Google has released the first version of Swiffy, a Google Labs product that converts SWF files (Flash) to HTML5. Users only need to upload a SWF file and Swiffy produces an HTML5 version which runs in modern browsers with lots of SVG support such as Chrom and Safari. While Swiffy won’t convert all Flash content, it seems to work well for ads and basic animations. Google provides several example of SWF files converted through Swiffy. Check out the Google Chrome ad and Symphony Orchestra ad for examples. According to Google, Swiffy uses a compact JSON representation of the animation, which…more»

DesignPax is a new on-demand design model that creates websites, banner ads and social media designs such as Facebook and Twitter landing pages for Web marketers in less than 48 hours. Founded by former Advertising.com executive Ayal Ebert, DesignPax is experiencing significant growth in its first year and includes Adroll, Retargeter and MyBuys as clients. The fastest-growing service provided by DesignPax is the company’s seamless creation of Facebook pages for Web marketers, accounting for 15 to 20 percent of the firm’s overall business since launching in June 2010. DesignPax is creating an interface that will allow customers to order the…more»

The people behind location-based shopping application Shopkick are offering local merchants in select cities free installation of Shopkick signal boxes that integrate with its revolutionary walk-in rewards loyalty program. Interested merchants in Austin, Dallas/Fort Worth, Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, San Francisco, New Orleans, New York, Seattle and Washington D.C. should apply before July 1. In particular, Shopkick is looking for new retail stores, coffee shops, bakeries and yogurt shops to join its growing network of partners. Sponsored by Citi, the promotion will welcome the first 1,000 small local businesses into a program already being utilized by major retailers such as…more»

LinkedIn, the Web’s largest social network for business professionals, today announced the launch of a new integration with SlideShare which will enable content marketers to share presentations (e.g. slideshows, documents and videos) on LinkedIn. The LinkedIn Share button has been added to SlideShare content, facilitating sharing throughout the LinkedIn network. The content that is shared is then visible to connections in their update stream and across the LinkedIn site, including through LinkedIn Signal. SlideShare has had a formal relationship with LinkedIn for a long time, but this feature certainly carries the potential a great deal of immediate value to users…more»

HTML5 is revolutionizing nearly every facet of Web work – from applications to layout/design. It’s importance to search engine optimization is also something to note. Website Magazine’s upcoming August issue tackles the subject of structured data but what we quickly found was that there’s much more going on that Web workers (particularly those in SEO) should definitely be aware of – for example, the meta charset tag in HTML5. Character encoding tells the browser what character set the web page is written in. Failure to specify a character set forces the browser to assume that the web page uses a…more»

Google has been focusing heavily on mobile and local search recently and released two features today which help further its prominence in these arenas. Google added new “shortcuts” (see image below) to commonly searched local categories e.g. restaurants, bars, coffee shops, on the mobile Google homepage. Selecting these icons will send the visitor to a results page which displays a map with markers of the users current location and nearby places. Users will be able to scroll through the results while the map remains constant at the top of the page and will adjust to the listing being viewed. Other…more»