Dusza Industry News

Industry News - 05/07/2010

Top tech stories

Google acts to fix YouTube flaw

YouTube has been forced to fix a flaw allowing hackers to bombard users with fake pop-up messages.

Hackers places code in the comments section, under targeted videos, that would run when people watched the clip.

Google, which owns YouTube, said that it had fixed the problem 'about two hours' after it was discovered.

iPhone 4 signal fault leaves Apple stunned

Apple says a fault on its new iPhone 4 is causing it to incorrectly display the phone's signal.

Users who gripped the phone on the lower left-hand side noticed the signal strength and reception fell away.

Apple is promising a patch fix 'within a few weeks'. However some industry experts say that there may be a deeper signal problem than a cosmetic design flaw.

Google enters travel market

Search engine giant Google has acquired flight information firm ITA Software.

ITA provides software that organises fares, flight and journey times that are used by airlines, travel agents and flight comparison sites.

Google paid $700m for the US-based company, and says it may well expand the scope, enabling users to search directly for flight destinations.

Lady Gaga sets Facebook record

Lady Gaga has become the first living person to have more than 10 million fans on Facebook with her tally standing at 10,673,476 on 5th July.

The star recently overtook Barack Obama (9,824,885) to claim the number one spot. Despite setting the new record, she's still in sixth place overall, above her are: Texas Hold 'em Poker, Michael Jackson, Mafia Wars, Facebook and US TV show Family Guy.

Fake Bidder Sentenced for eBay Scam

Paul Barrett has become the first person to be prosecuted in the UK for bidding against himself on online auction site eBay.

He was fined £5,000 and given 250 hours community service.

In a practice know as 'shill bidding' he used two different logins to bid against himself on items he was selling, forcing bidders to raise their price.

Government spends thousands on iPhone apps

A Freedom of Information request revealed that development costs ranged from £10,000 - £40,000. These including a travel advice app from the Foreign Office and a jobseekers tool.

The information comes just a few weeks after the government announced it was to conduct a review of all 820 of its websites. A report by the Central Office of Information has revealed that the government spent £94m on website development and running costs and £32m on web staff in 2009-2010.

History of the Internet - Facebook

This is the first in a series of articles giving an insight into some of the major developments on the web. We will be starting with the Social Networking giant that is Facebook and moving on to other big sites including YouTube, Twitter and eBay over the next few weeks.

Introduction

Facebook is a Social Networking website launched in February 2004. Users over the age of 13 can sign up for free, add people as friends, send them messages, join networks, upload photos, update their 'status', play games and organise events.

History

Facebook was founded by Mark Zuckerberg. The site's name stems from the unofficial name of the book, detailing all students and faculty, given to new students by university administrators in the USA - the 'face book'. Facebook was originally limited to Harvard students, but was expanded to other Boston colleges, then any university student, then high school students and finally everyone.

The original Harvard site was shut down by Harvard administration and Zuckerberg was charged with breach of security and violating individual privacy, but the charges were dropped.

Investment & Revenue

In June 2004, Facebook moved its base of operations to California and later that month received it's first investment from PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel. Facebook was originally at the domain www.thefacebook.com, but the company dropped 'the' from its name after purchasing the domain name facebook.com in 2005 for $200,000.

In October 2007 Microsoft announced that it had purchased a 1.6% share of Facebook for $240 million, giving Facebook a total implied value of around $15 billion. In September 2009 Facebook claimed that it has turned cash flow positive for the first time.

Most of Facebook's revenue comes from advertisements, Microsoft is Facebook's exclusive advertising partner, and as such Facebook only serves adverts that exist in Microsoft's advertisement inventory.

Popularity

Traffic to Facebook has increased exponentially since 2009, Facebook is now the leading social networking site having overtaken MySpace in April 2008. In June 2008 Facebook attracted 132million unique visitors. In 2007 the website's ranking increased from 60th to 7th and it is currently 2nd.

In Australia a legal summons posted on Facebook is legally binding. Employers such as Virgin Atlantic Airways have used Facebook as a means to keep tabs on their employees and have even been known to fire them over posts. In 2008 the Collins English Dictionary declared 'Facebook' as their Word of the Year.

Controversy

Facebook has met with some controversy over the years, being blocked in several countries including Pakistan, Syria, China, Vietnam and Iran. It has also been banned at many work places to discourage employees from wasting time using the service. Privacy has also been an issue, and it has been compromised several times. Facebook has also recently settled a lawsuit regarding claims over source code and intellectual property.

Conclusion

There is no denying that Facebook is incredibly popular and has become an integral part of many people's lives. What did we do with our lives before we could 'poke' our friends, update our status and play FarmVille?

Over recent years several prospective clients have approached Dusza with regards to creating 'the new Facebook' and although this is not a realistic goal - it is certainly possible to incorporate social networking into your website. To find out how contact Dusza the web design experts on 0845 094 6442

on-demand web-based cloud computing crm - what!

I've read a lot about crms or client relationship management systems recently and what strikes me is how little of it actually makes any real sense. Companies are throwing around words like; collaborative exchange, sales force automation, partner relationship management and operational benchmarks - what, what, what!

This unnecessary complication of simple business principles meant that during the development of our crm I really had very little idea of what this system was actually going to do to help our business.

Luckily now we are using the crm it has all become clear and it is really quite simple.

It saves time

Gone are the days of keeping records in several different places, or transferring data from one place to another. Once you have created and approved an estimate, invoicing, recording and reporting is so simple all you have to do is enter an invoice date and payment terms and your work is done - the CRM does everything else for you.

It allows you to work anywhere

Dusza's online CRM allows you to access client records, supplier information, profit and loss reports and a wealth of other information anywhere there is an internet connection. Need to create an estimate or invoice in the evening or at the weekend, no problem and there it is for everyone else in the office to see and use in the morning!

It keeps all your information in one place

No more searching around for old order information when a client phones up wanting to reorder, all projects are easily accessible, with estimating, timesheets, purchase orders and invoicing information just a click away.

It allows you to analyse all your figures

Assess the profitability of individual jobs, project types, hours spent on unchargeable work, hours spent on company admin, individual staff productivity, profit and loss on a monthly, yearly or business to date basis. If you've put the information in the CRM can analyse it quickly and easily.

It organises your diary effectively

Enter your meetings and appointments, including which client you are meeting, the CRM automatically sends confirmation and reminders to all parties. As the calendar is online all your colleagues can see your diary (including any holiday you've booked) so they can easily book appointments for you.

In conclusion having a CRM allows you to work smarter - get more done, be more efficient and easily analyse your effectiveness!

If you are interested in streamlining your business and making more money - get in touch with Dusza today and see what our CRM can do for you!

Industry News - 25/06/2010

If you are concerned about the affect of Google Caffeine on your business and want some advice call Dusza - the digital marketing specialists in Bournemouth.

Google Plan Music Service

Google is planning a music download service tied to its search engine later this year, followed by an online subscription service in 2011.

The proposals are still in the early stages and there is no news on whether it has struck any deals with record labels. The discussions come as Google has been pushing into music. Last year it began linking to iLike and Pandora, now the company is looking to tie in its own service.

The launch of a Google music store would increase tensions with Apple, whost iTunes store in the leading digital music seller. The two technology giants have been at logger heads since Google launches its Android mobile phone software in direct competition with Apple's popular iPhone.

Music labels are likely to welcome Google's push into the industry, as they are increasingly concerned about Apple's dominant position.

For the latest updates on this story come back soon

BP buys Google's Top Spot for 'Oil Spill'

Users looking for more information on the ongoing oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico may notice some unexpected results.

In an incisive marketing move, BP's PR team has used Google's Adwords tool to buy the sponsored link for the term 'oil spill' and is linking to BP's website page "Info about the Gulf of Mexico spill - learn what BP is doing to help."

It is likely that BP have entered a high bid to get the sponsored link, which puts them above all the news stories about the disaster, but while BP has the current market on web searches tied down, it is likely that law firms are going to increasingly fight the company for coveted top spots and start making this marketing ploy very expensive.

If you want more information about Google Adwords, Pay-per-Click adverting or organic search engine optimisation and how it can help your business get in touch with Dusza today.

CRM - what on earth is it and do i need one?

This is exactly the question I asked myself when members of the Dusza team started talking about CRMs, or Client Relationship Management systems. I didn't want to appear stupid, so I did a little research and here is what I found out.

Client Relationship Management Systems is a system for managing a company's interaction with it's clients. The goals are to help find new clients, retain those the company already has, entice old clients back and generally reduce admin costs.

Great, I thought, but I find new clients and manage existing clients perfectly efficiently and so far we haven't really lost any clients, so I really don't see how this is going to help me...

I was over ruled and Dusza now has a CRM and I have to say I couldn't have been more wrong! When I did my research I only got an idea of what a CRM can do for businesses in general. It didn't really speak of my business and my everyday tasks, but now I know better - so I thought I'd share some of the many tasks the CRM has helped me with:

Booking Meetings & Appointments

The Dusza CRM includes a calendar function. Many people already utilise a computer based calendar, but this is online, so it is available for everyone in the business to see meetings, appointments and even holidays booked. The most important function for me is the confirmation and reminders. Rather than entering a meeting into my calendar then emailing all the attendees to confirm the meeting and then remembering to email them again on the day to remind them about it - the CRM does this all for me. You wouldn't believe the amount of time this saves everyday and also how many times people thank me for the reminders as they had totally forgotten about the meeting. This has saved both client disappointment and also time for Dusza waiting for clients who don't turn up.

Client Management

Many companies have a database of client information in a computer somewhere, you can add names, addresses, email and telephone numbers, but the Dusza CRM allows you to go much further adding how the client found us, what they requested, what services they currently have etc etc. This has been invaluable when a member of staff is away and someone else has to contact them.

Work in Progress

Our CRM has a work in progress function, it lists all active and on hold jobs and has a status fields for updates. All staff members can access the list at any time and keep the rest of the team updated as to the job status - this has seriously cut production meeting times and means that anyone can give a client an up-to-date status on a job at any time.

Estimating

To be fair estimating hasn't been massively streamlined - still have to get quotes from various people and type them up, but finding estimates is a lot more straightforward and also the CRM makes estimating so easy to do that even other staff members have started creating their own estimates, instead of waiting for me to do it - making our response to clients much quicker.

Invoicing

This has been a revelation! Weekly invoicing used to take me a couple of hours, re-entering data from the contacts database and estimates, formatting it, recording the invoices in various spreadsheets for job records and accounting. Now I go from the work in progress list (where staff members have updated the status to say the job is ready to invoice) straight into the job, select the approved estimate, choose the date of the invoice and the payment terms and that's it! CRM produces a pdf all laid out on our letterhead and records are generated automatically.

Reporting

Before the CRM, reporting was complicated, time consuming and not that accurate. Now all the information is in one place reporting is easy; want to see how the estimate for a job stacks up against the timesheet and the amount invoiced - no problem, want to see a chart of annual turnover broken down by client - easy! Within 2 months the reporting in the CRM has started to show us things about the profitability of our business that we have had no idea about.

I have been amazed at how useful the CRM has been to our relatively small business and how much it has revealed about our business in such a short period of time.

If you have heard about CRMs or are considering investing in one and want some honest, no-marketing-speak feedback - call us today.

Apple Launches iPad in the UK

So Apple has finally launched it's much talked about iPad in the UK. What is the consensus of opinion? Is the iPad the future? We've looked at it from a variety of angles and here are our thoughts...

The iPad is pretty expensive, £429 for the 16GB Wi-Fi only model (nearly £700 for the 64GB Wi-Fi and 3G model), whereas my 16GB 3GS iPhone was FREE with my mobile phone contract.

The iPad looks gorgeous to people who aren't familiar with the iPod Touch or iPhone, but to those used to Apple kit it's just an enlarged version of the former. There are some apps that will only run on the iPad, but we don't feel that the justifies the increase in price or indeed bulk.

The iPad weighs 1.4lb (680g) and although that may not seem like much, after you've been holding it for a couple of hours you really feel it.

As with the iPhone and iPod Touch the display is beautiful - bright, crisp and displays colour perfectly. However it does have one major downside - it is almost totally unusable in bright light. So if you are thinking of reading an e-book by the pool on your foreign holiday or even in your garden on a sunny Saturday - forget it! Also because it is a touch-screen the iPad get covered in finger marks, this doesn't affect usability too much, but if you like things clean keep your polishing cloth handy!

So enough about the general functionality, what about the iPad's usability as an actual computer.

First major problem is no multitasking - so you can't have more than one app open at the same time. This would be like having to close a Word document you were working on to check your email - most irritating.

Second issue no Microsoft Office - you can buy Apple's text processing app; Pages, but this is not a widely used format and if you want to work on a document that you've already created in Word, the process for pulling this content in is very complicated and unfortunately strips out much of the formatting.

Finally there is no easy way to print from the iPad - a major draw back!

So in conclusion if you are looking for a touch-screen laptop the iPad is not it! If you want a big, expensive iPod Touch the iPad is for you!

If you are interested in Mobile Web Development, be it Apps or simply whether people can use your website on a mobile device get in touch with Dusza, for a FREE no obligation chat.

FYI - all Dusza websites work beautifully on the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad, we can even create style sheets to utilise the specific functionality of a mobile device.

Marketing Trends for 2010

2010 is shaping up to be an exciting year in marketing. From the outside the first decade of the 21st Century didn't look too promising with corporate collapses, economic downturn and environmental disasters, but the last ten years have also been marked by a shift in communications from the traditional media to a fast and far reaching global conversation.

Thanks to the many developments of the Internet, including video streaming, social networking and the boom in the home and office PC - news, information and advertising now flows instantaneously from distributor to audience. This new channel of communication presents exciting new opportunities for marketeers.

The following are 10 Trends that we believe will shape all areas of marketing, from advertising to branding and everything in between in 2010 and beyond into the 21st Century.

Transparency & Trust

Events such as the collapse of major banking institutions and high street names in 2009 led to consumer confidence being crushed! No longer as naive consumers happy to sit back, willing to accept anything businesses tell them. Businesses which embrace this change and make a real effort to be open and honest in their dealings will see the benefit of real brand loyalty in the future. However trust is an ongoing process - it can be lost at any time. Brands must work hard to maintain the trust.

Less Time, More Value

Consumers have less time on their hands than ever before and as the 21st Century rolls on, this is only likely to continue. Give your customers more by getting straight to the point - deliver meaningful communications, and your customers will thank you for it.

And More Value

The Economic downturn that categorised 2009 has changed many consumers - perhaps forever! No longer are they happy to spend their hard earned money without thought and on rashly purchased credit! The 2010 consumer is looking for a GOOD DEAL - money off, buy one get one free, coupons, vouchers and reward points are the big sellers for 2010 and into the future. Build your marketing campaigns with that in mind.

Prove It

Consumers are more skeptical than ever. There is no good just writing good sounding copy for your marketing communications, with clever straplines and innovative concepts, now consumers expect you to prove your words are true. SHOW your customers why they should spend their hard earned money with you!

Social Media is not a passing phase

Facebook, Twitter, YouTube - they are here to stay and it is likely that the Internet will expand further into the Social Media arena. So if your businesses is not on the bandwagon yet - get jumping (especially if you are Business 2 Consumer)! Get some amazing content and interact with your customers.

Security and Peace of Mind

Consumers have lived through some troubling times in the last decade from Global Recession to Natural Disasters, they are looking for some security in their future, so bear this message in mind in your communications.

Building Relationships

With the growth of social media, the desire for trust and security, the relationship between business and consumer is stronger and more important than ever. It is also possible to build a much better relationship with your customers and with this relationship comes a great source of word-of-mouth marketing and brand loyalty.

Video & Mobile

Two massive areas of growth in 2010 marketing will be online video and mobile marketing. Invest in either or both - but get on board now - before you are left behind.

Focus

No one can be everything to everyone. As the 21st Century unfolds the term 'niche' has become more and more common. Focus on strategy, build your core offering and concentrate on that before expanding into new markets.

Think About Your Audience

Before you jump into any marketing spend their is one truth that is universally acknowledged. It has been true for decades and will continue to be true into the future. Think About Your Audience - put yourself in their shoes. Much of our advice spans many target audiences, but you must be sure you are reaching your prospective customers in the right way.

If you want help with your marketing strategy in 2010 and beyond then get in touch with Dusza today!

Google Caffeine

What on Google-Earth is Google Caffeine?

Pardon the joke, but we really couldn't help ourselves! In a nutshell Goggle Caffeine is the code name given to a soon-to-be-implemented Google Search overhaul.

The actual changes that are being made to the beloved Googlehave not been disclosed (nor are they likely to be). What has been disclosed is merely a collection of adjectives. In a recent interview Matt Cutts (head of Google's Webspam team) says "Caffeine tries be a lot more powerful, a lot more flexible and a lot more robust in the way it indexes."

For those of you who are wondering when is this going to happen, a single data centre has already held trials for the new Caffeineallowing searchers (that's you and me) to road test the search resultsand the results are showing as marginally different. These trials have now ceased and replacing the page is the following text:

"We appreciate all the feedback from people who searched on our Caffeine sandbox. Based on the success we've seen, we believe Caffeine is ready for a larger audience. Soon we will activate Caffeine more widely, beginning with one data center. This sandbox is no longer necessary and has been retired, but we appreciate the testing and positive input that webmasters and publishers have given."

BUT is there more to it?Speculation that Caffeine is a direct response to the newly formed partnering of Bing and Yahoo has been flatly denied by Google and we at Dusza would agree.

It's a well documented fact that Google have been evolving their search algorithm since its dawn, taking very little notice of the major players around them. This is one of the reasons why Google have superseded any other Search technology because they do not mark their success by pitting themselves against others, but simply by innovation.

So why is Google Caffeine important?

We have interpreted the information released by Google as Caffeine being a massive overhaul of what goes on under the bonnet of Google Search. It is not about changing the search results but more about changing the framework of Google so that it can evolve in the future without huge rewrites or complications.

We liken the difference between the original Google Search and Caffeine, to our own website CMS framework. Before the dawn of the Dusza framework each and every website was freshly created code, we would find new (and better) ways of doing in essence a very similar thing. This was great apart from integrating the newly created technology that was in trial on one website wouldn't integrate to an older website. With the introduction of the framework, every new innovation in technology can be integrated with every single one of our websites - providing they are on the latest evolution of the framework. This gives us the flexibility to rapidly evolve technology which we can offer at a much lower cost to our clients because it significantly reduces the time involved in programming a project. Because of this framework we are now thoroughly consistent and flexible.

We believe Caffeine is similar in concept. Google Search technology and innovation has occurred with the appearance of:

mobile search
time line search including the Google wonder wheel
adwords
xml feeds including Google Product Search
personal search settings
localised search

The original Google Search interface was never designed to encompass this myriad of permutations. Caffeine is likely to be the platform which all these facets of Search can be customised, switched on or off, combined or easily extended.

Another area of difference between the old and new may come from Googles' experience or trial and error. Since the 1990s Google has learnt some valuable lessons from customer reactions.

Now extremely conscious of upsetting the searcher Google decided to trial Caffeine to gauge reaction. If we scale this concept up, the likelihood of Google Search architecture being Data Centre specific may become a reality.

By this we mean allowing certain searchers to use certain data centres for specific methods of search. Google have already proved that Caffeine has started in one data centre, when given the green light the new architecture can take over another data centre and another and we would speculate that this ability to switch over data centres has another use. Google can choose to switch searchers from one data centre to another, to target specific geographical locations to specific data centres.

Why would this be important? Well, does every culture search and retrieve information in the same way? We would expect someone in China searching for McDonalds in Washington to not necessarily be looking for a local restaurant but perhaps historical information about when the first McDonalds came to Washington.

Take this theory even further and understand that within the culture of the Chinese the search algorithm may need to be customised to display results that that culture would expect to find. In a Muslim country is there any point returning results upon a subject that would be considered offensive?

What about Google Caffeine Optimisation?

Well, there has been much discussion in the Dusza offices about what Caffeine will mean for natural / organic search resultsfor our clients. We believe our clients need not fear being dropped from search results.

Google wants to provide relevant results to searchers. That's the goal. Google needs people to search using their search engine in order to create the $21 billion they received in 2008.

Therefore any innovation that helps Google refine its search algorithms to promote websites that are relevant will become ever increasingly implemented. So what makes a website worth being ranked, we can only speculate again, but it is likely to include the fundamentals of a great website from adhering to W3C compliance and Accessibility issues to page load speeds.

If you are concerned about the impact of Caffeine on your website and want to discuss it with Dusza please feel free to get in touch.

CRM Solutions saving businesses

Client Relationship Management systems are saving businesses - literally.

In a financial climate that is unforgiving to wasting time or money, companies are searching for ways to streamline operations.

Client Relationship Management (CRM) offers more versatility than their name may suggest. CRM Solutions have evolved as quickly as the web. With the massive advances in technology on the internet and its relentless pace of evolution CRM solutions are no longer clunky underdeveloped irritations but valuable efficiency tools that allow any company achieve a consistency not before possible.

Firstly, for those of you that think a CRM is yet another geeky term with no merit, let's consider the concept itself. A client relationship management system is a computer system that consists of the processes a company uses to track and organise its contact with its current and prospective clients. CRM software is used to support each of your business processes; information about customers and customer interactions can be automatically tracked and analysed, manually entered, stored and accessed by employees in different company departments.

Now imagine that you have this system based online so that you can literally access the CRM from anywhere around the world using just an internet connection and your secure login details.

Modern day CRMs can fulfill an amazing range processes more efficiently and with a higher degree of accuracy than any employee. An example of the technologies we use every day could be; mobile integration allowing Health & Safety officers to Quality Control building sites in real time, or for a finance department to be able to pay wages remotely via the CRM. How about downloading your entire finance overview in a single Excel file on demand - and further more it's always accurate.

A CRM also doesn't demand pay rises and never takes holiday or sick days.

Analyse your business processes

So where do you start with your business? In order to really streamline company processes you first need to identify what your company processes are, you cant streamline what's not there! If you want to know how to streamline your business Dusza will be publishing a paper right here on this very subject next month, it's a how-to guide aimed at small to medium businesses and will help you identify your processes.

Remember to consider every angle of your business as sometimes it is the processes that you don't use everyday that can be overlooked but actually have real impact on your business. A good example of this could be your recruitment process. When a new employee comes into business how much disruption does it cause? If the answer is; a lot, then this may be due to your business not having the correct strategy and process in place.

Changing your company's habits

The simple fact is that in June 2009 there were over 1,668,870,408 people worldwide using the internet. People are more and more comfortable with working and playing online.

Some companies foresee a backlash whenever a new system is put in place and this can be the case when a system has been ill thought out or badly implemented.

CRMs should be uncomplicated to use and it is important that your employees see and feel the benefit of streamlining operations.

The benefit of an online CRM that is well designed and functions perfectly for your business is that it can actually be a moral boost for your employees - it helps them to be better at their job. A good approach that works well to get your employees on-side is for them to take ownership of the transition between previous processes and methods and the new CRM, with frequent progress updates and group discussions - it's quick and easy to make employees feel part of the CMS deployment process.

Ensuring they have the correct training and a support strategy in place also is fundamental to the success of the CRM.

Success Story

Dusza create and deploy CRMs that dramatically reduce operational costs. One of our clients saw a first year saving of over £120,000 and thereafter a year on year saving of over £250,000.

Direct Marketing - Facts & Figures

The latest research by the Direct Marketing Association has confirmed Dusza's belief that door drop marketing is becoming less and less popular.

In 2008 volumes of door drop marketing fell by 11% to 9 billion items - still a lot of junk mail I hear you cry! Interestingly the the same survey found that expenditure on door drop marketing has only fallen by 5%. The group attributes the figures to marketeers seeking "to enhance relevance through improved targeting techniques".

In 'non-marketing' speak this means that marketeers are being much more careful with their direct marketing spend - and who can blame them in this difficult financial climate! Instead of 'blanket' dropping a mediocre campaign, they are creating strategic pieces of marketing material which are targeted to specific people. The hope being that this more responsible approach to direct marketing will produce a better Return on Investment.

Interesting, further research on 'consumer views on data-driven marketing', 95% of consumers say they ARE interested in receiving communications from companies they know, unfortunately 77% say they always opt out of communications from companies they don't know.

The research shows it is getting harder and harder to obtain permission to contact year on year, 2008 only 65% of consumers said they always tick the opt out box.

It seems that consumers are becoming more selective about who they share they data with, and unsurprisingly when you think of the well-publicised instances of data breaches by large organisations. Trust appears to be the key, it is essential to any relationship, especially the relationship between companies and consumers.

So how can you ensure your message gets to your target audience effectively. It's easy get in touch and we can give you clear, honest advice about how to get the best Return on Investment for your marketing budget.

The History of the Internet - The first 40 Years

2009 saw the 40 year anniversary of the birth of the Internet, in this article we look at how far the World Wide Web has come.

1969 - The Pentagon's Advanced Research Projects Agency (Arpa) has an idea for a computer network - Arpanet. On 29th October computers at The University of California and Stanford connect for the first time on what would become the internet.

1970 - Arpanet heads east, computers are installed at Harvard, The Massachusetts Intitute of Technology and BBN.

1971 - BBN devises electronic mail for Arpanet and makes the momentous decision to use @ to separate the name of the user, from the name of the host.

1972 - France begins its own Arpenet-like project. It's key innovation is making host computers, not the network, responsible for data transfer.

1973 - University College London opens a transatlantic link to Arpanet.

1974 - Vint Cerf publish a proposal to link Arpa-like networks. The network is built around an open protocol. The proposal uses the first published us of the word internet.

1975 - A programmer at The University of Southern California creates Replay and Forward email functions. The Jargon File starts at Stanford describing how online culture adapts language for electronic use.

1976 - Queen Elizabeth is the first head of state to have any involvement in computer networking, when she inaugurates The Royal Signals Arpanet connection by sending an email to all Arpanet users.

1977 - Dennis Hayes & Dale Hetherington invent the PC modem, allowing individuals to get online from hom. The year also sees the introduction of the Apple II, the first successful mass produced home computer.

1978 - A marketer for a US computer company sends 600 Californian Arpanet users an unsolicited commercial email, or as we now call it spam. The US Defence Communications Agency vows to take action - we're still waiting...

1979 - The first bulletin boards are created, allowing people to discuss any number of topics throughout the globe.

1980 - Tim Berners-Lee begins a project at Cern called Enquire, which uses hypertext (ie links) to allow scientists to keep track of projects - this is the basis of the modern Web.

1981 - 'Imagine if you will sitting down to your morning coffee and turning on a computer to read the day's newspaper' begins a news report on the electronic version of the San Francisco Chronicle. It took over two hours to download a daily edition at $5 an hour.

1982 - Scott Fahlman proposed the use of :-) after a joke.

1983 - January 1st was the deadline for computers on the Arpanet to switch over to Vint Cerf's internet protocols. However this does not represent the triumph of Cerf's ideas, new networks are springing up. It will soon lead to the now-forgotton protocol wars.

1984 - The domain name system is created so human-friendly host addresses route to numerical IP addressed.

1985 - Dotcom, the domain name that describes the rise and fall of an entire business sector is created.

1986 - Techologies often go through periods of competing standards - Betamax vs VHS and the development of computer networks was no different. The internet eventually won.

1987 - This year we see the first major jump in host numbers from just over five thousand in 1986 to almost 30,000. It is the huge growth of computing over the next few years that provides the backdrop to the internet explosion in the 1990s.

1988 - The University of Oulu in Finland creates Internet Relay Chat - a precursor to real-time messaging.

1989 - Back at Cern, Tim Berners-Lee proposes a document retrieval system using hypertext to make files on a remote server appear as if they are your machine. He considers calling it The Information Mine, but the initials TIM appear immodest and he settles on the World Wide Web (www).

1990 - Col Needham posts a series of movie scripts online and the database that will become IMDb is born.

1991 - Cambridge University students set up the first 'webcam' trained on the lab coffee pot so users can avoid wasted trips to an empty coffee pot. Gopher is the first search engine to read the contents of files, not just their names. MP3 is approved as a standard.

1992 - The arrival of the UK's first commercial internet service providers means more and more people have access to email.

1993 - The first browser accessible to non-programmers; Mosaic, was heavily downloaded.

1994 - Netscape launched its browser - Navigator - it was THE browser of the mid-90s. quasi-geographical names became a big feature of the internet - 'superhighway' 'cyberspace' 'internet explorer'.

1995 - Netscape introduces the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) recognised by ecommerce owners and users alike. Iranian computer programmer sells the first lot on his Echo Bay website - we now call it eBay. Amazon.com starts it service, but doesn't make a profit until the end of 2001.

1996 - The first webmail is launched - HoTMaiL - the capitalisation is a nod to the webpage language HTML.

1997 - The word 'weblog' is created to describe rolling collections of writing and links. In 1999 it is shortened to 'blog'. The BBC website is launched.

1998 - The revelation that Bill Clinton had a sexual relationship with White House intern Monica Lewinsky is the first major news story to break online. The Google search engine launches.

1999 - Social Neworking begins with LiveJournal using 'friend' as a verb (as in 'to friend') and Friends Reunited allows people to find old class and work mates on the internet. RSS Feeds are launched.

2000 - The dotcom bubble bursts and the ILOVEYOU virus becomes one of the world's most destructive.

2001 - On paper an encyclopedia that anyone can edit sounds like a ridiculous concept, but it turns out to be surprisingly accurate. It now contains over 3million English entries and many more in other languages.

2002 - Heather Armstrong is the first person to be fired from their job for the contents of their personal blog, after writing satirical comments about her employer.

2003 - Skype and MySpace are launched.

2004 - Facebook is launched, initially restricted to US educational institutions, in 2006 it is opened up to everyone and now has over 300 million active users. The browser monopoly of Internet Explorer is broken when the open source Firefox enters the marketplace.

2005 - YouTube launches, changing the way we view video on the web forever. Camera phones and photo sharing mean pictures of the London bombings are captured and transmitted at record speed.

2006 - Twitter launches with the question 'what are you doing?'

2007 - The BBC turns its iPlayer into a service streaming television and radio on-demand from its website. It is the beginning of broadcasters engaging with the internet, rather than having content taken from it. Channel 4's 4OD launches later the same year. The only people who are unhappy about it are Internet Service Providers who complain it is putting too much strain on their systems. Google Street View is launched and World of Warcraft passes 9 million subscribers. The iPhone launch reawakens interest of the web on mobile devices.

2008 - The US election comes to the Internet. Barack Obama builds a vast network of small donors who contribute to his record $600 million funds.

2009 - Social media's ability to deliver news expands when the first pictures of US Airways Flight 1549 in the Hudson River are on Twitter and Iran's presidential election candidates use Facebook to talk to the outside world after a media coverage crackdown. East Africa gets it's first broadband connection.

2010 - The internet continues to go from strength to strength with new websites and internet phenomenon being launched every week.

If your organisation hasn't joined the online revolution yet, or if you are not taking full advantage of the ever expanding developments in web technology then call Dusza today for a FREE consultation 0845 094 6442 - The Web Design Specialists

Dream Generation earning income from the internet

Dream Generation WIRKING for a living.

With nearly a fifth of 18 to 24-year-olds in Britain are out of work, part of a 5m army of young unemployed across the European Union*, research released has showed generation Y is turning to social media to make a living.

Teenagers as young as 13 are reported to be taking advantage of their internet connection to reap money and rewards from wirking - the new term for internet work. Wirk is defined by job opportunities that did not exist before the rise of the internet, and is likely to be completed, and paid for, via the internet.

Completing online questionnaires, polls, content publishing and search marketing are all examples of Wirk, as is the re-launched virgin.com, where members can earn points towards Virgin products. While wirking can be a full time vocation, given the opportunity it offers for anyone with an internet connection to earn money, wirkers are currently more likely to be part time.

Co-founder of wirk.org, comments: "The job market for the young is changing at a rapid pace. Just walk into supermarkets and cashiers have been replaced by self service tills. Ecommerce is replacing traditional job roles and the recession is also a significant factor contributing to job losses.

"It is easy to see that even paper rounds are likely to be a thing of the past with online content becoming more accessible on demand. In short, for the young especially, the number of work opportunities are reducing day by day and the opportunity lies in social media."

wirk.org is a not for profit organisation that has been created by users for users, and is a worldwide directory of Wirk opportunities available.

It seems the Dream Generation really are helping themselves and creating a whole new way of wirking.

Microsoft + Yahoo = Bing?

So is Google in any kind of trouble or is the joining of 'the two other search engines' really no cause for concern?

Extract from Bing's Director, Adam Sohn

"…By now you have probably seen the exciting news about our agreement with Yahoo!. We are totally fired up to be partnering with such a great set of folks, and look forward to seeing what we can achieve for customers by working together to bring a strong #2 into the search space. This is great news for Bing and is a great accelerator to the work we are already doing. The scale Bing will get through this agreement will enable us to learn, experiment and innovate faster for consumers and advertisers.

The result will be more relevant search results and advertising, which is great for everyone. Working with Yahoo! we will be able to do so much to advance the search experience, and we cannot wait to see the partnership come to life…"

(www.bing.com; July 29, 2009)

Extract from Sir Martin Sorrell, Chief Executive, WPP Group

"This is extremely encouraging and introduces more balance into the search and display markets," said Sir Martin Sorrell, chief executive of British advertising group WPP (WPP.L). "It is good for our clients and our agencies and for regulators."

(Reuters; July 30, 2009)

The Microsoft and Yahoo agreement focus' on search and reflects the vital importance of search and search advertising to the Internet. Search is a critical part of people's online lives and an important element of the Internet experience.

At the end of July this year, and after much re-negotiating that has seen a prospective $44 billion take-over proposal re-mould itself into a seemingly amicable partnership, Microsoft and Yahoo announced a ten-year long deal that will see the companies combine resources to effectively make Microsoft the world's second-biggest search engine. With a combined share of around thirty percent, it's still less than half that of Google, but it's nevertheless a step in the right direction for both companies that, individually, have had little impact on Google's dominance in the search engine market.

In a joint statement, the companies said, "In simple terms, Microsoft will now power Yahoo search while Yahoo will become the exclusive worldwide relationship sales force for both companies' premium search advertisers."

So, what does this mean for us casual web browsing types? Apart from the appearance of "Powered by Bing" search results on Yahoo pages, it's not entirely obvious at the moment. Much of the impact is dependent on the minutiae of the arrangement, which has still to be eked out. One obvious disadvantage is that there will be one less unique search engine for all to use. But hopefully, with Microsoft spending plenty of money, time and effort on its Bing search engine project, Yahoo users can probably expect better search results in time. Some of Bing's cool features are already appearing in some guise or another across Yahoo.

Despite being tied to Bing for ten years, Yahoo is dealt quite a respectable hand with this deal. It gets an outsourced search engine for a remarkably low price (from which it can pick and choose elements to use), a guaranteed stream of search revenue for a year and a half, and the opportunity to sell search advertising on both Yahoo and Microsoft. And it gets to save money, too which is never a bad thing in business. For Microsoft, it simply means that almost overnight it gets its hands on a bigger share of the search engine market than it could possibly achieve with natural growth alone of its Bing project.

So what could us mere mortals expect when we search using Bing? Well, in theory we could be being served up a plate of Bing Search results or Yahoo's or a combination. In addition we will certainly see Yahoo's advertising power brought to Bing.

Only time will tell if their combined efforts can rock the big G.

Microsoft goes Bing when it's finished

In need of a different, less Google'd, perspective on what's available on the web? Try Microsoft's re-vamped search engine

The UK's population, and come to think of it, much of the world too, is so enamoured with Google's simple and straightforward approach to finding things on the web that "to Google" or "Google it" are as much a part of everyday parlance as "Hoover"-ing the carpet. To Google is to search the web.

There have been plenty of search engines that have drifted in and out of popularity during the web's formative years, amongst them Microsoft's Live Search and MSN, but it is fair to say that few have had the longevity, or market share, of Google. In July 2009, in an attempt to capture even just a tiny morsel of Google's audience, Microsoft re-launched its search engine under the name of Bing.

The chap responsible for designing Microsoft Outlook's user interface, Brian MacDonald, was charged with re-developing Bing's front-end, and this is apparent from the consistency in the way it works and looks across the different search pages and tools. At first glance, is comparably more colourful than Google, with a huge photograph (which changes on a daily basis to encourage regular re-visits) underneath the main search tools. Along the bottom of the photograph, and dotted around it are hot-linked areas to sites or searches relating to the image. If nothing else, you might actually learn something by visiting the landing page (just like you do when Google has its celebration days). It doesn't detract from the main point of the page; it's just a nice feature, although low-bandwidth connection users might suggest otherwise.

As for the search results themselves, which is of course the most important aspect of any new engine, they are sufficiently dissimilar to Google's, and lacking in any "filler" to warrant using Bing as an alternative source of information. It gives you the impression that it really understands what it is you're looking for (as opposed to matching words), and will even do clever things like return localised results based on your IP address. It's all really rather neatly presented too. One particularly feature in the search listings is the page preview, which pops up when you hover near the link. Within this panel, the first few paragraphs of text from the site are displayed. Oftentimes, this is accompanied by a list of links to other pages within the site in an "Also on this site" section. Very neat. But, not content with giving you pages of decent matches, Bing is also helpful enough to present an extra list of related items to your query down the left hand panel. It certainly improves the chances that you'll find something of interest.

Unlike Google, video and image results are not displayed in amongst the other search listing on Bing, but instead are displayed as previews at the bottom and top of each page. Aesthetics may be subjective, but this arrangement does actually keep the listing a little more uniform and therefore easier to read. Besides, it is far better to use the dedicated media search pages if you're looking specifically for a picture or video clip.

Within these media search pages, image results are displayed on a single scrolling page (what Bing likes to call "infinite scrolling", although the page does of course come to an end at some point). This does negate navigating back and forth through pages, and can actually make it quicker to find and compare images you need. The actual size of the images can be customised too (small, medium, large and image with detail); irrespective of the thumbnail size, pointing at it with the mouse will display a larger preview with details, and a link to related images.

The images found can be filtered according to several criteria: size (small to wallpaper-sized dimensions), layout (its proportions: landscape, portrait or square); colour or black and white, whether it's a photo or illustration, and whether or not the content contains people (faces or head and shoulder shots, for example), which is an interesting addition to the usual array of filtering tools. It works rather well, too.

Videos can be previewed in-line by rolling over their thumbnails with the mouse. As with pictures, results can be filtered according to a number of criteria. In this case, it's film length, aspect ratio, resolution, and it source (BBC, YouTube, MSN, or MTV for example). Up to 20 videos are displayed per page, and can be viewed as thumbnails, or presented with their detail visible.

At the time of writing, Bing is still in its public beta phase, and is requesting lots of feedback about its features, including if the results returned were what users expect. But first impressions are quite good. While it certainly won't topple Google from its top-spot on the search engine podium, Bing is potentially an excellent alternative to those with Google fatigue.

Putting yourself on the Google Map

Register for Google's Local Business Centre so your company shows up any time anyone searches in your area for your particular type of business...

When people look for a product or service via a search engine, the chances are excellent they would prefer to have local companies returned in the results. And so, more often than not, they will add a town, county or postcode to their keywords. For example, "Toy shops in London".

If such a phrase is entered into Google, the web site displays its map of the area gleaned from the search words at the very top of the results page, with markers indicating locations of any shops, companies or services that match the search criteria. Google is even smart enough to remember the area keyword from a previous search, so even if the visitor were to omit the town or postcode, it would still return those much sought-after local results.

You might think for such a high prominence on the Google site would be costly and time-consuming to implement, but in actual fact, it's free of charge, and takes no longer than fifteen minutes to set-up. All that's needed is a Google account, which many people may already have from using other services on the site (such as Google Earth, Toolbar or Mapping), or from customising the search engine interface.

To add a business, assuming you do already have a Google account, go to http://www.google.com/local/add?hl=en&gl=GB and click on the giant-sized "Add New Business" button. Here you are presented with a form in which to scribble details pertaining to the company, such as its name, address, telephone number, e-mail and web address, plus a description up to 200 characters. To help Google match the business to visitor's searches, you may choose up to five different pre-defined categories from a vast and diverse range of business types or quickly create your own.

Other optional information that can be entered into the profile includes how customers can pay for goods and services (credit/debit card types and other payment methods), the types of brands available (handy for shops), and parking availability. To further enhance the entry, it is even possible to upload and include a photograph or two alongside the description, or add promotional or advertising fodder in the form of a link to a YouTube video.

Once your information has been entered, verification from Google must be sought before the entry goes "live". A PIN (personal identification number) is sent by post to the business address entered into the profile, which must be entered in order to activate the listing. It can take up to two weeks for the PIN to arrive in the post, but once you've entered the PIN, your listing will appear immediately, and thereafter the profile can be updated as often as is necessary.

Additionally, it is possible within a single account to add multiple listings, which is useful if your company has more than one branch. Of course, having to fill in the same form several times could be quite tedious, but it seems that Google has thought of that too, and included a tool called "Upload a Data File". This enables you to add, replace or delete multiple locations from your account at once, by uploading the information in a single tab-delimited plain text file. Instructions on how to format the table in a spreadsheet application, and what values are acceptable can be found at: http://www.google.com/local/add/helpFeeds?hl=en-US&gl=GB. Although it may sound a bit on the technical side, it's little more than setting up a spreadsheet with a few key words in the right places, and the help file guides you effortlessly through the process.

The prominence of Google's Local Business Map on its search results page isn't the only reason you should consider it for your business. Visitors can use it to physically find your premises, or get directions via the standard Google Map tools. Also, Google will pull in information and user reviews from other local business listings sites, such a qype.co.uk, touchlocal.com and bview.co.uk and automatically insert them into the company profile. It will even perform a search of other sites on the web with your details as the search criteria and display alongside a link to your own web site, further links to other sites that contain related information to the business.

Additionally, registered Google account owners can submit their own reviews of any business in the listing, which appear with a five-star rating. Few things encourage potential customers to trust your business as much as the experiences of those who have already. And all of this can be yours for the price of fifteen minutes. That's good value.

Google's Financial Results suggest Online Advertising Rebound

Google has today announced it's third quarter financial results beating analysts predictions and suggesting that the online advertising sector has begun to rebound.

Google said the net income for the period rose to $1.64 billion up from $1.29 billion in the previous quarter. Earnings per share were $5.89 compared to the analyst expectation of $5.42 per share.

CEO Eric Schmidt said in a statement

"While there is a lot of uncertainty about the pace of economic recovery, we believe the worst of the recession is behind us and now feel confident about investing heavily in our future,"

Google is probably the best measure of the online advertising sector as it accounts for roughly 97% of the company's revenue. This is particularly true in search engines, where Google commands around 65% of the market.

Google also reported that the number of paid clicks on site increased 14% from the same quarter in 2008 and although the average cost per click remains depressed compared to last year, Google said its ad rates have increased from the second quarter of 2009 - another hopeful sign.

Meanwhile, the third quarter saw Microsoft aggressively promoting it's new search engine; Bing, which it hopes will become a viable competitor to Google. However, so far Microsoft hasn't managed to make a dent in Google's share of the search market, all of Bing's small market gains have so far come at the expense of Yahoo and other fringe players.

Google Search Result Filters & Display Options

Google has extended its search offerings. In accordance with Page and Sergey's ambition to organise and distribute the webs vast wealth of information, Google has just launched a collection of additional features that extend user's ability to search.

Amongst the new search options are:

Show All results, Videos, Forums and Reviews
Time specific, Recent Results, Past 24 hours, Past Week, Past Year or Custom Date Range
Extended snippet including Standard view, Images from the page or More text
Related searches including Wonder wheel or Timeline

What's interesting to note is that all these new search features are hidden away as the default option for users. You may think this is a slightly naive way of introducing and testing new technologies on users but it just goes to show how seriously Google are about not damaging their user loyalty.

Back in the early days of Google, a previously thought incidental change in home page design from a serif typeface to a sans serif one caused uproar. It seems the lesson has been learned and taken to heart.

All results

The default is the standard all results users are used to seeing.

If you're ever unsure about the precise terms you should use for your search, start out with a broader search term (e.g. [ principles of physics ]), then use the Related searches and Wonder wheel options to discover alternative search terms.

The Related searches option puts -- you guessed it -- related searches at the top of the results page. They'll stay there, even as you scroll up and down, so you can easily compare and contrast results for different related searches.
The Wonder wheel visually presents connections between related searches and your search term as an interactive diagram. Click the different nodes in the diagram to see how searches can branch out.