 November 11, 2008
 Sherwin-Williams Color Visualizer Finalist at Adobe MaxTagged as: O.P.E.N., branded manufacturers, technologyPosted by: Chris Berk As some of you may or may not know, the Sherwin-Williams Color Visualizer Tool, designed and developed by RI, has been chosen as a finalist for the 2008 Adobe MAX Awards! And the Finalist Gallery is now live and People’s Choice voting is open. Please visit and share the following link to vote: http://adobemax08.com/na/experience/#?s=5&p=3 There is no limit on voting, so do it to it!! And you can check out the Visualizer itself here: http://www.sherwin.com/visualizer/ September 2, 2008
Google is throwing its hat into an already crowded browser market with the announcement of the “Chrome” browser. It will be available for download sometime today. Information about the new browser, which was shared in comic book form, is fairly sparse at this point. According to Google, the browser will be more “secure”, “faster”, “clean, simple, and efficient”. A few more details are provided in the comic book regarding its technical approach to address existing browsers’ faults. Clearly, this is another shot directed at Microsoft and its Internet Explorer browser. Microsoft plans to role out version 8 of IE soon. What does this mean to the digital marketing? In the short-term, increased browser compatibility testing will be required to ensure current and future web experiences function correctly in these new browsers. Longer-term, the hope is that better browsers will help reduce and simplify the testing process while enabling greater experiences and functionality. But with 30% of web users still using IE 6.0, including many corporations, that promise might be far off. Until then, browser diversity will be the rule of the day and Chrome will simply be another one to add to the list. August 21, 2008
Technology-Enabled Social Network, Old-SchoolTagged as: O.P.E.N., networked, on-demand, social web, technologyPosted by: Chris Berk
Right there on I-70, I was about to give up on the OPENness of my technology, when my wife suggested an alternative technical solution, “Why don’t you get out of the car, walk over to that truck, and ask the truck driver what’s going on? Doesn’t he have a CB or something like that? Can’t he just talk to one of his trucker buddies way up at the front of the line?” I coyly walked over to what must be one of the original, technology-enabled social networks – a truck driver and his CB radio! Of course the trucker knew what was going on – an overturned truck was blocking the highway. The more I thought about it, his CB radio network functions much as the web does, truly enabling an O.P.E.N. experience that serves the needs of its participants. Forget the iPhone, I need a CB. July 31, 2008
EBay’s desktop AIR application downloaded 1,000,000 timesTagged as: technology, trendsPosted by: Chris Berk
EBay’s desktop application is definitely a great app. But I kept wondering why it is a desktop application? It makes no use of the capabilities available to it as a desktop app – like access to the file system, printing functions, and other features. Also, the application is essentially disabled if you are not connected to the internet (i.e. offline). This makes sense given that buyers spend their time searching for and buying stuff – both activities that require you to actually connect to EBay. However, most desktop applications are developed to work as effectively offline as when connected. Additionally, every thing that EBay Desktop does, including the look and feel, could have been accomplished inside the browser using the same technologies. So it makes me wonder why this became a desktop application – requiring users to download and install it…1,000,000 times! – instead of just running it as a really cool RIA inside of the browser? While there is plenty of use for a solid desktop app, EBay Desktop seems to be a desktop app because it could be, not because it should be. July 10, 2008
The 2008 Summer Olympics, brought to you by MicrosoftTagged as: engaging, mobile, technologyPosted by: Chris Berk The Summer Olympics are only 28 days away. Soon much of the world will be keeping itself updated on the events by visiting the official Olympic site. While all eyes will be on China and how it hosts this world event, another drama will be unfolding on the web site. The site is making use of Microsoft’s new Silverlight technology for showing live and recorded video throughout the Olympics. This is significant in that visitors must download and install the Silverlight plug-in in order to view video, or at least view it in its best quality. Microsoft’s goal is clear – to gain ground on the more ubiquitous Flash Player (Adobe’s plug-in for video and rich content) by making the content available only in Silverlight. While the Flash versus Silverlight debate has been brewing for sometime now, it is clear that this move by Microsoft will intensify efforts by both companies to assert their technology as best for rich content and video on the internet. The stakes are high as they try to ensure that their technology becomes the de facto standard for the Web 2.0 world and beyond. The winner will not only sell a whole bunch of development toolkits and supporting technologies. They will also directly influence how we receive digital content in the future (and think beyond the browser – both companies have already penned deals with various mobile providers to use their technology). We’ll have to wait and see whether the Olympics provide Silverlight the boost that it needs to gain ground on Flash. Until then, just enjoy the competition. June 26, 2008
I’m proud to introduce the debut of the Resource Interactive Technology blog – “RI: Technology”! It was started about a month ago and continues to gain momentum. The blog is intended for a technical audience and will include tips, tricks, and other insights from our own technologists here at Resource Interactive. For those not fearful of seeing a little code or reviewing some technical architecture theory, “RI: Technology” will provide useful and insightful information about all things technology in the digital space. As always, interaction is encouraged so please post your comments, ideas, and suggestions so that RI: Technology becomes a lively exchange. See you at technology.resource.com! June 18, 2008
I pull out my Treo and hold it up to my computer monitor, right next to the hero shot of the new iPhone 3G on Apple’s home page. Next to the picture of the iPhone, my Treo looks especially ugly and antiquated today. Maybe it’s the chips on the edge of my phone where I dropped it in my driveway last week. Don’t get me wrong, my Treo is an awesome business device and provides all the tools to make me more connected and more productive regardless of where I am. And since I’m ultimately responsible for our infrastructure decisions, including phones, I’m particularly aware of both the cost and benefits of how we’ve integrated the Treo into our work. But the iPhone is, well, sexy (and cool). And with Apple finally targeting the business market—integration with Microsoft Exchange, faster network speed, lower price point, and better security (like the ability to wipe data from the phone remotely…an absolute security necessity for any device carrying business data)—it can now be considered by business for real. Maybe. Is the iPhone tough enough (I will drop it)? Is Apple’s business support and customer service robust enough for the enterprise? Does it work well enough across the globe? That remains to be seen. And maybe it doesn’t matter. As Michael Gartenberg, analyst at JupiterResearch was quoted in Computerworld, “If the CEO buys an iPhone, it’s a business device, no matter what the IT folks say.” My CEO just asked for the new iPhone. Maybe I should get two. June 5, 2008
Early in my technology career I helped design and develop a system that tracked product through a meat processing plant—from raw meat coming in, to packaged cold cuts, hotdogs and sausages going out. The system helped you know how much of each meat product and ingredient you had and where it was in the plant. But the primary objective of the system was to ensure a quality, consistent and healthy product. To that end, it tracked the movement of every ingredient and batch throughout the entire process ensuring that any problem that was found at any point (like a contaminant in the meat) could be instantly traced back to its origin and fixed. Today we use technology to track our customers’ movements through the digital space—from their initial interactions with banner ads, email and mobile campaigns, through every click on our sites. To what objective? We build systems to make sense of these movements so that we can put the appropriate offer or complementary product in front of our customer at the right moment (often with the hopes of increasing conversions or total order size). But like the meat processing example, don’t forget quality. Use your tracking information to ensure a quality and consistent experience—one where the customer is not getting lost in clicks, experiencing dead-end searches or tripping over broken links. Use this information to find the origin of the problem and fix it. Your customers are expecting it. |
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Last October at the annual Adobe MAX conference, 
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