Tag: Digifest Toronto
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Wearables May Be Next Consumer Communications Channel
Smart watches and other wearable devices could be the next frontier of brand-consumer interaction. But first, marketers need to figure out how customers intend to use them. According to new research from customer engagement agency Accent Marketing, nearly 70% of consumers are open to brand communications through a smart watch or other wearable technology device.…
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5 tips for improving online privacy
If you want to watch who’s watching you online, Brett Gaylor’s “Do Not Track” is the series to stream. The seven-part “personalized documentary,” which premiered its first episodes on the National Film Board of Canada website Tuesday, focuses on the personal information Internet users are unwittingly sharing with companies as they surf the web. If…
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Hairware – Wearable technology for your hair
Your hair extensions could save your life. Sound dramatic? Well, it kind of is, but in a mega sexy, super spy, Bond girl kind of way. Hairware is a new wearable technology that allows you to to operate your smartphone via, you guessed it, your hair. How does it work? The extensions look just like…
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Wearable Technology for the Farm?
Many people have heard of Google Glass and how it allows users the ability to get connected to common Web applications without using their hands. But can such technology help run your farm? Craig Ganssle, founder and CEO of Basecamp Networks, says it already is for some agricultural operators. “We have developed a software program…
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Paying For YouTube: The Next Experiment In The TV Revolution
Would you pay to watch YouTube videos, uninterrupted by advertising? That’s a question a lot of business analysts — and users — are now pondering, as reports emerge that Google’s video-streaming site is in the process of launching an as-yet-unnamed monthly subscription. “Netflix has proved people are willing to pay,” says Duncan Stewart, a media…
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Apple Watch and Selfridges
Apple’s partnership with Selfridges has the potential to alter the face of technology retail forever. This week London’s Selfridges played host to hundreds of curious shoppers craning their necks to get closer to the Apple watch. But, in a uniquely Apple turn of events, they weren’t even customers eager to hand over their cold hard cash…
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It’s time to do a digital spring cleaning
Spring cleaning may have you sifting through your closets and crawling through the storage spaces in your home, but tech experts say you should add digital cleaning to your to-do list. “Just like our homes get crowded with things in the winter, sometimes our digital lives get crowded,” Michael Kaiser, executive director of the National…
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Paypal merchants can now accept Bitcoin
Image by Lars Plougmann Flickr CC In a long SEC filing, PayPal states that its merchants can now begin accepting Bitcoin. In September 2014, PayPal announced it would accept Bitcoin via integration with Braintree, and the same month announced partnerships with Coinbase, BitPay and GoCoin. Via the PayPal Payment’s Hub merchants could use customizable APIs to integrate Bitcoin into their…
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Solar-powered internet drone completes first test flight
A Portuguese startup that aims to use solar-powered drones to provide wireless internet access to offline areas of the world claims to have successfully completed its maiden test flight. The company Quarkson plans to use the SkyOrbiter drones that will stay airborne for weeks, months or even years at a time and will fly at…
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Why this Billionaire is Betting Big on Bitcoin
Image by Jason Benjamin Flickr CC Reid Hoffman has an expert eye for promising tech startups. The LinkedIn chairman and co-founder’s early stakes in Facebook, Airbnb and Dropbox prove he’s able to see the next big thing before most of us even know what it is — and it’s paid off for him time and again.…
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CRTC is having a public hearing our current Canadian Internet Service
Image by photosteve101 Flickr CC The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission want’s to know how you feel about your internet. The regulator launched a major fact-finding process to assess whether Canada has the right telecommunications to be a world-class player in the digital economy. The CRTC plans to hold public consultations in the fall to ask if…
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We Are Wearables Meetup
Once again, We Are Wearables founder Tom Emrich marveled at the turnout of this month’s We Are Wearables – almost 800 people signed up for the event – which focused on wearable computing and augmented reality. The event featured a panel on AR from industry experts, the Canadian premiere of the Meta Glasses, augmented reality glasses…
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Montreal aims to become the wearable technology capital of Canada
Photo by Keoni Cabral Flickr CC Despite reports this past year citing Toronto as a hotbed of wearable technology — with roughly 15 companies producing products — several entrepreneurs and investors in Montreal insist their city is primed to take over within two to three years, particularly in clothing. In an interview, Tom Emrich, a Toronto-based consultant and…
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New videos released on the Apple Watch
Following the abundance of information concerning the features and optional materials of the Apple Watch, the tech giant has now released a guided tour of how it all works. Functioning seamlessly with the iPhone, the wearable tech piece is envisaged to complete brief interactions in a more convenient way, as well as operations that were…
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Bell’s been tracking its customers habits
Gloria Nieto for The Globe and Mail The federal privacy watchdog says a Bell Canada targeted advertising program that tracks customers’ clicks, calls and television binges violated Canadians’ privacy rights. Canada’s privacy commissioner says Bell should have asked for express consent from its customers before beginning a data collection program that involves tracking their internet…
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How to invest in Bitcoin
People usually enter the wide world of cryptocurrencies after having learned about Bitcoin. The digital currency has a range of appeals which cater to all kinds of tastes. For a start, the cryptocurrency is decentralised, which means that no institution or entity can control it. Secondly, this derives from the previous point, it is universal.…
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Unlocking your phone could be as easy as taking a selfie
Image Courtesy of John Ragai Flickr CC Apple Inc. has been granted an official patent on a technology that uses facial recognition to unlock mobile phones. Published by The U.S. Patent and Trade Office Tuesday, the patent document shows that Apple has been developing this iPhone feature since at least 2011. Essentially, a user would bring the phone up to his or her face, at…
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Want To Get Your DNA Tested? There’s A Facebook App For That
Image Courtesy of WWW.ISGTW.ORG “Facebook” and “DNA” are two words you probably don’t want to hear in the same sentence. But an ambitious new research project, Genes for Good, is now using the social network to collect genetic information. The researchers heading up the project say that your information is safe with them — but…
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John Oliver talks with Edward Snowden about Government Surveillance
On April 5th, John Oliver sat down with Edward Snowden to discuss the NSA and Section 215’s renewal on June 1, 2015 and the debate the needs to happen to reform it. To their surprise the average American citizen is not aware of the NSA’s activities or who Edward Snowden is or how his actions have…
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GPS Easter Egg Hunt
It was an Easter egg hunt with a San Francisco twist. A tech startup took over downtown Friday afternoon for an Easter egg hunt and doled out some serious prize money. A crowd of hundreds gathered with their smartphones in hand. “We think of this as Easter egg hunt 2.0,” one man said. A company…
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Millennials are indifferent about digital privacy
A study released by the American Press Institute last month found that only 20% of Millennials worry all or most of the time about their digital privacy. Just two in 10 (20%) of Millennials worry about digital privacy “all/most of the time,” 46% said they worry “only a little” and 34% said they “don’t worry…
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Sagmeister & Walsh Make Security Tech Look Sexy
The makers of Fugue, a new software that simplifies the creation, operation, and regeneration of cloud infrastructure, wanted to, uh, disrupt stereotypical tech graphics. For their branding, they tapped the ever inventive New York-based design studio Sagmeister & Walsh. The designers created a calligraphic identity, app, and animated logo that changes based on user data.…
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Surveillance and Encryption
In January of this year, British Prime Minister David Cameron let it be known that he intended to dumb down encryption so that law enforcement could monitor all of the information streaming across the country. A direct attempt to capitalize on the Paris attacks. Today news about a police chief with Europol was advocating against…
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Flying a drone is as simple as drawing a picture
What if the process of flying a drone were more simple, streamlined and more automated so anyone, regardless of skill could do it? That is the goal behind Ares, a new drone manufacturing startup. One major advancement has to do with drone flight safety and abiding by FAA regulations. If you happen to draw a…
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Why you need to love Blockchain and Bitcoin
Most people following developments in Bitcoin are familiar with the often repeated mantra proclaiming that blockchain is an innovative technological breakthrough. The blockchain is a peer-to-peer public ledger maintained by a distributed network of computers. There is no central authority, and no need a trusted third party to process and verify transactions. Eliminating the need…
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Beware your car could be spying on you
Image Startup Bootcamp Modern vehicles are powerful data-scraping machines, warns a group of B.C. privacy advocates, and Canada urgently needs to regulate what companies can do with the information cars send them. “Policy-makers have to provide the guidance that the automotive industry desperately needs on how general principles of data protection apply in their sector,”…
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Facebook to host The New York Times content on its app
Image News Talk Florida The New York Times reported the paper will give up some of its website traffic to the social-media giant, a move that some media observers call a power shift in digital publishing landscape. Under the proposed deal, Facebook would host content from prominent news outlets such as The Times, National Geographic…
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Apple ups its game with staff offering fashion advice for wearables
Apple has hired Tag Heuer’s sales and retail VP Patrick Pruniaux to help market the Apple Watch to a larger audience. Understanding that it’s current tech-driven sales tactics will need to be massaged to create larger appeal, Apple is now training its staff to offer suggestions for customers on how the Apple Watch can be…
Richelle Sibolboro 