Dining Room Table Reviews – Nokia N900 Smartphone
It’s been available on YouTube for a while now. Enjoy!
Just be advised there might be a serious design flaw with the microUSB connector. More info here.
Next up, an iPad maybe? Hello Apple?
Haiti Disaster Relief – Watch Out For Scams!
By François Caron | January 15th, 2010 | News | No Comments
On Tuesday, January 12 2010, at 4:53 PM local time, the nation of Haiti was hit by a magnitude 7.0 earthquake, the epicenter located near the capital city of Port-au-Prince, resulting in massive destruction and an estimated fifty thousand people dead. Even government buildings, normally the most reinforced structures of any nation, were either severely damaged or completely destroyed by the quake.
Haiti is the poorest nation of the Americas that, once you study its history in detail, doesn’t appear to have ever gotten a decent break. Once a former French slave colony, the Haitian population managed to fight their way to freedom and independence, only to be ruled by successive and brutal dictators for many, many years. Even after successfully expelling their last dictator some twenty years ago, massive government corruption and ever increasing criminal activity has successfully kept the population poor and destitute, resulting in a rebellion and the technical loss of a ruling government, with a UN Peacekeeping Force now attempting to bring stability and security to the small nation.
Along with Hurricane Jeanne in 2004 and Hurricane Gustav in 2008, the population now has to survive the aftermath of one of the deadliest earthquakes ever recorded. With dead bodies strewn all over, no electricity, sporadic communications, little water, little food, no sanitary services, and severely crippled health services, the number of death resulting from the aftermath of the quake could increase dramatically over the next few weeks if action isn’t taken immediately to bring as much relief as possible to the population as quickly as possible.
Unfortunately, low-lives wanting to cash in on the disaster have already set up dummy Web sites and are spreading fraudulent email spam asking for “donations,” money that will line the pockets of these individuals instead of helping out the destitute Haitian population. Do not become a victim of these fraudsters! Watch out for the warning signs and take action!
So if you want to donate money to legitimate organisations such as the Canadian Red Cross or Doctors Without Borders, use the organisation’s name in a reputable search engine if you don’t know their exact Web address (not all addresses end with .com). Very often, the organisation’s Web site will be listed amongst the first few links.
Don’t fall for scam jobs! Make sure your donation is heading to the people of Haiti, and not in the pockets of a heartless criminal!
Show Idea – O Canada
Yes, this is what’s played when the service signs on or off the air, so it’s not really what one would call a proper television show. But why use the same, stuffy O Canada segment normally provided by the federal government? Why not allow Canadians themselves to produce their own rendition of our national anthem?
The only drawback with this concept is that anyone leaving their television set operating overnight may be in for a rude awakening when the service signs on in the morning and the O Canada happens to be performed by a Heavy Metal band.
All submissions will be considered and properly credited if accepted.
Live Broadcast Now Available
You can now view the channel’s live broadcast on-line. Simply click on the “Watch Live!” menu option just above.
This feature will only work on Web browsers supporting the HTML5 video tag feature. The latest versions of Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome should properly support this feature. Microsoft Internet Explorer and Apple Safari however do not currently support the HTML5 video tag. And it might take a while before either browser manufacturer decides to provide full support considering both Microsoft and Apple already offer proprietary video streaming solutions specifically designed for their respective platforms.
You may also watch the broadcast with the VLC Media Player. Simply open a network stream to the address http://38.104.152.86.
A note to cable television distributors. A high bandwidth, broadcast quality version of this stream is now available upon request. The proposed codecs are Theora video with Vorbis audio, packaged in an Ogg container. All of these formats may be used in any application of your choice completely royalty-free.
The Channel is Launched
This day is dedicated to my late father, Jean Caron.
Broadcast streams are now available to all qualified cable providers. Please email us with your company information in order to gain access to all of the available streams.
The current broadcast system is still very much in beta mode, so don’t be surprised if occasional “crashes” are encountered for a while. The system will undergo constant improvements during the following weeks, incorporating many of the features normally found on major broadcast channels along with a few interesting surprises.
In order to properly view and process the current broadcast stream, you’ll need to download and install the VLC Media Player, and you’ll require a minimum of 4 Mbps of reliable Internet bandwidth. Integrating the stream into your distribution system however will require further research, which is why we’re asking for plenty of information on the equipment set-ups currently installed at many of the nation’s cable providers.
We would especially appreciate receiving electronic versions of your equipment’s instruction manuals if you can legally provide them. You may already possess the appropriate gear to properly interpret and process the broadcast stream in its native form, making the integration of this channel’s daily broadcast into your distribution system an almost seamless operation.
The initial streaming tests performed during the past few weeks have clearly demonstrated that this new approach to television distribution is surprisingly reliable and flexible. Even live broadcasts are a definite possibility, a feature that wasn’t initially required in the original specifications.
Is this the future of broadcast television distribution? That’s left to be determined. One thing’s for certain however. The enormous cost savings incurred by using the Internet as a distribution network instead of more traditional technologies makes it worthwhile to invest further time and money in this venture.
A great big thanks goes to all the people who have encouraged me — and who continue to encourage me — to pursue this new and exciting business venture.
Stay tuned!
Launch Date Rescheduled
Because of problems and delays in obtaining the computer equipment required for the automated broadcast system, the initial launch date has been rescheduled for November 13, 2009.
November 13 is a Friday.
No, I’m not superstitious.
Time to Sell the Channel — Big Time!
From September 20 to September 22, the CCSA will hold its conference and annual general meeting at the White Oak Resort in Niagara-by-the-Lake, Ontario, where representatives from the nation’ independent cable providers will meet and discuss the latest issues regarding their industry.
It is also the time of the year where many representatives outside the cable industry will meet to promote their products and services to the various cable companies in attendance.
That includes television channels such as this one.
For the next few days, we’ll be posting updates on this channel’s progress in obtaining as many distributors as possible for its upcoming national broadcast launch. But instead of being posted on our blog, we’ll be posting them on Twitter for which the latest entries will be listed at the top of the middle column.
For those attending the conference, here are the links to the documents that were mentioned, all available in the Adobe PDF format.
Have a great conference.
Coming Close to an Official Launch Date
We’re almost there.
The official launch date is now tentatively set for October 13, 2009.
So what has happened recently?
We’ve managed to gather a set of software components that will allow us to launch a minimum service, including the possibility of a regularly scheduled television show. We’ve also found at least two separate computer equipment suppliers who can satisfy the channel’s initial hardware requirements. Even the choice of a datacenter and Internet service provider are very close to be finalized.
It’s not certain at this time if this launch will include the live television broadcast component, but it will definitely include the live Internet streaming component which will be satisfactory as a proof of concept.
Stay tuned!
Les Lye, 1924-2009
Les Lye, Ottawa area actor and comedian, died on July 21, 2009 at the age of 84. Many of you may have never heard of him, but for those who have, he will be fondly remembered.
Born in Toronto as Leslie Earnest Lye in 1924, Les was an actor and comedian whose performances have successfully reached an international audience despite working almost exclusively in the Ottawa area. He worked in both radio and television since 1948, starting out with Frank Ryan’s team on Ottawa radio station CFRA.
In 1961, he moved on to television when he joined the new Ottawa television station CJOH-TV as a freelance writer and performer where he met Bill Luxton. Five years later, the two were asked to produce a replacement children show, and the long running show Uncle Willy & Floyd was born.
In 1979, Les Lye began working on You Can’t Do That on Television, a children’s(?) television show that was way ahead of its time, and which is fondly remembered by many Ottawa area children who are now between 30 and 50 years of age.
Les played alongside Abby Hagyard as one of the two only adult cast members in a show predominantly populated by children (a hundred of them during the show’s entire run), playing all of the adult male roles such as Barth the cook, the Dad, Mr. Schidtler the teacher, Nasti the Executioner, and Ross the stage director just to name a few. His ability to change acting styles to suit each character was pretty remarkable.
The show reached international acclaim when in 1981, the newly launched US cable channel Nickelodeon picked up the show for national broadcast. From there, Les’ characters became household names for children across the North American continent.
YCDTOT is one of the shows that made me believe that it was still possible for Canadians to produce Canadian made content that not only reflected our values and beliefs, but which also could make us laugh out loud at some of the craziest antics ever seen on television, on a children’s show no less! And while this may not have been Les’ favourite show in his career, it was definitely a favourite for many children of the time who discovered that children’s television didn’t have to be the dull and bland landscape that it was back in the late seventies and early eighties.
Les, thank you so much for making us happy even if it was only for half an hour at a time.
