Moving to Vox

This is to inform my non-exsistant readership that I will be moving to Vox for the time being. I have been having some issues with Blogger and I just want to try out something new. I might return to Blogger sooner rather than later, but for now, I'm going to try out Vox. It's an awsome blogging engine and once I get more invites, feel free to email me for one.
Visit http://virtunate.vox.com
Nathaniel

The Complete Open Source Solution: A Complete Non-Microsoft Operating System

With the growth of the open source movement in recent years, the number of open source solutions has expanded in recent years with the large scale apotion of Linux, the founding of the Mozilla Foundation, and the development of OpenOffice.org in the late nineties. The number of Non-Microsoft solutions is quite astonishing. And it's a wonder why the majority of the geek community has not jumped onto the Linux Bandwagon. But that entire issue is for another post. Onto the complete Open Source solution.

Operating System: Ubuntu Linux

One of the newer Linux distro's Unbuntu was financed by Mark Shuttleworth and is updated every six months. It's based off of the Debian Linux source code. But that's the technical aspect. Ubuntu, unlke most Linux distro's is a full featured OS. It's comes bundled with other software (more on that later.) Many other Linux distrobutions do not come bundled with the software and require that you download the Linux version of the software. Like other Linux distro's, it allows much more customization than Windows. Today I read an article on Digg that showed users of Linux on how to make your own theme's as well as how to design your own login screens. And the fact is, you can expand Ubuntu and customize it to suit your needs. So for a user friendly Open Source Free Operating System, you can order a Free CD from Here. For those of you who want to get out of Windows World to the Open Source World should use Ubuntu. Until you get into the hardcore coding and learn things like Python, Perl, C, and Java you should use Ubuntu.
Productivity Suite: OpenOffice.org 2.0
As I mentioned above, Ubuntu comes bunbled with free software. Along with the Firefox Web Browser and the GIMP Image Editor, it also comes with a productivity suite called OpenOffice.org 2.0. An alternative to Microsoft Office, Open Office comes with a Word Processor (Microsoft Word) a Presentation Client (Powerpoint), an Excel Client (Excel) a Graphing Client (Acess) and a Graphics creation client. And it's all FREE. Instead of paying hundred's of dollars (the basic version of Microsoft Office will cost you $100-150) for programs you can get the same features for free. Now it's a bit of a change in terms of interface as the program is set up a bit differently. But once you get over that, OpenOffice is a powerful suite of applications for all types of users.
Editors: The GIMP (Picture) Audacity (Audio)
Although I don't personally use the GIMP, it is what some people are calling an Open source, free alternative to Adobe Photoshop(it can run up up over $700 CDN) as well for Audio editing. (Apple's Soundtrack Pro can run up hundreds of dollars.) I use Leo Laporte's recomendation of Audacity for an Audio editor. It's powerful, enough for basic Audio editing. If your doing your Own Podcast, it's enough to use Audiacity. I don't have a lot to say about these editors, other than the fact that they run great and it's not worth the money to go out and buy things like Soundtrack Pro and Photoshop.
Email & Web Surfing: Firefox & Thunderbird
I've mentioned this before. Firefox is better. End of discussion. If you have a POP or IMAP account (like Gmail or Yahoo) you can use Thunderbird to access your Email account. If you don't use a POP/IMAP account, ignore this section. If you are using an Email account like Gmail Gmail will give you the settings to set up the account on Thuderbird. Thunderbird is a very versatile client that allows for extension. You can add in things like Theme's and more functionality. The same is true with Firefox. It allows for more functionality and it has the ability to change it's apperence. And here 's the best thing. If your techno-savy you can download the source code. And if you find a legitimate error in the code you will get $500 and a Firefox T-Shirt. You don't see Microsoft or Apple doing that. That's the great thing about the Open Source community: it has a community feel and an open mind that allow for expasion. If you found an error in the source code for Apple or Microsft you'll be calling Microsoft one day and your laywer the next. See my other entry about the death of closed source standards.
Media:Musik & The Movie Player
Since you cannot use iTunes on Linux (and that would be the height of irony.) you must find another player. I've recently been introduced to a not-so-shiny music player called Music that will run on Linux. As far as I know it only plays audio files but it woks with most file extensions (excluding Apple's protected AAC iTunes Music) and allows for things like crossfading and a 16 channel equalizer for all you audiofiles out there. For Video I would recommend the Movie Player. Although it isn't again, is not as nice on the UI side of things, it supports dozens of codecs.
Security: SmoothWall & F-Prot
Even with an Operating system as secure and popular as Linux, it is paramount that you have both a solid firewall and a anti-virus program that can detect things like spyware and virus's. I recommend Smoothwall for a Firewall. It's free as well as Open Source. And for Email and general anti-virus protection, I recommend F-Pro.
That's just a few programs that I've come across. There are many others for people like you and me who are trying to figure out what to use in the Open Source World. And if you learn things like C, Java, Perl and Python, you can make your own programs!
That's all for now,
Either Today or Tomorrow I will have coverage of Apple's WWDC Conference.
Nathaniel

Live Spaces Spaced Out & The Amazing Screw on Head

Spaces Spaced Out

If any of my old MSN Spaces blogging audience is reading this, you know that I switched over from the MSN Spaces blogging service back in July for various reasons. Just to explain a few, I found the lack of costumization, as well as the chessy looking interface, did not have the proper image I wanted to project to the Blogoshere. The fact is, with MSN Spaces, you could not insert things like Pictures or Video's into your posts. With Blogger, you can insert both pictures and video's into your posts. For those of us who are a bit more technically inclined, you can directly edit the template using either CSS or HTML code. And if your really into it you can create your own template using CSS. By using the Template edit feature in Blogger, it is possible to add links and buttons your sidebar. I've added my favorite Podcasts, News Sites, Blogs and Free Software. Of course I can alwasys add more if I so desire, however at this point I think that that would be enough. Anway back to the main point of the story, MSN spaces was upgraded to Live Spaces on August 1st. The Live version of it's predesessr, it included a bevy of new features including the ability to post photo's in albums (think Flickr), the ability to create lists (who makes lists?) and the ability to put Windows Live Gadgets(Widgets, think either Dashboard or Konfabulator) So basically all MSN spaces does is take all the features that other sites have come up with and copy them. Well, that's a very compelling reason to go back to spaces. Not. And the fact is, half of the so far users have reported probelms with half of he features. Yet another reason to go back to Spaces. Not.Blogger was the first blogging engine ever. Let me repeat that. First Ever. So when Microsoft comes along and thinks that it can waltz right into the Blogging market, and hope to take it over, they are totally and completly wrong. Now many people use Spaces for the shear sake of simplicity. Ok, I can understand that. But the fact is, with most of the products Microsoft designs, they are engineered to the people-who-could-care-less-about-what-the-techo-features -are. Well I've got some news for Microsoft. They're are people who actully care about what the Blog Looks like. If you didn't notice, I cahanged the layout the other day because I felt the blog needed a better more clean, bright image. The fact is, sites like LiveJournal, Blogger and TypePad will win the end, because of the fact they give they're more for the fact that actully put time and not just money into the development of it's software. The fact is, money doesn't buy everything, but time is priceless, that's why things like Gmail and Flickr are still in Beta. Anyway, the overall point of this is I will not be returning to Spaces anytime soon.
The Amazing Screw on Head
Mentioned in TWiT 62, the Amazing Screw on head is one of those cartoons that shows a plot that seems to be way out of contecgt at the time, but is actully quite amazing to watch. The Amazing Screw on Head is set in the days of the Civil War, the Amazing screw on head is about just that. It's a screw on head that has an amazing knowledge of ancient history, more specifically, the ancient evils and they're technologies. In the Pilot (I just watched it today.) The Amazing Screw on head is called in by President Abraham Lincholn to stop a plot to release a demon that will reek havoc on the world at large. The technology that is used is a variation shown in things like James Bond and the like. Just as an example, the mode of transportation is a steel capusle that is fired like a rocket. The show is just all action. It's a comedy as well. The Screw on Head (as he is called) has several people to help him. Irconically enough all the names of his support team begin with Mr. For example, his Butler and backup (think Alfred from Batman) name is Mr. Groin (yes that is his name, and you can stop laughing.) his dog is named Mr. Dog. But I digress. This is a really cool show and I hope that it goes from Pilot to series. Moreover I hope that it comes to Canada.
Well that's all I can think for tonight.
Nathaniel
P.S. Check out my New Blog that I'm doing with BoredSVUNut. Ranting Geeks. We posted last night and we will post again either tomorrow or Sunday Night.

Inclings of WWDC, The Destructo Drive, Editorial: The Death of Microsoft and Closed Source Standards

Inclings of WWDC

With WWDC only days away, the Apple Rumor mill has gone into overdrive, with the latest rumors comming from Engadget. Engadget speculates that Apple will release the must speculated and anticipated iPhone. They present several compelling argurments including the fact that when Apple released it's Q3 results, CFO Peter Openhiemer, when asked about the iPhone, Openhimer said "Were not sitting still". This coupled with the fact that Apple has partnered with an old flame, Mortorola for the Phones, gives the impression that Apple is using the ROKR as a prototype to see if it's worth developing a Mobile Version of OS X, or if they'll get Motorola to design it. The fact is Apple hardly ever outsources software work. But who knows? This may be the exception. Another rumor that's floating around WWDC is a patent that Apple filed for a few months ago. It concerns' the fact that Apple would like to either put an iSight Camera above the monitor or put the Camera inside the display itself. This would mean imbedding sensors directly into or behind the layer of Liquid Crystal. It has an entire Star Trek feel to it. The most likely rumors are the Introduction of the new Mac Pro, the realease date of 10.5 Leopard and maybe just maybe the introduction of Conroe and/or Merom Processors into the Low-Mid Range Macs. This would give me all the more reason to purchase a Mac Mini or the low end iMac, if the up the Processor speeds to at least 1.8 Ghz. My reason behing not using the 1.66 Ghz Mac Mini is this: I've been stuck behind a 1.6 Ghz Dell for almost five years now and it's driving me nuts. At Minimim I would like to have a 1.8 Ghz processor. I weant out tonight and priced a DIY PC built with an Intel Core 2 Duo Processor (2.16 Ghz) 2 GB RAM et cetera et cetera. If I'm going to invest in a Mac it will have to be fast. Becuase I'm not going to invest in something that is slower than a turtle stuck in molasses in a Canadian Deep Freeze. It's got to be fast enough to keep up with intensive web browsing, and have enough features to host a Digital Suite. This means (enventually) a Digital Camera, A Digital Video Camera, a NAS, a large music music collection and a large set up speakers. So, in order to get the most bang out of my buck, I'm going to either with the Low end iMac or a DIY PC. I'm not going to Dell to risk all my personal Data to something like Bad Memory. If I'm going to trust my Data to be secure on a Dell, these latest revolations about lack of quality are not very reassuring. I'd rather DYI my PC than trust a manufacturur. But I digress. Needless to say I'm waiting with baited breath from WWDC and when Steve Jobs walk's out onto that Stage in San Fransisco I'll be watching.

The Destructo Drive

Engadget has had some very interesting things on it's front page recently. But for the most bizarre/interesting piece of technology that I've seen in a while is Plextor's Plexeraser Destructo Drive. This like the Royal Media Destroyer is something that you'll want to keep out of reach of little brother and sisters, annoying friends (the one's that eat the last Oreo in the box, that kind that take your favorite Lord of Rings Novel and destroy it, that kind of thing.) The Drive essentially format's the disk like what a magnet does to a hardrive. It wipes any and all media off the drive. They are some really odd things that are going for Tech these days and this has to be one of most useful and/or most bizarre pieces of tech. But it could be useful. If you have certain CD's around the house that are annoying the heck out of you (heavy metal, hip-hop as examples.) You can basically destory the CD's and then you can use something like the Royal Media Destroyer to physically destroy the CD. Then when they ask "Where did my (insert name of artist here) CD Go?" shrug your shoulders and say "I havn't seen it."
Editorial: The Death of Microsoft and Close Source Standards
Microsoft is comming up on it's 31st birthday. For 31 years it has produced programs and and Operating systems. It has produced some of the richest men in the world. It has pinoneered software and revolutionized the Home PC. It has enabled small business' to have computer access on hundreds of machines on a five-figures budget. Well it was nice knowing you Microsoft, but know that you've suckered the world into buying your sub standard software the security holes you've put in our software. But now, since Linux and the Macintosh are gaining in popularity, we will no longer need your services. Linux is FREE. We no longer need to buy the $200-400 OS. We can order a CD for Free. Or if we really want to buy an OS, we can go ahead and get Mac OS X. Besides being more secure, it's much more versatile. The fact is there is no "plug and play" feature in Windows. There is plug-and-play feature in OS X. And it's so much easier to manage, edit and create things like Video, Pictures and Music. Although it takes a bit of getting used to, the Aqua Interface is much better and pleasing to the eyes than Windows. The fact is, Linux is open source. That enables you to customize the look and feel of the Linux and gives you flexibility with features. Although most software is not officially supppored on Linux, peeople like Miguel de Icaza and Ryan Gordon are porting games and other programs to help expand the library of software that is able to run on Linux. The fully completed Linux distro Unbuntu is becoming more and more popular. The fact is Open Source is becoming more and more popular. Programs like Firefox, Thunderbird and OpenOffice are evidence of this. Microsoft has become obsolete. Closed source standards are no longer acceptable in the world of technology. Like the Human Race, you must adapt to your conditions, or you will die. The case is the same for Microsoft. It must open up it's standards or it will be trampled into the dust. Companies like Google will surpass it will the new idea's, fresh look and acceptence for open source software make it a compelling force in the world of software. That's why Google has been so popular amoung the Geek community, and why Microsoft has been shunned. Microsoft's golden age is done. It will never be the same again. It will only be a mere memory to the Geek community in a matter of years.
That's my Rant for Today,
Nathaniel

Dell quality suffering?, DRM: Good or Bad? & Jason Calacanis: The Menace to Diggital Society

Dell Quality Suffering?

Not a day goes by that you don't hear about Laptop's exploding, battery swelling or discoloration. It seems everyone is suffering from defects in product these days. Most recently Apple has been the Victim. But the new Victim these days is Dell. Just in the past week two laptops have exploded, for unknown reasons. And the fact that Dell has outsourced it's IT support for customers is not going well with certain people. Even when you get hold of someone, they all seem to be idiots. Add to that the mass reacall of 20,000 batteries and Dell has a major headache. But that's not the end of problems just yet. Take the case of one, Renata, who recently replaced an againg Sony machine with an XPS 400, one of Dell's top of the line systems. You'd think that a system like this would adhere tot the highest standards of quality. Apperently not. Renata reports on his blog that he was being BSOD'd daily and the system was crashing on a regular basis. He called up Dell and they sent over an independent service tech. The service tech diagnosed a problem with both the motherboard ant the memory. Now, time for a little clarifaction. Renata had something like 2 GB of memory in his new XPS 400. So what did Dell tell the-honest-to-goodness independent support tech? To replace one of the four memory modules, close the box and then leave. That may not seem like a bad until you consider the fact that Renada has paid for 2 GB not the 512 that Dell wants to replace. You'd think Dell would be more intelligent. Couple this with the fact that notebooks are exploding and the delay of the new XPS 700 which has hundreds of thousands of orders sitting in a factory somewhere in the Far East. But I digres. The fact of the matter is when my parents bought our Demension 4400 back almost 5 years ago now, the fact is we went to Dell for quality. Likewise of my good friends' family is Apple through and through. You go to your company of choice, not for the fact that they sell great hardware, although that is a great thing to have, but for the great service. With Dell, I'm tempted to tell my parents about Dell and suggest that we find hardware provider when we upgrade to out next system. I think that quality at Dell has dropped off the deep end ever since Michael Dell stepped down as CEO and President in 2004. Although I've had few problems with my Dell Demension, I guess other's have and that's why so many people hate Dell. If Dell really want to regain customer confidence they're going to have to do a 180 and fast.
Why DRM Sucks
My brother brought home a Switchfood CD the other night. Okay, fine, I like Switchfoot. Well I did until I realized that the CD has DRM on it. Okay, I'm fine with DRM. All the Music I buy from the iTunes Music Store has FairPlay DRM on it. FairPlay doesn't interfere as long as I adhere to certain guidlines. And so far I've followed those guidelines. This DRM being used by-guess who, Sony is very limiting in what I can do with the Music on the CD. The CD will only be copied in WMA which means that it will not copy into iTunes, which means as well I can't copy it onto my Ipod. This just really ticks me off. If I go out and buy a CD for $10-18 CAN, I expect to be able to make X amount of copies of it (within reason of course) able to put it onto my Ipod and put it onto multiple computers.
In case anyone here is unfarmilliar with the Sony-Rootkit tabackle, I will be you a brief run through. Back in October of this year, it was disovered that Sony Corp, was using a DRM technology based on Rootkit technology. For those of you who don't know what a rootkit is, it is a program that allows files to be hidden, not just from the user, but from the Operating System itself. This is used commonly as a Hacker Tool and is used to hide things like Trojan Horses while they work. The program was poorly designed as well as securiy was lax and allowed Hackers to construct virus' that exploited the holes the rootkit created. They did and they created at least 2 of them. The Rootkit deleted, without question, any file that contained the extension $sys$.exe. I have nothing against DRM. I don't mind FairPlay, it doesn't get in my way it allows me to do what I wish with it. But when DRM gets into my way (Back to the Switchfoot) it really starts to tick me off. I'm kind of on the fence when it comes to DRM. I'll have to wait and see what happens in the next few months or years.
Jason Calacanis: A Menace to Diggital Society
Digg has become a fixture of the Web 2.0 in the past few years. Started by Kevin Rose in 2004 after he left TechTv it now has well over 8.5 million unique visitors and was seeing 3000+ stories posted a day. Jason Calacanis, another Web 2.0 start up, started Weblogs Inc in 2003. The network consists of about 90 blogs that cover a variety of topics, including Gaming and Technology. Most notable amoung these is Engadget. Web Logs Inc. was sold to AOL for a reported $25 in 2005. However, the network retains it's original structure. Now a VP at AOL he was offered a chance to save Netscape.com. Once the Kingpin of Web Browsers Netscape's share slid under the direction of AOL when it was purchased by the former in 1998. Netscape 6 was built around the Mozilla Source code, which, at the time was far from stable. This blunder by AOL was another contributing factor the demise of Netscape. And AOL wants to save it? As Patrick Norton would put it "It's a smoking Crater". Well put Patrick it is and the fact is, that Netscape cannot be resurrected. Weather you redesign it or not, Netscape will never be what it once was and the fact is that the Geek community is not a bunch of idiots and Calacanis implies. Calcanis think's it's all about money. It's not about money. It's about having the respect of the community. It's not about earning $1000 a month by submitting a bunch of stories. I have much more respect for Kevin Rose, who is a much of a Geek's Geek where Calacanis is a white collar who could't tell you the difference between CSS and XHTML. Kevin can. He worked for the Department of Energy, Designed Digg from the ground up. He holds a degree in computer science and can correctly calculate how much Themite it takes to incinerate a Hard Drive. Okay, so maybe that's not that best example but Kevin know's his stuff and Jason may very know some stuff, but the fact is, once you enter the coperate machine, all your individual knowledge goes out the window. The bottom line is Jason is doing more harm then good for Netscape as it just alienates the remaining userbase of Netscape as well as large digg community (over 440,000) and the even larger Geek community. My advice is this: Jason, if you want to create positive spin Think of something new! Don't go around ripping off Digg!
Later,
Nathaniel

Sir, your Laptop is on Fire, Vista Delayed (again)? & Could you please speak into the PC?

Over the last few days I've discovered a lovely site called BoingBoing. If you will recall in the last post I rerferenced it for a story about the Core 2 Duo Chips. Anyways, it's an interesting site about odd stuff. They have interesting things on everything from writing on water to a giant fish. But I digriss. It's now added to the link's sidebar and feel free to visit it. Moving onto today's news.

Sir, your Laptop is on Fire
Back a few months ago there was a story about a Dell laptop catching on fire at a Japanese conference. The cause is not clear however it's kind of disturbing that it happened a bit more than a month later. Heh, You'd think Dell would learn from it's mistake's don't you? Well the fact that it recalled over 35,000 batteries would be kind of reashuring.Not really. It happened again Apperently according to a fourm post by an eyewitness the battery burned through the table and that's what was on fire. Now consider the fact that the battery is made of Lithium. Lithium is a very flammable metal. Imagine if that Laptop was being used in something like the Post Office where there's lots and lots of papeMy parents have a Dell 6000 they bought this past winter. It's a bit hot on the legs and I wonder if it'll ever explode. I'm typing on a Dell, my sister has a Dell. What if this doesn't just affect Laptop's? That would not be good news. Are entire network would be down. In 5 years we have bought 3 dells, and it's only crashed on us 1 or 2 times. Other than that we've had only minor problems with them. But this raises some interesting questions. If Dell quality is suffering from quality issues then Dell needs to reexamine itself and see if it needs to refocus prorities. I will now avoid using my parents Laptop and hope to goodness that Apple has fixed all the problems with they're Macbooks, when I eventually get around to getting one.
Vista Delayed? (Again)
This entire Windows Vista thing is getting way out of hand. First they cut half to three quaters of the features because of "deadlines". Then they decide that they're going to delay Vista to the begining of 2007. Fine. It gives the consumer more time to decided if he/she wants to blow $100-500 on a new OS. But now they're thinking of delaying it again. There is rampant speculation that Vista will be delayed once more due to problems in the codebase. My quesiton is when will Microsoft commit to a firm launch date. Vista is late as it is. XP is reaching for it's 6th birthday, one of the oldest Operating system's in Microsoft history, if not the oldest. My question is: When will they make up thier minds and get the ball rolling? But the height of the irony is, I think many people will go "Oh Vista, well that's nice". People I think, could care less about Vista and will stick with XP until support for it is dropped sometime in the next few years. Even more users would probably switch over to a Linux distro of the users preference. The most popular Linux distro right now is Unbuntu, which has a complete productivity suite set up for you. It includes Open Office, Firefox and the GIMP. So why wait for Vista to shell out hundreds of bucks when you can get an OS that is much more secure and guess what? It's Free. So why wait for Vista? Get Unbuntu.
Sir, Please speak into the PC
The theme of this post so far has been Odd- Rational and then now I'm continuing on with another Odd piece of news again from BoingBoing. Back a little while ago on digg, there was a story about the top ten Computer Setups. They're where some really cool ones there like the Wing, the ultimate Mac setup and the wall-o-monitors set up. The one I would like to focus on today is the whiskey bottle setup which is nothing short of amazing. Someone managed to cram a P3 733 Pentium Processor, 256 notebook RAM a 40 GB hard drive into a whiskey bottle. Going back to BoingBoing someone decided that he liked the old Shure 55 mic's, used most noteably by Elvis. The blogger got kind of creative and decided to put a PC into a Shure 55 made out of wood. The specs are not on the site but the shear coolness of putting a PC into something as small as a microphone. There was as PC a few months back that was completly wireless and was the size of a microprocessor. I can't find the link right now, but If I do I'll add it in later

Later,
Nathaniel

Round Up: Core 2 Launch, Editorial: The Failure of AOL

Core 2 Duo Finally Arrives

Well they're finally here. The new Core 2 chips made my Intel have made they're way into the mainstream. The Core Two Duo chips codenamed Conroe(Desktop) and Merom(Mobile) respectivly, are set to replace the year and a half old Yonah first gen Core Duo chips. This puts the silicon crown back on Intel's head as these chips just shoot way ahead of anything that AMD has the market as of yet. The main feature of these new chips is not the clock speed but the L2 cache. For all you non-geeks out there the L2 cache is the part of the processor that does the repative tasks. For example, if your visiting something like BoingBoing, instead of retriving the data from memory the data will be stored in cache which will decrease the load times. The new Core 2 chips have a 4 MB cache that is shared between the two cores. However when using most programs, only one core is used and therefore you have full use of the 4 MB cache, increasing speed even more. The chips range in price and speed from 1.86 ($183) to 2.93 Ghz ($999) Rumours suggest that Intel is working on a 3.2 Ghz version as well as a single core version coming later on this year or early next year. My main question is this: How will this affect Apple? Will all the Macs be pushed up from the new chips. I would love to see the Mac Mini pushed to 1.8 Ghz or over and it wouldn't hurt to see the Macbook's and iMac's pushed up a bit either. I'll wait a little while before getting my Mac to see what gets a speed boost. It should be interesting to see what AMD follows up with especially now that AMD has aqquired ATI.
In more personal news I went through my first shift at work today. To say the least the staff are a tad quarky. But the job is fun since you get to walk around and help people. I managed my first sale within the first two hours and things where pretty steady. The staff are a bit.....crazy to stay the least but the money's good and the hours are good. So I hope to stick with it into the fall.

AOL: The Notable Web Failure

Is anyone here familiar with AOL? Anyone? Anyone living? Well all I can tell you is that AOL is one of the worst ISP's in the world today. Take the case of one Mr. Vinceant Farrari, an AOL cutomer who decided to cancel his account. He wasn't sour to AOL he just didn't use it. But the entire thing spending 22 minutes trying to cancel his account really ticked him off. And that's just he customer support. The software the AOL uses for it's browser is not great either. The UI is horrible and the experience is just "blah" in the word of a highly reliable source. (You know who you are.) And the fact is AOL is charging more for dail-up than for broadband! What's that for? I can understand the higher costs of maintaining Dail-Up networks but when your paying $15-16 for broadband and paying 1.5-2 times for half the service! But the fact is, AOL wasn't always that way. Before the merger with Time Warner, AOL was a pretty decent service. That fact is when a smaller company gets aborbed by a larger one one of two things usually happen. Profits go way, way up and quality goes down down *splat*. That's what happened to AOL. That's what could happen to companies like Aliant and Eastlink. The quality goes down down down while profits go up up, up. Until customers are presented with a third option, then the entire userbase jumps ship and usually the company goes bankrupt. And that's the direction in which AOL is headed unless it cleans up it's act of things like horrible customer support, and bribing bloggers.
Well that's my rant for tonight
Nathaniel

Roundup: ATI and AMD=AMT?, Review: The new Digg Labs & Scotty set for Space

ATI + AMD= AMT?
Not this is new news but guess what? ATI and AMD have merged with is a fancy way of saying, ATI has been swallowed up by AMD. Now I love AMD, don't get me wrong. However I don't aprove of major US companies thinking that they can swallow up Canadian companies cheaply. Now in AMD's case it will cost them $5 bilion and about 70 shares of there stock to buy ATI. So what does the tech world and the market have to gain? Well hopefully better chipsets for AMD motherboards and better processors from AMD as they are allowed to tap into ATI's coperate secrets. However it also works the other way. ATI will be able to make superious chipsets for motherboards for AMD as well as increase the performance in the graphics card lines. So it works both ways. However there has been a second development while I've been trying to get this through the publishing process. Intel has revocked ATI's chipset license. So what this basically means is that any and all mainboards that are made by Intel can no longer have ATI chips put in the them by default. However you can go out and buy an ATI graphics card to put in your PC. However insiders tell various news sources that Intel has not revoked ATI's chipset license. So this could be interesting. If Intel does (or did) revoke ATI's chipset license it's not the end of the world. All it means is that ATI chipsets will only go into AMD motherboards. And then there are motherboards manufactered by third parties.
The one major thing that could come out of this could be that Vista, as well as all other major future operating system could become more interoperable. Think of it thisway. The motherboard could be designed in such as way that the graphics card and the proccesor work together to enhance both the speed and the graphics performance of Vista. But who knows? Anything can happen.
Review: The New Digg Labs
As part of it's upcoming API, digg has launched it's two new users app's today. Called Swarm and Stack the apps are meant to enhance the way diggers know which stories are getting the most diggs (stack) and how many users are interested in a story (swarm) Launched last night the two apps together are in a new section of the site called digg labs. But enough banter onto the review
Stack

As mentioned above, Digg stack is meant to show a more detailed view of dugg stories. This is a novel concept and the UI of stack is quite nice. However I have 2 complaints. First the page does not render properly in Firefox. If Kevin Rose had anything to do with this project, he would not have let this detail go unnoticed. Another problem with Digg stack is the unability to go back to stories that have passed. When active digg stack moves actively to the left. And with all the digg comming in at times it's hard to click on a certain story. You can however pause the stack and click on a story. When you click on as story as well as a link to source page, you get a history of diggs per hour. This is very useful information. What I would like to see in stack sooner rather than later is the ability to digg a story within stack. Currently you must either have a tab/window open within the main section of digg and then search for the story within the specified container. You should be able to log into Digg within Digg labs and digg stories within stack. My third suggestion/critisism is that you should be able to review the stack. For example you should be able to go back through stack and see stories that have already gone by.
I love the idea of stack and it's much more effective than browsing through digg manually. Good Job Digg! 3.5/5
Swarm
I haven't spent as much time with swarm although I have gotten a feel for it. Like stack, it's meant to give users an idea of what stories are popular and what stories aren't. Swarm gives you an idea of how many users are viewing a story at any given time. Although not put into porportion. An interesting idea swarm can be very overwhelming. I clicked into my swarm tab to see dozens of stories with hundreds of little yellow things (users) floating around them. It was very overwhelming. So if I had to pick between swarm and stack I would pick stack. I find stack to be a bit more of clean interface as well as a bit more clarity and detail in terms of what information is provided. 3/5
Keep up the Good work Kevin!
Scotty's ashes to be shot into Space
Actor James Doohan's ashes will be shot into space this fall. They where supposed to be shot in space last year, however the launch that was supposed to shoot the ashes into space unable to launch because of tests on the rocket. Doohan's widow Wende (Doohan) said that James' final wish was to actually go into space. In 2004 he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. A little known fact about Doohan is that he was a member of the Canadian Armed Forces and invaded the beaches with the 1st Canadian Division on DDay. He killed two german snipers, and did considerable damage to the germans before being shot six times by a german machine gun. Four times in the leg, once in the chest, and once in the finger. The finger was amputated. He would later conceal this in his later performances. He was trained as a pilot as an artillery observer and, at one point was labelled "the craziest pilot in the Canadian Air Force", although he wasn't officially a memeber of the RCF. Doohan' ashes will be shot into space along with 100 people, notable of them Timothy Leary, and astronaunt Gordon Cooper. But anyway I digress.
Sorry it took so long to push this post through the door, but good material is hard to come by these days.
Nathaniel

The Night Report: Zune Zap Flop, Israel calls for NATO & Operation Lancaster

Trying to get back on my feet from a bout of Bloggers Block. Well here goes:
Zune zap flop
If I have any Engadget readers out there or anyone who hasn't been ignoring the tech world for the past 2-3 weeks then you probably know that Microsoft is intent on taking on arch rival Apple in the Portable mp3 player market with a new product. Codenamed Zune, people both inside and outside the tech industry are calling it the "Ipod Killer". They're have been numerous "Ipod Killers" in the past few years, all of which have failed to live up to they're namesake. Another example of this is Creative and it's Zen. Although by no means a push over, the Zen does fail to impress on a few fronts. First, the interface of said players come nowhere near the simplicity of the Ipod interface. And the fact is people have been trying to copy the interface and the concept of a click wheel for the 5 years that the Ipod's been out and guess what? It hasn't worked. Creative's tried the "Scroll Strip" and they're have been a few other innovations, but the fact is Ipod remains king. So why should the Zune be any different? Plus it's by Microsoft who's Apple like super secret project Oragami project proved to be a major flop. Even when it tried the Apple like silent treatment it failed to steal the thunder from Apple. Plus it's Microsoft and at this point the majority of the geek community of the geek community for not accepting open standards, delaying Windows Vista amoung other things. So if your just looking for a (not so) cool player, by all means buy the Zune, however beware, it will be nowhere as user friendly as the Ipod.
Israel will go for a NATO led Force
Israel has confirmed today that it is in favor of an internatioanlly led force patrolling the border between Israel and Lebanon. Israel is in favor of NATO leading the force, for reasons that remain unclear at this time. However I believe I know why Israel is in favor of a NATO led force as opposed to a UN led force. In the past, the UN has been ineffective as a catalist in zones like Israel and other flashpoints, due to stricts rules of engadement, the UN is not able to break up a fight. NATO is much more flexible, not being bound by the red tape and mindless infighting of the UN. For another reason, NATO has many more resources in comparrison to the UN which has to basically beg for troops and eqipment to stage it's operations. NATO members have an obligation under the North Atlantic Charter to commit troops both for deployments and simulations. The UN is completly voluntary, meaning that it takes longer for it the command structure to take form and resources to become operational that by the time the entire operation is set up, the conflict has either no longer become an issue or the fighting has become so much of an issue that the UN has to pull out for lack of resources or for "security reasons". Give me a break. If the UN didn't have such a wussy set of ROE's then "security reasons" wouldn't be an issue. With NATO, the Americans most likely have airpower somewhere near the area of operations and if things get really hot they can call in an airstrike. Not so with the UN. If you get ambushed with no radio, no backup your pretty much done for. The lack of logistics and a support network within the UN is very disturbing, this is why I believe that if they're is any sort of "peacekeeping" to be done that NATO should do it. Israel is a case and point. You have Islamic militants who are firing rockets and RPG's at the IDF, one of the most advanced and well eqqiped forces in the world. If the UN was there as a "detterant" they wouldn't last five minutes. NATO has a much better command structure and things can get done more so within a ressonable time frame. If a NATO or UN led force is established I imagine, at least for a while, Canada will have some troops over they're to help get things running. After all we did invent Peacekeeping.
Operation Lancaster
If anyone reading this is farmilliar with Canadian Geography you know we have something called the Northwest Passage which is link between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. It's like the Panama Canal, only it's more convient for people like us Canadians some Americans find it easier to take the northwest passage instead of having to travel all the way to the Panama Canal in Central America. For this reason it is strategically vital to both Canadian and American security. Canada has a claim on all the lands from 50 parallel to the North Pole. However the United States does not recognize Canada's claim to the northwest passage. Here is a case and point. In 2005 the nuclear submarine USS Carolina surfaced in the Northwest Passage without persmission of the Canadian goverment. The Americans, along with the European Union* and Japan do not recognize Canada's claim to the northwest passage. Hello? This is like saying just because Panama has the Panama Canal, that United States shouldn't recognize it's claim to it. It's within our borders for pete's sake, if it's within our legally recognized borders then it's ours. Period, end of discussion.
That's why the Canadian goverment is launching Operation Lancaster. It will be a large arctic soverignty patrol. The frigate HMCS Montreal as well as two smaller coastal patrol vessels, as well an assortment of Helicopters. A platoon of 70 soldiers soldiers from the 22e Regiment (Vandoo's) will perform patrols with Canadian Rangers from an assortment of northern communities. More than anything this is to be a statement to the Americans and the rest of world that considers the Northwest passage and the Canadian claim to Arctic.
I'm very sorry about the quality of posts these days. The scarcity of good news, along with the fact that I'm busier now have contributed to the lack of quality within the posts.
Nathaniel

Pure Editorial Content: American Influense

Well, due to the scarcity of good news these days I've decided that tonight I will go on an Editorial rant of sorts. Tonight's topic will be Ameican Influence: The Death of Nationalism.
Over the past century America has developed from a small group of states bound together in a union to an influnece on the world stage. Over the past several years American Influense has grown-and grown and grown, to the point where Americans are interfering in the affairs of her allies and even the coutries that American's do bussiness in. After the end of the of the Second World War, American influnese grew on a scale that has not been seen sense the British Empire in the late 17th to late 18th centuries. During that time period, the Americans came to use the newly formed CIA to influense the internal affairs of countries that where seen as vital to the security of the United States and it's allies. For example, in 1953 the then occupied Iran decided to nationalize the Anglo-Iranian oil company. Great Britain who had controlled the company for almost 60 years, earning large royalties for oil from the large reserves within Iran. With the nationalization of the oil company, Great Britain decided to try and beg back what they had lost. They launched an operation codenamed AJAX. But the British where hesitant to launch the operation with the approval of they're American allies. Now wait a minute-Wasn't it usally the other way around? The Americans would ask for British backing in an operation? Why would the British be asking for American backing. It's simple really. After the End of World War II, Britain was deeply in debt and licking it's wounds. However America was prospering with a booming ecomomy and a monopoly on the atomic bomb America's influense grew and with the formation of NATO it grew to such an extent that almost all of the developed countries where under American influence. In the end the situation was resolved. If you can call toppling the deomcratic goverment and replacing it with a bunch of aristocrat's resolution.
And even when countries didn't agree with the US the Americans have tried to get thier way. They've fixed elections, assassinated leaders who don't agree with them amoung other things. Take the (failed) Bay of Pigs invasion in 1963. Just because Cuba had a goverment that did not agree with American views, the US decided to send a bunch of Cuban exiles to invade it. The exiles where trained and equipped by the CIA. Other examples include the invasions of Grenada and Haiti. The Americans have also backed the regimes of the likes of Saddam, Augesto Pinochet and even Osama bin Laden. Why? Simple, it was better than the alternative. What was the alternative? Communist Russia (then known as the USSR) was the only alternative. What the United States saw as a threat was really on the natural process of revolution. If the Americans forget, they came from a revolution of monarchy vs democracy. If they fail to remember they wanted "Life, Liberty and Justice". The only difference between the revolution of 1776 and the revolutions of the latter part of the 20th century, is that the other countries are forming a goverment that has different views on different issues (socialism as opposed to capitalism) doesn't give another country the right to pick on it and influence it's internal affairs.
This brings me to my point: I am sick and tired of Americans inflenceing the internal affairs of my country. US policy has, for far to long, shaped the politics of this country. And if we don't agree with the US on a certain issue, the shut us out until they get their own way. Take the Vietnam War for example. Canada refused to actively participate and sheltered draft dogers when the came to Canada seeking refugee status. At the very start of the war President Lyndon B. Johnson was infuriated that Canada refused to participate. During a state visit to Canada Johnson (who was a large beefy texan) was so mad that he literrally took Prime Minister (Lester B.) Pearson by the scruff of the neck and and shook him, screaming at him about not helping America in the fight against communism. Hello? It's our right to refuse to participate in a conflict that we deem not to be morally in line with what we see fit. It's not your decesion to drag us into the war. Likewise with the Iraq conflict. If you're feeling that Saddam needs to be brought to justice, then fine by all means do so, however we as a nation reserve the right to make an independent and unbiased judgement to stay out of said conflict. It's that simple. We will not be bribed or bullied by the American goverment into anything as a nation that we see unfit. End of discussion.
In conclusion I would like to say that I believe that America needs to simmer down and stop pushing people around. That's why you have War on Terror, the Iraq conflict, rising oil prices, Venezuela being ticked off at you (amoung other countries.) and hordes of angry muslims denouncing you left and right. If you didn't push people around they'll be happy and you wouldn't have had 9/11 either.
Sorry this entry is a bit late, but I really havn't been feeling up to it these days. The number of entries could drop from now on, because of the fact I now have a job.
Nathaniel

Forces finally get rolling;Chriac to help Canadians;Ships arrive in Turkey, A Slew of Rumors for WWDC & Snake Swallows blanket

Forces finally get Rolling; French Offer help in Evacuation; Ships Arrive in Turkey
According to CBC News, the Department of National Defence has ordered that HMCS Halifax (Frigate) and HMCS Preserver (Supply Ship) have been placed on 48 hours notice to be ready to deploy. As well 70 soldiers have been deployed from CFB Trenton to Cyprus and Beirut to provide security, crowd control and assistance to canadians while they are waiting to board ships. As well ships based in Halifax have been put on 48 hours notice to be ready to deploy to the Mediterranean. Ships HMCS Preserver and HMCS Halifax have been put on 2 day notice. The crew of Halifax was already been prepared to go to sea and was due to depart for a multinational extercise. The crew of Preserver bas been recalled from leave and the ship is being preped for a possible deployment.
So the forces have finally decided to get off they're duff and get moving, huh? Well it's not entirely they're fault. As I metioned in last night's post, the Forces have no forward deployed forces and only one base overseas. Ths inhibits the ability of the forces to deploy in a speedy fashion around the globe. As well, until at least 2008 and will not fully be operational until 2014. Heavy lift Chinook helicopters are due in 2008, the first JSS is due in 2012 as well as the new maritime helicopters and the new heavy lift planes. But I'm getting off topic. The point is, unlike the Brits, the Americans, the Italians and the French, amoung others, as of right now, Canada does not have the ability to launch forces into international crises at a moments notice. This is one of the major reasons that the Canadian military is impaired, but again I digress.
And here's a surprise: French President Jacques Chriac said that we was willing to help Canada get it's citizens out of Lebanon. Meeting with Quebec Premier Jean Charest Chriac said that he was willing to offer assistance to evacuate Canadians from Lebanon. No specifics where offered and the statement by Charest was very vauge to say the least. What does this mean? Will France deploy a naval taskforce to help evacuate Canadians? Or will they just allow Canadians to be transported out with French citizens? This statement by Chriac should develop over the next few days.
In my final peace of Lebanon related news, the remaining six ships carrying Canadians from Beirut to Turkey have arrived. They will be taken to a gym where food and water are availible. The evacuee's will be transported from the gym to the local airport where they will rest for a few hours. They will then be trasported to the local airport where flights will depart for Toronto, Montreal and Edmonton. All citizens leaving in those cities will take the respective flight. The ships wll refuel, restock and return to Beirut to pick up the next wave of evacuee's.
A Slew of Rumors for WWDC
If I have any Mac Addicts in my audience this should intrest you. Over the past few weeks, the weeks leading up to one of the most anticipated tech events of the summer, Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), a slew of rumors have popped up. Apple confirmed in July that Apple CEO Steve Jobs would premier OS X 10.5 codename "Leopard ". Rumors floating around include the prospect of the new Intel based Mac Pro being unvieled at WWDC, the prospect of a new "true" video Ipod or the most recent (just today) CFO Peter Opehimer said "where not sitting still" when a reporter raised a question about the iPhone rumor. Even if the new Mac Pro is not unvieled at WWDC it will be very exciting to watch with Steve Jobs unveil Leopard. If they annouce the ship date of Leopard I will hold off my Macbook purchase until the forclosed date.
Another popular rumor floating around is that CEO Steve Jobs has used his considerable clout in Hollywood to convince major studio's to rent movies. Job's originally started out with the intention of letting computer users own movies. However the studio's where no go and Jobs had to alter his proposal to allow people to rent movies from the iTunes Music Store. Personally I will not be dishing out $9.99 (likely more here in Canada) for a movie. And that's even if they decide to bring movie's to Canada. When they launched TV shows on iTunes they didn't bother to bring them to Canada or any other country but the US. This presents a problem of content distribution. If Apple is only willing to sign content agreements with only 1 or 2 of it's stores then, it's really not worth it. It's the same with music. Much of the music in the iTunes Music store is only availible in the US. One of my friends often complains (with due cause) that she can't find any AC/DC albums. Only tribute ones done by fans. Again this presents a problem of content distriubtion. The iTunes Music store shouldn't be tiered. All the content should be avaible to all. A song by a Canadian band should be avaible in Japan and vice versa. Hopefully things like TV shows and movies will come to the Canadian and International stores soon.
Snake Swollows Blanket;Gets Warm Fuzy Feeling inside
A 4 metre long Burmese phython (named Houdini) got more than he bargined for when he had dinner. He gota queen size electronic blanket with control fox and electric cord for his troubles. The blanket must have gotten tangled up in the snake's rabbit dinner, said owner Karl Beznosk, who lives in Ketchum, Idaho. He kept the blanket in the cage to keep the 27-kilogram reptile warm. It was removed from the python during a two hour operation by veterinarian Karsten Fostvedt. According to specialists at University of California-Davis School of Veterinary Medicine the snake would have died. It's owner Karl Beznosk takes the snake to a local school for show and tell. This story just goes to prove the truth really is stranger than fiction.

On a personal note I am pleased to annouce that I have gained a temporary position at Staples this summer and I hope that it will carry into the fall.
Come back tomorrow night for more commentary
Nathaniel

PM lends a helping Plane, The Uknown artist with a huge following & Session moved so Klein can-FISH?!

PM to use Jet to evacuate Canadians from Lebanon
Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced that we would use his own personal jet to evacuate Canadian nationals arriving on Cyprus from Lebanon. Harper has directed that the jet's staff being stripped down to those who are absolutely required (Pilot, Copilot and Security) Harper has directed that Foreign Affairs to charter planes to take the remainder of Canadians back home to Canada. Harper made the announcement at press conference in Paris today after meeting with French President Jacques Chirac. In a statement after the meeting Harper said that "due to the seriousness of the situation" he was taking his personal jet, along with a skeleton staff, to Cyprus to evacuate Canadian citizens.
In my opinion this is both a legitimate action and a cover-up for the government that has sat on it's butt with no plan, and done nothing for the citizens in the countries. It failed to react, simply doing nothing for days. It was only over the weekend that the the six vessels where chartered to take Canadians to Cyprus. Many Canadians with dual citizenship to other countries have left the country to seek alternate transportation home. For example a family from Montreal with dual Canadian-Italian citizenship departed on an Italian warship out of Lebanon. Others have risked the road to Damascus and flown home from Syria. Harper using his personal jet is both a gesture of good faith as I leader and a blunder for his government. I blame this on the fact that no back-up plan was put in place for this particular type of emergency and the fact that Canada has no forward deployed Air or Naval presence in the region. If we wanted the military to transport civilians out of Lebanon they would have to call Aircraft from Trenton (8 Squadron) Even then they would have to find a remote airstrip to airlift the evacuee's. Lebanon's only International Airport (Rafik Hariri International ) has been shut down for the past week since Israel bombed one of the main runways and the terminal. The other option is to evacuate by sea which is what many nations are choosing to do. Greece has sent a ship into the region to evacuate it's citizens and has three on standby. The United States has sent 9 ships to Lebanon to assist with evacuation. The U.K. has even sent it's flagship, the H.M.S Illustrious to help evacuate British nationals from Lebanon. Even if we just deployed a frigate or two to the Dubai in the U.A.E that would allow for most versatile transport and logistics operations. The shipload of Canadians is due to land in Cyprus on Thursday.
The Uknown Artist with a huge following
Millions of people see his work everyday-and we don't even know it. More than likely you've seen Dennis Wang's artwork before, and you probably don't even realize it. Dennis Wang is the designer of the Logo's that decorate Google's otherwise simple homepage sports or special occasions. You've seen them, the one on New Year's Day, Christmas, Halloween, Canada Day, 4th of July and other notable days of the year. People don't realize that there actually is an artist behind the colorful and complex six letter pieces of art. (Ironic, yes?) This includes myself. I thought that Google did it all by Photoshop. By it turns out that there is an artist behind the artwork. The height of the irony is people don't realize that there is someone behind the beautiful works of digital art and that that artist is never really acknowledged. Much like Vavaldi, who's works where never really recognized until after his death. Okay, so maybe that's not a horribly good example, but you get the idea. The fact is people like Dennis really aren't noticed. Webmasters, the people who write the code, test the layout- do all the behind the scenes work are rarely noticed or brought into the spotlight. Site's like Google, Slashdot, the CBC, CNN amoung other have dozens and sometimes hundred's of people working behind the scenes to make things work. Google, again is good example. It gets hundreds of millions of hits every day and if not everything is working properly, the site goes down and one of the most visited sites in the world is non functional. That's why Google has an army of engineers, webmasters, coders and other people who make the machinery at Google run smoothly. Although a minor role in the grand scheme of things, Dennis' job is one of the most noticable. When you go to Google and no logo is there on the Forth of July or Canada day, you kind of feel dissapointed. But Dennis take's the time to design each logo to reflect the fact that Google doesn't just run in one country. It runs in dozens and that Google Care's enough to recongnize Holidays and important people around the globe as well as events in history.
Session Opening Extended so the Priemer can-FISH?!
The outgoing Premier of Alberta, Ralph Klein has asked that the next session of the Alberta legislature be postponed so that he can go fishing. The session was scheduled to begin on Sept. 4th but was reschduled so that Klein can host a group from a fundraiser from the Alberta Northern Institute of Technology. The group of 12 members have paid a total of $50,000 for a week of fishing at Klein's lodge in British Columbia. Tony Defond who is one of the twelve people attending the trip said that it would be impossible to reschedule the trip so late in the season. Klein was given an emotional sendoff in May, as it was believed he would be replaced before the legislature reopened in the fall.
Now this is absolutely RIDICULOUS! Why should offical goverment bussiness so one man can take a bunch of people down to his fishing lodge? It's like holding up the plane/bus for one person that's late, it just doesn's happen. If your late, your late. So why should Klein be given that cortousy?It ticks me off sometimes, how politicans think they should be treated like VIP's and then think that everyone but themselves should be treated in an equal manner. Grrrr, it drives me NUTS! Take for example the Monika Lewinsky affair. Bill Clinton though that he could get away with having an affair in the White House because he was President of the United States (POTUS) However after the bombing of the U.S.S. Cole he said "We will do whatever it takes, for as long as it takes, to find those who killed our sailors and hold them accountable." So basically he's saying that he can commit an affair within the White House, without be prosecuted, but he can condemn terrroists for bombing a US warship. Politicans are held to a higher standard of morality than normal citizens. Obviosly Clinton did not adhear to those standards and therefore does not deserve to be a judge of character without examining his own. The same is true for Ralph Klein. He cannot expect that official goverment bussiness will be put on hold so that he can have lesiure time. Politicans should be held to higher standards than this. If anyone from Alberta reads this, please write your MLA and voice your displeasure of having goverment business put on hold for the sake of one person.
Come Back Tomorrow Night for More Commentary,
Nathaniel

Airmen Honoured, A Step for Democracy-in the wrong direction & Most Money;Worst Company

Comerant Airmen Honoured
For any Canadians who read this blog, you're probably aware that a Coast Guard CH-149 Comerant crashed in Canso last week, killing three coast guardsmen. Sgt. Duane Brazil of Newfoundland, Master Sgt. Kirk Noel, and Cp. Trevor McDavid where all killed Thursday morning when there Coast Guard CH-149 Comerant Search and Rescue Helicopter crashed in Canso, Nova Scotia, a short distance from the Canso Causeway. The preliminary investigation has ruled pilot error and poor weather conditions played a role in the crash. Capt. Gabriel Ringuette, 41, Sgt. Martin Maloney, 49, Capt. Ronald Busch, 40, and Maj. Gordon Ireland, 42, survived the accident. The thing is, these helicopters are only 6 years old which is young by Military standards. They where purchased in 2000 for use in SAR (Search and Rescue) In comparison, the Navy's workhorse CH-124 Sea King helicopter which is approaching it's 43rd birthday. However the Comerants have had problems as well, with problems concerning cracked rotors and the like. However, I do not attribute the problem to one major problem. First the major problem that I see is improper repair work. Unless Augesta Westland is a company that is incompetent and doesn't care about craftsmanship or quality of product (which I seriously doubt) then it has to be a personel issue. Either the crews are improperly trained or they are too focused on the Sea Kings to fix problems properly. Either way this is a problem that has to be addressed and soon. If another valiant member of the CF dies because of a politician decides to sit on his butt and cancel the order for the Sea King replacements again I'm firing off a letter to my MP demanding that the government face a no confidence vote. The Comerant fleet has been suspended since Thursday, allowing for only essential flights, but the flight restrictions where lifted today allowing for all scheduled flights to continue.
Democracy in Afganistan takes a Step Backwards
Afganistan's government has reformed the controversial Ministry of Vice and Virtues. Under the Taliban regime it enforced strict Islamic law (known as Shariah) which bans everything from consumption of alcohol (a good law) to banning watching of television and listening to of radio, virtual slavery of women, as well as the complete absence of technology. At it's peak , the ministry employed 32,000 people to enforce Shariah. The ministry was dissolved when the U.S. invaded Afaganistan in 2001. Both religious and tribal leaders have been pushing for Afghan President Harmid Karzai to reform the ministry. Well it looks like he's bowed the to pressure, though, he says, the ministry will not be as expansive or as strict as the Taliban version. This is not the first time that the ministry has tried to have been resurrected. An attempt was made in 2002 by Hazmid Karzai, but it was short lived. Again, I think this attempt will be short lived. The Afghan people will not tolerate it, for it brings back to many memories of the horrific Taliban regime.
This brings up another topic:Shariah law in non-Islamic countries. Recently the Ontario government considered the idea of introducing a law that would allow for shariah proceedings for divorce and matters concerning inheritance. Under shariah when a couple is divorced, the man has the upper hand in what he is able to have (Custody rights, Property rights, Finacial rights etc.) while the women is put to a disadvantage. When a father dies the wife and daughters are put to a disadvantage over inherritence (the son recieves 2/3 while the daugher and/or mother recieve 1/3) Shariah also allows for beating of women, simply if the the husband or father does not deem the daughter or wife to be virgin. If the women is found to have committed adultry or unmarital sexual relations, death can be the result. This happens all to often in Palestine, Egypt, Iran, Iraq amoung others. However the proposed law was dropped after a massive outcry by human right's groups and the Canadian Muslim community.
Worst Company;Most Money
You'd think that if a company like Google or Apple, that's raking in billions of dollars a year in profits, the founders and CEO's would bet massive salaries right? Or the ranking tech companies executives would get low paychecks right? Wrong. According to Study published by DolmatConnell & Partners, some of the lowest ranked tech companies in the world are paying they're CEO's and other executives millions of dollars in compensation-even when profits are slipping and viceversa . Take for example IBM, which has been losing money for the last couple of years now as Apple abandoned them for the more powerful Intel processors and they sold they're PC buildingbusiness to Levano. It's stock has slipped 16% in the last year alone. Meanwhile CEO Sam Palmisano is one of the highest paid in the industry. He was paid $12.4 million- that includes a $5.2 million dollar bonus, according to regulatory figures. In contrast Adobe-which is in the top third of the list is not paying it's CEO's well by contrast.CEO of Adobe Bruce Chizen was paid amere $1.9 million-below the industry average. It gets worse. Presidents of Google Larry Page and Sergy Brin, along with CEO Eric Schmidt are being payed $1 a year, because of there considerable net worth. However they are offered stock options as compensation. The same goes for Apple CEO Steve Jobs, who is worth an estimated $4.3 billion. He, like Schmidt,Page and Brin is payed $1 a year. However he has been therecipient of several "executive gifts" including stock options and a private jet . The fact is that salaries for these guys are not set for performance-they're set in accordance of what their peers are making. There is no consideration for performance. You wonder why everyone is getting rich for doing nothing.
Come back tomorrow night for more commentary,
Nathaniel

Israeli Troops Enter Southern Lebanon

Israeli Troops entered South Lebanon to hunt down and destory Hezbollah. Evacuation have also begun in Beruit and other parts of the country. This was inevetable, as Air and artierlly can only do so much. This is a deciseve movement: Either Hezbollah will be hunted down and destroyed forever or Israel will return home, humilliated and facing future attacks from Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad and Hamas.

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Ready Aye Not Ready, Stumble Upon & Paying for '76 in '06

Ready Aye, Not Ready
In regard to last night's post, the conflict in Lebanon has escalated again today with Israel launching limited ground operations over the southern Lebanese border. Air attacks by the IDF continue to pound Bierut and other Hezbollah targets. Evacuations have began in Bierut with the United States, Greece, Italy, France, Sweden & Spain, amoung others to transport nationals and citizens out of the country. For example, the United States has sent a commercial ship, 2 destroyers and 3 helicopters to the region to evacuate American nationals. Other nations are arranging alternate forms of tranportation. Denmark and Poland are busing there citizens to Syria, the U.K. is sending an Aircraft carrier and a warship to evacute it's citizens (kind of overkill, but what floats your boat) In contrast the Canadian government's response has been sluggish. They have chartered 6 ships from Cyprus to transport Canadians from Lebanon back to Cyprus, where they will then be flown home to Canada. Only problem-The ships won't be ready until Wednesday at the earliest. In contrast- Sweden, the United States, Spain and other nations already have evacuation operations underway. Another factor is protection for the transports. Hezbollah launched two missiles and crippled the INS Hanit. And that was a military ship with armor plating. So imagine a convoy of ships sailing from Lebanon and Hezbollah decides just for kicks they fire of an Anti-Ship missile at the convoy. Or two, or three. Dozens, hundreds or even thousands could die. If the convoy was under military escort, now that would be a different matter entirely. Even a single Halifax-Class frigate could detect a threat before it threatened the convoy. But without an escort of some kind, the convoy is a sitting duck and a target to juicy for Hezbollah to pass up. So my advice to government : Send out one of the ships that are sitting at dock or their figurative butts and get them to the Med ASAP
Review: Stumble Upon
Being home today and having the first chance in eight days to catch up on podcasts and vidcasts I was watching an episode of commandN when Amber mentioned an extension for Firefox called Stumble Upon, and it is one of the coolest extensions for Firefox to date. Basically you go through the setup process which is painless, selecting things that interest you (For example I selected Humor, Computer Science, Mac OS, amoung others) and when your tired of the same old stuff you just go to your Stumble Upon toolbar, select a catagory and hit the Stumble button. It will take you to a site you never knew exsisted. Best of all most of the sites are very useful. SU has in place a very good feeback system where you can rate a page good (thumbs up) or bad (thumbs down) That ranking is taken into consideration and it is either promoted or buried according to your choice. The system reflects that of Digg. Stumble Upon is an amazing extension and I recommend it to anyone who is tired of reading the same content over and over again.
Paying for '76 in '06
Who knew Montreal hosted the Olympic Games in 1976, anyone? Well it's a little known fact that Montreal did in fact host the Olympic Games that year. But did you know that it almost didn't happen? Here's the story:
After the success of the Expo '67 in Montreal mayor Jean Drapeau pitched his idea of hosting the 1976 Olympic Games. It was a long shot, but they won the bid. The Olympics became Drapeau's obsession, he became manager of the massive work projects in Montreal, namely, the Olympic Stadium and the Veledrome. At one point there where 84 cranes on site. "The cranes where getting in each other's way, the workers where getting in each other's way" says Dr. Victor Goldbloom who was in charge of the construction of he facilities after the provincial goverment stepped in forming the Olympic Installations Board. The project was also deeply in debt. The Olympic stadium, supposed to cost $156 millions ended up costing $2 Billion. Just to get the stadium completed, 10,000 workers worked around the clock to get the projet completed. The city is finally seeing the light at the end of a vey long dark tunnel as payments for the games end later this year.
This situation was comparable to the debt that Great Britain accumulated from the Lend-Lease program during the Second World War. The final check for the debt was mailed just days before the 60th aniversery of D-Day. Vancover faces the same problem Montreal did but in a different way. Inflation has driven up the costs of things like Steel and skilled labour through the roof and it's becoming harder and harder for contractors to find skilled workers. The reason: The booming Oil driven Albertan Economy. It's not just from the East coast that workers are migrating, it's from B.C. that they come as well. The price of oil (over $70 U.S. a barrel) has caused the price of things like Steel to spike considerably, rising the cost of the construction of facilities and forcing the Vancouver Olympic Comittee to cut venues. So will it all be worth it in the end? I think so. It's been 18 years since the Olympics came to Canada. It'll be 22 years when Vancouver Whistler rolls around.
Come back tomorrow night for more Commentary,
Nathaniel

Firefox 2 Beta 1 Review, Israel in Lebanon & Step away from the console!

Firefox 2 Beta 1 Review
Firefox 2 Beta 1 was released about 5 days ago and I downloaded it to try out almost right away. There is no noticeable difference in the user interface when you load up Firefox 2. However, there are a number of new features. First, there is a new inline spellcheck for people who don't know how to spell (like yours truely) as well there is an anti-phishing feature. Also, something that I was hoping that they would feature was session saving. I tried out Opera 9 for about 3 weeks and I loved the session saving features. It's great the Mozilla has decided to include the feature in Firefox 2. This beta is not all good though, there are numerous bugs in the code that have yet to be resolved and none I repeat none of the extentions or skins will currently work with Firefox 2. Hopefully this will change in the public release of Firefox 2 later on in the summer or early in the fall. This is a solid beta and even though it doesn't have the extension or the skins that 1.5.0.4 does, it's still better than IE.
Video Game Rehab Center Opens in Ansterdam
A rebilitation center for video game addicts has open in Ansterdam. The 16th century townhouse. The Wild Horses addiction center operated by Smith and Jones is staffed with addiction specialists and psychiatrists. Both have yet to agree that video addiction is a diagnosible condition. The treatment regamin follows that of alcohol and drug detox programs. The patient goes through an intial detox followed by months of group and indiviudual threrapy. So if World of Warcraft is Warcrack then maybe you should consider going. If anyone here read's Control Alt Delete....read Ethan's Bio, this real life example is just a reinforcement of video game addiction. If you are spending 10-12 hours at a TV screen a day GET HELP!
Israel Invades Lebanon.....Again
Israel has launched air and ground attacks for the second time in less than 30 years. On Wednesday Israel launched Air and Ground strikes in Lebanon as well as initiating a blockade of Lebanese sea ports. Hezbollah responded by firing 2 missiles at an Israeli warship, the INS Hanit (Spear) damaged and towed back to Israel. Israel hit the headquaters of Hezbollah with Airstrikes as well as targeting the homes of Hezbollah leadership in the suburbs of Beirut. The IDF and Hezbollah traded off attacks with Hezbollah firing rockets fathur into Israel.Unless the Lebanese goverment cracks down on militants soon, they will get pounded into the ground by Israel. Israeli military equipment in supplied by the U.S. and is the best in the world. They have Nuclear Weapons they use modern military equipment. Hezzbollah doesn't not stand a chance. This conflict is pointless, Hezbollah will fire rockets, Israel will demolish Hezbollah and the war will go on and on forever.
That's all for tonight, Come back tomorrow night for more Commentary.
Nathaniel