it's not that bad :p

it's not that bad :p

Reshared post from +Timothy Lorens

http://asterclick.drclue.net/snapshots/AsterClickHUD082510.png

Perfect example of way you don't let a geek design UI

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Food for inspiration :)

Food for inspiration :)

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Characteristics of a modern portfolio site | Webdesigner Depot
Of all of the types of websites, the portfolio site has to overcome what might be some of the most difficult hurdles. Talk to almost any designer and they

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Characteristics of a modern portfolio site

An extensive and excellent collection of portfolio sites, mainly for designers and developers. Still, food for inspiration...

Of all of the types of websites, the portfolio site has to overcome what might be some of the most difficult hurdles. Talk to almost any designer and they will agree, launching your own portfolio site is a painful process. Most frequently, this process includes numerous versions and, often times, a launch out of sheer frustration.

Full article : Characteristics of a modern portfolio site | Webdesigner Depot.

Having been using the Article API of Diffbot for a project, works almost perfect...

Having been using the Article API of Diffbot for a project, works almost perfect on every case. Wonderful technology!

Reshared post from +Robert Scoble

A look at Diffbot, a visually learning robot

(As used in AOL's Editions, look at how the technology works).

Many of us use RSS feeds to get updates from our favorite news sites or blogs; however, RSS is only available on a very small portion of the Internet. Michael Tung, CEO of Diffbot, ran into this problem while trying to stay on top of class web pages while a student at Stanford. Since the sites didn’t have RSS, he developed a unique algorithm that found updates by looking at the visual layout of the page, as opposed to the HTML. After refining the program over the last two years, Diffbot has released an API that has allowed developers to accomplish some fascinating things with this technology.

“We provide technology that allows applications to interpret web pages like a human being,” explains Tung. “We’ve discovered that the entire Internet can be classified into about 30 different page types. What that means is that even though there’s essentially an infinite number of web pages on the web, there are certain common layouts and ways humans structure web pages that are understandable.”

Rather than looking at the tags or markup within a page, Diffbot looks at things like the X and Y coordinates for different parts of a page, the amount of screen real estate that each part is given, how a certain part is positioned relative to everything else on the page, and what kind of fonts and borders are used. Diffbot is developing an API for each type of page and currently has APIs available for both front pages and article pages.

“Developers are always trying to use web data, for example,” says Tung. “That’s why geeks like us created things like RSS and ways of syndicating data, essentially creating this machine-readable layer of the Internet. But as we’ve seen, adoption of those semantic formats, Open Graph for example, has never really taken off because there’s a chicken and egg problem. What we hope to do is create artificial intelligence software that can automatically understand what’s the layout versus what’s the actual information and extract that automatically without humans having to create those annotations themselves.”

Hundreds of developers are already building apps on top of the available APIs. For example, one developer built a radio station powered by Diffbot. The developer’s father is blind, which can make it extremely difficult to use the web, even with a screen reader. So the developer created Hacker News Radio, which pulls in a Hacker News RSS feed, passes the articles through the Diffbot API to get the actual text, and then sends the text through text-to-speech engines so it can be heard.

“It’s really, really simple,” explains Tung. “You just pass in a URL, you pass in your developer token and you get back a JSON that has all these fields in it. For the article API, those fields would be the title, who the author is…[and] the text.” Diffbot can even recognize if an article has multiple pages, so it’s sure to pick up the entirety of the text.

More info:

Diffbot web site: http://www.diffbot.com/
Diffbot blog: http://www.diffbot.com/blog
Diffbot profile on CrunchBase: http://www.crunchbase.com/company/diffbot

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An interesting read on previous attempts at the group-buying idea

Although none of the mentioned companies had the exact same business model as Groupon. Still, it could be an exercise in finding what one could do better in each case :)

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The companies that died so that Groupon could live
Business ideas that are truly unique, innovative, and new are nearly impossible to come up with. So when a company hits it big on an certain concept, it's always interesting to probe ...

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This is (really!) an accurate example of the state of the web development business...

This is (really!) an accurate example of the state of the web development business in Greece. At a small electronics shop selling garage door remote controls and TV antennas, a handwritten (with black marker!) sign advertising a web development service... :)

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I've switch the comments on my site to Livefyre which actually integrates very...

I've switch the comments on my site to Livefyre which actually integrates very nicely with WordPress. Cross-posting comments to Google+ is missing ;)

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Trying out the Livefyre commenting system « The Markos Giannopoulos Blog
Since the re-launch of the site I have been looking for a way to make the process of commenting easier. I ended up with a connection to Facebook, keeping the WordPress commenting system, but using Fac...

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Trying out the Livefyre commenting system

Since the re-launch of the site I have been looking for a way to make the process of commenting easier. I ended up with a connection to Facebook, keeping the WordPress commenting system, but using Facebook for authentication.

While page views on the site have been slightly over zero, comments have been, well, basically zero :) So I'm trying out a third-part system, Livefyre, with the intention to provide an even easier interface for comments, authentication via other means beyond Facebook and other more advanced features like subscriptions, @ mentions and cross-posting comments to Facebook and Twitter.

So far it looks nice, I like the fact the not only is there an plugin for Wordpress, but Livefyre actually integrates with Wordpress: previous comments are imported and new comments are also added in the Wordpress database. So give it a try and let me know in the comments how it looks :)

Note #1: Cross-posting to Facebook isn't very sexy as the actual comment is not shown on Facebook but rather a "I posted a comment" message which will not bring many clicks.

(2/9) Note #2: Obviously Livefyre broke the WP-FB Comments plugin and now comments are not shared with the Facebook page. Livefyre has the same functionality although at the moment I can't put the URL of my page in the Livefyre control panel. The excellent support team of Livefyre have tracked me down though (see comments) so I'm hoping this will be solved soon.

(3/9) Note #3: More resources on WordPress commenting systems and plugins
- 10+ WordPress comment management plugins
- Advanced commenting systems for WordPress

For every video that YouTube is removing, another 3 copies of the same song are posted....

For every video that YouTube is removing, another 3 copies of the same song are posted. You can now find hundreds of thousands (if not millions?) of songs on YouTube. Lawsuits like the one mentioned in the article are dropped. Meanwhile the poor souls who uploaded 10 songs 5 years ago on Kazaa are still in courts...

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Music publishers go AWOL in the war against YouTube
For four years, a coalition of copyright holders has been prosecuting a massive lawsuit against YouTube. On Wednesday, a key plaintiff, the National Music Publishers' Association, threw in the towel.

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I havent seen a surge of t.co referrals on our client sites

I havent seen a surge of t.co referrals on our client sites. What about you?

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Twitter Just Got the Respect it Deserves
If you're one to check your analytics on a daily basis you may have noticed a pretty sharp increase in referrals from Twitter's

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Frontpage 2011? No, that's Adobe Muse, a new application that aims to allow......

Frontpage 2011? No, that's Adobe Muse, a new application that aims to allow... print-focused designers create websites with no code. Dear Lord, help us.... http://www.netmagazine.com/features/developers-respond-adobe-muse http://muse.adobe.com/

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In need of a project to try this out :)

PressWord is a Wordpress framework with a front-end layout editor

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PressWork

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A nicely done jQuery/Prototype plugin that turns select fields (single and multiple...

A nicely done jQuery/Prototype plugin that turns select fields (single and multiple choice ones) into a more user-friendly experience

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Chosen - a JavaScript plugin for jQuery and Prototype - makes select boxes better

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Google changes Sitelinks, top search result spot gets more important

Google is changing Sitelinks, the links below a search result with access to other pages of the same site.

Changes include:
- Sitelinks are now full-size links with a URL and one line of snippet text.
- Links have increased from a maximum of 8 links to 12, revealing more about the websites you are searching for.
- Sitelink ranking is now also combined with regular result ranking to produce higher quality searches.
- Sitelinks also vary based on your query, where a more comprehensive keyword search will return better results.

This basically means more power to the top 1-2 results if they use sitelinks, as they grab more above-the-fold space. This will increase the need for a SEO strategy that will get your site on the top spot of the desired keywords / phrase (and of course refuel the discussion on whether this is a good move as it will be slightly harder for users to see a more diverse choice of results)

More at The evolution of sitelinks: expanded and improved - Official Google Blog and Google improves sitelinks for better search results - The Next Web

Google is changing sitelinks (the links below a search result with access to other...

Google is changing sitelinks (the links below a search result with access to other pages of the site)

Changes include

- Sitelinks are now full-size links with a URL and one line of snippet text.
- Links have increased from a maximum of 8 links to 12, revealing more about the websites you are searching for.
- Sitelink ranking is now also combined with regular result ranking to produce higher quality searches.
- Sitelinks also vary based on your query, where a more comprehensive keyword search will return better results.
This basically means more power to the top 1-2 results if they use sitelinks, as they grab more above-the-fold space.

More at http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/08/evolution-of-sitelinks-expanded-and.html

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News from an alternate universe: Sony decided to stop fighting the winds of changes...

News from an alternate universe: Sony decided to stop fighting the winds of changes and in an act of good will uploaded the entire Godfather movie on Youtube. The move was greeted with much delight from people and the media

What really happened: It was a fake account and it and the video were removed in 24 hours

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This is how you fight piracy. Watch the entire Godfather movie on YouTube
In its infinite wisdom, Sony Pictures has put up The Gadfather on YouTube in its entirety. The whole movie is available to watch (almost) commercial free as well. This move is likely ...

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Playmobil used by Germans to train Afghan policement

More on http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/08/22/afghan_playmobil/

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Finally the +1 button will have some real impact!

Finally the +1 button will have some real impact!

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You can now share content into Google Circles with the +1 button
As Google announces a major milestone for its +1 button: with over 4 billion daily views, it's giving its new product a much needed update.

Google has just announced what many Google+ ...

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You can now share content with the +1 button

What many people have been expecting as an obvious feature when Google+ was launched is now becoming reality. It's not fully rolled out yet to everyone (just tried on a page but didn't get the magic) but you will be able to share the page you are +1'ing on your Google+ circles.

When it’s live: Just +1 a page as usual and look for the new “Share on Google+” option. From there you can comment, choose a circle and share. It’s very similar to the Facebook Recommend button, but it’s all about bringing fresh content to your Circles not your Newsfeed.
When you share content from the +1 button, you’ll notice that Google automatically includes a link, an image and a description in the sharebox. Google is calling these “+snippets,” and they’re very similar to “comments” in Facebook’s Recommend feature

Full article: You can now share content into Google+ circles with the +1 button - TNW Google.

The bit that gave me the lulz is the "upgrade" of try/catch/die to wou...

Reshared post from +Paul Frields

The bit that gave me the lulz is the "upgrade" of try/catch/die to would_you_mind/actually_i_do_mind/cheerio.

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If PHP Were British - Added Bytes by Dave Child
If PHP Were British. When Rasmus Lerdorf first put PHP together, he - quite sensibly, despite his heritage - chose not to write it in Greenlandic or Danish. Good job too - that would have been rather ...

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Google+ launches an “ignore” option. Hide people but let them interact with your content.
Google has just introduced a new way of customizing Google+ so you only see content from people you're interested in with having to completely block them.

The Block Option

From ...

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Weekend reading problem solved! Thanks +Mari Smith :)

Weekend reading problem solved! Thanks +Mari Smith :)

Reshared post from +Mari Smith

Kudos to Dan Zarrella for creative marketing of his new book - you can download the Kindle version on Amazon completely FREE this week. Dan's book has been the top ebook in the world for the past 3 days. Amazing!

Zarrella's Hierarchy of Contagiousness: The Science, Design, and Engineering of Contagious Ideas published by +Seth Godin's The Domino Project.

Brilliant. Dan is HubSpot's Social Scientist and his content always rocks. This 80-page ebook reveals Dan's research on how to maximize social media, best times to post content, best words to use, who to tweet to and more. Packed with stats, metrics, and charts. Two thumbs way up! :) (Oh, and love the bunny cover!)

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Amazon.com: Zarrella's Hierarchy of Contagiousness: The Science, Design, and Engineering of Contagious Ideas eBook: Dan Zarrella: Kindle Store
Amazon.com: Zarrella's Hierarchy of Contagiousness: The Science, Design, and Engineering of Contagious Ideas eBook: Dan Zarrella: Kindle Store

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Thomas-Rasset and the RIAA have been fighting the same copyright battle since 2007...

Thomas-Rasset and the RIAA have been fighting the same copyright battle since 2007 over 24 songs she shared over the KaZaA P2P network
I can think of very few things more ridiculous than this...

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It's not over yet, Jammie Thomas: RIAA appeals damage reduction
The RIAA has filed an appeal against Jammie Thomas, who shared songs over a P2P network, saying the court failed to correctly interpret parts of the Copyright Act.

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Playing with Lego helps you create better websites, apparently

I need to think of a service like this, but with Playmobil... :)

Can playing with Lego help you design better websites? A new, entirely serious, document from a Swiss team claims it can. URL – User Requirements with Lego is a process that creative teams can go through to help work out the best ways of communicating online.
Why Lego? Apparently because it’s simple to use; is known by most people; offers shapes and colours to aid with inspiration; can be built into simple or complex forms and is used in many different cultures. The process is based on an official Lego initiative called Serious Play, which looks to get all kinds of businesses using Lego to enhance their innovation and performance.

Full Article; Playing with Lego helps you create better websites, apparently |TNW

Update: Apparently Playmobil already is in use outside of children's rooms. In Afghanistan, German police officers are training their Afghan colleagues using Playmobil. :)

Here's a collection of the graphs, frameworks and charts from 2 years of research...

Reshared post from +Jeremiah Owyang

Here's a collection of the graphs, frameworks and charts from 2 years of research at Altimeter Group. Had a lot of help from the talented +Christine Tran and +Andrew Jones

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeremiah_owyang/sets/72157623558763750/with/4796442066/

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Altimeter Research (57)
A collection of frameworks and figures from Altimeter Research, see more at Altimetergroup.com

Researchers heavily involved were Christine Tran, Andrew Jones. www.flickr.com/photos/organize/#

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Goodyear: saving people from your wife's bad driving since 1898 :D

Goodyear: saving people from your wife's bad driving since 1898 :D

Reshared post from +Charis Tsevis

http://www.adweek.com/adfreak/10-great-magazine-ads-dont-just-sit-there-looking-pretty-132401

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10 Great Magazine Ads That Don't Just Sit There Looking Pretty | Adweek
Magazine advertising looks increasingly quaint these days in the ever-more-flashy world of social, mobile, TV and cinema. But some print ads aren't just sitting there looking foolish. They're mad as h...

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Do you track the social media activities of your employees?

Do you track the social media activities of your employees?

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44% of companies track employees’ social media use in AND out of the office
A new survey has just been released that shows how companies approach social media in the workplace with some pretty surprising findings. When you work in a more open and flexible ...

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A CRAP way to improve usability

Here is an excellent introduction to core values of good design. Read it and check which apply to your site :)

Good visual design offers more than improving people’s attitudes to a design. Good visual design will actually make interfaces easier to use.
There are at least four key principles of visual design that have an important impact on usability. These four principles — contrast, repetition, alignment and proximity — were originally given the engaging acronym CRAP by Robin Williams (the visual designer, not the comedian). You can exploit these four principles to make user interfaces both more attractive and easier to use.

Full article: A CRAP way to improve usability | Userfocus.

Weather on Google Maps!

Weather on Google Maps!

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Rain or shine, see the weather in Google Maps
It's strange but after my recent post on maps I keep finding new advances on the issue. Google today announced a weather layer for Google Maps. Whether you’re organizing a trip overseas or a picnic a...

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Rain or shine, see the weather in Google Maps

It's strange but after my recent post on maps I keep finding new advances on the issue. Google today announced a weather layer for Google Maps.

Whether you’re organizing a trip overseas or a picnic at a local park, knowing the weather forecast is a crucial part of the planning process. Today, we’re adding a weather layer on Google Maps that displays current temps and conditions around the globe, and will hopefully make travel and activity planning easier.

Full article Google LatLong: Rain or shine, see the weather in Google Maps.

Data Mining + Geographical Representation = Knowledge? :)

Data Mining + Geographical Representation = Knowledge? :)

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England riots: was poverty a factor?
Did deprivation and poverty cause the riots? We've mapped them with suspects addresses. Find out what it showed

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I havent upgraded to Lion yet, but these icons feel like a step back

Still if you like them, you can now use them on your web sites/apps

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Apple OS X Lion Buttons in CSS | Improve your UI | Pixify
Style your UI after the new interface design in Apple's OS X Lion. Bonus download: loading animation.

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Mapping poverty and riots

What happens when you combine a big amount of data with a map? Do you get a new view in your subject, perhaps even new knowledge, or just a fancy way to promote your ideological stance on the issue?

"These riots were not about poverty," said David Cameron yesterday. " That insults the millions of people who, whatever the hardship, would never dream of making others suffer like this."
But the question is: how do we know? If poverty affects health, education and crime, could it be a factor in the events of last week?

The Guardian seems to have a different opinion than UK's PM. Check out the full article and interactive map at England riots: was poverty a factor?

For more examples of recent online maps updates, see my previous post, Online maps evolution heats up

Here's a one-page scrolling view of Apple's advertisements from the late...

Reshared post from +Tom Anderson

Here's a one-page scrolling view of Apple's advertisements from the late 70s until now. (http://bit.ly/pSZ8XA ) It's pretty interesting to see how Apple ads started and ended up at the same place.

The very first ad shows the Apple in a very personal setting / evoking the feelings of family. Apple is just part of your peaceful domestic life. Doesn't that remind you of the latest Apple ad that suggests you'll do all the things you've always done in life, but they're made better with iPad?

Here's the 2011 Apple ad I'm referring to: http://bit.ly/qPyrJ5 And the text from the video: "We'll never stop sharing our memories, or getting lost in a good book, we'll aways cook dinner and cheer for our favorite team, we'll still go to meetings, make home movies, and learn new things. But how we do all this, will never be the same."

In between 1979 and 2011, Apple ads tried to convince us of a few things:

1) the utility of owning a personal computer -- are these things really useful?
2).using an Apple makes you a revolutionary / inventor (like Edison)
3) using an Apple means you're counter-culture (boo IBM! yay hippies!)
4) using an Apple marks you as different / individualistic

Remember that first Apple ad was before the IBM PC even existed, let alone a credible threat. Now Apple's just back to being that loving part of your family. Is this a sign that Apple is supremely confident again? Since Apple's on the rise, it doesn't need to advertise from the position of the underdog anymore. Apple is no longer the radical, revolutionary outsiders machine -- it's the dominant player. Just part of the family.

With a move towards software in the "cloud" the main reason to use a PC is declining (software). Most privileged kids will grow up with iPads & iPhones. For those that need a keyboard, they're more likely to use an Apple product instead of Windows based one. Or, perhaps, and Android based one... ? The real battle for the future of "computing" may be Android vs. iOS -- whether that war is on tablets, phones or lap/desktops.

It'll be fun to see if the next 30 years is a battle of advertising between Google & Apple, instead of Apple & "IBM/Windows". (Thanks +Bill Gross for posting this on Twitter this morning which got me to thinking about it.)

Embedded Link

The Evolution of Apple Ads | Webdesigner Depot
Apple first started advertising its products in the late 1970s. The 80s showed a wide variety of ads, some of which served to convince consumers that they

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Designing UX Exchange

An excellent case study of designing for the Web. Most often web designs start with a let's-make-something-pretty concept instead of first realizing what is the content, the desired features and which are the user actions we want to "provoke", and the developing a design to accommodate these elements.

UX Exchange is a Q&A site in the Stack Exchange SE family of websites, the most famous of which you probably know: Stack Overflow. Every SE site has its own look and feel, and as the UX site is getting close to graduating from beta, a new design was in order.

Full article: Designing UX Exchange.

The Daily Mail finds a photo on the web and credits the "Internet" as the...

The Daily Mail finds a photo on the web and credits the "Internet" as the owner of the photo... http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1336141/Rhiya-Malin-2-died-heart-attack-getting-head-stuck-window.html

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Bought for $5M in 2006, sold for $133M in 2011

An excellent exit imho :)

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Just 0.2% of Facebook flogged for $133m • The Register

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7 SEO Myths You’re Probably Following
SEO. Just the mention of it will flood your Twitter stream with spam replies and start the “gurus” knocking at your inbox door. But really, SEO isn’t as big of a mystery as many would make it out to b...

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7 SEO Myths You’re Probably Following

SEO. Just the mention of it will flood your Twitter stream with spam replies and start the “gurus” knocking at your inbox door. But really, SEO isn’t as big of a mystery as many would make it out to be. Oh sure, there are some hard and fast rules when it comes to the good versus the bad, but many of the important parts about SEO can simply be followed by writing good content.

An interesting read, the most important being that SEO is something you do once. SEO is a continuing process that should be part of your site updating routine. Of course, you need to have such a routine first. Most corporate (or personal) sites are also done once, then forgotten for ages. A stale site is a dead site...

Full article: 7 SEO Myths You’re Probably Following - TNW Design & Dev.

Behind the videoconferencing technology of Google+ Hangouts

Reshared post from +Robert Scoble

Behind the videoconferencing technology of Google+ Hangouts

When you use a Google+ Hangout (the feature over to the right side of Google+ that lets you do a videoconference with up to nine other people) you are using video technology developed by http://vidyo.com

Here I meet the CEO, who shows me what they've been working on lately: even higher quality video telepresence services. Then we end up doing a Google Hangout so you can see the quality difference. Funny enough +Jason Calacanis showed up there.

Enterprises who are trying to use videoconferencing at work should check this out.

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Reality distortion field reaches legal proceedings ;)

Apple claimed in a German court, which it also claimed in its submission to the Dutch court, that the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 is a straight rip-off of Cupertino's iPad 2, providing photographs and drawings good enough to convince the judge to impose a ban on Samsung's distribution of its Galaxy Tab product. But the photograph on page 28 clearly shows the devices side by side, with identical proportions. This is quite remarkable when the Tab is a widescreen device.

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Apple changed shape of Galaxy Tab in court filing • The Register

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Here’s how the Reddit logo was created
This morning, one of my favorite guys in the tech world, Alexis Ohanian of Reddit and Hipmunk fame, posted a little ditty on how he made the Reddit logo.

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On the new "scrolling live comments" feature that was added today: it still...

On the new "scrolling live comments" feature that was added today: it still needs some work. If the comments are expanded and you try to post, new comments are added and your comment form can scroll oot of your viewing window as you type :)

And when comments are collapsed your comment form will go up and down as shorter or longer comments come in

And when all this happens in your stream and a new post from another user comes in, again everything scrolls down

Basically Google a small real-time chat window (multiple actually in a single page) inside an area where usually you're supposed to have just a few comments. Obviously it's a lot more fun to have hundreds of people participate in a post but I can get chaotic (and at some point will get bored of it if they dont have a way to manage the situation)

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So we are basically left with commercial choices for our internet IDs: Facebook,...

So we are basically left with commercial choices for our internet IDs: Facebook, Twitter, Google, LinkedIn...

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R.I.P. OpenID: Janrain Raises Millions to Do Just the Opposite
What's the difference between Live Free or Die style independence and acting like Lady Gaga posturing in a dress made of meat? It could be economic viability, if you're a tech startup. Long one of the...

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Well

1) newspapers were delivered in our homes (in the US) for decades
2) food delivery has also been going on over the phone for decades
but sure, I agree with the general sentiment that the internet has made some tasks even easier to accomplish without leaving your home.

The question is if you are going to turn that saved time into laziness or something productive and/or fun :)

Reshared post from +Sherilynn Macale

11 ways Tech has made us lazy. I am guilty of everything I've listed in this article (seriously). I almost never leave my room. No joke.

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11 Ways Tech has Made Us Lazy
Everything seems to be moving so much more quickly nowadays. Why throw a grilled cheese sandwich on an actual grill when you can just toss it into an automatic sandwich maker? Why have ...

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/me gets popcorn :)

/me gets popcorn :)

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Google to buy Motorola Mobility for $12.5B
The deal to scoop up Motorola Mobility will give the search giant valuable intellectual property and get it directly into the handset business. Read this blog post by Roger Cheng on Wireless.

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Feeling old indeed

:)

Embedded Link

10-year old hacker finds flaw in mobile games • The Register
Feeling old? By John Leyden • Get more from this author. Posted in Enterprise Security, 8th August 2011 11:56 GMT. Free whitepaper – Power and Cooling Capacity Management for Data Centers. A 10-year-o...

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Google announced this week that Google+ shares would start showing up in Google search...

Reshared post from +Pete Cashmore

Google announced this week that Google+ shares would start showing up in Google search results. Is this a game changer?

Obviously this could give Google+ the edge over Facebook -- websites would be incentivized to integrate +1 buttons more than Like buttons if they provided a boost in search results.

What's not to clear to me is the exact effect a +1 or a Google+ share has on search results -- I thought it would just provide the same results and append a friend's avatar if they had shared that link ... but some testing suggests that Google is actually rearranging search pages based on what your friends share.

Does anyone have insights into how Google+ is changing search results? What have you seen? And is this a BIG DEAL or not?

http://mashable.com/2011/08/12/google-plus-social-search/

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Google+ Posts Now Appear in Google Search Results
Google has begun the process of integrating Google+ into search results with the addition of public Google+ posts to Social Search.

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is it me or is this completely silly?

is it me or is this completely silly?

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Playing with Lego helps you create better websites, apparently
Can playing with Lego help you design better websites? A new, entirely serious, document from a Swiss team claims it can. URL - User Requirements with Lego is a process that creative ...

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The new Windows Phone logo
This is the sort of blog post that includes one real nugget of information. We'll put it in context, but really, this post is about a new logo, how hard can we spin it?

Right, with ...

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the problem with averages

:)

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What are you reading this summer? :)

What are you reading this summer? :)

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The best books about social media that you’d never expect
There’s certainly no shortage of books on social media, social technologies and online communities that are invaluable reading for brands, marketers etc. But there are some excellent ...

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The best books about social media that you'd never expect

There’s certainly no shortage of books on social media, social technologies and online communities that are invaluable reading for brands, marketers etc. But there are some excellent books on social media that actually have nothing to do with social media.

Full article: The best books about social media that you'd never expect - TNW Social Media.

Online maps evolution heats up

After a period where progress seemed to have stopped, web-based map services are heating up again. Here are some recent developments:

Microsoft adds maps for 400 shopping malls in the U.S. in the mobile version of Bing Maps:
Microsoft's innovative but too-unloved mobile map search service announced today that it has added floor plan maps for 400 shopping malls to m.bing.com.
Full read: Bing Mall Maps and the Future of Mobile Retail http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/shopping_mall_maps_bing_mobile.php

Google is expanding it's travel-related services with a new interface to search for hotels and see their location at the same time:
Google’s Hotel Finder (not to be confused with HotelFinder.com) can find the ideal accommodation for a particular user based on a few different priorities, such as location and budget. For example, when searching for where to stay, the user can draw shapes around neighborhoods using a mouse rather than searching by individual addresses.
Full read: Google Experiments With Hotel Finder Search Tool
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/btl/google-experiments-with-hotel-finder-search-tool/53425
Access: Google Hotel Finder http://www.google.com/hotelfinder/

More Google: tube directions for London!
Google made the announcement earlier today, and the 1bn+ passengers that use Transport for London (TfL) services each year, covering 18,000 bus stops and 250+ Underground stations, can now obtain transport options as well as navigate the streets – entirely within Google Maps.
Full read: Google Maps now gives public transport directions in London http://thenextweb.com/uk/2011/07/28/google-maps-now-gives-public-transport-directions-in-london/

More UK: an excellent G.I.S. application, showing property values for the UK
Zoopla, a UK property search and information website, has today launched heatmaps, which show the average current value of homes across the UK in an easy-to-visualize format
Full read: Heatmaps let Zoopla users see average house prices across the UK http://thenextweb.com/uk/2011/07/28/heatmaps-let-zoopla-users-see-average-house-prices-across-the-uk/
Access: Zoopla http://www.zoopla.co.uk/

Got any other examples?

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