Celebration of Light 2008 - China
We have good things coming for the Olympics in a few days with this kind of show. A very Olympic theme and it clicked.
Archive for July 2008
Celebration of Light 2008 - USA
The USA put on a serious contender too - less of a unified theme with respect to the music but well timed and synchronized
The light on the water really makes for a wonderful photo.
Godzilla over English Bay
Canada’s show this year took a totally different theme than we’ve seen from Canada in the past by using a “Godzilla” theme.
Weather conditions were pretty good - a slight wind to blow the smoke away and hence everyone got some pretty clear photos of the fireworks.
Next up is the USA on Saturday.
Usability: Pedestrian Crosswalk Signals
Usability of minor little things can make a major improvement in our lives by improving the information available to us.
The simple crosswalk signal is a great example of where you can make a minor change and improve usability considerably.
At present most signals go something like this:
Solid “WALK” then a steady flashing “DON’T WALK” with a solid “DON’T WALK” just before the traffic light is due to turn.
How can we make it better?
Take the “DON’T WALK” flashing - at present it flashes at a steady rate so one doesn’t have any idea how soon the light is going to change, people do “run it” and get caught in the middle, driver’s can’t use the information to plan if the light is going to change to take their foot off the gas and preemptively brake.
Why not make it so the “DON’T WALK” flashes slowly at first and as it gets closer to the light changing make it flash faster and faster. A slowly flashing signal people means people wouldn’t slow down but for a rapidly flashing one people would. Less gas burned by avoiding accelerating only to brake a second later.
It’d save gas and make things a little less stressful. As an added bonus, you wouldn’t have to replace the signals themselves (the other option the digital count down timer requires a replacement) but rather re-program the lights to change the flash rate.
The Grouse Grind from the GPS
I managed to get an unbroken fix on my hike up the Grouse Grind yesterday - here’s the tracklog.
Needless to say, I also grabbed an altitude log here - it’s a few meters out of calibration but it gives you a good idea of the grade of the trail.
If you want the GPS tracklog here it is in .gpx format
Rogers Wireless realizes that consumers are finally fed up.
In short, they have finally offered an “unlimited” data plan for $30/month. Ok - it’s technically not unlimited but given the definition that we have seen by carriers in the US it is more or less.
It’s a concession but still not perfectly acceptable. The voice plans are still outrageous compared with the US and the fine print, the System Access Fee (aka pure profit), massively overpriced caller ID, voicemail, low minute buckets.
Will Rogers fix their minute plans to become an acceptable affordable wireless carrier?
On a related note, both Bell and Telus simultaneously decided to start charging the exact same price for incoming SMS messages. 15c a message to receive messages and you have no way to opt out - you pay if someone sends it. Yes, 15c for something that costs them literally nothing to provide.
Previously free incoming SMS was one of the few good things about Canadian cellular (I would guess the 6.95 to 8.95 SAF would cover the SMS fees) but now it’s gone. I guess top profits in the developed world aren’t enough for Bell and Telus - they need to charge more.
With Rogers getting all the flak over iRipoff - why of all things would their marketing department be so stupid to bring the wrath of consumers onto them by introducing this fee?