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.
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 CircuitCityclosing 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.
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?
