Verdict: The Court ruled against UBC, and ticketing is illegal, and people are allowed to recoup their losses.

More details to come (check this post for constant updates as they come).

• 4:47pm- full verdict document: Judge Goepel Re: Barbour v. The University of British Columbia (warning: it’s long)
• 8:19pm- areas of verdict to pay attention to:

[73]
Considering the merits of this matter, it is noteworthy that almost half of UBC’s tickets go unpaid. The person who has been penalized by UBC’s regime is the good citizen whose natural instinct is to trust that UBC has the power to impose the Parking Regulation Fines and pays the fine when it is demanded. There is something fundamentally unfair that those good citizens should not recover the money that UBC had no right to collect in the first instance.

[80]
The Parking Regulation Fines are ultra vires. UBC cannot enter contracts or licenses that incorporate the Parking Regulation Fines. UBC’s common law proprietary rights authorize the towing and storage of vehicles parked contrary to the Parking Regulations. UBC is entitled to collect the costs arising from such towing. UBC cannot, however, rely on its proprietary rights to charge or collect the Parking Regulation Fines. The plaintiff and other class members are entitled to restitution in the amount of the Parking Regulation Fines subject only to applicable defences under the Limitations Act, towing and storage charges and the applicability of UBC’s claim of set-off which has yet to be resolved.

• 10:27am – April 1st – CBC article about the verdict here.

Obviously, this is significant to internet marketers because now ads are served in an even more targeted manner. My problem with this, however, is that as much as we think that targeting ads more specifically and more intelligently is the way to go – it’s the nature and look of the ads that are desensitizing people to even pay attention to them in the first place. Google needs to work on refreshing the look of their ads to make them look more purposeful and useful – we know how design can be manipulative – design can play on the shallow-nature of the average schizophrenic internet surfer – and turn these ads into an item of interest once again.

Link: Google: Interest Based Advertising

Everyone in the Twittosphere, the blogosphere, or whateversphere, is talking about this right now. It’s official: Skittles’ marketing team got lazy and decided that it would be a fun gimmick to make itself vulnerable to the social definition of their product.

Just kidding. I think this is half-brilliant and half-lazy at the same time. Making themselves vulnerable to the social definition of their product is a sign of acceptance, acknowledgment, respect, and transparency: many welcome traits that the online community will view as a bolstering element to the Skittles’ public image.

This idea caused quite a splash, and I’m sure there will be many copycats, but let’s just keep this an experiment, shall we? Sometimes I actually want to read marketing speak. It helps calm my nerves from buyer’s remorse.

Quick note: This idea was inspired by Modernista!. A all-round pretty cool agency.

Also on a fun note: Skittles’ webpage title now includes: Interweb the Rainbow. Funny.

A little reflection on our progress as a race: just under 30 years ago, we were speaking of the day of digital newspaper delivery. Today we have a device, less than a couple centimeters thick, that can wirelessly download books over the cellular network and delivery live RSS feeds using e-paper technology that allows the battery to last for well over a couple of weeks.

The world is screaming the death of newspapers, magazines, and other traditional print media. We are living in a period of a fundamental media shift. I’m going to go out on a limb and predict direct delivery of news to our brains – human brain – machine interactions. I’m sure someone’s on it.

The angels are become a bit less forgiving to high-risk ventures. High-risk, high-return, is not a chance they would like to make in these economic situations. But please: remember that risk is what MAKES entrepreneurship. Please don’t let the numbers slaughter our gaurdian angels. It’s just not worth it.

Article Link: The Angels Are Fleeing

As fellow Apple-fans, our thoughts and prayers are with Steve while he recovers. Here’s hoping though, that Apple still continues to wow us this year (let’s just ignore Macworld).

-Aer