general

As I sat my children down this morning to their daily dose of Sesame Street, the infamous Cookie Monster made a rare appearance by salivating over the Letter O, strictly because it resembled a cookie. The human character had to restrain Cookie Monster from losing control and devouring the scared little letter. This made me realize about how “cookies” on our computers act in very similar ways as the Cookie Monster did with the Letter O. In this analogy, however, the Letter O stands for “Our Privacy”. Read more »

As the economy slowly and steadily pulls itself out of the huge hole it dug itself in, there is one bright side: the commercialization of the web, accomplished in part by online advertising, has taken some important steps for the Internet and its contribution to our economy. As almost all of our activities get transferred to the web, i.e. banking, shopping and socializing, all activities are either subsidized by advertisers or taking the place of traditional advertising.

What this has done, besides created an escape for the increasing amount of unemployed, is allowed the medium of the Internet to continue to be a free publishing and communications platform. Free access to information, entertainment, speed and convenience, and social networks are increasing in importance to people’s daily functions. What it also contributes to is the increase of productivity. Read more »

If you weren't satisfied with the amount of money you spent on Black Friday, you are in luck my friends! Today is Cyber Monday, the unofficial online shopping holiday. The idea behind Cyber Monday is that people will come to work following Black Friday and make those purchases online that they weren’t able to make in stores. Someone is hoping you are sitting at your office computer, browsing through special deals and bargains instead of finishing that TPS report.

Cyber Monday was created in 2005 when some retailers had noticed an increase in online sales on the Monday following Black Friday, and the National Retail Federation decided to brand it. Now, two years later, more and more stores are playing off the Cyber Monday theme and offering sales and has evolved into a significant marketing event. Read more »

Through the hazy gray of the morning, still woozy from yesterday’s abundance of turkey, millions of Americans rise when even roosters are still dreaming. Yes, folks, it is Black Friday. A day of ridiculous sales, insane mobs, and the craziest shopping of the year, made even worse by tryptophan hangovers. This year, forget about Black Friday because a new holiday tradition begins. Today is The National Day of Listening. Read more »

Designing a new webpage can be fun and frustrating all at the same time. I recently came across a free tool called Typetester, which allows creators to test fonts, colors, type sizes, etc. and view them side-by-side. Best of all, once you've chosen just the right layout, it gives you ready-made code to insert into your web page or CSS file. Want to test it out? Click here.