Dear Friend of Fair Copyright,

Thank you very much for taking the time to make your voice heard on the fight for fair copyright in Canada. In addition to yours, I have received well over 25,000 emails, letters, Facebook messages, faxes and phone-calls from everyday Canadians who want their elected officials to heed the call for fair copyright legislation in Canada for users, creators and innovators – NOT just the U.S. music and film industry lobbies.

Make no mistake, your emails and letters have made a huge impact. Without the enormous groundswell of support for fair copyright, the Conservatives never would have undertaken the consultation process that they did. Will they listen to what they heard? That remains to be seen.

A factor that threatens the development of fair copyright in Canada is the ongoing Anti-Counterfeiting Treaty Agreement (ACTA) negotiations. These talks have been conducted under a heavy veil of secrecy that excludes citizen engagement, denies public or media oversight, and undermines domestic copyright laws like those currently being considered in many countries around the world, including Canada.

Please read on for more info, but I want to make sure you take this opportunity to add your voice to those opposed to the ACTA secrecy. If you’re on Facebook, please join this group and ask your contact list to do the same: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=288885939910&ref=ts#.

Documents that have leaked from the talks show that negotiators are hammering out a deal that would criminalize internet users. It would require ISPs to spy on individual internet use and shut down access to content based any potential allegation of infringement.

The most sinister of these is the “three strikes” proposal. It sets out that anyone who is accused – NOT convicted – of illegal downloading three times is summarily disconnected from the internet and prevented from obtaining another account.

Please join the chorus of voices calling for transparency and accountability on the ACTA negotiations, so that our government doesn’t negotiate away Canada’s ability to determine what fair domestic copyright laws should be.

Sincerely,

Charlie Angus, MP
Digital Affairs Critic, NDP

Taken this morning. Really glad I made the effort to wake up extra early this morning.

I’m sure I’ll get the rest of the photos up on Flickr at some point.

Besides, these few nascent hours of 2010 are already tons better than most of the previous year.

Let me indulge myself and take a moment to make some forecasts, predictions and resolutions for this year. Maybe in another 365 days, I can come back and see how I fared.

Forecasts & Predictions

• Against the Bank of Canada’s best wishes and efforts, the Canadian dollar will reach and surpass parity.
• Despite that, manufacturing will continue to decline.
• Canadian entertainment and media industry will be quite successful this year, but will probably go through a dramatic shift in production or distribution.
• Facebook will continue its downward spiral through more “liberal” privacy policies. Nobody notices.
• It will be an awesome year for mobile – new telcos, new hardware running Android, more ways to make money in the space (advertising, apps, sponsored usage, etc.), and new ways to compute mobilry (tablets, wearable computers).
• Online advertising will keep growing (hurray!), but will bring in more competition who don’t know what they’re doing (boo), providing opportunities to teach and grow (ok?).
• Canada will win a couple of medals at the Winter Olympics, though probably only a silver in Mens Hocket.

Resolutions

• Make a real and substantial effort to go up to KW to visit.
• Travel. A lot.
• Regain a positive outlook on people and humanity
• Continue to pursue professional designations and provide leadership in the workplace.
• Let go of things a bit more. Understand I can only affect so much change, but do my best in what I can.

That’s probably a good place to start. 2010 will be a good year. I’ll make sure this will be the case.

Happy New Year, and have a great one.

scwl

Anyways, that’s all. Move along; nothing to see here.

Happy holidays, and happy new year.

Well, not really. My woes have long since passed and I have since continued on with my life. Afterall, there really is no time allotted in my life to dilly-dally with these trifles things.

Still, some of you remember my mild outburst on the venerable Visage Tome last week along the lines of “Screw You, Apple. Screw You.” I still stand by my [albeit] cryptic statement and I guess I should explain why.

About 2 and a half weeks ago, our lord and saviour Steve announced thr next coming in the evolution of mobile computing – namely iPhone OS 3.1. What a glorious day it was. The sun was shining, new iPods were announced and major changes were coming to the Apple world that would be the dawn of a new computing age. As an Apple loyalist, I patiently sat in line for my new firmware to be downloaded and installed. Little did I know that those would be my last days as a Machead.

The download and installation progressed as smoothly as Apple-y possible. Afterall, Apple hires highly trained monkeys for their UX team to ensure that any organism with opposable thumbs can operate any device or process designed. My real problem started later that night.

I use my iPhone as my pseudo-alarm clock, and I leave it plugged in to ensure a full charge. Afterall, why would you let any device go commando [so to speak] when you don’t have to? Lo and behold though, when I was rudely awakened [as if there were any other way to be awakened] the next morning, I was surprised to find that my phone was down to 25% charge. No worries, I thought, must be a faulty cable. It was dying anyway. I’ll just plug it into my laptop [a Macbook, by the way] and things will be fine. Problem solved, no?

Seeing as this blog post continues a bit longer, you can assume the problem was not solved. In fact, nary 4 hours into my work day, my iPhone died again. Another depletion of capacitance charge. Anger inflamed me. I decided to consult with the Oracle – Apple tech support.

After a calming talk with them and a reflash of the hardware, I was renewed and reinvigorated with hope. That lasted another 4 hours. I decided to consult with an even higher power; I made an appointment with The Genius Bar.

Several days [4 for those of you who can count] later, my appointment came. A half hour after I was slated to start, my name was called. Without going into details, my 5 minute appointment there lasted as follows:

Me: Hi, my iPhone’s battery life’s been shot since upgrading to firmware 3.1. I called your tech support line and I reflashed my firmware dedspite the huge inconvenience it caused me. The battery life is still shit. Can you help?

“Genius”: let me plug it into my oh-so-special Macbook with diagnostic software you can’t have and I’ll tell you how unworthy you are in the eyes of Steve.

…minutes pass…

“Genius”: Hmm, your battery is draining a bit faster than usual. Why don’t you take it back and let us know how it goes?

Me [internal]: Really? Didn’t I tell you it’s been shit for more than half a week? Would continuing to monitor the situation really improve performance? I think not.

Me: Thanks…

Me [internally]: …for nothing. Guess I’ll start using my G1.

And that’s what I’ve been doing since. With a larger battery pack [2300 mAh], the device runs all day with EDGE and Wifi, as well as GPS location services. I can listen to my music all day without any interruptions. The apps are still a bit flakey depending on how many background processes I run, but it’s tolerable. And I can still get my podcasts with Google Listen. The only thing I miss is my audiobooks [DRMed by Audible. Atlas Shrugged doesn't listen by itself you know...] Otherwise, it’s integrated itself very well into my workflow. I like it quite a bit and would encourage others to look into other, more powerful Android based devices.

For now, though, contentness and love, as I steamroll in Ottawa for dear Liz and Chris’ wedding.

Until next time,

sammee

Here’s to good fun and cheer [and hopefully survival]!

Outside of actual commuting and the Toronto Bus Terminal (refer to an older post), there is actually a lot to love about sitting in a bus or train and traveling long distances.

Firstly, the stresses of the road is miraculously transferred from yourself to the driver or conductor as if there some kind of electrical transferance taking place as your butt touches the cushion of your seat. The wonderful high tech lives in which we lead.

Secondly, with my sleep schedule and lifestyle that I lead, I often find myself sitting in vehicles at half-capacity traveling at speeds much faster than the speed limit allows. This is quite a good thig since I tend to cramp up easily and my patience has dropped precipitously to that of a 12 year old.

Still, I’m not entirely sure that I’m able to do all of this without my trusted travel entourage – my iPhone and my camera. It truly is miraculous that we can travel at 100km/h down a stretch of God’s great green earth and enjoy music, interwebs, blog posting and so much more in a device that slips into my pocket with nary a nuisance. I wouldn’t know how I distracted myself before this magical device landed on my lap a year ago. Hell, I think my commute with Deloitte would have been greatly improved (or at least be less sucky) if this little box of wonderfulness was available in Canada at that point.

And where would I be without my camera? The ability to record my memories simply, beautifully, and artistically has given me newfound love for travel. Without it, I would have been content sitting at home, picking up nefarious gaming habits of the massively multiplayer nature.

But you know what I love best about sitting in buses and trains? The chance to hone my thoughts into a blog post that I hope has been witty and entertaining.

Becuase that is how I roll.

Until next time.

S

1. the act or state of ruining or the state of being ruined. [Dictionary.com]
2. the final product of someone has ruin your shit. A utter defeat or total destruction on a massive scale. [UrbanDictionary.com]
3. the brief and fleeting sensation upon realizing that your Northern Chinese hosts drink much more heavily than you expected; that their toasts actively involve emptying any glass of alcoholic drink currently in front of them; and that your traveling companion will take on all challenges, regardless of its level of stupidity and damage to the liver. [Sam Leung, 2009]

I believe that effectively sums up my two day stay in beautiful Daqing City. No, that’s not true. Congratulations to Yancey and Jocelyn on a lovely wedding. You two are great together and I hope you’ll share even more years of happiness. We had a truly wonderful time in Daqing City. Your gracious generosity and hospitality will always be cherished and remembered, and I will never be sure if I will ever be able to thank you and your families properly.

Flying back to Beijing this morning, and returning to Toronto by Saturday evening. Take care to you all till then!

• Walked from my place at Yonge and Eglinton to Queen and Yonge for brunch on Christmas Day.
• Lined up early at Future Shop and got a Digital SLR on Boxing Day! I really can’t wait to get out there and use it.
• Trans-Siberian Orchestra concert with jamyorke and her family. Man, they are awesome.
• Boxing Day brunch with kho, drosart, klarose, and many others. This has become a great tradition.
• Hot pot in Chinatown on Boxing Day.
• Very late brunch downtown with eswong, sllaw, and many others as well on Saturday.
• Walked around downtown for a bit, and checked out the UFC fight with Steve Y. at the Boston Pizza.
• Picked up lots of games, DVDs and entertainment that will hopefully last me through the new year. Go consumerism!

I was home late both days, but man, I haven’t felt so alive in so long.

It’s so nice to have days like these. Maybe next weekend will be the same.