International Record Store Day 2011
Today is Record Store Day, a day in which Independent Record Stores through-out the world are celebrated and participate in various promotions.
A list of participating stores in Canada can be found on the Official Record Store Day website.
Online Retailer Adapts To Usage Based Billing
Netflix Canada has decided to offer additional options to their customers in response to the usage based billing issues.
Canadian subcribers will now be able to access additional options when it comes to the quality of the videos they stream from Netflix in order to reduce their consumption of bandwidth.
According to Netflix, they will now offer three levels of video quality to their Canadian customers :
- Good – Max. 625 kbps Video/64 kbps Audio, which translates to about 9 gigabites of data for 30 hours of content.
- Better – Max. 1300 kbps Video/192 kpbs Audio, which translates to about 20 gigabites of data for 30 hours of content.
- Best – Max. 4800 kbps (1080p HD video) and 384 kbps (5.1 audio), which translates to about 67 gigabites of data for 30 hours of HD content.
On the Best setting transfers will fluctuate depending on if the content is in HD and/or whether there is congestion. This means 30 hours of non-HD content on the Best setting will translate to about 31 gigabites of data.
It should be noted that American and Canadian television episodes from before 2009 are not likely going to be available in HD, so people who enjoy watching this content can use the Best setting. And several films on Netflix are not available in HD as well, including many by Paramount, who have just signed onto the service in Canada.
Canadians – Beware of Prepaid Credit Cards
Unlike gift cards issued by retailers in Canada, prepaid credit cards can expire. And there are a multitude of fees that eat away at your balance, including activation fees and transaction fees.
Some even have fees from $1.50 to $2.50 a month on cards that carry a balance more than six or seven months.
So be careful. If you absolutely must get a pre-paid credit card or credit card branded gift card, tell the recipient that he or she needs to use it as soon as possible, well before six months after activation.
Stop The Meter – National Day Of Action
On Saturday, the 26th of February, several protests against usage based billing will take place across the nation.
Details on your local events can be found at http://openmedia.ca/local.
Copyright Reform In Canada
Just thought i’d bump an interesting collection of articles on copyright reform in Canada : From “Radical Extremism” to “Balanced Copyright”: Canadian Copyright and the Digital Agenda
The individual articles found at the above mentioned link are in the PDF format are are downloadable in respect to the Creative Commons Legal Code.
Diner Dash – Free
I don’t own an iPhone or iPad but I love Diner Dash. It’s fun. And the ap is being offered for free for iPhone and iPad users for New Years Day.
Thought i’d bump it.