DaveTraynor.com

A (virtual) friend, Darren Barefoot sent out a call to the blogosphere to help send his wife, Julie Szabo, to the Olympics, thanks to the power of SEO (search engine optimization.)

A couple of years ago my wife Julie started a figure skating blog. She’s got a particular purpose in mind for this project: she wants to get media accreditation for the skating events at the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver.

One way to do this is to write the most popular figure skating blog in the world, according to Google. She currently sits in the #2 spot.

The goal is to get her up to the top spot, and I need your help. If you’re so inclined, please link to Julie’s blog with the phrase ‘figure skating blog‘. Collectively, we ought to be able to boost her up to the top spot, eh?

Darren and Julie have just moved to Victoria after spending a year living in Malta and Morocco.
So, to help the cause, I’m going to send you to her figure skating blog, Boot and Blade, where she’s got a post called “Eight of the Worst Falls in Figure Skating.“

It’s sort of a “reality TV” meets “America’s funniest home videos” sort of thing.

One caution though – not for the squeamish!

Here’s the link to Julie’s blog.

Technorati Tags:
Figure, Skating, Blog, Julie Szabo

OK campers, since the weekend is upon us (and especially for those who aren’t interested in the Final Four) let’s consider the question:

Is Copyright Cool?

Good question Dave, I can hear you thinking, nodding your head in approval.

So what’s the answer?

Not to be coy, but the truth is — I’m not sure.

I think it is, but I’m not sure it’s crossed over to the mainstream yet. But it is getting closer to doing just that.

If you’ve got the time, I’m going to point you to a couple of videos of speeches by two very smart people – one American and one Canadian – talking about copyright issues in the US and here in Canada.

Larry Lessig

The first is by Larry Lessig, a professor at Stanford, credited with creating the Creative Commons license and a well-known advocate for copyright reform. (Although he’s now turned his attention to corruption in US politics.)

He spoke at the TED conference in Monterey, California last March. Lessig is a terrific presenter, as this blurb from the TED website attests:

Larry Lessig gets TEDsters to their feet, whooping and whistling, following this elegant presentation of three stories and an argument. The Net’s most adored lawyer brings together John Philip Sousa, celestial copyrights, and the “ASCAP cartel” to build a case for creative freedom. He pins down the key shortcomings of our dusty, pre-digital intellectual property laws, and reveals how bad laws beget bad code. Then, in an homage to cutting-edge artistry, he throws in some of the most hilarious remixes you’ve ever seen.

Watch the video here.

Michael Geist

The second video is by Michael Geist of the University of Ottawa, who is probably Canada’s best-known advocate of copyright reform. He’s been waging a very public campaign to highlight some of the threats posed by possible changes to Canada’s existing copyright rules.

He spoke at Toronto’s Osgood Hall law school and they’ve posted a video of his presentation, which you can watch here.

While these two perspectives on copyright law may not answer the question of whether the issue is cool or not, they are definitely worth watching. They might even inspire you to consider getting more involved with the issue – or at least consider the implications of some of your own habits or those around you.

The issue of intellectual property rights, and their distribution and usage is critical to the future of our “information age.” We should all be aware of what’s going on so we can decide whether what is happening is correct.

These two guys are worth listening to.

While the web has been filled with April 1 pranks today, Google’s posted a few items that are not aimed at fooling people as much as making them smile.

Check out the links below and you’ll see what I mean:

Each show a different riff on Google’s search page.

Swedish Chef – http://www.google.com/intl/xx-bork/

Pig Latin – http://www.google.com/intl/xx-piglatin/

Hacker (or leetspeak) – http://www.google.com/intl/xx-hacker/

Elmer Fudd – http://www.google.com/intl/xx-elmer/

Klingon – http://www.google.com/intl/xx-elmer/

Mirrored Page – http://elgoog.rb-hosting.de/index.cgi

If you come across others, let me know…

Which is your favourite?

UPDATE — Here’s a program we can all use…

And just in case you haven’t had enough Google stuff yet, here’s a (ongoing) compilation of all the April Fool’s jokes that Google was involved in today.

If you’re intrigued by Apple’s new Macbook Air computer because it’s a pretty cool innovation, you might be interested in this article over on ComputerWorld.com. (If you want to filter out all the ads on the page – there’s a lot of them – scroll to the bottom and click on the “Print Story” button.)

The Computerworld editors went out and started talking to laptop designers all over the world about some of the concepts they’re working on, with a view to trying to figure out what a laptop computer might look like in 2015.

A lot has changed in the 20 years since the first laptop computers appeared, including gigahertz processors, color screens, optical drives and wireless data. However, one thing that has stubbornly stayed the same is the conventional clamshell format with its hinged display lid that opens to reveal a mechanical keyboard.

That’s about to change. The rules of notebook design and the components that go inside are being rewritten to make the road a better place to work and play.

There are some pretty cool-looking items in this story. But imagining the laptop of the near future is not just a dreamy thing to do. It’s practical as well.

I’ve been using laptops as my primary computers for many years and I’ve gone through quite a variety – everything from my Tandy 200 through to my current PowerBook. Some have been more enjoyable than others, but the steady improvements have been startling, when you stop and think about it. There used to be a performance hit when you switched to a laptop and for some applications, that’s still a problem. But for most people, a laptop will work fine as a primary computer. And the benefits of not being tied to one location more than offset any possible performance issues, as far as I’m concerned.

I’ve had my current laptop – a G4 12″ Powerbook – for about 4 years now and it’s starting to show its age. For one thing, instead of a flat display, I’ve got a “deep V” style, thanks to the time my backpack crashed into a refrigerator (with me still attached and the laptop inside!) But despite it’s rugged appearance, it’s still working and I still use it every day.

But I know that before too long I’m going to be in the market for a new machine, so I’m very interested in some of the cool things that are going to be appearing before too much longer.

Thin and touch-screen are the two items that jump out at you when you look through this list. But there’s a lot of innovation in the works and the user interface experience is just the most noticeable.

Other significant changes are expected in the kinds of materials the machines are built of, more powerful components and faster processors.

If you like to think about the future — and seven years into the future is a long way in computer years — you’ll enjoy this piece.

The NCAA men’s basketball tournament – better known as March Madness – starts today.

I’ve been watching the tournament for years any way I could. I could be wrong, but I’m pretty sure I remember driving down to Estevan, in southeastern Saskatchewan, from Regina when I was in high school, so that we could catch some of the games. (They might have been NBA games – but I think they were college.)

We had to drive to Estevan because we didn’t have cable TV in Regina at that point and Estevan was close enough to the US border that they were able to pick up signals from North Dakota.

Today, March Madness has become an institution, with every game available on TV — and now for free on the Internet.

Today’s Globe and Mail has a good story on how CBS is making millions of dollars in advertising by letting anyone who wants to watch the games for free on the Internet. (You can sign up yourself here.)

While the picture quality doesn’t come close to TV, it’s perfect for people at work who want to hunker down and catch all of the 32 games that will be played in the first two days of the tournament.

And if you want to see some great examples of how to enhance the experience using web-based tools, just cruise around the CBSSports.com website.

I’ve been watching online since the service first started (when you still had to pay to watch.) And today, although I’ll probably have my browser pointed to the action, I am lucky enough to have a TV right here in my office, so I’ll be able to see it on the big screen too.

Seth Godin has some good advice for marketers:

Before you buy your next ad… My suggestion is that you spend thirty seconds watching this video.

Safe for work, audio is okay. Thanks to Ken for pointing it out. [And Bryan points out this original. Hope the client didn’t pay too much for the new one!]You were going to spend how much to distract me from what I was doing?

(Via Seth’s Blog.)