Light-Weight Models and Cost-Effective Scalability: Salesforce, Threadless.com
May 11th
As businesses migrate from ad hoc Web 2 use toward more formal approaches, welcoming O’Reilly’s “small is the new big” adage with open arms, it’s essential to deliver not just technologically but to adapt corporate models for more scalable and cost-effective change. While Web 1 heralded convoluted mishmashes of information and ‘at you’ data models, we’ve resurfaced not just with a design epiphany of ‘less is more’, but from a business perspective; the fastest way to positive Web reform is to focus upon a single service (expertly) and integrate with an ecosystem of other manipulable features. From the development of More >
Leveraging the Long Tail
Apr 29th
“Leveraging the Long Tail” refers to recognizing the Internet as a network bulked predominantly by niche content, and the importance of algorithmic data management and referral to ‘reach the edges, not just the tail’. Essentially, data is disseminated into niche interests (the long tail) like blogs, personal web-scapes, feeds and what-have-you, and restructured and assembled by search engines (Google and AdWords) and other aggregation tools for unprecedented exposure of less popular products/services. Big businesses like Google (renowned for paving the way for search algorithms) have taken Chris Anderson’s The Long Tail into their web strategies as we begin to realise that the future More >
Youtube’s Perpetual Beta
Apr 22nd
Our favourite video-sharing service YouTube is yet another application technology grasping for Web 2.0 headway by invariably going through beta cycles. Since its buyout by Google in 2006, YouTube works to blend automatic updates (i.e. slipstreaming features on a monthly, weekly, even daily basis), internal research analysis, and pre-rollout testing by allowing its users to “opt-in” to specific development projects.
Ordinary users can volunteer for a host of potential implementations; h.264 encoded video for HTML5 video support, Feather, 3D video viewing, and significant changes to comment features, to name a few. As time wears on, these changes are either refined and adopted or removed according to the More >
Software Above the Level of a Single Device
Apr 18th
As multiple networked devices between a single user becomes the norm, and as we vie to digitally self-organize our lives, we can assume that software capable of synchronisation with several devices is key to its longevity. Today we’re still only teetering toward a new era of ubiquitous computing, daring to envision a techno-utopia, as it were, of perpetual interconnectedness. While we’ve made subtle attempts to diverge from basic web applications to the Internet as a platform for hand-held devices, there are comparatively few applications designed ‘from the ground up’ to span multiple devices.
Ericsson’s CEO Hans Vestberg aptly describes it as “the More >
Rich User Experiences: Silverlight Framework
Mar 23rd
Microsoft’s pulling out all the stops in a bid to compete directly against Adobe’s Flash/ Flex with Silverlight, entering the Rich Internet Application (RIA) framework business as of 2007. Trying hard to gain recognition in the shadow of a behemoth globally recognised as the standard for its video streaming capabilities is no mean feat, but its viability to produce new and innovative services – and richer user experiences in wake of competition – makes Silverlight something to look out for.
Microsoft’s Popfly
Silverlight pushed hard to spread word with Popfly, a basic programming tool for Silverlight which launched simultaneously with the RIA More >
User Experiences: Microsoft Office vs. Google Apps
Mar 22nd
I recently came across a video of Microsoft’s take on Google Apps, which inspired further exploration into Google’s competitive venture to de-stabilise Microsoft’s vice grip over enterprise market. The clip itself is testament to Microsoft’s awareness of Google’s ambition to net a portion of their consumer pool. Essentially, it all comes down to whether you’re vying for web-based applications or desktop applications with greater extensibility.
First, what are web-based applications? They’re popular with the casual consumer due to their mobility and portability, able to be accessed from the browser on virtually anything connected to the Web. Web-based services tend to require sign up, More >
Apple’s Steve Jobs Condemns Flash, A No Go
Mar 22nd
Following the hoo-ha surrounding the launch of Apple’s iPad, CEO Steve Jobs resigned himself to answering the recurring question: “Why doesn’t the i<device> have Flash?”
Apple’s executive-level aversion to Flash is no secret; in fact Jobs was pretty brazen in his dismissal of its implementation for several reasons in his answers. The CEO’s open boycotting of Flash, one of the world’s most popular internet formats, has since heralded a wave of Adobe supporters pointing fingers at Apple’s so-called secret agenda to buck external resources for absolute control (of their own products, at minimum).
Jobs met privately with The Wall Street Journal recently and wound up having to reiterate his condemnation of Adobe at More >
Font Conference
Mar 22nd
If you’re into fonts, you’ll definitely get a kick out of Font Conference from CollegeHumor, a hilarious personification of popular font types packed with typography jokes. My personal favourite by far had to be Wingdings, “Mailbox! Open mailbox!” Check it out for a laugh.
Building Businesses around APIs
Mar 18th
APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) are essentially Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs) for developers, enabling third parties to manipulate data innovatively to build other applications via the API. How would it affect your business? The advantages include:
- A massive boost to development
- May convert competitors into partners, smooth product integration
- Extends to market itself as a desired tool
- Empowers consumers, providing a sense of trust and community value
- Direction for company’s business model in accordance with user needs and assistance from third-party developers
Innovation In Assembly: Flickr Gets Ahead
Mar 16th
As once dominating proprietary software platforms cave to the pressures of open standards, we find ourselves leaping into an entirely new league of fostered growth and advancement in connectedness. We’ve apprehended the level of opportunities in service manipulability, consumer direction and community, trust and business expansions to fulfil both business and consumer needs like never before – largely thanks to open Internet protocols and APIs (Application Programming Interface).
Flickr at the forefront
Flickr is an excellent example of next gen web services due to its one major focus (imagery), exposure of core functionality with a fully documented API, a clean and intuitive UI with easy sign up, no spam and fabulous community More >
