The Top 100 Gadgets of All Time

Pop Culture

TOP-100-GADGETS

Whether you read Gizmodo to gain insight into the latest “must have” gadgets, or you find yourself pining away at Best Buy for the latest tech toy, or you’re one of those “early adopters” who just has to have the latest innovation (think stereo VCRs way back in the early 80s, when they cost $2000, or CD players in the mid-80s, or the first Pentium-powered computer in 1995, or the mini USB flash drives only a year ago), Mobile Magazine’s The Top 100 Gadgets of All Time will be a must-read for you.
Here are the ground rules that were established before they got started …

  • It had to have electronic and / or moving parts of some kind. Scissors count, but the knife does not.
  • It had to be a self-contained apparatus that could be used on its own, not a subset of another device. The flashlight counts; the light bulb does not. The notebook counts, but the hard drive doesn’t.
  • It had to be smaller than the proverbial bread box. This is the most flexible of the categories, since gadgets have gotten inexorably smaller over time. But in general we included only items that were potentially mobile: The Dustbuster counts; the vacuum cleaner doesn’t.

So, what are / were your favourite gadgets of all time? The now ubiquitous cell phone? Or, how about going back a few years to the advent of pop music when the Sony TR-63 transistor radio came on the scene, a gadget that was instrumental in spreading the gospel of rock ’n roll to all teens?

CBC Locks Out 5500 Employees After Talks Fail

Media

CBC-LOCKOUT

The CBC locked out about 5,500 employees at 12:01 a.m. Monday after no substantial progress was made in last-minute bargaining between Canada’s largest broadcaster and its union, the Canadian Media Guild.
The workers have been without a contract for more than a year, with the CBC saying it needs more flexibility to hire new staff on a contract basis instead of full-time.
The CMG, which represents producers, newsroom staff and technicians, says 30 per cent of the CBC’s workforce is already non-permanent, giving the network all the flexibility it needs.
In an announcement late Sunday evening, the CBC said “the rhythm of negotiation this past week has given no indication of urgency on the part of the union” which it says has not presented a comprehensive offer.
Programming on all CBC services — radio, television and online — will continue, though it will be scaled back. Management says the CBC will continue to broadcast CFL football and NHL hockey games — but possibly without play-by-play commentary or colour analysis. Local radio morning shows will be replaced by a single national broadcast. TV newscasts will be cut back, with more acquired programming and movies aired.
As background, last month, guild members voted 87.3 per cent in favour of giving their negotiating team a strike mandate. The employees have been without a contract since the end of March 2004. Negotiations for a new contract began in May 2004. Employees in Québéc and Moncton, N.B., belong to different unions and are expected to continue working but not to cross over into Ontario to help out.
The broadcaster’s last major dispute was late in 2001, when technical staff were locked out across the country. In some cases, the sound and lighting was not up to usual standards, newscasts were truncated or eliminated, and repeats filled the airwaves.
Among those locked out is Peter Mansbridge, anchor of The National, the country’s flagship television newscast.

Sustainable Communities: A Bright Future And A Glowing Past

Environment, Vancouver

ONE-DAY-VANCOUVER

One Day is a City of Vancouver initiative dedicated to making incremental changes in energy consumption that can be sustained over time.
Whether it’s for personal fitness, to be part of the solution for future generations, or to help Vancouver become recognized as a world model for how an urban centre can manage energy consumption, the folks at onedayvancouver.ca are there to help you find ways to take that first step.
For instance, in your home you can …

  • Install compact fluorescent light bulbs
  • Install low-flow showerheads
  • Set back your thermostat at night
  • Look for the EnergyStar label when purchasing new appliances
  • Take advantage of BC Hydro Power Smart programmes and incentives
  • Turn the lights out when you leave the room

On the road, you can cut down on your energy consumption by …

  • Leaving your car at home, just one day a week
  • Walking or cycling to work or school
  • Taking transit
  • Joining a car co-op

Cities are for people (not cars). John Naisbitt (author of High Tech/High Touch: Technology and Our Search for Meaning) had it right: the more technology distances us (telecommuting, distance education, e-mail, videoconferencing), the more we crave human contact. Today, walkable communities, stroll districts, green transit, multi-modal transportation, urban density … all point in the direction of people-centered planning.
Cities are for all people. For cities of the future, tolerance is passé; inclusion is critical. Young people are moving to cities where people ‘mix’: in clubs, at church, and in neighbourhoods. In Paris, housing projects require a set-aside of several units only for artists. Other cities (such as Vancouver) require that 10 to 15 perecent of all new residential buildings are affordable housing. When integration occurs, it can be transformative and magical.
Healthy cities are important, too: cities that are committed to diesel-hydrogen transit buses, more bike racks on the front of buses, more walking and biking trails within cities (not just outside them) and greater commitment to green / open spaces contribute to sustainability.
Much of our future, and our children’s future, depends on making our cities ‘sustainable’. The time is here to enable even greater access to community services and recreation; to enhance our social prosperity; to minimize our need to travel across broad stretches of the Lower Mainland in our daily commute, and to build sustainable and affordable mass transit for all; to ensure safety within our communities; to provide a clear city centre focus in each of our communities; and to protect and preserve the key features of our city environment — our historic buildings, nature conservation, and the parks, beaches and woods of our city’s natural landscape.

Jack Gets Jacked: Vancouver Spring 2005 Radio Ratings

Radio

VANCOUVER-RADIO-RATINGS-SPRING-2005

The Spring 2005 radio ratings are finally in — courtesy of Ted Wendland’s terrific Vancouver-based, and radio-related website, PugetSoundRadio.com. This particular book covers May and June 2005, and it ain’t lookin’ good.
A brief analysis of the ratings would seem to find the much ballyhooed JACK-FM in freefall, down almost 40% from their halcyon days in the autumn of 2003. The good folks at CBC 690 show their best book ever (radio listeners must be getting serious), while Corus’ moribund MOJO Radio 730 should be put out of its (and our) misery, and declared officially dead (given their miserable 0.3 rating). I mean, who’s listening anyway?
When it comes to Contemporary Hit Radio, Z-95.3 drops more than a full point, with competitor The Beat picking up most of the slack. Otherwise it’s pretty much stand pat for most other stations in the Vancouver area.
CKNW seems to be holding on to its aged audience, but just wait for the summer (due in October) and fall radio ratings books, and you’ll probably see NW drop right down — with Phillip Till in the morning show, and Winnipeg-based Charles Adler pulling the Mighty 98 down from its previous lofty heights, to a bare 8+ rating, its deserved place in the ratings.
The Province newspaper’s Joe Leary offers his overall insight on the latest radio ratings here, and covers the battle of Vancouver’s sports stations here. Meanwhile, the folks at PugetSoundRadio.com offer erudition here.
These are sad days, indeed, for voice-tracked, corporate commercial radio.