COMING in 2010:

Oodles of free tools, tips and practical helps to sharpen, improve, enhance, pump up and boost your ministry to children, all in one convenient category within easy reach of a couple mouse clicks!  No ivory tower abstracts or blackboard theory.  These are hands-on resources that you can start using today!

Swing into 2010 with:

- Key questions to ask before taking that job.

- Ready-to-print forms you can use for teacher and parent feedback, decisions, contact info.

- Child safety and security info. + links to recommendations from experts regarding this sensitive, imperative subject.

- Teacher’s tools – hands-on help and tips to keep your class running smoothly and make the most of your time with the kids.

- Ready-made surveys to help you take the guesswork out of what your volunteers want and need, and how best to support them and their interests.  All you have to do is print and distribute!

- Was last year’s VBS an unqualified success or an epic disaster?  Was it somewhere in between?  Give your volunteers a chance to speak up and share their observations and opinions with our free VBS evaluation forms.  This could save you hours in “re-inventing the wheel” or duplicating prior mistakes!

Also in the pipeline:

Bunches of additional resources, tips and tools on the way from your friends at Victory Circle, where “little victories” matter.  MOST.

One of the strongest points about Scorpion Vision Software is it’s capabilities to handle multiple cameras. To show how this is done we have made a demo profile showing a how easy four  cameras are handled and the image processing is divided into toolboxes.

Assembly Verification Demo

In this fine demo profile the following tasks are demonstrated:

• Gauging
• Color object counting
• Indentification and location
  • dynamic reference systems and resampling
• Object presence

Goto to Scorpion Online Help to download the demo profile.

A/Strago-Ghost Militia

Unnerving atmospherics crawl into your mind whilst hypnoticbasslines creep under your skin and take control of your limbs…Youare now enslaved to the Ghost Miltia.

AA/ Eleventh Sun-Unikorn

A stirring journey that treads the line between lush melancholic synthwork & cold sci-fi ambiances…A truly masterful piece of

music!

Available on 12” Vinyl

ORDER NOW FROM:

DOWNLOAD FROM:

UNIkorn & Strago-Ghost Militia

Label:

Melting Pot Records

Catalog#:MPR14

released 18 December 2009

Let me try to define the problem with a question: how to mutate variables defined in an outer scope inside an inner function?

Let’s illustrate with an example: cumulative moving averages of real-time price points .

In PyQuantLET we define a simple model to read ticks from an inbound endpoint, generate a cumulative moving average, and forward the result to an outbound endpoint in two lines:

f = quantlet.handler.stat.cma()
 [outbound((x, f(x))) for x in inbound]

Concrete inbound and outbound endpoints are defined as part of the execution mode of this model. A mode of execution could be a simulation in which the inbound endpoint is a real-time feed for trades of a specific underlying, and an outbound plot of price points and cumulative moving average.

execute_mode(id='simulation',
     model=cma(inbound=feed(''tcp://localhost:61616?wireFormat=openwire'),
               outbound=graph(['plot']
              )
     )

Of course, nothing realistic, but that’s all it takes.  Ok, let’s now define the function for cumulative moving average (in reality we would use classes for the same purpose, but let’s stick to this for now):

def cma(): // this is wrong
     total, counter = (0,0)
     def result(value):
            total = total + value
            counter = counter + 1
            return total / counter
     return result

If you try this version, you will get something like this:

UnboundLocalError: local variable 'total' referenced before assignment

The message is self explanatory – seems like the reason is that rebinding names in a closed scope is not allowed in Python. Nothing like a dictatorship for life…

So, now the good part – the solution – rewrite your function so variables in the outer scope are associated to a container object, see…

def cma():
    total, counter =([0],[0])
    def result(value):
        total[0] = total[0] + value
        counter[0] = counter[0] + 1
        return total[0] / counter[0]
return result

Looks weird, but works – you can try yourself

Yes we can !

We have made a demo profile read number plates. It is based on the powerful Scorpion TemplateFinder3 tool. The decoding is done in less 100 ms on a standard pc.

Download the sample or read more about TemplateFinder3  in Scorpion Online Help.

More information in “How to configure TemplateFinder3 to do OCR?”

Check Username Availability at Multiple Social Networking Sites.

One of my “power tools” in my handy dandy tool bag and/or treasure chess of Magical tricks.

Branding over social media. Enter your biz name, select top ranked social, or just search…it’s free, it’s magical.

Happy Thanksgiving, belated.

-Day after day, I continue to be me. Me ohhh me, that same O’ Teddy G

http://UnitedAsOneSuccess.com (biz op)

http://UnitedAsOneOnline.com (if it makes sense)

UnitedAsOne@BlastoffNetworkPros.com email

Teddy or Crystal.

God Speed.

Is there any greater “downer” than showing up as a first-time visitor to a new church and not having anyone notice?  It’s amazing how many people will return for a second or third visit – or more – if they’re acknowledged and made to feel welcome.  (It’s also amazing how many people won’t bother to come back if they’re not.)  Visitors are much more likely to become regular attenders or members if you spend some time following them up.

One way you can acknowledge new attenders or guests is to have a mechanism in place for securing their contact info. and following-up with a “Thank you” note that same week.  Here’s one idea to get you started.  Add your own color and clip art to present an attractive monarch-sized mailer.  Include a hand-written sentence or two.  Your goal is to communicate, “We noticed you” and hope to see you again.

THANK YOU

for joining us at (church name)

We offer a variety of programs for families and children:

Sunday school for all ages @ (time)

Children’s church @ (time) for (cite ages and places)

Nursery care provided (cite time and place, ages)

Wednesdays

Note any Wednesday programs for kids and accompanying opportunities for parents here.

Plus special events throughout the year.

Looking forward to seeing you soon!

Include church contact info. here: address, phone, email, web site.

Times are tight, but some very special people are worth a splurge! A few ideas to indulge your nearest and dearest. (-Moe)

Clockwise from top: Glen Plaid Pajamas, $79.50, Brooks Brothers. Crystal Carafe with five plastic cups, $65, Clio Home. Anchor-Embossed Vertical Credit Card Holder, $85, Jack Spade. Thomas Paul Roses pillow, $100, at Pillowsandthrows.com. Women’s Slippers in Nightengale, $80, UGG Australia. Children’s Wooden Toolbox Set, $62, at Rosie Hippo. Toscana Shearling Earmuffs, $98, J. Crew. Agate Cheese Plates, $60-75, Jayson Home & Garden.

SCREW FOWLER! WHAT A TOOLBOX!

How many times have you needed a tool but couldn’t find it? It always seems to happen when you’re elbow deep in an engine tear down and need that 7/16 open-ended spanner. Or when you’re snaked around to the backside of your toilet and need that pipe wrench. Or when your hand is trapped in a toaster and you just need something with some leverage to liberator your fingers.

Well, we added a couple of eye-catching toolboxes onto the site last night. They’ve got plenty of room to keep all your gear neat and organized. On top of that, we added some new air filters and spoilers. Check it:

Lime Box Rolling Tool Cabinet

Just in case pink isn't your hue, maybe a lime tool box will do.

Lime Box Bench Top Tool Boxes

Because according to Cala Industries, it's lime time.

Pink Box Rolling Tool Cabinet – 6 Drawer

On the sixth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me 6 drawers of storage and a Pink Box rolling tool cabinet.

Takeda Air Intake Filters

Replace those feelings of inadequacy with a Takeda performance air filter.

RK Sport Spoilers

Every RKSport Spoiler includes a handwritten index card with the message “Bruce is a ghost.”

I’m currently working on a friend’s machine that was attacked by a virus.  Rather than try and troubleshoot it at her house, I brought it home (because Luke asked me no less than 5 times “WHEN are we going to LEAVE here”?).

I was researching the virus name last night (worm.win32.netsky) and saw that it’s not too big of a hassle to remove.  I went to Symantec.com and found a utility to run on the infected machine.  I copied that on to my jump drive so I could run it on the infected machine.

This morning I brought the PC up in safe mode and then began running the utility from Symantec and it was kind of fun to watch the machine go through this process and then the LOTS of pop ups that kept coming up from the worm itself.

The error message that kept repeating was INTERNET SECURITY 2010 is not updated, RUN THE UTILITY NOW OR WE WILL COME TO YOUR HOUSE AND MAKE YOU EAT SOUR MAYONAISSE.  (That last part, the threat part I made up.)

So I type in INTERNET SECURITY 2010 and get some valid hits, like it’s a REAL thing or something.  IT IS NOT.

Then I typed in IS2010 just in the Google search bar and saw that it was a monster.   

The funny thing about this virus is that it reminded me of how roaches scatter when you turn on a light.  As the Symantec utility ran (took about an hour) lots and lots of pop ups appeared to tell me that I WOULD BE REALLY SORRY IF I DIDN’T UPDATE THE INTERNET SECURITY 2010 AND IT WOULD PUT A CURSE ON MY KIDS’ KIDS, AND THEIR KIDS FOLLOWING.

THEN IT SAID THAT I WAS THE DAUGHTER OF SATAN AND HAD REALLY BAD HAIR.

Ha, that’s funny isn’t it?  Wouldn’t it be *almost* cool if the worms said stuff like that?  No, I realize it would suck.  The thing is, people not familiar with worms/viruses see this,

INTERNET SECURITY 2010 found viruses on your computer, click OK to run the removal tool now!

And, so they click and then become infected with a bad thing.   So, just be careful what you click when you get a pop up because there is a lot of frack out there in the interwebs.

I’m including some pics from the pc just in case you this happens to you.  Keep in mind that these screens are LIES.

LIES, LIES, LIES.

Socialmouth shares 10 Twools to help you track and perform better on Twitter! Very, very helpful if you’re planning to do branding or marketing on Twitter (or any project that needs to look into some sort of ROI measurement on Twitter – or if you just like analytics!).

1. TwitterCounter

TwitterCounter shows you stats based on your growth, it obviously counts your followers and following over a period of time but it also gives you a couple of cool digits like a projection of what your following base will be in a specific time, your ranking and your average daily growth. It also offers a paid service if you manage multiple accounts and need to compare to each other. Pretty cool and simple.

2. SocialMention

Another destination with some cool data to take in consideration. SocialMention, which gathers data from all social sites and not just Twitter,  analyzes positive versus negative mentions, your reach with unique authors, top keywords, users, hashtags and resources on those mentions.

3. Klout

Klout measures Twitter influence. It tells you if you are a Persona, a Connector, Climber or Casual. It gives you a score from 1 to 100 based on influence and it analyzes reach, demand, engagement, velocity and activity. The other very cool feature is that you can search for a topic and it will show you who the biggest influencers are so you can learn from them.

4. Twitter Grader

Very simply, TwitterGrader gives you a grade based on the number of followers, power of those followers, updates, follower/following ratio and engagement. It also provides you with a ranking. HubSpot has also launched the FacebookGrader, but that’s a whole different conversation…

5. Monitter

What if you had the power to know what people are talking about on specific topics, let’s say… your industry or a product you sell? Better yet, what if you had a dashboard in front of you that let’s you track these conversations so you would know what step to take next, in real-time! That is exactly what Monitter does.

6. Xefer

Xefer creates a graph of your tweets by day and times in relationship with the replies you get. It is a good method to visualize the quality of your tweets.

7. HootSuite

As long as you use the Ow.ly URL shortener, HootSuite tracks all your clicks and it also displays the most popular ones. If you have a blog, this is a good tool to see what content had good responses so you can follow that trend.

8. GraphEdge

GraphEdge is not free but is very affordable depending on the number of followers you have. This is another tool that presents some pretty cool data to analyze. Some of this data includes your legitimate followers and the percentage in relationship to your total followers, your followers’ most relevant friends, which I think will be the next person you need to follow and it also shows your churn rate.

9. Bit.ly

Bit.ly is more than a URL shortener. It is a simple way of displaying data related to one specific link. It includes the clicks, the reactions on different websites including Facebook and all the conversation generated around it.

10. Tweepi

Tweepi helps you manage your followers/following by sorting information by different criteria. It helps you “flush” the people that you are following but are not following you back and keep a good ratio. At the same time, it helps you increase your following in bulk, but it is not your typical mass-following application. It is free at the moment but I expect that to change soon.

Yesterday, I found a box designed for keeping spare screws, nuts, bolts, ETC. in. It also happens to be perfect for storing my ork army in. It has grooves on the walls and barriers so you can place them to chose the size of the container. Today, I painted it.

And here it is:

And on the inside:

So, I do my best to keep the tutorial pages of this blog free of gratuitous links to products. As you’ve seen, I’ll point something out during the week if it seems particularly relevant, but for the most part, we’ll be restricting product reviews to the weekend.

Since we’ve been talking about personal hygiene and grooming, I thought I’d cover those this week.

C.O. Bigelow Premium Shave Cream is pretty nice stuff. It has a nice, masculine fragrance and it leaves your skin smooth and soft. It’s got all the qualities I want in a shaving cream—it does what it says on the box, it’s a pleasure to use, and because of the elegant packaging, it’s not embarrassing to leave out on the bathroom shelf where someone might see.

On the other hand, the Axe Detailer is mildly embarrassing, but it’s great. I don’t know about you, but I look askance at fabric washcloths—no matter how often I launder them, they seem to get crusty and gross in no time—and those first-generation bath poufs don’t really do the job, being as fluffy as they are and lacking a grippy bit. The Detailer is made of the same plastic mesh stuff, but it’s packed quite tightly, which gives it a good substantial feeling, and the rubber section with its scrubby part are great for both keeping the thing in your hands and scraping off particularly stubborn patches of…well, whatever.

As far as razors go, I go for Gillette’s M³ Power. Unlike most cartridge razors, the handle is pleasantly heavy, which I find sort of comforting. I worry less about it slipping out of my hand. Most importantly, the vibrating feature dramatically shortened the time I need to spend shaving. My beard is pretty tough, and I find that with this razor I can cut through it in one stroke or two rather than several. It’s compatible with several different grades of Gillette cartridges, too, so if you’re experiencing sticker shock at the price of M³ cartridges, you may find comfort in that.

Okay, I think that’s enough for today. See you on Tuesday for haircare!

P.S.: To those of you that have been sharing your own tips and recommendations, keep the good stuff coming. It’s just what we’ve been hoping for.

Today, I was fortunate to have been able to carve out some time over lunch to read and think today (compared to rushing harriedly from meeting-to-meeting, to-do item to to-do item)… so, naturally in my geekiness, I was thinking about branding and marketing.

While sitting down to jot down some notes and put structure to my thoughts, I ended up on this very fascinating blog post (from last year!), “AIDA Doesn’t Work For B2B” by Lindsay Willot of The Marketing Practice.

Her essential premise is this that the AIDA (Awareness-Interest-Desire-Action) model of a customer’s path-to-purchase is based on an emotional aspect that is relevant in B2C industries, which is not suitable in a typical B2B decision making process that is based on rational justifications.

Instead, she offers an alternative model for B2Bs:

We’ve got to ask whether AIDA is fit-for-purpose, we shouldn’t be using a tool designed for an emotive B2C environment to guide our B2B thinking. I’d like to suggest the following as a more precise model. It focuses on understanding the business pressures decision makers are under. It also maps to the B2B sales cycle. We have called it LEADS:

Locate: In a B2B environment, leads are found, not made. Your first challenge is to locate a business need or goal and to accurately identify the decision makers and influencers in an organisation based on an educated understanding of the market and organisational pressures in play.

Empathise: The catalyst to interest for enterprise level solutions is likely to be either a business problem (eg high customer churn) or business goal (eg, improved customer profitability). It is not enough simply to catch the attention of the decision makers. We must show that we understand their business challenges/goals and articulate clearly how the solution could help address them.

Articulate: The messaging must be firmly grounded in business-led argument. There are examples where emotive language may work to good effect – inspiring fear or aspiration amongst individual targets whose decision to act as sponsor to a solution might affect their career. (ie. no-one ever got fired for buying IBM”) But even in this case, any support for a solution will be based on a rational belief that it will directly benefit the business. Aspirational or fear-based messaging can therefore only be used successfully if it builds on objective argument.

Direct: It is also important to draw a distinction between B2C and enterprise-level B2B marketing when it comes to the call to action. In a B2C scenario, the action is likely to be simple – a one or two step path to purchase. For an enterprise level B2B solution, any decision to purchase is likely to be a lengthy process involving a number of interactions with the suppliers’ marketing and sales teams. It is crucial therefore, that you can illustrate clearly how any solution could be implemented with minimal impact on the target business.

Support: the longer the sales cycle, the greater the need for information at each stage. You need to work with the sales team to support them throughout the process and provide ready access to all the information needed at every stage.

Very fascinating stuff that has got me thinking. Thank you Lindsay!

What do you all think?

• Are the branding and marketing principles really that different between B2C and B2B environments? If yes, how so?
• Does AIDA really not work in B2B environments? Otherwise, is LEADS merely a restatement of the same AIDA?

I’d really appreciate a discussion in the comments…

While I am not a designer, anybody specialising in branding and marketing must certainly have a sense for “design”. Although I’m sure there are much worse things in life, it really is quite sad to see a great idea/concept expressed poorly. In fact, this phrase comes to mind, “Execution is strategy”.

So, here are the areas of design theory covered in this comprehensive listing of 50 totally free lessons, courtesy of www.psd.tutplus.com.

1. Typography
2. Grid Based Design
3. Color Theory
4. Design Theory
5. UI & Usability

Click here for the full list of 50 great lessons across the five topic areas.

My dad was a diesel mechanic, when he died he was head of the shop for CCX, a damn good mechanic. He could fix anything. I grew up around tools, the smell of oil, grease, tools, knowing the importance of keeping them clean, putting them away properly and taking care of them. I learned the importance of tools; you can do anything with the right tool. I was comfortable taking some tools and scraps of wood or whatever I could find and see what I could build. I knew how to use tools and what I did not know I liked to ask. (When I was 14 I asked him to show me how to hot-wire a car although much to my chagrin he did not). I have my own tool box, circular saw, jig saw and yes, I have used them well – a couple of years ago I built floor to ceiling bookcases with a bench seat in the middle thank you very much. But the point of this early rambling is that I learned the value of tools from my dad. I also learned the strength in the truth from my dad.

Now that I am much older I carry those same lessons from my dad to other tools. You will hear the message of tools in your toolbox. For a job seeker there are many tools – your resume, your elevator speech, your mentors, your fellow co-workers, employment agencies, recruiters, networking groups – just to name a few. Today I am going to focus on employment agencies and recruiters.

Let me clear up one thing right now – employment agency does not equate to Temp Agency, although there is a time and place for these companies as well. There might be negative connotations about agencies and recruiters and some of those thoughts might be well deserved; however, let’s not throw the baby out with the bath water. I have met some wonderful people in both industries and they are very passionate about what they do and why. If you have not had a lot of experience with either it might be intimidating to try to figure out who to work with and why or even if you want to consider them in your toolbox.

First, go to the agency or recruiter’s website to check them out. There are many agencies that look to fill a need – a professional in a great industry and fantastic position. There are opportunities for office personnel, accounting, all level managers, to name just a few, for many different industries. These are top-notch positions. There are also recruiters who will not work with those seeking employment. This is a good thing to know, too. Any information is good information.

Companies work through an agency or recruiter because they trust them. A hiring company may not want the hassle of having to go through hundreds of resumes to find the right candidate. They utilize the agency/recruiter to filter out the cream of the crop, those that will meet their expectations and qualifications. A good agency/recruiter will have standards and rules that you must comply with so be sure to check this out. Think about it, if they have no standards how can you expect their clients to want the best? That would be you, by the way.

I know one agency that has a rule – if they offer you a set amount of positions within the parameters that you set and you refuse them all then you are no longer a candidate for them. I like this. It is a great standard and it makes you have a frank conversation –what do you really want? And honesty is important. I do not want to hire anyone that promises me the moon. I want someone who is going to be honest and tell me the positives and challenges and then helps me help myself.

A benefit of working with an agency/recruiter is you can be honest with them to tell them your skills and wants. It is not as though you would feel comfortable telling a potential employer “I have these great skills and want to pursue a new vein – how can I get there?” You can ask the agency/recruiter what you can do to improve your lot and have real conversations. They can help you determine a good course for you at this time. They might be able to see an opportunity for you right now that may lead to where you want to go in the future. These are professionals that help cut through the fluff to find the right candidate for their client and the right position for you. Agencies/recruiters have it on both ends so they are not going to waste your time – do not waste theirs.

Let me be very honest here, they are not on your payroll so do not expect them to

1. Drop everything just because you called
2. Perform miracles
3. Bend over backwards for you when you are not willing to put any work into this

Do your homework, just like you would if you had an interview with a company. Who are their clients (not specifically, but more in industry, size, strength etc); why do they chose to work with these companies; who are their candidates; who do they place most successfully; why do they do the work they do; how do they help place you?

In talking to recruiters, many have told me that your best opportunities come from networking, but there are instances that they can help. Find out what these instances are and how you can make yourself more appealing to potential employers.

Remember, you stock your own toolbox. You need to decide what is important to you, what works well for you and how much effort you are willing to give in maintaining your tools. Just keep in mind to look into alternative tools, you might be surprised at what you find.

Design industry analyst and President of DMI (the Design Management Institute) Thomas Lockwood shares 10 ways to measure a design’s success. Interesting to think about, especially in light of the oft-assumed “superfluous” nature of design. Original article via Businessweek.  (10 Ways – after the jump)

1. Purchase Influence

One type of design that is fairly easy to measure is packaging design. For example, a frozen-food manufacturer achieved a sales increase of 30% and more than $300 million in incremental sales gains—based solely on a new suite of packaging. Same product, new packaging. The measurement is not too difficult: Design new packaging, put it on the shelf side-by-side with the old, and see what sells. Then deduct the cost of design from the new sales and voila: ROI design based on actual numbers.

2. New Markets

The design of products, communications, interfaces, and experiences can be isolated. Here’s a simple example: British Airways had built a business strategy around increasing its long-haul international flights. So the company looked to see how the interior design of its planes could be improved to offer more comfort to customers. What resulted was the first seat in the industry that could lie completely flat, allowing customers to sleep prone, rather than slouch as in conventional airline seats. The result was a significant increase in sales and profitability for long-haul international flights. Design alone made the difference because everything else remained the same.

3. Brand Image and Corporate Reputation

Design awards contribute to brand image. By providing an independent and expert critique of design, awards can provide valuable feedback, help build company pride, and confer prestige upon the business. Another example is corporate reputation. Compare the reputation of companies like Dyson vs. Hoover, Target vs. K-mart, or Audi vs. Chrysler. Consider their reputations for innovation and quality, based on their use of design as a core strategy. Design builds image.

4. Time to Market

When I was responsible for design at StorageTek/Sun Microsystems (JAVA), we established a design platform approach and simple guidelines. Brand guidelines included interface principles, typography, color, photography style, diagram style, and iconography. Product guidelines included a common platform for computer hardware and a standardized chassis and interface, as well as other shared components. In this way, our engineers didn’t have to design components, only functions; development time was greatly reduced. The cost and time savings based on platform design, guidelines, or even standards can be easily evaluated; just watch your project costs rise without them.

5. Cost Savings

Julie Hertenstein and Marjorie Platt, from Northeastern University’s School of Business, have conducted research in conjunction with DMI, the Design Management Institute, on the financial performance of design since the mid-1990s. They evaluated financial performance by using traditional financial ratios, such as return on assets and net cash flow to sales, for the sample period. They found that firms rated as having good design were stronger on virtually all financial measures from a practical and managerial perspective, as well as from a statistical perspective.

6. Enable Product and Service Innovation

What if a car dealer used design to create the perfect customer experience and increased sales by more than 25%? Open Road Toyota, working with Karo Design in Canada, did just that. They redesigned all their touch-points for a specific customer experience, and in 2006 they became the number-one Toyota (TM) dealer in Canada. The cars did not change but the design of everything else did, and sales skyrocketed. A deep understanding of customers was used to design the desired customer experience and then to design every touch-point so that it would support that experience.

7. Develop Communities of Customers

Many new companies have been tremendously successful in developing new communities of customers. Consider Facebook and Google (GOOG); design not only plays a role but is partially carried out by customers. This is engaging, sticky, and extremely effective. At times the professional designers need to allow the customers to play a part. Hard to measure? Not really, because it’s based on individuals. Effective? Yes indeed; consider the usage and rapid growth of online communities of customers.

8. Create Intellectual Property

Another way to measure design’s contribution is to consider how much you’ve lost if it is stolen. In today’s economy, a company’s intellectual property assets are often more valuable than its physical assets. Consider Coca-Cola’s (KO) signature bottle or Nike’s (NKE) swoosh. Joshua Cohen, of intellectual property firm RatnerPrestia, notes that IP laws do not give us the right to do things in the marketplace but they do give us the right to exclude others from using our designs. Strategies aimed to maximize the ROI of design efforts by securing comprehensive IP protection, steering clear of the IP rights of others, and integrating IP-building efforts into design processes can be isolated and are of significant value.

9. Improve usability

Very often, the usability of an interface design is measured by analyzing the efficiency of user navigation through observation, click-through, or interviews. Web sites are constantly monitored for user performance, and most web marketers watch our behavior closely and make design adjustments to improve performance. All manner of design-based usability issues can be isolated and evaluated.

10. Improve Sustainability

The creative economy is a greener economy, and we all need to help. Designers and design managers have considerable influence in this area. Valerie Casey suggests a Kyoto Treaty for Design featuring collective and individual criteria—the goal being to advance our intellectual understanding of environmental issues from a design perspective. Undoubtedly, design has considerable impact on our environment, and that impact is easily measurable.

Here’s a list of 30 Typographic Ads via GraphicDesignBlog.org.

The following are my favourites (after the jump):

I can't wait for Google's bombardment

From December 8-10 of this week I’ll be in Washington D.C. attending the Google Teachers Academy. From all I’ve heard, I can expect to be bombarded with a full host of Google based services teachers can use in the classroom to promote 21st century learning (not learning OF the 21st century, that would be a history teacher’s job, and as it happens….).  I’ve never been more excited to be bombarded.

Many I tell about the GTA respond with, “How are you going to use Google in the classroom?  Kids need help figuring out how to search for stuff on Google?”  To the former, I usually respond with something to the effect of, “well I use maps and docs for so-and-so project to achieve such-and-such learning objectives”.  To the latter question, I respond with, “Yes.”

While students do need help effectively searching the web, when it comes to students utilizing the web for learning, search is really only the tip of the iceberg.  There are so many resources on the web for teachers to use, a gold panning sifter is needed to properly sort through them to find which resources are worth a teacher’s time, and which are worthy of an Internet blacklist.

While I’m there I’ll be soaking up everything like a sponge, but there’s no reason why I can’t help teachers who won’t be there.  So, if you have any burning questions for the The Great and Mighty Googs, what are they?  Are there any particular Google services  you don’t understand or can’t see using in your classroom?  Thinking of a particular unit coming up in your curriculum and would like to implement a web-based utility?

Leave a comment below and I’ll provide updates and replies with what I learn at GTADC.

Googs, The Great and Terrible is now open for questions

Having a thousand dollar Crestron touch panel is a shame to not be used to its full potential.  Crestron’s Touch-the-PC is one attempt to provide such additional functionality.  Basically allowing to use the touch panel as a mouse for any Windows enabled PC, Touch-the-PC is very simple to set up and the benefits really increase the ability to control the system.  I suppose you could even run xpanel on the PC and use Touch-the-PC to control it.  Pretty useless actually but can be done.

I came across this when writing my Certification Exam for Crestron programming, so I figure I will share this as there will be others wondering about the same.

Start by making sure you have the right equipment:

• Any 2-series Crestron processor (I am using an AES or AV2)
• Any TPS or TPMC touch panel model that has rs232 capability
• Any PC with a serial com port
• A USB-to-Serial adapter (if your computer doesn’t have a com serial port)

The biggest gripe about this setup is that it requires a serial com port to talk to the PC.  Why not just have a universal mouse driver to control the mouse using USB?  I don’t know, bring it up with Crestron and tell them to add this.

First, download the necessary software.  Remember, you have to register with www.crestron.com and have the necessary access level to get the required software.  I can’t help you there sorry.  The software should be named, “Touch the PC”.  The software, however is under a folder in your start menu called “UPDD”.  Go to that folder and click on “Settings”.  The window below will appear:

UPDD Console

At the top it tells you what serial port it is trying to communicate with.  If it is in red as shown above, then the com port either is being used by another device or it physically does not exist on the computer.  Make sure you know which com port you are trying to communicate with the touch panel.  If the text is in black then it means it has successfully been connected.  Also make sure the baud rate settings are the same here as they are on the touch panel settings.

The next part is done on the touch panel side.  By default, the rs232 RJ-11 port in the back of the touch panel is used for console communication (ie. uploading vtpro-e files directly).  You will need to set this port to control an external device.  Touch output is what it should be set to.  If you have access to Crestron documentation they have a manual for all of their TPS series touch panels.  On page 26 and 27 are screen shots of the neccessary changes needed to be done.  You can change the rs232 to be a touch output to PC by pressing “RS-232″ on the setup menu and then under “RS-232 Port Mode”, click on “Touch Output”.

Vtpro-E Video Property Window

The last part is done in VisionTools Pro-E where you need to define the space on the touch panel that will be active to control the PC.  Double-click on the video/RGB window and the properties will popup for it.  Here, you need to select which pad to use.  You get to assign two different sets of pads that can be assigned to do different things.  Assigning those pads are settable in the project properties.

Right click on the project folder and select properties (or press Alt+p).  Under the Pad Area tab, there are drop down menus to describe what the pad areas are assigned to.  As shown, the type for pad area 1 is selected as Touch The PC V2.

In Crestron’s latest arsenal, System Monitor for Toolbox is what it is: a system monitor for your Crestron processors. The cool looking pulse signal on the front does give it some sense of appeal, and it is packed with tons of system monitored data such as CPU usage, network packet transmit and receive, and memory usage. It’s a lot like Window’s performance tab for Task Manager:

Windows Task Manager

System Monitor

Yeah when was the last time you actually thought this tab was helpful?  Unless you’re deeply concerned about your performance or lack thereof (in which case please just upgrade or get a new computer) this tool probably never really benefited to you in many ways.  The same goes with the system monitor application for Toolbox.  Lots of interestings graphs and incrementing counters make for an interesting perspective of how memory, processor, or network hungry your system is.  However, you will probably never feel the need to use this ‘just cause’ you couldn’t have gotten through the system without it.  But if you are anal as I am (and many good programmers are), then you will be concerned about the optimization of creating clean and efficient code.

I still can’t say I’ll use it much even as picky as I am, but it could be a good tool for those that build large systems.  If all you got is a Pro2 connected to a panel and a projector you are wasting your time with this.  If you are 99% of any commercial job, you will not care for this.  Thanks Crestron, but why not spend your efforts in help programmers as well? Like a multiple UNDO and REDO function for simpl Windows?

My goodness, I really admire Seth Godin for consistently coming up with gems like this!

If you are a client, please read this.

If you are an agency/consultant/innovator, etc., please read this. Then get your clients to do the same.

How to be a great client by Seth Godin

I was going to select a few key ones that really resonated with me… but they’re all so good and they all resonate! So read all of them!

• Before engaging with the innovator, foster discipline among yourself and your team. Be honest about what success looks like and what your resources actually are.
• If you can’t write down clear ground rules about which rules are firm and which can be broken on the path to a creative solution, how can you expect the innovator to figure it out?
• Simplify the problem relentlessly, and be prepared to accept an elegant solution that satisfies the simplest problem you can describe.
• After you write down the ground rules, revise them to eliminate constraints that are only on the list because they’ve always been on the list.
• Hire the right person. Don’t ask a mason to paint your house. Part of your job is to find someone who is already in the sweet spot you’re looking for, or someone who is eager and able to get there.
• Demand thrashing early in the process. Force innovations and decisions to be made near the beginning of the project, not in a crazy charrette at the end.
• Be honest about resources. While false resource constraints may help you once or twice, the people you’re working with demand your respect, which includes telling them the truth.
• Pay as much as you need to solve the problem, which might be more than you want to. If you pay less than that, you’ll end up wasting all your money. Why would a great innovator work cheap?
• Cede all issues of irrelevant personal taste to the innovator. I don’t care if you hate the curves on the new logo. Just because you write the check doesn’t mean your personal aesthetic sense is relevant.
• Run interference. While innovation sometimes never arrives, more often it’s there but someone in your office killed it.
• Raise the bar. Over and over again, raise the bar. Impossible a week ago is not good enough. You want stuff that is impossible today, because as they say at Yoyodyne, the future begins tomorrow.
• When you find a faux innovator, run. Don’t stick with someone who doesn’t deserve the hard work you’re doing to clear a path.
• Celebrate the innovator. Sure, you deserve a ton of credit. But you’ll attract more innovators and do even better work next time if innovators understand how much they benefit from working with you.

is said to have been invented 80 years ago today by Edwin S. Lowe