‘March Madness’ of coding contests highlights two trends
May 16th
If you’re not familiar with the Association of Computer Machinery’s (ACM) International Collegiate Programming Contest (ICPC) sponsored by IBM Corp., just think of it like the “March Madness” of computer programming.
Just like the NBA recruits top basketball talent from the top teams that compete in the annual NCAA tournament, the world’s top software companies will recruit the students taking part in this contest that was spawned in 1970. Also, there are a lot of confusing acronyms that confound newcomers. Indeed, IBM has sponsored this event since 1997, dubbing it “Battle of the Brains” and uses it as a recruiting mechanism, giving blanket job offers to the teams that finish in the top 10 – and may other competitors as well.
Are you a painter or mechanic?
May 14th
by Stuart Crawford
Do you have a passion for IT? Back in November 2008, I lost my passion for technology.
The perfect storm of why I hated technology had been brewing for quite some time. We were hiring the best of the worst simply because available great talent didn’t exist, client frustrations were increasing and my love for what I did simply disappeared.
Stewart Crawford
Luckily for me, around May 2010, my passion for IT returned and Ulistic started to focus on helping IT consulting firms, VARs and resellers with marketing support. Today, we also provide coaching and mentoring for IT firms.
Why is this important? I got to talking to a client the other day about the lack of performance of sales teams. After a lengthy discussion on what makes a great sales professional, we determined that it started with passion. Read the rest of this entry »
Canada’s startup services scene getting crowded
May 11th
by Christine Wong
Startup Grind is the newest entry on Canada’s red hot tech startup scene.
The U.S.-based organization, which already has branches in Los Angeles, New York, Austin, Tx., San Francisco, Tempe, Az. and Marin, Ca., just opened new bases in Ottawa and Toronto. The group’s goal is to foster startup activity in each of those regions by bringing together local entrepreneurs, investors, designers, programmers and mentors.
Christine Wong, staff writer, ITBusiness.ca
The Canadian startup scene seems to be turbocharged. It also seems to be getting crowded.
Within the last few months alone there’s been a string of additions like the Startup Grind announcement: new incubators and accelerators (Jolt, Hyperdrive, Driven, and one within InvestOttawa), new organizations (Startup Canada and the aforementioned Startup Grind), new funding (including about half a billion dollars for startup ventures in the federal budget) and new media outlets (PostMedia bought Sprouter which begat BetaKit, respected blogger Mark Evans just launched a weekly newsletter, newcomer Startup Canada now sends out a daily digest, we here at IT Business Canada are doing a daily startup news round-up, and the National Post and Globe and Mail have beefed up their small business and entrepreneurship coverage with a heavy emphasis on the tech scene). Read the rest of this entry »
Is the BlackBerry 10 too late to make a difference?
May 10th
BlackBerry 10
by Yale Holder
RIM’s CEO Thorsten Heins unveiled the BlackBerry 10 operating system and a prototype phone for developers in Orlando, Florida. With no launch date communicated as yet, the phone is still expected to be in our hands in time for the holiday season. Read the rest of this entry »
Embracing the BYOD trend: Tips for your business
May 9th
By Daniel ReioBring Your Own Device (BYOD) — a term which refers to employees bringing their own mobile devices into the workplace for business purposes — is one of the hottest acronyms in business technology world today.
Daniel Reio
Companies are increasingly embracing the idea that employees want greater choice and flexibility in the devices they use.
In a recent CDW Canada survey of Canadian businesses, more than two thirds of respondents (67 per cent) said their company has or is working on a BYOD strategy. Read the rest of this entry »
Lessons in entrepreneurship from the Startup Canada launch
May 8th
By Alexandra Reid
“A million people walk into a bar in Silicon Valley. Nobody buys anything. The bar is declared a huge success.”
Harley Finkelstein, CPO of Shopify, shared that illuminating joke during the panel discussion atStartup Canada. It seemed to resonate with the audience because, aside from it being funny, it identified a serious problem in the way many entrepreneurs run their new companies. Read the rest of this entry »
There is no magic recipe for a successful startup, only good cooks
May 7th
By Francis Moran
I have shamelessly adapted the headline of this post from a Wall Street Journal article I read on the weekend that reviewed two excellent books tracking the ascendancy of Africa over the past decade and predicting that the continent’s rise as an economic force to be reckoned with would continue in similar fashion for the next decade. Acknowledging the structural problems many African countries face on the political front, one of the reviewed authors was quoted as writing, “there is no magic recipe for turning countries around, only good cooks.”
The sharp application of the sentiment to the founding of startup companies was immediately and forcefully impressed upon me. There is no magic recipe for a successful company. There are only good cooks. Read the rest of this entry »
Startup TO: Why should you care about startups?
May 4th
by Ashley Huffman
If you’ve never worked in a startup company, it’s hard to imagine what it’s like to be in one. The way it’s portrayed in the media is fairly chaotic and a little skewed. The movie The Social Network didn’t help either by cutting out the real fun parts where they worked for 14 hours a day every day with no vacation and on average had Red Bull for dinner.
Now this post isn’t to gripe on the misconceptions of startups, it’s instead a look into how current events in the entrepreneurial realm are shaping what could be a direct impact on your medium to big business.
Software robot helps in first responder projects
May 3rd
by Barry Gander
Areas for mutual development between researchers on first responder issues have been identified by a software robot that ‘reads’ online documents.
Barry Gander, chair, Networked Vehicle Association
The CIRILab software engine was recently employed to read the online documents from 50 Canadian and 50 U.S.-based first responder organizations. The software focussed on finding links between the city of Stratford, and Clemson University in South Carolina. Clemson is a hot-bed of wireless vehicle research. Read the rest of this entry »
PIPA and the Alberta IT firm
May 2nd
by Stuart Crawford
Alberta’s Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA) of 2009 is nothing like the Protect IP Act (PIPA) that folks in theUnited States railed against in January 2012.
Stewart Crawford
Some may recall that Wikipedia, along with several other websites, “went black” on Jan.18, 2012, to express its disapproval of not only PIPA but also its companion the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA).
Alberta’s version of PIPA is all about making businesses more open with consumers regarding the consumers’ personal information. Read the rest of this entry »
