By now we all know pretty much that Facebook is one HUGE a social networking tool to be reckoned with.
As of late November 2007, the website has the largest number of registered users among college-focused sites with 55 million active members (including non-collegiate members) worldwide, with membership expected to surpass 60 million users by the end of the year.
From September 2006 to September 2007 the site’s traffic ranking increased from 60th to 7th, according to Alexa. It is the number one site for photos in the United States, ahead of public sites such as Flickr, with over 60 million photos uploaded weekly. [wiki]
A humega part of Facebook is the ability to add applications. Love ’em or hate ’em, all those crazy thing are there to stay. Applications allow you to keep up to date with the latest events and transit schedules while encouraging friends to rate you, let you know you’re hot, send you “gifts”, turn you into a zombie and challenge you at games. As you may or may not know, Vancouver’s a big part of the Facebook movement, next time you add an application it might very well be something locally designed, developed and created.
To celebrate Techcouver‘s advancements on the world Facebook stage the folks who brought us the first Vancouver Facebook Developer (& Designer) Garage are unveiling the following:
Tell us about your Facebook application: We’ve decided to reward and encourage excellence in Facebook application design and development by hosting the “Best of the West 2007 Awards†– the world’s first Facebook application awards – at the upcoming second Vancouver Facebook Developer (& Designer) Garage and the first in the new year in late January 2008.! [Best of the West]
Here’s what you need to qualify and nominate your app:
Your Facebook application must be designed or developed in British Columbia (B.C.)
If your Facebook application is from a neighboring province or state (such as Alberta or Washington) you must showcase your Facebook application at the upcoming Vancouver Facebook Developer (& Designer) Garage in late January 2008.
For a refresher of the first event, check out the official live blog that I wrote shortly before coming down with laryngitis. Luckily organizers assure me that the next event will be throat virus free.
Photo credit:
kk+ on Flickr
If you or someone you know and love (or just kinda like) has developed a Facebook application that’s the bee’s knee – let us know by nominating them. They’ll then be added to “The Wall” and be subject to random reviews by bloggers, such as yours truly.
So, say you made something with an artist’s music and tour dates on it and your name rhymes with Wuane Storey – that kinda thing – submit it and have the opportunity for recognition of internet-famous proportions.
The Vancouver Facebook Developer (& Designer) Garage is the brainchild of the Vancouver Facebook Developers Group and organized by Gerald Bauer.
To this day my most popular Miss604 Poll has been the one regarding a patio smoking ban in Vancouver. Well the Provincial government was pretty busy yesterday hammering out the details of a new smoking regulations that are to be in effect March 31, 2008.
The provincial government has released the rules that will govern its tough new anti-smoking policy, which includes a ban on smoking in all indoor public spaces and puffing near doorways.
Smokers will have to stay three metres away from doors and windows.
There will also be *no* smoking in common areas of apartments and condominiums, nor in work washrooms and lunch rooms. [News1130]
Wow – harsh eh? However, this new 3 metre rule will not apply to restaurants, bars/pubs, coffee shops, casinos and bingo halls and you will still be able to get a “smoking” hotel room.
So basically you can still sit on the patio at Shenanigans and have a puff but don’t do it outside Lululemon.
Come to think of it, what “indoor public space” are we allowed to smoke in now? Not the library… not Metrotown… hmm… so this seems more like a “don’t smoke outside your office building door” kinda regulation. That, and we may need a wider Robson Street sidewalk.
It doesn’t seem that harsh at all, really. Now if they were to ban all smoking in public spaces, indoor and out, then I’d have something more interesting to report (and celebrate).
Update: I just read the official release from the Province of BC which touches on advertising. This ban will also include:
– Tobacco sales in public buildings including: hospitals and health facilities, universities and colleges, athletic and recreational facilities, and provincial government buildings;
– Display of tobacco products in all places where tobacco is sold that are accessible to youth under 19; and
– Tobacco ads that hang from the ceiling, countertop tobacco displays, self-serve tobacco displays and outdoor tobacco signs.
Today at 10:30am PT we’ll all find out if our mascot for the 2010 Olympic games will be a bear, a marmot, or another freakin’ orca of some kind. The unveiling will take place in Surrey at Sullivan Heights Secondary… more specifically the adjacent Bell Centre for the Performing Arts.
I already blogged about past mascots and some possibilities, although I hadn’t yet heard about “Tokey”, the herbal leaf. The mascot’s purpose will be to personify the “spirit” of the games, say PR folks, however I’m more inclined to believe it’s for the purpose of making more money selling trinkets and souvenirs.
Stay tuned/check back to find out what they unveil this morning.
Update: Apparently there was someone in a skunk costume outside city hall this morning, however on morning radio shows “Tammy the Syringe” was an early favourite.
Update: The “ceremony” will take place from 10:30am to 11:05am so I’m anticipating the mascot won’t be unveiled until… 11:04…?
Update: There are THREE mascots as John reports to me over chat… and one appears to be a “happy looking sasquatch that plays hockey”.
Updates: The one source for video and photos of the reveal, Vancouver2010.com, is apparently down for “scheduled maintenance”… nice timing eh?
From The Province: The mascots are a Spirit Bear, a Sasquatch and a thunderbird, plus a sidekick that’s a marmot. “The Spirit Bear is somewhat like one of three mascots for the 2010 Winter Olympics, which organizers are calling a sea bear based on native legend.”
From CKNW: The animal creatures are a sea bear named Miga, a Sasquatch named Quatchi and Sumi, and a mythical thunderbird spirit. They also have a sidekick named Muk-Muk who’s a marmot.
From CTV:
Miga — a snowboarding sea-bear inspired by the First Nations’ legends of the Pacific Northwest. Miga is sea-bear part orca whale.
Quatchi — a shy and gentle Sasquatch with a long brown beard and blue earmuffs meant to conjure the mystery and wonder associated with the Canada’s wilderness.
Sumi — an animal spirit who flies with the wings of the thunderbird.
Mukmuk – a Vancouver Island marmot sidekick considered an honorary member of the mascot team.
From CBC: Live-action shots of the mascots in person and a few more descriptions.
“The three creatures’ sidekick is Mukmuk, a rare Vancouver Island marmot. While not officially a mascot, Mukmuk enjoys surprising his friends by popping up on occasion. Mukmuk’s name comes from the Squamish word for food — muckamuck — because he loves to eat.”
From Vancouver2010: “Meet the Mascots” video is now up. Aww, Quatchi and Miga meet up at the Hollow Tree in Stanley Park.
Some reactions from the blogosphere:
From Now Public: “I’ve been talking to a few friends and their reactions have been mixed. Some of the comments I’ve heard are: * Sumi sounds like “Sue Me!” * They look like Japanase cartoon characters * Quatchi reminds me of the Kokanee Sasquatch * A fat sasquatch, a one-eyed teddy and a green alien looking thing! * looks like they were designed by a big committee and crammed all the ideas in, and rejected none.”
And I’ll probably be commanded to take the following video down soon… but enjoy for now (I’m still waiting for the “web linking policy” page to appear on the official site.
Update: November 28, 2007 – Merchandise goes on sale this morning at The Bay.
poll expired
To view and vote on past polls, visit the Miss604.com poll page.
A little while ago local blogfather and marketing sensei Darren Barefoot approached John and me (along with a handful of other lucky social medialites) to see if we wanted to test drive a Brother printer.
It’s no secret that if you want to give us free things in exchange for reviews, blog posts, our thoughts and feelings, then we’re totally game.
Here are the specs for this hefty piece of printing machinery.
Technical name: MFC-9440CN
Plain English name: Colour Laser Multi-Function Centre Beast
Fast color laser printing. Delivers an impressive color and monochrome print speed of up to 21 pages per minute, and copy speeds of up to 17 copies per minute.
Outstanding print quality. Produce brilliant, colorful presentations, brochures and documents that will give you a competitive edge.
Network connectivity so you can share its functionality. Its 10/100 Base-TX (Ethernet) interface enables multiple users to share its powerful print, scan and fax capabilities.
Easily accessible USB Direct Interface. Conveniently print PDF or JPEG files from or scan PDF or JPEG files to a USB flash memory drive. You can also print directly from a PictBridge compatible digital camera.
Expandable paper capacity. Its 250-sheet paper tray holds letter or legal paper and you also have the option of increasing your total paper capacity up to 800 sheets by adding an optional 500-sheet paper tray.
High-speed faxing. With its high-speed 33.6K bps fax modem, you can send and receive faxes quickly in either b&w or color, saving both time and money.
Versatile paper handling. Print letter or legal-sized documents through either its 250-sheet paper tray or 50-sheet multi-purpose tray. Increase your total paper input capacity up to 800-sheets by adding an optional 500-sheet paper tray.
High quality color scanning. Available from either the letter size document glass or through its 35-page automatic document feeder, you can scan documents, and images and more.
High capacity replacement toner cartridges. Lower your cost per page and copy, since you won’t have to replace toner cartridges as often.
It should be pretty fun to discover what this sucker can do so we’ll see how much use we can get out of it. Scanning and printing wedding photos, finally, is at the top of my list.
With frozen rain and slushie precipitation in the forecast what else would a good Vancouverite do than brace for school closures and abandon their cars at the side of roads when there’s a call for such treacherous conditions?
Local news outlets have already composed their “school closures” posts on their websites, and with that first frost of the year on our minds, I’m sure downtown will look like a ghost town if an icy storm front hits the coast this evening.
Honestly though, I can’t be too hard on those commuters who bundle up and stay indoors when there’s the slightest hint of ice on the roads, as living downtown I’ve been a bit sheltered in recent years from the true elements Fraser Valley residents face. Not to mention the trek my sister has to make from Surrey to North Vancouver, which can hit her with dozens of weather patterns throughout the single car ride.
However, this doesn’t stop me from letting my husband go about about how we all throw on two scarves and layer gloves when it’s -5C outside for a day, when he’s been brought up with -25C temperatures that last for months.
We love the pineapple express, La Nina, El Nino and all their quirky cousins. Rain in the city means snow on the mountains, snow in the city mean no work or school – it’s a win-win when winter actually decides to hit Vancouver. Sure we moan and complain about it being too cold, or when we slam on the brakes and skid into the car we’re following too closely behind, but that’s just what West Coasters do.
So pile on those fleece vests under your Goretex and prepare yourselves for a blizzard of Metro Vancouver proportions: possible snow in the Valley and frost from Langley to Stanley Park. It should be a doozy folks.
Of course if there actually is 2 feet of snow come morning, I’m SO grabbing my ‘krazy karpet‘ and hitting the nearest hill.
