If You Love Something Give It Away
I want to give away some iPod Shuffles. I’d like to give away at least one a month and possibly one every two weeks for the rest of 2005 if that’s okay with everybody. This isn’t some freeipods.com network marketing dealio… I just really want to give some Shuffles away.
The only problem is, I can’t think of a really inventive way to give them away right now. Earlier this year, I gave Isaac Lin and Jay Robinson an Apple Bluetooth Keyboard and a Wireless Mouse in a haiku contest that turned out great, so I may go that route again, but I’m thinking there might be a better way.
In light of my lack of creativity at the moment, I’ve decided that the very first iPod Shuffle will go to the person who comes up with the best way for me to give the rest of them away. Here are some considerations to keep in mind when coming up with your pitch:
- Each iPod Shuffle will essentially be purchased by me online and shipped as a gift to the winner, so the contest cannot involve me personally doing anything with the iPod such as looking at a serial number and making people guess it.
- Entries should be relatively quick to complete. A haiku is a perfect example. I don’t mind if they take a few hours or a few days to do, but nothing ridiculous please.
- Entries shouldn’t involve performing any illegal acts.
- Entries can involve the written word, photography, natural media, or any other creative outlet.
- I am open to this contest changing slightly with each round, so the entry criteria don’t need to be exactly the same every month or week.
- If your idea for this giveaway involves a novel use of the internet that I hadn’t thought of before, it is likely to win.
- If no idea turns out to be better than the haiku contest, I will stick with the haiku contest and award myself the first iPod Shuffle. Woohoo!
Change the city in your live header and make them guess which city it is.
How about a photo scavenger hunt, maybe with Flickr. Create a group, then once a week pick, say, 5-10 things to photograph. The first one to do them all wins, or maybe make it artistic and pick the set you like the best.
The nice thing with that is it’d be fun for everyone, not just the winner.
I think you could do something creative with your “currently reading” column. Perhaps you could say the first person that comes up with the common category or common theme among a list of twenty links wins.
You could also maKe it subtle, for example: a list of links containing a story about flickr and a story about livejournal would be about mergers/buyouts, that sort of thing.
How about best publicity stunt? ;O) Whoever gets your blog the most publicity wins (preferably a screenshot on national tv news) :O)
Howabout the most creative “shuffle”?
I personally am able to shuffle cards, my feet/shoes, songs (in iTunes of course)..
ok, maybe that’s not such a great idea - i’m at a loss after 3 suggestions… ;-)
Ok, another idea (this one is a little weird).
The most creative url’s that the first letter of each spell out the words “iPod Shuffle”. Each url has to have something to do with the iPod shuffle of course.
Ok, i’ve had too much red wine - feel free to delete this comment..
How about picking some (slightly less than) random site that can be reached by following links from your site and then asking everyone to tell you the correct path to get there.
A sort of treasure hunt via hyperlinks if you will.
I can’t think of any novel internet use, but limericks would be better than haiku’s. More words, more fun.
How about giving them away to the person who can most convince you that they don’t “get” Ipods?
If someone really doesn’t see why Ipods are so great, or really isn’t feeling the whole shuffle concept then perhaps they need one so they can find out.
People who actually want one can go out and buy one easily enough, but people who don’t want to buy one maybe just need the opportunity to try. If they don’t like it they could always send it back again.
First, i have to give it a try, Can i have one please? pretty please. I think you’re really great.
OK, so that probably didin’t work, so:
Secondly, How about some kind of “7 connections of Blogs”, where people find a link between two blogs (that are totally unonnected), that use links from 7 other peoples blogs? It could be interesting to see where people end up, or how far off topic they can go?
How about giving it to the best giver? So, the guy who delivers the most valuable tip/trick/photo/resource/software theme/insert_anything_here to community in given period, gets the prize.
A few ideas:
Post up 5 completely random and unrelated photos. Whoever comes up with the best short story (under 150 words?) utilizing all of the photos wins.
Same idea as above, but different! — Post up 5 pictures. Using google, and google images, we have to find a picture that contains all of those images(or elements of each image) in one. Tie goes to the person who comes up with the most interesting image (Of course no photoshopping or personal photographs allowed — URL’s to the image would have to be provided)
Caption games. You post up an unusual photo, and whoever comes up with the most interesting/funny caption wins.
Make people find images of for example cities whose first letters make up your name, shuffle or something else and then judge it byt the weidest cities, finest images or something like that combined.
I’ve been trying to think of ways to allow you to use your iPod-fu powers for Good, and perhaps even Awesome. Haiku contests are really cool, but if we’re going at it for a year, you might as well run something that advances the art and science of web design via some devious challenges. Some ideas:
1) JavaScript Golf! Similar to Perl Golf, the idea is to implement a script to perform a nominated task in the minimum possible bytesize. I suggest at least some of the tasks you pose be in the adding-features-to-IE6 department, much like Dean Edwards’ IE7 initiative, so we come up with useful tools afterwards. In that case, the rules would be that the winning script must be able to be dropped into a document via a SCRIPT SRC tag in the HEAD of the document without modifying the inline HTML in any other way, no JS errors must be generated or inducible, and the uncompressed/commented source code must be posted if you’re using a compression facility. The idea would be to eventually build a modular library of drop-in scripts that could be used individually or in combination to allow adoption of CSS2/3/etc capabilities with a minimum of overhead. However, feel free to pose whatever challenges you want :).
2) CSS Golf! Post an image of a layout (e.g. boxes, lists, etc) and provide some markup complete with IDs and CLASSes, Zen Garden style. The winner will be he or she who makes it render correctly in the latest release of Mozilla Firefox and Opera (being the two most popular cross-platform browsers) using the fewest bytes of CSS. No images or JavaScript are allowed. This should draw attention to good optimisation techniques and clever selector use…
3) JS/CSS Obfuscation ASCII Art! The winning code must perform a simple task, but also physically resemble a picture or phrase in block letters, based on the formatting within your source file. There are already many examples using server-side languages, but I’ve never really seen it done in JS or CSS… :).
Anyway, however you go about it, push designers a little and hopefully make ‘em come up with some new tricks and methods that add to the community’s knowledge!
How about coming up with a tagline for this site … your name sits up in the top right corner, so lonesome, it’s just crying out for a tagline?
How about a Tanka?
It’s a kind of haiku, but longer.
You could post a whole list of words, or better yet, point to a weblog or single post of someone.
Then we’d have to mix ‘n shuffle those words (not all of them, but enough) into something new, wierd and generally something totally different from the original.
Then the funniest/wierdest/most complicated would win.
Marko wrote:
I like that one. Then we give it to all the main contributors to that package. Mike, Shaun, Tomas, what do you guys say? ;-)
Okay, that probably won’t work. I do like story telling though. Might also be a good way for us webgeeks to do something else than designing or hacking. Mike gives us a theme, and we tell a story: either via photos, or words, or shuffled music… and then we store that on OurMedia!
(sorry for this, forgot to select the notify me checkbox…)
How about a Photoshop entry? Put the Shuffle into random movies but stick to the theme of the commercials. For example, one could Photoshop a Shuffle in the hands of Jackie Chan, but make Chan very dark with only a few details sticking out. Make him almost a black cutout, but with some detail. Keep the Shuffle white just like the commercials.
The funniest/coolest ones could be awarded every month.
Why not allow people to nominate a recipient? I don’t mean their best buddy but someone in their community or something, someone that would really appreciate it.
Example: My aunt who has recently been ill and is now wheelchair bound and can’t get out to concerts as much as she’d like, she spends a lot of time in her wheelchair and currently loves her portable CD player.
You could request photos as proof that the recipient has received it.
I lIke Keiths idea of using Flickr and doing some sort of photo scavenger hunt.
I’d be down for haiku’s about Croftie selling out ;) How ’bout I make you a widget that allows lurkers to subscribe to comments without having to make a comment and then you give me an iPod shuffle? Lame I know but I had to say something in order to subscribe to this thread :P
I don’t know - I personally like the haiku idea:
Love live the haiku
Dying arts need loving too
Elegance is bliss
Using such a form
Of ancient simplicity
For nerd gear is droll
How about haveing people take photos of their best rendition of an ipod shuffle made from food?
Name that tune: Post a painstakingly short clip of one of your favorite songs–see if anyone can recognize it. (Or, to play up the shuffle theme, make it a mega mix of 1-2 second clips from your ten favorite songs).
Let’s combine Haiku and Flickr. Each month (or however often) you pick an interesting photo from Flickr and all entries must write a creative haiku about that photo.
I agree with not having a design contest. Far too many of those and besides, do you really want to contribute to the devaluing of design?
;-)
(clicked the subscribe button)
Best playlist that parses as english.
For example:
“Waiting is the Hardest Part” Tom Petty,
“For Free” Joni Mitchell,
“I and I” Bob Dylan,
“POD” Bone Thugz and Harmony.
Have a book review contest. A twenty words or less review of a book that captures the spirit of the book. It could be off of a list you designate, or suggested by readers or everyone reviews the same book. Tons of variations for the twelve months needed.
To whoever first solves a riddle that you make up, or people could make a riddle in haiku form and the best one wins?
Photoshop contests are always entertaining, I like that Idea.
….. whoever can create the best web design using a few amount of elements, without letting the browser window scroll at all. Of course relating to the shuffle.
How about the most novel use sIFR in a production site or weblog? Kill two birds with one stone right there.
Perhaps a random idea, but one that I find sparks more debate than anything outside of politics or religion …
In 50 words or less, define what is (and is not) a sport. Your answer should make it (relatively) clear which of the following — among others — are or are not sports: stock car racing, boxing, bowling, golf, synchonized swimming, poker, ballroom dancing, ice skating, etc.
Mike judges the responses based on his own criteria, perhaps the winner is simply the most thought provoking. Clearly it’s a qualitative judgment, but that’s the point.
You could always take the haiku idea a step further and have:
HTML Haikus: Using HTML to creatively express yourself through the wonderful language we all know and love. Taking it further, there could even be plus points for validation! :)
CSS Haikus: Same concept as above, except letting CSS do all the talking for you.
How about using it as an award for most novel use of sIFR, as judged by a committee of experts, in a weblog or production site? You’d kill two birds with one iPod, so to speak.
Another twist on the haiku - require that each month’s entry be on topic for that month (would at least allow some sort of comparison). Another third grade idea would be to create an acrostic out of iPod Shuffle…
Of the above ideas, however, I like the “create a tag line for this site”.
Variation on a theme: how about a limerick contest? You choose the first line, suggest a theme, and then give the ipod to the person who best completes the limerick. There used to be a limerick contest at toastpoint.com - no prizes, but the best limericks would get gold stars. Tremendous fun - just what a contest should be.
Limericks require a bit of work on the part of the submitter, more so than haikus - but would be easy to judge. Look for limericks that best fit the theme and, above all, are funny. Give extra points for paying close attention to meter and rhyme. Limericks are fun to write and fun to read. When the contest is over, you’ll have a nice collection you can make a permanent part of the archive. Everybody wins.
I love Keith’s idea - the only difficulty being that doing the time zone math to figure out the FIRST first winner could be a full-time job by itself!
Hey, what is a haiku? A small poem?
If I’m allowed to write it in german I would love to participate.
Maybe you guys forgot there are readers who are not sitting in the USA, like me.
Why you don’t think about a global competition? It is the greatest opportunity of the Internet to lead people together from the whole planet. And i’m sure that nobody has a problem to share the shipping costs with you :-) )
However! My idea: Style your Shuffle. Create an iPOD-Tatoo. Tho greatest artwork wins.
How about one of those ‘zoomed in picture’ things. You know, where you zoom in on one portion of a photo, and have everyone guess what it is. Only, instead of a picture, you zoom in really tight on someones website. Only a few pixels at first, then if nobody guesses, you pull back a little.
It would be fun for everyone, and would get visitors to talk about the site used in the contest. Perhaps pick standards-based sites for charities??
Limericks. Limericks about sIFR.
Product/concept design…based upon the many past articles you’ve written around here regarding Apple. It could be anything as this is rather general, but it could be a piece of hardware, a software interface (for one of your imagined products or an invented product) or anything else a person can imagine.
As a backup, how about a competition to redesign the Microsoft logo. The brief though could include that Apple has bought them out after Longhorn goes terribly wrong… ;)
These are great…
I want to second the suggestion (#22) of a photoshop contest. How about involving politics/business, though? We could all grab our favorite leaders and CEOs at their most glamorous and chop in some shuffle-goodness…
Alternatively, how about a shuffle to the most original/elaborate/funny hoax website involving shuffles? (Think MAVAV here, people…) Extra points for actually registering the domain.
Me again.
Find a bug on “mikeindustries.com/blog/”! An iPod for the good guy who helps you to improve your website.
(I know two bugs here)
That photograph contest Keith proposed iss fine!
I like Angus Turnbull’s ideas - obfuscation or optimized programming for a given task is always a lot of fun.
What about the best “Where’s Durstan?” photo? Or perhaps, the best music recommendation (for music that you haven’t heard yet). Maybe you could present a CSS-related problem, and whoever fixes the problem or figures out a good workaround wins the prize? What about the most practical use of Ajax? Best Firefox extension or extension idea (for those who can’t or don’t have time to actually create an extension)? Just a few thoughts…
Idea 1: Give 3 or 4 colors… Give the RGB/CMYK values and see what people come up with when keeping with those colors - in web/illustration/Print medium/photography mediums.
Idea 2: Find a site (front page and one interior page) to redesign - working web url or mockup submissions.
Idea 3: Using typography to coming up with a desktop background. Give a subject (running, sleeping, parents, friends, Europe, America, etc.) and see what words/images/color people use to develop a desktop background.
Idea 4: An extension of Idea 3 — Desktop Calendar Creations… Winner’s for each month from May to December
I think a most fitting way to celebrate the Shuffle’s shuffly song scheduling shenanigans would be a ’song chain’ contest, where the last word of a song title becomes the first word of the next. You could tailor this to your particular fiendishness, for example one for 70s and 80s Europop might look like this:
Winner takes it all woman in chains of love plus one more night fever…
which comprises:
Winner Takes it All (ABBA)
All Woman (Lisa Stansfield)
Woman in Chains (Tears for Fears)
Chains of Love (Erasure)
Love Plus One (Haircut 100)
One More Night (Phil Collins)
Night Fever (Bee Gees)
You could then award prizes on the most inventive / most dense / longest etc.
(Editor’s Note: Mike, nice idea. But you’re disqualified for mentioning Erasure and “Chains of Love”.)
My first thought was that you should ask for suggestions for new music to purchase that you might not otherwise be exposed to. Whoever suggests the band, album, or track that you like best, wins. Bonus points if it’s available on iTunes.
Oh, and Neil, I believe that Haiku is the plural of Haiku.
in the spirit of Where’s Durstan, why not add the IPod Shuffle into the mix just like the scroll from Where’s Waldo. For an added flair, you can add yourself in as the wizard.
the person to find all three first wins the shuffle.
You could do something like the IRON CHEF.
Post a picture, a theme, a word or something and have people create an icon, logo, website, image or similar using the theme of the month.
It would be fun to see some of the stuff that might come out of something like this.
I remember you mentioning you had a cat when I met you at SXSW. You should have a cutest cat contest among your fellow online readers, it may sound typical but it could be interesting to see everyone’s cat or you could just open it up to any pet.
There are no skills involved but it could be fun.
If you want to add skills to the contest than have a contest making an “ipod poster” using you pet in it.
People create in a myriad of different ways. Bob is great working with images, but doesn’t know how to code worth squat, while Bill is a master coder who secretly admires Blake’s writing talent, even though Blake can’t photoshop or code to save his life.
If you plan to give away several shuffles through a number of contests, why not use several types of contests that all correlate to a central theme? For example, let’s say you want some creative entries based on web design. One competition people submit haikus, another for CSS code to a particular design aspect, one for those can whip up something in photoshop related to your theme, etc, etc. I would think that as long an interesting central theme was chosen, we would have fun trying to create something to that theme in a variety of different ways (like in any number of the ideas posted above).
How about a series of pictures (10?) doing the dance on those iPod commercials? That would be funny to see what people will come up with.
Two words: nine saltines.
How about giving a Shuffle to the person who can come up with the most serendipitous sequence of song titles one might hear?
As in, you won’t believe that my Shuffle played these five songs in a row…
I like the Flickr scavenger hunt. Another idea would be to co-op Cameron’s Screen confab idea and award the shuffle to the most interesting shot.
How about a Playlist Poem!? Something like a limmerick or free verse. There are enough songs and song titles out there that you could very easily write a poem using song titles / album titles / bands and it would be very interesting! It would also be a way for people to come up with new music to listen too :)
I think it would be an interesting idea to do a lost and found contest. For example you’ve “found” an iPod Shuffle. You won’t tell us where you found it, because then anyone could claim it. So in order to find the owner, everyone has to submit their story about how they lost their brand new iPod Shuffle.
You pick the best “lost” story and they get their shuffle “back”. I can’t wait to read the stories for this one!
Ok, so this might have already been suggested, I just didnt read through all 58 comments…
How about each user take a photo of their iPod, and whichever one is in the worst condition, gets the Shuffle… This way, you know it is going to a deserving winner. Or you could substitute taking a picture of the iPod, with a picture of a laptop in bad shape, etc etc etc…
Similar to the photo scavenger hunt but more artistic and less media-specific.
Each contest should have a central theme, something vaguely communications-technology oriented, like “FM radio,” “blog,” “TV,” “news,” “CAT-5 cable,” etc. Contestants would upload media (text, sound, image, video, etc.) to Ourmedia.org expressing something about the uniqueness of the theme. The result of all the contests would be a growing body of information, in a great place on the Internet, about how the Internet relates to all the overlapping technologies that embody and precede it.
The iPod Shuffle, which could itself be the first or last theme for the contest, would go to the person who was most creative in representing the theme — through thoughtful writing, an unexpected medium (like sound to convey something about TV), or making links between the theme and the form in which the entry is presented.
This would be creative, fun, and productive — everybody’s energy would be incorporated into developing something interesting and useful.
How about an iPod shuffle Designologue ? You could start us all off with an image as a jumping point, and we’d all go from there. Each round would be the next iteration in the design.
Or, more music oriented, how about an iTunes playlist challenge? Using 10-20 slots, come up with a themed playlist and people have to find what ties it all together.
Initial thought (using recent posts): put videos of ourselves on ourMedia trying to eat 6 saltines in 60 seconds. (Could be fun whether or not for a prize!)
There are so many great ideas from this list, I’m hoping there will be many different contests to spread the chances of designers, writers, programmers, and free iPod Shuffle seekers of all kinds to win.
Let’s take this even further by combining Mike’s community to develop a complete site utilizing all our talents. Initial contests build a site, subsequent contests populate it.
Not only would there be some happy iPod Shuffle owners, but there would be a souvenir site to share with the world.
Thanks for the generosity (with fingers crossed)!
In 20 words or less write the most creative dictionary-style definition for the iPod Shuffle. You could have separate contests, too; defining it once as a verb and then as a noun. Or incorporate how the person would use the shuffle into the definition.
i-Pod Shuf-fle v.
- A series of constrained, involuntary movements that occur when a highly rated song begins playing.
How about something like this?
I think that choosing a single contest format to follow repeatedly may not be the best option. I’d love to see something that played on the random nature of the shuffle.
So I’d like to suggest that a number of basic formats (limerick, haiku, rewritten song lyric, shakespearean sonnet) be chosen, and every [interval] a contest format be selected, and coupled with a suitable (or timely) subject - so you’d end up with something like “Write a limerick about Apple’s upcoming release of Tiger”.
I know my suggestion is a little more labor-intensive that doing a single repeating contest, but think the variety would be a great addition.
And for a less labor-intensive and more musically-oriented suggestion:
Something like this could be fun, but it’s possible that a lot of good songs have already been done.
What about creating a song on GarageBand for Mike to share with all of his readers?
For a lot of new Mac addicts out there, GarageBand is a great creative outlet. I know it is for me. I had pretty much no music background before I started using it, but it’s really simple and I’ve created a couple songs that I’m not too terribly embarassed to share. Like this remix of the Jon Stewart/Crossfire debacle: http://www.icompositions.com/auditorium/showphoto.php?photo=8419
So the idea would be have people create interesting little songs that we all can share and put on each other’s iPods/iPod Shuffles. Mike, you can suggest a new theme or genre every week or two and then you can post them on here for everybody to listen to. It also dovetails nicely into the whole podcasting phenomenon we’re seeing lately.
Best,
-jpg
Mark Wubben wrote:
Lollelskates! What I meant was not neccessary OS themes, even though you’re right, it sounds like that and maybe I wanted to push somebody into you_know_what train : ). What I meant was more like moderate icon collection for the browser and such.
Anyway, here are many great ideas. Looking forward to creativity explosion for the next Shuffle. (oh, and thanks for the ‘notify’ reminder)
How about a “comp graveyard” contest, in which folks submit unused comps from their collection and you pick the one one you like best.
Or have people submit their best advice about running a design shop (dealing with clients, financial things, inspiration, etc.). The collection would make for a great website/book/whatever when it’s all over.
Or have people compete to see who can come up with the most interesting/useful PHP script in 5 lines or less.
Or have people post their favorite web-smart hex colors. Most interesting/underused color wins it.
Or have people post their best “someone oughtta do that” website ideas. Lots of interesting ideas will be tossed around and something might come of it.
Or have folks submit their suggestions for what panel you should do at SXSW next year (”My Summer in San Serriffe”).
Or have everyone design a typographical an image that captures the spirit of that month. It’d make a great calendar at for next year.
Or just give one to me. That might work too.
How about the best story (true or fictional) that has to do with iPods? IE, if you had an iPod that you dropped and then following that, it only played Metallica, one might write about that.
i think mike roberto has the best idea that is not mine!
celebrity wedding vows
pick two celebs in any industry as the to be married couple… and have people write proposed (at the alter or ceremony) vows.
cheers,
brianb
Or, even better — pick to celebs and have them actually propose on this site.
At a recent conference I attended, various speakers gave out free copies of books using various methods like who came from the furthest location, etc. But I thought they should have given the books to those that couldn’t afford them, like non-profits. I recommend giving away shuffles to those that are working on community-based, non-profit sites, etc. Not sure how this could be done, maybe with a rating system or something. Anyhoo, just a thought.
1. Imagine Mike is super rich and wants to open his own movie studio. Pitch a scenario idea to make a movie about web developers. Remember that he is rich/famous/busy, so you have to be concise.
2. Imagine Mike reaching his centenary. His many grandchildren want to hear a story about Mike at work? What kind of colourful tale would he tell them?
3. Mike is running for President. As the wise guru on the mountain, what advice would you give him?
4. Imagine you won an iPod Shuffle on some contest online, what would your thank you speech be?
5. Imagine geeks and nerds ruled the world. What would fashion be like?
^_^
1) what’s an Ipod shuffle?
– no matter, I just like the idea you’re giving things to people. that’s nice.
2) thanks for helping my office mate out with his web design issue
3) Seems like you do a lot of giving. Maybe it’s time someone gave back to you!! Maybe something for your site. Maybe an Icon, a photoshopped creation, a slogan. that way it could be changed up every week, so, every talent would have a chance, and you’d have something new and spiffy. Not to mention, the benevolent act of showcasing some original “art” (be it script, or what not)
just my .02.
How about: most creative use for the Yahoo! Search Web Services API?
http://developer.yahoo.net/documentation/
Yahoo stinks, Tony. They’re a ripoff of Google’s API. Use Google’s API instead. ;-)
Question: Is it possible/allowed to win more than one iPod? If so, is there a limit? If so, what is that limit? I wouldn’t be interested in more than one iPod, but I was curious.
Reward the best/worst use of sIFR.
Well, they are iPod Shuffles, how about a music related contest? I am always looking to broaden my musical horizon so when a great song bubbles it’s way to the top of my random playlist I will often hop into iTunes music store, look up the song, and check the “Listeners also bought…” section. A few clicks will often lead you into a whole new genre of music nowhere near the original song, but I have found some great stuff that way. So, how about opening this up to your readers by naming a song you are particularly fond of at the moment, and ask for recommendations based on it. First great discovery wins.
A new Shuffle for one lucky player and new music for you (and thus, all of us). Like Keith’s idea, it’s a win for everyone.
I think a song suggestion is a great idea, but just suggesting one might not be enough. What about whoever creates the best iMix for everybody to buy in iTunes gets it. The judge of course would be Mike. You could also play with genres too. This week we’ll have x genre and next week we’ll do y genre.
Thoughts?
What about this? Each month offer a different genre of music. The contestants will have to take album art from an artist of that genre (or some other qualifying category that you choose) and photoshop an iPod shuffle into it in some creative manner. I really think this kind of contest could get fun and interesting.
If I may, I’d like to put my vote in for one of these (after reading a majority of them and being unimpressed). Mike Atherton, that’s a heck of an idea, in my opinion. Incorporates music, searching, creativity and guts.
Doesn’t: 1. Require technical knowledge (Photoshop or HTML skillz); 2. Copy something already done; 3. Require money or too much time; 4. Require remote linking.
Mike (D.), if you choose this as one of the nine, I’ll be happy.
How about hiakus made out of tags from technorati, flickr and del.icio.us?
Each word would have to be a link to that tag…
Jonathan: Sure, Google’s API is nice, but it requires SOAP…wherease Yahoo! uses REST. No SOAP required. Simply build the necessary URL and you’re done. Allows for some pretty powerful stuff without the heavy lifting. It’d be fun to see how creative people can get with it…Since they’re fundamentally different (Google vs. Yahoo! API’s), it’s safe to say there’s no ripoff involved.
Most of the uses I’ve seen (for either API) are standalone type applications. I’d like to see how creative people can get integrating (either) API into their web sites. Not just for the sake of doing so, but to truly add function and value to the site.
That would be my choice for a contest worth doing, although it may test the boundaries of Mike’s consideration #2.
Idea 1. -> Logo Design contest for your website, that best reflects you and your blog.
Idea 2. -> A Jingle for your site about you.
Idea 3. -> A priceless moment photo that makes everyones day and yours.
Idea 4. -> Wallpaper Design Contest (if mentioned above already sorry.) or a New CSS layout Contest.
Idea 5. -> I am a poor student in Canada with a large tuition debt that needs good tunes to listen to, so the pain fades away from my mind. ;)
Cheers Mike D.
Sorry for spamming another comment, just want to explain Idea 3. further so its not a scam if choosen or not understood correctly.
It has to be original and not from the web…it can either be taken by a cam phone or digital camera. But, it has to be original and not fake from the web that has already been seen by 1billion ppl. ;).
In keeping with the song theme many are suggesting, how about submissions of songs in list format (from this LiveJournal post.)
Here’s the original example from the above link, as posted by quantz. It’s the theme from Ghostbusters in list format:
Oh, man, this is hard. How about the first poster named Stu gets the iPod Shuffle? I would definitely participate in such a game!
I agree with Donna, nine saltines.
However, if I had to give my own unique idea.. best Mike Davidson beard… authentic or photoshopped.
Quite generous, man!
How about a photo contest where the entrants have to show where they would use the iPod at. Think of that basketball commercial on DirecTV where the basketball team is playing with no ball and the voice over says “Something missing?” I get a kick out of the way the team plays around as if there really is a ball, but we can’t see it. Same kind of thing, but in photo form for the iPod.
Sorry for commenting twice…. but I already have a great true story for Mike Roberto’s idea. A hint: it involves ferrets and TWO iPods. Read my true story over at my blog.
I have another idea, have people guess the famed domain that
you bid on recently, y’know build up the suspense for the reveal.
Seriously, this time. What about doing good with this contest? Going with the idea of the redesign, how about we are assigned a “crappy” existing site of a non-profit organization, and we have to redesign it for them?
Even if you don’t do my idea, consider doing some sort of work for a charitable organization. That would be great!
You have way too much disposable income. Try donating to charity instead.
(Editor’s Note: Why instead? I do that too. Glad you “approve” of that.)
I had another idea.
Post a video of yourself (Mike) saying some truthful things, and then also telling a lie. Whoever is the first person to identify the lying moment, wins.
Hmmm, has anyone tried doing a haiku with playlist titles?
I’m a new to some of these latest gadets but I’m learning and catching up. I would love to participate in a contest involving photos but I don’t have a digital comera - yet - so I couldn’t participate. I also don’t have Photoshop - yet - so I couldn’t participate in a design contest involving that. I would love to have these things but I”m not there -yet. I also don’t have an IPOD - yet. Yes, I sound like an old fogey who’s behind the times but I’m getting there.
I would recommend avoiding contests where “the first person to…” wins. With some people’s schedules, it wouldn’t give everyone a solid chance to compete. Someone who checks your blog at the wrong time of day shouldn’t be unable to participate.
(Editor’s Note: Yep, agreed.)
I’d like to see some sort of contest involving photos, too. (This comment didn’t really help, did it?)
find out where you’re read:
messiest home/dorm computer station/area contest!
show it in two 640 x 480 images max.
post to flickr, smugmug, fotki or ourmedia.
Online MadLibs:
- Fill in the blanks with words….or maybe flickr photos/thumbnails.
Painted Cat:
- The web could use more cat photos. For sure. Paint your cat and share the photo. More points for shaved and painted cats. Non-toxic paint only…or not.
How about all the foreign names for “Mike.”
Here’s mine: Michal - Poland
When people do enter the contest, you could each person make his/her entry, and then vote on the best of the above comments. Although the first commenter would have a slightly fair advantage of being around and in small pools for the first couple comments, it’d be tiiiiight (However, the last guy would have no chance).
Then you can take the viewers winner into consideration. Plus, even if you don’t pick the viewers choice, if it’s an imagination (story, haiku, picture, etc) kind of game, they get some credit for being awesome that day.
I like #14 — mostly because you don’t need much supertechnical skills or the need to be on a computer with whatever software.
Here are some ideas:
1.- CSS Art
Make a web page, containing only a bunch of empty divs (with an id each), let’s say 50 of them. And allow the page to load external Style sheets (like the garden). And let the people be creative with it. The more artistic/creative entry wins that round.
2.- Theme campaign
Choose a topic, let’s say “education” or “food” or “peace”. And ask the contestants to make a simple Ad about it, consisting only of one picture and one slogan. At the end you will have a winner, and a public campaign on that topic ;-)
3.- Save the web
Choose a web illness (spam, chain letters, bad browsers, or the like), and ask the people to write an idea to solve that problem. Make it word-limited to make it even simpler. Some great ideas might come from that.
4.- Photo Story
People will have to tell a story using only photos. Limited to, let’s say, a minimum of 3 and maximum of 10. Entries should be contained in a flickr folder.
5.- Accronymator
Post a different word every contest, like “Mike”, “Style”, “Internet”, or whatever you feel like. And ask the people to explode that word as if it was an accronym. (Example: MIKE = “Many Ideas Kicking Energy”)
6.- The lost Image
Bring a suble image from other site, let’s say one corner, or a bullet, or a separator, or the like, from another site (known bloggers/sites) and make people find out where it belongs.
Or, the best one:
Ask everyone to send their credit card number to my email account, and I’ll pick the winner XD