Internet & Technology

News: SMX/eMetrics/Online Marketer Melbourne 2010: Day 1 Photos

November 18, 2010

Back at SMX once more, this time a lot closer to home! In their inaugural Melbourne event, a combined SMX/eMetrics program arrived under the banner of Online Marketer. While the hashtags for Twitter were a little muddled (#emetrics – but only for day one, #smx – but more predominant on day two, and #ommel for both days), at least the new name had begun to catch on, so by SMX Sydney in 2011, it’ll be second nature.

Huge thanks to Barry, Lisa and Paula, and to the wonderful array of local and international speakers for their time, effort, and expertise. The main conference stream went from serious to advanced topics, and the ever-popular (and free!) Bootcamp stream was excellent for both novices learning about SEO/SEM/social media – but also for those already in the know, to catch up on the latest trends in the industry.

What follows is a selection of the many hundreds of photos from Day One of the conference. Feel free to copy and paste them into your blogs or tweets and give them some captions.

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Advice: Two $100 products that will save your digital life.

October 18, 2010

I’m not sure if it’s the weather, the power, or the fact that I’ve worn through the metal on my metal-body laptop from using it for 12 hours a day for the last 3 years – but I recently had a fairly major hard drive failure – my first big one for well over a decade.

Did I panic? Of course. What’s not to panic about when 16 years of emails suddenly vanish, not toe mention the client files you were working on just the evening before.

The solution is to double-up your backup. Here’s how.

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Advice: Viva le revolution – the future is here (just thought you might like to know)

July 27, 2010

Not sure if you’re aware of a minor revolution in the world of technology in recent years, but if you’ve ever experienced one of those devices that begins with an ‘i’, then you already know what I’m talking about.

With the advent of the iPhone some 2 years ago, and now with the introduction of the iPhone’s big brother, the iPad, earlier this year, there’s been a significant shift in the way we mere mortals use the internet.

Not only do you see the uptake/market saturation of these button-less devices (iPhones proudly displayed on coffee shop tables), or the ease of use/intuitive controls (young children taking to them like a duck to water!), but there’s now solid proof of the ramifications of their increased usage: new reports show that 1 in 10 searches on Google is now on a mobile device. iPods, iPhones and iPads are both the market leader and the thought leader.

Let’s look into this new revolution a little bit further…

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Advice: Leet 101 – a guide to what Gen Y are typing

June 16, 2010

LOL R U a n00b at leet? Don’t panic! If you *are* a noob (newbie/new to the scene), then this little guide may help you translate a little bit of what anyone under the age of about, oh, 35 or so is probably typing right now.

With the rise of instant messaging (IM) programs, text-based chatting, SMS, IRC and in-game virtual world chatting, your fingers sure do get a little weary of typing common phrases over and over again. Yes, yes, you could pick up the phone and *actually talk to someone*, but when you’re stuck in the cyber world with only a keyboard as your means of communication, shortcuts rule.

The following is a short list of the some common Leet words and their plain-English counterparts. Feel free to use them at will in your next SMS, but also feel free to keep on typing your SMSes in full words, with punctuation and grammar. Old school is still cool.

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Advice: Domain Names 101

February 22, 2010

What is a domain name? At it’s most simplest, a domain name is a signpost, pointing the way to a location on the internet where web sites, email servers, or other internet services are located. It’s an address that’s human readable and hopefully memorable.

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Advice: MyTwitBook – a parent’s guide to social media – Part Two

December 29, 2009

Last month, I outlined what social media is, and began to give you, the parent, a quick primer on some of the big players (if you can’t get a hold of last month’s Bellarines Best, just head to rebusiness.com.au for a quick recap). We covered SMSs, MySpace and the wonderful world of Blogging, but we saved the best till last…

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Advice: MyTwitBook – a parent’s guide to social media – Part One

November 27, 2009

Part One: Baby-boomers, Gen Y, Gen X, Gen *whatever* – one thing I know for sure is that the generations are slowly becoming separated by the tyranny of new technology – more so by the pace at which new technology evolves. For parents, the issue is two-fold: 1) where are my children going on the internet? and 2) what harm/good my children be able to do?

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Advice: Psst… what’s the password?

October 18, 2009

Passwords, PIN numbers and security access codes – they seem like the bane of 21st century living. It’s so easy to forget which combination goes with which web site or with which credit card. Remembering passwords is almost a skill in itself. But with more and more of our lives going online, the first and foremost line of defence against unwanted intruders is the strength of our passwords.

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Advice: Bowing to a higher authority

September 16, 2009

I’d suggest that as an individual, we don’t need to be able to amass 100% of the skills we need all by ourselves – in fact, we simply can’t – and that apart from the odd moments of epiphany, we gain our skills and experience by absorbing information from other rich sources – our own stable of mentors. So – who are my own ‘rich sources’ of pure gold? Who are my mentors? Let me introduce you to a couple…

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Advice: How to turn web visitors into web customers

July 3, 2009

In 1943, Abraham Maslow proposed his “hierarchy of needs” – food, safety, love, respect & acceptance – a series of 5 levels that were the building blocks for every human’s existence. In 2009, I’m proposing a new set of 5 ‘needs’ to be able to turn a web visitor into a customer.

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