Star Wars: Tech Museum @ San Jose

For all you Star Wars fans, check out San Jose's Tech Museum Star Wars Exhibit. Pretty awesome stuff with life sized models used in the filming of the original Star Wars series and fun tidbits.

Click the link to see all 88 photos.

Star Wars Museum San Jose, a set on Flickr.

Today I Learned How To Make A Gif

Fun at Sawyer Camp Trail :)

A Look Inside Facebook's Campus, Part 2

Are you a Pirate, Ninja or Jedi Master? Another cool piece of art at Facebook's HQ

Part 2 of 2. See Part 1 here.

This is the second of a two-part article about my visit to Facebook's headquarters in Menlo Park, California. I must say that it's pretty impressive. I can't think of many other companies, (maybe Google but I've never visited them), that offer the same level of benefits and perks. 

The Food

Sweets Store
Baked goods, ice cream and froyo...all free. I'd gain 100 pounds if I worked here. Seriously. I imagine that the people who work here have developed some sort of internal mechanism to avoid eating ice cream and brownies every day. 

Facebook has a lot of  free food on campus

A Look Inside Facebook's Campus, Part 1

Map of Facebook's Campus

Part 1 of 2. See Part 2 here.

I had the opportunity to visit Facebook's campus and I must say that it's pretty impressive. I can't think of many other companies, other than Google (from what I've heard), that offer the same level of benefits and perks. I took some unprofessional pictures (all on campus) to try and show off what I saw, but I didn't want to be too much of a burden for my host, Chiao. 

Facebook campus panorama

ad:tech San Francisco 2013 Key Learnings

Pandora's Keynote

Technology is changing the way that people behave and at the same time, forcing a change in how brands try to distinguish themselves from the herd. Think about this: When was the last time you clicked on an online banner or even remember what banner was shown? I think I intentionally click on one banner a month and I probably views thousands of web pages. I sat through a few sessions and keynotes and I've highlighted the most interesting parts below.

The recurring themes that were communicated by various panelists were as follows:

·         Old school online advertising, like banners ads, have lost much of its effectiveness

·         Brands must be experts at storytelling

·         Marketers must learn to tap into advocates or influencers (not the same thing) when trying to build their communities

ad:tech Digital Marketing Conference April 9-10, 2013

[Update: Exclusive OddBubbles ad:tech coupon code at end of article]

The next tech conference on my list to attend is ad:tech San Francisco. If you're wondering what the show is about here is what they have on their site:

"ad:tech is the leading digital marketing event for marketing and technology professionals from all over the world – a marketplace for buying and selling, a community for networking, a forum for exchanging ideas and an opportunity for contributing to industry trends and initiatives."

There are a lot of sessions that can help shed some light on how to better understand upcoming tech trends and I've highlights a few below:

Moving To San Francisco From Montreal: Cost of Living Comparison

I haven't posted in a while because of all the craziness: I moved to San Francisco from Montreal, Canada.

I wanted to share my thoughts on some basic costs for those who want to move here. First of all, I come from Montreal, Quebec, and I have to tell you that the cost of living in la belle province is significantly lower than the rest of Canada. I hear rent in Vancouver and Toronto is extremely high ($2,000 for an average one-bedroom apartment) so the shock of moving to San Francisco might be lessened if you're from one of those cities.