Author: Doug Groves

dougplanet.com is his personal blog, which is withering on the vine. If you poke around it, you’ll find out that he’s an animator and broadcast designer by trade, usually pushing pixels in either After Effects or Lightwave 3D. If he absolutely had to pick a favourite all time writer, it would be Harlan Ellison more days than any other. If you don’t know who Ellison is, then Doug weeps for you. Doug also likes long walks on the beach, mainly to collect improperly discarded medical waste for an undisclosed project of epic proportions.

Mozilla exec recommends Bing for search

December 11, 2009December 11, 2009 Doug Groves Aza Dotzler, bing, Eric Schmidt, google, Microsoft, Mozilla, privacy, search4 Comments

Asa Dotzler, Mozilla’s director of community development watched Google’s CEO Eric Schmidt talk about privacy concerns in a CNBC interview, and was compelled to respond with recommending Microsoft’s Bing as the search engine of choice for Mozilla’s Firefox. This is what Schmidt said… “I think judgment matters… If you have something that you don’t want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn’t be doing it in the first place. If you really need that kind of privacy, the reality is that search engines — including Google — do retain this information…

CRTC overruled, Globalive given OK to launch Wind Mobile in Canada

December 11, 2009December 18, 2009 Doug Groves CRTC, Globalive, Industry Canada, Tony Clement, Wind Mobile3 Comments

It’s been a while coming, especially if you’re a Wind Mobile employee, but Industry Canada has overruled a CRTC decision that prevented the new wireless carrier from launching in the country. After spending millions on spectrum, you’d think that they’d be in the clear, but due to CRTC foreign ownership rules, Globalive’s actual launch was postponed. “The decision to vary the CRTC Globalive decision, let me emphasize, was based on the legal facts and not on the government’s position that there needs to be more competition in the marketplace,” Mr….

Ubisoft Toronto Employee #1 reveals Toronto location

December 11, 2009December 11, 2009 Doug Groves employee #1, studio, Toronto, Ubi, Ubisoft0 comment

Were you wondering where the Ubisoft Toronto studio is going to be? It’s no longer a mystery, despite the video above. On his Facebook page, Employee #1 revealed the location to be 224 Wallace Ave. (map) just north of Bloor at Lansdowne. There’s more images of the building on his page, and yep, Ubisoft is also hiring, by either emailing them here… work.in.TO@ubisoft.com or visiting their Careers Portal.

Boxee Beta and Box unveiled

December 9, 2009December 9, 2009 Doug Groves beta, Boxee, Boxee Box, D-Link, Linux, Mac, Media Center, Windows5 Comments

I’m a huge fan of Boxee which is, outside of Windows Media Center, my favourite way to access media on my TV. Boxee, a social networking aware media center, has been in alpha for a long time, and Monday night’s beta announcement marked the next step for the company that wants to be your media portal to the world. With the announcement of the beta program (chock full of screenshots), Boxee has been given a new look along with new functionality. The menu system appears to have more polish, making…

Top publishers aim at digital distribution

December 8, 2009December 10, 2009 Doug Groves AP, Associated Press, Conde Nast, eBook, eReader, Hearst, magazine publishers, magazines, NewsCorp, publishers, publishing, Time Inc3 Comments

Imagine reading a headline like “5 top publishers plan rival to Kindle format” from the Associated Press, and it started off like this… Five of the nation’s largest publishers of newspapers and magazines plan to challenge Amazon.com Inc.’s Kindle electronic-book reader with their own digital format that would display in color and work on a variety of devices. You’d think that big name ‘old media’ was about to play hardball, especially if you kept reading it. The article continues to make confusing references to a ‘Kindle challenger’. This lead me…

Hello, Dexter Morgan

December 8, 2009February 16, 2010 Doug Groves Dexter, review10 Comments

It’s rare that we discuss TV shows on rgbFilter, at least outside of the podcast, and even then the podcast leans more towards the science fiction. Dexter is a worthy exception though. Now in it’s 4th season, Showtime’s Dexter follows the trials and tribulations of Dexter Morgan (played by Michael C. Hall), a blood splatter expert for the Miami police department, who also happens to be a serial killer. As a child, his murderous tendencies were noticed by his police officer father, who taught him to channel his primal urges…

Tony Clement hints at overturn of CRTC – Wind Mobile decision

December 7, 2009 Doug Groves CRTC, Globalive, Industry Canada, Tony Clement, Wind Mobile0 comment

Late last week, Minister of Industry Tony Clement made some comments that could be considered disconcerting to the incumbent wireless carriers in Canada, regarding the CRTC’s recent decision to block Globalive’s Wind Mobile wireless from launching in Canada… “We do have the power through an order of council in cabinet to amend or vary the decision of the CRTC… The government’s policy is designed to increase competitiveness in the wireless space, and that is important for Canadian consumers because it increases choice, it increases quality and it reduces cost. [from…

Episode 021 – Google n Games

December 3, 2009 Doug Groves ACII, Assassin's Creed II, chrome os, David Cronenberg, google, L4D2, Left 4 Dead 2, sequel, Stephen King, The Shining, YouTube4 Comments

We start off this show with a lot of Google news, from the Chrome OS announcement to Youtube’s policy regarding playback on TV. Ryan drops some news from Stephen King about a sequel to the The Shining, and we take a look at both Left 4 Dead 2 and Assassin’s Creed II.

Rogers pulls a Telus and sues Bell over network claims

December 2, 2009 Doug Groves Bell, HSPA, legal, Rogers, Telus, Wireless0 comment

Rogers Wireless division must be feeling pretty down lately. With the launch of the new Bell/Telus HSPA network, big Red lost exclusivity of the iPhone. Telus also managed to get a court ruling preventing Rogers from advertising themselves as the “most reliable network”. Now, in what can only be seen as a fit of jealous rage case of turnabout is fair play, Rogers has launched a lawsuit to prevent Bell from saying essentially the same thing. Bell’s latest ads for the new network claim that it’s “the largest, fastest, and…

HP Mini 311 with Windows 7 and ION now in Canada

December 1, 2009December 1, 2009 Doug Groves HP, ION, netbook, Windows 70 comment

Although available for some time beyond Canadian borders, the HP Mini 311 line of netbooks have finally appeared in Canada. Although still using the single core Atom N270 processor, the Windows 7 Home Premium Mini 311-1033 sports 2GB of RAM and Nvidia’s ION graphics processor along with an 11.6 inch LED backlit display for $499. The 1033’s little brother, the 311-1000 at $429 has the lower powered ION LE GPU, which has less addressable memory, and is wearing last years fashions in the OS department, with XP Home. Both, luckily,…

RED Scarlet: Film resolution for the rest of us?

December 1, 2009 Doug Groves Red, Scarlet3 Comments

The RED ONE camera has been around for a while now, showing it’s chops as a replacement for analog film for a couple of years. Since then, Red also annouced two new cameras, including the Scarlet which is aimed squarely at the prosumer market. Well, the details are out thanks to the RED user forum, and although they added a little more ‘pro’ to the pricing than originally announced, the specs are pretty impressive. The ‘all-in-one’ Scarlet fixed 8x lens and brain will be priced at $4750 (US). This price…

Globalive launches Wind Mobile advertising in Canada

November 30, 2009 Doug Groves Globalive, SAF, Win, Wind Mobile, Wireless3 Comments

Globalive, and their Wind Mobile branded wireless service may still be waiting on approval from the Canadian powers that be, but that hasn’t stopped the newcomer from starting a national advertising campaign as of this past weekend. The spots use the Candid Camera approach to reveal the egregious nature of the incumbent companies’ policies, and work as commentary even if they aren’t ads in their own right, wich is a slim possibility. Industry Canada and the CRTC are still trying to decide what to do with Globalive, as the largely…