Author: Joey deVilla

The Sith Lords Get a Cat

darth vader gets grumpy cat

In case you wanted to know the truth about Grumpy Cat, watch this video. It’s adorable:

Taking the Ford C-MAX Holiday Challenge

Post author By Joey deVilla
Post date December 19, 2012
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The folks at Ford Canada invited Yours Truly and Tamara McPherson, creator of WonderMoms.ca, to take their C-MAX series of hybrid cars out for a spin on a little excursion they called the C-MAX Holiday Challenge. We’d first take the cars out for a little city and highway driving and try to get the best energy efficiency our of them.

challenge success

Energy efficiency achieved!

The C-MAXes have a feature on their dashboards that make it easy to tell how energy-efficiently you’re driving: the Efficiency Leaves. It’s an animated display located just to the right of the speedometer that gives you at-a-glance feedback. The more energy-efficient your driving is, the more leaves appear on the vine. Smooth starts and smooth braking is the key to making the display lush and green, and it also means you’re making the best use of the car’s energy and saving money to boot.

Joey deVilla behind the wheel of the Ford C-MAX

My “10 and 2” safe hand position on the wheel is unstoppable!

I’ll admit that I’ve become a bit of a skeptic about North American cars, having rented more than my fair share in business travel and being less than impressed by their fit and finish as well as they way they handle. They’ve improved recently, and the C-MAX is indicative of that trend: it handles very nicely. I’d have sworn it was a Japanese car and not the Ford that I’d come to know. The folks at AutoGuide.com seem to agree.

Joey deVilla behind the wheel of the Ford C-MAX Energia

Me behind the wheel of the Ford C-MAX Energia.

Along for the ride to help us out were Rannie Turingan and Sara Mercier, both wearing elf costumes and playing the parts of “Jingle” and “Belle” respectively, the helper elves. They were charming company, and I was glad to have them along for the ride.

Tamara behind the wheel

Here’s Tamara behind the wheel of her Ford C-MAX.

Tamara drove the C-MAX while I drove the C-MAX Energi, which was the plug-in version of the C-MAX, which can be filled at the gas station or charged up at an electric station for about 35km (21 miles) of pure-electric driving. The engine was zippy and responsive, whether in electric or gas mode, and on a flat run on the Don Valley Parkway, I got the car up to 90 km/h (just over 55 mph) before it had to switch from electric to gas. The car certainly didn’t feel like a golf cart!

After taking the C-MAXes out for a spin, we drove them to The Danforth to go to Treasure Island Toys (a great little indie toy store; you really should check it out) to go on a shopping spree for charity. Tamara and I were each given a $1000 gift card and a 15% discount with which to buy toys for children who otherwise wouldn’t get any for Christmas. If you’d like to help add to the toys we bought, there are 22 Toronto-Area Ford Dealerships that are accepting donations.

Sara, Tamara, Joey and Rannie in the toy store

At the end of the shopping spree, a song.

My thanks to the folks at Ford Canada and Treasure Island Toys for the fun with the C-MAX and the toy shopping for a good cause!

Rannie Turingan standing between two Ford C-MAX cars — Rannie, playing the part of “Jingle” the helper elf was already at Evergreen Brick Works, where we started the day.

Sara Mercier strikes a jaunty pose in her elf costume — Sara couldn’t wait to get into her elf costume.

Julie Tyios leans up against one of the Ford C-MAXes. — Julie Tyios organized this event. Thanks, Julie!

A close-up of the front grill.

A close-up of the C-MAX logo on the hatchback door.

C-MAX Energi front view, plugged into charger — I was assigned the C-MAX Energi, which can be filled up at your standard gas station or charged at an electric charging station.

The C-MAXes we took for a spin.

Another view of our C-MAXes.

"Electric Vehicle" sign at Evergreen Brick Works — Evergreen Brick Works has a couple of parking spots specifically for electric or hybrid cars, with a free charging station.

Electric car charger — Here’s what the charger looks like

Fully-lit charging port on Ford C-MAX Energia — The C-MAX Energi’s charging port has a ring that indicates the level of charge in the car. A fully-lit circle means the car’s batteries are fully charged.

Joey deVilla licking the electric car charger — “I do this with 9-volt batteries all the time, so this should be the same, right?”

Another look at the C-MAX Energi

Dashboard of C-MAX Energi — Here’s the driver’s-eye view of the dashboard on the C-MAX Energi. Ford does a much better job on laying out its controls these days.

Lit dashboard on C-MAX Energia — A push of a button later, and she’s all fired up.

Here’s the center control panel. Once again, really nicely laid out; I didn’t have any trouble finding a thing.

"Efficiency Leaves" display on dashboard screen, showing a vine with varying sizes of leaves — Where energy efficiency meets gamification: the more efficiently you’re using the car’s energy, the more leaves appear on this animated vine.

Tamara being filmed — Here’s Tamara filming one of her segments.

Sara Mercier and Rannie Turingan in elf costumes — Sara and Rannie make really adorable elves.

Sara Mercier and Rannie Turingan in elf costumes, striking a Busby Berkely dancing pose — Really, really, REALLY adorable elves.

Sara waves from the passenger seat of the other C-MAX — After the initial shoots in Evergreen Brick Works’ parking lot, it was time to go hit the road!

Rannie Turingan polishing the rear windshield of the C-MAX — Just a quick polish of the car before we take off…

Rannie Turingan in the passenger seat of the C-MAX checking his email on his phone — …a quick check of the ol’ email…

Trunk of the C-MAX, packed with video gear — …then we put our junk in our trunk (roomy) and the video shoot on the road began.

After our first run on the highway, we broke for lunch and posed for this photo.

Fuel economy readout — Here’s one of the readouts at the end of my run on the C-MAX Energia.

Trip Summary readout — Another one of the readouts at the end of my run on the C-MAX Energia.

Lifetime summary readout — One more readout at the end of my run on the C-MAX Energia.

Rannie Turingan in an elf costume in a pay phone — Jingle the elf uses a pay phone to get the location of the elf rave taking place later that evening.

The final stop of the day was Treasure Island Toys on the Danforth, where Tamara and I each went on a $1000 shopping spree for toys for charity.

Shelves of plush dolls — Treasure Island has a lot of great toys!

Joey deVilla poses with a plush squid on his head — “Need a driver for your hybrid car? Why not Zoidberg?”

Bags and bags of toys — Here’s part of what we bought with Ford’s $1000 (each) and Treasure Island’s discount (15%), and it’s all going to charity!

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Funeraria Lopez’ Sexy Santa-Themed Mortuary Ad

Post author By Joey deVilla
Post date December 18, 2012
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Sexy model in a Santa bikini, lying in an open coffin, giving the camera a "thumbs-up" You might think that advertising a mortuary requires a delicate touch, but so do most morticians. Hence their ads all look the same: the understated design, the euphemism-laden ad copy, and a paucity of scantily clad models.

Every industry has its mavericks, and in the mortuary business, Funeraria Lopez is one. Their television ad eschews the traditional classical music piece with the word “Requiem” in its title; instead, it gets into the holiday spirit with a jaunty easy-listening instrumental version of Silent Night. Having the proprietor in a Santa suit and his sexy assistant in Santa-themed bikinis was a clever touch, but the piece de resistance is the bit where the camera pans over a sexy Santa-ette in a coffin, starting from her feet and working upward. Just when you’re about to ask God how he could take away such a fine-lookin’ lady, she opens her eyes and gives the camera a thumbs-up, subverting your expectations in a twist the way M. Night Shyamalan used to. Genius!

Eros, Thanatos and Quesos. What more could you ask for?

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Seeking Office Space in Toronto

Post author By Joey deVilla
Post date December 18, 2012
1 Comment on Seeking Office Space in Toronto

John Cusack and Caroline Keener in a "tiny office" scene from "Being John Malovich"

While the new office is quite nice, we’re taking on a few more people and the place is getting a bit cramped. So we’re looking around for some new space. Here are our criteria:

We’re a tech company specializing in mobile device consulting and mobile app development. We’ll be 6 to 8 people, half of us tech consultants, half of us developers.
We have the occasional client come to visit us, so access to a meeting room would be nice.
Some of us don’t have cars, so access to public transit is important.

If you know of any available office space in Toronto, whether solo or shared, let me know in the comments or please drop me a line!

This article also appears in Global Nerdy.

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My New Blog: Mobilize!

I’ve been blogging on behalf of a number of companies through my career:

For Tucows on The Farm,
For Microsoft on Canadian Developer Connection,
For Shopify on the Shopify Technology Blog.

…and now that I’m the co-founder/CTO of CTS — that’s short for Comprehensive Technology Solutions — the blog had to come sooner or later. That time is now, and the blog is called Mobilize!

CTS is in the business of helping enterprises and organizations make the transition to mobile tech and build a strategy for doing so, and the blog will be about that as well. If you manage mobile technologies, write mobile apps or just want to keep up with what’s up in the mobile world, you might want to bookmark Mobilize!

(And yes, a good number of articles on Mobilize! will also appear on my tech blog, Global Nerdy.)