The issue is one of successful communication. What you say and how you say it are what motivates people to connect with your company, the solution provider. Websites, blogs, social networking, and mobile sites are merely venues for communication. All the Facebook friends, Linkedin contacts, and search engine traffic in the world doesn’t mean a thing if you have nothing interesting, memorable, and persuasive to say to them.

In our view, Web Video is the most powerful communication tool available to businesses today, but if you don’t use it properly it isn’t going to help, and the same thing applies to copy, graphics, photos, and blog posts. What you say and how you say it are the critical elements of whether or not, people respond to your website presentation.

What Needs To Be Said

Marketing consultants have for years suggested the use of Mission Statements as one way to get companies to focus their thinking and communication efforts into something meaningful. They are intended to be a kind of ‘Rosetta Stone’ for corporate communication, but instead, they have become a graveyard for innocuous platitudes and inane statements of self-congratulation. It’s too bad because the idea of a core guiding statement that defines purpose and personality is central to developing a framework for marketing communication content and delivery.

If websites are about motivating action, what do we need to communicate to our audience to achieve that objective? If Mission Statements aren’t the solution, what is? The answer is not a price proposition or a feature proposition but rather a presentation of emotional value because it is the most persuasive motivating factor you can offer. It is something that your competitors can’t copy, undercut, or even compete with.

Your Emotional Value Proposition Is Your Brand

If you ever thought branding didn’t apply to your company, well now you know better, because branding is nothing more than the implementation and communication of your company’s emotional value statement: the core guiding principle used to formulate all marketing communication efforts, including website video presentations.

In Lee Eisenberg’s book, ‘Shoptimism’ he outlines four reasons people buy things: to make themselves happy, to transform themselves, to express themselves, and to achieve a sense of permanence. Each of these reasons is based on an emotional value, which is why all the features and price-cutting in the world can’t compete with a well-established emotional return.

Presenting Value in Marketing Communication

Eisenberg’s four reasons to buy are really a variation on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs that form a pyramid of need, want, and desire: the basis for everything we require and everything we crave, starting with survival and ending with self-fulfillment. Most of us have moved up the pyramid from
basic survival and procreation needs to more sophisticated desires based on belonging, identity, and self-actualization, the elements that form an Emotional Value Marketing Proposition.

Most sophisticated marketers understand the power and importance of self-actualization as an emotional trigger upon which a brand identity can be established and promoted; however a distinction must be made between the audience’s desire for individual fulfillment and a company’s objective of meeting its marketing goals.

In a Web-based business environment populated with newly minted entrepreneurs who do not distinguish themselves from their businesses, it is easy to understand why this confusion exists.

A business is a living breathing entity unto itself and should not be confused with it’s owners, managers, and employees. It may be trendy to think you are your brand, but unless you’re Tony Robbins, with his personality, performance skills, resources and ’shtick,’ it’s best to implement a less egocentric strategy.

Where self-actualization in marketing plays out is as a basis for presenting the emotional value you offer your audience: a desirable value that motivates that audience to act, and thereby fulfill your corporate marketing goals.

An ego-based misreading of self-actualization has led to a plethora of self-promotion and do-it-yourselfism that works against business success. It’s the fulfillment of your audiences desires that management needs to be concerned with, not their own.

Perception, Reality, and Communication

Once you’ve figured out what your Emotional Value Proposition is, the next thing is to figure out how to present it, which brings us to the idea of hyperrealism, a term we use for developing effective Web-based video presentations.

Marketing communication is essentially a storytelling discipline that relies on shorthand reference and pattern recognition wrapped in the context of an idealized reality, what we call hyperrealism. In art, hyperrealism is intended to convey something deeper and more significant than what mere reality can convey, and the same principle holds true for marketing communication. Reality is messy, complex, and confused, while hyperrealism is simplified and focused, a prime directive in any effective marketing, branding, and advertising strategy. You need to simplify in order to clarify, in order to persuade.

HyperRealism As A Concept Development Principle

Every sane human being understands gangsters and serial killers are bad, yet television audiences flock to consume episodes of the ‘Sopranos’ and ‘Dexter.’ In the same way most of us know the images presented by Victoria’s Secret bear little relation to reality. These examples may be obvious, but all effective commercial presentation is stylized, not because it’s an effort to mislead, but rather because it needs to focus and clarify a
message aimed at engaging and connecting to an audience on an emotional level.

In order to connect to your audience your marketing presentation must communicate something more than the lowest price, or the latest feature, it must show the way to that idealized version that viewers have of themselves that only exists in their minds. Once you come to grips with that reality, you’re on your way to developing a successful marketing communication strategy.

Campaigns and Video Websites. Visit http://www.mrpwebmedia.com/ads, http://www.136words.com, and http://www.sonicpersonality.com. Contact at info@mrpwebmedia.com or telephone (905) 764-1246.

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HyperRealism as a Motivating Factor in Web Video

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Spying mobile phones in the wild is always cool when you get to know a thing or two regarding what’s under the hood. A good example is this new Sony Ericsson Faith smartphone that has leaked ahead of its official debut. Resembling a bit with Nokia’s E61/E71, the new Sony Ericsson Faith is a QWERTY handset that supposedly falls in the company’s eco-friendly GreenHeart range as it’s made from recycled plastic and without the use of any harmful chemicals.

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Read the rest of Sony Ericsson Faith Smartphone Spied [Eco-Friendly Sony Ericsson Faith to Run WinMo 6.5]

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Check out the video first:

Quix isn’t a new idea, it’s based on an idea by one of my all time heroes Shaun Inman called Shortwave. Shortwave had a lot of things I wanted to add to it though, so I made my own version and added the ability to do Greasemonkey style scripting and stylesheet additions with it as well.

Quix comes with a wealth of built in commands, but the best thing about is that it’s fully extendable. I can only say one thing: go forth and play, and let me know what you think of it!

Unleashing Quix is a post from Joost de Valk's Yoast – Tweaking Websites.A good WordPress blog needs good hosting, you don’t want your blog to be slow, or, even worse, down, do you? Check out my thoughts on WordPress hosting!

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The one thing that strikes me the most is that we’re really seeing a huge development in user behavior analysis in order to make gadgets and app as simple as possible in order to mix with people of all levels of usage. If it ain’t easy you can be darn sure that the gadget won’t become the next big thing anytime soon.

So, with this in mind we are now seeing augmented reality make a swoop into our everyday lives. The applications are endless and the sheer fun you can have with it is just awesome. Augmented Reality really made a name for itself last year and already we’re seeing the incorporation of it in pretty much everything. And, now it hits the Social Networking as well, even if it just in the beginning of things. You will be able to point your iPhone at a person, the app will go through a facial recognition phase and voila, you instantly get that persons different Social Networking links and information. Just click and add. Simple as that!

It ain’t hard to see the next step really. You’re watching a movie, you point your camera at the screen and there you have it. You get information about the actors or actresses, producer, movie information and statistics…as saif, the applications are endless. So, let’s embrace this new feature. Let’s make it the next big thing and somewhat hurry up the technology development. We are the projected user group, we are the ones making this possible. So go out there and look up everything about it. Maybe we can even help develop it. I am sure we have tons of smart kids watching Bit Rebels eager to get into some cool stuff. As a matter of fact I think you all are. So get going!

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Private conversations with groups you choose:

• Share web pages, pictures, and video
• Everyone sees the same thing at the same time
• facebook connect to get started in seconds!

http://www.sharegrove.com

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Here at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Sony made a ton of announcements regarding new products, including new lines of TVs, an HD TV channel, a competitor to the Flip cam (more later today) and the Dash, but what might have been the most interesting part of its press conference last night was the surprise concert by superstar singer Taylor Swift, whom you remember either for Love Story or for being interrupted by Kanye at the VMAs.

Sony’s CEO immediately introduced her as their new global ambassador — a smart choice, if you ask us. Not long after they talked about her new job recording her travels on Sony devices, he gave up the stage for her to perform her hit single. What’s even more interesting about the concert is that they recorded and displayed the whole thing in 3D. You may not be able to see it, but that background camera image of her is actually 3D, if you have the glasses. And as I said over at CNN yesterday, 3D is this year’s hot thing at CES.

We recorded the unexpected concert and the announcement, so take a look below (and skip to two minutes in if you just want to see Taylor singing):

Tags: CES, CES 2010, entertainment, taylor swift

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One of the best parts that I remember about working in an office is the relationships you build with others. We all spend so much time working; sometimes it is easier to see your co-workers more often than your own family.

If you are single, you might even take this to the next step. What if you have a crush on your boss? What do you do? It certainly isn’t professional or appropriate in most cases, but what if you want to take things a step further? This is the stuff that trashy romance novels are made of, and I think it is so much fun.

Enjoy this video on how to seduce your boss. These people at videojug are hilarious. The site says, “Seducing your boss is an ill advised activity. But if you are intent on picking up your boss, here’s our guide to seducing them.” Haha!

I just have two questions. First, does it work the same way if the boss is a male? Second, why did they have to use a guy that looks like such a tool?

Dating Humor:
How To Seduce Your Boss

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So, what can you do? Well, I found this really cool hack that will enable you to create a couple of LED lights lighting up your keyboard. As a matter of fact ANY keyboard. It’s quite simple and only require some minor skills and a few cords and LED’s. Then it’s just to get to work and put it all together.

When done you will be able to use the “Scroll Lock” key or whatever key you desire to use to toggle the LED’s on and off depending on when you want them lit. The solution may not be the most visually stunning but it sure looks cool and could really be used in a lot of other ways. How about hooking up a keyboard full of light switches. Then you could just sit at your keyboard and turn lights off and on around the house. Well, this might take a huge amount of work and probably not possible using the small power run through the keyboard but the thought is tickling.

Now, toggle that brain on and get to work. Your days typing on darkness is forever over. The time of no sleep is here and you have no more excuses why you can’t work during the night. The darknes is now your friend while working. Enjoy!

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What do you do when your renegade Macintosh clone business is knocked out of commission by a legal ruling? The obvious answer, according to Psystar, is to sell t-shirts!

This is probably the closest thing to a Mac clone you’ll be able to pick up from a vendor anytime soon. Unfortunately for Psystar, it’s probably the closest thing to revenue they’ll see anytime soon as well.

If you’re eager to support The Cause, you can pick one up in small, medium, large or extra large for $15 a pop.

What do you think of the Psystar ruling?

[via Gizmodo]

Tags: apple, clones, legal, mac, psystar

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You need a few things but it won’t cost you much. 1-2 light bulbs, 2 batteries, 2 cords, a soldering device and a few ordinary tools to pull this off. Just remember not to put this light bulb back into any sockets and try to turn them on. The result I don’t know but it’s best you don’t.

The cool thing about it is that for someone with a little bit of skills you can actually make this lamp rotate in color with just a little chip attached to its inside, then add a few more lights in different colors and you have your own light bulb that can lie by itself on the table and still twinkle in different colors. If that’s not impressive I don’t know. Enjoy and be careful!

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Looking for really affordable premium WordPress themes?

You know me, I always encourage you to experiment, to learn new things, to reinvent yourself, but sometime the wheel doesn’t not need to be reinvented. Sometimes the best thing to do is to learn from the experience and wisdom of our “elders”. Such is the case of today’s blog post. Instead of sharing some of my own tips with you, I’ll leave you in the company of some of the world’s most famous authors and only interpret their teachings in the art of writing.

Easy reading is damn hard writing.
Nathaniel Hawthorne

Have something to say, and say it as clearly as you can. That is the only secret.
Matthew Arnold

It’s easy to get lost in words and ideas. It’s harder to keep your writing concise and to the point, to make it clear and easy to read. Focus on getting your ideas across, to your readers, in their most natural form. Nathaniel Hawthorne and Matthew Arnold both agree on this.

A professional writer is an amateur who didn’t quit.
Richard Bach

If you write one story, it may be bad; if you write a hundred, you have the odds in your favor.
Edgar Rice Burroughs

Writing is a continuous activity. You experiment constantly. You learn and evolve. The more you write, the better the chances to put something good out there. It’s “trial and error” until it becomes “trial and success”.

You can’t wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.
Jack London

It’s something I’ve always preached. Keep your eyes and ears open to the world around you. Look for inspiration in every single thing you read, hear and see. There’s actually no such thing as a “writer’s block”, but rather failure in finding a good starting point.

Tell the readers a story! Because without a story, you are merely using words to prove you can string them together in logical sentences.
Anne McCaffrey

Stories… even simple news have a story behind. Give people a story they can relate to. Give them a story they can understand and let them draw conclusions themselves. Give them the tools and let them build their own result.

The most essential gift for a good writer is a built-in, shock-proof, shit detector. This is the writer’s radar and all great writers have had it.
Ernest Hemingway

I try to leave out the parts that people skip.
Elmore Leonard

Being a good editor is also a must for a good writer. Proof-reading and “shit detecting” as Hemingway calls it are required in order to make sure you get the best possible copy out there. What’s harder to achieve though, is being neutral, looking at your own work from an outsider’s perspective.

The two most engaging powers of an author are to make new things familiar and familiar things new.
Samuel Johnson

When 20 people are writing about the same thing, the only one to “make it” is the one putting it in a new light. There’s no point in doing the same things in the same way. Find your original angle.

What is written without effort is in generally read without pleasure.
Samuel Johnson

And your original angle comes from within your original voice. Put your heart and mind into your writings. Put passion into writing and passion with be reborn into reading.

Free PDF eBook: Corporate Blogging Guide by Blogsessive

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Squareleaf is a simple and intuitive virtual whiteboard, complete with all the sticky notes you’ll ever need. Unlike the real thing, our notes don’t fall off all of the time.

http://www.squareleaf.net/

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Getting tired of old holiday standards like “The 12 Days of Christmas” and “Silent Night”? Why not check out “Christmas in Cupertino,” a catchy Apple-themed carol from famous Dutch singers Sjarrel & Sjaan?

This little number was specially composed for Dutch Apple website, One More Thing, and it is basically the most amazing thing ever. Seriously. This song will be stuck in your head well into the new year.

The lyrics mostly deal with Jobs and Schiller’s eating habits and respective physical states (Schiller wears a “tight polo” whilst chowing down; Jobs is a vegetarian and recently had a liver transplant), but they also touch on the Apple’s success and contain a lovely image of the duo dancing around “the apple Christmas tree.”

Check it out below or purchase the song on iTunes [iTunes link]. All proceeds go to de Dutch Liver Foundation. Gelukkig Kerstfeest!

[via The Unofficial Apple Weblog]

Tags: apple, Christmas, phil schiller, steve jobs, viral video

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When my father was alive, every time I would send him an email, he would pick up the phone and call me. He explained that since we didn’t live close together and didn’t have an in-person relationship, he wanted to call me so that nothing was lost in translation online.

His theory was that when you communicate primarily online, since there is no eye contact, no tone of voice, no obvious gestures, sometimes things can be misinterpreted. My father’s words are ringing in my head after what happened yesterday. I got in my very first online argument ever. To make matters worse, it was with one of my closest Twitter friends.

He sent me a direct message which I misinterpreted. I fired back with an email. He misinterpreted my email and sent a very strong email back arguing points that weren’t relevant. We wasted a whole bunch of time and energy on jumbled up mess of misunderstandings.

The strange thing is that this person is so special to me and I would never want to hurt him, but it just all happened so fast. And then poof – the damage was done. Suddenly an entire long standing friendship felt like it was on the rocks over a thirty minute misunderstanding. I didn’t sleep all night.

I learned a lot from this experience. If this has never happened to you before, then I hope to give you some pointers so that if it does happen, you will handle it better than I did.

1. The whole thing started with that first email I sent. Once I did that, it was over. I’m still having a hard time recovering from that action. Don’t think twice before sending something like that, instead, think about ten times.

2. Everything online is amplified. If you are annoyed, you will come across as angry. If you are angry, you will come across as very angry. Instead of typing exactly what you are thinking, remember this and adjust your words accordingly.

3. Know when to stop. That is probably the only one thing we did right in that argument. I wasn’t even the one to stop it; he gets all the credit for that. He knew when to stop and turn the corner. Looking back, that was so important.

4. Be more patient, more kind and more understanding that you might be in person because just as you are trying to decipher their text, they are doing the same thing with yours. Give the other person the benefit of the doubt, always.

In the end, we kissed and made up, thank goodness. I apologized over and over. I won’t be having another online spat again, ever.

If your argument is at home, instead of online, you might want to order this Spat Solver. This is hilarious.

If you have any comments or suggestions about this, or if something like this has ever happened to you, please leave a comment below.

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• Related Blogs on Google Enables Real Time Spam and More

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Then Google started giving more and more people the invites and we went from black market trading to friend giveaways. A few people had a couple and they, in return of some promotion, gladly chose the one that could provide the most visibility for them. At this point Google Wave was still as interesting and exciting. Maybe because no one really knew what to expect from it. In the demoing that Google held it was apparent that the application was no where near completed and almost not up to public beta either. The many failures during the demo proved this but we all wanted in on this new and exciting way of working together.

Third stage came and it’s here where something went horribly wrong. At least that’s what the numbers and excitement tell us. People started getting more and more invites. Even people that already had invites to give away suddenly got another batch of 16 invites. At the sound of it, it almost felt like Google had their application under control and knew exactly what they were up against. But people stopped urning for the invites and people somehow got wind that the new wonder child of Google wasn’t much else than a word processor that could be used over distances and by many people at the same time. Well, that’s exactly what Google Wave is if you think about it.

I myself got 16 invites and I tried over a period of 2 days to give them out to people if they wanted them Guess what, 5 days later and I still have 14 left. It seems like no one wants them anymore. My first thought was, maybe it’s time to give them to my family or close friends that don’t even know that Google Wave exists. maybe they want them. But then again why would they need a service like this? It’s not like I will chat with them through Google Wave when I can just pick up the phone and call them. Or even just drop by and say hello.

No, somewhere along the line Google missed the opportunity to impress us. Somewhere along the line they stopped thinking about what was beneficial for us using this new and free service. As for updates I haven’t seen one since the launch of Google Wave. Not even a hot fix. And let me tell you, there are still stuff to be dealt with in order to provide is as a multi platform massive user application.

Google Wave Fail

The fact that it’s super slow after just a couple of hundred additions of text makes the application unbearable to work with and we’ve done it quite a lot here at Bit Rebels. I usually talk to my rebels through Google Wave when we have something that needs coordinating or just brainstorming for new things that we would like to add to Bit Rebels. But after a while we just run out of energy. And let me tell you, it’s not because lack of inspiration. It’s purely because Google Wave just can’t handle the amount of information we want to pass back and forth when we collaborate.

How is Google Wave going to sustain a large group of people working on a large project for a business related topic. If things weren’t hard enough already to pass around how could this possibly help speed things up.

I think Google should have put some more brain power into this nice concept (on paper) instead of letting us getting bored with it just because it is not up to par with the speed that we are doing things today. If Google would have made sure that there was something appealing with the whole thing. New or old. That would have helped people to stay excited about the whole thing. As it is now things just doesn’t look that good for the application.

We had a vision of using Google Wave here on Bit Rebels. Right in the article in order to attract as many visitors and viewers as possible to find out about Google Wave and what its possibilities are but when we added the plugin to our WordPress engine…well, let’s say nothing much happened besides creating a nice little gray block in the position where we had planned for a lot of creative people to interact. OK, I can’t put this entirely on Google Wave, after all it was the plugin we used (no names…hrmm…”Wavr”) that caused the whole thing not to function properly. But still…

If Google had wanted to make this the next big thing shouldn’t they have had some people at Google working on these kinds of things? I mean, a plugin for WordPress could have been a real booster for people to check it out. To be able to host live events on your blog certainly is a great feature. There are so many features that they could have added to it already that doesn’t take that much programming so one can’t but wonder what happened. Even if they are working on fixing bugs and actually adding features it is awfully quiet from Google about Google Wave. I mean, even Twitter makes a buzz before they launch something new. Even Apple.

In my own humble opinion I think Google is failing miserably launching this quite potentially powerful application. And the reason why is due to the fact that they don’t seem to be able to see where the potential lies. They specifically announced that they want the community to develop 3rd party tie-ins for Google Wave but wouldn’t it be a good idea to solve the “un-syncing” problem first then? Wouldn’t it be a good idea to work a little more on the actually engine to prevent fall outs and lag?

If Google doesn’t look at their strategy one more time and closely this time I am afraid the “Golden Time Frame” will just pass them by where people see the unique and ultimately cool features and possibilities of Google Wave.

I would hate to see this wonderful idea fall through the cracks because of ignorance in the field of usability and future trends. It ain’t that hard to see where Social Networking and Work Group applications are heading. Right?

Google Wave Developer Preview at Google I/O 2009

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As much as some Windows Mobile lovers will defend their Windows Mobile 6.5 handsets I imagine they’re waiting for the real thing just as much as the rest of us. Windows Mobile 7 is everyone’s fantasy, including Microsoft. Redmond has admitted in the past that it would have liked to have Windows Mobile 7 out sooner but that wasn’t possible.
(more…)

See: Windows Mobile 7 Gets Confirmed by Microsoft [Official Announcement Expected for March 2010]

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Business growth is easy to accomplish, once you know the secret. The secret is deceptively simple: offer what your target market wants. Easy enough, right? Yet – the only thing that gets in our way is ourselves…

I remember when I was seven I got a race car set for Christmas. After tearing open the package I couldn’t wait to race cars with my brother. But my dad had to put the damn thing together first. I remember interrupting him, grabbing the screwdriver, thinking I was helping and speeding the process along. With all my “input” and interruptions the whole process took hours! (Okay – more like 20 minutes – but at that age it SEEMED like hours!)

Marketing is the same way.

The more we try to get our own hands into the fray, the more complicated we make marketing for ourselves. Almost all your marketing questions, challenges and problems are solved by listening to what your target market wants.

People Buy End Results and Experiences

Becoming very good at marketing is largely about getting out of your head and getting into the world of your target market.

What do THEY want – not what do you THINK they need. The secret is to focus on the results you deliver – not your process to get there. People buy results – and in some markets, people also buy the experience they get journeying towards an end result.

Get in the habit of thinking in terms of the bottom line result and the experience your market gets from using your product or service.

If you apply this way of thinking right now in your business, you WILL see immediate results. As you keep acting from this perspective your business will inevitably grow in the weeks to come.

How We Decide to Buy Things

We see something we want, it triggers something deep inside; we justify why we want it and we buy it. It’s universal. We all act this way.

You know this from your experience too: remember a time when you really wanted something, but you knew you shouldn’t buy it? It’s the different parts of your brain doing what they do…

You see something and BANG! The core of your brain – the reptilian brain – grunts, “Ugh. I want that. I have to have that!” It’s your ‘greed gland.” Next your limbic system – the mammalian brain – gets hit with the emotional desire for the thing. The desire burns deep inside you – out of control if it wasn’t for the next part of the brain…the thought rises to your neo cortex. It’s our logical brain – what makes us think. You find logical reasons to justify the need to buy or not buy the thing.

In your marketing message, you have to hit all three levels of desire. Good marketing happens when you give logical reasons for your prospects emotional buying decisions. All three brain levels are represented in the top eleven reasons why we all buy…

1. Save time
2. Save money
3. Make money
4. Avoid effort
5. Increase happiness
6. Find success
7. Be pain-free/better health
8. Have fun
9. Gain praise
10. Feel safe and secure
11. Feel liked or loved/be popular

Your task is to find which of these matches your product and service. Start promoting these fundamental, universal triggers in your marketing. Grab people’s attention by showing how your offer produces some of these bottom line results and you’ll make your marketing easy and fun forever.

Post from: SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources

The Top 11 Reasons Why People Buy From You

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Originally posted at Relevant Results

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What I mean is, I think we’re soon going to run out of ways to explain exactly what Google Wave is all about. In an attempt to really understand Google Wave I think there is no better way than to listen to the founders themselves and what they are saying about it. Too many people are trying too hard to describe Google Wave in too few steps.

So how close can we get to the real “use” of Google Wave? Will it be the next email and ultimately will it be the Twitter killer everyone is talking about. If you ask me I’d say no. But this is really up to where things are taken. Not by the founders themselves but what use we will start implementing Google Wave into. That’s where the real answer lies. So, until we know that, and that is really hard to tell considering it is in the future, we couldn’t really say exactly what impact Google Wave will have in our daily life. One thing is for sure though. They are certainly off to a great start.

I decided to pull together all the clips that you probably DIDN’T see just yet. The ones where the founders talk about their own product and where they see Google Wave heading. Also wanted to include some really useful explanations about what Google Wave does and what the back end of it does. Sort of making this post the “Ultimate” Google Wave guide. Just for you. So, take a moment and just look through these clips and I am sure you’ll soon know exactly what it is all about. Enjoy!

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More and more reports suggest that Verizon is going to get the iPhone next year. But not all those reports are saying the same thing. Some are talking about an LTE iPhone while others mention a hybrid iPhone capable of dealing with both UMTS and CDMA networks.
(more…)

See: Verizon/AT&T Hybrid iPhone Not Coming Next Year? [Qualcomm Dual-Carrier Chips Ready Only in 2011]

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Of course these are just further ideas of conspiracy theories that people like to think up. But, the incorporation of such images are quite interesting and they must be there for a reason. However, I think the reasons are way more simple than some of these theories. What’s your thoughts on it? Did you ever really look at your dollar bills?

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And what’s even better is that you have full control over how the laptop’s design will end up looking. If you want a curved screen you can add that. If you want to sport the old school monochrome screen features it’s all up to you. Widescreen? Not going to be a problem. Just use a couple more papers and you’ll be all there. Even the screen size and resolution is all up to your choice.

But, be careful though. These computers are very rare and they are a treasured target for thief’s and their ever growing need for the latest and greatest wares to sell to get them the money for the rent or whatever they use it for.

So, be creative. Be original and make surte you put in an anti-theft lock on it. Why not even a GPS tracker so you can see where the computer is at all times. It’s even profitable for yourself to know where you are after a night out and you’ve had a little too much to drink. Enjoy!

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I’ve said for years that if you can’t be found in Google search results, you may not exist. (I also heard this from Phil Cooke.) I don’t mean that about people – just websites. Now I’m beginning to say the same thing about Twitter. If you’re website’s feed isn’t fed to Twitter in some way, shape, or form, you may not exist.

Read the rest at…

If You’re Not On Twitter, You May Not Exist.

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There’s no question that Microsoft Bob was nothing short of an unmitigated disaster. But that’s the funny thing about failures — they often lead to later successes. Take it from someone who lived and breathed the Bob project:

I was the one who sent Bill Gates email at the height of the positive Bob-mania that said we were likely to face a horrible backlash. Tech influentials had started telling me that they were going to bury Bob. They not only didn’t like it, they were somehow angry that it had even been developed. It was personal.

And that’s exactly what happened. Bob got killed. But first, it was ridiculed and stomped.

For Microsoft, it was a costly mistake. For the people who worked on it, Bob taught many lessons. Lessons that came into play for subsequent products that made a big impact, both at Microsoft and beyond.

How many people know that the lead developer for Bob 2.0 was also the co-founder of Valve and the development lead for Half-Life, which became an industry phenomenon, winning more than 50 Game of the Year awards and selling more than 10 million copies?

Or that Darrin Massena – development lead for Bob 1.0, most recently named Technical Innovator of the Year here in Washington State – and Valve co-founder Mike Harrington are the co-founders and partners behind Picnik – which is now the world’s leading online photo editor, attracting almost 40 million visits a month and a million unique users a day.

And then, of course, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that Melinda French — Bill Gates’ future wife — managed the Microsoft Bob project at one point. Bob was the first Microsoft consumer project that Bill Gates personally had a hand in launching. Well, at least he got a wife out of it.

Yes, Bob was an obvious, undisputed and epic failure. We can point and laugh at Bob. But to me, Bob is less of a comic figure than a tragic one.

Unless you’re an exceptionally lucky software developer, you’ve probably worked on more projects that failed than projects that succeeded. Failure is de rigeur in our industry. Odds are, you’re working on a project that will fail right now. Oh sure, it may not seem like a failure yet. Maybe it’ll fail in some completely unanticipated way. Heck, maybe your project will buck the odds and even succeed.

But I doubt it.

I own a boxed copy of Microsoft Bob. I keep it on my shelf to remind me that these kinds of relentless, inevitable failures aren’t the crushing setbacks they often appear from the outside. On the contrary; I believe it’s impossible to succeed without failing.

Charles Bosk, a sociologist at the University of Pennsylvania, once conducted a set of interviews with young doctors who had either resigned or been fired from neurosurgery-training programs, in an effort to figure out what separated the unsuccessful surgeons from their successful counterparts.

He concluded that, far more than technical skills or intelligence, what was necessary for success was the sort of attitude that Quest has — a practical-minded obsession with the possibility and the consequences of failure. “When I interviewed the surgeons who were fired, I used to leave the interview shaking,” Bosk said. “I would hear these horrible stories about what they did wrong, but the thing was that they didn’t know that what they did was wrong. In my interviewing, I began to develop what I thought was an indicator of whether someone was going to be a good surgeon or not. It was a couple of simple questions: Have you ever made a mistake? And, if so, what was your worst mistake? The people who said, ‘Gee, I haven’t really had one,’ or, ‘I’ve had a couple of bad outcomes but they were due to things outside my control’ — invariably those were the worst candidates. And the residents who said, ‘I make mistakes all the time. There was this horrible thing that happened just yesterday and here’s what it was.’ They were the best. They had the ability to rethink everything that they’d done and imagine how they might have done it differently.”

I recently watched the documentary Tilt: The Battle to Save Pinball.

It’s a gripping story of a pinball industry in crisis. In order to save it, the engineers at Williams — the only remaining manufacturer of pinball machines in the United States — were given a herculean task: invent a new form of pinball so compelling that it makes all previous pinball machines seem obsolete. I don’t want to spoil the whole documentary, so I’ll gloss over exactly how that happened, but astoundingly enough — they succeeded.

And then were promptly laid off en masse, as Williams shut down its pinball operations.

Unlike Microsoft Bob, the Williams engineers built an almost revolutionary product that was both critically acclaimed and sold well — but none of that mattered. It’s sobering to watch the end reel of Tilt, as the engineers involved mournfully discuss the termination of their bold and seemingly successful project.

Everyone was in awe. They couldn’t understand why it happened. Here we’d just done this thing that from all we could tell was a total success. Why would they do that?

We succeeded. Management gave us an impossible goal, and we sat there and we actually did what they thought we couldn’t do.

You know, we didn’t really win… we lost. I gave it everything I had. I think that those fifty guys that worked on it, they also passionately did everything that they could.

Sometimes, even when your project succeeds, you’ve failed. Due to forces entirely beyond your control. It’s depressing, but it’s reality.

The trailout isn’t all doom and gloom. It also documents the ways in which these talented pinball engineers went on to practice their craft after being laid off. Most of them still work in the video game or pinball industry. Some freelance. Others formed their own companies. A few went on to work at Stern Pinball, which figured out how to make a small number of pinball machines and still turn a profit.

These two stories, these two projects — the abject failure of Microsoft Bob, and the aborted success of Pinball 2000 — have something in common beyond mere failure. All the engineers involved not only survived these failures, but often went on to greater success afterwards. Possibly as a direct result of their work on these “failures”.

Failure is a wonderful teacher. But there’s no need to seek out failure. It will find you. Whatever project you’re working on, consider it an opportunity to learn and practice your craft. It’s worth doing because, well, it’s worth doing. The journey of the project should be its own reward, regardless of whatever happens to lie at the end of that journey.

The only truly failed project is the one where you didn’t learn anything along the way.

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Kontain is a community that allows you to follow your friends as they post videos and music etc. Now every communities strength is in its users, so encouraging people to sign up is a must. Kontain know this and have designed their sign up process to be as painless as possible.

The first thing I noticed about the page was the bright colours giving the whole thing a very positive mood and putting the user in a positive frame of mind. The next thing is that the form is laid out horizontally rather than the normal vertical layout I would expect to see from a form. As the form all fits on one line it makes the whole thing seem even shorter because the whole thing is instantly visible, you know exactly how much information is needed straight away.

The size of everything is also a great strength of the form. Everything is clear to see and each field is given the same amount of importance as they are the same size as eachother. Once you have put in your details the ‘Sign Up!’ button is right there to press. One thing I would say is that having the ‘Terms of Use’ statement under the sign up button could mean that some people submit the form without noticing that. I would suggest placing that field above the submit button so the natural movement of the eyes down the page means you come across that before hitting submit.

However, the error messages are excellent on the form. Each message appears above the corresponding field and provides a very clear message on exactly how to fix the problem.

Go and have a look at the sign up form for yourself and let us know your thoughts.

Are there any forms that you feel make the process of filling them out a breeze? If so post a link here and let everyone else see.

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Sorry I’ve been very busy with web work and haven’t had much time to write but I’m going to try to write at least two post per week. So lost of new stuff rolling around my brain and one idea I’m super stoked about. Stay turned and as alway thanks for reading.

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If there’s one good thing that can come from living in the middle of nowhere, it’s the fact that we have lots of old and decrepit buildings around…ripe with awesome textures. These textures came from an old glass recycling plant that we have around here that hasn’t been open for decades I’m sure. I’m really tempted to sneak inside to see what kind of textures I can find inside too. Enjoy!

Preview

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Despite our differences, we have many similarities. I noticed most of us developed some kind of creative outlet between ages 5-7, liked drawing and playing legos. Hope you enjoy this fun mini-interview with each of our writers.

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This story has a refreshing twist to that usual reaction. It is a drunk driving story with a happy ending.

David Heim drove drunk 14 years ago and got into a serious accident. He didn’t hurt anyone else, but he himself lost the use of his legs, and he’s been wheelchair bound ever since.

He admits that driving under the influence of alcohol was the “dumbest thing he’s ever done.” He decided to make some real changes in his life. He decided to give his life meaning by devoting the rest of his days to helping others.

Fast forward to 2009: David, affectionately known as the “Wheelchair Recycler,” makes more than 100 custom made wheelchairs each year for people who would otherwise be immobile, spending their days lying in a bed. He makes these wheelchairs out of recycled parts from chairs that are donated to him. He charges very little money for these chairs, and if a family is unable to pay, then he just gives them the wheelchair.

David’s work has changed so many lives for the better that he even got the attention of the Christopher Reeve Foundation. They donated one of Christopher’s wheelchairs to David, and he was able to repair six other chairs with the parts.

David said, “Independence is the greatest thing.” Once you give someone the gift of mobility, you give them legs again. He has received a lot of National attention in the States, including an article in USA Today and an appearance on the NBC Nightly News “Making a Difference” segment.

Does he regret the decision which led to the car accident that left him wheelchair bound? David says, “I wouldn’t change a thing. The smiles on the faces of the people we’ve helped out are worth every hour I was in rehab.”

David’s motto: If you find something you love to do, keep moving, never stop. I think those are words we should all learn from. You can learn more about him here: http://wheelchairrecycler.org

This is a video posted on YouTube about two weeks ago. It was made to thank David for making Alvaro Cardenas a custom wheelchair and shipping it all the way to Peru. This is very touching.

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A Hint:If you decide to find or design a custom 404 page then design it with the same content of your blog or site.

DIRECT LINK »
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We’ve seen the multitouch capabilities of the iPhone; we’ve seen a similar thing on the trackpad of MacBook Pro, and we’ve seen a camera driven multitouch solution on Microsoft’s elusive Surface. Now, all those technologies suddenly seem to have converged in a bunch of conceptual multitouch mice, courtesy of Microsoft.

In the two videos below, you can see several Microsoft’s engineers showing off several entirely different devices. While one mouse’s surface detects touch and movement, the other does the same thing with a camera, and the weirdest of them all consists of several connected mechanical parts which you can move almost independently on one another.

For the end user, all of this means being able to do cool things like pinch, rotate, zoom, and flick on your desktop computer, just by using your mouse. While some of the gestures displayed in the videos look awkward, others seem quite natural; I’m sure we’ll see some of these technologies in the devices we use everyday really soon.

Tags: microsoft, mouse, multitouch

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This technology is just mind-boggling. PhotoSketch may be the coolest program we’ve seen or written about since the invisible speakers.

PhotoSketch is an “Internet Image Montage” project from five Chinese Computer Science and Technology students at Tsinghua University and the National University of Singapore. The basic premise, which they present in the form of a research paper [pdf], works like this:

Step 1. Draw the outlines of the figures you want in your picture – anything from seagulls to a Mercedes, whatever tickles your fancy,

Step 2. Add labels for each of the items, as well as for the background.

Step 3. PhotoSketch will then find real-life images to match your doodles and put them together in a Photoshopped image that will make your jaw drop.

Yes, this thing has such great image recognition technology that it can determine which dog fits best in your canine doodle. Their demo video unveils the true power of PhotoSketch:

We’ve seen several other sites rave about PhotoSketch, including CNET and Gizmodo. Add us to the list. We’re beyond impressed.

If you’re dying to try this thing out, you’ll have to wait – the high interest has taken their site down. But it’ll be back up soon enough. We can’t wait to see what people build with this thing.

Tags: Photoshop, Photosketch

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Which one is your favorite?

Twenty If by Giant Robot

Cat Bait

Ele’paint

Clown Car Crash

Design Battles

Nutritious Breakfast

Loch Ness Imposter

Flowing Inspiration

Big Dreams

In Case of Zombies

Demise of Mr. Flamingo

Extra Pulp

Everyone Poops

Bigfoots Watch In Bewilderment

Deep Tree Diving

Tar

Baby Godzilla

Ma Lil Outlaws

Help

Jurassircus

Mixed Messages

Biggie Was Right

picket.

Song Bird

Tree Town

Fail

MP(3)

Camouflage

HEARTLESS

The Best-Looking TV Set You Never Knew You Wanted

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