THIS ISSUE'S STREAM:
+++ iCraveTV Considers Subscription Service
+++ Chapters and RadioShack Launch Electronics Site
+++ Many Canadian E-Tailers Fail to Deliver
+++ SamtheRecordMan.com Delivers!
+++ Nelvana to Offer Internet-Only Animated Program
+++ Great Canadian Story Engine Sets Off
+++ .CA Finally Finds a Permanent Home
+++ Ontario Interactive Digital Media Tax Credit Available
+++ Community Optical Fibre Network for Ottawa
+++ Shaw to use Marconi Multiservice Networking Platform
+++ ExtendMedia Adds Fred Fuchs to Convergence Team
+++ New Internet-Savvy Senior VP at Alliance Atlantis
+++ Microforum to Acquire New York's Blue Hypermedia
+++ ETI Gaming and OGAM Sign Joint Venture
+++ Liberty Village Appointments Announced
+++ The Luddite's Lair: PartingWords.com
+++ ConvergenceTV.com
+++ NLANR/Internet2/CANARIE Techs Workshop
+++ Gourmet Spam: Spot the
(sic)
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[-- NEWSPEAK: MULTIMEDIA INDUSTRY NEWS --]
+++ iCraveTV Considers Subscription Service
William Craig has told the Toronto Star that he hopes to
re-launch his controversial iCraveTV site in the fall as a
subscription service. Specialty stations would form the
bulk of the content and viewers would pay $8 or $9 per
month. Instead of "CBS, NBC or ABC," he said, "it would be
YTV, MuchMusic and ESPN." iCraveTV is currently
negotiating with 25 US and Canadian specialty channels,
seeking rights to Webcast their programming. Craig says
the reception thus far has been "warm" but adds that most
vendors want assurances that only Canadian viewers will
have access to the site. iCraveTV is said to be developing
software, dubbed iWall, that would be able to meet these
demands. (Source: The Toronto Star)
On another front, RecordTV has been forced to shut down
its "Internet VCR" site after 12 motion picture and
entertainment companies threatened to sue David Simon and
his site for copyright infringement. Simon's site had
allowed viewers to "record" primetime TV programs online
and then, once the program had aired, to watch the program
using RealPlayer. The suit, filed in Los Angeles, alleges
that the company copied and displayed TV programs without
authorization. "I created this site for my kids," Simon
told Daily Variety. "I had no idea there was an issue. I
don't want to fight the MPAA. I'm scared to death. I'm one
guy with two kids and a small Web site." Although Simon
insisted his was a one-man operation, Jack Valenti said
that "David Simon, willingly and knowingly, has built a
business based on offering its customers access to
valuable stolen property." The company had claimed 1
million hits a day at its site and to have more than
50,000 active users. (Source: Daily Variety)
http://www.icravetv.com
http://www.recordtv.com
+++ Chapters and RadioShack Launch Electronics Site
Chapters Online and RadioShack Canada have announced an
agreement resulting in the launching of an extensive
consumer electronics site located at Chapters.ca. The site
offers thousands of consumer electronics products,
including calculators, video cameras, and remote control
cars. In return, Radioshack.ca now offers new product
categories on its Web site, including music, movies,
books, and gaming software that will be fulfilled by
Chapters Online.
http://www.chapters.ca/electronics
http://www.radioshack.ca
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+++ Many Canadian E-Tailers Fail to Deliver
A joint study between Boston Consulting Group and the
Retail Council of Canada shows that 12 percent of online
orders in Canada are not filled, almost twice the US
average. James Vogtle, e-commerce research director at
Boston Consulting, has warned that Canadian e-tailers run
the risk of losing business unless the situation improves.
The study, based on first-quarter responses from 66
Canadian e-tailers, showed that "just 71 per cent of
Canadian e-orders were completely filled, compared with 83
per cent by their US counterparts." Boston Consulting and
the retail council released a joint statement indicating
that "online retailers need to act now, before US
competitors become firmly entrenched." (Source: Globe and
Mail)
http://www.bcg.com
+++ SamtheRecordMan.com Delivers!
Canadian music and video e-tailer SamTheRecordMan.com has
announced same-day delivery service to its customers in
the Greater Toronto Area. The same-day service will
initially apply to CD and DVD orders, and they expect to
expand the service to the full catalogue in the coming
months. The same-day delivery service will be offered
weekdays and will provide delivery by 5 PM on orders
placed before 10 AM, while orders placed between 10 AM and
3 PM will be delivered by 10 PM the same evening. The cost
will be $9.95 plus 75 cent per item. "Customers will shop
online if it's entertaining and convenient," says Jason
Sniderman, CEO, SamtheRecordMan.com. "Lack of choice and
long wait times associated with Internet shopping are
continuously cited as major issues why some consumers are
not shopping on the Web."
http://www.samtherecordman.com
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+++ Nelvana to Offer Internet-Only Animated Program
Canadian animation studio Nelvana is planning to hit the
Internet with a new online program aimed at teens and
young adults. The program, called When Quads Won't Leave,
is being referred to as "a South Park-type show" aimed at
the youth market and is said to be the first animated
program to be offered solely via the Internet. "We know
that the Internet and television are like two characters
in a film," Nelvana's Patrick Loubert told the Toronto
Star. "You know they're going to meet sooner or later, you
just don't know where or when. We want to be ready for
when that happens." (Source: Toronto Star)
http://www.nelvana.com
+++ Great Canadian Story Engine Sets Off
Canadians will have a multitude of opportunities to
express what it means to be a Canadian with the
introduction of the Great Canadian Story Engine. It's
actually three engines in one. The Virtual Engine Web site
will serve as an interactive storytelling source where
Canadians can share their experiences about living in
Canada. The Living Engine will house the Story Engine team
as it heads out across the country in the Storymobile, a
30-foot Airstream trailer that has been transformed into a
digital classroom. Finally, the Learning Engine will
sponsor workshops and events aimed at providing training
in the art of digital storytelling. The tour part began on
June 21 in Placentia, Newfoundland and ends on September 8
in Victoria, British Columbia. The Great Canadian Story
Engine was developed by three partners: CBC, the Canadian
Film Centre and Immersant.
http://www.cbc.ca/storyengine
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+++ .CA Finally Finds a Permanent Home
The Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA), the
University of British Columbia, and the Government of
Canada recently announced an agreement that will see CIRA
"assume responsibility for the top-level .ca registry."
The move will give CIRA complete responsibility for
managing the .ca Internet domain. The transfer will be
implemented in three stages over the next several months.
"This is an important milestone for the top level .ca
domain," said Glen Vice-Chair, CIRA Board of Directors.
"It's the first step to ensure that the .ca domain remains
a Canadian resource operated and managed by Canadians." In
recognition of UBC's fundamental role in developing the
ca domain space over the past twelve years and the
goodwill established during that time in the .ca domain
space, CIRA agreed to compensate UBC $4,348,800 for the
transfer.
http://www.cira.ca/transfer.html
+++ Ontario Interactive Digital Media Tax Credit Available
The Ontario Film Development Corporation has announced
that the Ontario Interactive Digital Media Tax Credit
(OIDMTC) regulations have been passed into law. The OFCD's
Tax Credits Department is now accepting applications from
incorporated Ontario-based interactive digital media
content developers. The OIDMTC is a "refundable tax credit
of 20% of eligible Ontario labour expenditures incurred by
a qualifying corporation to develop interactive digital
media products for commercial exploitation in Ontario."
The credit may be claimed on labour expenditures incurred
on or after July 1, 1998. To claim an OIDMTC, a
corporation must file with its tax return a certificate
obtained from the OFDC. Guidelines and application forms
for the program are available in hard copy by calling the
Tax Credits Department or can be obtained by downloading
the forms from the OFDC's Web site.
http://www.ofdc.on.ca
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+++ Community Optical Fibre Network for Ottawa
Ottawa's Optical Fibre Consortium has signed an umbrella
agreement with Videotron Telecom to create a community
optical fibre network for Ottawa. The network is being
called the "first step in making Ottawa the world centre
for optical network research and development of advanced
online applications." As part of the agreement, Videotron
will build an optical fibre network throughout Ottawa,
linking more than 25 partner sites, becoming one of the
first such networks in the world in which participating
organizations will own and control their individual
strands of fibre. The Optical Fibre Consortium is made up
of partners the Canadian Space Agency, CANARIE, Carleton
University, Cisco Systems, Communications Research Centre,
Industry Canada, National Capital Institute of
Telecommunications, Nortel Networks, National Research
Council, Ottawa-Carleton District School Board, Ottawa
Centre for Research and Innovation, ONet, University of
Ottawa, Region of Ottawa-Carleton, and Telesat Canada.
+++ Shaw to use Marconi Multiservice Networking Platform
Calgary's Shaw Communications will soon deploy a
"multiservice networking solution" from Marconi. The
highly scalable switching platform will enable the
Canadian cable company to meet the expected demand for
broadband Internet services. The platform will also allow
Shaw to "interconnect its high-capacity video servers
locally and across Canada to deliver new, innovative
Internet products and offer high-capacity digital services
from coast-to-coast." The switching technology allows
data, voice and multimedia traffic to be delivered at
speeds of up to OC-48 (2.488 Gbps).
http://www.shaw.ca
http://www.marconi.com
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+++ ExtendMedia Adds Fred Fuchs to Convergence Team
Fred Fuchs, former president of Francis Ford Coppola's
American Zoetrope studios, has signed on as an executive
producer at Toronto's ExtendMedia. Fuchs, whose producer
credits include the motion pictures Tucker and Godfather
III, told Digital Coast Daily he sees his role at
ExtendMedia as "helping to create relationships, and
introducing Extend to traditional content providers I
know." As for the future of the medium, Fuchs said that
watching movies on a computer "makes no sense to me at
all." Nor is he expecting the "first great leaps forward"
in interactive programming to be confined to PCs.
"Interactivity is going to come to television before
broadband comes to computers," he added. (Source: Digital
Coast Daily)
http://www.extend.com
+++ New Internet-Savvy Senior VP at Alliance Atlantis
Jeffrey Elliott has been named Senior Vice President at
Alliance Atlantis Communications in a move that is
expected to "further develop and implement Alliance
Atlantis' on-line and Internet strategies." Elliott was
formerly Managing Editor of Netstar Interactive where he
was responsible for the creation and integration of the
interactive operations of The Sports Network (TSN) and
Discovery Channel Canada, as well as managing the re-
launching of Discovery's Web site. "Mr. Elliott has spent
his entire career in media and has a strong appreciation
of the Internet," said Alliance Atlantis Chairman and CEO
Michael MacMillan. "He brings to Alliance Atlantis a
unique Internet programming philosophy that fully
integrates television programming and Internet activities,
allowing the audience the opportunity to interact with
content on many different levels."
http://www.allianceatlantis.com/PressReleases/AAC00_38.html
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+++ Microforum to Acquire New York's Blue Hypermedia
Toronto-based Microforum has entered into preliminary,
non-binding agreement to acquire Blue Hypermedia, a company
Digital Coast Daily calls "one of [Silicon] Alley's last
independent Web shops." The four year-old Web development
and new media production company, also known as Blue.com,
received a US$14 bid from Microforum. The deal is expected
to close in late July. Blue Hypermedia client roster
includes The New York Times, Anheuser Busch, iMotors.com,
Cigna, and the MTVi Group. The company will remain
headquartered in New York. (Source: Digital Coast Daily)
http://www.microforum.com
http://www.blue.com
+++ ETI Gaming and OGAM Sign Joint Venture
Montreal's ETI Gaming has signed a letter of intent with
Online Gaming Systems (OGAM) to jointly market "the most
advanced and the most complete lottery solution,
integrating online lottery, point-of-sale, video lottery,
management and Internet applications to the worldwide
lottery industry." Richard Iamunno, Online Gaming's
President & CEO, stated, "We are pleased to be developing
this joint venture with a partner like ETI which has
brought central lottery systems into an operating
environment so compatible to our Internet solution. This
relationship firmly positions us in the burgeoning lottery
market, which we expect to grow significantly over the
next several years."
http://www.eti-gaming.com
http://www.ogsltd.com
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[-- THE LUDDITE'S LAIR: A SKEPTIC'S VIEW --]
We must sadly report that this will be the final missive
from the Luddite's Lair. Mr. Steward has informed us that
he will be retreating to the country, for good this time.
It was a great pleasure while it lasted and we will not
yet give up the hope that he might someday return to the
fold.
PartingWords.com
By Hartley Steward
mailto:hartleysteward@canoemail.com
The World Wide Web will soon begin to impact drastically
on bankruptcy statistics.
The opportunity to perpetrate huge frauds is just too
good. We will begin to read of daring scams and the
breathtaking losses that go with them. The guy who bought
the Brooklyn bridge is just now learning to fly the Net.
The cybergrifters will get him, for sure.
Too-addicted stock day traders -- those who don't find a
window to jump from -- will soon add big time to the gone-
broke numbers. We will see self-help groups along the line
of Alcoholics Anonymous begin to meet.
"Hello, my name is Hartley and I lost the grocery money on
Takeachance.com."
* * *
I say break up Microsoft into pieces so small they fall
through the cracks.
Were it not for Gates' predatory ways, we would have long
ago developed the sort of competition which gives rise to
real progress. The faulty operating systems and programs
unleashed on an unsuspecting public would have been
replaced ages ago by dependable merchandise.
Microsoft's virtual monopoly has allowed it to sell at
exorbitant prices goods that at best can be described as
experimental. Can you imagine where Ford, in a competitive
industry, would be if their cars crashed as often as your
average computer network.
Can you imagine any bit of merchandise with moving parts,
in any other industry, being released for sale with as
many bugs as, say, Windows?
How can it be that Microsoft was able to convince the
business world to lean entirely on products which had
almost no security features? Products which were
vulnerable to every juvenile hacker and vandal with a
computer and a grudge against the world.
Microsoft didn't worry about protection for their clients
because they didn't have to.
* * *
Hartley Steward is the former Publisher and CEO of the
Toronto Sun. A graduate of Ryerson Polytechnic University
(where he studied journalism), Steward has written for
numerous "old media" publications, including Maclean's,
Toronto Life, The Toronto Star and The Toronto Sun. He was
founding publisher of the Calgary Sun and Ottawa Sun and
the first publisher of the daily Financial Post. In
addition to writing for MultiMediator's BitStream, Steward
writes a regular column for the Toronto Sun, which is
carried by about a half dozen other papers.
== Obligatory Legal Disclaimer to Appease the Lawyers:
The statements and opinions expressed in The Luddite's
Lair are those of the author and not of MultiMediator or
MMSG. Neither MultiMediator nor MMSG necessarily support
or agree with the contents of The Luddite's Lair, in whole
or in part. So there.
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[-- PLUG: INDUSTRY ANNOUNCEMENTS --]
+++ Liberty Village Appointments Announced
Liberty Village New Media Centre Advisory Committee Co-
Chairs Mitzie Hunter (Bell Canada) and Aisha Wickham (City
of Toronto) have announced the addition of a Project
Director and Interim Program Manager to lead the
development of the Liberty Village New Media Centre
(LVNMC). Nate Horowitz, currently Acting Director of the
Bell Centre for Creative Communications at Centennial
College, recently began a two-day per week secondment from
the College to act as Project Director for LVNMC. His
mandate will be to revamp the Business Plan and ensure the
successful start-up of the Centre's programs and services.
Naidra Thomson, currently the Coordinator of Toronto's New
Media Village, will be the project's Interim Program
Manager. The LVNMC is a public/private partnership
established to market and promote Toronto's new media
clusters and is due to launch November 2000. For further
information, please contact Nate Horowitz at 416-397-4653,
nhorowi@city.toronto.on.ca, or Naidra Thomson at 416-397-
4651, nthomson@city.toronto.on.ca.
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[-- DIGERATI DATEBOOK: UPCOMING INDUSTRY EVENTS --]
+++ ConvergenceTV.com
August 9-10, 2000 in Toronto ON
A two-day conference on the impact convergence will have
on the conventional television business. Produced by
Brunico Communications.
http://www.convergence-tv.com
+++ NLANR/Internet2/CANARIE Techs Workshop
August 20-24, 2000 in Toronto ON
Topics will include optical and wireless networking, and
advanced technologies. Jointly sponsored by NLANR,
Internet2, and CANARIE.
http://www.ncne.nlanr.net
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[-- GOURMET SPAM: REAL-LIFE E-MAIL DELICACIES --]
Spot the
(sic)
Forget what Letterman says; we've got the fastest growing
game sensation in the world. Welcome to Spot the Spelling
Incorrect (sic). In print mediums, both online and off,
the term (sic) is used to denote a spelling or typing
error in the original text. It is handy if you want to let
the world know that a politician can't spell but you don't
want to look like you can't spell. Well, you'll need your
(sic) barometer set to high as you read this lovely Spam
Hall of Shame contender. We've adopted a strict "copy and
paste" procedure for this one; we could not type this
poorly if we were blindfolded and had our fingers glued to
the top row of the keyboard.
Marry with Almira (we're not quite sure what that means!)
is an offer for "all day Nature paradise in Antalya."
Sounds appealing already. But throw in " sea,sun,natural
beatuies" into the mix and you've really got our
attention. Still not convinced? How about "4 season
confort life at konyaalt" in " lux apartmants" with
"walking areas ,private otoparks, tennis courts,basketball
area kid parks , swimming pools ,non stop electicity and
water!" Oh, baby! And that's not all. "Most of areas are
marble,air condition,local heatingsun power,imported
laminate kitchen ,garden arrangement ,Dry areas, First
quality laminate parquet." Yes, even you could "be the
owner of modern ,confident , quality apartments." Nothing
piques our interest quite like a confident apartment. We
once stayed in a suite that was not confident and quite
frankly with all the complaining we hardly slept a wink.
And last, but certainly not least, we are assured that
"all apartments are insured to eartquake."
Sign me up on the dotted line.
Got any gourmet Spam? Send it to the chefs at
mailto:bitstream@multimediator.com
and maybe it'll make it onto the next BitStream menu.
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No electrons were harmed in the making of this newsletter.
