The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has redefined what it means to have broadband internet, officially raising the standard internet speed in an attempt to create a new status quo and improve internet service for Americans. Previously, the standard broadband was 4 megabits per second (Mbps) download speed with 1 Mbps upload speed. The new standard drastically increases the download speed to 25Mbps with a 3Mbps upload speed.

This proposed change came after the results of a Congress mandated annual progress report found that a large amount of Americans were not receiving adequate service. The FCC commissioners voted 3 to 2 to pass this new standard, and this may just be the beginning. According to IGN, FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel believes the standard should be raised to 100Mbps!

You may be receiving faster internet soon, are you excited? 

Oniracom’s latest collaboration with AIGA Santa Barbara happened last week, when our own Mike Wald presented “Adaptive Thinking for the Modern Web.” For those of you who might not know, AIGA is the professional association for design, and AIGA Santa Barbara is one of 69 chapters across the nation. One of many cool benefits of being on the AIGA SB board of directors is being able to put on great design-related, educational, and networking events for our local chapter and community.

Mike presented an agile, adaptive approach to web development: overcoming design-vs.-programming tension with techniques and tools to eliminate obstacles and complete projects. Over two decades into the practice of website development, the ever-present tension remains between design vs. programming, aesthetics vs. practicality, left brain vs. right brain. Resolving that tension in order to complete projects has taken many forms, the most successful always boiling down to “are we moving toward the goal, or moving away from it?“ Mike advocated jumping right in to get the job done, fostering improvisation and communication between creative colleagues to eliminate mental and procedural obstacles blocking the finish line.

Facebook has created a useful and interesting new update since moving the application tabs to the left hand column of the timeline. Since those call to actions were lost, Facebook has now given users a new way to gain more support. With the new “call-to-action” feature for Pages, page administers can choose to include buttons that will make it easier for others to support their page.

Buttons include:
• Book Now
• Contact Us
• Use App
• Play Game
• Shop Now
• Sign Up
• Watch Video.

According to this official Facebook article, the new feature created a 2.5x higher conversation rate for Pages, enhancing customer acquisition efforts.
Do you manage a Facebook Page? Consider adding a Call-to-Action to direct your fans/users to a recent campaign for more support!

Coming to Austin, Texas this March: The 22nd annual South by South West (SXSW) Festivals!

South by South West (SXSW) is a set of music, interactive, and film festivals that occur every March in Austin, Texas. The festival was created to serve as a hub for artists, creators, and their audiences to develop and further their careers and expand upon each other’s creative ideas. It’s lively and artsy home of Austin attracts audiences from all over the globe and offers an ideal setting for people to meander from venue to venue, exploring live performances, sitting in on informational panels, and networking with others in their industry of choice. 


Music: March 17-22

The first SXSW festival was the 1987 South by Southwest Music Conference in Austin, Texas. Since then, the festival has grown to become the largest of its kind in the world, with more than 2,000 artists performing at over 100 venues, and almost 28,000 conference participants.


Every year, the festival serves as a promotional platform for members of the music and media industries, including artists, panelists, businesses, and audiences. The music festival is unique in that incorporates thousands of live musical performances with panels, presentations, and other special events that are located at various venues throughout the area. About six events take place at each venue every night, meaning there are over 100 bands playing at any given moment. With a conference badge, you can start venue hopping at 8pm and attend as many events as you can make it to before the last show ends at the stroke of 2am. Strategy and efficiency is key!


Interactive: March 13-17

In 1994, SXSW added the Interactive Conference to accommodate the growing technology and digital industries. This branch of the festival features panels and presentations by some of the tech-world’s industry leaders along with special events that showcase the newest websites, video games, and startup ideas as a preview for the nearing future of technology.
This year’s Interactive Conference will include sessions such as the 18th annual SXSW Interactive Awards and the SXSW Trade Show, as well as the SXSW Gaming Expo – an open platform of game tournaments and game testing for consumers, developers, and game masters.


Film: March 13-21

Also added in 1994, the SXSW Film Conference and Festival gathers filmmakers and film lovers from around the world to preview the latest and most innovative film ideas. Over 150 film sessions occur throughout the week each year, which inspire discussion and networking among film industry members such as directors, actors, producers, and fans among many others.
The festival breathes creativity and collaboration, and is an opportune setting for making connections with some of the best in the biz.

User-generated web content has globally increased to the point where almost everyone participates in some way online, whether it is through blogging, Yahoo! Answers, LinkedIn, or FaceBook. There is a new generation of people that create and consume more content online, and with this enters new ways to manage this increase in worldwide imagination.

Specifically for YouTube, a company called Fullscreen contributes to a user’s web content by giving them the tools to create and the strategies to gain fan support and recognition. Fullscreen fosters innovation worldwide by allowing web users to expand their networks and to connect to others.

And now, Fullscreen just announced that they will be supporting users in making full-length movies, allowing for exciting opportunity among YouTube users. They have already begun working on three projects with groups that got their start on online. Get ready to discover and view original movies by the YouTube community. For more info on Fullscreen’s first three original movies, read this Mashable article.

Are you a YouTube user? Considering checking Fullscreen out: www.fullscreen.com

There’s not a lot to look forward to at the end of January. Maybe you’ve come to the realization that your New Year’s Resolution isn’t realistic (no one can eat that much kale) or maybe you just don’t like the chilly weather. But since 1986, the Santa Barbara International Film Festival (SBIFF) has been brightening up the classic January blues. This year, the festival is back with 11 days worth of events for anyone and everyone.

The SBIFF doesn’t only show films, it is full of events from free seminars to celebrity award presentations. With so much going on and loads of awesome events to choose from, we’ve put together some information on the events and films that we can’t wait to check out. 

Opening Night:
Kicking off the film section of the festival on January 27th at 8:00 pm is “Desert Dancer,” an inspiring, true-story about a man’s journey to becoming a professional dancer in a country where dance is illegal. After the film, for those 21+, is the “Opening Night Gala,” a celebration of the start of the festival with food and drinks, dancing, and live entertainment in downtown Santa Barbara.

Films:
This year, there are over 20 full-length films by directors from all over the world, including the USA, the UK, Canada, Israel, and Belgium! Plus, there are special events for specifically for local filmmakers to display their talent and highlight the creativity of Santa Barbara locals. See the Santa Barbara Independent’s website for official dates!

Events:
The SBIFF recognizes the brilliant work of many celebrities and creative geniuses, which is why there are 9 categories of different awards to be presented to innovators in the film industry. Past recipients (and attendees of the SBIFF) have been people such as George Clooney, Quentin Tarantino, Oprah Winfrey, Jennifer Lawrence, and Leonardo DiCaprio. Attending this year’s award events gives you the opportunity to hear an hour and a half of personal details about the honoree’s career. 

Are you on a budget? No worries!! The SBIFF has many free events! Check out the SBIFF official website for more details on this years festival!

Some say that it’s a small world, and thanks to our advancements in technology, the world may have just gotten a little smaller. On January 14th Google released its’ update for the Google Translate app which now includes a radical new feature… translating spoken word! Now, you can speak into your phone and the app will translate and speak back your words in another language of your choice. This has the potential to make traveling and communicating abroad much easier, because no one has the time to play charades with strangers!

Another cool feature of this update includes Word Lens,which allows you hold up your camera to text and have it automatically translated. However, according to Mashable, this only works for English,French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish, other languages will still require you to actually snap the picture. Luckily, an internet connection isn’t needed to use Word Lens, so translating text can be done anywhere. These updates are available to both IOS and Android users, so go forth and translate.

Are you excited to start using this new update?

With our fast pace of business, 2014 already feels like history.  Here’s an impressive look back at our year.

Behold, our wonderful client map of Santa Barbara! Recently, a new local company called 805Connect featured Oniracom as a partner which summarizes our connection with the Santa Barbara community perfectly. You can read the full article here. Thanks for the support, Santa Barbara. Proud to call you our home.

It is officially a new year, and as I say farewell to the old and hello to the new, I’ve begun the process of determining a few key goals for my new year.  As I was doing so, I stumbled upon Mark Zuckerberg’s latest New Year’s exploits.  In the past, he has set extreme goals and followed through. One year he set out to learn Mandarin, and ended up holding an entire Q&A session in the language later that year. Another example could be vowing to wear a tie to work every day rather than the hoodies he’s become so well known for. 

This year, he has decided to crowd source some ideas from anyone and everyone who would like to write a comment.  Pretty cool move there Zuck. The Facebook CEO is not only good at following through on crazy intense New Year’s Resolutions, he’s good at being open to the ideas of others!  Check out more of Zuckerberg’s exploits in an awesome TechCrunch article here and try to think of a few goals for yourself in 2015!

And just because I was feeling inspired by his ability to commit to difficult goals, here are a few of my own little goals:

1. Make more stuff.
This one is simple.  I enjoy creating collages, watercolors, music, you name it, I enjoy doing it.  I am making the goal here and now to push through the ordinary and work toward creating more stuff.

2. Put down the Insta and break out the camera more.
I really enjoy photography.  It’s kind of become a hobby/side job at times, which is a real honor to get the opportunity to do, but that being said, I’ve become lazy and only capture moments on my little IPhone and rarely tote my camera around any more.  I’m going to aim to change that this year a bit. Quality over quantity will be the motto here.

3. Master the Fish.
I am not a prolific surfer. Not even that good on my best day. But man do I love the sport of it. One of my personal highlights of 2014 was stumbling across an awesome used Fish board.  2015 will be the year of mastering the fish.

4. Write one thank you note a week.
This one is inspired by one of Mark Zuckerberg’s past resolutions, where he wrote a thank you a day to people who were making the world a better place.  I am not that intense, so I have modified this to once a week.  This should be doable.

2014 has been the best of times and the worst of times, but here’s to 2015!