THIS ISSUE'S STREAM:
[-- NEWSPEAK: MULTIMEDIA INDUSTRY NEWS --]
///// INDUSTRY //////////
+++ The Grogs to Host Canadian New Media Awards
+++ Microforum Axes More Staff and Closes New York Office
+++ Youth Advisory Board to Provide Feedback on Internet
///// CONTENT //////////
+++ ExpressHope Creates Electronic Child Sponsorship
+++ Memory Project Web Site Commemorates V-E Day
+++ Alberta Offers Online Vehicle Registration
+++ Pangaea Creates Sites for CHUM Radio Stations
///// INFRASTRUCTURE //////////
+++ Rogers Invests Millions to Upgrade High-Speed Service
+++ Funcow Pulls the Plug on Free Internet Service
///// MARKETING //////////
+++ Yahoo! Canada Insurance Centre Open For Business
///// DEALS //////////
+++ Telesat Heads North with High-Speed Internet Access
+++ Airborne Entertainment Covers All of Canada
///// FACTS & FIGURES //////////
+++ Canada Ties for First as Most-Wired Country
+++ Internet Grifters Plead Guilty to Auction Scam
[-- DIGERATI DATEBOOK: UPCOMING INDUSTRY EVENTS --]
+++ Canadian New Media Awards Gala Reception
+++ VentureFair.com 2001
+++ Bell h@bitat New Media Design Programme Info Session
[-- THE SWEET & BITTER BYTE: AN INTERACTIVE OPINION --]
+++ Speed Read Your Fortune Cookie
Return to Table of Contents
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[-- NEWSPEAK: MULTIMEDIA INDUSTRY NEWS --]
///// INDUSTRY //////////
+++ The Grogs to Host Canadian New Media Awards
A furry, green, wise-cracking hairball named Warren Chester
Grog will co-host the second annual Canadian New Media
Awards ceremony to be held on Monday, May 28, 2001 in
Toronto. "Who needs Rick Mercer when you can get a host
like me," commented Warren Chester Grog, adding "talent,
looks, charisma, that Mercer punk has nothing on me!" The
Grogs (a.k.a. Canadian puppeteers Jamie Shannon and Jason
Hopley) are best known for the success of their popular
children's television interstitial nanalan', which formerly
aired on YTV and now appears on Nickelodeon's Nick Jr. and
is distributed internationally. "We're delighted The Grogs
have agreed to host the Awards," said Adam Froman,
president of Delvinia, producers of the Canadian New Media
Awards. "We've been fans of theirs for years so we know
that their participation will make for a highly
entertaining awards ceremony."
http://www.cnma.ca
Return to Table of Contents
+++ Microforum Axes More Staff and Closes New York Office
Microforum is making more cuts. The Toronto-based
e-commerce company is cutting 30 percent of its remaining
workforce and shutting down its Web site development
operations in New York. Most of the cuts -- about 90 people
from its current roster of 295 -- will take place over the
next few weeks, but the New York office was closed
immediately. The company had previously announced plans to
sell its public relations and advertising divisions, as
well as its strategic marketing division. "It has been
well-reported that the technology sector has been under
severe pressure for most of Microforum's 2000/2001
reporting period," Microforum chairman David Banks said.
http://www.microforum.com
Return to Table of Contents
+++ Youth Advisory Board to Provide Feedback on Internet
Senator Landon Pearson recently met with young Canadians
from across Canada on behalf of Minister of Industry Brian
Tobin. The 19 youths are serving as members of Canada's
SchoolNet Youth Advisory Board (SYAB), all of whom were
nominated by non-profit organizations working with youth.
"It is important that young people, such as those serving
on the SchoolNet Youth Advisory Board, have opportunities
to provide input on issues that affect them directly," said
Senator Pearson, who is also Honourary Chair of the Board.
"Canada will clearly benefit from giving youth a chance to
influence Government of Canada plans for online content
aimed at Kindergarten to Grade 12 students."
http://www.tgmag.ca/syab
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///// CONTENT //////////
+++ ExpressHope Creates Electronic Child Sponsorship
With the Internet now in over 30 percent of Canadian homes,
to say nothing of schools, kids are spending more and more
time online. If you are looking for an online activity that
will not only bring your family together, but help other
children in need, perhaps it's time to check out
ExpressHope World Vision's electronic child sponsorship
program. ExpressHope.com was created in order to let
families share their time online by sponsoring children
from around the world. Once prospective sponsored have
registered online, they can correspond with their sponsored
child, send and receive email and receive quarterly child
progress reports.
http://www.expresshope.com
Return to Table of Contents
+++ Memory Project Web Site Commemorates V-E Day
Ecentricarts and The Dominion Institute are inviting
Canadians to take a moment to think about Victory in Europe
Day (V-E Day) via their Memory Project Web site. The Web
site has been established to serve as a living tribute to
honour those brave Canadians who served in World War I and
World War II. The site provides a forum for Canadians to
share their memories, and these remembrances will become
part of the larger Veterans' Archive, an online database
that contains hundreds of stories submitted by veterans,
family and friends.
http://www.thememoryproject.com
Return to Table of Contents
+++ Alberta Offers Online Vehicle Registration
Registering a vehicle has never been easier in Alberta. The
Alberta government has teamed up with the Alberta Motor
Association and Alberta Registry Agents Association to
offer more than 1.7 million motorists the ability to renew
their car registration online. The service is pegged to a
number that appears on renewal notices that can then be
used online. Once online, users then input their insurance
company info and credit card number. The year-long pilot
project is currently being offered to Class 3 passenger
vehicle registrations.
http://www3.gov.ab.ca/home/eservices
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+++ Pangaea Creates Sites for CHUM Radio Stations
Toronto-based Pangaea NewMedia has created a series of Web
sites built using Macromedia ColdFusion 5. As the developer
of the original, award-winning CHUM Web site, Pangaea used
a beta version of the software to create sites for
www.theteamradio.com and www.1050chum.com, both of which
went live on May 5, 2001. On that day 1050.chum.com became
"the first major radio station to move its format
exclusively to the Web," which is rather fitting, given
that 1050 CHUM was the first all-day top 40 radio station
in Canada. "For three years now, Pangaea has continued to
deliver the kind of multimedia experience we've been
looking for. The fact that they've been chosen to showcase
Macromedia ColdFusion 5 is a testament to their forward
thinking," says Richard Maxwell, director of new media for
CHUM.
http://www.chumfm.com
http://www.pangaeanewmedia.ca
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///// INFRASTRUCTURE //////////
+++ Rogers Invests Millions to Upgrade High-Speed Service
Rogers Communications has made a commitment to spend $318
million over the next three years to improve reliability
and capacity issues with its @Home high-speed Internet
service. Between October of last year and the end of 2001,
the company will invest $125 million towards such
improvements, twice what the company had initially planned
to spend over the period. Rogers has said it will increase
the number of head-end modems serving the network.
Construction of a second link to Excite@Home is also in the
works, with a third connection slated for the future.
Rogers will also increase its front-line customer service
during peak periods, to about 250, up from 130 last fall.
(Source: The Globe and Mail)
http://www.rogers.com
Return to Table of Contents
+++ Funcow Pulls the Plug on Free Internet Service
Funcow, which only 15 months ago first began to offer free
Internet service to Canadians, has pulled the plug on about
150,00 subscribers. It has also laid off its entire staff
of an estimated 35 people. Funcow had offered the free
dial-up service in return for ads that appeared on
subscriber's monitors. An ad-free option was available for
an annual fee of $49.95. The company was thought to have
expanded its service to 100 Canadian cities just after its
launch in February 2000 but fell far short of achieving its
goal of half a million subscribers. (Source: The Globe and
Mail)
Return to Table of Contents
///// MARKETING //////////
+++ Yahoo! Canada Insurance Centre Open For Business
If you'd like to spend more time driving and less time
paying, you might want to drop into the Yahoo! Canada
Insurance Centre. Here you'll find auto and property
insurance, insurance quotes and more, all available online.
The Centre is powered by kanetix, Canada's only national
online insurance information and quotation service. The
kanetix insurance information and shopping service allows
consumers to compare auto, life and property insurance
quotes from a variety of Canada's leading providers.
"Canadians can find the right policy, connect with the
perfect quote and buy the best plan, all on yahoo.ca,"
said Michael Zahra, general manager for Yahoo! Canada.
http://insurance.yahoo.ca
Return to Table of Contents
///// DEALS //////////
+++ Telesat Heads North with High-Speed Internet Access
Ottawa's Telesat is teaming up with Industry Canada to
provide free, high-speed Internet access to rural parts of
the country, some of which have not previously had any
access at all. The plan will see Telesat providing access
to 40 remote communities in Ontario, Quebec and
Newfoundland. One key dimension of the program involves
developing the next generation of new services in
cooperation with SchoolNet, the federal government's
program to connect all Canadian schools to the Internet.
The required set-top box and receiver, which normally cost
between $4,000 and $5,000, will be provided for free in
order to "to make the technology more affordable for
schools, businesses and community centres."
http://www.telesat.ca/news/releases/01-11.html
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+++ Airborne Entertainment Covers All of Canada
Airborne Entertainment's PocketBoxOffice is now available
from wireless carriers across Canada. The last piece of the
puzzle was the launching of the service on SaskTel
Mobility, a fibre-optic network that covers over 13,500
kilometres linking 12 cities and 670 smaller communities.
PocketBoxOffice offers games, humour and short-form content
through a variety of wireless devices, including
cell phones, PDAs, pagers, Pocket PCs and in-vehicle
telemetrics. "Airborne has positioned itself as the dominant
player in the creation, adaptation and delivery of short-
attention-span entertainment," says company CEO and
co-founder Garner Bornstein.
http://www.airborne-e.com
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///// FACTS & FIGURES //////////
+++ Canada Ties for First as Most-Wired Country
Canada is tied with Sweden as the world's most wired
countries. The two are the biggest users of the Web with
the United States running a close second. The study, by
Ipsos-Reid and entitled The Face of the Web, surveyed 30
countries and shows that 73 percent of Canadians and Swedes
used the Internet in 2000. The US was next with 72 percent.
http://www.angusreid.com/services/p_face.cfm
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+++ Internet Grifters Plead Guilty to Auction Scam
Two Winnipeg men have pleaded guilty to fraud in a case
that involved the auctioning off of expensive items on the
Internet that were never delivered. The pair posted items
such as computers and collectibles on Internet auction
sites but delivered a shell of a computer in one case, and
bust of a Star Wars character in another. Bids came from
across North America and as far away as Sweden. Charges
were laid after an investigation that saw police search the
records of Internet providers and the homes of the pair who
are thought to have defrauded customers of $30,000 between
1998 and 1999.
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[-- DIGERATI DATEBOOK: UPCOMING INDUSTRY EVENTS --]
+++ Canadian New Media Awards Gala Reception
May 28, 2001 in Toronto, Ontario
Come celebrate with people who understand what you do for a
living...unlike your parents! Order your tickets today for
the Canadian New Media Awards Winners' Circle Gala
Reception. This catered Reception is a great opportunity to
schmooze with industry leaders, recruiters and decision-
makers. There is less than one week left, and the $25
tickets are selling fast. Order your tickets by clicking on
the link below. Tickets may also be purchased in person at
any Ticketmaster outlet or by phone at (416) 870-8000.
Please note that no tickets will be sold at the door.
http://www.cnma.ca/tickets.html
The Canadian New Media Awards would not have been possible
without the support of the following sponsors:
A very special thanks goes out to the globeandmail.com Web
Centre, a Presenting Partner of the Awards. With over 1.8
million unique visitors per month, globeandmail.com Web
Centre is one of the top Canadian Internet destinations and
offers timely, accurate business news and information, plus
powerful interactive tools and in-depth specialty sites.
The globeandmail.com Web Centre focuses on news, finance
and careers. For more information, please visit:
http://www.globeandmail.com
The Canadian New Media Awards also thanks the City of
Toronto's Economic Development Division, a Gold Sponsor.
The mandate of the City of Toronto's Economic Development
Division is to create an environment where business can
grow and develop. It achieves this by enhancing the
capacity of Toronto-based firms, within targeted sectors to
survive, grow and compete locally, nationally and
internationally. Visit their Web site for more information:
http://www.city.toronto.on.ca/business
Return to Table of Contents
+++ VentureFair.com 2001
June 7, 2001 in Toronto, ON
This one-day venture capital event profiles exciting
technology companies with investment opportunities.
VentureFair.com bills itself as "the premier Canadian
financing event featuring companies selected by an
exclusive group of venture capitalists and financiers."
http://www.venturefair.com
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+++ Bell h@bitat New Media Design Programme Info Session
June 12, 2001 in Toronto, ON
Want to know more about Bell h@bitat? Register for the next
New Media Design Programme information sessions to find out
more about this prestigious interactive media training and
development programme. Call 416-445-1446 Ext. 296 or email
pkoidis@cdnfilmcentre.com for more information.
http://www.cdnfilmcentre.com
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[-- THE SWEET & BITTER BYTE: AN INTERACTIVE OPINION --]
+++ Speed Read Your Fortune Cookie
By Kate Baggott
kbaggott@delvinia.com
When TV writers get lazy, tired, busy, cynical or just
overwhelmed, viewers are in for one of those spliced
together episodes of characters reminiscences. When
interactive writers are in the same state of mind, they
splice together a bunch of random thoughts and position
them as articles for wireless distribution.
GET LESS STRESSED, WORK LESS
In 1998, France cut its workforce from 40 to 35 hours per
week. According to a recent study, the unemployment rates
dropped from 12% to 8% and all evidence points to a happier
population. In spite of the lack of North American coverage
of this French success story, recently laid-off Internet
programmers seem to be doing their part to emulate the
French by kicking back and enjoying the summer rather that
pounding the pavement. Strangely, marketing and business
development people who have been looking for work for six
months or more seem really stressed-out.
http://www.lemonde.fr/rech_art/0,5987,182871,00.html
CONTEMPORARY ETIQUETTE TIPS FOR THOSE LIVING DIGITAL
Take ultrasound pictures off your home page by the time
your kid is in kindergarten. Which reminds me, by the time
this issue is published, I will be on my much-delayed
honeymoon. So I would like to take this opportunity to show
everyone the wedding site Matthew Burpee and Sandy Feldman
built us. Once the honeymoon is over, it's tacky to keep
passing around the URL.
http://www.katebaggott.com/wedding
BITSTREAM WRITER CONTRIBUTES TO NEW BOOK
BitStream contributor Kate Baggott has resorted to
promoting her own work in her own column. "I shock myself,"
Baggott said in an interview with herself, "but until there
is a viable business model for Internet content, I have to
push the envelope." The cause of Baggott's blatant self-
promotion is the launch of the serious new book "From the
Trenches: Strategies from Industry Leaders on the New
e-Conomy," edited by Erin Kelly. The book is a collection
of essays written by more than 20 leaders from the world of
e-business. The book is available on the shelf at Books for
Business and online at Amazon and Chapters.
WILL DOTCOM MELTDOWN LEAD TO THE VICTORY OF THE LITTLE GUY?
Just a random thought, but will the Dotcom meltdown
actually be good for small businesses? Remember when we
first discovered that the Internet might just have business
applications? Then, we were talking about access to
competition without barriers that made it possible for the
mom-and-pop sporting goods store in Meaford to compete with
Canadian Tire. Then, we saw new online retailers invest big
in an attempt to grab the online market share of large
bricks-and-mortar retailers, while the traditional
retailers invested big to compete with the big new online
players. Now that both traditions of big guys have lost
big, is there finally room for the small players to gain
market share and profitability online?
SPEED-READ YOUR FORTUNE COOKIE
Think clearly and auspicious times will follow.
/////
Kate Baggott is a Toronto-based technology writer and
Senior Interactive Specialist for interactive brand
solutions firm Delvinia. The statements and opinions
expressed in her column are solely those of the author and
not Delvinia, BitStream's publisher, its affiliates or
advertisers.
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