A New Leader for OCRI

OCRI is looking for a new leader.
This may be the most important decision its members and funders make because it will set the direction for the organization during the coming critical years where Ottawa’s tech sector will either finally revive or fatally flounder.
It’s a time for vision, inclusion, activism and leadership.
So what [...]

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Skating to where the puck will be

It was great to see the comments from people in Ottawa, Toronto and Waterloo discussing the strength of, and differences between each community. It’s a testament to the connection between the Ontario’s tech centers. What’s missing – beside Montreal – is this same discussion on core problems that affect all Canadian tech companies – like [...]

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Success Disaster – shaping the next Internet

I’m not a network person in fact I can hardly get two devices to share files – yet I found this 18 month old talk by Van Jacobson incredibly compelling and though provoking.

What Mr. Jacobson does is make an arcane subject – Network Typology both easily understood and relevant.
What becomes clear is that network architecture [...]

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Innovative Business Cultures

Bob Lefsetz points to a great quote from Universal Music CEO Doug Morris on why the music industry couldn’t develop a new business model as technology started to shift to digital delivery:
There’s no one in the record industry that’s a technologist,” Morris explains. “[It’s] a misconception … that the record industry missed this. They didn’t. [...]

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Voice Mash-ups – Imagination is the biggest barrier

I’ve been watching the growth of Iotum’s Free Conference calling service because conferencing is the perfect voice service for social media. So it was that last Friday I sat in on Alec Saunders Voice Mash-up conference call (download podcast) to learn where he, and a number of voice evangelists (Thomas Howe, Jim Courtney, Andy Abramson)  [...]

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The CodeFactory Starts

Just in time for Christmas there is exciting news from Ian Graham – the Code Factory is a go.
If you’re not already familiar with the CodeFactory think shared facility offices meet BarCamp. It’s this mix of private office space, open work space and community events that set the CodeFatory apart.
Of course productivity is at the [...]

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(Web) Video killed the TV Star

With apologies to Buggles – whose 1979 hit remembers the golden era of radio while celebrating the unrelenting force of technology to re-shape media.
It’s TV’s turn now.  Web & Social video are set to reshape both media. 
Locally stealth start-ups Overlay.tv and FaveQuest are playing in this area, as are local content producers like RaceDV. What’s [...]

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The Social Base of Competition

We are at a tipping point – technology has enabled us to shift our focus to organizational processes as the source of improvements for our corporate, regional and national competitive goals.
What’s happening is that online tools from social networks, to blogs, wikis and presence tools like Skype and IM are erasing geographic and temporal boundaries. [...]

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A Beacon for Media IT

Yesterday FaceBook announced Beacon – an ad widget for eCommerce sites that asks the purchaser if they want the purchase in their FaceBook feed. One click and you’ve promoted the site and product while linking it to the reputation of the purchaser.
What’s slick about this is it removes the last shred of doubt that content is [...]

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The Future of Software – The 8th C

GigaOm is kicking off a month long series on the future of software.
The first installment (written by Anne Truitt Zelenka – editor of the WebWorkerDaily) covers the 7 C’s of software:
- Collective
- Connected
- Cyborg
- Closed
- Composed
- Choreographed
- Cognizant
All the core themes are there. What’s implied, but missing is:
- Customary
Software will be embedded in everything – and the thought process that leads to applications [...]

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