The time has come for me to wish you adieu as today is my last day at JOBY. It has been a great ride and it has been fun getting to know you and being inspired by the amazing things that you do.

Never fear – I am leaving you in the capable hands of Emily (she is the one doing the snorkel) – who already made a guest appearance on the blog last week.

Cheers!

Eileen

A quick reminder on the purpose of the contest for new arrivals:

Of course, what would be a contest without prizes:

PRIZES
–Grand Prize: 7D + GorillaPod Focus plus Ballhead X plus featured at Renderyard film festival
–2nd prize: choice of GorillaPod SLR Zoom plus ballhead and your choice of a GorillaTorch Blade or GorillaTorch Switchback
-Runners Up: prize: GorillaMobile for iPhone 4
–Fan Favorite: Point and Shoot Camera

And now, the winners…

GRAND PRIZE

2nd Prize
Action Drawing by: ivnt6558

Caterpillar by Stefano

We would like to thank our awesome contest judges; Mark Reid, Founder and Director of Renderyard Short Film Festival, Estafania Merino, Co-Director of Renderyard Short Film Festival, Trevor Hardy, Animator of Watermill Farm on Nick Kids, Gregory Han of Apartment Therapy and pro-photographer and JOBY pro-team member, *Safe Solvent.

PS Congrats winners! Please contact send me for follow up at EWeinstein @ JOBY.com

We are going to start this week’s Friday Finds off with something which is just a tad dated but still extremely relevant as it is an interesting look inside the camera bag of Glenn McElhose – known for, among other things, his work on Diggnation and for working with Tim Ferriss & Kevin Rose. This in depth video allows you to go step by step through his gear – which of course, includes a GorillaPod.

Check it out:

Camera Gear Rundown from Glenn McElhose on Vimeo.

To start off the weekend with a mix of wonderment, isolation and discovery see this amazing image from JOBY Pro-Team member, SafeSolvent.

Unfortunately, my vacation videos never look quite this good.

Carlos & Toya meet New Orleans from Carlos Raya on Vimeo.

And, not to be forgotten …Happy Father’s Day!

First, let’s start with your weekend assignment: only five days left to enter the Frame X Frame – Stop Motion Addict Contest. Winner gets a grand prize of a Canon 7D, so time to work your magic! Not feeling creatively incline? Be sure to vote for your favorite videos for the fan favorite award. Want to find out more about Frame X Frame? Read this awesome review.

Here is a great example of your competition:

Best Gadget Accessory of the Year Nomination

What a great day to VOTE for JOBY!  We were absolutely thrilled to find out that the GorillaPod Video has been nominated as Best Gadget Accessory for 2011 by T3 Magazine. Help us win the top prize by voting for us.

GorillaMobile Ori and Yogi for iPad 2

JOBY’s newest products are off to a great start with coverage in iLounge and Ubergizmo.

Not to be totally left out, GorillaMobile for iPhone 4 got quite a shout out last week on Mashable.

GorillaMobile Ori for iPad 2

Built for the demanding iPad power user, the GorillaMobile Ori for iPad 2 provides sleek ergonomic positioning all in a protective case and stand. Drawing its inspiration from the folding art of origami, the GorillaMobile Ori is engineered from a superlight German-made aluminum/polypropylene composite used in high-performance cars. This next-generation material allows Ori to be folded into countless positions designed with the needs of the mobile professional in mind.  And when folded back into its folio mode, the Ori delivers lightweight, rigid stability that can easily slip it into your bag for travel to the next meeting. The iPad 2 version of the Ori follows on the amazing success and accolades of the Ori for iPad 1 which won best of show by Beatweek Magazine at CES and was awarded finalist at the IDEA awards by ISDA.

Watch the Ori in action:

 
GorillaMobile Yogi for iPad 2

For those iPad users who would rather read and watch videos in the comfort of their bed or on the couch, the GorillaMobile Yogi for iPad 2, stretches and wraps into the perfect position. The limber yet sturdy legs of the GorillaMobile Yogi twist and bend to stabilize the iPad on uneven surfaces – from your lap to the kitchen cabinet! The polycarbonate case with rubber bumper protects your iPad from shocks and falls. Plus, the quick-release clip easily detaches the modular legs, allowing the case and legs to be used in landscape or portrait mode.

PS Lest you think I am exaggerating the hilarious statements that were sent to me while waiting for release of the iPad 2 versions  – this is my favorite one: “My iPad has been grounded for the past 2 months. He wants to go out and play with his friends and he’s mad I won’t let him without a helmet.”

JOBY products popped up everywhere this week from prime time TV to high end design catalogs, with a slight layover in some European capitals.

Awesome news – GorillaMobile Ori was selected as a finalist  for the 2011 International Design Excellence Award (IDEA) by ISDA!

iPads as the next generation of surveillance technology, may not be the most catching or realistic thing to ever appear on a TV show, but if you are going to do it – do it right. We were tickled pink to see GorillaMobile Yogi’s for iPad crawling around the control center in the season finale of the Mentalist last week.

Going a little more high brow? If you happen to get the Kartell catalog at home. You may see some surprisingly familiar imagery on products. We were psyched to see our office and products featured…sure they really cared about the bookcase, but that’s just gravy.

GorillaPods reintroduced themselves to the German market this week thanks to our new partner – HAMA Germany.

And then, the JOBY products were off to France to hang out with blogging and photography fun of Fanny’s Party – a hip press event held in Paris. There the team showed off the full product line with a special emphasis on GorillaMobile for iPhone 4 and Frame X Frame. It’s ironic that this picture could really use a tripod…

To round a very active week – GorillaTorch was featured in the Redbook and the JOBY|Peter Stathis Venture Collaboration had a great feature in the Huffington Post.

And now, it is time for the weekend!

Enter today!

As  a refresher here is what is at stake:

PRIZES
–Grand Prize: 7D + GorillaPod Focus plus Ballhead X plus featured at Renderyard film festival (link to: http://www.renderyard.com/)
–2nd prizes: choice of GorillaPod SLR Zoom plus ballhead and your choice of a GorillaTorch Blade or GorillaTorch Switchback
-Runners Up: prize (10 winners): GorillaMobile for iPhone 4
–Fan Favorite: Point and shoot Camera

To enter the STOP MOTION ADDICT CONTEST
1. Download Frame X Frame free from the iTunes Store
2. Shoot a killer stop motion video with Frame X Frame
3. Upload the video to your YouTube account and share in on this page
4. Get your friends to vote by giving it a thumbs up
5. Repeat! (Up to 3 entries per person)

ENTRY GUIDELINES
•Winners (except for the fan favorite) will be judged by an esteemed panel of judges based on –25% Creativity, 25% Technical Skill, 25% Virality, 25% Overall execution
•3 stop motion entries per person (must be shot using Frame X Frame app in either continuous or manual mode)
•Videos cannot exceed 3 minutes
•Contest ends 5/31, Winner Announced 6/8
•Fan favorite will be based on # of thumbs up to the winning entry (thumbs down will not impact fan favorite calculations
•Entrants must have actually taken the video. Purchased or stolen images or videos are not permitted.
•Edgy and creative is good, but pornography will be removed. JOBY ultimately reserves the right to disqualify entries it deems inappropriate.
•Contest is open to eligible participants, 18 years of age or older. This contest is void where prohibited. JOBY employees or family members of employees are not eligible. JOBY reserves the right to disqualify entrants or photographs it deems inappropriate or offensive. Entrants must be the rightful owners of any/all copyrights associated with submitted image(s) or video(s), or else must have explicit permission to distribute the image(s). Copyright violations will result in immediate disqualification. By submitting an image entrant retains ownership of the image or video, but grants JOBY an unrestricted license to publish, promote and reuse the image or video in perpetuity. In the event that a selected winner resides someplace where terms of this contest are prohibited or is found to have violated the terms and conditions of the contest, that winner will be declared ineligible and a new winner selected. All decisions of JOBY, Inc. are final. The names of winners will be posted by 6/8/2011 at: http://joby.com/blog.

What a week it has been!

The Stop Motion Addict Contest is in full swing  – so be sure to post your best videos!

And while we are talking about Frame X Frame, we have received some great coverage from the likes of Stuff and T3 among others.

Love this T3 shout out to the best in stop motion animation:

So if you want to create your own Wallace and Gromit, you can move your characters slightly every few seconds, or you can take a picture of, say the different stages of the moon every night.

JOBY | Peter Stathis Venture Collaboration

JOBY was in NY this week to launch our previously mentioned new lighting line. We have been thrilled by the coverage we have received from the New York Times to Fast Company to Apartment Therapy and beyond. Check out some noticeable quotes:

New York Times:

The table lamp is laid-back, and no wonder. Created by Peter Stathis, a San Francisco industrial designer, for Joby, a San Francisco consumer products company, Trapeze has the easygoing affect of a Bay Area windsurfer on a fair-trade coffee break.

But don’t be fooled by its relaxed demeanor. Trapeze has a serious side — it’s good for the environment, too. Introduced at the International Contemporary Furniture Fair, which ended on Tuesday, the lamp has 102 LEDs embedded in its ultra-thin head; a diffuser softens and spreads the light so that it resembles the warmth of (boo, hiss) incandescent bulbs. Another bit of patent-pending wizardry allows Trapeze to bend like a Cirque du Soleil gymnast because no wires run through its jolly, bulbous joints. The current somehow manages to flow anyway.

Apartment Therapy:

Of all the cool stuff at ICFF this week, these new lights by Peter Stathis stood out by a mile.

The new line of lighting products will be unveiled at the International Contemporary Furniture Fair (ICFF). The JOBY | Peter Stathis Venture Collaboration includes two movement–infused, sculptural lights that are engineered from the inside out and made to instantaneously engage the user by combining function with a sense of play.

Trapeze LED Table Light

The Trapeze LED Table Light presents a revolution in lighting. Ignited by LED technology and patent-pending 360º pivot movement, it is available in two sizes: small and large. With sweeping, fluid motion that works across three-axes, the counterweighted design allows for precise positioning.

The cutting-edge flat-panel LED technology, pioneered and developed by Stathis and his group for the last several years, is the thinnest and most efficient flat-panel LED light engine currently on the market – allowing for the illumination of large areas with brilliant, perfectly even, warm light.

Obus Indoor/Outdoor Light

Obus magically transitions between ambient and directional light to illuminate spaces indoors and out. A unique accent to any contemporary interior, the sculptural organic form produces even, warm ambient light. Once lifted, the portable Obus throws a concentrated beam through its base to direct light where needed.

The new lighting products are designed for JOBY by Peter Stathis, winner of the Editors Award for Best Lighting two of the past three years at ICFF, and highly-decorated industrial designer and principal at Virtual Studio.

Born out of the progressive business culture of California, the JOBY | Peter Stathis Venture Collaboration presents new strategies for design and development, and has created a rule-breaking vision on where American Design is headed.