Some pics from the iPhone if you missed them on Flikr:
Virgin Economics
In a somewhat ironic twist, Virgin Mobile has set up a “lifestyle blog” called ScrewYouRecession.ca. Before you yell “Corporate shill”, I think it bears a good look. I know it’s a bit of a conundrum: “Here’s how you can save money during these desperate times, but buy our phones!” Hey, don’t we get out of a recession by spending a bit of dosh? Whatever your thoughts on fixing the crap we’re in, the site does offer some trendy and hip ways on saving cash-
(“To buy their phones!”)
Hush you.
ScrewYouRecession.ca reads like a slightly bitter Now Magazine in parts (see the review of Karl Largerfeld’s $1500 look-alike bear, or advocating sneaking snacks into the movies – not really okay yes but no), but there are nuggets of good advice within the folds. One article makes note of Freecycle, a Craigslist-style community where you post stuff you don’t need anymore for free. I’ve used that site a couple times and you could actually hear my karma levels rise.
Virgin has always been a bit of a conundrum in my mind. An extremely progressive company targeting a younger demographic through pop culture and social awareness, but a company geared toward profit, none the less. It’s founder, Sir Richard Branson has always been young thinking and young at heart which permeates Virgin’s marketing: Virgin Airways was one of the first airlines to offer in-flight internet access, and I dream of taking a trip on the geek-gasm named Virgin Galactic. ScrewYouRecession’s edgy play for the young dollar through assistance and information is just toeing the company line. Despite all the tips, funny articles and celebrity chatter, does it actually help youth deal with this depressing recession, hammered into our brains every time we’re exposed to any kind of media outlet? Or does it just add signal noise?
As I type this, the news just reported that the TSX rose today 61 points. So while the site’s helpful tips are welcome, lets hope they’ll not be needed for long.
Benny Hillification
From the voice of Dr Venture, James Urbaniak, comes The Benny Hillifier: Close Shave!
Webclips!
Are you viewing DeadRobot.com or SharkBoy.ca with your Safari enabled iPhone or iPod Touch? Take a moment and make a shortcut on your springboard by touching the “+” at the bottom and choosing “Add To Home Screen”
I know you’ve already done so, but indulge me and make a new one, you won’t be sorry.
Bad Mood
…and you should be too!
Here’s why:
I’m baffled why this man is holding any sort of seat of power at all, let alone Science Minister. His refusal to respond to a basic science theory (I’ll call it theory for you Creationists), of which all scientists of any credibility believe to be fact, just shows ponderous ignorance towards his position. Let’s get someone in there who can at least respond to questions with aplomb and intelligence.
Let’s continue on in that vein, shall we? An Immigration Minister who has spouted hate will not pepper his decisions regarding the applications of people he’s bad mouthed? I find that extremely hard to believe. Hey! As a good religious man I am sure he will not let his prejudices get in the way!
Dances With The Stars sucks this season. Even with Woz on it. Belinda should have stayed and glue-huffing-for-a-dollar Steve-O should have walked. ‘Nuf said.
You Americans are dealing with AIG’s utter arrogance towards their bailout, like a bratty child at Xmas tossing aside it’s under appreciated gift from an angry aunt. We in Canada have to deal with Chrysler Canada making threats of pulling out of Canada if they’re not given money to continue to make shitty product. So far, they’ve asked for the money and provided very little in the way of confidence that the bailout will go towards creating innovative product.
I open my Twitter account to find an entry from Davewordswords: davewordswords: Smokey lead quite a life. Farewell to the six-fingered, bat-catching Haligonian cat.
Yes it’s a long post about someone’s cat. But it’s well written and ends on such a bittersweet note that I gulped back tears and pretended to suffer from allergies. Bite me, Davewordswords (kidding…).
It’s Wednesday. I need a cuddle.
TTC Handy!
Did you know that they use to guestimate where busses were located on their routes by the number of wheel turns they executed? Neanderthal!
Now, with the installation of GPS into most TTC vehicles, you can now accurately know when the next bus hits your stop!
BlogTO popped this little gem of an “app” (and by App, I mean iPhone homescreen web link) called NextBus (beta). Choose your route, choose your bus stop and then marvel at the amount of time you have available to waste before the next bus. I’ve been trying it on my home stop this morning and have noticed that the three estimated times for arrival refreshes independently from each other – you can actually see streetcars bunch up like a $2 whore’s panties!
Where was this when I was waiting in the frigging cold last winter?!
Update: From Torontoist, always digging deeper, is a live map! Marvel in the short turns!
Update #2: Site has taken off 99% of all the Toronto Routes. Will they bring them back? I hope so!
CP24 To Offer Breakfast Television Some Youthful Competition?
First, let me preface this post by apologizing to all my non-Toronto readers. Go look at my Flickr account, this post will not interest you.
I’ve steadily been having a big hate-on for Breakfast Television since it’s sale to Rogers and its long, slow departure from CityTV/CTV while remaining on CTV’s news channel. The choppy and awkward station ID/commercial flips between the two has been like trying to track a schizophrenic family member’s conversation who hasn’t taken their meds in months. For the last month or so, any fan of Breakfast Television who watches on the CP24 channel will have noticed that when BT goes to commercial, CP24 kicks in with “More On CP24!” teasers of weather and traffic.
Let’s just get past the fact that the bumper title is dangerously close to “MORON CP24!” if you’re not watching the screen closely…
Besides being utterly maladroit (like that? I have Thesuarus.com open), these extra reports of traffic and weather are an additional assault of already mentioned information (it’s fucking scrolling across the bottom already!!), jazzed up with an odd segment of Cam Woolley driving around town and talking about traffic (different idea but utterly useless: “Here’s a live feed of us stuck in traffic on the DVP!”).
I’ve posted before about how BT gets my ire: particularly Kevin “I Don’t Live In Toronto” Frankish and his need to revolve the show around himself. Even his post-show blog (full of terminology errors – he calls his video posts “blogs”), gets my blood boiling. I’m really glad he’s trying to get on board with the whole Web 2.0, new technology thing but it’s becoming unwatchable, like your parent trying to email a photo off their hard drive (no offense dad!!). I have to admit in the last while, I’ve hopped over to Canada AM and have become dangerously close to accepting their dry, conservative pap as my morning ritual.
Until this morning there was a ray of hope…
This morning during a CP24 bumper, in between the weather and traffic, there were two young somethings chatting amicably about their fantastic weekend and how great the weather was. I missed their names and the segment lasted only a minute, but they got my attention… They were young, well dressed, good looking, bright, smiling, energetic and so NOT like the current Breakfast Television crew, that my heart beat faster.
Is CP24 going to cut loose BT and have their own breakfast show of goodlookings 20-30somethings? I’m hoping that CP24 is grooming young bucks to offer a breath of fresh air from curmudgeonly Kevin “I’m Old and at no way at all a Metrosexual” Frankish? Can Dina transfer over to that show if they do? She’s the only reason I’ve hung on so long.
B9’s Day Out
We took one of our many robots out into the world today, into the bright sunshine and lovely weather. Enjoy!
Saline Saturday Night
We’re watching “Trantasia” a documentary about The Worlds Most Beautiful Transsexual. It’s funny, sad and interesting all at the same time.
Make Your PS3 Work Overtime
Have you hooked up your PS3 to your computer via Windows Media Player and discovered that some (or most) of your videos won’t play? It’s baffling how one AVI will play yet another isn’t recognized due to some encoding used on the video.
I’ll let you in on a secret: From Boing Boing Gadgets I learned of PS3 Media Server, an open source, free, multi-encoding app that will make virtually any video play on the PS3. I swear to god, it was a one click set up from the download (there are minor tweaks you can do when you dive into the FAQ section – me being on a single core processor). I loaded it, it found the PS3, and it meshed without effort. The info page boasts basic XBox360 support too, but I haven’t tried it yet.
So far, the only file format I found it can’t process is a flat DVD ISO file. It doesn’t process larger files smoothly due to my single core processor (it would either make the screen flicker or would stall out the video as it played) but you can adjust the compression to allow for that but don’t expect TV quality video.
You may thank me with kisses.