Heard the bad news over your VoIP communications? Ottawa-based VoIPshield Systems is warning that media stream attacks could hit Microsoft Office Communications Server, Office Communicator and Windows Live Messenger. Microsoft estimates over 250 million computers worldwide run those applications, so this represents a potentially gaping security hole.
Why does it matter? Hackers can disrupt phone service, eavesdrop on private calls and of course steal private customer information.
VoIPshield has some pretty decent videos demonstrating how a hacker might be able to cause a breach. Will organizations be any more proactive about this threat than the hazards to networks and web applications? I'd like to be optimistic...
In related news, there's an excellent roundup of top 10 mistakes IT people in SMBs make. Read this BEFORE you set up your network.
Even though I only have enough air miles to buy a blender, I still dream of the day when I finally have enough points to book a flight, only to be thwarted by airlines not having any award seats left. Yapta is taking care of that problem - their new service provides award seat alerts on flights on Alaska Airlines, Continental, Delta, United, and U.S. Airways, so that you can know exactly where and when you can 
redeem your award miles.
Yapta (which stands for Your Personal Travel Assistant...cute) also offers price change alerts that have saved travelers over $90 million since the company was founded in 2006. If the price of your flight drops after you've booked on an airline's website, you're eligible to a refund or travel credit. The free service also tracks price and availability of flights of any flight that you choose, every day.
"One of the biggest frustrations for frequent travelers is not knowing when they can actually redeem their miles to book an award seat," said Tom Romary, president & CEO of Yapta. Romary is also looking at it as a service to airlines: "Airlines want their frequent fliers to use miles because it strengthens their loyalty program,"he says. "Our award seat alerts stimulate the usage of frequent flier programs and therefore will have a positive impact on the airline's balance sheet and income statement."
Our purpose is to make it easy for you to secure the best airfare deals available on the Web. We do this by giving you a tool to "tag" the trips... [more]
Via Jevon MacDonald of StartupNorth, Toronto startup Clutterme.com has put themselves on the auction block at eBay.
Clutterme.com a do-it-yourself website builder and domain purchasing site is for sale, on ebay. This isn’t the first startup to put themselves up on Ebay, Toronto based Tucows bought kiko.com in an ebay auction for almost $260,000 a few years ago.
Will Clutterme get bids well past $200,000? Probably not, but I think the service is worth something, and a registrar such as Tucows, GoDaddy or another could really make good use of it. Clutterme is what they say it is: A really, really, easy way to make a website. It is the kind of really simple website builder that your mom would be happy to use. They also have a really slick domain purchasing system set up that lets people get their own domain and website builder all wrapped in to one.
Most established domain name registrars already have a free or cheap website building tool in their product mix but the Canadian domain space has a large number of registrars that don't do retail. Why is that? For a domainer, getting accredited with CIRA as a registrar is the easiet way to guarantee wholesale renewal rates for your own portfolio and get unencumbered access to expiring domain names.
Acquiring an established site like Clutterme.com could turn a domainer with accreditation into an instant competitor in the website builder space. Current bidding is at US $51.00.
The Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) is a not for profit Canadian corporation that is responsible for operating the dot-ca Internet... [more]
Clutterme Inc is website creation for dummies. Make a free website in seconds or upgrade your simple website to a .com, .org, or .net domain for... [more]
The Financial Post reported yesterday that Toronto's MaRS project has been put on hold. The $300-million Medical and Related Sciences complex in Toronto's hospital district had been billed as an innovation centre for early-stage companies in the science and technology sector. MaRS developed Phase I of the project on its own however for the second phase it leased the land to a development company that is responsible for building and renting the space.
Hence the problem - many of the potential tenants for the building are dependent on venture capital funding, a market that has all but dried up as wealthy investors refuse to part with cash on risky investments.
MaRS received $70-million in funding from the Ontario government and another $20-million from the federal government but it has been largely funded by the private sector. The company's board of directors reads like a who's who of Toronto's elite, including Royal Bank chief executive Gord Nixon, First Marathon Inc. founder Lawrence Bloomberg and Roy-L Capital chief executive Joseph Rotman.
MaRS connects the communities of science, business and capital and fosters collaboration among them. This happens physically through location of... [more]
Next year's Canadian Financing Forum takes place on January 29, 2009 at the Hyatt Hotel in Vancouver and with the first Selection Committee meeting scheduled for December 2nd, now is the time to apply. Presenting companies are split into two streams - Cleantech & Advanced Technology and Information Technology - and will have an opportunity to get to know the Venture Capital Community and promote their company at this premiere event.
The Canadian Financing Forum is one of the most respected resources for North American investors who seek to recognize, gain exposure to, and facilitate partnerships with the best and most promising Technology entrepreneurs and companies that are based in Canada.
Past presenters have raised over $1,080 Million and 47% of the presenting companies attending the Canadian Financing Forum have successfully raised funds over the last 7 years (2001-2008).
Visit the Canadian Financing Forum website for more information.
Bits Republic presented its case for data mobilization at the 24th Angel Forum held at SFU Harbour Centre on Monday. Their mission is to make one's information accessible anywhere in the world, as well as acessible online and off. As such, they introduced the My Own Bits (MOB) platform, which not only hosts documents but also alerts clents to changes in those documents, and also have access to their documents even when they aren't on the Internet. Bits Republic also stressed the end-to-end nature of their security solution, with documents encrypted before thye leave the computer or origin. The document is also hosted by Bits Republic, but they can't sThe MOBS platform has been established and is (according to Bits Republic) ready for implementation, and the company is now ready to begin tackling different markets with targeted products.
MOB-PS is targeted at professional firms such as lawyers, and would cost $1,000 a year. MOB-BR is aimed at creating data rooms for virtual Mergers and Acquisitions. Finally, Bits Republic has created MOB-EMR, which targets the medical market and would cost $1,200 a year.
Bookingcalendar.com, an online scheduling app, entreatied attendees at the 24th Angel Forum held at the SFU Harbour Centre in Vancouver, to stop playing telephone tag and instead use their app to open up their appointment books BookingCalendar unlike other scheduling as, has its own API, and offers integration with Google Calendar, Quickbooks and other scheduling software. BookingCalendar also allows customers to make appointments, increasing efficiency while making the booking experience easier for both customers and businesses. And unlike an online calendar like Google Calendar, where a client can see all of your appointments, with Booking Calendar only relevant data to the client and business is displayed. Booking Calendar is currently earning revenue on a subscription model
We are a Canadian based company and work with companies from all over the world. BookingCalendar.com started the concept of online appointment and... [more]
People are being bombarded wiith information on a daily basis, to the point where we've become quite good at ignoring everything that the media can throw at us. The one exception to this rule is the phone, which no-one can resist answering. Wireless Image, which pitched at the 24th Angel Forum at the SFU Harbour Centre on Monday, aims to target jaded users by embedding branding information into ringtones. The company has also built in analytics which let companies know in detail what ringtone is being played, how loudly it was played and a time and date stamp to track when the ringto. The ringtones themselves are free, becaue users opt-in to the reporting being sent from the phone.
Coming soon to a mobile phone near you. The future of mobile advertising. [more]
Ecobuddies is a Massive Multiplayer Onlne Game based on an ecological theme that hopes to reach a goal of a $500 million valuation (based on the companies already on the market, like Club Penguin and NeoPets).
Ecobuddies aims to fill a niche in the MMOG space, since there are very few games aimed at young children. The site will be "safe, secure and sanitized," so that parents can introduce the site to their children with no worry of inappropriate content (the intended demographic is 5 to 12 year olds). The site will also be ad-free, instead using micro-payments to generate revenue.
Ecobuddies is also the only MMOG to combine green themes and eco systems within a virtual world, such as characters driving in electric cars and using windmills in their virtual houses.
The website is currently in the testing phase, with the revenue stage about to begin.
EcoBuddies Interactive Ltd. is a Vancouver-based company that recently launched its same-named website at www.ecobuddies.com. Ecobuddies’ goal is... [more]
Gary Symons, former CBC journalist and the CEO of Vericorder, was on hand at the 24th Angel Forum at the SFU Harbour Centre today promoting his vision of a truly portable, rugged and wireless field recorder for audio recording. Vericorder's product is a portable device that integrates with an ordinary cell phone, making it completely portable, and costs only $500, contrasting with expensive, bulky field kits currently in use that cost upwards of $5,000.
The device will also encrypt raw audio (using a system called TRAC, or True Audio Redoring) so it can't be tampered with avoiding legal problems. However, the device will be able to edit whil ein the field, as well as post audio. Besides broadcasters, Vericorder is targeting podcasters, freelancers, and citizen journalists with their basic recorder, priced at $250. The professional version will be available on the Blackberry and the iPhone through app stores.
VeriCorder Technology is dedicated to bringing trustworthy, advanced recording and editing technology to the “Smartphone” and PDA marketplace. [more]
