Shortly after that last Harry Potter movie came out, I fell into a spiraling depression that led me to talking in a British accent and shouting “EXPELLIARMUS” at random passerby. I like to think that I’m not the only person who had this reaction, but it’s hard to say…

I knew I could count on the internet to validate my behavior.

The thing that finally brought me out of the black hole I’d been living in was another book series (I know, I’m a nerd), The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. You can check out the wikipedia page to learn more about it, or just go ahead and buy them on Amazon and read them, or you can cheat and just wait until the movie comes out on March 23d (50 days, 28 hours, 14 minutes!).

Lenny Kravitz is in it, so you know it's going to be good.

One of the really cool viral marketing campaigns they’re doing for the movie is a website called Capitol Couture, which is based on the fashions and characters described in the books. Between now and the release of the movie, they’ll be adding new profiles and content based on each of the major characters and plot points in the first book. They’ve also released a website called TheCapitol.pn that allows users to register as citizens of Panem and assign them districts where they can interact with other “citizens” by connecting their facebook or twitter accounts (I’m district 3, Technology, btw… go figure). I love the way they’ve blended reality and fantasy to immerse the audience into the Hunger Games world; they’ve even ended the URL with “.pn” for Panem, the civilization in which the books take place.

Which may or may not be filled with clowns.

Tickets go on sale February 22nd, and you better believe I’ll be first in line to buy them. Until then, “may the odds be ever in your favor.”

After reading and attempting to put in perspective Apple’s 2012 Q1 earnings ($13.06 billion), I needed to step back and see why Apple is chosen over its competitors.  Why are so many buyers so quick to go Apple? What is in their products that is not in their competitors’ products?

Note:  I do not have any bias toward Apple, Google, IBM etc.   I use what works best for me.  I objectively critique any new product I buy, I do prefer some products to others, but do not assume I’m an Apple groupie.

What is in an iPad, iPhone or Mac computer that makes it so desirable?

1. Simplicity/Functionality (user experience)
“There’s a phrase in Buddhism, ‘Beginner’s mind.’ It’s wonderful to have a beginner’s mind.” – Steve Jobs

Number one reason why people choose Apple?  Almost anyone can use their phones and computers, and if you can’t you probably could teach yourself.  This is a direct result of well designed (sometimes too basic) user interfaces for iOS and OS X.  Apple enables their customers by offering simple and eye-pleasing navigation via consistency and simplicity in their products.  The easier someone can access their desired content, the more someone will use it.  I think the Buddhist quote above was used as inspiration/motivation for the iOS platform.  Nothing wrong with keeping things simple.

2. Hardware (elegantly designed)

“Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.” – Steve Jobs

Most of us wouldn’t have guessed you could make computers so small, graceful and polished – one decade ago.  Apple has become the bench-mark for great design in tech products.  Why do Apple products feel so well-built and solid?  Apple has a bunch of talented designers, but more importantly they make their own hardware.  This was a passion of Jobs since his early twenties.  He said something along the lines, “once you have an appreciation for great software, you want to make great hardware for it to run on.”  Imagine designing an iPad  from the inside out – each part of the puzzle (hard drive, CPU, memory, cameras etc.) was specially designed to fit inside the product.  One of Apple’s most obvious hardware attractions is their screens.  Since the majority of user-interaction on phones and tablets is touch, it is extremely crucial to have high quality touch screens.  None of Apple competitors (as far as phones and tablets) have yet to notice how inferior their touch screens are.  I’m blown away by this, 99% of the interaction on phones/tablets is touch, how can a company afford to offer a screen that does not respond properly?

Well, I could go on – but software (user experience) and hardware (power/design) are the only two things that go into a great computer product.  Sure – Apple has great ads, cool stores, an impressive marketing campaign and the appStore, but all that aside…it is Apple’s products that have gotten them where they are.

Apple Stats:

-  US smart phone market share = 44.9% (as of Dec 2011)

-  Apple Overtakes Exxon as Most Valuable Traded Company In The World… Again

- $97.6 billion cash in hand ($64 billion of shore)

P.S. – If you haven’t read it yet… Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson

Today the Internet is free and pure. I see it as a physical form of what Carl Jung called our collective unconscious. It is a completely collaborative, user-generated platform we have built to share ideas with one another. It continues to grow into an incredible hub of information passing. Our World Wide Web is responsible for humanity’s greatest accomplishment to date – it has brought the world’s culture, ideas, languages, music, foods, etc. to one central place to be shared and experienced by all.

The Internet has brought many improvements to our lives – but most importantly it provided access to neutral and objective news. With increased exposure, came choice. Now, you can read multiple perspectives of the same story and then weight each to to shape a well-rounded view on the issue. Gone can be the days of spoon fed fabricated stories from America’s corporate media. This global sharing platform has provided the public access to more honest, less bias information that is vital to our development as a global community. The Internet is our most crucial tool in building a united global economy.

The smallest restrictions/limitations of SOPA and PIPA type bills could turn our Internet into just another glorified television. For those unaware – the majority of television is owed by a few huge corporations, and is used as a tool to condition the way you think.

Fortunately, Congress heard our voices!  These bills will not be voted on tomorrow as they were suppose to be.  Please – continue to promote a free and pure Internet – for the People and by the People.

freepress.net

Today is a dark day. And I don’t mean just because it’s overcast and rainy outside in Charleston. Today is the day of blackouts. Many of the web’s most popular sites are going black today to protest SOPA (Stop Internet Piracy Act in the House) and PIPA (Protect IP Act in the Senate). Although they haven’t completely blacked out their website (I’m not sure the world could make it 24 hours without Google..I can barely make it 24 minutes) Google has shown protest to the bills by covering its logo with a black censor stripe, coupled with a message urging users to “Tell Congress: Please don’t censor the web!” Wikipedia’s English sites have gone completely offline, taking a more apocalyptic approach with the message “Imagine A World Without Free Knowledge.” Craigslist’s red, white, and blue themed blackout page includes a snide postscript that states “corporate paymasters, KEEP THOSE CLAMMY HANDS OFF THE INTERNET!” A number of other, smaller sites have joined in the protest as well, including Reddit, Wired, BoingBoing, and WordPress.

Kind of like watching the static channel on TV...

Each of these sites has been asking their users to write to their Congress people to oppose SOPA and PIPA, with Google sponsoring an online petition which has the likelihood to garner hundreds of thousands of digital signatures (it’s already up to 3.3K +1’s as of 11:22 am). Many individuals have even joined in the protest by “blacking out” their Facebook profiles and twitter accounts.

... Math has never been my strong suit.

These bills have been controversial from the start, with many sites, such as Wired.com, likening the acts to “China’s ‘Great Firewall.’” The MPAA and Chris Dodd, who are in favor of the acts, have denounced the blackouts as “stunts” and “an irresponsible response and a disservice to people who rely on [the sites] for information and [who] use their services,” and I’m sure many college students who rely on Wikipedia would agree.

HOW WILL I EVER FINISH MY HISTORY PAPER WITHOUT WIKIPEDIA?!?!

Whether you’re for or against the bills, you have to admit that the grassroots response across the web has been unlike any other. Voting on the bills starts January 24th. With an Internet response this passionate, it’ll be very interesting to see how this all plays out.

We just launched a nice temp site for our friends over at Clementine Bikes. Check back soon for a fully functional site with pictures and detail of the 3 bikes they will be offering.

But in the meantime, take a look at the fully responsive temp site. Adjust your browser size or view it from your computer, tablet or smart phone to see how it changes.

Clementine Bikes

Since we last reviewed Advanced Web Ranking’s SEO software, they’ve done a complete overhaul of the user interface. It’s new, shiny, and works great. So, we thought we’d take another look at it, this time using a common task to highlight the improvements they’ve made.

Here’s our example problem: for some of our clients, we have a large set of keywords, and there are times when we need to drill into a specific subset and analyze ranking changes or generate a report quickly on just that subset of keywords.

Step One: Think Through How To Group Your Keywords
In this example we’re dealing with a real estate website, so some potential groups could be:

• Luxury Real Estate / High-End Real Estate
• Real Estate Agents / Realtors
• Neighborhoods (Mt Pleasant vs Mount Pleasant)
• Water / Oceanfront Property

Step Two: Build Your Categories

Go to your project settings, and select keywords.

One great new feature about creating a category is that you can select the keywords manually, rather than creating a custom rule (old screen shot below).

*Note that the new version still allows you to build categories this way.

I go to the categories link and select new category.

This triggers checkboxes next to all our keywords. We can then filter our list using the search box on the right. In the screenshot below, I’ve typed in “downtown” and it’s filtered all my keywords. I can then use the “select all” checkbox and then hit “save.”

I name my group downtown and we’re all done grouping.

Step Three: Filter Your Reports

Now we can use these keyword groups to filter our reports. In the example below, I’ve gone to my “rankings” tab and am looking at the overview report. In my keywords panel, I’ve selected “all keywords” dropdown and then chosen my “downtown” group. This filters everything on the right, allowing me to analyze those keywords on their own.

This is a huge time-saver compared to the previous system. If you don’t want to create groups, you can still use the filter box on the ranking report screen, but we’ve found this a little easier if you have a lot of groups.

Step Five: Generate My Custom Report

Lets say you want to create a “mini-report” for your client using one of these keyword groups. Maybe you’ve had been working to build links to improve rankings for this specific subgroup and have seen success and want to show off.

With the old interface, you had to go through a 7-step process to create a new report, apply that keyword group filter to it, then export and send to the client.

With the new interface, you can send a report using the new “quick report” feature. Since I’m already looking at the data I want to turn into a report, I just click on the link at the top and follow the steps to generate my report. I can create a PDF or email it immediately to the client. Awesome.

Kudos to the Advanced Web Ranking team for really thinking through the interface design and workflow for this latest release. They’ve got a great application and they’re showing they will keep supporting and improving it to help SEOs around the world do a better job.

For those out there who missed this year’s “Happy Holidays from Blue Ion” message due to over-zealous spam filtering or first-day-back-from-vacation email deleting, here’s a link from us to you. Many thanks to Brennan for capturing the magic that morn.

A la the Ferris Bueller Cubs game, we just spied some of our colleagues on national television during the workday. Next time at least wear fake mustaches, guys.

Check out the latest version of Google’s “Zeitgeist” – their recap of the top search trends for the year. The data and information is great, but I’m most impressed by the interface design of the whole thing.

While 2011 may have been the year of Casey Anthony and Steve Jobs, in my opinion 2011 has been the year that Google really stepped up their interface design game. From Gmail to Maps to their homepage, it’s seemed pretty smooth for what must be a Herculean effort behind the scenes. Of course, it all happened to coincide with the arrival of a certain James Plummer (former life).

Need plans for Halloween? The Patriots Point Naval and Maritime Museum will be transformed into a Ghost Ship! Blackbeard’s ghost and crew will lurk within the USS Yorktown on October 28th – October 31, 7:00pm – 11:00pm.

We have been helping them with some print advertisement and an awesome banner that is hanging out at the entrance to Patriots Point, which you can check out below! Looks like a spine-chilling time for sure!

Tickets are $15 per person and parking is $5 per vehicle. You can purchase tickets online at www.patriotspoint.org