Have you Checked out maps.live.com yet?

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Three Reasons Why Facebook Matters To Our Clients

The buzz is on about facebook being the 'new Google'. I started using Facebook about a month ago and I have to say its very compelling. I am looking forward to getting more of my friends signed up!

1. New Advertising system
Facebook announced a new marketing program on on November 6, 2007 on their blog:
http://blog.facebook.com/blog.php?post=6972252130
The new system is called Beacon:
http://www.facebook.com/business/?beacon
It’s a bit controversial:
http://www.wcsh6.com/news/watercooler/article.aspx?storyid=75350

2. $240 Million Dollar Investment by M$
NYT article: http://tinyurl.com/yqddnt
M$ advertising page: http://advertising.microsoft.com/facebook

3. Application Development and Integration
This is a very interesting development announced at the Facebook F8 conference:
http://developers.facebook.com/videos.php
http://developers.facebook.com/get_started.php
Stanford U teaches a class on Facebook applications.
Developed a few that have over 1,000,000 installs!
http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/11/19/stanford-students-facebook-application-crosses-1-million-installs/

Wanna Know What's Playing on My Son's Zune? Check it out...

Pumpkin Palooza

The Fun Committee put together a great pumpkin carving contest.
Thanks guys!



Click Here for more pix

Microsoft Video On The Current State of Advertising

The Belgen agency openhere.be worked with Geert Desager from Microsoft Digital Advertising Solutions to put together this short video talking about how the relationship between the advertiser and the consumer has changed. Advertisers better change along with the times, or be left in the dust...



I think this would be an interesting video to show to clients to start a dialog on ways to open a dialog with their customers.

Here is an interesting posting on the making of the video
Bring the Love Back blog.

Mason Interactive Looking for An Additional Web Designer

Mason, Inc. is looking for an experienced Interactive Designer with strong design skills. The right candidate has a passion for inventiveness, a great work ethic, thinks strategically and has a strong portfolio demonstrating a range of design skills. At Mason, you will be a member of a top interactive team that is rapidly becoming internationally known for solving complex challenges in design and functionality.

DUTIES & RESPONSBILITES:
--- Create Web graphics, animations, style sheets, CSS and layouts for use in projects, product development/implementation and maintenance-support.
--- Create sitemaps, wireframes and other architectural documents, as needed based on firm understanding of UI and navigation planning
--- Ensure site design integrity and quality control
--- Code web pages using standard web languages
--- Interact closely with director, developers, creative and account staff
--- Stay ahead of industry design standards and trends
--- Work with back-end programming staff to communicate design to technical implementation.

EDUCATION & EXPERIENCE REQUIREMENTS:
--- Bachelors degree in graphic design or commensurate experience
--- 2 - 5 years experience in graphic design, coding and company branding
--- Thorough knowledge of Photoshop, Illustrator, Flash, and HTML editors

Look forward to hearing from you!

Help The Orphans in Tanzania Africa

As some of you may know, I recently met a priest named Father Isaac Manina Kirigwi. Father Isaac's main mission is to help orphans. Many of these children are orphans because their parents and most other relatives have died of HIV/AIDS. One of the most important things he is doing is educating the people about HIV/AIDS. He would like to get a digital camcorder so that he can make instructional films. He borrowed a camera to make a film and found it to be very affective way to get the message across. He gets very high attendance since many of the people in the villages have never seen a movie before!

I am reaching to my friends and family to see if we can raise the money to purchase a digital camcorder, batteries and extra tapes and cables. The total cost is around $500 or $600. This is a time where a little donation can really go a long way. He will be in the United States for another week and a half. I would like to be able to give him a camcorder before he leaves so he can continue to make movies when he gets back to Africa.

This is a simple straightforward way to really make a difference.

If you would like to help please let me know. I can take payments through Paypal by going here.

Or you can mail your payment to me at:

Jack Nork
290 Beacon Road
Bethany CT
06524

Mobile Phones As Mass Media: The Upcoming Technological Revolution

I found an interesting article by Alan Moore on www.masternewmedia.org that talks about the mobile phones being the 7th mass media that will revolutionize media communications.

He states that an evolving historic technological revolution is under way, which is creating new industries, new products, new services and, unmercifully redefining or even destroying others. It is more powerful, with greater reach and is growing faster than any other media-ecology. It is the grass roots of the mobile mass media.

The story is in two parts

Part I - Mobile as the 7th Mass Media

Part II - Models For Content Distribution

Kudos to Walgreens!

Massive Ad Network Consolidation Is Occurring

The big boys are on a buying spree!

Microsoft just announced they are paying $6 billion for aQuantive, the parent company of Avenue A | Razorfish. The acquisition comes after recent big acquisitions by Google and Yahoo in this space. Google bought Doubleclick for $3.1 billion in April. Later that same month, Yahoo acquired competitor RightMedia for $680 million. Just yesterday, WPP Group acquired yet another company in this space, 24/7 Real Media, for $649 million.

New Google Analytics Interface

Well, I tried taking a look at the new Google reporting options, but all I got was this:



I will try again later, I think Google is having a few roll out hiccups

Microsoft Says Your Phone is Your Next PC

I just read an interesting article on physorg.com that talks about Microsoft's research on developing the cell phone to be the next 'PC' platform - a project they are calling 'Fone+'
I agree with this approach. People don't want to carry all kinds of devices with them, the cell phone is going to evolve into the 'communicator'
http://www.physorg.com/news98525702.html

New Study from Pew Internet Project

Pew has just released an interesting study as a PDF that groups internet users into three categories
1. Elite Tech Users
2. Middle-of-the-road Tech Users
3. Few Tech Assets



Their study shows 51% of Americans utilizing some sort of internet technology (the first two groups above) and 49% with little or no usage. From studying the demographic data it looks like the largest divide was for older users, but lower income also played a large factor

Google Announces New Version of Google Analytics

The Google Analytics Blog announced they are starting to roll out a new version of Google Analytics. A few of the new features include:

• Email and export reports: Schedule or send ad-hoc personalized report emails and export reports in PDF format.
• Custom Dashboard: No more digging through reports. Put all the information you need on a custom dashboard that you can email to others.
• Trend and Over-time Graph: Compare time periods and select date ranges without losing sight of long term trends.

You can view a demo of the new service here.

Over the next several weeks, Google will be migrating all existing Analytics accounts to the new Google Analytics interface.