Chris Hamoen

Why People Avoid the TTC

2011-09-01T12:45:00.003-04:00

After a few months of taking the TTC, I can confidently say that I understand why people drive to work.

Let me list a few experiences (that I know others share).

1. South-bound Yonge Subway at Rush Hour
("Getting farther with others than you usually do on a first date")

I get on at Lawrence, which isn't too bad. Train is probably almost full, but there is still a bit of room here and there to stand. Train departs Lawrence...then proceeds to move at "walking speed" with frequent near-stops all the way down to Eglinton. Eglinton is the first station where people are left waiting for the next train...unless they decide to push in. Recently, one lady said "F@#$ it" and shoved in without much room. This only encouraged others to do the same - in some sort of "No Passenger Left Behind" moment. It felt like those Japan videos, minus the people on the outside helping to shove more people in.

2. TTC Workers Getting Paid to Socialize
("Chillin' with my homies")

Alright, you've all seen them. In a solution designed sometime in the 70's, the TTC has put a bunch of workers throughout the Bloor/Yonge station. What are they doing? Socializing with each other. I need to take a photo of this - really feels like my tax dollars are working hard. I know they are there with the idea of passenger safety and to guide traffic - but this is the wrong solution to a larger problem.

3. Streetcar Drivers Filling out Paperwork while Driving
("Multi-tasking at it's best")

This was hilarious - I pulled the line for the streetcar to stop, and the driver kept on going. I was at the back of the longer streetcar, so I had to get up front, and he completely ignored me. He kept filling out his paperwork, and stopped at the next stop (3 stops later) without looking up or any other form of acknowledgement. After I got off, I realized this was a clear case for taking a photo.

4. Solution? Extend Lines Further North!
("So which Councillor owns a condo development company building in Vaughn?")

Extend the Spadina line further north! Vaughn People - come enjoy the Subway at rush hour!
Sheppard extensions!! Awesome - more people connected to the city!

Wait. What does this do to solve passenger congestion getting to the core? Oh, it doesn't solve it, it makes it worse.

Solutions?

We have new trains offering 10% more capacity, and the ability to move around. Potentially a new signalling system. Eglinton LRT from Black Creek to Kennedy (which may only make the rush-hour-into-the-core issue worse, we'll see). (Link)

Wait - where is the solution? Oh yeah - if you work downtown, drive.

Everybody, Somebody, Anybody, and Nobody.

2010-09-08T16:10:00.001-04:00

Love this - it can be used from anything from business process to cleaning the house.

This is a little story about four people named Everybody, Somebody, Anybody, and Nobody.
There was an important job to be done and Everybody was sure that Somebody would do it.
Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it.
Somebody got angry about that because it was Everybody’s job.
Everybody thought that Anybody could do it, but Nobody realized that Everybody wouldn’t do it.
It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did what Anybody could have done.

iPad - forget Netbook killer...PC Killer?

2010-05-18T13:04:00.004-04:00

As a Canadian, I hadn't spend much time with the iPad...until yesterday at a customer site. Very impressive. Programmer types may not like it because it's restrictive, but end users love it. Reading newspapers is an unbelievable experience...not to mention photos, video, browsing, etc.

And this is only the start for apps (not to mention OS4 and some major needed updates like multi-tasking).

So, let's talk about netbooks. What are (were?) they? Crappy, low-cost laptops. For $400 I could get a small clam-shelled device that tried to keep up the PC experience. Aside from the price point, ultra-portables like some of the VIAO's were much, much better. The user experience of a netbook was generally poor compared to a true laptop. And suh...low....

Basically, Netbooks are too confusing for the market. Check out these stats from last year:

60% of the people interviewed by NPD who purchased a netbook instead of a notebookthought their netbooks would have the same functionality as notebooks.
58% who bought a netbook instead of a notebook said they were “very satisfied” with their purchase, compared to 70% who planned on buying a notebook from the get-go.
In the 18- to 24- year old group, the group that many commenters said would embrace netbooks, 65% said they bought their netbooks expecting better performance; only 27% said that netbook performance exceeded their expectations.
Portability is a big selling point for netbooks and a point that many commenters brought up, but 60% of the people surveyed said that they never even took their netbooks out of the house.

One interesting question is: Isn't the iPad a netbook? Let's look at Wikipedia's definition of netbook:

Netbooks (sometimes also called mini notebooks or ultraportables) are a branch of subnotebooks, a rapidly evolving^[1] category of small, lightweight, and inexpensive laptop computers suited for general computing and accessing Web-based applications; they are often marketed as "companion devices", i.e., to augment a user's other computer access.^[1]

Aside from the implied meaning of laptop (ie clam shell), it's hard to argue that the iPad is not a netbook.

Ok, how about previous tablets? We all know Microsoft tried over and over to bring a tablet PC to the market. The pitch was great, but ultimately they couldn't get any traction. More recently, Microsoft has failed pretty hard at tablets:

Windows 7 is a wonderful operating system, but when coupled with a small screen and a veneer of touch capabilities, it is hardly a pleasant experience. In other words, even if the hardware was excellent, the user experience was destined to be lacking. That it died is merely indicative of larger problems, and not real cause for upset.

So....what's the difference?

Well, as many others think, I tend to agree that this is because Apple come "up" rather than "down". Both Netbooks and Tablets suffered from trying to take the PC or laptop experience down to a tablet/netbook...rather than a smartphone experience up.

Sure, there are people who still believe in Netbooks - they have flash, a camera, USB ports and a full OS.

Let's go back to that customer discussion. A few who have bought an iPad (and have a high-end ultra-portable) are now ONLY taking the iPad on business trips. They don't use cloud-apps - but for presenting (ie PPT), reading email (web-based corporate email), news, and stock-tracking...there isn't any need for the laptop.

So yes, I wonder as well if the iPad is truly a game-changer and will ultimately affect the entire laptop market. As a traveller myself, I can see a BlackBerry and iPad as all I need.

Yelp - 2.5/5 stars

2010-01-25T19:42:00.005-05:00

I read through this article with great interest. I think the author does a pretty good job of being fair and balanced, with a slight opinion tip in Yelps favour. Be sure to read past the first page, when the article gets into some good details on Yelp itself.

This "opportunity" has been very interesting to me in the past few years. Specifically, finding great restaurants and associated nightlife easily has always been a problem. This naturally leads to some sort of web site with a master list of data + reviews. Yelp is this - basically, a toronto.com or martiniboys.com minus the "we moved the magazine online" element and added user generated reviews and facebook-lite. Of course they have now turned into a larger directory - from dentists to religious organizations.

They figured out the Community Manager position - which is highly effective local marketing. This is VSB (very small business) - to get to them, you have to call them. As per the article, many owners in their listings are probably not that web-savvy.

Here comes the "but". I don't believe that the simple rating system is all that effective. Can the average person write an honest review? Can they separate their experience from that night with the places they went? For example, I had a bad experience because I went out with boring friends...but don't admit my friends are boring; so the bar gets 2/5?

The conclusion of the article sums it up well:

Of course, it's easy to see why so many business owners, faced with millions of Yelpers, each capable of ruining or at least damaging a business, choose to look on the bright side. Jane Reddin, who owns a crafts store in Phoenix, complains to me for 10 minutes straight about Yelp, assailing the company's business model, its arrogant salespeople, and the stupidity of the average Yelp reviewer. "They don't know what they're talking about," she says. "It's as if they're complaining that the gazpacho is cold."

She does go on to mention she likes the community aspect of Yelp. Seems like she likes Yelp for other people's businesses, but not for her own..:)

What is also interesting is the sense that something is off in how the owner, Jeremy Stoppelman is portrayed. At least I hope so. Read this quote:

"The most frustrating thing is talking to owners who say, 'Yelp has been great,' and then they think for a minute and remember the one negative review. I understand that people want to be heard, but you're meeting the Yelp founder, and all you want to talk about is a single review that doesn't even matter in the grand scheme of things. I don't understand that."

To a small restaurant in a downtown, competitive area? It does matter. Look at this restaurant, Riva on Yelp. One review, because the reviewer believed that the cook was "PSYCHO" and gave her a bad look.

This is why I don't believe in the ratings model at work here. Their 5 star ratings system is very basic - there is some text when you mouse over, but is that clear enough? What are you actually rating? Compare to a Zagat - where food, decor, price, decor and cost are all rated so you can "slice and dice". Too bad their interface is suh-low.

And finally, here is the negative article on Yelp - claiming sales people are offering to move negative reviews for a monthly fee. Here is Yelp's response.

Yelp is doing a pretty good job - sort of a 1.0 on this. And they will certainly exit for a ton. But there still remains another answer/opportunity/extension here...

Track flights mashup (Google Maps)

2010-01-09T15:54:00.002-05:00

This is a prototype created to show flights coming in and out of Amsterdam. Cool stuff.

You can see it in action here.

Source: Live Flight tracking with Google Maps. Neat.

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You can't trust the system!

2009-10-08T17:24:00.002-04:00

Hilarious!

Link.

Andy Samberg - I Threw it On The Ground - watch more funny videos

Do It

2009-09-29T01:43:00.003-04:00

Fun video, worth sharing.

Reminds me of the journey video done last year in cyprus by some IT people on vacation...which was wrongfully derided. The video is there too - it looks fun.

Facebook isn't the Next Pets.com

2009-09-16T10:05:00.003-04:00

A lot of people over the past couple years have suggested that facebook will eventually flame out - once the hype gets too much and the profits don't appear.

Well, it turns out they are wrong. Facebook is profitable, and has 300 Million users.

50 million new users in the last 75 days.

Wow.

So they aren't going anywhere. In fact, it appears to have become part of the daily/weekly social interaction cycle. People understand the privacy issue, but the benefits outweigh the risks. It's much easier to share and stay involved in your friends/family's lives.

Some thoughts going forward:

facebook is flickr+myspace+blogger+email+games+etc. Sounds like a platform. Is it already? (hint: yes)
With the advances in the mobile space - will the line between privacy and social benefit become more difficult? Think: facebook adds google lattitude - you can now see where your friends physically are at any moment....even if your phone doesn't have GPS.
Facebook competition: it's going to be really, really, really hard to unseat facebook. Probably just as hard, if not harder, than google for search.
What is the net impact on culture, both locally and globally? This is a degree of sharing never seen before...how will this change us?
What is the "facebook for business" answer? There are many, many startups out there trying to answer this, and I think they're mostly wrong.

Windows Phone

2009-08-31T15:40:00.006-04:00

There is unbelievable excitement in the mobile world these days. Both Android and the iPhone are moving to the next level with Augmented Reality functionality - and Android stands to get even further. With the OS separated from the hardware, there are all sorts of opportunities. The Apple strategy of OS+Hardware+Control will probably limit them in the end. Look for Android to be hitting some big time strides next year.

So where is Microsoft in all of this? They are re-branding from Windows Mobile to Windows Phone with the next OS release, 6.5. What else? When I watched the video below, I found myself saying "Yeah...So?" What is really new? Maybe the tag stuff, but...meh.

And don't get me started on when he said (along the lines of) "Not very pretty - but it doesn't need to be pretty." Really? A consumer phone....doesn't need to be pretty? It reminds me of their commercials...

EDIT: Found the video on Youtube and embedded it here. Some of these other video sites are ridiculous - autoplay? Are you serious?

Footage of the Storm

2009-08-21T13:42:00.004-04:00

As most know, a blistering storm came through Southern Ontario last night. It seemed like just another one - we have many, many tropical-style 30-min-to-1-hr storms come through this summer.

Last night was much worse. Check out the footage:

This one probably requires Internet Explorer (CBC - really...WMV??)

How Americans Spent Their Day in 2008

2009-08-04T13:52:00.003-04:00

This is a really cool graphic showing how Americans spent their day in 2008. Be sure to check out the demographic filters.

I love this line:

Sleeping, eating, working and watching television take up about two-thirds of the average day.

Another great piece of insight is that it appears that those with 2+ children work MORE than those without any kids!

Success

2009-07-17T16:06:00.002-04:00

Watch the video. Read this blog entry. Get motivated. Go out and do it. The chance to achieve your dream has never been greater - the markets are down, startup costs are bordering on non-existent other than YOU, and the opportunities are endless.

It has not been done before, at least not the way YOU plan to do it.

Why I Don't Use MySpace

2009-07-16T20:08:00.004-04:00

I just got spammed from myspace (see below). I'm sure I can modify my settings, but myspace doesn't start with trust.

Other than following music artists, why does anyone use myspace anymore? I just checked my account, apparently it was hacked to set the status? Might be time to delete my account - I haven't logged into it in probably over a year.

Office 2010

2009-07-14T11:09:00.003-04:00

Check out this pretty cool"trailer" for Office 2010. Some think it will crush Google Docs - as it will be (partially?) free.

For more, take a look at the official preview site.

I think the little we see doesn't look that radical - they're playing catch up. And I hate the ribbon.

iPhone vs BlackBerry - the Lazy Writeup Edition

2009-06-25T14:59:00.003-04:00

About 2 months ago, I added an iPhone as a second cell phone. At the time, I wanted to check it out, as there were some interesting apps to look at. My main device for the previous four years has been some version of a BlackBerry (generally a new-"er" one). Before that, I actually carried the Tungsten W, which, like many, I was ultimately disappointed with.

So now that I've had both the BlackBerry 8800 (world edition) and the iPhone (3G NOT jailbroken) for a couple months, I wanted to post some thoughts.

iPhone

Best handheld on the market today for the consumer. Bar none. Devices like the new Palm Pre might have some advantages - but the sheer size of the App Store and what is there more than overcome some minor UI improvements. Obviously, the interface of the iPhone is slick, quite easy to use, and functional for a touchscreen.

The network connectivity is nothing short of brilliant - web sites render very well (not to mention the iPhone specific web sites such as CNN). Every single BlackBerry I have ever used has big problems with WiFi - it's a big hassle.

The iPhone AppStore is where the true power of the device lies. People are using the iPhone to check engine readings for their car, in the field by the military, home stereo remote, and many more strange applications for a phone.

A great light example is when a co-worker with the Storm came up excitedly to show me the cool new games the Storm has.....ummm...yeah..."that's hot"... Or when we were talking about mobile gaming on smartphones - someone said "oh yeah, like brickbreaker!!" While gaming is an incredible opportunity for some, the iPhone and it's future is much, much more than this.

BlackBerry

Email email email. The BlackBerry does e-mail much, much better than the iPhone.

Tactile (ie physical) keyboard (well, except the Storm). At first this was important, but I am finding that with the iPhone, I am typing at roughly 80% speed of the BlackBerry. Plus, no one should be typing novels - but I can take quite extensive notes during presentations on the iPhone. The auto-correct feature on the iPhone is better than BlackBerry - I trust it more.

Summary

So - yes, it's the classic iPhone sexiness (and apps) vs BlackBerry email + keyboard. As a travelling business person who needs a world phone and great email functionality - it's all BlackBerry. But that is the only reason. Even those with BlackBerry's want to switch....

Re-making Downtown Toronto Core?

2009-06-17T10:55:00.004-04:00

Here is an article about remaking the downtown core, basically Spadina to union station, Queen to the Gardiner. If you miss the clickthrough, check out the source directly here, with an overview here.

I think it looks interesting - making the streets in this area more attractive and pedestrian friendly is certainly a plus. It's too bad that it can't be completely car free...but then where would all the club-going 905'ers park?

I don't know what the overall impact (or likelihood) of this is, however. Isn't the area around the CN Tower and Skydome recently (in city terms) done? Is this tax-payer funded? Will this really happen (or anything like it)?

Newish Thinking

2009-06-16T14:14:00.003-04:00

I love it when I find new (ish) ideas - and this one, courtesy of twitter, is a website done entirely on youtube. It's better to clickthrough to youtube to see it.

Cool.

New iPhone

2009-06-12T10:17:00.003-04:00

As most people know, there is a new iPhone coming out shortly. I am a recent convert - I have used various BlackBerry's for 3-4 years, and was a Palm fan before that. I've turned into a bit of an iPhone fanboy - this device is pretty much the best smartphone I've ever used. I joke that it "delivers on the promise on the Tungsten W"!

The new iPhone has a variety of new features (both the device and the OS), but what is probably the biggest game-changer is the compass. At first glance, most people think "so what" - people joke that this is only for people who get lost in the woods..

Now realize this: the phone knows exactly where you are (GPS), and which direction you are pointed in (compass). Let me give some examples:

- the iPhone tour guide. You're in a new country, and turn on the tour guide. "On your left, you can see..."

- indexing of photos. When you take a photo, it could possibly know what you took a picture of.

- Skymap. There exists a google android software app today that tells you what you are looking at in the sky...live. This could be on your iPhone - GPS + compass + level. What is that star?

Sick.

Aged News

2009-06-11T13:26:00.003-04:00

What a great term - "aged news"! This clip from the Daily Show (after the napolean stuff) is awesome. New York Times lets them in to their offices for some hilarious commentary on the state of newspapers. The best part is when they challenge a managing editor to find one thing in there (newspaper) that happened today. Also hilarious is when the New York Times person references google as a news source (WOW).

I think the true challenge will be to preserve actual journalism through this migration in news delivery. Most online news sources are really commentary sites, rather than original journalism.

However, there was a great point referenced here -

“In the two biggest stories of our recent time—the war in Iraq and our financial meltdown—investigative journalism did not fulfill its mission,” Huffington told me in an interview for the inaugural Guardian Media Talk USA podcast. “We all have a real stake in not only preserving what investigative journalism is but in making it better.”

What a great point - current journalism, well, generally sucks. So what, exactly, is worth saving? Or, as referenced in the same article, is it time to re-think what investigative/original journalism is and should really be?

Window into the Potential Future of Video Games

2009-06-05T14:17:00.004-04:00

The video game conference, E3, was this week. While there was the standard "check-out-version-5-of-the-same-crap-but-looks-better" stuff, there was a couple intriguing presentations. One I will highlight is something called "Project Natal", from Microsoft (for xbox).

I highly recommend watching this trailer all the way through. Some might say "oh, that's Wii without the remote", but I think there is a lot more going on. It's a bit campy, but the technology involved is wild, and could represent an interesting new paradigm in interacting with many forms of electronic devices.

Because It's Not Google

2009-06-02T09:40:00.003-04:00

A new search engine has recently hit the net from Microsoft, called Bing. The claim is that it is a Decision Engine - from what I can see, it basically allows you to filter your results. Check the search results for Turkey - click the filters on the left. There are many different meanings of "Turkey" - so it essentially is asking you "which one?" Could this be called end user semantic definitions post-search? It definitely is attempting to create structure from the mess...:)

It appears that many of the features of bing aren't available here in Canada yet - ie, local, links to purchasing, etc. I haven't tried hotspot shield yet to see if this is the reason.

PC World aren't fans, for some valid reasons.

The Semantic Web (aka Web 3.0)

2009-05-28T14:36:00.005-04:00

I attended a meetup last night - the first one in Toronto to gather and discuss Web 3.0/the Semantic Web. Much of what was said I agreed with - however, the strongest feeling I had coming away was "What is the elevator pitch to a non-techy person?"

I have been interested in the issue of how we deal with this great volume of information now freely available (and growing at a ridiculous rate). Everyone is blogging, books and articles are online, and it's pretty clear that media is moving to a permanent home online (sorry MC - it's just too convenient). How do we dig through all of this to find what we want? I think many of the people at the meetup last night feel this same frustration...

WARNING: RUN-ON TRAIN OF THOUGHT INCOMING!

The speaker last night, Greg Boutin, has blogged about the difference between "Finding" and "Discovering." The suggestion here is that the Semantic Web can absolutely help answer a specific question (ie Wolfram Alpha) - in seconds. The google experience is "Discovering" - you are interested in a topic, and what to read more about it (minutes or hours). I would like to add in one more Search method - Mahalo. While I don't use them much - they went in the other direction - they use actual people to create content pages about popular subjects. I like to think of it as "human algorithms" rather than "statistical algorithms"..:)

So, let's look at these search engines in the context of different searches. Let's run through a simple one: "How Big Is Canada?"

Wolfram Alpha
Google
Mahalo

Wolfram answers the question, Google will eventually get you there, and Mahalo gives me absolutely nothing (not even easy to scan relevant alternate results). Conclusion - if you have a simple question - Wolfram is better than the rest.

Let's try another search term - this time, just "Canada". Perhaps I'm planning a vacation to Canada and want to read up on it. Let's have a look:

Wolfram Alpha
Google
Mahalo

Again, Wolfram gives me the basics - size, biggest cities, pop density, etc. The searcher should no longer think "I'm going to Nova Scotia, then Quebec, then Toronto, Alberta, then BC in 1 week, and I'm driving..." :) What does Google tell us? Well, we get a nice link to the Government web site, the Wikipedia entry, Canada.com, etc. Now we start to open multiple tabs, and start digging. And how about Mahalo? Basically, the google search results, but neatly formatted and easily digestable.

While I do enjoy the occasional "surfing" session - often I want answers, and I want them now. I don't have time to dig to page 27 on some forum, or page 5 in Google. Personally, I'm getting frustrated with Google these days - I often find myself doing advanced filtering (ie by date).

So - in summary, one of the benefits of the Semantic Web is to make your life easier because you will be able to find answers much more quickly, and it will make sense in the context of your query (ie Title: Job title != Land ownership != movie title..etc)

Here are some random questions/thoughts out of last night:

- How will content get tagged/structured/indexed correctly? Text analyzers? Manually? Standards that assist both?
- Is this inevitably just addon tools like Zemanta? Or should it be part of the core fabric of how data is stored?
- ..and is Zemanta truly Web 3.0? Or just smart text-analyzers? How is that really different than Google search?
- While there is clear benefit to new Software Apps, what is the benefit to the Content Owners? Don't tell them "increased readership through linking"! (in case you don't know, the major newspapers are blaming google and craigslist for their downfall).
- PageRank has worked pretty well for quite awhile (certainly better than Yahoo directories or Altavista back in the day) - but will it work with the dramatic increases in data?

Final Point: the Semantic Web and Web 3.0 remains poorly defined and no one can agree on what it really is or how it will really work. The meetups and the discussions happening around the globe on the net indicate a push is underway. There is definitely a market opportunity here. Now what is it...

Freestyle

2009-05-28T14:00:00.002-04:00

Here's something to kill the next 3 minutes - it's pretty amazing. All that urban gymanstics stuff is fascinating.

Damien Walters Showreel 2009 from krazy.semans on Vimeo.

Car Audio

2009-05-25T15:56:00.004-04:00

I am an iPhone convert. I've used BlackBerry's for years, and Palm-based devices before that. I remember my high hopes for the Tungsten W - and how great it was to finally get one....only to start using it.

Now I have my iPhone, and have put it through it's paces a bit. Sure I can't type as fast as the BlackBerry - but there is just SO MUCH MORE you can do with this device. I've set up media servers streaming to it, played with Office apps, and punted islanders. Combined with the Media capablities out of the box - it's impossible for a techy to go back to the BlackBerry. I had someone demo some of the "amazing things" the storm does - and I may have laughed (cried?) on the inside.

Anyways, now I'm on to the next step - my car. I have a 2004 model - which means I do not have an Aux in port. I'm not much of a fan of having my iPhone connected through the car via a simple Aux in connection anyways - as if someone calls this could lead to fumbling around/etc.

So I investigated further...and it appears that most car audio places want you to install an entire new car stereo system. Basically, install the latest Alpine deck and connect it up via Bluetooth for calls, and the PIN port on the iPhone for audio and charging. This results in the iPhone basically being a HDD for music and supporting Bluetooth for calls. But it means I have to install some new DIN thing - and the entire dash gets replaced.

Next solution offered by a place I found called Unique Visions was something called a Parrot MKi9200. It's basically an external source that can connect to the iPhone over bluetooth and/or the PIN connector. I read some reviews that seem up and down - and too be honest, I don't really care about handling calls in the car that much. What I do care about is listening to music/podcasts/streaming/browsing in my car...and this seems inserting another thing into the telephone game...

In other words - all recommended solutions are to bury the iPhone in the glove box and use car stereos or something similar as the UI for everything.

So tell me....WHY? Why can't I buy a car stereo to plug the iPhone in to - where the iPhone display is the primary display? Why do I have to connect the audio out from the iPhone to some other source - can't it go directly to the amp? None of these "solutions" support the fact that I might want to go beyond standard replaying MP3's and handling bluetooth calls? The most amazing solution would be an in-dash iPhone-based car entertainment system. Oddly, it would have to support both portrait and landscape use ideally. I found someone who installed a Touch into his Jeep. I don't know about doing this however..

I think my solution is going to be to highjack my SAT port on the current factory deck - I found some cables that should do it - and route the cables to some sort of "vent hanging" device. I don't like it - but I can't find any sensible solutions.

World Builder

2009-05-22T14:32:00.003-04:00

A fairly recent short film that was shot in a day, and spent 2 years in post production (spare time).

From Kanye West's blog - was just catching up as he blogs (reblogs?) a lot.

Trekkies Bash New Star Trek Film As 'Fun, Watchable'

2009-05-13T10:59:00.002-04:00

Is this movie as riveting as the fans are complaining it is?

Paramount: "We stand behind this film and firmly believe that in a few years, it will seem just as dated and cornball as previous films."

Full of win.

Trekkies Bash New Star Trek Film As 'Fun, Watchable'

Twitter

2009-05-05T10:30:00.003-04:00

If Twitter gets $700 mil, that will truly be an amazing story. No public idea how to monetize - just eyeballs. However, they are being used as a sort of platform by some - which is interesting.

Either way - take it and run. Don't run the risk of being another Pointcast (from $450 mil to $7).

Twitter turned down a $500 million offer in cash and stock from Facebook, in part because Twitter's investors couldn't agree on whether Facebook's stock was worth as much as Facebook said it was. But Apple could easily pay cash. A source familiar with the thinking of Twitter's board says the company would be hard-pressed to refuse an all-cash offer in the range of $700 million. (Is Twitter really worth that? Since it's business is nothing but a fantasy at this point, any valuation, high or low, is a matter of make-believe.)

Article here.

Wordle Me

2009-04-30T10:56:00.002-04:00

I found an interesting tool called Wordle - and ran my blog through it. Odd...

Check this out - Subdivisions

2009-04-21T13:41:00.002-04:00

I had been meaning to blog this - but travel, random topics, etc have distracted me.

The video below is my brother's rooftop recorded performance of Subdivisions by Rush. I'm not a huge rush fan - but Jacob Moon's performance is pretty amazing. Probably the most skilled guitarist I've ever seen live. Go see him - and make SURE he plays Come Talk to Me live...him at his best. It's on his latest album as well.

The Truth about Running - drink like New Years Eve is a Weekly Event

2009-04-21T10:24:00.004-04:00

Here is an article talking about how the "latest and greatest" running shoes have little (nothing?) to do with performance, and your risk of injury will remain the same.

Dr Daniel Lieberman, professor of biological anthropology at Harvard University, has been studying the growing injury crisis in the developed world for some time and has come to a startling conclusion: 'A lot of foot and knee injuries currently plaguing us are caused by people running with shoes that actually make our feet weak, cause us to over-pronate (ankle rotation) and give us knee problems.

And here is a strange quote:

If anything, the injury rates have actually ebbed up since the Seventies - Achilles tendon blowouts have seen a ten per cent increase. (It's not only shoes that can create the problem: research in Hawaii found runners who stretched before exercise were 33 per cent more likely to get hurt.)

It's just an article, certainly not a research paper. There are liberties taken with comparisons and facts....the old "statistical survey of 1." But probably worthwhile to do some extra reading if you are a runner. It certainly is unlikely a suprise to anyone that the running shoe industry is based on marketing, not "peer-reviewed studies"..:)

However, I do think some of this is diagnosis-related. For instance, take Basketball today compared to 25 years ago. How many coaches/commentators lament that sports athletes no longer "play through the pain"? Is it instead that the trainers/doctors/etc have learned more about sports-related injuries and how to prolong the careers of athletes?

Microsoft admits Apple is soooo Sexy

2009-04-20T14:06:00.000-04:00

Now that the Seinfeld marketing experiment is over, MS comes up with a better one. They compete on value: Price/Performance..

PS - Vista still sucks.

Fishing, Snorkeling, Buckets, Elephants and ATVs

2009-03-31T05:39:00.014-04:00

Thursday night we were picked up at our resort and taken to the Pier for the fishing tour. It turned out that only the two of us were going, which was a nice bonus as it was more relaxing and we wouldn't have to deal with crossing our fishing lines, etc.

We had about 4.5 hours out there - at first there were lots of "nibbles" - we were fishing with squid (calamari), looking to catch Barracuda. Despite all the nibbles, sadly, the current picked up and the water was just too strong. Jeff did manage to catch 3 small fish (2 of which were "cupa"), and I caught...uh...a rock. Yep - I was reelin' that line in, imagining finally seeing a barracuda on the hook...but nope. A rock.

The night was uneventful after that as we had an early morning the next day (Friday). We checked outat 6:30am, and took our bags/etc down to a meeting spot for our snorkeling day tour. A minivan picked us up, and took us from Haad Rin to Thong Sala - extremely hilly, lots of bends, and poor road quality. This drive is probably one of the more dangerous drives around in the world, at least by volume (not particularly high). There are tons of motorcycles and mopeds, driven by both locals and inexperienced tourists; plus the driving "skills" employed by the locals! Is there a bend approaching - pass anyways! Should you stay in your lane, or wander into the oncoming lane? Of course! Are you part of a tailgating competition - how close can you get to the bumper (or motorcycle) in front of you?! Definitely!

Fortunately our drive was generally uneventful as it was so early in the morning. I should mention that most of the islands are closed until 10am it seems. Anyways, we boarded our boat and made our way to Koh Tao to pick up some more people. The boat itself was pretty big - Seatran Discovery. Our first snorkeling spot was Nangyuan Island - absolutely beautiful. There is a sand bar connecting two small islands, it is a common photo shot! The snorkeling was great - it was right from the beach. Not deep at all, but fish everywhere. What was interesting was just how strong the current was in even shallow waters; at one point I saw Jeff moving quickly without swimming..:)

We re-boarded, had lunch, and then made our way to another spot for snorkeling, this time right on Koh Tao. We jumped right from the boat, into probably 20-30 feet deep water. Jeff was the first to jump off the top of the boat, which drew some cheers..:) We learned a tip on how to tempt the fish - you touch your fingers on top of the water quickly, which attracts the fish up. At a few points, it seemed like there were hundreds of fish around me! While that might seem like an exaggeration, honestly it probably isn't!...at a few points I swam away just to get a break from all of them!!

During the snorkeling trip we had discovered that this boat actually heads all the way back to Koh Samui, so we thought we might as well just stay on it and perhaps head over to Chaweng Beach for our last two nights. This worked out quite well, though the boat ride seemed to take forever. Once in Chaweng, we found a resort via one of our books called Lucky Mothers Resort. It was great - there were bungalows for as little as 400 Baht, but we took a 3rd floor room in the main new building which was pretty sweet. Up next - a nice Aloe Vera massage on the beach to heal our tender sunburns..:)

We found out that there was a Muay Thai event that night, so off we went! We walked it, but soon found ourselves in what appeared to be a strange area of the city. There were hardly any lights, and people peering out from the darkness. After probably an hour of walking, we finally managed to find the stadium, which was also in the dark! It turned out that there was a massive power outage for hours for blocks!! This explained our interesting walk.. We booked 1st row seats, then went over to a bar around the corner to have a beer in the dark while we wait. Of course, there were working girls everywhere again - something you just get used to in Thailand.

We headed into the stadium, which was fairly small, and very dark as there was still no power. There were a few candles around, but that was about it. We selected a seat right at ringside, and began the long wait. Many people left - especially after the first hour of waiting. Then we noticed some running around and "thumbs up's" - and finally the power came on! They immediately started the fights - the first was a couple of kids, which was a little odd. The rest all seemed like 20+, and put on some great fights! During the announcements and in-between rounds there was hardcore heavy dance music, and during the actual fights there was traditional music played live. Before every fight, both fighters perform the Wai Khru ceremony - essentially demonstrating respect to their trainers.

After the event, we basically went back and went to sleep. The next day we idly wandered around, looking at the various shops. We were used to the attention-gaining tactics put on by the vendors at this point. One of the most common was by the very aggressive Suit vendors - they would walk up to you (dressed well), put out their hand, and say "where you from?" in good english. This was an attempt to get your engaged, then they would try to get you into their shop to buy a suit, shirts, etc. I can't count how many times I've been asked "Where you from?"!!!!

Saturday night we had another Aloe Vera massage (!!), had dinner, then decided to stick around for the big beach party. It started off quiet, but by after midnight it was much busier. We had met a bunch of other people by this point - some ex-pats, etc. Buckets were passed around (I stuck to good ol' gin & tonic), music got louder, and fun was had all around..:)

The next morning was another tour - elephant riding, ATVs, and a waterfall visit - which was fun, especially with no sleep! (I mean no sleep - I didn't go to bed) We then made our way to the airport for an afternoon flight out of Koh Samui (outdoor airport - weird!) to Bangkok.

One tip - you must be careful with Bangkok airport taxis. They will go as far to claim that they are hotel taxis (including photos/etc) - but they are not. They'll rip you off, and there are plenty of stories about how they don't take you to your destination (and suddenly "forget" english), instead taking you to an overpriced shopping area where they get a commission from the vendors. A taxi claiming his was for our hotel said the price would be 1100 THB - we took a government metered taxi which was 150 THB! Crazy.

Next day began my crazy week of flying - Bangkok to Singapore to London where I stayed overnight, then to Toronto. Next day I flew out to Hartford, and returned to Toronto on Thursday. Let's just say I've had enough of flying for a bit..:) What was hilarious was how many meals I ended up having because I was flying west - I think one day I had 6-7 full meals!

Koh Samui to Koh Phangan

2009-03-26T01:13:00.011-04:00

Tuesday we took a minibus and a short ferry over to Koh Phangan - a kind of "backpacker paradise." The boat landed at Haad Rin Nai - so we decided to follow everyone else, and head through the small town. I don't think I've mentioned this yet - but think of a lot of these small towns as Pedestrian Neighbourhoods....with motorcycles/mopeds constantly moving through. It's pretty funny - but there are, not surprisingly, a ton of accidents here..:) Over on Haad Rin Nok is where the infamous Full Moon Party happens - think: 30,000 people on the beach, with little rules..:) We are not staying here at the same time as the party - which is fine because it means we can find a place to stay!

We looked around for awhile, and decided to head up the east coast for a night. We took a

boat up to the next beach c

alled Haad Yuan, and it was quite beautiful. Someone on the taxi boat over recommended a place to stay there, called "Barcelona Resort". We walked up and

found a room for 600 THB (Baht) total - a little over $20 CDN (or $10 each). We could have taken a room for 1/2 that price, but this one was much larger with a slightly better view. Yep - you can stay here for$10/night...hence the "backpacker destination" label!

The room itself was great - about 3 flights of stairs up with a nice view. The room itself served it's purpose - beds, walls, etc..:) Best com

parison is a camping cabin in the Algonquin with beds.

We had a nice lazy afternoon on the beach, followed by a great dinner at a restaurant up in the hills. We headed back to the bar near our room for a couple of beers and chatted with another Canadian who runs 30 day drunken college student tours through thailand, then headed to bed with some friends - of the gecko/salamander variety! You actually want them in your room - they take care of all the bugs and are totally harmless.

Wednesday after breakfast we headed back to Haad Rin Nok to find our next place.. After some quick browsing, we found Sarikantang Resort, in a quieter area of the beach (but only a short walk). They have a nice range of options here - from the fairly inex

pensive to nice, private, oceanview bungalows. Everything is very modern as well - I would recommend this place for a nice getaway. The beach however is not really ideal

for swimming, so we headed down to Haad Rin Nok.

Haad Rin Nok is interesting - many people love it, but just as many hate it. A lot of veteran backpackers remember the "good old days"- before full moon party resulted in expa

nded development. The beach itself is actually not bad at all - thin white sand and crystal clear water. While swimming a school of fish became obsessed with me and followed me around - it was pretty funny..:)

We both took 2 more massages - Jeff went with the traditional Thai massage, while I took Foot Reflexology (or "Reflex Sology" as is commonly misspelled here!). Afterwards - he was very awake, and I was nearly dead!! During dinner I kept lying down..:)

We both wanted to sleep - but as we are near the party beach, we had to head down. There was a Black Moon Party on - but as we found out it was at another beach about 15-25 minutes away (Ban Tai). After taxi fare, entrance fees, etc - we decided it wasn't worth it as we wanted an early night as well. These various Moon parties go until dawn...with after

parties advertised starting at 7am!

Instead we headed down to the main beach (where Full Moon happens). There were two major bars that had some action, then a lot of stalls in between with vendors yelling anything at all to get your attention to buy a drink from them. Most popular is a bucket - basically a pile of whiskey, coke, ice..and a bunch of straws in a bucket you carry around.

I didn't get a bucket.

We had some beer and watched the various fire shows - from amazing displays of twirling to jumping over a fire rope. Fun times!

Today we relaxing during the day and going fishing tonight. We had meant to go fishing during the day, but there was some excuse resulting in us having to go night-fishing instead!

Thailand Update - From Bangkok to Koh Samui

2009-03-23T23:05:00.010-04:00

So our plan was to board a train south to Surat Thani (12 hours overnight), catch a bus to the Pier (1 hour), then boat to Thong Yang on Koh Samui (1.5 hours), and finally some sort of Songthaew or minibus to wherever we decide to go. The plan was to arrive in Koh Samui sometime around mid/late morning....

So we board the train, all excited about our "first class sleeper" - essentially a private room with 2 beds (bunk beds). This is the highest class you can buy, but is still relatively cheap for a westerner (around $40). We found our room - and let's just say the resemblance to what a jail cell must look like is uncanny! We settled in with a big Singha (local beer), and soon the train departed. We had the beds made, and off to sleep! The sleep was surprisingly comfortable. Unfortunately, the train was delayed two hours....which totally upset our plans. Once we arrived, we found our bus and boarded, only to be removed because the bus had changed destinations. Instead 30 minutes later we boarded a Songthaew (think: pickup truck with benches in the back) and they took us to some central spot to wait....for 3 hours..:( We met a couple of people from France, and a norwegian "hippy"...so we enjoyed a few beers while we waited. Then a 1 hour bus to the pier, and 1.5 hours to the island. Water finally!

We decided to follow the people from France to Bo Phut (in the north of Koh Samui). This would allow us to share a minivan for a reduced price, as well as bring us closer to our next destination. The drive in the Minivan was, uh, entertaining to say the least. It seems any lane in any direction can be used by anyone at any time!

When we survived and made it to Bo Phut, we rented a room at a place called "Eden" (pictured) - and it was actually quite nice. We got a room for about 1300 Baht (maybe 45 CDN), which is actually a little pricey. Then it was off to the beach for a swim, which was ok at best. Bo Phut is more of a jump-off point for fishing boats, and is not ideal for swimming. Once you are a few feet out, the "sand" turns into clay, and the water is not see-through. It didn't matter however, it was nice to get in the water. Up next - Coconut Thai Massage on the beach!! Yes - it was all you expect it to be..:)

We went to dinner that night for some traditional Thai food which was amazing - a bit spicy, but very good! At the end of the dinner, a thunderstorm passed us - for an amazing display. I did manage to catch some pictures of the sky lighting up!

After an after-dinner beer it was time for sleep after a long day of travel. Today we have booked a boat over to Koh Phangan, and need to find a place to sleep shortly...

And here's the requisite picture of water/islands..:)

Short Thailand Update!

2009-03-22T02:34:00.007-04:00

So I arrived in Bangkok on Friday afternoon, and met up with Jeff (brother) shortly thereafter. No flight complications - so it was easy. We took a taxi to the BTS (skytrain), and I'm pretty sure the metered taxi took us "for a ride"..:) The skytrain was very easy to navigate, and quite modern. After an easy transfer, we ended up at the Saphon Taksin station, which is where the hotel ferry's are. Each hotel has their own ferry, which are free. We caught the hilton one, and headed over.

The Hilton Millenium Hotel is very nice. I would put it at least in the top 5 hiltons I have stayed at - it's about 3 years old, the staff are amazing, and the hotel itself reminds me of a small vegas-style hotel resort (restaurants, a dance bar, etc). On the 4th floor there was a fake beach with a pool, reclining chairs, etc.

Friday night we wandered back to the BTS and to Silom Road. This was surely a sight: a busy night market, tuk tuk drivers yelling, advertisers yelling "DVD SEX" (and they FOLLOWED you), and more. Homeless people lying in the middle of the path - with various physi

cal defects (ie blind, no legs, etc). At one point I was hit with ice - this is to d

istract you while someone tries to grab your wallet. Yes - it was pretty insane, but you never feel unsafe - it's just different. We ended having a few drinks, leading to, uh, a small hangover on Saturday..:)

Saturday we had breakfast, and ended up lounging around the forth floor "Beach". Afternoon was back to the BTS to check out the modern shopping malls, see if we could see a Muay Thai show (too expensive sadly), and do some shopping. Fortunately we took

a day pass for the BTS, we ended up moving around on it quite a lot! We also checked out a fish aquarium - it was in the big

shopping facility called "Siam Paragon".

It was fun - perhaps a little too pricey for what we saw. However, there were a lot of neat, exotic fish to check out!

Saturday night was fairly quiet, by 9:30pm we were back at the hotel, had a dinner there (Jeff said "his curry tasted like Bangkok smelled"), and basically went to bed by roughly midnight. Sunday, here we are - booked an overnight train, bus, and ferry to Ko Samui, and are currently figuring out where we shall sleep!

Line of the Year

2009-03-20T00:39:00.003-04:00

"Listen, you knew what the banks were doing and yet were touting it for months and months," said Daily Show host Jon Stewart to CNBC superstar Jim Cramer in their much-discussed confrontation last week. "The entire network was, and so now to pretend that this was some sort of crazy, once-in-a-lifetime tsunami that nobody could have seen coming is disingenuous at best and criminal at worst."

Awesome. Stewart is bang-on - to simply tell the public that "ooohhh...crap! We never thought this would happen!!!" is a freaking flat out lie. Search around - there were discussions about what might happen as early as 2006. But then suddenly in september/08 US congress must pass $700B because "CRAP WE NEED IT NOW AND WE NEVER KNEW!"

Find the interview between Stewart and Cramer - the unedited one as well. I somewhat pitied Cramer in how much he was thrown under the bus...til I remembered that he personally got rich by the ultimate Pump n Dump.

Sometimes I think: No bailouts, no stimulus....let it crumble and see what happens..:)

Goodbye Singapore

2009-03-20T00:23:00.005-04:00

I am currently in the lounge, awaiting my departure to Bangkok Thailand. Singapore was great - I thought I'd list some random notes about the city/state:

Everyone backs in when parking. Most cars have the sensor detector (beep beep beep).
Not much speeding goes on - maybe 10-20km over the limit (and yes, they are metric)
Food courts are a primary way of eating for locals as they don't cook as much from home. They are relatively inexpensive - a meal at a restaurant for 4 in the tourist area was 200-300 USD for 4, where a meal in a local food court (food just as good) is $40 USD for 4 people!
Alcohol, however, is ridiculously expensive. A beer (ie corona or tiger) can be as much as 12 canadian dollars! This is due to high taxes. Cigarettes are also expensive, but relatively on par with Canada.
No cars over 10 years old. There is a 10k tax for a new car.
Cars are 3x expensive. Example, something like a cheap kia would be 45k new.
They do drive on the other side of road (colonized by brits).
Many dinners are shared plates with a platform in the middle to spin. At food courts you share as well.
Don't see much cheese anywhere.
They are attempting to build out for tourism - ie a casino is being built on the east coast.
Largest ferris wheel in the world is here - bigger than the london eye
No issues whatsoever with food/water - could even drink tap water at hotel. This will definitely NOT be the case in Thailand!
English is the primary language - most speak it (except for foreign workers)
Everyone must do 2 yrs in army.
City has a lot of green. There are some skyscrapers in the financial area (about same at toronto). However, there are 20-30 story buildings everywhere.
There is some concern for terror attacks. When parking under a banking building we were searched (non-intrusive though).

FYI - the picture displayed is in the financial area - it is a row of restaurants/bars that is popular after work.

Singapore Update

2009-03-16T09:10:00.009-04:00

I arrived in Singapore on Saturday morning, after a night in London connecting. I flew down on Singapore Air, on the A380 - currently the largest passenger airplane in the world. It definitely is big - the first clue is on the boarding pass with the words "Main Deck". Even on board, looking out the window to the wings was impressive. Sadly however, I could not get upgraded. I had paid for an exit row at least, but it was quite comfortable. I was fortunately upgraded on the Toronto to London portion again, which was nice.

Saturday night I visited the Night Safari, which was entertaining. They

had quite a variety of nocturnal animals, the most interesting of w

hich was the giant flying squirrel. It was possible to get right in with them - one swooped down to about 2 feet away from me, and decided to engage in some sort of staring contest with me. After about 15 seconds, I thought it best to move back..:) The Malayan Tapir (pictured) was also quite interesting - the tram ride came very close to it.

Sunday I toured Orchard Road, which is the busy shopping district for tourists. It was alright - most interesting was a very strange "Hello Kitty" display. In addition to the strangely dressed up women inside this trailer, there were no-shirts-and-leather-pants-wearing guys wearing large

Hello Kitty masks being led around by a "seeing eye person". Odd..

We also visited the East Coast to check it out - unfortunately it was raining so we couldn't walk a whole lot, so instead we enjoyed a Tiger beer while watching the ships slowly disappear under the approaching storm (pictured right). It was quite a sight - especially given just how many ships are out there in one of the busiest port in the world.

Today, both for lunch and dinner I enjoyed some very, VERY good food. Both meals were "family style" - where there is a rotating serving area in the middle of the round table, and everyone simply pushes it around to get whatever it is they want. The food comes out over time, so generally everyone can have a taste of whatever new dish was brought over. For dinner, we went back to the East Coast to Long Beach restaurant for some amazing seafood. Part of the main course was the famous Black Pepper Crab (as well as the Chili Crab) - both were awesome!

The opposite of awesome? Well, at lunch I was duped into trying Durian - lets just say "not my favourite". Durian is considered a delicacy - to the point where people will have Durian parties! So what is it? Basically a fruit from a tree, that has some, uh, interesting properties. To help, let me quote some of the descriptions from this wiki entry:

"Its taste can only be described as...indescribable, something you will either love or despise. ...Your breath will smell as if you'd been French-kissing your dead grandmother."

"... its odor is best described as pig-shit, turpentine and onions, garnished with a gym sock. It can be smelled from yards away. Despite its great local popularity, the raw fruit is forbidden from some establishments such as hotels, subways and airports, including public transportation in Southeast Asia."

There are some more positive quotes there as well, but it is definitely a complex taste that is unlike anything else I have tried.

Certainly what you notice most about Singapore is: it is very, very clean. Ridiculously clean. My first impression was "Wow - Disneyland, but a city without the rides." It turns out I wasn't the first one to think this..;) Minor offences like Littering carry big fines (potentially in the thousands) - but is that bad? Other slightly more serious offences like trafficking drugs (ie Marijuana) carry the death penalty - quite severe certainly. And no chewing gum whatsoever (due to high cleanup costs). Many people call it the safest city in the world - and it definitely appears that way.

Over Heard

2009-03-08T23:07:00.004-04:00

I won't say when or where this happened, but in the past week or two I over heard a conversation between a group of 3 guys. Two of them were very animated - they was explaining some loan/investment deal they were in on to the 3rd person. Specifically, the idea was to invest in high risk loans directly - in the under 10k area. The one obviously was skeptical, and wondered what the interest return vs risk situation looked like.

They said interest was just icing on the cake. The real money is in collecting ridiculously expensive late charges - "You want them to miss as many payments as possible!" There was more details - but they appeared to be making quite a bit of money from it...and enjoying it every step of the way.

Sad.

Savings as a % of Disposable Income

2009-03-02T17:52:00.006-05:00

The below interactive chart shows savings as a percentage of disposable income.

I won't state the obvious - but very interesting. Drag the bar along the bottom to change the timeline.

Courtesy: Paul Kedrosky

Fun little Video

2009-03-02T14:13:00.000-05:00

I like this - it's a bit long for it's point, but fun nonetheless.

Ex-ET
Uploaded by Esma-Movie

Insane March

2009-02-26T17:07:00.003-05:00

I'm just putting together my travel itinerary for March - it looks like it's going to be pretty insane. I've traveled extensively in the past, but this is probably going to be the most air miles in one trip!

Mar 4: Fly to Columbus

Mar 7: Return to Toronto

Mar 9: Fly from Toronto to Heathrow, connecting in Chicago

Mar 10: Fly Heathrow to Amsterdam

Mar 12: Fly Amsterdam to Heathrow

Mar 13: Fly Heathrow to Singapore

Mar 20: Fly Singapore to Bangkok

Mar 30: Fly Bangkok to Singapore

Mar 30: Fly Singapore to Heathrow

Mar 31: Fly Heathrow to Toronto (through Chicago)

Apr 1: Fly Toronto to Hartford

Apr 3: Fly Hartford to Toronto

What is interesting is just how easy it is really to book everything at a relatively good price, without taking much time using the net these days. I'm going to log a little over 50 hours in the air - fortunately over 30 hours will be on Singapore Airlines.

Google Earth

2009-02-23T22:43:00.005-05:00

Google Earth was a novelty when it first came out - and I hadn't installed it for awhile since. I just did today - they have definitely added a LOT. I had been reading about various improvements but, as always, the best evidence is close to home! This image is about a block away from my house - 3D buildings for Bloor West!

For other interesting improvements - try out:
- map of the ocean floor
- lots of various map notes - just zoom around
- historical imagery - check out the earth at different points in time
- a map of the sky

It's pretty freaking sweet.

New Comments System

2009-02-20T17:45:00.005-05:00

As this blog is generally read by people I know in real life, most comments on various entries are made in Facebook (via the Notes import), direct email, and/or in conversation. In other words, I don't get many comments here. For fun, I have switched out the comments functionality provided by Blogger - instead going to Disqus to basically see how it works. I like the idea - and have used it for quite awhile on other blogs - it creates some sense of accountability in the commenter, as well as a way to see what else they comment on/read.

Here is my Disqus profile.

Life in the Blogosphere?

2009-02-20T09:22:00.002-05:00

These days - life online in either Forums or Blog Comments can be hilarious at times. Specifically, with the absence of face-to-face interaction (or any perceived consequences), people tend to go off a bit more. Person makes Point A in a blog entry, Person B debates it in the comments....and often it deteriorates into a "just how stupid the other person is" argument. If you actually remove any emotion when reading (or if you are involved), it's actually quite comical.

This old Monty Python sketch is worth a watch:

Technology Doesn't Matter

2009-02-18T13:10:00.003-05:00

Check out this article on Social Network reliability. Here are the key comments regarding Twitter:

That’s right — in the second quarter of last year, Twitter was down almost 50 per cent of the time. That is a pathetic and dismal record by almost any measure. There are apps and services that are still in the private alpha stage with uptime records that would put Twitter to shame. But what is the social network that everyone wants to use?

and:

When I wrote about Twitter and its downtime last year, I got a fascinating comment from someone who ran a small technology startup — not a Twitter knockoff, but similar in many ways. They spent a lot of time and money building a great infrastructure, robust and scalable, with all kinds of features. And what did it get them? A great service, with very few users. This person said that he would much rather have had Twitter’s problems: lots of downtime and scalability issues, but also lots of devoted users.

Think about that - a growing service was down almost half of the time. They still are down almost 10% of the time. When I use their web site, I find it slow. It's amazing - and just reinforces basically Brand > All (almost). Twitter has turned into a word, similar to Google - ie "Did you google it?" or "I twittered the conference session." Check out their competitors - names like Identi.ca, Present.ly, and Yammer. Yeah....

Interesting Videos

2009-02-17T14:21:00.002-05:00

Here are a couple of interesting videos - the first is an excerpt of Wall Street, a movie from the '80s. The blog post I found it on is a very EXCELLENT read.

The next video is a mashup of clips from a 1981 movie called Rollover. I found it on this very good blog.

What should you do with your life?

2009-02-09T13:06:00.006-05:00

I've been following a blog by a former Golden State Warriors head coach - Eric Musselman. It's probably the best blog I read - his analogies, insights, and overall writing style is, well, awesome. He blogs very frequently - in February alone, he has 46 (yes - FORTY-SIX) blog entries! In January, 168. Many of his basketball-related blog entries can be generalized and applied in other ways.

Today, he had yet another fantastic blog entry, this time inspired by a Fast Company article.

The truth is, most of us have know deep inside of us where we "belong," but, unfortunately, we "make poor choices and waste productive years on the wrong work."

The best segment is as follows:

In truth, the opposite is true. The shortest route to the good life involves building the confidence that you can live happily within your means (whatever the means provided by the choices that are truly acceptable to you turn out to be)."

This is an extremely threatening conclusion. It suggests that the vast majority of us aren't just putting our dreams on ice -- we're killing them.

This one is pretty good too:

'Keeping your doors open' is a trap. It's an excuse to stay uninvolved.

It might be worth it to pick this book up.

Guess which country...has not faced a single bank failure?

2009-02-08T20:34:00.001-05:00

An interesting article on how Canada actually looks quite strong right now:

Canada has been remarkably responsible over the past decade or so. It has had 12 years of budget surpluses, and can now spend money to fuel a recovery from a strong position. The government has restructured the national pension system, placing it on a firm fiscal footing, unlike our own insolvent Social Security. Its health-care system is cheaper than America's by far (accounting for 9.7 percent of GDP, versus 15.2 percent here), and yet does better on all major indexes. Life expectancy in Canada is 81 years, versus 78 in the United States; "healthy life expectancy" is 72 years, versus 69. American car companies have moved so many jobs to Canada to take advantage of lower health-care costs that since 2004, Ontario and not Michigan has been North America's largest car-producing region.

Suspect

2009-02-03T13:28:00.000-05:00

Anyone can be a suspect...

Recession or Depression?

2009-01-15T15:13:00.000-05:00

Just read an interesting comment from Paul Kedrosky:

Depression/recession chatter. We're doing that denial thing about a depression the same way we did about about a recession. A credit collapse, trade spiral, disappeared confidence, failing banks, fast-rising unemployment, and loss of confidence worldwide: We are in a depression of some to-be-determined eventual severity. Stop talking and move on.

The Bailout Game

2009-01-15T11:31:00.003-05:00

This is absolutely hilarious! My first time through - I kept all the money..

Check out the Bailout Game.

I'll buy almost anything if it's shiny and made by Apple

2009-01-15T10:53:00.001-05:00

Apple Introduces Revolutionary New Laptop With No Keyboard

Microsoft Windows

2009-01-09T16:15:00.006-05:00

As you may have heard, Windows 7 be available as beta shortly. This is strangely quick for Microsoft - and I'm sure we can all guess why. Vista. Oh Vista - how you make me want to "downgrade" to even WinME! :) Anyone who didn't buy a new PC certainly has stuck with XP, and for good reason. Vista is slow, filled with bad DRM ideas, and an almost hilarious security model (UAC). When did security become "ask the user if they trust ASDFASFD234234.exe"?

Probably the Scariest Commercial all Time!

2009-01-09T09:46:00.002-05:00

Whenever I see something like this, I think of all the people involved in making it, especially the person at the end who said "Perfect! Get it on the air!"

Update: I was looking through that failblog, and found this gem. Seriously, watch a couple of these guys make jumping jacks look like the drunk guy in the middle of the dance floor:

Happy New Years! (and did you eat this at your party?)

2009-01-05T09:58:00.001-05:00

Happy New Year to everyone ! I hope you weren't served this at New Years - it's pretty ridiculous...am I sick for even thinking about it?

The Matrix ran on Windows XP

2008-12-03T16:25:00.002-05:00

This is awesome!!!!

What Do Obama Supporters do Now?

2008-11-10T12:00:00.001-05:00

Obama Win Causes Obsessive Supporters To Realize How Empty Their Lives Are

Don't Stop Believin'

2008-10-16T17:21:00.002-04:00

If you follow tech news, you might have read that there was an internet video circulating with some tech people in north cyprus lip-syncing Journeys "Don't Stop Believin'" in one take. Tons of articles out there talk about how ridiculous it is that these execs are partying it up in cyprus while "rome burns" back home. This article is probably the worst headline grabber: "Silicon Valley lip-synchs while market burns".

Come on. PLEASE. It's some friends, who happen to be techies, on vacation. That's it!!

I think Matt Maroon says it best:

Then, as if having fun on vacation wasn’t rude enough, they topped it off by making a video that nobody who wasn’t in it could possibly ever give a shit about of everyone lip syncing to a Don’t Stop Believing.

Here it is:

Find more videos like this on twitter devs

Lisbon, Portugal

2008-10-11T15:45:00.004-04:00

I left Vienna early friday morning (4:30AM wakeup), went through heathrow, and made it to Lisbon by about 4:30pm. I had read that the taxis in Lisbon tend to try to rip you off by taking longer than necessary journeys, so I was semi-prepared. However, I was still slightly ripped off - but only by a euro or so..:) I checked into the hotel, and took the lift up. I was greeted with the hallway in the image to the left! This hotel is all about black and white, and they are quite liberal with the black! I was tired, so in order to find my room, I just scanned my key until I found one that worked..:) The room itself is quite nice - very "pantages" style (in toronto), with more artistic license. In the bathroom, there is a lot of mirrors and 1-way glass, so I was, uh, very confused at first!

I relaxed for a bit, then headed out for dinner and a drink. Of course I was going to old lisbon, so I took the metro down, which is a very easy system. Once again I'm reminded how dumb our system is in Toronto! I ended up walking a lot through the old town - I don't think any pictures can do it justice. It's a collection of small alleys, very hilly, and covered in graffitti. It's very moody - very cool! I eventually settled on a tapas place where I could sit outside, with some live portugeuse music. The tapas were good - especially the octopus. I then walked around to check out the nightlife, and was offered every major drug in the book over and over! They're all over anyone who looks like a tourist - and perhaps my map and camera gave me away..:)

I called it a night fairly early, and got to bed. The hotel room has an electronic system for closing/opening blinds. Not the normal blinds - the one that essentially covers the entire window (and a translucent one as well). The next morning when I woke up, the room was still completely dark! The breakfast was great - then it was off to tour the city. I took one of those open-top tour buses, always a great way to get introduced to a city. Every few stops I would get off, wander around, and get on the next one. Once I arrived in the central square, I noticed some tour busses. I had been advised to try to get to Sintra, and it turned out a bus was departing in 10 minutes! Ah, it always works out....:)

Sintra was very nice - lots of history. Then it was off to Cabo da Roca, the westernmost tip of continental Europe. Basically, that excludes any islands (ie England). It was very beautiful - the coast was just amazing. Not much time to just chill there, which was disappointing. The bus made the way down the coast back to Lisbon - and this drive was quite nice as well. It reminded me a bit of the shoreline highway in California.

Now I'm back at the hotel, taking a break. Enjoying a nice glass of Portugeuse Red, then back to Old Lisbon!

Vienna Redux

2008-10-09T16:03:00.003-04:00

Well, I've been back in Vienna for nearly a week - and this time, I think I have a greater appreciation for the city. Perhaps it's because I wasn't in Budapest just before? I arrived via Frankfurt Saturday morning, and decided I wasn't taking a taxi. What better way to stay awake than by figuring out public transport?! It was quite easy, once I finally figured out where the hotel actually was. The hotel itself is much better in quality than the one I stayed in last time, and certainly is a much better location!

I spent the day, as usual, walking around the city. This time I made sure to see Schönbrunn - which did not disappoint. The image on the left is of the Palm House and the gardens - the first of many gardens!

That night I was quite tired, so I went to bed fairly early, but not before checking out the "Bermuda Triangle" - pretty much the nightlife of the 1st district. It was great - everything was packed. I went to a small bar where a local musician was playing - fun!

The next day I woke up with some sore feet. I had only brought my dress shoes on this trip, and had worn them all day Saturday....foolishness! My co-worker arrived, and we went back to Schonnbrun, then of course over to visit St. Stephens Cathedral...and back up the 343 stairs! Towards the end of the day I felt I needed a wheelchair if I was going to walk anymore - so it was back to the hotel, dinner, then bed! Well, I had to prepare for the training, so I may not have gotten to bed until 2:30am..:)

The rest of the week has basically been work, but some good restaurants at night occasionally with the customers. The food really has been good, as well as the wine!

I fly tomorrow morning to Heathrow, but I didn't want to stay in England this time. I've seen London a fair amount - so I was searching for somewhere else to go. I called Air Canada to see where they could get me on points, and it turns out that it's only 20k points to travel within Europe! As I have 3 nights and 4 days less the flights, I didn't want to go to far (though Moscow was tempting!), I decided that the direct flight to Portugal was best. So off to Portugal tomorrow - it should be great! I found a great deal at a nice hotel by the Design Hotels group. I booked there for 2 nights, leaving the 3rd night open depending on if I decide to head to the south coast. Should be fun!

Annoyed with Yahoo

2008-07-25T15:40:00.005-04:00

So I've been doing my best to be a good lil' consumer and buy all my songs. After some evaluations, I subscribed to Yahoo Music Unlimited Canada about a year ago. The service allows you to download/use anything from their fairly extensive library, at a cost of just under $10/month. Sure they are all locked up with DRM and can't be burned - but I use my computer(s) as the source anyways most times. No iPod support (Windows DRM), but I didn't care.

It's been quite good. The library is sometimes awkward to scan through, but generally I can get any relatively mainstream song I want, and play it on up to 5 computers (except the PS3). I've downloaded hundreds, if not thousands of songs. All neatly organized into various playlists and genres.

Until Now. (Well, a few months ago, but I didn't care until the discontinuation is truly looming..:)

Yahoo announced that they are discontinuing this service completely, and it's being merged with Rhapsody. Rhapsody is a great service...but isn't available in Canada. Everything will be gone! All my playlists screwed up....my library cut down....

And what makes it worse is the other services here suck. And I mean SUCK. The Sympatico MSN Music Store is a freakin' joke. I'd ask you to try it, but it would be like that old SNL skit - "Ohhhh...this milk is baaad! YOU try it!!!"

iTunes? Forget it - if you don't back up, you're screwed (and I switch computers fairly often). And that's technically the old model - "ownership of a license to use a song permanently", just distributed electronically. I suppose I could do what most do - burn and rip to remove DRM, but that's too much work for a lazy guy like me. Napster Canada? Nah - apparently the selection is meh.

Why can't I have a Music-as-a-Service option in Canada? If it was $20/month, I'd pay. If the service had a good enough library, I would pay $30-$50/month!!

I guess I might try napster canada....but...

RHAPSODY COME TO CANADA!!!!

Europe Part 5: Farewell Budapest, Hello Wien!

2008-06-25T12:56:00.009-04:00

For my last time in Budapest, I wanted to wander around the location of my hotel, specifically Castle Hill. The labyrinth is a must, so I found the inconspicuous door, and headed in. How cool! It is a network of caves under the hill that were used over the years for a variety of reasons, as recently as WWII for the "cowering citizens" near the end while under heavy soviet attack. There was also a "Labyrinth of Courage" - with no lights, and you have to follow a rope. What was hilarious is that all I saw was a door, and went through it. I didn't even know I was in it and what I was supposed to do (ie follow the rope), until after I got back out...I just tried to use my camera for light. As it was a Monday, there was no one else....Fun! (and yes, I "found the sun")

I then toured Matthias Church, and spent the balance of the night touring the hill and soaking it up. They have done a great job re-building - this area has been destroyed so many times. All in all, Budapest is one of the most interesting cities I have visited. Beautiful!

Tuesday I took the train down to Vienna. The train was much nicer, but the air conditioning wasn't working well at all! Three hours later, it was sweaty for all..:) I then took a taxi to the airport, to pick up my rental car. They initially claimed that they had no good cars left, but after some discussion I ended up with a Mercedes! Well, an entry-level one, but still..:) Finally I arrived at my hotel after some "directional" confusion, I unpacked, checked some emails, and enjoyed the view from my room for a bit. I have been lucky with my hotel rooms! I decided to "just explore" the city - I had concierge point me in some direction, then started walking. The city leads you on nicely, and I am very impressed with this city! It's very clean, and somehow you feel very small with all the buildings around you...especially the constant "wow" factor..:)

Today I was supposed to have a client meeting, but they cannot meet until tomorrow. So, off to explore! I took the metro to Karlsplatz, then started walking again (the theme of this trip - walking!). Grabbed lunch at the market, then I found the museum area, and ended up somehow in the Museum of Natural History. It's huge! I checked out the dinosaur skeletons, and some of the wildlife. I really wanted to check out the Hofburg, where much of central Europe was ruled from for 500+ years. I toured the Imperial Court Chapel, as well as the Treasury. Then it was a choice - the Apartments, or a tour of the Spanish Riding School. I chose the horses! :) Sadly, I could not take pictures, but the Winter Riding Hall was amazing! I would love to come back and see a performance - the story of these Lipizzaner horses was quite interesting. We did have a chance to meet the horses in their stables as well.

After a relaxing coffee, I had to see St. Stephens Cathedral. I had seen it the night before, and really wanted to go inside as well as up the tower. Once again - lift or stairs? STAIRS! I think I might be getting into shape! What is amazing about this Cathedral is how it is situated right in the middle of a shopping district. Talk about interesting juxtaposition! (Uh oh - I used a big word - more beer needed!).

The next two days I am with a customer, then I need to figure out what I am doing this weekend! I have a car, and think I might drive across the country side to Salzburg, and possibly to Innsbruck! The Eurocup finals are on Saturday in Vienna, so I can't really stay here, as the hotels are all booked up. I'm looking forward to a roadtrip!

Europe Part 4: Budapest

2008-06-23T11:47:00.006-04:00

Well, now that I have spent some time getting to know the city, I am very impressed. Budapest is filled with rich history - and is attempting to emerge from a rough past.

Saturday I relaxed a little bit, and then walked the Castle Hill district. At night I wanted to experience the nightlife, so I headed over to "Liszt Ferenc", a region with a number of bars/lounges. Most appeared to be closing, so it was then off to an island that has a number of clubs. I was recommended to go to Bed & Beach - and let me tell you, (again) I wish we had parties like this! There is no drama, just people having a lot of fun dancing away. Notice in the picture to the left that the sun is rising! :)

Sunday was a great day of walking and experiencing a lot of the city. I went to the House of Terror, then over to St Stephens Basilica (walked to the top), then to Gellert Hill, which I walked up! It was a lot of walking!! The image to the right is a statue representing Soviet liberty - when the Soviets freed the Hungarians after WWII. Unfortunately, they instituted the AVH, which led to some hard years.

I then walked down Gellert Hill, and across to Castle Hill. The image on the left is at the top of castle hill, on the south side. All I can say is - viewing the city from these hills was just amazing (see below)!

Europe Part 3: Aschaffenburg

2008-06-21T12:00:00.009-04:00

Thursday I travelled to Wasserlos, greeted by a front entrance pictured right. Strange! It was a very small town, with not much to do. In fact, it was 2:30pm in the afternoon, and I hadn’t had lunch yet....but there was no food available anywhere! All stores closed, no restaurants open, etc.

After my customer meeting on Friday, I was dropped off in Aschaffenburg for the night. I had a midnight train to catch, so I had some time in the city. After finding a nice meal and touring around (castle left), I headed down to some Fair that was going on.

Let me tell you, the CNE is BORING compared to this! Vegas-style flashing lights, hard-core dance music (trance?) that was different for each ride...it was hilarious! There was a big tent as well (ok, HUGE tent) that was playing some german music (think Oktoberfest), with probably a couple thousand people drinking and dancing on tables, both young and old!

I then headed back up in to the city, and suddenly there was a loud bang – fireworks! They went on for quite awhile, and were impressive.

Finally, I started making my way to the train station when I stopped into a bar to watch the end of the Croatia/Turkey match, which turned into a classic at the end. Germany actually had quite a large Turkish population (related to post-WWII reconstruction), and after Turkey won, there was a massive celebration on the streets! Nothing in Canada compared to this – not even St. Clair or College after Italy won. What was most impressive was the Police, and how they did not interfere, and even enjoyed themselves. The fans were not about to trash anything, they just wanted to sing and dance! TURK-I-YE!

I’m now in Budapest, which is really quite impressive – my room at the Hilton in the Castle District had two upgrades, and is amazing! I overlook the Danube towards the Parliament!
....and just finished a nice hot stone massage..

Europe Part 2: Lost and Found (it seems to always work out)

2008-06-19T05:44:00.003-04:00

Last saturday I had booked all my tickets for the next leg(s) of my travels. Well, when I arrived at the new hotel on Sunday, all the tickets were missing from my bags. I quickly called the previous hotel to see if I had left them in the room, but they said they couldn't find them. This is about $500 Euros in tickets, so I decided clearly to put some effort into resolving this!

I worked with the front desk to determine if there was any way to have the tickets re-issued, or even canceled and re-purchased. Unfortunately, because I had purchased the tickets in person, there was no way to handle this over the phone. I took a taxi back into Dusseldorf, to see if I could work with the ticket office in person and get somewhere. However, they gave me the same story - because I purchased the tickets in person (and not over the internet), they can't help. The tickets are essentially viewed as "cash". I then went back to the old hotel to search the room myself -but no luck.

On Monday, I opened a case with my Credit Card company, but they felt that I likely had no recourse with them either as my company credit card doesn't have "personal effects insurance." Interesting.. At this point I felt strongly that the tickets had in fact been stolen from my bags while they were in storage. I asked the Director at my current hotel to see what he could do.

Well, yesterday they were "mysteriously found", and returned! This was my last day before I had to leave, and I was just about to re-purchase all the tickets....as I say, it always works out!

Aside from the ticket story, my week was mostly filled with FOOD FOOD and MORE FOOD! (oh and beer and wine..:) I don't think I can eat anymore - I'm permanently stuffed! I didn't have the Porc Knuckle (wow), however.

Currently, I'm on a high speed train down to just outside of Frankfurt. The hotel looks interesting. And tomorrow night.....overnight to Budapest!

Europe Part 1: Germany

2008-06-15T12:10:00.006-04:00

I landed in Dusseldorf yesterday, connecting through Frankfurt on a redeye. The trip was made much easier, because I was able to use my upgrade certificate to get into Executive First (cool interactive flash anim with Celine Dion shilling). Wow - what a difference that makes - from the food and adjustable seat (even into a bed), to help minimize jet lag! I managed to have 3 hours sleep, which made Saturday much easier.

There was a 5 hour layover in Frankfurt, so I used the shower at the lounge to "start the day". I needed to stay awake all day, to at least 10pm or so, so I went to the train station and arranged the next leg in my journey - Budapest! I'm taking an overnight train to Wein (Vienna) first, then up to Budapest until Tuesday. Back to Vienna for work until Friday, then who knows. The EuroCup finals are happening that weekend (June 29th) in Vienna, so that will be a crazy party. However, all the hotels are overpriced, if available at all. I am booked in through the Friday by the customer, but after that ìt's on me. So I might go somewhere else. Currently I am considering a train up to Prague, or maybe a cheap flight somewhere else. There are some super-cheap flights - including one for $50 euro's (return) to Venice.. We shall see!

Today I toured Alstadt in Dusseldorf - been quite a few times now, but it's still quite nice and a great place to have a coffee and sandwich. The image on the left is in the middle of Konigsallee, the major shopping street. All the tents are filled with (only) books for sale. The other photo is a square in Alstadt (old town).

I am now at a hotel outside of Dusseldorf, preparing for the training over the next few days. I always prefer training Europeans for some reason - I think they respect the training process much more, where North Americans tend to need the "Why" always answered. This might be somehow tied to the North American attitude of "get it done, anyway you can!" (aka the 80% rule). This leads to employees not trusting that decisions were all that well-thought out. Europeans tend to actually consider all options before making a decision, so the employees actually trust that a correct decision was likely made (though it may have taken much longer).

Back on topic, Budapest friday!!

Social Media, Advertising, etc.

2008-06-10T12:54:00.003-04:00

Below are a couple of great videos - the first explains Social Media, the 2nd relates to how much advertising is changing. GREAT stuff.

(found on Marketing.fm)

Social Media in Plain English from leelefever on Vimeo.

Quitting Smoking

2008-06-09T11:59:00.005-04:00

So I'm at the 3 week point in quitting smoking - with just one relapse late on saturday after a few drinks. I didn't even want to smoke it - it was more of a cigar. Other than that, nothing.

Many people suggest that the first two weeks is the hardest. I think it is very difficult, because the need for a cigarette is all of the time. However, it is also when your will to quit is at it's highest. You tend to create a mindset, and lock in to it.

Past the two week point, I think it is much more harder, with 4 main challenges:

1. Urges. At this point, you feel relief - the urges aren't constant, and you feel successful. The problem is, the urges come in waves. Suddenly, for about 5-10 minutes, you get this ridiculously strong urge to smoke. These are very tough to handle if you are around other smokers - overcoming it is very, very hard. The key is to do something distracting for those 5 minutes - pick up a ball, walk around, do something.

2. Rewards. As hilariously stupid as it sounds - you feel that you should reward yourself with a cigarette for quitting. I proved I can quit, so I can have one!

3. Moods. The mood swings continue, but again unexpectedly. You might go from a "hyper-high" to very low in minutes. The low is the tough part - because when you feel depressed, guess what you want to do???

4. Why? When it's been a few weeks, you start asking yourself "why did I quit again?" You are starting to feel better, so it's tough to remember why you quit. You generally remember the good cigarettes - mornings with a coffee, with a beer, on the phone, driving, etc. You forget the bad ones - the ones you forced down because you had to satisfy the addiction. Combine this with an attitude you might feel of "Why bother quitting? I like it."

It's annoying to quit smoking.

I Respect Mark Cuban a lot, but...

2008-05-29T13:46:00.002-04:00

I just think he has his blinders on. A recent blog post about how video content will be distributed in the future really seems to indicate that he is fully out of "innovative/young" mode, and into "big business man" mode. I think his attitude is summed up here:

"...At some stage in your life, you reach a point where Mac and Cheese and free food at happy hour and buying used clothes are disapointments rather than choices..."

Just because it's Monday

2008-02-11T11:47:00.001-05:00

Tell me why the bartender jumps against the fence at 2:08?

Hilarious!

Google/Yahoo/Microsoft

2008-02-03T22:35:00.000-05:00

This story shouldn't be too surprising - Google might sell Yahoo on avoiding the Microsoft culture. Google functions on a different level - I don't think they're caught up in MBA style deal-making yet. They seem to think out of the box - this reminds me of The Google Story - where the google owners turn around the plane to save the AOL Europe deal. Also, Google likely isn't "worried" like some commenters on other blogs might say - it's just posturing.

Why is Yahoo so important? What innovation do they really have? $44B for what exactly? I don't understand the Yahoo/MS idea - does the marriage of two search losers make a potential winner? Buy a small company with some disruptive innovation instead! Re-evaluate your me-too approach! According to this article, even putting Yahoo and MS together still only nets 16% of the market. Maybe for E-Mail and instant messaging - but why clean the vault for that?

Microsoft seems to stuggle here - they can't leverage their dominance on the desktop to gain market share in the huge online advertising space. So they spin in circles.

Give a small elite team 1/1000th ("carry the 7...") of that $44B, and you will likely get some real innovation!!

UPDATE: Some "inside sources" tell me that all this sponsored search talk is a red herring. In fact, Microsoft is interested in Yahoo for their Media capabilities (infrastructure, current deals, etc).....and want to stream it all to the xbox 360 and take over the living room... A possibility is that sponsored search is "Web Ad Revenue 1.0", but more advanced ad rev is possible direct to the living room.. This link seems to back that up.

Get Your Act Together Sony!

2008-02-03T20:04:00.001-05:00

To set the stage, I use Yahoo Music Unlimited (YMU) – an online music service that allows unlimited song access for about $8 per month. You can’t burn to CD – but you can authorize 3 devices (or something like that), including most modern non iPod MP3 players. I wish Rhapsody was here, but it isn’t. YMU uses PlaysForSure – Windows DRM. I use YMU to download, then Windows Media Player (WMP) to sort/index/tag/etc.

This week I purchased a PS3, and hooked it up to my wireless home network. The PS3 is more than just a gaming system, it is a central device for your living room. You can stream video/audio from and to it...which is exciting. So, I turned on sharing on Windows Media Player on my computer, and then had the PS3 “discover” it. No problems so far. I then access my desktop library – I can see my playlists, songs, etc. Sweet! Hmmm...some of the tracks don’t display – “unsupported data”. Looks like the PS3 can’t read/play PlaysForSure DRM’d songs. However, it can play all of my unlocked MP3’s – you know, the ones that I ripped from CD’s, etc.

The fault here is actually with Sony – there is no reason why they can’t have the PS3 support Windows DRM – the PS3 could just be “authorized” as one of my 3 allowable devices.

Oh – you can stream video too, but only certain formats....of course WMV is not supported.

Come on Sony! If you want to run the living room – build some support!

Grey Lines, Wasted Tax Dollars, and the Thought Police

2008-01-18T18:37:00.000-05:00

So a Canadian out west is under investigation by the Human Rights Commission, interviewed below. I think it is a very interesting argument - and one that should always be considered (whether "Right" or "Left").

He is considered an "Activist Conservative" - wonder what he would say about the Patriot Act? His background includes using a lawyer best known for his advocacy in defence of Holocaust deniers and accused Nazi war criminals. Follow the wiki link for more strange stuff.

After reading a bit about Ezra and Syed, it looks like both are motivated for reasons other than the apparent. Ezra mentions that Syed has complaints against him - with documents to back it up.

CD Sales Down over Christmas - World Ends!

2008-01-03T12:11:00.000-05:00

From Variety:

..overall (CD) music sales during the Christmas shopping season were down an astounding 21% from last year..

Music CD sales are down - imagine the shock! I completely agree with Marc Andreessen on this one - won't video be far behind? Remember the mantra - convenience and price over Quality, every time. With HD coming to YouTube soon, and/or new sites like Hulu, why won't I just watch video via my network connected to my TV?

An interesting story is Quarterlife - an internet-based series that was recently picked up by NBC.

Q: Will the "Long Tail" get too long?

Happy New Year! Find your prostate cancer buddies!

2008-01-02T16:37:00.000-05:00

Well, the holidays are over, I'm freaking tired and beat up (hand-stands at 5am on new years eve/technically new years day), but it was a good break nonetheless.

On another note - ever used a social networking tool such as facebook and asked yourself "Who else is pre-disposed to prostate cancer??"

Well, look no further. There is a startup called 23AndMe that will profile your DNA for $1k. In '08 they will be wrapping social networking functionality around it - and all I can say is "Vierd".

While it is cool to have your DNA analyzed to find out interesting things about you never easily accessed before, I'm not sold on the social networking angle. Perhaps that's tossed in there to sell the VC's - "Did They Say SOCIAL NETWORKING?? FUND IT NOW!"

I'm thinking of doing it - but there are privacy implications. Also, if I do, it would probably be in the summer when they have expanded their capabilities in analysis.

Further - what is the impact? Wired says it best:

To act on this data, we first need to understand it. That means the companies must translate the demanding argot of genetics — alleles and phenotypes and centromeres — into something approachable, even simple, for physicians and laypersons alike. It's one thing for a doctor to tell patients that smoking is bad for them, or that their cholesterol count is high. But how are you supposed to react when you're told you have a genetic variation at rs6983267 that's been associated with a 20 percent higher risk of colorectal cancer? And what are physicians, most likely untrained in and unprepared for genomic medicine, to do when a patient comes in wielding a printout that indicates a particular variation of a particular gene?

What's also "interesting" is sites like Scientific Match - use your DNA to profile potential matches.

I haven't seen much of this guy..

2007-12-03T12:52:00.002-05:00

This is a video of Andy Kaufman on Midnight Special - insanity! And brilliant!

You need to read this

2007-11-13T13:48:00.001-05:00

This blog is absolutely amazing.

It's written by a former NBA player (American) who was signed to play in Iran. He goes through what he thought to expect, and what he actually did see. This entry in particular is thought provoking:

To be absolutely honest with you I was petrified on this flight, not because it wasn’t very smooth because it was and it wasn’t completely because I really hate flying but more so because as I boarded the plane I looked around and saw exactly what I’ve been conditioned to fear since 9/11 which is a plane full of Muslims and that seriously had me stressed, I felt like shaq shooting a playoff free throw(extremely vulnerable). There is a lot of blame to go around for my perception but I use to watch The Factor until I realized the type of narrow minded view of Muslims it was projecting so I’m passing mine to O’Reilly, thanks Bill-O!

Something to think about, I hope.

My desk is soooo boring!

2007-11-09T10:42:00.001-05:00

Something is bugging me. And I mean REALLY bugging me. I sit here at my desk all day long, thinking: "What good is this desk really good for? It just holds all my ~~crap~~ stuff."

Don't you think that too? Just your average Joe North American - sitting in the living room, killing another evening watching 4+ hours of TV thinking to yourself: "what a stupid coffee table...What has it EVER done for me?"

Then it dawned on me - tables and desks are just plain lazy.

~~This month~~ Soon we will have an answer - Microsoft Surface.

Take THAT you lazy coffee table.

I wanted to thank Mr Bill for this inspiring quote:

"It can be in every desk," Gates said. "It can be in every table, it can be in every whiteboard, every mirror. Give us a 5- to 10-year time frame and we will wonder why our tables used to just sit there and not do anything for us."

East Coast vs West Coast - IT'S ON!

2007-10-30T16:47:00.002-04:00

Well, not quite in a biggie vs tupac way, but those VC's and Entrepreneurs are going at it.

Fred Wilson, a NY'er from A VC, has responded to an article by John Heilemann that essentially calls out NY'ers as a "sad-assed backwater when it comes to the Internet industry".

Hilarious!

As John's article says - "$3.4 billion (has been) invested in fledgling Internet firms in 2007, the most torrid pace since the height of the Web 1.0 mêlée."

Something to think about - will Google really let the bubble pop?

Either way, I do think that the bubble bursting isn't a bad thing - reset peoples crazy mind-sets, and get back to building interesting, truly innovative and useful technologies that have a hope of having a viable business model!

Weekend in Amsterdam

2007-10-07T10:00:00.001-04:00

What did I learn in a couple days in Amsterdam?

- there are two versions - Las Vegas (RLD, clubs, etc) vs Cultured (museums).
- everyone rides a bike, and there is little traffic. Parking in the city is too expensive to make it possible for most people. Bike lanes everywhere!
- I am no longer tall here
- Amsterdam never sleeps
- there are bars, clubs, lounges, pubs, etc everywhere!
- it's very easy to get around
- extremely integrated - people of all backgrounds, cultures, and races live here
- I saw first hand where my mayo obsession comes from.
- lots of stray cats, and they aren't considered "cute"
- Everything is 4 stories. You could say "double toronto!"
- amazing to see some original van gogh and rembrandt

Phunny Day in Philly

2007-08-28T20:52:00.000-04:00

When I arrived in Philly, I realized that I had left my laptop power adapter in the Maple Leaf Lounge in Toronto (surprise surprise). So i went on quite the adventure to go get it. First stop was a radio shack - no luck. Realized I forgot my wallet - so back to the hotel. Then a staples, no luck. The sales associate at staples called a nearby location to see if they had it, sure enough they did. So I walked the 6 or 7 blocks over, and, well, they didn't. Turns out the cashier was not to be confused with a mensa member. However, the computer guy there said given my troubles, they could let me borrow one from a show-floor model that was similar to mine, and I'd just return it the next morning.

I get back to the hotel, hit the restaurant, and go to plug it in. Like an idiot, I didn't test it at staples, so of course it didn't work. I go up to the car (separate elevator from the hotel), only to figure out that my "in/out" pass is back in the hotel. Down the parking elevator, up the hotel elevator, and back. Alright, off to Best Buy, first dropping off the adapter at staples to get my ID back (the "deposit"). After getting lost for awhile, I found the Best Buy, and they had the adapter. Sweet!

Now driving back to the hotel, I hear some shouting over the music while at a red light. I shut off the music, and see that directly ahead of me there seems to be a bit of a standoff between "rival factions". There is a CVS store and security guard nearby, but he's staying out of it. Suddenly the shouting escalates, and both groups swarm the street directly in front of me. Light turns green...and I edge forward. There's fighting, yelling, etc, and I'm slowly pulling ahead to
edge through the melee. In between the punches and brawling, they see my car and make their way aside. Finally, I make it through, and am back at the hotel with a power adapter!

Now imagine if I didn't forget the power adapter at the airport lounge..

Baggy Pants - The New Crack

2007-08-24T09:01:00.001-04:00

So it looks like Atlanta is looking to ban baggy pants. Without linking to actual stats - atlanta not known as one of the safer cities in the US. And now we know why!! Baggy Pants!

Of course, there has to be some silly quote in an article like this:

"Little children see it and want to adopt it, thinking it's the in thing," Martin said Wednesday. "I don't want young people thinking that half-dressing is the way to go. I want them to think about their future."

Soooo.....let my check my math.....carry the 7....Wearing baggy pants <> thinking about your future! Show a bit o' boxer, and you'll never get on a path to success in life!

Must be some freakonomics thing.

Insanely Interesting and

2007-08-22T11:14:00.000-04:00

What a very interesting blog post! How to influence your own luck - which I completely agree with. In summary, do new and different things often, and never sit for too long.

This is a blog by Marc Andreessen, of netscape fame. His entire blog is worth subscribing to.

Broke and Stupid

2007-08-13T14:09:00.001-04:00

Tom Peters - Great Speaker!

2007-08-13T14:00:00.001-04:00

Muppet Faces of Death

2007-08-01T15:21:00.002-04:00

Most people in my age group remember the "Many Faces of Death" underground video that mades the rounds when we were young. I remember people saying that their lives had changed....they had nightmares...etc..etc.

Now, even more horrifying, is the Muppet Faces of Death:

Noooo! Fox News views worried that Rupert Murdoch is a terrific dancer!

2007-07-23T14:46:00.001-04:00

Ahhh...back to when the Simpsons was funny! "Oil Slicks Found to Keep Seals Young, Supple" --> sweetness.

Recognized in Kitchener Record!

2007-07-07T16:19:00.000-04:00

I know the article will be down in 14 days, but here is a link to a story published today in the Kitchener Record: BONDS FORMED, LIVES TRANSFORMED.

I'm so happy they published it! I originally hadn't heard back. It's on the front page today!!

Catching up with York

2007-06-09T09:33:00.001-04:00

I started the week up in Shildon, just outside of Darlington. The picture here is of the hotel - quite the impressive drive up! Wednesday, we went to Whitby, where a restaurant called Magpie's has supposedly the best fish and chips in the country. It was good, but I'll not say #1..:) What is most interesting about Whitby is the goth angle - much of Bram Stoker's dracula novel was inspired by and set here - which has resulted in a bi-annual gothic weekend.

I'm just leaving York now, and it was a great time! I arrived at the hotel on thursday, and shortly thereafter went down to the Kings Arms for a pint or 3. Soon enough I was chatting up the locals, and a few rounds had passed. Ended up hitting a club called the gallery, which had a sunken dance floor in the middle. Friday I did a full tour of the city, including York Minster (climbed the tower), the wall, and Jorvik. Friday night I caught up with the people I had met the night before, including some band members, and started, yep, at the Kings Arms..:) We then hit a pub for a bit, and went to "The Willow". They had prepped me - but what a hilarious place! It's a chinese restaurant that moves all the tables to the side at midnight, and brings out the crazy DJ. And the music is strange - the playlist included Cocacabana, I've had the time of my life, rap music, electronic, early 90's dance, and, of course, summer of 69 (which the york locals absolutely love). The crowd and overall vibe was just plain fun!

This is a refreshing read...

2007-06-08T14:54:00.001-04:00

This is an interview with Trent Reznor, and is quite remarkable.

If I could do what I want right now, I would put out my next album, you could download it from my site at as high a bit-rate as you want, pay $4 through PayPal. Come see the show and buy a T-shirt if you like it. I would put out a nicely packaged merchandise piece, if you want to own a physical thing. And it would come out the day that it's done in the studio, not this "Let's wait three months" bulls---.

Amazing footage from Africa

2007-06-03T12:06:00.000-04:00

The battle at Kruger - the buffalo's strike back! Watch it all the way through...

Delays, Lost Baggage Super Happy Fun Times

2007-05-17T18:42:00.000-04:00

Fun day of travel today - this is the 4th trip from Toronto to Tulsa in the past few months, but this one? Well, it no go so smooth. To recap:

4am - wake up.
5am - arrive at terminal. Computer says go to counter. Go to United Airlines counter. They say go to Air Canada counter. They say to go to computer. It's too early for this.
6:30am - board plane (United Airlines)
7:00am - Plane power goes out when pulling out. We sit.
7:45am - Plane takes off.
8:30am (Now CST) - Land in Chicago. Gate agent has booked me on an American Airlines flight.
9:50am - board American Airlines flight. Not star alliance - so last to board.
10:30am - Plane takes off. Chicago delays (waiting in queue for takeoff).
1:00pm - Arrive in Tulsa.
1:20pm - Bag not there. Go to counter - they take down my hotel and contact information - say my bag is probably on a later United flight. Will fwd to me once it arrives. Off to hotel.
5pm - Start to wonder what is going on. Called United to see what they would say. They said to call American Airlines.

So I call American. Turns out that a lost baggage report was not created by the Tulsa Baggage claim desk, so no records. They created one, while giving me some grief that this is really united's fault and they are helping me out here. They don't know where the bag is - but will start the tracking process, and I'll hear from them when they find it.

I decide to call United back. They say the bag is sitting in the Tulsa airport, at the United baggage claim desk. Say it has been there since about 2pm. I asked them if they could alert the local Tulsa United rep to tell American it's there. They can't do this - it's up to American Airlines to come over and get it. Hang up.

Call American back. She gets my info, puts me on hold for awhile, then she came back and said bag is going to be in Denver for 7:50pm. I asked "I'm in tulsa. The bag is on it's way to Denver?" She said Yep. I said United told me that it has been sitting in Tulsa since 2pm. Back on hold...5 minutes later, she asked "So you are saying that someone told you that your bag is in Tulsa?" I responded with "Yep - I called United, gave them the baggage #, and they said it's been sitting in Tulsa." Back on hold...she comes back and says that she can't reach anyone at the Tulsa baggage claim desk. Says she will try again, and I'll hear from them when they have found the bag. If they don't? Won't call until they have the bag.

6:45pm - Called Diners. May need to get insurance involved and buy some clothes for tomorrows meeting.

So much for an afternoon of golf! Silliness. The flight delays aren't too bad - those happen all the time - but I hate checking luggage!!

A Dancin' Machine

2007-05-14T13:09:00.000-04:00

The video below is one of the more populare youtube videos, at 48 Million views!

It's freakin' funny. Yep.

Is life always good in social networking?

2007-05-11T10:33:00.000-04:00

With twitter, facebook status, etc, people are increasingly letting everyone know what they are doing "in the moment". Outside of angst-ridden teenagers, most people in the 25-30+ age group almost exclusively post their happy thoughts, how great life is, or what they are doing that is amazing. What you see is typically:

"_____ is enjoying a night on a patio!"
"_____ is recovering from a great night out!"
"_____ is looking forward to the weekend!"
"_____ is looking forward to the big party with great friends!"

I think we should start a petition to only post negative thoughts. How about:

"_____ is disgusted with his friends, most of the time."
"_____ is trying to find ways to get out of the night out tonight."
"_____ is generally un-happy with his neighbours. They're idiots."

Alternatively, we could post some Seinfeld-esque updates. Such as:

"_____ is wondering why he didn't pee at his normal 10am timeslot?"
"_____ is determined to park in such a way that the walk to the office is shorter. Don't have to walk around the car."
"_____ is back to his desk, after getting a fresh cup of coffee."
"_____ is using a new bic pen from the supply closet."

Any other ideas to change from the boring old ".......happy to live life to the fullest!!"

PS - read this blog for more ideas.

Apparently now is the time

2007-05-02T09:17:00.000-04:00

Check out this blog entry by A VC. 10 of 11 portfolio companies have the leading entrepreneur 30 or under.

I heard someone the other day say "I must be getting older, because this new Office 2007 is hard to figure out." This guy is in his early 30's, and is tech-savvy. He reflected that "technology is getting harder to keep up with" - where a few years ago he might have said "technology innovation is exciting!"

Do our brains stop innovating past 35? Not only past your prime at most sports, but also innovation?

Or do we get tired of trying to keep up? Adding too much responsibility from other pressures (building a family, planning retirement, etc).

You'll read this. I'll read this. But nothing will change - amazing!

2007-04-16T14:43:00.000-04:00

Here is an article talking about how HoneyBee's are disappearing - it looks like Cell phone signals may be at fault. Best summed up here:

Some scientists theorize that the radiation given off by mobile phones and other gadgets is to blame for the abrupt disappearance of those lovable honeybees who pollinate crops....The theory goes like this: radiation from mobile phones interferes with a bee's ability to navigate back to its hive, leaving their homes empty save for the queen. The U.S. West Coast is thought to have lost 60 percent of its commercial bee population, and the U.S. East Coast is thought to have lost 70 percent.

Reports are widely quoting Albert Einstein, who said that if bees were to disappear, "man would have only four years of life left."

Time to jump on the wagon!

2007-04-09T16:45:00.000-04:00

Raptors are the best team in the east since Jan 1. With their record in that time, they would be well over a 50 win team...and this is with something like 11 new players this year (Hence early integration struggles). When they are playing well, it's absolutely great basketball to watch. Different from the Vince days - but a pass-first offence with unselfish, coachable players that leave it on the floor.

Yep - I'm all marked out. But I'm not the only mark out there.

Smoking aids procrastination in that it inserts a series of commas in your the sentence of life.

2007-03-29T11:03:00.000-04:00

What a great line - and hilarious video!

The latest game show

2007-03-29T10:55:00.000-04:00