A genuine Silicon Valley Web Flyer | One line of code at a time...

A much simpler design

September 1, 2008 – 12:51 pm | Comments (5)

My great friend and colleague Marc Mendell built me a new design last June, and I loved it. But soon after, my site started to get slow. I was having problems with my hosting service too.

Plus, older stories were getting broken because the content was too wide.

I needed a more extensible design. I asked Marc for something simpler, and this is what he came up with.

I am always studying the codes that make up the Internet; from dynamic scripting languages to liveblogging. I told Marc I wanted something with a “blueprint” feel, because I am not really a designer yet, but I am in the course of learning.

I am really excited about it :)

It’s not 100% ready right now (i.e. I haven’t looked at how comments are formatted yet), but it’s basically there.

I have been constantly testing myself with building out new designs fast. It’s kinda like a test for my job, where I slice Photoshop documents all the time.

How do you like it?

Posted in Art, Blogging, Design, Friends, Internet, Programming, Technology | Tagged , , , ,

An Event Apart 2008

August 19, 2008 – 4:56 pm | Comments (1)

For the past two days, I have been at An Event Apart at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco.

An Event Apart

For years, it’s been the one conference I was dying to attend. Last year, I finally got in. But this year, I took notes.

If you want a full recap, check out my posts on ZDNet from today and yesterday. Here is my Flickr photoset. I learned a lot.

Linda at An Event Apart

Posted in Blogging, Coding, Conference, Design, Standards | Tagged , ,

I love fastblogging

August 16, 2008 – 9:16 am | Comments (3)

I am sitting in the front row of a college campus right now, and I am not paying a dime to be here.

I am capturing everything I see; pictures, videos, speeches, notes. I am blogging them live on ZDnet, and I love it.

Andrew Mager blogging

This is what I love to do: capture tech events so people around the world can share the experience. I hope you keep checking out my blog :)

UPDATE: Looks like it paid off.

Posted in Blogging |

Gary Vaynerchuk’s keynote at New Media Expo

August 14, 2008 – 8:21 am | Comments (2)

These are just quotes and notes. Enjoy:

If it’s not in your DNA, you are not gonna be able to do it. What you need to do is understand who you are and execute against it.

99% of the people on the world has no idea what Twitter is.

You need to be straight up authentic.

The camera or mic I use is bullshit. That doesn’t matter. You need to do what you do.

If you are the biggest conneseur of Alf Season 2, then your show needs to be about Alf Season 2.

It’s about understand who you are and what you love to do.

There’s a major shift in the way people consume media. You want to make sure your content is compelling.

Gary V

Content is king. But marketing is the queen, and the queen runs the household.

You can put out the greatest shit of all time, but if nobody knows about it, you’re dead.

You need to become part of the conversation in your niche in a big time way. I would go through all the wine blogs and leave comments. If you’re not spending time with your community.

It’s a massive mistake if you don’t have a Facebook fan page for your brand.

Legacy is greater than currency. You’ve gotta give 80% to every relationship.

Your personal brand is important.

You’re like Brett Favre. He is making 6% of every jersey sale the Jets sell. As content providers, we are getting the leverage. Understand that you’re the game. We don’t need the gatekeepers anymore. The entry is now zero. But you’ve got to hustle your freaking face off.

It’s all about your DNA. What do you give a crap about?

Stay on brand. Who the fuck is @garyvee?

You need to be part of your community. Please start answering your email.

If you define what you want, you have a chance. I want to own the New York Jets.

Screw editing. Have you not noticed people watch reality TV? It’s all about authenticity. It’s about being real. I’ve put out 530 episodes so far. It’s a 20-minute one-take and I’m done.

Be thankful. You have to give back to them. That’s how you win.

I love human beings. Why would I ever think I’m better than anybody?

I’ve never smoked anything. What? Mom did a good job, I told you that from the get go.

Props to AJ V for streaming this.

AJ V

For more inspiration, check out Gary’s personal blog.

Posted in Commentary |

iPhone Dev Camp 2

August 2, 2008 – 1:57 pm | Comments (0)

I am live blogging this event right here. Come check it out.

iPhone Developers only

Posted in Blogging, Hackathon, Mobile, Software, Technology | Tagged , , ,

The Web Life

July 31, 2008 – 5:12 pm | Comments (9)

I am very excited about my new blog on ZDNet.


It’s called The Web Life. I will basically cover three topics:

  • Cutting-edge web utilities that I find useful. This can involve any website that helps humans be more efficient. There are thousands of startups that have great products, but no one is writing about them. I will try to cover those products here, and also explain how companies can benefit from them.
  • Bay area tech parties. This blog is called “The Web Life” for a reason. Spending 10 hours a day online can be exhausting, so I have to balance it out with some social engineering. One of the benefits of living in San Francisco is the diverse tech scene. I will be posting wrap-ups, product demos, and photos from these events.
  • A little bit of social media theory. How are we using the web to communicate these days?

Yes, this blog will suffer, but it’s worth it.

Posted in Blogging, Journalism | Tagged , , ,