It is coming around to that time of year again where news agencies; journalists; blog sites and bloggers alike scour the vast amounts of news that made up the year 2011. A lot of them will break it down into a “Top 10� format; utilizing a level of importance or popularity per say in the process.

We’re just going to go with listing out what we believe were the highlights within the Tech realm as it pertains to news and in no particular order.

Twitter

Twitter continued to rise in popularity in 2011. Twitter proved in many ways to be the place to be or connected to in getting news as it happened. From first reports of “something is up� in the early morning hours in Islamabad Pakistan which would later be headline news of the mission to capture Osama Bin Laden by US Navy Seals; to the use of Twitter by protestors in the Occupy Movement. Twitter seemed to be more or less on the front lines of news at it happened by those on the front lines. One of the fascinating aspects of it all is; it is not news agencies breaking the news; it is just ordinary people sometimes witnessing extraordinary news as it is happening right in front of them.

Google

Google is still the dominant search engine on the planet; which should be of no surprise. The term “search� and “Google� are now fused together to mean one in the same when it comes to the act of search. Google made news in 2011 by introducing for arguments sake; Google + (Plus). While there was some initial buzz on this social network; it appears to be somewhat waning towards the end of 2011. The common belief is that once Google fully integrates its other service offerings into Google + it will take off. This might prove to be a monumental task with the likes of Facebook well entrenched in the social media model.

Facebook

Love it or hate it; Facebook is pretty much here to stay and is doubtful it will fall from grace much like MySpace. With the publics concerns over privacy based issues Facebook has had to revise its privacy policies several times. But the reality is; for those who are on Facebook is that the factor few consider is that Facebook essentially is free. For that there has to be some form of monetization on their part in order for everyone to enjoy the “freeness� that is Facebook. Facebook collects a huge amount of data on its user-base; and it is essentially for target marketing purposes. If Facebook users think the advertising is somewhat intrusive now; wait until they IPO and then the real onslaught will begin.

Apple

The man who shaped in so many ways how we listen to music; work on our computers, utilize cellular phone technologies and how we obtain them passed away many would say before his time. Steve Jobs passed away at a young age of 56 on October 5th, 2011 and to many while expected; the shock of one of the “tech� world’s most popular leaders passing away could not be ignored. He leaves behind a storied legacy; one that will be difficult to follow; certainly within Apple itself.

About Silentblast Interactive

Canadian owned and operated, Silentblast is a professional web design and development company in Toronto serving small and mid-sized companies in the GTA, Brampton, Vaughan, North York, Markham, Mississauga, Oakville, Richmond Hill, Scarborough and Barrie, Ontario, Canada. Silentblast also develops mobile web site design and development and mobile applications for the iPhone and other mobile phone platforms.
www.silentblast.com

One of the interesting story lines we often see immediately come out at the beginning of the year on blogs of all kinds is the trends that will occur across the internet for the new year. Often they are published shortly after beginning of the new year without really any observation or discussion to support the opinion of the trend that may come. This is partly why we wait a little longer before stepping out into the opinion on trends that may or may not transpire across the internet.
With that said; we have broken down the trends into categories that we think touch upon several different key aspects of the internet as it continues to evolve.

Search
Search is very important on the internet. There will always be change with the search engines and the most popular of the search engines being Google is always changing. As Google like all other major search engines; they continue to leverage their services and the key one being ìsearchî and how to bring in more revenue for search based services. Eventually; and no one should be surprised when it does happen; you will see page 1 results being reserved for those that pay to be there. It will be then the challenge of SEO firms who operate in the organic search realm to offer their services for page 2 ranking and results. This may sound crazy as a trend; but from a financial perspective it makes all the sense in the world to greater monetize search services such as Google.

Social Media
Social Media continues its forward and upward momentum. There is no argument that Facebook represents the most significant player in the social media realm. Twitter is another social media outlet that is showing significant gains and popularity; especially in the business sector. If you are a business and not on those two social mediums and not contributing in some fashion to them you are not where your potential customers are.

Web Development
Google Chrome as a browser continues to become more popular. Just recently Google Chrome was estimated to have reach 10% penetration of the browser market. While Explorer is still the leader in terms of overall usage; it has shown continual market loss to Firefox and Chrome. Appleís Safari browser as well continues to make strides in their market share and it is estimated at 6% of the overall browser market share.

Email marketing is experiencing a return. Email marketing and creating targeted lists for direct email marketing efforts to current clients or potential clients will continue to rise. Companies such as MailChimp and Constant Contact are extremely popular as an email marketing solution with social media add-ins available that allow the end user to share your marketing efforts across social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook.

Search Engine Optimization
Local search continues to be the primary driver of the majority of businesses that want to make a significant impact on their company, services and products in being found on the search engines.

Mobile, video and social media SEO while not entirely new; they started to show significant strides and momentum of interest by business. Whether it will translate towards businesses that currently have traditional SEO services looking to expand their SEO strategy to video, mobile, or social media will depend on whether they embrace those technologies.

Mobile/Tablet Devices
There is a belief in some that the honeymoon with all things that are ìappî related is over. A lot of companies created apps and others will continue to do so; mainly on the basis that their competition has an ìappî and so should they. Maybe so; but if your app offers little in terms of value; the chances are your app will be downloaded but rarely used; if at all. Look at your current smart phone and then look at all the apps you have currently installed. If you have not used a specific ìappî at least once in the past month; chances are; living without it wonít be a problem.

Where there is definitive return on investment and more bang for the buck is the creation of a mobile version of your current website. Design and development for cross platform mobile browser compatibility is by far less costly than designing ìappsî specific to a mobile OS platform.

Canadian owned and operated, Silentblast is a professional web design and development company in Toronto serving small and mid-sized companies in the GTA, Brampton, Vaughan, North York, Markham, Mississauga, Oakville, Richmond Hill, Scarborough and Barrie, Ontario, Canada. Silentblast also develops mobile web site design and development and mobile applications for the iPhone and other mobile phone platforms.

Website – www.silentblast.com

Silentblast Blog – www.silentblast.com/blog

Twitter – http://twitter.com/silentblast

Back to the Mac Event October 20th, 2010

Apple will be hosting a “Back to the Macâ€� event on October 20^th from their Cupertino California headquarters to in all likelihood show off the next version of OS X. The event invitation showed a lion behind the Apple logo which leads one to believe the next version of OS X will be 10.7 Lion. (more…)

When you or a business are looking for website design companies in Toronto it is easy to just look at the only the design factor of the website without not putting a lot of thought into what type of business or customer you are looking to appeal to or target.

A cool looking website is often just that, a cool looking website. Lots of “stuff� happening potentially like Flash integration, maybe some music, cool mouse over effects that maybe even execute more cool sounds.

Meanwhile you are trying or thought you were marketing your business and all those cool distractions have probably swayed the business or customer to look elsewhere.

How did this happen? Well, a combination of a web design company that has gone into “let me take your pizza order� mode and a client who unless they are a web designer and have a portfolio to show for; has turned into a web designer.

While there is nothing wrong with web design input from a client; it can often lead to the recreation of something they may already have that was not working out. The appeal of the website design is focused on the likes/dislikes of an individual and not based on user interface, usability, and web design concepts that should appeal to a greater audience.

There should be stated goals or expectations of the website design and overall strategy of the website, from brand, the structure of the navigation, the content which includes marketing focus points and design to name a few things to consider in overall website design.

It is very crucial that businesses look at the website almost from the perspective of the outside looking in; and think potentially like a customer or a client they wish to appeal to. That kind of perspective separates the habit of personal “wants� within the website design and focuses on the “needs� or “goals�.

Here are some basic questions as a business to consider regarding online goals or expected achievements that can be discussed with your website design and development company.

• Which services, products or business verticals contribute positively to your bottom line?
• Is there other services, products or business verticals you have an expertise in or supply that you want to capitalize on?
• What is your market area? Are you local, national or global.
• Your online goals, what are they?
• What is your plan to deal with the calls to action, such as phone calls, inquiry forms, contact us forms, or emails?
• Do you have an SEO, Search Engine Optimization strategy?

Silentblast Interactive - Toronto Web Design

Canadian owned and operated, Silentblast is a professional web design and development company in Toronto serving small and mid-sized companies in the GTA, Brampton, Vaughan, North York, Markham, Mississauga, Oakville, Richmond Hill, Scarborough and Barrie, Ontario, Canada. Silentblast also develops mobile web site design and development and mobile applications for the iPhone and other mobile phone platforms.

Website – www.silentblast.com

Silentblast Blog – www.silentblast.com/blog

Twitter – http://twitter.com/silentblast

-

Search Engine Optimization SEO - Google Instant

Google Instant is continuing to roll out and if you have for example a Google account such as a Gmail address in Canada you can see that Google Instant has already started to roll out at least within Canada. It has not rolled out in all countries as of yet.

What is Google Instant? Essentially it is a new search methodology enhancement that shows results as you type in the search bar. Results begin to appear as you type. Google is doing this to speed up web searches. Google believes that seeing changing search terms as you type will provide for more meaningful and instant feedback in helping you find what you are search for.

Is there going to be concerns with respect to SEO (Search Engine Optimization)? There potentially will be changes in searches from the local perspective; such as typing in “mortgage broker Toronto� or “Toronto mortgage broker� where if a site has been SEO’d on those search terms there should also be relevant content speaking to mortgages, brokers and within that context as well locality.

A lot of SEO consultants and firms still believe and rightfully so with the local organic search model in that for the most part; people either type in a service, or product as an example and then a location; or vice versa.

Google has suggested that Google Instant will potentially change how people do search. There are differences of opinion in the blogosphere on that issue that will take some time to note if there is a significant impact as it relates to SEO.

Silentblast Interactive - Toronto Web Design

Canadian owned and operated, Silentblast is a professional web design and development company in Toronto serving small and mid-sized companies in the GTA, Brampton, Vaughan, North York, Markham, Mississauga, Oakville, Richmond Hill, Scarborough and Barrie, Ontario, Canada. Silentblast also develops mobile web site design and development and mobile applications for the iPhone and other mobile phone platforms.

Website – www.silentblast.com

Silentblast Blog – www.silentblast.com/blog

Twitter – http://twitter.com/silentblast

Blackberry RIM Playbook

RIM recently revealed their entry into the tablet market with the RIM Playbook at the Blackberry Developers Conference in San Francisco. The RIM Playbook won’t be available until early 2011 but by RIM releasing a sneak peak of their entry into this market will certainly create some interest for those in the market for a tablet device.

The RIM Playbook has a 7 inch screen, 1 GB of memory which is 4 times the amount of the iPad currently. It also comes with a 1Ghz duel core processor which is faster than current processors.

Where it stands out and certainly from the iPad crowd is the addition of dual HD cameras, one in front and the other in the back. It has HD video recording ability and an HDMI output which is very cool if you take HD video with it and then you can display it with the majority of LCD and LED monitors or televisions that are available today.

The RIM Playbook comes with support for Flash which has sparked a lot of controversy, especially with Apple’s position to not support Flash on either the iPhone or iPad platforms. There is also support for WMA, ACC and MP3. The operating system is new and is called QNX Neutrino which is a company RIM purchased.

No word is out on the storage capacity of the RIM Playbook has been revealed as of yet, but considering that the cameras can record in HD it can somewhat be guessed that anything less than an entry model could probably come in at 32GB. It would be easy to then look potentially at 3 storage capacity levels with 32GB being the first, 64GB and then 128GB.

No word on pricing when the RIM Playbook was revealed however there are speculators that fall into two camps; it has to be the same price or cheaper than the current iPad or it will be more expensive. Considering that the device will have features that are not in the current iPad speculation of matching the iPad price or lower may be just that; speculation.

Canadian owned and operated, Silentblast is a professional web design and development company in Toronto serving small and mid-sized companies in the GTA, Brampton, Vaughan, North York, Markham, Mississauga, Oakville, Richmond Hill, Scarborough and Barrie, Ontario, Canada. Silentblast also develops mobile web site design and development and mobile applications for the iPhone and other mobile phone platforms.

Website – www.silentblast.com

Silentblast Blog – www.silentblast.com/blog

Twitter – http://twitter.com/silentblast

Steve Jobs with Apple iPad

Silentblast Blogging – Apple iPad

It is just a matter of days before the iPad officially goes on sale in the US and shortly thereafter in Canada. There was a lot of hoopla in the news and the blogosphere as to what an iPad can do but the fixation by most who commented on it was what the iPad couldn’t do.

I tend to think the iPad sits in the area between a netbook and a data phone type device and this is what truly it has been advertised as to a degree. It is clearly targeted for the general user who may have thought about getting an iTouch but wanted something just a little more. Let’s be honest, despite being able to get reading based apps and books for the iTouch and iPhone, trying to read a novel off an iPhone would be my last resort. But an iPad; which is bigger in terms of overall viewing area than the average page of a paperback, now that makes more sense.

Another complaint is the fact is doesn’t have a camera. Well, personally I can see a webcam; which with the right software could take individual pictures but a camera inherently built in much like the iPhone does not make sense. Seriously, look at the size of the thing. It is not very practical to have a camera on the iPad in my view. But I do believe that Version 2.0 of the iPad may possibly have a webcam in the future and a software app could be developed that is able to take individual pictures.

Another argument is the fact it doesn’t multi-task. Well to be honest neither does the iPhone or iTouch really multi-task either and they have sold very well. Again I think if you’re concerned about multi-tasking you should get a desk-top or a lap-top as even a netbook often doesn’t have the engine to really run multiple applications at once.

I like the fact that there is an iPad version of iWorks that can be purchased through the Apple App Store. To use the device in a quick meeting to deliver a presentation is quite practical in many ways; when it is a meeting between 2-3 people. If you start to get into a board room setting; then it is not so practical.

I think if you try to use the iPad solely as a business device you will be disappointed. While it comes with WI-FI and WI-FI 3G as a paid plan option with select communications providers; I would personally not rely on the iPad as the epicenter of your communications. Free and available WI-FI is becoming such the norm in shopping centers, coffee shops, even transportation hubs that a paid option seems almost pointless. If you don’t have a data phone then maybe it might be worth paying for the WI-FI 3G version of the iPad and a data plan.

Apps… the Apple app store is popular without a doubt. When you have captured over 90% of the mobile app market share in 2009; you are definitely doing something right. With over 3 billion apps sold by January 2010; the iPad is going to bring the development of iPad specific apps and sales within the app store to a whole new level. There is just no other comparison on the market out there. None!

As for us at Silentblast; we have discussed the positives and negatives to the iPad in a realistic manner; knowing what it can do and what it can’t do. We’re not confused as to where it fits in and the potential for business. It has the potential to blow the doors wide open on the apps market and that should be explored by business developers.

Silentblast Interactive - Toronto Web Design and Development

Canadian owned and operated, Silentblast is a professional web design and development company in Toronto serving small and mid-sized companies in the GTA, Brampton, Vaughan, North York, Markham, Mississauga, Oakville, Richmond Hill, Scarborough and Barrie, Ontario, Canada. Silentblast also develops mobile web site design and development and mobile applications for the iPhone and other mobile phone platforms.

Website – www.silentblast.com

Silentblast Blog – www.silentblast.com/blog

Twitter – http://twitter.com/silentblast

Hello readers and welcome back to the Silentblast Blog. You read the title right! YouTube has reached a significant milestone of 1 billion views a day. On October 9th, the official YouTube Blog posted this article; on the achievement. I cannot personally begin to understand the complex of servers and facilities Google must have in order to operate the holdings that Google does both as a search engine and in other business ventures such as GMail, YouTube, Google Maps, Google Docs and so on. They must be adding servers to their stable by the hour.

Awesome accomplishment YouTube and in reality it couldn’t have been done without everyone who uses YouTube and makes it what it has grown into today.

Silentblast Interactive - Toronto Web Design and Development

Canadian owned and operated, Silentblast is a professional web design and development company in Toronto serving small and mid-sized companies in the GTA, Brampton, Vaughan, North York, Markham, Mississauga, Oakville, Richmond Hill, Scarborough and Barrie, Ontario, Canada. Silentblast also develops mobile web site design and development and mobile applications for the iPhone and other mobile phone platforms.

Website – www.silentblast.com

Silentblast Blog – www.silentblast.com/blog

Twitter – http://twitter.com/silentblast

Silentblast Interactive - Toronto Web Design and Development

Hello readers and welcome back to the Silentblast Blog. Interesting news article I read some days ago about a couple from the US, Mellisa and Jackson Brandts were hiking in Banff Alberta and decided to take a photo of themselves for keepsakes. They had set up their camera to auto-shoot some pictures when they were noticing this little squirrel scurrying all around them checking them and the camera out. When their camera snapped a shot of them sitting down the squirrel at that moment decided to stand up and look directly into the camera.

It didn’t take long for the power of the internet and of course some encouragement from friends to submit their photo to National Geographic and then CNN also did a news story on the couple and their camera adventure with the squirrel. From that moment, the squirrel, now more affectionately known as “Crasher Squirrel� has taken the internet somewhat by storm.

The picture of Crasher Squirrel seems to be popping up everywhere; including Silentblast. Here we have a photo of him popping up in front of a billboard with the Silentblast logo.

To read the original “Crasher Squirrel� news article you can find it here; “Web Goes Nuts for Crasher Squirrel�

There is also a website where they have the Top Ten Crasher Squirrel Pics

To modify your own pictures to include the Crasher Squirrel visit The Squirrelizer

Have some fun with it; bring Crasher Squirrel into some of your family photos, wedding pictures and your travels.

Silentblast Interactive - Toronto Web Design and Development

Canadian owned and operated, Silentblast is a professional web design and development company in Toronto serving small and mid-sized companies in the GTA, Brampton, Vaughan, North York, Markham, Mississauga, Oakville, Richmond Hill, Scarborough and Barrie, Ontario, Canada. Silentblast also develops mobile web site design and development and mobile applications for the iPhone and other mobile phone platforms.

Website – www.silentblast.com

Silentblast Blog – www.silentblast.com/blog

Twitter – http://twitter.com/silentblast

Hello readers and welcome to the Silentblast Blog. For this article I am going to mix it up a bit and since having read some articles on the Google Chrome OS; I thought that throwing my thoughts out there on the topic will bring something a little different to the blog.

Firstly, let’s look at some of the things Google does that are core to business and I am discussing this from a business perspective and not from a personal use point of view.

Internet Searching – by far the leader of the pack. Google is without a doubt the Alpha male in the wolf pack of internet searching engines out there. The word “searching” when referenced often in conversations is pretty much being replaced in many ways with the word, “Google.” The lines and differences between the word “searching” as it applies to internet and “Google” are fused more together than probably most people realize.

Gmail – A very popular webmail based application; as long as you are not using it for business in my opinion. Stick with your company branded email address for business. G-Mail being used for business just gives off that sense of you can’t afford to have your own business domain name and an email plan. G-Mail is perfect actually as a secondary dumping site for business email. I forward business email to it merely as a means of mass storage.

Google Docs – Google’s efforts of creating a “cloud computing” environment where the masses will do their documents, spreadsheets, and presentations online has come with mixed results. I believe that it is not widely adopted primarily on the basis that the features of installed software such as Microsoft Office or the open source equivalent Open Office are not available in Google Docs.

So if you look at all the above, Internet Searching which can be part of just being connected to the Internet as a whole, Gmail, and Google Docs; you have the three primary tasks associated with computers and business. So what does this have to with Google developing an OS? A lot actually. The OS is what will allow your computer to function and connect devices and ultimately perform the aforementioned.

I don’t think Google is going to create an OS like we know an OS to be; whether it be a Windows OS, Apples OS, or Linux and its many sub-derivatives. I believe that the OS will be more or less a program much like their Picasa graphic program that fuses and merges Google’s core utilities or services they have. I think more or less it will be a beefed up version of their browser Chrome.

From an impact perspective on Google Chrome OS taking over as the OS of choice I would be cautious of betting on that. Despite the efforts of Apple with their computers and their OS alternative and even free installations of Linux; the company and OS we all love to hate, yet still gravitate to is Microsoft and the Windows OS.

Curiosity seekers will of course try it. If by chance it is a full blown OS that essentially replaces the current OS you may have I don’t see business adopting readily. I would guess even personal users would be cautious of making such a move as well.

Where I see Google Chrome OS possibly having an in-roads is in the Netbooks market area. But Microsoft is pretty entrenched so far in this market in providing the OS and it will certainly be an uphill battle for Google to remove Microsoft as the current leader.

But there is certainly interesting times ahead for Google and of course computer users; no matter which OS you’re currently using.

Silentblast Interactive - Toronto Web Design and Development

Canadian owned and operated, Silentblast is a professional web design and development company in Toronto serving small and mid-sized companies in the GTA, Brampton, Vaughan, North York, Markham, Mississauga, Oakville, Richmond Hill, Scarborough and Barrie, Ontario, Canada. Silentblast also develops mobile web site design and development and mobile applications for the iPhone and other mobile phone platforms.

Website – www.silentblast.com

Silentblast Blog – www.silentblast.com/blog

Twitter – http://twitter.com/silentblast