Blog

Nonprofit Groups Reap Big Rewards from Donations by Phone

Submitted by john on Mon, 02/06/2012 - 15:08

A recent study by the Pew Research Center has confirmed the growing impact of real-time charitable giving via text messaging. The study of the 2010 "Text to Haiti" campaign showed some interesting patterns among those who used text messaging to send donations to Haitian earthquake relief:

Chrome Overtakes Firefox

Submitted by john on Tue, 12/06/2011 - 10:39

New data shows that Google's Chrome browser is quickly gaining users, and has now passed Firefox for 2nd place in Worldwide browser usage. The most used browser is still Microsoft's Explorer, but its share of users has been dropping steadily for three years. Now Mozilla's open-source Firefox browser also appears to be losing market share to Chrome.

Much of the shift has taken place in Asia and, especially, in South America, where Chrome is already number 1.

 

 

Source: StatCounter Global Stats - Browser Market Share

Thanks to Statcounter.

Plan to Develop Flash for Mobile is Dead

Submitted by john on Tue, 11/15/2011 - 10:49
This week, Adobe announced that it would no longer pursue development of a mobile Flash platform, which probably puts the final nail in the Flash coffin.
 

New Google Algorithm Reinforces What We've Said All Along

Submitted by john on Wed, 11/09/2011 - 11:55

We've been telling our clients for years that fresh, original content is the surest way to get Google to find your site. That's about to become even more true.

7 In 10 Kids On Facebook Got Help From Their Parents

Submitted by john on Fri, 11/04/2011 - 09:02

 

The Washington Post reports on a new study about kids and Facebook. Although Congress passed the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act to ensure that children don't unwittingly disclose personal information online, the study found that parents are helping their kids circumvent the law.

To comply with the law, Facebook limits its users to people over 12 years old. But the study found that 7 million American kids under 12 are on Facebook, and that 70% got help creating their accounts --and circumventing the age-restriction --from their parents.

Our Email and Cellphone Data May Not Be As Private As We Think It Is

Submitted by john on Wed, 10/26/2011 - 16:55

“The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated...”
Fourth Amendment, US Constitution.

As use of the internet grows and evolves, so does the form that the peoples’ “persons, houses, papers and effects” take. Unfortunately, constitutional protections have not kept pace with the changing scope of how people use digital documents and personal information.

Paid Tweets?

Submitted by john on Fri, 09/16/2011 - 10:50

Last night I found this message from American Express in my twitter feed.

Trouble is, I don't follow American Express and don't have any accounts with them. Nor do I follow any of the 34 people who supposedly retweeted this message. The tweet disappeared a short while later and isn't currently showing up in my timeline.

This is the new face of twitter: paid advertising within your twitter feed. According to Cnet, twitter is rolling out this new strategy this week, and users can soon expect to see unsolicited tweets from companies like Disney, HP and Pepsi.

I'm curious about what the response will be. I'm tending to move away from Twitter lately anyway and maybe others are too. Could this move help hasten their decline?

 

UPDATE (9/20): Now I'm getting these several times a day! Here's another one:

 

Hard as it may be to believe, I don't actually follow Dunkin Donuts --or any donut company. This is irritating.

What to Look for When Choosing a Web Design firm

Submitted by john on Wed, 09/07/2011 - 15:30

Here at Dorey Design Group, we do a lot of design work in house, but we also work with many of the Northwest’s best design firms. When looking for a design firm to create a new website, site owners should keep several things in mind.

What Does The New "XXX" Domain Mean For Website Owners?

Submitted by john on Mon, 08/22/2011 - 15:19

This Fall, the ICANN (the "Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbering") will be phasing in a new "top level domain." In addition to the now-common ".com", ".edu", and ".org", there will be a new URL suffix ".xxx". This will be the place, ICANN hopes, where new adult-oriented sites will go.

But why should this matter to owners of websites that don't include adult content? It could mean plenty, if an adult site wants to confuse your site visitors by using your domain plus .xxx to try to draw in people who thought they were going to your site.

ICANN has created a phased system for creating these new domains, and it includes a short window of time during which owners of trademarked URLs can reserve the .xxx domain --and prevent someone else from grabbing it. Between September 7 and October 28 of this year, holders of a trademark can reserve their "trademark.xxx" domain. After October 28, there is expected to be a "land grab" of many available domains.

This opportunity is only available for businesses and individuals who have a registered trademark. Once the deadline passes, the opportunity for non-adult-oriented sites to get a .xxx domain will be over for good.

Your New Website: 4 Factors That Can Drive Up Costs & Limit Effectiveness

Submitted by john on Mon, 08/08/2011 - 14:48

 
At Dorey Design Group, we work hard to give our clients the best product for the lowest cost.
 
One thing we've found to be true is that the more “mission creep” during the site build, the less effective the site is at meeting its goals. That is, when a site project starts to acquire features and design elements that weren't in the original scope, there’s a pretty good chance it’s also moving further away from accomplishing what it set out to do.
 
In this article, we discuss what can be done to avoid higher costs and diminished effectiveness for a site.