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Pushing $4 Million, Allerta's Pebble Becomes Most-Funded Kickstarter Campaign Ever

We've been following Pebble closely since it launched a seemingly normal Kickstarter campaign one week ago. But after reaching its original goal of $100,000 in just two hours, we knew this was going to be a legendary run.

Pebble, a smartwatch co-created by the Canadian entrepreneur who founded Waterloo-born Allerta (also the maker of inPulse, a BlackBerry watch), has seen its crowdfunding campaign soar off the charts. After hitting $1 million in a day, it hit $2 million in two days. Then $3 million, at which point we wondered - is crowdfunding the new venture capitalism?

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Toronto's Engag.io is a Social Conversations Dashboard to Manage Your Comments

There are so many blogs and media outlets where you can leave comments. People oftentimes post comments on a large number of websites and are bound to forget about some of those discussions. Worse, it’s hard to remember where you’ve commented.

That’s why Engag.io was created: so that one has a central social conversations dashboard to respond to all comments. While many websites use Disqus, which does notify you when someone has responded to your comment, it is only integrated into a handful of online media sites. With Engag.io, you’ll be able to connect to Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, HackerNews, Tumblr, and Google to start.

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Calgary’s Minigroup Brings in Superheroes to Gamify Marketing

Ready or not, this is the decade of gamification.

If you’re unfamiliar, gamification is the process of using game-like elements such as challenges, levels, badges, points and rewards to engage users, solve problems, and create pleasurable brand experiences. Being a gamer myself, I’m more likely to engage in an activity if it is fun. So when my twitter feed was flooded with quirky tweets like “Kapow! These masked men would keep their secret identities secret with Minigroup’s multiple profile feature," I was compelled to see what the fuss was all about.

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Montreal's Vanilla Forums Launches New Commenting Feature to Help Cultivate Online Communities

Montreal's Vanilla Forums has announced the "general availability" of a new commenting feature. The new feature allows publishers to use Vanilla's platform to power blog comments and "turn those transient commenters into engaged community members."

When an article is published, Vanilla says, a new discussion thread is automatically created in the community forum and commenters can then participate in further conversations with each other in the community. Any comment posted to the blog or to the corresponding thread in the community is displayed in both places simultaneously, the Canadian startup explains.

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Need a Goalie for Your Next Hockey Game? There's an App for That

Vancouver's Hockey Community is a platform for recreational hockey players to find ice time, goalies and more—no matter what city you are in. Last week, they launched a new iPhone App that makes it even easier to find hockey games close to you.

And more important, if your team needs a goalie in a pinch they can help. Simply pick a location and request a goalie; Hockey Community will notify all the goalies in the area and fill your net.

Every section of the iPhone app is enhanced by smart algorithms that suggest teammates or potential players based on your previous games. And they use Twilio to make it easy for you to invite your buddies by text with a one-click button.

Looking for an Android version? Hockey Community is using Vancouver technology Phonegap, which will allow them to release an Android App in the coming months.

Google+, Now with 170 Million Users, Gets Major Revamp

Everyone's favourite social network, Goo—hold on, let me try that again. Google has announced a significant overhaul of Google+, the social network that, in the words of NDTV, "everyone signs up for but no one seems to use."

Now claiming 170 million users—let's not forget how pushy Google is about leveraging its massive userbases from other products to pump this number up—Google+ has introduced several new features. In a blog post, senior vice president Vic Gundotra calls the new Google+ "more functional and flexible," noting that it's not only "easier to use and nicer to look at," but that it also "accelerates our efforts to create a simpler, more beautiful Google."

Check it out in the video below.

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Social Media Storm Erupts from Quebec Juice Maker’s Trademark Dispute

A seven year-long court battle initiated by Quebec-based Lassonde Industries Inc. sparked an unexpected backlash from consumers on Facebook and Twitter this past Saturday after a local newspaper report was released. The legal battle involved a trademark claim by Lassonde for their Oasis brand juices against a local soap producer named Olivia’s Oasis.

It all started back in 2005. Lassonde had sent a registered letter to Olivia’s Oasis founder Deborah Kudzman demanding that she immediately cease use of the Oasis name, recall all of her products and hand over any profits to Lassonde. Kudzman refused, stating that it was “utter nonsense,” and found that she actually held a strong case after seeking legal help.

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Facebook's Sheryl Sandberg Makes Bizarre, Sweeping Generalizations About Lesbianism, Men Being Jerks

Sheryl Sandberg is Facebook's chief operating officer. With the social networking giant slated for a $100-billion IPO next month, she's one of the world's most prominent female executives.

But she very recently came out with some bizarre, sweeping generalizations about men versus women that has left many people scratching their heads. Sheryl, who is likely a role model for many aspiring female execs, said in a Makers video that if a woman can marry a woman, "that's better" than marrying a man—even the "right" man.

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Canadian Woman Suing Facebook Over 'Reckless' Breach of Privacy Laws

A BC woman is launching a class action lawsuit against Facebook. The Canadian entrepreneur, who owns Video4Web Productions, has filed a lawsuit in the Supreme Court of British Columbia on behalf of all BC residents who are Facebook users and whose name or photograph has been used by the social networking giant in its recently added "sponsored story" feature without consent.

Sponsored stories, which are triggered when a user clicks Facebook's famous "like" button on brand pages, should be illegal, Deborah Douez says. The way they function now—using a Facebook member's name or photo to endorse third-party products to that member's friends without consent—should not be allowed, her suit argues.

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