Who doesn't love pizza?

Seriously, only communists, nihilists, and puppy haters dislike pizza. I discovered this swanky, totally superfluous feature to Domino's Pizza on-line ordering system. It was a funny and cool enough idea that we wanted to see if it worked and it was lunch time...so delicious pizza was ordered.

And it WAS delicious.

Meanwhile, Pete, Michel, and MEvans met with some folks and talked about ideas in the Llama Room all day. I'm sure they came up with very important decisions which will be shared with us soon. When they are...I will share them with you.
I'm told the weather 'round these parts is actually unusually cold, even for winter. That sucks. The good news is that my couch was delivered today so at last my home is my castle and my castle has a couch.


The good news is that Friday all of Fyreball, inc is meeting here at the North Campus to prep for the super duper week of pre-beta prep and parties. We'll talk about important things in the morning and then we're all bringing in our X360s to finally do some real Halo 3 practice.
I have the feeling this might be the only time we practice before being destroyed by Bungie. We're too busy makin' stuff and being cool. Because I need it I will be online practicing -- from my new couch no less -- each night this week. Please join me and offer me any and all game-winning tips you might have.

xxoo
~kathleen

Workin' for the Weekend

Fyreball North Campus is cold and lonely. Many of the space geniuses are out on various recon missions so it is just me and Senator Mike holding down the fort.

I've been on an invite-palooza the past couple of days so you may have noticed it is getting even more exciting on Fyreball!

Be kind to the new folks and help them understand how we roll. If someone seems cool, don't hesitate to click on the orange "don't know yet" button.


It will change to "seems cool". When they click on the same button -- BAM! You're friends. We're actually designing some changes to that very soon to make it easier to make friends. You can also invite folks to come play with us at Fyreball. That's right! You! You have the power! Just click on the Invite Your Friends bar button at the top of the page.

In other news, more Halo was played last night. I'm still not, you know, getting lots of kills, but I provide a different and deeper support to my team. See what I mean?

So, this weekend should be a chilly one up here in Seattle. I'll be keeping myself warm by the glow of my new TV. Those who are on XBL should add your gamertag to this list started by one of our most prolific fyreballers - Edot!

xxoo
~kath=)

Halo...is anybody in there?

So, we're heading for the open beta in early Feb. Next week is the last week of January so we've got the rowers set to ramming speed, but no one has given us permission to buzz the tower. That's right -- we are dangerous.

As part of the brilliant PR strategeries being set out by our crack team of strategists -- we're playing Bungie in a humpday soon. Apparently, nothing says "We've got a cool new thing to share with the internets" like a very public shaming on the internets...

So, with the hope that we won't lose by any sort of record number I've begun to try to talk our busy team of space geniuses into tearing themselves away from making magic so that they can practice shooting stuff.

Tonight only Ian, the industrious intern, was brave enough to venture online and into practice. I have some friends from my previous life who are very skilled at Halo -- so Ian and I were very totally beaten. I mean, our team usually won, due to the ninjas who were kind enough to carry us... but we do so need to practice. The rest of the Fyreball team, however, was a no-show! They're too busy making awesomes.

Can't read it? Too small? Well, Ian and I are at the bottom of the top group. End of story ;)

I've heard that the French-ish cat and MEvans are quite skilled at the game, but I've yet to see evidence myself. I will continue to practice, but my sole goal will to not be the worst player in the challenge. DREAM BIG!

In other news! We now have many more ways for you to be friends with Fyreball! That's right -- in addition to our Facebook group I've created spots on:

• MySpace
• Orkut
• imeem

Feel free to add us if you use these networks! For now, the best place to find out what's happening first is Fyreball and, of course, the Fyreblog.

In other other news: I have internets at home now! Tomorrow I get direct tv! I also get a bed! I'm livin' the life! w000t! Now, all I need is a Nerf Lancer.

xxoo

~kath=)

Can you spot the unicorn in this pic?

Happy Monday!

Greetings, friends! I've missed you! I spent the whole weekend without internet at my new home in Kirkland. I was living like some sort of animal and I do NOT like it.

Lucky for me:

1. I have friends in Seattle proper that offered very happy company for me on Saturday
2. I have friends that will help me buy large amounts of flat pack furnishings for my new home and even transport them in the green destiny.
3. I bought this on Sunday.

It looks way cooler in person and with Halo 3 playing on it. It is 40" of happiness.
Now I need to buy something to sit on while playing and maybe a bed to sleep on when I am done watching LOTR and playing games.

In other news: Pete found a super cool flash game (there are so many of them anymore! I can't keep up!) called Triachnid. The game is really amazing, but the music totally stands out for me, too. It reminds me of the score to 'There Will Be Blood' that Jonny Greenwood did. Yeah, I think it is THAT cool.


Since the update last Friday you may have noticed Fyreball is going very fast. Many thanks to the space brains (I think Brian in particular) for that. You may have also noticed that if you attempt to post something to Facebook the link says we're still "Down for Maintenance". That, like cake, is a lie. We've got top men addressing this, but in the meanwhile, if you do click on that line that says "Down for Maintenance" you can change it to read whatever you'd like. It is troublesome, but it should be better soon.


xxoo
~kath=)

p.s. EMERGENCY RETRACTION! Michel was the one who found Triachnid, but Pete was the one who was able to put it into a Fyreball. Credit is now where it should be.

Aaaannnnnnd....We're BACK!

Did you miss us? We are back! We missed you! Let's Fyre it up together!

IM intergration is working again!

If you're feeling ADVENTURESOME...you can try the super secret BookmarkletX - Just drag this: FYRE THIS X into your toolbar.

Finally, if you have a ton of friends (which most of us don't...yet) to show all your friends when forwarding a Fyreball you don't gotta leave the page - we automagically expand it!

Take a walk around the grounds and tell us whatcha think!
xxoo
~kath=)

We are down right now - coming back soon!

We're about to go down. We should be back soon! When we come back we hope to be cooler in subtle, but cunning ways. I shall update when we're back!


xxoo
~kath=)

p.s. Just for Jerm:

Okay, Fyreball, Deep Breath...now PUSH!

Alright! In careful and coordinated preparations for our open beta (comin' alive in early February !) we're making some tiny improvements to Fyreball.com. We've made very elaborate and excellent plans so as to minimize any negative impact on the lives of our beloved Fyreballers.

However, there might be some downtime this afternoon. Space Genius MEvans tells us the delay will be in the "range of some hours ... maybe".

Right now, Fyreball is still live and happy. I'll update the Fyreblog when I know anything different.

If you see something broken or different that you like or do not like or feel any feeling at all about - please! Let us know!
More info to come!

xxoo
~kath

A Little Snow and Everyone Loses Their Mind!

So, I'm from the great mitten state of Michigan (where the primaries are happening right now- so exciting!). This means I grew up enduring harsh winters and have been ice fishing. I know how to negotiate a snowy road and understand the caution one should take when you encounter ice.
I was told before I got here that in Seattle it will on rare occasion snow. It certainly gets cold enough to turn some of the rain to ice. You would think that would mean that Seattle drivers can keep their wits about them in weather like we had yesterday.
You'd be wrong. People lost their minds. It makes no sense to me why a person driving a BMW with rear-wheel drive would attempt to drive up a side street that has steep-ish hill and is slick with ice rather than drive a block up to a main road with the same incline, but no ice. Needless to say she was successful only in creating a huge traffic back up, because she slid back into the idiots that followed her example.

Thankfully, my wee Honda Fit is just as perky and maneuverable as the nice salesman said it can be and I was able to negotiate the clustermuck that was created and arrived safely at work. Sadly, the same could not be said of Frenchie, Senator McCain, and Bullfrog - the space brains behind the magic at Fyreball's Global Campus North. So, today I was mostly alone. Pete was busy talking with important people in the Llama Room (although it is just as possible that he was talking to himself) so I've spent time working with stuff for the FAQ and talking to people about ways to make Fyreball better.
I signed up for Twitter - which seems really...i dunno... ego-centric and I don't see myself using it a whole lot. I feel like Twitter is an example of that leap from my generation to the one two younger. Those kids that stand in groups at the mall texting to other people rather than talking to the friends that are right there. It makes me wonder when I got so OLDE.

More interesting today were the announcements from the REAL Steve Jobs' keynote at Macworld. The "Something in the air" turned out to be a super sweet looking skinny-ass laptop. Pretty rad looking if you ask me, but I fear it lacks the strength I require in a laptop. I like the knowledge that if I am accosted by a n'er-do-well then a firm whack upon his criminal skull with my laptop bag will properly subdue him and give me ample time to make my escape. I'm pretty sure the MacAir would just give baddies a paper cut.


They also beefed up and improved Apple TV. That has me more interested, because at this point in my life I don't watch nearly as many movies on my Netflix as I'd like to. I like the idea of only paying for movies that I'm going to watch (and paying a dollar less than what I pay through X360's Live Marketplace) However, as my friend eXxy points out -- subscription services that you don't have to think about and have a limited amount you'll spend every month are still more convenient. I'd rather Apple (or Microsoft) provide me with a subscriptions service option. Until then, I think I'm probably going to keep my Netflix.

How about you guys? Were you impressed, neutral, disappointed, confused, frightened, or aroused by the stuff from Macworld today?

xxoo
~kath=)

Today at Fyreball

Pete is back from the deep south and a splendorous cruise filled with gaiety and merriment. He bragged to us about what a fantastic time he had while we were hard at work in the rain and cold. Speaking of hard work... Senator Mike McCain has been carefully designing the next version of Fyreball so it will be that much prettier. There are going to be some changes that I think everyone who uses Fyreball will appreciate, but people who are new to Fyreball won't be left as much in a "HUH? WHA?" sorta space when they arrive.


Once we were done bringing Pete up to speed on all the gossip and shenanigans he missed out on while he was sunning himself in Cabo he showed us White Dwarf (you can check it out: here) Productivity took a sharp downward turn as Michel shamed all of us with his madd White Dwarfing skillz. It is one of those deceptively simple games that makes you play it over and over again. Some people dislike that if you die too soon you're left with a negative score and that you really only have a single life, but I dig that, because I'm not a big sissy.

I also got to unpack and display some more of my unicornery today -- including...THE AVENGING UNICORN

xxoo
~kath=)

How Do You Ball?

Aren't games great? I adore them, truly. One of the things that totally appealed to me about joining the team here at Fyreball.com was how Fyreball beautifully upscales web games like Pax-On or PiCross. How that happens involves space magic and witchcraftery to be sure. The fact that I can then send it off to my friends and taunt them and their (almost unfailingly) lower scores at any given game -- well, hot damn, that's radical, right? So, I find myself always looking for new games. If you've got some - fyre them please! I'm always up for a new challenge.


I'm also keen to find out how you find yourself using Fyreball the most. I find I'm using it to share the neat stuff I find around the internets, but also to keep track of what certain groups of my friends think of any given link, video, or topic. We spent a good deal of time today talking about this and how to focus the features we want really ready for the beta in line with how we're using Fyreball. I'm interested to hear from you.

xxoo
~kath=)

What is Fyreball?

Today was a good grinding day. You know, one of those days when everyone puts their head down and gets to work. It was punctuated by a really cool idea of Senator McCain's that involved setting things on fire to better explain stuff to people. I made some headway on the FyreFAQ -- take a look below - what is it missing? What sort of images should I add to this bad boy? Suggestions are welcomed and rewarded*!

xxoo
~kath

*no actual rewards awarded





What is Fyreball?

Fyreball is a better, more playful way of sharing the best (and worst) rich content on the internet. Have a look at some of our favorite Fyreballs here:
Robot: The Ride: http://www.fyreball.com/d/4730
Pax-On The Game: http://www.fyreball.com/d/4708
How to Beat a Soda-Pop Addiction: http://www.fyreball.com/d/4900

Can anyone use Fyreball?

Anyone can view a Fyreball marked "Public". You can IM a public Fyreball link to your friends. Email one to your cat. Tattoo a link to your chest and streak the office. You don't need a Fyreball account to see a Fyreball. Once you have a Fyreball account you can send a Fyreball to anyone - no matter if it is public or private.

How do I get invited to the beta?

Send us your email to kathleen@fyreball.com or go to sign up at www.fyreball.com. We're looking for people who are fun and support things that are awesome. Fyreball currently has no plans to incorporate douchebags or douchebaggery into the site.

Fyreball welcomes some old skool 'ballers

What a treat we had today! Fyreball North's Global Campus was visited by two of the most original Fyreballers there are (Users #67 and 70 to be exact!) - Anthony Ko and PostalGirl came all the way to Seattle to visit us and bring Pete a lovely gift.

We went and had a delicious lunch with them and got a ton of great feedback on things we can be doing to make Fyreball more awesome. Mike McCain is currently brainstorming idears for a brilliant intro video to help answer that "What IS Fyreball?" question on everyone's lips. I'm also putting the finishing touches on the first draft of a few FyreFAQ balls to help intro new users to the Fyreball experience. Look for those things toward the end of this week.

This will be my first full week in the office at Fyreball North. I've decided to start gradually introducing items that make my work environment more like home...I figure I will go slow so as to not upset the delicate balance and design that already exists here (aka - lots of random stuff everywhere and a disappointing lack of unicornery).

xxoo
~kath=)

Where'd we go?

We're all here! See, Team Fyreball exists in two campuses. There is the North Campus here in Seattle and there is Fyreball South in Portland. We meet up via the magics of Skype each day, but I'm told rarely do we get the pleasure of all being in the same place.
Today, Team Fyreball South made the mighty journey northward to visit with us so we could all sit together at the global campus of Fyreball North and discuss the future and stuff and also things. This is made even more impressive by the fact that the Northwest part of the country is under siege by THE PERFECT STORM OF THE CENTURY.

All of this came together on this fine Friday to prevent me from blogging the way I have come to enjoy blogging this week! Regardless, happy and lovely Fyreballers, know that this is because we're so busy planning more awesome things for you. Currently, our mega-plan is to enter into an open beta in February. That means lots more people will be joining the fun! Until then we're trying to focus on very specific bug fixes and slight changes to Fyreball to make the user experience that much easier and more intuitive.

Next week I'm also going to be reaching out for help making a Fyrefaq -- guides to those encountering or creating their first Fyreball. Meanwhile, this weekend I'm hoping to buy a brand new (to me) car and figure out where in Seattle I'm going to call home.

xxoo
~kath=)


p.s.









did you think I forgot? ;)

We need to let our tools shine!

A beloved, observant, and vocal Fyreballer sent this excellent suggestion in to us today.

"You shouldn't hide the "fyre it!" bookmarklet under a rock. Let its light shine!"

This cat is right. We were just talking about that this morning, too. To get to the handy dandy bookmarklets you have to click on 'Settings' then it is in the long list of different links on the right hand side of the page. I want to save you those steps, though, and I've got all the instructions on how to add happy handy browser tools right here:

1. Make sure the bookmark toolbar is on View -> Toolbars -> Bookmarks Toolbar
2. Drag this link: Fyre This! up to your Bookmarks Toolbar.
3. Drag this link: View Fyreballs up to your Bookmarks Toolbar.

We've got IM intergration with Gtalk/chat and MSN Messenger, too, but it is borked right now. We hope to have that fixed pretty soon (you can betcha you'll see an update here when it is).

This morning Drunk Mike started a great discussion about ways we can change the design of Fyreball to make the user experience slicker and more intuitive. We spoke at length about what a non-Fyreballer sees when they come to Fyreball.com. We want to make sure that they get a good idea of what Fyreball is and what they can do with it. One of the things we're thinking about doing is making the comments on public fyreballs visible. Right now, we ask that you sign up to see them. You'd still need to sign up to comment, although, that is probably up for debate as well. What do you think? Do you have any suggestions? We welcome them with open arms and cookies and, of course, unicorns.

xxoo
~kath=)

Lesson #1: Always Crop the Hoff

So, one of the things that's already amazed me is how awesome it is when your company has fewer than ten employees.

Anything we need here - say a new computer - we discuss then we order it. If it makes sense to get it, we do. That said, I'm still waiting for The Gamerator (beer keg + arcade machine = YES DO WANT) to arrive.

Fyreball knew if I was going to help them make cool stuff for the internets I'd need the proper equipments. In the weeks before my official start Pete ordered me the wee mighty machine I'm writing this on RIGHT NOW. Sadly, it wasn't going to be born before I'd arrive in Seattle, so they sent along a Jeremiah's newest laptop to me (at my last count he had about fifty-eleven computers around here. I'm still not sure what he actually DOES, but we ordered another machine for him yesterday...presumably to control the small fleet he's assembling). Before they shipped out the wee machine to me they prepped it just for me. They could've just sent it with the default gobbledy muck that all new computers are bogged up with, but they didn't. They went the extra mile and gave it one of the MOST STUNNING desktop backgrounds I have ever seen. I now share this with you. Behold...


Imagine my joy upon booting up my new laptop from my new employers to behold that. I could see that my new team already knew me pretty darn well.

Yesterday, I finally got a chance to thank my new team in person for it. Pete told me that he'd been the chap who found this particular piece of art. He also told me that he very strictly instructed Jeremiah to "CROP THE HOFF" before putting it on the laptop. I suddenly felt a new measure of gratitude to my new team.

xxoo
~kath

Angels sing (and blog)

So, when Pete first told me that we were funded by a couple of different angel investment groups I feigned understanding and excitement, but secretly I was cautious. I had no clue what an angel investor was, but it sounded religious and suddenly I was concerned I'd gotten mixed up with some sort of cult.
Thankfully, Wikipedia was there for me.

An angel investor or angel (known as a business angel in Europe), is an affluent individual who provides capital for a business start-up, usually in exchange for convertible debt or ownership equity. A small but increasing number of angel investors are organizing themselves into angel networks or angel groups to share research and pool their investment capital.

They even blog! Today, Alliance of Angels offered us a wee blurb letting people know what we're up to around here. Check it out!
xxoo
~kath

Your Post is Showing

This morning we had an awesome hour or so just talking about what goes into the differences between a public or a private fyreball. Right now, if you create a Fyreball you decide when you create it if it will be able to be shared anywhere by anyone (public) or if people will need to be invited to view it (private). We are currently discussing a few issues surrounding these ideas:

• Should we let anyone see comments on public fyreballs?
• Should we let people change a private fyreball into a public one at their discretion?
• Should we set all fyreballs to be public by default?

There are many questions of usability and privacy that get raised and we're working our way through them. I'd love to hear your thoughts on it, too. In fact, I need to hear your thoughts on it, because I bet you have more thoughts than I do.

xxoo
~kath
P.S. Currently, the IM integration is borked. Hopefully, we'll have that up and running VERY soon. Sorry for the inconvenience! :P

Start-up

Hello! So, you might know me from such shows as The 1UP Show. Now, I've jumped that amazing ship (which kicked ass before I got there and will continue its long and storied tradition of kicking ass) to join this start-up with some very freaking smart people... and Pete Parsons.

Team Fyreball invited me to join them on their quest to make something really cool and exciting with the power of the internets. Fyreball impressed the tar out of me with how easy it is to use from the outset and how much fun I could see having with it. We're a ways from where we will end up, but it is so exciting to think about where it could go.

I made the journey up here with the lovely and talented Jane Pinckard. She is not just smart, she's also a great co-pilot. We had such an adventure getting here (check out the pics of our adventure here...I shall fill in details on the flickr page soon after posting this first blog). Now I'm in Seattle and it is both as cold and rainy as everyone warned me it would be.

So, about Fyreball... well... to know more about what we're making of course you're best off going to www.fyreball.com. If you'd like to sign up for the beta to try it out just let me know or offer your email to the hungry little window on our splash page.
What I'm hoping to use this blog more is for talking about what it is to work for a "start-up", how we go about doing what we think we want to do, and unicorns.

So, I had a pretty good idea of what would be in store for me at Fyreball. I would be working in the future for the future.

In reality, we are hunkered down over all manner of shiny computers at the back of a real estate office. The upside is that we do have mens' and womens' bathrooms -- so I've already got my own private loo. Very posh.
The team here has really been super amazing about what Pete calls "spinning up." I think that means something like showing me what to do and what we do.

In the meantime, I'm going to be working on updating this blog with all the top secret infos I can (and unicorns, of course). I'll also be working on inviting a few more cool people (no douches, please) to play on Fyreball with us.
xxoo
~kath=)