Thanks to Jon Garnier for sharing this new, free online photo editing tool, it works pretty darn well. It is Flash-based so it won't work on an iPad or an iPhone I don't believe but it would be great for desktops, laptops or Android-based phones and tablets. Take a few minutes, have some fun and don't forget the filters they have as well. www.fotor.com Be careful when you download, be sure to not compress the file too much! … [Read more...]
Today is the second time I have participated in Career Day for the Santa Ana Unified School District. Last time it was a Villa Fundamental Middle School and this time it was at Douglas MacArthur Middle School. The first time I showed kids how they could code a super-basic web page using nothing more than a text editor for coding and a browser for checking their work. This time what I did was more adventurous: I installed Wordpress Multisite site and created 40 individual so that 4 classes with an average of 35+ students could log in, write a blog, add images and learn how to link to a web … [Read more...]
We just wanted to take a quick second to give people some context for who Krampus is. We are from German, Hungarian, French, Irish, English backgrounds and we all fear Krampus. Krampus is a beast-like creature from the folklore of Alpine countries thought to punish bad children during the Yule season, in contrast with Saint Nicholas, who rewards nice ones with gifts. Krampus is said to capture particularly naughty children in his sack and carry them away to his lair. Krampus is represented as a beast-like creature, generally demonic in appearance. The creature has roots in Germanic folklore. … [Read more...]
Whoa, that has to be the single most concise, accurate statement regarding software AND web site development I have heard in a long time. Rushing is when mistakes are made, when mission critical technological details are overlooked. Now I understand the need for deadlines but often they are subjective in nature and don't reflect any true urgency. This should be one of the first determinations a company makes: when do we need the site live? Is it a looming trade show or product launch? Has collateral advertising material already been printed with hard dates on it? Develop in haste, repent at … [Read more...]
Anyone who knows me well also knows that I am a huge fan of lights that react to music. First popularized in the 1970's they are better known as "light organs" or "color organs". I have, with the help of my good friend Brian, actually built a set of these lights called the Rainbow Machine. I have also done a great deal of live video projection/video mixing using an old Sony FX-E100 video mixer, DVD players, VHS players and live cameras all mixed together into one psychedelic projection. Which brings me to something I discovered on Google+ last night: a 3-sided movie screen that physically … [Read more...]
Video content is a great way to communicate your unique value to your prospective clients in a clear and concise way. Some people are more visually oriented and flat refuse to read written content no matter how well written. By showing you and your staff, real people, video helps you and your company make an all important human connection with prospective new clients. Also, some people learn visually making video a great teaching aide. The web is becoming more video-centric all the time. YouTube is the 2nd most popular search engine after Google. One of our clients has a world-wide audience … [Read more...]
Wow, is all I have to say... you turn around and things have changed again! Improved even. People who write off Google+ still seem to be using it on a daily basis, (see Michael Gray on that one). New Tool Bar to the left: to me this is much more useful and logical than Facebook has ever been. Much of Facebook is still inscrutable. Quick sort your stream using Circle buttons at the top: I find this one instantly appealing and a big improvement over the disorganized stream on Facebook. Hangouts now prominently displayed on the right: I'm excited to try these, actually, for company meetings … [Read more...]
The mantra for 2012? Back to basics, do the fundamentals and do them exceedingly well in order to succeed. If I may make the following suggestions: NO email should EVER go out without a short, to the point Subject line. Having no subject line is a way to get your email ignored/forgotten about/hard to find/marked as spam. You should improve your Reply To email identity by adding "- Your-Domain-Name.com" to the Your Name field in your email settings. This will give people a visual indicator of where you are from if for a minute they don't recognize the name. It will end up reading "Business … [Read more...]
We are drowning in a tidal wave of data. The businesses that are REALLY making money off the Interweb are the ones (read Google) that provide relevance: they help you get to the truly useful information. Here are two gentlemen that know a thing or two about the web. They are making a huge, expensive bet that people need help sifting through all the noise. You can benefit from doing this for your site visitors yourself: become the place they visit and link back to by sharing truly useful bits of information with them via your site or monthly email digest. It can't always be about sales, you … [Read more...]
