Hppay New Yaer!

Aoccdrnig to rseearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae.

The rset can be a total mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcusaea the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Tihs is graet nwes for my firend, Jeff Kgier, who otfen seplls wrods worng on his bolg.

Go ahaed and prnit tihs out for all of yuor freinds to raed wehn they are dirnikng tmromrow nghit. It souhd be fun to wtach tiehr raectoins.

Be sfae and hvae a graet nhigt out on the twon!

Top 10 New Year Resolutions

Can you believe that another year has already gone by? That means that it's time to make those new year resolutions. I had a jump start this year with my Post-Thanksgiving Goal Setting Challenge of losing 10 pounds. To keep everyone up to date, I'm happy to report that I have achieved my goal and hope to work on #5 (below) next year. It feels so good to set a goal and accomplish it, so be sure to make a resolution this year.

To get you started, here's a list of the Top 10 New Year resolutions. In no particular order, they are:

1. Lose Weight
2. Pay Off Debt
3. Save Money
4. Get a Better Job
5. Get Fit
   
6. Volunteer More
   
7. Get a Better Education
8. Drink Less Alcohol
9. Quit Smoking Now
10. Reduce Stress

Always remember to write your resolution down, set a date, and reward yourself when it's achieved. This is very important and the primary reason that so many resolutions are forgotten by Valentine's Day. Have fun and good luck!

Alan De Keyrel = "Person of the Year"

It's official... Time Magazine has selected Alan De Keyrel as the 2006 Person of the Year.

Well, sort of.

As much as I really like the ring of "person of the year" next to my name, it didn't happen exactly like that. What they really said was that "YOU" are the person of the year and I took it personally. Let me explain.

America loves its solitary geniuses-its Einsteins, its Edisons, its Jobses-but those lonely dreamers may have to learn to play with others. Car companies are running open design contests. Reuters is carrying blog postings alongside its regular news feed. Microsoft is working overtime to fend off user-created Linux. We're looking at an explosion of productivity and innovation, and it's just getting started, as millions of minds that would otherwise have drowned in obscurity get backhauled into the global intellectual economy.

Who are these people? Seriously, who actually sits down after a long day at work and says, I'm not going to watch Lost tonight. I'm going to turn on my computer and make a movie starring my pet iguana? I'm going to mash up 50 Cent's vocals with Queen's instrumentals? I'm going to blog about my state of mind or the state of the nation or the steak-frites at the new bistro down the street? Who has that time and that energy and that passion?

The answer is, you do. And for seizing the reins of the global media, for founding and framing the new digital democracy, for working for nothing and beating the pros at their own game, TIME's Person of the Year for 2006 is you.

Isn't that cool? The article goes on to talk about Web2.0 as a "massive social experiment" with no clear purpose in sight. In the meantime, we all continue blogging, podcasting, and commenting back and forth. Many of us spend countless hours developing "thoughtful content" with no real monetary gain or benefit. We simply do it to participate in this "social experiment" we now call Web2.0.

For what it's worth... we'll give ourselves a pat on the back and keep on blogging. We started this blog almost a year ago with no clear vision or purpose other than to entertain and inform. As of today, "Everything Internet" blog is ranked in the top 100,000 of all blogs (15 million are in the United States alone). It's nice to be recognized every now and then and every blogger should be proud of his/her contribution to this "experiment".

Just in time for Christmas

As promised, we're still giving away $50 each Friday through December to a randomly-selected member of our MyBlogLog Community. This week's winner is DemoGirl, a prolific creator of screencasts that put you behind the wheel of the latest Web applications. Best of all, she puts them together for free!

Maybe you'll put this towards a little Christmas present for yourself...

There's just one Friday left in December, so for everyone else, this is your last chance to get in on the action!

No Google Christmas Logo

In the past, I've commented on the custom logos that Google produces for various holidays like Halloween and Thanksgiving. With the next holiday rapidly approaching, this got me thinking about what they might be up to for Christmas. However, during my research I discovered something interesting.

They don't create a custom logo for "Christmas".

I found this interesting because they have created custom logos for all other "official" U.S. holidays that don't necessarily apply to other countries (like Thanksgiving and Halloween). Instead, Google opts to create something they call "Holiday Doodle". It's a collection of complimenting logos displayed over several weeks.

For example, here are the logos which displayed during the holiday season of 2003. As you can see, the "doodle" tells a story about a snowstorm and the aftermath of "digging out".

1:
2:
3:
4:
5:

Personally, I was a bit disappointed that they did the "politically correct" thing and avoided this national holiday all together. After all, it is a nationally reconized holiday like all of the others. If Google can't stand up for recognizing Christmas for what it is, who can?

Please Note: Google has requested that the above logos are only available for historic purposes and should not be used for daily use. If you are linking to Google you should use an official logo made available for daily use.

[Update]- This story has additional comments at Digg.com. Click the link below to view comments.

Snap Previews- Flashy vs. Functional?

You may have noticed a new feature that we've implemented on a very limited basis. The free service is called "Snap Previews" and it allows you to create dynamic links with a pop-up preview of the link. Seting up the feature on your website is a snap (no pun intended), only requiring the addition of a few lines of code.

As designers, we're torn whether this feature is a good idea. On one hand, it's kind of flashy and cool. On the other hand, the large preview window can be a distraction, clunky to use and not very functional. If you're a designer, you understand striving for a balance between functional and cool.

We first displayed Snap Previews earlier this month and have used it very sparingly ever since. In retrospect, this must mean that we've subconciously concluded that the "coolness" factor didn't outweigh the loss in functionality. Either that... or we've been too lazy to add the extra line of code. :)

The flashy vs. functional debate of "Snap Preview" has me torn. To add to my confusion, I continue to see other popular blogs heavily using Snap Preview on nearly all links. So, the question must be asked... is this feature just flashy or is it really functional?

Reminders for the GroupLoop Calendar

GroupLoop gets tweaked a lot in response to feedback from our users. While the application is purposefully simple, from time to time we roll out new features to make it just a bit more useful.

Recently we've added a feature to set automated reminders for upcoming calendar events. This can be handy if you populate your calendar well in advance of events or if you just need to draw people's attention to an approaching item.

Reminders will be delivered by email, but they also tie in with the iCal / Outlook integration feature. If you designate a reminder for an event, anyone who drops the item on their local calendar will have an alarm set automatically.

If you work with a group that could be better organized and haven't tried using GroupLoop, set up a free account in just a few seconds and take a look!

Happy Holiday Season from CWS!

We would like to extend our warm wishes for the upcoming holiday season and would like to wish you and your family a Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year. We also would like to take this opportunity to say thank you for your business and support over the years.

Our office will be officially closed the following times during the holiday period:

• Monday, December 25th
• Monday, January 1st

Our support team will still answer emails through the holidays; however, please be patient as our response time may be a little slower than usual. To contact our support team click here.

May you travel safely over this busy festive season and come back refreshed for a successful 2007.

Best Wishes,
The CWS Team

Rochester Downtown Alliance Selects CWS for Website Development

CWS has been selected to develop a new interactive project for the Rochester Downtown Alliance following a final review of proposals last week by RDA board members.

We are extremely pleased to have an opportunity to work with RDA and promote downtown Rochester as a destination. We're proud of the city of Rochester, and we're excited at the opportunity to further its economic development.

The new website will be a deep resource, highlighting events and things to do in the downtown district, as well as providing information about RDA initiatives.

Look for a launch announcement next spring!

10 days from Christmas

...and we're still handing out early presents! This week's member of our MyBlogLog community to win the random giveaway is mikesansone.

How's that for a marriage of content, community, and commerce?

Remember we'll be doing this each Friday for the rest of the month! Everyone who joins the community is eligible.

3 Tips for Viral Marketing

You may have noticed that we received a large quantity of comments on the "Digg Hooligans Take Over Website" post earlier this week. This was the result of the article being "Dugg" by thousands of users on digg.com. Our story hit the digg.com homepage just after 11pm on Monday. This lead to over 2400 visitors in a matter of hours.


This was all made possible through "Viral Marketing".

Viral marketing is based on the idea that if someone finds something interesting, they are likely to pass it on to their friends. Sometimes what is being passed does not appear to be advertising at all. In this case, as users "dugg" the story they were in fact telling others that they should read it too.

Viral marketing gets its name from its similarity to a virus. The point of viral marketing is to "infect" one person with your marketing idea, who will then spread the news to someone else, thereby "infecting" them.

The earliest use of viral marketing is usually attributed to Hotmail, a web based email provider. When Hotmail was first starting out, they would attach advertising to the bottom of emails that were sent from their users. The idea was to have people sign up for Hotmail because they got the message from their friends.

Viral marketing is very successful because it works to create a buzz about the product and then subtly encourages people to tell someone else. Because of this, the advertising doesn't have to reach the secondary user directly. The person initially "infected" by the viral marketing can "infect" many others with no additional work required on the part of the advertisers.

As an email user, you have probably contributed to viral marketing campaigns without even realizing it. Remember that interactive game or funny video that you forwarded to all of your friends? Most likely, somewhere within the "message" was a link or logo of the company who created it. When you passed the video on, you gave them free publicity and brand recognition.

"This is cool... I want some viral marketing traffic", you say.

No problem... here are three very important tips to get you started with your own viral marketing campaign:

1. Make people feel something
The most important thing is to create a very strong emotion. You need to have an opinion and express an idea with commitment and dedication. You want people to:

• be filled with love or hate.

• be very happy or insanely angry

• be an idiot or a genius
  

You want people's blood to be pumping of excitement. Viral marketing is 100% about emotions. Your story must spark an emotion or it will never catch on.

2. Forget about you, your product or your company.

Focus exclusively in creating a good and interesting story. Sure, you can add your product into the mix, but it must not be the most important thing. Nobody cares about you, viral marketing is all about a good story.

3. Make it easy to share.

The whole purpose is for others to share your story, so make it easy. Everything you do to make sharing easier is going to improve your chances of success. That means that you need allow people to easily play your file, send it to friends, link to you, etc.

Two People Nearly Die on Escalator

This is an amazing video. I didn't know it was possible for an escalator to "trap" you this way. This shocking video proves otherwise. As you'll see, one should never travel on an escalator without a cell phone to call for help.



If you post a comment, please keep the victims families in mind and be respectful of other users. Do you have a great video to share? Let us know about it!

Digg "Hooligans" Take Over Website

Digg is a news website with an emphasis on technology and science articles. News stories and websites are submitted by users, and then promoted to the front page through a user-based ranking system. However, rumors have recently circulated that many of the stories are planted and users are paid to move them to the top of the charts.

As a regular visitor, I enjoy checking out the most popular stories and the comments from other users (even if they are planted). If you're looking for a crazy story, a funny video, or breaking news... you can always find something interesting at digg.com.

But, I've noticed that user comments have gotten out of control. These days, it's hard to find an article submission that isn't full of offensive comments and blatant disrespect for other users. Some threads are more about bashing other users than they are about commenting on the articles itself.

Unfortunately, I'm afraid that use of foul language and hooliganism might be exactly what the average Digg user enjoys. But, in my humble opinion, Digg really needs to eliminate this type of behavior if they want to become a mainstream source of information for all ages and all types of users.

Average users no longer post comments because they fear being ridiculed or "dugg down" for a logical statement. This leaves many stories littered with unsophisticated banter among those who find humor in making fun of others. Unless something is changed, such as implementing conduct standards, the comment system will forever be doomed to this childish behavior.

[Update]- This story has been Dugg. Click the link below to view comments.

It's Friday again

Yep, another week has meandered by. Depending on what you accomplished this week, that might be a good thing or a bad one. But it's definitely good for phoenixrising, who is the second randomly drawn winner of our MyBlogLog giveaway.

To celebrate, a haiku:

MyBlogLog members,
einternet community,
a sudden windfall.

Congratulations, phoenixrising! Buy yourself something nice.

Put a Smile on a Soldiers Face

I can't imagine being away from family during the holiday season. Yet, hundreds of thousands of soldiers are serving their country oversees right now. Xerox came up with a neat idea and launched a new website called LetsSayThanks.com. You can pick out a thank you card and Xerox will print and send it to a soldier that is currently serving overseas. You can't select who receives your card, but it will go to some member of the armed services.

I think this is a great idea and we owe it to them to take 5 minutes out of our day to say thanks. It's an easy opportunitity for anyone - adults and kids- to encourage someone far from home this Christmas. Put yourself in their shoes and imagine getting a thank you card like this. It's FREE and it only takes a minute.

Still reading this? What if I told you Ace Young and Bucky Covington from American Idol took the time to send a card? You can see their cards, along with other celebrities, on the LetsSayThanks.com website too!

Iran Bans YouTube; Other Western Sites

Iran yesterday blocked a number of top Web sites. Among them are YouTube, Web encyclopedia, Wikipedia and Amazon.com. Other sites that are being censored are the online movie database IMBD.com, news services like the New York Times and BBC Farsi.

The YouTube ban could be in response to a well-known Iranian soap opera actress for engaging in "indecent" behavior with a former boyfriend.

Reporters Without Borders, a Paris based press rights group said, "The government is trying to create a digital border to stop culture and news coming from abroad-a vision of the Net which is worrying for the country's future". The group also said that the Iranian government issued a ban on high-speed Internet connections in October.

The ban was ordered by senior judiciary officials in efforts to rid their country of western influences. This is in line with Iran's Islamist president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad agenda.

Iran boasts a large number of online users. The estimated number is 7.5 million Internet users. They are second in the Middle East behind Israel. They also have a large number of bloggers, over 100,000 that are an alternative to Iran's suppressed media outlets. Reporters Without Borders says Iran is one of 13 countries to be considered "enemies of the Internet". Among some of the countries known for known for online censorship are China, Cuba, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, North Korea and Syria.

"The Iranian government policy is not an isolated case. It is getting closer and closer to that of the authorities in China, with particular stress being laid on the censorship of cultural output", said Reporters Without Borders.

The Internet is not the only media that has been censored. Iranian publishing has also banned scores of books including classics from the west. Bloggers have also been intimidated by the government or jailed despite the President starting his own blog back in August.

Gen Y Less Savvy with Web2.0

Today, I went to a local high school to speak with students about entrepreneurship and how it has affected my life. The class was filled with 22 students (all juniors and seniors), so I figured it was a great opportunity to learn about "what's hot" with kids these days. After my talk, I conducted an unscientific survey about various online tools they were using. Needless to say, I was shocked at the results. Here's a list of questions and their responses:

How many of you have a MySpace Account?

There were only about 5 people who had MySpace accounts (or admitted it). This was very interesting to me as I thought EVERY high school kid had a myspace account. I had a pre-conceived notion that 80% or more of them would be using MySpace.

How many have a Flickr account?

Nobody. They looked at me like a deer in headlights with no concept of what I was talking about. Again, I was quite shocked.

How many have a LinkedIn account?

Again, nobody... they hadn't even heard of it. This one didn't surprise me, as this service is geared towards more professional/business users.

How many have a blog or subscribe to a blog feed?

There were only about 5 kids who frequently read a blog. I asked about which ones (hoping it was ours), but learned that it was only informal blogs of their friends.

How many of you Instant Message?

Everyone's hands went up. I could tell instantly that this was a big hit by all the chatter in the room.

What IM client is used the most?

Overwhelmingly, the majority claimed AOL's Instant Messenger (AIM) was the most popular.

Do you text message on your phone?

Again, everyone's hands went up. One student even made a joke saying, "How many do it in class?" Laughter filled the room. Luckily, I didn't notice anyone "texting" during my speech. However, one student did have a hard time staying awake. Must be my dynamic speaking skills.

How many of you post videos on YouTube?

Only one had. However, his classmates all pointed and laughed at him as if they had seen it. This made me wonder if it was of him doing something silly or highly inappropriate. Nearly all classmates knew what YouTube was and had used it before.

My only conclusion from this experience is that Generation Y is more about instant messaging and text messaging than it is Web2.0. Considering that both YouTube and Flickr have never advertised locally, it was interesting that one had caught on and the other had not.

CNBC vs. Google Finance

The much anticipated re-launch of www.cnbc.com ocurred yesterday after being offline for over 6 months. As a regular viewer of CNBC and Jim Cramer's Mad Money, I was eager to check it out. The new website focuses heavily on video, which I think is a big mistake. If you want video commentary on the market, you can get that all day long on their cable channel. A finance website should be all about stock news, functional stock charts, detailed company information, and stock input from end users via blogs and bulletin boards. I don't think the new cnbc.com website does any of these very well.


Google Finance, on the other hand, has done a great job of eliminating all of the useless crap and given end users only what they need. They also made their stock charts interactive. If you want more information, you simply drag to adjust the range of the chart. A mouseover will display the date and historical stock price for you, and specific data points are keyed to news stories that affected the market. CNBC did not include any of these useful features in their re-design even though both Google and Yahoo were already doing it.


Where Google Finance displays stock headlines and links to news articles, CNBC decided to display a large advertisement. To make matters worse, most of the ads are Flash-based, causing the pages to load extremely slowly. Unfortunately, CNBC got it wrong by focusing on their bottom line and not the end-user experience. Maybe next time, CNBC. Until you put me first, I'll stick with Google Finance for online stock information.

Filed in: CWS, google, cnbc, finance, stocks, investing

Look there's a moose, give me a noose;

I saw a commercial on KTTC this afternoon and got a chuckle. It's for a rather boring product, a navigational system from Garmin, which makes it even better. I love creative commercials that make me laugh. I love YouTube even more, because I found a copy of the ad in about 3 seconds. You almost have to see this commercial a couple of times to appreciate everything they say and do. Check it:


Here's the words, as far as I can tell, in case you missed some of it.

Look there's a moose, give me a noose;
I'm lost again, where's highway 10;
this isn't good, bad neighborhood;
went to buy a wreath, he's got no teeth;
(ding dong, ding dong)
I missed my turn, I'm going to burn;
wife's gonna freak, future is bleak;
nothing is right, this really bites;
where's highway 10, there's a moose again;
giva giva giva giva Garmin (x2)
screen clear and wide, whole world inside;
Garmin.com, Garmin.com...

Brilliant. Good work by the crew at Garmin. If you enjoyed this one, you may also enjoy another version which is set to the same tune.

The first winner is...

The first member of our MyBlogLog community to win the giveaway that Alan announced earlier, randomly drawn from a hat (okay, it was an Excel spreadsheet), is... DJAzido.

He'll receive a fine intaglio portrait of Hiram Ulysses Grant by the US Bureau of Engraving and Printing, otherwise known as 50 bucks. 'Tis the season for giving, so we'll be doing this every Friday through December.

Everyone who's a member of our MyBlogLog community is eligible for these drawings—all you have to do is sign up!

DJAzido, enjoy the winnings!