IFrames and Facebook

This month the blog is related to topics that the Rocktime Technical Team discuss. In this blog Craig talks iFrames and Facebook. Think of it as a 'Window within a browser'.

Facebook, as of February 2011, officially allowed the use of iFrames; allowing users to build fully customised facebook pages for their custom page tabs.

An iFrame is a section within a web page that can display another web page. This will allow for externally hosted web applications such as shops, forums, booking forms and more to be included on a Facebook Page.

iFrames allow for more flexibility in pages compared to the FBML (Facebook mark up language) which is now being depreciated; old pages using the FBML will still function however all new pages will have to be created using an iFrame.

FBML was developed to enable users to build Facebook apps that integrated into a user's Facebook. Currently, Facebook app uses iFrames to integrate website content into your Facebook page. It can do whatever a normal webpage can do.

The key advantages of using iFrames include:

• Traffic driven directly through Facebook
• The use of Analytics software
• The use of CSS and your own code, allowing for full brand integration and increased functionality
• embed video
  

To find out more about iFrames and how you can integrate your webpages into Facebook, please talk to our Sales team. Also you may like to note that the majority of our Content Management System modules have the ability to be fed into Facebook via a Facebook Application. The Facebook Application will render as an iFrame, which will stream content directly from your website.

The Flashlight team will be promoting our integration of our Competition Module with Facebook, so if you have this module, then they may be in touch soon to enquire about an update.


Author: Craig Sherlock

C4L Talk Cloud Computing

Introduction to this month's guest Blogger: Laura Bentham from C4L (Bournemouth Offices).
C4L offer secure, 24/7, high speed connectivity to 26 data centres across the UK and Europe.

Rocktime and C4L have a very close working relationship; developed through years of partnering on colocation projects together, helping clients to choose the best Internet Infrastructure and connectivity solutions.


C4L Talk Cloud Computing

Like renting a room when you need it, rather than buying the hotel.

When Rocktime kindly asked if we’d like to do a guest blog for their August takeover, we jumped at the chance. What’s always been strikingly apparent about Rocktime is their passion when talking about their current interests, and indeed industry themes.

Because of this, we chose to talk today about one of our passions: virtualisation, and why technology consumers should learn to love the cloud.

Not only has ‘cloud computing’ become a fashionable phrase among IT professionals, but the cloud computing market is also estimated to contribute £25 billion to the British economy by 2015.

Despite this, so many people remain unaware of what ‘the cloud’ is, and even more so, what it actually does.

In short, anytime you are using IT, which is not on your own physical computing device, you are using the cloud. If you upload data as a backup to a storage location, via the Internet, you've just used the cloud. Equally, if your work station is simply a screen, a mouse and a keyboard, you may well be connecting to the cloud for your personal computing. There are hundreds of different ways of using cloud technology, and in fact, most people will have already used the cloud without even realising.

So why do we need the cloud, and how can it benefit businesses?

As technology advances and physical servers become more and more powerful, in terms of their capacity and reliability, there is less often the need for a dedicated physical server. Using a virtualised, or cloud based alternative, clients are able to run their IT infrastructure at a much cheaper cost, yet still take advantage of all the same benefits provided by a classic server model.

You see, to us, the beauty of the cloud is in its convenient application. One of the key benefits to organisations is that virtualisation technology allows servers to be dynamically scaled up -or down, to suit requirements, providing a much more flexible environment than ever experienced before.

What’s more is that the security within a virtualised environment is second to none. Using hypervisor technology, virtualised servers are created as entirely self-contained environments, inaccessible to outside parties. Virtualisation also removes the need for organisations to operate physical servers from their office, meaning they eliminate the risk of damage or destruction, that can so easily be caused by those inevitable office accidents.

If you’d like any more information on C4L’s cloud computing solutions please contact our sales team on 08000 470 481 or visit our website www.C4L.co.uk.


Author: Laura Bentham, C4L

New Twitter Activity Stream

Tech Crunch has just reported "Twitter Comes Alive With Real Time Activity Streams".

They highlight, with the above image, the birth of the new tab, called 'activity', which will sit alongside an @ username tab.

As we are huge fans of what we class as "networks of interaction", we really love this development and are looking forward to the UK roll out.

Find out more about the Real Time Activity Steams over at the Tech Crunch post.


Author: Sarah Griffiths

Introduction to Favicons

This month we have a technical focus on the blog. Members of 'The Rocktime Tech Team' will be sharing their knowledge on some of the latest tech developments. Kicking off proceedings the first blog of the month comes from Foz, as he introduces us all to Favicons.
A favicon, also known as a website icon, a shortcut icon, a url icon, or bookmark icon, is a small icon that can be used in several places. A favicon will usually appear as a small icon in your favourites, bookmarks or in the address bars of most browsers.

Ideally, a favicon should tie in nicely with your companies branding. However logos and company names don’t necessarily lend themselves to working well within the limitations of a favicon, namely small and square. The image above demonstrates how it is often obvious which elements of a company’s branding can work i.e the Twitter and New Forest Hotels' favicon. However, sometimes a little creativity is needed; as in the case of both the Google and Rocktime favicon.

Your favicon will be created as part of a new website build, or can be requested should you note you don’t have one, although ideally, we encourage you to give some thought to favicons at the logo design stage.

We design favicons at a size of 32x32 pixels in the standard .ico format, which you can read more about here.

A favicon is something so small, yet so significant and there are lots of branding and bookmarking benefits from having a favicon. If you want a favicon to be added to your Google blog or website, or whether you need a logo for a web App or webclip for an iPhone, to form part of your 'online graphical elements' then please contact our Rocktime Sales Team.

Author: Foz

Geek Video of the Month

This month we’ve got a tech focus and our Geek Video this time takes a peak into the world of 3D displays.

It seems that 2011 is turning into the year of 3D; we’ve had 3D televisions, an influx of 3D films and even 3D hand held consoles, and that’s just the start of it all. Before feeling the need to splash out on any new 3D devices that are inevitably going to crop up in time, why not take a look at Global Wave's fantastically simple solution.

Their ‘Pic3D Sheet’ demoed at the 3D and Virtual Reality Expo in Tokyo last month, uses a lenticular lens system (which also means you don’t need 3D glasses), then using the company's app to output a video in a side-by-side format, it simulates a 3D image. The sheet is simply placed over your device’s screen, with sizes ranging from an iPhone or iPod touch sheet, up to a 23” desktop monitor.

Of course, it’s hard to see how successful it is without seeing it with your own eyes, but with prices ranging from about £17.00 for a small 3DPic sheet, it’s still a lot cheaper then splashing out on a new phone or tablet. See what you think about by watching the above video.


Author: Alice Cheetham

Introduction to Social Media Sharing

The conversation on social media in our society is changing. Watch any TV show, listen to any Radio show and hear the presenters state their “Twitter and Facebook Page” names to encourage further interaction. There is also clear numerical evidence (for example: 600 million people on Facebook, June 2011) that people want to share online. Companies contact Rocktime to enquire about how they can effectively and positively connect with their site visitors via social media. Users of social media are also getting to grips with how they can effectively manage their ever growing networks and streams of notifications.

In setting a social share strategy, there is a clear need to consider the old Martini phrase “Anytime, Anyplace, Anywhere” and companies need to provide the ability to share their news on a variety of platforms, suited to the customer (“Tip: remember the people!!”). Also a big point to consider when setting your “social share” strategy is “will this news be of interest to my site visitors / customers?” as, if it isn’t, then over time (as your customers own personal networks of interaction grow) your news that you, for example “have a Sale on!” each day will be an unwelcomed distraction to them. Think about that some more and don’t be a bore! Furthermore in accordance with social media channels guidelines, saying the same thing again and again can also be classed as spam.

There is already a trend towards brands delivering their customers relevant and timely content, this is now moving more towards delivering more quality content. Make your content compelling so that people will want to share it.


Why Social Share is great

It takes little investment to add the social share tools to your site and from this development, your site visitors then have the opportunity to organically spread your news, your latest blog, your offer, your tip of the day etc, to their personal networks. News which can be shared again and again amongst networks of interaction, at no additional cost to you (apart from perhaps the time it takes to send a “thank for sharing tweet”, if relevant). Also social share now links with ranking positions in search engine result pages.


Make your site a social experience

As part of our quest to make our client's sites a more social experience, we would like to recommend that you consider adding social share icons to relevant sections of your website. Letting your site visitors know where else they can keep up to date with your news, updates, happenings and also giving them the ability to spread your news/content further.


Social Share Audit

We would recommend that you invite Rocktime to provide a social share audit of your website, where we will review social engagement icons and social sharing options that are used by your website visitors. For further details on our social share audit please call in and talk to sales or a member of the Flashlight Search Marketing team. Alternatively find out more about how Rocktime can help you with your Social Media Strategies here.


Author: Sarah Griffiths

Augmented reality and Aurasma

Aurasma is powered by pattern recognition technology; it represents the future of how we use our mobile devises, using some of the most advanced systems in the world to bring the physical and virtual worlds together.

It has been described as the latest ad recognition technology to challenge QR codes, it has the ability to bring static content / print materials to life.

PR Newswire reported early this week that, Aurasma had passed one million installs (PR Newswire, 10th July 2011), indicating that this is set to be the most broadly deployed mobile platform of its kind.

For more information visit the Aurasma website, which states that they have over 1 million users, over 100 partners, featured in major publications.


There is huge potential for social commerce and advertisers in using augmented reality technology, for example: if you hold the phone in front of cereal packets and get a lot more information, recipes, nutritional advice etc.

There is also huge potential for brand building too, where on holding the phone in front of a product a number of unexpected but brand building things can happen i.e. launches a video on how to use the product, how the product was made. The first ever print advertisement to come to life was in a national UK newspaper for a luxury yacht company, which you can find out more about here.

It's not just magazines and papers looking into promotion through augmented reality. London based football team Tottenham Hotspurs, with their new sponsors Autonomy, the owners of Aurasma, are in the process of giving their own team kit a touch of augmented reality.

We also had a go at the Aurasma located in the last weeks Stylist magazine, after seeing this tweet.


The Flashlight Search Marketing team are very excited about this technology and urge you to go and find out more over at the Aurasma website. If you would like to find out more about how your brand can integrate with Aurasma please give our sales team a call, who are watching Aurasma developments with interest.


Author: Alice Cheetham