Well, here it is, Saturday morning. I got Mystery Science Theater playing (Episode 509 “The Girl In Lover’s Lane"), which features one of my favorite character names, Big Stupid (aka Bix Dugan). Anyway, I use that time to also catch up on my favorite blogs while sipping the overpriced hot brown water they label as ‘coffee’ at QuickTrip. It was during my routine blog perusal that I caught someone describing a fellow gamer as a ‘Grognard’. Their reasoning for doing so was simply based on the fact that the person was over 40 and grumpy. I couldn’t believe this gross misrepresentation of the term and immediately went to the Internet’s most fervently accurate resource, Wikipedia. Again, I couldn’t believe what I was reading. The term to which an entire generation of gamers gave their Saturday nights defining was being besmirched and misused by the kids of today. Since I am a 40+ year old ‘semi-Grognard’ myself, I will attempt to set the record straight.

“Grognard’ is a French word meaning ‘grumbler’, or one who complains incessantly. This is not to be confused with the French term “Gronarniue’ which means “Drop your rifle and run.” The term made it’s way into the gaming world around the early 80’s, but it did not mean ‘grumbler’. After all, everyone who plays tabletop RPG’s or PC games is a grumbler. We love to bitch about anything and everything. Therefore, to call a fellow gamer a ‘grumbler’ was basically just calling them an average gamer.

The term ‘Grognard’, in proper gaming circles, refers to a person who annoyingly claims to know every rule and strategy for a given RPG, but never actually plays the game. They spend their time sitting around the table lecturing everyone else about how stupid their previous move was or how they are mismanaging their army’s resources, yet never put their grandiose knowledge to practical use.

For our gaming group, that person was Kevin. He wasn’t always that way. He played most Games Workshop and other tabletop RPG’s quite well, and for many years. But then, something snapped. He fell into a sullen world of negativity and second guessing. He would still join us for gaming night, but would just sit there like a lump lamenting the idiocy of the current player’s move. Many a times people would challenge him to actually put his reputation on the line and do battle, but he would refuse citing some fear of the government tracking how well you strategize at RPG’s and warning that a black, windowless van would swoop you up on the way home and have you organizing black-ops for the CIA.

I was just kidding about that last part, he wasn’t that nutty. I actually do miss Kevin, who moved away about 10 years ago. I think every gaming group requires a bit of a Grognard in their midst. I believe it helps the group bond and become more cohesive and dependent, while also providing the group with a reason to argue (as if we needed a reason).

I’ve been involved in Internet marketing, to varying degrees, since 1995. Although that sounds like a lot of experience, it pales in comparison to the throngs of true Internet marketing professionals who make their living based on placement, clicks, and keywords. Not to say I don’t know what I’m doing, but as with any profession, there are always tips and tricks that are passed down and learned and subsequently shared with others. In my case, AdWords is something that I have avoided until recently and thought I would share some of the things I found out during my trials and tribulations.

Let’s start with a couple of basic introductions. AdWords is a Google tool that allows advertisers to pick key words or phrases that will trigger their ads to appear. There are many tools that assist with generating effective keywords, and those will be covered in another posting. Once you choose your trigger words and write a small ad or banner, you then place bids on those words and phrases which indicate the maximum amount you are willing to pay a display medium (website, Google search results) per click on that ad. The more popular the word or phrase, the more expensive it is. Your ads are displayed on Google search results and websites that subscribe to Google AdSense placement. “What is that?” you ask. Well, look at the websites you visit, even esourcedevelopment. AdSense ads are a great way for website owners to make a few cents every time someone clicks on the ads displayed on their page. It also fills the page with relevant information which makes your site more professional and attractive to site visitors.

In our example, let’s say we have a product that is a credit card protective sleeves. I know, it’s a BS product, but it will work for purposes of this demonstration. We create a landing page for people to order our product from and have registered the name creditcardprotector.com (if that site really exists, I better get a little some-some on the back-end). Then you must go to google.com/adwords. If you already have a Google ID, like for Google checkout, you can use that. Setting up your account means that you provide a credit card for billing and have access to the keyword placement tools.  After that, we got our product, we got our site page, we got our Google AdWords account, now all we need is visitors!

First thing, let’s think up some keywords to use in our AdWords campaign. Don’t get all excited and start throwing out every word that is even remotely associated with your product because you will go broke. Your daily AdWords budget limit will be met immediately with no quality clicks to show for it. “But, gee, Al,” you may be thinking to yourself, “Isn’t the goal to get people to click?” Yes, it is, but we want quality clicks, not quantity. There are 5 basic keywords and variations you want to use:

”PRODUCT NAME”
“PRODUCTNAME”
”PRDUCTNAME COM”
”PRODUCT NAME REVIEW”
”PRODUCT NAME SCAM”

And that’s about it! Using our example product, we might create keyword phrases like:

”credit card protector”
“creditcardprotector”
“creditcardprotector com”
“credit card protector review”
“credit card protector scam”

Notice the quotes around the phrases? They aren’t just for this example, you want to place quotes around all of your keyword phrases. Why? Again, because without them you will go broke. Without the quotes your ad will show (and be clicked on) by any schlep searching for “credit card,” “review,” or “scam.” I can hear it again… “But Al, as long as people are clicking, isn’t that good?” NO. Bad dog. No biscuit. Remember, our goal is quality, not quantity. Some guy looking for a low interest credit card may see your ad and think “What the heck is a card protector,” only to click off your site after seeing what it is and thinking “Oh…OK.” Sure, you may get an occasional sale, but wouldn’t you rather have a click-through from a guy that is actually searching for “credit card protector?”

In part 2, we will actually set up these words in our Google AdWords account and set daily limits and bids for each phrase.

For the last couple of years I’ve been writing web applications and desktop software using mapping technologies. A couple of years ago when these projects started we had to make a choice between Google Maps and Microsoft’s Virtual Earth (now called Bing Maps). At the time, Google had a much more restrictive licensing model than Microsoft. The websites and software we were developing required a subscription to plot and view the data, but free users could use the map in any way intended without requiring the user to log in or enter an email address. Google also had restrictive limits on the number of hits that your account could absorb. We went with Microsoft’s Virtual Earth and it has worked very well for us over the years and Microsoft was very forthcoming and open about their licensing and how we intended to use the technology.

Skip ahead a couple of years and I have started to look at Google and Bing again. This time it is for a site that will feature new home information and mapping. Like I said, Bing has worked well for us over the last couple years providing aerial maps for 3 web sites and 1 desktop application, so we have no real reason to switch other than to ensure they are able to provide the services we need.

Need help getting started with Google Earth? Check out Beginning Google Maps Applications with PHP and Ajax: From Novice to Professional

I started by checking Google Map’s licensing strategy, which was the deal killer for us a couple of years ago. It seems they have relaxed a lot of the per day restrictions (or eliminated them altogether). They have the same daily limit on geocoding addresses (providing the lat / long for a given street address), but the imaging is not restricted by hits. This means that you can provide the maps for your website visitors or for your applications without worry.

But wait, there’s more. Both Microsoft and Google have restrictions against charging for using the maps. In other words, you can’t use Google or Bing on a website that charges simply for using the map. You can provide basic functionality of the maps for use on your site and charge for overlays, plots, or other data that you provide. As an example, I designed a site that allows users to view Bing Maps and use all the features of it as provided by Bing. However, the customer provides data for overlays, boundaries, and plots that is proprietary to them. For that data to be displayed on the map, there is a charge. After a few calls to Microsoft, the client was able to get a clear and concise answer regarding the rules and regulations regarding Bing Maps, and the custom overlay charge was fine by them… Again, as long as users could freely use the Bing Maps general functionality as provided by Microsoft without paying for anything.

The one negative Bing has going for it is the abysmal default pins. Granted, I never use them and create custom PNG’s for the maps, but Google makes such a nice, simple pin that it would make my time spent developing the site a little less as well as providing an already well recognized image on the screen. People see it and immediately think “Oh, there’s one of what I’m looking for” instead of “What’s that gelatinous blob trying to say?”

Both offer 3d views, or Bird’s Eye View as Bing called it. They are both reasonably accurate with the plotting of geocoded points, but examples of mistakes are documented and lamented all over the net on both sides.

My Ratings:

	Google Maps	Bing Maps
Data
Developer Resources
Documentation
Browser Support
Accuracy

Right now Google gets a little more exposure since Orbitz, Redfin and Trulia are all using the current version of the API on their websites. But Bing has made some serious inroads in the last year by providing more up to data data and a more relaxed licensing strategy.

Be sure and check out these amazing Google Earth references:

I’ll have to admit that when I first saw this I thought it was incredible. It’s like the huge touch screens of Star Trek TNG. I’m an old school Dungeons and Dragons player from days of old (late 70’s, early 80’s). There are still factions that meet at community gaming centers and stores that still play the old fashioned way with miniatures, maps, paper and pencil. But will this concept change that?

Surfacescapes Demo Walkthrough from Surfacescapes on Vimeo.

The big advantage of the large surface game is that specifics, ranges, inventories, etc. can all be accessed with the touch of a finger. Pretty cool, right? Well, I would have to argue that while it may appeal to the ‘shiny object’ crowd, the old school methods will still be the dominant ones. Why? For the simple reason that having to reference the mountains of books to determine, in the most precise of detail, the effects or abilities of a class, spell, or Boss is half the fun. The research and interpretation is where the fulfillment of D&D lies… That and the imagination!

Now I’ve been tabletop RPG’ing since High School and I can tell you that some of the cerebral fulfillment of the games comes from outsmarting an opponent who doesn’t know the rules as they pertain to their situation or has misinterpreted them, which usually leads to a half hour of looking up the ruling in question and arguing with the DM to get your way. Sometimes, a slap-fight ensues. With the surface method, everything is at your fingertips. You can immediately assess the situation and have the game determine the best option.

Take for example the simple method of range determination as demonstrated in the video. Have you ever played a tabletop RPG and pre-measured a range attack? OMG – You will be banned from the store quicker than your Manna burn rate can be calculated. Not physically banned, but the shame you feel for being labeled and ignored by your fellow type A mouth breathers might as well mean exile. There are rules, protocols, and sometimes rituals that accompany these games, and there’s good reason for it. It’s the interaction with fellow carbon based life forms that makes playing D&D and every other RPG (Games Workshop, etc.) worth while.

I can see this method being useful when your playing a single player game like Diablo or the many other solo RPG’s out there. I think the surface method would be a fantastic vehicle for those types of games where the pomp and circumstance of the group environment are not required. Plus, lugging around those 18 books is the only exercise I get!

In late January, Apple announced the iPad. Essentially it’s a jumbo sized iTouch (approximately 9.5” X 7.5”). Some of the features touted by Apple regarding the iPad are a 10 hour battery life, a solid state drive (16GB up to 32GB), all the multimedia you should need, and the ability to read eBooks. One of the neatest things to me was the ability to dock with a regular keyboard and the ability to run iPhone applications! Sounds like a winner so far, and since it’s an Apple product, I’m sure they will sell millions.

The iPad is beautiful, like all Apple products. It looks like an HD LCD TV with the black border and shiny high gloss screen. Which brings me to the first possible problem…

The iPad is slightly smaller than a standard sheet of notebook paper. Laptops, while smaller now, have similar type screens but are sometimes chided for their clamshell design keyboard / screen mechanics. iTouch devices are nice and small and fit in your shirt pocket. This helps eliminate possible scratches to the screen. The other hidden purpose of a laptop’s clamshell design is to help protect the screen since it cannot be easily placed in a protective pocket. I think the iPad will suffer a bit in that the screen is exposed. One scratch and you’ve not only ruined the aesthetics, you’ve just incurred a few hundred dollars in screen replacement cost.

In 2002/2003, Windows toyed with the idea of a tablet PC. It was marketed as being more convenient than a laptop for quick startup and retrieval of information on the go. One thing the iPad has going for it is a touch screen. The tablet PC’s of old required a stylus (but cut them some slack… it was 8 years ago). I’ve read a couple of posts from Apple groupies comparing it to the Windows Tablet PC’s, but they fail to acknowledge that they are in reality comparing Apples to Oranges… or Windows. 8 years of technological growth have no doubt made the iPad a vast improvement over the tablet PC’s.

One problem I’ve had with Apple over the years is their distrustful licensing model. They assume everyone is out to rip them off so they clamp their product access down with a jackhammer. All applications on the iPad come from the App Store, which means that before you use them, a series of complex and secure communications must happen between your device and your App store account. In my opinion, this is where the iPad falls way short of a traditional laptop.

Window will  have another go at the tablet market in 2013 when it releases it’s new device. Google will also be releasing it’s Chrome OS and a tablet like device. One of the big hurdles that Google has overcome in marketing it’s iPhone comparable phone is price. Google’s product, by comparison, is cheaper, and that’s driving sales.

I wonder if Apple will pull the same old price switch-aroo it did with the first iPhones? They were cut by $100 within a few weeks of release, which angered some initial iPhone enthusiasts who stood in long lines and forked over their hard earned money for Apple’s latest must have device. But, I’m sure the throngs of loyal Apple groupies will make this launch a huge success. Good luck fitting it in your shirt pocket!