Just a Gwai Lo fun within prescribed limits [?]

The Buzzer blog podcast is back!

This time, I’ve got the story behind the SkyTrain chime for you to hear. Ian Graham, operations planner for SkyTrain, talks all about how the chime was recorded, why we ended up with that particular sound, and who in the world actually played the chime.

Ian Graham, operations planner for SkyTrain

To listen to the podcast, press play on the player above, or download the mp3 here. You can also subscribe to our podcast via RSS, so this audio file will download straight into iTunes or your RSS reader, and you’ll get all the future Buzzer podcasts by refreshing your subscription.

(And seriously, would you have guessed the SkyTrain chime was recorded at the same studio where Bryan Adams and AC/DC laid down albums?)

You can also listen to our previous podcasts:

• Podcast 3: An interview with John Abou-Samra, the bus driver with a trivia contest
• Podcast 2: An interview with the voice of the SkyTrain
• Podcast 1: An interview with the voice of the SeaBus

Keep watching the blog for more podcasts! And if you have suggestions for something you’d like to hear, please feel free to let me know!

What:

A meet-up, hosted by Raincity Studios, of independent and grassroots media publishers and creators to exchange ideas, resources, and notes about the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver.

This is not an Olympic protest but rather a constructive, strategic conversation about the role of social media documentation of the forthcoming Games to ensure the ability to tell all the stories associated with the Games without censure or hassle.

Why

To discuss the possibility of an "independent media centre" at Raincity Studios office during the Vancouver/Whistler 2010 Olympic Games in February 2010 in order to maximize visibility and quality of documentation from local and international independent media makers.

Who:

This event is convened by Raincity Studios, presided by Robert Scales, conducted by Kris Krug, and facilitated by Dave Olson. They will lead a discussion and recount past experiences gained from covering Olympic Games as non-accredited media.

To attend, please send a Twitter message @raincitystudios or email to dave (at) raincitystudios (dot) com to let us know you are coming due to space limitations (30 people max,) otherwise participate via chat channel.

Keep an eye on http://raincitystudios.com/blogs-and-pods/ for any changes to the event or info on connecting by chat.

When/Where:

Dec. 4th 5PM~6PM
at Raincity Studios HQ
Suite 420, 1 Alexander St., Gastown

Topics:

The primary topic is determining space, sponsorship, and role of Independent Media Centre.

Other topics to discuss (time permitting) are:

• Update about the IMC non-accredited media centre at UBC downtown
• Outreaching to international indie media makers - planning photowalks, etc.
• Coordinating with activist groups to receive their media releases and stories
• Gaining access to non-sports events and hospitality houses
• Boundaries of rights-holders re: trademarks, description, and coverage of events ...
• Aggregating content efficiently - where/how/what
• Recap of VANOC worldwide press briefing reaction
• Chat about IOC blogging guidelines re: athletes/officials blogging
• Exchange of contacts at VANOC and Government ministries

Notes:

To keep the conversation on track and the meeting short, like "Lord of the Flies" the person holding the conch shell is the one who speaks ;-).

This meeting is transluscent meaning you and your words are bloggable, recordable, photograph-able.

Photos Olympic flag by Daveo (uncleweed) Vancouver emblem ceremony by Kris Krug (kk) Dave and conch by Phillip Djwa (phillipdjwa)

The updated iPhone app features Google Maps integration!

Hey, version 1.1 of TransLink’s iPhone app is now available!

Version 1.1 is both an update of our original iPhone app and an update to our mobile site, adding new features and fixing some old bugs. If you have the app installed, it should already be updated on your phone, and you’ll find it includes:

• Google Maps integration
  Instead of using PDF maps, Google Maps are now integrated into the app. Google Maps are more interactive maps that can display data like bus routes and stops, unlike a static PDF.
• Full-text search
  You can now search for bus stops using full text, instead of inputting specific bus stop ID numbers. For example, search for “Burrard” and you’ll get a list of bus stops related to Burrard Street.
• More information about bus stops
  Bus stops are now marked with directional information (westbound, eastbound, etc) to help users figure out which stop on an intersection they are looking for.
• Location-awareness, to help you find nearby bus stops
  Tap the bus icon and if GPS is enabled on your phone, the app will automatically locate the closest bus stops to you. (This feature was included when the app moved to the App Store.)
• The Buzzer blog!
  Huzzah! A big hello to all of you who reached the blog through the app today!
• And of course, multiple bug fixes and interface improvements

As always, our iPhone app and the improvements are the handiwork of Handi Mobility, who develops the app for TransLink. And if you haven’t read it yet, here again is a past interview with Igor Faletski from Handi on the development of the iPhone app. Igor also mentioned why the app is mainly focused on iPhone customers at the moment in another comment thread:

While a lot of phones support Java, only a little fraction of them have data services enabled. On the contrary, 98% of iPhone users actively access the Internet. Moreover, the demographics of RIM and Symbian users in Vancouver do not match the transit rider population in a way that the iPhone does.

We carefully measure the stats of the universal mobile portal at http://m.translink.ca and iPhone users are the absolute majority there, with RIM being in a very distant second place. It’s a priority for us to provide service to everyone, but at the same time we work hard to improve the quality for those who use it the most.

Did you know, by the way, that TransLink is the first Canadian transit system to create its own iPhone app? I found that out from a post by Greg Andrews over at Techvibes. Greg also says that the Toronto and Montreal transit systems have third-party iPhone apps that cost $1.99 and $0.99 respectively. Ours, on the other hand, is free.

Also, here’s a few updated stats on how the rest of our mobile and web services are doing. Woo!

NextBus has handled over 3 million requests since its launch in December 2007—that’s the SMS service where you text your stop number to 33333 and get the arrival times of the next six buses.

We currently get 14,000 NextBus requests a day, and that jumps to 17,000 on Friday and Saturday nights. (It’s a strong indication that those under-30 [the chief users of SMS!] are choosing to plan their evenings out with public transit in mind.)

Then there’s TransLink’s mobile website, m.translink.ca, which registered over 4900 visits in the first week of November, with 71 per cent of them coming from iPhones.

The TransLink Trip Planner is also doing robust business, with 722,500 visits just in October alone. (And if you’re curious, Google sent 87,000 of those visits to the trip planner.)

For the future, we’re also going to improve our website in 2009, with a new focus on customer service and social media interaction. You’ll be able to subscribe to specific transport information you need. (If you’re curious, I’ve already discussed anticipated elements of the new site in this comment thread. For notifications, we’re looking to put in RSS feeds and email alerts to bring customer alert info to you.)

As well, when Coast Mountain Bus Company’s communications upgrade is complete and real-time GPS tracking is functional for our entire bus fleet, the entire suite of Next Bus applications (mobile, iPhone, Facebook and SMS) will provide the next six actual bus arrivals at a given stop, rather than the next six scheduled arrivals, as it does now.

Shared by Karen Quinn Fung
Great critical reflection on mapping and its impacts.

The current issue of Vodafone’s Receiver magazine — on space and location — is one of the best yet. Every week the editors invite another thoughtful thinker to contribute an essay on the topic, and this week the honour goes to Anne Galloway. Anne Galloway (blog) recently completed a PhD in sociology and anthropology at Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada, which involved conducting an ethnographic study of the design of mobile and pervasive technologies (download dissertation). She is interested in connections between technological, spatial and cultural practices, and her current research explores design as a social and cultural activity and asks how social and cultural relations are designed. In her (somewhat academically written) Receiver contribution she takes a close look at community mapping and sensing projects, and points out both the opportunities and challenges for activism made possible by locative technologies. “Community mapping and sensing projects that use commonly available consumer electronics as environmental measurement devices, enable people to collect and view a wide array of location-based data. As a form of public science, such projects stand to reinvigorate environmentally focused civic engagement. However, given public concerns around environmental risks and their connections to technological progress, I believe that this kind of active citizenship should promote more critical reflection on the values and goals of the very projects that expect to create such profound changes in these domains, and carefully consider the limits of its own power.” Read full story A related paper is “Mobile Publics and Issues-Based Art and Design.” To Appear in Sampling the Spectrum, edited by Barbara Crow, Michael Longford and Kim Sawchuck, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, forthcoming 2008.

The Lost Property Office, located in a corner of Stadium Station.

Regular readers will remember that I did a story on the Lost Property Office in the March 14 Buzzer. However, since this blog lets me show you way more photos and details, I thought I’d go back to Lost Property and do an update to that article.

I went down to Stadium Station, where the office is located, and work leader Barb Szumilak gave me another tour behind the scenes. They collect about 4,000 items a month, and really, just about anything you could lose on transit winds up at the office. So next time you leave a shopping bag or an umbrella behind, go down there—they really might have it! Let’s take a closer look.

The main storage room where lost property items are kept. As you can see, they don't have a lot of room.

Walk into the back and you’ll see a small storage room where almost everything is kept. There’s not that much space, so Lost Property can only hold onto your stuff for a limited time. Timelines have become shorter, too—Lost Property used to hold onto small items for 30 days, but many of them are now kept for only 10 or 14 days. Wallets and other valuables are still held for 30 days, though.

Just a small sample of the many umbrellas left on transit. This year we've collected 5,700 umbrellas so far -- in 2007, we collected 5,900.

What happens to the stuff if no one picks it up? Well, items like Care Cards and birth certificates are sent back to their government agencies, but the rest is donated to charity.

And for reference, here’s a list of some small items they hold onto and for how long:

10 days: Binders, books, bottles, gloves, hats, jackets, mugs, pants, papers, posters, scarves, shirts, shoes, sippy cups

14 days: Bikes, used bags

Travel mugs looking for a home!

Where do all the items come from? Every day the office gets them from the bus depots, SkyTrain, and SeaBus. Drivers and attendants tag each item with the date and the route it was found on, and drop them into sealed boxes that are delivered to Lost Property. (In 2007, this added up to 40,512 items, and this year we’re already up to 30,841 items and counting.)

A box of wallets that are waiting to be picked up by their owners.

Clerks log all the items, and look through everything to see if a name or other identification is found. So, if you lose something important on transit, you might get a call from Lost Property if they figure out that it’s yours. Barb says the office returns over $50,000 a year to patrons who have lost wallets.

Bikes lost on transit, stored near the Lost Property Office.

Bikes do turn up at Lost Property—475 have come in so far this year, while last year we got 440 of them. Lots are simply left on buses, but some show up because riders have chained their bikes to bus stops, which is a big no-no. (There’s many reasons for this—bikes can stop visually impaired people from seeing the bus stop, the bikes can be a hazard for bus boarding, etc.) The bus stop maintenance staff will remove your bike from the stop and take it down to Lost Property, and usually they will leave a note on the pole saying that they’ve done so.

The enormous array of cell phone chargers that Lost Property clerks use to charge phones back up. Once they're fully powered, clerks can search the phones for identifying information.

Only about 25 per cent of items are returned to their rightful owners each year! It could be because people think that once they’ve left something on transit, it’s gone forever—but really, Lost Property is there collecting it all, and they would love you to get in touch if you lose anything on public transportation.

Feel free to call Lost Property at 604-682-7887, email lost_property@translink.bc.ca, or visit the office at Stadium Station on weekdays from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.

You should really consider using the e-mail address instead of calling, too. The staff handles a couple hundred calls every day, but they only get about 15 to 20 e-mails daily. So, if you’re not getting through on the phone, you really should try sending an e-mail—they will read and respond to your request!

Lost your lantern? Lost Property has it!

There weren’t as many oddities lying around the office this time around, but this lantern was one item still in search of its owner. In the past, Barb said they’ve received such items as quarter panels of a car, jackhammers, dentures, and once, a prosthetic leg. She’s also seen big suitcases, a 6’ x 5’ mirror, oars from boats, and fishing rods come through the office. Plus, there’s sometimes “miracle healings,” when wheelchairs and crutches are found abandoned on transit.

Here’s some more photos of stuff the office is hanging onto right now.

If you've left your shopping bag on the bus, check Lost Property. They hold on to all bags for 14 days.

Somebody's missing out on their home spa treatment.

Skateboard, hard hat, blue wheel thing. If any of this is yours, get in touch!

Your paperbacks aren't lost forever. Lost Property could very well have them.

And just for fun, here’s two photos of oddball items that I saw in the office in March.

Dentures! Photo taken during my visit in March 2008.

The story of this unique-looking stool has a happy ending. When its picture ran in the Buzzer in March, somebody saw it and went to claim it!

Thanks so much to Barb and the staff at the Lost Property office for letting me visit! And again, if you need the contact info, feel free to call Lost Property at 604-682-7887, email lost_property@translink.bc.ca, or visit the office at Stadium Station on weekdays from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. (Try e-mailing them instead of calling: it works just as well!)

Quelle fabuleuse idée d’utiliser l’iPhone que de le convertir en trackpad wifi, fonctionnant comme un trackpad de Mac Book Pro 1ère génération. Supporte le scroll d’écran, le double clic,… Fonctionne sur Windows et MacOSX, en installant préalablement un utilitaire sur l’ordinateur souhaitant etre controllé.

Ca sent encore un peu plus la fumée pour les télécommandes infrarouges…

Site officiel, téléchargement via le App Store (3 euros)

Video converter for the Mac.

Saved By: Todd Sieling | View Details | Give Thanks

Tags: video, mac, software

The App store on the iPhone is so cluttered it's practically unbrowsable for me. Things are only a little bit better on the desktop version of iTunes.For the most part I've been finding cool applications as they are mentioned in some of the blogs I already read.Surely there are some websites out there that keep up a good overview of the best iPhone apps. What sites are you using to find good apps for the iPhone?

2008 marks the 100th Anniversary of Japanese migration to Brazil. Throughout the year, there have celebrations all around the world marking the centennial of Japanese emigration to Brazil, the unique relationship Brazil and Japan and possibly the most ethnic cool cultural hybrids in the 21st Century. This weekend, UBC hosts two screenings of Japanese Brazilian filmmaker Tizuka Yamasaki's GAIJIN - AMA ME COMO SOU (Gaijin - Love Me as I Am; 2005) BONUS: The main character is played by Tamlyn Tomita (Karate Kid II; Joy Luck Club): Sunday, November 23, 2008 Frederic Wood Theatre, UBC (6354 Crescent Road) 7:00 PM Film Screening RSVP: gaijin.eventbrite.com MORE: Gaijin - Ama Me Como Sou Official Site | Tons of links in google about the 100th Anniversary of Japanese migration to Brazil | Watch visual trailer of Gaijin - Ama Me Como Sou "On June 18, 1908, the Kasado-maru arrived at the Port of Santos after the 52-day trip. It carried on board the first group of Japanese immigrants to Brazil." (from the Shibusawa Memorial Museum press release, September 2008). History (from wikipedia) The end of feudalism in Japan generated great poverty in the rural population, so many Japanese began to emigrate in search of better living conditions. In 1907, the Brazilian and the Japanese governments signed a treaty permitting Japanese migration to Brazil. The first Japanese immigrants (790 people - mostly farmers) came to Brazil in 1908 on the Kasato Maru from the Japanese port of Kobe, moving to Brazil in search of better living conditions. Many of them became laborers on coffee plantations. GAIJIN - Love Me As I Am (Ama Me Como Sou) - SYNOPSIS Gaijin is a film about the Japanese descendants' saga who try to find out their identities. The pioneer Titoe arrived in Brazil aboard Kasato Maru Ship in 1908, wishing to return to her homeland with the money saved by working in the coffee farms. In 1935, holding her Brazilian-daughter, Shinobu, and little amount of money she saved, Titoe buys her first piece of land in Londrina City (North of Paraná State) and postpones her desire to go back to Japan. The Second World War and its consequences to Japan, put off Titoe's promise to come back to Japan. Titoe's grandchildren, Kazumi and Maria, were born in Londrina by the end of the 40's, and then Titoe becomes a "batyan" (grandma). Maria marries Gabriel, a gaijin (foreigner), son of the Spanish farmer Ramon Salinas and the Italian immigrant Sofia. From this relationship two children were born, Yoko and Pedro. Gabriel's job selling and buying lands are doing well until Fernando Collor de Mello's (Brazilian President) confiscation plan (economic plan) in 1990, bankrupts him. Maria, Gabriel, Yoko and Pedro have to live with Batyan, in the house she built by herself. Having no other choices, Gabriel leaves Brazil and goes to Kobe, Hyogo province, as a dekassegui (temporary worker) like Shinobu did to recover the money she lost in Brazil. Maria, Shinobu, Batyan and Gina (Maria's sister-in-law) have to reorganise life in Brazil. But after the earthquake in Kobe in 1995, when Gabriel was considered dead, Yoko and Maria decide to go to Japan to look for him. In Japan, Maria and Yoko face prejudices and challenges provided by cultural differences, and deal with the fear about the unknown. The promise of the old Titoe to return to Japan drives the lives of these four women generations: the ninety-years-old Batyan, her daughter Shinobu, a nisei (second Japanese generation), her granddaughter Maria, a sansei (third generation) and her great-granddaughter Yoko, a half-breed (Japanese/Spanish/Italian).

As community manager, I frequently get asked which topics cause the most controversy in Wesabe’s group discussions. Though no one subject is responsible for igniting debate, the most common clashes occur between the very frugal and the not so frugal.

The all-popular theme, “it’s not how much you make, it’s how much you save,” suggests that a hard dose of discipline coupled with a decent financial IQ leads to security and, what’s more important, peace of mind. Still, for many people, things like pets, multiple cars, and dearly loved hobbies can be worth debt, little to no savings, and less financial security.

Now crisis situations, like home foreclosures or loss of a job usually eliminate some of these “necessities.” However there is a chunk of people who aren’t in dire circumstances, and who are looking for a better relationship with their money, but are unwilling to change their behavior for it. Maybe they have some debt, don’t really budget, or have minimal savings, but nothing that pushes them into crisis mode. Granted, many of these people would consider their situations to be financially unstable. For them though, lifestyle and material comfort is worth financial insecurity.

Consider for example, the 32-year-old who is unwilling to forgo luxury expenses - cell phone, cable, car, restaurants - to max out his 401K.  Or the 27-year-old who chooses some debt and depletes her hard-earned savings to travel. While ideally we would pay off our credit cards each month, fully contribute to retirement and have an six-month emergency fund, there seems to be a decent number of people who are pretty responsible with their money but sacrifice some degree of financial security for more enjoyable day-to-day experiences.

As personal finance is, well, personal, and reflects what an individual wants out of their life, I am interested in where you draw the line between lifestyle and experience, and total financial security. Where does frugal become cheap? Or, on the flipside, where does carefree become careless?

The last six months have been insane, to say the least. Many aspects of this time were great; others were filled with gut wrenching pain to likes I never thought possible. The good: an amazing journey through France and Spain followed by landing a great new job. The bad: ending a fantastic, albeit tumultuous relationship with the love of my life. Let’s just say that heartbreak is a bitch. It sends relatively sane men off the deep end and into self-destructive whirlwinds of dark and dreary self-analysis, retarded liquor consumption and mental oblivion. Oblivion by definition is the state of being unaware or unconscious of what is happening: they drank themselves into oblivion. Fitting, no?

Looking back, being temporarily fucked out of my mind was the best thing that ever happened to me. It enabled me to reach a state of clarity, a return to my center, so to speak. As stated in the song Jerusalem by Hasidic Jewish reggae singer Matisyahu, “Out of the Darkness Comes Light”. It’s all about returning to your renaissance - focusing on what’s important. In my case, writing, work, entrepreneurship and the arts.

In the words of Jay-Z, “If you love it, let it fly out it’s cage and if it comes back to you, then fuck it, cause it’s here to stay. An equally inspiring passage, “I’ve got 99 problems but a bitch ain’t one”.

Toronto has the best hot dog vendors in the world.

Bold claim, I know, but everyone I know that comes to Toronto and has our street meat is always thoroughly impressed.

I’ve always wondered, however, that if we can do such a good job with hot dogs, why can’t we make other types of culinary masterpieces on our streets?

In New York, I’ve bought gyros from street vendors.

In Mauritius, I’ve eaten dhaal puri from guys pushing carts in the street.

In Hong Kong, I’ve had everything from buns to dim sum to satay on the street.

Well, it turns out that in Toronto, there are some serious restrictions on street food vendors, meaning our choices for a quick bite from a cart is pretty much limited to hot dogs and sausages. A lot of people are working hard to change that, but until now, the situation remains grim.

Early last week, I asked some of my online friends what they’d like to see being sold from street food vendors.

As you can see from the graph below (click on it to see the larger view), people have a lot of appetite (no pun intended) for new types of street food in the city.

Samosas, skewered meat, and roti are definitely crowd favorites, as are things like fruits and vegetables. All of them seem relatively easy to do from a street vendor cart too, so let’s hope we see some of them come to Toronto streets soon.

Thanks to John Dupuis, Richard Akerman, Alexa Clark, Michele Perras, Moira Fogarty, Catherine M, Krista Janicki, Mark Raheja, Joyce T, Colin Chan, Iris Ng, Justin Whitaker, Marya, and lots of other people that answered for their input.

Do you have your own thoughts? Share them here!

Although I'm making my decision far earlier in this leadership race than I did in 2006, I weighed the decision just as closely and to me the choice is clear: Michael Ignatieff is the right choice to be the next leader of the Liberal Party. Michael has the experience and the skill to lead this party now, and to win the next election and become Prime Minister.

I gave serious thought to supporting Michael in 2006. In the end, I decided to support Stephane Dion and that's a decision I've never regretted. Since that last leadership race though, I'm pleased to say the few lingering reservations I've had about Michael have been addressed. He's a much better candidate than he was two years ago.

Michael was already a learned individual and a charismatic orator with whom I have a lot in common on policy issues. My main concerns last time were that he had been out of the country to long and was still a relative newcomer to the Liberal Party and the political scene. That opened him up to unfair attacks and mischaracterization of his past writings. Now, that has changed.

Since the last race, as Dion's deputy leader, Michael has learned the craft of politics and has proven himself to be an able and effective performer in the House and on the stump, holding the Conservatives to account and making the case to Canadians for the Liberals. He has learned the retail side of politics, so important to success in an election. And I believe Michael personally has been a loyal supporter of Dion, and the Liberal cause, as our deputy leader.

I feel he brings a social policy thrust in line with the best traditions of Liberalism, and a centrist foreign policy focus that is informed, realistic, and in line with where most Canadians are today. Sure, we've disagreed in the past. Iraq (a lot of good people on the left supported that war initially), but he has come around on that. Quebec as a nation, but that seems like a dead issue now anyways.

I think we have (at the moment) two other excellent candidates for the leadership. Bob Rae is one of the most skilled pure politicians I've met, and I really like Dominic Leblanc and his take on the Liberal Party. Either would make able leaders, I just feel policy-wise Michael is closer to where I am than Bob is, and I just don't feel Dominic is the leader to take on Stephen Harper today. For sure, though, he's a future leader of this party and brings a needed voice to the debate.

Last campaign, Michael did a very good job of bringing new people, and a lot of youth, into the party and getting them involved in the campaign. I've been impressed this time at how he's been broadening the tent even further. Any campaign that has Mark Marrisen and David Herle on the same team as Penny Collenette and Warren Kinsella – that's a pretty broad tent, and it speaks well to Michael's ability to unite this party and bring us forward together to take on the Conservative agenda.

Party reform is an important issue to me. It was an important part of Michael's last campaign, and it will be again. Watching his launch press conference yesterday, I was pleased with his commitment to a policy conference within 100 days of the leadership, but I was also impressed at his desire to reach out and have a conversation with Liberals on reform. This clearly won't be a top-down exercise; Michael is looking to hear from the grassroots on how our party should be reformed. That's absolutely the right approach, and I'll be continuing to bring my ideas forward.

The Michael Ignatieff I see in 2008 is a man who came into the last race with already impressive credentials, and has learned and grown a lot over the last two years. I think he's more well-rounded, I think he's more humble, and is now more ready to unite this party and lead us forward. And he's an inspiring orator with the potential to bring more Canadians into the political process and into the Liberal Party.

It won't be easy. I think this race is a lot closer than many people think. Don't believe the media spin. Rae has quietly been building a lot of support, and will be a formidable challenger. Leblanc is attracting a lot of top-rank organizers, and could very easily come up the middle to win this thing. Whoever wins is going to do it by working hard, in the trenches, riding by riding, energizing grassroots Liberals.

When I examine the field though, it's clear to me that Michael is the candidate that's able to attract support from the broadest base of Canadians, is ready to go toe-to-toe with Harper and lead today, and has the best chance of bringing the Liberal Party together and enabling real party reform.

For these reasons, and more, I'll be supporting Michael Ignatieff for leader of the Liberal Party of Canada.

Yikes, try saying that headline three times fast. But it’s all true: TransLink’s iPhone app is now available in the Apple App Store!

So if you have an iPhone, this means you can download the TransLink app directly through Apple’s built-in application store. Just search for “TransLink” in the App Store and you’ll find it.

As well, the TransLink app, which is developed by Handi Mobility, now includes location-awareness to find nearby bus stops. Tap on the Bus icon and you’ll see!

What’s TransLink’s iPhone app? Here’s the description from the app store:

Ever wondered when the next bus in Vancouver, Canada is coming? Guess no more! Check out the TransLink application to access complete schedules for buses, SkyTrain, West Coast Express, and SeaBus. You’ll also see service alerts, star your favourite stops and access the GVRD transit maps.

Version 1.1 of the app will be out in late November—I’ll have all the details here when it drops. And if you’d like some further reading on the app so far, here’s the interview I did with Igor Faletski from Handi Mobility about the app, way back in October. Enjoy!

"Write or Die is a web application that encourages writing by punishing the tendency to avoid writing. Start typing in the box. As long as you keep typing, you're fine, but once you stop typing, you have a grace period of a certain number of seconds and then there are consequences. "

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Input and output on mobile hand held devices have been a challenge for years. Recent advances in these devices have dramatically increased the resolution of the output to the screen. Direct manipulation via multi-touch has also vastly improved the ability to interact with content on the screen. However, getting input into these devices has seen little improvement other than trying to get to parity with desktop and laptop devices. Apple's iPhone and iPod Touch introduced the software-based keyboard. Although this was novel in many ways, it didn't fundamentally address the problem of trying to type on a very small keyboard with fingers larger than the surface of the keyboard.

I recently came across a true innovation that cleverly addresses this problem. Shumin Zhai and his team at IBM Research have created WritingPad, a free app for the iPhone. The innovation here is that you don't simply tap out individual letters and correct each one as is the case with the default iPhone keyboard but, instead, you simply drag your finger across the WritingPad software keyboard contiguously and the system infers the words. Corrections are done at an individual word level rather than letters.

The other innovation here is how this research team is gathering user feedback on the design of the app. They provided it as a free app in the iTunes Store and with it's built in rating and commenting system, the team has been able to rapidly collect huge amounts of very valuable feedback. A quick read through the feedback indicates that this direction as a new method of providing input into a mobile hand-held device is a real hit and deserves more focus.

So, hats off to the IBM Research team for this design innovation and for an innovative way of collecting feedback on it. If you have an iPhone or iPod Touch and would like to try WritingPad for yourself, here's where to find it in the iTunes Store.

Whose writing would I benefit most from reading if I'm a non-buddhist who sees some value in buddhist teachings?

In my early twenties, I spent a great deal of time reading buddhist teachings. I believed strongly in their views on the world (impermanence, non-attachment, strength of mind and some monastic beliefs) however I balk at the desire to be enlightened or anything on the mystic end of the spectrum. I am an atheist and believe in this lifetime only.

I'm wondering who (past and present) wrote about real-world buddhist concepts which dealt specifically with contentment and peace in day to day life. I realize this is likely a lot of the new-age writers, but who would appeal to my philosophical side most? Are there philosophers I missed who approached some of the above concepts in real-world terms?

Thanks in advance.