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Startup Struggles: Viability and Sustainability of Canada's Discount Wireless Carriers in Question

It's been more than a couple of years now that the new entrants such as Wind Mobile and Public Mobile have been competing for Canadians' business in the wireless space. But after all this time, the combined market share of the discount wireless carriers is a paltry 3.4%. The infamous Big Three of Rogers, Telus, and Bell still control at least 92% of the market in Canada. So what's up?

Moody's, for one, questions the progress Canada's wireless industry has made as a result of these new companies and their competitive offerings. "We question whether the new entrants ... are viable and whether their impact on the market will be sustainable," said vice president Bill Wolfe in a report.

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BREAKING: Vancouver Entrepreneur Raises $1 Million (and Counting!) from Kickstarter for Pebble Watch

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. 

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Toronto Startup 500px Ignites Controversy Over TOS: Is it Helping Users or Tricking Them?

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.

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Do you know Canada’s best young entrepreneur?

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.

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Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, Among World's Top 25 Technology Startup Ecosystems

Startup Genome has released a treasure trove of data though its Startup Compass that ranks the technology startup ecosystems of cities around the world. Most of the Compass findings focus on Silicon Valley, London, and New York, which are ranked as the top three ecosystems in the world. But three Canadian cities make the list.

Toronto is ranked an impressive fourth on the list, ahead of some notables including Singapore, Paris, and Seattle. Vancouver ranks 16th, ahead of Berlin and Boston, while Montreal squeaks in at 25th.

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Ottawa Startup Sworly Makes Music Discovery on YouTube Easy

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.

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Thoughts on Canadian Technology Startups and Innovation: Have We Hit a Wall?

The total number of Apple and Android smartphone users is expected to grow 40% year-over-year in North America this year. That makes 2012 the largest growth year for the two operating systems over the next four years, according to Strategy Analytics in a location-based mobile stats report put together by TheWhereBusiness. 

Still, Toronto Star reporter Michael Lewis came out with a slightly absurd article on Good Friday, citing the fact that the latest crop of smartphones and tablets offered in a post-Steve Jobs era has people asking whether or not innovation has hit a wall.

Toronto is the fourth-ranked tech startup ecosystem in the world, according to the Startup Compass. I remember waking up Christmas Day and opening the Globe and Mail after 17 days in Australia in December to find an article with the Governor General of Canada saying that we aren’t very innovative and shaking my head in disbelief. And there’s another article from March where David Johnston says exactly that again. I quote: “Our biggest lacking feature in Canada is the receptor capacity of Canadian industry for good ideas.”

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Buckle Up: Communitech Puts Canadian Innovation into Hyperdrive with $30 Million Fund for Tech Startups

Waterloo-based Communitech, a regional hub for the commercialization of technologies, has launched a new program called Hyperdrive. This initiative is a $30-million wallet for high-potential technology startups in Canada.

Backed by investment firms, superangels, service providers, strategic partners, and mentors, Hyperdrive will provide startups with up to $700,000 in capital each—that's a bare minimum of 43 companies that will go through the program. Likely though, many, many more will actually go through, considering most tech startups need only a few thousand to put the key in the ignition.

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Vancouver's CheckinSave, 'The Ultimate Social Commerce System,' Launches Mobile App

CheckinSave is a Vancouver-born online platform that enables venues to interact with their customers. Self-described as "the ultimate social commerce system," CheckinSave allows users to checkin via social networks and earn points on the process—points which can then be redeemed to acquire goods from CheckinSave partners worldwide.

The web startup, which is owned by Game Plan Holdings, also uses a Klout-esque model to measure a metric called CheckinSave Reach. It's a much more straightforward calculation than Klout, however: 100 Facebook friends and 300 Twitter followers grants a Reach of 400, for example.

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Tradyo Aims To Further Re-Define Online and Mobile Classifieds Beyond Kijiji and Craigslist

Toronto-based startup Tradyo, the winner of The Next 36 entrepreneurial initiative last summer, is trying to redefine local classifieds beyond the already transformative nature of Kijiji and Craigslist by stripping away the bulk of the classified industry from newspaper publications.

They have released a new version of the app since originally releasing in September. After talking to customers, Tradyo implemented their feedback to make the social marketplace better. They have also launched a website for those that don’t have an iPhone that will be available for use in the next month.

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