No it’s not some a keystroke in Microsoft Word, it’s a website where you can rate websites against one another. Think “Hot or Not” but with more of a web design focus.

Link: CommandShift3

For each word you get right they donate 20 grains of rice through the United Nations to help end world hunger. Apparently this site is doing quite a bit for raising literacy rates in American public schools while also contributing to a worthy cause. The program is made possible by advertisers who pay to have their marketing material displayed on the site.

www.freerice.com

As mentioned in our reasons why to choose us we touched briefly on web-standards. This is something I’ve felt needs a little more explaining, and it’s worthwhile taking a read through this article if you are unsure what web standards are, or how they might apply to the design and development of your website.

Check out the full article on our website.

Today I was browsing through websites looking at innovative electric cars when I came across the Zenn (Zero Emissions No Noise). The car is built right here in Canada and was recently featured on The Rick Mercer report. I’ve never heard of the company before now and thought that it was a marvelous concept. If only it had a range of 300km and could go 100 km/hour I would definitely consider buying this enterprising little car. It sure would be great if I lived in Vancouver or Toronto, but here on the island it’s just not practical.

Well I have finally returned after a 2 month trip to South America. Graeme and Nathan have done an excellent job of holding the fort! Thanks guys! The trip was great and I’ve had a lot of opportunity to reflect upon the important things in life like friends and family.

Within a few more days we will be transferring over our existing land line to a new number so stay tuned for that. In the mean time we are reachable as always at (250) 858 9329 or of course by email.

Well it looks like AT&T is sending out some huge bills along with the iPhone. Check out the video below. I am having a difficult time understanding if she’s just placed a ridiculous amount of calls or perhaps it shows you details on your internet usage as well. In any case, why doesn’t AT&T use e-billing? Or at least have the option to have a treeless (emailed) version instead.

Surely in the digital age most people would be fine with receiving a PDF invoice in their email. I can’t believe anybody still sends bills in paper based form these days.

While I was looking for a decent project management suite that had the ability to create tasks, track tickets, and manage users I came across a few websites that have a huge list of “Web 2.0” sites. For those of you who haven’t heard of Web 2.0 yet I’d recommend checking out Wikipedia’s article on it.

Excerpt:

Advocates of the concept suggest that technologies such as weblogs, social bookmarking, wikis, podcasts, RSS feeds (and other forms of many-to-many publishing), social software, Web APIs, Web standards and online Web services imply a significant change in web usage. Source: Wikipedia

Check out the giant list of all things Web 2.0:

• Web 2.0 List
• Sacred Dung Cow: All things Web 2.0

A really interesting link today to a green web hosting company named AISO (Affordable Internet Services Onine). I found their mission quite unique.

AISO.Net is a reliable and responsible green web hosting company. We have made a strong commitment to help fight pollution and preserving our natural resources. Solar panels run our data center and office, not energy credits. Take a look at the (Solar Panel Photos)

Solar tubes bring in natural light from the outside providing light during the day. AMD Opteron powered servers use sixty percent less energy and generate fifty percent less heat. These are just some of the ways AISO.Net is becoming the world’s most responsible green web hosting company.

BumpTop is a working prototype from the mind of Anand Agarawala, former computer science grad at University of Toronto.

The concept really excites me! Though I’m not sure yet how much I’d want my entire filesystem organized this way, I would love to be able to organize my desktop in this fashion.

Anand Agarawala presents BumpTop, a fresh user interface that takes the usual desktop metaphor to a glorious, 3D extreme. In this physics-driven universe, important files finally get the weight they deserve via an oddly satisfying resizing feature, and the drudgery of file organization becomes a freewheeling playground full of crumpled documents and clipping-covered “walls.”

Well it’s an exciting time of the year, and we’ve been very busy working for a large non-profit organization down here in Boston. Both Nathan and Graeme are working steadily from Victoria, and I’m now on site.

I should also take this moment to point out that all inquiries and maintenance requests should be going to Graeme Sheeley (graeme@simplestation.com). He will be more than happy to handle any requests you may have.

Boston is actually considerably warmer than I had really anticipated, and I think I’m just so used to life on the west coast that it’s taking me some time to adjust to the humidity here. All that being said — I am most definitely enjoying the warm weather and the good work.

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