IBM Launches 3rd Annual Smarter Cities Challenge
smarter cities.jpg At a time when corporations’ misdeeds are under a bright spotlight (and rightfully so,) we needn’t overlook the few companies that are working to bring innovation a...
technology
Check out what my bro’ has been up to…
He’s living one of his dreams… Cool. Gotta love technology sometimes! Share and Enjoy: Trashy, Ottawa, Ontario
Steve Jobs was no technological visionary; he was a disturbed and disturing individual
Limits of Magical Thinking Steve Jobs wasn’t a technology visionary, but he convinced the world that he was. Steve Jobs was a disturbed and disturing individual, and he was no…
Charge Your Phone with the Sun
We’ve seen DIY iPod solar chargers before and now an Ottawa-based company has produced a consumer one. The PowerTrip is a small battery with a USB jack and a solar…
Tale of the Norden Bombsight
Malcom Gladwell spins a fascinating story about the strange origins and ultimately twisted fate of a fabulously complicated yet practically hapless bomb-sighting device developed at extraordinary expense for the U.S.…
As Canada Searches for its Open Government Partnership Commitments: A Proposal
Just before its launch in New York on September 20th, the Canadian Government agreed to be a signatory of the Open Government Partnership (OGP). Composed of over 40 countries the…
The State of Open Data 2011
What is the state of the open data movement? Yesterday, during my opening keynote at the Open Government Data Camp (held this year in Warsaw, Poland) I sought to follow…
I apologise in advance if you have a BlackBerry…
… well, sorta… it WAS your choice, after all… Share and Enjoy: Trashy, Ottawa, Ontario
Brain Candy – Great Quotes from Yesterday
I'm in San Francisco to co-chair the Code for America Summit this week, so lots going on, and some deep blog posts in the works. But first. Fun! Here are…
Farcical Aquatic Ceremonies: Canadian “Democracy” and (not) You!
So, Ontario, Canada’s most unbearably self-righteous Province, just concluded another one of those spiffy “election” things everyone is getting so worked up over these days. As of this writing, it’s…
Occupy the Church, Occupy Together
Christians. Church. God. Jesus. Occupy. What do these words mean to you? For many, the connotations are negative. Personal experiences with judgemental, rigid, frozen people who identify themselves as Christians…
Thanks Steve
I still remember fondly the first computer ever to find its way into the family home. The Apple IIe was magic, allowing these clumsy finger to type badly, then delete…
The Science of Community Management: DjangoCon Keynote
At OSCON this year, Jono Bacon, argued that we are entering a era of renaissance in open source community management - that increasingly we don't just have to share stories…
See Canada’s Environment in Google Earth
Tides Canada has teamed up with Google Earth to allow the world to see Canada’s precious environment using Google’s technology. Now you can visualize things like the boreal forest and…
The Geopolitics of the Open Government Partnership: the beginning of Open vs. Closed
There hasn't been a ton of press about the Open Government Partnership (OGP). This is hardly surprising. The press likes to talk about corruption and bad government, people getting together…
The Economics of Open Data – Mini-Case, Transit Data & Translink
Translink, the company that runs public transit in the region where I live (Vancouver/Lower Mainland) is getting ready to launch a real time bus tracking app that will use GPS…
What Re-Releases of Star Wars can Teach Us About Art and Product Management
The other day I noticed this tweet fly by in the twittersphere Was this a complaint? In light of the fact the internet was rife with complaints…
Smarter Ways to Have School Boards Update Parents
Earlier this month the Vancouver School Board (VSB) released an iPhone app that - helpfully - will use push notifications to inform parents about school holidays, parent interviews, and scheduling…
Socialist Party Resolution: Open Source Software
Where as open source software shares the spirit of socialism because it is about openly and freely sharing software with all and stands on contrast to the secrecy and profit…
Using Open Data to drive good policy outcomes – Vancouver’s Rental Database
One of the best signs for open data is when governments are starting to grasp its potential to achieve policy objectives. Rather than just being about compliance, it is seen…