Nortel's AGM will be held May 2 in Toronto. Here's hoping it doesn't last 6+ hours again in light of last year's AGM where irate shareholders questioned, lectured and criticized ex-Nortel CEO Bill Owens and chairman Red Wilson. It is interesting the AGM's being held in Toronto for the second year in a row given Nortel has traditionally moved it around Canada. Maybe they really want coverage from the business media or maybe Toront's an easy place for their U.S.-based executives to congregate.

Dan Gillmore has a fascinating open letter about why Bayosphere, his citizen media start-up, has stopped spending VC money. It's a frank and insightful piece on the emerging citizen journalism trend and the trials and tribulations of running a start-up. A few things resonated with me: first, Gillmore's admission Bayosphere might have dropped the ball by trying to start with a quasi-business model rather than running as fast as possible out of the gate to attract a critical mass of users and then figuring out a way to make money - a challenge Memeorandum and Digg are going to have resolve sooner rather than later. Another comment that hit really close to home was Gillmore's concession that "as an an entrepreneur, let's just say I wasn't in my element. The relentless focus on a single, limited project for long periods of time, combined with the inevitable compromises inherent in for-profit decision-making, turned out not to be my best skills." This is the exact lesson I learned while co-starting Blanketware Corp. After seven years as a technology journalist, I assumed it wouldn't be too difficult to transfer my "strategic thinking", reporting and writing skills to the business world. Well, I was dead wrong. What I learned is being an entrepreneur is a different world requiring different skill-sets and priorities. In the newspaper business, you write one or two stories a day, and finish these "projects" before you walk out the door. In a start-up, the business of running a business never ends. It's a 7/24 occupation. I learned entrepreneurs are different kinds of cats, and my skills weren't a good match - at least in this particular situation. Does it mean I can't or won't be an entrepreneur again? Probably not, but I learned the hard way it has to be the right situation at the right time with the right people and enough financial backing.

SiliconBeat offers up its take on their former colleague's venture, while Mathew Ingram argues failure is not necessasrily a bad thing.

In a tight race, Liberal MP Sam Bulte lost her seat in the House of Parliament to Peggy Nash. You have to wonder how much of an impact the blogosphere had given the big election issue  in her riding - copyright reform and Bulte's tight relationship with the music, film, software and publishing leaders industry - emerged because of work done by bloggers such as Michael Geist. While  voters in other parts of the country focused on health care and the economy, people in Bulte's riding were suddenly questioning the copyright reform process. Of course, Bulte's might have also lost because voters simply wanted change but you can't discount the role bloggers played. One episode that perhaps demonstrated the blogosphere's influence was the focus on Bulte's decision to participate in a $250-a-plate fundraiser organized by music, software, film and publishing leaders. The optics of holding it four days before the election were terrible and it was exacerbated by how bloggers went to town on it. With Bulte now out of work, it will be interesting to see if she follows through on her threat to sue Geist.
For other views on Bulte's defeat, check out Geist, Boing Boing, Accordion Guy and Tech Dirt. The Toronto Star has comments from Bulte and Nash. (Hat tip to Rob Hyndman for doing the early-morning leg work on the links!)