BLOG. my voice in the design world

Seth Godin asks his readers to imagine they’re real estate brokers and need to charge above the standard 6% commission. How can they justify a higher rate? This is a great exercise to reevaluate what you’re offering your customers. What if you had to charge more than your competitors? What will distinguish you? Can you do that for what you already charge? Clear and simple, Seth.

These bring me back. It’s great to see that they included Burger King’s Subservient Chicken, as it’s more interactive than strictly video. Burger King had pioneered one of the first successful online viral marketing campaigns. Take a look at all 12 videos.

I’ve officially moved from Bloglines to Google Reader to digest my daily blogs. Here are some of the features that closed the deal:

1. Blog entries are not automatically marked as read when you click on a blog link. Instead, Google Reader waits for you to actually scroll past an article to mark it as read. This becomes extremely useful if you happen to close your browser mid-read and want to pick up right where you left off the next time.
2. Google Reader has a bigger font. I know that I could change this with my browser settings, but who wants to do that every time you go to read your blogs? Google Reader is much easier to read, just because they’ve increased the font by a few point sizes.
3. Integration with iGoogle is very convenient. Google Reader is only one click away from my search page, along with Gmail, Google Calendar, and the rest of the Google empire.
4. It’s Google. Google has a reputation for delivering solid web applications, so I can be sure to expect continual improvements upon an already great product.
5. In a classically Google way, Google Reader has a search box that’s always available. I can search for a blog entry from my blogs or from anywhere in the blogosphere at any point in time.

I’m sold. If you’re not convinced - try Google Reader out for yourself.

Are Apple’s hardware prices too high for your budget? Lifehacker has a great step-by-step tutorial on how to build your own Hackintosh. Turn an Intel x86 PC into your own bonafide Macintosh - well, almost - running OS 10.5.

Yup, it’s been done. Using the new C++ to AS3 converter, Scott Peterson has ported Quake to Flash. Unbelievable!!! What’s next? World of Warcraft in Flash? View the second video down at Peter Elst’s Adobe MAX Chicago - Sneak Peaks page.

A List Apart has pieced together results from a survey given to close to 33,000 web professionals. There are some interesting findings about who we are and why we do what we do. View the survey.

Mind-numbingly addictive. Beware. Desktop Tower Defense is a simple and fun strategy game.

Here’s a sampling of my journey back in time to ancient Rome, a ten day photo shoot whithin this phenomenal city.

One word: inspiring. Enjoy these posters.

Ever want to sing a sacred a cappella chamber repertoire in the heart of beautiful and mystical Umbria, Italy? Take a look at Umbrian Serenades, my latest website.