iias

I just moved

Paul — Tue, 06 May 2008 12:01:58 -0700

I just recently moved into a house on Southern Drive. It’s fun and exciting to move into a new and bigger place. Little baby Ava and our cat had no problem adjusting to the move.

My body is still punishing me for all the work I put it through. My wife and I still have a lot of unpacking and reorganizing to do. My obsession to find my computer mouse has led me to unpack half of the boxes in the house and I’m still at it.

So if anyone needs a big pile of moving boxes please let me know.

Paul Nicholson

Virtual Law

Mike — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 14:34:08 -0700

The Virtual Law 2008 Conference is being held in New York City in April. This conference marks a very interesting time in the continuing development of the Internet and the technology it has spawned.

Virtual law needs to be talked about because virtual worlds exist. A virtual world is basically a very, very, large website. It may look three dimensional, but its not. You cannot get to a virtual world as a human person. You, the person, sit in front of a computer and control an “avatar.” Avatars are computer generated images of people (or animals, or fantasy creatures) that interact in virtual worlds.

Now, the real people that are controlling the avatars, control what the avatars say, and how they act, depending on the rules of the world’s creator. Some worlds have gravity like Earth, some don’t. Those are the sorts of rules that virtual worlds have. Not, is a marriage between two avatars legal in the Province of Manitoba, or does virtual property, like that fancy lamp I programmed last night, have real world value. That’s why the lawyers need to have a conference.

If you’re thinking, “What do I care what these haywire kids fight about on their computers,” time for a reality check. First of all, they’re not all kids. Second, these issues are just starting to emerge. Third, let’s face it, if the lawyers are talking about it, there’s got to be big money involved.

The conference looks pretty interesting. Steve Mortinger, VP & Associate General Counsel for IBM will be giving a keynote address titled the Top Ten Things a Brand Should Know about Virtual Worlds. IBM certainly knows about branding, and 5,000 of their employees have avatars in virtual worlds like Second Life.

Second Life has more than 12 million users, and is only one of the many, many virtual worlds out there. IBM has a sales presentation centre in Second Life, and employees working there. So, your avatar can fly over to the IBM centre and chat with a sales person about the type of computer they should purchase.

A lot of companies are also holding meetings in virtual worlds. It saves them tons of money in travel costs. It’s a great conferencing tool.

But what happens when the boss’s avatar tries to kiss an underling? Is that breaking the office policy?

Legal issues that stem from virtual worlds and get played out looking for resolution in the real world are on the rise. Can you steal virtual property? Can you legal marry on-line? Is the real you legally responsible for the actions of your avatar?? As silly as it might sound, that where the world is headed…. or rather, where the worlds are headed.

With millions and millions of people interacting online, relationships are formed. Communities are formed. And where there are people congregating, there are entrepreneurs and advertisers. It was only a matter of time before there was also a need for law makers and enforcers.

We Upgraded our image subscription

Paul — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 10:30:30 -0700

I’m pleased to announce that we upgraded our photo subscription from Comstock Complete to the full Jupiter Images collection at print quality. It wasn’t cheep but our clients will benefit tremendously from the selection hundreds of thousands of high-end images being applied to their sites. Great images can take a mundane website and make it magnificent. At iias we strive for excellence in our design and customer support.

We’ll do whatever it takes to make you look good.

We’ve lost our back parking lot.

Paul — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 10:13:46 -0700

We’ve lost our back parking lot. It was never actually ours. The lot behind our building was having rezoning issues for a long time and we took full advantage of the free parking. It was a good run while it lasted.

Now our building shakes with the rumble of excavators digging out the foundation of the new building that will soon live there. It will have two layers of underground parking, a layer of retail followed by three floors of condos. I have to say that there is something refreshing about the renewal in Abbotsford’s Downtown. Seeing all the charming new buildings seems to breath new life to the once decaying part of this city.

We also enjoy watching the excavators dig out the foundation on our coffee breaks. There’s something about watching these giant machines reshaping the earth that fascinates all men.

Welcome Dan!

Joanne — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 13:31:15 -0700

We are very happy to welcome Dan Hoy to the iias team. Dan is a web developer who studied Interactive Design at Capilano College, and Media and Communications at the University College of the Fraser Valley. He’s been doing freelance graphic design and web development for the past couple of years and has turned out some great work. Dan’s first assignment is putting together a new website for West Coast Machinery and it’s looking good! Great to have you here Dan!

My little girl

Paul — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 12:06:36 -0700

Here’s a photo of my little cutie. She’s a happy and alert little baby. After nine days it feels great to be out of the hospital. I want to thank you all for your support.

Congratulations Paul & Greta!

James — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 13:50:40 -0700

Paul, our Senior Media Designer, and his wife Greta had the joy of welcoming their first child into the world today. Ava Rose Nicholson was born early this morning!

Congratulations guys! Best wishes from all of us at iias & Ambassador Travel. We are all eagerly awaiting our first glimpses of the little cutie!

PS. Sorry if her name was misspelled, I haven’t seen how you spell it yet. :c)

Google's iGoogle!

Bob — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 17:11:55 -0700

We are all well aware that Google, in recent years, has gained popularity among Internet users desirous of search (just how popular, click here). However, you have probably also noticed that Google not only offers users superior search results but also a host of other online services, one among which is iGoogle.

What is iGoogle?

iGoogle is a Google service that gives you at-a-glance access to key information from Google and across the web. By means of "Google Gadgets", you can create your own customized Google search page, organizing content such as: your latest Gmail messages, news headlines from sources worldwide, weather forecasts, stock quotes, movie showtimes, daily quotes, a daily word-of-the-day, online bookmarks, and multifarious foreign language and science resources, games, and more. Your iGoogle page can be skinned with its own theme and can include multiple tabs for organizing your desired content–all customized by means of a friendly drag-and-drop interface.

For the especially web-savvy, Google presents you with the opportunity to create your own "Google Gadgets", publishing all the information necessary to interface with their Google Gadget API.

Although services of this caliber does distinguish Google among other Internet search and online advertising providers, this is just one of the many robust features Google that provides, giving its users an enhanced and more complete Internet experience. If you are a current user of Google, try iGoogle today!

Facebook

James — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 09:41:58 -0700

Most of you, by now, have heard about facebook in one way or another. Your co-workers don't stop talking about it or maybe your friends or family members have mentioned it.

It took me a while to warm up to facebook. After hearing about it for a year or so my wife finally convinced me to sign up. WOW, I didn't know how easy it was to find all my old friends! Everyone is on facebook, why didn't I sign up earlier! Within days my friends list went from one friend (my wife) to over 80 friends! Facebook makes it super easy to connect with old friends with what they call the "Social Graph" which is basically a network of friends that can see users friends and friends of other users friends.

So facebook is big. But how big?

Here are some statistics:

- More than 46 million active users

- More than half of active users return daily and spend an average of 20 minutes on the site.

- More than 200,000 new registrations per day since Jan. 2007

- An average of 3% weekly growth since Jan. 2007

- More than 54 BILLION page views per month

- More than 14 million photos uploaded daily

The numbers are staggering. This is another case of a project started in a university that took off in a big way, very fast. Facebook was not developed by an already huge internet company. It was started by a few young guys! I get a kick out of looking at their executive’s page (http://www.facebook.com/press/info.php?execbios). These young (and by young, I really mean YOUNG) lad's have made something big for them selves!

Role-based login system

Serguei — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 16:20:07 -0700

We just finished the developng of fully functional role-based login system. The system provides access to different set of pages for users with different credentials. Microsoft provides number of standart web controls intended to help in implementation of such system. These controls make the implementation easier but they have some limitations. To improve the functionality we developed several custom data providers and procedure. The system can be used for any web site having restricted areas for registred members or administrators.

Really bad web design

Joanne — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 13:32:07 -0700

I was doing some research today for a workshop that Mike and I are presenting, and I found a really good badly designed website. I'll explain. The good part is that it was designed to be bad on purpose, and gives explanations of each issue it demonstrates. I know it seems self-serving to say so, but honestly, if you need a professional website, hire a professional. Check out how bad it can get if you don't... http://www.angelfire.com/super/badwebs/

New Portfolio

Paul — Mon, 20 Aug 2007 16:02:40 -0700

We recently updated our portfolio layout. It’s much easier to use and it matches the rest of the site much better. We would love it if you would give it a try

Kettle Valley Steam Railway Tour

Nancy — Fri, 18 May 2007 11:37:24 -0700

This next weekend coming up (May 27th) I am going up to Kelowna/Vernon to spend a belated Mother's Day with my Mom. We are going to take the Kettle Valley Steam Railway Tour. I have never been on this tour before but I’m getting excited about going!

I was amazed at how cheap this tour is. It only ended up costing us $20 dollars each adult. When inquiring about why it was so inexpensive I was told that it was a non-profit organization that runs this wonderful bit of history and fun. This tour was voted the south Okanagan’s best tourism attraction by readers of Okanagan life magazine 2000- 2005.

Taking a look at their website I saw really exciting upcoming events that have me thrilled to go at other times. Some events they have are a train robbery! A reenactment of what it was like to hold up a train by cowboys! Horsemen and lasso, fake guns and chaps – you’ll really have to see this in action to feel like you’re going back in time!

The train is boarded at the Prairie Valley Station on Bathville Road on the outskirts of Summerland which features The Trout Creek Trading Co. Gift Shop offering a selection of railway-theme souvenirs, pioneer toys, books and clothing. The Rail’s End concession offers light lunches and a variety of snack and drink items at the Station in addition to a snack bar on board the train. All KVR facilities are wheelchair accessible and there is ample parking for cars, RV’s and buses.

You can find out more information out at: http://www.kettlevalleyrail.org/. Be sure to check out their other tour specials at Christmas.

My Dream Job

Nancy — Thu, 26 Apr 2007 16:36:50 -0700

Totally randomized thought: What did you want to be when you grew up?

I remember always saying I wanted to be a Chiropractor. Then in grade 11 math class I decided I hated math so much, I didnt want to have to take it in University. Then I wanted to be a Airline Pilot. After grade 11 Physics I decided against that too - didnt like the math word problems.

It was then that I found my love for computers, and my forte. I aced all my computer classes without even trying. I was bumped up from Information Technology 11 to Info Tech 12 and aced that class without having the prior background knowledge of the grade 11 class.

I applied for every computer class the school would offer – even data entry. It was in video editing class that I started teaching the class a bit (or the teacher) because he didn’t know what he was doing (he was trying to teach as he learned).

When I look back I smile to think how I went from wanting to be a Chiropractor to a Web Developer. I love my job, but I know a huge number of people out there hate theirs. So I challenge you to look back on your past. What made you want to do what you’re doing now? Are you living your dream?

Paul and Joanne Win Silver Awards!

Joanne — Thu, 26 Apr 2007 13:55:18 -0700

Paul and I found out this week that we were both winners in the 2007 Summit Creative Awards! Paul won Silver in the 3D animation category for the video he created for 2Secure Cargo Systems Inc. of Chilliwack, to introduce innovative load securement devices for the trucking transport industry called The Marvee System. Congratulations Paul! You can watch the video by clicking here.

We found out about Paul's win on Monday afternoon. Mike called us all together and read the notification letter out loud. We were all very excited, and so pleased that Paul's hard work and long hours on this project have been recognized internationally.

After work that day when I picked up my own mail, I found out that I had won Silver in the Copywriting category! My winning entry was a print piece that I wrote for the 2006 Circle Farm Tour campaign, that also just won a marketing award.

These aren't the first awards for iias team members, but we are now very pleased to say that we are "internationally recognized award winners!"

What made this really special for me, was the caliber of the judging panel that included reps from TBWA and Ogilvy & Mather! WOW!

Cheers,

Joanne

Want more to read?

Nancy — Fri, 20 Apr 2007 11:36:55 -0700

If you're looking for something more to read - try our Ambassador Travel Blog! www.ambassadortravel.ca (bottom right hand - Read our Blog!)
Also check out www.greatgetaway.ca for fantastic deals on last minute bookings!

Our Second Life

Paul — Tue, 17 Apr 2007 16:12:04 -0700

Recently we began work on our own Island on Second life. What is Second Life you say? Second life is an online 3D virtual world with ecommerce built in. Its popularity has grown from 1.2 million users to 4 million within the last four months and it’s continuing to climb. This new online platform has already produced its first millionaire and will continue to be a new moneymaker for many online prospectors from all over the world.

How does it work? At SecondLife.com you can register for your free Avatar, a 3D virtual representation of you. You also have the option of plugging in your credit card information for making any online purchases of virtual products. Once your in you’ll find yourself flying around in a virtual world, exploring places, watching musical events, playing games, strolling through a shopping mall and chatting with all kinds of people.

Like dressing up a Barbie doll people are dressing up their avatars from skeletons, robots and soldiers to runway models, princesses and fairytale beauties. You can rent property or a storefront or buy a whole island. You can buy a house or build it yourself and furnish it and then sell it. You can design your own combat tank and enter a war zone. The possibilities are endless.

Think this is just a fad? Just like the Internet was budding phenomenon ten years ago online virtual worlds are now gaining serious momentum. Big corporate companies are creating their own islands and selling anything from virtual Toyota cars to Nike shoes. Both Google and Microsoft are developing their own competing metaverses to cash in this growing market. Many experts are predicting that the metavers may be the successor to the Internet, as we know it. Although Second Life may not necessarily be the platform that everyone ends up on it is the first one to incorporate a built in and easy to use ecommerce platform.

Second Life isn’t the only metavers out there. There are others but it is the most popular non-gaming platform out there. Although many see Second Life as a test bed for future development there are a lot of people that are making a living on this virtual world. I’m fascinated to see all the different things that are going on in this metavers but I still think it’s anything but predictable. I personally feel that with enough competence and creativity anyone could turn this into a major opportunity.

Chef boy "R" Leisa!

Nancy — Tue, 17 Apr 2007 15:48:42 -0700

For those of you who frequently call in and talk to our receptionist, Leisa - you'll have to bug her for her CARROT CAKE RECIPE! It is to die for. We made some for the bosses birthday and everyone loved it!

Please Support us in the Fight against cancer!

Nancy — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 14:22:37 -0800

This year Ambassador Travel & iias is supporting the 12 hour campaign walk for cancer. I'm going to walk for my Grandma, who is no longer with us. I am also going to walk for my Grandpa, and one of my high-school friends, who are both survivors of cancer.

This walk is 12 hours long on June 22, 2007 from 7:00 pm until 7:00 the next morning to emphasis the fact that cancer never sleeps; Cancer doesn’t stop, it doesn’t stand still.

Ambassador Travel & iias would like to extend a invitation to you and your family to get involved and join us in the fight against cancer by donating to this worthy cause. With your donation you will be supporting hundreds of thousands of people that have fought cancer and those that will always remain in our hearts that didn’t make it.

Every dollar counts...

On a personal note, I have purchased a $5 Luminary for my Grandma. A Luminary is a white bag with a name printed on it, at 10:30pm I will light a candle inside the bag along with thousands of other people at this event. We are surrounding the track field with them and spelling out the word "HOPE".

When we light them we will walk around the track guided by the light from the Luminaries. A Luminary provides light and inspiration for participants throughout Relay For Life - to honor those who have fought and those also who have survived.

If you would like to learn more about where the money goes or have questions about cancer please visit the Canadian Cancer Society Website at www.cancer.ca.

If you would like to help first hand you can also sign up online. You pay a Relay For Life registration fee ($25.00), which goes towards some of the event costs that are tax deductible.

If you are unable to donate to this cause then please take a moment on June 22, 2007 (when we walk the relay for as much of 12 hours as possible) to send us your AWAKE thoughts because I have personally never been able to successfully pull a full all-nighter!

Thank you for your support,

Nancy Moro

Participant ID: 166728842

Click here to donate to our team

Moving to Ajax

Serguei — Thu, 01 Feb 2007 10:11:46 -0800

One of the main goals in web-application development is the customer experience improvement. This means that user interface must be intuitively understandable and easy to use even for unexperienced customer. From other hand, we must reduce number of scrolllings, cllicks, and waiting time for web-page reloading. One of the advanced techniques used to achieve these goals is the "callback without postback" technique. This means, that the client-side script can call part of server-side script without actual web-page posting. Recently, this technique has been implemented in number of our applications. In particular, database-powered drop-down lists can be dynamically changed depending on the user input.

The next step in the customer experience improvement is using Ajax - the powerful technique allowing to build rich browser applications using combination of existing client-side Web technologies.

Travel Updates

Nancy — Mon, 11 Dec 2006 16:59:06 -0800

As you all probably know, iias has merged with Ambassador Travel. I have continued with my position as a web developer here but I have also taken on additional responsibilities. Our communications & technology manager on the Ambassador side had a baby so I have now been placed to temporarily take over her job.

With my new extra tasks I’m as busy as ever! I’ve learned so much about travel and its nice for me to come into this position from the outside looking as most people do when they are looking for good deals/ understanding the travel talk. Having no experience with any travel knowledge except for a handful of trips I have been on personally, this is all very new to me. This has brought an advantage into the business… I am now responsible for sending out our weekly newsletters across the country and all over the world to over 134,124 people (and counting) I added the numbers up personally last week. Talk about nerve wracking sending 13 different newsletters out to all over the world!

The amazing thing is…they’ve noticed a major increase in calls and bookings since I’ve started to do the newsletters. I think this is partly due to my lack of knowledge for the travel industry. I word it the way I understand it (sometimes with the help of the agents) and many times I choose the adventure packages that would interest me. Example: 15 day Jewels of Egypt tour for $1,335 per person or the one I advertised for 15 days from Ubud to Gili, Indonesia Paradise Adventure… 8 days of the Amalfi Coast & Bay of Naples… Costa Rica, Mexico, Dominican Republic, Cuba… YOU NAME IT!

If you’re interested in receiving a weekly email on great travel deals in your area, simply sign up by clicking here. We also offer the Deal of the Day, which are last minute bookings with incredible prices updated every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

We are currently in the process of updating our main website (www.ambassadortravel.ca ) and we have also made online booking engines for WestJet, AirCanada, and Harmony. As well as a Hotel online booking we are currently working on and a Car Rental site. Look for the postings of those in the future in our “Just Published” section.

3D Marvee Animation

Paul — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 16:56:15 -0800

Recently I completed a 3D animation project

Fractals, anybody?

Bob — Tue, 28 Nov 2006 11:07:22 -0800

Having stumbled across an amazing computer-rendered gallery of digital imagery, I learned that these images were no ordinary computer drawings, they were in fact fractals! (see http://content.techrepublic.com.com/2346-10878_11-33277.html)

I wanted to learn more about the makeup of these and just what constitutes a "fractal", so I did some reading. According to one website, a fractal is defined as, "a rough or fragmented geometric shape that can be subdivided in parts, each of which is (at least approximately) a reduced/size copy of the whole." It also said that "the term was coined in 1975 and was derived from the Latin fractus meaning broken or fractured."

"Due to them appearing similar at all levels of magnification, fractals are often considered to be 'infinitely complex'. However, not all self-similar objects are fractals — for example, the real line is formally self-similar but fails to have other fractal characteristics.

"Approximate fractals are easily found in nature. These objects display self-similar structure over an extended, but finite, scale range. Examples include clouds, snow flakes, mountains, river networks, cauliflower or broccoli, and systems of blood vessels."

Excerpts from: "Fractal." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. November 2006.

Hotel Bookings

Serguei — Wed, 15 Nov 2006 13:53:42 -0800

A new project for hotel bookings was launched. We are going to use a powerful XML service which allows us to implement flexible and quick search technologies. Having this product, we can eventually move to more "intelligent" versions of booking engines for the travel industry.

Serguei

Happy World Kindess Day!

Joanne — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 14:32:42 -0800

Happy World Kindness Day! And since this is a day to celebrate kindness, I’d like to start by thanking everyone on the iias team for being so kind to me over these past weeks. Starting a new job is always a bit stressful and I’ve really appreciated how nice everyone has been as I get up to speed on all of the exciting things that are happening around here.

My official title is “Integrated Advertising Consultant” and my role is a blend of account management and project management. I meet with clients to find out how we can help them achieve their goals by integrating internet advertising with other forms of marketing. Then I create a plan and coordinate the work of the various team members to get the projects completed. And I have to say, this is a great team to work with!

Check back on this site over the next few months to have a look of what we’re working on now – Surfwood Supply Ltd., Swiftwater Guiding, The House Whisperers, to name a few.

And if you're counting down the number of shopping days left until Christmas, visit these sites that we’ve just redeveloped for some really unique gifts – www.chocolaTas.com and www.mallybibs.com. Yummy and beautiful Belgian chocolates and a remarkable bib for the little ones in your world.

Cheers,

Joanne

Personality Test

Paul — Fri, 27 Oct 2006 16:40:55 -0700

The other day I was interested in understanding my own personality a little better. I did a search on Google and I found www.humanmetrics.com. It’s a personality test based on the Jung Myers Briggs typological approach. Unlike other sites it didn’t spam me or ask me to pay $30 to get the results.

I would certainly encourage you to give it a try. After doing this test I understand myself better and I also understand my carrier goals better as well. I keep hearing so many high school students saying that they have no idea what they want to do once they get out of high school. This would give anyone a good idea as to what there strengths and weaknesses are. I highly recommend it.

Welcome Joanne

Nancy — Tue, 03 Oct 2006 13:11:36 -0700

We have a new member that has joined our team! Welcome Joanne to iias. Joanne comes to iias with an extensive background in organizational development, business development, client consultation and project management.

Nancy — Fri, 16 Jun 2006 12:27:57 -0700

Aside from having to deal with downtown traffic, this move has been great! I've met a lot of really nice down-to-earth people that are now a part of our team and we are all starting to settle down and get comfortable with our new surroundings.

It's nice working downtown because of the good places to eat at lunch or to just walk around. When the Berry Festival is here it will become a bit harder to park but at least we'll be at the center of the action.

New Location!

Nancy — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 11:00:00 -0700

We've Moved! We have very exciting news! iias is growing and needs a larger office location to accommodate additional staff and equipment. We are proud of the increase in services this move will facilitate. Look for more details in the upcoming July issue of the NETPRO Newsletter.

Effective Monday, June 12, our new location will be 2617 Montrose Avenue, Abbotsford, BC, V2S 3T5. Our phone number will remain 604-556-0211, and our fax number will remain 604-556-3835.

Click here for a map to our new location

Please be aware that we may experience phone service interruption from 12pm on Thursday, June 8 to 5pm Friday, June 9. There will not be any interruption to website or email access due to this change of location.

Should you have any problems reaching us during the interruption of our phone service, please call us at 604-556-6206. If you have any questions or would like further information, please contact us.

Nancy — Wed, 31 May 2006 09:30:09 -0700

I just wanted to post a quick note to those frustrated developers out there that have been affected by the recent update with Microsoft’s patch (912945), which limits initial interaction with the ActiveX plug-in in IE6.

In short terms, if you have a flash or any other ActiveX components embedded in your website, hovering over it with your mouse will give you a grey box with an ALT tag reading "Click to activate and use this control".

The workaround for developers is to call your flash within a JavaScript function. I won't go into great detail here but will post a link to an article that will help you, hopefully... http://blog.deconcept.com/swfobject/. You can find a number of articles that explain and help you with this ActiveX problem by simply "Googling" your problem.

Please keep in mind this script does not work on ASP pages, but don’t worry there is a work around for that as well... I’ve already solved that problem.

Good luck I hope this article was helpful!