THIS ISSUE'S STREAM:
[-- NEWSPEAK: MULTIMEDIA INDUSTRY NEWS --]
///// CONTENT //////////
+++ Canadian E-zine The Record Folds After 20 Years
+++ Zapdramatic Launches Online Interactive Mystery
+++ BEE Multimedia Announces New Webcasting Technology
+++ VoicePrint Goes Online
+++ New Web Weapon in the War Against High Taxes
///// INDUSTRY //////////
+++ Cooleh.com Shuts Cybermall Doors
+++ $5,000 Up for Grabs at Hot Docs Festival
+++ Canada to Take Part in Salon de l'Education in Paris
+++ Are You Eligible for a Canada Export Award?
+++ Netizens Urged to Band Together to Save the Net
///// INFRASTRUCTURE /////
+++ SaskTel to Send Internet and TV Through Phone Lines
+++ Is Internet's Infrastructure Flawed?
+++ RAMTel to Offer Internet Access to Canada's North
[-- DIGERATI DATEBOOK: UPCOMING INDUSTRY EVENTS --]
+++ Canadian New Media Awards Nomination Period Almost Over
+++ Hot Docs Festival
+++ ici Media Training Workshops
+++ Salon de l'Education -- Parc des Expositions
[-- GEEKER'S CORNER: GUEST COLUMNIST --]
+++ You Didn't Lose Money Because of Me
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[-- NEWSPEAK: MULTIMEDIA INDUSTRY NEWS --]
///// CONTENT //////////
+++ Canadian E-zine The Record Folds After 20 Years
Canadian music trade publication The Record has called it
quits after a 20 year run. Established by David Farrell in
1981, The Record moved from a weekly print magazine to an
Internet-based subscription site in August 1999. Farrell
now says that they "may have been premature in moving to an
online publication but at the time we had no option. Print
costs were escalating, and the post office was unable to
guarantee timely delivery on a national basis." Wolfgang
Spegg's Musicmusicmusic bought The Record last March. Spegg
is said to have had high hopes for his acquisition and has
accepted Farrell's resignation "with reluctance."
http://www.therecord.ca
+++ Zapdramatic Launches Online Interactive Mystery
Michael Gibson and Zapdramatic have launched the first
episode of Ambition, an online interactive mystery.
Ambition, written by Gibson, differs from many dramas on
the Web in that, at its heart, it is also a "cunning
negotiation puzzle that is guaranteed to stump you at least
once." The first episode is called "The Suicide Bomber," in
which a disgruntled man shows up at an office laden with
dynamite. [A downsized dotcom-er, perhaps? -- ED.] Can the
local cop save the day? Maybe, but he'll need your help....
Episode 2, entitled "The Hitchhiker," is expected to arrive
at a computer screen near you on April 22nd.
http://www.zap.ca/indexmov.htm
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+++ BEE Multimedia Announces New Webcasting Technology
BEE Multimedia of Montreal has created a new product it
says will bypass all the bottlenecks of online broadcasting
on the Internet by using JPEG imaging to directly 'drive-
through' to the end user's monitor. The real-time broadcast
does not require any additional plug-ins and, unlike
existing streaming technology, does not require buffering.
The BEE Multimedia site features plenty of samples of the
technology in action. (Note: Internet Explorer 5 is
required to view the site. -- ED.)
http://www.beemultimedia.com
+++ VoicePrint Goes Online
Avalanche Networks has joined forces with the National
Broadcast Reading Service (N.B.R.S.) to bring its news and
information service, VoicePrint, to the Web. The daily news
and information programs have been broadcasting on-air 24
hours a day since December 1990 and feature newspaper and
magazine articles read verbatim. While VoicePrint's core
target audience is blind or vision-impaired Canadians, more
than 500,000 Canadians from all walks of life cite
VoicePrint as their main source of news and information.
Avalanche plans to sell ads during the various programs.
http://www.shopdome.com/voiceprint
+++ New Web Weapon in the War Against High Taxes
No matter where you live in Canada, here's a timely new
site that will help you in the "war against high income
taxes and complex tax legislation." With tax laws changing
almost on a whim, TaxCalcs offers a series of tax
calculators, each designed to help both accounting
professionals and their clients, according to one of the
site's creators, James Piper, a chartered accountant who
has helped scores of clients solve their tax problems.
[Those wacky accountants, what will they think of next? --
ED.] "There is a definite need in the marketplace for an
easy-to-use collection of tax calculators for accounting
professionals," says Piper.
http://www.taxcalcs.com/default.asp?h=bt
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///// INDUSTRY //////////
+++ Cooleh.com Shuts Cybermall Doors
Cooleh.com, the cybermall joint venture between Torstar and
Corus Entertainment, has shut down. The site had housed 45
Web merchants selling everything from music and books to
computers and home electronics. Cooleh.com had been trying
to revamp the "mall" concept to allow shoppers to pay at
one central checkout but it appeared to be a case of too
little, too late. "The e-commerce market in Canada is just
not mature enough or big enough to support many companies,"
Stephen Miles, Cooleh.com's president told The Globe and
Mail. "Canada is way behind the curve and it is going at a
much slower rate than anybody anticipated." [Or at least a
slower rate than Cooleh.com anticipated. -- ED.] (Source:
The Globe and Mail)
http://www.cooleh.com
+++ $5,000 Up for Grabs at Hot Docs Festival
The Bell Broadcast and New Media Fund is awarding $5,000 to
the winning Interactive Documentary/New Media CyberPitch at
this year's Hot Docs Festival in Toronto. Called North
America's largest documentary festival, Hot Docs is
Toronto's annual celebration of excellence in documentary
film and television. Hot Docs 2001 runs April 30 to May 6,
2001 and will feature Canadian and international
competitive programs, an awards retrospective, and a
spotlight on the Nordic countries. Of particular interest
to BitStream readers, in addition to the chance to pitch
for cash, is the festival's one-day new media conference,
Cutting Truths: Convergence, Interactivity, and the Future,
to be held on April 30.
http://www.hotdocs.ca
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+++ Canada to Take Part in Salon de l'Education in Paris
For the third year in a row Canada will be taking an active
role in the Salon de l'Education -- Parc des Expositions
from November 21 to 25, 2001. The event, held in Paris,
France, will focus on e-education. Last year's event
attracted over half a million visitors, including 40,000
professionals from over 60 countries. Canada was
represented by Industry Canada, Schoolnet, Netd@ys Canada,
and others. More information about this year's event and
how to participate will be available in late April.
http://www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca/paris/menu-e.htm
+++ Are You Eligible for a Canada Export Award?
The Ministry of International Trade is once again
sponsoring its annual Export Awards program, designed to
"recognizes and celebrates outstanding Canadian exporters
and their achievements from coast to coast." The event is
open to all firms, or divisions of firms, resident in
Canada, that have been exporting goods or services for at
least three years. The winners will be featured in a
national promotional campaign that recognizes their
accomplishments as exporters. The application form and
guidelines are available on the Canada Export site and must
be received by March 31, 2001. [Applications can be sent
via email. -- ED.]
http://www.infoexport.gc.ca/awards-prix
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+++ Netizens Urged to Band Together to Save the Net
Here we go again. Another recession is looming on the
horizon. The Internet remained pretty-much unaffected by
the last recession. Of course that was because there was
barely an Internet to speak of. Times have changed. Today a
recession will hit the Internet first and ask questions
later. Much later. But all is not lost. Netizens of all
stripes are urged to join together on April 3rd to back the
Net by sending the world "a loud, clear message that the
Net will not only survive, but thrive." You can do that by
"avoiding offline retail stores that day," making at least
one online purchase or buying "10 shares in a company you
admire."
http://www.iconocast.com/crusade
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///// INFRASTRUCTURE /////
+++ SaskTel to Send Internet and TV Through Phone Lines
SaskTel has received permission from the CRTC to send
television, Internet and movies via phone lines to
customer's televisions. The commission approved the request
with some stipulations, among them the provision that
SaskTel appoint board members for a fixed term, thereby
preventing "cabinet from removing the members on a whim."
The CRTC is also said to have refused to allow SaskTel to
include a community channel in the TV package. SaskTel
plans to start offering the Internet and TV packages later
this year in 12 centres, including Regina, Saskatoon, Moose
Jaw and Prince Albert.
http://www.sasktel.com/news
+++ Is Internet's Infrastructure Flawed?
The infrastructure of the Internet is fundamentally flawed
and vulnerable to hackers, according to a report issued by
Guardent, a Toronto computer security firm. [Hmmm, what a
coincidence. -- ED.] "When computers exchange information
over the Internet they also exchange random numbers, called
initial sequence numbers, to keep track of the
conversation," the report says. Guardent contends that
those random numbers can be predicted and thereby used by
hackers to launch attacks. (Source: Toronto Star)
http://www.guardent.com
+++ RAMTel to Offer Internet Access to Canada's North
RAMTel of Ottawa has signed an agreement with the
Aboriginal-owned First Nations Power Technologies (FNPT) to
bring high-speed Internet access to remote Northern
Canadian locations that might otherwise have to rely on
slow dial-up service, or no Internet access at all. FNPT
will be the exclusive dealer of RAMTel's satellite-based
Internet services to First Nations across Canada.
http://www.ramtel.net
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[-- DIGERATI DATEBOOK: UPCOMING INDUSTRY EVENTS --]
+++ Canadian New Media Awards Nomination Period Almost Over
Have you submitted your nomination for the 2001 Canadian
New Media Awards? A nomination form and full explanation of
each of the 12 award categories is now available at the
Canadian New Media Awards Web site. Nominations close March
30th, so don't delay! The awards will be presented at the
Glenn Gould Studio in Toronto on May 28, 2001.
http://www.cnma.ca
This year's Canadian New Media Awards are proudly presented
in partnership with Telefilm and Heritage Canada's Canadian
Digital Cultural Content Initiative. Telefilm is a federal
cultural agency dedicated primarily to the development and
promotion of the Canadian film, television and new media
industry. The agency acts as one of the government's
principal instruments for providing strategic leverage to
the Canadian private sector.
http://www.telefilm.gc.ca
The Canadian Digital Cultural Content Initiative (CDCCI) is
an initiative of the Department of Canadian Heritage. In
partnership with private and public institutions and
organizations across Canada, the primary objective of the
CDCCI is to bring Canadian culture into the digital age.
More specifically, the CDCCI is designed to stimulate the
creation and production of Canadian digital cultural
content in both official languages and promote a
significant, identifiable Canadian presence online that
reflects Canada's cultural diversity.
http://www.pch.gc.ca
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+++ Hot Docs Festival
April 30 to May 6, 2001 in Toronto, ON
Featuring Interactive Documentary/New Media CyberPitch and
one-day new media conference on April 30.
http://www.hotdocs.ca
+++ ici Media Training Workshops
May 2 to 6, 2001, in Vancouver, BC
LiveStage Pro Training Workshops, Creating and Deploying
Interactive Video and more.
http://www.icimediainc.net
+++ Salon de l'Education -- Parc des Expositions
November 21 to 25, 2001, in Paris, France
This year's focus is on e-education.
http://www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca/paris/menu-e.htm
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[HARD-WIRED: TOUGH TALK FROM A SKEPTIC will return in our
next issue. In its place we are pleased to present the
following musings by Kate Baggott. -- ED.]
[-- GEEKER'S CORNER: GUEST COLUMNIST --]
+++ You Didn't Lose Money Because of Me
By Kate Baggott
kbaggott@delvinia.com
There's one thing that plummeting tech stock prices have
made very clear. I've missed my chance to bankrupt you.
It's not that I haven't had my share of half-baked Dotcom
business ideas with questionable business plans. For most
of my life I've had two or three half-baked ideas a day,
which just over a year ago would have been enough for me to
start my own incubator. The truth is, all that stood
between your investment account, me, and the current Dotcom
failures was a rich parent and that first $100,000 in seed
money. I am sure there would have been alternatives to the
rich parent, if I hadn't pissed off every person with money
I've ever met, but really, everyone should be allowed a few
youthful outbursts of conscience.
Now, all I am left with is the memory of half-baked
business ideas I have had.
The first idea had legs; four of them to be precise. It was
almost two years ago. I was going to call it
www.pawsforthought.com and it was directed at pet-owning,
childless 30-somethings both gay and straight. It was a
product inspired by simple demographic analysis. It was all
about educational toys for dogs.
But, you know how these things are. You have an idea
combined with a few too many drinks at a party and start
telling people about it. Now Hasbro and PETsMART are
developing a line of toys for puppies based on Hasbro's
line of early childhood development toys.
Next, and I do own the domain name for this one, was
www.kidlitsolution.com. It was my answer to the self-help
phenomenon. The one thing we can depend on Internet users
to do is to look for information, but more importantly, we
can depend on them to look for more information about
themselves. To some extent, every interactive exchange is a
bit like a Cosmo-quiz. Enter your profile details, answer
no more than 15 questions, and you will receive insights
into your own life and personality.
Combine that very basic observation with the fact that 90%
of adults would be less neurotic if they re-read Alligator
Pie, Where the Wild Things Are, or Horton Hears a Who every
once in a while, and the kidlitsolution could save the
planet. Enter your current problem into our database, and
the search engine will come back to you with the children's
book titles that will cure your perspective of the problem
by infusing you with imagination and hope. For an initial
investment of $25,000, this idea could still see the light
of day. Unfortunately, there is absolutely no business plan
beyond joining the sales associates program of an online
book retailer like Amazon or Chapters. That's probably good
for at least $10- $12 a year.
These days, the climate is no longer "right" for half-baked
ideas, and I, for one, will miss the creativity of it all.
For since the market meltdown, I've had to start
concentrating on developing good ideas. Anyone know where I
can get investment in those?
Kate Baggott is a Toronto-based technology writer and
Senior Interactive Specialist for interactive brand
solutions firm Delvinia.
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