Category Archives: Gov

October 22, 2008

IP Law gone wrong…

Matthew Ingram has a great article about the US Government trying to get control over a trademark controlled by a bike gang.  Matthew compares it to the Al Capone situation with regards to tax evation.  I think its a great example of IP Law gone wrong.  The US Government has put so much effort into IP Law and the DMCA that they are actually a bigger stick than many anti-racketeering laws.   I think its a pretty sad situation and McCain encountered similar problems during his campaign with the extremely restrictive IP Law in the DMCA.

I’m hoping we don’t see a repeat of the DMCA in Canada now with the Harper government tabling an agenda that includes copyright reform.  I think its pretty clear to most people involved with digital media that DRM and unrealistic controls on media are not going to work.  Apple, Amazon and even hopeless Yahoo have all been removing their DRM services in favour of DRM-free solutions.  It makes even less sense to be criminalizing most of society with unrealistic legislation.

March 25, 2008

Metronauts Launches

The Metronauts.ca site has launched and is accepting registrations for the next TransitCamp.  I attended first TransitCamp it and it was great event for discussion various transit related issues.  I think this time around the TransitCamp is looking for a more diverse crowd and I think I would just be another  internet geek, when they really want to get feedback from soccer moms and other hard core commuters.

February 8, 2007

Say No to Paul Ferreria

Paul Ferreira MPP York South Weston Campaign ADAD phone spam

Just say No to Paul Ferreira and his Automated Dialer. For the past 2 days I’ve been getting recorded phone calls from Paul’s Campaigning telling me to say “No to the McGuinty’s 40,000 pay raise”. I’m pretty sure McGuinty doesn’t deserve a pay increase but with this sort of stupidity I don’t think Paul Ferreira deserves to get elected. Oh and did I mention I’m don’t live in the riding where Paul is running? Apparently my number shares the same prefix with some of the numbers in his riding so he decided to call us all… Good luck Paul, your not off to a good start.

I had a similar problem with ADAD ( automated dialing and announcement devices ) a few months ago when Rogers decided to spam with calls about an overdue cable bill. My account status was in good standing but for some reason the collection agency that Roger’s cable employed kepy calling my number. The CRTC is suppose to regulate this sort of stupidity but for some reason they allow collection agencies to spam people. Even worst they provide no recourse when the ADAD goes wrong. Haven’t they seen the Terminator movies?

Posted in Gov
February 5, 2007

Final Thoughts on TransitCamp

TransitCamp yesterday was a blast, in a lot of ways a bigger event than the superbowl. The organizers did an awesome job of putting it together and everyone was very positive around improving the TTC. The TTC employees that attended were open to ideas, even ideas they were already considering or developing. Adam Giambrone was impressive in this ability to understand al ot of these requirements and not just pass them over. I think the impressive part of the day was that it gave everyone things can change and we all be part of them.

February 4, 2007

TransitCamp Starts

TransitCamp Starts

TorontoTransitCamp has just started at the GladStone Hotel. Theres about a 100 people involved and we’ve just broken out into sessions. The grid is pretty full already and I’m in a session on debugging the TTC. We’re talking alot of about using software tools to help the TTC track problems and feedback. Details available here:

Debugging the TTC

January 29, 2007

TransitCamp – A Torcamp Event

Toronto TransitCamp - Bettering the Better Way - Stolen from Joey's Blog

TorontoTransitcamp is happening this weekend as a TorCamp event to look at the TTC in Toronto. As a new TTC rider and DemoCamp participant I’m excited to see people getting involved. You an pre-register for the event here but select is being handled by a lottery because of the volume of people. The event is being organized by Mark Kuznicki – Remarkk and the Torcamp group so register now. You can also digg the story here:

http://digg.com/design/BarCamp_meets_Transit_Toronto_Transit_Camp_2007

November 3, 2006

A case for diversified investing

This week the federal government announced changes to tax income trusts. Income trusts have been extremely attractive investment solutions over the last few years and alot of people have over invested in them. With this change Canadian income trusts have gone through an major correction this week. If you were diversified in you’re investment you should have seem a lot of other investments increase with the correction ( ie more traditional bonds or stocks ). If you were over invested in income trusts it was a very a long week…

Posted in Gov