FixYa Fixer Upper

In my recent scans through the world for a project-y manager-y application, I stumbed across FixYa. An environment where you can ask questions and get help on just about everything you could have a problem with.  If you are scratching your head on how to tweak your digital camera, or have a problem with your TV, this is the absolute neatest place to go.  Peer support, troubleshooting and answers. If you are a fixed-upper, there's lots of folks looking for answers - share your knowledge and be recognized. Here's the giggle - if you can't figure out how to fix what you've got, they will sell you a new one!  I just shared some expertise on my silly Sony NW-A1000 mp3 player.  It's a sexy device, but it's high maintenance.


FixYa.com - Consumer Electronics support, repair, manuals, faq, problems and solutions

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The Greatest Domain Name Scam Ever!!!!!!!!

The Domain Registry of Canada is sending out notices to all domain owners whose domain names are due for renewal this year.  Not by email, but by regular post.

If you aren’t on the technical side, or if you happen to be one of the thousands of Canadians who have domain names, and don’t really keep track of where the domain is (sometimes i can be accused of this), it looks like a very official and professional warning. It’s VERY ballsy.

I got an email the other day from them, saying that they needed me to unlock one of the domains that I had with Network Solutions. I send them a polite no-thank you response, assuming that it was a domain hijack attempt. A lame one, at that.

I didn’t think anything more of it, until today, and they responded with a “but we have your money” answer and I was floored.  The notice was mailed to the company who I registered the domain for, and they had received the notice, thinking it was official and regular and important.  Everyone and their granny now knows the importance of keeping your domain name paid up.  It’s almost as critical as your mortgage.

Anyways, the cheque had been sent. And now the DROC wanted to get its grubby hands on the domain.

I don’t think Hell is cold enough for that little trick to fly.

I immediately called them tonight, canceled the move request, gave the customer service fellow a terse warning and extracted the refund.  It’s not illegal, but it’s certainly not good business, nor is it even playing fair. Nasty bit of work. Watch out for the Domain Registry of Canada. Oh, and they’ve got a sister organization, the Domain Registry of America.  Snappy name. Misleading name.

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I Need a 21st Century Doctor - STAT

How is it that in 2007 my doctor's office has a space, 20x40 and packed to the ceiling with analog information.  Why is there a huge filing area for folders of new patient information? Why do I only see one computer in the reception/administration area? Why is my doctor writing down everything with paper and pen?  This information is going to disappear, and likely will never get backed up, or updated or handed off if I switch doctors. 

You know what I mean - you move cities, you want your medical history to follow.  The new doctor never really gets around to giving you all the paperwork needed to transfer your file from your old doctor's office to the new one?

This is a brand new doctor's office, less than 5 years old, why would they not have adopted more of the SSHA - Smart Systems for Health Agency features and technology? SSHA's mandate is to bring more focus to technology in the Ontario Health Care industry.

SSHA is an agency of the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care from which it receives 100 per cent of its funding. Its products and services are free for publicly-funded health care organizations and professionals.

If this is the case, why has there been such a delay in the adoption of new technology?  Tablets, wireless devices, self serve patient applications? Geeze, atleast get a digital pen!

I sat in the waiting room for 40 minutes for a 12 minute appointment.  I had some time to invest in watching how this office worked...So much time and energy was wasted on finding and returning patient files, I thought my head was going to pop off.  The booking of appointments - it's done in a LEDGER for Pete's sake. Please, please book me in something digital!  No wonder it takes 10 minutes for the receptionist to check you in.  No wonder so much time is wasted on the phone making an appointment.

I asked for a referral to a dermatologist - what did I get?  A piece of paper.  "Please take this to the receptionist". What did I get then? Another piece of paper. "Please call back in a week for your appointment information". Huh? There's so many things wrong with this scenario, I can't even begin to rant.


It's 2007.  Even my auto mechanic has more technological innovation than my doctor's office. He will email me when it's time for an oil change, and I can book my appointment online.  Why can't Ontario doctors have the same technology as Midas?  It's not rocket science.  I don't need a brain surgeon.

Technorati Tags: SSHA, Ontario Heath Industry

Creating a 100 Day Plan - Web 2.0 Style

It happens every year - the 100 Day Plan.  Of course - it quickly becomes the 300 Day Plan, but that’s another story. It’s a living, breathing document that helps define how my future will unfold. This year, instead of doing one in word or in excel, I thought I’d try and do it in a web 2.0 app. It would be easier to update, it would be shareable with the boss-man and the folks on my team.  One of the objectives of the 100 day plan is to get some buzz around it with executive types, so they know what your priorities are.

Last night I spent a some time checking out the different planning apps, todo lists, and even a new wiki. None of them seem to fit the bill.  It looks like I’m going to have to expand my search.  The platform needs to have:

• lists
• dates
• times and timers/reminders/schedule
  
• the ability to add a bunch of info associated with list items
• it needs to be shareable
• it needs to be collaborative-able
• it needs to be able to accept attachments
• I don’t want people to have to create an account on the platform to be able to see my Plan
• I’d like to be able to have a summary view, as well as the ability to nest tasks within tasks.

It looks like I’m going to need a project management and collaboration tool, based on what I want.  Any suggestions? I can’t be the only one who’s looking for this.


Technorati Tags: 100 Day Plan, Planning software, todo lists, wikis

IP-PBXes, Soft Switches, SBCs... Oh My!

I'm back on the trail of the illusive VoIP Network - deciphering components and applications and interoperability. It's 7:55 pm and one eye is becoming twitchy from all the diagrams and scaleability issues and white papers and nonsense I've read through in the past 3 hours.

I've been everywhere.
Except for VoIP Nirvana; I don't think that place exists.
Cisco, Avaya, Nortel, Asterisk, UTStarcom, Siemens. Oh la la, it's too much right now ;-)
I'm more advanced than this
I'm not convinced that the IEC documents are still current.
The VoIP User Forum was reasonable.

I miss the good old days of just fixing someone's DNS and walking away happy ;-)




Technorati Tags: VoIP, Siemens, Nortel, Cisco, Avaya

Watch for Falling Ice

tower & dome
Originally uploaded by julebule.

The Gardiner Expressway has just been shut down, westbound, throughout the city of Toronto because of ice falling off the CN tower. Imagine the impact, this is more than a math question of how much damage a penny can make when you drop it off the CN tower. This would be bags and bags of pennies.

Akin to being shot at, likely, if you were driving, and a piece of ice hit your car. They’ve only shut down the westbound lanes - the ones closest to the tower, they’ve left the eastbound lanes open. Makes you think, if you were going eastbound, are you going to take the chance that a gust of wind isn’t going to blow an ice bullet another 8 feet into *your* lanes? Methinks that smart drivers will opt out as well, even if unofficially.

In the Quest for Canadian On-Line Retailers

While sniffing out interesting canadian to add to North of the 49th, I came across the London Drugs site. It's fantastic.  It's got options. It's Canadian. It completely rocks, with an easy design and interface, the online selection is better than most I've seen.  And for those of us who are east of Manitoba, London Drugs isn't really drugs, it's a WHOLE lot more.


Technorati Tags: Canadian online retail, London Drugs

Like a Kid in a Camera Store

The call finaly came this week - the go ahead to replace all the camera gear that was stolen in Cancun. Finally. After almost 2 months, I was going to be all decked out, and everything was going to be right with the world. The trip to Henry’s was magical. Just like christmas. Yes, some things simply had to be upgraded.  That’s just the way these things work. And my favourite Henry’s superhero took care of me.

“Now Julie, we’ve got to change some of these things around. You’ve got to trust me, I want ti fix this for you.” Holy cow, can it get any better than this, I thought? We added, removed, upgraded and swapped. She wouldn’t let me get a red camera bag, it didn’t have a good history, and people had complained about it before. I’ve got a sexy black one now. My wee point and shoot digicam - upgraded. One lens, swapped out. It was the best hour ever.


And now - the sun is out, the snow has the faintest sparkle. And I’m ready. Again.




Technorati Tags: camera, Canon, Henry’s

Wireless Number Portability Pushes New Bell Incentives

Interesting news today out of the Globe and Mail - Bell is finally doing something interesting in terms of stemming what could be some significant churn when wireless number portability turns up next week. For $10/month you can call any bell number, wireless or wireline, and it doesn't eat your monthly mobility minutes. I like it.

globeandmail.com: Bell upstages wireless competition with new plan

Bell Canada, confronting intense competition from cable-TV companies and other rising entrants in the phone business, is offering a new rate plan allowing Bell Mobility clients unlimited local calls to and from other Bell mobile and fixed-line phones.The so-called Bell to Bell plan, starting at $10 a month, lets users conduct as many local calls between Bell numbers as they want at any time of day without using airtime minutes in their rate plans.

Technorati Tags: Bell, Wireless number portability