RE: hedgecore -
I hate that, losing a response due to some glitch. Sometimes one can recover with the back button, but not always. Not sure how/why.

I don't envy the judges either. It will be interesting to see what happens next.

I saw these angles: Daily use, geek use
Current user / aspiring user
Creative / General highlight / Tech detail / Mixed
Story line / Impromptu
In front of camera / creative drawings + narrated / creative photo work + narration / slide show with computer voice
Hyper / good flow / less flow / no flow
Brief / regular / longwinded
More polished / less polished

I'm sure there's more. Some are interrelated. Just some things off the top of my head; thinking back at the other entries; after I finished my upload. Fortunately didn't have any issues with Youtube. I feared a third iMovie crash and some youtube issue in the final hours. New registration, first upload kind of thing.

There were a few things that I wanted to do (better) but iMovie didn't let me. Note, I'm not complaining or seeking some sympathy ... just stating from the creation aspect I felt a little limited. At the same I don't want to overdo things (like you'd see ppt slideshow with continuous transitions, lots of flash, colors, ...) Couple things needed another recording for it to work better, if I was going to include, but the time wasn't there ... and you don't really want a 8 - 10 minute, let alone 20 minute video. Plus, one really could spend two whole weeks working on a story, recording, selecting, tweaking, etc. ... and literally drive oneself crazy on the details. I know what it is to want to do something and feel good about it. I have that bit of compulsiveness or whatever too. For me keeping it brief is a hard thing. There's so much stuff I would want to pack in. So I tried to find a balance of things in general with a few little dashes thrown in.

Like you said, people around the world are very passionate about these little tablet things. I know I've grown attached to mine in the short time I've owned it. I liken it to when I first started using a Mac full time (which was shortly after I bought one, when OS X came around) and felt so liberated. So, it comes natural that current owners would like to upgrade. Others see the same things in these devices and want to join in. Though they may not have experienced some of the limitations. In the videos we point out the good things obviously and the things that work. I can't listen to my favorite internet radio station for instance as it is in a windows format. Little things like that which hopefully will get resolved with future software updates and increased hardware capabilities. Anyway.

I've secretly hoped that Nokia would take notice of this contest and sponsor an N810 for the 5 finalists. There is just so much deserving work out there. I think it is going to be a bear for whomever is second ... as the entries are so well created, that I think they're going to be just fractions apart.

The olympic spirit is what matters. I spent more time on this than any other creative thing in a long while (besides working on iBlog 2, but that's a whole different animal) and it is just so much fun to look at youtube and know that's your little movie.

The other thing is; I have a few dozen dv tapes on the shelf and probably 30k images sitting around - but I never really done anything with it. Capture it, watch it once, then tapes are just gathering dust. Digital images I go through sometimes on the hunt for a specific memory. Back to this little video. It may get me in gear to start doing something with some of the things I've captured over the years. Revisit and recreate some memories. Maybe take the digicam along with my photo camera.

Well, this is getting to be one long reply. And that's the other thing. I do think this little contest has brought the contestants together and sparked more conversation about the product. The little desire to maybe win the bugger (since we're not in the developer program). See how other people use their tablet around the world. I think that was actually a neat thing. We got to see other users in their little corner of the world.

Hopefully, that brings good luck.

Sorry to hear about your loss. Mother nature can be quite devastating. I've seen and experienced some of it myself. Experiencing hurricane damage first hand was quite moving. All in all we were fortunate, but it changes some things in your mind & heart. For the good too, once all the issues are resolved.

I have to admit, the first thing I thought of was the flood from the Halo games. Seriously tho, you mentioned rallying around a device. T'aint that to me. It's the peopel. I've never liked branding, corporations, companies, etc, etc... I look at it like I look at the music I'm into. It's not Fender, Peavey, Gibson, Sabian, Pearl, etc... it's the people in the room at that point in time when those products are in use that make it great.

I understand what you mean. I may not have expressed myself clearly enough ... and this is an indirect conversation.

Yes, people make the difference. I was just trying to say that people like the tablet. I'm not particular to certain brands & big corporations either. For them it is business & bottom line. The IT could be any brand to me: Sony, Apple, Nokia, whomever - as long as it pretty much came out with the features it has. I would still have it. But passion creates great products and drives good communities. I think the two go hand in hand. Not saying it has to be fanboy-ism or fanatics, there are those. But, all kinds of people like the device they have, it is not a status symbol, they have a hundred different uses for it and have formed a community around it.

I think the number of entries and their quality, inside the niche which is the Nxx0 IT community, shows that people like it; and I think the contest has brought some members closer together. Like we're talking in this thread and I'd happily get together for a beer I've gotten to know Dan a little bit better by viewing more of his work & entries. I've seen a few other people from here on the forum. I think that's pretty cool and unique.

It's been interesting to see people's reaction and interaction as a result of this contest. If I hadn't entered I'm not sure I would have paid much attention to this forum. As it stands, here I am, enjoying the disjointed connection. I thought about it a bit when I was making my video, how the internet used to be a lot more real-life social than it is now (for me anyway). I remember going to the local community college with some friends and all of us logging into a chat site. This was the pre-AIM days...like, ICQ was probably beta at that point or something Oh and the chat site had to be refreshed manually before you could see what others had posted. Good times.

We would chat online and in the room as well, and generally just have fun. Now things are a lot more isolationist. Hopefully this swing to mobile connectivity will bring people out of the shadowed rooms and into the throng of humanity once more. Perhaps Web 2.0 will become less nebulous, finding for itself at last a bona fide definition and meaning.

If we lived in the same area I'd say let's go out and get some coffee

We're still waiting on one judge to weigh in on his picks then do some final deliberation before we post finalists. I really really wish I had the budget to send everyone something. Like I said in my post closing the entries: I got some ideas from every single video.