Posts Tagged ‘WDMD346’

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GoogleGoogleGoogleGoogle and Branding


08 Feb

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Posted in Rants, Raves, School | No Comments »

Tonights ranting is on: Trademark and branding

Over my winter session of classes, my professor introduced us to a website. It was more so to show us how social media and random websites can have such a larger following then even our local papers.  We compared our Stevens Point Journal, to GoogleGoogleGoogleGoogle.com

Alexa's Reach of Google*4 and UWSP

As you can see, GoogleGoogleGoogleGoogle has a higher daily reach then even UWSP, and even a lot more than the Stevens Point Journal.

GoogleGoogleGoogleGoogle’s idea was quite simple.  It was 4 iframes on the page each pointing to Google.  You could resize the windows; point them to other sites and a few other pretty cool tasks.  I made a comment to Professor Krause, about wondering how long it would take before Google complained about the use of their trademark.  The site clearly didn’t alter content or gain anything from the users, however because of the domain name, it does violate Google’s trademark claims. We were not sure how long it would be, but figured Google would likely find it soon enough.

Today during class, I went to GoogleGoogleGoogleGoogle to do some side-by-side searching, to find a note from the site’s author saying the site was going to be taken down because of a take down notice that they received from Google.

I am going to miss the site, because it did come to be pretty useful.  Trademarks and branding are important to a person and company.  From Google’s side, if they don’t protect their trademark, they risk losing it.

It brings me to a new point as well.  I’ve gone by the nickname Freekie for most of my “Online” life.  I’ve moved away from it slightly, using CoreyRants.com instead of my old Freekie.net.  Mostly because the projects I’ve started on freekie.net have never worked, and Corey Rants seems to be more about what I blog about. Rants, raves and other stuff that happens in my life.    I’m thinking of possibly switching my twitter nickname from Freekie to Corey Rants.  It would create a single online presence, but haven’t decided what I want to do just yet.

I’ll keep you all updated as I progress on the Twitter handle.

Feel free to stop over to GoogleGoogleGoogleGoogle.com and write the author a few well wishes.

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Edit

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Professor Krause also wrote about this, check out his take on the topic.

Customer Support on Twitter, and Good P.R. AT&T’s new ride.


03 Feb

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Posted in Rambles, Raves | 1 Comment »

In Class we’ve discussed how more and more companies are taking an active role in social media. The best example that comes to mind is the @ComcastCares Team. If you tweet about them, odds are you will get a response asking if they can help. This has had mixed results in the past it seems, but it’s a little nifty to get a response from a big company saying that they actually do see you, the little person.

Last night, I tweeted, asking if anyone has ever forgotten to hit send when waiting for a text message. In replying to a follower, I wrote that my phone randomly switches to SOS (Emergency Calling only) mode quite often and needs a power cycle to fix it. I tagged my tweet #att #fail.

When I woke up in the morning, I had an @reply from @ATTCustomerCare “@Freekie Hi, I’m with AT&T and saw your tweet. If you DM you contact info, I can reach out to try to help. I’m following. Thanks!” I thought that it was pretty cool, however did wonder where this was when I had phone problems in the past. So, I followed them and sent my phone number along in a Direct Message. A few hours later, I got a voicemail from AT&T’s Social Media Department. He explained who he was, and why he was calling me. While I haven’t had a chance to call them back, it was pretty cool to actually get a response and know that they have an actual department to handle such things as twitter. I do wonder what else they monitor, if it’s face book, or what else. Apparently they have a presence on Twitter, Flickr, Facebook and even YouTube. It is a pretty impressive list.

I think that it is very important for companies and even people to watch what is said about them on twitter and other social media places. Doing a quick google search usually finds you a good place to start. Search.twitter.com allows you to look over tweets that have been sent as well. I have a few of my frequent searches as an RSS feed and have it into my RSS reader. I think it’d be worth checking out for most companies to keep their tweeters happy. Good PR goes along way on the internets (sic).

Relaxation


28 Jan

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Posted in Rambles | 1 Comment »

I find my self taking a few deep breaths, and realizing that in the end everything will be ok and right.  I still am getting sleep at night, and have time to talk to a few important people in my life.

Everyone needs to have something and someone who relaxes and calms them down no matter what is happening on their day. I am very glad to have the people who are in my life. They are so important to me.

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I’ve found my self listening to more music and turning the TV on just to have some different background noise as i study and read.  I wonder how listening to different music and TV programs effects studying.  They say that classical music is the best to go.  Jazz music works well for me.

It’s not even the end of week one yet, but already I know it will be a lot of work, but it will be worth it, and probably won’t be as bad as I think it will be.

Thank you for being my release audience to get some ranting out, and just being there.  I <3 you all! :)

Time Management


26 Jan

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Posted in Rambles, School | 3 Comments »

After having the majority of my classes for the first time this term, its become clear that I will be very busy and busy might be an understatement.  I’ll be working on client projects and getting some good experience. From the sounds of it, I’ll be spending more time in our classes’ computer lab, which will come in handy to be in a constant place, bust still a lot of work.

What I am asking from you is if anyone has some good time management ideas or tips that have worked for them in the past?   I plan on trying to keep my calendar updated with projects and work times so keep that part square, but it still is possible that things can slip through the cracks. Perhaps something like a to-do list or something.

What do you all do for time and project tracking? Also anyone have any good blackberry or smart phone applications?

I see the light at the end of the tunnel, and it looks nice, just need to figure out what to do in this real world.

Anyways, its time for me to hit the hay and get some much needed sleep.

Professors Teaching Styles and the use of Technology


25 Jan

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Posted in Rants, School | 1 Comment »

So I know that I am spoiled, and come from a very tech savvy environment, where anything and everything that can be done on a computer is.  Also note that I started playing with computers at the age of 3.  I also know that everyone learns and uses technology differently.

For example in my WDMD 346 class, we were reviewing a clients website, and trying to come up with suggestions, and design ideas when its clear that the client either has no idea about web standards, or how to use a computer what so ever.  The challenge here, is finding the right way to describe things specifically, but also in a way that common people can understand.  I believe that this is one of the harder challenges that anyone in the IT or Digital Media field has to deal with.  I will post updates as this progresses throughout the term.  I also will have two more clients for my WDMD 480 class.  It will be a long road to the finish, but the end is in sight and I’m looking forward to getting out.

Now, another example is my Business Law II professor.  He has a few things going for him. He came out and said that his life experience doesn’t make him a good teacher, and that he is a bit rusty in the topic of teaching.  What it seems as though he is short in the area of organization.  He went from one topic to another and back and forth over and over.  My head was spinning just going over the syllabus.  I mean OUCH, how hard is it to just read over it with us?

I do need to figure out, where people have learned to use the Google or Bing search bar as the place to type the URL in.  Watching him try to navigate around even Bing was annoying and frustrating.  I do give him credit, he did figure out the projector easily, and considering that he is actually a lawyer, is quite impressive.

On top of my awesome technologically damaging day, we did have a small fire in my hall today.  Standing outside and waiting for the SPFD to give us an all clear was frustrating.  Not to mention going to class not ready cause I didn’t have the right backpack with me. Ended up getting my old one and a binder out of my car so I had something. General idea, always bring your coat outside for a fire. I ended up giving my coat to a girl who looked like she was freezing.

This ends day one of the new term.  I wonder what tomorrow will bring.

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Corey's Rants

A Web Developer's rants, raves and randomness.