Author: Kirk

Eerily Quiet …

I’ve been very quiet the last couple of weeks.

My spare time has been taken up with a large variety of things – most importantly, I delivered my BAWorld presentation this afternoon on Usability Analysis and Interface Design.

If you’re curious (and who wouldn’t be?) – check it out (requires OpenOffice.org’s Impress presentation software)

Kirk Bridger – Eliminating The Odd-Delivered

I think it went quite well – the room was certainly more full than any of the other sessions I attended today.  I hope my passion and love of the topic were apparent.

Hold Off On the Seasonal Flu Vaccine A Moment

There’s some evidence that suggests there may be reduced  immunity to H1N1 if you’ve received seasonal vaccines in the last couple of years.  Suddenly those innocuous little needle pricks don’t seem so purely helpful!  Note that everything is still unclear as the findings are only seen in Canada and the paper is not yet even peer-reviewed and published.  So just hold off until things get a little more clear.

Jets Overhead – They Get It

I recently heard a song I like on the radio and ended up buying the album it was so good.

Wait, what year is it?  I heard it on the radio and bought it?  Yikes!  I haven’t done that in decades!  But it is true, and I wanted to sahre with you how cool this band is – they get the digital world (or at elast someone in their management team gets it).

Band is out of Victoria BC and is called Jets Overhead.  Their website allows you to download for free their first release from some years ago.  Easy way to battle piracy, right?  They have also released their latest single off their new album “No Nations “under a Creative Commons license.

I wanted to buy their album after listening to it in it entirety on their website (see, free preview – very smart).  Sure I was able to copy the MP3 sings from their website and get the album for free.  But I wanted to support this band.  Problem – they only seemed to offer digital download via iTunes which I won’t support.  I could have bought their CD from MapleMusic for $15 or so, but then have paid $5 shipping to get in in 2 weeks.  That’s broken right there.  I could have paid more to get it sooner, but then I’m paying more for shipping than for the CD.  That’s really broken.

Look, I just want to support this band.

So I decided to contact their management and suggest they get a digital version on Zunior as I wanted a lossless version.  Future Shop and Best Buy don’t carry their album, so I felt really stuck.  Once I explained my situation and desires to the fellow who responded via email, he got it.  Then he directed me to their BandCamp page.  I wasn’t aware of BandCamp prior to this, but man – they understand the digital age too.  So I purchased a lossless version of the album for less than $10 and was able to immediately download it, transcode to ogg, and listen.

Great album – seriously great.  Great band – supporting Creative Commons and all that.  Great management.  Great website too (BandCamp).

Support this band if you like their music – you can listen to it for free on their website or on their BandCamp page.

If they ever come to Vancouver/Surrey I’d like to know so I can buy a ticket.

Creepy Windows 7 Advertisement

I know what a Launch Party is.  This video advertisement for Windows 7 makes it all sound so creepy though.  And who are the writers of this stuff?  And the poor actors – they’re so rife with stereotypes that are trying not to be stereotypes that I can’t imagine how many takes it took to get some of those lines out.

The whole thing feels so terribly manufactured – could anyone possibly think it is a good ad?  Which makes me wonder who they’re targetting for this.  Which then makes me wonder if this is simply a viral marketing effort, a more sureptitious means of getting the word out than a simple ad.

Whatever the case, I won’t be holding or attending a Windows 7 Release Party.  Sorry.