A couple of weeks ago Team Armadillo released a new side project, “AlbertaTweets.ca”:http://www.albertatweets.ca, to an incredibly positive reception. Born out of our interests as political junkies and data nerds, this new project is an exciting step in a new direction for the team.

As avid data and political junkies, we had been contemplating doing a project which would involve twitter data and some sort of visual data analysis. Over the past two years, we’ve been attending a variety of conferences which have delved into the realm of web data and the political spectrum. Then as rumors of a provincial election started to surface, it seamed like the perfect timing. Hence the birth of *AlbertaTweets.ca*. (Read More…)

Earlier in January, I had the wonderful pleasure to finally go and visit Calgary’s only Coworking Office – “CoWorkyyc”:http://www.coworkyyc.com/.

!http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5211/5487606475_e92446b626.jpg!

For those unfamiliar with the concept of Coworking, it is essentially a shared office environment which individuals (or small businesses) can rent out in monthly or daily rates. It’s a collective place which allows small businesses and individuals to move away from the isolating confides of their living rooms to a shared space with like minded individuals. The concept is not new by any stretch of the imagination, but it is becoming quite a “popular trend for consultants, freelancers and up and coming tech companies”:http://www.canadianbusiness.com/managing/employees/article.jsp?content=20100426_10026_10026.

!http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5134/5488201896_a71eb97f02.jpg!

As mentioned, after numerous failed attempts, I finally got the opportunity to visit CoWorkyyc in the heart of Inglewood’s growing design and technology centre. Two of three owners, Quienton and Jeff, were my hosts for the day and showed me around the operation. After talking with them for much of the day and spending a very productive day of work, I was throughly impressed. I have been a major supporter of the project since I heard about it’s inception, but had never had the chance to check it out.

Luckily everything lived up to it’s billing and more.

The CoWorkycc office is a warm and inviting space with a bevy of open desks near the front. Near the back a selection of more private spaces for some of the more long term tenants are available. Nestled in a corner at the at the front is a comfortable round-table, which is perfect for that all important client meeting or conference call. At the very back of the space is a kitchen containing the critical coffee machine and a private shower, for those looking to bike to the office. And last but not least, a trip to CoWorkyyc wouldn’t be the same with out admiring the fantastic paint job which adorns the brickwalls. _You may need to ask Quienton and Jeff, about that portion of the tour_.

!http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5251/5488201854_808e5eaf02.jpg!

Anyways, if you haven’t had the opportunity to check out CoWorkyyc or just looking to find a productive work space, please do get in touch “Jeff and the rest of the team”:http://www.coworkyyc.com/start/, you definitely won’t regret it.

It’s been quite the week here at Armadillo Studios, as our beloved pet project – “yycApps.com”:http://www.yycapps.com received an incredible amount of local exposure over the past 7 days.

!http://blog.armadillostudios.ca/images/121.png!

It all started about a week ago with a six minute interview on CBC Calgary’s the Homestrech with David Grey. We had a great conversation on the blossoming community in Calgary and I was able to feature some great local apps. (“click here to hear the full interview”:http://www.cbc.ca/homestretch/episode/2011/01/04/apps/)

Next, yycapps had a feature segment on last night’s edition of GlobalTV’s 6:00pm news. In which, we briefly talked with Tony Tighe about the project and also showcased our friends from TapForms and also Broken Kings. (See the segment below and fast forward to the 23:55 mark)

It’s been an exciting week for the yycapps project and we look forward to seeing how the project continues to grow.

Who doesn’t love a web site makeover? Really, who doesn’t.

So with that, we’re happy to announce the much needed makeover of our beloved pet project – “yycApps”:http://www.yycapps.com.

The *yycApps.com* project started a little over 6 months ago, and since that cold winter evening has grown into a powerful resource for Calgary iPhone/iPad app developers. In conjunction, with the “moreapps”:http://www.yycapps.com/moreapps.php project, yycapps.com draws in about 2,000 viewers a month and is slowly becoming a reliable source for people curious about the growing iPhone development community in Calgary.

As you can see from the old design, pictured above, the site needed a dramatic redesign. The grungy texture and dark colour palette was a great design at the time, but it didn’t encourage a sense of community or professionalism. So with this new design we hope to help grow the community and the site even more.

So please, have a look at the new yycapps. We’d love to hear your comments and suggestions to make the site that much better.

We are excited! … *Correction*.

We are incredibly stoked to be a bronze level sponsor of “Drupal Camp Alberta this September 11th and 12th at the University of Calgary”:http://www.drupalcampalberta.org/.

This is the first time in it’s three year history that Drupal Camp Alberta will be held in our hometown. So to recognize such a great step forward for the Drupal community, we thought we’d provide “a bit of sponsorship”:http://www.drupalcampalberta.org/sponsors and a hand for this merry band of Lethbridge designers.

If you’re unfamiliar with the Drupal Camp concept, it’s essentially a two-day _tour de farce_ for everything Drupal.

The sessions are designed to bring the growing Drupal Camp community together to share ideas, techniques, tools and strategies that make this CMS one of the most powerful tools in the Web industry. Through Drupal Camp Alberta, we are hoping to see a stronger more tight-nit Drupal development community emerge in this fine city. The team at “RedWall”:http://www.redwall.ca/ and “Lethbridge Web Design”:http://lethbridgewebdesign.ca/ have already done an exceptional job of fostering the community down south and we look forward to seeing them in our hometown.

If you’re planning to attend Drupal Camp Alberta, keep an eye out for Team Armadillo’s own _Drupal Ninja_ – Ryan Boley. He’ll be in attendance this weekend and would love to spend some time talking everything Drupal.