In reading The Huffington Post Monday, I came across this article about Google trying to stay in the social media running, err rather “Boost Social Media Offerings” against Facebook with the acquisition of Angstro. Angstro is a start up company focusing on analyzing “a wide breadth of information from multiple data sources to deliver very few, yet very intelligent results.”

Methinks this means Google will become more relevant again when it comes to specific information. I think this is pretty cool, as I search for VERY  specific items at times and get shafted with non-relevant results that I end up having to sift through or thinking up other random words that might possibly relate to the original term I throw out to Google. Obviously, when we Google something, we get a plethora of information, but with this new offering, results would make more sense to the Googler (Or would it be the googlee?).  This also should prove to boost ad sales for Search Engine Marketing. The post also shares Social Media ad spending estimates for the next couple of years, “Research firm eMarketer estimates that social network ad spending will hit $3.3 billion in 2010 and $4.26 billion in 2011.”

What do you think about all of this online, public? I am all eyes!

Yesterday, I had the distinct pleasure of receiving a call from a dirtbag gentleman asking me how to clear his search history. This person was signing into his wife’s facebook account and looking up his ex-girlfriend. He then became paranoid about his wife finding out that he was looking up this other woman. I tried to help him, but, as hopefully most of us know, Facebook isn’t a search engine. It doesn’t keep a history of the people you search. The guy insisted that he NEEDED to have this removed, “Every time I type in the letter ‘J’ she pops up in the search results!”. I proceeded to tell the man that it shouldn’t be that big of a deal if some ex-girlfriend randomly popped up in his wife’s search bar. He then volunteered the information that he had an affair with this woman ten years ago and his wife consistently asked him if he ever tried to look up the ex-girlfriend. I asked him why he felt the need to look this woman up now, after ten years of not being in contact with her. His response? “I wanted to see how she was doing.” He was willing to go as far as to drive to the Chicago Facebook headquarters to meet with someone who could help him. He was so desperate to cover his tracks that he would go to any length to “save” his marriage (even setting up a ‘dummy’ account to test his changes before applying them to his wife’s account).

Here is my tip, guy: If you don’t want to get caught or know what you’re doing is wrong, then DON’T DO IT! Of course I’m sure you knew cheating on your wife ten years ago was also a bad idea. Using your wife’s facebook account to cyber stalk an ex-mistress is even STUPID-ER! Next time you have an urge to look up an old flame, try resisting the urge for another ten years. Don’t call a company to help you cover your curiosity tracks.

Kevin Smith & Southwest Air, Dave Carroll & United Airlines, countless Comcast customers – seems like social media outlets are the go-to place to post your gripe these days, but is it really worth it?

It’s becoming more and more common for social media fans, especially those on Twitter, to carry their mobile device like a gun on their hip just waiting for something to happen. In most cases, something bad. Then, when he or she is wronged or offended, the Twitter gun is fired. Now, I will admit that I have been guilty of this on an occasion or two, but I can honestly say that all it did was get a strange look from my wife and occupy a couple minutes of my time. That’s about all.

This most recent “issue” with director Kevin Smith being removed from a Southwest Air flight because he was too overweight to “comfortably fit” into an airplane seat really got me thinking. Shouldn’t we try to focus a bit more on the positive things these days? The economy is suffering. Unemployment rates are out of control. Why should I care if Kevin Smith is overweight? I’m still going to fly Southwest because the price is right and more often than not they are on time or even early to my destination.

Here’s a suggestion, if you experience something good, post it on Twitter and shout it from the rooftops. Rather than continuing to stifle our own economy by complaining about the bad decisions made by businesses, let’s put more emphasis on promoting the good ones and help everyone feel a little better about things.

Today on techcrunch.com, A post was made regarding the New York based, AppFund offering seed money and mentoring for starts up developers who are planning new apps for the iPad. If you haven’t already started thinking of ideas for the iPad, you better start now! Proposals must be submitted immediately, as the plan is to launch the first set of iPad applications this Summer! Depending on the complexity of the app, the seed money can range from $5,000 to $500,000. Other tablets shouldn’t feel left out though. AppFund is also offering funding for apps for other tablets out there! Just another reason to look forward to the weather warming up!

Well, another year has passed and it’s impossible to go a day without coming across a “year’s best” list in one format or another. That being said, we would like to offer you with our own list, but these are some things you may have missed. Maybe you don’t live in Chicago. Maybe you aren’t in a creative field or profession. Maybe you don’t read or don’t care ‘what the kids are doing these days’. Whatever your reason is, these ten things may have passed by you without so much as a glance. (in no particular order)

1. This January, Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes (formerly of R&B group TLC) released a new, but posthumous, album called Eye Legacy. I don’t recall ever hearing any of the tracks, but apparently it made it all the way to #44 on the Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop charts.

2. The Dirty South caught fire this summer when Red Bull came to town with their Soapbox Race. Congratulations to the Atlanta race winning driver, Christopher “Killa” Miller, and the team from The Beer Connoisseur Magazine. Um, duh, of course the guy with the nickname “Killa” is going to win.

3. Despite rumors to the contrary, Jeff Goldblum, Zach Braff, Britney Spears, and Natalie Portman are still alive. Thank you, Twitter.

4. “As Seen on TV” products hit a new low when the Snuggie craze spilled over into the dog market. I have neither a dog nor a Snuggie and my life is just fine.

5. Charles Burnett III broke a 100-year-old land speed record for a steam-powered car. He averaged 140 miles per hour in two drives at Edwards Air Force base. That’s hot!

6. In the category of Easter candy that I never eat, this year we were blessed with Chocolate Mousse Peeps. Apparently they have only 28 calories and 0g fat per Peep, but I’m afraid I won’t be expanding my love of chocolate into this realm.

7. The auto industry has been hit pretty hard over the past couple years, that we know. What you may not know, however, is that 2009 will be the last production year for the Chrysler PT Cruiser. Love ‘em or hate ‘em, don’t worry, they won’t be making any more of ‘em.

8. Blueye account manager, Heather Williams, ran her first Chicago Marathon this year. After months of training, she finished in 29,897th place, just 29,896 people behind the winner, Sammy Wanjiru. Congratulations again, Heather!

9. Ace Ventura has done it again. Okay, maybe not. Apparently there was a new addition to the Ace series this year (who knew, honestly) as Ace Ventura Jr. Pet Detective was released in March. Did anyone see it? No? We didn’t think so.

10. Swingers unite! Just this month, as the new year looms, 632 Chinese took place in a Guinness record-setting event. Get your head out of the gutter, silly. They took place in the largest ever golf lesson, taught by Zhang Lianwei of China. What a great way to spend your lunch hour.

Here’s to a healthy and happy 2010!

Over the course of a design project, it is often necessary to explore a wide variety of typefaces to find one that is just right. Well, just like most things in the world we develop some favorites. Today we have put together a couple of our designers’ faves, three each to be exact: one sans-serif, one random or display typeface, and one serif. Below are the results:

AMANDA:

Trade Gothic Std Condensed No. 20

Kewl Script Regular

Adobe Caslon Pro Italic

BRICE:

Helvetica Neue 45 Light

Ohrada Regular

Electra Regular

And, just for fun, some fonts we’d love to have:

Costa from Veer

Cyclone from Hoefler & Frere-Jones

Mercury from Hoefler & Frere-Jones

Adios from Veer

Have you seen a font you love? Please share it with us and add a comment below.

As most of you know, today is Veterans Day. Blueye would like to take this time to give a special shout out and THANK YOU to all who have served in and are currently serving in our military. We are eternally grateful for everything you have done to fight for our freedom and protect us from terrorism, persecution and other life threatening situations. What you do on a daily basis is so selfless and wonderful, that none of us can ever pay you back with everything you do for our country. God Bless every veteran and their families, as it is a tough duty to have a loved one away in another country and to be there for them. From all of us at Blueye Creative, Happy Veterans’ Day!

This morning I discovered via a recent Twitter follower (@ChicagoStartups) that Where I’ve Been, a friend and client of Blueye from day one, is #12 in a July listing of the Top 100 start-up companies in the Chicago area!

Recently, Where I’ve Been (whereivebeen.com) launched a revised version of their already successful travel-based social media platform and has been steadily gaining users and followers alike through use of their Twitter trending topic: #TravelTuesday. Currently, @whereivebeen has nearly 17,000 followers on Twitter and 25,000 fans on Facebook, proving once again that people love to travel and they also love to share their travel experiences with others.

Over the past several months, Blueye has been working closely with Where I’ve Been on several projects. The latest project, Stadium Stops, is a new Facebook application for those hard core fans of college football. The application allows users to create their own map to show others what stadiums they have visited and ones that they plan to visit. In addition, users can choose specific college teams to support and taunt friends supporting rival teams. The taunting doesn’t end at the stadium, parking lot, or the bar anymore!

This list of Chicago area start-ups places Where I’ve Been in some elite company, right alongside some large names in the technology field, including The Onion, 37Signals, Sittercity, crowdSPRING, and Acquity Group just to name a few. Their growth and success would be enough to make even Casey Kasem proud. Congrats to the team at Where I’ve Been and remember to “Keep your feet on the ground and keep reaching for the stars.”

Do you love Twitter and Facebook too!? Become a fan of blueye on Facebook today, or follow us on Twitter all day long.

On a daily basis clients ask, “How can I get more people to use my website?”. On an hourly basis I find myself asking, “Okay, now where do I find the info I need?”. The Internet has become the go-to source to get our questions answered quickly, but there is still a real breakdown between the media and the user. Search engine optimization has become so important to companies on the web that they are cluttering their sites with jargon-laden copy in an effort to jump up the rankings, often overlooking the one thing that will keep people coming back: customer service.  Now I’m not referring to the ability to return a faulty screwdriver without a receipt, but rather referring to the experience a user has upon arriving at the site. The keystone: ease of use.

Okay, so this topic has the potential to become a lengthy post, and/or debate, so I’m going to keep this brief and use one example for now: skype.com .

Skype is one of the simpler, most user-friendly websites I have seen in quite a while. Personally, I don’t need to know how they got started or the technology behind their service. My main goals in coming to the site are: 1. download the service and 2. find information on using the service. Right away, I see a button to download and a navigation tab that will take me to another page about using the service. In addition, there’s even a little blurb about what Skype is, a true revelation (sarcasm). Please notice, there are not endless paragraphs about voice-over IP service, or VOIP applications that contain repeated catch phrases just in the hope that a random international college student or a small global business will search Google for ‘United States voice over internet phone service’.

Don’t get me wrong, search optimization can be vital to the success of your business but what use is search optimization if the user never gets past the first page of your site? At blueye, we put a lot of thought into the designs that we present to clients. We want our clients to not only be happy with the look and feel of the site, but we want them to be happy with the results once the site goes live. As a designer, the biggest compliment a client can give me is telling me that they are making sales and that clients and customers are telling them how easy their site is to use.

Remember, simple can be a really good thing. History speaks for itself: the tuxedo, chocolate ice cream, the bicycle – all simple products, with plenty of users worldwide.