Last years' resolution was met.
(Do more Quality work and expand client base with higher end productions)
Unfortunately, with many of my new bigger clients comes confidentiality agreements which doesn't permit me to post some of my work but I will link and update this post when the footage is cleared.
Until then, here is some of 2009...
Second Harverst (Food Network Canada) from Anthony K Baird on Vimeo.
BCS Lounge Promo from Anthony K Baird on Vimeo.
It was recently my anniversary. So, I thought what would make my wife's life easier, a Tricorder or an iphone.
Since I moved both of our phones to Fido last year from Bell Mobility and payed a minor penalty to break my contract early. (The monthly savings because of the switch made up for breaking contract early, simple math). Anyways back to this saga of stupid business. So, I called Fido to figure out how much it was going to cost me to modify my wife's current contract and flip it to an iphone, a 3 year contract.
Here we go, the "customer support agent", let's call her Amy, told me that my wife's phone plan was not eligible until June 2010 for an upgrade? I was mildly confused. She told me that to get an iphone at 99$ she had to wait.
"OKayyyy, what if I don't want to wait?", she replied "599$ + monthly penalty for breaking contract". Seemed sorta expensive when you do the simple math (add on a voice and data plan/3 year contract).
There was a moment of silence on my iphone that I was calling from... then a solution! I said to Amy, "what if I cancel her phone and get a new phone number" or even better "what if I just move her phone plan to another provider like Rogers and pay the monthly penalty to break her contract?". Simple math. 99$+ retain phone number+ 300$ penalty. Way cheaper and odds that customer service would be much better than Fido's. She agreed with me. So, I ended the call. Interesting.
I called 611 on my iphone 2 minutes later, Fido "Customer Support". I have learned from my years with Bell Sympatico and Rogers Cable to alway call twice if your not sure you got the right information. I must say that I was a little confused why Fido didn't want me to lock in to a new 3 year contract before the next contract expired. I would imagine that this would be a Cell Phone Provider's wet dream. Let's call this agent Jason and he confirmed that this was all correct. Moreover, confirmed that my best course of action was to go to another provider Rogers.
I sat baffled since I was trying to do this contract change in the shadow of Bell and Telus announcing that they were going to carry the iphone. Wouldn't Fido want me as a customer for 3 more years before the real competition comes to town? I voiced my displeasure on Twitter where let's just call the user @Fidomobile tried to solve my problem by sendind it to the head office "Customer Care dept."
I talked to, let just call him Abdul, for 12 minutes where he re-iterated the same information the other agents had informed me but with a particular spin "if they just let people change there contract constantly Fido could not run there business properly". I wish I could recall his analogy but I countered with mine which at that point just seemed to see that I was not buying his "sales pitch".
My Analogy: I lease a Car for a 5 years contract. 3 years into the contract I go back to the dealer and say " I want a new model. Car salesman would promptly sign a new contract, locking me in for another 5 year contract. Thus, another happy customer and that is how you should run your business.
Fido's policies are counter intuitive and they have weakness' in there plans that I won't go into.
At this point, I am waiting for Bell & Telus to roll out there iphone plans. Then I will move my 2 phones to the company that offers the best service and plans, but not Fido because thwarting your customers from upgrading doesn't make for happy customers. Moreover, I will discourage my clients who usually ask me technical questions about future purchases not to become a Fido customer.
Oh yeah and thanks for ruining my wedding anniversary gift for my wife.
So, after this blog post was posted. I feel the need to be completly transparent and inform you that the Executive Office at Fido called again. The level 2 customer service person, let's call him Simon, informed me that they could wave the contract delays & redtape after review of "my situation".
I was speechless... after all that work on my part. The best damage control was to give me what I originally asked for...? Nothing extra for the discomfort, unpleasant "taste in my mouth" at there silly policies or ruining my wife's wedding anniversary present. I didn't really say anything further to "Simon" since FIDO had failed me for the last time.
Fido is on the Blacklist of recommedation(Not alone on that list. Bell Sympatico (bad service), Rogers Cable (overpriced & poor quality), Rogers "HighSpeed" Internet).
I am patiently waiting for the competion to begin (Nov. 6). Telus or even Bell you can get my business for the next few years. What is your best offer?
P.S. If you make it really good. I will tell all my clients, friends and familly to sign up too like I did when they ask me for tech help.
My old friend Haig Armen, web maven and all around great designer has a media studio in Vancouver.
Last time I went to Vancouver to visit, he showed me his pretty sexy studio where his crew of mad web scientist do their craft. Way back when, we use to be roommates in Toronto and he introduced me to macs, adobe products and how PC's don't have to be clunky . Thanks.
Lift has recently started a cool podcast but as per usual they are not doing it the same boring "Charlie Rose" or 6 o'clock news style with a fake BG. When you check out the vidcast on the lift studios' site it takes over your screen in glorious MASSIVE FLASH.
For some reason, probably because I always have strong opinions, he interviewed me via Skype.
Was nice to talk about Movies & Creative stuff with my old roomate.
Subscribe to the podcast there is always a good creative conversation a-la Ted Talks.
I bought this small gem of a camera on Amazon.ca a few months ago to film my newborn son. It is so simple my wife uses it all the time. (aka it is bullet proof since she isn't so keen on the technical side of things).
I brought it to two small shoots to snap some behind the scenes but realized it was a great tool little tool to have on set when you want to try out a move or show someone instead of tallking it out. I am confident that some young filmmakers could use this camera and Stu Maschwitz book to make a kick-ass cleaver movie once you figure out the workflow.
At around 250$ it is a win-win situation: 720p, built in usb charger/connection/2hr rechargable battery & 8 gigs(2hrs) storage, format AVC.
I played around and quickly with the Apple ProRes coded was able to bring it into FCP Studio 2. I will have to redo the test once I get an Intel mac and see how it deals with the AVC codec naitively. Apple ProRes added a little softness but I like the amount that it took away from that nasty Hi-def video look. Bringing it into Apple's Color app would defenitly render some nice results.
Flip HD comparison with Apple ProRes Transcode from Anthony K Baird on Vimeo.
Some Reviews from around the net:
http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/30/flip-video-ultra-hd-video-review/ (ENGAGET REVIEW)
I am working on a new blog post about my recent disconnection from Rogers Cable. But, I thought it would be good to re-post one of my popular post from the old Blog space in the meantime.
(originally posted on Banana Boat Blog on Wordpress Sept.1, 2008- 1:29 pm)
I was driving on the QEW, coincidentally in a some traffic on a highway, and I saw the new ad campaign billboard for Rogers High Speed Internet "The Fastest and Most Reliable. Period."
So, I reminisced about my year long struggle with Rogers about their High Speed internet Cable.
In August 2007, I decided to make the leap or some might call it run away, escape from the poor tech support service from Bell Sympatico. (3 tips: When calling Bell Sympatico help line. Always call 2 times in a row to cross reference there story, get a Mac so they can't blame you for a virus and call repeatedly, follow up and don't wait to escalate the problem to a level 1 tech) Being mildly technologically savvy, I notices a slow down at night so being a long time Bell Sympatico customer (aka Proactive) I called Rogers Tech line, they were surprisingly pleasant and attempted to help me for the next month or so. They were also very candid in the fact that the problem was in my area and their responsibility and they proved it by refunding me the price that I was paying for the internet.
I diligently, kept tabs and speed checked to see when the problem would be fixed. I would call monthly and explain the scenario after a 20 minute conversation they would realize that it was their issue and return or credit my account for the lack of proper internet. After, 9 months I decided to pay for internet service and got a DSL line with YAK, I got tired of my 56k modem speed at nighttime. At that point I realized something amazing… I don’t need 8meg download the 4-5meg from Yak was just fine. The internet is pretty streamlined and Flash based and I would rather have a slightly slower but consistent service than a bi-polar one.
Finally, I gave up on Rogers “High Speed Cable” they never did resolve the issue in my area and understood why I was canceling, I returned the Modem to them and wrote them this snail mail letter in hopes that they would realize the lack of vigilance and response to a known issue.
Dear Rogers Cable,
Last year, August 1st, I decided to switch from my Bell Sympatico High-speed internet account (########) that I had since the inception of DSL in 1999 to Rogers Cable High Speed internet. I have been a long time customer of Rogers Cable, for many years enjoying quality programming like Rogers HD and The NFL ticket package.
Unfortunately, my experience with Rogers High speed Internet was not one that I would recommend to any of my friends, family or peers.
I work from home as a freelance Film & Video Editor and my ability to communicate on the internet is essential to the success of my work. When I initially received the service it seemed faster than Bell but I soon realized that it was an unstable, inconsistent and delivering less than the minimum required speed that I purchased. My 7-8 meg package was most of the time dipping down to 725 kbps which is a little faster than a 56k modem.
I proceeded to contact Rogers Tech Support /Customer Support for the next 9 months here is a log of the calls.
4 August Natalie (wsr02028431)
22 August Daniel (713 kbps dfr00053341) Known Server Problem in the area
24 August Peter (wsr02031728) 24-48 hours the problem should be fixed
28 August Susan-Supervisor (noted problem)
29 August Thash – Supervisor (ongoing problem noted)
29 August E-Chat Rogers.com (B226 George *rude via chat and less than helpfull)
30 August Marc (issue in area congestion, Known issue, technician are aware)
4 September Arvin (wsr02045040) credit for 2 weeks
12 September Cody (Dfr00052241 & wsr 02055296
19 September Natalie (update on status of repair)
26 September Abdul (refund for lack of proper service)
12 October Sasha (Refunded internet charge)
14 October Paul (ongoing issue in the area)
7 November Peter (credit refund for lack of proper service)
12 November (dfr00053341 & wsr02055296)
13 January David/Terra(billing) (tier 2 office, unresolved tech issue in area)
18 February Dudley (refund lack of proper service)
1 April Sarik,Ramon, Jeff (wsr 02239690)
4 April David (dfr00053341)
23 May Jason (refund 2 billing cycles)
31 May Amy/Greg (Cancelled my Service)
I must say that I was impressed with quality of the Customer Support Line.
However, despite the Customer/tech supports general concerns and efforts to keep me as a customer in April I subscribed to a DSL service in hopes that Rogers would soon finally fix the “unresolved issue in the area” in the interim. Unfortunately, I finally had to cancel my cable Internet service and enjoy a more stable constant and reliable connection from your competitors.
I believe it is important to note this experience has made me doubt on the reliability of Rogers Cable in rectifying a major problem in their system in a reasonable time span. Moreover, since I am involved in the media industry and many of my clients come to me for recommendation on a variety of technical issues. I could not professionally recommend any of Rogers’ services because of the lack of back end technical responsiveness to a major technical issue.
Finally, I have lost any loyalty to Rogers and I am currently reviewing my Cable package options with your competitors since they now also provide HD programming and the NFL Ticket. I was also going to transition my business cell phone Package to Rogers when my contract was up with Bell Mobility in anticipation for an iphone. However, I am more than willing to wait on healthy alternatives to your iphone package from your competitors.
Sincerely,
Anthony K Baird
gorillaproductions.ca
I never did here back from them, I guess they don't need my business. Unfortunately, I have to endure their Cable service for one more season of football. However, as soon as we move, in the very near future, I will be canceling my cable service and discouraging my friends and peers from purchasing anything Rogers because if your unlucky enough to have a problem they don't fix it.
Anyways, Back to the QEW Billboard. "The Fastest and Most Reliable. Period. Well, I went to their site to see how they can claim this with a straight "face" and they put a link to a CBC marketplace news report on internet speed where they were put in a head-to-head speed battle with the big boys of high speed (Telus, Bell Sympatico & Shaw). Rogers...You should not be proud of beating those "competitors". In the report, they are the lesser of the evil High speed internet providers not a badge that should be worn proudly (I am the best of the Bad Companies). CBC should have thrown in a smaller company like TekSavvy or Yak to see how a real David versus Goliath Battle ends. All this to say Rogers Cable High Speed service was inconsistent and slow, not reliable, period.
Don't Just Read this Post, Check your internet speed regularly, Post a Comment with your Rogers speed. I am sure that someone at the "Big House" monitors the web reviews of there service. Let Big Bro know that your checking up on him too.