Technology Blog

As someone who travels frequently for extensive periods, I’ve been interested in owning a spy camera. I’m particularly interested in wireless cams packages that are easy to install and mobile. The closest I got to having a surveillance camera was about 4 years ago when I went to visit my wife in California for 3 months. While I was away, I was able to have my home cam connected to the computer and have a live feed uploaded to the internet. While it was cool (and kinda fun because I could watch what my pets and pet sitter were doing) is wasn’t a complete enough solution. Pakatak seems have many packages available that just might fit the bill in the new house I live in.

Of particular interest to me are wireless camera kits. Night visions cameras like the one I’ve linked here are becoming more popular, providing a broader range of visibility. The best part of this camera: “The software features motion detection and allows remote viewing over the internet. Over 24hrs of full motion video can be recorded onto a standard 20GB hard drive.” Given the amount of hard drive space a lot of us use these days, 20 GB is not a lot to ask for peace of mind when traveling.

A complete list of security and technical products including babe monitors, IP cameras, atennas, and other camera kits can be found here: http://www.pakatak.co.uk. I’m tempted to get a kit before I leave the country again for a 2 month trip.

I thought this was an interesting article in the Globe and Mail.

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but what struck me, quite honestly is that it’s “newsworthy”. But then, I’ve always been a geek. When available, I’ve been bringing laptops on car camping trips for at least 10 years now. And these days, it’s *almost* rare that you can’t find a WIFI connection to connect to the internet even when you’re on vacation.

Nevertheless it is an interesting trend noted in this article. I’m curious to know what “vacation” will look like, say 10 years from now… will we all be so attached to our computers that we won’t know the difference between work and a break on the beach? Thankfully, if I so choose, I can simply work on any beach within a wifi area.

I couldn’t help but have a bit of a chuckle when I saw this article this morning.

Is Google Too Powerful?

Where did I find it? Why, in my gmail account of course. THAT’S how powerful Google is. Long ago I pretty much ditched my hotmail account and adopted Gmail by the mere fact that I changed service providers for the first time in 8 years.

Fact is, I’ve lost literally thousands of dollars in lost revenue from personal web pages on old ISP servers that I could no longer retrieve because I either moved or they were bought out by another ISP, or some other sillyness that ensued.

The bulk of my business contacts have now reside with my gmail account and though that makes me slightly nervous, I embraced it on the basis of google’s continuing longevity.

But everything has it’s heyday. There’s always a new mover and shaker, always a new trend. Youtube is my favorite example of this.

Is Google too powerful? Maybe, but while I may have a bit of a love/hate relationship with google right now, I’d like it to remain powerful for a while.

News Article: WiMAX was the belle of the CTIA ball
Sprint is deploying WiMAX, others carriers are considering it

One day I was sipping drinks at a very push martini (or was it a sushi) bar in downtown Toronto sometime back in ‘94/’95 (could have been ‘97 but my memory escapes me).

I’ll never forget this conversation because a good friend of mine (programmer) was debating the technical limitations he felt existed in phone lines, stating it was an engineering impossibility for DSL to be as fast as what this investor was claiming. This investor wasn’t a complete slouch in the technology department but he was more of a money man than he was a tech guru. At least, given how often he slurred his words, that’s certainly what I thought of him. He made an impact when he told my programming buddy that they already had a DSL testing market in Ottawa.

From then on, I was hooked. At that point, my only access to highspeed internet was at work. In 1995 we were connected by an ISDN line (for speed references we’re talking about a 1/4 - 1/8 speed of the average DSL line to individual homes). The ISDN line served 50 workstations. Before long, we bumped up to a T1. But highspeed for consumers? That didn’t exist on a large scale until 1997. That was the pivotal year. When I later moved to Nova Scotia, things had advanced so quickly, I made the jump in my thinking that Nova Scotia must be so advanced in delivering DSL to a higher population percentage than what was happening in Toronto. The reality is: DSL along with highspeed cable internet access simply just took off.

The drunken investor knew what he was talking about.

In 2001, my ex girlfriend and I won some points from an affiliate program we were promoting, and we promptly made the jump from wired router to WIFI. This was practically unheard of at the time, especially in a small town in a small province. I rigged up all the Linksys components and within a few hours the three of us (including her computer addicted 9 year old son) were connected to the internet without the need for anymore cables ever again.

There days, friends from back east tell me that if they take their trusty laptops into town, they can usually pick up 3-5 WIFI connections from their friend’s places. *cough* not that I’m encouraging anyone to go “war driving” anytime soon.

After reading an article on WiMax in an obscure free Toronto newspaper back in February of last year, I made the prediction that WiMAX could become the next wave in internet connectivity within a 2-5 year window.

It looks like my prediction might start to come true.

WiMAX was the belle of the CTIA ball
Sprint is deploying WiMAX, others carriers are considering it

So I have a hope of course. It is my dream that I will one day ditch my cantenna device (a tube attached to my network card to boost wifi signals for better reception), ditch Wifi, and adopt WiMAX, and hopefully stay connected in real time on road at all times. I am amused that I once chatted with a friend on MSN while my wife was driving the car in and around Victoria, BC (that’s how many wifi connections there were in the city core).

Imagine not having to hop from one connection to another like that anymore. Imagine just *being* connected. Anywhere.

That’s my hope for WiMAX. It’s the next phase people. We all want it, we’re craving it. It’s time.

More information on technical aspects of WiMAX

For the last couple of weeks, my curiosity has peaked as a canadian commercial for blogtv.ca has made its rounds across several Canadian television networks. I’m not even going to bother to find a commercial link on YouTube. So unless anyone is really interested in seeing a singing belly promotion, I’m not going to bother.

Article link:Blogtv.ca hits the streets

I surfed over to the site today wondering about the format, not to mention how this site will make its money. This project is backed by Alliance Atlantis which explains the intense commercial campaign. But will a Canadian only video blogging site take flight the likes of YouTube?

We’ll soon find out but have mercy on us Canucks, eh? No more singing bellies.

Commercials turning into pilot projects? Hmm… As much as my wife and I giggle over these 30 seconds of pure joy, I’m not 100% sure that 30 seconds can translate into a 30 minute comedy pilot. Yet, that’s exactly what ABC is planning on doing.

ABC developing ‘Cavemen’

So, what is this exactly? Is this art imitating art? Is it the ultimate in product placement? I’m not sure. Certainly this particular commercial captured my interest enough that I went searching for it on YouTube. In fact, 9 times out of 10 the reason why I surf over to Youtube is just so I can watch something on my own time that I thought was funny on tv, be it commercials, talk show moments or political faux pas. What I don’t use YouTube for is to peer into people’s living rooms while I listen to their bad karoake.

I’m pretty skeptical about how far an idea should go. I’ve been a fan of Geico commercials for years but the question remains: will I have the patience to sit through a 30 minute spoof or a spoof of a wha…?

The answer is obvious to me. Since I haven’t made the technological jump to TiVo or a personal DVR more likely then not, I’ll just surf over to Youtube when I’m interested.

I think this is going to jump the shark before it starts.

It’s not news that YouTube is perhaps the biggest “mover and shaker” on the internet today. Who HASN’T heard of YouTube? One of my best friends I left behind on the east coast when I moved west last year doesn’t own a computer and has probably seen more YouTube clips than I have. I’m not sure any one person or thing could become as ubiquitous as YouTube. More so than say, Madonna. Another friend of mine, in fact, the friend that shares YouTube with my other computer illiterate friend once told me his theory that almost every person in the western hemisphere thinks about or stumbles upon Madonna at least once a day. Interesting theory. I don’t completely buy it. In fact, I openly disputed that idea with him. You can too. Just don’t do it while in a car with the radio on. It just might prove his theory correct (which, is kinda scary when you think about it)

YouTube is in that same category. In fact, I’ll state here and now that I personally believe that YouTube is now MORE popular than Madonna. And now they’re giving out awards! Check it out here.

I’m personally choosing not to click on “the best”. Not yet anyway.

From the site:

2006 was a pioneering year for online video, user-created content and the YouTube community. You let us into your bedrooms, created new forms of entertainment, and radicalized popular culture. Now it’s time to reflect on what a tremendous year it was and recognize the best of the best during the first YouTube Video Awards

Hmmm, I’m not 100% sure videos created from inside our bedrooms is a terribly *good* idea. I’ve never been inspired enough to post on YouTube.

But I confess, I’m one of those millions of people inspired enough to peer in. So way to go to those who are “the best”. Maybe next year there will be a YouTube show on TV hosted by Billy Crystal or Ellen Degeneres. It’s an odd idea isn’t? But then, nothing surprises me anymore.