The most concerning aspect of both of these bills is that our country’s decision makers stand behind SOPA and PROTECT IP as written to champion American interests and intellectual property ad, in turn, protect the American entrepreneurial spirit, our jobs, and our financial security.

In fact, both bills will ultimately fail to accomplish the intended goals and are, in the process, set to squash many of the freedoms we take for granted from a free-flowing Internet.

Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA)

“To promote prosperity, creativity, entrepreneurship, and innovation by combating the theft of U.S. property, and for other purposes.” – H.R.3261

What It Does:

This  bill would allow copyright holders and the Department of Justice to seek legal action against websites accused of facilitating copyright infringement, and to force service providers to block offending sites; this would prevent gateway services, such as Google Checkout or Paypal, from doing business with such sites and would even bar search engines from simply linking to an offending website.   For streaming content, such as YouTube, Vimeo, or a self-published video blog, unauthorized streaming of any copyrighted materials would be a crime backed by up to 5 years in prison after 10 incidents of streaming copyrighted music or video within a six month period.

PROTECT IP Act

“Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property Act of 2011” – S.968

What It Does:

As the bill states:  “An service provider of an information location tool shall take technically feasible and reasonable measures, as expeditiously as possible, to– (i) remove or disable access to the Internet site associated with the domain name set forth in the order; or (ii) not serve a hypertext link to such Internet site.”   Additionally, the information location tool, which is largely refers to Search Engines but can refer to any site, must delete all hyperlinks to the offending “Internet site.”  The net effect is that, without an up front burden of proof, Internet sites can be censored until such time as their names are cleared, no matter how long that takes, and without remedy if falsely accused and later proven innocent.

What Does All This Mean?

The summation of both of these bills is an attempt to control the flow of information on the Internet under the guise of protecting the American Dream from “rogue websites,” plagiarizers, and other intellectual property thieves.  As an organization that both uses the Internet to share materials that our are own intellectual property and that also helps other organizations share their own intellectual property, we agree with the masses that taking anything that doesn’t belong to you without any attribution or retribution is reprehensible behavior.

The language of both of these laws, however, invites other consequences.  Consider for a moment that if either of these laws had been in effect a decade ago, the landscape of today’s Internet would be very different indeed.  For starters, we would not have YouTube, Facebook, Flickr, Etsy, Ebay, Dropbox, Twitter, Twillio, Vimeo, Tumbler, Pinterest, Can.vas, or a good number of open source software projects.

What Can I Do?

That’s a fantastic question!  Tell the House and Senate that you are exercising your right as an American citizen and say:

• You do not support restrictions upon the entrepreneurial spirit this country has been built on
• Enforcement of laws in this country should always require due process
• The United States of America is not China, and you do not support a Great Firewall of America
• That Internet Blacklist Legislation would drive jobs away from this country and will not be tolerated here

Tell Them Now!

Say NO! to SOPA by contacting your House Representative: http://www.house.gov/

Say NO! to PROTECT IP by contacting your Senate Representative: http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

Contact SOPA Supporters directly: http://gizmodo.com/5870241/presented-without-comment-every-single-company-supporting-sopa-the-awful-internet-censorship-law

This guide is unique in that it is the first openly available resource that walks the reader through the steps required to grow a simple dashboard into a complex, enterprise-level Business Intelligence solution.   Users already versed in Oracle Hyperion Interactive Reporting and armed with basic JavaScript knowledge will learn how Interactive Reporting’s uniquely powerful report-centric model can be structured to scale away from the maintenance nightmares traditionally emerging from complex enterprise-level environments by implementation of the Cascading Code Repository (CCR).  The concept of the CCR allows JavaScript, which traditionally is embedded in the Interactive Reporting document, to be be extracted and stored externally so that developers can maintain scripts across the enterprise without managing the individual documents.

I’m very excited about the new life a guide like this can introduce to the loyal Interactive Reporting community. I hope that the ideas Ed and I have laid out in this guide inspire experimentation with this incredible Business Intelligence tool and encourage current users to rethink BI and the role Interactive Reporting plays in it.

If you are not sure if this guide is right for you, Chapter 3, which discusses creating a code-free custom Dashboard section in Interactive Reporting, is available free-of-charge and is the starting point for several additional chapters which build, each upon the last, to present layers of customization depth for Dashboard Graphics and Controls.

This guide is offered in eBook format form Packt Publishing, Kindle format from Amazon.com, and in print from both Packt and Amazon.  At $18.14US, the Amazon Kindle version is a steal — making it a must-have for anyone working with Oracle Hyperion Interactive Reporting.  For those of you starting out or who otherwise do not have the IR Studio client installed, check out Emily’s entry on how to install the Interactive Reporting Studio client and follow along with the book.

Every once and a while, someone comes along and does something, like deleting internet postings, that reminds the world of the internet’s golden rule: All posts are final.  Today that someone is PR Paul.  While Paul and his associates are in full “damage control mode” — hopping twitter accounts and scrubbing tweets, site content, and other social sites — the documentation of these actions through #OceanMarketing on Twitter, Penny Arcade, The Examiner, and Forbes are proving to be Paul’s ultimate folly.  One thing Paul has done well is to remind folks that once something is on the Net, it has made an imprint that extends far beyond any single person’s reach.

As he and his buddies hop around social sites trying to fix a situation that will probably fad itself out over a the next few weeks, I think PR Paul could benefit from a few good books that have come across my desk in the last few years:

• I Love You More Than My Dog
• The Referral Engine: Teaching Your Business to Market Itself
• Likeable Social Media: How to Delight Your Customers, Create an Irresistible Brand, and Be Generally Amazing on Facebook (And Other Social Networks)

For everyone else, including us at Wagger, this is a cautionary tale about the importance of researching any company representing you. Ask for references and ask to see the work they’ve done.  If they are a little green, or just starting out, they should admit it outright.  And, as a point of advice, be very suspicious if another organization wants full control of your business email, Twitter, and other public-facing elements without your oversight — especially if the owner comes off as a street thug masquerading as a self-proclaimed “Marketing Professional”.

After reading recently that IE is finally wearing out its welcome (except in government and huge companies), it occurred to me that I couldn’t remember precisely when I had started using Chrome as my primary frontend debugger, but that it is measured in months.

Why would someone use Chrome over IE or Firebug? Well, here are the things that I like:

Always Feels Light and Fast

I can’t quite put my finger on it, but Chrome doesn’t seem to suffer from the same bog-down bloat that Firefox does over the course of a debugging session.  New tabs and windows spring open, and script debugging is snappy.   I have to close a crashed tab occasionally, but I’d rather have that happen than experience debugger lag any day of the week.

Editing is Intuitive

Altering the DOM or CSS in-place just feels natural.  Tab orders make sense and do what I expect; adding or changing properties, styles, or elements is a breeze.

Help is Just a ? Away

Typing a question mark anywhere in the debugger presents a modal dialog with common key commands for each section.  It’s not a killer feature, but it’s more convenient than having to drill into a Help menu to remember how to increment a value by 100.

Live Tutorials in the Documentation

The documentation for Chrome Developer Tools is specifically designed for you to pop open your debugger and walk through the functionality.  This is a great way to learn-by-doing, which helps retention several times over.

Revision History!

This is, by far, my favorite new(ish) feature.  After making changes to JS or CSS in the Elements tab, switch over to the Resources tab and drill down to the file.  Expand the arrow, and you’re presented with a list of revisions for the entire session that you’ve been fiddling.  You can see what has changed in each version highlighted, and ultimately, opt to save off changes or revert if something goes awry.

Drag-and-Drop DOM

Ok, I’ll admit this is more of an oddity than anything else, especially since the revision history doesn’t extend to the HTML markup of a page.  But maybe it’s useful for rapid prototyping?  In the Elements tab you can literally drag elements around on in the DOM where you see fit.  Want to see what would happen if you switched the positions of two divs?  You can do that now!

But Wait, There’s More!

Not enough? There’s also remote debugging and the ability to pretty print minified scripts, with more features added regularly.  Check out this presentation earlier in the year from gurus Paul Irish and Pavel Feldman, and happy hacking!

Flurry’s Edge on Competition:

Flurry provides mobile application usage statistics across iOS, Android, BB, WP and J2ME platforms.  The analytics platform reports the number of new and active users, sessions, average time spent on the mobile app, frequency of use, page views, and retention.  All data metrics can be segmented through Flurry including by app version and time intervals.  Since Flurry is a leader in mobile research, users can compare metrics to the industry average.  Conversion is easy with event and parameter tracking. Each click can be tracked and tied to specific product and services.

The mobile app analytics service also provides information on user demographic, geographic and interest information.  Best of all, it is free to use.

Room for Improvement:

Unlike enterprise level analytics services such as Webtrends or Omniture, Flurry is unable to offer full site side analytics.  Flurry has had ruffles in the past with Apple’s review process due to privacy concern.  However, Flurry has not been reported to have violated iPhone policy in recent times.

Cost of Flurry:

Free.

Mixpanel’s Edge on Competition:

Mixpanel provides real-time analytics tracking for mobile applications.  Instantly track who is roaming around your site, where they’re going and how long they stay.  Mixpanel can also be tied to other platforms such as your website and Facebook.  Because the mobile application analytics is cross-platform friendly, it’s much easier to link up mobile user data to other platforms.

Mixpanel also uses what they call “data points” which is also referred as event tracking.  Mixpanel users can control and manipulate what gets tracked and create their own naming convention.

Once data points are set up, you can then identify which ones play a crucial part in the conversion process.  A funnel is then created in order to track both conversions and drop off rates of users.

Room for Improvement:

This mobile app analytics service is recommended specifically for e-commerce mobile applications.  It’s not nearly as beneficial for high volume, low conversion sites as pricing is calculated by each event.

Cost of Mixpanel:

Free until 25,000 data points (events) are used up.  Monthly packages are available based on traffic volume.

Localytics’ Edge on Competition:

Localytics can track traffic on mobile applications and tablets.  Although they do not provide cross-platform tracking, the company grants full access to the non-aggregated data so it can easily integrated wtih other analytics platforms tracking websites, CRM, advertising and other business intelligence systems.

Reporting is made simple with real-time analytics, exporting features and hourly drill downs.

Room for Improvement:

It’s possible to miss out on crucial data if a business is unable to integrate the Localytics’ API into their web analytics platform.  It’s always important to ensure an analytics platform can integrate with this API before signing up.

Cost of Localytics:

Localytics offers three pricing tiers for its clients.  The free version offers basic tracking, event attributes, and a world heat map.  The premium version ($95 a month per app) offers additional analysis including one funnel tracking, retention analysis and screen flow analysis.  The enterprise edition ($895 a month) gives clients unlimited tracking for all apps in addition to multiple features including 50 funnels analyses and full support.

Essbase Certifications

Certification in Essbase is obviously a good idea for any professional specializing in Essbase, but it is also a good path for Planning, Hyperion Financial Reporting (HFM), and Interactive Reporting professionals.

Oracle Essbase 11 Certified Implementation Specialist

This level of Essbase certification is the lowest level of certification offered by Oracle (Specialist) and represents individuals who have a general understanding of Oracle Essbase 11.  The exam required to achieve this level of certification, Oracle Essbase 11 Essentials, should ideally follow an in-person attendance to the Oracle Essbase 11.1.1 Bootcamp. However, individuals with prior Essbase development experience may feel prepared with the self study materials or may even have enough experiences to pass the examination without preparation through Oracle Training.

Costs: Exam – $195; Essbase Boot Camp $1,650 (Self Study) – $4,000 (5 day class)

Hyperion Essbase 9.3 Developer Certified Expert

This level of Essbase certification is an Expert level of certification used to represent individuals who have a strong grasp of the development activities required within an Essbase implementation.  The exam required to achieve this level of certification, Hyperion Essbase 9.3 Developer, should be taken after an in-person attendance to the Oracle Essbase 11.1.1 Bootcamp. Individuals with prior Essbase development experience may be able to pass the examination with a content refresher from the Bootcamp self study materials.  Candidates should have experience with Essbase beyond the Bootcamp class.

Costs: Exam – $195; Essbase Boot Camp $1,650 (Self Study) – $4,000 (5 day class)

Planning Certifications

As the foundation of Planning is Essbase, individuals seeking Planning certifications should also consider achieving Essbase certifications or, at a minimum, attending the Essbase Bootcamp class.

Oracle Hyperion Planning 11 Certified Implementation Specialist

This level of Planning certification is the lowest level of certification offered by Oracle (Specialist) and represents individuals who have a general understanding of the Planning 11 application.  The preparation path for this exam, Oracle Planning 11 Essentials, is not defined by Oracle; however, the Planning Business User Learning Path for Oracle PartnerNetworks would likely provide the foundation required to take the exam for most users.

Costs: Exam – $195

Hyperion Planning 9.3 Administrator Certified Expert

This level of Planning certification is an Expert level of certification used to represent individuals who have a strong grasp of the administrative and development activities required within a Planning implementation.  Professionals with this level of certification must be proficient in the steps required to create and manage Planning applications and understand the basics of the Hyperion Financial Reporting tool. The exam required to achieve this level of certification, Hyperion Planning 9.3 Administrator I & II, should be taken after an in-person attendance to Oracle Hyperion Planning 11.1.2: Create & Manage Applications and Oracle Hyperion Financial Reporting 11.1.1 for Essbase & Planning.  Professionals with previous experience with Hyperion Financial Reporting may feel comfortable with the self study course option.

Costs: Exam – $195; Oracle Hyperion Planning 11.1.2: Create & Manage Applications $4,000 (5 day class); Oracle Hyperion Financial Reporting 11.1.1 for Essbase & Planning $600 (Self Study) – $1,600 (2 Day class)

Hyperion Financial Management Certifications

As the back-end technology for Hyperion Financial Management (HFM) is either Essbase directly or Essbase through Planning, individuals seeking HFM certifications should also consider achieving Essbase certifications or, at the very least, attending the Essbase Bootcamp training session.

Oracle Hyperion Financial Management 11 Certified Implementation Specialist

This level of HFM certification is the lowest level of certification offered by Oracle (Specialist) and represents individuals who have a general understanding of the installation, implementation, and management options of HFM 11.  The preparation path for this exam, Oracle Hyperion Financial Management 11 Essentials, has one of two optional paths:  Oracle PartnerNetwork participants may choose the Oracle Hyperion Financial Management Implementation Boot Camp; those who are not member of the Oracle PartnerNetwork are encouraged to take Oracle Hyperion Financial Management 11.1.2: Create & Manage Applications,  Oracle Hyperion Financial Mgmt 11.1.1 Installation & Configuration, and Oracle Hyperion Financial Mgmt 11.1.1: Create Rules Using Calc Mgr to provide the foundation required to take the exam.

Costs: Exam – $195; Hyperion Financial Management 9.3.1: Create & Manage Applications $4,000 (5 day class); Oracle Hyperion Financial Mgmt 11.1.1 Installation & Configuration $2,400 (3 Day class); Oracle Hyperion Financial Mgmt 11.1.1: Create Rules Using Calc Mgr $3,200 (4 Day Class)

Hyperion Financial Management Administrator Certified Expert

This level of HFM certification is an Expert level of certification used to represent individuals who have a strong grasp of the administrative activities required within an HFM implementation.  Professionals with this level of certification must be proficient in all steps required to create, deploy and maintain HFM implementations. The exam required to achieve this level of certification, Hyperion Financial Management 9.3 Administrator I & II, should be taken after an in-person attendance to Hyperion Financial Management 9.3.1: Create & Manage Applications and Oracle Hyperion Financial Reporting 11.1.2 for Financial Management. While not explicitly mentioned by Oracle’s materials, candidates for this level of certification would benefit from the additional training classes required by the HFM Specialist certification as well.

Costs: Exam – $195; Hyperion Financial Management 9.3.1: Create & Manage Applications $4,000 (5 day class); Oracle Hyperion Financial Reporting 11.1.2 for Financial Management $1,600 (2 Day class)

Other Certifications

The Hyperion certification structure obviously favors the Essbase tools and the applications end of the Hyperion suite. While plans had been made to include certifications for the relational toolsets, only one certification pertaining to the implementation and administration of the Hyperion services was completed prior to the acquisition by Oracle.

While there are currently no direct certification paths for Interactive Reporting professionals, Oracle offers several well-organized and well-presented training classes for all levels of Interactive Reporting specialist that guide students through specific topics of interest within IR.

Hyperion BI+ Certified Expert

While Oracle still recognizes and offers this certification, it is expected that this certification will become obsolete as the Hyperion suite and other Oracle toolsets are fully integrated into OBIEE  and customers migrate to those solutions.   This certification represents professionals with a strong knowledge of Hyperion BI+ infrastructure administration and installation processes.  The exam required, Hyperion System 9 BI+ 9.3 Administrator, can be prepared for by attending Hyperion Reporting & Analysis 11.1.2 Administration. However, it is important to note that the BI+ platform that is covered in the exam no longer exists, so it is unlikely that all examination topics will covered in the course.

I could go on and on about how much Harvest has become an integral part of our business process or how drastically it has cut overhead costs, but I’d rather you spend time reading about Harvest directly on their site.  Any small business owner who doesn’t see why Harvest is such a gem after spending a couple of minutes on their website is crazy!

Mr Bowen seems to have forgotten that no one person or web design is ever perfect. Having been face to face with a perfect designer presenting a single perfect design, I am certain perfection, in an objective industry such as web design, is always in the eyes of the beholder.  Nothing exudes inexperience like a web designer attempting to convince a customer that something that feels so wrong to the customer is right because the designer believes it is.

The first image caption in this article says “We have to be the lighthouse, guiding the clients to shore” under a picture of a lighthouse.  My first thought was someone should let Mr Bowen know that his “perfect” design for the Lighthouse Manufacturers Association of New England was rejected by the customers because he failed to understand the core responsibility of lighthouses. Lighthouses do not guide ships to shore; they actually guide captains away from shore to avoid the rick rack that could cause trauma to their boats. While of course there is no Lighthouse Manufacturers Association of New England and I am sure Mr Bowen would have researched the purpose of a lighthouse had he done such a project, if one existed but this does point to the heart and soul of this article:

The website designer should defend a design that s/he sees as perfect because they know more than the client does.

Consulting 101 fail; this mentality is the reason why the movie Office Space was so successful with the concept of the dreaded “consultants.” And furthermore, why clients inherently feel so defensive of their ideas with consultants. Given the array of options a client has when choosing a web design and development firm in the Northern Virginia DC Metropolitan area, asserting personal perfection seems like a good way to decrease the number of clients you have.

Perhaps it is only our job to fill the gaps the customer’s expertise are unable to fill instead of assuming our outside view of their business process gains us more insight then they have from the inside?