CBC New Media sites upgrade and consolidation

I just noticed that CBC Radio 3 has finally upgraded three massive sites for which I designed the backend software seven years ago, while living in Vancouver.

Mind you, they did also run the innovative Zed site in the meantime, but the latter has now passed on after four TV seasons. On the other hand, 120seconds.com, newmusiccanada.com and justconcerts.com have all been consolidated as sections of their main site.

My team and I built all the software used to run and manage the three sister sites, while the interface design was handled by a stream of super creative artists. Features included audio streaming, Flash-based UI (120seconds) and components, admin tools up the wazoo (for admins, DJs, artists, etc) and quite a bit more.

I think six years worth of use isn’t a bad ROI. If nothing else, I can’t be blamed for not designing and writing long lasting software. And it did score them a Webby nomination (though heavy.com wan this one).

OpenMoko teaser video

See embedded video below for a teaser of the FIC Neo 1973 running OpenMoko.

I even like the soundtrack they chose, and they also have more OpenMoko related videos on their dedicated Youtube account. Must… Fight… Urge… And wait until October for the consumer version. Not enough time on my hands to involve myself as a developer unfortunately, but once again, it wouldn’t be the first time I say this and fall for it later on. ;)

Charles de Gaulle: Vive le Québec Libre

On July 24th 1967, French president Charles de Gaulle delivered a speech in Montreal in which he declared 4 simple yet revolutionary words, echoing the Quebec separatist slogan: Vive le Québec Libre.

After reading about the said speech for years, I finally found the video on the Web in its entirety today. Regardless of one’s (or even my) opinion on the subject, this is a historical moment by all measures.

The CBC Archives also has a newsreel for this day, highlighting the controversy this created in the rest of Canada.

The Javascript Programming Language

Yahoo! JavaScript Architect Douglas Crockford provides a comprehensive introduction to the JavaScript Programming Language in this four-part video. This is the first section of the four-part video. See below the embedded video for more links.

Other programming videos by Douglas Crockford on Yahoo! Video:
The JavaScript Programming Language (4 parts).
Theory of the DOM (3 parts).
Advanced JavaScript (3 parts).

Via Digg.