Tag: technology

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Student Life

Like online dating but for food

Concordia alumna launches free restaurant matchup app, Feed Me

Appealing or not? The decision can be made at the simple glance of a perfectly grilled avocado toast surrounded with fries. A swipe left and the dish disappears, and now a delectable sushi platter tempts you for lunch.

Searching for a nearby restaurant that suits your cravings and budget has just gotten easier and, frankly, more fun with Concordia alumna Amie Watson’s new app, Feed Me. The concept is similar to dating apps like Tinder. Rather than swipe left for a date, though, let Feed Me introduce you to a wide selection of restaurants, bars and cafés based on your indicated preferences.

“You open the app, and you will have more than 30 options in a four-block radius, but you can also plan for the weekend, look for a nice French restaurant,” Watson said about the app’s benefits. “[Feed Me] helped me discover restaurants in places I already lived.”

Watson is a freelance journalist based in Montreal who has contributed to outlets such as the Montreal Gazette, National Post, MaTV and Global TV. She graduated from Concordia University with a graduate degree in journalism in 2015. Originally from St-John’s, N.L., Watson moved to Toronto to earn her undergraduate degree in classical percussions at the University of Toronto. It was also in Toronto that she developed a passion for world cuisines while reading food reviews by Steven Davey—a food critic and musician in the city’s Queen West scene—in Now Magazine. “I hadn’t had much money, but once a week I would take myself out for lunch at one of his top cheap-eat places,” Watson said.

Amie Watson scrolls through some photos of nearby restaurants on the Feed Me app. Photos by Elisa Barbier

After a while, she decided to learn the recipes she was enjoying so much and began to appreciate the traditions and history behind them. When Watson moved to Montreal, she was exposed to new types of cuisines that were not as predominant in Toronto. “Tunisian, French Caribbean, Ghanaian [cuisines]—I was able to find and cook new recipes,” she said.

On her path to become Montreal’s Steven Davey, Watson worked as the food editor at Midnight Poutine—a local food, indie music, fashion and arts blog—for several years, and eventually ended up doing work for their weekend podcast. “It was then that I realized I was way more into freelance food writing than into my classical percussion master’s,” she said.

In 2011, Watson launched her blog, multiculturiosity.com, to write restaurant and meal reviews and share healthy recipes. As she delved further into the food writing world, she developed an intolerance to lactose and gluten. Nonetheless, this did not prevent her from keeping at her passion. “I have recipes full of bread on [my blog],” she said as she discussed her love of baked goods.

Three years later, Watson participated in a Yelp Hackathon—a two-day event during which teams have to come up with a useful, funny or cool project that uses Yelp interface. This is where the Feed Me app was conceptualized.

“I wanted to write about all these restaurants, and I wanted somewhere to put it,” she said. The Yelp Hackathon provided participating teams access to its accumulated data about locations, trends and reviews, and Watson’s team came up with a project that improves existing restaurant apps.

When conceptualizing the app, Watson said it was important for her to have all the information—the reviews, the photos, the addresses—all in one place with an easy and simple interface, similar to Tinder. “When I first used Tinder, I thought it was fun. You get sucked in easily, kind of like a game,” she said.

Feed Me gathers reviews from restaurants in over 30 countries thanks to Yelp’s interface. Reviews and pictures of the restaurants are not selected by the establishments themselves but rather by the clients who have posted their own reviews on Yelp. “It is awesome because when you are travelling you can use it wherever you go,” Watson said. Montrealers have the added benefit of Watson’s own local reviews appearing on the app.

Some of Feed Me’s interesting features are the categories that a user can choose from to narrow down their search—everything from world cuisine, TGIF and vegetarian, to business dinners, sweet treats and even safe break-up venues. (A “safe break-up venue,” for example, includes at least one of the following elements: a back door, an affordable menu if one needs to pay for themselves or a not-so fancy ambiance.)

Watson decided the project was worth pursuing since it was a finalist at the hackathon, and she funded it herself. “I had money I could have responsibly put aside or put it into a passion project, so I put it into the passion project,” she said.

However, after a failed first attempt, Watson was told by user experience specialists that she had to redevelop the app. “I needed a new team, more money and strong business plans to get the loans I assumed I would need,” she said.

With the help of Yes Montreal—a Quebec-based organization that helps people find jobs and start or grow their business—she created a business plan and was able to get loans from Futurpreneur and Canada’s Business Development Bank.

Due to many obstacles, it took four years for Feed Me to go from being a concept to a final product, available in the Apple and Android app stores since August. Watson said she felt that Feed Me was what she needed to create, that no obstacles would make her back down. “There are moments when you are frustrated, irritated and you don’t think about it for a day,” she said. “[But then the passion for it] just creeps back into your mind.”

According to Watson, the app reached 12,000 downloads in its first three weeks and received positive feedback. Its success comes from being financially responsible, she said. “I am not just throwing money at this and crossing my fingers,” she explained, adding that mentors, financial guidance and business plans, along with the mindset of a responsible business owner, are all key to becoming successful.

Feed Me has many plans going forward, including offering discounts for restaurants and creating partnerships with food festivals. Currently, it offers a monthly give-away of $50. Users who share the app with their friends are automatically be entered in the draw when their friend downloads the app from the reference link.

“I want Feed Me to be the go-to restaurant search app, for it to be number one in the world, but in Canada first,” Watson said.

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Student Life

Tech your discrimination elsewhere

From left to right: Behrmann, Palluet, Gendron, Godoy, Testaouni. Photo by Elisa Barbier

Queer Tech MTL hosts a panel on identifying as LGBTQ+ within tech industries

Getting together. Networking. Breaking free from isolation.

This is what Queer Tech MTL is all about. It’s a group that invites people who self-identify as part of the tech and LGBTQ+ communities to gather at monthly events.

The meetings, which started in October 2016, explore elements of the workplace for members of the LGBTQ+ community. They also offer many networking opportunities.

Attendees arrive for the panel. Photo by Elisa Barbier

On Jan. 18, the group gathered at the Keatext office in the Mile-End. Keatext is a text analytics app that helps businesses quickly review customer feedback.

At the meeting, attendees were welcomed with snacks and beverages to hear about “creating the authentic self at work.” Luc Plamondon, who has worked at Keatext for four years now, offered up the space to Queer Tech MTL.

Queer Tech MTL was launched in September 2015 by Naoufel Testaouni, who was soon joined by Jason Behrmann. Testaouni has been working for tech companies on and off over the last five years, and is now a customer experience manager for the data services company, Local Logic. Behrmann completed a PhD at McGill, focusing his research on assessing the social and ethical implications of technologies in healthcare for the LGBTQ+ population. He now works as a communication corporate strategist for FinTech.

Testaouni said the idea for Queer Tech MTL came when he found himself looking for the LGBTQ+ community within tech corporations, but was unable to find anyone. Queer Tech MTL is made up of 400 members who attend events on and off.

“We encourage startups to come, to learn how to promote diversity in their companies,” said Testaouni.

The meeting featured a panel composed of Marie Isabelle Gendron from Pratt and Whitney Canada, Carlos A. Godoy L. from TD Bank and Elodie Palluet from Keyrus Canada. Before starting, Behrmann presented the crowd with statistics on the LGBTQ+ community within the tech world.

“Nearly half of transsexuals do not get promoted, hired or get fired,” said Behrmann. “And, 63 per cent of graduate students go back into the closet when they get a job.”

The panelists discussed their experiences with coming out at work. Gendron said Oct. 7, 2014 was “like a day of resurgence” for her. That was the day she came out as transsexual at her job.

When reminiscing about her experience, she said she remembers it was a shock for her boss, but she was accepting of her nevertheless. It was a big challenge, Gendron said. “Being transsexual is not a choice, but coming out is the choice to live,” she said.

Godoy came out while working for TD Bank. He said TD bank is known for their support of LGBTQ+ clients and employees. “I have it super easy—I am a white French-Canadian, born in Montreal. I am a man mostly interested in men, and I am a banker,” said Godoy. However, he said he has, nonetheless, lived through instances of discrimination in the workplace. He recalled once being called “the drag queen” by one of his former employers.

Testaouni introducing the panelists. Photo by Elisa Barbier

Palluet said she had a more complicated coming-out experience. She has had to resign from two positions because of her boss’ behaviour. Now, however, Palluet said she is at a job where she does not experience discrimination.

The panelists described the tech environment in Montreal as “very friendly” and “young.” However, Katherine Chennel, an aerospace engineer who attended the meeting but is not a member of Queer Tech MTL, told The Concordian she experienced something very different when she came out while working at Bombardier. She said she was coincidentally offered a retirement package soon after coming out as transsexual.

The panelists also discussed measures taken by their corporations to further integrate the LGBTQ+ community in the workplace. Gendron said she has seen Pratt and Whitney take measures to help all employees of the community feel safe, and she has received a lot of support. The company has psychologists to educate people in the workplace and implement anti-discrimination policies.

“I want my employees to be happy at work,” said Godoy, quoting William Edmund Clark, the executive chief of TD. Godoy added that TD sent a controversial and revolutionary memo in the early 90s to all its employees. The memo read, “We know that there are gays and lesbians. Some of you may have a same-sex partner, and we want you to know that your partner is entitled to the same things as another employee’s wife or husband.”

Attendees during the panel. Photo by Elisa Barbier.

Gendron talked about Fondation Émergence, an initiative to educate the public on the LGBTQ+ community and the problems they still face today. The initiative will be presenting a documentary showcasing the LGBTQ+ community within three different companies in two months. Palluet added exposing the problems the community still faces is an important part of the education process.

Godoy, Palluet and Gendron concluded by saying that listening to oneself and being one’s authentic self are the keys to living a happy life.

The next Queer Tech MTL event will be held on Feb.16 at 5605 Ave. de Gaspé, second floor.

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Student Life

Businesses love your mean reviews

Speaker Frank T. Piller (right). Photo by Alex Hutchins

JMSB hosted a talk on social media’s role for innovation in businesses

Concordia’s Luc Beauregard Centre of Excellence in Communications Research organized an event on social media’s role in business innovation on Oct. 4.

Professors, students and businesspeople attended the morning conference to listen to Frank T. Piller, associate dean, professor and chair of Technology & Innovation Management at RWTH Aachen University’s school of business and economics in Germany.

The event, hosted by Concordia’s John Molson School of Business, explored social media as a useful tool to improve the ways companies and individuals innovate.

Piller said that many of “the ideas that we get nowadays come from social media, and this leads to a better discipline for the communications profession.” He explained many big companies are now using innovative strategies to incite consumers to buy their products.  Piller used the drugstore brand Nivea as an example, to explain why their deodorant is successful.

“If you were the product manager of Nivea and wanted to innovate your business, what would you do?” Piller asked.

He said he would advise product managers to visit online forums where people discuss, for example, deodorants and their unwanted effects—such as a yellow stain on a white fabric.  “Agencies then dive-in, and look into these user communities to fix the problem by creating better products,” said Piller. “When it comes to innovations, it’s all about functionality.”  Companies also consider how factors such as the product’s shape or organic ingredients might excite users into buying the product, he said.

Piller added that, as a result, Nivea is one of the cheapest, most successful and popular brands in drugstores around the world, especially in Europe.

Innovation often starts on the periphery of the organization, he said. When companies are creating or improving a product, they look beyond product management—they look at online forums, for example. According to recent studies conducted by the Social Media Examiner, there has been a slight increase in forum participation in recent years.

Photo by Alex Hutchins

Piller said that frustrated customers often provide useful critiques or reviews about products in online forums. Companies just have to visit these websites and take the comments seriously, in order to find ways to improve their product and the consumer’s experience.

According to Piller, there are two main ways to innovate: with the help of frustrated users or dedicated firm activity.

He said there are three ways to profit from lead user inventions.  The online Business Dictionary defines a lead user as a “specific type of user of a product or service that is on the leading edge of significant market trends.”  Therefore, a lead user reflects and finds a way to make something better, before the mainstream has found that way.  They are able to think about how that product or service can work better to reach its full potential.

The first way to profit from a lead user is to search for lead user inventions either online or through contacts.  The second way is to observe users in online communities such as Facebook and Twitter, which is also known as “netnography.” The third way is to provide infrastructure for users to co-create. Co-creating involves developing collaborative skills, learning to engage, selecting the right participants and using creative problem-solving techniques.

“Our emphasis is to absorb the innovation that is out there in the market,” Piller said.

Piller said innovation revolves around customer co-creation and creating an interaction space for lead users, product managers and companies— where they can engage, use creative problem-solving techniques and give feedback.

He said that the ultimate goal is to have a more balanced approach when it comes to innovation—since there is not just one social media platform.

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News

Showcasing student talent

Asking students to explore their ideas on what will change the future

Six Concordia students presented unexpected solutions to everyday problems just before Reading Week at the Garnet Key Society’s Forces of Change event, with the winning student going home with $1,000 to help make his vision of a smartwatch app for people with dementia and their caretakers a reality.

The Garnet Key Society bills itself as a voluntary association promoting a positive image of the university. Henry F. Hall, the principal of Sir George Williams College before it merged with Loyola to form Concordia, considered membership as “the highest honour which may be bestowed upon an undergraduate.”

This year’s winner was software engineering student El-Mehdi Beghdadi who presented his winning idea hoping to provide relief from the daily stresses experienced by dementia patients and their caretakers. “The reason that [caregivers] live with a high level of stress is because they are always in a state of uncertainty,” Beghdadi said.

By integrating GPS tracking with reminders, caregivers would receive a notification should their charges wander outside of a pre-set safe zone radius.

Six per cent of all caregivers are caring for someone suffering from Alzheimer’s or dementia, according to a 2012 Statistics Canada report. Almost half of all Canadians over the age of 15 have been caregivers at some point in their lives.

Beghdadi underscored the importance of one feature—automatic call answering—with a story he heard from a woman last September at the Toronto/London Dementia Hack.

“[A woman] told me that her father has early-stage dementia and that she had to go on a business trip, and she’s the only one in her family who lives in the same city as her father. … When she arrived at her destination, she called him. He would not answer. She tried again, she called on his cell phone. So she did that for many hours, and because her father smokes, she thought maybe he burnt down the house. So she called the police and he was okay, he was just watching T.V.” he said.

Beghdadi’s application would give caregivers some peace of mind, but it requires the patient keep the watch on. The application uses heart rate sensors that are standard in many smartwatches.

A smartwatch’s price tag might intimidate some caregivers—a Samsung smartwatch can cost over $200. But Beghdadi believes it can be a cost-effective option for caregivers, especially compared to the cost of residential care facilities. “People are taking loans just to be able to put their loved ones in those places,” he said.

While Beghdadi sees many potential applications, he said his first focus is getting the application in app stores and receiving feedback from users.

Other students also presented their innovative solutions to a variety of problems, sometimes using business theory and quantum mechanics to tackle problems often taken for granted. One team proposed introducing large-scale insect farming in Africa to alleviate protein-related malnutrition. Other presentations focused on teleportation and synthetic biology. One presenter introduced a new business model to help companies consider social responsibility and sustainability as well as profitability.

A panel of judges evaluated all the presentations on the idea’s originality and importance, and the students’ ability to inspire the judges and field questions.

While the students were the focus of the night, the event was also an important part of the Garnet Key Society’s mandate. Members of the society serve as student ambassadors for the university, and they must organize a community project every year. Previous projects include speaker series, fundraisers for scholarships and tutoring. This year, Forces of Change served as a fundraiser for the society’s endowment fund and brought alumni, faculty and staff together as judges.

District 3, Concordia’s centre for start-ups, gave pitch training sessions to help students perfect and polish their eight-minute presentations.

“We tried to get everybody from different backgrounds at the university together,” said Dave Oram, current president of the society. “We really wanted to engage as many people at Concordia as possible, and get these students’ ideas known by people who can help them make a difference.”

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News

Sci-fi and the future of tech

Literary heavyweight William Gibson weighs in during ConU’s Thinking Out Loud

Close your eyes for a moment and try to imagine a time before recorded music was available: no flipping through iTunes to hear your favourite artist’s new track, no searching on YouTube for the oldie that’s been stuck in your head all day—a time when technology was significantly different than it is today.

William Gibson invited audience members to do just that during Thursday’s session of Concordia’s Thinking Out Loud conversation series. Gibson, an American-Canadian science fiction novelist, joined Concordia communication studies professor Fenwick McKelvey for “Digital Life, Digital Identity — A Conversation About the Internet, Fiction and the Future” moderated by Erin Anderssen of The Globe and Mail.

“One of the most mysterious things about technology is the way in which we lose the previous mode of existence,” said Gibson. As a celebrated speculative fiction novelist, he’s used to imagining new technologies and presenting them in naturalistic prose. In 1982 he coined the term “cyberspace.” His works—ranging from short stories to novels and trilogies—have highly influenced the world of science fiction writing., and he was one of the founders of the cyberpunk genre.

They discussed the ever-changing popularity of technology and how it’s impossible to determine what will become the next big thing. Not only do developers not know exactly what technologies will catch on, but the way in which different groups in society use technology will also differ. Gibson suggested a poor man and a rich man might use technology very differently.

“How do you, from moment to moment, distinguish when are we being active participants and when are we being couch potatoes?” Asked Gibson. “It seems to me that the distinction is blurred in some weird way.”

While the role of technology is not always clear, it can be helpful in particular circumstances. Gibson recounted his experience assisting people across the world via social media during the March 2011 earthquake in Japan. Gibson, among others, was able to tweet links to information Japanese citizens couldn’t connect with since the natural disaster had destroyed certain networks.

Gibson predicts our current separation between self-identity and digital personas will fade for people as we move into the future. “I think they’ll find the way in which we made that distinction very, very peculiar and they’ll try very hard to understand it,” he said. “We experience now what, in the future, will be regarded as a remarkable degree of isolation.”

As a science fiction writer, Gibson is an expert in creating visions for the future. “There are bits and pieces of possible futures walking all around here, but we won’t necessarily notice them,” he said. He looks for the ones that “have legs,” seeking to balance contemporary perceptions of miraculous new technology “in a way that allows the reader the illusion of experiencing the character’s complete boredom with that technology.”

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Student Life

Is university obsolete? A discussion with McGill’s professor Anthony Masi

The transition to digital information keeps challenging universities to stay relevant. Graphic by Jennifer Kwan

Information technology and the progressive evolution of the digital age is all around us. Every day we consume thousands of lines of text dedicated to keeping us up-to-date on topics that are meaningful to us.

The transition to digital information keeps challenging universities to stay relevant. Graphic by Jennifer Kwan

Those who have had the privilege of being born amidst this technology have the advantage of better understanding and manipulating it.

At the academic standpoint however, this creates a paradigm shift. Students not only understand, but expect technology to match their expectations with immediate access to data, minimal time spent in “meat space,” and a growing trend for students signing up for courses available online.

These topics are serious concerns for universities like Concordia and McGill, and are precisely what Anthony Masi, professor and provost at McGill, addressed in his conference this Thursday, titled “Are Universities Obsolete?”

Like most sociology papers, the answer to that question would be a resounding “no,” but the details of Masi’s presentation gave way to some in depth review of the struggles universities now face with the growing popularity of MOOC’s (Massive Open Online Courses) like Coursera and Udacity.

These free, open-ended and high quality courses are produced and assessed by university professors, assembled with advanced artificial intelligence that recognize where students make mistakes in their self-assessments, and offer them a different explanation for the material, just like an in-class teacher would.

This format of classes proves to be a significant challenge for universities that are still operating under a fundamentally flawed system that has had difficulties adapting with this rise in information technology.

Campuses are limited by antiquated funding opportunities, poorly organized campus spaces, and hardware that is often grossly outdated, or simply poorly supported. A prime example of this would be the growing rise in usage of the library buildings; students are visiting libraries more and more, but leaving with books far less often.

The transition to digital information has left libraries with stacks of books that are collecting dust, whilst students peruse the latest editions on their laptops.

“MOOC’s are shaping up to be a game-changer,” said Masi.

Giving students the option of participating in high quality courses without being on campus, and offering these courses completely free of charge are some of the reasons why administrations, boards and professors alike are turning their attention to these learning tools.

Although these cannot currently provide you with the necessary credits to graduate in a program, MOOC’s could fundamentally alter the accessibility and economy of education in the future by offering the very best course, with top of the line experts, and phasing out local institutions in favour of those with a more prestigious budget.

There’s no denying that fundamental changes are coming to the way courses are given in universities. The bottom line is that the students are the ones who will benefit the most from this competition in business models, by offering students better access to education at affordable prices.

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Opinions

You look a little familiar

There is a scene in Steven Spielberg’s 2002 film Minority Report where Tom Cruise’s character, John Anderton, walks into the Gap and is met by interactive personalized video advertisements that talk to him. Thanks to Facebook, this scene might become a common occurrence in the near future.

Regular Facebook users are familiar with the “tag suggestions” feature, which enables automatic picture tagging based on facial recognition to save you the hassle of tagging each picture individually. With the numerous changes Facebook has introduced in a short period of time, including the controversial Timeline and updated photo features, you may not have even realized that this feature has disappeared.

According to a recent article in the New York Times, Facebook removed the feature a few months ago to make the tagging tool more efficient, and the company is unsure of when it will be back up and running. What is certain, however, is that Facebook will no longer be using facial recognition software in Europe after a ruling to ban it unless regulators approve it.

I have to admit, the first time I saw Facebook’s ads match the things I was talking to my friends about online, I was freaked out. But giving companies access to your “face” seems to strike an even more personal note.

The issue at hand deals with a fine line that the social media giant has walked before: its use of personal data. A concern is that the vast amounts of facial information collected in Facebook’s colossal database could be made available to the corporate world.

Last week, Facebook announced it has hit one billion monthly active users. There are over 300 million photos uploaded each day. You can now upload up to 1,000 photos in one album.

Many people get wrapped up in the cool factor and don’t spend time reading the fine print and terms of service. Facebook’s evolution has meant that students who were users in the beginning were only connected to other students in a private network, and have since become openly connected to the rest of the world.

Although you don’t have to pay to be a user, as of last week, a limited number of U.S. residents can now pay for promoted posts. For $7, users can ensure that a post’s visibility is bumped, appearing higher on friends’ news feeds.

Last year, Google’s Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt spoke about the future of the Internet and privacy at the Edinburgh International Television Festival.

“There are many challenges we’re still grappling to address,” he said. “For instance, how do we make the world more open while still respecting privacy?”

It is noted in the Times’ article that Redpepper, an Atlanta-based marketing firm, is currently developing software to identify Facebook users in public, but only after their consent.

This is how the company’s website explains how it works:

“Facial recognition cameras are installed at local businesses. These cameras recognize your face when you pass by, then check you in at the location. Simultaneously, your smartphone notifies you of a customized deal based on your Like history.”

It might just take trial and error to figure out the implications of this technology in our society. What will it mean for police forces, immigration officials and advertisers? What will it mean for identity theft and fraud? Will there be regulatory bodies that “own” your face?

“The main problem with all these technologies is the fact that our Canadian law is based on the supposedly free consent of the people,” said Pierre Trudel, a law professor at the Université de Montréal who studies social media. “Since we rely on consent, it’s very hard to enforce or put limits on the use of facial recognition technologies, or any other devices that might be used in order to collect information between people and their preferences and their buying decisions.”

Trudel suggests that privacy commissioners should focus on regulating the settings within networks like Facebook.

It might be more efficient in order to make sure that these technologies are effectively used only in very limited circumstances,” he said.

Right now, the circumstances appear to be unlimited. Popular Mechanics recently published an article on weird ways people are using facial recognition software. Among them are findyourfacemate.com, an online matchmaking service that uses the software to “identify partners more likely to ignite real passion and compatibility” based on facial features, and Doggelanger, which uses “human to canine comparing software” to match rescued dogs with potential owners that look like them. What impact do you think this technology will have in the future?

Graphic by Jennifer Kwan.

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Opinions

It’s all about the Apple

Graphic by Jennifer Kwan.
Graphic by Jennifer Kwan.

Watch out NYC, Apple products are now taking over the world, one product at a time.

Ever since the rise of the Mac desktops/laptops, iPods and the iPhones in the early 2000s, other electronic corporations have fallen behind in the race for consumers and have little or no chance to catch up.

The only option other corporations have left to do in order to stay in the game is to take Apple’s ideas, modify them to their own style, and paste their own logo on them.

Just look around. You see people open up Mac laptops in class and tune into their iPods on buses, metros and trains. When you pass someone on the street talking on the cell phone, chances are they are holding an iPhone to their ear.

Here’s something to think about: Apple possesses more money than some countries do. Apple has an estimated value of $626 billion U.S. as of September this year (which is more than Microsoft and Google combined). They’ve earned just over $5 million during their first weekend when their newest product, the iPhone 5.

When the iMac computers were first introduced, the products sold almost 800,000 units in their first five months. Later, when the iPod was revealed, it sold close to 100 million units in only six years.

Although the infamous touch screen wasn’t invented by Apple, they were the first to achieve an outstanding human interaction between the electronic device and the customer from its pre-programmed touch gestures.

Since then, many other electronic corporations such as Samsung, HTC, Nokia and LG have tried to re-vamp Apple’s idea with the touch screen. Other corporations now have their own variations, having their apps lined up in the same formation as the iPhone. Also, the sensitivity and the way you can flip from one screen to the next is the nearly the same as an iPhone.

In recent news, there have been many articles written about the lawsuit Apple has filed against Samsung for allegedly copying most of Apple’s products. However, the case is nowhere close to being resolved. ITWorld reported to the International Business Times that after winning a million dollars in damages in August 2012, Apple is demanding another $707 million from Samsung. On top of that, Apple is asking for a ban on the sale of 26 Samsung products.

After the release of the iPad, corporations such as Samsung and Blackberry released their versions of a tablet, mimicking some of the same structures and functions as the iPad. Another lawsuit was launched because Apple felt that the iPad and iPad 2 was infringed on by Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1.

Despite the dispute with the phones, many of the iPods were also copied by other corporations. In early 2004, most MP3 players worked on a shuffle basis, meaning you couldn’t pick the song you wanted. Apple was the first to invent such a useful tool that made it possible to select. It was only later that other companies copied Apple’s idea.

Apple continually comes out with new and improved versions of their products. Some clients believe that these are pointless and over priced, while numerous others think that it’s what keeps Apple so fresh and addictive.

“There’s always something to look forward to,” said Sabrina Marchei, a second-year human resources student at Concordia and an Apple client.

Whether you like it or not, Apple is the clear leader in this particular brand of products and will continue to be so for many years to come, until the next big thing, that is.

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Opinions

Watching it happen through a lens

Graphic by Jennifer Kwan.
Graphic by Jennifer Kwan.

Concerts. If you’re like me, you know the feeling of sheer excitement and euphoria felt at a really good show.

The unbearable heat, the screams that break sound barriers, the vibrating wood floors, and…the constant glow of smartphone screens.

I’ve been going to concerts since I was six. In fact, my first concert as a six -year-old was at the Metropolis.

I can still remember my sister sneaking in our camera in my Lion King purse. She wanted to take a few pictures, and she chose her shots wisely because we were using a Flintstone disposable camera.

With smartphones like the iPhone, HTC, and Samsung Galaxy sporting eight megapixel cameras and full HD video, the possibilities are endless. It also means everyone feels the need to act as paparazzi at concerts. It’s a given. Every concert I have been to in the past two years, be it a small or large venue, smartphones and other popular ‘intelligent devices’ with not so intelligent users are part of the lighting display.

There are people who hold them way up in the air, and if you are plagued with the issue of being a four-foot-tall 19-year-old like myself, then you’re the one watching the concert through 50 different little LCD screens. Charming.

I totally understand the desire to grab a few shots, maybe even a few minutes of video of your favourite song. However, holding up your device throughout the whole show is excessive. Essentially, you are paying for a ticket to watch your favourite artist through a screen when they are literally three feet away from you.

“It can be a little annoying if it is a visual spectacle,” said Hare Patel, a Concordia English & history student. However, he said he believes that if someone bought their ticket, they have the right to do what they please.

What I don’t understand is that most of the time you aren’t even getting a good shot. Face it; your videos are a hot mess on playback because you were flailing all over the place when filming, and you surely caught the soprano singer in the background screeching all the wrong lyrics.

“The picture quality is awful,” said Sandrine Fafard, a communications student at Concordia. “But at the same time I want to share it!”

In addition to the need to be the modern day Warhol, instagramming their hearts away, people feel the need to live tweet their experience.

You need to be there to understand the excitement. Your twitter followers aren’t, and if you are focussed on tweeting, you actually aren’t either.

People constantly feel the need to capture the moment, trap the memory inside their tiny microchip, and keep it forever. We don’t want to let go of anything for fear of never being able to feel it again. What we don’t realize is that in doing so, we are actually missing out on the moment. Believe me, put that camera or phone down and let the music engulf you, laugh and sing along with hundreds of strangers. That feeling is more powerful than any flash or recording device on the planet.

Interestingly, Fafard is more annoyed with the use of phone screens instead of lighters.
“If you want to rock it, rock it for real,” she said.

On the one hand, part of me is glad phone screens have replaced lighters at concerts as I don’t really trust the human population with that much fire in a closed venue. But on the other, if it means getting rid of endless picture and video-taking at concerts, I’ll take the lighters any day.

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Using science to feed a nation

Scientist Matthew Harsh explored the human side of agricultural engineering on Tuesday in the first Engineering and Computer Science lecture of the year entitled “Biotechnology in Africa: surveying systems of innovation for development.”

An expert in the field of innovation and governance of biotechnology and biosafety, Harsh spoke to a small audience in the EV building about his time spent in Kenya working as part of a research team trying to create a tissue culture banana that would spur the growth of bananas for farmers in Kenya.

The goal was to use technology as a solution to the insecure food situation in Kenya. However, some problems did arise during their research.

“We hadn’t really thought about what we were going to do with this excess amount of bananas,” said Harsh, explaining that the Kenyan markets in proximity to these banana farmers are too small to deal with extra crops. “And it wasn’t easy to convince the farmers because they also didn’t want this many bananas.”

Eschewing the more technical scientific aspects, Harsh focused instead on the innovation of his research in Kenya and the sociology revolving around it. The process of securing funding for projects like this and getting non-governmental organizations (NGOs) involved are all critical steps when conducting research of this nature, according to Harsh.

In his case, it was the Kenyan Agricultural Research Institute (KARI) that played an important role in making Harsh’s team’s project possible.

Banana surpluses aside, Harsh said that the real success of their research was the links he and his team managed to make within the Kenyan society.

“This project was a success in linkage, meaning we got a lot of people to work together to make something happen,” said Harsh. “It’s hard work to get everyone to agree to interact and also agree on a project.”

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‘Fight club for startups’ starts to take off

Computer-savvy Montreal students looking for a leg up in starting a high-tech business will be pleased to hear that Startupifier, a fledgling student-run group, is starting to take off.

The group played host to around 40 interested parties last Wednesday at Notman House for a workshop on Software as a service, or SaaS, metrics.

Notman, which gives the community access to free Wi-Fi in their downstairs “cafe” area while also doubling as office space for startups and event venue, is the type of place where you take off your shoes at the door. Once inside the building, situated on the corner of Sherbrooke Street and Clarke Street, you are greeted by a long hallway leading to winding stairs at the other end. Besides the rows of shoes at the entrance, the only other object in the hall is a Red Bull vending machine, plugged in but with empty shelves.

The clattering of fingers on computer keys emanating from the two rooms on either side of the hallway temporarily ceased for the course of the workshop, taught by serial entrepreneur turned investor Mark MacLeod, who has been a partner at seed fund Real Ventures for the past year.

Founded two years ago, the organization has only in the past year or so started hosting events geared towards providing young entrepreneurs with the connections and the know-how to start their own company.

Startupifier offers four services to students: an academy, an internship program, hackathons, and a garage (also described as an “incubator without money”). The group mostly reaches out to students through its online mailing list, Facebook group, and Twitter account.

Jordan Choo, a Concordia economics student with a penchant for technology, is part of the second generation of Startupifier members; he’s in charge of organizing the workshops.

Nine people are listed as the group’s founders on its website, while five more, including Choo, constitute its “2011 crew.” Choo specified the number of people involved is closer to 20 at the moment.

Both Choo and co-founder Karel Ledru-Mathé expressed a firm belief that what they were doing isn’t taught in post-secondary institutions.

“Universities and companies are two disconnected words in Montreal,” Ledru-Mathé said.

Ledru-Mathé was a business student at HEC when he met co-founder Riku Seppälä at a startup networking event two years ago.

“I was at school [at the time,] working on some ideas to connect students with companies, so I just loved the idea of organizing events for startups among students,” Ledru-Mathé, now a web developer, explained.

“The main thing we’ve been doing is organizing events that show students that it is pretty easy to start something, to do something, and to do it out of school, so don’t only spend your time studying but you can also have a project of your own on the side,” he added.

Startupifier fills a gap in the knowledge necessary for students to become successful entrepreneurs, Choo said.

“We are taught how big companies are run [at school],” Choo explained. “A high-tech startup is run totally differently compared to big organizations, from a cultural level to programming, to just running the business in general, so we are trying to fill that gap so that if a student does decide to start their own company, they are not in the middle of nowhere not knowing what to do.”

In an interview, MacLeod agreed. “We [Real Ventures] invest in tech startups and therefore they are started by people who come from a software background. And I find that the curriculum is totally unrelated to what’s needed practically, right, so you are still learning C++ and really old languages at school whereas most web apps are built on Rails, and Javascript and other interpreted languages so you end up having to learn those on your own,” he said.

He pointed to Stanford University, in the United States, as a model example for how universities should be structuring their classes.

“Computer science students have a course where they build an iPhone app and they are graded on how well it does,” he said. “That, to me, is amazing, and we’re not doing anything like that here. It’s all textbook, it’s all theoretical, so all of the best entrepreneurs that we back are soft top and it would be great if the schools could do more.”

Nonetheless, MacLeod said a university degree does provide “a baseline and set of skills and also gives you a set of relationships.”

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Three tips for student entrepreneurs, courtesy of investor Mark MacLeod:

– Learn on somebody else’s dime first. “I didn’t start with founding my own startup, I joined others before doing that,” MacLeod explained.
– Find a mentor and advisor. “I find that actually the most successful entrepreneurs, not just young ones, any age, even folks who have done this three times, have their own personal mentors and advisers.”
– Don’t go at it alone. “It is actually a rule [at Real Ventures that we] don’t fund companies with single founders,” MacLeod said, “so get a co-founder, and if that co-founder has some experience that you lack, that’s gonna help.”

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