Attic Topic
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Toronto
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FacebookCamp Toronto: Follow-up
The first FacebookCamp Toronto is done, and kudos to the organizers for holding such a successful event. The reported turnout was about 450 people, making it the biggest Facebook Developer Garage yet (other cities, like San Francisco, often have had ten times less people); and, despite the buzz Facebook is creating in the marketing world, nearly half of the attendees were developers, and a quarter of those were actively developing Facebook apps. -
FacebookCamp Toronto
What started out as a little gathering for 30 TorCampers to showcase some development techniques with Facebook’s developer platform has exploded. First it jumped to 60, now it is being held at MaRS and although the declared maximum is 350, more than 600 people have signed up. -
Toronto Transit Camp
The theme for 2007 in Toronto’s blogging, Web development, and urban spaces crowd has been the state of the TTC’s Web site, and now today the TorCamp community is doing something about it. All day at the Gladstone Hotel, nearly 100 people from those groups will be participating in TransitCamp — an unconference on all the things transit related. -
Fixing TTC.ca
Possible one of Canada’s worst sites with the most potential is Toronto’s public transit system’s site. Much derided by transit fans, Web geeks, and regular users it is a usability nightmare. But there’s a new chairman — Adam Giambrone — and it looks like he’s open to suggestions on how to improve the site. So four of Toronto’s city blogs — BlogTO, Reading Toronto, Torontoist, and SpacingWire — are collecting ideas. -
Toronto votes
Six days after our neighbours to the south changed the make-up of their government, we in Ontario have the opportunity to the same — but on a local level. Across the province, municipal elections are being held today. -
Two Toronto online events
Lately the posts here have been more idea-based than anything else, this one is not; rather it’s plugging two Toronto-area events. -
Online news initiatives out-of-date
One of the problems with online newspapers is that great initiatives are left to rot once launched. A perfect example of this: the Toronto Star released a clever Google Map of murders in the Toronto area “2005 to date”; but it’s not up-to-date. -
Blogging Toronto
(The following are all via Carl Wilson’s “The Empire Strikes Blog.”) Toronto blogging goes big-time with the arrival of the franchised “metro” blog, Torontoist. Too bad they didn’t call it TOist. So far nothing wild; but nothing too sad, either. In the logo is, from left to right: -
WebStandards.TO July meeting
WebStandards.TO meets tonight at Spring Rolls at the Atrium on Bay around 7 p.m -
Labour woes at Toronto’s newspapers
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WebStandards.TO May meet
WebStandards.TO meets tonight at the Rhino in a symbolic effort to embrace Flash (the Rhino is home to Toronto’s Flash developers group); come by after 7 p.m -
Toronto’s subway at 50
Toronto’s — and Canada’s — first subway system (which is now in desperate need of much more than the expected $1-billion funding boost) turns 50 today. The first line ran up and down 7.6 km of Yonge St. and even had its own song. Although the TTC site has a photo album of its major line openings, a much better picture can be found in the comprehensive Toronto Transit blog -
Mississauga’s new face and digital city rankings
Torontonians may love to mock our suburban 905 neighbours, but Mississauga’s new city site is incredible. Not only is it written in XHTML and uses a CSS-based layout that leaves Netscape 4 behind, it also provides a wide range of e-services. (It does, however, have ugly URLs and the site is impossible to validate, though a quick scan shows it comes close.) -
Invalid mayors
Testing to see if any of the Web site’s for Toronto's 2003 mayoral candidates validate. -
Toronto votes; IE 3 and 4; PIE tutorials
Torontonians (and other Ontarians): don’t forget to vote today. -
Toronto Star doing registration; new media type proposed; invalid mayours
Here comes the predicted changes: the Toronto Star looks like it will be implementing registration on its site — it will be using Tacoda Systems’ Web audience management and the new registration system. -
The Great Blackout of ’03
A description of the 2003 blackout, excerpted from an email sent to a friend travelling in Australia. -
SARS-Stock and Chicago 15
Today is SARS-Stock. While it’s doubtful this will actually relieve Toronto’s bruised tourism and service sectors, it has been an “emotional rescue” for pun-loving journalists. -
SARS; merits of CSS-based media filters
Everyone at work just got a personal santizer to use for washing our hands, as well as instructions on how to properly do just that. Thanks SARS! (Which, despite what some may read into the WHO’s announcement, is not even close being an epidemic in Toronto.) -
April Fool’s snow; Toronto myth-conceptions
Nothing more frustrating than seeing a mistake, having the fix ready, but not being able to implement it. -
Making a Megacity
On December 17, 1996, days before the Ontario legislature was