Erich Stauffer

Author: Erich Stauffer

  • Twitter API Not Available – Twitter Over Capacity

    Twitter is over capacity. Too many tweets! Please wait a moment and try again

    I use both Tweetdeck and Twitter itself to post messages, or tweets, to update both my account, the accounts of my businesses and brands, and the accounts of my customers.  It’s really frustrating when the Twitter API (the connection between third-party programs like Tweetdeck and Twitter) and/or the website is unavailable.  I’ve somewhat learned the times when Twitter is most busy and tried to avoid these times, but this is a trade off.  Because of the way Twitter works, you have to be kind of “in the moment” to matter.  Yes, followers can go back and look at old tweets, but for the most part, they are only looking at their current stream and if you aren’t in it when they are, they don’t see you.

    Why is Twitter so Overloaded All the Time?

    Twitter has become the SMS of the Internet. Because of its restricted 140 characters per post, It has become the hottest thing in social networking. Every one from big companies, to  CEO’s to teens uses Twitter. The more popular the site becomes the more load there is on the servers and the software running on that server.  The original code used to run Twitter, Ruby on Rails, didn’t scale well, but that has been in the process of being fixed for a while now.  The issue now may be the simple lack of available servers.  However, the new Twitter interface seems to be more available than the old one which could indicate that the new profiles are running on both new software and new hardware platforms.

    Graph of Twitter Usage Throughout the Day

  • Erich Stauffer Web Design

    Erich Stauffer WordPress Web Design and Development for Small Businesses in the Greater Indianapolis Area

    When our sales managers started to realize that what customers really cared about was the ability to control their own website, they realized that they were not just selling great looking web design and SEO services, but control and access to their websites, and the ability to change text or add pages as needed. From this point it was decided to be more transparent about the content management system (CMS) they were using to support their clients: WordPress.

    WordPress is an open source CMS, originally used as a blog publishing application powered by PHP and MySQL, but has since been expanded to be able to support almost any web site. It has many features including a plugin architecture and a templating system and is used by over 12% of the top 1 million websites.

    The most popular CMS in use today, WordPress was first released on May 27, 2003 and has since added features like integrated link management, a search engine-friendly permalink structure, the ability to assign nested, multiple categories to posts, and support for tagging. Finally, WordPress has a rich plugin architecture which allows users and developers like us to extend its functionality beyond the features that come as part of the base install.

    By embracing WordPress and having more upfront pricing, we think this greater transparency will lead to a better customer relationship over time. If you are interested in working with friendly, professional, and experienced WordPress developers, contact us today.

  • How France Came to be so French: A Brief History

    “In general, when you value drinking wine and napping over a productive day at work you get farmers who hibernate over the winter and 35 hour work weeks, but specifically, the following explains how France went from leading the crusades in Europe and the Middle East to surrendering to Germany in World War II.

    Around a thousand years ago the Turks view of their Muslim religion changed from one of peace to one more militant and so they decided to take over the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, which was being shared peacefully between Muslims, Jews, and Christians. French nobles (wealthy members of class, much like the 17 kings of Muncie) wanted to rescue Jerusalem from the Turks so they formed the Templars, rode out, and rooted the Turks (and all the other peaceful Muslims too since they were unable to tell them apart). Afterward, the Templars spent a couple of years digging under the mount (like me, that was their favorite thing to do after writing/routing Turks). Once they found King Solomon’s treasure, they headed back to France and started the banking industry. The King of France made them knights and the Pope recognized them as a state. The Knight Templars began loaning governments money and were considered the most powerful group on the planet. They invented checking accounts and insurance, but when King Phillip of France got behind on his bills, he needed to get rid of the Templars. The only way to do this was for the Pope to disband them. The current Pope wouldn’t do it, so Phillip had that Pope killed and installed his buddy, who did. The Templars were then captured, tortured, and killed, thereby leaving France with the legacy of not having to work to pay for anything, just kill people. That’s what the French Revolution was all about.”

  • Google Set to Launch Chrome App Store

    Google to Launch Chrome App Store in Time for HTC Tablet in November

    Google plans to launch its Chrome App Store in October, Google executives told a German Gamescom audience in Germany this week in August. This store will essentially be Google’s iTunes, supporting devices like the HTC Tablet running Chrome OS, due out in November.

    The HTC device is said to have a relationship with Verizon.  This is critical as most of the ‘big iron’ in the tablet will be in the cloud and apps may not be able to run without being connected to the Internet.  Questions remain on whether or not there will be caps on the data plans like AT&T did to iPhone users, but this may be the new normal.

    Again, like Apple, Google will be opening up the opportunity for developers to write programs and apps for Chrome and Chrome OS in exchange for a cut of each sale, rumored to be at 5%. The app store would be available to users of its Chrome browser and the Chrome OS, which means the potential market is much bigger than just tablet PC users running the Chrome OS as Chrome can be ran on any computer.  It will be interesting to see both how the store performs and how people like using mobile devices that only work when connected to the Internet, ala cloud computing-style.  I personally use a HTC Droid, which mostly only works when connected, so maybe it will be okay.

  • Facebook Buys Chai Labs’ for Semantic Search Technology

    Facebook has acquired online search company Chai Labs for $10 million

    As Facebook vies to compete with Google and expand it’s search functionality from searching Facebook.com to searching the world wide web, it has looked to a vertically focused company steeped in Internet glory including Netscape and Andreessen Horowitz co-founder Marc Andreessen, LinkedIn chairman Reid Hoffman, and Google Ventures general partner Joe Kraus who are all investors and/or advisors at Chai Labs.

    Chai Labs specializes in a technology it calls “Semantic Search,” which “uses proprietary crawling, artificial intelligence and data mining technologies to analyze and extract insights from millions of real-time data points across the web,” according to the company’s website. The “Semantic Web” is a term coined by World Wide Web creator Sir Tim Berners-Lee, which is a, “New form of Web content that is meaningful to computers.” The semantic web is gaining momentum as HTML5 includes more support for it.

    So what does Facebook want with the semantic web?

    Unlike when it has aquired online sharing sites like Friendfeed* and ShareGrove or purchased Web-based image-hosting companies like Divvyshot, Facebook’s purchase of Chai Labs does not have an immediately apparent value to users-the value it seems, is to Facebook who may be able to use the semantic functionality to hone search results based on a person’s profile, making results theoretically more accurate. While Facebook does have a built-in search engine that lets users search the entire Internet (which is basically just an embedded Bing engine), many users still use Google or Yahoo for search, but Facebook is trying to change that. While Google is trying to become more like Facebook by creating Orkut, purchasing Jaikut (and then abandoning it), rolling out Wave (and then pulling it back), and now Buzz (and possibly a Buzz/Wave combo called Google Me), Facebook is trying to become more like Google.  Why?

    Follow the Money

    Search engines and social networks both make money by selling ads and they are successful at doing so because ads are displayed to the users most likely to click on them (and purchase the product or service).  How they are able to do this has everything to do with the purchase of Chai Labs.  The more targeted search results are, the more likely users will find ads relevant, and the more likely users are to click, which makes Google and Facebook gobs of cash.  While Google makes some money from Google Apps customers, the majority of their revenue is from ad sales and Facebook wants a piece of that pie.  This is all part of the recipe.

    *FriendFeed’s executive team included Paul Buchheit, creator and lead developer of Google Gmail, and Bret Taylor, who was responsible for the launch of Google Maps. Taylor is now chief technology officer of Facebook.

  • What if Microsoft Bob Was Released Today as Microsoft’s Social Network

    I am one of the 58,000 Microsoft Bob users from 1995 and to celebrate 15 years I thought I’d write a fake news article imagining what Bob would be like today if released as a social network.

    Microsoft Announces ‘Bob’ Social Network Based on Microsoft Bob
    Could this be a Facebook killer?

    Microsoft Bob, the toy operating system within an operating system, which debuted in 1995, is now back in a big way as a new social network. Although revolutionary at the time, the three dimensional software that let you store and retrieve files from an actual file cabinet in a virtual office room is regarded as one of the worst applications ever made after Windows ME. But this version of Bob hopes to change that perception and get back to Microsoft’s original interpretation of Neil Stephenson’s Metaverse by taking the house, rooms, and avatar to a new level. In the same way that you got to your PC’s desktop in Bob .’95, at Bob.com PCs are used like widgets to display RSS feeds or Facebook. In Facebook terms, your profile is your house in Bob. When someone is “viewing your profile” on Bob you will see their avatar in your house if you are logged in and there too.

    How is this different than Second Life?

    In Second Life there is a virtual world that you explore and create things like houses in. In Bob, the world is created by you building a house, liking a band, or following a friend. Each time you add something to Bob it gets a physical place in your virtual Bob world. Each user’s world will look different un layout, but the content of each unit will be the same to all users. For example, if you want to live next door to Ace Freely and he agrees to be your friend, his house would be next to yours, but from his perspective, your house may be blocks from his in his Bob world.

    Integration

    Because Microsoft is involved expect to be able to integrate pictures and files from your PC in Bob, which will use Azure and will enable sharing and collaborations much like the Microsoft / Facebook project, Docs.com. Also Bing search and maps will be used. Expect Bing local search to be heavily promoted as businesses get on board and begin joining. Unlike Facebook, expect to be able to buy things from shops you have added to your network.

    Summary and Analysis

    In the same way we didn’t need a layer on top of Windows 95 to use Windows 95 I’m not sure we need an Internet world layered on top of our existing Internet, but it would be nice to hang out with other friends in their avatar forms in some sweet man cave I built in my FRIGGIN mansion on Bob.

  • Introducing My Latest Endeavor: Cost Publishing

    Cost Publishing Media Group, or Cost Pub for short, is a collection of personal blogs, informative web sites, and web directories. This extensive content network’s mission is to filter and codify information relative to each web site’s respective topic. All blogs, web sites, and directories are free to read and use and readers are encouraged to subscribe to RSS feeds and follow them on Twitter and Facebook. Each site will eventually have its own Tumblr site, which is an up-and-coming social network you’ll be hearing about more in the future and ebooks, or digitions, are a natural next step for this market.

    Cost Pub is dedicated to relevant, insightful writing that is kept fresh and up to date on a regular basis. We are proud of what Cost Pub has accomplished and where it is going as a platform and network. They only work with the most talented writers so if you know of anyone who may be interested in joining their team, let the editor at Cost Publishing Media Group know by sending in a note at their contact page on their web site. Guest blogging opportunities are also available both at one of Cost Pub’s web sites or blogs and by our writers on your web site or blog. We look forward to seeing what Cost Pub can do and enjoy reading daily.

  • Introducing a Brand New Way to Market Your Business

    Grow Your Business Organically

    A lot of SEO companies market how they will promote your business online using Internet marketing and online advertising techniques, but Erich Stauffer noticed a gap between where promotion stops and business begins and so we used social media management to not just promote your business, but grow your business.

    Digital Marketing Strategy

    We’ll work with you to create a comprehensive strategy to marry your business brand, vision, values, products, and services with traditional outdoor, radio, TV, and yellow page advertising alongside social networking and social spaces like Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and other technologies like apps for the iPhone and Android phones.

    SEO is Not Enough – Content Marketing

    It’s no longer enough to have a top-ranking website in Google if your web site is not converting traffic, your story is not consistent, and you are not creating lasting relationships with customers. Erich Stauffer can help you to do all three with content marketing.

    Social Media Management

    We are excited to offer social media management to help your business organize and streamline their marketing efforts with a consistent message that is in-line with their mission, vision, and values. We believe so strongly about this product that we would be happy to take you out to lunch to show you how it works in a one-on-one session. Are you interested in learning more?

  • The 8-Bit Generation

    The 8-Bit Generation are those born in or around 1980 who knew a time before Nintendo, Nickelodeon, and personal computers.  Their favorite video games are The Legend of Zelda, Super Mario Bros, and Final Fantasy.  Their technology’s performance could still be influenced by blowing harder on the controller or by demagnetizing the tape deck before use.  If you said, “I don’t know,” you were likely to get slime dumped on your head.  In 1986 Double Dare debuted and the Space Shuttle Challenger blew up.  We knew technology could fail us and that we were all still human after all, but we all still had land lines and it was expensive to call long distance.  900 numbers ruled late night television when Nick at Night was still playing My Three Sons.  Nowadays it plays past episodes of Full House, the same show that played when the 8-Bit Generation was in elementary school.

    Some elementary schools had Apple II’s, but by the time they got to middle school, public schools had begun buying personal computers (PCs) running DOS and the first versions of Microsoft Office.  By high school they would have PCs running Windows 95 and the Internet.  They would be the last generation to grow up without having the Internet their entire high school career and the last generation to not have cell phones in the class room.  The closest any of the 8-bit generation had to a cell phone in high school was a beeper because most cell phone’s batteries were so large you could only use them in your car.  Most Internet connections at home were dial-up and AOL ruled the land with it’s floppy disks.  The first CD-R drives cost $400, more than some computers cost today.

    The 8-Bit Generation went to college in the middle of the Dot Com Crash and 9/11.  They graduated with less hope of finding a job than their immediate predecessors, Generation X.  They still dressed like they did in high school.  They think a Polo over a t-shirt and some stone-washed jeans is cool and if you swap the pants for some khakis and add a sweater they’re dressed up.  They believe white shoes are for dorks and prefer leather shoes like Dockers or Doc Marten’s.  They think of Angelina Jolie more of a Hacker than of Salt. They believe the future is possible and that it is here.  They don’t want to work, but they will.  Not everything was handed to them, but they did have it easier than their parents, but their children may not.  Those children, the sons and daughters of the 8-Bit Generation are now in kindergarten and elementary school.  They are using iPhones and iPads to communicate and play games.  They’ve never known anything other than always-on broadband Internet, streaming movies, video games on cell phones, and text messaging (they don’t even know or care what AOL is).  They are the 64-Bit Generation.

    Other Signs that the 8-Bit Generation is Now Running the Show

    This year (2010) we’ve seen Toyota recall vehicles for sticky accelerators and engines that randomly stop.  We’ve seen cereal from Kellog’s and medicine from Johnson and Johnson recalled for weird smells and tastes. And we’ve seen a steady stream of just downright bad-for-you stuff from China including cadmium-covered glasses at McDonalds.  All signs point to the Nintendo generation being in charge of quality control.  With their “80% is good enough” mentality, most of the stuff we drive, eat, and drink out of is good alright, but it’s that last 20% that is questionable.  Is this a sign of things to come?  What happens when the 8-bit generation takes over the power grid, the water system, and air traffic controls? I guess having power for 80% of the day is better than Baghdad, and that’s good enough for me.