June 30, 2010
The LAMP Technology Stack
The technology stack that Voices.com used to build and maintain its web application is known as LAMP which stands for Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP (or Perl or Python). Used together, they represent the most popular and most powerful form of web servers and website hosting.
June 28, 2010
How To Speed Up a Website
For a web-based service that helps to make the world sound good, we've been focused on speed as an element of design. After 12 months of hard work, we've achieved a 10X improvement in page loading times. This means it's ten times faster navigating the website, uploading and download audio files.
Voices.com's page load time has been reported as fast as 963 ms, which is ten times faster than the 15.30 seconds previously reported by Pingdom, a web site monitoring and measurement service.
In today's article, I'll share with you a number of tools that we used to achieve these improvements in page load time.
June 7, 2010
History of Video Games and Voice Overs
The video game industry is one of the largest and most profitable markets in the world. For years, it's been the fastest growing segment of the entertainment industry and has since eclipsed motion pictures. In the U.S., the gaming market raked in 19.6 billion dollars in revenue in 2009. In that same year, the Hollywood box office took in only 9.7 billion dollars.
72% of Americans are gamers and use a variety of gaming consoles. Other than innovative game ideas and superior graphics, part of this success is due to the astounding voice talent that heightens the experience of playing the games.
April 27, 2010
My Favorite Business Audiobooks
Audiobooks are becoming very popular these days. Everyone is constantly on the run, constantly moving, so it's very hard for them to sit down and read a book.
Fortunately, the advancement in technological prowess has been so astounding that many people have found a way to offset this. They have opted to listen to audiobooks whenever they get the chance, to appease their thirst for knowledge.
Audiobooks are basically books on tape where talented voice actors, also known as narrators, record an entire book, which usually takes many long hours of reading and recording before it's finished. Then the book is sold usually either on CD or as an MP3 file from websites like Audible or the Apple Store, and played on portable MP3 players such as iPods.
Audiobooks are perfect because usually, no matter what you are physically doing, you can be listening to something at the same time.
March 23, 2010
How To Build a Mobile Website
While most of us working in technology companies are aware of the mobile Internet tsunami, many businesses have yet to embrace the technology by publishing a mobile version of their own website.
Do you have a mobile version of your website? Are your customers asking you for one?
I believe we've reached a critical point where businesses must have at least a brochure style mobile site to explain to mobile visitors who you are and how you can serve them.
After two years of accessing Facebook, Twitter and now FourSquare almost exclusively on my iPhone, I realized it was time that our company, Voices.com, created a modest mobile website. Here's how we did it, and how you can too, in just ten simple steps.
January 14, 2010
Voices.com Moves Into The Convergence Centre
You and your colleagues are invited to the official Opening Event of the new Convergence Centre at 999 Collip Circle at the University of Western Ontario Research Park, London Campus.
The event will include a formal opening planned for 1:15pm, along with an open house throughout the afternoon that will allow tenants, guests, and members of the public a chance to drop-in whenever they are available. We'll provide food and music, tours of the new building, and we will have talks by Windermere Manor's Writer-in-Residence, Christine Walde, and artist Troy Ouellette about their work and cultural activities happening and planned for the Research Park.
Click through for all the details...
January 3, 2009
Annual Website Maintenance Checklist
It's the time of year when we make resolutions are made. I'm not much of a resolution-maker myself, but I'm going to suggest that small business owners make one. Namely, it's a suggestion that you resolve to fix up your web site and pay attention to things you might have ignored for too long. I know you're busy and your time is valuable, so chances are good that you've missed a few minor issues that are making your web site look old and outdated.
Think about this way: Your car needs a tune-up every 15,000 miles or so to keep it running at its best. Your teeth need a checkup at least once or twice a year. Well, a regular checkup will also keep your web site running in peak condition.
December 30, 2008
5 Second Usability Test
We've explored usability before, but today, I found a tool that makes website usability testing a snap!
A new app, most appropriately called Five Second Test allows website designers to upload a screen shot of a page, invite participants to view the page for exactly 5 seconds, then type in what they remember from the page.
Take the 5 Second Usability Test now.
March 22, 2008
How To Create a Sitemap (For People and Search Engines)
Sitemaps have been around since the advent of the Web and used primarily as a way to list all the pages on a particular website.
Nowadays, sitemaps have other purposes such as organizing web content by topic, showing the search engines which pages you have created and developing a linking structure that emphasizes specific areas of your website over others.
But just how do you make a sitemap? And, how do you get that sitemap into Google, Yahoo! and MSN? That's today's topic and for the webmasters and entrepreneurs out there, I think this article will be quite refreshing.
March 1, 2008
Vision for the Voice Over Industry
If there's one thing I've learned in business it's that the world doesn't wait for anyone.
In this business, while some are slow to change and adopt new technologies and services, others have fully embraced new paradigms such as software as a service, a category that Voices.com would fall into.
The promise of software as a service (SaaS) companies is that they'll be available anytime, anywhere, something that I believe we've delivered on.
In the future, the voice over industry will continue to benefit from embracing this new paradigm with the integration of new services, technologies and web applications designed to improve business performance.
February 29, 2008
Improve Voices.com by Taking the Website Usability Survey
The word "usability" refers to methods for improving ease-of-use during the design process. That's precisely what we aim to do with each quarterly service update.
As we push forward to our most recent set of feature updates, aptly called Spring '08, we're once again reaching out to you for your feedback, recommendations and feature requests.
This time, we've put together a brief survey to help us improve Voices.com and there's no opinion more valuable than yours!
February 15, 2008
Amazon S3 Outage
News: There was a relatively short outage on Amazon’s S3 storage service a short while ago. Voices.com uses Amazon to host audio demos, but not auditions or files uploaded for SurePay escrow transactions.
December 5, 2007
Say What? : Google Building Voice Activated Search Engine
The India research lab of Google Inc., the company that runs the world’s most popular search engine, is developing a voice-based search feature that allow callers to ask for information on neighborhood restaurants, services and local entertainment.
November 11, 2007
Voice of GOOG-411
Who is the voice of GOOG-411? Place a free call to Dial (1-800) GOOG-411, make your guess, then find out here.
November 4, 2007
13 Power User Tips for OpenSocial Developers
Hold on to your hat OpenSocial Developers. Despite all the buzz surrounding OpenSocial, access to the Orkut Sandbox ( your soon-to-be testing ground ) is limited to a handful of developers. But, there's no need to sit idle. Put your name on the waiting list, and then plan your killer OpenSocial app.
October 31, 2007
Google OpenSocial Launches
Google, on it's quest to organize the world's information, is preparing one of the largest endeavors the Internet has ever seen. It's called Google OpenSocial, and it's their answer to Facebook, the social networking utility.
October 25, 2007
Zune Now with 1-Click Podcast Subscription
The Zune, is Microsoft's entry into the portable digital media market. Today's news is that the Zune now supports 1-click podcast subscriptions which makes adding new podcasts easier for Zune owners and also broadens the audience for podcast publishers.
September 14, 2007
Fall 07 Release Exclusive Preview
With the academic year underway, I'm beginning to see evidence that fall is upon us. Besides the leaves changing color and the back to school sales, months of development is wrapping up and we're ready to show you what we've been working on.
July 19, 2007
4 Facebook Applications We’re Working On
Today, I'm going to reveal four Facebook applications we've got in development, give a brief description of each one, suggest some uses, and state why we think each is a Facebook killer app.
July 14, 2007
Google Updates Google News
Google continues to innovate by simplifying the design of their many web properties. A few weeks back they updated Google Analytics and today, I'm seeing changes to Google News. Google now allows you to view news results by selecting 'Standard Version', 'Text Version' and 'Image Version'.
January 9, 2007
Apple iPhone is Here
Today, Apple announced that it has indeed developed a revolutionary mobile phone, that is operated all with the touch of a finger. That's right, no buttons and no stylus -- it's a true touch-screen.
November 14, 2006
Designing for an Interactive Experience
The principles of Human Computer Interaction (HCI) and Information Architecture (AI) guide industrial designers, software designers as well as web developers. But just what does it all mean, and how can you apply proven practices into your web application design?
October 24, 2006
Intellectual Property
To continue the discussion on entrepreneurship, we'll explore the topic of "intellectual property" and the various forms it takes on. Learn all about patents and why you should apply for a patent for your business.
September 22, 2006
A Web Service from Sketch to Screenshot
Ever wondered how other developers create their web apps? I've scanned in sketches from the initial development of Voices.com
September 21, 2006
Developing a Web 2.0 Application
So, you have an idea for the next killer Web 2.0 app. That's great, but where do you go from here? Learn how we attack product development and how you can follow a simple and fool-proof system.
September 12, 2006
iTunes 7
In today's "Special Announcement", Apple once again showed it's expertise to create buzz and delivered an outstanding series of products including new versions of the iPod Video, iPod Nano and iPod Shuffle, as well as iTunes. And the most significant of these? I believe it's iTunes 7.
September 11, 2006
What's "The Biz" All About?
I've read blog posts by other entrepreneurs and industry critics raising a question. Does the world need another blog? I'd like to refine that question. Does the world need another web 2.0 blog? My short answer is "yes", and here's why.
