As the agency commemorates its 50th anniversary, NASA has launched “NASA.gov 5.0,” the first major redesign of its primary web site in more than four years. The new design goes beyond a cosmetic facelift. It features a new level of interactivity and customization, and provides the opportunity to comment on selected NASA stories, create personal playlists of favorite NASA videos and share agency content with social bookmarking sites on the Internet.

While adding new features, the site’s overall focus remains on providing the latest news, which is prominently displayed at the top of the page. Also, NASA imagery and videos have been given more prominence.

Visitors will notice a new navigation interface, with 10 topic areas covering the depth and breadth of NASA programs replacing three outdated and overly broad categories. Web editors from around the agency will be able to contribute content.

Web managers have improved the new site’s search capability using Google’s Customer Search Engine to provide visitors with the same search results they would get from Google’s public site. NASA has tools to apply “crowd wisdom” to search results by weighting findings according to how many previous searchers clicked on a particular link.

NASA revamped the customized “myNASA” feature to allow users to collect their favorite NASA Web content, including videos and news feeds, all in one location.

Originally posted on December 3, 2007 @ 12:24 pm

Marketing company, Channel M, today announced *eckoTV, a new in-store and online entertainment network uniquely developed for the popular youth clothing and lifestyle brand spearheaded by fashion vanguard Marc Ecko. *eckoTV debuts the *ecko unltd.’s rogue mascot “Raunchy the Rhino”, features user-created stunts and humorous programming that extends the experience of shopping at *ecko unltd into an entertaining event. The network has just recently begun to roll out in *ecko unltd. retail stores and branded shops in Macy’s stores nationwide.

“As we have seen with the recent growth of various community-based and video sharing websites, the number of young consumers testing their abilities as producers has never been stronger – whether creating simple customized homepages or filming, editing and sharing compelling video content. Through *eckoTV, we are able to highlight the very best of this new breed of talent, while also providing an excellent means of engaging today’s young, tech savvy consumer,” Marc Ecko, founder and Chief Creative Officer of Marc Ecko Enterprises, said.

*eckoTV programming consists of action sports, short interviews with bands, as well as stunts submitted by the *ecko unltd. community. In-store viewers are teased with clips that may not be appropriate on in-store video for public consumption but can be seen in their entirety online. The audience is also encouraged to submit their own user-generated content for consideration to be featured in upcoming episodes.

Originally posted on December 3, 2007 @ 11:57 am