text:
Ben is the founder and CTO of Mobile Commons. He is one of the leading pioneers shaping how organizations successfully use mobile for healthcare, advocacy, fundraising, and organizing.
Best laptop sticker. Ever. By far.
Today I helped lead a blind man out of a subway station. At the exit, he turned towards me and said:
Blind Man: By any chance are you carrying a baby on your back?
Me: Yes
Blind Man: Oh good. That explains the little arms that have been grabbing me.
For future reference, the easiest solution to a raccoon stuck in the hood of your car is to convince your sister to marry a man who carries a Leatherman.
It's obvious just how much more is being done on phones and tablets than on computers, and the trend is continuing.
I think that's a very bad thing.
Computers with their keyboards, mice, and multitasking are so much more efficient than iOS & Android.
I would like to know how much faster a laptop is at doing routine everyday tasks than doing the same thing on a phone.
Has this been studied before? If not, I think we should. We can publish it.
My hypothesis: In 2014, Americans will waste over 16 BILLION hours because they are doing things on their absurdly inefficient phone interfaces instead of on a computer.
Most state primaries are either over or over soon, so once you know you're headed to the general election it's time to start building your SMS list for the campaign.
Here are some tips on easy ways to grow your text list (and your email list) during election season.
- Put your keyword on yard…
Golly gee willikers!
One of my Tumblr posts just passed 10,000 notes this weekend. How awesome is that?!
Can I just get a Task Rabbit to go through labor for me?
I tried to look up how many presidents have been grandfathers while serving in office. It's pretty hard to look up because no one in the history of presidents has ever cared about whether or not they have grandchildren or will ever have grandchildren because it is truly one of the dumbest things to care about in the universe.
As if my own personal iMessage problems weren't enough, take a look at my wife's iPhone storage. Her phone is close to unusable because her text messages are taking up TEN GIGABYTES of storage! WTF? Corrupt database? Unclearable cache? No clue how this is happening, nor how to clear out the space, etc.
I can't wait until everyone is off the iMessages.
Two months ago I switched from iPhone to Android. I've been a huge iOS fan since the first day, but just couldn't deal with iOS7 (although that's topic for another post).
I got a Verizon MotoX and couldn't be happier. I could switch pretty much every app I used and was up and running w/ Android as my primary phone, fully loaded, within 24 hours.
But something really strange happened. I noticed I wasn't getting text messages from lots of people. I was getting annoyed at them for not responding and they were getting annoyed that I wasn't responding.
What happened? My work laptop was still configured with Messages.app so all their messages were still sending as iMessage. They were showing up on my work laptop, but not my phone.
This was pretty annoying, but understandable. Monday I went to the office, turned off iMessage, and thought everything would be fine.
Everything is very far from fine.
Here we are 8 weeks later and this is my current situation:
Apple has tried very hard to help with this problem. Unfortunately their solution is TELL EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOUR FRIENDS TO DELETE EVERY SINGLE MESSAGE THREAD THAT YOU HAVE EVER BEEN ON.
Let me recap: I no longer have iPhone. My phone number isn't associated with Apple, iCloud, iMessage, or FaceTime any more. But every single iOS device I have ever messaged in the past 5 years has my phone number cached! Every single phone will only try to message me via iMessage, not SMS. And to make matters worse, it fails SILENTLY!
To add insult to injury, the vast majority of messaging I've done in the past 3 years are group messages with pictures of our children. It would be bad enough if *I* had to delete 5 years of messaging history. But to ask my wife, my sister, my best friends, and literally every person I know to delete THEIR message histories? You've got to be kidding me!
I feel completely hostage. They have no solution and it's insane that Apple has my phone number held hostage with no way to get it back.
Updates/Responses to Hacker News
It's been about 4 months or so since I switched.
Nothing I was able to do or Apple was able to do fixed the problem. I was able to put Messages into debug mode and I sent Apple a full debug log (Apple bug report #15966535). They marked the ticket as "Duplicate" and I was no longer able to view any updates.
After about 3 months, most of the issue has resolved.
The majority of group-texts work now; iPhones now send the whole thread is MMS not iMessage. It's still not 100% but pretty good.
Most of my friends can send SMS without failures, but quite a few still get "iMessage failed" and have to "resend as SMS".
I've completely given up trying to fix the problem. Just hoping the remaining iOS devices resolve themselves at some point, or Apple fixes in next update.
<rant>Everyone thinks this is an Android problem that they can't message me anymore. Really tough to explain to the world that it's _their_ iPhone that's buggy.</rant>
Start em when they're young and impressionable
I fell deeply in love with a computer that broke my heart by evolving in a future direction I can never hope to understand.
Plot of 'Her' or upgrade to iOS7?
Well, *I* had fun at least.
Thank you Mike Bloomberg for a phenomenal 12 years.
Mike Bloomberg has directly and indirectly influenced my life and career in so many ways, and more than any other single person. I am completely indebted to this total stranger.
My first real job after college was as a programmer at Bloomberg LP. It was 2002, the tech bubble burst, and no one would hire a programmer with little-to-no experience. But Bloomberg LP had plenty of cash and a fantastic new hire training program for junior programmers. It was my first job as a programmer and set me on my career track as a technologist.
And ironically, it was Bloomberg by Bloomberg, Mike's autobiography about being entrepreneur, that inspired me to quit my job at Bloomberg to start my own company.
Fast forward to today. At Mobile Commons, we work with almost a dozen NYC agencies, enabling innovative agencies to engage with NYC residents in unprecedented ways. And it was the night before Election Day 2012, in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, that Mayor Bloomberg got on television and told everyone to text Mobile Commons to find out where to vote amid the chaos. And even further, it's his generous philanthropy that funds so many of our nonprofit customers' amazing campaigns, ranging from environmental protection to the prevention of gun violence.
Thank you Mike, for 12 years of hard work making NYC the best city on the planet and being a personal inspiration to me. I owe you a beer (with ice).
I can sync pictures I take with my Android photos to my Mac easily enough.
But the Photos app has a bunch of pictures in folders, such as:
These pictures don't transfer when I sync to my Mac. I can see them in Android File Transfer but they don't automatically sync like the regular photo album when I connect in USB Camera mode (PTP).
I'd really like a local copy of all of my photos in iPhoto, Aperature, Picasa, or similar. A single copy of pictures in Google+ cloud, which is the current behavior*, is not an option. (not totally true. Google+ Auto Backup doesn't seem to have any of my Eye Fi pictures)
What is the best way to do this? Trawling through 4 subfolders with AFT every time I plug in my phone is not an option.
It's not fair to compare the iPhone camera to MotoX camera. iPhone cameras are phenomenal. The MotoX camera is so bad it shouldn't even come with one.
They say that the best camera is the one you have with you. Well, I'd rather be forced to carry a separate camera at all times than to be stuck with hundreds of awful awful pictures of my kids.
Out of my first 400 pictures, I only got 2 or 3 that aren't horrible.
I'm a little stumped with what to do at the moment. Not being able to take great photos of my kids on the go for the next 2 years is unacceptable.
I'm actually considering carrying my old iPhone5 with me, just for the convenience of the camera.
Another pro for Android
There's still quite a bit of clunky, geeky, Windows-like experiences on Android.
For example, I wanted to import my podcast subscriptions. It should be easy: point the new plays to your OPML file and your done.
The instructions for one of the most popular podcast apps were "put your OPML files in /PocketCasts/opml_import folder". This led to learning about Android file system and the lack of built in file manager. Fine. Download an OS X file manager, mount my phone. No /PocketCasts folder. Why? Android file system index doesn't update immediately. Solutions: reboot or install an app that flushes the file system index.
Really? A 3rd party app to flush my cached file system index so I can mount a phone to copy a .opml file into a directory?
This is the tradeoff. And it's really what Apple has going for it. It's experiences exactly like this that made me switch 10 years ago away from Windows. I want my shit to work — I don't have time to defrag and install drivers and google search every single thing i want to do. I just want it to work.
iOS notifications were never great, but they became intolerable with iOS7.
Every day after work I pick up my phone and wait 20-30 seconds while my entire day of mail, hangouts, imessage, words, zendesk, etc replayed in banners at the top of the screen.
Android's notifications, and specifically the notifications in MotoX's Active Display are fantastic. From the persistent icons at the top, to the inline controls for pausing music & replying to emails, it's a really pleasant experience. I've turned on way MORE notifications than I ever had before w/ iOS because they are so unobtrusive.
OK Google Now play me songs by The Killers
Android's voice control runs circles around Siri.
Not only is availability fantastic vs Siri's "I'm sorry I can't help you now" 50% of the time, the ability to integrate w/ 3rd party apps like Spotify is as awesome as you'd expect.
Ugh. I haven't seen dialog boxes like this since Windows XP…
Things like "Save to Pocket" from within Chrome (or any browser) is SO MUCH BETTER than iOS equivalent. I used to spend so much time on iOS copying URLs and doing other weird hacky things to get around the inability for apps to talk to one another.
* Face recognition unlock works great, and I love the "require blink" to make sure you can't use a photo. Is it secure enough?
* MotoX Active Display is dope: Every time I pick up my phone, it's already showing the clock and useful notifications in a low-power mode.
* Shake to activate camera rulez. Especially w/ kids. Getting from pocket to camera-ready in 1.5 seconds can't be beat
So far I miss the following apps and haven't yet found an Android replacement:
* WeatherLine, or any weather app that uses Dark Sky and shows both intraday & interday temperature with a color-coded line graph
* PlainText, or any FAST online-offline text editor, ideally that will let me share (some) of the notes with my wife. Editing directly in Dropbox is close but slow to launch and the offline cache isn't there
* Podcasts. Not that I miss any of the iOS options; Podcasts & Instacast were both ruined to the point of being unusable. There are 100 podcast apps in the store, sorting through the cruft for something I like appears to be one of the downsides to Play and Android Apps: so much crap in there.
Recommendations on the above are most welcome.
Google Play store is so much nicer than iTunes store. 10x faster to find and purchase apps. I sat at my desktop, looked at my iPhone home screen, and within 3 minutes (literally) I had installed the 10 apps that I wanted to migrate over and they magically appeared on my MotoX within minutes. It was pretty awesome.
Cross platform apps that I could migrate smoothly include things like Dropbox, Twitter, Facebook, Pocket, Spotify, Audible, and LastPass.
LastPass experience on Android is much better than iOS, mostly due to application switching, copying, and pasting. I've never liked iOS multitasking and iOS 7 is a total shitshow, with it's annoying double-click, clunky switching interface, and delay restoring the app. The Android experience is super fast, super clean. Really great.
I was up and running with pretty much everything, secure passwords and 2 factor, in no time. (Not totally true. It probably took an hour to get all my basic apps in order. Things like setting up Google Authenticator for 4 different services takes time).
I'm a big Google user, so I expected the initial setup to be magical.
On one hand, it was. Put in my credentials and magically I have all my email, calendar, contacts, phone book, etc.
On the other hand, it was surprisingly clunky process. The "sign into google" prompts happened BEFORE wifi setup, so that obviously failed. Also, it doesn't understand 2-factor by default. So after entering my 16 character random password twice (ugh) it took me to "web setup" which does understand it. It all eventually worked, just not a lovely initial experience.
There is a LOT of stuff to agree to and opt-in to. Almost every pre-installed app and service required this. Maps, mail, unlock, drive, hangouts, etc. I obviusly just click through the EULAs. Again, not a big deal, everything worke. Just not a lovely initial experience.
The MotoX unboxing experience has got nothing on iPhone & iOS.
The phone was basically sitting loose in a box, upside down, flopping around. Not even close to the amazing experience you get opening a new iPhone.
That said, who really cares?
Baked some iPhone cookies to trick cops into pulling me over, then I just take a bite and ask if cookies are against the law.
10 years ago I switched from Windows to OS X and blogged about the experience.
I was a faithful Dell/Windows guy for many years, but then I got my first digital camera. I plugged it in and got the following dialog box:
"What would you like Windows to do? (a) Open camera in Photoshop (b) Open in Windows Fax Viewer"
Sigh. I ordered my Powerbook G4 that day. It was like manna from heaven. From the blog at the time: "iLife is kind of boring. Plug in camera. Look at pictures." It just worked.
Fast forward 10 years and it's a completely different story. iPhoto is nearly unusable. iTunes *is* unusable. My Mac & iPhone are just pretty ways to get to Google services. I legitimately can't figure out how to use iOS7. I haven't had a design get in my way since Windows. I have to think very hard to use my phone now, and I'm not interested in that. Couple that with unfixable purple spots on my camera lens, a defective battery, and a company that wants $300 to fix it and it's time to go.
Android here I come.
I've found a lack of blogging of technical people who switched iOS to Android with recent operating systems (iOS 7 to Android 4.4) so I'll be blogging the experiences here.
Wish me luck!
Best play in basketball history
You can brine it, you can season it, you can smoke it, you can deep fry it.
But it's not going to taste much different than just salting it and throwing it in the oven. I promise.
Like many of the millions of people who have seen your toy commercial "GoldieBlox, Rube Goldberg & the Beastie Boys," we were very impressed by the creativity and the message behind your ad.
We strongly support empowering young girls, breaking down gender stereotypes and igniting a passion for technology and engineering.
As creative as it is, make no mistake, your video is an advertisement that is designed to sell a product, and long ago, we made a conscious decision not to permit our music and/or name to be used in product ads.
When we tried to simply ask how and why our song "Girls" had been used in your ad without our permission, YOU sued US.
My spam folder was so large that I couldn't even check it for false positives. This gmail filter made it completely reasonable again and now I can peek every few days to see if anything got trapped in there:
Matches: (上 OR 下 OR 不 OR 个 OR 中 OR 为 OR 主 OR 么 OR 之 OR 也 OR 了 OR 事 OR 于 OR 些 OR 人 OR 从 OR 他 OR 以 OR 们 OR 会 OR 但 OR 作 OR 你 OR 其 OR 出 OR 分 OR 到 OR 前 OR 动 OR 去 OR 发 OR 只 OR 可 OR 同 OR 后 OR 和 OR 因 OR 国 OR 在 OR 地 OR 多 OR 大 OR 天 OR 她 OR 好 OR 如 OR 子 OR 学 OR 定 OR 实 OR 家 OR 对 OR 小 OR 就 OR 年 OR 开 OR 当 OR 得 OR 心 OR 想 OR 成 OR 我 OR 所 OR 方 OR 时 OR 是 OR 有 OR 本 OR 来 OR 样 OR 没 OR 法 OR 然 OR 现 OR 理 OR 生 OR 用 OR 的 OR 看 OR 着 OR 种 OR 经 OR 而 OR 能 OR 自 OR 行 OR 要 OR 说 OR 起 OR 过 OR 还 OR 这 OR 进 OR 道 OR 那 OR 部 OR 都 OR 里 OR 面)
Do this: Skip Inbox, Mark as read, Apply label "Chinese", Never send it to Spam
"Delete it" also works.
53 percent of the time Waldo is hiding within one of two 1.5-inch tall bands, one starting three inches from the bottom of the page and another one starting seven inches from the bottom, stretching across the spread.
Can Bill de Blasio pass a law that forbids deep packet inspection and filtering based on network content if you want to sell online products and services to NYC residents?
Basically, can we create a free and open internet for just New Yorkers?
Best. Search results. Ever.
This was delicious
New favorite warning label
Ben is the co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of Mobile Commons, where he is responsible for product development, system architecture, and technical operations. He is one of the leading pioneers shaping how nonprofit organizations successfully use mobile communication for advocacy, fundraising, list building, and organizing.
Ben has 15 years of experience building Internet applications of all shapes and sizes. He spent much of his career building distributed software for B2B customers. With a background in both the financial and medical industries, he has extensive experience with high availability systems with a focus on security and data sensitivity. As a software engineer at Bloomberg LP, Ben developed their trading system, search engine, and web services. After Bloomberg, he worked at ShadowTV, transcoding, indexing and streaming 100s of terabytes of video data for government and corporate customers.
He earned a BS in electrical and biological engineering and a Master's in medical image processing, both at Cornell University. After completing his studies, he took a position as a Visiting Scientist, developing medical software used in clinical trials for lung cancer screening and image analysis tools used in General Electric's CT scanners.
Ben lives on a small urban farm in Brooklyn with his wife Arin and sons Gabriel & Ezekiel. He can usually be found coding, biking, or rock climbing. He sits on the board of ioby.org and advises nonprofits on effective uses of technology.
I've been thinking a lot about the NSA's global electronic surveillance.
Say what you will about erosion of civil liberties, you have to admit, we live in the mother fucking future.
i enjoyed this
As a security and privacy expert, I'm expected to know which companies protect their users' privacy and which encryption programs the NSA can't break. The truth is, I have no idea. No one outside the classified government world does. I tell people that they have no choice but to decide whom they trust and to then trust them as a matter of faith. It's a lousy answer, but until our government starts down the path of regaining our trust, it's the only thing we can do.
In my experience, telling people to do something hard (open source, keep privacy, etc.) in the face of a barely perceived danger (government is coming to get you) is kind of a hard message to get heard.
I'm shocked that more hackers don't send Dropbox invitations sharing folders that contain malicious files.
It's such an incredible vector to get people to automatically download a ton of files to take advantage of zero day flaws in Windows Explorer.
"Your Mom has shared a folder 'Amazing Kitten Pictures' with you." and BOOM! p0wn2d!
Name: Isaac Newton (1642-1727)
Writes: Right
Dominant Cortex: Left
University: Cambridge University
Key Contributions: "In Book I of Principia, Newton opened with definitions and the three laws of motion now known as Newton's laws (laws of inertia, action and reaction, and acceleration proportional to force). Book II presented Newton's new scientific philosophy which came to replace Cartesianism. Finally, Book III consisted of applications of his dynamics, including an explanation for tides and a theory of lunar motion."
This is like asserting that my former hometown of Washington, D.C., has several football teams: the Redskins, the Georgetown University team, and the Gonzaga High School team.
You should have distinct memories of you or someone under your employ having at least two separate incidents in the last four weeks in which they dropped everything they were doing and immediately took action to resolve these problems.
Last night during the hurricane, we could not telnet to one of our partner's data centers from our primary data center. We could get there from our workstations and from our backup sites.
A traceroute revealed a router somewhere in Washington DC that was hanging things up between the two data centers.
So my question is, how could this happen? I would have expected all the TCP/IP packets to be rerouted automatically around the malfunctioning router? Isn't that the way the Internet was designed to work?
Everyone on our production support team installed the following cron on their local workstation so we would know if anyone loses power and can't get in touch with the rest of the team:
*/1 * * * * ssh server "echo '`date` `whoami` reporting for duty' >> sandy.log"
Love the new Slashdot logo.
I also love the neckbeard comments about how that wouldn't actually be an accurate little endian representation "even on 24 bit machines"
This is such a useful little feature for the new version of Skitch.
Update: The app store reviews of Skitch 2.0 are scathing. I'm not upgrading yet.
From the Stripe blog:
Today we're launching Capture the Flag: Web Edition, a security contest where you can try your hand at discovering and exploiting vulnerabilities in mock web applications. If you've ever wondered how a CSRF attack works in practice, this is your chance to find out. We've found that hands-on experience with exploiting security flaws helps us write more secure code, and we hope that working on the CTF will be both enlightening and fun.
I'm giving my development team the afternoon off to compete in this!
Look, I love programming. I also believe programming is important … in the right context, for some people. But so are a lot of skills. I would no more urge everyone to learn programming than I would urge everyone to learn plumbing.
Jeff Atwood, "Please Don't Learn To Code"
Ben Says:
This is one of the dumbest things I have ever read.
The article is conflating "coding" with "professional software development". Learning to code teaches you, among lots of other things:
When a programmer gets requirements from a product manager or business analyst, they are ALWAYS incomplete. The edge cases are NEVER identified and none of the "what if" scenarios are played out. 9 times out of 10 it is up to the programmer to understand the nuances, to take things to their logical conclusions, to consider what happens in the case of N=0 or as N approaches infinity.
These are all skills I use EVERY SINGLE DAY, not just when I code, but in solving problems in life. Broken toilet? How do I figure out where the problem is? You bet I'm going to divide and conquer that shit (pun intended)!
This kind of thinking helps me in everything that I do in life and it wasn't until I learned to code (in college, mind you) that I started thinking this way.
Do I want my son to become a computer programmer? I don't care. Up to him. Do I want him to understand how to think critically and logically and in a structured & methodical way when approaching problems? Absolutely. And computer programming teaches these skills better than anything else I've ever done.
Half of New York City's best and brightest technologists live or work in Brooklyn, yet we travel to Manhattan every week for the best tech talks.
Not anymore! BK Tech Talks are presentations about the most interesting problems and solutions that New Yorkers are working on.
Presentations should be 30-45 minutes long and are for a technical audience. Don't be afraid to show source code. And if you're afraid to read code, this Meetup isn't for you. If you would like to present or there's something you'd like to hear about, please let us know.
The first few presentations: "MTA BusTime: Real Time GPS Tracking of New York City Buses" and "Bitcoin is Not a Currency" look awesome.
So? What are you waiting for? Come join the Meetup and we'll see you in Brooklyn!
Hackathons are how marketing guys wish software were made.
I missed it all, I was too busy building a product.
Michael Wolfe's amazing answer (via @marcoarment)
The great thing about the web is linking. I don't care how ugly it looks and how pretty your app is, if I can't link in and out of your world, it's not even close to a replacement for the web. It would be as silly as saying that you don't need oceans because you have a bathtub.
In a fresh commit, Rails edge now has the ability to automatically add query plan info to the standard Rails logger:
# Log the query plan for queries taking more than this (works # with SQLite, MySQL, and PostgreSQL) config.active_record.auto_explain_threshold_in_seconds = 0.5
… which will yield something like:
+----+-------------+-------+-------+---------------+---------+---------+-------+------+-------------+ | id | select_type | table | type | possible_keys | key | key_len | ref | rows | Extra | +----+-------------+-------+-------+---------------+---------+---------+-------+------+-------------+ | 1 | SIMPLE | users | const | PRIMARY | PRIMARY | 4 | const | 1 | | | 1 | SIMPLE | posts | ALL | NULL | NULL | NULL | NULL | 1 | Using where | +----+-------------+-------+-------+---------------+---------+---------+-------+------+-------------+ 2 rows in set (0.00 sec)
A little shell script that lets you generate sparklines at the command line:spark 0 30 55 80 33 150 ▁▂▃▅▂▇
You can also pipe stuff to spark—see this wiki page for some clever examples.
This is pretty cute. I like the idea of putting inside your prompt, think there's some interesting information you pull to put there.
Maybe a graph of how many times you had to run `sed` to actually get your prompt to render?
Four years I abandoned all native desktop apps except an ssh client and a text editor.
I completely migrated my work life 100% to site-specific browsers with Google apps and 1Password.
We were living in the future and I loved it.
Fast forward to today: 1Password doesn't work with Fluid anymore and Google's new borderless-contrastless-whitespace interface is rolling out everywhere.
Now we've actually reached the future and it's miserable. What's a guy to do? I'm thinking about going back to all native desktop apps. Mail, iCal and Pages, I guess.
I hate to sound like a curmudgeon, but I really want to roll-back everything to 2010.
How are you dealing with this?
A trigger is an action that is performed when text matching some regular expression is received in a terminal session.
What can Triggers Do?Various actions may be assigned to triggers. These include:
- Bounce Dock Icon: Makes the dock icon bounce until the iTerm2 window becomes key.
- Ring Bell: Plays the standard system bell sound once.
- Run Command: Runs a user-defined command.
- Run Coprocess: Runs a Coprocess.
- Send Growl Alert: If Growl is enabled, a Growl alert is sent.
- Send Text: Sends user-defined text back to the terminal as though the user had typed it.
- Show Alert: Shows an alert box with user-defined text.
iTerm2 is so frackin' cool
-#define RUBY_VERSION "1.9.4"
+#define RUBY_VERSION "2.0.0"
Dennis MacAlistair Ritchie (Username: dmr, September 8, 1941 - October 9, 2011)
RIP Dennis Ritchie.
I think having your username inscribed in your epitaph before your birth date is something all nerds should aspire to.
Add the following to your .ssh config file:
ControlMaster auto
ControlPath /tmp/ssh_mux_%h_%p_%r
Then, when you open up a second terminal to the same remote server, it will automatically reuse the existing connection and the new prompt will appear almost instantaneously. It doesn't have to re-authenticate for every new window. Amazing.
If you also add
ControlPersist 4h
then the connection will stay open in the background. Super useful for things like git that re-establishes a connection on every operation. Dropped my `git pull` from 10 seconds on the first run to 2 seconds on the second.
via @malmckay
First follow these steps in OS X Lion:
Is there a way to toggle between the windowed Safari and the full-screen Safari using just the keyboard?
I haven't figured it out. Cmd-` (back tick) and Ctrl-F4 don't work in this mode. And cmd-tab will get you to ONE of them, but not both.
It's driving me crazy, and makes it so I can't use full-screen.
Anyone know how to get around this?
You rent a hotel room. You put a book in the top drawer of the bedside table and go to sleep. You check out the next morning, but "forget" to give back your key. You steal the key!
A week later, you return to the hotel, do not check in, sneak into your old room with your stolen key, and look in the drawer. Your book is still there. Astonishing!
How can that be? Isn't the contents of a hotel room drawer inaccessible if you haven't rented the room?
Well, obviously that scenario can happen in the real world no problem. There is no mysterious force that causes your book to disappear when you are no longer authorized to be in the room. Nor is there a mysterious force that prevents you from entering a room with a stolen key.
The hotel management is not required to remove your book. You didn't make a contract with them that said that if you leave stuff behind, they'll shred it for you. If you illegally re-enter your room with a stolen key to get it back, the hotel security staff is not required to catch you sneaking in. You didn't make a contract with them that said "if I try to sneak back into my room later, you are required to stop me." Rather, you signed a contract with them that said "I promise not to sneak back into my room later", a contract which you broke.
In this situation anything can happen. The book can be there — you got lucky. Someone else's book can be there and yours could be in the hotel's furnace. Someone could be there right when you come in, tearing your book to pieces. The hotel could have removed the table and book entirely and replaced it with a wardrobe. The entire hotel could be just about to be torn down and replaced with a football stadium, and you are going to die in an explosion while you are sneaking around.
You don't know what is going to happen; when you checked out of the hotel and stole a key to illegaly use later, you gave up the right to live in a predictable, safe world because you chose to break the rules of the system.
C++ is not a safe language. It will cheerfully allow you to break the rules of the system. If you try to do something illegal and foolish like going back into a room you're not authorized to be in and rummaging through a desk that might not even be there anymore, C++ is not going to stop you. Safer languages than C++ solve this problem by restricting your power — by having much stricter control over keys, for example.
This is a fantastic explanation for new programmers about accessing memory, low level languages, and undefined behavior.
This is a fantastic explanation for new programmers about accessing memory, low level languages, and undefined behavior.
All they did was change account IDs in the URL and voila, they were in someone else's account. This makes me so sad.
At least they have 2 factor authentication and Site Key and ridiculous password length and content requirements that are incompatible with any of my other password algorithms and auto-logoff because those things aren't at all annoying and really help protect my info.
Then I will hug and kiss some poisonous snakes
Troy Hunt has an unsurprising-yet-nonetheless-terrifying analysis of the passwords found in the recent Sony security breaches. The nice thing about so many different Sony properties getting hacked is that we have data from multiple web properties to cross-reference :)
The most striking (yet still unsurprising) things to me: 99% of passwords contained NO non-alphanumeric characters and 92% of passwords are re-used on multiple sites.
Oh, and passwords like dallascowboys and 1qazZAQ! that people think are strong are still in the password dictionaries.
The whole post is worth a read later.
My conclusion: if you actually know any of your passwords, you're doing it wrong.
2011 is the 10 year anniversary of the Agile software development methodology (or at least the anniversary of the term).
Ask ANY developer or project manager if they practice agile development.
90% will say yes.
Now ask if they use scrum, velocity tracking, XP, TDD, FDD, or pair programming. The number will now be closer to 10% (followed quickly by "but we're still agile").
The problem is that the opposite of the term "agile" is slow, stodgy, and not able to move quickly. Who wants to be that? No one. It's a loaded question to begin with.
So when someone says "we do agile development", it's important to make the distinction: are you saying your team moves quickly and respond well to changes? If so, that's great. Good for you. Or are you actually describing your methodology?
I don't actually hate agile development. I just hate the name.
"It's Agile with a capital A, baby!"
Related: As funny as the term Extreme Programming is, it completely avoids this problem. If you ask someone if they practice XP, you will get almost no false positives.
Similar: asking someone if they have a zero-tolerance policy for bugs (AKA Joel Test #5: Do you fix bugs before writing new code?) is a similar question. Answering "no" implies that you accept and tolerate bugs, which no one wants to admit, even though they definitely do.
A federal judge in the case has agreed to allow the U.S. Copyright Group to subpoena internet service providers to find out the identity of everybody who had illegally downloaded [The Expendables via bit torrent].
Whoa. Not good.
"Weeks of coding can save you hours of planning." @tsilb
You can now clear Flash cookies from Chrome preferences rather than going to that horrible Adobe page to do it.
The data privacy geek in me loves this.
Fixed 'Web page loading slow issue'
From the changelog on my Netgear router firmware.
I ponied up $130 on this router, which I thought was a lot of a home wifi router, but I was tired of having to reboot my old Linksys.
The funny thing is that this upgrade actually seems to have fixed that exact problem.
The best part about using an SSD with OS X is that, for the first time, Spotlight is actually usable. And it's great!
This means I can finally get rid of Quicksilver, which I've used and loved for 10 years but is by far the buggiest piece of software I've ever relied on.*
* Not totally true. The Treo 750's text messaging application on Verizon was much buggier and I relied on that for a long time, but only out of necessity.
Exceptional tracks errors in Ruby apps. It's wildly popular. It now processes a few hundred million errors per month for over 10,000 apps—including some very big and popular ones.
So if my math is correct, ~300 million exceptions per month for 10,000 apps works out to about 30,000 exceptions per month, or one thousand exceptions per day per application!
That's a little terrifying, no?
Sony has a platform for e-books. Amazon has a platform for e-books. Barnes & Noble has a platform for e-books. Apple has a platform for e-books. But Apple is the only one which allows its competitors to have apps on its devices. And Apple is the anti-competitive one?
Upgrading through every version of Windows
For the old fogies (read: over 30) this is a surprisingly interesting video. Lots of reminiscing, and 20+ years of compatibility is just mind boggling.
Things Real People Don't Say About Your App is my new favorite Tumblelog
Here's what I heard: puppet, chef, moonshine, cap, cloud, fog, plover, rake, cat. It sounds like you were talking about the Muppet Show.
This is such a phenomenal resume (via Jim Plush)
Getting ready to go boating on the lake in Prospect Park
Meeting Curious George. Eat your heart out Adi!
Turtles all the way down.
Related: Papi's efforts to explain this concept did not go well.
Gabi and Emily Exploring
Harvesting cucumbers in our backyard #subirrigated
Mister Softee on Governors Island
Pier 6 playground
First fireflies in a jar
Rocking out to the amazing Spirit Family Reunion at Clearwater
"Sometimes we live no particular place but our own"
GaGa and KiKi
Stepping on the rocks
Thank you papa lou
It's hot tub time now
Visiting Aunt Cathy in VT
With my peeps
Cool dude
Rockin out to Spirit Family Reunion at Clearwater
First ice cream truck.
Kid towels are the best
In the ConEd truck at Touch a Truck
Not sure which scared Mami more: that I was alone in a super fast rocketship ride or how much I loved shooting the gun
Wheee! First roller coaster ride, at Coney Island
Throwing rocks in Prospect Park waterfalls
Raising a couple of hippies.
Dragon hunting.
First port-a-potty!!
At the lake with Mami
Happy Mother's Day, Mami and Emily!
"It's hot tub time now, it's hot tub time now"
Look Mami, I'm a mermaid!
New York slice
Coney Island!
Cherry blossoms!
High in the Oakland hills
Beautiful California day
First MLB game. Go A's!
Say "cheese pizza"
Balloon hat, high steppin'
Dr Teethj
Ridin' dirty on my new balance bike. Thank you Dono!
Rowboat in Prospect Park with Gaga and Dada
Wait. When did I start looking like a kid??
Sponge Bob love
Blueberry picking. Not many made it to the bucket.
Blueberry picking
Log rolling. Log rolling!
GaGa and KiKi
First coffee
At the zoo with papi
Brother Brother
Climbing with cousin Ryder
Storm King
First camping trip
With my peeps
Hudson river with Mami and Papi
I love you, Chicken Scotty
"I won it as a door prize at the Star Trek convention although I find their choice of prize highly illogical as the average Trekker has no use for a medium-sized belt."
Training for Nathan's hot dog eating contest next month
Riding the Wonder Wheel with Mami
Riding the boats, at Coney Island
First amusement park ride! At Coney Island
Whatcha lookin' at Gabi?
Silly chili
The beach boys.
Loving the beach
Learning from big cousin Oliver
Take me out to the ball game
At the lake with Mami
One cool dude
Coney Island!
Mango mango mango mango mango
Science! It works!
With cousin Jude, 6 months!
"Let it go let it gooooooooo:
At the Brooklyn Children's Museum. Cheeeese!
Ridin' with Papi, cold cold cold. But we're tough!
Pajama Jammy Jam
F'in older brothers.
A text message may exist just on your phone screen, but its effects are everywhere you look. Here are ten facts about how text messaging is changing the world around you.
1) In 1985, Friedhelm Hillebrand found that most complete sentences and questions ran around 160 characters—a.k.a. the current text-messaging cap. Care to guess this section's length?
2) Research shows that elementary school students who text are actually better spellers than their students who don't text.
3) The text message was born in the U.K. on December 3rd, 1992. A software programmer sent "Merry Christmas" to his phone's mobile device. A personal computer was used since mobile phones didn't have keyboards at the time.
4) British surgeon David Nott performed a life-saving operation on a teenage boy in the Congo. He had never done the surgery before—few in the world had—but he pulled it off by receiving text message instructions on the procedure from a colleague.
5) If you're curious as to the best time to reach your audience, studies show that the peak hours for text messaging are from 10:30-11:30 P.M.
6) Texting is so popular that among adults aged 26-35 only 1 out of every 10 people would prefer to meet up face-to-face rather than send a text message.
7) The original Nokia phone beep was actually Morse code for "SMS."
8) 51% of women want a text message instead of a card on special occasions.
9) Tony Blair was the first prime minister to use text messaging to answer voter's questions. His successor, David Cameron, used to sign off his messages LOL thinking that it meant "Lots of Love."
10) Teenager Marcel Fernandes Filho recently became the world's fastest texter by writing this message in 18.19 seconds: "The razor-toothed piranhas of the genera Serrasalmus and Pygocentrus are the most ferocious freshwater fish in the world. In reality they seldom attack a human."
These are just ten mini-stories from text messaging's ongoing narrative. In the past twenty years, it has saved many more lives and changed many more places than those listed here. Is your company a part of that story? If not, do they want to be? Email us today at firstname.lastname@example.com!
The post Did You Know? 10 Facts About Text Messaging! appeared first on Mobile Commons.
When people think about mobile marketing, millennials and young people immediately comes to mind. However, a recent Nielsen study shows that people aged 45-64 are actually the fastest growing demographic on the mobile frontier. Baby boomer's mobile usage is, well, booming. Within the next 5 years, baby boomers are projected to hold 70% of US disposable income and buy 49% of total consumer-packaged goods. So why should your company use mobile to engage this group of growing consumers?
Baby boomers may have grown up using technology of a different era, but they are quickly becoming the nation's largest demographic of mobile users and consumers:
Companies who want to stay competitive need to develop a mobile strategy that fits in with this valuable demographics' needs and text messaging is the number one way to bridge the gap.
Baby boomers are not only avid mobile users, they are avid consumers of media. Baby boomers are the main growth drivers behind Facebook and Twitter and average three hours per day in front of the television. Adding a mobile call to action to your existing media campaigns is not only the best way to maximize your cross channel marketing, it is also the best way to reach baby boomers and get them to take action.
Mobile connects boomers to the world around them, offers them the services and convenience that they want, and drives more sales. It's become the premiere marketing choice for companies dedicated to staying on the cutting edge of communication—are you one of them?
If you'd like to learn more about how to engage baby boomers with text messaging, please contact us at email@example.com.
The post Baby Boomers Text More than Ever appeared first on Mobile Commons.
Has your marketing campaign lost its edge? Maybe it's because you haven't introduced mobile. Text messaging is proving to be the fastest, easiest, and most accessible form of marketing today. Nearly every company can benefit from a mobile marketing strategy—here are just five reasons why.
When you have a call to action that needs to drive results, and drive them fast, text messages are your best bet. That's because 99% of text messages are read and responded to within 90 seconds of receiving them. This places text messages at a higher reading and response rate than email, social media, and print.
Time was the most crucial element when the Sierra Club wished to inform supporters of last-minute rallies. With less than a day to act, Sierra Club used text messaging to organize its supporters. Over 2,500 people texted in within a matter of hours! These kinds of instantaneous results are a hallmark of mobile marketing. Text messaging's high open rate ensures that your mobile campaign will be more efficient than using any other communication channel.
Only 12% of Facebook updates are read. 71% of tweets are ignored, and 88% of group emails go unopened! The truth is, there is too much content out there for people to read, so your message is probably getting lost in the crowd. But everyone carries a cell phone on them. By using mobile to draw attention to your other marketing channels, you can prompt people to look out for your Facebook update, tweet, or email. Indeed, several of our clients have found that text messaging drastically improves the open rates for other channels.
When the Human Society was raising money for their year-end fundraising campaign, they divided their supporters into two groups: one who received text message and email reminders to donate online, and one who received just email reminders. HSUS found that the group who received text messages was 77% more likely to donate online than the ones who did not! Messaging that lands in your pocket are the best catalysts for reminding people to take action.
Sound impossible? Not with mobile marketing. Although only 14% of adults ages 18-29 check their email on a daily basis, 99% of that same demographic send and receive over 180 texts every day. Studies show that lower income households and other undeserved populations also prefer to use text messaging to communicate over other channels, such as social media or email. This is because, while those demographics may lack regular Internet access, most of them own cell phones that they check on a regular basis.
New York City's Human Resources Administration realized that 88% of low-income job seekers used their cell phones on a daily basis. So they used text messaging to send out job resources for the unemployed. The results? 11 percent of people on their mobile list received job interviews, and half of those interviews became jobs. Long-shot possibilities became real opportunities—all with the help of text messaging.
Email chains are confusing. And many people don't answer phone calls from unknown numbers. But a short, snappy text message takes a matter of moments to read and respond to. Compared to other media channels, text messaging will give you the highest response rates.
Take the Brady Campaign as an example. They used email, social media, and text messaging to ask members to call senators to support their campaign to end gun violence. They found that a text message call to action generated 25-30 times better results than social media and email. That's an amazing result!
These case studies are just a few among many that have achieved incredible success through text messaging. The numbers for our other clients speak for themselves. DoSomething.org uses text messaging to help over one million teenagers in need with their Crisis Text Line. Reform Immigration for America's mobile campaign drove 60,000 calls to Congress. And the NYC Department of Health saw quit rates of smoking teenagers double through text messaging support.
The mobile revolution has proved, over and over again, its efficacy in driving change. By uniting communities, expanding knowledge, and empowering individuals, text messaging has demonstrated itself as one of the most powerful tools available to us today.
If you'd like to learn more about incorporating a mobile strategy into your marketing campaign, please email as at email@example.com to speak with a strategist today.
The post 5 Reasons Why You Need A Mobile Marketing Strategy appeared first on Mobile Commons.
We are excited to announce our newly redesigned Mobile Commons website, platform, and help center!
Mobile Commons has seen a number of transformations over the past few years, from expanding our client base to new industries to broadening our product offerings on our platform. We felt a need to move our brand forward to better represent these changes while staying loyal to what we've always stood for: instant communication with your mobile subscribers.
As a result, we have redesigned our logo and created a new adaptive website to offer you a better understanding of who we are and what we offer. On our new website, you will find:
In addition to our new website, we also updated the Mobile Commons platform to offer our customers a more streamlined experience in managing their mobile campaigns. Featuring a new navigation menu and searchable help center, we hope that this redesign will make it even easier for organizations to use our platform and achieve incredible results.
If you would like to see a demo of our new platform, contact us today at email@example.com!
The post Introducing the Redesigned Mobile Commons appeared first on Mobile Commons.
Mobile technology has lent a big hand in changing the healthcare industry's landscape. SMS chat, specifically, allows more and more individuals to making informed and proactive decisions about their health with instantaneous, private, and direct communication.
SMS chat allows you to speak instantaneously with a healthcare professional through texting in the same way you would with a friend or family member. Because it's easy, confidential, and effective, SMS chat is quickly becoming the preferred communication tool for doctors and patients alike. In some parts of the country, it is even now possible to text 911!
Live chat's function is simple. It allows patients to text in their healthcare questions, and the professional on the other end can respond as soon as they see it – making SMS chat allow patient-doctor conversations to occur in real time. Multiple professionals can man the help line, and each professional can engage in multiple conversations with different patients. All messages are saved for future reference if needed, and all communication is confidential. Sound efficient? It is–and also extremely effective.
Text messaging's ubiquity allows it to reach a more diverse audience. 91% of adults own mobile phones, and 85% of them use them for texting. Because text messages are simple, easy to send, and do not require the same learning curve as mobile apps, they are the most used communication tool across the U.S. And because mobile chat allows people to connect to healthcare professionals no matter where they are, it qualifies as the easiest and most direct form of communication available today.
Some health questions cannot wait. When individuals have an urgent health matter, the ability to send a question and receive a response instantaneously saves the healthcare industry money through by cutting back on costly false-alarm ER visits. Text messaging can also out-maneuver the costly results of patients who try to self-medicate or second guess their doctor's advice. Many hospitals already allow patients to text their local ER to see how long the wait time is. Imagine how much more efficient the industry could be if you skipped the wait time altogether!
People prefer to keep their personal health matters private. Not only are all text messages sent through a mobile platform required to be HIPAA compliant, but patients instinctively feel safer when professional advice from an anonymous provider lands directly in their pocket.
The confidentiality ensured with SMS chat is especially useful for organizations that serve vulnerable populations, such as young adults, underserved demographics, and people with mental health issues. Planned Parenthood, for example, had overwhelming success using SMS chat. In 2010, they set up a text chat "hotline" for teens to send in their sexual health questions. Health care experts provide real-time feedback and advice, and in some cases, directed the teens to local health clinics near them. Within two years, 250,000 people and counting had used their services.
The immediacy of chat, combined with the anonymity of text messaging, makes SMS chat the clear choice for many healthcare providers, including such organizations as the Iowa Department of Human Services and National Safe Place. When SMS serves as the first point of contact for a professional, it facilitates an ease on both the patients and the providers side that creates great efficiency throughout the healthcare industry as a whole.
SMS chat's three benefits—simplicity, immediacy, and confidentiality—make it the most effective way for healthcare providers to communicate with their patients about their personal health matters. More and more organizations are implementing SMS chat to better serve their communities. The results are clear: mobile communication is changing the landscape of the healthcare industry for the better.
For more information on SMS live chat, or to speak with a representative about mobile marketing in general, please contact us at email@example.com.
The post How SMS Chat Saves Time, Money and Peace of Mind appeared first on Mobile Commons.
Medication non-adherence is an overwhelmingly pervasive issue in the healthcare industry. Nearly 75% of adults are non-adherent in one or more ways, costing the healthcare industry $300 billion annually.
Medication non-adherence's reasons are as far reaching as its consequences. Health literacy, disorganization, low self-efficacy, and forgetfulness make up 75% of non-adherence cases. Its multiple causes make it difficult to address, and the responsibility for ensuring compliance often falls on unreliable shoulders.
Friends and family members, for instance, may try to assist, but they cannot ensure full-on support 100% of the time. Informational packets, detailing correct dosage levels and times, are helpful, but aren't guaranteed to be read or even understood.
Fortunately, there is a solution. More and more studies show that text messages are the smartest, most effective way to address medication non-adherence and encourage patient compliance. A simple daily text message is immediate, personable, always available, and easy to use.
How and why does it work so well?
Text Messages are Fast and Always By Your Side
90% of all adults in the U.S. own a cell phone. Anyone with a basic cell phone or smartphone can send and receive texts—indeed, even adults 65 and older send an average of 5 texts per day. This makes text messaging the most accessible way to reach the widest audience of patients. All it takes is a simple text message reminder at the time of each dosage to ensure a patient takes his or her medication.
Since people virtually never leave home without their cell phones, text message reminders also function as a 24/7-on-call private assistant. 99% of text messages are read within the first 90 seconds, which means that text messaging ensures that patients take their medication in a timely manner, as opposed to voicemails, emails or other mobile notifications, which they may not check frequently.
Theses features—accessibility and immediacy — make text messaging a more effective support system than informational packets, friends and family members, Post-it notes, or even daily calendars.
Text Messages Are Personable and Private
Many chronic patients who take multiple medications a day at various times are overwhelmed by the amount of information included with each pill. According to OtpumRx, 27% of medication non-adherers default on their medication because of health literacy issues. A personalized text message cuts through all the excess information to give patients simple, direct instructions about their medication.
Text messages encourage compliance by syncing up to a patient's medication schedule, ensuring that they their personal well-being does not slip through the cracks. With Mobile Commons, you can upload a personal medication schedule directly into our platform so that text message reminders are automatically scheduled for the correct times. A text message tailored towards a patient's exact medication schedule is a more active way of keeping the patient on track to recovery and reducing the likelihood of missed doses. And since text messages are discrete and personable, they allow the patient to feel engaged and cared for no matter where they are or what they are doing.
More and More Healthcare Professionals Are Sending Text Messages
OptumRx recently did a study involving two patient groups totaling 5,746 patients. One group received daily medication reminders via text messages, and one did not. The results were astounding: the group who received daily text message reminders had "significantly higher chronic oral medication adherence rates compared with members not opting to receive reminders." The savings per member per year were $724, leading to an annual savings of $724,00 for just 1000 patients!
Healthcare professionals aren't the only ones wising up. A new study by FICO shows that 80% of patients want the option of using their smartphone to interact with health care providers. Stuart Wells, FICO's chief product and technology officer, explains that individuals are becoming " more and more sophisticated about using information technology to make health-related decisions."
Text messaging can also be incorporated into every stage of the patient recovery process. Did a patient accidentally miss a dose? He or she can immediately connect with a healthcare professional via a one-on-one text messaging chat. Do your patients often forget to refill their medication? Sending prescription refill reminders can help ensure that they will never run out. Does your practice have high patient no-show rates? A text message can decrease the rate of missed appointments by over 30 percent!
Utilizing a mobile strategy to curb medication non-adherence not just a trend. It is a crucial element to strengthening the efficiency of the healthcare industry as whole while helping patients live happier, healthier, and more carefree lives. By using simple text message reminders to increase medication adherence, healthcare providers can save on outpatient care and reduce the rate of patient readmissions.
If you'd like to learn more about how text messages can treat medication non-adherence, or like to start your own mobile campaign, please contact us at firstname.lastname@example.com.
The post A Text Message a Day Keeps the Doctor Away appeared first on Mobile Commons.
Text messaging may be the most effective way to communicate, but do you know how to compose your texts to drive the most action? We've compiled a list of text messaging basics to help you keep your mobile users engaged and interested in what you have to say. Follow these four simple pointers to keep your mobile campaign in tip-top shape and keep your response rates high!
Nobody likes to get lost in the crowd. Whenever possible, address the person receiving your text message and sign off with the name of the person sending it. Personalized texts make the recipient feel like they matter, and encourages them to reply more so than mass texts that sound generic and indifferent.
The World Wildlife Fund decided to test what would happen if they signed their text messages with the name of the person working on the mobile campaign. They found that by including a personal signature, supporter response rates increased by up to 250 percent!
By engaging your mobile users on a personal basis, the likelihood that they will respond to your calls to action increases dramatically, leading you to achieve better results with your mobile campaign.
"Text speak" is a type of informal slang that people use while typing that uses abbreviations and misspellings, such as "gr8" or "c u later." Text speak should never be a part of your mobile campaign. It runs the risk of looking sloppy, no matter how commonly accepted it may be in day-to-day life. Even though you only have 160 characters to write your message, using complete words and sentences can make a big difference in how seriously your mobile users take your texts. Also, remember to proofread your text messages before you send them, just as you would any other kind of business communication!
A text message is only 160 characters. Writing short, concise statements will engage the reader while not overwhelming them. Have a lot to say? Our mobile strategy experts can help you devise a text message conversation that allows your business to text back and forth with your clients, creating a dialogue that will inform your consumers with short, bite-sized messages.
The Mobile Commons platform also allows you to segment users based on a wide variety of criteria including gender, age, interests, and more. By using information you previously collected from your users you can send them texts that are relevant to their situation, so you don't have to repeat the same questions. For example, if you already know their zip code, you can send them information about nearby events without having to ask them for their location each time you promote a new event.
At the end of your text message conversation, it's important to always include a clear call to action. What do you want your mobile users to do after reading your message? Whether you're trying to get them to call a Congressional representative or redeem a mobile coupon, make sure you are clear about how they can take the next step.
If you're running an informational campaign, include a link for smartphone users to click on so they can learn more about your product, service, or campaign on the mobile web. If you're launching an advocacy call-in day, include a phone number for supporters to call. If you want to get your mobile users to spread the word about your campaign, tell them to text you the numbers of their friends so they can opt in to participate as well.
Writing good text messages isn't always easy. More often than not, you will have a lot to say to your mobile users, and it won't always fit into 160 characters. However, by following these four simple tips, you can design a mobile campaign that engages users, encourages them to respond to your texts and drives them to take action in the real world!
To learn more about how you can improve your text messages to see better results, contact your mobile strategist or email us at email@example.com.
The post How to Craft the Perfect Text Message appeared first on Mobile Commons.
A good text message campaign is an integral tool in reaching a wider audience. Rather than competing with other media channels, text messages amplify your message by connecting to outlets of communication. A good text messaging campaign works at the core of your marketing mix — email, social, digital, television, and print —to help improve ROI and get better results.
In a world where social media platforms are every way you turn, many have grown accustomed to the one-to-many form of communication. Whether you are posting an update on Facebook, sending out a tweet, or posting a picture on Instragram, your update is the same to all your followers. There is no personalization. Text messaging, on the other hand, allows for a high level of customization and personalization. You can address your text message directly to the consumer's needs and create a conversation that best suits their interests. The key lies in creating a unique conversation which will lead to a lasting relationship with each customer.
Texting and email share many of the same characteristics. They are private, personalized messages that are instantaneously delivered. But people are not constantly sitting in front of the computer, whereas most people will not leave the house without their phone. Couple people's attachment to their mobile devices with the fact that only 55% of phone owners use smartphones with email options, and it is easy to see how texting receives higher exposure than email. Indeed, people look at their phones an average of 150 times a day. But 57% of people check their email fewer than 4 times daily. And whereas 88% of group emails go unopened, texts are read and responded to within three minutes of receiving them. Because a text is immediate, accessible, and private, it stands a better chance of being read–and responded to–than other marketing platforms.
Because a text is personal, immediately accessible, and engages the client in meaningful conversation, it can be used in conjunction with any other media channels to greatly improve your results. Not sure if your Twitter feed is reaching the right consumer? Use mobile to get feedback from your followers. Running a television ad? Including a visual mobile call to action can engage the consumer instantly. The same is true for print. Trying to reach people who don't watch television, or don't use Facebook? All you need is for them to send you a text message to opt-in to receiving texts from your company and you can instantly engage them over mobile.
Adding mobile to your marketing mix is simple, but it can make a huge difference in how customers interact with your company. People are constantly on their mobile devices, so it's easy for them to send a short text message and start communicating with you instantly. The Shedd Aquarium and the Sacramento Kings both used mobile to engage with their customers and saw incredible results.
Learn how text messaging campaigns can complement your existing media and increase conversion rates by contacting us at email@example.com today!
The post 3 Ways Text Messaging Can Improve Your Marketing Mix appeared first on Mobile Commons.
When you check your smartphone, chances are you see a mix of text messages and push notifications. Although both mobile messaging options appear to be the same thing on your screen, there are key differences in how they work.
- Push Notifications are short messages sent by installed mobile applications that show up on a user's phone to alert the user of new updates, offers, and reminders. These notifications can be sent even when the user isn't actively using the application.
- Text Messages (SMS) are short messages sent between two or more mobile phones. Text messages can be sent from a short code or long code number directly to a user's unique phone number.
Push Notification vs. Text Message
So what are the benefits of each type of messaging and when is text messaging better than push notifications?
In order for users to receive push notifications, they must first download your app onto their smartphone and then accept the invitation to receive push notifications. This automatically excludes everyone who either doesn't own a smart phone or doesn't have your app.
Text messaging eliminates both these barrier points to entry by allowing anyone with a mobile phone to join your campaign, regardless of make, model, or carrier. Users do not need to download anything to opt in to a campaign; they can join by simply filling out a web form or by texting in a keyword to a shortcode. Once they are opted in, users will instantly start receiving your text messages, promotions, and offers.
These days, it's simple for mobile applications to use personal data to target their messages to users. With push notifications, you can send messages personalized to people's name and even location, but the "sender" will always be the name of your app.
With text messaging, not only can your organization address users using their personal data, but you can also personalize the 'sender' information and sign off with the name of a specific person from your organization. The World Wildlife Fund found that sending a personal text message signed with a person's name increases response rates by over 250% compared to a generic text message. Your organization can resonate with more users by showing that there's a real person behind your messages.
A push notification is a one-way communication channel. Users can receive messages from your app, but they cannot respond to you directly or take any immediate action. This creates a non-interactive experience, increasing the likelihood the user will turn off the push notifications and opt out of the campaign.
Text messaging, on the other hand, is highly interactive and inherently a two-way conversation. When a user receives a text message from your organization, they are already conditioned to respond and interact with you. Users can text back and forth with your organization, increasing engagement and building a relationship with your brand in the process.
While push notifications may be useful for certain apps, text messaging is still the best method for communicating to and connecting with your organization's mobile users. If you want to reach more users, increase personalization, and create a more engaging and interactive user experience, text messaging is the way to go.
If you want to learn more about SMS or start your own mobile campaign, contact us at firstname.lastname@example.com.
The post Benefits of Text Messaging vs. Push Notifications appeared first on Mobile Commons.
Ten years ago, text messaging's role in the classroom was a head scratcher. These days, however, it is a no brainer. College campuses nationwide are joining the mobile revolution as they realize that it is the best way to reach their students.
Make a phone call and a student is unlikely to answer. But send a text, and there's a 99% chance a student will read it. Mail a letter? Many college students don't even know where to pick up their mail! But send a text, and a student will be 40 times more likely to respond to you than if they received an email. The numbers are in, and texting wins by a landslide.
Harvard researchers published a 2013 study illustrating how texting increases enrollment. The study explains how low-income students are at higher risk of summer melt, decreased enrollment, and dropping out after the first semester. With the help of text messaging, these youths–whose financial hardship and lack of resources contribute to their difficulty establishing contact with their colleges–managed to overcome situational obstacles with the help of text messaging.
Additional research suggests that texting can help students focus academically. Text messages reminding students of important academic dates, helping them register appointments with guidance counselors, and offering one-on-one academic support all help students stay on the ball. Because texts are short, private, and immediately accessible, they can intervene before a student has drifted too far off the academic path.
Universities nationwide are embracing the mobile revolution. Saint Mary's College in Texas, for example, has implemented a system where students can text to enroll in classes. Minnesota State University uses texting to help students who are struggling academically. And the University of Virginia offers application support through text messaging. All of these methods have helped keep classrooms full at a time when college admissions have dropped for the first time in 15 years.
College enrollment, grade improvements, and staying connected with student services are just a few of the advantages of higher education texting. Consider the range of activities that a text message campaign can be used for—textbook rentals and returns, last-minute schedule changes, and even student rallies—and you can see why the mobile revolution is not just here to stay, it's changing the face of higher education for the better.
If you'd like to learn more about implementing a text message program at your higher education institution, please contact us at email@example.com.
The post Higher Education and the Mobile Revolution: How Texts Make Better Schools and Students appeared first on Mobile Commons.


text:
Don't Have an Account? Join the IHG® Rewards Club
Redeem when you want, for what you want. Your points never expire and there are no blackout dates.
Reward Nights
When redeeming points for a Reward Night, you may only book one room at a time.
Once you complete your Reward Night reservation you will be given the option to duplicate this reservation.
* Requires affiliation in the respective organization.
** Best Available Rate Search does not include affiliation rates.
To book more than 9 rooms for one stay or request a quote, please use our Easy Meetings tool or call 1-800-MEETING (in United States, Mexico and Canada).
The hotel's 360 well-designed guest
View More
The hotel's 360 well-designed guest rooms are well soundproofed, luxurious & comfortable. Located on the 18th-20th floors, ourCrowne Plaza Club Floors offer tailor-made services in an executive style, with exceptionally high levels of comfort.
Meeting facilities is a must to introduce, the hotel features a 1050 sqm pillar-freeCrowne Ballroom, eight flexible function rooms, nature daylight Foyer and 480 sqm glass-roofed Chapel.
The hotel features 500 sqm of space for health oriented leisure options, including a fully equipped gym, sauna, spa, steam room and our heated indoor swimming pool with glass roof and bar.
Treat yourself to wonderful authentic German food & home-brewed beers at our signatureHopfenstube Restaurant. Our 'Cafe on the 6th' all-day dining restaurant offers an extensive buffet or a la carte option throughout the day. Or simply relax at our very comfortable Chao Lounge off the lobby for afternoon tea or a refreshing drink.
Best Price Guarantee
We promise you access to the guaranteed best available prices, or your first night is free.
Online Reservation Guarantee
Your room is guaranteed.
No Booking Fees!
We do not charge any booking fees for making reservations directly with us.
Data Privacy and Site Security
IHG takes your privacy seriously and works to protect you. All personal information you provide is encrypted and secure.
About IHG
IHG Careers
IHG Global Brands
Explore Hotels
Email Management
Terms of Use
Privacy Statement
Site Map
Learn more about our free apps
and mobile websites.
Top Destinations
Atlanta Hotels | Chicago Hotels | Dallas Hotels | Honolulu Hotels | Houston Hotels | Los Angeles Hotels | New York Hotels | Orlando Hotels | San Francisco Hotels | Washington DC Hotels | Las Vegas Hotels | New Orleans Hotels | London Hotels | Paris Hotels | Dubai Hotels | Sydney Hotels | Hong Kong Hotels | Amsterdam Hotels | Toronto Hotels | Shanghai Hotels
© 2014 IHG. All rights reserved. Most hotels are independently owned and operated.
The standard cookie policy for this website is to allow all cookies. This helps to ensure you have the optimal experience. If you would like to continue with our optimal website experience, you don't need to make any changes. If you would like to learn more about how we use cookies or change your settings, you can use the link at the bottom of any page at any time.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
I wanted a yellow dominated quilt set and this looked perfect in the photo. Instead I got a set with a white - not yellow - baqckground. You can see it in one of the pillows on the bed which has the white background. I was very disappointed since do not want the white background one and never had a problem with Overstock before. The quilt itself is a decent quality, good for the spring and summer but nothing wonderful. I regret this purchase.
I purchased this quilt set in 2009, I believe. The only negative is that it's a little smaller than I prefer for my king size bed, but I have made it work. The color has lasted through many, many washings and is still vibrant. The stitching has also held-up and I am very pleased with my purchase. You can't beat the price, as well. You won't regret this buy!
I like the quilt. The colors are bright and fribant. Will cheer up and bedroom. The quilt is lighter weight then I expected but overall I am pleasedn.
This was a very reasonably priced quilt set. I can't say much about wear because it is in a guest bedroom. Seems warm and nice pillow covers were included.
This quilt is absolutely gorgeous!!!! The quality is great, and the colors are just beautiful!! This is a great buy and you will not be disappointed. The only concern I had is that I felt it was a little short in width for my queen bed, and I wish I had ordered the king size instead. This would have given me a little more overhang on the sides, but I am not displeased at all!! It's not that short in width, but I like my quilts to hang a little lower on the sides than this one does. However, I still think it looks beautiful on my bed and I am very happy with my purchase. I would definitely recommend this if you are contemplating it. I am considering buying a second one in a king size for when this one begins to wear.
Great colors and nice quality for the price. I am very pleased with this set.
This print has coral in it which I do not like but did not want to pay to send back. I'll live with it but not thrilled. Very bright colors. I love color but too bright.
Usually leaves our warehouse in 1-2 business days. *
Items must be returned in new or unused condition and contain all original materials included with the shipment. More details
FINAL SALE EXCLUSION: Items marked as FINAL SALE are not returnable unless the problem you experience is the result of our error.
Our standard shipping method is ground shipping. We also offer expedited shipping for most items. Your final shipping cost and estimated delivery timeframe will be available at checkout.
Standard shipping details
Expedited shipping details
* For your safety, some orders go through our loss prevention department. If we select your order for this process, we will immediately notify you that there may be up to a 3-day delay on your order.
** Most Oversize orders are delivered within 1-4 weeks. Some orders may take 6 weeks to be delivered.


text:
Brittany Pickering
New Year's resolutions. We all make them. We all abandon them by the end of February. But, hey, it's not yet February, and this fine city offers the perfect selection of local shops you can visit to help jumpstart your resolution, whatever it is and however long you stick to it.


text:
It's fair to say that the Miami Dolphins have been aggressive this offseason. But don't expect the spending to stop any time soon, with quality free agents still on the market.
With Elvis Dumervil and Osi Umenyiora reportedly close to joining other teams this weekend, will the Dolphins make a late push for a pass rusher in free agency?
With the beginning of free agency set to begin in a matter of hours, which free agents would you like the Miami Dolphins to sign?
With Davie in lockdown, many of us are left wondering: can Jeff Ireland actually land his top free agent targets?
Hey everyone! I know it's been a while since I checked in here at the site. Been busy - but not too busy to read the blog. I'm like many of you out there - probably do more reading of Kevin and...
One of the most hotly contested topics this offseason among Miami Dolphins fans has been the future of our very own Brian Hartline. Out of contract going into the 2013 season, Hartline wants to get...
Every week I will be taking a sneak peak into some of the more realistic options hitting the free agency market this offseason. These will be high impact players that should come in and fill some...
ProFootball Talk relays a report from Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald stating that Jake Long is believed to be seeking "at least $10 million a year" and the Fins are "pessimistic" about their chances of retaining him. The Dolphins may be willing to offer that much money per year, but much of it will have to come in the form of incentives relating to health and performance. If Long is demanding that much in base salaries, then don't expect to see him back with the Dolphins next year based on the latest reports on negotiations.
We'll email you a reset link.
If you signed up using a 3rd party account like Facebook or Twitter, please login with it instead.
You must be a member of The Phinsider to participate.
We have our own Community Guidelines at The Phinsider. You should read them.
You must be a member of The Phinsider to participate.
We have our own Community Guidelines at The Phinsider. You should read them.
Choose an available username to complete sign up.
In order to provide our users with a better overall experience, we ask for more information from Facebook when using it to login so that we can learn more about our audience and provide you with the best possible experience. We do not store specific user data and the sharing of it is not required to login with Facebook.


text:
Lugene Hudson
New Castle News
NEW CASTLE — Very seldom do I get cravings for any type of food.
When I do, it's for something I haven't had in a long time.
So when I had a chance to order polenta at an annual Italian church festival in Youngstown, I did. For those who may not be familiar, polenta is a dish made with cornmeal. It is usually prepared by placing it in a pan while warm, then allowing it to firm up as it cools. Sometimes, cooks cut the firmed polenta into squares and sauté them in a pan. And usually it is served with sauce.
Why would anyone get so excited over what some simply refer to as mush?
Well, for one, I never make it because my husband doesn't like it. He grew up in an Italian household where his father prepared homemade pasta and sauce every week, and also made the aforementioned polenta. It just wasn't up Doug's gustatory alley along with his dislike of anything "custardy."
The vendor where we purchased the polenta was generous with the serving size. I told myself to only eat half and take the rest home. I ravaged it all, leaving not one crumb on the white Chinet plate. We sat at a table with a group of older, self-proclaimed Italian ladies who were entertained by my enjoyment of what they consider everyday food — all the while asking how many children did we have and how long had we been married.
As we prepared to go see other attractions, I had to guess the age of each woman. The answer was, in counter-clock fashion from where I was seated — 88, 77, 90, 93 and 76. I was astonished because these women looked amazing. It must be the polenta. Or the olive oil. Or the sauce. Or all of the above.
There was one other indulgence I recently enjoyed to the max. Although I'm originally from the hot-dog capital, I rarely eat those, either. Yet, one evening, a grilled-to-perfection hot-dog with a lightly grilled bun and spicy golden mustard sounded like the best thing in the world to me. So hubby obliged.
Before I Ieft the festival, someone asked me if I was getting more to take home for the next day.
No, I said.
There are occasions when once is enough because it was delicious the first-time around and I wanted that memory to linger.
Today, we ask for your culinary stories and recipes — especially those that celebrate summer.
And if you have stories or recipe variations to share about polenta, let us know.
6 cups water
2 teaspoons salt
1 3/4 cups yellow cornmeal
3 tablespoonfuls unsalted butter
Bring 6 cups of water to a boil in a heavy large saucepan. Add 2 teaspoons of salt. Gradually whisk in the cornmeal. Reduce the heat to low and cook until the mixture thickens and the cornmeal is tender; stirring often, about 15 minutes. Turn off the heat. Add the butter and stir until melted.
Chicago-Style Dogs
4 Oscar Mayer Selects Premium beef franks
4 poppy seed hot dog buns
1 small tomato, cut into 8 wedges
4 kosher dill pickle spears
4 teaspoons yellow mustard
1/4 cup chopped onions
1/4 cup sweet pickle relish
Cook franks as directed on package.
Fill buns with franks; place 2 tomato wedges one side of each frank and one pickle spear on other side.
Top with remaining ingredients.
Tomato Pie
1 Ready-to-use refrigerated pie crust (1/2 of 14.1-oz. package)
4 tomatoes, chopped
1/2 cup chopped sweet onions
1/2 teaspoons dried basil leaves or 1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil
1 1/2 cups Kraft shredded three cheese with a Touch of Philadelphia
3 tablespoons mayonnaise
Heat oven to 350.
Line 9-inch pie plate with pie crust as directed on package for one-crust pie. Pierce bottom and side with fork. Bake 12 to 14 minutes or just until edge begins to brown. Meanwhile, place tomatoes in colander set over bowl; press onto tomatoes with back of spoon to release as much juice as possible. Discard juice.
Sprinkle onions onto bottom of crust; top with tomatoes and basil. Combine cheese and mayo; spoon over tomatoes to within 1/2 inch of edge.
Bake 30 to 32 minutes or until filling is heated through and crust is golden brown. Sprinkle with additional basil, if desired.
Raspberry Dessert
2 cups raspberry sorbet, softened
1 package (1 oz.) Jell-O vanilla flavor fat-free sugar-free instant pudding
1 cup cold fat-free milk
1 tub Cool Whip sugar-free whipped topping, thawed
1 cup fresh raspberries
Spoon sorbet into foil-lined 9x5-inch loaf pan; freeze 10 minutes.
Beat pudding mix and milk in medium bowl with whisk 2 minutes. Stir in Cool Whip and spread over sorbet.
Freeze 3 hours or until firm. Unmold onto place; remove foil. Let dessert stand 10 minutes to soften slightly before slicing to serve. Top with berries.
*Can soften sorbet in microwave on medium or 50 percent for 10 to 15 seconds or until slightly softened.
Peanut Butter and
Chocolate Crumble Bars
1 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
2 cups old-fashioned oat
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 package (8 squares) semi-sweet chocolate
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
Heat oven to 350.
Beat butter and sugar in large bowl with mixer until well blended. Add combined oats, flour and baking soda; mix well. Press 3 cups onto bottom of 13x9-inch pan sprayed with cooking spray.
Microwave chocolate in small microwaveable bowl on HIGH 1 1/2 minutes or until melted, stirring after 45 seconds. Stir in peanut butter. Carefully spread over crust; sprinkle with remaining crumb mixture.
Bake 22 to 25 minutes or until edges are golden brown.
*Crunchy peanut butter can be substituted.
(Recipes have been tested by Kraft Foods)


text:
Wedding Videographers near arcadia,sc
Other Wedding Vendors near arcadia,sc:
|Wedding Band (50)
|Wedding Beauty & Health (169)
|Wedding Catering (174)
|Wedding Ceremony Music (49)
|Wedding DJ (136)
|Wedding Dress & Attire (144)
|Wedding Event Rentals (60)
|Wedding Favors & Gifts (48)
|Wedding Flowers (183)
|Wedding Invitations (110)
|Wedding Jewelry (81)
|Wedding Lighting & Decor (19)
|Wedding Officiant (80)
|Wedding Photography (488)
|Wedding Planning (213)
|Wedding Rehearsal Dinner (21)
|Wedding Transportation (30)
|Wedding Travel Agents (24)
|Wedding Venue (372)
|Wedding Videography (66)
You've chosen the maximum (5) items in this category. Compare your items or remove and replace with another.Compare Now
0 Vendors Selected. Select up to 5 vendors to compare in one of the following categories: Venues, Bands, Catering, Photography or Videographers.
That Rainwater4 Reviews
Southeastern Wedding Videography/Photography/Design
Columbia, SC | 843-250-0640
We work with couples just like you who desire to have a memorable & high quality video while being mindful of their budget. Our clients appreciate...(more)
Contact Us Website
If you've considered our Winter Wedding Deal but chose to stick with one of our year-round packages, we still have a perk for you! Take 15% off any of the packages if your wedding falls in the months of October, November, December, January, or February!
Jpellin Videography & Graphic Design6 Reviews
Greenwood, SC | 864-344-2587
Videography & Graphic Design Affordable, Creative & Professional Wedding Videography Jpellin videography services creates the perfect memory of...(more)
True Cinema Entertainment1 Review
Greer, SC | 425-387-7699
We believe that your wedding day is one of the most important days of your life, so we do whatever we can to make sure that every moment of your...(more)
Berthing Cleaner Productions, LLC10 Reviews
Columbia, SC | 864-787-4013
Berthing Cleaner Productions is a full service Video Production company located in Columbia, South Carolina. We own HD/Video equipment and are...(more)
Goss Media10 Reviews
Videography and DJ combo packages available , GA | 706-831-6343
Goss Media is a Christian multimedia production company that offers high quality videography for anyone on any budget. We are passionate about our...(more)
Contact Us Website
Active Military are eligible to receive 15% off any wedding videography or DJ package of their choice.
Cinema Couture6 Reviews
Irmo, SC | 803-360-9164
We take a different approach to shooting your wedding video. We think the beauty in your wedding goes beyond the big shots and staged moments. As...(more)
Cinema Weddings20 Reviews
Breathtaking, timeless cinematography
Columbia, SC | 803-522-4823
We are a team of cinematographers that specialize in cinematic storytelling, destination weddings, and aerial cinematography. We absolutely...(more)
Contact Us Website
When you book us for your wedding and mention you found this discount on wedding wire, we will give you 50% off the Same Day Edit addition to your cinematography package!
Jacob Carter Productions4 Reviews
Professional Videos. Perfect Memories.
Columbia, SC | 803-608-0600
I am a professional filmmaker creating a professional wedding pieces that capture your special day. The day goes by fast and you need something to...(more)
Bride Theater Wedding Films5 Reviews
Creative, Dramatic and Fun Wedding Highlight Videos
Greenville, SC | 864-787-0232
Bride Theater® produces stunning wedding films. I specialize in Dramatic, Engaging, and FUN Wedding Films. Forget everything you thought you knew...(more)
Better Tie Productions LLC33 Reviews
Taylors, SC | 864-386-5727
Better Tie Productions is a company that I started (Daniel Yopp, owner) to help people get the best of the industry. We specialize in state of...(more)


text:
Plan Your Visit
Buy Tickets
The Museum Store
Online Collections
Get Connected
Special Exhibitions
Exhibition Halls
Archived Exhibits
Beyond the Exhibits
Sea Center
World Oceans Day
Visitor Information
Sustainable Seafood Program
Sea Center Volunteer Program
Planning a Field Trip to the Sea Center
Planetarium Shows
& Times
Upcoming Events
Get Involved
Star Parties
2012: Myths and Facts
School & Teacher Services
Children's Programs
Teen Programs
Family Programs
Adult Programs
Chumash Life
Collections &
Science Pub
Invertebrate Zoology
Vertebrate Zoology
Museum Library
Antique Natural History Art
Beyond the Exhibits
Online Collections Database
Levels & Benefits
Join or Renew
Gift of Membership
Members-Only Events
Adventurer's Club
Support SBMNH
Donate Now
Leadership Circles of Giving
Legacy Giving
Corporate Sponsors
Annual Report
Mission Creek
Legacy Society
Butterfly Sponsorship
About Us
Plan Your Visit
About Santa Barbara
A Brief History
The Museum's
Master Plan
Special Event Rentals
Our Green Credentials
Volunteer Opportunities
Employment / Internships
Key Contacts
Get Connected
Sea Center
Sustainable Seafood Program
Educational Materials
Educational Materials
Wild Shrimp & Prawns
Wild Shrimp & Prawns
share page:
Wild Shrimp/Prawns
There are dozens of shrimp species that are farmed or caught in a variety of ways and places, leading to large variation in the sustainability of shrimp products. There are two main types of shrimp: warm-water and cold-water. Warm-water can be farmed or wild. Cold water is always wild. By far the most common shrimp in restaurants is warm water, i.e. tiger, white, jumbo, or rock shrimp, and this is the hardest kind to get from a sustainable source.
Almost all cold-water shrimp, i.e., salad, northern or pink shrimp, is considered sustainable. They can be sourced from northern California, Oregon or British Columbia. They are trawled in open waters where bycatch and trawl damage are minimal. We are fortunate here in Santa Barbara that our locally caught ridgeback shrimpand spot prawns are incredibly tasty and harvested sustainably. They are available fresh October through May.
The only acceptable source of warm-water shrimp in our program comes from the U.S., primarily found in the Gulf states. However, warm-water shrimp, whether fished or farmed is generally either not eco-friendly or is energy/resource intensive, so we discourage the use of these products.
Why is warm-water shrimp so unsustainable?
Wild warm-water shrimp is caught in bays and estuaries with small-mesh nets dragged along the sea floor. These trawl nets haul up anything in their path, including the bottom habitat itself, like corals, sponges, and algae. There are two main problems with this fishing method: It is inefficient.
On average, ten pounds of sea life are discarded dead as'bycatch' for every pound of shrimp taken. Many of these animals are sensitive to extinction – turtles, corals, juvenile snappers and many more. In some areas, trawl nets also inadvertently catch and drown marine mammals such as dolphins.
It destroys the sea floor. Trawl gear bulldozes the habitat so that fish and other sea life can no longer flourish in the area.
Recent technological fixes to address these problems include lighter trawl gear that elevates the net instead of scraping along the bottom, escape hatches in the nets for turtles, and required on-board GPS systems to enforce no-trawl zones where dolphins congregate. Even with these preventative measures high levels of bycatch are still a big problem.
The U.S. has the best adoption and enforcement of these improvements. However, wild
U.S. shrimp mostly comes from the Gulf and it can be cost-prohibitive to truck shrimp from the Gulf. Unfortunately, no other country exports wild shrimp harvested with improved fishing methods, so imported wild warm-water shrimp is not acceptable.
Farmed Shrimp
Farming shrimp can either be done cleanly or with major destruction and pollution, which means you have to buy your farmed shrimp carefully if you want to serve it. U.S. farmed or "closed-system" shrimp is the only trustworthy eco-friendly source we recommend. About 75% of farmed shrimp is tiger prawn produced in Asia, in particular in China and Thailand. The other 25% is mainly Pacific white shrimp from Latin America. Mexico is a major source of farmed shrimp for California markets.
Most farmed warm-water shrimp are considered unsustainable because they:
Are farmed in warm coastal areas where mangrove forests are cleared to make shrimp ponds. Mangroves are a critical nursery habitat for many ocean fishesand provide protection from flooding. They also sustain coastal communities asa source for forage food. Over half the mangrove forests of the world have beenremoved, mostly for shrimp farms and tourist development. Building a shrimp farmmight bring in $4,000 an acre, but it will destroy natural resources that have beenestimated by the World Resources Institute to be worth $20,000.
Use high concentrations of chemical antibiotics, pesticides and fertilizers because the shrimp are grown in high density monocultures where disease outbreaks are rampant. For instance, formaldehyde, a carcinogen, is widely used as a pesticide in both in U.S. and foreign shrimp farms and remains in the shrimp when eaten. The high amounts of chemicals used in shrimp pond operations cause the ponds to accumulate a toxic sludge which is either dumped into the adjacent bay or the entire pond is abandoned to become a wasteland. New areas are cleared of mangroves and the cycle continues.
Contribute to the rise of antibiotic resistant bacteria worldwide. Some of these chemicals are banned in the U.S., but it is not illegal to import shrimp grown with them. The chemicals remain in the shrimp even when cooked and can pose serious threats to diners. In one study, shrimp cooked for 30 minutes at 212º F still retained 71 percent of the antibiotic chloramphenicol (so toxic it is not recommended for use in humans). The FDA has sometimes rejected shrimp imports because of unsafe drug residues, as well as high salmonella loads, but monitoring and enforcement are at an all time low.
Child labor is often used. Fair treatment of workers is also a perennial issue in the shrimp farming industry.
Sea Center
Gladwin Planetarium
Collections & Research
Support SBMNH
About Us
Site Map
Your privacy is important -
privacy policy
© 2014 Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History