Six years ago, Max Entin, founder of Toronto-based Siren Advertising started his own outsourced software development firm. When his developers had free time on their hands, they would work on creating proprietary products that the company could sell.

That’s when Entin’s team started to experiment with online advertising. Soon, they realized that they could make more money by focusing on online advertising, rather than software development. So, the company pivoted into Siren Advertising.

After being unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show 2012 in January, Sony's SmartWatch debuted in the UK, and today became available in the US. It's a pretty direct competitor to Pebble, a watch created by Canadian entrepreneur Eric Migicovsky. With Sony's SmartWatch out now, and the Pebble not slated to launch until the fall, is Eric's startup already doomed?

In an effort to showcase how technology is improving education and changing the way we all learn, our friends at Launch have just announced a pretty awesome event on June 12 and 13 in Silicon Valley for startups who are working on disrupting the education space, and they are extending it to Canadian startups as well.

100 startups will be given the opportunity to demo, out of which 25 will be selected to present at the event. Here are the three best ways to secure a spot on stage:

He wanted $100,000 in five weeks. He got $1 million in one day.

Vancouver-born entrepreneur Eric Migicovsky has now raised a cool million (and counting) for his Silicon Valley company, Pebble Technology, and its new e-paper smartwatch for iPhones and Android smartphones, from funding site Kickstarter. Shattering the original goal number of $100,000 - which, incredibly, Pebble raised in just two hours, possibly a record - Eric's venture has raised seven digits from 7,300 backers with 36 days still left in the funding campaign. 

500px is a Toronto-based startup thats quickly gaining ground in the online photo portfolio space. It recently unveiled a plan to undercut Vancouver-born competitor Flickr. But now it's suddenly under fire over its terms of service agreement.

The startup's Terms of Service agreement is a thick 4,500 words, and its Privacy Policy adds another 1,600 words to the mix. But 500px added a "basic" version of the TOS just to the right - a lay men's version written in plain, simple language. And that's the problem.

The 2nd annual FuEL Awards are on the hunt for Canada's 20 Future Entrepreneurial Leaders.

Open to business owners under the age of 30, the FuEL Awards celebrate the successes of young Canadian entrepreneurs, identify role models for progressive business practices and inspire youth to make entrepreneurship their first career choice.

Applicants are evaluated by an expert judging panel, with 20 percent of their score determined by public voting at the FuEL Awards website. The application deadline is June 30, 2012.

Pinterest has championed an innovative way of allowing users to share web content. It builds on the notion that there is a select set of users who love curating information and many others who could stand to benefit from their hard work.

Ottawa-based startup Sworly is determined to apply that same logic to the music universe.

With four billion videos being watched everyday, YouTube is unconditionally the most popular resource for streaming music. The library of songs on YouTube is larger than that of any other available service.