inCommunicado - eric eggertson

What the hell is wrong with the ISP and mobile phone business in Canada?
Gone are the days when you could just buy a service. Now, everything you do is an attempt to reduce the service levels below useless, or ding you for "extras" (no one has the guts to charge extra yet for services like […]

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The breathless news release from OutdoorPartner Media describes a nameless client that is spending $1 million on an outdoor campaign using "payphone kiosks," which I assume is a synonm for phone booths.

That’s not news.  Nor is the fact that "OutdoorPartner is particularly well-positioned to capitalize on the migration of media dollars to out-of-home media properties due […]

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When the Rolling Stones booked Regina for an October concert, I was wondering if there might be snow. But apparently Mick and the boys have an in with the weather office.
Friday concert: Balmy, sunny day, followed by a warm evening.
Saturday day off: Heavy rain all day, with strong, cold winds.Sunday concert: Cool in the morning, […]

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The first time I started our Xbox I couldn’t believe the incredibly noisy start-up sound that emanated from the TV speakers.
Obviously, the design team never tried to catch a quick video game at 2 a.m., while everyone else is asleep.
It’s designed to draw attention to the fact that you’re about to play games instead of:

> […]

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As if we needed another example of a company getting all shirty about its intellectual property, Paramount fired a legal salvo at a fan site that leaked a photo of a film (perhaps that’s too artsy a term) due for release this summer.
The Movie Blog’s John Campea describes Paramount’s blunder here and refers to the […]

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When North America discovered recycled paper, environmentalism was the only game in town. The media was obsessed with it. Companies were terrified of being labeled a polluter. It was cool to be green.
That passion never waned in Europe and in some parts of North America, but it has been substantially sidetracked  in corporate North America.
Iceland […]

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A Canadian Recording Industry Association report tells us what common sense has told us all along - people who take the time to download and share music files are also likely to buy music. Copyright lawyer and e-freedom advocate Michael Geist analyses the report. Unlike other research reports mentioned by CRIA, this one includes full […]

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Sony BGM is backing down.
The consumer and tech industry backlash against the company’s use of spyware technology to embed its digital rights management code on customers’ computers caused the company to stop using that particular technique (read more about its other techniques).
Jim Horton feels sympathy for the public relations team at Sony: "This is […]

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Mark Russinovich, the technology blogger who first outed Sony BMG for its use of spyware/adware technology to control digital rights on some music CDs it sells, has more:Sony: You don’t reeaaaally want to uninstall, do you? (see the hundreds of comments by readers)Sony’s Rootkit: First 4 Internet responds (more than 100 comments)and his original post,Sony, […]

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The business model being pursued by the big music companies is so out of touch with what consumers want, it scares me. What if they prevail, and any music rights owned by a big company becomes so tied up in digital rights that the customers can no longer listen to the music they have bought?
Cory […]

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