A day after Vonage filed a complaint with the CRTC over Shaw's $10 "VoIP Tax", which ensures QoS for voice services that compete with Shaw's cable telephony service, Shaw has fired back with guns ablazing. Calling Vonage's claims "wrong and misleading", CEO Jim Shaw said the company's QoS fee enhances voice packets within the network. This is a value-added service, he said, because the amount of available bandwidth can vary, and since voice packets are treated the same as regular data, voice packets can be dropped during peak times. Shaw president Peter Bissonnette snapped that Vonage's complaint "has more to do with their initial public offering and the fact they have so few customers in Canada rather than any real concerns about consumers". One question is how Shaw is determining competitive voice packets - likely using technology from Ellacoya - and whether it's "shaping" other kinds of traffic on its network. Rogers, for example, throttles back BitTorrent traffic, although it's loathe to talk about it.

So there's all sorts of buzz about the new Google Calendar, which is expected to be released soon. As much as people like to obsess about new Google services, should there really be this much excitement about an online calendars? I mean, what's the big deal about being able to share a calendar online. For some groups, perhaps this is a nice service but can anyone explains why there is so much interest - including VC investment - about companies like Trumba and 30Boxes? Web-based calendars were around during the dot-com boom and many of them disappeared when the money dried up. With developments and distribution costs dropping, calendars are back but they look more like cool services than viable businesses. So, go ahead and get yourself in a lather about Google Calendar but maybe we should all take a deep breath and get some perspective here. While you're at it, it would be a good idea to take a hard look at how much of an impact Google's new services are really making in the market. Tell me the last time Google hit a home run. For other takes on all this calendar buzz, check out Jeremy Zawodny and Om Malik.

Sharpcast, which is developing technology to synchronize information such as photos on different devices, does a six-minute song and dance at DEMO last month - and just like that it secures $13.5-million from Sigma Partners, Draper Fisher Jurvetson and Selby Venture Partners. Of course, there were likely a few more steps in between but it does show how hot start-ups can leverage a high-profile event like DEMO. Another company receiving plenty of attention post-DEMO is Ottawa-based Iotum, which has inundated with entreaties from VCs after it won a DEMO God award. Iotum's Howard Thaw and Alec Saunders were so confident in the power of DEMO, they decided to not pursue venture capital until after the show because they believe a good performance could mean more VC interest and a higher valuation. While I'm pleased Sharpcast got its VC dough, it would also be nice to see some Canadian Web 2.0 start-ups get some growth capital as well.