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The interesting and not so interesting thoughts of a marketing student from Antwerp.

[bmmdup]

5 Most Dangerous Hackers Of All Time

[pieterbiesemans]

... that have been caught

[pieterbiesemans]

@MelkMuylle:

Zelfs Bart staat versteld van wat Bart allemaal uit zijn nek kletst. pic.twitter.com/5jMSjFJaNL

Hahaha Post from @MelkMuylle on Twitter (via Scope)

[inspiremyweb]

Explore the world of Middle-earth in the latest Chrome Experiment, “A Journey through Middle-earth”, based on the film The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug . Built by Warner Bros. Pictures and North Kingdom, the experiment uses the latest web technologies to bring to life the characters & locations from the films across your laptop, phone, and tablet. Check out the Chrome Blog to read on:http://goo.gl/p7GmNA.  Head over to goo.gl/TheHobbit to start exploring three different locations in Middle-earth today, and stay tuned as more locations get released in the coming weeks.

[pieterbiesemans]

wow factor one million

[pieterbiesemans]

Cool record store grafitti art in #Brussels

[kny111]

From red to blue to violet, all the colors of the rainbow appear regularly in urine tests conducted at hospital labs.

The prismatic pee collection seen in this stunning photo took only a week to assemble for medical laboratory scientists at Tacoma General Hospital in Tacoma, Wash. Heather West, the laboratory scientist who snapped the picture at the hospital, said she and her colleagues collected the urine colors to highlight their fascinating behind-the-scenes work.

“My picture was intended to illustrate both the incredible and unexpected things the human body is capable of, the curiosity in science, and also the beauty that can be found in unexpected places,” West said. “A mix between art and science.”

Pee a Rainbow: Scientist Snaps Shot of Colorful Urine

[pieterbiesemans]

I think if your urine is red, you've got a problem... 

[kny111]

[pieterbiesemans]

BREAKING: A Russian emergencies official says at least one meteorite has fallen in Chelyabinsk region.

that’s so cool

[borislavkiprin]

the holy grail of eCommerce optimization #infographic

[sitecore-blog]

In one easy 91 point checklist ;)

[pieterbiesemans]

Very handy indeed!

[pieterbiesemans]

In Beijing, facemasks have become fashion items. It would be funny if it wasn't so horrible. (source: AP & Reuters)

[pieterbiesemans]

British and American veterans of the Afghan war take part in the 2013 Dakar Rally under the moniker Race2Recovery. I respect that! 

[pieterbiesemans]

Facts or fiction: it's not because it looks cool that it's true

  If there's one thing a plenty on the web, it's information. Everywhere you surf, information, and lots of it. Websites specialising in information are amongst the most visited out there,  ranging from Wikipedia to news websites and social media. But sometimes, how you present the information can be more important than what the information is actually about. We'll list up some ways to go about presenting information in a fun way, while not forgetting the actual thruthiness of the information presented.

Infographics

  A very popular way to present information are infographics. This is basically information presented in a graphical way. Visual.ly and infogr.am are websites where you can create infographics. One funny and good example is What women want for Christmas (yes, 'tis the season!). At first sight it's funny, but if you actually see how much information is presented, and the way it is presented, it's a very good infographic. Also note the sources at the bottom, which is also a sign of quality.

Datamaps

  A way to compare data, especially large unfathomable numbers, are datamaps. These consist of areas, such as bubbles or squares, of different sizes. The larger the area, the larger the number it represents. A classic and rather boring example is this one. A more original one was created for the webcomic XKCD, listing important dates.

Interactive data visualisation

  A way to present information in an interactive way, so users can select which information they want to see. The information can be sorted by type, date, or any other parameter you can think of. The English newspaper The Guardian excels at this, here are two beautiful examples: one and two.

Informative games

  Of course, every game needs to feed its player information in order to be able to play. But some games also try to provide you with an insight in a problem or to inform you about something outside of the game. Again the The Guardian interactive team is really good at this. For example, they made a game about geographic knowledge. In this game you can test your graphic knowledge, but also learn a lot about the world. Try it! Another game, with a bit more of a 'fun' angle is the piracy game by Wired. In it you have to play a pirate at the coast of Somalia, hijack ships and negotiate about a ransom for the ship. While playing a game it actually provides you with an insight in why these pirates do what they do.

Interactive films

  Another way to go about presenting information is through the medium of film. We call this a documentary. In recent times, there have been experiments on the web to develop interactive documentaries. Some are more interactive than others, some work better than others, but some are true gems. One I really like is Welcome to Pinepoint, a documentary about a small town in Alaska. Another one is Condition One, where you can make interactive 360° movies. There's also a pretty good blog listing interactive doumentaries, it's called interactivedocumentary.net.

Advice

  Be advised that not all information on the internet is true, or useful. Using your brains can take you a long way in not getting burned. To finish I would like to give you one last eye-opener by XKCD (yes, I love that webcomic).

[pieterbiesemans]

Managing content at the back-end...

So, more webspeak this week. [I'm in a rhyming mood, so it would seem, but that is good, as if it's a dream] Anyway, what people don't usually realise when browsing the interwebs, is that there are two sides to the web. Nope, not the light and the dark side, you've watched too much Star Wars. But the front- and back-end. The front end is the one you get to see when browsing, the back end you don't get to see, usually.

It's a fact that many website are just a means to view content that is stored in some database. An example may be a news website. The news is all there in the database, and the website just displays it according to most recent entry and it's importance. But almost any website is actually just a means to browse the database. Some websites even tailor the displayed information to the person who's browsing, like any social media site does.

CMS

The system through which the database is managed is called a Content Management System, or CMS in short. CMS is a generic term that can apply to the management of any content, so it can even apply to the alphabet. When used on webservers we speak of Web CMS.

Holy trinity of Web CMS

There are three parts to any Web CMS system: - A database, evidently. This database contains data, usually sorted and labeled. For example, a list of first names, a list of surnames, a list of street adresses, etc. These are all linked to each other, enabling a user to sort data on surname, or first name, or whatever. - A connector. This is a system that connects the database to the front-end. These can be many, but two well-known exaples are PHP and ASP.net. These basically take information from the database, and translate it into code a web browser program can read, such as HTML (see our post from last week for more info on HTML). - A front-end. The HTML results in a human-readable front-end, usually a web page. Although this is only the web site's content, the framework has to be made in advance, otherwise the web page will just look like plain text.

Making CMS choices

If one looks at the list of CMS on Wikipedia one sees that the possibilities are virtually endless. So, which one to choose? There are three Web CMS that are highly popular: - Wordpress. Wait, isn't that a blogging site? Yes, it is. But a popular blogging service, like Wordpress, has a huge database. So they needed a good system for managing their content. Not content (pun intended) with the CMS out there, they wrote their own. Later, they realised that it could be used for any web site, and released it to the general public. There are a few upsides to using WP WCMS. It's fairly easy to use, and there are a lot of templates and plug-ins one can use for a low fee. Thus you can build your own website in no time. Downside is that it's not as safe as others out there, which might be a problem if you're planning on opening a web store or any web site that handles payments. - Joomla! Also easy to use, but offers less templates and plug-ins than WP. Also, not so safe, so don't use it for money transfer and the like. Upside is, it's free and open source. Since it's open source, it hasn't got a central help desk. But a quick google search will take you to plenty of internet fora where commited users are glad to help (although sometimes this might take a while). - Drupal. Also widespread. Very professional, but complicated. Don't touch this one unless you want to first read three books on the subject. It is the safest of the three though, as demonstrated by the White House.

[rorschachx]

[pieterbiesemans]

The beauty of the web. Web design today and tomorrow.

Ok, let's talk websites. Again, again. This week we'll have a look at some techniques, some simple, some not so, to spice up your website. Of course, all these techniques are HTML5/CSS3 compliant.

1. What is HTML5 & CSS3?

First things first: what are these letters and numbers mentioned above? Well, they are the future of the web! HTML is the code that tells your browser what to display when viewing a website. (HTML stand for Hypertext Mark-up Language if you're curious) As you know, browsers evolve, and so does the code. Whenever significant changes are made to the code, it gets a new number. The newest one is 5. CSS is the part of the HTML code that tells your browser all the attributes of your website. In other words, it tells your browser what should be where, what colours those things should have, etc, etc. (Again for the curious, CSS is short for Cascading Style Sheets) The newest version of CSS is 3.

You'll hear a lot about HTML 5 and CSS 3, because the changes made to the code are really significant. Not only has the code been simplified immensely, it has rendered Flash all but obsolete.

2. Parallax Scrolling

Parallallawhatnow? If you've ever been to a modern website, and scrolled through it, you might have noticed something odd: the background image didn't scroll as fast as the foreground. Strange? Nope, that's just one example of parallax scrolling. Want an example? The website for the new Resident Evil movie really uses parallax scrolling to its fullest. Scroll down and you'll get the impression that the camera is panning around the actress, Milla Jovovich. What's actually happening though is that you're scrolling horizontally through three different layers at three different speeds. The background layer is actually wider than the screen and scrolls from left to right. The foreground layer (the lens flare) scrolls from right to left. While the middle layer (Milla) isn't actually scrolling but constantly showing a new picture. This all ads up to provide the illusion of 3D, while there is no 3D on a computer screen.

 3. Responsive web design

 Ok, I want you to do something for me. See the buttons in the top right corner of the browser? Click the middle one and play around with the width and/or height of your browser. See what's happening? If you've got half a decent website, like this one, you'll see that pictures get smaller as the width of your browser decreases. Text gets arranged differently. Sometimes, pictures disappear completely. Now, that's responsive web design. It's the designing of a website in such a way that it's easily adapted to a variety of screen sizes. Because nowadays, websites aren't exclusive to computer monitors any more. Websites are displayed on smart phones, tablet computers, and a bunch of other devices. And it just won't do to have a website that's ugly, or even worse, illegible, on any device. An example might make things more clear. The website of the inspire conference is a great example. Look at the regular website. Then scale the size of your browser to about the size of a smart phone screen. Did it just become illegible or ugly? Nope, not at all. Some superfluous images have disappeared, and the text has been rearranged to fit the screen. That's how it should be. 

4. Webfonts

Fonts or typefaces are basically the design of letters. Everyone who has ever used a word processing software such as Microsoft's Word, knows that there are dozens of fonts to choose from. And actually, there are hundreds, if not thousands. For your website, it's paramount to choose a font that fits your design. A website about a horror flick should not use a fluffy or cute font, obviously. But there's a problem using fonts on websites. If you use a font that's on your computer, but not on the computer of the one the viewer is viewing the website with, the font will not display correctly. For a basic web text, this might not really be a problem. If it's legible, it's probably OK. But sometimes the font is really important, so you'll want to make sure everyone gets to view your website in the same way. For this, you can use webfonts. These are fonts that are not stored on a computer, but on a server. When displaying the website, the browser will first retrieve the font from the server, thus ensuring that everyone sees the same font. There are a lot of providers of webfonts, some free, others for a fee. Google and Adobe provide hundreds of free webfonts. All you need to do is select the typeface you want, and copy and paste the relative piece of code into your HTML. But there are more providers than just these two. Freewebfonts.net for example, provides us with a variety of webfonts, but also reviews them. They score it for legibility, fun factor, whether it's got bold variations, etc. This prevents you from getting any surprises with the font when building your website.

5. Javascript & jQuery

Javascript is basically a piece of code that can enhance the browsing experience. Ever clicked a photo on a website, and got it enlarged on a dark background? That's Javascript. But it does much more than that. It basically loads a tiny program in your browser, and the program only contacts the remote server if it needs to. This makes for much speedier browsing, and that you don't have to refresh a page whenever you fill out one box of a form for example. Now what is jQuery? It's a library containing Javascript codes. It would be silly to rewrite the same code every time you need it, or even to write a piece of code if someone else already did. So jQuery just gathers and indexes hundreds of pieces of Javascript code, which anyone can then use on their website.

6.  awwwards & abduzeedo

This was a lot of technical mumbo jumbo on how to improve websites and make them more user friendly and more beautiful. But what are you with all this knowledge, if you've got no inspiration to make a nice-looking website? So we'll direct you to two places where you are sure to find more inspiration than you'll ever need. The first one is Awwwards, a website that awards euhm... awards to the most beautiful web pages. Browse around and be awed at some of the most creative web sites out there. The best part is that Awwwards hands out points for four different categories: design, creativity, usability and content. So the best websites are not only creative and beautiful, but also legible and user friendly. Attributes that sometimes tend to be forgotten by designers going 'all out'. The second one, Abduzeedo, goes beyond the web. It's a website about design in general, and covers logos, wallpapers, architecture, photography, etcetera. Also has tutorials for design software such as Photoshop, Fireworks, InDesign, etc. Be prepared to click around for hours on this website if you're a design buff.

To conclude, we would like to say: don't be scared. It might seem that the world of creating web sites is a complex one, and you need to be a computer whizz kid to do it. But that's not true. Familiarise yourself with the basics of building a website. If you don't know how to achieve a goal, just google 'whatever you want to accomplish tutorial'. There are thousands of free and comprehensible tutorials out there, ready to help you on your way. And don't be afraid to experiment, going outside the usual pathways of website building can lead to the best results! If you've been wanting to get into website building, but never really got there, now is the time! Now that HTML 5 is here, everyone needs to learn the new 'language', even experienced web designers. So now is the time to get on the bandwagon and join the fun.

[pieterbiesemans]

Music Maestro! Please?

For a long time we've been hearing that radio is dying. When TV was introduced, we thought radio would go away. TV was better, it had sound ánd pictures! But no way, radio is here to stay! Or is it? The world wide web is providing us with a lot of new and (sometimes) innovative tools for listening to music. Below are some examples, but this is in no way an exhaustive list.

1. The Sixtyone (aka t61)

 A website that puts emphasis on high resolution pictures that go together with the music. Each song has its own page, with a photograph in the background. The site supports a lot of independent artists and local talent, often releasing the music under the Creative Commons website. Navigation is confusing at first, but becomes easier once one gets used to it.

2. WE7

A free music streaming website, supported by advertisements. Also features a 'personal DJ', a service that plays songs similar to the songs you've already liked. This way, it's easy to discover new music that you're bound to like. Too bad, the service is not available in many countries around the world.

3. Last FM

Last FM is one of the oldest and most popular streaming services. Last FM features a radio service, but also a comprehensive catalogue of band pages. The band pages sport a band bio, info on tours, album catalogue, etc. There are two different profiles, a free one and a paid one. In order to use Last FM outside the US, UK or Germany, one needs to have a paid profile.

4. Spotify

Is most definitely the most popular streaming service nowadays, mainly due to their association with Facebook, and their vast library of songs. There is a free and paid account, and the free account is supported by ads. Also has apps for iPhone, iPad, Android, Symbian and Windows 7 phone. Interesting is that Spotify can also play songs when you're not connected to the internet.

5. Hulu

Hulu is actually a video website that offers tv series on your PC or mobile device. Too bad it's only available in the US and Japan. You might think it strange that a tv series service features in a list of webradio's, but Hulu also offers music video channels. Moshcam for example is a channel with nothing but registered shows of bands, mostly in the rock and metal genre. If you want to watch the movies on your mobile device (via a dedicated app) or TV, you need a (paid) Hulu Plus account though.

6. Grooveshark

Is a bit of a loner. As opposed to other music streaming services, they get their content from their users, effectively making it a peer-to-peer service. The metadata (artist, album, etc) are also taken from the songs uploaded by users, making the library a bit of a mess sometimes. Good side is, it's free, so why complain? Question is, however, how long it will still be online, since multiple music companies that sued Grooveshark for copyright violation.

7. Tubedisco

A service that lets you play and mix two YouTube videos. That's about it.

8. Laid back radio

Specialises in everything 'Urban', ranging from music, through art, to lifestyle. So if you're not into Jazz, Funk and Soul, this is not for you.

9. Soundcloud & Mixcloud

Soundcloud lets a user upload self-made tracks. The user can choose whether the songs are downloadable or not. You won't find any well-known artist here, such as Madonna or Metallica, but you can discover a huge amount of independent producers, who often make pretty good music.

Here, DJ's and amateur radio makers can upload their own mixes and radio shows, which people can stream.

10. Radionomy

Basically lists hundreds of webradios in dozens of genres.

11. Bonus features

Like all good music-related things, we go to eleven! Here are some other music hosting/streaming/listening/creating/... web sites:

Electrobel

Originally from Belgium, but now also available in The Netherlands, the UK, France and Italy. Allows users to upload their tracks, but only under a Creative Commons licence. Features a panoply of genres, and overall some good quality music. All music can be downloaded.

Pandora

Webradio that suggests new music and artists based on the ones you've already liked. Not available outside the US due to licencing problems though.

Jamendo

Also lets users upload own songs and albums under Creative Commons licence. Music and albums can be downloaded for free, but artist can kindly ask for a donation (through PayPall). This model seems to work for most artists. Also features seven radio stations in different genres, ranging from Jazz to Metal.

[pieterbiesemans]

Ninxiang, Hunan, China

Huang Denim's pigs jump from a height of three meters into the lake, at least once a day. The Chinese farmer says it makes for much more tender meat and keeps them healthy. At least it's more fun than the average pig sty. (foto Stringer/reuters)

[pieterbiesemans]

Conversion optimisation: more customers through trial and error

After another lecture, this time by Joris Brabants of the Dutch internet marketing company Netvlies, I want to tell you something more about Conversion Rate Optimisation or CRO.

What is it?

Conversion optimisation is the art of hitting more targets using the same (on-line) marketing. In other words, while your websites receives the same amount of visitors, you sell more.

Why?

That's pretty obvious, I think. Receiving more while spending the same amount of money is quite obviously a good deal.

How does it work?

Basically, through trial and error. Make a change to the website, and see if it works. If your sales increase, keep the change, otherwise discard it. Repeat ad infinitum. There are bureaus that specialise in this kind of thing, but it really isn't that hard to try it yourself if you've got a basic understanding of how a website works. And the things that need changing can be really simple, such as the location, size and/or colour of a button. Sometimes, all you need to do to increase your sales by 10% is turn your small blue button into a large red one. Or change the way you formulate a sentence.

Tips

Again, KISS: keep it simple & stupid. Someone who visits your web page should know what to do in the blink of an eye. Ever wanted to buy shoes on a web store, but couldn't find the shoe section? What did you do? Indeed, you went to the next web shop.

If you've got forms that people should fill out, e.g. for buying a pair of shoes, make it easy to see how much 'steps' remain. Otherwise, your customer will feel like 'there's no end' to the forms, and leave while it's the second to last page.

Reassure your customers. Although shopping on the web is becoming more and more 'normal', people do still mistrust web shops they don't know. So, if there's a certifier in your country, try getting certified and put the seal on your home page. (Below you can find some sample seals. Note that using them without officially being certified is illegal.)

When using visuals, try to have a positive connection or association to your product. For example: when selling a gym formula to seniors, don't use a picture of a healthy young guy. Instead, use a picture of a guy in his fifties, who still looks fit and healthy. You'd think this is fairly obvious, but a lot of sins are committed against this rule.

This is a bit harder to code, but can really make a difference: remember your user and his/her behaviour. Spotify does this really well for example. The first time you visit their website, you get a very simple web page where you can download the software. If you leave without downloading, and come back later, you'll get a much more advanced web site, listing USP's to convince you to download after all.

Adapt your site to all platforms. More and more people brows the web through smart phones, tablets, etc. They too should be able to buy stuff from your website. But that means your website should function on their device. Make it so! 

[pieterbiesemans]

A list of things you should think about when using social media in a corporate environment

Damn that's a long title! Let's try that again:

Social Media Tips & Tricks

That's better! First tip: KISS - Keep it Simple and Stupid

Last week I attended a lecture about Social Media Marketing, given by Emma Liekens of Think Tomorrow. Think Tomorrow is a relatively fresh social media marketing bureau from Belgium. Amongst their clients they already have some pretty big names, such as C&A, Neuhaus & Adidas. Emma basically provided us with some pointers, or do's and don'ts when using social media for your business: 1. Only say something, when you've got something to say. Seems obvious, yet a lot of companies sin against this rule. Quality is always more important than quantity. Of course, being silent for longer periods of time can make people lose interest. Try to post on a regular basis. But if you've only got a relevant post once a week, you shouldn't post three times a week. Nobody likes a blabbermouth, not in real life, and not on social networks. 2. Think! Also obvious, also regularly sinned against. Think before you post. About what, when, how. But also: what social networks? Every social medium has it's own unique properties, use them. Don't just copy-paste every message on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. Think what you would like to read on which network, and act accordingly. 3. Ask questions. Invite people to a dialogue. A static message will be viewed, sometimes read, and that's it. But when you engage in dialogue, people will be more involved, and your brand will get more attention. Also, others will see their friend(s) have engaged in a dialogue, and maybe they'll join in too. But in asking questions also lies another pitfall: 4. Listen! Dialogue is a two-way process. Don't just ask a question, listen to the answers too. 'Like' people's answers, talk back and show an interest. Nothing's as boring as talking to a brick wall. Also, always take your (potential) customer seriously. When someone asks a question or makes a complaint, don't ignore them. Or even worse: say it's not true! Give useful feedback, tell them you'll look into it if you've got no immediate answer. But never ever ignore, insult or correct your users. 5. Be polite. Duh! 6. Check and dubbelcheck your spelling and grammar. Ok, typo's happen. But seriously, sentences like 'Win our neweest product' are just ridiculous. 7. Make content shareable, likeable, clickable, etc. Add social media buttons to your website. Make links clickable. Add facebook 'like' buttons, pinterest 'pin it' buttons, twitter 'tweet' buttons, etc. Make it as easy as possible for your consumer to like and share your messages. 8. Reward! A lot of times, people who are active on your brand page, will be happy with a little credit, or just a plain and simple 'thank you'. It's not that hard to find out which users are most active on your brand page. Why not send them an electronic coupon for your webshop? Free publicity and word of mouth is priceless, so handing out ten five dollar coupons is cheap as hell. 9. Give things away! Starting a competition is a sure-fire way to attract attention and to get shared. But again, think before you act. Make the terms realistic. A contest like 'make a picture of yourself holding our product, whilst three people juggle cats against a background of snowy mountains' will get you zero pictures. Sure, you can challenge people o ridiculous things, but don't expect miracles. [As a sidenote, watch for cheaters. Facebook 'likes' can actually be bought in India or China. So if someone's likes look impossible, it probably is.] 10. Don't tolerate bullshit. All of the above pointers are about being friendly and polite, but never tolerate things like spam, racial comments, advertising for other brand, verbal abuse, etc. These things can kill your brands reputation. Delete inappropriate comments as fast as possible. But never let yourself be carried away and start shouting abuse yourself. Always keep your cool, and respond professionally. 

So, basically: start a community. Make your users and consumers feel like they are part of something. Reward loyalty, even if it's just saying thanks once in a while. Be polite and friendly. Don't tolerate things you wouldn't tolerate in real life either. Be cool, be a friend, be a big brother, be likeable.