Lee Dunbar

Jan

13

A friend sent me the link to this video. Very cool and very inspiring.

You can learn more about Playing For Change by visiting the website: Playing For Change, Peace Through Music

Tags: Community Stuff
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Jan

30

The Magic Hockey Helmet

January 30, 2009

Hockey through a 9 year old’s eyes …

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Aug

12

The Round-Up

August 12, 2008

“Honey I’m headed over to Sams Club, back in a few minutes.”
“Don’t forget to pick up some solar panels, I hear there is a coupon!”
All facitiousness aside, retailers and other businesses are starting to pick up on consumers’ desire for clean, sustainable energies. An article in CNET gives an overview of some of the green projects being developed and products being made available.

On that note — could solar power be reaching the magical $1 per watt?

I’m a fan of the Indiana Jones series, and after watching the last installment I thought that there was a possibility that the torch could be passed onto the next generation. This was recently dismissed by none other than Lucas himself. “George Lucas says he’s already identified the one person who can keep the “Indiana Jones” franchise going: Harrison Ford. The filmmaker scoffed at the possibility of passing the famed fedora from Ford to Shia LaBeouf, the 22-year-old actor who played Indy’s son Mutt Williams in this summer’s “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.”

Tags: Community Stuff, Retail Stuff, Sports Stuff, Technology Stuff
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Aug

9

It’s old news now, but a new search engine was launched in the last few weeks. I have just recently had time to play with Cuil and have to admit, I am a little cuil on the new entry. Propped by stories about the search engine being designed by people from Google and IBM, and claims that it was better than Google I went in with pretty high expectations. Claims made in stories were that Cuil searched more sites than Google and did things in a different way. In reality, while the new engine just might search and index more pages, and might be different than Google, we all know that different does not mean better. And this is the case with Cuil. I did a number of tests — searches that I conduct on a regular basis. Product searches, trouble-shooting a problem with a computer, general information searches and travel searches. I was really disappointed in the results. Pretty much unusable.

Another promising green technology, a U.S. scientist has developed a new way of powering fuel cells that could make it practical for home owners to store solar energy and produce electricity to run lights and appliances at night.

No Beer Pong for the Wii.

Last month, construction was completed on a pilot project that ran fiber optic cables to 400 homes in Ottawa. Stringing fiber optic cables isn’t a big deal by itself—Verizon has been running fiber to millions of homes in the US—but the Ottawa project comes with a twist: rather than providing Internet access for a monthly fee, the company plans to sell the fiber strands outright to individual homeowners. This isn’t how we’re used to doing telecommunications infrastructure. Traditionally, a “last mile” copper loop, coax cable, or fiber strand has been owned by an incumbent telephone or cable company, and the customer has paid a monthly fee for telecom services. But, if the Ottawa experiment is a success, that could change.

Here is some Olympic folly courtesy of a restaurant in China that while preparing for English-speaking visitors, ran its name through an online translator. They then created a large sign displaying the English version of their name: “Translate Server Error.”

 

Tags: Community Stuff, Technology Stuff, Web Stuff
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Jul

31

The Round Up

July 31, 2008

Oh please, I hope this isn’t true. ‘Cocky new female pilot‘ meets a guy who was a cocky pilot 20 years ago in this follow up to Top Gun. Yes, Maverick is rumoured to be making his return in Top Gun II. Poor Goose is turning in his grave.

PC Pro reports that the British Police have started using YouTube to embarrass people who use the emergency 999 service (their version of 911) for anything other than emergencies. “It’s important people realise that what could seem a harmless joke could result in a serious criminal conviction or endanger someone’s life,” says chief superintendent Dave Hayler. “We want to send out a warning that we will not tolerate this sort of behaviour and positive action will be taken.”

Robert M. McDowell makes the case for keeping the Internet open and free. Let the engineers solve the problem — not politicians.

Nate Anderson does good job tearing DRM apart in his article DRM still sucks: Yahoo Music going dark, taking keys with it.

To encourage New Yorkers to explore their own city instead of traveling elsewhere, the City of New York is closing streets for pedestrian use only for three Saturday mornings in August. The town I live in does this one Saturday a summer and there are many, including myself, who think it should be done every Saturday to allow our farmers market and other vendors to set-up. It would be a great for locals and a good tourism draw as well.

 

Tags: Brand Experience Stuff, Community Stuff, Experience Design Stuff, Web Stuff
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Jul

23

The Round-Up

July 23, 2008

Well, here’s today’s collection of things that caught my eye …

Gizmodo gets an exclusive tour of the Lego factory. See video showing the entire manufacturing process of the Lego bricks. Kinda like learning the Caramilk secret.

An article in Computerworld outlines how web 2.0 can facilitate development 2.0, facilitating better software quality and a more efficient process.

Isn’t it ironic? From the fossil fuel capital of the US, the state of Texas Approves a $4.93 Billion Wind-Power Project.

Can product piracy be a good thing?

Wired reports that, seeking to make money from mistyped website names, some of the United States’ largest ISPs instead created a massive security hole that allowed hackers to use web addresses owned by eBay, PayPal, Google and Yahoo, and virtually any other large site.

It’s reported that Tesla Motors is starting to deliver their production electric cars. Here are the stats: 220 miles per charge, 125/mph top speed, 248hp peak, 3.5 hour charge time and 0-60 in 4 seconds! That’s a serious entry in the green car market. While you’re at it, take a look around their website. Great use of blog software to build community around their brand.

Are computer manufacturers really bowing to the RIAA’s demand to disable stereo sound on computers?

I love this idea of “crowd-sourcing”. Reuters has an article about “eCars – Now!”, a Finnish Internet community seeking to apply the collective approach to start converting used petrol-fuelled cars to electric ones, with the first roll-out due this year.

Tags: Brand Experience Stuff, Business Stuff, Community Stuff, Design Stuff, Technology Stuff, Web Stuff
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Jun

24

The Round-Up

June 24, 2008

What happens when Google and Disney get together to throw around a few ideas? You get the Walt Disney World Resort available on Google Earth in 3D. The project features over 1,500 fairly detailed 3D models of buildings and attractions in all four theme parks and more than 20 of Disney’s Resort hotels. I had a lot of fun scrolling around — what a great way to allow your guests to move around and explore the park when they are either planning or dreaming if a trip to the most magical place on earth.

Montreal is the first North American city to role out a self-service bike rental system. Users will be able to pick-up a bike at one location for a nominal fee and drop it off at another location which are dispersed around the city.

More search engine election fun. A blogger has launched a Google bomb attack on McCain. The strategy was designed to raise the rankings of negative news stories about McCain. Yes, the same strategy you use to raise the visibility of your organization, can be used by your competitors to raise rankings of negative stories or reviews about your organization, officials, staff, or product. It is a good strategy to continuously monitor your own brand, trademarks and product category keywords. It can be as simple as subscribing to a comprehensive Google news alert.

It also seems that people are messing with page views and video ranking on YouTube. In an effort to make it the most viewed video, a blogger has created a refreshing web site that is increasing the number of views of Avril Lavigne’s Girlfriend video.

Tags: Advertising Stuff, Brand Experience Stuff, Community Stuff, Customer Service Stuff, Design Stuff, Experience Design Stuff, Marketing Stuff, Search Engine Stuff, Web Stuff
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Jun

17

Round-Up

June 17, 2008

According to CBC News, 16 Canadian lakes are slated to be officially but quietly “reclassified” as toxic dump sites for mines. The lakes include prime wilderness fishing lakes from B.C. to Newfoundland. Wonder if swimming in toxic water or catching toxic fish will be ‘experiences’ marketed by the Canadian Tourism Commission.

Genepax, a Japanese company, claims that it has invented a car that runs only on water. In fact, a litre of water will power the engine for about an hour at a speed of 80 km. Add that to the two engines that run on compressed air, and we have some promise for an alternative to fossil fuels.

 

Sony develops green flat-panel TV to woo ecological consumers. So watch your HD hockey and golf with a guilt-free conscience.

Anyone who has purchased a flat-screen TV in the last couple of years has likely been shocked by the price of the Monster Cables that the sales person will inevitably try to talk you into buying. Now, I have found something even one better – a $500 cable from Denon!

Tags: Community Stuff, Customer Service Stuff, Retail Stuff, Technology Stuff
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Jun

12

I own a lot of music. A lot of DVDs too. I have invested thousands of dollars over the years — if you think about it, you probably have too. The artists, producers, labels, writers have all made their money. Yet, it could be illegal for me to copy the media I have purchased onto a device so I can listen or view it? Seriously!?

An article by CP states that:

“The amendments would also make it illegal to copy a compact disc or DVD to a personal digital device such as an iPod – even if you’ve paid for it – if it involves breaking so-called digital lock to make a copy. People caught hacking digital locks or uploading copyrighted material to file-sharing websites would face penalties of up to $20,000.”

Well here’s my thought. If they are going to make it illegal for me to put my own collection on my device (does the music I already own have this lock?), I might as well download music from P2P sites, right? They are both deemed to be potentially illegal under this bill and one costs me more money than the other. So the value is in the downloading.

More money? That’s correct, more money. Most people don’t know it, but when you purchase blank media in Canada, you are paying a tariff that is distributed to music publishers, writers and performers. Since I am sending money to these people — should some sort of service not be provided? I pay a tax on media, I should be able to download music and place it on this media, no? /sarcasm

Now, potential criminals like me aren’t the only ones who object to this farce. The very musicians whose copyrights are supposedly protected under this bill don’t agree with it.

“But the Canadian Music Creators Coalition slammed the bill, characterizing it as “an American-style approach to copyright. It’s all locks and lawsuits,” according to Safwan Javed, coalition member and drummer for Wide Mouth Mason.

“Rather than building a made-in-Canada proposal to help musicians get paid, the government has chosen to import American-style legislation that says the solution to the music industry’s problems is suing our fans,” said Javed.

The coalition of nearly 200 Canadian acts includes household names Avril Lavigne, Sarah McLachlan, Broken Social Scene, Matthew Good, Billy Talent, Sloan, Chantal Kreviazuk, Sum 41 and Sam Roberts.”

I am often curious how well a number of these collectives and lobbyists really reflect the wants and needs of the people they claim to represent. This is a pretty good indication that there just might be fractions within this collective group.

I think most artists realize that their success is built on relationship-building. Connecting with their fans. Most record industry suits, it seems, feel that success is built upon wringing every single cent out of people (musicians and fans alike), and developing conflict rather than a relationship with fans.

I am all for people getting their due. The writers, artists, producers, labels — they should all get their fair share. But to deny a person who PURCHASES their product the right to copy it to a different device is just asinine.

Anyway, Michael Geist does a much better job interpreting the new law than I ever could.

 

Tags: Brand Experience Stuff, Community Stuff, Customer Service Stuff, Technology Stuff, Web Stuff
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Jun

3

The Round-Up

June 3, 2008

The City of Ottawa and ZeroFootprint, a not-for-profit corporation, have teamed-up to launch the ottawa.zerofootprint.net web tool that allows citizens calculate their carbon footprint. They also announced that they are developing a special template for festivals and events. In essence, people can calculate their carbon footprint, view tips on how to reduce their footprint and purchase an offset to become carbon neutral. The money paid to ZeroFootprint to offset your carbon footprint will be invested in companies developing green technologies.

Speaking of footprints — in today’s news an image from NASA that appears to be a footprint on Mars.

Scientists believe that we can see into the future — explains optical illusions.

Will Panama disease wipe-out the supply of bananas?

After Toshiba stepped-down (apparently) from the high def format wars, ceding to Sony’s Blu-Ray technology, many thought they were done. Now word out of Japan is that Toshiba is jumping back into the fray with a high-res upgrade to current DVD technology that provides a picture that rivals HD DVD and Blu-Ray. Is this a stroke of genius or stupidity? You could make arguments either way. The reports claim that not only is the technology backwards compatible, but it can also improve the picture of existing DVDs.

A group of students from Ottawa University is taking Facebook to task. The Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic (CIPPIC), as part of a project, has prepared a brief requesting that the Privacy Commissioner of Canada investigate, what they claim, is Facebooks failure to outline how private information is used for commercial purposes.

Tags: Community Stuff, Design Stuff, Just Stuff, Marketing Stuff, Neat Stuff, Technology Stuff, Web Stuff
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