Google is VERY Involved in Our Lives
There is no doubt that Google has become the go-to for many things. Think about it.. “would your lives be affected if Google went away tomorrow?” My life would be affected. I could scramble and replace many of the services that I rely on Google for, but they make many things easier for me.
The following is a terrific video that plays on the “Don’t be Evil” mantra. It is very well done and certainly worth a view.
Facebook Marketplace Logo… Servicemagic anyone?
Servicemagic.com was formed in late 1998 and has been fairly consistent with their logo in that time. If I were with ServiceMagic.com, I would be a little fed up with the copycat logos that are out there. Heck, I considered a variation of their logo for a project in the past. The project hit too close to the service that they provide so we didn’t go that direction.
The latest servicemagic copycat (My opinion).
The latest copycat ServiceMagic.com logo is much more high profile than most. Generally, I will see an amateurish redo of the logo and won’t think much of it. Today, I visited Facebook to take a look at the home page redo that everyone is stomping up and down about. With the redo (you’ll get used to it, by the way), I noticed the marketplace link. I only visit Facebook a couple of times a week and don’t normally notice the marketplace. The new look made it more obvious to me (good move FB).
When I clicked into the marketplace, I instantly said “holy cow” due to the logo being a very, very similar design to that of Servicemagic. Take a look above.
- Is this infringement?
I have no idea. Call a lawyer. - Are they trying to get IAC’s attention?
Doubtful, they don’t need that kind of attention - Did they leave this logo to someone who isn’t the most creative? ?
Perhaps. More technical than creative. - Did they fail to run this by 5 web professionals (marketers) before bringing it live?
Apparently. At least 2 would have noticed the possible copy issue - How long has this been out there?
I don’t know. They finally lured me into the marketplace with their redesign. Good job with that one Facebook!
Who knows. In my opinion, it is an uninspired effort by a company with pockets that are deep enough to pay for great creative and to test things a bit before going live. Facebook, you can do better.
Wow! Google is Pitching Nexus One in Maps
I know that Google wants to get the Nexus one out to the masses, but this surprised me. They are pitching the Nexus one from within a map search in my browser. Nothing wrong with using your real estate wisely, but this is a bit aggressive for Google.
It isn’t often that you see Google pitch a product as much as they are with the Nexus One. In fact they are using home page ad space that they don’t often touch. In fact, Eric Schmidt believes they are giving up billions by not doing so. I wonder if he had to twist Marissa Mayer’s arm to push the Nexus One on the home page and in the slots within other Google products.
Think we will see a pitch within Adsense or Adwords soon?
Operating Virtually
If you don’t already know it, an 800 number is not an expensive proposition. I have used a site for a few years that costs $2 per month for a standard 888, 877, or 866 number plus usage rates of 6.9 cents per minute. An 800 number increases your base rate to $5 per month. There are also vanity phone numbers available.
You can also use a service such as RingCentral.com to manage multiple numbers including fax lines and employee extensions. Ring Central is a better choice if you plan on a decent volume of calls or plan to add numbers for additional employees or services.
Kall8 is a good choice if you don’t anticipate much activity, but have a need for a number at a very low cost.
If you are a company who is trying to project a presence beyond your local area, an 800 number is good idea. It isn’t always the cost to your consumer, it is really the perception that you are a larger company.
If you need to project a different story to a consumer, well, you can do that too. Are you located in Orlando, but want the customer to assume that you are in Chicago? I said assume. You can obtain a local number much the way you would an 800 number. This might be the item that pushes your consumer to purchase something from you rather than from a competitor. If you have a customer who wants an item fast, and you can provide that, he or she might have the impression that it takes longer for the item to reach them from Florida rather than Illinois.
Along with an inexpensive toll free number, or local number, you could consider a Virtual Office. With a virtual office, you can project an image that will win you customers simply due to the image that you project. I am not suggesting that you are dishonest with anyone. If asked, make it clear that your business address is a shared executive office facility and that you are not there on a daily basis. As a growing company, it is not a surprise to move once or twice in the first year or two. A virtual office address will not only provide a better image than using your home address, or a foreign address, but it will allow you to keep a single address during your growth phase. This will save you some time and money in updating letterhead, business cards, web sites, directory site listings, map listings, local business listings, and more (in the event that you move your physical location).
Consider a virtual office with a local number. It can help your business to grow.
Resources:
RingCentral.com (Affiliate relationship)
WaldenVirtual.com (My virtual office solution)
Apple May Be on the Verge of Kneecapping the Cable Industry
I have a theory… the new apple tablet device that has been rumored for quite some time. Will not only do everything that the iPod does, but will also do everything the Kindle does (but better) and everything the Nook does (but better) and everything that….
It feels like convergence is here. I watched a football game on my iPhone while trying to get to sleep the other day. I would have loved to have a device with 2x screen size. I would love a tablet that allowed my eyes (quickly getting old) to read with a little less strain.
Apple is working with the content providers just as they did with the record labels pre-itunes. Once you have the content, the device makes sense.
Apple may be on the verge of gaining two key television network agreements, according to The Wall Street Journal. Specifically, CBS and Walt Disney DIS which runs ABC are said to be considering a proposal by Apple to offer a subscription-based TV service over the Internet.
How would you like a portable TV that allows you to time shift and watch your shows anytime anywhere? The tablet could be many things and also a portable TV. A good one. A good one with top tier content, not the limited stuff you find on a Media Center PC. I checked out the media center content 4 years after getting my first media center PC and it was pretty disappointing. An apple tablet that worked with the Apple TV device much the way a Slingbox works with your devices is not a stretch.
Have you noticed the number of portable (over the air) TV’s that have come out across the past 6 months? Coincidence? Why is Comcast scrambling to offer your content in unique ways?
Kindle was able to get a flat fee, all you can eat wireless plan. It it possible that Apple is going to be offering the same? Will this need 4G? If so, we are just about there.
A lot of questions. I can’t wait until the answers start rolling in.
via Apple May Be on the Verge of Kneecapping the Cable Industry — Seeking Alpha.
Voxie iPhone app Review
Voxie iPhone application Review
I downloaded a new iPhone app that many will find useful. When you are on the road, and lacking a writing instrument, you probably wish you had a simple way to record your thoughts about a topic. Better yet, you might be collaborating on a project and wished that you were able to share the thoughts with your tone coming across. Email and text messages don’t convey an author’s tone very well. Without speaking to someone directly your true message might be lost. I often ask people to read something as if the person was upset with them and then read the same message as if the person was happy and/or proud of them. By applying a tone to a message it will carry a completely different meaning.
Voxie iPhone App Review
A new iPhone application called Voxie is able to handle simple recordings and gives you the ability to share those recordings very easily. In fact, you are able to categorize the recordings that you make. For many, this will be a very nice feature that is lacking in the basic voice recorder that comes with your iPhone.
One cool feature is the ability to sync the voice recording with a transcription service. For anyone who has ever had a message transcribed to text, you will understand that this is not an easy feat. I included a sample of a recording that I made below. Further down, you will see the actual transcription of that message. It is often humorous what comes out. All in all, the app is very nice and should replace my $40 Olympus voice recorder. The pricing of $1.99 makes it something that most will find worth trying out.
Transcription test.
Original message:
This is a review of the Voxie iPhone application that is referred to as the Voxie Pro Recorder.
The company that made the app is named bottle rocket and they bill the application as “the premier voice recorder app for the iphone”.
The price point is spot on at $1.99 and makes it attractive enough for anyone in need of the service to give it a try. There is an extra fee for the transcription service and they provide a 7 day free trial with the app. The trial is for a service called quicktate.com.
There are some very nice sharing functions and one of the more simple, and useful, features of the app is the ability to categorize a recording. Very nice, especially if this will be a multi-user app.
Transcribed via quicktate.com
This is a review of the Voxie iPhone application that is referred to as the Voxie Pro Recorder. The company that made the ap is named Bottle Rocket. And they bill the application as the premier voice recorder ap for the iPhone. The price point is spot on at $1.99. It makes it attractive enough for any one in need of the service to give it a try. There’s an extra fee for the transcription service, and they provide a seven day free trial with the ap. The trial is for a service called Quicktate. There are some very nice hearing functions and one of the more simple and useful features of the app is the ability to categorize the recording. Very nice, especially if this will be a multi-user app.
As you can see, the transcription was excellent.
Good luck with Voxie if you choose this very nice iPhone voice recording application.
Top Craigslist Cities
Top cities on Craigslist.
A recent project caused me to locate some Craigslist stats. Here is one that many of you will find useful toward your own marketing efforts. I am not suggesting that you run out and spam Craigs, but if you have a product, or service, that isn’t fixed to a local area, you might want to give a couple of posts to high volume cities a try.
Craig Newmark - Craigslist Founder
There are certain cities that are large for obvious reasons. Some are simply due to the population, but others are strong due to the roll out of Craigslist. You can probably tell by the list that Craigslist was founded in San Francisco.
The top cities on Craigslist, as reported by Alexa, are listed below.
Where people go on Craigslist.org:
7.5% sfbay.craigslist.org
6.6% newyork.craigslist.org
5.6% losangeles.craigslist.org
3.2% seattle.craigslist.org
3.0% washingtondc.craigslist.org
2.8% chicago.craigslist.org
2.6% sandiego.craigslist.org
2.6% phoenix.craigslist.org
2.5% boston.craigslist.org
2.2% atlanta.craigslist.org
2.2% portland.craigslist.org
2.1% dallas.craigslist.org
2.0% lasvegas.craigslist.org
1.9% orangecounty.craigslist.org
1.7% miami.craigslist.org
1.6% denver.craigslist.org
Read more
Adcenter Desktop Download
MSN / Live / Bing / Yahoo
Take your pick at what they should call the Adcenter Desktop client. One thing is clear… we should all be prepared for the changing landscape that is coming after the integration of Microsoft and Yahoo’s platforms. The combined entity will be a player behind the behemoth known as Google. Depending on your niche, you may find that the Adcenter network performs better than the Google network. Test for yourself. If you are searching for the Adcenter Desktop download, use the following link.
Microsoft Adcenter Desktop Download
Microsoft Adcenter Desktop Download
Matt Cutts on SEO
This video has been getting a good deal of press in the SEO community. Matt Cutts is certainly the most visible and well recognized Googler in the webmaster community. Officially, he is head of the webspam team at Google. Matt is an early on Google employee who loves what he does. If you have the opportunity to see Matt speak, you will usually take something away from it that you can use, or stop using.
If you have 45 minutes….
A Clever Link Builder
If you own a website, it is almost certain that you have received a request to swap links, or add a link to someone else’s site. Generally, the link request will come from the site owner, their SEO, or a pure link building company. If you haven’t already, you will ignore most requests. Occasionally, there will be a request that comes across that makes you think it would be a good resource for your visitors. I received one today. If I hadn’t recognized the name of the site they were generating links for, I might not have looked any further.
Some of the request will open your eyes to creative techniques that you can use to benefit your own site(s). I wouldn’t recommend an outright lie like the offender below, but clever use of domains can help.
The sender claimed to be an assistant at a library and was finding resources for an “educational series”. The “local library” is either brand
The real Rhode Island Library System is located at oslri.org: http://www.oslri.org/libsites.html
The supposed Rhode Island Site resolves to a hosting company:
Fake Rhode Island Library
A couple other signs that will tell the story
- The site was registered May 18, 2009
I would think that the R.I. lilbrary system probably had their act together prior to then. - The domain registration is private
Probably not something that a public entity would do. In fact, the real Rhode Island library system has their registration information available:
Rhode Island Library
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Subject I wanted to suggest a resource for your page.
hide details 4:35 PM (2 hours ago)
Hi!
My name is Helen Carter, I am an assistant at a local library, I am responsible for finding resources for our educational series. This week we will be discussing mold and the dangers it may pose. While searching for articles I found your page (http://www.wnyhandyman.com/mold-removal.php) which was very helpful. Thanks so much 
I noticed you missed a great page on mold: http://www.gardenbuildingsdirect.co.uk/Article/the-fungus-among-us. It looks like a fairly good resource, which includes a lot of supplemental resources. I really like this page because it is a simple read, and doesn’t use a lot of technical terms like the medical journals do. I certainly plan on using it in my discussion
Have a wonderful day
-Helen
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No thank you, Helen!