Canada’s Do Not Call Registry

by Joe on September 30, 2008

Say No to Telemarketing!Those annoying telemarketing calls are almost a thing of the past! Canada has adopted a Do Not Call registry so that you can tell those companies that you don’t appreciate recieving random calls everyday!

The main registry
You can add your number to the registry at the Canadian Government National Do Not Call List website. It only takes a minute or so, but it will take up to 31 days for it to take effect.

The exceptions
It has some important exceptions though. First, any company you have done business with in the past 18 months are allowed to contact you. There’s not a lot you can do about those.

The other major exceptions are that Canadian Registered Charities, political parties, or candidates are still allowed to solicit donations, and Newspapers may call you to sell a subscription. (I get the charity angle, but why the exemption for newspapers?)

Michael Geist has found the solution here though. These organizations do not have to honour the national registry, but they do have to remove your name if you specifically ask them to do so. He’s created iOptOut which allows you to put your name in once, and mass mail all of the major organizations that are exempt from the national list in one go!

Combine these two sites, and you should be annoyance free!

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Brand new server cluster at b5media

by Joe on August 31, 2008

This past week, the technology team at b5media threw on the afterburners to get us moved onto an entirely new infrastructure.  After months of planning and investigating a dozen hosting providers, we have finally flipped the switch on the next phase of growth.

Having outgrown our previous datacenter and infrastructure, we have moved to brand new servers located at ServerBeach.  We have taken a different philosophical approach to our infrastructure than we have in the past to allow for future growth.  Rather than custom purpose-built servers we had in our old datacenter, we have moved to plain vanilla commodity servers, which are inexpensive and easily replicated as we grow. 

By moving to more vanilla servers, we are actually decreasing the power of each machine.  Although these machines use newer, faster processors, they are not the high-end quad core ones we had in our old infrastructure.  By sacrificing a bit of power, we save a lot in costs.  To compensate for this, we have employed more machines… almost twice as many.  Without touching anything else, this change alone would have a significant impact to our speed.

We are transitioning away from an NFS mounted shared filesystem to a local filesystem.  Now, our web pages are loaded from a local hard drive instead of a network mapped drive.   This change too, on its own, would give us a huge performance boost.

In order to remove NFS from the infrastructure, we needed a different solution for WordPress caching.  In the past, we were using a combination of WP-Cache and WP-SuperCache which create static files to be served.  We have now rolled out batcache to our sites, which uses memcached to store the blog information.  Again, this change has had a massive impact to our speed.  Initial tests show the performance of batcache to be phenomenal!

We have replaced our hardware-based load balancer to the software-based nginx load balancer.  This allows us to keep to our philosophy of using commodity hardware, while being ridiculously fast.

When you put all of it together, these changes will make our new infrastructure faster and much more robust.   It also lays the foundation to continue to scale out by adding additional machines as needed.  And this is only the first phase with more changes to come! 

Huge kudos to the team for pulling off an extremely complex migration in an unexpectedly short period of time.  The entire team contributed in some way, and especially Lee and Brian plowed through challenge after challenge during the move.  Awesome work!  You guys rock!

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5 things every web developer should know about IE8

by Joe on August 28, 2008

The next version of Microsoft Internet Explorer, version 8 went to Beta 2 yesterday, on its final path to release, probably this fall (although Microsoft hasn’t announced a final release date yet).  Although I almost exclusively use Firefox for my browser, anyone that is designing or developing sites needs to be aware of some of the changes coming in version 8. 

I got my hands on the beta at a preview demo on Tuesday, and there are definitely important changes from a users perspective, but from my view, we need to be aware of the changes under the hood.  After meeting with the folks from Microsoft Canada and chatting with Pete LePage, Product Manager for Internet Explorer from Redmond, here are some of the most important changes from a web development perspective:

1. It is coming

Latest estimates put Internet Explorer at over 70% of the browser market.  When IE8 is released, it will be pushed as part of Windows Update and all new computers will come with it pre-loaded.  It is your parents browser, and let’s face it, that’s a pretty big audience.  We need to be sure that both our existing sites and newly built ones look okay.

2. It is standards compliant

Or so they say.  According to LePage, Internet Explorer 8 is fully compliant with CSS 2.1.  In fact, he says that every developer had a printout of the W3C spec on their desk for quick reference, and that as the team went through and found areas of ambiguity, they submitted changes back to the W3C. 

The main problem is that the interpretation of the written spec is somewhat subjective, so we will still see areas where pages behave slightly different between browser types.  It is still encouraging that Microsoft has embraced the standards and are working to bring their browser closer to the industry standards.

3. It has a new rendering engine

Obviously, by default, pages are displayed using the IE8 rendering engine, but a new "Compatibility View" feature allows you to specify which engine to use in your HTML.  IE8 ships with the IE7 engine built in, so that you can view your pages in the older browser without having to have multiple computers.  The IE8 rendering engine does behave differently from IE7.  This means that even within the Internet Explorer family, pages could look different, not to mention the differences to Firefox, Opera, Safari and others. 

4. It has developers tools built in

For those of you that swear by Firebug, IE8 has built that functionality into the browser.  You can edit your HTML in a docked window just like Firebug and view your changes as you make them.  It also includes a Javascript debugger and page profiler so you can see which parts of your page take longest to load.

5. It has new features to promote your sites

In addition to RSS, IE8 introduces the concept of Web Slices that you can define on your pages to allow users to subscribe to a specific part of your site, perhaps a recent posts, or friends update box.  Deployment of Web Slices simply involves setting a specific CSS tag to the box you wish.  For the more ambitious, IE8 introduces Accelerators and visual search suggestions so that you can build applications that your users can use to interact with your information. 

Firefox still seems to be the browser of choice for web developers, but it’s always important to test your sites in the browser that most of your audience is using. 

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Rogers modifies pricing for the iPhone

by Joe on July 11, 2008

In Canada, Rogers is the only wireless provider that will be offering the iPhone.  They are the only ones with a GPRS network capable of 3G, so the monopoly is technological, not just contractual.  When they released their pricing, it certainly showed their monopolistic tendencies.  In fact, Rogers is known for charging ridiculous fees for the most basic of services.

After a national campaign and thousands of people joining the Facebook group, Rogers definitely felt the heat and eventually modified their pricing, allowing 6 Gb of transfer per month for $30.  While this is far from the unlimited plan that other providers offer, it is certainly a step in the right direction. 

For most users, making use of email and even web surfing won’t use that 6Gb per month. YouTube videos can have a tendency to use up your allotment, but you’re more likely to do that over wifi at home or work.  The problem is that, like their internet services, suddenly use of the product is always second-guessed.  It’s only natural that if you know there is a limit, you will be conscious of it and only use the device if you need to. This of course limits the use of the device. We’ll see if it limits the enjoyment!

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Connected at the cottage

by Joe on June 16, 2008

Looking up from the cottage deck
For us, sitting out on the cottage deck on a Sunday morning with a coffee and a newspaper has been the tradition for three generations. This weekend, we brought our son Jack, the fourth generation, up to the cottage for the first time. There was no coffee for him, and he didn’t read the newspaper (he can’t even talk), but something tells me that as he grows up, he won’t ever partake in this tradition.

In fact, with the immenent death of the newspaper, he may not even have the option. Between social networking, blogs and news sites, the print newspaper could be a thing of the past. Sitting on the deck reading his Laptop, iPod, Kindle or a device not yet concieved, connected to the world via wifi seems more likely.

We had a visit on Saturday morning from our friends at Rogers. We had them update the wiring and install high-speed internet for the cottage. Wifi? At the cottage? Outrageous!… Isn’t it? The purists would argue that the cottage should be an oasis away from the urban jungle, an escape from work and a sacred getaway. It doesn’t need to be.

The cottage is a change of scenery, a great place to get some needed perspective. I do some of my best work at the cottage, specifically because it is a change of scenery. The bottom line is that having an Internet connection up there simply means I’ll go up more often, and for longer periods, with the peace of mind knowing that I’m not going to miss an urgent issue, or an important email. Cellular coverage is spotty at best, so a high-speed line is more stable.

Summer weekends are far too precious, so anything that allows more trips up north is a good thing!

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Move along…

by Joe on May 2, 2008

The last year and a half has been a wonderfully exciting and eye-opening experience into the world of “Green”. When Green Living Enterprises realized that they had an opportunity to have a real content-rich website instead of their “About Us” site, they jumped on it with both feet. The Green Living Online team was able to design and launch this new site in a short 2 months, by using a WordPress backend, and the site has grown in leaps and bounds ever since.

During that time, I found myself surrounded by some of the most driven and passionate people I have known. Margaret, Kim, Lee, Chris, Christine, Vel, and the rest of the gang, it has been a blast working with you! I’m expecting some big things out of you guys, and I’ll certainly be watching!

But now, the time has come for me to move on. So what’s next for me?

In the next few weeks, I’ll be joining b5media, a global network of 340 professional blogs, covering diverse topics such as TV shows and Business, and everything in between. They are looking to continue to grow quickly, although they are currently hitting over 10 million uniques per month. I’ll get to work with some of the best minds in the blogging world, and build the business along with them. This is a really cool opportunity with a great team!

To the gang at Green Living, I’m really going to miss working with you. To the gang at b5media, I can’t wait to dive in!

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TSN.ca publishes some traffic numbers

by Joe on April 9, 2008

It’s been awhile since I’ve seen some up to date traffic numbers from TSN.ca, but as they rolled out their new look and feel, they released some of their numbers.

Today, TSN.ca attracts an average of 4.9 million unique visitors and 90 million page views per month. This is more than double the monthly traffic of other English Canadian sports broadcasters’ websites.

Some of the highlights:

  • 14.26 million page views represents the record for most page views in a single day (February 26, 2008 – NHL Trade Deadline Day)
  • 1.9 million streams represents the record for most video streams served in a single day (January 5, 2007 – IIHF World Junior Championship gold medal game featuring Team Canada vs. Team Russia)
  • 400,000 users are registered on TSN.ca
  • 125,000 is the average number of user comments submitted to the ‘Your Call’ section each month
  • 70,000 users receive TSN.ca’s morning email blast

Impressive stuff guys!

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TSN.ca relaunches

by Joe on April 8, 2008

TSN Relaunch 08

Big shout out to the gang at tsn.ca! Looks like they have done a relaunch with a completely different look and feel. They’ve moved to a horizontal navbar for the main and sub navigation, improved the branding, overhauled the colour scheme, and done some really slick font effects for headlines using flash. This is the first major relaunch in years, and

It looks really sharp guys! Big kudos to Liam, John, Kate, Mike and the whole team. Nicely done and Congratulations!

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Shutting down for Earth Hour

by Joe on March 29, 2008

Okay, this Earth Hour thing is a huge amount of hype! (not necessarily in a bad way) The entire issue of the Saturday Star is all about shutting the lights out, and it seems everyone was talking about it today. According to Treehugger, Canada has as many people registered as our friends to the south, despite the 10-fold population difference.

So I went through the house shutting down computers to do my part this evening, and pretty much every one had Windows updates that had been downloaded, but not installed. I usually hibernate or standby machines, rather than do a shutdown. A quick scan to see what was being done, and for the most part I allowed the updates to install as I shut down. I was realizing that some of these machines hadn’t been patched in months. Makes me think that a regular shutdown of all machines might be useful in keeping the patches up to date! We need an Earth Hour once a month!

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Bill Clinton to speak at the Green Living Show

by Joe on March 27, 2008

Alot of people were talking after last year’s timely visit from former U.S. Vice President Al Gore to the inaugural Green Living Show, about how we could top that. Well, I don’t know if you can compare, but this year’s special presentation will be former President (and hopeful First Husband) Bill Clinton.

His presentation, “Embracing our Common Humanity” is part of the William J. Clinton Foundation, and its Clinton Foundation Climate Initiative. Tickets go on sale this Saturday! I’ll be there!

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Format war over: Blu-ray wins

by Joe on February 19, 2008

Toshiba announced today that they would be discontinuing their production and support of the HD-DVD format, leaving Sony’s Blu-Ray format as the “winner”.

It’s nice to have the format war done so that the industry can move on… finally. The problem is that so many people have put off buying into either format, that now hi-def downloads are a real contender. In the process, both formats may have lost. I think High Definition downloads will soon eclipse sales of Blu-Ray discs and will be the method of choice for high definition content.

Although with the format war over, I suspect sales of the PlayStation3 will skyrocket. The PS3 is still the best Blu-Ray player out there.

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Microsoft and Yahoo

by Joe on February 1, 2008

So Microsoft has thrown it down. After over a year of speculation, they have dropped a whopping $44.6 Billion to buy Yahoo in their bid to play “catch up” to Google. The Yahoo/Microsoft deal is not yet done; it is simply an offer. However, its pretty likely that this will happen, and that Yahoo will be owned by Microsoft at some point. (After a bit of back and forth on price)

This merger has been long rumoured, and is really aimed at combining Yahoo and MSN’s Search products to compete head on against Google’s Search product. There will probably be discussions about combining other areas as an offshoot, but the real story here is search. Microsoft needs to join forces with Yahoo in order to take on Google.

On the content side if this agreement happens, I would suspect that at some point there will be some combination of the Yahoo portal with MSN/Sympatico to aggregate content acquisition between both companies. Google has not competed in this space so this would be a lower priority for them, but they could realize some cost savings by going this route.

As far as branding, I suspect the folks at MSN are probably a little worried this morning. They are not going to get rid of the Yahoo name, but could drop MSN, since that brand is quite dilute already.

We’ll see what happens!

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