Which is surprising, given the content. Netflix’s Example Show was shot entirely on the company’s campus in Los Gatos, California. It features long and action-free segments of the building itself, a fountain and flowers. Then there’s a guy moonwalking, hopping around, juggling and dramatically reciting Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar. There’s also minutes of AV test segments and a model train carrying two plastic penguins.

The TV show features four episodes total, spread out over two seasons. Each and every video is 11 minutes long, and completely identical. Credited as actors are “Actor” and “Actress,” and the creator is none other than “Creator.” Of course, Netflix cross-references all these data points to help users find more movies of their favorite actors, and following these links reveals that there are a few more short films with the exact same content, with poetic titles like Example Short 23.976 Burned In Timecode Remote Content.

And all of them have received numerous rave reviews from Netflix’s customers. Some are picking up on the strange titles, with one reviewer writing:

“Awesome! Might the greatest story ever told. The part (where) the frame rate stay [sic] a solid 23.976 is my favorite part by far. ”

Others sing high praise of the oddly named talent:

“I had previously seen Actor and Actress in Play at the Public Theater. Beckett be damned: nothing that I saw there prepared me for Example Short 23.967. The friction between the frame rate and the raw emotion, especially in Actor, still haunts me.”

As strange at the videos are themselves, these reviews are solid gold; hilarious user-generated internet entertainment in the tradition of the Amazon reviews for articles like Tuscan Whole Milk and the Three Wolf Moon T-Shirt. But how did the videos end up on the service in the first place?

I asked Netflix about it, and was told that the clips were produced a few years ago for testing purposes. Also, the moon-walking Shakespeare aficionado starring in them doesn’t actually work at Netflix. He’s a freelancer, specifically hired for this project. A Netflix spokesperson went on to explain:

“These test videos are designed to help makers of consumer electronics devices that can stream from Netflix test their video players to handle various scenarios such as audio-visual syncing and complex motion at a wide variance of frame rates. Simply placing these titles into our production catalog, available through search only, eliminates the need for complex testing infrastructure.”

However, adding these titles to Netflix’s catalog also surfaced them through the site’s RSS feed – and that’s how most customers likely stumbled across them. To this day, Netflix is repackaging the material every couple of months for new tests, releasing it under equally descriptive titles. And every time, there’s a few more Netflix users stumbling across the clips, curious, amused, and eventually inspired to leave reviews like this one:

“Stunning and transfixing. This sensitive film draws the viewer into rethinking the entire human experience. Yin and yang, up and down, peanut butter and jelly. This will be studied by the next generation of film makers to inspire and challenge creativity.”

That’s likely more than Creator and Actor ever hoped for.

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But this one uses the power of Twitter.

Frstee is the latest experiment from some friends of mine in London known collectively as the Really Interesting Group. They’ve come up with a way to inject a bit of the web into Christmas by producing an individually-manufactured bauble whose dimensions are determined by online data… in this case, details about your Twitter usage.

So, when you order your very own Frstee, the system takes a look at a Twitter account of your choosing (perhaps yours, perhaps a friend’s, perhaps Lady Gaga). And the more followers you have, the bigger the snowman’s head. Conversely, somebody with a small Twitter following will have an undersized noggin:

In addition, the number of buttons on the snowman’s front correspond to the number of years you’ve been using Twitter.

So you end up with something like this:

It is intended, say the gang with tongue firmly in cheek, to cause “a uniquely Social Media frisson around your festive tree.”

He’s been on sale for a couple of weeks already, but this isn’t Frstee’s first time at the snowdeo. Really Interesting Group has got form on this stuff: a couple of years ago they produced a series of data-based objects (“datadecs”) which included not only a Twitter snowman, but also baubles cut to represent your online listening patterns, travel patterns and photo uploads. This time they’re making the idea available to the public.

If you want a Frstee in time for Christmas you’d better hurry. Manufacturing and delivery take 21 days because each one is 3D printed individually and shipped off to you. And while these one-offs aren’t exactly cheap — mine cost £19.50 ($31) — they are a lot of fun.

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Does that mean Netflix will launch a separate website just for kids? Probably not. Netflix has in the past experimented with delivering different UIs to different devices, but never specifically targeted any slice of its audience with a separate site. However, it’s entirely possible that Netflix wants to internally experiment with kids-specific designs to eventually incorporate some of those elements into its main site.

Netflix has added a lot of content specifically targeted towards the needs of kids and their parents in recent months, with full seasons of shows like Sesame Street, Yo Gabba Gabba, SpongeBob SquarePants and iCarly being added to the company’s streaming library. Netflix has also been toying with the idea of separating its queues and recommendations by introducing multiple user profiles for each account, which would help parents keep their Netflix front page free of too many suggestions for Strawberry Shortcake. However, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings said during a recent earnings call that this change “is not going to happen in the short term.”

Netflix is famous for its data-centric approach towards design changes, with each potential tweak being vigorously A/B tested before it is rolled out to a wider audience. Some of its UI decisions have nonetheless been met with resistance. The company revamped its home page in early June to offer subscribers more instant access to streaming titles, but the changes immediately provoked thousands of negative comments. Netflix eventually rolled back some of the changes a month later.

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Here are a few reasons why side projects make good business sense.

1. New skills. I love to use side projects as a way to stretch myself and learn new things that I wouldn’t normally do as a result of my regular work. In the past, I’ve had side projects where I co-founded a nonprofit to organize community technology events, co-founded a location-based startup, wrote a book about community, wrote a cookbook, started blogs and much more. Out of each of these efforts, I’ve learned many new skills that I’ve applied in my day job. I’ve personally benefited from each of these efforts, but the companies I’ve worked for have also benefited from the skills learned in my off-hours.
2. Connections and networking. Most of my side projects have given me an excuse to meet new people. I’ve made friends and valuable industry connections that I can talk to about new ideas or trends. Especially for those of us working in technology, many of these connections bleed over from one project or company to the next. Having additional contacts in your industry gives you a broader base of people to talk to about new side projects or interesting things that you are working on in your day job.
3. Sense of accomplishment. While many of us are lucky enough to have great jobs where we get a sense of accomplishment from our regular work, it isn’t always the case. There is nothing quite like launching a fun project to boost your overall mood and give you a sense of excitement. For me, the accomplishments from my side projects tend to have a positive impact on my regular job, too, since my improved mood makes me even more productive when it comes to other work. Employees with improved self-confidence from a big accomplishment can often become better workers in other areas.
4. Safety net. In today’s economy, we need to be prepared for a potential job loss. The people who have wrapped their entire identity and life around their job at a company can be devastated when they lose a job. Those of us with healthy side projects can throw ourselves into these existing projects and maybe even generate a little income while we look for a new gig. Having some projects to fall back on and keep your skills current can help to maintain your sanity and prevent you from becoming despondent over your loss.
5. Fun. Most importantly, side projects should be fun! In many cases, side projects can be hobbies that you enjoy spending your free time on. If your side projects start to suck the energy out of you, then it’s time to find a new side project that leaves you energized and with a sense of enjoyment. This is part of why I organized tech events in my spare time for so many years. They were hard work, but it was great to get all kinds of different people together and create an amazing and fun experience. After a while, I had done so many of these that it ceased to be much fun, which is when I dropped them from my side projects and moved on to other projects.

What types of side projects do you most enjoy?

Photo courtesy of Selena Deckelmann

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The news that Google’s staff bonuses now depend on the success of its new +1 social rank tool — and Mathew’s observation that “you can’t threaten people into being social” — brings to the fore an important but often unacknowledged issue surrounding collaborative business: While businesses focus on choosing tools, prescribing acceptable network policies and measuring ROI, the easiest way to get staff to collaborate is, well, to make it fun.

One organization I worked with last year used an internal social network that was literally devoid of any humor or personality whatsoever. Try as I might, I couldn’t bring myself to use it, and I wasn’t the only one. Who wants to “engage” when there’s nothing but a constructed corporate persona to engage with?

If you want staff to collaborate productively with one another, your suppliers, peers or customers, the simplest way is to make it fun.

You may think that’s unrealistic; a non-essential element in the cut-and-thrust of today’s heady business competition. But the fact remains that it’s the easiest way to get staff to work together.

What makes collaboration fun?

Human Contact

Collaboration is fun because we do it with others. Online collaboration helps us very efficiently avoid the tyranny of distance, which is equally great for making disparate teams feel closer, and for allowing us to learn from people we’ll never get a chance to meet.

We all know the kick that comes from engaging with someone we admire — albeit at a distance — over Twitter or Facebook. That thrill is echoed every day in good collaborative exchanges within teams.

Personalities

Personalities can make or break the collaborative effort. Evolving team member disagreements and friendships all have their impacts on the collaborative fun factor.

Establish your collaborative space as a supportive, open platform on which individuals’ unique aspects are welcome, and your staff will likely have more fun there.

A Shared Goal or Direction

Being part of something bigger than the individual is a key motivator for many collaborators. Most of us want to belong, and belonging involves sharing. Shared experience—especially the overcoming of collective challenges, and the achievement of common goals—strengthens team bonds and supports future collaborative efforts.

Think of the people you love collaborating with on work projects. They’re probably people who share your passion for the work, and who can communicate that enthusiasm equally well through in-person or online exchanges.

Learning, Contribution and Recognition

For most professionals, a key personal motivation for collaboration is the opportunities it provides to learn from peers, contribute to the collaborative effort, and be recognized for the good work we do by people we admire.

That cycle of mutual respect, admiration and knowledge exchange is self-perpetuating. Valuable, rich collaborative relationships usually continue even when team members change employers, and no longer have access to in-house collaborative systems.

The Payoff

If you’re thinking, “that’s fine and all, but it sure sounds like a lot of fun,” you’re right. But remember: more fun means stronger staff engagement, more effective collaboration, and greater productivity.

If your organization is one of those that’s still worried about the potential for staff to “spend all their time on social networks,” it’s way past time to join the age of social business. Engaging with staff about the networks they enjoy, and considering the ways they could be used to enrich workplace collaboration might be a good first step towards making your organization more collaborative and effective.

Teams that don’t collaborate well should assess their operation on the basis of the elements mentioned here. Certain tools may help you overcome specific collaborative issues, but the astute team leader will consider each possible solution in light of its potential to enhance the collaborative fun factor—knowing that more fun will likely lead to a greater ROI.

Does your organization support fun within its collaborative approach?

Image courtesy tam_oliver.

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The first was when I interviewed eight-year-old entrepreneur Ryan Ross. During the interview, he said that running a business was easy and fun and everyone should do it. And that if we all did, we could help more people around the world.

Then I had the opportunity to ask billionaire Sir Richard Branson at a recent web conference for his thoughts on keeping his passion alive and giving something back as part of his work as an entrepreneur.

I don’t think it’s an easy feat to stay connected to our core values and who it is that we want to be. No, strike that. I think it’s easy to get so distracted by the “busy-ness” of our businesses that we forget our purpose, our mission, or our vision for our life and who we hope to be.

I want my life to be about giving back, helping others and being of service, but then the days happen. I move from one to-do item to the next, and before you know it, a month or three months or even a year has passed, and I haven’t really spent a big portion of my time encompassing or embodying the traits that I hope will make up the biggest portion of my character.

I don’t know the answer for sure, not yet at least. Maybe we figure it out with time, with age and with wisdom. Maybe it’s wishful thinking, but I hope there comes a time when I can focus much less on the things I hope to do and much more on the person I want to be.

Maybe instead of (or at least alongside) a to-do list, I should have a “to-be” list and then make a concerted effort to complete them both.

How do you instill more of the “being” even with all the “doing”?

Photo by Flickr user foxspain, licensed under CC 2.0

Instead, why not embrace my web working identity as a source of costume idea inspiration? These costumes may not be instantly recognizable by everyone, but those who do recognize them will make it all worthwhile, especially if you travel with a web-savvy crowd. Please note that any ribbing that follows is of the good-natured variety.

Idea #1: SEO Expert

This is the first thing that came to mind, and probably one of the easiest to do. It doesn’t necessarily require any special wardrobe, but dressing like an old-time traveling cough syrup salesman and giving yourself a silly name like Dr. Higgledy-Digg couldn’t hurt. Nor would printing up fake credentials, like a PhD in the field of “Findology.”

Be sure to also prepare a briefcase full of Google Search screenshots, charts and graphs detailing questionable ROI numbers, and brochures extolling the virtues of affiliate marketing. While you’re at the party you’re attending, constantly spout out high visibility keywords in a random string while holding up two header tags. Whenever anyone mentions the word content, laugh derisively and let on that you’re privy to the algorithms of both Google and Bing.

Idea #2: Tech Blogger

Dress in pajamas or track pants, possibly with a housecoat, and make sure your hair is unkempt. You may or may not also abstain from brushing your teeth. Carry a laptop with you at all times — ideally a netbook — and make sure to consistently utter complaints about the signal quality, wherever you are.

Pick a pet tech, like mobile, Apple, Microsoft, video games or whatever you can think of. Steer all conversations you have during the night towards that topic, and make ridiculous predictions about the future of said tech. Always cite “sources” for said predictions, but if anyone asks for more detail about the sources, change the topic or mumble something under your breath.

Make sure all the photos you take during the party are blurry and out of focus or of people’s cell phones and other devices instead of the people themselves, and make sure you get at least a few of your hand lovingly caressing their electronics. Sneak comedic references to “Star Wars” and “Terminator” into as many conversations as possible.

Idea #3: Social Media Maven

Wear a shirt that says “I’m Kind of a Big Deal on Twitter,” “Tweet or Die” or the name of your self-published book on how to achieve success through Twitter. Carry many copies of said book in a satchel or book bag and hand them out while winking and saying “review copy.” Every time someone wants to take your picture, try to recreate the pose from your Twitter picture. You know, the one that emphasizes your “good side.”

Throughout the night, give a preachy, self-important tip as to how to tweet successfully every five or 10 minutes. Once in a while, repeat exactly what someone else just said if you found it particularly insightful or funny. When people ask you about your credentials, start listing important people you know and have talked to once or twice, then just provide a total number of how many people you know in total.

While talking with others, mention Facebook, LinkedIn and FriendFeed, but never go further than speaking about them offhand. Make sure to tell everyone you’re available for speaking engagements.

There you have it — three easy costumes with little or no preparation required. And I suspect many of you, like myself, already have many of the necessary components on hand. Happy Halloween!

What costume are you wearing this Halloween?

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It’s the end of another week and so it’s time for me to scour the latest releases in the App Store for the hottest new iPhone apps. As ever, I’ve selected four hot picks released in the last seven days for you to check out.

This week I’ve plucked our picks from across the globe. Hailing from Japan, my top pick this week is Brain Controller.

I’ve also checked out Finland’s Pajatzo, France’s Adrenaline Golf and Germany’s Vinyl DJ.

Brain Controller ($2.99)

Created by the apparently twisted minds at Motion Portrait Inc. over in Japan, Brain Controller might not be the most useful app to add to your collection but, it may well be the strangest. If you’re looking to drop some jaws and raise some eyebrows while showing off your iPhone, this is the app for you.

After shooting a photo of your friend, the app will work its truly impressive magic on your unsuspecting cohort. Brain Controller creates a Men In Black-style video, featuring a small alien emerging from your friend’s cranium before delivering a personalized message.

Those that still need convincing can check out some of the videos, uploaded directly from the app to YouTube, or even try out mpChange, an excellent little site that uses the same technology to mess with your face in a variety of utterly weird ways.

Pajatzo (99 cents)

If you’re a regular reader, you’ll know how I regularly indulge in pachinko-based fun on my iPhone. It all started several months ago with Rockchinko, a pachinko game that introduces rockabilly and bullet-time to the mix.

As a newcomer to Finland, I couldn’t help but notice pajazzo machines in a few of my favorite haunts. Pajazzo is the Finnish equivalent of pachinko. Played by shooting a coin into the machine, your coin will ricochet around before hopefully scoring a jackpot and earning you a modest return on your investment.

As pajazzo’s success never quite reached the epic proportions of its Japanese counterpart, and seeing as most machines are now dusty disused relics, Pajatzo for iPhone might be your only chance to try out this addictive Finnish classic.

Adrenaline Golf (99 cents)

From the folks behind Adrenaline Golf and Adrenaline Poker is the imaginatively titled Adrenaline Golf. Eurocenter, based in France, specialize in developing online games for iPhone. In fact, looking at their back catalogue, all of their releases feature an online component.

While Eurocenter’s Poker wasn’t the most effective online poker game for iPhone (my pick would be Zynga’s excellent Live Poker), they’ve managed to create something solid and fun with Adrenaline Golf. Online multiplayer matches are mixed up with trampolines, bumpers and even cannons.

Particularly surprising is Adrenaline Golf’s price. For just a buck iPhone 3GS owners get a true taster of the fledgling device’s graphical prowess. The details are delicious, from shimmering tropical waters to glowing night-time torches.

Vinyl DJ (99 cents)

This week’s final pick comes to us from Germany. Developed by Armin Heinrich, Vinyl DJ is strictly for iPhone-owning audiophiles who long for the golden days of music, when the closest thing to the iTunes Music Store was wandering down to your local record shop and sifting through never ending racks of dusty vinyl.

Vinyl was kicked to the curb though, sidelined for streamlined, portable and, most importantly, digital formats. Even though the benefits of digital are hard to ignore, there are some who claim that our new-fangled devices are lacking a certain je ne sais quoi.

And that’s where Vinyl DJ comes in. This app brings back that vintage vibe with a variety of effects including dust, crackle, scratch, mechanical noise and, of course, that all important record deck hum.

That’s all the picks for this week. I’ll be back in seven days with a fresh selection of App Store recommendations.

In the meantime, what apps have you been using this week?

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Though no gaming platform has a shortage of “simulator” tycoon style games, few have enough engaging gameplay to really stand out among the crowd. Now Boarding, a tycoon style game revolving around routing passengers at an airport, is one of these little treasures and a great game to help you relax and escape from the real world.

The basic gist is that you are the owner of an airline and its home terminal, in charge of the amount and placement of seats, stores, and snacks (among other unlockable treasures). Your mission is simple. Ferry passengers from your airport to others. As your business grows, you can take on other destinations, more passengers and larger aircraft to handle the traffic.

The game is laid out as five “episodes” spanning various regions across the northern hemisphere. Individual cities within each episode have their own unique characteristics, such as Orlando being busier during the summer (due to its amusement parks). Strategy is essential as you grow your fleet of aircraft and choose which destinations to expand your airline service to next.

With unique graphics and an engaging soundtrack, gameplay is very upbeat and fun. Don’t be surprised to waste huge amounts of time as you play to unlock awards and achievements.

Inside your terminal, you are responsible for staffing appropriate positions (ticketing, gate attendant, customer service, docking) in addition to expanding your airline fleet, all while keeping within your budget. As traffic to your airline grows, you will be able to expand to offer more unique methods of transportation, including a helicopter, a 36 seat plane and a private jet.

As your airline business grows, so does the difficulty of keeping happy the hundreds of passengers that move throughout your terminal. As the pressure mounts and more passengers pile into your terminal than you can handle, they will start to get angry. When they have a melt down, the game is over.

Now Boarding started as a Flash-based game and, due to its nature, does require a pretty beefy system for decent gameplay. Users will need to have at least a 1.83GHz Intel Core Duo or 1GHz PowerPC G4 processor or faster to play. On older Macs, performance may degrade as you progress higher into the game as your airline plays host to an increasing number of passengers. The game is built around the Adobe Air platform, so in addition to being compatible with Windows and Linux, it also runs just like any other standalone application, complete with its own icon.

Now Boarding is a great game that starts off simple and easy, but quickly scales in terms of difficulty and challenges. A demo version of Now Boarding is available at its website here. The full version costs $14.99. If you’ve had a chance to play, I’d love to hear your thoughts!

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Once again, it’s that special time of the week when we all join hands, take a deep breath and exhale as we take a spiritual journey through the latest app picks for iPhone.

Before we reach app Zen, however, it’s time for a refreshing run through of the week’s iPhone news and Apple happenings.

Credit cards at the ready, the week opened with the resurgence of the Apple tablet rumor. Fueled by word from component suppliers in China, the rumor is that we could see an Apple tablet retailing by October this year.

One year on from the App Store’s launch and Apple is feeling particularly pleased with its paradigm shifting achievement. So pleased, in fact, that it dropped a big number in celebration: 1.5 billion App Store downloads in the first year. Impressive indeed. I wonder if Nokia, Palm or RIM will ever catch up?

Our own Clayton Lai returned this week with “Jailbreak,” an ongoing series that’s all about getting the most out of your jailbroken iPhone. His latest offering explains how to spruce up your iPhone’s lock screen with calendars, Twitter feeds and more.

Still on the subject of jailbreaking, over on the iPhone 3GS there’s a new unlock in town: purplesn0w. It improves on the Dev Team’s ultrasn0w, providing a much more stable unlock, while improving battery life and Wi-Fi connectivity.

It seems that most users won’t notice any difference with the latest iTunes update, however Palm Pre owners are in for a surprise sandwich filled with the meat of disappointment: Apple has blocked Palm Pre syncing in iTunes. Pre owners, I adore your device, but it was bound to happen, it has happened, get over it.

And finally, Google has brought local web search to the iPhone. The service makes use of the iPhone’s 3.0 software update, which now includes HTML 5 Geolocation API support in Safari. This basically means that web sites can determine your location and provide you with relevant and useful data. By which I mean adverts, lots of adverts.

Moving on to the picks, this week I’ve been looking at Worms, Spell Number, Zombies & Me and Tap Star.

Worms ($4.99)
This brings me back to the old days — all the cool kids got their console fix with the SNES or Genesis, but I had an Amiga 500. For a time, I had very little interest in chubby Italian plumbers or a blue hedgehog with an attitude problem. It was all about British dev studios churning out classic games: Sensible Software’s Cannon Fodder, Ocean’s Robocop and, of course, Team 17 with Worms. Featuring a brigade of cheeky, well-armed worms, the game is a turn-based strategy, incorporating a bevy of weird weaponry, perfect for extended multiplayer gaming sessions. For the retro fanboys with a penchant for the Amiga, this is a definite download, but it’s also worth checking out for newbies looking for an explosive (and amusing) strategy fix.

Spell Number (Free)
So you’ve updated your iPhone to OS 3.0, or you’ve taken it one step further and bagged yourself an iPhone 3GS. Either way, there are a few tweaks and improvements that may make your Apple device even more wonderful. One such tweak, provided by Spell Number, activates Emoji — colorful and scrumptious emoticons, available exclusively to iPhone users over in Japan. Simply download Spell Number, enter the number 91929394.59, then press the Home button, go to Settings → General → Keyboard → Japan and activate Emoji. Unlike various other Emoji-activating apps for iPhone, this one is absolutely free and, notably, works for OS 3 and the 3GS. This is a definite download, especially for folks who would like to spice up their SMS and email messages with some Emoji goodness.

Zombies & Me (99 cents)
The slow-moving dinosaur of the game industry, EA, recently founded its own micro-game production studio to start churning out potential iPhone hits at a fast rate — one a month — while experimenting with new gameplay styles. Zombies & Me is the first release as part of this initiative and, surprisingly, it looks gorgeous, sounds scrummy and plays well, too. The premise is simple, Granny’s house is about to be raided by hungry zombies and it’s your job to dash around the garden, leading the undead in to various bombs, while trying not to have your brains sucked out. Serious kudos to EA for stepping away from the big brand franchise factory methodology and investing in something a little more experimental.

Tap Star ($4.99)
Finally a viable competitor to Tap Tap Revenge hits the App Store. Created by Epic Tilt and with serious support from Sony Entertainment Music — clearly wanting to get in on the App Store game to leverage some of its content — comes Tap Star, a new rhythm action game. While Tap Star lacks the character and flair of Tap Tap Revenge, it makes up for this failing by bundling tons of tunes from Sony’s catalogue, including tracks from Elvis, Cyndi Lauper, Pink and Britney. I’ll be sticking with Tap Tap Revenge, it’s just so much richer, but fans of Sony’s catalogue in particular may want to check out Tap Star.

That’s all the picks for this week. I’ll be back in seven days with more news from the week and picks from the App Store.

In the meantime, what apps have you been using this week?

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