Jim Elve over at BlogsCanada,
the site that selflessly promotes the best Canadian blogs, and contains
the definitive directory of Canadian blogs, has been set upon by the
lawyers of the Government of Canada for his parody of the Government of
Canada site. Talk about petty! Only a complete idiot, or a federal
civil servant's lawyer, could possibly
mistake Jim's excellent site for an 'official' Government of Canada
site. Nevertheless, Jim has been served with a threatening letter
ordering him to take down his site or change it so it no longer
'resembles' the Feds' site. This is what gives civil servants, and
lawyers, a bad name. Give 'em hell, Jim! We're all proud of what you've
been doing to encourage and celebrate Canada's bloggers, and give us a
sense of community -- a damn sight more than what the government has
ever done to support blogging in Canada.
One of the kind people who have been helping me test desktop video software this week is Robin Good,
a veritable alchemist of videoconferencing. I was blown away both by
Robin's deep knowledge of the video tools currently in the market, and
his 'homegrown' applications that integrate and build on the best
features of several of the commercial conferencing apps out there. If
you're looking for high quality, reliable many-to-many
videoconferencing capability at an affordable price, just go directly
to Robin and he'll get you set up right. This guy is really sharp
(though he neither looks nor sounds like what I expected)!
Robin has two events coming up that you should check out if you're in
the market. Here is more information on them, in Robin's own words:
Kolabora Live! Buyer's Review: April 22nd: InstantPresenter vs. C3 Collaborator
An ongoing series of live events in which I will personally review
multiple real-time collaboration technologies and in which end users
will be able to ask and to compare differences and advantages for each
tool presented. In each 60-minute Buyer Review I will first introduce
the competing technologies I have personally selected and I will offer
a “buyer conscious”, concise and benefit-driven analysis of their
features, functionalities, key strengths and weaknesses. The remaining
time in the event is used for allowing potential buyers and customers
attending the event to ask live questions about the tools presented.
The questions can be addressed either to me or to one of the elected
representative of the technologies showcased.
At the end of the Buyers Questions I poll the audience on key feature,
traits, marketing and sales issues relating to these products allowing
me to gather specific buyers desires, preferences and needs relative to
the tools showcased. On the basis of the polled data The Kolabora
Buyers’ Pick Award is then assigned to the showcased technology that
has been able to stand the toughest test of all: the buyer's mind.
Buyer's Pick technology is then showcased on Kolabora until the next
Buyer's Review goes live. There is no cost for companies to
participate. More info or Sign-up: http://tinyurl.com/3emek
Kolabora Live! Monthly Seminar
A new unique 75-minute monthly event where I report live (audio/video + slides) on:
New tools that have appeared on the market
Most interesting tools – attention movers
Best practices
Complementary tools and technologies
Online resources and recommendations
Interface design, UI
Functionalities, - features that can give you an edge because they have not been exploited yet
Tools and their usability – how to improve usability of your tools
Deployment and technical issues
Performance – what do people expect
Perceived ease of use – how to measure – who is doing best and why
Marketing strategies – offers, demos, trials, pricing approaches – what is best
Participants can submit specific questions via a text interface and in
the final 40 minutes I devote my time exclusively to provide public
answers to these. Access to this event is limited to 200 people and is
sponsor-supported. Initially the event is accessible for free. Only a
registration is needed. Recording of the event is offered as a
commercial download. Sign-Up: http://tinyurl.com/358l4
. . . . .
Robin, Skype guru Stu Henshall,
and several others have graciously given me the opportunity to test a
variety of desktop video tools, and given me the names and specs of
many other tools I have not yet had time to test. Although I will issue
a full report when I've finished testing, so far I am quite impressed
with SightSpeed's video quality, and I have yet to find anything that
matches Skype's audio quality.
MADE IN CANADA
trust your
instincts 
