Category Archives: Technology

| Montreal, Public transit, Technology

New turnstiles in the metro

The STM has begun installing new turnstiles in the metro, starting at the De la Savane, Monk, Plamondon and Villa-Maria stations. The new turnstiles are designed to be used with electronic smart cards, which will allow the transit authority more control over payment (including, for example, establishing a zone system where you pay for how far you go).

Sadly, when eventually put into service along with the new electronic fare systems installed in buses last year, this will spell the end of Montreal’s notorious but still fully functional punch-card transfers.

| Technology

Old bridges aren’t better

There’s a point that’s been made in the debate over bridge construction in Quebec that needs to be attacked for a logical fallacy.

The point, which was repeated in a letter to the editor this morning, basically goes like this: Bridges constructed centuries ago are still standing because they’re well constructed. Why can’t we build bridges like this today?

The problem with the argument is that it’s based on observing only those bridges which are still standing today. It ignores all those whose weaker construction led to their collapse not long after they were built. It ignores those rope-and-wood-plank bridges we see in the movies. It ignores things like the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, which collapsed spectacularly months after being built in 1940.

Some bridges still stand today, because they were very well built. That’s not because engineers of the time knew more than we do now, or that they were more cautious about introducing safety margins than we are. It’s because natural selection has already weeded out those bridges whose construction wasn’t strong enough, leaving us the mistaken impression that bridges from back then were better constructed than those of today.

| Business, On the Net, Technology

Scoble has (some) scruples (UPDATED: Is Scoble noble?)

Casey McKinnon, my future wife the co-host of Galacticast (which promises to have a new show some time in the next eon) is speaking out about being burned by PodTech.

It’s a good lesson for techy startup companies who think that because they’re cool they don’t have to treat people with the same professionalism that other companies do.

Ripping off a photographer is a prime example. I’ve heard countless stories of small magazines asking for people to provide high-quality content free in exchange for only the “publicity” they would get from having their name beside it, and perhaps one day getting a few dollars.

Not having enough money to properly get your startup off the ground is one thing. But PodTech isn’t poor, it’s just lazy.

UPDATE: Credit where it’s due. Scoble has responded both here and on Casey’s post. It doesn’t negate the criticisms, but it mitigates them somewhat. Hopefully PodTech’s act will improve as a result.

| Blogosphere, Business, Technology

Lots of words, no information

Nicolas Ritoux, my francophone counterpart who freelances for La Presse, has a long post on his blog about a super-secret new project he’s working on with Evan Prodromou. Probably more interesting is that he’s no longer writing, throwing his weight behind this super-secret project that we don’t know anything about (other than the fact that it’ll be bilingual).

The announcement will be on the agenda along with a demo at DemoCamp on July 24. Evan certainly has the experience in startups. We’ll see how good an idea it is when we actually hear the idea.

| Montreal, Web design

Good ol’ pageid 4397,6375618

The City of Montreal has unveiled a unified portal for its libraries, and just look at its easy-to-remember URL:

http://ville.montreal.qc.ca/portal/page?_pageid=4397,6375618&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL

Now, I know what you’re thinking. “Really, 4397,6375618? I would have thought 4397,5431618.”

But the city’s web design people, they have their quirky labels. And pageids, and dads and schemas (all of which are required values).

| Business, Montreal, On the Net, Technology

Big O: Yours free*

Microsoft is making fun of us. Apparently, with the Expos gone, the Olympic Stadium is worth nothing to them, so they’re “giving it away free” on Xbox Live Marketplace. Marketplace, for those who are unaware, is a brilliant invention of the online entertainment industry, getting normally semi-intelligent people to spend real money to get fake money to buy fake things.

But even these gullible patsies can’t be convinced to use their fake money to buy the Big O.

| Montreal, On the Net, Technology, Video

The parking meter myth rears its ugly head

A CNet blog post about a new website mentions an old YouTube video (how it’s related to classifieds is beyond me) about how easy Montreal parking meters can be “scammed”. Because putting money in an already-paid-for spot doesn’t add to its time but instead replaces it, the video alleges that you can add a nickel to a paid-for spot and cause the hapless soul parked there to get a ticket.

Missing in this vast conspiracy theory is any evidence that this actually has happened. Nobody seems to have come forward to complain that these mysterious party poopers who want to screw drivers for no reason have targetted them.

Besides, drivers are issued receipts when they pay for their parking. If these nefarious evil-doers do execute their brilliant plan, it would be a simple matter of showing up with the receipt to have the ticket dismissed.

This of course assumes that parking spots can be cancelled in this way, and that meter maids will be told that the spot is not paid for. As I understand the case (can’t find a link to the article that talked about it), this is not what happens.

So you can rest easy parking in Montreal. But, just to be safe, keep your receipts.

| In the news, Technology

GPS doesn’t solve common-sense confusion

UPI has plagiarized referenced a Gazette cover story about Quebec’s law against screens in the driver’s seat. As if it’s bad enough that they can’t do any reporting on their own, they seem to misunderstand the very story they’re copying. The headline is “Canadian province turns OnStar off”, which doesn’t make any sense. Quebec hasn’t passed a law against OnStar, it’s an existing law which GPS systems may prompt an amendment to.

For those curious, the applicable section is article 439 of the Quebec Highway Safety Code:

439. No person may drive a road vehicle in which a television set or a display screen is so placed that the image broadcast on the screen is directly or indirectly visible to the driver, except in the case of a closed circuit system used by the driver to operate the vehicle, or a system used by a peace officer or the driver of a road vehicle used as an ambulance, in accordance with the Act respecting pre-hospital emergency services (chapter S-6.2), in the performance of their duties.

The intent of the law is very clear: No TV sets visible to the driver. It’s a common-sense safety law that is hardly “idiotic”. But it is in need of updating, considering an apparent study that suggests drivers consulting navigation systems are less distracted because they have a better idea of where they’re going.

Considering they’ve already given a free pass to emergency vehicles, it’s a common-sense amendment to a common-sense law.

But please, let’s make a big deal out of it.

| Media, Technology

Holy pixellation Batman!

The Gazette today launched their “new and improved” Alouettes coverage. This includes a special Alouettes section to their website, a new blog by football writer Herb Zurkowsky, and a special downloadable newsletter called Game Day (direct PDF link).

If this sounds familiar, you might be from Ottawa. The Citizen has been doing the same thing for Senators games since January. This is also similar to afternoon news editions like the Citizen’s Rush Hour or the Star’s Star P.M.

How successful these PDF papers are is a mystery. I don’t have access to the Citizen’s or the Star’s website stats. But they’re easy to produce and can be distributed instantaneously for free. So it’s certainly worth a try.

The Gazette’s first foray into this new system has hit a few snags though:

Pixellation

Pixellation: Don’t adjust your monitors, this is how the text (and everything else) appears, which makes you wonder why it’s not just a giant JPEG instead of a PDF. Normally things like this are done when font problems appear, so hopefully they’ll have that figured out by next time (UPDATE: Nope.). Not only is the text unreadable, but giant images like this require larger PDFs than vectorized text.

n?

Font problems: You’d think they’d be solved by the rasterization of the entire document, but apparently not. “n” in one of the dingbat fonts makes a bullet, and it’s replaced here with a red Courier New letter.

Zurder

Headshot: This shot of the lovable Herb Zurkowsky appears everywhere: in the paper, on the blog, in the Game Day special. And I’m afraid to look at it. Let this be a warning folks, HERB ZURKOWSKY WILL MURDER YOUR FAMILY.

Oh, and in case you’re curious, we won: 34-26 against the Toronto Argonauts.

| Blogosphere, Media, Technology

CBC.ca doing some things right

Following my earlier critique of CBC.ca’s redesign (other blogs are weighing in, a list is compiled here), I should give them props for a good use of technology: Blog Watch.

I first noticed it when I saw I was getting traffic from a CBC article I had commented on. It turns out CBC is using services from Technorati for pingback-like features. It scours the blogs for links to CBC.ca news pieces, and links to those blogs in the sidebar. The Blogwatch page finds the most blogged about articles.

Though some have expressed concern that this will just elevate pop culture articles above important news pieces, I still like the idea. It provides direct, relevant links to the blogosphere automatically, and without sacrificing editorial quality.

Kudos.

I still hate your homepage though.

| On the Net, Technology

Online privacy needs more than crappy videos

ISIQ, the Institut de sécurité de l’information du Québec, sent me a message (I guess I’m real important now) pointing me to their new campaign to educate Quebecers about personal information online. Their press release (unfortunately only in PDF form) is in English, which is nice to see from a Quebec government body, and it promotes their video campaign to teach … children I guess … how to safeguard their information.

The videos leave much to be desired. They’re grammatically incorrect (it’s “The Greens” not “The Green’s”), and they’re dubbed in badly-accented English.

I suppose I shouldn’t complain too much about the dubbing. I know francophones have to endure far more bad dubbing of stuff they see on TV. But couldn’t they find people who speak English well enough to do it?

Of course, a bigger problem is that while everyone must do their part to protect their privacy, it’s not just the users’ fault that this stuff is happening:

Social networking sites, especially Facebook, simply don’t allow anonymity. Facebook requires you to use your real name, which is great for all those high school classmates looking to find you, but is horrible for privacy protection. Even 12-year-olds know not to use your full name online. Facebook does provide some privacy protection (though not by default), but it still relies on sharing even the most mundane information to keep its users interested.

Wireless Network configuration is perhaps the most unnecessarily complicated procedure I have ever seen in my life. WEP or WPA? Or WPA2? A hex key or ASCII passphrase? Or password? Oh, but it has to be exactly five characters. Or 12. I’ve given up on them, and I have a computer science degree.

Phishing is something that fortunately is being worked on. Perhaps the fact that people actually lose real money in this is what has woken everyone up. Spam filters are being strengthened to weed out suspicious emails, phishing sites are being shut down, websites are improving their security, browsers like Firefox come with built-in phishing warning systems, and companies that involve money like banks and auction sites make it very clear they won’t email you out of the blue with threats to suspend your account if you don’t log in.

There’s still much to be done on this issue, and for that reason I’m glad the ISIQ is trying to get their message out. Hopefully their next campaign will be a little more professional-looking.