0.38 - The guys get started with talk about the news of a potential BCE / Telus merger.

1.01 - Duncan talks about private equity’s interest in Bell and their inability to cut costs the same way that Telus could because they would lack the same synergy that combining Telus and BCE would have, which gives Telus has the ability to bid much higher than other players. 

3.17 - What will the merger mean to foreign ownership restrictions in Canada? 

3.39 – Duncan suggests if the merger goes through there will be the potential for other carriers to follow suit.

3.55 – Canada could end up with 2 or 3 national players which will mean less choice for consumers, higher costs and layoffs.

4.20 – The guys discuss the current environment and the fact that Canada is already priced as though it were in a monopoly situation, can we expect prices to go even higher?

5.10 – Duncan talks about Stephen Harper and the Tories general Western-based roots, they would love to see Eastern-based Bell be bought out by Western players. 

5.53 - Harper is an economic nationalist and has received flack in the past for letting assets such as Inco go.

6.04 – Setting the stage for a national player in telecom will help motivate the government to take down take down international barriers to allow them to eventually ease foreign ownership regulations.

6.27 – The Federal government is encouraging creation of a large national player in telecom that can compete internationally, how will it affect the banking sector?

7.07 – Talk of Telus CEO Darren Entwistle’s rise from regional VP at Cable & Wireless to potentially becoming the King of Canadian telecom if the merger with BCE goes through.

7.46 – The guys wonder how Entwistle will get along with BCE CEO George Cope … 

8.44 – More CEO chat.  Announcement that co-founder of Yahoo, Jerry Yang, has replaced Terry Semel as the new CEO of Yahoo.

9.25 – Semel’s demise came when he didn’t buy Google. 

10.03 – Most companies don’t do well when the founder of the company steps back in as CEO.  The one exception to the rule being, Apple’s Steve Jobs.

10.30 - Talk that Yahoo will get out of the search business and focus on ad revenue instead.

10.52 – Mark suggests the issue with Yahoo is it has lost its personality and become very corporate, whereas Google despite being big business, is still seen as a dynamic, fun company.

12.02 – Interesting that Canadian tech company Cognos blame their luke warm 2^nd Quarter forecasts on the rise of the Canadian dollar.    Conducting research and development in Ottawa has always been cheap, but the rising dollar is affecting the cost.

Audio or text comments for Mark, Kevin and Duncan can be emailed to heytalkingtech@gmail.com.

Our announcer is the lovely Amber Mac and the music is No Mojo by Anthony Stauffer and Holy Smoke which is available on the pod safe music network.

 

0.27 – Mark is back with Duncan. Kevin has taken the week off but will back next week. The subject of the week is the Canadian Telecom Summit which raised the issue of broadband Internet access, pricing and availability.

1.42 – Duncan thinks tiered pricing, depending on usage, is going to be difficult to implement in the short term. He thinks the answer for the cable companies will lie with Sandvine’s network management service.

3.24 – Mark brings up the lack of competition in the Canadian telco industry.

4.02 – The only reason the Toronto One Zone wi-max service is any good is because no-one uses it!

4.35 – How much will people pay for broadband? Do the carriers have their consumers by the balls?

5.28 – Duncan brings up the public policy issue of equality of access. Fiber tubes could be laid down in the big cities – thus alienating the more rural towns.

6.15 – Mark bemoans the dwindling rate of broadband penetration, due to a lack of innovation, lack of choice, and a low price. Duncan agrees.

7.23 – The guys segue into the wireless market – does Canada need or want a fourth carrier? Quebecor and MTS think it does and wants to be able to buy wireless spectrum. Money quote from Bell’s Lawson Hunter - “Where we you when Microcell was for sale in 2004?�

8.46 – Duncan thinks any outside player should be able to go to the regulator and ask to be sold wireless spectrum to break up the existing oligarchy. He doesn’t think it’ll matter because if the fourth carrier is successful, one of the big three will just buy it out anyway.

10.36 – Mark references an article that suggests Nortel CEO Mike Zafirovski will jump ship and go to run Qwest. Duncan doesn’t see it happening, but admits it can’t be a lot of fun to run Nortel right now.

13.21 – The guys discuss a rumour that Nortel CTO John Roese is being groomed as the next CEO. Duncan thinks that is about 3-5 years down the line.

14.02 – He then segues onto another rumour that Intel is slashing its prices by 50 per cent and that the semiconductor industry will grow by just 1.8 per cent in the next 12 months. Mark wonders about the motivations behind Intel’s move, Duncan thinks it’s a reaction to AMD’s “poking of the bear�.

16.10 – He also thinks that Intel feels AMD is close enough to going under, Intel may be able to push them off the cliff. Would the investors let AMD go bankrupt? Duncan thinks the debt is too high for the PE crowd to come in and make money from any deal.

Audio or text comments for Mark, Kevin and Duncan can be emailed to heytalkingtech@gmail.com.

Our announcer is the lovely Amber Mac and the music is No Mojo by Anthony Stauffer and Holy Smoke which is available on the pod safe music network.

0.32 - It’s just Mark and Kevin this week as Duncan is away at a television engagement.

0.47 - Mark is excited to hear Kevin’s take on the big tech news of the week; the official launch of Apple’s iPhone.

1.01 - Kevin really wants one, but disappointed to know it will be locked to which ever network Apple deals with and while it can be used on other networks, a lot of the features would not be enabled.

1.45 - Kevin reminds us the issue with Apple is always supply and demand, they’re great at building hype, but never have enough.

2.20 - Mark asks about the high price and if it will affect consumer interest. 

2.50 – The guys discuss why consumers are willing to pay higher prices.  Kevin thinks the real trend in IT right now is in design, and people will pay a premium for functionality advantages. 

3.58 – A few more concerns with the iPhone to mention, Kevin isn’t sold on the touch screen and thinks it will take some getting used to.

4.15 – The big question, when will Canadians be able to get it? Kevin foresees it on the market before Christmas if Rogers and Apple can strike a deal.  But Mac has a history of holding back products from Canada, such as the iTunes store.

5.12 – Talk that Telus will hook up with W-CDMA network.  It could have leverage in negotiations with Rogers giving them the advantage on the wireless front.

6.14 - Mark talks about his lack of excitement over the eminent $30 Billion dollar take over of BCE and the recent involvement of the Teachers.

7.40 - Kevin talks about private equity firms going after telecom companies.

8.51 – Mark wonders what the new owners will do with it? 

9.26 - Mark thinks private equity firms might also go after Telus and thinks it is a much more exciting story because of the inclusion of Telus Mobility. Kevin thinks it’s a possibility.

10.27 – Kevin wonders about the future if there are changes to the Foreign Ownership Restrictions and the inclusion of big US carriers.

11.10 - Mark talks about his weekend blog post about banning the internet at work in response to several companies including TD and the City of Toronto’s move to ban employees from using Facebook.  Is Facebook the problem or is the problem employers not trusting their employees?

12.40 - Kevin suggests that companies could ban personal web surfing at work but people would still find a way to waste time.  The onus is on the employer to engage their employees.

13.35 - Mark sums it up, it all comes down to whether you get the job done or not.

15.57 - Mark asks Kevin for his impressions of the MESH Conference which happened in Toronto last week.

16.35 - Kevin thought the sessions were well run and a great bang for his buck. 

17.38 - Mark talks about why they tried to keep the price reasonable in order to reach young entrepreneurs and give them the chance to network.

18.10 - Mark mentions reading on Start Up North that the Toronto Venture Group has filed for bankruptcy protection and wonders if there is enough of an ecosystem in Toronto to support the tech start up world?

19.00 - Kevin points out there is smaller pool to draw from in Canada, there are still great entrepreneurs that need to be spotted, and it’s important to keep them with in Canada.

Audio or text comments for Mark, Kevin and Duncan can be emailed to heytalkingtech@gmail.com.

Our announcer is the lovely Amber Mac and the music is No Mojo by Anthony Stauffer and Holy Smoke which is available on the pod safe music network.

 

0.32 – Mark et al are back with apologies for their absence last week and news that Jim Balsillie has taken another run at buying an NHL team.

1.45 – Duncan reminds us of the legion of tech entrepreneurs who used their success to buy professional sports teams only to see their stock price tank. Duncan’s interested in seeing the market’s reaction to this news.

2.44 – Mark goes back to the theory that Balsillie will move the Preds up to Waterloo. He’s also interested in the different paths Balsillie and Lazaridis are taking now RIM has been such a huge success.

4.10 – Balsillie is the business guy while Lazaridis is more focused on the engineering. Kevin questions Balsillie’s choice to take the eye off the ball when so many competitors are catching up to the Blackberry.

4.53 – Mark brings up Google’s $3.9m investment into biotech start up 23andMe, which was founded by Sergey Brin’s wife. Duncan points out the amount is less than a rounding error on Google’s market cap and that the new company is not a biotech company, but a bioinformatics company and sees some synergies between the two companies.

6.59 – The guys move onto Google’s $100m acquisition of FeedBurner, the RSS distribution and advertising company. The buy comes in the wake of other online advertising acquisitions including Microsoft’s $6bn purchase of aQuantive.

8.02 – Kevin thinks this shows the explosion of online advertising and Duncan compares the size of these acquisitions with the global advertising companies. He also thinks that this points to a huge feeding frenzy in the online advertising market.

9.07 – Mark finds it interesting that Google can walk in and buy Feedburner and DoubleClick, two prime targets in the advertising market. Duncan thinks it talks to the currency Google has and the multiple that its stock trades at.

10.13 – Kevin asks who’d you rather work for – Google or Microsoft. He makes a good comparison that Google is the new Microsoft; Microsoft is the old IBM. Duncan points out that it’s been uncool to work at Microsoft for more than a decade now but it’s still cool to work at Google.

11.26 – Duncan brings up Zarlink, the former MyTel semiconductor vendor that sells to the telecom space, who reported a very poor quarter despite cost cutting and asset selling to get back in the black. He can’t see any light at the end of the tunnel for the telco industry.

12.35 – Duncan reflects on the telecom industry’s growth which some data suggests will either be at zero per cent or, in fact, be negative.

12.55 – Mark heralds Toronto Tech Week including mesh (now sold out) and the Canadian New Media Awards. He hopes the sell out nature of mesh reflects the enthusiasm that is surrounding the Internet right now.

14.30 – Duncan plugs a conference around municipal use of WiFi happening early next week and Mark takes the opportunity to slam Toronto Hydro’s WiFi network in downtown Toronto.

Audio or text comments for Mark, Kevin and Duncan can be emailed to heytalkingtech@gmail.com.

Our announcer is the lovely Amber Mac and the music is No Mojo by Anthony Stauffer and Holy Smoke which is available on the pod safe music network.

0.37 – Encouraging signs for bloggers as Mark got an invitation from Nortel for its “Tech Day�. He could go but Duncan checked out a talk from John Rose on “hyperconnectivity� – all broadband, all the time.

1.14 – Mark wonders if this is just a marketing term or if it can give Nortel a competitive edge. Duncan thinks that current 3G networks don’t provide the experience users want so there is a market and Nortel’s technology seems to have a jump on its competitors.

3.19 – Kevin weighs in with a carrier’s perspective. Which is less rosie for Nortel small product set. He’s skeptical on Nortel’s outlook.

4.44 – Duncan thinks Nortel is focused on its R&D efforts and that while it’s a coherent strategy, it’s too soon to judge.

6.59 – Mark plunges into the acronym pool with questions on IPTV and VOIP. Duncan he saw some interesting stuff on the next generation of VOIP.

7.13 – The guys jump onto the social network bandwagon and Facebook in particular. Mark wants to know why the Ontario provincial government banned Facebook.

8.27 – Kevin think organizations are afraid of the inordinate amount of time that people spend on social networks but it’s still a valid means of communications.

8.46 – Duncan thinks it’s important to try out the social network rather than just talk about the technology. Like any technology, it’s just as important to shut off as it is to sign up.

9.55 – Mark brings up MySpace’s push into Canada and Duncan talks about the licensing issues that the company needed to navigate before launching. He’s worried that it’s too late for the News Corp company to (re)gain market share on Facebook.

10.54 – Kevin thinks this is more about the faddish nature of social networking sites. “We’ll be here all week� is Duncan’s take on that.

11.37 – Facebook’s announcement of free classifieds generated a lot of excitement and Mark asks if this is another blow to the traditional newspaper industry. Duncan doesn’t think the average Facebook user has either money or assets but does think that social networks need to start getting some of both.

15.56 – Mark dips into the gutter and comes up with Internet porn. He cites a study that shows just how much the Web is used for gambling and sex. Is there an investment opportunity here?

13.59 – Duncan provides a cautionary tale for anyone looking to invest in the “sin business�. Is the Internet maturing past porn and gambling?

15.15 – Mark is impressed how the porn and gambling industry has pushed the boundaries of technology on the Internet.

15.58 – Just to end the episode off on a high Duncan wonders if he can hear the sound of one hand typing.

Audio or text comments for Mark, Kevin and Duncan can be emailed to heytalkingtech@gmail.com.

Our announcer is the lovely Amber Mac and the music is No Mojo by Anthony Stauffer and Holy Smoke which is available on the pod safe music network.

 

0.28 – All three of the boys are back for another week of Talking Tech. They kick things off with “old� news of Rupert Murdoch’s $5bn bid for Dow Jones. Duncan gives us his thoughts on the deal which is about the data, not the publishing business.

2.42 – Kevin compares the Dow bid with Reuters’ M&A talk. He thinks more people will enter the bidding for Dow Jones while Mark looks at Murdoch’s News Corp empire’s make up and wonders if a bigger synergy is at work?

3.55 – No. Duncan thinks the Dow Jones is a jewel in Murdoch’s crown with no bigger picture. Duncan compares the cost of the print paper with the cost of the Dow’s data feed (3:200 in his estimation).

4.58 – Mark brings up Nortel’s Q1 results but he’s more interested in the bullish nature of CEO, Mike Zafirovski, in the AGM that the markets picked up on. Duncan takes a deep dive into the numbers and reveals a small, but trending, improvement.

7.36 – Mark is skeptical of the telecom space in general, not just of Nortel. Duncan thinks the telecom space isn’t just volatile – it’s a market in decline due to the technological efficiencies developed in the last boom.

9.13 – Kevin is also skeptical and wonders how Nortel can differentiate itself in the market. He also thinks it is a second tier player after the distracting accounting problems. If you didn’t know, Cisco, Erikson, Alcatel and Lucent are the top tier companies.

10.03 – Duncan shifts gears to the Microsoft-Yahoo! M&A chatter. Mark thinks Microsoft is a good acquirer of software but their acquisition record in other areas is…spotty. He is curious how two such big companies can integrate.

11.44 – Kevin thinks it shows how badly Microsoft missed the boat in online advertising. He calls it two online search garbage trucks colliding. Microsoft doesn’t get any synergies from the deal, just users. While Google is looking to merge their on- and offline search, Microsoft and Yahoo! are simply trying to get people to use their engines.

13.38 – Mark brings up “The Curve�, RIM’s new pro-sumer device. Kevin thinks the market is ripe for any smart phone above the $250 price point but doesn’t think it has the cache of an iPhone.

14.33 – Duncan thinks this will herald a goldrush of smart phones. He points out that a success for RIM or Apple will be 7 million units while a success for Nokia needs to be 100m units.

15.30 – Mark reminds us that the Blackberry isn’t about the handset; it’s about the data plan. Kevin chimes in on the massive cost of data in Canada vs. the U.S.

Audio or text comments for Mark, Kevin and Duncan can be emailed to heytalkingtech@gmail.com.

Our announcer is the lovely Amber Mac and the music is No Mojo by Anthony Stauffer and Holy Smoke which is available on the pod safe music network.

0.30 – Mark and Duncan are back (still no Kevin) to talk about the good quarterly results from Apple and Microsoft.

1.12 – Is Apple’s growth sustainable or is just a fad? Duncan compares Apple to Madonna and thinks that, for now, its growth is sustainable BUT, will the hype around the iPhone bring the whole house of cards down?

2.37 – Mark brings up the movie Helvetica and every design person interviewed had their trusty Mac in screen. He thinks that the iPod gave users permission to buy Mac computers and wonders if the iPhone could take that permission away?

3.51 – How will the stock options controversy affect the Mac aura? If Steve Jobs needs to step down, Duncan predicts Apple’s stock will drop $30 - $40 in a day.

5.27 – Mark asks Duncan to explain why so many wealthy, high profile execs back date stock options. Duncan explains that the accounting rules have changed and now back dating options can put a hit on the company’s earnings.

7.01 – Mark is surprised so many people are so surprised at Microsoft’s success, which was largely driven by Vista. Duncan explains Vista’s attractiveness to the consumer and reseller – as illustrated by Microsoft’s software revenues growing 69 per cent.

9.35 – Duncan reminds us that the entertainment side of Microsoft’s business isn’t doing so well – its revenues dropped 20 per cent.

10.01 – The guys move onto the strategy behind the Nintendo Wii. Instead of competing with high end graphics machines such as the Xbox 360, the company dumbed down its product and went after everyday consumers. Duncan uses this as a classic case of disruption – coming up with a just good enough product, rather than a perfect product.  Another example of this is Slacker a satellite radio/mp3 player combination.

12.35 – Dalsa lost its CEO this week and this is a great springboard for discussion on the changing landscape of the Canadian tech CEO ecosystem. Duncan doesn’t think there is a single CEO of a public company has been in office for more than 10 years and thinks this talks to the need for management talent in Canada.

14.34 – Local entrepreneur Randy Charles Morren’s RSS email service, Rmail, gets some love from Mark after selling the company to NBC Universal.

12.28 – Duncan has a new job at Deloitte as Director of Canadian Research for Technology, Media, Telecommunications and Life Sciences. He’ll be writing some original research but will also be Canadianizing global research and meeting with up and coming businesses.

Audio or text comments for Mark, Kevin and Duncan can be emailed to heytalkingtech@gmail.com.

Our announcer is the lovely Amber Mac and the music is No Mojo by Anthony Stauffer and Holy Smoke which is available on the pod safe music network.

0.25 – Mark, Kevin and Duncan are back with a discussion of what were the Blackberry’s users doing during the down time this week?

1.55 – Duncan wonders if there is an architectural reason for the service going down and staying down. If the software and the system doesn’t scale, how will this affect the stock price?

2.45 – Kevin wasn’t affected by the outage, and still thinks a Blackberry is the most effective email device out there. Mark is curious to know if RIM needs to make a major investment in its architecture?

5.59 – BCE is now in play with private equity investors ready to spend up to $30bn on the company. Mark can’t see the value for investors in a low growth company in competitive markets.

7.02 – Duncan thinks that the fact BCE hasn’t grown is a reason for people to buy into the company. Cutting costs, slashing jobs and spinning off assets like Bell Mobility are all things that smart people are putting forward to extract value.

8.38 – Kevin thinks that no matter what happens, the situation is indicative of a lack of confidence in the management team.

9.07 – Duncan brings up another angle – John Henderson of Scotiabank is suggesting BCE take over Telus to form “BELUS� – but doubts the current management team would be that aggressive.

9.51 – Mark wonders what Darren Entwistle would next do if that happened. Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg is a big fan of his so he could go south of the border as an SVP.

10.35 – Kevin doesn’t think Telus wants to be taken over. The board is happy with the team and the company has just got over the hump of challenges that BCE is now facing.

11.12 – Could Michael Sabia have done anymore to improve the company in the eyes of the institutional investors?  Kevin thinks that the company missed the boat on Microcell and that it’s slow on migrating to GSM networks.

12.56 – Duncan pushes back on Mark’s assertion that there’s no value to leverage out of BCE by pointing out that debt is no barrier to success. The prospect of being hanged in the morning is a great way to sharpen the mind.

13.37 – He uses Rogers as an example before revealing the secret to making money out of BCE and Telus… (13.37)

14.14 - The guys move onto a lighter topic – the acquisition of StumbleUpon by eBay for $40m. Mark uses it as a way to rail against the Canadian VC market. As a former VC, Duncan has an interesting perspective.

15.11 – Mark admits that Canadian VCs such as the one’s that funded b5media, Brightspark and JLA, are starting to get it and by investing in b5media, put a stake in the ground.

Audio or text comments for Mark, Kevin and Duncan can be emailed to heytalkingtech@gmail.com.

Our announcer is the lovely Amber Mac and the music is No Mojo by Anthony Stauffer and Holy Smoke which is available on the pod safe music network.

0.32 – Mark is back with Duncan Stewart. 

1.23 – The guys start off with the consolidation of the Canadian software industry and the sale of one of Mark’s stocks, Work Brain by Infor.  

3.05 – Duncan laments the investor’s choice of Canadian enterprise software companies. Mark brings up the problem with the Canadian software industry – to scale you need to sell to the U.S. which is when you’ll attract the attention of an acquirer. 

4.09 – Is Canada the farm team for the global software industry? Canada certainly seems to be able to nurture small companies who get acquired once they become a mid-sized software company. 

4.24 – RIM and Nortel managed to stay in Canada but Duncan is worried about the lack of obvious star companies coming into the “farm systemâ€?. 

5.20 – Mark goes back to an old hobby horse – the poor venture capital environment for tech start ups in Canada. He talks about AdScape, a company that moved to the U.S. but kept its R&D in Canada. When it was bought by Google, Canada didn’t see any of the benefits. 

6.04 – The Canadian VC/Angel community hasn’t seen too much success that would recycle the available money through the system and start new companies. Duncan points out that the technology pool in Canada is very small. 

6.55 – The guys segue onto the iPhone. Mark doesn’t see the handset market replicating the conditions that the iPod succeeded in. Duncan says that the iPod raised the bar for Apple and the iPhone. 

7.11 – He’s curious to know how long the “coolâ€? factor will last and how Apple will get into the carrier’s distribution channel. He points to RIM as the case study for getting a carrier to pimp their product. 

8.56 – Mark is worried about the cost of the iPhone. Will the carriers subsidize it in the same way as the Blackberry is subsidized? As an enterprise device, the user rarely sees their bill at the end of the month; the iPhone is more of a consumer device. 

9.40 – Duncan is concerned that the iPhone’s WiFi offering may actually be a nail in its coffin. Because users would be able to circumvent the carrier’s network, they would get cheap calls through Skype. The carriers would hate that. 

11.20 – Why would the carriers subsidize a product that would kill their profit margins? 

12.00 – Mark brings up Rogers’ new wireless webcam which was launched by William Shatner last week. He’s not sold on the video and wireless connection.  

13.33 – EMI and non-DRM mp3 music tracks is the next topic for discussion. Bob Lefsetz ranted that music should be getting cheaper to encourage experimentation. 

14.09 – Duncan illustrates his point with the fact that Vladimir Ashkenazy’s 1971 complete recital of Beethoven is in the top 100 songs on iTunes. The album is more than 10 hours of music, and was making the company zero dollars at its previous $100 price but is a huge hit at $29.99. 

14.50 – Mark uses Allofmp3.com’s success of selling albums for $2 through a quirk of Russian copyright law. Mark will try out new music at $2 or $3 but not at $14. 

15.55 – Mark is surprised the music industry has gotten its position on the web so wrong. Duncan compares it to the Sony Betamax debacle and says that entrenched positioning makes it hard to say you’re wrong before going back the iPhone. 

16.24 – He reminds us of the small line between success and failure that Apple has seen before ranting about the music industry’s obsession with DRM. 

Audio or text comments for Mark, Kevin and Duncan can be emailed to heytalkingtech@gmail.com. 

Our announcer is the lovely Amber Mac and the music is No Mojo by Anthony Stauffer and Holy Smoke which is available on the pod safe music network.  

 

0.45 – Mark and Duncan are back, without Kevin, to discuss Kathy Sierra’s cyber bullying ordeal. Mark wants to talk about evilness and anonymity on the Web.

1.50 – Duncan is a big fan of Kathy and is astonished that someone who writes about the stuff that she writes about has attracted this amount of hatred and vitriol. Mark asks if the Internet should be regulated?

3.08 – He also wonders about the anti-elitist nature of the blogosphere. Duncan is surprised that the mainstream media hasn’t picked up this story.

6.01 – Mark thinks this is indicative of the echo-chamber nature of the blogosphere and the tech sub-sector as well.

6.55 – Mark is surprised about Scoble’s non-blogging protest. Duncan reminds us that Ghandi brought the British Empire to its knees by not eating rice before moving onto…

6.15 – BCE! Duncan is surprised that Michael Sabia is having so little traction in the market and brings up the Globe and Mail story of BCE being taken private by KKR.

8.15 – Mark explains investors’ different reactions to stock based stories. Sabia and Entwistle (Telus) have been doing much the same job with completely different results. The amount of moving parts in BCE means that other companies can look at splitting it up for a profit.

9.35 – The denial from BCE makes Duncan think it is in play – mostly due to the “new� private equity maths being used. If BCE is taken private, what does this mean for the average Canadian.

11.15 – The guys talk about BCE’s handling of the denial and its ramifications on the stock price.

12.48 – Mark thinks that BCE’s biggest problem is its lack of momentum in the wireless space.

13.55 – Duncan discusses the takeover possibilities of Telus and Rogers but comes back to the fact that BCE, as a larger company than Telus, is a more attractive proposition for private equity.

15.01 – Mark asks if bloggers are journalists? Is their insight and opinion as valued as the traditional media? Duncan says they can be – Mark has broken stories on his blog that the media hasn’t known about.

16.13 – Duncan also talks about the standards needed to qualify for media accreditation – if you have had three published pieces in the last year in one man and his dog publications, you qualify. A blogger with 100,000 hits a day who breaks a number of stories doesn’t.

17.04 – The media is clearly threatened by bloggers, but the bigger story is that conferences and companies are recognizing bloggers as “media� and are allowing them the sort of access usually reserved for traditional media.

17.55 – Duncan says that following the money is a good strategy here. Yahoo! lists blog stories along with wire stories on its financial pages. He thinks we’re seeing a lot of conversion. Mark is excited about the tech sector right now!

Audio or text comments for Mark, Kevin and Duncan can be emailed to heytalkingtech@gmail.com.

Our announcer is the lovely Amber Mac and the music is No Mojo by Anthony Stauffer and Holy Smoke which is available on the pod safe music network.

0.32 - Mark kicks things off with the world's obsession with YouTube, given NBC's announcement of their own video portal.

1.19 - Duncan likens big media corporations trying to jump on the YouTube bandwagon is like dinosaurs putting on fur coats and pretending to be mammals.

2.15 - Does the NBC initiative have a chance at being a success? Kevin thinks success would be to get all NBC content off YouTube and onto the new portal, but he's skeptical of how far content owners can take it.

3.13 - Duncan reminds us that YouTube works as a single portal and that disparate portals are inconvenient.

3.47 - Mark wonders what the Viacom lawsuit will mean for YouTube, but Duncan points out that there's no one else piling on so it may not mean anything. Mark compares today's TV industry with the music industry of the late nineties. If everyone can get together and put content on shared platform, piracy would disappear.

5.29 - The guys move onto Motorola and the handset industry that's becoming increasingly commoditized. Duncan uses another analogy - in a war, you should always bet on the arms merchants as they benefit no matter who wins. The problem is that bullets are just chunks of lead with no value or differentiating. Are handsets becoming like bullets?

7.09 - Kevin thinks the fickleness of consumers is to blame for the savage marketplace. Duncan quotes Coco Chanel. In a technology podcast.

7.51 - Mark segues into a Lulu Lemon $200m IPO rumour and how the exclusivity of some premium products is disappearing as they enter the mass market.

9.05 - Duncan launches into an analysis of RIMs business model and how the consumer focus of its products could lead to dangers down the line. Kevin and Mark bring up the recurring revenue RIM gets from Blackberry users.

10.34 - Duncan disagrees and goes into exactly why. He�s heard that argument for a while and it still hasn�t come to fruition.

11.37 - Mark wants to talk about the Google phone. Kevin is unsure of the viability outside of a niche market, Duncan says the screen shots he has seen look very well designed.

13.15 - Steve Ballmer's comments come up. Should he have a mute switch? Kevin thinks Ballmer is being very defensive and can't see how his comments benefit the company.

14.33 - People like Mark, who have migrated across to Google Apps and who don't use Microsoft products, are exactly the people who Ballmer should be worried about.

15.03 - Duncan cuts Microsoft some slack and actually agrees with Ballmer's point that a lot of Google's apps are released too early, with too many bugs and don't integrate well. Just because the pot is calling the kettle black doesn't mean that the kettle isn't black.

16.05 - Kevin argues that that's just Google's model and that it shows Microsoft should be, and is, worried.

Audio comments for Mark, Kevin and Duncan can be emailed to heytalkingtech@gmail.com.

Our announcer is the lovely Amber Mac and the music is No Mojo by Anthony Stauffer and Holy Smoke which is available on the pod safe music network.

0.32 – The theme for this week is “Let’s make a deal�. Microsoft bought Tellme for between $800m and $1bn while Cisco bought Webex for $3.2bn.

1.26 – Kevin weighs in on what the Tellme acquisition means for Microsoft’s strategic direction, which is a willingness to get in anything that may make it money.  Mark brings up the Microsoft strategic partnership with Nortel as well as its (MS’s) chequered acquisition history beyond Windows and Office.

2.42 – Duncan thinks it’s easy to take shots at Microsoft but they have done well with their innovation drives.

3.55 – Is Microsoft too big for an $800m deal to move the needle on its stock price?

5.10 – The guys move onto Cisco. Duncan says the deal shows Cisco is determined to make a deal if it will shift information across its network. What will CEO John Chambers’ legacy be when he leaves Cisco?

6.26 – Duncan brings up Microsoft’s new Business Productivity Infrastructure Optimization focus. It combines unified communications with business intelligence and electronic content management together as an office suite for the enterprise.

7.45 – Microsoft’s successes have been when its packaged up applications as a complete, good enough, one stop suite. Why would this be any different?

8.15 – Will Viacom be able to squish YouTube with its $1bn lawsuit? Kevin thinks it’s both a “real� law suit and a negotiating tactic while predicting the beginning of the end of YouTube.

9.31 – Mark thinks it’s the end of YouTube’s momentum but Duncan thinks that the content owners would be stupid to shut down YouTube and the free advertising/exposure it brings.

11.41 – Is YouTube the MTV of the Web 2.0 generation? If the content owners can give YouTube users a taste of what they have, not the whole cake, they should be able to make money out of it.

12.05 – Lawsuits were a big theme for the week as well with the SEC filing some amazing allegations against Nortel dating back to 2000.

14.18 – Duncan reminds us that there’s a difference between fraud and negligence. He’s amazed that the allegations came from Nortel’s own internal investigation.

15.16 – Mark wonders about the motivations behind the manipulations. One was to bolster the company’s results during the downturn and the second was to trigger stock options and bonuses during the upturn. Was the over-riding motivation greed or ego?

16.19 – Duncan thinks there are two things going on, if you believe the SEC allegations. His feeling is that someone told CEO John Roth that everything was fine but then had to cover up their errors by moving money around. Kevin believes that this scandal will effect the perception of Nortel in the market.

17.50 The guys end the show on a positive note with a conversation on Web entrepreneurs – green is gold! A lot of investment money is flowing towards the environmentally friendly firms.

Audio comments for Mark, Kevin and Duncan can be emailed to heytalkingtech@gmail.com.

Our announcer is the lovely Amber Mac and the music is No Mojo by Anthony Stauffer and Holy Smoke which is available on the pod safe music network.

0.27 – Mark and Kevin are back with Duncan Stewart who will now be a regular co-host.

1.04 – The big story of the week is Guelph based Geosign raising $160m. Geosign operates more than 180 Web sites with 35 million unique visitors each month.

1.28 – Kevin has never heard of them and Duncan thinks this is the largest private round a Canadian technology company has ever raised. He’s interested in the stealth mode Geosign underwent before raising financing.

3.15 – Geosign is more interested with the focused brand of their Web sites than their own brand.

4.23 – Clearwire, the WiMax guys, raised $600m in an IPO. Duncan thinks the problem is that no one really knows what WiMax is capable of. The other problem is that the last three attempts to build a wireless network have failed.

5.37 – Kevin thinks the stock did well because of the founder, Craig McCaw’s, track record. He wonders where WiMax fits into the telco marketplace.

6.37 – Mark brings up Iridium who went into bankruptcy a year after going public. He thinks WiMax is a niche play with a cool technology rather than good business.

7.32 – Another cool technology is high definition (HD) TV. Duncan goes through the pros and cons of HD for the consumer and for the broadcaster.

9.10 – Kevin thinks that Canada’s HD market will be pulled along with the U.S. market.

9.41 – Mark ruminates on the amount of invitations to panels, conferences and meet-ups he’s been getting. Are we in another tech bubble or is there a need to collaborate and meet people?

10.26 – Duncan thinks the bubble, and all its conferences, was a very different thing. Conferences then were all about raising, and making, money. The sort of things Mark is talking about are more about embracing a new way of thinking about things. This is no get rich quick scheme.

11.22 – Kevin thinks the amount of money the tech industry is spending on marketing shows how healthy it is. Mark thinks there is a revival in entrepreneurialism due to the low barriers of entry offered by the Internet.

12.36 – Mark wonders where the tech IPO is. Clearwire fell after its launch and Vonage is a dog. Duncan points to the barriers of entry surrounding the software and hardware industries. Entrepreneurs can only afford to do Web 2.0 things right now.

14.11 – Duncan gives the AIM stock exchange some love as training wheels for becoming a public company. He thinks that people predicting an IPO boom are 18 months too early.

15.32 – Kevin agrees with that analysis with respect to the telco space.

16.08 – Mark brings things full circle suggesting that companies are loathe to go public and are instead looking for private financing.

Audio comments for Mark and Kevin can be left on the Talking Tech hotline: 1 206-333-1327 or emailed to heytalkingtech@gmail.com.

Our announcer is the lovely Amber Mac and the music is No Mojo by Anthony Stauffer and Holy Smoke which is available on the pod safe music network.

0.29 – Duncan Stewart is back as a special guest for all things Nortel and in particular an executive called Joel Hackney

1.18 – Hackney was in North Carolina when he confronted a lady who honked him for cutting her off in a car park. He plead guilty to false imprisonment, uttering threats and assault on a female. Mark was surprised to see his Nortel blog becoming the source for Nortel information for Nortel employees

1.59 – Duncan’s take is that Nortel needs to be whiter than white and should’ve taken the Tylenol approach and got out in front of the scandal. Mark agrees and gets some props from Duncan

3.40 – It’s an interesting case study on what to do with a strange issue. Blogs can be very opinionated and so how the blogosphere deals with certain events is more and more important

4.39 – Duncan disagrees with Mark that “going dark� buys a company more time. Nortel needed to say “this happened, we are examining it and we will deal with it�. They didn’t and by not doing it the issue escalated

5.15 – Duncan talks about how the democratization of the investigative journalist and the democratization of information flow will effect a company’s communications processes

5.50 – Mark brings up Peter Currie’s resignation and the newest restatement from Nortel. Kevin thinks it’s getting embarrassing even if the market isn’t penalizing Nortel yet. Duncan thinks Nortel should restate more often

8.03 – Mark brings up Wireless Number Portability – something that’s coming up on March 13. Kevin thinks not advertising the date of WNP means the wireless carriers are viewing it as a zero sum game

9.20 – A study for Seaboard Group shows that Canadian wireless users typically pay 56 per cent more than the average U.S. user and 30 per cent more than European users. Duncan brings up an analogy to illustrate the problem – more competition is needed, not WNP

10.55 – Kevin thinks foreign ownership or preferred conditions for new entrants is the answer

11.45 – Mark thinks the market is like a runway. Penetration is only at about 55 per cent of the market so there’s more room to grow. Until penetration gets to 75 per cent or higher, there won’t be too much aggressive competition

13.26 – Stock theme of the week is the deal between Oracle and Hyperion. This effects Canada’s largest software company, Cognos another billion dollar market cap BI vendor. Every time Oracle buys a BI player, Cognos’s value jumps as the merging company’s customer base suffers through integration challenges

15.05 – Mark ends things with a plug for mesh conference and the key note speakers who include Mike Arriginton, Richard Edelman and Craigslist’s Jim Buckmaster, among others. Tickets are on sale now

Audio comments for Mark and Kevin can be left on the Talking Tech hotline: 1 206-333-1327 or emailed to heytalkingtech@gmail.com.

Our announcer is the lovely Amber Mac and the music is No Mojo by Anthony Stauffer and Holy Smoke which is available on the pod safe music network.

0.37 – Mark was excited about Sling Media, makers of the Slingbox being in Toronto and got a chance to shoot the breeze with them. He loves the sling but wonders if this will ever go mainstream?

1.23 – Kevin thinks it’s a definite geek gadget

1.49 – Can you ever be a viable company selling $200 hardware. Sling has a lot of funding behind it and soon hopes to be the standard software in your mobile device

2.55 – Mark is also fascinated by Sling’s Manager of Online Communications who was originally a blogger covering the company. He wonders if the blogosphere is a new recruiting ground for branding, communications and marketing people

3.41 – Kevin thinks it depends on how the hiring company views the blogosphere

4.45 – Mark has seen more PR people reach out to him as a blogger than when he was at the National Post

5.35 – Kevin drops the bomb that he’s planning to join the blogosphere with a gadget blog! He’s got the URL and just needs to get his design down

6.23 – Google Apps for the enterprise (Premier Edition) launched last week for $50 per year, per user. Is there any room within the enterprise for Google’s suite? Kevin thinks that the large enterprise won’t have room for it but that charging for the service Google will get better adoption from the small to micro businesses

8.10 – Mark uses Gmail as his go-to mail and within b5media and the mesh organizers, the teams use Google Apps to collaborate

8.15 – Is the tech IPO back as Business 2.0 suggests? Mark hasn’t seen any evidence for this but thinks the tech M&A is back. Kevin agrees we’re going to have to wait for another gold rush of IPOs

10.45 – The guys have spent a lot of time talking competition in the wireless section but now they turn their attention to broadcasting and Astral Media’s acquisition of Standard Broadcasting. What does this mean for the Canadian marketplace, the consumer and the advertiser?

11.55 – Kevin thinks it can’t be a good thing for the consumer or the advertiser and that ad rates aren’t going anywhere but up

13.00 – Mark references a Globe and Mail article suggesting competitive forces should drive the market, not regulation. He sees the telecom and broadcasting markets as giving consumers and advertisers less choice

14.14 – Kevin isn’t optimistic on the state of prices in these Canadian industries. He suggests intervention is in order

15.15 – Mark warns we should be careful what we wish for over deregulation and Kevin points to the New Zealand market where more regulation was needed after deregulation

Audio comments for Mark and Kevin can be left on the Talking Tech hotline: 1 206-333-1327 or emailed to heytalkingtech@gmail.com.

Our announcer is the lovely Amber Mac and the music is No Mojo by Anthony Stauffer and Holy Smoke which is available on the pod safe music network.

0.37 – Mark and Kevin are back with news of another Google acquisition. Adscape places advertisements in video games and competes with Microsoft acquisition Massive

1.47 – Kevin is quite the gamer and has been noticing a lot of ads, especially in NBA ’07, that do seem to “stick�

2.45 – Can anything Web 2.0 be advertising free? Would ads take away from the gaming experience? Kevin thinks it has to be subtle in order to work

3.16 – Austin Hill points out that Adscape, Voodoo and iStock Photo are all high profile web start ups with no Canadian venture capital money. Mark asks whether the Canadian VC market has an appetite for Web start ups (with the usual b5media disclosure)

5.28 – Kevin agrees that the U.S. is snapping up the best Canadian start-ups. Is there an aversion from the VC community or is it a problem of scale for the companies

6.28 – Mark and Kevin cover speculation over a fourth telecom carrier in Canada. The Canadian government is starting the process to sell a spectrum option (that’s needed to run a wireless service) that would see a new wireless company emerge and that could open up the wireless market

8.26 – Kevin believes the Canadian wireless market’s prices are suppressing demand and causing trading problems with the U.S., Canada’s main trading partner. He thinks the cell phone landscape will be changing

9.20 – Mark thinks Canada needs more competition in the wireless sector after Microcell was acquired by Rogers with Federal approval. The last thing the big three want is a fourth carrier that would come in and be aggressive on pricing.

10.56 – Mark segueways into the Blackberry, the wireless carriers best friend. How is the Blackberry changing our lifestyles? Kevin thinks there needs to be balance between work and life – something the Blackberry puts a strain on

12.51 – Mark is an undisciplined Blackberry user. He advises putting the Blackberry down when you get home and after you’ve had an evening with the family, allow yourself a five minute window to get those urgent emails out

Audio comments for Mark and Kevin can be left on the Talking Tech hotline: 1 206-333-1327 or emailed to heytalkingtech@gmail.com.

Our announcer is the lovely Amber Mac and the music is No Mojo by Anthony Stauffer and Holy Smoke which is available on the pod safe music network.

0.35 – This week has been the week of the telecom layoff. Nortel started off the week with 2,900 layoffs. Earlier today, Alcatel/Lucent just cut another 12,500 jobs

1.10 – Kevin analyzes the layoffs and puts the Alcatel/Lucent cuts due to synergies but thinks the Nortel problems are symptomatic of its ongoing problems. Mark wonders where Nortel will be once the restructuring and job cuts are done?

4.19 – Is there light at the end of the tunnel for Nortel? IPTV is a big focus, but will it take off and rival cable and if so, will Nortel even be a player? The questions are there for wimax

5.50 – Mark brings up Steve Jobs’ DRM missive – talking out of his mouth and ass at the same time. Kevin is baffled that Jobs is pushing the music industry to abolish DRM when Apple is in a shared leadership position

7.20 – What is Jobs’ ulterior motive?

7.50 – EMI is considering selling all of its music in a digital format free of restrictions. Kevin thinks this will reduce piracy, increase sales of music devices and industry sales in the long term. He warns there will be growing pains though

8.59 – Mark breaks down the issues surrounding DRM. Mark thinks the best thing about P2P file sharing is the no risk aspect of discovering new music. He thinks the industry needs to find new ways to expose consumers to new music in a low risk, low cost way

11.08 – Kevin warns that no matter what music companies try to do to protect their content, someone will always be able to break it

11.28 – Mark brings up Circuit City closing 62 of “The Source� stores. He’s always found it very geeky – Kevin reminds him they’re doing a podcast. Enough said.

12.05 – Kevin isn’t sure why Circuit City is failing; but thinks it could be to do with Best Buy and Future Shop’s presence

12.45 – The weekly request for swag. Mark segue ways into the amazing amount of Apple gadgets you can buy. Apple’s PR take note!

Audio comments for Mark and Kevin can be left on the Talking Tech hotline: 1 206-333-1327 or emailed to heytalkingtech@gmail.com.

Our announcer is the lovely Amber Mac and the music is No Mojo by Anthony Stauffer and Holy Smoke which is available on the pod safe music network.

0.30 – Kevin’s back with news that CBC.ca is linking to Talking Tech – will the podcast get bought up by the mainstream?

1.13 – It’s been a slow week in tech this week but the guys start off on Windows Vista which officially launched after 5 years and 50 millions lines of code – but no lines outside the big retailers

2.05 – Mark sees Vista as an upgrade to XP. Kevin thinks the lack of excitement shows just how many applications are being moved online

2.48 – However, Microsoft has the hardware partners to ensure you won’t escape from Vista’s clutches

3.01 – Will this be the last version of Windows from Microsoft? Mark wonders if the amount of web-based applications will open the door for Linux to make a charge to the mainstream.

3.56 – If people are spending money on their computers, they’re spending on upgrading their online experiences

4.56 – BlogTV.ca launched this week. Kevin was there picking up a great grab-bag from Canada’s version of YouTube. He guesses the people who use it will be looking for very localized content but doesn’t think it’ll make a big splash with advertisers

6.20 – Mark wonders why it’s taken so long for Canadian companies to embrace video sharing. He also notes that BlogTV is very DRM friendly – so don’t go looking for the “good stuff�

7.45 – Canadians are very enthusiastic about high speed Internet access and now Cisco and Videotron offering high speed access of 100mbps. Kevin will believe it when he sees it but can’t imagine what applications he’d use it for after music and video

9.41 – Mark points out that people are willing to pay for speed and the ISPs are going to make Canadians pay through the nose for it. He is, however, looking for a free wireless router from Cisco using the N technology.

11.26 – Nortel’s CTO, John Roese is now blogging (hat tip to Alec Saunders). It’s strange that an embattled company’s executive is one of the first Canadian executives to be blogging. Kevin is unsure why more aren’t blogging – but warns not to blog unless you have something interesting to say

12.53 – Mark agrees blogs aren’t for everyone but suggests that consumer facing companies should definitely be blogging. Is Rose’s blog for internal purposes or is it to build the external brand image?

14.50 – Are Mark and Kevin swag whores? Email your answers to heytalkingtech@gmail.com

Audio comments for Mark and Kevin can be left on the Talking Tech hotline: 1 206-333-1327 or emailed to heytalkingtech@gmail.com.

Our announcer is the lovely Amber Mac and the music is No Mojo by Anthony Stauffer and Holy Smoke which is available on the pod safe music network.

0.35 - Kevin is out for the week and Mark welcomes back analyst Duncan Stewart

1.01 – Microsoft is in trouble for paying an expert to edit Wikipedia entries. Duncan points out that Microsoft has always been seen as an aggressive corporation but doesn’t see the big deal about editing an open source document that can always be changed back

3.23 – Mark brings it back to the Vista laptop giveaway and says that this was the right idea but the wrong approach as well

5.02 – Duncan analyses the stock price and comes to the conclusion that it is a good value, especially with the Vista coupons to be cashed in next quarter. The chip price war should be affecting Microsoft’s sales more though

6.37 – Mark wonders what the rate of adoption for Vista will be and how long the company’s entertainment unit will continue to lose $300m a year

7.22 – Duncan points out Microsoft has never been good at anything outside of Windows and Office. He brings up “Tiger�, a failed video on demand offering from the 90’s

8.01 – He also predicts Vista’s adoption rate will be lousy and that Microsoft took all the interesting features out in order to ship it

8.40 – Mark references Walter Mosberg’s review “It’s okay� that sums it all up. Mark won’t be upgrading his desktop Windows machine

9.19 – He brings up Forrester’s ROI of Blogging report that addresses blogging from an empirical point of view

9.56 – Duncan says a lot of the investment community uses blogs to get information on companies and says that the idea of a corporate blog is a brilliant one. He likens it to having a Web site in the 90’s – it’ll become mandatory.

11.23 – CEOs will need to become more human in the eyes of customers and shareholders

11.58 – Mark reminds listeners that blogs aren’t for everyone but they are extremely useful for consumer facing companies such as Tim Hortons and Loblaws’ President Choice brand

13.17 – Loblaw’s is one of the least tech-savvy retail companies and the culture may not be right for them. However, all companies have shareholders and could do a better job communicating with them – something blogs are extremely efficient at doing

14.10 – Mark starts to wrap things up with a look at Google’s plans for google-ising YouTube with Adwords, turning a “cool� service into a real business. Duncan reminds us of Google’s ability to monetize freemium Web services such as search

15.38 – Mark comments on the amount of ubiquity Google has achieved in his life. Finally, Duncan draws comparison between Microsoft and Google to end the show

Audio comments for Mark and Kevin can be left on the Talking Tech hotline: 1 206-333-1327 or emailed to heytalkingtech@gmail.com.

Our announcer is the lovely Amber Mac and the music is No Mojo by Anthony Stauffer and Holy Smoke which is available on the pod safe music network.

0.55 – Joost, formerly known as The Venice Project, a new way to distribute TV shows, kicks off this week’s discussion. Kevin is impressed with the amount of content available and the buzz that’s been generated.

2.20 – Mark thinks people are equating the success of Joost with the success of Kazaa and Skype, the founders’ previous ventures. He’s more interested in the wider picture of video distribution that players such as Netflix are getting into.

3.10 – The traditional business models of cable co’s and broadcasters are being disrupted.

3.45 – Kevin predicts the cable co’s and broadcaster will react with law suits to stop the new distribution channel.

5.27 – Mark predicts that Joost will be bought by a bigger player within three years if it gets any user traction.

6.17 – Kevin wants to talk about Skype’s move to start charging connection and sign up fees in certain markets. Mark calls it the eBay-isation of the service following the $4.2bn acquisition. It won’t stop growing and it will still be lower priced than the alternative

9.57 – Mark brings up the problem of protecting data after a CIBC fund lost the data of 470,000 customers stored on a back-up file. In the U.S., more than 40 million credit cards could’ve been compromised following a hack into TJX’s systems

11.05 – Will this curb online finance and business? Kevin isn’t phased and has had his information stolen offline, not online. It may make people think twice though.

11.43 – Not Mark! He thinks not using the Internet because of the chance of a break-in would make life a lot harder and more inconvenient. These incidents do keep the big security vendors laughing all the way to the bank though.

13.02 – News from the Canadian entrepreneur market is that Terry Mathews sold his voice software company, Ubiquity, to Avaya for $140m. On the flip side though, his company March Networks saw customer Wal-Mart looking for another supplier for surveillance video technology. Even though that stock took a hit, he’ll be OK.

14.48 – Mark goes through what exactly March Networks does and recommends buying March’s stock. Buy on bad news, sell on good news is his motto.

Audio comments for Mark and Kevin can be left on the Talking Tech hotline: 1 206-333-1327 or emailed to heytalkingtech@gmail.com.

Our announcer is the lovely Amber Mac and the music is No Mojo by Anthony Stauffer and Holy Smoke which is available on the pod safe music network.

Mark and Kevin are back with resident stock analyst Duncan Stewart.

1.20 – Kevin regales us with highlights from the zoo that was CES. The theme from 2007 is the continued march to the living room from technology vendors. Slingbox taking files from your computer and playing them on your TV is something that Mark’s written about before

2.20 – Mark wants to talk about the Microsoft Home Server. He loves the idea of having a central storage for files that you can access from anywhere in, or outside, the house.

2.15 – Duncan’s thoughts are that display technology was particularly important. Do not buy plasma as it burns out – especially as the new LCD will be as good, if not better than, the current plasma technologies

5.00 – Kevin predicts he’ll be investing in Skype enabled phones – he saw some good ones on display in Vegas, especially if you have a SkypeOut plan

5.56 – Some of the crazier gadgets on display included a living room sized simulator, huge gaming guns and virtual reality technology. Disappointingly for gadget fiends, a lot of what was on display was tactical, not conceptual

6.54 – The biggest story to come out of CES was that it was completely overshadowed by Macworld, Steve Jobs and the launch of the iPhone

7.34 Duncan’s initial take on the iPhone, beyond technical specs, is that the market Apple is trying to penetrate is a lot more mature than the mp3 player market was when the iPod was launched. Cell phones are already well styled and it’s hard to see the iPhone selling more than the 10 million Steve Jobs would like to sell

8.40 – Kevin disagrees and points to Apple’s track record of disruption.  If the iPhone acts the way it did at Macworld, it will be that all-in-one device that has been promised for so long. He’s fed up with carrying around two devices and will seriously look at buying it

10.21 – Mark is more pragmatic.  The cost is high considering consumers are used to getting phones for free or extremely cheap music players. Will the Canadian carriers be on-board with wi-fi connectivity? Probably not

11.15 – The iPhone will not be a Blackberry killer!

11.50 – The media, both traditional and citizen, fascination with Apple is another facet to the story.

12.28 – Duncan chimes in on the US distribution deal with Cingular, not a popular carrier, and warns that the wireless connection on the iPhone is a very skinny pipe which will make it hard to get a good user experience

13.27 – Mark brings up some poor results for AMD. Duncan goes onto reveal that AMD missed its quarter projections – which doesn’t bode well for its battle with Intel. Intel is destroying AMD’s margins even though AMD is gaining market share

15.01 – Mark wonders why Intel has waited until now to turn its guns on the new upstart. Duncan lets us in on a parlor game where manufacturers keep AMD whenever they look as if they’ll drop below 15 per cent market share.  In return, Intel slaps AMD whenever they look as if they’ll rise above 25 per cent share

16.04 – Stock tips are hard to come by but buy AMD when it’s at 15 per cent market share and then sell as it approaches 25 per cent

Audio comments for Mark and Kevin can be left on the Talking Tech hotline: 1 206-333-1327 or emailed to heytalkingtech@gmail.com.

Our announcer is the lovely Amber Mac and the music is No Mojo by Anthony Stauffer and Holy Smoke which is available on the pod safe music network.

0.46 – Mark and Kevin jump into the special all-you-can-eat holiday buffet being served up by Skype.  Does this mean that eBay is getting serious about Skype as a business?

1.31 – Mark’s company, b5media has already paid the 13.95 for his year’s service.  Skype is moving into the mainstream after being a disruptive technology.

2.29 – Kevin predicts that Skype will find the VOIP market to be a crowded one and will keep it in the back of his mind, despite Seaboard using Vonage.

2.50 – Mark crunches the numbers and comes up with an extra $80m in revenue for Skype.  How does this make the $4.2bn eBay paid for Skype look like now?

4.10 – Kevin segues into Craigslist who’s CEO, Jim Buckmaster, recently announced it wasn’t interested in profits.  Mark says Buckmaster’s comments raised interesting comments – is “The Listâ€? a business or a public service?

5.55 – Mark revisits an interview he had with the founder and the CEO of Craigslist.  They’re not interested in taking over the world in the same way as Google is but they’ve created a product that resonates with people all over the world that’s competing against the traditional newspapers.

7.20 – Kevin says newspapers should be grateful Craigslist isn’t raising more money to directly compete against the mainstream media.

7.45 – The guys move onto a favourite subject, BCE.  In a recent investors day, George Cope predicted 3-5 per cent revenue growth in 2007 when the telecom market could be deregulated and face a price war.

8.35 – Kevin was there and saw the love investors have for Mr. Cope before going through the reasons why he’s so bullish about 2007. He predicts better packaging, innovative marketing and more compelling bundles next year.

The interrogate Kevin Restivo session starts here:

9.45 – Mark wants to talk IPTV.  Microsoft is pushing its platform and there are trial pockets over the country.  Kevin doesn’t know why it hasn’t taken off yet.

11.10 – When will carriers get serious with VOIP and when will the cable co’s get serious? Kevin doesn’t think there’ll be any big changes in the short term so the carriers don’t cannibalize their existing customers and the cable co’s are focused on the low-hanging fruit for now.  Steady as she goes seems to be the message.

12.58 – Mark and Kevin got an offer to try out Microsoft Vista this week.  Mark is a recent Mac convert but was impressed by the beta he saw.  Kevin is curious but not as excited as Mark, they both want to see if it’ll live up to the five year hype.

14.10 – Mark reveals Talking Tech has abandoned Starbucks and is now in Café Doria.

Audio comments for Mark and Kevin can be left on the Talking Tech hotline: 1 206-333-1327 or emailed to heytalkingtech@gmail.com.

Our announcer is the lovely Amber Mac and the music is No Mojo by Anthony Stauffer and Holy Smoke which is available on the pod safe music network.

0.30 – Mark and Kevin welcome technology analyst Duncan Stewart as their first ever live guest.

0.50 – They dive into the split between Nortel and its accounting firm, Deloitte.  Kevin bemoans the fact that Nortel was once interesting but can’t shake its accounting woes.

2.47 – Duncan believes it was an important step to move on from the accounting mishap to partner with a firm that investors will have (more) trust in.  Mark notes the amount of accountants that were embedded within Nortel made it a messy, protracted split.

3.57 – Mark brings up the one for 10 stock consolidation which Duncan rigorously analyzes.

4.50 – Troubled stock prices leads into a discussion of Yahoo! and the succession of Sue Decker.  Duncan likens her promotion as a sports team’s towel manager being announced as new starting quarterback.

5.45 – Mark asks Kevin if he knows what Yahoo! is, and whether it knows it is.  Kevin references the infamous peanut butter manifesto and points to the string of convoluted acquisitions as evidence of confusion.

7.16 – The news release that anointed Drecker referenced Jerry Yang, but not co-founder David Filo.  Duncan calls Yahoo!’s approach “a mile wide and an inch deepâ€?.

8.08 – What does Yahoo! want to be when it grows up? 

8.30 – Mark gives some thought to the slew of acquisition and what it means to the tech start-up industry in Canada – he’s disappointed by the lack of innovation happening at the moment.

9.05 – Kevin think the Canadian start-up scene is in a valley and can’t see the next RIM out there.

9.58 – Duncan points out that people we thought had died, Wi-Lan and Servicom, are coming back and making some ripples, if not waves.

10.10 – The trio turns their attention to getting Kevin some nice gadgets for Christmas.  He’s excited by video game consoles, the LG Chocolate phone and the Blackberry Pearl.

12.10 – Duncan reminds everyone that tinsel and assorted Christmas decorations will cut your wireless network’s performance by up to 75 per cent.  Geeks may be interested in D-Link’s new wireless router which provides gigabit Ethernet for under $200 (CDN)

12.53 – Mark has mixed feelings on the Zune but likes the idea of an iPod stressball for under $10

Audio comments for Mark and Kevin can be left on the Talking Tech hotline: 1 206-333-1327 or emailed to heytalkingtech@gmail.com.

Our announcer is the lovely Amber Mac and the music is No Mojo by Anthony Stauffer and Holy Smoke which is available on the pod safe music network.

0.31 – The story of the week is Microsoft Vista.  The hype is over, the product has been shipped and Mark defers to Kevin for an expert opinion.  Vista is groundbreaking, but only from a product development perspective.  This will be better than most of Microsoft’s first tries but it’s still worth waiting for the kinks to be ironed out

 

1.55 – Neither Mark or Kevin think customers will be jumping on board right now, but as the saying goes, they’ll either pay now or they’ll pay later.  The upgrade cycle means Vista will be a success eventually; the only question is whether Microsoft can afford to wait for that revenue

 

4.27 – Mark thinks the next big cash cow for Microsoft will be Office 2007.  Enough time has passed since the last upgrade for users to be wanting more from their office suite

 

5.45 – Kevin moves onto the beleaguered newspaper industry, one of Mark’s favourite topics.  Last week Kevin Meaney (USA Today) asked hi-tech entrepreneurs/investors how they would improve the newspaper industry but surprisingly, they couldn’t come up with anything radical

 

6.58 – Mark believes the answer is in changing the culture of the newsroom from reporters to content producers.  In addition to writing articles for the paper, they should also be blogging, writing small, snappy, instant opinion pieces and recording video

 

8.33 – Kevin brings up file sharing and the fact that BitTorrent raised $25m (U.S.) and now looks to be legitimately moving into the mainstream

 

9.27 – Mark isn’t sure what to make of it.  Licensing deals have been made with content owners to distribute their content with BitTorrent technology.  There’s no network, so where’s the VC money going to go?

 

10.10 – Will the licensing of content really drive people to download legitimate, rather than pirated, content?  Kevin thinks it’s a great move and that the standoff between “rogueâ€? file sharers and content owners is coming to an end

 

12.18 – Mark believes most people want to do the right thing when it comes to accessing content, but at a reasonable price.  iTunes hit the sweet spot with the 99cents price point.  Can BitTorrent, and the movie/TV industry, access this market as well?

 

13.20 – However Mark’s been watching free episodes of My Name is Earl on French file sharing site, DailyMotion

 

14.25 – The  guys end the show with another plea for Starbucks sponsorship

 

Audio comments for Mark and Kevin can be left on the Talking Tech hotline: 1 206-333-1327 or emailed to heytalkingtech@gmail.com.

Our announcer is the lovely Amber Mac and the music is No Mojo by Anthony Stauffer and Holy Smoke which is available on the pod safe music network.

0.25 – Mark apologizes for missing last week’s episode due to b5media strategy meetings

 

0.55 – The guys are back at Starbucks (still no sponsorship) and dive straight into a seasonal topic – the gaming market and why people would be prepared to stand in line for hours for a games console like the Nintendo Wii. The answer is great marketing and a long development cycle

 

4.19 – Google cracked the $500 (U.S.) barrier this week, resulting in a market cap of more than $150bn.  What does this mean for the market?  Mark illustrates the power of the market-cap by saying that Google could now buy Yahoo! and eBay without breaking a sweat

 

5.39 – Kevin would’ve sold at $250 but Mark boldly predicts Google’s stock breaking $750

 

7.26 – A small swipe at the Globe and Mail leads into a discussion about the very healthy wireless industry.  Kevin believes that the wireless providers are doing a great job of milking their existing customers and being cautious when it comes to acquiring new customers

 

8.19 – For consumers this means relatively expensive plans in comparison with the U.S. and Europe.  Big bucket plans aren’t as prevalent in Canada as they are down south

 

8.59 – Mark asks, “is this an oligopoly?â€?  There seems to be price transparency and consistency between the providers which has lead to conservative pricing plans

 

10.10 – Is there room for more competitors?  Industry Canada says yes, while the Competition Bureau approved the Microcell Rogers deal.  Will the government institute a common carrier system?

 

10.56 – Mark can’t see another player coming to the market but Kevin points out that there are a lot of entrepreneurs in Canada which could lead to a fourth carrier – although not in the traditional Bell, Rogers or Telus mould.

 

11.51 – Speaking of phones, will Apple release the iPhone?  Kevin says that Apple’s PR team has done a great job in seeding the idea of the iPhone and that it can only be a matter of time before it’s released.  The only question is who it’ll be in partnership with

 

13.45 – Will Apple drive the market in combination devices and will the Blackberry start coming out with more advanced music features such as playlists?

 

14.15 – Kevin predicts that whatever technology is used in the phone, the handset itself will be a sleek, stylish success, although it won’t be as popular as the Razr

 

14.56 – Finally, the guys talk about podcasts!  A Pew study shows that podcasts are taking off as an alternative way to consume audio content.  Mark wonders where people have the time!  Kevin is amazed that people can make a living out of podcasting, and blogging for that matter

 

17.14 – The overarching issue is how traditional media is under siege from the new interactive web.  Mark thinks we’re in for a turbulent, but interesting ride in the media space

 

Audio comments for Mark and Kevin can be left on the Talking Tech hotline: 1 206-333-1327 or emailed to heytalkingtech@gmail.com.

Our announcer is the lovely Amber Mac and the music is No Mojo by Anthony Stauffer and Holy Smoke which is available on the pod safe music network.

0.25 – Mark’s had a tough week in New York attending ad:tech but enjoyed watching ESPN.  The show was packed but it seems no-one really has a handle on the new landscape

 

1.59 – Kevin is confused.  He doesn’t know what advertising model works and hasn’t heard any great ideas on how to capitalize on the increased amount of web users.  Mark likes the pay to play nature of AdSense and thinks advertisers like the measurability of the web

 

4.02 – On-line advertising is having a spill-over affect on the mainstream media as well.  Advertisers are confused – they know they need to be on-line, but they don’t know how.

 

5.25 – Mark observes that the CPM model is dominant.  Advertisers like the measurability while publishers like the ease of use.  Pay-per-click and pay-per-lead models don’t resonate well with publishers and have lost momentum

 

6.40 – The head of digital marketing for Proctor and Gamble is apportioning more and more of his $300m marketing budget online – naturally people were hanging off his every word!

 

7.15 – Kevin can see why people are moving on-line but thinks advertisers need to change their mind set for it to really take off.  They both agree it’s early days for on-line advertising

 

8.05 – Mark segue ways into cinram a CD manufacturer who moved into DVDs and is now looking into video on demand as a strategic option.

 

9.05 – Kevin says that the new income trust rules means they are shedding investors and this coupled with a declining rise of DVD sales means they are facing a paradigm shift.  The company is trying a completely new delivery model that failed several years ago with mp3.com and is outside their core competency

 

11.05 – Despite this being the digital age, Mark observes that people still like to collect things like movies and CDs to read liner notes and have things on their shelves.  He thinks that Netflix is probably better positioned to move into electronically delivered movies than cinram

 

12.10 – Kevin brings up NTP and Don Stout, a lawyer he met in Washington last year.  NTP is most famous for successfully suing RIM over patent infringements and has now moved onto Palm, makers of the Treo.  He wonders if NTP is a patent troll or a legitimate business

 

14.15 – Mark thinks there is a natural distrust for a holding company that protects the patents of a dead guy but points out that patents are quickly turning into a commodity to be traded with the intention of suing other companies

 

15.42 – He rounds things off with the observation that the penetration of Blackberry use is infinitely deeper in New York than in Canada

 

Audio comments for Mark and Kevin can be left on the Talking Tech hotline: 1 206-333-1327 or emailed to heytalkingtech@gmail.com.

Our announcer is the lovely Amber Mac and the music is No Mojo by Anthony Stauffer and Holy Smoke which is available on the pod safe music network.

0.30 – Mark addresses the declining circulation of the major North American newspapers in the first half of the year.  Are newspapers simply irrelevant to today’s generation?  Kevin thinks that newspapers haven’t been able to adapt to the world of free content – online and offline

2.53 – Newspapers have to stop focusing on the news and train their reporting onto the perspective, context and analysis.  The industry needs to report smarter which means smaller newsrooms with young reporters gathering information and experienced journalists telling people what the news means

5.13 – Some newspapers have embraced the new web better than others.  Business 2.0, a monthly business magazine, has launched 16 new blogs but this will have to spark a sea change in the attitude of the reporters

6.44 – If the newspapers want to maintain their relevance, they need to change their thinking to come around to the new way of thinking

7.26 – BCE and Telus are not being allowed to convert into income trusts, an announcement that saw their shares drop.  Mark says that BCE’s own decision to convert to an income trust was a defensive move pressure the federal government into closing the tax loop hole

9.00 – Kevin thinks that the decision was a blessing in disguise – if both had been income trusts, the investment levels into network infrastructure across the country would have been limited

10.04 - Mark agrees that the money not being diverted to unit holders can be used to innovate, expand and defend against the aggressive cable companies like Rogers.  It doesn’t make sense to cap your potential spending in capital investment

10.51 – He goes onto predict Telus will be in a stronger position after the announcement due to their bigger wireless division.  The only people that the decision to stop the conversion won’t be good for are unit holders and

Bay Street

bankers

11.40 - Kevin thinks shareholders will benefit, especially after Telus’s announcement it will raising its dividend by 36 per cent this year

12.24 – Income trusts may not be sexy, but the LG Chocolate phone launch in Toronto was!

12.54 – Kevin says that the phone’s technology is not revolutionary, but there is a huge amount of buzz in Canada around this cool new product.  He gives the phone his seal of approval

12.50 – Mark laments the end of the big PR launches with free bars, great bands and big swag bags.  In Kevin’s mind, the downturn of events is linked to the downturn of the IT industry and the lack of VC money compared to the first dot com boom

Audio comments for Mark and Kevin can now be left on the Talking Tech hotline: 1-206-333-1327 or emailed to heytalkingtech@gmail.com.

Special thanks to our new announcer, the lovely Amber Mac. The music, as usual, is No Mojo by Anthony Stauffer and Holy Smoke which is available on the pod safe music network.

 

 

0.20 – Mark brings up MacLeans’ article “The Internet Sucksâ€? which focuses on the worst of the internet, not the promise of the internet.  The guys discuss the philosophical basis for the article – is the internet over-hyped and is the technology media/blogosphere too close to the issue to realize this?

 

4.53 – The internet isn’t perfect but Mark says that, like the wild west, we will reign in the internet and make it live up to its potential.  Kevin admits that it isn’t perfect, but it does break up time and space which is a good thing

 

6.08 – Mark says that society did get caught up in the hype of a new tool in the dot com boom and there was some crazy investing going on. Now the investment landscape is very different with web 2.0 companies doing great things on a shoestring budget

 

8.08 – Check out Mark’s post, co-authored by the writer of ‘The Internet Sucks’, Steve Naich.

 

9.18 – The guys segue way into Google’s stock which is performing superbly ($488 U.S. at the time of recording) against its peers.  Kevin thinks that Google is overvalued and wonders when the investor euphoria will end

 

10.39 – Mark thinks the euphoria ends when the music ends, when the first disappointing quarter is announced.  The company will still be a leader, but the sky’s the limit attitude will be gone.  However, Google’s market cap is so huge that it can position itself to brace for the downturn – as with the YouTube acquisition

 

12.56 – Mark predicts more bold moves from Google while Kevin likes the amount they’re throwing against the walls, even if not all of it sticks

 

13.46 – Cisco video conferencing.  Mark thinks video conferencing hasn’t lived up to its potential but Kevin believes the new breed of video conferencing technologies are pretty exciting.  Synching video and audio is easy to imagine but hard to do – services like Cisco’s or HP’s Halo cost around $300,000.

 

15.13 – If you are a multinational company, having to assemble virtual teams, then the benefits could outweigh the costs.  Mark’s new company, b5media, works virtually and the team starting to use Skype video – seeing people’s expressions is invaluable

 

16.41 – Kevin is fine with a vanilla phone call.  He likes the freedom to multitask and do other things like email.

 

17.02 – Kevin hasn’t used the new, hyped, tools but says the experience that people have been promised is here.  At a price

 

17.42 – Mark wraps things up – the internet doesn’t suck, but video conferencing might

 

What do you think? Email Mark and Kevin at heytalkingtech@gmail.com or leave an audio comment on the Talking Tech hotline: +1 206 333-1327.

 

As always, the music is No Mojo by Anthony Stauffer and Holy Smoke which is available on the pod safe music network.

0:15 – Mark and Kevin open up the show from the world headquarters of b5media, otherwise know as the “Man Room� in Mark’s house.

 

0:46 – Mark and Kevin discuss Apple’s stellar fiscal fourth quarter results. Mark is amazed that Apple sold 39 million iPods and it is, without a doubt, the Google of potable music players.

 

1:28 – Kevin equates its success to the “cool factor�. He then wonders how Apple can keep growing.

 

2:17 – Mark answers by saying that Apple will continue its momentum by extending its platform. Apple started with the iPod, Nano, etc., but what’s next? Mark wonders if rumours about the Apple phone will come to be. They tried it with Motorola without success, and there are rumours that they’ll try it with RIM.

 

3:08 - Kevin agrees that this may the way to go for Apple, but is skeptical that Apple will be able to compete with the Nokias of the world in the phone market. He sees the Macbook as Apple’s next huge opportunity for growth. He just doesn’t see an iPod phone as killer. He then wonders if the Apple media server will do the trick for Apple.

 

4:23 – Mark thinks that Macbooks get lost in the iTune/iPod success story. He thinks that the laptop market will be a huge opportunity for Apple, especially with the introduction of the Intel processor. Kevin agrees.

 

6:00 – Mark explains that he used to be a Windows user, but he has been won over by Apple.

 

6:24 – Mark introduces Internet Explorer 7. Kevin says that he’s a big Firefox fan – he likes the tab browsing, etc. He thinks that Microsoft may have lost a lot of its browser market share because of how long it took to respond to this challenge. Mark explains that IE 7 uses tab browsing, which he loves, but he’s not going to use IE 7 in the short run. He wants all of the bugs to be worked out first. Kevin thinks that, for the average computer user, IE 7 will probably work.

 

9:40 – Mark introduces virtual worlds (i.e. Second Life, Weblo) to the conversation. He doesn’t understand it, and both he and Kevin don’t see the appeal. But, Kevin thinks that this might just be a crude version of what’s to come in the future. Mark talks a little about a friend who was taking a virtual course at Harvard’s Second Life campus. He describes a couple more examples and speculates that maybe it will become a standard meeting space. Kevin is amazed that Reuters has jump aboard.

 

14:29 - Mark is amazed at the amount of real world money spent in the virtual worlds and says he’s a little concerned about some of the money being raised by some, like Weblo. Kevin doesn’t see the value for the end user.

 

16:05 – Mark wraps up the show.

 

Comments for Mark and Kevin can now be left at talkingtech@gmail.com or on the comment line: +1 206 333-1327.

 

As always, the music is No Mojo by Anthony Stauffer and Holy Smoke which is available on the pod safe music network.

0.17 – Mark and Kevin jump right into this week’s show with a discussion on Bell Canada Enterprises Telus’ decision to do the same thing

1.20 – Mark wonders if this is a sign that the Canadian carriers are in a battle with the cable companies and that the income trust structure is the best way to be able to spend money. Kevin agrees and says that the low investment phase the industry is in now makes sense for the income trust conversion – for now!

2.37 – Bell had its chance to make a big play in the space, but blew it when Microcell was lost to Rogers. Both Mark and Kevin agree that this is a platform for a push into wireless

4.15 – Will Bell even be in existence in five years? All their business units are on the decline but Kevin thinks it will still be around in some form – due in part to the resources at its disposal. Once Bell turns the battleship around, it will be a major force

5.33 – The guys turn their eyes on the international scene and the Google YouTube deal. Kevin says the deal is all about advertising and Google has simply combined its cash with YouTube’s “eyeballs�. Mark thinks advertising will be key, but the ability to deliver video to consumers will transition from free to paid fairly soon

6.05 – Cheap entertainment isn’t going away, but as the networks and studios get more “user friendly� companies will increasingly look to monetize their content.

7.34 - Google Video was not a success so Google is looking to buy, not build, and Mark predicts history will credit Google with a great bargain. Kevin agrees that the acquisition is a calculated gamble but that there’s not a lot of downside – as opposed with the rumoured Yahoo! Facebook deal

8.19 – Neither Mark nor Kevin is worried about copyright for YouTube – The power of Google will conquer all!

8.56 – What’s next? Are we on the precipice of another technology M&A bubble with a lot of strategic moves to where sites with big numbers being bought so companies aren’t outflanked? Kevin thinks so and points to back of the napkin style “valuations�

9.53 – There is an exponential danger in Yahoo! going after second or even third tier players especially with a fad-site like Facebook whose U.S. visitors actually dropped last month.

10.20 – Mark and Kevin discuss legal music downloads - they have doubled over the first six months. Does that mean the people are abandoning file-sharing services? Kevin doesn’t think that they are going away, but as iTunes and others offer more, consumers may be more willing to pay.

11.40 – Mark introduces a Russian player to the music download scene, All of MP3.com. They contend that because they are only subject to Russian law, they are are perfectly legal. Both Kevin and Mark have tried it on an experimental basis. Kevin thinks that if the Russians want to be a part of the World Trade Organization, they better get their copyright laws in order.

12.51 – Kevin points out that the music business at home could do itself a service by “taking the pill� and offering up as much of there music as possible. Until legal services offer as much variety as rogue sites, people will still be inclined to download illegally.

13.25 – Mark wraps things up by saying that iTunes and others should learn from All of MP3.com because it is very user friendly, well designed and priced properly.

Comments for Mark and Kevin can be left on the comment line: +1 206 333-1327.

As always, the music is No Mojo by Anthony Stauffer and Holy Smoke which is available on the pod safe music network.

Comments for Mark and Kevin can be left on the comment line: +1 206 333-1327.

0.14 - Mark welcomes back listeners and explains the hiatus from last week. Kevin explains what analysts do at trade shows before congratulating Mark on the birth of his son. He then sets the stage for a shock announcement

0.59 - Mark is leaving the National Post to become Vice-President of Operations at b5media, a global new media company consisting of a network of 150 blogs, and reiterates his passion for the web 2.0 world.

2.40 - The first topic is Jim Balsillie following in Paul Allen and Charles Wang’s footsteps and buying a sports team – the Pittsburgh Penguins. Will they become the Waterloo Blackberries?

3.35 - Kevin says Jim is in a no-lose situation and even if he can’t get the new stadium out of the City of Pittsburgh, he can easily bring the franchise up to Kitchener-Waterloo. Mark notes that this is out of character for him.

5.05 - Rogers Wireless is interested in carrying the Pearl, but without the suite of data services that U.S. and Europe get. He wonders if the Pearl will be as successful with the general public as it has with its corporate customers.

5.32 - Kevin think it will be a runaway success with the consumers and offers some hockey advice for Jim Balsillie – invest in youth and speed.

6.19 - Mark gets back onto the Pearl and wonders if the sure-type keyword will deter users until the, slightly larger, 8800 comes out with a Qwerty keyboard.

7.28 - The guys agree that the new market will be attracted to the form and the lower price point and that RIM has the advantage as the market leader and in terms of ease of use, security and form.

8.07 - Google to buy YouTube? Mark brings up a Wall Street Journal article about a rumour that Google may be buying YouTube for $1.5bn (U.S.) and wonders if it’s worth it for something that essentially just kills time at work.

8.26 - Kevin doesn’t think so but defers to Mark’s better 2.0 judgment but points to some past deals and the mountain of cash that Google has.

9.02 - Mark says that YouTube has users and is starting to attract serious revenue - a front page ad on the site is worth $175,000 (U.S.). If Google wants to become a player in the video space, it makes sense. Kevin adds that it makes more sense for Microsoft to go after YouTube after lagging behind in the web 2.0 stakes.

10.31 - Mark wraps things up by promoting his other blogs – Maple Leaf 2.0, All Nortel, All The Time and his flagship Mark Evans blog – all of which will be moved into the b5 network eventually.

Comments for Mark and Kevin can be left on the comment line: +1 206 333-1327.

As always, the music is No Mojo by Anthony Stauffer and Holy Smoke which is available on the pod safe music network.

[libsyn_player]]

Comments for Mark and Kevin can now be left on the new comment line: 1 206-333-1327 or you can email mevans@nationalpost.com or check out Mark's blog at http://evans.blogware.com/blog

.16 - Mark sets things up by declaring 2006 the year of the video and YouTube in particular. The recent deal with Warner, coupled with Microsoft's announcement of the beta "YouTube for middle aged people," Soapbox, leads into a copyright discussion.

1.29 - Kevin loves the unregulated nature of video sharing but wonders how long left it has in its current form.

2.38 - Mark speculates that investment may be a part of the Warner Brothers deal which suggests YouTube will have to go legit and therefore become less compelling.

3.39 - Kevin would pay for high quality clips, on an a la carte, one off basis.

4.25 - Mark draws comparisons between YouTube (video) and Napster (music) and says that big media companies are being forced to sign agreements before the genie gets out of the bottle. He wonders what the business model will be and predicts a formalized agreement with content producers.

5.50 - Kevin responds to Mark's assertion that this isn't the first time Microsoft has been late to a party (browser and search in particular). He thinks that Microsoft just doesn't have that cool factor with consumer products and, although it'll make money with Soapbox, will never catch YouTube; it would have been easier to buy the traffic and the content.

6.54 - Mark brings some perspective and reminds us of Microsoft's record in playing catch up in the browser market and the gaming industry.

7.30 - The guys segue way into a discussion on the Wii - a completely different gaming console that may change the industry in the way Xbox online changed it a few years ago. The new device has been priced at $250 and is looking at a fall release which could herald a renaissance for Nintendo.

9.18 - Mark is very impressed with the "triple crown" Blackberry Pearl, and with the form of RIM's CEOs in particular. A Freudian slip may suggest a new entrant to the mobile email market? The sure-type key board works really well but people may wait for the Qwerty version.

10.42 - Kevin reveals what he'll be looking for from the RIM analyst briefing he's going to. He's impressed with the market that's opened up for the company after the introduction of more consumer-type functions such as the camera.

12.13 - Mark rounds things off by predicting more positive changes for the show.

As always, the music is No Mojo by Anthony Stauffer and Holy Smoke which is available on the pod safe music network.

Comments for Mark and Kevin can now be left on the new comment line: 1 206-333-1327 or you can email mevans@nationalpost.com

http://evans.blogware.com/blog

0:16 - Mark welcomes listeners and delivers a shameless plug for Starbucks to sponsor Talking Tech.

0:51 - The theme of the week is hardware with Microsoft's Zune and the raft of Apple announcements including the iTV.  Mark starts with the, non-iPod killer, Zune - 30gb, wireless connection, track sampling for up to three plays over three days and the new Urge music service.

1:33 - Kevin addresses the question of whether it will become a viable iPod competitor and says that Microsoft have learnt from the mistakes of other hardware vendors.  Kevin predicts a very viable number of sales for Microsoft but doubts they can catch up with the iPod's 'cool' factor, no matter what the technology.

3:12 - Kevin says the biggest mistake competitors made was that their devices just weren't as cool, functional or elegant.  The iPod, and Apple, just deliver a great experience.  Kevin says the Zune is a good step forward but notes that Microsoft products aren't as user friendly as Apple's.

4:02 - Mark believes that the iPod's Achilles heel is the fact that users become married to other Apple products - which has helped Apple, as iTunes is such a good product.  Will Microsoft offer enough be able to tempt people away?

4:43 - Mark goes on to talk about iTV, which wirelessly connects your television to your Mac  He notes that the digital living room is, potentially, a huge market but Kevin thinks it's too early and too geeky  to be mainstream right now, despite the buzz it generated.  Mark disagrees and says that Apple's user friendly heritage means he's giving Apple the benefit of the doubt.

7:02 - Mark asks Kevin for his thoughts on Apple's new movie download service.  Kevin is skeptical that people will want to watch movies on their iPods or even their computers.  However he predicts the industry will get behind it as it will curb piracy and Mark draws comparisons between now and the launch of iTunes.  Kevin adds a caveat saying that file sizes are currently too large and network capacities are too small for people to download enough movies to change the industry.

9:49 - Mark brings up TIFF and suggests a download service for the niche films shown in festivals that aren't often shown in theatres - like The Last King of Scotland.  Kevin is a big movie fan and would love that sort of service, however he says that the impetus isn't there for the movie industry to change in the same way as the music industry had to.  Yet.

12:27 - It's been a huge week for Telus with their stock rising following income trust conversion plans, winning a five year contract with the Government of Ontario from Bell and breaking ground at the Telus Tower.  Mark reviews his interview with CEO Darren Entwistle and Kevin confirms that Bob McFarlen, the CFO, was the most excited he's ever seen him, when talking about Telus' future.

14:10 - Mark brings it back to the big picture and looks at the competitive landscape with Shaw, Bell, Rogers, EDS, IBM and others for consumer and corporate telco business.  The industry still has challenges to overcome and the guys urge caution as the industry is being driven by wireless phones.

15:59 - Kevin comments on the potential movement into consumer services from Telus, despite their lack of owned networks, in Ontario and Quebec.  It won't be easy but Mark says they could leverage their existing structure with wireless technology to get into new markets.

18:10 - Mark announces that they are choosing logos for the show and directs listeners to his blog to feedback on the candidates.  Mark and Kevin thank Dave Jones and Ed Lee, from Fleishman-Hillard, along with Neil Johnson and Steve Coppola from iStudio for their help in the podcast's makeover.

Comments for Mark and Kevin can now be left on the new comment line: 1 206-333-1327.

The music is No Mojo by Anthony Stauffer and Holy Smoke which is available on the pod safe music network.

Share your comments, feedback and questions with us at Mark's blog or send an email to mevans@nationalpost.com.

0.14 - Mark welcomes back listeners, explains the gap between shows and introduces a new name for the show.  Mark and Kevin then discuss Kevin's departure from the National Post to become a senior analyst at the SeaBoard Group.

2.56 - Research in Motion (RIM) has finally launched the new Blackberry Pearl.  Kevin believes that the device is worth the hype, but urges caution over RIM's stock price, and says that consumers are closer to having the all-in-one device they crave although they're not there yet.

4.59 - Mark, a regular Blackberry user, is not impressed by the Motorola Moto Q, which isn't intuitive enough, but says he finds the new Nokia E62 promising. 

6.20 - Mark brings up Toronto Hydro's new wi-fi network in downtown Toronto.  Kevin thinks that the overall strategy is aggressive, despite the limited coverage zone of the initial execution.  He then compares the pricing and access speeds between Bell's and Rogers's "Portable Internet" product to Toronto Hydro.

7.40 - Kevin reports that Toronto Hydro had 200,000 simultaneous users within the six squared kilometers network when they went live and predicts this will shake up the industry. 

8.00 - Mark is especially interested by the pricing and wonders if the low cost of access will lead to a price war, noting that the major broadband providers all have similar pricing plans.

9.17 - Kevin agrees that Rogers and Bell will have to lower their pricing if they want to stay competitive in the space. 

10.00 - Mark asks about increasing the network's coverage, to include the new buildings that are being developed. Kevin goes through the five zones Toronto Hydro wants to have covered before the end of the year.

11.18 - Mark takes a look at the municipal Wi-Fi phenomenon and the reasons behind this new movement.

12.17 - Kevin thinks this is the way of the future and that municipalities want to brand themselves as tourist friendly places with the rise of portable digital devices.  He references a conversation with the CEO of BelAir Networks, Bernard Herscovich to illustrate the demand across North America for equipment.

13.04 - Mark wraps things up with a heartfelt admission and predicts changes in the way the show is produced.  But Starbucks is still the natural home for Talking Tech!

The new music is No Mojo by Anthony Stauffer and Holy Smoke and is available on the pod safe music network.

In this week's podcast, Kevin Restivo and I looked at the ongoing Rocketboom soap opera, and whether it deserved anywhere near the attention it received. We also talked about Microsoft's much-speculated move into the MP3 player market - a development we think will expand the market rather than be an iPod-killer. Finally, we delved into Open Text's takeover bid for Hummingbird, which appears to be yet another sign of consolidation in the Canadian software market.

This week's podcast, produced by Nationanl Post reporters Mark Evans and Kevin Restivo, explores these stories from the week in technolgy:
1. Nortel Networks' decision to reduce its workforce by 1,100 people, as well as the company's annual shareholders meeting in Toronto where CEO Mike Zafirvoski declared he wasn't looking to do a merger or a sale.
2. Research in Motion's strong quarterly results, which suggest it has quickly overcome its nasty legal battle with NTP Inc., and that Blackberry sales are still vibrant.
3. Sir Richard Branson's visit to Toronto to announce a two-day music festival. He also mentioned that Virgin Mobile Canada has 250,000 customers and aiming for 400,000 by year-end. Virgin will soon be joined in the MVNO space in Canada by Amd'd Mobile, which is doing a deal with Telus Corp.

This week's podcast featuring a Canadian look at the week in technology features Financial Post reporters Mark Evans and Kevin Restivo. This week, we look at:
1. The future of Nortel Networks in the wake of Siemens and Nokia combining their carrier network equipment divisions.
2. Vonage and its ongoing post-IPO troubles
3. Bill Gates' decision to step down as chief software architect so he can focus on being chairman and how to give away billions of dollars to charity.

Enjoy!

I recently had a chance to do a podcast with Bill St. Arnaud, senior director of advanced networks with CANARIE, a federally-supported not-for-profit company with a mandate to promote the widespread adoption of next-generation high-speed networks in Canada - sort of our version of Internet 2. Among some of the things we touched upon were some interesting high-speed projects happening in Sweden, including one that involves consumers buying a 100mbps "last mile" connection, as well as developments in Canada's high-speed market.

This weekly podcast, featuring the National Post's Mark Evans and Kevin Restivo, focuses on:
1. why Nortel CEO Mike Zafirovski is so darn bullish
2. Google Spreadsheets - Microsoft killer or just another online service
3. the Blackberry's launch in Japan. Will Canada's flagship technology product score with the wireless-crazed Japanese?

This week's show looks at the highlights in the technology world this week - hosted by Mark Evans and Kevin Restivo.
1. Apple's new, 24/7 retail store in Manhattan.
2. Nortel's conference call with analysts earlier this week where CEO Mike Zafirovski provided a pragmatic, yet optimistic, outlook for the telecom equipment maker.
3. Don Stout, best-known for steering NTP to victory over Research in Motion, hooking up with a Canadian software company to protect their patents.
4. the mesh conference in Toronto, which put the spotlight on Web 2.0.

I had a chance to sit down with Rocketboom.com's Andrew Barron for a few minutes during the mesh conference in Toronto.

Tris Hussey, chief blogging officer with Qumana, had a chat with me during the mesh conference in Toronto. We talked about Qumana's plans for its blog editing software and the blog publishing landscape.

Google, Terry Matthews, Research in Motion in China, the mesh conference

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