A little christmas themed twitter visualization that I cooked up last year. You can change the twitter hash tag that is being searched by changing the ?key=dearsanta at the end of the URL string. In this way it can be used for any language (you could put index.html?key=buonnatale to make it italian for example). 

While I am sure many agencies allow time for research, experimentation and training, I also know that many do not. Many companies start the year with good intentions, but as the year goes on, personal development of employees often takes a back seat. Whether it be because there is too much on, or it seems to be cost prohibitive, I often see employee enrichment plans being pushed aside.

Using very few words and a lot of results, I would like to put forward the case as to why agencies should always allow time for research, experimentation and training.

Whilst collaborating with Web Science, I was given time work on an experimental project to advertise them as an agency. I had previously informed them that I had been experimenting with the Facebook API, and so we setout to build a complex app as a proof of concept. Our idea involved use of Augmented Reality, Flash, and the PHP Facebook API and would test our ability to create a fully working product with sharing, wall posts and album creation. Details of the project can be seen in this previous post.

As Greece protests, Portugal shakes and Italy is facing a gloomy few months, it is right to feel uneasy about the days to come. Bailout packages are trying to steady the course as companies around Europe, indeed the world, pause and wait. As the average employee sits and hopes to just hold on to his/her job, thinking carefully about each euro spent, what reactions can one expect from advertisers? After all, companies will not spend extravagantly on advertising if the consumer is not willing to buy their product - at least not just yet.

A leaked statement from Adobe seems to indicate that they intend to stop development of the Flash Mobile player. Being quite versed in Flash and having invested a fair bit of time in learning to an advanced level, it would seem bad news. That is until you consider that A: There has never been any decent content for Flash Mobile. B: Flash on a mobile device was still ,and would continue to be, a drain on batteries. C: The desktop is far from dead and there is still no substitute for Flash when it comes to advanced interaction and games and finally D: Flash based development tools are going to continue ti get better at developing for native mobile apps and games.

This is not to say that I am not diversifying my skill set and I am no stranger to HTML5, jQuery and css3 which all do interface and website interaction way better than Flash. The important thing is to know how build things, and you can pick up the new tools as they come along.