June 11, 2003

2003 Aurora Awards Nominations Announced Locus reports that the Finalists for this year's Aurora Awards, presented by the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Association for works by Canadian writers and fans in English and in French, have been announced. Winners will be announced at this year's World Science Fiction Convention, Torcon 3, in Toronto, August 28 to September 1, 2003. Canadian citizens or residents who are Torcon members or has registered as Canvention 23 (pdf link) (held in conjunction with Torcon 3) members are eligible to vote. The voting deadline is July 31. 12:40:39 AM

Canucks in Kabul Military analyst Scott Taylor is pessimistic about the role and safety of the overstretched Canadian military in the United Nations' International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan and warns against any attempt to extend the force’s mandate outside of Kabul where the troops will be based. 12:30:26 AM

Okay, we give up D&M Holdings Inc, the new owners of the ReplayTV digital video recorder line have announced that upcoming ReplayTV models will not have contentious features such as automatically skipping commercials during playback of recorded materials and sharing shows via the Internet. While these features distinguished ReplayTV machines from competitors such as TiVo, it resulted in the company being sued by many media companies. (via Slashdot) Maybe their next move can be to try the Canadian market! 12:17:06 AM