A Fish of a Different Color

In an ocean of electronic downloads, online radio stations, and shady sharing software, Grooveshark rises to the top through intuitive player controls, an expansive library, and a structure that keeps all parties involved, happy … a rockin’ logo doesn’t hurt either.

Grooveshark is an online music site that enables users to setup playlists from a library of tracks uploaded by other users. A rival of other popular sites like Pandora, Last fm, and rdio, Grooveshark enables total and complete personalization of what does, and does not, get played. A free service initially, upgrades are available to remove ads and other fund generating pieces from display on the site. With greater levels of activation, greater flexibility and customization of the application are available.

This site is quickly becoming one of my favorites. Often times, for whatever reason, there’s a song stuck in my head that I just have to hear. Whether you heard 3 seconds of it on your commute to the office, or just woke up humming it, if you don’t own the song on your iPod, or your work machine, you’re kind of out of luck. The beauty of Grooveshark, is that you can find that pesky song, and others like it, for free. You can’t download it, but you can feed-the-need. Online music sharing is a very gray area and just the words ‘FREE Music’ start to throw up red flags in our subconscious. GS works to provide licensers and other industry financiers with money from advertising and subscriptions. As a user, you can also be compensated for uploads. It keeps users, advertisers and music execs coming back time and time again.

The overall strength of the site is the intuitive nature of its playlist setup. Search for a song and then drag it to the player. The song starts to play as you continue to build. For someone who listens to a lot of music for an extended period of time, this is fast becoming my go to player. Unlike the other online apps, where you choose the first song and it builds a database of music per your preferences, you can pick as many, or as few songs, as you like, and let it expand from there. Users can setup favorites, and save certain tracks you love, making it even easier to get pumped up for your next presentation, or start to wind down on a Friday afternoon. Either way Grooveshark can make it happen … for free.

(above) Mobile upgrades for the Grooveshark app. My one complaint, more-so with Apple than Grooveshark, is that the iPhone has been rejected from the App Store.

Customized listing for user account. Add songs to the list, or mark them as a favorite for easy access.

We are GO for LAUNCH!…

Recently TS had the pleasure of working with ReadyLink to launch their new dynamic website. ReadyLink takes the everyday numbers that you need and puts them online. Previously a completely printed publication, providing inserts and advertising opportunities for people to place in their phone book for easy reference. Now, this process has been taken to a super navigable online format. You might be asking yourself, ‘but doesn’t Google, or Superpages do that already?‘ They do, but they catalog millions and millions of pieces of information. Where ReadyLink sets itself apart from these other information conglomerates, is that it takes a macro look into information and referencing systems. Rather than indexing every address, every phone number, every email and website, and every other bit of information that you’re NOT looking for and have then have users parse through this muck before finally arriving at the information you DO need, ReadyLink builds a database out of the key, important numbers for your individual area and puts them right on the homepage. Other subsections then provide more numbers pertinent to a particular category, such as Automotive, Government, or Service numbers. The site is a living, growing beacon of information, with new businesses, new agencies and new people using it everyday. We wish them the best of luck and look for ReadyLink to be in your town, in the near future. Check it out, and tell them Triple Strength sent you…

Going Mobile

Take Your Web Site on the Road

With the recent growth of mobile and tablet technologies, it’s becoming a necessity to recognize the fact that mobile optimization is become a larger and larger constituent of how visitors view your site. Over the last several years we’ve seen an explosion in Smartphone sales and technological advancement. According to Strategy Analytics, Smartphone sales were up 75% in Q4 2010 compared with the same quarter in 2009. Smartphones made up 24% of the the mobile devices sold in Q4 2010. In the US, 34% of the mobile audience ages 13+ used a web browser in June 2010, according to ComScore. Shopping on the Mobile Web is expected to reach US$119 billion in 2015 according to ABI Research. The projected growth is incredible and makes for a compelling argument for mobile optimization when looking into your next web initiative.

Working again with our clients from CAAP (the Community Action Association of Pennsylvania) mobile optimization was the next step in fully integrating their site for maximum accessibility for their members, where ever they might be. All from their mobile device, members needed to be able to update their profiles, manage job listings and view pertinent documents just as they had on the full CAAP site. It was also important that videos, podcasts and other CAAP materials be accessible from anywhere. This kind of optimization is no small feat, with the various devices available in the marketplace for mobile browsing. Building a system from scratch was too costly for the non-profit to budget, so a framework needed to be chosen that would accomplish all the intricate Member’s Only Access.

Enter HTML5 and jQuery Mobile

Smartphones have been taking advantage of the advancements in Web technologies & standards allowing for a streamlined Web experience. jQuery Mobile provides a framework that utilizes HTML5 and CSS3 to create a mobile optimized site that feels at home on a smartphone device. By utilizing jQuery Mobile we gained the ability to reduce overhead development of a mobile optimized site while presenting an intuitive experience for mobile users.

jQuery Mobile takes a simple approach to page layout and utilizes AJAX as users browse from page to page. This, in effect, reduces bandwidth for mobile users because each page is loaded into the page you are already viewing. So, if you’ve browsed to a page and come back to it later, the browser doesn’t need to connect to the server over-the-air to display that page.

Considering the fast paced developments in the mobile arena, utilizing jQuery Mobile seemed like the best bet. The solution merged cutting edge technology with sleak user interface that reimagines CAAP’s web site in a mobile format. The advantage of this mobile optimization is that it strips out all the extraneous elements that someone viewing from a Smartphone, doesn’t necessarily need and showcases the key information. Using the characteristics that typify the full web site, colorful tabs help members navigate the streamlined site with ease, getting visitors to the information they need, as quickly as possible.

Take some time and compare the intricacies of a full and mobile site by clicking here, and then navigating to www.thecaap.org on your mobile device. If you would like to learn more about how Triple Strength can help you with mobile optimization, contact us or visit our web site and get in touch.