I’m blogging about SEO for the company I work for, Netgenetix Media, on a separate website for our SEO services - Citrus SEO.

Check it out!

P.S. The design of the Citrus SEO website makes me feel so happy inside! Excellent job Justin!

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I discovered this on my way to work one day. It’s in Burnaby on Edmonds. And I thought it was awesome… so I will share.

The picture seems to have blurred a little bit after uploading to my wordpress CMS so it’s not the greatest photo and I didn’t take any extra time to fix it. My apologies.

And I didn’t stop driving to take this picture, now that’s talent! (whether in driving or photography is yet to be determined) =p

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Facebook announced that they’ll be releasing a new tool called ‘Facebook Connect’ and it’s a way for web sites to ask users for their Facebook username and password and offer the ability to import their list of friends from Facebook, rather than other websites creating entirely new indentity verfication systems.

This means that certain companies, like the mobile service company Loopt, can use Facebook Connect so users do not have to re-enter their connections to friends when they want to track through Loopt’s service of finding friends and seeing what they are doing on a map with their mobile phone.

Facebook Connect goes two ways — information about a user’s activity on other web sites will go back and appear on the “news feed” on Facebook, where it is seen by that person’s friends on the service. However, learning from their previous mistake of Beacon advertising, Facebook is going to give users full control of what they share.

Mark Zuckerberg also mentioned that Facebook would be introducing a new “Great Apps” program as an incentive for developers to create more meaningful and useful tools or applications for Facebook. Certain applications such as Causes, a charitable giving tool, and iLike, a music sharing service, have already been given the priveledge of being part of the “Great Apps” program. As a result, applications given the designation of being in the “Great Apps” program will have better visibility and recieve a graphical “badge” to display their participation in the program.

Peronsally,  all this “Great Apps” talk makes me happy. I’m so tired of seeing stupid useless applications like ‘zombies’ and ‘buy your friends’ that clog up my profile or my requests pending channel. Some are fun yes, but I really don’t see the fun in either of the two above mentioned applications or any others like it.

And as for Facebook Connect - I wish Mark Zuckerberg luck for success with it, but we shall see how it works and if it’s accepted by users.

For now, Peace.

View the original article on Facebook Connect.

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July 2008, and I have my first job in the New Media industry. It took me 2.5 months out of school, which really isn’t that long, but when you’re working at McDonalds and living pay cheque to pay cheque it feels like a bloody long time. But I’m happy!

I’ve only worked for Netgenetix Media for a week and a half and I already love it. The people are awesome, it’s work I love to do, and when I wake up in the morning (for the first time ever), I actually WANT to go to work. I’m so happy that I can say that. It’s a small company with great achievements and it sits on the entrance to Gastown in Vancouver.

Thanks to Leigh, Jess, Gerrod, Darius, Devin, Justin, Eric, and Paul for making it so easy to work for them. I even get to play softball with them and their friends on Thursdays in a beer league. It’s awesome.

And so, turning 20 and entering the industry, I can’t wait to see what I can accomplish and learn in the years to come.

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This doesn’t necessarily have to do with new media today, but is nonetheless important.

Living in B.C. a recent extra tax has been added to our gas prices. They call it the Carbon Tax.

“[Finance Minister Carole] Taylor said the new carbon tax will begin July 1, starting at a rate that will have drivers paying about an extra 2.4 cents per litre of gasoline at the pumps.

If you drive a Prius hybrid, the government estimates the new tax will cost you about $20 extra per year. If you have a Dodge Ram pickup truck, that number will be closer to $68 it says.

The tax will then increase each year after that until 2012, reaching a final price of about 7.2 cents per litre at the pumps.” (The Vancouver Sun - “B.C. introduces carbon tax”)

We all understand that we want to improve our environment and reduce global warming - however I’m not sure this is the way to do it. As much as many people would love to not drive to work, a lot of them don’t have the option. People who live in the suburbs where no transit extends to, but work in the city would have a problem with this.

I really don’t think it’s going to take many cars off the roads. Although the government says all money received as a result of this tax will be returned to consumers through a package of tax cuts and credits, because prices are going up (and wages are not) people will be forced to use the money they get back, on the very gas the government doesn’t want us to spend it on.

Even for those who will only drive short distances to get to the transit and finish their commute on transit - it still doesn’t save money or encourage people to take the transit. Transit prices are rising too, and to top that off - to park anywhere near any sky train or bus station, it’s pay-parking in effect (if you park at the mall you have a large risk of being towed).

So tell me - why would I take transit if it costs almost as much as the gas to fill my car (other than to save the environment I mean)?

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The next topic are the new cell phone charges put out by Telus Mobility and Bell Mobility.

Consumers are now gong to be charged for incoming text messages. The companies are saying they can’t afford what it’s costing them so they have to charge their consumers for the cost of incoming text messages.

Calls is one thing - you can choose to ignore it so that you don’t pay for the incoming call. There is no choice involved with a text message - especially with all the spam text messages that some people get. The charge is said to be $0.15 per incoming text message - that adds up, and quickly.

Why should you pay for something you have no control over?

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Oh, and how could I forget? There’s the highway robbery of infamous ICBC. I don’t need to explain or rant about anything here because I’m sure we all have experienced the financial raping ICBC does to every single one of us. Let’s just say I pay $270/month for my car insurance, and that’s WITH 40% off. Explanation and example over.

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What I’m trying to say is, personally I don’t know what to do about these things and I’m sure a lot of other people don’t either. We continue to let the government and the corporate giants to take advantage of us when we have the power to do something about it.

So the real question is, what will YOU do to make a difference? (and encourage others to do so as well?)

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