Star Wars in Sketchup

Well, May the 4th and 5th have passed, and because of that I was made aware of one of the coolest Sketchup models I've seen in a long time.  This person has taken it upon themselves to model the Millenium Falcon from Star Wars.  The modeler has been putting updates to the model on his YouTube channel for several months now, and I have been watching the process.  If these doesn't get your geek on, I am not sure what will...

Here is one of his older models:

And this is the latest update, truly amazing detail:

I've tried reaching out to this modeler through YouTube, I'd love to interview him or her for a post here, but I haven't heard back yet.  If any readers know who he or she is, please have them contact me!

Kitchen & Bath Design News Column

At the beginning of this year, I was asked by Kitchen & Bath Design News to write a column for them on design technology and social media. I'm hugely excited about this partnership with KBDN.

It's my opinion that the building industry is lagging behind in technology and there are huge opportunities to be had be embracing technology.

My first article is about Social Media, entitled "Two Key Concepts Behind Social Media"

In this article, I try to make sense of the concept of social media.  Why are people sharing loads of personal information online?  And more importantly, as a business owner, how can you leverage these online conversations to benefit your business?

You can read it here:

Leveraging Technology in the Digital Revolution

On Tuesday I will be in New York City teaching a class that I developed called"Leveraging Technology in the Digital Revolution"

It's my firm belief that we are in a "digital revolution" that parallels the rapid innovation that occurred back the the Industrial Revolution days.  This rapid development in technology means that it can be hard for people to keep up on these rapid changes.

In my class you won't learn how to setup a Wordpress site, configure an email server, or even crop a photo.  Instead, I will be teaching why people use technology.

Technology isn't hard to keep up on if you understand how it's use fits into human behavior.   Once you understand that, you can find a technical person to work on your digital strategy, or focus on learning on just the things that you need to learn, instead of being overwhelmed.

So if you're in New York City and need some AIA, NKBA, or IDCEC continuing education credits, you should stop by and check it out!

You can register for my class here

Classes are Tuesday, March 13th 2012

Architects & Designers Building  150 East 58th Street New York, NY 10155

Why videos go viral

I was watching some TED videos the other day and I came across this one from Kevin Alocca who works for YouTube.  He explains the staggering amount of video that gets uploaded to YouTube on an hourly basis, and why some of the videos go viral.  Interesting talk, and worth 7 minutes of you have it.

RenderIn Contest Winners announced

If you remember, RenderIn launched a contest to find 30 new beta testers for their render engine.

The challenge?  Render the best picture you could, the top 30 would be chosen as beta testers.

Well, the contest has ended, and the renders have been posted.  A nice collection for sure!  I pulled three of my favorites, but I highly recommend that you go and see the gallery for yourself.

[gallery link="file" orderby="rand"]