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Today is supposed to be your last chance to see “Will You Be My Bicycle” at the Hotshot Gallery in Kensington Market. But I got the inside scoop today: the exhibit is being extended.

It features artwork inspired by cycling, with reviews that defy the need for further promotion, like:

“If you miss this, you suck!” – Bikelane Diary

On “Rotten Tomatoes” I think that review would qualify as “fresh.”

Over a tasty espresso (the best in Kensington, so I hear), Noah at HotShot told me that the exhibit is going to be extended for at least a couple more days.

Some of what inspired me:

Check out this action.

A contraption for converting cycling energy to power. Install one on the spinner in my gym and I’ll charge everyone’s batteries this winter.

This video piece also really worked for me:

Two people pedal foot-to-foot in a cycling motion, as the camera rotates around the center.

Love the use of negative space. Also, I loved being reminded to challenge assumptions (e.g. rectangular presentation).

There’s way more to see in Kensington. So don’t suck.  Go.

p.s. What’s Hotshot?

Hotshot is a chilled-out little gallery space on the edge of Toronto’s awesome Kensington Market community. In case I forgot to mention, admission is free, but the exhibit is best observed under the influence of espresso.

Posted 3 Jul, 2009 into Designer, I Heart Toronto, Toronto Cycling
tagged art, Bikelane, espresso, exhibit, Hotspot, Kensington Market, power generator, Tashi station

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I can’t quite recall where I read it (probably Joe Friel’s excellent Cyclist’s Training Bible) but apparently during your first year of cycling training, you need to log about 1,000 miles (1,600 km) of foundation before getting serious about skill-targeted training regimes.

That’s a lot of miles, and although I have some favourite routes in the city, it’s still nice to mix it up occasionally and discover new trails.

Toronto Cycling Maps

There are great maps of Toronto cycling routes, in pdf form (here on toronto.ca) and as a Google Maps mashup (here on iBikeTO.ca).

Accessing New Routes

New opportunities for discovering routes are appearing all the time.

TCAT pointed me to the Bikes+Transit site, which invites Toronto cyclists to avail of new GO Bus racks for transporting cycles.  In addition to making Toronto a more cycling-commuter friendly city, the bus additions now also allow cyclists to access other routes across (and out of) the city.

You’re even supposed to use Flickr and Twitter to record your explorations. I love Flickr, so I’ll aspire to join in the photo taking. I don’t usually bring my SLR on cycling trips, but that hasn’t stopped me from taking sketchy photos and videos with my phone in the past.

Niagara trails are also more accessible now (see here). You can also take the Greyhound bus between Toronto, St Catherines, and Niagara Falls.

Is there an App for that?

Being a Blackberry user (actually a Blackberry lover), the one thing I can’t find is an app the would turn my blackberry into a GPS-enabled cycling map, for the times when I occasionally lose my way on a new route. (Apparently the iPhone has a bunch of cycling apps available!)

If anyone knows of such a Blackberry app, I’d be very much obliged. Even a generic app that would allow me to overlay a Google Maps mashup like the Toronto cycling one would be great.

Learning the Lingo

Bonus cycling link: Dictionary of Roadie Slang (the Profanisaurus of cycling, useful for a Cat. 7 like me)

Posted 26 Jun, 2009 into Toronto Cycling
tagged Bikes+Transit, Blackberry, Flickr, GO Bus, Google Maps, language, Profanisaurus, routes, slang, TCAT, training, Twitter

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1. A few years ago, I won a “Door Prize” and had no idea!!

This one time, in Dublin, I was cycling along minding my own business, when a car passenger carelessly opened her door into the bike lane.

She’d given me just enough time to slam on my brakes and think “oh noes–” (or localized cussing equivalent) before I received what I now know is called a door prize straight across my helmet-protected face.

It can be a lot less funny and significantly more tragic.

So I am relieved to move swiftly on to report –

2. Proposed Changes to Toronto Cycling Routes will reduce your odds of winning a Door Prize!

The Toronto waterfront along Queens Quay is under review for a major redevelopment that, among other benefits, would make it significantly more cycle- and pedestrian-friendly.

It would “mend” the waterfront cycling trail, which currently suffers from an unpleasant discontinuity downtown.

The shortlisted plans in this document (.pdf), found on the WATERFRONToronto site, would improve “active transportation” and go a long way toward revitalizing the waterfront.  The sketch above is from the consultation report.

For more information, there is a summary report here (.pdf) which includes upcoming meetings at which the public can comment (including City of Toronto Executive Committee Meeting June 2nd, and Council Meeting July 6th).  Head to WATERFRONToronto to learn more.

You may be interested in one thoughtful cyclist’s recent concerns regarding the current state of the plan.

The redevelopment, of course, is about much more than cycling.  But for cyclists, it could offer a very welcome change.

(Also, in case you missed it, earlier this week Toronto City Council approved a bike lane on major north-south artery Jarvis as well! Woohoo!)

3. There is a vibrant biking community here in Toronto!

I met some of that community today at the 2009 Bike Summit, which coincided with this week’s launch of Bike Month in Toronto.  The image above is from Ralph Buehler’s session this morning about Freiburg, which is widely considered Germany’s most sustainable city. The ways in which Freiburg’s infrastructure and culture accommodates cyclists provided the case study for Buehler’s very interesting presentation.

Considering I’ve been cycling like crazy of late, I’ve created a “Toronto Cycling” topic on this site, and what better way to kick it off than with a link-list.

Toronto cycling resources, publications and bloggers:

The Toronto Coalition for Active Transportation (TCAT) co-hosted the summit today.

The City of Toronto’s cycling site includes a .pdf of the Toronto-area bike map.

The Toronto Bicycling Network, and BikeToronto, and BikeLane Diary, and IBikeTO.org sites all offer Toronto cycling community news and insight.

Roadrash chronicles the escapades of a Toronto cyclist who’s en route to cycling 1,200km this summer.

Dandyhorse is a new print publication – elegantly designed, clearly a labour of love, and filled with insightful and well-written articles about everything “Toronto on Two Wheels.” More love for Dandyhorse here at Eyeweekly.

I’d be very happy to hear of any other Toronto cycling resources you know of out there.

See you on the roads and trails!

Posted 28 May, 2009 into Toronto Cycling
tagged bicycles, bike lanes, Bike Summit 2009, BikeLane Diary, BikeToronto, Canada, cycling, Dandyhorse, door prize, event, IBikeTO, new category, Toronto, WATERFRONToronto

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Thanks to everyone who came out to Toronto CodeCamp on Saturday to talk about Silverlight Beyond Mix09.

As per the chart, my presentation was Powerpoint-free, but code+markup heavy. Actually markup heavy, really.

There wasn’t a lot of Blend coming that afternoon, and MIX09 for me was about embracing design and seeking “return on experience,” which are the reasons you probably care about Silverlight in the first place.

So I thought I would tee up the day’s Silverlight tracks by spending more time in Blend, with its “split” mode activated, so you could see both its visual surface and the XAML markup (now with AutoComplete!).

Links and Resource Hubs

Getting started: Please see the silverlight.net site. Silverlight 2 and 3 dev can be made to co-exist on the same VS2008 box via Amy’s very useful batch file trick. Designers see these getting started resources.

Follow the new stuff: Save yourself the trouble and just subscribe to WynApse’s Silverlight Cream – Dave aggregates all the Silverlight news of the day and adds his thoughtful, passionate commentary.

Hubs for Links: Please see Tim Heuer for an all-up look at what’s new in Silverlight 3, and BradA for .NET RIA Services (many link roundups).

Good summaries of individual features: What’s new in Blend 3, Pixel Shaders, Style Enhancements, Out-of-Browser, GPU Acceleration, Local Connections, Dialog Windows, Writeable Bitmaps.

This list is far from exhaustive – there are excellent Silverlight 3 link hubs like Tim’s out there and I hope this gets you started. Please drop me a note if I’ve missed a subtopic.

Sample Code

Here it is. Where I started from someone else’s sample, I include a .URL link back to the source.

Grease-What?

Sorry, the Legend of the Greasepole code (which I used to demo hardware acceleration and Silverlight Offline) isn’t in there. For more wacky inexplicable greasepole-climbing hilarity, you can play the Silverlight 2 version here, and learn more here and more about its move from XNA to Silverlight here. Yes, us Queens Applied Science types are a strange bunch.

Thank You

Thanks again to the organizers of CodeCamp, and particularly Chris Dufour and the many volunteers, for all your efforts. And thank you to the attendees: It was an early morning in late April, with a Toronto afternoon approaching that ended up flirting with 30 degrees Celsius. CodeCamp is a fun and energetic day, and I look forward to next year’s gig already.

Posted 27 Apr, 2009 into Developer, Microsoft, Silverlight, Tech Events
tagged CodeCamp, Toronto

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Earth is the ultimate in professional “Mash-Ups.” Re-Mixes. Whatever.

Disney’s Formula:

Take BBC’s Planet Earth.

Remove David Attenborough. Replace with James Earl Jones (include “Circle of Life” Mufasa reference for good measure).

Condense to 90 minutes. Remove blood (but retain some graphic predator/prey interaction).

Focus on extending the “animal family” narratives.

Release to North American theatres on Earth Day.

The Result:

A “mash-up” of Planet Earth that’s less meditative, but appeals to an audience that otherwise may not have the patience to see some of the best-shot and best-produced footage ever (period).

We’re already on notice that a sequel about the oceans is slated for next year’s Earth Day.

Genius.

You’re doing it right, Disney. I’ll be there. Quite possibly because my Planet Earth blu-rays will be worn out by the next time Earth makes it ’round the sun.

Posted 23 Apr, 2009 into Photography, Reviews
tagged BBC, CBC, Discovery, Disney, Earth, earth day, NHK, Planet Earth

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I spoke with a headhunter last week who is looking for designers who have experience using Expression Blend to enhance the usability of line-of-business applications.

The demand for designers who have worked on Silverlight or WPF projects currently exceeds supply.

The adoption of those two “XAML-based” technologies has been accompanied by a growing community of developers that have adopted the new frameworks, often “wearing the designer hat” to get the job done.

But a designer who understands how to craft solid XAML markup using Blend’s visual toolset thinks differently from either a developer, or from a designer whose thinking is not informed by the basics of Silverlight and WPF.

Designers needn’t give up their existing tools, but to optimally contribute to a Silverlight or WPF project, their thought process should be informed by these technology frameworks, both when working with their existing tools and with Blend.

Yes, we’ve all heard of these highly coveted “dev-igners,” who bridge the dev and design worlds with the simple elegance of the Capilano Suspension Bridge, but these are unicorn-esque in rarity.

So the good news is – if you’re a designer who does know Expression Blend, I know people who are looking for your skills!

[p.s. shameless plug - Empowering designers to wield Blend like a paintbrush (in ways that I can't) has become one of the greatest joys of my work. If you're a designer (or know a designer) interested in mastering Blend, and learning the basics of Silverlight/WPF in the process, send me mail through the blog.  Maybe you'd be interested in a crash course.]

Posted 20 Apr, 2009 into Designer, Microsoft, Silverlight, WPF
tagged Expression Blend, training

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