My Mashable quick view, and if they get mad and want me to end this I will, but seriously..Mashable needs to stop blowing rainbows.

Here we go, December 12, 1:32 AM! 1.8 Billion Questions Later, ChaCha (http://www.chacha.com) Has Evolved Past Text Message RootsChaCha is one of the funniest and most addictive things ever. ChaCha started a while ago, and basically you could text a question, ANY question and get an answer. Then came Google apps, and I forgot about it.Now there is an Android and that other thing app, and it RULES. I had crazy insomnia and instead of getting irate at the #OccupyWhatevers, I asked ChaCha some funny questions. No only correct, but some great insight as well. I loved the advice on how to kiss girls, if the cat was sad, or What does “every day I’m shuffling” mean?. The website itself is a bit lame, but the App just rules.

Now the  stupid stuff:

Netflix and USPS Honestly, since Netflix, I haven’t used the Post Office more. I am going to be bummed if my movies no longer break landspeed records on a daily basis.

Twitter, is still too freaking annoyingly fast for me.

“Add Friends’ Facebook Photos To Your Ringtones With Facetones” …oooh! Wow!!..Picture and music on my phone!

“Foursquare Tops 15 Million Users” ..are they making this stuff up? Who the Hell does Foursquare. Enlighten us, please.

“Alicia Keys: Why I Turned to Tumblr” Tumblr is the shit, I just dont’ have time or assistant to crank up another app and fudge some 3rd party HTML.

“10 Top Tools for Digital Photography Lovers” - Just buy a damned camera alreay..

“Damn You Auto Correct Reveals 9 Funniest Texts of the Year” .. Durrrr, I’m an idiot, lolz OMG..

“Tiny Gadget Hooks You Up With Like-Minded People Nearby [VIDEO]“ oh.my.god. Get a life..

“Timeline” and Google+ Brand Page “**snort**, yeah right..

“5 Best Practices for Educators on Facebook” Ummmm..guess no one has seen Kahn Academy yet.

“Graphing Comes to Google” Oh, Look…more analayzing chart thingy from Google..wheeeeeeeeeee

“Xbox Unveils Major Interface Update Centered Around Kinect, Bing” And we give a crap..why?

“McDonald’s Crowdsources Mini Movies to Promote McBites” You lost me at McDonalds

“Bacardi Campaign Lets Fans Compete With Virtual Rafael Nadal” See Like-Minded People Nearby

“Facebook Confirms Gowalla Acquisition” WTF does this even mean?

“5 Ways the Film and TV Industries Use Twitter” whooooooooooooo..

“Mashable Weekend Recap: 32 Stories You May Have Missed” Yeah, don’t have time..32? really? And that’s my little thing for tonight..Hugs!

(iNFO gRAPHIC)We hope everyone had a GREAT Halloween, we certainly did. Asheville Halloween is always a good time, and now it’s time to get back to work.  It’s time to look into your website and make sure you don’t have the scariest one on the block. We’re getting ready for a busy holiday season, and it’s not too late to get your website from BOOOOoo to WOOOOO! in no time flat!  Read the rest of this entry »

We create a lot of websites using WordPress and I find myself installing the same set of plug-ins for every WordPress site build. Some add functionality, some help you get found, but all are indispensable to the way we build sites at H1. Here’s our top 5 favorite favorite freebies and why we love them:

Shows an “Under Construction” page while your site is being developed, but allows you to view the Wp site when you’re logged in.

Why we love it: With the click of a button you can switch from the “under construction” message to a live Wp site. The plug-in allows you to add custom html for your Under Construction page if you prefer, or go with their default page. Users that are logged in can see and test the site as if its live. And here’s the best part: when its ready, you can go live with the click of a button. It doesn’t get any easier than that!

Without a doubt the easiest contact form plug-in to install and use.

Why we love it: It takes advantage of short codes and can be easily installed on any page, post or in a text widget. While its not very feature rich, its so simple to use that we use it on almost every site – unless the client requires a complex form solution.

WordPress SEO makes it very easy to optimize your site or blog for search engines.

Why we love it: WordPress SEO allows you to insert unique page titles and meta descriptions as well as manage canonical link elements and permalinks – without having to edit any php files! The interface is part of your Dashboard and when its not intuitive, they provide extensive documentation through their website.

This one is actually a pair plug-ins because we also install a companion widget that lets see your stats directly in the WordPress dashboard.

Why we love it: Easy to set up, this team of plug-ins gives top-level access to your google stats without having to edit any of the php files that comprise your theme. It offers a graphical representation of hits in both your Page and Post dashboards, as well as over-all site stats in your general Wp dashboard. While you still need to go to google for the granular data, this gives you good idea of traffic at a glance.

Our #1 choice because comment spam is a pervasive, evil time-suck that must be eliminated! We like it so much we activate Askimet on every site we build. It comes pre-installed in WordPress, but to activate it you need go to their site to get an api key. Its free, but its a good practice to donate a little toward their cause.

Why we love it: Askimet eliminates about 99% of comment spam. You’re probably asking yourself “what’s comment spam?  If you’re not using Askimet and you have comments active, you’re getting very general comments that include back-links to sites which have nothing to do with your website or blog. They are “black-hat” SEO tricks employed to get back-links and increase the page ranking of offending site. WordPress offers the ability to flag IP addresses and keywords, but this plug-in virtually eliminates the need for this kind maintenance.

Are you using WordPress as a web platform? If so, what plug-ins can’t you live without?