The CBC.ca website has been down or running in a minimal state due to “technical difficulties” for the last two days.
The stripped-down version of the site they put up in the mean time looks better than the full working version:
Halloween Highlight
The first trick-or-treat-er that came to our house this Halloween had a lit cigarette. I kid you not. That said, it still beats the first year at this house, when I had a handful of Unicef money stolen.
“E-Try It On” Sunglasses Tool – web-twenny for sunglasses
Firefox 2
Since you are on the internet right now (admit it, you are), you are probably aware that Firefox 2 has been released. My congratulations to all involved. While I was much less involved in the visual design this time around, it was still a pleasure to have been involved at all.
The Mozilla.com website has been updated as well. This website update was something that I was much more involved with than the actual browser update. The design itself was done by the Nobox Marketing Group (get it?) with the implementation handled by our team at silverorange and the good people at Mozilla.
My favourite new feature in Firefox 2 (after the spell checking and recently-closed tabs, that is): Try entering a math formula into the Google search box (I’d recommend 57 * 4 / pi). Notice that the solution to your formula is instantly displayed in the suggested results. Thanks to Paul Kim for pointing out this gem.
Signs of the Times
From my neighbours’ truck:
Other signs of the times:
- Watch out for baddies – bank machine in Charlottetown
- Mind your head – on the ferry to Les Îles de la Madeleine
- Urgent bathroom – at an Irving gas station, somewhere
- Don’t “Worry” the wildlife – Hyde Park, London
- Down Under Shampoo – Pharmacy in Charlottetown
- Gender bias at Mozilla – Mozilla summit, 2005
- Don’t Poach Me Bitches! – eco-grafitti in a San Francisco restaurant washroom
- Waring: you may be chosen by god – forget where…
- Small print at Krispy Kreme – at a Krispy Kreme in Mountain View, California
More photos of signs of the times.
Predicting the Future of Late Night
Now that Conan O’Brien is locked in for taking over the Tonight Show from Jay Leno (it’s old news, I know), I have a prediction the other late night show.
In a few years, I predict David Letterman will hand over his show to Jon Stewart.
Beautiful photo by a friend at another friends’ house in Massachusetts.
Hunting for GeoCachers
During a long drive, a few of us invented a new sport: Hunting for geocachers. Here’s how it works:
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Go to a geocaching website and enter a location for geocachers to find.
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Place a trap at this location. Possible traps include a hole covered over with light foliage, a rope-that-grabs-you-and-hangs-you-by-the-foot trap, a web-cam, or the classic tibia-snapping bear trap.
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Wait.
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Return to see what nerdly game you have caught.
How To Be a Rock Band on the Internet: Sloan
One of Canada’s finest rock bands, Sloan, also happens to have a great taste in web development firms (and a smart lawyer who worked with us on another project). This fortunate situation led to the creation of SloanMusic.com, a website that provides ample opportunity for fans to comment on the news, post their reviews and photos from shows.
This month, Sloan released their latest album, Never Hear the End of It. I think it’s their best album since Navy Blues from 1998. Along with the release of this record, Sloan’s manager, Mike Nelsen, has been posting short videos taken behind the scenes in the studio and in rehearsals as the band prepares for the release.
These short videos are a perfect of example of how a band can engage their fans through their website. The technology involved is not fancy. The website uses a standard weblog format. The videos are posted on YouTube, off-loading the hosting and flash-player nonsense (this has also led to many sarcastic declarations at our office that this is some kind of web-twenny mash-up).
The videos are short (most are well under one minute long) and most involve quick chats with the band members in the studio. A video was posted every day for 30 days (which also happens to be the number of songs on their remarkable new album).
The end result was surprisingly engaging. I found myself laughing with the band and anticipating the new album even more than I had been already.
It also helps that the guys in Sloan happen to be funny.
Sloan’s new album, Never Hear the End of It, is out and is good – Merlin Mann likes it