Embed fonts on your Web site

Recently, I have been thinking about design and the nature to code safely on the Web. As designers we typically choose to use Web friendly fonts like Verdana, Times New Roman, Arial, and Trebuchet MS.

Designers, however should not let browsers inabilities to carry a vast array of fonts interfere with their designs. Michaelangelo would not have sacrifice the roof of the Sistine Chapel due to lack of a smaller brush, so why is it that Web designers so often sacrifice bandwidth and turn to background images or heavy downloads to convey their message; not to mention the lack of search engine friendliness involved in presenting picures and images instead of text.

I sought out a clear answer on how to embed fonts on a site without the need to sacrife speed or SEO. Back in the late 90's both Netscape and Internet Explorer were fighting grounds for the title of browser reign supreme as such both came out with unusual plugins and font rendering programs, however this was but a mere patch and band aid on the problem as fonts were translated to images solving only the small side of the equation. I don't blame them as SEO wasn't a hot topic in those days and Google was but a silly word some guys thought of to represent their brand.

In today's Web, where Search Engines are the hot club were your name must be on the list, it is crucial to create SE's friendly sites. to do so, the @font-face construct must be utilize.

Here is a simple example courtesy of the css czars at A List Apart:

@font-face {
font-family: "Kimberley";
src: url(http://www.princexml.com/fonts/larabie/ »
kimberle.ttf) format("truetype");
}
h1 { font-family: "Kimberley", sans-serif }

"Those familiar with CSS syntax will recognize the last line. The @font-face construct may not be familiar, however it’s easy to explain: as the “Kimberley” font is requested, the font file is fetched from the specified URL. The syntax is described in the CSS2 specification.

To avoid long lists of @font-face declarations in the style sheet, they can be hidden using @import" like so,

@import url(http://www.princexml.com/fonts/larabie/index.css) all;
h1 { font-family: Goodfish, serif }

The bottom line is that you should not limit yourself or set the bar too low, there is always a way to solve the problem. Problems are easy to come by, but securing an answer is where the intellectual matter comes into play. Don't let the ineptitude of todays' browser interfere with the future, just make sure that you gracefully prepare your site for degredation or for those living in the past. To appreciate the true power behind css, please refer to the Zen Garden project.

Labels: brand, cms, CSS, Design, dreamweaver, Features, jagged images, photo resizing, Search Engine, SEO

Teabagging

Teabagging is a slang term for the act of a man placing his testicles, specifically the scrotum, in the mouth or face of another person, often in a repeated in-and-out motion. The practice vaguely resembles dipping a tea bag into a cup of tea.

I first heard the term on Howard Stern and his filthy unrated show.

Most recently however, someone told me that simulations of teabagging are often used in video games. Sure enough, a quick Google search turn up a Wikipedia entry describing that simulations of teabagging are often used in video games, specifically first person shooters such as Counter-Strike, Resistance: Fall of Man and Halo, the last of these in which it is sometimes referred to as the "Halo Hump" or simply "corpse-humping". "Teabagging" is performed by repeatedly crouching down - a common movement in FPSs - while on top of an enemy corpse. The act is a form of victory dance to show ownership and to humiliate an enemy player.

I was not only left with my mouth wide open in disbelief, but with a sour taste for these types of video games. After all, I have young nephews and friends with small children who enjoy these games. The rating of the games may note that the game is inappropriate due to violence, but this is more than just violence, it is simply inappropriate sexual behavior, these games are to be rated NC-17, not just M for mature audience.

The bottom line is that although I'm far from a prude, I think that when it comes to the young minds we ought to draw some sort of line. I recently made a statement on how I disapproved of the computer age. I think what started out as a great method of communication and idea sharing has let to corruption of our society and a loss for moral values. What thinks you?

Labels: content management, Design, Google, video, Video Games

iGoogle Themes

Last year Google introduced iGoogle, an addition to the Google Web site that allows customization, thereby creating an individual homepage for each user. You can login to your personalized page via the iGoogle top right menu on the Google homepage.

Not only do you get to use the predefined gadgets, but you can add your customized RSS feeds or create your own gadgets via the Web developer tools.

Today I noticed that Google was featuring theme images for the iGoogle homepage. It got me intrigued and I starting browsing the many themes available. Thus far I had been using the beach theme which changes it looks depending on the weather and time of the day. However, there are many other themes available. You can even give it a world and create your own themes. I haven't experimented yet, but hopefully I will be giving it a whirl soon.

The bottom line is that Google chooses to keep improving every product, first came iGoogle, then came Google Tabs, followed by Google Themes, now iGoogle social networking via design your own themes, user rating, user comments and FAQ. This company knows how to get things going and keep going. Google guys, forget American Idol, you are my new idols.

Labels: Alexa, CSS, Design, Google, RSS, Search Engine, Social Bookmarking, software, techniques, Web Design, Web Searches

Instant Information

The Web is designed as an avenue for providing and finding information, yet many media companies insist on holding back on their content until after their publication is released to the market.

This is a fatal mistake, folks who read periodicals are not the folks tuned in to the Web. A once a month read is not bad, but what about the media junkies who just can't get enough, how do you deliver to that audience?

Some companies don't even bother to put their content online, while others drop 20 to 30 articles onto their site typically on a random fashion and without any organization. To most publishers, their Web site is but an after thought, designed to serve as an advertisement to drive subscriptions for the periodical. Other simply place news and press release items, but leave their readers hanging with original content living strictly on the print pages.

The bottom line is that in today's world the business and money is online. Publishers can save millions of dollars by turning their periodical into digital editions first. That is, release the content to the site as it comes in. Use the print medium as a place to publish the most important stories/articles. Showcase a variety of product and product release, while driving the reader to the site to see a list of all items. Use the medium as a way to sum up the news for the month, but the site as a way to keep the reader vested and interested in checking that site often to see the goings on of the profession.

The reader benefits because:

1. they can reach all the content instantly on the Web site
2. Monitor the RSS feed in their favorite rss reader
3. Get a weekly newsletter with all new content via email.
4. Get a monthly filtered view via print.


The Publisher benefits because:
1. More viewers to their Web publications
2. More viewers means a higher CPM for their Ads
3. A inherited CMS (Content Management System) for their Print Publication
4. A better staffed editorial team that is cross trained for Print and Online
5. Less crunch time, since the articles are pre-edited.

and many more benefits. Now go on and designed a great site with proper navigation.

Labels: advertising, Alexa, content management, Design, RSS, Web Design

Dreamweaver Max CPU Bug

Recently I formatted my laptop because I thought I caught a virus. I'm very careful, I had Symantec Antivirus and Microsoft AntiSpyware installed, yet my computer seemed to start crawling after a few minutes of working. Since I work on the Web, I typically have Dreamweaver, Photoshop, and Outlook running all the time, with 2Gb of RAM, I figured I should be able to do so without much problem.

I reformatted and things seemed better, until recently when my computer went back to timing out for about 30 seconds every time I'm coding in Dreamweaver. I opened the task manager and shut down every program but Dreamweaver. I noticed that my CPU was maxed out at 100% and yet no other process was taking CPU time. It then back down to 1% and then back to 50%, 60% etc, without me doing anything.

I did some quick googling to find out that Dreamweaver has a nasty bug in it that is yet to be addressed, let alone fixed, by Adobe. It seems that if you stay connected to a site after a while the ftp functionality takes over by sending packets out and maintain the connection. The temporary, band-aid, fix is to disconnect from the site and only connect when needed.

The bottom line is that Adobe, the most respected company in Web and Graphic Design, ought to address this issue or at the bare minimum inform register users of the bugs so that they don't waste valuable billable time chasing down their errors.

Labels: adobe, Design, dreamweaver, Joomla, macromedia, Web Design

US Budgetary Problems

I'm very concerned for our nation. It seems we have spent so much money with the War in Iraq that the president is now eating just Hot Dogs. It's detailed inthis reuters story that McCain paid a visit to Bush in the white house to secure the president's endorsement for his candidacy.

When Bush mention he was having a hot dog for lunch, McCain proceed to request the same. He didn't want to question the president's dining preference. Seems to me that if McCain is to run the country he needs to be more a leader than a follower.

"He said he was having a hot dog, so I had a hot dog," McCain, referring to Bush, told reporters on his campaign plane during a flight to Florida.

The bottom line is that we seem to have run out of leaders and everything has boil down to a pissing contest in which whoever has the less flow of garbage in their trail is set to win. Where have the days of good leaders gone? If you are as undecided as I am, you can login to http://www.votehelp.org/ and see how your preference on "the issues" match up to the current candidates.

Labels: Design, Florida, Politics, reuters, Web Design

Philosophical Question

I was discussing a topic with a colleague which I cannot longer remember even thought the discussion took place less than 24 hours ago. But today I read this story, it describe the use of robotics and technology where researchers are in the mist of creating a system that could allow people to feel textures and shapes of 3-D designs created on computers -- without any kind of mechanical equipment.

"Carnegie Mellon University researchers announced that it could soon be possible to feel objects created on computers through a touch-based, or haptic, interface, without using gloves, similar equipment, or force feedback. One lightweight moving part floats on magnetic fields and simulates various sensations people experience when they touch real objects."

"We believe this device provides the most realistic sense of touch of any haptic interface in the world today," Ralph Hollis, a research professor in Carnegie Mellon's robotics institute, said in a news announcement.

The philosophical question comes into place when it comes to the design aspects of the device. Does this mean that the pimply nerd can design the girl of his dreams and then feel her up? Does it mean we no longer need to keep pets captive as the unit will allow us to pet one thereby securing the comfort of the animal?

The bottom line is that sometimes we stretch and push technologies past their limits. Why are we able to create sensations, design 3d elements, have a robotic companion at home, but we still cannot cure cancer, prevent viruses such as AIDS, or design a world where children don't go hungry?

Labels: 3D Design, chemistry, Design, Entertainment

Women are equal to problems

Since the dawn of time women have been declared as problems. If you believe in the design explained in the bible, where a God created man and then woman, then woman sinned and caused a lifetime of damnation by eating the apple, then you can certainly understand why women are designed to be a lifetime of problems for the male specie.

I received an email from a friend today mathematically proving that women are problems.

Here goes the algebraic proof:

1. To find a woman you need time and money.

Woman = time x money

2. As we all know, Time is money.

money = time

3. With some substitution based on the two statements above, the formula is rewritten as:

Woman = money x money

Which in turn is the same as:

Woman = (money)²

4. Since day one we all being thought that money is the root of all problems

money = √problems

5. Therefore

Woman = (√problems)²

6. Lastly we solve and as you can see Woman equals problems

Woman = Problems


The bottom line is that we were always thought, since we were little boys to adulthood, that women will get you in trouble. Think about it, when you were young, way young, you found that girl next door icky. You, as you came of age, progressed to think that she was cute. You then tried everything you could to get her attention, think about it; how often were you grounded for staying out late, doing stupid things, etc... You finally got her, she was all into you, you were thought about the birds and the bees, you didn't listen to your parents, and you rushed thought things, next thing you know she was nothing, but trouble. Lucky for me my wife is nothing but a gem, no trouble at all. I can't wait to see the proof that men are the problem, after all, the nightly headaches must come from somewhere.

Labels: Design, Freedom of Speech, initiative, techniques

Las Vegas

Las Vegas, or Sin City as it is also known, is an amazing place filled wiht fun and excitment. I had the pleaure to visit the Disneyland for adults this past week. I stayed outside of the main drag, better known as the strip. I was attending the Chiropractic Event of the year!

I stayed at the Las Vegas Hilton, which I have to say is by far one of the worst places to stay at in Vegas, not only is on the remote side of town, but has very little to offer. The casino is quite small and the help is useless, save a bartender or two.

I was out working at a chiropractic conference, as it relates to the filed I'm currently working in. As a side note, we were debuting our newly redesigned site, www.chiroeco.com, craftmaster and build from the ground up by yours truly, check it out and let me know what you think of it. I digress, as I was saying, I didn't get to explore much except for one day. After the six hour exploration that let us through the Venetian, Caesar's Palace, The Wynn, and Palazzo; I can only express the grandiose of design and my desire to revisit. I arrived in Vegas with $40 and left Vegas with $40, that's not to say I didn't gamble, I just played wisely and walked away with my socks still on. I enjoyed about 7 hours of gambling, but the most fun was hanging out with my cohorts and exploring the Vegas strip.

While out at the conference I lost my virginity, my chiropractic virginity that is. I have always been leary of alternative medicine, and have preferred the traditional medicine. I have to say that this conference made me a believer. I have been battling a debilitating and rather aichy shoulder, I'm happy to say that after a 10 minute massage and a two minute Chiropractic adjustment, I feel like I'm a teenager again. I put the shoulder to the test at the gym today and I'm happy to say that I'm still pain free and would recommend chiropractic to anyone who asks and those who don't ask. Is like I always say, try everything at least once before you turned it down, because you will never know otherwise.

The bottom line is that to enjoy Vegas you don't have to gamble, there is plenty fo fun to be had and plenty of sights to see, all free, unless you account for the taxi rides, diner, and drinks, but those were payed by my employer, Thanks Joe!

Labels: Design, Entertainment, Gambling, Las Vegas

Package Design

I have always been intrigued with design, specifically package design. There are so many ways to present an item, and yet so many designs exists for items of similar fashion. For example, I have at my desk to soda cups. One is from Longhorn, a steakhouse restaurant chain in the Jacksonville Area, another is from Daily's, the local store in the Shell Gas station. They both served as drink holders and hold the same amount, yet one is skinny in the bottom and the other one is straight up tall.

I can only imagine the meetings that took place to come up with each one of those designs. The arguments taking place, "no that's not going to fit in a standard cup holder", others stating, "have you any idea how long the straw is going to have to be?"

The bottom line us that there are many creative individuals in this world. You see them as inventors, marketers, advertising agents, and many other fields. I hope to one day come up with something as brilliant as these designs a friend forwarded in an email:

Labels: Design, Jacksonville, jax, Web Design

Tech Sales Person

Every once in a while I know I shouldn't answer my phone, but I'm a senior member within my organization and I pride myself on addressing everyone's needs even if it mean being on the phone for an hour discussing the latest blogging strategies or working out a marketing and design plan with someone.

Since I only deal on the phone with VIP I seldom purposely send them to voicemail. This morning my phone rang, I quickly looked around the office and notice it wasn;t one of my colleagues calling. I thought about letting the voicemail pick up the phone, but my thoughts quickly died and I answered the phone. What do you know, it was this account manager who has been calling me once a month for the past 6 month. Even though I keep reminding him that I buy and deal straight with Dell he insits on calling. I decided to throw him a bone and make his day by telling him that I'm looking for a couple of desktops and four laptops. At first, he thought I was going to go with my usual, I'm all set, we're in a recession, etc, but he did a flip back when I told him what I needed. He even remember that I only buy Dell and told me that they recently partnered with Dell and he could get me better deals that the Gold level account I have with Dell. I though he was the real deal, a sales guy that actually listen and remember my needs.

I just received an email and all he quoted me was IBM and HP. Don't get me wrong I think those are fine brands, but I only buy Dell, not because I like them. As a side note, I should mention that I'm very dissapointed with Dell recently and have receive nothing, but grieve with the new Desktop and Laptop I purchase two month ago. The only reason why I buy Dell is because of our corporate account with them. I digress, my point is that out of the five quotes I received, none are for Dell computers.

The bottom line is that as a salesperson you need to be sharp. Not only should you be able to get through on the cold call, but you have to pay attention and remember what your customers tell you.

Labels: Customer Service, Design, Jacksonville, techniques

Albino Whitetail Deer

A colleague sent me this and I thought it interesting enough to share. Here goes:

This was sent by a man in Rhinelander, Wisconsin

A very eventful day around here... A once in many lifetimes experience! I saw this lil' feller run out in front of a car-- thought it was a lost baby goat. Stopped to get it, and WOW!! A real Albino Whitetail Deer. Just hours old, but doing fine. No Momma deer around. Another car nearly hit it in front of me ....

Well, he is THE neatest thing any of us ever saw. And such a 'freak of nature', that only 1 in more than a million are even born. He took his bottle of food, followed us around the house, doing great So, we called the Zoo &Fossil Rim, who were both interested, but we're going to send him to a Rehab farm. Maybe he will make it in captivity somewhere and be appreciated. So rare... Sure wanted to keep him tho. but, not the thing to do. And not LEGAL either. Here are a couple of pictures to show you. He was snow white, pink eyes, ears, nose and hooves. Kids called him POWDER. He was SO small. That is my shoe lying beside him... WOW..how cool is that??

The bottom line is that there are many strange and unusual animals around. This is proof of what mother nature could bring us. In this day and age of climate challenges and changing, it is nice to see that some surprises are still good.

Labels: Design, digital photography, jagged images, Snow

Blogger, Remember Me

I blog regularly using Blogger as my platform. I think its design is user friendly and have just enough features both in its "Compose" and "Edit Html" panes making it one of the easiest textboxes / HTML editors. I have use a few in the past like FCK editor and HTMLArea, but these type of editors offer the user too many options.

I also enjoy the "labels" area and, the recently added, save now button.

Google is known for designing simple to use, yet very powerful interfaces. Most importantly, they provide these free of charge.

The only beef I have so far is that the "remember me" check box in the blogger homepage never remembers me. I have cookies enable and other Google sites, such as youTube, Analytics/Urchin, iGoogle, and Gmail seem to remember me just fine.

The bottom line is that I'm very surprise that a powerful company like Google with unlimited resources has left this small detail sly. I understand that Blogger didn't start out being a Google company, but in the two years that I have been using the site, this has never worked for me, regardless of browser. Oddly enough I googled this topic tonight and didn't get too far in finding a resolution.

Update to previous entry: I received a Halloween Joke from a colleague, here it is:

A man was walking home alone late one foggy night,

when behind him he hears:

BUMP...

BUMP...

BUMP...

Walking faster, he looks back and through the fog he makes out the image of an upright casket banging its way down the middle of the street toward him.

BUMP...

BUMP..

BUMP..

Terrified, the man begins to run toward his home, the casket bouncing quickly behind him

FASTER...
FASTER...

BUMP...
BUMP...
BUMP...

He runs up to his door, fumbles with his keys, opens the door, rushes in, slams and locks the door behind him.

However, the casket crashes throught his door, with the lid of the casket clapping...

clappity-BUMP...
clappity-BUMP...
clappity-BUMP...

on his heels, the terrified man runs.

Rushing upstairs to the bathroom, the man locks himself in. His heart is pounding; his head is reeling; his breath is coming in sobbing gasps.

With a loud CRASH the casket breaks down the door.

Bumping and clapping toward him.

The man screams and reaches for something, anything, but all he can find is a bottle of Robitussin!

Desperate, he throws the cough syrup at the casket... And, the coffin stops!

-- Thanks Mike.

Labels: Blogger, Design, Google

National Association of Photoshop Professionals

Three jobs and four years ago, my boss gave me a copy of Photoshop User Magazine. It was full of tutorials, opinions, and tips and tricks for Photoshop. At this point I had just started using Photoshop. Previously I had use the Corel suite of products and had picked up the GIMP, a free Photoshop want to be piece of software.

A year went by and I had forgotten how useful the magazine had been. After all I did not have a subscription and was relying on my boss to toss the magazine my way from time to time.

Recently, my employer suggested that we all pick out a few magazines to see what other publishers did and see if we could pick a thing or to to introduce onto our magazines. Being in the graphic design business, I selected very appropriately Photoshop User Magazine. I didn't realize at the time that this was the magazine I had been reading a few years back, but turns out that NAAP (National Association of Photoshop Professionals) has very good SEO and as such off to subscribe I went.

Two weeks went by and I received my NAAP membership. What gives? I subscribed to Photoshop User Magazine and all of the sudden I received a huge membership package to NAAP. I didn't realize that my subscription came with a membership. At first I thought it was a scam, I was very leary. If you know me, you know that my first reaction to everything is that it is some sort of scam. Turns out it is not a scam.

I logged in to the NAAP site, after 30 seconds of trying to figure out how to register as a first time visitor, I realized that my NAAP member number is my username and password. I proceed ahead and started to check out some of the tutorials. Since I been playing with graphic/photo editing software for over 10 years now, everything seemed like a waste of time. Then I clicked on to tips and tricks and all of the sudden the value of this "free" membership became a full blown, jump up and down, exciting. I can tell you that the magazine so far is great, but is nothing compare to the site. They have so many helpful tips and have explore the nook and crannies of Photoshop. I have been on the site for 30 minutes now and have already learned about five features that I never knew existed.

The bottom line is that if you are a graphic designer, web designer, or a mere Photoshop hobbyist you can't afford not to become a NAAP member. The membership is $99 ducats and this will be the best one hundred bucks you would have spend. There is so much to be learn from this site that it is not available in the free space. Trust me, I'm just a NAAP member and not affiliated with them. Hell, they don't even offer a referral program, but I think it is well worth it.

Labels: Design, digital photography, photoshop, Web Design

St. Augustine is old but has lots of style

The communities in St. Augustine are designed in such a way that you feel like you are in the middle of no where, yet you drive out of the community entrance and there are shops, bars, and plenty of nightlife.

This past weekend I finally got to go out and get to see what's around nearby the new digs. This new chapter is very interesting. There is a lot going on and yet feels like there is not much. Within ten minutes I can find an outlet store center with over 200 shops, mostly top name designers.

Five minutes past the outlets, I can find downtown St. Augustine. There is a lot of history there. I didn't arrive downtown until after 4p.m. on Sunday. Everything closes there early, but what I saw I enjoyed. St. Augustine is the first city in the United States. There was a demonstration happening near the Castillo of San Marcos, a Spanish fort designed and built in the 1600's in an effort to guard the city. The old fort help the Spaniards keep a hold of Florida from the Brits for many years. During the American Revolution, this fort was a British stronghold, and later it served as a battery for the US Coastal defense system.

This fort is now one of the major tourist attractions in St. Augustine. They happened to be having a very nice demonstration of how the Spaniards dressed and weapons used while I was visiting. They fired off riffles and a canon. The later was quite loud and although we were forewarned to cover our ears, one could still feel the body rattle and shake, enough to skip a beat. All and all a very interesting visit. I will need to come back and see more, a lot more.

The bottom line is that when you find yourself in a new location, it is very important to drive around and get to know the area. Not only do you get to see a lot of interesting stuff, but when it visitor season opens, otherwise known as "the relatives are visiting", there are plenty of ways and places to keep them out of the house.

Labels: demonstrations, Design, visitors

Cold Day in Hell

In life is always good to maintain a good sense of hapiness. Many studies have shown that laughter is the cure for all. We are design to enjoy pleasure. There is no better pleasure than a good joke, especially one like the one below based on a true chemistry mid term question given by a professor from the University of Washington.

Enjoy!

Bonus Question: Is Hell exothermic (gives off heat) or endothermic (absorbs heat)?

Most of the students wrote proofs of their beliefs using Boyle's Law (gas cools when it expands and heats when it is compressed) or some variant. One student, however, wrote the following:

First, we need to know how the mass of Hell is changing in time. So we need to know the rate at which souls are moving into Hell and the rate at which they are leaving. I think that we can safely assume that once a soul gets to Hell, it will not leave. Therefore, no souls are leaving. As
for how many souls are entering Hell, let's look at
the different religions that exist in the world today. Most
of these religions state that if you are not a member of their religion, you will go to Hell.
Since there is more than one of these religions and since people do not belong to more than one religion, we can project that all souls go to Hell. With birth and death rates as they are, we can expect the number of souls in Hell to increase exponentially.

Now, we look at the rate of change of the volume in Hell because Boyle's Law states that in order for the temperature and pressure in Hell to stay the same, the volume of Hell has to expand proportionately as souls are added.This gives two possibilities:
1. If Hell is expanding at a slower rate than the rate at which souls enter Hell, then the temperature and pressure in Hell will increase until all Hell breaks loose.
2. If Hell is expanding at a rate faster than the increase of souls in Hell, then the temperature and pressure will drop until Hell freezes over.

So which is it? If we accept the postulate given to me by
Teresa during my Freshman year that, 'It will be a cold day in Hell before I sleep with you,' and take into account the fact that I slept with her last night, then number two must be true, and thus I am sure that Hell is exothermic and has already frozen over. The corollary of this theory is that since Hell has frozen over, it follows that it is not accepting any more souls and is therefore,
extinct......leaving only Heaven, thereby proving
the existence of a divine being which explains why,
last night, Teresa kept shouting 'Oh my God.'

THIS STUDENT RECEIVED AN A+.

Labels: chemistry, Design, joke

How to get into college

A while back I remember watching a film by with a similar title as this post, How I Got Into College, at the time I thought this was a fairly cheesy movie with a young man stressing over SAT scores.

With today's technology Anthony Edwards character would not have stressed so much about the test and perhaps would have focused his attention more on improving his chances with the girl.

All this pondering came about from reading a story on Reuters where they detailed how three Chinese men design a low tech, by today's standard, way to help a student cheat in the very competitive university entrance exam. Apparently 10 million Chinese high school students compete for just 5.7 million available university sits in all of China.

The plan was simple, use microphones and ear pieces to communicate questions and answers between one student and others hire to sit outside the building with computers handy and ready to provide answers.

Good thing we don't yet have this problem in the states, then again, me being a college professor, I would probably be making much more if we had so many more students in the classroom.

I haven't have the need catch students cheating in exams in my class before since all my test are electronic and questions are individually randomize. However, a while back I heard of other professors having problems with students text messaging answers via their mobile phones.

The bottom line is that we live in a very competitive world where people are always designing new ways to get ahead. I can't say I blame the fellow trying to make his way into college, but I thing it would be easier for the person to apply themselves to studying instead of designing ways to cheat themselves into college. After all, if they have to cheat to get in there, what will they do to ensure a successful college career?

Labels: college, Design, test, university

Advertising is out of control

First there was Superbowl ads, then incorporating animals into ads, the latest, incorporating ads on eggs.

Reuters is reporting today of a new marketing campaign design towards consumers buying eggs. This, the first of its kind in Japan, will feature stickers posted onto eggs in supermarkets. Ramen Noodles is spending $58,000-$66,000 US dollars on the promotion of it's new chicken ramen instant noodles product.

As we know this kind of campaign is very targeted and promotes good brand recognition. If you don't believe me, then let me postulate this question, what brand of bananas do you buy?

The bottom line is that in the US we have informed consumers to death and it's always refreshing to find someone using a new design and approach to brand and market a product. Although, the sticker on food items is not new, I haven't seen this kind of cross promotion in the market place before. Very ingenious, but does it affect the quality or sanitation of the eggs, only time will tell when we heard of the sticky bird flu.

Labels: advertising, brand, Design, eggs, reuters

USB, so many uses, so little time

I have given up to the hype and have recently started to track digg.com as a source of learning the latest and greatest in the world.

You may have noticed that I also recently added the digg, delicious, and slashdot icons on all my entries. I'm still working out the bugs to make the integration flawless, but I'm getting there.

Back to the topic at hand, the whole reason for bringing digg up is that I came across this USB use today and thought, what an inventive and curious thing the human mind is, check it out.

The bottom line is that need is the mother of all inventions. Now if I could only figure out what it is I need maybe I could make billions selling it to others who may need the same.

Labels: Design, gadgets, Key Drive, USB