AIAIO: Our Blog

Ai President Alex Schmelkin is featured in a recent Folio article on the importance of optimizing e-commerce sites for tablet interfaces.  Alex is quoted heavily as the article highlights some of his top strategies to keep in mind when designing for “t-commerce.”

Some of the solutions he discusses include working with “the fold,” responsive layouts, minimizing hover states, and insights into future success through t-commerce.   The full story can be found here.

For more on Alex’s strategies on t-commerce, check out the article he wrote for E-Commerce Times entitled “Make Way for T-Commerce.”

Last week was our NYC Social Sports Club Kickball finale. While the overall season results were a bit disappointing (see re: Winning Run Goes Through Basketball Hoop 40ft Away from Kicker), we did finish out the season with a bang, bringing home a win in our very last game. Everyone who showed up played spectacularly. For a star-by-star breakdown, check out the details after the break.

Here at Ai, we’re always down for a little competitive spirit. Our newest competitive release comes via NYC Social Sports Club’s Wednesday night kickball league. We’ve signed up to humble the competition under the moniker “Browser-Compatible Ball Busters”.

Our campaign for kickball world domination came out of the gates a bit inauspiciously last Wednesday though with a 17-6 drubbing at the hands of perennial powerhouse “All-Pro Un-Pro”.

The game was not without its highlights though.  Offensively the team was intimidatingly strong at the top of the order with the first three kickers going a total of 6 for 7 on the day.  Geoff “The Panther” Fellows started the game with a home run to deep center and ended up going 2 for 3  with 2 runs for the game.  Jess “The Paleo Pulverizer” Levy went a perfect 2-2 from the dish and drove in one run.  At third in the order, John Childers (hey, that’s me) launched 2 home runs in his 2 at bats, kicking in a total of 4 runs.  Also netting hits were Marcie Quintana and Abbey Laufenberg.

The team struggled to get its bearings a bit defensively, but there were some impressive catches made by our outfielders.

Photos of the match can be found on our Flickr feed.

The team is looking for an inaugural win this Wednesday night in its 7:45 match at the field on Delancey and Attorney streets on the Lower East Side.  Come on down and watch us mourn the end of the shuttle program by sending some (newly-)Unidentifiable Rubber Objects into lower earth orbit.

Tim Broder

At Ai we’re all about tradition, and one of the closest traditions to our hearts is our very own Jimmy B Award, bestowed for oustanding performances.

To stand out here, you’ve really got to be special and there is no doubt that our newest recipient, Tim Broder, fits the bill.  Tim has been pulling major weight, leading the development charge on our biggest projects.

We’re pretty sure that Tim’s tireless efforts are due in no small part to the fact that, well, the man doesn’t get tired – as evidenced by his performance at the Ragner Relay.

The Broder Boy is truly our Superman, and we want to wish him a big thanks and congratulations.

Did we mention that he can jump tall buildings in a single bound?

As long-time fans of all things baseball – most of us root for the Yankees (some for the Mets, we’re not naming names), Ai is happy to sponsor a Greenwich Village Little League Dodgers of the Jr. Minors Division!  Our very own Canopy Commerce decided to get in on the act too and is the proud sponsor of the GVLL Giants of the T-Ball Division.  Nothing like bragging rights to keep things lively at the office.  Play ball!

The Ai crew headed down to Chelsea Piers for some bowling last Thursday – completely disregarding the office imperative regarding glass houses.

I personally decided to take a humane approach with the pins, leaving a near perfect homeostasis in their natural parquet habitat.  Other members of the team were not so kind:

Dave “Quiet Thunder” Napolitan put up a stellar debut game of 162.  This barely edged out the night’s most consistent act, Jess “The Paleo Pin Pulverizer” Levy, who treated the tenth frame like her dinner plate, laying down straight turkey.

Check out the pictures on our Flickr stream.