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Fast-teks, Inc. (http://www.fastteks.com/) provides a staff of highly trained professionals who provide on-site computer support and repair to both businesses and residences.  Their services are provided via a worldwide network of franchisees.  Services offered include:  Server installation and support, Data recovery, Remote data backup, Anti-virus and Internet Security, Troubleshooting and Software training.

Fast-teks approached the 352 Media Group because it wished to enhance its Web presence in order to drive revenue.  They wanted to create a new corporate Web site in order to achieve these goals.  The scope of the project included a new updated design, new content and the addition of new features.  The new corporate site has three major goals; 1) Attract new franchisees 2) Attract qualified technical resources for their franchisees, 3) Drive business to their existing franchises.

With new Web site, new branding was included which gives the Web site an updated look.  In order to make the site more user friendly video presentations were incorporated into the new Web site.  Potential franchisers can use the site to learn how to become a Fast-teks franchise and to begin the process of becoming a franchise.  Likewise, people interested in becoming a technician can learn how to become a Fast-teks computer technician, view current needs and begin the process of becoming a tech.  End customers can come to the new corporate Web site, learn about the superior service Fast-teks offers and to find/contact a Fast-teks franchise in their area through a zip/postal code lookup.

Fast-teks also wanted a tool developed that would enhance individual franchisees’ Web presence, by allowing franchises to create their own Web site.  During the development of the new Corporate Web site, a second project was kicked-off internally termed the “Corporate Micro Site” project.  Each franchise can now create their own “Micro Site” which will be content manageable by the individual franchises.  Certain aspects of the “Micro Sites” will be content manageable by Fast-teks corporate, specifically areas of the “Micro Site” that impacts the overall message and to insure consistent branding.  Areas of the “Micro Sites” that address franchises individual capabilities are manageable by the franchise themselves.

We have a great relationship with Movius, one of our more tech savvy clients, and it has produced another gem of a project.  Movius recently exhibited at the event for all things mobile (the Mobile World Congress) in Barcelona last week and was the bell of the ball.  We created some interactive demos that allowed the user to employ touch screens to walk through some product demonstrations.  These demos featured a series of video segments that personified some client-side features that have been traditionally difficult to describe.

Needless to say our client loved the demos and they were well received at the conference.  Hats off to the development team and to Lauren Lester (Project Manager) for all of their tireless efforts that ultimately brought this project in on time and under budget.  Great work everyone!

Look at all of those demos ready for action!

I get lying on your resume. Add a few duties you didn't really have, make your title a little fancier. You're a grownup and can take the risk if you want to. But making up a job? That's sitcom material, right?

I recently posted about the number of people listing our 50-person company as their employer on Facebook. Then I got another Google Alert last night that I thought was just too amusing to overlook. Apparently we've now hired Professor Pad Krishna to head up our Los Angeles Medical Practice. Too bad we make Web sites. Not sure that we're really qualified to give out medical advice. Take a look at the good doctor's brief public profile:

A great idea came out of the discussion about the previous post. I can't stop people from listing themselves as employees. Besides, unless they are scamming people in our name, there's really no reason to bother. So why not take advantage of it? Here's a great suggestion that Carey Helper made on LinkedIn:

Great idea, right? So go ahead, list yourself as a member of the 352 Media Group team. But don't stop there. I want to see the best titles you can come up with. No offense to Dr. Krishna, but he can aim higher than professor. Even senior professor sounds better. Make yourself the CEO...I'm sure Geoff won't mind. Let me know what you come up with by sending me a link to your public profile on LinkedIn or Facebook. There may even be something in it for the most creative title.

Every once and awhile we launch something that is just so cool that I can't stop playing around with it. That happened this week, as we put up www.swamprentals.com, a Web site for University of Florida students to find apartments in Gainesville. The concept isn't new, as people have been comparing apartments for years in fliers, magazines, and Web searches. What makes this site so unique is the way users search. Here's a screenshot of the homepage:

Let's say you want an apartment downtown with at least two bedrooms that is pet friendly and has a gym. You'd like a pool, but it isn't a deal breaker. Usually you'd either search the Web for each apartment's site and see if they have what you want. Other sites will let you search using these parameters and may serve the right results, but the real question is why did you get the results you did? Out of 100 apartment choices, maybe a handful have everything you searched for. But what if you get no results? What search parameter do you change? There may be several places that have all but one of the things you searched for. SwampRentals.com shows you how each choice you make affects your search results. Confusing, I know. Here are some images that might help.

First off, here is the main search screen. You can see a map on the right, all of the listings in the database in the lower right, and the search parameters on the left. There are basic ones and more advanced ones.

You can expand or collapse the advanced search options listed down the bottom left site and search by any combination of those things, as show here:

Here's where it gets super cool. As you click on any search parameter, the results (the images in the lower right) update right away. Click "pet-friendly" and the ones that don't allow pets disappear. The less results you have, the bigger the images get, until you're left with the perfect option. Say you select something that takes away 90% of the results. You can just undo that to get the other results. No more hitting the back button and changing your search, guessing what you did to affect the results.

At the same time, the map is updating. Once you find ones that meet your query, you can just click on either the picture or the map point to get more details. This brings up a modal popup (not a new window, but just a hover over the screen) with floorplans, amenities, and pictures. Closing it will bring you back to the search results you had up. Here's a shot of the pop-up: 

No, those aren't features of the apartment complex. I think they're showing off the pool. Anyhow, it is a great site with a super cool search feature we call the showcase. We can actually add a showcase to any site, as we've added it to our standard code library. This is the first site to go live with it, but there are several in the works that I'll be sure to blog about when they go up!

I'm really excited that I've been asked to be a panelist at ShowACEL: Social Media--Beyond the Basics. The event is being put on by ACEL, the Alachua County Emerging Leaders group. It's a great group of young professionals spanning many industries and backgrounds. I'm going to talk about some of the campaigns we've done, and then will join the other panelists for a Q&A session. Here is the summary from ACEL's Facebook page about the event:

We have a field day every summer for the staff, but decided to throw in a winter event in honor of the olympics this year. Our first quad-annual event featured curling, the biathalon, a snowman making contest, and a dizzy-bat relay race. Since we're in Florida, each event required a bit of a twist in order to work. The night was capped off with a chili cook-off between the CEO, Geoff, and I. In this "diary entry," we see some of the highlights like the curling event, as well as some of the lowlights, like Geoff's green chili.

Enjoy!

Each year we enter some of our best work in the American Advertising Federation's Addy compeition. It starts at the local chapter level, and if it wins Gold, it advances to the district level, and hopefully to the national competition. This year we had a ton of great things to submit, and the awards were held over the weekend. It's always a bit of a crapshoot with the Addys, since interactive categories were only recently added. It is easy to judge a brochure or billboard for it's advertising value, but the same cannot always be said for Web sites. There's always the debate about what role, if any, functionality plays. Does a nice looking Web site that doesn't do anything score better than a site that has robust, database-driven components? Tough to say. But we took our chances and put our hat in the ring, and here's what came out.

First let me say that it takes a team effort to make each of our award winning projects. In addition to the people you'd expect like account managers, project managers, designers, and programmers, there are a ton of other people that touch every project and deserve to be mentioned. Those include the development directors for creative, technical, and project management, Kelli Kimpton, Dan Vogt, and Jodi Higbee respectively. Also the support team which help test and launch every site, including Drew Keller and Eric Cunningham. There are others like Robin Horton and Caroline Cooper in accounting, Lauren Lester in Traffic Management, Evan Blake and Jon Sasser supporting the sales people, Don Wedington running sales, and Geoff Wilson, the CEO, who touch each and every project that are just as important as the developers in the trenches getting there hands dirty. Though their names aren't on the awards, they played a huge part in making them happen!

But I'm sure you want to know who won. Well here were the winners! The Addys award Silver and Gold winners. Our Silvers included:

Intermountain Electronics, http://intermountainelectronics.com/
Contributors: Joy Senart, Tom Brenneman, Chris Brauckmuller, and Ed Egun

Play Action Online Kids Camps, CampPete.com Virtual World, http://play.camppete.com/
Contributors: Jodi Higbee, Geoff Wilson, Lincoln Anderson, Daniel Alves, Neal Horstmeyer, Tim Pratt, Chris Brauckmuller, Peter Brownstein, Peter Juchniewicz, Jon Sasser, Selena Carter, and Group 5 Advertising

World Equine Teaser Web Site, http://www.worldequine.com
Contributors: Kelly Lammers, Mark Chizanskos, Joy Senart, Lincoln Anderson, Tim Pratt, Neal Horstmeyer, Chris Brauckmuller, and Peter Brownstein

Play Action Online Kids Camps, Camp Spurrier Web site, www.campspurrier.com
Contributors: Jodi Higbee, Gary Nevins, Geoff Wilson, Lincoln Anderson, Daniel Alves, Neal Horstmeyer, Tim Pratt, Daniel Alves, Peter Brownstein, Peter Juchniewicz, Jon Sasser, Selena Carter, and Group 5 Advertising 

Young America's Foundation Web site, www.yaf.org
Contributors: Tremaine Bagley, Don Wedington, Joy Senart, Paul Traylor, Time Pratt, Adam Davis, Chris Brauckmuller, Sean Jeng, Ed Egun, and Andrew Keller

CruiseNow.com Web site, www.cruisenow.com
Contributors: Kelly Lammers, Tom Brenneman, Joy Senart, Chris Brauckmuller, Brent Walbolt, and Ed Egun

Southeastern Mills Web site, www.semills.com
Contributors: Jodi Higbee, Matt Schiller

Microsoft Expression Web site, www.microsoft.com/expression
Contributors: Joy Senart, Peter VanRysdam, Kelly Lammers, Lincoln Anderson, Tim Pratt, Neal Horstmeyer, Brent Walbolt, Peter Juchniewicz, Peter Brownstein, and Ed Egun

Gold Addys Included:

Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, "Network for Pancreatic Organ Donors with Diabetes Web site," www.jdrfnpod.org
Contributors: Kelly Lammers, Mark Chizanskos, Paul Traylor

BAE Systems "Safariland Web site," www.safariland.com
Contributors: Gary Nevins, Joy Senart, Jan Siemaszko, Lincoln Anderson, Tim Pratt, Brent Walbolt, Chris Brauckmuller, Peter Juchniewicz, Evol Greaves, Zach Floyd, SEan Jeng, and Ed Egun

Southeastern Mills "Shore Lunch Brand Web site," www.shorelunch.com
Contributors: Jodi Higbee, Matt Schiller, Joy Senart, Neal Horstmeyer, and Zach Floyd

Play Action Online Kids Camp "Camp Pete Online Campaign," www.camppete.com and Banner Ads
Contributors: Jodi Higbee, Gary Nevins, Geoff Wilson, Lincoln Anderson, Daniel Alves, Neal Horstmeyer, Tim Pratt, Daniel Alves, Peter Brownstein, Peter Juchniewicz, Jon Sasser, Selena Carter, and Group 5 Advertising 

Microsoft TweetCraft Trailer Video, http://tweetcraft.codeplex.com/
Contributors: Peter VanRysdam, Tim Pratt, Lincoln Anderson

Play Action Online Kids Camps, "Play Action Web site," www.playactiononline.com
Contributors: Dana McPherson, Geoff Wilson, Chris Brauckmuller

352 Media Group's Blog, Ranting and Raving (You're already on it!)
Contributors: Peter VanRysdam, Kelli Kimpton, Chris Brauckmuller, Paul Traylor, Adam Davis, Zach Floyd

352 Media Group's DeepZoom Project, www.352media.com/deepzoom
Contributors: Peter VanRysdam, Michelle Brownstein, and Andrew Keller

Concurrent Computer Corporation Homepage Animation, www.ccur.com
Contributors: Tremaine Bagley, Jan Siemaszko, Tim Pratt, and Chris Brauckmuller

Again, big congrats to everyone involved in putting these amazing projects together. Next stop is districts, and I have a feeling we will make some serious noise there as well!

The Apple Mac commercials have been spoofed to no end, with everything from Microsoft fans striking back to football fans taunting the competition. This most recent one stands out to me, because it combines two things that people recently seem to either love or hate: the Apple iPad and the cast of the Jersey Shore from MTV. Love 'em or hate 'em, you should get a kick out of this fake commercial!

If you've found this post through a search hoping for help about solving an abuse issue on Facebook, then you're out of luck. I'm actually writing this post as a plea for help. Hopefully there will be some comments that answer both of our questions!

OK, so here's the deal. One of our former employees let us know that we're being used for a potential identity theft plot through Facebook. Basically you can list your current employer in your profile. Looks like a bunch of people are listing 352 Media Group as their employer, 432 in all, though many they never worked here. I think I'd remember hiring a 12-year-old boy name Abdulah Alawiya or super sexy male model Bajboi Ionut. Having a legit company on their profile may help them gain trust, especially from other employees or alumni of our company, opening them up to potential scams.

From what I can tell, unlike a group or fan pages, there is no way for the employer to confirm or deny what someone lists there. In fact, I just declared myself the CEO of Boeing! How is that cool?

So what can be done about this? Anything? It's not like Facebook has a customer service line. I could just imagine the calls, "My boyfriend listed himself as not in a relationship anymore...can you please update his status before I kill him?" I see the link to report someone, but none of the choices really fit. "Fake Profile" is the best option, but the choices then are impersonating me, using my photos, using a fake name, this profile is hacked, or does not represent a real person. I'm sure it's a real person, they're just a dirty liar. I'm sure, just as one example, that Xochilt Xchel Cabal Zuccolotto is his or her real name. I mean, you can't make that stuff up!

The other option is to report an intellectual property claim, but does this apply? They're not saying they designed things on our portfolio. Where does this fit in? What do I do?

Any help would be great. Please leave a comment, share this one Twitter, or share it on Facebook. We can't have people parading around as 352 Media Group employees, now can we? I mean, c'mon. Look at Anita Anita Chong. There's no way she's old enough to work here! And she graduated from Nemecke Zemske Gymnasium High in 1989? Looks like a nice school. What was she doing between then and college, since she isn't graduating until this year? Focus, Chong, focus!

I found a great post on Mashable.com buzzing around on twitter today that I just had to share. The article looks at 4 trends to keep an eye on as the Web continues to evolve. The entire article is up at http://mashable.com/2010/01/24/internet-of-tomorrow-column/, but here are the main points 4 points:

1. The Web will be accessible anywhere
   I can't argue with that point. Netbooks have blown up in popularity, many with 3G capability included. At the same time, phones are getting to the point where we shouldn't even call them phones. Most smartphone users spend more time surfing the Web and checking email than making calls.
2. Web Access Will Not Focus Around the Computer
   This certainly makes sense along with the previous point. However it begs the question, what is a computer? I would think that technically the iphone or blackberry are computers. I assume the author is simply referring to desktops and laptops, in which case I agree.
3. The Web Will Be Media-Centric
   No argument here. Video and other multimedia is where it's at right now. I feel like a 5 year old saying this, but what fun is a Web page without pictures or video? Oops, I forgot to put pics in this post! 
4. Social Media Will Be Its Largest Component
   This too depends on the definition of social media. It's another one of those overreaching terms to describe virtually anything interactive online. Definitition aside, social media is showing no signs of slowing down in the near future.

Anyhow, a good read. What do you think they missed? What's the next big thing?