Google chose MakaluMedia to design, develop and operate the online game which anchored the ambitious campaign. The game needed to be fun, engaging, accessible, responsive, supportive of the strategic objectives, and compatible with the context of in-flight play. Through an intense, iterative (and fun!) process involving the creation of game mechanics, visual and interaction design, and technical front-end and back-end development, the final product emerged.

In addition to the challenges of game mechanics and interaction design — which we’ll present in a future article — the project presented a variety of implementation and technical challenges as well. To provide a dynamic and engaging, yet lightweight and responsive user interface, the client-side component of the game was developed using JavaScript and the jQuery library. In order to rapidly scale in terms of performance under heavy load, the server-side application was developed in Python, and hosted in the Google AppEngine environment. The application supported a number of external interfaces, including a game data initializer from Google Docs, and an external real-time monitoring application.

At midnight on June 24, the switch was flipped, and the game was launched. Throughout the day, players throughout the United States — including passengers on all Virgin America flights — competed against each other in an online scavenger hunt, using Google Apps to help answer as many questions as possible during the one-hour game. At 6:00 am, two special press flights — with some of the world’s top puzzlers onboard — left Los Angeles and San Francisco, in direct competition against each other and documented in this video by BoingBoing:

All of the hard work and passion put into the project from the teams at Google, Virgin America and Makalu was rewarded in the experience of a perfectly executed campaign. Reviews were glowing, and the positive buzz surrounding the campaign reinforced the positions of Google and Virgin America as innovative leaders in their respective markets.

Announcements of the winners, video interviews and a permanently-playable version of the game are maintained at the Day in the Cloud site. Be sure to check it out.

http://www.dayinthecloud.com/

MakaluMedia is supporting the joint efforts of the National Writing Project and Google, to provide a platform for the nation’s young people to express their opinions on issues that concern them to the 2008 U.S. presidential candidates.

From the NWP site, a summary of the project follows:

Letters to the Next President: Writing Our Future is an online writing and publishing project that invites young people to write about the issues and concerns they would want the next president to address and, with the support of their teachers, to publish their writing for a national audience.

During the presidential campaign, U.S. high school teachers and mentors guide students through the process of writing a persuasive letter or essay to the presidential candidates. Students’ work should encourage the candidates to give attention to issues and concerns that students feel are central to their future. Topics are chosen by the students themselves to reflect their specific personal, regional, and age-related interests, and teachers will be able to support student writing and publishing in a way that most directly fits their local curricula and educational goals.

Through the Letters to the Next President: Writing Our Future website (which launches in mid-September) and Google Docs , a free online writing tool, participating teachers can work with students to publish their work online for their peers, teachers, and parents, and for the public. And who knows, the future president may read their letters too.

Letters to the Next President: Writing Our Future is open to U.S. teachers and mentors working with students ages 13–18. If you know a school teacher who may be interested in participating, please direct them to the following site.

NWP Letters to the Next President Information Page

The deadline for teacher registration is September 8, 2008.

With over 500,000 users, Catalog Choice is possibly one of the web’s largest Ruby on Rails websites.

Visit the Catalog Choice Website

We’ve posted a more in-depth article about the MSNBC coverage and half-million users milestone on the Summit Blog.

IN LESS THAN ONE MONTH’S TIME, our recently launched Catalog Choice website has registered 100,000 users, opting out of over 800,000 catalogs! We’ve published an extensive article about the success of the site over at the MakaluMedia Summit Blog.

http://catalogchoice.org

Catalog Choice is an ambitious initiative, supported by major US non-profit organizations, aiming to dramatically reduce the number of unwanted catalogs delivered to American consumers, and encourage a more environment-friendly shift to online, paperless shopping.

Central to the initiative is the Catalog Choice web application, designed and developed by MakaluMedia, that provides consumers with an easy, straightforward means to identify and unsubscribe from unwanted paper catalogs. Participating members in the cataloging industry will have an efficient and secure management interface to validate their mailing lists against the preferences of the consumers they desire to reach.

“Catalog Choice is a web application that has the potential to improve the lives of millions of American consumers, and to make a dramatically positive impact in our environment. User experience and usability were key imperatives, as the website addresses such a broad visitor demographic. Considerable effort and research went into making the site as simple, accessible and easy to use as possible. On the back end, the site leverages the benefits (both economical and technical) of modern technologies such as the Ruby on Rails application framework. All in all, we consider this application to be among our best work to date. We’re really proud of it, and appreciative of the Ecology Center for trusting us with its development.”, Matt Henderson, Founder & President, MakaluMedia

A more detailed write-up about the project has been posted to the MakaluMedia Summit blog.

The Catalog Choice effort is a sponsored project of the Ecology Center, endorsed by leading US non-profits, including the National Wildlife Federation, and Natural Resources Defense Council, with funding provided by The Kendeda Fund, The Overbook Foundation and the Merck Family Fund.

http://barcelona2007.drupalcon.org/sponsors

As a member of a US-government funded project to develop a large-scale collaboration and communications platform based on Drupal, and an active member of the Drupal open source development community, MakaluMedia Incorporated (Atlanta, Georgia) expressed its support of the project and its community by becoming a Silver Sponsor of the 2007 European Drupal conference in Barcelona, Spain.

“It’s exciting to be part of the Drupal community, and to experience the momentum of the platform. In 2006, there were approximately 150 attendees of DrupalCon in Brussels, Belgium, and this year in Barcelona, over 400 are expected. MakaluMedia is proud to be a sponsor of the event this year, and to be a part of the platform’s evolution.”, says Matt Henderson, founder and President, MakaluMedia Incorporated.

http://catalogchoice.org

Catalog Choice is an ambitious initiative, supported by leading US non-profit organization, aiming to dramatically reducing the number of unwanted catalogs delivered to American consumers, and encourage a more environment-friendly shift to online, paperless shopping.

Central to the initiative is the Catalog Choice web application, currently being designed and developed by MakaluMedia, that will provide consumers with an easy, straightforward means to identify and unsubscribe from unwanted paper catalogs. Participating members in the cataloging industry will have an efficient and secure management interface to validate their mailing lists against the preferences of the consumers they desire to reach.

Today’s launch includes a weblog through which information regarding the project will be published, a site at which interested consumers and marketers can sign up for advanced notification, and represents the prelude to the operational launch of the service later this year.

The Catalog Choice effort is a sponsored project of the Ecology Center, endorsed by leading US non-profits, including the National Wildlife Federation, Natural Resources Defense Council, ForestEthics and the Center for New American Dream, with funding provided by The Kendeda Fund, The Overbook Foundation and the Merck Family Fund.

MacFusion is an application for Mac OS X, that brings the powerful benefits of FUSE technology to Macintosh users, within a simple, easy-to-use environment characteristic of the Apple user experience. The application allows Mac users to connect to remote file systems, presently via FTP or SSH, and work with them in the same way they work with mounted volumes such as connected media.

FUSE is the technology currently in use within MakaluMedia allowing our Linux engineers to work with company file servers, via secure SSH connections. MacFusion brings the same technology to the company’s Macintosh users, allowing a unified file sharing infrastructure across all staff and management, whether working in the office or at home.

“We are proud to participate in our first formal sponsorship of an open source project. We chose MacFusion because it solved a key issue we’ve had for some time (i.e. finding an elegant standards-based file sharing solution that is at once secure, cross-platform, open source, and easy to use), and we believe in the vision Michael has for the product.”, says MakaluMedia director, Matt Henderson.

The roadmap for MacFusion (and FUSE) looks especially interesting. Developer Gorbach plans to add a variety of innovative capabilities to the application, including the ability to connect to, and work with, one’s Flickr image account as if it were simply a connected hard drive.

The current activities include:

• Hospital operations and Mission work in Angola.
• Mission work in Mozambique.
• Mission work in Sierra Leone.
• Mission work in Cameroon.
• Assisting the poor in Algeciras, Spain.

Mr de la Fuente began his independent work more than 20 years ago, frustrated with the inefficiencies of several ONGs with whom he’d had previous experience. His efforts today focus identification of organizations working directly in the field, to whom and through whom, he can directly channel assistance without intermediaries. In this regard, he leverages the special relations that religious entities (monasteries, convents, etc.) have with local governments and leaders to deliver assistance in the field in the most cost-effective and efficient means possible.

The most recent efforts of Mr de la Fuente have included delivery of modern X-Ray, scan and diagnostic equipment directly to a hospital in Angola.

In addition to MakaluMedia, other organizations participating in Mr de la Fuente’s efforts include:

• Grupo Helios (Spain)
• Grupo Siro (Spain)
• CEMSA (Spain)
• Hotel Guadalpin (Spain)
• AZKAR (Spain)
• DHL (Spain)
• DIFRUSA (Spain)
• GAMO (Spain)
• Farmatec (Spain)
• Frutos Arqueros (Spain)
• Zarzuela SA (Spain)
• Vulcano (Spain)
• Ingenius (Spain)
• Arbeloa (Spain)
• Daily Tourist (Spain)
• Optica 2000 (Spain)
• F.N. Zurita SL (Spain)
• Optica Carlos (Spain)

For more information, contact Mr de la Fuente (in Spanish) on +34 671 343 694. For information in English, please contact Matt Henderson at MakaluMedia (matt@makalumedia.com).

MakaluMedia anuncia la colaboración con ONG español Carlos de la Fuente

27 de junio de 2007

MakaluMedia está satisfecho anunciar su colaboración en los esfuerzos voluntarios del “ONG español” (organización no gubernamental) conducido cerca, y nombrado para, Sr. Carlos de la Fuente. Sr. de la Fuente ha estado trabajando para más de dos décadas que organizaba independientemente la ayuda para los hospitales y el trabajo de la misión a través del continente africano, y, recientemente, las porciones desvalidas de España.

Las actividades actuales incluyen:

• Las operaciones y la misión del hospital trabajan en Angola.
• Trabajo de la misión en Mozambique.
• Trabajo de la misión en Sierra Leona.
• Trabajo de la misión en Camerún.
• Asistir a los pobres en Algeciras, España.

Sr. de la Fuente comenzó su trabajo independiente hace más de 20 años, frustrado con las ineficacias de varios ONGs con el cual él había tenido experiencia anterior. Sus esfuerzos enfocan hoy la identificación de las organizaciones que trabajan directamente en el campo, a el cual y a través de el cual, él puede acanalar directamente ayuda sin intermediarios. En este respeto, él leverages las relaciones especiales que las entidades religiosas (monasterios, conventos, etc.) tienen con gobiernos locales y líderes para entregar ayuda en el campo en los medios más rentables y más eficientes posibles.

Los esfuerzos más recientes de Sr. de la Fuente han incluido entrega de la radiografía, de la exploración y del equipo modernos del diagnóstico directamente a un hospital en Angola.

Además de MakaluMedia, otras organizaciones que participan en esfuerzos de Sr. de la Fuente incluyen:

• Grupo Helios (España)
• Grupo Siro (España)
• CEMSA (España)
• Hotel Guadalpin (España)
• AZKAR (España)
• DHL (España)
• DIFRUSA (España)
• GAMO (España)
• Farmatec (España)
• Frutos Arqueros (España)
• Zarzuela SA (Spain)
• Vulcano (España)
• Ingenius (España)
• Arbeloa (España)
• Daily Tourist (España)
• Optica 2000 (España)
• F.N. Zurita SL (España)
• Optica Carlos (España)

Para más información, Sr. de la Fuente del contacto (en español) en +34 671 343 694. Para la información en inglés, entrar en contacto con por favor a Henderson mate en MakaluMedia (matt@makalumedia.com). Para más información sobre las actividades de MakaluMedia, entrar en contacto con por favor a Sr. Fausto Roveda o a Sr. Matt Henderson en mail@makalumedia.com.

The core of the platform is based on the Drupal open-source content and collaboration framework, extended to provide advanced collaborative services such a real-time natural language translation, distributed identification, embedded instant and store/forward messaging, and voice-over-IP (VOIP).

The system allows for technology profiles to be defined in such a way that context specific instances of the platform can be provisioned, tailored and deployed on short notice. Use cases would include instances providing support to educational efforts in Africa, or emergency disaster management support to tsunami relief efforts in Asia.

MakaluMedia’s efforts in the activity include definition and tailoring of the software development process, development in the area of advanced file management, research and development in the integration of instant messaging services, and design & development of the overall platform user experience and interface.

MakaluMedia was selected to become part of this international effort, due to its experience and capabilities in the areas of formal software development related to space ground systems, combined with its activities in the development and advancement of Free & Open Source Software (FOSS).