It’s no secret I love the Leafs. This trailer got me a little pumped for the upcoming season, I got to say.

The music is from call Mind Heist by Zach Hemsey from the Inception trailer.

Videos Inception, Toronto Maple Leafs

Microsoft has recruited the man from our beloved Double Rainbow YouTube Video for their latest commercial.

They created an ad showcasing their Windows Live Photo Gallery’s adjacent photo connector feature to capture the Rainbow all the way across the sky.

This ad is full on.

From AllTop: Microsoft recruits “double rainbow guy” for new ad [video]

Commercial, Videos Double Rainbow, Microsoft, Windows Live Photo Gallery

Google’s Gmail is renown for its incredibly intuitive spam filter, that never seems to snag your personal mail and keep your inbox free of bologna.

Well they’ve adaptated that system for detecting important emails. This cute video shows you how.

Thanks for the find Dave Lane.

Commercial, The Web, Videos Gmail, Google, Priority Inbox

I know this came out ages ago, but I only just discovered it and I thought it was fun.

I guess United was trying to counter David Carroll’s United Breaks Guitars.

Comedy, Videos 300, Parody, United Airlines

As many have you read in my previous post Tractors on the Highway I had a windshield with two minor nicks and one real bad crack.

My father, who works in the glass industry, recommended Apple Auto Glass on Topsail Rd. Now I’m recommending them to you.

There service was great and they had my vehicle road-worthy in only a couple of hours.

To top it off, they left me with a nice little Apple air freshener for my car as well as an Apple notepad. Such a small gesture made me feel appreciated and like I came out on the winning side of that deal.

And the worksmenship was flawless. I couldn’t even tell it wasn’t my old windshield.

When I got to my car, however, there was a gift left on my windshield from some of my sea gull friends in the area. Not as new and pristine as I was hoping for, but I can hardly blame Apple for that.

Service Apple Auto Glass, Mount Pearl

I have always had a little pet peeve when it comes to tractors on the highway. I’m mostly referring to front-loaders* and dump trucks, because I pass them every day.

Yesterday while driving to work I was coming up on a dump truck. Not wanting to drive behind because of previous bad experiences (a rock flew up and cracked my windshield on two separate occasions) I began to over take him.

Then I heard a sound I could only describe as a meteor bursting through my car.

It was a rock. And it came from under the dump truck.

Note: This isn't my windshield. I brought my car in to be fixed before I could take a picture.

That’s 3  cracks on my windshield from rocks on the ground that fly up as dump trucks run over them.

The first couple of cracks I chalked up to bad luck. Now I’m really considering how often this must happen to other drivers.

There must be a lot of windshield cracks out there from this same effect.

In fact, I asked my insurance broker out of curiousity if this is a regular claim.

“You wouldn’t even believe how many claims we get.”

Why hasn’t anyone acted to correct this?! Insurance companies are spending a fortune and it’s creating major headache for you and me. Not to mention the safety ramifications of flying rocks while driving.

Obviously the government cannot ban these vehicles from the highway, but surely something can be done to prevent these problems from happening in the future.

This is dangerous. I am a composed driver, but if my mother was behind the wheel when that rock his my car there would have been panic. There could have been an accident on the highway yesterday. The kind that could be avoided.

Perhaps regulating better mud flaps to deflect rogue stones. Perhaps limiting the speed of these trucks to a speed that will not catapult rocks as they drive over them.

Alternatively I could stop using the highway and take a route that takes four times longer but why should I have to drive the long and painful route?

What can we do to fix this problem?

* It came to my attention yesterday that front-loaders, which are always driving along the shoulder of the highway, may not be driving legally (someone told me a vehicle must be able to reach the speed limit to be allowed to use that roadway. Not sure how best to verify this) and that they have to be loaded on a flat-bed truck to be carried on the highway. Consequently when these tractors are givin’er on the shoulder of the road, they are pushing loose stones out on to the highway.

Rants Dump trucks, Outer Ring Road, Tractors

Google has been quick to learn that people either check their email frequently or leave it open all day. So why create a separate website for each application they build when they can make it accessible in people’s email.

And that’s what they did when they developed a phone calling application.

From the convenience of Gmail you an can click a link located in your Chat dialog that will open the dialer to the right.

The rates a cheap but calls within North America are free until the end of 2010.

I tested this out. It ain’t bad.

Unless I get a bill for $0.20. Haha.

Business, The Web Google, Phone

Creating GregPike.ca has been a trying and melancholic experience for me. When Columbia Pictures heard my story, they promptly dropped The Social Network story about Mark Zuckerberg and drafted a new story about me.

Here is the trailer for the upcoming movie about GregPike.ca

Written and Produced by GregPike.ca

Shot, Directed, and Edited by Phil Hogan

Starring…
Greg Pike.ca as GregPike.ca
Nicole Kieley
Ashley Kieley
Kevin Noseworthy
Phil Hogan
Mark Denine
Christopher “Grubbie” Penney
Mark “Magic Man” Webber as JT
Nerissa James

Also featuring…
Jennifer Dawson
Megan Murphy
Vanessa Linehan
The smokers at Gushue Hall

And special thanks to Denine for throwing an impromptu party for a couple quick shots.

Comedy, GregPike.ca, Videos Ashley Kieley, Christopher Penney, Greg Pike, Jennifer Dawson, Kevin Noseworthy, Mark Denine, Mark Webber, Mark Zuckerberg, Megan Murphy, Nerissa James, Nicole Kieley, Phil Hogan, The Social Network

This video says a lot of incredibly interesting stuff about what motivates employees in the workplace. The conclusions it draws are not necessarily what you would expect, particularly when it comes to monetary rewards.

Here are some of the key elements I took away from this talk.

• Money incentives work well to promote great behavior when the actions are purely motor-driven. That is jobs like hammering nails or cleaning hospital rooms.
• Cash rewards have opposite and devastating effects when dealing with conceptual and creative tasks, like in my case, developing websites.
• Top performers are going to perform well when money is taken out of the picture, but money has to be removed in the sense that they are not making so little that they hungry for more, but not making so much that it creates the mental hurdles listed above.
• Other, more creative incentives need to be considered for top performers to continue to do well. Things like giving them time to build what they want in exchange for results.

Inspirational, Videos Dan Pink, Motivation, RSA Animate

Social media and blogging have made good customer service imperative in ways that many business owners still don’t understand.

I have not done near enough articles on customers service, good or bad, since starting my blog, but of the businesses I’ve covered check out how well my blog ranks on Google.

Google Search: Kilmory Resort

Google Search: Marble Zip Tours

Google Search: Jungle Jims George St.

Google Search: Vogue Optical

This shows the importance of offering good service. I am just one person. Imagine all the comments on Facebook and tweets on Twitter. And blogs posts that are buried through all these Google results.

So listen up businesses! Do a good job on customer service and your customers will advocate on your behalf.

Poor service is inevitable and I am sure most of your customers understand that, but how you manage that service once it has been reported will be the difference between a customer’s good experience and a customer’s bad experience.

And customers love to chat about bad experience.

Business, Service Good Service, Jungle Jims, Kilmory Resort, Marble Zip Tours, Poor service, Vogue Optical