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Michael Giest is rightly angered by the news Rogers is going to throttle back their Internet users.

In his blog he tears into both Bell and Rogers over packet shaping and particularly Roger’s announcement they will cap users at 60 Gb and charge a penatly for those who go over it.

Ostensibly it’s to go afterthe small minority of users who use up more than their share of bandwidth to download movies, something I wrote about in a the most current issue of Backbone Magazine.

Look deeper and this is not about traffic, it’s about business. Rogers and to some extent Bell are terrified that as we shift to downloading movies (legitimately) we will stop renting DVDs from Rogers stores, or using Pay Per View from Rogers Cable or Bell Expressview. (UPDATE: And, I should have added, drifting from the enforced channels selections offered as bundles, and simply streaming shows directly over the Web - which many folks do now to watch soccer games not available here, such as Scottish Premier League games.)

They’re afraid that as they build capacity on their networks with an eye to their own plans to sell those services that while they tinker around, a so-called over the top player will eat their lunch.

And yes, they’re right since I can’t see Rogers letting me download a movie for less than I would have rented it at their store. So yes I would go to a vendor who offered a better deal.

And as far as the caps go, don’t you think when a Roger’s internet customer downloads a movie from Rogers (if and when they get it going) that those data packets will get A#1 priority on the network and won’t count to the 60Gb cap. Ditto for VoIP though it doesnt use a lot of bandwidth but it’s exactly what Shaw is doing out west. There, if you have non-Shaw VoIP service and you want to ensure quality on your VoIP you must pay a “premium” fee. How long before Rogers and Bell do that here.

This is all about monopoly control, about CYA and screw the customer. Rogers and Bell don’t want to be dumb pipes. They want to get a slice of every kb that zips along their network whether we like it or not.

Unfortunately so few people understand the issue of net neutrality - that the Internet or phone line is a public pipe where all data is equal and controlled by no one - and what it means beyond the spin the big telecomms put on it.

But we should be afraid people, very afraid.

They say when the suckers line up to buy, it’s time to sell.

How then do we explain why newspapers have become such hot properties. Everyone knows the Internet is killing the industry, kids don’t read newspapers anymore and free commuter papers are under cutting traditional pay-for-play models.

Don’t believe me? Check out Forbes take on the buying frenzy going on.

These billionaires didn’t get to be rich geezers by throwing their money around foolishly.

Maybe they know something others don’t?

Wow. Cool stuff today on the ol’ inbox.

First, how’d you like to surf with a great white shark?

Okay, let me rephrase that. Who isn’t fascinated by great predators? I know I am. So check out this link to a project which has tagged a white shark caught by fishermen and taken to a California aquarium and then released.

The website tracks the shark daily and overlays other data such as water temperature.  It’s only been a month but it sure looks interesting. Now if I could only do that with my kids.

Also, I get a lot of questions from folks interested in journalism. This movie gives you a great insight into the business.

Oh, and I should warn you, it’s 60 years old but it’s a hoot and bittersweet too.

You see, technology changes and culture changes. We may laugh at the culture of that era and we may snicker at the technology. But it struck me as I watched it that there are many snickering at us today for holding out that the Web has changed journalism and newspapering for the worse and then lamenting those good old days.

Every technology brings with it change and new challenges. However, also in the clip you’ll see a process and structure which by and large still exists today.

No matter what era or what technlogies we use, we’ll still need experienced, skilled people to help readers sort out the crap from the cream.

And room full of blogging monkeys could never do that in a month of Sundays.

Poor Eliot Spitzer! Mister Clean gets caught with his pants down, literally.

But, you know, this could only happen in America where sex is sinful.

The news that that the New York Guvn’r has fallen on his own sword (pun intended) after being fingered as Client Number 9 in a call girl scandal is amusing to me but not shocking.

Prostitution at that level is no big deal. We’re not talking street girl controlled by pimps and hooked on crack turning $50 tricks in an alley here. We’re talking business. A service for money. Consenting adults and all that.

But what money! Wow. $80,000 in hookers.

Which gets me wondering, what do you get for $4,000 a pop? I mean seriously. Is a girl better at $4gs than one who only charges, say $500?

And what do you get for that kind of money? Is it $4,000 at $500 an hour? I mean that’s what some of those high priced laywers are getting right? Or government consultants. Heck, some people have to pay $400 an hour to screwed over by the legal system, so why not.

Are they better at $500 an hour than $100 an hour?

And how much of the hour is consumed with, you know, sexual activity? Does she dress up for him? Does he? Is it kinky? Is this straight vanilla sex. Do you get to bring a friend? Does she?

 What training and skills does she have that the $100 an hour hooker doesn’t have? Is it that she has a brain, an education and can discern between a Cabernet Sauvignon and a Merlot or chat about post modernism?

Does she stick around after 20 minutes of grunting and groaning to sample the fois gras and Mumms or for that kind of money is it all go and no stopping.

I’d be inclinded to get my money’s worth, wouldn’t you. But then I don’t requent prostitutes and I certainly can’t afford those prices. Still, being a man I do wonder what it’s like.

Perhaps I can convince an editor as some magazine somewhere with all kinds of money to assign me a first person story about having sex with a high priced hooker. You’d have to do it more than once of course, to ensure accruacy and consistency.

Heck, here’s a great idea. I could start a reviewing service of these ladies. I could rate them according to a price-value curve, assign them stars for beauty, deportment, demeanour, delivery and other, er, skills, including, innovative techniques and the surprise factor.

Wow. There could be a whole new career direction here.

Thanks Eliot! You’re a genius! 

Wow….has it really been that long since I posted here?

Blogging is a habit. Get out of the habit and it gets harder to get back to it…which is good for bad habit, bad for blogging.

There’s also the issue of blog burnout. What starts as a must do becomes a chore and when you make your living cranking out 1,000 words a day – or so – it’s sometimes a bit of a chore to keep your blog up to date, especially since I don’t make any money at it….not yet and not likely.

One of the frustrations of blogging is that you’re not sure who is reading your blog; I get 20 spam messages a day for postings commenting on my blog but all of them are just idiots trying to promote their business or post stealth links to their site. I delete them.

It’s also been a busy start to the year so I’ve been distracted making a living rather than doodling on the blog.

But a couple of things have brought me out of my work-induced stupor this week. One, is that I’m here in the dark bowels of Microsoft itself at their

And my issues with

But more sadly I feel compelled to comment on the passing of two men I admired this past weekend.

Jeff Healey, 41, who died after a battle with the cancer which took his eyesight at one years old, was not a great blind

Boyd Coddington, 63, was an artist who sculpted cars into dream machines. I have long admired his esthetic for clean, uncluttered lines and wished I could have afforded one of his creations.