NICCAI

How do Canadians feel about Rogers’ iPhone plans?

NICCAI — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 23:22:03 +0000

Let’s just say that they’re nonplussed, and you can add me to that list. The funny thing is no one has even begun to consider how the app store and 3rd party app usage is going to affect data consumption.

With that said, the titles say it all…

What the blogosphere is saying:

And, people are atweet with some colorful opinions:

Summize: Rogers

My personal favorite from the fine print, “Evenings start at 9pm.”

Testament to Human Creativity

NICCAI — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 20:05:05 +0000

You may find it strange, but this story almost made me cry. It may be because I am a father. Or, because once I was a boy. It may be both. This story is a testament to human creativity, and it reminds me that not only our bodies should be exercised but also our imaginations.

To Eric Clough and each of the artisans involved, I am in awe.

From the NYTimes, Mystery on Fifth Avenue.

(Be sure to read the whole article, and follow it up by looking at the photo gallery on the first page.)

Apple store in Vancouver set to open May 24th

NICCAI — Tue, 20 May 2008 23:07:07 +0000

If you’re in Vancouver and have eagerly been awaiting the new Apple store at Pacific Centre, your wait is almost over. Doors open this Saturday May 24th at 10am.

Store details

Also, the first 1000 visitors will get a free Apple T-Shirt.

A tiny bit of TV love for Canadians

NICCAI — Tue, 20 May 2008 07:23:22 +0000

We can finally watch Lost online.

After being shut out by the web 2.0 tv revolution (ok, revolution my be a little weighty), Canadians are finally getting a bit of love from CTV. If you’ve been wondering why there still aren’t TV heavy weights like Lost on iTunes, or why you can’t use Amazon Unbox, or the new service Hulu, you can now fill your wait with a bit of online love at http://watch.ctv.ca/. Here you can check out a number of shows from the CTV line-up including Lost, Desperate Hoursewives, and Grey’s Anatomy.

The irony is that it is marked “Canada Only,” and “Internet Explorer Only.” If you’re outside of Canada, please give this a try and let me know if the site is blocked. As for Internet Explorer, I accessed it using Safari and didn’t appear to have any problems - mind you, I haven’t actually watched an episode yet.

For the geekiest of my friends

NICCAI — Tue, 20 May 2008 06:54:43 +0000

I would buy one of these.

Bon Iver at the Media Club in Vancouver

NICCAI — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 09:48:41 +0000

Tonight, Margarida and I saw Bon Iver (aka Justin Vernon) live at The Media Club, and the show was nothing short of fantastic. If you haven’t had the chance to hear For Emma, Forever Ago, go out and buy it. It is poetic, beautifully layered, and without a doubt one of the best albums of 2008 so far.

Phonetically translated from French as Good Winter, Bon Iver’s debut album comes from a winter of isolation in northwestern Wisconsin… “from the swirling breakup of his long time band, he escaped to the property and surrounded himself with simple work, quiet, and space. He lived there alone for three months, filling his days with wood splitting and other chores around the land. This special time slowly began feeding a bold, uninhibited new musical focus.” (Bon Iver’s bio)

The set list for tonight’s show looked something like this (I’m going off memory here):

Flume
Lump Sum
Skinny Love
Blindsided
The Wolves
Stacks
Creature Fear
For Emma (the titular track)
Wisconsin

And, if you’re thinking of skipping the opening act the next time you attend a show, think again. Tonight, the opener was a no show, so Justin helped open for himself by getting behind the drum kit to play alongside Land of Talk’s Elizabeth Powell. Neither “had played together before,” and Justin commented that he was “fulfilling a life-long dream” being behind the drums. Suffice it to say, this impromptu duo set the stage for a fantastic live performance.

Three Column Layout for Apple Mail

NICCAI — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 07:41:34 +0000

I became a switcher in 2002 with my first Mac. Since then, I’ve been a loyal Entourage user for mail. At the time, Mail, iCal, and Address Book just seemed too disjointed for me to take the full plunge. Well, I’m officially tired of Entourage, and I don’t feel like upgrading to 2008. So, I’ve switched to Apple Mail, and so far so good.

That said, one thing I missed right away was the three column layout. I used it in Entourage and still use it when using Outlook on a PC. Thankfully, Aaron Harnly has a had a fix for this for a while (leopard compatible) - check out his Letterbox plugin for Apple Mail. (Note: Only upgrade if you have a wider monitor, as the grid columns in the mail list are tight at smaller sizes.)

user, semantic, click, laptop, crystal, skull…

NICCAI — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 09:32:45 +0000

If you’ve just come here from The Big Word Project, you may have clicked one (or another) word from the above. After reading about this new viral dictionary, I decided to spend $50 (maybe more at last count) and see what comes of it. So, if you’re clicking through to this blog, please leave a comment and let me know. I’m curious to see what kind of click throughs could come from something like this.

The general idea behind the site is that you can choose to redefine any word in the Oxford English Dictionary with a link to your site. The cost? $1 per letter. No phrases or proper nouns allowed.

Here’s my rational for a few of my words:

user, semantic: User interface design and standards-based development is my living, so these were actually fitting.

click: Why not? To think of the number of times I’ve been strong armed into linking up “click here” against my better judgement, I just had to buy it.

laptop: I read yet another post about the Macbook Air.

crystal & skull: What can I say? Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was my motivation. I don’t think there is a bigger movie this summer…

IE8 to show pages in “Standards” mode

NICCAI — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 09:15:47 +0000

Great news today from the IE team. Kudos for listening to the community at large…

“IE8 will show pages requesting “Standards” mode in IE8’s Standards mode. Developers who want their pages shown using IE8’s “IE7 Standards mode” will need to request that explicitly (using the http header/meta tag approach).”

No doubt this will raise the hair of a few in corporate intranets (and maybe the SharePoint team, but that is just a guess).

The rest of us can kick ourselves for thinking MS wouldn’t play THIS nice.

Oscars Highlight: Marketa Irglova’s Acceptance for Once

NICCAI — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 10:25:10 +0000

Once was definitely one of our favorite movies of the year. We rushed out to buy the soundtrack after seeing it in theaters (and also The Swell Season and The Frames), and we bought the DVD when it was available.

But, we always knew it wasn’t a likely Oscar contender - except for the music. Music is the heart of this movie, and many could say that it is a movie about the album. So, it was with delight that we watched Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova perform their Best Song nomination at the Oscars tonight. And, it was punctuated by them winning!

With that said, I have to give credit to whomever allowed Marketa Irglova to come back and give her portion of the acceptance. We’ve all gotten used to the music ushering winners from the stage, but someone made an exception tonight. What followed was eloquent, heart-felt, and was undoubtedly the highlight of the night for us.

httpv://youtube.com/watch?v=pe5ybN3eh-A

“Hi everyone. I just want to thank you so much. This is such a big deal, not only for us, but for all other independent musicians and artists that spend most of their time struggling, and this, the fact that we’re standing here tonight, the fact that we’re able to hold this, it’s just to prove no matter how far out your dreams are, it’s possible. And, you know, fair play to those who dare to dream and don’t give up. And this song was written from a perspective of hope, and hope at the end of the day connects us all, no matter how different we are. And so thank you so much, who helped us along way. Thank you.”

It doesn’t matter if you’re making movies, music, or software. Dream big - it’s possible.