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7Geese now available in Google Apps Marketplace

Last May Techvibes covered 7Geese from Vancouver's Paltech Solutions. Last week they announced that 7Geese is now available in the Google Apps marketplace.

7Geese is a social performance management software that empowers employees to better achieve goals, get recognized, and receive continuous feedback in an engaging social environment. Traditional performance management process are slow, painful, and in-effective. With 7Geese, we make performance management real-time and continuous, allowing ongoing feedback, recognition, and goal tracking.

With similarilites to both Toronto-based Rypple and enterprise social network Yammer, 7Geese is an company-wide social network with an emphasis on achieving goals and getting things done. They're gamifying the process and targeting companies that aren't interested in rigid goal setting, performance tracking, and project management software.

Over the next few months 7Geese will be integrating extensively with Gmail, Google Docs, and Google Calendar applications.

Toronto's Acuity Ads makes a giant splash in the display advertising world

Toronto-based Acuity Ads says they have become the fastest growing company in their respective advertising industry since launching in April. They are further revolutionizing the industry through their demand side platform that maximizes display advertising technology through consumer profiling, real-time bidding and machine learning technology in order to create connection with the consumer.

While they couldn't release any numbers, some of Acuity’s impressive clients include Dell, Sears, The Bank of Montreal, Ally, and RBC Financial Group.

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Toronto's Dealfind partners with Google Offers

Toronto-based Dealfind announced today that it has partnered with Google Offers.

As a result of Dealfind's partnership with Google Offers, Dealfind's participating businesses will have their deals hosted on the Dealfind site with the chance to also be featured on Google Offers at no additional cost. There is no guarantee the merchant's deal will be made available on Google Offers but "the possibility is an added benefit for businesses in choosing Dealfind to promote their deals."

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U.S. Government Requested User Data From Google 6,000 Times in 6 Months; Canada just 50

America's government is the world's most active requester of data of search engine giant Google, the company's latest Transparency Report says, while Canada's government is one of the least active.

The U.S. Federal Government requested user data from Google 5,950 times from January to June 2011, and Google complied fully or partially with 93% of these requests. The Government of Canada, meanwhile, issued just 50 requests over the same time frame, with a 43% compliance rate. 75 users or accounts were involved in the Canadian requests while the U.S. requests breached more than 11,000 users or accounts.

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Use Gmail? Then Vancouver's MailSlayer should be your best friend

Google's Gmail is one of the most popular email clients around. And while it's good, it's not perfect. Fortunately, startups like MailSlayer aim to raise the bar.

The Vancouver-born startup was born after an original idea didn't pan out. A beta project called Ticketive focused on bettering the experience of customer service ticketing in Gmail—and while the founders say feedback was great, people just didn't use Google's ticketing feature enough to sustain a growing business model.

Thus came MailSlayer, which plugs into your Gmail and adds "super simple but highly productive apps to your workflow." Snippets, for example, help you write repetitive emails quicker, while Notes keep track of who you're talking to. There's also People Labels, which allow you to sort and export email lists.

Check the video below to see it in action.

Google looks to expand its Quebec presence

Google Quebec is expanding.

The software giant is raising its profile in Canada's French-speaking province by adding a new business office. This office will focus on assisting local businesses improve their online strategy.

Montreal entrepreneur-turned-Angel Nicolas Darveau-Garneau is at the helm of this operation. Renovations are already underway for the building in which all will take place.

 If you're an entrepreneur, it will be worth visiting the new office when complete. As Nicolas said to the Montreal Gazette, "anyone in Montreal doing anything interesting, we always want to meet them.”

Google wants Canadians to update Google Maps

Google has created its Google Maps feature largely from its own hands up to this point—an impressive feat. But the softwarwe giant has now admitted that it cannot complete its vision alone and is inviting Canadians to update its maps Wikipedia-style.

Quoth The Globe and Mail:

“Google’s objective here is to create an accurate atlas of the world and the reality is that Google’s not big enough to do this (alone),” said Google Canada spokesman Aaron Brindle. “When it comes to our assumptions around who actually is in possession of the most relevant information to any user, I think it’s hubris to assume Google alone can do it without the help of the community of our users. It’s a model that’s worked with Wikipedia and a model that’s worked astoundingly well when it comes to the maps (elsewhere in the world) that are already online.”

This more open type of Maps feature should serve to update old and correct inaccurate information, as well as add new data Google failed to capture, particularly in more rural areas. All changes will be vetted by Google before being published on Maps.

Unlike Wikipedia, though, this call to arms doesn't render any of Google Maps' data open or otherwise available to the secret.

OpenStreetMap.org is a lesser-known Canadian maps service that has been supporting a community-powered concept for years. 

Would you like some Tweets to go with that wine? Best social media wine pairings

Natalie MacLean, a popular Canadian wine writer and blogger recently released a video which describes the best wines to pair with social media.

Below are some of her wine pairing suggestions for Twitter, Facebook, and Google +.

Twitter: Perhaps something low in alcohol, like the 2009 Lingenfelder Bird Label Riesling from Australia is the best bet. Natalie says this “will allow you to Tweet all evening while you drink it.” However, please drink and Tweet at your own risk. Here’s a link to the funniest drunk Tweets by comedians from the Huffington Post.

Facebook: Natalie suggests that you can toast Zuckerberg’s success with Mark West’s Pinot Noir from California.

Google +: Try Union from Ontario, because Natalie believes Google + will bring us all together in a meaningful way.

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Steve Jobs: 'Android is a stolen product and I will spend my last dying breath destroying it'

Steve Jobs was the kind of man who did things his way. He had a lot of pride in his company's products and his character was typically a serious one… the type of guy who can hold a grudge.

Even so, his true hatred for Android—now surfacing post-humously—will shock many.

It would of course be expected that Apple isn't exactly on hugging terms with Google after the latter launched Android post-iOS. But now, as details from Walter Issacon's forthcoming authorized biography of Steve emerge, it becomes clear that Steve had a burning passion for the competitor—or, in his eyes, thief. 

The emotional quote that the Associated Press obtained really makes one think:

I will spend my last dying breath if I need to, and I will spend every penny of Apple’s $40 billion in the bank, to right this wrong. I’m going to destroy Android, because it’s a stolen product. I’m willing to go thermonuclear war on this.

Apple shows no signs of letting up on Android lawsuits and actually has double the cash in its bank now. Whether or not Android can actually be "destroyed" remains to be seen but I certainly would surrender if it got to the point of thermonuclear warfare.

The book is called Steve Jobs: A Biography and launches this Monday. It was originally called iSteve: The Book of Jobs but that working title was not deemed very Apple-like.

Steve officially authorized this biography—a first for the legend—but never got a chance to read it.