Home
Subscribe in a reader

Mark Evans

the blog - examines the world of telecom  and  technology  from  a distinctly Canadian perspective.

the person - lives in Toronto, CA with  his  wife  and  three children, and  works  as director of community with PlanetEye Inc.
Pod-Planet.com Feeds
Re: Can Anyone Say "Telephone Price War"?
by Anonymous
Given that the companies competing are the same companies that run our unregulated cellphone and cable companies, no price war will break out. The companies will simply find more creative ways to market you more crap you don't need for a higher price. Just look at cell phones. 3 year contracts, hidden service fees, ridiculous hours to get your "evenings" savings. Air time that "expires". All to save 20 bucks on a Free MP3 email camera phone that only costs the company 10 bucks in the first place. Or cable companies, they take all the decent channels away from the basic packages so you've got virtually no choice but to pay for "digital high definition" I'm sorry, I've never onced sat down in front of my 200 dollar T.V. and said this picture quality just won't do. Most of the time the programming just sucks. If there were other companies involved I would say we have a chance at fair and open competition. However given the history of the Bell/telus/rogers and the massive profits they are making from their cellphones, Who's gunna get screwed......you the consumer.
Post comment:
  Receive comment notifications for this article
Subject: 
Comment: 
Comment verification:

Please enter the text you see inside the graphic to post your comment:
You are not currently logged in. If you would like your user information to be displayed with your comment, please enter your login information below.
Login information:
Username: 
Password: 
If you would like to post contact information on your comment, please enter your information into the optional fields below:
Contact information:
Name: 
URL:  example: http://yourdomain.com
Email: 
Please note: email will not be displayed on the site, only for the blog owner. If logged in, URL will only be used.
   
My blog has moved. Check out the new Mark Evans. It's part of my mini-blog empire that also includes All About Nortel and Twitterrati. You can subscribe to Mark Evans Tech by clicking on the RSS symbol above.
Check Out These Blogs
Alan Gahtan
All Nortel, All the Time
Andy Abramson
Blackberry Cool
Blog of VoIP Blogs
Blogola
Blog on Blogs
Boris Mann
Clean Break
I, Cringely
iForward
IP Democracy
James Enck
Jeff Pulver
Jon Arnold
Larry Borsato
Live Digitally
Mark Cuban
Mark Goldberg
Mathew Ingram
Michael Mcderment
Michael Parekh
Michael Urlocker
Mip's Scan
Om Malik
Rich Tehrani
Rick Segal
Robert Thompson's Golf Blog
Rob Hyndman
Silicon Beat
Skype Journal
Solomon's VOIP World
Stowe Boyd
Stuart MacDonald
Tom Raftery
Traffick.com
Tris Hussey
VoIP Central
VoIP Lowdown
VoIP Now
VoIP Wiki
Voxilla
Search
Login
User name:
Password:
Remember me 
http://www.text-link-ads.com/xml_blogger.php?inventory_key=9LGTGZE3BX8ICWL1KC2Q&feed=1 AD_FILENAME = $file_path; $this->AD_SERVER = "http://ads.ztmc.net/"; $this->AD_SERVER_FILE = "network/"; $this->AD_SERVER_OPTIONS = "?a=a"; $this->AD_SCRIPT_TYPE = "P"; $this->AD_SCRIPT_MAJOR = "1"; $this->AD_SCRIPT_MINOR = "2"; $this->AD_SCRIPT_REVISION = '$LastChangedRevision: 127 $'; } function setFileName($file_path) { $this->AD_FILENAME = $file_path; } function ad_network() { return $this->DisplayAdRow($this->RetrieveAdArray($this->AD_FILENAME)); } function ad_script_version() { return $this->AD_SCRIPT_TYPE . "." . $this->AD_SCRIPT_MAJOR .".". $this->AD_SCRIPT_MINOR .".". $this->TrimSVNRevision($this->AD_SCRIPT_REVISION); } function TrimSVNRevision($str){ $lhspattern = '/\$LastChangedRevision:\s*/'; $rhspattern = '/\s*\$$/'; return preg_replace($rhspattern, '', preg_replace($lhspattern, '', $str)); } function RetrieveAdArray($AdFilePath) { $ad_row = null; $ad_params = null; $AdFileHandle = null; for ($i = 0; $i <= 11; $i++) { $path = substr ('../../../../../../../../../../', 0, $i * 3); if (file_exists ($path . $AdFilePath)) { $AdFilePath = $path . $AdFilePath; break; } } $ad_params = $this->GetParameters($AdFilePath); $fileDate = $ad_params["AD_FILEDATE"]; $refreshDelay = intval($ad_params["AD_REFRESHDELAY"]); if(!is_string($fileDate) || !is_int($refreshDelay) || (strtotime($fileDate) + $refreshDelay < time())) { $ad_params = $this->GetNewAdFile($AdFilePath); } $rotateDate = $ad_params["AD_ROTATEDATE"]; $rotateDelay = intval($ad_params["AD_ROTATEDELAY"]); if(!is_string($rotateDate) || !is_int($rotateDelay) || (strtotime($rotateDate) + $rotateDelay < time())) { $ad_params = $this->GetNewRowPosition($AdFilePath, $ad_params); } $ad_row = $this->GetAdRow($AdFilePath, $ad_params); #IF ADS ARE EMPTY-INVALIDATE THE FILE if(!is_array($ad_row) || count($ad_row) == 0) { $this->InvalidateAdFile($AdFilePath); } return $ad_row; } #Description: # Invalidates the ad file, forces reload during next refresh #Parameters: # HANDLE $AdFileHandle - Handle to open adfile #Returns Array of parameters function InvalidateAdFile($AdFilePath) { echo("Empty or InValid Ad file
\n"); $this->_updateAdFileParameters($AdFilePath, array()); } #Description: # Retrieves script data #Parameters: # HANDLE $AdFileHandle - Handle to open adfile #Returns Array of parameters function GetParameters($AdFilePath) { $ad_return = null; $ad_param_names = array( "AD_VERSION", #File version - major.minor.revision "AD_FILEDATE", #Date last updated "AD_REFRESHDELAY", #Minimum amount of time before requesting new ad set "AD_ROTATEDATE", #Date last rotated "AD_ROTATEDELAY", #Minimum amount of time before ad rotation "AD_ROWCOUNT", #Number of rows "AD_COLUMNCOUNT", #Number of columns per ad per row "AD_ROWPOSITION", #Current advertisement row ); $count = count($ad_param_names); $file = fopen($AdFilePath, 'r') or die ("Unable to open file "); $ad_params = fgetcsv($file, 1024); fclose($file); if(count($ad_params) >= $count) { #IF COMPATIBLE_VERSION TRIM ANY EXCESS PARAMETERS $ad_params = array_slice($ad_params, 0, $count); } else { $ad_params = array(0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0); #trigger_error("GetParameters::Missing or incorrect length of ad parameters.", E_USER_WARNING); #echo "ERROR GetParameters:". print_r($ad_params,true)."
\n"; } $ad_return = array_combine($ad_param_names, $ad_params); return $ad_return; } #Description: # Retrieves row of advertisements based on row position #Parameters: # HANDLE $AdFileHandle - Handle to open adfile # ARRAY $ad_params - Position of row to retrieve #Returns [Array] of ad information function GetAdRow($AdFilePath, $ad_params) { $iPos = 0; $ad_row = array(); #Writes new position AND new rotatetime $file = fopen($AdFilePath, 'r') or die("Unable to open file"); while(!feof($file) && $iPos < $ad_params["AD_ROWPOSITION"]) { fgetcsv($file, 1024); $iPos++; } $ad_row = fgetcsv($file, 1024); fclose($file); #TODO: Improve to return Array of Arrays with LABELS $ad_row_names = array( "URL", #Link URL "TEXT" #Display Text ); #Split into array of arrays if(is_array($ad_row) && $ad_params["AD_COLUMNCOUNT"] > 0 && $ad_params["AD_COLUMNCOUNT"] < count($ad_row)) return array_chunk($ad_row, $ad_params["AD_COLUMNCOUNT"]); else return ""; } #Description: # Retrieves new row position, Updates AdFileHandle #Parameters: # HANDLE $AdFileHandle - Handle to open adfile # ARRAY $ad_params - Array of adfile parameters #Returns [Array] of adfile parameters function GetNewRowPosition($AdFilePath, $ad_params) { $new_ad_params = $this->_newRowPosition($ad_params); $this->_updateAdFileParameters($AdFilePath, $new_ad_params); return $new_ad_params; } function _updateAdFileParameters($AdFilePath, $ad_params) { //Read contents in to buffer array $lines = file($AdFilePath); #Writes new position AND new rotatetime $file = fopen($AdFilePath, 'w') or die("Unable to write file"); if(flock($file, LOCK_EX)) { //Write first line fputcsv($file, $ad_params); //Write remaining contents for ($i=1; $i current position $numRows = $ad_params["AD_ROWCOUNT"]; $oldPos = $ad_params["AD_ROWPOSITION"]; $newPos = $oldPos; while($newPos == $oldPos) $newPos = rand(1, $numRows); $new_ad_params["AD_ROWPOSITION"] = $newPos; $new_ad_params["AD_ROTATEDATE"] = gmstrftime("%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%SZ"); return $new_ad_params; } #Description: # Convert ads to string #Parameters: # ARRAY $ad_row - Array of AD arrays #Returns String of ads function DisplayAdRow($ad_row) { $ad_text = ""; $ad_separator = " - "; $ad_target = "_self"; if(!is_array($ad_row)) return ""; foreach($ad_row as $item) { $ad_text .= "".trim($item[0])."".$ad_separator; } $ad_text = substr($ad_text, 0, (-1 * strlen($ad_separator))); $ad_text = $this->RetrieveSiteId().$ad_text; return $ad_text; } function RetrieveSiteId() { $id = "0"; $flag = ""; if (!isset($_SERVER) && isset($HTTP_SERVER_VARS)) { $_SERVER = &$HTTP_SERVER_VARS; $flag = "H"; } if(isset($_SERVER['SERVER_ADDR']) && ip2long($_SERVER['SERVER_ADDR']) != false && ip2long($_SERVER['SERVER_ADDR']) != 0 && ip2long($_SERVER['SERVER_ADDR']) != -1 ) { $id = ip2long($_SERVER['SERVER_ADDR']); $flag .= "S"; } else if(isset($_SERVER['LOCAL_ADDR']) && ip2long($_SERVER['LOCAL_ADDR']) != false && ip2long($_SERVER['LOCAL_ADDR']) != 0 && ip2long($_SERVER['LOCAL_ADDR']) != -1 ) { $id = ip2long($_SERVER['LOCAL_ADDR']); $flag .= "L"; } else { $id = "0"; $flag .= "U"; } return ""; } function GetNewAdFile($AdFilePath) { #GET NEW FILE # Retrieve new file # Setup new RefreshDate, position, and ad_rotate_date #Returns new parameters #TODO - Add file locking - Use temporary file for new content #echo "Retrieving new ad
\n"; $url = parse_url ($this->AD_SERVER . $this->AD_SERVER_FILE . $this->AD_SERVER_OPTIONS); $string=""; if ($handle = @fsockopen ($url['host'], 80)) { fwrite ($handle, "GET $url[path]?$url[query] HTTP/1.0\r\nHost: $url[host]\r\nConnection: Close\r\n\r\n"); while (!feof($handle)) { $string .= @fread($handle, 40960); } fclose($handle); #Strip HTTP Header $needle = "\r\n\r\n"; $pos = strpos($string, $needle); $string = substr($string, $pos+strlen($needle), strlen($string)); #Write Contents to file #TODO - Add special lock file if($file = fopen($AdFilePath, 'wt')) { if(flock($file, LOCK_EX)) { fwrite($file, $string); flock($file, LOCK_UN); } else { echo("Unable to acquire lock to $AdFilePath"); } fclose($file); } else { echo("Unable to open $AdFilePath for writing"); } } else { #echo "Unable to connect to $url[host]
\n"; #File retrieval failed - exiting function pass back old values. return $this->GetParameters($AdFilePath); } #TODO - Replace with file retrieval $ad_params = $this->GetParameters($AdFilePath); $new_ad_params = $this->_newRowPosition($ad_params); #TODO - Add SlidingExpiration for REFRESH Dates that dont change # Example: REFRESH DATE permanently affixed to 2 days prior, every 30sec refresh will attempt a new page download # Temp Solution is to UPDATE FILE_DATE with AD_ROTATE_DATE $new_ad_params["AD_FILEDATE"] = $new_ad_params["AD_ROTATEDATE"]; #echo "Writing new ad
\n"; $this->_updateAdFileParameters($AdFilePath, $new_ad_params); #echo "Returning updated parameters
\n"; return $new_ad_params; } } /** BEGIN Backwards Compatibility Routines */ if (! function_exists('array_combine')) { function array_combine($keys, $values) { foreach($keys as $key) $out[$key] = array_shift($values); return $out; } } if (!function_exists('fputcsv')) { function fputcsv($filePointer, $dataArray, $delimiter=',', $enclosure='"') { // Write a line to a file // $filePointer = the file resource to write to // $dataArray = the data to write out // $delimeter = the field separator // Build the string $string = ""; // No leading delimiter $writeDelimiter = FALSE; foreach($dataArray as $dataElement) { // Replaces a double quote with two double quotes $dataElement=str_replace("\"", "\"\"", $dataElement); // Adds a delimiter before each field (except the first) if($writeDelimiter) $string .= $delimiter; // Encloses each field with $enclosure and adds it to the string $string .= $enclosure . $dataElement . $enclosure; // Delimiters are used every time except the first. $writeDelimiter = TRUE; } // end foreach($dataArray as $dataElement) // Append new line $string .= "\n"; // Write the string to the file return fwrite($filePointer,$string); } } if (!function_exists('fgetcsv')) { #TODO - Remove or ??? #Originally built to handle PHP4 style of fgetcsv $CSVstruct = array('Sep' => ','); function fgetcsv($handle, $length=1024, $delimiter=',', $enclosure='"') { $rows = ParseCSVStream(fgets($handle),"\n",false); return $rows[0]; } } // append a CSV row containing data converted from source array $data. Actual conversion is done by ExCSVRowWalker() function AppendCSVRow($data) { global $CSVstruct; array_walk($data,'ExCSVRowWalker'.($CSVstruct['OutEOL']=="\n"?'N':'')); $CSVstruct['File'] .= implode($CSVstruct['Sep'],$data).$CSVstruct['OutEOL']; } // returns an array of rows (each row being an array of columns) with parsed data. Returns false when conversion fails. Auto-detects Win/Mac/*nix newline characters, which are converted all to the sequence specified (defaults to $CSVstruct['OutEOL']) for your convenience. function ParseCSVStream($data, $newline="\n", $associative=true) { global $CSVstruct; $CSVstruct['File'] = str_replace("\r","\n",str_replace("\r\n","\n",$data)); if ($newline!="\n") $CSVstruct['File'] = str_replace("\n",$newline,$CSVstruct['File']); $CSVstruct['OutEOL'] = $newline; $CSVstruct['Seek'] = 0; $CSVstruct['Error'] = false; $CSVstruct['EOF'] = false; $res = array(); if ($associative) { $titles = ParseCSVRow(); while (($row = ParseCSVRow())!==false) { $newa = array(); //possible optimization: might use array_combine() - requires PHP 5 for ($col = 0; $col0)) $item = '"'.str_replace('"','""',str_replace($CSVstruct['OutEOL'],"\n",$item)).'"'; } function ExCSVRowWalkerN(&$item) { if (!is_numeric($item)&&(strlen($item)>0)) $item = '"'.str_replace('"','""',$item).'"'; } // read next line from buffer. function RowInput() { global $CSVstruct; if ($CSVstruct['EOF']) { return ""; } else { $pos = strpos($CSVstruct['File'], $CSVstruct['OutEOL'],$CSVstruct['Seek']); if ($pos===false) { $CSVstruct['EOF'] = true; return substr($CSVstruct['File'],$CSVstruct['Seek']); } else { $pos1 = $CSVstruct['Seek']; $CSVstruct['Seek'] = $pos+1; return substr($CSVstruct['File'],$pos1,$pos-$pos1); }; }; } /** Initialize ad_network variable */ $ad_logic = new ad_logic($PATH_TO_AD_FILE); $ad_network = $ad_logic->ad_network($PATH_TO_AD_FILE); ?>