Posts tagged Working
App Not Working? It Might Be Time To Check The ‘Weather’
May 17th
If you’ve ever used the Internet — and you know who you are — you’ve undoubtedly had apps or various services stop working unexpectedly. For ordinary users, this usually just means no access to Twitter or Gmail for a while. But for developers, whose apps and services rely increasingly heavily on hooks into popular Web services, the problem can be far more complicated.
That’s because modern Web services (and the apps that facilitate them) can fail for a variety of reasons. One of the most common problems arises when some other service has gone down — more specifically, when the application programming interface (API) that lets your app tap into that other service stops working. Trouble is, until recently there hasn’t been an easy way to confirm or rule out API failures.
You Don’t Need A Weatherman…
And that’s where API status dashboards, the weather reports of the Web-service world, come in. Dashboards enable developers and administrators to quickly check to see what’s going on with the API itself. If the API is slowed or offline, then at least you, the developer, know the problem isn’t in your own code. So you can start working with (translate: yelling at) the API vendor to fix the situation.
Zapier, a startup that helps developers integrate APIs into applications, was already using just such a dashboard for its internal purposes. It’s now opened up that API weather report for the world at large. Zapier’s tool is unique in that it covers a lot of APIs for smaller but still useful services out there, not just their mega-service cousins. It should be a stopping point for anyone who is using one of these smaller APIs.
…To Tell You Whether APIs Are Up Or Down
It might seem a little obsessive to be so concerned about an API’s status that we build “weather reports,” but it makes good business sense. Like the air around us, APIs are a type of environment, too. They have to work and be available at any given moment in order to enable connectivity to a given web application and service. When they fail, data exchange can slow down or completely halt.
Of course, API failures aren’t the only things that can bring down a Web service. The service itself could have bad code, or one of the servers might be on the way to failure. Tracking down the exact failure, though, can take a lot of time, especially if hardware failure is ruled out. That leaves the code itself, precipitating a search that could take hours.
So it’s definitely helpful to know right away whether you’ve got an API problem… or something else. ”When a call to an API breaks,” says Zapier CEO and co-founder Wade Foster, ”you don’t always know where the problem is.”
But Weather Reports Help
Zapier isn’t the only status board around. Watchmouse has an API Status board that monitors the larger API services, such as Google, Twitter, Dropbox and the like. Its technology was so attractive that CA bought the company in 2011 and incorporated the monitoring service into its Nimsoft Cloud Monitoring tools.
Unfortunately, it’s not entirely clear that the public Nimsoft page is up to date. The page is currently reporting disruptions for Digg, Dropbox and some Google services. The latter seems inaccurate, since Google itself isn’t reporting any issues today.
Of course, if you have an app that depends on Google services, you can always check out Google’s API status page. Amazon Web Services has its own API and service reporting dashboard, too.
If you’re building an API for your own service, you can provide your users with a quick status dashboard of your own, using the Stashboard code that was open sourced by Twilio a few years ago. Developers can use the code to create a dashboard that can be hosted on Google Apps Engine.
Lead image courtesy of NOAA
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Amazon Reportedly Working On A 3D Smartphone
May 9th
The Amazon smartphone is a rumor that just will not die. Citing unnamed sources, the Wall Street Journal reports that Amazon is working on building two smartphones — one of which would be a high-end device with 3D visual capabilities where images would appear to float above the screen without the need of 3D glasses. Users could reportedly control the smartphone via eye movements, perhaps similar to the facial-tracking features of the Samsung Galaxy S4.
[See Also: Where Does Amazon Fit in the Game of Phones?]
An Amazon lab in Cupertino, Calif. (where Apple is also headquartered), is reportedly working on a variety of devices for the e-commerce giant. These could include additions to its Kindle Fire lineup of tablets and Kindle e-readers, set-top boxes for streaming television shows and movies and the long-rumored Amazon smartphones. Various efforts at the lab has names like Project A, Project B and so forth and are supposedly known as the “Alphabet Projects.”
[See Also: What The Kindle Fire Says About Amazon's Whispered Phone]
The WSJ notes that, “some or all of the devices could be shelved because of performance, financial or other concerns.” So there is no guarantee we’ll see an Amazon smartphone this year, if ever.
[See Also: Is Amazon Jumping Into The Smartphone Game?]
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The Internet Assault On Traditional TV Is Working
Apr 25th
Compared to the music and news industries, the television business has so far managed to avoid being upended by the disruptive forces of the Internet. That’s about to change.
Despite the industry’s furious efforts to starve or shut down its online rivals, the Internet is starting to carve out a respectable slice of TV’s future. The good news is that while the coming transistion is likely to be rough on many established networks and providers, it’s going to be great for consumers and developers. Here’s how.
Netflix Bounces Back, Surpasses HBO
Case in point: Netflix. The video subscription service has bounced back from its 2011 faux pas to not only regain members, but surpass HBO in U.S. subscribers for the first time ever. As Quartz’s Zach Seward points out, Netflix now commands more daily attention than any cable channel in the United States.
Netflix’s dominance over HBO in particular makes for some pretty symbolic future-of-TV discussion fodder. It is, after all, HBO that refuses to offer its programming as a stand alone subscription service, despite growing demand for such a option. It is precisely its old media business relationships and norms that are holding HBO back from letting non-cable subscribers use its HBO Go app, a fact that seems worth recalling at this particular moment in history. It’s no wonder that the company’s CEO is publicly rethinking that strategy and admitting to reporters that cable-free access to HBO Go may be an inevitability.
It’s also interesting to note, as Seward does, that HBO started out much like Netflix did, by first making out-of-theater movies available to subscribers, and then moving into original programming.
The Internet Masters What Matters: Programming
For the last few years, it was the hardware, distribution and overall experience of watching TV that started to change at the hands of the Internet and mobile tech. Now, crucially, we’re getting down to what matters most: the stuff that actually draws viewers.
The trend toward original, Internet-only, TV-style programming is something we tech blogs have watched and opined about for the better part of a year. In the first half of 2013, the theoretical promise of original Internet TV has morphed into a confirmation that it is, in fact, something normal, non-techie people care about.
Netflix’s Lilyhammer may not have changed the landscape, but it was an important precursor to House of Cards, which appears to be doing exactly that. Meanwhile, Hulu, Amazon and YouTube continue to make their own investments in original programming to compete with cable and network TV.
The success of House of Cards has led to a great deal of discussion about the rise of data-driven TV programming and what it means for TV’s future. Unlike the people who have traditionally made TV programming decisions, Netflix is sitting on a mountain of data about its users. That includes 30 million plays and 4 million ratings per day, in addition to details about when people watch, from which devices, which parts they rewind and more.
By looking at this trove of data, Netflix was able to place a pretty safe bet on the notion that a remake of this particular BBC show starring Kevin Spacey and directed by David Fincher would do well.
Netflix isn’t the only company tapping its users to help with video programming decisions. This weekend, Amazon asked viewers to rate the pilot episodes of 14 different Web series, which apparently resulted in quite a few views for the original programs. The company hasn’t launched a stand-alone Netflix competitor, but Amazon Prime appears poised to evolve into such an offering. There’s even an Amazon TV set top box rumor, hot off of the presses.
Aereo: Please Excuse This Interruption
Next month, people living in and around Boston will be able to join New York’s early adopters in subscribing to Aereo, an innovative and controversial Internet TV service. Since its launch, Aereo has under assault by much of the TV industry, which claims its antenna-renting and re-broadcasting model of mobile and Web TV amounts to copyright infringement. That may or may not be true, but it’s certainly threatening their business model, which is why they wasted no time in trying to sue Aereo out of existence.
So far, Aereo has prevailed. That is, early court rulings have sided with the startup’s claims of fair use and thus declined to shut it down before the lawsuit goes to trial, which will undoubtedly be an interesting affair to follow.
If Aereo survives this litigious onslaught, it’s poised to be one of the most disruptive forces the industry has seen in awhile. And while that would be bad news for network executives, it’s actually pretty great for consumers, who will be able to tune into broadcast TV online without dealing with rabbit ears or a cable provider. It would also be a huge win for the Internet in the battle for TV’s future.
The Original Web Programming Revolution Continues
The next big test for Internet-only TV will be the return of cult classic Arrested Development, a new season of which will land on Netflix next month, eight years after Fox dropped the original. If the show’s enduring popularity and House of Cards’ recent success are any indication, May will be a good month for Netflix.
We won’t actually know how well Arrested Development does, though. That’s because like House of Cards and everything else on Netflix, it isn’t tracked by the same TV ratings system that has measured TV viewership in the U.S. for six decades. The only numbers we get from Netflix are the ones it chooses to share. The company isn’t typically generous with that data, which is somewhat ironic considering how much its users willingly hand over.
That all might be about to change, as Nielsen gets ready to update its TV audience measuring methodology to include Internet sources. It’s not clear whether the long-overdue update will track views on Netflix when it gets rolled out this fall, but the normalization of TV measurement should help paint a clearer picture of what’s getting watched, regardless of the distribution channel.
If nothing else, the Nielsen update further illustrates the extent to which TV is changing in the age of streaming services and mobile devices.
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Working With an Outside Developer: How to Make Your SEO Campaign … – Search Engine People (blog)
Apr 15th
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Working With an Outside Developer: How to Make Your SEO Campaign …
Search Engine People (blog) You're on a call with a client, discussing changes that need to be made to the site to make it SEO-friendly, when you hear the words that make your blood run cold and your hand start to reach for aspirin. "Wait, I need to talk to my developer." It … |
View full post on SEO – Google News
5 Reasons Working For a Hot Startup Isn’t As Cool As You Think
Apr 11th
Guest author Matthew Bryan Beck is editorial director of The New York Digital.
Everyone wants to work for a hot startup. They’re hip, fun and run by passionate, creative people with exciting, innovative ideas. But working at that awesome startup can come at a cost to your career and your sanity. Consider these points before quitting your safe, secure position at a big, established company:
1. The Hours Are Long
Young companies building a new product or service from the ground up run on small teams, limited resources and no time to spare. And they expect their people to give 110% to the job. Your social life outside the office will likely suffer, and the pressure to stay later and later can make you feel like a deserter if you need to leave the office on time for personal reasons.
2. The Pay Sucks
Unless you’re a senior executive of a startup, your compensation may leave something to be desired. The bulk of startup funding goes into the operations and product first, and the people second. For the amount of hours you can be required put in each week, the pay may feel inadequate. The tradeoff that startups offer is the cool factor – plus equity and stock packages. And there may be perks like free snacks and lunches, beer kegs, discounted gym memberships, yoga classes, flexible vacation time, ping-pong, etc.
3. Big Egos Rule
Startups are built on exciting ideas from brilliant minds, but those can also come with egos. Like any workplace, many startups have a pecking order. While most startups advertise a spirit of open forum and democratic exchange of ideas, you may have to earn your stripes before your input is valued and your ideas are implemented. Visionaries are, understandably, protective of their visions, and you may find yourself in a work environment that feels more like a tyranny than a democracy. (Note: Please make sure you’re not the one with the ego.)
4. Distractions, Distractions, Distractions
Startups pride themselves on a casual, hoodie-and-jeans company culture, the antithesis of the stereotypical corporate suit. Open, collaborative, cubicle-free working environments foster a sense of community and togetherness. But the frat-house vibe can also be counterproductive and result in a lack of oversight and structure. In this kind of less-than-professional office, employees may get too chummy, spending more time on Facebook, socializing, coffee runs and cigarette breaks than getting work done.
5. You Probably Won’t Last
Many new startups suffer from the revolving door syndrome, struggling to keep a stable team. Sometimes they hired the wrong people, but sometimes the person shown the door is you. A recent study of 20,000 new hires by research firm Leadership IQ found that 89% of the time new hires failed, it was for ‘attitudinal reasons’, not lack of skill. Make sure you are a good fit for the startup before submitting your resume. If you do get the job, make sure to bring (and keep) a good attitude.
So Now What?
Keeping positive, staying loyal and consistently producing high-quality work is the best way to impress any company. Working for a startup can be a sacrifice of time and money, but it’s also a commitment that can pay off if the company grows rapidly. Many startup employees move on to form their own companies or parlay their experience into an in-demand calling card. If you think you have what it takes, don’t let these warnings slow you down.
Image courtesy of Shutterstock.
View full post on ReadWrite
5 Reasons Why Working For a Hot Startup Isn’t As Cool As You Think
Apr 11th
Guest author Matthew Bryan Beck is editorial director of The New York Digital.
Everyone wants to work for a hot startup. They’re hip, fun and run by passionate, creative people with exciting, innovative ideas. But working at that awesome startup can come at a cost to your career and your sanity. Consider these points before quitting your safe, secure position at a big, established company:
1. The Hours Are Long
Young companies building a new product or service from the ground up run on small teams, limited resources and no time to spare. And they expect their people to give 110% to the job. Your social life outside the office will likely suffer, and the pressure to stay later and later can make you feel like a deserter if you need to leave the office on time for personal reasons.
2. The Pay Sucks
Unless you’re a senior executive of a startup, your compensation may leave something to be desired. The bulk of startup funding goes into the operations and product first, and the people second. For the amount of hours you can be required put in each week, the pay may feel inadequate. The tradeoff that startups offer is the cool factor – plus equity and stock packages. And there may be perks like free snacks and lunches, beer kegs, discounted gym memberships, yoga classes, flexible vacation time, ping-pong, etc.
3. Big Egos Rule
Startups are built on exciting ideas from brilliant minds, but those can also come with egos. Like any workplace, many startups have a pecking order. While most startups advertise a spirit of open forum and democratic exchange of ideas, you may have to earn your stripes before your input is valued and your ideas are implemented. Visionaries are, understandably, protective of their visions, and you may find yourself in a work environment that feels more like a tyranny than a democracy. (Note: Please make sure you’re not the one with the ego.)
4. Distractions, Distractions, Distractions
Startups pride themselves on a casual, hoodie-and-jeans company culture, the antithesis of the stereotypical corporate suit. Open, collaborative, cubicle-free working environments foster a sense of community and togetherness. But the frat-house vibe can also be counterproductive and result in a lack of oversight and structure. In this kind of less-than-professional office, employees may get too chummy, spending more time on Facebook, socializing, coffee runs and cigarette breaks than getting work done.
5. You Probably Won’t Last
Many new startups suffer from the revolving door syndrome, struggling to keep a stable team. Sometimes they hired the wrong people, but sometimes the person shown the door is you. A recent study of 20,000 new hires by research firm Leadership IQ found that 89% of the time new hires failed, it was for ‘attitudinal reasons’, not lack of skill. Make sure you are a good fit for the startup before submitting your resume. If you do get the job, make sure to bring (and keep) a good attitude.
So Now What?
Keeping positive, staying loyal and consistently producing high-quality work is the best way to impress any company. Working for a startup can be a sacrifice of time and money, but it’s also a commitment that can pay off if the company grows rapidly. Many startup employees move on to form their own companies or parlay their experience into an in-demand calling card. If you think you have what it takes, don’t let these warnings slow you down.
Image courtesy of Shutterstock.
View full post on ReadWrite
Google Alerts Is Working Again
Apr 4th
Good news! As best I can tell, the poor performance of Google Alerts that has plagued Google’s monitoring service for months finally seems over. I asked, but Google won’t confirm that it’s made any changes. Still, it’s pretty clear to me that something has happened for the…
Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.
View full post on Search Engine Land: News & Info About SEO, PPC, SEM, Search Engines & Search Marketing
Social Marketing: The 3 Big Problems Working With Influencers
Mar 6th
Guest author Will Stevens is an off-site SEO specialist at 123-reg.co.uk, the UK’s largest accredited domain name registrar.
Advertising used to be easy – some harassed salesman would ring you up, offer space and, if the potential demographic and price matched your needs, you’d say yes. You’d get a shiny full-page ad, and the guy who sold it to you would be a little closer to his sales target for the quarter, and a little less likely to be fired.
Then the internet arrived and everyone got fired anyway.
OK, so that’s overly simplistic, but it broadly describes a period of time when advertising was a fairly straightforward business transaction based on cost and potential outcomes.
Social media has changed that forever.
As Brian Proffitt’s coverage of the Technorati 2013 Digital Influence report indicates, part of this complexity manifests itself in the difficulty of tracking down those who can spread a brand’s message effectively. But getting to grips with the social media landscape is a just tiny fraction of the problem.
Because even once you’ve identified the influencers, you still have to get them to play ball, and it’s here the real disconnect between brands and influencers becomes apparent.
The First Big Problem: Getting Noticed
Even the most awkward teenager knows that the key to popularity lies with an endorsement from someone who has already achieved that status. It’s the getting them to notice you part that’s hard. (In fact, this problem is so well documented it forms the plot of an entire subgenre of movies set in American high schools during the 1980s, many of them starring Michael J Fox. Unfortunately, suddenly discovering you’re a werewolf who happens to be really good at basketball isn’t an option for most brands.)
Why? Because…
The Second Big Problem: Influence Is A Closely Guarded Position
There are several reasons for that, not all of them as altruistic or selfless as those who enjoy a position of influence might have you believe.
Obviously, there are issues related to the quality and trustworthiness of the content influencers point people towards. More importantly, though, a position of influence can be diluted and hence must be protected
If you write a blog about Product *X* and then suddenly one of the leading manufacturers of Product X wants you to promote their efforts you’re going to think twice before giving them access to your audience
Even passively encouraging people to seek out fresh sources of the information that interests them, you increase the chances they will become less reliant on you telling them what’s going on – and that dilutes your influence
The key factors here are jealousy and fear: Major brands that neglected social networks in the early days now covet the power wielded by those who embraced them early on. And those “early embracers” now worry the brands will slowly erode their hard-won power
Clearly deals are done and influence garnered, but this is far more complicated than just buying an ad. In fact, bruised egos and sulking are far more common outcomes than win-win deals
Why? Because…
The Third Big Problem: Brands Are Brands
Brands have to be tightly defined or else they are nothing. But influencers have similar issues of their own. Put simply, brands want advertising and influencers want content their audience will love. The medium has changed but one party wants the message to stay the same.
Part of the problem is demographics. Social networks such as Twitter continue to espouse the importance of “who” is paying attention, even as anecdotal evidence suggests the Web is makinge a mockery of the idea that only people of certain ages like certain things and behave in certain ways.
The rest of the problem is the belief – held by both brands and influencers – that people care about what they do.
Sure, a few brands do command a cult-like influence over a significant number of customers, but for most brand-customer relationships are entirely utilitarian – customers want a product or a service that works. Period.
The same goes for influencers – it’s the quality of the content they provide that keeps people coming back for more, not some slavish devotion to that particular individual.
For example, I love Rand Fishkin’s Whiteboard Fridays over at SEOMoz – they’re incredibly useful and always engaging. In fact, they’re so useful I wouldn’t care if Nike slipped Rand $50,000 to wear a branded baseball cap during one of the videos, although I would certainly appreciate it if he was open about the relationship.
If, on the other hand, Rand suddenly decided to dedicate an entire Whiteboard Friday to the awesome new pair of sneakers he just got, not only would I be a little suspicious, I’d also be hugely bored.
A Question Of Balance
It’s a question of balance – brands can’t expect to have every little thing tweaked to their satisfaction in a non-traditional advertising environment. To build relationships with social influencers, brands need to stop being so precious about their corporate identities. Instead, they should think about what they can do for the audience they want to reach, because that’s what the biggest influencers, the ones who have already engaged that particular niche, are focused on.
Influencers, on the other hand, need to take a more positive approach to things – a relationship with a brand doesn’t *have* to erode their position among their community.
Journalists dream of having major brands approaching them because they know that relationship can be leveraged to generate amazing content. Influencers can do exactly the same.
It used to be that advertising was a binary relationship with one person selling and the other buying. Now, the waters are considerably muddier. But that’s exciting. That means you can do more.
Image courtesy of Shutterstock.
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Dear Google Alerts: Why Aren’t You Working?
Feb 15th
One of Google’s oldest features is Google Alerts, where you can enter keywords you want to monitor and get an email report each day about any new search results that match those terms. It was awesome, but for several weeks, it’s become nearly useless. My long-standing settings have been…
Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.
View full post on Search Engine Land: News & Info About SEO, PPC, SEM, Search Engines & Search Marketing
Melbourne SEO Strategists Reveal How Businesses Earn More By Working Less … – DigitalJournal.com (press release)
Jan 27th
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Melbourne SEO Strategists Reveal How Businesses Earn More By Working Less …
DigitalJournal.com (press release) Leading Melbourne SEO strategists, Melbourne SEO Services, have announced the dates of their highly limited internet workshop for businesses, which focuses on two key areas: outsourcing work and capturing more traffic. The seminars will be lead by … |
View full post on SEO – Google News
