Fall Weekends...

... full of pumkpin hunting, cookie sales and wet walks for the smapp dog.  If it wasn't for the rain, you'd hardly know that it was Fall...

I am also on the hunt for fast growing trees now, but I have a feeling i've waited too long, and all the good ones have been snapped up.  Read: all the cheap ones have been snapped up. I will have to expand the search. Or lower mhy criteria.  Neither of those options are terribly appealing.  And now, what's worse, every drive we take, I am evaluating trees on the side of the road; thinking, "yah, i could dig that one up".... yeesh.

technorati tags:autumn, trees, pumpkins

Blogged with Flock

PayPerPost Financial Incentive for Disclosure

In a move reminiscent of big tobacco funding tobacco research, PayPerPost is announcing a new initiative on Monday called DisclosurePolicy, which “provides policy creation tools, best practices and forums for discussing the delicate balance between content creator freedoms and audience transparency expectations.”DisclosurePolicy creates a disclosure policy for bloggers to post on their blogs, based on their answers to a few questions. They will also pay every blogger who posts a PayPerPost disclosure policy on their blog $10.

Techcrunch » Blog Archive » PayPerPost Is Now Officially Absurd

Aside from the negative slant that Techcrunch has taken with PayPerPost, they are still impresseive at “getting the message out”.  Funny, I’m not the only one who is thinking that Techcrunch is doing PayPerPost a favour, instead of a disservice.  In fact, the more negativity people read, the better the chance that they actually investigate, and try the service, and decide that it may not be the fruit of the devil!

At some point, Techcrunch has to realize that they are becoming an advocate for PayPerPost, and are driving the blogosphere netizens to see what paid blogging feels like. Techcrunch seems to be turning this into a personal vendetta. Perhaps PayPerPost isn’t the absolute end all, be all to blogging with vendor content, but then again, aren’t we all about evolution? In the beginning, the die hard internet users thought windows 95 was an affront to what the Internet was all about. If they had the choice, we’d all be using Lynx and Pine.

Evolution baby, evolution. 

technorati tags:Techcrunch, PayPerPost

A Merger is in the Works...

A few months ago, I broke this site into 3 sections, and now I'm considering merging them. What do you think - should jules.ca, tech whisperer and the curious tale of the girl and the telco come back together as one?

Canada 511

Sunny skies, open highways
5-1-1
The CRTC has assigned the 5-1-1 access code for the provision of weather and traveller information services, on the condition that the services remain free of charge.

Telecom Trends: July 2006

I don't think that much of the Canadian public is aware of the new 511 service that the Canadian Federal government is going to launch in the next 8 months. Unless you are someone who is in the know about the current National Weather Services Advisory Service - where you call a local number, and receive a recording of the current weather status and road conditions for your area, you may well not even think about 511.  Most of you probably already check online for the weather forecast, or the road conditions, or if you should pack a sweater for Rimouski.

The lack of a federal evironmental policy may be pushing this initiative faster and farther than merit and public interest warrant. The new 511 service was proposed by a consortium of different groups, but was spearheaded by Environment Canada. The CRTC has mandated that the service be free. FREE. $35 Million (likely) to be spent on a duplicated service that Canadians don't really know anything about, and may not want.

Just another day in the life for the Governments in Canada. Maybe they can add an option to the 511 service so you could rat out web sites that are advertising gambling.

technorati tags:Canada, 511

Blogged with Flock

Banning Advertising of Gambling Sites for 1/1,000,000th of the Internet

All bets are off, if Ontario has its way
RICHARD BLACKWELL
Globe and Mail Update
The Ontario government is expected to introduce legislation today that will ban advertisements of illegal Internet gambling websites.But the new law — part of a broad package of consumer legislation — could create a huge headache for media companies that will have to closely examine advertisements to make sure they don’t include indirect links to illegal sites.The legislation will not stop advertising of free poker sites or similar sites where no money changes hands, unless those sites have links to betting sites, said Paul de Zara, a spokesman for Ontario’s Minister of Government Services, Gerry Phillips.

globeandmail.com: All bets are off, if Ontario has its way

I say it again, can I become a consultant for Internet for the Ontario Governmnet? Apparently the underlying compelling event is that there are too many good Canadian kids trying to gamble on the internet….

If you follow the whole article, the gov’t is going to make it illegal to have a website in ontario that has an advertisement for a gambling site, or even an ad for a site that has ads to gambling sites. Hmmm, how many websites are there in Ontario? And wait, what about sites that are hosted OUTSIDE of Ontario? Do they have to follow the rules? This site is hosted in America, can I still advertise gambling sites?

The larger issue at stake, the internet doesn’t have any boundaries - if i’m feeling like gambling, i’ll simply go to my favourite hacker site in germany and check out the advertising. Sheesh.

This isn’t the first time the gov’t has set its sights on something silly, it likely won’t be the last. They would find far better traction throwing in with the US government on this one; to eradicate SPAM and child porn.

Martin Geddes makes an interesting comment about what the US is doing to push online gambling away, and by extention, pushing the profits outside of the US by forcing credit card companies to disallow payment to gambling sites…. martin sggests that the fnancial focus will simply migrate to a pre-paid model, and will merrily continue.  Imagine, going down to your local variety store, picking up a pre-paid calling card, but being able to use it to play blackjack on the ‘net.  Those card distributors who make deals with the gambling associations are going to be set for life. Allready the pre-paid card distribution network is seedy and difficult to police or monitor…. adding one more variable to the pot is not going to make a serious impact.

technorati tags:Silly Canada, Gambling Advertisements

Blogged with Flock

Appealing to the Masses.

That's it - I need more links. I need to improve my Google Page Rank. Now that the traffic is up, and the subscribers are up.... this is the last piece of the puzzle.

Help a chickie out?

;-)

technorati tags:google page rank, inbound links

Blogged with Flock

Ontario Government's Excessive Attempt to Control the Internet

No person shall print, publish, distribute, broadcast or telecast an advertisement or representation that includes an Internet gaming business website address unless the person believes in good faith that the Internet gaming business has been licensed or otherwise granted permission to operate in Ontario or Canada by the appropriate authority and is operated in accordance with the applicable laws of Ontario and Canada.

Telecom Trends

Thanks to Mark for pointing out this silly government bill - where it looks like the ontario government is going to make it illegal to advertise gambling websites, or to even link to sites that advertise gambling websites. Mark points out that this interpretation would even make google.ca offside.  This smells alot like blaming the cart, not the horse, for running away. I’d love to know what sorts of experts and consultants are working on this initiative from within the government. Perhaps the gov’t should consider outsourcing these jobs to the private sector? Or maybe even to someone who’s just “living” in the real world?

Silly Ontario government.

technorati tags:gambling, Ontario Government

Blogged with Flock

Trick or Treating Preparedness

Since moving into the new place, folks have been regularly providing advice about the neighbourhood, and the seasons, and the decorating… but the biggest piece of advice is to be prepared for Halloween. Apparently kids come out of the woodwork (and woods), and descend like a plague of locusts on October 31st.

I took the voices of the experienced neighbours to heart. We now have over 700 pieces of sugary goodness locked away in the garage. (right next to the 2 cartons of girl guide cookies) Still, there are times when I’ve had to fight back the urge to stockpile more. The fact that there is a new dentist office at the end of our street has not escaped notice either.  Irony has been duly noted.

After all, it’s candy. I can freeze it.

:-)

technorati tags:Halloween

Blogged with Flock

OMG - Someone Took the Projector!

True story - I had Microsoft into the office a few weeks ago, to talk about the neat ways that Sharepoint could be configured for my team. I’m a bit new, so I didn’t know the ins and outs of how to book rooms, how to book rooms with LAN connectivity, how to book projectors and phone lines and conference bridges. To be honest, it’s still a mystery. There are web tools, outlook tools, outlook add-ins… global addressbook bits… it’s UGLY.

Anyways, I thought I had a room booked that came automatically with a proxima/projector. No such luck. 6 fancy Microsoft guys, and all I had was a table and 8 chairs. Bleech. So much for the live demo of the Sharepoint Bells and Whistles. :-( We managed to talk and laugh our way through it, and it’s a good thing that I’m familiar with Sharepoint, or it could have turned into a damn sad session.

A few days later, and a bit of digging, and imagine the neat tools i found. Tools that could take away all the internal challenges of “booking resources”. And to make it easier - it’s all web based. The web 2.0 Scheduling Software that NetSimplicity has available is mind boggling in it’s simplicity. Somewhere, someone in the internal helpdesk has got to realize that outsourcing tools like this would make life so very easy for employees. Just imagine.

technorati tags:NetSimplicity, Someone Stole the Projector, Sharepoint

Blogged with Flock

Federal government Fights Over Telco Surplus

A few months ago, you may have heard of the "Deferral Accout". For the past few years, there has been an extra bit of change on your phone bill, the gov't of Canada got wind of it, and told the incumbent telcos that taking extra bits of change frome people was off side, and that if they wanted to say on the right side of the law, theny needed to use that money to help improve the communications incrastructure in remote areas of Canada.(Read: areas that don't have access to high speed internet).

The telcos were thrilled, but the little companies who were already doing their own thing to boost the bandwidth (Barrett Explorer) fought back and said it was unfair for the Bells and TELUSs of the world to get this *free money* and they have temporarily blocked the usa. Now, it looks like the federal government was looking to get it's hands on that cash, just for kicks.

Michael Geist has the pointer, and here's the story from the Globe.

technorati tags:Michael Geist, Telecom Deferral Accounts, CRTC

Blogged with Flock

Viidoo - Home of Web TV

That's right folks, it's back - the ability to watch regulary TV broadcasting. Live from Viidoo

I know, I thought TV broadcasting was gone.I remember the mid 90's and another organization tried to do this, they managed to last for all of 2 months before someone came knocking down their dorr, waving briadcast regulations, licenes and copywrite infringements. But it looks like all the static from other applications who are also likely infringing on copywrites have taken the wind out of legislator and regulator sails.

Viidoo seems like it works.  Thanks to Duncan Riley for pointing his remote.

technorati tags:Internet TV, Duncan Riley, Viidoo

Blogged with Flock

A Man After My Own Heart

Service providers - like software engineering is an art - anyone can deploy a switch, anyone can expedite an order on the new switch. Not everyone can operationalize an offer that is both flexible and maintainable.Flexibility is important as customer always want more and equipment vendors always deliver more features.Maintenance is really important when it comes to a service fault that occurs at 3am during a long weekend.
A service is not something you can touch, it's the experience and customer satisfaction is its metric.Advanced solutions are an art, anyone can propose a solution, not everyone can deliver one that meets customer needs while still being economically feasible.

blogs | IP Convergence: Beyond VoIP, Beyond Cost Savings

After a day of training, and discussing the challenges of reinventing yourself, making sure the rest of the organization can follow suit,and knowing that you have to act as an agent of change from within, it's a good sign that others are thinking the same things.  Global Crossings folks are thinking about life as a service provider.  At one time, they were all about pipes - maybe with a global footprint, but pipes ;-)  And now, it looks like their mindshift is taking hold, with VoIP, and customer assurance and innovation.

technorati tags:Global Crossing, Reinvent Yourslef

Blogged with Flock

Working in the UK?

Normally I’m not a person who keeps track of patterns (not obvious patterns, anyways). Yet in the past week, I’ve spoken with 4 people who have or are considering working in the UK. One of them has taken the plunge already, and wouldn’t change for the world! Enough people have mentioned it, that it made sense to take a wee look at what all the fuss is about….

So, I’m curious - what’s so exciting about living and working in the UK? Aside from the fact that *you* would be the one with the neat accent, of course. Perhaps it’s an interesting cultural change. Word on the street is that the jobs tend to pay bags of gold. But I couldn’t imagine the timeconsuming fiddling that must go into making the transition. The dispersements of belongings back here, the challenge of visas and work permits and bank accounts and taxes. It all sounds oddly psychotic, depite how easy the already-moved say it is. Already my brain is taxed, thinking about all the odds and ends that need to be considered.

There’s a good Canadian Expat Blog, that gives you the goods, but I want something more, I want someone who would act like a mortgage consultant- to take care of everything for me, and I just sign everything away, and then pack. And then I found it…Michael Page Recruitment can take care of all the ugly bits. Like a Mortgage Consultant, but better. International. If you are thinking of working in the UK, and now I know that there are quite a FEW of you considering it…. it’s not as hard as you think.

technorati tags:working in the UK, Michael Page

Blogged with Flock

Linkedin Vaue Prop Grows

Online networking and job-searching tool LinkedIn is taking its relationships a step further Monday by announcing a new service that will make it similar to a Yellow Pages provider.
Monday onward, its members will be able to search for service providers such as doctors, lawyers, and gardeners, through referrals from people on their network, said Konstantin Guericke, LinkedIn’s co-founder and vice president of marketing. The social network is now trying to mobilize 7.7 million of its members and putting its intellectual capital to better use beyond being just a networking and job-searching tool.
Members will be able to contribute to the community by recommending people they have experience working with by rating them and stating their core capabilities. Others on the recommender’s network will have access to their referrals.

RED HERRING | Cultural Changes at LinkedIn

I like the angle that Linkedin is taking. I have a feeling that there are a few people who are reading me, and are also Linkedin members, like me ;-) I like the idea of being able to refer vendors, but more importantly, service providers like doctors, lawyers and dentists. That is a fantasticly powerful tool. The ads I could do without, but if Linkedin provides geographically specified advertising, that wouldn’t be a bad thing either. Plastic Surgeons in Hollywood aren’t as relavent to me as dentists in Richmond Hill.

technorati tags:Linkedin, Red Herring

Blogged with Flock

.

Partners and Blogging?

The timing on this one is great - as the wiz and I now have started to tease each other - the funny things that happen in real life "oopps - that's going in the blog...." sort of teasing.  And then ths morning, I come across an actual article about what happens when your significant other can't see the value of the blog... Liz Strauss has an interesting conversation about scuh a potential probelm in Bloggy Question 20 — A Significant Other Says “No Blog”

technorati tags:Blogging Significant Other

Blogged with Flock

Buy You A Beer?

Imagine if you could buy someone a beer, either over your cell phone, or over the web?  See what the Wiz and I were talking about last night.

technorati tags:PayPal, Dexit, Buy You a Beer

Blogged with Flock

.

Buy You a Beer? PayPal or Dexit 2.0?

I was sitting outside tonight, adminring the evening sky, and thankful that it’s not too cold out yet for such an experience.

And I realized I wouldn’t be able to attend a friend’s birthday gathering this week, as new commitents arise. I was wishing there was a way to still get him a cold beer in his hand from me. Wishing that I could do a “transfer” through some neat web 2.0 application, that would allow a waitress to deliver a cold beverage from me. Imagine if everyone had a paypal-like account. All restaurants, all bars, all merchants. You could “transfer” credits to people, just with a click of a mouse. Be it a beer, or a steak, or a sweatshirt.

Imagine…either a debit car, or even better, a Dexit-like key fob, a 3rd party in the middle to keep track of the database of merchants and customers, and to manage the front and back end functions. It would be easier to place these wee point of sale devices in every location, as opposed to trying to manage the direct relationships with the merchants themselves. I’m thinking Dexit, but it could be anything similar. I’m also thinking kiosks, or mobile applications, where you could transfer credits to people at any time.  You want to buy someone a coffee, or lunch or a beer. 

The Wiz thinks that Hallmark should front it, and include the ability to send money with e-birthday cards. It’s a prettier idea than an electronic bank transfer.

Hmmm - could we get onto the Dragon’s Den with an idea like this? ou can bet one thing, we would actually have a business case, unlike some of the silly contestants.

technorati tags:PayPal

Blogged with Flock

60 Days in - Can Home Improvements Begin?

It’s been 60 days exactly since we moved into the new abode. Everything is unpacked, hung, put away, positioned and plugged in. Now, as I look around the main floor, I realize there are things that could be different, things that could be tweaked, challenges to be solved.

:-)

There’s too much carpet on the main floor, where tile would fit, or hardwood. The challenge is in dealing with hardwood and a dog all at the same time. Home Improvement ideas has some amazing options, especially the hardwoodfloor challenge, you can actually get inlaid pawprints into the hardwood. :-) If only the smapp dog would participate.

We’ve also had to have a battle over paining “murals” on chickadees bedroom walls, and managed to talk the wee ones into decals that can peel on and off. But the home improvement ideas blog also had that covered with peel and stick graphics. Sheesh.

Little did i know, the wiz has already been al over this site, scouring for good ideas. He even ordered the graphics!

Now, my turn to look and see what easy changes can be made. Wish us luck.

technorati tags:home improvements, wall decals

Blogged with Flock