How Will Geeks Vote This Election

The fall of the Government and the call of the election on May 2 has made Canadians grumble about having to go through another campaign and voting for the fourth time since 2004.  For the few, the proud, the geeky dissolving parliament for an election comes just in time to kill yet another copyright bill that was nothing but a DMCA clone just weeks before it was due to become law.  

In previous elections, I personally voted Conservative partly because they were the only party that stood opposed to the blank media levy administered by the Canadian Private Copying Collective (CPCC) which is nothing but corporate welfare for the recording industry.  Making people pay the levies on blank media is making people pay a fine even if they do not do the crime.

Under the Liberals the television broadcasting industry was allowed to take a we'll get to it when we feel like it attitude towards the transition to digital broadcasting.  It was chairman of the CRTC that was appointed by prime minister Stephen Harper that took a hard line position and told the TV industry August, 31 is the day that TV stations will go digital or go off the air. 

Unlike the blank media levy where the federal parties took sides both for and against, many tech related issues that matter to geeks have gone ignored by the federal parties.  Has any of the political parties come out and said, "Yes, we support net neutrality!", sadly not that I've heard.  Has any of the federal parties stated any opposition to usage based billing for broadband service? Again not to be found. 

Technology has become a big part of the lives of Canadians issues relating to technology require strong leadership to help Canadians who use and enjoy technology come to decision they can be comfortable about when they vote on May 2.

2011 Will Be The Year of The Handheld Gaming Wars (Again)

2011 is now just less than two weeks away, and it’s already looking like new handheld systems are going to be the biggest sellers to come from the video game industry in the year ahead.  There is already a new DS with 3D graphics coming from Nintendo.  The retail release of the 3DS is scheduled January for Japan and March for North America. 

Sony, still bruised from the thud made by the PSP Go when it hit the market at the end of 2009, will be looking for redemption from two new handheld systems.  The first isn't exactly a Playstation Portable, It's a smartphone that runs Google's Android operating system with a PSP shoehorned into it.  The controller slides out from the screen similar to the PSP Go.  Like the PSP the games will delivered exclusively as digital downloads.  What is not known is that the games downloaded for the PSP and PSP go will be the same game files that play on the PSP phone, or will the games for the PSP Phone be special versions for the PSP Phone.

Looking to launch their own next generation of handheld gaming the next system Sony is expected to launch the next system that is already dubbed PSP 2. Like the PSP Go and the expected PSP Phone the PSP 2 will only hold games downloaded from Playstation Network.  Some circulating rumours state that the PSP 2 will have a touch screen, and virtual analog control, an where moving a thumb on the surface of the PSP 2 will have the same effect as moving an analog stick on a game console controller.

Sony has not yet announced if downloadable games that play on PSP and PSP Go will work on the PSP 2.  It is highly likely that the PSP 2 will not have a UMD drive, which means games on disc will be stuck on the original Playstation Portable.  Whatever the form the PSP 2 and PSP Phone take, Sony will need find their target audience in order to be successful with the new PSP systems. The youth market continued to be dominated by Nintendo and Panasonic targeting the hardcore gamers with their Jungle handheld system that could launch by the end of 2011, there could be little room for Sony if they don't stake their claim with gamers now.  Nintendo, Sony, and Panasonic all have to compete against Apple's iOS based devices which Apple argues is the world's most popular handheld gaming platform.

CRTC Gets One Right, For Once

Konrad von Finckenstein, chairman of the The Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission stated to a television industry conference that their industry isn't taking the transition to digital seriously. Television stations in Canada have to be transmitting in digital and shutting down analog transmitters by 2011 two years behind deadline their American counterparts have to meet.

Out of the hundreds of television stations operating in Canada only a couple of dozen have began transmitting digitally. While about ten percent of households receive their television exclusively with an antenna, Cable and Satellite providers still obtain signals from broadcast stations mainly over the air. The foot dragging by television stations means most people will see and hear inferior picture and sound quality compared to other channels.

While Television broadcasters are afraid of investing in digital over the air broadcasting, the competition from Digitally broadcast TV stations from south of the boarder received over the air or delivered through digital cable or satellite is something that Canadian stations will not be able to survive as long as they continue to hold on to analog broadcasting.

The lesson for Canada's broadcast industry is go digital or go out of business, It looks like we can already see which path they are choosing.