Once again digibomb is reinventing himself!

As many of you already know I’m no longer with Vanilla. You also probably know about my side project PressWork. What you don’t know is that I was recently offered an amazing job as Senior Community Manager at Mega Brands. If you are not familiar with Mega Brands you will be familiar with Mega Bloks, one of Canada’s largest toy companies. If you’re  parent like me, then you know that Mega Bloks are a household name and your kids probably play with them all the time.

As Senior Community Manager I will be responsible for many things, including social strategies, online community building, and most importantly managing and organizing events, meetups, and more. This is really the perfect job for me and I couldn’t be more excited to join an amazing team of people and an outstanding company whose product is already such a big part of my life.

This will be my first stab at tech for non tech. I’m looking forward to the challenge of bringing my expertise to an off the shelf product instead of a digital one.

I’ll be blogging and tweeting more about my adventures at Mega Brands and make sure to follow us on twitter @megabloks to see what we’re up to. Over the next few weeks I will be attending and helping coordinate our brand an presence at ComiCon New York and BlizzCon Anaheim. If you a fan of Mega Bloks or into Halo, Starcraft, and WoW collectibles and building make sure you check out what we’re doing in these areas over the next few months, and if you’re going to be at ComiCon or BlizzCon come by the booth and say hello!

www.phug.ca

A bit of history
When PHUG initially launched back in 2006 we were a small group of Seneca College students and faculty. The idea was simple, let’s get together once a week after class and geek out. Originally we wanted to start a PHP user group in Toronto, but soon realized we could, and wanted to, do more. So began PHUG, an open source community whose focus was to bring students and professionals together through free workshops on all things open source.

Success soon followed. Our workshops went from 10 people a week to 70 in a few months! Membership on the on the blog went from 50 users to over 4000 in less than a year! PHUG became known in Toronto as one of the hottest open source meetups to attend.

We eventually began organizing large events like WordCamp Toronto 2009, where we doubled numbers from the previous year.

With all this success why did we stop? Unfortunately, like most open source communities and projects, we ran out of money and those involved in organizing events and meetups had less and less time to devote.

That’s the past.

New design, new features, and a new vision
I felt it was time to bring PHUG back from the dead. So I connected with some ex-phug’ers, colleagues, and community organizers to see how we could re-invent PHUG. This time around our focus is to bring you the most current information on all things open source from events, workshops, communities, projects, tutorials, and more on our new site. Based on years of user feedback and ton of great advice from seasoned community leaders we have decided to completely revamp the site into what you seen now.

We have decided to go with a forum instead of a blog, but not just any forum. We are using Vanilla Forums, a powerful and sexy open source technology that meets all our needs.

With a forum every PHUG member has a voice! Feel free to start discussion, share your thoughts, connect with other members. Post an event, a tutorial, useful links, and more.

Together we can build a strong community and a better PHUG!

So, let’s get PHUG’in!

The events rundown:

• #DEVTrain (aka #nerdtrain) from Toronto to Montreal on the VIA Rail with http://devtrain.ca GPS tracker – Sponsored by Microsoft
• MonDev Open Source Demo Camp – An evening of ignite style presentations!
• WebCamp – Is a group of webheads, passionate individuals living and working with/in/on the web.
• StartUpDrinks Montreal – Is a monthly freestyle networking event hosted in pubs and bars by startup community instigators from coast to coast.
• Make Web Not War – Canada’s first cross-platform conference showcasing the latest techniques and technologies available to the ever-evolving web community, jointly sponsored by Microsoft and Open Source communities across Canada and PHP Quebec.
• CodeFest – Run by devLAB Montréal, PHPQuebec & Windows Azure
• FTW! Coding Competition – showdown featuring #findahome, #tholus, #taxicity
• Twitter Wall – A very cool app built by Jet Cooper
• After Party at Jello Martini Bar & Lounge – catered by Schwartz & sushi

For a first run the week went well, since I only had to organize one night I hope to get more communities in Montreal involved for next year and put together a full schedule of events.

Huge shout-outs!

• Arun Kirupa – Web Not Wat
  
• Angie Lim – Web Not War
• Marc Laporte – Tiki
  
• Yann Larivee – PHP Quebec
  
• Robin Ahn – StartUpDrinks Montreal
  
• Renoir Boulanger – DevLab
  
• Jeremy Wright
• Jenna Hoff – Web Not War
  
• The Vanilla Crew
• The Web Not War Crew
  

If you want to get involved for next year let me know!

I can’t wait to test it out!

Some other features included:

• CSS inspection
• Integration with Adobe Browser Lab
• PHP custom class code hinting
• Subversion support
• Site specific code hinting (for example WordPress)

Read more here

Last year I attended and spoke at Make Web Not War, and I’m happy to say i will be attending and speaking again this year!

What is MWNW?
Coming to Montreal this May, Make Web Not War (MWNW) 2010 is one of Canada’s first cross-platform conference showcasing the latest techniques and technologies available to the ever-evolving web community, jointly sponsored by Microsoft and Open Source communities across Canada and PHP Quebec. Here we will explore the power and flexibility of new web paradigms, technologies and applications – including the Microsoft web platform, Open Source applications, cloud computing and mobile – to help you develop the ultimate web experience for your clients.

The wars of “platform religions” are over. Embrace the reality of today: mixed environments, interoperable applications, Open Source in harmony with commercial software, PHP on Windows and Azure cloud.The new technology era of pragmatism is here, and MWNW is about bridging the gap between different platforms, communities and developers of all trades and backgrounds.

Honestly, I can say I had a great time last year, met some really cool people, and was very impressed to see how far Microsoft has come in terms of outreaching to the Open Source community.

Hope to see you guy’s there!

This is the marketing video for this years event, they used footage from last year and I made the cut, twice, yay!

So I started thinking, wouldn’t it be cool if there was some kind of monthly publication dedicated to showcasing all the great designers online, who doing what, what they’re doing, and how there doing it?
I looked, couldn’t find anything other than more blogs…So, that’s when I decided I would do it myself!

I figured instead of blog I wanted to publish and online magazine every month that would fill this need. That’s when créer magazine was born!

The name créer is French for create, why a French name? Why not, I live in Montreal, besides aren’t design mags suppose to have French, Italian, or German names

Put simply, créer is an online magazine dedicated to serving the design community, specifically those who blog or who are considering setting up a blog. It is our goal to educate and inspire individuals from all walks of design.

Each month we will interview/showcase professional and student talent/profiles, provide insight on new trends, communities, and much more.

We have a great lineup of designers and writers for inaugural issue:
Feature designer/cover/interview: Chris Spooner – http://www.spoongraphics.co.uk
Designer interview/showcase: Illustrator Anton Peck – http://www.antonpeck.com
Independent photographer: Alyssa Katherine Faoro ( akFAORO ) – http://www.akfaoro.com
Student designer profile: Matt Jones – http://warhead1.blogspot.com
Special Article: Keir Whitaker – Carsonified – Community Manager and Think Vitamin Editor

Plus a handful of other designers, bloggers, photographers, and writers.

creermag.com just launched and you can find out more there, in the interim you can follow us on twitter, join our facebook page, or submit work to our flickr pool.

Our first issue goes live in March, so wish me luck!

I usually tweet, facebook, and stumble a good majority of the articles I find, and people are always asking me where I get this stuff? So I decided to post my 30+ favorites here (in no particular order). enjoy!

http://www.uxbooth.com/

http://webdesignledger.com/

http://carsonified.com/blog/

http://sixrevisions.com/

http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/

http://www.webdesignerwall.com/

http://tutsplus.com/

http://www.sohtanaka.com/web-design-blog/

http://buildinternet.com/

http://www.usabilitypost.com/

http://css-tricks.com/

http://webdesignernotebook.com/

http://www.noupe.com/

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/

http://vandelaydesign.com/blog/

http://www.catswhocode.com/blog/

http://24ways.org/

http://spyrestudios.com/

http://www.tutorial9.net/

http://www.webappers.com/

http://designinformer.com/

http://www.blog.spoongraphics.co.uk/

http://colorburned.com/

http://abduzeedo.com/

http://www.problogdesign.com/

http://www.alistapart.com/

http://inspectelement.com/

http://www.ilovecolors.com.ar/

http://blog.creativityden.com/

http://workawesome.com/

http://www.inspiredm.com/

http://davidwalsh.name/

http://www.jayhollywood.com.au/the-blog/

http://thinkdesignblog.com/

Prize: Billings App (Mac ONLY!)
Amount: 3 licenses
End Date: Jan 3rd 2010
Site: WebDesignerWall

Prize: Daily giveaways leading up to Dec 25th
Amount: n/a
End Date: Dec 25th 2009
Site: WebAppStorm

Prize: Daily giveaways leading up to Dec 25th
Amount: n/a
End Date: Dec 25th 2009
Site: MacAppStorm

Prize: iSocialize theme from Giant Themes
Amount: 10
End Date: Jan 1st 2010
Site: spyrestudios

Prize: Pingdom
Amount: 20 one-year Pingdom Basic accounts
End Date: Dec 26 2009
Site: WebAppers

Prize: Concepts from Concept Feedback
Amount: 5
End Date: Dec 28th 2009
Site: Six Revisions

Prize: 3 Month Plus membership
Amount: 12
End Date: Jan 1st 2010
Site: net-tuts+

Prize:Don’t Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability – Book
Amount: 12
End Date: Jan 1st 2010
Site: net-tuts+

Prize:Win a Free Year-Long Membership to Elegant Themes
Amount: 4
End Date: Dec 25th 2009
Site: Colorburned

Prize: Daylite and Daylite Touch
Amount: n/a
End Date: Dec 25th 2009
Site: work awesome

If I missed any, please feel free to post them here, enjoy and happy holidays!

Hope to see some of you there getting your geek on. If you know of any others I should mention please let me know.

DrupalCamp Montreal 2009 is the 2nd annual conference organized by the Drupal community in Montreal and beyond. The purpose of this and most DrupalCamps is to bring together like-minded members of the Drupal community to share knowledge, network, socialize, drink beer, etc.

When: October 17-18, 2009
Where: McGill University, Faculty of Music
Official Site: http://drupalcampmontreal.com

Understanding and Mastering the Internet

ENTERPRISE 2.0 – MARKETING 2.0 – SOLUTIONS 2.0
and a full track on MEDIA 2.0

On October 22, immerse yourself in the world of the Web and gauge its full potential for your company. Meet over 40 speakers/experts assembled in Montreal for training sessions, case studies, conferences and debates.

webcom is aimed at decision-makers and professionals in the Internet and Intranet, marketing, and internal and external communications fields.

When: October 22, 2009
Where: ICAO Head Office
Official Site: http://www.webcom-montreal.com

Facebook Garage Montreal is a conference for everyone with an interest in building on the Facebook Platform. Facebook Garage brings together developers, marketers, strategists, technologists, and students, in an open and collaborative environment of sharing and learning.

When: October 26, 2009
Where: Société des Arts Technologiques
Official Site: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2449632854

Toronto Open Source Week is a celebration of Open Source technology and community throughout the Toronto area. The following events have been confirmed; additional events are being planned and will be announced here shortly.

When: October 24-30, 2009
Where: Across the City
Official Site: http://opensourceweek.ca

The School of Computer Studies at Seneca College is proud to present the 8th Annual FSOSS Symposium. This year’s Free Software Open Source Symposium is a two-day event aimed at bringing together developers, educators and other interested parties to discuss common free software and open source issues, learn new technologies and to promote the use of free and open source software.

When: October 29-30, 2009
Where: Seneca College of Applied Arts and Technology, York Campus
Official Site: http://www.fsoss.ca

In the Open Source world we rarely here mention of anything positive that Microsoft is doing, in fact it’s a sin to utter their name in most circles. However, what few people know, if any, in our community, is that Microsoft is attempting to go Open Source. You may have already heard of PHP on Windows, but they have taken it even further by offering a new web platform that allows for some unexpected software to be installed and integrated such as PHP, MySQL, phpMyAdmin, WordPress, and Drupal.

If you’ve never heard of Microsoft’s Web Platform Installer should give it a try, its FREE!

So what’s Make Web, Not War?
Microsoft is reaching out to the Open Source community, it’s nice to see they are ready to come on board, and to demonstrate this they not only sponsored WordCamp Toronto this year they are hosting a ‘pay what you can’ 1 day event in Toronto and Vancouver to showcase some of the Open Source platforms they have been working on, and their speaker list, so far, includes some well know Open Source and Social speakers including David Crow ( http://davidcrow.ca/ ), Mano Kulasingam ( http://digitweet.com/ ).

I am also happy to announce that I will be speaking at this event. I have not decided what my presentation will focus on, but it is my goal to outreach to Microsoft’s community and discuss the benefits of integrating Open Source alternatives in their commercial projects by using tools such as WordPress. I will also discuss how to optimize your web presence with Social techniques like twitter and Facebook, how to build a community around your brand, and what it takes to organize and manage large Open Source projects and communities such as PHUG. If there is time I may even look at how to do this using Microsoft’s new web suite, which allows for Open Source integration, Expression Web.

I am very excited to take part in this one day event, and I hope the commercial world is ready to drop the digibomb!

I am especially looking forward to the FTW!

Ultimate FTW! Throwdow – Are you or do you know someone taking place in the 2009 Ultimate FTW! Throwdown? Come out to support the developer app off showdown of Student vs. Developer. The top two finalists will be presenting their apps at the competition and the audience ultimately chooses the winner who may win up to $10,000 in prizes. This is one smackdown you definitely don’t want to miss!

If you’ve got the chops, you should enter!

When and Where
Wednesday, June 10th, 2009
8:30AM to 5:00PM
Ted Rogers School of Management
575 Bay Street (entrance at 55 Dundas St. West)
Toronto, Ontario M5G 2C5

For more information on the event or to register go to Make Web, Not War!