Today is Hunger Awareness day!

Learn more:
Food Bank of Waterloo Region
Food Banks Canada

Who is in the Hubbub? - A list of all who are in the Communitech Digital Media Hub

17 Muscles - Cognitive, Customized, web based training software

Will Pwn for Food - a whole blue ocean of competitive fun to the world
 

Allerta - your smart phone on your wrist

Willet - Web app monitization

Beyond One Eighty - Advanced security and intelligence platforms

Suncurve - ad delivery in digital media environments

Canadian Cloud Computing- they are building the Canadian Cloud

Notewagon- NoteWagon is a peer-to-peer learning platform that connects university students together in a marketplace for lecture notes and various student-generated revision materials.

Redwoods- content production company

Cyborg Trading Systems - Custom trading solutions for institutions

Kailog- Health collaboration - wearable information devices to alert medical teams of changing patient conditions

MappedIn - indoor mapping framework used by malls, museums, conference centers and various other public spaces

 

Infinidy Corp - amazing games for your iphone

iExperienceIT - a location-based life logging application that helps users log and share their experiences with friends and family

Footloose Games - adult gaming for the child at heart and the developers of Munchies Lunch

GooseChase - team building through scavenger hunts

Formulating Change- raising charitable donations through credit card transactions

Bookneto - making education a more social and open experience

Balute - making music digitally

Homick Labs - service for selling digital content, subscriptions and virtual goods within mobile applications

MediaExpertSearch - online directory for journalist looking for experts

UME Golf - a free social community for golfers

Loyalty Match - customizable loyalty program platforms

Taeros-  TekTire - tire pressure monitoring systems (TPMS) for fleets

Skoonowi - Leading Provider of Social Networks for the Classroom

Modevation Media - this is the sweetest team of video producers on the face of the planet - specialize in dynamic video production and event videography for organizations and companies across Ontario

Now Media - true local directories and online community news media

Well.ca - Canada's online health, beauty and skin care store that offers free shipping 

Philanthrokidz - building the coolest place for tweens on the internet 

Communitech 

Canadian Digital Media Network

Miller Thomson 

BMO 

Wildeboer Dellelce

WLU - Wilfrid Laurier University

AON- Insurance products and services for companies and consumers throughout Canada

Conestoga College

Deloitte

Gowlings

Ernst and Young

Christie Digital

Apps Factory

Accelerator Centre

Velocity

University of Waterloo

IRAP

RIM

OCE 

Open Text 

Grey

When referring to a Women do not call her a girl - acknowledge the important role women play in society

I am ready to take up the cause to inform people that using the word girl when referring to a woman is a derogatory term.  The word girl is not a status enhancer and if you think that women do not need to continue to enhance their status, to demonstrate their value in the workplace and in society as a whole, you need to understand some very disturbing facts:

• In Canada, women, on average earn 29% less than men
• In US, a woman earns 77 cents for every dollar a man earns and the gap widens with age - women 15-19 years old earn 91 cents for every dollar a man earns, as women age and approach retirement, earnings drop to 75 cents per dollar
• In 2010, women held 15.7 per cent of board seats in Fortune 500 companies
• World wide, on average, by age 18, girls receive 4.4 years less education than boys
• In several countries, testing for genetic defects is used to determine the sex of an unborn child for the purpose of aborting females only
• In the US, a woman is beaten every 18 minutes and raped every 6 minutes. More women are injured in domestic violence incidents than in car accidents, rapes, and muggings put together.

Improving the status of women around the world continues to be a struggle. In developed nations I believe we have an important role in projecting and reinforcing positive, mature images and perceptions of women. And we need to do our part to ensure women are taken seriously.

Girls do not make professional decisions, they do not chair boards, they do not hire and fire people, they do not authorize six figure spending and they certainly don't lead teams comprised of adult males and females. The word girl conjures up images of skipping ropes, Barbies, pig tails and giggles. These images should never be aligned with the responsibility that a woman takes on in the professional world.

The word girl has its place, like the playground and in youthful school rooms. It does not have a place in a professional world because of the subconscious images and ideas that the word evokes. By classifying a woman as a girl we are subconsciously devaluing their words, their efforts, their importance in society.

I believe that it is the responsibility of all of us to accept, embrace and reinforce more mature labels. Challenge the use of the word girl when referring to a woman; stop women from being placed in a subconscious position of inferiority and immaturity.
 
And don't accept when someone placates you after correcting them. When I respond with "I am not a girl," I typically hear "oh, I didn't mean it that way it is just a word I use."

Now I respond with "The word girl does not enhance nor endorse the important role that women play in society. I ask you to think of us as women."

Recently I had a conversation with a female entrepreneur who runs a business with her husband, in a male dominated field. She told me how difficult it was for her to command the respect of her male contract workers while her husband was off on a sick leave. "They didn't want to work for a girl so they wouldn't listen to me and we didn't get anything done." Well, that kind of sums it all up.

RIM vs the World Infograph

Thanks to Geekaphone for sharing:


Geekaphone's RIM vs the World Infographic

Guest Post: Mobile Controlled Dress

Fashion designer Breeyn McCarney and I recently premiered our "Paper Dolls" dress collection at Toronto Alternative Fashion Week [FAT].



Through smartphones or browsers, viewers can enter the world of "Paper Dolls" by controlling the colour of one of the dresses by visiting http://colour.breeyn.com. The mobile controlled dress was designed with the expectation that it could be controlled by others who could see the dress live - say at a party.

Colour Change Paper Dress from Christopher Lewis on Vimeo.

The response has been overwhelming. The dress was even featured on the NatAndMarie.com webcast (jump to 42 minutes in) where viewers were able to control the colour of the dress and watch online.



Each dress was painstakingly hand-cut, and Breeyn and I enhanced the dresses with LEDs and microcontrollers. The resulting pieces represent a juxtaposition of high- and low-tech. [FAT] marked phase one of the collaboration between us; we continue to push the interactive aspect of the designs, which will culminate in a lookbook and video towards the end of summer '11.
More about Paper Dolls
Behind the Scenes

- Christopher Lewis

Christopher Lewis is Senior Flash Developer with Grey Canada. He experiments with real-world interaction and "getting off the screen". Christopher believes that the DIY community is essential to driving the development of mainstream technologies by making interactive hardware ubiquitous. His goal is to create approachable technology that is fun to use.

Globe and Mail asks Grey team to represent Canada at the Cannes Lions - Young Lions competition

As Canada’s official Cannes representative, The Globe & Mail hosts an annual Young Lions pre-qualifying competition that is designed to simulate the conditions at Cannes.

The winning team for Film is from Grey Canada; Liz Donnelly and Amy Jacobs, who work in our Toronto office.

The Globe & Mail's assignment was to create a TV commercial in 48 hours.  Liz and Amy had to create a conceptual idea, write the copy, film the spot, edit and submit it. ALL IN 48 HOURS.

The brief they were given was to create a commercial to promote the Stephen Lewis Foundation (SLF) which supports grassroots organizations working to turn the tide of HIV/AIDS in Africa. Since 2003, the SLF has funded more than 300 projects in 15 countries. The philosophy of the SLF is firmly rooted in the value of working with African efforts, with an understanding that if anyone can turn the tide of AIDS in Africa at the community level, it will be the experts found in the communities themselves.

As winners in their category, Liz and Amy have won a trip to Cannes Advertising Festival at the end of June where they will be the official representatives from Canada and compete against other Young Lions winners from around the world.

Here is a link to their winning entry. 
A simple yet powerful idea. Congratulations Amy and Liz! And wish you great success in the Cannes Young Lions event. Looking forward to hearing all about your exciting trip.

Google Office Opening - Space designed for fun, excitement and collaboration

This is the reception area, this is where we signed in, including signing an NDA and they gave me the requirements about where I can take photos and where not to take photos.

Very cool space, they design their office spaces with industrial chic in mind and the Google colours are throughout the space in fun and engaging ways. Encouraging self expression is also evident throughout the office.

This Google office has teams working on a variety of product development divisions including Chrome, Mobile, Ads, Commercialization and Social. This local office has developed a leadership reputation within the company, building their centre for mobile application development and working to make the user experience “super easy and super fast.”

Yes, the rumours about great food is true. They had a big spread for the opening but I did hear from employees that the fully equipped industrial kitchen is used extensively.

The space is designed to be unique and fun. “We do our best to make our engineers very comfortable and the theme of the space is fun, excitement and collaboration.”

And yes, the rumours of the slide are also true.

Kristina from Footloose Games was too fast on the slide for me. She used the slide a few times. It basically covers a single flight of stairs but adds a big bunch of fun. Sorry, I didn't get a better picture.

They offer lots of great employee perks including Massage, fitness programs a range of healthy snacks are available all the time.They obviously do a lot to keep energy up and provide unique ways for people to work together.

Thank you Google for the introduction to your space at the Tannery in Kitchener. Thanks for allowing us a peak into your world. And thank you for helping me understand where your space is in the building. I took a few shots of their view as I now have a much better understanding of how the space within the Tannery is being used.

So this is the font of the Tannery building and Google is on the 2nd and third floor of this wing. Desire2Learn is in 3rd and 4th floor centre part of the building and not shown in this photo. 

This is a Google view of the corner of Charles and Victoria.

This is a view from their patio that looks onto Joesph Street. Desire2Learn has a patio above Google's patio.