A very wise man once said, "Keep it simple stupid!"  Or if you prefer the same four letter acronym, KISS can be said to stand for "Keep it simple sweetheart."  Which ever definition of the phrase sits best with you, it doesn't really matter.  My basic point here is when designing web interfaces and how they flow to accomplish a given task, you have to keep your primary end user in mind.  When I was a twenty-something software engineer fresh out of college and ready to take on the world, this fact was brought to my attention in a VERY clear and unforgettable way.  Here's how the story goes as I remember it.

A couple weekends ago, the Arizona Court Reporter's Association (ACRA) invited C2C Consulting, LLC to speak at their annual state-wide convention in Prescott, Arizona.  Randy went prepared to speak about the benefits of a website for those individuals in the court reporting profession, but because of a topic covered at a meeting over lunch, he ended up expounding upon the topic of websites to the value of social media and technology as a whole to their profession.

Everybody's dream is to own a business of their own.  So why then, do some small business owners resist what being "online" means and stick with the former marketing mediums of yesteryear?  The answer, I believe, is lack of understanding coupled with fear, a combination that may be lethal to some businesses.  Read on to understand how today's hippest small businesses are creating boom businesses by using the digital world as their storefront. 

The Internet has become one huge game of follow the leader.  Companies are spending huge dollars to find out all about your browsing habits.  For example let's say, you are in the market for some new sneakers.  In your quest for the perfect pair of shoes at the right price, you fire up your trusty Internet browser and begin the process of sniffing out your quarry and sizing it up for the kill; with free shipping too!  At this moment unless you take steps to ensure the sneaker manufacturers, distributors, and retail outlets are looking over your shoulder at every dark alley you browse down.  So you say, "How widespread is this?"  Or, perhaps you are thinking, "I didn't even know this was happening."  Now, keep in mind there is nothing even close to scientific about this data, but about two weeks ago I started conducting a survey on the websites I visit regularly (and no I won't name them.)  I found there are between 6 and 12 tracking tools showing up on every site.  Actually, the counts didn't surprise me at all, but the next valid question is just what kinds of tracking are they sites doing.

Having been born and raised in the midwest, I've done my fair share of chores around the barn, some fun, some not so much.  My family raised a small herd of dairy cows when I was a kid, and as most of you from that upbringing know, some of the cows would allow themselves to be milked by machine (the preferred method), and some would not.  Not wanting the milk from those "rebels" to escape the production cycle, we milked those individuals by hand.  One necessary item to complete this feat was the ol' milking stool.  Now to be honest with you it was a complex contraption made by nailing two boards together in the shape of a T, but that tried and true design does not do anything to further the real point of this article, so you'll see my stool has three legs.  Yes; now you can say you actually know a programmer / web-developer that can milk a cow and ride a horse, just in case the internet ever goes away!   One of the most common questions we receive from our small business customers is, "Do I need a Facebook account?"  As with just about everything in the technical world, the true answer is, "That depends."  I do believe there are some common sense steps to follow regarding a company's desire to incorporate social media into their marketing and sales efforts.

Recently, one of our large multi-site customers went live with a totally updated and revamped site.  The thought occurred to me that this is a topic that "anyone" responsible for the regular care and feeding of a website needs to have at top of mind.  To the point of sounding like a broken record I'm sure, I remind my clients regularly that websites are very much like real-estate.  The main difference is instead of the mantra being, "Location, location, location.  It is content, content, content."  To be honest, content is only part of a successful formula for creating a site that continually draws traffic and continues to grow your business.  A website is made up of three primary parts:  content, technology, and visual (look and feel), at its simplest level.  All of these foundation bits and pieces needs to be kept current and not looking stale.  Why else do you occasionally put a fresh coat of paint on the old homestead?

Last week, NSA boss Keith Alexander insisted that the various NSA surveillance programs had stopped "dozens" of terrorist attacks. This apparently confused Senators Ron Wyden and Mark Udall -- both on the Senate Intelligence Committee and privy to any such reports -- who claimed that they'd seen no such evidence. Over the weekend, the NSA...

Dear Lifehacker,I keep seeing new “smartwatches” show up on gadget sites, but they all seem pretty different. What is a smartwatch, exactly, and should I consider buying one?Sincerely,Watching WatchesDear WW,Just as a smartphone did with the telephone, a smartwatch provides live access to certain kinds of information and intelligent features to...

iOS: You have a ton of options for productivity apps on the iPhone, and one of the big problems with having so many options is that they don't integrate with each other that well. Dispatch is an email app that hopes to solve this problem. At its core, Dispatch is a competent email client with a nice set of gestures to work through your email. It...

This weekend, AT&T rolled out an update for iPhone 5 and 4S users that allows their phones to receive emergency and AMBER alerts. You can turn them off in Settings > Notifications (though some users don't have it just yet). [AT&T]...

Most of us strive to go noticed by a boss when we're first starting out at a new job, but as 37 Signals co-founder and author Jason Fried point out, sometimes that obscurity inherent when you're at a new job can actually work in your favor. When you're straight out of college, the natural reaction is to go all out and try to get your bosses to...

The world is under attack once more, and it's up to your squad of elite, turn-based soldiers to keep humanity safe. We've just gotten word that XCOM: Enemy Unknown is headed to a wide variety of iOS devices come this Thursday, June 20th. Everything from the iPad 2 to the fifth-gen iPod touch is getting a taste of Firaxis' XCOM effort -- should...

Looking to save some coin on your tech purchases? Of course you are! In this roundup, we'll run down a list of the freshest frugal buys, hand-picked with the help of the folks at Slickdeals. You'll want to act fast, though, as many of these offerings won't stick around long.If you're considering committing funds to a PlayStation Vita for use in...

Welcome to IRL, an ongoing feature where we talk about the gadgets, apps and toys we're using in real life and take a second look at products that already got the formal review treatment.Welcome back, and happy Monday. After a week of getting hands-on with all manner of laptops, we thought we'd spare you our thoughts on Ultrabooks this time...

With more than 15 million songs on Spotify, deciding what to listen to can be overwhelming. This list highlights the best Spotify apps for discovering new music, reading album reviews and exploring the social buzz of emerging bandsSEE ALSO: How to Make Free Ring TonesWhat's your favorite app on Spotify right now? Let us know in the comments...

Today's animated and interactive Google Doodle is all about honoring dads for Father's DayPressing the second "O" in the title activates a three-part slot machine in the "L," which scrolls through different images of fathers being fathers: coaching soccer, building dog houses, hosting barbecues. It's simple, fun and totally dad-approved. SEE...

This week's major news can be summed up with a clean "#iOS7." Facebook (finally) rolled out hashtag support, and Apple debuted the next "biggest thing to happen to the iPhone since the iPhone" since the last "biggest thing to happen to the iPhone since the iPhone": the bright new iOS 7. And of course our readers had much to say about it.Announced...

Welcome to our weekly edition of what’s hot in social media news. To help you stay up to date with social media, here are some of the news items that caught our attention. What’s New This Week? Facebook Launches Clickable Hashtags: Clickable hashtags are rolling out on Facebook. “When you click on a hashtag in [...]...

Facebook revealed more detail on how frequently it gets information requests from government agencies in a public statement late Friday. In a post on the company's press site, Facebook General Counsel Ted Ullyot said it received between 9,000-10,000 requests over the six-month period ending on Dec. 31, 2012.That adds up to roughly 1,500 requests...

There's been a coup d'état in Reddit's atheism community, according to its creator, and a political drama has been unfolding for more than two weeks.It stems from a disagreement over the type of content appearing there. In recent years, r/atheism has become known for memes, images, quote pictures and other content viewed by some as "low...

Deloitte predicts over 90% of Fortune 500 companies will have partially or fully implemented an enterprise social network by the end of 2013. An ESN, or "Intranets," is an internal workplace that streamlines communication among co-workers. They give employees a sense of online community and help forge connections between departments, especially...

Back in the old days, before smartphones, laptops and sushi-serving robots, there was a well-known social gathering called a campfire. It was wonderful: Friends and family would sit around hand-built flames, roasting marshmallows and telling scary stories until the sun roseSEE ALSO: Cody the Screaming Dog Sounds So Human It's ScaryIt's not the...