A Story Before Bed - Free Coupon Code

From My Little Sister:

Hillel, Walter and I are incredibly proud to announce our latest creation - A Story Before Bed.

A few years ago my business partner, Hillel tried videotaping his parents reading stories to his young kids. His parents live on the east coast and he wanted his west coast children to have bedtime stories from their grandparents, even when they were far away. The effort was cumbersome, and the results were not great.





Anyone with a webcam and a web browser can choose a book from our library of licensed and digitized high quality children's books, record audio and video of themselves reading that book, and share it with a special child in their lives. We've worked closely with our three launch publishing partners - Immedium, Charlesbridge Publishing, and Bubblegum Books to create a launch library of over 50 books. Our growing library includes over a dozen classics such as The Emperor's New Clothes, The Frog Princess, and The Itsy Bitsy Spider, as well as state-of-the art modern children's books like the Octonauts series created by Meomi and the first several books in the Tales from the Chinese Zodiac series. We even have a small start at our Spanish children's library with Insectos para el Almuerzo and ¡Qué Nervios! El Primer Dia de Escuela.

These visionary publishers recognized the potential for personalized digital versions of their content. This new marketplace will not only bring them additional revenue, but reinforce the existing market for physical copies of their books. No other genre of books lends itself to this type of digital personalization. We're working with our existing publishing partners in addition to new high quality children's book publishers to expand our library - rapidly.

With live 1-800 technical support (uncommon for websites these days), A Story Before Bed is for parents away on business, remote grandparents, split families, military parents stationed away from their children, and even parents just going out for the night. Ultimately, we believe that these recordings of parents and grandparents reading stories to children may become family heirlooms passed down from generation to generation - "let me show you my grandpa reading me a story when I was little." Some early users have even used the site so children can show off their reading skills to grandma and grandpa.

Military parents can sign up for our special mailing list, which offers free and discounted recordings for men and women in the United States armed forces stationed away from their children. And everyone can follow us on Twitter for deals, sales, and new book announcements. We're currently offering recordings at a special introductory price of $6.99 per recording. We're so excited for you to try our new site. Just use the coupon code below at checkout and your story is on us. One coupon use per user:

AW7L-GP9C-XW4Y

We hope you enjoy A Story Before Bed. It's the first of its kind and there's nothing else like it on the web.

Hillel, Jenny, and Walter. (The JFM crew)

The Best Wedding Ever...

Video Preview of Jenny and Adrian Wedding Montage from Mitch Mattraw.

We love you ... Adrian & Jenny

{ We are so happy for my little sis and her new hubby! }

We are so blessed to be a part of your lives and part of your momentous day.
We look forward to growing closer together in the years to come.

With much Love,
Big Sis & Hubby

{ Click here for photo album. }

Creative Touches

My sister is one of the best creative minds that I know. She made sure every detail was special for her wedding guests.

Engagment Party Weekend

It is a joy to celebrate my little sis' engagement with family and new family members. What a wonderful weekend full of celebration.

Designing Better Experiences: Jackson Fish Market

Jenny Lam was responsible at Microsoft for designing all sorts of stuff. Windows. Stage and brand identity for Microsoft's developer conferences. And more. Now she's working at Jackson Fish Market, a Seattle firm that makes cool consumer apps and sells exclusive sponsorships to brand advertisers. We have a discussion about what companies could do to have better experiences.

Wednesday, July 9th, 2008
FastCompany.tv

Plant a virtual forest in the Carbon Grove

Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Posted by John Cook at April 22, 2008 9:56 p.m.
Categories: Online advertising, Web 2.0

Plant a virtual forest in the Carbon Grove

The keg beer, off-the-wall antics and Internet talk were flowing this evening as Jackson Fish Market co-founder Hillel Cooperman enthusiastically introduced the company's latest Web application.

With more than 85 people crammed into the company's quirky Pioneer Square headquarters, Cooperman unveiled a carbon offset reminder service called Carbon Grove. Essentially, the new site allows users to take a short quiz and then receive reminders on ways they can reduce their carbon footprint.

Each time a person responds to a reminder, the virtual forest grows. Over time, it may even attract wildlife.

Jackson Fish Market is an unusual species in the Web startup ecosystem. (And it is not just the odd name or the fact that is is already profitable.) Unlike many companies that attempt to go big in one niche, it is attempting to go small in multiple arenas.

Its other ideas include They're Beautiful -- a virtual flower delivery service -- and Invitastic -- an online invitation service. (Cooperman tonight expressed his disdain for Evite, saying the invitation service is "offensive" to anyone who makes software.)

Carbon Grove, Invitastic and They're Beautiful are by no means big ideas. And that's just fine with Cooperman, who told me tonight that "we just want to make cool software."

"We don't have any predictive power over what will be successful," says Cooperman.

So they toss a bunch of ideas against the wall to see what sticks. And just how many ideas are percolating?

Cooperman says they have about 40 or 50 in the "back pocket." The idea is to roll out the applications in conjunction with sponsors, who like the idea of associating their brands with compelling new services. Dry Soda is the exclusive sponsor of Invitastic, while Microsoft's Internet Explorer group has lined up behind Carbon Grove. (One of the reasons this message appears when you try to visit using Firefox.)

In the case of They're Beautiful a sponsorship can run as much as $20,000 per month. In fact, the line between these new Web applications and sponsored advertisements is a little blurry.

For Carbon Grove, Microsoft approached the team at Jackson Fish Market to create a compelling application tied to Earth Day. (You can almost think of Jackson Fish Market's portfolio of 40 or 50 applications as the creative content found in traditional ad agencies.)

Cooperman says that many large corporations are looking for creative ways to market their products, with small Web applications one of the new tactics they are employing.

"We are making a series of destinations that brand marketers can come in and exclusively sponsor," he says.

More on the concept of small Web applications as marketing vehicles for corporations in this story from The New York Times, which discusses how Nike operates a physical fitness Web site for runners. Jackson Fish Market is a big believer in the idea (They wrote a 14-page research paper on it last year), saying that more ad dollars will go to sponsoring full Web applications in the future.

Seattle Taps Its Inner Silicon Valley

VC Nation
Seattle Taps Its Inner Silicon Valley

By JOHN MARKOFF
Published: February 8, 2008

Many communities dream of becoming the next Silicon Valley. This one is actually doing it.
Stroll through the hip Fremont District and you will sense the Valley vibe. Google recently opened a research lab here, its second in Microsoft’s backyard. Technology start-ups are sprouting up amid quirky neighborhood landmarks like a bronze statue of Lenin and the Fremont Troll, the giant concrete creature lurking beneath the George Washington Memorial Bridge.
More young companies are moving in downtown, near the art galleries and bookstores around Pioneer Square. Still others are spreading into the surrounding suburbs.
“The Seattle start-up ecosystem is vibrant, and growing rapidly,” said Oren Etzioni, an artificial-intelligence expert at the University of Washington and a serial technology entrepreneur.
The University of Washington, in fact, is one of the big draws. It is fostering the entrepreneurial climate here the way Stanford University does in Silicon Valley. Another advantage is the tech-savvy talent at the Seattle-based Amazon and nearby Microsoft.
Microsoft offshoots, sometimes called Baby Bills, after Bill Gates of Microsoft, are being joined by Amazon progeny called Baby Jeffs, for Amazon’s Jeffrey P. Bezos. Baby Sergeys — those formed by veterans of Google, which is based in Mountain View, Calif., and was co-founded by Sergey Brin — are opening here, too, Mr. Etzioni said.
The influx of entrepreneurs and of venture capitalists to bankroll them is slowly reshaping this city and a regional economy long buffeted by the booms and busts of the aerospace and timber industries. A start-up ecosystem needs social networks, support businesses and a business culture that views failure as a badge of honor, not shame. All of that is in place in Seattle.
Tom A. Alberg, a partner at the Madrona Venture Group, one of Seattle’s leading venture capital firms and an early investor in Amazon, says the city is now home to a growing community of technology innovators who are willing to take risks.
“People were more risk-averse in the ’80s,” said Mr. Alberg, who is on the board at Amazon. Madrona lost money on HomeGrocer, the Seattle-based online grocery service, he said, “but if you never invest in a HomeGrocer, you will never invest in an Amazon.”
Money is pouring in. During the last 12 years, venture capital investment here has more than tripled, to about $1 billion annually. Last year Washington tied with Texas as the third-largest destination for venture capital money nationwide, behind California and Massachusetts.
A crucial part of the chemistry is the University of Washington, in particular its computer science and electrical engineering departments. Washington State ranks first nationally in engineers employed for every 10,000 workers and in percent of total payroll in high technology. And then there are Amazon, Microsoft and their offspring.
“Now tons of companies are spinning off people,” said Ed Lazowska, a computer scientist who holds the Bill and Melinda Gates Chair at the University of Washington. Veterans from Amazon, Microsoft, RealNetworks and other established companies are leaving to form start-ups and venture funds, he said. “We’re finally at the stage of becoming a perpetual-motion machine.”
Several generations of start-ups are beginning to cross-fertilize, fostering the kind of rapid growth seen in biological systems, said Mr. Etzioni, whose latest venture, Farecast, uses data-mining techniques to anticipate fluctuations in airfares.
One example of the growing start-up economy is Jackson Fish Market, a Web software company founded by three veteran Microsoft software designers. Inside a windowless loft in Pioneer Square, the company is now working on starting its third advertising-supported Web service.
The start-up culture “is beginning to work now,” said Walter Smith, one of Jackson’s founders, who worked on Microsoft’s Vista operating system but left before it was introduced. “Seattle is like an adolescent version of Silicon Valley.”
Mr. Etzioni says Seattle has at least one advantage over its storied counterpart in California. “People aren’t distracted by too much sunshine,“ he said. “They sit in their offices or garages and get creative.”

They're Beautiful (part 2)

The Making of the Paper Flowers
by Jenny Lam

As the lead flower harvester for the “florists” at They’re Beautiful!, I thought I’d share with you how the flowers were made.

To get some basic understanding of what it’s like to be a florist, I spent half a day job-shadowing Nisha Kelem, owner of Seattle’s Fleurish. We met early one weekday at the wholesale flower market where I observed Nisha and her team meticulously selecting ingredients for the day’s orders. They gathered an array of flowers, foliage, containers and interesting things such as long stem artichokes, pincushion flowers and tea leaves. We went back to her very chic Capitol Hill boutique, unloaded the van, and Nisha and her team began arranging straight away. What was really interesting to watch was that every arrangement I saw being created was truly unique. That said, there is quality and a touch that Fleurish has about their bouquets. They all seem to be so well-balanced, tightly structured in form, yet totally visually compelling through usage of interesting flowers/foliage selections. Although each arrangement I saw that morning was very different, there was an overall signature touch about them.

That really got us thinking about how to render the flowers for They’re Beautiful!. Just because the flowers are virtual didn’t mean we had to create them from scratch with pixels. We were looking for a style that was different and special; something that was more than a generic illustration. We decided on paper as our primary medium and headed straight away to Paper Zone where I was like a kid in a candy store.

Materials:

• Bazzill Basics Scrapbooking paper (double sided and color core)
  
• Tissue Paper (various colors)
  
• Sobo Glue (dries clear)

Tools:

• Self Healing cutting mat
  
• X-acto knife and extra blades
  
• bone folder for scoring
  
• 1/8 paint brush (thin handle of brush is used for curling paper)
  
• Tweezers (used to pick up tiny pieces)
  
• Fiskars No. 4 Mini Craft Scissors

Above are some “behind-the-scenes” shots of how I made the flowers. Some notes on what you’re looking at:

• There’s an image of my first test pilot “poppy”. It didn’t make it into the summer collection but I did learn a lot about breaking down the fibers in the paper to get it to be flexible.
  
• I used the handle of a thin paintbrush to curl the edges of the gerber petals.
  
• Creating the stamen and anthers required a slicing up a tiny narrow strip, tightly rolling it up, and lastly using your fingers to spread out the fringes.
  
• Getting textured grooves on the petals of the gerbers was simply scoring the paper with a bone folder.
  
• Dahlia petals had to be tipped in with tweezers.

They're Beautiful

My sister's firm, Jackson Fish Market, launched their first Jackson Fish “Experience”. It’s their first small step in creating high quality branded online software experiences. Go and visit They're Beautiful and send you're loved ones a beautiful boutique of online flowers.

I'm the proudest big sister on the planet!

Well, if you haven't heard thru the media, my little sis has entered in a new chapter in her life...

Startup lands another Microsoft veteran
By Todd Bishop, P-I Reporter of The Seattle Post-Intelligencer

A small Seattle startup company has burnished its Microsoft pedigree with the addition of a key member of the Windows Vista design team as a co-owner.
Jenny Lam, formerly the Windows User Experience creative director, confirmed Monday that she had left the company to join former Microsoft managers Hillel Cooperman and Walter Smith in a new software venture called Jackson Fish Market.

Separately, a former group marketing manager for Windows Vista, Brian Marr, has left to become managing director at Seattle-based marketing agency Wexley School for Girls.

Marr, 31, oversaw viral marketing efforts for Windows Vista, including the elaborate Vanishing Point promotional game. He spoke highly of Microsoft Corp. and said he wanted to work in a leadership position at a smaller company. The difficult commute between Seattle and Redmond was a major factor, he said.

Microsoft has seen a number of high-profile executives and employees leave following Windows Vista's release. The departure of talented workers is a concern for any company, but it's also natural for employees to seek out new things after completing a big product such as Windows Vista, said Matt Rosoff, an analyst at research firm Directions on Microsoft in Kirkland.

"Microsoft is always going to have that tension as they get larger and larger," Rosoff said, calling it a fact of life at a large company. "There are always going to be some people who want to try something new, to go to a place where they will have an easier time making a splash."

Lam, 32, played a significant role in the design of features such as the Windows Vista "Start" button, Flip 3D window switching and screen savers. Lam, who had worked at Microsoft for six years, described her departure as amicable.
"It was difficult because I love the company a lot," she said of her decision. "I'm really proud of the work that the design team has done there together, especially in Vista. ... Vista was a really big accomplishment, and I was just looking for a change."

Cooperman, 38, who left Microsoft in November, described Lam as a "rock star" in the field. Cooperman and Lam worked together when he was a product unit manager overseeing Windows Vista's user interface.

Other Links:

• Jenny Lam leaves Microsoft (Design)


• Jenny Lam joins another ex-MSX, Hillel Cooperman at startup, Jackson Fish Market
• She's Rock Solid!


• Jackson Fish Market

Coming to Your Screen: Microsoft's New Vista

BBC2, Fri 9 Feb, 7:00 pm - 7:30 pm

It's one of the biggest new products of the year, and the chances are you'll soon be using it at home or at work. Microsoft, the world's top software company, is launching its new operating system, Windows Vista, the long-awaited and much delayed successor to Windows XP. What does it really offer, and why is it so critical for Microsoft?

The Money Programme has had exclusive access to Microsoft to follow the launch of Vista. Reporter Max Flint investigates the business of Windows.

The film will air tomorrow (Friday) evening at 7.00pm on BBC 2, it will also be available (11.00 PST) in full online at Money Programme (along with additional videos of the interviews with Jenny Lam / Tjeerd on the UI and the UK Steve Ballmer interview – both great interviews).

{Sneak Peak: Video}

{Full Episode: Video}

SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER:With Vista, Microsoft overhauls look and feel of Windows

With Vista, Microsoft overhauls look and feel of Windows
Monday, January 29, 2007
By TODD BISHOP

To hear Jenny Lam talk about her line of work, a casual listener might think for a moment that she designs luxury automobiles, or maybe high-end furniture.

"We've reduced it down to its simplest form, taken away until we couldn't take away any more, and then crafted it and perfected it until it's beautiful," she said, referring to one element of Windows Vista's on-screen interface.

Longtime Windows users might be surprised, but that philosophy and attention to detail reflect a broader effort by Microsoft to improve the design of its operating system. Consumers will be able to judge the result starting Tuesday, when Windows Vista comes out.

It's the first new version of Windows in more than five years, and the company has overhauled the operating system in a variety of ways -- promising stronger security, better system performance, fast file searching and other features.

But for new users sitting down to try the program, the most obvious change may be the work of the design team -- especially on machines with the horsepower to run Windows Vista's more advanced graphical features. The new Windows has a glossy look, with translucent window frames and a "glass" appearance on many parts of the desktop.

As the Windows User Experience creative director, Lam, 32, is a key member of the team, responsible for areas including user experience and aesthetics. One goal is to make sure that the experience of using the product is consistent with the brand projected by the marketing.

To be sure, Microsoft hasn't traditionally been known for high-quality design. One hope with Windows Vista is to change that perception, Lam said.

At the same time, similarities between Windows Vista and Apple's existing Mac OS X operating system have raised eyebrows in the industry. Apple itself has publicly poked fun at Windows Vista, referring to it as a "copycat."

Not so, Lam said.

"There are certain themes that happen in the industry, within software, such as higher-fidelity visuals, more pixels, more color, and there are also design principles that are universal. ... Things like simplicity and clear space, and hierarchy -- all those things are fundamentals of design that you can't help but adopt if you want to make a great product that people desire."

The design team aimed for a timeless quality in Windows Vista, reflecting "authenticity and "classic shapes," Lam said.

Microsoft's market position means that millions of people will be viewing the design team's work for years to come.

"To be designing something that is so ubiquitous, that people sit in front of eight hours a day, five days a week ... that's a huge responsibility," Lam said.

Lam's influence can be seen in the design of elements including Windows Vista's desktop wallpapers, screen savers and the new "Flip 3D" three-dimensional window-switching feature to be available in premium versions of the operating system.

Jenny Lam, creative director for Windows User Experience, adjusts an oversized version of the Windows Vista "Start" button -- which no longer says "Start."

A redesign of the Windows "Start" button is one of the most prominent examples of the new approach to design. The company paid extra attention to it because, unlike many other elements, it's ever present, sitting there in the lower left corner of the screen. The biggest change: It no longer says "Start."

The use of that word long has been a source of confusion, and jokes, because the "Start" menu also is where people go to shut down the computer or log off.

The new button is the Windows logo in a glossy bubble, with no words at all. Internally, Microsoft calls it "the pearl."

Microsoft's decision to take away the word "Start" reflects a key part of the design strategy. One goal was to take away unnecessary user-interface components, Lam said.

Another notable element is the "glass" appearance in window frames and other parts of the operating system, so long as your system is powerful enough. The frames are actually larger than in the past, making them easier to click on, while still allowing the user to see through them to the desktop.

"The biggest point is that we focus in on the user's content," and not the frame, Lam said. "If you look at (Windows) XP, you can see from far away the blue outline of a frame. That's not the most important part about your experience. The most important part is the stuff you're doing in the window."

Take a Windows Vista graphical tour, click here.

Twenty People, Four Notes

Magazine: Fast Company
Issue: 112 / February 2007
Title: Twenty People, Four Notes
By: Linda Tischler

When Windows Vista, Microsoft's (NASDAQ:MSFT) newest operating system, launches on January 30, it will be to the sound of a four-second riff--a tiny musical signature likely to be heard, over the product's lifespan, more than the ubiquitous "Happy Birthday." In 2007 alone, the ditty will start the day for 200 million PC users.

Those are pretty high stakes for a few notes. So how to come up with the right sound? "I knew from day one that it would be a tricky process," says project maestro Steve Ball, group program manager for Vista. In the end, it took 18 months--and a team of 20 composers, sound designers, engineers, and developers.

Ball began by asking 10 artists, designers, and musicians--among them Kid Crimson's Robert Fripp, drummer Pat Mastelotto, composer Tucker Martine, and Oscar-winning sound designer Randy Thom--to come up with three to six sounds that were uplifting and unique, energizing and authentic. They submitted 500 entries, some orchestrally ornate, others weird and sound effecty.

They're with the Band Clockwise, from top left: Microsoft Vista team members Steve Ball, Allison Dew, Tjeerd Hoek, and Jenny Lam

The key insight that helped the team focus came when Martine, listening to one riff, mimicked it, clap-clap, clap-clap. It was a rhythmic breakthrough, echoing the message, "Win-dows, Vis-ta." They determined that a peaceful theme was what the hypercaffeinated, overstimulated PC users of the world needed now. "It needed to be a soft light from the corner, rather than a spotlight," Ball says.

After focus-group testing in Los Angeles, the team picked three finalists. Jim Allchin, copresident of the Windows Group, made the final call: a Tucker Martine rhythm, with dual glassy, ascending melodies in four chords (echoing the four colors of the Windows Vista "window") atop a short, harpy Robert Fripp soundscape, with orchestration by Ball.

That wasn't so hard.

Correction: This article should have identified Robert Fripp's band as King Crimson.

According to studies by branding guru Martin Lindstrom and market research firm Millward Brown, sound has a 41% chance of influencing how people perceive brands.

To read original article, click here.

Little Sis' hard work has paid off

My little sis' hard work and talent have paid off, check out what she has been working on for the past few years...
Microsoft Windows Vista.

gotta BRAG ...

I gotta brag. I have extremely talented siblings. My sister just did a pod cast interview with thePowerUserTV. She is the Creative Lead for Microsoft, and she is currently working on the new OS "Windows Vista". To listen, click here.

{Update:
See my sister's interview for "Emotional side of Microsoft"}