Multimedia Gallery with kk+
February 14, 2010
There’s a fun multimedia gallery that’s part of the BC Pavilion on the 4th floor of the Vancouver Art Gallery.
I’m working with DigiBC during the games, and many of their members provided the content and technology for the gallery. And friend Sara Bailey, is the curator. Sara worked on some of the earliest CBC Radio 3 designs back in 1999 (prototypes actually) and she and I worked together as consultants for a number of years.
On Wednesday, she offered photographer Kris Krug and I a preview of the gallery (it opened on Friday).
I shot a full ‘tour’ with Sara guiding us through – that will be online in a few days. But I also put together this little piece for Kris.
He and I first met ten years ago when he was publisher of one of Vancouver’s first online magazines and we were just starting to put some definition on what CBC Radio would be.
Get the Flash Player to see this player.
There’s a higher quality version online here , on YouTube here, on Vimeo here
You can also see a longer, full video tour of the gallery with Sara Bailey here.
Yacht Spotting
February 2, 2010
My little sailboat Madsu remains tucked away under a tarp next to my house for the winter.
I still can’t resist cruising the docks, looking at boats – a prairie boy who’s turned sea crazed.
This 198 foot beauty is called Méduse, and she was (and may still be) owned by Paul Allen, one of the founders of Microsoft and a fairly regular visitor to these parts. She was hanging out at Lonsdale Quay when I was there on Monday (Feb 1).
I wonder if she’s here is here for the Olympics ?
That’s a lot of hull to keep sparkly clean.
UPDATE: A friend on Twitter tells me she’s now owned by the Washington family – they’re the people who own Cates tugs of North Vancouver – and the owners of these docks…so that makes some sense.
Everyone Needs a Little Help Now and Then
January 28, 2010
Given their schedules and the demands on their time, it wouldn’t surprise me if they do need a little help – you know – down there.
Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
And yes.
Its something you most want to know, before you go.
North Vancouver, Jan 28, 2010 – 11:57 am
Centre of Your Universe
January 26, 2010
As if there aren’t enough ways to waste hours on the internet, I stumbled on yet another.
(Microsoft owns it, and you need Silverlight for it to work)
Pop in a name in the search bar, and you get a lovely graphical representation of that person’s web connections.
Here’s what they SAY it is:
EntityCube is a research prototype for exploring object-level search technologies, which automatically summarizes the Web for entities (such as people, locations and organizations) with a modest web presence.
As you might expect from THAT description, the results are pretty blah – lots of text.
BUT.
In the left hand sidebar, you’ll see a lovely little graphic and link to a Guanxi graphic.
What IT does though, is place you visually at the centre of your own little universe with your connections circling around.
How utterly wonderful.
Once you start playing with it, its just like a bag of Old Dutch chips – you can’t put it down.
There’s also a Six Degrees feature – put in two names and it’ll show how how they are (theoretically) connected.
Olympic Fever
January 24, 2010
Olympic spirit is most definitely showing itself all over the city of Vancouver.
Even here in sleepy North Vancouver.
It’s true, we’re essentially just a pass-through community as people head either to Whistler or Cypress Mountain or Vancouver or Richmond for events, but still, we’re jazzed.
I first noticed it on my first stop of the day for coffee.
And right up there on display with the commuter mugs, those red Olympic mittens – perfect for handling those hot beverages.
In my local ‘hood - Edgemont Village - all the merchants are sporting these Go Canada Go posters.
And really, there’s no better way to welcome the torch than with a quick haircut…
Or even better, a bottle of wine…
Lots of people are making a fuss about the crass commercialization of the games.
But darn it, why didn’t I think of this.
Chocolate covered sea foam Inuksuit (that’s plural for Inuksuk by the way).
Truth be told, I prefer my Inukshuk with dark chocolate, but that’s just me…
Here’s a basket full of mascots. And I mean full of mascots. There are 4 official mascots, not just one.
This one’s Quatchi.
The other three are Sumi, Migi and Muk Muk.
Given the lack of snow at Cypress Mountain and the financial mess the ski resort at Whistler is in, they really get a fifth mascot.
One who can jury rig a fix up just in time for the games – might I suggest MacGyver
By far the sleeper of all this Olympic merch (and there is plenty of it).
‘Cause nothing is more indicative of winter sports in the lower mainland.
The Official Umbrella of the 2010 Games.
Finally, my favourite.
While organizers have been focusing on getting volunteers and community support for the games, they missed the obvious.
These guys at Contact Printing nailed it.
And just to bring the point home.
Let’s pull back a bit so we can see those fantastic snow covered North Shore mountains.
Vancouver Company Provides Free SMS to Haiti
January 20, 2010
I’m working with DigiBC on a new project called VXperience, and one of the things we’re doing is spreading the word about British Columbia’s incredible pool of innovators working in a variety of digital sectors.
We’re just starting to gather up some of their stories, but I wanted to get this information out as quickly as possible.
Branko Zurkovic from Upside Wireless emailed to say that IPIPI.com is offering free text messaging to Haiti.
He says the company wanted to do what it could to help out, so their offering their service free – making it possible for friends and relatives to text to either of the networks in Haiti for free.
I’ll let Branko explain more in this clip:
click to play
To get set up:
- go to IPIPI.com
- create an account (it’s free)
- after you’ve created your account, click on ‘contact us’ and let them know you want to be able to send messages to Haiti
- your account will be configured to let you send message for free
And you can help out by sending this information to anyone you think might be able to use it.
December is for Shoveling
December 21, 2009
Most of last weekend was spent shoveling.
Manure.
Saturday was one of those magic “December on the Coast” kind of days.
It was sunny with the temperature around 12 degrees C.
Perfect for shoveling a big pile of manure, and converting some lawn into edible garden.
Details on my garden’s website – SunsetGardens.ca
Oh.
If you’re wondering why my garden has its own website…it was jealous of the sailboat’s website, so now it has its own.
