James VanDyke Blog

Category Archives: Technology

Facebook Impressions vs Webpage Pageviews

SMU Facebook Page Impressions vs SMU homepage pageviews

I manage the SMU Facebook page and over the summer I started looking closer at the stats for that page to find ways to improve. I quickly noticed the number of impressions our Facebook page’s content received was significant, more than 100,000 per month. I wanted to place that number in context with our other digital marketing efforts [...]

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Facebook Comments

Last week Facebook introduced a new comments tool that allows websites to add comments powered by Facebook. I’m testing the comments out on my blog but several other high profile sites, including TechCrunch, have switched. One of the strengths of this system is that it ties a comment to a person. For large blogs, it [...]

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Use Google Alerts to track mentions

One of my favorite tools to track mentions of a company, product or person is Google Alerts. This is a simple tool that can give you an edge in understanding what people are saying about you or your organization. How it works Choose a search term and use advanced search options to tailor your results. [...]

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Posterous: Posting Anything via Email

Posterous is a service that should appeal to people who want to post things online but don’t want to deal with the technical details. It works by simply emailing what you want to post to post@posterous.com. You don’t even need to create an account to get started, just email them. The contents of your email [...]

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Unrequited Love: Linux and the Geek

I want to love Linux but it doesn’t share my feelings. To be honest, I think it’s hurt that I’m only looking for a fling; a trophy of geekdom to casually flaunt at parties. “Yeah, I”ve got a Linux box at home.” We both know that when I’m done experimenting I’ll head back to the [...]

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What the Font?!

What to do when you need to know which font was used for a graphic? Well, if you’re short a typographist or font-spotter graphic designer you might try What the Font. It’s a free web service from myfonts.com who I’m guessing hopes you discover that the font you need is sold right on theirwebsite. So, [...]

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The Pogue-O-Matic

David Pogue, technology columnist for the New York Times, has released a entertaining way to narrow down your choices before a tech purchase. This new tool called the “Pogue-O-Matic” basically just narrows your choices as you select the options you want. The treat comes as Mr. Pogue’s video commentary helps you choose which option is [...]

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WordPress for iPhone

WordPress released a new application for the iPhone today. The new self-titled application allows bloggers to post to their blog directly from their phone. The app also supports multiple blogs so prolific bloggers can update multiple blogs. I wouldn’t expect long posts from the new application, those are still best left to keyboards and monitors. [...]

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Blogging from my iPhone

I joined the bandwagon this weekend and bought an iPhone. So far I’ve been very impressed with it. One of the biggest questions that I had was if the on-screen keyboard would be easy to use. So far the answer is yes. The software correction is what makes it especially useful. I can just type [...]

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Dividing by Zero in Excel or Google Docs

I’m currently working to finish up a project for one of my classes at school and I came across a bit of a Microsoft Excel problem. If you try to divide by zero Excel throws a fit telling you to “#DIV/0!” If you need the possibility of a zero in the divisor of one of [...]

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