Lorem ipsum… blog title goes here

I’ve still got a heck of a lot to learn about developing websites. Sometimes I learn by doing and sometimes I learn by watching the successes and mistakes of others. Here is a mistake I spotted today that cracked me up…

When designers are mocking up pages they sometimes use lorem ipsum text to show what the page will eventually look like. Lots of clever people warn against this because you never really get a feel for the page.

The other problem with lorem ipsum is that sometimes you forget to take it out of the code. Oops…

Using iPod Touch to play music over AirTunes

Along with everyone else, I’m pretty excited about the new iPod Touch.

I use my phone to listen to music when I’m wondering around town, but I’m excited about the Touch as a kind of mini, ultra portable PC. I figure I could use it for all the little things I do on the web around home without having to open up my laptop. Things like checking the weather, looking up a google map before running out the door, reading a facebook message…

The other big use I can see for the Touch is playing music over my AirTunes network. We have some bookshelf speakers plugged into an AirTunes router in the living room and that is the main way we listen to music at home. I love the flexibility we have to play whatever we like, but I hate having to open up my laptop to do it – I always get unintentionally lost in email for hours. Wouldn’t it be great if I could dial up iTunes on the Touch and play something over AirTunes?

Now, my research thus far has not turned up any conclusive prof this is actually possible, I’m just jumping to conclusions based on the fact the Touch has iTunes and a wifi connection. I’ll do some more digging and update this post as soon as I can get to the bottom of this.

Toronto gets a new building by Will Alsop

I’m late to this, but if you haven’t heard already Toronto is getting a new design by the British architect Will Alsop. The building will be the flagship for the mammoth new film studio development being installed in the portlands – Filmport.

Most people in Toronto will know Alsop by his incredible (and incredibly controversial) Sharp Centre for Design at the Ontario College of Art and Design.

Although I’m by no means a raving Will Alsop fan I do really appreciate the amount of high profile commissioning going on in Toronto right now. Buildings like this pave the way for more innovative design in this city – something that benefits Toronto in many ways. There are the obvious pluses like increased tourism of course, but beyond that I think beautiful, challenging architecture creates a much more inspiring urban climate for citizens. When we are surrounded by buildings that challenge us I believe it becomes easier for us all to have thoughts and ideas beyond the ordinary and mediocre.

2012 Olympic logo

London unveiled their 2012 Olympic logo today. Brutal. Just brutal.

UPDATE: It seems that 32,000 Brits agree, that Wolff Olins could have done a better job with the logo.

First impression of the Lee-Chin Crystal

I was lucky enough to visit the architectural opening of the Lee-Chin Crystal at the ROM today. Here are some first impressions:

Daniel Libeskind has created an incredibly bold piece of architecture for Toronto. I think the Crystal will give architects permission to push the boundaries a little more in a city that has a generally conservative approach to public space. Now architects can tell their critics, “sure, it’s a little crazy, but it’s not as crazy as Libeskind’s Crystal!”

There are a few areas in the Crystal that open up – the atrium and the top floor for example. These have a fantastic uplifting feel and are some of my favourite parts of the building.

Unfortunately, one of the main things people were discussing in the Crystal was the fact that it wasn’t finished. There were floor grills missing, loose wire hanging from the ceiling and muddy footprints on some of the low walls. For a lot of people it was hard to look past this.

At many points in the Crystal Daniel Libeskind shows us the mechanics of the building. He used floor grills, uncovered stairs and glass to give us an idea of how the building functions and what holds it together.

The light is, not surprisingly, pretty spectacular in some of the spaces. As I wandered through the building it was interesting to watch people drawn to it – congregating around the windows.

A building as spectacular as this certainly didn’t need balloons at the entrance :(.

One of my favourite things about visiting the opening of the Crystal this weekend was seeing how excited Toronto got about it. This was the line for tickets on Saturday. It stretched down University and a block into Harbord. It’s not often that architecture takes centre stage in Toronto and I’m very glad that this weekend it did.

FOR MORE ABOUT THE OPENING OF THE LEE-CHIN CRYSTAL:

• Marc at Torontoist has a great post with lots of photos.
• Kagan McLeod and John Richardson from The National Post created a cool animated fly through.
• And for the real fan, there is always the live webcam.

Doors Open Toronto

I am a little bit obsessed with modern architecture. So I’m looking forward to Doors Open Toronto this weekend where I’ll finally get a look at the perfectly preserved 54th floor of the Mies van der Rohe designed Toronto-Dominion Centre.

There are literally hundreds of interesting buildings around town throwing their doors open this weekend. Others that we’ll try and visit include:

Thomas L. Wells Public School
St. Gabriel’s Passionist Parish
SAS Building
Ontario College of Art & Design
Levitt Goodman House
Gardiner Museum
City Hall
Canada’s National Ballet School
Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts

I look forward to seeing everyone’s photos on flickr on Sunday night.

I want one!!

More at Razor Apple.

Busy

Phew. It’s been a very busy week at GigPark. We’re in the process of implement design for our application and it is taking a lot of concentration to keep everything running smoothly.

I find design is the phase that makes something feel real. So as well as feeling tired at the end of each day I’m also feeling very satisfied.

Being busy has meant I haven’t had time to write much here. I am going to try to set that right this weekend. In the meantime though I’d like to point those interested to a great article I read last week about financing a technology business…

Paul Graham is a technology veteran and now runs Y Combinator, a venture firm in San Francisco that gives small amounts of funding to very early stage startups. In his latest essay he has some great, straight forward advice for dealing with VCs and angle investors. I found it very helpful.

OK, now back to my text editor. Have a good rest of your week everyone.

Torontoist

Marc Lostracco from Torontoist tracked me down this week to answer some questions about the Dose covers. I thought their interest was a nice compliment for the whole Dose team, and in particular the extremely talented art department. Talking about the covers brought back some nice memories.

The story is here and if you’re in the mood you can digg it here.

George Lois and Esquire magazine

When I worked at Dose I found the Esquire magazine covers created by the legendary George Lois in the sixties a big inspiration. They were original, thought provoking and gutsy. I was doing some research today and found that George has a fancy new site that showcases the covers nicely. You can check them all out if you like but here are a few of my favorites: