This week, however, I found (wait – must put on beanie with propeller first) a totally cool little app for keeping your Apple Macintosh up-to-date, functional, and without the evolving nonsense that is crippling to any PC. It’s called MacKeeper.

Why so special?

Most apps that promise to clean up your system are like those rent-a-maids. You pay the money, but in a week, your house is dirty again. This app helps you keep things nice and tidy in a variety of really important ways.

First of all, you can have the app scan your system, looking for orphaned files, junk and other data you just don’t need any longer (meaning it’s not connected to any installed app). With the click of a button, everything is laid out for you and the choices about what you keep and toss are pretty easy. And MacKeeper is fast. In less than 15 minutes, I had a 500GB drive fixed up nice and tidy.

As it turned out, not only were things improved generally, but things were faster, too. Being able to do this easily and rapidly is important if you use your laptop a lot – like I do. So, I was both impressed and happy when a few clicks got a lot of issues resolved.

One other aspect of this app that bears mentioning is its ability to check out the versions of nearly ALL of your installed software. A few clicks and you’re apps are updated (pre-App Store apps). In fact, I totally missed out that so many basic apps that I rely on were long in the tooth.

The point is – if you’re busy and don’t have time or energy to manually keep your system in the pink, then MacKeeper is a terrific solution. Affordable (under $60) and effective. Nice.

We’ve been shooting primarily B-roll and bits and pieces so far. The pilot is about MiniUSA and Mini owners. As part of that adventure, we’re creating a MINI unlike any that US owners have seen so far. We might as well distract them so we get their Mini mindset on camera.

Mini is a niche brand, but is very successful. Mini people are for whatever reason always happy. It’s a good combination for a series. We’ll get the take of the experts in auto research at AutoPacific as well. They are clearly the best in the biz when it comes to sharing the why and how of any vehicle or automotive brand.

We’ve taken a Mini Cooper Countryman S and we’re turning it into the first USA version of the upcoming John Cooper Works Countryman. Black body and red roof. 18-inch non-runflat tires (the runflats that are delivered with the car should be made illegal). Much more – but you’ll have to see the show!

We’ve shot the Countryman getting new boots, new roof, new bits and pieces. And, we’ve taken it on the road. Video shoot elements have been captured up and down the State of California. On the 17-mile drive in Carmel, we set up to shoot the car at one of the more picturesque corners, and as we set up on the south side of the road, BMW had a crew setting up on the north side of the road – to get footage of the new F-30 3-Series car just introduced at Laguna Seca Raceway this past week. Hilarious to anyone watching us.

Tomorrow, the real fun begins. We’re headed to the San Diego area to join in a “run” of Mini people. We’ll interview them. We’ll ride along with them. We’ll share their stories about their Minis and why these cars have taken over their lives.

Later in the month, we’ll spend a few days at the Thunder Hill race track in Northern California with a flock of mini owners (Mini Thunder) who love their cars more than, well, just about anything.

As we get the pilot site set up, we’ll share more…

Using the new iBook Author from Apple, an individual can create an e-book, either for educational purposes or general publishing. If you’re in education, the product ends up in iTunes U – the educational distribution site. If the book is for the general public, it becomes an iBook. As is typical with products and services released by Apple, people publish groans and moans about licensing, distribution rights, and so on. Apple gets 30% of the revenue from all sales. They also do the heavy lifting (credit card processing, bandwidth, customer service, etc.). If this were 2005 – not that long ago – and you wanted to have a publisher distribute your book, they would approve it (or reject it), and then give you between 9% and 18% of the net sales (less returns, cancellations, etc.). So, if you authored a book and sold it for $10, you’d typically receive about $1.50 per book. If you author a book today using iBook Author and sell if for $10, you’ll get $7 per copy.

[ Learn more via the Apple website ]

Significant publishers are on board and already are working to replace their (often outdated) textbooks with new iBooks, including but not limited to Pearson and McGrawHill. But the really important news is that you can create your own book, and as long as you offer a reasonably professional production, your distribution channel awaits.

I love this. In fact, everyone at R/com loves this.

Because we’re all visual storytellers, imagine how excited we are that we can now combine all of the talents and capabilities of our team into a unified mechanism for telling great stories? It’s one thing to create a digital book. It’s another thing to develop a totally interactive book – combining text, images, 3D objects (that can be zoomed, rotated, etc.), PowerPoint style (Keynote) presentations, charts, tables, videos, and more.

Let’s imagine that you are a film editor and you’d like to teach people how to use Adobe Creative Suite 6 (not yet announced as of January 20, 2012). In the old days, you’d get hired to create, “Adobe CS6 For Dummies” and that would be it. A lot of text and pictures. The end.

Today, using iBooks Author, you can create content that explains the editing process, but that’s just the beginning. Add video clips that show how the editing process works. Include a Keynote deck that people can flip through, watching the percentages of people adopting CS6 and getting hired based on their training. Create interactive quizzes, add clips of films edited using CS6, and so on. There’s a ton of additional capabilities as well, but the overall point is that reading a book just changed forever. Oh – one small issue. You’ll need an Apple iPad. Apparently, there are a few out there.

Our team creates video. We author texts. We create web environments. Now, anyone with a story to tell can do it. But the skill set required to take those great ideas – or those existing plain Jane texts and to reinvent them as visual masterpieces is now something we can offer our clients. Not everyone wants to go through the production process, layout and content creation. That’s what we’re here for!

Our first projects are already underway, and we’ll post samples as soon as they’re ready. Without question, this new technology will provide a new revenue channel for a wide array of individuals and organizations. We’re looking forward to helping create the content.

[ Watch the Apple Education Keynote Address ]

Along with understanding that the web is an ideal mechanism for “getting your story told,” the ability to manage the content within a website without the need for knowledge of HTML or engineers is quickly emerging as an equal value requirement to using the Internet at all. Content Management Systems (CMS) are the framework for developing today’s web environments.

[ Learn more via Wikipedia ]

A CMS can be used for many uses beyond the typical website. Many organizations create intranets or extranets to promote collaboration between employees, customers, and vendor partners. These sites are often portals which integrate third party web applications, document management systems, and user personalization, and may touch thousands or even millions of people. Respondents to a 2009 Aberdeen Group survey strongly indicated that their top marketing channel was their website, followed closely by email marketing programs.

So, how do you select the right CMS?

It starts with a good story. The product or service you’re offering is more important than any technology solution. If you start with the technology, you’re likely missing the point of how to maximize you’re use of the Internet. I believe it’s extremely important to begin with designing your service or product offering, and then finding the tools that will maximize your opportunity to benefit.

There are enterprise content solutions that entail millions to develop and employ, and hundreds of thousands of dollars per year to support. Consider the number of entries, users, and data in a daily newspaper or television network and the cost of managing a CMS becomes significant. If the CMS involves significant user transactions or sensitive materials, such as a bank, the performance and cost of the CMS will increase even further.

There are also free or open source CMS solutions. These web applications are free, but typically come without a manufacturer or primary retailer to support them. Still, they’re free, and as such, become attractive to many types of entities who are either uncertain of the web’s impact on their business, or for which there is limited budget.

The number of CMS products on the market has grown significantly over the years, with both proprietary and open source solutions available. Each has benefits and potential pitfalls.

Closed v. Open Systems
There are many “closed” (proprietary) CMS systems available in today’s web market. And while these systems may be considered “out of the box” solutions, they rarely are. A typical installation will include the creation of templates, custom code to address those features not included or for which the organization deploying the website requires.

Developing a CMS-driven website using a closed system is not inexpensive. If the license is $10,000, then expect to pay between $10k and $25k to create the initial modifications you’ll need. A support plan for a system like this may run from $3k to $10k per year, depending on the services provided.

Open source CMS systems are made available for very low or no cost and typically make their full source code available to developers. There is a lot of “developer community” support for this type of CMS, as it provided a foundation upon which to sell individual or boutique developer services. At the same time, when the entire source code structure is made available to anyone, the guys with the black hats will have an opportunity to discover weaknesses or other methods of defeating security and/or access to the CMS and related site. Note that most bad guys are more interesting in cracking access to your server, but it’s still worth noting.

A key issue to bring up is the false notion that an open source CMS will have more developers with intimate knowledge of how to create modifications, templates, etc. Most enterprise web environments today are built with fairly standard development environments, such as .NET or .PHP. The issue in both cases is finding engineers who are classically trained, or have enough practical experience to create code that other engineers will understand (and respect).

User Experience
There is nothing more important in the overall web deployment process than the user experience. There are a number of CMS solutions that are not actually developed for use by content creators. This is one reason why IT departments continue to implement the content that some organizations create.

It’s vital that content creators have the ability to build pages on their own, integrate images and other media, and ultimately fully control what appears on the page. Not only are such systems less expensive to operate, they’re easier to learn as well.

The issue of work flow comes into play here. Some CMS solutions (typically open source) allow administrators and users. There is no workflow related to people – just content. Whenever possible, it’s a good idea to choose a CMS solution that permits different levels of access, editing, and publishing. Even if your organization doesn’t need that level of security to begin with, if you’re successful, at some point you’re going to want/need workflow management.

Technical Support
The level of outside support you can find for a given CMS system varies wildly, especially among open source solutions. On one end of the spectrum is the professional support you expect to  receive with a proprietary system— typically at a price. On the other end are free open source solutions, which may offer only online advice from the user community, and their community may be small. Some open source CMS systems which have a more solid business foundation provide a middle ground to these two extremes. These open source-based businesses may offer mission critical support options to the users of their software with support which is often indistinguishable in responsiveness and quality from proprietary CMS vendors. At some point, your organization will likely need help with your CMS system, whether it’s a question about a patch or something more significant like advice on a site migration.

R/com supports a range of content solutions. For smaller applications, we often implement a common consumer-level CMS called WordPress. This is one of the most popular open source CMS options in the marketplace. For certain smaller sites, it’s a terrific, stable option. We tend to spend a lot of time ensuring that templates are properly constructed, page designs are laid out properly, and file management has been designed – not just implemented.

For mid-level solutions, there are other open source or low cost solutions, including Joomla and Expression Engine. Joomla is very restrictive relative to the architecture of a website, but it is very stable and fast. Expression Engine is essentially a framework, and there are those “do it yourself” entities that want their CMS to operate in a unique manner. Unfortunately, Expression Engine is not a completely open or standard solution, but we have clients who ask for it, so we support it.

We also offer an extremely powerful, enterprise capable CMS called R/com WebManager Pro. Built on the Sitelitte Application Framework, this is a turn-key solution ideal for those organizations that want to have full control over workflow, users, publishing of content, security, and scalability.

The key is that we don’t rely on a single solution. Our job is to help our clients find and use the best possible solution. You can learn more about what we do for our clients who use a CMS via our website.

[ Learn more about R/com CMS solutions ]

In reality, this isn’t a new environment. Its uses are expanding and costs and support services are evolving, so for some it seems like a new environment. Cloud computing has been around for more than a decade – the iTunes store is a good example of Cloud computing.

Essentially, Cloud computing is about providing a service for computing needs, rather than hardware and related support services.

[ Learn more via Wikipedia ]

Once you get past the essential definition, Cloud computing can be a lot of things. There are scores of predictions about how it will impact the IT marketplace in the coming few years. The key change is that all of your computing resources will be kept on service providers host hardware, as opposed to hardware you own or lease. It leads to another acronym: Software as a Service, or SaaS, or “on demand” software. This variation goes back to the mid-1960s, when mainframe providers acted as service bureaus and hosted a company’s data – which was accessed via terminal displays and keyboards, also known as dumb terminals.

[ Learn more via Wikipedia ]

The potential for Cloud computing is huge. International Data Corp (IDC) expects IT Cloud service spending will grow from $16 Billion in 2008 to more than $42 Billion this year (2012). IT expenditures may grow to one third of all IT growth by the end of 2013.

The key argument is that once you migrate to the Cloud, your data and services will be not only safer, but easier to configure. The aspect of using virtual host servers, often referred to as VMs, or Virtual Machines is really important, as the potential loss of data is (in theory) greatly reduced.

[ Learn more via Wikipedia ]

But Cloud computing is not without its growing pains, and it’s important that an ongoing evaluation take place relative to that growth. The research entity the Yankee Group reports that key risks include reliability, security, additional cost of bandwidth, and becoming married to a single vendor with complex issues related to vendor divorce.

Cloud computing may prove to be an excellent service option for a data center. It creates a strong revenue opportunity, while reducing the cost per client for hosting, support, and bandwidth. It also gives a data center a new model for pricing, as they can price both the use of the cloud and the bandwidth related to data transfer. In addition, support services, number of connections, and other elements of being connected to the Internet will expand the billing options for host providers.

Major cloud-computing services include Amazon.com’s Amazon Web Services, Google’s Google Apps, and Salesforce.com’s Force.com. Microsoft’s Windows Azure provides general cloud-based computing resources to business and consumers. The company also offers specific Internet-based applications such as Dynamics CRM Online for customer-relationship management, Exchange Online for messaging, Office Communications Online for instant messaging, and SharePoint Online for collaboration. Other cloud providers include AppNexus, GoGrid, GridLayer, Mosso, and XCalibre Communications. New services from Cisco and Oracle are evolving as well.

How does Cloud computing work? Broken down into basic services, a Cloud computing provider will offer a service that may be distributed over multiple locations, including both applications and data. These services may include virtualization, grid, management, database, and other types of software; user interfaces; APIs; a communications infrastructure for connecting to users over the Internet or a private network; not to mention usage monitoring and billing mechanisms.

Cloud infrastructures enable a user to start small, and to grow via the use of a “control panel” that provides access to the “virtual machine” being used. In other words, if you need to add RAM, log in and make the change. It’s instant. If you want to add processors and storage, log in and make the change. These web based or API-based solutions are proprietary to each entity offering the service, although most use standard web services, such as SOAP.

Generally speaking, there are four options for Cloud services, including:

• Services: Some products offer Internet-based services—such as storage, middleware, collaboration, and database capabilities—directly to users.
• SaaS: Software-as-a-service products provide a complete, turnkey application—including complex programs such as those for CRM or enterprise-resource management—via the Internet.
• PaaS: Platform-as-a-service products offer a full or partial development environment that users can access and utilize online, even in collaboration with others.
• IaaS: Infrastructure-as-a-service products deliver a full computer infrastructure via the Internet.

How will this affect R/com and you, our clients?

We’re beginning to implement Cloud services for specific functions, such as system backups. When tied to your hardware, you’ll now have a new option related to application and data protection.

In the spring, we’ll offer a pilot program of SaaS, enabling you to migrate your entire server solution to the Cloud. Your primary servers will become useful development and local host backup environments. In each case, we want to ensure that these services are competitive and provide each of our clients with an evolution in service that is measurable and delivers an appropriate return on investment.

In the coming week or two, I’ll address the issue of benefits vs. risk for Cloud services. The Internet continues to move at mach 2 plus, and I hope these discussions are useful to you and your team as we continue to look at efficient and secure solutions to maximize your use of the Internet.

We’re on the move with a number of new initiatives. During the coming few months, we’ll introduce new and updated Internet-software, several iPad apps, and all kinds of interesting video and media projects. It’s only the first week in January, and we’re already filled with anticipation!

One of the most exciting things for us involves customer support. Our CRM solution will be greatly expanded as of January 30th. Your ability to not only make support requests, but to manage the history of requests, the process, even creating videos and attaching them to your requests will all be possible. One of the most important things for us is being responsive. This new system will provide higher levels of accountability, with increased ease of use. It’s very cool and I look forward to sharing the details on launch day (the 30th).

Our CMS, R/com WebManager Pro has been upgraded, and we’re already making some important adjustments. Our clients love this solution, and it is truly a stable, efficient, enterprise quality tool for anyone interested in content-driven workflow. We’ll share the details in February.

We’re producing a new pilot “web series” that will debut in February as well. A lifestyle/automotive real life (as opposed to reality) series, we’ll explore the history of various manufacturers, brands, or models, great roads to drive – and how to drive them – as well as the people (very interesting) that support the vehicles featured.

Our documentary project of the Los Angeles Fire Department is moving into the next phase. And for the first time, you’ll be able to move alongside us as an active part of the production. The first release of our “side by side” production phase is also a February release.

We’ve completed our “911, Los Angeles Remembers” documentary short. It will be making the festival circuit, and we’ll be delivering the final film to the 911 Museum in New York City in March. If you haven’t seen it, we encourage you to do so. A new link will be set up in a few days and we’ll share that with you then.

If you haven’t spent any time browsing through our portfolio, please take a few moments and enjoy some of the really nice projects and images we’ve created: R/com Portfolio

There’s much more, but this is enough to tease you with. Know that we’re looking forward to each day of the coming year, and hope to have you alongside as we work to collaborate on the storytelling adventure that makes up our team, clients, and partners.

This year, something important came through in my various discussions. Organizations are so busy executing their plans, that they may be forgetting some important issues critical to mid and long term success. These things are basic, but essential, and include:

Without clients, there is no business. The assumptions that are placed in ratios, percentages, and related product release expectations are potentially off target. Smaller entities being crushed by larger budgets is not sales growth. Saved expenses due to fewer employees is not increased profit (well, it is, but only if your sales continue or grow).

Overall, with only several exceptions, I’ve been hearing that businesses are too busy to listen to their customers. In many cases, they’re coming up with ideas, and pushing forward without taking the time to evaluate the real purpose or opportunity that may exist.

What’s the solution? The first thing is to take the time to listen. There’s no shortage of opinion in today’s world, and social media is only one part of how the listening game works. Regardless of strategy, spending time with your best (and worst) customers can be enlightening.

Secondly, the use of resources is something not to be overlooked. We work with several firms where the performance metric is exclusive from any other – including morale, leadership development, skills improvement, etc. The potential for “Brain Drain” is huge and in some cases creates significant uncertainty.

While we can’t change that frame of mind in our clients, we can reinforce it in ourselves. We want to know what our customers are thinking. We want to know what is required to make 2012 a better year. And if we listen hard enough, I think we’ll have an opportunity to better and benefit our customers. And isn’t that what the entire relationship is all about?

For organizations, notably smaller organizations that are not using social media, it as a whole provides a window of opportunity to a firm interested in better engaging with their employee, vendor, or customer bases. The problem is that too often, social media is not used properly, and the resulting miscues create a negative pushback or disconnection from the process.

One of the most common mistakes is not understanding what social media is really about. It may seem absurd, but it’s true – a lot of companies believe it’s the same as publishing an ad in a magazine. You do it and wait to see what happens. Typically, with this strategy, the results are consistent: nothing happens.

Imagine talking to someone across a table and when they start to reply, to start talking again. You’ll never hear what they have to say. Acting upon receipt of feedback is the crux of how your firm can benefit from the use of social media. Creating an open dialog, especially when working with Twitter, Facebook, and other forms of social media means answering those questions, those comments, and taking the info received and turning it into what it’s supposed to be: PR, Market Research, Produce Development, and Branding.

I’ve heard comments that include: “We don’t have the bandwidth to support social media.” I am guilty of this myself. When we’ve been very busy, we have in the past reduced our activities, and with sour results. Some of the fastest growing start-ups or service organizations have a single person creating content, responding, acting, and creating. It takes organized involvement, not an army to use the environment effectively.

When I ask about metrics – “how are your social media metrics doing?” I’m often met with a blank stare. Comments and trackbacks are only two methods of managing what your social media activities are doing. Ongoing evaluation of analytics is very important when working to determine how your efforts are paying off. What do you need to change? Why? When?

No plan is stagnant. The world of social media is a bullet train without a destination. Things are constantly changing. To properly understand how to use the environment, you either need to climb on board yourself, or you need an expert whom you trust to ride the train. Create a plan that includes this week, next, and up to next month. And then, review it and evolve. Most importantly, stick to the plan, but allow flexibility in the tactics.

Most importantly, when working in the social media environment, keep it fresh. New content that makes sense is highly important to the overall ability to engage your audience. If you add a new blog entry once a quarter, don’t expect people to pay attention. And don’t blog for the sake of blogging. There is a ton of noise out there. People recognize BS when they read it. Surely there’s plenty to say about your service or product, so stick to issues that your customers will be interested in.

Creating and managing a strong social media campaign is actually easier than you might think. But it requires the same level of consistency as getting up, leaving the house, and going to work requires. You’ve got to do it every day.

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Authorized Rights. Subject to the terms and conditions set forth in this Agreement, R|com grants to Licensee and Licensee accepts a non-exclusive, non-transferable, worldwide license to use, display, modify and create derivative works prepared from the Product (“Derivative Works”), and to distribute, market and license such Derivative Works in both source code and object code form with respect to software, under terms and conditions consistent with the terms and conditions of this Agreement. Licensee shall not distribute, market or sell the Product in its unmodified or stand-alone form.
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It’s important to use the right tool and often, people choose something that is free or extremely low cost – and the ongoing question we have is, “do you know WHY it’s free?” Sometimes, FREE IS GOOD. But, often, there are limitations that should be understood in advance.

A great example is the use of a content management system. WordPress is a very popular system, originally designed specifically for bloggers. Today, however, there are WordPress sites in use for all kinds of website environments. There are tons of plug-ins and templates for WordPress, and as a result, all kinds of interesting websites can be created very quickly. The same is true for other CMS solutions, such as Joomla or Expression Engine (not so many plug-ins for EE).

These applications may be useful for a small or structured website. If your environment may expand and include an array of different elements (forms, videos, surveys, multiple users, etc.), then it’s best to evaluate things more carefully. Joomla is very structured, and complex page designs and multiple navigation techniques may prove to be problematic when using it. Expression Engine is similar to WordPress, but lacks key components – wide array of templates, plug-ins, and most importantly, community. Once you learn its quirks, Expression Engine is very easy from a user perspective.

For us, we want to use a combination of our tools and those that help us collaborate with our customers. We determined that the simplicity of what we present from a website perspective was a perfect fit for WordPress. Our survey solution is used in collaboration with WordPress.

For media, we’re focused on providing the highest quality video online, so we use Vimeo. YouTube continually improves their quality, but for us, the built-in analytics and quality mean Vimeo is a stronger overall tool for us.

We host our sites on Unix-based servers in our Tier-1 data center in Los Angeles. We back up to a remote server environment and to the “cloud” and will expand our cloud services in 2012.

Google Analytics is really important. So is Google Search. We use both and it provides us with extremely useful information about our sites and about our clients.

We also use social media tools, but our focus with these tools is narrow. We use Twitter, but we do not use Facebook. Too many entities say they’re “on Facebook” as a sort of popularity contest. For us, the tools must match the mission. If we move into consumer products, then perhaps Facebook will make more sense for us.

Overall, all of the tools we use are designed to help us tell a better story. As storytellers, our mission is to be effective in the process of helping our clients get their message out more effectively, and more profitably. And in today’s world, that’s an ever changing sea of choices.