do you know what a pot of gold is worth today? At $900 per ounce, I figure that even a smallish leprechaun who wants a mobile pot of gold that he can carry from rainbow’s end to rainbow’s end would be worth at least $350,000. That would be tax free. Even now, Obama may even be considering a new economic plan called “Operation Lucky Charms.” But, you didn’t find out about it here.
Many famous people have aspired to be leprechauns. If you were anywhere near New York City in the late 1970s to the late 1980s, you may remember the city’s Mayor, Ed Koch who marched in every parade and declared himself to be of the proper heritage that the day called for. He became Puerto Rican, Italian, African American, Chinese and Irish. I really think his favorite parade was on St. Patrick’s Day. Underneath that kelly green scarf and fisherman’s sweater was a heart of gold and a pot of green. Or maybe it was the other way around. No matter, the Irish-Jewish brogue brought tears of joy to many eyes, proud we were of our diverse city.
Today in a culture that celebrates ethnic pride, why not take advantage of the great mutli-cultural opportunity and be proud of the traditions that others bring? Even if you aren’t a leprechaun or even Irish, you can celebrate and take ownership of this proud heritage that brought us the gift of gab, Tammany Hall, corned beef and cabbage, and Raindance. Oh, and the color green. Before the Irish came to America, everyone here had to make do with puce.
In truth, positive Irish contributions to American culture include special success and innovation in the fields of journalism, sports and entertainment. The “fighting spirit” of many Irish Americans, as well as their gift with words has contributed tremendously to the greatness of this country. What better way to acknowledge our own American heritage than by celebrating one of the many cultures that helped to shape it? Our first president was Irish (George Washington, in case you forgot). Other famous Irish-Americans include Gene Kelly, Henry Ford, Georgia O’Keeffe, F. Scott Fitzgerald and of course Ed Koch, former Mayor of New York.
So why not dust off that tie with the clover all over it or that pair of green acid washed jeans hanging in the back of your closet. See, it is okay to admit you always wanted to be a leprechaun.
Elfster Survey Results and Winner
By elfster | Published February 19th, 2009If you’re reading this post, there’s a good chance you got a message from us last month asking you to take our user survey. We were really amazed at how many of you took the time to complete the survey and are greatly appreciative that you did so.
The survey helps us know if we are making you happy! After all, if we aren’t doing that, then what the heck are we doing here? You also gave us some great insight into the future Elfster that you would like to see. And we learned some good lessons on what we can do better.
Well now we’d like to share with you some fun facts from the survey!
- 73% said you participate in gift exchanges at Elfster because they’re just plain FUN.
- 9 in 10 of said you would *definitely* recommend Elfster to a friend.
- 82% said that you LOVED your gift!
- 3.6% said you did not love your gift. Doh! Now I know we can do better next time, come on everybody
I know there is probably something else you are wondering about. The iPod Touch! Everyone that completed the survey was entered into a drawing for a chance to win an iPod touch. With the help of the internet random number generator, we picked a winner! I am happy to announce that our lucky winner was David Ten Brink of Holland, Michigan.
Congratulations David and a big Elfster THANK YOU to all who took a little time to help shape the future of Elfster!