CAPS are used at times to emphasize on a particular word. And they should remain that way – to emphasize on a PARTICULAR word. Sadly, some of us put CAPS on entire sentences and they make important messages unreadable.
For example, there is supposedly a snow storm happening in Waterloo at the same time I’m coming down from Toronto. I wanted to learn more about the snow storm so that I can be more prepared for it, but I get this shenanigan instead:
Good thing I found this ALL CAPS Translator that translates every letter in lower-cases. Thanks again Internet!
My stay at Velocity has exceeded all my initial expections. To begin the term, all Velocity residents were invited to attend the Velocity Gala to have dinner with industry leaders and Velocity’s sponsors. The day after the event, we had a conference dedicated to Velocity residents. There were great keynote speakers who I’ve heard of at Impact’s National Conference, but they reminded me of what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur.
The beginning of term events were well planned. As an entrepreneurial residence, students needed to learn more about entrepreneurship and how to bring an idea to a realizable product/service.
Lucky for you, Velocity posts all their videos. I’ve shared them with you here
GALA
Opening Remarks –
Meg Beckel and Sean Van Koughnett
Keynote Address –
Mike Lee
CONFERENCE
Opening Keynote –
Iain Klugman, President, Communitech
The VC’s View on Entrepreneurship –
Amar Varma, Founder, Extreme Venture Partners
The Journey Begins Now –
Eric Solowka, Vice President, Programs and Principal, Lewis Media
Keynote –
Duncan Hill, Entrepreneur-in-Residence, Ventures West
The Entrepreneur’s Mindset –
Jackie Lee, Founder, Jackie Lee Talent Management Inc.
Closing Keynote –
Sanjay Singhal, Chairman and Director, Simply Audio books
Want to send urgent emails to your friends but don’t know when they’ll get your message? Then, send your email as a SMS to any of your friend’s cellphone – for free.
Of course, you can already send free text messages with online services such as http://www.sendsmsnow.com/ but you can do it now in the comfort of your own email account.
Here’s how:
Your mobile has an unique email address created by your wireless carrier. All you have to do is ask your friends to send emails to this email address and it’ll be sent to your cellphone – free of charge. The only caveat is that you’re limited to 160 characters. However, you can reply to the SMS to have the entire email sent to you.
Here’s a list of all Canadian carriers and their email format so you can find your own:
If you’re around my age (21 years old) or younger, than you’ll more or less enjoy this Flash game called PongOut. The game has two screens: one for Pong and the other for Breakout. The objective of the game is to play both games – at the same time.
Back in the 70′s, Pong was a fairly fun game even though it seems as a ridiculously slow-paced game now. With so much stimulus around us we just can’t use enough of our brains.
PongOut makes an excellent comparison of how attention-deficit the younger generations are compared to the older generations. And what makes this game fun is that it challenges players to focus on two relatively complicated things at once, each of which has it’s own gameplay.
There’s no doubt about it: Linux is still not mainstream, despite the many improvements by thousands of open-source contributors across the world. Luckily for us Linux users, this is all going to change with the launch of Google Android!
Here’s the top 5 reasons why:
1) Android looks damn nice compared to other Linux distributions. It’ll appeal to the masses who value asthetics above anything else.
Linux = Command Prompt?
Video of the Google Android UI in action:
2) It won’t break, and no configuration is needed. Cell phone manufacturers will ensure their phones will work with the platform by making the necessary installations and configurations, so consumers don’t have to.
3) It’ll drive down the price of a smartphone, pocket-pc or whatever a cellphone is called these days. Simple – no more licensing fees for crappy operating systems (can you say Windows Mobile?).
4) There are more people carrying cell phones than Internet users. Linux is having a difficult time converting Window users, who most likely have used the OS on their desktops/laptops their entire lives. However, this is not so for cell phones. Many of us are used to different OS on the phone (RIM, Symbian, Windows Mobile etc) so we’re more likely to try out a new OS, which is great considering there are so many cell phone users out there!
There are more cell phone users than Internet users
5) Android Apps are easily accessible without strict rules of which apps are featured on the Android App Market. Everyone is going to go crazy and start pulling their hair out when they discover that there are a plethora of different applications (that are super cheap or FREE) for their phone. They no longer have to stick to the software that comes on their phone. iPhone already offers this kind of an experience, but not all apps are available. For example, you won’t find a single podcaster app for the iPhone since apps like these are rejected and banned for duplicating the functionality of the Podcast section of iTunes. Not so for the Android! So there will bound to be some awesome apps for your phone!
Apple App Store Dictorship
Bonus: 6) It’s from Google, so everyone will use it.
I love Google Video. They have all the documentries in the world there.
Here are some key points that I’ve made from Guy Kawasaki’s Art of Innovation presentation. If you’ve seen his Art of the Start presentation, then these will look awfully familiar to you. In fact, I think he even used the same slides…
1) The DICEE Concept
Deep – does what it should and antipicates what you need. A product that goes above and beyond in solving a need.
Intelligence – pretty obvious. Put some thought into your products/services!
Complete – great products/services also include the support infrastructure around them, such as support, forums, conferences, websites – everything.
Elegance – has to be easy to use without a 50-page manual.
Emotive – Your product/service should polarize people. Either people will love it or absolutely hate it, but the point is nobody will become indifferent to your product or service.
2) Ride the Curve but Don’t Stay on the Same One
Don’t be 10-15% better at what you do, instead be 10-15 times better. This means that innovators should not always build on existing product/services that they are currently offering in order to meet changing demands, but rather to seek out the possibility of the ‘next curve’ and build products for it.
3) Your First Iteration Will Suck, but That’s Okay
Here’s the truth about the tech business: We ship and then we test. Do this to ride the curve before anyone else, or the world will past you by.
4) Tips for Your Pitches – The ’10-20-30 Rule’
10 slides maximum
20 minutes for all the slides
30 is the optimal font size
The rest is for Q&A and other miscellaneous things.
You can view the entire video (~50 min. long) here:
UPDATE: Want to be convinced to vote? Watch this (made for US citizens but works just as well for us)
Today, I was talking to a friend of mine and I asked, “So, who are you going to vote for?”
She said, “Obama.”
The funny thing is, we were both on campus – in Canada.
The point is that we focus so much on American politics (assuming you DO follow politics, if you don’t -YOU SHOULD) that we understand so little of our own.
I believe that more students like us will be driven to vote if we take more time to understand Canadian politics, and now you can do so easily using a web-app created for the 24-Hour Hacking Competition from Yahoo! Here’s the link: http://yahoo.summerhilldesign.com/index.php
With this app, you can find every single incumbent Member of Parliament’s position on various topics. The UI is really well designed and makes learning about politics actually fun. Go check it out!
I Just saw this on Rajesh’s Twitter account – UW Bookstore Linelook. You can now see how busy (or not busy) the UW Bookstore is! This is perfect for the beginning of the term when the bookstore is usually completely packed. Now you can reduce a few hours of waiting in line.
PS: Now you know that you are being watched when you are sitting on those benches. Be warned! Don’t pick your nose or ass there! Peter Kao
Follow me around the world. I'm an entrepreneur who runs an online business while travelling the world. I write about my travels, thoughts and anything else I want to say. You can read more about me here.
WARNING: This website is under construction - meaning some links won't work and the design will change slightly on a daily basis!
