Google Maps Pedometer

Post ImageI came across a really cool tool this afternoon (via Penmachine) – Gmaps Pedometer! Basically its a tool that someone named Paul cooked up that lets you draw a route on Google Maps and it will calculate the distance for you.

I started playing with it and found myself getting addicted! So you have been warned, this tool might lower your productivity as you try to figure out the distances of all the little routes you take. For example, the route I take to the office from home is about 14 KM, while the route from the office back home (I go a different way) is about 12 KM. The tool only displays distances in miles, so I converted them using Google’s calculator.

Give it a shot! You might discover that the route you take is longer (or shorter) than you think! I am not entirely certain how accurate the results are, but they seem pretty reasonable to me.

Read: Gmaps Pedometer

Tablet PC Memory Leak Patched!

Post ImageFellow Tablet PC users (yes I realize that of my readers, that’s probably just you Dickson), we can finally rest easy! No more restarting! Microsoft has issued a patch for the memory leak that has plagued the operating system:

A memory leak in Windows XP Tablet PC Edition 2005 causes a gradual decrease in available system memory. This loss in available memory causes degradation in system performance. When this behavior occurs, the user must restart the computer. This problem is caused by a memory leak in the tcserver.exe service.

Get it while it’s hot!

Read: Microsoft Download

University of Alberta to buy Bay building

Post ImageThe University of Alberta is gearing up to buy the ancient Hudson’s Bay building in downtown Edmonton. The purchase would solve two major problems – what to do with the aging building in the heart of our downtown, and how to deal with the space crunch for the ever growing university.

If the deal goes through, as many as 1,000 continuing education students would take both day and night classes in the building as early as September 2006.

The university’s research transition facility and its more than 90 academics would also set up shop in the building. They would be joined by 30 workers from TEC Edmonton, a joint partnership between the city and the university, which is associated with the research operation.

I really hope this goes through, and it seems quite likely now. Mayor Mandel has long supported such a deal, and new university president Indira Samarasekera has also placed her support behind the purchase. And the good news is that the university has no plans to make CHUM (which owns A-Channel, and The Bounce) to move out.

I really like the idea – it makes a lot of sense. The LRT directly connects the building to the current university campus, and having a downtown presence will definitely help both businesses and the university. Thank goodness the proposals to turn the building into a parkade were turned down – a downtown University of Alberta location sounds much better for our city.

Read: Edmonton Journal

Halo 2 Map Expansion Released

Post ImageMicrosoft (or Bungie or whatever you want to call the team) has released five new maps for Halo 2:

Included in the pack are: Relic, Gemini, Elongation, Backwash (eww) and Terminal. The maps can be downloaded by all Xbox Live! users at a cost of $11.99 (or £5.99 for Brits). Or if you can wait until August 30th, you can get all five for free. Alternatively you can go to your local games retailer and pick up the $19.99 expansion pack which includes all nine new multiplayer maps, a special cinematic, behind-the-scenes documentary and all prior Halo 2 auto updates.

Sounds cool to me! The writer at Joystiq tried them all (oh such hard work blogging about games) and so far likes Relic the best. Considering I don’t think I have played all the existing maps, I am in no rush to get the new ones 🙂

Read: Joystiq

PGA Celebrities!

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PGA Celebrities!

PGA Celebrities!,
originally uploaded by Dickson Wong.

Second attempt at posting this, hopefully you can see it now! I am trying to get the Flickr “Blog This” feature working with my blog.

Dickson was in Whistler yesterday for the first day of the Telus Skins Game, and he took a bunch of “behind the scenes” photos and posted them up in his brand new Flickr account. Check it out!

Happy Fourth of July!

It just wouldn’t be fair of me to not wish our friends in the red states a Happy Independence Day! And, I am quite surprised, no fancy graphic at Google.com. Maybe they were busy celebrating? Actually, if you didn’t know any better, you’d have no idea today was ID4 judging by the most common websites. I remember back in the day when Hotmail completely changed their look to celebrate Independence Day (that was, of course, before they were purchased by Microsoft). Just goes to show how long I’ve been a geek I guess.

No opportunity for podcasting business?

Post ImageFrom David Carr in today’s New York Times:

For the time being, podcasting is a cipher, a technology that seems to further threaten established media’s stranglehold on public consciousness, but offers little opportunity in the way of a real actual business. Big media are aggressively attempting to get their arms around the next big thing. But it remains elusive, a medium that is viral and uncontrollable by nature, and that does not threaten to become a business any time soon.

I’m going to have to respectfully disagree David! How do you explain Audible’s announcement regarding podcasting at Gnomedex? Or the new release of iTunes, focused on podcasting? Or even Adam Curry’s growing PodShow? There is a massive amount of opportunity for business with podcasting.

Read: New York Times

Ta-da Lists

Post ImageGot lots of stuff to keep track of? Of course you do, you’re a busy person, just like the rest of us. How do you keep track of the things you need to get done? If you’re like me, you probably write stuff down then go and lose that piece of paper. Happens all the time. But not anymore!

Lately I’ve been using Ta-da Lists, mainly because we’ve been using it’s big brother Basecamp at Paramagnus and liking it. Here’s what you can do with Ta-da Lists:

  • Keep track of all the little things you need to get done
  • Make lists for other people (co-workers, friends, family)
  • Share lists with the world (“My favorite movies of 2004”)
  • Subscribe to your lists in RSS so you’re always on track

It’s a great application, and it’s free! You just can’t go wrong. I especially like that my lists are on the web, so I can get to them from any computer. And the interface is simple, fast, and effective. If you’re looking for a better way to keep yourself organized, definitely check out Ta-da Lists.

Read: Ta-da Lists

Purple Cow

Post ImageOne of the items we got in our Gnomedex goodie-bags was a book! Yes, a real book. I thought it was a pretty cool idea for swag, to give away books. Anyway, the book was Seth Godin’s “Purple Cow”:

Cows, after you’ve seen one, or two, or ten, are boring. A Purple Cow, though…now that would be something. Purple Cow describes something phenomenal, something counterintuitive and exciting and flat out unbelievable.

You’re either a Purple Cow or you’re not. You’re either remarkable or invisible. Make your choice.

The above quoted text is taken from the book’s description. Unfortunately, now that you’ve read that little paragraph, you don’t need to read the book, because that’s about all it says. Seth spends 160 pages explaining just what a purple cow is.

Yes, I thought the book was interesting. No, I didn’t find it that useful. I mean, of course marketing is going to be easier when you start with a great product, that’s common sense isn’t it? The fact that Seth wrapped it up into a concept with a funky name doesn’t change that. There are dozens of other books out there that preach the same thing.

The book does have a few positives though. It’s a very quick read, so it won’t take up a lot of your time if you do decide to read it. And Seth has written the book in such a way that the read is stimulating, not boring. Still, I think there are better books to spend your money on.

Read: Seth Godin

Why I refuse to sign the Live 8 List

Post ImageI refuse to add my name to the Live 8 List to be presented to the leaders of the G8 at the summit on July 6th. My reason is quite simple: pouring endless amounts of money into Africa is, in my opinion, a huge waste.

Live 8 has three steps for the G8 leaders to follow:

  1. double the aid sent to the world’s poorest countries,
  2. fully cancel their debts,
  3. change the trade laws so that they can build their own future.

The only one of these points I agree with is #2 – I am entirely in favor of forgiving debts owed by the nations of Africa, and of any “third world” nation for that matter. As for the other two points, I just don’t agree.

Mr. Geldoff is quick to point out that 20 years after Live Aid, the African continent is no better off. Billions and billions of dollars have already flowed into Africa, and yet things have not improved. I don’t think the way to solve a problem is to throw more money at it.

Why not spend billions of dollars at home? Drastically decrease the cost of post secondary education at home. Improve the availability of health care at home. Get people off the streets at home. There are many reasons to spend that huge amount of money at home first.

As for changing the trade laws – that’s just not necessary. Take an International Economics course, and then tell me if you still think we need to change the trade laws. What we really need to do is increase the level of education in poor countries, not make it easier for them to trade with nothing.

A common argument for giving so much money to Africa is that if we narrow the gap between first world and third world, everyone will benefit. Why is it then, that whenever I hear that argument I am left waiting for some evidence or facts to back it up?

The fact that you can get some celebrities up on stage, or in a commercial, or on a website, and millions of people will blindly do whatever you want them to is a big problem, don’t you think? I wonder how many people who have signed the list actually thought about it before doing so. More likely, they signed the list because their favorite musical stars were a part of the big concerts, not because they think that signing will make a big difference. I don’t think it’s too hard for anyone who spends more than five minutes thinking about it to see that pledging money is not enough. The world’s poorest nations need a lot more than money to improve from their current situation.

Ask everyone who signs the list if they would personally contribute to the billions of dollars going into Africa. I am willing to bet the number of people who say yes would be quite low. Or ask if they’d be willing to go to Africa, not to tour the poor nations, but to dig wells, build schools and hospitals, to do the things that really need to be done. I bet even fewer people would say yes.

To think that we can be “the generation that made poverty history” is extremely arrogant and short-sighted. Throughout history, there has always been poverty, even if it has been more visible at certain times than others. Throwing a bunch of money into a growing problem isn’t going to change that.

Read: Live 8