Woodbridge-based toy and gaming company Ganz, best known for Webkinz World, has introduced a "game-changing innovation in family-friendly virtual fun." Ganz has launched Webkinz Friends on Facebook, a teen-targeted version of the interactive online game. Similar to the original game, Webkinz Friends has integrated more social features, taking advantage of the Facebook platform.
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Two months ago, Techvibes reported that Vancouver's newest superangel, Mike Edwards, would be taking over the helm of Vancouver accelerator GrowLab. We warned Vancouver's startup community to buckle their seatbelts and prepare for "massive action" with Edwards in the Executive Director role.
Techvibes sat down with Edwards this morning to learn more about his first big GrowLab announcement—the cohort selected for their Spring 2012 program which kicks off next week.
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What a difference one year makes.
US smartphone ownership is up from 38% in 2011 to 50% today, according to Nielsen, while Canadian smartphone ownership is up to 54% from 36%, according to J.D. Power.
88% of mobile device owners who have downloaded an app in the past month are Android or iOS users. And we now average 41 apps on our smartphones, up from 32 last year.
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Bruce Croxon says that Canadian entrepreneurs are "as smart, or smarter, than anywhere in the world."
The Lavalife founder and star of Dragons' Den told the CBC this week that he finds it "ridiculous" that Canadian tech startups feel forced to move to Silicon Valley to grow: "Canadian companies go to the States to get their money or languish on the shelf because there isn't the support here," he fumed.
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Bad news for RIM's BlackBerry today. Vancouver's Absolute Software, a provider of firmware-embedded, endpoint security and management solutions, has released Absolute Manage 6.1, which includes expanded Bring Your Own Device support for smartphones and laptops.
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Telus-owned Koodo Mobile has once again been crowned by Canadian consumers as Canada's best wireless company.
According to the J.D Power and Associates 2012 Canadian Wireless Total Ownership Experience Study, Canadians rated Koodo higher than any other stand-alone cellphone carrier, ranking "exceptionally well" in cost of service and offerings and promotions.
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Lloyed Lobo is right in saying that Nokia’s Lumia 900 is getting some pretty solid reviews. Pulled videos aside, Nokia’s goal is to be the premier provider of smartphones that run on Microsoft’s Mango operating system here in North America.
You could say that Nokia has basically built a competitive minimum viable product with a few basic features added in an attempt to re-capture some of the mobile market. The phone is only available at Rogers in Canada but is selling well worldwide.
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GRAND NCE, or Graphics, Animation and New Media/Design, is a mostly academic network of technology, computing, gaming, design and social studies experts who seek to promote excellence and collaboration amongst diverging disciplines and research projects. In a nutshell, they’re a group of people researching in different fields related to technology and trying to work together to form well-rounded and unique research about the way we currently relate to technology, the ways in which it can be improved and the forms it will likely take in the future.
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Last month Tim Hortons launched