In San Francisco, at the Exploratorium Museum, there will be activities hosted in honor of Pi Day on March 14th. This is exciting for a couple of reasons: not only will there be pie, but there will also be pizza pie dough tossing amongst other activities! I’m no chef, but the thought of tossing dough in the air and watching it spin is pretty exciting – no idea if there are plans to add toppings and bake the pizza, but as long as it doesn’t fall on the floor, I’m down for eating it! You can watch my fun Pi Day on Clixtr and add your own photos. Most of us at Clixtr are quite the foodies, so expect to see pictures of pie on Clixtr on March 14th!

The Great San Francisco Pillow Fight at Justin Herman Plaza

San Francisco has one of the country’s most famous Chinatowns. WIth bakeries selling mooncakes and teacakes, the Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory residing in an unassuming alley, and lots of bright colors decorating the stores in Chinatown, San Francisco, it truly does feel like the year of the Tiger. Unfortunately, for some reason, the annual Chinese New Year parade and scavenger hunt won’t occur until Saturday, February 27th (definitely Clixtring that!).

Not to worry, I still have plans for this weekend – it’s Valentine’s Day! No, not a romantic candlelit dinner for two by the Bay (a little too mushy for my taste). Something even better – The Great San Francisco Pillow Fight! Yes, that’s right, a PILLOW FIGHT. I am SO excited!

I invited the entire Clixtr team, and all of you are more than welcome to join. If you can’t attend, join in on the fun by watching the event unfold on Clixtr (either through the mobile app or the website). It’ll be at Justin Herman Plaza in San Francisco (across the street from the Ferry Building – you’ll see a mass amount of people with pillows). Everyone sort of mills about, and as soon as the clock strikes 6, start hitting people with your pillow! There are only three rules:
1.) Don’t hit anyone without a pillow
2.) You’re not allowed to hit anyone with a camera taking pictures
3.) Have fun and enjoy!

Last year, there were thousands of people in attendance (yes, thousands, four digits), this year, the expected attendance is double what it was last year. I went last year, so here are a few key learnings:
1.) Do NOT wear a peacoat, unless, even after dry cleaning, you like having feathers all over your outerwear.
2.) Do NOT wear suede (especially if it’s raining). Just trust me on this one.
3.) Wear a scarf or SARS-like mask over your mouth (unless of course you like inhaling feathers).
4.) Don’t forget to have fun and enjoy yourself! When else can you randomly hit strangers with a pillow?

See you all on the 14th!

EDIT: Here are two events created on Clixtr for the Pillow Fight:
1. http://clixtr.com/tb2t
2. http://clixtr.com/oveo

The award is a sort of “people’s choice” award. That is, in order for us to win, we need your help. Each voter receives 25 votes to distribute as they see fit. Give Clixtr all 25 votes, 15 votes, or 10. The choice is yours, but we’d certainly appreciate everyone’s support through votes for Clixtr! Voting closes on January 8, 2010. So before you get caught up with life in the new year, take a moment to vote for Clixtr through the ballot box. Happy voting and a very Happy New Year! We’ll see you on Clixtr next year!

On a ski lift in Lake Tahoe

Last weekend was huge for company parties – there were also ideal skiing conditions in Lake Tahoe, so the team decided to celebrate the holidays with a day trip to Lake Tahoe to go skiing! You can view the Clixtr photos through the event labeled Ski Trip With the Team – Heavenly. After a lot of hard work these last 3 months post-launch, the ski trip was a great way for the team to have fun and relax (until we woke up the next morning with very sore muscles!). Speaking of hard work, the team has been working day and night to give all of our mobile users a couple of exciting features.

Many of you have indicated that during Christmas or New Year’s Eve parties, everyone will have a camera and will take photos, but either they won’t see half of the pictures, they’ll see them months later or they have to go through multiple online photo albums from various friends and family members to view photos. A lot of you have also indicated the desire to view photos instantly of friends and family members that are in a different location than you. Clixtr lets you do all of this already, but we also wanted to give you all an easier way to share your events.

As an early present to our users, we’ve implemented a couple of features to make it easier to share your holiday photos. Through the iPhone app, you can now share your Clixtr events on Twitter and Facebook. This integration with the two social networking sites make it easier for you to let your followers and friends see your events streaming in real-time. Can’t make it to a holiday party? You can still “attend” by having the host, hostess, or a guest create an event on Clixtr, tweet out the link or share the event on Facebook, then follow it yourself. To share your Clixtr events via Twitter and Facebook, simply launch the app, go into the event you’d like to share on Twitter and/or Facebook, hit the “share” button on the top right, then tap on either “Share on Facebook” or “Share on Twitter.” Voila! The event has now been shared with your Facebook friends and Twitter followers.

Don’t know what events to share on Twitter or Facebook? Here are 5 suggestions to help you get started:

1. Holiday Party (Christmas, New Year’s Eve, Hanukkah, Kwanza, Winter Solstice, etc).
2. Last minute gift-shopping (Can’t decide between presents? Create a Clixtr event, send invites to friends, and get their input through the comments – this is similar to taking cupcake orders through Clixtr.
3. Ugly Sweater Party (Only during this time of year can you get away with wearing an ugly sweater – preserve the memories and look back at them next year!).
4. Tropical getaway (Going someplace exotic this holiday season? Make your friends and family at home jealous of your tan and vacation through your location-based Clixtr event).
5. Pictures from the snow – photos of snowmen, ice skating, snowball fights, snow angels, etc. (This is the most magical time of year where many parts of the world look like a winter wonderland. Share the magic with family and friends living in non-snow regions of the world.)

Want to see certain features added to either the mobile app or the web app? Let us know what feature would delight you in the comments below or email us: feedback (at) clixtr (dot) com.

Happy Holidays from all of us at Clixtr!

Christmas is here!

The Gallen Group kicked off the Holiday Season last night with a spectacular Tree Lighting Ceremony with performances by the Dick Bright Orchestra, Hannah Montana’s Emily Osment, the San Francisco Girl’s Chorus, and a special treat with the appearance of 49ers Patrick Willis. The festivities were held at 555 California Street, or more famously known as the Bank of America Building – the second tallest building in San Francisco. The breathtaking Douglas Fir tree fitted in approximately 2500 strings of red lights was sponsored by the San Francisco 49ers. Batter Bakery, a kiosk located on the 555 California Street property and at the corner of California and Kearny, was handing out samples of their delicious baked goods.

Though there were professional photographers on hand, the Gallen Group aimed to create a dynamic experience for their attendees and had Clixtr team members Fiona, Brad, and myself give a short announcement on stage regarding Clixtr. The Gallen Group really understood the need to embrace new, cutting-edge technology (i.e., real-time and location-based) to promote events and create a two-way experience between event attendees and the organizers. Previously, event attendees would go to an event, watch a performance, and take photos for themselves – this created a one-way experience where performers and organizers interacted with the audience, but there really was no way for the audience to interact with the event. What the Gallen Group did with the Tree Lighting Ceremony was use Clixtr to give their attendees the opportunity to contribute to the event through photos.   

Attendees were able to find the event through the Clixtr app, under nearby. Once launched, attendees were not only able to contribute their own photos, but they were able to experience the Tree Lighting Ceremony from multiple angles through the live streaming of photos on Clixtr. One mother exclaimed that Clixtr made it easier for her to view her daughter’s choir performance. Other people would be taking photos, which meant, she wouldn’t have to take as many pictures and could enjoy her daughter’s performance, then pull the photos of her daughter off the web once she got home.

Using Clixtr at events gives organizers attendee-generated promotional content to work with, and it gives attendees memories and a more dynamic, interactive experience, thus increasing the likelihood that they share and talk about the event with their friends and family. To view photos from this event, click on the following: 555 California Street Tree Lighting Ceremony.

Thanksgiving and holiday events created on Clixtr let family and friends share their photos without going through the hassle of emailing photos to each person at Thanksgiving dinner. We’ve all been there. Each guest at Thanksgiving dinner wants to take pictures. And it’s likely you won’t see half of those pictures ever again (there goes that new profile picture). Besides, who has the time to email out photos to each person that’s attended Thanksgiving dinner? It’s also inefficient to receive 10 different links from guests to their own Thanksgiving album, and then go to each link. Clixtr solves both problems. One person can create an event on Clixtr, and Clixtr being location-based, allows guests to find the event under nearby. Or, the event creator could invite guests via text or email to the Thanksgiving event.

Whether you have family members on the other side of the world and are unable to celebrate a feast with them, or you want an easier way to share photos from an event with loved ones, Clixtr allows you to do both. It’s free for the iPhone and on the web.

Come celebrate Thanksgiving with us on Clixtr. Happy Thanksgiving!

The Clixtr team was hard at work as usual until a photographer from the Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal dropped by with his fancy equipment. He used some cool photography techniques with green lights. Feeling inspired (and fueled by nutella-filled cupcakes – thanks Brad!) we came up with an easy alternative.

Here’s what to do:

1. Grab two iPhones
2. Find a dark room (dark-ish will suffice)
3. Download the Flashlight app (by John Haney Software) on one of the iPhones and slide through until you get to the green screen.
4. Have the subject of the picture hold the phone so the green light illuminates their face.
5. Use Clixtr to take a photo and create a spooky Halloween-themed event.

To get you started on a few examples, click here to the Clixtr team’s spooktacular Clixtr event.

Samihah and Fiona use the Flashlight App and Clixtr.

As a Halloween gift from Clixtr, we will award the creator of the most popular Halloween-themed Clixtr event a $25 iTunes gift card. So create away! Can’t wait to see you on Clixtr!

Happy Halloween,
Your Friends at Clixtr