Montréal Tech Watch

Tech startup veterans share expertise

Sun, 16 Nov 2008 22:43:01 -0500

StartupCFO: Questioning the VC model

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 11:29:36 -0500

"Montreal’s Standout Jobs announced today it has struck up a strategic partnership with top UK..."

Tue, 11 Nov 2008 12:12:21 -0500

“Montreal’s Standout Jobs announced today it has struck up a strategic partnership with top UK recruitment advertising and branding firm Work Communications. Work Communications will become a full solution reseller to clients looking for an advantage in sourcing talent online.”

- Standout Jobs gets to Work on microsite strategy - Techvibes Blog

"So Fido are now offering new plans and those plans do not add the fucked up money grabbing dishonest..."

Tue, 11 Nov 2008 12:07:29 -0500

“So Fido are now offering new plans and those plans do not add the fucked up money grabbing dishonest “network access” and “911 support” charges that I’ve been bitching about for years. Being a Fido subscriber, I called to change to one of the new plans, the guy on the line didn’t seem to like the idea —and I was loosing my “unlimited incoming calls” by changing—so he offered a monthly credit equivalent to the two fake charges. If you hate those charges, make the call and have them credited or change your plan.”

- I never knew » Blog Archive » Fido Partially Un-Borked

"Second, the forecasts are lovely. The Kelsey Group, a respected research firm on the directories and..."

Mon, 10 Nov 2008 13:53:34 -0500

“

Second, the forecasts are lovely. The Kelsey Group, a respected research firm on the directories and local ad market, predicts global revenue for local search and online directories will grow to $15 billion U.S. by 2012 from $6 billion U.S. today.

The audience numbers seem to justify it. Canpages.ca, for example, has seen its traffic grow to 3 million viewers from 30,000 in one year.

”

- Online search tools gaining ground on phone directories

"Convergence has been a long-cherished dream in the media business. It’s about bringing..."

Mon, 10 Nov 2008 13:47:51 -0500

“

Convergence has been a long-cherished dream in the media business.

It’s about bringing together different technologies - print, broadcasting, the Internet and wireless - to deliver content and advertising to audiences.

Convergence was the inspiration for Montreal-based BCE Inc.’s acquisition of such media properties as the Globe and Mail and CTV.

It was also behind AOL’s blockbuster takeover of Time Warner in the U.S.

But making the dream a reality has been tough and many convergence-inspired deals have failed to pay off in profits.

”

- Making media convergence dream a reality has been tough

"Quebec has emerged as a North American hi-tech hub with more than 2700 IT firms employing over..."

Fri, 07 Nov 2008 10:20:37 -0500

“Quebec has emerged as a North American hi-tech hub with more than 2700 IT firms employing over 11,000 people. Montreal is recognised as one of the world’s most competitive regions in telecom equipment, software development, internet and multimedia industries.”

- Best Jobs in Overseas » Quebec wooing skilled Indian professionals and cos

": Créer et exploiter des technologies publicitaires qui permettront aux grandes marques de rejoindre..."

Thu, 06 Nov 2008 21:54:07 -0500

“: Créer et exploiter des technologies publicitaires qui permettront aux grandes marques de rejoindre les consommateurs dans de nouveaux territoires, avec de nouvelles approches. Ces rencontres et les opportunités qu’elles soulèvent contribuent également à faire augmenter notre enthousiasme autour du produit AdGear que nous développons. Elles ajoutent par contre à la pression que nous ressentons tous pour arriver au marché rapidement avec cette plateforme publicitaire ouverte.”

- Bloom Digital Platforms - Blog » Partenariats et vélocité recherchés

"It struck me that what we were all watching last night was the return of leadership. I’ve felt..."

Thu, 06 Nov 2008 07:46:30 -0500

“

It struck me that what we were all watching last night was the return of leadership. I’ve felt for some time that leadership has become less important in society, especially for younger people. Disenchantment with mainstream media coupled with the repeated failure of some of our most important institutions and a culture that focuses on the self (and money) rather than the community have all conspired to make leadership and its ideals less and less relevant for all of us.

Yet, the reflex for people to lead or follow is a basic human trait. There is no avoiding being or following a leader. So, I would say that for some time there has been a void in our society. We all crave and need leadership. Its baked into our DNA.

”

- StartupCFO: Leadership Matters!

LaBlogAtoire » Archive du blog » Retour à la normale

Thu, 06 Nov 2008 07:46:09 -0500

LaBlogAtoire » Archive du blog » Retour à la normale

"The vision is to re-humanize the way people interact with computers or web services by allowing them..."

Wed, 05 Nov 2008 10:41:41 -0500

“The vision is to re-humanize the way people interact with computers or web services by allowing them to communicate to a human-like avatar able to understand questions according to context, language and even emotions.”

- Announcing a Strategic Partnership Between Xtranormal and Coginov - MarketWatch

"A kind of digital wallet that will allow consumers to purchase such small items as coffee or lunch..."

Wed, 05 Nov 2008 10:39:10 -0500

“A kind of digital wallet that will allow consumers to purchase such small items as coffee or lunch with a wave of their cellphones will be tested in Canada for the first time next year.”

- CTV.ca | Phones that can pay for lunch to be tested in Canada

"It would be an informal evening where people could come and work on FLOSS. If you have a project, it..."

Wed, 05 Nov 2008 10:35:59 -0500

“It would be an informal evening where people could come and work on FLOSS. If you have a project, it would be a great place to get help from some of your local ruby gurus, or just an excuse to work on your project. If not, it’d be a great place to pick up a project and learn from other developers.”

- Montreal on Rails » Blog Archive » MoR => open_source_hackfest?

Why is online shopping in Quebec so bad? | Quebec Valley

Wed, 05 Nov 2008 10:23:43 -0500

Why is online shopping in Quebec so bad? | Quebec Valley

"For these and other reasons many web design shops dream of some day selling products instead of..."

Wed, 05 Nov 2008 10:23:05 -0500

“

For these and other reasons many web design shops dream of some day selling products instead of services. 37 Signals has become the poster child for this transition, even writing a book about it.

I recently had a chat with Mike McDerment, CEO of Freshbooks, a company that has successfully made this transition from services to product and asked him what advice he would give others who want to go down this path.

”

- StartupCFO: From services to product

"Montreal-based companies Xtranormal and Cognitov are aiming to put the virtual back in assistant..."

Wed, 05 Nov 2008 10:22:39 -0500

“Montreal-based companies Xtranormal and Cognitov are aiming to put the virtual back in assistant with avatars that can interact with the real world while accessing terabytes of information in nanoseconds. According to the two companies, their semantic and text analysis tools give the avatars the ability to meaningfully interact with humans,specifically through Xtranormal’s Text-to-Movie technology, “allowing for assistants, sales reps, councilors and communicators virtually anywhere,” according to their press release.”

- Xtranormal and Cognitov redefine man, machine, hype - Techvibes Blog

Sun Startup Essentials Montréal Startup Index - November 2008 - Techvibes Blog

Wed, 05 Nov 2008 10:22:17 -0500

Sun Startup Essentials Montréal Startup Index - November 2008 - Techvibes Blog

Control Yourself » Blog Archive » Welcoming new employees at Control Yourself

Wed, 05 Nov 2008 10:21:53 -0500

Control Yourself » Blog Archive » Welcoming new employees at Control Yourself:

Aric Gardner, Robin Millette and Sarven Capadisli are now working at identi.ca

"The Main will become a wireless Internet playground by year’s end, thanks to the..."

Thu, 30 Oct 2008 09:21:13 -0400

“

The Main will become a wireless Internet playground by year’s end, thanks to the merchants’ association of the world-famous boulevard.

The Société de développement du boulevard Saint-Laurent will provide free Internet access from Sherbrooke St. to Mount Royal Ave. to attract and retain more visitors and to push promotions onto tourists.

”

- Web playground

"Standout Jobs, a leading provider of Web-based tools to power companies’ online recruiting efforts,..."

Tue, 28 Oct 2008 11:21:56 -0400

“Standout Jobs, a leading provider of Web-based tools to power companies’ online recruiting efforts, today announced the general availability of version two of its web-based Recruitment Communication Platform. Previously dubbed “Reception” while in beta, Standout Jobs’ Recruitment Communication Platform boasts many new features and updated functionality proven successful with more than 200 beta customers since the company’s launch at DEMO in January 2008.”

- Standout Jobs » Blog Archive » Standout Jobs Announces General Availability of its Recruitment Communication Platform