Facebook Will Spend $1 Billion On Original Programming And More On This Week's CTRL ALT Delete Segment On CHOM 97.7 FM

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Every Monday morning at 7:10 am, I am a guest contributor on CHOM 97.7 FM radio out of Montreal (home base). It’s not a long segment – about 5 to 10 minutes every week – about everything that is happening in the world of technology and digital media. The good folks at CHOM 97.7 FM are posting these segments weekly on iHeart Radio, if you’re interested in hearing more of me blathering away about what’s going on in the digital world. I’m really excited about this opportunity, because this is the radio station that I grew up on listening to, and it really is a fun treat to be invited to the Mornings Rock with Terry DiMonte morning show. The segment is called, CTRL ALT Delete with Mitch Joel.

This week we discussed: 

  • Montreal to Toronto in under 40 minutes? This could happen if Elon Musk‘s Hyperloop gives Montreal the nod. The route is the only Canadian winner among 10 international entries chosen in a competition sponsored by Los Angeles-based Hyperloop One, and now will be studied to determine commercial viability. So, this Hyperloop thing is more than a dream. The route proposed would include a stop in Ottawa. The proposal suggests a trip from Toronto to Ottawa would take 27 minutes and the Ottawa-Montreal leg would take another 12 minutes. Of course, the next logical step would be to extend the hyperloop system into the U.S., west to Detroit from Windsor, Ont., and east from Quebec to Niagara Falls and Buffalo and on toward Chicago, New York and Boston. If this happens (and it could), it would change everything from economics to how we live and work. 
  • Facebook announced that they were all set to invest $1 billion on original programming. Apple made a similar announcement recently, but they have not had much commercial or critical success with Planet of the Apps and Carpool Karaoke. We all know how much YouTube, Twitter and Netflix are spending (it’s in the billions). What will TV look like when this much money is being put out by these players… and not the cable companies?
  • App of the week: Flight Radar 24.