A few weeks back I talked about Crazy Egg’s Confetti as a great analytics tool for data visualization and thought it worth some follow up. Amee over at Crazy Egg came through with the inside scope on Crazy Egg 2.0 as well as some insights on data visualization. To the left is the new drop down menu – some nice new options.
PMT – How have you seen the need for data visualization change/evolve in recent years?
CE - Because of the vast amount of data out there, it can be hard for companies to comprehend the data. Visualizations that provide an insight about users and more importantly actionable data, make it easier for companies to understand their data.
Similar to what some analytics companies are doing now, I think over the next few years companies are going to concentrate and create more useful visuals and not just pretty ones.
PMT – How do data visualization tools fit with typical analytics platforms like Omniture? What’s the best way to create synergy between the two?
CE – Well, they help you understand the data in a different way. Some people are visual while others prefer crunching numbers. I think analytics companies are going to have to meet the needs of both type of users.
PMT – What’s new with the upcoming Confetti release?
CE – The best way to create a synergy is through deep integration. This way the user experience is seamless.
Crazy Egg 2.0:
• Completely rewritten from the ground up
• Improved stability, performance, and reliability throughout the whole system
• Reports are always available
• Reports load much quicker
• Improved tracking reliability
• Improved tracking accuracy
• Added many more dimensions of data to Confetti and Overlay, including custom user variables
• Higher-resolution heatmaps
• New snapshot creation UI
• Ability to fine-tune URL matching URLs for snapshots
• Ability to edit running tests
• Improved screenshots (better font rendering)
• Improved error handling and messaging
• Better tools for our users to diagnose potential installation/configuration issues
Coming soon…
• Regular expressions for URL matching rules
• Ability to handle template tracking
• Ability to track login-protected pages
• Export to CSV
• Downloadable Heatmaps
• IP Address blocking (existing 1.0 feature)
• Ability to track custom elements
To brush up on your analytics, pick up a copy of Web Analytics: An Hour a Day
Thomas Greanias is the New York Times bestselling author of Raising Atlantis, The Atlantis Prophecy and The Atlantis Revelation. Also, his eBooks are No.1 on Amazon worldwide and his Audiobooks on iTunes are No.1 worldwide. He is one of the leading authors of adventure novels. When you read one of his novels, you can’t put it down. You are pulled into a vortex of mystery and intrigue.
The mystery of Atlantis appeals to many. A lot wonder if it really existed; perhaps even buried far below an ocean. Maybe someone will find Atlantis someday, but until then, we can read and enjoy the puzzle surrounding it.
I was ecstatic when Thomas agreed to an interview. I feel honored and privileged.
What is your process of researching for your novels?
A mix of intuition and connecting the dots. There are so many mind-blowing “factoids” floating out there in our overloaded information age dying for some perspective. I end up looking at the trends behind those facts, past and present, and extrapolate what the future might hold, where we might be heading.
What drove you to pen the Atlantis novels?
The failure of my screenplay Chain of Command —my “big buck spec script,” according to Daily Variety —to get produced back in the late 1990s. It was about a female secretary of education who becomes the president after a nuclear attack takes out Washington and the first 15 guys in line. Columbia made the similar “Air Force One” with Harrison Ford instead. Since then, every actress considered for my script eventually played a female president, vice president or first lady in a movie or TV series: Glenn Close (Air Force One),Sigourney Weaver (Dave), Geena Davis (Commander in Chief) and Mary McDonnell (Battlestar Galactica). What’s funny is that over the years at Hollywood parties I get comments from some people about how much they loved my movie. They think they’ve seen it, but it was never made. So instead of waiting for Hollywood, I wrote Raising Atlantis.
You have been a correspondent for national security issues; has this experience given you a lot of knowledge for your novels?
The Atlantis Prophecy would not have been possible were it not for my first-hand tunnel-crawling and associated experiences in Washington, D.C., years ago. I knew I was going to write a novel about it someday, but I didn’t know it would come out after Raising Atlantis as The Atlantis Prophecy.
I am a big fan of Clive Cussler, who has given you high praise. How does it feel to have other bestselling authors,especially of your genre, give you great acclaim?
Flattered and undeserving.
When did you begin writing stories? What or who has been your biggest inspiration?
Preschool. Leo Tolstoy is my biggest inspiration. War and Peace humbles you as a writer with both its vast scale and personal intimacy. And his later short works like Father Sergius and Hadji Murad are practically religious experiences in themselves. But I think it was John Jay Osborn’s novel The Paper Chase, based on his first year of law school at Harvard, that got me started. I loved the idea that we could take the raw experiences of our lives and turn them into stories that inspire others.
What do you do besides writing your next novel; any fun hobbies, any crazy collections?
I do a lot of fun things with my wife and two boys, and I’m fortunate enough to have some of the most interesting friends around. I seem to go back and forth between the sand and snow.
Can you tell us about your new novel that will be coming out?
THE PROMISED WAR is about an Israeli counter-terrorism agent named Sam Deker who gets blown back to 1410 BC and the ancient Israelite army’s history-changing invasion of the Promised Land.
Can you tell us more about the contest that you have been doing for readers?
*You can see the two finalists yourself on YouTube. Just type in Atlantis Revelation.
What advice can you give to struggling writers?
Remember that writing is both a craft and a business. You’ll always struggle with the craft, whether you’re unpublished or Leo Tolstoy (who didn’t believe the novel was even an art form when he penned War and Peace). And the business is changing before our eyes. Editors are spending less time reading manuscripts and more time trolling the Web to see who has an eBook, blog or other form of proof-of-concept that seems to be working. So work your craft, but get your work out there as soon as you can, too.
*Thomas Greanias had a contest called The Atlantis Revelation Movie Trailer Mashup for a chance to win and watch the trailer on CBS. You can see the entries here:
Mashup Entries
Learn more about Thomas Greanias on his website:
http://www.thomasgreanias.com/index_loaded.html
On his website,you will also find where to order his books,eBooks and Audiobooks.
