When Facebook implemented their new Page design, my clients’ custom tabs were deprecated to a very discreet place under the profile picture so some of them opted for a custom FBML tab directing users to the additional content they are offering. Now that FBML is no longer available for newer pages, you need to create independently hosted applications for each content tab. This doubles the amount of work required for each tab. While it’s not a technical challenge for me, I deplore how long it takes for Facebook to render application tabs over FBML.

I am happy to offer my clients hosting free of charge for the apps/tabs I develop for them and I have begun developing customizable apps for often-used functions such as sign-ups forms, contests, polls, RSS and the likes. While there are free Facebook apps that provide these services, a lot of them do not correctly display the clients brand, are hard to share and push annoying deceptive ads above the client’s content. This is not acceptable.

Recently I have released a few projects:

• Boston Pizza Brossard‘s contest Facebook application. This is a simple secure system for letting users participate in a contest via Facebook.
• I also created a magazine page flipper app for Magazine PREMIUM. Incidentally, the just released number 8 of PREMIUM is all about Social Media with long-form content from Harvard Business Review, STRATEGY+BUSINESS and Bloomberg Businessweek. PREMIUM, the most awesome business management magazine you’ve never heard of, has just won it’s third publisher prize. It’s well worth a read and my favorite part is always the exclusive interview with a Quebec business person and, of course, Rémi Tremblay‘s column. Working with Les Affaires to bringing PREMIUM to Facebook and now LinkedIn has been awesome.

Last weekend my spouse and I opened the new space for Club Nagaika, our martial art school. I would say that the progress on our recently enlarged space is at about 25%. Two of three weekend seminars with international Systema masters are announced starting in July 2011. At the same time, my health challenge is featured in a national magazine (Web version here). My spouse, Stéphane Beaudin, has developed remarkable understanding of human mobility and formerly-crippled-me is so lucky to have met him. My health and mobility continues to improve as I attend EVERY mobility class now that I’m here all the time. I know that our approach is very effective is healing mobility problems, especially in women my age who have been wearing heels, have lower back issues due to work or child birth but I am still at a loss to communicate this to women. Until very recently, Systema was a secret martial art only practiced by Russian Special Forces so its entire presentation around the Web is highly militarized and quite ‘tough’ but it’s a wonderful and effective health system that unlocks what seem like super powers to the untrained eyes. Because it’s based on bio-mechanics (i.e. being effective with the least effort) it’s ideal as self-defense for women. Even as the worst student amongst a slew of twenty-something guys I see immense benefits and progress. Most of my days are painless and I have not had a headache or a migraine in months. This is incredibly beneficial for my brain and it improves my ability to analyze and build complex solutions. Yet I still spend most of my days doing analog things while constructing Canada’s ‘Systema Wonderland’.

Oh and of course I am still managing 3 businesses, coaching two entrepreneurs and advising on 3 startups at this time. I have been accepting ‘disaster recovery’ jobs recently. These are usually 2-day gigs fixing urgent ‘shituations’ whether in management, code or security/hacking recovery. I am wondering if I should make this a specific service like my WordPress Emergency services. These confidential mandates are few overall but the high impact they have is very satisfying.

I recently unearthed my immense collection of vintage and antique bagatelles. They had been in boxes for 7 years waiting for a suitable place to display. I decided to adorn the lounge/office with most of them. My favorite ones are the Space themed games (all plastic from the 1960′s and 1970′s) which require a shrine of their own.