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Year: 2009
Categories
Assless Chaps are Still Allowed, However
Photo courtesy of “mongolblues”. Click the photo to see the original.
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:
(Feb 2008) The State Of Wireless In Canada Sucks Toronto Democamp17 Thomas Purves
View more documents from thomas.purves.
He recently revised his presentation for 2009 when he presented it at the FITC mobile conference in September, which mentions WIND mobile:
(Sept 2009) The state of Wireless in Canada
View more presentations from thomas.purves.
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:
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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:
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Bright Lights, Big Macs
The map below shows AggData’s map of the continental United States visualizing distances to the nearest McDonald’s. The closer a place is to a McDonald’s, the more brightly it is illuminated. Click the map to see it at a larger size:
This recipe is worth it for the combination of the words “bacon” and “dreamcatcher”. I don’t recommend actually making this unless you’re on Michael Phelps’ daily physical regime:
[Photo series courtesy of spingo.]