Within the past few days, Google has released a new feature to its Google Maps website. This new feature, Street View, is only available in a few cities like New York, Miami, Denver, San Francisco and Las Vegas. Not sure how it can be useful, but it is kind of cool. Just zoom into the street level and click on the blue outlined street. You will then see a photo view taken from a car.

View Las Vegas Street View

Screenshot:

Ever have the need to unescape a string in your code-behind? Here's how:

value = Microsoft.JScript.GlobalObject.unescape(value);

Just remember to add a reference to Microsoft.JScript in your project.
You now have access to all javascript functions in your code-behind.

Some cool websites we've recently found...

kuler
http://kuler.adobe.com
"Explore, create and share color themes. Use it online or download themes to use with Adobe CS2 and 3."
Basically, it's an interactive color theme designer. Download any of the 1,000+ themes which are rated by visitors, or creeate your own.

Simply Google
http://lloydi.com/blog/simplygoogleoriginal.htm
The owner of this website basically put most (if not all) Google features and websites into one easy to use page.

SitePoint Contests
http://www.sitepoint.com/contests/
Over the past 10 years, we have tried all kinds of approaches to web design. Some worked out, but most do not. Here's the pros and cons of what we have tried and some comments on each approach:

• Professional designers
  Pros: Original work. Direct communication with designer.
  Cons: Expensive. Only get ideas from one designer, not a pool or designers. Depending on the person, their availability might be limited.
  Comments: Unless the customer specifically requires it, we will not use a designer unless we know the person very well and he/she has consistently developed excellent work and is good to work with. This means he/she needs to stick to the project schedule, be available during core business hours and keep us up to date with progress.
  
  
• Template websites
  Pros: Very cheap ($50-$70 for Flash, PSD, HTML & CSS). 1,000 of designs to choose from. A lot of the designs are very professional.
  Cons: Your website design will not be unique.
  Comments: For customers who have a decent budget and need a unique design, this is not an option. Templates work very well for businesses where the budget is tight and the website design doesn't have to be unique. And realistically, what's the chances of you seeing your website somewhere else...maybe 1 in a million? Also you do get the PSD, so you can easily modify parts of it. We still use templates all the time. When we choose a template, we buy it for the overall look-and-feel. Most, if not all, of the images are swapped out with our own. And of course the logo is replaced with ours.
  
  
• Crowdsourcing websites
  Pros: Affordable (Price amount + $25 flat fee or 10%). Unique designs. Designers fight over prize money.
  Cons: There's a chance only a few designers may participate in your contest and you won't have anything good to choose from.
  Comments: We have been using Design Outpost for a few months now (posted 6 projects). For the most part, it has worked out well until my most recent project received only one entry the day before the project was supposed to end. We had to cancel it. Then we found SitePoint. So far, it's been great, but we have only posted two projects...a logo project that has received over 60 entries so far (ends tonight) and a template project that has received only 2 entries (but doesn't end for 3 for days).

A few months ago, I renamed my company from New Vision to iArchitect. With any business name change comes the need for a new logo, new stationary, a new website and new business cards. Fortunately, I have been doing this long enough to create great relationships with excellent designers and also found great resources for one off jobs here and there.

Today, I came across a great blog on "Cool Business Card Designs":
http://creativebits.org/cool_business_card_designs

I am not a very creative person, but the people who designed these business cards sure are.I thought I might share it with those of you who have businesses or are planning to start a new business. These kinds of touches can make a nice first impression.