When Whitney Houston tragically died last week, millions mourned. Triggering an earthquake of buzz across social media, Whitney's passing dominated Twitter's trending topic globally for days. But Sony didn't have time to shed tears—there was money to be made.
Within just an half an hour of Whitney's death going public, Sony Music upped the price of her 2007 album Ultimate Collection in the U.K. from £4.99 to £7.99 (about $8 Canadian to nearly $13) on Apple's iTunes store, according to Digital Spy. While the prices didn't seem to spike in North America—that album is $9.99 in Canada and U.S. digital stores—consumers were outraged, but not surprised, that a music label would exploit the death of an artist to maximize profits.
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On January 24th, Google hosted their first ever Ship Wars Programming Competition at Google Waterloo, allowing many Kitchener-Waterloo software engineers to participate. The competition is the brainchild of Google’s Aaron Kemp and Garret Kelley.
Nearly 40 participants took place in the competition, and were given only three hours to code a space ship in any language they choose. The ships were then uploaded to a Google server, and pitted against each other in a virtual environment.
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Google's mission is to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful. As a first step to fulfilling that mission,... [more]
In late 2010, in a small suburb outside of Vancouver, a 16-year-old girl was drugged and repeatedly sexually assaulted during a rural rave. Instead of helping the girl, some teenage boys decided to take photographs of the scene, which they then passed along to their friends and posted on Facebook for the world to see.
For the first person convicted—charged with making and distributing child pornography, the youth pleaded guilty to distributing obscene material—no jail time has been issued, raising concerns over B.C.'s increasingly soft justice system. The criminal has been sentenced to 12 months of probation, must write an apology to the victim, and, in an elementary-school-esque punishment, must compose an essay about the pros and cons of social media.
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Those who dared to buy Apple stock back when it was mired in the double-digit range are likely very happy people now.
The technology giant's shares have cracked the $500 mark, making it definitively the world's most valuable company, ousting oil behemoth Exxon Mobil. Getting to this point has been incredibly smooth: AAPL has consistently and convincingly outpaced the market for the past several years—and, in fact, has done so with stunning stability, even in an atypically volatile market.
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Not too long ago I wrote an article about how the mobile consumer is using web pages for the majority of their online shopping. Attending the mPower Business event I learned the complete picture on how the mobile consumers interact. Jonathon Carrigon, Product Development Manager at CBC, presented the changing needs of the mobile customer. In his presentation he explained how large the mobile space is and will become, the way mobile consumers use mobile websites, and some repercussions of having a bad mobile experience.
The Mobile Era has Arrived
By 2013 more people will connect to the internet through mobile devices than laptop and desktop PC’s combined. Mobile searches have increased 4 times as much than in 2010. The number of mobile buyers will nearly triple by 2015. E-marketer has reported US mobile commerce sales at $6.7 billion for 2011 which is expected to grow to $31 billion in 2015.
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Researchers at École Polytechnique de Montreal have been working on what they call “smart textiles” or “E-textiles”, capable of energy storage and sensing applications.
The idea is to blend useful technology with modern textile methods, creating next generation materials. Imagine answering your phone just by touching a spot on your jacket, which also contains the audio and a microphone in the hood?
Bikers could have signals built right into their jackets, invisible until turned on. Your clothing could monitor your fitness and health, charge your devices, even have a computer built right in. There are any number of interesting and futuristic applications that could come of this research.
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Last week Techvibes reported that Rogers Communications was launching Rogers One Number - a service that allows Canadians to extend their Rogers wireless number to their computer. Rogers One Number lets you text and talk from your computer and video chat with other Rogers One Number users on your computer, all using your wireless number.
Today, CounterPath Corporation announced that they're the technology behind One Number and have entered into a commercial agreement with Rogers Communications.
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We are a diversified Canadian communications and media company. We are engaged in wireless voice and data communications services through Wireless,... [more]
CounterPath Corporation is a leading provider of innovative desktop and mobile VoIP software products and solutions. The Company's product suite... [more]
This morning Canada's favorite loyalty program launched a re-designed mobile app and its been gamifed.
AIR MILES Collectors with Android and iPhone devices can now get on the go access to information such as account balances, improved browsing of the complete dream rewards catalogue and in-store bonus offers at sponsor locations based on GPS.
“With more than 10 million AIR MILES Collector accounts we know how important it is to provide new and relevant offers to Collectors. Our Collectors provided their feedback through our social media channels asking for the App on Android, so we listened” says, Neil Everett, Chief Marketing Officer, AIR MILES Reward Program. “With the AIR MILES App Collectors are able to stay connected with AIR MILES offers, and promotions optimizing opportunities to earn reward miles.”
Among the new features of the re-designed app is the Check-in Challenge which is on now until April 30th.
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Plastic Mobile is an award-winning mobile marketing agency of thinkers, artists, creators and builders with one common aspiration: to create... [more]
Over the past couple of weeks the "Sh*t People Say" trend has worked its way through the tech startup community and has now landed in Canada.
Following what is probably the biggest Internet meme of 2012 so far — Sh*t Girls Say, inspired by Twitter account ShitMyDadSays — news site VentureBeat jumped on the bandwagon and released Sh*t Startup People Say. Poking around on YouTube uncovered Sh*t Tech Entrepreneurs Say which may even be better.
This week Sh*t Canadian Founders Say starring Shawn Borsky was released by Toronto's LegalReach and it's the best of the bunch. Techvibes might be a little biased though, have a watch and pay attention at the 47 second mark.
While the masses in the United States shot down SOPA, the lobbyists have turned to other countries like Canada to enact similar Internet game-changing laws through legislation called ACTA, TPP and Bill C-11.
Interim Liberal Leader Bob Rae has said on Twitter: "Conservatives have invoked closure to get it (Bill C-11) into a committee. They are ramming through every piece of legislation."
You can oppose the Internet lockdown on Open Media's website here by signing the petition.
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