Company News

Adventure fans get ready to “click here.”  Hang on though — we want to tell you a little bit more about the project first.  Black Diamond Equipment, Ltd. (makers of exceptionally sweet outdoor gear) just released their 2013 Climbing Digital Catalog.  HotWax Media’s sharpshooting (and at times ice axe-weiding) team of designers, coders, climbers and project managers worked closely with the creative, technical and marketing folks at BD to bring this little work of art to life.

Join some of BD’s athletes as they share their stories of climbing exploits around the globe.  While you’re at it, checkout some of BD’s hot new products!  This year’s catalog has an underlying theme of first ascents and inspirations.

The catalog features dramatic imagery and is easily browsable.  In fact, it’ll be hard to put down your laptop once you start flipping through the amazing images from some of climbing’s best photographers.  As you read the stories and browse the products, the catalog engages you further with interactivity, including narrated slideshows and videos.  If you don’t read English comfortably, don’t worry — it’s available in both French and German as well.

Ok, enough keeping you waiting.  Here is the link.  We hope you have as much fun checking it out as we did building it.

http://catalog.blackdiamondequipment.com/climbing2013/en_us/index.html

Recently the Salt Lake City team of HWM marched over to the state capitol building to stand up for better air quality. Although the turnout was not huge, given that it was bitter cold, humid, and a red air day outside, the turnout was not that bad. A group of folks, most wearing breathing masks, stood on the capitol steps. Several local politicians stood up to speak, along with concerned citizens of all ages.




Recently Utah has consistently capped the top five cities for worst air quality in the nation during our inversion days.  This is quite concerning to us.  What does such bad air quality look like?  It’s pretty awful to be honest.  It’s a bit post apocalyptic.  There’s a thick fog that hangs over the valley reducing visibility to about a mile, sometimes less. The air tastes like car exhaust and it’s common to see people wearing respirators and breathing masks.

On the walk back to the office we discussed what we could do to make a difference.  We mostly just came up with little things, but little things can add up (like compounded interest).  A simple thing like walking or riding your bike to work on a bigger scale might make a big difference.  There is of course the catch 22.  The highway signs tell us not to drive on poor air quality days, however the air quality has gotten so bad at times that exercise is not recommended.  That doesn’t leave you with a whole lot of options.

This is our home.  We must work to make it a better place.  Every petition signed, every vote cast, every step taken makes a difference.

The final ice climbing competition in the USA for this winter will be held in Vail later this week.  This will be my first time attending this event, but I heard rave reviews about last year and was sorry to have not made it.  There was even some carnage at last years competition.  One fellow got his front teeth pulled out when he fell.  It’s common to put the rope in your mouth when you clip it.  When a sudden fall occurs it’s natural for everything to tense up including your jaw.

The ice climbing event is a series of elimination rounds for speed.   It should be fast, fun, furious, and with lots of sharp things flying around.   The elevation of Vail is about 9,000′ so there may be some heavy breathing as well.  It’s not like skiing where you just go downhill.  Just kidding skiers, I know your sport is difficult too.

Other events will be running, biking (yes, in the snow), skiing and there are some dog events for you animal lovers.  Yup, go see for yourself at http://www.mountaingames.com/winter

I’m back in the office after a busy 3 days at the Ouray Ice Festival in Colorado.  Whew, I’m a bit knackered!  You know I must be hurting because I’ve abandoned my beloved stand up desk for an adjacent sit down desk.  It was a cold weekend with temperatures not rising much above 10 degrees and packed morning to night with events.

There was stiff competition for the events this year.  I don’t recall such a strong field in the USA all going head to head for the podium.  As predicted, the Europeans kicked our butts.  Climbing is much more established and supported over there.  I placed 8th in the main event, the difficulty competition held on Saturday.  The full list of men’s speed climbing competition results has not been published yet so I don’t know where I landed in the line up.  I had hoped to do much better in the speed, but the cold, brittle and fragile ice conditions didn’t seem to match up with the techniques I was using.  Nor did the ice for that matter, I was tearing it apart.  With so many skilled competitors the little details end up making a big difference (much like web design).  As always, I wish I had done this or that a little better, but with the intensity of a crowd cheering loudly and only a couple minutes to work with “on stage”, you just go out there and give it all you have and hope it goes well.  Once the comp is over, you rally again on the dance floor late into the night only to wake up early and do it once more for the speed competition.  No wonder I’m tired!

The ice festivals are sort of like an Outdoor Retailer trade show held outside with more a focus on fun, competitions and climbing than direct business. It was also nice to see a few of HotWax’s clients like Black Diamond (http://bdel.com) and Scarpa (http://scarpa.com) outside of the conference room.  I liken it all to a traveling circus with the next stop being the upcoming Outdoor Retailer Winter Tradeshow (http://www.outdoorretailer.com/winter-market/) and following that, the Teva Winter Games (http://www.mountaingames.com/event-detail-winter/Mixed-Climbing.aspx) held in Vail, Colorado.   Maybe I’ll see you there! Till then, over and out!

Jason Nelson
HotWax Media Designer

Video of Jason’s Speed Climb

P.S. I was the slower one in the red and black. Will Mayo is the other climber.  Also, thanks to Kate Higgins for shooting this video.

Further Reading

http://ourayicepark.com/ice-festival/

https://www.facebook.com/OurayiceparkInc

If you’ve ever doubted the viability of open source commerce solutions then you might want to have a peek at the list of active sponsors at ApacheCon 2011 — it may cause you to reevaluate any doubts you might have regarding the viability of Apache OFBiz. Hotwax Media again takes its place alongside some of the most powerful and influential brands in the world as a Gold Sponsor at this year’s ApacheCon event in Vancouver, BC. Look for our logo on the ApacheCon site, right above [ahem] Adobe and Facebook.

If you’re ever lucky enough to set foot in the High West Distillery & Saloon in Park City, Utah, you’ll see firsthand that the new website has been paired perfectly with the High West brand image. HotWax Media was honored to serve up the site design and CMS implementation for Utah’s only operating distillery, and we raise a glass to the end result.

Developers rejoice! As the world’s preeminent annual open source convention, ApacheCon 2010 promises to be a great event. For the third year in a row, HotWax Media is proud to be a sponsor and support our friends at ASF. Enjoy Atlanta everyone.

HotWax Media is happy to announce the official launch of the new content-rich B2C e-commerce site for Scarpa North America. Packed with cool interactive features, rich imagery, express checkout and dealer information, active feet all over the continent just let out a collective sigh of relief.
Be sure to check it out.

Talk about timing. HotWax Media was putting the finishing touches on Black Diamond’s Active Form Design Flash microsite right in time to be unveiled at the Summer Outdoor Retailer Convention in SLC, UT. Could there be a better venue?
Check out the goods at http://www.activeformdesign.com.

Looking for a costume? Look no further. Anytime Costumes is now satisfying trick-or-treaters and partygoers year-round by operating on an upgraded version of Apache OFBiz. Unveiled by HotWax Media, the site now has enhanced features including 3rd party checkout to strengthen conversion rates, along with enterprise infrastructure and support.
Check it out.

The Apache Foundation Channel on YouTube features an interview with HotWax Media’s CEO, Mike Bates. The video was shot at ApacheCon Europe 2009 in Amsterdam. Have a look!

HotWax Media CEO Mike Bates will be in Las Vegas participating in the annual Shop.org conference. If you will be at the conference be sure to contact him to speak in person about HotWax Media ERP and e-commerce solutions.

Lunastix.com launched their upgraded e-commerce site, produced by HotWax Media. The site features a custom design and enhanced shopping experience along with cool tricks, a dealer locator, information for resellers, and much more. View site.

Moxii.com released their new-and-improved HotWax Media e-commerce site. Offering interior design focusing on student interiors, Moxii.com gives customers everything they need to create the perfect space for student living.View site.

After providing the platinum sponsorship to last year’s ApacheCon US in New Orleans, HotWax Media continues its active involvement as a community sponsor for ApacheCon 2009. Registration is now open - Read the press release for more info.

Black Diamond Equipment debuts its line of packs for 2010! The Flash-driven microsite, built by HotWax Media, features information on pack design, fitting, and much more. View site.

HotWax Media has agreed to be a Community Sponsor for the upcoming ApacheCon Europe 2009, which is scheduled to occur from March 23rd to the 27th at the Mövenpick Hotel in Amsterdam. Recently, HotWax Media participated as a Platinum Sponsor for the extremely successful U.S. version of ApacheCon in New Orleans and was thrilled to collaborate with the Apache Software Foundation and other partners in the advancement of open source software’s position within the enterprise ecommerce and ERP marketplace.

Some of the most recent projects that HotWax Media has undertaken include:

• Herman Miller – an innovative, internal facing e-commerce site that utilizes much of the key “out-of-the-box” OFBiz functionality.
• Moffitt Angling – an update to Moffitt’s already powerful e-commerce site, leveraging the power of OFBiz’s product management tools.
• Lunastix – cutting edge design, coupled with a broad range of OFBiz development.

During the recent ApacheCon conference held in New Orleans, in which HotWax Media was the platinum sponsor, the company co hosted an irreverent closing ceremony (with partners in crime Brainfood and 10gen) featuring an authentic, jazz funeral style march through the city, celebrating the life and death of proprietary corporate software. This capped an exciting 5 days of sharing new information about the significant advances within the Apache Foundation, including the Open For Business Project.

HotWax Media’s Analysis team recently returned from two successful trips to both China and India. Virtual Village, with offices in the United States, United Kingdom and China, hosted the team for a week onsite at their office in Shanghai. The team toured VV’s various facilities and consulted on best practices for using OFBiz to automate many core business processes. In addition, the team spent time at the HotWax Media offices in Indore, India, M.P. to solidify internal processes around some key projects currently underway.

Two recent HotWax Media projects have been launched. First, the 3point5.com site redesign project was released to coincide with the Outdoor Retailer convention in Salt Lake City. HotWax Media created the new site design including Flash animation and other interface elements. Next, the new Black Diamond Equipment site dedicated to the new line of Black Diamond Freeride Boots for Fall 2008, www.SkiBDBoots.com, was recently launched as well. Built by HotWax Media entirely in Flash, this site features some wicked video along with a wealth of product information.

Details are still emerging, but it is safe to say that HotWax Media will join the likes of Yahoo! and other big-named players in sponsoring ApacheCon US 2008. The event runs from November 3 – 7 in New Orleans. The OFBiz users conference / OFBiz Symposium is also part of ApacheCon this year. For more information visit http://www.us.apachecon.com

The US facility upgrade is complete, including moderate build out, infrastructure, and phone system improvements. Progress continues in the upgrade of the India office. Construction is complete, and furniture and equipment are being sourced and purchased.