The second Facebook Developer & Design Garage (and Facebook Awards) will be kicking off tonight at 6:00pm sharp over at the Vancouver Film School on Homer. Doors open at 5:30pm and space is limited to 100, so be sure to come on time. Here’s a sampling of what we’ll see tonight (and for more background, see my past posts about the event).

Potential demos include:

I will be liveblogging - at THIS URL - when things get underway and my entry will be complimented with live shots from Duane Storey who is the official photographer. I look forward to seeing some of you great folks tonight, and if you can’t make it, I hope this live blog will be helpful.

Update - 5:45pm - After piling into the lecture room at VFS, I’m hanging out with Phillip Jeffrey waiting for the show to start. (more…)

It’s been several months in the making and now we’re less than two weeks away from the first ever Facebook Awards that will take place at the Vancouver Facebook Developer (and Design) Garage.

The ever-fabulous Megan Cole (who was also named as one of Vancouver’s Tech Women to Watch in 2008) will be moderating the event and the following companies have signed on to do live demos:

All applications are homegrown, right here in BC. Remember, to present a demo your app doesn’t even need to be completed so give us a sample and get some valuable feedback from this test audience of your peers. Sign up here if you’re interested in being a speaker.

One of the most popular applications that was shown at the first Garage was Social Signal speaking about Green Gifts, which was created and designed for BC Hydro as a part of the PowerSmart campaign. Not only can you send friends a gift on Facebook, they include energy-efficient and eco-friendly tips, providing valuable information for those looking to be more environmentally conscious.

Also from Social Signal, Rob’s created a series of Facebook-themed cartoons - check them out on ‘Noise to Signal‘.

And even though they’re not Facebook related per se, I have to include these because they made me chuckle.

This next one is *SO* John and I.

You can read more about Rob and his company’s work with BC Hydro and the Green Gifts application in this bio.

If you have or know of a Facebook application OR a Facebook cartoon that would fit into the new awards category, nominations will be open until the event on January 28, 2008. I previously introduced some nominees for the Facebook Awards and it’s not to late to get your submissions in.

This past fall, I was the official live blogger for Vancouver’s first Facebook Developer (and Design) Garage and I’ll be back again for an upcoming event later this month which will feature the Facebook Awards.

The first ever Facebook Awards: Best of the West, brought to us by some great sponsors, will feature applications that were created right here in BC.

As the Best of the West event is fast-approaching here’s a quick round up of all the nominees.

If you’re a fan of any of these, leave me a comment or feel free to submit your favourite BC-made application to Best of the West Nominations or add it to The Wall. Stay tuned to the wiki to find out more about the upcoming event January 28, 2008.

By now we all know pretty much that Facebook is one HUGE a social networking tool to be reckoned with.

As of late November 2007, the website has the largest number of registered users among college-focused sites with 55 million active members (including non-collegiate members) worldwide, with membership expected to surpass 60 million users by the end of the year.

From September 2006 to September 2007 the site’s traffic ranking increased from 60th to 7th, according to Alexa. It is the number one site for photos in the United States, ahead of public sites such as Flickr, with over 60 million photos uploaded weekly. [wiki]

A humega part of Facebook is the ability to add applications. Love ‘em or hate ‘em, all those crazy thing are there to stay. Applications allow you to keep up to date with the latest events and transit schedules while encouraging friends to rate you, let you know you’re hot, send you “gifts”, turn you into a zombie and challenge you at games. As you may or may not know, Vancouver’s a big part of the Facebook movement, next time you add an application it might very well be something locally designed, developed and created.

Photo credit: Megan Cole on Flickr

To celebrate Techcouver’s advancements on the world Facebook stage the folks who brought us the first Vancouver Facebook Developer (& Designer) Garage are unveiling the following:

Tell us about your Facebook application: We’ve decided to reward and encourage excellence in Facebook application design and development by hosting the “Best of the West 2007 Awards” - the world’s first Facebook application awards - at the upcoming second Vancouver Facebook Developer (& Designer) Garage and the first in the new year in late January 2008.! [Best of the West]

Here’s what you need to qualify and nominate your app:

For a refresher of the first event, check out the official live blog that I wrote shortly before coming down with laryngitis. Luckily organizers assure me that the next event will be throat virus free.

Photo credit: kk+ on Flickr

If you or someone you know and love (or just kinda like) has developed a Facebook application that’s the bee’s knee - let us know by nominating them. They’ll then be added to “The Wall” and be subject to random reviews by bloggers, such as yours truly.

So, say you made something with an artist’s music and tour dates on it and your name rhymes with Wuane Storey - that kinda thing - submit it and have the opportunity for recognition of internet-famous proportions.

The Vancouver Facebook Developer (& Designer) Garage is the brainchild of the Vancouver Facebook Developers Group and organized by Gerald Bauer.

Welcome to the Official Vancouver Facebook Garage Live Blog! As previously announced, events will be underway at 5:30pm but here are a few shout outs before we get started:

Big thanks to the Official Live Blog sponsor, Communicate.com. Also thanks to Techvibes.com for being the media sponsor (including Flickr shots by Kris Krug that I will be using throughout the evening) and Vancouver Film School for offering up the venue. Of course we cannot forget Facebook, who has officially sponsored this event as well (thanks for the swag!)

For a list of presenters, demos and applications built right here in Vancouver and BC, visit my live blog announcement post or the wiki.

Here’s a rundown of the schedule:

5:07pm: Just getting setup at VFS. Once again BIG thanks to them for accommodating our group. Shout out to official photographer Kris, who apparently is stuck in an elevator somewhere and to my pals John Biehler, and Duane Storey who are unable to attend. Duane’s developed his own Facebook app featuring Matt Good’s CD release and concert dates.

5:29pm: Kris is here and photos are coming shortly. The video feed should be setup soon and every seat in the house is taken. I won’t have time to attribute the pics with captions on the fly, just know they are all credited to kk+ on Flickr.

5:45pm: Starting off with demos in anticipation of a Skype video chat with a representative of Facebook. Each demo presenter will have about 5 minutes to present their Facebook App. First up… Up4 (Social Planning Helper) Built By ActiveState. What are you up for? Up4 is designed to let your friends know in a very casual way (with no specific times etc) what you would be up for doing. You can select specific friends to notify or send to your entire list.

Using tabbed browsing in the application, you can block times for events and activities you would be willing to do, and also see what your friends could possibly want to do. It’s sort of like the pre-event stage. It’s if you’re interested, you like the idea, etc. without any real commitment off the bat. What’s next? They’ll be launching a skinned version of the app in time for the holidays.

5:50pm: Up next is Are You Normal Built By Kinzin. It’s a social survey app for Facebook that was actually featured on the cover of Vancouver’s 24 Hours newspaper this morning. Answer the questions, see how your friends answered and find out just how normal you are.

Photo credit: Megan Cole on Flickr

6:00pm: Third demo is NoteMix - Create courses and collaborate on notes with other course members, presented by Colin Kierans. NoteMix is for collaborative note taking in your courses (college etc.) enter your school, the course code and edit summaries on the go. Your classmates can log into Facebook, fire up NoteMix and collaborate summaries and notes with peers, sort of like a wiki but with a friendlier and Facebook-y interface. Notifications are given for most recently updated courses.

6:05pm: Handi Mobility is up next with MyBus. If you attended the most recent DemoCampVancouver or happened to see my blog post you’ll know this is one handy and incredible simple tool for catching the bus on time… as long as it is on time. They’re also working on the iPhone version.

6:10pm: The call from Facebook headquarters has just come in over Skype, the auditorium is chatting (one way) to David Morin, Senior Platform Manager in Palo Alto, CA.

6:20pm: The connection was lost so we’re getting a mini demo of Hockey Pools. Greg is just leading us through the app, which he personally has installed, even though Ben Nevile cannot be here to officially present it.

6:22pm: Opus “Mixx” Music Player and Social Playlists presented by Jeremy Lim from Donat Group. Basically it’s a mix tape creator that always starts with the statement… “I want music that…” You can then rely on friends’ recommendations for tunes, whatever you’re in the mood to listen to. Since the app functions by uploading mp3 files to the Opus servers there are several skeptics in the audience mentioning the legalities of the player. There’s also the subject of quality of files uploaded, duplicates and copies but they are still working out some kinks. Mixx music player is based on php and Drupal.

6:36pm: Green Gifts by Social Signal (for BC Hydro) is up next, presented by Rob Cottingham. “How does an organization dip its toe in the online water, especially when it’s a public organization.” The idea of gifts on Facebook really appealed to Social Signal’s client so together they created Green Gifts - a fun and entertaining way to promote sustainability and energy conservation. Each free ‘Green Gift’ comes with a PowerSmart tip as well.

18:52pm: Scratch and Win by Backstage Technologies will be the last demo before a small break. It’s an image, a prize icon and a score tally that goes up. You have credits, buy scratch tickets, and win prize tokens. Earlier in the evening someone else brought up the concept of gambling on Facebook (during the Hockey Pools segment) and if it’s banned, which it clearly is as stated in their terms of service. New users get 10 credits and the choice of 4 different tickets when they sign up. Complete with scartchy sound effects, 95% of tickets are winners. “Facebook is about wasting time”, so Backstage has done exactly that, built an app to help people just play and have fun… but of course with a little competition hence the ‘rankings’ page. “Your app must let you do something to someone”, so with Scratch and Win you can send tickets.

7:20pm: Intermission…..

7:30pm: Final demo of the evening is ClassTalk built by PeerGlobe. Born out of a now-extinct social networking platform, ycas, Class Talk generates new conversations within Facebook with its own applications. You can register your courses at major educational institutions around the world, schedule, discuss and even sign up if you’re the teacher. It’s like a giant (as in complex and multi-faceted) Facebook group, filled with classmates in which you can share documents, leave notes and comments and connect with others.

7:48pm: Big theme on the night being, how can we compete with zombie and food fight applications?

7:52pm: Jason Bailey from Kick In The Nuts Media is presenting on monetizing your Facebook app - making $$ money $$. Valuating applications for purchase by investors based on install numbers. Trip Advisor is an example of a million + installed application that’s built for branding and is making money. Pay Per…. impression, click, action, sale. Another example of an app that is making a LOT of money is one of the Pink Ribbon/Breast Cancer awareness campaigns which encourages a toolbar download through a ‘free causes’ website. For every member that downloads and installs the toolbar, they will donate a certain dollar amount to the cause. With the money they’re making from toolbar referrals… it’s quite a healthy sum they can scrape off the top. Facebook is full of these applications that only need member clicks and installs in order to make a nice chunk of change. The point? Developers have the ability to jump on this monetary bandwagon as well. Best way to get people to click through? Ask a question, have a poll, request an opinion and offer a “free” offer.

8:15pm: Presentation are over. Side note, Roland’s active on the Jaiku Channel for the Vancouver Facebook Garage.

8:20pm: Last but not least… Boris and Johnny are here to talk about the FUTURE of Facebook and not locking your app inside. Johnny leads off introducing OpenID - build your apps for everyone, there are many options although they’re not always simple to implement. Boris refers to Facebook as a “giant walled garden, we’ve seen this before ie. with AOL,” let’s open things up. During Q&A the audience mentions there’s a new app for Facebook that allows you to download your friends in a CSV. The examples at this point are referencing monkeys and the ownership of monkeys. I’m no longer able to focus on the big screen but I’m sure glad these guys are still on track, talking about the concept of an “open web”.

Winding down, I have to thank Communicate.com for sponsoring my live blog and thanks to thanks to Techvibes, everyone’s going to the bar for some spirits.

I’ll be heading home as I’ve been fighting off a cold for the entire day, and I might just let it take over soon. As I am heavily air conditioned and neck-kinked at this point, all the best to those going to the after party. Have fun guys, take pics! And anyone who DID tune into my live blog… please let me know what you think/thought. Thanks!

Update: The Official Live Blog Will Begin at 5:30pm, October 23rd, 2007 over on this post.

It’s one of the top sites in the nation and anyone who is not on it yet (who had held out this long) deserves a medal.

Facebook has exploded in popularity since opening its doors to the general public last winter and along with profiles, gifts, fun walls and zombies, there are those who develop and design applications specifically for this highly-addictive monster of a site.

Join us for Vancouver’s first Facebook Developer (& Designer) Garage - a place for you to explore, get gritty, tinker, experiment, and test out your ideas for new Facebook apps.

Unconferences are a relaxed and steady flow of presentations by attendees (see BarCamp or DemoCamp). Come on our if you are a developer, Ajax enthusiast, Facebook lover, Facebook App developer or promoter, Facebook geek or Vancouver geek in general. You’ll be able to network with other developers and application creators, demo your new idea for an app, show off and promote what you’ve already made, and have a great time.

Anyone/everyone else is welcome to sign up via the Facebook event.

You can tune into my site on Tuesday, October 23rd for the Official Live Blog, sponsored by Communicate.com. Big thanks also goes to Techvibes for being the media sponsor (including Flickr shots that I will use in my live blog) and Vancouver Film School as the Venue Sponsor. Of course we cannot forget Facebook, who has officially sponsored this event as well.

Facebook apps developed and designed in and around Vancouver, British Columbia include:

Dabble Do (Social To-Do List) Built By Dabble DB

MyBus (Translink Bus Schedule) Built By Handi Mobility

I’m Reading (Book List w/ Ratings and Reviews) Built By Garth Shoemaker

Up4 (Social Planning Helper) Built By ActiveState

Are You Normal Built By Kinzin

NHL Box Scores Built By Kick In The Nuts Media

Yoga Built By Kick In The Nuts Media

Urban Dictionary Built By Kick In The Nuts Media

The Far Side Built By Kick In The Nuts Media

Demotivator Built By Kick In The Nuts Media

Comic Strip Built By Kick In The Nuts Media

Scratch and Win Built By Backstage Technologies

ClassTalk Built By PeerGlobe

Scheduled Demos at the Garage:

Kinzin’s Are You Normal App Released October 3rd.

NoteMix - Create courses and collaborate on notes with other course members. By Colin Kierans

MyBus - Keep track of favourite Vancouver / Calgary / Toronto bus routes on your FB profile!

Hockey Pool by Ben Nevile

Opus Music Player and Social Playlists by Donat Group

Mixx Q & A with Jeremy Lim (Project Opus)

Green Gifts by Social Signal/BC Hydro

Scratch and Win by Backstage Technologies

ClassTalk by PeerGlobe

Open Social Networks? Q&A with OpenID Lead Johnny Bufu (Sxip Identity)

Scheduled Lightning Talks:

Monetizing Your Facebook Application(s) - A quick overview of ways developers are using their applications to generate cold hard cash!

The Future of Facebook Q&A lead by Boris Mann and Johnny Bufu of Sxip.

Transit is a huge issue in Metro Vancouver. Commuting, bus times, delays, over crowding, and lack of routes really gets me down but it’s nice to sometimes find something good about being a bus rider in this region.

I made mention of the MyBus Facebook app in my DemoCamp post but I wanted to elaborate and share a few more helpful tidbits.

John first told me about MyBus a few months ago and I have to say, it’s my absolutely favourite Facebook. It’s helpful, practical, informative and being someone who relies solely on foot and transit to get around town, it’s an invaluable tool.

What does MyBus do?
It keeps track of your bus schedules right from your Facebook profile page. Choose the stops that matter to you and enjoy live updates of your bus schedules!
So everyone can see what buses I take?
NO! Only you can see your own schedules.

Basically you load it onto your Facebook profile, it’s totally private but since people nowadays are usually constantly checking their profiles, it’s a good place to keep it. You type in your “home” or “starting” bus stop and it instantly gives you the next 6 departure times. You can load in as many bus routes as you need and they have recently introduced “Quick Lookup”. This allows you to quickly look up any route, any stop, and get the information for the next bus, on the fly.

Unfortunately yesterday I walked out to a C23 (community shuttle) bus stop not knowing when it would arrive. I didn’t have any wifi access so I couldn’t log in and check MyBus from my Nokia N95. I did the next best thing and called my sister to see if she was near a computer and could look up the times for me. She said that if you call the phone number on the bus stop - (604) 953-3333 you’ll get an automated service. So I dialed the number, followed the prompts and entered my bus stop number (a five-digit number at the top of the sign on the side of the road) and it told me what time it was and when the next few buses were to arrive. It worked like a charm.

But, this was also before I found out about another MyBus feature…

I don’t have Facebook can I still use MyBus?
YOU BET! All of your schedules are accessible by RSS and text message, courtesy of our partners at Quick Mobile. It’s a free service, meaning it costs as much as any other text message you would send. Text 74636 with your Vancouver or Calgary stop number to get your schedule!

Fantastic. So with MyBus, a computer, Facebook, or my mobile phone I can always get the latest information about bus stop arrival and departure times. This doesn’t solve the problem of late buses, and infrequent scheduling but it does make commuting around the region a little more pleasant.

It’s become a part of almost every conversation I have lately because at some point someone mentions something they wrote, did or read on Facebook. Up until a little while ago if I dared talk about anything computer or internet related in a social setting I was made fun of. Now, social media has allowed for every man, woman and their dog (literally, have you see dogbook yet?) to get connected, online.

Part of the attraction is news feeds: You get that Facebook notification email that someone sneezed so you hop on over to your profile or home feed.

Scenario #1: Love. Once thing that John and I were talking with Duane about was when someone changes their relationship status… “Bob is now listed as single” WOOSH! Everyone rushes to Bob’s wall to ask questions, see what’s up, are there pictures up of his newfound single-ness? What happened to Betty? WOOSH! Rush over to Betty’s wall, she’s got a nasty status update posted: “Betty is thinking Bob should drop dead”. Uh Oh! Suddenly (depending on your privacy settings) your hundred contacts, colleagues and acquaintaces know that you are sleeping on the couch tonight.

Scenario #2: Full Dance Card. Thanks to people sending event invites to everyone on their friends list, I seriously have about 5 different options of ‘things to do’ almost ever night of the week - and I have less than 100 people on my list. I am by no means some super hyper popular person but wow, yeah. Do I formally “decline” events that I cannot attend or do I leave them awaiting approval long past the event date? What if I decline one but then that friend can see that I’ve accepted another? What about those poor SOBs that haven’t started drinking the Kool Aid - they won’t be able to see the event because, it’s *only* on Facebook. Suddenly I feel like we’re put into two classes: total ’social’ sweethearts or anti-social non-responsive a-holes.

Scenario #3: High school. Now I went to an awesome school with only about 300 people so you pretty much knew of everyone. Unfortunately for some, there were some people that you just didn’t really want to know and now 10 years later… you could seriously care less about them let alone remember the last time you thought of their existence. But this is Facebook and you could a) lurk and see what they’ve been up to/how good they’re looking b) chat them up.

With b), suddenly all past differences are tossed aside (because we’re all adults now, eh) and you are just so happy to write on their wall “OMG I haven’t heard from you in AGES how are you?”… let’s see hmm “…over the last TEN years I’ve…”

Don’t get me wrong at all, like I said, I love my little high school. I just find it funny that ex’s or strangers are suddenly all about contacting folks, just because they *can*, well at least until they get blocked anyway.

Scenario #4: Security. My brother is currently looking for a job. I asked him tonight if he was on Facebook yet, to which he replied that he heard at a seminar that employers will search for you, on Facebook and Myspace, to either learn more or see what you’re really like.

I understand but I have to say … “everybody’s doing it!”. In my case, I have a pretty public blog that even my bossed asked me to help him subscribe to the other day. It’s a non-issue as I’m totally Googleable anyway. My Facebook profile is straightforward and honest, just like this site. I omit a couple names, I don’t post my mobile number and I usually only add people that I have met, know or at least know of (or we have several friends in common). But there must be some kind of censorship going on especially if you know (or don’t know) just who is reading. This opens things up perfectly for Miss604.com poll #3:

Poll accepts more than one answer, so check however many apply.

Do you use a travel mug for your coffee (tea or other hot bevvie of choice)?

• Yes
• No

View Results

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To view and vote on past polls, visit the Miss604.com poll page.

Regardless of its use, it’s addictive even if you won’t admit it. Check email, check Facebook - it’s become a part of our daily routines and I’m just wondering where it’s going to go from here.