Gangplank #17 – Kontakt Magazine stops killing trees

No Comments »January 29th, 2009 in GangplankStudio Podcasts |

Don Crossland from Kontakt Magazine explains how he used his self taught wordpress-ninja skills to bring his magazine completely online.  With a little help from our Gangplank er, gang.

 

 Standard Podcast [9:01m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

2009: The state of the Plank address

3 Comments »January 27th, 2009 in News, Update |

Hey there kids,

This is strebel, and today I sat down with Daniel Gerous the CEO of Gangplank and asked him a few questions as to where this thing called Gangplank is going and what’s in store for the future. I also threw in some more worldly questions to really try to understand what makes him tick.

JS: Daniel, thank you for taking  the time to sit down with me today. I know your schedule is pretty hectic of late. Can you tell us what you have been up to?

DG: First, thank you for having me in today Joshua, I have been following your exploits of late and I must say.. that burn on @conrey was classic! [chuckle] I have been focusing a lot of my attention of late on community outreach and building momentum for the movement.

JS: The movement? Please explain.

DG: Well see Gangplank is many things.. to some it is a physical place, a building, where they come to work and socialize. To others it is a source of capital and mentorship for start-ups, for many it is an idea. An idea that Phoenix can be more than Cotton, Real Estate, and Cactus – or whatever the dumb cliche is. For far too long Phoenix has been stuck in a funk, a technology backwater. Think about it.. you have few notable exceptions like Motorola, Intel, Microage, and Salesforce/ACT. But really.. what else is there. Besides those few OLD SKOOOL exceptions.. and few recent ones like GoDaddy, Phoenix [metro] is 20 years behind the likes of the Bay Area, Boston, Chicago.. even little old Boulder, CO is clowning us on the new-tech front. There is.. er was.. no innovation culture here.

JS: Yeah.. I hate that guy Andrew Hyde.. all he ever talks about is Boulder this, Boulder that.. wish one would fall on him.

DG: Exactly. Phoenix is huge, and filled with many many many smart people, just waiting for something to happen. And I would like to think that Gangplank is that something.

JS: How So?

DG: In the 5, maybe 6 months now we have been doing this.. with the help of the smart people on board; We are changing EVERYTHING. There is a new vibe in town. Sure the Economy overall is hurting, but the guys I talk to, and the business that operate out of gangplank, are doing exciting things, and never seem to be hurting for business. Overall we want to do 1 thing. Make Phoenix awesome. Make people proud to say they are from Phoenix. We are doing that by making our facilities open for use by freelancers, user groups, even the Microsoft peeps are on board. We planted a seed, and it is growing.. fast, like some weird mutant hybrid weed of awesome.

JS: Nice.. So Whats Next for Gangplank?

DG: Well I cant divulge all the secrets, but I can say this. We are moving into [business] spaces, making partnerships, and talking to people now, that will in the near and long term future insure that Phoenix is always in the conversation. From Capital investment to Creative Mecca… it is all within our reach.

JS: So Dan, what’s in it for you?

DG: Truthfully.. nothing tangible. Maybe I can get a date with a movie star or something out of it. I do it because it has to be done.

JS: So what are your thoughts on the election and our new president?

DG: I am agnostic in my political views, I’ll back whatever or whom ever can help the most people. So far Obama seems to be hitting the ground running.. That is a good thing to do whether you are president or peasent. Do work, and do it well.

JS: So a while back some interweb celebs were here, did you get a chance to meet them?

DG: No I didn’t unfortunatly, I was away on business.. I seem to be always away on business… hence this silly rumor that I dont even exist.  Bollocks.. I did hear though that @Garyvee is terrible at wii tennis.

JS: True Story.. he sucks. So Any final thoughts for our viewers? All 2 of them?

DG: Well my grandpa was a farmer, in Ohio.. and he had one rule to live by. He would say, “Dan, no matter how much cow shit sticks to your boots, you can still walk”.

JS: HAHAhaha..

DG: No really.. It took me a while to understand it, but today I embrace it. Think about it.. Also I just want to say thanks all the folks that make Gangplank possible. The anchor companies (Integrum, Drawbackwards, Obu, Forty, BestPartyEver, Stealthmode, sStitch) and all the freelancers and cool kids that show up and make it a great place to work and play.

JS: Thanks for sitting down with me today Daniel, I look forward to more cool stuff from Gangplank

DG: Thank you for having me.. As long as people want more for Phoenix, and themselves; Gangplank will be here.

Gangplank #16 – Shaler Goes Kerplunk!

No Comments »January 22nd, 2009 in GangplankStudio Podcasts |

Our old friend Brian Shaler stopped by to tell us all about his new twitter desktop application Kerplunk! It’s currently in Alpha testing (where I hope people smarter than me can figure it out) but will soon be released in Beta.  Brian also plans to add other feeds like friendfeed, del.icio.us and eventually just about every-other-odd service out there.

 

 Standard Podcast [16:42m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Interested In Getting Involved

1 Comment »January 21st, 2009 in News |

Recently we threw up a quick poll to see what kind of interest there were in some of our crazy ideas for using Gangplank’s space to help build community.  It looks like there was a reasonable response so if you want to help organize any of the following please drop info@gangplankhq.com an email or comment below.

Gangplank Technical Library

No Comments »January 19th, 2009 in News |

We finally implemented the Techincal Library we have been discussing for some time.  We have started to fill it with some books, but if you have some books lying around that you want to donate we are accepting book donations.  If you would like to check out books you can do so as well.  We will be putting our library online soon.  We hope you find this a valuable resource and put it to good use.

Gangplank #15 – Andrew & Andrew

No Comments »January 8th, 2009 in GangplankStudio Podcasts |

Double the Andrew, double the fun.  Well anyway, Andrew Ryno and Andrew Bowerman wandered into the studio danger zone and Evo nabs them for a quick talking-to.  Poor kids didn’t know what hit them.

 

 Andrew & Andrew [9:00m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Dangerball – The Official Billiards Game of Gangplank

7 Comments »January 7th, 2009 in News |

At Gangplank we not only work by the motto “Be Dangerous” but we play that way as well.   To embody that spirit we came up with the game Dangerball – which is the most dangerous game you play on a pool table without explosives or sharp objects.   The rules are available at Wikipedia but run as follows:

• The goal of the game is to get as many balls as possible into your side of the table.
• Balls are racked as in Eight-ball, but with the 8-ball (”danger ball”) removed.   The order of the balls in irrelevant.
  

  Dangerball Rack

• Tradition holds that whoever picks up the 8 ball from the table doesn’t have to break.   In subsequent rounds the loser of the previous round breaks.
  

  Stealing the 8ball

• The breaker is assigned the pockets on the left side of the table as facing the break.
• After the break, the danger ball is placed in the center of the table.
  

  Dangerball Placement

• If the danger ball is disrupted(moved at all by ricochet or direct hit) during the game, the shooter must give one of their sunk balls to the other player. If the 8-ball is sunk, the shooter must give two sunk balls to the other player. In both cases, the 8-ball is returned to the center of the table.  The other player then can place the cue ball anywhere on the table.
• If the shooter sinks the cue ball (i.e., scratches), his or her turn is over and the next player can place the ball anywhere on the table.
• If the shooter sinks one of the other player’s balls, he or she continues playing the turn as normal. (There is no penalty for sinking the other players ball.)
• “Slop” (lucky shots) are counted as fair, even in tournament play.
  

  Slop

• When all other balls are sunk, the danger ball becomes a normal ball, and the game continues until either it is sunk, or until it is mathematically impossible for one player to win (in which case the point is automatically awarded to the victor for scorekeeping purposes).

• When the game is over, the player with the most balls wins.

Sunny and James played the largest role in creating the game while myself and others have beta tested it to the playable version it is today.

Stay tuned for the first Dangerball tournaments and feel free to bring the game to your own pool game.