All images © Marc Boucher.

Online Since 1991 and Loving It

Welcome to Nano2Sol, my personal weblog.

On this site I write about my various projects and share my thoughts on areas that interest me including, but not limited to, vertical search engines including the semantic web, cloud computing including Hadoop, social networking, Twitter, my passion for space exploration and occasionally other topics.

My background: I became an entrepreneur and software developer in 1991. My first effort was SportsWorld BBS, a bulletin board system. Some of you might remember those those ancient dial-in systems of the early 90's. SportsWorld morphed into aTerra Technologies Corporation. After that I went on to create Maple Square - Canada's Internet Directory, which I sold, and co-found SpaceRef Interactive Inc., the Mars Institute, and Moonviews LLC. My most recent endeavour is Hyperix Search, Inc.

I have also help build several non-profit organizations. These include the Mars Society where I built their online brand and served as a director in its infancy. I also helped found the Mars Society Canada before leaving both organizations. More recently I helped co-found the Canadian Space Commerce Association for which I serve as a director.

Expertise

Technology idea and development including search and business intelligence engine development and data analysis. End products include, but are not limited to, real-time data services, vertical search and topical deep web analysis. I'm also focusing on mobile content delivery.

Programming and scripting languages I currently work in: Java, Javascript, Perl, PHP, Pig, Python and Ruby.

Space analyst focusing on Canadian and American space policy and my experiences working through the Mars Institute and SpaceRef. Media appearances include CBC Radio, CNN (Web), the Space Show and mentions in the Globe and Mail, MSNBC, USA Today and many other news outlets.

I'm available as a consultant.

Upcoming Events

I am currently tentatively scheduled to be in Toronto for the March 16th Canadian Space Commerce Association annual general meeting. I've also registered and plan on attending Chirp - The Official Twitter Developer Conference (April 14-15) and Google I/O (May 19-20).

Other events I'm considering attending include: OSCON, the Small Satellite Conference, the Canadian Space Summit and of course events local to my home town Vancouver, BC.

My Affiliations

My Professional Memberships

Connect With Me

You can connect with me on LinkedIn, Twitter and Skype.

Recent Blog Entries

Bigelow Space Station 1/30th Scale Model
I received two Bigelow Space Station models today. They are 1/30 scale model and include one B.A. Standard Module, two…
What if Twitter was Down for Several Days? Perhaps it's Time for a new Internet Protocol
Anil Dash has an opinion piece today on CNN which basically says don't let a service like Twitter or Facebook…
Using Social Media Tools Like Twitter to add Value to Advertisers Campaigns
SpaceRef has recently started using Twitter as an additional marketing tool as part of our advertisers campaigns. We don't spam…
Apple 12″ PowerBook G4 Meet Yellow Dog Linux
I hate it when a perfectly good computer just sits around doing nothing. In this case it's my old Apple…
New Media Hearings - CRTC Should Once Again Do Nothing
Ten years ago I testified at the Canadian Radio-television Telecommunications Commission's (CRTC) New Media hearings in Ottawa and argued that…
Analysis - Twitter's Business Model & Sector Sentiment
I joined Twitter on May 8, 2007 on the advice of my business partner at @SpaceRef @KeithCowing. Not too long…