• rTraction - a highly skilled, well-respected web development and online marketing firm that services many non-profits in the city
• Echidna Solutions – another great web development firm who has donated a lot of their time to efforts like Emerging Leaders
• Info-Tech Research Group – one of the top 10 IT research firms in the world, rated as the best IT research firm by Outsell (full disclosure: I work at ITRG)
• Resolution Interactive Media – a very talented group of web developers best known for their online training site built for LHSC, and highly interactive websites for several Ontario colleges
• Big Blue Bubble – a local video game development company, probably best known for Burn The Rope right now
• Antic Entertainment – local video game development company that has won awards for their game Junk Battles
• Start Communications – an Internet service provider, with their own network around downtown London, that customers have been raving about ever since the UBB debate flared up earlier this year
• Aaron McGowan – a well-respected, and very talented, freelance programmer that specializes in mobile apps and mobile websites
• Digital Extremes – a large video game developer that’s produced several blockbuster titles like BioShock, Unreal Tournament, Homefront and Dark Sector

And there are lots of others, most of which can be seen on TechAlliance’s Member Directory. For instance, I bet you didn’t know that DirectDial.com is owned by EK3 Technologies, which is based in London. I’m not going to sit here and boast about my company, Orpheum Hosting Solutions, but I do believe Orpheum’s providing a much needed service to freelancers and small business owners!

So really, I won’t sit here and listen to people complain about the lack of a tech industry in London. No, we’re not Santa Clara, California (in the heart of Silicon Valley). But that doesn’t mean there isn’t an industry to break into, or a need that’s going unserved. In fact, if you’re feeling frustrated with your attempts to find a job as a developer or networking professional, London has enough small businesses that the right business plan and marketing will get you the opportunity to do plenty of work. I used to freelance and got the opportunity to build computer networks from scratch for several businesses, and I knew a lot less then than I do now.

Here’s the video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Nokia 6185, circa 2000

My first cell phone was a Nokia 6185. Heck, my second cell phone was a Nokia too. They both worked really well, always had good reception, rarely dropped a call. But that was 10 years ago. Since then I’ve gone through a couple of Motorola phones, two BlackBerry devices, and one Samsung. I’m currently using an LG phone and am seriously pondering my next move. An Android-based smartphone or HP’s new Pre 3 are the most likely candidates at this point.

Nokia’s Ancaster, Ontario-born CEO, Stephen Elop (his LinkedIn profile), knows full well that Nokia has lost its lustre. He says so in a strikingly honest, if long winded, memo released to Nokia employees three days ago. He speaks of a story about a burning oil platform (Symbian), and a man having to jump into the icy waters of the Atlantic Ocean in order to save himself. Nokia has leapt… but I fear they have jumped onto another platform that’s about to blow.

When I initially read the memo posted on Engadget, which has been verified as being the real thing, I first thought to myself, “Could they be striking a deal with HP? Wow, a Nokia phone with webOS? That would be a hell of a bombshell.” After watching HP’s press conference the other day where they unveiled the Veer, Pre 3 and TouchPad, I thought, “Wow… HP’s really letting the Palm guys go after it and make a killer product.” webOS looks terrific, the hardware looks great, and early builds of webOS 3.0 (as seen in various hands-on videos on the web) look pretty smooth already. Nokia + HP makes perfect sense. Android? Not so much.

In the memo, Mr. Elop says that Nokia’s employees will know more about the future of the company on February 11. That day was today. Imagine my surprise when I read that Nokia and Microsoft announced today that Nokia would be basing their future on Windows Phone 7. I was surprised, yet unsurprised. Mr. Elop is a former Microsoft executive… how predictable.

As a colleague of mine points out on the official Info-Tech Research Group blog, Windows Phone 7 is not exactly experiencing success. Poor sales, small developer ecosystem, and only five different devices available in Canada – two of which are available from a carrier consumers love to hate.

Nokia 6100, circa 2001

So it looks like Nokia wants to use hardware design credentials with Microsoft’s brand new software design practices (which, again, don’t seem to be winning over a lot of people). But wait… if someone like me – with almost no brand loyalty when it comes to cell phones – hasn’t owned a Nokia phone since I was 18 (with the exception of a 3390 for when I visit family overseas), what hardware design expertise does Nokia plan to leverage that will get people buy Nokia phones again?

Is it the expertise that’s brought us the current schizophrenic line of phones available today? The Nokia N8 is the only device that looks worth owning at this point, especially since all of the phones are based on Symbian (the burning platform). All the other phones look like they’ve been ripped-off inspired by BlackBerry, HTC and Motorola.

Wait… that’s it! People have accused Microsoft of stealing ideas from Apple and Linux for years. Nokia’s phones look like they’re Chinese knock-offs of the real deal. Maybe Microsoft and Nokia were meant to be after all?

In fact, the defaults for Facebook’s privacy settings completely expose your profile not only to everyone on Facebook, but to the entire public including non-Facebook users. Meaning your current and potential employers, people you like and have pissed off, your parents – everyone – can see your Facebook profile. For a visual representation of Facebook’s expanding public defaults, click here.

Those pictures of you drinking and smoking weed on the weekend? Those pictures of you in your slutty Halloween costume? The status updates about how you’re looking for a new job? All public, all the time unless you change your privacy settings.

Not only that, but Facebook’s new, and much maligned, “Open Graph” program, which is basically a 20x worse version of the failed Beacon, will invade your privacy in ways you never thought possible. Here I’m going to help you put an end (somewhat) to Facebook’s over-the-top campaign to make all of your data public and available to advertisers. The addition of “Connections,” which I opted out of, is also generating some harsh feedback from users.

1) Open up your privacy settings control panel by clicking Account > Privacy Settings. That will bring you to this screen:

2) Click Profile Information and be sure that everything is set to “Only friends”

3) Click Back to Privacy and then click Contact Information. Adjust accordingly according to your wishes.

4) Click Back to Privacy and then click Applications and Websites. This is one of the most critical sections of the site for protecting your privacy and data from websites/companies that you don’t want to allow access to! First, click the Edit Settings button beside What your friends can share about you. The default settings allow your friends to unknowingly share everything about you – fix this!

5) Click Save Changes at the bottom, then click Applications and websites at the top to go back to the previous page. Edit the setting for Activity on applications and games dashboards to your desired setting (mine is Only friends), and then click Edit setting beside Instant Personalization. Unclick “Allow,” then hit “Confirm” on the box that comes up.

6) Click Applications and websites at the top again, then click Back to privacy to bring you back to the main control panel. Now click Search. This is another really important tool because the default settings let people find your Facebook profile using search engines like Google, Yahoo!, and Bing. Change your settings to what you’re comfortable with for Facebook search results and uncheck the box beside Public search results.

7) Click Back to privacy, and you’re done! Not that it was easy by any means.

Facebook suffers from a very poor user experience when it comes to managing your privacy, and my opinion is that it’s on purpose. They make money by giving advertisers access to your data they deem public; a ridiculous list that includes your interests (books, movies, music, etc.), list of your friends, etc. How Facebook can deem that type of information public is beyond me, but that’s their policy.

There are actually two other things you can do.

1. Don’t “Like” news stories and blog posts using Facebook’s “Like” button with the thumbs-up on it.
2. If you normally click the “Keep me logged in” checkbox on the login screen so that you don’t have to login every time you head to the site, discontinue this. Facebook can’t automatically share your information with other sites if you’re not logged into Facebook when you’re visiting Open Graph partners.

If you’re curious to see what information Facebook makes public about you before you get started, try using this tool.

Alternatively you could simply delete your account – which quite a few people have done including some engineers at Google – and use other social networking and sharing sites more heavily.

Your data is yours. Start treating it that way! As they say in the financial services world, CYA… cover your ass.

Not good enough anymore

While researching innovative approaches to educating our children, I came across a pilot project that was run this past summer at a single school in New York City. It’s been dubbed “School of One,” and the approach is very similar to the types of things I mentioned as possibilities in “The Textbook of the Future?” To quote this New York Times article:

The program [...] consists mainly of students working individually or in small groups on laptop computers to complete math lessons in the form of quizzes, games and worksheets. Each student must take a quiz at the end of each day; the results are fed into a computer program to determine whether they will move on to a new topic the next day.

[...]

Now, he added, “we’re looking in a way that I don’t think anyone has looked at — at the way children learn, pacing them at their own pace, all of it tied to the mastery of content and skill and achievement.”

[...]

Once the students arrive at school, they receive their individual playlists identifying the lessons they have to complete for the day, which could involve virtual tutoring online, computer worksheets or small-group lessons with a classroom teacher.

This is exactly the type of thing I think we should be moving toward! If done right, School of One should ensure that all students get the education they need, via the best learning style for them, and by the end of the year all of the students should have had the chance to complete all of the core curriculum along with, hopefully, some bonus activities based on their interests. One child that participated in this program actually said that the educational games he played making solving mathematical equations fun! Imagine that!

Skype in the Classroom - Better

If you pair up my vision of the future textbook with School of One, with a little additional effort and funding I think you have a solid base for the future of education. In the article, an HR professional for the New York City school where this took place said that running schools this way should cost about the same as running a school the way it’s done now. Many detractors of moving to more technology-focused schools claim that costs would be much higher — that may not hold up after all!

In fact, many of the things that schools traditionally pay a lot of money for are available for free, as pointed out by The Innovative Educator. Chief among them – Microsoft Live@edu and Google Apps for Education. Both are completely free (as in puppies). A school using Google Apps can provide word processing, spreadsheet, website building and presentation software along with e-mail completely free to students and teachers! Just make sure the Internet connection is up and running (or install Google Gears for offline access).

I guess the chief reason for this post is to point out that things are happening despite the naysayers. School of One is exactly what I hope my son will experience when he begins school. With some luck, funding and pressure from parents, there’s a light at the end of the tunnel for those of us who believe that the continuous evolution of major systems is the only way forward.

ReQall is a terrific service I started using earlier this year. Basically it lets me keep a virtual to-do list active, all the time, and accessible via my phone and the Internet. If you click here you can see that reQall has built plugins for several different platforms.

Not only does this save paper, but it’s far more convenient than keeping a proper to-do list around. I can set due dates for items, create lists (like a shopping list) and if you sign up multiple people in the same home, you can share lists (as seen on the site).

One thing I would like to improve is the interface. It’s okay, but it could use a little work. Overall it works just fine though. And because it’s mostly web-based, it’s platform independent.

Now I just need to remember that I have it more often and use it to remember songs I hear on the radio and ideas I have while I’m driving! Now go check it out for yourself!