Adobe has acquired a raft of new web tools in a bid to make its services even more accessible to web designers.

The organisation has bought Nitobi, which makes PhoneGap and TypeKit. It announced the acquisition at its recent Adobe Max developer and designer conference.

Experts say that the new tools will help Adobe to extend its services beyond its Flash Player technology into other areas of web design such as HTML, CSS and JavaScript.

PhoneGap allows designers to create web apps designed exclusively for use on mobile phones. It is an open source programming tool.

Danny Winokur, general manager at Adobe, said: “PhoneGap is a fantastic solution for developing a broad range of mobile apps using the latest web standards, and is already integrated with Dreamweaver CS5.5.

“It’s a perfect complement to Adobe’s broad family of developer solutions, including Adobe Air, and will allow us to continue to provide content publishers and developers with the best, cutting-edge solutions for creating innovative applications across platforms and devices.”

Meanwhile, TypeKit focuses on web-based typography. Subscribers to the service can use TypeKit fonts on their web pages.

Adobe already offers a font licensing service, which it can now extend to allow flexibility for display and digital fonts thanks to TypeKit’s capabilities.

Lea Hickman, vice president of product management at Adobe, said: “Typography is a fundamental design element and something that designers want to be more creative with on websites – especially as these websites now need to be viewed on mobile devices.”

Google will kill off ten of its experimental services as part of what it is calling a “fall spring-clean”.

On its blog, the internet giant wrote: “Technology improves, people’s needs change, some bets pay off and others don’t. Over the next few months we’ll be shutting down a number of products and merging others into existing products as features.”

Amongst those being scrapped include Aardvark, the social question-and-answer service that allows users to submit questions to people in their social networks.

Google acquired Aardvark for US$50m (￡30m) around 18 months ago. The service was founded by a team of ex-Google employees.

Other services to be closed down include Google Desktop, Fast Flip, Google Pack and Image Labeller.

Meanwhile, Google Maps will no longer support Flash APIs and Google Web Security will cease to be on sale, although it will continue to support existing customers.

Google says that shutting down these services will improve the overall Google experience. All the Googlers working on the soon-to-close projects will be moved over to “higher-impact products”, according to the organisation. These products are expected to include Google+, as well as web applications such as Gmail and Google Docs.

The news follows the shut-down of Google Labs a few months ago.

Hello again everyone it’s Thea here again. Welcome to the third, and final, installment of my Silicon Valley Diary - it’s part 3.

Today I thought I’d talk about having lunch at Google the other day, and share a few reasons why I think Google is so Cool.

Well I’m not the only one, it seems, CNN Money had a poll of the Top 100 places to work and Google ranked number 4 (to be honest, seeing the three above them, I am rather surprised they’re as low as #4).

So I met my friend M on his second to the last day at HQ. Though staying with the company, he’s transferring out to New York (closer to his family) to work with a new team, but still within in their software division. It was a perfect time to meet him again, as he was very relaxed wrapping up work in California and looking forward to his move back east. It meant that I was able to spend extra time with him to eat, chat, take pictures/videos, and wander HQ.

So here are a few reasons why I love the odd trip to Google’s HQ.

1) The Free Food is Awesome!

It’s an obvious choice, this. There are a variety of different cafes to choose from at Google for whatever you fancy:- salads, burgers, Mexican, pizzas – you name, they have it, and all FREE for, not just employees, but also their visitors! There’s been much controversy over this particular area of Google practices, but I, for one, am a fan of the FREE lunch. (Who isn’t?)

2) They’ve Got Cute Bikes

Because Google’s Mountain View HQ is so spread out – they have cute little bikes that you can ride between buildings. That’s an awesome little nugget but some unscrupulous people have been nicking them and then flogging them on Craigslist which to my mind is rather naughty. Plus how obvious would be out riding a coloured Google-Plex bike (red, yellow, green and blue) in your own random neighbourhood?

3) Entrepreneurial Spirits

There is something rather exciting about being surrounded by all these creative and gifted minds. Google, apparently, chooses its candidates through a highly-scientific methodology and approach to picking staff. So you get a sense you’re among greatness, or at least I do, when I’m there. I end up hoping some of that greatness will soak into me through osmosis.

You may love Google or loathe it, but you can’t deny it its successes.

4) Inspirational Setting

The campus is in a natural green like setting (trees, grass etc). There are beach-like volleyball pitches, swimming pools, an organic garden (which provides some of it’s ingredients for their cafes), a bronze T-Rex dinosaur, and a garden filled with nautical-inspired statues.

It seems like it would be rather easy to have a little spot of grass to yourself, in or out of the sun, to work on you work. It reminds me of my own Northern California university days, and that’s a good thing.

5) Google’s Liquid Galaxy 3D Simulator

Arguably the most fun part of the trip to Google was the fifteen or so minutes spent in the lobby. Not only are there cool things to look at, like the hanging plane (aka Spaceship One), but they have the most fun 3D panoramic Google Earth  simulator called Liquid Galaxy. You walk into it, there are panels that wrap around, maybe 100 degrees, and are several feet high (it’s hard to explain but this YouTube video shows it clearly and from the outside).

Most people, apparently I learned, choose to look at their house (which I did too), but really took a 3-D look all around Glasgow as a whole, giving my friend a virtual tour of my fair city.

It’s an absolute blast, if a little dizzy-inducing at times. I wish I had one of these things in my living room!

Anyway check out my ’2-min Tour of Google’ video here to see some of the things I talked about above. Thanks for reading about the little trek to Google’s HQ in Mountain View. It’s worth a little visit if you ever get the chance…

Hey everyone it’s Thea here again. Did you know the name Silicon Valley was first used exactly forty years ago by Don C Hoefler** who was writing a series of articles Silicon Valley USA? Rather surprisingly I didn’t until I heard it at the recent, rather inspirational Innovation Journalism (InJo) conference at Stanford.

Here in “the Valley”, like anywhere really, people love to talk about what excites them – music, movies, television shows and especially technology. So I thought I’d pass on to you what’s excited me this past week – just on the off-chance you’ve not heard about them already. (You may have heard of some of these already, but hopefully one or two will be new to you too!)

CitizenTube.com

This one gets mentioned because of an enjoyable panel talk by the main man Steve Grove at CitizenTube – which is YouTube’s News and Politics channel. “How many of you knew we had a news and politics channel?” he asked and few of us raised our hands.

The idea is that citizens of the world are becoming the news curators by being in the right place at the right time (depending on how you look at it) with their camera phones or video recorders. Incidentally, this was a common theme at the Stanford InJo conference, as on a later talk from CNN’s Marisa Gallagher explained their use of iReporters on Open Story.

None of this is dissimilar to what Sky News and the BBC are doing – what’s interesting to me is the trend of this “citizen journalism”.

TuneIn Radio

TuneIn Radio is a website and has a variety of apps for different platforms. It was recommended to me by a fellow music-loving friend Teri. (NOTE: Teri has around 150 apps on her iPhone and sees more concerts than anyone I’ve ever met, so she was the perfect person to recommend this app to me.)

As we sat outside a little coffee shop in downtown Campbell, I download TuneIn radio onto my iPad and, just for kicks, loaded up BBC Radio Scotland’s Morning Briefing with my NSDesign colleague Colin Kelly and we sat and, well, tuned in.

A rather surreal moment that.

Once Magazine

Now this one is a little different, as it’s not yet launched, but am excited to check it out once it goes live. From the website of the young SF-based firm, Once Magazine is a simple concept based around how great photographs look on the iPad. Not only that, it’s apparently a “viable publishing platform in the digital age calls for a new business model”. While it’s subscription based, they’ll be sharing revenue with the photographers. That’s only part of their business model. So Once is one to watch, I think, especially if you’re keen on “long-form narrative photography”. (Don’t you just love all these new buzz terms for everything?)

Awedeitorium – Aural Happiness

At Stanford, after an interesting panel I got chatting to one the panelists @ Justin Ferrel from the Washington Post’s Director of Digital when the gentleman to my right chimed in about an app he loves called Aweditorium. This little app is engaging for music lovers.

FlipBoard

This particular app is getting more raves than anything I’ve heard in ages! As it was released last summer, you may have heard of of this personalised social magazine already, but it was “news” to me. It’s perfect for all you social media lovers who like reading newspapers and magazines. A truly visual app, it looks amazing on the iPad.

Well that’s just a few of what caught my ear and eye this past week.

Next time, on my Silicon Valley Diary Part 3 – I’ll fill you in on a fun, recent trip to Google’s HQ for a “free lunch” with a friend.

*****************

** The term Silicon Valley is credited to Ralph Vaerst a Central California entrepreneur, but was first used by his friend, a journalist, Don C Hoefler in his column for Electronic News.

Hey it’s Thea here, reporting to you from London! Last night, I had the privilege of making the journey down from Glasgow for the RAR Awards.

For the benefit of anyone who doesn’t know, RAR – aka the Recommended Agency Register -  was set up to help companies source, select and engage marketing suppliers. The newly-established RAR Awards honor excellence in service for all things digital and design. (This was only its second year running).

What makes these awards especially gratifying, to all nominees, no doubt, is that they’re voted for by the clients. I wasn’t at last year’s inaugural event but I can tell you, this year the competition was  stiff – more than 620 companies had been rated.

NSDesign was rather blessed with seven nominations!

At NSDesign, we’re a decidedly-optimistic bunch, by nature, and thus suspected, (or at least hoped), we might win one. What I don’t think any of us were prepared for was the fact we scooped three,…plus a runner up (#3 out of 10) for the top price “The Grand Prix” – a Top Ten UK company.

That essentially made four, framed award certificates to lug back to the hotel (pic: right) after the festivities, but hey, I’m not complaining.

Over the past few weeks, I’ve met folks from a number of other web design firms – many who scoff at the idea of these awards ceremonies, but perhaps they ought to re-consider their stance.

As guest speaker, Chief Executive of Talk Talk, Paul Lawton said to the crowd “keep entering them” – because not only are they good for the PR angle, and lend a note of credibility to the firm, but they also entice potential employees as well. Salient points.

As the newest member to the NS team, (and as such feeling like the least qualified to accept the honours), what struck me most was how NSDesign won against companies who were often several times its size.

Honestly, we were just so proud to be nominated for one category let alone seven, and along side such an esteemed group of fellow contenders.  I’m telling you, this room simply oozed talent.

Over all, it was a great night with plenty of food going, the wine flowing, and tweets tweeting to make it a lively and entertaining evening.

I think it’s fair to say that a good time was had by all.

Incidentally, the awards we ended up walking away with were:

• Best in Client Service
• Best in Digital
• Best Value for Money

So finally, I think all of us at NSDesign would like  to thank our valued customers for these accolades, as we’d literally not been able to do it without you!

Thank you all! Here’s to 2012!

Twitter is an integral part of social media marketing and, for those looking to boost their online presence and profile, the digital marketing portal Econsultancy has published ten pointers that can be used to boost the chance of retweets.

For example, marketers should consider at what time they post on Twitter. According to author Chris Lake, tweets are more likely to be retweeted later in the evening since users are more likely to be at home, and going on Twitter later in the day overlaps with good browsing times in America. At NSDesign, we take a slightly different view, in that when tweets are aimed at a business readership, it’s best to schedule the activity within working hours. However, it’s indisputable that the chances of a retweet are greater when the majority of your target audience is online.

A call to action is also cited as a good way to attract retweets. A request to check something out, labelling a link as a ‘must-read’ or stressing followers to watch a YouTube video creates an urgency and piques general interest, which other Twitter users generally respond to.

The article makes for interesting reading and certainly provides some helpful pointers with your Twitter strategy but, ultimately, good content– tweets that have perceived worth, value and resonance – will get retweeted.

A Twitter feed with consistent, good material attracts similarly-minded individuals who are more likely to follow an account long-term, forming a core from which to gain consistent retweets. Such a set of followers is more likely to flock as a result of a natural, unforced Twitter approach with a personable style or unique voice.

Happy Friday everyone!

Well, we’re down to the final week of Twenty Four Days of Twitmas ten-day mark promotion and as we intimated in last week’s round up at the , it’s exceeded our expectations.

Over the weekend we decided to cater to the kids. Saturday our friends at stonzewear.co.uk gave us some cosy Mittz to give away. Congrats go to @laylalovesruby who snagged them.

On Sunday, some precious little penguin shoes (pic right) were featured from the newly-launched popitin.co.uk.

Well done to @EmmaReid01 who walks away these little cuties for her own little cutie, Declan!

In order to beat the January work-out rush, on Monday we teamed up with Pro-Life Fitness to offer a three-month trial at the Paisley-based gym. It was @HazelAngelstar who’s ready to take action with that membership trial. Way to go Hazel!

Tuesday it was more yuletide alcohol up for grabs – this time, courtesy of  the friendly connoisseurs at Alexander Wines. A very happy @ali_hutch won the Parxet Cuvee 21 Cava Brut on offer!

For Wednesday, we had not one, not two, but three prizes up for grabs from Scottish outfit Fortune Favours the Brave. We asked our followers to pick their favourite t-shirt and three lucky winners did and won!

Thursday was another unique prize up for grabs from Glasgow-Chauffeur.com. Basically we gave away luxury transport (for up to four people) for one night on the town driven by James, a private chauffeur, in his E-Class Mercedes.

Plus James kindly offered 25% off on any booking through his site which quoted #24Twitmas too!

Congrats to @DFScot for riding away with our Personal Chauffeur, James.

Due to the success of our Twenty Four Days of Twitmas promotion, James has decided to  extend the deal to all NSDesign customers through until New Year for all of you to take advantage of it. (Open to all of our customers within a 30 mile radius of Glasgow).

Don’t say we’re not good to you all!

Day 17, today, is our “Work For Free” day. As we arrived to work this morning, Gary has doled out a variety of projects ranging from website audits, SEO advice, basic logo creation and more..  we’re still working through as many as we can as I type!!…

Over the weekend look out for another bottle of Glengoyne, 10-Year Old Whisky and a “Scottish Tea Break” package from Scotland’s  very own, brand new, social networking site for business.

We’ll kick of the final week with even more brilliant prizes to hand out – another quality dram, some golf merchandise, and finally one person will truly be celebrating on Christmas Eve when we giveaway our final prize -  a week’s holiday accommodation in France!

So, make sure you’re following us on Twitter, and stay tuned in to be in with a chance of winning one of our fab freebies this final week of Twenty Four Days of Twitmas - Twenty Ten!

Have a great weekend! Wrap up! Stay safe!

Last week a few of the team members at NSDesign met up at the Normandy Hotel in Renfrew for this year’s ROCCO awards.

It was truly an exciting time for me, as I’ve never worked anywhere that’s been nominated for one award – let alone two!

We were up for ‘Innovation & Technology’, which we won, and ‘Outstanding Performing Business <25 FTE’, which we didn’t. At least we kept it in house – as it went to our neighbours here in Hillington Innovation Centre, Bridgeall.

As if all this weren’t enough, a real surprise (for both Paul and myself anyway) was Paul’s nomination for ‘Employee of the Year’. A well-deserved nomination considering he’s often the last one out of here!

He didn’t win but did get this nice bottle of Champagne as consolation.

Awesome!

As I tend to go everywhere with my trusty little video recorder, I shot this little  2-minute ROCCOs movie movie of the festivities.

If you’re short of time, then might I suggest you watch the more abridged 30-second version of Gary On Stage (complete with blooper which we’re thinking of submitting to “You’ve Been Framed”. Do you think we’re in with a shot??)

Finally, if you like to look at photographs, you can see my photos from both the Ayrshire and Renfrewshire awards ceremonies here.

Thanks for reading my update, and congrats to the NSDesign team that I am so happy to now be a part of! Well done.

If you’re looking to get your website hosted then you’ll probably keep coming across the term ‘web server’. These are the centrepoint of web hosting and you need to be up to speed on them to ensure you are getting the most from your web hosting provider.

When you employ a web hosting service, you are essentially leasing space for your web site on a server. A server is essentially a hyper-powerful computer whose main purpose is to store the files that make up your website remotely and transmit them across the internet as and when requested by a visitor.

Servers are identified by their IP addresses; every server and computer connected to the web has a unique IP (Internet Protocol) number which serves a dual purpose – to address internet traffic, like a postal address in the real world, and to help identify the different servers and computers on the internet.

When a client visits your site, their computer will send a request to your web server’s IP, which responds with the requested information. Consequently, an IP address is an essential part of the process by which information is passed around the web.

While it is possible to host your own website, this can be a costly option; which is why web hosting is so popular. Over 90% of current websites are hosted on a leased server, with no negative impact on business or retail. Hosting is a cost-effective solution to running a website, allowing you to lease only the server space you need and have top-level technical support – essential if you are need to e-commerce and website hosting.

For a no-obligation quote on web hosting packages contact NSDesign.

Web hosting is the act of renting space on servers to ‘host’ a website. As well as space for your site, web hosts, like NSDesign, also provide full internet connectivity. In short, it’s the internet equivalent of renting shop space.

Hosting comes at the very end of your web design process and is the final step to getting your site live on the internet. Personal web pages and small, simple constructions can be hosted from home through various methods, most of which are free, but require your page to carry advertising.

Complex sites, or those who require a professional advertising-free approach, will need to link up with a web hosting provider. So what questions do you need to ask when choosing a provider?

•    What is the average downtime per month? Downtime is when your website, for whatever reason, is unavailable. Most providers aim to average 99.5% uptime per month, this means a loss of 45 minutes each month.

•    Is there 24 hour technical support? Unexpected downtime can occur when it is least welcome, so you need to know you can speak to somebody quickly and easily to ensure the issue is resolved with minimum impact on your business.

•     What type of hosting is it? Dedicated hosting allows you to retain full control over your server, whereas managed hosting allows the provider to retain administrative functions. There are several other types of hosting, and a good web host should be able to take you through the options to find the one that is right for you.

If you’re looking for a home for your website, then speak to NSDesign for flexible web hosting packages that use the latest Linux technology.