Five questions. Can the internet improve our lives?

Posted on March 11th, 2010 by John Sostak

We are the World Wide Web

The Internet is About You…

The Internet is about you?  Is it about me or you?  Short answer is both.  The real answer is you.  You and I are one.

To many people are having there time on the web interrupted by a small group of anti social web terrorists.  To few of us are actually working toward using the web to improve our lives off line.

Facebook has a popular section where users post memorials to friends that have past away.  Reuters recently ran a story that I blogged about in which memorials were defaced by Facebook users.

How can we improve the experience for you?  I can never be a proponent of censorship, but to search for flowers and be subjected to adult movies is also not right.  Can Google create real filters, that work?  This cannot be considered censorship, just like yelling “fire” in a theater is not censorship.  K89YC3FMXBX2

The Internet has changed everything we do, and at 38 years old, I have had the pleasure of watching it.  The world wide web is what the printing press was.  Now how do we make it better for you?  If it is better for you, it is better for us.

Can we can can create online interaction that improves our physical lives?

Can we use this enormous amount of information at our fingertips, and in our pockets to be more productive, more intellectual, and happier?

Can we create an environment, like the labor movement of the 1930’s in which we can demand our governments listen to needs of the masses, rather then serve the corporations?

Can we market and advertise without vomiting on our audience?

Can the web serve me, rather then I serve the web?

There are a lot of other things on my Internet wish list.  I don’t think any of them are out of reach.  We are watching the Internet change our lives, and the world through Google, Facebook, social media, and mobile phones.  Let’s channel the power of the web together and improve our lives.

If you have any suggestions, any thoughts, please share them with Arcade.

Tags: Facebook, Internet Marketing, Media, social media

Arcade Digital is proud to launch WWW.CFDBLAZE.COM

Posted on March 5th, 2010 by John Sostak

The CFD Blaze

The CFD Blaze are the Chicago Firefighter and Paramedics Football Team.  They play in the NPSFL, which is the National Public Safety Football League.  Arcade Digital is very happy to take their new site live.  Click here to experience the CFD Blaze.

Arcade focused on the user interface, and back-end functionality developing a very sophisticated content management system (CMS) and Wordpress blogging platform.  The site is an Arcade custom web design and user interface built open source with WP 2.9.  Although not completely populated, is still a fun site to visit.  Like the team, the website has a strong blue-color feel, and an intuitive navigation and user interface.

This site will be rich in media,  These guys are not only football players, but firefighters, so they have great media content and a fabulous story.   We wanted to make compelling galleries and video as accessible and easy to share as possible.

Marketing needs demand social media integration, and with compelling media, we can use social media websites and Internet sharing as a low cost marketing solution.  By using YouTube and Flickr, we have social media partners that also contribute to the reach of this first year football team.

The 2010 season will be the first year the Chicago Fire Department fields a team in the 14 year old NPSFL.  A 1st year not-for-profit is as; or more, challenging then a young entrepreneurial for-profit start up.  Arcade wants to make sure that the compelling message of the firefighters and paramedics that compete in the NPSFL is well spread online.

Each of the players, coaches and administrators in the NPSFL, and the CFD Blaze are volunteers.  No one involved in NPSFL Football receives a salary, and they play for charities.  The Chicago Fire Department charities include The Burn Camp, which is operated by the IFSA and has been renamed Camp I Am Me.  It is a summer camp for Illinois children that have been scarred, and is a place where these children can interact without feeling uncomfortable because of the injuries and scars they have sustained.

The CFD Blaze are also playing for the Gold Badge Society, and Ignite the Spirit.  Ignite the Spirit is a very high profile organization, responsible for the annual Chicago Firefighter Calendar as well as the annual Chicago Firefighter-Paramedic Ball.

The Blaze are playing their first official NPSFL Football game on April 10th in Chicago.  They CFD Blaze will be playing the seasoned CPD Enforcers.  The CPD Enforcers are the Chicago Police Department’s NPSFL team.  I am certain that from game one, this will be a fun rivalry.  They play each other in baseball every year, and it is a great game, held at Comiskey Park (US Cellular Field).  Keep track of the Blaze on their site.

Some modules that will be introduced on the Blaze site very soon will be the Blaze store, which will make posters and t-shirts available.  The current store link on the site is merely a redirect to the Ignite the Spirit website and store, which has a few Chicago Firefighter calenders remaining.

The Blaze site will also offer ticket sales.  They will play 2-4 Chicagoland area games annually, as well 2-3 road games.  Our online ticket process will make it easier to lock in game tickets.  The men are playing stadiums that will be crowded, so as family, friends and fans, we want to insure we are in the arena.  Online ticket sales also allows for more efficient Internet marketing, with clear conversion statistics, which benefits the club, and the charity.  To be able to clearly predict what a game or fundraiser will generate allows the CFD Blaze to more accurately sponsor charities in need of benefactors.

Arcade Digital is looking forward the CFD Blaze season, and I hope everyone who reads our blog commits to helping the newest team in the NPSFL and the Chicago Fire Department Charities.

Tags: CFD BLAZE, CPD Enforcers, flickr, football, Internet Marketing, NPSFL, social media, youtube

Berlin police catch man snorting drugs on their squad car

Posted on March 2nd, 2010 by John Sostak

BERLIN (Reuters) – German police detained a nightclub reveler they caught trying to snort amphetamines off the top of their unmarked patrol car.

The 26-year-old began lining up the powdered drugs on the roof of the car in a disco car park, when the two police officers surprised him, a Nuremberg police spokesman said on Tuesday.

The man had no idea the normal looking vehicle belonged to the police, and it was coincidence that the officers — who were walking by their parked car — discovered him just as he was about to take the drugs.

“He’s got horrible luck,” said Bert Rauenbusch, police spokesman in the southern German city.

I love this story.  That was pulled, verbatim from Reuters.  I want to post it on about 100 other sites I manage, but it is too vulgar, so… it goes into my catch all blog… which is here at Arcade.    It is like a fake Onion news article.

The story has reawakened a German wanderlust.  I was once in the US Army, and stationed in Wertheim Germany, at Peden Barracks.  I was lucky enough to be in Germany during the end of the Cold War, and was visiting Berlin when the Fall of the Wall concert was performed.  Pink Floyd, The Scorpions, Van Morrison, Sinead O’Connor (she was AMAZING).  I was polluted, but Sinead, and a younger, healthier Van Morrison were great.

I think you can do almost anything in Berlin, and it can be shrugged off as “bad luck,” when you get caught.
The Berlin police spokesman has empathy for the lunatic cokehead, I’m sorry, meth-head.  He says “he has horrible luck.”  I am willing to wager that Bert has also been on a ridiculous, filthy, coke binge.  How else can you sympathize with a man that is snorting cocaine off of a police car?  The man must have been awake for 2 days.

I will never, or at least try to never, condone doing hard drugs, or really even breaking the law.  As an adult, I have a greater awareness of how stupid actions create chaos and nonsense that should be avoided at all costs.  I will say this, if you must do drugs, you want to be arrested by a police department, like Berlin’s.  The spokesman, Bert Rauenbusch doesn’t want to arrest you.

If you were in the military, and stationed in Germany, I just created a group on FF911.org, so please join.  I would love to see some pictures from the late 80’s.  They are pretty hard to come by.  We take technology for granted, it is so easy to take digital pictures, and share them online in an instant.  Now we have to scan in our old “photo’s” and post them.  On that site a friend from the Army just emailed me a funny picture of me on the toilet.

All this reminiscing is making me crave an Octoberfest holiday…

Tags: army, police, Weird News

Arcade Introduces FF911.ORG, Social Media Network for Emergency Responders

Posted on February 21st, 2010 by John Sostak

People who know me, also know I’m a firefighter.  I like to think of myself as a taller version of Guy Kawasaki, an Internet marketing guru.  It sometimes is forgotten that the fire department is an important part of my life.

My wife is also a member of emergency services, she’s a pediatric nurse practitioner, and she works at Children’s.  Between our circles of friends and colleagues, we are emergency responder heavy.  So, we decided to launch a social network for emergency responders, FF911.ORG.

FF911 is in beta, and many more features will be added.  In the meantime, this is a great time to grab a screen name, and set up your account.  Please share your knowledge with our FF911 members.

The need for this network is to try and form a connection between emergency responders that work in the field together, but rarely communicate outside of the accident scene, or the emergency room.  FF911 is for police, fire, military, nurses, doctors, dispatchers, and anyone involved in emergency services.

FF911 is a way for us to share information, as well as influence public opinion.  Socially, we see a lot of people at their most vulnerable, on their worst day.  This comes with a responsibility, which we can expand online.  If we see a way to improve something, collectively, we can make it happen.  I am certain as the community grows, and evolves, forums will help us discover what we can do to improve our professions, and our patients needs.

FF911 is also a social media hub which we can exchange video and pictures, as well as department specific news.  Post events, like retirement parties and fundraisers.  If you have a chance, click here, and create a profile on FF911. Our goal is to become a social network and community that emergency responders can be proud of, as well as a source of information for all of us working in emergency services.

Tags: Emergency Responders, FF911.ORG, Internet Marketing, social media

Tiger Should Just be the Bad Guy-Crush Golf Balls, & Ass, & Don’t Apologize for it.

Posted on February 21st, 2010 by John Sostak

Elin and Tiger Woods

Whether or not you’re a fan of Tiger Woods or golf, if you turned on a TV Friday, there was no escaping his announcement. It was talked about on CNN, Fox, ESPN, MSNBC, AP newswire, even NPR, and every blogger on the planet.  Now his speech/apology is being played around the world. They even noted that trading on the Stock Market slowed down while the speech was on live.

I was watching it at Lottie’s, golf on one TV, ladies curling on another, then Tiger apologizing on the rest of the television’s.  I watched with Joe, who is an enormous golf fan.  Joe even caddies part time in the summer.  He noted Tiger was not wearing a wedding ring, and could name everyone in Tiger’s audience, which included Elin’s mom.

Why is this deemed worldwide top rated news?

Who does Tiger really owe an apology to?

His wife, because they did make vows to each other, which I’m sure included he would not cheat.

His family, for the embarrassment.

Possibly his employees, because people like, Steve, his caddy, need Tiger to play to make a living.  That one is a stretch, since they have done well because he is the best golfer in the world.  If they feel they need to move on because he has sat out a few tournaments, buh bye.

He does not owe the world an apology.  He does not owe his sponsors an apology.  In my opinion, if he now has a “tarnished” image, he may as well embrace it.  Be the bad guy.  Tell the media when he comes into their town, he’s gonna crush golf balls, and ass.  Pop pain killers, get great ass, and win golf games.  Let’s keep in  mind that if he never has a sponsor, he still earns millions of dollars every year.  He is the greatest golfer alive.

But we have hoards of people critiquing his apology on sincerity and authenticity, whereas I don’t want to waste my time with this nonsense- and it is a WASTE OF TIME.

This is one of the big things I hate about Main Stream Media. They have to be EVERYTHING TO EVERYONE. 24 hours-365 days a year with about 50 stations, and millions of websites competing for our attention.  Years ago, before the Internet, this would be considered entertainment news.  Tiger’s exploits would be reported on a sports or entertainment news show, not prime time news, and every media outlet.

Instead of following the latest star gossip, why don’t the mainstream media run bios of the American soldiers that died in the line of duty, TODAY?  Why not spend time explaining the environmental dangers we are overlooking, and help motivate people to turn lights off, and recycle their beer cans?  If it bleeds it leads, and everyone loves to hear about a villain, especially a famous golfer that we are all jealous of.

Tags: golf, Tiger Woods