Gizmodo reports:

A Volkswagen spokesperson told German magazine Capital that an iCar may be on the way. Steve Jobs and VW Chairman Martin Winterkorn got together in California a few days ago to “plan an intensive co-operation with the building of vehicles.” It might even be called an iCar

This would be the perfect April Fool’s joke. But we’re in August.
In other words: Wow.

Let’s see how this develops (it is still unconfirmed, after all). I’m curious to see how deep a car could get Apple-ized (i.e. not simply some iPhone like device on the dashboard..) I can only begin to imagine what Apple could do to a whole car.

It is probably only some sort of technology integration agreement (like what Apple did for the iPod with auto makers).

This is such my type of humor. I know it’s not new, but I had to point it out.
This guy created an anti-social parody of Facebook’s login page which he named Arsebook: “Arsebook is an anti-social utility that connects you with the people YOU HATE.”

Gotta love sudden, totally random and uncalled for hatred in CAPITALS.
I won’t spoil the rest. It’s not much, but it is hilarious. Check it out for yourself.
“Everyone Can HATE — Register”

[Via Marie-Josée’s Chez Marie - Open Bar]

PS: Funny thing about this is that I’m sure so many people will actually type in their Facebook logins and passwords into this.
PPS: I was most certainly right.

N’importe quel Montréalais(e) est au courant de la flagrante désuétude du système d’aqueduc de leur Ville – ces fontaines improvisées en pleine rue qui font les manchettes viennent périodiquement nous le rappeler.

Quand Yellowstone National Park déménage rue Mont-Royal, on s’empresse évidemment de réparer les dégâts. Par contre, un trou dans une conduite d’eau n’a pas toujours la force de Old Faithful Geyser, comme c’est le cas pour une tranchée situé au beau milieu du coin De la Savane et du Boulevard Décarie où tourbillonne une quantité impressionnante d’eau propre depuis environ trois semaines.

À chaque jour je dois passer devant et à chaque fois je trouve la situation totalement inacceptable et ridicule. Il semble que je ne sois pas le seul, si on en croit les affiches que quelqu’un à pris le soin d’y apposer :

« Fontaine de Jouvence » « Gracieuseté de Décarie Spa ® »
Après une seconde d’étonnement, j’ai probablement rit un bon 2 minutes. Haha! Quelqu’un s’est vraiment donné la peine de faire ça, trop drôle! Quelqu’un sait qui a mis ça là?

Montréal a jouit d’un des premiers systèmes d’aqueduc en Amérique du Nord, mais il semble aussi qu’il jouisse d’un des plus vieux, faute de réfection. Pas étonnant que le réseau gaspille 40% (!) de son eau traitée, uniquement au niveau de la distribution.

Mais évidemment, on ne répare à Montréal que lorsque cela est utile pour son image politique ou quand tout est sur le point de s’écrouler…

– Pierre Nick

The Ultimate Car Accessory: The Faux Stick-On Sunroof.

Jalopnik reports:
Dying for the status a car sunroof will bring, but lacking the financial liquidity to have one professionally installed? Worry not friend.

Here are the crunchy details from the eBay auction where you can get this coveted luxurious item [after the jump] [Read more from this topic...]

Photo by François @ Edito.qc.ca

I was sad I couldn’t have been there, but at least thanks to Facebook and the iPhone, my soul was.

On August 17th 1982, Phillips launches Compact Disc, making the format exactly 25 years old tomorrow. Commencing four years after Laserdisc and based on its technology, Compact Disc was to digital audio as Laserdisc was to digital video, in a 2.5x smaller package. Can you remember the first CD you got?

Le 17 Août 1982, Philips lance Compact Disc, qui aura donc 25 ans demain. Voyant le jour quatre ans après Laserdisc et basé sur la technologie de ce dernier, le Compact Disc était à l’audio numérique ce que Laserdisc était au vidéo numérique, dans un format 2.5x plus petit. Alors, c’était quoi votre premier CD?

Pierre-Nick
No Doubt – Tragic Kingdom (1995)

AppleInsider reports that Macintosh maker Apple, Inc is apparently on track to start construction on its two floors flagship Apple Store Montreal, on Ste-Catherine St. (near of De la Montagne St. – location is still unclear), following the footsteps of the other eight flagship class Apple Stores located in New York, London, LA, San Francisco, Tokyo, Chicago and Osaka. Sweet spot for many reasons.

The store would be on the 1300 West Ste-Catherine St. address block which would put it across the street or next to The Gap, Urban Outfitters and Montreal retail landmark Ogilvy’s, and near other select retailers such as Adidas Originals and French Connection UK.

This is a great location:

1. It is exactly in between the Peel and Guy-Concordia Metro stations on the Green Line and two blocks from Lucien-L’Allier station on the Orange Line
2. It’s on one of World’s longest retail streets!
3. But most importantly: it is also halfway between McGill University and Concordia University (and coincidently one block from its new Computer Science and Visual Arts Complex, two fields I perceive as important Apple consumers)

McGill (top left), Concordia (bottom left) and the metro’s proximity to the possible location of the Apple Store Montreal (Google Map).

This is even a better spot than I would have ever imagined for Apple.
I always believed Apple would have tried to get the old 1920 Montreal Savings Bank Building (Ste-Catherine St. and McGill College Ave.) that up to recently housed luxury accessories boutique Caban. Gap Inc’s Banana Republic later won the space to open its first Montreal store. This could have given Apple a very impressive store, with an Apple Store SoHo feel.

But now Apple would be near McGill, Concordia, and even my own École de technologie supérieure student markets, on a [mostly] trendy and [very] busy retail street, neighboring 3 subway stops. I’m positive few of the flagship Apple Stores enjoy such privileges.

Next up: a bit of downtown tourism, looking for candidates, hehe.

Update 2007-08-17: Apple Insider updates with exact location and pictures! It will be located in what is currently MENS high-end men clothing store, right next to Ogilvy. Address is 1321 St-Catherine West (marked with the pink square), meaning it’s on the north side of the street, between De la Montagne and Crescent.

It had to come sooner or later..
Facebook is introducing http://iphone.facebook.com

I know everyone is already talking about it, but since I’m such a Facebook whore addict active user and an avid Apple-lover I had to point it out. A simple UI giving you access to Facebook’s main features, the iPhone way. I almost prefer it to Facebook’s mainstream interface.

The interface is so lickable (Jobs referred to Aqua in 2001 at the unveiling of OS X as being “so nice you want to LICK it” and this is how I feel about it). It’s clean and it sizzles[1] for über user-centric leveraging of e-communities social Web 2.0 mobile networks.

To those saying the iPhone’s Web isn’t supposed to be a “mobile Internet” or a “watered down version of the Internet”: let me just say that the Web wasn’t designed for multi-touch goodness ;)

Literally, it’s stalking social networking at your [multiple]fingertips!

[1] (c) François and Olivier

Update – 6:44 PM: Speaking of which.. François – who’s on a trip to the San Francisco Bay Area – just called me from an iPhone in the San Francisco Apple Store by touching “Call Pierre-Nick” from my profile on Facebook for iPhone.. Oh wow.. Can we say killer app?

Je travaille près de la station de Métro Namur et habite près de la station Henri-Bourassa. Récemment, il m’est venu à l’idée de déterminer à quel point couper à Snowdon jusqu’à Jean-Talon (Ligne Bleue) était plus optimal ou non que de faire le Grand Tour de la Ligne Orange.

Vendredi dernier, je suis allé du point A au point B en empruntant le trajet rouge, et ça m’a pris 40-45 minutes.

Aujourd’hui, j’ai plutôt fait le trajet vert, c’est-à-dire couper par la Ligne Bleue. Je pensais bien économiser une dizaine de minutes, jusqu’au moment de monter à bord du train direction Montmorency à la station Jean-Talon…

Il y avait là l’homme à l’allure étrange aux côtés de qui j’avais préalablement pris place à la station Namur!

Donc Montréalais : couper par la Ligne Bleue, ça ne sert vraiment pas à grand-chose. On perds beaucoup trop de temps à attendre à Snowdon (et c’était vers la fin de l’heure de pointe). Ça vient nous prouver encore une fois que l’autre nom de la Ligne Bleue c’est la Ligne Université-de-Montréal…

I love when big discoveries come disturb the established idea everyone took for granted.

This week’s Nature reports of a Homo habilis (Handy man) skull fossil that was found in Kenya. Oh, ok. Thing is, it was found at a walking distance and dating of the same time period as a Homo erectus (Standing man) skull, two species supposed to have been descendants of one another.

Before this discovery, it was globally established that Homo habilis lived on Earth from about 2.5 to 1.5 million years ago, versus Homo erectus who lived just after and up to around 300 000 years ago[1], as a descendant of Homo habilis. This new Homo erectus skull was dated at about 1.55 million years, older than the Homo habilis skull which revealed a 1.44 million years age. According to experts, this could give both species a cohabitation time frame of about 500 000 years!

This challenges the classic evolution illustration we were shown so much while growing up: that image sequence of the homo genus, going from a more ape-like species to the modern Homo sapiens sapiens (us!).

This discovery is huge, calling for the dismissing of the linear model of human evolution for a more chaotic and unorganized one (which when you think of it, makes much more sense considering the size of our planet).

This is so great. I love science.

– Pierre Nick

[1] Every source I checked had a difference of a few thousands of years, and I’m not a paleontologist or an anthropologist mind you!

Main article in Nature:
Spoor, F. et al. “Implications of new early Homo fossils from Ileret, east of Lake Turkana, Kenya“. Nature 448, 688-691 (2007).

References:
Hopkins, Michael. “Twin fossil find adds twist to human evolution” (2007-08-08). Nature.com [retrieved 2007-08-14]

Wilford, John. “Fossils in Kenya Challenge Linear Evolution“. The New York Times (2007-08-08) [retrieved on 2007-08-14] [Bugmenot required]

Borenstein, Seth. “Fossils Challenge Old Evolution Theory“. The Associated Press (2007-08-08). [retrieved on WashingtonPost.com 2007-08-14]