|
|||||||
|
Canadians Pay Through The Nose For Mobile Connectivity
 Fellow swarmer and Web 2.0 aficionado Thomas Purves unleashed a hurricane of pent-up Canadian anger with his post on the Canadian mobile industry. Titled, "Canada Worse Than Third World Countries When It Comes To Mobile Data Access," the story pretty much nails the reasons why Canadians should be angry about paying so much more for connectivity. While you are at Tom's site reading the posting be sure to "Digg" it.
[email this story]
Posted by R. Ouellette on 04/10
Valuating Web 2.0 Companies - Reprised
 Image from the "Anthrax" page of MySpace The renowned Wharton Business School dives in to the tangled web that is Web 2.0 valuations. In its Knowledge @ Whartoin Newsletter the school tries to make sense of why MySpace is reportedly worth 15 billion dollars just a year or two after it was bought for $500 million. 22 year old Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook.com, turned down $750 million from Viacom - reportedly holding out for $2 billion. So where are these valuations coming from? According to the story's author, Google is used as a rough benchmark. Currently valued at 55 times earnings, Google is the Internet's gold standard. Facebook would have to have profits of $16 million to legitimize a price of $900 million, the amount Yahoo is now offering for the property. Are these properties part of a new new Internet bubble? Maybe, maybe not: Social networking sites may be risky for their founders and the venture capital firms that fund them in the early years, but they don't appear to be pumping huge amounts of risk to the marketplace the way tech firms did in the late 1990s. "If you have a little bit of money invested in this and you're already invested in other things," says Percival, "frankly the risk is not as big as you think."
[email this story]
Posted by R. Ouellette on 04/09
Canada Falls To 11th Place In ICT World Rankings
Our high mobile connectivity prices and, until recently, inability to retain mobile phone numbers were bound to catch up with us. Turns out that other first world countries have been beefing up their communications and information technology sectors by making them more ubiquitous while Canada's market Neros fiddled. The result: this year Canada dropped five places from 6th in the world to 11th in the World Economic Forum's yearly ICT rankings.
According to the WEF they used: The Report uses the Networked Readiness Index (NRI) to measure the degree of preparation of a nation or community to participate in and benefit from ICT developments. The NRI is composed of three component indexes which assess: - environment for ICT offered by a country or community - readiness of the community's key stakeholders - usage of ICT among these stakeholders.You do not have to possess a crystal ball to see Canada's future if our current system continues unaltered. Next year we could be in the mid teens and may fall too far behind to be globally competitive. We live in a networked world. Business is done on an instantaneous, global level. If we lack the infrastructure and adoption of our global competitors then there will be more than a few obsolete car manufacturing plants closing in the next few years. We have to stop propping up telcos who refuse to be globally competitive while, at the same time, demand regulatory protection of their collapsing markets.
[email this story]
Posted by R. Ouellette on 04/03
Centernetworks.com Launches Elevator Pitch Competition
 Our U.S. based friends at http://www.Centernetworks.com have launched a video competition for Web 2.0 entrepreneurs. How do you enter? It is easy. Just shoot a video up to four minutes long of you giving your best elevator pitch -- you know, the one you uncorked one-hundred times at the Canadian Venture Forum. Entrants can get prizes as well as a prominent position on Centernetworks' main page for a few months. Here is what CN's editor Allen Stern writes: CenterNetworks.com, a source for Web 2.0 news, reviews and insight, today announced an online video contest to help internet start-ups and tech entrepreneurs "tell and sell" their story, generating expert feedback for young Web 2.0 companies. Go to their site for more information on the competition. Who knows, maybe you will find someone to fund your start-up.
[email this story]
Posted by R. Ouellette on 04/02
Canada’s Stumbling Venture Sector
 The sad state of Canada's (and specifically Toronto's) early-stage venture investment sector is enough to make entrepreneurs run for the hills -- or at least run south to our more risk accepting and Web 2.0 knowledgeable U.S. neighbours. The BBC news service had a story that once again tracked how an innovative Canadian start-up had to go south to get attention. Now, of course, they are superstars. The firm? StumbleUpon. I have to confess I didn't even know they were Canadian. Damn our resource-driven economy. It continues to stifle early-stage tech companies. "We had had some venture capitalist calls in Canada but they were never really interested in the product - as much as how fast we were growing. Prominent Silicon Valley investor Brad O'Neill stumbled upon StumbleUpon and a series of e-mails and phone calls led to the founders being invited to California. StumbleUpon's founders had an idea. They wanted to track the most interesting web phenomenon in a way not possible through Google. How to do it was the question. "The general idea was how to discover really interesting information without searching for it.
[email this story]
Posted by R. Ouellette on 03/30
Web 2.0 wonders: Stumble Upon - BBC News
[email this story]
Posted by R. Ouellette on 03/29
WiseNav Website Competition Encourages Consumers To Engage With … - CGI Directory (press release)
[email this story]
Posted by R. Ouellette on 03/28
SD Card Enabled Phones Leading Japan’s Mobile TV Market
Here is a press release from the SD Card association that illustrates the impact recordable mobile T.V. is having on the Japanese market:ORLANDO, FLA., March 27 /CNW/ - The SD Card Association announced todayat CTIA 2007 that the 5 million Japanese consumers who watch mobile TVprogramming on their phones -- and can record the programming with SDHigh-Capacity (SDHC) and SD memory cards -- will more than double in 2007 to12 million mobile TV viewers. Thirteen handset models feature SD recordingtechnologies today and three-quarters of all mobile phones in Japan areequipped with SD slots.
[email this story]
Posted by R. Ouellette on 03/27
The Death Of Net Neutrality
 The Internet -- as we commonly use it today -- has been around now for about fifteen years. To say that it has changed the way we do things is to understate the obvious. Virtually every component of knowledge-driven human exchange has or will be influenced by this remarkable communications platform. The reason why is partly technical to be sure, but the underlying technology is not the only reason. If the Net had not been conceived of as a fundamentally democratic system where no node had dominance over another or no circuit hierarchical influence over a competitor, then it would not be as influential as it is today. The Internet has given us the power to change the world for the better through the rapid exchange of ideas and information. Look at the http://www.wikipedia.com as a classic representation of this ideal. Some economists and business theorists argue that the Internet represents one of the greatest wealth generating opportunities ever. All is not good in Net-land though. There are large corporate and governmental forces who don't like the idea that you can phone Australia for virtually nothing using your Skype connection or bloggers with open-source news networks, for example, can influence elections. It is funny how companies embrace innovation and "free market" ideas when they can dominate but revile those things when their companies have to change or be superceded. A few big companies do not want to be dissintermediated, so they've come up with a plan. Their scheme goes something like this: You will have to pay more to ensure your circuits can effectively carry VoIP transmissions. Or, certain kinds of content will only be available to you if you pay more. Right now, everyone has access to the same content. If those arguing for a tiered system get their way (...read more...)
[email this story]
Posted by R. Ouellette on 03/26
ICE 2007 Conference: CHUM U-Pitch
 The ICE Conference (formerly iSummit) is over for another year. Lack of electrical outlets and a usable wireless system capable of handling a geek-filled audience made live-blogging pretty well impossible. That said, this conference unlike, say, MESH, did not require live blogging. Why? Well, ICE 07's theme could be described as "How do big media companies monetize all this digital stuff anyway?" We are talking big, juggernaut companies like Bell, Telus, and Rogers who really don't need Gagglescape's help promoting themselves. Not that we hadn't heard the messages all before. Let's face it, digital media is now mainstream and is a money-making commodity managed by accountants who, by their nature, are concerned with the bottom line of the industry. The corporate presentations were trade-show stuff. Not to say many in the audience expected more. They probably didn't. But if you came looking for the latest Web 2.0 and social-networking trends you were left unsatisfied. Still, the organizers did a great job and the conference went on without a hitch. Lots of old friends reconnected and new friendships were made. At the end of it all I suppose that's the important message (along with there is money to be made in this industry and we - big companies - know how to do it). One event that snuck in some younger thinking was the CHUM U-Pitch challenge. Hosted by the always knowledgeable Amber Mac and including as a panelist TorCamp's David Crow, the presentations had a bit of that "American Idol" flavour to them. Who would win? In the end my favourite from the Murmur guys came second. Grand Prize Winner Where'd You Get That? by ChickAdvisor Inc. 2nd Prize Torontopia by Gabe Sawhney 3rd Prize Reach For The Starz by Digital Goldfish I'm off to OCAD's Mobile Nation Conference today. Stay (...read more...)
[email this story]
Posted by R. Ouellette on 03/23
New World Order Panel
New World Order: A Cross-Platform Super PanelModerated by James Lewis, Decima Publishing What is th emeta-theme of this panel? Is it - Media companies will not be everything to all people or is it that those who control the pipes don't worry too much about disruptive change? Maria Hale / Mike Lee: The panelists are talking about how they maintain their existing businesses in spite of the onslaught of new technologies and trends. CHUM and Rogers take an approach of controlling their markets. Shel Israel: The disruptive tendencies of the Internet have reached the tipping point. Kids are coming into the marketplace who will disrupt everything. How will marketers reach kids who are immune to marketing. They have a toolset that represents a vast decentralization of decision-making. The bigger you are - as a company - the sooner you have to start turning. Jim Griffin: Best practices - how is your experience? They care about the customer and get two-way feedback. Taking best practices. Maria Hale: Chat-rooms and TV are two separate things. TV and the TV broadcast experience does not come across online. Mike Lee: The market is stratified. Joost, the product, is a slightly more cost-effective way of delivering video to a customer. Joost content is not genius... S.I. I think it is genius... M.L. I think they have repackaged things that already exist. M.H.: Juiced allow CHUM to package a bunch of shows in a new way. S.I.: Rock and roll did not replace opera but it did change the world... this is a transformative era. Joost is taking the world where it has not gone before. The panel has drifted into the world of advertising support of content and media. How do you pay for this content? Massive sea-change coming because of personalized bots that capture (...read more...)
[email this story]
Posted by R. Ouellette on 03/21
ICE 2007 Conference: Keynote
 I'm blogging the ICE 2007 conference semi-live from the Carlu in Toronto. Keynote speaker: Robert Sawyer, Futurist. Moore's Law is impacting media channels... In the next ten years we will have seven times more computing power than we have today. Small mobile screens are a stepping stone and will be around for about eight more seconds. Rate of change is ramping up exponentially - asymptotically which is ten years down the road. The future is VR. Storage capacities will become almost infinite -- think bigger and grander. This is a "Dancing Bear" moment. Initially cool but after a while you are not interested. Mobile is like that now. Aim high in what you are trying to do. Star Trek fan clubs are showing the incredibly high quality films. People on desktops doing professional special effects. Gap of VR and reality is closing. Soon simulations will be indistinguishable from reality. The creative and nimble will lead the marketplace. There is money to made in aggregation - like YouTube. However, we are competing with amateurs. Branding becomes enormously important in this kind of distribution. Brand yourself!!! The future is a drunken slut you can take home every night - you have to be prepared to engage with it. Think bigger, more open, and wider. Be a visionary. The future will be here before you know it. In the digital world there is infinite economies. It is no longer based on scarcity. GeoFencing is a ridiculous notion. We are trying to force the market backwards. "No media organization can cancel the future." U.K. quotation. We need an end to silo thinking... then end to things that we once considered separate. Find synergies or combinatorics. Broadband is the new crustaceous asteroid: today is the age of the blurring between the professional and the consumer.
[email this story]
Posted by R. Ouellette on 03/21
ICE 2007 Conference
 The ICE 2007 conference begins tomorrow at the Carlu (Yonge and College, Toronto). Gagglescape will be blogging semi-live from the conference. Stay tuned. ICE 2007: Content That Pays is a high-level conference dedicated to the business of content on interactive platforms.
[email this story]
Posted by R. Ouellette on 03/20
Free-Market Environmentalism
 No matter where you are on the political spectrum, odds are that as a Canadian you have an opinion on what steps need to be taken to salvage our environment. Some of you feel that government is long overdue in taking steps to reduce this country's carbon emissions. Corporate Knights Editor Toby Heaps has argued for a carbon tax and an overall investment of $100 billion dollars. Others out there say that the free market economy will provide the means to this much needed end. "Free-Market Environmentalism," as it is called, offers that the free market is best able to respond to the new demands of an environmentally aware marketplace. My experience suggests that like many complex issues the truth lies somewhere between the two polemics. Free markets are able to move far more quickly than government in certain areas. Governments can establish regulatory frameworks supported by law. Without the two working symbiotically we are bound to fail. Look at the corrosive expansion of the GTA's suburbs for an example of what economists call negative externalities in the free market system. For a whole host of reasons many suburbs are unsustainable: they destroy Ontario's food-producing lands; they virtually demand that households require two cars because essential amenities are not within walking distance; they assume cheap, abundant energy; they overload the region's road networks; they don't pay their share of infrastructure costs; they promote over-consumption; and so on . . . The free market drove this cancerous growth because externalities were not required to be paid for in the sale costs of those houses. In other words, the costs mentioned above were not part of the financial equation. If they were other types of housing that took external costs into account would have been developed. Clearly, government was complicit in this regulatory (...read more...)
[email this story]
Posted by R. Ouellette on 03/19
OCAD Lands $360k For Mobile Lab
 Image from the John Street Media Corridor Project CD-ROM, 1995/6 The Ontario College of Art and Design announced earlier today that their Mobile Media Lab has received a $360 thousand dollar research grant from the federal government. OCAD plays host to next week's Mobile Nation conference, from March 22 to 25. OCAD President Sara Diamond was instrumental in bringing this area of exploration to OCAD, and sees its evolution as essential to the near future of the Ontario and Canadian economies. She says, "Mobile media and communication is the future of entertainment, education, tourism and even health care provision. We're developing products that consumers all over the world - from the UK, to India, to Argentina - will want to use. We're collaborating with the best children's media producers in Canada on this project as well as top tier fiction and arts entertainment media. Imagine your computer game-playing child as an active physical participant in playing and learning outdoors with the help of a mobile device, instead of sitting at home." Just a follow up to the John Street Corridor project noted above: I designed the (...read more...)
[email this story]
Posted by R. Ouellette on 03/16
|
Local News
GigPark announced on August 24th, that they had been purchased by the Yellow Pages. Hey Noah, congratulations to you and the team there.
The Ontario government is doing something truly unique and laudable says John Albright of JLA Ventures. Last week Ontario's Ministry of Research and Innovation announced a new $205-million fund to help stimulate the province's early-stage ventures. According to a University of Laval Professor, Canada's Labour Sponsor Funds kill innovation rather than create it. Read the press release here. MediaScrape lands new venture round of $3.2 million. Chris Dingle has been appointed President and Chief Technology Officer. Mr. Dingle was the founding CTO of 24/7 Real Media which sold recently to WPP for $637 million. University Technologies International (UTI) - IGNITE - announces the closing of two first-round financings for two IGNITE companies, Profero Energy Inc. and Circle Cardiovascular Imaging Inc. Kleer Inc. based in California but with a plant in Ottawa landed a $28 million round for its wireless audio product development. The Ottawa Citizen ran this story a few days ago. We've been saying this for years now. When will the public sector make it easier for investment in the province's tech sector? Rick Nathan of the Canadian Venture Capital Association has an optimistic view of the current credit crunch. MSBi Capital announces the addition of two new partners François Gauvin and John Elton. Celtic House Venture Partners of K-W invested in Dublin-based RedMere last week.
Syndicate
|
Services
Stories By
Syndicate
Link Roll
|
|||||
