The Hype Machine is on
Most people in the tech industry are keeping an eye on Apple WWDC Event today and the rumoured release of the iPhone 2.0. Let fanboys rejoice, the Apple Hype Machine is in full force.
Most, if not all the big bloggers are doing live, play by play of the event including what Steve Jobs is wearing, here’s a few to keep an eye on:
Will this be the iPhone that Rogers wireless is planning on releasing at most likely some exorbitant pricing plans?
I am actually more curious how twitter will be able to hold up to the onslaught of tweets for this event, which I can only imagine will be massive. They are supposedly prepared for it based on their blog post.
We’ve moved much of the load off our database by utilizing more memcache, employing more read-slave servers, and by fixing some bugs for improved efficiency.
In the event that our estimates and preparations fail, we have designed a way to keep Twitter updates moving quickly through the system to their respective recipients. We have isolated and created on/off switches for many Twitter features. Should it become necessary to shed incoming load quickly, we can turn off features such as stats, pagination, and several others to preserve the reliability and timeliness of your Twitter timeline.
The TTC’s beta site is now live
Check it out the beta here: http://www.beta.ttc.ca. Supposedly it costs about $400k for the revamp, and will be fully functional by mid July. The RSS feed for service alerts is a great idea and looks fairly clean and simple. A definite improvement from their current site which looks like web 1.0 at it’s best or something that was done by some TTC employee who just learned how to use Dreamweaver.
Canadians - beware what you download
Looks like Canada is catching up to the US in regards to copyright infringement. There was a time where we were in sort of a legal limbo outside the reach of groups such as the RIAA and MPAA from legal actions . Guess things are changing….
From the article:
Link: URGENT MESSAGE TO CANADIANS
My fellow Canadians, a matter of the greatest importance has come to our attention. TOMORROW new laws will be passed by the Canadian government which will effectively OUTLAW the use of modchips and flash carts, among other things.
And more: Report Says Canadian DMCA To Include $500 Fine Per Download:
The National Post reports that the Canadian DMCA, which may be introduced tomorrow, will include a “personal use download” fine of $500. The front page story indicates that the fine (presumably a new form of statutory damage award) could be awarded on a per infringement basis, leading the possibility of hundreds of thousands of dollars in liability for file sharing. This provision has been rumoured for some time and may be designed to reduce the maximum possible awards, since the current statutory damages provision provides for damage awards of up to $20,000 per infringement.
This could become quite interesting and I wonder if we’ll start to see similar crackdowns and wild RIAA suits against us Canadians for wild amounts of money.
Canadian Border Checking Ipods Too?
Interesting and kind of scary article from Canada.com: “Copyright deal could toughen rules governing info on iPods, computers”
The federal government is secretly negotiating an agreement to revamp international copyright laws which could make the information on Canadian iPods, laptop computers or other personal electronic devices illegal and greatly increase the difficulty of travelling with such devices.
The deal could also impose strict regulations on Internet service providers, forcing those companies to hand over customer information without a court order.
Considering the US Border can search laptops without cause, it seems it’s not safe to travel anymore with these seemingly harmless devices. What you have on your computer or iPod could land you a serious fine or worse yet, jail time.
Crossing the border and delays between Canada and the US is already slowed by things such as terrorist alerts, currency exchange rates and high gas prices - this could just add another reason why not to bother crossing the border. Maybe their intent is to discourage travel and tourism. Thoughts?
Bell offering movie downloads
Looks like Bell is jumping on the movie download bandwagon, ala Apple iTunes, Microsoft xbox 360 , Netflix, etc. Interesting arguments from the article in regards to this announcement and in the CRTC investigation on their own peer-to-peer throttling practices. Now I wonder when Rogers will follow suit with their own movie download offering.
Rogers has recently instituted a policy of enforcing download caps for customers. If Rogers were to offer movie downloads, it makes you wonder how they enforce internet usage, yet promote extensive movie downloading which would no doubt take a huge chunk of bandwidth. Then again, Rogers seems to have the reputation for not caring for customers as they continue to grow and expand into new media businesses. I’ve had a few run ins with Rogers myself that has recently led me open up their “iron grip” as much as possible by canceling my cable service and look at other alternatives.
It is nice to see that Canada is slowly catching up to the online media that our US neighbours enjoy so much. We can probably blame a lot on the CRTC’s restrictions. Let’s just hope that there’s some additional competition to keep Bell and Rogers on their toes.
Wired Response to TechCrunch
Wired has issued a response to Michael Arrington’s tweet. Is it me or the tone a little snide? One thing I do know, it doesn’t seem they like each other much 
I’ll keep an eye on twitter for another colourful response.
Wired does make a valid point:
We pointed out how odd it seemed that the Washington Post, one of the nation’s most trusted and revered newspapers, would run stories written by an ex-lawyer who admits he may advise or invest in companies that are covered on his site.
In journalistic circles, that’s what we call a conflict of interest.
But I think the original blog post and this one, the overall tone seems snide and a bit questionable and doesn’t seem to be objective or fall under the so called “journalistic integrity”. Then again, it’s still a blog which is basically an editorial to some degree. The only problem is see is that as more and more “journalist bloggers” seek legitimacy among the general population as serious journalists, you can point to things like this back and forth exchange, that doesn’t help that cause.
Torontoh.com - Toronto News on one page
For those who don’t use RSS or even know what it is (and probably could care less), a new Toronto based site www.torontoh.com has recently launched that puts the latest Toronto news all on one page. It pulls information from different sources - from mainstream news organizations to local Toronto based blogs. Inspired by popurls.com, it’s simple and to the point - a great snapshot of whats happening right now for Torontonians. Keep an eye on torontoh.com, and don’t be surprised to see other sections added beyond news as well as other cities.
Microsoft Bid for Yahoo Off - Let the games begin
So it appears that Microsoft has withdrawn their bid for Yahoo. A bit of a surprise that Microsoft didn’t try a hostile takeover, but I guess that would be business suicide considering Yahoo’s continuing refusal to work a deal with them. Could only get worse if MS attempts something hostile. Good on them not to will to Yahoo’s weak attempt to push the share price up. Now let the speculation run wild as to what will happen next with Yahoo.
- Yahoo’s share price tanks on Monday (it rose quite a bit after MS bid)
- Once the share price drops (see above) Microsoft comes back to the table and attempts to purchase at a lower price
- MS goes after AOL instead
- Google laughs and breathes a side of relief and negotiates some kind of ad/search deal with Yahoo
- Steve Balmer leaves Microsoft over this failed bid
- NewsCorp now goes after Yahoo
All I can say is that there will be some interesting developments from some of the biggest players in technology and could have some serious aftershocks throughout the industry. Stay tuned!
Gotta love google maps
You just never know when a camera is around. Google maps catches some guy falling. Go north and pan to the right
Click here in case you missed it.
CHCH-DT (known as E!) HD is now up and running
I first reported that Global HD is now up and running. To my surprise and pleasure, another channel has been added to my free OTA HD collection. CHCH-DT or better known as E! which is based in Hamilton is now in HD, mapped to 18-1. To be honest, I never really watched it before but with it being in HD, why the hell not! Seems my decision to cancel Rogers cable is starting to make more and more sense.
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