Another great tourism site

Today as I had my coffee and doing my usual RSS/Facebook/Twitter/Magnolia surf, I clicked on a Facebook ad.  Which I don’t usually do, but this one caught my attention.

It was for a Facebook Group called Hamilton- Waterfall Capital of the W orld.  I live in Hamilton and the waterfalls are one of the best kept secrets of this lovely, quirky, contradictory and paradoxical city.  So I joined.

Then my business brain kicked in and I wondered .. okay, is this a fan page, an official city page, a city page which looks like a fan page? .. so I had to look further.  The link on the Facebook page directed me to a larger site called Hamilton, the City of Waterfalls.   It didn’t have the look and feel of a fan site .. further down I saw that it was done by a marketing company here in Hamilton.

Kudos to them .. it’s a lovely site .. nicely designed, lovely to look at.  It integrates different kinds of web applications well — blog, Facebook group, even a section called City of Waterfalls radio (the word radio is going to get my attention every time).  And it also uses mashup elements — The Weather Network embed is useful.    This would also be ideal for a Google Earth embed.  And nice use of Facebook too.

Good work, Ecklund Marketing Group.  Now I have to get out there and add some more falls to my list.

New Gadget for better Video Sound

I know I’ve ranted a few times here about bad video sound. Drives me nuts, truly it does.

So I’m really happy whenever I see videocameras or adapters that recognize the need for good miking.

Found this little gadget today — a company called Beachtek – is marketing a little mixer that screws on to the bottom of certain models of higher end camcorders.  And they also have a smaller model that will work on any camcorder with a separate mike jack (which are out there .. I just ordered a Canon model with a mike jack for the school I work with that was only $299.  So you don’t have to sacrifice good sound just because your camcorder doesn’t cost a lot).

The only thing that’s missing (at least I didn’t see one) is a headphone jack. Because it’s very important that you monitor your sound when it’s coming in. Maybe it’s there .. didn’t see it though.

Still, this is a very good thing. And Beachtek is a Kelowna company .. a place where I have spent some very nice times (and drank very nice wine). A couple of reasons to give them business …