It doesn't need to be said that the City of Toronto website is long overdue for a refresh. Fortunately for us though changes are afoot, and the City is ready and willing to listen.

This Wednesday and Thursday, the City of Toronto Web 2.0 Summit is taking place online, so that everybody can get involved in the next generation of the City's web site and its use of social media.

Economy shmeonomy! At least, that was the message at StartupEmpire, a conference that brought together entrepreneurs (i.e., people wanting money), venture capitalists (people who have money), and everybody in between, to talk about starting up tech companies.

As a technologist (wow, that term sounds dated) the start-uppity, trend-setting culture of Silicon Valley has always been alluring to me. Lord knows I have the thick-rimmed glasses, the MacBook, the (potentially long) sideburns, and have been in enough Starbucks to qualify to move across the continent. In the end though, I chose to stay put in Toronto because of my friends and family.

Fortunately for me, Toronto has a unique, burgeoning tech scene of its very own.

Case in point, WordCamp Toronto: A two-day conference about blogging and the tools to make it happen -- in this case, WordPress. Those two days, I should point out, were this past Saturday and Sunday, so I had to ask myself: Was I ready to spend $25 and give up my weekend at Centennial College's Student Centre @ Progress Campus, to listen to people potentially go on and on about blogs and technology? You bet your bippy, I was!