NHL Players Media Tour Video

Here's some pictures I found on Puck Daddy ofthe/nhl Players Media Tour I posted an entryon yesterday (I included the ones of Jordan Staal and the Staal brothers -- can you believe NO PICTURES OF CROSBY??! How dare they?!!) I also included a video found on the Penguins webpage of an installation of "The Hockey Show" and it's host, Carrie Milbank, interviewing the players who participated in last week's tour.Source

The century club

In Saturday's post, We made a brief mention of the Wilkes-Barre/ScrantonPenguins' 10th anniversary teamas selected by fans. Seeing a few names like Dennis Bonvie andAlain Nasreddine on the roster, it was obvious that fans voted with theirhearts on this one. And there's nothing wrong with that. That's what somethinglike this is intended for.But after seeing this team, and having a job that doesn'tafford us the financial or social abilities to actually spend a Friday nightlike a normal person in their 20s, we did some digging in the Internet HockeyDatabase, and figuredout the leading career scorers with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.The following is a listing of every player with 100 or morecareer points with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton: PlayerGames PlayedGoalsAssistsPointsTom Kostopoulos31897149246Tomas Surovy2398988177Toby Petersen28872105177Shane Endicott2927393166Kris Beech1715397150Michel Ouellet1827173144Eric Meloche2496177138Martin Sonnenberg2135481135Matt Murley2164887135Colby Armstrong2514683129*-Jonathan Filewich2246261123Ross Lupaschuk2714274116John Slaney894268110*-Ryan Stone1813276108Matt Hussey2695156107Greg Crozier1484658104Kurtis McLean1634259101 *-Still with the Penguins organization.Not exactly a list full of.nhl All-Stars, but then again, ifyou are a legit.nhl talent, you're not going to spend too much time in the AHL.(Photo: PittsburghPenguins)Penguins-For those of you wanting to catch the Penguins in person incentral Ohio, the Blue Jackets will make single-game tickets availableSept. 19, noon. The Penguins play in Columbus March 12. Click here for more information.-Can Jonathan Filewich, Alex Goligoski or Ryan Stonecontribute to the Penguins this season?-Sarah Palin is no Linda Staal.Southeast Division-The Lightning think they have the best top six forwards inthe league.Dan Cleary, Pavel Datsyuk, Johan Franzen, Marian Hossa, Tomas Holmstrom and HenrikZetterberg not available for comment.-Lightning owner and former Penguins forward Len Barrie shot back at former coach John Tortorella.Central Division-Predators forward Steve Sullivan is still dealing with aback injury.-Forward Tomas Kopecky might be the Red Wings' MVP.If you're a Penguins fan, you might not appreciate the reason. Northwest Division-Canadiens enforcer and former Penguin Georges Laraque digsthe fighting style of Oilers goon Zack Stortini.Norris Division-Former Penguins goaltender Petr Skudra is apparentlysuiting up for the Bulgarian women's national team these days.We think.Source

Time For An Attitude Change

from Ken Campbell of the Hockey News, When Semin returned to the NHL in 2006-07, he should have been forced to comply with the final year of his entry-level contract because he never fulfilled it and was suspended by the team for the two seasons he was in Russia. But somehow, that final season was ignored and the Capitals, knowing Semin wouldn’t have returned for entry-level money, managed to sign him to a new two-year deal despite the fact he had not fulfilled the terms of his first contract.When you see things like that happening, can you blame Radulov – who was contractually in exactly the same boat as Semin – for bolting back home at the first opportunity? If the NHL isn’t going to respect its own contracts, how can it expect anyone else to do the same?And this is the kind of attitude both the leaders of the NHL and IIHF find themselves up against these days. NHL owners talk a good game, but are happy to circumvent their own rules and try to do business on their own terms if it means they can get a star player.more

Lightning 5, Penguins 4, SO

PREGAMEApologies for the delays folks. We had (imagine this) computer problems.We made that walk up to the arena from the Steel Plaza station. It was kind of weird considering we haven't done it for four months.That walk isn't going to seem so nice come December.It's also kind of weird not seeing the big television set up out in front of the arena:We spotted a few Tampa Bay fans hanging out in front of arena: The rink always looks weird without advertisements on the boards. It's almost like an Olympic rink A few jerseys we spotted before the game:Sidney Crosby Team CanadaSidney Crosby RimouskiStephen Dixon Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. That's hardcore.Marian Hossa. Someone's in denial.Miroslav Satan Islanders.Frank Pietrangelo.Tomas Sandstrom.Someone already has a Ryan Malone Lightning jersey.Warmups:Fox Chapel native Bill Thomas took to the ice in warmup wearing No. 37. That's odd to see on someone other than Jarkko Ruutu.Karri Ramo will start in net for Tampa Bay tonight. Marc-Andre Fleury gets the nod for the Penguins.Michel Ouellet's name is announced as a starter and gets booed.Ironically enough, a lightning bolt is flashed across the Jumbotron behind the Penguins logo.A "LET'S GO PENS!" chant begins.No Jeff Jimerson tonight. Sarah Marince gets the call. FIRST PERIOD19:59: Steven Stamkos wins the opening faceoff against Sidney Crosby. We clearly know who was the better first overall pick.19:09: That idea about turning Jordan Staal into a winger is looking OK. He takes a pass along the blueline moves into the offensive zone and rips a wrister by Ramo from the right faceoff circle. Nice shot. Evgeni Malkin and Ben Lovejoy gets assists. The "Hey Song" is played. Penguins 1-0.(Please visit the site to view this media) 18:06: From the left faceoff circle, Janne Pesonen throws a wrister on net. It sails through the crease.17:05: A line of Eric Godard, Ryan Stone and Jeff Taffe is on the ice.16:26: Crosby comes darting down the left side and dishes a pass to Miroslav Satan on the other side of the net. Satan has a little trouble taking the pass which was into his skates and fails to get a clean shot on net. Ryan Craig is sent off for hooking. A power play unite of Sergei Gonchar, Malkin, Crosby, Satan and Staal is put on the ice.15:10: Satan fakes a one timer from the right boards and shuffles it to Crosby near the net. Crosby tries to direct it on net, but fails to get a clean touch on the puck.14:26: The power play expires with the Penguins getting only a slightly threatening attack on net.12:31: Crosby tries to charge the net, falls and dishes a pass from his belly to a trailing Pascal Dupuis. Dupuis winds up and blasts a one-timer that Ramo kicks out. Nice jobby Crosby keep the play alive.10:58: Vladimir Mihalik throws Bill Thomas to the ice in the neutral zone. Thomas gets away with a trip on Mihalik. We hope we have to never spell that name again.10:23: Malkin backhands a loose puck in the crease on net. Ramo keeps it out.8:06: We get our first fight of the night. Godard and former Penguins prospect David Koci drop the gloves. Lots of wild punches thrown. Quite a few connecting. They eventually tire out and pin each other against the boards. The officials step in and break them up. Godard might not be as dominant as Georges Laraque, but we have a feeling his fights will be a lot more entertaining.7:03: Darryl Sydor blasts a slapper from the left point and misses the net.3:29: Malkin, Petr Sykora and Jordan Staal almost connect on a slick play in traffic. Staal's shot sails wide.2:58: Stamkos fires a quick shot from the right side. Fleury kicks it out.1:43: Kris Beech is nailed for hooking. We'd say it's a bad time to take a penalty late in a period, but it's the preseason.0:59: From the right side, Radek Smolenak tries to jam a puck in. Fleury is up to the task and keeps it out. Some of these names on the Lightning's roster tonight don't exactly roll off the tounge.0:00: End of period. Penguins 1, Lightning 0.FIRST INTERMISSION-The Lightning has 10 shots while the Penguins have 9.-Tampa Bay will get 16 seconds of power play time to begin the second period.-The Malkin-Staal-Sykora line was easily the best looking line for the Penguins that period. Crosby-Dupuis-Satan had something going, but they still looked a little off.-Better than Ezra's "Good" is playing as text messages are shown on the Jumbotron.(Please visit the site to view this media)Best message sent to the Jumbotron:"Pesonen to win the Calder"-More than a few of you have commented in this forum and e-mailed us that a radio broadcast isn't available through the team's Web site. We'll try to get a definitive answer on this. We apologize for incorrectly stating there would be a broadcast available in this morning's post.-Tampa Bay has a 10-8 advantage in faceoffs.-Bill Thomas leads all skaters with three shots on net.-Stamkos looks like he belongs in the NHL. He doesn't seem to be out of place going against NHL talent.-Ben Lovejoy leads the Penguins in ice time with 7:38.SECOND PERIOD19:43: Beech's penalty expires.18:22: Ahh. Good old Michel Ouellet. The Penguins misplay a puck near their net. Stamkos jumps on it and dishes it into the slot. Ouellet had a wide open shot on net and guess what? He totally misses the net. It seems just like the 2006-07 season.18:14: Lovejoy is sent off for dumping a Tampa Bay player near the boards. Two minutes for interference.18:02: Right off a faceoff, Crosby dumps a Tampa Bay player with a nice check.17:15: Brooks Oprik whips a puck down ice from the corner to kill some time.16:51: We're getting word that Sergei Gonchar won't be back in the lineup tonight. The reason isn't clear yet.16:10: Just as the power play expires, Janne Niskala scoops a pass from the corner. Sneaks in on net and rips a nice wrister that burns Fleury. Heck of a shot. Lightning 1, Penguins 1.15:55: Ryan Stone and Zenon Konopka drop the gloves. It's another spirited bout. Lots of punches thrown. More than a few connecting. Each of these guys are trying to earn a roster spot. We'd call this one a draw.15:20: Orpik is sent off for interference.14:55: Andrew Hutchinson is sent off for holding. We'll have four-on-four hockey for 1:36.14:37: A feed to the Tampa Bay radio broadcasters can be found at WDAE-AM's Web Site.13:50: The attendance is officially 16,287. Not bad for a preaseaon game against a roster composed of mostly AHL talent for Tampa Bay. 12:54: Wyatt Smith collects a loose puck in the crease, gets behind the defense and sneaks it in by Fleury's right leg. Sloppy goal for the Penguins to give up on defense. Lightning 2-1.11:20: Pick up Wyatt Smith in your fantasy league. He is the league leader in preseason goal. Radek Smolenak dishes a puck from behind the net. Smith does a baseball slide into the net and drives it by Fleury somehow. Lightning 3-1.10:55: Pesonen moves down the right side and directs a shot on net. Ramo makes the save despite traffic. A body collides with Ramo who falls and loses some of his equipment. The play continues. Ramo gets back up minus his blocker. Play is stopped. Godard is called for cross checking.10:14: The Penguins have a penalty killing unit Crosby, Satan, Eaton and Goligoski on the ice.8:58: Malkin tries to go one-on-one with Matt Smaby but Smaby calmly pokes the puck away.7:11: A Lightning player rips a shot on net. Fleury pulls it in with the cuff his his left elbow.6:27: Ward is sent off for roughing.5:42: With Gonchar absent, Alex Goligoski is on the power play with Crosby, Malkin, Satan and Staal.5:15: Pesonen appears to score off a rebound and during a delayed penalty. but the goal is waved off. A brief review is held. The reason the goal was waved was because play was blown dead. Mihalik is sent off for two minutes. The Penguins need to score here. Five on three.4:55: Ramo covers a loose puck in the crease.4:42: Crosby fires a slapper from the point. Ramo stops it. Satan scoops up the rebound, goes behind the net and dishes a pass to Sykora on the right side. Sykora zips a wrister by a prone Ramo. The Hey Song is played. Lightning 3-2.(Please visit the site to view this media)2:37: Jeff Taffe makes a nice steal. He dishes the pass to Pesonen in the slot. Pesonen fires a shot while pressured. The shot miss, hits the backboard. Ramo covers the rebound. It's weird seeing Taffe in No. 22. We still see Paul Stanton or Rick Tocchet in that jersey.1:55: Mihalik is determined to get his name on the score sheet as much as possible. He's sent off for holding. It would be nice fo rthe Penguins to get a goal here, even it is the preaseason.0:44: Goligoski tees up a slapper from the point. Konopka and Ryan Craig each seem to get a piece of it. Konopka has a bit of a limp afterwards.0:00: End of period. Lightning 3, Penguins 2.SECOND INTERMISSION-The Penguins have a 21-19 lead in shots.-We feel kind of silly saying this since it's a preseason game, but the Lightning certainly seemed like a more aggresive team. But Tampa Bay's roster is full of guys trying to earn NHL roster spots.-The Penguins have a 26-21 advantage in faceoffs. -Malkin leads the team in ice time with 17:43.-It was explained to us none of the preseason games are televised due to a lack of advertising revenue basically.-No official reason was really given to us as to a lack of a live radio presence for the game. But podcast of the games are available on the team's Web site.-The Penguins will have a two second power play to start the period. THIRD PERIOD19:17: Evgeny Artyukhin (6-foot-5, 254 pounds) crunches Alex Goligoski (6-foot-0, 187 pounds) in the corner.17:14: Stamkos dishes a very nice backhanded pass from behind the net into the slot. Craig tries to punch it in but Fleury denies him.15:02: Smolenak is sent off for holding.14:24: Crosby is sent off for slashing. We'll have 1:23 of four-on-four.13:18: There's still nothing official on Gonchar, but the phrase "MRI" has been tossed around here in the press box.13:08: Artyukhin is sent off for roughing. We'll have seven seconds of four-on-three.12:58: Goligoski fires a slapper. Craig slides out to block it.11:43: Crosby controls teh puck in the corner, spins away from Andy Rogers and charges the net with the puck. Ramo denies him and cleans up the chance on the rebound.11:18: Wyatt Smith is going to be all over the score sheet tomorrow. He's sent off for hooking. The Penguins will have a five-on-three advantage for 10 seconds. Michel Therrien calls time out to organize his team.11:08: Artyukhin's penalty expires.10:58: Mihalik blocks a shot from the point.10:09: Shorthanded, Craig comes down the right side and throws a shot on net. Fleury makes the save.9:49: Goligoski throws a shot towards the net from the right point. It hits a few bodies, gets batted around. Sykora is in the right place, collects the puck and rips it into the net by an out of place Ramo. Pesonen and Goligoski are credited with assists. The "Hey Song" is played. The dream is alive. A perfect preseason record is still within reach! Lightning 3, Penguins 3.(Please visit the site to view this media)9:00: Stone drives to the net dragging a few bodies. He tries to get a shot on net but sends it wide.7:09: It figures the one time Kris Beech decides to look physical, it leads to him getting penalized. He runs a Lightning player behind the Tampa Bay net from behind and sends him into the boards face first. Beech gets five minutes for boarding and a game misconduct. Taffe will serve the penalty. What a stupid play.6:12: Crosby comes up ice with the puck, spins and rips a backhander on net. Ramo fights it off for a save.2:53: Crosby and Bill Thomas come up ice on a two-on-one. Crosby hangs on to it, and roofs a shorthanded goal over Ramo's shoulder on the stickside. There was no way Thomas was getting that puck. The goal was unassisted. Crosby now leads the league in shorthanded preseason goal. The "Hey Song" is played. Penguins 4-3.(Please visit the site to view this media)1:19: So much for wrapping this game up quickly. Bochenski collects a loose puck in the offensive zone, glides in on net and fires a nice wrister by Fleury on the near side. Really nice goal. Sloppy defense. Lightning 4, Penguins 4.0:00: End of period. Lightning 4, Penguins 4.THIRD INTERMISSION-The Penguins have a 29-28 lead in shots.-There's really not a lot you can take away from this game. The Penguins appear sloppy because it's a preseason game. The Lightning appear sloppy because its roster is stocked with AHL-caliber talent.OVERTIME4:45: Bochenski gets a pass in the crease and gets a shot on net. Fleury makes a solid save.3:16: Sykora pounds a slapper on net from the left side. Ramo says no.2:05: Staal weaves through the defense, goes through the neutral zone, into the offensive zone, behind the net and dishes a pass to Dupuis. Dupuis tries to fires a quick one-timer but a Tampa Bay player appears to get a piece of the shot and deflects it.0:30: Craig throws a lazy wrister on net from the right side. Fleury shuffles it away.0:03: Malkin tries to go through the defense with the puck. Rogers dumps him in the slot.0:00: End of period. Lightning 4, Penguins 4.SHOOTOUT Before the shootout, "Right Now" by Van Halen is played.(Please visit the site to view this media) Crystal Pepsi = Underrated.The Penguins take the first shot. Miroslav Satan goes first. He comes in fast on net, dekes to the backhander. Ramo sticks with the puck and makes the save.Jussi Jokinen, one of the best, is next. he comes in wide, slows down in the crease and beats Fleury on the forehand.Malkin approaches the net. Fakes a slapper, and fires a wrister that clinks off the post.Stamkos gets to show his abilities. He zips in on net, and slides a puck underneath Fleury. Game over. Bring back Ruutu! Lightning 5, Penguins 4. POSTGAME-There wasn't a great deal you could take from that game. The Penguins looked almost disinterested in playing an AHL team. The Lightning had only a few players on it's roster who will be in the lineup opening night.-Still no word officially on Gonchar.-Granted with Gonchar's absence, it's not fair to judge the power play, but it appeared to be a work in progress.-Goligoski looked like he was more than capable of manning the point in Gonchar's absence.-Fleury certainly didn't look sharp. Bring back Conklin! -The Penguins used quite a few people to kill penalties tonight.-Stamkos looks like the real deal. Assuming he's teamed with some better linemates than Michel Ouellet and Ryan Craig, he'll rack up some solid offensive numbers this season.-It's been suggested Gonchar could've been injured on a check by David Koci. Again, nothing is official.-Gonchar and Sydor served as alternate captains tonight.-Bochenski was officially credited with the second goal by Smith. Bochenski had two goals and an assist tonight.-Sykora had two goals while Staal had a goal and one assist.-Malkin led the Penguins in ice time with 26:50.-Crosby led the team in shots with seven. Sykora and Satan each had five.-Crosby had 4:29 of shorthanded time on ice. Only Goligoski (5:55) and Orpik (5:18) had more for the Penguins. It's probably not fair to put too much into that however. Guys like Maxime Talbot and Matt Cooke, who you would expect to be regular penalty killers didn't dress, and that five minute major by Beech certainly forced Therrien to expand his bench with penalty killers as well.-Orpik led the Penguins in blocked shots with four.-Faceoffs were even, 37-37.-Game Summary.-Event Summary.

Injuries Are A Grey Area

When I earlier wrote about the Philadelphia Flyers decision to create salary cap room by placing Derian Hatcher on the long term injury exemption list, it touched on the problem that many injuries are hard to properly quantify. Most longterm NHL players suffer from a chronic or degenerative condition of some sort that could be considered an injury if it is convenient to do so and could be played through if that is considered convenient. In the case of Hatcher, he has a bad right knee, which he originally hurt in 2003. He has been able to play (although not as well as he did before the injury) with the pain. He has had to have his knee repeatedly drained between games, but he has been able to play. Now that his salary cap hit is seen as a liability by the Flyers, his knee condition is a long term injury that has most likely ended his career.There is another case, where the player is attempting to benefit from the unclear grey area that falls between definitely injured and definitely healthy. That is the case of David Tanabe of the Carolina Hurricanes.Continue reading "Injuries Are A Grey Area"

Sirius XM News—Updated

from Twice.com, Sirius XM said it will begin offering a la carte programming on Oct. 6, allowing consumers to pick and choose which stations they would like to hear.The a la carte programming will let users choose from 50 stations at a fee of $6.99/month but will require new radios.Sirius XM will also offer its full slate of new program plans on Oct. 6 including “Best of Both” programs where XM listeners can receive Howard Stern and NFL football and Sirius listeners can receive Oprah, NBA and NHL programming, in each case for an extra $4/month (or $16.99) without requiring new radios. continuedI have heard through the grapevine that NHL Live will start again on September 22nd. Not official, but that is the word as of today.Also, I am scheduled to appear on the Power Play Show today right around the 5pm ET. Power Play is hosted by Mike Ross and Mick Kern on NHL Home Ice XM204.Update 6:13pm ET (alanah): Paul’s interview on NHL Home Ice can be downloaded here or heard on the player below.Continue reading "Sirius XM News—Updated"

Offseason workouts

While it was nearly numbing to finally trade SPF8 for a jacket Tuesday, it was cool to be in a hockey rink again. It's especially fun to watch some of the world's elite players skate around with no refs, no rules and only a couple of people watching. A few thoughts on the pre-camp workouts, which I wrote about here today: *The talent possessed by Maxim Afinogenov is almost unbelievable. We've always used the word "shifty" to describe him duringnhl games, but that fails to convey how he plays in a pickup game. You know the keep-away game everyone played as kids? When one person would run all over trying to get the ball away from a couple of people? Well, it was sort of like that at times Tuesday. Except Afinogenov was keeping the puck, and there were five people chasing him. Problem is, he's at his best with no rules. When you put offsides and a "system" in play, things get a little complicated. It'll be interesting to see if things mesh this season, or if he's even here. It's not unheard of for people to be traded in training camp. *The Sabres' defense should be improved immensely this season. You look out and see a core of veterans such as Teppo Numminen, Jaroslav Spacek, Toni Lydman and Craig Rivet, and it's tough to imagine a lot of breakdowns. *Adam Mair is a bona fide leader of men. Obviously, there aren't coaches in offseason workouts. But somebody has to take charge. On Tuesday, Mair did a lot of the lifting. He was giving younger players pointers, showing them how to trail at the blue line or cut across at the right time. He's underrated in every aspect. *Tim Connolly looked to be in decent shape, though I only spoke to him for a few seconds. It was welcoming to see him on the ice, though. *Marek Zagrapan, a bust so far as the first-round pick of the 2005 draft, continues to bulk up. This is his third year in the system. While guys such as Paul Gaustad and Jason Pominville spent three years in the minors and became key figures in thenhl, it says here Zagrapan has to make an impact soon or he never will. He must know it, too, because he joined Spacek and Lydman in doing extra work after the pickup game. ---John VoglSource

NHL 2K9

Get your outfit and get ready to bump some stupid person on the ice 2K9 brings a totally rebuilt experience to life with a brand-new in-game presentation system, as well as fresh player animations and controls that fans will enjoy from the moment they play their first game, until well after they become a seasoned veteran. Features An updated arsenal of highlight reel-worthy superstar moves, blocked shots, stick-handling moves, hit-by-puck collisions, and an enhanced skating engine make up for an exciting and all-new hockey experience complete with more than 1,400 new gameplay animations Pre-game intros, menus, new crowd animations, game summary replays, and brand new commentary featuring Randy Hahn and Drew Remenda of the San Jose Sharks Fans can indulge in what makes hockey such a unique and fun sport with the addictive Zamboni mini-game, user-controlled Stanley Cup celebrations, playoff beards, enhanced checking and a brand-new fighting engine Fans are able to save, edit, share and rate user-generated 2K9 highlight reels online through Xbox Live Featuring Pennywise, Bad Religion, The Offspring, NOFX, The Ramones, Inner Circle, Mastodon, Operation Ivy, High on Fire and moreSource

NCAA 09 Community Event in pictures.

You OS guys had your own guy there, but I'm just posting some pics for those interested.Your guy Paul a very, very knowledge NCAA hoops guy - something the EA guys noticed pretty quickly. Paul a very nice guy. I think his OS name is Tomba, not really sure ... forgot to ask. I WILL NOT ANSWER ANY QUESTIONS REGARDING THE GAME HERE. THAT'S PAUL'S TERRITORY. I'M JUST PROVIDING SOME PICS.Anyway. Here are the pics.NCAA 09 producer Sean O'BrienNovell Thomas - the cat who finally understands game atmosphereConnor Dougan - NCAA gameplay guy who found Dave too tough on Dave's first day playing NCAA!www.konsolekingz.com's Dave Seeney and C.J. Peters. C.J. was never seen without his cellphone in hand. Check out their website. Very interesting.EA nerds with community nerds discussing NCAA 09 on day two of the event.5-wg.com's Shawn Drotar with EA Canada community manager Marcus "I kicked past the coverage when I picked a bride" Stephenson.Douglas "Dougie" Veney from www.stickskills.com. I didn't notice any actual stick skills, so I gave him my free EA Sports game. The youngest kid there by far, at age 20.After a 12-hour day playing NCAA 09 on day two of the event, I couldn't blame KonsoleKingz' Seeney for taking a nap. Sorry for the blurry pic. Just bought the camera and I am still learning how to use it.Dave's NCAA 09 cubicle on day two of the event. I have never played an EA college basketball game this long in my freakin' life ... and I am - seriously - pumped for the game's release. I know that sounds like some goof who got a visit to EA and got overly pumped, but honestly, give the game a rent. This is NOT March Madness.Just an overall shot of the cubicles.I'd call this the bang bus, but there were no hot women. Marcus needs to do something about that next time. That said, it was a very pimpin' shuttle to EA Canada in Burnaby, B.C. (a 25-minute drive from our Vancouver hotel).SOME NHL 09 LAUNCH EVENT PICSWe got an hour to check out the launch event. Very interesting. Nice looking women. Again - Marcus really wasn't doing his best to buy positive votes from the community. NHL Producer David LittmanLittman explaining the producers' decision not to include CPU sliders or the new defensive moves in the classic control config in NHL 09. :D Sorry Dave. Canadian TV personality "Cabbie" interviewing Anaheim Ducks' star Corey Perry. During an EAHL 6-on-6 game during the event between NHLers and no-names, Perry was explaining some EAHL features to stupid Dave who was muttering behind him "what the **** does that arrow mean?"General shots

Great Game BUT...It stills needs PINNING and BOARD PLAY

I am really enjoy the fluid and open ice play that this game brings to the table but I can't help but still point out my slight disappointment with the fact that I thought EA's intent for NHL 09 was to improve upon the gameplay of NHL 08 even more then they did.I'm curious to hear from those of you that say this game is far superior to NHL 08...I just dont see it. Perhaps you can explain in what ways?I thought NHL 08 was a great jumping platform for this year's game to really bring the meat and potatoes to the gameplay experience by adding:-Tie ups and scrummages in front of the net-Tie ups, Pinning and impact checks up against boards-fanning, fluttering and all around messier puck control -improved puck physics that has a better sensation of puck rolls, flipping, ect (see NHL 2K9 puck physics...awesome)-After whistle scrummages, facials, jawwing, taunting, shoving in front of the net-More defensive control to use stick to break up plays and player control-Much more lively and animated goalies that do other things than a quick scissor split or the turtle shell cover up. I do see some marginal improvement but overall the gameplay doesnt seem much different from 08 to me so I'd like to hear your thoughtsIn addition to this, Was the franchise mode even touched at all from last year?I don't like to keep making references to NHL 2K9 because I dont think it is as polished and fun as NHL 09 but I DO think they really nailed some things especially in the Franchise Mode again this year by adding clickable NEWS for each and every game played in your franchise that you can read a newspaper style one line headline and drill down further to see the stats from every game played.And one of the coolest features (FINALLY) is the ability to jump in and actually PLAY any matchup you want with any team.. Just the way you can in Madden and NCAA Football. So you can play those key matchups in your league too!In NHL 09 the Dynasty mode has that same exact playing in a silo feel where you have no sense of any other teams in the league cause there is no news, headers or even a schedule to look at of other teams playing in your franchise...there's a sense of loneliness. Also, there's no improved scouting ability or matchup comparisons of rankings and stats you can quickly view between you and your opponent other than the basic 3 or 4 line Offense, Defense, and Overall power bars to compare along with the same generic pre game Keys to victory blurb that displays before the game.Im not trying to bash this game but rather share my slight sense of dissappointment that stems from the fact that I thought this game was going to add a little more of my points mentioned aboved. Its a very good game but I guess I was looking for a little more all around grit and scrap on the ice along with a more feature enriched dynasty mode that built on last year's gameWhat do you think?.....I guess Im in the minority here with my feelings

How the Wings Control Canada’s Hockey Future

Well, maybe not entirely, but Eric Duhatschek in the Globe & Mail today does point to the relationship between the NHL team and Canada’s international hockey dreams. Hockey Canada has drawn heavily on the Red Wings’ organization these past six years for help assembling its annual world championship team. In that span, Holland, his assistant Jim Nill, and Yzerman have all taken turns at the helm, coinciding with a time when Canada’s world championship results have improved dramatically over the previous two decades.And then Duhatchek poses some more interesting questions like… Who plays goal? How young do you go? Is Sidney Crosby ready for the captaincy, or does that job fall to Jarome Iginla? With Pat Quinn and Jacques Martin no longer coaching in the NHL, is the main man behind the bench Ken Hitchcock, or Mike Babcock, or maybe Gretzky, who has embraced the challenge of turning around the Coyotes with a fervour that stunned many?My answers would be: Luongo plays The Goalie (although that one will really depend on how this upcoming season goes), Iginla plays The Captain and Babcock plays The Coach. Other suggestions?

Franchise Mode Big Upgrade

Franchise Mode is like a story mode in an action/adventure game. It is what makes games playable for a long period for offline play. It gets old just playing play now games. You want to have a reason to continue on and win games; an ultimate goal. However, there needs to be depth to make the path enjoyable enough that you want to do it again or again. Franchise Mode has lacked the depth for it�s whole Next Gen life-span, and the biggest demograph of Madden consumers are being left with a game mode that hasn�t gotten a big upgrade and still lacking the things that were on PS2. Plain and simple, it�s time for Franchise Mode to shine again. Trading � The computer GMs have brain as well, and they use them sometimes and trade amongst each other. Just make sure that the AI uses its brain properly and make trades that make sense (with the very slim chance of a questionable trade). Trades don�t have to be just limited to season and draft day, they can occur in the off season as well. Prior to or after the draft. Another addition along with CPU trading is trading beyond one year ahead future draft picks. Highlight Show �After the week is finished, a weekly recap should be shown to show the biggest highlights would show the biggest plays, the hardest hits, and the most memorable moments. At the end of the season, the same thing can be done, but from a season standpoint. Practice Squad & Inactive Play � Teams have reserved players like the NHL has reserved players in prospects in the AHL. If injuries happen, teams got a replacement in place at the practice squad for the depth charts rather then having to look through the free agent pool, unless they have to. Players can also be placed on the inactive player list to open up roster space as well. Full Coaching Staff � The Head Coach and coordinators don�t do everything. There are coaches for every position who truly help players on their techniques and improve their skills. Having a full coaching staff will give a more direct way of improve their player skills. Create A Stadium � The current tools in create a stadium is too limited. The user can still have so much more control and actually allow us to be creative enough that you can create hundreds of combinations. The customization when it comes to the seats is the area that needs the most options. Right now it�s very limited because we can�t even set them like we could back on PS2. Their needs to be options to control how many decks/levels we want (heck, maybe we just have one very long level if it�s on the sidelines), how many rows in a certain deck, what colour are the seats. Where and how long does the luxury and press boxes span and how many levels are there. Where are the tunnels placed? Give us the ultimate control like it�s a Sims game. We should also have control on how our scoreboard looks. Control the size of the scoreboard and screen (if there is one), and the placements of stats and ads. Customization with the field should be improved. Yards number font, endzone design (opening the idea of creating your team font design for custom teams). Endzone and sideline design should have more customization; as well the exterior should be open for design to accommodate the pre game stadium visual. Financial Management � A feature from the PS2 days that should return is the process of managing your revenue generators. Having the ability to control ticket prices, concession prices, ect. Was a neat thing to do and give you that feeling of controlling an NFL team. It should come back this time around with some modifications. Season tickets prices should be set and put on sell during the off-season. In the regular season, single game ticket prices can be handled game to game. The real difference between my proposed format and the way it was before is with the concession stands. In reality, concession prices are handled by the vendors for the most part. The user would select the vendors they want to service at their stadium (and pay expenses for the stadium owned food outlets), and would receive a percentage of the vendors profit. Merchandising is in the same ball park with some of the products that are manufactured. Therefore concessions and team merchandise store would be an expense/profit business. Parking would be a profit of course, and advertising, promotions and fan appreciation games would be expenses. Other expenses are coaching and training staff, scout team, facility staff (they gotta get paid too!), and stadium maintenance. The problem in the past was that it was just to easy to make a ton of money while spending the most possible on everything. In order to get to that level, it should take time to build up the income to be able to afford doing that financially. Season Fatigue � Players aren�t as healthy as they were in the beginning of the season. The season wares on and it takes a toll on the body. This needs to be reflected in Madden, and make those bye weeks matter more. If a team is a lock at it�s current playoff spot during the last games of the season, the CPU should rest it�s starters in order to rest them up an protect them from injury. Meanwhile players should not get mad about sitting a game. Create A Playbook � It�s time to get those inner head coaches alive and give users that ability to create their own dream playbook. As years goes by the team changes coaches and new players are in the system. How the team was run before may change and a playbook needs to fit the new philosophy. Computer generated coaches can make their own playbook relating to their philosophy in order to make every coach unique rather then most using the standard run n� gun & 4-3 Defence. Drafting & Scouting � During the season, your hired scout team will go around the nation and attend college games and give impressions on the players they see. The more the scouts see the players, the more accurate and detail their impressions become. Pretty straightforward how scouting would work. Scout teams can be divided between regions or conferences week by week, with more scouts in one specific region then another if desired. Every week during the regular season, quick impressions will be made from scouting assignments along with grading. Every four weeks, the scout team will give you a new rankings list for draft eligible players. Bowl games will be scouted of course, especially the major ones. Manpower for those games can be determined as well. Scouts impression will grade players� skills by letter grading. The accuracy of the scouts impressions depend by how good they are at scouting. Their accuracy can vary between player positions, so one scouting team may be better at scouting QB�s, and not so great at grading DB�s. The more often they see a player however, the more accurate their impressions are. The team the players are on can also get some notice as well. Assignments to pay most attention to a specific position can even be attempted to just scout the whole tam and not focus on one specific player. The more players that are focused to be scouted on though, the less accurate the impressions will be for the game unless you have enough manpower at the games. If you have a good scout team though, then you are able to expand your interest lists due more then with a weaker scout team since their impression will be a better chance of being near the mark sooner then the other team. Of course it would cost more however. After the season is over and done with, it�s time to put those scouting reports into use. The Senior Bowl game will give you a test drive with the prospects, individual workouts can be done to get another test drive. If user does great enough in the individual workouts, some ratings can be set in stone or 90% correct. Things to keep in mind when it comes to scouting and the actual drafting; the CPU AI really need to understand to draft for team needs rather then drafting best player available. Once draft day comes along, it should come with a new presentation feel. The expected big name draft picks should be seen walking the stage, shaking he commish hand and taking pictures with his selected team jersey. Heck, if we can get the hold draft day coverage thing going, we could have �experts� analyst and predictions going on at the hall. As for the picking screen it self. Keep it very central. Don�t make us have to go back and forth between screens and get slowed down by loading. Having the scout notes on players, draft board, coaches� advice, and trade screen (and let us be able to review offers) should be all very accessible. New Negotiation & Agents System � Amongst all the things to upgrade, contract negotiations should be another. When teams are doing contract talk, it�s normally with the player agent. Some GMs have a relationship with a agent, good or bad. Since contract talks are all about negotiating, that�s what it should be. You may get an opening offer from the agent. That is what client is looking for. From that point on you can send counter offers which the agent may accept. If not, he would fire back with another offer which may be a bit lower or the same. You have to be careful though, if you low ball, the agent may actually increase the price tag or walk out of talks from that point on and talks would open at a later date (if he�s not picked up by someone else at that time). This opens up my suggestion that franchise mode should be done in a day-by-day format. Therefore rather then just the free agent periods going on by the day, the whole year is. This would also impact trade offers and even game preparation during the season. But back to the suggestion at hand, players have certain types of agents. Many may have the same one, so the GM may have to deal with the same one from time to time, which is where this agent-GM relationship comes into play. Some agents are easier to negotiate in your favour then others. They may not be that great in bringing in the money (and probably working for lower tier players). While there are some that are very tough to cut the price tag on. If you build good relationships with the agents, then the agents may be willing to make a small discount. If you don�t have a good relationship however, the agent may be very stubborn, and quicker to cut off talks. It�s important that the agent is serving for his client. The client wants is priority number one. And if he wants to play for a specific team, even at a price cut, then the agent would have to obligate. My final point I want to add for this is how the whole system is designed. THERE IS NO INTEREST METER IN THE NEGOIATION SCREEN (leave it as an option if need be). The hints of the agent approval will come from the responses he gives. If the response is very negative, then you know that your way off the mark. If the response is OK, then you know you�re around a good negotiation area. The counter offers the agent present also gives you hints on the process. Training Camp/Pre-Season � This is a busy time of the year as teams prepare their players and finalize the roster for the season. Practice and player cuts is the main focus during the period, and the roster limit should be expanded so teams can evaluate their players and decide which ones to place on the practice squad, and those who should be cut from the team. Starters should get very little play time during the pre-season that some may not play any games at all after week 2 on CPU teams. It�s likely that most of the starters are set, so other players should be playing and getting plenty looks in practice to see who should earn a spot in a position battle or stay on the team. Practice/Weekly Preparation � During the season, players have to practice in order to prepare for the upcoming game and try to improve their skills. The coaches� job is to schedule the practice time and events schedule of the practice. If the coach wants to give players a day off, it will rest the players up, but consequence in skill and knowledge attributes. If they do practice, then they would gain skill and knowledge attributes, with a hit on fatigue. Film watching can also be assigned to improve players� knowledge on the upcoming opponent. The effect of these actions depends on the degree of intensity or reputations. The more reps a player gets, the better the player gets at attributes affected. A short physical practice is less on the body then a long physical practice. The effects on the players wouldn�t be that great since we don�t want players getting great off of practice overnight. In fact, there should be a RPG like method in player progression so players aren�t progression to fast from lots of practice or regressing to much from having a day or two off. Individual player practice focus can be assigned to players in order to make the players selected focus on one thing in particular rather then with the whole group. If the QB arm was off target last game, then for practice the QB can be assigned to focus on his accuracy. Now just like in real life, there is risk of injuries occurring in practice mode. They shouldn�t be frequent that it�s not something to really worry about, but it can happen.Now that I got the game preparation practice dealt with, I want to move my attention to user practice mode. This mode needs the option to set up scrimmages and situations. If we want to just run a light game, we can set up a starting point for a drive and try to get up the field (or try to stop the O if you�re playing defence). If we want to practice the two minute drill, we can select a starting point, and once the ball is snapped the timer would start. This would help players get better at playing the game rather then picking random plays in the current practice mode. Quick Notes:· Better/more robust player progression engine· Real-time score ticker; real time simulations. Two things. One, games that start at the same time would be simulated at the time (meaning if your starting third quarter, then other games that started at same time may be in third quarter as well, or halftime (or even late 2nd quarter if game is moving slowly). Second, if your game quarter length is 7 minutes, THE WHOLE LEAGUE SHOULD BE SEVEN MINUTES. Therefore simulations and stats that occur in game matches with your game evenly.· NFL special week logos on field (Kickoff, thanksgiving, playoffs)· Super Bowl logo on players jerseys· All-Pro players wear their respective team helmets· NO INTERST METER (or leave as option)· There needs to be a second Free Agent period

Businesses Can't Hide From 2.0: A Look At 2.0's Impact Across Industries

If you were interviewing someone for a position with your company and they admitted that they didn't know anything about the new trends and innovations taking place in their field, what would you think? Likely, what you would think is "next candidate, please." In today's business world, job-seekers are expected to stay current with the happenings taking place in their area of interest. There was a time when those happenings were very much job-specific and anything having to do with technology fell squarely on the shoulders of I.T. That time has passed. Web 2.0 technologies lifted the veil of mystery surrounding computing technology and made it accessible to everyone. Today, if you're not staying current with Web 2.0 technologies' impact on business, then you're just not staying current. Period. Web 2.0 Is Everywhere No matter which department you're in, Web 2.0 technologies have had an impact. If you've been ignoring their prevalence and adoption, you're at risk of falling behind in your career and your business is at risk of losing ground to its competitors who are tuned into this trend. Here at ReadWriteWeb, we deliver news about Web 2.0's impact on business in addition to news about web technologies in general. Depending on your area of interest, you can find a lot of great information on this subject in our archives. Or simply bookmark this post for easy reference. Document Collaboration Suites GroupSwim is an innovative company which has created an intelligent community building and collaboration SaaS solution. They aim to connect individuals and build knowledge utilizing social based methodologies. Read more. DreamFactory's suite of Enterprise 2.0 applications consists of a Project Management module, a Time and Expense Module, a Document Manager, and a Team Calendar. Originally, the company was available on Amazon Web Services, but now DreamFactory's software will be available on Intuit's QuickBase platform, too. Read more. Box.net offers collaboration functionality which allows any Box.net user can invite collaborators to any folder in their account. The collaboration feature is also fully compatible with all the OpenBox services, which extends online collaboration beyond just word processor documents, spreadsheets, and presentations, similar to what Google Docs currently offers. Read more. The term groupware refers to applications that facilitate real-time communication, coordination and collaboration amongst groups of people. A number of startups are working hard to develop the nascent groupware market, so in this post we identify some of those startups and provide an overview of where the market is heading...read more. What's the Deal With Wikis? Only a handful of years ago, it was common to hear people laugh at Wikipedia. Anyone can edit it! How could you take it seriously? These days, just as blogs are, wikis are on their way to winning a reputation as serious publishing platforms. Wikis are now serious business. Read more. Atlassian Confluence, makers of one of the most popular enterprise wiki solutions, offers Microsoft Office and SharePoint integration in their release of the Confluence 2.9 software. With these new tools, users no longer have to know the technicalities of wiki markup or even how to use the included rich-text WYSIWYG editor in order to make changes to the wiki - they can simply open up a Microsoft Office document instead. Read more. WetPaint, a popular hosted Wiki solution, provides person-to-person and private messaging between users of their Wiki network. This means that Wetpaint Wiki users can now send single or multi-person private messages, to connect and collaborate with others about their interests. This post introduces wikis and discusees who is using them and for what purpose.First, wikis are described and then the range of wiki products in the market right now is explored. Read more. Leave it to people in the wiki market to know how to collaborate. Nearly 20 different wiki providers have teamed up to offer a new Firefox extension that will notify users whenever they are on a page that is publicly editable, using a standard icon that sits in the same place the RSS autodiscovery icon appears. Clicking on the icon (img. on the left) will take you to that page's editing interface. Read more. What's Office 2.0? Web Office Defined: A Web Office suite is a combination of productivity, publishing and collaboration features. A Web Office both embraces the functionality of desktop office suites (e.g. Microsoft Office) and extends it by using Web Native features. Read more. The State of Office 2.0: Over the past 10 years, Corel, Sun, IBM and others have tried to compete with Microsoft in the office software business, but thus far none of them have been able to take a significant chunk of Microsoft's large market share, which generates revenues exceeding $15 billion each year. These companies have tried everything; including Sun open sourcing their StarOffice suite and releasing it as the free OpenOffice. Yet, even this very compelling move has not been able to make a serious dent in the market. Read more. Microsoft announced their Office Live Workspace is publicly available for everyone to access. The site, a free web-based extension of Microsoft Office, lets you access your documents online and share your work with others. Some say that the service's launch is a direct response to Google's entry into the web office space with their Google Docs online service. If that's so, then the question now is: did Microsoft just trump Google Docs? Or does Google Docs still rule online office suites? Read more. The Web Office was a market that underwent a lot of changes in 2007. Our definition of Web Office is: A Web Office suite is a combination of productivity, publishing and collaboration features. A Web Office both embraces the functionality of desktop office suites (e.g. Microsoft Office) and extends it by using Web Native features. The 2007 year in review: Read more. This is the perspective of a "skeptical, later early adopter"; the sort of person who Microsoft needs to retain and should have been able to retain easily. I don't spend time on productivity tools that may at some date make me more productive, but which today are just a frustrating time sink. That describes the majority of people. MS Office can be annoying, but it does work. So any serious alternative has to offer a significant advantage and at the same time make adoption a total breeze. Read more. EditGrid, the main product of HongKong-based company Team and Concepts (TnC) Ltd., is a leading Web 2.0 online spreadsheet service that focuses on online collaboration and interoperability. Read more. eXpresso was named as one of PC World's 25 Most Innovative Products of the Year for 2007. PC World succinctly summed the product up: "[it] allows Excel users to share their spreadsheets, online or off." eXpresso is different from the web office contenders that you normally hear about on ReadWriteWeb for three reasons...Read more. Zimbra is looking to expand its platform to the iPhone. Recently they announced Zimbra Mobile for iPhone 2.0. Zimbra Mobile for iPhone 2.0 will allow iPhone users over-the-air two-way synchronization of e-mails, calendar, contacts, and photos between user mailboxes and mobile devices, and seamless "push" e-mail service for all Zimbra Collaboration Suite users. Read more. News from the Office 2.0 conference in San Francisco, 2008. Read more. What's Happening in the Enterprise 2.0 Space? A report released by Forrester Research is predicting that enterprise spending on Web 2.0 technologies is going to increase dramatically over the next five years. This increase will include more spending on social networking tools, mashups, and RSS, with the end result being a global enterprise market of $4.6 billion by the year 2013. Read more. Enterprise 2.0 is Happening: If you're a business who has been ignoring the Web 2.0 trend and the spread of social media: look out, the tide is shifting and you're about to be left behind. The rise of social media didn't happen overnight, the power of the internet to unite people, the ubiquity of broadband, the rise of Gen Y, the development of new technologies for socializing on the web - all of these things and more have led to the rise of social media. And this new force is affecting change in the way that companies do business - now and for many years to come. The break-up of behemoth, vertically integrated enterprises commenced in the 1970's, got a boost from junk bond financing in the 1980's, and accelerated in the 1990's with globalization. Now, late in the 2000's, Social Media (aka Web 2.0) is adding another gear that will accelerate the fundamental restructuring of the enterprise. Read more. Most enterprise software sucks. That is my considered opinion from 30 years in the software biz. Words that come to mind are: bloated, inflexible and user hostile. The good news is that it is getting better, a lot better. The driver for change is what I call the consumerization of enterprise software. These new software champions typically have some if not all of these 8 main attributes...Read more. The Enterprise 2.0 Launch Pad program is a program that allows companies to showcase their products and compete for the opportunity to present their ideas to the community at this year's Enterprise 2.0 Conference. This competition, organized by Stowe Boyd, began in April when companies were invited to post their video pitches to the E2 web site. After the community voted, the list of contenders was narrowed down to five finalists who will now compete for the final spot. For that grand prize winner, the prize is free exhibit space at the upcoming conference. Read more. SharePoint to run Enterprise 2.0? 9 companies are saying "yes," having recently launched Enterprise 2.0 offerings that integrate with SharePoint technology. If there's one thing that any I.T. pro knows it's the value of "maximizing their investment" in whatever servers they run, technology they use, or services they've signed up for. With strict budgets in place, no I.T. purchases are bought on a whim. Instead, each decision is researched, tested, thoughtfully considered, and, if worthy, purchased, then rolled out to become a part of the I.T. infrastructure. SharePoint is no exception. Read more. Is 2.0 Affecting My Industry?Yes! Check out the examples below of Web 2.0's impact on various industries and fields. Finance/Banking Google is announced that after more than a year of work on the problem, Google Finance is now offering real-time price quotes for any stock traded on NASDAQ. Read more. Strands, the recommendation and lifestreaming service we've written about here before, announced a much anticipated deal that will put it in the driver's seat for financial recommendations served up to millions of online banking customers around the world. The company's recommendation test-case in music is no longer all they will be known for around the world. Read more. We reported on a survey that revealed that 48% of online banking customers between the ages of 18 and 34 would be interested in using "secure gadgets for personal banking" if their bank offered them. More than a quarter of bank customers would consider switching to another bank if it took better advantage of web 2.0 technologies. While that survey was flawed in some ways, there is another access point to banking information that customer may want more than secure widgets: mobile. Read more. 48% of Bank Customers Want Web 2.0 Gadgets. WorkLight, a startup that offers enterprise 2.0 products, recently did a survey among Facebook users to find out their willingness to use Web 2.0 tools for secure banking. The survey was conducted among 1000 Facebook users between the ages of 18-34. The fact that the survey was conducted among Facebook users gives it a bias towards tech-savvy people. However there are some surprising findings. Read more. Accounting Online Accounting: State of the Market: Accounting software for small business and personal use is increasingly moving from the desktop to online. However, compared to other office software, this transition to online has been relatively slow. Partly that's due to user reticence: writing a document online and sharing it with others (via Google Docs, Office Live, Zoho, or whatever you use) is one thing. Entering sensitive financial information into your browser is harder to adjust to. Read more. Project Management Add this one to your web office toolkit - LiquidPlanner is an online, hosted project management tool that lets you access and update projects anywhere you have an internet connection. The service offers you and your team a complete project environment, social networking and collaboration features, and a probabilistic scheduling engine which tells you the probability of completing each task - and ultimately the entire project - by a certain date. With everything organized into a centralized dashboard that can be customized for each team member, everyone on your team can stay focused on their tasks and how they relate to the project as a whole. Read more. The Clarizen project management software came out of stealth mode last year and has now just launched a new version with additional features. The latest version, Clarizen v 2.0, will be demoed at the "Under the Radar Conference," an event held on Microsoft's campus whose current theme is "The Business of Web Apps: Where the Web Goes to Work." Read more. Enterprise 2.0 is a rapidly growing trend that takes the concepts and tools of social media (social networking, RSS, wikis, blogs, etc.) and re-purposes them for business use, wrapping them up into applications that make the tools at work seem more like the tools we use in our day-to-day lives. While these enterprise 2.0 apps give us that web 2.0 feel, it's rarer to see actual Web 2.0 services like Facebook or Twitter used by businesses. And although we've seen many people promoting the business use of Twitter, we had not yet heard about anyone actually going so far as to integrate Twitter into a non-consumer focused application. However, that's just what Joint Contact has done. Their PM tool now shows how tweeting can actually be a productive activity. Read more. 37Signals offers a range of applications, from simple, single-function apps like Ta-Da Lists (to-do lists), Writeboard (collaborative word processor), and Campfire (group chat) to more complicated apps like Basecamp (project management) and Highrise (group contact manager). Read more. eProject is an on-demand Project Management company. More than 100,000 users at 650 companies currently use eProject's solutions. They run the gamut from Fortune 500 companies to medium-sized fast growing organizations. Read more. Health Health 2.0, web-based apps and services for the healthcare sector, is a nascent but potentially huge market for web 2.0. As of now, many of these apps have an emphasis on communication, information sharing and community. These are relatively easy things to address using Web tools. However we're starting to see health 2.0 apps try to tackle the enormous inefficiencies in the healthcare system - check out our description of Carol.com below. Also, in the longer term, we will see the Web being used in medical diagnosis and practice. Read more. The Health 2.0 Conference is reviewed here and some of the health web apps that caught our eye as well as trends that are discussed. Read more. Google announced the public availability of Google Health, after initially launching as a closed beta back in February. It is described as "a safe and secure way to collect, store, and manage [your] medical records and health information online" and is being positioned as a way for users to control their own medical records. Read more. HR Traditional resumes are boring. They become stale and out-of-date, they can't really showcase your work or achievements, and they end up just sitting in the bottom of someone's inbox. A paper resume, while professional, doesn't really let an employer get to know you. Many sites are trying to solve the problems of traditional resumes by providing job seekers a new way to stand out in the crowd. Read more. The iPhone has been making headway in its battle to become a business-ready tool. Obviously, the addition of Microsoft Exchange support was a big step towards being considered a viable alternative to the traditional smartphones used at work, like Blackberry and Windows Mobile. However, beyond simply supporting enterprise email, the iPhone platform has a lot of potential to cater to the needs of its business users, too. Read more. LinkedIn has an audience that is both younger (41 vs 48) and richer ($106k vs $98K). LinkedIn was also naturally crowing about their growth (189% for year ending Oct. '07) and the chart from Nielsen which shows comparative Facebook growth at 125%. Note that Facebook growth is from a higher base and the law of large numbers applies, but Facebook has always crowed about their growth rates vs the larger MySpace, so they have to live with growth rate comparisons to LinkedIn now. Read more. Marketing Viral marketing, user-generated content, online buzz: over the past few years, these terms have been representative of a new way of marketing to consumers that takes advantage of the current popularity of the social web. This new technique involves companies encouraging its customers to create content of their own in order to generate interest in the company's brand. Unfortunately, one of the potential side effects of this strategy is the potential for negative buzz. Despite this fact, a surprisingly low percentage of marketers are monitoring for negative responses. Read more. Using the new pilot program from a company called Involver, Kiva launched a video campaign on Facebook to draw users to their site to lend directly to these developing nations. The video even features a button that appears at the end of the video encouraging you to "lend" money. Read more. Mobile marketing startup, TextBound, has big plans to make text messages the new mass media for advertisers. Like we mentioned earlier, more and more companies are going to be betting on location based mobile ads this year, and TextBound hopes to capitalize on this trend. But unlike mobile social network/marketing vehicle, Fluc, TextBound isn't about connecting with your friends, it's about delivering ads to your cell phone via text message, then taking you to the mobile web for more details. Read more. Recently, HiveLive announced a new partnership with Responsys, a marketing firm whose client list includes some big-name brands like Apple and Salesforce.com. Enterprise 2.0 is sure to follow. What Responsys offers their customers are on-demand email and marketing solutions that can be anything from web sites to email to mobile. With the new partnership with HiveLive, they can expand that offering to include enterprise social networks. Read more. Widget platform Clearspring has an ad network that will allow widget publishers to monetize their widgets with advertising. The ads run inside widgets and come in a variety of formats. Clearspring has already inked deals with some of their largest widget publishers to run ads, including the NHL, 20th Century Fox, Lionsgate Films, Blockbuster, and Virgin Mobile. Read more.

European PSN update for September 4th

Filed under: New Releases, PlayStation StoreShort and sweet update this week, but nothing to be sniffed at. Two demos and two add-on packs mean there's something for pretty much everyone. If you're into driving, hockey or Haze (yeah, we thought not), that is. Warhawk fans have probably already grabbed last week's booster pack, but those new to the game might be tempted by the low-price triple combo pack. Here's the full release list:Playable content Pure demo (free) NHL 2K8 demo (free)Add-on content Warhawk "Triple Combo" pack (�7.99/€11.99 -- contains all three booster packs) Haze "Destruction" pack (�3.49/€4.99)Videos Movement episode 5, part 2 -- "London" (includes 8 videos)Wallpapers and themes 4x SoulCalibur 4 wallpapers Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Predators Suspend Radulov

from the Nashville Predators, Nashville Predators President of Hockey Operations/General Manager David Poile announced today that Alexander Radulov has been suspended indefinitely without pay for the 2008-09 season....“We are disappointed Alex will not be with the Predators at the start of this season,” said Poile. “He is a world class player who demonstrated last season, with 26 goals and 58 points, that he is an emerging NHL talent. However, since he has not responded to our recent correspondence, we must move forward with our plans for the coming season.“At some point, we hope Alex will have a desire to return to the NHL and compete in the best league in the world, with and against the best competition. We will re-visit his status at that time.“Until then, we are focused on the players who are representing the Predators and providing them the necessary support and guidance. We will not allow Alex’s situation to be a distraction and, as such, will have no further comment on Alex or his situation.”

Desjardins' NHLE for TC Hopefuls

This is Rob Schremp back in the old days. There was a time when people questioned his maturity and attitude but I think that's gone now.If you're new to this blog let me give you a brief overview. The idea here is to ignore the urge to get excited about a player because we "saw him good" and let the math tell us about a player. It's the main reason why I don't have Jeff Petry well ahead of guys like Chorney and Wild despite most (not all, the latest Hockey News ranks Petry about where I have him slotted) publications and blogs ranking him as the top Oilers prospect.Since he was drafted, I've ranked Schremp #1 (fall 2004), #4 (spring 2005), #2 (fall 2006), and have had him at #5 since the summer of 2007 (the last three rankings, to the right).If those lists were based solely on being ready, Schremp would be #1. The math tells us that much and the math we use here is from Gabriel Desjardins. His equivalencies suggest as AHL player will retain about 44% of his offense, a WHL player 30%. These numbers do not change from year to year (based on current offensive level) and assume a player would have the same time on-ice and same level of importance on the roster that he enjoyed in his minor or junior league.It works extremely well. Desjardins' number nailed the 2007 draft:Patrick Kane, OHL: 26-36-62 (ACTUAL: 82gp, 21-51-72)Sam Gagner, OHL: 16-39-55 (ACTUAL: 79gp, 13-36-49)David Perron, QMJHL: 13-14-27 (ACTUAL: 62gp, 13-14-27)Those three players went right from junior to the and delivered a performance that was extremely close to the projected number. It also did a good job projecting Oilers minor league players from their 06-07E's to what they did in the show in 07-08:Robert Nilsson, AHL: 10-27-37 (ACTUAL: 71gp, 10-31-41)Andrew Cogliano, NCAA: 17-19-36 (ACTUAL: 82gp, 18-27-45)Kyle Brodziak, AHL: 15-20-35 (ACTUAL: 80gp, 14-17-31)The Nilsson and BrodziakE's are solid and Andrew Cogliano exceeded his projected number by enough that we can call it a miss, although those could easily be two seasons by the same player. It's "in the range". Below are the DesjardinsE for each prospect (who played in a measurable league) coming to Oilers camp. Should any of these men win an job and get playing time similar to the minutes enjoyed in their league one year ago then Desjardins suggests these are the expectations (per 82gp):ForwardsRob Schremp 11-26-37Marc Pouliot 15-19-34 Bryan Lerg 16-15-31Ryan Potulny 12-15-27Jordan Eberle 15-11-26Liam Reddox 9-17-26 Jamie Bates 9-17-26Jean Francois Jacques 11-14-25 Tyler Spurgeon 3-22-25 Gilbert Brule 11-12-23Slava Trukhno 9-13-22 Jacob Micflikier 4-17-21Carl Corazzini 8-12-20 Stephane Goulet 9-6-15 Cory Urquhart 8-7-15Colin McDonald 6-6-12 Ryan O'Marra 3-9-12 Milan Kytnar 3-5-8 Tim Sestito 3-4-7 Garet Hunt 3-4-7Hans Benson 3-3-6I did not include: ECHL players, 20-year old juniors, and I nicked the older AHL players like Carl Corazzini because history tells me to do it. The list is not as impressive as one year ago. In the summer of 2007, 5 AHL players (Nilsson, Schremp, Pouliot, Jacques and Brodziak) all hadE's north of 30 points and so did Alexei Mikhnov, Andrew Cogliano, Sam Gagner (his 55 points led allE's) and Slava Trukhno. That's a pool of 9 men who came to training camp with some kind of qualification to compete for a big league job. If 30 points is the line in the sand for forwards, there are 3 players this fall who qualify. Schremp and Pouliot return from one year ago. For their sakes and mine, let this be the last time we're talking about them as possibleers. Schremp went 14-28-42 on the PP so his being able to put up the projected Desjardins would depend heavily on getting 1line PP time. Lerg is new and I think he's been somewhat overlooked so far by Oiler fans. This guy is a shooter on a team that badly needs one and there's a chance Lerg plays at some point this season. Also of interest among the forwards are Ryan Potulny, who has a good chance to make the big club but perhaps is a little shy offensively in a race against someone like Schremp.Jamie Bates does well by this metric and we don't know much about him. Gilbert Brule does not do well and that's going to be an interesting story this fall, as he was acquired for a veteran talent and if he can't deliver offensively then he's a energy 4th line player and that is not a lot of return for Raffi Torres.Jordan Eberle is among the leading goal scorers in the group. He is unlikely to be a factor this fall and it really puts Gagner'sE from a year ago in perspective.Tyler Spurgeon always performs well via Desjardins but he needs to stay healthy. Colin McDonald needs to learn the knuckleball.Who is Hans Benson?DefenseCody Wild 4-19-23Sebastien Bisaillon 6-13-19 Taylor Chorney 2-17-19Josef Hrabal 4-12-16Robbie Bina 1-15-16Mathieu Roy 3-11-14 Theo Peckham 4-5-9Jordan Bendfeld 2-7-9Jake Taylor 1-5-6Brad Farynuk 0-5-5Bryan Young 0-4-4Mike Gabinet 0-4-4Alex Plante 1-1-2All of Tom Gilbert, Taylor Chorney, Denis Grebeshkov, Josef Hrabal and Mathieu Roy were above 20 points Desjardins a year ago. This season, we're at 1 with two more very close at 19. Wild does well by Desjardins and it'll be interesting to see how much playing time he gets on the powerplay in Springfield. He certainly had a fine season last year.Bisaillon's season was shortened by injury but he was impressive when playing and if he returns at a similar level he's an option based on the math.Chorney is a guy whose numbers never really cover the scouting report. Hrabal's numbers came in a very good league and I can't wait to see where he lands in pro hockey.Robbie Bina could put up stunning numbers in the ECHL and you have to wonder about how far he can go.If the Oilers place Roy on waivers there's a chance someone takes him. And then there's a chance he has a career. Seriously. Concussions are the wild card. Peckham Based on this year's Desjardins projections, I'd say we'll see Schremp, Pouliot, Lerg and Potulny play some in the at some point in 08-09 among the forwards. From the blueline, any of the top 4 could play in the show based on the numbers. Source