Being the proud father of 9 month old twins, it’s becoming more and more apparent that babies are nothing more than really small zombies.

Let me count the ways:

1. They start out not really moving, or doing much, you think you’re safe, and like zombies, they really stink.

2. Slowly, they start to animate, becoming more and more mobile.

3. They develop a hunger for human flesh (teething process, and beyond).

4. When they chase you, they may not be fast, but they are persistent, and will catch you eventually.

5. They eat your brains. I haven’t been able to think straight for months. My brain is technically gone.

6. They turn you into one of them. I have a glazed over look, shuffle around like a zombie, and haven’t showered in days.

7. Like a typical zombie apocalypse, you are the only one left. All of your friends and family who used to visit seem to have disappeared, never to be seen again.

If anyone can recommend how I would fight the baby zombie apocalypse, I would be very grateful.

I blame technology.

I sit at my computer all day, working, and taking the odd break to take in some information. I have my Android phone in hand reading Engadget, The Onion, Digg, and my Google Reader feed. I have my T.V. which, depending on who has the remote, I’m either watching Dr. Who (me), or one of the sideshow freaks on T.L.C. (my wife).

Now, technology may not be all that bad. I bought my wife a Kobo e-reader for Mother’s day, and have already read most of a book on it, and I have to say, I really like it. It satisfies my need for gadgetry, yet still allows me to get some real reading in.

E-Readers aren’t new to the scene, but they are really starting to gain momentum in the book and publishing industry. Most use a technology called E Ink, which very closely resembles an actual printed page. It’s not back-lit, so for someone like me who spends almost 14 hours a day staring at a lit computer monitor, it comes as a very nice relief.

I have decided to get one of my own, so that started the extensive research. Here are the major contenders for me.

The Kobo - This is a Chapters/Indigo initiative. It comes with a bunch of free books, and is very simple to use. It basically has one button to navigate the pages and books, a few menu buttons, and a power button. It’s a no-frills, clean and simple e-reader. Cost: $149 CAD. You can also use any format you want on this reader. This is a very good choice for someone who wants an inexpensive, easy to use reader without too many distracting settings and features. http://www.koboereader.com/

The Kindle - Amazon has hundreds of thousands of books available for this reader. Another great thing is that you can buy books directly to the device over 3G, from anywhere a cell signal is available! The downside to this reader is that it uses a proprietary, rights-managed format for the e-books. Which means that you are limited to buying books from Amazon, and nowhere else. Cost: $189 USD. I have never used one of these, but I hear pretty good things about it. http://www.amazon.com/Wireless-Reading-Display-International-Generation/dp/B0015T963C

Sony – The Sony e-readers have been around for a while, and come in two options, Pocket, and Touch. The touch screen one has a larger screen, and has quite a few more options, but the price tag matches that. The Pocket version costs around $189 CAD, the Touch version I have seen for $279. This reader supports almost any format. http://www.sonystyle.ca/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CategoryDisplay?categoryId=1000623&storeId=20153&langId=200&catalogId=100803&N=4294959113

Nook – Barnes and Noble – This is my choice, and I’m getting Jenn to get me one in the US this weekend! The benefit of this is that they have two options, WiFi + 3G ($199 USD), or WiFi Only ($149 USD). The Nook also has a colour touch screen below the E Ink screen that can be used for navigation, picking and purchasing a book, typing, and it even comes with Sudoku and Chess games. It’s a bit more of a geek’s e-reader, but is also open to any format of eBook, including PDF, ePub, PDF, Images, and also plays MP3 files. It also has a very basic web browser, so you can check your e-mail, read blogs, and view basic websites. The huge downfall of this e-reader is that you can’t actually buy one in a country other than the US! http://www.barnesandnoble.com/nook/index.asp

After a few weeks of asking around, Jenn told me she was going to the US, so I’m one step closer to relaxing with a good book and a beer.

Does anyone else find that technology keeps them away from books?

I am going to get my Christmas post out of the way now, and tell you what I’m thankful for this year. No techy stuff, just fluff.

I had a great talk with Jenn yesterday, and we discussed how things just feel right, like everything has fallen perfectly into place. I think we are some of the lucky people in this world who love their career, love their job, and love the people they work with. For that, I am thankful.

How many times have you said “I really love my job”, only to hear someone else say “give it time, you’ll hate it soon”. A very depressing sentiment, but unfortunately, for the most part, it’s true. I have had many jobs that started off great, only to drown slowly in company politics, gossip, red tape, and a sea of jaded, depressed people. Suffice it to say, those jobs didn’t last long.

I have been working with Chris and Jenn for over 5 years now, and it has only gotten better. We all respect each other, have fun together, and appreciate what everyone else brings to the table. And with the recent addition of Meg, whose energy and quirkiness are very contagious; it’s a perfect mix of fun and professionalism at the kitestring office.

I don’t know about you, but having a career that I love is a great gift. I’m also thankful for caffeine, my new best friend.

Do you love your job? If not, what are you going to do about it?

Have a happy holiday season!

So, what do you buy that special Geek/Gadget freak for Christmas?

1. A Smartphone – This one is a really bad gift unless you know they really want the commitment. Sure, you’re paying the up-front costs, but you’re also sticking them with a monthly bill of $60 or more. may be a good idea to offer to pay for a few months of usage. There are tons of models out there, and it will all depend on the person you’re shopping for. The safe bet is an iPhone, as it has mass appeal, is simple to use, and is also an iPod, so you can skip my next gift idea. I would buy my wife an iPhone if I was to get her a phone as a gift. For the geek out there, I think an Android phone is the way to go! If the person is all about work, and has no idea what the internet is, then go with a Blackberry.

2. MP3 Player – Yeah, I’m not even going to pretend that there are other options out there. Get them an iPod Touch.

3. GPS – This is a tough one. With most Smartphones having GPS, and some moving towards a turn-by-turn GPS function (Google Maps Navigation for Android!!!), it will eventually get to a point where it’s all in one device. Until then, a car GPS is pretty cool. Look for one with Bluetooth so they can pair it with that Smartphone and not break the hands-free law in Ontario.

4. Laptop – Depending on the need, you can go anywhere from an ultra-portable Netbook (I recommend the Asus EeePC) to a big screen workhorse. You can pay anywhere from $250 to $4000 for something like this.

5. Pretty much anything from ThinkGeek. This is the ultimate online store for everything Geek. They have a great selection of gadgets, t-shirts, and just fun stuff.

Have a great holiday season!

Brandon, the Geek

Some people like the good old “let’s throw it all on the wall and see what sticks” approach, including their life stories, complete history, and in-depth essays on why you should choose them. That may have worked 10 years ago, but the times they are a changin’.

Here is my personal list of things that I don’t think belong on a website. Keep in mind that this is a general list, and there is sometimes a specific need for some of these things.

1. Page Hit Counter – This was huge in the 90’s. You remember, the little ticker at the bottom of the page that bragged to the world that 47 people have been to your site. Not only is this unnecessary information, but it also can show your client something you may not want them to know.

2. Scrolling information or text – If you want someone to read something, maybe making it a moving target isn’t the best idea.

3. Too many words! There is always a shorter way of saying something, no matter how complicated. Try to keep your text down to 35 words. Yes, this is sometimes a difficult feat, but that’s where a professional copywriter may come in handy. They can take a step back, analyze what you are trying to convey, and do it in a way that someone outside of your organization can understand.

4. Don’t make them guess. Keep the navigation and page elements simple, well thought-out, and logical! If it’s a chore for a user to find something on your site, you can pretty much guarantee that they will give up and go somewhere else. Go the extra mile, and get some wireframes done before building a website. This way, it can be tested, proven, and then built from a solid user interface.

5. Flash Intros/Excessive Use of Flash – I don’t think I have to explain this one. Never make people wait to get into your site. Flash, if used tastefully can add a dynamic feel to a site, and draw the eye to a specific area. However, it’s been overused though, and sometimes to sickening, seizure inducing levels.

6. Outdated information – Keep it fresh. If your last news item is from 2004, then maybe it’s time to either update that, or get rid of it all together.

That’s just a small list of things, but as I mentioned in item number 3, keep the words to a minimum!

I am constantly at odds with myself regarding Content Management Systems. On the plus side, they are very robust, powerful, have great built-in features, and give our clients the ability to make changes to their websites without having to come back to us, and thus saving time and money. They are great for Search Engine Optimization, and allow multiple editors, blogging, file uploads…

On the negative side, with hundreds of free, overused, generic templates, there are a lot of web design and develop firms pumping these sites out at alarming rates. What you do get is a website, but what you don’t get is something unique, branded, and that fits your company and personality. You get a site that most likely is the mirror image of hundreds of other sites on the Internet. We, however, are a custom web design and development firm.

Because of this template approach, it seems that the unique, creative side of the Internet is slowly giving way to a generic, “website in a box” approach. This is both sad, and makes the job of a custom web developer very difficult. To follow up on Chris’ post, why would someone want to pay for a custom site when another firm is charging $300 for a full website! And why the heck would they pay more to include a Content Management System!!!

The fact is, a lot of work goes in to a custom website build, and even more when you have to integrate it into a pre-established system like a CMS. But in the end, what you get is a site that is perfect, made for you, and one that you can update yourself! The extra work it takes to build in the content management system will quickly pay off when you consider the hourly cost for website updates. In the long run, you will be ahead, and have a site that you can be proud of. You can also be sure that your clients won’t see a site anything like yours, anywhere on the web.

Personally, I think the free part is great, but also a necessity for Microsoft. If you are going to make a product with holes in it, then you should work at plugging those holes. Not to mention the giant target on the Operating System’s back due to the amount of market share it has. Why make a virus that infects only a small percent of the population when so many people can be hit by a Windows virus. Although, for you Mac users, there are viruses out there, and as more people move to a Mac, it will only get worse. The scary part of this is that most Mac users have that “There is no such thing as a virus for US, so I don’t even need internet security!”.

There is something to note though, that any antivirus program is not bulletproof. They are reactionary. As a new virus comes out, they have to then protect against it. So, it’s always good to use simple common sense:

1. Update your system! Make sure you update your Operating System, antivirus program, Adobe Acrobat, Flash, your web browsers, and more. All of them will have vulnerabilities over time.

2. Don’t download questionable files!

3. Don’t install something just because someone on Twitter, Facebook…tells you to! If it seems suspect, it most likely is.

This is where it gets tricky. It seems that most people who use a browser other than IE tend to actually update their browser more than once every 5 years. This helps keep up with the momentum and progression of web technologies and techniques. This would be kind of like renting a Blue-Ray, slapping it into your VCR, and wondering why things aren’t working properly.

I am very happy to say that more than half the visitors to the kitestring website are using something other than IE! Within the group of Firefox users, only 1.53% are using version 2, whereas for Internet Explorer, 40% are still using version 7, and a painful 12.81% are still using the extremely outdated IE6. Worldwide, IE6 still accounts for 20% of browser use.

How much of the online world has changed since 2001? A lot! And that is just from an end user’s perspective. There have been even more changes from a developer’s perspective, and an outdated (9 YEARS OLD!!!) browser, isn’t helping. The added fact that Microsoft chooses to forego standards within it’s browsers (even version 8 ) is only complicating matters further. The most frustrating thing in almost any developers day is creating a standards compliant website, then finally testing in IE, and the cursing begins.

The big question is, how far back do we go with cross-browser testing? Should a client have to pay for the extreme amount of work that goes into making a modern site work in something as archaic as Internet Explorer 6 and 7?

Web development is hardly just a copy and paste, drag and drop world, it combines the best of design and development, colours and mathematics to make a great, usable, universally accessible website.

So, please, update your browser. Please.

See http://www.bringdownie6.com/ for more information.

The Goods:
- Android operating system is amazing, and is only getting better
- Has wifi
- GPS is great, and ties in to Google Maps and other applications very well
- If you are a Google user (Gmail, Google Calendar), it integrates flawlessly with these. (you will need a Google account to use the phone). It’s free, and I use Gmail for almost all my e-mail. The phone will automatically sync your Contacts, e-mail, and Calendar with your online ones. It’s pretty damned seamless
- Android Marketplace has some great applications (like the iPhone, only not quite as good yet)
- The Dream has a full physical keyboard, touchscreen, and scroll-ball – which makes it a triple threat.
- Very solid web browser, and will match the iPhone’s once Android gets multi-touch.
- It is open and customizable
- Memory – you can add a microSD memory card to it for more space. They are very cheap.
- It is a solid option as a smartphone that is not an iPhone or a Blackberry.
- Not a bad camera (3.1 megapixel), which has autofocus, so you can use it to scan barcodes to see where you can buy something cheaper. Also records video. Does not have a flash though, so you, and your target must remain still.
- You can run multiple applications at once, unlike some other phone…
- You can actually customize the interface, with simple things like a custom background! Take that iPhone!
The Bads:
- No headphone jack. It comes with earphones with a built in microphone that plug into the charging port. Really crappy that it doesn’t have a generic headphone jack.
- Bad battery life. Like the iPhone, if you use it, you’ll get a day out of it (unless you turn off wifi and GPS, then it lasts longer).
- Internal memory is so small (256MB) that it may not be able to handle the next Android update. They are working to get around that, but as of now, it looks like it will be limited in updates. This is very, very disappointing, and I hope Rogers will honour its early adopters with an upgrade.
- It’s a little thick and bulky, kinda like me. But I was willing to deal with this for the keyboard.
- It is the first of the Android phones, and the hardware is unable to really take advantage of what Android can really do. I have also had to reset the phone a few times…

Here is what it came down to for me: I use this thing a lot for work, so I e-mail, text, schedule things, and use the web a lot on it, so I wanted the keyboard. And, being a geek, I LOVE the phone. I would say to anyone looking to buy a solid smartphone to check out the HCT Magic, which is the touchscreen only Android phone. I think it’s the same price, and is faster, better battery life, and has enough internal memory to handle future upgrades. Also, it’s a little smaller and sleeker. You do lose the physical keyboard for a virtual one though. So, if you’re like me, and HATE typing on something like the iPhone, then the Dream is a good choice.

As for the available Applications, right now, they are not quite as good, and polished as the iPhone’s, but they going to have to get better. Recently, Facebook had to concede and make an application for Android. With over 20 new phones coming out, they can no longer disregard Google’s Android as a fad. Now, that being said, they devoted 1 person to help with the creation of the Facebook application, while I have a feeling they team for the iPhone app was substantially larger. I have not doubt that Android is going to be a big contender to the iPhone and Blackberry.

When it comes down to it, I can’t live without this phone for work (or geeky fun), and it does the job really well. You can watch YouTube, surf the web, e-mail, Facebook, Twitter, Instant Messaging…

As far as smart phones go, it’s the only choice I would have made. I really don’t like Blackberries, although their battery life is amazing, I just hate the interface, usability, and their browser is atrocious. They are a great business work-horse, yet not so much a consumer/geek phone.

If you are looking for a safe, tested phone, the iPhone is most likely the way to go, even though it’s a wee bit pretentious. It’s pretty solid, and just works. But it’s expensive, and you are getting trapped into Apple. Apple is the new Microsoft/Evil Monopolistic Corporation in my eyes, not to be overly dramatic…

To me, as a geek, there was no choice other than an Android phone.

kitestring is celebrating its second successful year of business in Hamilton. Thinking back to how much love went into our brand to launch it as the business we know today, we wanted to give something similar to small business entrepreneurs getting started around us.

Maybe you know someone who should enter. Like a new entrepreneur that doesn’t like to give out their business card because they were designed in some unlucky parent’s basement by a guy who swears by youtube tutorials. Or a new business owner who has gone though the branding, print or web design process and came out the other end with nothing but some dumb t-shirt or a really ugly tri-fold brochure. That is who should enter this contest. Maybe that business is yours.