Month: June 2007

The Walled Garden that is Facebook

Post ImageSometimes I get too excited about Facebook. I use it every single day, and I think it’s a great tool, but it’s far from perfect. That’s why I read blogs written by people like Jason Kottke, so that I don’t lose perspective completely. Earlier this week, Jason called Facebook the new AOL:

What happens when Flickr and LinkedIn and Google and Microsoft and MySpace and YouTube and MetaFilter and Vimeo and Last.fm launch their platforms that you need to develop apps for in some proprietary language that’s different for each platform? That gets expensive, time-consuming, and irritating.

As it happens, we already have a platform on which anyone can communicate and collaborate with anyone else, individuals and companies can develop applications which can interoperate with one another through open and freely available tools, protocols, and interfaces. It’s called the internet and it’s more compelling than AOL was in 1994 and Facebook in 2007.

He’s so right.

I don’t know if Facebook will end up like AOL has, and it certainly won’t be mailing out CDs anytime soon, but the comparison is still fair.

Walled gardens might seem like a good idea initially, but eventually the walls will crumble.

Read: kottke.org

What to do when technology fails?

Post ImageLike most people, I rely on technology all day, every day. I consider myself a fairly heavy text messaging user (I send almost 1000 texts a month) and I always have Outlook and Opera open. Oh and instant messaging, though I find myself using that less. Usually things work great, but sometimes things go wrong.

Take today for example. Last night after the movie my text messaging appeared to stop working. I couldn’t send or receive. This is a big deal for me but since it was almost 2 AM, I figured I’d see if it sorted itself out over night. Turns out it did for the most part, but service today has been slow and sporadic. It still isn’t working correctly.

Also last night, Twitter had some unscheduled downtime. Not the end of the world, but I definitely noticed it. And for some reason, Twitter doesn’t recognize symbols (like @ or $) from my phone properly. No one has responded to my tech support request.

Then there was Facebook. Around 8:30 this morning I tried to get into Facebook – no dice. I don’t ever recall having issues with Facebook, but for whatever reason it was down earlier today. I am guessing it was a small glitch of some sort, and it probably didn’t affect everyone.

What’s common between the three? They are consumer facing applications. They are free (well text messaging isn’t, but it’s dirt cheap at $10/mo for unlimited). Generally speaking, consumer facing + free means that support is either not very good or non-existent. Furthermore, there’s not really any agreement on the part of the service to ensure that it performs well and is reliable.

I suppose that’s fine for unimportant communication, but what happens when we use them for something more critical? It used to be that there was a clear distinction between corporate and consumer – lately I think the line is fading. I use text messaging, Twitter, and Facebook for both purposes.

I don’t know how, but eventually this problem is going to need to be addressed.

UPDATE: Apparently the Facebook issue this morning was related to power.

iPhone

Post ImageI am not crazy about Apple’s iPhone. Obviously it doesn’t work in Canada yet anyway, but it will, eventually. I think gadgets generally fall into two categories the day they launch: there are gadgets you “must have” right away, and there are gadgets where it’s wise to take a “wait and see” approach.

The difficult thing is that you can’t predict which of the two categories a particular gadget will fall into. I figured the Xbox 360 was in the first category, so I lined up and bought one the day it was released. That turned out to be a good decision (minus the lack of HDMI output). When the Wii came out, I figured it was in the second category. Turns out I probably could have bought that one right away! I think the iPhone falls into the second category, but I guess we’ll find out over the next few weeks.

Today is the first day where the lineups to buy the iPhone will be insane, though some individuals got started a couple days ago. The rules are basically that you can only buy two per person, and it’s first come, first serve.

It’s already hard to ignore iPhone-related news, and it’s not going to get any easier, at least for the next few days. That said, I’d be disappointed to look back in five years and not find a post about the iPhone. Most of the things I have read so far are kind of the same, but I did like Paul Colligan’s list of reasons for not lining up, especially his last point:

Ratatouille Opens On Friday Too! Shorter line, better snacks, my kids can come and Steve Jobs still makes money off of me.

Well said 🙂

If you are especially stoked about the iPhone, don’t miss Engadget’s coverage.

Edmonton's local media should embrace the web

Post ImageEarlier this evening I attended a panel event called Edmonton’s Image in the Media: A Fresh Perspective. The event was put on by Next Gen Edmonton, and took place at City Hall. I find myself becoming more and more interested in the Next Gen project, so I decided to check out the event. The panelists included: Bridget Ryan from CityTV, Mari Sasano from the Edmonton Journal, Jason Manning from Sonic FM, and Ted Kerr who is a freelance writer/photographer. Allan Bolstad from MacEwan moderated.

The subtitle was the only place a “fresh perspective” could be found at this event. I went in hoping for some great insight from these professionals, and instead I heard a bunch of mainstream media representatives who simply don’t get it. I twittered my disappointment – not that I’d expect any of the panelists to have a clue as to what Twitter is. I completely understand that Twitter is a fairly niche product at the moment, but the panelists talked about email like it was a brand new invention. It took over 45 minutes before anyone mentioned the web – Ted talked about blogs and websites in response to an audience question.

Some of the questions the panel was supposed to explore incuded: Is Edmonton portrayed fairly in the media? How could we improve Edmonton’s image to the outside world? Do Edmontonians themselves need to be educated about their city? What could the media do to help?

I took some notes during the event; here are my thoughts:

  • Jason loves Edmonton but apparently isn’t capable of answering a question without referencing “the music scene.”
  • Bridget thinks the media is doing a great job and is afraid to walk downtown alone at night.
  • Mari wants you to do her job for her – send her information about your events! She also was extremely annoying to listen to.
  • Ted claims his “online reading capacity” is no more than a single page.

Event organizer Daniel Eggert asked the last question, and it was about what kinds of media the “next generation” uses and trusts. He explained he was thinking about the web – “blogs, YouTube, Wikipedia, and others.” The panelists did an excellent job of not answering his question. Such a waste.

In my opinion, the biggest problem with Edmonton’s image in the media is that Edmontonians themselves don’t know enough about the city. How many Edmontonians, for example, know that Edmonton is the cultural capital of Canada? Probably not very many. I think the only way to solve this problem is through the web. Television and radio are great, but audiences are slowly disappearing, and the “next generation” spends far more time online. Newspapers are considered archaic by myself and many others my age (note to newspaper companies: move the content online, ditch the horrible format).

The local media and the city itself both need to embrace the web – they simply aren’t doing their jobs if they don’t. The Journal launched blogs a couple months ago and dropped the pay-wall, but there is lots of room for improvement. The City of Edmonton website contains lots of information but is a complete mess. In addition to fixing what’s already there, why not explore the unknown? Here are a few ideas:

  • Create a City of Edmonton sponsored group on Facebook and use it to create events. There are, after all, over 140,000 Edmontonians on Facebook.
  • Even better – endeavour to make one de-facto online event calendar.
  • Build a local news aggregation site – kind of like TechMeme for tech.
  • Learn how to use RSS effectively to monitor what’s going on in the city.
  • Make it easier for citizens to submit photos, videos, and other content all using the web.

To be fair, online local news and resources are a big problem everywhere (except for huge cities like New York). Embracing the web would not only educate Edmontonians and improve our image around the world, it might even make us a leader and trendsetter.

What do you think? I’ll post more on this later after I’ve given it some more thought.

No @live.com email address for Canadians

Post ImageBack in April I posted about Windows Live Hotmail and the news that users would be able to sign up for an @live.com email address. I was quite excited – after all, it’s a pretty cool domain name. Today though, some disappointing news:

Apparently country code addresses will only be available in countries outside the US (I’m assuming a bit here, as Jacky talks only about .ca, Canadian addresses), so that a Canadian will be able to get an @live.ca address, but not an @live.com one.

The news comes from Jacky Mok, a product manager for Windows Live in Toronto.

I am a proud Canadian, but @live.ca just isn’t the same as @live.com, dammit! Maybe I can proxy my way around the registration restrictions. Or maybe Microsoft can smarten up and remove any such restrictions!

Read: LiveSide

Facebook, school expulsions, and stupid parents

Post ImageI watched Global National tonight and ended up laughing out loud when this story aired. Turns out that a grade eleven student in Abbotsford, B.C. created a Facebook group titled “If 200 people sign this, I’ll kick (teacher Pat Mullaney) in the box.” Obviously the school wasn’t too happy about that and they suspended the student, Amanda Bunn, for three weeks only to later change their minds and expel her completely. The school even contacted police, but they decided not to investigate (smart move).

I think the school went too far here, and reacted far too strongly. But that’s not what made me LOL. It was Amanda’s father, Wally, who just cracked me up. He said he took away Amanda’s Facebook account and was “closely monitoring” her Internet use. LOL! Seriously, does he have his eye on her 24 hours a day? I highly doubt it. I don’t know what he thinks he is going to accomplish, besides maybe damaging his relationship with his daughter. If she’s like 99% of her fellow teenagers, I am sure she still has access to Facebook.

A new group has been created, called Let Amanda Bunn Back into School. Almost 300 people have joined the group, and there are over 75 wall posts (including some from Amanda’s father who, strangely enough, is posting messages under her account). This is one of the great things about Facebook – it has enabled a dialogue to take place about an unfortunate incident. Imagine if Amanda had written what she did on a poster in the school instead of on Facebook. She’d likely still be expelled, but there wouldn’t be a conversation about it taking place now.

On the other hand, had the incident not taken place on Facebook, there probably wouldn’t have been a national news story about it.

Read: Global National

Notes for 6/24/2007

Here are my weekly notes:

  • Went to a restaurant called Bacon yesterday for Sharon’s birthday, and thankfully, they had bacon! It was really quite good. Afterward we went to a play called Shoe! which took place in an actual shoe store on Whyte Ave. It was okay, but I thought it was a little over the top at times. Then tonight was a dinner party – went very well, despite taking quite a while for prep and cleanup.
  • The Spice Girls are getting back together! I was such a fan back in junior high. Apparently there won’t be a new album though, just a tour.
  • No more pets on Air Canada flights. I guess this part of their efforts to cut costs? I think it’s a dumb idea.
  • For the Edmonton folks – the overpass at Gateway and 23rd has run into financial troubles. Hopefully they still get it done, it is badly needed.
  • From the yet-another-side-project department: I started a new blog this week. All Windows Media, all the time.
  • I haven’t really had time to look at this yet, but Dave Winer is doing something with Twitter and podcasting. I will have to look into it.
  • I think this is going to be a busy week…

Jordin Tootoo dating Kellie Pickler?!

Post ImageJust chatting with my Dad on MSN and he tells me that Jordin Tootoo is dating Kellie Pickler. What?! Are you kidding me? Apparently they have been together since January. Seriously, I gotta say, you could do better Kellie. Oh well, I guess she deserves what she gets:

She was earlier quoted as saying she was hoping to build an igloo on her visit. That didn’t pan out, but the Tootoo family is making sure she goes home with her share of truly northern experiences, like fishing and sampling local food.

“I’ve had different types of food that I never in my wildest dreams ever thought I’d try … raw caribou and whale blubber,” she said on Wednesday. “You’ve got to salt everything.”

I’ve tried the whale blubber – it’s called muktuk. It is by far the worst thing I have ever eaten in my entire life. Absolutely disgusting. Perhaps even worse than dating Tootoo (can you tell I don’t like him?). Ah I should clarify – I don’t know him, obviously, but I don’t like him as a hockey player.

Oh well, at least there’s still Carrie Underwood! Scratch that – she is apparently dating Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo.

Damn professional athletes. Damn American Idol.

Read: CBC North

More evil stuff from Apple!

Post ImageJust last week I wrote about Apple being evil by requiring iPhone users to have an iTunes account. Now they’re at it again, this time with forced perspective advertising. From BoingBoing:

Lars says: When I viewed the new iPhone site something struck me: did Apple change the dimensions of the unit?

A quick comparison of the official Apple photos revealed they’ve just changed handsize.

I copied the OLD and NEW photos below from BoingBoing. That’s pretty evil isn’t it? The two hand sizes aren’t even close!

There’s more too, all related to the iPhone. On Monday Apple was caught with some false advertising (they incorrectly stated that the Nokia N95 did not have Wi-Fi). And of course, they announced improved battery life and a more durable screen – for a device that you can’t even buy yet!

What’s next Apple?

Read: BoingBoing