It’s been a few months since Apple launched the Mac App Store as a central repository for applications on OSX. I’ve been playing with it a bit, trying to figure out just why we needed an App Store on the Mac when installing software is so easy (99% of the time you just drag it to your applications folder).

First things first, let’s be clear; The REAL motivation here is Apple wants a cut of the profits. If a developer creates an app and sells it on their website, they get 100% of the profit. If they sell it in the App Store, Apple gets a nice cut, and the developer only gets a portion. Apple is clearly positioning themselves as a distributer of applications, and trying to make a healthy profit from it.

Read the rest of this entry »

Choosing the right CMS is always a gamble; I either run the risk of choosing a big all-in-one CMS that confuses my clients, or I choose a smaller, newer CMS and discover its flaws on a live site. It’s a bit like the Mac guy vs PC guy ads… A big CMS like Drupal is PC; It has so many features that it just confuses users, but it’s great at getting mundane work done. The smaller CMS like Firerift is Mac; Easy to use, fresh, and cutting edge, but maybe a little wild at times.

Making the decision to go with “the little guy” is not a position I like to put myself in, but sometimes it’s a necessary risk.

Read the rest of this entry »

One of the issues I deal with on a daily basis these days is having to defend myself as a creative company. When I set out to create Hotcakes New Media, I made a conscious choice not to label myself as a marketing firm, or an ad agency. I don’t operate a production house, a design studio, or a web firm. I am a creative company, and I am quite clear in the services I provide. Yet somehow, I find myself unable to use “creative” as a label for my business, and I am constantly pigeon-holed into a different category. That makes advertising my services next to impossible.

For example, I’ve been attempting to add Hotcakes New Media to some link directories, to help spread the word about our website. I fill in the URL, and a little bio about what we do, and then I am presented with a drop-down menu to categorize my “type” of business; Marketing? SEO? Design? Video? Which category do I choose? Each of those choices brings with it a certain set of expectations, which could potentially not be met if one was expecting something we are not. The value my company brings is in the creative blend of all these services. Although we do design, we are more than a design company, because we offer creative services that extend beyond just design. Same goes for video. And SEO. And any other pre-defined category I might be forced to label myself with.

Just a few days ago, after providing a quote to a potential client about some creative website improvements I was recommending, the client sent me a predefined “list” of SEO tactics and services SEO companies provide, asking me if my quote included all those services. I had to remind the client that we are a creative company, and although we do take care of 90% of what was on that list, our value was in providing that along with the proposed design services; Our work is about the creative blend of these two elements. It’s all fine and dandy to “follow all the rules” and write perfectly semantic html markup, but if the site looks horrendous in the process, you aren’t retaining the people who visit the site. Likewise, if your site looks fantastic, but has no SEO elements, no one will ever see it. The creative part is finding the right balance between the two.

So I sit here, wondering if there’s a place for creative companies in the current marketplace, and wondering why there are no categories that accurately describe what we do. Surely there must be other creative companies out there. Do other companies face the same problems?

Are you faced with the same problem? Let us know in the comments or on twitter @hotcakesottawa .

Andy Morris – Creative Director
Hotcakes New Media

There’s a whole flurry of tweets and articles popping up today about Esquire Magazine’s Augmented Reality issue. For background reference, in case you haven’t heard, Esquire has released a print magazine that features visual barcode blocks that can be held in front of webcams. The user runs an application on their computer, and holds up the magazine to view special video-based content. View the details here: http://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/esquires-augmented-reality-issue-hits-newstands/

But that doesn’t make it Augmented Reality (AR). That’s just media tagging. I’m sure there’s some other buzzword out there for this type of interaction, but AR is not it.

This is where all the dismissive article writers are falling short; They are assuming, incorrectly, that AR is about taking something from the real world (the magazine) and extending it into the virtual world (web). See http://www.hanskmeyer.com/archives/86 and http://www.mediabistro.com/agencyspy/opeds/oped_esquires_augmented_reality_misses_the_point_141838.asp for examples of articles that “miss the point”.

Read the rest of this entry »

Social media or social networking, as a defined marketing term, has only come to prominence in the past year or so. But social media has been around for years, long before the internet was even around. Today I’m going to explain the evolution of social media, and why social media isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.

The BBS

If you’re under 25 years old, you might not have heard of the BBS (Bulletin Board System). I had the distinct pleasure of using BBSs back in the day, with my acoustic coupler 300baud modem. For those who don’t know what that is, it’s a box with two suction cups to wedge a telephone handset into and dial out to other modems. Yes, it was as horrible as it sounds. If you cough, you get disconnected. If you sneeze, you get disconnected. If you breathe too loud, you get disconnected.

Enough nostalgia.

Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve recently been contacted about a large contract I am pursuing for Hotcakes New Media. The contract is fairly extensive, and requires branding, video, photography, graphic design, print, web, programming, and custom Artez design for a large non-profit organization. Because of the size of this contract, and the money involved, I’ve been tasked with writing a full proposal to send to the client. Since all other Hotcakes New Media contracts have been under $5000, I hadn’t written any such proposals yet. As I found out, the most difficult part of writing the proposal was deciding how to approach it.

Read the rest of this entry »