I recently caught up with Techvibes reader and good friend Julie Tyios in Toronto. Julie wears many hats. She is the CEO of Red Juice Media and the Community Manager of Vestiigo.com. More recently she was chosen to be part of the Toronto Transit Commission's Customer Service Advisory Panel.
Here is my conversation with her.
If you want to get in touch with Julie, follow her on Twitter at @JulieTyios.
Vestiigo connects the career-savvy young professional with the latest job opportunities at Canada's best and brightest companies. If you're a... [more]
If you're headed down to the Kitchener-Waterloo area next week, be sure to stop by the University of Waterloo's William G. Davis Computer Research Centre while you're over there.
Wednesday, March 24th, 2010
On Wednesday, March 24, students from the University of Waterloo's Electrical and Computer Engineering program (ECE) will showcase a dazzling array of inventions - including an energy converter for efficient hybrid car engines, as well as a system that offers high-quality sound in a light bulb.
More than 220 students are expect to present roughly 49 innovative solutions in a seminar format to industrial and academic attendees, presenting an array of solutions designed to address problems arising out of transportation systems, software design, power systems and communications systems amongst others.
Friday, March 26th, 2010
And on Friday, March 26, students from the first graduating class of U of W's Nanotechnology program will show off some of their inventions, such as a miniature pesticide testing device, an electronic "nose" capable of detecting toxic vapours and a night-vision coating that can potentially be used in covert military operations.
Harnessing the power of molecules at the nanometric level, approximately 65 students will put forward 16 projects, demonstrating the unique properties of molecular manipulation, in tackling some of world's more pressing problems.
Both events will start at 9:30 a.m. and end at approximately 8 p.m., and will be held in U of W's Davis Centre - the building infamously built to simulate the shape of a microchip. Throughout the day, guests are encouraged to visit the stalls and booths set up outside the auditorium and try their hand with some of the working prototypes on display.
Courtesy of Exchange magazine, here are some of the key inventions salted to make an appearance. For a full list, be sure to visit http://www.exchangemagazine.com/morningpost/2010/week11/Wednesday/031706.htm:
Nanotechnology
* Fast-tinting Electrochromic Eyewear
The project demonstrates an electrochromic technology that allows controlling the level of tint in prescription eyewear. Glasses can switch between transparent and darkened states almost instantaneously, a dramatic improvement over the unsightly five- to 10-minute delay of competing Transitions lenses when moving from outdoors to indoors. Power is only used when switching, so a simple watch battery is all that is required to operate the device.
* Night vision stealth coating
Infrared detection devices are heavily used in the military field as a method to detect enemy troops in the surrounding environment. As such, the ability to counteract this detection can provide a strategic military advantage. This project introduces a novel coating, using carbon nanotubes, that can be synthesized and applied to fabrics to enable night vision invisibility for stealth operations.
Electric and Computer Engineering
* PEF Water Treatment
The project demonstrates a compact design of a point-of-use system that enables non-chemical treatment of microbial content through water electroporation. This system avoids the use of chemical water treatments that alter the taste and odour of water. Ultimately, it may lead to a reduction in the consumption of bottled water. Electroporation allows permanent inactivation of microbial content in a liquid through the application of intense electric fields. These strong electric fields stress the cell membrane of the microbes leading to their rupture.
* Project IRIS
The project demonstrates the design of a high-altitude imaging system that utilizes a low-cost meteorological balloon to lift a reusable imaging and communications system to an altitude of 100,000 feet and then descend safely to Earth. During the course of its flight, the system maintains real-time communication with a ground control station, permitting an operator to issue new commands for image acquisition and file transfer. The imaging system can track fixed points on the ground so the operator can send geographic coordinates for detailed imaging.
* Audio Bulb
The project demonstrates a system that delivers high-quality sound and lighting in a common light bulb form factor. It provides efficient lighting as well as immersive audio without the need for the intrusive wires of traditional speakers. The light and sound can be conveniently controlled wirelessly through a computer interface. The audio bulb can be configured to produce different lighting and sound profiles, while still supporting traditional on/off control via light switches.
Event Information
For more information on these two exciting events, visit eceprojects.uwaterloo.ca/symposium.html.
The following is a guest post from Trevor Doerksen, CEO of Calgary's Mobovivo - a digital media company focused on the challenges Broadcast and Media companies face in marketing and delivering premium content to audiences on alternative platforms.
The new Canada Media Fund, to launch the last week of March, is driving television funding requirements towards alternative-to-broadcast distribution. A core mission of the fund is to support convergence between new and old media. So, what is alternative distribution anyway?
Since the alternative-to-broadcast distribution requirement was announced by the Canadian Heritage Minister a year ago, comprehensive industry consultation has taken place and a new language around television and storytelling has emerged.
Trying to make sense of the requirement, the TV industry has begun using words and phrases like: platform, device, streaming, download, microsite, entitlements, social engagement, user-generated content, app, monetization, white-label, transcoding, mobisode, interactive and so on.
And it seems nobody can decide on common terms. No easy task, as even Apple's product branding is confusing – “is that an iPod, a Touch, or a Classic?” And it's getting more difficult. Consider the iPad – it seems to be a cross between a laptop, e-reader, iPod Touch (not the iPod Classic) and iPhone without the phone.
Of course, we know stories are distributed and communicated. Well scripted, high quality, professionally produced stories are distributed - people will always pay for access to compelling stories. Casual, brief, shocking, funny, emotional stories are communicated - and audiences will pay for access to be part of the communication.
The iPod, iPad and iPhone are, of course, one (or five) alternative-to-broadcast distribution opportunities for the television producer. One (or five) of how many? Which will qualify under new guidelines? Which are profitable? What about rights, copyright and territories? Do distribution windows apply? Where is all the advertising money? Do people pay for content? What about streaming on Facebook - is that an alternative-to-broadcast strategy? This is what an industry undergoing significant change sounds like.
Then of course, there are online services or alternative distribution platforms like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube - three of the most popular websites in the world. These sites have proven to be powerful communication tools, and can't be overlooked as key marketing tools. However, they are unproven when it comes to the sustainable distribution of premium content. Recognizing the difference between successful creative marketing tools and sustainable distribution strategies is very important.
When it comes to distribution of stories, nothing fundamentally has changed. Consumers purchase access to media. People pay for cable, magazines, newspapers and music - no matter the format. This has been the case since free over-the-air broadcast was replaced by cable and VHS was replaced by DVD, then Blue-Ray, then digital download.
So perhaps then, nothing is new. Well, not quite. There are a lot of options that fragment the marketplace and our lives. Households don't have one record player or television. They have devices in every room and in their pockets. This is not new, just more fragmented.
As for creative marketing strategies, many musicians and producers have learned that engaging community and "being interactive" is hard work. Managing communities on YouTube, mySpace, Facebook, Twitter, and a website seems like as much work as directing a feature film - and it never ends.
Understanding the difference between technologies suited for distribution and technologies suited for marketing is key to taking advantage of fragmentation and disruption in the marketplace.
To understand alternative-to-broadcast distribution, producers and broadcasters need go no further than file-sharing tools to determine which distribution formats are popular. They will realize that there is no illegal trade in webisodes. Short clips may be there, but nothing compared to the popularity of full programs. They will see that both streaming and downloading premium movies and TV shows are extremely popular. They will notice there are several hundred programs to transcode videos from one device or format to another. In addition, they will notice that not only is a lot of this illegal, it is extremely complicated to search, download, transcode, and sync a video to your device. Despite the complications, doing so is extremely popular.
As an industry, we must make it easier, not harder, to purchase access to media for particular devices and favourite mobile and web destinations. This is what the Canada Media Fund should help the industry achieve.
A creative marketing strategy requires that television producers continue to do what they have always done - give people something to talk about. They need to engage with community by seeding the conversation with their shows, ideas, themes, experts, actors, and so on in a sustainable way. This is only possible if producers embrace the communications power of innovative new technologies, and provide the means for audiences to join conversations about their stories. Communications and marketing drive distribution and distribution feeds the overall strategy towards sustainability. Winning creative marketing strategies recognize that the human desire to communicate is fundamental.
The Canada Media Fund will ask the industry for proposals that bring great made-in-Canada stories to the world, supported by sustainable and innovative made-in-Canada solutions for marketing and distribution. Creative marketing plans leverage cost effective and powerful communications, social networking, and user-generated content tactics. And the alternative-to-broadcast distribution plan earns money by taking advantage of the numerous ways people choose to view TV.
Telefilm Canada is a Crown corporation reporting to Parliament through the Department of Canadian Heritage. Headquartered in Montréal, Telefilm... [more]
On Tuesday, March 23rd the Vancouver Enterprise Forum (VEF) is hosting Winning the Cleantech Game – Real Growth Stories hosted by Yaletown Venture Partners' Kirk Washington.
Cleantech is one of the fastest growing areas of technology in BC and the VEF have assembled a panel of Cleantech CEOs that are leading companies with customers, revenues and investment. The panel includes Glenn Johnson of Endurance Wind Power, David Helliwell of Pulse Energy, and James Dean of dPoint Technologies.
If you have a Cleantech startup that you'd like to tell the VEF audience about, be sure to apply for their pre-event Lightning Pitches. There are five, strictly controlled, 100 second time slots at the beginning of the presentation available and they're a great opportunity to get the word out.
Our Mission: To advance technology entrepreneurship in British Columbia through publicly held forums focused on bringing together members of the... [more]
Earlier this week PayPal Canada GM Darrell MacMullin blogged about their new iPhone App that lets Canadians send money for free. With the PayPal Send Money application for iPhone, Canadians can now pull out their phone instead of their wallet when they want to send or receive money.
If you are like me, whenever you leave your house you check to make sure you have three things – your keys, your wallet and your phone. With the launch of our next generation Send Money application, PayPal took one step closer to a future where your phone will become your wallet.
Unlike EnStream's Zoompass Mobile Payments solution which amounts to a sticker on the back of your iPhone, PayPal actually allows users to make payments from their mobile device.
We’ve also added some unique and useful features that will make Send Money one of your favourite apps. Send Money features integrated Bump technology which lets two iPhone users transfer money by bumping their phones against each other. Split Check helps you divvy up a restaurant bill and then request as many as 20 people chip in their share. Collect Money helps people remind their friends to square up for group gifts, team dues or concert tickets.
The new PayPal iPhone App is free at the iTunes Store.
Earlier this week Calgary's Mob4Hire released a first look at the results of their Global Wireless Satisfaction Survey conducted in collaboration with Business Over Broadway in February of this year.
The unprecedented 111 country survey analyzes the impact of mobile apps on operator’s churn - # of new customers acquired minus # of existing customers lost - as well as many dimensions of the app ecosystem as it relates to mobile user behavior and satisfaction.
This Mob4Hire research results demonstrate the importance of mobile apps to today's sophisticated mobile phone users with 75% of respondents reporting that mobile apps are important when choosing their new operator.
While Mob4Hire's research indicates that the dimensions of wireless coverage and service are still the MOST important factor when choosing their new operator, the importance of mobile apps are a close second and will no doubt raise the bar for operators.
Kudos to Mob4Hire for assembling this data - it demonstrates a great use of their community of more than 40,000 people in 146 countries on 364 network operators.
Mob4Hire has made the research available free of charge on this 8-page report on Slideshare.
Mob4hire is crowdsourced mobile application testing. [more]
The 10th annual New Ventures BC (NVBC) competition begins April 19th and there is $300,000 in prize packages up for grabs for BC technology entrepreneurs and inventors. The five-month, four-round competition includes a unique mix of business education, networking and mentoring and is well worth entering if you have a tech startup idea percolating in your head.
“Our goal is to help very early-stage entrepreneurs to acquire the business skills they need to get their technology to market,” says Bob de Wit, executive director for NVBC. “And we’re succeeding. To date, 33 previous competition winners have raised more than $67 million to finance their business ideas.”
The competition is open to any BC resident, team or business with an innovative technology product or service that has not yet secured material financing.
Previous competition winners include 2001 winner AirG, now the world’s largest inter-operator mobile community with 40 Million unique users worldwide, and 2008 winner Saltworks Technology, which has raised more than $1 Million and is now selling its innovative, energy-efficient water desalination technology around the world.
Prizes to be awarded in the 2010 Competition include:
Competitors can participate in nine business-education seminars, which start April 6th in advance of the April 19th competition entry deadline. These seminars are also open to non-competitors who pay the $100 seminar registration fee.
AirG powers mobile communities and wireless social networking. The company's products and services have a proven track record of increasing... [more]
Turn your idea into a profitable company by entering the New Ventures BC competition. A "new venture" is a business idea that is economically... [more]
Vancouver-based Saltworks Technologies Inc. is a green technology company that has developed a patent-pending solar process for desalination that... [more]
Looking for an Angel investor?
The Angel Forum is calling for company applications to present and exhibit to pre-screened private equity investors at the 27th Angel Forum on May 18th in Vancouver.
At the 26th Angel Forum on November 24th of last year, 32 selected companies were selected from 60+ applicants and nearly 90 investors registered from Seattle, Bellingham, Calgary, Edmonton, Regina, Winnipeg, Kelowna, Victoria and Vancouver.
Founded in 1997, the Angel Forum - Vancouver semi-annually introduces emerging companies to private equity investors. As one of the oldest &... [more]
Spreed is a Toronto based technology company that helps publishers and media companies build, monetize and analyze their mobile applications. They are best known for their work with leading national publishers like the Globe and Mail, Metro Newspapers and the EW Scripps company. Their pioneering work with mobile advertising has allowed their partners to harness an exciting and valuable new revenue stream.
Dave Coleman, Director of Marketing, explains how Spreed (@Spreed) uses social media for its clients like Globe and Mail. In Dave’s perspective, social media helps accomplish four major objectives: sales, marketing, strategy and customer service.
Strategy. These are just the social media strategies to help Spreed’s direct clientele. However, Spreed also has a strong social media plan in place to help grow their company exponentially. From a sales perspective the team uses both Twitter and Linkedin to build relationships with leading thought leaders and executives at media and publishing companies. These relationships provide valuable leads to the company’s sales team that result in future business deals.
The company also publishes a blog specifically targeted at media and publishing executives, informing them on the power of mobile applications and advertising; this has set Spreed up as a thought leader in the space. Potential customers come to Spreed’s blog for information on the space, but once they are ready to make a strategic decision, the first group they contact is Spreed.
Sales. Spreed’s sales team also monitors hash tags on Twitter that are relevant to the company such as, mobile publishing, newspaper industry, iphone market, etc. If they see someone who could potential be a client of Spreed’s they engage them in a conversation and provide them with any information they may need.
Marketing. Dave realizes the potential word of mouth marketing by connecting with high level bloggers in the market of his clients. By offering a new app to the high level blogger, the foundation of a relationship is built. Once the blogger plays around with the app, he is likely to reciprocate and write about their thoughts on the app. This is powerful when one blogger does it but 20 bloggers in an industry explode the amount of content around the app. The content is then shared through social mediums which increases the reach exponentially .
Customer Service. With the release of a new product, it used to be hard to get constructive feedback from end users. Apple iTunes allows for some feedback, but it is not a complete feedback loop that allows Spreed to respond to potential problems. With social media networks like Twitter, the feedback loop is much faster. For the launch of Globe and Mail’s Globe App, users can use hashtags like #globeapp to report any issues they’re experiencing. To learn what users would be interested in for new features, Spreed is now knowledgeable of user suggestions through services like Uservoice and Get Satisfaction. Users visit Globeapp.Uservoice.com, see what others are already suggesting, they can vote if they agree or suggest new features.
From Dave’s perspective, the purpose of social media isn’t just getting eye balls to a page or getting @mentions on Twitter but instead to use social media as a tool to meet objectives and achieve goals.
Spreed Inc. is a Toronto based technology company focused on finding the best ways of displaying text based content on personal computers and smart... [more]
Are you an aspiring entrepreneur looking for community support and industry insights? In the world of the entrepreneur, collaboration is key and keeping up to speed on the most relevant vehicles to further propel your venture are of the utmost importance. Microsoft Canada is launching a series of webcasts tailored towards helping start-ups & small businesses succeed. Jointly hosted by venture capitalists Intrepid Equity, topics will range from, finding the right funding with VCs, getting the right team, increasing profits & business lead generation and more.
Here’s what the event organizers have to say:
Reserve your spot in the live webcast series Ignite Your Venture in April. We will chat with industry experts about bringing ideas to life with a VC, finding the right people for the right team, helping increase profits, accelerate sales & business lead generation. Industry experts include New York Times best seller author, Randy Street & one of Canada's venture capitalist firms, Intrepid Equity. Whether you are a new start up, established business or a business simply looking at new areas of opportunity - we will be chatting about what it means to become successful from start to end.
Register here and find out more: www.microsoft.ca/igniteyourventure
At Microsoft, we're motivated and inspired every day by how our customers use our software to find creative solutions to business problems, develop... [more]
