PSPINC Official Company Blog

Adobe’s $20 Billion Acquisition Deal for Figma Explained

Jun

27

Last year, Adobe, the company behind the invention of the PDF and popular programs like Photoshop and Illustrator, announced its plan of acquiring the cloud-based design tool, Figma, for $20 billion. One that even our web designers use here at PSPINC. Adobe has a history of acquiring more than 50 companies in its 40-plus years of existence. So, if this is so standard for Adobe, why are people making such a big deal out of it? For starters, this is the most money Adobe’s ever spent in acquiring a company. About four times more. Their second largest acquisition behind Figma was Marketo in 2018 for $4.75 billion. So, the real question is, why is Adobe investing so much in buying out Figma?

Adobe has a rich history of acquiring companies and either adopting them as their own or letting them slowly die out. For example, Photoshop is arguably the most lucrative acquisition deal Adobe’s ever made. They purchased Photoshop for $34.5 million in 1995, right when computer technology and digital photography technology advanced. But Adobe has also bought out companies just to eliminate the competition slowly. An example would be FreeHand. And there’s a reason you probably don’t recognize the name. Adobe acquired FreeHand in 1994 for $525 million and by 2007, Adobe announced the end of FreeHand.

What it Means for the SaaS Industry

turned on silver screen macbook air on wooden desk

Figma, as of June 2021, has a valuation of $10 billion, but because Adobe sees the value in it, they offered double the amount. And it’s for a good reason; Figma allows for greater collaboration between designers. And it’s something Adobe hasn’t figured out how to do effectively yet. While Adobe has the Adobe Creative Cloud, many designers have expressed their frustration with its lack of collaboration features. Figma, however, has browser functionality, which is something Adobe doesn’t have with any of its design products. Including the program they created to directly competed with Figma, Adobe XD.

Because of Adobe’s history of products like FirstHand, Figma users are worried about what Adobe will do to what’s become an essential design tool. One of those worries includes making Figma a paid tool rather than a free one. The fact that Adobe’s offer is double Figma’s value speaks volumes, and it has the potential to create a big impact in the SaaS (Software as a Service) industry. Unfortunately, the Adobe-Figma deal is now facing anti-competition concerns. EU authorities are pushing for a formal investigation. And the U.S. Justice Department is preparing an antitrust lawsuit, which, if successful, would effectively block this deal. So, only time will tell how this will pan out.

December 18th, 2023 Update:

Adobe and Figma have reached a mutual agreement to terminate their merger agreement after facing pressure from regulators.

Pacific Software Publishing, Inc.

1404 140th Place N.E., Bellevue, WA 98007

PSPINC Creates Tools For Your Business

Pacific Software Publishing, Inc. is headquartered in Bellevue, Washington and provides domain, web, and email hosting to more than 40,000 companies of all sizes around the world. We design and develop our own software and are committed to helping businesses of all sizes grow and thrive online. For more information you can contact us at 800-232-3989, by email at info@pspinc.com or visit us online at https://www.pspinc.com.

#acquisition #adobe #adobexd #blog #branding #business #collaboration #creativecloud #design #figma #firsthand #history #illustrator #marketing #pdf #photoshop #saas #smallbusiness #tech #technology #web #webdesign #webdevelopment #webtools

What’s New Newsletter Vol. 173 “Invest in a Go-To IT Company”

Jun

21

Getting good quality IT support is an underrated service. Only when something breaks do you need to call someone to assist you. So, having a go-to IT company for when you need it is a good idea. When you frequent one company for your IT services, it’ll result in better response times and a better experience overall because, after a while, the hope is that they’ll remember you and your problems from the last time you called. If the company’s local, that’s even better because you won’t have to worry about long-distance call expenses, and they can come out to help you if you need on-site technical support.

Unfortunately, the IT industry, as a whole, doesn’t have the best reputation when it comes to customer service. People have complained about long wait times, unfriendly, and lack of follow-up. That’s exactly why we focus so much of our IT support efforts on making sure our customers have the best experience. When you call for IT support from us, our team has an incredible reputation, working closely with our customers to help with whatever technological need they have. So, consider making us your go-to IT company, and reach out to our IT support team for any questions.

Pacific Software Publishing, Inc.

1404 140th Place N.E., Bellevue, WA 98007

PSPINC Creates Tools For Your Business

Pacific Software Publishing, Inc. is headquartered in Bellevue, Washington and provides domain, web, and email hosting to more than 40,000 companies of all sizes around the world. We design and develop our own software and are committed to helping businesses of all sizes grow and thrive online. For more information you can contact us at 800-232-3989, by email at info@pspinc.com or visit us online at https://www.pspinc.com.

#blog #business #businesstips #businesstools #customerfeedback #customerservice #customersupport #email #marketing #marketingdigital #marketingtips #newsletter #pspinc #pspincwhatsnewnewsletter #sales #smallbusiness #tech #technology #web #websites

Spotify: Why They’re Leaders in the Music Streaming Industry

Jun

20

When you think of music streaming today, you think of Spotify. And there’s a reason for that. Over the last five years, the number of premium Spotify premium users grew from 71 million subscribers in 2017 to 205 million subscribers in 2022. Compared to Apple Music’s 78 million subscribers as of June 2021, Spotify reigns supreme in the music streaming industry. And Spotify has so much market share because they leverage personalization. Specifically, with playlists like Discover Weekly and Release Radar in a way that others in the market aren’t doing.

Other streamers like Apple Music, Pandora, Amazon Music, and SoundCloud have personalized playlists, too. They just aren’t as successful as the ones on Spotify. And they don’t use the same technology as Spotify does to create these playlists. Other platforms, like Amazon Music, SoundCloud, and Apple Music, use manual curation via “music experts” to create playlists for users. Pandora does things a little differently where its code filters for certain tags that are manually added by users. Then, Pandora’s code creates playlists with similar music using those tags. Regardless, Spotify still does it best with an open-source tool, Hadoop.

How Spotify’s Personalization Works

black samsung galaxy phone open to spotify login

Spotify uses Hadoop, an open-source framework that uses commodity cluster hardware. Basically, Spotify uses Hadoop to track and log users’ metadata, such as customer data and specific music tracks. Spotify creates playlists based on users’ established listening habits using collaborative filtering techniques, natural language processing (NLP), and audio models. Spotify employs collaborative filtering to suggest tracks to millions of users based on millions of other users' preferences. To do this, Spotify uses Python, a computer programming language used to conduct data analysis, automate tasks, and build websites and software. Specifically, Python libraries create two types of vectors using a long, complicated formula: user vectors and song vectors. Then, they’re able to compare those vectors to find out which songs are similar.

Spotify also uses NLP via Echo Nest, a music intelligence program that scans ten million music-related pages for descriptive terms, each of which has a weight to it to tell the system how important the description it is. That weight then tells the program how important the description is, and the engine then determines which two pieces of music or artists are similar. Lastly, unlike collaborative filtering and NLP, audio models analyze new songs with convolutional neural networks, which is the same technology facial recognition software uses. After it’s processed, Spotify uses the data the neural network collects like time signature, loudness, and tempo to compare and recommend tracks based on similarities found in the raw audio. Equipped with collaborative filtering, NLP, and audio models, Spotify's recommendation system is superior to other platforms.

The Success of Spotify

happy man with airpods in his ears and holding his phone

The overall process of Spotify's recommendation models is complicated, but it demonstrates how incredibly useful it can be when comparing all this data. It’s become the brand’s competitive advantage because of how well they’re able to leverage that to keep their customers long-term. Users love these playlists so much that they can’t imagine abandoning the platform for something else.

With its immense amount of success over the past few years, Spotify continues to create more and more personalized playlists. It’s so popular, in fact, that people expect a level of personalization when listening to music. So, while other music platforms offer personalized playlists, it remains to be unmatched compared to Spotify’s efforts. And even if other platforms followed suit with the same technology, Spotify is so far ahead in the music streaming industry, it will be hard for anyone to catch up to them.

Pacific Software Publishing, Inc.

1404 140th Place N.E., Bellevue, WA 98007

PSPINC Creates Tools For Your Business

Pacific Software Publishing, Inc. is headquartered in Bellevue, Washington and provides domain, web, and email hosting to more than 40,000 companies of all sizes around the world. We design and develop our own software and are committed to helping businesses of all sizes grow and thrive online. For more information you can contact us at 800-232-3989, by email at info@pspinc.com or visit us online at https://www.pspinc.com.

#amazonmusic #app #applemusic #audiomodels #blog #branding #business #collaborativefiltering #digitalmarketing #hadoop #marketing #marketingdigital #mobile #music #musicstreaming #nlp #pandora #smallbusiness #soundcloud #tech #technology #webtools

What’s New Newsletter Vol. 172 “The Importance of Positive Google Reviews”

Jun

15

When you want to look for a new restaurant to go to or get your car serviced, the first place you’ll look is Google. The same can be said when you’re looking for any kind of service from a business. After entering your query into Google, the first thing that’ll pop up is a list of businesses in your local area. And right below those business names, you’ll find their overall rating. The last thing people want to do is choose to work with a business with a bad rating.

Positive Google reviews act as social proof, making your business look more trustworthy. And they influence potential customers to purchase from you, which can make a major impact on sales. On the technical side, it also helps with optimizing your business website for search engines. Google’s algorithm favors new and original content, and customer reviews feed into that. Having good search engine optimization (SEO) helps your site’s overall visibility. If you’re looking for some extra help on better optimizing your site for search engines, reach out to us at PSPINC. We have experts ready to help!

Pacific Software Publishing, Inc.

1404 140th Place N.E., Bellevue, WA 98007

PSPINC Creates Tools For Your Business

Pacific Software Publishing, Inc. is headquartered in Bellevue, Washington and provides domain, web, and email hosting to more than 40,000 companies of all sizes around the world. We design and develop our own software and are committed to helping businesses of all sizes grow and thrive online. For more information you can contact us at 800-232-3989, by email at info@pspinc.com or visit us online at https://www.pspinc.com.

#blog #business #businesstips #businesstools #digitalmarketing #google #marketing #marketingdigital #marketingtips #pspincwhatsnewnewsletter #sales #searchengineoptimization #seo #smallbusiness #tech #technology #web #webdevelopment #website

What’s New Newsletter Vol. 171 “Reminder to Switch Over to Google Analytics 4”

Jun

8

In case you missed it, Google Analytics is sun-setting Universal Analytics (UA) at the beginning of next month. In 2020, Google Analytics introduced Google Analytics 4 (GA4), giving users the option to use either. Now, to favor GA4 over UA, Google Analytics will stop collecting and processing data for UA properties starting July 1st. With more users becoming concerned about their privacy online over the last few years, many opt out of tracking cookies when surfing the web. UA relies heavily on cookies to track user behavior, but GA4 uses event-based modeling to gather data.

If you haven’t already opted out, it’ll automatically switch your site over to GA4, but we recommend you make the switch sooner rather than later. The sooner you switch, the more data you’ll collect in the new system. With that data, it’ll help determine trends and insights to help you improve your upcoming business and marketing plans. For directions on how to switch manually, head over to one of our older blog posts. If you need more help to migrate your data from UA to GA4, give us a call! We have experts ready to help you with your SEO and other marketing needs.

Pacific Software Publishing, Inc.

1404 140th Place N.E., Bellevue, WA 98007

PSPINC Creates Tools For Your Business

Pacific Software Publishing, Inc. is headquartered in Bellevue, Washington and provides domain, web, and email hosting to more than 40,000 companies of all sizes around the world. We design and develop our own software and are committed to helping businesses of all sizes grow and thrive online. For more information you can contact us at 800-232-3989, by email at info@pspinc.com or visit us online at https://www.pspinc.com.

#blog #business #businesstips #businesstools #digitalmarketing #ga4 #google #googleanalytics #googleanalytics4 #marketing #marketingdigital #marketingtips #pspinc #seo #smallbusiness #tech #technology #ua #universalanalytics #web #website #websites

What to Consider When Expanding your Business Overseas

Jun

6

For companies looking to expand their business, one way to do so is by selling and promoting their offerings in a foreign country. It opens opportunities for your business to sell to a new audience, which will, in turn, increase overall revenue. But it doesn’t mean it’s easy. Marketing to another country comes with its own unique challenges, ones that you may not initially realize when starting the process. But it’s important to make sure your business is prepared before you start marketing in other countries. Why? Because even big corporations have messed up. A translation error can either be small and inconsequential, or it could be a grave mistake. For example, KFC entered China in the 1980s with the phrase “eat your fingers off” instead of “finger-lickin’ good”. Fortunately for them, it didn’t scare too many customers off. And it continues to be a popular chain in the country.

But mistakes like that could end up being detrimental in the future. KFC just ended up being one of the luckier ones. It’s not enough to just know the language, distinct cultural differences will also greatly impact your marketing campaigns. Another example is when the baby food company, Gerber, entered Africa. In America, we’re used to seeing the cute baby on the label. But in Africa, their products usually use pictures of the actual product because not everyone can read there. To say people were confused and horrified was an understatement. So, localization experts are more than translators; they must also be aware of important cultural differences to avoid mistakes that could completely backfire.

PEST Analysis

people in the office discussing a project

We’ve talked about a SWOT analysis before, and while the two are linked, a PEST analysis is different. A PEST analysis looks at a potential new business and will influence your decision on whether you’ll enter a new country with your business. Before entering a foreign market, use a PEST analysis, which stands for Political factors, Economic factors, Socio-Cultural factors, and Technological factors. After considering these four factors, it’s easier to decide whether your company should enter a new country and it’s easier to determine how hard it’ll be to do so.

Questions to Consider Using the PEST Analysis Method

When conducting your PEST analysis, here are some important questions to ask yourself:

Political:

Who are the most likely contenders for power? What are their views on business policy and how will that affect your business?
How well-developed is the country?
How widespread are corruption and organized crime and is it likely to change? How likely will that affect your organization?
How does government approach corporate policy, corporate social responsibility, environmental issues, and customer protection legislation? Will it make an impact on your business and is it likely to change?

Economic:

How stable is the current economy? Is it growing, stagnating, or declining?
Are key exchange rates stable, or do they tend to vary significantly?
What do customers’ levels of disposable income look like? Is it likely to change in the next few years?
How does globalization affect the country’s economic state?

Socio-Cultural:

What is the population’s growth rate? Is this likely to change?
Are generational shifts in attitude likely to affect what you’re doing?
What social attitudes and taboos could affect your business? Are there any recent changes that could affect this?
How do religious beliefs and lifestyle choices affect the population?

Technological:

Are there any new technologies that you could be using?
Are there any new technologies on the horizon that could affect your business?
How do infrastructure changes affect work patterns (ex: remote work, etc.)?

Here at PSPINC, we have experts to help your business expand products and product lines to Japan. With our history of localizing software between the U.S. and Japan, we successfully created ur SaaS (Software as a Service) product, C-Sagaseru, which was designed specifically for coaches in Japan to connect with their clients. Start localizing your content with us today.

Pacific Software Publishing, Inc.

1404 140th Place N.E., Bellevue, WA 98007

PSPINC Creates Tools For Your Business

Pacific Software Publishing, Inc. is headquartered in Bellevue, Washington and provides domain, web, and email hosting to more than 40,000 companies of all sizes around the world. We design and develop our own software and are committed to helping businesses of all sizes grow and thrive online. For more information you can contact us at 800-232-3989, by email at info@pspinc.com or visit us online at https://www.pspinc.com.

#advertising #blog #business #businesstips #digitalmarketing #gerber #international #internationalmarketing #kfc #localization #marketing #marketingdigital #marketingtips #pest #pestanalysis #smallbusiness #swot #swotanalysis

What’s New Newsletter Vol. 170 “What is Content Marketing?”

Jun

1

Unlike traditional marketing efforts, content marketing doesn’t promote by directly selling to potential customers. Instead, it pulls people in with educational and entertaining content. This content can be through blog posts, social media posts, videos, and email content among others. With content marketing, you aren’t trying to sell anything; instead, your goal is to educate and entertain people, hoping they’ll be interested in buying something from you later. But your content can’t just be random, otherwise, there won’t be any connection between your content and your company.

Content marketing helps establish your brand as an authority in the field and helps with audience retention. The more high-quality educational content you have for potential customers to find, the more authority your company will have in their eyes. If your content is relevant, informational, and interesting to potential customers, they’ll likely stay on the page for longer. And they’ll come back for more. But regardless, producing high-quality content consistently while juggling other business tasks is difficult. But the effort will be well worth it in the end. For more marketing help, reach out to our experts at PSPINC.

Pacific Software Publishing, Inc.

1404 140th Place N.E., Bellevue, WA 98007

PSPINC Creates Tools For Your Business

Pacific Software Publishing, Inc. is headquartered in Bellevue, Washington and provides domain, web, and email hosting to more than 40,000 companies of all sizes around the world. We design and develop our own software and are committed to helping businesses of all sizes grow and thrive online. For more information you can contact us at 800-232-3989, by email at info@pspinc.com or visit us online at https://www.pspinc.com.

#advertising #blog #branding #business #businesstips #businesstools #contentmarketing #digitalmarketing #emailmarketing #marketing #marketingtips #pspincwhatsnewnewsletter #searchengineoptimization #seo #smallbusiness #socialmedia #tech #web #website

Meta’s New Text-Based Twitter Competitor App

May

30

Ever since Elon Musk acquired Twitter, many users have been itching to find a viable replacement. So far, some have found solace in Mastodon and Bluesky, a newer app launched and endorsed by co-founder and former Twitter CEO, Jack Dorsey. But now, Meta’s thrown its hat in the ring with its upcoming text-based app. It currently doesn’t have an official name, but internal Meta staff members call it either “P92” or “Barcelona”. There also isn’t an official launch date released just yet. But digital media marketing expert Lia Haberman, who first reported on this new app, says it could launch as early as the end of June.

Regardless, Meta granted early access to high-profile influencers and celebrities, which will only encourage more people to join the platform. While this new app will be in direct competition with Twitter, it’s not why Meta’s working on this new app. Or it’s at least not the only reason. Social media platforms have switched their focus toward direct messages (DM) over the last few years based on user behavior. And it also explains why Meta reintegrated Messenger back into the Facebook app and the thought behind Instagram Channels.

What Makes It Different

a phone open to twitter on a table next to a mug of coffee

Meta’s new text-based app will eliminate major obstacles that have prevented others from fleeing Twitter. With Facebook and Instagram under their belt, users can log in with their Facebook/Instagram credentials, keep their Instagram username, and keep their verification status (if applicable). It’ll also encourage their Instagram followers to follow them on the new platform, and carry over blocks and hidden words, optimizing the overall transition.

Unlike Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, Meta’s new text-based app will be decentralized, much like its competitor, Mastodon. According to Haberman’s sources, each post has a limit of 500 characters, and much like tweets and Facebook posts, users can include links, photos, and videos up to five minutes long. Based on the only screenshots we’ve gotten of the new app (via a slide Haberman received and posted to her Twitter page), it’ll have a feed where users can like, reply, and share others’ posts.

What This Means

someone using a laptop that has facebook open on it

With the reported instability on Twitter recently, the market for Twitter alternatives is rife with opportunities. However, there hasn’t been one clear contender that users have flocked to. And the fatigue of setting up a new account on a new, unpopulated platform has become more apparent, which only further deterred users.

Meta, however, has the tremendous advantage of integrating their already-popular apps, Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp, which boasts a network of billions of users. With that also comes the ease of setting up a new account and keeping your followers. But Meta also has a history of releasing apps that don’t gain traction, especially those that copy other already-popular apps. So, only time will tell how Meta’s new text-based app performs in the social media space.

Pacific Software Publishing, Inc.

1404 140th Place N.E., Bellevue, WA 98007

PSPINC Creates Tools For Your Business

Pacific Software Publishing, Inc. is headquartered in Bellevue, Washington and provides domain, web, and email hosting to more than 40,000 companies of all sizes around the world. We design and develop our own software and are committed to helping businesses of all sizes grow and thrive online. For more information you can contact us at 800-232-3989, by email at info@pspinc.com or visit us online at https://www.pspinc.com.

#app #business #businesstools #digitalmarketing #directmessaging #dm #elonmusk #facebook #jackdorsey #marketing #marketingdigital #messaging #messenger #meta #news #socialmedia #tech #technology #twitter #web #website #whatsapp

What’s New Newsletter Vol. 169 “Learn Japanese Online”

May

25

If you didn’t already know, Pacific Software Publishing Inc. (PSPINC) started as a one-man operation in 1987 by our founder, Kenichi Uchikura. While we’re known for our web hosting services, the original vision for this company was to popularize the PC in Japan, which was aided by the fact that our CEO is Japanese. Since then, PSPINC has grown immensely as we now offer multiple different digital products and services. But we still boast a focus on offering our services in Japanese. So, it only made sense to also offer Japanese language-learning services as well.

With Japanese-Online (JOL), you can learn how to speak and write Japanese with articles, tutors, and lessons on the Japanese language and culture! Find free language and culture guides and subscribe to our weekly email newsletters by heading over to our website, Japanese-Online.com.

Pacific Software Publishing, Inc.

1404 140th Place N.E., Bellevue, WA 98007

PSPINC Creates Tools For Your Business

Pacific Software Publishing, Inc. is headquartered in Bellevue, Washington and provides domain, web, and email hosting to more than 40,000 companies of all sizes around the world. We design and develop our own software and are committed to helping businesses of all sizes grow and thrive online. For more information you can contact us at 800-232-3989, by email at info@pspinc.com or visit us online at https://www.pspinc.com.

#blog #businesstips #businesstools #digitalmarketing #japanese #japaneseonline #jol #marketing #marketingdigital #marketingtips #pspinc #pspincwhatsnewnewsletter #smallbusiness #tech #technology #web #webhosting #website #webtools

What’s New Newsletter Vol. 168 “Business Uses for Web Forms”

May

18

Online forms, or web forms, allow customers to enter valuable information. It could be as small and simple as their name and email address, or it can include payment information. Regardless, businesses can use online forms for multiple reasons:

· Sell products.
· Onboarding new employees.
· Capture new leads.
· Create an email mailing list.
· Gather feedback from customers.
· Collect information to provide a service.
· Many more!

In return, businesses can gain insight into their customers while also configuring, sharing, and managing those forms to optimize them for their business needs. Creating them, however, can be as easy as signing up for InforMakers, our online form builder! Get started for just $8/month.

Pacific Software Publishing, Inc.

1404 140th Place N.E., Bellevue, WA 98007

PSPINC Creates Tools For Your Business

Pacific Software Publishing, Inc. is headquartered in Bellevue, Washington and provides domain, web, and email hosting to more than 40,000 companies of all sizes around the world. We design and develop our own software and are committed to helping businesses of all sizes grow and thrive online. For more information you can contact us at 800-232-3989, by email at info@pspinc.com or visit us online at https://www.pspinc.com.