Posts from ‘technology’
Front-End Design Conference Recap
This past Friday, Derek and I, had the pleasure of attending the Front-End Design Conference is St. Petersburg, FL.
This was one of the first design conferences that we had been to, so we weren’t sure what to expect. We arrived around 9am and were greeted by a slew of friendly people.. not to mention free coffee and breakfast too! After getting our name tags and swag bags, we made our way into the main room. I sat down in my chair, opened my laptop and noticed I only had about an hour of battery life, and 20% battery life on my iPhone!!! So I was that guy scouring for an outlet and ran his charger across the walkway…
Dan Denny, Front-End Design Conference Founder, kicked off the day by introducing himself, explaining what the conference was all about, and thanking the sponsors. The format of the day was basically two speakers, break, two speakers, lunch, etc…
There were a number of great speakers that were crazy informative and extremely helpful. I’m only going to cover a few, but all were great.
The first one up was Larissa Meek, from AgencyNet, who gave a great presentation on brainstorming. She covered the difference between idea storming and brainstorming, the pros and cons of individual vs. group sessions, and gave a few great techniques to help you generate ideas. You can view her slides from the presentation here!
Next up was the comical Niki Brown from Metropolis Creative. Niki discussed the importance of of details in design including: Color Schemes, Typography, and PLAID!
Lea Alcantara started off her presentation, ” The Art of Self Branding,” with an audience exercise. She instructed us to switch seats and sit next to someone we didn’t know, introduce ourselves and take two minutes to get to know that person. Afterwards, we wrote down three adjectives about the person we just met and disclosed them to each other a little later. I got, ” personable, proactive, and central florida haircut!” Not sure what that last one means, the girl I said it was a good thing, so i guess I’ll take it. The purpose of this exercise was to find out how others perceive us. This was my favorite presentation, because I just finished reading ” Celebrity Branding You,” by Nick Nanton, and could really relate to everything she was saying.
The next presentation was on taking your designs from wireframes to finished products. But, I was too busy staring at Meagan Fisher’s unbelievable slide designs to remember what she talked about (jk)!!
Meagan broke her process down into four categories – Get to know the project, Develop the strategy, Bring it to life, and Make it shine.
Next on the agenda, LUNCH BREAK! Lunch consisted of White Russians, Bloody Mary’s, Burgers, and running in the rain.
When we got back, Jina Bolton, from Crush + Lovely, was setting up for her presentation on CSS Organization & Workflow. My background is primarily in Print Design, and I just started diving into code. Jina was extremely knowledgable, but most of what she covered was over my head. Hopefully next year, I’ll be on the same page!
Sarah Parmenter was up next with a presentation on the Principles of UI Design. I think everyone fell in love with her accent, as soon as she started talking! Sarah discussion was focused mainly on iPhone App design. She went over both good and bad design and showed examples of each, as well as showing us some projects she had worked on.
After the conference was over we headed to the “After Party!” Free appetizers and drinks.. count us in!
Overall, the conference was AMAZING!! Dan and Cherrie you all did a very impressive job putting it all together! We met a ton of great people including Vishal from GrooveShark, and Mitch from Freshbooks. Everyone was soo friendly and you could tell they were actually interested in what you had to say! We look forward to staying in touch with everyone that we met and attending next year’s conference!!
The day has come…. it is Quit Facebook Day possibly attempting to overshadow the day americans are respecting our troops!?
It started a few weeks ago when facebook privacy settings and user capabilities became a larger issue then before. Privacy issues have slowly been an ongoing concern but now it may be crossing the line for some users. When we look at facebooks future goals, user privacy becomes a major concern. I am all for other social networking options and believe facebook is developing a strong hold on our socializing thru the internet. Especially, because of there recent patent filings (i e newsfeeds).
Let’s be serious though. This boycott isn’t going to make even a small dent in facebook users today. There are way to many sheeps with blinders on these days. If you can reach a majority audience, there are so many who follow without question. I am willing to explore other alternative social media options, although as of now nothing compares to Facebook.
What do you think about this facebook boycott? Is it necessary?
Do you feel facebook cares about your information?
Mac users will be getting a treat later on today. Software company, Valve, is releasing their online game platform, Steam, for Mac today!
Basically, this service is the equivalent of iTunes for gamers. Allowing users to download games directly to their computers, as opposed to buying a physical copy and having to install it.
Think of it like this… When was the last time you bought an actual physical CD??? I can’t remember the last time I did. Apple’s iTunes eliminated the need for me to get up off the couch on Tuesday to go a buy a new album, bring it home, and import it into my iTunes. I think Stream is going to have the same effect on the Gaming Industry. Why wouldn’t gamers rather download the latest games directly to their computers and be able to play them instantly.
Stream has a bunch of other awesome features too. It’s not just a place to buy your games, you can also chat with your friends / foes and join tournaments / matches. Personally, I think the best feature is automatic game updates, which brings me to my next point…
Web-based applications are the future for software companies! The days of spending $500 for Adobe’s Photoshop or Microsoft’s Office will soon be behind us. Well, that’s if those companies want to survive. The automatic game update feature in Steam is what makes web-based apps so appealing. Currently, consumers spend a small fortune on software applications, that take up a ton of memory, and slow computers down. Then a year or two later, the software company releases a new version, making the version you just bought out-dated. Imagine, if you could pay a monthly subscription fee to use that same software! And get software updates and bug fixes automatically, ensuring that you always have the most updated version. We recently made the switch from Quickbooks ( physical ) to Freshbooks ( web-based ) and couldn’t be happier! Whenever they add new features or updates to their app, it automatically updates on our end and we don’t have to install a thing!
One company that really embraces web-based software is 37 Signals and they’re CRUSHING IT! Companies like Adobe and Microsoft had better follow suit, in order to keep up with the competition!!
Hey Apple… how about a MacBook App Store!
I have been looking for simpler ways to manage my life online. I currently have about 5 email accounts that I manage through my email client. I have all my social network accounts and some of those I even have multiple accounts for.
Even talking about it makes me want to pull my hair out! I am looking for a simpler way to do all this with out it intruding my day to day too much.
After looking around I ran into Threadsy.com.
Threadsy is a social communications platform based out of San Fransisco, CA and founded by Rob Goldman and Udi Nir. They received there series A funding in 2008 and have been dedicated to developing the most user friendly communication tool since. It recently opened its doors for beta testing by the public.
The goal of Threadsy is to group together all of your email, twitter and facebook accounts into a real time social communication interface right in your browser. I have found it to be the best designed UI for on the web for this application. The only downside I have found at this point is that it doesn’t include anything for tumblr and a few other key social networks. I am sure they will scale to that in the future.
I am very impressed and will continue to use it. Check it out today and let me know your thoughts.
Well… not exactly. The social media giant announced yesterday, at their F8 conference, that they will be doing away with the Facebook Connect name / brand. Open Graph, a new protocol and API, will be replacing the FB Connect.
This new feature will allow users to integrate other websites and web applications into their Facebook profile! The first major companies to jump on board are Microsoft, Yelp, and Pandora. Previously, sites that used Facebook Connect were only able to store users information for 24 hours. Now, these websites and companies will be able to store your data for longer and use this information to better analyze their audience. For instance, if I were to post on Facebook that I love pizza, Yelp would be able to pull this information and use it to both gear “pizza” related ads at me and better filter my search results when I’m looking for a place to eat!
Another cool feature Facebook has already started implementing, is the “Like,” button. Obviously, you’ve been able to “like” friend’s status updates, photos, and comments on facebook. Now, the “Like” button is being added to a ton of websites. So if you like an article, photo, or whatever on a particular website, you can now like it and it will be shared with friends on Facebook.
I like the idea of websites being able to customize my online viewing experience, by analyzing my Facebook data. Rather than having to sort thru all the bullshit on a site, it will be tailored to my interests! One concern some people are going to have is, privacy. From what I understand, privacy will be the users responsibility. Meaning that it’s up to users to select what information that want shared and with who. I’ve accepted the fact the we live in a VERY public world now. And whether we like it or not, our information is constantly being gathered from a variety of sources. Nothing is private anymore…We’re constantly on camera whether we know it or not. Pictures you don’t even know your in end up on Facebook, including pictures you would never want certain people to see! Everyone has turned paparazzi with their camera phones! So I’m embracing this new “public” lifestyle and patiently awaiting my 15 minutes of fame!
What do you think about Open Graph? Are you concerned about your privacy?
I was a little bit late on this one….
Lil Wayne is no stranger to social media and the power of the internet. Being known as one of the mix tape kings and the most friend requested artists on myspace. Coming soon Lil Wayne is writing a blog for ESPN sharing his passion of sports.
We all know that Lil Wayne has been sentenced to a year in prison for possession of weapons charges. His team set him up with a blog to speak to his fans while locked up. I wanted to introduce you to the FREE WEEZY campaign going on during his time in the slammer.
The place is called WeezyThanxYou.com, where he posted his first blog Friday April 2nd. In it, he writes, “During my prison stint, I want my fans to know I love you. I want all of you to know that I appreciate all the mail I get, and this is my way of saying thank you. The F is for Family, Friends, and Fans.”
He also talks about how you will be able to view his blog on ESPN very soon and tells Young Money to hold it down for him.
You can also buy a FREE WEEZY shirt for $29.99 on the site. Which I think is expensive. You gotta see it. I’m sure if you are a die hard Wayne fan it is worth it. Doug that is for you bro.
I bet your wondering how the hell does he get to have a blog in prison???!
Karen Civil who works in artist and social media for his label says he will not be doing much twitter or myspace updates from prison. He hand writes his blogs and they are typed out and posted by the label. We can also expect a few new releases by the artist while in jail. So look out for Weezy making sure his fans are still connected.
This all just proves the importance of artists and there fans and how social media has played such an important part in the evolution of the music industry.
What’s your thoughts?? Who is gonna buy a FREE WEEZY tee???
For everyone who are Wordpress fans; it is finally here, beta is available for Wordpress 3. Check out the instructions for all the details.
Apparently there are many misunderstandings of Wordpress being a subsidiary of Automattic. It has been confirmed by developers part of the project that Automattic is the parent of Wordpress.com (site/business that offers a hassle-free WordPress sites). WordPress is not owned by any one company — it is a community project!
Now that we got that out of the way…..
Jane Wells, laid out some of the many new features in the version 3.0 beta. The first thing she points out is a new custom menus system, which she makes clear “is not quite finished.”
The big news is the merger of WordPress and WordPress MU (multi-user), a stem of WordPress that allows multiple blogs to operate from a single installation. These two features are fully merged in Wordpress 3.0. There are some instructions to follow in order to access the more in-depth features of Super Admin.
There are other changes to the UI and interface as well, including the addition of a new default theme, Twenty Ten, and custom post type functionality improvements.
You can download the update and take it for a test drive yourself. We would love to hear what you think about it. Let us know after messing around.
[from the next web, mashable and wordpress blog]
This Saturday, April 3rd is BarCamp Orlando, a collection of geeks, coders, technology freaks, artists and entertainers that walk into an empty presentation board and fill it with topics that range from structuring URL’s to coding with Ruby to the state of the Orlando scene (doterati was actually a result of some BarCamp discussions a few years back).
For those that are unfamiliar with the format, a BarCamp is an adhoc conference where there are no scheduled presentations. When the event begins, the audience is given the keys to the city and fill up the speaking board with topics that they want to talk about. You are given about 30 minutes to woo the crowd, engage in a conversation with the audience and make new friends by telling people how smart and cool you are.
I have given 2 BarCamp talks, one here in Orlando and one in Miami and both of them were really exciting. This year, I’ll just be hanging and wooing my way into finding a development team for a covert project (I always seem to have one of those going on).
Peep the super dope trailer below!
The event is free and run by local tech hero Gregg Pollack. The shenanigans happen at the Wall Street Cantina from 9:30am – 6pm.
So if you are up to spitting some game, meeting some friends and learing about some tech stuff come out and enjoy a nice Saturday in downtown O-Town.
If you want to grab a beer, do the cool thing and shoot me a message via Twitter – @g_ro.
-Greg
Hi everyone! I know I haven’t been posting for a while but have been super busy running LOOK and getting several projects off the ground. A lot of our new web application projects are moving away from using search engines as a form of marketing but rather using SMO (social media optimization ) to get traffic to websites. This shift in business has lead me to create this post below….
I am somewhat not surprised that our marketing focuses have shifted this way due to the exponential growth of all social media platforms. My favorite one of all is Facebook, since I had been an “early adapter” of this website since it’s inception. Although Facebook has not been consistent in its structure of defining what audience or business model it wants to run, where in most businesses this would mean epic failure, I feel as if facebook has been able to maintain steady growth due to its technological contribution to the social media community. Since my time of using it back in “2003″ by referral of a couple of technologically savvy fraternity brothers… Facebook has grown tremendously in what they are offering.
“Facebook has expanded their audience base to every demographic, from your grandmother to your girl friend’s dog.”
We can now play addictive flash based games all the way to sell our old couch ( that has probably been peed on) to one of your unsuspecting friends…… this is why on March 13th 2010 Facebook is now the number 1 most visited website on the internet daily… Surpassing Google… sorry Google Buzz, you can’t keep up! JUST LOOK AT THE NUMBERS
Feel Free To Disagree… Our MakeMeAlive Readers Love to Have Intellectual Debate! (No Alcohol Required)
Just as Android users thought they were going to wake up today to the latest version of the Droid Operating System, Verizon delays the highly anticipated upgrade. Verizon hasn’t given a reason for the delay and the new release date is TBD.
The upgrade is rumored to have some pretty awesome new features. Among these are Multi-touch support, pinch-to-zoom, a 3D photo gallery, live wallpapers, and my favorite voice-to-text entry!
I NEED that feature in my life!! I’ll admit it… I sometimes text and drive and it’s not too easy on the iPhone. Before my iPhone had the Palm Treo with an actual keyboard and I could text with one hand and my eyes closed! How great it would it be to speak your texts to your phone and have it automatically convert it in to text?!?! I’m sure it’s not gonna be perfect at first and will take some tweaking, but I think it’s a great concept!
Are you a Droid owner, anxiously awaiting the 2.1 upgrade??? Let us know what you’re looking forward to!
