michael's blog

Today marks the end of the 2009 school year here at Guru. More importantly, today is Graduation Day for our 15th student intake. It's been a long and trying six months, but our stalwart digital disciples have risen to the challenge, proving that they are worthy of being called Gurus. Congratulations, guys! You've earned it.

On behalf of all of the faculty at Guru, I'd like to wish our graduates, our friends and everybody else out there a happy, safe and creative holiday season. See you in 2010!

There's an old cliche about creative types being heavy drinkers. It's not entirely accurate, but there's a little bit of truth to it. A still drink really does help make social situations more comfortable, that's for sure. With this thought in mind, I hope you'll join us for on December 16th for Startup Drinks Edmonton, a Digital Alberta initiative that combines networking with light alcohol. How can you go wrong?

Full details are as follows, taken from Digital Alberta:

Well, that's debatable, but it's certainly one for the record books.

I spent this last month studying in Tokyo, and while I was there, I had a chance to visit a Toyota design exhibit. I thought I would throw together a quick blog today showcasing some interesting Japanese product design. The principles of design still apply, but the needs of the Japanese people have lead to some interesting developments.

Guru is a place of constant change and evolution. I hope you're ready for some!

As of Monday, our Web instructor extraordinaire Beth Quirie will be handling blogging duties here at Guru, as I'll be out of the country for a month doing God knows what. Our Executive Director, Owen Brierley might pop in from time to time - as he has been - to post as well. I'll see what I can do about getting some mystery guests involved in our Web 2.0 initiatives as well.

So, have a good month of November, everybody. I want to hear all about it when I get back.

If you're a Google user, then you've probably seen how often Google changes its standard branding to match an event or holiday. And if you're not a Google user, then what are you using to search the Internet in this day and age?

Save the date!

It's technically the day before Halloween, but I'm not in the business of coming into work on Saturday. On behalf of everyone at Guru, have a happy and safe Halloween! Remember to have your parents check all of your downloads for razor blades before you use them, wear a proxy that allows you to see both ways when you cross the street, and wear reflective banners on your website for safety!

To honor this scariest of holidays, I'll leave you with a terrifying webpage. Enjoy!

While we're all Mac lovers here at Guru, many of us use PC's, or have PC operating systems installed on our Macs. However, I completely managed to let the release of Windows 7 slip under my nose. As it turns out, the latest from Microsoft started shipping last week, on October 22nd, though some people I talked with today told me Amazon has still not shipped copies to some people.

After suffering a slight release delay, the Blu-Ray version of Gary Hustwit's Helvetica follow-up, Objectified, is finally shipping on October 27th. The Blu-Ray release joins last week's DVD release, and can be ordered at the Objectified shop.