2008

By Mack D. Male · June 15, 2008 at 11:56pm

Happy Father’s Day! Here are my weekly notes:

Had a great time in Calgary, and BarCamp was awesome. I’ll write more about it tomorrow.
Sharon and I went to see Young People Fucking last night. The movie was actually pretty good, and it was a lot funnier that I expected it to be. We thought the actors and actresses all resembled more well-known actors and actresses.
Opera released the latest version of its desktop browser this week. I like the new look of Opera 9.5, and it does indeed seem faster.
Here’s a fantastic sign-off post from one of the blogosphere’s best Microsoft commentators.
The empty Dell building on the southside of Edmonton is going to become the new head offices for Servus.
In 1983, Edmonton hosted the first and only Universiade to be held in Canada. This week it was announced that our city will have another shot at it, in 2015. The other bid the CIS evaluated was from Quebec City.
TechCrunch turned three years old on Wednesday. Certainly seems like it has been around a lot longer than that!

BarCampCalgary2

By Mack D. Male · June 13, 2008 at 11:34pm

Just arrived in Calgary. I’m here mainly for BarCampCalgary taking place tomorrow at Mount Royal College from 10:30am until 3:30pm. More details are here, and a list of attendees can be found here. I’m curious to see how things will go tomorrow – I’m sure we’ll learn how to make Edmonton’s first BarCamp in July a success.

barcampcalgary

Sharon decided to come down with me, so we’re making a weekend of it. That means food plans! Tomorrow we’re going to check out JAROblue for dinner and possibly Tubby Dog. On Sunday, we’re going to go for brunch at Nellie’s (one of the locations, not sure which yet). And on the way back, the plan is to stop in Red Deer to see Tom, for food at one of these places.

Should be fun!

Something to keep an eye on: Microsoft Velocity

By Mack D. Male · June 11, 2008 at 11:56pm

Last week I heard about a new project from Microsoft code-named Velocity. You can think of Velocity as Microsoft’s version of the very popular memcached:

“Velocity” is a distributed in-memory cache that provides .NET applications with high-speed access, scale, and high availability to application data.

Basically it’s a backend technology that helps to make websites perform better. Instead of accessing the database every time a page is requested, the website can often get the data it needs from the cache which is much faster than accessing the database.

ASP.NET has had caching built-in for years, but it doesn’t work in a server farm. That is, if you have more than one web server, there’s no way for all of them to share the same cache. Velocity makes that possible. For a good technical overview of Velocity, check out this post from Dare Obasanjo. Also check out Scott Hanselman’s podcast interview with two of Velocity’s architects.

We use memcached in Podcast Spot, and we’ve been very happy with it. It’s simple, efficient, and does just what we need it to do. Of course, our memcached installation is no where near the size of Facebook’s. I’ve read in a few places in the past that they run a 200 server cluster with 3 TB of memory solely for memcached. I’m sure it has grown since then too.

I have no idea how well Velocity will perform compared to memcached, or even if it’s full of bugs or not! I am eager to play around with it though, and it’s a project I’ll definitely be keeping an eye on. Velocity is a project from Microsoft that is long overdue, in my opinion.

Edmonton’s Social Enterprise Fund

By Mack D. Male · June 10, 2008 at 10:34pm

Recently, a new organization here in Edmonton caught my eye: the Social Enterprise Fund (SEF). Today I met with Omar Yaqub, the organization’s Director of Operations, to find out more about it.

Eight years in the making, the Social Enterprise Fund recently got off the ground in February. A joint initiative of the Edmonton Community Foundation, the City of Edmonton, and the United Way of Alberta, SEF aims to become an $11 million fund with $21 million in loans in the next five years.

What’s a social enterprise? SEF defines it as “a hybrid that combines social intent & the for-profit business model.” Just as a traditional enterprise is concerned with return on investment (ROI), the social enterprise is concerned with social return on investment (SROI). What’s the difference? SROI aims to capture the social and environmental benefits of projects, whereas ROI typically does not. You can learn more about social enterprises at Wikipedia.

There are three main criteria that potential SEF clients must meet:

Social comes first.
Business thinking is integral.
Profits are reinvested into the mission.

SEF will sit down and talk with potential clients to ensure they meet these criteria. In fact, there are no application forms or deadlines – SEF takes a much more intimate approach, working with clients directly.

They key thing SEF can provide is a loan. The goal is to help non-profit organizations move away from grants. Examples of financial packages include:

Housing or mission related: up to $500,000, 1 year term
Building purchases: up to $250,000, 10 year term
Existing social enterprises: up to $150,000, 5 year term
New social enterprises: up to $50,000, 8 year term

While the terms can be very flexible, the loans are not forgivable. In addition to loans, SEF offers business expertise, educational seminars, and more. Organizations that SEF has worked with already include Flavour Budzzz and E4C’s Kids in the Hall Bistro. Other examples of social enterprises include Habitat for Humanity’s ReStores, and Earth Water.

The Social Enterprise Fund is the first of its kind in Alberta, though the concept is actually quite common in other parts of the world. In fact, there’s even a Social Enterprise Alliance. Next April they’ll host the tenth annual Social Enterprise Summit in New Orleans. We’re clearly a bit behind here in Alberta, but I’m really glad to see something like this launch in Edmonton. It’s a great program for our community.

You can learn more about the Social Enterprise Fund at their website, which includes a 14 minute video overview of the program. If you have an idea for a social enterprise, make sure you call or email them!

UPDATE: Turns out SEF isn’t really the first of its kind in Alberta. Just found Social Venture Partners Calgary via Sharon. It started in November 2000. Their model seems to have a greater focus on philanthropy.

UPDATE2: Also via Sharon, there’s a free workshop on SROI taking place on June 26th at MacEwan. Download the information sheet (PDF) here. You’ll need to RSVP if you want to attend.

Why July 2008 will be the greatest month ever

By Mack D. Male · June 9, 2008 at 3:04pm

Is there any doubt that July is going to be the greatest month ever?

July 1: A brand new, 6000-square-foot Apple Store opens in West Edmonton Mall.
July 11: The iPhone 3G goes on sale in 22 countries, including Canada.
July 18: The movie I am most looking forward to this year is released: The Dark Knight

Oh yeah. July FTW!

Notes for 6/8/2008

By Mack D. Male · June 8, 2008 at 11:17pm

Made it home from Banff safe and sound about a half hour ago. The drive was okay, except for the stretch from Airdrie to Innisfail which was plagued with heavy rain and winds. Basically means you need to concentrate extra hard, and that’s tiring. The final day of the conference went well. We didn’t get the impromptu tweetup off the ground, but I did get to connect with a bunch of Twitter users one-on-one.

Here are my weekly notes:

Guess what, Twitter suffered a brief period of uptime this week! Heh, pretty funny. Even though IM is still down, Twitter was actually quite reliable for me this weekend.
Here’s an interview I did with Ian Horner back at the EdmontonTweetup1. You can find Ian on Twitter here.
Erasing any doubt, Hillary endorsed Barack. Pivotal moment in history?
This is so awesome – a peanut butter jar with two lids! Great idea. Too bad the peanut butter manufacturers will likely never do it.
Interesting piece from Scott Karp: What Newspapers Still Don’t Understand About the Web.
I bought a Flip Ultra this week as they just came to Canada. You can get one for $158 at Wal-Mart. I like it so far! Very capable, handy little device.
Calgary’s second BarCamp is happening on Saturday the 14th. I think I might go.

Banff Day 2

By Mack D. Male · June 7, 2008 at 10:08pm

Faced with the prospect of $24 for the day for parking or walking for an hour in the rain, I decided this morning to make my way to the Fairmont Banff Springs on the Roam bus. I didn’t know this, but as of June 2nd, Banff is home to Canada’s first all-hybrid bus fleet. Adult fare is $2, and the ride from my hotel on one end of Banff Avenue to the Fairmont on the other was only about 15 minutes.

The first day of the conference went very well, though the wireless was pretty crappy. As more and more people got out their laptops and connected, the speed and reliability of the wifi plummeted. On more than one occasion I crossed my fingers as I pressed the “Publish” button.

You can read all of my nextMEDIA 2008 coverage at Techvibes.

This evening the weather was much nicer, so I walked from the Fairmont back to downtown. The sidewalks are all extremely wide, which I guess is no surprise given that Banff is a major tourist town. I walked the rest of the way back to my hotel tonight too.

Tomorrow is going to be just as packed as today, but I’m excited. There are a few sessions tomorrow that look quite interesting, and I’m trying to get a mini-tweetup going. I love meeting fellow Twitter users!

As promised, I’ve written a review of Timbers, the Italian restaurant I ate at last night. You can read it at Only Here for the Food.

Banff Day 1

By Mack D. Male · June 6, 2008 at 10:20pm

I finally left the city today around 11:30 AM and made my way down to Banff. I’m here all weekend for nextMEDIA 08. The drive was uneventful, which is always good. It was extremely windy the entire way, with pockets of rain every now and then. It’s hard to describe how amazing the mountains look when you head west out of Calgary. Even with some cloud, they are impressive and humbling.

I’m staying at the Inns of Banff – it’s a nice enough hotel. The conference takes place at the Fairmont Banff Springs – it’s an incredible hotel. You certainly get what you pay for

After registering and checking out the opening reception (which had free drinks, yay!) I went to help Kris Krug and Megan Cole do a webcast interview with Revision3 CEO Jim Louderback. That was kind of fun, despite the spotty Internet connection. Jim is very personable and engaging. I think he looks kind of like a Hollywood star, actually.

Next I decided to walk around a bit, checking out some shops and seeing what people were up to. I stopped at a place called Timbers for dinner – I’ll be posting a review later. Then after getting a coffee at Starbucks I came across The Underground Studio, an Internet cafe. That’s where I’m sitting at the moment! It’s open until 1 AM every day. Internet access is $4/hour, with an extra single $1 charge if you don’t have your own computer.

Both hotels have free wireless, yet both are very slow and unreliable. I guess it’s one thing to offer free wifi, and quite another to make it usable. Thankfully you can usually find a decent Internet cafe!

I’m very much looking forward to tomorrow, though I know it’ll be busy and tiring!

Ten digit local dialing comes to Alberta

By Mack D. Male · June 5, 2008 at 6:50pm

cell phone It’s another sign that Alberta is growing – we’re running out of phone numbers! To deal with the extra demand, we’re getting a new area code: 587. The area code isn’t specific to a geographic area like 403 (south) and 780 (north) are. Instead, it will co-exist with the other numbers, which means you’ll soon have to use 10 digits when making local calls:

After September 8-12, 2008, you won’t be able to make 7-digit local calls, but will have to dial the area code in front of the 7-digit phone number. You should plan ahead to ensure your telecommunications services are ready for the change.

To help prepare, the telecommunications providers have a phase-in plan as follows:

June 23 – 28, 2008: Permissive dialing period, you can make calls normally but will hear a recorded message reminding you to use ten digits.

June 29 – September 8, 2008: If you dial without entering an area code, you’ll hear the recording reminding you to use ten digits. Data transmission, like modems and fax machines, may not work unless you use ten digits.

After September 8, 2008: You’ll hear a message asking you to hang up and use ten digits.

All three digit numbers, such as 911, will remain the same.

For more information on the changes, check out dial10.ca.

Barack Obama clinches the Democratic nomination

By Mack D. Male · June 3, 2008 at 8:09pm

I guess to no one’s surprise, Barack Obama tonight clinched the Democratic party nomination and is the presumptive nominee for November’s election. I’m sad for Hillary Clinton, but very impressed by her determination. She ran a superb race, and you have to give her credit for sticking it out until the end. In her speech tonight from New York, she said she was making no decisions. It was definitely not a concession speech. She indicated that she’ll do whatever is in the best interests of the party.

“This has been a long campaign, and I will be making no decisions tonight,” she said.
Clinton said she would meet with supporters and party leaders in the coming days to determine her next steps.

I’m really not sure if she’s interested in being Obama’s running mate or not.

Assuming nothing crazy happens between now and Denver, Barack Obama will be the democratic nominee. That means I want him to win in the general election. I worry that he’s a weaker candidate against McCain than Hillary would have been, however. I know he can give a speech like no one else, but you need to do more than that to become President.

I really hope that Obama’s win tonight doesn’t mean a loss for the Democrats come November.

Read: CNN