Browsing “Tech”

Back in 2010, when our main @VIAwesome Twitter account had only 3,750 followers, we called on the 9 mobile carriers who were operating in Vancouver at the time. We made THIS BLOG POST in which we joked that we were using an ancient 90′s brick phone (which wasn’t too far off from the truth), then we seriously pleaded the case for a telco to come to our rescue and help bring us into the world of smartphones. TELUS was the first to answer the call (pun intended), and we’ve enjoyed a mutually beneficial partnership with them ever since. They’re an awesome Vancouver-based company that not only delivers great products and services, with ultra-responsive customer service (have you seen them on Twitter?) and also does a ton of COMMUNITY GIVING to charities and non-profits ($44,000,000 worth in 2012). Their business is really in tune with what we do over here.

It’s crazy how far we’ve come in the almost three years since they came on board as a Community Sponsor. We’ve increased our Twitter followers by almost 10 times (as I type this we have 32,197 Followers), we’ve placed as one of Vancouver’s top 3 Twitter accounts 2 years running in the Georgia Straight’s BEST OF, and TELUS has really helped us get here. And in that relatively short amount of time, the technology of the phones we use has also come a long way.

Pictured below are the phones I’ve used in the past 3 years with TELUS. Next to the Motorola Brick is the Motorola Backflip which is the first phone they connected us with, and which I used for about a year. I then went to the iPhone 4, which I also used for about a year until I discovered how incredible the Samsung Galaxy S3 was for Instagram (SUCH. VIVID. PHOTOS!). I dropped the S3 one day and the screen was totally destroyed, so I decided to give the new BlackBerry Z10 a chance, until I was offered the S4… which I jumped at.

The Brick, Motorola Backflip, iPhone 4, Samsung Galaxy S3, BlackBerry Z10… and the Samsung Galaxy S4

The craziest thing in this timeline, to me, is that when I got my second smartphone (the iPhone 4) I thought that was it. I figured it was the best thing going and that I would stick with it for as long as I’ve stuck with using a Macbook. As a creative director, I’ve been toting around different variations of Apple laptops for almost 15 years now; it’s just always been the platform that “we” use in the creative sector. When I initially made the switch from my iPhone to the Galaxy S3 my main concern was that I wasn’t going to be able to sync my calendar from my laptop to my phone, and that the operating system would be weird. As it turned out the calendar synced seamlessly (go figure!), and I ended up liking the Android operating system as much as IOS, some of the features even moreso. And getting onto that S3 really was the catalyst that set up my “Aha!” moment when I realized that I’m fairly agnostic when it comes to the operating system on my phone. Apple is not the end-all-be-all; I even took the BlackBerry 10 OS for a good spin for the last couple of months with ease, and I enjoyed it.

…READ THE REST OF THIS ENTRY>>>

We recently released a totally silly iPhone app with our friends at Company Policy and 49 Digital. Eyes on the World is entirely free, free of advertising, and it essentially allows you to add googly eyes to your photos, then share them. We all volunteered our time for this project because we feel it’s very important that you be able to add googly eyes to things. Like your cat. Or your friends. Or random inanimate objects. It is your right to be able to add googly eyes to things, and we want you to exercise that right with ease.

As long as people continue to use the app and share their photos with us, we’ll be running a weekly feature called Eyes on Vancouver. This week’s images came to us from a Vicky Swan who used the “Send to V.I.A.” option within the app to send us snaps of her parents. Thanks, Vicky!

Download the app HERE and be sure to share with us so we can share here on the blog!

We recently released a totally silly iPhone app with our friends at Company Policy and 49 Digital. Eyes on the World is entirely free, free of advertising, and it essentially allows you to add googly eyes to your photos, then share them. We all volunteered our time for this project because we feel it’s very important that you be able to add googly eyes to things. Like your cat. Or your friends. Or random inanimate objects. It is your right to be able to add googly eyes to things, and we want you to exercise that right with ease.

As long as people continue to use the app and share their photos with us, we’ll be running a weekly feature called Eyes on Vancouver. This week’s images came to us from a few different folks who used the “Send to V.I.A.” option within the app to send us snaps of their raw vegetables. Thanks Bryan He, Clavara and the Sanders Family!

Download the app HERE and be sure to share with us so we can share here on the blog!

Our friends at the Museum of Vancouver have once again done something totally awesome. See below, then download, then get out there into the streets and explore your city!

For more info and to download visit thevisiblecity.ca.

We recently released a totally silly iPhone app with our friends at Company Policy and 49 Digital. Eyes on the World is entirely free, free of advertising, and it essentially allows you to add googly eyes to your photos, then share them. We all volunteered our time for this project because we feel it’s very important that you be able to add googly eyes to things. Like your cat. Or your friends. Or random inanimate objects. It is your right to be able to add googly eyes to things, and we want you to exercise that right with ease.

As long as people continue to use the app and share their photos with us, we’ll be running a weekly feature called Eyes on Vancouver. This week’s image comes to us from Jo-Anne Rockwood who used the “Send to V.I.A.” option within the app to send us this gem of a BC “mad cow”.

Download the app HERE and be sure to share with us so we can share here on the blog!

Vancouver Is Awesome is a proud media partner of Cyborg Camp YVR 2013. Leading up to the event, we will provide insight into what you can expect from this collection of experts that will discuss future of the relationship between humans and technology.

Hi Maja, tell us a little bit about your background.

I am currently specializing in liver surgery and transplantation at the University of Toronto. I have lived on 3 continents, including my initial home of 15 years – Serbia, then emigrated to Ontario with my family in 1993, and hopped over further west to Vancouver for general surgical training from 2005 to 2012.

In my travels, I also spent 8 months volunteering in Ghana and Tanzania. I am currently super excited about my career as a surgeon because I love to operate, and because it allows me to explore the ethical side of technologic innovation in surgery. I also enjoy music, film, pop culture, surfing and hope to have more time to do all that soon.

Can you provide a little insight into your talk, “Robots, Surgery and Society”, at Cyborg Camp YVR?
This is a really neat opportunity to talk about the exciting new advancements in surgery in front of a non-medical audience of creative individuals. I will basically tell the story of the latest new advancements in surgery including robotics, diagnostic imaging, nanotechnology and how they are affecting patient care. I’ll also delve into the more philosophical side of ethics of innovation.

What are the biggest opportunities for surgery being improved by the use of robotics and new technology?
I think that some surgeons have already done a fantastic job in thinking outside the box and using the ideas from other disciplines to create new inventions in cancer surgery, cancer genetics, and robotics. That is the biggest opportunity. I envision surgical innovation hubs that bring together different creative minds from medicine, engineering, physics, philosophy, and quantum mechanics to come up with techniques to cure aggressive cancers like pancreatic cancer, or preserve or build organs for transplantation.

Where is the BC health system do you think that citizens using technology will deliver the most benefit to doctors and surgeons?

I think that people should be very skeptical when it comes to health information out there. For instance, I have seen many cancer patients find information on the Internet that was inaccurate or misinterpreted, and caused a lot of grief. On the other hand, we physicians also have to take time to educate our patients on the medical facts around their condition, the ongoing research, and be able tell them when medicine is limited. A friend of family physician, programmer and mine addressed this information gap by recently creating an app that helps patients track their blood work results, and guidelines for mammography, prostate and cholesterol screening.

You can meet Maja and see her speak on May 11th at bc.cyborgcamp.com. Get tickets at cyborgcampyvr.eventbrite.com. We look forward to seeing you there.