that canadian girl

Latest adventures…

  • Just ten minutes

    Seth Godin writes an entry I found thought-provoking enough to post nearly in its entirety:

    “I am in Santa Elena, CR. Off the map. No paved roads by choice. Few locals and lots of ecotourism (read tourist town which is really hard to get to). If you like frogs, bugs, toucans, and zip lines through the rain forest, it is a great place.

    There is one bus to the coast at 6am each day. Mostly filled with tourists heading to surf or see the leather back turtles (I will be on it tomorrow). Right across the street from the bus stop is a panaria (bread and roll shop), which opens at 6am. Everyday 20 to 50 people who just scrabbled out of bed to make the bus on time. Opening 10 minutes earlier would mean sales. Just 10 minutes ealier. I know I would buy. I will buy tonight before heading to bed, but many more turistas will not have planned ahead.”

    How can you open 10 minutes earlier for your market? What small change could you make to be more in sync with your customers? I think this example shows quite how simple it can sometimes be to improve your customer offering.

    Locally, the number of shops I see open at odd hours, missing out on the rush of people walking right past their “Closed” sign, wishing it was open so they could quickly pop in and pick up a few things.

    And online, where business runs 24/7, what about the sites who only accept certain credit cards when they could open their system to accept a wider range (for example, British sites that do not accept Switch/Maestro cards)? The extra business they could drum up by enabling customers to use their debit card would make up for the cost of improving their booking process many times over!

  • Fo.rtuito.us is just rid.iculo.us

    We’re in the peak of the Web 2.0 wave, with betas for all sorts of web apps coming out of our rears ears (that was a genuine typo!). Some are good, some are absolutely brilliant, but some are just dire.

    fo.rtuito.usJoining the Hall of Shame is fo.rtuito.us, where you can meet random new friends. We know of del.icio.us now, we can almost spell it without having to pause too long. But fo.rtuito.us takes it that one step too far with the hip, Web 2.0 URL.

    As a TechCrunch reader writes, “This is not Beta… more like Alpha. This could not have taken more than a couple of days to put together. The matching is completely randon, not based on any user data what so ever… Very innovative, not!”

    I think it’s a pretty pointless site, and that, while it’s a novel idea, it should be no more than a feature within an existing site, rather than a site in itself. The users are randomly matched rather than based on any interests, location, age, etc… yet the “What would happen if we no longer used things like looks, age, sex and nationality to decide if we would try and become friends with a person?” homepage statement is negated by the fact that you MUST upload a picture when you create a profile.

    Somebody needs to sit down and rethink the unique selling points and features of their little Web 2.0 dream…

  • British weather at its best

    I just can’t believe the completely wacky weather we’ve been getting these past two weeks. British weather’s gone bipolar, and it’s having a serious crisis. One moment, we get the tank tops and sunscreen out, the next we’re reaching for the coats and the umbrellas!

    Today, it reached the peak of its insanity, hitting us with a full light and sound show, accompanied with some hail the size of blueberries from the Lac St-Jean!

    We managed to catch a few shots before it stopped as suddenly as it had started! (Sorry for the quirk which causes photos to double up below. There are 5 pics, click on “View full gallery” to see all 5!)

  • You do WHAT for a living??

    In case my last post gave you a case of the MEGO [My Eyes Glaze Over], I thought I’d redeem myself with an article on odd and unusual jobs.

    Ever heard of a Gumologist? Or ever thought what it’s like to be an IMAX screen cleaner? Read up on those jobs here.

  • Is the blogosphere ready for more aggressive monetisation of blogs?

    Everyone has different reasons driving their need to blog, whether as a way to express themselves, share professional knowledge or to discuss current events. And it’s fair to say that the vast majority of bloggers make no money out of their blog, and never will.

    But what about the sites that are full of quality content and great insight? Shouldn’t those who spend time and energy researching and writing valuable articles get something in return?

    Tris Hussey     raised the controversial subject of sponsorships, on-site advertising and product reviews as a way to monetise blogs. [Sorry Tris, can’t bring myself to spell it “monetize”.] He points out that we may be missing out on a huge opportunity because a very vocal segment who is against it.

    I think the answer is encapsulated within a single word: Integrity.

    There’s a number of ways a blogger can “sell” space on his or her blog, ranging from perfectly innoffensive links to products or companies to full-on sponsorship and endorsement. What one must do is evaluate how much content quality or impartiality is affected (not that bloggers are ever really impartial, we are beings of opinion and bias) by the newfound advertising.

    As Tris puts it, “Just because you pay me, doesn’t mean you’ve bought me. I won’t sing the praises of you or your product. Frankly, you don’t want that really. I’m of no value to you, as a place for your ad or information, if no one is reading me anymore.”

    Sell-outs lose their credibility in reviewing products or discussing events, because of the bias brought on by the money they’re getting. And what’s the point of reading a blog where you won’t get an honest answer, but just a big fat endorsement of whoever’s paying the bills?

    I think it’s definitely possible to remain credible, while fitting ads for relevant sites in your sidebar. Google Ads are probably the most benign form of advertising but they also pay peanuts, so more enterprising bloggers will go towards more aggressive types of ads or direct sponsorships. It’s only fair to want a bit of income from a hobby that generally requires a lot of time and dedication.

    You’ll notice my blog is entirely free from advertising or sponsored content, and it may not always be this way. But before I sell away some space on my site, I’ll need to be sure that it’s the right thing to do. And at the moment, I’m just not that convinced that I want to sell my soul for a few extra bobs a month.

    What types of advertising, sponsorship or other source of blog-related income are you using? Does it work well? Where do you set your boundaries?

  • Web 2.0 en français

    TechCrunch in FrenchCe matin, j’ai découvert que TechCrunch, un blog sur Web 2.0 et les PME en technologie, existe aussi en français. Alors, pour ceux qui préfèrent leurs nouvelles techno en français, certains des articles publiés sur TechCrunch anglais sont aussi traduits.

    Il reste à voir si certains articles sont écris avec le public francophone en tête ou au sujet des PME Web 2.0 de langue française, mais ça fait plaisir de voir que cet excellent site est disponible dans plus qu’une langue!

  • Our Prisoner – As if Big Brother wasn't lame enough

    Big Brother’s been highjacking Channel 4 for a week or so now. And it took about 5 minutes to establish that it would be a load of rubbish, thanks to the complete freaks that have been selected to live in the house.

    But keeping a bunch of wackos in a house of mirrors and cameras isn’t enough for the voyeurs that we are, Our Prisoner has created this gimmicky environment where an ugly, loserish geek called Kieran is “prisoner” in his own house, being watched day and night by cameras (everywhere except the toilet), giving viewers the ability to control certain decisions.

    Kieran the loser

    It’s like some messed-up Truman show with a willing victim, or a Big Brother without anyone to argue with. Somehow I can’t imagine it getting very exciting, especially considering I’ve only seen a couple of photos of the dorky prisoner and I’m already bored to death by him. It already stinks of failure, and as TechCrunch points out, it’s a thinly disguised publicity stunt for the email company sponsoring it.

    It’s painful to look at the site now, and the project still hasn’t been launched. It’s bound to be cringetastic!

  • SmackBook Pro

    So the MacBook Pro comes with motion sensors… What purpose does that serve, other than protecting your hard drive in case you have the misfortune of dropping it?

    Someone has written a script to make use of the motion sensors on the MacBook Pro, so he’s developing in what looks like Eclipse (correct me if I’m wrong!) on one screen, then switches to the “other one” to view the work he’s done!

    How cool is that!? (As long as you don’t get pissed off at your code and start whacking it a bit too hard!)

    Watch it for yourself:

    [Found via TheRegister]

  • Because men are SUCH suckers for gadgets

    Heather, of Dooce fame, makes fun of her husband Jon for his gullibility (is that even a word?) in believing that using their new toothbrushes was a lifechanging experience.

    Is it just a man thing to be convinced that four blades is better than three, that a couple more horsepower than your neighbour makes you more manly or that you MUST own the latest all-singing-all-dancing gadget?

    I mean, don’t get me wrong, I LOVE my gadgets. I would own them all if I could. But I don’t lose all common sense, or get suckered in when an ad tells me it’s the best thing since the iPod. Men become like putty in the advertisers’ hands!

    Alright, I’m done pondering this mystery of life. I’m off to the Cambridge Beer Festival, to go hang out with old beardy men in sandals, and my slightly less beardy friends.

  • Pimp my snack

    Giant Toffee PennyI came across this site last night and was fascinated by the concoctions some people managed to come up with! Gigantor Jaffa Cakes, one-foot-wide Toffee Pennies and even Samosas the size of your head! It’s Pimp my Snack!

    Rather than spend my Sunday slaving over supersized sugared goods, I think I’ll treat myself to the little luxury that is baking a new Domestic Goddess recipe.

    She says “Recently I made sticky buns — banana sticky buns to be exact. And while they were baking I had this instant moment when all I could smell was dough, caramelizing sugar and the heady scent of baking bananas. It was so lovely and so uplifting – the entire apartment smelled like a sweets shop and I couldn’t help but smile. That is probably one of the reasons I love to bake…not only do you get to eat a delicious treat when it’s done and out of the oven, but you also get to enjoy it while it’s baking and it’s scent drifts around you, comforting and stimulating at the same time.”

    This is exactly why I love baking, the comforting smell relaxes me and takes me to a different place where I can stop worrying about the daily rubbish. It’s also why I love sharing baked goodies with work colleagues or make little baskets for friends and neighbours (well, that and the fact that if I ate everything I baked, I wouldn’t fit through the door to the kitchen!)

    So time to go for a walk down to Sainsbury’s and pick up the necessary goods to make some godly sticky buns. I’m sure Jen won’t mind me modifying the recipe slightly to include some maple syrup (freshly delivered from Canada by my little sister) and whatever else takes my fancy along the way.