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April 2007 STORM e-Newsletter
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STORM ahead

Please have a browse through the STORM newsletter for some interesting and helpful information. You can OPT OUT at any time, simply click here.

It has been a busy start to the year, with some really exciting projects near completion, details of which will be given in the next newsletter. Web Development and Database integration work has been flowing in, and we have quoted on web enquiries from Crete, Florida and Hong Kong in the past few weeks.

James Montgomerie of STORM is also pleased to announce the birth of his baby Daughter Amie on March 8th.


CALM before the STORM

Interested in any of the STORM services? then let us take your business by STORM. Call now on 01224 588835, or email info@stormwebsitedesign.com for an informal discussion on how we can help. Alternatively please visit the website for more information. www.stormwebsitedesign.com


WEB DESIGN and GRAPHIC DESIGN - INDUSTRY NEWS

Rebranding for Sydney Opera House

Frost Design has created an identity for the Sydney Opera House, the first time in more than ten years that Australia’s iconic landmark has updated its marque. The logo launched across an advertising campaign in Sydney at the weekend.
Click here for more information

DOM PERIGNON RE-BRAND

Champagne brand Dom Pérignon is set to reveal the fruits of a year-long strategic brand review and repositioning by Neville Brody’s Research Studios.

In 2004, Dom Pérignon brought in Research Studios to assess its identity, briefing Brody to imbue it with more ‘elegance and glamour’, while retaining its hallmark luxury cues. The project was handled by the consultancy’s Paris studio, but art directed by Brody. ‘There is a perception of Dom Pérignon as a slightly old-fashioned gentlemen’s champagne, or a Beverly Hills party drink. Also, its market is aging, so we have used some subtle levering to move it into a more modern space,’ says Brody.

ADVERTISE BOOKS FOR SALE ON YOUR WEBSITE

Advertise your books for sale on your website!
http://www.bookalizer.com/index.php?p=3&l=en

BRAND VALUES

LONDON (Reuters) - Internet firm Google has again pipped Apple to the top spot in a global brand ranking that also sees YouTube and Wikipedia debut in the top five, a survey showed recently..

The annual survey by online branding magazine brandchannel.com often throws up controversial results, such as in 2004, when Arabic TV station Al Jazeera was named the world's fifth most influential brand.

This year the 3,625 branding professionals and students who voted have again surprised, awarding upstart firms star status when asked: "Which brand had the most impact on our lives in 2006?".

SEARCH ENGINE NEWS

Search Engine Optimisation Results for STORM Website Design

STORM have worked hard to improve their website rankings in the major search engines. The largest stumbling block being a new company and having to overcome some stiff competition. Our initial approach is to ensure some of the basic listings we need to be found under will work. It has taken a good few months, but a recent review has shown good results.

Under the search term 'STORM Website Design' we now command number 1 postion in Google and Yahoo worldwide.
Click here for a snapshot of the result in Early February.

Under the search term 'website design Aberdeen' and 'web design Aberdeen' we have achieved number 3 position in Yahoo. Further work needs to be done to improve our results in Google under this term.

We are currently researching and working on many more search terms with a variety of Search Engines such as Google, Yahoo and MSN. This along with some Sponsored Advertising is now starting to improve our enquiry rate for new business and a large increase in traffic through the website.

GOOGLE CHECKOUT hits 6% in year one.

Google Checkout has penetrated 6% of consumers, according to a recent survey.
Although Google’s adoption rate is considerably lower than PayPal’s (42%), it is believed the product had a good start. We believe Google’s aggressive promotions and discounting spurred the respectable launch.
Click here for to visit the Google Checkout Website

Google Earth and the Discovery Channel have worked together to bring "sunrise on demand."

The two have introduced a new layer on Google Earth which lets users view sunrises in certain areas around the globe.

Now there’s a Google Earth layer that brings the sun’s ascent right to your computer screen, and Google Earth aficionados can also see video vignettes drawn from Discovery HD Theater’s “Sunrise Earth” program.

To view the videos, open Google Earth and select the Sunrise Earth layer under Discovery Networks. Follow the links in the pop-up window to experience the sights and sounds of one of nature’s most beautiful phenomena.
http://dhd.discovery.com/convergence/sunriseearth/sunriseearth.html

GOOGLE EARTH VERSION 4

Google Earth has just released version 4 with enhanced features including:
- drawing tools are now included in Free version
- New layers added, including 3D warehouse
- Sunrise (as mentioned)
- Booking.com - European hotel reservation service.
- Earthbooker - Global discounts on hotels.
http://earth.google.com/download-earth.html

STUMBLE UPON

What is StumbleUpon? It's a fast-burgeoning 'social networking' site staffed by
Canadians based in San Francisco that can deliver more worldwide traffic to your
Web pages than Yahoo! In their own words: It is the best way to discover great
Web sites and more - all submitted and rated by the StumbleUpon community. There
are registered users in most countries and they have reviewed almost 8,000,000
sites so far.
http://www.stumbleupon.com

POPULAR SEARCH TERMS

The most used search engine terms in the UK last year were "ebay", "bebo" and
"argos". The top generic (non-branded) term was "games", ranking at 28, followed
by "weather" at 31. MySpace highlighted the biggest difference between US and UK
searches. MySpace appeared in five of the top ten search terms across all
categories in the US, but 13 was the highest spot for a MySpace term in the UK.
British users looking for social networking sites preferred Bebo, which was the
second most popular search term in the UK in 2006.


SOFTWARE and TECHNOLOGY

LOCATE WIRELESS HOTSPOTS

Hotspot-Locations.com is dedicated to Wireless Networking and offers a
searchable global Hotspot Database of Wireless Access Points for anyone who
travels with a wireless-enabled laptop or other device. The resource includes
commercial networks as well as non commercial community networks and private
Hotspots.
http://www.hotspot-locations.com

VISTA NEEDS RAM

After weeks in the apres-Christmas doldrums, PC retailers saw a boost in sales
following the launch of Windows Vista, which is said to need 2GB of RAM - more
than double the memory installed in most machines sold last year. In the USA,
takings soared 173 per cent during the week ending February 3, compared with PC
sales in the previous week and they were 67 per cent up compared with the same
period a year ago.

DOWNLOAD MOVIES ON YOUR TV

NEW YORK - TiVo and Amazon will unveil a service that lets customers buy and download movies and TV shows to their TiVo DVR for viewing on their TVs - one-upping rivals offering such downloads only to computers.
The companies say they will test "Amazon Unbox on TiVo" in a few hundred homes for an undisclosed period. Then they will offer it to any of the 600,000 TiVo subscribers who have their DVR connected to a broadband home network.

"We're taking this world of digital video content that is now available via broadband to PC users and putting it smack in the middle of the living room to make it a comfortable television viewing experience," says TiVo CEO Tom Rogers.

Wal-Mart, CinemaNow, Movielink and other providers require customers to store downloads on a computer. With some effort and additional equipment the video could be displayed on a TV but it is primarily for viewing on a PC.

Those who get a version of TiVo through DirecTV — about 63% of the TiVo's 4.4 million subscriptions — won't be able to use the service. The same will be true for Comcast customers when the cable company offers a TiVo service in its cable DVRs, expected later this year.

CBS, Fox, Lionsgate, Paramount, Universal and Warner Bros. have agreed to let Amazon offer productions to TiVo users. Rogers says Sony "has indicated they're looking to be part of this at time of launch."

Disney doesn't offer films on Unbox, but may soon.

HOW TO SPLIT A MOVIE INTO SMALLER CHUNKS

There are two simple methods for cutting a large video into smaller chunks.

Option A: Split Video with Windows Movie Maker
Open the video file in Windows Movie Maker and drag the clip in the movie timeline. Play the clip until you reach the point from where you want to trim it.

Now click the Split Clip button on the Preview Monitor or press Ctrl+L. This splits the video into two parts. Repeat the process with the second portion and finally export the trimmed video in the desired format.

Option B: Split Video with VirtualDub
If you have a large video file, Windows Movie Make may not be the best option and we prefer using Virtual Dub, which is open source and available on all platforms. Virtual Dub supports practically all video formats include DivX, MPEG, AVI, etc.

Open the video file in Virtual Dub and select the portion of the video that you want to keep (or even crop) - the selection is done using Mark-in and mark-out controls which resemble a half arrow (see screenshot)

Once you have made the selection, goto File->Save As AVI to save only that portion of the video on your hard disk. The VirtualDub method is highly recommended for chopping big videos. You can even capture live streams of video and save them to multiple files.

BUSINESS BREEZE

LEGISLATION IMPLICATIONS FOR BUSINESSES WITH A WEBSITE

Websites must display company details, legislation that came into effect from 1 January 2007 has implications for all businesses and companies which have a website. In an update to the Companies Act 1985 the following information must be displayed on websites, order forms and any other electronic documents which could be construed as “business letters”: Company registration number Place of registration Registered office address Non-compliance with the statute could result in a fine.

The new regulations seek to clarify the Electronic Commerce (EC Directive) Regulations 2002 - as many businesses may have thought they were exempt as they were not conducting online sales.

The guidelines below should help -
The geographic address and email address of the service provider must be displayed. A PO Box reference is not sufficient and remember, if the business is a company, the registered office address must be included.
The name of the company that the customer is contracting with must be given (this name may be different from the trading name and any differences should also be stated). For example, &&&.co.uk is the trading name of &&& Limited.
If the business is a company, the registered company number must be included - as well as the place of registration.
For example, &&& Limited is a company registered in England and Wales with company number 1111111. Details of trade or professional association membership should be included (including membership number). Regardless of whether the company conducts online sales, the company VAT number should be included. All pricing and charges displayed on the website must be clear and unambiguous. Ensure all additional costs such as VAT and delivery are clearly displayed on the website - and indicate whether they are inclusive or exclusive of the product's cost. Since most companies would assume emails are business letters, the company information must be displayed somewhere on the email. For websites, the information could be displayed on the “About Us” or “Contact Us” or “Legal Info” page - details do not have to be displayed on every page.


GENERAL INTEREST and FUN

BEER GOGGLE EFFECT

When you’re looking at another human being, the nucleus accumbens is the area of the brain that decides how attractive that human being’s face is. If you look at, say, George Clooney or Angelina Jolie, this area of your brain probably experiences increased neural firing. In other words, it’s stimulated. As it turns out, alcohol, all by itself, stimulates the nucleus accumbens. So when you’ve have a few drinks, and you look at a face you may have judged as unattractive when you were sober, your brain, under the influence of alcohol, tells you that this face is in fact somewhat attractive. And the increase in perceived attractive seems to be directly proportional to the amount of alcohol consumed.

QUOTE

I Do What The Voices In My Wifes Head Tell Me To Do

Scary footpath in China

click here


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