Montreal Tech Watch

CakeMail, which was presented at StartupCampToronto last week, has unveiled a new package for developers who wish to extend their platform.

Duncan Moore writes that they offer the package at $99, but the value of a package is worth between $3,000 and $12,000 annually. It gives access to the API and developers can also send 5000 monthly emails. Developers willing to join the program must be willing to contribute to the community and provide feedback to CakeMail.

This is a great way for the Code Kitchen team to increase the adoption rate of their service, while getting more tools, plugins, and interfaces for CakeMail. If you are working with emails, you can sign up now.

3 weeks ago, Mark Evans announced he was stepping down from Maple Leaf 2.0, after he spent less and less time on the blog. For those not aware, Maple Leaf 2.0 was covering for almost 2 years the Canadian web2.0 scene.

Yesterday, Blognation founder Sam Sethi announced he closed Blognation, as he couldn’t find in time funding for the company. This is sad, as I believe he had a great idea by having editors in each country reporting about technology and startups. Here in Canada, there was Tris Hussey who did a great job daily covering BC and Canadian startups, and who also announced he was moving on.

This means there is now StartupNorth left covering Canadian startups. Lately though, I’ve also seen 2 other excellent blogs, namely Techvibes and Intruders. Techvibes is covering startups and entrepreneurs based in British Columbia, but sometimes they also have cover companies and events outside the province. Intruders does video interviews of Canadian entrepreneurs and tech events.

For me, seeing these blogs going in and out prooves the Canadian startup scene’s dynamism.

StartupCampMontréal has now a wiki about the details of the event, with the list of startups attending. Philippe Telio from Embrase writes:

This is an event dedicated to everything Startup. A great event for Startups, investors and on-lookers alike. Montreal has a vibrant business community, that is worth celebrating. Come meet and learn from each other on the ins and outs of starting up. Space is limited, so we need to hear from you soon.

A “Camp” event is an ad-hoc gathering born from the desire for people to share and learn in an open environment. It is an intense event with discussions, presentations, and interaction from participants. The “Camp” event concept is inspired from Barcamp and Foocamp originally from California, but now held worldwide.

Registration has also begun, and you can get tickets at eventbrite. If you are an entrepreneur, a startup founder, a service provider or a student, you are invited to get a ticket. Experience from previous StartupCamps shows tickets are sold out fast.

Le Web 3 est un important rassemblement français consacré au Web et à ses tendances, qui se tient en anglais depuis quatre ans à Paris. Il est organisé par Loïc Le Meur. J’y ai assisté ces deux derniers jours. Voici certaines de mes observations “à l’ancienne”. J’ai en effet écouté, observé, ressorti cahier/crayon et ai griffonné quelques notes. Pour les curieux, je suis clairebu et généralement je vis à Montréal.

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Here it is, the map you all have been waiting for: Technology map of Montréal

The list is not definitive, but we already have a substantial amount of companies and organizations in the technology scene in Montréal. The blue markers are for startups, the purple ones are for service providers, while the $ signs is for investors.

As for the listed information, it’s not complete yet as I haven’t really checked out every submitted entry. You can then consider the map as a work-in-progress that will get better in time. Also to keep it scalable and manageable, we will keep a limit on the number of markers.

For those who didn’t have the time yet, the form can be found here.

I met this week the team from Embrase, who are eager to launch a StartupCamp for Montréal. The idea came first was pushed by Jevon MacDonald from StartupNorth is organizing the Toronto edition. We pushed hard to find a venue and a date, so here it is:

The first edition is planned 23rd January 2008 at La Société des Arts Technologiques, bvd St-Laurent.

I hope Jevon excuse me for announcing it hours before StartupCampToronto, but I won’t be avalaible for the next few days, so I was to publish it now or never :-)

We expect a mixed crowd of first-time and experienced entrepreneurs, service providers, angel investors and VCs, and also students.

We already had regular democamps in Montréal, which are mainly made for developers who wish to demo their technology. In contrast, StartupCamp are made for entrepreneurs which will have opportunities to present their technology and business plans. Each startup will present for 5 minutes, and there will be afterwards a discussion with attendees. See it as an opportunity to get feedback on your business plan, your marketing plan, and other key areas essential for your success. If you are not sure of your plans, if you are evaluating future possible paths for your startup, this is the place to go.

Details on how to register and on the program will come soon. We will most likely open a section at barcampmontreal.org

EarIdeas is Hugh McGuire’s brand-new web project, launching today, and promises to be a much better experience than his previous project, Collectik.net, which from Hugh’s own words was not focused enough. In itself, EarIdeas allows its users to list podcasts and audio on the web by categories, and invites them to browse and discover new podcasts. And it does it beautifully. I think that EarIdeas has a crisp and clean page design that highlights the content and does a great job in inviting users to browse around the website.

EarIdeas is not the first podcast aggregator though. There is iTunes Music Store which is the de facto portal, and where millions of iPod users have access to the most popular shows and podcasts. iTMS is controlled entirely by Apple though, and selects only the top shows in each country, leaving “the long tail” of podcasting unheard of. Another popular destination was ODEO, which offered plenty of features and options both to podcasters and listeners, and was more or less the perfect audio discovery tool. I wrote “was” because it has since repositionned itself into music and mp3s, after its founder left to focus on Twitter, 1 year and a half ago.

Podcasts, which was a niche in its early days, is now very popular, with shows like DiggNation, WebAlert, or Wine Library TV gathering audiences by millions. I am myself subscribed to 15 or so podcasts and find each of them more relevant to me and more engaging than content avalaible on TV, radio or cable. As dozens of thousands of invididuals and teams produce independent shows, I expect the general public to pick up, and portals like EarIdeas will then be in the spotlight.

Can EarIdeas pick up where ODEO left the trail? It might just be possible. The design, the name, the execution are a big improvement compared to Collectik. To jumpstart the launch, Hugh has also started a challenge to post about favourite podcast:

We *think* we have the best audio stuff on the net, but maybe we’ve missed something. We’d like you to help us make sure we’ve got the best.

To help him out, here are some podcasts I think he should feature:

• Open Source by Christopher Lydon
• Boagworld with Paul and Marcus
• Rails Envy podcast with Greg and Jason
• Slashdot Review with Andrew McCaskey
• The Pandora podcast with Kevin Seal

Compagnie: Hatem + D Interactif

Position: Architecte / Développeur(euse) Web

Responsabilités et tâches:
Hatem + D Interactif, spécialisée dans les services marketing interactifs, est la compagnie sœur de Hatem + D. Elle propose des solutions créatives qui servent et rapportent à ses clients. Nos plus récents mandats majeurs incluent Crocs Canada, Opération Enfant Soleil et le candidat à la mairie de Québec Régis Labeaume.

Chez Hatem + D Interactif, nous voulons devenir une référence en stratégie et en design. Nous avons besoin d’un(e) développeur(euse) passionné(e) par les technologies les plus récentes afin de nous épauler dans la réalisation de projets percutants.

Informations additionnelles:
http://blog.hatem.ca/interactif/hatem-d-interactif-engage/

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MrsPratt is a new simple and helpful service that remembers all the stuff you lent to your friends.

It’s made by Francois Lamontagne, who was also behind TimmyOnTime, the to-do list manager by Instant Messenging. Like TimmyOnTime, I find the service a neat feature, and also a technical feat that was executed beautifully. Often, web projects starts with a simple idea but finish bloated by trying to please everyone. You either interact with the service via a single page or via IM (bridged by xmpp4r to the server), and that’s it.

Here, Francois Lamontagne told me he got the original idea from his girlfriend, and they worked on the concept together during the development. He also did the design. Congrats then to Francois Lamontagne for an impressive feat.

Company: rethos.com

Position: Web Developer

Responsibilites and Tasks:
…seeking Web Developer visionary…

rethos (n). a revision of fundamental beliefs, a shift in focus and objective for a culture or era.

rethos.com is an online community and media portal devoted to uniting individuals, non-profit organizations, and socially responsible businesses on social and environmental issues.

A new social venture, rethos.com, is currently seeking to hire a Web Developer to assist with various projects related to developing of the platform, and managing the content on the site through the launch period.

Required Knoweledge:
Experience/Skills Required
• Fluent in Ruby on Rails
• Self Motivated, problem solver, and comfort working in a start-up environment

Compensation:
Commitment & Compensation
• Full Time and Part Time position available, compensated with salary & generous incentives
• Montreal, NYC, or possibly telecommute

How to apply:
jobs@rethos.com

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