The Itch Steve Jobs Can't Scratch: The Scrappy Influence of Brian Lam’s Gizmodo

BY MARK BORDENToday

This interview is part of our ongoing series related to The Influence Project.

A number of people have told me they believe Steve Jobs is the most influential person on the Internet. If that's true, what does that make Gizmodo editor Brian Lam, the journalist who lit the fuse on “antennagate," thereby influencing Steve Jobs to acknowledge the flaw that led an unspecified number of iPhone 4s to drop phone calls? It's certainly reasonable to argue that Gizmodo’s coverage piled much straw on Apple’s back, perhaps even to the breaking point. And it will cost Apple an estimated $175 million in free phone bumpers and cases. At any rate, one can assume that Jobs is chagrined that the company Apple has threatened to sue (over its temporary possession of a prototype iPhone 4) was partially responsible for last Friday’s worldwide press conference/apology.
 
How this happened is an intriguing case study in how influence flows. Gizmodo, of course, had no inside access to Apple, and (because of the prototype controversy) was under the gun throughout its reporting on the antenna flaw. In fact, as he explains here, Lam intensified Gizmodo’s coverage of Apple after the lawsuit was filed, despite the obvious complications. The unspooling of that coverage speaks to the influence blogs like Gizmodo have on the mainstream media. On the day Gizmodo broke the antenna story, Consumer Reports happened to issue a press release declaring the new iPhone 4 “Awesome!”, mimicking most of the fawning coverage in mainstream media. Two weeks later, that coverage had changed savagely, all because of the little tech agitator that thought it could.
 
On the advice of his lawyers, Lam wouldn't speak about the prototype issue. But he spoke freely about feeling vindicated by the free bumpers and cases that Apple has offered iPhone 4 owners, his fear of what he calls an impending soft recall of the iPhone 4, and how sometimes loving something means criticizing it to make it better. 
 
Can you explain the events that led to Gizmodo’s involvement in getting Apple to hold last week’s press conference?
Apple’s always had a roster of favorites. I never suspected it was dirty, and I still don’t think it’s dirty, but at one point, we had achieved that status.
 
There are always these favorites and I never wanted to be one of those guys.
 
I have ideals about what good journalism is—like the book The Journalist and the Murderer— and I respect people who do great inside pieces and get great access. But this is a whole other level because it is really commercial and I’ve seen it happen where people pull a lot of punches because they are too close. That’s what happens when you have one really narrow beat. You can get too close.
 
But here’s the other thing. We got pushed away from being very, very liked to being very unliked in a powerful way. I’ve never seen this kind of reaction from someone in the industry. Did you see the All Things D with Steve Jobs? There was a strong level of hate directed at Gizmodo. And I don’t think Steve realizes that we’re trying to give readers a service to help them decide whether they should make their next purchase.
 
So how does that translate into your antenna coverage?
The bumper thing and our coverage after Apple started giving us the cold shoulder, it all came from the fact that we didn’t have any access. So we needed to hit the ground a little harder. So we spent more time looking for sources.
 
I knew our job would be harder without access, but I knew we could do infinitely more and better and different and differentiate ourselves.
 
So when we got pushed out, we started hitting our readers a lot more for what they thought. The bumper issue came up through one of our favorite sites, MacRumors. They’ve got an amazing community, so that along with the Apple support forums, we started intensely following these great sites with these strong communities, and our editor Jason Chen, who did most of the breaking of this story, saw people were complaining about things.

Of course, even with the video proof, we weren’t sure it was big enough. But we had so many updates on the antenna problem, and from our personal experience and from these tests, so we thought something was going on.

 
Apple’s response in the press conference was pretty remarkable. It had a feeling of openness and transparency, things not normally associated with the company.

Apple’s press conference also distracted from some of the issues, like they always do. ‘It’s not a big deal, but here are some bumpers, just in case.’ They have hard data—who knows if it is real or not—but let’s assume they’re telling the truth. As far as our data goes, it’s no better because it is anecdotal. Even if it’s 50 users, it’s 50 out of 3 million, right?
 
But I guess our coverage was causing enough noise that they had to address it and they had to come forward. Sure they have over $100 million in test equipment with beautiful foam chambers that block radio noise, they’re very impressive. But despite all that, they still had problems, so what's it worth?
 
But what’s also impressive is that they admitted the iPhone 4 drops more calls than the 3GS. That’s telling and I don’t care how much test equipment you have or what process you go through. Sure they are very thoughtful and I know the company, they are always going to do what’s right for consumers. But there are lots of recalls that took much longer than 22 days. Like the white MacBooks had cracks in the plastic and were only recalled years later, long after people had lots of frustration because Apple didn’t have a policy in line. Time Capsule is another one. It had power supply issues. That’s a backup machine, if that fails, that’s scary.
 
Do you think your coverage helped get the mainstream media interested in the antenna?
I think we did. I think our coverage was really far reaching and I think that even before some of the mainstream publications drove the point home—with Whoopi Goldberg literally slamming the phone on her morning show—it definitely got into the mainstream consciousness.
 
So am I going to take credit? No. News is collaborative and we played an important part in pulling that information from the forums into a solid place and repeatedly covering the story.
 
But initially we also had a lot of critics in the media who sided with Apple, saying it’s only a few devices; it’s not all of them. Still, it’s my job to err on the side of caution. I’m going to report these small instances, even if we’re doing it out of proportion to the fact that the phone is still amazing—and it is and we said that many times. But I’m going to err on the side of public good and I don’t think that’s what a lot of people criticizing us understand. 
 
I see the part we played as getting information from the people to the mainstream pubs, it’s up to others to decide how much influence we had.
 
During the conference, besides the time Jobs specifically mentioned Gizmodo, did you feel at times he was obliquely addressing Gizmodo? For example he says: “We made it very visible, with a little help from our friends on certain websites” and “This has been so blown out of proportion, it’s incredible. I know it’s fun to have a story, but it’s less fun when you’re on the other side of it.”
My whole staff thought it was actually all about us. But I actually said to them, don’t be egotistical. This is something maybe we helped start in a big way, but it’s about the people, about all the press that picked it up. It’s about everyone except the apologists. To the apologists, it’s like, if you love them that much, what’s so hard about challenging them too. I just don’t understand.
 
I appreciate the team talk and you trying to share the credit, but maybe your staff is closer to being right on this.
I agree, but to be honest the truth is, the power…it’s like, for their own sanity I don’t want them writing about a company they feel is…it’s like there are politics involved, and I’m urging them to stay clear of the politics when we’re reporting even though we have our own personal history with them now. I don’t want it to color our work. We are at such a critical junction where we have this attention from the big scoop a couple months ago. Now it’s critical that we do really, really good work and that involves being impartial and cold. 
 
So what do you think of the result?
I feel like we forced them to acknowledge this and I’m happy we got them to acknowledge an issue. Apple is a good company and we expected them to, but we were not going to leave it up to them. That’s our job to bring these things to the surface.
 
I feel like Jobs’ presentation was angry and I don’t think he should think of it that way. They got an opportunity to get their data out there and they showed the data that revealed their customers to be quite satisfied.
 
But they also skirted some facts.
 
Ryan Block, my old nemesis, I’ll always admire that guy. We always fought really hard, but he asked the question no one else asked. He said: ‘Sure, all these other phones lose reception if you grip them. We know that, but we’re also talking about this very specific thing where you touch the phone with one finger and it kills the connection.’ 
 
Then Jobs didn’t talk about it.
 
Between skirting that and giving away the bumpers, I just think they do have a problem and they’re going to have to address it eventually. We’re going to give them a little bit of a break, but we’re going to keep pushing because it seems like no one else wants to get their hands dirty. 
 
Do you consider Gizmodo to be something of a black sheep, doing what others won’t?
When they gave me really good access, I started hating myself. I didn’t want it. So now it’s like, instead of rewriting press releases, I’m going to hire someone to dumpster dive and hopefully get some good stories and I feel like a more legitimate journalist this way.
 
Do you feel vindicated?
I do, but I have to say, I am looking out for the next thing. Part of me wishes they would just stop selling the phone if there is a problem.
 
I’ll tell you what I think. They’re going to fix this by coding the antenna and they’re going to quietly roll it out and say that the problem has gone away without doing some kind of recall to save the money.

At that point, and I have one of the first generation iPhones and I’ve got a bumper on mine, do I get one of those new updated ones? They don’t want to offer that, right? But maybe it’s in Gizmodo’s interest and the people’s interest if they do offer that.
 
If they make a small hardware change, what we’re referring to as a silent recall, that’s not really fair.

That’s where we have a conflict of interest. The Public and Gizmodo versus Apple. That’s probably what’s next, keep your eyes out for that. 

Because everyone is stuck with the phone they bought already.
Yeah. And especially if, for example, they change things and make it better and knew they were going to make it better. Remember during the keynote, he said: ‘We’ll see what happens after Sept 30.’ What could that be?

But yeah, it’s nice to get 3 million people $30 bumpers, especially if it fixes the problem.
 
What do you think is the bigger issue here?
I think it comes down to this: A phone should be able to make calls no matter how you hold it. That’s a good basic thing to ask for. Sure, only a few people complain, but maybe people don’t know enough to complain and maybe that says something. Maybe Apple is right, it’s overblown, but maybe its because people don’t notice.
 
And it’s confusing because there is so much criticism around AT&T’s network, which must play into this.
I think people have learned to live with terrible things. Bad reception, for example. I think we’ve been trained for the last three years with the other iPhones to say it’s ok, it’s no big deal that you drop all the time. But is it really ok? Step back and think about it. I’m going to say it’s not.  This one it was especially not because it is worse than the other ones.
 
In the Q&A Jobs said, to some laughter, 'And we didn't break down any doors’?
If that's not a joke big brother would make, I don't know what is.

 

From Fast Company http://www.fastcompany.com/1673030/the-itch-steve-jobs-can-t-scratch-the-scrappy-influence-of-brian-lam-s-gizmodo?partner=homepage_newsletter  

The Tall Man Cometh

People of the West Kootenay get ready, The Tall Man cometh.

The Nelson area has been the stage for several movies over the years — including Roxanne, Snow Falling on Cedars, Out Cold and A Simple Curve — and now another one is set to be filmed in the region this fall.

The Tall Man, a thriller film directed and produced by the French filmmaking duo, Pascal Laugier and Clement Miserez is planned for filming this fall on location at various locations throughout the region, including Salmo, Nelson and Sandon.

Set in the run-down mountain town of Cold Rock, The Tall Man stars the sultry Jessica Biel (Texas Chainaw Massacre, Blade, Trinity), girlfriend of mega-star, Justin Timberlake, as a doctor who moves from the city to Cold Rock to set up a clinic and help out the community.

But after she arrives, children in the community start to go missing and she changes from heroine to villain with a plot twist at the end.

John Wittmayer, a Slocan Valley resident who has worked in the Canadian film industry for decades, helped Laugier and Miserez decide to film their movie here in the West Kootenay.

“They were looking for a small community,” Wittmayer said. “They wanted something that had one or two-storey buildings with wide, vacant-looking streets – something that’s obviously a twilight industry town.”

Wittmayer said he took the director and producer on a tour of the region in March and they agreed that Salmo fit the bill perfectly.

“Salmo had its heyday back with the Emerald Mine and with logging,” Wittmayer noted. “But now it’s still a community and it’s intact, but it’s sort of declining. They like that look.”

Along with the main downtown area of Salmo and the old growth forest surrounding the village, they chose the Wildwood Trailer Park just outside the town — a place of poverty, destitution — as one of the main sets.

“It fit the location in the script perfectly,” Wittmayer noted. “He wanted something that was a working class, really underprivileged community.”

Other scenes in the movie will likely be filmed here in Nelson, including a shot with the former CP Rail station and a set at Central School.

“We’re looking at schools here in Nelson for the abandoned school, which is (the doctor’s) clinic,” Wittmayer noted. “So far they like Central School. They like the red-brick building and the rusticity of that.”

There are also plans to film in Sandon – which will be the actual town of Cold Rock.

“We would cut and match that with scenes from the community down in Salmo and some other areas,” Wittmayer noted. “With a little movie magic and cheating, you’ll think it’s all one town — Sandon, Salmo, a piece of Nelson put together in a montage sequence of scenes. It’ll be a seamless presentation of a town called Cold Rock in the mountains.”

Wittmayer said Joanna Maratta, the Kootenay Columbia representative of the BC Film Commission was instrumental in bringing him on board and getting this film to come to the region.

“She tried hard to bring this film to Nelson,” Wittmayer noted. “She and the staff helped a lot in selling the Kootenays for this film.”

The Tall Man is being produced in Canada by Mind’s Eye Entertainment (Faces in the Crowd with Milla Jovanvich) and distributed by Alliance Films, so Wittmayer said people can expect to see it on the big screen in theatres.

With a budget of $11 million and the artistic filmmaking Pascal Laugier is known for, Wittmayer expects to see something great.

“He’s got some pretty novel ways of shooting and some good ideas,” he said. “I think it will be a good film. It won’t be a Hollywood slick production. But I think you’ll see some artistic stuff.”

And area residents can expect to see some of that $11 million injected into the local economy.

“He (Laugier) really wants to work with the locations,” Wittmayer said. “He’s very community-minded, in terms of going into these communities and hiring locally.

“I’ve been asked to hire local carpenters, painters and even extras. He’s really wanting to get as much realism from the community as he can. He really wants to be inclusive.”

Scott Sommerville, chief administrative officer from the Village of Salmo said that, although it was picked as a “run down mountain town,” Salmo is happy to have the filmmakers coming to town.

“I think it’s huge for the restaurants and all the hardware stores,” Sommerville said. “And I’ve always thought we have some interesting characters here in Salmo. We’re pretty excited about people getting jobs as extras. We have a bit of an artsy community in town with theatre groups. So I’m sure they’ll be lined up with their headshots.”

Design fun and innovative climate action apps using government data

The Apps for Climate Action Contest challenges Canadian software developers to raise awareness of climate change and inspire action to reduce carbon pollution by using data in new applications for the web and mobile devices.

A leader in climate action, the Government of B.C. created a public catalogue of its best climate and greenhouse gas emission data.

 

Step 1:	Read the Contest Rules and FAQs (Updated June 18, 2010), then Register
Step 2:	Check out the Climate Change Data Catalogue to see the data your App can use
Step 3:	Build your App and access webinars for development support
Step 4:	Submit your App (note the new Aug. 8 deadline) and show off your skills in the Apps Gallery

http://apps4climateaction.gov.bc.ca/

Tech Village AGM

Thursday, June 10

3 PM Flying Steamshovel 

Rossland BC

All TechVillage members, as well as intrerested community members, are welcome.Contact Jason Taylor, TV Board chair, jtaylor@selkirk.ca for more info.

Music site scores

Jingle Punks looks to repeat U.S. success in Canada

Toby Saltzman, Financial Post  Published: Monday, April 12, 2010

Jared Gutstadt, left, and CTO Dan Demole, co-founders of Jingle Punks, riding high on some big U.S. awards, are testing the market for their music-licensing site in Canada

When South by Southwest (SWXW) wound up in Austin, Tex., in March, Jingle Punks took home the coveted Pepsi Co & Soundtcrl Award for "the premium music licensing company for traditional and innovative properties."

Following on the heels of winning the Soundctrl Award for "outstanding achievement in music and technology," such recognition asserted the viability of the young company that revolutionized the way film, TV and marketing production companies access music, from classical to indie pop.

To hear Jingle Punks' cofounders Jared Gutstadt, the 32-year-old chief executive, and Dan Demole, the 30-year-old chief technical officer, describe how their concept sprouted from frustration with existing technology to help them find suitable music is to sense the exuberance that underscores their creativity and marketing gumption.

Mr. Gutstadt and Mr. Demole met at a Brooklyn concert in August 2008. They soon discovered their shared passions for music and technology. Mr. Gutstadt said he was "bored with available music selections based on old hype," wished to "make life easier for editors who use music" and "needed a tool that specifically caters to the production community." Mr. Demole said he would love to create it. Their partnership began the next day.

Both had gravitated to New York to launch their careers. Mr. Gutstadt, a Torontonian with a master's degree in interactive telecommunications, was editing TV shows, films and music for Viacom, while trying to make it as a rock star by night. Mr. Demole, a Floridian with a computer sciences degree, had created cutting-edge video games for several companies, as well as national relational databases for banks and military contractors.

When they met, Mr. Demole was developing a profile as a fashion photographer with clients including Lacoste and DKNY.

It was Mr. Gutstadt who conceptualized what they built into the Jingle Player. "The user experience evolved organically after we met with people inside the industry to learn what they wanted. It had to be fluid, seamless, simple and effective," Mr. Demole said.

Timing was crucial as they worked on a shoestring budget, using music from indie musicians. "We gave ourselves four months to succeed or return to day jobs," Mr. Gutstadt said. "Others have spent from $1-million to $20-million trying to produce this type of product. Our set-up cost was US$40,000. That covered our sweat equity; legal fees to develop policies and artists' contracts; and freelancers to help us analyze music according to our 'rule book.'

"Being able to describe music using non-musical terms, or names of popular TV shows, famous film directors or cultural references, takes the guesswork out of music supervision," he said about how the Jingle Player works.

"For example: A film editor needing light, acoustic music that evokes a cafe scene can type in Starbucks. To get music appropriate for a scene of a long walk on the beach, he can type in 'long walk on the beach.' "

In December 2008, Mr. Demole and Mr. Gutstadt took their technology to Mr. Gutstadt's former editing clients -- MTV, VH1, Comedy Central, History Channel and Food Network -- hoping to bring them on as clients. "They liked our new technology, plus they saw it a bridge between their technology departments and indie musicians who had let us use their music in this trial period," Mr. Gutstadt said.

Jingle Punks' success was like a rolling stone amassing moss: Secondyear earnings were six times

the first and new clients included AE, History Channel,

film production companies, ad agencies, and "just about every American network."

"We initially tried to break into the U.S. and Canadian markets simultaneously, but because Canada is a smaller music production community, it was easier to start in the U.S.... We are in a trial

phase with CTV, MTV Canada and Much Music," Mr.

Gutstadt said. Jingle Punks was also gaining a reputation as a savvy aggregator of indie music for

production use or, as Mr. Gutstadt said: "A hybrid between a pop music library

of the best indie music and music supervisions.

"Wecreatedtechnology to aggregate fresh music

content into a central database and became the voice of unheard, unsigned composers, musicians and bands. They could send their music cold to agents or producers hoping it gets noticed, or send it to us. We would expose it for placement in movies, TV shows, commercials and video games."

The way it works is artists upload music to jinglepunks.com,where clients can download it. Ron Cohen, producer of MTV's 16 and Pregnant, expressed relief he "no longer must choose from middling to mediocre music or recycle tracks heard everywhere." He said he uses a good selection from Jingle Punks on every show and the search engine helps him find music that stands out. "It seems ubiquitous. Each show I walk into now references Jingle Punks," he said.

The History Channel team also searches Jingle Punks for the perfect score, or collaborates with Mr. Gutstadt to tailor cover tunes by making "familiar music sound new," said Krista Liney, creative director of marketing for HC, citing its show Madhouse as an example. "They contemporized a Johnny Cash piece, picked up the tempo to fit the show. For a Creedence Clearwater Revival retro scene, Jared brought in a Southern gospel choir. When music complements the show, the message sticks in someone's head. That's beautiful, especially when you are marketing it."

The recent recession wasn't a setback for Jingle Punks, the co-founders said, rather cutbacks and layoffs in the entertainment industry allowed it to expand staff to 12. However, they credit two smart executive recruits for revving up success from the start: Ethan Goldman networks and recruits bands, musicians and composers for the Jingle Army; and music manager Anthony Martini forges business partnerships, creates awareness of the Jingle Punks brand among industry gatekeepers, and facilitates public appearances, such as its recent mentoring seminar at SXSW, and upcoming speaking engagements at this month's ASCAP Music Expo in Los Angeles, and the June Billboard Music & Advertising Conference in New York.

It also uses grassroots marketing, with Mr. Gutstadt regularly travelling between New York and Los Angeles to sell the player.

And then there is Jingle Guy, pictured, the huge blue mascot. His mission -- besides spreading good vibes and creating a brand image at SXSW -- is to rid the world of bad production music.

Fresh off their win at SXSW and landing their first film trailer for the new Jessica Alba film, Invisible Sign of My Own, the pair agree: "It's been an amazing run."

Read more: http://www.financialpost.com/small-business/story.html?id=2790751#ixzz0kwi3kcO6

 

Matt Hartley, Financial Post  Published: Monday, April 05, 2010

 

 Among the ardent Canadian Apple Inc. fans to make the trek south of the border over the weekend to be among the first to buy an iPad was Ken Seto.

For many Mac enthusiasts, it was a chance to lay hands on the Cupertino, Calif.-based computer company's latest offerings before anyone else.

But for Mr. Seto - co-founder of Toronto's Endloop Studios - it was a chance to finally see his company's iPad application, iMockups, at work on the device for which it was programmed.

When Apple launched the App Store in the summer of 2008, the online marketplace for games and other software applications designed to run on the iPhone helped give rise to a new industry of small software firms dedicated to building apps for smartphones.

For developers, who receive 70% of the revenue from the sale of their applications, the iPhone, coupled with the App Store, provided access to millions of potential customers at a minimal cost while offering the chance of becoming an overnight sensation in the technology industry with one killer app.

With the arrival of the iPad, many Canadian developers are already scrambling to make their mark on Apple's latest gadget.

Only this time, the potential revenue windfall could be even bigger.

 

Endloop's iMockups application was one of a select number of iPad-specific applications available to U.S. customers through the App Store when the device was launched on Saturday.

The app, which allows developers and creative designers to quickly build prototypes of new iPhone, iPad and Web applications, has already won rave reviews from sites such as The Huffington Post and leading tech blogs including Mashable.

"iMockups is well-positioned for launch because I think a lot of the people who are buying the iPad at launch are creative professionals like designers and developers in the startup community," said Mr. Seto, who co-founded Endloop with his brother Gary in 2004, and who lined up in Buffalo on the weekend for his very own 32-gig iPad.

Although U.S. gadget reviewers have characterized the iPad as a device better suited to watching movies and reading ebooks rather than writing emails or entering data, Mr. Seto believes the iPad has great potential for the creative and Web communities.

"We built iMockups for ourselves as much as anyone else," he said. "We believe in the productivity potential of the iPad whereas everybody else is focused on the media consumption."

While most of the apps available for the iPhone and iPod Touch are free, some developers found success with paid applications. However, with the exception of video games, most developers charged only a few dollars for their software.

But because the iPad's screen is larger than that of an iPhone or an iPod Touch, and the device feels more like a computer than a purely mobile device, there are some in the developer community who believe prices for iPad software will trend slightly higher than traditional App Store price levels.

"You can potentially charge a lot more," said Kunal Gupta, chief executive of Toronto's Polar Mobile, a mobile app firm which has designed iPhone and BlackBerry software for groups such as Rogers Sportsnet, Sports Illustrated and the Toronto Maple Leafs.

"The fact that the user is paying US$500-plus for the piece of hardware, plus potentially a data plan means it's hitting a more affluent user."

However, it's not simply that users may be willing to pay more for applications, advertisers are also looking to the iPad as a way of helping boost revenues from digital advertising.

Because of the device's larger screen, marketers are hoping to take advantage of the expanded real estate to serve up more dynamic and eye-catching ads than were previously possible on a smartphone.

As well, because the iPad doesn't allow users to run more than one application at any given time - a feature that has received some criticism from the tech community - marketers have the opportunity to ensure their ads are seen.

"Online ad-engagement click-throughs are so low because people are multi-tasking and it's really easy for them to not pay attention to the ads," Mr. Gupta said. "On the iPad, you've kind of got the user cornered from an advertiser perspective. You mix that with the rich media experience, you can now encourage the user to interact with your ad, because they don't have too many other options."

Canada’s Digital Compass asks Canadians to help define our role in the future of digital transformation: PwC

 

March 23, 2010 — All signs point to a digital transformation in the way we do business, our lifestyles and the global economy. As Canada tries to find its footing in the digital industry, today PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC) has launched Canada’s Digital Compass—a ‘crowdsourcing’ competition that will ask Canadians to help define the nation’s role in the future digital economy.

Canada’s Digital Compass will draw a community of Canadians who are passionate about digital transformation to submit and vote on ideas that could help position Canada to lead the digital economy. Weekly competitions will take place on five topic areas and winners from each competition will participate in a final showdown on May 4, 2010 where the top three ideas will be chosen. The three winners will be awarded tickets to the Canada 3.0 conference at the University of Waterloo on May 10-11, 2010, where their submissions could be presented to attendees.

“The best ideas are developed by collaborating with others and Canada’s Digital Compass is a crowdsourcing initiative which is built on this principle,” says Tracey Riley, partner and national leader of the Technology, Information, Communication and Entertainment (TICE) practice of PwC. “Canada is home to some of the brightest minds in the digital space and this program will allow a community of digital enthusiasts to contribute, critique and build upon ideas that will help Canada lead in the digital realm.”

In addition to community involvement, a panel of digital experts will also weigh in on the submissions and will assist in selecting the top three winners. Their decisions will be based on the ideas with the most community votes and how well each submission aligns with the three measures of success – 1) economic potential, 2) fits Canada’s capabilities and 3) reflects Canada's values. The panel of judges includes:

• Mike Kirkup, Director of Developer Relations, Research In Motion (RIM)
• Jacob Glick, Policy Counsel, Google
• Barbara Bailie, Director of Interactive, Astral Television Networks
• Olivier Vincent, President and CEO, Canpages
• Jerry Brown, Associate Partner, Consulting and Deals, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP

 

“The panel is comprised of experts from a wide range of industry backgrounds and will play an important part in the campaign,” says Riley. “Along with feedback from the community, the panelists will inject valuable insights on the submissions based on their expertise.”

Weekly competitions and subjects:

• Technology – March 16 – 29, 2010
• Education – March 30 – April 5, 2010
• Media Production – April 6 – 12, 2010
• Connectivity – April 13 – 19, 2010
• Policy Development – April 20 – 26, 2010

 

For more information, please visit: www.pwc.com/ca/compass.

About PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP

PricewaterhouseCoopers (www.pwc.com) provides industry-focused assurance, tax and advisory services to build public trust and enhance value for its clients and their stakeholders. More than 155,000 people in 153 countries across our network share their thinking, experience and solutions to develop fresh perspectives and practical advice. In Canada, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (www.pwc.com/ca) and its related entities have more than 5,200 partners and staff in offices across the country.

“PricewaterhouseCoopers” refers to PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, an Ontario limited liability partnership, or, as the context requires, the PricewaterhouseCoopers global network or other member firms of the network, each of which is a separate and independent legal entity.

 

Website Design and Development Services Introduction

The Transportation Investment Corporation (TI Corp) is seeking Proposals from qualified Proponents to provide website design and development services for the Port Mann/Highway 1 (PMH1) Improvement Project. The new website will require a content management system (CMS) that can accommodate a more interactive, multi-media website, including social media/web 2.0 technologies, flash, motion graphics, video and RSS feeds.
The CMS tool will use templates that can be updated by staff, and the ability to add new channels as required. The redesign of the website will include rebranding to reflect TI Corp‟s visual identity standards, and updates to improve the audience-based navigation to provide a more intuitive site experience for visitors.
The scope of work will also include the development of a customer relations management (CRM) system, including data base management for collecting and storing personal contact information with all required security mandated under the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FOIPPA). This CRM tool will allow people to sign up for information on specific areas of the project, tailored to their interest, and will provide TI Corp staff with customer management and interaction tracking and reporting through a ticketing system. As well, TI Corp staff will require the ability to easily email all or selected recipients from within the database system.
The website is being developed in four phases; Phase 1 is complete, and this Request for Proposals (RFP) relates directly to Phase 2 and 3 for the web development, with Phase 4 included as an optional future service, at TI Corp‟s sole discretion.

 

Kim Lang Procurements and Contracts Transportation Investment Corporation Suite 1420 - 1111 West Georgia Street Vancouver, British Columbia V6E 4M3 Phone:  Fax:  Email: klang@ticorp.ca Final           Solicitation Number: 10-002 Amendment #1 Original Publish Date: 2010/02/11 Publish Date: 2010/02/19 Close Date & Time: 2010/03/04 11:00     Time Zone: Pacific Time       Approx. Time Left:     All dates are yyyy/mm/dd

Summary Details: February 19,2010 Question and Answer Series #1 has been added. The Transportation Investment Corporation (TI Corp) is seeking Proposals from qualified Proponents to provide website design and development services for the Port Mann/Highway 1 (PMH1) Improvement Project. The new website will require a content management system (CMS) that can accommodate a more interactive, multi-media website, including social media/web 2.0 technologies, flash, motion graphics, video and RSS feeds.

 

Tech Village Connect Event: Feb 11th, 2010

register at www.kast.com 

Got a great website, terrific digital media, a creative idea, or an
innovative product or service?
Want to boost revenues or build a business around it?
Or curious how technology can monetize your business?

Tech Village and the Kootenay Association for Science & Technology (KAST) are bringing industry Guru Rochelle Grayson to the Kootenays!

Join us to learn about news trends and tips to ensure you are making money from your product.
This event will be designed to support technology and innovation companies in the monetization of software/applications as well as a presentation on turning new trends into opportunities. The event keynote Rochelle Grayson will be presenting on proven methods to monetize innovations – in short how to ensure companies make money on their products in today’s market.

 

Event details:
Location: The New Grand Hotel, Nelson BC 
When: Feb.11, 2010 11:30 a.m. – 6:30 p.m.

Cost to attendee: $20 includes speakers, workshops, lunch, appetizers , cash bar and networking

 

Schedule:

11:30 a.m. - 12:15 p.m.		Registration and lunch
12:15-12:25 p.m.		Opening remarks
12:30 - 1:00 p.m.		Review of Digi BC and New Media BC
1:00  -2:30 p.m.		Session: "Show me the money" a presentation and workshop on monetization of products using new technology and digital media
2:30 -3:15 p.m.		Workshop on case studies from attendees and action plan development arounf product monetization.
3:15 -3:30 p.m.		Break
3:30 -4:30 p.m.		Rik Logtenberg presents: Using social media as a tool to improve marketing and sales.
4:30 -6:30 p.m.		Networking, appetizers and cash bar. Live music by Selkirk Music students ensemble.

For more info contact the KAST office at info@kast.com or 250-483-5052
Click "Add to Cart" below to register

PRESENTERS

About Rochelle: www.rochelle.ca

 I hold an MBA in Finance and Business Strategy from the University of Chicago, as well as Master Certifications in Product Development Management and Business Facilitation. My career has taken me from New York to Chicago to Silicon Valley and most recently to Vancouver, Canada. I have 18 years experience evaluating the strategic, financial, and marketing potential of projects and organizations, and I’ve led and launched several leading-edge initiatives. I like to make sure my projects are lean, mean, moneymaking machines! All this can be summed up in one famous statement by one infamous movie star: Show me the money!
** Rochelle is also acting chair of New Media BC and DigiBC

About Rik www.yellowseed.com

In 1995 Rik started one of Canada's first web design companies. 14 years later he's the owner of Yellowseed, a Nelson based  web development and consulting company, with 10 employees and offices in Canada and India. Over the years, Rik was cofounder of MyTravelGuide.com, an Internet travel portal acquired by Priceline.com and Gyos.ca, an online classified system for small cities and towns. Rik specializes in social media and web marketing. He teaches entrepreneurs how to harness the Internet to grow their business. When Rik's not working or rock climbing he's writing about Internet technology, online business, and social media for his blog at yellowseed.com.

 

Register at www.kast.com

 

Tech Village Connect Event

Feb 11, Grand Hotel, Nelson BC

 

Join Tech Village for our latest learning and networking event Feb 11.  More details will be posted soon

On December 1, 2009 the Digital Media and Wireless Association of BC, DigiBC, was officially incorporated and came legally into existence. This follows the previously announced merger of WINBC and New Media BC on October 20, 2009 at an Extraordinary General Meeting of the two memberships where a vote was unanimously passed to create the new entity, DigiBC.

The board of DigiBC will initially have 14 directors, seven from the digital media sector and seven from the wireless sector.

The 14 initial directors appointed to the DigiBC board are as follows:

Chris Landon, VP, Network Services, Telus
Darshan Kaler, Director, Olympic Services & VCEC Operations, Bell Canada
Derek Spratt, CEO, Mobidia
Howard Donaldson, VP, Studio Operations, Disney Interactive
Jim Mutter, Partner, Benson Salloum Watts LLP
Jules Meunier, former President, Wireless Networks, Nortel
Olivier Vincent, President & CEO, Canpages
Par Singh, President, Intellectual Ventures Canada
Paul Lee, Co-founder and General Partner, Vanedge Capital
Pauline Moller, General Manager, Electronic Arts Canada
Rick Griffiths, Partner, Pricewaterhouse Coopers
Robert Forget, Director of Product Management, Vecima Networks
Sandy Fleischer, VP & General Manager, Fjord Interactive Cossette Communications
Warren Franklin, CEO, Rainmaker Entertainment

It is expected that DigiBC will attract other high caliber executives in the weeks to come. Seven special interest groups (SIGs) are also planned for DigiBC covering areas of mobile and wireless, video games, animation and visual effects, Web 2.0 and social media, e-learning, human resources and talent, and capital. Leaders of the industry from Greater Vancouver, Vancouver Island and BC Interior will make sure that the province is well represented in the board.

DigiBC will represent more than 22,000 people in 1,300 companies that generate combined annual revenues of more than $3 billion making it one of the largest industry associations of its kind in BC and Canada.

Michael Bidu, Executive Director of WINBC, said of the appointment of the first directors, "I am very proud of the board we managed to attract for DigiBC moving forward. These directors are the captains of the industry and they will set the strategic direction for our digital media and wireless industry to become a power house in Canada and around the world. The creation of the new organization - just before the 2010 Olympic Games - couldn't have happened at a better time. Stay tuned for more announcements in the weeks to come."

Warren Franklin, Chair of New Media BC, said of the incorporation of DigiBC and the appointment of the new board "The incorporation of DigiBC as a non-profit society is another milestone in a relatively short and very busy time for our industry. The creation of a very balanced board shows our commitment to treat both WINBC and New Media BC as equals and focus on the tremendous growth opportunities due to the fast-paced changes in consumers' demand for content anytime, anywhere and the convergence between content and mobile in Canada and globally for the benefit of DigiBC members."

WINBC and New Media BC have already been working closely on a number of initiatives, most significantly, the 2010 BC Digital Media & Wireless Showcase project, which will have its soft launch today, December 15 under the brand name VX 2010 (Vancouver Experience 2010). Business to business trade and investment opportunities associated with the VX program will be a huge focus for DigiBC in the days leading up to the opening of the Olympic Winter Games in February 2010.

DigiBC is a new organization formed by the merger of WINBC and New Media BC.  DigiBC is looking for an events director.

 

Position:	Events Director (DigiBC)
Company:	DigiBC - The Digital Media and Wireless Association of BC
Date Posted:	November 20, 2009
City:	Vancouver, BC

 

Job Description:

Events Director for 2010 BC digital media and wireless initiative and beyond   DigiBC - The Digital Media and Wireless Association of BC is the new industry association created by the merger between WINBC and New Media BC.   Imagine being in charge of events for one of the largest and most exciting industry associations in BC. 1,000 digital media and mobile companies in BC are waiting to hear from you about the events you will create and manage before, during and after the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games. They also want to hear how you will enhance their grass roots Mobile Monday Vancouver events and stage their next major, international, interactive conference in Vancouver.   Your role is to create experiences that thousands of entrepreneurs, creative directors, world class executives, engineers, software and mobile apps developers, students, and investors from BC and around the world will enjoy so much they will tell others about it. You will be responsible for developing the annual strategy in collaboration with the President of DigiBC and a hand-picked creative team. You will create events that will ultimately turn into new business opportunities and profitable relationships.   The Events Director will create strategies for optimizing each event, and to stage key events that directly support the goal of building relationships within BC's digital media and wireless industry for our members, key stakeholders, partners and media. Another goal is to build revenue revenues for the association. Events include, but are not limited to, annual summits, community events, conferences, sponsorships, tradeshows and special events.   If you are interested, please submit your resume to jobs@winbc.org (and mention "Events Director DigiBC" in the subject line) by November 30.   Key areas of responsibility: Collaborate with executives, other senior leaders and the board to develop a holistic approach to DigiBC events that supports DigiBC's sales and marketing objectives. Plan and execute key events from beginning to end, including product development, pricing, planning, optimization, communications, marketing and execution. Strengthen key industry and trade relationships, and develop and maintain critical relationships with producers and strategic partners. Oversee the development and execution of the annual event plan. Negotiate Sponsorship Packages.   Responsible for Events Profit & Loss.   SKILLS: - Excellent strategic planning and organizational skills - Exceptional communication skills - Strengths in strategic business/relationship development and maintenance - Extensive network and industry relationships - Ability to set and meet deadlines - Ability to work within a small organization to communicate plans to sales, marketing and other parts of the organization from the executive level down - Ability to detail all logistics of an event from venue selection, room set-up, audio visual, food and beverage, and requirements for other team input - Ability to handle a variety of events ranging from client summits, tradeshows, internal events and negotiate contracts and sponsorship with vendors, associations and suppliers - Track deadlines and deliverables with MS Excel and other internal tools - Ability to manage logistics ranging from employee travel, room blocks and arrival/departure list, to web registration creation and management to venue site searches and recommendations to internal customers to compiling of data (Evaluations / post-conference deliverables) - Reporting and budget management of all expenses and reconciliation of final bills and credit card charges - Collaborative team approach to planning and execution   QUALIFICATIONS:   - 5+ years event planning experience - 5+ years within the Events and Conferences Industry - Vendor management experience - Team player and employee management experience - Ability to work under pressure, with tight deadlines and manage a heavy workload - Exceptional customer service and creativity skills - Exceptional communications and interpersonal skills written and verbal - Ability to build and maintain strong relationships - Thorough knowledge of the meetings and conventions industry - Strong negotiation skills - Excellent venue knowledge and through understanding of event locations, logistics and managing an event from conception to completion   - University or college diploma in Entrepreneurship, Professional Sales, Tourism Management (Meetings and Conventions) or equivalent considered a bonus - Computer skills to include Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Project Management, and CRM   REQUIREMENTS: - Entrepreneurial, upbeat and energetic - Self-motivated, with the ability to work independently with minimal supervision - Team player with sales mentality, and attention to details - Strong conceptual skills (ability to see the big picture) with solid business judgment - Able to handle multiple projects simultaneously with good project management skills   - 20% - 30% travel - Remuneration based on experience and track record   CONTACT:  -   Please send your resume to jobs@winbc.org mentioning in the subject line: "Events Director DigiBC" by no later than Monday, November 30, 2009.