Becoming a Criminal in the 21st Century - Canadian Copywrite Reform

It's a big deal. The Canadian Copywrite Reform Act [if it becomes law], is going to change the way we live, the way we share and the way we enjoy media.

From Michael Geist, there's a beautiful synopsis: The Canadian public get's analog rights, the Copywrite Lobby get's digital rights. You can copy a piece of video media that you *OWN* onto a videocassette, but not a DVD.
~~~~When was the last time you had a videocassette? I haven't owned a VCR for over 5 years.

The most interesting new criminality is the PVR. If you've got a PVR, chances are you actually got it from your TV provider, you are renting or have purchased it, with the explicit permission from the provider to be able to use it to record entertainment to watch at a later date. Poof. This activity, along with time-shifting is going to become a criminal activity.

Let's just put aside the fact that this is a service provided by your cable/satellite provider. How about the financial implications of the Canadian government on said cable/satellite providers? I pay a whopping $20/month for my HD PVR. That's $240/year from just little old me. Imagine the thousands of people who are in the same boat. That revenue stream could simply disappear from the service provider's coffers with a government signature. Why is it that we aren't hearing the screams of the major service providers about this component of the copywrite bill? Are they engaged in their own lobbying? Do they have a plan?

I've got a feeling that they *do* have a plan, and something just as insidious as the Canadian Copywrite Reform. Something that takes the content out of the customer's domain and puts it back in the service provider's realm. My gut says that the TV service providers are going to offer a similar type service, but instead of downloading movies/shows to your PVR, you program the scheduling, and the shows are actually stored to disk on the service provider's premise, and when you want to view the recorded media, you get to *stream* the content down to your TV, but never actually have possession of the media. It's going to be part of the push to make network infrastructures smarter, and put the control of content tightly in the hands of the broadcasters. Think TMN on Demand, a neat service provided by Rogers. Instead of waiting for the appropriate time for a movie to be aired, you can select to watch a TMN movie whenever you want. No waiting, no schedule. Bam, it's there when you want. Rogers also offers the same service for their PPV movies, no schedule, instant watch-ability. With these services, I couldn't *save* the movie to my PVR, I could only watch it in real time. Sneaky. Good and sneaky, but you can see that the wheels are already spinning....

We are all going to be criminals.
I've got to get my tattoo figured out. And a really tough nickname.












Technorati Tags: Rogers, Canadian Copywrite Reform, Michael Geist

Soccerfest 2008

It was a long hot saturday, with a threat of impending rain and the squeaking of hundred of pre-teen girls. Soccer had taken over Newmarket. Whistles and refs and jerseys of all hues covered 5 acres of greenspace. Parents with foldable chairs in snappy carrying bags lined the fields. Cheering, whooping and the odd word cursed under their breath in response to a bad call from the officials.

Baby Shower 2.0: Long Distance Love

This past weekend I was able to attend something very neat: A virtual baby shower. The mom was in California (just north of San Fran) and the rest of the family was in Ontario (just north of Oshawa). Laptops, web cams and a 1010 Casual Calling plan created a spectacular experience. [we would have used skype but alas, it was a last minute tech change].

Pressies were opened and proudly displayed to the webcam, and the oohs and ahhs from the mom were audible over the speakerphone. It worked! The laughter and hilarity of ladies *monkeying around for the webcam* were priceless.

Distance doesn't mean very much any more. Or it didn't, until the mom said "Mom, come closer to the webcam, I want to see your face. I miss you". It's still hard to hug over the internets.

Prom 2.0: Excessiveness 2.0

An interesting bit caught my eye this morning in the Toronto Star: Teens Being Shafted with Limo Services. My first thought: wow - who's got $2000 for transportation to an event that isn't even going to register a 3 on your life importance scale? Sure, teens likely shouldn't get scammed, but if the market is willing, prom expenses are low hanging fruit.I remember my prom - it was awesome. We didn't rent a $2000 stretch hummer. We rented a MOTORHOME. Now that's the way to go in style. And no, it wasn't $2000. It was less than $500. For 10 people. For the whole day.Who's paying $2k for a limo? Parents? Kids who are going to prom and dropping $2k for a *limo* likely should be saving part of that splurge for real life things, say.... university tuition? That limo contribution can pay for your textbooks for a year :-)Yes, prom is fun, kids shouldn't get exploited. But the silly arrogance and vanity of prom shouldn't necessarily preclude the fact that you are a babystep away from being a grown up. There's more to life than a prom. The average kid is going to drop over $2k each for their senior prom. That can get you to Australia for a long time. Or backpacking through Europe, or a jungle trek through Costa Rica. In 20 years, you aren't going to be thinking how awesome your prom was, you are going to be wishing you had $2k to put a hot tub in your backyard. And if you are still friends with all those people you shared a limo ride with, heck, I'll get you a Hummer for your 25th Reunion. :-)

Students from at least nine high schools are complaining they have been left in the lurch after paying Tuxedo Limousines for a "a unique, one-of-a-kind extraordinary experience" in one of the 18 limousines the company claims it has.

TheStar.com | GTA | Grads left in lurch at prom

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The Downside of Having an Awesome Job

It sounds funny when I say it out loud.

I’ve got an awesome job. And sometimes it makes life hard.

It’s a pretty darned neat job. Everyday I work with customers who are well known, household names. I help them by building solutions that are neat, custom and customer specific. I float from customer to customer as the need arises. I work out the technical challenges, the financial challenges and make sure that what i make is actually what the customer wants and needs. I’m not limited by anything other than my own imagination.I don’t do orders, or paperwork or administrivia.

I draw pictures, describe what the goal of the solution is and make sure all the right smart folks are involved.

I work where I need to, and stop and think when I need to as well. I get involved in futuristic projects, I am allowed to research wee bits of interestingness to see how to apply them to customers, I dream a little dream of technology. Really. I reach out to hundreds of different people, across a myriad of industries and specialties, smarties, all of them.

So what’s the downside you ask?

Every once in a while, a new and different opportunity presents itself, and I become caught in a maelstrom of ideas, scenarios and possibilities. For a few days, I’m in a tizzy, wondering if I should change direction, change focus and change my comfort zone. And then the calmness returns. I still really like doing what I’m doing. I might always like it. (with a raise, of course). I know I like being one of the technical linchpins of a solution. I like being a free range chicken, and I like being able to have more than one focus at once.I think for right now, I like it just fine.

The Best Laid Plans: Canadian Wireless Auction

Ohh, I wonder what's keeping the folks at the CRTC up at night. Could it have anything to do with the fact that their darling Spectrum Auction has now raised upwards of $4B? Exciting stuff, if you don't take into account that the estimates were basically half that amount.

Now the CRTC has got to be realizing that they've created a monster, instead of trying to inject competition into Canada's wireless industry.
The poor buggers who actually win the different various frequencies around the country are going to be up to their eyeballs in debt. How's that for bringing down the cost of wireless services?
What could have been done differently?

Technorati Tags: CRTC, Canadian Wireless Auction

Competitiveness: Cars and Seals and Electricity

This one is a bit off topic - but timely, so please bear with me.GM is planning on closing the Oshawa truck plant. The average worker makes approx $124k year (plus overtime). That’s got to sting the bottom line of any vehicle.The average seal hunting family in Newfoundland makes aprox $33K a year.

Hunting seals is out of fashion - for a myriad of reasons.  As opposed to moving a GM plant outside of Canada, why not simply just move it to someplace inside of Canada where the operating expenses can be significantly lowered because of the ecomomic flavour of the region? Sharp savings, there. I know - it’s a crazy idea. Replacing seals with cars.

But what about the GM workers? Say, Ontario is debating on where to put the next nuclear power plant, that could easily be located on the eastern side of the province. It’s handy that Oshawa isn’t all that far away from Pickering or Darlington.  It’s going to take a bushel and a half of workers to satisfy the labour requirements of building and operating a new power plant. Who better to do it than folks who were already accustomed to building and managing in a manufacturing industry?

Life, it’s all about change.

CityNews: Judge Orders End To General Motors H.Q. Blockade

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Tags: GM, Seals, nuclear power, Darlington, Oshawa

Sun Microsystems Study Finds Open Work Program Saves Employees Time and Money, Decreases Carbon Output : Average Employee Saves 2.5 Workweeks Per Year in Commute Time, More than $1,700 in Gas and Wear and Tear on Vehicle, and 5,400 Kilowatt Hours/Year Working Flexibly

Sun Microsystems Study Finds Open Work Program Saves Employees Time and Money, Decreases Carbon Output : Average Employee Saves 2.5 Workweeks Per Year in Commute Time, More than $1,700 in Gas and Wear and Tear on Vehicle, and 5,400 Kilowatt Hours/Year Working Flexibly Holy moley.If you ever needed another reason to ditch that ever expanding commutng expense..... Sun's got one you can share with your boss.:-)

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Tags: sun, commuting, carbon footprint

How Do You Work?

As a [mostly] remote worker, it’s been an interesting transition from being a commuter. I’m an early morning person. Like the seagull in the photo on the left [taken by bigmike], I’m up well before the sun. It’s my quiet time; to review email, read the news, check what the internets have been up to while I’ve been sleeping. Work *thinking* kicks in around 6:30 am. I’m researching and reading bits of interesting pieces, thinking about how they can and apply to projects I’m working on. I’m gaining insights into what the rest of the world is doing, and how I can build off of other initiatives.  I’m reading about what other people are contemplating about, and I’m staying up to date with the magic of the internets. More often than not, I’m sharing what I’m finding with other work folks who are in my social networks. :-)

I’m raring and ready to go….. Because most of the folks I work with are in a different time zone, I’m able to get all sorts of interesting tasks done, even before they’ve had a chance to brush their teeth. In those quiet hours before 9 am, I’m creative, I’m  energized, and I’m focused.  I usually work through the lunch hour, and then break around 1:30, for some  decompressing, some sustenance and some quiet time. By 3, all those folks I need to follow up with are raring to go… And then it’s back to work, managing conference calls and follow ups to eastern time zone folks, up to 7pm at night.  It’s a good day, with a good split in the middle to regroup, to  refocus and to re-prioritize, depending on what the day has brought.So, how do *you* work?

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Tags: work, telecommuting

Fooled By Vonage Chat Robot

I’m ashamed to admit it, but I was fooled by the Vonage chat robot. You know the one. You go to the Vonage site, and a wee popup window asks if you want to speak in real life to one of their specialists?

I said sure. It beats trying to figure out on their website what the termination penalties were, what the softphone packages are, and what the length of the contracts were.
And *Sarah* totally had me fooled with her answers. Up until the end, and I realized she wasn’t getting my humour. I ended up telling her I couldn’t deal with a 2 year plan.

It was that combination of words that triggered the *hard sell* of “great, let’s get you set up then!”

Man.
Sarah had me.

I Got a Lens!

Imagine my joy. :-)
After checking the Toronto Photography Meetup Group, Craigslist and Kijiji, I finally got lucky on Kijiji. A very nice fellow named Dan sold me his 28-135 lens. And then he added a Hoya filter to it! Including the tax implications of buying everything new, I saved myself over $300! Whoot!

In the past 24 hours, I haven’t let the new lens out of my sight. And today it’s going to get a bit of a workout I think. We are going to a top secret anniversary bash. The 28-135 is going to be an awesome secret weapon for candids.


CANON EF 28-135MM/3.5-5.6 IS USM

Technorati Tags: Canon, digital, kajiji, craigslist, Toronto Photography Meetup Group

Blurring The Lines: Socal Media Lives and Corporate Lives

With the adoption of social media and social networking applications among wide and various enclaves of the population, the lines are becoming blurred between social conversations and work conversations. Just this morning, I send work related items of interest to friends in Facebook. The other day I twittered about needing contacts at Bell. I'm also trying to find folks who might be live blogging the Canadian Telecom Summit, since work projects are going to keep me from attending in real life, but I don't want to miss some of the panels.

With work peers and friends all in the same network, it gets easier to share and build relationships even stronger than simple *work* friendships. There is an inherent hesitation to open up your real life to your work life. It's a slow and continual process, encouraging more folks to *catch the social media bug*....But without that sort of cross pollination, neither facet can live up to their full potential. I'm going to go bug my director on facebook now ;-)

I Almost Bought a Lens...

That’s right, almost.
We managed to have a night off from running chickadees to various ECAs (extra-curricular activities), and I jumped on the chance to drag the wiz to Henrys to peruse their lenses.
Particularly the CANON EF 28-135MM/3.5-5.6 IS USM and the CANON EF 24-105MM F4 L IS USM LENS

For a moment, ignore the fact that there’s a $600 difference between the lenses. This is going to be my *everyday* lens. The one I reach for like a best friend, whenever things get tough. The one that’s going to be taking atleast 75% of all my photos. I can *justify* an extra $600, just give me enough time and incentive.

In fact, I was almost 100% convinced to go with the 24-105, and asked Brian (the smart photo guy behind the counter) to get me the real lens, in the box, so I could bond. Alas, they were out of stock. WHAT!?!?!? Henrys was out of stock on what could arguably be one of the most popular lenses for Canon? WHAT!?!?!?!? 5 days to get one in? In this day and age when I can have something FedEx’d overnight, they stuck with 5 days? Do you know what could happen in 5 days?? I could find another lens. How about an option to have something not in stock FedEd’d to the customer’s house?

Sigh. Alas, no sale was made. In fact, I’m now reconsidering everything. I might go back to the 28-135. In fact, if it’s going to be my everyday lens, and is going to take the most beatings and wear and tear, maybe I don’t want that for a $1200 lens. See - I can justify just about anything. And where to buy it? Maybe Craigslist.

:-)
Technorati Tags: Henrys, Canon, Lens, Craigslist, Federal Express

What $130/barrel Gas Means to Me

The cover of this week’s Macleans magazine depicts a man with a gas nozzle pointed at his temple. Pretty good visual, as far as instilling fear in the hearts of Canadians.

But really, gas prices are going to impact my life in a pretty significant way.
The changes:

1. Goodbye Grocery Gateway - it’s off to NoFrills for me, and only for things that I know I’m going to eat in the next few days.
2. Goodbye regular weekend cottaging. It’s going to be hard to justify $200 in gas for 2 days of relaxation. Just thinking about the expense is going to make it hard to relax. I’m going to need that extra $400-$600 come winter.
   
3. Goodbye 69 degree thermostat. I think we can learn to be thrilled with 65 degrees in the winter.
4. Goodbye silly purchases. Gone are the days of excess and spending. The one good thing that may come out of gas prices - people are going to actually start thinking about what they are wasting their money on. Oh - and those excessive kid birthday parties - gone, gone, gone. Back to the good old days of inviting 2 friends over to a sleepover with homemade Birthday cake.
5. Goodbye Fancy Fruits - this one is going to hurt. I’ve recently become infatuated with Asian Pears. Sigh, the relationship was doomed to fail.
6. No more Commuting. Say, this could be an upside
   

There *is* an upside:

1. Home vegetable gardening is making a comeback. Already I’ve bought cucumber and tomato plants. I’ve also planted 4 more trees this year. Not bad for a lot that’s only 50 by 120. :-)
2. Fleamarket shopping is going to explode.
   
3. People will begin to find more enjoyment in *being at home*, and figuring out all sorts of things to do *at home*. Heck - maybe you will even meet your neighbours ;-)
   
4. The internet is going to be even more powerful - with spending curbed, entertainment is going to come in many forms.
5. You will have nice big trees in 10 years. Who know - you might end up needing them to keep you warm in the winter!
   

Technorati Tags: gas, commuting, environment

TV Rule of Thumb: White-board Appropriateness

Over the past few weeks, the Wiz and I have come to realize that the best shows on TV right now are ones where there is the appearance of a white-board, or where a white-board appearance would not be out of the question.

This all came about after my eleventh exclamation that “I’m going to die if I don’t get a clear, see-through white board and a juicy white board marker”.
The Wiz reminded me, for the eleventh time, that see-through whiteboards are just just for TV. So the camera can capture the actor, for visual effect. No one in the real world would use a see-through white-board, because you would never easily be able to see what you were working on. The see-through white-board is a creation of TV. Sort of like the super size frying pan that Coppertone used to fry models in.

The White-board rule of thumb can apply to almost all TV shows right now.

Awesome shows with white-boards, or the potential for a white-board to make an appearance:

1. Regensis
2. House
3. Shark
4. Medium
5. Dexter
6. Nip Tuck
7. Ghost Whisperer
8. Blood Ties
9. Numbers
10. CSI
    

Shows that don’t have a hope in hell of having a whiteboard (and thus have *good* odds of being *very bad*):

1. American Idol
2. Dancing with the Stars
3. Survivor
4. Wife Swap
5. Anything on The WB
6. Any Reality Gameshow
7. SuperNanny
8. Next Top Model
9. Mama’s Family
10. Everybody Loves Raymond
    

See…. it really works - the white-board rule of thumb. Go ahead. Try it. You know I’m right. ;-)

MTS Goes it Alone in Wireless Auction?

You know me, I couldn't not write just a wee blurb about the news last week of the MTS wireless alliance melting in the early pre-auction hours. The Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board and Blackstone Capital backed out, or were prodded out of the trio, leaving MTS to go it alone in the new wireless spectrum auction coming up this week.

So many questions, so few answers. Does this open up the option for Google to partner with MTS? We know that they are looking south of the border at different spectrum opportunities, now that the US auction has completed. Does Google have the same designs for Canada?

:-)


MTS wireless alliance dissolves

A consortium headed by Manitoba Telecom Services Inc. that planned to bid on wireless spectrum in Canada has fallen apart, just five days before the federal government starts to auction off the new airwaves.

Building Corporate Bridges with Social Networks

In the coming years, it will become easier and harder to do business with companies, based on their investment and adoption of social media.

Full Stop.

Already, applications like LinkedIn and Facebook are bringing customer and corporation closer together. Blogs are breaking down the *corporate* barriers. Folks are using their social network to find solutions, products and people to improve their own business requirements.

Last week I asked for a Bell contact who knew about local switch translations via Twitter and Facebook. I'm now LinkedIn to customers that I collaborate with on a regular basis. It's good to see the *real life* of people you work with. When time and space are working against you, it's easy to forget the *realness* of people. This is true for co-workers as well as for customers. I've got a few customer-peers in the UK, and I know that I'll never likely meet them, but having them as part of my social network almost makes up for that fact.

Most of my own team isn't in my province, but that hasn't stopped me from seeing their kitchen renovations, their side projects, and the hiking they did last weekend. Social networks resolve the space-time barriers that real life throw at us.

If you've got folks in your social network who work in a specific industry that you require services from, aren't you more likely to turn to those folks more often, rather than calling a 1-800 number for sales? Of course!

Who's in *YOUR* social network.

Mesh 2008: From The Cheap Seats in Richmond Hill

It was one of those years when the stars just didn't line up, and I missed out on snapping up tickets to Mesh 2008, one of the neatest Web 2.0 un-conferences in North America (it's held in Toronto).
That being said - I've been able to keep up with the conference today, the dialogue, the presentations and the speakers via a myriad of live blogging tools.
It's been amazing.
Dave Fleet has been live blogging virtually word for word. He's using a tool called Cover It Live. I'm mesmerized!
There's a Mesh Swarm that is capturing almost everything from Twitter.
Scribble Live is another live blogging tool that folks are gravitating to....
If you need a handle on content and social events? Matthew Ingram's got it...

And one last thing - you can gather together all the twitters from mesh08 with Summize....

It's almost as good as real life. :-)
Technorati Tags: Mesh, Mesh 2008, Live blogging

Who You Gonna Call.... When Your House Needs TLC? Homestars!!!!

It's such a risky business, trying to figure out who to call when your house needs repairs that are beyond your scope of expertise. Aside from canvassing neighbours and friends for referrals, what are you going to do?
Wouldn't it be neat to be able to find recommendations for plumbers, handymen, electricians, landscapers and flooring companies from folks in your area who you don't necessarily know?

Homestars, a web 2.0 Canadian Startup offers just that! A quick search for recommendations in the Richmond Hill area resulted in some really neat results. Folks are really embracing social media mechanisms to provide worthwhile content. In my area, over 1200 companies have been reviewed in the past 6 months! That's amazing!

Sure-Loc Interlocking in Mississauga received negative reviews, but Elite Designed Concrete were raved about!!! There's nothing more powerful than a handful of negative or positive comments to drive behaviors.

Now it's just a matter of figuring out what I want to do next with the house! :-)
Technorati Tags: Canada, Homestars, referrals, home repairs

Handcuffs of Corporate Collaboration

It's the 21st Century, and the relationship between customer and business has changed. I work with customers on designing solutions, creating support documents for both organizations, even FAQs and diagrams so that they can do their own internal training. All of this digital matter is shipped back and forth via email. A lot. Many times. Many revisions. Did I mention many times? I've got one document that I've been working on with a customer out of the U.K. for the past 6 months. Every once in a while, his boss in Singapore wants to see it, and a project manager located in the US wants to have a look as well. I have 18 revisions. Imagine how lovely it would have been to create a mini-secure wiki. Or any sort of shared space, out on the internets to make the collaboration easier. I love the idea of the pbwiki - with their slogan " It doesn't have to be hard to use to be hardened".

Or how about huddle, which let's you manage online identities, create shared visions, all in a secured environment?

It's easy, you say - companies set up extranets all the time. No, no they don't. Not when they are multinational corporations with a security policy that has more pages than a Wired Magazine. Not when you've got to *e-bond*, trade firewall secrets or get bio-scanned.

It's just too painful to collaborate securely with most customers. There are days when I wish I was a free-lance consultant, and could be responsible for my own security, and leverage some of the cutting edge collab tools available on the internets. Alas. I'm going to email version 19 this morning.

:-(

Technorati Tags: huddle, pbwiki, secure collaboration