Rob Goodlatte  

Adobe gave us a glimpse at new icons for the CS3 suite yesterday. Each icon resembles an element from the periodic table, distinguished by color and a shorthand abbreviation derived from the name of the app. Many people are upset. Many have cited usability gripes – it’s difficult to read the abbreviation at small sizes; the color differences between icons are too subtle and useless to the colorblind. But my issue with the icons, regardless of usability concerns, is that they’re uninspired, commonplace, and are hardly icons in the true sense of the word.

Many “search engine optimization� techniques wander into ethically uncertain territory through practices such as link farming and keyword loading. I’ve never thought much of so-called “SEO experts� – for the most part they’re hawking snake oil solutions and “gaming� search engines to acquire un-merited rankings. I’m a firm believer that quality content, not SEO tricks, should be the only factor in your search engine rank. Although SEO ethics is a topic wrought with subjectivity, my goal with this post is to provide a black-and-white map of ethical and unethical SEO practices that you can implement yourself - without hiring an “expert�.

Viral advertising on the web can be awesome when pulled off successfully. Look no further than examples like BK’s “Subservient Chicken� or Microsoft’s stealth ilovebees.com puzzle for Halo 2. Heck, even stupid things like the Milwaukee’s Best flash games were effective because they provided a really fun, entertaining experience that just happened to be branded. Agency.com, on the other hand, has absolutely no clue what they’re doing. Try brainstorming some more in your corner office guys.

The Rocketboom break-up is now ancient history, but I’m still left wondering if the situation could have been avoided altogether. For the uninformed, Amanda Congdon, the now ex-hostess of the popular video blog Rocketboom left the show after failed negotiations with the show’s producer, Andrew Baron. Amanda felt she was fired, while Andrew says she gave up on contract negotiations and he would gladly welcome her back. Regardless of the he-said / she-said game that played out, I’m convinced the entire fiasco was the result of a poor decision the pair made – namely their 49% / 51% split of the company.