Ha! I am not the only one who thinks that Google’s and other company’s “beta” periods are just insane:

“I feel like ‘beta’ has become a questionable term,” said Mary Hodder, a technology consultant. “Google and Flickr just leave it on their sites for years, so it cues us to think, beta, no big deal.”

Read: CNET News.com

The only “big” torrent site that remained after the MPAA threatened to sue a few months ago was LokiTorrent. And now they too have shutdown – the site has been replaced with a message from the MPAA, similarly annoying to their ad spots in theatres.

The MPAA’s message says “You can click but you can’t hide.” Perhaps it’s time I take another look at eXeem. You can shutdown but you can’t win.

Tonight seemed like a good night to try out some different online services that I have been reading about. Not sure why, it’s not like I have nothing to do, but I digress.

I was testing Flickr earlier (which I have had an account at for a while actually) and now I am playing with 43 Things. I only heard about the service because Amazon.com invested some money in the company (and it is run by a former Amazon exec), but in any case, I decided to check it out. Looks like a cool site! Basically it allows you to make a list of your 43 goals. Then you can post about your progress, or when you have accomplished them, etc.

The cool part about it is that you can see other people who have the same goal as you, and read their progress too. I guess that’s kind of useless for more abstract goals like stop procrastinating, but for more specific and easily accomplishable goals (like build a bar in my basement), you might pick up some tips from someone else.

Anyway, check out 43 Things. You can see my list here, and you can subscribe here.

I know I already posted this, but I am just messing around with Flickr and had it handy for a test!

UPDATE

Wow I didn’t realize so much space would be wasted! So to fill it, I have gone back to February 8th of last year (since I didn’t post on the 9th). This is what I posted about back in the day:

Anyone remember going into the washrooms in high school, and reading “for a good time, call…”? Or maybe you don’t have to remember, go into any public washroom today and you are sure to find it scrawled on the wall!

Anyways…I am glad Dickson started blogging. But you have to check out his blog. It reminds me of reading that message – nice and explicit! It really is Dickson’s House of Love! I cannot wait until we drag more people into the blogosphere.

Lots of media coverage surrounding podcasting lately for some reason. The latest is from USA Today:

Big tech suppliers and media companies don’t know yet whether they need to come to grips with podcasting — or can dismiss it as a flash in the pan. But there is no ambivalence on the part of the technologists who’ve embraced it.

It’s not rocket science. Come to grips, or fall behind. In addition to just having a ton of great information, the article points out something that most others ignore:

Apple, in particular, is in a prime position to make podcasting significantly easier — but probably won’t. It has ignored requests from Curry and other technologists to discuss the matter, and declined USA TODAY’s interview requests for this story.

Makes me wonder what the hell Jobs has stuck up his ass. I think the problem is that he’s never had a monopoly before and so doesn’t know what to do! Perhaps he should ask his old buddy Bill for some advice. In the meantime, I look forward to the day that Windows Media devices overtake the iPod in market share, then it won’t matter what Apple does.

Read: USA Today

Can you believe it? It would appear that students won’t have to pay for tuition hikes next year after all:

In his annual televised address Tuesday, Klein said colleges and universities may raise tuition next year – but the province will pick up the increase so that students won’t pay any more than they did this year.

Not that I’d expect anything less, but U of A Students’ Union President Jordan Blatz just had to get in another dig:

“So he froze the fastest-increasing tuition in the country,” Blatz said. “But the premier and the provincial government have listened to the concerns of students and they took a huge step for us. A big gift for the students of Alberta. Definitely an encouraging sign.”

Encouraging indeed. Now let’s see if they take any other action in the next year or so.

Read: CBC Edmonton

It appears as though terrorist group ETA is at it again:

A car bomb exploded today at a convention center in Madrid, the same day Spain’s King Juan Carlos and Mexico’s President Vicente Fox are expected to visit the area to inaugurate an art convention. Basque newspaper Gara phoned authorities at 8:55 a.m. local time to say that it had received a telephone warning from someone speaking in the name of terrorist group ETA to say that a car bomb would explode in Madrid at 9:35 a.m., a Basque Interior Ministry spokesman, who declined to named, said in a telephone interview.

Sometimes I wonder what these terrorists are thinking. Surely there are better ways to accomplish their goals than by blowing up cars. There were around 10 injuries, but the news is also disheartening for another reason. According to the BBC, “the nearby Juan Carlos Exhibition centre is one of the proposed venues for Madrid’s 2012 Olympic bid.” It would seem to me their bid just fell down the list.

Read: Bloomberg

This is an old article, published in Macleans back on September 20th, 2004, but I just came across it tonight. A man died in 2002, but he wasn’t discovered until two years later – very interesting and slightly chilling:

But the primary factor in the delay, it turns out, was technology — or more specifically, automated banking. Sulkers suffered from multiple sclerosis and received a monthly disability pension, which was deposited directly into his bank account. His condo fees, utilities and other expenses were then deducted automatically. As such, his bills were routinely being paid up well beyond his death. Why wouldn’t his creditors assume he was alive?

This man was reclusive and estranged from his family, so I suppose his circumstances were a little different, but still! Makes you wonder.

Read: Macleans.ca

You’ve probably heard by now that CTV won the rights to broadcast the 2010 and 2012 Olympics on TV in Canada. Actually, it was CTV and Rogers Communications together that won. Anyway, did you hear how much they paid?

Tod Maffin over at CBC posted that the number he has been hearing is $153 million dollars. Consider that CBC paid $45 million for the 2004 Athens Olympics, a Canadian-record for TV broadcasting rights. Makes me wonder what CBC bid – certainly a lot less than CTV did. Seems like an awfully large sum to me, ya think CTV overpaid perhaps?

Normally, I’d be excited about a new Google service, but not today. The ever-expanding company announced a new beta (bet you didn’t see that coming) service today called Google Maps. As you might expect, people are excited, and are predicting the end for Mapquest.

I say, who cares? There is nothing particularly spectacular about the new service, nothing at all. Looking for map software? One word:

MapPoint

And check out MapPoint on MSN too.