At 8:00 am this morning, the team set up the telescope and cameras to capture the annual Solar Eclipse which was due around 8.45 am. Due to the rain and cloud we could only get a few glances from Cairns, Far North Queensland.

The best location was in Kowanyama or  Coen, Far North Queensland, We tested streaming earlier in March from Coen but unfortunately we were unable to travel up there this time.

We were lucky enough that Panasonic contracted Visual Obsession to capture excellent streaming footage of the Total Solar Eclipse 14th November 2012 last year from both Fitzroy Island and Port Douglas North Queensland. At this time we “Filmed the sun using the sun” with solar panels to power all of our equipment. We had over 800,000 people tune into our stream. Read more about it and watch the recorded stream here.

#1 – Monbana Chocolate Cube

You can actually buy this from their website for approximately AUD $53.

#2 – A twist on the party invitations!

#3 – Is your hair getting thinner?

#4 – Caution… Slippery

#5 – Castle painted on hands for Ecclesiastical ad

Artwork by Annie Ralli.

#1 – Alpine Sunrise – Gary Randall

#2 – Colors of Joy – Protik Hossain

#3 – Between the Rocks – Martin Rak

#4 – Norway by Thomas Trommer

One wrong step and you’re dead!

#5 - Aguas blancas by José Ramón Méndez

#1 – “Peek-a-boo!”

#2 – Macro shot of a Bee

#3 – Nose to Nose

A Marmot greets an eight-year-old Matteo on the slopes of the Austrian Alps.

#4 – Roe Deer

#5 – Owl in Winter

#1 – Sunflower Reflections

#2 – The Monkey Orchid (Orchis Simia)

#3 – Alien Life-forms!

#4 – Cherry Love

#5 – Squeaky clean shoots

#1 – The Instagram Camera

The designer of this Instagram-look-a-like camera “Socialmatic”, Antonio De Rosa, has entered into a contract with Polaroid to design the concept. “Socialmatic” is a 16GB camera with a 4-inch-wide screen and will let you apply filters to your photos before uploading them to the giant social media platforms; Facebook and Instagram. And will also print out sticky-backed images on a Zink (zero ink) printer!

We think it will get the Instagram-addicts attention… and I may be putting this on my own technology shopping list.

#2 – “Phone x Phone” for retro-lovers

Another accessory for your iPhone! This is one of the many accessories that transforms your iPhone into a retro handset. On this design, the middle button on the handset functions like that of the middle button on the iPhone earphone cable; ending the call or pausing the music. It seems very simple to use, and is selling for around AUD $15.00 ~ seems like it would be a good present idea.

#3 – Snow Goggles come with matching headphones!

Hit the slopes in style! I know there isn’t any snow here in Cairns… but if you’re a snow-addict and travel a lot, these could be the goggles for you!

Dragon Alliance and Skullcandy have come together to make these DX Skullcandy/Ionized snow goggles. They’ll fit while you wear your helmet, have an anti-fog lens, micro fleece lining and 100% UV protection. There’s a lot of other styles and the cost ranges from $77 – $130 online.

#4 – Light your way

This could come in handy! With the FLEXiT Light’s ultra-thin, flexible silicone body it is easy to wrap around tubes, magnetically fasten to metal objects, and bend anyway you want. It uses 16 Lumen TechTM LEDs with three light functions (low, medium, and high). Use it to light up a dark pathway or during Cyclone season it would be great to illuminate an entire room in an event of a power outage. You can purchase it for AU $49.00 on Ebay.

#5 – Recoiling extension cable in your wall

You’ll need a deep wall to make this work! But the idea is great. The Rambler Socket is an in-wall box that contains extra cabling. If your AC cord isn’t long enough, once plugged in give it a gentle tug and the built-in extension cord will come out. Once you’re done, just tug on the cable and it will recoil back into the wall.

Tourism Australia has teamed up with industry and State and Territory tourism partners in a new $4million campaign targeting the international youth market – a segment which last year contributed a whopping $12 billion in tourism spending. The Hon Martin Ferguson AM MP  flew into Cairns to launch the campaign.

Remember Ben Southall? He was the winner of “The Best ‘Job’ In The World” He is the face of this Campaign.

For those who don’t know this is a global competition involving six “best jobs in the world” Patrol the beaches, meet the wildlife and dive the world’s biggest aquarium.

Perks include AU$100,000 and a free jar of Vegemite.

The six ‘Best Jobs in the World’

• Chief Funster (New South Wales)
• Outback Adventurer (Northern Territory)
• Park Ranger (Queensland)
• Wildlife Caretaker (South Australia)
• Lifestyle Photographer (Melbourne)
• Taste Master (Western Australia)

This was such a fantastic and exciting project to be apart of, we had an absolute ball.

The competition has received over 75,000 entries so far. If you think this sounds like something you would like to do, or enter, read more here

A wall of dust and water whipped up by cyclone Narelle as seen in these two photos above. Taken by Brett Martin 25 nautical miles north-west of Onslow, Western Australia. Photo: Perth Weather Live

As of yesterday it has been advised on news.com.au that cyclone Narelle is no longer a threat to the Western Australia communities. But residents have been advised to avoid any potential hazards. There was also no reports of damage to homes or other infrastructure.

On Wednesday morning (the 14th of November) Far North Queensland was treated to a once in a lifetime spectacle: a Total Solar Eclipse. Bright and early that morning Visual Obsession, Empire Entertainment, Dentsu Japan and Panasonic Japan began preparations to live stream the Eclipse using state of the art astrophotography equipment from 4 Mile Beach, Port Douglas. An estimated 30,000 spectators lined the beach from various hotels that back onto the popular tourist strip of beach, with the Sheraton Mirage Eclipse Eve Party taking place the night before. A second location setup was also organized at Fitzroy Island – to ensure maximum visibility, and also to provide a fallback for any weather conditions that may plague the visibility of the sun.

Months of research, preparation, management and troubleshooting paid off – as the project succeeded with no major issues. Serious concerns about weather and visibility conditions kept the team anxious and on their toes. Our stage was set up the day before on 4 Mile Beach at the Sheraton Mirage’s Crystal Chapel. In the lead up to the event, several test broadcasts were undertaken: with heavy winds and varying rain threatening the quality of the broadcast. At one point the wind was gusting so furiously that our stage’s roof integrity was compromised, forcing our team to remove the cover off of our shelter. Fortunately on broadcast day, there was almost literally no wind or rain!

At one point the wind was gusting so furiously that our stage’s roof integrity was compromised, forcing our team to remove the cover off of our shelter.

Spectators and the team rejoiced just before totality (the moment the moon fully eclipses the sun) as the sun peeked through a clearing in the large pocket of cloud coverage at just the right time! The moment of totality was truly spectacular: as all surroundings suddenly darkened and the surrounding temperature dropped an estimated 6 degrees celsius!  A flock of birds flew around erratically on the horizon: seemingly confused by the event.

The project was an enormous success – with miraculous weather conditions and a fantastic team. Over 800,000 people tuned into the live stream which was broadcast on the Panasonic Ustream Channel. The stream was also broadcasted as part of Channel 7’s “Sunrise” & the WIN network’s “The Today Show” resulting in what its sure to be millions of viewers! Imperfect Mum blogger Kristy Vallely was in charge of monitoring and replying to comments on the “social stream” – with many viewer’s praising the availability and quality of the footage.

The project’s motto was “Filming the Sun – Using the Sun”, as all of our equipment was completely solar powered. On site was a rig consisting of 9 large HIT solar panels – which was then used to charge 16 portable Panasonic Batteries and a collection of standard rechargeable Panasonic Eneloop AA sized batteries. These batteries allowed our equipment to be powered with ease, with each lithium battery containing a standard wall socket.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

Our photo/video equipment consisted of:

• 3 Skywatcher Black Diamond Telescopes: 2 for the Port Douglas Location and one for the Fitzroy Location.
• 2 Meade LX80 Automated telescope mounts: 1 for each location – which allowed us to directly align our telescopes to celestial objects (for example: the Sun or Venus). Once aligned, this mount is capable of tracking objects without adjustment: on the day – our mount managed to track Venus with stunning precision for almost 2 hours.
• 5 Panasonic Lumix GH2 Cameras: 4 at the Port Douglas site & 1 at the Fitzroy Island site – Consumer grade cameras with full HD video recording capability. These were fastened to our telescopes using special T-Ring Adapters.

Prior to the event, Visual Obsession began location scouting the 3 possible locations for the project: Port Douglas, FItzroy Island and Mount Carbine. Port Douglas & Fitzroy Island were selected, due to Mount Carbine having poor remote internet 3G connection.

For the past few month’s, preparation for the event has kept us busy: with most of our crew being put on-site for the project. Hours of work were put into assembly and testing of our telescope rigs at various locations. You can view photos of our testing, and the resulting photos of the tests here.

Heres a breakdown of the team members involved:

Port Douglas Crew:

• Kevin Austin, Ewan Cutler, Charlie O’Leary, Corinne Shardlow, Randal Kelly, Kristy Vallely, Jenny Austin and James Lippmann (Contracted by Visual Obsession for the project) from Visual Obsession.
• Theodore Miller from Empire Entertainment.
• Ryo Nakagawa & Keita Kado from Dentsu Japan.
• Hisao Tsugita, Scott Mellish and the “Channel Panasonic” Film crew from Panasonic.

Fitzroy Island Crew:

• Christopher-Jay Mcnamee, Benton Brown and Nakita Bottrell from Visual Obsession.
• Sohei Hirao from Empire Entertainment.

Everyone at Visual Obsession would like to thank the excellent team and all members involved in the project – What a Crew! It was great working with you all and we wish you all the best for the future!

Links:

• Panasonic Eclipse Live by Solar Power Facebook Page.
• Visual Obsession Facebook Page.
• Port Douglas Live stream on Ustream.
• Fitzroy Island Live stream on Ustream.

I don’t just mean its number of monthly active users (which is now over 1 billion people), I’m talking about Facebook as a company. They are growing and maturing in ways that are great news for advertisers and small business owners. With the recent much-publicised IPO, many investors voiced concerns about Facebook’s ability to monetise and Facebook has responded by putting serious effort into attracting advertisers from both ends of the spectrum, from big brands to small business.

What does that mean for Australian small business owners? It means initiatives like the Facebook Small Business Bootcamp.

Cairns was selected to host the very first Small Business Bootcamp, run by Facebook on Friday at the Rydges Tradewinds. I was asked by Facebook to present sessions in two of the seven speaking slots, one on “How to create a Facebook Ad campaign for your business”, and another on “How to sell products and services on Facebook”.

If you couldn’t make it, check out this video of some highlights from the second session.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

The first session was a very hands-on workshop. Delegates setup their laptops and we went through the process of creating an ad campaign specific to their business. In spite of some problems with the hotel internet connection, the workshop was helpful to many delegates as they asked questions and discovered how to target ads for best ROI. All delegates received complimentary $50 advertising credit.

A couple of takeaway points are:

• Think before you act! Sitting down and working out a business marketing strategy first, will result in you creating much more powerful ads with better returns. If you are not comfortable with marketing ideas, consider speaking to a consultant for assistance with your strategy development.
• Facebook Ads are not a set-and-forget thing. Always monitor your ad statistics to keep track of your return on investment. If you are not seeing appropriate return, change what you are doing!

After lunch, we got stuck into the topic of selling products and services on Facebook. Whether you are selling a physical product (shopping cart), a booking (accom, event tickets, tours, etc), or a service (enquiry form), the principles of selling are the same. Optimise the usability of your website, to increase your conversion rate, and then utilise the incredible power of Facebook recommendations to build reach and trust, to stand out from your competitors.

A couple of takeaway points are:

• Fix your website! Look at your website with a critical eye and remember there is no point in having a website that “looks great” if it is not making sales. A redesign might be in order to make sure it is ready to entice customers into buying your product. There is no point putting all that effort into generating traffic with social media if it won’t result in sales.
• Monitor your statistics! If you are not seeing appropriate return, change what you are doing!

It was great to be a part of the first ever Small Business Bootcamp, and we are excited about the direction Facebook is taking, and new opportunities for Small Businesses. It was also great to see a photo of our session on the official Facebook Marketing page. The sessions were a success, and Visual Obsession has had some great positive feedback.

If you enjoyed the sessions, let us know in the comments below, and if you would like a copy of my presentation slides, you can see that here: