A Day on the Internet and Life in this Digital World
I recently had a conversation with a fellow web designer about the sheer magnitude of the internet and how much data we transfer back and forth every day. It really is amazing when you stop to think about how quickly and flawlessly we’re able to send and receive emails, text messages, and other files from one city or country to another without even a hiccup. Even while I write this blog posting I’m transferring multiple gigabytes of data to my server halfway across the country. I can still recall when I was 10 years old my dad brought home a 14.4 Kb modem and we dialed up for the first time ever… boy did I get hooked! So much that the internet has become my career and virtual office. We sure have come a long way over the past fifteen years. One can only fathom what’s to come in the upcoming decade.
Below is an illustration that a friend of mine sent to me that attaches some statistics to all this tweeting and messaging that we take for granted every morning when we boot up our computers. If all these stats are correct then this article makes 900,001 blog posting today.
Baby Boomers and Social Media Awareness
Source: Center for Media Research
According to a new study conducted by CPH Research on behalf of Continuum Crew, Baby Boomer-aged respondents’ anxiety has shifted from the collapse of the economy to the cost of health care. Most significant is the shift in the media consumption of this age group, as the only media activity to rise dramatically was time spent on the Internet.
This is one of several insights on the emergence of the new ’social media maven’ among Baby Boomers, and indicates that social media has significantly carved out time generally reserved for traditional media.
Baby Boomers/Boomers are defined as the generation born between 1946 and 1964, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Generation Jones, coined by television director Jonathan Pontell, is commonly considered to be those born between 1954 and 1964, representing the younger segment of Boomers. Generation Ike (Ikes) are those born between 1934 and 1945.
Top Findings on anxiety and life events of Boomers are:
- Anxiety about the economy has decreased in the past year (46% indicated it as the issue they were ‘very nervous’ about in 2008); now the issue of most concern is cost of healthcare, as indicated by 49% in 2009.
- For older parents more adult children are moving back home than are leaving it. This is a previously unprecedented finding within this research series, and markedly shows that Boomers’ lives are in transition.
- Boomers are now re-framing the notion of frugal living into the idea of simplicity. Children moving back in with parents, or delaying leaving their parent’s home, is likely having an effect on the family dynamic and household, which may mean an inclination to the return of the extended family structure of the World War II era.
Top findings on media consumption are:
- Ikes and Boomers still use traditional media more than those of Generation Jones or Generation X, but not all Boomers consume media in the same way, the biggest gap being between older and younger Boomers. This is most striking within traditional print media, with high consumption by older Boomers of newspapers and magazines.
- Among all media services listed, Boomers were least willing to give up the Internet, versus the top response of the 2008 survey,their cell phone. The survey shows they now spend more time than ever online (a rapid increase in one year from 38% to 62% stating they now spend more time online).
- The majority of Ikes and Boomers have joined popular social networking site Facebook© within the last 6 months.
- Boomers are becoming more aware that national and local news, magazines, and to some extent television and movies, are available to them via the Internet, indicating an increasing preference to access content this way. These responses illustrate a seismic shift among older adults, says the report, experimenting in the social media arena.
In the course of the study, says the report, a significant segment emerged within the Boomer group, dubbed the new “Social Media Maven.” The profile of this group is one that is heavily connected, exploring and expanding their networks.
These Social Media Mavens have more frequent contact with individuals across all types of groups within their social network, not just family or neighbors, but issue-oriented groups and co-workers as well:
- 73% responded ‘People often come to me for advice’
- Not merely amassing ‘friends’ or ‘connections’ they are communicating regularly.
- They also have more face-to-face contact and use smart phones more than other Boomers or Generation Jones respondents (78% responded ‘New technology plays an important role in my life’)
- They are equally likely to be male as female, which defies the stereotypical female profile of the voracious social media consumer
- Of this Social Media Maven group the majority are still working, more likely than the other segments to own their own business, most likely to engage in volunteer activity and to have the highest household income
- Social Media Mavens are more likely to try new products, technologies and seek new experiences. They are recommenders who embrace the role of technology in their connected lives
Lori Bitter, President, Continuum Crew, concludes that “With more time being spent online, and the emergence of the new Social Media Mavens among Boomers… for companies targeting the mature consumer… online media should be at the core of an integrated marketing campaign… ”
And, supporting the findings that Boomers lives are in transition, a recent survey by the Pew Research Center finds that 13% of parents with grown children say one of their adult sons or daughters has moved back home in the past year. Social scientists call them “boomerangers” — young adults who move in with parents after living away from home. This recession has produced a bumper crop.
One-in-ten adults ages 18 to 34 (10%) say the poor economy has forced them to move back in with Mom and Dad. An additional 12% say they acquired a roommate. Hard times are leading young adults to put their lives on hold in other ways as well. For example, some 15% of adults younger than 35 say they have postponed getting married because of the recession; an additional 14% say they have delayed having a baby.
According to the survey, nearly half of all adults (46%) have children ages 18 or older. Among these parents of adult children, some 13% say at least one of their grown sons or daughters had returned home in the past year for any reason. The proportion of “boomeranged parents” increases to 19% among those ages 45 to 54 and declines sharply in later age groups.
Mickey Harte Music : WordPress website launch by Big Boom Design
Here at Big Boom Design we’re proud to be launching a brand new WordPress website for Eurovision star, Mickey Harte.
To say thanks for your support we wanted to send you some NEW music for the holidays.
We’ve included some details about the artist, Mickey Harte, and are excited about working with him in the new year.
Enjoy this awesome new song from Mickey:
At the age of 15 Mickey Harte began his musical career entertaining audiences, singing and playing guitar in venues around the N.W. of Ireland. This quickly developed into a full time job when he and some musician friends formed the band “Kryptix” writing and recording his first original album at 17 with the band, while at the same time finishing 2nd level education at St.Columba’s Collage, in his native Co.Donegal. He completed 5 years and successfully passed the leaving cert exams.
From there Mickey moved straight into 3rd level education studying the “Rock school-Performance” course at Senior collage, Ballyfermot, Dublin, and was awarded a Merit grade from city of Dublin V.E.C.
Continuing to perform with his band for some years and gaining valuable experience on the road, eventually Mickey felt the need to go his own way and embarked on a solo career as a full time singer/songwriter, playing acoustic clubs and theatres and supporting many well known Irish and international artist during that period.
Mickey returned to collage to further study his music and completed a 2 year BTEC national
Diploma course in popular Music at N.W.I.F.H.E. Derry City. and received a distinction.
In 2002 Mickey reluctantly auditioned for a brand new T.V. talent show called “you’re a star” on R.T.E. the program took Ireland by storm and Mickey became a house-hold name after winning the competition out right. as part of the winning prize he represented Ireland in the 2003 Eurovision song competition in Riga, Latvia. signing a record deal with Sony records U.K. and recording the #1 album “sometimes right, sometimes wrong” with U.K. producer John Kelly (Paul mc cartney, Chris Rea, kate bush), and We’ve got the world” became the biggest and fastest selling single in Ireland that year.
In 2004 Mickey moved on from Sony to set up his own label “swerve music” and to date has released 1 full length “Live and Learn”, 2 ep’s and 6 singles on swerve. and is currently working on 2nd full length for release spring 2010.
recently Mickey signed a publishing deal with elevate music for the album “live and learn” and some of his past catalogue, www.elevatemusic.net and is currently working as a contributor and mentor on RTE’s “star search” for young peoples programming. www.rte.ie/ice click on(star search).
This has in turn led to a project called “Musicool Europe” established with friend and TV presenter Brian Ormond. Also a veteran songwriter and performer Francie Conway (song writing coach-the rock school, Dublin). The project is an educational and Music based program for young performers, musicians and bands. www.bebo.com/musicooleurope the last 12 months have been busy for Mickey with gigs both in Ireland and Europe(Germany, Switzerland, Spain, France) and other side projects including writing the theme music for TV’s celeb boxing program “lords of the ring” summer 09.
Various contributions and performances on the Ryan show (2fm), RTE’s late late show, and TV3’s Ireland AM, Expose, Irelands top 10’s.
Ski the High Country of Boone NC – New Joomla Website launch from Big Boom Design
Complete information on skiing and winter sports in the North Carolina High Country is just a mouse click away thanks to the re-launch of SkiTheHighCountry.com.
The redesigned and upgraded website now features everything skiers need to know about the High Country’s three ski resorts – Appalachian Ski Mountain, Beech Mountain Resort and Sugar Mountain Resort – as well as key info on the snow tubing park at Hawksnest Resort.
Visitors to SkiTheHighCountry.com can access live webcams for real-time conditions, view trail maps, check rates and hours of operations, receive details on ice skating, and browse accommodations. There’s also a dining guide and an overview of activities away from the slopes.
Photo galleries of each resort, featuring the work of award-winning photographer Todd Bush of Banner Elk, are included.
The site was created by Big Boom Design of Asheville and is produced and maintained by North Carolina High Country Host.
High Country Host is a tourism marketing organization that promotes travel to North Carolina’s High Country, a five-county region anchored by the popular towns of: Banner Elk, Beech Mountain, Blowing Rock, Boone, Linville, Sparta, West Jefferson and Wilkesboro.
To view the new site, go online to www.SkiTheHighCountry.com.
For more info on The High Country of North Carolina, call (800) 438-7500, or visit www.MountainsofNC.com.
Dwell Magazine interviews Adam Kalkin about ISBU Container Home Designs
This is an interesting interview with Adam Kalkin. Kalkin is considered by many to be the “father” of shipping container homes. In my eyes, he pushes the creativity in the design more than anyone else. His website has a full portfolio of his concepts and creations: http://www.architectureandhygiene.com
11 Best Wordpress Plugins for your Website or Blog Platform
These are the 11 best plugins that you can get for your wordpress website and/or blog. If you have any questions about setup or customization please feel free to contact me. I install these eleven plugins anytime I setup a new Wordpress site for a client. I hope you’ll enjoy them.
All in One SEO Pack – Lets you customize the title, description and keywords for every page and post on your wordpress website or blog. An absolute must have!
Google Analytics for WordPress – Google Analytics allows you to easily track your website visitors, keywords, top content, conversion rates, bounce rates, etc…
Google XML Sitemaps – Creates a complete sitemap for the search engines.
NextGEN Gallery – The easiest gallery plugin available to wordpress users. Accommodates slideshows and easy image manipulation.
Page Links To – Lets you create a menu item and link it to an external URL.
SexyBookmarks – Customizable pop-up bookmark links
Twitter Friendly Links – Creates a Twitter link that is much more friendly than your traditional wordpress URL
WP-Cumulus – Add a spinning flash tag and/or category widget to your sidebar
WP-SpamFree – Keeps all the spam bots from posting junk comments
WP Security Scan – Keep an eye on the server security and make sure your wordpress installation is running properly
WP Super Cache – Creates an HTML page that is much more lightweight than the traditional PHP deliverable page
20 Ft ISBU Container home for hunting cabin or getaway
Against my better judgment, I’ve decided to post my most recent Shipping Container Home design. I’m always a little leery about putting a truly unique idea into circulation… especially these days. Unfortunately, it really doesn’t matter who comes up with a new idea. What matters is who takes action on these new ideas. Who takes it from concept to creation in a manner that the rest of the world can identify with? Anyways, I’ll stop rambling and get to the details about my most recent container home.
*The front wall has been removed to show the detail
This ISBU Home is built on a 20 foot long used shipping container frame. This particular rendition is modeled after a hunting cabin or a nice little getaway home in the woods. It features a spacious loft with pop-up skylight for star gazing and ventilation. Located below the bed is a workshop with a mini kitchenette and sink. In the center is a small living room with a pull out couch for guests. In front of the couch are a set of double doors cut in the side of the shipping container that open up to a small porch. At the front end of the container where the main bay doors are located you have a fold down office/computer station. When not in use the desktops fold up and out of the way. Lastly on this mobile ISBU box home we have a rooftop porch. With the containers solid steel frame, a second container can easily be stacked on top as well.
The first picture is a screen shot from the 3D modeling program I use to design these container homes. The following three are renders with some simple textures applied. The last two have the front and back walls removed to show the detail and layout.
If you’re interested in obtaining custom shipping container home designs or if you have any other questions, drop me a line: info@bigboomdesign.com
Enjoy.
*Doors, windows, and skylight open
*The back wall has been removed to show detail
*The front wall has been removed to show detail
New Joomla CMS website launch, The High Country Host of Boone NC
Tourists interested in the North Carolina High Country have a dynamic new resource for visitor info thanks to a redesign and upgrade of High Country Host’s website, www.MountainsofNC.com.
The new site contains information on lodging, attractions, festivals, shopping, restaurants, heritage events and outdoors activities. There is also a blog, calendar of events, a section for specials & deals, High Country maps and a downloadable vacation planner.
“This new site pulls together all the key information visitors need to plan a trip to the High Country,” says Millie Barbee, executive director of High Country Host. “And, it is user-friendly. There are multiple ways to navigate the site to quickly find what you’re looking for.”
This new site was created by Big Boom Design of Asheville, using a Joomla platform. It incorporates the latest in website technology, including advanced search engine optimization.
“Our desire was to build a site that’s easy to navigate and brings as much information above the fold and to the surface as possible,” said Boomer Sassmann of Big Boom Design. “It’s a well organized second-generation website that also incorporates social media aspects such as YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and Flickr.”
The look and feel of the website will change quarterly to match the four distinct seasons that draw visitors to the High Country.
“If this were a traditionally built website, we wouldn’t be able to do that,” Sassmann says, “but because of this Joomla content management system, it is easy to change the look without altering the content.”
To view the new site, go online to www.MountainsofNC.com.
Stay Connected!
Project BlackBox – Shipping Containers and Web Servers Unite
Sun Microsystems has created a truly Bomb-Proof server system. They’re taking 20ft ISBU shipping containers and turning them into semi-portable web servers. The first application in the public eye is at Sanford School where they’re using it to run part of their particle accelerator. The server container houses 242 servers and is connected to a 4 mega watt power supply. Maybe one day Big Boom Design websites will be housed in a giant steel server container but at $500,000 it probably won’t be purchased from Sun Microsystems.
Sorry, no photo’s on this one. Check out this link for more info.
Mobile Servers Save Energy, Add Capacity
Sun packages extra processing power in steel shipping containers
