Month: August 2007

Edmonton Public Library & U of A Libraries at Facebook

Post ImageLast October I wrote a post about some radio ads the Edmonton Public Library (EPL) was running at the time. My argument was that the EPL’s advertising just wasn’t “with it” and that they should take a good long look at what would appeal to younger patrons. Here is what I wrote:

The goal is clearly to try and bring young people into the library. Instead of some hokey ad about an adventure, why not highlight the aspects of the library that appeal to young people? Things like public computers, excellent study and workspaces, a Second Cup built right in (for the downtown location at least), power outlets for your laptop, and wireless Internet (do they have this?).

I could have saved myself some characters if I had simply written “things like technology.” I wonder if someone at the EPL read my post, because they certainly got the hint. Tris Hussey (editor of the excellent blognation Canada) posted about the EPL’s new Facebook application this week:

…it looks like the Edmonton Public Library is the first public library to have a Facebook application! Taking a quick look at the EPL site, they seem to have “gotten” Web 2.0 . they have RSS feeds for events, you can add a catalogue search to you Google homepage, pretty darn cool.

That’s all true, but the main EPL site is still ugly as hell! I bet Jakob Nielsen likes it though.

Kudos to the EPL for diving into Facebook! Dickson remarked during lunch today that libraries don’t get enough credit for being technologically savvy, and I have to agree. And wouldn’t you know it, the University of Alberta Libraries has a Facebook application too. Very similar functionality to the EPL application.

I wonder how many other libraries have Facebook applications? What other kinds of organizations should create Facebook apps? I’d love to see a Starbucks app, where I can manage my card and fill up someone else’s card all within Facebook. As Tris said, “something that people can use. Something that is simple.”

Read: catech

Justin Timberlake – FutureSex/LoveSounds in Edmonton

Around this time last night I was at Rexall Place to see Justin Timberlake. I was so excited for the concert! Jane, Megan and I got tickets the moment they went on sale months ago, which was good because it sold out almost immediately. We ended up selling two, and Jane’s friend Sarah came so there was four of us in all. That’s right, three gals and one guy. Fairly representative of the audience I’d say – there were far more women than men. Age was much more distributed though.

The place was absolutely packed! And keep in mind this was a concert-in-the-round, which means all 16,000+ seats were filled. Ours were really good, and Jane’s camera worked pretty well in the dark, so here’s a decent shot that she snapped:

This is probably the biggest concert I’ve ever been to, and it was nothing if not a spectacle. Velvet Revolver was quite the show as well, but even it was nothing compared to JT. The lights, stage, screens, smoke, dancers, instruments, everything, it was just awesome. I was really impressed. The one thing that surprised me was how adult-oriented the show was. I remember seeing a few younger kids with their parents, and I’m sure the parents weren’t thrilled with the mostly naked dancers or the heavy gyrating and sexually suggestive dancing.

I think one of the reasons the concert was so good was the venue. As hockey fans will know, Rexall Place is fairly unique. Justin remarked that Edmonton was the loudest crowd of the tour, and even if he was just saying that at first, the resulting noise would have made it true. It was LOUD! Seeing thousands of cameras flash at once was pretty neat, as was seeing thousands of cell phones swaying for the ballad. I really can’t imagine a new hockey arena being any better than Rexall Place…anyway, back to the concert.

I would have been happy if Justin had only sung “What Goes Around…” and called it a night, but fortunately he sang quite a few songs. I particularly liked his rendition of “LoveStoned”. And for the “intermission” there was a special guest – Timbaland! I had heard he wasn’t going to be there, so it was definitely a surprise to see him join JT on stage. He did a number of popular songs like Kelly Clarkson’s “Since U Been Gone” and a few Nelly Furtado songs, and he did the obligatory Aaliyah tribute. He also performed his popular single, “The Way I Are”.

One of the songs Timbaland used in his mix was Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean” and it really stuck out for me. I think it’s because Justin incorporates a lot of what made MJ successful into his show. Lots of dancing? Check. Fancy footwork? Check. Distinct fashion? Check. Fedora hat? Check. Falsetto? Check. Crotch grab? Check. One needs to be careful when making comparisons to Michael Jackson, and I’m not saying that JT is the new MJ, but I do think he’s smart for adopting some of the trademark aspects of Jackson’s performances.

Justin came back to perform “(Another Song) All Over Again” for the encore, and as he was finishing, a young woman appeared out of nowhere on stage. The security guard looked like he was going to tackle her (how did she sneak by in the first place?) but Justin stuck up his hand, and proceeded to handle the situation extremely well. He got her to help finish the song, but also took the opportunity to call her crazy and tell her “you scared the shit out of me, you know that right?” Heh.

All the dancers, musicians, and backup singers joined JT on stage at the very end for a big group bow which I thought was kinda cool. Then left alone on stage, Justin ran from side to side and waved to the crowd. Much better than some shows I’ve been to, where the performer just disappears.

I had a great time, and I’d wouldn’t hesitate if I got the chance to see JT in concert again!

UPDATE: For those of you with Facebook, this video that Jane uploaded of JT dancing during “My Love” is pretty wicked.

Get ready for micro-media

I wrote another guest post for the Vidfest blog, this time on micro-media. It’s a topic I expect to be talking about a lot more in the coming weeks and months. While relatively new, the concept of micro-media is incredibly powerful, and I think micro-media services will have a massive impact on the way we live and work. I’m already addicted.

Take tonight, for example. I went to the Justin Timberlake concert here in Edmonton (it absolutely rocked btw, more on that later) and I was able to communicate my thoughts in real-time at Twitter, Tumblr, Jaiku, and others. That’s not all though – other people were able to communicate with me too!

Another example is news. I really don’t like newspapers, and I find myself reading online news sites less and less. The reason? I get all the headlines via the BBC and NYTimes streams on Twitter.

There’s some cool stuff happening, and I’ve given it a lot of thought lately. I like where micro-media is going so far.

Anyway, check out my post, and let me know what you think!

Read: Vidfest

Notes for 8/26/2007

Here are my weekly notes:

  • We finally got around to doing a long-planned server move this weekend. It went quite well, all things considered!
  • Sharon and I went to see another Fringe play on Friday, called Out of Pocket. I liked it, even if the story was sort of expected. The female actress switched between her characters amazingly well.
  • Have you seen Tafiti? Cool demonstration of Silverlight technology, not very useful though.
  • Here’s a handy list of tools for web developers working with Internet Explorer.
  • My favorite t-shirt is missing 😦
  • Justin Timberlake concert is Tuesday! I’m excited 🙂

I got buried on Digg

My latest article at last100 was published today, titled: Windows Media Center – a Microsoft success story? If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, then you probably know that I’m a bit of a Microsoft fan. I think they’re a great company, and I like their products (for the most part). Sure they do some stupid things from time to time, but name a big company that doesn’t!

Anyway, back to the post. I’ve written a few Microsoft-related posts for last100 in the last month or so, and I don’t think I’ve said anything terribly negative in any of them. A few of the posts became really popular on Digg, and the feedback was mostly good. I was kind of surprised, to be honest. Communities like Digg, by their very nature, don’t like big companies. Or perhaps more accurately, the community members don’t. Well, I finally got buried on Digg. My latest article made the front page, then quickly disappeared. I guess I had it coming!

Essentially my post demonstrates that Windows Media Center has become very successful. I don’t really attempt to explain the reasons for the success, aside from glossing over the features and that sort of thing. It seems most people think that WMC is only successful because it is installed by default on many new computers. Even if that’s the case, does it matter? I don’t think it does.

Forget about how it happened – the simple fact of the matter is that there are more than 50 million computers out there with really great media center functionality. Even if the majority of users don’t use that functionality today, that doesn’t mean they won’t tomorrow. There’s something to be said about saturation. Not enough people know about media center features. And maybe they shouldn’t have to. If everyone had media center PCs, they could just start using the functionality without thinking about it.

Oh well, getting buried was bound to happen sooner or later. I wonder if they make a t-shirt for this!

Read: last100

Flash, Silverlight and H.264

Post ImageAdobe launched a new version of Flash on Monday. The update is codenamed “Moviestar” because it adds support for H.264, a video compression codec. The release is significant because it allows Flash to play really high quality video. Adobe expects the final version to be ready this fall.

I think it’s clear that Adobe added H.264 support to Flash as a way to compete with Microsoft’s Silverlight and VC-1. SmugMug’s Don MacAskill thinks the announcement gives Adobe the edge:

Silverlight 1.0 is focused almost entirely on video, including HD, and clearly gunning for Flash. So why wouldn’t they go right for Flash’s big Achilles heel – no H.264 support?

Oh well – that opportunity is now lost, and I believe this basically nails Silverlight 1.0’s coffin shut.

Don goes on to say that he had high hopes for strong competition among Rich Internet Application frameworks. I really value Don’s opinion, and I think he’s a really smart guy, but I think his comment is somewhat misleading and I have to disagree with him here. Why? Because it’s only August 22nd, 2007, that’s why.

I realize that Don specifically mentioned “Silverlight 1.0” but I wouldn’t fault you for skimming over the version number, and that’s what needs to be addressed. First of all, Silverlight 1.0 hasn’t even been released yet. Secondly, the first real release is going to be Silverlight 1.1, which is currently in alpha. There’s a lot of time left before the final version of 1.1 is released. Who knows, maybe Microsoft will even add support for H.264 before that time (though Don says he has been told by MS employees that no more codecs will be added).

The point is that it’s still early. Don’t count Silverlight out just yet. Lots can happen between now and the final releases of both Flash “Moviestar” and Silverlight. I think it’s safe to say there won’t be a lack of competition in the RIA framework space.

I completely agree with Don’s last statement though:

You’re going to see a massive boom in the online video space shortly. You ain’t seen nothing yet.

Exactly. Lots to come still. It’s an exciting time!

Read: SmugBlog

Come on Skype, tell us what really happened!

As you probably know, Skype went down on Thursday and didn’t resume to normal until sometime Saturday. Hundreds of bloggers have written about the outage, and the event has raised a number of really interesting questions, such as “how mad can we get when a free service goes down?” The answers may still be up for debate, but one thing is clear: Skype’s excuse is downright unacceptable.

Here’s what they wrote today on their blog:

The disruption was triggered by a massive restart of our users’ computers across the globe within a very short timeframe as they re-booted after receiving a routine set of patches through Windows Update.

Skype loses points not only for failing to accept any responsibility for the outage, but also for making such an incredibly dumb statement. As Long Zheng pointed out:

Think about it. If Windows Update did in fact cause the restart of millions of Skype users worldwide, which it can do without argument, then how come Skype doesn’t crash the second Tuesday of every month when of course Microsoft distributes its Windows patches like they have for the past 3 years and years of unscheduled patches prior to that? As far as I recall, last week wasn’t any different.

Am I missing something? I’m not saying it was not Windows Update, but why only last week did it do what it could have done 36 times already?

I get the distinct feeling that Skype is unwilling to admit they did something wrong. Even if this particular Tuesday did something extra special with the updates, and even if it caused a flood of requests, shouldn’t Skype have been prepared for that? In their explanation they say:

We can confirm categorically that no malicious activities were attributed or that our users’ security was not, at any point, at risk.

Does that mean that Skype was open to attack before this happened? A flood of requests from Windows Update should be no different than a flood of requests with malicious intent. Actually, you’d probably assume the latter would be worse.

Something just doesn’t add up.

Read: Skype Heartbeat

Notes for 8/19/2007

Here are my weekly notes:

  • Today seemed to absolutely fly by. I don’t know where the day went!
  • Do you like Crocs? Wish you could wear them in the winter? Yeah, I can’t believe it either, but there’s a new “Mammoth” version of the shoe for colder temperatures. Stop the madness! I saw a lady on the street wearing orange Crocs today. Ugliest thing ever.
  • Great quote: “Allowing CDMA and GSM in North America is like allowing left and right hand drive cars simultaneously.”
  • I haven’t checked out Pulse yet, but Robert seems to like the new service from Plaxo. Like me he was not impressed by Pownce, so maybe we’d have the same opinion on Pulse too. I’ll have to see.
  • The first thing I do now when I come across another Twitter clone is look for an API. Sadly, Yappd has no such thing.
  • Really interesting post from Larry on world temperature figures. Evidently NASA has corrected previously published information, and the change means that five of the ten warmest years on record occur before WWII. Umm, yeah, so how about that global warming?
  • Kim is back in Edmonton tomorrow!

Fringe 007: Ignorance, Mini Donuts, and Die-Nasty

Sharon dragged me to the Edmonton International Fringe Theatre Festival, aka the Fringe, a few years ago, and I actually enjoyed it. I’ve since come to enjoy Edmonton’s live theatre scene, so I was definitely looking forward to this year’s festival, called “Live and Let Fringe” in honor of the year. The festival runs until August 26th.

The first show Sharon, Dickson and I went to see last night was called “The Power of Ignorance” and since Sharon took care of getting tickets and such ahead of time, I didn’t know much more about it than that. Turns out it was a one-man show, performed by British comedian Chris Gibbs, in the form of a seminar that promised to help you tap into your power of ignorance to lead a better, happier life. I really enjoyed it – it was extremely funny! I laughed pretty hard. The ending was kind of weird, but otherwise, great show. The Journal gave it 4.5 stars (out of 5) today. To that I say: well deserved.

Afterward we wandered around the grounds, taking in the sights. No trip to the Fringe is complete without mini donuts, so I got some of those and headed for the beer gardens. On the way we stopped to see Hoja, a popular Canadian a capella group. We saw them perform “YMCA” and “500 Miles”, complete with dancing and everything.

We ended the evening by going to see Die-Nasty. I have to say I didn’t enjoy it as much as their season 16 finale. For one thing, there was no Jeff Haslam. His comic timing would definitely have helped the show out. Davina Stewart was there however, and she was really funny! On the whole though, it was just average. Perhaps it was because they were making fun of the Fringe itself, and I just didn’t get all of the jokes?

I’m going to go see at least one more show, but I am not sure which one yet. Perhaps I should have a look at all of the pieces of paper we received while waiting in line. Sharon remarked that the Fringe would be a good place for entrepreneurs to learn, and I have to agree. The elevator pitches that the performers give as they work the lineups at other shows are really quite good. Entrepreneurs could definitely learn a thing or two.

Check out the official Fringe site here, and also the Edmonton Journal’s complete coverage.

Read: Fringe 007

Finally a reason to like Stelmach, perhaps

Post ImageI’m not a huge fan of Alberta’s current premier, Ed Stelmach. Just like Chris, I miss Ralph Klein. There was no guessing with Klein, and certainly no extended periods of silence. You knew exactly what to expect, and he never disappointed. With Stelmach on the other hand, there’s just dead air.

In the past I’ve written that raising money for tech in Alberta sucks. I would have to say that it still sucks. But perhaps Stelmach will make it suck less. That’s what the Journal would have you believe anyway:

After years of empty rhetoric and inaction under Klein, a sea change may be underway. Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach and Advanced Education and Technology Minister Doug Horner seem intent on finally addressing some of the issues that have hindered development of the province’s tech sector.

The two established a task force back in March to examine tech commercialization in our province, and the report finally came on Friday. And before I say anything else, kudos to Horner and his department for making the report available online (pdf).

Among the findings:

  • Creation of a government-backed, $100 million Alberta Enterprise Fund with $200 million in projected matching investments from the private sector
  • Creation of a 25% investor tax credit
  • Creation of an Alberta-specific SR&ED tax credit to match the federal program

Other things include additional facilities and tech centres, and improved access to intellectual property. The Journal article quickly points out that “the recommendations outlined above are hardly revolutionary.” You can say that again! We need to implement each one of those things just to get on par with provinces like Ontario and B.C.

The thing to keep in mind is that a report is nothing more than words on paper. Stelmach and his government still need to act on the report’s findings before anything will change. Still, this is a lot further than Alberta has ever gotten in the past. Perhaps one day I’ll be able to write that raising money for tech in Alberta rocks.

Read: Edmonton Journal