Going green in Toronto...

The Economist's "Intelligent Life" has just gone quarterly, and the first issue has a great article about people making a change to be more green. One of them is Vanessa Farquharson, a journalist with the National Post, living in Toronto, who decided to make a bunch of small changes every day, from turning down the thermostat to turning off her fridge, that would have to stick. She's a few months in and seems to have managed to cut her carbon footprint pretty significantly. A few things are a bit wacky (I'm not taking my own napkins to a restaurant anytime soon), but most make a tonne of sense. If nothing else, it's great to know that there're a bunch of things we all can and should be doing.

Her blog's Green As a Thistle. Check it out.

Stupid Beta: Blackline Blip for BlackBerry

Tris mentioned a Canadian company with a buddy-finder like application for the BlackBerry 8800 called Blip.

I had my reservations about the app actually being useful at all... I mean, I'd say that the majority of my friends don't have BlackBerries... and of those who do, most have an 8700 or Pearl, not the 8800 yet. Anyway, it still seemed like it was worth a quick peek... right up until I noticed that the folks at Blackline seem to think that their beta is worth $10.

That's right... you get to test the app, pay for the data charges you might incur, give these guys feedback, and invite your friends in to have a look (I mean, it's not so useful without friends using it, right?), and they want you to pay for the beta. (?!?!?!?)

How. Very. Strange.

PocketMac wishlist ...

So, FacebookSync on the Mac isn't a particularly *great* app, but it works reasonably well... and it means that I've got pics for a whole bunch of friends now in my Mac address book.

So, it's unfortunate that PocketMac (who RIM either acquired or did a big deal with) can't sync these new photo's in my address book to the BlackBerry (where in the 8800 the address book supports photographs).

Oh, and the other sync-related gripe? I exported my LinkedIn contacts to a vCard to get any updates into my Mac address book. The Mac's smart enough to notice that many of the cards already exist in it's own address book, and is able to treat the new info from LinkedIn as "updates".

So here's the weirdness... if a contact in my address book has a photo in their profile, accepting the "update" from the LinkedIn vCard removes the picture! Grumble...

Bored in Kitchener-Waterloo?

Who could blame you ... I mean... the place's nickname is the loo!

Anyway, a friend just launched lifeinkw, which has a great list of restaurants, bars, etc. in the region. Better than the "out of town" section in Toronto Life, I'm betting...

Have a look if you're up in the 'loo one of these days.

Mesh Minds launch party

It's live! ... well, almost ... one more week and you can sign up to Mesh Minds, the network of business professionals with a creative "second life".


Picture courtesy of Sophie Khan.

Thankfully a week's delay didn't stop Kay Vasey and Jonny Emmanuel, the founders of Mesh Minds from throwing a fantastic launch party at The Spitz Gallery. We got food, wine, screenshots, and even a viral video that's got a financial consultant dancing in the middle of an office square.



If you haven't heard yet, Mesh is all about connecting professionals with creative second lives (a lawyer that writes, a banker that paints... you get the idea) with one another, and judging by the turnout and the mix of people from lawyers and bankers to documentary filmmakers and software startup founders it looks like they're onto something cool.

With a couple hundred friends and founding members showing up to support Mesh, it was a great party with a terrific mix of people, and I'm looking forward to getting Meshed in a week. (Wonder if my not being creative'll get my application rejected :)

Facebook Developer Garage in London

Yesterday was the inaugural Facebook Developer Garage in London, held at T-Bar, and sponsored by Ankur Shah and the guys at Techlightenment.

It seems like the first event in London drew over 250 people, making it the largest Developer Garage in the world... though, next time I'm bringing a fog-horn... getting a crowd of 250 to quiet down and listen to the presentations is more difficult than I might have expected... (Yes, I was the guy that yelled "Shut the fuck up!" a couple of times.)



Despite some technical difficulties, the guys managed to get Dave Morin (who runs the developer program at Facebook) on video conference to speak to the audience and ask a few questions. It seems Dave's most frequent reply to most questions was "We don't really comment on what we're doing in the future."



The event featured presentations from a few local companies, including Qubox, .name, Mesh, and Techlightenment... Clearly there's a lot of Facebook app development going on, with many attendees developing apps, and others looking to hire developers to build apps.

Looking forward to the next event in September... and maybe even being able to hear the speakers this time :)

No Bombing

No Bombing, originally uploaded by Sutha Kamal.

Seen at Shoreditch House in London... okay, we all get what it means (the screen is showing video from their rooftop pool), but it's still funny/bizarre... especially in London.

UK broadband prices ...

My uncle pays £21 a month, and gets 10 Mbit/s broadband (yeah, and
it's actually that fast!), free local calling, and free calling to
Canada, the US and a whole bunch of other providers.

That's ~$40 a month. For broadband, voice, and all of it.

Wow.