If You Build It, Will They Find You?

I love the design and development process with websites. But the truth be told, not matter how "beautiful, brilliant, cool, great or useful" your website is, all of that can be for not if people cannot *easily* find you. This is a very common problem, as you can probably imagine or have experienced.

Search engine optimization must be an integral part of both your development and marketing plan, otherwise you may be wasting a lot of time and money on website. Web Monkey and Brian Zilar did a great interview with Jason McQueen who does a great job of explaining the basics of SEO. Read on and enjoy!

// Jaye Morris, Technologist

The Googlesphere

Today Google (without a great deal of fanfare) launched Google Calendar (Beta). You must have a gmail account to use it. If you don't already have one, email me jaye@jayezero.com and I will send you an invite.

Google Calendar comes on the heals of several updates and releases to other applications. There has been the Updated version of Google Toolbar. There has been the updated mapping information to Google Earth. There has been the updated Gmail Notifier. Then there's been Google Talk/Chat. These are just a few of the fronts that Google has been moving on. Most of these project are very interesting and boggle the mind... But a Calendar application? I'm not sure that's the next killer app.

I have to say, I have tried various Calendar applications. They have spanned from Netscape Calendar to MSN Calendar to Microsoft Outlook. I even have a Calendar application in my iPod. I've been using Outlook and iCal for different reasons, but tend to think if I didn't have a calendar via the web or even on my lap-top, my life would not be blown. Actually come to think of it, I use the Calendar in my cell phone more that any other interface, simply because it's always, with me. All I have to do is flip the screen and press a single button and there it is. No fuss, no muss.

given all that I have stated in the above paragraph, I'm going to give Google Calendar a serious spin and see if they can get me excited about Calendars. Why would I say this? Because, Google actually got me excited about my email. Using Gmail has been the most effective method of digital communication for me. They put some great concepts on the table like conversations and searches that actually work. Let's see if they can dazzle us all again.

If you give Google Calendar a spin, feel free to post your experience. I'd (and I'm sure others) will be interested to hear what you think.

// Jaye Morris, Technologist

AppZapper and MacZot

Though most people say, “if you want to get rid of an app on a Mac, just drag it to the trash can.” That is definitely misleading. Most people who have Mac don’t realize that it has something similar to the Windows Registry. AppZapper takes something that can be a real hassle and allows you to focus on what you really care about. Working.

For the OS X inclined, there is a really nice “universal” application uninstaller. All you have to do is 1) Pick the application that you would like to uninstall and drag it to AppZapper. 2) Look over the items to be uninstalled. 3) Zap it. Trust me when I say, it doesn't get much easier than that.

Currently there is a special offer going on over at maczot. If enough people blog about the application, you might end up getting it for free.

Enjoy,

Jaye Morris, Technologist

Privacy Marks the Spot

Personal information is power. The right kind of personal information is more valuable than money. Why? The right kind of information is a window into the psyche of a potential consumer and marketers are always looking for the so-called “right” buttons to push that might lead you to buying their product. Personal information is the currency we need and require to live our daily life. My intention in writing about this topic is not to scare you off of any particular technology, but encourage people to use technology in ways that really do enhance, not potentially place us at risk.

Lately I’ve been giving a lot of thought to this issue. Have you noticed a lot of news stories where people using things like chat rooms have opened themselves up to fraud, schemes and potential sexual assault? The other day it came to my attention that a few people that I know have pages on myspace.com. What I found really alarming is the amount and type of personal information people put out there to see.

My first thought was, holy cow, this is a spammers dream. My second thought was, forget Andy Warhol’s 15 minutes of fame. Your digital information (and I’m not just talking about the web) lives a lot longer than 15 minutes and can follow you in some very odd ways. Have you every posted an article on a blog or forum? More than likely those postings are still around the cyber-verse waiting for someone to read them. Have you applied for a credit card? The fact that you did so is logged, recorded and kept on file for other companies to see and review.

When people ask about privacy issues, I encourage people to be very careful. This does not just apply to the web, but any location where you are exchanging personal information. You and I cannot rely on others taking responsibility to protect our privacy. We are our own last line of defense.

As companies are attempting to offer you personalized services and gain personal information like your address, email, credit card, specific likes and dislikes, consider the potential impact. The ones you like, add value to your life and have earned your trust on a regular basis, I say keep and use. Everything else abandon, it can be either a potential nuisance (e.g. spam) or a security threat (e.g identity theft, credit fraud). Use technology to your best benefit. I just encourage each of us be careful out there.

Jaye Morris, Technologist