jules.ca

telecom, technology and the occasional floobergeist

I’ve got an abundance of bits and pieces of canadian telecom and internet experience, and I am thrilled to be in a place in time when all is changing, technology is developing, and the status quo is being disrupted. 

Floobergeist is a word that is beginning to defy definition.  The more I roll that smooth pebble around, the more it becomes to mean. Floobergeist started out as the magic dust that turns dreams into ideas.  And then it began to encompass the zing that happens when you have conversations about those ideas. And now, it’s the whole evolution from dream to conversation, with each step improving the later and the former along the way.

Everyone aspires to good conversations. They can lead you to adventures you’ve never imagined, and to people you can twig with.

Let’s have a good conversation…

welcome.

Google - First YouTube - next PayPerPost?

October 10, 2006  /  jules kivell

It’s curious - that after a few weeks of insane YouTube buzz, all of a sudden there’s a purchase announcement. Now, with the rowdiness of PayPerPost, and the loud ramblings of the blogosphere, could it be next on the Google Train?

Google seems to be good at capturing momentum, and magnifying it. Could Google also be thinking that payPerPost would be an added attraction to it’s advertising arm? Folks are indeed comparing Adsense to PayperPost, why not work out a deal, and improve each model? When it comes down to it, it’s all about ads on blogs, isn’t it? ;-)

I’ve got you thinking now, don’t I?


As an aside…. despite all the negative hooplah, Dave Winer as an interesting tidbit about the upside of PayPerPost - maybe this new merger idea idea isn’t as off beat as one might think…


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Extreme Tickle Me Elmo

October 10, 2006  /  jules kivell

For Sassy:

It’s the extremest that Elmo has ever been. TMX Elmo………Tickle Me Extreme Elmo!!!!  [Ah ha ha, that tickles!!!]

From the first time I saw him, 3 weeks ago, as he was making the talk show rounds, I knew you had to have him ;-) Yup, he was on the Today show, and on Canada AM!! - the only shows that were in english in Rimouski at 6 am in the morning).  Morning hosts across the country were giggling away with Elmo.  Take that how you want. :-)

He’s new, improved, yet still giggles, and managed to make giggling contagious. And this time he can stand up, and fall over and stand up again! [Could it be Elmo 2.0?]

For all you folks who are on the verge of kids (yes jorge, you too), this could be the one concession you make to consumerism…. you can even just keep him for yourself! :-)  Sharing is not mandatory.

 

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Google and YouTube....

October 10, 2006  /  jules kivell

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Glencoe Hits the Guiness Book - and the Globe and Mail!!!

October 06, 2006  /  jules kivell

Ontario farmer has Guinness-making maze
Canadian Press
GLENCOE, Ont. — For those who enjoy getting lost in a giant maze of corn, Glencoe, Ont., is officially the best place to do it.Guinness World Records confirms the McEachren Farms Corn Maze is the largest corn maze in the world.

globeandmail.com: Ontario farmer has Guinness-making maze

I have to tell you. It's not often that the small village of Glencoe, Ontario gets 2 wammys in one day.  It's made the guiness book of World Records for having the largest corn maze, (that's a maize maze for you smarties), and is mentioned in the Globe and Mail too!


Whoot Glencoe! And to think, I almost wanted to live there once.


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Kids and Cell Phones?

October 06, 2006  /  jules kivell

Children are different

Large studies of adult cell phone users in Denmark, Sweden, and the UK were published in 2005 and 2006. These inquiries concluded that RF radiation from mobile phones is not a cause of glioma, a cancer of the brain’s supportive glial cells. But it’s not quite time to consider the controversy over. Children are not small adults, and several differences could be important in the way they are affected by ELF and RF radiation: * Hormones are at work, causing their bones, brains, and muscles to grow. Growing tissues are at greater risk of cancer, which is basically uncontrolled growth. * They have thinner bones, especially their skulls, which may allow more radiation to penetrate. * Children spend more time outdoors than adults.In late 2005, a large body of research on RF radiation from mobile telephones and ELF radiation from power lines was reviewed in several articles in a supplement to the journal Bioelectromagnetics. The scientists involved mostly indicated that there was no convincing evidence that either type of radiation was doing harm to fetuses or children, but they left the door open by identifying numerous ways that future research could be more sensitive to possible effects.

AboutKidsHealth: News: Electromagnetic radiation and cancer fears

I'm a believer that kids and cell phones don't mix.  Not until they are of driving age, for emergencies (kids and driving and cell phones is a completely different arguement and deserves a posting of its own).

It didn't occur to me, until I read my amigo Tai's, article about electromagnetic implications, that it dawned on me. Adult cell phone use has an acceptable risk associated with it.  A child's cell phone usage must be considered very differently and very carefully.  So much marketing is going into the "youth" generation. Mp3s, SMS, ring tones. So many young people using cell phones. No one really knows the implications of such a move.  10 years ago, no one anticipated that someone under the age of 18 would need or want a cell phone. No one anticipated that the cost would reduce so significantly that families could afford outfitting their offspring.

Are we doing the youth a favour, or a disservice? I suppose we won't really know, not for another 15 years or so, when the Z generation disappears under a cloud of brain tumours.

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What Would You Do for Your iPOD?

October 06, 2006  /  jules kivell

Man stabbed over iPod
Oct. 6, 2006. 05:57 AMNICK KYONKA AND JOSH WINGROVESTAFF REPORTERS
A young man was stabbed twice in the chest after refusing to hand over his iPod to two armed men at a bus stop in Richmond Hill Thursday night.The victim got off a northbound York Regional Transit bus on Yonge St. near Crosby Ave. just after 10 p.m. when two men approached him, York Regional Police Sgt. Harry Horn said.“He was approached by two unknown males who then demanded his iPod,” Horn said.“A struggle ensued and the victim was stabbed twice in the chest,” he added.The victim was taken to Sunnybrook hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

TheStar.com - Man stabbed over iPod

Would *you* take a stabbing to the chest to protect your iPOD? I am pretty sure that losing digital music should not be a life or death choice.

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The Tricky Part of PayPerPost

October 05, 2006  /  jules kivell

I like the idea - in theory. The trick is in the prodct placement, methinks.

But only if you would blog about something anyways, does it perhaps make some sense to get paid for it. Sould there be disclosure? Well, sometimes it’s just simply obvious.

And then your readers willl go away. Stilted conversations, trying to come up with something that sounds reasonable… it’s hard to keep that going for long.

The best question yet to be asked - what advertisers are taking advantage of the PayPerPost crew? I think you would be surprised. VERY Surprised. 


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Vonage Forums - Inside News for Customers - WOW!

October 05, 2006  /  jules kivell

Curious, in my research of Vonage, and how to best provide a consultative strawman for a new solution I'm working on, I stumbled upon the Vonage Forum.

Despite it having no direct ties to Vonage, it does a *really* good job of having the right info, at the right time. I poked through the Vonage Canada Community forum, and found that the biggest challenge was being able to complete 1-8XX calls. Not to worry wee vonage folks, that could be old news soon.

Considering it's an independant site - it completely rocks. My money is on it getting bought by the vonage folks, simply for the quality of service and voice it provides for the vonage customers. I'm thinking customer service 2.0. Now all it needs is a blog!!! :-)


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New Tactic to Get Results on YouTube Goes Up In Flames

October 05, 2006  /  jules kivell

Girl burned in lighter fluid attack Oct. 4, 2006. 08:02 PM


13-year-old girl suffered second-degree burns to her chest after two boys sprayed her with lighter fluid and set her shirt on fire in York, police say.Two teenage boys were recording themselves with a digital camera as they played with lighter fluid and set their clothing on fire in the Eglinton Ave. W. and Black Creek Dr. area around 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, police said.When the girl who was with them refused to have her own clothing ignited, she was held down, sprayed with lighter fluid and had her T-shirt lit on fire, police said.Two 15-year-old boys, who cannot be named under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, are charged with aggravated assault, mischief endangering life and assault with a weapon.

TheStar.com - Girl burned in lighter fluid attack

My thoughts and sadness go out to this girl. Thank god it wasn't any worse that it was.

My first thought after reading this story - "the boys were trying to make a video to put on youtube.com." I bet I'm not far off the truth. Sad commentary. I can only hope that the punishment is severe, and that it's the punishment that gets the publicity, as opposed to the act.

My second thought - "why the hell would a 13 year old girl's parents let her hang around with 15 year old boys?"


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Art.com Update

October 04, 2006  /  jules kivell

Whoot! God love the internet, and UPS tracking. Our art arrived in Mississauga this morning.

It left Louisville Kentucy at 4 am...There was a weather delay in Mississauga (that's what woke the smapp dog and I up early this morning - thunder and lightning and rain enough to soak the bedroom curtains). And now *the art* is theoretically on it's way to us!

It's *IN TRANSIT*.

My doorbell could ring before I finish this post!

MISSISSAUGA,
ON, CA 		10/04/2006 7:14 A.M. ARRIVAL SCAN

10/04/2006 6:28 A.M. ADVERSE WEATHER CONDITIONS CAUSED THIS DELAY
LOUISVILLE,
KY, US 		10/04/2006 4:31 A.M. DEPARTURE SCAN
MISSISSAUGA,
ON, CA 		10/04/2006 2:18 A.M. RECEIVER'S CUSTOMS BROKER ASSIGNED. THE SHIPMENT IS NOW RELEASED FOR DELIVERY
LOUISVILLE,
KY, US 		10/04/2006 1:31 A.M. EXPORT SCAN

10/04/2006 1:21 A.M. EXPORT SCAN

10/04/2006 12:49 A.M. ARRIVAL SCAN
MISSISSAUGA,
ON, CA 		10/03/2006 9:09 P.M. REGISTERED WITH CLEARING AGENCY;SHIPMENT SUBMITTED TO CLEARING AGENCY

10/03/2006 9:09 P.M. REGISTERED WITH CLEARING AGENCY;RELEASED BY CLR AGENCY. NOW IN-TRANSIT
COLUMBUS,
OH, US 		10/03/2006 8:31 P.M. DEPARTURE SCAN

10/03/2006 8:19 P.M. ORIGIN SCAN
US 10/03/2006 4:25 P.M. BILLING INFORMATION RECEIVED



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The Safety of Children

October 03, 2006  /  jules kivell

Reading this morning of school shootings, again. Not even the Amish are safe now.  In a world/culture/environment where random acts of violence are becoming commonlplace, where do you turn to achieve peace and security?  When one human can effect change and tragedy on so many, so easily, what can be done? The wave of incidents over the past month has led others to wonder if there is a copycat mentality... or simply not enough news coverage of other events, to keep the public distracted (a la 9-11).

I'm left wondering, at what point will tragedy close in, and touch someone I know or love? It's simply a matter of time. Statistically speaking. And there isn't anything to be done to avoid it. it's a sad commentary, when you know that evil is going to happen, and you can't do anything to prevent it. Are we all now just waiting?

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YouTube.com Drives Over 1000 Hits

October 02, 2006  /  jules kivell

Funny, the things that bring visitors Had I known that my wee article on youtube.com - Teens Fighting in Orangeville was going to drive oodles of traffic, I’m sure I would have written something more meaningful and profound. As it turned out, I was writing from a motel room in Rimouski, during a recent business trip.

Even now, weeks after the posting, folks are still flocking, and I didn’t even include a link to the video. Alas, now I cannot even find a worthy fighting video link, which, in hindsight, is a good thing. The flury of media attention is likely making these young Ontario ruffians salivate at the chance to be famous, even if only for 15 more minutes. Last night, DateLine had an interesting scoop about “Bum Fighting”. Kids out searching for homeless people, to beat up and catch on video. The segment included teens from Calgary, and as it turns out, these kids were caught, and sentenced.

It’s interesting commentary on society, what is considered entertainment. Likely even I am adding fuel to their fire.


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