Nano2Sol by Marc Boucher

Canada's Housing Bubble, Real or Imaginary?

2010-08-31T13:11:17Z

The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives yesterday released a study title "Canada's Housing Bubble - An Accident Waiting to Happen" in which they state that "for the first time in 30 years, six of Canada's hottest real estate markets are in a housing bubble." The study examined trends in house prices in Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Montreal and Ottawa between 1980 and 2010.

]]> The Globe and Mail reported on the study today with a feature titled "Why the housing market may be heading for correction" which illustrates the main points of the report.

The question is, is a coming real estate correction real or imaginary?

I've lived in Vancouver for the past 22 years until a recent move to Toronto and I've seen prices rise dramatically in the last 8 years. From my perspective the market is in serious need of a correction. The percentage of income home owners spend on their mortgage is alarming high. It's not sustainable if you plan to retire with any comfort. We're seeing a fundamental long term shift in housing affordability. The consequences should be of concern to everyone.

Do China's Actions Signal a Greater Military Role for their Space Program?

2010-08-30T15:44:09Z

Brian Weeden of the Secure World Foundation has a very interesting article on The Space Review titled Dancing in the dark: The orbital rendezvous of SJ-12 and SJ-06F which details the apparent on-orbit rendezvous of two Chinese satellites.

"The rendezvous of two Chinese satellites demonstrates that China is broadening its space capabilities, but also touches on the greater issue of perceptions, trust, and safety in space activities that could impact the long-term sustainability of the space regime."

]]> Jim Oberg, a veteran journalist and also a NASA veteran who worked in mission control, offered his thoughts in the topic:

"As a veteran of Mission Control orbital rendezvous missions with space shuttles, I found the article technically sound, and fairly persuasive. 'Rendezvous' was my call sign in Mission Control and has been my academic and professional specialization for forty years.

BUT if the article is accurate, the secrecy implies an ominous and probably military intent on the part of China.

There are potential innocuous justifications for developing the technology -- but in those cases, I would have expected China to brag openly about having done it."

Is this simply China secretly demonstrating a new capability without flaunting it to the world? Or does this signal a greater military role? In the recent past China has been more forthcoming with its exploits in space making sure the world knew what they had accomplished. By remaining silent on this event one could infer that it had military implications and has thus kept silent. In any case it does demonstrate a growing space capability by the Chinese.

Amazon Unleashes Cluster Compute Instances for High Performance Computing

2010-07-13T13:23:16Z

I have to say I'm fairly excited at the news today that Amazon is making available a new instance type for Amazon's Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) service called Cluster Compute Instances. Specifically designed for high performance computing (HPC) applications, I can how this new service will be attractive to new start-ups who need HPC but don't want to spend the considerable money on their infrastructure just yet.

]]> One particular area which I have experience in that uses HPC is the vertical search niche. Crawling and indexing large amounts of data is CPU and RAM intensive and even with servers and in particular storage prices continually dropping it is still costly to setup, maintain and deploy your own crawling cluster. For start-ups this will make Amazon's Cluster Compute Instances very attractive indeed. I will have to run some numbers on the costs of using Amazon's Cluster Compute Instances compared to an in-house setup to see how it stacks up. In the meantime here's the specs on what you get with each Cluster Compute Instance:

The Cluster Compute instance family currently contains a single instance type, the Cluster Compute Quadruple Extra Large with the following specifications:

23 GB of memory
33.5 EC2 Compute Units (2 x Intel Xeon X5570, quad-core "Nehalem" architecture)
1690 GB of instance storage
64-bit platform
I/O Performance: Very High (10 Gigabit Ethernet)
API name: cc1.4xlarge

Amazon allows you deploy up to 8 of their Cluster Compute Instances which are available in the US - N. Virginia Region on the Linux platform. If you need more than 8 Instances then you have to contact Amazon directly to request this.

I'm looking forward to giving Cluster Compute Instances a try at some point.

Shame on the New York Times for Forcing Apple to Remove Pulse from iTunes

2010-06-08T15:58:48Z

When the New York Times objected officially to Apple about an iPad application called Pulse they shot themselves in the foot. Pulse is an innovative yet simple RSS news aggregator for the iPad.

For whatever reason the New York Times has decided to target Pulse and now perhaps anyone who aggregates their news feeds. According to Kara Swisher at All Things Digital, a Wall Street Journal web site, Apple received a letter from the New York Times which stated that "The New York Times Company believes your application named 'Pulse News Reader' infringes The New York Times Company's rights.".

]]> But what about all those other applications, and their hundreds if not thousands, which aggregate news and some who charge for their applications? Will the New York Times go after all of them as well? After all the New York Times publicly makes their RSS feeds available. What's the point if you can't use them.

This brings me to another point. If the New York Times will do this what's stopping them from going after Apple themselves? After all I bought an Apple computer, it came with the Safari web browser, I paid for an update to the Apple operating system and guess what? The Apple Safari browser has built in news aggregator and display function which you guessed it, can access the same New York Times feeds. Since I'm paying Apple for the Safari application then shouldn't the New York Times target Apple itself. It's ridiculous.

One issue which could be at the heart of the problem is the fact that Pulse allows the user to view the web site page of the originating RSS link in a framed browser. This is a controversial practice as Mathew Ingram at GigaOm points out. However in this case Pulse does not frame the page with ads but only simple navigation tools to get back to the where you where in Pulse.

Pulse should be allowed back into the iTunes store with the only modification that the New York Times not be one of the default feeds. Then if the user wants the New York Times, and I don't know why, they can add it manually.

Update - And this afternoon the Pulse iPad is back in the iTunes store after removing the pre-loaded New York Times RSS feed.

What if Microsoft and Apple Merged?

2010-05-28T22:50:27Z

TechCrunch is reporting that Microsoft could be taking over the search on Apple's iPhone with the upcoming release of the next iPhone operating system. It's become obvious that Apple and Google are clashing these days in several areas including the mobile sector, and now with Google TV, with home entertainment.

Apple does not have search technology of its own and that's a big setback for a company that's repositioned itself the last few years from being primarily a computer hardware company. So what do you do when you don't want a rival to have a foothold in your territory? You turn to a lesser rival, at least in Apple's eye.

]]> So what if it's true? What if Apple is turning to Microsoft to provide Bing as the default search on the iPhone? It makes me wonder if Apple and Microsoft could someday merge. That is highly unlikely but not as crazy as it sounds. They both have their strengths and although they clash in some areas it's not that farfetched of any idea, is it?

What do you think?

Thoughts on Apple's iPad - Why it Will Succeed

2010-04-02T15:53:27Z

I haven't used one and I can't buy one yet, as I'm Canada, but I do have some thoughts on why the iPad will be a success.

It's a Consumer Device not a Geeks Plaything

I've read quite a few reviews on the iPad including the Wall Street Journal's Walter Mossberg's and Boing Boing's Cory Doctorow's and they both touch on the subject but don't quite nail it down.

]]> The iPad is not for geeks, it's not for business crowd (yet), it's for the average consumer who wants their Apps, video, books and web surfing for blogs, social networking, news etc. Let me repeat this, this is not a geeks plaything. You can't open it up, unless you try really hard, you can't upgrade it and you can't replace the battery.

The iPad is 100% Closed

The iPad is not an open device. It's 100% closed just the way Apple like's things. Apple has always wanted and kept firm control of its hardware and this has more recently extended to the Apps on its iPhone and now the iPad.

Some people, like Cory Doctorow, don't like that Apple is so closed, that it's so proprietary. So what. I'm an open source supporter but I'm also an Apple consumer. Why? Because their products are functional, easy to use and deliver the experience I want. And let's face facts, consumers have spoken loudly buying iPod's and iPhones en masse.

I'll add that I too wish Apple was more open and wasn't so tyrannical with its App developers. Philosophical difference aside, consumers ultimately will decide if a product is successful or not.

What's Missing

The first generation iPad is missing a camera, an SD memory card slot and Adobe Flash. None of which is a show stopper. Producers are already converting video to other formats so the iPad can view them. Do you love YouTube? Well don't worry, you can watch 10+hours before needing to recharge your battery.

Why it will Succeed

It's simple really. Keep it simple and leverage past successes. The iPad combines form with function that appeals to consumers. That's it. It's simply an extension, an evolution of, first the iPod, then the iPhone, and leverages iTunes with the Apps store. And I can't stress how important it is to leverage existing tools like iTunes with the Apps store. Other devices exist, will be built but Apple has a legacy of tools and Apps to draw on that gives it a competitive advantage, for the moment.

Is the first generation of the iPad perfect? No, but will it appeal enough to consumers to make it a success? I think so.

For me it provides an infotainment device I don't have. What I mean by that I want a device that will both entertain and educate me. I like reading blogs, newspapers, books, watching videos etc. Right now I either have to buy a newspaper, which I don't like to do, buy real books or e-books or use my laptop to do all of the above. But my laptop weighs too much, it's clunky and definitely not my ideal device when sitting in my comfy chair. My smartphone is ok, but it's too small for prolonged, relaxed usage. But the iPad on the other hand just might be what I need. I can relax with a coffee, put my feet up, read the newspaper, answer an email if like, watch the sports highlights, read a book or my favorite blogs or do research etc.

The iPad in my opinion is part of the first generation of infotainment devices, better than a smartphone, not as clunky as a laptop, just the right size to consume copious amount of information, whether for entertainment or knowledge discovery.

- Apple YouTube Channel
- iPad Guided Tour

Bigelow Space Station 1/30th Scale Model

2010-02-09T19:34:50Z

I received two Bigelow Space Station models today. They are 1/30 scale model and include one B.A. Standard Module, two Sundancer Modules, one Propulsion Bus, one 5-Point Node and three Crew Transfer Vehicles. I'm in a rush so I hastily put together one model. The pictures below do NOT include the provided solar arrays. I'll add those later. I'll also take better pictures at some point. A nice little touch is the application of Canadian flags on each module. The model itself is about 0.9 meters wide (3 feet) by 0.75 meters tall (2 1/2 feet).

My thanks to Bigelow Aerospace for providing these models. One will be on display in Vancouver, hopefully at the H.R. MacMillan Space Centre, when I can arrange it.

]]>

What if Twitter was Down for Several Days? Perhaps it's Time for a new Internet Protocol

2010-01-22T17:49:44Z

Anil Dash has an opinion piece today on CNN which basically says don't let a service like Twitter or Facebook be the only game in town. And he has a point.

]]> The Internet was designed such that during an emergency situation even if a a single or multiple nodes of the network were cut off, communication would still flow.

Anil points out, correctly, that some of today's current services such as Twitter present a single point of failure as it is a stand alone service. For example, Twitter was down for 90 minutes this past Wednesday so the flow of communication with respect to the effort in Haiti was halted, at least on Twitter.

"... it was big news when Twitter was offline for 90 minutes Wednesday morning. Technology pundits promptly began hand-wringing -- the weaknesses of having a single point of failure to critical communications had been revealed again! Could we trust Twitter? Did this mean the Web couldn't help us fulfill our most basic obligations to those in need?"

Twitter is by no means the only tool or service available to people wanting to exchange information on Haiti or any other event during an emergency. But the fact remains that because of it's simplicity it has become hugely popular and has become one of the main viral tools of choice to propagate real-time news.

What do to then? Down times at Twitter are not new. Their core of engineers work hard to scale the service and deal with it's growth and spikes. But it's still currently a single point of failure. What if Twitter was down for several days during a major emergency?

Well the good news is that the flow of information would still flow, just through other different services on the Internet. But what would people turn to for their real-time 140 character messages? Twitter has competitors but they have not reached the critical mass Twitter has. What about Facebook? They certainly have a bigger audience. But although Facebook is morphing into something akin to Twitter it still doesn't have the interface nor the simplicity of Twitter.

Perhaps it's time for a new Internet protocol built on top of the internet like the http protocol which is used for the web? This could be a new project of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). This way companies like Twitter who provide near real-time news could use the protocol as could any other company and the information would flow regardless if any one service like Twitter went down.

Using Social Media Tools Like Twitter to add Value to Advertisers Campaigns

2010-01-12T01:58:03Z

SpaceRef has recently started using Twitter as an additional marketing tool as part of our advertisers campaigns. We don't spam our various Twitter accounts with a bunch of advertising but provide relevant tweets to each of our Twitter accounts with no more than one tweet per day per advertiser per Twitter account. The results have been nothing less than spectacular.

]]> We're seeing clickthrough rates anywhere from 1% to 10% depending on the ad. Compare that with traditional banner advertising rates of 0.20% on average. We're still collecting data on conversion rates but we're hopeful.

We're still in the early stages of trying out advertising through are various social media channels but I'm hopeful that these new channels will add to our advertising revenue bottom line in a significant way.

Apple 12″ PowerBook G4 Meet Yellow Dog Linux

2009-08-09T20:12:13Z

I hate it when a perfectly good computer just sits around doing nothing. In this case it's my old Apple 12" PowerBook G4 with the following specs: Processor: 867MHz, Memory: 640MB SDRAM, HardDrive: 40GB Ultra ATA.

Why would I replace the beautiful Apple OS with Linux?

There are two reason. The first is that as soon as Apple decided to go Intel with their processor's they dropped support for the PowerPC version of the OS like a hot potato. I was none two pleased. The second reason is that I can do more with linux running on these hardware specs than I could running Apple's now unsupported OS.

Why Yellow Dog Linux?

It really wasn't a hard decision picking Yellow Dog. My research showed that this distro had the most up to date support for PowerPC processor based computers. Ubuntu also supports the PowerPC but not nearly as well as Yellow Dog.

Getting and Installing Yellow Dog

Installing Yellow Dog was actually quite easy thanks to clear instructions on its web site and an install process that is smooth. First you need to get the latest distribution for the PowerPC. For me that was downloading the YDL 6.2 single ISO from one of it's mirrors.The download is a 3.8GB file which took me about 40 minutes. I have a pretty fast connection. Once you've got the ISO you need to burn to a DVD. I did this on my Mac desktop. You can follow these basic instructions.

Once you've got the ISO burned to a DVD you can download the YDL v6.2 for Apple instructions for a quick and easy install. I went with a single boot with a total wipe of my previous Apple OS.

What Yellow Dog Looks Like When Installed

From left to right you see: The main screen running the Yellow Dog E17 desktop, Terminal and OpenOffice apps open and lastly FireFox with a screenshot of the new SpaceRef web site under development.

What's Next?

Well the laptop will be used to test various code I write and may be used on any expeditions I go on.

I also have an Apple Power Mac G5 which I'm looking to turn into a test server platform so I'll probably put Yellow Dog on it after I've backed up the data. But that project is for another weekend.

New Media Hearings - CRTC Should Once Again Do Nothing

2009-02-18T06:59:02Z

Ten years ago I testified at the Canadian Radio-television Telecommunications Commission's (CRTC) New Media hearings in Ottawa and argued that they should not regulate Canadian Internet content. I stand by that decision and they did not regulate Canadian Internet content at that time.

Today the CRTC held its first hearing in 10 years to consider a new proposal that would see a $100-million fund created to support Canadian content on the Internet. That fund would be created by a levy on the Internet Service Providers who of course would then pass it on to the consumer. What really irks me about this discussion other than an increase in my monthly internet service provider bill, is that the content this fund would create is Canadian online video programming from Canadian television production companies. Don't we already subsidize Canadian television production companies? Why can't they just take their existing content and broadcast it on YouTube? Hey, they already do! And if more people are watching video online then in front of their TV's then why not shift some of their exsiting budget towards more online video? Creating a fund that will pay for doing something the television production industry should already be doing is ridiculous.

If the CRTC insists on meddling with New Media then why not create an online technology development fund that companies can draw on to create more high tech products made in Canada and marketed globally. This would create new jobs in the high tech industry helping position Canada as a leader in whatever sectors these companies enter. The fund should not be passed on to the consumer through Internet Service Providers though. It should come in the form of a new tax credit or other mechanism.

If the CRTC deems to impose this levy (read tax) then I will support the companies that fight this though legal channels.

- Follow the CRTC New Media Hearings Day 2 on the live Globe and Mail blog.

Analysis - Twitter's Business Model & Sector Sentiment

2009-02-02T17:00:14Z

I joined Twitter on May 8, 2007 on the advice of my business partner at @SpaceRef @KeithCowing. Not too long after that we participated in a NASA conference at NASA Ames on Participatory Exploration where @Biz (Stone) explained to the audience what Twitter was and it's participatory nature. Thinking on it now it's kind of ironic that Biz was giving us the talk as we were using Jaiku, a competitor then, for the conference. Jaiku is now pretty much history after Google bought it and recently decided to stop working on it and make it open source.

After listening to Biz that day I still wasn't convinced that Twitter was useful and would survive. In fact I sent an email to my contacts on LinkedIn asking what they thought of Twitter. I got back a variety of answers including; What's Twitter? To how essential some people thought Twitter would become to their business. So I decided to keep using Twitter and subsequently created over 30 new Twitter accounts for various entities I was involved in including @GeneRef, @OnOrbit, @SpaceMeme, @HMP, @Hyperix etc. I'm glad I created all those accounts because now I'm starting to get some real tangible benefit from being on Twitter and being a part of the conversation. If you don't know what Twitter is and need a quick simple primer than this recent article in the Vancouver Sun is excellent.

But what's in it for Twitter? What's the business model? (2) I don't think Twitter's not going to make money through advertising. The community could revolt and move to another platform. And if they wanted to place advertising on the service they would have, should have done so already. Twitter's not going to make money charging a fee to access the service. That would just make their audience flee and kill the exponential growth they are now experiencing. So how is Twitter going to make money? In my humble opinion the basis of how they are going to make money all started when they made their application programming interface (API) available.

]]> On Friday, September 22, 2006 Twitter announced to the world they had an API and would you be so kind to use it and the developers came flocking. In fact I've lost track of how many applications have been developed using the Twitter API but the Twitter Fan Wiki lists many of them. But the point is the developers came, and in developing a variety of applications they helped define what Twitter is and how it can be used. And they defined Twitter better than Twitter itself was able to through the applications they created. And in so doing I think they provided insight to Twitter as to what could be their business model. And it's all about the data. The data from people's Tweets, location, clickthroughs etc. Twitter is a gold mine of data and as the service grows the available data to mine is getting better.

As a simple business example I use TweetDeck as my desktop client to post to Twitter and more importantly to follow areas of the conversation that are relevant to my businesses. I do this in two ways. I follow a lot of people, 580, at last count, but I can't follow a continuous single stream of the conversation that these people engage in. So I use TweetDeck's ability to create groups to aggregate people I follow based on the business sector they're in. This takes care of the people I follow, but what about the rest of the conversation on Twitter. The millions of people I don't follow and may not be aware of? I use TweetDeck's search function to create a stream of conversation by topic. For instance I'm interested in search engines like Google, Yahoo, Ask and all the others so I've created a search group for the keyword phrase "Search Engines". I've also done this for the BioTech sector. I think by now you should get the idea of the value of both the Twitter service and TweetDeck, the client built on Twitter's API, bring to my business. But what about Twitter's business model?

As I've said it's all about the data and I've shown an example of how Twitter data can be mined to follow the conversation for business purposes. But now let's look at the big picture. Twitter like many other online businesses such as Google is collecting a vast amount of data. And not only from the main service as not too long ago they bought a service called Summize which offered a Twitter search engine.

The data Twitter is collecting is very valuable. Analyzed and aggregated in a myriad of sectors it is useful to many businesses. That data can be sold or used to create follow on products. And therein lies the business model in my view for Twitter. In creating a service that forces users to be brief in expressing themselves they've created millions of conversation on the fly that are both timely and measure user sentiment. By data mining the conversation and sentiment they've created their business model.

Author's Note: My latest startup is called Hyperix and has been building a vertical search platform for the last two years to create vertical search engines in a variety of niches. We've also started a business intelligence unit that will provide products based on the data we are currently collecting and analyzing. Our web crawler HyperixScoop has been crawling Twitter creating a database of users for future use. You can follow me on Twitter @marckboucher and contact me in a variety of ways.

What Alternative Space News Sources Including Blogs, Social Networking Sites do you Use?

2009-01-02T00:42:36Z

There are many good space news sources available, they include SpaceRef, Space.com, NASA Watch, The Space Review, Spaceflight Now etc. I'm compiling a list of all space news sources and assigning them an authority ranking based on several criteria including traffic, update frequency, citations etc. and your input on the following question would be very valuable.

My question for the community is what alternative or non-mainstream sources do you find useful? Post a comment or email me (marc.boucher < AT > hyperix.com) with your top sources and alternatives.

My Reaction to the Liberal NDP Coalition and Prime Minister Harper’s Conservative Government

2008-12-04T06:47:27Z

I am not thrilled with the idea of a Liberal NDP coalition however since it is allowed within the Canadian constitution and is democratic I think the coalition should be given the opportunity to govern. While the Conservatives did win a minority mandate to govern during the recent election it was with only 37% of the popular vote, hardly a resounding mandate. In fact the Liberal NDP coalition had 44% of the popular vote. It is true though that the Liberals were pounded on election night and that Stephane Dion does not have the confidence of the people to lead.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper has miscalculated in a big way. His partisan politics with the economic update of last week was ridiculous. He made the mess he's in and it appears he will say and do anything to stay in power. There have been suggestions he should resign and that's not a bad idea. I don't think a majority of the public has confidence in him anymore. If he does ask the Governor General to prorogue parliament and succeeds in doing so I think he will be furthering his problems and in the next election he will pay for his miscalculation, especially if the Liberals have a stronger leader.

Now while I'm not a Stephane Dion fan either perhaps he will step up and lead well during his opportunity should he get it. However he would only be Prime Minister until the Liberals select a new leader in May. Hopefully that will be Michael Ignatieff. And should Ignatieff become Prime Minister I hope he will wait long enough before calling an election so that people can see what kind of leader he could be.

Politics in Canada has never been as heated as it is now, at least in my recent memory. And I, like most Canadians, am looking for stability and strong leadership in these challenging economic times and I don't see our Government stepping up to meet these challenges at this time.

Recharging My Apple Power Mac G5 with Linux

2008-12-02T03:24:36Z

For some time now I've been wondering what to do with my Apple Power Mac G5. At the moment it's basically an iTunes server for my music and video. However that seems like a waste of a good powerful computer. So I'll be upgrading the computer and installing Linux, replacing Mac OS X, but I have to say I'm very disappointed in Apple. Here's why.

]]> When Apple decided to switch to Intel processors in the June of 2005 I was happy with the move. However I never expected Apple would within two years release an upgrade to OS X, being Leopard, that would not be supported by my PowerPC G5. So here I have a computer that is just over 4 years old and I'm told that future versions of the operating system that Apple produces won't be supported on my computer. Wow, talk about sticking it to the consumer. And it's not like I bought a low end computer. Apple computers have always been more expensive than their PC counterparts. And this was just the beginning in a series of moves by Apple that disappoints me. In their aggressive efforts to get the iPhone they sacrificed quality in my opinion. I have two iPhones, the original and a 3G version. Both run well most of the time but are susceptible to locking up and are hardly rugged. My previous Blackberry Pearl was rock solid and never crashed even when banged up a bit.

With Linux getting better with every year and running on more hardware at a lower cost than Apple computers it makes me wonder if I'll ever by another Apple. I've already made the switch with respect to servers for my company, we build our own boxes now. I like Apple products, don't get me wrong, but with higher prices than other providers and an attitude that doesn't put the customer first, I have to question their long term future. Windows 7 is coming and Microsoft may have learned from it's mistakes, Ubuntu and other Linux distros are making great strides, especially everywhere outside of North America, so Apple better adjust to the market or its market share will shrink again.