Today is sort of a milestone for most of us at the Masters of Digital Media Program. The next gens (1st yr) and the first borns (2nd yr) students headed back to Great Northern Way to start out spring semester. More importantly for us first borns, this is the last semester of our masters program. This semester I will be working with Samer El-Nashar to rework the Masters of Digital Media Program website and to create a stronger identity. Other students have projects ranging from mobile gaming to a project for the Olympics. Now we are … Back @ it!!!!!
 

Last night Wired Woman and Women in Games Vancouver, BC were very successful in putting on their Second Women in Games Mixer. With supporters from the game industry such as Radical, Relic, Hydrogen Whiskey, Big Fish Games, Seven Group Digital Media and more! Women and men from around town came out to support women in the games industry. To kick off the night the women battled the men in a 3 song Rockband showdown. It was a great way to start off the night and get people going. The event was also a great way for women to create more networking opportunities for women working in the games industry. 

School is starting up next week for many of us students! I remember the first time I moved away from home and needed to start paying the bills. The most expensive costs for me were my communication costs.

That being internet, phone and of course TV! I was paying over 200.00 dollars a month!

This is where Charter Communications comes in and helps us all out! 

Charter offers Cable Tv, High Speed Internet and Telephone Services. They have a great online bundler that helps you bundle your packages very easily. Charter offers unbeatable prices for your digital home!

Charter High-Speed® Internet at $19.99/mo for 6 months, Charter Digital Home™ and High-Speed Internet at $69.98/mo for 6 months or Charter Digital Home™, High-Speed Internet, and Charter Telephone® at $99.97/mo. for 12 months. After purchase, the buyer will be sent a Free Shell gas gift card and is automatically entered to win 1 of 30 HP Compaq Presario C770US Laptops. This is an amazing Back to School Deal!

Bring your home to life with Charter! They are having a very cool contest!
When you sign up for a back to school special you have a chance at winning 1 of 30 HP Comapq Presario
Laptop Computers. 30 days, 30 laptops = 30 winners!

Charter is very reliable service.. you can’t go wrong!

You need High Speed anyway, Why not get a Gas Card and a chance to win what you really WANT this year – a new laptop!

This is a great deal for students!

Charter Laptop-a-Day Giveaway

Last week I was up at Whistler to document Crankworx 2008. You can read that post here.

The video below showcases the days events. Enjoy

As many of you know I am in progress of my Masters of Digital Media. In the spring of 2008 the Masters of Digital Media Program and the UBC Fisheries Centre collaborated on a project to produce a virtual ocean.

The two teams got together to visualize and understand human impacts on fish populations. The MDM students were given access to live data of the fish populations off the Gulf of Mexico. They then moved forward and used the blender game engine to visualize the data. They modeled the ocean and then attatched live data to visually show what is happening in the oceans. This in my mind is ground-breaking, visualizing this data effects people more than just numbers and pie charts.

This afternoon at the Centre for Digital Media, all the students from the first ever cohort welcomed the new first years to the school. Burgers in hand we played massive multiplayer rock- paper- scissors - and continued on with some hoola hooping and nerf toy gun fights. It was great to answer the MANY questions that the new students had. It reminded me of my first orientation with the school. For those of already in the program we are near the end of our internships. After spending 8 very close months together and then not seeing each other for 4, it was a very high energy event! I am very excited for this year and the many adventures and experience that are to be had. 

Take a look at todays bbq:

I didn’t even think about… I already knew that I wanted the new iPhone.
It’s true… I waited 7 hours in line to get my hands on one. I didn’t even get one on the day of the release. Apple’s authentication sever went down on July 11 2008 as many people all over the world were trying to get their iPhones going. A day later I went in and set up my new iPhone, I was one of those Canadian who had a hacked iPhone. The usage of my old phone does not even compare to my new 3g iPhone. I can now connect to the net wherever I am. I can get my mail, I can do whatever I want. I can even download new songs WHEVER I AM. This is just a prime toy for myself, I could not have asked for a better tool.

Thankfully Rogers decided that they would release a new 6g/month plan for $30.00 a month. This would be on top of your voice plan and add ons. So to run of these babies is going to cost you over $60.00 a month.

For me a mac user… the iPhone is just that much better! MobileMe is apple’s awesome new tool. Apple switched over all their .mac users to me users. I wonder how much they paid for the domain me.com. Anyway, you can sink up your iCal, contacts, photos, files and more. A single user pack is $99 a year and a family pack for four is $120.00.
You have 20G of space in a “cloud” that syncs your iPhone and computer or even a touch. So all your devices have the same information at all times. You have great control on when and what you can sink. I have just started to use this tool but already I find it very easy to implement into my life and is already keeping me in sync with my digital and real life.

One of the final projects this year was Crossing. It was shortlisted for a Webby Award

Watch: