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FP Marketing for Nov. 20: Quaker powers up, and Ad Missions watches the Subaru vs. Snuggie ad

Drew Hasselback — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:20:00 GMT

If it's Friday, it's FP Marketing day! Today's edition includes Hollie Shaw's feature story Quaker Oats Co.'s decision to market its entire oat product portfolio under a single marketing umbrella. The resulting Canadian TV, print and online campaign is called "Go Humans Go."

Then there's Ad Missions. This week our team examines the Subaru Canada ad that erupts out of a Snuggie ad. We've included a link to a YouTube version below if you you haven't seen it find yourself saying "Huh?" after that description. The DDB Toronto ad certainly breaks some new ground.

FP Tech Desk: Morning Buzz (Batman uses Google, Steve Jobs answers his own email and Quebec woman loses disability insurance over Facebook photos)

Matt Hartley — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:13:00 GMT

Welcome to a very special Friday edition of the FP Tech Desk's morning buzz, featuring the best of what's making tech news around the Web.

Yesterday, Google peeled back the curtain on its forthcoming operating system, Chrome OS. While Microsoft isn't sweating Chrome OS just yet -- the new operating system won't be available until about this time next year -- Google's re-thinking of the operating system from its unique web-centric point of view has a lot of people very excited.

Speaking of Google, did you know that even Batman uses Google search? I wonder why this scene got left out of The Dark Knight?

Not to be outdone by Rogers' Fido brand, Virgin Mobile -- which is owned by Bell -- says it plans to begin offering the iPhone in the coming months.

Nice to know Apple CEO Steve Jobs actually answers his own emails sometimes. Fortune's CEO of the Decade recently took time out to respond to a frustrated developer, according to CrunchGear. When the developer couldn't get his app into the App Store, he wrote a lengthy email to Mr. Jobs. The response? "Change your apps name. Not that big of a deal."

Facebook is taking legal action against USocial, a service that sells followers on the world's most popular social network. [via BBC]

From our friends over at the CBC, a Quebec woman lost her disability benefits when her insurance company concluded she was no longer depressed. How did they figure that out? Simple, by creeping on her Facebook profile.

FP Tech Desk: Anti-domestic violence video game allows players to beat woman

Matt Hartley — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:00:00 GMT

Someone must have thought this sounded like a good idea.

A Danish non-governmental organization has created a simple online video game -- colourfully titled Hit the Bitch -- that allows players to slap a woman in the face, causing her to become bloody as bruised, as part of an advertising campaign designed to draw attention to domestic violence issues.

WARNING, the depictions of violence in the game are quite graphic.

The game was created by The NGO for Children exposed to Violence at Home as part of an online advocacy and awareness campaign.

The game starts with a video of a young woman walking towards the screen greeting the player in Danish. At a certain point, the video is paused and the name of the game is superimposed on the screen. Users can then choose to either use their mouse or a Webcam to control a realistic male hand.

By moving the mouse back and forth across the screen, the player can slap the woman in the face using the hand on the screen. With each smack the woman's face becomes increasingly bruised and her tone of voice grows increasingly angry.

After each slap, a power meter along the top of the screen grows from "pussy" to "gangsta." Once the game's power meter reaches the "100% Gangsta" side of the screen -- after roughly 8 or 10 slaps -- the game fades out and shows the player a "100% Idiot" screen.

The game then displays a video of the woman lying on the ground and crying, with what appear to be stats on domestic violence and ways to share the video via Facebook superimposed over her frame in Danish.

Outrage over the game is already beginning to spread online, with both The Huffington Post and Boing Boing weighing in on the game.

While I think most people would support just about any initiative that brings awareness to serious issues such as domestic violence and violence against women, Hit the Bitch is bound to push the boundaries of good taste for many in the video game world.

The Game Politics blog has more on the game here.

FP Tech Desk: Google Winterizes Vancouver in Google Earth ahead of 2010 Olympics

Matt Hartley — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 23:10:00 GMT

Aerial view of Whistler on Google Earth

It seems just about everyone is anxiously preparing for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. That includes Google Inc.

To help give Vancouver, Whistler and the rest of the lower mainland a slightly more wintery -- and downright Canadian -- look on its Google Earth and Maps tools, Google has swapped the old satellite photos of the area -- which were snapped during the summer months -- with snow-filled images taken during the winter.

As a result, in the "satellite view" many of the mountains in the area -- including Cypress Mountain, where some events are schedule to take place -- now appear with snow covered peaks while the rest of the lower mainland more closely resembles the way the the area is expected to appear when the games begin in February. The imagery covers much of Vancouver stretching up the Sea-to-Sky Highway to Whistler and Pemberton.

Cypress Mountain on Google Earth

FP Tech Desk: Kurt Greenbaum vs. the vulgar commenter

Matt Hartley — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 19:41:00 GMT

Did Kurt Greenbaum step over the line?

In a case which is causing newspaper reporters and online editors throughout the industry to re-examine their Website comment policies, one St. Louis Post-Dispatch editor went out of his way to contact the employer of a reader who left a vulgar comment on the newspaper's Website, which resulted in the reader losing their job.

On Friday, Mr. Greenbaum (who is the newspaper's "director of social media") wrote a post on the Post-Dispatch's site entitled "What's the craziest thing you've ever eaten? And did you like it?" (comments are now closed).

Sometime later, a reader posted a single word comment to the story, which Mr. Greenbaum described as "a vulgar expression for a part of a woman’s anatomy."

Although the post was quickly deleted by someone at the newspaper, the same user posted the same comment shortly thereafter.

It was then that Mr. Greenbaum noticed the user's IP address showed that the person was posting the comment from a nearby school.

In a controversial move, Mr. Greenbaum decided to call the school. The principal asked Mr. Greenbaum to forward him the email which contained the IP address, which he did.

Six hours later, Mr. Greenbaum received a call from the principal, who told him that with the help of the school's IT director, they had figured out who posted the comment. When they discovered it was one of the school's teachers, the principal confronted the teacher, who resigned on the spot.

On Monday, Mr. Greenbaum wrote a new post on the Post-Dispatch's website, entitled "Post a vulgar comment while you're at work, lose your job," detailing the incident.

Almost immediately, the comments began to pour in. While some supported Mr. Greenbaum's decision to attempt to identify the commenter, the majority of the comments slammed him for overstepping his bounds and violating the site's privacy policy.

"You guys don’t like moderating so you call his work and get him fired. Nice. Happy holidays." wrote one commenter.

"What an abuse of power, Mr. Greenbaum!!! So is the Post Dispatch now a Gestapo Agent? What a sick and terrible thing you did to this employee in an economy where he probably doesn’t stand a chance in getting another job! I recommend that YOU get fired for abuse of power!!!!! See how YOU feel!!!" wrote another.

Yesterday, Mr. Greenbaum hit back at his detractors in a new post, in which he argues he did not overreact, nor did he violate the newspaper's privacy policy. He also denies that he's set "some sort of precedent for how we deal with readers who make obscene comments" and disagrees with the assertion made by some of his critics that he was gleeful or boastful when he blogged about the incident on Monday.

A copy of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch's privacy policy can be found here.

Commenters have pointed out that a section in the privacy policy which deals with what the newspaper can do with a user's IP address doesn't include any mention that a reporter can take that information to attempt to identify a reader.

"Our web servers automatically collect limited information about your computer's connection to the Internet, including your IP address (but not the e-mail address), when you visit our sites. Your IP address does not contain personally identifiable information, nor does it identify you personally. We use this information to deliver our web pages to you upon request, to tailor our sites to the interests of our users, and to measure traffic within our sites."

While Mr. Greenbaum points out that he did not personally identify the user, by supplying the IP address to the school, he at least assisted in unmasking the reader. Whether this violates the newspaper's privacy policy or terms of service very well may become a matter for the courts.

Ask just about any journalist and they will tell you that commenters on Websites can sometimes be vicious, rude and hurtful. Regardless, I think many reporters would also agree that Mr. Greenbaum stepped way over the line of "comment moderation" in this case.

A famous quote attributed to Arthur Miller states that "a good newspaper is a nation talking to itself," a sentiment which has become even more apt with the dawn of the Internet and the ability for newspapers and their readers to engage in an ongoing dialogue online.

It's up to all of us on both ends of the conversation to ensure that our dialogue remains both positive and productive.

What do you think? Did Mr. Greenbaum overstep his boundaries, or were his actions appropriate?

Lessons in entrepreneurship from eight of Canada's best mentors

Drew Hasselback — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 17:52:00 GMT

Do you have what it takes to emerge as a global business leader? If you think you do, you might want to check out some of the tips financialpost.com/entrepreneur recently published for budding entrepreneurs. These eight pieces were all written and submitted by eight of Canada's best business mentors. Together they form a handy collection of lessons in business. And who knows, maybe someday you will be remembered as one of the world's great leaders.

David Hands described how a married couple can effectively manage a small business. Partners in marriage can be partners in business.

Tasso Dikaios, IT manager with Time and Space Ltd., says the best advice is to seek advice. Don't do it all yourself.

Penny Tremblay of Tremblay Learning Centre in North Bay counsels that you should visualize what success means to you, then focus on making that vision reality. The logic here is simple: how can you be "successfully" if you have no idea what being successful means to you?

Lana Pinsky says entrepreneurs must share their vision with employees. "Share the evidence of your prosperity of thought and of finances to convince valuable employees to stay."

Experienced small business mentors offer their top tips to young Canadian entrepreneurs. Al Norman, president of Beval Engineering Inc. and mentor to Jessica Williamson of Hoopla Clothing, says you need to follow your business plans step by step.

Brian Campkin, director of sales for HP Canada, says that you must learn to set the right example so others will follow your leadership.

Sabine Schleese of Schleese Saddlery Service, who mentors Janice Scruton of Lake Simcoe Hypnosis, says the best thing a young entrepreneur can do is 'network, network, network."

Alvaro Peralta, a district manager with CFIB and mentor to Paige Faraci and Steve Merkley of Raw Canvas Art & Social, says that it's never too early to plan for the exit.

PHOTO: files.

FP Tech Desk: The Top 10 tech moments of the decade

Matt Hartley — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 17:47:00 GMT

For a decade that started with the dot com crash, it's been a pretty good 10 years for the Internet.

With just six weeks left in the first decade of the new millenium, the New York-based International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, which hands out the annual Webby Awards each year -- has unveiled its list of The Ten Most Influential Internet Moments of the Decade, which includes everything from Craigslist's expansion beyond the borders of San Francisco and the shuttering of Napster to Google's initial public offering and the election of Barack Obama.

See anything The Webbys missed? Let the debate begin.

Here's the full list from the Webby's Web site:

Craigslist expands outside San Francisco (2000)
In 2000, the free classifieds site broadened its reach outside of San Francisco into nine additional U.S. cities, sending chills down the spines of newspaper publishers everywhere. Today Craigslist serves free listings in more than 500 cities in 50 countries, serving as a model for no-frills business and community success and the catalyst for countless jobs, apartments, and just about anything else you can think of.

Google AdWords launches (2000)
With the launch of AdWords in October 2000, Google turned advertising on its head. The self-service ad program opened up the marketplace to any business, no matter how big or small, and allowed advertisers to target their customers with laser-sharp precision.

Wikipedia launches (2001)
Containing 20,000 articles in 18 languages by the end of its first year online, Wikipedia today boasts more than 14 million articles in 271 different languages. The free open-source encyclopedia epitomizes the Internet's power to bring strangers from around the world together to collaborate on projects both big and small.

Napster Shut Down (2001)
Although Napster was shut down in 2001, it opened the file-sharing floodgates. Its demise sparked a wave of innovations that forever changed how we obtain and experience music and video - from Hulu to iTunes to Radiohead famously dropping its label and self-distributing their "In Rainbows" CD online for free.

Google IPO (2004)
Google's IPO, one of the largest in history, put the six year old search engine on the path to becoming the most dominant and influential company of the decade. From gmail and YouTube to Google Earth, Google Maps, and Google Android, the Internet giant and constant innovator is the engine that powers countless aspects of our everyday lives.

Online video revolution (2006)
In 2006, a perfect storm of faster bandwidth, cheaper camcorders, and the groundbreaking use of Adobe's Flash 9 video player by YouTube combined to launch the online video revolution. The trifecta led to a boom in homemade and professional content - the Diet Coke and Mentos guys, lonelygirl15, SNL's Lazy Sunday, and Senator George Allen's "macacagate" - that has reshaped everything from pop culture to politics.

Facebook opens to non-college students and Twitter takes off (2006)
In September 2006, a social networking site for college students changed its user qualifications to include anyone 13 and older with a valid e-mail address. Facebook struck an immediate chord -- and almost overnight, social media went mainstream. Less than a month later, the creators of Twitter acquired the company and its assets from its investors, paving the way for the service to take off in 2007. Both companies took social media mainstream, radically changing the way we connect, collaborate, and communicate with everyone from friends to colleagues to customers.

The iPhone debuts (2007)
The iPhone was released on June 29, 2007. By the end of the weekend, half a million had been sold, and smartphones had gone from a luxury item to a necessity. The iPhone inspired the development of operating systems like Google Android, as well as an app for just about every aspect of modern life. Over the next decade, it's estimated that a billion new users will come to the Internet for the first time through mobile devices.

U.S. Presidential Campaign (2008)
The Internet altered presidential politicking in 2008 much as television had forty years earlier during the Kennedy/Nixon race. From videos like "Obama Girl" and the Reverend Wright clip shaping the debate, to social media mobilizing voters, to record-breaking online fundraising from small donors, every facet of the way campaigns are run was permanently transformed.

Iranian election protests (2009)
When Iran's 2009 presidential election produced fishy results, the opposition took to the tweets -- and the "Twitter Revolution" was born. In fact, it was so vital to organizing demonstrations that the U.S. State Department asked the company to delay planned maintenance.. The protests also highlighted Twitter's key asset as a protest tool: Since most users don't access it through a central website, it's nearly impossible to censor.

FP Tech Desk: Curling up with the Kindle - the first 48 hours

Matt Hartley — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:02:00 GMT

The Kindle was a big hit in the National Post newsroom. Photo by Getty Images

Tech reporters get to play with all the coolest toys.

A few times a week, I get a call from the friendly woman in the Fidel Castro hat who works in our mail room here at the Post, inviting me to act like a Price is Right contestant and "come on down" because I have a package to pick up.

Usually these packages contain cellphones or other similar gadgets sent to me for testing purposes by PR firms (I know, it's a tough job, but someone has to do it) and most of the time I take the nondescript package back up to my desk, tear off the wrapping and spend a few minutes mucking about with whatever it is that was sent to me, and no one around my desk pays any attention to me geeking out.

But every now and then, a gadget arrives and I'm suddenly surrounded by a dozen reporters all anxious to get their hands on the technology in question, making me feel like the kid who brought his dog to show and tell in grade four.

That kind of newsroom buzz doesn't happen all that often. I remember it happened with the original iPhone when it first came to Canada, when I first played around with a netbook and the first time my fellow cube mates saw me with the Rock Band video game.

It happened again on Tuesday, when the Kindle arrived.

Maybe it's because most reporters love to read or just because everyone had heard so much about the Kindle prior to Amazon announcing Tuesday that it would finally begin shipping the device to Canada, but the Kindle was a big hit in the National Post newsroom. People wanted to see it, to touch it and to know about how it works. It disappeared into one editor's office for a solid hour, and every time I took it over to show it off to someone who had yet to play with it, four other editors and reporters would gather around for a gander.

It's now been about 48 hours since the Kindle arrived and my test drive began, so it's time for some snap judgments.

When you first pick up the Kindle, it looks like a space age book crossed with an early version of the iPod -- Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy comes to mind. Once it's placed inside the protective leather cover (an extra US$29.99) it feels very similar to an open book when you hold it in your hands. Reading it feels comfortable, rather than foreign. The screen is of a decent size, and even though it's black and white, you can see this device was designed to mimic the look and feel of reading a paperback novel.

But it feels heavier than you'd expect. Not so heavy that your arms are going to get tired from lugging it around on the subway, but it feels slightly heavier than a regular book (Amazon says it feels lighter than a regular paperback, but I'm not so sure).

It's easy on the eyes, in that it's both beautiful and doesn't tire your eyes out while reading it. Amazon clearly took a cue from Apple and put some serious thought into the industrial design of the Kindle. The buttons -- which are located on either side of the device, where your thumbs would rest if you held it like you would a regular book -- are in a convenient position and not awkward to use for turning pages or navigating the various internal menus of the device.

But within 15 minutes of my turning on the Kindle, it froze.

I was trying to show one of our editors how the Kindle Store works and the screen wouldn't respond, everything locked up and I started to panic, thinking I'd broken my loaner and would be on the hook for US$259. Luckily, it didn't take long to reset the Kindle and soon I was bopping around the Kindle Store using the device's small, square mouse. Still, not a great first impression.

Finding the Kindle store from the device's main screen takes only a couple of clicks and loads very quickly over whichever cellphone network my Kindle happens to be connecting to (Amazon and Canada's three national carriers have all refused to tell us which network the device is running on).

Once you're logged on to the store, searching for books is pretty easy, just type in what you're looking for or scroll through the books on the "Top Kindle Sellers" list. Of course, the first thing I did was subscribe to the National Post. The Kindle allows Canadians to subscribe to any of about 90 newspapers ranging from domestic choices like the Post and the Globe and Mail to international titles such as the UK's Daily Telegraph and the New York Times. Most of the papers offer a monthly subscription price, or the option to just buy a single daily paper.

I can see this being a very popular function. Once I subscribed to the Post (enough with the shameless plugs already), the most current edition downloaded directly to my Kindle, and when I woke up this morning, today's paper had already downloaded and was ready to read as I had my coffee.

Navigating through a newspaper is quite an enjoyable experience. It's easy to cycle through the sections and find stories and I can see people taking this on the subway or bus on a morning commute. Unlike a full sized paper, you could hold your Kindle in one hand and a coffee in the other. Papers which have been available on the Kindle longer than others seem to have more pictures and better layouts, while the latest editions to the Kindle club seem to still be figuring out the format.

Strangely, one of the most disappointing aspects of the Kindle is the lack of actual books available to download. Amazon claims Canadians have access to more than 300,000 different titles, including best sellers and classics.

But there sure seem to be a lot of omissions. To test this out, I went to Amazon.com's Best Sellers list on my laptop and typed each of the top 10 books which appeared there into the Kindle to see which were available straight through the device. Out of those 10, eight seemed to be unavailable. This includes General Rick Hillier's book A Soldier First, Andre Agassi's recent autobiography and Dan Brown's latest tome The Lost Symbol.

In fact, the only two books on the Top 10 list I could actually download were What the Dog Saw by Malcolm Gladwell and Superfreakonomics by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner. I thought I might download one of those Confessions of a Shopaholic books that my better half really enjoys, but they were also absent from the database.

Thankfully, Sarah Palin's Going Rogue also wasn't available.

If Amazon really wants people to use this thing, they're going to need to make more books available. I understand the device only just launched in Canada and that Amazon is intent on putting more books in the Kindle store -- when Apple first brought the iTunes store to Canada it didn't have the same breadth of options as the U.S. version of the site -- but the selection is pretty lackluster right now. Here's hoping the online retailer can secure the necessary copyright contracts to bring a better selection to Canadians soon.

Amazon says that books will download to the device in 60 seconds or less using its WhisperNet technology. To test this out, I purchased Superfreakonomics and it didn't take anywhere close to 60 seconds to download, it took maybe 15 or 20 seconds. Very fast.

I spent about two hours reading the Kindle last night and it was a great experience, akin to reading a regular book. Despite it being a digital screen, the Kindle won't give you a headache the way a laptop might because there's no backlight in the screen. Holding it in my hands gave me a very similar feeling to a physical book and the battery seemed like it could go on forever.

But I got to thinking, who is this device really designed for? The Kindle costs US$259 (plus about another $30 shipping) and each book costs in the neighbourhood of about $10. While that's cheaper than the average hardcover book you'll get from Amazon or Chapters, I'm not sure how many people are going to be willing to shell out that kind of money for the device itself.

Clearly there are some obvious examples of people who would love the Kindle. People like my mother who run through about four books a week can skip going to the bookstore and just download the next item on their reading list from their living room.

Commuters who don't like carrying and folding a newspaper on the bus or subway are another likely Kindle audience. It's much easier to hold than a broadsheet newspaper. Newspapers (including this one) would be wise to consider offering their readers discounted Kindles with new subscriptions to help drive adoption.

I can also see how the Kindle makes sense for business folks who travel a lot or for power readers who are heading out on vacation and don't want to lug around a dozen books in their carry on bags.

Amazon says the Kindle that will ship to Canada holds about 1,500 books, but I can't see your average book lover wanting a Kindle, especially if they're the type of person who like to show off their library on bookshelves or who like to lend books to friends (Amazon's copyright protection technology means you can't share books between Kindles).

I keep coming back to the big limitation of the Canadian Kindle: it's pretty much a one trick pony. In an age where consumers are increasingly demanding more functions on a single device -- such as a smart phone or netbook -- Amazon has brought to Canada a device which features no Web browsing, no extra applications, no video support and you can only read in black and white.

(Amazon has also included a text to speech technology which will allow the Kindle to read to you -- provided the publisher of the books hasn't disabled that feature.)

When the first iPods hit the market, they faced many of the same challenges. As the years went by, Apple continued to evolve the iPod by adding more functions and eventually ended up with the iPhone and iPod Touch. One would assume Amazon is looking to blaze a similar trail with the Kindle and that subsequent versions of the device will undoubtedly feature a greater array of features. The U.S. version of the Kindle already allows users to access Websites such as Wikipedia and subscribe to their favourite blog content and it would seem logical that some future international version of the Kindle will include similar functions.

In a highly unscientific poll I conducted through Twitter, I found that only about one out of every three or four respondents was interested in getting a Kindle. Most are still holding out hope that Apple will release some sort of tablet computer/ iPhone hybrid in the new year and are waiting for a device with a larger, colour touch screen with more functions than the Kindle. Some were content to just stick to their iPhones and BlackBerrys, which many people already use for reading e-books while others already owned an e-book reader developed by another company (Sony Corp.'s e-reader seemed to be the most popular)

Amazon says the Kindle is the most popular product it sells (even though the company won't say how many it has sold) and I can see how that would be the case. Can Amazon do for the e-reader what Apple did for the MP3 player and turn it into a mainstream must-have device? That remains to be seen.

Is the Kindle cool? Absolutely.

Is it practical? Depends on the user.

Would I rush out and buy one myself? Probably not.

FP Tech Desk: Morning Buzz (Google phone nears reality, Facebook's new privacy policy and Digg CEO says people won't pay for news)

Matt Hartley — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 14:54:00 GMT

Happy hump day from your friends at the FP Tech Desk. Check out what's making news in the tech world:

RIM and Apple fans beware, Google is getting serious about cellphones. TechCrunch is reporting that Google is working on a phone developed entirely by the search engine giant -- this would be one not produced by LG, Motorola or any of the other companies currently building devices that run on Google's Android operating system.

Blame Canada. Facebook has implemented its new privacy policy following a long investigation and report from Canada's privacy commissioner.

Good news everyone! Digg CEO Jay Alderson doesn't think people want to pay for their news anymore. Remember, home taping is killing newspapers.

Slow and steady seems to be the mantra of Microsoft's new search engine Bing. Data tracker comScore Inc. reports that Bing continued its growth trajectory in September, picking up half a percentage point in its share of U.S. searches. While Bing is closing in on 10% of all searches, Google still leads with more than 65% of searches.

Seems that RIM's BlackBerry Internet Service (BIS) was down for part of the day on Monday. Reports indicate it wasn't a carrier specific outage and that service was spotty throughout the U.S. and Canada. [via Gizmodo]

Some interesting analysis from Matt Matthews over at Gamasutra, who crunches the numbers to show that the video game industry will be lucky to match 2008 revenues in 2009.

Microsoft's chief software architect Ray Ozzie talks cloud computing with CNET News after his speech at the company's Professional Developers Conference.

Canadian inflation: Economists comment

Drew Hasselback — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 12:35:00 GMT

Dawn Desjardins, Assistant Chief Economist with RBC:

Canada's headline inflation rate emerged from a four-month period of negative readings in October as the deflationary pressures coming from movements in the energy component of the CPI dissipated. We expect that the headline inflation rate will move further into positive territory in the fourth quarter, as long as the extraordinarily large drops in energy prices that occurred in the fourth quarter of 2008 are not repeated.

Benjamin Reitzes, BMO Capital Markets, Economic Research:

Despite the acceleration in both headline and core yearly inflation, significant excess capacity and the strong loonie (up 2.6% on the month, and 16.1% over the past 6 months) should keep a lid on price pressures. Inflation concerns remain on the back burner for another month.

Derek Holt and Karen Cordes, Scotia Economics:

Core inflation still remains well anchored and we're just venturing into the territory later this year and into next at which strong CAD is likely to motivate downward pressure on import prices.

James Marple, Economist with TD:

For the Bank of Canada, the stickiness of core inflation is an indicator of just how well inflation expectations are anchored and while upward movements in the core rate are always a cautionary signal, the rate remains below the Bank’s target of 2%. Given developments in the real economy, including a third quarter real GDP report that will underperform the Bank’s expectations, and the downside risk to inflation due to the higher Canadian dollar, we continue to expect the Bank to remain on hold until the fall of 2010.

Live Blog with Jim Harris: Make your business more efficiently green

Karen Hawthorne — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 20:23:00 GMT

Our Green Energy columnist, Jim Harris

Join our live blog on Tuesday, Nov. 24 where Jim Harris answers your questions on how green energy decisions can be smart for business. Bring your ideas and questions to the discussion from 12 noon to 1 p.m. ET.

Questions in advance are welcome at smallbusiness@nationalpost.com.

You've read about the simple things to do to reduce your energy consumption, but what are the Top 10 most difficult steps to take?

What about carbon offsets purchased to reduce our footprints when we fly? Is the money used effectively? Is it regulated?

Jim Harris is an international bestselling author, management consultant, strategist, futurist, technology pundit and former leader of the Green Party of Canada. He writes a weekly column in the Financial Post's Green Energy section.

Click below for an email reminder to join the conversation.

&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://www.coveritlive.com/mobile.php?option=com_mobile&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;task=viewaltcast&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;altcast_code=ce482aa672" &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Jim Harris&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;

Firms prepare to re-hire, resume pay rises

Alia McMullen — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 16:50:00 GMT

More than one-third of Canadian companies expect to reverse hiring freezes in the coming months while half expect to resume pay increases as economic recovery takes hold, a survey by consulting firm Watson Wyatt has found.

“As companies step gingerly toward recovery, they will continue to reverse many of the changes made earlier and reinstate some of the cuts to compensation and benefit programs,” says Liz Wright, compensation practice leader at Watson Wyatt. “But, there is little doubt this recession will have a long-lasting impact on the workforce."

Ms. Wright says many of the 72 companies surveyed in September were ramping up communication efforts and increasing training and development opportunities to re-engage employees that have become disheartened during the changes brought about during recession.

The survey found that among companies that froze hiring, 35% expected to start hiring again in the next 12 months, while nearly half were not certain when they will reverse the freezes. Among companies that implemented salary freezes, 53% expected to resume pay increases in the next 12 months. However, 21% were not certain when the freezes will be reversed.

Alia McMullen

Bank of England policy maker talks about the need to withdraw stimulus, raise rates to fend off inflationary pressure

Vieira — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 20:32:00 GMT

Britain’s economy is moving toward recovery and has yet to see the full impact of the Bank of England’s aggressive easing policy, said a member of the central bank's monetary policy committee.

Andrew Sentance, an external member of the interest-rate setting body, suggested the central bank runs the risk of letting inflation accelerate unless the central bank stands prepared to tighten.

“As policy-makers, we are hopefully now moving from the role of fire-fighters in the recession to a more familiar role – steering the economy through an upswing underpinned by low inflation,” he said in remarks during a lecture at a University of London affiliate college.

Mr. Sentance said the full impact from the cuts in central bank’s benchmark policy rate -- 4.5 percentage points starting in October of 2008 -- were only just coming through in the data, and the lags for its £200-billion quantitative easing were potentially longer and less predictable.

Over the months ahead, the Bank of England’s monetary policy committee would need to assess whether the signs of recovery were sufficiently “well-established” before removing the need for further stimulus. The central bank’s quarterly projections last week showed inflation moving above target beyond a two-year horizon if policy remained unchanged.

In contrast, the U.S. Federal Reserve chairman, Ben Bernanke, said in a speech on Monday that inflation in the United States "seems likely" to be subdued from some time -- allowing the central bank to keep rates low for an "extended" period.

Canada's top tech companies set to do battle

Eric Lam — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 19:16:00 GMT

Call it Highlander for Canadian tech companies. Or maybe cutting-edge without the beheading?

The Canadian Innovation Exchange unveiled its list of Canada's top 20 hottest technology companies for 2009 on Monday, after "an exhaustive search for the most innovative ideas, products, services and companies in the country."

However, the 20 participants are not ranked. We won't know who comes out on top until Dec. 2, when all 20 companies gather in Toronto for a one-day, Thunderdome-like smackdown (yes, I'm well aware I'm mixing my movie allegories) to determine the victor.

The competition is open to all Canadian companies who consider themselves to be innovative in the fields of clean technologies, information technology and digital media, the release said. The chosen finalists each get to make their case through a seven-minute presentation to industry experts from both sides of the border.

The top 20 include a company that is developing a flying HD camera-equipped spyprobe for military or police use (Aeryon Labs Inc.), another that markets specialized GPS meters that can track road tolling and parking (Skymeter Corp.), and even one working on technology for using cellphones as mobile money payment platforms (EnStream LP).

Here's a list of the finalists, in alphabetical order:

Aeryon Labs Inc. www.aeryon.com <http://www.aeryon.com> – Waterloo, ON
CognoVision Solutions Inc. www.cognovision.com <http://www.cognovision.com> - Toronto, ON
D-Wave System Inc. www.dwavesys.com <http://www.dwavesys.com> - Burnaby, BC
Darwin Dimensions www.evolver.com <http://www.evolver.com> – Montreal, QC
Dayforce www.dayforce.com <http://www.dayforce.com> – Toronto, ON
EnStream LP www.enstream.com <http://www.enstream.com> – Toronto, ON
GaN Systems Inc. www.gansystems.com <http://www.gansystems.com> – Ottawa, ON
GlassBOX Television Inc. www.glassbox.tv <http://www.glassbox.tv> – Mississauga, ON
IGLOO Inc. www.igloosoftware.com <http://www.igloosoftware.com> – Kitchener, ON
Metranome www.metranome.net <http://www.metranome.net> – Waterloo, ON
Morega System Inc. www.morega.com <http://www.morega.com> – Mississauga, ON
NIMTech Incorporated www.nim-tech.com <http://www.nim-tech.com> – Vaughan, ON
Overlay TV Inc. www.overlay.tv <http://www.overlay.tv> – Ottawa, ON
Peerset Inc. www.peerset.com <http://www.peerset.com> – Toronto, ON
PostRank Inc. www.postrank.com <http://www.postrank.com> – Waterloo, ON
Remco Solid State Lighting Inc. – Toronto, ON
Rypple www.rypple.com <http://www.rypple.com> – Toronto, ON
Sixtron Advanced Materials Inc. www.sixtron.com <http://www.sixtron.com> – Dorval, QC
Skymeter Corp. www.skymetercorp.com <http://www.skymetercorp.com> – Toronto, ON
YOU i Labs Inc. www.youilabs.com <http://www.youilabs.com> – Ottawa, ON

There can be only one, of course.

Eric Lam

Asset bubbles, if forming, can't be blamed entirely on central banks: Capital Economics

Vieira — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 17:26:00 GMT

Central banks in the United States, Britain and other industrialized countries are under attack for their role in fostering what some are describing as a dangerous global asset bubble. The policy of easy money, from record-low borrowing costs to extraordinary liquidity, allows investors to undertake greater risks through moves such as the U.S.-dollar carry-trade. China’s top banking regulator, Liu Mingkang, openly expressed such fears just hours before U.S. President Barack Obama was set to visit the Asian powerhouse.

But at least one analyst indicates that bubble-phobes might be a bit premature in blaming the U.S. Federal Reserve and other central banks.

“The surge in global asset prices may owe more to a fundamental improvement in the outlook for the real economy and to falling risk premiums than to a wave of liquidity created by central banks,” says Julian Jessop, chief international economist with London-based Capital Economics. “Talk of asset price bubbles fuelled by dollar carry trades is almost certainly overdone.”

The Fed has provided a large amount of newly created money to the banks via its quantitative easing program. But Mr. Jessop says money and credit growth has stagnated in the United States, based on gauges used to monitor money supply.

Mr. Jessop also plays down the impact of U.S. dollar carry trades, saying such manoeuvres can’t explain the surge in U.S. assets such as equities and corporate bonds. Further, with most industrialized central banks holding rates at a record low, there’s little motivation for non-U.S. investors to borrow in U.S. dollars, the economist reckons.

He says the climb in asset prices is likely due to improved market confidence. Moreover, investors who have sat on piles of cash amid the downturn might be finally putting their money to use.

Paul Vieira