Backblog

Bill C-11, the copyright reform bill, passed third reading at the Senate and received royal assent today. The bill is now S.C. 2012, c.20.

If you have decent tech skills, landing a good job is not all that difficult. In Waterloo, Ont., alone, there are 1,300 unfilled tech jobs, according to start-up incubator Communitech. And a recent study from the Toronto Region Research Alliance (TRRA) found there is only one qualified recent graduate available for every seven engineering and technology job on offer in the Toronto region.

The Federal Court of Canada has issued an important decision involving copyright and posting content online. The case involves a lawsuit launched by Richard Warman and the National Post against Mark and Constance Fournier, who run the FreeDominion website. Warman and the National Post sued the site over the appearance of two articles and an inline link to photograph that appeared on the forum. The court dismissed all three claims.

When we started Panorama in 2005, we were one of the few truly independent consultants focused on ERP systems. The times have changed, however, and now there are a variety of competitors that have tried to replicate our business model. Given our position as the world’s leading independent ERP thought leaders – and since we have essentially created and led the market for independent ERP consultants – we thought that now would be an appropriate time to provide our analysis of the various players in the market.

While a start-up expanding into cross-border or international sales or operations isn’t exactly behind enemy lines, it can be hard to know where to start. Fortunately, this is an area where they can get by with help from friends, and friends of friends.

For the second time this year, Public Safety Minister Vic Toews has found himself at the centre of a major privacy backlash. In February, Toews was the lead on Bill C-30, the Internet surveillance legislation that sparked a huge public outcry that forced the government to shelve the bill within ten days. While Toews maintains the legislation will return (and implausibly argues that it could have assisted in the Magnotta investigation), it hasn't moved in months.

Online user-generated maps aren't new - they exploded years ago when Google Maps released their API in 2005. I've used web-based mapping services to build my own maps for everything from the places I've visited via TripAdvisor to a list of my favourite bakeries via foursquare. Of the various user-generated maps, the type I most frequently use is maps of my photgraphs. For a long time, I've been adding the location of the photos I upload to Flickr and Facebook, but only recently started exploring the functionality. Both Facebook and Flickr have really useful and fun photo map features, but neither meets all my needs completely.

U.S. President Barack Obama is expected to announce today that Canada has been offered the chance to participate in the Trans Pacific Partnership negotiations. The offer will be described as big win for the Canadian government, yet reports indicate the conditions for entry may have been very steep. While much of the Canadian focus will be on supply management issues, the questions I would be asking include

Finding and retaining top talent is one of the biggest challenges facing businesses today. In fact, innovation expert Chris Dulny, PwC partner and national technology sector leader, notes that studies find the war for talent is a growing concern for Canadian businesses.

The Ottawa Citizen reports that the Ottawa airport has been wired for surveillance with Canada Border Services Agency preparing to record travellers' conversations. David Fraser rightly questions the legality of the CBSA plan.

Nearly 15 years of debate over digital copyright reform will come to an end today as Bill C-11, the fourth legislative attempt at Canadian copyright reform, passes in the House of Commons. Although the bill must still receive Senate approval, that is likely to be a formality that could happen very quickly. Many participants in the copyright debate view the bill with great disappointment, pointing to the government's decision to adopt restrictive digital lock rules as a signal that their views were ignored.

The House of Commons Committee on Ethics, Accountability and Privacy recently launched a major new study into the privacy concerns raised by popular social media sites. The study promises to canvass a wide range of perspectives as elected officials grapple with emerging privacy issues and consider whether the current legal framework provides sufficient protection.

As EMRs progressively become a standard of care, one can envision a time in the not-too-distant future when licencing bodies (Colleges within the various provinces) require physicians to use EMRs. However, this brings up an interesting question regarding usability of the EMR systems and the ability to produce consistent and easily reproducible notes.

Nearly everyone knows the ABCs of sales: always be closing. But for a start-up running on multiple fronts—seeking investment, continuous product developing, the war for talent—constantly looking for new prospects is not always the easiest task.

What is the difference between Patient Portals and Personal Health Records (PHRs)?

Have you noticed that almost every device, software application or piece of equipment that is currently available has a built in clock. No longer the exclusive domain of the trusty wristwatch, time keeping capability is pervasive. This very useful capability is used to date and time stamp documents, images and communications, synchronize applications and organize the chronology of events so that it is possible to identify errors and reconstruct scenarios. However, what happens when the time and/or date stamp is incorrect?

Genius often springs from the cross-pollination of ideas and expertise. Consider the pop-culture “eureka” moment epitomised in the Reese’s “You got peanut butter on my chocolate” commercials. In the case of EidoSearch, co-founders David Kedmey and Xiao-Ping Zhang represent that merging of worlds, after they met at the University of Chicago.

Our IT team has said that the best place to be in the summer is not on a patio or at the cottage, but in the Data Center. It’s ‘Cooler’. What a geeky thing to say! But as usual, they are right. If your servers are hosted virtually or in a high level data center, they are better off than YOU this summer! They are sitting in a completely climate controlled environment, while you are sweating and burning up on your dock.

I've blogged previously about my defintion of mobile devices. Suprisingly, there is little consensus in industry and academia on exactly what is a mobile device, so I hope my definition will be of some use in this regard.

While outsourcing continues to grow at a solid pace each year, a number of companies have needed to insource a part of their formerly outsourced services portfolio. The drivers behind these decisions include: a CEO-mandate to change corporate sourcing strategy, a way to remediate a troubled outsourcing relationship, or a healthy look at an old sourcing decision to find the right mix of in-house and outsourced services based on current business goals.

As the search for Luka Magnotta continues, Public Safety Minister Vic Toews has used the case as an opportunity to claim that Bill C-30 would have helped with the investigation. According to Toews, the Internet surveillance legislation would be helpful - "Certainly, that's what the police have told me - that the powers in Bill C-30 are very relevant to this type of investigation in terms of either determining who the individual is, or determining the whereabouts of an individual."

In today's rapidly changing tech space, even the most technical marketers can face confusion and indecision when trying to evaluate which tools their teams need most. To make matters more complicated, since different tools can serve different marketing functions, your toolset needs to evolve in tandem with your marketing strategies.

"I been in the right place, but it must have been the wrong time," sang funky bluesist Dr. John, expressing a sentiment that is all-too familiar to many entrepreneurs. Timing, after all, is crucial. Too soon for the market and a brilliant invention might not find adoption; too late and you become an also-ran with me-too technology. But for David Kedmey, co-founder and president of EidoSearch, grand-prize winner of the Alpha Exchange Innovation Campaign live pitch-off on May 15, the timing is right and opportunities are ripe.

Another interesting and timely topic for our weekly UCStrategies podcast - the unexpected shelving of Cisco's Cius tablet.

The House of Commons Committee on Ethics, Accountability and Privacy recently launched a major new study into the privacy concerns raised by popular social media sites. Yesterday I appeared before the committee and delivered the following opening statement: Appearance before the Standing Committee on Ethics, Accountability & Privacy, May 31, 2012

Industry Canada has quietly published a study measuring radio frequency exposure from WiFi devices. The study finds that exposure rates are many times lower than recommended levels by Health Canada.