Archive for July, 2008
Twitter or Identi.ca?
July 18th, 2008
I decided to give Twitter another try and while doing so, I feel in love with Identi.ca … Now I wonder what to do. Being on two different platform is not really efficient. I’m curious if international people will use Identi.ca as it might look like a local/canadian service to them.
That’s probably a very bad argument on my side as many sites are using fancy domain names to gain some attention or to have interesting names such as d.e.l.i.c.i.o.us (which I can never get right) but we’ll see how it goes.
So, what’s better on Identi.ca? So far I like the way we can reply to a specific notice. It makes conversation slightly more organized. I wish we could have a threaded view, that’d be better for low attention span & memory people like me. If I get an update, I might not even know what it was referring to…! 
How about you? What would make you jump ship permanently?
Posted in internet, technology | Comments (3)
UPDATE: MontrealTechWatch temporary unavailable
July 16th, 2008
Friend and fellow tech blogger Heri is having some difficulties with his blog today. I knew he had something special in mind but that was probably not it…! 
Things will get back to normal shortly so hang in there.
UPDATE: Everything is back to normal..!
Posted in Montreal | Comments (1)
If the telco’s had invented the Internet…
July 11th, 2008
There’s a lot of ranting going on these days regarding phone companies. First, Rogers and the iPhone (don’t get me started on that one!). Bell and Telus with their incoming SMS fee which is a nice 6M$ of extra revenue per DAY. I have the feeling that they’re simply milking us before they die. Interestingly enough, the iPhone is a nice platform for VOIP so let’s see how this will go. The dinosaurs must die.
So… just for the fun of it, here’s how the Internet would be if the telephone companies had invented it. I can already tell you that it would be hell.
Just like 411, you’d have to pay 1.25$ to do whois or DNS queries.
Just like optional caller ID, you’d have to pay to see your friend’s names and pictures in MSN Messenger. Otherwise, you wouldn’t know who’s talking to you until they announce themselves. Prank IM paradise! But wait, you could always use *IM to know who just sent you an IM for just 50 cents.
Just like long distance fees, you would pay a different fee depending on the country where you send your emails. You could always go to www.1010emails.com to save some money.
Just like collect calls, you could email your parents and let them pay for the email fee.
Just like buddy lists, you would be able to email only 5 friends without extra charges. As long as they are using the same provider than you.
Just like Telus’s cell phone voice mail, you would only have 3 emails in your inbox. New emails would simply bounce. Of course you could get the deluxe email inbox which would allow you to have 10 emails for just 5.99$ more.
Just like a phone bill, you’d have inexplicable fees such as wireless Internet roaming network fee, anti-virus security fee (equivalent of 911 fees). Every month, your Internet bill would never be the same amount and even though you took the basic 19$ plan, your bill would never be less than 65$.
Just like cell phone browsers, your internet browser would be limited to just 10 (highly sponsored) sites - all in text with a small (barely readable) graphic on the top. You wouldn’t be allowed to browse other provider’s sites or public web sites.
Just like ring tones, you would have to pay 3.99$ just to change your email notifier tone. It would sound like crap too.
Just like cell phones, you would only have unlimited downloads after 8pm or during the weekend. You would have to pay per minute during the day or use your monthly Internet minutes.
Just like SMS, you’d have to pay everytime you send an email. Your emails would be limited to an inexplicately low limit of 25 characters thus requiring you to send multiple emails.
Just like Telus and Bell’s new scam proposal, you’d have to pay to receive email (and spam too). Whether you want them or not.
Just like Bell’s touch-tone service, you’d have a surcharge for a service that you don’t have the choice to get anyways. Only Bell customers and perhaps the older generation like myself might understand this one…
Just like cell phone number portability issues (in the past at least), if you’d wanted to change ISP, you’d have to give all your friends your new IP address and reconfigure all your applications as everything would stop working.
Just like cell phones roaming fees, you would have to pay more when using your wireless Internet connection away from home.
Just like the yellow pages, you’d have a big book with your name, address and IP in it. You’d have to pay not to be included in the listing.
Just like the phone, you could send an operator-assisted email for a few extra dollars. "Operator, please send this email to my friend Michael Sabia at BCE".
Finally, if the telco’s had invented the Internet, we’d have pretty strick download limits per month (such as 6GB per month) and ridiculouly high penalties for downloading more. Oh wait - that’s Rogers and it’s happening right now in 2008!
As you can see, I think the telco’s covered all the possible sources of revenues. Did I miss anything?
Posted in Rant, humour | Comments (1)
WikiBody project approved by Wikia.com
July 10th, 2008
A small victory today. My WikiBody idea was accepted by Wikia.com which is a "community destination supporting the creation and development of wiki communities on any topic people are passionate about".
The project will be hosted for free by Wikia but this is just the beginning. I still need to get more attention from contributors, scientists, university researchers and health professionals (dermatologists, paeditricians, etc.)
Once a decent amount of work is done, I wish to contact Wikimedia and offer them this project in order to insure that it remains free and accessible to anyone.
If you would like to participate, please email info@wikibody.org
Posted in Wikibody | Comments (0)
Design contest
July 7th, 2008
I’m quite tired of not having a proper logo and I thought it’d be nice to have a contest. I don’t really have a prize per se but I’ll gladly pay a beer (or other type of drink) to the winner at any upcoming social event hosted in Montreal.
The winner will also have bragging rights of having created the logo for one of the top international just a plain old blog from Montreal. I’ll also thrown in a free link back if desired! Woot!
Graphic designers and Wordpress design guru’s are equaly welcomed! Email me for details.
Posted in QuebecValley | Comments (0)
Blitzweekend II
July 1st, 2008
For those who were there, you know how great it was. 48h of intense coding and fun. Great ideas came out of this boiling weekend and it’s about time to have another round..!
The "un-organizers" will meet this Wednesday (July 2nd - 6PM) at Laika. We gathered a lot of comments from the previous edition and we’d like hear more comments if you have any.
I’d like to invite other people to join and help us. It’s a lot of work and we never have enough "un-organizers"! Come join us!
Posted in Blitzweekend, Uncategorized | Comments (0)
