Category Archives: web and tech

news and events relating the web and tech development

ouch! anybody got a bandaid?

Nobody saw this one coming. Hurricane Ike, weeks in the making, barreled through the Caribbean, Galveston and Houston before slopping over Indianapolis Motor Speedway just in time to intersect the inaugural running of the Indianapolis Red Bull MotoGP.

The event marked a resumption of motorcycle racing at the historic venue, which last hosted a contest back in 1909.

Estimated at over 91,000, the crowd braved torrential rain and wind to witness the premiere event. Viewers were treated to the impossiblity of high speed riding that more closely resembled two-wheeled water skiing before finally being red flagged eight laps from the finish.

Get complete details from Cycle World, along with a first ever web cast press conference, here and here.

interactive wow factor squared

We claim to dabble in webology, but sites like uber designer Marc Ecko’s fresh new interactive wonderment compels us to kneel down and kiss the hem of URL guru WDDG’s robe. Those cats are sooo good.

WDDG. Stands for World Domination Design Group. If you’re gonna’ talk the talk, you’d better be able to serve up some nifty code. And Bob’s your uncle, their product absolutely screams Master of the Universe.

As digital technology and technique really begin to merge we see the outlines of a new communications paradigm. If the early days of the web were about reproducing print pages onscreen and adding a few frills, design firms like WDDG are clearly the mapmakers as to how corporate communications will be projected in the future.

Indeed, Ecko’s retail sites are an education in extending brand management while maintaining individuality.

The raw ingredients – visual art, sound and copy – don’t change. But how they relate, and how they’re presented, are the keys to effectiveness. Contextual experience, anyone?

harley charts new, uh, territory

Curious about the new ’09 Nightster I instinctively Googled “Brazilian waxing” and wasn’t disappointed for my effort when this smart little banner popped up.

This is the kind of synergy that can only happen when you combine a healthy interest in stylized female hygiene and Sportsters. Thanks to the web, TMC can parse their market finer than frog hair. Or similar.

Was this serendipity or a carefully laid Google adsense trap? Either way, we’ll keep searching. The truth is out there.

sXs previews polaris ’09

Side X Side Action has one of the better online powersports online offerings available. They use enhanced content to extend their print product while making the best use of web functionality without caving in to the temptations of superfluous Flash gadgetry.

Well thought out design takes readers where they want to go quickly and efficiently, without risking getting ambushed by cheesy guitar loops or overblown commentary.

Video, polls and plenty of gallery views round out the editorial content. If you’re into UTV/SXSs, this is a bookmark worth keeping in the menu bar.

virulent viral video

This YouTube hit monster – over 5 million as of this post – is one of those oddities the web’s (in)famous for. As viral goes it’s out of the park. I’ve seen it mentioned just this week in both the New York Times and Ad Age, a quinella that doesn’t happen every day.

It’s just your average guy – he could be the greeter at TGIF – performing a slightly goofy dance in 40-plus locales around the world. That’s it. Amy Winehouse should be so lucky.

The point being that young Matt’s sole sponsor, Stride Gum, is getting hit on like Jessica Simpson at a bachelor party. You can’t predict viral – and you can’t, as they say, buy this kind of publicity. But we’d like to think we can help.

new urgency for web solution

I’d planned a post on the shifting attitudes towards e-advertising (worth $21-billion last year) when I got a query from a Canadian dealer friend, still using traditional methods, asking pretty much the same questions only from the retailer side. How did/can you (the customer) find us? This is when I coincidentally started seeing H-D’s new second tier banners popping up on Yahoo.

A recent Washington Post feature summarized the latest look back on major brands’ adventures with web advertising. And the big news is, the biggest spenders aren’t who you might think: number eight Netflix lays out $10-mil a month to push those irritating popups in our face. So what’s going on these days? Continue reading →