Categories
Geek

Portable Computing in the “Mad Men” Era

Are there any computers available today that come in that particular shade of blue, with matching chair?

1960s computerClick the photo to see it at full size. Photo courtesy of retrofuture.

This article also appears in Global Nerdy.

Categories
Geek It Happened to Me Work

One Year at Microsoft

I knew that I might be a little too busy to write an anniversary blog post with my work schedule this week. That’s why I wrote that article last month to mark having worked at Microsoft for 11 months. My schedule was a little less hectic then. Go and read the article if you like – everything that I wrote then still applies today, with the notable exception of a month’s time having passed.

Having said that, I still like celebrating milestones, so I thought I’d mark this day with a quick photo-collage featuring Yours Truly on the job:

one year at microsoft

As I wrote earlier: “It’s been great so far. I’m going to stick around for a little while.”

This article also appears in Global Nerdy.

Categories
Play

The Truth About Pac-Man

pac-man

[Found via Certified Bullshit Technician.]

This article also appears in Global Nerdy.

Categories
Play

Assless Chaps are Still Allowed, However

No Gimp SuitsPhoto courtesy of “mongolblues”. Click the photo to see the original.

Categories
Geek Life

WIND Mobile’s Videos: Funny. Canadian Mobile Phone Situation: Not So Funny.

I have no idea if WIND Mobile is going to be able to deliver what they promise – a mobile phone company that listens to its customers and provides better service than the sad players in the Canadian mobile phone oligarchy – but they’ve got the right ideas and some rather funny videos that perfectly illustrate what the Canadian mobile customer has to contend with.

What if Toronto’s hot dog vendors had a pricing model like Canadian mobile phone companies? Buying a hot dog would be like this:

Canada is the only country in the world where mobile companies lock you into three-year contracts for mobile service, and this situation is illustrated in the video titled Bike Lock:

I always look at the service packages offered by U.S. mobile companies with envy. Here, the mobile companies love nickel-and-diming you:

WIND is a new entrant into the Canadian mobile phone market and a branch of Globalive Communications, who already have a presence in Canada in the form of Yak Communications, an alternative phone and internet provider. They seem to be taking a very “social media” approach to their marketing, what with the “viral” YouTube videos and a “conversational” website in which readers are encourage to actively participate in online discussions.

They look like an interesting company to watch, and hey, if they can get me a better deal than Rogers, I’ll switch.

Recommended Reading

Tom Purves has been one of voices leading the battle cry against Canadian mobile companies for the past couple of years. Back in 2007 at DemoCamp 17, he gave what I consider to be the best ignite presentation ever given at a Toronto DemoCamp, The State of Wireless in Canada Sucks. Here’s the slide deck from that presentation:

He recently revised his presentation for 2009 when he presented it at the FITC mobile conference in September, which mentions WIND mobile:

This article also appears in Global Nerdy.

Categories
Geek Play

Nerd Hip-Hop Collection

Brett Domino

British uberpopnerd Brett Domino elevates hip-hop to a whole new level with a medley of Rapper’s Delight by the Sugar Hill Gang, Jump Around by House of Pain and Fresh Prince and Jazzy Jeff’s Boom! Shake the Room, equipped with only two “Stylos” and a microphone:

Klenginem

Klenginem is a German guy who does Eminem numbers – in tlhIngan Hol, which you might know better as “Klingon”. Qapla’!

Kate "AlpineKat" McAlpine

I can’t talk about nerd hip-hop without bringing up Kate "AlpineKat" McAlpine, the science communicator/rapper behind the Large Hadron Collider Rap, which explains what the Large Hadron Collider is and why it was made:

Categories
It Happened to Me Music

Dragonette Live

I caught Dragonette at the launch party for MSN.ca a couple of weeks ago and was pretty impressed. I’m fond of their synth-pop-cut-with-guitars sound and am going to have to get my hands on their new album.

I took some shots of their performance; you can either check out this Flickr photoset or watch the slideshow below: