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A brand new year. Same old tired jokes.
First things first: Happy New Year from everyone here at Steam Studios!
Secondly: Wow!
The last couple of months were busy. Actually, busy is a bit of an understatement. What's "busy" times a thousand? That should give you an inkling of just how hectic it was around here.
So we were caught off guard. It happens. And it's why you haven't received a newsletter from us in November and December. And why your lives have been have devoid of meaning and joy in the last few months of '05. Our bad.
But starting now, we resolve to get this newsletter to you every month, regardless of how busy we are! Because if we can't make time for our friends, associates and clients, something just ain't right. With great power comes great responsibility (you tell 'em, Spiderman!), and we are not gonna pass up our chance to share awesome websites, design tips and bad jokes with you.
Thirdly: We did manage to make time for yet another good cause. We're still involved with Ad2, and though we're not knee-deep in Public Service (like we were a year ago), we managed to donate a great logo for Ad2's current Public Service recipient, The Autism Society of Orlando, and its yearly event, the "Sea of Dreams". For more info on this great organization and cause, you can visit www.asgo.org.
And Last, but not least: You can't start the New Year off right without a traditional Irish toast (so sayeth half-Irish Steam Studios artist, Steve McCain), so here ya go:
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Samson vs. Gingivitis. Who ya got?
 After his last visit to the dentist, Sam's New Year's resolution is to (gasp!) floss more often. His other resolution should to be to apologize to each and every one of us for implanting in our heads a disturbing image of bleeding gums and chunks of week-old food flung on to his bathroom mirror. Thanks alot, man!!
In
other news...
Steve's New Year's resolution is to  finally sit through a "Lord of the Rings" marathon, which will span all three movies and take up nearly 12 hours. His previous resolution of "Getting a life" has been pushed back to '07.
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Proofreading
Now we'll be the first to admit that "spellcheck" is a gift from the word processing gods, but at the end of the day, it's just no substitute for good ol' fashioned proofreading. Or, as we call it in the biz, proofing or QAing (QA = Quality Assurance).
 The reason spellcheck isn't perfect is due to its inability to understand context. You know what we mean if you've ever confused "it's" (contraction of "it is") or "its" (used as a possessive). You can have a report full of correctly spelled words, but if the context and grammar are wrong, your mistakes (and decreasing credibility) will just stand out even more.
So, to make things much, much easier, we humbly offer up two of our favorite tips for proofreading:
1. Read your copy backwards.
That's right... backwards! Because you're going against what your brain is woefully used to, all of the little things will jump out at you. This is great for catching misspelled words that are being improperly used, but not so much for punctuation.
2. Read your copy out loud.
Shut off your TV, power down your iPod and read out loud slowly. Read your text as if you're giving directions to a Japanese tourist: Slowly, clearly and in a straight-forward conversational rhythm. Your brain will hear your voice as if you're being spoken to by someone else, and you'll catch lots of improper usage and grammar mistakes.
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MySpace
: www.myspace.com
MySpace is to Friendster what crack is to cocaine: faster, easier and instantly addictive! No other "virtual community" in webland can touch MySpace's dependency-forming formula of profiles, blogs and comment voyeurism. Be forewarned though! This site really should come with its own "After School Special". |
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Rocketboom
: www.rocketboom.com
If you're still confused by this newfangled "blogging" thing, better slap on your aluminum foil helmet 'cause it's only getting worse! Rocketboom, hosted by the lovely Amanda Congdon (sigh), is a vlog. As in "Video Blog". As in, if you want to keep up with the latest internet trends, you'd better learn how to stop blinking. Starting now.
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The Million Dollar Homepage
: www.milliondollarhomepage.com
Take one "Get Rich Quick" scheme, sprinkle in some free publicity (including this newsletter) and toss with a heaping spoonful of cyberspace and what do you get? The Million Dollar Homepage (or as we like to call it: Marketing Genius)!
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Have you ever been in a bookstore, lazily cruising the magazine racks, when you notice that something you told all your friends to be on the lookout for is now on the cover of a national magazine?
No?
Then you have no idea what it's like to be Steam Studios, baby! (Which is too bad. 'Cause it feels goooood.)
In the December 2005 ish of Wired Magazine, Neopets, and the ensuing kiddie addiction its  spawning, gets a full six (count 'em. SIX!) pages devoted to this web craze. And we're sure you all remember how we broke the news on this great site way back in our January '05 newsletter, right?
Long story short, we're bleeding edge, kids! So stay tuned and you may just learn about the next great thingamajig a full year before it blows up. And, oh yeah, you can check out the Wired Magazine article here!
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Steam Studios | 5590 Pats Pt. Winter Park, FL 32792 | Visit us at: www.steamstudios.com |
You are receiving this newsletter because you're a friend, associate, or client of Steam Studios, LLC. If you received this email by mistake, or just don't like us (now how on earth could that be?!), and would like to unregister from our mailing list, please click here. |
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