Third Circle is proud to announce the release of version 2.0 of Kept for the iPhone. With version 2.0, we are ready to release the game into the wild.
Kept takes mobile photo sharing and turns it into a game. The goals of the game are simple – players will want to both, take and collect, the most interesting photos possible. When submitting photos, players have the option of snapping new shots or pulling something from their photo library. After a photo is selected, they can either submit it as is, or use the powerful built-in filters and effects toolset provided by Aviary to snazz up the shot first. When in collecting mode, the players cycle through random photos, rating, and then deciding to keep or pass each one. Each player can collect up to 20 photos each, and will want to build up the best collection they can. The player’s score is based on the value of their shots taken and the value of the shots in their collection – the value of each photo is determined by the ratings it receives from other players.
Kept is still in its infancy, and will surely evolve, much like Third Circle itself.
Last Wednesday through Friday we travelled the coast of Florida hunting the best of the Hurricane Irene swell that came through. Here’s what that looked like.
Ridiculous amounts of footage of ridiculous kayakers. There are days of editing ahead of me, and thankfully the good people known as Alex’s family have been kind enough to let me hunker down in their cabin for a while so that I can cull through this footage. Last week I put up a gallery of some of the stills from the Nantahala store wave – take a look (click on it).
If you’ve never seen the Smokey Mountains, this be what they look like.
Before heading to the cabin I spent a weekend biking over at Tsali with a couple friends, to get warmed up for the hours ahead of me, I cranked out this little video this morning. It’s laughable.
I’ve been filming with Matt Bender in New Smyrna Beach for a few weeks, but we just weren’t getting the kind of waves that he wanted or the kind of surfing that he is capable of. Anxious to produce a real story, we set out on creating a greatest wipeout segment to submit to Surflinefor their greatest wipeouts series. Matt had a few old clips from the wipeout, so we sat down and did some interview work and stitched this whole guy together. We will submit to Surfline soon, and possibly some other sites. Enjoy.
AS you know I am currently down in New Smyrna Beach, Florida – and besides just enjoying the crap out of this place I’ve been filming with a couple surfers. We were going through some footage today one of the guys I’m filming with, Matt Bender, spotted a couple clips of some locals that he thought I should share with them – so I put together a mini-overly-dramatic clip for them:
Soon I’ll be finishing up a big wave wipe out segment for Bender with some footage he had from Hawaii – stay tuned!
After some extensive research, both online and in person (with potential users of our services), it has been decided to refocus the direction of the XPerspective brand/site and, in turn, focus on the site itself, putting the rental program on hold. While there is a clear interest in the rental concept from businesses and individuals, the initial investments in both time and monies (mostly time) are prohibitive to the full-on mobile assault of nation in it’s entirety made possible by the XVan. We may return to the rental idea when the time is right.
There are some great benefits to this evolution of the XPerspective business model. Having the capability to solely focus on the site itself will give us an opportunity to make sure we are building the right thing, and for the right people. There are some great ideas being flushed out right now to accomplish just this. We be innovatin’. A second, and very exciting, benefit is that the time freed up from no longer having to manage and push rentals on the road means I can put on my filmer/producer hat and crank out some rad m’f'n videos from some of the gnarliest actioneers I can find – so keep them eyes peeled. I’ve already added some more equipment to my arsenal and have some ideas for some custom made pieces to help me capture some unique surf shots while still down here on the coast.
Apple and Yelp
Now, onto a slightly different topic. The two companies above, who I am a fervent supporter and user of, have gone a little too far. When Apple announced its new line of iPhones for mosquitos at this years CES, it received very little attention, except maybe from a few sharp investors who saw the potential opening up a market to 3500 new species containing billions of possible new customers. A shrewd move indeed now that Apple has an average of 2.3 devices in the hand of every human on the planet.*
Now you may be thinking, “ok, Apple is pretty damn smart, what’s the problem?” Well, I felt the same way until our old friend Yelp released an updated version of their app for the new mosquitiPhone. For those of you who aren’t aware, I am currently residing in Florida, and Florida is known for two thing and two things only – old people, and mosquitos. Well, as with the old people down here, the mosquitos have a lot of disposable income and have flocked to the mosquitiPhone like, well, mosquitos flocking to anything with a heartbeat. And now it seems that one of these little buggers, no pun intended, has put a review of my delicious blood up on mosquitiYelp. Apparently I have a very distinct and exceptional flavor, a now every mosquito from Macon to Timbuktu knows.
Long story short, I have decided to cancel the Everglades as my starting point for the Third Circle/XPerspective/XVan world tour. Thanks Apple and Yelp, ya jerks.
Today marks the beginning of a new chapter for Third Circle LLC – and for me. Having resigned from my position at a software company here in Atlanta – a position I held for 6 years – I now have the ultimate freedom. 24 hours a day to do whatever I need to do, go wherever I want to go, and build whatever needs building. This means more aggressive development on the XVan followed by aggressive development of the XPerspective web portal and rental system. With this new freedom, I should be ready to hit the road by May 1, and, of course, enjoy every bit of the day, every day. Stay tuned.
This blog has been created to chronicle the growth of Third Circle LLC, the adventures I (Nick Underwood, founder of Third Circle LLC) go through during this growth and just as important, the build-out of the XVan, the mobile headquarters for Third Circle LLC.
Anytime something interesting happens, advancements are made or milestones reached, you will find out about it here.
As of the creation of this blog, Third Circle LLC has been formed, the development of our XPERSPECTIVE brand of products and services has begun, and the XVan has been purchased and is ready for it’s build-out.
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Copyright 2011. Third Circle LLC. All rights reserved.
