Rolling Up The Sleeves
So, the election results are in and now it’s time to start asking questions.
What parts of Bill C-51 will remain unaltered and what changes are to be expected under the new government ? Will Canadians be burdened with extra costs to implement these surveillance programs ? What measures will be taken to keep the data secure ?
Does the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement include further intrusions into our copyright ? Will the public be consulted in regards to the key provisions of this agreement prior to signing ? Will our recent reforms be bypassed and superseded by foreign entities and lobbyists ?
We will of course all need to wait until the next budget to know what investments the new government is planning for our digital strategy. But we should know who will be assigned to the key cabinet positions shortly.
The Laser Record Player
Back in the 80’s an American company called Finial turntable had started working on an optical turntable that uses lasers instead of a stylus to play records. And although the technology had garnered seven million’s worth of investment, the emergence of compact discs eventually caused it to fail to be manufactured.
It had issues related to playback, namely the inability of lasers to push dust aside and to read single and long play records that were back in colour and the popularity of compact discs grew day by day so the technology was shelved and sold to ELP Japan, who have been trying to reignite demand for the product since 2008.
The device is of course quite expensive because it is not mass produced, from US$9,000 to US$14,000 new depending on the model. But perhaps it will become more affordable with the resurgence of vinyl. Who knows ?
New Gift Card Offer : Shoppers Drug Mart
Participating Shoppers Drug Mart locations are offering 10% discounts on $50 and $100 iTunes cards until September 11th, 2015. Please consult your local flyer for details.
Shomi – First Impressions
Now that Shomi has been made available to all Canadians I thought perhaps i’d give you my first impressions on this service.
I started using Shomi a few months back when I switched from Bell to Rogers and I currently get it for free with my cable package. But I don’t think if i’d pay $8.99 per month for the service.
Although I can access the service conveniently via by set top box and view content without it counting towards my download/upload limit, I still have issues with the service in regards to content.
Like the Canadian version of Netflix, Shomi has a limited catalogue of television series and film. And I happen to already own the vast majority of my favourite films on the service.
On the other hand Hollywood Suite is being offered to me at $5.95 per month and features quite a lot of films, including some on demand. And Crave TV has a significant amount of television series i’d be interested in at $4 per month, but the later would count towards my download/upload limit.
If Crave TV was offered via Roger’s set top box i’d go for it, in a heartbeat. But Crave TV is operated by Bell Media, Roger’s competition. And they’re only going to start offering the service to the rest of Canada on January 1st, 2016.
I’m hoping Shomi will expand their selection considerably to compete but I seriously doubt it will happen for some time because of licensing.
Netflix Canada have been plagued by licensing issues that have kept them from offering as many titles as their American counterparts and i’m guessing that both Shomi and Crave TV will be subjected to the same limitations.
I’m definitely going to keep checking Shomi for new content. But I suspect Crave TV will win me over by February because it has South Park, Little Britain, Monty Python and several music documentary series like Classic Albums and the INXS television mini-series.
Gift Card Offer : Real Canadian Superstore
Select Real Canadian Superstores are offering coupons for 10% off $50 iTunes gift cards, which can be found in their latest flyer.
This coupon will expire on August 27th, 2015. Check your local flyer for details.