Matrix Group International

Category: Blog

  • Thank Goodness for Citizen Journalists During Hurricane Ike

    Thank Goodness for Citizen Journalists During Hurricane Ike

    When my in-laws were told to evacuate their home in Houston last week, they were lucky; they managed to book a flight out to our home in VA before the two Houston airports closed down.  We spent Saturday and Sunday watching the news and hoping their friends and home were safe.  The most frustrating part about watching the news was the lack of local news — news about the neighborhoods, the houses, the schools, the people. Thank goodness for the citizen journalists of Houston.

    While CNN, MSNBC, and all the networks showed the same footage of the Hilton’s wall falling off, and the Houston highway that was six feet under water, my in-laws wanted to know how their Clear Lake neighborhood was doing.  Did everyone evacuate?  Is everyone okay?  Did the bayou flood?  How much tree damage was there?  Does the neighborhood have power?

    Slowly, and then more rapidly, especially by Monday afternoon, we got lots of information from the citizen journalists of Houston.

    Here is a YouTube video of a couple driving down the highway looking for their boat.  This road is close to where my in-laws live. (more…)

  • Millions Commemorate 9/11 on the Web

    Millions Commemorate 9/11 on the Web

    On the anniversary of that fateful day seven years ago, many of us paused, reflected, read the news, watched TV, and yes, many of us turned to the Web to help us remember.

    Here’s a roundup of the some of the official or particularly good 9/11 sites I’ve seen.

    The Pentagon Memorial was dedicated today.  This is the first of the 9/11 memorials at the official sites to be built and completed.  There’s a separate site for the fundraising effort.

    The Twin Towers Memorial and Museum site has videos and information about the memorial.

    The Flight 93 Memorial Fund has a tribute to the heroes who died in Shanksville, PA and prevented a third tragedy.

    The Families of September 11 site has a state by state listing of activities.

    911 Memorials features a list of memorials around the country and the world.

    Here’s a popular 9/11 video on YouTube.

    There’s even a 911 memorial in Second Life.  You have to have an account to see it, but you can read about the memorial.

    There are thousands of news and conspiracy sites, but on this day, all I wanted to do was remember and reflect.  If you found a site that was particularly moving, I’d love to hear about it.

  • My Favorite Free (Or Nearly Free) Road Warrior Tools

    My Favorite Free (Or Nearly Free) Road Warrior Tools

    Here’s my dilemma: I want to be able to resize images, but I am not a designer, I don’t need to do fancy designer-y things and I don’t want to shell out $650 for Photoshop or even $90 for Photoshop Elements.  I feel the same way about Adobe Acrobat: I just want to create PDFs, not manipulate them or optimize them, and I don’t want to pay $280 for Acrobat (the full version, just the reader).

    For the not-so-power-users like me, it doesn’t make sense to pay hundreds of dollars for programs that are overkill for my needs. Luckily, I’ve found a host of free (or ridiculously inexpensive) programs that are just right for my needs.  Here’s a list of my favorites:

    Gimp is an open-source graphics program. It’s a small download, easy to use, and it lets me resize images in three steps (select Scale, type your preferred image size, then press Scale).  Since I write and post my own blog posts, Gimp lets me be self-sufficient and not bother the busy designers and webmasters at Matrix Group.  Price: $0.

    Neevia is a super-easy PDF creator that installs as a print driver. I can make PDFs out of anything, including Word, Excel, Powerpoint files and Web pages.  All I do is press Print, select docuprinter, and enter the directory where I want the PDF saved.  Price: $19 (less if you buy a site license) (more…)

  • It’s an HD World

    It’s an HD World

    High Definition (HD) is everywhere. The Blu-ray format has won the HD DVD war and I’m seeing a lot more Blu-ray movies at my local video store and retail stores. As I mentioned in a previous post, Apple TV and the PS3 now have HD videos on demand.

    Earlier this year, Microsoft released Silverlight, their answer to Adobe’s Flash. The official Web site describes Silverlight as “a cross-browser, cross-platform, and cross-device plug-in for delivering the next generation of .NET based media experiences and rich interactive applications for the Web.” I downloaded Silverlight in order to watch the Democratic National Convention live, in HD. The picture was unbelievably crisp and the audio was terrific. BTW, I checked; no HD feed on the official Republican Convention site.

    I didn’t realize it, but the NBC Olympics Web site had videos powered by Silverlight (not in HD, however). Here’s a link to a video feed of the closing ceremony and a PC World article describing what Silverlight allowed the Web site developers to do.

    (more…)

  • Who Needs E-Mail When There’s Facebook?

    Who Needs E-Mail When There’s Facebook?

    I’m noticing a curious trend lately. Instead of sending me e-mail, friends and family are sending me messages through Facebook.

    My niece (age 17) and nephew (age 20) ignore my e-mails. But when I send either of them a message via Facebook, I’m likely to get a message back. When Facebook sends an automated messages about what I’m doing or posting, I might get a hello or an update. My older sister says she gets the same kind of treatment — that she needs to contact her kids through Facebook.

    A friend who lives in Philaldelphia wrote on my Facebook wall to let me know he and his family were coming to the DC area and ask if we were interested in going to the Baltimore Aquarium.

    After our trip to Costa Rica, I posted a few photos to Facebook and sent messages to friends. I’ve even had long lost high school friends send me messages via Facebook even though my e-mail is part of my Facebook profile. Finally, a friend is throwing a party next week and she sent an invite via Facebook.

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  • This is Not Your Father’s Democratic Convention

    This is Not Your Father’s Democratic Convention

    The first night of the Democratic National Convention in Denver was watched by 22 million people who watched the speeches and commentaries on the major networks and cable outlets.  Apparently, more people watched the convention proceedings than in previous years.  But the real story is the proliferation of alternate news outlets that are providing real-time photos, video, news and commentary on the convention activities.

    The array of outlets for political junkies is truly breathtaking.

    The official DNC Web site offers a real-time feed in HD, in English and Spanish.  There was about a 15 second delay, presumably to encode the feed.  But HD in real-time?  Amazing.

    The DNC blog features news and videos. (more…)

  • Does Your CEO Need a Blog?

    Does Your CEO Need a Blog?

    Blog SignSeveral times a week, clients and colleagues ask me if they or their boss should be blogging.  My answer is usually a resounding Yes!, but I also know that a CEO blog usually involves writing on the part of the CEO and CEOs are rarely excited about adding another regular task to their already full plates.  As one client put it, “Joanna, when do you think I have time to blog?”

    Seth Godin, one of my favorite bloggers and Web marketing mavens, says CEOs can’t and shouldn’t blog because they can’t get away from the corporate speak.

    But I say that CEOs can and should blog in order to:

    • comment on what’s important in their field or industry
    • provide thought leadership for customers, staff or members
    • interact with customers, staff or members
    • provide another perspective on the organization and its activities
    • present a friendly (read not corporate speak) face to the world

    Don’t get me wrong.  I’ve had this blog for just a few months and since I write all the posts myself, I know that a blog takes work.  I have to be interesting, post about timely and important topics, and present a perspective that is candid, if not entirely unique.  (I’m not entirely sure I succeed all the time, if at all, but I try anyway.)  It’s a commitment to post twice a week; heck, I posted once while on vacation in Costa Rica last week. (more…)

  • When Google is More Than a Search Engine

    Last week, I needed to convert miles to kilometers.  A couple of weeks ago, I wanted to find a sushi restaurant in Alexandria.  In both cases, I turned to Google.

    We normally think of Google as a really terrific search engine where you type in a keyword or phrase and get results, but here are my favorite tips for getting the most out of your Google searching:

    • You can use Google as a calculator; simply enter the calculation you’d like done into the search box.  Example:  5*9+(sqrt 10)^3=
    • If you want the status of a flight, enter the airline and flight number.  Example:  American 2182
    • If your caller ID is showing an area code you don’t recognize, just type it into Google. Example:  415
    • Want to know how your favorite stock is doing?  Type the ticker into Google.  Example:  MSFT
    • Come across a word you don’t know? Type define before the word.  Example: define obsequious
    • If you’re mobile and need information, simply text message your search query to 466453 (Google on most devices)
    • Looking for a the closest Chinese restaurant, go to maps.google.com and type the address + Chinese (or pizza or Italian or hardware store).  Example: 1033 N.Fairfax Street Alexandria, VA  22314 pizza

    Finally, if you want to know what Google knows about your Web site, try these: (more…)

  • Happy Anniversary, Matrix Group!

    Happy Anniversary, Matrix Group!

    Matrix Group LogoLots happening at Matrix Group these days.  Matrix Group celebrated nine years in business last May 1, 2008, but we didn’t get around to celebrating until a couple of weeks ago.  We also launched a redesign of our Web site last Friday.  The Web site is not quite where we want it to be yet, but check out our website if you want a sneak peak.

    Over nine years ago, around May 1, 1999, I started Matrix Group International, Inc.  We’ve come a long way and we have much to be thankful for — amazing staff, loyal and wonderful clients, supportive friends and partners.  The Washington Business Journal says we’re the 6th largest interactive agency in the DC area.  Some days, I feel the weight of the world on me as a small business owner.  But most days, I’m pretty darn happy to be walking off the elevator, saying good morning to as many peopl as I can, and throwing myself into another busy day. 

    To celebrate our anniversary, we held a staff party at Continental Lounge in Rosslyn.  It was your typical office party in some ways – open bar and good food – but not in others – the Continental has a purple room, a pool table and a Wii.  We also held a pool tournament.  How very Matrix Group.  James and Patricia won the pool tournament, each winning a purple iPod shuffle.  Check out our Flickr feed for photos from the party.  And stay tuned for a Save the Date announcement for next year’s 10-year anniversary party, which is sure to be a big bash.

    Matrix Homepage

    We also launched a new Web site last week.  The new site features:

    • a completely new navigation system.
    • a completely new look and feel, including an updated logo, modified color palette and new branding mini-movies.
    • a portfolio section that shows off samples of our work using an interactive interface; if you check out just one section of the new site, check out our portfolio
    • all new content.
    • related content cross-linked from nearly every page, since every piece of content is categorized.

    We have a lot of tweaks and even some content to finish up, but we found ourselves in the situation that many of our clients find themselves in:  the site was almost ready, we had event coming up (in our case, a job fair/open house), but the site was not perfect.  Do we launch or do we wait until everything is perfect?  In our case, we felt the new site was worlds better than the old site, and we didn’t have glaring errors, so we decided to launch.  We didn’t want to miss the opportunity to show off the new site to candidates and the new site is better for SEO (search engine optimization).  We will tweak over the new couple of weeks, then market the heck out of the new site.  It was terrific for the team to have the new site up and just plain exciting for the entire company.

    This redesign was a fun and illuminating experience for me because I got to play the role of client in every way.  I changed my mind a lot, I was late on content, and I made the designers change the font size at the last minute.  I’m going to do a seminar on the Matrix Group redesign this Fall, so stay tuned for an announcement.

    Last thing: I’m in Costa Rica this week.  I am in an Internet cafe in Guanacaste, on a sloooowwww line.  If you want to follow along in the adventures, you can visit my personal blog at http://jpmkadventures.blogspot.com.  Have a terrific week!

  • Video on Demand from Apple and Sony Not Quite There Yet

    Over the past couple of weeks, my family and I had the opportunity to check out the video on demand services from Apple and Sony. We found the services to be easy to use and competitively priced, but there are still a few kinks to work out in the business models.

    Apple TV vs. Sony PS3

    Let’s start with the Apple service.  We have an Apple TV (we bought ours for $199), which is a device that hooks up to your TV and connects via wireless to your Macintosh computer.  Using the Apple TV, we can stream photos, music and podcasts to our big screen TV.  Perhaps most fun of all, Apple TV has a custom interface for surfing YouTube!  Surfing YouTube as a family, on the big screen, from the comfort of my couch, is wonderful.  And now, we can rent or purchase movies from Apple.

    The Sony service is available on the PS3.  I love our PS3 because I absolutely love Blu-ray.  The Sony service has a good selection of movies, although you’d think that a company like Sony would have a much bigger selection than Apple because it is in the entertainment business, but what do I know about these things.

    (more…)