Web Consulting Washington DC

It’s a dirty job, but somebody’s gotta do it.

Big-boy websites don’t use Microsoft.

May 13th, 2011 by Mickey Panayiotakis

And that’s a fact. Read the rest of this entry »

Epsilon data breach (or, why it pays to go with the little guy)

April 8th, 2011 by Mickey Panayiotakis

File this under “rants“.iStock_000015498827XSmall

Big business has a herd mentality.  It seems all the financial institutions I use, and other large non-financial institutions I use, all use Epsilon.  I can’t see a reason for it except that they’re all acting like sheep.  Over the past two weeks, I’ve received three or four emails about Epsilon stealing my data. And I’m thinking, why is it that the big companies always screw us over, and then try to hide what’s been going on? Read the rest of this entry »

Hey Competitions: You’re Not Doing It Right!

December 29th, 2010 by Ernesto Gluecksmann
337/365: The Big Money
Image by DavidDMuir via Flickr

There’s a big problem with online competitions and challenges, they’re not doing it right!

Most of these challenges have quickly become a modern day cliche of cheap marketing and nearly all of them have dropped the ball with a very poorly misplaced focus.  Now that the big brands like Pepsi and GE have popularized “competitions” with the C-Level suites, everyone wants one for their organization, and like a virus, the bad versions are spreading. Even our U.S. government has gotten into the game, “by making prizes more attractive” for the Feds.

Bigger money, better competitions, that’s good, right?

Wrong.

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Google buys “111 8th” for reported $2b

December 3rd, 2010 by Mickey Panayiotakis

So why is this a big deal?

First some background for the uninitiated:  ”111 8th,” or 111 8th ave, Manhattan, NY, is one of the biggest office buildings in Manhattan, occupying an entire city block. It is also one of the biggest “carrier hotels” in the east coast.  A “carrier hotel” is an office building that tailors to network providers.  These buildings and data centers are where what make the Internet run: they’re were internet traffic changes hands from one provider to another.  So: why is this a big deal?

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Love Your Haters. Just Don’t Looove Your Haters.

November 1st, 2010 by Ernesto Gluecksmann
Sometimes I yell at myself.
Image by ★ spunkinator via Flickr

I participated in #Blogchat this past Sunday and the morning after I saw this post by Allison Boyer from Blogworld, inspired by a Tweet I wrote, “Whatever you do, you can’t make everyone happy.  If you got a hater or two, you’re probably doing something right.”  Following is excerpt from her post:

Easy enough to say, but I also definitely understand why some people get upset when a hater starts leaving comments. We put a lot of work into our blogs, to the point where they feel like our children. If someone doesn’t like our child, that’s anger-inducing…but when someone makes fun of our child? Well, I don’t know about you, but it makes me want to lash out right back.

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