The widow of a Dutch programmer asks Facebook for compensation, due to the use of some of his patents, one of which is none other than the famous “Like” button, on the popular social network. Rembrandt Social Media corporation, accuse Facebook through their attorneys, claiming that its success is based partly on two intellectual properties by Joannes Jozef Everardus van Der Meer. Rembrandt owns patents about technologies that this programmer had used to design a social network called Surfbook, prior to his death in 2004. In fact, he held these IPs since 1998. Surfbook was a social calendar that enabled people to share information with friends and family, and approve some data, using a “Like” button, according to legal documents submitted by the attorneys of Rembrandt corporation. The lawsuit against Facebook for infringing upon those IPs, has been filed at a federal court in Virginia. Representatives of the popular social networking site have still not commented on the company or their claims. The widow of a Dutch programmer asks Facebook for compensation, due to the use of some of his patents, one of which is none other than the famous “Like” button, on the popular social network.Rembrandt Social Media corporation, accuse Facebook through their attorneys, claiming that its success is based partly on two intellectual properties by Joannes Jozef Everardus van Der Meer.Rembrandt owns patents about technologies that this programmer had used to design a social network called Surfbook, prior to his death in 2004. In fact, he held these IPs since 1998.Surfbook was a social calendar that enabled people to share information with friends and family, and approve some data, using a “Like” button, according to legal documents submitted by the attorneys of Rembrandt corporation.The lawsuit against Facebook for infringing upon those IPs, has been filed at a federal court in Virginia. Representatives of the popular social networking site have still not commented on the company or their claims.

Pretend I’m someone who understands the basics of the Internet but has never used a social platform. Now let me ask you: What’s Facebook? What’s Twitter? What’s Instagram? Most answers, at least from the readers of this blog, would be similar.

LinkedIn is now arguably one of the most important social networks to be a part of, particularly if you are a part of the professional world. LinkedIn allows professionals from all over the world and nearly every industry to connect. Both those who are seeking jobs and those who are looking to hire new employees can take advantage of LinkedIn. The network has grown exponentially in the past few years, and now has millions of users and can compete with the other social media giants like Facebook and Twitter. Your LinkedIn profile is a bit more in-depth than other social media networks that you might participate in. While on Facebook, you might scrape the surface when it comes to your employment history and education, LinkedIn delves much further into your professional background. The site offers space for you to write a summary about yourself and your experience and interests. It also showcases your job skills, community service work, and continuing education. LinkedIn is becoming a requirement when it comes to employment. Some companies have even shifted their hiring focus to the site. There are also many ways to be interactive on LinkedIn. You can join LinkedIn groups that are related to your profession. You can share articles with colleagues or on your page. You can endorse the skills of others, or write recommendations for people that you have worked with, and they can do the same for you. LinkedIn has also recently added a new feature. You are now able to add photos and other multi-media content to your profile page. This is a great addition to a well-rounded page. The goal of using LinkedIn is to make yourself look attractive (so to speak) in the professional world. Adding photos can be a great way to do this. Photos of yourself in a professional situation or volunteering can show your personality to potential employers or connections. The same goes for posting content that is related to hobbies. Many employers would prefer a well-rounded employee who enjoys activities outside of work, as well. Posting photos and multi-media content is a good way to add to your appeal. As always, it’s important to keep your LinkedIn page professional. While it may seem silly to address professionalism when it comes to a network that is based on your work and accomplishments, you would be surprised with what people include on their pages! Just be careful to only add content and media that is relevant to the content that you have posted on your LinkedIn page. If you’re not sure if the content you’re adding to your page is okay or not, read the 12 most wrong things to do on LinkedIn and make sure you’re not doing any of them. Source: http://jureklepic.com LinkedIn is now arguably one of the most important social networks to be a part of, particularly if you are a part of the professional world. LinkedIn allows professionals from all over the world and nearly every industry to connect. Both those who are seeking jobs and those who are looking to hire new employees can take advantage of LinkedIn. The network has grown exponentially in the past few years, and now has millions of users and can compete with the other social media giants like Facebook and Twitter.Your LinkedIn profile is a bit more in-depth than other social media networks that you might participate in. While on Facebook, you might scrape the surface when it comes to your employment history and education, LinkedIn delves much further into your professional background. The site offers space for you to write a summary about yourself and your experience and interests. It also showcases your job skills, community service work, and continuing education. LinkedIn is becoming a requirement when it comes to employment. Some companies have even shifted their hiring focus to the site. There are also many ways to be interactive on LinkedIn. You can join LinkedIn groups that are related to your profession. You can share articles with colleagues or on your page. You can endorse the skills of others, or write recommendations for people that you have worked with, and they can do the same for you. LinkedIn has also recently added a new feature. You are now able to add photos and other multi-media content to your profile page. This is a great addition to a well-rounded page. The goal of using LinkedIn is to make yourself look attractive (so to speak) in the professional world. Adding photos can be a great way to do this. Photos of yourself in a professional situation or volunteering can show your personality to potential employers or connections. The same goes for posting content that is related to hobbies. Many employers would prefer a well-rounded employee who enjoys activities outside of work, as well. Posting photos and multi-media content is a good way to add to your appeal.As always, it’s important to keep your LinkedIn page professional. While it may seem silly to address professionalism when it comes to a network that is based on your work and accomplishments, you would be surprised with what people include on their pages! Just be careful to only add content and media that is relevant to the content that you have posted on your LinkedIn page. If you’re not sure if the content you’re adding to your page is okay or not, read the 12 most wrong things to do on LinkedIn and make sure you’re not doing any of them. Source: http://jureklepic.com

This week, developers and tech-geeks nationwide met at the annual Google I/O Developer Conference in San Francisco for three days of product plans, apps, and updates galore. Social media marketers and small businesses should pay special attention to their Google+ updates which went into effect yesterday.

The Workshop will comprise an opportunity for the participants to receive information on the early project’s findings and to discuss directly with the project consortium and affect the future workplan.

Our customer, Superfast Ferries, now appears in the first page of Google, for the keywords 'ferry italy greece' and 'ferry Πειραιάς Ηράκλειο'. This has been the result of one months effort by the Steficon SEO team.

Our new customer, luxury resort Santa Marina Resort, in Mykonos, Greece, now appears in the first page of Google, for the keywords 'luxury resort mykonos', 'restaurant in mykonos' and 'restaurant mykonos'. This has been the result of one months effort by the Steficon SEO team.In the following screen-grabs, one can see the position of the Santa Marina Resort web site in the first page of Google. First page of Google showing position of Santa Marina Resort for keywords 'luxury resort mykonos'.   First page of Google, showing position of Santa Marina Resort for keywords 'restaurant in mykonos'.   First page of Google, showing position of Santa Marina Resort for keywords 'restaurant mykonos'.

Our new customer, luxury hotel White Rocks, in Kefalonia, Greece, now appears in the first page of Google, for the keywords 'hotel kefalonia' and 'hotel kefalonia greece'. This has been the result of one months effort by the Steficon SEO team.In the following screen-grabs, one can see the position of the White Rocks hotel web site in the first page of Google. First page of Google showing position of White Rocks hotel for keywords 'hotel kefalonia'.   First page of Google, showing position of White Rocks hotel, for keywords 'hotel kefalonia greece'.

Our new customer, luxury hotels Classical Hotels, in Greece, now appears in the first page of Google, for the keywords 'luxury hotel athens'. This has been the result of one months effort by the Steficon SEO team.In the following screen-grabs, one can see the position of the Classical Hotels web site in the first page of Google. First page of Google showing position of Classical Hotels for keywords 'luxury hotel athens'.

ViPi survey on ICT training needs for people with disabilities The ViPi team would like to announce the release of the ViPi user requirement survey. The survey aims to assess: the needs of the potential ViPi community; the requirements for ICT training; what training material is currently available; which teaching approaches and methodologies are employed/most successful. The survey is tailored to people with disabilities and organisations representing them, relatives, carers and trainers of people with disabilities, and also people dealing with the employment of and policy regarding people with disabilities. The survey will automatically guide you to those parts of the questionnaire which are relevant to you. The survey length varies dependent on your particular interest in the ViPi project, but should not take more than 15 minutes to complete. All personal questions are optional. The outcomes of this survey will guide the focus of future ViPi project developments, and hence it is a very important part of the project. It is also your opportunity to express your opinions on ICT training for people with disabilities. Please spare the time to complete the survey, and guide ViPi in the direction that will benefit all stakeholders best. The survey can be found here: English Dutch Greek Lithuanian Many thanks in advance, The ViPi team.

GAP uses STEFICON's Newsletter Management System™ (SNMS™) to keep its Loyalty Card members constantly informed and updated with offers exclusively for members, interesting news and events. Users opt to receive emails or SMS messages by subscribing to the Loyalty Card. Fully integrated with the Loyalty Card's back-end system, SNMS™ allows GAP to allocate members to different groups (according to country, sex, age etc.), enabling different messages to be sent according to each group. Moreover, GAP does not need to contact Steficon for rich-text mail or SMS shots. SNMS™ can be integrated with the company's content-management-system CORE CMS™, allowing GAP to send pages or SMS-text messages from its website directly, making the process quick and easy.

According to data announced by the "Παρατηρητήριο για την Κοινωνία της Πληροφορίας", by end of June 2010 the number of broadband connections in Greece reached 2.105.076, of which 2.096.715 are DSL connections. The penetration is expected to reach the 19,6% figure by the end of 2010.Furthermore, the number of users that in the last 3 months used the 3G mobile network to access the Web reached 1.279.871 (penetration 11,3%). 75% of the users accessed the web through their mobile phone, whereas 25% though their computer using 3G mobile access cards.

We are proud to present our new corporate website. At the same time we made also a major rebranding of our corporate identity.Our new identity reflects our passion for perfection, attention to detail and creativity. We redefined the look and feel of Steficon by introducing new color elements. This entirely new color scheme aims to refresh the identity and project an image that is young, dynamic, positive, friendly and professional. The new brand is also build with sophisticated, contemporary styling, unique photos and using large text as part of the corporate identity.Our whole new look and feel transforms the original image identity and carves out a leadership position in the market with a stronger, more differentiated brand.

Over 84 Million Euro the value of E-commerce transactions in the site in the first 9 months.

Superfast ferries is the largest greek liner, operating in the Adriatic between Greece and Italy, as well as in the North (Belgium - Scotland) and Baltic Seas. Our company has undertaken the overall on-line campaign of Superfast, since May 2008. We realise four bursts per year. During the period of 30 April – 22 June 2009 the online media campaign for the promotion of Superfast Ferries spring offer took place in various portals in Italy, France and Switzerland: The campaign was seen by 1.083.684 internet users (unique users or unique impressions) in France and 3.813.036 unique users in Italy. Each user saw the banner (average frequency) 1.2 times in France and 2.6 times in Italy. The average click-through rate per unique user, in both cases, was 0,36% The media planning and buying was done by Tempo OMD Digital, which is part of Omnicom, one of the largest media groups of the world.

Vezos S.A is a company that is involved in the marine industry by manufacturing sandblasting units, airless spraying equipment, and scaling hammers. Over the years, Vezos has become the leader in providing excellence and solutions to the Greek and worldwide markets in the building construction industry as well as the marine industry. Our company has undertaken the worldwide Google Adwords campaign for Vezos S.A, targeting the following countries throughout Europe and rest of the world: Greece, Italy, France, Finland, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Russia, Belgium, Netherlands, Spain, Portugal and United Kingdom. USA, Canada, Australia, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea and India. In the first six months of 2009, the Google Ads campaign produced 1.444.648 impressions and 1.655 clicks to the web site of the company. The average position was 2.87 (positions from 1 to 6). The campaign had two targets: To promote the company’s products and increase trading worldwide. To develop a network of distributors, so as to introduce and provide the products throughout Europe and rest of the world. The average Click through Rate (CTR) was 1.3% and the average Cost per Click (CPC) was € 1.85.

These Christmas Steficon produced a record number of Xmas cards for its customers, including EAACi, ICON, Grecotel, Superfast, et.al.. Our xmas card was a screen saver forming a Christmas tree by a set of moving particles.

During the period of December 2008 to February 2009, Steficon realized the online media campaign for the promotion of the Greek Ministry of employment in the following greek portals: Capital.gr In.gr Naftemporiki.gr Otenet.gr Pathfinder.gr Yahoo.gr The campaign was seen by 851.164 Greek internet users (unique users or unique impressions) and 6.242.387 appearances of the banners were recorded (page impressions) against 5.536.000 appearances that initially had been estimated. The number of users that saw the campaign is quite satisfactory, if we consider the relatively short duration of the campaign. The above 851.164 unique internet users, made a total of 4.396 clicks (unique clicks). As a result the click rate per unique user reached 0.8%. Each user saw the campaign (banners) 7.33 times on average. The result is satisfactory and met the client needs, since, in order for a campaign to be efficient, the most effective frequency rate is 7 to 9 times per user.

Steficon promoted the film "GUILT", by Vasilis Mazomenos which begins from the 4th of March onwards, in the "LAIS" cinema (Ταινιοθήκη της Ελλάδος), Ιερά Οδός και Μ. Αλεξάνδρου, Γκάζι (Μετρό 'Βοτανικός'). The promotion included: Promotion through a Facebook group PPC advertisement in Facebook, with an average of 17,000 views per day and 20 clicks per day. Sending of Newsletter to a list of 2,300 recipients. See the trailer of the movie See the blog of the movie

Computing consultancy giant Atos Origin, an organisation that employs over 60,000 people throughout Europe, has trusted Steficon for the re-branding of its online product Gridipedia. Gridipedia - a joint effort of various European institutions under the co-ordination of Atos Origin- is a web site that offers independent, neutral analysis and a variety of articles to the IT community, enabling its representatives to make an informed choice when it comes to exploiting Cloud Technologies for the innovation of their enterprise. The aim of the project was to raise awareness around the brand Gridipedia and to make it a point of reference – mainly in Europe but also worldwide – when it comes to searching for information about the state of the art on grid technologies and cloud computing. To achieve this, we created a communication strategy that aimed to promote the web site Gridipedia.eu and to increase not only the number of visitors, but also the time they spend into the site and the registrations of new members. Target groups and industries throughout Europe include: Advanced Manufacturing, CFD, Media, Financial, Retail & Logistics, Environment & E-Science, Telecommunications, Tourism & Travel, Agriculture, Medical. Our marketing strategy concentrated in the following set of actions: Re-branding of Gridipedia. This involved renaming it to “IT-Tude”, redesigning and developing the website to address user and SEO needs and re-writing the content of the home and the landing pages. On line promotional activities. This includes Google Adwords campaigns and Banner advertising campaigns Public Relations activities. These includes press releases and Content seeding in blogs and sites with IT orientation Below the line activities. This includes organisation of and participation in conferences. The aim of all the above actions is by June 2010 to have increased: The number of Unique Visitors from 5,000 to 12,000. The number of visits from 12,000 to 24,000 The visit duration from 5.23 to over 10 minutes The back-links to the website, from 60 to over 200 per month The downloading of components from 36 to over 100 per month The first phase of the project, the rebranding of Gridipedia, is complete. The new site, called IT-Tude, can be visited at www.it-tude.com . Online promotion activities, throughout Europe, are in progress.