Looks like DemoCamp - a Calgary event that has been around for a while much like other cities in Canada - is centralizing. They’ve got a new blog, mailing list and an event coming up, well, today.

Looks like I won’t be able to make it folks, but have fun all the same. Look forward to seeing some videos!

Over the weekend I let the YCombinator Demo Day simmer, then planned on getting all the reactions. Sadly, I didn’t hear much about the demo days. If anyone has any links from the blogosphere (besides YCombinator news) let me know!

http://www.venturehacks.com/articles/adam-smith

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41133

http://mashable.com/2007/08/09/online-business/

http://www.innoeco.com/2007/08/demo-day-at-y-combinator.html

http://500hats.typepad.com/500blogs/2007/08/startup-metrics.html

http://mashable.com/2007/08/09/gdrive/
This is awesome.

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41303

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41308

http://dondodge.typepad.com/the_next_big_thing/2007/08/boston-vcs-gets.html

After a two month battle with the previous registrar of zed23.com, Globat.com, I’ve finally been able to transfer my domain to shiny new Hostnine hosting.

I’ve also cleaned up a lot of old posts, thrown together a new template (Yeah, I’m not a designer, it is a work in progress) and upgraded my Wordpress install.

There’s been lots going on in the past couple months around the web, and the Zend Framework has finally reached a stable release number of 1.0.0! So excuse me while I dust off this stagnant blog, and get to writing entries anew!

Something I’ve been hearing a lot of lately is how companies and individuals want to set the standard. This can be a market standard, a development standard, or another business “standard” that they want to share with their fellow developers.

This seems a slight contradictory statement at times as “setting the bar” seems to be selective - for example, when it suits the interests of the individual rather than the company or the audience of the standard. This grows more and more confusing because in most cases with day to day development and business practice, most individuals I’ve had recent experience with aren’t really market experts at all.

Scenario:

Person A: Let’s ensure that we do this feature for this reason.
Person B: But why? It’s less accessible for the user, it isn’t going to optimize our development, et cetera. (and justifiable reason will do, just make sure you’re not arguing the point because you’re lazy).
Person A: Because that’s what the market trend is directed to accept.

If one is going to undertake such an ambitious venture as setting a new standard, or raising the bar so that competitors follow suit, don’t try to pick and choose which standards you’re going to enforce simply because they apply to your personal goals while relying on the “all powerful market” to justify other decisions. If you’re going to try to be the standard, BE the standard. In the case above, it was a pick-and-choose decision making process, and one I hope that doesn’t cascade through the rest of the company’s ventures.

In other news:

I’m quite the fan of this article, Top 18 Mistakes That Kill Startups. Definitely a must read.
Just a reminder that the Zend Framework 0.8 is out now - if you’re on the mailing list, you know that.

I’d like to thank (and by thank I mean through gritted teeth) Marco who has introduced me to another addictive site, Virb. It’s still in beta, but if you have an account, simply look me up (I’m the only Ryan Brooks that comes up in a search at the moment). I have to say, I’m quite impressed with it.

There’s another application called Ning which got itself an article on Techcrunch. Ning supposedly allows you to create social networking applications in minutes. I’ve seen applications like this over the years, and I hate to say it but I think this is yet another application that is going to fall short.

Busy! Super busy! But just wanted to throw a post out there to let ya’ll know I’m not dead. So happy holidays, and we’ll see you all in the new year!

In the meantime, go check out http://www.cambrianhouse.com/ - they’ve been doing some right cool stuff lately.

As well, sIFR3 is finally in beta! http://novemberborn.net/sifr3/beta1

http://9rules.com/blog/2006/10/round-5-opens/

Well, I’ve actually decided to try to join this one. Though, I don’t know how I’ll fair since zed23 just started up. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

But regardless of how I do, I’m definitely looking forward to a whole buncha new sites in the 9rules community!

Well, how about that.

Eight months after leaving my old domain RyanBrooks.net, I’ve finally managed to put a new domain online.

For those that are curious (and that’s probably not a lot since it will take me time to get my online presence back up) a lot has happened in the past year. I was working with a few different firms and companies after leaving my business venture, and just recently I moved from Calgary, Alberta to beautiful Creston British Columbia - this is all in Canada for those curious.

RyanBrooks.net has retired, and though I was able to preserve my posts, I opted only to import the posts I really wanted. By hand, mind you, so alas I’ve lost any comments on these entries as well.

The next couple days I’ll be adding copy and pages to the sections that I should, as well as putting the finishing touches on my CSS. Please be patient with me, I’m aware of most of the problems you might notice.

Thanks!