Jacqueline Thomas, discusses the most used and abused web designs of all time. Make sure not to commit these designing-faux pas. Designers or not, we know we are guilty of at least liking one of the things on her list, which are:
Becky EbenKamp of Ad Week's creative news reports that agencies are bringing a new twist to their sites with a navigation bar which links their work to sites such as Twitter, Facebook, Flickr and YouTube, and to Google for news. Agencies like CP+B, Modernista and Ignited, who are one of the first to dive into social media, are even posting blogs about their work to give people a "sneak peak" of who and what the agcency is all about. Visitors can also share stories via Facebook or subscribe to an RSS feed.
According to Chrispin Porter + Bogusky they say that their site gets approximately 1,000 visits per day, with visitors staying an average of 8 minutes. Will this be the trend for other agencies to follow?
Brian Mcallister, for The University of Washington Design Show 2009, announces the sharing system of the plug in electric bicycles that can be charged when plugged into their docks. Cykels similar to this are already prominent throughout Europe, and they are to be tested in the States-in cities like Seattle and San Francisco. With this Cykel, you have the choice of pedaling to your destination or using the full on electric mode, if you're just lazy. This is a great alternative way to commute around the city and improve conditions with the environment.
Which of thee do I love more, the iPhone or the Palm? Thanks to Daniel Ionescu of PC World, you can decide! Pros and cons of both phones.
Agencies, Retailers, and Publishers are reorganizing their structure to keep up with this powerful movement of mommy bloggers, which is up 73% from the past year and companies are adding them to their list of servies (ie. Walmart & BabyCenter.com). This is a huge business for marketers! View the video for intersting facts.
What do Richard Simmons, Billy Blanks, Jackie Warner and Shwayze have in common? They all want to whip your butt into shape!
According to an article from TrendHunter:
Last summer, Shwayze and Cisco Adler released their beach-rap debut album ‘Shwayze,’ which featured hit singles like “Buzzin’” and “Corona and Lime.” The Los Angeles natives have parlayed their infectious “summertime in a bottle” vibe into a workout series with Nike Sport Music called ‘Beach Body by Shwayze Workout.’
‘Beach Body by Shwayze Workout’ is a 20-minute program coached by Shwayze and Cisco Adler. Naturally, Shwayze music is featured in the workout along with a series of cardio and strength exercises meant to cover the upper and lower body in a short period of time.
Forget beach boot camp...we've got Shwayze!
Originally a Y Combinator start-up, Songkick is a concert aggregation and recommendation site that allows you to easily track the tours of your favorite bands while also discovering new shows that might interest you. With a goal of listing every single concert in existence, Songkick indexes mainstream bands, underground bands and everything in between--the site even indexes bands' MySpace pages to make sure that even the smallest bands are represented. One of the greatest tools on the site is appropriately called the Songkicker--a downloadable plug-in for iTunes, Windows Media Player and Winamp that automatically scans your entire music library and adds all the artists into your personal tour database (Tour Tracker). With many other additional features to help you track your favorites and discover new ones, Songkick is the ultimate concert resource.
Missed your favorite concert because of a sold out venue or high tickets prices? No worries--Fabchannel has you covered. Fabchannel is one of the largest resources of full concert videos, with a library spanning more than 700 events. On the site, you can watch concerts live or pre-recorded with the additional option of editing the videos to create playlists of your favorite songs and / or moments from various shows.
indieSolo gives unsigned independent musicians the opportunity to
showcase their music and talent for an entire day in the hopes of
getting discovered.Bands are chosen by audition, and those selected get 24 hours to
promote their music, show off their unique personalities, build their
fan base and make money through the sale of CDs, ringtones, merchandise
and donations. indieSolo offers free hosting of up to three MP3s for
each band, and a rating system measures their popularity and buzz.
Fans, meanwhile, gain an easier way to discover new music. They can
interact with bands they like, give feedback, and download free MP3s
and ringtones. The site keeps a list of the top MP3 downloads, while
forums and blogs foster community interaction. Participation on
ad-supported indieSolo is free for both artists and fans.
As a very successful music performer and producer, Timbaland is on his way to producing yet another hit--this time, it's a venture in the mobile world. Timbaland has signed a year-long deal with Verizon Wireless to record one track per month with another Interscope artist to be made exclusively available to V-Cast subscribers. With this new collaboration, Ed Ruth, director of digital music for Verizon says the purpose is "to show the music industry that we're truly a viable distribution platform for them."
Pennsylvania insurer Highmark recently rolled out what appears to be
the nation's first prepaid gift card designed specifically for
healthcare expenses. Launched in November, the Healthcare Gift Card can be stocked with anywhere between USD 25 and USD 5,000 and used to
cover expenses including co-pays at doctor’s offices and pharmacies;
dental care; vision care; memberships at health
clubs; and procedures such as Lasik and cosmetic surgery.
This could be a
great branding opportunity for pharmacies and other health-related
organizations, which could offer them under their own names much the
way retailers already offer traditional gift cards today. (source: springwise) 
Similar to Pandora, Jango allows you to create your own music stations based on your listening preferences, with the main difference being that additional music suggestions are provided by other Jango listeners who share your music taste. You can also tune in to other people's stations, and they can tune in to yours.
Taking the sharing of stories a step further, StoryCorps has partnered with One Laptop per Child (OLPC) and UNICEF to create Our Stories, a project that helps children around the world record the stories of their own families. These three organizations provide youth with the resources required to document their history. You can hear some of the stories by clicking on the world map located on the site's home page.
As the largest oral history project of its kind, StoryCorps prides itself in documenting a growing story of who we really are as Americans. Since 2003, tens of thousands of everyday people have interviewed family and friends through StoryCorps. Each conversation is then archived for generations to come at the Library of Congress.
Not only did Kanye West claim the number one spot on the Billboard charts, but he also managed to crack the adcritic top 20, for his video “The Good Life”. You know it has to be a great album when the advertising community can take a moment to leave their self-absorbed world and acknowledge some true artistic greatness.
Kanye West easily bested 50 Cent in their much-hyped clash, pushing 957,000 copies of Graduation against 691,000 copies of the G-Unit star's Curtis in its first six days of sales.
The album-sales war between Kanye West and 50 did what it was designed to do: It put a much-needed spotlight back on hip-hop and gave fans something to get excited about. Yet there is still no template to do business and great beats and amazing lyrics can only sell so many albums.
What can we learn for West’s success? Enter Hova…..
Jay-Z suggests it's all about creativity. "Artistry wins," says Jay-Z. "If you're going to emulate something, then emulate art. Because you can emulate a record or a trend, but that doesn't win at the end of the day."
This sets the stage for THE REAL NEWS of the day--- Jay-Z will release his second album in a year, "American Gangster," Nov. 6 via Def Jam.
Let's be honest, both albums leaked over a week ago, which makes it truly hard to gauge the True potential success of each album. In terms of album sales Billboard.com’s early sales projections might put Kanye ahead of 50 Cent—“Graduation" could come in at the 575,000-700,000 range, while "Curtis" is being projected in the 500,000-600,000 range—But this does not take into account all secondary branding opportunities and revenue avenues resulting from the promotion of each artist’s respected albums.
If we look at several additional sources we can better estimate potential impressions and albums owned (leaked and purchased) using several sources--Google Music Trends, Google Trends, Yahoo Buzz, iTunes and Torrent seeds on Mininova.org.
While it appears Google chat users are more likely to listen to Kanye, even on a bad day searches for 50 Cent tower above those of Kanye. Furthermore 50 Cent torrent seeds are out pacing Kanye and 50 Cent has four music videos with over a million views (over 12.8 million total) compared to Kanye’s two music videos (over 4.7 million total). Note: Kanye does not have his own YouTube channel and relies heavily on users remixing his songs for YouTube distribution.
But in the end, do 50 Cent’s album sales really matter? Kanye is still a rapper/producer who loves fashion and 50 Cent is a brand. No matter what he is laughing straight to the bank with his profits from Vitamin water, g-unit clothing, and his very own video game.
For more on 50 Cent and Kanye check out their interviews on vbs.tv.
In todays hyperlife world we live in a society where we are always connected to work via cell phones, PDAs, computers and IM – all at once. It is almost impossible to escape work and much of the time it even consumes our personal life. Yet, according to a new survey by America Online and Salary.com, the average worker admits to frittering away 2.09 hours per 8-hour workday, not including lunch and scheduled break-time, costing employers $759 billion per year.
I am in complete disagreement that employees are frittering away hours. Instead, I believe that employees no longer have enough personal time and are being forced to make the most out of their day by multi-tasking. People are no longer compartmentalizing time and instead are listening to their own personal needs and engaging in their passions throughout the day.
Some other interesting work-related facts:
President Jacques Chirac of France has signed a bill called the “First Job Contract”, which will allow employers the ability to fire young people under the age of 26 within the first 2 years of employment without cause. In a country that already has serious race relationships and where the average graduate now competes with an average of 42 other applicants for a job opening this does not seem like a bill that will further France’s economic development. France already has the highest unemployment in Western Europe for 18-25 year olds and is now breading a generation of people that do not feel a part of their “home country” because of a lack of assimilation and job opportunities.
In the U.S. “at-will employment” allows an employee to claim “wrongful termination” for firing based on race, gender, age or religion and if those circumstances were changed in order to give older employees more job security we would see total anarchy. It would bread a culture disenfranchised youths and a hotbed of tension driving youth to find other outlets to express their beliefs. In France we are seeing new creative outlets emerge as a result and it is definitely something to keep an eye on. We are already seeing musicians such as Booba and street artist such as JR gain international attention and the trend will only continue.
