Edmonton Rush and Swollen Members

Post ImageI went with Tom to the Rush game last night and even though we didn’t win (lost 7-6 in regulation) it was a pretty cool night anyway! The half time entertainment was three members of Swollen Members, and they performed four songs including one from their upcoming album. But that wasn’t the best part.

Our row of seats must have been really lucky last night, because we all kept winning things! Tom was randomly selected to win a Rush prize pack and was chosen as a finalist in the Argyll Motorosports contest to win a quad! He got a couple t-shirts, a hat, wristbands to meet the team and cheerleaders after the game, and two tickets to the final game (so he has four total now). Shortly after that the guys next to us won a prize as it was one of their birthdays. And a little later the people at the end of the row won something too!

At the end of the game, the guys next to us left their t-shirt and wristbands at their seats (don’t ask my why) so we gladly took them! Tom and I each had a Rush t-shirt, so we went down to the field to meet the team and the Crush girls and to get autographs. It was pretty cool, and damn, those Crush girls are really hot!

The attendance at this game wasn’t as high as the first two home games, but it was still a very respectable 8,700 or so. We’re still winless, but at least we’re keeping it close. The first win will come sooner or later!

Read: Edmonton Rush

Mack is back!

Yes I know, for some of you it seems like I fell off the face of the earth (you’d be surprised how many emails/IMs said those exact words in the last few days). As you can tell, I am most certainly still alive! Or maybe this is some AI program typing, haha! I’d be rich if that were the case.

I didn’t disappear so much as unplug. Here’s what I have been up to, in no particular order:

  • Working working working, mainly on our business plan. The submission deadline for VenturePrize was Tuesday, and I am happy to report that we submitted an excellent plan. Well, we think it’s excellent! We worked with a few different mentors and consultants over the last couple weeks which gave us tons of great feedback to work with. Cross your fingers for us!
  • Addicted to Smallville. I am all caught up in season five (the current season) and more addicted than ever. It’s funny too, because I never really liked the “Superman” story all that much. I think it’s because with Superman, you just accept that he has all of his abilities. In Smallville, you see him acquire and master them! A friend also said something I found really interesting: “Most superheros are putting on a mask when they become the hero, but Superman puts on the mask when he becomes Clark Kent.” Episode 100 last week was amazing!
  • I’ve been using IE7 Beta 2 Preview (what a dumb name) for the last couple days, and so far I really like it! Quick tabs is an awesome feature. I am one of those people that likes to leave the browser running at all times, even just minimized. Unfortunately if I do that with Firefox, it eats up memory. So far IE7 seems to work better.
  • I was at the office on Sunday working late to finish an assignment (yes I’ve been doing schoolwork too) and ran into a problem. I had a meeting at the University that day, so I had parked on campus and just took the train to the office. When I was done my assignment and ready to leave, it was about 12:30 AM, which meant that I had missed every bus and train going south! So I ended up staying at the office until the LRT started again at 5:30 AM. I was surprised at how many people were on the train that early! I was also shocked at the number of people sleeping on couches in SUB – it was quite amazing.
  • I have been sleeping lots too, well sort of. Lots for me! Wasn’t feeling too good yesterday so stayed pretty close to home and rested.
  • I’m now really behind on reading blogs and that sort of thing. I find if I am not blogging, I’m also less likely to be reading. Or sometimes even the other way around! Such a positive feedback loop.

I don’t usually take these sort of breaks, but I think they are good for a person once in a while. Lots of stuff coming up too (midterms, Northern Voice, another competition, etc) so it was probably a good time for me to do it. Anyway, your regularly scheduled blog will now return!

(Interestingly, my traffic didn’t take a hit at all from the lack of posting, which probably means my old content is more popular than my newer content (and the statistics seem to support that claim)).

Yahoo buying Digg?

Post ImageYahoo keeps going further and further down the acquisition path lately – or at least generating rumors that they are. The newest rumor is that they are set to purchase Digg.com for nearly $30 million. Since the rumor first appeared there have been a number of updates that dispute such an acquisition, but it’s interesting to consider nonetheless. From Kevin Burton’s Feed Blog:

Update 2: The Digg blog officially denies the acquisition. Jeremy was smart enough to have “no comment“… Next time there’s a Digg acquisition rumor you’ll know you’re on to something 🙂

I wouldn’t be surprised if it turns out to be true. Digg would be an excellent addition to the growing stable of apps under the Yahoo umbrella, including del.icio.us and Flickr among others. The other factor to consider in this rumor, which Kevin does a good job of pointing out, is that Digg has insane amounts of traffic, and is going to need either more investment or a suitor with lots of resources to keep pace.

Read: Kevin Burton

Laptop data worth millions

Symantec released a report today containing research that attempts to determine how much the content on a typical laptop is worth. Even if the numbers haven’t been seen before, the lessons are not new – back up your data and be cautious when it comes to security.

[The report] suggests that an ordinary notebook holds content valued at 550,000 pounds ($972,000), and that some could store as much as 5 million pounds–or $8.8 million–in commercially sensitive data and intellectual property.

The same research, commissioned by Symantec, shows that only 42 percent of companies automatically back up employees’ e-mails, where much of this critical data is stored, and 45 percent leave it to the individual to do so.

I wonder how they came to those valuations, because I’d be interested in determining how much my content is worth. Not for any real reason I suppose, just curiousity.

Read: CNET News.com

More on the oil sands

Post ImageA week ago today I wrote a post explaining how I think Canada should be making a greater effort to develop and benefit from the oil sands in Alberta. Naturally, I’ve been keeping my eyes open for any news regarding the oil sands, and I’ve actually come across a couple things.

First is The Oil Sands of Alberta which aired on 60 minutes on Sunday. A couple things stood out for me:

There are 175 billion barrels of proven oil reserves here. That’s second to Saudi Arabia’s 260 billion but it’s only what companies can get with today’s technology. The estimate of how many more barrels of oil are buried deeper underground is staggering.

We know there’s much, much more there. The total estimates could be two trillion or even higher,” says Clive Mather, Shell’s Canada chief. “This is a very, very big resource.”

Very big? That’s eight times the amount of reserves in Saudi Arabia.

Clearly, there’s a lot of oil there. We just need the technology to be able to get it out of the ground for a reasonable cost! That’s key to my argument – we need to work on ways of fostering that research and development.

“I think it’s bigger than a gold rush. We’re expecting $100 billion over the next 10 years to be invested in this area – $100 billion in a population that, currently, is 70,000 people,” says Brian Jean, who represents the region in Canada’s parliament.

There’s a lot of money coming in too. More than I expected, to be honest. However, I am still not convinced that big corporations are going to be the ones who find a way to improve the technology and thus the ROI. Sure companies make progress in a lot of areas, but more often than not, it’s an individual or smaller group of individuals that find a way. Corporations then either copy or acquire.

For more commentary on the piece, The Oil Drum has a very good post with a ton of interesting comments too.

The 60 Minutes episode makes it seem as though China currently doesn’t have much interest in the oil sands, though not for lack of desire. A press release I found yesterday though tends to suggest that the country is starting to make investments:

What is certain is that global demand for oil – especially from Asia – is far outstripping the ability of companies to meet current demand and replenish their diminishing reserves. These factors are being exacerbated by global political uncertainty. The oil sands are increasingly on the U.S. radar screen as they focus on reducing their reliance on oil producing countries outside of North America. The Chinese have become increasingly involved in the oil sands with the China National Offshore Oil Corp., recently investing $150 million in MEG Energy Corp., a private company engaged in the oil sands.

In a different press release, I learned that Purvin & Gertz, an independent energy consulting firm, made available a study that analyzes the challenges and opportunities presented by development in the oil sands.

Producers face issues of growing existing and new markets for oil sands crudes. The need for diluent to transport heavy crude will increase with bitumen production. Upgrading in Alberta could reduce diluent demand, but requires major capital investment and does not eliminate the market risks associated with marketing SCO.

I’d have thought that with the increasing demand for oil there would be little or no risks associated with marketing synthetic crude oil! I’m not an expert though, so maybe I’m missing something. You can find out more on the study at the Purvin & Gertz website.

I need to dig around a little more, but I would not be surprised if much of the $100 billion that has been announced turns out to be nothing more than a foot in the door for the companies making the investments. If you’re in the oil business, you don’t want to miss out on the oil sands. In order to benefit though, we need to get better at extracting and refining the oil!

I guess one reason Canada wouldn’t be all that interested in sponsoring research and development is that so much of the oil sands has been sold to foreign investment (at least that’s how it appears). Like I said, more research is needed, but if that’s the case, it’s potentially a major loss for Canada.

Nice Weather in Edmonton!

Downtown Edmonton from Stadium LRT #1The last couple days here in Edmonton have been rather nice! Fairly sunny and clear, and not too windy. The only bad part has been the tiny little bits of snow mixed in with the brown muck. I guess that’s what happens when you’ve had a warm winter. It’s about 8 degrees celcius here right now, and around the same is expected for tomorrow. Looks like the weekend will be a little cooler.

I took this photo yesterday afternoon from the platform at the Stadium LRT station. It’s kind of an interesting view of our city’s downtown – normally photos are taken from the other side, where it’s a little more picturesque. There’s a few more in my photostream too.

Disney buys Pixar

Post ImageLast week I mentioned that Disney was in talks to buy Pixar, and today they announced that the deal is done. Disney is paying $7.4 billion in stock for the company, and Steve Jobs will get a seat on the board:

As part of the deal, which is expected to be completed this summer, two Pixar veterans will head Disney’s animation efforts. Ed Catmull, who had served as Pixar’s president, was named president of the combined Pixar and Disney Animation Studios. John Lasseter, the Pixar executive vice president who is widely regarded as the studio’s creative leader, was named chief creative officer. Pixar will remain in its San Francisco Bay Area headquarters.

Additionally, Steve Jobs is now the largest individual shareholder of Disney. I think it’s a great move for Disney, as long as they execute properly – and by that I mean don’t screw things up.

What has been most successful for the two companies? Pixar made the movies, Disney handled the distribution. I don’t see any reason that should drastically change, so I hope the combined company still leaves the bulk of the creative stuff to Pixar.

Read: CNET News.com

What the hell Yahoo?

Post ImageOne interesting item floating around the blogosphere today is that Yahoo has decided to give up in the search industry, essentially conceding defeat to Google. Yes, you read that correctly – sickening isn’t it?

“We don’t think it’s reasonable to assume we’re going to gain a lot of share from Google,” Chief Financial Officer Susan Decker said in an interview. “It’s not our goal to be No. 1 in Internet search. We would be very happy to maintain our market share.”

I think it’s incredibly sad and disappointing that they have made such a decision. And I really have to disagree with Henry Blodget:

Yahoo! has finally read the writing on the wall that everyone else (except Microsoft) has been reading for three years: The search game is over and Google has won.

If there is anything Google has taught us, it’s that search is important! While Yahoo and Excite and everyone was ignoring search, Google improved it, and look where they are now (definitely read John Battelle’s book The Search, it covers this in great detail). Search is not even close to perfect – there is so much left to be done! I think it’s a mistake to give up, and I don’t think there’s any “writing on the wall” either.

Thank goodness we have Microsoft! Instead of giving up, they’ve decided to pour oodles of money into search to try and improve the experience far beyond Google. Of course we won’t know how successful they are for a while, but that’s not the point. The point is that they did not give up, they continue to try and innovate, and in the end, it will result in better search for all of us (as Google is forced to further innovate as well).

Yahoo was looking really good lately, with their string of strategic “Web 2.0” acquisitions, then they go and make a statement like this. I’m kind of baffled, really. Certainly Yahoo’s business is not entirely search, but if they don’t think that search is and will continue to be a big part of their business, even indirectly, then I think they’re making a big mistake.

Read: seattlepi.com

Google News goes gold

Post ImageAs John Battelle and others have noted, Google News is now officially out of beta. I guess it’s not the most important news item of the day, but it’s not often you see a product that has no way to make money and has been in “beta testing” for over four years “go gold”. From the creator of Google News, Krishna Bharat:

Google News has matured a great deal, and we’re proud to see it graduate from its beta status. Much remains to be done, and as always, we have many exciting ideas that we intend to take forward. Meanwhile, as the saying goes, if you don’t like the news, go out and make some of your own. Or just keep reading Google News.

As Larry noted, there doesn’t seem to be much new with the service, aside from integrating search history. Has anyone starting betting on which product will move out of beta next? If not, we should! I’d put my money on Froogle.

Read: Google Blog

Conservative Canada

By now you’re almost certainly aware that the Conservatives won a minority in last night’s federal election (just as I predicted). During his concession speech, Paul Martin announced he will not lead the Liberal party in the next election. There are three main things about the election I found interesting:

  1. The magic number of 155 is hard to find, which means things will be especially intriguing. All the parties realize we don’t want to vote again right away, so it makes it even more important that they try to work together.
  2. The Conservatives gained a fair number of seats in Quebec. One wonders what this means for the separatists!
  3. I didn’t expect a completely blue Alberta, but that’s what we ended up with.

I followed the results online last night, and watched some of the post-election commentary on CBC. I don’t have much to say really, except that I hope the minority government doesn’t collapse right away. Lots of other people have far more interesting things to say than me:

There’s lots more interesting commentary if you do a quick search on Technorati or IceRocket or one of those. Seems to me that many Americans are not happy with our new government!