Joshua R. Davis

Google provides internet with launch of Google Fiber and Google Fiber TV

Joshua Davis — Mon, 30 Jul 2012 02:03:00 +0000

Google has finally announced their new super fast internet service called Google Fiber. And when I say fast, I mean 100 times faster than your average connection in the US!

How Google Fiber Works:

Google has been physically installing fiber optic cable throughout Kansas City that will connect directly to homes, businesses, and public buildings. Both upload and download speed will be 1gbps (gigabit per second). 1 gigabit is equal to 1024 megabits. To give a comparison my comcast download speed is 16.62 mbps and upload speed is a measly 4.18 mbs.

What you can do with Google Fiber?

Google Fiber isn’t just fast internet though, it’s going to be bundled with Google Fiber TV to allow you to watch full HD television cable programs. Not only that, but it will integrate with your current DVR, ondemand service, netflix, and more. It will have a tiny receiver box for each TV in the home with built-in Wi-Fi, bluetooth, and ethernet connections. It will also play nicely with your current video game systems. Your TV experience will also be better as you will be able to watch TV on your tablet, use it as a remote, and watch different shows on different TV’s / devices all at the same time.

So how do I get Google Fiber?

Unfortunatly right now it’s only available to Kansas City residents. Google is holding “rallies” to gather communities together that are interested in the service. The first rally is 6 weeks and pre-registration has already started at https://fiber.google.com/about.

Why Kansas City? Well, Google says they wanted it the most. As soon as it becomes available to other locations I’ll update this post.

The official video is below if you want to watch it for yourself.

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Facebook

Joshua Davis — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 15:34:00 +0000

I’m interested in how people are using the new facebook

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Branding

Joshua Davis — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 20:56:00 +0000

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Often times consumers get confused when they hear the term brand. Immediately they think about fancy fonts, colors, and witty tag-lines. They have been conditioned to think that it’s all about what it looks like, branding is so much more than that, and it’s not confusing. If branding then has nothing to do with the actual design, but rather the impression the design leaves, then why is branding important? Simple, consumers need to have unique identifiable brands that they can come to understand, trust, and rely on. Take the following scenario: you walking into a grocery store and need to decide what soup to buy. What brand are you going to trust if they all had generic packaging? A brand is simply how consumers perceive a company. That’s it. So before you hire some expensive agency to design you a flashy logo, some web development company to increase your SEO, or some marketing agency to increase your ROI remember the one key fundamental: it is about your consumers perception. Not that those are not necessarily good ideas, as long as you don’t get caught up in the hype. That is why social media has become so important. It has allowed anyone to have a successful company of any size, as long as they are focused on how they interact with customers. It takes your company to a personal level and with one on one interactions between you and your customers. Instant feedback is priceless. Not sure if you’re latest product will sell to your target audience? Post it on facebook and ask for comments , give it away free to early adopters, or hold a contest. The more engaged your customers are the better. But, be warned, there are no filters. If someone wants to say something bad about your product or bash your company for no reason, they can. It is all about how you respond to the situation. We have entered an economy of liking or sharing, so feel free to post your experiences or ideas with how social media influences your brand.

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Delicioussssssssssuuuuuuuuuucks

Joshua Davis — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 20:29:00 +0000

In response to the newly designed delicious.com website:

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11 Mac Apps and Design Resources for only $49

Joshua Davis — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 21:49:00 +0000

Find out more…

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World Media Awards

Joshua Davis — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 19:51:00 +0000

The World Media Awards exists to recognize and reward great contributions to media from bloggers and publishers. It will culminate in a 1 day event in San Francisco that will celebrate the best in blogging, forums, publishing and media from around the world. So if you are a world class blogger, why should you enter?

1. Get Recognized – You Deserve It!
You put a lot of effort into making your blog incredible. You know it and your readers know it. The World Media Awards is a way for you to get authoritative recognition from other bloggers and industry experts. That recognition will help you build your readership, make new collaborative connections, and hopefully have great moments that make all the late nights even more rewarding.

2. Meet Other Bloggers Who Care
Blogging, forums and most other online media is about conversation and interaction, but sometimes it’s easy to end up pecking away behind a monitor in your office or home all alone. Meeting other bloggers and publishers keeps the fire lit and the conversation going. When you enter the World Media Awards, you’ll be listed alongside other bloggers and publishers who put the same level of pleasure, attention and work into making their blog top notch.

3. Expose Yourself to New Partners
If your blog or forum is part of your organization, being part of the World Media Awards will increase your exposure by putting your name in front of the thousands of visitors to our site and the award ceremony. That means you can find out who else is doing very good work, strut your own stuff, and expand your network of contacts and collaborators.

4. Make Yourself Irresistible to Clients
What helps your chances at winning that next pitch more than expanding your network? Telling that network that you are the winner of a World Media Award. Winning an award shines a light on your achievements, and it serves as an example of the commitment, engagement and exacting standards you apply to your work.

5. Be Part of the Beginning of Something Big
Because 2012 is the first year for these awards, you have the one-time chance to be the inaugural winner and set the standard for the World Media Awards in your category. Getting in on the ground floor of these awards will open doors for you as a blogger and a publisher. The bottom line is, the World Media Awards will shine a spotlight on the year‚ as most successful bloggers and publishers, and on the businesses that serve and interact with them. Now is your chance to be one of them. The sponsors include Growmap, Pace Lattin, VigLink and Trancos. World Media Award judges include Steve Hall, Sarah Austin, Chang Kim, Julie Wohlberg, Pierre Zarokian, Ivka Adam, Cheryl Contee, Krystyl Baldwin, Adrian Harris, Jeremy Wright, Rob Bloggeries, Dave Duarte, Tanya Alvarez, Dana Oshiro, Tom Foremski, and Judith Lewis. hashtag #wmads on Twitter.Media partners include Adrants, Bloggeries, MediaVision, The Affiliate Marketing Awards, Read Write Web, My Blog Guest, Web Traffic Control and FeedBlitz. Murray Newlands is author of How to Make a Blog Book and Online Marketing; a User Guide. He is also founder of the Affiliate Marketing Awards. Born in the UK, he now spends his time in San Francisco and New York. Murray works for Audience Mindshare and consults for Trancos Ins as well as being an advisor for VigLink. Actually he is working on his new book: The Email Marketing Book.

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Wacoms Inkling: A new way take your sketches digital.

Joshua Davis — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 02:53:00 +0000

The Inkling sketch pen uses pressure sensitivity to capture a digital image of your work while you draw on any paper. This is ideal for making quick sketches or brainstorming, and best of all it finally gets rid of the scanner and tablet! The best part is it allows you to create layers with the touch of a button. It’s small and portable, so you can take it anywhere. When you get home, simply plug it in and transfer your drawing to your favorite editing program.

I think I’m in love.

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LogoGargen.com rips off world famous logos and gets away with it!

Joshua Davis — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 23:43:00 +0000

At first glance LogoGarden just looks like another stock logo farm out to scam small businesses with the lure of quick and cheap custom logos. But upon closer inspection we come to find that they’re not ripping off regular joe logo designer, but are going after the big boys. They have stolen the intellectual property rights of some of the most famous brands such as The World Wildlife Fund pictured below.

To show how ridiculous this is, the following was taken directly from their terms and conditions.

LogoGarden retains the copyrights and all associated rights to the original symbols, but the license allows Users to use and display that symbol in the customized logo.

I find this more than a little ironic. LogoGarden has the nerve to steal other logo designs and claim full copyright to them, only to turn around and illegally license it to unlimited users.

The whole purpose of a business seeking out a custom logo is so that it can be uniquely identifiable to them, only used by them, and be copyrighted / trademarked so that if infringement occurs, they could take legal action and protect their brands value and reputation. Once a logo develops brand recognition, customers associate it with certain core values like trust, quality, reliability, experience, etc. All of which take years to develop and therefore has a priceless value.

What gets me the most is how the word custom is abused so much recently. If it is not created from scratch, it’s not custom. Sometimes I wonder how people can fall for a scam like this, but that’s what happens when you’re looking for a quick solution. As a head’s up some other “custom” logo sites that have been know to sell mass generic logos or just flat out rip offs include: logoworks, logoyes, quicklogo, and more. Basically if it says fast, cheap, and has a large selection of pre-made designs to choose from, RUN!

Moral of the story? There are no shortcuts in life. There is no such thing as do it yourself logo design service. There is only old fashioned, time consuming, do it yourself work. Or you could hire someone that creates logo designs for a living. Just an idea.

I first found out about LogoGarden from Jeff Fisher who has the misfortune of multiple instances of his logo designs being ripped off.

I hope it spreads that what LogoGarden and similar sites are doing is not only a scam, but also theft.

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Why Microsoft a.k.a. Bing still Sucks!

Joshua Davis — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 21:06:00 +0000

No matter how many chances I give microsoft to redeem themselves I find time and time again that their products and services just plain suck. After buying Windows machines all my life I finally got fed up and bought a Mac. No problems ever since. I tried using Bing once and gave up because I could not get good search results. After being thoughouly disgusted with them, I thought why not give them one more chance and use bing’s webmaster services? No need to sign up, just log in with Facebook and this will be quick and simple. Nope. Didn’t work. Had to sign up for an account. After the signup form rejected my password several times I finally got an account and loged in. Bing! I get presented with this lovely message. Goodbye forever Microsoft!

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Get a Free T-shirt Design!

Joshua Davis — Sat, 26 Feb 2011 21:55:00 +0000

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