Adobe to Release PDF for Industry Standardization

"Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE) today announced that it intends to release the full Portable Document Format (PDF) 1.7 specification to AIIM, the Enterprise Content Management Association, for the purpose of publication by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO)."

As pointed out at TechCrunch this appears to be in part to attract more government users. I imagine it is also a step to thwart competing doc formats from Microsoft.

brandchannel Readers' Choice Awards 2006 Results Are In

Google and Apple stay on top while YouTube and Wikipedia show up for the first time. As usual brandcannel has regional results as well as the Global list previewed here. Read the full report.

So You Wanna Be a Web Tycoon? Amazon Can Help

Web Worker Daily: "While Amazon Web Services (AWS) offerings are currently limited in capability and oriented to only the most technical of developers, what they're doing changes all the economic rules about creating a web startup. You thought that cheap web hosting and free email services disrupted the startup business space and kept venture capitalists up at night? Take a look at the next generation of web apps infrastructure, as imagined by Amazon..."

This is a good article discussing the potential benefits for companies using 'The Utility Computing Model'.

Unfolding the Fold

clicktale.com: "Web designers and usability professionals have debated the topic of web page scrolling since 1994. At the early days of the web, most users were unfamiliar with the concept of scrolling and it was not a natural thing for them to do. As a result, web designers would design web pages so that all the important content would be “Above the fold” or even worse, squeeze the entire page into the initial screen area. This practice of “squeezing” continues even today...

...Conclusion
Browser: Do not try and find the fold. That’s impossible. Instead… only try to realize the truth.
Designer: What truth?
Browser: There is no fold.
Designer: There is no fold?
Browser: Then you’ll see, that it is not the fold that matters, it is only yourself."

Thanks to clicktale for their take on this classic design conundrum with a thoughtful data-rich article! Read the entire entry for some interesting information.

Heuristics for Modern Web Application Development

"Heuristic evaluation is a technique that involves analysing the usability of a website against a set of general usability precepts. One or more "experts" will analyse the target site, often following a series of pre-defined scenarios. Whenever they encounter an issue that breaks one of the precepts or "heuristics", they will note the issue and sometimes the severity...

There are a number of different usability heuristics around, but the most popular ones on the web are Jakob Nielsen’s 10 usability heuristics and Bruce "Tog" Tognazzini’s basic principles for interface design..."

This is a very nice supplement to the work of the authors mentioned above. Here's a quick summary of Andy Budd's main points:

• Design for User Expectations
• Clarity
• Minimize Unnecessary Complexity and Cognitive Load
• Efficiency and Task Completion
• Provide Users with Context
• Consistency and Standards
• Prevent Errors
• Help users notice, understand and recover from errors
• Promote a pleasurable and positive user experience

Read the full article...

Cool 3DEnvironment component released at Flashloaded

The 3DEnvironment is a Flash component that allows you to build 3D interactive interfaces and environments in Flash. Built-in depth and perspective effects create the illusion of three dimensions. Customizable controls and full keyboard and mouse interactivity enable movement and rotation of the environment. Use simple graphic or movie clip symbols as well as animated movie clips. Requires no 3D modelling."

Here's a nice example of some of Apple's new UI ideas already spreading. This component shows some nice examples of rotating menus, and revolving photos - a lot like the new AppleTV screen saver. I've been impressed with Flashloaded components for a while. This one looks very nice.

Ten Ways to Use LinkedIn - by Guy Kawasaki

"Most people use LinkedIn to “get to someone” in order to make a sale, form a partnership, or get a job. It works well for this because it is an online network of more than 8.5 million experienced professionals from around the world representing 130 industries. However, it is a tool that is under-utilized, so I’ve compiled a top-ten list of ways to increase the value of LinkedIn..."

Some great practical tips for using LinkedIn, all rolled up into one well organized blog entry.

J.Y. Names Thriftmac.com's Mascot - "Scrimpy" it is...

Since I spend too much time checking out Mac-related sites and also love branding - I sumbitted an entry to name the mascot for the thriftmac.com website. Thanks to the site, and party on little worm.

"Congratulations to James Young of Eugene, Oregon, and Ron Silva of Pawhuska, Oklahoma, for winning our Name the Worm, Win a Bug contest. Early on, James came up with the idea of Scrimpy. The judges liked it a lot, and figured it was the one to beat. No one beat it, but Ron equalled it by coming up with the same name. At that point, we had no choice but to declare both of them winners of a free copy of Shutterbug."

TRAFFICJamz FM Transmitter for iPod

My original iTrip finally got broken after being thrown in pockets and the glove compartment too often. I was on the verge of buying another Griffin product, but I found a new and simple take of the iTrip auto and it was cheaper too. The TRAFFICJamz by Newer Technology is a charger and FM transmitter combo. I'm very pleased with it's performance and simplicity.

Top trends for 2007: Marketers' influence grows even as customers demand more control of the message

Happy 2007. I thought that BtoB had a pretty fair set of predictions. Here's a summary:

1. Rising influence of CMOs
2. Web 2.0 explodes
3. Global expansion
4. Boom in online video ads
5. Measuring engagement
6. More sophisticated search
7. Need for leads
8. Behavioral targeting hits the spot
9. Trade shows make a comeback
10. E-mail still going strong

Read the full article to get the details...