scales, robert scales - robertscales

My Beijing Diary - Post two

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 09:25:47 -0700

The 29th Summer Games have been underway for a few days now, and so much has happened.

I am excited to be here in China. Beijing is a great host city; people are going out of their way to make us feel welcome and ready to assist fans from around the world.

On Friday August 8th, or 080808 as it will now be recorded in history, China inspired the world with an incredible display of artistic choreography, traditional culture and brilliant pyrotechnic displays.

China blew our minds with this human powered show, an event that will be forever archived as one of the best Olympic opening shows!

After spending a brilliant night making friends with fans from around the world, we went exploring various venues. On our list of locations to scoot, we ventured to the 'Birds Nest' national stadium, the 'Water Cube' aquatic centre, the fencing hall and the Yukeson basketball stadium.

Day one here took a sad turn when we heard about the deadly stabbing of an American relative of a USA volleyball team coach, an event that has raised issues about some of the security measures at non-Olympic venues.

We also ran into the Chinese women's fencing team and their coach. Since I'm such a fencing fan, this was the highlight of my day.

That night we went to Beijing's one and only Drive-In-Theatre where an all night concert was hosted.

On our second day here, we attended the rowing qualification and cheered for Canada, China and other countries. Sadly a thunderstorm forced us to return to the comfort of our apartment in Fulicheng, a district south-east of Beijing. This allowed us to regroup before watching the USA-China basketball game.

Today we will be going to see our peers at the British Colombia Canada pavilion where they will showcase the upcoming 2010 winter Olympics in Vancouver.

Scales speaking at the 2010 New Media BC Day

Wed, 06 Dec 2006 09:32:51 -0800

Kris Krug and I will be presenting on Web 2.0 and the 2010 Olympics as part of New Media BC's New Media Day for the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Committee and friends on Thursday December 7, 2006.

We will be showing how "Web 2.0" can further the promotion of the Olympics and help connect the real world Olympic community with the online community world wide.

Bryght's blog post from 2006/12/06.

This will be a continuation of the work we've done earlier this year in Torino, where KK lead a Web 2.0 and Sports Symposium. This is also link with our ongoing strategy towards the 2008 Beijing Olympics with our client; China Access 2008 and the recent BarCamp Shanghai which Raincity helped organize and sponsored.

Raincity and Bryght in the Thunderbird UBC School Journal

Fri, 01 Dec 2006 00:04:21 -0800

A few weeks ago while we hosted the first joint drupal training session between Bryght and Raincity, Anna Olejarczyk interviewed Krug and I for her upcoming article on Web 2.0 start-ups in Vancouver.

The article came out last week, here's a portion of it.

Robert Scales, CEO and founder of Raincity Studios, says that people who are in the Web 2.0 industry are more like “private investors.�?

There’s not much public investment going on, but in this goldrush stage, there are a number of young entrepreneurs being picked up for their product. Yahoo acquiring Flickr, Google buying YouTube and News Corp. obtaining MySpace – these are all large companies that are getting the missing pieces of the puzzle that will make them leading edge in this new technology frenzy says Scales.

Heading To China Once More

Fri, 01 Sep 2006 10:32:19 -0700

September China Program Finalized

The September China trip is only a few weeks away. All of the details have been finalized and hotels and plane tickets have been booked. The crew will be making stops in Beijing, Shanghai and Hangzhou, meeting with members of the business community and political figures. There is still time to jump on board if you have not already done so and join the team of business leaders who are making the trek. This is an opportunity of a lifetime to be a part of such a well orchestrated and strategic event. To find out more about upcoming Business Visit Programs in Beijing please, click here

Click here to Register for the September Program.

China Access 2008 is a strategic international business marketing and partnering initiative that has been consciously structured to help China better realize the unique economic development potential arising from Beijing’s hosting and staging of the 2008 Olympic Games.

The venture was publicly launched in Beijing by Vice Mayor Lu Hao in December 2004.

China Access 2008 will utilise the years leading up to the staging of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games to:

NewsForge on Barcamp Vancouver and my Presentation

Wed, 30 Aug 2006 10:34:24 -0700

NewsForge: More On BarCamp

Bruce Byflield of NewsForge joined our group at BarCampVancouver last week-end. As it turns out, he had a pretty swell time: met some good people, was thoroughly impressed with the organization, learned a lot, was intellectually stimulated, and seemed to have had some fun along the way.

You can read his article in its' entirety online here. In it, Bruce highlights some of his positive experiences, while suggesting on how the Camp might improve as well.

Below is an small excerpt from his article after speaking with me after my session on Open Source Business.

"Open Source Business" by Robert Scales, the president and CEO of Raincity Studios. Scales explained his conviction that an open source business model was about more than working with technologies like Drupal and Ruby. Instead, Scales has tried to build his business as a cooperative, offering generous benefits and bonuses and encouraging employees to attend conferences. In addition, he has tried to build reciprocal relations with companies in the same line of business so that they can recommend each other when one is unavailable to work with a potential customer. Last year, he even went to the extent of making the company's financial position public , even though Raincity is not publicly traded. While he could not detail individual employees' salaries or the size of contracts due to Canada's privacy laws, he did give overall figures for both. "I'm really open," he says, sporting a Mohawk and all black clothes... However, it seemed obvious that, for all the humour, for Scales, his business model was not so much a buzz word as a way of life.

Podcasting E3 2006- Reflection of 8 Days in Los Angeles

Mon, 15 May 2006 20:15:19 -0700

Krug and I just returned from E3, the Electronic Entertainment Expo, in LA and what a busy week it was! E3 is the premier trade show for the video and online gaming industry.

We went down on behalf of New Media BC and the Digital Media Association of Alberta to provide coverage of the show including recording podcasts with several companies from BC and Alberta who were exhibiting at E3.

Some of the companies I interviewed includes Jarhead Games, Buena Vista Group, Piranha Games, Next Level Games, and Hal Josephson of Media Sense.

A reflection of 10 days at SXSW

Sun, 26 Mar 2006 01:36:43 -0800

My first SXSW, I spent 10 days in Austin, Texas armed with a video camera, a digital SLR and my mac! In my hand a platinum and photographer pass giving me access to almost all events and venues in town for the film, interactive and music festival.

Raincity Studios and Bryght hosted a party with our friends at Blue Flavor and Newsvines.

Bryght had a booth in the Convention Centre, where I spent the best part of my afternoon chatting with geeks and rockstars alike. Helping Colin and kk to promote Backstage and our services.

Ponzi stopped by one afternoon and did a podcasts with me and one with KK, you can listen to mine on the Chris Pirillo Show.

One Image - Summary of 12 days at the 2006 Torino Olympics

Sat, 25 Feb 2006 19:20:24 -0800

click on the image to see the notes I added (using flickr) to each item.

One Image - Summary of 12 days at the 2006 Torino Winter Olympics

It's hard to put into words all that I have done during my 12 days in Torino. So I put all items and objects that represent my 12 days in torino in one pill and took a picture. Using flickr I added note to the image to help you better understand my trip

Reflections on Torino at 40,000 feet over over the Atlantic

Sat, 25 Feb 2006 06:35:35 -0800

On our way back from Torino, Italy. Kris and I just spend 12 days there working, researching and documenting the Olympics.

We had a great time in Italy, Our last night was a perfect conclusion to this amazing trip. Our new found friend, Turbodiesel from flickr invited us to a dinner party at his friends house, then showed us some of his favorite things about the city we have come to love and finally drove us to the Airport in his TurboDiesel BMW. A million thank you Roberto!

Now on my way back to Canada, I am taking advantage of the free 30 minutes WiFi access given to us at the airport. I guess that now place me in the Mile High WiFi Club!

HYow surreal it is to check my email and type an entry on my blog while cruising at 876 kms, at an altitude of 40,000 feet over the Atlantic.

Thanks you Lufthansa!

My power on my laptop slowly draining, just like my energy level after 12 hard days at the Olympics, I now retire to sleep hopefully for the rest of this 10 hours flight.

From 37,000 feet over the Atlantic

Sun, 12 Feb 2006 14:19:57 -0800

A quick video update from 37,000 feet over the Atlantic/Northern Sea. Kris Krug, Boris Mann and I, on our way to Torino, Italy with a short stop in Frankfurt, Germany.

WARNING - MAY NOT BE SUITED FOR ALL AUDIENCE

Vancouver Web Talent to Wow International Audiences in Torino

Thu, 09 Feb 2006 20:47:25 -0800

Press Release posted on New Media BC Website

February 2, 2006

Vancouver, BC - New Media BC announced today that there will be a BC led new media symposium in Torino, Italy, during next week's Winter Olympics.

The event, billed as "Olympics and Web 2.0", and slated for February 17th, will showcase a pioneering cluster of British Columbia companies leading a shift towards Web 2.0 - what is being called the evolution of the Internet.

Blue Flavor, Bryght, News Vine and Raincity Studios are Having a Party at South by Southwest

Thu, 09 Feb 2006 00:12:16 -0800

Another fine segment of the Krug and Scales Show.

Checking in from Robson Square in Vancouver. Kris Krug and I are talking about Skateboarding, SXSW and the party we are hosting with Blue Flavor, News Vine, Bryght and Raincity Studios.

Canon OES 20D Trigger Happy Boy Has a New Toy

Mon, 06 Feb 2006 00:47:26 -0800

My bro, business partner and good friend Kris Krug just recently picked up a Canon OES 5D, which he write about in the linked post.

Knowing that Kris was getting a new camera, I was quick to jump on the gun and claim first right of purchase on his Canon OES 20D. Not only did I get a great deal buying it second hand (plus considering that I used this camera a few times in the past and felt attached to it, we couldn't let it go outside the family.)

My Four Things

Sat, 04 Feb 2006 21:31:14 -0800

Ok ok, Kris Krug tagged me on this one and I gotta keep it going.

Four jobs I’ve had:

1. Grocery clerk, Steinberg
2. Field Manager, Greenpeace
3. Dive Master, Utila Dive Center
4. Program Manager, Squamish Nation - Summer Fun Program

Four movies I can watch over and over:

1. Citizen Kane
2. The Princess Bride
3. Blade Runner
4. Kill Bill

Four places I have lived:

1. Ottawa, Ontario
2. Utila, Honduras
3. Kerala, India
4. Squamish, British Columbia

Four television shows I love to watch:

1. Northern Exposure
2. Tour of Duty

The Krug and Scales Show #3 - BCIT Magazine Interview + Going to Torino for the Olympics

Mon, 30 Jan 2006 19:15:41 -0800

Kris Krug and I were being interviewed by BCIT Magazine about our trip to Torino for the Olympics.

I was filming using my camera phone while he was filming on Roland's Nokia N70 and the crew from BCIT Magazine was filming us. That's meta media coverage for you..

Here's my clip, I'll post an update when Kris Upload his.