Getting Granular: The DigitalGrit Blog

Google Buys Feedburner

Rumors have circulated for weeks, and now the headlines: Google has acquired Feedburner, the quintessential RSS tool.

Tuesday Fun: HP's Slimming Feature

Now you can shed pounds with your HP digital camera. I guess there was an outcry in the market for this particular feature...? 

Honestly I have no words. NO WORDS.

(I know this is off-topic, but I couldn't restrain myself. Oh, and would it have been more or less offensive to use a model who could actually benefit from slimming? Not sure. Okay, so I do have words!)

Will someone please comment and tell me this is a joke?

(UPDATE: Had to turn off comments and trackbacks -- the word "slimming" is a spam-magnet!)

UXP Rant: Web Server Error Code Copy … Say WHAT????!!!!

A special guest post from Jane-Anne, our "Queen of User Experience."

You have to admire Google. I do, because they gave me an opportunity to talk about something related to User Experience (although really, everything is related to the user experience. See my follow-up post to our mascot blog entry as well for proof!).

Too often, web server error messages are full of technical-ese and don’t tell the user what is going on, what happened or what they should do. And too often, marketers are missing a really nice way to strengthen, or at least keep, the relationship with the user and build upon their brand.

All it takes is a little creativity. Say something in simple, understandable language and if you can, make sure it reflects the tone, style and culture of your organization. The DG employee who received the Google error message said it made her laugh. This is a big change from a user who would get the standard 404 error message and be left confused or worse – frustrated.  Even better, it won’t get ignored like the typical error message will, and you might even get some viral activity around it like this Google one did.

At the very least, we’ll think you’re pretty cool.

UXP Rant: Web Server Error Code Copy … Say WHAT????!!!!

A special guest post from Jane-Anne, our "Queen of User Experience."

You have to admire Google. I do, because they gave me an opportunity to talk about something related to User Experience (although really, everything is related to the user experience. See my follow-up post to our mascot blog entry as well for proof!).

Too often, web server error messages are full of technical-ese and don’t tell the user what is going on, what happened or what they should do. And too often, marketers are missing a really nice way to strengthen, or at least keep, the relationship with the user and build upon their brand.

All it takes is a little creativity. Say something in simple, understandable language and if you can, make sure it reflects the tone, style and culture of your organization. The DG employee who received the Google error message said it made her laugh. This is a big change from a user who would get the standard 404 error message and be left confused or worse – frustrated.  Even better, it won’t get ignored like the typical error message will, and you might even get some viral activity around it like this Google one did.

At the very least, we’ll think you’re pretty cool.

Friday Fun: Duran Duran Gets Virtual with a SecondLife

SecondLife may be the biggest thing since YouTube or MySpace, and now it's destined to grow even bigger...particularly with anyone who was a teenage girl in 1984.

Former teen heartthrobs (yes, I really just wrote that!) Duran Duran will be going all avatar on SecondLife, reliving their glory days with their own virtual island and performing online concerts. (BTW, David Bowie's fan site used to have an avatar community. Don't ask me why I know that. But it was cool.) Nick Rhodes, keyboardest for the group, apparently got into SecondLife a few months back, according to BBC:

"Somehow the amalgamation was just irresistible - what became obvious was that Duran Duran should have a presence within there."

Rhodes said he hoped the Duran Duran community would help develop the island into a "fully functional, futuristic utopia".

Rhodes added: "We are hoping to give the crowd that come to the virtual concert a real immersive experience, so they can interact with us and react while we are stage."

Yes, but will John Taylor still be hot as an avatar?

Here's the audio from Nick's interview.

Friday Fun: Duran Duran Gets Virtual with a SecondLife

SecondLife may be the biggest thing since YouTube or MySpace, and now it's destined to grow even bigger...particularly with anyone who was a teenage girl in 1984.

Former teen heartthrobs (yes, I really just wrote that!) Duran Duran will be going all avatar on SecondLife, reliving their glory days with their own virtual island and performing online concerts. (BTW, David Bowie's fan site used to have an avatar community. Don't ask me why I know that. But it was cool.) Nick Rhodes, keyboardest for the group, apparently got into SecondLife a few months back, according to BBC:

"Somehow the amalgamation was just irresistible - what became obvious was that Duran Duran should have a presence within there."

Rhodes said he hoped the Duran Duran community would help develop the island into a "fully functional, futuristic utopia".

Rhodes added: "We are hoping to give the crowd that come to the virtual concert a real immersive experience, so they can interact with us and react while we are stage."

Yes, but will John Taylor still be hot as an avatar?

Here's the audio from Nick's interview.

Blogs Fuel Record-Breaking Internet Growth in July

From TG Daily (via Micro Persuasion):

The Internet added 4.4 million new hostnames during July - the single largest gain of new sites in a single month, according to Internet services firm Netcraft. The growth surpassed the previous records set in June of this year, which saw a 3.96 million site gain.

The main reason for the quick growth, Netcraft said, is the battle between Microsoft and Google to attract users to their blog services. Both firms contributed significantly to drive the Internet to a new record number of websites, which now stands at 92,615,362 websites. According to the firm, Microsoft added about 858,000 new sites, while Google gained about 568,000 during the month.

(Yes, it ends up being about Microsoft and Google again.)

Blogs Fuel Record-Breaking Internet Growth in July

From TG Daily (via Micro Persuasion):

The Internet added 4.4 million new hostnames during July - the single largest gain of new sites in a single month, according to Internet services firm Netcraft. The growth surpassed the previous records set in June of this year, which saw a 3.96 million site gain.

The main reason for the quick growth, Netcraft said, is the battle between Microsoft and Google to attract users to their blog services. Both firms contributed significantly to drive the Internet to a new record number of websites, which now stands at 92,615,362 websites. According to the firm, Microsoft added about 858,000 new sites, while Google gained about 568,000 during the month.

(Yes, it ends up being about Microsoft and Google again.)

Google's Personalized Mobile Homepages: Help for the Mobility Impaired

Google's launched a personal mobile homepage, which, comfortingly, looks a lot like it's regular Web page.  John Battelle, as mobile-phobic as I am, is optimistic about the offering:

I hate my Treo, it promises so much, and delivers so little. Why? Because I am a mobile moron - it's too much work to make it work right. Might Google help me with this? We'll find out. Google today announced the Google Personalized Home for mobile devices. Carlo has more here.

Looks like Google is clearing a path to be the Microsoft of the mobile world....

Google's Personalized Mobile Homepages: Help for the Mobility Impaired

Google's launched a personal mobile homepage, which, comfortingly, looks a lot like it's regular Web page.  John Battelle, as mobile-phobic as I am, is optimistic about the offering:

I hate my Treo, it promises so much, and delivers so little. Why? Because I am a mobile moron - it's too much work to make it work right. Might Google help me with this? We'll find out. Google today announced the Google Personalized Home for mobile devices. Carlo has more here.

Looks like Google is clearing a path to be the Microsoft of the mobile world....