Friday Rant: Bell Increases My Expressvu Bill

What a lovely surprise in my mailbox.  A thank you letter from Bell, expressing their gratitde for my patronage in one paragraph, and in the second paragraph, explaining how they are increasing my expressvu TV service by $4 a month.  No ifs, ands or buts. Not even a really good reason why. Just the increase.

Funny, I've signed up for a 2 year contract. Shouldn't that mean something? They won't let me out of the contract for 2 years, yet they can increase pricing whenever they want?  What's the sense of the contract then?  Does it mean anything for the consumer? Apparently not. It's beginning to seem that contracts only provide the carrier, and not the consumer with a sense of security. Where's the logic?  If they wat to increase fees... no problem.  But there should be a month to month plan then consumers can deal with the increases as an opportunity cost for not locking in.

'm counting dow until my plan expires. August 2008. Look out. In fact, I may consider the opportunity cost to switch earlier. You  know full well that there will be termination penalties associated with such a brazen move. Who knows - it may be worth it?


Technorati Tags: BELL Expressvu, fee hike 2007

Using Digg in a Whole New Way

Who would have thought - popular digg - used to sniff out the breaking news and popular blog postings of the hour, could also have a sideline application.
I've stayed away from digg, it's too arbitrary, not to metion corrupt for my tastes. But I've just discovered a side application for it. It's a comments conversation for blogs that don't allow comments. Easy. Dead easy.

The followers of Violent Acres, hungry for conversation, since Violent Acres doesn't allow comments in her blog [and for good reason, likely], have started "digging" VA's postings; and then contining on with the conversation in Digg. An interesting new twist to an existing application. I'm constantly amazed at the innovation and creativity that seems to bloom from nowhere. Necessity - the mother of invention.

Digg - How to Amaze Your Friends and Family With Your Eerily Accurate Psychic Read

Technorati Tags: Digg, Violent Acres

The Crux of Net Neutrality...

In Canada, there is growing interest and concern in the different directions that carriers and content providers are exploring; relative to Net Neutrality.

There is a pro-net-neutrality site that is petitioning the Canadian Government to seriously consider the implications of allowing internet services to run unchecked by the carriers. They support a neutral network architecture, but interestingly enough, they support Quality of Service (QoS), and the measuring of bits and bites (getting what you pay for and paying for what you get), which is outstanding, they are simply against the ugly underbelly of QoS, which is prioritizing of traffic based on protocol, source and content.

That being said, it’s exactly that discriminatory part of QoS that the carriers have their eye on.  Being able to promote specific content, specific protocols and specific sources, and making that traffic easier to access than a competitor’s has an alluring appeal to some network providers.

I want to go where I want on the internet, and regardless of where I go: Amazon or Ebay or iTunes or Joes Underground Goth Recipes, I want to go there unfettered. I don’t want to know that if I’m an iTunes addict I’m going to get charged more than if I’m a Puretracks junkie, if i’m a Bell Canada Customer, or vice versa if I’m a TELUS customer. If the carriers suggest that downloading a certain amount of bits and bytes per month is going to cost $X, that’s fine, but don’t tell me that downloading from iTunes is going to cost more or less than downloading from Puretracks.

Net Neutrality in Canada

While net neutrality supports metered billing based on counting bits and bytes, it does not support metered billing based on the content type. E-Mail, Video, VoIP and gaming services alike MUST be billed in a consistent, equal and non-discriminatory way.

Technorati Tags: Net Neutrality, Bell Canada, TELUS, iTunes, neutrality.ca

Telecom 2.0 - Changing the Rules

As the global telecom players gear up to decide their collective futures, it's interesting to pay attention to what is being said about the evolution of telecom and communications services, from a traditionalist perspective.

Organizations such as Telco 2.0 are well ahead of the curve in having conversations about evolution and changing the rules of the industry.

After just returning from a fiercely challenging sales conference with TELUS, my mind is just now considering the possibilities.  Changing the rules, changing the game, changing the industry.  Those organizations who aren't actively involved in changing the rules will be left with trying to fit their existing infrastructure into a new world order. That dauting task will change the playing field entirely.

The world has become flat again, thanks in part to the virtual service providers, the Web2.0 invasion, and the rise in anywhere, anytime, any device connectivity. Those companies who have the advantage are no longer the traditional telco incumbents.  Be quick, and nimble and creative. Be part of shaping the future, passivity will get you left in the dust.

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Shame on You: The Blogoshpere Gets Nasty on Scoble

The sweet baby jesus is crying.
Good lord, the blogosphere is reacting like a woman scorned with the announcement of Robert Scoble’s speaking engagement with PayPerPost.
It’s not the end of the world folks, it’s a smart guy doing a speaking engagement. A speaking engagement with an organization who is going to likely change the rules of how blogging and advertising work together.

I’m not a huge fan of PayPerPost, but you have to give them credit.  They have completely changed the rules, changed the way we think about advertising, and are playing by a different game.  Changes make people jumpy.  Rule changes can freak out the best of us, case in point: the NHL rule changes.  I’m not saying that PayPerPost is recreating the playing field of the blogosphere, but they are certainly involved in the conversation.

That being said, why wouldn’t anyone who’s interested in changing the rules or changing the game also be interested in the conversation?  I have a feeling that Robert Scoble is very much interested in the conversation, not to metion the game.

Shouldn’t we all be? The uproar and “holier than thou” attitude of some of the A-Listers is a little fickle, considering that they are supposed to be the grandest supporters of conversations.

Good luck Robert, have a fantastic conversation. And don’t forget to change a few rules!

“PayPerSpeech” disclosure « Scobleizer - Tech Geek Blogger

Technorati Tags: PayPerPost, Robert Scoble

Update on Thursday, February 8, 2007 at 06:25AM by jules

Further backlash to the PayperPost debacle?

Now our wee friend Mr Scoble is getting a little of the digital cold shoulder?

Could the blogosphere really be so very childish, or is it just co-incidence?

Too many questions for Thursday morning at 6:26 am 

Vancouver at Night

Vancouver at Night
Originally uploaded by julebule.

I think I love this city.
Really.
Really really.

I Called Them Hummingbirds

While south of the borders, relaxing for a few days, I had a chance to really slow down time, and enjoy the surroundings; if 72 hours counts as relaxing. :-)
At the resort we happened to be at, the Fiesta Americana Condesa
there seemed to be hundreds of different employees, zooming and zipping, taking care of the property, the guests and the services. Instead of 3 bartenders, there would be three times that many, flitting around, changing ashtrays, bringing napkins, spiriting empty glasses away. Something on the ground? An outside worker would zip in, remove the offending trash and zip out again. grass cutters, pool skimmers, sweepers, washers, people with carts and cloths and rakes. It was a veritable beehive of activity from before 6am until after 9 pm.

And so we wondered, the wiz and I - is there so many people, with so many inconsequential tasks because the labour is so very cheap? Is it because an individual's productivity is low, and by extension, they can only be counted on to do one thing, and one thing only? There were so very many workers, and they were so darting and zipping, I crowned them the Hummingbirds of the resort.

After our room was broken into, I realized the gravity of having so many different employees working in one place.  So many hummingbirds were flitting around every day, each time i left the room, or used the balcony, or walked from the balcony to the beach and back. So many eyes, so many conections. Perhaps the hummingbirds had us staked out. It's likely. It's unfortunate.


Technorati Tags: Cancun, Hummingbirds, Fiesta Americana Condesa

What happens in Cancun....

.... doesn't necessarily need to stay in Cancun.  It was an outstanding trip. 4 days, all the sun you can take, and all the marguerittas one can sip.  Mango marguerittas are perhaps a better invention than sliced bread. Dangerous.

I met the Wiz on wednesday; he had gone done early for an AT&T conference, and by Wednesday, it was just rapping up.  Thursday was blissfully uneventful, nothing more strenuous than the ocean, the beach and the swim-up bar at the pool. :-) The resort was beautiful.  Simply stunning. The Fiesta Americana Condesa.

Tourist days happened on Friday and Saturday, where we played around in the ocean snorkeling, visited aquariums and shopped. Curiously enough, Cancun is EXPENSIVE. No fooling. Pesos are easy to come by, and EASY to spend. The economic basis of Cancun's existence is tourists willing to part with their dollars to buy memories. The economic imbalance between the tourists and the inhabitants is significant, and it's hard to block that imbalance when the cost of the drink you are sipping is equal the the daily wage of the person serving it to you. I'm not sure how many other vacationers are challenged with this ethical dilemma, but we were.


Saturday night, our last night in Mexico, and we didn't want to do anything too silly - a dinner on the water, a few gentle beverages; we were pleased to return to the resort - only to discover our room had been broken into. We lost both cameras, a Rogers Blackberry and a few Canadian dollars. The kicker was the loss of the almost full memory cards in the cameras. Damn. That hurt the most.

Funnily enough, my TELUS Blackberry remained behind in the carnage. Even Mexicans realize that my stupid Suretype keyboard is crap. :-)
The concierge from the hotel was outstanding, and took charge - taking us to the Policia, doing the translating and making sure that all the documentation was completed and signed off. Insurance, thank god. Despite the loss of the excessive number of photograps, it was a fantastic trip. Just what we needed for a few days. The coming days, weeks and months are going to make us thankful that we were able to get away, if only for a moment.


Technorati Tags: Cancun, Fiesta Americana Condesa, Mexico

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Back in Canada

loads to update.
apologies for tardiness.

Stay tuned - what happens in Cancun doesn’t need to stay in Cancun, but what you bring to Cancun doesn’t always come back with you either.
Adrien - I need some camera advice now.

;-)


Technorati Tags: Cancun, cameras

Winter Ice and Snow - Ontario Gets Come Uppance

Imagine - the winter wonderland.  Not good timing. But of  course, bad weather rarely comes at a good time.All of Ontario is being hit by ice, show, sleet and rain. I am stranded in London.  The freezing rain has rendered most of the major highways as accident magnets. Our collective giggling over seasonal temperatures - we might have well said "Shutout" in the 3rd period.

Somehow, I've got to get back to Toronto in the next 24 hours in one piece. Thank Nissan for 4 wheel drive.

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Common Sense - Not So Common in BC Anymore

From The Zero Boss

B.C. school yoga classes slammed
Yes - Really.  The province notoriously know for new age, granola munching, and the ever popular tree hugging has now gotten some bad mojo from a few insane Christians. Sad but true. It’s the uneducated ones that may be the worst. I have a feeling that the Devil is having alot more fun stirring up the dust in Afghanistan than using Yoga to trick kids to “let them into their souls”.
Some of the quotes provided in the CBC report sound so very backwoodsy and (Religious-Right American, sorry about that) that it makes me shudder that Canadian can appear so creepy as well.
Where are the hungry lions when you need them?
Yeow.





Technorati Tags: yoga, christians

Building A New Year's Theme

I took a few minutes off work tonight (yes, working at night - that's another story) and stopped by Back in Skinny Jeans where there was an outstanding post that resonated deep within me - likely in the sub-cockles of the heart - about having a New Year's Theme, instead of the oft-abandonned New Year's Resolutions.

What a stunning idea. I'm thinking of themes that can rap up these initiatives:

• personal growth and a deeper self awareness of who i am and where i want to be
  
• reconnecting with friends and family
  
• improved ability to be *tough*
  
• improved health
• de-stressing
• balancing work and life
• developing more photographic skill
• developing more patience
• building and encouraging creativity
  

Now - I need to come up with an over-arching theme that can encompass all these pieces....

I toy with the idea of "decluttering".. but that's seeming fairly static. Authenticity and Vibrancy are suggestions of Skinny Jeans, and they feel close, but not exact either. I would imagine that deciding on a theme for a year is something that one may not be able to nail down in one blog post.
Suggestions welcome :-)

Thanks Skinny Jeans!


Technorati Tags: New Year's Theme, Back in Skinny Jeans

The Sickness of 2007

I'm not the only one - 9 days into the new year - and 9 days of only operating at half value. First the flu, the dreaded flu - you know what I mean. And everyone who's anyone got it over the holidays. And now, it's mutated into a painful cold. The kind that makes you want to overmedicate yourself every night, only to wake with a cough syrup hang over in the morning.

I've got 6 days till mexico.13 days till London. 21 days till Vancouver. I need to be healthy. Damn. The telecom world rests for no one.


Technorati Tags: 2007, flu, cold, cough syrup hangover

My Blogging Z-List Meme

Mark Evans led me to Billionswithzeroknowledge.com, which led me to The Viral Garden, and the idea of a Z-List of Bloggers.  Although, truth be told, there are more than a few folks on the list below who have risen above the rank of Z Lister. :-)

The idea is that publicizing Zlisters will pull more and more wheat out of the chaff, making a better experience for both writer and reader. Now that’s an appealing idea, akin to The Good Blogs (which, by the way, has over 11,000,000 blogs in it’s widget)
Go ahead, copy the list into your own blog, add blogs that YOU like (try and stay away from the A-lister blogs, huh), and see what happens!


The Idea Dude
Steve’s Tech Journal
Telecom Trends
Ali Thinks
I’m Not Bored
Zazzafooky
A Rain of Frogs
My Name is Kate
jules.ca
Creative Think
Soloride
Movie Marketing Madness
Blog Till You Drop!
Get Shouty!
One Reader at a Time
Critical Fluff
The New PR
Own Your Brand!
OTOInsights
bizandbuzz
Work, in Plain English
Buzz Canuck
New Millenium PR
Pardon My French
Troy Worman’s Blog
The Instigator Blog
AENDirect
Diva Marketing
Marketing Hipster
The Marketing Minute
Funny Business
The Frager Factor
Mindblob
Open The Dialogue
Word Sell
Note to CMO:
That’s Great Marketing!
Shotgun Marketing Blog
BrandSizzle
bizsolutionsplus
Customers Rock!
Being Peter Kim
Pow! Right Between The Eyes! Andy Nulman’s Blog About Surprise
Billions With Zero Knowledge
Working at Home on the Internet
MapleLeaf 2.0
darrenbarefoot.com
Two Hat Marketing
The Engaging Brand
The Branding Blog
CrapHammer
Drew’s Marketing Minute
Golden Practices
Viaspire
Tell Ten Friends
Flooring the Consumer
Kinetic Ideas
Unconventional Thinking
Buzzoodle
Conversation Agent
The Copywriting Maven
Hee-Haw Marketing
Scott Burkett’s Pothole on the Infobahn
Multi-Cult Classics
Logic + Emotion
Branding & Marketing
Popcorn n Roses
On Influence & Automation
Bullshitobserver
Servant of Chaos
converstations
eSoup
Presentation Zen
Dmitry Linkov
aialone
John Wagner
Nick Rice
CKs Blog
Design Sojourn
Frozen Puck
The Sartorialist
Small Surfaces
Africa Unchained
Perspective
gDiapers
Marketing Nirvana
Bob Sutton
¡Hola! Oi! Hi!
Shut Up and Drink the Kool-Aid!
Women, Art, Life: Weaving It All Together
Community Guy
Social Media on the fly
Jeremy Latham’s Blog
SMogger Social Media Blog
Masey.com

Technorati Tags: Z-List Meme, blogging

On the Trail of the PufferFish - or How to Spend $500 Quickly

PufferFish
Originally uploaded by sinned4ohio.

It’s hard to find a good pufferfish. Thanks to sinned4ohio for capturing this perfect wee devil.
There’s something mildly human about his face, and the interest in his eyes suggest some level of floobergeist.

I am so close to wanting to get one. I can almost feel him.

Starting to feel the same about the Blackberry Crimson, since the wiz has been stalking the illusive Indigo since before Christmas.  I have him convinced that the Suretype keyboard is for sh&t. :-) And it is.  

Im also feeling a wee bit woozy about the Canon SD700. 

I’ve got a cash christmas pressie burning a hole in the proverbial wallet. Can’t decide what angle I want to pursue. No Adrien, it’s not going to be a Mac. A fish? A berry? A camera?

What sort of interesting thing would you pick up if you had $500 (and no - you can’t pay off a bill with it). 

Experimenting with Technorati Tags: Daniela Cicarelli, Saddam, Studivz, Youtube,

Signs of the Times - Locusts Next

Ice Shelf larger than 11,000 football fields breaks free of Artic Circle
Cloned Meat for Human Consumption Needs No Labels
193 Killed in Indonesian floods

3 significant stories.
1 day.
How are we ever going to keep up, and change before it’s too late?
Methinks I need to watch some lighter entertainment for the next while, else this blog becomes something a little too serious.
I need to get back to basics. Where did that Pirates of the Carribean DVD go?



Technorati Tags: Artic Circle, Cloned Meat, Indonesian floods

PayPerPost Acquires Performancing... Gulp

Man, i love Performancing. Now it's going to feel funny. Funny strange, not funny haha.

PayPerPost just announced today that it's bought up Performancing. Just another angle to increase respectability? Despite the disclosure requirements, and the legal implications now of *not* disclosing, it's still hotly debated as to the value of pay-per-post.
I use performancing for editing, as well as to see what different traffic stats are registering for this blog. I wonder if this announcement will affect the other folks who have been using performancing?
Man.


Technorati Tags: Performancing, PayPerPost

Changing the World, One DVD at a Time

The Wiz got me 2 very outstanding DVDs this Christmas - The Corporation and An Inconvenient Truth.


The Corporation was by far the most revealing movie I’d seen since Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11.  Even Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room pales in comparison of what terrible repercussions corporate cultures can inflict on society. The fact that coporations have enough muscle to push around government and media; to impact laws that protect society, with their only interest being profit, is terrifying.  Likely I’ve been too much of an optimistic twit to not catch onto this earlier.  And now that I’ve seen, I’m curious, and more than a little pissed off.

The idea of the corporation as a psychopathic person, with no accountability is almost beyond comprehension.  We spent the better part of 3 hours wondering what we didn’t know about the companies we bought things from, and if they were *good* or *bad*. Now we’ve got a bit of homework to check into:

Monsanto, Gap, LLBean. Eddie Bauer, Loblaws, Nestle, etc….. It may come down to making some serious choices about what we buy and who we buy it from. It could also come down to who you work for.

What sort of corporation do you work for, are they sustainable, do they have ethics, morals and good government? TELUS is pretty serious about community, the environment and ensuring that it’s sustainable and non-invasive.  AT&T? Well… you know.

An Inconvenient Truth was a continuation to the themes already being illustrated in The Corporation, and made us both talk to our families about what is going to happen to the world in the next 20 years, if global exploitation remained unchecked.

It all comes down to global responsibility. Corporate and citizen responsibility. Government responsibility. Your responsibility.


Technorati Tags: An Inconvenient Truth, The Corporation, Global Warming, TELUS, AT&T, Al Gore

Update on Friday, December 29, 2006 at 10:27AM by jules

Changing in the right direction:  check out The Naked Corporation.

It’s by Don Tapscott and David Ticoll. 

If you have to be naked, you had better be buff. We are entering an extraordinary age of transparency, where businesses must for the first time make themselves clearly visible to shareholders, customers, employees, partners, and society. Financial data, employee grievances, internal memos, environmental disasters, product weaknesses, international protests, scandals and policies, good news and bad; all can be seen by anyone who knows where to look. Welcome to the world of the naked corporation. Transparency is revolutionizing every aspect of our economy and its industries and forcing firms to rethink their fundamental values.

Excerpt from The Naked Corporation

Christmas Relief - 362 Days

For another 362 days, we are spared from the excess, from the over indulgence, from the consumerism and the commercialism.
Spared from children who turn into christmas monsters for 72 hours. Fighting for that last present under the tree.
Spared from cartons and cartons of ripped papers, torn boxes and wrinkled tissue.

Next year, I vow to make a difference.
Next year, I vow to make it different.

Canadian Shoppers - We are Small but Mighty B!tchy

As I wrap the last of the pressies, I have a smug smile and a feeling of relief.  Again, for the 3rd year, I’ve been able to avoid shopping, and still managed to get presents and gifts bought for everyone on my list. In fact, this year I bought more than i budgeted for, and loved it all.


I’m the kind of girl who adores shopping, and abhors malls, people, parking and crowds. It’s all on-line baby, it’s all on-line.  I’m on a first name basis with my UPS dude, and the Canada post dolly.

Mark Evans talks about the canadian e-commerce chicken and egg scenario, and says that Canadians are browsers, and it’s impacting the Canadian ecommerce industry.  No retail store wants to set up an e-commerce site, because they are worried that no one will visit and buy. Canadians don’t really buy because there are no good canadian e-commerce sites. And it’s not been until recently that it’s become easier to buy from the US. Borderfree helps, but I want to see Borderfree help Canadian consumers buy stuff in the states (from sites who won’t ship to Canada), not just American retailers wanting to ship stuff to Canadians.

Hey Canadian Retailers, Guess What? I managed to buy only half of what I wanted from Canada. The rest came from the US.  Finally US e-tailers are figuring out how to ship to Canada on the cheap. They are eating your Canadian lunch, and if you dn’t get your Canadian shit together, the US e-tailers are going to be eating your dinner as well. How much do you think an average Canadian Family spends at Christmas, all told? I’d say between $2000 and $5000. Aren’t you sad that most of my spend went to the US?

The average Canadian spends about $900 on Christmas presents each year, or roughly $30-billion altogether: more than annual sales of tobacco, alcohol and lottery tickets, combined.

Where did I buy good stuff?

• LL Bean
• Walkabout Farms
• Signals - this is the most outstanding store - and the delivery was so very fast!!
  
• art.com
• Etsy
• The Body Shop - this one was wacky - they set up a Yahoo store for Canadians - it wasn’t the prettiest, but wow! It worked, and it was fast, and it kept me from going to the mall.
• Hockey Geeks
  
• Goalie Monkey
• The Grand River Toy Company - My only real Canadian Store. 1000 times better than ToysRUS
• Cafepress
• Chapters
  

Canadian retailers who really need to get their e-commerce shit together (and don’t deserve my link):

1. Canadian Tire - don’t be an ass and tell me there are only certain things I can buy online.
2. LaSenza - you can do better - especially with the LaSenza Girl Site
3. Le Chateau - you simply suck. Thanks for a *window* into what you have in your stores, so I can look before I leave the house.
4. Pier 1 - yes Pier 1, there really is a Canada.
5. Urban Barn - your stores are nifty, you are an outstanding competitive force for Pier 1 and The Pottery Barn.  Best of all, you are Canadian. Get your ecommerce mojo together! You aren’t so good that I *HAVE* to shop live in your store.

I don’t particularly care if you’ve been naughty or nice, just have a reasonable on-line shopping cart, ship to Canada and Santa Jules will make sure you get something good in your stocking.

Technorati Tags: Canadian ecommerce, Mark Evans, Borderfree