Heremag Layar Demo

by Tyler on June 25, 2010

I spent some time a while back setting up a layer for the layar reality browser. This particular layer connects to the drupal installation for heremag.ca to display locations of businesses and other things in our directory. Below is a rough video demonstration of the layer in action. If you are in Hamilton and want to test it out for yourself download the layar reality browser on your iPhone 3GS or Android phone and find the heremag layer in the local section. I'll be improving this layer in the coming weeks/months to include event data.

Heremag Layar Demo from Tyler McIntyre on Vimeo.

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CSS3 Please

by Tyler on March 11, 2010

If you're at all interested in some of the new features of CSS3 this page will be a quick way for you to experiment without writing a line of code. Now you can test out rounded corners, shadows, gradients and more... all without your expensive photo editor. With all the improvements in CSS and even HTML5 I'm really looking forward to the next few years in web development.

CSS3 Please


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PHP Development

Over the past 10 years I have created many tools using PHP and mySQL, unfortunately most of them are locked behind corporate firewalls and are not accessible to the public. Here are some quick descriptions of the projects I have worked on:

  • Ticket Purchase - A system for ordering tickets to events was required. The application went through many changes over the years and eventually evolved from a printable paper order form to a online credit card payment system.
  • Tour Booking System - This application allowed people to book an appointment online. An administrative side was also created to easily create special tour types, add/delete requests and edit tour dates/times.
  • Custom CMS Solutions - Certain projects have required the use of a Content Management System but the size of the project didn't require something as bulky as Wordpress or Drupal. I have created some basic content management systems to give certain users the ability to update web content without having any coding experience.


Here Magazine

Here magazine is a locally focused publication mostly centered around the Hamilton arts community. This website is currently dormant but new content will begin again in the fall of 2010.

Heremag was built using Drupal, the template used for this site is a custom PHP & CSS solution. There is also a mobile component to accompany the main site. To view the mobile version you must visit heremag.ca with a mobile device.

Recently I have also completed a small project that integrates the heremag directory into the Layar reality browser. To view the heremag layer you will need an iPhone 3GS or Android phone with the Layar application, if you are located in or around Hamilton the layer should be listed under the local section. A video demo will be posted in the coming days.

Here Magazine



Steel City Music

Steel City Music is a project that is currently no longer in development. The goal for the site was to aggregate news and videos for local bands and musicians and create a central location for Hamilton music information. Aside from the aggregated information there is also plenty of original content including Concert listings, Venue directory, blogs and podcasts.

Steel City Music was built using Drupal and many of it's modules for customization. Instead of using a pre-built template the site was built using a custom design using CSS, PHP and some AJAX.

View Steel City Music



MONSTERATTACK!!! Revisited

by Tyler on February 23, 2009

So for now I have scrapped the original #monsterattack script for now, it's something I'll probably come back to in a day or two. It looks like I'll have to look at a couple technical issues. I really like the idea of having something search for a tag, parse it and send a message. I'll get back to it eventually.

Instead I've created something quick with a little help from this post. I made a few changes like limiting the amount of text a person can add to 50 characters and creating a second text box for a username. After filling in both boxes you click send and the user gets a very special message from the MonsterAttack account.

I realize there are a few things that need to be fixed with this page because the spamming possibilities are endless but for now she's good.

MonsterAttack your friends
Follow @monsterattack


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MONSTERATTACK!! Attempting a fun Twitterbot

by Tyler on February 22, 2009

I spent last night sitting on my couch trying to create a fun little twitter bot but I'm not completely done yet. The basic idea is someone tweets "summon #monsterattack @twitteruser" and the bot selects it's target. Right now it just selects it's first target so your tweet has to be at the top of the list to be selected.

The code is a modified version of what the Hak5 Guys were working on a couple weeks ago. I've taken that same basic code and tweaked it a little bit and instead of something happening on a screen it's parsing the string and sending a message from @monsterattack to the victim.

The next step is to set up a cron job on my server to access the page every minute or two but I'm running into a couple issues. I'll be sure to update whenever it is completely up and running.


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First Audio Message from Tumblr

by Tyler on February 22, 2009




I'm attempting to resurrect my tumble log but only for audio and video purposes, this is my first audio post via tumblr.




Saving Canada's Internet

by Tyler on February 21, 2009

It has been difficult to find straightforward information about the Net Neutrality issue in Canada, this video has been the best that I've seen so far. Judging by the way the Telcos run their mobile networks I'm sure they would love to nail down the rest of the net just to fatten their wallets.

After you watch the video take a moment and send a quick message to the CRTC, it will only take a minute of your time. Here is the link: http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/crtc_submission


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Twitter SMS Blip in Canada

by Tyler on February 20, 2009

Last night my phone was buzzing like crazy, I was receiving SMS messages from twitter and a short time later my phone was quiet again. Canada has been without SMS service from twitter for about two months now because of high prices from Canadian providers.

There are services that try to get around the SMS problem but I haven't had much luck with them as a decent backup. Tweet by mail sends the messages to my phone as email which Rogers handles in the most ridiculous way. Once I recieve a message I have to confirm that I want to read it by sending a reply with the word "read". This adds a whole other step to the process and possibly an extra 10 cents or whatever Rogers is charging these days. Twe2 was the second and most recent service that I tried and although it delivers the messages as SMS they are often delayed and messages take hours to be delivered. I must also say that the message delay from twe2 could have something to do with Rogers and not their service so I'd be interested to know if others had more success with the service.

I think the best solution right now is just to wait and hope that SMS will be enabled soon in Canada. Twitter has changed a lot in the last two months, I have seen a lot more friends join up and it's a very different place for me socially. I'll be very interested to see what happens when SMS is eventually enabled.

Follow @hamburgers

Update Feb 20 3:58PM:

Twitter has updated their blog, SMS has been enabled for Bell customers. Crossing my fingers in hopes that Rogers comes next....


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