The iPhone & the Touch are also the only implementation of a hand-held web browser (with the exception of maybe the Nokia n800/810) which offer almost a complete browsing experience. I can easily do posts to my blog or browse a website without losing anything in the experience.

Add to that that a “Jailbroken” iPod Touch is made even more functional with all of the third-party hacks & apps and it’s not a bad little device. It’s definitely at the high-end as far as price point, but Costco has the 16GB model for about $50 less than list which helped a little.

I also saw that you bought an iPod Touch… again, very pretty, but not worth the money for a mere 16 GB of storage!

For the WoW geeks, there’s also The Guild, which stars 7th season Buffy regular Felicia Day (Vi). That’s all free, they credit the donors in the episode credits.

I was looking for a subscribe link for RSS or iTunes. Does not appear to be one yet. A quick search in iTunes and I think I found it. Although I noticed that on the web they are up to Episode 8. Only up to Episode 4 in iTunes… but at least it is there (if I got the right one :P)

http://tinyurl.com/2accgv

I shortened it so it doesn’t break the blog

Speaking of laptops, check out the new MacBook Air.

http://www.apple.com/macbookair/

A 13.3″ laptop weighing 3 lbs and only as thick as your index finger at it’s thinest point. It has a full-sized backlight keyboard, an oversized trackpad that has many of the same touch features as the iPhone(!), 2 GB of RAM built in, an 80 GB HD, and option to upgrade to a 64GB solid-state drive. Intel Core Duo is standard at 1.6 or 1.8 Ghz, and they expect a 5 hour battery life. Also built in are the iSight camera, wireless and bluetooth. Prices starting at $1799 (I’m assuming US dollars). No optical drive, but they’ve created a companion MacBook Air superdrive powered by the USB2.0 port. Ships with Leopard installed… relies heavily on wireless to backup and copy files from other computers.

Pretty sweet looking machine, but I would be worried about how flimsy it looks… I don’t think it would stand up to the sort of travel and transportation needs that most people want in a laptop.

As for the WHOIS policy, it can depend on your hosting company. The one that I use provides anonymous whois for free when you sign up for 1yr of hosting. This is a great service and provides a lot of peace of mind for the “end user”.

We would love a Voicemail from you! and everyone else!

I did a little more research on .ca (dot-ca) domains and came up with this from CIRA (the official Canadian domain authority);

(From the FAQ on registering domains)
9 - What is the fee for registering new dot-ca domain names?
Registrars are free to set their own fees for services they provide to registrants, but CIRA will charge all registrars the same fees for registration services ($8.50 per year plus applicable taxes). CIRA’s Fee Schedule is included in the document entitled Procedures, Policies and Certification Requirements for Becoming a Registrar.

So the absolute minimum to register a dot-ca domain would be $8.50 CDN.

To register a dot-ca domain you must also be eligible under the CIRA requirements, which include; Canadian citizens, permanent residents of Canada, Legal representative of the previous two, a Corporation under Canadian law, etc…

It’s also interesting to note that CIRA outlines everything you need to know in order to become a certified registrar of Canadian domains.

http://www.cira.ca/

I would also like to add that the CIRA is discussing new rules about a WHOIS privacy policy. Many people, myself included, feel that the current WHOIS situation does not protect people’s privacy, and having to pay extra to have your WHOIS information hidden from prying eyes is simply insane. With the amount of identity theft and other crime going on on the Internet, allowing someone to do a WHOIS on someone’s domain and getting personal details about the owner is very dangerous.

As an example, here are some rules for getting yourself a .com.au -
http://www.auda.org.au/policies/auda-2002-07/

SCHEDULE C
ELIGIBILITY AND ALLOCATION RULES FOR COM.AU

The com.au 2LD is for commercial purposes.

The following rules are to be read in conjunction with the Eligibility and Allocation Rules for All Open 2LDs, contained in Schedule A of this document.

1. To be eligible for a domain name in the com.au 2LD, registrants must be:

a) an Australian registered company; or

b) trading under a registered business name in any Australian State or Territory; or

c) an Australian partnership or sole trader;

d) a foreign company licensed to trade in Australia; or

e) an owner of an Australian Registered Trade Mark; or

f) an applicant for an Australian Registered Trade Mark [Note 1]; or

g) an association incorporated in any Australian State or Territory; or

h) an Australian commercial statutory body.

2. Domain names in the com.au 2LD must:

a) exactly match:

(i) the registrant’s company, business, trading, association or statutory body name; or

(ii) the words comprising the registrant’s Australian Registered Trade Mark or application for an Australian Registered Trade Mark; or

b) be an acronym or abbreviation of 2a) (i) or (ii); or

c) be otherwise closely and substantially connected to the registrant, because the domain name refers to:

(i) a product that the registrant manufactures or sells; or

(ii) a service that the registrant provides; or

(iii) an event that the registrant organises or sponsors; or

(iv) an activity that the registrant facilitates, teaches or trains; or

(v) a venue that the registrant operates; or

(vi) a profession that the registrant’s employees practise.

@Herne Thanks for the great show ideas.

Cait

btw… I completely agree with you about the .ca domains… if I can find an inexpensive place to get them I’m going to register a few…

Second, I would like to say that this is one of the few times in the last 3 years of podcasting that I have been proud of our community. Hern put a lot of thought into his comment and even asked us some questions and where he would like the show to go. Cait, Keith and myself are going to work on these issues that Herne has raised. He has also lifted the bar in the comments.

MORE!

Nice work Herne!

Your comment doesn’t have to be as long as Herne’s but sure would be good to know where to stear this little boat of ours, THAT is what I am thankful for.

What I want to know is why there is no standardization of fees for domain registrars. Obviously if GoDaddy can register a domain for $6.99 US a year, then why can’t everyone? The same goes for Canadian domains, why do I have to pay $20 to register a domain at one place and $10 at another? We need some standardization here! And while we’re at it, we also need some strong legislation in place to stop domain registrars from holding people’s domains hostage when they want to change service providers.

While we’re on the topic of domain registrars, I’m looking for a good and reliable hosting service, preferably a Canadian one. I would also be interested having the ins and outs of hosting explained to me, for example, why would a Windows host be better than a Linux host, or is it? And when looking for a good host, what sort of extras should I be looking for and why? For example, do I want a CGI bin? A shopping cart? POP mail? What is MySQL and why do I want it? Forums, Blogs, Photos, and more… I think you guys should do a segment on “What to look for in a good web hosting service.”

And after that, I’ll need “What to look for in a new Laptop.” and “Why do I need to Blog?” segments. Oh, and I’m still waiting to hear more about Second Life and why I want to use it… No hurry!