Come on down to TheFARM to share in some beers and take part in the global Umbraco 5^th birthday festivities.

Your hosts will be core Umbraco team developers Shannon Deminick & Aaron Powell, both of whom work for TheFARM (http://www.thefarmdigital.com.au).

The plan is for Shan and Aaron to run a Q&A session with some demo’s of the fun stuff TheFARM has been doing with Umbraco 4.1 and the work they have been doing on this next release.

• They'll have a look at all of the new features/fixes for 4.1 (are there are TONS)
• They'll go into a bit more in detail on some of the new things that we've integrated into the core such as LINQ to Umbraco, Umbraco Examine, new controls, enhancements, preview, etc…
• They’ll show you some of the sites we’ve built and talk through some of the implementation’s with things like Flash

Hopefully, with two of the core team on hand we should be able to answer most questions thrown at us – give us a go!

Once we're out of beers... TO THE PUB!

All of the details, address, etc.. is on the Our Umbraco website. Have a look and RSVP now!

http://our.umbraco.org/events/umbraco-5th-birthday-meetup-in-sydney

Just in case you don’t want to click through here’s the event details:

Tuesday, February 16, 2010 - 6:00 PM
Suite 101, 4 - 14 Buckingham st Surry Hills, NSW

With the The FARM flat out tending to our fabulous clients in early 2010 responsibility for maintaining Suite 101 fell to yours truly - the latest agency recruit.

I soon noticed that The FARMers had been slack in reporting the OzTag season progress and set out to rectify the problem asap.

Alas, before I had the chance to join them on the paddock (intimidated as I was at first by the buff and professional looking specimens I saw circulating in the office the afternoon of game day) the season was over.

Having read about their promising first weeks here on Suite 101 I turned to The FARMers optimistically for an end of season wrap up.

There were tales of Hugo’s suave and nimble movement, Karis’ super human tagging skills and Aaron’s remarkable bravery in the face of injury (apparently he managed to finish every single game with a bleeding left knee). The highest praise however was reserved Yankee Brooke Blakslee, not for his mammoth diving tries (which were nonetheless legendary) but for his team spirit. Though sidelined with a nasty phlegmatic illness Mr Blakslee braved it to the park for the final game where he provided much needed moral support – not to mention beers at half time.   

The FARMers were more than happy to commend the skills and attitude of their fellow team members. But they were not so forthcoming when it came to the hard facts: What was the win to loss ratio? Where did they sit on the table at season’s end? 

When my initial attempts to obtain this information were thwarted I was pointed in the direction of team founder and Business Development Manager Phillip McCann.

The initial response: “Too many losses to remember”.

To which my reply was: “Well surely you remember the amount of wins then??”

The verdict - 1 official and legitimate win (which you may have read about here – explains the lack of updates after that!), 1 on paper only win (the other team forfeited), 1 embarrassing loss to a team that obviously cheated (miscellaneous – we’ll chalk that up as a win), 1 loss (to the comp leaders) which apparently would’ve been a win if not for a dodgy referee, 1 forfeit on Melbourne Cup Day (which would’ve been a win had anyone been sober enough to run in a straight line) and numerous on paper losses that might’ve been wins had the team not been penalised for a shortfall in X chromosomes.

So where did all this leave The FARMers at seasons end? As OzTag Champions of the year of course (well in their eyes anyway ). Onya FARMers!!

This month Farmers old and new alike took interest in Google's revelation it had fallen victim to “a highly sophisticated and targeted” cyber attack “originating from China” and resulting in the theft of its intellectual property. The official Googleblog went on to all but outright accuse the Chinese government of orchestrating the attacks in an attempt to access the Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists.

As the evidence mounted that the People’s Republic was indeed behind the debacle it became clear we had an interesting power play on our hands - Superpower vs Cyberpower. It was interesting to speculate how that showdown would play out… 

The good news? It turned out the attacks (which also hit over 20 other companies) had exploited a vulnerability in IE 6 (http://praetorianprefect.com/archives/2010/01/the-aurora-ie-exploit-in-action/)  – thus putting another nail in the coffin of a browser which should have been buried long ago.

For the record: The Farm happily ceased support for IE6 from October 31 2009. In the aftermath of the cyber attack Google, better late than never, announced it would follow suit from March 1. Thanks Hu Jintao!

Google’s answer to the iPhone – the Nexus One smartphone – may be yet to hit Australian shores but it’s already got Farmers' chins wagging.

The topic – not so much the merits of one phone vs the the other – though you can read about this here http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/01/15/torn-between-two-phones-nexus-one-vs-iphone/?ref=technology – but what the competition bodes for the future of the www.

While the smartphones might work well with their own software they don’t seem to be making an effort to get along with one anothers other services. Some commentators – namely Tim O’Reily - think this bodes a bloody period of competition that could threaten the interoperable web of today. In the 80s it was Macintosh v Microsoft – in the 2010s the war looks set to take place between Apple and Google.

O’Reily may be onto something. While it’s too soon to tell if the Nexus One will emerge as a serious competitor to the iPhone, some Farmers have already taken sides.

Those who like that Google’s Android platform is more open to developers champion the Nexus One. The others, like everyone else, are so deep in iPhone love they can’t see past their touchscreens. One Farmer has even suggested we change the phrase “the best thing since sliced bread” to “the best thing since the iPhone”.

What do you think? Will you trade in your iPhone for a Nexus One? And who’s your money behind in the war for the web?

[December 2009] After a week of teasers from our illustrious leaders about The FARM Christmas party, the office down tools at 10.30am to begin the day's events (one particular producer managed to keep working whilst simultaeounsly being briefed in on Christmas activities - our talents know no bounds!)

Split into teams early in the week The FARMers were presented with a number of challenges to earn points before the big day:

1. Pick a Sydney suburb

2. Pick a dress theme to go with that suburb

3. Put together a presentation called '2009 - a year in review'

4. Design a piece of retro pixel art for the next FARM feature wall

5. Deliver the highest ROI on a $2 coin 

Teams then embarked on the first 'FARM Great Race'around Sydney, figuring out clues at one destination to get to the next. Bonus points awarded for team photos at each check point. Bonus bonus points awarded for the randoms coerced into participating in said photos, Bonus bonus bonus points for being told by management to 'slow down and stop for a drink' and actually beating our leaders to the finish line!

Introducing the teams!

Fire from the Shire led by Anthony Dang (missing from this team photo!)

Eastern Creek Grid Girls led by Aaron Powell 

Wentworthville Wiggas led by Nikki Sulentic

Double Bay Sailing Club led by the marvellous Chris Martin who delivered his team victory (and a 3 course meal at The Bentley)

After suitable team banter (and some outright bar fights) the FARM jumped a water taxi to Shark Island for a long and lazy BBQ, soaking up the rays in the middle of Sydney Harbour. 

Many thanks to our 'life-guards' Chris P and JG for putting on a great day!

[December 2009] Our lovely friends at Ferrero surprise the team with a goodie box choc-full of scrumptious delights!

We are very happy FARMers!! Thanks Ferrero!

Congrats to Wade, Karis, Brooke and Nina for the great start on Ferrero and to all in the studio that brought the ideas to life! 

The image of a remote phonebox with tumbleweed blowing past it has long been a symbol of isolation and the wilderness. Will the phone work? Will someone have hidden some sort of message there, perhaps instructions on how to get to an old school rave, or will it be full of old takeaway and worse? Placing itself firmly in the middle ground between fixed landlines and the always-on lifestyle associated with a mobile phone is Skype, thanks to a new campaign from the Viral Factory, London.
www.phoneboxexperiment.com 

We wouldn’t normally sit glued to a two minute TV ad, but this is spine-tingling. Colenso BBDO in New Zealand came up with this beautiful animation for the New Zealand Book Council: http://bit.ly/nzbooks

Innovative retailer Miele has opened a London store which encourages people to trial the products before they buy. Any students not wishing to take their laundry home for Christmas, this is for you: http://bit.ly/dirtysocks

As part of the ongoing work pimping the FARM offices we are proud to unveil our new feature wall painted by local artist Chris Tibbles.

The FARMers pitched in true DIY style to prep the wall before Chris arrived to work his magic.  With the help of tall Paul getting the rollers to reach the top of the wall this was much easier than anticpated!

Under the direction of designer Nikki (who put in many hours supervising this transformation!) the hills motif from The FARM website was interpreted by Chris into a work of art! 

Thanks for  your amazing work Chris! The FARM is very proud to show off it's newest masterpiece - taking centre stage at the upcoming Xmas party! 

Thanks our good friends at Zip Industries the office has been fitted with a Zip Hydrotap for all our water needs! Much to the elation of staff the Hydrotap's speedy water flow, sleek and compact look and instant boiling and chilled water rendered our old slow and bulky machine INFERIOR! No more waiting 5 mins for the system to heat and then dispense our tea in a slow trickle!

Thank you ZIP!