Steam Studios : Monthly Newsletter : August 2005

Steam Studios | 5590 Pats Pt. Winter Park, FL 32792 | Visit us at: www.steamstudios.com

IP Media, Steam Studios' sister site, launches.
Mother site looks around awkwardly when Steam Studios asks "Where do sister sites come from?"

IP Media aims to provide large groups and associations with an easy-to-digest, one-stop shop filled with the information that their members need. All right in their inboxes!

Though it technically launched last month, we used that space to apologize for our tardiness with last month's newsletter. (Hey, we've got manners. Mamas McCain and Cranford done good!)

At the helm of this new enterprise is our good friend and Director of Sales and Marketing, Aaron Vickery. Aaron brings years of experience in the publishing world to our new online venture, and we're glad to be onboard with him steering the ship.

So check it out and see if IP Media fits you and your association. (Um... if you already belong to one, that is.) www.ip-media.net

Samson proves he CAN read. Eating with a knife and fork still problematic.

Using whatever downtime he has (which isn't much), Samson has joined the millions of people all over the world who are reading "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince". And if you're one of the people who think Harry Potter is just for kids, you don't know what you're missing. Get in touch with your inner child already, ya muggle!

In other news...
Steve has already finished "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" and is currently engaged in a moral dilemma of the highest magnitude: Should he or should he not spoil the surprise ending for Sam? Here's a hint that could shed some light on the outcome: On the old Harry Potter website, the Sorting Hat put Samson in Gryffindor House and Steve in Slytherin House.
DUN DUN DUN! Developing...

Craving for more info on the Potter Craze: The Author has a great site: www.jkrowling.co.uk

In "1984", George Orwell envisioned a world without privacy, where prying eyes knew exactly what you were doing, reading and communicating.

Well, it's 2005 and Big Brother isn't an omnipresent force in our lives (yet). But it's pretty close. And chances are, your web browser is helping.

When you surf around online, sites you visit could potentially be sending cookies to your browser. And while having cookies sent to you sounds like fun (mmm... Thin Mints!), the cookies that exist in cyberspace are slightly different than your usual chocolate chip.

Say you're visiting Amazon.com and you set up an account with them; whenever you visit Amazon from now on, you'll see a message that says "Hi John" and suggested items that you may want to buy. How did Amazon do this? When your web browser goes to Amazon's home page, their server (the "computer" that the Amazon site lives on) sends your browser a message that says something to the effect of "Hi, I'm Amazon. Who are you?" This message is what we call a cookie (Must stop thinking about Thin Mints. Errrggghhh!). Your browser then sends a message back saying "Hi, I'm John's computer." It does this by sending your IP Address, browser info, Operating System info, etc. Now every time you surf Amazon, the site is collecting data on you (you looked up "Lost in Translation" and therefore it can be surmised that you like artsy-fartsy travelogue films) which Amazon's server uses to greet you and pre-ordain some of your selections.

Now that seems pretty innocent, right? We here at Steam Studios like artsy-fartsy travelogue movies and don't mind it at all when Amazon uses that info.

But what about a site that you don't like or have no inclination of giving your info to? They're probably gathering it already.

You can avoid this by setting up Cookies preferences in your browser's Settings. They'll be in a different place depending on which browser you use, but, trust us, they're in there somewhere.

You can set it up to never allow cookies (you're pretty paranoid, huh?) or always allow cookies (you're not paranoid enough) and anywhere in between. You can also delete cookies that you've received inadvertently so that when you return to a site, it won't automatically know who and where you are.

It won't stop viruses, and it won't protect you from spammers (if you've got an IP address, and you do because you're obviously reading this right now, there will be a digital imprint of you floating around in cyberspace), but you can pick and choose who gets your info to some degree.

And in this day and age, a little privacy, especially online, goes a long way.

		MTV Overdrive: www.mtv.com Remember when MTV actually SHOWED music videos? Neither do we. But now the channel known as (ahem) Music Television has finally done something right! MTV Overdrive is a mammoth undertaking on par with the building of the Great Wall of China: An online database that will allow users to access EVERY music video ever shown on MTV! It's not complete yet, but you gotta hand it to a site that has 2 Donna Summer videos in its library already.
		Drudge Report : www.drudgereport.com The artists at Steam Studios are certifiable news junkies and they get their daily fix at the Drudge Report. It ain't the best-looking site and it (supposedly) has a right-wing bias, but Matt Drudge consistently scoops the big news outlets on a near-daily basis!
		Fresh Films : www.fresh-films.com Talk about putting power into the hands of the people! Doritos sponsored a Fresh Films contest wherein 10 groups of kids were tasked to shoot a short film each. The films are now competing head-to-head and the winner is decided by audience voting. Check it out and support these burgeoning film-makers (who may one day want to film the story of a small design studio that, through blood, sweat and tears, took the advertising industry by storm. Hey, it could happen!).

Steve McCain has been tapped to be the new Communications Director for AD2 Orlando, the arm of the Orlando Advertising Federation for designers aged 18 - 28.

And once Steve learns how to use words with more than two syllables in them, AD2's communications should be just fine.

Congratulations, Steve. (And good luck, AD2.)

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