Category: Uncategorized

My coffee consumption went up in 2013

In 2012 I started tracking how many lattes I was drinking (among other things). At the end of the year, I posted the results. As mentioned in that post, I drink at least a mug of black coffee every morning (usually more like two) so I don’t bother tracking that. I still don’t, but I have kept track of my latte consumption for 2013!

Credo Coffee Vanilla Latte

I drank 158 lattes in 2013, up from 120 in 2012. That’s an average of just over 3 lattes per week. I did my best to record diligently and while I’m sure I missed a few, that’s probably fairly accurate. For simplicity, I tracked iced lattes and frappuccino’s as lattes too.

Here are my top ten lattes by number consumed:

  1. Credo Vanilla Latte (45)
  2. Starbucks Caramel Macchiato (22)
  3. Starbucks Cinnamon Dolce Latte (15)
  4. Roast Vanilla Latte (11)
  5. Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte (8)
  6. Starbucks Caramel Frappuccino (7)
  7. Second Cup Caramel Corretto (5)
  8. Starbucks Eggnog Latte (5)
  9. Credo Iced Vanilla Latte (4)
  10. Transcend Vanilla Latte (3)

I spread things about a bit more in 2013 with 36 different drinks versus 29 in 2012. Here’s a look at my consumption over the year:

lattes by month

And here’s a look at which days of the week I was most likely to indulge on:

lattes by month

I also started tracking how much tea I drank in 2013 (though not by brand). If I drink tea, it’s almost always in the evening. In 2013, I did that about 126 times. Here’s the breakdown of type:

lattes by month

Last year I wrote that many of my lattes represented “an opportunity to sit down and chat with someone”. Based on my records, about half of those lattes were likely consumed in the company of someone else. Maybe one of my 2014 lattes will be with you?

Edmonton in 2013

Happy New Year! In case you missed the celebration, here was my view of the countdown to 2014 in Churchill Square:

Here’s a collection of some Edmonton-related lists and year-in-review articles for 2013. I’ll keep adding to the list as I find more, so let me know what I have missed.

Happy New Year Edmonton!

You can take a look at the 2012 list here. Looking ahead to 2014? Here’s a list of things to watch for from the Journal. From Omar, here are five bad Edmonton habits to break in 2014.

December 2013 Update

With the holidays coming to a close and the new year approaching, I’ll soon be back into my regular routine. My much-needed break away from everything was longer than anticipated, but refreshing! I’m easing back into things this week, starting with this post.

I was in Miami, FL the week of December 9 for work. We had a very productive week of meetings, and got to enjoy some fabulous weather too. Florida was the only place in the US with warm weather that week.

We also took a trip to the Kennedy Space Center. It’s easy to get inspired to tackle your own moonshots by learning about everything NASA has accomplished over the years.

From there I flew to New York City to meet Sharon for our vacation. We last traveled to NYC in 2007 also just before Christmas. This time we skipped most of the touristy things and made much better decisions and where to eat and what to see! It definitely helps to travel with an excellent planner like Sharon. Highlights included the High Line, Brooklyn Bridge, Chelsea Market, and upper west-side.

The trip was a lot of fun, but also a bit tiring thanks to our 20,000+ steps every day except one! We’ve uploaded a bunch of photos here if you’d like to check them out. Sharon will be writing more about our trip in the future too.

Of course, it was a special trip for another reason too. I proposed to Sharon on December 18 in Central Park, and she said yes! Thanks to all of you for passing along your “congratulations” and “finally” comments, we enjoyed reading each and every one of them! (And yes, it was about time…)

Since coming home to Edmonton we’ve been enjoying some much needed down time, as well as a visit from my Mom! It’s been great to see her, though I’m sure Dad will be happy to have her home for New Years. He’s had to deal with some crazy weather in Yellowknife this week.

Lastly, I turned another year older on Saturday. I had a great day, included go-kart racing with my brother at Speeders (a surprise gift from Sharon). I’ll let this photo illustrate how we did.

If you’ve read this far, I hope you’ve had a wonderful holiday. Happy New Year!

On vacation in New York!

Just a quick post to say that I am on vacation this week and likely won’t be blogging. I was in Miami all last week for work, which was nice considering it was one of the few hot places in the United States, and now I am in New York with Sharon. We’ll be back in Edmonton for Christmas.

Manhattan, NYC

If you want to see what we’re up to in the Big Apple, follow along on Twitter, Instagram, and Foursquare.

If you’re looking for Edmonton news, check out ShareEdmonton. Or, you know, Twitter.

Edmonton’s City Centre Airport closes to make way for the new Blatchford

Runway 12-30 at the City Centre Airport officially closed at 4:49pm on Saturday, November 30, 2013, bringing to an end one of Edmonton’s longest-running civic debates. City Council voted to close the airport in phases on July 8, 2009 after years of fierce arguments, countless reports, and two plebiscites. Runway 16-34 closed on August 3, 2010 in the midst of a last-ditch effort by Envision Edmonton to keep the airport open. Now the full closure means the planned redevelopment of the lands into “a walkable, transit-oriented, and sustainable community” can move ahead.

Last departure
Last departure, photo by Jeff Wallace

The final flight to depart the airport was a 1963 red and white Cessna 172D, with registration C-FWKV, piloted by Chris Blower. Two CF-18 jets from the 409 Squadron out of 4 Wing Cold Lake were scheduled to perform a touch-and-go to mark the closure of the airport, but they had to cancel at the last minute due to weather. It would have been a nice reference to the airport’s history as two Royal Canadian Air Force Siskins were the first to land when Blatchford Field officially opened in 1927.

City Centre Airport

Here’s a look at the final departure and closure of the City Centre Airport:

Earlier in the afternoon a press conference was held at City Hall to mark the occasion. David Ridley of the Edmonton Heritage Council called the Blatchford lands “among the most important of historical locations in Edmonton.” He said naming the new community Blatchford “the first step” in preserving the history of the airfield.

City Centre Airport Closure

Newly elected Councillor Bev Esslinger also spoke, reinforcing the importance of the site’s history. She unveiled a plaque and living time capsule that will be on display at City Hall until it can be included in the redevelopment. “The items included show and tell the story of the airfield, and will be an enduring reminder of the role aviation has played in shaping Edmonton,” she said.

City Centre Airport Closure

Over the last year, any remaining uncertainty about the closure gradually faded away.

  • A new, 3,600-square-metre air ambulance based opened in March at the Edmonton International Airport, completing the relocation of medevac services.
  • City Council voted on June 19 to expropriate interests in the airport lands, which included more than 200 individual landowners.
  • On October 10, Villeneuve Airport announced a large expansion with plans to build 6 new hangars, to extend one runway to 5,000 feet, to install an Instrument Landing System (ILS), and to improve storm water, domestic water, and sanitary systems.
  • The new Alberta Flying Heritage Museum was announced on November 17. Located at Villeneuve Airport, the new museum will focus on the broad history of Central and Northern Alberta. The Alberta Aviation Museum will remain open in its current location and will focus on the history of Edmonton and Blatchford Field.
  • The Pacific Western Airlines Boeing 737 that had been featured as an exhibit at the Alberta Aviation Museum since 2005 flew once more on November 29, landing at its new home at Villeneuve Airport.

City Centre Airport Closure

Though many called the closure bittersweet, I’m glad it is now finished. With the airport closed, the City can move forward with implementation of the Master Plan for Blatchford.

The 217 hectare (536 acre) site will become a home for up to 30,000 residents, and a place to work for up to 11,000 employees. This will transform the City Centre Airport into a mixed-use urban community that meets the City of Edmonton’s goals of building strong, vibrant neighbourhoods and increasing density to make best use of existing infrastructure.

Shovels are expected to be in the ground next year, with the first Edmontonians living and working on site as early as 2016/17. Full build out of the community will of course take decades. The opportunity to build a community as large as Blatchford so close to the heart of the city is one that cities of our size simply don’t get.

Blatchford Redevelopment
Artist rendering of future Blatchford community street

I feel more now than ever that closing the City Centre Airport was the right decision for Edmonton, and I look forward to the incredibly positive impact that the Blatchford Redevelopment will have on our city.

Roundup: Edmonton’s downtown arena will be called Rogers Place

This afternoon at Startup Edmonton, Rexall Sports (or should that be the Edmonton Arena Corporation) announced that it has reached a deal with Rogers Communications on the naming rights for Edmonton’s new downtown arena. When it opens in 2016, it’ll be known as Rogers Place.

Rogers Place

Here’s what the folks involved had to say. First, Daryl Katz:

“Today’s announcement helps make the new arena a reality and underscores its potential to make downtown Edmonton a magnet for our community and for new investment by world-class companies like Rogers.”

Here’s what Rogers Communications Executive Vice-President and Chief Marketing Officer John Boynton said:

“Today’s announcement builds on our long-term commitment to the Edmonton Oilers, its hockey fans and our investment in Alberta. Rogers Place will be one of the most technologically enabled stadiums in North America; we look forward to bringing passionate fans a connected game experience powered by the country’s fastest LTE network.”

And here’s what Mayor Don Iveson said:

“This is a great day for Edmonton’s downtown and our city. Rogers Place will become a beacon in our downtown, one that will foster a new sense of energy that will further attract development and investment in the heart of our city.”

Here’s a look at how the arena is envisioned to fit into the new downtown:

The name certainly didn’t inspire everyone, but some were more annoyed by the revenue than the name. Under the terms of the agreement between City Council and Daryl Katz, his Edmonton Arena Corporation (EAC) would receive revenue from the naming rights:

EAC will operate the new arena and pay all operating and maintenance expenses, and will receive all operating revenues, including naming rights and parking revenue.

Of course, no financial terms were disclosed as part of today’s announcement. Rogers said the deal is part of its previously announced investment into Alberta:

Rogers announced on October 1st a $700M commitment over the next four years to further enhance and expand Rogers LTE – Canada’s fastest LTE network, open additional retail locations, fuel business growth and continue to build its presence in sports in Edmonton and across Alberta.

In addition to network enhancements, new retail locations, and new business services, Rogers acquired the official sponsorship and marketing rights for the Edmonton Oilers, Edmonton Oil Kings, and Rexall Place.

Rogers Place

I’m happy that the arena has a name and has moved another step toward becoming a reality, but I do think this is a missed opportunity for Edmonton. Rogers benefits from this deal obviously, but Edmonton doesn’t because “Rogers Place” could be anywhere. This is something we get wrong so often, partly because of our “capital city curse” as I like to call it, but partly because we don’t have a strong brand to hang these sorts of things on. Sure, most arenas and sporting complexes carry a sponsored name, but isn’t that a great opportunity to be different? Instead, it’s all about the money.

David Staples seems to agree with me on this point:

“The first naming of the arena, back in 1974 when it was called the Edmonton Coliseum was the best. That was the right name for our building. It still is.”

Yup. Too bad.

Here’s some other reaction from around the web:

https://twitter.com/OilersNation/status/407971780406435840

https://twitter.com/EricWarnke/status/408089659978571776

https://twitter.com/uncleheth/status/408084022309289985

In a vote on the Cult of Hockey blog, “Rogers Coliseum” seemed to be the favorite choice, ahead of “Some other name entirely” and “Rogers Place” in last. In a poll on Global’s website, more than 60% said they didn’t like the name “Rogers Place”. You can watch an overview of the announcement at CTV Edmonton. Also check out the Huffington Post’s coverage here.

You can learn more about Rogers Place on its new website. You can also follow it on Twitter.

Recap: Hacking Health in Edmonton

Last weekend was Edmonton’s first Hacking Health, a unique event that aims to enable collaboration between technology geeks and healthcare workers to solve health-focused problems. The hackathon took place at the Edmonton Clinic Health Academy at the University of Alberta from Friday evening through Sunday afternoon and attracted dozens of participants and many more observers.

Hacking Health Edmonton 2013

Here’s what Hacking Health is all about:

Hacking Health is an experiment in collaboration. Our hypothesis is that the interface of front-line clinicians and technology experts will yield innovative approaches to some (not all) of healthcare’s most entrenched problems. By rapidly building and testing prototypes, we can identify the fraction of ideas that have the potential to scale and at the same time, allow others to take their learnings and apply them to new ideas. Our goal is to make this experimentation as low risk as possible for everyone involved – the individual participants, organizers, and supporters.

Hacking Health was founded a little over a year ago in Montreal by Jeeshan Chowdhury, Matthew Huebert, and Dominic Savoie. They found the startup scene and hackathons in particular quite intriguing, and felt that such events could have a positive impact on the world of health too.

What if they could get doctors, nurses, and other health professionals in the same room as technology experts? Could they reduce the risk of healthcare innovation by giving designers and developers exposure to the healthcare knowledge and connections they lack?

Since that first event in Montreal, more than 1000 clinicians, patients, designers, and developers have participated in subsequent events in Toronto and Vancouver. The Hacking Health team have ambitions to spread across the world, starting with Canada. For some additional background, check out this ExpressNews article.

It was only a matter of time until Hacking Health made its way to Edmonton, as this is Jeeshan’s hometown (we actually went to high school together). Our growing startup and technology scene combined with an established and widely recognized health sector make Edmonton a great fit for events like Hacking Health. I didn’t have the opportunity to participate in the event, but I did attend the demo session on Sunday.

Hacking Health Edmonton 2013

Hacking Health followed the same format as many other hackathons. Friday night is when the ideas are pitched and the teams are formed. If an idea or proposal catches your attention, you’re welcome to join the team. Once that’s done, the teams get down to work, spending all of Saturday trying to make progress on their solution or idea. Sunday is when the teams demo what they managed to accomplish over the weekend.

There were 33 projects pitched, 13 of which had teams formed around them. There was quite a bit of variation in the projects and team sizes, which made for an interesting set of demos! Each team had 2 minutes to show off their work, followed by an opportunity for the judges to ask some questions.

Hacking Health Edmonton 2013

Here’s a quick overview of the 13 teams that demoed:

  • Health Facility Wayfinding: This team didn’t actually take a technology approach to their solution. Instead they proposed the use of human guides along with signage to help people navigate the hospital.
  • Education for Extracorporeal Therapies: An extracorporeal procedure is one which is performed outside the body. In this case, the team focused on the need to do something with a patient’s blood, and they devised a clamp system using Arduino. It was described as an add-on to existing products, and while I can’t personally appreciate the impact it might have, others in the room seemed excited.
  • Kala: An Emergency Room Wait Time Genie: The idea with Kala was to use machine learning to predict wait times. They demoed a dashboard that would present that intelligence, and said the biggest challenge would be getting access to data from the hospitals. AHS does share estimated wait times, of course.
  • Referral Appointment Dashboard: Called ezReferral, this team’s project would allow doctors to negotiate with one another to simplify the complicated referral process. They are apparently about 80% of the way to completion!
  • LinkRX: This project aimed to build a link between doctors and pharmacists for prescriptions. Using a QR code on a prescription, the team hoped to ensure that prescriptions could not be forged and to make it easier for pharmacists to scan on their end (no more deciphering doctor’s notes). They said pieces of the system already exist, but their project was a unified system.
  • Tracking/Improving Emotional Well Being via Smart Phone: This team built an Android app to enable emotional tracking. The vision is to combine self-reported moods (the piece they worked on over the weekend) with everything else that your smart phone knows about you.
  • StandUp!: This team said “sitting is the new smoking” and their plan to get you up and out of your seat is an app that reminds you when you’ve been sitting for too long. It would assign you an activity, like doing ten squats, that you could invite a friend to join along in. You earn points for completing each activity, and your workplace could pay for data to monitor the health of its workforce.
  • Mis TakeAway: This project envisioned a safe space for health professionals to reflect on their mistakes, a sort of post secret for the healthcare industry. The webpage featured messages in a bottle, each of which contained a confession.
  • CoughDoc: Another simple but powerful idea formed the basis of this app – allow patients to record their cough (or their child’s) using a smartphone and send it to their doctor. The doctor could then diagnose remotely and determine whether an appointment is necessary.
  • Rehabilitation with games using KINECT: Rehabilitation using Kinect is not a new idea, but this team forged ahead with a fun, Super Mario Bros-inspired game nonetheless. They focused on rehab for an elbow injury in their game called Super Reventure World.
  • What’s for lunch?: This app is a tracker for nutritional information. Again, there are dozens of these services already out there, but what made it unique was the interface – users could enter plain English and the app would parse it and convert it to the appropriate nutritional information.
  • Walk-ins Welcome: It sounds like last minute cancellations are a big problem, and that’s what this project aimed to solve. The service would connect patients with last minute appointment times, and would allow doctors to keep track of which patients were no-shows.
  • TrialConnect: The final project was focused on connecting willing participants to clinical trial research. It’s like a matchmaking service for researchers and patients.

Hacking Health Edmonton 2013
The judges deliberate

In the end, CoughDoc, ezReferral, StandUp!, and Walk-ins Welcome were all recognized by the judges as well as sponsors BDC and Bird Communications. I think my favorite was StandUp!, perhaps because it seemed the most realistic and immediately impactful to me. It’s pretty amazing what each of the teams was able to accomplish in such a short amount of time!

Everyone seemed to have a great time over the weekend, and it was great to see all of the demos at the end. Congratulations to everyone that helped to make Hacking Health Edmonton happen! For more on the event, check out Tamara’s Storify.

Hacking Health Edmonton 2013
The StandUp! team

Hacking Health will be making its next stop in Calgary in February 2014, followed by events in Montreal and Hamilton before going international to New York City, Stockholm, and Strasbourg.

Here in Edmonton, stay tuned for a second Hacking Health event next fall. You can follow Hacking Health Edmonton on Twitter (they may get a meetup group going too). Check out more photos from the first event here.

Preview: Launch Party Edmonton 4

Tomorrow evening is Edmonton’s fourth Launch Party, an event which “celebrates and showcases the hottest startups in town.” These are companies that have recently launched and which are ready to pursue the next level of growth.

Launch Party isn’t your typical networking event or trade show. It’s a party designed to celebrate and showcase the rockstar entrepreneurs in our community. Drinks, DJs, and great company all await you at Launch Party!

Launch Party is for everyone in the community – students, media, investors, entrepreneurs, designers, consumers – if you’re interested in starting, growing and supporting local startups, then Launch Party is the place to be!

There’s an impressive list of Launch Party alumni in Edmonton, including Mover, Yardstick, Poppy Barley, and Jobber. Now we get an opportunity to see another ten grow and hopefully succeed!

presenting companies

Here are the presenting companies for Launch Party 4:

AccentFree

FOUNDED: April 2013
TWO WORDS: Linguistics Training
WHAT: “People have difficulty speaking new languages because their mouths have been trained to move in a different way. AccentFree is a personal linguistics engine to help retrain how people speak. Our products level the playing field for ESL speakers, giving them equal career and social opportunities, and turn smartphones into personal linguistic tutors.”
KEY PEOPLE: Michael Brougham
WHY YOU SHOULD CARE: I’m personally unfamiliar with AccentFree, though it’s clear that founder Michael has a passion for the beauty of the human voice. ESL itself is a large industry here in Alberta, and with a large and growing influx of newcomers, there’s a lot of demand for services and solutions to support them.

Cinder

FOUNDED: May 2011
TWO WORDS: Game Platform
WHAT: “Cinder.io is an independent focused, games development platform that connects dedicated producers with passionate players. The diverse system allows audiences to enjoy products online and contribute to the evolution games through feedback, collaboration and funding. This provides the producer with a richer and more flexible environment in which to validate, fund and promote their products with the most relevant audience.”
KEY PEOPLE: Pieter Parker, Sean Kopen
PREVIOUSLY SEEN AT: DemoCamp Edmonton 14 (Pieter, with Bit Shift Games)
WHY YOU SHOULD CARE: Despite both Sony & Microsoft launching new consoles this month, the gaming industry remains in flux. We’re gaming more, but in different ways, and the likelihood that aspiring game developers can make something is ever-increasing. Cinder will be entering an already competitive market, but there’s lots of potential.

DriveWyze

FOUNDED: 2012
TWO WORDS: Weigh-Station Bypass
WHAT: “Drivewyze Inc., provider of the leading electronic weigh station bypass service, Drivewyze PreClear, enables commercial vehicle operators to maximize cost savings by reducing weigh station pull-ins and increases road safety by enabling law enforcement agencies to focus on non-compliant commercial vehicles. Drivewyze partners with industry leaders including Electronic Logging Device manufacturers, trucking associations and government stakeholders to deliver the next generation of weigh station bypass solutions.”
KEY PEOPLE: Doug Johnson, Brian Heath, Jason Ding
PREVIOUSLY SEEN AT: AlwaysOn Global 250 Winner
WHY YOU SHOULD CARE: Can we still call Drivewyze a startup? A subsidiary of Intelligent Imaging Systems, Drivewyze already has more than 230 sites and numerous partnerships. In August 2013, the company raised $7.5 million in funding from Emergence Capital Partners and iNovia Capital. The company has hit upon a cost-effective solution in a big, big market.

Dryrun

FOUNDED: January 2012
TWO WORDS: Financial Forecasts
WHAT: “Dryrun is a software as a service (SaaS) product built for small businesses to forecast their cash flow, compare their options and understand their business. Improving on the familiar spreadsheet, it’s fast, easy, clear and collaborative.”
KEY PEOPLE: Blaine Bertsch
PREVIOUSLY SEEN AT: DemoCamp Edmonton 23
WHY YOU SHOULD CARE: Dryrun is gearing up to launch later this year, and already it’s a highly functional, attractive service. Blaine’s background in design has served him well in the creation of what could be a fairly boring tool. I think the key to success will be integrations, with services like FreshBooks.

Localize

FOUNDED: June 2011
TWO WORDS: Local Labels
WHAT: “Localize makes it easy for grocery stores to launch and maintain highly credible local food campaigns. Our shelf-labelling service identifies local and regional products right on the store shelf, and provides customers with an easy way to find more information about where each product has come from when they scan the QR code that is found on each label. We have launched the Localize service into over 50 grocery stores in Alberta, partnered with over 300 food producers, and have profiled over 3500 food products. We are currently growing the program into BC and Saskatchewan.”
KEY PEOPLE: Meghan Dear
PREVIOUSLY SEEN AT: Semi-Finalist in VenturePrize, Social Enterprise World Forum
WHY YOU SHOULD CARE: Fresh off a $20,000 win in the Good Deals Venture Pitch Competition, Localize has some momentum at the moment. With a growing network of grocery stores and a really impressive number of producers, Localize is well-positioned to capitalize on the incredible interest in local food in Alberta and beyond.

Pinshape

TWO WORDS: 3D Printing
WHAT: “pinshape is a 3D printing community marketplace for 3D printable models. Users can explore models from the world’s leading 3D designers to learn, share, download, and order physical 3D prints through pinshape’s professional 3D print service. Designers can upload their work and share it for free or sell it for profit. With a fluid pinboard interface, life-like 3D rendering, and individually tailored content, pinshape is organizing the world’s 3D designs, and changing how we explore 3D creativity.”
KEY PEOPLE: Nick Schwinghamer
PREVIOUSLY SEEN AT: DemoCamp Edmonton 23, TEC Edmonton/Fundica Funding Roadshow
WHY YOU SHOULD CARE: I’m positive that one day we’ll all have 3D printers in our homes, just as inkjets are so ubiquitous today. Part community and part app store, pinshape is the kind of service that will bridge the gap between experts and designers and those of us that just want access to this amazing technology.

SAM

FOUNDED: March 2013
TWO WORDS: Asset Management
WHAT: “SAM is an online social asset management platform for news and media professionals. We’re building the most powerful search tools to empower journalists to intentionally find meaningful content from social networks and constructing an asset management platform to make it easy to work with these social assets throughout the media lifecycle (newsgathering to broadcast and publish). To put it another way, SAM is a CMS for Tweets, Instagrams, Youtube Videos and any other social content that is essential to News Coverage, Content Production and Journalism.”
KEY PEOPLE: James Neufeld
PREVIOUSLY SEEN AT: DemoCamp Edmonton 22, News Xchange Startup Alley
WHY YOU SHOULD CARE: Social media is here to stay, with tweets, photos, and other posts already integral to the news gathering and sharing process. They’re not very integrated though, and that’s the problem SAM is looking to solve. There’s a lot of interest in new approaches to media, and SAM could have an angle that not many have considered yet.

Scope Technologies

FOUNDED: November 2010
TWO WORDS: Augmented Reality
WHAT: “Scope Technologies develops user-guided Augmented Reality Solution with focus in Industrial markets including mining, oil and gas, military, aerospace, and manufacturing. Our solution is primarily developed for the purpose of training and maintenance. Essentially, our solution is an extension of any manual or document, and creates a “see-it, do-it” process. Our process involves a full understanding of the challenges of the client, whether it entails and unskilled labor force, trying to minimize mistakes in maintaining equipment, or saving time. We ensure that our solution is practical for the customer, which could significantly impact the hardware that the solution is deployed on – including tablets, glasses, or a combination.”
KEY PEOPLE: David Nedohin, Scott Montgomerie, Graham Melley, Reg Cheramy
PREVIOUSLY SEEN AT: DemoCamp Edmonton 21
WHY YOU SHOULD CARE: There’s a ton of interest right now in wearable computing as well as augmented reality (and some predict that gadgets in the category could save companies $1 billion within 3-5 years) . Their demo back in April focused on using augmented reality for training, an already large and growing market with a lot of potential, especially here in industrial Alberta. They’ve got a talented team and an important supporter is Epson who makes the Moverio glasses they use.

SportingCharts

FOUNDED: September 2011
TWO WORDS: Sports Analytics
WHAT: “SportingCharts is enhancing the way people view and understand sports. We are dedicated to improving the analytics of sports by providing tools, resources and visuals, to better arm teams, fantasy players and bettors in their decision making and produce more informed fans.”
KEY PEOPLE: Cory Wagner, Chad Langager
PREVIOUSLY SEEN AT: Make Something Edmonton
WHY YOU SHOULD CARE: People love their sports. Chad and Cory were previously with Investopedia, so they know a thing or two about data analysis! I regularly see people linking to the charts at SportingCharts.com, which is why it’s so interesting to me – there’s a lot of people interested in the data but they don’t necessarily know what to do with it. Their new ChartBuilder tool is a look at things to come. In addition to data and analytical tools, SportingCharts has expanded into opinion articles with more than 20 contributors.

Visio Media

FOUNDED: July 2011
TWO WORDS: Elevator Advertising
WHAT: “Visio Media tenders digital elevator advertising space in commercial and residential properties by installing Android based tablets. Visio tablets are equipped with state of the art technology that provides exact impressions and accurate demographics like age, gender and duration of stare. As well as NFC (Near Field Communication) technology that allows the audience to simply tap their smartphones on the elevator tablets to engage with advertisements.”
KEY PEOPLE: Fouad El-Masri, Nicolette Leonardis, Sami Al Askari
PREVIOUSLY SEEN AT: Alberta Venture
WHY YOU SHOULD CARE: They’ve installed screens in elevators in more than a dozen locations since February, and have even provided screens to Southgate Mall and Mill Woods Town Centre. They’ve signed up dozens of advertisers, and just recently launched support for NFC to enable some interesting new scenarios. We’ve had the screens in my condo building since the summer, and I can definitely see the potential.

The event gets underway at 6:45pm at Startup Edmonton. Unfortunately the event is already sold out, but keep an eye on social media for details about all the companies!

You can see my previous Launch Party previews here: #1, #2 Recap, #3.

Recap: Christmas on the Square Holiday Light Up

The Downtown Business Association’s annual Christmas on the Square Holiday Light Up took place tonight in Churchill Square. Hundreds of Edmontonians braved the minus 12 degree weather to get out and see Santa and the lighting up of the 65-foot Christmas tree!

Holiday Light Up on the Square

The event got underway at 4pm, and featured food vendors, roving choirs, stilt-walkers, and more. The City Market also stayed open longer today, welcoming patrons inside City Hall until 6pm. In addition to warming up, kids could find face painters and balloon artists indoors!

Holiday Light Up on the Square

Out on the square, entertainment included singer Sean Sonego, the Kings University Choir College, violinist John Calverley with singer Elizabeth MacInnis, and Booming Tree Taiko. Global Edmonton’s Shane Jones and Kevin O’Connell hosted the event.

Here’s a quick video of some of the highlights:

Just after 6pm, Mayor Iveson was joined by his wife Sarah Chan and Councillor Ben Henderson on stage to welcome Santa and help countdown the light up. It seemed to take forever for Santa and his helpers to get on the stage! Eventually he did, and he asked the mayor if he had been a good boy this year. “Well 62% of voting Edmontonians think I was,” Mayor Iveson quipped. Then Santa asked what he’d like for Christmas. “An LRT line to the Southeast,” was the response. The crowd loved it!

Holiday Light Up on the Square

Everyone on stage led the countdown to the light up. Finally, the 14,000 LED lights on the tree came to life and the crowd cheered. A few seconds later, fireworks in the opposite direction! Timed to the music, the brief fireworks show capped off a fun afternoon.

Holiday Light Up on the Square

The tree was donated by Millar Western Forest Products, and was installed and decorated by EPCOR. If you couldn’t make it down tonight don’t worry – the tree will be there all season long! You can see more photos here.

Recap: Premiere to the New Winter in Edmonton

It felt a little like spring out there today with wet roads, bright sun, and temperatures above zero. But it’s November and you know the snow will be here to stay soon enough (the little we’ve already had has mostly melted). To celebrate, WinterCity Edmonton hosted its Premiere to Winter event at the EPCOR Tower downtown tonight. It was a red-carpet affair with dozens of Edmontonians in attendance, all eager to learn more about what’s in store for us this winter.

Premiere to Winter

Susan Holdsworth, Project Manager of the WinterCity Strategy, welcomed everyone to the event and got the program underway. Our emcee for the evening was Linda Cochrane, the City of Edmonton’s GM of Community Services. I think Global was meant to provide the emcee, but it didn’t matter, Linda did a great job. After recognizing the members of City Council in attendance, Linda invited Mayor Iveson up to the podium to say a few words.

Premiere to Winter
The Flying Canoe Adventure

The first bit of entertainment came next, with a performance by The Flying Canoe Adventure. It’s one of the many outdoor events taking place in Edmonton this winter. The next speakers were representatives from the Silver Skate and Deep Freeze festivals, and each had a few minutes to show a video and talk about their festival.

We also had a reading by Mikey Maybe, one of the contributors to The 40 Below Project. It was highly entertaining and had the entire crowd laughing! Known as “Edmonton’s Winter Anthology”, you can buy the book for $20. It contains over 70 pieces by 50 Edmonton-area writers.

Other speakers included David Berger from Boyle Street Community Services and Carol Neuman, who introduced the Signature Drink Contest:

Do you fancy yourself a drink connoisseur? A master of mixology? Well then, get out your cocktail shaker, strainer, muddler and creative juices and start inventing your favourite drink for WinterCity Edmonton’s Signature Drink Contest. Your unique drink could land you some amazing prizes!

Premiere to Winter
Mix Something Edmonton!

We also heard from Maggie Davison, VP of Edmonton Tourism. She started by saying that they heard the call for an “edgy, fun, and creative” approach to winter. And then she spent the next 10 minutes going through her text-filled PowerPoint presentation about the marketing campaign they have coming up. The campaign centers around a new microsite, Winter in Edmonton. I’ll write more about that in a future post.

Premiere to Winter
This little guy loved the lady on stilts!

The main event came at the very end – the launch of the new WinterCity short film. It’s an effective video that highlights the many positive winter assets that Edmonton has and the opportunities that are available to us. All we need to do to realize them is embrace winter! It’s very similar to the Make Something Edmonton videos that have been released over the last few months, with great visuals and a variety of on-the-street interviews. The video should be uploaded soon so you can see for yourself.

Premiere to Winter
Put on your toque and enjoy winter!

The event probably went on a little too long, but it was great to see so many people keen to celebrate winter. I look forward to all the festivals and other upcoming outdoor events! You can see more photos of the event here.