To be fair, this issue may be specific to Canadian shipping addresses.

Around mid-May i ordered a Dodocase for my iPad. I knew it would be a long lead time for it to ship, but what they didn’t tell me was the ship time going outside the US is ridiculous. Approaching a month since it shipped and it still hasn’t arrived!

It takes just over a month to walk from San Francisco to my home in Milton ontario. So – something is very wrong with either:

a) Dodocase’s shipping process
b) The US postal service OR
c) Canadian customs

Why isn’t Dodocase offering other shipping methods (i.e Fedex / UPS etc…). I’m sure people will gladly pay extra to have a tracking number that works.

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No better way to start the work week than track 27 at union station

1. Kick it off with a 15 minute delay sitting on the tracks at Spadina.
2. Don’t apologize for the delay when we start moving again.
3. Take a few thousand commuters and drop them off at track 27. For those not familiar with track 27, it is the least desirable drop off point at Union Station in Toronto. It’s a very thin track waiting area so the exits are teeny tiny and it adds like 5-10 minutes to your commute just to get down the stairs & out of the fucking station, and for those travelling north (most commuters), it’s at the very far south end of Union.

At least increase the size / number of exits!

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Loved this quote i read on Analog Industries:

“No Flash? Who gives a flying fuck? Flash is an improvement over Java only inasmuch as you don’t have to learn a computer language in order to have a gaping wound of a security hole on your system or kill your CPU. HTML5 gives that tragedy the death it so richly deserves anyhow. All the big video sites have HTML5 proof-of-concept players up now; by this time next year, Flash will be a bad memory.”

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1. The “missionary”
This person makes it their mission in life to spread their religious beliefs via their facebook updates. This accomplishes nothing other than further alienating anyone they may want to save while being cheered on by other believers.

2. The “big event bragger”
These people assume we are deeply concerned about how many more sleeps they have until their big cottage vacation. On the bright side, they are certain to announce when they will be away so we can safely ransack their houses.

3. The “The insecure attention seeker”
These people need comments & attention STAT!. An example status update might look like: “ worst day ever!” or “ is sad”. Apparently these people hope to get enough pity or cheers such that their daily drama can match that of the best soap operas.

4. The “social media maven”
These people are updating all their social media status messages at once using tools like ping.fm. Heads up, lazy random out-of-place status update incoming!!!

5. The “marketer of minutia”
These folks will be sure you to let know that they are eating breakfast, just watched the latest episode of True Blood or how much they love their boyfriend/girlfriend/wife/dog/cat etc.

6. The “exclamationer”!!!!!!!
These people end literally every sentence with an exclamation. Similar to #3 and #5, these people have a sad idea of what is exciting or dramatic in life but try to make up for it with bad punctuation.

Please feel free to add any others i’ve missed in the comments.

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So… i sent them an email with a few recommendations:

1. Create a http://code.google.com/transit/spec/transit_feed_specification.html for the trains, which would get the detailed station & scheduling information into Google Maps.

2. For each train station, come up with a way to track the # of mins until the next train arrives and publish/maintain this information as XML for the developer community on the GO website.

3. Publish/maintain the Go Transit train schedule as XML for the developer community.

4. Publish/maintain all service advisories in XML format for the developer community in realtime.

I doubt i will get a response, but i will update if i do.

February 17th, 2009: Update – i received a response from Metrolinx (who i also sent my inquiry too). Here is what they had to say:

Note that you have sent your comments to Metrolinx. We are a provincial agency created by the Government of Ontario in 2006 and are tasked with addressing the urgent need to improve and integrate transportation in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA). Our mission is to develop a state-of-the-art transportation system that moves people and goods efficiently, economically and in an environmentally sustainable way. In doing so we are working closely with all of the transit authorities in the GTHA. However we are not involved in their day-to-day operations.

The GO Transit website is administered by GO Transit and as such I have passed your inquiry on to their Public Relations department publicrelations@gotransit.com. If you wish you can send further comments on their website to this e-mail address.

Metrolinx continues to maintain a close relationship with GO Transit as reflected in “The Big Move”, our regional transportation plan for the GTHA. You can review and/or download “The Big Move” at: http://www.metrolinx.com/thebigmove/index.html .

Best Regards,
Jacquie

Jacquie Menezes
Senior Associate, Public Affairs and Media
Metrolinx (Greater Toronto Transportation Authority)
Jacquie.Menezes@metrolinx.com
416.874.5923
www.metrolinx.com

And the response from GO Transit directly:

Thanks for writing about the GO Transit Web site. I have forwarded your suggestions to our Web committee for review. In the meantime, thanks again for sending valuable feedback — we appreciate your ideas and links to other sites.

Allison Derin
Webmaster
GO Transit
mailto:webmaster@gotransit.com

Again, i will update as i receive updates. Follow me on Twitter and i will send a Tweet as/if it happens.

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I think there is an opportunity here to really innovate the online banking experience in Canada, it’ll be interesting to see who’s going to make it happen.

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