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Logo Orange has a nice history of big brand logos in alphabetical order. Both logotypes and marks are represented. Designers, get to it.

[via Kottke]

The short answer? Not very much — if anything — especially given the landscape of current, more social internet traffic. For the uninitiated, “nofollow” is an SEO-er’s worst nightmare. Internet links of type “nofollow” don’t get weighted by search engines as credible content. Therefore, search engines are less likely to increase your search engine result page ranking. But the link still exists on a page to send humans along their way (what really counts), and gone are the days of link juice via the mighty Wikipedia with some speculating Digg and others will soon follow.

If you run a link farm or use black-hat SEO techniques, you’re job just got a bit harder and will continue to do so. On the other hand, if you understand traffic-driving content, solid copywriting, and content optimization for humans, you and your site will do just fine. As search listings get more bloated, people want to be referred by trusted individuals or a consensus group, not some outdated search algorithm. Hence, the “nofollow” link is a good thing to counter spam while humans still get directed to the best content. Remember: search engines follow where humans go, not the other way around. Optimize your content and you’ll do just fine. Need another buzz word? Call it SEO 2.0. Okay don’t. Just call it smart content.

WordPress just released version 2.1. The already stellar CMS/Blog software just got a whole lot better right out of the box. From the release: “You can [now] set any “page”” to be the front page of your site, and put the latest posts somewhere else, making it much easier to use WordPress as a content management system.”

We baked this feature into our custom WP installs last year for several clients, but it’s nice to see this support out of the box. Also included is an autosave feature, a better default spell checker, more AJAX for quicker updates, and better overall performance. Oh, and it’s named Ella after the great Ella Fitzgerald. At last.

Hit me up if your interested in a custom upgrade, and/or if you’d like to see just how far custom development can enhance your WP install as a better CMS.< /sales pitch>

A study last June (via Business 2.0) revealed that more than 2/3 of all Microsoft employees used Google search instead of internally-bred MSN Search. The reason is obvious, but I bet MS employees are constantly pressured into using MSN over Google, despite the latter being superior (not to mention more efficient. So in a lot of ways, Microsoft could actually save money by openly allowing Google search. Isn’t that called a paradox or something?).

In working for AOL as a freelance blogger, I felt similar pressure, albeit very minor, when our company’s social bookmarking software, Netscape, was first launched to compete against/alongside Digg. Sure, Netscape does some great things, but it’s inferior in the sense that Digg fosters a much larger community that drives a lot more site traffic. What was once requests for “Digg” traffic at AOL started becoming requests for “Digg/Scape” traffic in what appeared to be an artificial attempt to increase the userbase. No harm in this, and again, we were in no way “forced” to use Netscape, but I did feel slight political pressure to use it alongside Digg. The act always felt a bit forced as Digg and its organic traffic were the real reason for the traffic submitting requests in the first place.

A couple of years ago, Griffio built an internal web project management application in PHP to help keep tabs on our company projects. It was good software, and we spent a significant amount of time designing and building it. But it wasn’t as good as Base Camp, 37 Signals’ project management software. Wisely, we started using it over our own. It would have been shortsighted on my part to force or socially pressure my employees to use our software (not to mention myself) over Base Camp despite the sunk investment cost of our internal product. So with exception to material costs, I can’t think of a logical reason when an inferior product should be used over superior one.

Granted, many times this could simply be “awkwardness” when what you’re building or offering isn’t as good as a competitor’s product. Perhaps your product is better suited for a different audience. But whatever the scenario, nothing is gained by forcing or pressuring one’s employees into using company built products when cost isn’t an issue. Better yet, ask your employees why they prefer the alternative to enhance your offering. That’s free advice straight from the end-user.

Mmmm… fonts. Typography. Here’s a list of the 100 best fonts as voted by design experts for a German publication. Some of my favorites include Helvetica (no. 1), Futura, and Myriad. Would it be too nerdy to ask what your favorite font is?

Microsoft will launch its Windows XP successor next week dubbed Windows Vista on Jan 30. Key features include a newly skinned GUI, better search (allegedly), new multimedia creation tools such as Windows DVD Maker, and “completely redesigned networking, audio, print, and display sub-systems.” That’s about it.

The thing is, my PowerBook has been doing all of this since 2001’s release of Mac OSX. It’s a much better OS than any I’ve seen, though I currently use XP on my desktop. To upgrade to Vista, most computers 1-2 years old don’t support the minimum requirments like a graphics card to run Vista, hence, it should be at least a few hundred dollars to upgrade, not to mention the hassle and time spent in reloading all of your programs (something Apple does out of the box).

So the technologist in me wants to buy and install it right away just to see if it stacks up, and if it can significantly improve the operating system experience. The skeptic in me tells me it wont do anything better than OSX, a trusty browser, or even XP does. And I wouldn’t have to worry about upgrade headaches and additional costs. Will you be buying Vista next week?

“Good judgment comes from experience, and experience comes from poor judgment.”——unknown

Making mistakes. I’m not sure if there is any other way. Sure, counsel from those with experience can increase knowledge thus mitigating some mistakes, but knowledge and experience (or wisdom) are very different things.

NOTE: I didn’t make another big mistake recently, though I’m likely to do so. Just found this quote in an old book of mine.

From a letter sent November 2 by Whole Foods Markets CEO John Mackey to his employees: “The tremendous success of Whole Foods Market has provided me with far more money than I ever dreamed I’d have and far more than is necessary for either my financial security or personal happiness…. I am now 53 years old and I have reached a place in my life where I no longer want to work for money, but simply for the joy of the work itself… Beginning on January 1, 2007, my salary will be reduced to $1, and I will no longer take any other cash compensation….”

Though he’s not the first of “$1 dollar executives” (tax reasons maybe?), he specifically says “cash” so it’s likely he still has something to gain in the form of stocks, etc. But I still liked his wording… “Success has provided me with far more money than is necessary for either my financial security or personal happiness.” When does financial ambition realize its both secure and happy?

I No Longer Want To Work For Money [Fast Company]

(Screenshot taken from the companies homepage today.) This time, it’s for real, PayPal.

Very cool touch technology in a Minority Report sort of way, but it seems like this could slow down the human interface experience a bit. Doesn’t speed (which translates to ease) always trump everything else?

[Thanks, Robert]