April 2005 - Posts
This has been the longest interval between posts for me in a long time! I guess that's what final exams and moving into an office all at the same time will do to you. Anyway, the latest update is that we now have Internet access at the office, and the wiring should be completed tomorrow. That means that by Monday, I should be back into a more regular schedule, and hopefully I'll move my desktop sometime this weekend.
Oddly enough, I cannot wait to get back to work. All this moving and building and stuff has totally screwed up my work schedule, to say nothing of destroying my already poor sleeping and eating patterns.
You'd think I would be excited about the launch of the world's first "all-podcast radio station," but instead I'm disappointed. San Francisco's 1550 KYCY will now become KYOURadio and will feature content submitted by listeners. The problem? It's not podcasting at all:
In part because of licensing requirements, which usually cover only broadcast and streaming, the company has no plans to provide downloadable program archives.
More and more, individuals and organizations are attaching the term "podcast" to their audio endeavours, trying to jump on the bandwagon. This is very clearly one such example, and it's disappointing. KYOURadio is not a podcast radio station - they simply play content submitted by listeners.
Did you watch Prime Minister Paul Martin's national address on prime-time television last Thursday night? No? Don't feel bad, you're probably in the majority. Martin thought that going on national television would be a good way to try and save himself and the Liberals some face in the wake of adscam (the last time a Prime Minister went on national television was in 1995, when Quebec was about to secede). While it's probably too soon to tell if his address had any real impact, the Conservatives are clearly ahead in the opinion polls, with 35% to the Liberal's 30%.
Which begs the question, are we going back to the polls? Clearly with the Conservatives enjoying a comfortable advantage, it's not unreasonable they would rather have an election now than later. On the other hand, Canada is a very Liberal country:
The Liberal Party is often described as Canada’s natural party of government, having been in power for the past 12 years, and for 55 of the past 70.
Mr Martin has one aspect of public opinion in his favour: voters agree with him that the full Gomery report should come out before an election is called.
I think it comes to down to whether or not we want Quebec to separate. A strong election for the Conservatives would probably also mean a strong election for the Bloc Québécois, and perhaps, the start of new separation talk. I think that is probably something most Canadians would want to avoid. If history is any indication, it seems likely that the Liberals will be given another chance, if not by winning the next election, by clearly winning the following election.
Maybe the question isn't "are we going back to the polls", but rather, will adscam do anything? If this scandal doesn't make Canadians vote non-Liberal, what will?
You know, I think being the Pope would be a pretty sweet deal. Over a billion devoted followers, and the entire world tuned to your every word. Well, sweet deal if you like the attention I suppose, and maybe Pope Benedict XVI doesn't:
Pope Benedict XVI has revealed at an audience with pilgrims that he prayed to God during conclave to spare him the "destiny" of becoming Pope. He had thought that at 78 his "life's work was finished and I was expecting quieter years," he said.
With that in mind, it will be interesting to see if he travels a lot of stays close to home. He has the power as Pope to still have quieter years!
Been a long time since I last posted, well for me at least! I've been quite busy getting everything moved into the new office with Dickson, and we're not done yet. The furniture and everything should be in later today, leaving only the wiring and computers to setup. Unfortunately, I don't think it will be that simple.
We noticed on Friday that there are a ton of wireless networks within range. While that in itself isn't terribly surprising, the fact that so many are unsecured is. I expected almost every network to require a WEP key, but apparently it's not a concern! You can bet our network will be secured - don't need any freeloaders like we have been the last couple days!
Just wanted to say thanks to Kim and Felicia for helping us out so far! We've been taking lots of pictures, and we'll get those posted soon.
The good folks at Health Canada announced yesterday that they have given approval for the sale of Sativex in our country. Sativex is a drug derived from cannabis to treat multiple sclerosis-related nerve pain:
This week’s approval of Sativex marked the world’s first cannabis-based drug to reach the market, according to the drug’s U.K.-based manufacturer, GW Pharmaceuticals....The drug is dispensed via a spray, which is delivered under the tongue or on the inside of the cheek. Potential side effects can include nausea, fatigue, dizziness, and reactions at the site where the drug is sprayed. However, the drug will not induce the type of intoxication associated with smoking marijuana.
So that's definitely good news for people suffering from MS. I think it's interesting to note that the announcement was made on April 20th, which is apparently International Smoke Weed Day (or 420). Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find an official link or website, just a few blog postings. I wish I could find out some more information on it - first heard about "smoke weed day" from Kim. Apparently it's a word-of-mouth celebration!
If you're in university or college, you're no doubt having to deal with final exams right now. I had my first today, and I must say, it went quite well. I was talking with Andrew tonight though, and realized that you can never be too prepared! So I present to you the following exam tip:
Read the question and answers carefully! As you can see in this example, I did not choose an answer that was given to me. This was a careless mistake that should not have happened! This example also shows that a seemingly simple mistake can have a big effect.
I guess another tip would be to not read blogs when you should be reading your course materials. Now stop procrastinating and get back to studying!
I am sure you're aware that Joseph Ratzinger was selected to be the next pope - it's all over the news. I think the message is clear: the Vatican did not want another long papacy. You can learn some interesting things about the new pope at Wikipedia. For example, he's the eight German pope, and the first since 1523.
The name he selected is not all that surprising either. Indeed, Rogers Cadenhead registered a bunch of domain names ahead of the selection of the new pope, including BenedictXVI.com. Apparently the domain has received about 100 hits a minute since Ratzinger was selected. Why didn't I think of that! I doubt it bothers the Vatican much however, considering they have their own top-level domain ".va" to use.
Ever since Microsoft released their AntiSpyware beta, I have been using it almost exclusively. In my testing, I found that it worked far better than Ad-Aware. Of course, just like in real life, protection is better when you combine methods, so it's never a bad idea to have more than one application.
Having said that, it's worth noting that Symantec released today a free beta of Norton Internet Security 2005 AntiSpyware Edition. Aside from the horrendously long name, I am willing to bet the application is very good at what it does:
Norton Internet Security 2005 provides essential protection from viruses, hackers, and privacy threats. Included are full versions of Norton AntiVirus and Norton Personal Firewall, which efficiently defend your PC from the most common Internet dangers. You also get Norton AntiSpam to block unwanted email, Norton Parental Control to protect your children online and Norton Privacy Control to prevent confidential information to be sent out.
If you're in the market for a spyware app, this one is probably worth checking out. And unlike Microsoft's application, the Norton app will work on Windows 9x too. The free beta expires June 1st.
The world around us is increasingly wired, and as a result, we
consume more information at a faster pace than ever before. It's kind
of interesting to think that I could read something about a news story
today online, from media outlets all over the world, and from
individuals via blogs. Fifty years ago, that amount of information
simply would not have been readily available. It would have been almost
impossible.
Email, instant messaging, blogs, websites - they all add to
something called "information overload." I think you'll start hearing
the expression more and more in the next couple years, or at least
until the tools that help us deal with it improve. Basically, we take
in more information than we can deal with at one time. One of the major
negative side effects of information overload, at least to some people,
is that human interaction is lost:
"The amount of information that goes into a young person's head today
is incredible," says David H. Landers, director of the student resource
center at Saint Michael's College, in Colchester, Vt. His main concern
is that students have replaced face-to-face contact with instant
messaging and e-mail. "They're not going to have the same quality of
interpersonal relations that will help them in a work environment," he
argues.
I see two major flaws with this argument. First and foremost, if
everyone else is using email and instant messaging and other
technologies, then the interpersonal skills required for a work
environment have changed, haven't they? I think it's only a problem if
the level of technology use and knowledge is not somewhat similar
between all team members. So it follows that in five to ten years, it
won't be a problem at all, as the older generation who snubs technology
retires.
The second flaw is that I don't think information overload
necessarily degrades communication. I can keep in touch with more
people more often thanks to instant messaging and other technologies.
And moving forward, these technologies will be improved with audio and
video, in effect reintroducing the human element.
Information overload is an interesting topic, but I wouldn't call it
a problem. A challenge yes, but one that will be overcome. In the big
picture, we've gone and created a bunch of tools for easily creating
content. Now we have to go and create tools to manage and consume it.
This is reflected on the small scale quite well with things like blogs,
podcasts, or even email. There are a number of ways to create a blog,
but only two ways to consume it (the web and an aggregator), and very
rudimentary ways to organize it (folders or keyword search). Podcasts are very similar.
And even email, the oldest of them all, doesn't deal with information
overload very well. The idea of an inbox just doesn't make sense when
you get 100 emails a day, and yet we still deal with that metaphor.
More importantly, too much information is a better problem to have than not enough, don't you think?
The big news in the tech world today is that Adobe has bought Macromedia for $3.4 billion. Many people seem to think
that the two make a perfect couple, and complement each other in a
number of ways. While I suppose that's true, I think this might be the
beginning of the end for Adobe and Macromedia.
The first article I saw on the acquisition was this one,
from News.com. It tends to focus on how Adobe and Macromedia are
"making peace", so that they can compete better together against, who
else, Microsoft. Indeed, Adobe's CEO Bruce Chizen said "When I think
about competitors, there's only one I really worry about. Microsoft is
the competitor, and it's the one that keeps me up at night."
Until now, Adobe has been pretty dominant with its PDF format, and
Macromedia has been pretty dominant with its Flash platform. Microsoft
has largely left the two alone, even using both technologies. I
wouldn't say there has been too much competition So here's my question:
how does this merger HELP the two compete against Microsoft?
The Adobe acquisition of Macromedia is like a smoke signal.
Microsoft will see it, and all of a sudden, the new Adobe is on the
radar in a much bigger way. Who is Microsoft more likely to pay
attention to, two smaller companies, or one large one? Who poses a
bigger threat to Windows, Adobe, Macromedia, or the two combined?
People describe Microsoft as a ship that constantly changes course to
mitigate new threats. Really, they are more like a fleet of ships. I'd
imagine they'll dispatch a few to deal with the new Adobe now.
I think Adobe and Macromedia make some excellent products, and it
would be very difficult for Microsoft to come up with direct
competitors. Visual Studio is far beyond Dreamweaver, but other than
that, Microsoft doesn't really make any competing products. At least
not yet. It'll be interesting to see what happens now, to say the
least. Best of luck to Adobe and Macromedia, but I'm not sure the
merger is the start of better things!
As you can see, I made it back alive from the Kokanee Freeride! I'd never been boarding on a mountain before, so it was quite an experience. The weather was awesome, and the snow was really good in the morning. In the afternoon it kinda turned to slush, and just made everything soaking wet, but that's okay.
I think I did pretty good snowboarding. I could definitely get used to it. Thanks to Felicia, Dickson and especially Andrew for putting up with my slowness - I constantly felt I was holding them up! I didn't fall down THAT many times, but my knees are a bit sore. Fortunately, no face plants this time. I do have to learn not to rely on my heels so much though, it makes the leg muscles very sore after a while. One cool thing, as Andrew pointed out, is that I managed to make it off the lift once (or was it twice?) without falling! Definitely an accomplishment for me :)
The bus ride there and back seemed very long, but the stop in Edson (about half way) made it bearable. The beer gardens were pretty cool at mid-mountain, lots of people, including the Kokanee girls! And they looked just like they do in the commercial, with the silver suits and everything. It was awesome! I didn't drink that much, but my snowboarding-goddess friend Felicia (she's really good) managed to down a couple, and then board down the hill with a Kokanee in hand. I wish I could say I did that, but I'd have spilt the beer for sure, and I'm not into alcohol abuse! Next time.
I must say, snowboarding on a mountain is very humbling. There were hundreds of little kids who could carve circles around me, it was insane. They must have started very young - made me feel old actually. The wonderful views and longer runs made up for that though!
If I had any complaints, it would be that the lockers are too small, and there aren't enough. Seems to me they could make a lot of money if they upgraded that part of the experience. Minor detail though, really. Hopefully I'll get the pictures from Felicia soon (she was our photographer) so I can post the good ones. Definitely liking this snowboarding thing. Again, thanks Kim for scoring us the tickets, and thanks Dickson, Andrew and Felicia for coming! It was fun :)
Off to Denny's in an hour or so for a late-nite meal, and then to Marmot Basin for the Kokanee Freeride party! That's right, I'll spend all of tomorrow falling on my face as I attempt to snowboard. It will be interesting, to say the least. Dickson, Andrew and Felicia will be along for the ride, and I'm sure, to document my mountain mishaps.
Have a great Sunday! Oh, and props to Kim for hooking us up :)
If you're reading this on the web, you've no doubt noticed that I
have a new look! I finally completed a site redesign that I started
back in January, and just never got around to finishing. There was
always too many things on the go, so I'd do little bits at a time.
Somewhere along the way, Community Server
was released, and I started using it for our Paramagnus blogs. I made
the decision to upgrade my blog from the old .Text, to the new
Community Server 1.0, and I completed that upgrade last night. It has
some really cool features, like Search (which you can get to on the
right). I used a really great conversion tool called DotTextCSConverter,
which has the unique ability to keep all of my post ID's the same. This
means that hopefully, there should be no broken links! If you do notice
one, please let me know, and I'll see what I can do.
As you can probably guess, I am still tweaking things. I have some
more things to add to the right, and some other changes to make,
especially if you give me some constructive feedback. One new thing is
the navigation bar at the top! You'll notice it has a Podcast button -
this is not working yet. Also, the Gallery is still my old design, I
have not upgraded it yet (actually I probably won't upgrade it, it will
simply be replaced). Everything else is using the new design now,
though.
Here's what I was going for with the redesign: a cleaner, more
professional look that didn't completely drop the personal elements of
the site. Quite simply, my old site was getting far too cluttered and
messy. I hope you like the new design!
Earlier this week Dickson and I registered for Gnomedex 5.0, taking place in Seattle from June 23rd to 25th. We're really excited about the conference, and we're looking forward to meeting a bunch of new people! If the conference is anything like Northern Voice, it should be a great time. We're still working out the travel arrangements, but there's lots of time left for that.
Julie Leung is listed as one of the many speakers, and I am really looking forward to her session. I missed her talk at Northern Voice, but it seemed to be one of the favorites. This year's Gnomedex definitely has the podcasting vibe, with Adam Curry and Dave Winer keynoting, and a bunch of podcasters attending. I can't wait to see what people are doing with podcasting in two months, it should be amazing.
If you're going to be at Gnomedex (or in Seattle at the same time) and want to get together, let me know!
[Tags: gnomedex podcasting northernvoice paramagnus] [Categories: gnomedex]
Some of you might know that Meetup.com recently announced that the service is no longer free, and they will charge $19 a month. Basically the site has run into the "how do we keep this going" moment, and decided that the service is worth paying for:
If you'd like to explore alternatives we encourage you to do so. Really. As big believers in the expression "you get what you pay for" we think you'll realize that Meetup's worth the cost.
Today Marc Canter posted about the changes:
One good thing they did - they put their faces next to what they describe as "the bad news". Me - I don't consider it bad news. There's a time for every social experiment to grow up, smell the mustard and get real. MeetUp has - congreats!
Did I read that correctly? Did Marc really say "There's a time for every social experiment to grow up, smell the mustard and get real," or am I misreading this? Nope, checked my glasses, I appear to be reading correctly. So what's the big deal?
Ourmedia is a brand new site, and I'd definitely describe it as a "social experiment." It depends on having a community of users, and because no one knows where it's going to go, its very much an experimental project. So then, Marc, why is it a good thing for Meetup to have a business model, but somehow Ourmedia doesn't need one? I still don't buy the "Ourmedia will always be free" marketing spin - someone, somewhere has to pick up the bill. And just because one wealthy individual is paying for it today, doesn't mean he'll be paying for it tomorrow.
Ourmedia hasn't gotten any stellar reviews, and I think the only reason they are still running is that they are free, so people give them the benefit of the doubt. They don't expect good service, because they are not paying for it. So with that in mind, perhaps Ourmedia's model isn't so bad after all right? Wrong. Yesterday I mentioned that Google Video Upload was launched, and it too is free. I'd be willing to bet Google will make sure it works and is well-liked, just like all of their other free offerings.
Meetup.com got away with being free for so long because their service worked, and was relatively unique. I think it's quite clear that the same is not true for Ourmedia - it doesn't work, and there are better alternatives appearing every day. Maybe Ourmedia needs a business model. Maybe they should create a service that is worth paying for, and then charge for it. Maybe the people in charge should grow up, smell the mustard and get real.
[Tags: meetup ourmedia marc canter video business model] [Categories: meetup]
A new version of the very popular MSN Messenger add-on Messenger Plus! was released yesterday. The new version definitely looks like it was made for version 7, with new icons all over the user interface. Here's a few of the new changes:
- A couple of optimizations have been made so that the contact list of Messenger 7 displays faster when Messenger Plus! is running (those of you with older computer will probably notice a big difference).
- An important problem related to compatibility with MSN Messenger 7 has been found and fixed which is why a new version is released so soon.
- The /sendfile command has been fixed for the final version of Messenger 7, however, no parameter is allowed for this command anymore (remember that you can use /dropfile too).
- In several windows of Messenger Plus! (like the event viewer and the floating windows), the status icons now use the Messenger 7 style (in MSN Messenger 7 only).
There's lots more to see in the program, and the full changelog is here. Go download it!
[Tags: msn messenger msgplus] [Categories: msgplus]
A few days ago, Intel announced that they would pay up to $10,000 for a mint-condition copy of an April 19th, 1965 issue of the magazine that contained Gordon Moore's now famed law about how the number of components on integrated circuits would double every year. Kind of amazing that Intel didn't have a copy of the magazine, and apparently they thought so too, so they offered the bounty.
A day after the bounty was announced, a library at the University of Illinois noticed that one of their two copies of the magazine had disappeared:
There was a glaring space on the shelf where the bound volume containing the April 19, 1965, edition of Electronics Magazine sat for years, said Mary Schlembach, assistant engineering librarian at the Grainger Engineering Library at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Another librarian heard a student talking on a cell phone about the volume the same day, Schlembach said. Ordinarily, the magazine is not a popular item.
Librarians at other schools are mad too. Stanford, the University of Washington, and a bunch of others have expressed their frustration. Intel though, has apparently said they will only buy library copies from actual libraries, so the student who swiped one might have a hard time claiming the bounty.
[Via CNET News.com] [Tags: intel libraries gordon moore theft] [Categories: intel]
Earlier today I wrote a somewhat comical entry about how young people are no longer interested in the six o'clock news. Well, there was some seriousness there too - young people really are having an effect on news outlets of all types, from television to newspapers. So I thought it was especially appropriate that I'd come across a post from Jeff Jarvis where he talks about Rupert Murdoch's speech today to the American Society of Newspaper Editors in Washington. For those of you that don't know, Rupert Murdoch is top dog at News Corp.
According to Jarvis, the speech included lots of props to the Internet and specifically, to blogs. From what I read, Murdoch seems to have done a great job in providing some background to what he's talking about, explaining how newspapers enjoyed a virtual monopoly until the radio was invented. Now, the time for newspapers to change has come - "The trends are against us," Murdoch says. He's not saying that news is dead however, just that it needs to be delivered differently:
The challenge, however, is to deliver that news in ways consumers want to receive it. Before we can apply our competitive advantages, we have to free our minds of our prejudices and predispositions, and start thinking like our newest consumers. In short, we have to answer this fundamental question: What do we - a bunch of digital immigrants -- need to do to be relevant to the digital natives?
Talk about hitting the nail on the head. They are indeed "digital immigrants", what an excellent way to describe the average newspaper editor. If there is anyone who could give a "call-to-arms" speech to the newspaper industry and have it be heard, I can't think of a better man than Rupert Murdoch. He is so important, and so highly regarded. Let's hope the editors listened.
I hate almost everything about newspapers. I don't like the size of the paper. I don't like the way it makes everything black. I don't like that every page has to be jammed full of stuff. I don't like that the pages are not full color. I don't like that once I find something interesting, I can't do anything with it (like send it to a friend, or blog about it with a link, etc). Please newspaper editors, hear Murdoch's call, and bring the newspaper into the digital age!
[Via BuzzMachine] [Tags: murdoch news newspapers media blogs]
If you're into the whole video podcasting or video-blogging thing, you can now upload your videos to Google. Here's their mission:
Our mission is to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful. Currently, Google Video lets you search a growing archive of televised content -- everything from sports events to dinosaur documentaries to news programs. In addition to televised content, we're now accepting video from anyone who wants to upload content to us. Uploaded content will not be immediately available to users searching Google Video as this is just the submission stage of the program. But (if you'll pardon the pun) stay tuned.
If all you want to do is index video, does that really require uploading of the video? Seems to me there must be more to it. Check it out anyway, at Google Video.
[Tags: google video]
How many young people watch the news these days? A lot less than in the past I'd bet. Most probably get their news from the Internet, or from friends. I have come up with a way to get young people, specifically males in the much-coveted 18 to 34 age range watching again. Pass a law that makes all news anchors look like this beautiful anchorwoman. Damn lucky French people.
[Tags: news france]
Did you know Britain has an election coming up? Well they do. You can get all the background information you'd ever need from The Economist. Unfortunately, you won't be able to vote unless you live in the U.K. But fear not! The good folks at IncrediBull Ideas have decided to bring us May 5th Election, where you can vote for one of three candidates:
Singer/dancer Chef Jamie Oliver and the Labour Party- Pop star Kylie Minogue and the Conservative Party
- Manchester United star Wayne Rooney and the Liberal Democrat Party
Happy voting! (And go Blair go.)
[Via The Media Drop] [Tags: election britain prime minister]
In Edmonton, like any other city, we have a number of different radio stations. In the last two years, we've had quite a few format changes for both AM and FM stations, and at least two new FM stations have appeared. One of the new stations is The Bounce, at 91.7 on the dial. Their main competition is 96X at 96.3, one of the old stations. It is these two stations I want to take a look at.
As you can see from the Bounce website, the station advertises itself as "Your New #1." That seems logical I suppose, considering they are new, but are they really #1? Their arch rival, 96X, advertises itself as "Edmonton's #1 Hit Music Station." How can they both be #1? Sounds like one of the two stations has to be wrong!
The two radio stations are making a claim about their position in the radio market in Edmonton. According to the Competition Bureau here in Canada, a misleading representation about market position is prohibited:
Representations about the nature, size and market position of a business...fall within section 52(1)(a), which prohibits representations that are false or misleading in a material respect. Words such as "only" or similar claims of the exclusivity or superiority of a supplier should not be used if the result is to deceive or mislead.
I think it is quite intuitive that two stations cannot be #1 at the same time, so one of the stations must be making a misleading representation! Unfortunately, I do not have any data on listeners, but I would assume that 96X has the largest part of the market, especially considering The Bounce is so new. Now I suppose by saying "YOUR New #1" and not "EDMONTON's New #1", The Bounce may be on safe footing, despite the fact that by "your" they probably mean "edmonton's" anyway.
In the grand scheme of things, they could both advertise using the same words and it wouldn't affect my life in the slightest (especially thanks to my Zen Touch). I'll still flip between stations when the commercials start. I just think it's interesting to be aware of how these companies market themselves.
[Tags: edmonton radio advertising 96x thebounce]
You can tell E3 is getting close, the news surrounding Xbox and PS3 is heating up. The latest is an announcement from Microsoft today that they will debut the new Xbox on MTV in North America, Asia Pacific and Europe over a 24 hour period:
According to Microsoft, Elijah Wood, who played Frodo in the Lord Of The Rings Movies, will host the debut, which is called "MTV Presents: The Next Generation Xbox Revealed". Microsoft's release indicates the global broadcast will premiere Thursday, May 12, at 9:30 p.m. EDT in North America and on Friday, May 13 in other regions around the globe.
According to the dates and times released for this launch, North Americans will see the new console on May 12th, four days before what was previously thought to be the date of debut. Also speculated today is that Microsoft and Pepsi are teaming up for a huge giveaway:
The contest will use an under-the-cap registration method (much like Pepsi did before with those iTunes giveaways), and supposedly they’ll be giving away one console every ten minutes, 24 hours a day, for nine weeks straight.
[Via WebProNews & Engadget] [Tags: microsoft xbox mtv pepsi games]
Since we all know engineers are special people, who require special classes like their own version of English, it should be no surprise that there is a cooking website devoted to engineers. Cooking for Engineers says "Have an analytical mind? Like to cook? This is the site to read!" And from the comments on the MetaFilter post, be sure to check out Cook's Illustrated too.
[Via MetaFilter] [Tags: cooking engineering engineers food]
Hope you enjoy your day today! A bunch of us went out to celebrate on Friday night, you can see some pictures, and check out Andrew and Megan's writeups too.
Maybe it's just me, but it seems as though Canadian politics have become interesting again - at least as far as the media is concerned. Most of the interest has to do with Adscam, like the American blogger who bypassed a Canadian gag order meant to keep the details of the proceedings out of the public eye:
A Canadian commission that's investigating charges of high-level wrongdoing in the nation's Liberal Party has ordered news organizations not to reveal details from the proceedings, which are open to the public. But Ed Morrissey, a conservative Web logger in Minneapolis, has been gleefully violating the ban by posting detailed reports of the verboten "Adscam" testimony. His usual average of 30,000 page views a day skyrocketed during the weekend to more than 400,000...
Another blogger, this one Canadian, has also dedicated a post to the issue. Tim Bray says "the Martin government is toast", though he doesn't have too much to say about the opposition either, calling it "weak and divided." Indeed, searching Technorati for 'canada liberals' returns about 9500 results, but what's most interesting is how recent they are. Here's a few highlights:
So what do you think? Are the political parties in Canada making things interesting again, or are there just more Canadian bloggers writing about it giving the perception that it's more interesting?
[Tags: canada politics liberals adscam]
Can't wait for details on the PS3 and Xbox 360/Next/2? Well on May 16th, both Sony and Microsoft will announce details of their next consoles:
Unless Microsoft decides to move their announcement up, Sony will have the honor of going first—they have their PS3 unveiling scheduled to take place at the Sony Pictures complex in Culver City at 3pm, three hours before Microsoft is set to introduce the Xbox 2/Xbox 360/whatever they’re calling it a few miles away in downtown Los Angeles.
That's two days before E3, so things should heat up just in time for the gaming orgy that is the Electronic Entertainment Expo.
[Via Engadget] [Tags: sony xbox microsoft playstation games]
Microsoft released the final version of MSN Messenger 7 today - download it from here. Also released today, the final version of MSN Spaces.
[Tags: microsoft msn]
UPDATE: Looks like the Customize feature of MSN Spaces has been greatly improved, otherwise, it looks the same to me at first glance. MSN Messenger on the other hand has a number of noticable changes...including display pictures on the contact list (can be turned off, or shown in small or large sizes), and a new "personal message". You can either type text for this, or display the song you're currently playing in Windows Media Player or iTunes. They little star displayed for MSN Spaces is different, and there is also a My Space button on the top panel. The other change, which I like, is that they brought back the old contact list icons - no more away symbol BESIDE the MSN guy! Oooh and there's shared search.
UPDATE2: Far and away, my favorite new feature is the Personal Message, especially if you enable "What I'm Listening To". Awesome, I love it!
When's the last time you played music with from a CD? I don't remember the last time, to be honest. I play music from my computer almost 24/7, and when I'm out and about, I've either had my iPod or my Zen Touch. The concept of a disc that only holds 20 songs seems so foreign to me now! And even if I have used a CD more recently than I can remember (perhaps in a friend's car), I know for certain the last time I bought a CD for myself was eons ago. Any music I have bought recently has been purchased online.
I don't think I am alone. There's probably tons of other people who also never buy CDs anymore. Digital is the way to go, and so we are, but there are many problems that still exist. Mark Cuban has written an excellent piece on the topic, and offers advice on what the music industry needs to do:
MP3 players are changing peoples listening habits. We don’t carry folders filled with CDs anymore. We carry our library in our MP3 players. We don’t listen to CDs. We listen to playlists that we adjust all the time. We don’t burn CDs anymore, it’s too time consuming. We copy all our music to our MP3 players so it’s all available at our fingertips.
All of our music in a single device. Available to us wherever we are, for whenever we want it. Music how we want it, when we want it. Easy and breezy. That’s how we want to consume music.
That’s not how we are being sold music.
Makes you wonder what will happen to outlets like HMV, who sell hardly anything besides CDs. Why haven't they done anything to move into the digital space yet? Or even WalMart or other retailers for that matter. What's taking so long?
[Via Blog Maverick] [Tags: music cd riaa ipod itunes]
Imagine you need to look something up on the web. Probably happens all the time! Which search engine should you use? Google might get some fast results, but Yahoo might better deliver what you want. Decisions, decisions!
Stop the madness! Compromise, and use YaGoohoo!gle, at least until it gets shut down.
[Via MetaFilter] [Tags: google yahoo]
I've had Yahoo 360 for about a week now, but haven't had time to go through it. I still haven't, but I do have a whack of invites to give out. If you want one, email me.
If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Remember toothing? Hooking up with strangers found over the Bluetooth airwaves sounded too good to be true, and yesterday, it was revealed that the whole thing was a hoax:
All we did was register a forum (which has now been taken down by the service provider, but we have a backup) and fill it with fictional posts by fictional Toothing ’sceners. A week later, we had what appeared to be a vibrant UK Toothing community all ready to roll, and I sent the link off to Gizmodo, a gadget blog. They reported it (you can see that first story here, with a credit at the end to ‘S’, my super-subtle pseudonym). Everyone else linked to / blogged / ripped off their story. Things started to roll, and we became a ludicrous, implausible meme. In turn, that brought Real People to our forum. Others created forums for their localities—Sweden, Denmark, Italy, whatever.
Wired, Reuters, the BBC, and many others (including yours truly) fell for it. Must have been fun to start such a meme though!
[Via Techdirt] [Tags: bluetooth toothing sex]
Go to Google and run a search for "britney spears". Or, if you're lazy, click here. See what the number six result is? Yep, that's a Google page. It's significant, because the pop princess is the 16th most popular search term on the web. Millions of people search for britney spears on Google. It's also significant because the page is usless.
So why does Google rank so high for this search? A combination of two things. First of all, Google needs to upgrade their algorithms - or else MSN/Yahoo will easily surpass them. Secondly, Google should follow their own best practices! They basically invented the rel="nofollow" tag which would have prevent their page from appear in the top ten, so why aren't they using it?
Either it's an honest mistake, or the whole "do no evil" mantra has gone to the crapper. For more on that, visit FuckedGoogle.com.
[Via Stephan Spencer] [Tags: google britney spears]
Recently, Darren Barefoot posted that he isn't smoking the podcasting dope - he's skeptical of, well, everything to do with podcasting. Like anything worth talking about, there are those that agree and those that do not (and in Canada, the vast majority sit on the fence). Here's why I AM smoking the podcasting dope, and like Darren's post, its a rhetorical discussion:
You need a radio voice.
Why does your podcast have to be professional radio quality? I think many people will enjoy creating podcasts simply so that their friends and family can listen - that doesn't require advanced audio or a professional radio sounding voice. Um and uh away!
Think back to the early days of the web. Did all websites look great? Nope. There was crap then and there's crap now. The difference is that the amount of crap has been reduced. I don't come across a flashing neon web page as often as I used to. I don't think podcasting will be any different.
And for those individuals or companies that want to produce something more professional, there's nothing holding them back from acquiring the necessary items.
Podcasting takes too much time.
- Sure you can skim through 250 blogs a day, and at first glance it may seem impossible to do the same with podcasting. However, while a typical blog may have a new post or two every day, podcasting is much less frequent (unless you're Adam Curry). I think it's unreasonable to assume that the volume of podcast episodes will equate to the volume of blog posts.
- We've got tools like Google for the web. We've got PubSub, Feedster, Technorati and others for blogs. When the tools exist to help you find podcasts, the task of listening will seem much less daunting. It's not a barrier, it's a challenge, and it will be overcome.
- Who said you have to listen to a podcast on a mobile device? There's no reason you can't listen on your computer. Instead of streaming radio at work, many people may start to play podcasts in the background.
There's no money in podcasting.
As more and more people purchase portable audio devices, the number of hours that people aren't listening to advertisements grows. Eventually, advertising will find it's way into podcasting. And as the number of podcasters grows, so too will grow the market for tools and services that help the creators and the listeners. Finally, just as businesses are starting to see the value of blogging, they'll see the value of podcasting too. There's a lot of money in podcasting, the trick is to extract it!
Podcasting is hard.
- Again, think back to the early days of the web. Could everyone make a web page? Definitely not. However, now we have the tools that make it easy for anyone to create a website. When similar tools appear for podcasting, there is no reason that someone can't podcast very easily.
- Yes, podcasting does have that extra requirement - hardware. Yet microphones are cheap, and many people already have them. Furthermore, they aren't hard to use. And if services like Skype already have millions of users with microphones, I don't see this as a barrier to podcasting.
Podcasting uses a lot of bandwidth/needs a fast connection.
This argument annoys me. How many millions of people download audio and video files from file sharing sites and services? Tons. More than will ever download a podcast probably. And the technology for dealing with such large amounts of data transfer is constantly improving - look at BitTorrent.
Podcasting has a limited audience.
The audience for radio is in decline. The audience for live TV is in decline (just look at the dropping numbers of awards show viewers and the interest in TiVo). Listeners and viewers are changing their habits from conforming to the schedule of the content provider to fitting the content into their own schedule. Podcasting doesn't require a new audience - the existing audience can use podcasts as just another source of media. In many places, I think podcasting will replace radio.
Podcasting isn't revolutionary.
Sometimes the best technologies are not revolutionary, but improve on what existed before. Streaming audio simply isn't a great way to distribute audio on the web - podcasting is an evolution that makes the experience better.
While a writer may show a certain style on their blog, it's still just text. Podcasting has the ability to reintroduce the human quality to discussions, as your voice is a lot more personal than your writing style. Another benefit of podcasting is that the listener uses their imagination! No text or video to distract from the content, the listener can create the scene in his or her mind.
Podcasting is empowering. It gives the creator a voice and the listener a choice - it doesn't get much better than that.
I'm sure you can come up with more reasons for both sides of the argument, but that's why I'm smoking the podcasting dope. What about you?
[Tags: podcasting podcasts]
From the Pew Internet & American Life Project:
More than 22 million American adults own iPods or MP3 players and 29% of them have downloaded podcasts from the Web so that they could listen to audio files at a time of their choosing. That amounts to more than 6 million adults who have tried this new feature that allows internet “broadcasts” to be downloaded onto their portable listening device.
You can see the entire PDF report here. While the numbers make podcasting look very good, I think they might be slightly high. Considering that iPodder has around 125,000 downloads and there are only 5000 or so podcasts, 6 million listeners seems like a very high number. Or take a look at Podcast Alley - they now have about 300,000 page views a month. Even if they had that amount since podcasting started back in September, they would only have just over 2 million page views.
[Via Podcast Wizard Blog]
Unless you're living under a rock somewhere, you have no doubt heard of the Pope's death by now. What you probably have not heard, however, is that the Vatican announced John Paul II's death by email:
"The Holy Father, John Paul II, died at 9:37 p.m. (1937GMT) in his private apartment," the message read. "All procedures foreseen in the Apostolic Constitution `Universi Dominici Gregis' (`Of the Lord's Whole Flock'), promulgated by John Paul II on February 22, 1996, have been activated."
Announcing his death by email is pretty notable considering the number of other traditions and rituals that will still be carried out - like striking the Pope on the head with a silver hammer. And when the cardinals vote on a new Pope, the ballots are burned with a special chemical to make smoke white or black - white signals a new Pope has been chosen.
I read elsewhere today that John Paul II was the first pontiff to utilize modern technology like airplanes and computers. Interesting, but not all that surprising when you consider that these things were first catching on when he became Pope 26 years ago.
[Via CNN] [Tags: pope vatican email]
Take a nice big Google Gulp and watch out for would-be pranksters today!
[Tags: google]