Refresh Teesside is a community of designers and developers based in Tees Valley working to refresh the creative, technical and professional culture of New Media endeavours in their areas. We aim to promote design, technology, usability and standards.

There are lots of Refreshing Cities around the world but only a couple here in the UK and it’s about time that changed. The drive behind digital media in the North East seems to be focused very much in Newcastle however Teesside is home to many up and coming digital media agencies and also many freelance web designers and developers.

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After attending this event last year I would recommend this to anyone!…

Thinking Digital is an annual conference where the world´s greatest thinkers and innovators gather to inspire, to entertain, and to discuss the latest ideas and technologies.

Defining exactly what to expect at Thinking Digital isn’t easy. The conference prides itself on the eclectic nature of the schedule. One moment you’ll be experiencing a first UK appearance of Live Mesh (as attendees where treated to at Thinking Digital 2008) and the next you’ll be hearing about the science behind love from the world’s leading expert.

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Due to unforeseen circumstances our site had disappeared into the ether of the world wide web earlier this week.

A combination of hosting issues and domain name problems meant things all went a bit pear shaped on Tuesday. We’ve been beavering away in cyberspace to resolve things and we’re glad to say we’re back up and running.

Unfortunately Email is still a little fractious but we should have this back and working in due time.

Apologies to those who’ve tried to visit us in the last week.

We promise it won’t happen again.

After recently launching our website, we have now launched a version of the website and blog optimised for viewing on the Apple iPhone and Touch.

Now, all you folks out there that aren’t lucky enough (Or sad enough, depending on your point of view!) to own one of these brilliant pieces of technology, we’ll be doing a sketch in crayon on a paper towel so you don’t feel left out!

If you’re lucky enough to have one then please check it out and let us know your thoughts, but keep it to yourselves, don’t let the paper towel lot know what you think. We look forward to hearing from you.

We have some interest from some very capable and exciting developers but we are still looking for more. The Better team is growing and we are looking for a web developer to join us.

The web developer role requires demonstration technical ability but more importantly the passion required to forge a career in digital media that by its very nature requires continuous learning.

You should have a love for all things web and an understanding, if not a working knowledge of good web site construction. You will see web projects as being not only design and functionality, but also understand the marketing and communication requirements for the project (including SEO). You should find code and problem solving interesting and have a genuine interest in perusing a career within a vibrant commercial studio and a Better environment where deadlines change daily.

Find out more by reading the full job description.

Mozilla, the company behind the Firefox browser, has released technology that helps websites detect the physical location of computers. The system will allow users, for instance, to find local restaurants when they travel to a new town.

The Geode project is an experimental add-on ahead of a full blown launch of geolocation technology in version 3.1 of Firefox.

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How do you build brands post-Google? As the recession begins to bite, brands are finding that getting through to customers is tougher than ever.

Offline advertising is showing diminishing returns. McKinsey predicts that by 2010, traditional television advertising will be one-third as effective as it was in 1990.

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Interesting article relating to the use of communication and digital technology used to support the race for the presidential election written by Andrew Mernin, The Journal and Herb Kim, Codeworks, the North East’s Centre for Digital Excellence.

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Have a play on Stress Release Paintball…its great fun…
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The Better team is growing and we are looking for a web developer to join us.

The web developer role requires demonstration technical ability but more importantly the passion required to forge a career in digital media that by its very nature requires continuous learning.

(more…)