Crunchies Awards Finalist!

Smule made it as a finalist in the Crunchies awards! Thanks to all of you faithful Smulers out there for getting us this far!

Now we need your help one more time to take the number one spot and win the whole shebang!

You can vote for us by clicking this badge once a day until January 5th. Thanks again to those of you who have been helping us along the way.

Holiday Greeting Written with the Flame!

Holiday Greeting Written in the Sonic Lighter Ignition Map!
Originally uploaded by themulewashere

Today I was sent this amazing screen shot! This guy actually took the time out of his Christmas day to write a little holiday greeting in the Sonic Lighter Ignition Map!

If you want to find it for yourself check out the Sonic Lighter Ignition Map, and zoom in on Pasadena, California USA. If you don't know where Pasadena is, it is in the North Eastern part of Los Angeles, California. Actually just zooming in on Los Angeles you will see a spot with more lights than most spots and that will be it!

Enjoy, and Happy Holidays!

The Mule In Las Vegas

I'll be in Las Vegas Sunday and Monday morning for a video shoot at some of the big casinos. Here's the list / schedule.

1 luxor
2 paris
3 venetian
4 caesars
5 new york new york

If you are in the area check my twitter for updates or send me an e-mail. If I run into you, I'll give you a highly coveted Smule T-shirt and possibly get you in the video!

Happy Holidays!

--The Mule

Week 1 of the Contest! What a Week!

The First week of the Contest has come and gone! The early entries have been great. There are definitely some colorful examples of the expressive capabilities of the Ocarina. Here are a couple Smule favorites to keep your creativity flowing.

My personal favorite so far was posted just this morning! This guy is working extremely hard to earn his keep with the Ocarina as his tool.



Well this is also my favorite so far. Watch this video and be struck with a little bit of pop culture you never thought possible with a nose flute.



And here's another wonderfully creative video. It seems like the Canadians are ahead in this Contest. Well it's not the Olympics, but the guy playing in the Snow is a Maple Leaf as well!



Thanks to everyone who has entered so far and I hope to see some more videos pushing the boundaries of what is possible!

Rockarina ON!

--The Mule

Yet another nomination.

The year is coming to a close so everybody and their mother is having a "Best of the Best" competition. Here's another one for Smule from bestappever.com.

If you have a minute we would love a nomination for any of their categories, but especially for
Best Musical App
and
Most Innovative App

Thanks everyone we love your support!

Live WebChat Recording

The very first Ustream.TV Broadcast/webchat went really well yesterday! If you missed it you can check it out on our Ustream.tv channel!
Thanks so much for all who tuned in. I think it went pretty well and we learned a ton from it. The beginning was a bit rough I'll admit when I was trying to figure out how to set everything up, but NEXT WEEK will be much better just wait and see.

For those of you who don't know about this broadcast, you can watch and participate (via embeded text message) in the Webchat every Monday at 7pm PST!

See you next week!

Live WebChat with The Mule Today!

Today I will be hosting my first ever Webchat! So point your browsers at our Ustream.tv channel and lets talk Smulean! You can ask me questions about all things Smulean, or the contest, or really whatever floats your boat, but I might not answer some of those! HAHA! See you there.

Live WebChat with the Mule
7pm Pacific Standard Time
(That's 10pm Eastern Time)
Every Monday until January 12, 2009

Win $1,000 in an Epic Ocarina Contest from Smule!!

The "This Contest Blows" Contest was introduced today by yours truly! I apologize for not posting very much lately, but I've been working hard on getting the contest off the ground!
Here's the Official Video



If you want to participate, just post your video either as a Video Response to this video or on the YouTube Group Page, then go to the Contest Website to fill out a short little form that will officially enter you in the contest!

I hope you guys have some fun and look forward to your creative entries!

--The Mule

Vote For Smule in Two Clicks

TechCrunch.com having their annual award nomination event. To nominate us just click either (or both) of the badges below and then hit "Nominate" on the page it takes you too. It's really that simple. Just two clicks or four if you wouldn't mind voting for both categories.





P.S. You can vote Once a day until Dec 10th! So come back and vote for us daily if you wouldn't mind.

Thanks so much for all your support everyone! And stay tuned for some BIG NEWS from Smule later this week!

--The Mule

Black Friday at the Stanford Shopping Center

Hey everyone. I'm going to brave the crowds and attempt to spread some Holiday season cheer to the hoards of shoppers on Black Friday. I'll be in front of the Apple Store at the Stanford Shopping Center at around 1pm and will probably stay for a couple hours or until they kick me out.

Maybe I'll see you there!

-The Mule

My Twitter Account!

I now have a twitter account! It should come in handy when I am out and about so you can track my whereabouts a bit more easily.

Check it out! Follow my adventures and send me messages!

Blog Layout Change

Hey everyone,

I changed the Layout of my blog. I think it is a bit easier to read now but if anyone thinks otherwise let me know.

MIDI to Smule Ocarina Transcriber!

Woo hoo! this is some really neat stuff. The dudes at TheGoodBlogs have developed a way to translate midi files into Ocarina Notation. I have to say the concept is really cool, especially for people who are new to writing music in Ocarina notation or otherwise.

Here's the link to the converter.
http://www.thegoodblogs.com/ocarina.php

I tried it a few times on different songs and had some great success with these midi files

http://www.diskuspublishing.com/manger.mid

http://www.christmas-carol-music.org/Lead_Sheets/AwayInAManger_Mueller.mid

These two examples are slightly different and the first one has full chord progressions, but the generator was able to separate out the melody. Now you too can play "Away in a Manger". This is a really cool thing considering there are a TON of midi files available.

Here is a massive database of songs to get you going. http://www.8notes.com/

Recap of My Trip Down the California Coast

OK here it is! Finally a little look into the life of the Mule on the road.

First of all, I ended up making it to 34 Apple Stores in 5 days! That's got to be some sort of record. Every single one was a great time and almost all of them had someone with Ocarina by the time I left. I handed out a TON of T-Shirts and you know what that means? A bunch of people got the Ocarina. Ohhhh yeahhh! Now that many more people will be able to express themselves musically to thousands of people around the world!

Here are a few snippets from my journey.

Ocarina Jam Session!
I would like to share this superb experience I had while in LA. There was a video posted of an amazing Ocarinist playing "Song of Storms" on YouTube with her keyboard playing the background music. Well I was fortunate enough to have gotten into contact with her during my travels, and she was nice enough to let me into her home for a bonafide Jam Session! Check out the true awesomeness that prevaled!



Rockarina ON Lauren, you are a fantastic example of what is possible and what Smule is all about!

Trail of Flame
I was able to keep track of where I went using my Sonic Lighter I hope this doesn't upset anyone considering the hills just North East of Hollywood were actually on fire. My condolences to those who lost their homes.



Then From LA to San Louis Obispo and up to the Bay




Thanks to Candace for this picture!

Recap of Stonestown Apple Store Event

I was invited to come and give a workshop / officially Mule around in the Stonestown Galleria Apple Store in San Francisco. It was a lot of fun as always, and I think there are a bunch more people there who know who Smule is, and what we are all about! Hopefully I will get another chance like this soon.

Mule Tour On Hold! But for great reasons.

Hey Everybody Mule here.

I had to cut the Mule Tour short, but for great reasons. First of all I ran out of T-Shirts so as to not disappoint those of you who were waiting for me to come through your area, I am waiting to get more shirts.

Most importantly though, I am doing an official event at an Apple Store in San Francisco!
I will be demoing the 4 Sonic Mule products and handing out stickers as well as the last of the T-Shirts. If you are going to be in the Bay Area Come to the Stonestown Galleria Apple Store at 3pm Tomorrow (Wednesday the 19) and we can learn a song together on Ocarina! Woohoo!

I hope to be hitting the road again soon so keep checking in!

-The Mule

Mule Tour Schedule Update

Hello everyone! I was a little bit more ambitious than I thought I would be today, so I won't be in San Diego tomorrow as I already hit all the Apple stores there! Tomorrow I will be in Northern LA hitting up 5 more stores before I head back to the Bay. And yes I am cutting the tour short which I will post about soon (i'm so busy I can't write any posts lately UGH!). I know you are all probably devastated that I won't be making it your way, but don't worry, it is due to unforseen wonderful circumstances, and I will hopefully be on the road again soon!

Here is my detailed schedule for tomorrow Monday Nov 17:

Simi Valley @ 10am (if I can wake up early enough)
Northridge @ 10:45am
Topanga @ 11:30am
Sherman Oaks @ 12:15pm
The Oaks @ 1:15pm
San Louis Obispo @ 4:30pm
Monterey @ 7:30 pm

If things go as they did yesterday, I will be ahead of schedule. Since I'm pretty much out of shirts I'm guessing it will go quick!

Maybe I'll see you there!

-The Mule

Mule Tour and Facebook Page

OK everybody the Preliminary round is done! The Bay Area Apple Stores have officially been Smuled by The Mule and so has UCSC! Now it's time for me to branch out to the rest of the States as I start my journey. I already have some pit stops to meet Smule users and Ocarina players as well. I look forward to more of these opportunities so keep an eye out!

As Always keep checking the blog for updates on my whereabouts as well as the ocarina.smule.com forum and become a fan of my new Facebook page.

Sometimes words just don't explain

This is a favorite among the Smule team and I just had to share it!



Thanks so much for this video and very well played Ms. goddesslynz. I think you deserve a T-Shirt as well!

T-Shirt Giveaway and Mule tour 2!

Hello Everybody! I'm proud to announce that Smule now has T-Shirts to give away and I'm going on my second tour around the country!

How can you get a T-Shirt and meet the Mule? Well first you have to have Ocarina, and second you have to find yourself in my path, but that won't be all that hard since I'll be posting my general whereabouts in the right hand column on this here blog. I will also be posting my whereabouts soon on the Ocarina Forum.

So where am I going?
Mostly to Apple Stores to spread the word about the Ocarina but I might make some stops here and there. My tentative plan is to start in the Bay Area, then cruise down the coast to LA and San Diego. After that I'll be crossing the Southwest, hitting up Texas, passing through the South to Florida, and then on up the East Coast to New England. After that I'll be heading back West via Chicago and Illinois (maybe I'll stop by the Oprah show!), and finally gutting the good ole US of A right down the middle to return home in the Bay. All in about 2 weeks time if everything goes according to plan.

My itinerary is going to be pretty generalized here, but if you send me an e-mail and I'll let you know more exact locations as I get closer to them.

Hopefully I'll run into you soon and you can get a Smule T-Shirt!

-The Mule

New Mule Video

Hello everyone. Here is a new video featuring me on the Ocarina I hope you like it!

Ocarina on G4 TV!

We've successfully infiltrated the airwaves (and the internet waves of course)! This episode of Attack of the Show from last week features the Ocarina at about three and a half minutes in (3:30). Check it out!

The Mule in San Francisco Tomorrow

I will be in San Francisco for most of the day tomorrow so if you are around shoot me an e-mail and I'll give you a light!

Ocarina: The First wind instrument on the iPhone!

Today is a big day in the life of the Mule! Sonic Mule released the Ocarina: a wind instrument for the iPhone! It is truly fantastic if I do say so myself and you really need to see it to believe it. For those Zelda fans out there it is a must have. This one really takes the cake though. As with all our applications (except Sonic Vox) you can see everyone using the app around the world, but this one has something more. Instead of just seeing where people are playing, you can actually HEAR what they are playing and give a vote if you like it or not, or skip it and go to the next one. Talk about anonymous interactivity! But it gets better. If you take a trip to the new Ocarina website, you can even learn how to play the Ocarina, generate your own scores, AND join a forum of other Ocarina users to share your Ocarina experience or ask questions.

And here is a video of the first Ocarina quintet playing Stairway to Heaven. I just had to post it!

Audio Stream from KMEL Show!!

Well here it is as promised, the audio stream from Tuesday's KMEL morning show!



Hope some of you had the chance to call in and win a brand new iPod Touch!

The Mule On KMEL with Chuy Gomez!!

Me with Chuy Gomez!!!!
Originally uploaded by themulewashere

That's right everyone! I got to be on the air with the one and only, the special sauce in everybody's early morning spice rack... CHUY GOMEZ! After 15 years he's still going strong. We had a great time and gave away some brand spankin' new iPod Touches to the wonderful listeners of KMEL's morning show. I have to say they really got it going on over there, Chuy, Lady Ray, and the gang were super cool and know how to have a great time that is for shure!

I'll upload the radio broadcast once I get it but for now here's a video I snapped real quick like.



Peace.

The Mule in People's Park

For those of you who haven't ever heard of People's Park, it is one of the many places in Berkeley California that became famous in the late 1960's for it's fervent political activism. There have been many documentaries and books that include sections about the park, most notably the documentary called "Berkeley in the 60's", because it became a landmark for free speech in that era. At one point in May of 1969 this peaceful place, where freedom of expression reigned supreme, became a scene of police brutality, oppression, and bloodshed. For more information on the events that took place at People's Park check out the Wikipedia article.

In my travels to Berkeley I met a very Eccentric individual by the name of Jonah who showed up at Berkeley about a month or two ago in a huge bus that he apparently drove from New York. On this one day in particular he was having an event with music and food at People's Park as well as encouraging passersby to help paint the entire exterior of the bus in a peaceful Berkeley manner. I of course couldn't pass up this wonderful opportunity and jumped right in. Leaving my mark.


Here I am with the man himself in front of his beautifully painted bus.



More of the Bus and Me.


The Bus on it's own. It was very big I must say.

The Mule with Cal Berkeley Democrats and Fraternity Brother

Well hello there! To recap my time spent at Berkeley I'm going to make a few posts here of things I experienced. But first things first, I ran into some Political types on campus and got the Democrats to do a light for Obama. I asked the Republicans if they would like to counter the lightup by the UCB Dems, but they declined. Here is the video.



I also was able to infiltrate a couple of frat houses in order to equip them with Sonic Vox just in time for Halloween. Here's the video of that!



I hope you all enjoy these vids and be sure to get out and VOTE today and tomorrow!

Morning at Berkeley

I had so much fun yesterday that I thought I'd spend the morning and early afternoon in Berkeley again. I'll talk about the fun in a post later.

Mule at UC Berkeley

I will be invading Berkeley frat houses tomorrow to equip those party animals' iPhones with proper voice modulation ability in time for Halloween. So if you are in Berkeley shoot me an e-mail and I'll see if I can give you a light. I'll even let you choose if you want me to increase your Red or Blue count now that the new Election '08 Special Edition flame is out.

See you there!

The Traveling Light

Hello fellow Smulers. It seems that we have a very ambitious trail blazing Sonic Lighter user out there! Whoever it is they traveled on I-80 across the middle of the USA. It is pretty obvious from the southwest corner of Wyoming to the Chicago area but after that who knows! They may have gone all the way to New York. To commemorate this unique event in Smule history I'm posting a picture of the trail. You too can see this awesome trail being blazed if you check out the Sonic Lighter map and set the time to 3 days.

Keep on Spreading the Light!! Woohoo!!

Sonic Vox Released Today!!!

Another wonderful day for the Mule! Sonic Vox, the real time voice modulation app by Sonic Mule, was released today with a great FRONT PAGE review from the Apple Blog! Thanks Apple Blog that was a GREAT one! I think I see a wicked Halloween costume in the works!

Sonic Boom Released!

Today was a great day for the Mule! Sonic Boom was finally released over the weekend. Now a person can light more than just another lighter on fire with the Sonic Lighter, they can also light Dynamite!!! Woo hoo! And as for me, this means I have twice as much to do. So join me in my new journey to not only spread the light of the Sonic Lighter, but also spread the explosive fun of Sonic Boom!

-The Mule

Last Day in LA!

Well I have to say I went out with a Hollywood style BANG! On my last day I made it to a few more Apple Stores and had the best time yet! But first I spent some time in Hollywood hanging out with the likes of Batman and Captain Jack Sparrow. A couple of unlikely characters to find on the same block, but it made for some interesting Sonic Mule action. Videos to follow!

In my final Los Angeles moments I went to a fashion show! Christian Audigier, designer of the tatoo inspired Ed Hardy clothing line, was showing off his Spring '09 collection. But here's the fun part folks. Believe it or not, after the show I was standing around Smuling it up and who just about bumps into me? Mr. Audigier himself! I guess Hollywood is the place to see the rich and famous. I snapped a shot with my iPhone, but he was moving fast so it's a bit blurry.

I have to say, my time in LA was great fun, and I believe the Mule made quite an impression on this Star Studded town.

Second Day in LA

Today was even better than the first. Apple Stores really do have great employees! Everyone I talked to was very kind, fun, and extremely helpful. They seemed to really like the Sonic Mule Applications, and I actually met the first employee to already HAVE the Sonic Lighter! It was a magical moment for sure, especially since he said he hadn't ever experienced a light-up. Woohoo! I acquired him into my Sonic Network so he can help keep LA lit up on my map. There is more to do in the land of the Mule. Stay tuned...

First day in LA

Well the first day was a good one. I met some great apple store employees and learned a lot about Los Angeles. For the first day I hit up apple stores in the Northern part of LA in the Simi Valley area. Yes there were some fires in the hills, but I didn't set them don't worry!
Today I will be hanging out in the famous parts of Hollywood and the Los Angeles area! If you have any suggestions on where you think I should go feel free to drop a line! themule[at]smule[dot]com!

-The Mule

The First Mule Tour -- Apple Store Conquest

Hello everyone! It is an exciting time in the life of The Mule. Tomorrow I will be heading off on my first official tour. I am leaving the safety of Silicon Valley and venturing out into new territory.

In order to chronicle my travels, I will keep a tour schedule on the right side of the blog (which I will be adding to as I figure out where I'm going, so keep checking for new dates!), as well as document where I have been and what I have done with my very own google map! A permanent link to the map can be found in the "Stay Updated" section on the right side of the blog. Clicking "Mule Map -- Follow the Mule's Exploits" will take you to my special google map.

My first tour will revolve around getting as many Apple Store employees familiar with the sonic lighter as possible, and hopefully download it for themselves. I already did a trial run in the Bay Area with pretty good success. Now I will be trying my luck in other places. Stay Tuned!!

As always, if I'm going to be in your area feel free to send me an e-mail and let me know where I can find you to give you a light!

-The Mule

Sonic Lighter Used to Ignight the Home Team

Thanks a ton to Andy for sending in this awesome Sonic Lighter moment! While attending a 49ers vs. Patriots game he thought it would help to light a fire under the 49ers to help their feet move a little faster. Unfortunately for Andy the Patriots were the ones who put on the heat and won 30-21. Better luck next time!

Keep on sending in those special moments and I'll post 'em!
Rock on.

-The Mule

Sonic Lighter at Fisherman's Warf

A Light-Up event at Fisherman's Warf in San Francisco

The Mule at the Coit Tower

Yet another interesting light up moment! If you have captured a special light up moment, and want me to post it on the blog, feel free to send me an email at themule [at] smule.com along with any pertinent information!
Keep smuling everyone!

-Mule

Golden Gate Bridge Light

A Light-up event at the Golden Gate Bridge.

"A bridge signifies patient stability; therefore, it is sometimes used to represent government or magisterial offices. The bridge may also signify change or the desire for a change" -www.houseofnames.com

Does a bridge symbolize change and government at the same time? Quite ironic based on the fact that we are in an election year. Well I'll leave that up to you, but there is something very interesting that happened at this particular light up. I'll let you try and figure out what I'm talking about!

-The Mule

The Mule at Castro Street Fair San Francisco

The Mule with Mitch Altman!
Originally uploaded by themulewashere

Yesterday's Castro Street Fair was a total blast. Lots of colorful folks were there to show support for the diversity that makes San Francisco such a wonderful city. There were cake walks by the Diamond Daggers Burlesque troupe, a Sexy Geological Cabaret, lots of Alice in Wonderland insanity, and various other great performances.

One particularly colorful fellow though was Mitch Altman the creator of the TVb-Gone and the Brain Machine (which I am wearing in the picture). Both of these inventions are available in kits or you can find instructions on how to do it yourself.

A special thanks to Max Barnaby and the World of Wonderment for letting me demonstrate the Sonic Lighter in the free vendor zone. I met lots of great people and it seemed like there were plenty of iPhone users who were stricken with amazement at the Sonic Lighters capabilities.

The Mule at Castro Street Fair

I will be at the at the Barnaby's World of Wonderment section of the Castro Street Fair tomorrow (Sunday) in the Sciences tent. If you are around come by and I will give you a light! Hopefully the weather will cooperate. See you there!

Last Day in SF

mulewithuser4
Originally uploaded by themulewashere

Today was a great day! And what better day to end my official stay in SF on? I met the first ever smule user who already had the app on his phone when he met me! In order to show my enthusiasm I am posting a picture of us here! I also saw a few other friendly people I had run into earlier in the week. I would say that Down Town San Fran was a success!
And as usual, feel free to send in a picture or video of an interesting/exciting light of your own!

-The Mule

Wednesday in the City

City Tour for Solar with Investor
Originally uploaded by themulewashere

Hello Everyone. I spent the day in the Financial District of San Francisco. Now that the big Oracle Convention from last week is over it seems things have returned somewhat back to normal. A little bit lighter crowds today. But I did find one very interesting individual pictured here who seemed to like the Sonic Lighter. He is an investor in Solar Energy (similar business to the Sonic Lighter only the energy is measured in Watts instead of Joules) and taught me all about how solar panels work and the process for their production. It seems like solar is a good way to go. There was a stage set up in the Embarcadero Center Plaza demonstrating some of the new solar technology and had some solar panels on display. The City Tour is part of a west coast tour that will be in Seattle and Portland among other cities.

Video from Critical Mass

Here is a video from last week's Critical Mass. More to Come!

The Mule in SF Financial District

Tuesday the First of October I will once again be in the Financial district of San Francisco on the Smule Tricycle. If you are going to be in the area keep an eye out. The past couple days I have been touring around San Francisco getting people to light up in various famous places such as Lombard Street, Coit Tower, and Fisherman's Warf. If you are going to be in the area shoot me an e-mail and maybe I will be able to give you a light! Alright people keep on passing the flame!

-The Mule

Recap of Saturday in Dolores Park

It was a fine Saturday afternoon in Dolores Park. The Expo for Independent Arts was in full swing and there were plenty of weekend people soaking up the rays. Thanks to the Expo there were bands of all types playing on a small stage and a lot of colorful people showing off their artistic capabilities. I spent some time on what I found out is called the Fruit Shelf at the South East portion of the park. Everyone there was very friendly and there was no shortage of tan and muscly bodies appreciating one of the few true summer weekend days the city has seen this year. The Sonic Lighter seemed to be an interesting topic for the people of the park and a few even decided to get lit by The Mule!

Critical Mass found the Mule

Wow!! Yesterday was quite a day. Friday's in San Francisco mean a lot more tourists than usual, and I had no idea that critical mass was going to be happening, but luckily some very nice people informed me of it! I was also told that it was the 16th anniversary of the event, and it was pretty apparent that this was the case. I have never seen so many bicycles in one place, or so many motorists perturbed as much! But it was all in good fun and I think that everyone involved had a great time. I know I certainly did.

Today should be a little bit more laid back as I will be in Dolores Park trying to spread the light and entertain.

-The Mule

Third Day in San Francisco

Today will be my third day in San Francisco so keep an eye out! I'm going to be in Down Town for a bit and then head up market to Embarcadero to see what I can see.

Tomorrow I'll be in the Lovely Dolores Park so if you are out and about stop by and I'll give you a light!

San Francisco Day 2 Was a Whopping Fun Time!

Hellooooooo everyone out there in Smule land! Today was a good day! I spend most of the day riding around downtown San Francisco once again, and took a quick trip out to Dolores Park. There were plenty of people to meet and quite a few characters as you can immagine. One in particular was Travis the Action Weaver in Dolores Park who was weaving a beautiful new scarf and soaking up the rays while they are available!

I also met a writer from GQ magazine who was out here visiting from New York. He wrote an article on Ted Nugent at one point and was invited out to see the Ranch that Ted lives on, but unfortunately he had to settle for a phone interview for lack of time. He was a very nice guy.

So that's the synopsis of day 2 in SF, more to come tomorrow as I branch out and try to embrace the city a little bit more on my journey to spread the light!

Keep on groovin and I hope to meet all of you soon!

-The Mule

The Mule in San Francisco (take 2)

Ok yesterday was a tragedy as far as San Francisco goes! Injustice was served as the CalTrain people would not let me board the train. They said I was too wide, or rather my Tricycle was! Well today is another shining day. I have arrangements with a lovely friend to transport the tricycle to the city this time.

So once again look out for The Mule around Union Square and if you see me ... well you already know what to do!

Sonic Lighter at Jackson Browne Concert!!

Thanks to this Sonic Lighter user for sending in this awesome picture of the lighter at a Jackson Browne concert! Nice front row seats man!

So for all of you out there, keep on sending in those pictures and I'll keep putting them up. Have Fun!

The Mule in San Francisco

Hello Everyone! I will be in downtown San Francisco today so keep an eye out around Union Square and ask me for a light if you see me!

The Mule at Stanford

Hello everyone! Today I will be on campus at Stanford so if you are in the area, look out for The Mule in the flesh!

So When Do We Start The Meetups?

This post is dedicated to PalDavidO who left a very nice review on the Sonic Lighter app store page. PalDavidO asked "So when do we start the meetups?" This is the exact kind of question I am here to answer. And the answer is NOW!

Send me an E-mail at themule{at}smule.com or leave a comment on this blog about where you would like to see me next. I'm on a campaign to meet new people and encourage them to light up in as many cool and interesting places as possible.

Sonic Mule is all about encouraging people to meet up like PalDavidO suggested and I'm here to make sure that happens! So let the meeting up of people everywhere begin!

-The Mule

The First Light in Muir Woods!!!

The stage has been set. The first unique light up event has been captured! Here is the official video.

If you have a unique/interesting light up that you have captured in some way, feel free to send it to me The Mule along with any information you are comfortable with including about the event! Remember that the Sonic Network is all about fostering positive interactions so have fun! I will continue to post unique lights along with other fun Mule related ventures here so stay tuned. Be safe, live well, and keep smiling at the people around you!!
-The Mule

The Very First Event. "Give a light"

To kick things off I am going to extend an invitation to everyone to send in a picture of a unique Sonic Lighter lighting up event. Be creative! Find a friend or two who has the Sonic Lighter and give them a light in an interesting location, or in some totally unique situation. Be sure to capture it on video/camera and send it to me along with any other information you wish to include about yourself. Each week I will post the best light (or two if it is hard to find a best) along with any other information you feel comfortable with providing (remember privacy is key here). Once again, have fun, be creative, maybe even meet a new friend and, of course, enjoy the experience! Don't forget to stay up to date on the progress of the Sonic Network. Over and out for now.

In the Beginning There Was The Mule...

The first entry. What to say? My mission has begun. With the Sonic Lighter soon to be released it is time to plot a course to spread the light. In case you are wondering what this is all about, I will give a short explanation here. If you just want to get to the good stuff and start spreading enlightenment then get out there and do your thang!!

Introducing the Sonic Network
It isn't Facebook or Myspace and it doesn't involve being on the computer. It's all about getting out there and enjoying eachother's company. It is a new network, a sonic network, which can only be developed sonically of course! What does this mean? As we all know sound only carries so far, but it exists in the physical world and it's as easy as that. The Sonic Network has limited immediate range, but it has the benefit of being able to be carried by real people who can spread the word ... or the flame in this case. The best part about it all is that you can still use a computer to view it's progress, but in order to participate you need to be making some NOISE!

But Why Have a Sonic Network?
In today's fast paced life, full of technology, innovation, and instant gratification, the ideal of human to human interaction (and privacy) is slowly being split up to involve technology (i.e. computers, phones, satellites, ESP... well maybe not that) as an intermediary. Now this can be a good thing when there is an ocean between people, but there is something to be said about being in the physical presence of another person. That is the goal of the Sonic Lighter and it's Sonic Network. To utilize new technology while encouraging more positive face to face interaction! Isn't life great? It's just that simple. With the introduction of the Sonic Network and with me, The Mule, doing my best to propagate the flame, who knows what sort of cool things people might actually discover about themselves. And maybe we will learn to slow things down a bit and share an Enlightening moment!

How to Join?
Really there is no official membership (it's more of a philosophy), but if you want to actually spread the flame and be a full participant, right now you need an iPhone and $1 for the Sonic Lighter, but anyone can view witness the spreading of the flame right here. The Sonic Lighter on it's own is an intriguing spectacle and has the power to put anyone in a comatose state of awe. It is fully interactive, you can light the lighter, blow it out, and burn the side of your phone with it. But the best part of all is you can light someone else's lighter with a little bit of magic and a face to face meeting. Once you light up you can also see the network grow in real time and later even track your own unique light up history. So let us all begin to propigate the flame and start something personal.