If you’re interested in doing the same, check out the Anyone But Harper website. While I find some of the media clips to be over the top, their swing vote widget is very useful. Enter your postal code, and you’ll get a percentage breakdown of party popularity in your riding. If the widget suggests that you vote for your “Best Choice”, just click on the Detailed Reasoning link for the party breakdown.

Thanks to Amber MacArthur for interviewing the person behind anyonebutharper.ca

Apparently, peering into the metadata in the new Microsoft “I’m a PC” ad reveals that the video itself was produced on a Mac.

Ouch.

Here’s an article that goes into some detail.

Update: apparently the metadata appeared in the promotional photos for the ad on Microsoft’s website, not necessarily in the ad itself. Microsoft has since scrubbed the metadata from the photos.

We just finished our move to Port Moody, BC - a little suburb of Vancouver near Simon Fraser University. Downtown Vancouver was interesting but ultimately too expensive and not our style. Maybe we were living in the wrong part of downtown, but I really found it to lack the sense of community present in other urban centres… plus, the elevators in our shiny new building were always on the fritz, the fire alarms went off almost daily, and the apartment was too small.

So here we are in Port Moody. Rent is less and we have more space. Hardwood floors (well, laminate), which are a blessing because of the two cats (hairballs + rugs = ew). The Westcoast Express train gets us downtown in 20 minutes (the BC version of a Go-Train). There’s also a great pub nearby, and lots of walking and biking trails to explore.

Another change - we retired the old RAV4 yesterday and took possession of our new 2008 Mini Clubman. It looks like a stretched Mini Cooper, gets great gas mileage (hello Eco rebate!) and actually has a fair amount of storage inside. Plus, it’s just fun as hell to drive. Photos will be appearing online soon.

Think about that for a minute. 9.6 BILLION miles. That’s a big number, isn’t it? How big?

The average distance between the Earth and the Sun is referred to as an Astronomical Unit (AU) and is approximately 153 million kilometers, or 93 million miles. Dividing 9.6 billion by 93 million miles gives us 103.

In other words, in May 2008 Americans collectively made 103 fewer trips to the Sun than they did in May 2007.

That is just utterly mindboggling to me.

First, let me say that I’m big into open and free software platforms. I was a Linux system administrator and developer for years, and couldn’t have done my job without the openness of that platform. More recently, as a physics student I relied on many free software applications and platforms in my pursuit of my degree.

Now … this is probably one of the FSF’s worst ideas ever.

The Geniuses at the Apple Stores are there to answer technical questions from customers, not to be held accountable for Apple’s privacy and openness policies. By booking up their time you are effectively committing a Denial of Service attack against each and every store. Tell me FSF, do you consider this an acceptable way to behave online? Does Defective by Design advocate launching attacks against non-Free software websites? No? Then why is it OK to do in Real Life?

I know, I know. They’re trying to get Apple’s attention by tying up the Geniuses that day. But it certainly isn’t going to win any awards with the customers who won’t be able to get technical help. They’re not going to be too sympathetic to the FSF’s platform.

Finally, if (according to the FSF), the iPhone is such a terrible platform, why even bother with it at all? Apple isn’t going to open it up. That isn’t the way Apple operates. If you don’t like it, either use something else or even better: BUILD something else. Where is the FSF’s alternative to the iPhone’s operating system? Why does the OpenMoko platform suck so much? Instead of throwing all this energy into complaining about Apple, why not do something positive with it and build a viable alternative?

I wasn’t going to. Really. Honest. OK, well not at first that is…

Sure, the local Fido store was our first stop after we got back from vacation on July 11th. But it’s not like we camped out in line. We showed up around 3 in the afternoon, fully expecting that they would have sold out of iPhones much earlier in the day. Mostly, we just wanted to play with a demo unit and ask some questions.

Leo the sales guy was very helpful, apologized for not having any in stock (”No problem, we were just looking”), and offered to call us when he had more. So I gave him my phone number, knowing that the chances I’d hear back from Leo were infinitesimally small. Or so I thought.

Leo called me two days ago to tell me that he had set two iPhones aside for us. Turns out that Nat wasn’t eligible to upgrade her phone as she was already on contract with Fido. I on the other hand, had no such problem. With only 5 months to go in my Rogers contract, there was no issue in switching me over to Fido (yeah, yeah they’re the same company … but there are subtle differences in their billing systems that make me like Fido more).

I wouldn’t have upgraded if Fido was still planning to charge $60 a month for 400 mb of data … but with their 6 gb for $30 plan, I couldn’t resist. I know what you’re thinking and you’re right: I’m a sad, weak person with no willpower.

But at least I have a nice phone.

In other news: I purchased an HP2133 subnotebook. It definitely won’t replace my MacBook Pro, but it’s the perfect size for hauling to a local cafe for an afternoon of coding and surfing. I just wish the screen was readable in direct sunlight - I sense a lot of patio excursions in my near future.

We bought it from the fine folks at the Denman Bike Shop. I was told that they might be a little high-pressure, but really I think the owners are just that excited about bikes, and the store is incredibly busy for such a small spot.

I think we might have to go back there tomorrow to pick up my matching bike.

Minister of Industry Jim Prentice is obviously trying to put a very pro-Canadian positive spin on this, and at first glance I have to admit the bill didn’t look so bad. After you read the “fine print” though, you start to get a different picture.

One paragraph in Dick Harris’ response really jumped out at me:

With this Bill, you will be able to legally tape your favourite TV shows and movies, without fear of infringing copyrights. This Bill will also allow you and your family to take CD’s and songs purchased online and transfer them to your MP3 player, legally - - this Bill clarifies that this type of activity is legal in Canada.

I own an AppleTV, as well as a large DVD collection. I’ve spent a considerable amount of time copying my DVDs to an AppleTV-friendly format so that I only need one device hooked up to my TV in order to play back all my media. So the right to copy media I own between formats is very important to me. I initially found Dick Harris’ response encouraging, but thought I would double-check the actual bill to make sure. Here’s the relevant section:

29.21 (1) It is not an infringement of copyright for an individual to reproduce a work or other subject-matter that is a photograph or is contained in a book, newspaper, periodical or videocassette, or any substantial part of such a work or other subject-matter, onto another medium or device, if the following conditions are met:

 

(a) the copy of the work or other subject-matter of which the reproduction is made is not an infringing copy;

 

(b) the individual legally obtained the photograph, book, newspaper, periodical or videocassette, otherwise than by borrowing it or renting it, and owns the medium or device on which it is reproduced;

 

(c) the individual, in order to make the reproduction, did not circumvent a technolog- ical measure or cause one to be circumvented, within the meanings of the definitions “circumvent” and “technological measure” in section 41;

 

Everything looked good until I got to Part (c). Part(c) refers to technological measures meant to prevent copying, in other words Digital Rights Management (DRM). If while copying your own media to a new format, you “circumvent” the DRM, then you are in violation of the Copyright Act. As most large media companies already place some form of DRM on their audio and video, this in effect makes it illegal to copy most mainstream audio or video - even if it’s for your own personal use.

What this is really saying is that Canadians have the right to make reproductions of digital audio and video, unless a media corporation decides otherwise.

Think about that.