Should we really “Flock”

Posted on Jun 29, 2009 by Rich to General, Technology Trends

So I recently came across a blog posts that spoke of a new “browser” that is labeled the Social Media browser. But what exactly does that entail? Well thats the same question I had.  In an effort to try to understand what this was about, I decided to install said browser. Wondering what the name of this browser is? it’s called “Flock“.

As you can see from the image above, Flock lets you have one browser to basically manage all your social networks in one place.  According the Wikipedia, here are Flock’s features:

Flock 2.5 integrates social networking and media services including MySpace,Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Flickr, Blogger, Gmail, Yahoo! Mail, etc.  Notably, when logging into any of the supported social services, Flock can track updates from friends: profiles, uploaded photos, and more. Flock’s latest 2.5 version added Twitter Search functionality, multi-casting of status updates to multiple services, and the introduction of instant messaging via Facebook Chat in the browser.

Other features include:

• native sharing of text, links, photos and videos;
• a “Media Bar” showing preview of online videos and photos as well as subscription to photo and video feeds;
• a feed reader supporting Atom, RSS and Media RSS feeds;
• a blog editor and reader, allowing direct posting into any designated blog;
• a Webkit-mail component allowing users to check supported web-based email off site, compose new messages, and drag-and-drop pictures and videos from the “Media Bar” or webclipboard into a new email message;
• support for third-party add-ons, including a number of Firefox extensions.

From my personal initial glance, Seems like a very nifty way to deal with social media networking, but whats really the difference between Flock and let’s say the firefox plugin called Yoono?

I guess it would depend on the individual user.  As I would like to consider myself a novice at using Flock, I think it was beneficial to see a little bit about this Social Browser before I get into playing around with it a little more.

So far it the question of  “Should we Flock” seems to be based on a personal answer. Does it matter?

Tags: Flock, Yoono

Wikipedia Rant

Posted on Jun 23, 2009 by Rick to General

Today, I feel the need to rant. My target: Wikipedia. I’ll begin by admitting my love/hate relationship with Wikipedia. Now, on to my rant:

Why I love Wikipedia
I love the ideals on which Wikipedia were founded. The old saying, “No one of us is smarter than all of us,” comes to mind when I think about the value that Wikipedia could potential add the Web, and to the world. I’m a firm believer in the ideal that knowledge is evolving and shared, not owned. So when Wikipedia started, I was excited at the idea that a database of knowledge was being created that was neither owned nor written by any one person, company, school, etc. Since everyone contributes, I feel that the end result could potentially be the most accurate body of knowledge on the planet.

The Dark Side of Wikipedia
Occasionally, I’ll get the urge to contribute to Wikipedia project. While I don’t consider myself an expert on a wide variety of topics, I do know a thing-or-two about a thing-or-two. Most importantly, I really only contribute when I feel that it will benefit the project. I don’t contribute just to hear my own voice, so to speak. Two major faults I see with Wikipedia:

The Knowledge Police
On Wikipedia, there are privileged groups of individuals who have the power to administer the content of Wikipedia above and beyond the average user. In short, these individuals have the power to decide whether or not content is permitted and also whether or not to block users. They also have the ability to ‘lock’ content from editing by average Joes.

The original purpose of these groups of individuals was to protect the project from SPAM and to help keep information organized. The actual effect that this policy has on the project is that individuals, not the community, ultimately make decisions about what information is ‘worthy’ and ‘correct’ and what information is ‘spam’ or ‘unnecessary’. For the most part, these guys/gals should be thanked for their efforts. Occasionally, I feel that personal biases may get in the way of good information. I realize that no system is perfect but on Wikipedia, there is no effective way to appeal decisions made by the ‘knowledge police’. Additionally, these individuals are not help accountable for their actions so there is little one can do to debate or appeal a decision. A simple voting or rating system for Wiki Administrators may be enough to separate the good from the bad.

The Rich get Richer
In general, large companies are deemed ‘significant’ per Wikipedia guidelines and thus, can have their own pages. Small, less ‘significant’ companies are often banned from Wikipedia because they are deemed insignificant. Any attempts to add information about small, lesser-known individuals are often extinguished. Example: Coca-cola is permitted to have a detailed page on Wikipedia but other small beverage companies are not. In short, Wikipedia has put yet another institution in place that supports big business and hinders small business from competing as effectively. While Wikipedia won’t likely make or break any company, there still something to be said about this ‘big business’ policy.

Conclusions
Wikipedia is a great project, but it does have flaws that could be improved on. I certainly hope that the founders and administrators can control the project and bring it back to its roots.

Thanks for listening

Tags: rants, wikipedia

New iPhone 3GS Effect on Web Browsing

Posted on Jun 19, 2009 by William to General, Technology Trends

Every time a new method of surfing the Internet comes along, people everywhere wonder if we are in for a revolution or simply a slight change in the way we do things. With the release of the new iPhone 3GS from Apple, many are wondering what the effect on web browsing is going to be. The truth is that this amazing new iPhone 3GS likely won’t change things very much, but it may lengthen the amount of time people feel okay about being away from their laptop or office computer.

Just about everything on the new iPhone 3GS has been improved, from the software inside to the rounded and more comfortable feel on the outside. The impact on web browsing has more to do with email and load times than anything else. The new intuitive software helps to instantly link your phone to your email for effortless syncing in real time. This means that your iPhone 3GS doesn’t need to be docked, plugged in, or otherwise fed into a larger computer to get the information you need. This does foster a higher degree of independence, but it is unclear if it will actually change the way people surf the net. Taking things a bit further is the fact that load times have been significantly reduced, which should lead to people surfing the web using the iPhone’s built in Safari browser more than they did before. However, since Safari in iPhones loads and works in essentially the same way as Safari for Macs, the actually loading of pages and using of content should remain unchanged, but now people can do it on the go far more effectively than before.

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Tags: iPhone 3GS, web browsing

How will Facebook’s Few Usernames Affect Social Media?

Posted on Jun 15, 2009 by William to Social Media

There can be no doubt that social networking media has changed the way people use the Internet, both professionally and for fun. With the implementation of Facebook usernames, though, how will people go about finding others now?

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Tags: facebook user names, social media trends

Google Local SEO Quick Tips

Posted on Jun 10, 2009 by Rick to SEO

Google local search has been around for a while now and I’m still surprised by how few small business know how to take advantage of it. For many who are not experienced with it, organic SEO can seem confusing which may be why many may just ignore it. However, local search optimization is one of the easiest ways for local business to generate traffic to their websites. Since millions of searchers are using Google Maps to find businesses, Google can offer a steady stream of traffic to almost any business that optimizes for it.

Lately, I’ve also noticed Google Local results appearing in organic search more and more often. And as Google fine-tunes their search logic, it would make sense that local results continue to appear for a greater number of searches in the US and worldwide when they are relveant. This further argues the point that a local search strategy is worth the time.

First, lets look at an example:

In a recent search for Miami Movers, I get the following search results:

Click to Enlarge

You’ll see in the image that a map and several local business results appear in the first position. These results are being pulled from Google Maps listings. While it may not be reasonable for many companies to rank in the top position for specific keyword phrases in general search, a well-optimized local listing can still yield a good amount of traffic as the local results seem to trump the general search results.

Here’s how you can take advantage:

First, go to Google Maps and search for your business name. Chances are pretty good that you your business already has a listing if you’ve been around for a little while. If so, click more info next your listing. Then, look for a link that says edit and then on edit this listing. At this point, Google will take you through a number of steps to validate that you are in fact the business owner. Once you’ve confirmed ownership, you’ll have access to edit your listing.

What next?

Click to Enlarge

Now that you’ve validated your listing, it’s time to edit a few things. First, make sure that all your business information is correct. Check the phone numbers, email address, hours of operation, etc. Next, you’ll want to make sure that your business name and description are fairly keyword-rich. For example, a moving company in Miami might assign the business name Bob’s Moving Company – Miami. The business description should also have relevant, location specific keyword phrases such as miami movers, moving company in miami, etc. Lastly, make sure your business is assigned to the appropriate categories. You’re allowed to assign yourself to multiple categories so be sure to assign all categories that are relevant.

Once you updated and saved your listing, wait a couple weeks and log back into your Google Local Business center. You’ll then be able to view statistics regarding the number of times your listing has displayed and how searchers found it. As with any SEO strategy, this can take time. Following these steps and the other fundamentals of SEO will yield long term results for your company.

Click to Enlarge

Tags: local search

In the year 3000! ok maybe 2012 – The future of Development

Posted on Jun 8, 2009 by Rich to Technology Trends, Web Design

So I have been reading lately on the evolution of web development and how it will affect our culture as a whole. I have seen many blogs and articles state that mobile development will grow substantially. I totally agree with this item. Most websites now have evolved into thinking of mobile website presentation as an important part of their design and development. Some may argue in having a separate presentation for your mobile edition like yoursite.com/mobile or m.yoursite.com others might argue that something like “Progressive Enhancement” might be the solution.  While others still might have their own reasons for doing what they do. I personally feel like there is no right answer. The biggest question to me is something that plagues us as developers and designers on the regular computer browsers.  That is cross-browser compatibility. For example, I went from a sidekick slide to a G1 and now to the iPhone. Each phone supports different functionality and such. which makes it very difficult to have the mobile edition look the same across all phones. Yikes!

Another thing I have read about lately has been on the “I hope IE 6 Dies” mentality. While me as a Developer would truly hope so, we might not have that even in 2012. With the prices of these systems, licensing costs, lack of IT manpower or whatever else could be impeding the upgrade of computer systems in larger corporations we might still have to deal with this disease.

Frameworks Frameworks Frameworks. Developers have their preference. Some might tell you to learn all, some might say stick to one. At the end of the day, I can see them integrating concepts together to form the ultimate framework like voltron.js

I would talk about HTML5 and CSS3, but why. If not all browsers support it, then we are back to 2009.

Tags: CSS, CSS3, Dojo, HTML5, jQuery, Progressive Enhancement, Prototype

Best Search Engines: Google vs Yahoo vs MSN

Posted on Jun 4, 2009 by William to General

Google has always been hailed as the topmost search engine. However, among the best search engines, Yahoo and MSN have also been innovating continuously. A Google vs Yahoo vs MSN analysis brings out several distinguishing features of the three search engines.

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Tags: best search engines, google vs yahoo vs msn, search engine differences