Microsoft’s new Live Search Books goes live tomorrow 7 December. The University of Toronto library is one of three libraries includes in the initial project.

All the books currently included in the project will be non-copyrighted but later it will also add copyrighted work that publishers have given permission to include in the project.

“We feel very strongly about copyright. We don’t do any mass scanning of in-copyright works,” said Danielle Tiedt, the general manager of Live Search Selection for Microsoft.

Initially the database of available books will be searchable from the book search engine’s home page or as a category on the main Windows Live Search page.

full story here

The UK and Ireland have the highest per capita WiFi on the planet:

The report found that 25 percent of the world’s hotspots are in the US. The US also has the highest absolute number of hotspots in the world (about 26,000), but in relative terms, the UK and Ireland both came out on top with approximately 18 hotspots per 100 people, compared to the 8.8 hotspots per 100 people in the US. China and Italy had at the lowest number of hotspots, at 0.2 and 3 per 100 people, respectively.

full story here

And you thought your job was tough…

Santas get sneezed upon up to ten times a day, fend off children pulling their beards and mop up after children who frequently wet their laps, according to the survey of hundreds of men who work as seasonal Santa Claus characters.

Full story here.

I’m not obsessed with work-life balance, really I’m not.

It’s just that after being on a panel to discuss it, I keep reading stories about it, and I just have to share.

A few days ago I blogged about extreme jobs. Now from Australia, this story about shrinking-holiday syndrome.

Via the Sydney Morning Herald

The data identified several workplace conditions that were leading to shrinking-holiday syndrome, including the encroachment of work into personal life, the stress of not being able to take care of work issues remotely and the physical act of travelling into the office during days off and holidays.

It also found that many organisations were not giving their employees the tools required to work remotely, yet workers were expected to be on-call and available to travel into the office, which was leading to high levels of frustration.

The legendary French Foreign Legion wouldn’t be top of my list of savvy online organizations, but there, my friend, is my big mistake…

via the International Herald Tribune

Online outreach has proved so effective that the legion is considering closing recruiting offices in smaller French cities, allowing it to experiment with new approaches – like its recruiting truck that trolls the touristy beaches of France, emblazoned with the Web address.

“We constantly evolve,” said Colonel Vincent Le Cour Grandmaison, chief of staff of the legion’s general headquarters. “The Internet has really opened the way for us to reach the globe.”

AmieStreet is a fantastic music site – the idea is that every song starts off being free, but the more popular, the higher the price, until a song reaches a maximum price of 98 cents.

It’s a great idea, the music has no DRM, it’s just a great way for a band to share their stuff, and if people start digging it, they might make some money.

Seems better than a record deal in the long run…

AmieStreet

Looks like Yahoo and Reuters are getting into the ‘citizen journalism’ game – though we’ll have to wait and see what this actually turns into.

via The Register

Yahoo! and Reuters are creating a website to collect video and photos taken by readers.
The site is called You Witness and will be available from tomorrow here.

Initially, the service will provide stills and video media for the Yahoo! website, but from early next year the content will be offered to other Reuters customers. Yahoo! is still deciding how punters will be paid if their photos are sold on. Most existing services split the proceeds 50:50.

If you’ve been thinking “wouldn’t it be great to have something like YouTube but with high quality video” then think no more.

Zudeo by Azureus promises just that.

I like clouds as a visual tool. Quintura clouds help you search – roll over a cloud element to see sub clouds. Quintura.com

Where is Internet advertising going ? Look to the UK:

Online advertising is racing ahead in Britain, growing at a roughly 40 percent annual rate, and it is expected to account for as much as 14 percent of overall advertising spending this year, according to media buying agencies.

That is the highest level in the world, and more than double the U.S. percentage.

Full story here.

Our recent panel discussion on Work-Life balance sparked a lot of interesting discussion. This story in the Christian Science Monitor looks at what they call Extreme Jobs…

Although workaholics have always existed, their image has been glamorized. Today’s overachievers are cast as “road warriors and masters of the universe,” says Sylvia Ann Hewlett, president of the Center for Work-Life Policy in New York. Yet despite their impressive financial rewards, those burning this midnight oil face challenges. Warning that their pace is not sustainable, Dr. Hewlett says, “There’s a lot of risk attached. The fallout in private lives is huge.” In addition, women are being left behind because many cannot put in 70-hour weeks.

From the New York Times via the International Herald Tribune:

I suspect that even some of our more enlightened smokers will be surprised to learn that cigarette smoke is radioactive, and that these odd fears spilling from a poisoned KGB man may be molehills compared to our really big cancer mountains.

The school board here on the North Shore wants to sell ‘surplus land’ in order to find money for capital projects.

One of the pieces of land is the Cleveland Forest, and area that for generations kids at Cleveland Elementary have used as a playground. It’s a magic place for them, and they’re incredulous that the board is even thinking of selling it.

Unfortunately, the board seems intent on moving forward with this, despite an overwhelming public response against the idea.

There’s a long way to go yet in the process, but parents are trying their best to keep drawing attention to the issue.

You can help by commenting on the story at NowPublic – and by visiting and commenting on the ClevelandForest blog.

A museum dedicated to Swedish pop group Abba is to open in Stockholm in 2008, organisers have said.

Outfits and instruments used by the band will be on display along with handwritten song lyrics.

“It is nice someone feels compelled to take on our musical history,” the group said in a statement.

full story here

Last week I was on a panel discussion on Work-Life Balance, hosted by New Media BC at the Vancouver Film School.

I managed to stick my Compact Flash recorder in the sound booth and captured the session for a podcast.

The discussion was sponsored by New Media BC in Vancouver and held at the Vancouver Film School.

Work/Life Balance: Empty Promise or Key to Happiness?

Moderators:
W. G. Arndt (“Wil”), creative director and founding principal of mod7.com
Gordon Ross, Vice President and partner, Open Road Communications Ltd

Panelists:

Mark Busse, Partner and Design Director, Industrial Brand Creative

Stephen Beck,Principal,  Engine Digital

Ron Bignell, Senior Art Director, Electronic Arts

Lisa Vogt, Managing Partner, McCarthy Tétrault LLP

Robert Ouimet, Partner, At Large Media

Jer Thorpe, Freelance Designer

Eric Karjaluoto, Principal, smashLAB

Podcast:

Runs 1:21:43     37 meg    download 

……….
PS: 
A while ago I posted a pie chart of my current work-life-balance.

It takes about 10 minutes to go through your closet and find all the old sweaters and warm clothes you no longer need.  How ’bout that sock drawer ?  The snow and cold may be pretty, but not if you’re living out there. 

Put the stuff in a bag, jump into the SUV and head over to UGM at 616 E. Cordova.  You’ll find a lot of very thankful people there. 

The Union Gospel Mission in Vancouver urgently needs warm winter coats, boots, and blankets.

Over the weekend, UGM gave away hundreds of blankets and coats, and people will continue to come to UGM for winter clothing while this cold weather lasts. UGM is in desperate need of warm winter coats, boots, and blankets to give out to those in need.

Please drop off your donations to:
616 East Cordova
Vancouver, BC
** Please mark your bags and boxes with “Warm clothing/ blankets”

English Bay – 27 November 2007. 

A photo you won’t see in the tourist shots of Vancouver anytime soon.

Picnic anyone ?  My North Vancouver backyard.

via Steve Rubel’s Micropersuasion:

Hear hear. The BBC is now going to pay for citizen journalist reports, the Editor’s Weblog reports. The BBC’s staff has been authorized to pay for cell phone footage and/or digital images. Before you send in that photo or the accident you saw on the highway, note that they caution they are going to be very selective.

I’ve been hearing a lot of the SellOffVacacations.com ads on News 1130. They’re done in the style of Ricky Gervais’ podcasts – a rip on the riffs between Ricky and Stephen Merchant.

They’re bad of course, but it struck me as a sign of podcasting’s power that it has started influencing ad campaigns.