digital : Innovation + Job News

In a bid to ease some of the growing pains media companies face as they adapt to a rapidly changing digital world, earlier this month Polar Mobile launch MediaEverywhere, a development platform for mobile sites (in the future it will also include mobile apps). Among the Canadian publishers signed up: Toronto Star, Canadian Living, Hockey News and Elle Canada.

The plaform "enables media companies to build better custom mobile sites and apps faster and easier than tradi­tional custom devel­opment," wrote Polar CEO Kunal Gupta in a blog post introducing MediaEverywhere. Essentially, it's a tool that aims to streamline the process of making publications mobile friendly, which reduce costs for publishers in the process.

"Media companies are going through a second revolution,"  Rob Begg, VP of marketing for MediaEverywhere, told us over the phone. The first was the move from print to digital, and this second one is the shift specifically to mobile. Media companies of all types report that mobile is by far their fastest growing type of traffic, but developing sites and apps in the mobile market is tough, says Begg, due to the proliferation of platforms.

MediaEverywhere saves companies from having to put money into iOS, Android and other platforms separately—or worse, only having the money to develop in one at a time. Begg describes the approach as "mobile-centric rather than device-specific."

The total investment in Polar Mobile to date is $9 million; $6 million of that went towards building this platform. Currently they have 40 staff and are hiring enthusiastically, says Begg.

Writer: Hamutal Dotan
Source: Rob Begg, VP of Marketing, MediaEverywhere

It's nearly the end of the year, and a good time for reflecting on the major developments, trends, and successes of the last 12 months.

In that spirit, the Digi Awards were held last week, to celebrate the best of digital media in Canada. Marked with a ceremony at the Carlu, the awards night acknowledged the work of nominees in more than 20 categories in 2012.

The hometown team did Toronto proud, scooping up awards in many key categories. Among the local winners:

Best Use of Social Media: Juniper Park
The agency helped Pearson International Airport run its Tweet-a-Carol program, in which you can tweet a request to have a loved one travelling through the airport be greeted by carollers during the holiday season.

Best in Mobile Applications: Smokebomb Entertainment
Smokebomb is a digital production company. They were recognized for creating Totally Amp'd, an interactive app-based interactive TV-style series geared to teenagers.

Best in Tablet Applications: Aux Magazine for iPad
The monthly digital music magazine melds traditional coverage (such as interviews and reviews) with video and interactive features that allow readers to engage more fully with the music and artists Aux covers. It is produced by Aux TV and Blue Ant Media.

Canada’s Most Promising Digital Media Company: Juice Mobile
Specifically dedicated to mobile advertising, Juice's clients range from Apple to Live Nation. It was founded in 2010.

Writer: Hamutal Dotan
Source: Digi Awards

"I've always been an entrepreneur my entire life," says Donny Ouyang, "I started when I was 12."

Like many young entrepreneurs, he quickly found himself more intrigued by his extracurricular activities than anything in the classroom. "Because of that I didn't spend a lot of time learning," Ouyang says. And then, after a pause: "School... wasn't my thing."

It's perhaps especially fitting then that Ouyang has just launched what he describes as the world's first market-driven tutoring platform, called Rayku. He's hoping not only to find success with his startup, but to help students like him who have had bad experiences both at school and with traditional tutoring.

Rayku's idea is simple: tutors sign up to provide online assistance to students via the site's whiteboard and other digitial services, and are rated by their students as they go. The higher they rank—in theory, the more effective they are—the more they can charge.

Currently Rayku is focused on high school and first year univerisity students who need help with math. Ouyang plans to expand in a number of directions: first to other areas of the curriculum (science, essay writing), then to other levels of complexity, and then to a broader range of subjects—everything from standardized test preparation services to financial advising.

The startup has raised $400,000 of investment so far, and is "hiring aggressively," says Ouyang. He hopes to add two business development positions and two engineers to Rayku's staff by January.
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Writer: Hamutal Dotan
Source: Donny Ouyang, Founder & CEO, Rayku

There is a certain honesty about the startup social platform Wantster: refreshing, useful or perhaps abrupt, depending on your point of view.

Wantster, in a nutshell, is a platform where you collect photos of things that you want, and can share them with others. Conceptually it's not unlike Pintrest, which allows you to collect and share images of things that you like—though Wantster cuts to the chase by forcing us to admit that the things that we like are also often the things that we covet.

It will strike some as crass, perhaps—and others as an incredibly helpful time-saver during the holiday shopping season. (The company's tagline: "Create lists of the things you want and follow others to see what they want for any gift giving occasion." No Santa snail mail required.)

No matter your perspective, some good news in terms of the local startup scene: Wantster, which launched in April, has just closed $4 million in financing. The investment comes from Evanov Communications, an independent radio broadcaster which operates several stations in Toronto (among them the multilingual AM530 and Proud FM 103.9) and several more across the country.

Wantster's frankness may be tapping into something: the company says that "well over" 500,000 wanted products have been posted since the launched. While the company's co-founders haven't divulged what how they plan to use the investment, it seems that at least some of the arrangement includes using the old-media radio stations to develop interest in the new-technology digital platform.

Writer: Hamutal Dotan
Source: Wantster

Anyone who has had the frustrating experience of telling the nice automated voice at the other end of a customer service help line "no, I meant change of address" over and over again, only to be prompted to repeat themselves, knows that speech recognition software still has a long way to go.

Even more difficult is getting software to not only recognize what you're saying, but translate it into another language. The most advanced translation programs still only get it right about 75 per cent of the time—they still get one word out of every four or five wrong.

Until now, at least. Last month Microsoft's chief research officer, Rick Rashid, unveiled what appears to be a breakthrough in speech recognition and translation software. The new software, which provides simultaneous translation, not only cuts down substantially on errors, it mimics the voice of the original speaker when it produces the translation. (Video of a key part of Rashid's presentation is online; the voice recognition and translation demonstration begins at the seven minute mark.)

The breakthrough is based on research conducted by Microsoft and the University of Toronto, which was published in 2010.

"By using a technique called Deep Neural Networks," writes Rashid in a recent blog post, "which is patterned after human brain behavior, researchers were able to train more discriminative and better speech recognizers than previous methods."

Essentially, this works by processing a great deal more data than previous speech recognition programs had done, allowing the software to more closely mimic the human mind in its attempt to process language. The result is a 30 per cent decrease in errors, according to Rashid, and a much more natural translation experience. That is, if hearing your own voice speaking another language, one you don't even know, doesn't freak you out.

Writer: Hamutal Dotan
Source: Rick Rashid, Chief Research Officer, Microsoft

Steve Cosman was out travelling in Peru with some friends, and ran up against a very ordinary, very modern problem. Everyone had photographs of their trip, but they couldn't easily exchange them. It's a glitch many of us encounter on our own, even—without adding other people into the mix. We have photos on camera memory cards, on our phones, uploaded to our Facebook profiles, on old computers we haven't thrown out yet, all images we want to keep, often taken at the same time, but none of them in the same place or accessible in the same way.

Enter MyShoebox, a Toronto start-up that launched less than a month ago and has already racked up more than six million uploads.

MyShoebox is, as its name suggests, a virtual shoebox—a place where you can upload all your photos from any camera or device, search and flip through them easily, and store them securely. It's a way for people "to be able to unify their photo collections" to prevent them "becoming fragmented over multiple devices," explains co-founder Kalu Kalu. He and Cosman started MyShoebox in the hope of helping us make better use of our images as technologies multiply. The app is available for Windows, Mac, iOS and Androd operating systems, and provides free, unlimited storage for photos up to a certain resolution (1024 pixels). A pro version costs $5/month, allowing users to store photos at full resolution.

With several thousand people signed up already, MyShoebox is "definitely looking to hire," Kalu says. In particular, their current three person team is looking for engineers.

Writer: Hamutal Dotan
Source: Kalu Kalu, Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer, MyShoebox

Every year leaders from the venture capital, communications and media industries gather for the Canadian Innovation Exchange, a one-day forum dedicated to the country's innovation economy. (This year's CIX takes place in a couple of weeks—at the MaRS Discovery District on November 27.) And every year, a panel of experts selects the CIX Top 20—leading technology-based companies who are showcased at the forum. This year's list has just come out, and there's good news for local entrepreneurs: about half the finalists are Toronto-based companies.

Finalists are divided into two categories: information and communication technology, and digital media. Among the Toronto finalists in the first category are B2B marketers Influitive, audience engagement platform Viafoura and consumer goods software makers Nulogy.

Among the rising stars in the digital media category are liveblogging company ScribbleLive and e-commerce platform Shopcastr. We profiled Shopcastr just a few months ago, when they closed $1 million in new funding.

The other Toronto CIX Top 20 are:
·         Sitescout, which helps small businesses manage their digital advertising;
·         Language learning tool PenyoPal;
·         Employee engagement platform Employtouch;
·         Jibestream Interactive Media, which develops digital wayfinding systems (including 3-D directors for Pearson airport).

Writer: Hamutal Dotan
Source: Canadian Innovation Exchange

When one thinks of cutting-edge retail, Canada's trusty old mail carrier service doesn't easily come to mind. (Do you even remember the last time you bought stamps?)

It's not just anecdotal, the sense that we're relying on Canada Post less than ever—in 2011 the services registered its first annual loss in 16 years, ending up more than $250 million in the red. As with many older institutions, Canada Post is trying to navigate the digital era, and figure out how it can sustain itself through these changing times.

One initiative: a new emphasis on retail services—that is, on helping retailers do their business. To mark some new successes in that field, last week Canada Post gave out its first ever E-commerce Innovation awards, to several Canadian retailers that "excel at giving Canadians what they value most in the online shopping experience." Among those winners: Toronto-based Rent frock Repeat, which will receive $10,000 in free shipping services, $20,000 in free marketing services and a Canada Post delivery truck wrapped with promotional information about their business. (A total of $1 million in prizes were awarded to five companies.)

"We're an online retailer that rents dresses instead of selling them," explans co-founder and CEO Lisa Delorme, who started the business with a friend in May 2011. They were both invited to a wedding, didn't want to spend money on dresses "that might only  come out of the closet once or twice." They came across a dress-rental company in the United States, but were quickly frustrated to learn that they didn't deliver to Canada. "We were tired of waiting for someone else to do it" locally, says Delorme, and so the two friends decided to start their own company here.

Like so many of us, Delorme also didn't consider Canada Post to be particularly innovative in the retail space. The awards, however, seem to mark a real attempt to take innovation more seriously—she was surprised at how well-produced the awards night was.

"I give them kudos that they're recognizing that there's a birth of online retailers," she says. "They see it as the future of Canada Post as well, so I think it's a kind of rebirth for them as well."

As for Rent frock Repeat, their current staff complement of three can't keep up with orders. Delorme says they will "definitely will be hiring" in the near future, likely including a director of technology as well as stylists and marketing staff.

Writer: Hamutal Dotan
Source: Lisa Delorme, Co-Founder and CEO, Rent frock Repeat

Though they're not saying much publicly yet (a spokesperson declined to comment in detail for this story), news came last week that Rogers Communications is pilot testing new digital payment solutions, which it hopes to introduce to Canadian customers this year.

That news came as part of a broader story about a deal the Toronto-based telecom has struck with Netherlands digital company Gemalto, which has been chosen to provide security technology for this new service.

The technology Rogers is currently testing relies on what's called near field communication (NFC), a radio-communication standard which provides a way for mobile devices to exchange data and conduct transactions—creating what is often referred to as a "paperless wallet." Essentially, Rogers is creating a system which will allow its customers to use the SIM cards in their phones to make credit and debit card purchases and payments. They are also anticipating the "future addition of tap-and-go services including coupon redemption, loyalty programs, transit and other digital identification," according to a recent press statement.

While Gemalto will be testing the security features on this service, the innovative new technology may take some getting used to. Losing your phone—or worse, getting it stolen—may be that much scarier when it holds not just your contacts' information and family photos, but is enabled to conduct financial transactions as well. It is undeniably the direction in which financial institutions are moving, however, and we'll be watching to see how quickly customers adapt.

Writer: Hamutal Dotan
Source: Allison Fitton, Rogers Communications

The Investment Accelerator Fund provides seed funding to Ontario-based startups—a total of $26.6 million to 57 emerging companies so far. With money from the provincial government and administration by MaRS, IAF gives new technology companies up to $500,000 each, with the specific goal of positioning those companies to be better able to attract additional funds from venture capitalists and other investors.

The two latest recipients of investment from IAF are both Toronto startups (as are eight of 12 recipients who have been awarded funding since December, 2011): CrowdCare, which provides customer support services, and Better the World, which is about to launch a new platform, called FlipGive, to help accelerate corporate giving programs.

Proof of concept for IAF: their investment in Better the World is just part of a new series of funding—the company recently announced that they've closed a $2-million round—which will help them develop and enhance that new CSR tool.

Better the World CEO Steve Croft says FlipGive is a technology platform "for driving consumer and employee engagement in [a company's] giving programs—a new way for people to raise money for local community initiatives." Essentially, instead of selling chocolate to raise money for charity you'd be selling, for instance, a company's gift card.

Better the World currently has 18 people on staff. The new funding, from both the IAF and other investors, will enable the company to grow to 30 "in short order," says Croft. He has nothing but kind words for MaRS, perhaps even more for the intangible support they've offered, like mentorship and promotion, than the recent cash infusion.

"If you're looking at Ontario as a space," Croft adds, "it's a very supportive province."

Writer: Hamutal Dotan
Source: Steve Croft, Co-CEO, Better the World

"In our society there are very few people who think they are musical." 

And those people, maintains Shaun Elder, are underestimating themselves. It's why Elder, with the help of Toronto development studio Moonrider, created a new app called Piano Invention, which allows users to create their own musical compositions without relying on the traditional music vocabulary and notation. Instead, they move around objects on the screen to produce different sounds, and layer them. (Moonrider has developed a broader platform which allows users to manipulate sounds using visual information, says Elder.)

The goal, Elder says, is "trying to get people to fell like they can learn something about music without necessarily needing to spend 10 years on it." 

Elder is hoping to engage young people who love music but have not had any formal music education. Though the app's creators had originally targeted kids in the 7+ age group, they've been hearing from early users that children as young as two have been playing with it. 

"There's a million apps that will help you remix or mash-up," Elder says when we ask what makes Piano Inventions unique, "anything that's loop-based. But classical music isn't loop based, it's chord based."

As for taking inspiration from Glenn Gould: in part that is a natural hook, as the celebrated musician is such a part of local lore and a name many recognize. But it's also a function of Gould's distinctive approach to music-making. He was, says Elder, "kind of like a composer who played the piano," playing musical pieces in ways that vary substantially from how they were written (for instance, in double time). As the musical community marks what would have been Gould's 80th birthday, it's interesting to see how that unconventional approach to music-making is taking on new life, with tools Gould probably never imagined possible.

Writer: Hamutal Dotan
Source: Shaun Elder, Creator, Piano Inventions

Since its initial launch, Keek has seen more than six million videos uploaded to its platform; in August 2012, an average of 66,000 new videos a day were created. Rewarding that rapid growth: several new investment partners, who between them will be putting $7 million into the (so far free-to-use and free-of-advertising) video-sharing service.

If you're not familiar with it, an explanation by analogy: roughly, Keek is to YouTube as Twitter is to traditional blogging—that is, shorter, faster and with more back-and-forth conversation. Users create "microvideos" (maximum length: 36 seconds) called keeks, as a sort of status update, and can also communicate via private videos/keeks, similar to the "direct message" function on Twitter. "A keek," explains the company's FAQ whimsically, "by definition is a quick look, glance or peep."

"This new funding will allow us to keep the momentum going, accelerate product development, scale the infrastructure and expand globally," said Isaac Raichyk, Keek's CEO, in a press statement announcing the new investment, which follows on a previous round of $5 million in financing secured about a year ago.

Keeping it local, the three major partners in this round of funding are also based in Toronto, in addition to Keek itself: Canson Capital Securities, Pinetree Capital and Whitecap Venture Partners.

Writer: Hamutal Dotan
Source: Isaac Raichyk, CEO, Keek

Though it can take decades and be fraught with peril—witness any number of eHealth controversies in Ontario—Canadian jurisdictions are gradually making headway in their quest to modernize the delivery of healthcare in this country. The latest initiative: storing medical records via cloud-based tools, to allow both patients and healthcare providers to access them easily, quickly and from anywhere.

Last week the federal government announced what it is calling the Connected Health and Wellness Project, which will aim to drastically simplify our ability to access our own medical files. The project is spearheaded by a partnership between York University, North York-based NexJ Systems (which specializes in cloud software) and McMaster University. It will see the creation of a set of online tools which will allow patients, their health care providers and supporting parties (such as family members involved in medical care) the capacity to access and share information, and also to work collaboratively on ongoing health management issues. For example, a diabetic patient could automatically update her file with the latest information about her diet, exercise and insulin levels, while a nurse or physician could moniter that patient's status remotely by accessing that information in real time.

The Federal Economic Development Agency will be contributing $15.5 million to the project; private investment partners have contributed more than $23 million. In total, there are 16 public, private, not-for-profit and academic partners involved, also including George Brown and Seneca colleges, the University Health Network and Research in Motion.

One potential growth area opened up by projects like this is the relatively new field of health coaching, which governments are hoping will help lower healthcare costs through ongoing management of and support for patients between doctors' appointments.

The technologies being developed under the auspices of the Connected Health and Wellness Projected are expected to be commercialized and reach the market in about two years.

Writer: Hamutal Dotan
Source: Office of Gary Goodyear, Minister of State for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario

Ask Heather Payne to describe how Ladies Learning Code came to be, and it'll all come out in a rush. How she  went to a workshop for women who wanted to learn Python (a coding language) in Los Angeles in May of 2011 and "had such a good time that I wanted to learn everything for ever." How she came back to Toronto and tweeted about the experience. How that sparked so much enthusiasm that she held a planning workshop in July to explore the feasibility of holding similar events here (85 people signed up). How, one month later, Ladies Learning Code held its very first workshop.

LLC's workshops range from basic HTML to higher-level coding, photo editing and design. While they are geared primarily towards women, men are welcome to attend as well. Six hour-long workshops are about $50, more for girls' classes, which have a lower instructor-student ratio. In the year since LLC held that first workshop it has grown in any number of ways and directions: in addition to the 1,700 people who've attended workshops in the first year, they held a coding camp for girls this summer, and have been adding more classes for girls during the year.

LLC also just opened their first office, in the Centre for Social Innovation, and now has expanded to add chapters in Vancouver and Ottawa (the latter of which will host its own first event later this fall).

LLC isn't planning on adding any new organizers or staff anytime soon—they've got a lot to manage already—but Payne says their work wouldn't be possible without the help of countless people and companies in the city. I ask her what she's learned about Toronto in the process of setting up LLC, and she's immediately effusive: "I have learned mostly about how amazing and generous supportive Toronto's startup and tech scenes are…. LLC is only possible because of that support."

In another year? Payne hopes LLC's space at CSI will "become a community hub for people who want to learn," and that the new chapters in Ottawa and Vancouver will be joined by others across the country.

Writer: Hamutal Dotan
Source: Heather Payne, Founder, Ladies Learning Code

While Toronto faces many transportation shortages—we'd all like faster subways and more frequent buses—one thing we are well-supplied with is taxis. With about 10,000 licensed drivers and just under 5,000 cabs, the per-capita tax rate is quite high.

Getting a taxi when you need one isn't quite so straightforward, however. If you're downtown, you might be able hail one in less than a minute. If you're further afield or it's a busy night, you might wait much longer.

Hoping to change that experience is Hailo Network Canada Inc., which officially became licensed as a taxi company in Toronto at the end of August, with plans to launch the last week of September. The app-based service is built on the premise that "the only two people who matter are the passenger and the driver," says Hailo Canada president Justin Raymond.

The app allows drivers and passengers to communicate directly, bypassing the traditional model of calling into a central line and having dispatchers send vehicles out. Hailo (which currently works on iPhone and Android phones) matches a passenger who wants a cab with the nearest vehicle; drivers text when they arrive so you can wait indoors. The app allows both drivers and passengers to rate each other. Payment, also done through the app, is by credit card.

You won't see any branded Hailo cabs driving down the block soon, though. Rather than introducing new cabs to the city, the company works with existing ones. Essentially, it's a tool for drivers, who sign up directly—Hailo may bring a Beck or Diamond or Royal cab to your door, depending on who is closest.

Toronto is Hailo's first North American venture. They already operate in London and Dublin, and will open in New York, Chicago and Boston soon, with other cities in both Canada and the US expected to follow. They've hired nine staff for the Toronto office and are "always looking for smart, innovative, tech-focused people," says Raymond.

Writer: Hamutal Dotan
Source: Justin Raymond, President, Hailo Canada