Calgary's EZ-Robot Augments Its Way To Reality

EZ-Robot announces Robot KitCalgary's EZ-Robot is making some waves in bringing robotics to the masses. For those wanting your own little Wall-E, go no further than the EZ-Robot website, where, for a couple hundred dollars, you can get a kit and get started in robotics. The real fun begins when you start accessorizing—being able to add things like blue tooth controllers and video cameras. 

At a press conference at the brand spanking new Telus Spark Science Centre in Calgary, EZ has outdone itself. By wearing a pair of augmented reality glasses, you can now control your personal robot and also see what the little fellow is seeing.

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Digital Alberta Showcases World-Class Calgary Mobile Innovation

Digital Alberta Mobile Innovation Showcase Calgary panel

Digital Alberta put on yet another excellent event at Innovate Calgary on Monday night: The Mobile innovation Showcase. It was an exceptional discussion and meetup.

The panelists included Kris Read, Technical Lead, Poynt Corp; Colin Chong, Product Manager, AppCarousel, Wmode; Bryan Maniotakis, Creative Director, Mediumrare; Jeff Samis, VP Product and Market Development, Kryos Velocity; and Arleigh Vasconcellos, Moderator and Digital Alberta board member, The Agency.

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Dear Premier Redford: Tax Credit for Investments in Technology Companies in Alberta?

An Open Letter to the Premier of Alberta, The Honourable Alison Redford:

“Albertaʼs challenge is to support a strong oil and gas industry and leverage the strength of this sector to broaden and diversify Albertaʼs economy.”

Government of Alberta Strategic Plan 2011-2014.

A grassroots movement to reach Premier Redford on the road to the Alberta general election this year has started in the form of a new websit, AlbertaTechnology.com.

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Kryos Redefines Mobile Enterprise With Velocity 2 Platform Release

Kryos Velocity Enterprise XML Cross-Mobile Development Platform on Android deviceTechvibes has been tracking Kryos Velocity for a couple of years, and it's always great to see a company that is continuously inventing itself as it's success grows. Here's the post from last July on the launch of their Android version.

The Velocity 2 release adds HTML5 to the Android and Blackberry versions; it also runs on tablets such as the new PlayBook 2.0 and iPad. There's a lot more to the Velocity 2 launch. A full version of the press release can be found on the Seattle Post Intelligencer.

In conjunction with the launch of their new website, Kryos announced Velocity 2 yesterday - by using an “interpreted-not-compiled” architecture, the new Velocity 2 XML Cross-Platform Mobile Development tool allows Enterprises to easily create robust internal and client-facing mobile apps in weeks, not months.

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John Masters leaves legacy at Innovate Calgary (CTI)

A shout out to John Masters who has just recently left his role as President and CEO of Calgary Technologies Inc. (CTI) and President of Innovate Calgary as of December 31, 2011. Read the press release here.

John has been at the organization for 17 years, and has recently been sheparding the metamorphasis as the old UTI and CTI were combined under the Innovate Calgary banner.

John Masters“The timing of this decision aligns with the completion of my employment contract, the retirement of our Board Chair, Nancy Laird, and the organizational changes at Innovate Calgary. I believe it is time to move forward and seek‐out new career opportunities. I am very proud of our team and what we've accomplished over the last 17 years and especially the past year while we worked on the implementation of Innovate Calgary. I would also like to express my appreciation for the tremendous support provided and contributions made by Nancy Laird over the last 6 years.”  John Masters   

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Edmonton's Empire Avenue? What's the point?

SKING profile on Empire AvenueEmpire Avenue out of Edmonton is interesting. Using the stock market as a metaphor, members of the community can buy shares in you using a virtual currency at your going stock price. Using a social aggregator algorithm, Empire Avenue evaluates and quantifies what is now commonly referred to as "social leverage"; counting and evaluating your tweets, re-tweest, Facebook and LinkedIn status updates, Youtube activity, Blogs, Flickr, ... you get the idea. Combine that with your engagement and performance in the Empire Avenue "stock market" platform itself; how often and how much do you invest, etc..., and you get a single score. That's your stock price.

I met Dups, CEO of Empire Avenue a year ago at the Grow Conference in Vancouver, I heard his pitch, and I registered at their website. Didn't think much of it first time around. Met him again a second time when I sat at his table in the morning of last summer's AccelerateAB.

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Orpyx wins A100 One To Watch 2011 at Startup Calgary Launch Party

Startup Calgary Launch Party 2011Wicked awesome Startup Calgary Launch party last night. About 350 people filled the Roderick Mah Centre at Mount Royal. Great networking and buzz; it's a continued validation that our tech scene is both exploding in both quantity and quality.

Festivities got under way around 5:00. Nine companies presented to a select crowd of about 50 V.I.P.'s (C100, A100 and Investors) : Opryx, Minigroup, Hubblr, Kudos, Vision Player, New Panda, Transithub, Community Point, and Core Connect.

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Startup Calgary's Launch Party Ready To Rock on Dec 1st

Startup Calgary LogoTomorrow night's Launch party is a highly anticipated event ready to fill the Roderick Mah Centre for Continuous Learning at Mount Royal University.

The hosts, Startup Calgary, have contributed to a lot of successes this year, including the Founders Forum, AcceleratorYYC, Powerpoint Karaoke and AccelerateAB last summer. 

An anticipated 350 people will be in attendance -- this is shaping up to be the significant event of the winter season for Calgary tech circles leading into the holidays!

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Trilogy Software Raises $3.3M in Private Equity

Trilogy Software LogoCalgary-based Trilogy Software announced today that it has raised $3.3M in private equity with funds from founders and local and North American private investors. Read the full press release.

This is CEO Cameron Peters 3rd company. He co-created Cantax Software in the 1980’s (now part of CCH), and founded GreenPoint Software and the ProFile Tax Application Suite in the 1990’s. GreenPoint was acquired by Intuit in 2000, after which Cameron served as CTO for Intuit Canada and U.K.  

$3.3M for a first raise for a pre-revenue startup is something you don't hear about every day in the Alberta tech community, let alone across Canada, so I thought it'd be interesting to reflect why.

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Kerfmusic is the iTunes of Canada Alt-Country-Roots-Rock

Kerfmusic LogoIf you're hankering for some great Canadian content, look no further than Calgary's Kerfmusic. Kerfmusic has become THE source of Canadian alt-country, roots-rock alternative and jazz / folk around the world.

Kerfmusic has over 450 artists registered on the digital distribution and eCommerce platform, and more than 700 different CD's for download (in .MP3 format, so it's not restricted). The music hails mostly from Western Canada and B.C., with a smaller eastern contingent; as Kerfmusic puts it "great independent music from the prairies and beyond." Interestingly, almost half of their registered users ("fans") are not in Canada at all, and there is a growing interest from Europe, where this style-o-music is striking a chord.

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