This post is rather more nerdy than my other ones, and goes to describe how to create a Facebook authentication adapter for the Zend Framework, using the new Facebook Graph API. I do not intend to support this code explicitly, but I do work with it and will update it to suit my own needs. [...]

I’ve recently been involved in a discussion about what makes a rockstar developer for a startup. This has always surprised me- the reality of the matter is that there are no rockstars, only people who think of themselves as rockstars, and those are the last people you want in charge of your product. So I [...]

If you’re in an agency and/or have been paying attention to Business Week and the Wall Street Journal recently, you’ll know that my former employer Resource Interactive recently released a service offering called “Off The Wall“, which in short is a way to extend your e-commerce workflow into the Facebook stream. “Share on Facebook” can [...]

There is a $128 billion dollar untapped demand for student debt assistance, if you can find a way to meet it. The conditions of the environment in which this demand exists may even contribute to an increase in the demand as you provide a debt-assistance service.

Main Street and Wall Street have become polarizing catchphrases to describe the ongoing argument between top down and bottom up economics. The politicization of these terms has become so rampant that we each take sides, completely disregarding the fact that it is the environment that defines the strategy, not the other way around. In both boom times and lean times it behooves us to carefully consider all the present influencing factors, and choose the appropriate strategy based on that regardless of political leanings. Top down and bottom up approaches have their place, but you have to be smart about choosing which to use.

If you’ve ever done any form of web development, you’ve probably learned to hate Internet Explorer 6. It’s not that it’s not used- IE6 once enjoyed the status of being the foremost browser on the web, and as a result used to set many of the standards by which the web was developed. Unfortunately, it [...]

As economic realities trickle down through the manufacturing and service supply chains, I’m starting to hear distressing news from my colleagues at other agencies. Work is beginning to dry up, either because clients realize that it’s more cost effective to bring the larger projects in-house, or because their budgets are getting cut as a result of reduced consumer spending. Everyone seems to be fairly certain that things are going to get worse before they get better, and as a result everyone is battening down their hatches to weather the expected storm.

Bad news like that is almost inevitably followed up by commiseration about how many hours they’ve had to work recently, how they’re constantly under pressure to put in more, or how their coworkers have had enough and have left for greener… or at least less stressful pastures. This in and of itself isn’t necessarily bad- we all understand the pressures of marketing and agency work, and a certain amount of dedication to the project deliverables are par for the course. Yet when weekly hours exceed 50 on a regular basis, you’re buying short term productivity by draining both current and future creativity of your talent. Speaking from experience, gradual burnout is still burnout, leaving long-term scars, and the tightening of client budgets and inevitable cannibalization of the RFP bid has resulted in even more frightening stories: Talented designers and developers are going on antidepressants because of their work load (True story, source withheld).

With the release of Google Chrome last week many of our (and  your) clients are starting to wonder exactly what Google’s entry into the  browser market means. The release of any new software package, especially by a powerhouse  like Google, can often have broad and far reaching impact, and everyone wants  to be forewarned about what’s coming down the pike.

“Avid” has to be one of my most favorite adjectives ever, because no other word really wraps together the feeling of hunger, enthusiasm and pure enjoyment that comes with really pursuing something to your fullest potential. Listen to it a few times: when someone is described as an ‘avid’ cyclist, an ‘avid’ gamer, do you automatically think they’re a professional competitor? That they’re OCD about something? No, it’s both less and more than that- almost like the person really comes alive in that domain.

Let’s speculate about immortality for a bit. It’s something that’s been on my mind a bit recently because… well, what with stem cell research and leaps in medical science, the problem of human mortality could reasonably be solved in our lifetime. I’m no doctor, and I haven’t done research on the actual progress being made, but frankly I’m far more fascinated by the potential long term ethical and social impact that this might cause. So let’s just lie back with something vision-inducing (I recommend running 20 miles) and try to glimpse the future.