The hottest start-ups and technology can be found every month at the We Are Wearables meetup in Toronto. At this past week’s meet-up, attendees were also treated to a presentation by Nielsen Canada on their soon to be released report: Connected Life.
Following is a summary of comments and photos from this presentation.
For more information on the Connected Life survey and the future of wearables and smartwatches in Canada visit Mobile Syrup’s post on this presentation.
On Thursday November 13 2014 in Toronto, FITC hosted their Wearables event. During the event, Thalmic Labs demoed their Myo armband with a drone. Watch the YouTube video above.
Many of you have noticed that I haven’t really blogged here since mid-summer. That’s because in what little time I do have I’ve been figuring out what to do with this little real estate of mine that I own on the Web.
For many years I’ve been creating content on the internet. Not as long as some people I know, but longer than most. I started with a Blogger site and soon moved over to WordPress.com. I’ve tried using Tumblr when I visited Africa and even had an active Flickr account for some time. I had a popular podcast called SMS for a few months which then morphed into a YouTube show. And during these crazy days I also had a hand in building a social media agency called THIRDOCEAN. Not to mention my earlier gig with Techvibes and my current experience with itbusiness. (Just in case you’ve been living under a rock, I’m currently “making waves” at Canada’s largest Search Marketing Agency, Catalyst, as their Digital Content Manager.)
Well, times have changed. And during that time my interests have changed. I have opinions outside the world of social media and Toronto’s tech start-up scene. I’m more interested in the wearables explosion that is currently happening (especially in Toronto). I’m also interested in telling you what I think about the Blue Jays off season pursuits of free agents and Neil Young’s latest musical experiment.
So what does future hold? I’ve no freaking clue. Honest. But we have to start moving. So, starting with this post you can now find me here at karimkanji.com (no more karimkanji.wordpress.com). The new website is not yet fully complete. and it may never be. and when it is done, don’t expect to be wowed. However, expect there to be content. Good content. About everything from living just inside Scarborough to what I think about Toronto’s current mayor.
You can also follow me on Twitter here -> @karimkanji. And please remember to bookmark this site.
Scarborough’s favourite adopted sons are back at it again with “Did I Say That Out Loud?” The band that first gained prominence with “If I had a $1,000,000” recently released their newest single which was subsequently backed with a video.
At posting, this video currently has 1,010,579 views. Hope you enjoy.
So this happened yesterday (sort of):
“What happened?” you might be asking. Well, that’s my family in the cover image of the Twitter page of Toronto’s future mayor, John Tory. From left to right is my nephew Omar, niece Iman, Kahzmir (DS8) and my beautiful wife Minaz. Oh yeah, and beside her is Tory. 🙂
It’s kinda funny that they are on Tory’s page. Not that we don’t like him. He’s probably the most likeable guy running to be our mayor this October. He’s also smart, a dedicated public servant, and been successful in almost everything he has done in business.
Why is it funny? We probably would not have even thought of voting for Tory if he was running for the PC Party of Ontario. But as a mayoral candidate for the city of Toronto? Sure, why not?
The photo above and the one’s below were taken at the Taste of Lawrence Festival a few weeks ago in Scarborough.
And here’s the obligatory selfie….
One of the best writers in sports (let alone baseball) is Drew Fairservice from The Score. He also hosts the DJF Podcast which is a podcast all about “your Toronto Blue Jays”.
As the Toronto Blue Jays start the second half of the 2014 season, I thought I would take a quick look at the various positions and players to see what where we are at and what we need to do to win the American League East.
First Base is currently being played by all-star player Jose Bautista. Adam Lind? He’s on the DL for the next little while after taking medical advice from his mother. Strange days. While he was playing, Lind was hitting the cover off the ball. Against righties mind you. Manager John Gibbons, understanding that Lind can’t hit lefties, has platooned him for most of the season with Edwin Encarnacion. Lind is currently hitting .320 but don’t expect him back until August.
DH/First Base. Edwin Encarnacion continues to assault the ball with his towering home runs. When he’s not injured. Yikes. Encarnacion sits at the break with 26 home runs.
Second Base. Started with Maicer Izturis. But he only played 11 games. Third baseman and all-Canadian Brett Lawrie has been playing there. But guess what? Injured. So the Jays got Steve Tolleson from Buffalo.
Shortstop is the oft injured Jose Reyes. But guess what? He’s not injured! Yay. While his range is not world class he’s been (while he’s not injured) a steady contributor for the Blue Jays at the top of the batting order. Currently, Reyes sits at 17 stolen bases.
Third base. See above for Lawrie. In the meantime, Juan Francisco has been….ok. In 71 games he has hit 14 home runs. Not bad. But he has also struck out 85 times. Not good.
Left field is currently being patrolled by Melky Cabrera. I can’t remember if he’s injured or not. Seriously, he’s not injured. His play, when you compare it to last year, is a 180 degree difference. He has 7 assists as a fielder and is a very capable second hitter in front of Toronto’s power hitters.
Center field is currently patrolled by Colby Rasmus. He’s not injured but he’s not even hitting .250. He does have 12 home runs but he also has over 70 strike outs. EVen Anthony Gose looks like a superstar when he has replaced Rasmus. And Gose is not hitting that much over the .250 line.
Right field has mostly been patrolled by Bautista (when he’s not injured or playing first/DH). His home runs might not be as high but he can still bang with the best of them. His hitting has actually gotten stronger as he’s using the entire field. Which is a benefit considering opposition teams play him to pull almost all the time.
Catching. Anything is better than JP Arencibia from last year. Where is JPA now? In the minors trying to play first base in the Texas Rangers system. Good grief.
The pitching corps has actually being a bright light for the Blue Jays. Mark Buehrle has been the ace of the staff. Buehrle sits at 10 wins with an amazing ERA of 2.64. Bright lights? Rookie Marcus Stroman and closer Casey Janssen.
Manager John Gibbons has been outstanding. That’s just my opinion. But look where the Blue Jays sit: In second place 4 games out of first. Now that’s pretty good. And so is this team. When they are healthy.
What do the Blue Jays have to do from here to win the division and play for the World Series?
Time for Alex Anthopoulos to step up to the plate.
One thing I learned from this year’s edition of the World Cup in Brazil is that my son emotionally invests in his team: Argentina. The South American nation became his favourite to win the World Cup when he completed an in-depth assignment on Argentina for his Grade Two class. So it was no surprise that he wept when Messi and his team lost to the hated side from Germany. He blamed the referee for cheating (not far off if you believe some internet sites) and Germany for taking away Argentina’s rightful place as the best soccer nation in the world.
Here’s what else we learned:
