TechBits

As you have probably heard, Google Maps now allows you to search real estate listings.  Here’s how it works:
Go to Google and click the link to Maps from the top left.
Next put in a search phrase like “real estate in boise id”
Presto…up comes a bunch of cool searching tools, and all the listings available in Boise.

Pros:  Its Google!  It shows you nearby businesses and schools, the map is interactive, you can search rentals and homes for sale, and did I mention its Google.
Cons:  I’m not sure how complete and accurate the listing information is. In my quick search, I found a property that was identified incorrectly.  It was obvious that the pictures for the listing were not from the location Google identified on the map. Still a work in progress.

I guess its cool, but I’d still recommend you work closely with a realtor and hopefully they have a site with a great search tool.  If not, give them our information, we’d love to help!

Its amazing how powerful a good, or bad, logo can be.  Imagine Nike without the swoosh, NBC without the peacock, or McDonalds without their golden arches.  So I thought I’d try to find some cool resources on the web on the topic of Logos.   I hope you enjoy what I’ve put together.  Don’t miss the last link on 35 Smart Logos…   Enjoy.

David Airey says,
“My good friend Lee Newham taught me about five elements that can be seen in every iconic logo:

1.It’s describable
2.It’s memorable
3.It’s effective without colour
4.It’s scalable i.e. works when just an inch in size
5.It’s relevant to the industry in question”

Tanner Christensen has a list of 45 rules for creating a great logo design

But I especially like the following,

6. Completely ignore what your parents and/or your spouse think about the design
20. Realize that you will not create a perfect logo
32. Even large companies need small logos.

And finally, My favorite:

35 Smart Logos With Second Thought To Make You look Twice
By Dainis Graveris on October 9, 2009

What’s in your logo?

“Chi and Pirolli at Xerox birthed the theory of Information Scent. The theory of information scent superseded the three click rule. Information scent describes how people hunt through the available pathways when they’re looking for information on a website. Sites with really strong info scents are really good at leading users to the content they want to find. Sites with faint or weak information scents mean that users spend much longer evaluating the options they have and increases the chances that they will select the wrong option.”

http://suzeingram.blogspot.com/2008/12/3-click-rule-obituary.html

I would add that different populations have different abilities to discover information scent or “sniffers”.  Having spent nearly the last 15 years teaching students technology skills (both adult and youth), I would suggest that not all users are created equal.  Some are like blood hounds, intuitively finding information, while others suffer from  congenital anosmia, otherwise known as lacking the ability to smell.  So given this personal observation, I guess the best navigation system would be a ‘Stinky 3-clicks’ system.  Try that one out in the conference room!

According to Wikipedia

The term “Web 2.0″ is commonly associated with web applications which facilitate interactive information sharing, interoperability, user-centered design and collaboration on the World Wide Web. Examples of Web 2.0 include web-based communities, hosted services, web applications, social-networking sites, video-sharing sites, wikis, blogs, mashups and folksonomies. A Web 2.0 site allows its users to interact with other users or to change website content, in contrast to non-interactive websites where users are limited to the passive viewing of information that is provided to them.

And Twinity says this:

Web 2.0 does not refer to any specific change in the technology of the Internet, but rather the behavior of how people use the Internet. Tim OReilly, founder of O’Reilly Media, is generally credited with coining the term Web 2.0 at the first O’Reilly Media Web 2.0 conference in 2004, “Web 2.0″ is the business revolution in the computer industry caused by the move to the Internet as platform, and an attempt to understand the rules for success on that new platform.” Prior to naming the Web 2.0 trend, the contents of the World Wide Web were published by only a handful of people. The naming of Web 2.0 as a trend heralds the contribution of ‘user generated content’. Web 2.0 is a catchall term that encompasses the idea of user-generated content in the fields of web design, blogs, social-networking sites, online communities and any application of the Web that includes collaborative information sharing between users.

But Quantum has a different thought altogether:

Web 2.0 currently lacks a precise definition.  It is true to say, however, that although Web 2.0 need not necessarily incorporate new technologies it is generally more interactive than hitherto, tending to encourage increased content creation, collaboration, and learning, and it places considerable emphasis on the user.  It is very much oriented towards social networking.  See also: Blog, Folksonomy, Social network, Wiki. 

Now that we cleared that up….what does it mean to you? 

O’Reily says:

Web 2.0 is here today—and yet its vast, disruptive impact is just beginning. More than just the latest technology buzzword, it’s a transformative force that’s propelling companies across all industries towards a new way of doing business characterized by user participation, openness, and network effects.

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Hello to everyone!

Our intent of this blog is to provide those much needed TechBits to solve those complex problems with a few quick keystrokes and mouse clicks. And since most tech sites where we find our answers tend to be oh-so-boring, we threw in paradise to look at. 

So sit back, give the hammock a push and read away…

–The Flip Flops Crew at Varietus