David M. Scott explains pretty well here in his blog post.

Image via Wikipedia

Once again Singapore is associated with infamy in a most peculiar way. I opened the papers this morning to see a very curious report titled “Patent breach by ‘virtually all websites’? Pay up, firm demands” by Chua Hian Hou. A Singapore firm has threatened to sue websites that use pictures or graphics to link to another page, and it claims that it owns the patent for such a ‘technology’ used by millions of sites around the world.

They have even taken on the likes of Microsoft of Google; the reports adds that such a battle could potentially upend the entire Internet as we know. Incredible. Firms and individuals have been receiving invoices since last week. Managing director of VueStar, Paul Smith, said if sites want to continue the usage of images in their sites they will have to be prepared to pay VueStar between “$200″ and “millions” in licensing fees annually. This move has prompted some anxiousness and unhappiness in online communities.

I am sure there is more to this than meets the eye. What do you think?

Update (27 May): ZDnet posts an article here. Cnet Blog report here.

Anyway, the blog has been inactive for the last few weeks due to increased levels of work activity and we’re still looking for the right people to join our company. So far we’ve found a couple of hopefuls.

In the meantime, be prepared for more updates to come.

Image via Wikipedia

Have a read here and join the party!

Web designers are often tasked with creating data-driven websites that are required to display information in a structured manner. This article here from alistapart.com gives a good explanation of how to go about it. Read as a guide. Useful to have it in your bookmarks should anyone require charts on their site.

For more quality links, one should have this in their bookmarks as well.

The key question question that is floating right now in my mind is one of relevancy: how much of what is written really applies to the Singaporean context? I generally believe that a good proportion, that of which is fundamental, applies largely to everyone here. Things like good and sensible design, information architecture, websites optimized for the search engines, strong original content, so on and so forth. So, yes, a good portion of it applies, much of which transcend all borders.

There a number of things that have not really caught on, which is largely old news in places like the US or even Japan; should local companies here be even considering them? Twitter? LinkedIn? Personally, I say, why not? There is nothing like being the pioneer of a new trend (or even one that has been around elsewhere). However, the risk of an early adopter is failing miserably as you try to battle against the inertia of groupthink and the lack of a positive response from your audience. Though, that alone should not stop you from trying.

My advice? Be adventurous, explore various avenues to expand your reach. Look at new ones, read and research what other people have done. If one thing does not work for you, fine tune it, work at it, change it, look at something else. Web marketing is, after all, an iterative process. It does not stop at the end product. You have to constantly rethink your strategies, and apply and adapt it to your business. I am certain there are great intrinsic benefits to be had for yourself and your customers.

However, if you want to build up your business brand and image fast, there are really no other ways that are as cheap or effective as blog marketing.

If the true power of blogs were recognised by SMEs nowadays, the issue will shift from “should I blog or not” to “I can’t afford NOT to blog!”

You can read all about it in this well-written article here.

If this is more than just a test, like what Yahoo claims, the two Internet giants will more than command a lion’s share in online advertising dollars.

Should we bother with the technicalities of those words? Yes, we should. I agree with what David Scott mentioned in that short post.

Point aside, words like those should not be used as buzzwords alone to make you sound intelligent, but go ahead and try to explain to your prospective client the meaning behind them and what’s in it for them. Besides, we should really level with folks who, to begin with, have absolutely no clue what those terms mean for them. As explained in another book (which I have read twice over and highly recommend), making it simple will go a long way in establishing a rapport with your client; I reckon it is more important to make your idea stick than to sound smart.