Amber Mac

If you're sick of doing PPT presentations and want to mess with your boss, make your very own crappy graph in three seconds flat.

April 30th, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (1)

Wow.  Do I ever wish that I knew about this article last night.  You see, I was out to dinner with two girlfriends (Jenna and Erika) and they asked me what the little Twitter update on my blog is all about (see bottom left - What Am I Doing).  I tried to describe the power of Twitter, a site where anyone can post what he or she is doing right now in 140 characters or less (via the web, text msg, etc.), but the best example I had in my back pocket was describing how I once needed to find the founder of a web start-up for a client/friend I'm working with in SF and my kind followers sent me his email address in minutes.

But, now, this Cali student who got arrested while covering an anti-government protest in Egypt takes top prize for using Twitter to its full potential.  Pasted below is a long blurb from the CNN story, one of many examples of the power of Twitter.

Buck, a graduate student from the University of California-Berkeley, was in Mahalla, Egypt, covering an anti-government protest when he and his translator, Mohammed Maree, were arrested April 10.

On his way to the police station, Buck took out his cell phone and sent a message to his friends and contacts using the micro-blogging site Twitter.

The message only had one word. "Arrested."

Within seconds, colleagues in the United States and his blogger-friends in Egypt -- the same ones who had taught him the tool only a week earlier -- were alerted that he was being held....

As he left the station, Buck reached into his pocket, as he did less than 24 hours earlier.

Another one-word blog entry said it all: "Free."

As happy as he was to be free, Buck said, his biggest frustration was leaving behind the translator who helped protect him during the riots.

Although the Twitter message helped him find contacts to get out of prison, he says it was more the power of the network he had as an American that enabled him to be released so quickly.

April 27th, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (6)

I have a love affair with Sweden.  It started some time ago, and has grown somewhat out of control (I can now never go to Sweden, just in case it doesn't live up to my expectations). 

Many months ago I wrote a post about my favourite Swedish things, but now I have a new one to add to the list.  Her name is Robyn.  I discovered her in a recent issue of Wired Magazine (they call her the Anti-Britney Spears).  She works closely with The Knife, one of my fave (Swedish) bands.

After some easy digging online, I found out Robyn is on a North American tour.  Better yet, she is coming to Toronto May 5th (and, better, better yet, I am actually in the city that day - just have to find out if there are still tix!).  Here's a video for you to enjoy, with typical Swedish flair.  xo

April 24th, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (16)

It's Earth Day today.  Here's Grist, an informative and entertaining source for green news.  Enjoy!

April 22nd, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (3)

Cornelius (my Facebook friend) just sent me a link to this video - I think I like it, but am not too sure what they're saying (good things, I hope!).  Oh, and there is a Part 2!

April 20th, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (14)

I've been meaning to post this radio show/audio podcast all day, but am just getting to it now. 

This week's episode of Spark on CBC Radio is all about Internet access, with many mentions of net neutrality.  I did a short segment for the program about net neutrality and bandwidth throttling.  Nora, Dan, Elizabeth, and the rest of the team did a great job on this episode; it starts with a pizza order and ends with Mirko Bibic, Bell Canada's Chief of Regulatory Affairs (incidentally, I did a net neutrality story on Citytv last year - both Rogers and Bell refused to comment, so it's good to see one party actually participate in a conversation about the subject).

Subscribe to Spark on iTunes

Listen to Episode #33 online

(Am officially wrapping up all work for the night, so now it's time for The Wire - am only on Season 3, and at this rate it will be 2012 before I get through all 5!)

April 16th, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (8)

I'm not going to lie.  I love to travel, but i HATE flying (yeah, I know, I fly all the time and have flown to dozens of countries since I was a wee kid).  But, still, I really HATE flying.  Sweaty palms, shaky legs, you name it and I've got it.

When I worked at Razorfish in San Francisco in 2000, I refused to fly to a company retreat in Las Vegas; instead, I took a 6-hour train ride and a 6-hour bus ride to Sin City (while on Greyhound on the way back to SF, I was one of two people on the ride before we headed up to a prison to collect half-a-dozen newly released inmates - but still, to me, sittin' on a bus with criminals in the desert was much better than boarding a plane).  

For most of the late nineties, I avoided all opportunities that involved air travel.  But in 2004, when I moved back to Canada from the U.S., I started to get sick of being so afraid so my doctor suggested that I take Ativan when I'm high up in the air.  Yes, high up in the air (turns out Ativan is an amnesiac, so you can't even remember that you were afraid - weird, huh?). 

Over the past few years, I've had to fly more and more, and am (finally) getting pretty solid at talking my way through each and every minute while in-flight (oh, and talking to pretty much anyone who sits near me or who works on the plane).   Here's an email I received yesterday from someone I met two(?) years ago en route to Los Angeles (in other words, you might want to hope that you don't ever have a plane seat near me):

"I met you on a plane from Toronto to SF and it was the weirdest flight I ever had... We passed cryptic notes to the crew and scared everyone else... do you remember this?" -Eric

Most recently, I flew from Orlando, Florida to Brisbane, Australia, which is why I've got flight on my mind.  For 13 hours over the Pacific Ocean, on Qantas Airlines, I kept remembering what "Rain Man" said in the movie, so tonight I looked up the video and had a little chuckle.  Here it is for your enjoyment.  And, I'm not going to lie, this silly scene made me feel less sweaty and shaky the whole flight to Oz!  Please tell me i'm not the only one with stories like this ;).  -A

April 14th, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (32)

April 9th, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (13)

Took a working holiday this past week in Florida, but couldn't ignore the many emails about the net neutrality debate in Canada. In response, shot a two-minute video news update to shed some light on the situation (thx to CD for shooting and editing this!).  The little kid in the video is hard to hear, but I can assure you that he is one bitter ISP customer!

Feel free to post this video anywhere you want online (there is an embed feature on the video player). I'm off to Australia today for the next week on a work trip, but I'll try to blog from Down Under.

April 5th, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (32)

Just in case you've never heard of Spark, it's a weekly 30-minute CBC radio show (and podcast, of course) about technology and culture.  Starting this week, I'm doing a regular (when I'm in Canada) 2-minute audio column for them where I answer your tech questions.  This week I talked about why Canadians can't see most American TV shows online (big thx to Michael Geist for his help on this).  The Spark team has asked that folks post questions on their blog (e.g. What is DVD-RAM and why do technohippies like it? -Andy).

Next show I plan to answer this question, What is net neutrality and how do I get me some?  OK, I might improve the wording a little ;).  Hope you enjoy this week's show (which includes my favourite Mann)!

April 3rd, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (5)