digital : Innovation + Job News

Between Craigslist and the variety of social networks now available, you might think that finding a new bandmate might be as easy as posting an ad or a status update. Many musicians, however, find it isn't so easy.

This is what led Shaan Singha and Troy Fullerton to co-found DownToJam, a start-up social network created specifically for musicians.

The idea came up during a casual conversation: Fullerton was helping Singha move a motorcycle and was complaining about his trouble finding someone to jam with. Singha asked, "Isn't there anything like [a dating website] where you can see someone's profile, what they're doing?"

It turned out that there wasn't, and so the two decided to create one. It was, says Singha, "born out of desperation, trying to find compatible friends to play with."

Their goal is to help people build actual friendships over music, and to have the range of people participating be as diverse as possible. Fullerton is an experienced musician and Singha is a beginner: they hope to be able to match people at all parts of the spectrum of expertise.

The site is still technically in beta, with an official launch coming later this summer. So far Texas and Toronto are the two biggest user groups; DownToJam has a total of about 3,000 members so far.

"Services for our members free," Singha says—something they are committed to maintaining. The business plan includes beginning with ad revenue, and then moving on to including a classified-style section of enhanced profiles.

DownToJam also includes a third co-owner, Neil McWilliam—their developer—and they plan on hiring in coming months for a forthcoming blogging division.

Writer: Hamutal Dotan
Source: Shaan Singha, co-founder, DownToJam

Explaining breakthroughs in medical technology can be difficult. The tools are precise and specialized, and the difference new innovations can make can be hard to grasp.

But here's one that's relatively easy to wrap your head around: researchers at Ryerson University and Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre are piloting a new imaging technology for use during surgery.

The goal is simple: give surgeons a clear and near-instant ability to see exactly what they are doing and where they are going within a person's body during the course of an operation.

"Everyone knows how to use a GPS when they're driving," says Victor Yang, the researcher leading the project.  "This is a GPS for surgeons."

The system, 7D Surgical Navigation, is now a spin-off company, and has started pilot testing in a number of patients.

Essentially the problem until now is that surgeons have had to choose, Yang explains, between operating largely blind, learning about a patient's precise anatomical condition as they go, or ordering images such as x-rays, but having to wait up to 30 minutes during surgery for those images to be developed.

Practice tends to vary from doctor to doctor, with some preferring to wait for x-rays while patient is on the table, and others working much more quickly, but free hand, and thus with less accuracy. 7D allows surgeons to benefit from the accuracy imaging provides, without sacrificing time with patients open on the table—both a cost savings in terms of reducing operating times, and a health benefit since it's generally preferable to keep surgical times to a minimum.

The trials of the new device began in March. So far, 13 patients have been enrolled, with a variety of medical problems: some have tumours in the middle of their brains, some were in car accidents and had broken their spines. The ultimate goal is to have 60 participants in this pilot phase.

"The technology is broadly applicable," Yang says, "but the engineering team that I have is very focused on spine and brain surgeries [at the moment]—these are the surgeries that require highest precision. Afterwords we will go on to ear nose and throat, and then orthopaedic surgeries."

As with all new medical devices 7D will need to clear several regulatory hurdles, including  licensing from Health Canada and the FDA. Yang says his team is aiming to hit those targets within 12-18 months.

Writer: Hamutal Dotan
Source: Victor Yang, lead researcher, 7D Surgical

Back in the fall, five North American companies were selected to participate in a three-month bootcamp to develop new apps for wearable technologies (like Google Glass).

One was Toronto-based software design firm Normative, and the app they came up with is now available. It's called "A to B" and the idea is simple: record your route during an activity (running, biking, skateboarding), and then race against your own recorded routes.

It's one example of the kind of work the 25-person company has been working on over the past six years—work that, says Normative CEO Matthew Milan, is essentially driven by the same goal: "using software technology to help people do the things they want to do…to give them better capabilities, make it easier for people to do stuff."

One example we've all been hearing more about lately: the Internet of Things. That, explains Milan, "is what happens when you start assigning network addresses—just like you have on your cellphone or computer—to a much wider range of things like, like your car, or your dishwasher, or your alarm clock."

And while that might seem to needlessly complicate things, the goal, at least, is to make them simpler, "to use data you get from the network to optimize experiences people are already having." (For instance, having your dishwasher remind you to get detergent.) Normative's latest foray into this realm is called Peak, an app that uses sensors in specially designed skis to collect data about your performance.

But this kind of integrated software design isn't just about the fun toys and gadgets, fancy new gizmos that few people will ever buy or use.

Another Normative project: developing an intranet for the Hospital for Sick Children.

"Five or ten years ago people would build an intranet, and it would help make it easier to find documents, for example," Milan says. Their goal at Sick Kids was to "help people find people rather than people find documents…make a system that makes it really easy for people to find each other, develop relationships with each other, collaborate with each other." It allows people with expertise who may work only a few doors or floors away, but never have met in person to easily find each other, and work together on research and patient care.

As for the future of technology in Toronto, and Canada more broadly, Milan says that "one of the challenges we have is that there is a real dearth of real literacy in terms of technology… We really need strong leadership that understands how technology is going to make things better at all levels of society."

He compares it to the U.S. New Deal: President Franklin D. Roosevelt's slate of laws and social programs that established the social safety net Americans grow up with today. Milan believes that technology now offers the same kind of promise and potential—the ability to fundamentally change our expectations, establish baselines for what daily life looks like, or as he puts it redefine "what 21st century society should give its citizens."

Writer: Hamutal Dotan
Source: Matthew Milan, CEO, Normative

The art of the job hunt. It's a tricky one—high stakes, scary, and often hemmed in by regimented processes (as anyone who has had to prepare an application for electronic readers seeking key words well knows).

Hoping to help ease things for both employers and employees: Deskribed, a Toronto startup that wants to help match up job seekers with positions that are not just okay, but the perfect fit.

The current problem: many of our needs often aren't covered in the standard job-hunting process. For an increasing number of workers, quality of life issues are becoming at least as important as considerations like salary or status—and those circumstances, which make a job fit well or poorly into our lives, are often inadequately captured, if at all, in standard job descriptions or hiring processes.

Deskribed co-founder Karim Gillani first came up with the idea a couple of years ago, when he was living in San Francisco and working at RIM.

"I was in this situation where my job was great but…I was looking for a change and i thought to myself that rather than going out to look for jobs…wouldn't it be great if i could just set up exactly what i want for myself, and get opportunities sent to me—real opportunities that were good for me."

And so he decided to build just that.

Deskribed's goal, he says, is to serve as a "time saver for the type of people who have a job but are dissatisfied in some way and are looking for a better way to find their next opportunity."

Those job seekers set up profiles that include "things like your commute time, your role seniority, the work culture—things that don't often come out in a typical job application…we decided to put those things that really affect your quality of life in up front."

And those would-be employees are being matched up with companies that understand the importance of those values. Deskribed's ideal employers are "high growth early startups, typically companies that have recently raised a round of funding and looking to hire"—and who understand that the key to attracting talent isn't as straightforward as it used to be.

Deskribed is currently very focused—both on Toronto, and on the technology sector. Over time they anticipate growing geographically (particularly to other cities with high concentrations of tech jobs) and then expanding into other industries. In the meantime, they are doing some hiring themselves: the startup currently has five staff, and is looking to add some front end developers to their own employee pool.

Writer: Hamutal Dotan
Source: Karim Gillani, co-founder, Deskribed
Photo: Jason Hoffman

"One of the first things I did when I got here [in 2010]," says Emma Westecott, assistant professor of game design at OCAD University, "was try to find out who else was teaching games."

She found a kindred spirit in Steve Engels, a senior lecturer in computer science at the University of Toronto. They met, and they had their students meet, and "one of the things that became evident was that a lot of the games our students were making could be much better if they were working together." So they started doing just that, and it went well enough that they decided to set up a showcase at the end of that first year of collaboration.

It's four years later, and this past weekend Level Up marked its fourth instalment: an interdisciplinary, multi-institutional showcase of student work in gaming that allows graduating and senior students to show off their work, engage in a bit of friendly competition, and—crucially—meet potential employers.

This year more than a dozen institutions participated, and over 50 team projects were included in the showcase. Organizers estimate that 1,000 people attended—200 more than last year.

Why an off-campus showcase? "It became obvious to me that with a new subject matter," Westecott explains, "that working with community was the best way to build expertise."

Toronto has a well-established gaming sector—it's a growing and dynamic part of our local economy—and one key goal of Level Up is to help introduce students into that community, sniff out potential internship opportunities, and tap into a network that will help them as they leave school. It's also a great way to measure your progress.

"For our students, it helps them see what their games are like in comparison to what other games are being made; from potential employers' point of view, it makes it easier to see everyone in one place."

Writer: Hamutal Dotan
Source: Emma Westecott, Assistant Professor, Game Design, Digital Futures, OCAD University

Calgary tech startup Slyce has had a busy couple of months.

It started in December, when they acquired hovr.it, a young Toronto company that developed coding to enable people to search for products visually.

In February, it acquired a piece of tech from York University Ph.D. student Ehsan Fazi-Ersi that aggregates similar images. The tech was developed in conjunction with MaRS Innovation and Innovation York. The researchers also beneifted from a phase 1 Ontario Centres of Excellence grant. Slyce then hired Fazi-Ersi to head up its research and development department.

Then, last week, they announced they had completed their second round of financing, amounting to $10.75 million, for a total of $14.5 million in financing since startup, which may end up sounding like peanuts if things go their way.

The idea behind Slyce is a potential monster: Helping people take pictures of things they like (a cute bag they see someone with on the street, for example) or things they need (a broken window that needs replacing), and get matched up instantly with retailers’ offerings so they can buy it on the spot with their phones.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Mark Elfenbein

Major news out of Cisco today: Toronto is one of the four cities internationally that has been selected to host a new Internet of Everything Innovation Centre. (The other cities on the list: Rio de Janeiro; Songdo, South Korea; and a yet-to-be-named city in Germany.)

The 15,000 square foot facility will be part of Cisco's new headquarters, slated to open as part of RBC WaterPark Place in 2015. The $100 million investment in the innovation centre will be spent over 10 years, encompassing design and infrastructure, start-up costs, and ongoing staff and operations.

What, you may be wondering, is the "Internet of Everything"? It's basically just Cisco's term for the growing integration of new systems and aspects of daily life into the internet—the next iteration of the internet's penetration into our lives, and the next layer of connectivity that will generate.

"Today less than one per cent of the things that could be connected, are connected on the internet," explained Cisco Canada president Nitin Kawale when announcing the investment Wednesday morning. "Imagine what's possible if the remaining 99 per cent of things were connected."

The innovation centre will be devoted to exploring some of that potential new connectivity, "a place for our partners, customers, established companies, and start-ups from across North America to work together," Kawale said. "Toronto is a world-class community of creativity and talent. This facility will be a global hub of innovation for the Internet of Everything technologies. It puts Toronto and Cisco on the world stage."

Back in December Cisco also announced that it would be creating "up to 1,700 high tech jobs" in Toronto, with a total employee base of up to 5,000 in the region.

Toronto's Deputy Mayor, Norm Kelly, was on hand for the announcement. "When I look around this room to see the sampling of the technology that you're working with today and what it might be like tomorrow—it's mind-boggling. It really is."

Writer: Hamutal Dotan
Source: Cisco Canada

When Kathleen Wynne's government unveiled its first budget last year, one focus was on youth jobs initiatives: it included $295 million over two years to boost youth employment, innovation, and entrepreneurship. Among the projects in that youth job strategy: a Youth Investment Accelerator Fund, which would give up to $250,000 each to tech-based companies whose founders are less than 30 years old.

This month, the Youth IAF announced the first four recipients of funding through the program—all of which are based in Toronto. Those recipients:

• PUSH, which is working on wearable devices that help athletes train more effectively by providing real-time feedback about their performance. PUSH is an alumni of MaRS.
• Rubikloud, a B2B tool which uses e-commerce data to yield insights into purchasing patterns, sales conversions, traffic changes, and more. Rubikloud also came up through MaRS.
• SoapBox, an employee engagement tool that was developed with the support of Ryerson's Digital Media Zone and whose clients now include RBC and and Indigo.
• Greengage, which comes out of Rotman's Creative Destruction Lab. Greengage focuses on helping organizations meet their sustainability goals by giving employees the tools to do things like monitor and reduce the environmental impact of their behaviours.

The Youth IAF's main goal is to accelerate commercialization of young tech-based companies, and in particular those "that have graduated from recognized accelerator programs within the province and Ontario Universities and colleges, or are enrolled with a Regional Innovation Centre under the ONE program."

Applications are available online and accepted on a rolling basis.

Writer: Hamutal Dotan
Source: Ministry of Research and Innovation

"Toronto Public Library provides free and equitable access to services which meet the changing needs of Torontonians. The Library preserves and promotes universal access to a broad range of human knowledge, experience, information and ideas in a welcoming and supportive environment."

That's the mission statement for Toronto's library system, and they want you to take the "changing" part of it seriously.

Though many of us think primarily of books—the old-fashioned paper-and-ink variety—when it comes to the library, TPL has been exploring digital technology for some time, and ramping up those digital forays in recent years. They've already got robust e-book and digital magazine programs, and are exploring a Netflix-like video streaming service as well. For years, and especially for Torontonians who can't afford computers or internet connections, they've provided online access. Their latest venture: two digital innovation hubs—one at the Toronto Reference Library, and one at the soon-to-be-open Fort York branch.

Among the tools available there, and creating a lot of excitement: 3D printers.

The two hubs are a combination of maker space and digital media labs; also available will be HD cameras and green screens, computers with video editing and design software, and classes on subjects like Photoshop and web design.

As with those traditional print books, the goal is to make learning accessible to all Torontonians. "These are critical literacy skills that people are going to need to move forward," says Paul Trumphour, access and information manager for the Reference Library.

By offering these new technologies, and helping people understand how to use them, the library is supporting another kind of literacy—and one that is becoming increasingly vital to employment and creative enterprises. He cites, for instance, how many more men than women still enrol in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) programs, saying that "one of the ways to encourage young women to do this is to provide opportunities outside of the curricular experience… we think that's a role the library can play and should play."

About those 3D printers: staff will be on hand to help, and the library will be running workshops in how to design 3D objects. There are two at the Reference Library: one will be first come first served, and the other you can book in advance for a block of up to two hours. As for how they'll manage the inevitable waiting list, Trumphour chuckles, "we'll have to figure that out as we go."

Writer: Hamutal Dotan
Source: Paul Trumphour, Access and Information Manager, Toronto Reference Library

We all know that the shift to digital technology in general, and more recently the shift to mobile technology in particular, is remaking many businesses and economic sectors.

In an attempt to better understand some of these changes, the Information and Communications Technology Council (ICTC) has just released a new report looking at the role of mobile app development in Ontario's creative industries: books and magazines, film and TV, and music. Collectively, these industries generate $14.5 billion in annual revenue.

Among their findings, which are based on surveys completed by industry representatives in the summer and fall of 2013:

• Half of all respondents already use mobile apps in their businesses; another 31 per cent plan to incorporate them "in the near future." 


• Mobile app use isn't evenly distributed within the sector: as expected, a very high percentage of those in the digital media industry have incorporated apps into their businesses (64 per cent), compared to magazines (55 per cent); books (47 per cent); film and tv (39 per cent); and music (32 per cent).


• A large majority (68 per cent) of respondents use their apps as content distribution channels. Of all respondents, 43 per cent have so far seen an increase in sales and revenues in response to incorporating apps into their businesses. This is counterbalanced, however, by the reality that total benefits are right now very hard to measure: only 7 per cent of the respondents who have adopted mobile apps in their businesses reported "any measurable benefits," though the report's authors caution that this "may well be the result of difficulty in measuring the return on investment of mobile apps adoption…as opposed to not getting any discernible benefits from adoption."


• About half (48 per cent) of respondents who have adopted mobile apps report that their operating costs stayed the same; 35 per cent said their operating costs went down, and the average operating cost reduction was 9 per cent.


• As far as building the apps goes, 17 per cent of creative industry businesses do their development in-house, 44 per cent contract development out, and 39 per cent do a combination of both.


• The report estimates that 3,300 new jobs have been created in Ontario's creative businesses as a result of mobile app development and adoption: 55 per cent are full-time, 21 per cent part time, and 24 per cent contract. Toronto, predictably, is the centre for this activity: 40 per cent of the province's mobile app jobs overall are located here.

ICTC's report also looked at the barriers to mobile. "Currently, the biggest hindrance to adoption of mobile apps," the report, says, "appears to be lack of monetization of adoption benefits, with a third (37 per cent) of the enterprises stating that they are aware of the functionalities of mobile apps, but not yet convinced of their value. Other hesitations stemmed from respondents being unfamiliar with the industry, the technology options available to them, previous bad experiences with app development, and concerns about their clients' readiness to use mobile."

Writer: Hamutal Dotan
Source: Mobile Apps: Generating Economic Gains for Creative Media Industries in Ontario

It's one of those ideas that seems entirely obvious in retrospect: provide a forum for medical professionals to share clinical images, so they can have a large pool of resources to draw on when seeking to learn more about certain conditions, and a large pool of expertise to draw on for insight into particular cases.

Three Torontonians came up with just such a forum—a mobile app called Figure 1, the product of a startup of the same name. Figure 1 recently announced that it has raised $2 million in seed funding, to support its next stage of growth.

Figure 1 was started about a year ago by a practising physician, a senior developer, and a Ryerson communications professor. They launched at Ryerson's DMZ—"Ryerson's just really great with innovation and entrepreneurship and flexibility," says co-founder Gregory Levey (he's the communications prof)—and currently have nine full time staff. With the help of the seed funding they hope to double in size within the year.

The new financing will allow Figure 1 to grow in a variety of ways. Their first goal is to expand onto different platforms: they're planning to launch on Android within four or six weeks, and will then move onto a desktop version of Figure 1. They're also looking to expand into other countries; the app is available in Canada, the U.S., Ireland, and the UK at the moment, and Australia and New Zealand are next. (Because the app is for licensed professionals, there are costs involved when they expand to each new country as they need to accommodate a new set of medical regulations.)

Levey's quick to admit they don't have a business model quite yet—Figure 1's focus right now is on building the service and user base. This isn't, right now, worrying anyone: their investors are on board with that strategy. Many of those investors are based in America, though there are some Canadians in the mix as well, and that's reflected in the approach a bit: "I do think there's something of a difference," Levey says of the investment culture in the two countries. "The American ones, especially on the west coast, are really swinging for the fences. The Canadian ones are a little more cautious, a little more risk averse—but that's changing."

Writer: Hamutal Dotan
Source: Gregory Levey, co-founder, Figure 1

For the third year, technology publication Techvibes is giving out awards to acknowledge the country's top new ventures and enterprises. The finalists for the 2013 Canadian Startup Awards were recently announced, and now it's up to you: the winners will be selected by the public, via an online vote. You can cast your ballot until midnight on January 19; the winners will be announced on January 20.

As usual, Toronto is well-represented among the finalists. Among the local ventures vying for awards are:

• InteraXon: a technology company that creates products based on tools that read a person's brainwaves.
• Music-messaging platform Rithm
• Business-to-business marketing company Influitive, which closed a major round of funding this time last year

All of those were nominated for the most prominent award: overall startup of the year. Toronto's well-represented in other categories. Two local startups are also nominated for accelerator graduate of the year. Bionym, which came through Creative Destruction Lab and The Next 36, provides unique user identification tools based on a person's signature heartbeat. And ShopLocket, which graduated from Extreme Startups, provides easy-to-use tools to help retailers set up online stores.

Techvibes received over 2,500 nominations; editors whittled down to the list of finalists with public input as well. Launched in conjunction with KPMG, the Canadian Startup Awards are given out in six categories. Last year nearly 18,000 votes were cast. Wattpad won for best overall startup in 2011, and Indochino in 2012.

Writer: Hamutal Dotan

A year-old partnership between Toronto incubator MaRS and Microsoft just got bigger.

According to a new deal, known as Biz Spark, start-up entrepreneurs will be getting direct and indirect development help from the tech giant.

"Startups will get access to software and tools provided under the Biz Spark program," says Ryan Poissant, a MaRs advisor in IT, communication and entertainment. "Select MaRS clients will also benefit from connecting with experienced product development teams and access to Microsoft's deep industry networks of partners and customers."

Poissant describes the potential beneficiaries of this deal as being companies who figure they can benefit from "Microsoft's tools and industry verticals."

"Microsoft brings a deep understanding of design and development tools and practices as well as expertise in building scalable, enterprise grade applications that reside in the cloud," Poissant says. "This expertise complements the MaRS platform that helps companies move efficiently from the discovery phase to product/market fit through a combination of advisory services, partnerships, access to capital and networks."

MaRs stands for Medical and Related Sciences, though since it was named, its purview has expanded into unrelated fields.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Ryan Poissant

Nuit Blanche, the international sunset-to-sunrise arts festival that first came to Toronto a few years ago, celebrates art and the ways it can interact with a city's streets, buildings, and public spaces. At its best moments, it transforms the way we experience the world around us. This year, one installation in particular aimed to do something a bit different: change the way we experience the world within.

That exhibit was called My Virtual Dream, and its primary creators weren't traditional artists but rather scientists from Baycrest Health Science and the University of Toronto's faculty of medicine. Their aim: gather data for an ongoing research project, while simultaneously giving participants the chance to engage in a dialogue with their own brains, by monitoring and displaying own brain wave activity, and then helping them play around with the visualizations that resulted.

If you walked by Queen's Park Crescent and College during Nuit Blanche on October 5, you might have seen a large geodesic dome that had been put up on the street, emitting a changing array of pastel lights. Inside: a semicircle of 20 participants, each with a wireless brain-computer interface on their heads. That interface allowed participants to watch their own brain wave activity on monitors in front of them, and see how it changed over time.

Participants were asked to alternately relax or concentrate, and as they did they could see how that affected the visualizations on the screen. It also affected what was happening in the entire dome: an animated projection light up the interior of the dome, and changed based on whether the group of participants tended to relax more or concentrate more. At the same time, a band played improvised music based on how those visuals changed.

The entire thing was beautiful, but it also served a purpose: the team of researchers gathered 550 data sets that night to help them refine the computer software that drove this whole process, called The Virtual Brain. Still in development, the Virtual Brain is a system for modelling the human brain. It can be used to simulate either an individual person's brain, if a researcher has readings from a specific subject, or create a generalized model based on a population.

Dr. Randy McIntosh is VP of research at Baycrest Health Sciences and the project lead for the Virtual Brain. He explains one way the simulator will be able to help in clinical settings, by providing individualized health care: "If you have someone who, for instance, has a stroke and you're considering various therapies, you can test the therapies in the virtual brain first to see which is likely to be most effective."

The data his team gathered at Nuit Blanche was especially significant, McIntosh says, in part because it was collected in such an unusual setting: "The idea is to make [the Virtual Brain] adaptable to any environment. it was really trying to push the technology in directions it can't currently go…If it works in that environment, it can work anywhere."

But it wasn't all about the data, McIntosh added. "This intersection of art and science is really cool because it really does capture the heart of what it is to be a scientist and what it is to be an artist," he went on. "The artists really needed to understand the science and the scientists really needed to understand the art" in order to make the project work. It was a deep collaboration that those who passed through the dome this past weekend certainly appreciated.

Writer: Hamutal Dotan
Source: Dr. Randy McIntosh, VP of research, Baycrest Health Sciences

About a year ago, Rogers Communications began pilot testing of a mobile payment system, one that would allow customers to pay bills with a tap-and-go smartphone service. Joining the race to get Canadians to make purchases without opening their wallets: PayPal, which launched a pilot of its own last month in Toronto.

PayPal's partner is TouchBistro, an iPad based point-of-sale system used by many food trucks, cafes, and restaurants. Customers who check in with the new service can pay their restaurant bills from their PayPal accounts via an app on their mobile phones.

Jimmy's Coffee is one of the venues that has been participating in the pilot. Manager Penny Vine says that so far the experiment has been going relatively well—right now about $100 a day are processed through the PayPal/TouchBistro system.

PayPal makes money on the system by collecting a small percent of each bill that is processed, which means that the lower price point of cafe sales isn't as lucrative for them as full-fledged restaurants. TouchBistro approached Jimmy's and asked them to participate in the pilot, however, simply because their more frequent sales—nearly 400 transactions a day—gives them a bigger sample size to learn from.

From Jimmy's perspective, explains Vine, the pilot was appealing because the cafe doesn't have the capacity to process credit card transactions, and this gives them an alternative electronic option for customers without cash. The mobile payment system, Vine says, "is great because at the actual point-of-sale it's really fast. It's easy…and it's cheaper than taking credit cards."

This, however, only works if customers check in before they arrive at the counter—if they aren't ready the payment process can take a bit of time. It's mostly a question of visibility, Vine thinks, pointing out that "people don't really know much about it yet." She also notes that the system only works if the technologies that support it do: if the app goes down, or a customer's phone network is on the fritz, mobile payments won't work.

Jimmy's is so far seeing more advantages than downsides: Vine says they would definitely be interested in keeping the system once the pilot is over.

Writer: Hamutal Dotan
Source: Penny Vine, Manager, Jimmy's Coffee