I’ve been hearing for a long time about the recession affecting other businesses, but it hasn’t really touched mine. Until now. Two different clients couldn’t stave off the wolf any longer. Consequence? Two big, fun, interesting projects suddenly fell through, along with a good chunk of income. Now my calendar is unexpectedly open, and I hear the wolf heading towards MY door.
[click to continue…]
{ 0 comments }
Do you want an up-to-date web site with the latest super-cool techie bell or whistle? Don’t we all? And Wordpress: it’s so contemporary, versatile and inexpensive. So, pick a theme already, and get to it! (A Wordpress “theme” is the design template that determines layout, type, color, etc. for your content.)
But wait a sec. I’ve found that there are huge differences among themes, differences that are invisible until you start working with them. Choosing a sloppily constructed one, or one that isn’t updated, can be an expensive mistake. Here’s how to pick the right one. [click to continue…]
{ 0 comments }
There’s just been some big news for bloggers and other Internet writers this month. The FTC has decided that “bloggers who make an endorsement must disclose the material connections they share with the seller of the product or service,” or face a fine of up to $11,000. That’s a sizeable incentive to come clean about paid product endorsements, paid reviews, free products, and affiliate marketing. (For those who don’t know, an “affiliate” receives a percentage of the sale price when someone buys a product or service online using one of their special tracking links. For example, as an Amazon affiliate, I receive a small percentage if you go directly to Amazon from one of my links and purchase something. )
I think it’s wonderful. [click to continue…]
{ 0 comments }
Does your site feel boring, outdated, and passé… because you’re sick of its colors? Do you want to revamp it, but don’t know how to go about choosing new ones, or even whether to try?
It’s worth the effort. Your web site has ten seconds to make an impression. Color is a plays a critical role in that decisive moment. And color is not only how people get drawn into your site, it’s how they recognize and remember it to come back. [click to continue…]
{ 0 comments }
When I wrote about augmented reality the other day, I was assuming that AR was still a short way in the future. I was wrong! “Collaborative annotation of the physical world.” That’s what Marshall Kirkpatrick describes in his October 2 NY Times blog. And it’s here, today, right now—if you own an iPhone 3GS.
Several augmented reality iPhone apps have been released:
DA Transit, for finding rail, light rail, and subway information in the U.S. The company notes that the information is available via various interfaces: superimposed on the video screen above stops, on a map, or as a listing.
Cyclopedia (web link)(iTunes link), an app which selects any of the 65,000 Wikipedia entries that have been geotagged (encoded with locational data), and then uses your own location, a compass orientation, and a range setting to superimpose this information onto your iPhone screen.
Wikitude uses location information from Wikipedia, from the international review site Qype, and from Wikitude’s own info entry interface at Wikitude.me. These bits of information, including your own and others’ notes on a place, appear in “bubbles” on your iPhone screen as you look at nearby objects.
Another app, from Layar, has just been submitted to Apple for review. It’s currently available on Google’s Android phone, but is not, in Kirkpatrick’s words, “mindblowing.”
And a side note. Here’s one forecast I didn’t make the other day: will the new immediacy of user reviews bring back customer service? If every business has to, in effect, post a placard in their window listing customers’ reviews and reactions, perhaps a new era of caring and service will commence. We can hope!
Further note: for very good ongoing coverage of trends in augmented reality, check out the “Augmented Reality” category on the blog ReadWriteWeb.com.
{ 0 comments }
