I'll admit, as a shameless fan of ABC's LOST, most of my Wednesday evenings are spent huddled in front of my TV, held rapt with attention, and yet, driven utterly insane by the show's convoluted plot. That being said, I consider it a good thing that I opted out of the confusion this Wednesday, choosing instead to attend the Web Creator's Show and Tell.

Held at the Camera Lounge, a lovely lounge, bar and screening venue on Queen Street West, the Web Creator's Show and Tell is but one of the regular monthly screenings put on by members of the Writer's Guild of Canada. Previous showings have included such popular television series' as Being Erica and Flashpoint, and the environment is incredibly well suited for networking with the writer's that make these shows possible.

For a good hour, the cynic inside me kept telling me it was just a table, and an expensively priced one at that. But my inner five-year-old, as it turned out, was really the one running the show; while an expensive table it may be, my fingers simply couldn't resist.

The table in question is officially known as the Microsoft Surface, a multi-touch enabled computer screen released last year that is literally set into the top of a table. Ignoring the numerous, power-at-the-tip-of-a-finger clichés, Microsoft promises that the table will present a new and intuitive way for users to interact with their computers.

While not intended for consumers just yet, the device has slowly been finding its way into the hands of software developers, businesses, and design firms like teehan+lax - one of the few Toronto-based companies who have begun exploring the possibilities this sort of technology may hold.

It's not uncommon for a university or college to have its own website; but a virtual campus? That's an entirely different story all together.

For the past year, this is exactly what OCAD has done, using the popular Second Life computer game as a platform for its online campus and gallery. Yesterday's open house, hosted by lead researcher and OCAD Integrate Media Chair Judith Doyle, presented audience members with a closer look at OCAD's online property, and some of the projects that have graced the college's online installation.

One of the perks of living in a city like Toronto is that, once the warm weather hits, residents have at least a couple beaches to choose from when seeking reprieve from the heat. Health concerns and questionable grey foam aside, nothing quite beats an inoperable air conditioner as much as a quick dip off the city's shores. Of course, in the event that the water's quality is a little too dubious for your liking - or, perhaps everyone's favourite sewage treatment facilities have spewed bacteria onto our sandy shores again - it seems that Google's got you covered.

Starting with version 5.0, the search giant's popular Google Earth application no longer maps just the earth and sky - it's getting its feet wet too, with comprehensive new ocean data as well. But as it turns out, oceans aren't the only bodies of water feeling the love; the Great Lakes - and the shores of Toronto by extension - are all available for exploration as well.

Unlike television, being famous on the internet poses a bit of a conundrum; fame and popularity are achieved from the other side of a screen, which often means that fans are far more familiar with a project itself, rather than the person behind it.

And while you might be the biggest webcomic fan on the internet, chances are, you wouldn't be able to pick very many authors out of a crowd if your life depended on it. Unless the crowd was composed entirely of web comic authors, of course.

Which, coincidentally enough, was exactly what happened last night, as North York Central Library, in association with The Beguiling, hosted "Talking Webcomics". One of the Toronto Public Library's many Keep Toronto Reading events this month, the evening featured some of the very best web comic authors working and living in Toronto. Attendees included the likes of Kate Beaton, Willow Dawson, Emily Horne, Brian McLachlan, and Ryan North - all of whom have successful, and regularly updating series'.

It's said that one of the first things to go during a recession is advertising. And while watching technology shrink to previously unheard of sizes may excite some people, seeing newspapers do the same most definitely does not.

So amidst the burning wreckage of falling publishers and apprehensive advertisers, there's one man who has sat relatively unscathed. You see, this man is named Ryan North - and he comes from the Internet.