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@ianb: Enjoying the @SarrahPalinU5A twitter stream. Hilariously parodical or chillingly accurate? 1 day ago

There’s no real innovation in telecom

October 25, 2007

Telecom has, generally speaking, become a zero-sum game. In fact it probably always was, despite numerous attempts by governments at deregulation. The fact of the matter is that even today, full-duplex voice conversations between two parties is almost entirely controlled by a cabal of international telecom companies, both wireless and wireline, who manipulate and milk [...]

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Lypp @ Launch

September 27, 2007

Tonight at Vancouver’s Launch Party event, Lypp‘s Erik Lagerway will be talking about their new service and API.  Earlier today I talked about MaxRoam and its game-changing technique to defeat mobile roaming and long-distance costs.  Both companies are founded by friends of mine, which represents an interesting conflict of interest for yours truly. 

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New Mix: Paper Thin Suntan

June 19, 2003

Sorry… I don’t think this went out the other day…. In honour of the beautiful summer we’re having DJ Heavy Smurf has created a new mix for listening to while at your local beach, tanning salon, lawn, or (if you’re Martha Stewart) in your jail cell.. Paper Thin Suntan packs 18 tracks on one mix, [...]

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Flying The Unfriendly Skies…

March 25, 2003

http://www.economist.com/agenda/displayStory.cfm?story_id48210 Flying the unfriendly skies Mar 22nd 2003 From The Economist Global Agenda America’s big airlines say the war in Iraq could make their current dire predicament turn catastrophic. But this may not be enough to win them further state aid COULD President George Bush be forced to order the nationalisation of America’s airline network [...]

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What’s On Your Mind?

November 28, 2002

I’ll tell you what >I< want for Christmas… I want a small arty-looking objet of some sort that displays up-to-the-minute Google search terms from the Live Query feed to use as a paperweight, on my wall, etc. Bonus if it has 802.11 built-in. That’d be cool geek art. -Ian. —– http://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/28/technology/circuits/28goog.html November 28, 2002 Postcards [...]

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Can the US Have It Both Ways?

November 9, 2002

http://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/09/business/worldbusiness/09TRAD.html November 9, 2002 Global Trade Looking Glass: Can U.S. Have It Both Ways? By DANIEL ALTMAN Policies adopted by the Bush administration to advance specific domestic and international goals are undermining the White House’s own efforts to open markets through trade’s global rule-making body, some foreign officials say. In particular, new farm subsidies and [...]

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Tired of Getting AOL CDs? Send Them Back!

October 21, 2002

Hee hee. -Ian. —— http://www.cnn.com/2002/TECH/internet/10/17/aol.discs/index.html Campaign: Send AOL CDs back From Rusty Dornin CNN EL CERRITO, California (CNN) –Don’t know what to do with all those unwanted America Online compact discs that scream “Sign on today”? Jim McKenna and John Lieberman say they have the answer: Send them back. In an effort to get AOL, [...]

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What’s The Beef?

July 23, 2002

I read this article in Harper’s Magazine in February and I was shocked. I’ve been talking about it ever since. I just found it, thanks to Google. Very much easier to read in this format than on the web page, though. -Ian. —– http://teachanimalobjectivity.homestead.com/files/return6.htm (From: “Sane Cows, or BSE Isn’t the Worst of It,” by [...]

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European Satellite Dish Owners: Free Spying!

June 14, 2002

http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,736462,00.html Now showing on satellite TV: secret American spy photos Security lapse allows viewers to see sensitive operations Duncan Campbell Thursday June 13, 2002 The Guardian European satellite TV viewers can watch live broadcasts of peacekeeping and anti-terrorist operations being conducted by US spyplanes over the Balkans. Normally secret video links from the American spies-in-the-sky [...]

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FW: Buy beer AND beer stocks

May 2, 2002

—— Forwarded Message From: Shiuman Ho Date: Thu, 02 May 2002 15:50:48 -0700 To: hello [at] ianbell [dot] com Subject: Buy beer AND beer stocks http://ca.news.yahoo.com/020502/5/m62f.html It would appear that if I had bought Molson (the beer and the stock) in the past two years, I would now be richer and happier. Molson’s stock tripled [...]

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