JESS3 / The State of The Internet from JESS3 on Vimeo.

•  Lovely Charts is a free, online diagramming software that is extremely simple and intuitive to use. And the results are, well, lovely.

•  An interesting read on the psychology of color in web design

•  The business owner’s social media tool kit over at Inc.

•  10 Social Media Metrics you should be monitoring

2) The term  ”high def” gets thrown around a lot, what does it mean and what really matters?

3) This is the company and device that will change the way we all watch tv and movies.  Maybe not directly, but their innovation is going to push a lot of major companies to keep up and innovate just as much.  The “boxee box” is going to open up streaming media to a new generation of people, and the boxee software is already available if you have a way to connect  your computer to your TV.

4) What web browser do you use? here’s a comparison of the features of 10 of them! (there are 10 browsers? i know, that’s what i said)

5) A collection of the “10 best” web design tutorials for you

If you’re publishing content to the web, there are some basics that will certainly help your site, your users, and the search engine robots. Check out these links:

• Things that help, and hurt, your website’s searchability: The 15 Minute SEO List
• The Intricacies of your content: 21 Ways Websites Communicate with Visitors
• Site Map. Have One? Does it suck? : Site Maps—The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

• The art and science of an email signature.

• Tips for creating a screen friendly PDF brochure.

• There’s an app maker for that: theymakeapps.com.

• Digital Trends and Marketing Outlook for 2010 by the Society of Digital Agencies. (via Big Spaceship)

• Want to get more out of your site analytics? Check out  The Missing Google Analytics Manual (via think splendid) and Unleashing the Power of Website Analytics.

• Five areas to focus on for effective SEO copy writing over on CopyBlogger.

Most of the time, I fool myself into thinking that my relationship with The Internet is healthy. In terms of a relationship, it’s completely unhealthy. I feel like I never know what it’s doing, where it’s going, or what it thinks about me. On the other hand, The Internet owns me. It knows my friends better than I do. It tells me what to do and when to do it. Sometimes, it even tells me what to eat.

So ya, all metaphors aside, The Internet is integral to my life these days. If you can relate, you might enjoy some of the following links. I’m going to briefly touch on a few things including how The Internet has evolved and will continue to change, some expectations for 2010, and some trends you might be seeing soon.

The Splinternet

Everyone knows that technology is constantly evolving. The web is no exception. The way we access content via The Internet has come so far, and we are getting further and further away from the single-pixel cursor. The term “Splinternet” lends itself to the idea that the wide array of web-accessible devices we love and use daily are splintering the internet. Whether the splinters are proprietary software, login forms or device-specific applications, things have definitely changed.

Check out the full article. Thanks to @iamfinch for the tip.

New Best Practices for a New Decade

Covenant Communications recently blogged about their 2010 expectations. The full article is a three-part series outlining a few things to look out for and begin understanding about how people interact with the web. Here are each of the links:

Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3

Personally, I’m pleased that they’re continuing the dialogue about Conversational Marketing. Real-time information and social media are definitely huge factors that are shaping brands and business, but they both support Conversational Marketing on the web. Definitely worth reading if you’re considering a digital strategy or trying improve what you currently have.

E-Commerce for 2010

Netimperative posted an article titled “Top 5 E-Commerce Trends for 2010″ in early January . It’s really exciting to see that the online shopping experience has come so far, but that it also needs to come a lot further yet.

Flixmedia, the online retail specialists, are predicting 5 key innovations will transform the business of ecommerce in 2010.

Number 1: Augmented Reality (AR). In my opinion, AR is easily the most exciting thing about the future of E-Commerce. The thought of being able to walk through a store, point my phone at a product, and instantly have information, reviews and price comparisons blows my mind. I know AR will play a huge role in the future of The Internet, but I’m most excited to see what it will do for E-Commerce and Social Media.

Thanks to @prplrckscssrs for the tip.

Prepare to See These Design Trends

Design trends come and go very quickly. Whether it be skulls on a t-shirt or Web 2.0 buttons, we see it all the time. But good design is good design. The following trends were gathered and delivered by Web Design Wall via this post, “Design Trends (Predections) In 2010″.  Below are a few that I think qualify as good design and are also establishing trends for the future of the web.

Sushi & Robots

Really enjoying this site’s textures, content and typography.

Brooklyn Fare

Loving the minimal design, bright imagery and the typography.

Analog

This site is really cool because it’s a simple, one-page face for this globally networked co-op.

Bobulate

This site uses custom font embedding to enhance blog’s style and improve the state of web typography as a whole.

• Looking for a simple, designy, free, browser-based to-do app? Check out teuxdeux (collaboration by studio-mates swissmiss and Fictive Kin)

• Secrets to a faster and attractive web site design revealed

• Five technologies that will continue to shape the web in 2010

• Offline Gmail graduates from Labs with added features: option to choose which messages get downloaded for offline use and the ability to send attachments while offline

• Add your Chrismas wishes to the  Twitmas Tree with #twitmastree

• 5 trends that will shape small business in 2010

• Great content equals great rankings, right? Wrong

• The Content Strategist as Digital Curator

• The iPhone Christmas Card

• What’s your holiday {twitter} mojo? Apparently we’re a Nutcracker. . .

• Last month, Purple, Rock, Scissors and The Downtown Development Board hosted a Digital Trends and Best Practices seminar series. View and/or download the presentation notes covering How to Make Your Website Convert, How to Develop a Measurable, Online Marketing Mix and How to Leverage Social Media.

• Editorial Calendar plugin for Wordpress helps manage the dates for multiple posts at once via a calendar view with an an easy drag and drop interface. A definite asset to a multi-user blog, but also handy for keeping your own solo blog posts organized.

• Amikasa is a 3D virtual home decor web application, but looks could be a great tool to help you reorganize a home office or visualize a new studio space. (via unplggd)

• Gizmodo’s 2009 round up of Best Gadgets