Earlier last month I wrote about an Ottawa-based startup called GestureLogic that had just finished building a product called LEO. Now, the fine folks that built LEO are raising funds on IndieGoGo. The team is looking to raise at least $50,000 to help finish building their product:
Your contribution will go directly into building our beta units so that we can transform LEO into a final product. But crowdfunding is not only about the funding, it’s also about the crowd! Your contribution means a whole lot more than extra cash.
It’s been a while since I’ve met up with Tomas. We used to work out of the same space over a year ago. It’s kinda my fault that I haven’t been over to see him at his new space. Anyways, I have this sense that things are going amazing for him and his company, MADE Clothing.
Here’s a conversation I had with him over a year ago while I was working elsewhere. I hope you enjoy his insights into entrepreneurship.
Last week, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper visited Waterloo tech startup hub Communitech which is also the home of Thalmic Labs.
Scott Greenberg, Head of Developer Relations at Thalmic Labs, and Stephen Lake, CEO and co-founder of Thalmic Labs, showcase the Myo armband flying a Parrot drone to Prime Minister Stephen Harper. (left to right)
I’ve spent most of my life living north of the 401. Even the past 8 years that I’ve lived south of the 401 I’m still close enough that if I listen very carefully, I can still hear the eastbound traffic.
That being the case, it’s near impossible for me to trek downtown to catch most of the festivals that Toronto has to offer. You see, Toronto’s festivals mostly take place downtown: Pride parade and events, NXNE, TIFF, Fringe Festival, Carnival/Caribana, Buskerfest, JFL42, Nuit Blanche and, until recently, the Toronto Jazz Festival.
And I’d like to thank the Shops at Don Mills for bringing “Toronto” to the “burbs”.
Shops at Don Mills courtesy of Napkins and Nannies
This year, Toronto’s Jazz Festival is returning and playing at the Shops’ Town Square. And Sunday’s afternoon performance by Montreal’s Lorraine Klaasen under a clear blue sky was amazing!
Backed by a four piece band, Klaasen sang numerous popular songs from her catalogue as well as songs from popular Southern African singers, including from her mom, Thandi Klaasen (one of South Africa’s most beloved singers).
If you didn’t know her (and I didn’t when I joined the hundreds of music fans on the green lawn in front of the stage) you would have thought you were listening to Soweto’s most popular music export. And while that’s partially true, Klaasen currently calls Montreal home. Just last year she won the Juno award for World Music Album of the year!
While I arrived late for her show, I enjoyed the last 5 songs of her set. Her songs kept everyone dancing (the people who braved the heat and sun) clapping and dancing in their chairs (the rest of us who didn’t want to drop from dehydration!). I would 100% recommend Lorraine Klaasen to anyone who is a fan of music.
She launched her career at a very young age, accompanying her mother to live performances all over South Africa and neighboring states of Mozambique and Swaziland. Later she got into musical theater and toured across Europe, eventually arriving in Canada where she settled in Montreal.
Klaasen’s musical repertoire has been steadily infused with a blend of Quebec, Haitian and French African influences, along with several African languages (Zulu, Sotho, Xhosa, Lingala) and her band musicians’ Caribbean roots to create an eclectic sound.
Lorraine Klaasen was nominated and subsequently won the 2013 Juno Award for World Music Album of the Year for her album Tribute to Miriam Makeba, released in 2012.
The biggest acts of 2013 remodeled the standard album rollout into a highly engaging blockbuster event, shattering any preconceived notions of hype. Some explored new sounds by collaborating with an eclectic mix of talent. Others took risks to deliver an elegant, challenging, and important record. A handful did both. But only one reached above and beyond.
That is the message that greets you when you visit PitchTalks.ca. And you WILL visit that website. It’s one of the best new things on the internet today.
If you’re a baseball fan, this site is for you.
If you’re a sports fan, this site is for you.
If you’re a Toronto sports media fan, this site is for you.
As The Verge (and others) reported earlier this month, Facebook and Twitter will be battling it out during Brazil’s World Cup in the hopes of dominating second screen World Cup social media participation. (Man, that was a mouthful!)
I am a huge user and evangelist of Twitter so I was surprised I hadn’t seen anything. Until now. (I’m also a huge user of HootSuite)
Here’s a screenshot tour of the World Cup Twitter experience:
When you login to Twitter and click on the home tab on the top left you will be directed to your timeline. On the left you will notice the right navigation is World Cup themed.
This is what it looks like. The upcoming games are shown as is the ability to actually customize your Twitter World Cup experience based on your favourite team.
By clicking on the first game we get a Brazil vs Croatia themed Twitter page. Everything from scoreboard, photos, videos, tweets and even team players’ accounts are displayed.
What is you actually want to choose your side and get more personalization? Click on through to the other side! (The Doors would have loved Twitter, eh?)
Click a flag to choose your team! Who are you supporting?
Tin Lizzie is the affectionate name given to the world’s first mass-produced car: Ford’s Model T. Made in the first few decades of the 19th century, the Model T was also the first car to be made on Ford’s assembly line. Today, all mass-produced cars are made on an assembly line. And many other industries use the same assembly line process in their factories and warehouses.
Last weekend, I went back to my favourite Ontario town that’s 2 hours away: Stratford. There was a classic car fair just outside City Hall.
And that’s where I met Tin Lizzie. Allow me to introduce you all to this piece of history:
