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	<title>Jared Cook</title>
	<link>http://www.jaredcook.net</link>
	<description>technology news, online marketing, web design &#38; development</description>
	<lastBuildDate>Thu, 18 Feb 2010 04:51:30 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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	<item>
		<title>Users Trust Pretty Websites More</title>
		<description><![CDATA[
			
				
			
		
Some of you are saying, &#8220;duh,&#8221; but judging by the number of ugly, hard-to-use websites out there, not everyone understands this principle: people trust things that look better and are easier to use. I&#8217;m sure I&#8217;ve also read an article about how this is true with people too—beautiful people seem more trustworthy than ugly ones. [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.jaredcook.net/2010/02/users-trust-pretty-websites-more/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Facebook Becoming More Powerful Than Google, and Quick TurboTax Plug</title>
		<description><![CDATA[
			
				
			
		
The San Francisco Chronicle ran an article today about results posted by Compete Inc. showing that Facebook has passed up Google as the largest source of traffic for Yahoo and MSN portals as well as other sites.
&#8220;People are spending less time navigating the Internet on their own and  are now navigating the Internet based [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.jaredcook.net/2010/02/facebook-becoming-more-powerful-than-google-and-quick-turbotax-plug/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>How Crappy Landing Pages Kill Email Campaigns</title>
		<description><![CDATA[
			
				
			
		
Copyblogger posted some great findings on how crappy landing pages kill email campaigns. Here&#8217;s the summary:

Business-to-consumer companies are more likely to use readable URLs than business-to-business firms
Nearly 50% of the landing pages studied failed to repeat the email&#8217;s call to action
6 out of 10 companies use landing pages to sell products/services; other goals include lead [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.jaredcook.net/2010/02/how-crappy-landing-pages-kill-email-campaigns/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>De-emphasize User Interface Controls</title>
		<description><![CDATA[
			
				
			
		
Here&#8217;s a short, but insightful article from Minimali.st about making your application&#8217;s user interface invisible, which is a goal for interface design on the iPad. The gist of it is that users want to focus on content, not the interface, so make interface controls as invisible as possible while emphasizing the actions those controls perform. [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.jaredcook.net/2010/02/de-emphasize-user-interface-controls/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Ten UI Lessons from the Real World</title>
		<description><![CDATA[
			
				
			
		
From Component House:


Review your icons
Unrelated information shouldn&#8217;t be displayed together
Use the right punctuation or appropriate separators
Redundancy increases complexity
Identify and remove conflicting ideas
Hide unnecessary precision
Fix typos
Sentences with the right meaning
Alignment
Creativity saves the day

For the details and some hilarious example graphics, read the full article: Ten UI Lessons from the Real World.
]]></description>
		<link>http://www.jaredcook.net/2010/02/ten-ui-lessons-from-the-real-world/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Are You Fun to Follow on Twitter?</title>
		<description><![CDATA[
			
				
			
		
What makes one tweet more interesting than another? Surprisingly, it&#8217;s not necessarily the topic. Here&#8217;s what Tammy Erickson of the Harvard Business Review has to say about how we should tweet:

Don&#8217;t report banal details. Unless you&#8217;re observing a true breaking news event (and note: this does not include what you or your child ate for [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.jaredcook.net/2010/02/are-you-fun-to-follow-on-twitter/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Web Design vs. Web Development</title>
		<description><![CDATA[
			
				
			
		
Web design and web development are two entirely different things, although a person may be skilled at both. In my experience, though, web designers tend to think more like traditional artists (more free-flowing and &#8220;inspired&#8221; thoughts), and web developers tend to think more like traditional engineers (more structured and &#8220;logical&#8221; thoughts). While I think engineers [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.jaredcook.net/2010/02/web-design-vs-web-development/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Why the iPad Didn&#8217;t Impress, But Still Matters</title>
		<description><![CDATA[
			
				
			
		
Let&#8217;s be honest; there were two thoughts we all had at the end of the iPad unveiling:

&#8220;I can&#8217;t get over how much it sounds like a feminine hygiene product!&#8221; and
&#8220;It&#8217;s really just a big iPod Touch&#8230;&#8221;

I can&#8217;t help you with the first thought, but let&#8217;s talk about the second.
Is the iPad really just a big [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.jaredcook.net/2010/02/why-the-ipad-didnt-impress-but-still-matters/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Guide to Getting the Most Out of Twitter</title>
		<description><![CDATA[
			
				
			
		
For those of you new to Twitter, here&#8217;s The Complete Guide to Getting the Most Out of Twitter from Noupe. This guide is very thorough (read: long) and includes:

Terminology

Direct Messages
Hashtags
Lists
Replies
Retweets
Trending Topics


Etiquette
Tools (clients and services)
Finding people to follow
Twitter used for:

A promotional tool
Blogging
Problem solving
Productivity
News
Entertainment



You name the Twitter topic, this guide will teach you what you need to [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.jaredcook.net/2010/02/guide-to-getting-the-most-out-of-twitter/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>iPad Video Conferencing Not So Far Away?</title>
		<description><![CDATA[
			
				
			
		
AppleInsider has posted photos from Mission:Repair showing replacement iPad enclosures with a slot for a forward-facing camera: iPad photos show slot for forward-facing video camera. Could your video conferencing dreams come true after all? My bet is that we&#8217;ll see a camera in the second generation iPad, along with software updates including iChat and perhaps [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.jaredcook.net/2010/02/ipad-video-conferencing-not-so-far-away/</link>
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