Author Archives: Megan - Page 3

The Three Week Summary Of Missed Blog Posts

Vancouver Dec 2, 2007Wow, has it really been over three weeks? Have I lost the luster? Has life really gotten that complicated that I don’t even (gasp) blog on my own space any more?

Yes, life can sometimes get a little complicated, or, like some people in my world right now it seems, a lot complicated. And blogging about pretty much anything kind of becomes unimportant and can seem trivial to a point, unless of course you turn to the blog to unload some of what’s happening in life around you. Not my first choice. And let’s not dismiss the fact that lately my snippets of info and connecting come mostly in the form of FB updates…

It’s now T-Minus 8 days, and for the first time in over a year, I am going unplugged, unreachable, unplug-in-able, off the map, dedicating a whole week to sun, yoga and mint in my drinks.

But before that, here’s a whole slew of stuff that’s been going on that I’ve had every intention to write about:

  • Keeping it all in perspective: The most refreshing thing in my last few months has been having a sister in Africa, doing what I wish we all could. Reading her tales and living her experience through her photography has been nothing short of inspiring.
  • Last night was the second Launch Party, this time at Republic. The list of sponsors was quite long, which is excellent. Unfortunately, I was there briefly, but happy to sneak in a catch-up with Michael, say a quick hello to Rebecca, Dwayne and John (wish we chatted more actually), yakked with Dave a bit, strutted with the Strutta gang, hung with pal Cinci, caught a brief glimpse of Boris in the corner (sorry I didn’t get over there, but you were hiding!), and cruised by James while making my exit. My favourite part was having Weston FINALLY reveal his top secret Something Simpler project, Pul.se: it’ll be your new best, best friend on Facebook, currently still in alpha/beta tester mode. Who’ll need *actual* friends or google when you’ll have your Pulse tell you all need to know about your favourite music? and films and…. more on that later. (Here’s where I need Pulse to help me link to the future blog post.)
  • Michael and Paul were on The Lab! – airing in January.
  • DemoCampVan 04 was a few weeks back now, but was a goody. I think almost 100 people rolled in, we did get a healthy stint of demos, Battledecks was back in full force and seemed to be a hit, and the DEMOBEER at Flux went off pretty well! Who’s steppin’ up for the next one to buy a round for the gang???
  • Why do the women in East Vancouver like to ride their Sunday bikes with no helmet and zero lighting at night? They are crazy and could suffer life-long brain injuries. What gives ladies?
  • Kinzin: 2007 Facebook Rockstars. Check the blog for all the news. AYN is about to hit (read this next part with your pinky finger at the corner of your mouth) ONE MILLION users. muhahha-muhaha.
  • KINZIN BUILDERS NEED APPLICATION TESTERS – yes, more apps to come… testers please – WE WILL GIVE YOU GIFTS FOR YOUR TIME!!
  • I spent an afternoon with the Digital Media Masters program students, talking about social media, tools, old and new media, networks, the boomerang… but that deserves its own blog post, cause they are doing great things over there and I’d like to talk more about that.
  • The new Daft Punk Live is purely spectacular.
  • Check out the Twigg&Hottie Christmas hot sheet and pop by Vancouver’s hottest fashion boutique to pick out your *hot* seasonal outfit!
  • My bro finally gets back tomorrow and I am super stoked.
  • The wonderful man in my life gave me an early Christmas gift a few days ago, cause he thought I’d like to use it right away. He was right. It was a handy, green iPod Shuffle. It made it all the way to Day 3 before getting a good washing, still attached to my running shirt. I deserve coal.

DemoCamp 04 Next Week

Get your tickets now!
That is, sign your name to the wiki and/or the Facebook group.

When: Thu Nov 22 5:30 – 7:30pm (drinks provided after)
Where: Workspace – 21 Water Street, Suite 400, Gastown – Map
Special Event: DEMOBEER! Communicate.com, Peer 1 and Techvibes have all chipped in to provide appies and drinks after the main event. Brian at Gastown’s newest digs, Flux Bistro, is graciously shutting down his joint to host the slew of Demo Campers. So arrive thirsty!

DemoCampVan 04 has a healthy slate of folks ready to demo, and we’re bringin’ back the Battledecks! Tod Maffin has pieced together a deck and a “mystery deck creator” (!?) is coming to the table with the other….

See you there!

Joyent Accelerators Work: Kinzin’s Proof Is In The App

Joyent Accelerator
This week Joyent announced their new Facebook developers program, Joyent Accelerators. Kinzin is well acquainted with Joyent’s infrastructure – it’s what has made the scalability of the “Are You Normal?” Facebook application manageable and successful. The app has jumped to half a million users in a month, has been one of the top apps on the “Recently Popular” Facebook list (more than once), and continues to add tens of thousands new users every day. Joyent’s full case study and more details on the app can be found here.

Joyent Accelerators is “free, fast and scalable hosting”, as quoted by Facebook Senior Platform Manager, Dave Morin.

Joyent has partnered with Facebook and Dell to deliver this sophisticated, scalable, on-demand infrastructure. For developers, it means a quick and efficient launch of Facebook applications that are capable of scaling to millions of users – FOR FREE.

You can read plenty more about this announcement and partnership on a number of our technologist friends’ tech news sites: Read/Write Web, Innovation Creators, Rootly, Social media today, Information Week.

  • Thank-you to Kristie Wells, Mark Mayo and the Joyent Team.
  • Web Strategizing For Women In Film

    St. John's, NewfoundlandI spent last week in Newfoundland with a great group of people, conceptualizing and strategizing to build a web portal for women in film, to be extended further of course to include *both* genders. We’re starting with women, as the client is the St. John’s International Women’s Film Festival; a festival that has been successfully operating and growing for 18 years.

    I was at the festival last year speaking about marketing your film online, social media and web 2.0 tools. Word on the street is it’s the best small film festival going. Well, given the locale alone, of course it is! As a side note, this comment is not surprising. I have yet to meet a person who doesn’t rave about Newfoundland after visiting. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard a story (of people who have visited for the first time) that ends in “… and now they’re moving here.”. I could go on.

    Building Online Community For Women In Film - The Strategy SessionsWhat’s surprising for me to learn while in this process of working with Pattie from Catapult Media and Kelly and Lynn here at the festival HQ is that for most of the calendar year, this festival is run and operated as a one-person show. What gives? Kelly Davis does an amazing job each year, and continues to do so, and this year was able to hire Lynn Kristmanson for a short contract to assist and take control of certain aspects, but where are the funds to support this amazing arts community and this festival that has international attention and acclaim? If it is to grow and continue to build on its successes and reputation, the people and staff behind it must grow as well.

    This is a pretty common tale in the arts right across the country. Federal and Provincial governments have long been held accountable for a lack of funding for the arts community, and in this case, I think it’s a miss on supporting the culture and heritage sector as well.

    I’d be interested to hear from anyone who shares the same conundrum as Kelly Davis and the Film Festival in St. John’s. More people working on this project equals more outreach equals more industry participation equals more local contribution and tourism dollars pumped into the local economy, all with a reputable, successful, in this case international, artistic, cultural event at the core.

    Kinzin’s Paul Prescod At Vancouver’s First Facebook Developers Garage

    xposted from Kinzin’s Blog.
    Facebook Developer Garage Vancouver Oct 2007

    Last night was all about the app.

    Vancouver, or more recently referred to as “Techcouver”, held its’ first Facebook Developer Garage event downtown at the Vancouver Film School. The event was completely “sold-out” by over double the capacity of the space, so there wasn’t a seat to be had. Once the Nazi-tech guy made his way from the floor back to the booth for the main event to commence, people began to fill the isles and find space wherever they could. It was a packed house.
    Facebook Developer Garage Vancouver Oct 2007

    There were about 9 Facebook applications in all that were on display over the 3 hours. Each developer, or team of developers, grabbed the spotlight for a 10-minute overview of their respective app and covered any technical aspects worth mentioning and sharing, followed by a brief Q and A for each. David Morin, Senior Platform Manager for Facebook (nice title buddy) was meant to be joining us in the flesh for our inaugural evening, but had to cancel 48 hours in advance due to some “big meeting” at HQ. But he was kind enough to take a few minutes out to appear via Skype Video, as he said a few nice words, opened it up to the floor for some questions, when sadly, the connection was lost.
    Facebook Developer Garage Vancouver Oct 2007

    Paul Prescod, ‘DAD’ at Kinzin, shared the “Are You Normal?” app with the crowd. When he gave the current-users statistics (now over 114K in 3 short weeks), there was a gasp as a hush fell over the room. Well, maybe that’s a bit of a stretch. But nonetheless, impressive stuff! Johnny Bufu and Boris Mann wrapped the night with a few words on the open web. Facebook? Open??

    There is a complete breakdown of each presentation on the live blog post from Miss 604, and on Roland Tanglao’s Jaiku Channel.

    Today: Stand Up and Speak Out – Make Poverty History

    Stand Up and Speak OutToday marks The United Nations Day for the Eradication of Poverty. To make your difference, join millions around the world as they STAND UP and SPEAK OUT to Make Poverty History. This event, STAND UP, has been issued by the Global Call to Action Against Poverty and the United Nations Millennium Campaign.

    “Let world leaders know that we are holding them accountable for their promises to end poverty by 2015.”

    What can you do?

    You could perhaps sail the Nile, but if that’s not quite possible and you’ve run out of time to arrange a formal gathering of participation, you can find a local event to take part in, or be spontaneous wherever this day finds you – whether you are around a dinner table with family or friends, in a store, a section of a restaurant, a bank line-up – share your plight and record the number of people you engage in standing for one minute for “Standing Against Poverty”. Or (and this is likely the easiest way) just click here and show your support as an individual.

    Record all and any of your support here.

    OXFAM Party Against Poverty

    If you live in Vancouver:
    On the 18th of October at 8pm the OXFAM Party Against Poverty, to be held at the Plaza Club at 881 Granville St., will feature Murray Atkinson, Hey Ocean!, Lotus Child, The Wassabi Collective, and Freeflow. Tickets are $14 in advance and $20 at the door. Proceeds will go to Oxfam Canada. For more information contact Miriam at 604-736-7678 or miriamp@oxfam.ca .

    Are You Normal? OVER 30K in 2 Weeks!

    Just wrapping week 2 since launch, and “Are You Normal?” is one of the fastest growing Facebook apps cookin’, from this northern hub of “Techcouver”. Recently added is a new, fresh design and more surveys will be added each week.
    Kinzin wants to involve the online community and Facebook users, asking for topic suggestions on the quizzes. Here’s the x-post from the Kinzin Blog and how to submit your ideas:

    Would you like to write for one of the fastest growing Facebook applications?

    We are going to release a new quiz on our “Are You Normal?” application each week, and we’d like to get your brilliant and creatively entertaining input. Here’s the deal:

    • We regularly post topics to Upcoming Topics on our discussion board on our About Page and on the discussion board of the Kinzin Builders group
    • You create the quiz, suggesting questions and answers, being as normal, or not so normal, as you like (or you can suggest topics as well…)
    • We reward you and your creative savvy on our application and LINK to your personal Facebook profile, if that is kosher. If not, just let us know you’d rather remain unlinked.
    • You become part of this great story and community of a fun time well wasted with friends in this Facebook machine of “Are You Normal?”

    Facebook App Are You Normal? Day One: 52% Normal

    Ok all you weirdos and freaks out there on Facebook – get out there and take the Are You Normal? survey so I can at least seem a *tad* more normal! Please?

    Here’s a cool Facebook Application, just launched today, released to the masses, that you should most certainly add and play with. I’ll tell you why you should:

    • It’s good, clean fun that’s entertaining and all about connecting with those people online you love (and love to poke fun at) the most: your close friends and family.

    I’ve had a really great last several weeks. I’ve been working with the Kinzin team here in Vancouver to help market and promote this application, and you know what? It’s an easy thing to talk positively about because of what is at the heart of this App: a company that truly believes in working towards finding positive ways for families to connect online. This application is a quirky and whacky way of doing just that.

    I had zero to do with building it, designing it, or even conceptualizing it; wish I had. But I do have a thing or two to do with the tail end of tweaking it, looking at what’s down the road, and spreading it out to the masses… and this is part of that.

    Sign Up! Add the App! Add your friends! Let the quibbling begin!

    And please, if you run into *ANY* issues, bugs, concerns: feedback is very much appreciated and welcomed anytime!!

    Red Shirt For Burma

    So I am a little late on this one… it’s half way through the day out here in Vancouver, BC, but like all of us, work is busy and it’s still my workday, however:

    Join this event – go stick on your best red shirt. When you go out this evening, throw on your red coat, scarf or if in Canada, your red toque, and tell people why you’re wearing it. Oh. Why are you wearing it? Read this and definitely watch this – then perhaps you’ll decide to take part in this global outreach for support, and it may inspire you to do more…