On April 1, companies unveil innovative and unconventional new products
and proposals.
April 1 has long been a day for
high-profile announcements from major companies, thanks, of course, to its
crucial place in the fiscal year. This year is no different.
Toronto’s
cash-strapped transit system has a bold new proposal to fund future development: convert the TTC’s lesser-used subway stations into condominiums.
The proposal would transform the
platforms of Chester, Bessarion and Summerhill stations into livable
residential units for urban dwellers who don’t mind a subway train running
through their bedroom.
Pause for a milliminute and think:
why do we still use confusing 60-minute hours and 24-hour days?
WestJet
Airlines is tossing out this outdated system and modernizing its flight
schedule by adopting metric time, which should streamline and
simplify the departure process.
Google has a
long history of making important productannouncements on April 1.
Now, Gmail Shelfie, a
feature for the popular email service, lets users share photos of themselves to
set as the background image of their inbox.
Google Maps
has introduced Pokémon Challenge, an interactive globe-trotting
smartphone game that turns ordinary maps users into aspiring Pokémon Masters.
And after
years of inventing Internet memes, YouTube vows to give the rest of us a shot at creating the next global trend. “Clocking,” in which you stand for as long as possible
using your arms to mimic the current time on a clock, shows promise as the
successor to “planking.”
Not to be
outdone on the first of April, Twitter gave an early glimpse of the Twitter Helmet, an
interactive wearable helmet that allows users to tweet with a “pecking” head
motion.
And in the
world of old media, Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi is the proud new owner of the Calgary Sun. It only
cost him a few bucks and the promise of building a bike lane to the Sun’s
Calgary office.
YouTube Announces
Upcoming Viral Video Trends #newtrends
TTC floats new funding idea - April 1, 2014
WestJet converts to metric time
Google, A new way to
communicate
Google Maps: Pokémon
Challenge
Tuesday, April 1, 2014 | By Dr. Helmut Grebe (@twitter),
Director of Wearable Technology Research [02:10 UTC]
Today we’re pleased to pre-announce the Twitter Helmet™, a sophisticated, fully immersive, staggeringly high-resolution wearable device that allows our users to interact with the world around them entirely via a custom aviary interface.
The helmet is created
with an impact-resistant, oleophobic-treated glass. The wearer can tweet
through a simple “pecking” head motion.
The product will be
available for purchase mid-September 2014 for $139.99 retail. In addition to
the helmet, users can also purchase Twitter Helmet HD™ accessories including a
hand-tooled leather case inspired by falconry hoods, feather-shaped Wi-Fi and
cellular signal boosters, and a carbon fiber chinstrap with optional
wattle-form factor microphone.
The Twitter Helmet™
and accessories will be available across the world this fall.
NAHEED
NENSHI
BY NAHEED NENSHI ,MAYOR OF CALGARY
FIRST
POSTED: TUESDAY, APRIL 01, 2014 12:00 AM MDT | UPDATED: TUESDAY,
APRIL 01, 2014 06:09 AM MDT
Calgary Mayor Naheed
Nenshi reads a copy of the Calgary Sun at his office in downtown Calgary,
Alta.on Monday March 31, 2014. Stuart Dryden/Calgary Sun/QMI Agency
Article
The Calgary Sun was
owned by a separatist — but not any longer.
With a little help
from some well-heeled cycling enthusiasts and public art supporters, I have
been able to purchase the Calgary Sun from its owner, who is running for office
in Quebec and is hasty to shed his connections with the rest of Canada.
Given his separatist
ways and the state of the newspaper industry, I learned I could pick up my very
own paper for a song.
So, for a few bucks,
access to my Twitter followers and the promise of a bike lane on Deerfoot to
Sun HQ, I am now the proud owner, editor-in-chief and publisher of the Sun, or
as it will be known henceforth, the Nenshi News.
And you can bet there
are going to be some changes around here.
Let’s start with Rick
Bell.
What do you do with an
angry man who loves one-sentence paragraphs?
Does he get paid for
each carriage return?
Don’t worry, he’ll
still be on Page 5, with a brand-new column — The Dinner Bell, where he will
review restaurants, with a particular emphasis on food trucks.
Don't worry, Rick,
you'll be great at it.
And no one will notice
if you write the same review over and over and over again.
And the word bitter
can also apply to the food.
Now, Platt.
That’s a more
difficult issue. Smart guy. Has a future in management. But needs to get out of
his rut.
He’s now the
fact-checker for the newspaper (I couldn’t tell if anyone had that job at the
Sun before).
I have fired reporter
Renato Gandia, as of today. Can’t trust a guy who would get a tattoo on-air for
his job. Maybe CityTV will take you.
Former Editor-in-Chief
Jose Rodriguez?
He tells me his old
job was cleaning up the messes everyone else left, but I believe in
cost-cutting and efficiencies, just like at City Hall.
People can keep their
own desks tidy after lunch.
Sorry, Jose, you’ll be
sticking to the freelance mixed martial arts beat.
But if you want real
brutal ultimate fighting, just pop by City Hall most Mondays.
Jose will keep the
title Sun Media Content Director for Western Canada as I’m sure that was just a
made-up position anyway.
The outgoing publisher
Ed Huculak was last seen leaving town in a hurry.
I look forward to
rifling through his desk.
I know many of your
faithful online commentators have been worried for years that I’m only in
office in order to impose sharia law, and I’m here to assure you nothing could
be further from the truth.
We’ll still have the
NENshine Girls, and they will wear a wide variety of niqabs and burkas.
They’ll all have to
have some purple, though, we’ve got a brand image to keep up here.
And, beginning
immediately, I’ll be replacing the hacks from Sun News Network with a
collection of my day’s best retweets — everything from promoting local theatre
shows to helping people who’ve lost their pets!
It’s a great way to
stay up to date if Twitter’s down for any reason!
I hope you’re as
excited as I am about the last chapter of the Calgary Sun and the first chapter
of the Nenshi News.
Together, we’re going
to make this paper even better than it already is: even smarter, even righter,
even Nenshier.
Honestly, most of the
rest of it will just be my tweets.
I’m your mayor. I own
your paper. You’re welcome.
Oh, one more thing:
since it's my paper, I might as well use it to make an exclusive announcement.
Many have been
speculating that I might run for PC Leader.
Nothing could be
further from the truth.
My old friend Danielle
Smith and I have been talking for months about the major issue in the Wildrose
Party — that no one in caucus can do math. The old kind or the new kind.
So, Danielle has
agreed to serve as my deputy in a new Purple Rose Party.
It’s going to be
amazing. (Though the colours in the new logo do look a bit like My Little Pony
threw up over the prairies.)
* * *
I will be taking calls
today at 403-250-4142 but only until noon as I have to put the mayor’s hat
on for more important meetings.
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