smith + jones

Flash vs HTML5

Greg — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 17:05:08 +0000

This debate started earlier this year when Apple released its iPad. The iPad has no support for Flash, following in the iPhone footsteps. Flash is the current standard for moving graphics on the web but it is a resource hog on your system. In devices that rely on battery power for their usefulness, this can quickly become an issue. A war started between Abobe (the makers of Flash) and Apple. Here is a recent quote from Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO, “Different pieces of technology kind of go in cycles,” Jobs said. “Flash looks like a technology that had its day, but is waning, and HTML5 looks like the technology that’s really on the ascendancy right now.” Is he right? See what the public thinks.

HTML5 will do most everything that Flash currently does. The problem with HTML5 is that the web is ruled by designers not developers. Designers typically don’t program. HTML5 requires programming to produce the effects that designers can do themselves in Flash. There are many aspects to this debate and they are all just starting. It will be interesting to see how it shakes out.

Connecting to the Internet

Greg — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 20:54:54 +0000

The way in which people connect to the Internet greatly affects how we design for it. In the old days we used to have to make all the files as small as humanly possible to increase the load times. Pages that would load slowly would frustrate users. Today, load times are not that big of a concern with the majority of people connecting with a high speed connection. Here is an article from less than 5 years ago when the general public was just transitioning from dial-up to broadband. How things have changed. Here is an April 2010 poll from CNET:

Cable modem	58.1%
DSL, man, DSL	27.5%
Fiber	9.2%
Other (explain in the comments section)	2.0%
WiMax	1.4%
Tethering from my phone	1.1%
Dial-up	0.7%

Keeping the creative juices flowing with Girl Scout Cookies.

Alanna — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 21:49:57 +0000

s+j has the fortune of having our own Girl Scout in residence. Heather’s niece drops by our offices every winter so we can all order our Girl Scout Cookies. And while we still prefer having Ava stop by the office to make her pitch, here’s an interesting article about the Scouts taking their tactics online. Girl Scouts Venture Online To Market Their Cookies.

Employers and Facebook

Greg — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 17:32:16 +0000

Ever wondered who is looking at your profile in the middle of the night? It could be an ex girlfriend, former business partner or current/future employer. Should we care that our employers are looking us up on social sites? There are two schools of thought. Most experts will tell you to hide or filter your profile while you are looking for a job. In this competitive job market you cannot risk losing an opportunity over a picture of yourself drinking beer with your pants halfway down. Conversely, if you are applying for a job at a company that is actively into social media, they are probably looking for an employee that is also very active on social sites. Regardless of the type of company you are applying with, it is probably a good idea to clean up your profile. Here are three easy steps. Or, if you are comfortable with your social well being and just looking for some of the crazy things woman do on Facebook, have fun and good luck.

User generated content: friend or foe?

Alanna — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 23:06:18 +0000

Conflicted on whether to splurge on that new Flip? Read a review and make your decision. This seems to be the trend in consumer behavior – certainly in my own. Nielsen’s survey of 25,000 Internet consumers reported that 90% of consumers poled trust recommendations/referrals from friends and acquaintances while 70% trust online consumer reviews making user generated content one of today’s most trusted forms of advertising.

Help with Yelp?

Greg — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 01:21:19 +0000

Yelp is rapidly gaining traction as an online review site that mixes in a social aspect and local search to make the reviews more believable and relevant. The site allows businesses to have a listing. This can be a good or bad thing for your business. If customers have a good experience they may talk about it, unfortunately they will talk about it if their experience is bad. Here are a few ways to help your business presence on Yelp. If you love Yelp, check out their fan club.

Annual a2n2 ADDY Awards

Greg — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 00:23:52 +0000

The annual ADDY Awards were held Friday, March 12th in Reno, Nevada.

The results are in. Drum roll please…

Gold Addy Award
Collateral Material Category
Client: HD96 Publishing / North Lake Tahoe Marketing Coop

Gold Addy Award
Newspaper Advertising Campaign Category
Client: Tahoe Fire and Fuels Team (non-profit)

These entries will now automatically move on to the District ADDY Awards (Northern California, Northern Nevada)

Plus 4 Silver ADDYS

We all feel very proud to produce award winning work for our valuable clients.

Advertising Association of Northern Nevada

American Advertising Federation

Apple’s iPad

Greg — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 18:49:53 +0000

Apple says its Wi-Fi version of the iPad will be available on April 3rd with a 3G version available later in the month. According to a CNET poll, this is what you are thinking:

I’m waiting for more features – Webcam, multitasking, etc.	34.8%
Not April 3, and not ever.	26.7%
I’m fine with Wi-Fi only, so yes.	16.7%
I’ll wait for the 3G version later in April.	12.0%
I already have an iPod Touch, thanks. No need to supersize.	9.8%

Local Olympic athletes

Greg — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 00:19:18 +0000

We want to congratulate all of the Tahoe area Olympic athletes for their inspired performances in Vancouver!

USPS

Greg — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 00:06:01 +0000

Ever wonder why the Postal Service is struggling? There are many issues obviously, but the one that stands out the most is that the mail volume has dropped by 25 billion pieces in 2009. The USPS admits this is a 13% decrease. It doesn’t take a Finance major to figure out that when mail volumes drop, revenues follow.