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Sep292008

The real difference between liberals and conservatives

Posted by Gene in Random Stuff

It’s not quite 20 minutes long but you really need to watch Jonathan Haidt’s recent talk at TED. He’s a bit of a speed talker so listen carefully (not being preachy, just really, he talks fast.) Listen/watch here.

Psychologist Jonathan Haidt studies the five moral values that form the basis of our political choices, whether we’re left, right or center. In this eye-opening talk, he pinpoints the moral values that liberals and conservatives tend to honor most.

Haidt asks, “Can’t we all disagree more constructively?” He suggests we might build a more civil and productive discourse by understanding the moral psychology of those we disagree with, and committing to a more civil political process. He’s also active in the study of positive psychology and human flourishing.

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Sep242008

Technorati: State of the Blogosphere 2008

Posted by Gene in Marketing, Blogging

Technorati has released their State of the Blogosphere 2008 report, which is all based on a blogger survey they conducted which we were part of here at Period Three and unmatchedstyle.com.

For the first time, we surveyed bloggers directly about the role of blogging in their lives, the tools, time, and resources used to produce their blogs, and how blogging has impacted them personally, professionally, and financially.

Generally they report that Blogs are here in a HUGE way, they are mainstream now and most large scale media organizations are entering or have entered the Blog space. Mostly the big brands, chances are that if you are a big brand you are launching or have launched a Blog presence on the web. They also go on to recognize that chances are really high that if you are a big brand then whether you’ve launched your own controlled Blog presence or not, you already have one, for good or bad. Bloggers are already going to be talking about you (much like off-line word of mouth, duh.)

The most interesting piece of info was the reported money Bloggers are making, apparently if you have 100,000 or more visitors a month your making more than $75K - sign me up!

The majority of bloggers we surveyed currently have advertising on their blogs. Among those with advertising, the mean annual investment in their blog is $1,800, but it’s paying off. The mean annual revenue is $6,000 with $75K+ in revenue for those with 100,000 or more unique visitors per month.

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Sep242008

Oktoberfest

Posted by Gene in Random Stuff

So it’s officially Oktoberfest time again. I for one will be partaking in some sausage and seasonal beer sipage this weekend, just something you gotta do.

Millions of Oktoberfest fans all over the world have been waiting for this day: last Saturday the major of munich tapped the first barrel of beer and said the famous words “O’zapft is” which traditionally mark the beginning of the worlds most famous festival.

So if you can’t be in Munich this year, you can at least get yourself a Spaten and enjoy some Bratvurst.

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Sep222008

X-Plane for iPhone

Posted by Gene in Our Clients, Games, Apple

One of our clients X-Plane has just released their flagship product for the iPhone.

X-Plane for Mac, Windows, and Linux (www.X-Plane.com) is the most flexible and realistic flight simulator on the market for desktop personal computers. Using blade element theory for the most powerful and accurate flight model available for personal computers, and earning FAA certification for logging of flight time for pilots, X-Plane is the Gold Standard for accurate flight simulation, offering realism that is unmatched by any other simulator.And now, thanks to the power of the iPhone and iPodTouch, X-Plane is available for these stunning little platforms. As in the full desktop version, X-Plane for iPhone lets you experiment with different times of day, weather, sky conditions, wind, turbulence and airplanes, all while flying the craft from various different views in the stunning terrain topography of Innsbruck, Austria, home to some of the most challenging mountains and topography for aviation.We here at Laminar Research are still a bit shell-shocked at how powerful this little device is, and how much power in flight simulation can be stuffed into it… the power of X-Plane can now be had with you… anywhere.

I’m going to grab one right now for my iPhone and give it a spin…

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Sep192008

Talk like a pirate day 2008

Posted by Gene in Random Stuff

Once again it’s international talk like a pirate day.

Here are the five basic words that you cannot live without. Master them, and you can face Talk Like a Pirate Day with a smile on your face and a parrot on your shoulder, if that’s your thing.

Ahoy! - “Hello!”

Avast! - Stop and give attention. It can be used in a sense of surprise, “Whoa! Get a load of that!” which today makes it more of a “Check it out” or “No way!” or “Get off!”

Aye! - “Why yes, I agree most heartily with everything you just said or did.”

Aye aye! - “I’ll get right on that sir, as soon as my break is over.”

Arrr! - This one is often confused with arrrgh, which is of course the sound you make when you sit on a belaying pin. “Arrr!” can mean, variously, “yes,” “I agree,” “I’m happy,” “I’m enjoying this beer,” “My team is going to win it all,” “I saw that television show, it sucked!” and “That was a clever remark you or I just made.” And those are just a few of the myriad possibilities of Arrr!

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Sep162008

Best Buy snags Napster

Posted by Gene in Business

This looks like a pretty strong move, it allows Best Buy to compete a little on the download front and bolsters it’s line of online offerings (like in-store pickup), not to mention its recent ability to sell iPhones in their stores. Probably a steal at 121 million.

Best Buy said today it would spend $121 million to buy former file-sharing poster child, Napster. The move gives Best Buy the ability to offer DRM-free movies and music downloads that would compete with Amazon.com’s download services as well as proprietary files offered by Apple in its iTunes store.

Full article

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Sep112008

Myspace killer app idea

Posted by Gene in Social Web

I’m not a huge fan of Myspace, but this caught my eye. They are enabling users to record video directly to their Myspace page using their webcam. Now this is cool. Do you think it will give them a user bump? Not that Myspace is dead or anything, by any stretch and how long do you think it will take Facebook to copy this idea?

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Sep102008

Props to Jason Beaird

Posted by Gene in Design

Jason Beaird author of Principals of Beautiful Web Design and fellow RefreshColumbian… has a great article on Digital Web Magazine about stock photography and choosing said stock.

Check the article.

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Sep052008

Take back the inbox!

Posted by Gene in Random Stuff

Seriously considering adding this list of items to my email signature for all to see and learn:

1. Reply all is usually a bad idea.  
2. If you’re cc’d, there’s no need to reply. 
3. Starting off your email in the subject line and finishing your sentence in the body of the message is confusing.
4. A short, thoughtful email gets a quicker response. Long emails are read last. 
5. If this issue cannot be resolved in 3 emails, consider scheduling a call or a meeting. 
6. Thank you. Always lovely. really not necessary.
7. Please re-read your email before you hit send…

The Blue Flavor blog has a post going on about this same thing, check it!

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Sep012008

Google Chrome

Posted by Gene in Software, Web Development

In case you missed this due to being offline on your day off. Google accidentally announced they are launching a competing browser. TechCrunch has some images and movies from a beta preview.

So why are we launching Google Chrome? Because we believe we can add value for users and, at the same time, help drive innovation on the web.

Google says to check back today to get the preview beta download for Windows.

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