WebSmart TV in the News

Posted on February 17, 2010 by rbirkey

Headstand Media received a nice boost today on Ruth Ratney’s REEL CHICAGO website (Thank You!). The article entitled “Videos give “average Joes” basic web knowledge - Headstand Media boutique produces terminology Vblogs“ was written by Chris Shogren-Thompson based upon interviews with Benjamin Nelson, Headstand’s Creative Director, and background research. The article focuses on Headstand Media’s recent soft launch of WebSmart TV, a vlog site that delivers a series of videos that explain the basics of the web in about a minute, to average business people.

We did ask REEL how they found out about WebSmart TV, and the best we can tell, it had to do with some online searching using keywords such as: chicago and video. Seems like our SEO knowledge may have helped a bit here!

I would just like to clarify a point mentioned in the article regarding McDonald’s (This clarification has since been corrected on the ReelChicago.com website).

About McDonald's - New Corporate Website

Headstand Media does not design and maintain 200 of McDonald’s internal websites as the article reports. To date, Headstand Media has worked on, designed or re-designed about 20 of those 200+ internal sites and we are being asked to work on more of them every month that passes. However Headstand Media did design, produce and still helps to maintain McDonald’s public corporate website called About McDonald’s (http://www.aboutmcdonalds.com). If you’ve never visited it, you should check it out. There are lot’s of good stories about McDonald’s that we bet you never knew linked right on the home page, and the company historical timeline is a lot of fun to explore.

This site was designed and developed by Headstand Media in Day Software’s enterprise web content management system called Communique. The most recent version (v5.3) is referred to in the industry as CQ5. Headstand Media and STA Group are Day Software professional partners and intimately familiar with the underlying open source technologies, tools and frameworks it is built upon.

It should also be noted that if you “Google” the terms “CQ5 design” or “CQ5 development” you will find Headstand Media as a top result… worldwide (Please note that Day Software is an international firm headquartered in Basel, Switzerland)! That’s because Headstand Media also knows what they are doing when it comes to SEO (search engine optimization).

A Biblical Perspective on Helping the Poor

Posted on February 16, 2010 by rbirkey

My nephew-in-law, Chris Horst works for Hope International, a Christian based micro-finance and micro-lending organization. He lives in Denver, and has a WordPress blog site called Smorgasblurb, and I just noticed this recent post as being particularly good. It’s called Monthly Musings: Cocaine Charity. I encourage you to check it out.

What is SEO?

Posted on February 16, 2010 by rbirkey

Again, the creative team over at the Chicago web design firm, Headstand Media has produced another great WebSmart TV video answering the burning question, “What is SEO?“ These videos are meant to educate the average business person who hears terms like SEO, tagging, CSS, vlogs and many others tossed around, but really have no idea what they mean. The videos are about 1 minute long and are very easy to understand.

Life in Stages

Posted on February 14, 2010 by rbirkey

I have a friend named Lee Hoffner whose wife Anne has cancer. I met Lee back in the days of my involvement with The Association for Multimedia Communications (AMC). We are still both involved in the Internet/Web industry.

Lee and Anne live in Wheaton and attend College Church, where they met in the choir about 5-6 years ago. They have been married about 5 years now. They just left yesterday on a long road trip out west. I have helped them get a blog site set up to share their travel thoughts and experiences. I encourage anyone interested to check it out, and to pray for them on this journey.

Life In Stages

IndyMac Slap in Your Face!

Posted on February 8, 2010 by rbirkey

A friend just sent me this link to a video and blog site (Think Big Work Small) that I found very informative. This video explains in plain, simple English how the government (FDIC) gave a sweetheart deal to a bank called OneWest Bank, owned by Steven Munchen and investors George Soros and John Paulson. They are profiting big time at tax payer expense.

IndyMac Slap in Your Face Video

This video explaining the taxpayer rip-off will feel like a slap in the face!

Tim Tebow Super Bowl Commercial

Posted on February 8, 2010 by rbirkey

Well there it was, aired within the first quarter of the Super Bowl, the much discussed, much criticized and maligned Tim Tebow Super Bowl ad. As I watched it, I kept waiting for the hatred, the insensitivity, the objectionable content that so many said was offensive, outrageous and unacceptable for public viewing… especially during the Super Bowl.

I missed the offensive part!

All I heard and saw was 30 seconds of a Mom telling her story about her son and then a website URL to find out more about the story! CBS did the right thing to air the commercial, and to ignore the critics. It was entirely within the rights of Focus on the Family to negotiate the deal and then air the public service message they wanted to get out. They have a constitutional right to do that and to spend their money as they choose. It was entirely appropriate for the best college football player in history to use the platform that he has earned to get out a personal message in a manner of his choosing. No one coerced him into doing this.

The fact remains, that had Bob and Pam Tebow followed their doctor’s advice, the world would not have Tim Tebow today. That’s a sobering thought that cannot be denied. How many other exceptional people like Tim have been sacrificed since Roe v. Wade? Could one of them have already found a cure for cancer? Could one of them have become the President of the United States? Run the numbers. The statistics say that we have sacrificed a huge resource on the altar of self convenience and expediency.

FocusOnTheFamily.com
Celebrate Family. Celebrate Life.

I applaud Tim’s parents for the choice for life that they made. I applaud Tim for speaking up for what he believes is best, and for putting those beliefs into action. I applaud Focus on the Family for getting the Tebow story out in a sensitive, classy, positive manner.

Resources

Tim Tebow Foundation – exists to bring faith, hope and love to those needing a brighter day in their darkest hour of need.
Bob Tebow Evangelistic Association – serving the Philippines
Focus on the Family – More about the Tim Tebow Story

Sprint HTC Hero on Android

Posted on February 5, 2010 by rbirkey

Well, earlier this week I went to my local Sprint store, and upgraded from my Palm Centro (over 2 years) to a new HTC Hero running on Google’s “Android” operating system.

My new Sprint HTC Hero running on Google Android

This means that I no longer have a physical keyboard (the Centro’s was too small for my large hands anyway), and I no longer use a stylus for pointing and clicking. I now have a true “touch screen” instead. I am still getting used to the new operating system, locations of features, typing with my fingers — but so far I am very impressed and pleased with this phone.

New features that I did not have before include:

GPS
Wi-Fi
A very robust Android Apps Store with thousands of applications, and more being developed all the time.
Voice activated commands – even over Bluetooth, so I can control the phone while riding my motorcycle!
Full integration and synchronization with all of Google’s web apps for business: calendar, email, documents, contacts, search, voice, maps, latitude, wave, chat, goggles, etc.
Full control over and integration with social media sites such as WordPress, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, and many others.
Zooming in and out on web page content.
A 5 MegaPixel camera with flash
A standard size headphone jack for listening to music.
Standard USB connection cable for linking to my MacBook Pro or other computer devices for file transfers, etc.
Personalization of the interface with my own backgrounds, layout of widgets and preferences.

It’s a great size and weight, fits in my hand and pocket very nicely and “looks cool” with that big bright screen. Being a person that needs bifocal corrective lenses, this larger screen is easier for me to read as well. I’ve noticed that the added features also drain the battery quicker than the Centro… but I think there are some power management apps that I can download to help me increase that time.

Some may be wondering why a long-time Mac guy like me (since 1987) went with this phone instead of the iPhone? It’s pretty simple. I don’t like limited choices. I refuse to be “forced” to use AT&T when other carriers are superior is service and price. I think that was a very bad decision on Apple’s part. I like Googles approach to supply a fantastic OS that is open and can be developed by a wider group and for a potentially larger audience, with a number of different carriers. I think the healthy competition in this space between Apple and Google will be good for everyone!

I’m doing my part!

Cast Your Vote

Posted on February 2, 2010 by rbirkey

I got up and went to my polling place this morning on Oak Park, Illinois, and cast my votes in the Republican Primary. I used one of the newer “computer” voting machines. I was voter #1 on my machine, in my precinct. It felt good.

I urge you to go to your polling place and cast your vote today in either party. That’s how the system works, and it works best when all legal citizens participate.

Here is a final video from the candidate I supported for Illinois Governor – Dan Proft.