Yesterday I capped off an exciting two years of ill-gotten gains, or at least barely-deserved gains, with the winning of a $10 gift certificate to iTunes.
How did I manage that, you may ask? I read a blog post by Robert Scoble, about a new daily video blog called 88slide, which he said was similar to Rocketboom. Now, I'm familiar with Rocketboom. I really like Rocketboom. So I went to 88slide and checked them out.
88slide premise: Provide a 60 second video clip, ask a trivia question, give away a prize. New content/trivia/prize each day. Be hip. Be happining happening. Subscribe via iTunes, and get snazzy content downloaded automatically to your mp3 player.
88slide real premise: show seductively clad young lady sashaying through possibly interesting venue, while glossing over all but the least interesting and generalized information about said venue (30 seconds). Talk about prize (10 seconds). Ask trivia question (5 seconds). List answer to yesterday's trivia question (8 seconds). Announce yesterday's winner (cutaway to non-seductive non-lady, use funny voice, 5 seconds). Invite back tomorrow (2 seconds).
Boring. Answer trivia question. Get reminder email next morning to check out new exciting content. Unsubscribe. Get congratulations email from 88slide that I'm lucky winner of trivia contest from day before. Whee. $10 at the iTunes store.
I can now add that to my list of Things I Have Won in the Last Two Years.
- $10 gift certificate, iTunes store - trivia contest at video blog site
- Visual Studio 2005 Professional ($899 value) - Microsoft OneNotePowerToyContest finalist.
- Motorola MPX220 smart phone ($300 value) - TechEd 2005, focus group participant
- Rio iRiver PMC120 portable media player (500$ value) - TechEd 2005, Mobilizer Madness scavenger hunt
- Microsoft X-Box ($150 value) - TechEd 2004, Tech-Ed bloggers partner drawing
So, I guess I do feel lucky.
Update: I got a little late-night feedback on my critique, and perhaps I just saw a stinker of an episode. Yes, I'm sure I saw some statistical outliers on the 88slide quality continuum. Each episode is only 60 seconds.
"Guns & Cammo" - first episode I saw, from which I answered the trivia and was picked to win $10 at iTunes.
"Farmer's Market" - in which my mad trivia skillz are announced and I resist the urge to choose a.) Pomona as the only non-tomato in the batch.
