We published our “contemporary” new website yesterday http://www.addrenaline.ca. The new site will eventually include live testimonials from clients and demonstrations of our suite of new video and audio equipment.

The new website showcases the work we’ve done for clients such as Computer Data Source of Eatontown New Jersey U.S.A, http://www.cds.net, Caryl Baker Visage of Toronto, Canada http://www.carylbakervisage.com, Final Coat http://www.finalcoat.com, and Protect24, North America’s largest safety and security resource http://www.protect24.com.

To view these projects and several others recently completed by us visit the site at http://www.addrenaline.ca

exciting stuff, the name is getting around - here is a link to the full article:

http://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/Addrenaline-Media-Invigorates-prnews-3098793531.html?x=0

— KH

Canada’s own BackRack Inc. (makers of the world renowned truck accessory - you’ve seen them) have partnered with Addrenaline to produce a 30 second tv commercial, new web site, social media strategy and all other elements associated with their brand.

Watch for the results of this project in the coming months.  We’ll be posting them.

— KH

Wikipedia defines Society as: A large social grouping that shares the same geographical territory and is subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations.

Social Media and Social Networking are by their very names large social groupings, but their nature strips geography and political authority right out of the equation. 

What we are seeing now in Egypt is a society (that was quite stable for 30+ years under current political rule) that has reached a chaotic level of social unrest and one could make the case that social networks have played a major role in the shift of Egyptian culture and other Middle Eastern countries like Yemen, Tunisia, and Jordan.  Only time will tell which country will make the list next, and it is only a matter of time.

Social Networks are the embodiment of American/Western ideals.  They provide a platform for free-speech, free-thought, and a window to the western world that is larger than any other window.  Signing up for twitter is like getting your U.S. Citizenship simply by choosing a screen name.

As repressed societies adopt and become accustomed to using these networks to freely express themselves, it becomes increasingly more difficult to revert to repression when one walks out the front door.  It is difficult to keep your mouth shut as your government further entrenches the ideal that the only good voice is a quiet one.

Sure, there are other factors involved in the Egyptian revolt.  As it stands now Egypt doesn’t know what it wants and has turned to violence to express the feeling.  One could argue that years of repression manifests itself in violence when expression suddenly becomes necessary.

Never before have massive groups of supporters been able to mobilize and gather with such speed and precision and for that we can thank social media.  Whether it is a political rally in Toronto or Ottawa in support of change in Egypt, or a veritable flash mob in Tahrir square (a mob hurling molotov cocktails is perhaps the best definition of flash mob) gathering at strategic times, social media has given ordinary citizens a power they’ve never before experienced.

That is what we are seeing here and you can’t get away from it.  Even the news of the chaos is being reported primarily via twitter.  The Egyptian government took the whole country offline in an attempt to put pandora back in her box and Western society stepped right up to the plate to make twitter available via voice command and cell-phone networks - thanks Google!

This new found power will bring about huge changes globally.  It looks as though Egypt will never put the lid back on this.  We’ve seen other dictatorships in utter unease at the realization that the power of the people is real.

When hugely different cultural groups are all tossed into a “global society” aspects of the different cultures are certain to trickle and then pour into each other and create a social melting pot the likes of which tv, radio and newswires could never have imagined.

— KH

In case you didn’t know, website WikiLeaks.org is all over the news.  For the second time this year its all around us because of the nature of documents it has attained and released. 

Whether the release of the documents is right or wrong is not the point of this.  The point is simple: WikiLeaks is proof that if you have a web-based concept you believe in and take the steps to make it available, the site may easily take root and rise to a respectable level of success—if not worldwide fame (or infamy).

WikiLeaks launched in 2006.  Five years ago.  Had you heard of them before 2010?

WikiLeaks concept is simple.  The website allowed anyone to submit documents anonymously.  That was the functionality of the site (their servers are dropping them tirelessly due to government pressure). WikiLeaks the company, was founded much the way your internet start-up would be. 

An idea becomes a concept, a domain name is bought, and a website is launched that introduces the public to the concept, and makes the reason they’re there quick and easy to engage - (submission of stolen documents was very easy for WikiLeaks’ users).

Even their timelines make sense within the scope of our every day experience here at Addrenaline.  The wikileaks.org domain was purchased in October of 2006 and the first functional site was live in December of the same year.  They really were just like any other internet start-up.

Their rise was slow.  Initially they had access to a server that was purportedly being used as a node for the “TOR” network (google it).  This meant they had access to several million government documents and they began to record traffic on the network.  One would suspect the idea for WikiLeaks was born out of the fact they knew they could publish this information and needed a platform to do it—anonymously. 

As the site grew, other “leaks” started to be submitted to the site.  WikiLeaks had found its content provider.  All it took was a few years of small fish to land two really big fish in their fourth year of existence.

You may have a concept you feel is a real winner.  Chances are it is born out of some facet of your life or work experience.  A way to make something easier, or better, or a way to stir the pot.  It is your unique view on these experiences that has brought the concept to you, not someone else.  It is your unique perspective that is the “TOR” network of your world and your first “leak” so to speak.

Like WikiLeaks you’ll need to believe in the idea, make it a reality and get it live before you will know the true public perception.  In the case of WikiLeaks I imagine it was a few tech-savvy entrepreneurs with some level of political connectedness who sat on the idea for a while, and discussed it with very few people or organizations.  From what I’ve read of Julian Assange (the self-proclaimed founder of WikiLeaks) the idea was probably treated like one of Lex Luther’s plots for global domination.

In the case of your million dollar idea, you’ll probably have the freedom to discuss it openly with friends and associates, to gauge the concept and gather feedback. 

No matter the “size” of the idea however, take the steps necessary to protect it.  Don’t burst through every single door spurting out your idea and concept.  If you truly believe there is something there research domain names and trademarks quickly and easily online.  Find out what the true roadblocks are, if any, and bring the idea to life fast.  But by all means, protect the idea in the process!  

The second factor in its rise to becoming a household name is that the nature of WikiLeaks made it newsworthy. Their concept was, on the surface, seemingly devious if you were a government, and seemingly respectable if you were a political freedom fighter or activist.  Can you think of a better “hook” for a news story in this age of heightened terror alerts and global protests.

Further, if your idea can leverage an element of pop-culture or if the timing is simply “just right”, don’t wait to throw the switch.  If Facebook had waited another year to get it “just right” they’d surely be #2 behind the worlds other gargantuan social network—whether that would ever have been MySpace is another argument. 

In the age of the internet, “trying” an idea is as cost-effective as it has ever been. 

In the 1950s if you wanted to start a business, your expenses ranged from high to astronomical, depending on the nature of the outfit.  WikiLeaks could have bought their name and built their site for less than $20k.  That’s a risk you can be comfortable with, even a tow-truck driver has to invest more to get his/her business off-the-ground. 

The fact is, Julian Assange and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg probably felt the first 20k was a lot then too!     

— KH

We’ve signed on several new clients recently who have had similar stories to share with us about some of the companies they reached out to in an effort to get projects underway.  To be honest, we’ve been hearing these stories for years, but never in such rapid succession.

The latest stories were so similar and disheartening enough that I thought to put together a list of “must-haves” for the company you decide to work with.

The web makes it very easy for a company or individual to portray themselves as something they are not.  Many of our competitors are totally legit businesses with professional staff and offices you can visit.  Many of our competitors are NOT. 

Just because a company names a number of employees and team members that will be working on your project, it does not necessarily mean they are staff of the company or even working in this country. 

So many of the “companies” offering web services don’t even post a physical address for their office “full of employees” - why is that? what are they hiding?

Our office address and all the members of our team have always been fully visible on our site.  If you want to visit us and meet our team you can.  We aren’t hiding anything, nor are we hiding from any previous clients - we keep our clients happy and do not need to hide.  The company you engage should operate in the same fashion, if a problem arises you’ll be glad you know where they are and who to contact.

If a company doesn’t return your initial call or get back to your email inquiry within 24 hrs. they are either too busy for you or they are doing this part-time and can’t return your email because they are at their job.  Believe it or not we’re hearing about companies not responding to requests for quotes for 3 or 4 days!  That is simply poor business.

If this is their response time when you’re potentially going to give them work, imagine the response time later when you’re waiting for something from them!

Lastly, be careful about engaging SEO companies or design/development teams through unsolicited emails from overseas.  More than 75% of the junk emails you get relating to the service are fly-by-night operations (mainly in India) that will take your money through paypal and cease communication with you entirely.  If it looks too good to be true it is.

— KH

12 years ago if you had a 3-frame flashing flame .gif on your site it was awesome! Add to that a scrolling 16 pt. headline at the top of your angelfire domain and you were off to the races.

3 to 5 years ago it seemed like the more content and graphic elements you could cram into an 800 pixel width the better your site was. The “good” sites (the ones that seemed to mesmerize people) almost looked like robots and/or machinery with metallic rendered interfaces. Designers were building small audio players into their interfaces and text scrolled by – all “adding” to the experience. Blips and metallic noises accompanied every interaction, and of course you heard a “swoosh” like the doors on Star Trek as text rolled into frame. 

These days, in the age of Web 2.0 and 3.0, the trend has reversed. Good designers are minimizing content, letting key messages stand out, and keeping the interfaces clean and easy to navigate. My question is: will the old flash “robot” sites ever be cool again? (ignoring of course the immense limitations of flash).

Other trends in life are totally cyclical. Styles of music, fashion and art are all coming back and fading away and coming back again. Will that be the same for web sites? The web is too new to have seen a trend come back around (forgive me, here is a recent site (2007) for Borat http://www.borat.tv/ that dictates maybe the old 3-frame gifs are coming back!)

I guess if it is true, and they do come back, the great thing is we are the first generation getting to see the history of the web unfold.

- KH