Gimme a V! Gimme an O! Gimme an X! What's that spell? VOX!
What better way to tell the world how much you love Vox than to announce it on Facebook? That's right: Vox now has an official Facebook page! Become a fan of Vox.com on Facebook and let your friends know what you really care about: staying connected with friends and family through blog posts, photos, videos and comments.
Once you're a fan, you can also add photos and videos to the page, write on the wall, and connect with other Voxers in ways you may not have previously. Plus, it's a great opportunity to let people know about your Vox blog, or start discussion topics. To become a fan, just visit the official Vox.com Facebook page and click the "Become a Fan" button in the upper right hand corner.
Once you've joined, why not post a response to the current discussion topic? Just post a link (and a brief description, if you'd like) to what you consider one of your all-time best Vox posts.
What are you waiting for? Become a Vox.com fan on Facebook today!
They said it couldn't happen, they tried to cancel it, but the MOO Party Is STILL happening this Thursday night at a NEW VENUE!
Yes, just 2 days before our brilliantly planned party, The Ambassador (our previous venue) decided to cancel it. Luckily, you can't keep the MOO Crew down when it comes to a drink with friends, so the our new venue is The Vibe Bar, Brick Lane.
If you're not sure where that is, you're in for a treat. It's a great venue, easily reached from Aldgate East underground station or Liverpool Street tube and rail station. Follow the signs when you get to the venue, and we'll see you there! And Don't get side-tracked by a curry on the way, save it for afters, ok?
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Sheesh! What a palava. See, non-Londoners, this is the chaos that ensues when the sun finally does come out...
It's all go at MOO Towers at the moment. We're bug squishing (virtual, not literal), printing, packing and party-planning.
The party's shaping up rather nicely, so we're hoping it should be lots of fun. If you're in London next Thursday, come along for a drink - and if you're quick, a wee bite to eat. If last years was anything to go by, it should be full of lovely people - and if you don't know anyone when you get there, you should definitely make a few friends before you head off home.
In the meantime, it's really exciting for us to see the beautiful Business Cards you've been making. These are a few great photos we've spotted recently - and thought it would be nice to share:
Photographer David Porter used 10 of his own images to create these beautiful cards:
And these super-cute cards were made by Lori Tingey.
Nerea Marta used a company graphic for her cards:
While these cards by Stephen Collins combine both graphics and photography perfectly.
These beautiful photographs were printed on Business Cards by Hidde de Vries:
And finally this lovely collection, is by Arpad
But, in all this Business Card madness, we haven't lost our love for MiniCards...
(this perfect photo is by Erin Mason)
Even if first sight of these cards, by Andrew Scott did make us want to run for our dear lives.
I do actually have lots of exciting news, but it will have to wait until I can sit down and type it up.
Although we typically post on Team Vox to let you know about things that are going on with Vox (to, uh, state the obvious), once in a while, we like to let you know about other cool things that are happening around the blogosphere. And we think the idea of four hilarious mommy bloggers traveling across the U.S. on their way to the BlogHer '08 conference - all the while blogging and video blogging the journey - is one trip you will not want to miss.
Four adventurous bloggers from the Silicon Valley Moms Group were selected to participate in the Summer Road Trip '08 and blog about their travels, hotel stays, media appearances, time away from their families, and life on the road. Six Apart helped them partner up with General Motors, who provided the blogging mommies with a Chevy Tahoe Hybrid SUV to help make their journey comfy, safe, and a little more green.
In case you're not familiar with them, SV Moms is a group of over 200 bloggers who showcase the ups, downs, outrages, struggles, victories, and everyday humor of motherhood. There are currently nine regional and demographically tailored sites that give mothers from D.C., New Jersey, the Deep South, Rocky Mountains, L.A., and Silicon Valley a powerful voice and sense of camaraderie across the country. Whether you're a mother, a child, or just a person who enjoys a good blog, you'll really love reading the words of these amazing women.
The moms buckled into their Chevy Tahoe Hybrid SUV on July 11th and even got an encouraging message from Katie Couric to kick things off! They are currently somewhere in the middle of America making their way to San Francisco where they'll attend an SV Moms Group Party, as well as BlogHer '08.
You do not want to miss these entertaining and irreverent bloggers -- or their spontaneous contest giveaways! -- as they blog from the road. Experience the journey at MomRoadTrip.com.
And let us know about your summer road trip - or plane/boat/bus trip - in the comments! (I like to live vicariously.)
In lieu of an actual update, I present you with a pretty little twitter box:
It's already been over a week since the launch of MOO Business Cards. After taking a quick recovery lie-down, we've been busy fixing odd things and gawping at the amazing cards you've been making.
There are a few things we're still working on, so if you see anything odd, please bear with us. If it's *really* odd then please contact us and let us know the details. Sometimes things happen that we just can't replicate and it's your great feedback that helps to make things better.
There's now an online template for Business Cards, for those who've asked. Like the templates for other products it's the right size in pixels, millimetres and dpi, all you need to do is add your image, hide the guides and save as a maximum quality RGB JPEG. We don't have templates for the images to be used on the reverse as yet - we're just in the process of whipping this up into better shape, squashing the odd bug, and adding a bit of functionality. These fixes should go live next week - so if you've had any problems, please accept our apologies and bare with us just a little bit longer.
Some of you have also asked about a PDF upload for the text side of the cards. This too is coming as fast as we can get it out there. When we have it all in place, we'll let you know. (You know Text Business Cards are live now, right?)
As I mentioned, it's been great watching the cards you've made so far get printed and packed. Also fun watching them pop-up in the Flickr pool.
These are some examples we've spotted:
Illustrated Business Cards by Askey Illustration. (Also a MOO Designer)
Great photo cards, by Doc18
Variety is the spice of life, by Trevira
and it's all about the words, for Edd Dumbill, who used Wordle to make his cards.
But enough! Now it's on to the even more exciting stuff.
MOO's having a party on Thursday, July 24th in London, and you're invited!
Yes! We're doing it again. Last year we had the Hot and Sticky Summer Party and this year, we're less confident about the weather (hello, London rain), but we're partying anyway!
Its at the Ambassador, same lovely place as last time, and there'll be drink, good company, and a lot of MOO Fun. You can find all the details on Upcoming and on Facebook too.
And one more thing:
Special offer for party people - place an order to collect at the party and get FREE shipping!
Use the code HACCJE on the payment page, which will give you the discount and tag your order. We'll hand your stuff over on the night.
***Orders must be placed by Sunday 20th July***
Hope you can make it - we're looking forward to seeing you.
Do you live in or around Cincinnati, Ohio? If so, you're in luck because Scott and the Queen City Voxers Group have organized a Vox user meetup!
WHERE: Ault Park Playground. 3600 Observatory Avenue, Cincinnati, Ohio 45208. "We'll look for each other at the playground marked by the red X below. If it's raining, head for the shelter to the north of the [red] X."
To RSVP (which is not essential, but is appreciated), reply to Scott's announcement or send him a private message. All Voxers, as well as their friends and family, are welcome to attend.
If you do attend the meetup, have a great time and please take lots of pictures and send them to me so I can post them in Team Vox for everyone to see!
Thank you so much to Scott for organizing this meetup. Wish I could be there!
These fireworks caught me by surprise. They just happened to be at the beach next to the place we were having dinner. I didn't have a tripod, so I found a flat rock and just tried to keep the camera steady, which seemed to work.
Last month while watching fireworks I got the idea of trying a video for the finale, since the intensity of the finale usually overwhelms the image, leaving you with a bright white blur. I jumped the gun on anticipating the finale, and also mistakenly put the camera in manual mode instead of video, which was set to a 1/4-second exposure. I really like the resulting photo, which shows people on the beach illuminated by the pyrotechnics (image number 5). I did manage to catch most of the finale on video, too (the end of which allows me to see that my camera has a dead pixel -- grrrr!).