Philip Michaels writes a great review of why the CBC Olympic Coverage makes NBC seem like the pathetic old has-been it is. [here]
The US is ready for more NBC. Think you can actually deliver by 2010? When the Canadian broadcasters — even CTV! — will make you look really pathetic?
Didn’t think so.
Tags: cbc, NBC, Olympic, Olympics, United States
In the community of voices I follow online, one of the continuing themes is the narrowness and antiquated coverage provided by NBC(I launched into a screed on the topic this weekend).
I have also heard that many people are using the tools at their disposal (open proxy servers being the most notable) to circumvent the geo-location tools of the providers to view coverage from other national providers. I thought I would share some of my experiences with two of the providers, BBC and CBC.
BBC
Finding proxy servers in the UK turned out to be relatively simple, and I was able to get to the BBC site and view, with substantial performance penalties, some of the video on the site. This was a tactic I have used before, as I am a fan of English Football, and need to use this method to gain access to highlights and match-day broadcasts.
CBC
I am, well, disappointed with the lack of success I have had with the CBC. I hear from people in the homeland that the coverage makes NBC looks like the US is the only country in the Olympics, where the CBC provides a true global perspective. However, finding a proxy server that can fool the CBC video servers has been impossible. Therefore, I continue to not watch any Olympics at all.
I am sure that there are other means (P2P, Torrents, etc.), but I am finding that, well, I don’t care that much. It is the events in South Ossetia / Georgia, Zimbabwe, and other hot-spots that I am finding far more relevant to my day-to-day life.
So while I appreciate some of the challenges posed by circumventing the monopoly of the mind that NBC wants to claim, once that was achieved with the BBC, I found that I was in a So what? position.
But before I give up, has anyone had any success with getting the CBC feeds to work outside Canada?
Tags: bbc, cbc, Georgia, media, monopoly, NBC, Olympics, South Ossetia, sports, Zimbabwe
Many, many years ago, I started my depressing voyage through the world of work at an Overwaitea food store in my home town. As a teenager, I expected to work so weird hours, and accept some level of abuse from the “adults” I worked with.
However, it seems that the organization now expects all their employees to accept this crap [here].
A major B.C. grocery chain wants some of its unionized staff to work shifts of just two hours, a move the union representing 8,500 workers called shocking.
The Overwaitea Food Group, which also runs Save-On-Foods and Urban Fare, made the demand for two-hour shifts as it began negotiating a new contract with the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, the union said.
Tags: Canada, cbc, content, HTML, HTTP, ISP, it, Om, pr, run, Technorati, teen, teenager
It has been at least a year since I last updated everyone on the state of GrabPERF. That’s because for most of the last year, the system has been rolling along without a hitch or a major systemic change. The last major change to the agent code was alomost exactly a year ago, when I added the ability to capture text matches.
It wasn’t until last week, however, that I allowed folks to be able to see the results of these text match failures. Let’s just say that motivation has been low and my real job has been keeping me busy.
I did want to share the growth, and mellowing of the system as it progresses into year three.
Total Measurements Per Day
Unique Tests Measured Per Day
Back in July 2005 when I started this grand experiment, I was gathering 10,000 measurements a day from less than forty tests. The system spiked at 390,000 measurements per day (April 2006) and 147 tests (June 2006).
Starting just after that, I started reducing the number of tests to improve system efficiency, and began developing the text match capability.
There have been some changes to the number of measurements, but on the whole, the system has been completely stable for the last 12 months.
As some of you may have noted, I have add some new features in the last 10 days, and re-organized the structure of the system to allow for better tracking of usage. Over the next few months, I will be attacking the code to make it process things more efficiently, but not substantially change the appearance or functionality of GrabPERF.
It has been noted by some commentators that the design doesn’t pop and sizzle. No AJAX, DHTML, or other flashy gizmos. Guess what? The system is designed to deliver data efficiently and effectively. And as someone who has seen the performance fall-out from badly delivered Web 2.0 implementations, I will stick with clunky and effective, as, in the end, you gotta put all those bytes on the wire.
For those that have stuck with the system over the last year, thanks. I enjoy delivering the best measurement data money can’t buy, and hope you stick around for the ride.
Tags: ajax, app, ARIN, cbc, content, data, design, GrabPERF, HTML, HTTP, IE, IM, ISP, it, live, measurement, Om, One, performance, pr, Technorati, tracking, update, web, web 2.0, Web Performance
The Boston Marathon is this weekend, in case you live in a cave. In honour of this event, the CBC has a great story about the man who won the 1907 running: Tom Longboat. [here]
Tags: Tom Longboat, Boston Marathon
Tags: Boston, cbc, HTML, HTTP, it, live, Om, run, Technorati, tn
Conrad Black, who gave up his Canadian citizenship to sit in the House of Lords, wants it back.
Problem: he faces eight fraud charges in the US [here] . Takeaway quote from the article:
“I have settled into my new life as a freedom fighter,” said Black.
I think that he should be held to exactly the same standard that any foreign immigrant is when applying for Canadian citizenship.
Can’t wait to hear him explain away the criminal charges/conviction part of the questionnaire.
Technorati Tags: Conrad+Black, Lord+Black, Canada, citizenship, Canadian+Citizenship
Tags: app, Canada, cbc, HTML, HTTP, IM, IP, it, LAN, Om, One, pr, Technorati
Loonie rises above 90 cents US.
I was 10 years old the last time the Canadian Dollar was worth more than $0.90 USD.
Technorati Tags: Canadian Dollar, CAD, currency exchange
Tags: business, cbc, HTML, HTTP, IE, IM, Om, Technorati, USD
The A380 has begun cold-weather testing in Iqaluit, Nunavut. [here]
Perfect weather for it…it’s sunny and -29C (-20F) there today.
And where is there? It’s here.
BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!
Technorati Tags: A380, Iqaluit, Nunavut, Canada
Tags: Canada, cbc, HTML, HTTP, IP, it, Om, Technorati, testing
