Year: 2009

DESIGN RESOURCES Proof Reading Marks

Beam me up, Solo.

Everything Star Trek is new again as J.J. Abrams reboots the beloved franchise this weekend in theaters around the world. Wired.com does a photographic comparison study of the old-school crew that manned the U.S.S. Enterprise in the original TV series and the new, wet-behind-the-ears version. The original update of the Enterprise, as seen in the first three Trek movies (then rebuilt for a couple more), inspired much of the look of the new movie's flagship. Just ignore the astronomical odds against the new (old) Enterprise being built in an Iowa cornfield within easy driving distance of James T. Kirk's childhood home.

Military force was authorized yesterday after the alleged time travelers and their craft ignored an ultimatum to stop whale poaching.

This be not the droid that ye're seekin', matey!

TED has earned a lot of attention over the years for many reasons, including the nature and quality of its short-form conference presentations. All presenters lucky enough to be asked to speak at TED are given 18-minute slots maximum (some are for even less time such as 3- and 6-minute slots). Some who present at TED are not used to speaking on a large stage, or are at least not used to speaking on their topic with strict time restraints. TED does not make a big deal publicly out of the TED Commandments, but many TED presenters have referenced the speaking guidelines in their talks and in their blogs over the years (e.g., Ben Saunders). Below is a photo of the TED Commandments that have been sent to speakers in the past.

Sumo Paint is a powerful web-based graphics editor with a variety of different editing tools. Sumo Paint can be used as a paint program and photo editing program. With Sumo Paint you can save your artwork on your computer but also on Sumo account in the web. This allows you to open your images from any computer. All you need is a network connection. Sumo Paint is a product of Snap Group Ltd (http://www.snap.fi). A good way to learn Sumo Paint and its possibilities is simply to poke around with different tools, properties and attributes. Have fun with it!

Last summer we did a collaborative post with fellow Vancouverites VKI Studios called Stop Google Analytics from Stealing Your Valuable Keyword Data. Google Analytics really isn’t “stealing”, rather “concealing” the actual search queries that trigger your paid search ads when you’re using broad match. It’s a “ye have not because ye ask not” situation. “Ask and ye shall receive,” and by ask I mean set up a couple custom filters that will expose this data to you. I will be so bold to say that if you can not see exact keyword referrals you have no business using the broad match type! (<—And I rarely use exclamation points or blog the same topic twice!!!) This trick has become the most important keyword research tool I use after a campaigns launch (I use a few methods of keyword research to set up Ad Groups including the Google Keyword Tool).

TWO Star Wars fans yesterday formed a rebel alliance — with a wedding themed on the classic sci-fi films. Groom Duncan Thomson dressed as space hero Han Solo while Sammi Gardiner turned out as Princess Leia. Sammi’s meteorite ring was engraved: "May the 4th be with you" — in tribute to the line: "May the force be with you." A supporting cast of 50 Jedis and Sith Lords saw Chewbacca as best man, while Darth Vader made a speech.

EMPIRE17.swf (application/x-shockwave-flash Object)

Institute for Interactive Research

If you use FTP today, I'd like to start a conversation about whether this is the right approach for your blog. I've been talking with bloggers over the last couple weeks on this subject, and have found most users, when presented with the option of hosting their blog using Blogger's Custom Domain option instead of FTP, find Custom Domains to be a far superior option. That's not to say there aren't compelling reasons to stick with FTP, so I'm not interested at this point in trying to convince everyone to switch over to Custom Domains. But I do think it is preferable for most of you still using FTP, and hopefully this post will help lay out why.

I recently moved my Wordfeeder Copywriting website from Powweb hosting to Network Solutions, and it will probably be the best decision I've made all year. As people tend to say about any smart/strategic move… "what took me so long!" Just a few reasons to be completely smitten with Network Solutions: GREAT customer service. Everyone who I've spoken to during the process of setting up my new account and answering my questions has been more than helpful. At one point, I was ready to PAY someone to get a new blog up and running on one of my sites – and the sales associate instead walked me through the setup process myself.

Long long ago, Black-and-White ruled the Earth. Frosty white highlights frolicked with rich black shadows in the Meadows of Grayscale, and it was good. Then came Digital, whose dingy whites and muddy grays nearly drove Black-and-White to extinction. But now, like wild-eyed scientists cloning a mammoth, we’ve found the best ways to convert digital color photos into the REAL honest-to-goodness-that-looks-like-Ansel-Adams-took-it Black-and-White. NOT the pale washwater grays and off-white whites you get with “Convert to grayscale”. And we’re going to show you how.

My dad sent me the following and I thought it useful to share. Read his personal recollections mixed with excerpts from the revealing article on Wired.com about the Swine Flu epidemic in 1976.

ZOMG! Find out if you have swine flu!

pooh.jpg (JPEG Image, 500×659 pixels)

Many of you might be confused by the title and the term “smart”. To me a “smart” blog is a blog that behaves differently depending on its visitors’ behavior and characteristics. A simple example of this is a blog that displays a list of today’s most popular posts on the sidebar. The list changes based on visitors’ behavior so to this is definitely a smart blog feature. There are plenty of WordPress plugins out there that do this for you automatically (e.g. Top 10), but that is not the point. The point here is that having the ability to morph your blog per visitor activity can assist you in meeting your conversion goals (whatever they may be). A list of popular posts is quite a simple feature, so let me take you to another level by showing you more ways to make your blog smart.

Infiltration on Flickr – Photo Sharing!

Remember the classic video games? The 8-bit masterpieces of our sweaty-palmed youth. Inviting some friends over for a Maniac Mansion all-nighter, huffing asthmatically into a cartridge to clear out the dust, or the thrill and crushing disappointment of rescuing a princess, only to discover you’ve really just saved a fungus.