Bob Browning's blog

Pay Per Tweet was an April Fool joke only a year ago.  Now it is a business.  Isn’t the Internet wunnerful.

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With a blindingly simple idea Magpie are doing something with twitter, that twitter are not – making money.

Sign up with them, and they insert an ad in your twitter stream – say 1 in 10.  You choose the frequency and get paid something. They are a bit vague about how much.

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Kier Thomas took a good shot at Firefox in his blog last month.  I agree with him.  Firefox has turned into bloatware and Google Chrome has taken over as the browser I reach for if I want results fast.

The main problem I have with chrome is that the view-source actually reloads the page.  This may be fine, but sometimes you want to see the real source code not the code you get when you do a reload (which might be different). 

Other than that it is lightning fast and clutter-free.

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From my latest newsletter.

I have commented before about the impact of netbooks, these small cheap laptops that you can buy in Robert Dyas for £167.  This type of device is new and the technology  is changing fast.  It is worth keeping an eye on it.

They are about the size of a Filofax and generally come with a 7-10 inch screen that gives about 800×480 resolution plus a proper keyboard – albeit small.  They have an Intel Atom chip, a low power processor aimed at small computers and PDAs.  They often come with flash memory (the kind you find in a camera) rather than a hard disk.    They run Windows XP or Unix (Linux inevitably) but not Vista. The also come with built-in wi-fi.  Expect mobile internet connectivity to be built in when more upmarket devices become available.

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Nothing.  And I can prove it.

But that doesn’t mean I don’t have an opinion about the main technical errors that print designers make when designing for the web.  These are all real and I have seen them repeatedly.

1. Font too small.  Sorry guys; at 75dpi these tiny letters are indecipherable.
2. Lack of colour contrast.   Light gray type on a slightly lighter grey background may look cool on your Mac, but on a clapped-out PC it is unreadable.
3. Forgetting that we need real content.  Design bearing in mind the real content.  A sample layout that look great with ‘welcome John Smith’ on it may break completely when we have to welcome William Fortescue Smithe Junior
4. Assuming everyone has a giant screen like them.  Don’t run anything essential (like the main menu) down the right hand side of the page.  A punter with a 800px wide netbook will not see it.  Menus to the left and top please.  Yes I know that every site is like that and it is boring.  Get over it.
5. Assuming we all have Mac fonts.  We don’t.  learn to love Arial.

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I just received two newsletters in the last two minutes:

The Dark Side of Twitter: What Businesses Need to Know
Driving Traffic with Twitter

OK so twitter is hot. 

I have been tweeting, but frankly is anyone really interested that I just scratched myself? If I had the time and talent to generate witty and interesting tweets on an hourly basis (i.e. if I were called Stephen Fry) I can see that it would work.  But for the average punter it is just more spam into the ether.

So with all due regard to those who are trying to generate business with twitter, I tweet my last.

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I have been twittering but is anyone really interested.

Stare here  and check out Doonsbury this week (keep pressing next) .

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We had a website developed by a web designer some years ago.  I just received a bill from Getty Images for £1,700 for the use of one of the images on it.  It came via a debt collection agency Morenton Smith.  Their notification looked very much like a Phishing message and it is by chance that I opened it.  

It seems that Getty Images have software trawling the web for images, and have been doing this since 2005.  

I don’t condone Intellectual property Theft in any way but the tactics of these guys looks pretty dubious to me. 

If this happens to you check out this posting for the full SP:

http://www.fsb.org.uk/discuss/forum_posts.asp?TID=1106

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Once netbooks take off (they will), we have a problem with the typical 800 x 480 screen and websites designed for desktop screens.  One option is to vary the style sheet depending on screen size.  An example here.  

However a designer needs to design for both sizes of screen.

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Netbooks are small cheap laptops with built-in wifi (Around £150-200).  They are about the size of a Filofax and perfect for whipping out in your local Starbucks and checking your mail or surfing the web. They have been based on the Intel Atom chip, and run Windows XP. They won’t run Vista but will run the next version of Windows.

Later this year however you can expect netbooks with the ARM chip that normally powers mobile phones.  These have big advantages.  The chip has been designed to use less power and the batteries will last up to four times longer than the Intel chip.  Because it uses less power it generates less heat so the case can be thinner.   The chip is also significantly cheaper.

The downside is that they will not run Windows, but these devices will run Linux which is going to give it a big boost as a consumer operating system.  

These are going to be A BIG DEAL.  Watch this space.

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