We like Facebook, and we’re not alone. It is currently the most visited site in the U.S. and boasts 400-plus million worldwide users. This week, Facebook took a big step towards becoming even more ubiquitous. The changes are a little tricky to understand, so here's an attempt to summarize.

First a quick explanation of the impact: With these changes, any website is now able to display content and products informed by a user’s Facebook profile – information like current city, likes, interests, etc. To clarify, this all happens without requiring the user to sign in on that website or provide it with any personal information. It’s simply a matter of the user being logged into Facebook, which is the first thing many users do when they go online.

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Ever since Apple's iPad was publicly announced, media and geeks have been looking to and fro for alternate tablets that can counter its buzz. None have matched the well-honed PR machine from Cupertino, but few tech companies could resist either announcing their own tablet devices or floating the idea of creating a tablet device (We're looking at you GOOG!).

Does this round of tablet fever bode differently than the last round of Windows Tablet PCs? Everyone involved sure hopes so.

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We just launched another site with our clients at Sony Style introducing their new brand of headphones, PIIQ. The PIIQ brand is colorful, expressive and surprising - qualities we aimed to evoke with this immersive, web experience.

We created a big, bold way for users to explore the PIIQ products and features with full screen video details and a fun, compelling menu for fast, engaging product browsing. We love the result and hope you do too. Check it out and let us know what you think.

I just returned from a recruiting event at the Rochester Institute of Technology. It was a forum for students in their third and fourth years of the school's new media program to meet with prospective employers.

I was super impressed. It was clear that RIT is producing the best new media talent in the world, rivaling Hyper Island.

The program offers two degrees. Students can pursue a Bachelor of Science degree in New Media Interactive Development through the Interactive Games and Media department or a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in New Media Design and Imaging through the College of Imaging Arts and Sciences. As a result they graduate with a focus on design or development. However, almost all the students were remarkably well rounded.

I don’t pretend to know exactly what they’re doing at RIT but a few things are evident.

The students I met had a real appreciation and understanding of all the roles required to make great new media productions. This appears to be a byproduct of the school’s collaborative, team-based approach to learning. It also maps closely to what these students will find in the real world upon graduating.

In addition to a broad understanding of how new media is made, many of the students have a nice mix of talent, experience and confidence that I wish was more common in new graduates from other schools. The confidence is especially important. Having worked with a couple recent graduates, I've noticed that these students have the confidence to assume that they can figure out the problems they encounter in a project - and they have a solid enough foundation to make that true.

I'm always excited to hire and work with RIT grads. I only wish there were more schools in the US producing students as well equipped, but I'm hopeful of emerging programs and students from other places like Boulder Digital Works. We're keeping a close eye on the future of digital education.

We're thrilled to learn from our partners at Undercurrent that DonQ Rum has won big at the Wine & Spirits Wholesalers of America (WSWA) Convention this week in Las Vegas.

DonQ has been honored with the "Rising Star" award that is based solely on growth from year to year. They've also picked up the Gold medal for DonQ Gold, Silver medals for both Cristal and Gran Anejo, and a Bronze medal for Anejo.

We are proud and excited to be a part of the digital team with Undercurrent, bringing the DonQ brand to life on the web. Congrats to all!

It is with no shortage of nostalgia, warm feelings and gratitude that we announce our good friend and long-time business partner Jay Wolff is leaving his role as President of Odopod.

The move comes at the right time for both Jay and Odopod.

When we asked Jay to serve as an advisor in 2003, we had already known him for many years as a business partner and friend. At the time, Odopod was little more than raw potential. We had enthusiasm and talent. Jay guided us on the fundamentals of how to build and run a successful, well-organized agency.

It didn’t take long for Jay’s role as advisor to expand into that of President. His natural charm, entrepreneurial drive and deep well of experience helped to fuel Odopod’s growth from seven to forty-five. Along the way, he never lost sight of what makes Odopod unique — a culture of thoughtfulness, inventive energy and craft. He knew that this would always be our source of strength.

For the past two years, Jay has worked closely with us to lay the foundation for Odopod’s next chapter. He recruited Guthrie Dolin to lead and formalize our strategy practice. He enlisted Johnathan Tann to deepen our client relationships. He led Odopod to become a charter member of the Society of Digital Agencies. In doing so, he formed invaluable cooperative bonds between Odopod and its most respected peers.

Together, we reshaped Odopod from a design studio into a digital agency – positioning us for our current success.

Last year, as Jay’s plans for Odopod took shape, Johnathan began to assume Jay’s day-to-day duties. That transition was complete this year. As you might imagine, Jay’s entrepreneurial bug kicked in and he began to consider his next adventure.

After some time off, Jay will return to his role as advisor to Odopod.

Although we’ll miss him here in the office, he will continue as a tireless promoter of Odopod — seeking out strategic partnerships and continuing to be an ambassador for the agency he helped to build.

On behalf of everyone at Odopod, we wish Jay even more sunny days and big ideas and will watch with excitement and anticipation for his next project.

Tim, Dave & Jacquie

Thanks FWA, we're honored. Visit the site »

We're pleased to announce the launch of the new PlayStation.com, an enormous entertainment platform that beautifully tells the PlayStation brand story while simply communicating the complex offering of PlayStation products.

The overall look and feel is dramatic, bold and refreshing featuring a compact navigation that is friendly and informative, a huge promotional marquee to promote PlayStation offerings in a highly compelling and visually stunning way, and a powerful membership area to encourage user sign in and participation.

We're extremely proud of the tremendous effort put forth from the team here at Odopod and our partners. The site came together beautifully.

Check it out, we'd love to hear what you think.

We're honored, thank you Communication Arts!

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YouTube came to Odopod to develop a video browsing interface, allowing users to browse and view multiple videos in a unique and compelling way. The interface is fully customizable to match any page design and provides the YouTube team the option of setting up video contests and promotions with a voting mechanism built right in. The first use of the video grid interface launched last year with YouTube’s Ad Blitz 2009 - a channel dedicated to browsing and voting on the best ads of the Super Bowl. And this year they've done it again.

YouTube recently shared the results of this year's Adblitz and we wanted to share them with you. Read More »