Archives for February 2014
![]()
Patreon
Musicians, YouTubers, Web Comics, Writers, Bloggers, Indie Gamers, Video Producers, Authors, Podcasters, Animators, Artists and Photographers… UNITE!
Unlike other fundraising services which raise for a single big event, Patreon is for creators who create a stream of smaller works.
For creators
The benefits of using Patreon are endless. This platform allows you to raise funds to work on what you love. Interact with your top fans on your activity feed where photos, videos, etc. can be posted and commented on. Give back to your fans with rewards, those who want to engage with you will be rewarded for doing so… it really is a win/win.
For the fans
Looking for the inside edge on getting the goods first? Patreon allows fans to receive timely updates from creators as they are creating the things you love. And don’t miss out on the rewards! If your favourite creators are feeling generous, you could receive anything from pre-sell concert tickets, downloads, personal gifts, hangouts, or anything else they can offer as a way to thank you for your patronage.
Still not sure how it works? This video will help you make sense of it all….
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wH-IDF809fQ]
![]()
iWatch Concept
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5z3HuQp_w0&w=640&h=390]
A new iWatch concept video produced by Fuse Chicken, the Cleveland-based design startup imagines what a wrist-mounted Apple wearable computer might look like with a wraparound curved display. Combining everything that you love about your iPhone, iPod and wrist-watch, the iWatch could prove to be the modern day time keeper.
Proposing some advanced iOS 8 features for the device, the concept shows a device that looks like a smart band rather than a traditional watch. Featuring an elongated, curved screen that’s able to display various information, the device would offer support for existing iOS apps.
Siri, mail, messages, contacts, calendar, music and fitness apps would all be supported as well as new health apps, such as the rumoured Healthbook app.
The Healthbook presentation is perhaps the most interesting part of this concept: If this feature is real and is part of iOS 8, it will likely tie into any wearable hardware Apple dreams up.
![]()
Tectorian of the Week
Makosinski shines on Fallon
You probably recognize Ann Makosinski as the 16 year Tectorian who gave a great keynote speech at the Discover Tectoria event last December. From our stage to the Tonight Show, Makosinski was one of three young inventors featured on the Jimmy Fallon show as part of a segment called “Fallonventions.”
In a YouTube video explaining how she created the flashlight, Makosinski said she became interested in the area of “harvesting surplus energy” after learning “humans are a great source of untapped thermal energy.”
To produce enough power to turn on LED lights in the flashlight, Makosinski used four Peltier tiles to convert a temperature difference to electricity. If one side of the tile is heated by a human hand and the other exposed to cool air, electricity is produced.
Since winning the Google Science Fair last year, Makosinski and her invention have received international attention. The Grade 11 student at St. Michaels University School was named one of Time magazine’s 30 under 30 for 2013 and has given two TED Talks.
As she left the stage, Fallon said, “I’m going to work for her one day, I can feel it.”
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ys0WVOPmA6g?feature=player_embedded&w=640&h=360]
![]()
Tectorian of the Week
Y-Combinator backs Sendwithus
Joining the likes of Reddit, Dropbox, and Songkick, sendwithus is now a member of “The most prestigious program for budding digital entrepreneurs”, Y-Combinator.
Twice a year, Y-Combinator invests a small amount of money ($14-20k + an $80k note) in a large number of startups (most recently 52). The startups move to Silicon Valley for 3 months, during which they work intensively with them to get the company into the best possible shape and refine their pitch to investors.
During their time in the Accelerate Tectoria program, Matt Harris and Brad Van Vugt found themselves repeatedly having to change a bunch of email templates and wanting to test different variants. What they found was that there was no real technology in place to do so, “Larger companies will usually build their own systems for this”, they explain.
What resulted was a mission to bring optimization and A/B testing to marketers and anyone else sending out targeted promotional emails which led to the birth of sendwithus.
Sendwithus created a website where customers can select from pre-made email templates or upload their own, log in to their preferred email provider, and then set up A/B tests and drip campaigns. Customers also have access to analytics showing how variants and campaigns are performing.
Harris said Sendwithus is focused on “transactional emails” (i.e., the emails that are sent to specific users at specific times, usually to accomplish a specific task) as opposed to newsletters or other broad campaigns. Just managing all the different templates and automatically sending the right one out at the right time is important to the company’s customers, he added.
Founded 11 months ago, Sendwithus already processes more than 1 million emails a day, he added, and its customers include 8tracks, uSell, SuperRewards and App.net. Pricing starts at $19 a month and there’s also a free version for emailing up to 100 customers.
![]()
Tectoria Newsletter Signup
Every Friday the Tectoria team send out an engaging, eclectic update about what’s going on in Tectoria: Canada’s hottest technology region.
Learn about people making a difference in our tech scene, as well as events and activities that can help you connect with your fellow Tectorians and your community.
Sign up below and get a newsletter in your email inbox once a week!
![]()
OSVehicle Tabby
We know Tectorians love electric cars. Our last Tectoria Social Club meeting featured Tesla and it was a packed house. Well, if the Tesla is out of reach maybe the Tabby is more your speed.
Tabby is an open sourced electric vehicle that you can build yourself in an hour. That’s right, in less time than people in other cities commute each day you can build your own electric car. And if you’re the engineers that helped develop it, you can cut that time to 41 minutes flat.
TABBY is the first open source framework for the creation vehicles. It has been defined as the “Ikea Car”. It is a versatile platform that can be used to bootstrap businesses, to create your own vehicle, for education purposes, and much more.
Although the OSVehicle Tabby kit does not include things like doors, body panels and a windshield, you most definitely can still drive it.
OSV is taking pre-orders for the Tabby starter kit, with both the two-seater and four-seater configurations. Add a battery pack, electric powertrain and seats, and you have an electric vehicle that can top out around 50 mph for just under $4,000.<
All the plans and blueprints for TABBY can be downloaded in the website’s download section. You are welcome and encouraged to improve the designs, work on them, and upload them to share your ideas with the community through the OSV forum.
[vimeo 77204604 w=500 h=281]
OSVehicle: TABBY Timelapse from OSVehicle on Vimeo.
![]()
Tectorian of the Week
On December 28th, fellow Tectorian and entrepreneur, Dylan Benson lost his wife to a sudden hemorrhage of blood to her brain. At the time, she was 22 weeks pregnant.
Physicians are attempting to keep Robyn’s body alive for up to 7 more weeks (potentially until she is at or near 34 weeks pregnant). The thought process behind this is that if they can keep her body alive, it will give their unborn son (his name will be Iver Cohen Benson) a good chance of surviving a c-section at that time. The doctors have said that he now has higher than an 80% of survival and that increases with every day that passes. There are roughly only 30 published medical records of this type of thing being attempted, but so far, amazingly, they have been successful.
Most of us know Dylan very well. He is one of the good guys that works hard and contributes his time and energy to the local tech community. It was his idea to bring Reddit’s Alexis Ohanian to Victoria for his keynote speech at last year’s Thinklanida festival. HE has also stepped up an organizer for the popular Tectoria ‘Startup Meetup’ networking group. Since joining local e-commerce company RevenueWire in December 2011, Dylan has also gone on to co-found his own online gift-exchange company called somethinginthemail.com.
Dylan and his family are enduring the unthinkable and we encourage you all to read his story in his own words and please support Baby Iver by donating to the trust fund in his name. This story has now touched the hearts of thousands and recently been widely covered in the media but please consider sharing with your contacts and social circles.
Follow Us!