James VanDyke

Author: james

  • Your Powerpoint Presentation is So Big that…

    —

    by

    james
    in

    Often times I see needlessly big PowerPoint presentations. The culprit is often pictures that have been inserted at a higher resolution that needed. The Fix Right click on one of the pictures in your presentation Choose “Format Picture” Click on the “Picture” tab Click the “Compress” button Choose the web/screen setting Click Ok Your done!…

  • Hating the PowerPointers

    —

    by

    james
    in

    Freakonomics, the blog, has decided to hate PowerPointers not PowerPoint. The article accuses PowerPoint, which turned 20 recently, of reducing presentations to bullet point boredom sessions. Don’t Hate PowerPoint; Hate the PowerPointers

  • Web Monkeys

    —

    by

    james
    in

    We started a new blog at work yesterday to discuss happenings on the SMU website. It’s called WebMonkeys. Fair warning, it may not be interesting if you don’t work at SMU.http://blog.smu.edu/WebMonkeys

  • Walk the streets with Google Maps

    —

    by

    james
    in

    Google maps has added street level photographs of some streets, in some cities to maps.google.com. The new feature allows you to virtually walk down streets with full 360 degree views of your surroundings. Google Maps Street View Some are already raising questions about privacy though. While Google has reportedly removed pictures of women’s shelters from…

  • Spam doesn’t pay

    —

    by

    james
    in

    The Associated Press is reporting that Robert Alan Soloway, described as one of the World’s most prolific spammers, has been arrested. Soloway was arrested Wednesday on charges of mail fraud, wire fraud, e-mail fraud, aggravated identity theft and money laundering. Prosecutors say Soloway has sent millions of junk e-mails since 2003 and continued even after…

  • Woot Off

    —

    by

    james
    in

    Woot.com, the site that sells one deeply discounted item per day, is having a Woot-Off today. A Woot-Off is when they sell one item until it sells out and then immediately post a new item. This can continue for a couple of days. This site is strangely compelling. I haven’t ever bought anything but I…

  • ScribeFire makes it easier to blog?

    —

    by

    james
    in

    I just added ScribeFire (formally Performancing) as a Firefox extension. It’s supposed to make it easier to blog more often. We’ll see if it works. The setup was fairly easy, changing my blogging frequency may be more difficult. ScribeFire extension

  • YouTube best invention of the year?

    —

    by

    james
    in

    Time magazine has named YouTube as the invention of the year. While AdHurl points out that YouTube was launched in 2005, I think the hype around YouTube has clouded the minds of Time’s editorial staff. The list of inventions is geared towards consumers and YouTube has had the greatest impact of the items they featured.…

  • Search Engine Optimization Basics: Content

    —

    by

    james
    in

    There are three key components of search engine optimization that should be considered in every search optimization effort: content, coding and external links. This post is the first in a three part series that will examine each of these components in detail. The first and most important, content. Optimized Content Sometimes the end goal is…

  • Google’s secret search lab

    —

    by

    james
    in

    If you’ve never heard of searchmash.com, that’s okay with Google. Searchmash was created by Google to test new search features apart from the Google brand. According to SEO Chat, Google is hiding under the secret identity because it’s studies show that consumers tend to rate Google interfaces in light of the company’s branding. By separating…