This should have been completed a long time ago, but was occupied with school and life. I apologize for the delay! My design portfolio is now available and can be viewed here. Major projects have been described using a simple format: objective, challenge, and outcome. I did this to help the reader understand the fundamentals of each project and to give the reader a basic frame of reference.

Well, happy viewing, and if you're interested in web development or graphic design for your business, you may contact me here so we can discuss your goals.

Cheers,

Josh 

Last weekend we visited our Grandmother in Pasadena. We were pleasantly surprised that she wanted to hand down her iMac to us, to which I now eagerly await. I was given a quick tour of the iMac and some of its goodness by herself and an Apple salesman (we later went to the Apple dealer to drool over the latest widescreen iMac running Leopard). Why is this important to you or anyone else?

I’ve long been a supporter of the PC, specifically, Windows XP. Since Windows XP, PCs have become much easier to use; however, less safe and harder to secure. I enjoy the versatility offered by the PC, including its vast array of applications, hardware, games, and generally speaking, the openness of the architecture. The problem is, using a PC on the Internet generally wreaks havoc (if you’re not a tech guru or have someone in your family who prepared you for the online buggers). The usual scenario goes something like this: You visit a website and click a few links. Next thing you know, you’re web browser has been hijacked, you have three additional toolbars, pop-ups appear when you’re not even browsing the web, and your computer is uncharacteristically slow to respond.

I have received many phone calls from friends, family, and clients describing their PC problems. I could almost immediately chalk up the majority to spyware, malware, or whatever they call it these days (I didn’t have time to read the latest Internet news yesterday, therefore, I’m behind technologically… chuckle). The problem I see with PCs is they require too attention to maintain and secure, which most people simply don't have the time, competence, or desire to do.

Enter the iMac and Apple’s OSX. What a beautiful operating system. What a sleek design. Amazingly, I learned to use a computer on an old boxy, miniature-screened Mac. That same design philosophy is being used today – package all the technology inside and behind the monitor. Anyway, Apple’s latest operating system, Leopard, is gorgeous, and full of great applications out-of-the-box. I particularly enjoyed the photo management and automated backup using Time Machine. I was thrown by how intuitive things were, the eye candy, and the speed and efficiency of the machine. Programs opened in a snap with minimal lag, if any.

I never really paid much attention to Apple OSX news until more recently with the release of Leopard. Leopard received an amazing amount of press and now I know why. It’s attractive to computer users and you don’t need to worry (as much) about spyware, virus outbreaks, and the rest of the threats. (I digress: I believe OSX is derived from the UNIX kernel, a highly stable and efficient backbone. Which brings me to Linux. Generally thought of for the geek crowd only, however, thanks to Ubuntu, that is changing. Ubuntu is being labeled the most user-friendly Linux distribution available. Linux is an open source operating system that is known to be highly secure. No more spyware worries. No more virus scans. No more hack attempts. For a really good read about a Windows fan boy’s defection from Windows to Ubuntu, click here. I installed Ubuntu on my laptop last month and agree almost entirely with the thoughts of this author.)

And then there’s the iPhone, iTouch, MacBook Air, Apple TV Take 2, Time Capsule, the list goes on (see MacWorld 2008 coverage). Apple has started a revolution and Microsoft should be scared. I’ll be an Apple convert shortly…

I've been hesitant to upgrade from Windows XP to Windows Vista for several reasons:

1. It's a resource hog (meaning, you need a fast, new computer to run all its nifty features)
2. Driver/software support is still playing catch-up (meaning, your favorite program may not be compatible yet)
3. I don't see a clear advantage to using Vista, yet (meaning, why replace a robust XP with an unknown Vista?)

I found this article at ComputerWorld which explains how you can continue using Windows XP for the next seven years. Why 7 years you may ask? Because that's tentatively when Micro$oft plans to cease support for the XP operating system. The article covers the following topics:

• How long will Microsoft support XP?
• Get Vista's security improvements in XP
• Get Vista's eye candy in XP
• Get other Vista goodies
• Tweak XP settings for faster performance
• Perform weekly maintenance for smooth operation

As technology progresses toward removing the inefficient and subjective human from regular processes, Mahalo jumps in to, well, include the inefficient and subjective human.

A new search engine has emerged – surprisingly – that challenge Google’s autonomous robots. Mahalo uses the power of people, not robots, to generate search results. Now this may sound all gravy at first glance, but when the world’s most successful and innovative search engine, Google, can return relevant search results in less than one-tenth of a second, without human intervention, I naturally question the longevity of Mahalo. The concept seems more like the old Yahoo Directory days or DMOZ than a cutting edge search engine.

There’s no question that the Web 2.0 paradigm encompasses user generated content, but user generated search engine results? If the purpose of user generated search results is to provide us searchers with better, more relevant content, then perhaps their vision is noble. However, I believe Google has adopted the same vision, minus a large staff of website hunters to make subjective decisions (ala Mahalo). Google has nearly mastered the art of utilizing technology and skilled programmers to automate search queries.

Furthermore, have the founders of Mahalo overlooked Digg, Reddit, StumbleUpon, del.icio.us, and so forth, or have they created something better which I’m completely missing? These social bookmarking sites track popular news and websites. They allow us to search the most popular news and websites with their built-in search engines. Seems to me, strikingly similar to Mahalo’s goal.

I gave Mahalo a quick test run. Did a few searches and wasn’t impressed with the results. The silly thing is, below the Mahalo search results were “More results from our friends at Google.” What I did enjoy was their category based results. On their main page, Mahalo has multiple categories like music, cars, health, entertainment and so forth. Click one of these categories and you can get more and more specific until you reach their recommended websites to visit. I found an excellent message board that was specific to my car, stumbled upon (what a great business name and concept!) some iPhone news, and located some nice Fleetwood Mac resources.

Forget Mahalo as a search engine. Remember it as a directory.

So what does that mean for you? What is Windows Vista?

Windows Vista is Microsoft's new operating system (the backbone to your software, the "thing" that runs in the background, the user environment we've all been used to for so long). Improving on the looks and utility of Windows XP, Windows Vista is suppose to be easier and safer to use. However, I have feelings otherwise... at the moment.

Unfortunately, Vista doesn't have the hardware and software support needed to ensure all your mission critical functions can be completed. Time will fix this, as was the case when Microsoft first released Windows XP. I recommend holding out a few months while software developers fix compatibility issues. In the meantime, visit Microsoft's website to see if Vista will run on your computer. Their free tool will also determine which applications and hardware are currently not (and are) supported by Vista.

Further, Vista requires a beefy computer to run the sophisticated set of user-friendly integrated applications, and the cost of upgrading is substantially more than its predecessor. Other than those drawbacks, Vista looks beautiful and utilizes technology to enhance the user experience! Visit Wikipedia for more information on Vista.

Microsoft Corporation finally reacts to competitive forces and releases their free web browser upgrade to the public. With this 7.0 release, Internet Explorer is now up to par with the free alternative web browsers like Firefox and Opera, both of which have been providing users with a safer, more efficient web browsing experience.

For years, Microsoft has failed to update their Windows-integrated web browser because of lacking competition. Well, it didn't take long for angry consumers to spark the creation of the open source web browser Firefox (read more at Wikipedia). Firefox has shed market share from Internet Explorer, which used to have a monopolistic 95% market share. That dropped as consumers noticed the obvious benefits of Firefox, which over the last couple years has taken about 11% total market share from Internet Explorer.

Internet Explorer 7 has many new features like tabbed browsing, "phishing" protection, spyware protection, and an integrated search box. Tabbed browsing allows user to browse multiple web pages at once, all within the same window. This tabbed browsing feature is what initially made Firefox so popular and is the new standard for web browsing. The added security protections of IE7 are of course a must and I'm glad that Microsoft has taken these digital threats seriously.

Check out the new IE7 (if you dare!).

Received this email from an uncle. I assume the lessons learned here translate to the biz world...

Lesson One (lesson time - 45 seconds):
An eagle was sitting on a tree resting, doing nothing. A small rabbit saw the eagle and asked him, "Can I also sit like you and do nothing?"

The eagle answered: "Sure, why not." So, the rabbit sat on the ground below the eagle and rested. All of a sudden, a fox appeared, jumped on the rabbit and ate it.

Management Lesson: To be sitting and doing nothing, you must be sitting very, very high up.

Lesson Two (lesson time - 1 minute):
A turkey was chatting with a bull. "I would love to be able to get to the top of that tree," sighed the turkey, "but I haven't got the energy." "Well, why don't you nibble on some of my droppings??" replied the bull. "They're packed with nutrients." The turkey pecked at a lump of dung, and found it actually gave him enough strength to reach the lowest branch of the tree. The next day, after eating some more dung, he reached the second branch.

Finally after a fourth night, the turkey was proudly perched at the top of the tree. He was promptly spotted by a farmer, who shot him out of the tree.

Management Lesson: Bull crap might get you to the top, but it won't keep you there.

Lesson Three (lesson time - 1 minute, 15 seconds):
A little bird was flying south for the winter. It was so cold; the bird froze and fell to the ground into a large field. While he was lying there, a cow came by and dropped some dung on him.

As the frozen bird lay there in the pile of cow dung, he began to realize how warm he was. The dung was actually thawing him out! He laid there all warm and happy, and soon began to sing for joy.

A passing cat heard the bird singing and came to investigate. Following the sound, the cat discovered the bird under the pile of cow dung, and promptly dug him out and ate him.

Management Lesson:

1. Not everyone who craps on you is your enemy.
2. Not everyone who gets you out of crap is your friend.
3. And when you're in deep crap, it's best to keep your mouth shut!

This ends the three minute management course.

I found this email extremely amusing for a few reasons. For starters, how incompetent are some of these large companies? You would think extensive foreign market research would have found these translation errors (how hard would it be to hire a couple foreigners familiar with the local language and dialects to confirm the meaning of such slogans?). Second, this stuff directly relates to the International Marketing course I'm currently enrolled in, so naturally was fun to read. Third, about half of these translation errors were mentioned throughout the course text book... probably to cement the importance of market research! I know, I know, it's easy to look back in retrospect and sucker punch these companies. But come on, it's fun!

1. The Dairy Association's huge success with their campaign "Got Milk?" prompted them to expand advertising to Mexico. It was soon brought to their attention the Spanish translation read "Are you
   lactating?"
2. Coors put its slogan, "Turn It Loose," into Spanish, where it was read as "Suffer From Diarrhea."
3. Scandinavian vacuum manufacturer Electrolux used the following in an American campaign: "Nothing sucks like an Electrolux."
4. Clairol introduced the "Mist Stick," a curling iron, into Germany only to find out that "mist" is slang for manure. Not too many people had use for the "Manure Stick."
5. When Gerber started selling baby food in Africa, they used the same packaging as in the US, with the smiling baby on the label. Later they learned that in Africa, companies routinely put pictures on the labels of what's inside, since many people can't read.
6. Colgate introduced a toothpaste in France called Cue, the name of a notorious pornographic magazine.
7. An American T-shirt maker in Miami printed shirts for the Spanish market which promoted the Pope's visit. Instead of "I Saw the Pope" (el Papa), the shirts read "I Saw the Potato" (la papa).
8. Pepsi's "Come Alive With the Pepsi Generation" translated into "Pepsi Brings Your Ancestors Back From the Grave" in Chinese.
9. The Coca-Cola name in China was first read as "Kekoukela", meaning "Bite the wax tadpole" or "female horse stuffed with wax", depending on the dialect. Coke then researched 40,000 characters to find a phonetic equivalent "kokou kole", translating into "happiness in the mouth."
10. Frank Perdue's chicken slogan, "It takes a strong man to make a tender chicken" was translated into Spanish as "it takes an aroused man to make a chicken affectionate."
11. When Parker Pen marketed a ball-point pen in Mexico, its ads were supposed to have read, "It won't leak in your pocket and embarrass you." The company thought that the word "embarazar" (to impregnate) meant to embarrass, so the ad read: "It won't leak in your pocket and make you pregnant"
12. When American Airlines wanted to advertise its new leather first class seats in the Mexican market, it translated its "Fly In Leather" campaign literally, which meant "Fly Naked" (vuela en cuero) in Spanish.
13. When General Motors introduced the Chevy Nova in South America, it was apparently unaware that "no va" means "it won't go." After the company figured out why it wasn't selling any cars, it renamed the car in its Spanish markets to the Caribe.
14. Also in Chinese, the Kentucky Fried Chicken slogan "finger-lickin' good" came out as "eat your fingers off."
15. The American slogan for Salem cigarettes, "Salem - Feeling Free," got translated in the Japanese market into "When smoking Salem, you feel so refreshed that your mind seems to be free and empty."
16. Ford had a problem in Brazil when the Pinto flopped. The company found out that Pinto was Brazilian slang for "tiny male genitals". Ford pried all the nameplates off and substituted Corcel, which means horse.
17. In Italy, a campaign for Schweppes Tonic Water translated the name into Schweppes Toilet Water.
18. Japan's second-largest tourist agency was mystified when it entered English-speaking markets and began receiving requests for unusual sex tours. Upon finding out why, the owners of Kinki Nippon Tourist Company changed its name.
19. My own: Netherlands based "Rabobank" bank in America. Go figure.

Forward this email to 10 friends or the company you've invested your life savings in will make the same mistake and ultimately break the both of you. LOL I had to throw that one in there!

of macroscopic matter that is! A team of physicists in Denmark successfully transmitted a blob of trillions of atoms a distance of half a meter through light. This is a breakthrough in teleportation because previous experiments could only transfer a single atom a fraction of a millimeter.

The interesting find to me was how the physicists described its possible future use. Conventional computer data transfer follows "paths," which can become convoluted and create bottlenecks. The use of teleportation in computers could allow literally instantaneous transfers among important computer components. How about Internet bandwidth? Our current system of information transfer is plenty sufficient for now, but what if everyone connected to the Internet could transfer their entire hard drive contents to a backup server in Germany in a split second? Not a far-fetched estimate of what teleportation is capable of for technology.

The silly thing is, by the time teleportation is cheaply implemented for all to use, technology will have adapted naturally in the direction of faster, more efficient architecture. Probably reaching near teleportation speeds...

Travel agent: "Welcome to TeleTravel, your one-way, no security-check-or-airplane-food traveling device! Where would you like to beam to today?"
Tourist: "How much for instant transfer to New Zealand?"

Original article here.

I did a fairly indepth case study on this matter in 2005 and came to the conclusion that Microsoft's Internet Explorer would require a rebuild to match the look, feel, safety and performance of the open-source web browser by the Mozilla Foundation, called Firefox. This conclusion came from my research findings that Firefox was a far superior web browser, in that it was user-friendly, safer, and quicker to load web pages. Mozilla also patched security holes and flaws quicker than Microsoft did, again, giving the consumer friendly edge to Firefox.

Well, where has Microsoft come after almost 2 years of losing market share? Basically, I predicted the future of Internet Explorer. The web browser software has undergone a major rehaul, and current public test versions of the web browser show how the new Internet Explorer simulates Firefox very nicely!

I'm still not impressed however. Firefox offers many great features lacking from Internet Explorer. First, Firefox has a large public base of programmers who've coded very useful extensions (and even skins to change the appearance to your liking!) for the browser. Such things as RSS readers, weather conditions built-in, and just about anything else useful has been coded into the extensions database. Second, Firefox is still more user-friendly. Internet Explorer's bloated options make it difficult to find what you're after. Third and probably most important, Firefox is open source and not associated with other programs or hooked to an operating system like Internet Explorer is. This ensures you're browser experience is absolutely not being watched over by the 900-pound gorilla commonly referred to as "M$" (Microsoft), because the browser code is freely available to anyone, allowing consumers to validate the security or tracking functions of Firefox.

You may ask, what is "open source"? To be simple, free lance programmers working together toward a similar goal while sharing the software code with the public, encouraging constant improvements, and usually not for profit. This programming philosophy is growing rapidly and threatening large companies like Microsoft in many ways. Why pay $450+ for a suite of applications that handle word processing, spreadsheets and databases (Microsoft Office), when you can download -- FOR FREE -- an open source software package with similar features called Open Office? Microsoft claims Open Office's program features are comparable to the "97" version of Microsoft Office, but for most people who don't require advance options, that simply doesn't matter. Open source is an intriguing recent phenomenon in the tech field, that will surely affect the future of software.

Anyway, I'm still recommending Firefox as the best web browser out. Unfortunately, the future of Firefox doesn't look so bright with the upcoming release of Internet Explorer nearly cloning Firefox's best features.