Eric Hamilton's Information Technology Blog

My Congressman's Response to Stop Online Piracy Act

2012-01-25T16:19:00.003-05:00

Like many Americans who took action to stop SOPA, I contacted my Congressman Steve Rothman of New Jersey's 9th Congressional district. I was very pleased with his response. See below.

It's about putting your elected officials to work for you!

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Dear Mr. Hamilton

Thank you for contacting me in opposition to H.R. 3261, the Stop Online Piracy Act. I appreciate hearing from you and I welcome the opportunity to respond.

One of the side effects of the Internet's explosive growth is its impact on intellectual property and digital media. It is undeniable that broadband technology and increased computing power have made it easier to illegally disseminate copyrighted material. According to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, intellectual property in the United States is worth more than $5 trillion. The U.S. has been a leader in developing new technologies, and as a result, has been a major target of global theft. I am pleased that President Obama appointed Victoria Espniel as the first Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator at the Office of Management and Budget, a position created by Congress in 2008. She has overseen the Administration's strategy to tackle the wide range of problems associated with intellectual property enforcement including better coordination and cooperation between U.S. government agencies as well as private industry.

As you may know, H.R. 3261 was introduced by Representative Lamar Smith (R-Texas) on April 26, 2011. If enacted, H.R. 3261 would allow the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to seek injunctions against foreign Web sites that steal music, films, software and other intellectual property created by U.S. firms. The bill also includes provisions that could hold third parties — payment-processing and other partners — responsible for piracy and counterfeiting on other sites. The bill would make the unauthorized web streaming of copyrighted content a felony with a possible penalty of up to five years in prison. This bill is currently before the House Judiciary Committee.

I am opposed to H.R. 3261 because the provisions of the legislation would enforce Internet censorship, which would be in direct violation of the First Amendment. The measure would allow federal courts to order any Internet Service Provider to stop recognizing a website on a temporary restraining order issued the same day as the formal complaint is filed. Also, blocking entire domains or websites could suppress vast amounts of protected speech containing no infringing content whatsoever. Under this measure entire domains would be blocked based on finding infringing materials on a single sub-domain. This tactic could stifle technological innovation on the Internet and hinder startup companies from being competitive.

I believe the Administration's strategy of increased cooperation between government agencies and private industry will reduce the intellectual property infringement occurring over the Internet. Agencies will increasingly go after foreign-based web sites and web services that infringe on our intellectual property rights. I will continue to closely monitor these developments and do my part as a federal legislator to ensure that the laws that protect our nation's intellectual property and Internet are robust, fair, and constitutional.

Thank you again for contacting me. It is a privilege and an honor to serve you and to act as your voice in our nation's capital. Please feel free to contact me again with any other issue or matter that concerns you. You may also want to visit my website at www.house.gov/rothman where you can find out how I have voted on legislation, learn which bills I have introduced and cosponsored, and keep current with my latest activities and policy statements.

Sincerely,

Steve Rothman
Member of Congress

10 Checklist Items to Help Find a Tech Co-Founder

2012-01-18T13:18:00.005-05:00

Many tech start-up founders seek co-founders to help build their businesses. This can be a daunting task as nobody is going to be as dedicated to the start-up as the founder.

There are many things to consider when selecting a co-founder.

Take my co-founder check list test.

1) Does your potential co-founder share your vision? yes +0 no -3
2) Has impressive resume and industry knowledgeable? yes +3 no -2
3) Do they have a full time job or full time student? yes -2 no +1
4) Do they miss meetings? regularly -5 sometimes -2 never +1
5) Are they late to meetings? regularly -2 sometimes -1 never +2
6) Do they desire large shares of your company? -1
7) Have they secured important partnerships? +3 for each partnership
8) Have they secured important clients? +2 for each client
9) Any significant task or win that has allowed your company to grow (ex product build, talent finds)? +1 for each task
10) any significant negative incident that has questioned their committment? -1 per incident

-10 or lower don't even think about having them on your management team
-5 still a bad choice for your team
0 has potential
5 a good fit for your team with room for growth
10 A dream team member and definite keeper

As the founder, your score should be over 10+, if it isn't then you have alot of work to do!

What do you think?

4 Ways Steve Jobs Changes The World

2011-10-07T09:23:00.004-04:00

Steve Jobs changed the way in which we all interact with technology. I got my 1st computer in 1982. It was a Commodore 64 computer. Most of the functionality was text based as there was no concept of drag and drop. I took my 1st computer class in high school in 1984. We learned on IBM XT computers running MS DOS.

Even though I've never been a huge fan of Apple, I respect the game and the ingenuity required to take bold steps and change conventional thinking. The Macintosh computer was a bold step. The boldness is reflected in this Apple Superbowl Ad from 1984.

Before the Macintosh computer we were subject to typing commands from a DOS screen.
If I wanted to look at a large number of Microsoft Word files in a folder and see the file sizes I would type the following from a DOC command prompt "dir *.doc /c /p".
Now we simply double click 1 icon.

We Steve Jobs was ousted from Apple in the early 90s, Apple ceased to innovate.
Upon Steve Jobs' return we saw products such as:
The iPod
The iPhone
The iPad

1) Steve Jobs didn't invent the computer but he made it easy to use and fun. Windows, Linux and every other operating system has copied Apple's concept.

2) Steve Jobs didn't invent music or MP3 technology, but he made practical to carry thousands of songs in our pocket. Sony, Zune and every other MP3 player has copied Apple's model.

3) Steve Jobs didn't invent the mobile phone, but he combined different technologies into a smart phone that had never been done before. Android, Blackberry and Microsoft are trying to may catch up.

4) Steve Jobs didn't invent the tablet computer but he created a demand that has yet to see its full potential. Amazon, Motorola, Acer, Dell are trying to play catch up.

30 years of amazing technology.

So, what do you think?

2 Reasons Why You Should Avoid Google+ (Flour vs Crack)

2011-07-09T08:56:00.004-04:00

As many of you know, I am a social media consultant and I released a book on social media January 2010 called Social Media Branding in the Age of Obama. It’s my job to stay on top of anything social media related. Last week, Google announced a limited release of Google+ which is Google’s answer to Facebook.
Some of my clients immediately asked me if they should be concerned. Therefore, I needed to test Google+ so I could give them an answer.
Let me start by saying if I were a Google employee, I would find a dark place to hide. Don’t drink the Koolaid. Google+ reminds me of a very good 12th grade programming assignment. Thus, I am not impressed.

2 reasons why you should avoid Google+

1. Artificial Demand:
Google is a master at creating artificial demand. With Google+ it’s classic economics. They simply limit the supply to create an artificial demand. I even got caught up in this mess. Google is playing us all. Don’t believe the hype.

2. No “Wow Factor":
In 1999 when I did my 1st Google search and saw the results I said “Wow, this is sweet” and I’ve been a Google fan ever since.
In 2008 when I joined Facebook and saw the seamless connectivity to friends I said “Wow, this is sweet” and I’ve been a Facebook fan ever since.
In 2011 when I joined Google+ I said “This is all yall working with? WTH”.
Google+ copied Facebook’s interface and integrated accounts using their Gmail API. I am familiar with API integrations and it’s not rocket science. In addition, Google+ has a java enabled drag and drop feature that allows you to classify your friends into groups called circles. There is nothing new here.
That’s pretty much it. No “Wow Factor”. A group of talented 12th graders could have built this in a few months.

For those of you who are familiar with street drug terminology you have heard the word “gank”. As the NWA rapper Ice Cube said “Ganked means being took for your bank or your money or your doe or something…”. The slang word gank is a verb and a noun. According to doubletongued.org, Gank: fake illegal drugs sold as real. As we know, social media can be addictive like drugs and Google is trying to pull off a gank move. They are trying to sell us fake drugs.

Google+ is flour.
Facebook is crack.

What do you think?

For you soft folks, who get offended easily. Excuse the illegal drug references. This publication does not condone the use of illegal drugs.

Finish Him!

2011-06-28T06:08:00.005-04:00

According to Reuters, the California Supreme Court eliminated a ban on the sale of violent video games to minors. Reuters goes on to say "Governments cannot ban the sale or rental of violent video games to minors because it would violate free-speech rights, the U.S. Supreme Court said on Monday in its first ruling in a video game case."

In 1991 Midway released Mortal Kombat which is/was a very violent fighting game. There have been several sequels to this hit video game. Mortal Kombat was most famous for its "Finishing Moves" which were death blows to be completed at the end of each 1-on-1 match. Finishing Moves consisted of decapitations, gripping out of hearts and spines and other gruesome acts of violence.

Check out Mortal Kombat Finishing Moves Here:

Video Ads Powered by AdSmoke.

Now the California Supreme Court says anyone, regardless of age, can buy or rent these games. So, what do you think?

Outsourcing Player Hater

2011-06-04T16:30:00.005-04:00

I was at a dinner party a few years ago and the topic of outsourcing came up. I am the owner of a web development firm and I've been outsourcing since 2003. I have a computer science degree and I used to do the grunt level coding/programming back in the day, but since 2003, I've been working smarter by outsourcing. I design all aspects of the projects that I outsource. I rarely give my coders the latitude to make system architecture decisions.

Anyway, at this dinner party I was heavily criticized by a woman for using technical labor in eastern Europe and Asia. I was told that I am taking away jobs from U.S. based workers. Well, I am a smaller player in a big game. I am only doing what Microsoft, Dell, IBM and every other major tech firm has been doing for decades. In addition, I have U.S. based workers doing customer relations which is extremely valuable. I compensate my U.S. workers accordingly, thus they are making a lot of money. I told that dinner party hater "Don't hate the player, hate the game".

In addition, I would like to quote myself: "Anything goes, when it comes to code, cyber pimpin ain't easy!"
Eric Hamilton 2011

So what do you think?

SBI Award for The Web Academy

2011-05-24T08:00:00.002-04:00

We are pleased to announce that the City of New York Board of Directors of the National BDPA is honoring the Web Academy with the Small Business Innovator(SBI) Award, which shall be presented at the 15th Annual BDPA NY Scholarship and Awards Dinner on Wednesday, June 29th, 2011 at UBS, 299 Park Avenue. The theme for the evening is "Innovating our Future".
http://2011bdpanyawards.eventbrite.com/

You made this possible by supporting the Web Academy as a student or simply forwarding an email about our program.

As always, feel free to enroll in FREE web design classes at: http://thewebacademy.org

AdSmoke in MassChallenge

2011-05-07T02:53:00.002-04:00

AdSmoke was invited to participate in Round 2 judging at MassChallenge.

How it Works in Round 2:
Round 2 is a 20 minute pitching round. AdSmoke will have 10 minutes to pitch to a panel of judges, followed by 10 minutes for Q & A. The results of Round 2 judging will determine which teams are invited to participate in the MassChallenge accelerator program.

About MassChallenge:
Open to any startup, any industry, from anywhere.
Finalist get access to the world's best mentors, training, and resources.
Winners a share of $1 million in seed funding.

About AdSmoke:
AdSmoke is a digital video ad network that allows web site owners the ability to earn revenue by showing commercials in front of their embedded video content.

You can still cast a vote for AdSmoke:
http://masschallenge.org/profile/team/adsmoke

Your Bad Azz Kids & Technology

2011-01-16T07:02:00.003-05:00

So, I recently got invited to speak to a group of teens about technology and web development. Most people would feel honored to be invited. Actually, I hate working with teens or anyone under the age of 21. I know, I know… This sounds mean but let me explain.

Typically, I speak to large audiences of adults. Many of these adults are business owners looking to build their businesses by using the web and specially social media. Typically these sessions last 1-2 hours and generally most of my audiences get a lot of my presentations. I love helping these folks and they are generally well appreciative. However, when I speak with teens it is a bit different. Most of these bad azz teens have attention deficit and behavioral problems.
Passionate teachers are a part of the problem. Passionate teachers will generally put up with any nonsense to reach a child. Are you serious? Because these passionate teachers are willing to put up with any type of behavior and they are willing to work for peanuts, they are paid peanuts. I wish I had a nickel for every time I heard a teacher complain about their salary.

In my industry (technology) my comrades and I will leave any and every undesirable situation for greener pastures. I am an ex-Yahoo! employee. I have many colleagues who currently work for Yahoo!, Google, Facebook and other tech companies. Yahoo! made a huge effort to keep me happy with perks such as a flexible work from home schedule, free lattes at our espresso bar, free health club on Yahoo!’s campus and other perks. If I had to put up with some type of unruly behavior on the job, then I would do as Lebrun James did, I would “Take my skills to ____________”. You can fill in the blank.

I spoke to a group of teens at a local New York University recently. I was a few minutes away from kicking a few of these bad azz kids out of my class. What makes the situation worse is that these teens aspired to be teachers!?!?!? What?
Lack of discipline is the problem. They need to bring back paddling. Better yet, they need the concept of the “country wood shed”. Perhaps have a truant officer figure whose sole job was to whoop some azz when needed. When unruly behavior happens, they need to take these bad azz kids to a special room in the school, and whoop they azz! For real. For really bad azz kids they need to do a public beating in front of the entire school.

And what’s up with these little kids addressing adults by their 1st names? When I was a child, I addressed all of my parents friends by “Mr. Johnson” or “Mrs. Jones”. Many of my friends have kids who address adults by their 1st names. If you are a friend of mine and you are reading this and your kids fit this description then check your little bad azz kids and teach them how to show some respect! Seriously!

I must take this time to give props to my buddy Charles Sutton who has the greatest kids. Every time I visit his home, his kids refer to me as Mr. Hamilton and they are very respectful. I am sure that Charles was whooping some azz to get them that way.

In summary, one of the reasons that are schools are failing in technology education is that most tech professionals don’t want to deal with your bad azz kids. Therefore, we just avoid mentoring. To solve the problem there needs to be violence in the form of an azz kicking truant officer and the wide adoption of general respect. So, what do you think?

Leveraging the Digital Space to Grow Your Business

2011-01-07T11:31:00.005-05:00

I will be a technology panelist for Reverend Jesse Jackson's Wall Street Project Economic Summit. If you are going to be in NYC during the week of January 11 then perhaps you can attend.

DAY THEME: ACCESS TO CAPITAL, INDUSTRY, TECHNOLOGY, YOUTH
Wednesday January 12, 2010

SESSION V: Leveraging the Digital Space to Grow Your Business
Description: Learn how to leverage technology as a tool to grow your business with the use of cutting edge technology, social media and online marketing.
Time: 11:15AM EST

14TH ANNUAL WALL STREET PROJECT ECONOMIC SUMMIT
"A More Perfect Union: Time to Rebuild America"
JANUARY 11-14, 2011

Sheraton New York Hotel & Towers
811 7th Avenue at 53rd Street, New York City

For more information visit:
http://www.rainbowpush.org/pages/14th_economic_summit

Tricked Out Facebook Page

2011-01-06T08:38:00.011-05:00

A new Facebook App by Schweppes allows you to modify your Facebook profile with an image of your choosing. Unlike the old days of Myspace, Facebook allows page modifications with in certain limits.

Visit App at: http://www.facebook.com/SchweppesFanPage?v=app_6009294086

Check out the video below...

Video Ads Powered by AdSmoke.com

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alt="vBulletin statistics">

Facebook's Instant Personalization

2011-01-05T01:50:00.005-05:00

I recently saw this status update circulating on Facebook:

"As of today, New Privacy setting called 'Instant Personalization' goes into effect. The new settings shares data with non-Facebook websites & it is automatically set to 'Enabled'. Go to Account>Privacy Settings>Applications & Websites>Instant Personalization>Edit Settings & uncheck 'Enable'. BTW, If your friends don't do this, they will be sharing information about you as well. ??? COPY & REPOST"

Why is it automatically assumed that any new privacy related changes that you described are bad? Personally, I welcome my information to be shared. Why? Because Facebook knows that I like to ski and that I like the History channel so I am served ads on Facebook related to ski deals in Aspen and new shows on the History channel. I like that. I don't like getting offers for things that don't pertain to me such as ads for Tanning Salons, Hair Coloring Products or Diapers...

Here's a quote from Facebook on Instant Personalization:
"Your information can only be used to present you with a more personalized experience and cannot be transferred to advertisers or used for any other purposes."

Pandora Radio is an Instant Personalization partner of Facebook, so I decided to check it out. The opt out messages are clearly labeled with options to "Keep Public" and "Make Private". See the main image above.

Instant Personalization is meant to make your web experience more meaningful. The people who are ultra paranoid need to simply relax. So, what do you think?

Super Heroes & Tech Startups

2010-12-12T10:06:00.001-05:00

This morning I was up early contemplating on what makes a successful technology startup business. I’ve been reading about building a team of people and how the people make the business. I think that’s true but it really boils down to 1 person or 2 people with a vision.
Some of the most successful technology startups were NOT formed by committees but by 1 or 2 people. If you think about our favorite comic book heroes, they are usually NOT a group, they are usually 1 or 2 people.

1 & 2 Person Super Heroes:
Superman
Spiderman
Wonder Woman
Ironman
Batman & Robin

1 & 2 Person Successful Tech Startups:
Apple
Microsoft
Facebook
Ebay
Amazon
Google
Yahoo!
Hewlett Packard

Many times startups feel that they have to have the perfect business plan and backing from friends, family and a bank before they can get things moving.
As of December of 2010, my organization (The Web Academy) is approaching 2500 all time enrollments. I didn’t form that organization with a consensus vote. It was about me having a vision and putting the pieces together. In the beginning, I was the Executive Director, the Administrative Assistant, the Web Master, the Sales Director, the Marketing Director and the only Instructor.
General Dwight Eisenhower once said plans are worthless but planning is everything. I love that quote. So, have a vision, work hard, don’t be afraid to be solo, and plan for everything imaginable.
So, what do you think?

Social Media, Colliding Galaxies & Holodecks

2010-12-08T13:10:00.004-05:00

In about 3 billion years, our galaxy (The Milky Way) will collide with our nearest cousin galaxy (Andromeda). It will be a galactic fireworks display of energy and destruction and some dancing of stars. Dancing of stars? Not "Dancing with the Stars" but "Dancing of Stars". Yes, some stars will be destroyed and some will find a partner in the opposite galaxy. Those stars will conduct an interstellar waltz for eternity or at least until those stars exhaust all of their hydrogen. In any case, both galaxies will be changed forever.

Similarly, the world of social media will collide with the web. One might say this is a bad analogy as social media is a part of the web and the Milky Way and Andromeda are 2 distinct galaxies.

That is true but bear with me.

When this collision of social media and web happens, there will be some destruction as old players die out. In addition, there will be players who dance with partners that they never dreamed of dancing with.

You’re probably asking “What does this mean?”. I will get there soon, but 1st another metaphor.
On the TV series “Star Trek the Next Generation” there was a technology called the “Holodeck”. The Holodeck was a virtual reality simulation that used computers, optics and force fields to simulate any environment. On the Holodeck, you could experience sailing on a 1700 century sailing ship or experience a night club comedy show act or anything and everything. The “people” and things encountered on the Holodeck seemed real. On one particular episode, the cast of characters encountered Professor Moriarty (the fictional character and arch enemy of Sherlock Holmes) on the Holodeck. Professor Moriarty’s personality was controlled by the Holodeck’s computer. In the episode, the artificial intelligence became self aware and Moriarty desired to leave the confines of the Holodeck simulation . Moriarty in turn held members of the Enterprise crew as hostages on the Holodeck.

To defeat Moriarty, the crew of the Enterprise fooled Moriarty into believing that he had left the Holodeck by using transporter technology to beam him to another Holodeck. Moriarty thought that he was in the real world when in actuality he was on another Holodeck.

Now, to the non-Star Trek fans, thank you for your patience.

My point:
Social Media is the Holodeck.
The Web is the Real World.

Soon, you will not be able to distinguish one from the other.
Facebook knows a lot of information about its users. For instance Facebook knows that I like Star Trek, that I’m from Detroit, that I studied Computer Science and that I like Google Android Application Development. This information can be used to change the way I interact with the web. As Facebook expands its reach to publisher networks, visitors will experience the Facebook experience throughout their entire web experience.

Imagine going to Yahoo! News and seeing news on your college buddy’s new business or doing a Google Search and finding information on your co-worker’s bridal shower or seeing a display ad on CNN for your father’s retirement party.

With the help of Facebook, the web will be more personal and more meaningful. The entire social media experience and web experience will be blurred to the extent that the user will not be able to distinguish between the two.

While working at Yahoo! on their social media task force, I tried to help them understand this concept. So, what do you think?

Facebook Numbers Game

2010-12-08T01:39:00.002-05:00

So, you may have noticed that several of your friends have random numbers in their status updates such as #74 or #5545 followed by some kind words.

Perhaps you got an email in your Facebook inbox from a friend with a random number and you're thinking "What is this number thing all about?"

It's the newest Facebook Viral Trend unofficially called "The Numbers Game". The goal is simple. Send a number to a friend. This number is specific to you. Next, your friend will create a status update telling the world how they feel about you but only you know because it's your number.

The Numbers Game is meant to be a fun way to tell people how you really feel about them. So, have some fun with it...

As always, what do you think about The Facebook Numbers Game?

Top NBA Brands Using Wordpress

2010-11-25T10:25:00.002-05:00

WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) web development tools such as Wordpress sometimes are not seen as "real" web development platforms. Wordpress is one of the most flexible and easy to use WYSIWYG tools in existence. Many Fortune 500 companies and top athletes are using Wordpress.

Top NBA and WNBA brands using Wordpress:

So , if Wordpress is good enough for these multi-million dollar athletes, then it is probably good enough for your business.

What do you think?

The Web Academy teaches free Wordpress classes online. Visit the http://thewebacademy.org to enroll.

Social Trends for 2011 Workshop in Manhattan

2010-11-19T14:38:00.003-05:00

Description: This workshop will discuss with established businesses and arts organizations topics such as: Facebook markup language, Facebook fan page engagement, Twitter for your business and Google web analytics. With a "step by step" explanation of how to create an account and upload videos and pictures by connecting different social media tools, the audience will successfully be immersed and able to start using these tools.

Featuring: Eric Hamilton - Executive Director of the NY Web Academy and author of "Social Media Branding in the Age of Obama."

Date: Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Time: 6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.
Location: 110 William Street, 4th Floor Conference Room
New York, NY 10038

RSVP: Call 212-618-8862 or e-mail dmartens@nycbusiness-solutions.com

Buzz Aldrin Would Not Be Impressed

2010-11-11T12:00:00.002-05:00

I am just about tired of my Blackberry. RIM, your 15 minutes of fame are over! I will be purchasing a Droid phone by this weekend. My frustrations with Blackberry are far and wide but here are a few highlights:
1) Constant resets (reminds me of the old Windows CE devices)
2) The lack of an open development platform
3) Slow synchronization time
Speaking of slow synchronization times. Why does it take 5 minutes to synch 4500 contacts? I can't understand why I have more computing power on my Dell laptop and Blackberry than the entire Apollo 11 mission to the moon yet it takes over 5 minutes to synch 4500 contacts. I could write a simple algorithm that compares the date/time stamp of a contact on the laptop vs date/time stamp of a contact on the Blackberry. If the date/time stamps does not match then overwrite the old with the new! Each comparison would take nanoseconds. Thus, the entire process should take 2 seconds at best. It's just that simple Blackberry! Obviously Blackberry and Microsoft need to be schooled on data structures.

The United States landed men on the moon the year I was born and returned them safely to Earth with less computing power than my laptop and Blackberry yet, RIM can't figure out a way to synchronzie 4500 contacts in less time than it takes to fry an egg. Buzz Aldrin would not be impressed. So, what do you think?

FREE Google Android App Inventor Class

2010-11-08T13:13:00.005-05:00

Since its introduction in the smart phone marketplace, The Droid has been chipping away market share from Apple's iPhone and RIM's Blackberry. In 2010, Google released an open development platform called Android App Inventor. This user friendly platform allows non-programmers the ability to create Android applications and these applications run on Droid phone. The Web Academy (a non profit technology organization) will be offering FREE Android App Inventor classes to anyone interested in learning. The classes are FREE however, the course materials cost $69.00.

Space is limited, you may enroll at:
http://thewebacademy.org/registration/google-android-app-inventor-registration/

A 2 Fan Wonder

2010-11-02T12:20:00.004-04:00

So today is election day. I'm still rather new to Bergen County, NJ thus I am still getting familiar with all of the political players. My Congressman in the 9th District is Steven R Rothman a Democrat. I don't know a lot about Congressman Rothman so I decided read about his stance on immigration, the economy, health care... To my surprise, Congressman Rothman does not have a campaign web site! What? It's 2010, not 1910. Are you serious. I conducted every possible keyword combination search on Google, Yahoo! and Bing... In addition, I did a search on Facebook. I could not find a personal Facebook page nor a sponsored Facebook fan page. However, I did find a community fan page with a grand total of 2 fans. See the image to the upper left. This is laughable. These are the people who represent us. These are the people who we put into office to pass laws on everything including TECHNOLOGY.

If he did not know, Barack Obama and his team mastered the use of social media. The social media blue print to get elected was set between 2006-2008.

What do you think? Should politicians at a minimum have a web site? Should politicians engage in FREE social media to get their message out?

Web Master/Web Blogging Interns for Lady Gaga Web Site

2010-10-29T22:41:00.006-04:00

The Web Academy has partnered with Web Asset Partners Inc (WAP) which is a NYC based media publishing platform. Please visit Web Asset Partners Inc (WAP) at http://www.webassetpartners.com for more information. WAP specializes in creating brands and building powerful online entities.

WAP's client portfolio includes The Jonas Brothers and others. In addition, WAP manages the following celebrity themed web destinations:

Lady Gaga
Justin Bieber
Britney Spears
Miley Cyrus
Selena Gomez
Taylor Swift

WAP is looking for Web Master/Web Blogging Interns. These internships are unpaid. However, each intern will get real world experience working with these top brands. If you have successfully mastered the management of maintaining a Wordpress CMS then you may qualify.

Requirements:
PC or Mac with modern web browser
Access to a high speed internet connection
Working knowledge of Wordpress CMS
Writing ability is a must
Working knowledge of DOT NET Nuke CMS (very similar to Wordpress)

Responsibilities:
Manage content
Maintain news information
Post articles using Wordpress and DOT NET NUKE
Upload and manage photos
Upload and manage videos
Add Plugins and Widgets as necessary
Other celebrity web site tasks as related to the pro

Commitment:
Weekly Commitment: 8 hours per week
We are asking for a 6 month commitment.
Location: Telecommute (Work from Home).

If you are interested in working with these top brands as a Web Master/Web Blogging Intern then send an email to info@thewebacademy.org ASAP. This email should include your resume, a writing sample and links to any blogs or web sites that you have created or managed.

FREE Social Media Workshop in Harlem

2010-10-26T10:39:00.004-04:00

FREE Social Media Workshop in Harlem -- Sponsored by Capital One Bank and Seedco Financial

My New Yorkers,

I am doing another FREE Social Media Workshop on Thursday Oct 28th. This workshop is sponsored by Capital One Bank and Seedco Financial. Feel free to send this information to anyone who is interested.

Twitter, Facebook, and Other Social Media
Date: Thursday, October 28, 2010
Time: 6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.
Location: Capital One Bank - Harlem
1999 First Avenue
New York, NY 10029

RSVP: E-mail rsvp@harlemaa.org

Description: This workshop will discuss with established businesses and arts organizations topics such as: Facebook markup language, Facebook fan page engagement, Twitter for your business and Google web analytics. With a "step by step" explanation of how to create an account and upload videos and pictures by connecting different social media tools, the audience will successfully be immersed and able to start using these tools.

Featuring: Eric Hamilton - Executive Director of the NY Web Academy and author of "Social Media Branding in the Age of Obama."

Facebook's "Privacy" Test

2010-10-25T08:27:00.014-04:00

There has been a lot of talk about Facebook's privacy or lack thereof. Recently, it was revealed that Facebook was accidentally outing gay users to outside firms through targeted ads. See article online article at Mail Online

I wanted to see if this was true so I decided to run a test. In this test, I wanted to see if I could capture the names and emails of gay men on Facebook. I run an organization called The Web Academy which offers free web design classes. I already have ads running on Facebook, so I simply decided to change who the ads targeted and directed those specific clicks to a custom landing page on my organization's web site. This would help me flag the respondents as gay.

Facebook Ad Setup:
Demographics
Age: 18 and up...
*Sex: M
*Interested in: M
Targeting
Location: NYC
Estimated Reach: 26,800
(notice that the ad is targeting men who are interested in men)

User Account Setup:
I setup a test user account and selected the setting "man interested in men" and simply browsed Facebook until I saw my targeted ad. It took about 1 day before the ad was seen.

User Activity:
Once displayed, I clicked on the ad and I arrived at my special landing page for gay respondents. To the casual user, everything would seem normal. I completed the form for free web design classes.

Web Site Owner:
From the web site owner's perspective, the respondent who clicked on the "gay" ad will be flagged as gay in the owner's web site database.
Below is the email confirmation that the web site owner receives after a gay respondent completes the online application.

Good and Evil:
There is some good that can be achieved with Facebook's granular level of demographics targeting. For instance, I may have an ad that promotes a positive event for the gay and lesbian community. As far as the evil, there are too many to mention.

I am a former Yahoo! employee and in 2008, I supported Yahoo's Right Media Ad network. One of my potential clients was a Black hair care company. They wanted to use Yahoo! to target African Americans. In 2008 and currently, ad networks do not track ethnicity for targeting for many reasons. Even though this company would be using the targeting for good, there would be others who would use this information for evil.

So, what do you think about Facebook's ad targeting capabilities and demographics targeting in general?

New York Urban League and The Web Academy

2010-10-23T20:15:00.002-04:00

The Web Academy is committed to providing free online courses. In addition, the Web Academy provides local web training. On Saturday October 23, 2010, the Web Academy visited Harlem Renaissance High School's technology lab to teach a web design class. This facility is open to the community 7 days a week. Check out the video of our session:

Generation X Slackers That Changed the Technology World

2010-09-19T10:16:00.000-04:00

So, in a few days I will reach the grand old age of 41 and it has caused me to think about the last 20 years and the classification of my generation (Generation X) over the past 20 years.

Generation X is a U.S. generational classification for anyone born between 1961 and 1981. As a 20 year old in 1989, Generation X was seen as irresponsible and lazy slackers. I’m not sure if the term Generation X was coined at the time but these negative perceptions were strong. I recall hearing a Baby Boomer at the time state that she thought that society should start over with the next generation because Generation X was a total waste. I replied to her that the World War II Generation said the same thing about the Baby Boomers with their easy living and free love in the 1960s and that the Baby Boomers turned out okay. My reply was met with silence.

Now, let’s think about these lazy Generation X slackers. Some of the greatest technology companies in the history of our country were started by Generation X “Slackers”.

In the early 1990s, I was a Computer Science student at Michigan State University. Meanwhile, about 60 miles away there was another Computer Science student (getting better grades than me) at the University of Michigan. His name was Larry Page. A few years after graduating from the University of Michigan, Larry ended up starting a company called Google. You may have heard of it.

Here’s my short list of technology companies that changed the world founded by Generation X “Slackers”.

Company	Generation X "Slacker"	Birth Month/Year
Google	Larry Page	March 1973
Yahoo!	Jerry Yang	November 1968
Twitter	Jack Dorsey	November 1976
YouTube	Steven Chen	August 1978
Amazon	Jeff Bezos	January 1964
Wikipedia	Jimmy Wales	August 1966
eBay	Pierre Omidyar	June 1967
Blogger	Evan Williams	March 1972
Skype	Niklas Zennström	February 1966
LinkedIn	Reid Hoffman	August 1967
Expedia	Richard Barton	June 1967

Here’s my message to all of you old crusty Baby Boomer dinosaurs who want to hate on the younger generations or anyone who wants to hate on future generations. Don’t hate, congratulate! Every generation has its success stories. So, if you are not uplifting the next generation then you probably need to shut up! So, what do you think?

Wubble -- The Word Unscrambling Game

2010-09-17T17:09:00.000-04:00

For all of you parents who are looking for a thought provoking game for yourself or for your kids check out "Wubble". Wubble is an anagram word scramble game created by Garth Humphreys of Gizmoko Games. Garth is a Graphics Designer and Web Developer. His areas of focus are Drupal and Flash.

Wubble challenges the gamer with a series of words to unscramble. Wubble is available for easy download and installation via the app store on your iPhone or by visiting the iTunes App Store.

Web Design for Pimps Book Overview

2010-08-29T16:05:00.000-04:00

An Overview of the Web Academy's Wordpress and GIMP class and an overview of the book "Web Design for Pimps"

The Social Refrigerator

2010-08-22T07:49:00.000-04:00

10 years ago (in the year 2000) while working for the Netscape/Sun Microsystems alliance, I was doing some research on the future of IP addresses. IP addresses are unique numbers assigned to devices on a computer network to allow for communications between those devices. Most computers use version 4 of IP addressing which allows for approximately 4.3 billion (4.3 x 10 ⁹) unique IP addresses. With the proliferation of mobile devices and other internet accessible devices, IP address exhaustion was/is predicted to occur in the next few years. Version 6 of IP addressing was constructed in 1998 and it currently can accommodate more than 3 x 10 ³⁸ IP addresses. That is 3 followed by 38 zeros or three thousand trillion trillion trillion IP addresses.

With a number that large, we can assign unique IP addresses to almost anything.

Because of version 6 of IP addressing, every device in your home could have a unique IP address. Currently, your home computer, wireless printer and smart phone are probably the only 3 devices in your home with IP addresses. In the future, your TV, your DVD player, your refrigerator, your washer, your dryer, your fitness equipment, your A/C, your alarm system, your wrist watch, your running shoes will all have IP addresses and will be social.

As people spend less time watching television and more time on the internet and more proportional time on social media sites, advertisers will fight harder to attract your attention. Making consumer devices more social is the next progression.

Your new social electronic devices and home appliances will look and function just as they did in the previous generation accept they will have a social component. After purchasing your device/appliance you will have the ability to opt into its social features. Upon starting you would give the device/appliance your wireless network information and your social media information (ex: Facebook ID, Twitter ID).

Social Refrigerator:
Imagine your refrigerator having internal cameras and knowing when it is full or empty and automatically sending images of its contents to your social media sites. This information would be huge for top consumable brands such as Kraft or Pepsi.

Social Washer/Dryer:
Image your washer/dryer tweeting every time you do your laundry. “Eric just placed a large load clothes on heavy cycle in his Maytag washer”. This would be extra advertising for these brands.

Social Fitness Equipment:
Every guy likes to brag about how much they can do in the weight room. “Eric just benched pressed 160 lbs 25 times in 15 minutes”. And this would not be “bragging” because the equipment is tweeting about my accomplishments.

We are in a new age of openness and connectivity and these are just a few of the foreseeable possibilities. So, what do you think?

Web Design for Pimps

2010-07-17T20:47:00.000-04:00

I’ve been getting a lot of criticism over my choice for my new book title “Web Design for Pimps”. I will attempt to explain my reasoning for selecting such a title.

I am a big fan of the “Dummies” book series. One of the 1st Dummies books that I ever purchased was “HTML for Dummies”. I purchased this book years after being a competent HTML programmer. I loved the book but I hated the title. Why? Because I am not a dummy. I am a guy who happens to want to learn a few new things about HTML. I am a guy who wants to take what I learn and make a few dollars practicing my craft.

So, to the reader of this blog, you are not a dummy. If you are like me, then you are a go-getter, who wants something out of life and will do whatever it takes to accomplish your goals. You work hard and you use resources to the best of your ability. Now, I could have called my book “Web Design for Hard Workers” or “Web Design for People Who Use Resources to the Best of Their Abilities”. Those titles are extremely uninteresting. I wanted a title that would get your attention and remain true to the concepts of the book.

According to wikipedia.com, a pimp is an agent for prostitutes who lives off their earnings… with the pimp using techniques such as psychological intimidation, manipulation and physical force to control the prostitutes he sends out to work. In my world, you, the reader of this blog are the pimp. Web technology is your prostitute. Thus, “Web Design for Pimps” was the title that I selected for the book. In addition to finding technical information on WordPress, HTML and FBML, I will give some basic information on how to earn revenue.

So, if you are offended by this title, I do apologize. When you see it on Amazon or on the shelf at Borders, you can place this book back on the shelf and purchase a Dummies book. For everybody else, let’s figure out how to increase our knowledge and get paid at the same time!

So, what do you think?

The purchase a copy visit Web Design for Pimps - WordPress on Lulu.com

Atoms vs. Bits

2010-05-02T10:35:00.000-04:00

In my ongoing quest to rid the world of this horrible thing called paper, I suddenly realized it’s all about atoms and bits. I know, I know… You are thinking “What the heck is EHAM talking about”.

Let’s start with some simple definitions.
Atom: a basic unit of matter which is the building block of everything in the universe.
Bit: also know as a binary digit. Computers use bits to determine the value of data and instructions.
Byte: is 8 bits. 1 English letter or character equals 1 byte.
Atoms are expensive. Assuming that my calculations are correct, there are about 91 billion trillion atoms in 1 sheet of paper.

Feel free to check my math…
A standard sheet of letter sized paper is 8.5 inches by 11 inches which translates to .2159 meters by .2794 meters. According to answerbag.com, the thickness of a standard sheet of letter sized paper is 0.00003 meters which is 111,111 atoms. With that, we calculate the width of the sheet to be 799,628,830 atoms and the length to be 1,034,813,780 atoms.
The dimensions of a sheet of paper in atoms:
Length = 1,034,813,780 atoms
Width = 799,628,830 atoms
Height = 111,111 atoms
As we all know, volume = length * width * height which gives us a total of 91,940,678,300,260,581,191,400 atoms which is 91 billion trillion atoms.
I hope these calculations are correct. It’s been 25 years since my last high school chemistry class and 23 years since my last college chemistry class. A big shout out to Mr. Keeney from Walled Lake Western High School and Dr. Hammer from Michigan State University. I have not talked to these dudes in over 23 years.

Data Stored as Bits on a Hard Drive:
As of May of 2010 a standard 1 terabyte (1 trillion bytes) hard drive weighs about ½ of a pound which is about 36 trillion trillion atoms.

Data Stored as Atoms on Paper:
We can fit about 40 characters on a single line on a sheet of people. We have about 50 lines total on both sides of a sheet of paper thus we can fit about 2000 text characters on a double sided sheet of paper. A piece of paper weights about 1/100 of a pound. 50 sheets of paper weighs about ½ of a pound and is about 36 trillion trillion atoms. 50 sheets of paper can store 100,000 characters which is 100,000 bytes.

If we have 36 trillion trillion atoms to work with then we come to the following conclusions:
50 sheets of paper at 36 trillion trillion atoms equals 100,000 bytes of storage
1 TB hard drive at 36 trillion trillion atoms equals 1 trillion bytes of storage

Storing data as bits is 1 million times more efficient than storing data as atoms in the traditional method (ie paper).

Bits are cheap and become cheaper every 18 months.
Atoms are expensive and are potentially damaging to the environment to harvest.

In a contest of Atoms vs. Bits, there is no contest. Bits win!

What do you think?

Technology Hate

2010-05-02T09:40:00.001-04:00

Many of you know that I recently wrote a book titled "Social Media Branding in the Age of Obama". The book is not political and mainly focuses on social media technology that Barack Obama used to get elected. In addition, I started the Web Academy which offers free web design to anyone interested in learning. I recently got a lot of hate based on the success of my book and the Web Academy. I created this 2 minute video which is based some recent hate that I received. This is a spoof and is not intended to speak negatively about political parties.

Enjoy!

EHAM

Facebook "Like" Feature

2010-05-01T12:52:00.001-04:00

Facebook has opened up its “Like” feature. Now, you can insert a Like Box into the body of your web. With a Like Box on your web site, you can integrate your Facebook fan page experience and your web site experience. Check out the video.

RSS, Zoo Animals and Newspapers

2010-04-19T22:40:00.000-04:00

Why are people still reading newspapers? Recently, while at JFK airport waiting for my flight from NYC to San Francisco, I noticed more than a few people reading newspapers made of paper and splotched with ink. People still do that? The people reading these newspapers looked relatively intelligent and college educated, nonetheless, they read their newspapers with passion and enthusiasm. I watched these strange people with amazement like a child watching animals feeding in a zoo for the 1st time.

Many of you are thinking: "EHAM, why are you so harsh? If people want to read newspapers, then you should let them be.". Blah, blah, blah... My question is: "Why are these people paying for a limited, dated, narrow source of information?". Those zoo animals, I mean people could not possibly be interested in everything written in their specific newspapers. As we all should know, it is possible to get information from hundreds of newspapers via an RSS feed in real time with aggregated articles that meet your needs, not the needs of some editor at the New York Post. Maybe those people don't know what they should know. Another interesting topic for a different article.

So, what do you think? Is EHAM too harsh on these newspaper readers?"

Facebook Fan Page Engagement

2010-04-11T07:17:00.000-04:00

One of the most important aspects of social media for business is engagement with clients and potential clients. Having a fan page on Facebook is a great way to engage with your clients. Facebook provides many built in tools to allow for such engagement. In addition, there are add-on applications available (provided by companies such as Involver) that can extend the usefulness of your Facebook fan page.

In “Social Media Branding in the Age of Obama”, I chronicled the plight of Mandy Johnson and Diva Construction. This hypothetical scenario gave advice on many distinct social media tools.

In this blog entry, I have PDF files which give a sneak preview of my newest social media book titled “Social Media Fans in the Age of Obama”. I focus on implementation and give very little history and strategy by design in this preview. In addition, I am not 100% sure that this title will be the actual title, nonetheless, you can learn about fan page implementation and 3rd party add-on applications by downloading the free PDF files.

Enjoy...

Facebook Fan Pages

RSS on Fan Pages

Social Media Branding in the Age of Obama

2010-01-10T23:10:00.000-05:00

"Optimizing social media is not an exact science. It's about using web analytics data to make informed immediate decisions and to formulate long term strategies". This is a quote from the book "Social Media Branding in the Age of Obama" by Eric Hamilton.

There has been a lot of talk about social media in the past 12 months. 2010 has just arrived and everybody claims to be a social media expert for 2010. If you are in business, then I am sure that you have been approached by a So-Called Social Media Expert. In addition, you probably have been getting a lot of pressure from colleagues, subordinates, managers, friends, news and other sources about embracing social media. News Flash: You don't need to know about the trendy buzz words in Social Media to be effective. Do you know about Digg, Delicious, Plaxo, StumbleUpon or Flickr? No? It doesn't matter if you do or don't.

Here's a tip for all of you business people trying to carve out a social media future.

LEARN THE RIGHT QUESTIONS TO ASK...

There are many to ask, but I will give you one to remember.

Here it is:
"How many people from the social media site X are doing Y at my web site and how can I optimize Y?!?!?!?"

I will repeat:
"How many people from the social media site X are doing Y at my web site and how can I optimize Y?!?!?!?"

X = Facebook or X = Twitter or X = any social media web site
Y = "Sign up for newsletter” or Y = "Purchase my widget" or Y = “Any call to act”

If your So-called Social Media Expert cannot answer this question or if they cannot propose a comprehensive solution to solve for this question or if their answer confuses you more, then fire them and pick up a copy of "Social Media Branding in the Age of Obama" by Eric Hamilton http://www.socialmediaobama.com . This guide will show you how to configure, measure and optimize the most popular social media web sites. The guide is an easy read and uses simple language with large screen captured images. It's a must have for anyone planning to do business in 2010.

For more information on Social Media Branding in the Age of Obama visit http://www.socialmediaobama.com .

Eric Hamilton is the author of "Social Media Branding in the Age of Obama" and a Yahoo! Engagement Manager specializing in analytics.

Digital Divide?

2009-11-13T16:02:00.000-05:00

I think I will throw up if I hear one more person mention this so called "Digital Divide".

Digital Divide as defined by Wikipedia:
"The term digital divide refers to the gap between people with effective access to digital and information technology and those with very limited or no access at all... The digital divide may be classified based on gender, income, and race groups"

Black folks have been making excuses for years why we can't achieve and the "Digital Divide" is the newest excuse. Back in the 60s, Black folks had real discrimination, now Black folks are making barriers when none exist.

I used to own rental properties in the worst parts of Detroit. My tenants did not have a lot of money. They did NOT have a computer or internet access, but my African American tenants did have a big screen TV (bigger than mine) with the premium movie channels. The son had the latest $100+ athletic shoes and everybody had mobile phones. They were on the wrong side of the "Digital Divide" by choice. Currently, a netbook computer is less than $200.

In regards to this so called “Digital Divide”, I don't think there are large corporations sitting around conspiring to hold Black people back by limiting access to computers and the internet. The last time I checked, Apple, Microsoft and Comcast accepted Black folks’ money.

In a related situation, I started the Web Academy to help expose the masses to technology. This fall, the City of New York is hosting a computer application development contest. I decided to enter the Web Academy and I solicited my entire network of students, colleagues, friends and family to join my team to build an iPhone application. No experience was required to be on my team. You just needed to sign up.

About 85% of my network is African American, 10% Caucasian and 5% other.

Why is my iPhone development team 20% African American, 40% Asian and 40% Caucasian. I'm willing to work with anyone who is willing to work with me regardless of color or national origin.

So, did the "Digital Divide" keep African Americans from joining my iPhone development team? Is EHAM apart of the man’s global “Digital Divide” conspiracy to keep Black folks down? What do you think about this so called “Digital Divide”?

Down with Newspapers!

2009-11-12T14:56:00.000-05:00

So, I just started the Web Academy which is a non profit organization designed to provide FREE web design classes and FREE web design services. The IRS has strict guidelines for educational non profit organizations to acquire a tax exempt status. These guidelines include but are not limited to:
Having a Board of Directors
Directors Annual Meetings
Bylaws
Non-Discrimination Policy
In addition, the IRS requires my educational non-profit organization to place an ad in a newspaper to notify the community about my non-discrimination policy. What is an ad in a newspaper? Oh newspapers, those things made out of paper, which are for reporting current events. Newspapers, those paper things which are out-of-date the moment the ink dries.

My 1st thought was: “I will use an online notification to broadcast my non-discrimination policy”. No, the IRS is strict that my notification must be in a local newspaper. Okay, so I chose the cheapest option. I decided to advertise my non-discrimination policy in my local newspaper called the Hackensack Chronicle. I was appalled to find out that it will cost me $234 to advertise in one addition of that newspaper. This ad will give me only about 17,000 impressions! For those of you who are not familiar with online advertising, I can buy 17,000 impressions online for less than $20.

All of these newspapers need to wake up because (1) most people get their news online for free (2) who would pay 10 times the money for the same reach (3) there isn’t any detailed analytics about who is reading the ads. With online advertising enabled with analytics, I know, age, gender, area code, zip code, city, and overall interests of every person who clicks my ad.

The Solution:
As an avid consumer of information, I would like to have instant access to every newspaper, every magazine and every book ever written in the past 1000 years to current. I am serious. I would be willing to pay $50 per month for this unlimited service. Consumers (like me) would access these works through a wireless "Kindle-like" device. The authors and publishers of these works would be compensated from the monthly subscriptions based on the number of page views of their works. So, if a consumer spends 50% of his page views on The New York Times, 40% on The Wall Street Journal and 10% reading Thomas Freeman's book "The World is Flat", then $25 would be earned by The New York Times, $20 by The Wall Street Journal and $5 by Thomas Freeman. This scenario would be an advertisers dream as ads would be placed in not only magazines and news stories but also the books. The analytics data available on readers would be advertising nirvana. As an example, an advertiser could target specifically women aged 40 and up who live in Boise, Idaho and work in the medical field who love country music. The publishers/authors would be able to charge a premium of this type of ad inventory.

The writing is on the wall. All of these newspapers and magazine need to change their business models or they will quickly be old news like cave drawings and clay tablets. What do you think?

Are We The Borg?

2009-03-20T11:36:00.001-04:00

So, I recently moved from Los Angeles to the New York city area . Upon arriving, my new place had no electricity. Oh no, 24 hours with out electricity for the Internet Guru. What is Imma gonna do?

No electricity? No problem for now because I powered up my laptop I noticed that a neighbor had not secured his wireless network. Cool, I was able to get on the internet. Thanks neighbor.

My laptop and Blackberry couldn't run indefinitely on batteries. So, I decided to charge them in my car. I don't have a car charger for my Blackberry but I have a portable car power converter which converts a car cigarette lighter into a regular wall outlet.

So, after a few hours on the laptop and talking on the Blackberry, I went to my car for some SWEET ELECTRICITY! With in 5 minutes of charging, both of my cigarette outlets died. What? What are the chances of that? I've used this power converter for 6 years with out incident.

No Blackberry, no laptop, no cable... It was like living in the 1970s or something. It got so bad that I wrote this blog entry using pen and paper.

I felt so disconnected. I felt like Hugh from the Borg on Star Trek. The Next Generation Star Trek fans feel me here. The rest of you are scratching your heads so please let me explain. Star Trek is a futuristic TV show which takes place in the 24th century. The Borg are a race of cybernetic organisms (half humanoid, half machine) who desire to convert all of humanity into Borgs.

There are millions of Borg but they are essentially one entity, one collective with one conscience in constant communications with each other.

There was an episode of Star Trek when the humans captured a Borg and named him Hugh. Our Star Trek humans then severed Hugh's "internet connection" with the Borg collective and Hugh "went out like a punk". Dude was pathetic and didn't know how to act.

Similar to Hugh, I experienced the disconnected feeling. I couldn't check my 6 email accounts, my Myspace email, my online bank statements, my online credit card statements, my stocks and 401K, or my Yahoo front page news. I couldn't even check or update my Facebook status. Oh no... I was disconnected from my collective and "Didn't know how to act".

So, my question to all of us: "Are we becoming like the Borg?"

The Motivation behind The Web Academy

2009-03-14T10:36:00.000-04:00

The 1980s:
My technology colleagues will agree, nearly 100% of us are self taught. In 1981 at age 12, my parents purchased my 1st computer which was a Commodore 64 that had 64,000 bytes of RAM compared to computers now which come with a minimum of 2 GB (2 billion bytes) of RAM. I learned how to program in BASIC on that Commodore 64 by reading the guide that came with the computer. After learning how to write conditional commands and loop commands in BASIC, I wrote a text based game which allowed the user to go on a “Dungeon and Dragons-like adventure”.

In 1986, my parents purchased an office PC for their business. That same year, I developed a game (called the Alpha Zapper) which helped the gamer learn how to type by shooting missiles in the form of alphabet letters at the gamer’s space ship. The gamer would gain points by typing the appropriate letter to destroy the missile. In 1986, I had the luxury of a high school (Walled Lake Western) which allowed me independent study time to pursue my programming passions. In addition, I used my parents’ office PC to develop this game. (Yeah mom and dad, when I was supposed to be running orders for your business, I was developing my game. That was 23 years ago, so I hope yall ain’t mad.)

The 1990s:
In the 1990s while in college, I had an idea of creating a web site which would allow college students and anyone seeking a job to post their resumes online. Simultaneously, this web site would allow employers the ability to find employees. The idea was called Resunet (Resumes On the Internet). I had no idea of how to reserve a domain name let alone build an enterprise level web based application like this. Well, someone out there did know and in 1999 Monster.com was formed and the rest is history.

Also, in the 1990s my fraternity brother (we called him DP) was just beginning medical school. I approached DP with an idea. I wanted to take all of the practical knowledge that he was learning in medical school and build a web site that would use a simple algorithm to diagnose patient ailments. We would call the web site DrDP.com. Due to my lack of serious web knowledge, we never completed this project. A few years later WebMD was created and again the rest is history.

Before graduating from Michigan State University with a degree in Computer Science, I had one of my 1st opportunities to practice my "web craft". I was a lab assistant for Dr. Herman Hughes in the MSU High Speed Networking Laboratory. Using HTML, Perl and CGI, I created a content managed system (CMS) web site for Dr. Hughes before the term "CMS" had been used.

Millennium:
After my years of web development experience and my years of work experience with companies like Yahoo! and Netscape, I am in a unique position to assist the next generation of web entrepreneurs. What if a young person desired to build an application that ran on the iPhone and used Yahoo! Maps, used proximity detection technology such as Yahoo! FireEagle and other technologies to develop something that has never been seen or tried before? Where would this young person even begin? Well, The Web Academy is designed to solve this sort of problem with basic web development classes, advanced server side scripting classes, advanced database management classes and advanced application programming interface classes.

The Web Academy will teach our students how to stay current with technology and how to be self reliant to intellectually sustain themselves once they have out grown us. The Web Academy will be a simple door. The student has to walk through it.

With all of the talented young people in our communities I am hopeful that the big technology success story of the next decade will begin with a 22 year old talking about his/her experience as a 12 year old with The Web Academy.

The Web Academy is seeking students. If you are interested in becoming a student, please join our email distribution list at http://www.thewebacademy.org

HTML and Meta Data

2009-03-09T09:42:00.000-04:00

Properly structured meta data on your web site allows the search engines to potentially better find content on your web site.

Special Thanks to...
W3 Schools
Web Developers of Detroit
Web Developers of New York
The Web Academy

HTML Forms

2009-03-09T09:32:00.001-04:00

Accepting information from web site visitors is extremely important. Using HTML Forms is how you accomplish this task.

Special Thanks to...
W3 Schools
Web Developers of Detroit
Web Developers of New York
The Web Academy

HTML Frames

2009-03-09T09:11:00.000-04:00

HTML Frames allow you to display more than 1 web page (and more than 1 web site) in a single browser window.

Special Thanks to...
W3 Schools
Web Developers of Detroit
Web Developers of New York
The Web Academy

HTML Images

2009-03-09T09:06:00.000-04:00

What's the point of browsing the web if you can't see the pretty pictures. This video demonstrates how to add and manipulate images on a web site.

Special Thanks to...
W3 Schools
Web Developers of Detroit
Web Developers of New York
The Web Academy

HTML Links Overview

2009-03-09T08:44:00.000-04:00

We have all clicked on a web hyperlink at least once in our lives. This is a demonstration of how to build hyperlinks in HTML.

Special Thanks to...
W3 Schools
Web Developers of Detroit
Web Developers of New York
The Web Academy

HTML Overview

2009-03-04T23:17:00.000-05:00

HTML Overview
A quick HTML overview and live HTML demonstration.

Special Thanks to...
W3 Schools
Web Developers of Detroit
Web Developers of New York
The Web Academy

Michael Jackson or Michael Dell

2009-03-03T08:05:00.000-05:00

I was born and raised in Detroit... Motown... and in 2005 Martha Reeves from the 60's Motown group Vandellas was running for Detroit City Council on the platform of "bringing music back to the city of Detroit".... What? Are you kidding me? We've got enough "wanna be" rappers and she wants to add to this maddest? The worst part is Martha Reeves won and is a proud member of the dysfunctional Detroit City council. Meanwhile, cities like Mumbai, India are cranking out computer scientists by the thousands but Detroit has Marva Reeves. While Martha Reeves was "Dancing in the Streets" in the 60s, Mumbai was investing heavily in science education and it's paying off big time.

Fantasia Barrino who won the American Idol competition is functionally illiterate. That's right, she can't read and admitted her problem in at least one interview. She got lucky by winning the American Idol competition in 2006. Too many kids think they can be the next Michael Jackson when they need to focus on being the next Michael Dell.

To help counter some of this maddest, I am initiating a non-profit web academy here in New York city called The Web Academy. We will offer free web design classes to the community and offer free web development services to other non-profit organizations.
TheWebacademy.org

So, with the help of City College of NY and other local learning institutions, I am hopeful that we can crank out the next generation of web entrepreneurs.

The Detroit Web Academy to follow...

Yahoo! Mobile in a Science Fair?

2009-03-02T07:49:00.000-05:00

In March of 2009, I had the honor of serving as a Computer Science judge in the New York City Science and Engineering Fair. The fair was open to all New York city area high school students. I was tasked to judge several computer science related entries. All of the computer science entries showed a high level of thoughtfulness, creativity and preparedness. The entries included but were not limited to: Ideas for a Better Electronic Voting System, 2D to 3D Face Modeling Application and an Application which used Game Theory to help small businesses succeed. None of these mentioned projects were 100% complete but they showed excellent promise.

At this fair, I was surprised that there were zero web/internet related projects. What!?!?!? Yes, EHAM the Internet Guru said it… A Science Fair in 2009 had zero web/internet projects. There were plenty of plant science projects, animal science projects and biology projects. These entries were not that much different from when I participated in science fairs in the 1880s (just kidding, I mean 1980s, but this plant science stuff was from the 1880s). This is a direct reflection of the teachers and mentors who are guiding these children. There is nothing wrong with plant projects, but it’s 2009! It’s time to up their game!

Up Their Game:
There are so many different web/internet projects that can be done today. Companies like Yahoo! have made it incredibly easy to build robust applications on their APIs and development platforms. API stands for Application Programming Interface, and is a tool which allows developers an easier method to build applications. Normally APIs are used to seamlessly connect the developer to a remote resource.
Yahoo! has dozens of API platforms and development platforms such as:
Fire Eagle: location-aware application services
Maps: image API which allows embedding of rich interactive maps
Traffic: real-time traffic alert information
BOSS: (Build your Own Search Service) is Yahoo’s open search web services platform
Blueprint: Mobile development platform

Kids love using their mobile devices. Imagine a science project which used Yahoo! Fire Eagle and Yahoo! Blueprint to create a “super cool” mobile phone application that allowed friends to connect in a unique way. So, in 2010 EHAM the Internet Guru will be sponsoring a science fair team to build cool mobile applications using Yahoo! APIs… The science fair ain’t gonna know what hit them!

Yahoo! Web Analytics (Reporting Overview)

2009-02-23T05:31:00.000-05:00

Yahoo! Web Analytics (formerly known as IndexTools) is an enterprise level web analytics tool that provides real-time insight into visitor behavior on your website.

The Social Benefits of Scram Jets and Carbon Nanotubes

2009-02-13T11:53:00.000-05:00

There has been a lot of talk recently about bailouts and the stimulus packages.
I had an opportunity to review several pages of the most recent stimulus package proposed by President Obama and it has promise but lacks the long term focus needed to drive development to match the development that lead to the greatest prosperity in U.S. history. The greatest leaps in advancement in our society occurred when we invested heavily into the sciences.

Billions were invested in a struggle to defeat the Nazis during WWII. Subsequently we were rewarded with the following technologies:
->Computers
->Nuclear Energy
->Plastics and Synthetic Rubber Technology
->Jet Engine Technology
->Advanced Rocket Technology
->Radar
->Canned Foods and Food Preservation

Billions were invested in the space race. The U.S. beat the Russians to the moon and consequently we were rewarded with technologies such as:
->Advanced Microchips
->High Speed Computer Networks
->CAT & MRI Technologies
->Advanced Synthetic Material Technology
->Advanced Optics (Scratch Resistant Lenses)
->Cordless Power Tools
->Freeze Dried Food Technology
and many other technologies…

The United States has a golden opportunity to lead the world again. We as a country and a world leader should invest in scramjet technology and carbon nanotube technology.

ScramJet (supersonic combustion ram jet) is a new concept in jet engine design. In concept, a scramjet travelling a suborbital flight path could reach speeds up to Mach 24. In other words, a scramjet could travel from New York city to Tokyo in less than 45 minutes.

One of the things that prohibit us from exploring outer space in an un-restricted fashion is the huge costs to lift people and cargo into space. It costs about $11,000 to lift 1 pound into orbit. Space shuttle missions costs millions of dollars to operate. One way to drastically reduce the cost of space travel is the build a space elevator. The concept is very similar to children’s story “Jack and the Beanstalk”. In the story, Jack climbs a long beanstalk up into the clouds. With a space elevator, a satellite in geo-synchronous orbit above the Earth would be tethered by long cable 105 miles in length.
Centrifugal force by the spin of the Earth would maintain the tension of the cable. Once in place, one could simply ride the space elevator up into outer space at a price of about $10 per pound. Currently, there is no known cable material which could withstand the stress induced by the space elevator concept. In theory carbon nanotubes could meet the challenge.

Carbon nanotubes are a concept in quantum chemistry which make for an extremely strong and light material. This material would be many times lighter and stronger than the strongest steel or titanium. Cables made from carbon nanotubes would be the center piece behind the space elevator concept.

The Benefits:
Potential scramjet manufacturers like Boeing and McDonnell-Douglas would see a huge increase in revenue which would spawn additional investments in research and development. Inexpensive space flights could lead to advancements in manufacturing, medicine, physics and agriculture just to name a few. Similar to the unforeseen benefits of the space race technology investments and the World War II technology investments, the benefits of developing scramjets and carbon nanotubes go far beyond the short term tangible benefits.

Yahoo! Display and Search Analytics by Eric Hamilton

2008-04-27T11:54:00.000-04:00

With Yahoo! Display and Search Analytics, advertisers can see the lift between Display and Search advertising and how one benefits the other.

Yahoo! Search Submit Pro Overview by Eric Hamilton

2008-04-27T11:53:00.000-04:00

Most advertisers who are new to online marketing engage in sponsored search but pay less attention to natural search results. Find out about the benefits on Yahoo! Search Submit Pro and how it can enhance the natural search experience.

Yahoo! Full Analytics Implementation by Eric Hamilton

2008-04-27T11:35:00.000-04:00

Yahoo! Full Analytics allows the advertiser a complete view into the entire online sales funnel. From impressions, to clicks, to leads, to browsers, to assists, to prospects, to conversions. Yahoo! Full Analytics is your one stop shop for your search marketing analytics needs.

Yahoo! Full Analytics Overview by Eric Hamilton

2008-02-25T13:12:00.000-05:00

In the late 1990s, hits were king! Back in 1998, if my web site generated 10,000 hits per day, then this was seen as a great accomplish. In 2008, web site owners and web advertisers require more comprehensive information on how a web site is performing. In comes web analytics, which is the study of web site traffic and visitor behavior.

Check out the video below on Yahoo! Full Analytics Overview:

Is the education of our generation better or worse than the education of our parent's generation by Eric Hamilton

2007-11-19T02:43:00.000-05:00

In 1440 a goldsmith and businessman by the name of Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press with moveable type letters. The printing press created a revolution in the production of books and the proliferation of science, the arts and religion. As a result, education and literacy flourished through out Europe and beyond.

The Internet has seen tremendous growth in the past 30 years. The Internet was originally designed in part to provide a robust communications network in the event of a nuclear attack. Jupiter Research anticipates that 22 percent of the world’s population will regularly use the Internet by 2011. Currently 1.1 billion people world wide readily access the Internet. In other terms, that is 1.1 billion people with virtually unlimited access to the world’s knowledge.

Never in the history of mankind has access to education been better. We have access to information via the Internet that Johannes Gutenberg could only dream about. Not since Gutenberg’s invention of the printing press has the world seen such a quantum leap in access to information. Is the education of my generation better or worse than my parent’s generation? Not only is it better than my parent’s generation, it’s the best education of any generation ever.

Web Developers of Los Angeles

What responsibility, if any, do countries have in preventing environmental damage by Eric Hamilton

2007-11-19T02:38:00.001-05:00

The resolution to environmental damage goes well beyond what policies a given government can create. As we all know, government is controlled by big business and the almighty dollar. We certainly know that big business is more interested in turning a profit, than protecting the future of our species. If protecting our environment is left up to government and business, then we are all doomed. “The World is Flat” by Thomas Friedman speaks about globalization, collaboration and empowering the individual. In no other time, in the history of our global society, have so many people been able to connect, collaborate and make changes that effect other people a half of a world away. In 2007, it is relatively simple to start a blog (web log which is an online publication in the form of a log or journal) to express a given view point and to disseminate information. Web sites can be easily construction to gather support and recruit members for the cause. Email distribution lists can be crated to keep interested members knowledgeable about progress and upcoming events. Instant messengers and web cams can be used to connect distant strangers in real time to further harness the sense of community. Ecommerce payment systems make raising funds a streamlined efficient process. Third party media web sites such as YouTube.com allow the individual a prime time, unbiased, relatively uncensored stage to express strong viewpoints. So, it’s not just the businesses and the governments of countries who have a responsibility in preventing environmental damage. Because the people of the world have been afforded this wonderful gift called technology, as a result the ultimate power of prevention lies with the people.

Web Developers of Los Angeles

The Next “Big Thing” in Technology by Eric Hamilton

2007-11-19T02:32:00.000-05:00

The next big thing in technology will be media ad exchange networks that produce rich media (video) content allowing advertisers and online destinations to connect seamlessly. In addition, this new technology will allow the advertiser to acquire unprecedented analytics demographics and geographic data and to track potential in store purchases back to original search query key words and rich media impressions.

Google and Yahoo have done an awesome job at making money selling primarily text based ads on their respective search engines. In general, display ads are 5 times as effective as text ads. Rich media (video) ads are 8 times as effective as display ads. Thus, a rich media (video) ad is 40 times as effective as a text based ad. Google and Yahoo have made billions primarily on the text based ad model.

According to a recent IBM study, Americans are spending less and less time watching television and more time in front of their computer screens. 19% of the study participants stated that they spend 6 or more hours a day on the Internet. 9% of the study participants stated that they spend 6 or more hours watching TV.

Advertisers desire an easy method to get their video ads on the popular media destinations, such as YouTube , TV network sites, search engines and social networking sites.

The company that effectively merges the 2 worlds of advertisers and online destinations with special attention paid to video ads, with the ability to track offline conversions and to track demographic/geographic information, will be the next “Big Thing” in Technology.

Web Developers of Los Angeles