First, start by defining your business in as few sentences as possible. If you are creating profiles on the top social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook, you want to have a consistent description of your business on each site. Evaluate what categories or industries you most likely fall under. This is the beginning of developing your personal online brand. Develop a list of 10 descriptive keywords that you can consistently use to describe your business and that match up with your websites content. You have to think of yourself as a client who is searching for your service information online. If you were the customer what keywords would you type in a search engine to find your products and services? If you offer more than one service it is important to develop a list of keywords relevant to each service.

This may seem simple however it takes a lot of planning and developing to determine what keywords are most beneficial to use. You have to consider what keywords your competitors are using, what the monthly search rate is for your keywords (Are the words to broad? Do you have a chance to rank well for these words?), if you keywords not searched often enough, and so on. It is important to find the appropriate keywords most suitable for your business that you have a chance of ranking high for and optimizing those words throughout you’re online marketing campaign.

Thorough descriptions, professional web design, relevant content, optimized keywords and content, targeted niche audience, these are all important factors to evaluate for your online brand and must always remain consistent across the board. If you are in the beginning of developing your Business Website then TurkReno can help you focus on Website Development, Website Design, and Online Marketing, such as Search Engine Optimization or Pay-Per-Click Management. Choosing one business to help develop all three categories will be best for your online branding to stay consistent. Luckily, there are companies, such as TurkReno, that focus in great depth on Online Branding and can truly bring success to your website through online marketing.

If you choose to attach a business page to your personal page, you can promote your business to your friends by suggesting that they “like” your page.  Whether you use a personal or business account, you can promote your business with ads.

You can mix your personal and business page by sharing posts, photos and sharing with friends or you can keep them completely separate. This is determined by your security settings, how you post information and who you confirm as a friend. If you worry about what family or high school friends are going to post on your wall, consider keeping your accounts separate by not sharing information between them. For more information on business accounts, go to Facebook Help Center.

Now let’s get down to business promotion:

1. Create your Official Page. This page can be linked to your personal page or can be created as a business account. Business accounts have limited privilege. In order to make an official company page, you’ll have to have a Facebook account business or personal.  If you currently use your Facebook account to connect with family and personal friends, consider keeping the pages separate. It is possible to have all your “friends” under the same Facebook account by managing security settings, but it requires that you manage your account. You don’t want items posted to your wall that are not appropriate for your business friends.
2. Create your Official Page for a local business, product or group. Keep in mind your brand as you add character to your page. Your business summary and logo are essential to branding. You can add more detailed information and photos to give more personality. You can be formal, keep it light-n-lively or anywhere in between. If you need ideas, go to some other Official Pages of businesses in your industry or area. Don’t try to be just like another page or site, just use as a way to spark you own creativity. If your page will be a group effort, make sure you establish the ground rules and that one person is charged with brand monitoring.
3. Post to your Company Wall. If you have a blog, you should link or add your posts to Facebook using a Facebook application such as NetworkedBlogs.  If you have decided to post photos, upload flattering photos of company events individually or in albums.  Keep it interesting and mix up the types of  posts to appeal to your fans.  The frequency of posts is up to you, but once you start make sure you are consistent.  Start with once or twice a week to test the required time commitment.
4. Promote your Company Page by suggesting to your friends.  Facebook recently replaced the “Become a Fan” button with the “Like” button.  Not everyone likes the new terminology and the debate continues on what it is to be a fan or like a page.  For your Company Page, the important point is to get people to like and visit your page.  Provide useful information and use as a way to drive visits to your blog or website.
5. Promote your Company Page with an ad.  You can purchase impressions or clicks and choose your target audience. You can create variations of ads to test your marketing campaign using different logos, text and demographics.

These are 5 easy steps to start promoting your business with Facebook.  Experiment to see what gives you the best interactions. The Insights box, visible to administrators, gives you an indication of the amount of interaction with your business “friends.” You’ll also begin receiving weekly e-mails with updates that give helpful insights. And one good like, deserves another. Go to the businesses you know, favorite their pages and like their posts to get the ball rolling.

The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill may have a significant impact on local businesses for months or years to come. Many of our clients have questions about how to pursue claims with BP for loss of income resulting from the disaster. Click here for a summary of the claims process to assist you in seeking compensation for your business. For more information, please contact your HBK advisor.

For more information, please contact your HBK advisor or call your local HBK office:
Foley: (251) 943-5499
Fairhope: (251) 928-2443
Spanish Fort: (251) 626-0846
Brewton: (251) 867-3809

For more information, please see the latest news on the following links:

Eastern Shore Chamber of Commerce: http://www.eschamber.com/
Hartmann, Blackmon & Kilgore, P.C.: http://www.hbkcpas.com/
Alabama Gulf Coast Convention & Visitors Bureau: http://www.gulfshores.com/issues
Deepwater Horizon Response: http://www.deepwaterhorizonresponse.com/

Photo Courtesy of the Mobile Press-Register.

We arrived at Ozio shortly before 7PM to find an almost packed house lined up to enjoy fine wine, mixed drinks, cocktails, live music by Jeff Glickman on acoustic guitar and, most of all, pizza. It took a moment, but we were greeted with a smile and the absolutely most attentive and polite waitress that we’ve ever had to date.

Both reviewers had un-sweet tea but were offered wine, mixed drinks, and Coke-Cola products as an alternative. We started off our meal with the calamari appetizer, which was served lightly battered with a very delicate but spicy lemon butter dipping sauce unlike any we’ve ever had. One reviewer stated that the calamari was unique enough to be a highlight of its own for the restaurant.

The pizza we ordered was called “Gardinio”, created with fresh red and green peppers, Crimini mushrooms, sliced red onions and arugula. We later found out that the dough of the pizza is not actually tossed. Instead, it is kneaded by hand into the delicacy that it will be once baked. Made as a 14 inch pie, this pizza was both light, healthy and filling all at the same time.

As you can see from the picture, it’s a delicious, hand-made pizza that is served fresh. We didn’t ask if it could be made to order. But judging from what we saw in the kitchen it wouldn’t be hard to get your pizza exactly the way you prefer, given some time.

Ozio provides an atmosphere that’s available for special occasions, a reason to be romantic and families. When you consider the quality at the same price, if not a better price than the corporate chains that really never put that extra care into the experience like Ozio does, you know for sure that you’ve found a keeper.

You can find Ozio online at:

Pizzeria Ozio – Main Site: http://www.pizzeriaozio.com
Twitter: @PizzeriaOzio
Facebook: Ozio

Ozio is easily the dining that you’d wished you’d always knew about – a best kept secret of the Eastern Shore and Daphne, if you will – for an absolutely world-class and stellar experience. The service alone was enough to want to go back, not just the food.

We’ve gotten a lot of calls since the oil spill happened and it’s put everyone on pins and needles. But, truth be told: We’re still fishing and the catches couldn’t be better! We’ve been commercial fishing east of the spill and went out on 3 different trips this weekend alone. We’d like to just share with you a few quick facts that seem to be misunderstood across the web (This is from the Gulf Shores Conventions and Visitors Bureau):

Gulf Oil Spill Update, Sunday, May 16, 11:30 a.m. – http://www.gulfshores.com/issues

• Beaches across the island are clear. Sporadic quantities of tarballs were found washed up on the beach Tuesday in areas between Lagoon Pass in Gulf Shores west to Fort Morgan. Contracted crews immediately went to work to clean the affected areas.
• There have been no reports of oil odor along the beaches of Gulf Shores, Orange Beach or Fort Morgan. At its closest point, the slick is approximately 50-60 miles away from the most western tip of our island.
• The Alabama Department of Public Health and Alabama Department of Environmental Management stated that there is no foreseeable need to close beaches and, short of a drastic change, they have no plans to do so.
• Tarballs travel independently of an oil slick and are not an indication that the slick itself will travel in the same direction or to the same area. The oil slick still has not reached the beaches of Gulf Shores and Orange Beach and, according to NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) forecasts, is not expected to for at least 72 hours. Forecasts beyond 72 hours are not available.
• According to NOAA, tarballs DO NOT pose a health risk to the average person. However, beachgoers are advised not to pick them up if they encounter any on the beach. Click here to read NOAA’s information about tarballs.
• NOAA is providing daily updates to the closed fishing area, based on changes in the size or direction of the oil slick. To view the most recent map, visit http://sero.nmfs.noaa.gov/.
• Although NOAA has closed commercial and recreational fishing in a limited area between the mouth of the Mississippi River and Florida’s Pensacola Bay, there is a large area of the gulf still open. Charter boats are leaving Orange Beach, Gulf Shores & Fort Morgan every day to fish areas up to 25-30 miles out and in our inshore waters.

We would absolutely love to take you out on either one of our boats, the Action CAT or the Emerald Spirit. Either boat can make sure you have the best vacation possible while visiting the beautiful Alabama Gulf Coast. Give us a call and let us give you a memorable vacation you’ll want to return to year after year!

DO NOT BELIEVE EVERYTHING YOU SEE ON THE NEWS ABOUT THE OIL SPILL! EVERYTHING ON THE ALABAMA COAST IS JUST FINE! (Or at least it was when we wrote this…now, it’s really, really bad.)

We are tired of the fear-mongering and it has had a direct impact on our clients income which in turn hurts our income because they no longer have a budget to advertise in some cases. One thing that this has taught everyone is that regardless if it’s true or not (in this case it’s not), the fact that someone who has a very loud microphone keeps talking about it (AKA the media), the more tourists don’t want to come visit. There are not dead, oiled birds, dolphins or tuna on our coastline. There are not tar balls washing up that would be any different than any other day at the beach (it’s normal for tar balls to wash up at the beach). And there is no smell of oil in the air. The local media reported that there were tar balls but that they were not confirmed to be caused by the oil spill and that LESS THAN A DOZEN were found. Again, that’s not more than normal. Dead fish? Happens all the time. Is it the chemicals in the water? What makes you think there weren’t already chemicals in the water from boats before the oil spill?

It’s no longer comedic or a joke. We’ve gotten fed up with it and the tone of this article surely is indicative of that. And we’re not the only ones. The Eastern Shore Chamber of Commerce has spoken out against this fallacy of oil covering our beaches and the Gulf Coast being somewhere no one can visit right now too, and we commend them for it:

Originally Posted at: http://www.eschamber.com/bus_news.php?newsitem=357
Friday, May 14, 2010

Dear Friend,

We are urgently working to combat the negative national media message and get the facts out to the United States and the world that the Gulf Coast, including Alabama, is open for business. Our goal is to pass the truth on. Yes, there is an oil spill, is it as bad as they say? You be the judge. At the bottom of this message is a link to information updated daily. It includes reports from NOAA, and daily pictures of the beaches in Baldwin County, Alabama. The beaches of Alabama and the Mobile Bay are very important to us all.. we are all working to be proactive and ready to protect our waterways and natural habitats, WE are committed to keeping you updated with the facts – not the fear factor.

The Eastern Shore Chamber of Commerce
www.eschamber.com

Here are a few facts from that link:

• The Alabama Department of Public Health and Alabama Department of Environmental Management stated that there is no foreseeable need to close beaches and, short of a drastic change, they have no plans to do so.
• Tarballs travel independently of an oil slick and are not an indication that the slick itself will travel in the same direction or to the same area. The oil slick still has not reached the beaches of Gulf Shores and Orange Beach and, according to NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) forecasts, is not expected to for at least 72 hours. Forecasts beyond 72 hours are not available.
• Although NOAA has closed commercial and recreational fishing in a limited area between the mouth of the Mississippi River and Florida’s Pensacola Bay, there is a large area of the gulf still open.
• All appropriate preventative measures, including oil-absorbing booms, are being used along Alabama’s beaches, bays, inlets and sensitive areas in an effort to prevent oil from reaching our shores. Researchers and scientists have indicated that any impact directly on the beaches can potentially be cleaned effectively and fairly quickly.

GO TO THIS LINK FOR PICTURES , MORE INFORMATION AND DAILY UPDATES!:

http://www.gulfshores.com/issues

Darrelyn
Darrelyn J. Bender
President/CEO
Eastern Shore Chamber of Commerce
P.O. Box 310
Daphne, AL 36526
251.621.8222
dbender@eschamber.com

What do you do in a case like this? Well, first: Speak out. Comment here. If you don’t think that’s good enough, call WALA, WKRG, or WPMI, The Press Register and the entire conglomerate of sites that run AL.com and NOLA.com and tell them to stop running stories about it. Second: Go share this and blog about it yourself. Third: Tell all of your friends it’s OK to come to the beach and business is still open for EVERYONE. This is a very passive-aggressive move from our own people! Airing headlines that bleed to lead, putting statements and then following up with “inconclusive” facts. Shame on you local media for ruining your own town and our economy!

The South Alabama market cannot take this. This is unjust and it’s all from the media! Speak out and tell them to quit!  AND DON’T LET THEM DISTRACT YOU WITH ANOTHER STORY!! (People won’t stop thinking it’s unsafe to come to the beach until THEY SAY ITS SAFE – which it IS!)

Taylor S. Ripley
CEO – TurkReno, Inc.
PO Box 2361
Daphne, AL. 36526
(251) 279-0278

We decided after talking to a very special relative that it would be a great idea to go try Fish Tacos. And I can’t say that I could have picked a better place to try my very first grilled AND battered Fish Taco. As Los Tacos menu states, Fish Tacos a battered or grilled Fish Taco consists of cabbage, pico and zesty sauce. We also had the Shrimp Tacos as well with some rice and Chips and Salsa.

Some of you may have had Los Tacos from the locations in Fairhope or Foley, maybe even from the Los Tacos van that can perhaps come to your place of work or even have your party catered by Los Tacos where you can “Spice Up Your Next Fiesta!”. We picked up a card at the restaurant that for Los Tacos Catering to call (251) 648-2788 for a personalized menu that fits your budget.

You can visit Los Tacos online at http://www.lostacos.org and see just about everything you’d like to see about their company including a menu. As stated on their site: “Los Tacos Fresh Mexican Grill has been been spicing up Baldwin County for over five years. With the addition of our third location in Daphne, you will have even more opportunities to enjoy the authentic flavors of Mexico.” There was a statement on the site that you could call the location nearest to you and have your meal available for pickup. Sounds like a great plan for lunch or dinner!

Overall Ratings:
Reviewer #1: 7.5/10
Reviewer #2: 8.5/10
Overall Score: 16/20

The menu has a selection of over a dozen different types of Po-boys. From their famous “Messy, Sloppy Roast Beef Po-Boy” with Boar’s Head Top Round Roast Beef to the “Thanksgiving Po-boy” with Smoked Turkey and Roast Beef Gravy, all of which served on New Orleans Leidenheimer French Bread. The menu also featured Low-Carb Wraps as a Po-Boy on most of the selections as well as a Traditional Muffaletta with all of the best ingredients there is to offer. Now, if you’re an early bird and like Golf (which I’m not), you can get breakfast from the Quail Creek Golf Course location in Fairhope starting at 6:30AM.

Since I like to try new foods, the Fromage Poulet, Wednesday’s special of the day, sounded pretty enticing. The recipe comes from owner Monica Tucker and was created for her family as the menu states. It has a creamy cheese sauce consistency mixed with seasoning, Chicken and tomatoes topped off with freshly cooked white rice. We got a side of French bread and some cole slaw. This wasn’t your ordinary, run-of-the-mill, cole slaw either. It was a fantastic blend of finely shredded cabbage, mayonnaise, carrots and other good stuff as well as brown mustard that gave it just the right amount of kick. Easily I can say there’s nothing else around like this meal – and it was good! It took 1 minute to get my drink and 2 minutes later I was chowing down on my entrée. Great stop for quick in and out for lunch time!

Customarily as you would at any good cafe or restaurant for lunch in New Orleans, I finished off my meal with an order of coffee and beignets. Yes, I know there’s another place in Fairhope that serves beignets, but A Taste of New Orleans easily can be ranked #1 at scoring my vote at Best Beignets outside of New Orleans. Best of all, I don’t have to drive 300 miles to get them – A Taste of New Orleans is just a hop, skip and a jump away for me in Fairhope (and in two places at that)!

After my meal, I had a chance to sit down with owner Monica Tucker, a mother of two, and talk to her about how she started her business. Originally she said that she started her business as a place to offer Sno-balls, a great shaved ice treat from an authentic Southern Snow Machine made in New Orleans with flavoring on top, and later moved into a larger assortment of sandwiches and sides.

A Taste of New Orleans offers nearly 70 different flavors of Sno-balls as well as Specialty Flavors such as the Alabama Tide – Tiger’s Blood & Coconut, Pirate Pride (Go Fairhope Pirates!) – Blue Bubble Gum & Ice Cream and the LSU – Grape and Pineapple. And what’s great here too is that you or your kids can walk up to the window and they’ll serve you just outside the restaurant under the covered porch! Monica said that the most popular flavor, even though not as popular here in Fairhope, of Sno-ball is Chocolate – topped with Hershey Syrup. Sounds delicious to me!

So, looking to get your own Taste of New Orleans? I thought you were. They’re located at 566 Fairhope Avenue, Fairhope, AL. 36532 and again at the Quail Creek Golf Course Clubhouse. For more information, you can:

• Visit their website: A Taste of New Orleans
• Visit them on Twitter: @tasteneworleans

At the time I wrote this blog, the current Health Department Score was a 95.

My overall score: 8/10

Give them a try, it’s well worth it!

I am both gifted and plagued with a mind that never forgets – especially things that I was trained on or did repetitively on a daily basis. You may think that I am about to be overtly critical, but I can’t help to not remember the training and how I was taught to handle guests. I’m also, out of the remote chance of being libelous, omitting any names except for the General Manager at the end of the post. Here we go.

So what’s our beef with Olive Garden #1656 in Spanish Fort (located at 30500-D State Highway 181, Spanish Fort, AL 36527 – just in case somehow they manage to build two there’s a separation)? Let’s start from the top. We arrived at the restaurant at 6:45PM on a noticeably slow Thursday evening. A true “Hospitaliano” (Term registered to Olive Garden) experience starts off with you being greeted at the door with a warm welcome, not a blunt and unpleasant “How many?”. So we get seated in a booth. It takes approximately 6 minutes before our server even notices that we’re present only to be told their name and asked what we wanted to drink while they’re manning a completely empty section. The restaurant is NOT busy – at max, 20% capacity.

This isn’t being nit-picky, but I was taught to introduce yourself and give a presentation that includes offering a sample of wine, recommending an appetizer and an entree. Instead, we were thrown into the typical, apathetic “How can I help you?” that I could have gotten at McDonalds. So we give the server our drink order. They walk off before I can even get a word in edgewise to ask for an appetizer. The server comes back and I have to ask them what appetizer they would recommend to see if they’d possibly redeem themselves on the presentation. It took another 6 minutes to get our drinks, a simple un-sweet tea and water. 12 minutes to just start off == Fail.

We order the Calamari as a starter. The server then takes our order, which is really simple: one Spaghetti with Meatballs and one Stuffed Chicken Marsala with extra mushrooms (yes, I love mushrooms as you may know from our previous reviews). It took about 10 minutes to get our appetizer and our salad with breadsticks. Now we’re at around 22 minutes, just to get started on eating – and we’re both starving at this point. The Calamari is sloppy: the breading is falling off of the squid and it’s almost as if it’s a little wet. Edible, but just not good at all. It should have been an indicator of the next to come. One of the “secret tricks” of Olive Garden is they hope you gorge yourself on the Breadsticks, which are good, so that they can distract you from how long it takes to get your entree. About 7 minutes later, we’re served our food. Here’s where the disaster sets in. As I said before, I ordered a Stuffed Chicken Marsala with extra mushrooms. Instead, I get this charbroiled stack of chicken with no mushrooms at all that would be easily comparable to the KFC’s Double Down in color and crispiness. Nothing wrong with my assistant’s food except he says it tastes like “Chef Boyardee with a splash of Chianti”. I ask my server, “Shouldn’t this have mushrooms on it, extra mushrooms?”, and they reply, “Yes, let me go get you some more.” It gives me some time to eat at least the mashed potatoes that taste like a ready-mix water and milk mashed potatoes.

So, I instantly grab my iPhone and start the stopwatch and start using the “lap” feature to record just how long it takes to get this remedied. It takes the server around 3 minutes to go and get a dish of mushrooms in sauce. At this point, I’ve already mentally talked myself out of putting in my mouth this disgusting failure of food in front of me. I ask the server “Would you eat this?”, and they reply, “Probably not.” They then ask if they would like me to get a manager and I tell them “Yes”. During this time, the table adjacent to my assistant and myself actually get served the same dish I ordered and it looks EXACTLY the way I wanted it – puffy, white chicken breasts topped with tomatoes, mushrooms and sauce. A manager arrives almost exactly a minute later (not hard to do since they were all huddling in the lobby anyway) and asks me what the problem is. I introduce myself and that I explain that I was a former employee some years ago. I then ask them “Would you eat this?”, and they reply the same as the server did. They ask what I would like to be done and offer to have the meal re-cooked for me. I say sure, and also interject that I don’t understand why this would have been served to a Guest and that the Guest behind them right now was eating what I was expecting to pay for.

Here’s where the Double Down begins. Both the server AND the manager forget to take the food away from me. I’m sitting here, watching the clock and now I’m taking photos of this heat-lamp baked crisp chicken and tweeting it by nine minutes into lap 3 and I’m getting mad. Why? Because I know that it should only take 8-10 minutes to get a Chicken Marsala and everyone is huddling in the lobby including our server and the manager. I’ve had to sit here for right at 20 minutes and stare at this nasty food that I’m about to be re-served. 15 and a half minutes later, I finally get my meal at 7:33PM – 45 minutes after into coming to the restaurant on a dead Thursday night starving.

But it doesn’t stop there. The manager didn’t really seem to care nor did he comp the Chicken Marsala even after agreeing with me that it should have never left the kitchen. I get the ticket and it’s $40.58 for two people. I could have easily cooked myself three evenings from Wal-Mart the Macaroni Grill Chicken Marsala for that amount and fed two. I’m not exactly mad about the service because I tip the server $5.00, I’m disappointed that they didn’t fix it by taking this nasty dish I had to stare at for 20 minutes off my bill.

“It sounds like you know more about my job than I do.” – Olive Garden Manager

I conference call with my lead designer, Izmeiah Brown, and call the restaurant today. The same manager that was there last night was there and another manager was present. Since I was peeved enough to call, I wanted to speak to a different manager since the General Manager, Scott Dumas, wasn’t present so that I could get as many people involved in this horrible experience as could be. It took the manager 10 minutes to get on the phone while we had to shout over this loud, ear-drum piercing, Italian knock-off muzak before the manager requested answers the phone. I gave a good overview of what happened, explained that why I was calling was because of how much things had changed and because I felt as if I should have been given the dish for free. That manager said that “It sounds like you know more about my job than I do.” What. The. F*#K. Then they tell me that since it’s a credit card purchase that it will be Monday before they can even reverse and correct the charge through “corporate”. We’ll update and see if they actually do. But know that this leaves such a bad taste in our mouths that we’re going to see this one through since we paid for it and had such a horrible experience. Never again.

Overall Ratings:
Reviewer #1: 5/10
Reviewer #2: 2/10
Overall Score: 7/20

If you have a problem with the Olive Garden at 30500-D State Highway 181 in Spanish Fort, Alabama, 36527, I’d suggest you speak directly to Scott Dumas, the General Manager as of the time of this being posted, who can be reached at 251-625-1490 or call 1-800-331-2729 and speak to a Guest Relations Representative. You’re also more than welcome to leave a comment and we’ll approve it if it’s relevant to your experience at this restaurant.

Going into this iteration of the DSi family was exciting for me. You see if my closet is any indication I LOVE my DS. I bought the original DS “Phat” back when it debuted on Nov 21, 2004 and as the system aged I have been constantly buying the “upgrades” to the family. So far I have owned 1 DS, 3 DS Lite, 1 DSi and now a DS XL. The Lite, and the DSi were a marked upgrade over the original. They featured sexy designs, and sleek polish over the bulky gray original. However the reduction in weight and smallness of the system meant one thing to me: Hand cramps.

I have over 100 DS games, and playing them for any amount of time on a DS Light or a DSi caused pain throughout most of my thumb region. This was pretty much my only complaint about the system. Enter the DS XL, this big boned beautiful sister  alternative to the popular DSi has become my liberator. Gone is the pain and cramping associated with my DS playtime. The DS XL for all its enormity is by far and away the best example of engineering put  out by Nintendo in a long while.

The screens are absolutely gorgeous. I had read on many boards over the last few weeks that there would be “distortions” caused from the bigger screens, but this is largely not true. The screens still operate at the same dimensions as their smaller counterpart. The screens are perfect for those that need glasses, or perhaps those that like to show off their gaming to family and friends. There does in fact seem to be a wider view angle when compared to the previous DSi and this is somewhat a nice thing. I can count many times when people have put their ear to mine to hear the ocean watch what I am playing. The fact that they can now sit comfortably beside me is a godsend.

Now for the bad.  I have downloaded games through the Nintendo WFC yet, even with a linked account to Club Nintendo, I am not able to download those purchases. So basically Nintendo dropped the ball yet again on their wireless end. I hope these issues are fixed by the time we see the 3DS, or the successor to the Wii. I mean this is kind of a big deal. This means that somewhere someone at some Gamestop in Alabama gets all my hand-me-down games. Unacceptable, Nintendo.

Also while I am talking about the 3DS why on Earth did Nintendo announce that this week I wonder? It almost seems certain that it would detract from XL sales, however it also seems just as likely that if they had waited a week it would have upset 3DS sales too. A thorny situation, thorny indeed.  Whatever the reason it is I still stand behind my purchase on this system. Despite what others have been saying online I say that this system DOES in fact feel like an upgrade to an already great system. I just hope that in four months there isn’t a NDS Super XL: Now with cup holder edition.

DNS Verification FTW Wednesday, March 31, 2010 at 1:16 PM Webmaster Level: Advanced

A few weeks ago, we introduced a new way of verifying site ownership, making it easy to share verified ownership of a site with another person. This week, we bring you another new way to verify. Verification by DNS record allows you to become a verified owner of an entire domain (and all of the sites within that domain) at once. It also provides an alternative way to verify for folks who struggle with the existing HTML file or meta tag methods.

I like to explain things by walking through an example, so let’s try using the new verification method right now. For the sake of this example, we’ll say I own the domain example.com. I have several websites under example.com, including http://www.example.com/, http://blog.example.com/ and http://beta.example.com/. I could individually verify ownership of each of those sites using the meta tag or HTML file method. But that means I’d need to go through the verification process three times, and if I wanted to add http://customers.example.com/, I’d need to do it a fourth time. DNS record verification gives me a better way!

First I’ll add example.com to my account, either in Webmaster Tools or directly on the Verification Home page.

On the verification page, I select the “Add a DNS record” verification method, and follow the instructions to add the specified TXT record to my domain’s DNS configuration.

When I click “Verify,” Google will check for the TXT record, and if it’s present, I’ll be a verified owner of example.com and any associated websites and subdomains. Now I can use any of those sites in Webmaster Tools and other verification-enabled Google products without having to verify ownership of them individually.

If you try DNS record verification and it doesn’t work right away, don’t despair!

Sometimes DNS records take a while to make their way across the Internet, so Google may not see them immediately. Make sure you’ve added the record exactly as it’s shown on the verification page. We’ll periodically check, and when we find the record we’ll make you a verified owner without any further action from you.

DNS record verification isn’t for everyone—if you don’t understand DNS configuration, we recommend you continue to use the HTML file and meta tag methods. But for advanced users, this is a powerful new option for verifying ownership of your sites.

As always, please visit the Webmaster Help Forum if you have any questions.

Posted by Sean Harding, Software Engineer

So! Now, you may be onboard or you may be very confused. No worries. Let’s explain the anatomy of a TXT, or text, record.

name  ttl  class   TXT     text

With this in mind, you can easily SSH and dig txt domain.com, or go to http://www.kloth.net and do a DIG for TXT, to the domain of your choice. We originally speculated that you can have multiple TXT records, and you can. The trick, however, is in the name of the TXT record. Your TXT record name much match the CNAME of the domain that you are trying to create the record for or else it will not show up in the answer section of a DNS lookup. Therefore, let’s use turkreno.com as an example:

turkreno.com.  14400  IN  TXT  “google-site-verification: asdfasdlkfaslkjas2f2f2f2kfkjf2jkfkj2fkj2f”

Just make sure that you have a matching CNAME to the name of your TXT record and put your Google Site Verification in quotation marks, and you should be good to go! Post us some feedback if you have other ways on other DNS systems that this should be done and we’ll approve your comment!

We were impressed from the moment we walked in. On a busy Friday night, you almost come to expect no one to even acknowledge you in any restaurant. We got immediate attention, were offered drinks and a place to sit. We got to review a large assortment of beers on tap (49 according to our waitress; 50 total she said if you counted root beer), an awesome assortment of bottled beers and a very interesting selection of appetizers and entrees. They even had Mixed Tap beers named things like Snakebite – Cider and Guinness, Dirty Hoe – Hoegarden and Framboise, and Chocolate Milk – Rogue Chocolate Stout and Lefthad Milkstout. They had everything from Dips, to Hummus, to Wings, to Salads. At lunch, they even serve pitas! Had we stayed a little later, we would have gotten to hear some live music (usually starts at around 9:30PM).

We started off our meal with the Belgian Fries. Those were awesome potatoes, classic-cut french fries, fried in duck fat topped off with ground salt and pepper. Served with Roasted Garlic Herb Dip and Ketchup. We loved them in both, so it doesn’t matter what you choose – it’s going to be good. The menu says that you can get crash helmet upon request, but we took a risk and ate them without looking silly.

It didn’t take long to get our Wild Mushroom pizza either. This was an awesome 16 inch pizza for mushroom lovers like ourselves, topped with Shitake, Portobello, Oyster and Crimini mushrooms on a red marinara sauce with what seemed like a mix of Italian cheeses. It had a unique, smokey flavor to the crust and was baked just right. These guys weren’t kidding around when it comes to good pizza (and we eat pizza all the time).

Reviewer #1: 9/10; Reviewer #2: 8/10; Overall Score: 17/20.

We did a little research of our own and found out that Hopjacks has a website. They’re open from 11AM to 2:30AM, they deliver to the Downtown Mobile area and also have a Pensacola location (located at 10 South Palafox, Pensacola, FL. 32502). At the time of this article, they scored a 94/100 with the Alabama Health Department.

For two people, a round of beers, appetizers and a large 16 inch pizza, it came out to be $32.40 before the tip. Overall, it was totally worth it. The next time you’re in the Downtown Mobile area, we recommend you pick up a slice of pie at Hopjacks!

Their hours of operation are 7 days a week, Mon-Thurs.: 11:00AM to 10:00PM * Friday & Saturday: 11:00AM to 10:30PM * Sunday: 11:00AM to 9:30PM. They can be reached by telephone at (251) 626-5666 and Fax at (251) 626-2838.

Our initial impressions were that they were very busy…and the restaurant was quite loud with customers.  Lots of kids, so we would say it’s family friendly. The adults were being louder than the kids, but that’s to be expected in Alabama. There was a lot of activity from the staff attending to the buffet, but not really focused entirely on customer service or any type of personal attention. Room for improvement there.

Their Health department rating was at a 94 when we visited. We didn’t stare at the ratings, so not entirely sure what those 6 negative points were for. The food also leaves something to be desired. Almost the typical feeling of being full with Chinese food and then an hour later starving again. We sampled just about everything we could before we got stuffed. The pork-on-a-stick was very tender and fresh, but the NY Strip Steak was almost rare and we couldn’t find a knife in sight. The sushi had a very fishy taste to it and there wasn’t a huge variety and it wasn’t restocked before we left. If you want sushi, go to a sushi restaurant like Furama.

The lighting bad in some of the dining areas. The men’s restroom sink was completely covered in water and towels. It didn’t seem like somewhere we’d want to wash our hands and leave the bathroom with clean hands to eat. We’ll still give it to them that it was opening night, but still a very important place in the business to make sure is tidy.

When our drinks were empty, we did receive prompt attention. After that, however, we were served our bill way too fast. We felt like we were being rushed out so that they could turn as many tables as possible in their first night. Not exactly how we’d want to feel when trying to enjoy a meal. At least ask if there’s anything else they can get us or what we thought before the check arrives. 

The cost of two people, both soft drinks and buffet, cost $24.70 – sort of pricy since you’d almost expect the drink to be included for that amount and the quality of food. Lunch is cheaper, but they don’t have the Snow Crab legs like they do at Dinner.

Our Scores: Reviewer 1: 6/10; Reviewer 2: 7/10 – Overall score 13/20.

In closing, the buffet doesn’t match their other restaurant in Daphne that fortunately delivers, and we’re totally grateful for delivery, decent Chinese food in Alabama. If you’d like to order their delivery service, which in our opinion is 100 times better than the buffet, call them at (251) 621-8501 or visit them at Fountain Square, 2101 Hwy 98, Suite J, Daphne, Alabama 36526 (across the street from the AT&T Store).

http://www.briansolis.com/2010/02/roi-how-to-measure-return-on-investment-in-social-media/

Consider how much you are aware of your presence online once you see the graphs.  We were amazed at the figures, but not shockingly surprised. We tweeted about this very topic last week in an online discussion and are proud to share it with you here. Great job Brian Solis on a very powerful and well needed article!

ROI: How to Measure Return on Investment in Social Media

What follows is the entire version of my recent post on Mashable, “The Maturation of Social Media ROI“

Over the years, Social Media experts attempted to redefine ROI for a new era of influence. While some introduced alternative philosophies for measuring the nuances tied to social media, others wondered aloud whether ROI simply wasn’t necessary as the tools and methodologies for analyzing yields didn’t yet exist. And furthermore, by focusing on justification and metrics, we were distracted from the primary objective of building relationships and cultivating dialogue.

The debate over ROI inspired certain brands to cannonball into popular social networks to join the proverbial conversation without a plan or strategic objectives defined. At the same time, the lack of ROI standards and established authorities unnerved many executives, preventing any form of experimentation until their questions and concerns were addressed.

But that was then and this is now.

In 2010, we enter into a new era of social media marketing, one based on information, rationalization, and resolve.

Business leaders simply need clarity in a time of abundant options and scarcity of experience and answers. As many of us can attest, we report to executives who have no desire to measure intangible credos rooted in transparency and authenticity. In the end, they simply want to calculate the return on investment and associate Social Media programs with real world business performance metrics.

Over the years, we explored ideas, driven by a passionate desire to find new meaning and vindication in uncharted domains. These discussions and the innovation they sparked, redefined the framework for traditional metrics, creating hybrids that would and will prove critical to modernizing business practices, improving products and services, and effectively competing for the future.

ROI: The Return on Ignorance

Where the “I” in ROI represents return on investment, marketers have also explored ancillary elements to address the socialization of media, marketing, and the resulting dynamics of engagement.

Adaptations included:

Return on engagement – the duration of time spent either in conversation or interacting with social objects, and in turn, what transpired that’s worthy of measurement.

Return on participation – the metric tied to measuring and valuing the time spent participating in social media through conversations or the creation of, social objects.

Return on involvement – similar to participation, marketers explored touchpoints for documenting states of interaction and tying metrics and potential return of each.

Return on attention – In the attention economy, we assess the means to seize attention, hold it and as such measure the responses activities that we engender.

Return on trust – A variant on measuring customer loyalty and the likelihood for referrals, a trust barometer establishes the state of trust earned in social media engagement and the prospect of generating advocacy and how it impacts future business.

But as we learn through experience, our views and techniques mature into more sophisticated strategies as we progress through the Ten Stages of Social Media Evolution.

For many businesses, the case for new metrics cannot arise until we have an intrinsic understanding of how social media engagement affects us at every level. To be quite honest, it is not as simple as counting an increase of subscribers, followers, fans, conversation volume, reach, and traffic. While the size of the corporate social graph is a reflection of our participation behavior, it is not symbolic of brand stature, resonance, loyalty, advocacy, nor is it an indicator for business performance.

ROI: Return on Investment

Sometimes we simply need ROI to signify a meaningful return on investment.

In 2010, Social Media endeavors are still funded as pilot programs to steer the brand towards perceived relevance in the hopes that they demonstrate momentum and as such, rewards materialize. Budgets are for the most part, borrowed from other divisions to fund the teams and programs lead by the internal champions who effectively make the case for experimentation. Where that money goes and from where it’s borrowed varies by department and by company usually tied to where champions reside internally today.

In many cases however, new programs are introduced without an integrated strategy. Money is allocated from existing programs, and if we’re going to take it away from something, we should therefore determine whether or not we’re justified in doing so.

According to a 2009 study performed by Mzinga and Babson Executive Education, 84 percent of professionals representing a variety of industries reported that they do not measure ROI.

Source: eMarketer

In 2010, executives are demanding scrutiny, evaluation, and interpretation. Even though new media is transforming organizations from the inside out, what is constant nevertheless, is the need to apply performance indicators to our work.

The Business of Social Media

The CFO, CEO, and CMO of any organization would be remiss if they did not account for spending and resource allocation, regardless of the allure and seduction of social media.

MarketingProfs recently published a study performed by Bazaarvoice and the CMO Club that revealed the true expectation of chief marketing officers. Bottom line, they want measurable results from social media.

Elusiveness continues to prevail however. The study found that the exact impact of social media tactics evade the grasp of CMOs.

- 53% are unsure about their return on Twitter

-50% are unable to assess the value of LinkedIn or industry blogs

More specifically however, roughly 15% believe there is no ROI associated with Twitter and just over 10% cannot glean ROI from LinkedIn or Facebook.

I believe this is the direct result of not tying activity to an end game, the ability to know what it is we want to measure before we engage. Doing so, allows us to define a strategy and a tactical plan to support activity that helps us reach our goals and objectives.

We first answer,

What is it we want to change, improve, accomplish, incite, etc.?

Doing so will allow us to establish goals and objectives that specifically tie activity to:

- Sales

- Registrations

- Referrals

- Links (the currency of the social web)

- Votes

- Reduction in costs and processes

- Decrease in customer issues

- Lead generation

- Conversion

- Reduced sale cycles

- Inbound activity

Customer Insight

Among the responses received from CMOs, customer ratings and reviews rose to the top of marketing activities that deliver tangible ROI insight. In 2009, 80% of respondents reported that customer stories and product suggestions shape products and services. As a result, brands earn the trust and loyalty of their customers for listening and responding – as long as they are made aware of their role and rewarded for it.

In 2010, CMOs will review opportunities for user-generated content sources to involve customers and advocates with many reporting…

- a 400% increase in use of Twitter comments to inform decisions about products and services

- a 59% increase in the use of customer ratings and reviews

- a 24% increase in use of social media for pre-sales Q&A

The Socialization of Monetization

Social media metrics will increasingly tie to revenue in 2010. To what extent seems to vary according to CMOs.

- 80% predict upwards of 5%

- 15% optimistically hope for 5-10%

In 2009, those companies that aligned social media investments with revenue estimate:

- 5% or less revenue tied to social in 2009 foresee an increase of an additional 5% in 2010

- 6-10% of revenue stemming from social is expected to increase more than 10%

- Those with greater revenues resulting from social engagement expect an escalation of revenue derived from social at 20%

Companies such as Dell are not only tracking the impact of Social Media on revenue, but expanding lessons learned across the entire organization. According to Dell’s Lionel Menchaca:

Our @DellOutlet is now close to 1.5 million followers on Twitter, and back in June we indicated that @DellOutlet earned $3 million in revenue from Twitter. Today it’s not just Dell Outlet having success connecting with customers on Twitter. In total, Dell’s global reach on Twitter has resulted in more than $6.5 million in revenue. In fact our Brazilian and Canadian accounts are growing rapidly too – and it was Canadian tweeters who asked to make sure Dell Canada came online to Twitter. Dell Canada responded because the team heard our customers. In less than a year, @DellnoBrasil has already generated nearly $800,000 in product revenues. Similarly, @DellHomeSalesCA has surpassed $150,000 and is increasing at notable pace.

The Forecast for Metrics in 2010

Earlier we mentioned generic forms of Social Media metrics. The survey revealed that indeed, many CMOs, 89%, tracked the impact of social media by traffic, pageviews, and the size of their social graph or communities. However, 2010 is the year that social media graduates from experimentation to strategic implementation with direct ties to specific measurable performance indicators.

In 2010, CMOs will seek to establish a connection between social media and P&L business goals. The study documents the adoption of three metrics:

- 333% surge in tracking revenue

- 174% escalation in monitoring conversion

- 150% increase in measuring average order value

A Call To Action

Among the most effective forms of any marketing initiative is the integration of a call to action. It is how I define influence as it gives us the ability to inspire activity and measure it – as designed. As stated earlier, revenue is only one form of metrics we can introduce, but defining the “R” in ROI is where we need to focus as it relates to our business goals and performance indicators specifically. Even though much of social media is free, we do know the cost of engagement as it relates to employees, time, equipment, and opportunity cost (what they’re not focusing on or accomplishing while engaging in social media). Tying those costs to the results will reveal a formula for assessing the “I” as investment.

When we truly grasp the ability to define action and measure it, we can expand the impact of new media beyond the P&L. We can adapt business processes, inspire ingenuity, and more effectively compete for the future.

Connect with Brian Solis: Twitter, LinkedIn, Tumblr, Google Buzz, Facebook
—
Pre-order the next book, Engage!

The PlayStation Recap

Posted by Chris Morell // Senior Specialist, Social Media

• PlayStation Network Status Update — Thanks for bearing with us. We’re back to business as usual.
• Latest info on PlayStation Network Status — Did you follow us on Twitter for news Monday?
• PlayStation Network Service Restored — And we’re back! Commence marathon MAG and Heavy Rain sessions!!
• Score Tickets to the Final Fantasy XIII Launch Event in San Francisco! — You wouldn’t even believe how many submissions we had for this. Seriously, you really wouldn’t. Apparently Square Enix has a popular game on its hands. Who’da thunk?
• Media Molecule Officially Joins the PlayStation Family — And we welcome SackBoy with open arms! In all seriousness, how could you not be stoked about this? Mm does some absolutely amazing work.
• It Only Does The Show — This is definitely one of my favorite Kevin Butler segments yet. My question: What do you have to do to get banned from Mexico?
• LittleBigPlanet: This Week in DLC — The Canyons costumes and pack hit LBP PSP, plus a couple last chance offers that you don’t want to miss!
• God of War III Blood & Metal EP Out Now — I’ve got less than a year left until I hit the big three-zero. But until then, I can destroy my ears with a little metal.
• New PlayStation Pavilion at Disney’s ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex Provides the Ultimate Gaming Experience — Get your PlayStation fix at the PlayStation Pavilion in Orlando, FL!
• Pillar of the Skies – A New World of Topatoi on PSN Tomorrow — Topatoi expands into a completely new world. Take a gander at the gameplay video for a peek into the new episode.
• Patching You Through – Patchwork Heroes Demo Out This Thursday — Free demo? Where do I sign? Check out Patchwork Heroes, another incredibly unique title out of Japan.
• Coming to PSN Next Week: Rocket Racing PSP mini — Phil Larson from Halfbrick drops by with all the details on Rocket Racing, hitting the PlayStation Store this Thursday.
• New Star Wars Content Comes to PlayStation Home + IREM Seaside of Memories, Two New Personal Spaces + More! — Locust_Star knows that opening with Star Wars is a smart move. But that’s not all that’s new to Home. You also get a couple new personal spaces and more!
• God of War III Interview with Design Director Todd Papy — At the God of War III media event in LA, I sat down with the incredibly cool Todd Papy to talk “wow moments,” collaborating with Naughty Dog, what it’s like to be done with the game and much more.
• Naughty Dog at GDC – We Want Your Questions! — Naughty Dog is all about GDC. So much, in fact, that they’re going to take your questions during a Thursday, March 11 session!
• The Tester Episode 3 Available Today — Things are heating up in the game-testing battle. Jaffe returns this week!
• PlayStation Comics Store Update — Over 50 new comics hit the Comics Store this week including Star Trek Nero and much more.
• SOCOM 4: It’s Official! — You’ve been waiting. Well, here’s the official word from Zipper on SOCOM 4!
• Want to Play God of War III Early? Come to our GDC San Francisco Meetup! — As of today, well over 200 yes’s. Wednesday will be a very fine day, indeed. See you on Wednesday!
• PlayStation Store Update — The Tester Ep. 3, Just Cause 2 demo, MLB 10: The Show add-on content, RE5 add-ons, new Pulse, The Show on PSP, 5 minis and a lot more!
• PlayStation Network Video Content Update — Another huge update of TV shows, trailers and movies, including Where the Wild Things Are. Anybody catch it? Started slow for me, but really picked up in the second half.
• Coming to PSN: Joe Danger — I am really, really impressed with this gameplay trailer. Seriously, looks right up my alley.
• God of War Unearthing the Legend Winners! — Here is the official list of winners and the video proof that you’re forever stamped on the God of War franchise.
• SOCOM 4 Teaser: Director’s Commentary — If you didn’t catch the SOCOM 4 teaser trailer, you can watch it here! Plus, Zipper does a special bit of developer commentary over the trailer.
• Gran Turismo Does NASCAR – Polyphony Digital At Texas Motor Speedway — NASCAR coming to GT5. Plus, video proof that Kazunori-san and company do their research in the real world!
• Become the Ultimate MAG Solider on GameBattles.com — Pwn in MAG? Head over to gamebattles.com and sign up for the MAG tournament!
• Lights, Camera, Play Ball! Create Your Own Highlight Reel with MLB 10: The Show’s Movie Maker — Psh, Sportscenter…that’s so yesterday. Make your own highlight reel wit this amazing feature in MLB 10: The Show!
• ModNation Racers PS3: Dynamic Props – More than Just Speed Bumps — United Front Games’ Mark Riddell is back! This time he’s talking about dynamic props. And oh yeah, a new trailer…

Courtesy of Jeremy Dunham

• SOCOM 4 – It’s Official - The world’s great tactical shooter is back, and Zipper’s making it!
• SOCOM 4 Teaser: Director’s Commentary – Creative Director, Ed Byrne, drops some inside information.
• MAG on GameBattles.com – Become the ultimate soldier, win prizes!
• MAG.com Leaderboard Beta – Start tracking your status as a killing machine right now.

Courtesy of Arne Meyer

• UNCHARTED 2 Title Update 1.06 and Multiplayer Updates – We released an update to the multiplayer modes of UNCHARTED 2 earlier this week. The Title Update and live updates we pushed performed some additional balancing to player hitboxes, some weapons and one Booster that we felt was warranted after Title Update 1.05 was released. As part of these updates, we also pushed some geometry updates to prevent intentional glitching.
• “Unleashed: The Art of Naughty Dog” art show opens this weekend – Twenty Naughty Dog (and UNCHARTED 2) artists are doing a group show of their art work at the Gnomon Gallery in Hollywood, California. The opening reception for the show is on the evening of Saturday, March 6, and will run for at least a month.

How many of Google’s web pages use a descriptive title tag? Do we use description meta tags? Heading tags? While we always try to focus on the user, could our products use an SEO tune up? These are just some of the questions we set out to answer with Google’s SEO Report Card.

Google’s SEO Report Card is an effort to provide Google’s product teams with ideas on how they can improve their products’ pages using simple and accepted optimizations. These optimizations are intended to not only help search engines understand the content of our pages better, but also to improve our users’ experience when visiting our sites. Simple steps such as fixing 404s and broken links, simplifying URL choice, and providing easier-to-understand titles and snippets for our pages can benefit both users and search engines. From the start of the project we also wanted to release the report card publicly so other companies and webmasters could learn from the report, which is filled with dozens of examples taken straight from our products’ pages.

The project looked at the main pages of 100 different Google products, measuring them across a dozen common optimization categories. Future iterations of the project might look at deeper Google product web pages as well as international ones. We released the report card within Google last month and since then a good number of teams have taken action on it or plan to.

We hope you find our SEO Report Card useful and we’d love to hear your feedback in the comments below or in the Webmaster Central Help Forum. And if you’d like to do your own SEO tune up, a good place to start is by reading our free SEO Beginner’s Guide.

We hope this helps you on your journey through SEO and understanding what the pros look for when taking any SEO into consideration.

This is a use at your own risk deal since there has been no official word from Sony yet.  We’ll let you know as soon as they start making apologies.

== UPDATE ==

Sony releases the following statement on their blog:

We are aware that the internal clock functionality in the PS3 units other than the slim model, recognized the year 2010 as a leap year. Having the internal clock date change from February 29 to March 1 (both GMT), we have verified that the symptoms are now resolved and that users are able to use their PS3 normally.

If the time displayed on the XMB is still incorrect, users are able to adjust time settings manually or via the internet. If we have new information, we will update you through the PlayStation.Blog or PlayStation.com.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.

And that’s that.  They “apologize”, but fail to state exactly what they’re going to do for breaking the trust of all of the gamers WORLDWIDE.  Sure the PSN is free, but come on; The trade off is quite obvious at this point – monitoring.  We should be able to play Single Player games like Heavy Rain regardless if the PSN is online or not.  We should also be able to use our games that we downloaded without being told we stole it (basically what the error message implied).  These are the things that they should be focusing on and making Next-Gen actually Next-Gen. 

As one comment we read earlier today, you could pop in a Nintendo cartridge, and BAM you were playing the game.  Why doesn’t this work the same way today for the PS3?  And what about the people without access to the Internet?  Are they still affected?  We’ll never know because they’re completely out of touch with the rest of the living world.  Trust us, if this happens again, we’re going to make sure they answer these questions that all gamers of the PS3 deserve.

At approximately 9PM CST on February 28th, 2010, users began dropping off of the PSN.  They found themselves locked out of their systems, including those who had not connected and only updated via PS3 games as a mandatory firmware update, with their system clocks rolled back to December 31st, 1999.  Those who had connected to the Internet and updated also found themselves in more trouble than that.  Sony confirms that save data, game data and DLC and DRM Content may become corrupt if you even turn on your PS3.  That’s right: Sony has advised people to not even turn on their PS3. According to CNN, Sony reported last month a total of 40 million gamers who had connected to the PSN but were not sure how many of those were plagued with this problem.

We have read around the web that players trophies have disappeared altogether – however this may not be the case.  After we logged into http://us.playstation.com/, we found that only what we had done within the last two weeks, (last trophy reported was February 15th, 2010) was not present with a convenient fine print of…

Note: The above information is dependent on the proper functioning of the PlayStation®Network. Information is not updated in real time.

That means all of our Heavy Rain and White Knight Chronicles trophies are gone…or maybe not.  We don’t know yet because of their fine print.  However, we can confirm that users who did hear about this problem last night and unplugged their systems from the Internet were still affected since it was the firmware that caused the problem – not the connectivity to the Internet.  One user reported to us that they had never connected their PS3 to the Internet and just played Fallout 3 and their system still worked just fine.

No word from Sony yet.  Some users have reported removing the system battery will correct this problem, however this will most likely void your warranty.  We’ll update this post further when our staff has a chance to add few more comments.

In the mean time, tell us what you think Sony should do to fix this problem.  Just push a firmware update (which we’re hearing might not even work), give us free credit to the PlayStation Store (or perhaps remove the DRM so this doesn’t happen again and we can play Single Player Games) or start shipping out PS3 Slims to everyone. We look forward to your thoughts and comments!

As you may be aware, some customers have been unable to connect to the PlayStation Network today. This problem affects the models other than the new slim PS3.

We believe we have identified that this problem is being caused by a bug in the clock functionality incorporated in the system.

Errors include:

• The date of the PS3 system may be re-set to Jan 1, 2000.
• When the user tries to sign in to the PlayStation Network, the following
  message appears on the screen; “An error has occurred. You have been
  signed out of PlayStation Network (8001050F)”.
• When the user tries to launch a game, the following error message appears
  on the screen and the trophy data may disappear; “Failed to install
  trophies. Please exit your game.”
• When the user tries to set the time and date of the system via the
  Internet, the following message appears on the screen; “The current date
  and time could not be obtained. (8001050F)”
• Users are not able to play back certain rental video downloaded from the
  PlayStation Store before the expiration date.

We hope to resolve this problem within the next 24 hours. In the meantime, if you have a model other than the new slim PS3, we advise that you do not use your PS3 system, as doing so may result in errors in some functionality, such as recording obtained trophies, and not being able to restore certain data.

As mentioned above, please be advised that the new slim PS3 is not affected with this error. We are doing our best to resolve the issue and do apologize for any inconvenience caused.

As we thought, this is the PS3 Y2K bug indeed.  Let’s hope this is resolved before FFXIII comes out.

So, what is this? A PS3 Y2K bug? Possibly.  The error code “8001050F” is referenced to mean “Hardware failure. Cannot update firmware or connect to internet.” However, upon launching most games, players are getting a message stating “Registration of the trophy information could not be completed. The game will quit. (8001050F)”. Why would this be? Shouldn’t the PS3 work offline too? That’s what we thought. All of our offline DLC, such as Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy VIII (PS1/PSP Playable) does not work at all. We can’t play single player games that shouldn’t rely on the Internet or not such as Heavy Rain. All we have to say is we hope that this is fixed today, and for sure before the 9th of this month, when Final Fantasy XIII releases.

Usually by this point, Sony would/should have replied…but what’s to be expected from a free network?  Our advice: If you haven’t turned on your PS3 yet, don’t. It’s tragic enough to read about and even worse to see for yourself. Last night, the topic of “playstation network crash” hit the #5 hottest trend on Google and now currently sits at #40. Wait until Sony updates their Blog or Twitter with “we’ve fixed the error”. We will keep you posted as well, so stay tuned.