By now, you’ve likely encountered the trend toward the use of nootropics, or smart drugs, in Silicon Valley. If you haven’t, Nootropics are substances that improve cognitive function, and have become exceedingly popular with developers and executives, specifically as a means for tweaking their own cerebral chemistry. Memory, problem solving, focus, and creativity—are only a few of the key functions enhanced by these substances. Continue…

Do you have a family member who eats, sleeps, and breathes gadgets? Maybe someone whose interests are so far toward the cutting edge, that you can’t keep up with their growing technology needs? If so, we’ve created this handy guide to help you narrow down your gift list. Here are a few recommendations of what we’d like to see under our trees, which may help you in shopping for the technophile on your list. Continue…

Teamwork is an important part of any business. With Google Apps, useful business tools such as email, storage, document creation, and more are consolidated into one cloud-based, collaborative platform. Whether an employee is working remotely or you’re sharing a power outlet, everyone on the team will be able to connect and collaborate with one another. Continue…

We are excited to share that we have been included in the Top 21 web development company in US by the Austin Business Journal. The list is constructed of firms that “specialize in website design, development and digital marketing.” Continue…

We saved the best #TeamTuesday for last. None of the HMG Creative team would be here if it weren’t for our Founder and Managing Partner. He started from his room and now we’re here… in Austin.

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In the blink of an eye, SXSW has wrapped up its final events just last Saturday, leaving attendees in awe once again. This year, President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama opened the event with their keynote presentations, making this the first time in SXSW history that a sitting president and the First Lady attended the event. Additionally, Drake made a surprise guest appearance headlining at The FADER FORT, leaving fans with their jaws to the ground as he released the announcement of his upcoming ‘Views From The 6’ tour. Finally, virtual reality was the newest breakthrough trend this year at SXSW, as multiple companies released their latest inventions in the digital industry. Continue…

As the race to presidency continues to heat up, the presidential candidates have been strongly addressing the issues that are, of course, on the top of our minds: foreign policy, economics, immigration and health care, just to name a few. However, there is an elephant in the room that barely any presidential candidate has spent a sufficient amount of time discussing the importance of the topic. It is something that dominates every issue discussed in both the democratic and republican debates. It is the root of a spurring and efficient nation– it is the tech sector.

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Just a couple of weeks ago, over 170 countries signed the Paris Climate Agreement. The deal calls for each nation to cut greenhouse gas emissions in order to reduce global warming. As the world continues to heat up at an exponential rate, it is crucial that initiatives are taken immediately to put raising temperatures to a halt, and the Paris Climate Agreement was a huge step in the right direction for change.

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We asked for it, and they responded– after more than a year of research, Facebook released a new update today that extends from the simple “like” button. The new reactions allows users to express their emotions by choosing between like, love, haha, wow, sad and angry emojis.

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We’ve all heard that a sleek, well designed website is vital for a business, but why exactly is good web design so important? Well, HubSpot breaks it down via Red Website Design’s data and infographic. It dictates exactly what impacts Internet users the most, including Load Time, Color Scheme, Layout, Trust, and HTML 5. If the primary load time is less than one second, 4.6% percent traffic growth is achieved, while four seconds or more results in negative traffic growth. For color, green has 3.0% traffic growth, while red comes at a 1.35% growth loss. For layout, the first two paragraphs are very important, users look in an F-shaped pattern, and 70% of people look at lists with bullet points. 94% of people cite design as a reason they do not trust certain websites. Finally, 27% of sites use HTML 5 – those sites account for 49% of pageviews. For all of the data laid out in a very clear manner, check out the full infographic.

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