#what do you MEAN there are no youtube videos of people building their own lighthouses to live in?????

[beenovel]

Me: *looks up the most obscure search questions imaginable*

Me: why are there no satisfactory results?!?!?!?!

[imatv]

Q&A Intro to VR

A while ago, an old friend introduced me to some students doing a science project who asked me some questions about VR. They were kind of introductory questions, but I’m sure lots of people out there don’t know much about VR yet; so I decided to post my response.

“ Intro

Hey there future VR developers and creators!

My name is Alvin, and I've been working with VR and AR technology for about 5 years now. I recently graduated Fall of 2017 from UCLA with B.S. in Computer Science and a minor in Cognitive Science.

Just after graduating high school (wayyyy back in 2013), I remember getting the first Oculus Rift DK1 in the mail and setting it up. Even though it was a prototype, it was absolutely mind-blowing. I remember putting it on and being INSIDE Minecraft.

After that, I made it one of my goals to keep up-to-date with the industry and so while in college, I made a bunch of random VR and AR projects for hackathons. These include:

AR search - https://devpost.com/software/findar

VR walking - https://devpost.com/software/m-o-l-m

VR dodgeball - https://devpost.com/software/dodgelodge

These projects allowed me to learn a lot about how to make things for VR, and eventually landed me a research position at UCLA, under two psychology professors who studied human memory and human perception.

They wanted to study the human brain with the help of VR. So I built experiments using VR as a tool to put people into virtual worlds so that we can see how the brain reacts in certain conditions.

After two years of this, I was pretty set to go to graduate school, but those plans changed very quickly. A couple of my friends and I were getting odd jobs to develop VR projects for other people, and we were getting paid too!

So, instead of going to grad school, I and my team of friends started a company, called Escality (clever combination of ‘Escape Reality’), and now we make our own VR/AR games and also other applications for clients!

Here's the trailer for our first VR game on Steam!

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhzONE7-NQ0

Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/805320/Conjurors_Eye/

Okay enough about me, let's talk about VR!

Answers to Questions

How does VR work?

If you haven’t tried VR yet, you have to do that first. Find any way you can. It will blow your mind. And it'll be a good first step to understanding how it all works.

This video comes close to capturing what VR is like: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNjmmLLBGHs, but seriously you need to try it for yourself.

Alright, after that, let's dive in:

A lot of things come together to make VR work, but the main two are: Displays and Tracking

For displays, VR headsets are just screens (like your phone screen or your computer screen) with a bunch of fancy sensors.

But for these screens to make it feel like you're somewhere else, they have to show two images (one for each eye) that are slightly different. This is what's called a stereoscopic display (stereoscopic, meaning two views).

For tracking, well, it depends on the headset. But there's two main types of VR tracking technology: lighthouse (or outside-in tracking) and inside-out tracking.

Here's a good illustration of the difference:

With inside-out tracking, the headset on the player has cameras and fancy sensors (like accelerometers, the kind of sensors used in phones to tell if they're upside down or not). The cameras and sensors work to understand the world around the player and make really good guesses to how the person is oriented.

With outside-in tracking, separate tracking cameras are placed around the room and look for certain markers on the player and/or headset to make a good guess as to where the person is and how they are oriented.

If you want to read more about this, here's a good article: https://www.wareable.com/vr/inside-out-vs-outside-in-vr-tracking-343

When you combine high quality stereoscopic displays with good and fast tracking, you can put that on someone's face, and they'll feel like they're somewhere else! That's VR!

How much money does it take to manufacture a VR headset?

The answer to this question is like the last one. It depends.

For example, let's take the Oculus Rift. It is currently being sold at $400, (released for $600). According to this article, it costs $206 for the parts, not including the labor put into putting it all together.

But if you look at other headsets, like the Pimax, it's being sold at $1000. There's no source for how much that one costs to make (probably a lot more).

How could you transfer VR files to space?

VR files are just regular computer files. If you've ever played a game on your computer, VR is the same thing! A VR game is just another computer game!

The main difference between VR and regular games is in the display (two images instead of one big one) and the tracking (using sensors and cameras to figure out where you're looking / how you're tilting your head).

How are VR movies made?

There are two types of VR environments: VR capture (taking the real world and putting it in VR) and completely virtual environments (building worlds from scratch in VR)VR capture techniques vary widely and usually involves taking a bunch of pictures of the world and mixing/matching them to form a sphere. Then based on where you're looking, you'll see a part of that sphere.

Here's a good article about how VR capture is done: https://www.viar360.com/blog/types-of-virtual-reality-capture-methods-that-allow-you-to-replicate-the-real-world/

For completely virtual environments, these are usually built in a game engine editor like Unity or Unreal Engine. 3D modeling is done to create virtual assets, then animation and VFX tools are used to make them move and look as if they're alive.

Popular 3D modelling software programs include: Blender, Maya, 3DS Max, and many more.

What supplies are needed to film a VR movie?

Assuming you're doing VR capture (taking the real world and putting it in VR), usually you'll need some kind of 360 degree camera. You can refer to the previous answer's link to that one article. Searching up each method for VR capture will give you an idea of what is needed for each technique.

Otherwise, if you're building completely virtual environments, all you need is a computer with a game engine downloaded (Unity and Unreal are the most popular and easiest to learn).

How much does the equipment cost to make a VR movie?

That highly depends on the technique used.

For simple 360 videos, all you would need is a 360 degree camera which costs anywhere between $100 to a couple thousand dollars depending on the quality of video that you want.

For more advanced techniques like photogrammetry and light-field capture, setups can run up to many thousands of dollars.

If you want to create completely virtual worlds, though, that's usually completely free! With software like Unity and Unreal, as well as Blender, you can create entire virtual worlds at zero cost. But it's a lot of work.

How are VR files stored or sent?

Again, VR files are just regular computer files. You can download a game from the internet, the same way you can download a VR game from the internet.

Will the VR video be clear even though they are heavily compressed?

Video files can be encoded at whatever quality you want them to be. They can be 1080p, or they can be 100000000 x 1000000000 resolution. That's up to you.

Whether or not your computer can run something that's 100000000 x 1000000000 is a separate issue (most regular computers today will have trouble even playing things at 4K).

Also VR headsets don't go that high.The HTC Vive Pro has a screen resolution of 2880 x 1600 (1400 x 1600 per eye).

The Oculus Rift has a screen resolution of 2160 x 1200.

The Pimax has a screen resolution of 2 * (3840 x 2160).

When you put a VR headset on, resolution isn't as important as refresh rate (the speed the screen updates per second). Research suggests that 90 Hz screens are optimal for VR use.

That means the screen has to update 90 times every second in order to feel good. Tracking also matters a lot, because with bad tracking, people can get nauseous and motion sick.

As for the video being clear, just make sure the resolution of the video matches the one that your headset supports. If you're using a HTC Vive Pro, make sure it's 2880 x 1600 (1400 x 1600 per eye), etc.

How do you incorporate sound into VR?

Most modern VR headsets have speakers for both the left and right ear. Spatial audio files exist that have data on how loud something is in your left ear vs. your right ear depending on where you're facing.

These types of files are called ambisonic audio files. Youtube supports First Order Ambisonics, and you can also read about this file type here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambisonic_data_exchange_formats#File_formats_and_metadata

VR games do this by default through the game engine code. So, when you play a game in VR made in Unity or Unreal for example, the sound will automatically be built-in and spatial, so that something on your left in VR will actually sound like it's on your left, etc.

Alright! That's all of the questions answered! Good luck on your project! Don't be afraid to ask some more! ”

[thelmasirby32]

SEO and SMEs: Q&A with Chris Rodgers, Founder and CEO of Colorado SEO Pros

The year is still new and running an SME in 2020 isn’t getting any easier. While there’s so much that founders, CEOs, and fellow C-suite need to juggle and struggle with, SEO is yet another running goal added to this list. We caught up with Chris Rodgers, Founder and CEO of Colorado SEO Pros to talk about the conundrum of SEO and SMEs, challenges, trends, user behavior, voice search, and lots more – a chat you can not afford to miss.

SEW: 2020 will see or shall we say, “hear” 50% of search queries in “voice” – How should small and local businesses – make themselves more visible on Google?

Chris Rodgers: Voice search is dramatically changing the way people search for information but not necessarily the information they are seeking. A few years back Google introduced the concept of micro-moments. Google defines a micro-moment as “an intent-rich moment when a person turns to a device to act on a need – to know, go, do, or buy”. These needs have not changed, but what we are seeing is that instead of typing search queries into a device, people are increasingly speaking more conversational queries via voice search… and it’s growing very rapidly.

Getting started with a voice search optimization strategy

As a small business, you need to understand the concept of “micro-moments” and identify the specific needs of your customers in order to create great content that matches search intent. So, if you’re a plumber, you are likely aware of the top questions and problems your customers have. Focus on creating content that meets specific customer needs. This content could be informational, commercial, navigational, or transactional. Creating content that matches user intent will increase the chances of ranking in the top-three results, and as a result, being served in voice search answers.

Last June a study was released that dove deep into voice search ranking factors, and there were some interesting findings.

Chris Rodgers spoke about some of the important ones that you need to be aware of as you formulate an approach to voice search optimization:

80% of voice search answers came from the top three organic search results

This means you should continue to focus on ranking in the top three positions of search results, creating high-quality content that matches user intent, and getting relevant and trusted backlinks to your website.

70% of all voice search answers were from a SERP feature, most being rich snippets

You should research and understand SERP features, and create a strategy to be featured in rich snippets and in other features where it makes sense.

A majority of voice search results were from pages that loaded faster than the others

This means you should be paying close attention to page speed. A few tools to help are Google Lighthouse Tools, GT Metrix, and Google Search Console (the GSC tool is still classified as “experimental” by Google).

Three tips to follow for voice search optimization

Take a more fluid and conversational approach to the content being created, avoid awkward keyword stuffing, and focus more on “topics” versus exact keyword usage. Consider adding related keywords that are relevant to your search terms and topic.

Include questions and answers in your content and use PAA (people also ask) from Google search results to identify questions. Another tool for topics/questions is “answer the public.” Consider which questions prompt a rich snippet (position zero) in search results and try to provide a better explanation of that keyword search/topic.

Research types of schema mark-up that can be used on your site and how to implement (there are some WP plugins out there that make it easier). Some types of schema to consider might include local business schema, organizational schema, FAQ schema, Q&A schema, and maybe even review schema. Google has a free structured data testing tool that is useful as well to test your mark-up.

SEW: What do you think were the top challenges for businesses/SMEs in 2019?

Chris Rodgers: Understanding and integrating SEO throughout SME organizations – We often see enterprise organizations with disjointed marketing and operations structure that siloes SEO. This approach limits the success and impact of SEO. We work with some forward-thinking enterprise organizations that are building enterprise SEO strategy across departments. For example, the web development and IT infrastructure group are thinking SEO, but so is the PR group and marketing specialists who influence language, tone, and content strategy.

Communicating the value of SEO and quantifying results for SME stakeholders – While this is true for SEO across most businesses, when we look at small and medium-sized enterprises it is very common. Marketing managers generally have a basic understanding of SEO, but as information goes up to the C-Suite and business owners, much is lost in translation. It is best to focus on a few important SEO KPI’s that are more easily quantified (keyword rankings, organic traffic, landing page organic visits, and conversions). We recommend tracking conversions down to the lead level with sales close data to more effectively calculate and communicate true ROI.

Understanding SEO strategy and processes – Whether we are talking about SME’s, start-ups, or larger enterprise organizations, there is often a fundamental lack of understanding around how SEO works. It is worth doing some research to understand SEO strategy basics and how agencies manage SEO strategy, regardless of whether you are working with an outside vendor or are working with an in-house SEO provider.

SEW: If you were to strongly suggest one platform for small businesses to spend their money and resources on in 2020, which one will it be? – Google SERP, FB, YouTube, Email?

Chris Rodgers: One platform is a poor strategy with too much risk. That being said if I only had one I might choose email marketing (if you have a solid email list). Email can be low cost and high ROI, even though it’s not too sexy and the potential is based on your email list. If you don’t have a well-targeted list, it would definitely be SEO because of the ROI it historically drives.

SEW: You’ve mentioned that you purely practice white hat SEO – What are the most common myths that your clients have had and how have you helped burst them?

Chris Rodgers: There aren’t many SEOs that are 100% white-hat. It’s more of a marketing term used by SEOs. I would not consider us 100% white-hat, because we manage link-building campaigns, which by its very nature is at least partially grey-hat. I guess the biggest myth would be that there are just a handful of factors (or any one “trick”) that make sites rank, and if you use the right strategy you go right to the top (there are hundreds of factors + multiple AI systems).

No one has a buddy at Google that ranks sites. No one person has control over the algorithm, and even more, there are AI systems at play that would likely override any single factor or ­single person’s influence.

SEW: Consumer search habits you can predict for 2020 and how local businesses can make the most of it.

Chris Rodgers: Voice search will grow in 2020, as will the use of smart speakers & home assistants – Use the resources in this article to create a voice optimization strategy to both create new content and optimize current content. Identify the questions your customers have and perform research on Google (incognito) to confirm. If you ask the question in Google and you are seeing SERP features and PAA (people also ask) questions, you’re probably on the right track. Tools like SEMRush and Answer the Public can provide questions as well.

Video will continue to appear more prevalently in search and drive more traffic – If you don’t currently have a video SEO strategy, it might be time to get started. If you weren’t aware, YouTube is owned by Google and by serving more videos in search results, Google can drive organic users back into their paid eco-system. Video is a different content type, but you can use many of the same topics for video. There are however certain video types like “how-to videos” and “product reviews” that can be particularly popular. Do some searches around the video topic you are considering in YouTube, are there tons of results and views? The goal is to increase engagement on your own site by adding video, as well as driving referral traffic directly from YouTube (the second largest search engine).

Rich snippets and other SERP features will continue to grow in search results – Rich snippets and SERP features are an important part of SEO going into 2020. We have more zero-click searches than ever before, so it’s critical to be there. Rich snippets also play a big role in voice search, so research the various schema types that might be relevant for your business and optimize for them. Use Google’s free structured data testing tool to verify your mark up and make sure it’s done properly.

SEW: Could you tell us about some holiday season trends you observed in 2019 – And what would you have done differently for better results?

Chris Rodgers: People are looking for deals, and with how huge Black Friday and Cyber Monday have become, people expect to find them. I have noticed the sales for Black Friday/Cyber Monday have been extended even more this year. There may be opportunities to capitalize on the expectation for sales and deals continuing through the holiday season. Specifically, look to target search around “sales”, “deals”, “doorbusters”, and more such keywords.

SEW: Word of advice for CEOs regarding SEO 2020

Chris Rodgers: 2020 SEO dos – Focus on trying to understand the customer journey for your products and services, define customer roles and personas, and map keywords based on the intent type of first-page ranking web pages. Use Google incognito to perform target searches and note what content types are ranking. If you see informational blogs dominating search results, that tells you those users are more top of the funnel and looking for information. If you see product/service pages ranking, that tells you those users are more bottom of the funnel and are closer to making a purchase decision. This intent is key to solving users’ problems and ranking higher in search results, so create similar content to what is ranking well for your target keywords.

2020 SEO don’ts – Avoid “all-in-one” marketing agencies when it comes to SEO. There really aren’t any general digital marketing companies that lead the way in SEO. They typically rely on other channels like paid search to do the heavy lifting and shy away from the more challenging and complex SEO issues that really matter. SEO is hard, so find someone that specializes if you are looking to be an SEO leader in your space.

SEO timing in 2020 – On a final note, SEO opportunity shifts over time and as more competitors enter a particular industry, the more challenging it becomes. Get serious about SEO sooner than later. Start small if you must, but don’t wait until you need it to begin. It takes a long time to do well, and the best SEO strategies materialize over the long-term, slowly. Going fast with a bigger budget doesn’t work as well as a long-term, well-managed SEO strategy.

Are there any questions or challenges that your SME is facing/overcoming? Feel free to share them in the comments section.

The post SEO and SMEs: Q&A with Chris Rodgers, Founder and CEO of Colorado SEO Pros appeared first on Search Engine Watch.

from Digital Marketing News https://www.searchenginewatch.com/2020/01/20/seo-and-smes-qa-with-chris-rodgers/

[suzie81blog]

Note: all of the images featured in this post are my own and are set as galleries – click on the images to see the full size.

The Bloke and I have just been to NYC for a week. We have visited once before on our honeymoon in November last year, but as we were there for just over four days we wanted to go back and attempt to see as much as possible that we had missed last time. We chose to go at the beginning of September – arriving on the Saturday of Labor Day weekend – with the hope that the city would be slightly quieter and the following week was back to school. 

We wanted to experience both the tourist and non-tourist places, so I spent several weeks before reading blogs and watching vlogs about everything to see and do, mapping out our activities according to each day. This wasn’t set in stone and would allow us to change each daily plan around according to the weather. 

We stayed at the Wyndham New Yorker and for the first time ever we received an upgrade to a room on the 40th floor, without even asking. The views were amazing – I didn’t mind the construction work going on as it was fascinating to watch the building development at such a height – and the sunsets were fabulous!

The New Yorker

The view from the side window

The view from the main window

Day One

(Note: this was really day 2 as we arrived at 5.00pm the day before but were so tired we went for a meal and had a short wander around before going to sleep).

Pancakes for breakfast with bacon and maple syrup from the Tik Tock Diner next to the hotel.

Subway pass – 7-Day Metro card for $32. This is perfect for a longer stay as it allows for unlimited subway and bus travel until midnight each day. 

Dana’s apartment used in the first Ghostbusters film.

Natural History Museum – dinosaurs, great exhibitions and The Bloke met Dum Dum.

Lunch at Uno Pizzeria and Grill on Columbus Avenue (at the back of the museum). Our server, Parrish, heard our accents and immediately put the football on the TV – I didn’t have the heart to tell him that I wasn’t really a football fan but we had a lovely chat with him. Great food, great service, definitely worth a visit.

Central Park – I had a Bach Partita performed for me by a cellist from Belgium, saw an erhu being played, we walked down to Bow Bridge and Bethesda Terrace and I was delighted to see that the Acapella Soul singers were performing. I first saw these guys in Washington Square in 2010 and have followed their YouTube videos ever since. They’re still amazing. We walked past the Bandshell and down The Mall to the Plaza and the Plaza food court. I ate a beautiful macaron from here. 

6 1/2 Avenue – a ‘secret’ street used by locals to cut through the city.

Dana’s apartment

Natural History Museum

Grr. Arg.

The Bloke met Dum Dum

Bow Bridge

On Bow Bridge

Bethesda Terrace

The Bandshell

6 1/2 Avenue

Day Two

Roosevelt Island as the weather was glorious. We got the Roosevelt Island Tramway (which the subway pass can be used on) next to the Queensboro Bridge, which took just a few minutes (there is a subway and bus option too). It was a great decision – there was almost nobody around and we took our time, taking in the amazing views of Manhattan. We walked down to Southport Park where we saw the ruins of the former Smallpox Hospital, and then to the Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park. Stunning. 

Serendipity 3 cafe. I ate an amazing buttermilk chicken sandwich and drank an enormous pink lemonade, but they are more famous for their Frrrozen Hot Chocolate and desserts. 

Dylan’s Candy Bar. I bought a marshmallow treat, just because.

Roosevelt Island Tramway

Roosevelt Island Tramway

View of Manhattan

Roosevelt Island

Smallpox Hospital

Smallpox Hospital

Buttermilk chicken from Serendipity 3

Pink lemonade from Serendipity 3

Day Three

The Met Museum. I was a little disappointed at the rooftop bar was closed, but we saw incredible art works that had been on my Bucket List for a long time. 

The Guggenheim. More art, and although I generally prefer modern art over most periods, I found some of it to be a little too much. In one section a video was featured that consisted of a man rolling around on the floor. I’m sure that it means something significant to others, but I didn’t get it. 

Paley Park – a small hidden park with a waterfall.

The Met

The Met

The Met

The Guggenheim

The Guggengeim

Paley Park waterfall

Day Four

The Dominique Ansel Bakery for a Cronut. I’ve been wanting to try one of these for a while, and from the reviews I had read I was expecting a massive queue. We were lucky though – it was almost empty, and I managed to eat my Cronut next to their garden.

Washington Square – a beautiful spot to sit and people watch, with the famous arch and a large fountain.

The Stonewall Monument.

Brunch at Buvette, a small French bistro on Grove Street. I ate waffles with gouda, bacon and syrup and drank freshly squeezed orange juice. I was unsure whether that sort of combination would work, but it totally did. 

An ‘American Glob’ ice-cream from the Big Gay Ice-Cream Shop, also on Grove Street. I almost had a ‘Salty Pimp’ instead, which isn’t a sentence that I’m used to writing. 

Friends Building, also on Grove Street.

Carrie Bradshaw’s apartment in Sex and the City, on Perry Street. 

After returning to the hotel for an afternoon siesta, we went up to Mood Fabrics (featured in Project Runway). I met Swatch, the store mascot. Swatch had obviously had enough of life that day. 

Bill’s Bar and Burgers next to the Rockefeller Centre. 

The Lego Store. The Bloke was in his own personal heaven.

A cronut!!

Dominique Ansel Bakery

Washington Square

Stonewall Monument

Buvette

Big Gay Ice Cream Shop

Carrie Bradshaw’s House on Perry Street

Shadows on the street

Bill’s Bar and Burger

Day Five

Brooklyn Bridge and Brooklyn Park. It was a sweltering 30+ degrees, so The Bloke and I tried to shelter in the shade as much as we possibly could while taking in the breathtaking views. The Bloke found the classic shot of the groynes and so spent some time taking his own shots, while I took the opportunity to sit in the breeze.

Walked across Brooklyn Bridge. It was far busier than the last time we did this in November the year before, but it was rather amusing to watch the insane poses being carried out by the Instagrammers.

Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridge

Brooklyn Bridge

The groynes

Lego Bloke had a wonderful time

Walking Brooklyn Bridge

The Bridge

Day Six

Water Taxi down the Hudson. It was much cooler and we got to see the architecture of the lower west side of Manhattan. We exited at Battery Park.

From there we walked to Bowling Green Park, the Charging Bull and Fearless Girl Statues and then to Wall Street.

Ghostbusters Firehouse – we took a short subway ride up to see the iconic building as the last time we visited it was undergoing renovations and almost completely hidden by scaffolding. As I was stood opposite a tourist couple walked down the street and the man suddenly recognised what it was – he obviously didn’t realise it was there at first and I laughed at the sheer expression of awe on his face. I think his bubble was somewhat burst when he had to explain the significance of it to his girlfriend, but still…

Titanic Memorial – a small lighthouse and plaque down by the Southstreet Seaport piers.

Water Taxi from South Pier. It stopped at Brooklyn Bridge and then took a leisurely pace over to the Statue of Liberty. However, as we were traveling back up the Hudson towards Midtown it turned into a speedboat, and i laughed myself silly as The Bloke and I had to desperately cling on to the chairs and our cameras.

Kinky Boots on Broadway. Absolutely incredible – we’re a huge fan of the film and it was one of the best shows I have ever seen, to the point where I had to try and calm myself down and stop crying as I found myself becoming completely overwhelmed during the final song. Amazing.

The Water Taxi

The Charging Bull

Ahem…

Fearless Girl Statue

Stock Exchange

Ghostbusters Firehouse

Titanic Memorial Lighthouse

Statue of Liberty

Kinky Boots on Broadway

Day Seven

Sephora, just because. I have make-up, but that’s not the point.

Lincoln Center, where we saw totally naked people being made into art works with body paint. 

The Juilliard School – when I was training as a violinist it was one of my personal dreams to go here, and I finally did. Ok, maybe not as a student, but I made a point of taking a picture just so I could send it to my mother and say ‘I went to the Juilliard, Mum!’

For the final part, we walked over to W 58th Street 6th Avenue to find the corner crossing from Midnight Cowboy. Dustin Hoffman almost gets hit by a taxi and yells ‘Hey! I’m walking here!’ This was an unscripted scene that happened because the studio couldn’t get permission to close down the street for filming, and so had to film via a hidden camera in a van driving up and down the street. The taxi that almost hit him was a real one that had run a red light, and Hoffman improvised the now iconic line that was kept in the final cut.

Lincoln Center

The Juilliard

Hey! I’m walking here!

What an incredible week… and there’s still so much more that we could have seen!

How to Spend 4 1/2 Days in New York

The Honeymoon: NYC 2017

  What about you guys? What are your favourite places in NYC?

You can also find me on Twitter and Tumblr @suzie81blog and you can also find me on my Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/suzie81speaks, my Pinterest page http://www.pinterest.com/suzie81speaks and my instagram page http://www.instagram.com/suzie81speaks

A Week in New York Note: all of the images featured in this post are my own and are set as galleries - click on the images to see the full size.