MobileCamp Vancouver 2

So I was encouraged to attend MobileCamp Vancouver 2, I even volunteered our organization’s projector for use. While I struggled to wake up and become fully functional I learned I was going to be speaking. Originally it was only for three minutes but I ended up speaking more on Building Opportunities with Business, our ICT Cluster, our business development services, loans program, and the about to roll out “Fledgling Project”.

Behold an unconference

This is a mobile technology unconference so people were blogging, texting, tweeting, uploading photos to Flickr all on the fly. Having WiFi at conferences, particularly technology conferences is a must. When I worked for KOTRA, presenters from New Media BC asked for WiFi which the Terminal City Club was able to provide for us. I can’t help but recall that at the first Web Directions North there was no WiFi.

I also haven’t forgotten how because I blogged about planning to attend Web Directions North my humble blog manged to end up on the big screen. This time I only had to present. Presenting at conferences is a good way to build your brand. Andrew Kumar may have gone a little far with his personal branding and self marketing.

Roland Tanglao presented

I’m sure Google or Technorati will be awash with posts from and about Mobile Camp Vancouver so I told the first presenter, Roland Tanglao I wasn’t live blogging his presentation, but he seemed happy that people would blog about it later. WinBC and Mobile Muse were the main sponsors but I was amazed no Nokia, AirG or even IUGO staff were present. Handi Mobility, Raincity Studios, and Kinzin had staff helping out and presenting so they can get some link love.

In 2026 many of these organizations and websites are no longer live/online. My website is still alive but I haven’t lived in Vancouver in years. I did visit around Christmas time last year.

iPhone Development was a hot topic in 2008

There were lots of iPhones and presentations on iPhone application development. Apparently there is still a shortage of Objective-C developers and a renewed interest in that language with the success of the iPhone and the iTouch. I used my Blackberry Curve to take some pictures, but it wouldn’t zoom, good thing it is still under warranty. I also was amazed at the youth of some developers, they seem to think all you need to be a software developer these days is JavaScript, HTML, and CSS. You couldn’t code exclusively in JavaScript in the olden days, I mean you can’t even send an email with JavaScript.

The only language I used regularly in 2008 was VBA and that has to be the ugliest language. For the record I don’t like PHP or Perl either but I can use them if I have to. A fellow from Nitobi has created something called PhoneGap so you don’t have to learn Objective-C or various Apple API’s to develop applications on the iPhone. This allows people to stay in the language they are familiar with, which is OK I guess, but PhoneGap currently doesn’t support all the functions of the iPhone and since it is developed independently and perhaps not with the blessing of Apple, developers who use it to make apps may find they are rendered obsolete by some decision in Cuppertino.

My instinct was correct as my links to the Nitobi website doesn’t work in 2026 and no one is talking about PhoneGap, but at least he tried.

My co-presenters

I should probably mention Fearless City and W2 and I did link to those websites seeing as they were my co-presenters along with Mobile Muse. But none of those websites are online in 2026 whereas my blog is.

Working full time and doing the CFA® program is a long lonely road which I did mention in the original blog post eighteen years ago. However, I did eventually pass all three exams.

Old code I worked on remains online

Most of the attendees are software developers or people who want to be software developers, there are still a few things I worked on that people can hit off. UM.Sitemaker being the most used one, I’m not sure how much of the code I wrote for ZooPlus.de ended up being used after the big dispute between them and 100World. GVC.Sitemaker was open sourced along with all our internal frameworks, so no one can say I didn’t contribute to the open source community.

Of course Sitemaker is in Java now, but we had the frameworks in Objective-C at one point, until Apple forced WebObjects developers to change languages. Chuck and Sacha did write a book eventually, but after all these years it is hard to keep timelines straight, so these obscure blog posts sometimes only amuse me.

Randall Minter’s presentation

I also caught the tail end of a very pro-Javascript Randall Minter on his company’s product. He called his company Qrimp, very Web 2.0 it seemed to impress the few people that caught him speak. He drove a long way to put in an appearance at this little shindig. The original website may be behind a paywall, but I can perhaps point you Randall’s way.

I even gave a little preview of the new BOB website designed by Burst! Creative Group. Jeff wasn’t there but his firm is still in business, BOB unfortunately is not, but I think I eventually blogged about the website and organization I worked for more.

Wrapping things up

I had an extensive conversation with Jean Cloutier, not about his company in2cc but about the problems facing the Downtown Eastside and some of the solutions and approaches that have been tried and are still being tried. I even told him the history of the area as he is a recent immigrant/arrival to Vancouver.

Jean seems to have pulled a Kris Krug and become full-time photographer, but Kris is back doing some AI thing. I did some AI thing, in 2026 I got all the buzzwords on my resume, badges, certificates, code in GitHub, I’m overdue for some fame and fortune.

In 2026, I’m once again updating old blog posts and trying to fix rendering issues, typos, and of course busted links, trying to make my blog better. I’ll fix all the busted internal links but external links are harder to check because of domain squatters. If you have thoughts on developing for mobile or were actually at this meetup back in 2008 please leave a comment below.

This entry was originaly posted on September 6th, 2008, it was last edited on May 2nd, 2026 and is filed under: Technology and tagged: Conference, Software Development, Vancouver.