Last post here! Skyaak (french) TV Debut!

Excited to let you know that we are tightening up a few loose ends and shifting the url of this blog directly to the Mother Ship at http://skyaak.com/skyaak-rd-blog/

From now I will posting and hosting on the skyaak blog at this spot.

I just wanted to let you down gently by sharing the current blog post at skyaak.com.

So from now on you are invited to CLICK THROUGH to the new url!

In the meantime, have fun, happy skyaak-ing and see you there!

Michael Gaudet

Introducing Mathieu Gratton, host of the popular Montreal-based TV show “Le Banc d’Essai du Peuple” or “Taking it to the People“

Click on Mathieu to view the TV feed from the recent feature on Skyaak, where he takes it to the streets of Montreal.

Just scroll down about a third of a page from where you land and you will see the thumbnail for the Skyaak video.

Received the DVD today in the mail from the producers of the show. They sent along a request that I not replicate the DVD in any way. I found the link to the Skyaak segment on their website with a link provided. So it’s all good. I can share the video with you now through their link.

My grasp of the french language is a tad spotty, anyone who can help me out with some translation would be greatly appreciated.

Judging by the ‘body language’ and overall enthusiasm here, I would wager a guess that Skyaak was quite well-received on the cosmopolitan streets of Montreal.

It’s worth clicking through to watch this. It’s kind of priceless really. Check out how excited the little canine participant is to encounter his very first Skyaak. My spider senses are tingling…could this be a message that we should be looking at R&D into the Skyaak ‘fetch’…?

Variations on the theme of re-birth

Clive Gerada is a Malta-based artist who has just published an exhibition called “Unrealized” on FaceBook

I want to share one of Clive’s pictures from the show here, as it rings a bell for us.  Strikes a familiar note.

Incoming...

Clive Gerada shows in “Unrealized” a series of selectively masked portraits.  His credits hint that he knows all of the characters he has portrayed. His notes say “The bare thought of “Unemployment” has given me the idea of creating a series of 13 “Unfinished” portraits, which resemble the human being when s/he feels unrealized or incompleted, or unable to fulfill his wishes to fulfill himself as a human being.”

My take on this is that Gerada refuses to give in to a spirit of malaise. Rather, he examines the feelings of in-completion by a reckoning based on “I am what I do” or identification of one’s worth being inextricably tied to one’s occupation, job description, etc.

By taking a closer look at the ‘condition’, the artist affirms his own ‘employment’, is the working artist plying his trade in a very public way.

Photo by Natalia

The concept of a figure struggling to free itself from the confines of the medium (the ‘condition’) has been around for a long time. Michaelangelo expressed it vividly in his ‘Slave” sculptures where he shows us the figure struggling to free itself from the inert sculptor’s stone.

The images here struck me personally as a metaphor for starting a new era in one’s life, with blind spots and information gaps that can seem daunting at first.  You have to gather your wits about you and tackle the challenges as they come up.

As with any creative, passionate act, all the effort and energy that goes into the construction of a new web-site can be seen as pushing of the envelope, stretching in all directions to finally arrive at a certain place where you feel fully employed, fully engaged and on fire with enthusiasm!

Making some progress w skyaak.com

Happy to say that we’re making  progress with the all new www.skyaak .com.

There’s still a ways to go yet…and confidentially… we are having so much fun experimenting with all our new toys that we will probably just keep on mashing it up, dialing it in, tweaking and the like.

It could take a little bit to massage it into shape.

So stay posted, it will be rapidly morphing in the coming days.

Royal Flush of Domain Names

Got the exciting news this morning that the domain names for our new skyaak.com site are in the bag. Now we have a Royal Flush to work with. Should be a sweep.

Check the website-in-waiting.

Still shy and blushing in its hatchling status, the ALL NEW skyaak.com will be striking out bold as brass in the coming days, so hang on tight!

Looking at the skyaak logo

A recognizable logo is fundamental in the graphic continuity of brand development.

Skyaak logo is here

Look at an early animated logo  here.

Just visited a cool site that showcases some famous logos (evolving!)

Name that skyaak skyline for free DIY deuce

Brendan w his skyaak model 3 overlooking the distant metropolis of Melbourne skyline.

Name that skyaak sky-line.

Leave a comment w locale id to grab a DIY deuce comp.

Stumped? Enjoy our instant delivery crash-free product disbursement system anytime.

Working it out w GoDaddy @ WordPress

Check the Skyaak R&D sister site. This is strictly an experiment, in a total state of flux.

We are going to use the WordPress platform as a launch pad for the brand new skyaak.com.

WordPress has all the support, plug-ins, CSS, et al to juice up a world-class site.

For example, GoDaddy talks to WordPress. WordPress is a plug-in feature of our spanky new GoDaddy host and by proxy server. So hang on for the ride, folks. This will be fun.

About the Skyaak DIY deuce ‘finger flicker’ advantage

You can just throw your Skyaak DIY deuce exactly like a dart and get pretty good results, or you can introduce the ‘finger flicker’ advantage that increases your torque with less exertion. It’s true. When you place your index finger behind the finger flicker, and flick the unit with your finger just as you toss it you will notice a turbo-boost in the power of the flight. Your deuce will rocket ahead at fast scale-speed. Remember to hold the nose up a bit-about 10 to 15 degrees- above level when you are launching it.

The cool thing is that the more thrust you give it (w the catapult power of your index finger…a built-in atlatl!) the happier it is and the better it flies. You will see that the ring-wing configuration of your Skyaak deuce produces surprising stability. When it spins naturally on its axis, as it is bound to do, the stability is further enhanced.

Which leads one to ponder: does the ring-wing design create its own vortex as it flies that it tends to ride on like a cushion of air, or maybe a lifting energy?

You will witness this phenomenon by experimenting with the DIY deuce. Watch how it flies as you gain expertise.

Any theories or insights into the aerodynamic properties of the Skyaak design that you may have through your hands-on observations would be welcome. Let me know if you have any thoughts about this.

Grab the Skyaak DIY ‘deuce’ model that you can print on regular 8.5″ x 11″ paper, dope with clear tape, customize, cut-out, build and fly for the one-time cost of $2.00. Make a master copy of your download before you cut it out so you can go on to build a whole fleet if you want!

A Scary and Exciting day at Skyaak Ent.

Scary and Exciting!?!

Yesterday (November 13th, 2008) will go down in the books as a banner day here at Skyaak Enterprises. The day started off really great as we were picked up by CoolestGadgets.com. That was quite a rush!

About 150 visitors later, we saw orders for the Skyaak DIY deuce start to appear.

That sounds great, right? Not so fast! Our online vendor, Payloadz, which had worked magnificently up to this point, happened to fizzle out on us to crash and burn. So all of our customers were unable to download the pdf file they had purchased. Not so good, eh?

Well, the upside of this is that everyone who purchased the DIY deuce was presented with our contact info and they all checked in to let us know what was happening. Or NOT happening I should say!

Thankfully, I check my inbox a million times a day so I was on top of the situation. I fired the DIY deuce off to everybody with apologies and best wishes for happy Skyaak-ing! So that was good.

This went on right into the evening. Orders kept coming in and I fielded each and every one of them with a manual response. Phew!

Sooo…I’ve contacted Payloadz and now have a docket in the works. Here’s hoping that we can get to the bottom of this glitch today. I guess their servers were a little backed up. In the meantime, I’ve fulfilled all of the orders and have in the process created good will with all our new customers.

All in all it was a rewarding experience. I got to demonstrate that I am serious about “delivering the goods”, literally!

Skyaak DIY deuce Work-Out!

It’s pretty hard to imagine what a glider might look like gliding without seeing it airborne.  So I invited a couple of young Skyaak enthusiasts ( Charlie Clarke and his brother Mike) over this afternoon to work it out with their DIY deuce units and took the opportunity to put together a few short video clips. The video shown here is typical of the many throws and catches between us.

Charley also decided to build his own deuce today.  It took him about 15 minutes from the word go and he was ready to launch his freshly-minted unit on its maiden voyage!

If you want to experience the sensation of Skyaak ring-wing flight before your very eyes, you can right now.

Grab the Skyaak DIY ‘deuce’ model that you can print on regular 8.5″ x 11″ paper, dope with clear tape, customize, cut-out, build and fly for the one-time cost of $2.00. Just remember to make a copy of your download before you cut it out so you can go on to build a whole fleet if you want!