Santa, Please Bring Canada Tech Stuff

Before go any further I want to first say that I do appreciate that there’s a lot that’s gotten better in our tech lives since our move to Canada. That includes overall faster Internet connection speeds,  a great feature from our ISP that forwards a copy of any telephone voicemail to my email as an attachment (and which I can actually open and listen to on my iPhone – FTW!), and a fair amount of free Internet Wi-fi in cafés nearby.  I also appreciate that our online banking works very well (with the exception of not being able to pay US credit card balances from our US dollar account, but international rules are rules, I suppose), and that paying for purchases at your average store or even fast-food chain can almost always be done with your ATM card – something that we could never expect with any regularity in the US (Is this still the case, US readers? I haven’t checked lately.) Now, even the El Gato EyeTV software on my Mac finally gets listings for Canadian TV channels (it only took them 4 years with me bugging them at every Macworld Expo for this). Translink has 2 mobile apps for the iPhone (if you count Google as one of them), and buying movie and concert tickets online is almost something we now take for granted.

However, there are a few things in the tech realm that just plain suck in Canada. I’ve already written ad nauseum about cell phone rates being outrageous, but I had gotten used to that, except for the fact that it keeps making itself known in all sorts of places, when you least expect it. Like, for instance, Twitter, the microblogging service that I sometimes post to or use to follow the status of others. If you live in the US, you’ve probably never seen this annoying little message in your Twitter page:

If there were only some way to have that message go away already… We know, we know, Twitter, Canadian data rates are prohibitively expensive for you to send us messages from Twitter. At least you could stop adding insult to injury by constantly reminding us of this fact, and let us turn the stupid, ugly thing off.

Other tech things I wish we’d get in Canada? Hey, how about being able to see TV reruns online, via the service called ‘Hulu’. Whenever I bring up their screen from a Canadian Internet connection I see this:

And of course, our Amazon.ca is only a pale shadow of Amazon.com, with a fraction of the selection, and we can’t use Netflix, Zappos, or Mint. Our non-HD TiVo is all but laughed at in Canada (despite the superior interface) because the HD TiVo will never be sold here. The reason is that it requires CableCard, the technology partially adopted in the US that allows you to use a simple magnetic card to connect to HD cable rather than the big, ugly boxes they have here (often bundled with ugly, hard-to-use PVRs). I’ve heard that the current version of CableCard, v. 1.0, is imperfect because it doesn’t support 2-way communication or on-screen guides.

C’mon, Santa. You finally got us the iPhone and an honest-to-goodness Apple store. What about something this year? And Blackberries don’t count, since they come from here (Besides, most folks already know that the Blackberry Storm is an Epic FAIL.) So Mr. Claus, could you see fit to get us v. 2.0 CableCard (which fixes the whole 2-way communications problem) accepted here in Canada, and that eventually we once again catch-up to the States? Failing that, Zappos, Netflix or Mint working here wouldn’t be bad, either. Whaddayasay, Santa?

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving, and a Little Progressive Humour

Happy Canuck Turkey Day! Pam and I are roasting a Turkey thigh (and even that is huge…), plus also roasting a pumpkin (seeds separately). I feel all Martha Stewart-y.

Since it’s not only Thanksgiving season, but also election season for both the US and Canada (and again, we get ours a little earlier), thought I’d include this little bit of emigré humour (just in case the unthinkable happens in the States):

Many thanks to my friend Mark Bartelt, a very enlightened Californian who I met through the article I did for the LA Times years ago, for the pointer to this little gem that is all too close to reality.

Another Opportunity for Obama

I couldn’t resist pointing to this newly-created site when I saw it today.

I’ve been working two different drafts of postings, depending on who wins the American election in November. If McCain does win, I guess the bright side will be that I might be able to encourage a whole new group of friends to join us here. If, however, there’s a Conservative majority in Parliament by that time, it might be a little tougher…

Vancouver Still Way Up There in Livability

The numbers have been tallied once more for the cities throughout the world in terms of ‘livability’. According to Business Week, “Mercer Consulting’s annual roundup of the global cities with the best quality of life” says that the most 25 livable cities include:

1. Zurich, Switzerland
2. Vienna, Austria tied with Geneva, Switzerland
3. Vancouver, Canada
4. Auckland, New Zealand
5. Dusseldorf, Germany
6. Munich, tied with Frankfurt, Germany
7. Bern, Switzerland
8. Sydney, Australia
9. Copenhagen, Denmark
10. Wellington, New Zealand
11. Amsterdam, Netherlands
12. Brussels, Belgium
13. Toronto, Canada
14. Berlin, Germany
15. Melbourne, Australia tied with Luxembourg
16. Ottawa, Canada
17. Stockholm, Sweden

Lowest ranking city of the 215 surveyed was Baghdad, Iraq. The highest ranking US city was Honolulu, at number 28. The article didn’t show any after 17 (or 20, again, depending on how you count).

How and why are these rankings put together? Here’s what they said:

The rankings are based on a point scoring index, with Zurich scoring 108 and Baghdad scoring 13.5. Cities are compared to New York as the base city, with an index score of 100. The quality-of-living survey covers 215 cities and is conducted to help governments and major companies place employees on international assignments. The survey also identifies those cities with the highest personal safety ranking based on internal stability, crime, effectiveness of law enforcement, and relationships with other countries.

I don’t know if this is significant in any way, but last year Vancouver came in third, once again behind Zurich and Geneva, and was tied with Vienna. This year coming in 4th (or third, depending on whether you count the tie as one or 2) with the same 3 cities above us, and a score of 107.6 amounts to more or less the same standing.

I’ll be particularly interested to see how this number changes over the next few years, both before and after the 2010 Olympics.

The Undecided American Voter

I saw this cartoon by Bruce Beattie via Digg and had to repost it here. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve heard friends back in the States say ‘If the Republicans win this time, we’re joining you in Canada’.

Pam would be thrilled, but I’d be worried about those left behind aboard the steadily sinking USS ‘America the Doomed’.