The City of Toronto recent launched the 311 Toronto service, an online and phone-in call center that aims to allow for more efficient and trackable question-answer interactions related to city services. And they accept email submissions and queries, including (but not limited to) reporting of potholes, vandalism, and health and safety concerns.

Now, thanks to a Seattle-based company called Urban Anomaly, there's a way to very quickly and easily submit these types reports to 311 Toronto, from the iPhone.

We've been waiting for it for a long time for this in Canada. Since back in April, the Google Street View camera cars were seen in and around the GTA, and speculation that the new visual feature would be implemented "soon" remained alive and well. But it's been so long that most of us forgot about it. Until today!

And there are some hilarious moments captured.

Event organizers and techno savvies have been working diligently behind the scenes to bring three main tech-related enhancements to Toronto's all-night contemporary art festival experience: a fast-loading mobile-friendly web site; an online custom itinerary builder; and comprehensive, GPS-enabled iPhone and Blackberry mobile applications that will allow festival-goers to get on-the-fly exhibit info galore and share their experiences in real time.

For the uninitiated, Ignite events always comprise two parts: (1) a contest and (2) a series of 5 minute presentations where each presenter gets 5 minutes to run through 20 slides.

For the first Ignite Toronto, there were 13 speakers ranging from Brady Gilchrist who riffed about the end of Television to Mat Lincez who discussed the evolution of street media. The speakers were almost universally entertaining, but it didn't help that all of us in the audience had a ready supply of beer; and were somewhat intoxicated on cupcake fumes from the hard-fought cupcake decoration competition that preceded the speakers.

It's a significant improvement, both esthetically and functionally. The most obvious changes are a (debatably) slicker, more modern and legible look, and the introduction of reader comments on stories (which is sure to boost the level of interaction readers can have with one another). Two thumbs up.

But the front page headline section is also suffering from a bit of a graphic design / layout problem that could easily make top headlines susceptible to comical misinterpretation.

Too bad the game concept isn't very creative. Or the game-play all that fun.

Thankfully, the Toronto Parking Authority is the latest city service to bring their online offering up to speed with the rest of the web, launching a redesigned website today that improves upon its predecessor in almost every way possible.

Every time I went, I would have this strange urge to touch everything - displays, models, and especially those little audio tour buttons that would drone monotonous narratives at my young self. And though I'm many years older, I doubt little has changed.

New at the Bata Shoe Museum exhibit, is a series of audio tours installed throughout the building - but with a twist. There are no red buttons or audio booths to be found. In fact, all you need is probably already in your pocket.

Of course, there was nothing truly sinister about last night's Open Internet Town Hall, hosted by SaveOurNet.ca. Instead, the evening proved to be a successful one, full of drinks, discussion, and most importantly, a focus on net neutrality. Yet, at times, it seemed as if that focus was hard to reach.

"Not everything you think of as a vegetable is one. Tonight I reveal which are secretly fruits in disguise. More than meets the eye. News @ 6," tweets Annie Mroczkowski.

Curious to find out more about the city's plans and progress, I had the opportunity to speak with Keith McDonald, communications coordinator for the web re:Brand campaign. While it may not be immediately obvious, now is a particularly important time for McDonald and the re:Brand team; a number of new comment and feedback systems have been set up which will allow Toronto.ca users to directly influence the evolution of the site.

Admission is $150 but we've found ourselves with a pass to give away to one lucky winner. Want it? Here's what you need to do:

1. At some point tomorrow (Monday), we'll post a contest question to our Twitter feed.
2. Once you see the question, be the first person to post the correct answer on the wall of the blogTO Facebook Group

Good luck!

Image by Allison McCarthy on Flickr

I did a bit of a double take upon first reading that sentence, on the basis that it just seemed... well, strange. Personally, I'm used to my athletes spouting "give it your all" mantras, and not coding in C, so forgive my surprise. Yet, it seems that Bosh is actually more of a technologically inclined player than you might expect.