WebRevelation Blog

Desktop, Laptop, Tablet or Smartphone?

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0500

A report by Canalis was cited in numerous technology posts over the weekend, showing that for the first time, sales of mobile devices have overtaken PC (laptop and desktop) sales.

In recent years, the computer programs most of us use have become increasingly web-based, reducing the need for large hard drives. Also, because mobile devices are usually less expensive and sustain a lot more use and physical abuse, they tend to wear out more quickly, thus NEEDING to be replaced more often.

Does this mean that the desktop and laptop PCs are about to go the way of ticker tape? Probably not in the near future; they still have an important place in our world. But if it is time for you to replace a worn-out device, how do you know whether you should be looking at a desktop computer, a laptop, a tablet, or a smartphone? Here are some things to consider.

Desktops

If you work in an office, chances are you still have one of these monstrosities sitting on your desk, and believe it or not, they're still the best option for anyone who is going to be sitting at a computer for a large portion of his or her day. They larger screens and keyboards are more ergonomically sound, and the larger hard drives are convenient for gamers and for those needing to store large amounts of data locally. Because you're not carrying them around much (hopefully), they last forever (in technology years), and because the need for them in the marketplace has decreased, they can be very economical - especially the refurbished ones.

Laptops

The newer laptops have a huge amount of memory, and are a good compromise for some gaming and for those needing to store large amounts of data - to take with them on the go. The screens and keyboards are acceptable for extended use for most people - although not as comfortable as the desktops. Some are still pretty heavy to carry, but they've been getting lighter and lighter as technology improves. Like the desktops, they now have so much competition in the marketplace that they have become much more affordable, and some great deals can be found - both new and refurbished.

Tablets

These devices are a great option for those who need a larger screen but also want to be able to easily store the device in a backpack or purse. These devices typically don't have a keyboard unless you buy one separately, so they're not ideal for extended use. They're excellent for web-based activities like e-mailing, web surfing, and reading books. Some are even good for watching movies and web-based games. Increasingly, they're functioning as mobile phones with much larger screens. They're too large to put in your pocket, however, and because they tend to sustain physical abuse from getting moved around and bounced around a lot, they just aren't going to last as long as a desktop or even a laptop, which is typically comes in its own case. They are a great economical option, however, for the casual internet user.

Smartphones

These are by far the handiest devices available. They do have their limits: even the larges screens are microscopic, and you're going to be typing with your thumbs, whether you're using an on-screen keyboard or a tiny slide-out keyboard. Because they're so easy to carry and use, a lot of us tend to use them obsessively to check our e-mails and social networking profiles, so they tend to last about a year - important to remember when shopping for a good deal on one. Although it is possible to download movies to these devices, actually watching a movie on one is more of a novelty than a really good movie experience. They hard drive space is getting larger in recent months, but they really don't have enough storage to be a practical option as a primary computer. Most likely, your smartphone is going to be a fun-sized version of your "real" computer - something else to keep in mind when deciding how much cash to drop on one of these trendy little gizmos.

So which of these (or combination of these) have you found is your best option, economically and practically?

Twitter Rolling Out Updates for Business Advertising

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0500

You may have recently received the newest Twitter layout, which I wrote about last month. If you haven't noticed a change yet, be patient. About two-thirds of the accounts I manage have it, and the others don't yet. Unlike the last update, there doesn't seem to be a way to manually upgrade to the new look.

Well if you have that new layout, you'll find that some of your favorite brands may have an expanded version of that look.

Above is an example of how the expanded page for Staples looks. Of course they've customized their background - anyone can do that - even without an easy button. They now have a banner add that runs horizontally across the top of the page, and there is expanded space for a description. There is also a space for a featured tweet, which can be a video, photo, or advertisement of some sort.

Through this, has Twitter actually found a way to finance its operations without venture capital - premium layout pages? I hope so. For more information about brand pages, and to see if this may eventually be a good option for your business, see the Twitter Advertising Blog.

Tea. Earl Grey. Hot.

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0500

Anyone who grew up dreaming of having a Jetson's food machine or Jean Luc's replicator will love this story.

I've been exploring virtual worlds like Second Life and InWorldz lately, and one of the basics of building and creating in those worlds is learning to work with "objects," which are usually things like houses, clothing or avatar parts. These objects can be transferred between the virtual worlds by downloading and uploading these objects as XHTML files, much the same way data from websites are often backed-up and/or moved from one site to another.

These objects are visually 3D, which means that you can rotate them to see all sides, and that they have the appearance of being "real" when displayed using an appropriate viewer for each respective virtual world.

Well, a site called "The Pirate Bay" made big news this week when it announced it was adding a new download category called "Physibles." The Pirate Bay is a website that allows users to download computer programs and other media for free. The site is based in Sweden, and many of the downloads most likely violate copyright laws in the United States and other countries, which is why I'm not linking to them here, but you can read the report on just about any Tech News site listed HERE in the Googe Search.

Apparently, these techie-trend watchers believe that the future of illegal downloads is in 3D printing.

What?!

That's right - they believe that basically, you will actually be able to download physical objects, and they want some of that action. Well, I do, too. Not the illegal part, but wouldn't it be fun to be able to buy a book online, and then download the physical book instead of just a file for your iPad (which I don't have)? Or speaking of that, maybe I could just download an entire iPad.

Apparently, this is not as crazy as it sounds. Mashable has a post today, You'll Download Physical Objects Sooner than you think, thanks to Kids Like These:

"...Riley and Vernon are eighth graders. Along with a small cohort of classmates at Discovery Charter School in the Bay Area, they’re already getting pretty deep into the world of 3D design and printing. After Riley developed a strong interest and aptitude for 3D printing a couple of years ago, a company called 3D Systems donated a 3D printer worth several hundred dollars for him to use at school.

The class of some dozen students is one a very small number of middle school labs beginning to delve into the emerging industry. The group’s work has been featured in a Popular Science blog post, and they have already produced items including dice, jewelry and replacement parts for the printer. Their progress reflects a tangible future for the medium that exists outside of exclusive laboratories and research facilities....(more)"

Wow! Those kids are cute. And smart. And they'll be running the world when I'm too old to do anything about it, so I'm glad that they seem bent on using their powers for good.

Now, where's my Earl Grey (two lumps, please)?

When censorship isn't.

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0500

Twitter, the social network that has been the hero website of several international revolutions recently picked a REALLY bad week to clarify its policy on international censorship.

The online community was just beginning to settle down a bit from the SOPA / PIPA boycott, in which many large websites "went dark" for a day to protest government censorship of the web, when Twitter decided to announce that it could now censor Tweets by country, and the world screamed "WHAT?!"

Deep breaths, everyone. Deep breaths. This isn't what it sounds like.

Twitter is an international website (as are most websites, now), and as such is required to obey the laws of the countries in which it operates. If a foreign government orders a take-down of certain content (e.g. for copyright violations, decency laws, etc.), then Twitter has no choice, really, but to comply. It doesn't matter what the company believes about free speech in a case like that.

Twitter was simply letting users know that in the past when this happened, it had to take down the content globally. That meant that if the land of Genovia deemed all Tweets about Anne Hathaway to be illegal and demanded that Twitter remove them (that's a Princess Diaries joke), Twitter would have to take those tweets down, and NO ONE would be able to see them. Now, Twitter's technology has been upgraded to allow a country-specific take-down, so that if such a demand were to be received, those tweets would simply be blocked in Genovia. The rest of the world would still be able to see them and protest the take-down. Because you know we would have a lively #FreeAnneHathaway hashtag feed going in about half a minute, as well as #BoycottGenovia. Because that how we roll...er, Tweet.

Mashable has a great explanation of how the new policy might help those wishing to use the site for political and social activism - see Relax: Twitter's new Censorship Policy is Actually going to be Good for Activists, and see Twitter Adopts Country-Specific Censorship Regime - How will that Work? on BoingBoing.

So, the #TwitterBlackout campaign might have been a tad unnecessary. Especially since the whole idea was to boycott Twitter, and it doesn't make much sense to stage a boycott on the website you're threatening to boycott. ;-)

Happy Monday, everyone!

Google Makes Controlling your Privacy a LITTLE Easier

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0500

Those of you who have been reading this blog for awhile know that while I do enjoy using some Google products, I'm not exactly a fan of Google's newest social networking endeavor, Google+, due to some very serious privacy concerns.

But I believe it is important to give credit where credit is due, and this week Google announced a change to its privacy policy that will make it much easier for users to manage what is publicly viewable about them on the web. The change will be effective in March. Some users may not have even been aware that some of the products they have been using are now owned by Google (like YouTube and Picasa), and interface with its other products. Wikipedia keeps a running list of the products Google has acquired HERE.

Actually right now (and apparently there will be improvements between now and March 1st) you can go to your Google Dashboard (Google.com/Dashboard), login, and see all of the Google products you are signed up for using that Google profile. You can then adjust your privacy to a level that suits you. I recommend doing this now, and then again after March 1st. Also, remember that if you have more than one Google profile (e.g. one for personal use and one for business), you'll want to sign in under each one separately. After March 1st, all of these products will have one official privacy policy. Mashable has some great information HERE and HERE.

Just remember that Google actually works for its paying customers, and who those customer are: The advertisers. Google pays its bills by harvesting user data and packaging it in a way that is meaningful to its advertisers. If you find this unacceptable, I hear Hotmail is trying get us all to switch back.

Are you ready to Tweet some Football?

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0500

Conference and event attendees have been using the social media site, Twitter for several years to communicate at the event about changes in plans, room reservations, event promotions, jokes about speakers at the event, etc., through the use of #hashtags. Usually, influential people at the event will begin to tweet each other prior to the event, and the hashtag will often develop organically, as more and more people start to use it to make sure other event attendees are able to see their "tweets."

For example, if we had a conference in 2012 called "Burgers and Fries," our #hashtag might be #baf12. Everyone who posted a tweet that they wanted to communicate to crowd at the event would include that tag in their post. All tweets on Twitter are public, so this would not be the place to communicate any sort of private information - but it's a great place to communicate public information.

Well, there are very few events bigger than a Super Bowl, and the folks that are hosting this year's national championship have collaborated with students from Ball State University to up a social media command center," to help those attending the game in person get where they're going and have a good time:

...About a dozen Ball Statejournalism,telecommunicationsandinformation and communication sciencesstudents are participating in the effort to offer the online concierge service, helping visitors around Indianapolis in the two weeks leading up to the Super Bowl. Nearly half the collegians working at the center are from Ball State with two other local universities supplying student employees.

John Strauss, a journalism instructor overseeing the Ball State group, said the service will operate on official Super Bowl social media channels including its Twitter feed. The service is designed to respond to questions from the public as well as relay questions and developing issues to the host committee, law enforcement and other organizations....(more)

They're going to have their hands full. RTV6 in Indiana reports that during last year's Super Bowl there were approximately 4,000 tweets per second. Whew! FastCompany has a great write-up about how social media is being incorporated into the bowl game celebrations HERE.

If you would like to tweet during this year's Super Bowl, just sign into Twitter, and start by checking out #SBXLVI and #SuperBowl. May the best team win!

Have you Been Verified?

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0500

A company called BeenVerified.com has been running commercials lately on my favorite TV station, encouraging everyone, especially single women and mothers, to use its service to do what it calls "background checks" on potential dates. The service is also available for employers and potential clients, but it is mostly marketed to women who are trying to protect themselves and their children.

So I checked it out, and began a "background check" on myself - not to the pointof giving them my credit card, but I did enter my name to see if it came up. What I found was the same erroneous information that has been on Google and 123People.com for years. My options for payment were to pay for a one-time search (with my credit card), or to get a week free (after I set up a payment arrangement using my credit card). Before I gave them my credit card, I checked to see if there were complaints about the company online, and there were numerous ones about people trying to get the monthly billing stopped, and having difficulty doing that. And there were also a lot of complaints about this company "spamming" people. It is hard to know if these complaints were an accurate representation of the business itself, or simply a few disgruntled folks making a lot of noise. Had I decided to go ahead with the background check on myself, I would probably have opted for the one-time charge of less than $2.

The more important question, however, is whether or not this type of a "background check" is actually going to turn up the kind of information you need. In my case, for example, there are a lot of people with my name in my area. You would need to know me well enough to know who my relatives are in order to select the right record, and if you know someone's family, you probably already know more than this type of a background check is going to turn up, anyway. And this is assuming the person you are checking has given you their correct legal name. Many people use pseudonyms online for security and privacy reasons - this may or may not indicate that they are hiding a nefarious past.

Another thing to keep in mind is that although a background check might turn up court records, it isn't going to reveal past activities, personality traits, or character flaws in a person which did not result in a criminal conviction. Plenty of people who are either dangerous or just plain "jerks" have clean criminal backgrounds.

Bottom line? Everything that is old is new again, and some things never change. Always be careful about meeting strangers anywhere, and if you must, be sure to do it in a public place. For personal relationships, take your time getting to know someone in a variety of situations, and make sure you know who they are and have a good idea of who their family and friends are before you put yourself in a position of being "alone" together. Common sense will never be replaced by technology.

The Good News and the Bad News about Online Petitions

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0500

I wrote earlier this week about the internet protest against SOPA and PIPA, an event which is now being deemed the "internet blackout." One of the ways word was spread about the even was by internet petitions like Stop the Wall and Stop American Censorship, and Google's anti-SOPA petition, and others. ReadWriteWeb estimated that a total of 7.5 million people signed petitions (it is unknown how many of those were duplicates from people signing more than one).

Considering this is proposed U.S. legislation, and there are only about 300 million people in the United States, and even allowing for the fact that activists may have signed multiple petitions multiple times, it's obvious that the idea of internet censorship gets A LOT of people fired up (as well it should).

So now, what is going to happen to those internet petitions?

What is going to happen with all of the data that was gathered by those who signed the petitions?

Yes, the numbers will probably be used for lobbying purposes, but the actual signatures cannot be used for any official purpose by the U.S. Houses of Congress or by the President. Mostly, that data was gathered for the benefit of the petition hosts.

Google says (emphasis mine),

"Your first name and last initial may be published publicly as part of the petition to Congress. Your email address may be used to send you updates on SOPA/PIPA and other Internet policy initiatives. Your zip code is used to display the groundswell across the country and inform the appropriate members of Congress for your district and state. That’s it. Your personal information is in no way connected to any other Google services or Google account."

So, Google now has about 4.5 million e-mail addresses of civil libertarians which it can and will contact in regard to any "internet policy initiative," including informational e-mails from it's paid advertisers on these topics and...surprise...fund-raising efforts from those paid advertisers. If you signed that petition, get ready for an onslaught of spam from just about every political organization that knows how to use e-mail.

So what's the good news? We've written extensively here on WebRev thatpolls are a good way to increase blog readership. Why? Because people just love to give their opinions. The petition takes the poll a step further by requiring the respondent to give their contact information in order to particiapte. This allows the petition host to gather information for a newsletter, or other e-mail contact. Of course we know all of our readers here are ethical and would not sell or share their lists without the express permission of the people on that list. Used strategically, a petition can be a way to quickly gather contact information for a target demographic.

Much ado about (almost) nothing: SOPA / PIPA

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0500

In case you haven't heard, there is a battle raging between the recording companies which make gazillions of dollars from music and media they didn't create and internet web companies that make gazillions of dollars from publishing said music and media they also didn't create. A couple of pieces of legislation are pending in the U.S. legislature, called SOPA and PIPA (read more on Consumer Reports).

You may be able to tell from my tone that I'm not on either side of this particular battle. Again, this is a good time to remind the readers that Tim and the team at WebRev let me post here on their blog, but my opinions are mine, and don't necessarily reflect any "official" stance of WebRevelation or its owners. Now, back to our regularly scheduled blog post.

About the time this post goes live, Wikipedia is planning to "go dark," which is a very dramatic, clandestine-sounding way of staging a boycott to protest anti-piracy laws. As you may know, Wikipedia publishes user-created content, and gets around current piracy laws because of "fair use" legislation. Since they don't make money on their content, and they don't rely on ad revenue to stay afloat, they can afford to do this, but most websites can't. Google, which doesn't make money from its content, but does rely heavily on advertising revenue, and decided to just post a protest on its home page.

Critics of the proposed legislation are concerned that free speech will be inhibited. Actually, the most dangerous part of the legislation, which would have allowed the U.S. government to force web hosting companies to block access to websites determined to be pirating content has been killed. But, as it is said, power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Once the government begins to legislate what can and cannot be published on the web, sites which rely on user-generated content will eventually go by the wayside. They'll never be able to effectively police their content and still allow users to publish at will. This will be a sad day.

However, as I mentioned before in regard to Facebook's irresponsibility with its immense, relatively non-legislated power, with much freedom, comes much responsibility. It's illegal to steal other people's creations and sell them for profit. We could insist that our U.S. Government simply enforce existing copyright law, but unfortunately the result of that is that those seeking to pirate the work of American artists simply set up shop overseas, where American law is difficult to enforce. With so many influential Americans insisting their government protect their rights, too, it's only a matter of time before the government has not choice but to get involved, and that time has apparently come.

It will be interesting to see what happens, and who will "win." I do have a couple of predictions. First, the rhetoric will get a lot crazier before everyone calms down. Secondly, some of the companies who are making such a big deal about being "against" invasive government action will be the first to use whatever legislation is eventually enacted as an excuse to further invade their users' privacy to glean information that will be helpful to their advertisers (I'm looking at you, Google).

Online Resources for Preparing for a Corporate Career Transition

Mon, 16 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0500

As part of a project I'm currently working on, I'm gathering resources for employees who are dealing with a corporate merger, and uncertain about their careers in the near future. Here at WebRev, we've been providing such resources for the last couple of years, through our jobs and education feeds.

A few of the resources below are gleaned from those feeds, but most are specific to those working in Corporate America, so if you know anyone who might find these useful, we hope you'll share them. Employees who are uncertain about the future of their corporate careers may be facing lateral moves or demotions within their own companies (or, hopefully, promotions). Some older employees may be considering early retirement. Some may be wondering if they will be laid off, or whether they should find a new job before they're forced to do so.

For those planning to remain in the workforce, updating resumes and job skills are a good idea, so I've included several resources for that in the list below. Those planning to retire also need to make some preparations, and I've included a few resources for beginning that type of transition.

Free Career Planning Tools

OK Career Planner

Quintessential Careers

Careers.org

Oklahoma Employment Security Commission

US Office of Personnel Management

Career Path

Tulsa Community College Career Assessment

Resume.Monster.com (Free and Paid services)

Careerealism (Because Every Job is Temporary)

Washington State Workforce job interview preparation presentation (Scroll through using the menu at the bottom)

Answers.USA.gov Job Loss Assistance Programs

Free Online Education Resources

MIT Open Courseware

Yale Open Courseware

Education Portal (Also the new Education Portal Academy)

U.About.com

Learn That

Education Online for Computers

GCF LearnFree

Free Retirement Information

Money-Zine Early Retirement Calculator

Money Central: 6 Keys to a Great Early Retirement

Prudential: Retirement Planning

Fidelity: Retirement Planning

Do you have other online professional development resources you would like to share?

Two Mistakes to Avoid when Putting your Business Online

Fri, 13 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0500

After reading 10 Things All Entrepeneurs Fail At by TechCrunch's James Alutcher (and resisting the English teacher inside of me wanting to correct the grammar mistakes in the title), I thought of a couple of mistakes I've made and seen others make when putting their new business venture on the web in the form of a website and/or a social networking profile.

The first is underestimating the importance of an online presence. I went through my local coffee shop's drive-thru earlier this week, and while I was waiting in line, I decided to look them up online. I was stunned to see that they really have no online presence. They're in a few directories developed by other people, but they don't have a website or any sort or any social networking profiles that I could find. Needless to say, I'm working on a proposal (I wonder if they would let me do the job for free mocha frapps...hmm). But I digress.

One of the first things people do now when they discover a new business, or when they're checking out a new business, is LOOK THEM UP ONLINE. If they're a local business, people expect to be able to see the hours of operation and a map to nearby locations. People are also hoping to look at a menu of the products, and maybe even a discount. In many cases they'll be using their mobile devices to do this. Any business that hasn't taken charge of its own online reputation by having at least their basic contact information listed online in an easy-to-find and use format is missing the boat.

The other mistake we all tend to make when we're starting a new business, and caught up in the excitement of seeing our first website (and showing all of our friends), is that we might overestimate how much business we're going to get from that website. Somehow we tend to imagine that there are millions of people just sitting out there with a void in the shape of whatever we're selling that are going to be so happy that we finally opened for business and put up a web page or a Facebook profile. Maybe that will happen, but just in case it doesn't (ahem), it's important to remain realistic about the purpose of our website and the goal of our online efforts.

Sure, if you really study and implement good search engine optimization and you have a business that is geared toward online commerce, you may see a lot of profit just from the online traffic you generate. For most local businesses, however, the website and/or social networking profile is the new yellow pages ad: You must have one so that people will know you're legit, but the traffic you're going to get solely from there will be a small percentage of your overall profits.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Using Virtual Reality to Overcome Disabilities Part Two

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0500

Earlier this week, we talked about how a group called Virtual Ability is using virtual reality to help people overcome disabilities. Above is a video for another project this organization is working on is called AVESS (amputee virtual environment support space):

Virtual Ability, Inc. and ADL Company proudly announce the initiation of the AVESS (Amputee Virtual Environment Support Space) Project. AVESS is funded by the Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center (TATRC) of the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command (USAMRMC).^* The purpose of this project is to establish best practices and protocols for the provision of on-line peer-to-peer support services for military amputees and their families.The first phase of this projectcreated demonstration environments in Second Life^®.Phase Two will be the creation of a four-sim supportive environment in SL.

Virtual worlds can provide military amputees with an opportunity to enhance their overall quality of life, expedite their reintegration into society, and improve their physical and mental wellness. While the rehabilitation goal is for the soldier to return to active duty, many return to their civilian communities. Spouses and family members of military amputees often become their caregivers after they are released from military hospitals and rehabilitation programs.

Peer support groups help recent amputees gain the experience and confidence and practice the skills necessary to proceed with their rehabilitation. Support groups can also assist family members and spouses with their caregiving issues and concerns. A virtual world environment may facilitate ongoing care and support, especially for amputees who live far from rehabilitation facilities.

^*This work is supported by the US Army Medical Research and Materiel Command under Contract "W81XWH-09- P-0731." The views, opinions and/or findings expressed above are those of the author(s) and should not be construed as an official Department of the Army position, policy or decision unless so designated by other documentation.

Of course, ne of the major issues faced by many combat veterans, whether they have been physically injured or not is PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder). Second Life hosts another project, sponsored and managed by the National Center for Telehealth and Technology, called the "T2 Virtual PTSD Experience":

he T2 Virtual PTSD Experience, based in Second Life, is an immersive, interactive learning experience designed to educate visitors about combat-related post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). It includes a simulation demonstrating how PTSD may be acquired during a combat-related traumatic event, including an explanation of the connections between danger cues and triggers, the role of avoidance in the development of PTSD, and how PTSD is a normal human response to traumatic events. Additionally, this environment includes simulations of PTSD symptoms, helping the visitor learn through interactive activities how PTSD symptoms may show up in a person's life. Finally, the environment includes information to help visitors determine whether they or a loved one is in need of care, and how to access that care whether a DoD or VA beneficiary.

This virtual experience does require some basic "gaming" experience, so anyone who is new to the concept of virtual reality should start with the links provided in Part One of this series. Here's a video to learn more:

(Also see Part 2 of this video series)

Using Virtual Reality to Overcome Disabilities Part One

Mon, 09 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0500

(Also check out Part 2, and Part 3)

I discovered a sim in Second Life this weekend that I found very impressive. It's called "Virtual Ability" Island, and it is an ongoing project to assist people who are facing just about any sort of disability, including physical limitations, visual challenges and mental mental disorders.

The project was begun in 2008, and the above video was created in 2009, shortly thereafter. There have been a lot of changes and improvements since then, so the place is even better, now.

For those unfamiliar with online gaming and virtual reality, the orientation to this island is the best orientation I have ever seen. I would encourage anyone, actually, who is wanting to know more about virtual worlds to start here (be sure to make a donation if you are able). The sim is open to anyone who is experiencing a disability of any sort, or for anyone wanting to learn how to help someone who is facing a disability. Those wanting to better accomodate employees or participants facing disabilities in their workplaces and "real life" (as opposed to virtual life) situations can visit the programs "Health Info Island," which is linked from the main island in-world.

According to the organization's "About" page:

During our unique intake process, we conduct an individualized skills assessment, refer clients for help with assistive hardware and software as appropriate, and provide customized training and orientation.

Once they are "there," Virtual Ability, Inc. helps members of our community integrate into the virtual society, and provides an ongoing community of support. The community offers members information, encouragement, training, companionship, referrals to other online resources and groups, ways to contribute back to the community, and ways to have fun.

We take virtual field trips as part of our curriculum with our new intakes. We also have volunteers who love to go shopping, and enjoy helping folks with virtual makeovers. While almost anyone new to a virtual online world would enjoy a little early guidance, we are finding that this individualized attention is often critical for the success of those who have disabilities.

We also do a lot of dancing. We have taken folks to walk in the virtual woods, climb mountains, go virtual skydiving - all kinds of things that are profound and a pleasure to someone with physical or mental limitations. It's an amazing experience helping someone who will never walk again in real life to jump on a virtual trampoline.

Tomorrow, we'll talk about resources for those facing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Facebook causes divorce?!

Fri, 06 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0500

Well, it's that time again. Every few months, Facebook gets blamed for breaking up families. This time, it's in the U.K., where Facebook has been mentioned in a third of the divorces.

As someone who managed to get herself divorced twice before I had a Facebook account (and zero times since I've been on Facebook), I'm a bit skeptical.

Facebook is a social networking tool - nothing more. Before we had Facebook, we had MySpace, and before that Yahoo and AOL, and before that we had dating services, and before that we had the church and local dance clubs. People (married or unmarried) who have a mind to flirt have always somehow found a way to do it. But now, it happens on Facebook, because most of the civilized world is on Facebook.

If the divorce rate had dramatically increased since Facebook became popular, one could plausibly make a connection between the family breakdown and social networking, but the fact is that the divorce rate is down, both in the United Kingdom, and in the United States.

Perhaps instead of blaming Facebook for the divorces that are occurring, we should give Facebook credit for keeping more people at home with their spouses? That might also be an exaggeration, but Facebook does provide a tool (when used properly) to improve communication, which is important in a good marriage (or so I'm told).

Regardless, it seems like it would be wiser to pay more attention to what people are doing ON Facebook, rather than blaming the site, itself for the breakdown in any relationship (or the success of one).

Happy Friday, everyone - have a great weekend. Now, go hug your spouse if you still have one - good ones are hard to find.

Google doth protest too much, methinks.

Wed, 04 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0500

Tim Short, the owner of WebRevelation, posts helpful articles for customer site administrators on the sign-in screen periodically. I always check out those posts, and have gleaned a lot of good information from them. The most recent is a post by Carl Hruza, of Connect Online Services, a web design and search engine optimization (SEO) business in Wisconsin. The article is a two-part series, called "Establishing Ownership of your Content." The first part The Rules are Changing, and the second is Are you Ready to Play the Game? There's some great information in both of those pieces, as well as a demonstration of a great technique for drawing blog readership: He published the first part on several different highly-ranked article directories, and linked to the second part on his own website.

In a nutshell, he's helping his clients sort out what the newest Google algorithm changes mean to them. This is also something we also do on a regular basis here at WebRev. Customers who are maintaining a website as a customer contact point and marketing effort locally are obviously going to have different priorities in regard to catering to the search engines than will businesses which exists solely online and maintain websites as their primary source of income, and this is something Mr. Hruza explains very well.

For local businesses, the changes to the recent Google algorithm will have minimal impact. Basically, these businesses need to keep on posting quality, original content of interst to their customers and potential clients. They need to maintain a user-friendly presence wherever their target demographic is likely to be, such as on the social networks like Facebook and Twitter. These also need to be easy to access online however their target demographic tends to use the web - which increasingly is including mobile technology.

So, if you're doing these things, just keep on keeping on.

For those really interested in SEO, however, the discussion is still open regarding how Google's ever-mysterious algorithm changes should change the way we preactice search engine optimization. Google is in the process (ostensibly) of trying to update its algorithm to detect duplicate content in order to minimize the value of sites that do nothing but "scrape" content from other sites (basically, spam sites that don't publish original content, but just plagiarize other sites in order to attract traffic to the ads on their own websites). Google explains, HERE.

The problem with this claim by Google is that if it wanted to really prioritize original content, it could easily do so by utilizing its cache. Google and the other search engines have been caching content for years. See our post from November, Need to recover a deleted or modified blog post? Try your search engine's cache.

All Google or any other search engine would need to do is to place a high value on the first incidence on any posted content, using its cache. No, it would not be able to rely on the "post date" (the timestamp on the post), because this date is often manipulated by webmasters for a variety of reasons, mostly innocent right now. If the post date ever became an important factor in search engine optimization, however, you could expect to see mosts from the 17th century suddenly becoming popular online, as people would be trying to make their content appear "first." No, that wouldnt' work; the search engines would need to use their cache to detect the earliest time that content was actually posted. In fact, Google already knows how to do this, because it has been incorporating the publishing time in its search options on its news search for a long time.

So, why hasn't this already been done? Well, the search engines have not lost sight of who their paying customers are - the advertisers. And thre is more money to be gained by tracking popularity and influence than there is in tracking accuracy and quality. Until someone figures out a way to monetize quality search, that is unlikely to change.