Far far too long....

It's been far too long since I have updated this blog...they always start with the best intentions but alas...sometimes real life can get in the way.

Still not a valid reason...an excuse...but I will try to keep them updated more often as I am sure people are interested in things other than blu-ray vs hd-dvd.

My current status is "contract seeking". I have just finished a fantastic 2-3 month trip throughout Europe and some Canadian cities after my two year contract ended with Suncor Energy.



*Above picture taken in Bruge...and I would have to agree with Colin Farrel's character from "In Bruges"....

"If I'd grown up on a farm and was retarded, Bruges might impress me. But I didn't, so it doesn't."

No offense to anyone Belgian...my entire family and myself included.

My fiancee and I have both also discussed relocating and are seeking employment elsewhere in the country, likely end up being in Toronto or Vancouver.

For those of you who might be reading this from Suncor, including folks from IBM, AT&T, and TTM I want to really say that I truly enjoyed my time working alongside all of you. Traveling up to the Oil Sands was a once in a lifetime experience for me. I also had the opportunity to work alongside some of the best people I have ever had a chance to. Tony, Jeff and Glenn all really stand out and I wish you all the best of luck in your future endeavors.

I pledge, once again, to keep this blog updated more regularly.

Thanks everyone.

Blue Ray.....wins?

In the late 1970s and early 80s, during the dawn of the home video era, there were just two combatants in the ring vying for your dollar - JVC's VHS and Sony's Betamax. Many thought that Betamax had the better picture.

But when VHS came out with tapes that recorded more hours of TV on a VCR, that format was declared the victor, and Sony suffered a knock-out blow, licking its wounds for years.

Fast forward on those machines to 2008 and the new war between HD DVD and Blu-ray, a combat between the next generation of DVD standards. The fighters were oddly familiar - Toshiba made the former while Sony made the latter. But this time the Betamax creator got its revenge.

Toshiba confirmed it's abandoning its HD DVD format, leaving the market to just one standard. The Blu-ray now becomes the de facto choice in players, opening the way for booming sales and lower prices, after many consumers waited impatiently on the sidelines to see which one would survive the ultimate business bout.

"We concluded that a swift decision would be best," explains Toshiba President Atsutoshi Nishida. Last month's decision by movie giant Warner Bros. Entertainment to release its pictures solely in the Blu-ray format was the death knell for HD DVD.

It was a fight Toshiba simply couldn't afford to wage with the writing on the video wall. "That had tremendous impact," Nishida agrees. "If we had continued, that would have created problems for consumers, and we simply had no chance to win."

And it appears Sony learned its lesson the hard way about what consumers really want. The discontinued product boasted a cheaper price tag but the Blu-ray held more capacity and longer recording times. And once again, that was one of the determining factors.

It's a relief for consumers like Moira Hudgin, a retiree who had been debating between the two formats. "It's going to make the decision much easier in terms of what kind of system I'm going to buy."

Retailers are hoping customers like Hudgin will drive big sales. Future Shop is scrambling to get out of the HD-DVD market. They're liquidating inventory - which means great deals for consumers who just want to play their old DVDs on a name-brand player. Eric Stockner, Director of Home Theatre Merchandising, Future Shop said that Future Shop will "focus on Blu-ray technology exclusively."

It's the same at Bay Bloor Radio. Richard Bowden promises that "all of the machines that we're selling are backward compatible so they'll play all your DVDs and all your new blu-rays."

Both machines were made for use on high definition TVs and neither could be played on standard DVD players - although they'd both play back discs recorded in the old format.

Sony gradually won the battle for the hearts and living rooms of consumers when retail giant Wal-Mart confirmed it would only sell Blu-ray. When more movie companies jumped on board, the final scene was being shot in this high budget drama. And when Sony's best selling PlayStation came equipped with the new format, it further tipped the scale in its favour.

Microsoft, which hitched its Xbox-wagon to the Toshiba star, doesn't think it will make much of an impact. The DVD-add on units had to be purchased separately and only about 300,000 of them were ever sold.

The unsolved issue now is what happens to films from Universal Studios, Paramount Pictures and DreamWorks Animation, which had agreed to distribute hit movies only on HD DVD discs.

Sony Pictures, Walt Disney Co. and Twentieth Century Fox all release their product only in the Blu-Ray format.

The final HD DVD machines will hit stores in March, and for buyers who went early, may soon join the Betamax gathering dust in cellars around the world.

quote from citynews

Many of us "early adopters" have been waiting for sometime to find out who would win in the next generation of High Defintion movies and Toshiba's announcement today has sealed the deal.

For over a year now both sides of the camp have been vehemently defending their choose company, Sony or Toshiba. However while both of these behemoths have been slugging it out for market share there has been a third technology quietly working in the background.

High Definition Digital Downloads.

When moving from VHS to DVD there were many tangible benefits that everyone could appreciate. Better quality, no rewinding, menu's and extra's.

But those options are less noticeable with Blue Ray...do consumers want or need a better quality image? Some would argue vehemently that it would be a base requirement to add to their home theatres. Others would ask "Does it improve the story?"

I myself fall into the latter, only last week did I end up buying a gorgeous 42inch LCD, I'd went almost a decade before that without even owning a TV. (amazing I know for someone who works in Technology)

Digital downloads have some very unique features, it's also interesting to note that the same feature can be considered both negatives and positives, I was very amused when a person I know sent me a list of the negative points and realized they were almost all my positives!

(Keeping in mind that there are many companies working on similar offerings)

Not permanent

In most scenario's you would download your movie and then have a limited amount of time or occurrences to watch it. Generally this would equate to a lower cost...unless you watched the movie several times.

I myself am not a big movie buff and have very few movies I could tolerate watching more than once a year. Conversely my friend is a giant movie buff and often rewatches movies.

Paying $5 to rent a movie is fine with me, to him it's a rip off when he can pay $20 and have it forever.

Time

He listed one of his favourite things to do as driving down to the movie store and browsing through their selection for a movie. The thought of navigating through a menu and then watching a percentage bar infuriated him. I was the exact opposite, if I can save my time and gas and work (netflix, etc) and end up with the same product I am happy.

Displays

This particular aspect surprised me very much. He indicated that he took great pride in having his dvd collection displayed and enjoyed buying collector editions in large or abstract boxes. Personally, if I can buy a terabyte harddrive and store my collection on there I'd be quite content.


Each person will need to decide for themselves what works best, some will never give up their physical mediums, I understand this as it is appealing to have something you can see, touch and smell (if you were so inclined).

Blue Ray has two very big hurdles to still overcome, the first is it has to convince the populace it's worth the extra cost over DVDs...and then they need to consider how the online store and Digital downloads are going to radically change how people view media today.

Work from home and stay in the running for promotions!

There are many reasons that employee's hesitate to work from home. This is often a surprise to companies that initiate a remote workforce project and realize they don't have people lining up down the street to join it.

Now, some of these reasons are completely unfounded, some can be resolved and some can not. Working from home isn't for everyone. I want to concetrate on one perception in particular;

"I won't get promoted if I work from home"

This is a very real concern for many people who are looking at making the jump to working from home in any capacity...even a person who works from home once or twice a week has to consider this.

Now...I don't think there is any reason that anyone should be hindered as far as promotions go just because they work remotely. However...more often than not this can be a legitimate concern.


I've never been a smoker but I vividly recall a situation when I was working a large Call Centre and a decision was made out in the smokers court to send my counterpart to the Philipines for two months rather than myself.

When I saw my boss and my co-worker come back into the office and make the announcement I felt that I had been slighted. I felt that this additional contact between them due to "smoking" enabled him to get this benefit. For a very brief moment I considered starting smoking to help with my career.


I understand that there could have been a variety of reasons to select my co-worker over myself for this but there was a perception, either

warranted or not, that my not being a smoker put me at a disadvantage.

Working from home puts people into a similar mindset and management has to understand this.

Managers need to:

Not take it personally

I've had managers confide in me that they were shocked when a subordinate wanted to work from home. Their first reaction was "what did I do wrong?" or "why

don't they want to be a member of my team?"

People want to work from home for a variety of reasons, very few (none that I am aware of) have cited conflict with management/peer's as one of the reasons.

Not exclude their remote workers

If anything you need to include your remote workers in everyday activities more than your other one's. Especially in the first few months of working from

home people tend to feel really isolated. Make sure your workers know that you are still there for them and they are still part of the office!

Much like how you may stop by the watercooler and chat about someone's weekend make an effort to call them when there isn't an issue and say hello. If you

can't call send e-mails or use instant chat programs.

Discuss career pathing with them often

Make sure they know you are aware of their goals and that you are working together to achieve those goals. Show that other are being promoted. Don't

automatically assume a person wouldn't be willing to come back into the office if it was required for the position.

There is no reason that working from home should hinder someone's change for advancement but there needs to be effort put in by both parties to ensure it!

Helpful Links

I have a lot of useful links and information on my Links page I hope to grow it into a much larger resource centre.

One site in particular I want to draw your attention to is www.callcentrevoice.com. It's one of the most active Call Centre forums on the Internet with a wide range of discussions ranging from very technical to process and business orientated.

It's core user-base is located in Britain which can give you an interesting international perspective. It does have representation from around the world though with users from the Phillipines, throughout Europe and North America.

It's a complete free site to join, if you end up over there make a post introducing yourself and say Hello! I am one of the moderators over there and promise we won't bite!

Environemental Impacts

People are significantly more concerned these days about their own environmental impact. This may include reduced consumption, recycling, driving a hybrid car and being much more aware of your employers impact on the environment.

Whether it's one of your primary reasons or a unexpected side effect there is a tangible environmental benefit to having a remote workforce.

Having a remote workforce can save resources in many different ways :

Reduced Utility Costs at buildings
Reduced support staff costs, security, facilities, etc
Reduced Construction Costs for new buildings, or renovations
Reduced exhaust from vehicular travel


I've had the opportunity to see some reports generated by a great company called teletrips that specializes in really quantifying how much environmental benefit your company can get from a remote workforce. Check out their site!