Lee Dunbar

Aug

23

The Round-Up

August 23, 2008

From the, ‘They aren’t buying what you are selling’ department, ComputerWorld is reporting that a full third of PC buyers are downgrading to Windows XP. Even when stripping Vista down to core components to make it as close in functionality to XP as possible, Vista was 40% slower, Barth claimed, citing recent tests Devil Mountain has performed. “Vista’s performance had been an ongoing problem, and the only thing that’s saving Microsoft’s bacon is the faster processors and more RAM on today’s PCs,” he said. “Moore’s Law is always on their side.” I have to admit that since I do a lot of video and photo editing, that a downgrade to XP would be the option I would go for as well.

I guess this is kind of old news, but Ottawa’s 20Q has a Disney version of their 20 questions game, a very addictive game I would add. Think of a place, thing or character that has something to do with Disney and see if you can stump the application.

Speaking of Disney, if you visit their webs site, you can now create your own Disney page. On a side note, when are they going to get rid of the failed go.com part of the URL?

I’m a big fan of Michael Geist. CTV reports, “Critics of the Harper government’s proposed changes to the Copyright Act have launched a cyber crusade to fight the controversial bill. They’re using everything from Facebook to YouTube to Wikipedia to blogs to get their message out. They want the government to either scrap or make serious amendments to Bill C-61 when Parliament resumes next month. At the helm of the digital movement is Michael Geist, a professor at the University of Ottawa who specializes in Internet and e-commerce law. In addition to his own blog, Geist runs a Facebook group called Fair Copyright for Canada that boasts 90,000 members.” I am also a big believer in the effectiveness of social media tools, so I will be interested to see how effective this campaign is.

The Daily Show and Colbert Report are two of my favs. The American Political Science Association has posted an article about what is coined, the “Colbert Bump“. Democratic politicians receive a 40% increase in contributions in the 30 days after appearing on the comedy cable show The Colbert Report.  In contrast, their Republican counterparts essentially gain nothing.  These findings appear to validate anecdotal evidence regarding the political impact of the program, such as the assertions by host Stephen Colbert that appearing on his program provides candidates with a “Colbert bump” or a rise in support for their election campaigns.

Tags: Design Stuff, Marketing Stuff, Neat Stuff, Sports Stuff, Technology Stuff, Web 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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Aug

1

The Soup: iPhone 3G

August 1, 2008

This is great!



Tags: Funny 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

24

Where is Matt?

June 24, 2008

I am not sure who Matt is, the story on the Stride Gum web site and also on Wikipedia is that he’s a guy that quit his job so that he could travel around the world. And this he does — dancing in some of the most beautiful and interesting places on earth. Not only does Matt dance, he has many guests that jump in and dance with him.

I am not sure if this is real, or just a buzz/viral tool developed by Stride, all I do know is that it brought a smile to my face.


Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo

Tags: Advertising Stuff, Brand Experience Stuff, Design Stuff, Funny Stuff, Marketing Stuff, Web 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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May

24

The Round-Up

May 24, 2008

I happened upon a great, great idea. Apparently “solar trees” have been popping up in parking lots. These “solar trees” are in-fact solar panels mounted on poles in parking lots. They capture energy for use on the grid while providing shade for the vehicles in the parking lot. Here’s an older article on Wired that describes how Google is using solar panels in their parking lot to meet about 30% of their power requirements.

Ever wonder who’s calling you? I was curious about a number that had called me about twenty times over a 48 hour period. Upon Googling the number, I came across this great service that allows you to enter a phone number, and if others have reported it, you will see who has called you and add them to your blocked numbers list.

I guess there are people who always need to be entertained. A couple Belgians have developed a video game played by — wait for it — peeing in a urinal. That’s right, if relieving yourself is too boring, you can now virtually slalom down ski slopes or kill aliens to pass the time.

Speaking of which — does ‘away from the Internet’ anxiety kick in while commuting to work or taking the family for a drive? Well, along comes .Car. Web content delivered to your dash. Just what we need. More distractions while people drive. You know there is some good in a service like this such as finding amenities while traveling. But you also know that there is some bonehead that’s going to ram into the back of you because he’s too engaged in the great video he’s watching on YouTube.

Mashable Photoshop? “The appeal of extending one’s app with lightweight, cross-platform, network-aware widgets is so obvious that we were busy building support in my first app some eight years ago–and we had to build our own Flash Player clone to do it!” John Nack, product manager at Adobe wrote on his blog.

Tags: Community Stuff, Customer Service Stuff, Design Stuff, Experience Design Stuff, Funny Stuff, Neat Stuff, Technology Stuff, Web Stuff
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