Think Tank: Technology

Monday, September 06, 2010

We're Big Fans
May 21, 08:51 AM by HM Copywriter

Like pretty much any creative company, we’re big on technology and design. We like new. We like shiny. We like brushed aluminum anything. No, this isn’t an Apple promo. It’s a hat-tip to a really great application (okay, three applications) called Evernote. Evernote makes up for one of my largest shortcomings as a human being (I said ONE OF), my inability to retain important information. Trivial information, I have covered. But there’s plenty of stuff you only need to remember every 60 days. Like the alarm code. Your license plate. The ingredients to Vietnamese Chicken Salad.

With Evernote, you just type it in and “presto!” It’s stored, so you can recall it whenever you need to, saving your brain for important stuff like, “Who was that guy from Public Enemy who wore the big clock?’. And it gets better: It’s a web app, a desktop app, and a mobile phone app (iPhone and Blackberry). So when you’re in the Asian aisle, trying to remember what goes into Vietnamese Chicken Salad, Evernote has your back.

Is it perfect? Nope. But it’s a great idea, executed extremely well. If you’re not Keith Richards, who can pay a man to remember things for him, check it out. (And if you ARE Keith Richards, maybe you can trim your staff by one.)

HM Copywriter : Chia Racer

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Geeze Mindscape ...
May 15, 02:06 PM by HM Copywriter

Congratulations to Pete, Paul and the entire Mindscape @ Hanon McKendry Crew!

As if winning Grand Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce’s Small Business of the Year wasn’t enough, Mindscape finished out the week by being named one of the top 10 Most dependable web development firms in Central United States for the 2nd year in a row – featured in Forbes Magazine May 25th edition!

But can they dance?

HM Copywriter : Cindi Walther

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Lent vs. Facebook
Mar 23, 11:21 AM by HM Copywriter

It happens once a year. Millions of Catholics are faced with the same decision. What to give up for the ensuing Lent season.* For most it’s the old stand-by, chocolate or sweeties in general. For other, more adventurous types, the list of options can expand into television, music and most recently—social interaction?

Now before your brain goes off the deep end, let me clarify. No, they are not chewing through an agglomeration of unused PTO and heading to the Himalayas. Or, locking themselves in the hallway broom closet only to emerge for potty breaks and an occasional tuna fish sandwich. They’re simple not logging on.

Oops, did I say social interaction? My bad. I meant social networking. You’re reading this blog, so I’m guessing you’re fairly tech savvy. I’d also bet that you own at least one home computer and two email accounts. More likely, I’d wager my mother’s secret flan recipe that you inhabit a MySpace and or Facebook page.

Would I be wrong? Statistics show that MySpace and Facebook are the most frequented social networking sites on the web. According to comScore Networks, an online measurement firm, MySpace attracted 64.4 million unique visitors in February. Facebook was the Internet’s second-most visited site, with 23.6 average visits per visitor during February. So, on average, one visit per hour.

Now I don’t know much about addiction. The closest I’ve come to junkie-hood was the summer of 2002, when I did everything I could to hide the White Castle on my breath. (BTW, not possible). Still at one visit per hour, I can’t imagine going cold turkey on the SN is any easy task.

From an article posted by CNN:

[Many users describe the popular social networking sites as addictive, which is why they say giving up these 21st-century temptations is a sincere sacrifice. Members on both sites create profiles and add each other as friends. They can also share messages, photos, videos and personal blogs.

“It’s been hard, especially in the beginning,” said Kerry Graham, who says she gave up Facebook for Lent. Her boyfriend challenged her to do so, describing her as a “Facebook fiend.” During the first days of Lent, the 23-year-old graduate student admits she had to stop herself from typing the site’s Web address nearly every time she checked her e-mail. Graham, who was raised Catholic, is studying theology at the University of Nottingham in England. She’s far from her hometown of Baltimore, Maryland, and said the distance has made the sacrifice more difficult. “If I’m missing someone, there’s no real way to let them know,” she said. ]

Perhaps Kerrie has forgotten about the tel-e-phone.

Cindi Walther: HM Copywiter

*Catholics and others who observe Lent typically make sacrifices as a way to show religious devotion. Lent lasts from Ash Wednesday to Easter and correlates with the 40 days and 40 nights that the Bible says Jesus spent in the wilderness, fasting and resisting temptation.

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Oops, Sorry ...
Aug 11, 02:40 PM by HM Copywriter

The Mojave experiment? Sounds like something involving a nuke.
Well in this case it was, and the mushroom cloud is sporting a gigantic Microsoft logo.

http://adage.com/garfield/post?article_id=130250

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