What makes a successful app developer? This is a question that many hundreds (if not thousands) of Canadians are asking themselves. Why? The barrier to create these apps has never been lower and the industry is becoming flooded with talent. In downtown Toronto, one is but a stone’s throw away from successful app development shops.
Every quarter I have the opportunity to help plan and attend a local community coffee lounge organized by the Willowdale Jamatkhana in Toronto. The purpose of these “lounges” are to inspire young professionals to want to strive towards excellence in their careers while also inspiring them to look overseas for service opportunities.
This quarter’s speaker was former Rogers CEO, Nadir Mohamed.
Nadir Mohamed
Nadir spoke for about 25 minutes but stuck around for well over an hour more answering questions and talking to young Ismaili professionals.
Here are a few points which I remember from this past weekend’s event:
– Nadir does not consider his story to be a rags to riches one. He feels he led a charmed life and has been blessed with luck as his parents struggled to provide him with all the best things in life.
– Strongly advocates that his time volunteering with the Vancouver Ismaili community provided him with a foundation based on values.
– Has never considered himself to be the smartest in the room. but was smart enough to always look for the smartest person.
– In order to make changes that might seem tough (personally or for the company) they must be simple to understand.
– Nadir also shared some “inside baseball” stories on how Rogers entered the wireless industry, purchased Microcell and even snapped the NHL away from the CBC. However, these stories are better told than read as I don’t want to mis-interpret anything he said. 🙂
Almost everyone I know uses Twitter. What many of us disagree with is the change in user experience when it comes to seeing Promoted Tweets in your feed.
What is a Promoted Tweet? Well, according to the screen shot of a Google Search result, a promoted tweet is a feature that businesses pay in order to be promoted at the top of search results on Twitter.
Promoted Tweet
Here is what a Promoted Tweet actually looks like:
Sample of a Promoted Tweet
I don’t mind that Twitter is using Promoted Tweets as a way of monetizing their product. Why? Well, it doesn’t impact the experience for me because it’s a native ad. Secondly, it helps to pay for a service that I enjoy using for free. Those that have a problem with Promoted Tweets are few and far between.
So, if you don’t like Promoted Tweets and you use Hootsuite (my preferred method of using Twitter on my desktop/laptop) here is what you can do to remove it:
Within the Promoted Tweet on Hootsuite you will see an “X”. When you hover your mouse over the “X” you will see the prompt “Promoted Tweets…” Click on the “X”. You will then have the following screen pop open:
Click on the “Hide Promoted Tweets” box as shown below. Save your preferences and refresh your screen. Viola! No more Promoted Tweets in you Home Feed.
Earlier this week my latest article for itbusiness.ca was published.
Earlier in the month I had the opportunity to represent Catalystand attend the Dx3Canadaconference and trade show in Toronto. One of the biggest trends that everyone seemed to be talking about and discussing was the role of technology and digital in the retail space. This was highlighted by the Retail Collective space and the keynote by Duncan Fulton.
To say that I was glued to this Robyn Doolittle’s book until I was finished reading it would be an understatement. It’s taken me longer to start (and finish) blogging about the book than it took me to actually read it.
Crazy Town us the perfect title for this book. It’s not so much as Toronto being a crazy town as it is a play on the bubble that the Ford family has created for itself over a generation.
Everything that you would expect to be in this book is there. Everything. Including the research process and behind the scenes meetings and conversations between Doolittle and her superiors at the Toronto Star.
What struck me the most about this book were two things that have nothing to do with Ford.
The first is the amount of research and discussions that occur before a word is even typed and subsequently printed. For every piece that Doolittle has written there is literally a team of editors, (sometimes) publishers and even lawyers (especially when reporting on Rob Ford) that need to go over her research and submission. Nothing is left to chance and all sides of the story are discussed and dissected. Reading her book gave me a new found appreciation for the news reporting process that the Toronto Star follows.
The second, and most disturbing, revelation has to do with the seemingly archaic laws in Canada surrounding access to information. Our public institutions (government and public services such as police) gather so much information in the name of the greater public good. However, accessing that information is next to impossible for ordinary citizens such as me. And the media? Well, they have the resources and the knowledge on how to ask and what to ask. Yet even they have the hardest time getting access to information.
As a book, Crazy Town has it all. And by all, I mean everything you could ever want to know about Rob Ford. His parents (enterprising), upbringing (silver spoon), siblings (crazy people usually influenced by drugs it seems), career before politics (nada), his brushes with the law (international and usually involving booze) and his current political life (unbelievable).
This October, Toronto will go to the polls to vote for who they want as their Mayor. I’m not going to tell you who to vote for or not vote for. Unless you ask me. However, I do have one suggestion: READ. THE. BOOK.
