Mobius New Media

The issue of how search engines determine relevancy goes to the heart of SEO.

To answer this question some people use the example of a library: if you were to walk up to a Librarian and say “Novel”, they wouldn’t really know how to help you. They would likely need to ask you a few questions, such as: Do you want to see ALL novels? Are you looking for a specific genre? Are you looking for a specific novel within that genre? A specific author? Etc.

Search engines try to match you to your needs in similar fashion, but without the assistance of a human Librarian. What they use instead is a complex algorithm. When someone types the word “novel” into a search engine, that search engine’s algorithm instantly scours the internet to find sites relevant to that specific query. In effect, search engines are asking websites questions to determine whether to show them in the results.

Now for the “fun” part: These algorithms are among biggest secrets of the internet. Google, Bing & Yahoo don’t reveal what criteria they use in ranking results. Their core business is advertising based on providing accurate search results to users, and were they to reveal their secret algorithms it would be safe to assume sites would skew the results by attempting to game the specific criteria, instead of simply producing good websites.

The good news is there are some pretty smart people working in the SEO industry who devote a lot of time to examining what are most likely the criteria used by search engines. It is an ever-changing area (I can’t emphasize this enough), but most recently those criteria seem to include, (in a really tiny nutshell):

1. Linking
2. Keyword usage
3. Social Media
4. Site traffic

Achieving a balance of these criteria, and being attentive to maintaining that balance over time, should produce a positive result for your site.

Greetings. I am currently working on an eight camera music concert video edit on Final Cut Pro and thought I’d share how exactly I get to a point where I can cut a multi-clip track from angle to angle, confident that my footage is in fact synched.

First, I load the footage. Once I have the ability to scrub through all the footage recorded, I pick a reference angle (usually for us it’s a wide angle with the entire band in the frame). This is the angle I use for reference to synch the rest of the footage.

Next, I listen for a distinct sound: a guitar note being strummed or snare drum being hit. By scrubbing through the footage one frame at a time I can monitor my audio level and know when that sound occurs. From there I would mark that spot with an in point then go to the next camera angle and find that same sound in time by scrubbing through the footage just before it takes place and monitoring the audio level for it’s peak.

Once I locate it, I drag the footage from that point to my timeline and set it at the in point we made earlier. However, just because the audio is perhaps in synch now does not mean the video is. Since audio waves travel it could reach the internal camera mics at different times. This goes for flashes of light from stage lighting and flash photography as well.

Now that I know the two angles are close to being in synch with each other I go to my reference angle and find a distinct motion point (usually a drummer hitting a tom or snare will suffice). I scrub one frame at a time, again, until I see the drumstick come in contact with a piece from the drum set. Once I find something I feel will work easily I mark another in point.

After that, I switch back to the angle I’m trying to synch with the reference angle and hopefully find the drummer at that same point in time. If the camera person captured it I just adjust the angle to move forward or backward the amount of frames it is off. If the camera operator did not capture it I have to find another distinct point from that angle and mark it with an in point so I can go back to the reference angle and count how many frames need to be moved. I always move the other angles to match the reference angle. Since our reference angle is a wide shot of the stage it will always include what the other cameras capture.

After I synch the two angles together I go to the next one and perform the same steps until all of the footage is synched and ready to be turned into a multiclip.

Voila! It is done. Thanks for taking the time to read this. Hopefully you will find it beneficial when synching different footage together.

- Bill

As a developer at Mobius, I’m often asked to perform coding tasks that differ from anything I’ve done before. Not all tasks involve new technologies, but when they do, there’s a certain level of excitement and anxiety that follows as we look for the best solutions.

Some of the more interesting jobs start out as simple, flat comps, artist’s renderings, if you will. Taking an idea from comp to fully functioning web page is a process that can lead you down many paths: some of these ideas work, some don’t.

But that’s how we grow as developers: we often learn new technologies (and leave our cozy comfort zone of known techniques) out of necessity, pushed in new directions by new design concepts. Those concepts may have started on a drawing pad, or a white board, or in someone’s daydream. We don’t obsess on the how – only on the desired outcome.

Of course, there is the occasional “how do you expect us to do that?” interjected into the process, but it’s all part of the natural evolution of tech.

Jack Albright
Director of Web Development | Mobius New Media

With 5 professional photographers on staff, Mobius is in a unique position to help our clients. As the web evolves to a more personal experience, companies have moved towards having custom photography at the heart of their site visuals. Whether it be architectural photos, events, portraits or simply design elements, the ability to have something custom versus canned clip art helps gives our sites a hand-crafted feel.

Photography and video are flexible. Photos and video taken for the web can easily be repurposed for print and television. Pair that with work taken on green screen, and you have the ability to keep work fresh much longer than a typical image. On a recent client project with Gunnip & Company (www.Gunnip.com), we were able to take a group photo of the Gunnip partners on a green screen, add a custom-shot Wilmington, Delaware skyline as a background behind them, and purposed the image for both a print ad, a billboard, and as the header of their web site. Because of the flexibility of the shoot, different groups of partners can be used for different purposes, or even added as new partners join the team.

Gunnip & Company LLP

Custom video and photography adds consistency to a company’s brand and increased professionalism to the online experience. The clients of our clients feel more connected to them when they see and recognize faces and places on their respective websites. In an era when connectedness is everything, extending that to your site is not only smart, but critical.

A word or two about designing your own web site.

What happens when a design firm focuses the creative eye on their own in-house web project? Is it more challenging to be creative for your own business than it is for a client?

Mobius’ lead designer Brendan McKeown has the answer, and it’s yes…and no.

Q: So Brendan. Creating the new Möbius web site. Is this like the barber-with-the-bad haircut kind of thing, meaning, the last web site to feel the love is the web site that needs it most?

A: It’s so true. Clients get the love first. But it’s also true that many cool small pieces I’ve created for client work makes an appearance on our site. So the Möbius site design becomes a love-in, so to speak, and a collection of our best work.

Q. Where do you start on an internal project for Möbius?

A. Look at the existing site and make a list of what our goals are with a new site. Obvious changes get me going. I knock around the web, look for inspiration online and off, and start sketching out rough layouts. I literally take my ideas to the drawing board, sketching out rough layouts and visual concepts.

Q: What inspires you to move forward, and what gets in the way when you’re working on a new project?

A: The ability to showcase our new work, which our current site doesn’t do, gets me going. We’ve not only hit our design groove a lot lately, but we’re doing some great work with back-end content management systems (CMS) for our clients, which also turns out to be a great solution for our own website. The new arts and entertainment site is a prime example (www.inwilmingtonde.com). I want our clients, potential clients and friends to see this work right away. What holds me back or gets in the way is…being busy. It’s hard for the company to say no to work that pays the bills.

Q: What’s easy about getting a site together for Möbius?

A: Pulling the content together for our site is the easiest part of the project. In comparison, our clients seem to suffer through the decisions for writing, producing or providing content. I know Mobius very well, so this is a breeze.

Q: Are there any surprises in store for Möbius site visitors?

A: Be on the lookout for the Mö monkey, of course. He is sure to make an appearance somewhere on the site. We’re also working in an endless, moving sky background to support our tagline: infinite possibility by design. But the biggest surprise of all? The fact that we finally launched the site after it being so long in the making!

Prezi Canvas for Mobius Portfolio

Here at Mobius, we are always on the search for new, innovative ways to share our work, and present our portfolio. We have found a lot of exciting new applications that we are integrating into our projects, one of them being Prezi. A few months ago, Jason introduced us to Prezi – a zooming presentation editor. What does this mean? Unlike other presentation tools, Prezi introduces a new way to display information that is eye catching and more interactive for the user. It is a web-based application that uses a single canvas instead of traditional slides, and allows you to zoom in and out, and even flip text upside down, while creating a presentation. Since Mobius has a wide range of projects and services, we needed a way to present our portfolio that would work for all types of media. Prezi works for us because we can embed video, link to websites, and showcase photos and print projects all in one presentation.

Many designers have considered applications like Prezi to be the end of PowerPoint (and other older presentation softwares), since there is much more control and interactive capability with this tool. The main difference between Prezi and PowerPoint, is that PowerPoint limits you to a linear navigation with just one slide after another. With Prezi, there is an infinite canvas to place text, images, and video clips, which you can then arrange by creating paths that link one object to another. The zooming interface allows you to give dimension to your presentation, and keep your viewer engaged and interested.

These tools are exciting, and a lot of fun to play with, but they can quickly become overwhelming if not used correctly. It is tempting to make all of your objects flip upside down and fly across the page, but do not give in to the temptation! Your presentation will become very distracting and will cause your viewer to lose focus. It is important to use the features wisely to get your message across, and to try not to make your viewer dizzy.

So far, we have just mentioned Prezi as being a great tool for design portfolios, however it is used in many ways. Students are becoming aware of the trend, and are creating interactive presentations for school projects and class assignments. It is also becoming a popular way to showcase your resume, and share a little about yourself. Prezi works nicely for these interactive projects, because it allows you to control how the information is displayed, and show your creative side.

So use Prezi for your next presentation, but remember to use it wisely!

your typical QR code

In the past few months, QR (short for quick response) codes have been popping up all over the place: in magazines, newspapers, outdoor displays, business cards…and even in your breakfast. Though most people have seen a QR code, not everyone knows what they are, how they work, what they do, but most importantly…how to use them effectively.

Developed by the Japanese in 1994 (yeah, they’ve been around that long), a QR code is a unique two-dimensional scan-able barcode that is made up of black shapes on a white background. The code may be programmed to contain either text, a direct URL, phone number, SMS text message, or even your vCard, and can be scanned by any mobile device equipped with a camera and a QR barcode reader application. Many of the apps are free for iPhone, Blackberry, and Android devices.

Now, anyone can create a QR code completely for free either by using an online generator or mobile app, link it to their website’s homepage, and slap it on their postcard or business card.  Sure, this makes it easier for readers to access your website, but so much more can be done with QR codes that it’s similiar to buying the base-line model of your car. It will get you from A to B, but don’t expect any admirers along the way. Now that QR codes are becoming more of a standard in the community, you will need to differentiate your QR code from others in order to make a memorable mark in your impressions.  Something as simple as using a shortened URL for your QR code, instead of a super long link, will make the QR code simpler, and more easily scanned at smaller sizes.

In Cards QR Contest for InWilmingtonDe.com

Some have manipulated the colors and shapes of the code, while others have assembled them out of bottle tops and M&M’s. Here at Mobius, we created a whole contest around QR codes for the Wilmington Arts & Entertainment Marketing Initiative. For a each of the 4 series (3 month periods), 9 businesses and organizations in Wilmington hand out their ‘in card’ to their patrons. Each card features an image or logo of the business or organization on the front, along with a QR code which links directly to their events/informational page on inWilmingtonDe.com. On the back of the card is a fragment of a larger QR code, only accessible if the person collects all 9 cards in that particular series and physically lays the cards out together.  Once scanned, that person is taken to the secret contest entry form on the site, where they can claim their series prize of tickets, gift cards, or merchandise, but where they are also entered into the drawing for the bigger grand prize. Each and every scan that happens in the contest is also being tracked by us behind the scenes, so we can prove how successful or unsuccessful each card was.

When it comes down to it, QR codes are a just another way to connect with your audience, and are gaining popularity quickly. But in order to leave a good impression with your audience, try to think of different ways to use the code in order to make it more engaging for them, and make sure whatever information is on the other end is valuable to them.

So your phone knows where you are, where you’re going, and where you’ve been. What if it knew where you would like to be, and who you would like to go there with? What if it knew what you would find interesting when you got there?

If you are anything like me you carry your mobile phone with you everywhere you go- and I mean EVERYWHERE. So it’s no surprise to me why people won’t leave their phones more than 3 feet away from them at any point in the day. In a very short time they have come to play a crucial part in everyday personal and business life. They have become a main communication hub and entertainment portal for most people, and an identification badge or wallet for others. For some it is a diary, a photo album, a calendar, and it is very quickly becoming a primary source of all media consumption. As mobile use continues to grow so will the intelligence of these devices- they will become the gateway to real-time information tailored to your likes and needs, becoming more of a “connector” for all of your electronic devices.

The dividing line between smartphones and tablets is getting pretty blurry these days. There is more access to the internet on mobile devices and tablets than the PC, globally. I believe these will be the primary way of experiencing the internet in the next 5-10 years. This will also cause a dramatic change in the web design industry creating a need to design for mobile/tablets first and the desktop second.

So what is the future of mobile?

I can see sensors being placed everywhere. Everything will be recorded and stored in a personal/business “cloud”, in real-time. The idea of privacy will also change and our views of it will shift as well. It will be more acceptable for our “clouds” to know where we are and what we are doing. The line between a social network and “big brother” will grow ever blurrier and this will happen faster than expected. I also see an increase in mobile payment systems. (I understand the apprehension people have with linking their bank accounts with their phones but I believe that most non-tech savvy people will eventually come around to the convenience this technology offers.)

What else could your phone possibly do?

What if your phone became your car keys, your house key, your home security system, your TV remote, your baby monitor, your time clock for work, your thermostats? What if it could ready any other device in your home, car or office? What if your mobile phone was also your car dashboard?

So the future of mobile is of course unknown but one thing is for sure mobile is the future of the internet. As cool new apps are being developed and more people become open to the idea of a “very smart” phone, I predict mobile devices becoming an artificial intelligence capable of assisting in ALL of our everyday tasks. It will be more then just hand held devices, mobile devices will be a part of just about anything that moves and is connected to the network, anything with wheels, wings or legs. I also see it becoming less of a search tool and more of a suggestion device, so instead of you asking your phone “Where is the nearest book store?” Your phone will tell you “Hey, why not download the latest best seller here?” Your mobile device will learn who you are and what you’re interested in so it can make suggestions based on what it knows you like and not what you tell it.

Imagine this… you dock your phone into your car dashboard and it announces: “Hey, I see you’re in Wilmington Delaware, why not checkout Colin Hay at the Queen Theater tonight?” You can answer: “Yea that sounds fun, buy me two tickets and remind me when the doors open, give me a list of restaurants that have a tables open after the show, also turn my outside house lights on and text the babysitter … we will be home around midnight.”

So with apologies to Ray Bradbury and H.G. Wells, the future may well… look something like Knight Rider.

Hopefully, with less pleather.

There are so many things to think about and plan ahead for when setting up a pay-per-click campaign. Whether running ads on Google, Bing or some other ad network, you almost have to spend more time thinking about your business and what it is that makes it special as the campaigns themselves take to run. Practically every standard by which you might measure the success of an online ad campaign depends on how you have defined “success” for yourself and your company before you ever design an ad.

But what happens after you have gone through that process and mastered that crucial “Define & Design” stage. Now that your ads are running, how do you manage and steer them to success?

Adwords and the Microsoft Ad Center offer a wealth of information, tools, and help resources to assist you in achieving your goals – after all, if you succeed they do, too. But if you’re like me you can always use a nifty info-graphic to put the big ideas into nice, easy-to-remember (& easy to describe to clients) visual tools. Why, here’s one now!

Here we have a way of thinking about the ad process which has been reduced to the essentials:

Ad Placement - This your ad, silly.

Monitor & Analyze – Changing your online ads every day is the marketing equivalent of herding cats. While you want to keep on top of your ads’ performance, you also eventually need them to do their business. By doing your prep work well in advance you will be in a better position to gauge success later. Let the ads run, gather enough performance data to form solid conclusions, and analyze the data in a productive way. Here I have recommended a three month run, after which such key performance data such as Number of Leads and Cost-per-Lead can be analyzed.

Is it Working? – Well… is it? If the ad campaign is meeting your pre-determined goals, then consider re-investing in those productive areas. If it not living up to your goals, then take the time to re-think your approach using the data you’ve collected.

Repeat until you’re making so much money from your online ads that you can feign going public while actually positioning yourself to sell-out to Google or Facebook. America! Heck yeah.