News Archive

Thursday July 29, 2010 / 10:47 ET

Most Recent at Top - Past News Below

Current Announcements From Planetcast:

CITY OF TORONTO PROJECTS
March 2009 - Planetcast launches the preview web site for InvestToronto.ca, the City of Toronto's new economic development subsidiary. We also are providing similar preliminary web work for Build Toronto Inc., a related company.

NEW SITE FOR GARTH TURNER
December 2008 - Planetcast launches a new web e-commerce site for Garth Turner: Xurbia.ca and we continue to maintain Mr. Turner's remarkable collection of weblogs in support of his publishing and speaking careers.

Past Announcements From Planetcast:

NEW MAGAZINE LAUNCH
October 2007 - Watch for the upcoming launch of Dine Magazine, edited by respected Toronto restaurant critic Sara Waxman. Planetcast has been selected to develop the web strategy for this new publication. Site launch is expected in the third week of November.

OPEN-SOURCE SOFTWARE FOCUS
June 2007 - In response to sustained customer demand, Planetcast announces expanded business focus on consultation and development services for open-source software solutions. Businesses across the world are ready to embrace the power and flexibility of open-source software for business advantage. Our web site will be revised in a few weeks to reflect this new change in focus.

SITE OVERHAUL LAUNCHED
March 2007 - Planetcast is please to launch SuperiorFrench.com as a renovated web site strategy for a notable business translation service. Our contribution includes brand identity as well as standards-compliant web code.

NEW WINERY OPEN IN JULY
March 2007 - Planetcast is please to launch a new site for Oak Heights Estate Winery based near the picturesque community of Warkworth, Ontario. The project is in preliminary form prior to business launch, expected in July 2007.

TORONTO MAYOR CAMPAIGN
October 2006 - Planetcast is pleased to provide technical tools and strategy for the Stephen LeDrew election campaign, challenging the incumbent socialist Mayor of Toronto, David Miller. LeDrew's late entry into the race means that a high-impact web strategy will be crucial for success. Planetcast therefore has deployed an unprecedented video-based web site with unique attributes to communicate LeDrew's policy strengths and voter advantage. Follow the campaign leading to Novermber 13th, voting day, at www.StrongMayor.to or www.LeDrew4Mayor.to

NEW ELECTION CLIENT
December 2005 - Planetcast welcomes Garth Turner as a client project in support of the Canadian federal election, with voting day set for January 23, 2006. Planetcast is also serving in a consultative role for a number of other candidates in this election.

WELCOME TO NEW CLIENTS
October 2005 - Planetcast welcomes SprungInvestment.com, CM Associates, Aston Associates, Regulatory Solutions Group and Rollit Management Consulting as newly completed client projects. The mandate for Sprung Investment's initial web site was to set the foundation for marketing support, and to establish their reputational presence in the Canadian financial advisory marketplace. The site features highest-level code compliance to web technical standards and advanced search optimization.

E-MAIL LIST MANAGEMENT EXPANDS
September 2005 - Planetcast can deliver superior e-mail list management services for web site owners with growing customer lists who suffer under the technical challenges of in-house e-mailing campaigns. We have two platforms: one basic, one advanced. Each offers self-serve capability or can be managed directly by our team of developers. With message follow-up, recipient behavior tracking, segmentations, autoresponders and many other features, these are powerful tools for direct marketers who seek to expand customer contacts to the internet. Contact us about e-mail list management for your web site or special web project today.

SEARCH OPTIMIZATION GROWS
August 2005 - Planetcast announces an expansion of talent and skills within our search optimization practice. Web site owners looking for strong results from search index optimization can depend on Planetcast for our solid methodology. Our 'best practices' model uses industry-accepted technical and content standards to earn legitimate and enduring search rank for our clients. Ask us about search index optimization for your web site or special web project today.

WELCOME TO NEW CLIENT
June 2005 - Planetcast welcomes the dental office of Dr. H.B. Tuvel - Dentistry On Bay as a consulting client. The mandate for this revised site was to assist in search engine optimization and to offer counsel to the third-party web designer on best practices regarding various technical matters.

WELCOME TO NEW CLIENT
April 2005 - Planetcast welcomes GourmetSafari.com as a newly completed client project. The mandate for this new site was to optimize the web code and finish various technical aspects that a previous designer could not complete. We also added a search function and optimized the site for usability and initial search visibility. The 97-page project was completed on an expedited basis over four days. Other recently launched sites include JoanneGray.ca, Grafo.ca and FYork.com.

PLANETCAST'S WORLD TRADE CENTER MEMORIAL PROPOSAL IS UNVEILED
November 2003 - With the conclusion of first-stage judging in the World Trade Center site memorial competition, Planetcast is pleased to release our team's memorial design submission for public download. Planetcast's founder and president, William Stratas, is now busy organizing Competitor Forum I, a global congregation and collaboration event for all WTC memorial competition participants, to be held in New York City on December 6th.

WEB PHOTO GALLERY RE-LAUNCHED
September 2003 - Planetcast's founder and president, William Stratas, is pleased to announce opening of his newly renovated photojournalism gallery, Historic Moments in Canadian Politics, which displays some of his best work from the tumultuous 1978-1984 era in Canadian politics and elections. Since launch in 1996, this growing collection of images has been widely regarded as a unique and valuable contribution in support of Canadian culture on the World Wide Web.

MICROSOFT MONOPOLY POSES NATIONAL SECURITY RISK
September 2003 - (We couldn't have said it better ourselves... Originally published in Security Wire Digest) Calling for increased biodiversity in IT infrastructures, a group of infosecurity luminaries warns that Microsoft's dominance in the software and operating systems markets is threatening US security. "Cyber Insecurity: The Cost of Monopoly," released September 24th, 2003 at the Computer & Communications Industry Association's meeting in Washington, DC, asserts that Microsoft's overwhelming market share has caused US computer networks to be susceptible to massive, cascading failures. According to the authors, Microsoft's hold on excessively complex and vulnerable software fortifies its dominance in desktop computing and ensures not only that Microsoft will continue to be the number-one target of malicious viruses, worms and other attacks, but that those attacks will have far-reaching effects. Download the report here (in PDF format).

DOT-EU DOMAIN REGISTRY OPENS IN 2003
September 2003 - The new top-level domain for the European community, .eu, is set to open for business in late 2003. Dot-eu domain names will carry some requirements with respect to European community residency of corporation or person. Wide participation and significant demand is anticipated. Contact Planetcast now to discuss your strategy for this new domain registration opportunity.

POWER BLACKOUT UPDATE
August 18, 2003 - Planetcast experienced no major service outages during the spectacular regional power failure across the northeast USA and central Canada on August 14th-15th, 2003. As a precaution, one web server was powered down in early evening but was restarted shortly after midnight. DNS and video streaming services were not interrupted at any time. Please contact our support desk if you have any questions regarding the status of your Planetcast hosted/managed web site.

NEWS ALERT: JULY 17th, 2003 - William Stratas, Planetcast's president and founder, and a participant in the World Trade Center site memorial design competition, is quoted today in a worldwide Associated Press newswire story [see various pick-ups of the story: NY Times, ABC News, NY Newsday, The Guardian, SF Chronicle, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Sacramento Bee, WNBC and various others]. William is chief plan designer for one of the competition submissions; a total of 5,200 submissions were received by final deadline, June 30th. The interview, conducted by telephone from New York, solicited his opinion regarding the record number of entries received in the competition: "I'm thrilled that there's a very vibrant level of interest," said William Stratas, a Toronto Web developer who is part of a three-person team that submitted a proposal. "I believe that even if you don't make finalist you do have the opportunity to sculpt the result."

PLANETCAST ASSISTS KEY CLIENT IN SARS CRISIS
Planetcast created and maintains the SARS crisis sub-site for The Scarborough Hospital, one of our long-time clients. Content of the site was drafted by the hospital's public affairs unit, while our staff designed the new web template and implements updates on a frequent basis as the crisis continues to evolve. We salute the exceptional dedication of all health care professionals and administrative staff at The Scarborough Hospital during this urgent period of professional and community challenge.

CHINA DOMAIN REGISTRY OPEN TO ALL
The top-level domain for China, dot-cn, is now open for unrestricted global registration of third-level commercial domains, through the official Chinese registry. Beginning in mid-December 2002, business clients can register names in the form domain.com.cn; in Spring 2003 registration of second-level names such as planetcast.cn will be opened for global commercial availability. Contact Planetcast to discuss your strategy and deployment for this high-potential domain name registration opportunity.

PLANETCAST DEVELOPING WORLD TRADE CENTER PROPOSAL
In response to feedback by various interests, including victims' families, officials in New York City have called for a new round of proposals for the World Trade Center site plan, memorial and reconstruction. Planetcast is stepping forward to meet this challenge and contribute to public debate, with a visionary memorial plan now under development, and planned for release in Spring/Summer 2003.

HELP IS AVAILABLE TO COMBAT SPAM
Unsolicited commercial e-mail ("spam") continues to be a huge epidemic across the internet. Recent months have witnessed explosive new levels of e-mail abuse. The cost of this blight for corporate users, in time and lost productivity, grows every year. Contact Planetcast to discuss the latest technical strategies for avoidance and even elimination of spam from your e-mail in-box.

DOT-EU DOMAIN REGISTRY OPENS SOON
The new top-level domain for the European community, .eu, is expected to open for business in late 2002 or early 2003. Dot-eu domain names likely will carry minimal restrictions, meaning that wide participation and significant global demand is anticipated. Contact Planetcast to discuss your strategy for this exciting new domain registration opportunity.

CIRA ELECTION RESULTS ANNOUNCED
Planetcast is very pleased to note that our good colleague, Mark Jeftovic, has been elected as a director of the Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA, managers of the dot-ca namespace), effective June 2002. Mark is President of easyDNS Technologies Inc., one of Planetcast's long-time technical partners. Congratulations, Mark!

DOT-PRO DOMAIN REGISTRY OPENS SOON
RegistryPro, the official registrar for dot-pro domain names, is expected to open for business in 2002. Dot-pro domain names are reserved exclusively for certified professionals around the world including, lawyers, doctors and accountants (eg. JohnSmith.pro or SmithPartners.pro), with other professions to follow. Contact Planetcast to discuss your strategy for this exciting new domain registration opportunity.

DOT-US DOMAIN NAMES LIBERALIZED
Planetcast is pleased to announce that, beginning in March 2002, the dot-US national domain name registry is being opened up for commercial uses. This is an excellent opportunity for our clients with United States business activities to secure valuable domain name assets in the form www.companyname.us. Contact Planetcast to discuss the specific rules and guidelines for registration of your new dot-US domain names and protection of your existing US-registered trade marks as domain names.

NEW WEB SITE LAUNCHED
Planetcast's new corporate web site was activated on January 15, 2002. The site is built to the latest XHTML code standards for multi-device display compatibility, and features unique astronomical images of the Sun as visual accent throughout.

WILLIAM STRATAS RE-ELECTED AS IMAT DIRECTOR
In November 2001, Planetcast's president and founder, William Stratas, was re-elected as a director of IMAT, Canada's leading association for new media content developers.

BUSINESS NETWORKING MEMBERSHIP GRANTED
Effective in September 2001, William Stratas, president and founder of Planetcast, has been accepted into membership with Business Networking International, based out of the Bay Street chapter in downtown Toronto. BNI is North America's foremost referral and support network for business professionals, with a rapidly expanding membership base in many major cities.

“I invite you to contact me for full details on all the specialized services that Planetcast offers.”

— William C. Stratas, President