From the category archives:

Geek

Spider-Man on Chat Rooms

by Joey deVilla on October 29, 2009

Spider-Man: "I get into costume and boom, I'm the snarky wise-guy. Anonymity's liberating. There should be rooms where people could go to chat using fake identities. They'd spend hours being jerks to each other."

This article also appears in Global Nerdy.

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Burger King’s Windows 7 Whopper

by Joey deVilla on October 22, 2009

To celebrate the release of Windows 7, Japanese Burger King franchises are offering a Windows 7 Whopper with 7 patties, selling for 777 Yen (CAD$8.92 as of this writing), available only for the next 7 days. I have no idea why they’re not doing this on this side of the Pacific; I’m sure it would be a big hit:

windows_7_whopper

According to Julie from ObjectSharp, the Japanese text after “13cm” says “American-size buns”.

[Thanks to Ian Irving for pointing this to me!]

This article also appears in Canadian Developer Connection and Global Nerdy.

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Slice of Life: Me and Steve B.

by Joey deVilla on October 22, 2009

I bought a fuzzy “Cat in the Hat”-style raver hat with a Canadian flag pattern on a whim earlier this year, thinking that I’d probably find a pretty good use for it some day. That day, it turns out, was yesterday, where I turned it into what I believe was yesterday’s only Steve Ballmer photo-op with a non-management Microsoft Canada employee:

Joey deVilla and Steve Ballmer, wearing Joey's Canadian flag raver hatPhoto by Barnaby Jeans.

Yesterday was a busy day at the Harbour Castle Convention Centre, where we had an all-day Steve Ballmer-rama. In the morning, Steve keynoted an event showcasing Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2 and Exchange Server 2010 for the media, key customers and partners. This was followed by an employees-only “town hall” where Steve did a short presentation followed by a Q&A session. On a whim similar to the one that led me to buy it, I took the hat (along with the accordion) along with me.

Following a suggestion from my co-worker Damir, I arrived very early for the town hall, grabbed a seat by the stage and donned the hat. When Steve made his appearance, he did so in classic Ballmer style, running and whooping, high-fiving people as he made his way to the stage. As soon as he saw me, he yelled “Hey!”, put the hat on and posed with me for the photo above.

I’d made a decent splash at Microsoft in my first year, and I’d been wondering if I could match it in my second, which began on Monday. This isn’t a bad start.

This article also appears in Global Nerdy.

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Tonight on “The Hour”: Steve Ballmer and Snoop Dogg

by Joey deVilla on October 21, 2009

steve_ballmer_snoop_dogg

Fo’shizzle my Ballizle: on tonight’s episode of CBC’s news show The Hour, “Strombo”’s interviewing an unlikely pair: the CEO of the company for whom I work, Steve Ballmer, and Snoop Dogg. Alas, they’re taping the segments separately, so there’s no chance of Ballmer and Snoop doing a rap duet called Win and Juice.

The Hour airs on CBC tonight at 11 p.m. Eastern.

This article also appears in Canadian Developer Connection and Global Nerdy.

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Reporting From the Canadian Windows 7 Event

by Joey deVilla on October 21, 2009

cdnwin7

The official launch of Windows 7 doesn’t happen until tomorrow, but we’re having a big launch event with Steve Ballmer today in Toronto! I’ll be blogging and tweeting all day from the launch venue – Toronto’s Harbour Castle Westin Convention Centre.

For the full skinny on the event, follow the #cdnwin7 (short for “Canadian Windows 7”) hashtag on Twitter.

This article also appears in Canadian Developer Connection and Global Nerdy.

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Portable Computing in the “Mad Men” Era

October 20, 2009
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Are there any computers available today that come in that particular shade of blue, with matching chair?
Click the photo to see it at full size. Photo courtesy of retrofuture.
This article also appears in Global Nerdy.

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One Year at Microsoft

October 20, 2009
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I knew that I might be a little too busy to write an anniversary blog post with my work schedule this week. That’s why I wrote that article last month to mark having worked at Microsoft for 11 months. My schedule was a little less hectic then. Go and read the article if you like [...]

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WIND Mobile’s Videos: Funny. Canadian Mobile Phone Situation: Not So Funny.

October 19, 2009
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I have no idea if WIND Mobile is going to be able to deliver what they promise – a mobile phone company that listens to its customers and provides better service than the sad players in the Canadian mobile phone oligarchy – but they’ve got the right ideas and some rather funny videos that perfectly [...]

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Nerd Hip-Hop Collection

October 17, 2009
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Brett Domino
British uberpopnerd Brett Domino elevates hip-hop to a whole new level with a medley of Rapper’s Delight by the Sugar Hill Gang, Jump Around by House of Pain and Fresh Prince and Jazzy Jeff’s Boom! Shake the Room, equipped with only two “Stylos” and a microphone:

Klenginem
Klenginem is a German guy who does Eminem numbers [...]

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Scenes from the Windows 7 Hardware Media Event / Appearing Tonight on InnerSPACE

October 8, 2009
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Here are some photos I took at Monday’s Windows 7 media event showing off the latest Windows 7-compatible computers from six vendors:

The participating vendors were:

Dell
Hewlett-Packard
Lenovo
LG
Sony
Toshiba

The whole day was a non-stop demo from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., with journalists both mainstream and tech, associated with an organization or independent, [...]

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Slice of Life: Where I am Today

October 5, 2009
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I’m working out of the building known as “The Richmond” today, participating in a showcase of Windows 7-ready hardware for the media. As of this writing, I’ve done demos of Windows 7 on an HP TouchSmart computer hooked to a Sony Bravia TV equipped with DLNA for a number of journos for various media outlets [...]

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FailCamp Toronto 3 Happens Next Tuesday!

September 24, 2009
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When life gives you a lemon, make lemonade. And when your company produces a cringe-inducing video on how to host a Stepford party, you repurpose it:

Don’t forget that FailCamp Toronto 3 takes place this Tuesday, September 29th at 7:00 p.m. in the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, South Building, Room 716. If you’re coming in [...]

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One Web Day

September 22, 2009
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Today, September 22nd, is One Web Day, the day on which we celebrate the awesomeness of the web and try to make it even better! As the One Web Day folks put it, think of it as “Earth Day for the Internet”.
Here in Accordion City, we’re having One Web Day Toronto, where there’ll be [...]

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Actually, This Explains a Lot

September 22, 2009
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Suddenly, Star Wars makes a lot more sense…

[Thanks to CaptainMarvel for the pic!]

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FailCamp Toronto 3: September 29th at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre

September 14, 2009
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That’s right, we’re holding another FailCamp in Toronto! Mark Tuesday, September 29th on your calendar and be prepared to share you best/worst stories of FAIL, impress the judges in our “Panel of Fail” and win big prizes!
Here’s what the event is all about, as taken directly from FailCamp Toronto 3’s event page:
The pictures of [...]

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