GrowLab Matures with Announcement of Second Cohort

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.

read more

Smartphone Users Downloading More Apps Than Ever, But Privacy Concerns Grow: Study

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.

read more

Bruce Croxon: 'Canadian Entrepreneurs are as Smart or Smarter Than Anywhere in World'

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.

read more

Canadian Consumers Crown Koodo Mobile as Country's Best Wireless Company (Again)

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.


read more

Nokia Lumia and Microsoft’s Mango OS Could Surpass BlackBerry by Year End

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.

read more

Customizing and Improving the Immersiveness of Existing Technology

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.

read more

Toronto's Extreme Startups Reveals First Five Companies [Updated]

Toronto-based accelerator (not an incubator, like some misinformed people suggest) Extreme Startups has selected five companies for the inaugurual round of its program.

The organization saw applications from companies in 18 countries spanning five continents, according to TechCrunch—but ultimately settled with an all-Canadian lineup. Three startups are based in Extreme's hometown of Toronto, while one is from Edmonton and one is from Ottawa.

read more