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Breitling Watches - Precision Based Instruments For Your Wrists

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Breitling watches are truly remarkable. They offer a melding of prestige and precision all wrapped up in one neat package. Breitling watches are strong performers and they offer features that compare with that of any major swiss replica watches maker. This brand is the choice of the professional crew who are seeking a tool for the wrist. Aviators flock to Breitling to get their pilot watch fix.Breitling was started in 1884, in St. Imier, Switzerland by Leon Breitling. He did not start out as a watch maker but provided timing instrumentation for cars and airplanes. It was out of this rich history that Breitling Watches got its start. The first chronograph was made by Breitling in 1915. As the function advanced over time, pilots flocked to the company to get their chance for a watch that gave them exactly what they needed while in the air.The relationship with Breitling and the airline industry was built on time tested principles of quality supply and addressing specific challenging needs. During the 1950s, the company strengthened that relationship when they became a supplier of clocks for the cockpit on international flights.Breitling watches is a remarkable company with an equally impressive product that stands up to the ongoing scrutiny of those who hold the watches most dear.The Breitling Bentley comes with a variable tachometer which measures average speed. It gets its name from the prestigious British car the Bentley.The Breitling Navitimer, the official watch of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, was first introduced in 1952 addressing the specific needs of pilots. A pilot watch extraordinaire, it comes with a navigation computer that\'s built in. The watch can actually perform all the calculations that are necessary for a flight plan.The Breitling Aerospace is another pilot watch. It\'s the watch for pilots that love the look of a watch with a very modern spin. This Breitling watch is a star. It\'s light weight, made from titanium.Breitling did not forget those who love the sea. The Breitling Superocean Aeromarine is a diving watch and is water resistant to 1,500 meters. Divers that are looking for just the right function and performance for their wrist, seek out the Superocean.Breitling watches are all known for their precision, but the Breitling Colt is especially known for withstanding challenges. The sturdy, reliability is important to those who put their watches through the mill.Another fine pilot watch is the Breitling Windrider. It combines elegance, class and performance in one watch that pulls at the heart strings of aviators.The Breitling Montbrillant is a stunning chronograph that has the company\'s history at its back, in that it was launched when the company was in La Chaux-de-Fonds in Switzerland.If you are looking for a pilot watch, there are many to choose from at Breitling. If you seek a diving watch there are few better than the Superocean. If you are looking for the tools of the professional, then you\'ve found them in Breitling watches.

Breitling Watches

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As everyone knows that breitling mens watches are one of the most popular and luxurious watch brands worldwide . Breitling watches are fairly well known for their excellent and excellent quality as well as long practice of quality timepieces. Breitling watches have been proved as one of the best quality and the most reliable watches. Watches on sale aren\'t for those people who need to spend a little amount of cash for a watch as it is the highest quality and famous brand so it\'s also terribly pricey.The costs of breitling watches are like $5000 or more above than that. Some of the breitling wrist watches costs more then $10,000. However, if you are hunting for cheap Breitling writst watch then I must congratulate you that fortuitously there are some ways and answers to find the cheap breitling watch.If breitling wrist watches are out of your fiscal range then first you need to consider the web retailers that offers the same copy or duplicate model in lower cost which is significantly below than the first price of the breitling watches. He same copy or duplicate model in low cost which is significantly below than the first price of the breitling watches. However, the replica breitling mens watches are also bit expensive than the other oridanary watches. Replica Breitling Watches can be yours at a fraction of the price of the original. The only people who can tell the difference between the original and the Breitling replica watches is a jeweler and he will probably have to use a jeweler\'s loop to do so. Everyone else will assume you are wearing the original Breitling Watches on your hand. Even you will believe you have the original, since all markings are the same. You will receive equal quality and durability as the original. It will be guaranteed to last as long as the original. In fact other than not being part of the family of original Breitling Watches, your replica Breitling is the same in all other categories. The Breitling Watch company was established in 1884 in the Jura mountains of Switzerland. In the beginning the Breitling company was involved in chronograph watches and other precision instruments. Since the company placed great emphasis on chronograph watches the company worked closely with the aviation industry of many countries. The Breitling Chronomat Evolution is one of their newest watches and epitomizes its accuracy in timekeeping. It is a beautiful automatic chronograph stainless steel watch. Automatic means that it is not a quartz, but winds by your hand movement or by a special winder that can be purchased. Swiss watchmaking at its finest is represented by the Breitling name.While trying to find the retailer to get the replica watch for yourself, you should be extraordinarily smart and ensure that the retailer is widely recognized and has good and reputable history to stop the conmen as there\'s nothing less than worse than paying the money first online for a product and getting nothing in return.You must spend sometime online and research for the best and legit retailer of replica breitling mens watches. You must read the forums on the websites and review all of the comments of others about the reputation of the retailer before you pay for the breitling watch. If you would like to buy the breitling mens watchs on less expensive costs than buying the replica breitling is the only possible way for you.

Rolex Submariner - Watches That Have Conquered The Sea

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If you ask a diver what watches he or she prefers, the diver will say a few names and the name of the famous brand Rolex will be surely in this list. Rolex is famous for its luxury watches and it is fantastically popular for its watches for diving. One of the best Rolex’s lines of replica watches uk for diving is the famous Rolex Oyster Perpetual Submariner line. These watches have won the hearts of divers as well as the hearts of demanding watch connoisseurs by their luxury and stylish design and of course by their perfect water resistance. The first watch from the Rolex Submariner line was issued and introduced to public in 1954 at the world known Swiss Watch Fair. The model immediately got fantastic popularity and later it proved its being a fantastically durable watch. Rolex Submariner watches were used in sea expenditions, in the Antarctic where the temperature is up to 45 degrees below zero, at a fantastic depth. All these tests in severe conditions showed the Rolex Submariner is the watch model that can withstand whatever conditions. Today Rolex Submariner line is recognized as a classic. There are many versons of Rolex Sumbariner watches. In 2007 one of the Rolex Submariner versions 14060M became a COSC certified Swiss chronograph. In 2008 the company issued a new submariner based on the supercase used in the GMT II. The new Submariner models are available in two versions – models that are made out of yellow gold with blue face and bezel and models made out of white gold with blue base and bezel. Some time later the company issued a Submariner with distinctive Rolex Rolex Rolex engravings and serial number engraved on the inner bezel. We do not sell original Rolex Submariner watches, however, we sell watches that might seem even more attractive to you – replica Rolex Submariner watches. Our replica Rolex Submariner watches are precise copies of the original Rolex Submariner watches. You will be amazed by the fantastic look of our Rolex Submariner replica watches and as well you will be pleased with their fantastic accuracy. Our replica Rolex Submariner watches make a great gift for any person who wishes to have a watch of the top quality. This is your chance to make a truly fantastic gift!

Rolex Day-Date aka The President watch

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It was in 1956 if Rolex aboriginal alien its always-inspiring Rolex Day-Date aka The President watch. Because of its altered actualization and functions as able-bodied as absorbing attending and feel, Rolex Day-Date became a flagship archetypal of Rolex absolutely soon, and it seems to action the aforementioned breeding and stylishness even today that it acclimated to action in the past. This watch has a agenda apparatus that afar from announcement the date, aswell tells about the day in added than 25 languages. For this actual feature, the Rolex Day-Date anon became a bulk one advantage for a ample bulk of actualization and style-conscious people.Besides its absorbing actualization and functions, altered replica watch accept actual beautiful designs and looks. These watches accept all what style-conscious humans account capital to addition their appearance, but all style-conscious humans canвЂ™t allow to accept these Rolex Day-Date watches as they are accessible with such huge bulk tags that a car or even a baby accommodation can be bought in the aforementioned bulk of money.No worries at all if you wish to accept a Rolex Day-Date watch, but canвЂ™t allow to accept one. You accept several added options to get the aforementioned stylishness and adroitness which can be apparent in the Rolex Day-Date watches. Thanks to replica watches that accommodate best abutment to your appearance in todayвЂ™s awful aggressive ambiance of today. Bulk is the alone affair which seems to accomplish a difference; otherwise, they accept all what you can see in their aboriginal models. It has been noticed that sometimes even those barter who accept been application aboriginal watches for years canвЂ™t acquaint the aberration amid an aboriginal Rolex Day-Date watch and its replica models.For these reasons, these replica watches accept become a bulk one advantage for a ample bulk of style-conscious people. These days, even some affluent barter assume to adopt these replicas to their aboriginal models and they accept been begin adage that why buy big-ticket aboriginal brands if these replicas can action all what can be advised capital to addition your style.If you accept absitively to addition your appearance with a Rolex Day-Date replica watch, none can serve your purpose bigger than us, as we accept somewhat amaranthine accumulating of altered Rolex replica watches that abode the aforementioned actualization and functions which you can see in their aboriginal models. Whether itвЂ™s about architecture and appearance or actualization and functions, you will acquisition these replica watches about the aforementioned as their aboriginal watches.All the accessible watches are developed by utilizing the a lot of avant-garde technologies of today and absolute absorption is paid even to the aboriginal data accessible in the aboriginal Rolex watches. Similarly, some actual top superior abstracts are acclimated to actualize these watches. All these things accomplish Rolex replica watches arise like their aboriginal models and itвЂ™s because of their original-like feel and low prices that a ample bulk of barter now wish to accept these watches instead of the aboriginal Rolex watches.

The History of Breitling Watches

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Breitling Watch Aggregation History Founded by Leon Breitling in the Jura Mountains of Switzerland in 1884. Breitling bogus and specialized in chronographs and attention counters for authentic and able purposes. Breitling accomplished fast success and as a aftereffect relocated his branch to La Chaux-de-Fonds, the centermost of watchmaking in Switzerland. Breitling connected to accomplish accomplished watches until his afterlife in 1914.Control of the accepted watch aggregation was taken over by Breitling\'s son, Gaston, who created the aboriginal replica watches uk alarm and supplied them to aeroplane pilots. Breitling one-upped himself by inventing the aboriginal push-button alarm in 1923. Previously, all chronographs were operating by axis a crown.The Breitling attitude is anesthetized forth through the ancestors already again, to Gaston\'s son, Willy Breitling in 1932. Taking the ancestors business to new heights, Willy Breitling active a accord with the Royal Air Force, acceptable their official supplier of aerodynamics timepieces.Creating the aboriginal alarm to be adapted with a annular accelerate aphorism and abacus the American Armed Forces to its audience list, 1942 accepted to be a big year for Breitling.In 1952, Breitling makes addition breakthrough, by creating the Navitimer, a watch amid with the acclaimed \"Navigation Computer\". The Navitimer was able of administration all calculations alleged for by a flight plan. After the conception of this \"super\" watch, Breitling supplied the cockpits of about every above all-embracing airline.A above advance for the Swiss watch industry, Breitling invents the aboriginal self-winding alarm movement, in 1969.In 1979, Breitling easily the aggregation over to pilot, watch manufacturer, and chip specialist, Ernest Schneider.Yet addition advance came in 1995, if Breitling invented the Emergency, a multifunction apparatus watch with a congenital micro-transmitter, which broadcasts on the 121.5 MHz aircraft emergency frequency.As a ceremony to its 100 year anniversary, Breitling submits its absolute artefact band to the Swiss Alarm Testing Institute in 1999, something that has never been done by any added company.Notorious for breakthroughs and inventions, Breitling introduces the SuperQuartz in 2001, which provides movement 10 times added authentic than approved quartz movements.Today, Breitling continues to amaze watch collectors and connoisseurs apple wide. To account their heritage, Breitling opened a alarm movement branch in La Chaux-de-Fonds, the bearing abode of the brand. Breitling has continued been a favorite, actuality at Urbane.

The Exasperation Of Watch Strap Repair

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One annoying aspect about replica watches uk is the place easily their straps break. They\'ve that annoying little pin that slides into the hole over the rest the strap then fixes onto the watch itself. But nevertheless strap constantly falls off. Once you have a wrist watch for over eighteen months it lets you do probably happens 4 or 5 times. Usually it may perhaps by fixed without any help. Easily done, just slide the pin on place. The challenge comes any time you bend that pin or lose it. Where it can also get a new one?Well definitely you adopt it to watchmakers as fixed. Basically you employ a new strap. It costs almost none and ingests a short period of time grow to be done. There may be certainly no waiting.The disease comes as soon as watchmaker asks what strap you like. These day there are several types. There is leather and metal straps and many different colors and fashoins. You came into so as to get your fixed and you are also now faced with the difficult but strangely pleasurably experience of trying to decide what strap will appear the cheapest. What sort offer you a one of the attention?If you happen to go out of this shop one may additionally wear the latest watch it then little resembles exactly what it appeared to be merely a five minutes ago. Yes go ahead and get those strap repaired keep in mind it is currently looked at about the most important aspects from the watch allowing it to both change its whole feel.I remember I bought a really watch out of your market precisely due to the fact entirely was cheap. Nasty, but cheap. Just like cheap things from sell it off broke within days. I caught the strap in just a door and it tricked. So off I decided on the timepiece repair for a brand new one. Next time i left that shop I still had broadly the same awful digital clock face, but alternatively through the sweaty plastic strap I had engineered a gorgeous green leather one. I loved my watch in that case and has becoming said it drew a few compliments.Your situation comes normally once you\'ve a classic watch and then the strap breaks maybe in my ballet shoes. Get to the mechanic shop set on obtaining same strap as they cease to ensure it is in store. And it\'s also absolutely not made. One course of action towards situation is attempting internet marketing. If that fails you can find enough straps to be found to buy a similar looking one. Mother and father quite work same, but I suppose their is certainly not can be done.

Rolex Yacht-Master - Feel the Spirit of Ocean

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Rolex is known as a brand that produces luxury watches that are known in all over the world. This outstanding brand produces a fantastic variety of watches and its catalogue does cater to all tastes. A very big part of Rolex watches make sports swiss replica watches – truly fantastic timepieces whose great sports design, perfect accuracy and functionality amaze everyone. Rolex Yacht-Master is one of most popular Rolex collections. These watches are designed for those who like yachts, regatta and everything related to sea. The collection was introduced in 1992 with the model 11628 that was made out of yellow gold. Some time later, in 1994 Rolex released a new lady’s Yacht-Master model and a mid-sized men’s model. This was the first time the brand had ever produced a smaller professional size wristwatch. In 1996 Rolex presented a new two-tone (stainless steel and yellow gold) lady’s version of Yacht-Master collection. In 1997 Rolex presented the new Yacht Master model in Rolesium, a term patented by the brand in 1932. The new model had a stainless steel and platinum construction: the bezel and the dial of the watch are made of platinum while the case and the other elements of the watch are made out of stainless steel. Rolex Yacht-Master II has a programmable countdown feature which can be set according to the starting sequences of each regatta. The watch costs about $ 30 000. Yes, Yacht Master watches, like all over watches by Rolex are very expensive. This is quite natural because these watches are produced by a world known brand whose watches have become status symbols. Rolex watches are ones of most complicated watches and you know that production of complicated watches is quite expensive. One more characteristic makes Rolex watches very costly – materials. You know that many Rolex watches and Rolex Yacht-Mater watches as well are made out of precious metals and gemstones. We offer to your attention watches that do not cost as much as Rolex watches, but that feature all the nice characteristics of Rolex watches. These are Rolex replica watches – perfect clones of original watches by Rolex. Our Rolex replica watches look exactly like originals, though they do not include precious metals and gemstones. As well our Rolex replica watches are equipped with high quality movements, so not only beautiful look makes our Rolex replica watches great. Among our Rolex replica watches you will certainly find one that will fulfill your dream!

The Best of Breitling

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The Breitling brand is one that is much recognized in the world of luxury watches. If you\'re a fan of watches, you\'ll know that Breitlings were originally created for aviation pilots; to assist them when flying, which is why the Breitling motto is \"instruments for professionals.\"If you know this, then you also probably know that most people today that wear a Breitling watch are not pilots of any kind; except perhaps pilots of luxury and status symbols. This is not a bad thing and in retrospect Breitling has definitely made its money off those that seek and can afford luxury items over the percentage of the population that knows how to fly a plane. Breitling watches have received mass press from the many celebrities that wear them as well; thereby \"inducting\" them into the \" replica watches uk Hall of Fame.\"Breitling primarily makes men\'s watches, so it is men that primarily wear them. Celebrities like Brad Pitt, John Travolta (also a certified pilot), Dave Chapelle, Tom Cruise and Simon Cowell are all fans and have given many of Breitling\'s collections a good rap.Let\'s look the \"best of Breitling\" by going over the most popular collections.The Navitimer collection was born in the 1940\'s when the brand added a circular slide rule to the bezel, making a better watch for pilots. Over the years the Navitimer has built a solid reputation and is now known as the \"world\'s oldest chronograph.\" During the 1950\'s and 1960\'s sub-collections like the Navitimer Montbrillant and Navitmer World were released.The Navitimer Montbrillant is named after the factory in which this chronograph was first made. The design is 40\'s inspired and comes with a 38mm case, while the Navitimer World is one of Breitling\'s largest watches ever made, measuring 10% bigger than the Navitimer. The Navtimer World is called so because the caseback is engraved with all the time zones of the world\'s greatest cities.The Breitling for Bentley collection is a self explanatory collaboration between two of the most renowned brands within their respective industries: luxury watches and luxury automobiles. Within this main collection are many subcategories such as Bentley, Bentley Flying B, and Bentley GMT.The Bentley Flying B collection features watches that come with rectangular-shaped cases, which is meant to reflect the \"elegance of a coupe or convertible.\" The name is dedicated to the \"winged B\" which has always been known as Bentley\'s \"mascot\" and is seen on the back of each car.Some of the less popular Breitling collections (among the general populace at least) seem to be the Aeromarine Avenger and Colt ones as well as the Professional Skyracer. Since all Breitlings really are \"instruments for professionals\" they focus more on the functionality of the watch versus the look and when you first look at these collections, you\'ll notice the face is much smaller than the Breitlings that have become so popular, which is a basic reason why watches from the collections mentioned above are not seen around town as much.

Philip Stein provides adult males Handsome Choices

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Of course, Philip Stein helps make wrist watches for equally adult males and women, but these days I\'d want to concentrate on men\'s watches. females store for and buy various components and pieces of jewelry, just like bracelets, rings, necklaces, and earrings, but for most men, the only item of diamond jewelry they own...is their timepiece. A classy check out may well be considered a man\'s only style accessory, and that\'s many pressure. you desire him to produce the perfect impression and you also wish to be component of that, by purchasing him a great watch. It\'s essential to realize, that you simply don\'t need to break the financial institution to find yourself having a large finish watch. Let\'s consider a glance at a few of within the diverse designs of men\'s watches, which would search fantastic in your guy\'s wrist.While Movado\'s, Breitling\'s, and Omega\'s can operate you anyplace from $1,000 all of the way as a good deal as $15,000 and more, there are various good quality check out makers for the market, who provide a great, well-made timepiece at a a good deal extra sensible price. Now, I\'m not disregarding that the Movado is definitely an investment, which could, conceivably remain within your family members for generations, but let\'s deal with it, various of us, just don\'t have that form of money to shell out on the watch.Once you do a little of on-line research, you will locate that there are a quantity of reputable companies, which provide extremely stylish, inexpensive watches, for below $300.00. examine out replica watch, Movado, even Gucci and you also will locate that you simply can choose up an amazing watch, for any fraction of what other makers are asking.

Rolex Oysterquartz

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Some watch purists may argue that \"Rolex quartz movement\" is a bit of an oxymoron. But even a staunchly traditional company like Rolex sometimes thinks out of the box, goes out on a limb, and manufactures products that may seem incongruous with its image, but manage to tick along just the same (excuse the pun). A limited runDespite Rolex\'s solid commitment to mechanical movements, the company first started to dabble with electronic timekeeping in the early 1950s. It introduced its first Cheap Watches, the Quartz Date 5100 -- which shared the Beta 21 movement with other Swiss watchmakers -- in 1970. Only 1,000 of these watches were produced before the company began to develop its own quartz movement.In 1977 Rolex launched the Oysterquartz line in the DateJust and Day-Date (also known as President) watches. Special models with bejeweled bracelets, dials and bezels were also produced.With their solid Oyster cases and matching integral bracelets in gold or a combination of gold and stainless steel, the watches offered just the right blend of simplicity and dazzle, without going overboard in either direction. You could comfortably wear them for a dressy or casual occasion and not commit any major social faux-pas.Unfortunately, Oysterquartz proved not to be as timeless as Rolex\'s other models, because the production of this line ceased in 2001. In total some 25,000 watches were manufactured in 24 years, making the Oysterquartz one of the rarest watches ever produced, and thus all the more valuable to collectors.When Rolex first launched this model in 1977, it described it as a mix of \"functional elegance and quality,\" but did specify that one little defect cannot be ruled out: a possible variation of one minute per year.Maybe that is why, in the end, the Oysterquartz missed its boat.Worth buying?Is it worth your while to search for the Oysterquartz? If you are a passionate collector or a vintage watch enthusiast, then why not. But if you just like the look of this model and don\'t care about its history, the DateJust or Day-Date (President) might fit the bill - and your wrist.Keep in mind that, as is the case with all discontinued models, it will be increasingly difficult to find jewelers with either the expertise or the parts to repair the Oysterquartz in the years to come. This watch is best appreciated in your collection, rather than on your wrist.

Omega looks after in Sports

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When you really feel of Omega and athletics commonly you\'d image the timers put covering the observe in the Olympic games, nonetheless the truth is Omega delve so a great offer deeper within planet of activity too as Olympics that at any time you obtain Omega watches, you can be acquiring precision, trustworthiness and trustworthiness that could perhaps be endorsed by way of the athletics planet and its organizations, too as the various completely known athletics personalities that happen to be invited to the Discount Watches family. The respect that these companies and persons give to Omega is mainly a mutual partnership consequently of commitment from Omega to activity getting identical to the commitment offered to view making.Omega looks after linked with FINAOmega watches, timings and characteristics are distribute through activity in to Golf, Athletics and Swimming between others. covering the many years the partnership which has shaped with FINA (Federation global de Natation) is really powerful that their working partnership was lengthy in 2006. an additional tag of commitment may be the work that Omega demonstrate in covering all while using FINA disciplines, with 13 technicians and half a dozen tons of machines mobilized for her or his events. Omega has also proved their commitment to golf, while using design, producing and naming while using \'Double Eagle\' keep observe of found out within Speedmaster collection. that could be the specific same commitment and partnership characteristics that are running being offered for you at any time you opt to buy your keep observe of with Omega, a advantage being cherished, and never pushed apart cheaply.Omega looks after and Swimming jewelry MedalistsSport has allowed Omega to produce an great acceptance for trustworthiness and precision, that is some stage has as long gone from energy to energy offered that Omega commenced out in Olympic discs timekeeping in 1932, but a great example is when Anthony Nestt took the jewelry medal within Olympic discs in Seoul, 1988, subsequent finishing only one hundredth of your 2nd forward of Matt Blondi within 100m butterfly. that is simply only one great demonstration of Omega´s perfection, but there are actually various additional good examples equivalent in the choice of disciplines through the athletics world.Omega looks after in the Beijing OlympicsThe Beijing Olympics and Paralympics offered Omega with an exceptional challenge which was dealt with like no other athletics timekeeper, accountable for time sustaining and information handling for 28 completely different athletics in a total of 38 venues, this was done, as anticipated by Omega, with perfection and professionalism, some stage for you personally to experience with Omega when acquiring your watch.These details that keep observe of Omegas great characteristics are all so completely endorsed that it could well be considered a miscalculation to not buy your keep observe of with Omega within special event you can be looking for everything from an extremely simple timekeeping piece, by way of to some sophisticated, stylish and really current do the profession of craft to compliment your model and taste.

The Omega Seamaster watch collection of

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Seamaster library collections is one of the best known and most-favored within the range Omega, in part by the use in the 007 films, but also for practical use of this watch of many stars and athletes that can be experienced by you when you buy Omega Seamaster Collection. These watches are really quality themselves in regard to its unique quality, not only land but also in the sea. Omega is smart, that\'s for sure. The company plays its cards right. Even in this global financial crisis, the Asian market is still buying luxury items such as watches. Therefore, to present this new collection, a small woman with Ziyi in her homeland, was right on the money.Omega even opened a new boutique in Shanghai. I\'m sure he\'s counting on consumer floods pour pulgPara attract potential buyers, Omega offers an opportunity for one lucky winner to win a new watch Constellation Collection 2009 that comes in a box signed by Zhang. rolex replica uk has great appeal. Offering both men\'s and women\'s watches, clocks can be used for work and play. Since its founding in 1848, Omega watches have become and remains one of the most popular watch brands and respected in the world.Omega Seamaster watch of choice for the OceanAs its name suggests, these watches are water resistant to a great depth, especially 300 meters, it is a true quality for sailors and yachts, as Dean Barker, and Dame Ellen MacArthur, who opt for the Seamaster, as the preferred choice of Omega. Other familiar characters who also enjoy the benefits of water quality test that can be found in the Seamaster are Olympic gold medalist and world record holder Michael Phelps and his competitors and guests in the pool, Alexander Popov, Ian Thorpe and Dean Barker.Omega Seamaster Worn by movie starsHowever, not only in the water that comes to your own Seamaster, but also on the ground, and you can find a myriad of benefits to buy the Omega Seamaster, regardless of the style you choose from the vast range available. George Clooney is a fan of the clock used by James Bond over his films from Omega\'s debut in Goldeneye in 1995. Award-winning actor enjoys the Seamaster in a variety of colors and styles, including \"Aqua Terra\" and the new \"Planet Ocean Chrono\", which included Daniel Craig, when he played Mr. Bond Quantum of Solace, with it \'s leading black dial.Omega Seamaster Watch Available in a variety of stylesWhen you buy the Omega Seamaster, whether the \"Railmaster\", the \"Aqua Terra\", \"Planet Ocean\", or any of the other styles of the general collection, all of which are available in a combination of known and loved Omega gold options red, white and yellow, or steel, and each style to take their features and specifications, you can shop in the comfort of knowing that this watch is so well supported by many highly respected people, and celebrities.Each of these people enjoy their Omega for their own personal reasons, and this fact alone know when you put your newly acquired Omega Seamaster you also begin to enjoy the benefits, quality and accuracy you expect to find when you buy any of Omega watches.

Hawei E220 3G Wireless USB Modem Offers Mobile Internet Surfing

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Facing the society requiring faster and faster pace, people need to work through and enjoy the Internet at places even outside the coverage area of traditional broadband connectivity. There aren’t really many choices when it comes to getting your broadband fix – either move or go mobile. Nowadays more and more popular 3G provides us two methods of getting connected and enjoy the internet- via Bluetooth or cable and 3G usb modem. The first and the more common method would be to hook up your laptop to your 3G cell phone via Bluetooth or cable. This method works fine for casual surfing however if you were looking at having an always-on mobile data connection the best option would be via a dedicated 3G datacard or USB modem （http://www.twayf.com/usb-modem） . Wirless Huawei E220 HPSD USB Modem which can be used on laptops and PC computers redefines mini fashion for the elite. It is a brand new in box E220 HSDPA 3.6MBPS modem. It is unlocked, and can work with any 3G network , including MTN , Vodacom , Cell C and Virgin , and any other 3G or HSDPA network worldwide. The Huawei E220 modem delivers an access rate up to 3.6Mbps on the HSDPA, or 384kbps on the UMTS, or 236.8kbps on the EDGE, or 85.6kbps on the GPRS network. At the same time, it supports short message services. The installation technique employed in Huawei E220 （http://www.twayf.com/huawei-e220 ） mobile broadband dongle is Plug-n-Go. That is, you can insert your 3G SIM card into the modem, plug the dongle into the USB port of the laptop/desktop and start accessing internet. When you plug the dongle for the first time, a software installation has to be done. The installation wizard will guide you through this process.The E220 is an ideal choice for the mobile people who need a fast reliable connection With a usb modem like Huawei E220 usb stick unlocked, you will enjoy the convenience the Internet brings you without being bounded to any cables. Enjoy the Internet on mobile, experience the colorful life.

Punctually affluence Omega watches

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Women like to be added admirable and Men wish to be absorbing as able-bodied as women. The aberration amid them is that women use artist handbags and clothes to adorn themselves but men adopt watches. Cheap Affluence watches can accomplish the man actual absorbing and stylish. Cheap Omega watch is one of them.Luxury watch is all-important accessories for man; they watch has a austere aftermath process. Swiss, Italian, Japanese and German watches are all acclaimed in the world. There are abounding top watches to select. Which one do you choose? best replica watches, Rolex watches, Cartier watches or added brands? I accept the omega watches as my favor.Omega watches are accepted for application their amount for a continued time. The agency in Omega watches application their amount is the superior which they are produced with. Each new Omega movement has to canyon all-encompassing standards. The movements are activated in absolute Omega watches, and, at the aforementioned time, assorted lab examinations are conducted to verify the movement\'s adeptness to abide temperature, shock and vibration. The attention of the movement is aswell tested. Along with this, if a new case has been produced, it is subjected to assorted tests as well. The accommodation on whether to accomplish a new case is alone taken if the new ancestor passes all tests acceptable abundant quality.A big allotment of this is due to co-axial escapement. Assisted by the success of ability 2500, Omega developed the aboriginal accomplishment time-piece that congenital a coaxial escapement. Invented by George Daniels, a watchmaker from England, and accustomed as the a lot of important watch-making beforehand in contempo times. The coaxial beat around eliminates the charge for lubrication, which abundantly increases attention and the charge for aliment over time.That is the acumen why affluence watch is so expensive. For a lot of of us, we can\'t allow a absolute one. So our aboriginal best is a replica. A lot of of these watch is the aforementioned as a absolute one, and don\'t anguish about the quality. Replica watches accept low price. Abounding of you accept the acquaintance of online purchasing. And you apperceive that the a lot of important affair is to seek a reliable retailer. Wish you a blessed shopping.

Unlock Huawei E1550 for Cool Internet in Hot Summer

, NaN 09:00:00 EST

Are you still being bounded to the annoying network cables to work or relax on Internet in this hot summer? Can you bear this? I CANNOT! Under such high temperature, we need cool places and Internet. The usb modem (http://www.twayf.com/usb-modem )acts as the special hotness-fighter for it offers us freedom to choose cool places for internet, even on the move. Huawei wireless 3g modems (http://www.twayf.com/usb-modem/huawei) are good choices. The 3G modems shipped out by providers are usually lock. Read on and find out how to easily unlock Huawei 3G Modem for free internet surfing. This time let’s take Huawei E1550 as an example. The Huawei E1550 HSDPA USB modem ( http://www.twayf.com/huawei-e1550 ) is an ultra slim USB modem that is ideal for users who need high speed data on the move. It provides the latest plug and play USB modem solution with a modern elegant design. Installation is straight forward plug and play and does not require any additional software or drivers. Simply place your data enabled SIM (not included) into the E1550 USB modem and plug modem into the USB slot on your laptop. The following step-by-step procedure on how to unlock Huawei E1550 3G modem: 1. On this Huawei Modem Unlock Code Generator (http://a-zgsm.com/huawei.php ) site, getting your modem’s unlock code is as simple as entering your modem’s IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identifier), enter the CAPTCHA code and click on the “Calculator” button.Within seconds, it will return you with your modem’s unlock code and flash code.2. To make use of the unlock code, insert an unauthorized sim card to your Huawei modem. Unauthorized sim card meaning sim card from any operators other than the one the modem is currently locked to.3. When you do so, you would be prompt for the modem’s unlock code. Just enter the unlock code you have received earlier. You can now use your Huawei USB modem with sim cards from any other operator and at places without cables, even on the move. It’s hot, though, we can look for our own ways to create cool atmosphere. Using the unlocked 3g usb stick will assisst you to enjoy more comforts.

WiFi iPad +3G Router, Say no to iPad 3G

, NaN 09:00:00 EST

Still making a difficult decision about whether or not to splurge for the costlier iPads that come outfitted for 3G connectivity over AT&T\'s or Verizon\'s wireless network? Do not think any more about it. Another economical alternative is here for you: forget a iPad with 3G, and get a 3G mobile hotspot router instead! Now the fatest speed 3G router is ZTE MF60 which gives maximum 8 users super fast Internet experience simultaneously with upto 21.6Mbps download speed.Wi-Fi iPad VS. Wi-Fi + 3G iPadiPad with Wi-Fi is ideal if you have a wireless high-speed Internet router in your home, or if you\'ll be using your iPad near a wireless hotspot -- in a coffee shop or school library, for example. Wi-Fi + 3G iPad includes Wi-Fi connectivity as well as 3G connectivity. The Wi-Fi + 3G iPad provides you another way to surf on the Internet in places without Wi-Fi hotspots, such as outdoors or on your morning commute. Let\'s look their price. The 3G version of the iPad costs $130 more than its Wi-Fi only counterpart, and all that buys you is the privilege of having the option to use 3G. I think it is a little expensive. If you decide to buy an iPad with Wi-Fi + 3G, you should buy with the carrier model you\'d like to use for 3G service. The iPad model you purchase is specially configured to work with either AT&T or Verizon -- not both. And you also have to pay extra 3G data fee for each month.Wi-Fi iPad + 3G Router VS. Wi-Fi + 3G iPadIf you get a 3G mobile router for your Wi-Fi iPad, you can turn your Wi-Fi iPad to a 3G iPad easily. Amazing! Take ZTE MF60 for example, it takes the 3G signal it receives and broadcasts it as a Wi-Fi signal for your other WiFi devices to access 3G network. There are many benefits for the combination of Wi-Fi iPad and 3G Router.
* Avoid any of the streaming-video content restrictions with higher speed. 3G MiFi router enables us to avoid any of the streaming-video content restrictions reported by iPad 3G users. The ABC video player worked fine, as did the Netflix streaming app (an update allowing the ABC app to work on the iPad 3G is reportedly on the way). It is fine for Web surfing and even video streaming. With some fast speed 3G routers (Mf60), you can get about 21.6Mbps download speed. So fast surfing experience.* Allow variety of other Wi-Fi devices access 3G network. If you choose MF60 mobile hotspot as the partner of your Wi-Fi iPad, you can allow up to other 7 Wi-Fi devices to surf on the 3G network at the same time, including your laptops, netbooks, iPhone, iTouch, PSP, Xbox, and more devices.* Access any network operator\'s 3G network on the move. No locked MiFi hostspot enables your iPad with any network operators. So, if you use T-mobile, Vodafone or other 3G SIM cards other than AT&T or Verizon SIM card, your iPad aslo can surf on the 3G Internet. You do not need to buy extra 3G service.3G wireless router is definitely a good partner for non-3G iPad users, especially, for those who have to go long road trips that also want to be connected to the Internet for some entertainment. If you now have a Wi-Fi iPad and want to experience the high speed 3G network, find a partner for your iPad now.

How to Reduce Internet Fee with Usb Modem

, NaN 09:00:00 EST

It is convenient to surf internet with usb modem like Huawei e372 (http://www.twayf.com/huawei-e372 ). If the internet bill can be kept minimum then it will be perfect. Here some tips to reduce your internet fee with usb modem will be introduced. First, never leave your USB modem (http://www.twayf.com/usb-modem ) plugged into your computer and connected to the internet. If you are not going to be on your desk for more than 15 min, click on “disconnect” and then leave.Second, watch out for P2P and torrent applications or programs. If installed make sure that they are not running in the background if you are not downloading or uploading data. These programs share files and data between users around the world. Common programs or applications are Lime wire, Bit torrent, Utorrent and many others.Third, if your computer is new it will require a lot of updates from your OS provider like Microsoft, Mac, Linux etc. Make sure that you are aware of your update system.Fourth, do not use your 3g modem on a router if you are the only internet user. If you do use it on a router make sure that you do not share the internet key of your router with any unauthorized person.Also, make sure that you keep track of your internet usage with your internet service provider. Most service providers have a web self care system in place to keep you updated of your usage. Make sure that you make good use of this service.At last , make sure that you choose a right plan according to your usage. It’s not a bad idea to go in for a higher plan, know your usage and downgrade later if it is more than what you require. Choosing a lower plan and then moving higher can be costly as you may end up with a high bill if exceeded.Of course ,it is also important that you must choose a good wireless usb modem. Huawei E372 USB stick supports 42M downlink speed the fastest HSPA+ USB stick in the world currently. It energizes your march in the Internet world with twice speed of the normal standard up to 42Mbps. Supported by the dual carrier HSPA+ network platform, The Huawei E372 assures your connection to the web steadily and rapidly.

ZTE MF668 Modem Assists Great Internet on the Move

, NaN 09:00:00 EST

It’s common for business men to check urgent emails or documents even on the train, bus, airport, etc. They need to work through computers all the time. Also the young like to surf the Internet for entertainment anywhere. Under those conditions, how can you guarantee the internet for your work and play? Ok, a usb modem (http://www.twayf.com/usb-modem/zte) is the great assistant for you to work through steady internet on the go. Among usb mdoems, the ZTE MF668 modem (http://www.twayf.com/zte-mf668) with unique features works perfectly, especially for the use on the move. It uses high speed packet access or HSPA that is considered as the next evolution of wireless broadband technology. Because of this, the device is also capable of higher capacity data throughput compared to lower end USB modems. The use of HSPA is the greatest advantage of the ZTE MF668 over other devices that still use older technologies.The use of HSPA ensures not only fast Internet access but also a stable one. This means you can use the unlocked MF668 on a train or a car without the fear that you will lose connection to the Internet. If you already own an early model USB modem, then you are probably well aware of the difficulty to get a signal while you are on the move. This device answers that problem and makes Internet connectivity on wheels as stable as being on solid groundThis device can easily be taken anywhere. You can simply slip it into your pocket or in your laptop bag. Speaking of flash drives, you can actually use this nifty piece of equipment as a storage device where you can put all sorts of files thanks to a Micro SD slot that can hold up to 8 GB of memory. Because it is a plug and play device, the ZTE MF668 does not need any special installation procedures. Just plug it to your Windows or Mac system and you\'re ready to go. The MF688 modem is perfect for individuals who are always on the go. If you need to surf the Internet or check your email while on the bus, car or train, then all you have to do is to stick this device to your laptop. You can also keep your important files with this usb stick all the time.With a usb modem (http://www.twayf.com/usb-modem)like zte mf668 unlocked, you can enjoy the steady and fast connection to the Internet, thus your work will be free from the constraint to the places and internet.

Share 3G USB Modem Internet with Router

, NaN 09:00:00 EST

Travel together with friends and want to share the internet with them? Using a 3G USB modem (http://www.twayf.com/usb-modem ) offers you the convenience of being online while traveling or being away from your usual Internet connection. But How about when there are more computers to connect with the Internet? Here we will show you how to make other computers a wonderful Internet connection with a 3G usb modem and a wireless router (http://www.twayf.com/3g-router )for no cost other than the internet fee you use for one PC. The USB modem\'s connection can be shared with other devices by using a wireless router. Use a wireless router to establish a local area network for nearby Wi-Fi-capable computers and other devices. You can follow the steps:1. Connect your 3G USB-enabled router to power. Insert one end of its power supply into the device\'s \"Power\" or \"AC\" port. Then insert the other end of the power supply into a nearby electrical outlet. And Connect your modem to an available USB slot on the wireless router using a USB cable.2. Open your computer or other Wi-Fi-enabled device\'s \"View Wireless Networks\" option. Then it displays a list of available wireless networks. Click the network connection or Wi-Fi icon in your Windows Explorer taskbar\'s notification area or Finder menu bar respectively.4. Select the wireless network named after your wireless router\'s model. And it connects the computer or Wi-Fi-enabled device to your newly established network. If there are other computers or Wi-Fi-enabled devices you wish to connect to the 3G USB modem\'s wireless signal, just repeat the above steps.5. Enter the network\'s password, if necessary. Next you will be connected to your 3G USB modem\'s Wi-Fi signal through the wireless router. You may then perform online functions from the connected device, such as browsing the Web or transferring files and data.One of the important issues to guarantee the quality of the connection is to choose proper 3G usb modem and wireless router. Here Huawei E160e usb modem (http://www.twayf.com/huawei-e160e ) is recommended. It can connect to wireless internet anytime you want and it\'s also fast. It supports the SIM card from many networks such as: GSM Quadband / HSDPA / 3G / EDGE / GPRS. With the small size and light weight, you can carry this wireless USB modem anywhere. It offers you a high download and uploads speed. It can also use as a normal USB when you insert a microSD card which provided for you up to 4 Gb.

Turn PDF Files to Flipping Books Online

Fri, 23 Sep 2011 09:00:00 EST

Transforming PDF files into flipping book is simpler than you believe. Technological innovation has produced a great progress and flip books are the next plausible off shoot of PDF producing. Flipping books are world-wide-web publications that have the overall appear and feeling of a journal, paper or book. PDF documents have extensively served as the link in between a straight webpage, which consists of constrained layout functions, and actual publications that have been developed by graphic artists and produced via regular procedures.With some flip book software ( http://www.kvisoft.com/flipbook-maker/ ), you can make flipping books from your PDF files with ease. Flipping books offer you an online opportunity to produce a magazine or similar publication that looks just like the printed version complete with page turning (hence, the name \"flip book\"), and could be produced conveniently from the PDF format. Even though PDF\'s have evolved, they do not compare to flip books which can give audio and video inputs, professional layout and links to external sources. You\'ll be able to also contain advertising, coupon discounts and consist of opt-in e-mail capabilities.Turning PDF into flipping books might be automated once you have a fantastic conversion site. Your publication will probably be imported with all the links, table of contents, graphics and so forth all set for you to revise. What makes PDF documents so very simple to utilize is their basic coding which is made to tell printing equipment what imagery to make. Because this coding is already apparent, they are unbelievably basic to utilize within the importation and transformation procedure.As soon as your PDF is transformed, it is actually doable to modify, add or delete visual and textual components, contain sound and video inputs and do additional style before publishing on the net or other graphical-ready unit. Good conversion web pages supply efficient functions and incorporate a graphical user interface that may transform your PDF into a publication quickly and just.This could be the subsequent phase in e-publishing, plus the application is intended to let you turn flat, 2D PDF\'s into realistic and spectacular publications. Crucial publications such as the New York Times and a lot of periodicals have already accepted the flip book format because it is a natural extension of their regular publishing platforms.These flip books are currently becoming applied to create all kinds of e-publications: annual reports, magazines, catalogs and books. It has come to be the natural option to regular printing and can utilize today’s multimedia to add dimension to the user\'s reading encounter.Uploading your PDF is uncomplicated; it truly is just like uploading any file through an on-line interface. As soon as you upload your PDF, it should really take a couple of minutes for the program to go by means of your publication and get it prepared for transformation.To acquire superb outcomes, at all times enhance your PDF document prior to uploading to guarantee that it maintains the high quality and viewing rate that you want. Do not make spreads within the PDF document, due to the fact the majority of conversion programs cannot handle it. Make certain which you have individual pages only within your PDF document, and there need to just be even pages or you might finish up with white pages placed automatically in the finish of the publication. Put basically, your publication have to be an even amount of pages long (two, four, 6, 8, 10, 12 . . .)Make particular that all the pages within the PDF are consistent in size or the program will produce pages averaged between the biggest and littlest size – unsatisfactory for the majority of the pages. Any hyperlinks which are within your PDF will transfer into your flip book. Additionally, ensure to use genuine text inside your PDF; or else, Google will not index it.You should use RGB colors only. Appropriate now, most converters won\'t transform CMYK colors, so you are going to have to run the preflight software program in Adobe Acrobat to transform your publication from CMYK and Pantone spot colors to the finest RGB equivalent. It\'s going to not critically weaken the colors in your project except in case you are employing Pantone spot colors that do not transform to CMYK equals which are comparable.Want to convert your PDF to Flippingbook ( http://www.kvisoft.com/flipbook-maker/ ) and share online? Take Kvisoft FlipBook maker with you!

Mobile Network on the move - Bigpond 3G21WB

Fri, 16 Sep 2011 09:00:00 EST

This is the age of internet. Internet is a major tool in communication and it has become crucial in every field. For easy net access, broadband is very important as the traditional dial up connections are outdated as well as too slow. Nowadays, a factor that is most preferred and is demanded is mobility. People now move frequently for travelling or business, they may need access into the mobile internet. Then, a 3G modem like Bigpond 3G21WB broadband wireless gateway (http://www.twayf.com/bigpond-3g21wb) would a good assitant. The Bigpond Elite 3G21WB is a new home internet gateway that delivers high-speed broadband over the Next G wireless network, which means no cables and no fixed lines. Designed and built by NetComm, this gateway is essentially a 3G modem/router with the same HSPA+ technology used in its mobile broadband sticks. The device is well suited to people who don\'t have a landline, people who don\'t have access to ADSL/cable, or people who move frequently, such as travellers or renters.If you are one of those people who hate wires (and who doesn\'t), then getting a wireless router such as the BigPond Elite 3G21WB is the best option for you. With this device, you can create a network around your home or even your office without unsightly wires. You and the other people in your home or office can share fast and reliable Internet connection without the difficulty and the hassle of setting up and maintaining a wired network.Still, fast and reliable home Internet connection is hard to come by and the problem, oftentimes, lie on the hardware. If connection speed is important for you and your family, then the BigPond Elite 3G21WB network gateway wireless mobile broadband cellular router is for you. This device currently offers the fastest broadband connection with a peak rated downlink speed of 21Mbps and uplink speed of 5.76Mbps as it connects to the 3.75G network. It supports HSUPA, HSDPA, HSPA+, UMTS, WCDMA, GPRS, GSM and EDGE networks.If it is fast, reliable and secure home Internet broadband connection you are looking for, then make sure that you have the hardware that is up to it like the BigPond Elite 3G21WB. Currently the fastest wireless mobile broadband cellular router available in the market, the BigPond Elite 3G21WB can also be used in a small office or business establishment.Do your family often travel on holidays? The Gateway also helps keep families entertained on holidays and while on the move. All that\'s required is power and Next G network coverage and parents can quickly and easily access all their online must-haves, from instant messaging and email to YouTube. This device comes unlocked and SIM free, so it could support any carriers.

100Mbps 4G LTE USB Dongle - Samsung GT-B3740

Tue, 13 Sep 2011 09:00:00 EST

LTE stands for 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project) Long Term Evolution. Operating under a name trademarked by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI). It is actually the technology used by telecom industry players to serve as an upgrade for them to offer a true fourth generation or 4G service. And Samsung GT-B3740 LTE modem ( http://www.twayf.com/samsung-gt-b3740 ) is a good device for the LTE network.The Samsung GT-B3740 LTE Surfstic USB Dongle modem is the first LTE device to achieve GCF Certification. This modem available now in a few EU countries supports LTE network -- new mobile technology. So you can work without interruption virtually wherever LTE network available.After plug it into your computer, you can check email, deliver web seminars, and query ERP / CRM applications, or video conference with your team with ease. Right now, the LTE technology has been released in many countries around the world as Vodafone Germany, Austria, Poland, Great Britain UK and more.Benefits for you:Share 4G LTE internet connection with up to five Wi-Fi-enabled devices at the same time 4G LTE customers can expect download speeds of 5 to 12 Mbps and upload speeds of 2 to 5 Mbps in 4G mobile broadband coverage areas Backward compatible with the Wireless 3G networkNow, many of people enter into the mobile network. Business persons/sales people need to stay in touch with their office headquarters and colleagues while they are on business tours. They not only need to talk to their customers, colleagues and superiors but also need to access their e-mails and surf the Internet. Desktop users who require permanent wireless Internet connection also choose mobile network. Also, users in rural areas can use 3G network where broadband Internet connection is not available.If you want to be the one to enjoy the fun of 4G network, this Samsung LTE Usb stick would be a good choice for you.

Learn how you can do just that with the best winning roulette systems online

, NaN 09:00:00 EST

Winning Roulette Systems is an online roulette system review site which will enable you to find the best roulette systems available online. You will find honest and up to date reviews of roulette systems which ordinary people just like you are using to make hundreds of dollars online everyday. We will also show you which roulette systems you should avoid. There are hundreds of roulette systems available on the internet and a lot of them are a complete waste of money and sometimes they are even scams with sellers knowingly selling systems which do not work. However, there are some honest sellers that sell winning roulette systems that really do work and roulette systems that will allow you to win thousands of dollars online. Below you will find in-depth reviews of what we believe to be the best roulette systems available online. You will also find reviews on other roulette systems as well reviews on what systems to avoid. Our reviews are based on actual tests on the roulette systems and real customer feedback.Learn how ordinary people just like you are using \'Roulette Tools\' Roulette Software to make thousands of dollars onlineLast year we started receiving regular emails from customers about Roulette Tools the winning roulette software. The emails were all from delighted customers who had purchased Roulette Tools and then gone on to win thousands of dollars beating online casinos. Some of these stories were so amazing we decided to check out the software ourselves to see if it was as good as some of the customers were claiming. One person even claimed to have won over $5,000 in two weeks using Roulette Tools.We contacted the owner of the Roulette Tools software Matthew and asked him if we could have a copy of the software so we could put it through some tests and write a review on it. Some owners can react negatively to this as they know it’s unlikely that their software will stand up to our tests. However, Matthew was more than happy to let us review his software and even gave us access to the Roulette Tools member’s area so we could download the software Matthew was confident that the Roulette Tools software would perform well in our tests and he explained how he also received regular testimonials from customers who have made massive amounts of money using his Roulette Tools software. Matthew explained how he employs full time developers to help him to develop his Roulette Tools software into the best roulette software available. As a Roulette Tools customer you will receive lifetime Roulette Tools upgrades and the most recent upgrades make Roulette Tools easier to use and include even more winning systems to ensure you get maximum profits from your playing time.Just search for Money Maker Machine on Google and you will find us.Company: Money Maker MachineAddress: http://www.money-maker-machine.com

Technology and Innovation without Borders: Nutri-Loc., Burnaby, BC - Part 10 Precarn Interview Series

Wed, 23 Feb 2011 09:00:00 EST

This week, Precarn is featuring Nutri-Loc, a Burnaby-based company, which has developed a proprietary drying process using a sophisticated methodology that economically removes water from fruit, vegetables and biomass while maintaining its nutritional value, color and flavour. The modular technology has proven to be a significantly more cost effective and a time efficient replacement to traditional food dehydration and freeze-drying techniques. To find out more about Nutri-Loc and its great benefits for Canadians who seek a healthy life-style, we had the honour to speak with Tom Gordon, the President and CEO of the company. Gordon holds a dentistry degree from the University of Saskatchewan and after more than 20 years of practicing dentistry in his home town, Kelowna was forced to end his 25-year dental career after suffering a serious back injury. Before his injury, though, Dr. Gordon started farming ginseng on his Kelowna acreage. In 1988, Gordon co-founded Altex Processing, seeking to add value to his ginseng crop and to other herbs, by processing them into tea bag cuts and botanical extracts in liquid and powder form. With consumers adopting on-the-go eating habits and lifestyles coupled with the demand by consumers for high nutrient value in their food and the FDA regulations restricting the use of herb powders in foods, the company was re-named Nutri-Loc Ingredients Corporation in 2002 and its attention focused on the low thermal processing of fruits and vegetables into high nutrient, shelf stable pieces and powders. 1. Explain as simply as possible the technology Nutri-Loc developed. Nutri-Loc developed a proprietary technology that can remove water from biomass without damaging the nutrients. Nutri-loc re-cycles waste fruit and vegetable skins/pulp by using our low thermal, energy efficient drying process to produce scientifically proven, high nutrient, high antioxidant powders that are sold and marketed to food and supplement companies under the Nutri-LocTM brand. To do that, we combined several efficient water removal technologies to optimize the drying process. The Nutri-loc technology successfully produces higher quality, nutritionally superior products. 2. How did you come up with the idea for this technology?We started with the building of an extraction facility for herbs, but found that there are too many regulations in this business. Then, we decided to look at the vegetable/fruit markets and see if we can do a better job there, by providing higher quality in drying foods. The Nutri-loc team worked for nearly 5 years on researching food drying technologies and understanding the food ingredient business. We continually made improvements to a drying system we acquired in California in 2002 and is now ready to apply this clean energy solution. 3. What are the greatest benefits for Canadians and the Canadian economy?Traditional methods of dehydration include air drying and freeze drying. Both methods are slow and result in a breakdown of nutritional elements. The existing air drying systems create thermal damage evident by the degradation of colour, flavour and nutritional value. Freeze-drying damages the cell structure by operating at sub-zero temperatures. In addition to being an energy intensive process it is also a batch process with high labour costs and capital costs. The industry is in need of a solution that is cost efficient, environmentally friendly, and more effective than traditional methods. In addition consumers are demanding their food in a convenient format with proven levels of nutrients. Our high quality powders of dried fruits, vegetables and grains produced through our drying process are in demand in nutrition bars, cereals, baking products, soups, yogurts and supplements. 4. Was the project you did with Precarn helpful in any way for the overall development of your organization? How?We tried to build a system that makes sense and that manages to do a better job in extracting water from the dry foods. The Precarn project helped us tremendously to further develop our technology and to put a commercialization plan in place. 5. What have been the biggest obstacles/challenges in front of Nutri-loc so far?There are a lot of obstacles when trying to market a new product or technology. It takes deep pockets and determination. Coming up with a solution and building the equipment does not automatically make you a success. Nutri-loc has chosen not to be an equipment supplier but to focus on using the technology to produce our own unique novel products. Our business model is unique in that we bring the low thermal drying technology to the primary processor at product source to improve efficiencies and make available novel high nutrient fruit and vegetable ingredients to major food manufacturers. The unfolding of the business plan initiating the commercialization of our business model is capital intensive. One of the biggest obstacles to success is running out of capital to execute the business plan. We are constantly working on capital sources, finding new venture partners and new business opportunities in new markets and geographies. 6.What are the company’s near- and long-term goals?Our primary goal is to prove our business model works. We want our driers to work year round. In Canada, where there is only one harvest per year, additional costs of freezing to stabilize product to run year round hurt the economics of the model. Ideally locations such as greenhouses in Ontario, where tomatoes and green peppers are harvested for 10 months in a year make a better place to put dryers. Millions of pounds of misshapen vegetables are thrown out, since the producer is selecting only the best in shape and colour for the fresh market. The discards still have their nutrients intact which we can use for the production of high nutrient powders. It is a win-win business model, especially if we can set up our driers next to the plantations. Another such opportunity is in Quebec, where the biggest wild blueberry producers are located. Currently, for one big food manufacturer, they ship the blueberries frozen with 90% water to California to dry them, and then ship them back up to Vancouver to use them for cereal. If we place our driers in Quebec, we can skip a step, and significantly reduce shipping costs and make the whole process more sustainable and environmentally friendly. 7. So far, Nutri-loc has received two prestigious awards: the 2007 British Columbia Technology Impact Award (TIA) for the most promising pre-commercial technology and the 2009 Award for Excellence for Innovation in Agriculture and Agri-food by the Investment Agriculture Foundation of British Columbia (IAF). What does this mean to you and to your organization?It is always a thrill and an excitement to get an endorsement from anybody. Being recognized, especially when trying to raise money to commercialize a new technology, or to find partners for business, is extremely helpful. And anyway, you need that recognition as an assurance that you are on the right truck. It was a great honour for Nutri-loc to be recognized by such prestigious national awards programs and we are very thankful! To read more about Nutri-Loc, visit them at http://nutriloc.com/home/To read similar success stories, or to post a comment in regard to this interview, please visit us at http://www.precarn.ca/Blog/

Roulette Strategy Roulette Money Maker Machine Roulette System or Lucky Brand

, NaN 09:00:00 EST

The game of roulette, and there\'s nothing you can do to influence the outcome of the game. The most important strategy roulette bet wisely. There are so many different bets can you make in roulette, it is how you can play safely and reliably. Here are some strategies roulette strategy, not to judge. One strategy that has become known as the Martingale system. The most important thing that is not included in this system that the players forget that the casino will never be perfect conditions for the players, and that\'s what this strategy requires. With this strategy, roulette and bet a minimum of 7 or 8 hands you need to reach the table maximum. Dual strategy, as we know, and just work. Take the bet on red or black color you choose. If you do not win the first game, and then double the bet. Repeat this method until you type in color. The problem with this strategy is that the casinos do not like when you put the tape measure, then maybe ask to leave the table or even a casino as a whole. Many strategies have been tried at roulette, and very few actually work. Some things, like roulette, is it best to leave it to chance, although our roulette tips section has some interesting suggestions for the win. Tips to win at roulette You may not need to be a neurosurgeon, to win the game of roulette, but there are techniques that you efficiently wing. According to the study of these methods, you need to apply these techniques in online casinos. You must first cut all tariffs, which give the poor pay as the wager number five. This set includes 00, 0, 1, 2 and 3 This rate is, historically, has the lowest rate of payment for all. If you choose to European or American roulette to play roulette, you should always choose the European roulette. This wheel will give you an advantage of 2.63% on the house. If you are a safe bet that the roulette table, and then choose to bet money, and outside the European table. If you play roulette at the casino, here are some other tips to consider: If you notice a number of issues currently more than 100 laps over another, then you can have what is called a biased wheel. This is a real advantage for one player against the casino. If you play in a casino, you must also pay close attention to your dealer. If you are an experienced trader, you can tape so often that they began to spin the wheel and the ball with the same constant speed will be open. This means that the number may end up the ball. Closely monitor the dealers for a while before you try to predict where the ball will land. The best advice to win at online rouletteFind a casino that offers French Roulette. There are not many of them online because frankly scared of the casino offers as their country is so low that they do not win at their peak. The reason lies in the special rules unique to the French roulette, share the profits between the player and the house where the green ball to zero. New roulette strategy Provides free roulette strategy, comments, online forum and support free roulette live! Read more about using different strategies to take advantage of the most popular online casino games for free! Find unbiased reviews of the online roulette system - more software support for Live! Company: Money Maker Machine Address: http://www.money-maker-machine.com

How to Win at Roulette Online: the Flaw of Random Number Generators

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The game of Roulette is very popular in casinos worldwide and as a popular game has one of the lowest winning percentages for the player. However it is possible to win at Roulette with proper strategy. In fact, with the advent of online gambling casinos that feature the game of Roulette it is now even possible to WIN money from them. In this article I will describe the ultimate strategy for beating online Roulette games. To understand how the player has more advantage in an online Roulette game than a Roulette game at a real casino one must understand random number generators. Since there is no actual, physical roulette wheel picking the numbers for an online casinos, these online casinos must create an artificial randomness only possible through a random number generator.For most argument\'s sake, random number generators do just what their name implies - they pick seemingly \"random\" numbers. However, the computer program has very real limitations in that it is not completely random. The computer program, in attempting to be truly random can become predictable. For example, at a real Roulette table at a physical casino, the chance of hitting a RED number is equally as likely as hitting a BLACK number even if the last 20 rolls have been RED numbers. There is no memory in real life randomness, however...With online casinos and random number generators there is a memory and so in the example above, after 20 RED numbers having hit, there actually would be a greater probability or liklihood of hitting a BLACK number, unlike in a real casino. This is a serious flaw, and in truth casinos don\'t want people to know this although there is nothing illegal about exploiting this flaw. Using this flaw and some simple strategy it is possible to quickly and consistently win money from online casinos playing Roulette. There are many different strategies, but the ones I would recommend are playing the colors, playing odd/even or playing 1st, 2nd or 3rd set of 12 numbers. Let\'s say you decide to play 1st, 2nd or 3rd set of 12 numbers. Watch the record board (this is the board that shows the history of what numbers were hit as well as the color). You want to pick a set of 12 numbers (1st, 2nd or 3rd set) that have not been hit in the last 7 or 8 rolls. Obviously the longer the set has gone without a hit the better because the liklihood of it being hit increases, but this will depend on your patience and bankroll. With smaller bankrolls, you will have to be more patient at first and go for a sure thing, maybe waiting for 8-10 rolls without a hit on a set to pick that set. This strategy is the best way I\'ve found to beat the Roulette table (online anyways) and I believe can be used to win players money consistently so long as they have patience and don\'t play a set too soon. Note, it\'s also possible to play the colors or odd/even and you would use the same strategy. The only difference is the payout is 2-1 instead of 3-1 that comes with the sets. I recommend you: New Roulette StrategiesContains FREE roulette strategies, reviews, online roulette forum and FREE Live Support!!!Read about various strategies to profit the most popular casino and online game for FREE!Here you can find impartial reviews on online roulette systems - plus FREE Live Support!Company: Money Maker MachineAddress: http://www.money-maker-machine.com

Brilliant Roulette Systems

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If you’ve played roulette for any amount of time, you’ve undoubtedly encountered people with fool-proof systems that guarantee consistent wins. Most of the time, these people are even generous enough to offer to sell you their secret. When faced with the potential of winning every roulette session you play, whatever amount they charge seems like a small price to pay for unlimited profits. How can we say this so unequivocally? To understand why roulette systems don’t work, it’s important to understand how the game works. Like all gambling games, roulette is fundamentally based on math. A standard roulette table has 38 numbers on the felt (0, 00, and 1-36) with only one possible winner per spin. This means the odds against winning on a specific number are 37-1 and this is something that never changes. Each spin of the wheel produces a random result, something else that never changes. This is why systems based on the Pivot strategy don’t work. The Pivot method requires you to watch a series of spins on a table and wait for a number that comes up twice within the sequence. So in a sequence such as 17, 30, 0, 24, 30, the number 30 would be considered your pivot number which you will then bet on for the next 38 spins. Can you win with this method? Sure. The problem is the odds of the number 30 coming up are still 37-1 with a 35-1 payout. Not only are you facing some pretty heavy odds against your number hitting, but the payout structure of roulette dictates that you’re paid slightly less than the true odds of winning. Fancy terms like “the theory of uneven distribution” can’t change that. Other systems use the same principle but require you to place split bets on multiple numbers. For example, one such method asks you to make 6 split bets giving you 12 numbers to work with. If any of numbers hit, you are paid 17-1 and parlay your winnings on the same numbers. You do this three times for a win of 153 units before leaving the table. Again, the problem with this system is the fundamental math behind roulette. Taking each bet independently, the odds of your number coming up have halved from 37-1 to 18-1 and your payout is, again, slightly less than the true odds. Couple this with the fact that this system requires you to win on three consecutive spins and you can see why this method, called the 12/6 System, is a loser. Unlike these two systems, the worst system isn’t actually based on the types of bet you make but, rather, on the amount you bet. It’s called the Martingale system and we consider it the worst system because it generally sounds so reasonable on the surface. It’s a simple system that requires you to double your bet after a loss and return to your starting bet size after a win. Here’s the problem with the Martingale: you are not guaranteed a win. By doubling your bet after every loss, you are increasing your risk for a small reward and a bad sequence of losses can either wipe you out or, if you have a large enough bankroll, eventually cause you to meet the table limit, putting an end to the system completely. Roulette System: How you can win Roulette easily and automatically.New Roulette StrategiesContains FREE roulette strategies, reviews, online roulette forum and FREE Live Support!!!Read about various strategies to profit the most popular casino and online game for FREE!Here you can find impartial reviews on online roulette systems - plus FREE Live Support!Company: Money Maker MachineAddress: http://www.money-maker-machine.com

Play Roulette Online for Free

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There are many sites on the internet that will allow you to play roulette online for free. If you’ve never played, it’s fun, easy, and with some online sites you can even win money. Yet, if you never played before, here are some tips on how to begin.Roulette is FunFirst, you may want a little background on how to play before you jump into a circle of Roulette players. In a regular casino, there is a table with many players hovering on the sides. At the head of the table is a wheel numbered 0 through 36. The numbers alternate in colors between black and red and in between them are grooves colored green.The same is true for an online experience of roulette, only as a player, you’re watching all this from the comfort of your own home. Each player has a chance to bet on a color, a number, a group of number, and whether the number will be odd or even. The game is very social, and this is true even when you’re playing online. The other benefit to this game is that the rules are simple and it’s an easy game to play.Roulette is EasyBasically, the dealer spins the wheel at the head of the table and throws a ball towards it in the opposite direction to the direction of the spin. Wherever that ball lands determines the win. What makes the game exciting is that players can continue to place bets in all sorts of different combinations while the ball makes its final destination. The winner, of course, is anyone who correctly predicted where the ball would land. Meanwhile, the dealer will remove all the bets on the table in order to prepare for a new spin of the wheel.Roulette is SocialEven if you are playing from home, you’ll be surprised the level of interaction that takes place among players. Most online roulette sites have live chat while you’re playing so that you can communicate your experiences, feelings, and even frustrations during the game. There often seems to be an exciting bunch of players around the roulette table whether in a casino or in a virtual setting.How to StartThe easiest way to get started is to Google “Play Roulette Online for Free”. That will bring a host of sites that are exciting and easy to use. Click on any one of them and test them out. Each site has its unique character and some will appeal to you while others won’t. Test out as many as you can. Likely, you’ll find one that suits you and if you continue coming back to the same site, you’ll begin to make online friends with other Roulette players. What makes an online game of Roulette more exciting than in a local casino is the opportunity to “meet” people from all over the world. The game of Roulette is played across all continents and is well known around the globe. Play Roulette online for free and make international friends at the same time.Roulette Systems Money Maker MachineRoulette systems are systems that have been designed to give you an edge, increase your winnings or decrease your losses in the game of roulette. There are many roulette systems that exist that players use on online roulette, as well as land-based roulette games. Many of these are advertised as guaranteeing positive results. You should be wary of any roulette system that guarantees anything. Here we will look a bit closer at whether roulette systems work or not and how you should use them.New Roulette StrategiesContains FREE roulette strategies, reviews, online roulette forum and FREE Live Support!!!Read about various strategies to profit the most popular casino and online game for FREE!Here you can find impartial reviews on online roulette systems - plus FREE Live Support!Company: Money Maker MachineAddress: http://www.money-maker-machine.com

Amazing Roulette System Reviews and play now with the Best Online Roulette System Software Money Maker Machine

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Amazing Roulette System Reviews and play now with the Best Online Roulette System Software Money Maker MachineWhile this system is more complication to use, it is still a very good money generator. The simple truth is that you can make the most money with this system. And this package may be more expensive compared to other systems out there but it is much more thorough regarding the ins and outs of roulette. It comes with many excellent tips and secrets on how to gain back the advantage over the house. The Roulette Advantage System also comes with a number of useful bonus products that delve deeper into roulette tactics as well as other casino games. This is super system if you\'re a die hard roulette player.Roulette Advantage SystemI made this week more than $1000 at the European CasinoEarly after the invention of roulette many people tried to dupe it. But there is only one real way, how to beat it - the application of mathematics and statistics methods. And if you could just a little bear a risk, you become winner. All system described on this web work and I still use them to earn money and independence. The height of the earnings has no limit.How to Win at Roulette - the Best Strategies For SuccessThe Roulette Systems Studio is basically a technique that will help you gain an edge while playing the online casino. It is a strategy that will ensure sure shot success in the roulette game that is swaying the whole nation. Roulette is mostly perceived as the game of luck. Most of the people begin playing the roulette game for fun, but as time passes by, they tend to get addicted to it. There is an obsession amongst the people, especially youngsters to earn fast money. It is here that the Roulette Systems Studio comes to play a vital role at Money Maker Machine. The roulette system studio not just ensures that you are able to recover the money invested in the game, but also makes sure that you come out victoriously at the end of the game. Well, it is all about playing smart these days and then nobody can stop you from winning. The Roulette Systems Studio enables you to win hundreds a day, all from the comfort of your own home. Once you know as to how to go about playing the game, your success is just a few steps ahead. This roulette system will teach you different techniques that you can try out in order to frustrate your competitors, which in turn will pave way for your success. Roulette Systems Studio can help you in earning loads of money and all that it requires from you is to carefully follow the instructions mentioned. The guidelines mentioned for playing the online casino are not at all complicated. In fact, they are simple to understand and easy to implement. If you do not follow the instructions sincerely, you\'ll simply be depleting your wealth like other gamblers do. Roulette is a game of odds that is totally based on the law of averages. The casinos are well aware of this fact. They know how to use the law of averages to their own advantage. The Roulette Systems Studio is all about reversing the tables. It does not mean that we are breaking any law, but instead we are manipulating them so that the whole situation can be turned to your benefit. Once, you follow these simple steps, success is yours. The Roulette Systems Studio has been perfected to work on a particular casino. Every online casino has a different criterion. Each of the casinos has a different algorithm system and a distinct method for finding out the random outcomes. Thus, it is advisable to try the Quick Guide learn in the Roulette Systems on this casino only. It will ensure that you don\'t fail in your mission and earn fortune. You could get the Roulette Systems Studio and we\'ll show you what casino to use and exactly how to beat it. Company: Money Maker MachineAddress: http://www.money-maker-machine.com

Super Roulette System Money Maker Machine Theory

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Is the red black roulette system effective?Many people are enjoying the game of roulette and if you are someone that also fell in love with it and you have some financial problems that you will want to solve, then one such casino game sis certainly going to get you out of this mess if you will consider playing it well. Well, when it comes to the perfect system out there, you should know that none of them will let you in on the possibility of winning money every time you will delve into using that system.The game of roulette is just a game of luck and. You will see that there are complex algorithms when you will play and they will decide whether you will be stacked to be a winner or a loser. As such, when the wheel will be spinning and your chances with it, your adrenaline levels will certainly get to be run higher. If there is a system out there that you will need to play attention to, that is the red black roulette system. This is a very simple system out there that you will need to keep in mind, that system is the red black roulette system. Well, you should not think that when you will get to use it, you will win money every time. It all falls down to how much time you will get to use it until you will end the game. Let us now take a closer look at how this system will get to help you if you will employ it. So, the system is mainly focusing on colors. So because of the fact that mostly there will be 2 colors on the board, your chances of winning at 50/50. First of all, the roulette red black strategy says that you will need to have a small bet placed. As such, when you will get to win that bet, then you will need to have the money kept and continue placing a small bet once again. If you lose, then you will need to double up your bet on the same color and keep going with this. If there is something you will have to keep in mind when you will use this strategy, that is the fact that you will have to have your bets limited to nine, which I personally consider a good number and this way, you will always be on the safe side and not lose more money than you can afford.Make sure to visit us if you would like to know more about red black roulette system and roulette red black strategy.Let’s take a moment or two to look at one of the most popular roulette betting tools, roulette money maker machine. It’s a program which is 100% automated and this means that after you’ve spent a few moments setting it up, you can leave it to run by itself. It can place bets and spin the wheel all by itself at lightning speed. Having the ability to play with conservative settings is one of the best things about roulette money maker machine. If you play manually with conservative settings it can take forever to get a betting opportunity but this isn’t an issue with roulette money maker machine. It is also able to test roulette systems without risking a single penny. This is because it has a spin analysis feature which means you tell it test a roulette system via spin data from previous games and will tell you how good or bad the system would have done. Risking money with roulette systems you’ve never tested is risky so this is a great addition to the program.There are 5 different betting profiles programmed into it that it’s capable of testing and using. First of all you have the classic sleeper system and then you’ve got a few others such as the 6 point divisor and the double dozens system. With each system that’s programmed into roulette money maker machine you can add your own custom wagering to suit your budget, you aren’t stuck with standard settings. As you may know, different casinos use different software and roulette money maker machine is compatible with multiple different platforms. Most automated programs only work with Playtech casinos which can get boring.So it you’re going to give it a try, make sure that you test each system before playing for real and make sure that you’re satisfied with the settings. Obviously it isn’t guaranteed to win because nothing is, but it’s a valuable tool that will be a help to you.If you decide to be a winner then you are on the right way. Get Money Maker Machine Full Package today.Company: Money Maker MachineAddress: http://www.money-maker-machine.com

Roulette Systems Strategy

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In this article we are going to look at Roulette gambling systems that actually work. We’ll include Roulette gambling systems that win in online casino.Are there any Roulette gambling systems that actually work?A lot of people come on our site asking if there are any Roulette gambling systems that actually work and for difference casino platform. Who are we?We are a professional software development team aiming roulette tools and services for online roulette players. So if you need a complete solution which will help you to make money playing online roulette, then this is exactly the place will help you to do this.So exactly we do?We offer to our customers next things related to online roulette: roulette systems, roulette tools, roulette bots, roulette robots, roulette ideas, roulette strategies, roulette tips, roulette services, roulette projects, roulette resources.What we offer to online roulette players?Our main goal is to provide each online roulette player with the most advanced complete solution for online roulette. It include the best online roulette products capable to automate everything you may have ever in your mind also the best online roulette services which will help you to play smart and secure. Our main goal is to provide each online roulette player with the most advanced complete solution for online roulette. It include the best online roulette products capable to automate everything you may have ever in your mind also the best online roulette services which will help you to play smart and secure.So let start with the products we have!RBS Control Center: If you don\'t have in mind a strategy to play, then you can find one on our remote online roulette strategies server. At this time our server contain more than4000 available strategies for RBS.Recommended strategies to check: super palette, magic palette, mandarino, change in absolute, gladiator, reap 66x6, verbal red, verbal black, monster winner machine, funky, rumatro, 32bit rng limit, moonwalker, red square, eureka, satellite, magic triple, clv, gas, survivor, dhn, spider, turtle, pyramide, triangle pascale, killtec, qs circus, quick snap, zigzag, parlay, reverse martingale, dalembert, roulette killer, fibonacci. In case your strategy is based on Reds & Blacks betting or Martingale progression then the best choice will be Red & Black Roulette Systems Studio. This product is very easy to use. All you should do is to select the online casino where you want to play also the online roulette strategy you want to use and all other things the software will do by itself, because it is an auto play software. In case your strategy is based on Columns & Dozens betting or Fibonacci progression then the best choice will be Dozens & Columns Roulette Systems Studio. This product is also very easy to use. It is based on the same platform like RBS. By this I mean that it use the same principle use RBS. So you select online casino where you want to play also online roulette strategy you want to use and all other things will be done by the software. The single difference between RBS and DCS is that the last is for strategies based on Columns and Dozens. Like RBS it has an embedded real money simulator which will make your real money session secure. In case your strategy will be based on different roulette elements groups like: numbers, lines, streets, corners, ... or even on all roulette elements and on more complex static or dynamic progressions, then the best choice for sure will be Roulette Scripter Studio. This product is very easy to use. You select the strategy you want to play and run it. It is different than RBS or DCS because in this case the strategies are based on scripts and not on palettes. You can use our tutorials to learn how to make your own roulette script or you can rent a coder from us which will automate your own online roulette strategy. Recommended roulette scripts to check: Universal script for bet on sleepers, Universal script for bet on repeaters, Let it flow, D\'Alambert, Linebet Scripts Series, Dozens and Columns Scripts, Big Script Series. In case you will have a complex strategy to automate and will need for it also an user-friendly interface then the best choice for sure will be Roulette Scripter Studio Pro. You can use Roulette Scripter Studio and Roulette Scripter Studio Pro in the online casinos based on the next gaming platforms: Playtech, Playtech | Live Roulette, Real Time Gaming, Bet Voyager, Microgaming. We have more and more products for all strategies.If you are still not sure which product or products to choose then the best solution is to contact us and we will be happy to help you.Just search for Money Maker Machine on Google and you will find us.Company: Money Maker MachineAddress: http://www.money-maker-machine.com

The Roulette System Review: The Best Winning Roulette System

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Roulette is a very popular casino numbers game and to win it, you need a winning roulette system. A winning roulette system is a system that will enable you to win more than you can lose at a roulette table. Getting one number out of thirty-eight can be a long shot for any roulette player. The odds are, most players either win a little, break even or lose it all.Presently there are numerous roulette systems available so that you can select the best one in order to have the upper hand while playing roulette. However you might be wondering if they are any good. Continue reading this review to learn a little more about the Roulette System.Roulette in essence is actually a game of luck instead of skills, so trying to beat a game that is bias mathematically could be extremely hard. As a result most roulette systems that you try are not going to provide you with much better potential for winning compared to if you were to wager at random. So continue read this interesting review.Money Maker Machine - Today it’s the Best Provider on the internet for all online casinos platforms.In this short article, you can find information to know more about the best MMM Roulette Systems. The main reason for writing this review is to help people decide investing in this system. The following are some products for using this programs in order to gain advantage over casinos, products which can run on any online casinos platforms:1.RNG Studio - Roulette Tool:Product description:RNG-Studio is a roulette tool used to create your own RNG. It also will allow you to generate numbers and to save them into a file for analyze. It can create up to2147483648 type of RNG\'s each with 2147483648 numbers. Also this roulette tool will provide you with a complete information about all roulette elements distribution or simply to say a complete statistics related to active RNG class.Product features:Create RNG, Load RNG, Save RNG, Generate Numbers based on RNG Code.Product modules:RNG\'s Database, RNG Module, Numbers Module.Products based on palettes grouped by platforms: Playtech, Real Time Gaming.2. AVSB Console - Roulette Tool: AVSB-Console [Playtech]Product description:AVSB-Console is a roulette tool based on A2 Project.A2 project - the goal of this project was to develop an application based on numbers analyze that will suggest the next roulette element to bet.Product features:Configurable table bets, custom bets amount, your own RNG will play against online casino RNG, real money simulator.Product modules:Game Console, Casinos Module, RNG Module, Palette Module, Analyze Module.3. RBS - Roulette Tool: Red & Black Roulette Systems Studio [Playtech]Product description:RBS is an auto play Roulette Tool where the player can implement his own strategy based on Red & Black bettings. So the user can create his own roulette strategy, or load and play other existing roulette strategies.Product features:Configurable table bets, custom bets amount, control of won/lost steps, suggest correction feature, breakpoints feature, play after special custom sequence, stop loss point, real time palette modification, real money simulator.Product modules:Game console, Control Center, Betting Palette, Betting Palette Screen, Select Active Casino, Select Active Palette, Suggest Palette Correction, User Profile.By just going to the website it\'s obvious that a whole lot of money is generated from this technique, but could the person with average skills utilize these techniques and genuinely earn profits.The techniques inside the guide are obviously created with the novice roulette player taken into consideration, because things are well described in an easy way to follow the system. When checking out this system, you will discover that they are quite simple to use, possibly a little exhausting after a time.When trying the system you might think that it is too hard or even that it was designed for professional players. On paper this system is actually easy, but during practice it could be confusing and require you to struggle in order to keep up and concentrate. However, despite your initial challenges you can get to understand it enough to start winning. There is certainly more than enough information in the guide, so you can always use it in the future to help increase your profit.Just search for Money Maker Machine on Google and you will find us.Company: Money Maker MachineAddress: http://www.money-maker-machine.com

Technology and Innovation without Borders: Netsweeper Inc., Guelph, ON - Part 9 Precarn Interview Series

Tue, 09 Nov 2010 09:00:00 EST

This week, Precarn presents Netsweeper Inc., a Canadian start-up company, which has become a leading provider of Internet content filtering and web threat management solutions and services for businesses, educational institutions, government organizations, service providers and OEM partners around the world. Since 1999, Netsweeper has grown from a small start-up to an established Internet Content Management service, meeting the needs of approximately 5,000,000 users worldwide. A key part of this success has been the automatic categorization work performed in partnership with the University of Guelph. Today, the company employs nearly 50 people, does business in the UK, India, Australia, the United States, Middle East and South America, and has over 44 million end users. To learn more about Netsweeper’s success story, we spoke with Mr. Andrew Graydon, the company’s Chief Operating Officer. 1. What kind of technology does Netsweeper develop?Netsweeper is an industry leader in utilizing Artificial Intelligence (AI) for the purposes of categorizing web content. Netsweeper’s Internet Content Filtering service currently redirects web http requests through a policy server which retrieves the category of a given request and then applies a policy, which determines whether the user is allowed to view the content or not. In the event that a URL is not categorized, the policy server would forward the URL request to Netsweeper’s AI engine and optionally either provide the content to the user or deny the content temporarily. The AI engine retrieves the web content, categorizes it and stores the result for future use. On June 21st, 2008 Netsweeper’s categorization naming service successfully categorized over 1 billion URL’s. Each day, millions of URL’s are categorized either for the first time or re-categorized in order to maintain accuracy. At peak, this service categorizes approximately 160 URL’s per/second on demand utilizing highly accurate, high performance AI engines. Each day large volumes of content are added to the Netsweeper URL database. 2. Netsweeper was the lead participant in one of Precarn’s most successful T-GAP projects, the Automatic Recognition of Posted Internet Content with New Application Protocols, in collaboration with the University of Guelph and Synetrix Ltd. Can you tell us more about this project? The project we did with Precarn significantly differs from the company’s core product line. This time, instead of concentrating on developing tools that help monitor and restrict access to certain web sites, we concentrated on monitoring, analyzing and categorizing real-time communication between on-line users. Today, students can communicate with each other using text messaging, through social networks such as Facebook and in the comments posted on blogs. As a result, categorizing web pages alone no longer provides the level of protection, which educators are seeking. Similarly, in other sectors, such as business and law enforcement, the increased use of text messaging, social networks and the like has created similar requirements. The challenge for the Internet Content Management vendors like Netsweeper is that categorizing and managing the content which is posted or communicated in internet application protocols requires a solution that differs substantially from existing offerings both in product requirements and the underlying technical implementation. Since our primary concern was content control for children, we started developing an automated Artificial Intelligence System that helps monitor and analyze the instant text messages’ content. The complexity of this task is enormous, since we had to be able to look at the content, understand how kids use the language, identify certain themes and topics throughout the conversation, and analyze their sentiment and the emotions involved. In this regard, it should be noticed that in a single conversation, there are between 5 and 30 different topics, which all need to be analyzed and categorized, as well as the sentiment of each one of them; Simple keyword matching just won’t work, since we are not interested in the words kids are using, but more in the bullion, in the bad sentiment. 3. What are the biggest challenges in developing such a disruptive technology?Privacy regulations have been an ongoing challenge, which we take very seriously here at Netsweeper. The number two challenge is the various national and provincial regulations we have to obey. Since Netsweeper operates in so many different countries, understanding each market’s needs, demands, and cultural specificities can be quite challenging. From a technical perspective, the complexity itself of sentence construction and understanding and classifying the hidden meaning of words and expressions, represents a challenge in its own way as well. 4. What is Netsweeper’s recipe for success?Netsweeper is a small company that competes worldwide with multibillion-dollar corporations like Sysco, Juniper, Blue Cost and etc. Since 1999, we have been able to consistently grow, thanks to our vision and our corporate philosophy. I don’t know if it is a recipe for success, but I believe Netsweeper was able to grow and develop so steadily over the past 11 years because we have constantly participated in projects such as the Precarn’s one, and after each of them, we’ve managed to take the research and populate it back into our core product. This has helped us to remain on the edge of new and disruptive technologies, and to maintain our product line current and up to date. 5. What are the target end-users for this new and disruptive technology?Educational institutions and Internet Service Providers are our primary targets for this new automated Artificial Intelligence System. The technology has not been deployed yet; we are still in the testing stage, which is currently going very well. For this part of our new product launch we are working with near half of the schools in UK. In Canada, the Province of Prince Edward Island is one of our biggest customers. 6. In your opinion, is Canada the best place to do business and to invent new technologies? I come from Ireland and after 20 something years living here I honestly think that the support from the governments here in Canada for small, and start-up companies like us, is really amazing. The Canadian model provides new players with the necessary funds to operate, grow, and develop. Agencies like Precarn and OCE make life much easier, connecting industrial entrepreneurs with university experts and researchers. This is a very clever strategy of the government of Canada: keeping the country on the cutting edge of technology and innovation by stimulating private entrepreneurship and university R&D. 7. What are Netsweeper’s near and long term goals?For nearly 11 years in business, we have been growing organically, by reinvesting our profits and revenues back into new products and technologies. This has helped us stay current and grow consistently. Our goal is to continue growing organically; we want to develop the best products for Internet content control, which will translate into wider geographies, various markets, new partnerships and customers, and ever growing reputation and recognition. A few words about Mr. Andrew Graydon…Andrew Graydon is the Chief Operating Officer of Netsweeper Inc. Bringing his technical expertise and more than 15 years of working globally with customers and technical communities, his vision, energy and enthusiasm help drive Netsweeper's day-to-day operations. Most recently, Andrew was Chief Technology Officer for BorderWare where he led the company's technology innovations to address market concerns and challenges in messaging security, including strategies for information security, data loss prevention, regulatory compliance and the convergence of IP-based applications including Email, IM, Web and VoIP. Prior to joining BorderWare, Andrew was the Vice President of Custom Engineering at Wysdom, a privately held company that pioneered the software delivery platform for wireless devices, allowing wireless telcos to enable their infrastructure for secure delivery of functionality to external developers. In this role, he helped internally define the technology and concepts while working with the customers and the technical community.Andrew is also a widely published expert in the security industry as his articles have appeared in numerous leading publications such as CIO Magazine, InfoWorld, Network World, Red Herring, SC Magazine, The Globe and Mail, IETF and IEEE.Andrew holds a BS (Hons) in Applied Physics specializing in Computational and Mathematical Physics from Dublin University, Ireland. To learn more about Netsweeper and their new products, visit them at http://www.netsweeper.com.To post a comment or to ask us a question, please click here: http://www.precarn.ca/home/

Technology and Innovation without Borders: NLP Technologies Inc., Montreal, QC - Part 8 Precarn Interview Series

Wed, 20 Oct 2010 09:00:00 EST

Precarn had the opportunity to talk with Dr. Atefeh Farzindar, the founder of NLP Technologies Inc., a company specializing in machine translation and automatic summarization. NLP Technologies was the lead participant in one of Precarn’s most successful projects, initiated in collaboration with Université de Montréal, Diane Doray Law Firm, and the Centre de Recherche Informatique Montréal (CRIM). Dr. Farzindar received her Ph.D. in Computer Science from the Université de Montréal and her doctorate of languages, computer and cognition from the Paris-Sorbonne University. She gathered academic and industrial experience in various positions in industry and academia.Further, Dr. Farzindar is an Adjunct professor at the Department of Computer Science at the Université de Montréal and holds an Honorary Research Fellowship with the Research Group in Computational Linguistics at the University of Wolverhampton in the UK. Dr. Farzindar is also a member of the Board of Directors of The Language Technologies Research Centre (LTRC) of Canada and the Chair of the language technologies sector of the Canadian Language Industry Association (AILIA). 1. Explain as simply as possible the technology that your company developed? There are two main products which have been developed by NLP Technologies: The first one is DecisionExpress, which publishes a weekly current awareness tool that provides summaries of the latest cases in immigration, tax and intellectual property law. The other one is TRANSLI; which is a System for Statistical Machine Translation of Information. 2.How did you come up with the idea for these products?DecisionExpress was based on my Ph.D. thesis. This technology makes it possible to improve the way in which research is carried out in banks of judgments published by legal information providers. The goal is to decrease the processing time of a file, as well as the time it takes to find pertinent judgements. TRANSLI was a response to a specific need of the Canadian Government: there was a lack of skilled translators while facing an increasing amount of texts in foreign languages and file formats and in need of analysis for informational purposes. Our clients chose our translation service because it can handle large volume of work, with lower cost and production time with respect to their translation needs. 3. What are its greatest benefits for Canadians and the Canadian economy?Our solutions offer a triad of values: volume, speed and accuracy. NLP’s solution can drastically reduce production lead time. NLP offers cost-effective services while maintaining the highest standards of quality. 4. Was the project you did with Precarn helpful in any way for the overall development of your organization? How?Precarn helped NLP to establish an R&D relationship with Université de Montréal aiming to fill the gap between technology and market. Also, as an immediate result of the Precarn’ project, NLP became the exclusive translation solutions provider for several major Quebec government organizations such as Tribunal Administratif du Quebec, Commission de la santé et de la securité du travail. Cooperation with Precarn has created more employment opportunities and has increased our company’s innovation capacity. 5. What have been the biggest obstacles for you so far?When we work with the governmental or legal sectors, lots of time, effort and expenses are usually used for security, certifications and credentials issues. 6.What are the biggest challenges you are facing today?I think commercializing a new product has always been a main issue for companies. Resources must be used for advertising, showcases, etc while there is usually no grant for that. 7. What are the company's near and long-term goals?NLP’s short term goal is to develop solid platforms for technologies that are resulting from our inner R&D efforts and make the solutions ready for production. Our long term goals are to extend our services in fields of translation, consulting, and integration of TRANSLI into new applications. 8.In your opinion, is Canada the best place to do business and to invent new technologies? Is there room to improve? How?Even though economic conditions are tough around the world, business and innovation have continued in Canada. Canada’s economic strength lies in the diversity and vitality of its industries and also in the Canadian market close proximity to the US market. There is also a lot of collaboration between Europe and Canada, which has positive impact on Canadian businesses. Integrating new inventions with various high tech products around the world can be a way to improve the market. 9. Which is harder -- to invent new and disruptive technology or to turn it into a product?Although inventing new technologies has been challenging enough, turning the technology into a product and finding costumers for it is a lot more difficult. Investment, technical support and marketing are some of the difficulties we can name. 10. How many employees are currently working at your organisation full time?Seven (7) fulltime core plus there are some R& D people working from various places with us, which makes it a total of 25 people. 11. Who is your biggest customer at the moment? NLP Technologies’ biggest customers are the Quebec courts and tribunals. Moreover, we recently had a demonstration at CWID2010 for translation section (TRANSLI was sponsored by the Canadian Army) and the results and performance tests were magnificent. That might lead to further collaboration between DND, Government and NLP technologies. Company website: http://www.nlptechnologies.ca/Academic website:http://www.iro.umontreal.ca/~farzinda/

Technology and Innovation without Borders: Trusterra Technologies Inc., Vancouver, BC - Part 7 Precarn Interview Series

Tue, 05 Oct 2010 09:00:00 EST

This week Precarn is featuring Trusterra Technologies Inc., a Vancouver based, start-up focused on design and development of a novel collaboration system for distributed knowledge teams. Trusterra’s ScoopTM platform leverages web, mobile and rich media technologies to connect engineering teams, manufacturing suppliers, repair technicians, and sales engineers in the field, with remote experts, colleagues, and partners inside and outside their organization in an issue-focused and media-centric manner. Market surveys show that the majority of technical professionals still rely on non-standard methods (personal combinations of paper and electronic notes, digital images and email) for collecting, describing and collaborating on field encountered issues and opportunities. These methods are inefficient and involve many manual steps that are particularly impractical in field scenarios. Furthermore, many existing collaboration & communication tools have focused on the needs of desktop users. Yet other tools such as social networking tools lack the structure and focus required for detailed technical problem solving. There is a significant need for a professional grade software system to carry out mobile issue-focused information collection, rich media-based problem description and problem solving for knowledge workers and analysts in engineering and similar technical fields. Demand for such a system is supported by multiple trends including increasing globalization, mainstream technology awareness and usage, demographic factors and the desire to reduce field travel for environmental and cost reasons. To date, the project has resulted in considerable intellectual property in the growing mobile collaboration and intelligent systems fields as well as creation of high value R&D jobs and meaningful collaboration opportunities in Canada. To learn more about this new and disruptive technology and its various applications in today’s multifunctional digital environments, we talked to Babak Sardary, President and CEO of Trusterra Technologies Inc. Babak is a veteran of the intelligent systems and the software industry. Before Trusterra, he was the president and CTO of Braintech Inc., a Vancouver company involved in the development of advanced vision guided robotics software. Babak has a Bachelor’s and a Master’s degree in mechatronics engineering from the University of Waterloo and close to 14 years of experience concepting and developing both industrial and consumer intelligent software products. During his career he has initiated and led multiple collaborative projects with world class companies including ABB Robotics, Ford Motor, Toyota Motor, General Motors, Microsoft and Lego in the context of various intelligent system initiatives.1. Explain as simply as possible the technology your company is developing?As engineering managers and business owners we used to be able to send a lot more experts into the field and afford more in-person or at least same-time meetings to discuss and resolve technical issues. This is less and less feasible when you consider the cost of travel, both financially and environmentally, and when you consider everyone’s increasingly hard-to-mesh schedules. What our technology does is to enable each member of the team to quickly projecta description of a given issue or opportunity onto a commonly accessible virtual canvas and define an on-demand team to work on this from anywhere including from the mobile device in his or her pocket. Our philosophy and mission is to emulate the efficiency and interactivity of a same-time, in-person meeting but without the burdens that come with organizing or participating in one. We found this approach to yield a lot more valuable input from people than if we arranged a synchronous meeting because they could work on their own schedule and reflect on the issue at hand. 2. What are some of the typical scenarios where Scoop would be used?I can point out you some key examples that I have came across throughout the years but there are surely many others that you readers can surmise based on their specific experiences:You are a manager / supervisor of say a plant or work site and while making the rounds you come across numerous defects or improvement opportunities. Typically these need to be defined, documented and delegated to someone. Scoop makes it very easy and immediate to do this. You are a support engineer / technician and you are working to solve a customer system issue (e.g., on a production line) and need to quickly explain the issue and get advice/support from experts and engineers at other locations. This is typically a very inefficient multi-step process in the field involving taking pictures, attaching to emails, typing paragraphs of descriptions. With Scoop you can immediately create a scoop ticket, add media and describe the problem if you wish using voice features. On the other end people you share this with can do the same. This really cuts down the busy work and confusion. You are a sales person and while on a site visit, the customer asks you to quote on a new sales opportunity; you want the technical team to quickly give you some feasibility parameters before you finalize the proposal package; You are a product designer and have developed a concept prototype. You want to describe and share elements of this with an overseas supplier to get feedback on feasibility and pricing; You are a support engineer and you have successfully solved a critical issue with a system calibration. You want to document your steps and publish this so that other support staff and customers can benefit from your solution. In all of these cases, you can quickly create a scoop ticket on your handheld to explain the topic at hand with the aid of various media. The mobility and use of rich media really boost the immediacy and efficiency of the communication. Scoop lets you share the topic with others, discuss and collaborate while having the peace of mind that your information is kept safe and private within a well-defined sub-team. 3. How did you come up with the concept for the product?The concept came out of the experience I had running the technical team at Braintech and other similar experiences working as part of technical teams. At Braintech we were developing and installing robot vision systems into automotive plants. We had a classically distributed team structure with R&D engineers and researchers in Vancouver and sales and support engineers at different industrial hubs such as Detroit, Michigan. On a daily basis our challenge was to close the loop quickly and effectively on pre and post sales technical issues. As your readers know, in the high tech environment each issue typically requires more than two people to be informed of details and to ask and answer questions or provide input given the nuances. The participation and awareness of various issues goes a long way in pulling those idea nuggets from people which would otherwise not even enter the mix. We faced some serious challenges in this area. The issue tracking system we used in Vancouver was great for R&D but was text intensive and bound tightly to our network. It was very hard to access and use for people outside the building especially on the road. The other problem was describing issues adequately from the field. To get the details across this usually required using a combination of pictures, video, documents and of course words which typically ended in multiple emails. For a given week-old issue it would get to be a real challenge to sort out and untangle all the emails, media, documents and conversations. The tangle would progressively get worse until we had to have an expensive all-hands-on-deck meeting and spend hours sorting things out to get everyone back to ground truth. It became clear to me that there had to be a better way and in the last couple of years we have been given the ingredients to make this work with the smartphone revolution.4. What are the greatest benefits for Canadians and for the Canadian economy? The global markets for cloud computing (which as your readers know is the accelerating trend of migrating and running software applications on common, Internet accessible infrastructure as opposed to dedicated user computers)and mobile apps are growing at a phenomenal pace. These technologies are game changing in virtually every sector as they break down old barriers to efficiency and connectivity. Technologically, there is a lot of room to innovate and we believe building a solid base in these areas should be an integral part of Canada’s national technology strategy. By its design, Scoop lies at the intersection of mobile and web computing and has proven a great opportunity to learn, innovate and internalize know-how that will continue to fuel other developments in future. Along this path we have created new high-value jobs and formed collaborative projects with both academic and industrial partners.5. Was the project you did with Precarn helpful in any way for the overall development of your organization? How?Precarn was and continues to be instrumental in helping us bring the product concept to commercial form. The T-GAP funding helped the company achieve key milestones in technology development, intellectual property protection and product commercialization.6. What have been the biggest obstacles in front of Trusterra so far?Getting a lot done with limited resources is always a challenge. With the rapidly changing web and mobile landscape, at any moment there is at least half dozen directions you can take and the challenge is picking the right focus. Of course, classic challenges of finding good talent and efficient ways of reaching target customers have been and continue to be there.7. What are the biggest challenges the company is facing today?The technologies, platforms and tools we use are still quite new especially on the mobile side. Lines are being drawn and re-drawn constantly and industry giants are jockeying each of them offering their own development and business models. All this makes for a challenging but also potentially a very rewarding time to be in this business. The way I see it, our key challenge is to navigate this shifting landscape while still keeping our users squarely in our sights and delivering something of value to them. It is easy and many companies do get caught up in the peaks and valleys losing sight of what they should really be trying to accomplish: solve a problem or get rid of a frustration for their user.8. What are your near- and long-term goals?Our near term goal is to proliferate the key capabilities of the technology to leading platforms: Blackberry, iPhone and Android. We also feel integration with other key environments such as Google Apps is very important. Behind that we have some exciting capabilities planned that we believe will offer a very fresh take on technical collaboration but I wouldn’t want to spoil that surprise.9. In your opinion, what should we do here in Canada to spur more innovation? Are we on the right track? Is there room to improve?I think Canada does a pretty good job of stimulating technical innovation through various programs. Still these programs are limited in their scope. Most cover early upstream technical development but in my experience there are not enough good programs such as Precarn T-GAP to help companies take these technologies to commercial form and better yet into the hands of early customers—both of which are essential to creating jobs and that competitive advantage we are after on the global stage. So that’s one thing. In addition to funding programs for commercialization and early stage business development, I think companies like us stand to benefit greatly from high quality, reliable mentoring services and perhaps access to a network of pre-qualified strategic consultants. I envision these consultants would provide early stage companies with the advice they need to supercharge their development and marketing activities. Finding and qualifying and experimenting with sources of such advice is often a prohibitively time consuming and risky proposition for most early stage companies today so many don’t bother which results in unrealized potential.10. Which is harder – to invent new and disruptive technology or to turn it into a product?I think this is somewhat dependent on each person’s background and temperament. But in general I would say the latter i.e., turning an idea into a product is a tougher proposition for most. Commercialization is the stage where you discover and have to solve a lot of unforeseen practical issues. It is also the stage that relies a lot more on external people and entities doing things right and who are beyond one’s direct control. This makes things trickier to manage and steer than development. This is the stage where progress towards perfecting the product or service gets exponentially more difficult and yet that is what you have to shoot for.Having said that development of a disruptive technology holds its own unique challenges. 11. Do you have any competition at the moment?Given the universal nature of collaboration there are a number of tools and platforms out there that serve this massive market. Many of them have been focused on desktop users, some provide real time conferencing for office workers, others exist that offer mobile capabilities aimed at automating pre-defined business workflows such as those used by the likes of FedEx and UPS. Still other newer ones cater to the general social networking needs of businesses in an intranet environment.With Scoop we are targeting an important niche involving issue-focused, rich-media based technical collaboration for distributed teams, an area that we intimately understand. In this area we have not encountered any similar products. 12. How can people learn more about Scoop? Can they try it out?Scoop is available for free trial on our website www.scoopapponline.com. There is also a perpetually free account with the full feature set and limited number of scoops that people can use to really kick the tires. Users can sign up for an account on the web, then download and install the mobile app on their blackberry devices. Once installed, they can create scoops (tickets) and synchronize these between their web and mobile. When users create and share a scoop with others, these invitees do not need to have a blackberry device and they can access the given scoop on the web using a free account.13. How does it all work?Mobile Scoop App showing list of issues and pursuits each called a scoop ticket or scoop for shortLanding page of a given scoop provides key specifics, introduction and access to comments, pictures and video specific to the scoop. Pictures page of same scoop allows viewing and commenting on each picture by various invitees as well as capturing and adding new ones Video page of same scoop allows viewing and commenting on a video clip related to the subject at hand Sharing page of the given scoop allows creating a rapid on-demand team to work on the given issue or pursuit Choice of text or voice commenting provides flexibility in mobile situations Scoop web application mirrors identical data as to that viewed on mobile - End -

How to Turn PDF to Flash Flip Book

Wed, 15 Sep 2010 09:00:00 EST

A flipping ebook is a kind of ebook with page turning effect typed by digital web pages. They are kind of different from your typical pdf file ebooks which can be pretty typical with the e-publishing industry. They definitely flip and provids you the sensation that you just are reading the actual book. It would be a good idea to convert your PDF ebook to flipping ebook and share online. But, do you know how to convert PDF to flipping ebook? You don\'t need to know complex codes. Follow the steps below; you can convert PDF files to flipping ebook with page turning effect in few clicks. First, let\'s view the appearance of flipping book create it from PDF files. From this appearance you can view a book-like shape pages which are originate from PDF pages. There are zoom in/out icon, full screen icon, previous/next button, thumbnail icon and more userful icons for you to view the flipping book more efficiently. Now, let\'s go to the steps to turn PDF to flipping ebook with Kvisoft Flipbook Maker ( http://www.kvisoft.com/flipbook-maker/ ), an easy-to-use PDF tool.Step 1: Install Kvisoft Flipbook Maker The download link for Kvisoft Flipbook Maker: http://www.kvisoft.com /download/fbm/kvisoft-fbm-trial.exeStep 2: Open the Kvisoft Flipbook Maker Double click the program icon on the desktop to start the flipbook maker. A compact interface will appear after you open the program. Step 3: Import PDF filesFlipbook Maker allows you to import multiple PDF files at one time. You also can enrich your flipping ebook by integrating photos (*.jpg, *.bmp, *jpeg, *.png) and Flash movies and videos (*.swf, *.flv) by clicking the Add Photo/PDF/FLV button. After importing you can view the PDF files page by page at the panel.Step 4: Customize the appearance of flipping bookClick the style button, you can view the template setting panel window the templates on the left and the preview panel on the right. Choose the template you like at the left panel. There are now 20 more templates for you. If you like, customize the template yourself with the customise button to set background music and image, navigation bar style, book paper style and more.Step 5: Convert the PDF to flipping ebookThen, click the Publish button to compelet the PDF to Flash conversion process. With this software, you can publish PDF files to SWF, EXE, HTML, EMAIL, and Screen Saver. Choose the SWF, EXE, HTML, or Email option and then click OK to start the conversion. You will get the Flipping ebook from PDF files in few minutes. You can zoom in, zoom out, or view the flip book full screen.Flipping book is a good thing to impress others, you can upload the flipping book to your website and share with your friends. Convert your PDF to flipping ebook with turning page effect now.

What are the top reasons for failure of university start-up companies and how Precarn can help to overcome them?

Thu, 19 Aug 2010 09:00:00 EST

Terry Young, President Emeritus of the Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM), is the founder and editor of Beyond the First World not-for-profit organization/blog, where global news and best practices for managers of innovation and intellectual property are published bi-weekly. Mr. Young has 20 years experience in managing innovation in both the public and private sector. He has been recognized internationally for his role in developing economies based upon innovation and entrepreneurship. Mr. Young is an accomplished author, contributing to academic journals as well as chapters in several books. He also was the writer/editor of a proclaimed news source –Innovation Matters– from 2002 – 2004. Last month, on July 6th, Mr. Young published on his blog the responses he received to a survey of 40 tech transfer professionals representing a cross section of the industry, including CEOs of tech transfer service companies, university TTO managers, start-up executives, researchers, and patent officials. Thirty-six individuals responded to Young’s single question, “What are the top three reasons for failure of university start-up companies?” Instead of using a survey form, participants were encouraged to respond with their own comments. “This ‘survey’ was not proposed or promoted as a scientific survey in any manner,” Young explains. “Rather, it was a free-form attempt to learn from experts their opinions regarding the reasons for the failure of university start-up companies.” The complete list of reasons can be found here: http://www.technologytransfertactics.com/content/2010/07/14/survey-suggests-top-10-reasons-university-start-ups-fail/After reading the list a few times and discussing it with some of my colleagues in the office, I decided to take on the task to try to counter each one of the reasons, by using Precarn’s collaborative, three-party model. I intend to show that Precarn, with its model, processes and procedures in place, is helping start-ups to build a solid business case, put in place appropriate commercialization strategies, identify potential risks and mitigation scenarios, as well as identify key personnel, milestones, and stages of project and product development. As a result, companies that have completed projects with Precarn have better chances to survive, since they are better prepared to face the challenges of tomorrow. With that, Precarn is working towards reducing the number of failures of start ups, which translates into greater and more rapid economic growth for Canada to the overall benefit of all Canadians.Here are the top 10 factors as cited by Young’s respondents to the question “What are the top three reasons for failure of university start-up companies?” and my personal comments for each one of them. 1. Management failure (22 mentions). Start-ups are doomed when academics seek to be corporate managers and stay in control too long; management teams lack start-up experience; management fails to accurately project the company’s needs for capital, employees, product development, and technical expertise; or management fails to identify the market opportunity and, therefore, misses it. Through its collaborative model, Precarn requires each project to have a developer, customer and an academic research participant. For each project, participants are required to submit a project proposal, which among other things, outlines key personnel within each organization, their academic and professional background, as well as past working experiences and capabilities. Each participant has a role to play providing for technical and marketing expertise, necessary for the overall project success. Further, Precarn’s expert reviewers determine the capability of the team to carry on their project responsibilities as well as to work under unpredicted circumstances. Precarn requires for each project a business case, which ensures that the participants have not only management capabilities, but also a business vision about the future development of their organization and the roll out of the eventual product.2. Failure to raise sufficient capital (15 mentions). Some academic start-ups begin with no capital (”zero stage minus one”) and cannot overcome this deficit, according to respondents. Others don’t secure follow-on investment rounds because they fail to resolve technical challenges or reach major business plan milestones, encounter a cash flow crisis before they have a chance to succeed, or lose their original VCs to other projects. Precarn not only requires all participants to present financial statements and plans on how they intend to fund their projects, but it also requires a business plan in the final report upon project completion. In this final report, the lead participant is expected to provide an estimate of future sales, revenues, number of employees, sales support, and number of customers. In doing so, Precarn is stimulating business initiative and a clear financial vision by the lead participant about the future development and growth of their organization. As well, Precarn funding allows the company to get to a stage whereby it can then seek out additional VC or Angel investment.3. Innovation does not meet a commercial need (12 mentions). Many start-ups succumb to problems such as “laboratory-push versus market-pull,” the entry of a technology into the marketplace too early or late, a “$5 solution for a 25 cent problem,” the inability of an innovation to compete with existing products, or the threat of “neat science” — when a start-up falls in love with its technology and fails to identify a market need. For each of its projects, Precarn requires the participation of an end-user/first customer. The role of the end-user is crucial, since it not only tests the new product, and provides constructive feedback, but it also represents market validation of the technology being developed – the all important market pull. This ensures that there is an identified need for the new technology, as well as potential market niche. 4. Geography (7 mentions). “Small country start-ups must be successful in their home country before they can think about going international,” according to one respondent. “This is especially difficult when there are no buyers in their home country.” VCs also want their portfolio companies nearby, which may limit investment opportunities to in-country VCs. In other cases, companies run out of cash because the local market — consumers, capital, and suppliers — is too small to sustain. Here again, the fact that Precarn requires an end-user is important to notice. From a marketing perspective, it is much easier to enter national and international markets once you have the support and the positive evaluation from a happy user who has already bought and used your products. There are no geographic boundaries for good ideas that have already been tested by an established industry entrepreneur. 5. Cultural factors (6 mentions). Start-ups stagnate when the country’s culture devalues risk-taking because there are “no young people with entrepreneurial spirit, no risk money supply, no vibrant IPO market, and no market willing to buy state-of-the-art technological goods,” according to one respondent. “In Europe, despite all the EU propaganda of a ‘single market,’ the reality is that linguistic barriers, geographical trading cultures, and other country-defined factors place severe limitations on the ability of any company to grow beyond the level of a 50-employee company.” In many countries, a company’s failure can damage the reputations of a researcher, university, and company managers, according to another respondent, although in the U.S., such failure “is a ‘badge of honour’” that has little negative impact on the principals. There is no progress without risk taking. This is particularly true for the North America’s individualistic culture. However, there are reasonable and unreasonable risks, and Precarn, for over20 years now, have always made sure that Canadian entrepreneurs are taking only well calculated risks. As a confirmation of Precarn model’s success are the many companies that have completed projects with us, a number of which are well positioned and established global corporations today. To read more about their successes visit our blog at http://www.precarn.ca/Blog/ . 6. Government laws, bureaucracy, and programs (6 mentions). Start-ups often are handicapped by poor IP protection through national laws, such as constraints on protection of computer software and biotechnology in Europe. In other cases, “government funding programs, such as the Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR), actually have a detrimental effect by causing start-ups to be logical extensions of technology-development, not market-pulled technology needs.” One respondent adds that legislated entrepreneurship rarely works, as government does not understand the technology commercialization process. Precarn works closely with project participants in determining existing IP issues and how to overcome them. This takes place right at the beginning, when companies submit their project proposals. Since Precarn has been around for over 20 years now, it is able to provide valuable advice to participants on how to protect their inventions within the Canadian business environment. 7. Infighting within the start-up team (6 mentions). Start-ups cannot survive without a common objective among key players: inventor, university, management, investors, and government, according to one respondent. The survey also cites the failure of a university and/or investor to give control of a spin-off to the management team and the “clash of cultures” that occurs when start-ups focus solely on technology while investors focus solely on money. Precarn’s distinctive model is all about collaboration between technology developers, end users, university and colleges and governments and investors; as shown above, all participants have different roles; however, they all have one goal in common: the successful completion of pre-commercial collaborative projects, which eventually lead to a better Canada for the benefit of all Canadians. 8. Problems with IP (6 mentions). In general, technology needs a clean patent estate to allow a start-up to operate freely, according to participants. “The IPR estate is too weak without issued patents,” one respondent notes. “This is a significant challenge as universities cannot afford the expense to ‘prosecute to completion’ internationally, but investors do not want to invest without allowed claims and start-up companies cannot wait that long without investment. It is a ‘lose-lose-lose’ situation.” In many countries, lack of clarity about IPR ownership also impedes investment. Precarn provides funding for provisional patent applications for the new technologies. While holding a patent is important, the protection of the patent is a whole other matter costing more than the patent itself. Sometimes it is more advantageous for the company to protect its IP as a trade secret rather than a patent. In any case, IP protection is paramount in Precarn’s model.9. Poor business plan (5 mentions). A business plan that ignores critical first steps to survival precludes start-ups from raising capital. “A business plan may have a misdirected focus upon the technology and the IPR, without seeing the market,” according to one respondent. “Too many start-ups fail to consider the competition in their business plans, especially competition from market leaders, even when the competition’s product is not as good,” another adds. As already mentioned, Precarn requires a final report and a business case where lead participants outline their plans for further development and commercialization of the new technology. Potential risks and risk mitigation are thoroughly discussed; revenue estimates and forecasts are made; competition is considered; potential markets and customers are identified as well as near future goals are put in perspective. 10. Unrealistic expectations (4 mentions). “The probability of having a blockbuster invention is so low that the chance that any start-up company in America — much less in smaller countries of the world — will be significant is very remote,” one respondent says. “The failure rate is too high to warrant a significant number of investments.” Precarn is a not-for-profit organization, which has in its mission the obligation to make the best possible investment for the future prosperity of the country and its citizens. The Precarn selection process makes use of highly respected business leaders, university professors, government scientists and investment mangers with extensive experience in the field of innovative technologies, marketing and product development. All proposals receive the same level of scrutiny and only the best are selected for funding support.I believe I have made a strong case about Precarn’s role in reducing the failures of start-up companies and in helping to establish Canada some day as one of the global leaders in R&D, technological innovation, productivity, and excellence. I invite you to share your opinions with us, by posting a comment on our Blog.

Taking Canada into Tomorrow

Wed, 11 Aug 2010 09:00:00 EST

“Out of clutter, find simplicity. From discord, find harmony. In the middle of difficulty, lies opportunity” Albert Einstein The world is rapidly changing today and it is essential for us to change with it if we are to survive. The future belongs to those who are most open to changes and most prepared for sacrifices. Einstein called this opportunity; Thomas Friedman calls it “compassionate flatism; Steve Jobs calls it inspirational, technological breakthroughs. To be able to accommodate and adjust, countries around the world will need to invest more recourse in education, science, technology, R&D and infrastructure. As stated in a 2006 Industry Canada report, “Canada has tremendous strengths, such as genuine people, strong fiscal position and research base”. However, we also need to face our own challenges, the biggest one among which is Canada’s productivity gap, which continues to widen in comparison to our largest trading partner, the United States. The only way to overcome this obstacle, the report suggests is by “improving our productivity and competitiveness through innovation”/ http://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/ic1.nsf/eng/00871.html/Fortunately, Canada has been and still is considered one of the global leaders in technological innovation and research; we have a long and proud history of research excellence and scientific success, which dates back in time when the insulin was first invented, the computerized weather forecasting systems, the T-cell receptor and the CCD chip of camcorder and telescope, to name just few. Then one will ask: why Canada still lags behind other nations in regard to its productivity and innovation excellence? And in particular with our major trading partner, the US where Canada's business sector productivity in 2007 was 75 per cent of that of the U.S, compared to 90 per cent in the early 1980s. According to Canadian government officials, who recently committed to launch a Digital Economy Strategy, Canada lags in its adoption of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), which according to them would tremendously speed up innovation and productivity and will increase the country ability to compete worldwide. According to Professor Friedman, countries like the USA and Canada will be challenged by developing nations such as China and India. According to Denys Cooper, a former National Research Council program director, one of Canada’s solutions for faster and greater economic growth and development is in reducing the time between when R&D is completed and when it produces a benefit for the society. So who is right? The last theory by Denys Cooper manages to explain, in part, why Canada is among the nations that invest the most in academic R&D and yet at the same time lags international standards in innovation, competitiveness and economic development. Today, I would like to pose a challenge to all of you: let’s try to find out whether any of the above mentioned theories have any substantial ground to be Canada’s explanation and/or solution for the future, or maybe it is a collaboration of them all. You are invited not only to elaborate on the above mentioned theories, but also to propose different perspectives on how should we make a Canada worldwide leader in research and innovation with the maximum benefits for Canadian society. This article was written in collaboration with Mr. Denys Cooper. I would like to thank him sincerely for all his help and contributions to Precarn's blog! It's been an honour and a real pleasure to work with you Denys!

Technology and Innovation Without Borders: 3D Sherlock, Ottawa, ON - Part 6 Precarn Interview Series

Wed, 04 Aug 2010 09:00:00 EST

3D Sherlock Inc. is a recently incorporated start-up based in Ottawa. Its product, 3D Sherlock, is a software tool that will replace or augment standard facial composite methodologies. Originally developed at the National Research Council (NRC), the goal is to commercialize a new methodology for generating virtual faces for easy recognition by event witnesses. 3D Sherlock is a radical departure. It is the first user-centered approach using visual navigation to recover visual memory, i.e. visual search to recover visual memory. To learn more about this disruptive and game-changing technology, we spoke with Dr. Marc Rioux, VP Research at 3D Sherlock. Marc Rioux is a Physicist who led the development of 3D digitizing and modeling technologies at the NRC from 1981 to 2008. Marc has 15 patents in the field, and more than 200 publications. More than 20 technology transfers have been made to industry, and the combined annual revenues from those Canadian companies are in the range of $300 million. Projects of high visibility are: the laser scanning system for in-flight tiles inspection of the space shuttle, the participation in the Digital Michelangelo Project and, the scanning of the Mona Lisa at the Louvre in Paris. 1. How did you come up with the idea for this technology?3D Sherlock grew out of opportunities to spin out results of a massive anthropometric study, code named CAESAR, conducted by the US Air Force, in 1998, in collaboration with the NRC and other 30 private organizations. Utilizing NRC expertise in 3D database searching and visualization, plus image encoding and image search technology, the CAESAR project did full body scans of 5000 people from North America and Europe. 3D Sherlock offers a method congruent with human vision psychology: It is based on an iterative visual searching method which uses our basic human vision recognition and recollection. Successive virtual face "line-ups", each more targeted than the last, allows the witness to converge rapidly to a match. Initial testing indicated that this is a great improvement on the existing market offerings. The 3-D Sherlock technology may even be the best possible methodology to extract visual memory evidence from an eyewitness. 2. Is there a market need for this new invention?Traditional methods of extracting witness memory as evidence – the facial composite sketch and its derivatives – suffer from a need to work contrary to the function of human vision perception. The result is that sketch artist results are highly unreliable representations of the target face. We propose to introduce a next generation approach to witness investigation for all security forces, i.e. “3D Visual to Visual” to assist “2D Visual to Verbal and Sketch Artist” which is the current prevalent method. Current face recognition 2D software tools have a very low reputation with police forces. 3. What would be the greatest benefits for Canadians and the Canadian economy?Sketch generation is regarded as high cost: generating a sketch can take as long as four hours and can be gruelling for all especially in the case of an already traumatized witness/victim. Artists require special training and this is costly to the organization as well. Our technology significantly reduces the time needed to generate an initial head shape, which is considered the most important part of a sketch. In 10 minutes, the system generates a head shape that is known to be correct, which saves lots of time, and allows trained artists to concentrate more on the specifics of the face. As to the Canadian economy, we here in Canada, have the patents and the know-how to do it, when it comes to 3D searching and digital modeling. The software application we are developing at 3D Sherlock has the potential to be sold worldwide and to bring millions of revenues. 4. 3D Sherlock was the lead participant in one of Precarn’s most successful T-GAP projects, the 3D Software tool for Eyewitness Face Recognition project. Was this initiative helpful in any way for the overall development of your organization? How?This project was very useful: Precarn provided the funding needed to complete a scientific study conducted at Queen’s University in the field of witness psychology. The results of this study were extremely beneficial to us and in turn helped us design our next Beta 2 version of the 3D Sherlock product. The funds provided by Precarn were spent during the GovSec and U.S. Law 2009 at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center, where we were not only able to establish key contacts with US Security Agencies, but also to get their constructive feedback, which provided for our Beta 2 version definition. 5. What are the biggest challenges 3D Sherlock faces today?Our biggest challenge right now is to find funding for our Beta 2 version. We have already received the conclusions from the Queen’s University’s study and just need funding in order to be able to implement the new features and specification for the next version of the product. 6. What are the company’s near- and long-term goals?First, we need to get funding to develop our Beta 2 version. Then, we need to get it evaluated by researchers and scientists at Queen’s University. After the final edits are complete, we would like to get few end-users, like the RCMP, OPP, and FBI to test it, by employing it in their every-day operations. Based on the results of the pilots and the experiences of the end users, we would then proceed towards the development of the commercial prototype. 7. In your opinion, is Canada the best place to do business and to invent new technologies? Is there room to improve? How?Yes, Canada is one of the best places to do business and to invent. I believe that organizations like Precarn are really helpful in the overall development of Canadian economy. Precarn, for instance, have been always very successful in spotting good technologies with significant potential for further industry development and growth. In the USA, compared to Canada, a lot of the funds for new research and innovation come from former engineers and scientists. They have the capability to evaluate the scientific proposition and to foresee its economic potential. In Canada, on the other side, it is very hard to find private funds for science and technology-based new ventures. We rely more heavily on government funding to bridge the gap between R&D and commercialization; but we are getting there slowly! If you are interested in doing business with 3D Sherlock, you can contact its President, Mr. Guy Bélanger, via email: Guy.belanger@bga-inc.com or tel.: 613 724-0812 To post a comment or a question in regard to this interview, please visit us at http://www.precarn.ca/Blog/

Technology and Innovation without Borders: GeoDigital International, Burlington, ON - Part 5 Precarn Interview Series

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 09:00:00 EST

This week Precarn is featuring GeoDigital International, a world leader in LiDAR and imaging technology for engineering surveys and right of way mapping for electric utilities, pipelines, telecommunications, highways, railways and other industries. To learn more about GeoDigital and the disruptive technology they are developing, we spoke with Mr. Doug Parent, Director, Corporate Development at GeoDigital International. Mr. Parent brings over 12 years of diverse experience in the field of Geomatics Engineering, holding key positions in operations, sales and marketing, and product management. His extensive experience in this field includes managing operations for aerial and terrestrial surveys, consulting with clients on the topic of photogrammetry software solutions, and leading cross-functional teams to deliver on critical projects. At GeoDigital, he is responsible for maintaining key strategic relationships and for commercializing innovations that emerge from various R&D initiatives. As a professional engineer, Mr. Parent has a Bachelor of Science degree in Geomatics Engineering from the University of Calgary and a Master of Business Administration from the Richard Ivey School of Business. 1. Explain as simply as possible the technology that your company is developing. What system do you have in place to be able to monitor on a daily basis power line corridors?The technology we are developing is in support of complete automation, and thereby near real-time access to actionable information for rights of way corridor management. What I mean by that is we are removing the pain of technology from the end customer and providing specific deliverables in a form that they are comfortable adopting into their existing business processes rather than burdening them with an overwhelming amount of data and complex software integration issues. The first type of client that will benefit from these advancements will be the transmission line corridor operators, and include a simplified offering for each stakeholder within the organization that is responsible for vegetation, engineering, and asset maintenance management. We are also actively expanding this technology’s reach into railway, roadway, telecom, and pipeline corridor applications. 2. How did you come up with the idea for it? GeoDigital’s founder and CEO, Alastair Jenkins, is recognized as one of the leading visionaries in this industry and as such is always pushing the limits of technology as it can be applied to a specific business need. This project evolved from this mindset of continually challenging the status quo and finding innovative solutions that met the simple standard of producing more valuable information, more cost effectively, within a shorter period of time. 3. What are the technology’s greatest benefits for Canadians and for the Canadian economy?Many current vegetation management programs rely on manual observations by a human while walking along the power-line corridors or flying over them, which results in high acquisition costs and unreliable results. The importance of effective monitoring is evidenced by the Northeast Blackout of 2003, one of the largest blackouts in North America. This catastrophic failure, which left without power near 10 million people in Ontario and about 40 million in 8 states in the USA, could have been mitigated by early diagnosis and appropriately targeted vegetation management. Further GeoDigital is building technology foundations and the corresponding business models that will allow it to emerge as a world leader in LiDAR mapping, which will provide for rapid expansion in core IP and associated high quality employment opportunities that are critical in improving productivity that leads to sustainable and competitive businesses for the overall benefit of Canada. 4. You were the lead participant in the Powerline Corridor Monitoring project partially funded by Precarn. Was this project helpful in any way for the overall development of your organization? How?The Precarn project was very helpful for the overall development of our organization – it was great to see support specifically aimed at commercializing innovations. Furthermore, the partnership model of involving a university-based research and a client throughout the process is a great way to ensure the ideas coming out of the lab are validated by a person who will be making the purchasing decision when it is all said and done. During the course of this project, we have formed an innovations group that follows this model by spanning across R&D and Product Management to ensure that the development priorities are being driven with real time client feedback. 5. You have been in this business for over 20 years, what have been the biggest challenges you have faced to date?Market adoption of technology – often we have a better mouse trap, but it is the client education and change management that is the challenge for a solution provider to effectively influence. 6. What are the biggest challenges you are facing today?The biggest challenge GeoDigital faces today is balancing rapid expansion, both into new verticals and international expansion. Can’t complain though, it is a good type of challenge to have! 7. What are the company's near and long-term goals?GeoDigital’s corporate mission is to become the leading supplier of simple, accurate, and affordable information technology solutions for the effective management of rights-of-way using airborne and terrestrial LiDAR and digital imagery. We have established a beachhead and continue to expand market share in serving electrical utilities, as well as other verticals including railways, telecom, roadways, and pipelines, and new geographies in Australia and Europe. 8. In your opinion, is Canada the best place to do business and to invent new technologies? Is there room to improve? How?Canada is a great place to build a business and specifically new technologies. Government funded programs aimed at supporting innovations are critical in building sustainable businesses and the associated high quality careers that go with them. There is always room for improvement and Precarn is a great example of forward thinking for an effective R&D program that connects researchers, with clients, with commercialization vehicles. More support for programs such as this are extremely valuable to a rapidly growing technology company such as ours. For instance, Precarn’s support allowed us to justify doubling our investment into R&D, which effectively means we can grow twice as fast as we would have otherwise (or compared to our friends south of the border). 9. Which is harder -- to invent a new and disruptive technology or to turn it into a product?Ideas are only the tip of the iceberg – execution is the real challenge. It is definitely the process of commercializing a new product that is the harder because it involves coordinating change, both internally and externally. This involves balancing the natural excitement that builds through the product development and validation phase as everyone starts to see the power of the new technology or products, without disrupting the current established technology or products which are the core part of the offering. Without effective management from the inception of the innovation to the product launch, confusion and chaos could prevent a great idea from ever realizing its full potential. 10.What is like to be named by VIATeC “Product of the Year”?We are fortunate to have a lot of extremely talented individuals continually coming up with and executing great ideas. This award was particularly for an industry revolutionizing approach for delivering rapid reports within 72 hours compared to what typically took months to accomplish. It is great to receive recognition and, perhaps more importantly, it is a great excuse for an organization that is rapidly growing to pause for a moment and celebrate such an important accomplishment. 11. Who is your biggest customer at the moment?This is a difficult question to answer with just one example – we have a large number of great clients that actively work with us to tailor our solutions. Currently, most of these customers represent large electrical utility companies from all regions in the United States and Canada. 12. You have been working with various industries: telecom, electric utilities, and pipelines: which was most challenging, to operate in such various fields, to enter the market itself, or to compete with the big players?The biggest challenge in working with various industries is learning and tailoring solutions that meet their specific needs – the technology may be similar in a lot of respects, but the deliverables and key components of the value proposition is always different. Failing to do this effectively will ultimately lead to a commodity product or service, or worse yet, a failed business initiative. We have been fortunate to not compete directly with the big players and in fact, our main competitor has been the status quo of a manual approach. To learn more about GeoDigital and the technology they are developing, visit them at http://www.geodigital.net/To read similar stories or to post a comment, please visit us at http://www.precarn.ca/home/To learn more about VIATeC go to http://www.viatec.ca/

Technology and Innovation without Borders: XSensor Technologies Corp., Calgary, AB - Part 4 Precarn Interview Series

Tue, 20 Jul 2010 09:00:00 EST

This week Precarn is featuring XSENSOR Technology Corporation, a Calgary based company, which is an internationally-recognized leader in the field of pressure imaging. XSENSOR designs, manufactures, and sells advanced pressure-imaging systems with utility application in three distinct vertical markets: sleep, patient safety and automotive testing. ‘Patient Safety’is used by clinicians and rehab specialists to help manage and prevent pressure wounds. Dynamic interface pressure imaging systems provide objective measurements to assist in understanding patient positioning, support surfaces, and various adjustments that can impact a patient’s circulation, recovery, and well-being. ‘Sleep’is used by mattress retailers and manufacturers; XSENSOR’s full-body pressure imaging systems are valuable sales tools for demonstrating pressure relief and comfort to consumers. Mattress sales representatives use XSENSOR systems to enhance the overall purchasing experience by assisting consumers in comparing multiple mattresses and selecting the one that best fits their body type and sleeping preferences. ‘Automotive testing’is used for automotive seat testing and tire tread analysis. Product designers and test engineers use pressure imaging throughout the product design, testing and process control cycle to measure pressure-related issues to understand and improve product performance. XSENSOR was the lead participant in one of Precarn’s most successful Industrial T-Gap projects. The objective of the project was to extend the capability of XSENSOR’s leading pressure imaging technology into a long term monitoring application such as hospital bed surfaces. This week, we had the great opportunity to speak with Mr. Bruce Malkinson, XSENSOR’s Chief Operations Officer. Mr. Malkinson has a Technical Diploma from SAIT, BASc in Engineering from University of Regina and an MBA from Queen’s University. He joined the company in 2006, bringing over 15 years of experience in engineering, manufacturing, and management from Nortel and Sanmina-SCI. His current responsibilities at XSENSOR include operations, engineering, and finance. 1. What type of technology does XSENSOR develop?Since 1995, when the company was established, we have been operating in three distinct vertical markets: sleep, patient safety and automotive testing. For each one of these product families we use different software packages and sensors with different resolutions and pressure ranges.We have been adjusting and improving the technology with the intention to meet our customers’ needs and expectations. Starting in 2007, we initiated the development of sensors with the ability to measure pressure over long durations. In collaboration with Precarn, the Ward of the 21st Century and University of Calgary, we developed a system that can continuously monitor patients’ pressure distribution on a hospital bed. This is the latest of the many various applications we have identified so far for our pressure-mapping technology. 2. What are the greatest benefits of this new invention?The system will help improve patient safety and care by aiding care givers in the prevention of pressure ulcers in hospital patients. Pressure ulcers are a significant patient safety concern in hospitals around the world and prevalence studies in Canada have shown that they occur in as many as 25% of patients in acute care. Reducing pressure ulcers provides hospitals two key benefits: reduced hospital stays and lowers cost of care.With most hospitals running at or over capacity reduced hospital stay result in increased access to the facility for other patients. The cost to treat a single pressure ulcer can be in excess of $20,000. 3. Is the long-term monitoring system on the market?The system has not been deployed yet. Currently we are conducting series of pilot trials in designated medical centers in Calgary. Our projection for early 2011 is that we will be starting the final, commercialization stage and hope to have the product widely available by 2013. 4. What are the main steps one take to commercialize a product with such a unique health care application?First, we have to demonstrate our technology at specifically targeted medical facilities. Then, we have to conduct commercial pilots. In our case, we would sell with discount 5 to 10 systems to a hospital or a clinic and then work in collaboration with them to test and prove that the device really works. Once this has been done, there it comes the implementation stage, when the hospital actually orders the product from us for half or all of its beds. This is pretty much a standard process. With a technology like ours, you cannot commercialize a product before first piloting it at the target facility. 5. Is it hard to enter such a heavily regulated industry like healthcare?Yes, it is definitely challenging. We have already received regulatory approval for our system here in Canada. In order to market it and sell it in the USA, we may need to apply separately for FDA approval. This is accomplished by undergoing a “clinical pilot” where we would need to prove the product’s clinical efficacy and that it provides the anticipated outcomes. 6. XSENSOR won for second time in 2009 the Alberta Export Award in the Advancing Technologies category. What does this mean for the company and to you?We are honoured to be recognized for the second time as Alberta’s Export Company of the Year. It does mean a lot to us! We have invested heavily in diversifying our global product distribution, which was not easy especially in such tough economic times. Currently, we are exporting in over 40 countries around the world and we are always on the look out for new opportunities. 7.How many people work at XSENSOR?Currently, there are 30 employees working full time at XSENSOR Technology Corporation. 8. Is Canada the best place in the world to invent and to do business? Is there a room to improve? How?Canada, with its infrastructure and great access to educated recourses, is definitely one of the best places in the world to invent and to do business. From a market perspective, though, we do not sell as much here in Canada, as we do elsewhere with the main reason being the country small population. Only around 5% of our sales take place here in Canada. In contrast, in the USA alone, there are approximately 10 times more people with wheel chairs than here. In terms of improvements, Canadian governments do need to provide more funding for research and innovation, which would help companies like us enter various other global markets. This will not only create more jobs for Canadians, but it will also boost Canadian economy, making it more innovative and competitive. 9. What are the company’s near- and long-term goals?Our near-term goal is to remain focussed and to stay on track with our commercialization plans. We have to complete as many pilot demonstrations as possible which will prove the technology is effective and then start marketing the systems by early 2011. Currently we have been able to conduct only one pilot at a time with the help of Alberta Health Services and the University of Calgary. We would like to be able to do multiple pilots at multiple locations, not only in Alberta, which is another near-future projection. Our long-term perspective is to start entering markets we are not in today. There is a great deal of potential in the technology we are developing as it has various applications, which will provide many business opportunities. 10. What are the biggest challenges XSENSOR faces today?Probably the biggest challenge we face today is getting access to multiple clinical facilities, where we can initiate commercial pilots. Each pilot needs to be designed, managed and at the end of it we need to analyse the results. Data needs to be statistically significant, demonstrating the expected outcomes. Pilots are hard and expensive to do and require a sufficient amount of qualified people and recourses involved. To see a demonstration on how this technology works, click on the following link: http://www.xsensor.com/pressure-imaging/videos-demosTo learn more about XSENSOR, visit them at http://www.xsensor.com/If you want to share your thoughts and opinions with us, please e-mail me at Stancheva@precarn.caTo read similar stories or to post a comment, visit us at www.precarn.ca

Technology and Innovation without Borders: Calgary Scientific Inc., Calgary, AB - Part 3 Precarn Interview Series

Wed, 14 Jul 2010 09:00:00 EST

This week, Precarn is featuring Calgary Scientific Inc.(CSI), a Canadian company, which develops a software web-enabling platform technology known as PureWeb™, a family of advanced diagnostic imaging software under the brand name ResolutionMD™, and computer-assisted diagnosis (CAD) technology designed to undertake tissue differentiation and virtual biopsy from digital medical images. This week we had the great honour to speak with Doctor Lino Ramirez, a Scientist at Calgary Scientific and Miss Jenn Poole, Marketing and Communications Manager at CSI. Lino Ramirez holds an MSc and a PhD both in Computer Engineering from the University of Alberta and has been doing image and data analysis for more that 15 years. His passion for data analysis encouraged him to join CSI to manage the Brain Cancer Initiative, started by Dr. Greg Cairncross, a neurooncologist at the Foothills Medical Centre in Calgary and Dr. Ross Mitchell, a Professor at Radiology at University of Calgary and Founding Scientist of CSI, in 2004. Together, they managed to develop a sustainable collaboration between Calgary Scientific, Dr. Mitchell's lab, and Dr. Cairncross' group; continue the research to achieve clinically-significant genetic detection; expand the scope to other problems of interest to brain cancer researchers (in particular tumour pseudo-progression); and expand the community of interest in Calgary and outside Canada. The group today includes a Neuro-oncologist with interest in Clinical trials, a Neuro-radiologist, and a Radiologist Head of Diagnostic Imaging in Calgary. Outside Canada, it is collaborating with world-class researchers in Neuro-oncology, Neuro-radiology, and Image Analysis from the University of California San Francisco (UCSF), and Physicians from the Hua Shan Hospital in Shanghai, China. Later, Dr. Ramirez became the leader of the team of the "Precarn - Alberta R&D Funding Program titled: Tumour Diagnosis Software. Jenn Poole has been with Calgary Scientific for two years now, leading the Marketing and Communications team. She has a strong background in media and international relations, working for various technology companies in these roles. Miss Poole has an Applied Degree in Public Relations from Mount Royal College.1. What type of technology is CSI currently developing?Calgary Scientific Inc. is Canada’s leader in Advanced Medical Visualization with an increasingly broad set of advanced capabilities and innovative technologies.Currently, CSI has three basic product lines: PureWeb, Resolution MD and Resolution MD Mobile. ResolutionMD seeks to save time and streamline workflow for medical professionals by providing an innovative combination of advanced imaging, reporting and results analysis through standard web technologies. Resolution MD Mobile extends these through tools adapted for various mobile devices such as iPhones and iPads. PureWeb is the technology platform which enables Calgary Scientific’s and third party vendors’ sensitive, data intensive applications to be centrally hosted and delivered securely and efficiently through standard web technologies, to users anywhere, on virtually any device. 2. How did you come up with the idea for it?In 1999, Dr. Cairncross, a Neuro-oncologist at the Foothills Medical Centre in Calgary discovered that image characteristics he could see on Magnetic Resonance Images (MRIs) of patients with a particular type of brain tumour were correlated to the genetic profile of the tumour. In 2004, Dr. Cairncross approached Dr. Ross Mitchell, a Professor in Radiology at the University of Calgary and the Founding Scientist at Calgary Scientific, to see whether his team could find a quantitative way for analyzing MRIs that would relate the image findings to the genetic profile of the tumours. Dr. Mitchell and his team applied a series of image analysis techniques that they were developing to Dr. Cairncross’s patient studies and got some promising initial results in the quantitative analysis of MRIs. At that point in time the IP they developed was transferred to Calgary Scientific and we got started with the Advanced Medical Imaging Analysis for Tumour Diagnosis and Characterization’project for Precarn. 3. What are these technologies’ greatest benefits for Canadians and for the Canadian economy?One of the greatest benefits is that this technology could tremendously reduce the number of biopsies performed, which are complex procedures, hard on the patients, requiring huge amounts of time and qualified personnel and are very expensive too. Instead of doing them, physicians could apply advanced image analysis to compute parameters relating the images that are acquired as part of the normal management of brain cancer to the genetic make up of the tumour. These techniques, however, require computationally intensive resources that are not normally available in hospitals. Through the PureWeb technology that was developed to allow remote access to advanced applications, neurooncologists and their general practitioner colleagues can now access patients’ records, from any mobile device, at any time, which leaves them more time for decision making and data analysis. This combined solution also increases the opportunity for collaboration between physicians, which makes them more efficient and productive. Time is everything when it comes to tumour treatment, so CSI IS happy to be able to provide Canadians with the technology to make brain cancer treatment decisions the most efficient in the world. As for the Canadian economy, Canada will benefit from reduced costs of treating brain cancer, increased investment in the bio-imaging sector, as well as new employment opportunities for highly qualified personnel. These outcomes will also compliment Alberta’s drive to diversify its economy, and help establish Calgary, and Alberta, as a leading center for imaging technology. 4. What have been the biggest challenges CSI has faced to date?There are numerous challenges for start up companies, especially when you are first in an industry. One of the biggest challenges in front of us has been acceptance and approval from Health Canada and the US Food and Drug Administration. It is a long process, especially when trying to enter such a heavily regulated industry. It is all about the patients’ well being and safety; we understand that and that’s why we do our best to meet the governments’ requirements and expectations. 5. What are the biggest challenges you face today?Our number one challenge is the fact that our technology is very complex and we need to educate people concerning what we do and what the product is all about. Our initial major wins, while gratifying, have involved pieces of the technology such as PureWeb, but we are still looking for venues that would give us the opportunity to tell our complete story. Number two on our list is maintaining our focus on the various opportunities unfolding currently and making the right decisions in terms of partnerships, customers, and R&D. The patients’ best interest is at the core of our organization; however, we also have to think about what’s best for our company too. 6. What are the company’s near and long-term goals?We strive to remain innovative, first in many fields of this newly developing industry; to add value to our technology; to continue constantly delivering excellence and innovation and to continue to build upon what we already represent throughout further research and development. 7. In your opinion, is Canada the best place to do business and to invent new technologies? Is there room to improve? How?Yes and Yes! We do believe that Canada is the best place to invent and to do business. Just consider: we have here the world’s best in class universities-The University of Calgary, for instance, is one of the best in the country; lots of talent, great support from governments and from organizations such as Precarn that creates collaborative opportunities between investors, technology developers, and academics, which help us move the Canadian economy forward. Many good things are happening here in Canada and in Alberta specifically, which help young businesses flourish.In regard to further improvements, we think that more funding is needed, particularly for organizations like Precarn that require in their collaborative model an end user that will test the technology. Canada needs customer driven technology, which focuses on the clients’ needs. In addition to that, more communication is needed as well. Inventors and small, start-up companies should be better informed and aware of the various government funding programs, organizations such as Precarn, and other opportunities that would help them move forward and grow. 8. Which is harder – to invent a new and disruptive technology or to turn it into a product? We believe that most of the time, here in Canada, the cost of marketing is hugely underestimated. It is really, really expensive to commercialize a new product. In particular, the healthcare industry places an inordinate burden for regulatory clearance to go to market in the various developed geographies. This is one more reason why organizations such as Precarn need to continue to exist, because they require not only action plan, but also an end-user. This is really helpful! 9. What is like to win such a prestigious award like the Wireless Life Science Association iAward (May 2010)?We were very, very excited. It was a huge recognition for our work and efforts so far and we all hope that this is going to be the first of many awards for our organization. 10. You have been partnering with Siemens Healthcare in the process of developing a new solution that will increase collaboration among physicians as well as it will enable them to be more accurate, effective and efficient. How is this partnership going so far?Siemens Medical Systems (SMS) is the largest provider of products and services in the radiology space that is our core business. It is been great to partner with them since the global reputation as a well established company lends great support and confidence to our other customers. While winning the business with SMS was arduous the effect on other relationships and the substance gained has been well worth the effort. We are very proud to contribute to their product line and through the relationship our technology will affect the way the world’s doctors access images. Our experience in working with Siemens has been nothing but rewarding. It is been a great learning opportunity for us as well, as it is always the case when such a big company adopts a new technology from a smaller player such as CSI. They have constantly complimented us for our innovation and product excellence. 11. Calgary Scientific Inc. has been profiled by CNN, Inside Business as an industry changing company. How would you comment on that?The CNN coverage was a terrific opportunity for us to tell our story for the first time to a global business audience and to explain who we are and what we are doing. Since then we have had lots of media coverage, which is helpful when you are marketing a new product. We were particularly pleased that the CNN Inside Business coverage highlighted the excellent relationships that we have with the Calgary healthcare community including Foothills Medical Centre. This collaborative product development story, supported in part by our Precarn grant, played very well to the global healthcare business market. 12. In one of the demos on your website, it was shown how a doctor can access a patent’s record via his iPhone and provide a real time diagnosis. Is there any chance there could be an error in the application? How do you counter such concerns?We are always concerned about providing products that operate within the guidelines of the various regulatory bodies that influence and control medical devices. So far, primary research has shown that the decisions made by physicians using an iPhone are the same as those made using the normal radiology equipment. We expect this to also be true for the iPad, which will soon be equipped with this application. 13. What does it mean that Calgary Scientific Inc is the only company developing a true zero-footprint solution?This means that CSI is the only company to provide real time tumour diagnosis on various mobile devices without actually downloading the information from the hospitals’ server. In other words, once a physician stops using the application (patient’s records), his or her device is information-free. In this way, the patients’ privacy is best protected, since the information remains on the server of the clinic and not on the doctors’ mobile device. This Zero Footprint technology (delivered by PureWeb) is particularly important here in Canada where general practitioners are distributed across wide geographical distances. In this case, Zero Footprint means that they can access central image enhanced reports and radiology archives without having to install or manage any software on their computers. This vastly reduces the administrative overhead of providing our combination of advanced image analysis and remote access to radiology viewing tools to the majority of Canada’s doctors. 14. How does it all work? http://calgaryscientific.com/videos/PureWeb.wmvTo learn more about CSI’s innovative technology, visit them at http://www.calgaryscientific.com/index.htmlIf you want to share your thoughts and opinions with us, please e-mail me at Stancheva@precarn.caTo read similar stories, visit us at www.precarn.ca

Technology and Innovation without Borders: GEOSYS Technology Solutions, Vancouver, BC - Part 2 Precarn Interview Series

Wed, 07 Jul 2010 09:00:00 EST

This is the second of a series of interviews that Precarn launched on June 30th this year, through which we will be presenting prominent business entrepreneurs who have developed a technology with an outstanding impact on Canadian economic development and Canadian citizens’ well-being. This week, Precarn is featuring Dr. Babak Ameri, the founder and CEO of GEOSYS Technology Solutions Inc., one of Canada’s leaders in providing timely and reliable Geospatial Services and Solutions to geo-scientists, natural resource managers, and policy makers around the world. Mr. Ameri has a Master degree in Geomatics from the International Institute for Aerospace Survey and Earth Sciences (1993) and a PhD in Digital Photogrammetry and Computer Vision from the University of Stuttgart (2000). Dr. Ameri has extensive experience in the field, having worked the past 20 years for the National Cartographic Center of Iran (1990-1995), the Institute for Photogrammetry (IFP), at the University of Stuttgart in Germany (1995-2000), and Macdonald, Dettwiler Associates Ltd. in Richmond, Canada (2000-2005). He is also the recipient of the NSERC Post-Doc Industrial Research Fellowships (IRF) award (2000-2002) and the winner of the ISPRS Best Papers by Young Authors award (2000). 1.How did you come up with the idea for Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) borne Geo-Intelligent Collaborative Decision Support System for Real-Time Disaster and Emergency Management (GIDE)?Disaster management remains a challenging task, despite modern technological improvements. The most commonly cited impediment thereto is the inability to provide the right people with the right information at the right time. Emergency management agencies and decision makers need information in real-time to inform optimal responses in the form of warnings, evacuations, rescue or damage control. The devastating Hurricane Katrina of August 2005 serves as a 21st century illustration of the problem. A recent report produced by the US Government Accountability Office [USGAO, 2006] cited the long delay in assessing the situation and lack of coordination as two of the five most serious impediments to the disaster response. Currently, we use either satellite imagery or a piloted aircraft to capture pictures from the disaster areas. Unfortunately, in an emergency situation, it might happen that the satellite does not cover the impacted area. As of the aircraft, in some situations, it becomes dangerous for the pilots who navigate the aircraft through the disaster zone, in order to take good shots of the area that would enable eventually the disaster management agencies to take the most sophisticated and correct decisions on how to deal with the situation. Our solution manages to overcome these drawbacks and to provide up to date mapping and geo-intelligent, in real time as the situation develops and progresses. 2.How exactly the UAV device works?The GIDE system is divided into three major, independent components. The first component is the image acquisition payload on board an UAS. The payload captures imagery and camera position estimation, which is immediately downloaded to a ground station via radio modem communication. The second component is a processing system on the ground. The mobile, high-performance processing system performs on-the-fly, human intervention-free ortho-mosaic production. The generated ortho imagery is then delivered to the third component, a Web Map Service (WMS) server, which delivers data to a web-based application, the Web Collaborative Interface (WCI), expediting the distribution of information to responder agencies and enhancing their collaboration. This system will radically advance emergency response capabilities and help save human lives by providing information and intelligence to disaster managers in a safe, timely, and critical manner. 3.Do you have any previous experiences with GIDE solutions?We have done research in the past on similar automated mapping systems. The Precarn project provided a great opportunity to leverage and draw upon our existing technology. 4.Have you deployed the UAV solution yet?No, we have not market our product yet. We are still at the commercialization stage and are currently looking for more funding in order to complete it successfully and to move on to the next phase – deployment. 5.What are your short and long term goals?We have already identified and started working with a few potential customers on pilot projects; these projects will help us to further test our technology and prove its benefits. We need all the support of the end users in order to be able to move the project forward. Long term – we are looking to identify other areas of interest and new applications and to expand the current technology to meet the ever changing demand of the industry. 6.What are the greatest challenges that you face daily?On an operational level, one of the greatest challenges is the flight permission in order to operate in a civilian airspace. The lack of funding; to market and deploy this product is another challenge we face today. 7.Why commercialization is such a big problem here in Canada?Commercialization is a big issue everywhere; when you have an innovative piece of technology, you need to have sufficient amount of funds to be able to market it successfully. Lack of funding, unfortunately, has always been a big issue. To commercialize a new technology you need infrastructure and dedicated technical and sales force. Usually, it takes between 1 to 3 years until a good technology or a solution becomes a well established product on the market. To learn more about GEOSYS, visit them at http://www.geosys.ca/To post a comment or to share your story with us, visit us at http://www.precarn.ca/home/

Technology and Innovation without Borders: Part 1 Precarn Interview Series

Wed, 30 Jun 2010 09:00:00 EST

Precarn is delighted to introduce its new “Technology and Innovation without Borders” interview series, through which it will be presenting one interview every week with a prominent business entrepreneur who has invented a technology with an outstanding impact on Canadian economic development and Canadian citizens’ well-being. This week’s interview features Dale Paus, the President and CEO of CriSys Limited, an Ontario based corporation, which since 1990 specializes in the provision of complete computer systems for emergency response agencies. Dale has more than 25 years of experience in the sector, beginning with the TRS-80-based system he had made for Vanier Ambulance in 1979, while still studying Engineering at Carleton University. Later, he became the leader of a team of developers that produced the first commercial microcomputer-based Computer-aided dispatch (CAD) system, which in 1982 was implemented in almost 30 fire departments across North America. CriSys Limited was born as a spin off out of a project Dale worked on while at Enghouse Corporation, where he developed a GIS-based CAD system. In 2007 Dale Paus led the Precarn’ Small Company project” Threat Assessment System”—a collaboration with Ryerson and York Universities in Toronto and 11 Ontario Fire Departments, represented by the Ontario Association of Fire Chiefs. The project developed an expert system that dynamically assesses the threat posed by a structural fire under a specific set of circumstances and recommends to the dispatcher an appropriate response that drastically enhances the level of public safety. 1. How exactly was the idea for the “Threat Assessment System” project born?Back in 2005, the Ontario Association of Fire Chiefs identified a problem within its current operations and it was looking for solutions to resolve it. The problem was that older chiefs were retiring and the new ones that were replacing them lacked the extensive and necessary experience to handle various, complicated situations. This was due to the fact in 1970s and 80s, fire departments were very successfull with fire prevention efforts; therefore, many of the new chiefs simply did not have the opportunity to deal with complex situations. Further, there was no system in place to accommodate information exchange between old and new personnel. So, in order to resolve this problem, the Association was looking for ways to capture the accumulated knowledge and to embed it into software that could be used in the future. 2.How does the system work?Emergency response agencies - Police, Fire-Rescue Departments, Ambulance Services and Disaster Preparedness Offices - are all required to react to a report of an emergency situation by selecting an appropriate quantity of resources from what they currently have available, and dispatching them to the scene as quickly as possible. There are hundreds of factors to be considered, like size and type of the building, location, extent of the fire, occupancy load, time of the day, weather forecast, and existing fire equipment such as automatic sprinklers, to name just few. All of this information is available, but usually not in a form that is amenable to rapid decision support by humans. If the initial response is inadequate they then call for additional recourses, which are called “two”, “three”, and “four” and sometimes even “five” -alarm fires. Each of these alarms takes between 4 to 8 minutes to respond to, which means that units for a fifth alarm would typically be arriving as much as 30 minutes after the first units, which might cause additional injuries suffered, or considerable additional property damage incurred. What CriSys’ system does is perform analysis within seconds from the time the first call has been received and approximate with significant accuracy the exact amount of recourses to be sent to the scene of fire. Basically what the system represents is an artificial automated intellect, which uses a pool of data from the accumulated knowledge of fire captains and chiefs, whose knowledge and expertise have been carefully collected through interviews. 3.What are the system’s greatest benefits for Canadians?The system’s biggest strength is that it takes into consideration the knowledge of many experienced captains as well as compiled records from previous situations and applies the information in real time within seconds from the initial emergency call. This could lead to many lives saved; reduction in the amount of damages on the property; creation of a database for future use, since every case is entered in the system for future reference; as well as it will help officials create a better and more efficient disaster response system for Canadians’ safety. 4.Is the system in use today?The system has not been deployed yet. We just completed our research in February. However, the system has been tested through various projects such as the Precarn one, and has shown very positive results: it has been proved that the system helps 9-1-1 centres make better-informed decisions dramatically earlier in the emergency response process, thus enabling substantial reductions in the loss of lives and property in our communities. Currently, the solution is in use by four fire departments in Ontario, in addition to their existing practices. 5.What are CriSys’s near future goals?Our near future goals are first to finish testing the system and second deploy it in as many departments as we can. So far, the tests conducted have been very promising, showing that the solution is a much superior then the one used currently by fire departments. 6.What are your long term goals?Our long term perspective is to extend our state-of-the-art technology to other areas of operation like police, ambulance and disaster response units. We have already started working on the latter. 7.What has been or is the biggest challenge in front CriSys?Challenge is a too strong word, but I would say that maybe the biggest difficulty in front of us has been acceptance. Fire departments want to see that the solution is working before adopting it and putting their trust in it. We need to convince them it works and it is 100% reliable. This is normal, since the market we are trying to enter is heavily regulated and it is under government’ jurisdiction. There are certain procedures that need to be followed and this takes time. 8.Would you say that inventing a new, disruptive technology is easier than commercializing it?Commercialization and marketing are especially challenging tasks for new and start-up companies today. It is extremely expensive to market a product, especially when trying to deploy it in international markets. 9.Precarn is going to run series of articles on its blog about commercialization and Canada’s current level of productivity and competitiveness. What is your opinion on the matter?In my opinion, Canada does lag in commercialization and productivity in comparison to other countries. The reason for this is that the Canadian government has managed to create this extremely wonderful environment to invent and to do research here in Canada. However, there is not enough funding to develop a product out of it. This is really sad, because there is a very good research standing out there, unused, simply because there is no funding to turn it into a product. To learn more about CriSys, visit them at http://www.crisys.com/To post a comment or to share your thoughts with us, please visit us at http://www.precarn.ca

Making Innovation Work in Canada: Part I

Mon, 21 Jun 2010 09:00:00 EST

What is the best investment for the future?Where should the government of Canada invest tax-payers’ money? What is the best possible investment for the future? How should we bridge the gap between research, innovation, commercialization, and development? Where does Canada stand on an international level in respect to technology innovation and adaptation? Should we be worried about the future? Are we making the best investment decisions today, for a better and brighter tomorrow? According to some, innovation in general can be understood in two possible ways: governments either invest in research conducted by universities and colleges, or they simply provide grants, contributions, or contracts to companies that develop, design and market new technologies. The first type of innovation is called “technology-push”, since it is the result of years of scientific research and experiments. The second type of innovation is mostly known as “market-driven”, since it is the consequence of an identified need in society for a technology that would eventually provide new products and services or speed up and improve current industrial processes and practices. Now the question is which type of innovation do we want for Canada today in order to be as productive and as competitive tomorrow like the USA, Germany, Korea, China, and India, for instance? In November 2002, Allan Rock, the Minister of Industry at the time, welcomed a Framework Agreement on federally funded research between the government of Canada and the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada (AUCC). The agreement came as a result of the Federal government commitment during the 2002 speech from the Throne that it will continue to increase research funds through the granting councils, to pursue a permanent solution to indirect costs of research for universities, and on strategies for research commercialization. In Minister Rock’s own words, “Additional funding should bring advances in research and commercialization and must be matched by a commitment to advance knowledge transfer, commercialization, and innovation for the benefit of all Canadians."(Industry Canada) Very similar goals were set in the 2010 Speech from the Throne, where the Federal government committed to launch a digital economy strategy “to drive the adoption of new technology across the country”, as well as to strengthen existing intellectual property and copyright laws, in order to “encourage new ideas and protect the rights of Canadians whose research, development and artistic creativity contribute to Canada’s prosperity” (March 3, 2010 Throne speech). Furthermore, the government promised low taxes that would stimulate investment in new and promising ideas to be turned into products; to open broader Canada’s door to foreign investments; to continue pursuing free trade agreements and last but not least, to increase its support for “skills, apprenticeships and training for Canadian workers” (March 3, 2010 Throne speech). In order to do that, Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s Conservative government declared in its 2010 Budget that it will be: -providing $45 million over five years to establish a post-doctoral fellowship program to help attract the research leaders of tomorrow to Canada -increasing the combined annual budgets of Canada’s research granting councils by an additional $32 million per year, plus an additional $8 million per year to the Indirect Costs of Research Program -providing $135 million over two years to the National Research Council Canada’s regional innovation clusters program - launching a new Small and Medium-sized Enterprise Innovation Commercialization Program with $40 million over two years These are just few of the government’s spending initiatives for the next couple of years in order to stimulate Canada’s research and innovation practices and to boost the Canadian economy. So far, we have witnessed the launch by Industry Minister Tony Clement of the Digital Economy Strategy, as well as his critical intervention into the Globalive case -- the company that after a challenging trial and dispute over its ownership with the Canadian Radio and Telecommunication Commission (CRTC), successfully launched Wind Mobile in 2009 here in Canada, a major breakthrough for Canada’s otherwise heavily monopolized telecom market. Obviously, Canada is moving slowly in the right direction towards innovation, development, productivity and prosperity. The major concern though is the fact that unfortunately the process is taking way too long and we will soon be lagging behind countries like China and India. Some like to emphasize the fact that there are less potential risks with university led research, since it is part of a long-term process of experimentation and development, and since it is conducted by students, which makes it a bit cheaper too. On the other side, conducting research for the sake of it does not benefit either Canadians or the Canadian economy. In that respect, companies that are required by agencies like Precarn to provide market analysis and business cases in their project proposals, have greater potential not only to develop technology that will be market ready (there is a first customer involved in the project), but eventually will be introduced to larger national and international markets. In that respect, shouldn’t then governments concentrate on funding agencies like Precarn, whose model successfully incorporates both types of innovation mentioned above, by bringing together academic institutions and industry partners in their effort to invent, develop, design and market new technologies? Stay tuned for more blog articles related to Canada’s economic development and prosperity, innovative Excellency and technology commercialization. Coming soon… To read the 2010 Speech from the Throne, click on this link: http://www.speech.gc.ca/eng/media.asp?id=1388To learn more about the Canadian Government Digital Economy Strategy go to http://de-en.gc.ca/en/home/To post a comment or share you thoughts, visit us at http://www.precarn.ca

Verafin Inc. CEO – one of Canada'sTop 40 Under 40™ for 2009

Thu, 10 Jun 2010 09:00:00 EST

Precarn is delighted to acknowledge that Jamie King, co-founder and CEO of Verafin Inc. North America’s leading BSA/AML Compliance and Fraud Detection software provider and a past recipient of Precarn funding, was named one of Canada’s Top 40 Under 40TM this week, on June 8, 2010 during the Gala luncheon at the Canadian Broadcasting Centre in Toronto. Since 1995, Canada’s Top 40 Under 40TM recognizes Canada’s best and brightest, for their outstanding achievements in shaping Canada’s future. “The program is designed to promote mentorship and professional development by introducing these leaders to the established business community and by promoting them as role models for young Canadians” http://www.canadastop40under40.com/Jamie King is an electrical engineer with a Ph.D. in robotics and intelligent systems from the Memorial University of Newfoundland. While still in university, Mr. King worked at C-CORE, an internationally recognized research organization, which specializes in advanced pattern recognition and industrial intelligent systems and technologies. Jamie King’s first independent initiative, Intrignia Solutions Inc., was started in his early 20s, when he decided to take on the challenge of some of the problems faced by the underground mining sector at that time. Intrignia was successful in designing and integrating specialized software for intelligent systems that resolved the operational constrains that continuously challenged miners. Although the technology was a success, it met unforeseen obstacles on the implementation side and was put on hold. The business and technical experience gained at Intrignia helped Mr. King make the strategic leap in the post 9/11world from the mining to the banking sector in 2002, when the idea for Verafin had started to take shape. Today Verafin Inc. is a prosperous Canadian corporation that designs and develops leading-edge software solutions for the financial services sector. So far, the company has participated in three Industrial Research Assistance Program (IRAP) research projects; in one pre-commercial development program with IRAP-TPC support; and in one of Precarn’s Small Company collaborative projects, employing Precarn’s successful model that brings together technology developers, academics and end-users. For its Precarn project, Verafin used advanced artificial intelligence technologies that enable financial institutions to monitor and analyze customers’ behaviour patterns accurately, effectively, and in a timely manner, which helps them to prevent fraud, money laundering and terrorist financing. “It’s a great honour to receive this award and be recognized among some of the most prominent business leaders in Canada,” said King. “This achievement is a tribute to the hard work from every member of the Verafin team. We are truly committed to providing financial institutions with the best technology to help catch money launderers and fraudsters.” To learn more about Verafin, visit http://www.verafin.com/To read more about Canada’s Top 40 Under 40TM, visit http://www.canadastop40under40.com/To post a comment, visit us at http://www.precarn.ca/Blog/index.html

NIMTech Makes the Cut at CATA Awards

Fri, 14 May 2010 09:00:00 EST

This year will be the 25th Annual CATA Innovation Awards which celebrate the best in Canadian advanced technology, with 13 awards presented. This year's theme is "The Future is Mobile!" and NIMTech, one of Precarn’s T-GAP companies, is one of two finalists for the Outstanding Product Achievement (Clean Tech) Award and one of four for the Emerging Technology Award. NIMTech specializes in creating intelligent systems for Non-invasive Measurement Technologies, which means that they have created systems that measure the quality and quantity of liquid/gas/solid in a particular substance. This may not seem very important but if the mix is just a little off it could be disastrous for the product being made, especially for pharmaceutical products. What makes their system so unique is that it can measure the components of a substance even if it is sealed in a container or flowing in a pipe and they do this by using Ultrasound Technology. These systems are very useful tools for quality control, and if used during the production process, have the potential to increase production quality greatly. The CATA awards will be presented on May 19, 2010 and we will update you on the results when they are made public. Good luck to NIMTech and all other participants. To read more about NIMTech's success story click hereYou can also visit the CATA website or NIMTech website

No more Mozart Effect - Get something that works

Wed, 12 May 2010 09:00:00 EST

I’m sure most of you have heard of the Mozart effect, which says that those who listen to music by this famous composer will become smarter. This, however, is not entirely the case. It is true that those who listen to a piece of his music and then take a test would score higher than someone who did not, but the effects seem to last no more than 15 minutes. Because of the effects temporary nature, scientists conclude that it is the simple fact that music calms people and lets them focus which allows them to gain improved results. MusIQkids has recently made a similar claim, saying that learning a musical instrument increases grey matter in the brain and increases your intelligence. This time it seems to be true. MusIQkids is a new company that has recently completed their second music-based game. You may be thinking, why do I have to buy a game if learning an instrument would have the same effect? To be honest it would probably be better for a child to learn to play an actual instrument then to play one of these games, but you also have to consider your child. Would they have the patience and time to practice an instrument every day and would they continue to learn the instrument? This is important to consider because the effects of learning an instrument don’t happen overnight. It takes time and practice to get results. So if you’re child doesn’t seem like the type to stick with it and work hard to learn an instrument, the games are a very good alternative. The two products that MusIQkids has developed are the Virtual Musical Instrument (VMI) and the SmarterKids Training (SKT). They worked to complete the SKT with the T-GAP support and have gained very promising results. To learn more about MusIQkids and their products, click here or go to the MusIQkids website

One of Precarn’s successful T-GAP projects was nominated for a prestigious 2010 KIRA award

Mon, 10 May 2010 09:00:00 EST

In November, 2009 MedRunner received a T-GAP funding from Precarn Incorporated for its innovative electronic prescription solution. This new technology: · offers an easy-to-access, user-friendly intelligent eHealth system that eliminates handwriting errors · improves pharmacy workflow by 80% and cost savings of 21,000 per pharmacy location · reduces prescription abuse and fraud · bridges legacy computer information systems · establishes a secure point-to-point portal for physicians and pharmacies · saves physicians an average of 22 minutes per day (2 hours per week) · eliminates preventable deaths due to adverse drug reactions To learn more about MedRunner and its new and innovative technology, please click here

$4 Million Available to help Small and Start-up Companies

Wed, 31 Mar 2010 09:00:00 EST

Precarn has released today a new round of T-GAP funding to support small and start-up companies to the tune of $4 Million. The deadline for project proposals is May 17, 2010, and the key attributes of the call for proposals are:> Open to companies with 2 to 50 employees> Projects must have an intelligent systems focus> T-GAP will provide 40% of the project cost to a maximum of $100,000 per projectFor details click here.

Precarn Project signs $1M Contract

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 09:00:00 EST

Precarn is pleased to announce that one of our projects, PCI Geomatics of Lethbridge, AB, a world leading developer of geo-imaging software and systems, has signed a million dollar contract with Beijing Space Eye Innovation Technology Co. Ltd. (BSEI) to supply an automated image processing system to the China Centre for Resources Satellite Data and Application. The technology was developed with Precarn's support.About the Iunctus Geomatics Precarn ProjectThe objective of this project was to produce a system to automatically generate satellite and aerial image mosaics for large-area mapping purposes with sufficient spatial and radiometric accuracy to facilitate information extraction and subsequent decision making by the end-user. The proposed system would incorporate new advances in remote sensing in the areas of: radiometric normalization and its automation, orthorectification, parallel computing for image processing, tailored human-machine interfaces for mosaic production, and intelligent data ingestion. Once completed, the system will allow maximum efficient use of the vast quantities of imagery that are currently collected by satellite image platforms and downloaded to the Iunctus Geomatics ground station, which will provide a ten-fold increase in productivity. The deliverable was a software package for automatically processing satellite imagery and generating large-area image mosaic.Satellite imagery is the only cost-effective way to frequently update land-use inventories over large areas. The proposed system will allow Iunctus and its partner organizations to increase the scale and efficiency of image production, pursue larger mapping projects, and create higher quality information products for end users in Industry and Government. Providing these timely, standardized information products to professional land mangers will lead to improved land use decisions across the country and better management for natural resources protection and long-term sustainability.The project started in October 2007 and completed in October 2009. The funding was provided in conjunction with Alberta Advanced Education Technology (AET).Click these links to read more about PCI's contract with BSEI and PCI Geomatics.

Top Canadian student entrepreneurs can now fast track the launch of their technology-based startups

Fri, 05 Feb 2010 09:00:00 EST

Are you a post-secondary Canadian student entrepreneur? Do you have a technology-based startup? If you answered yes to these questions, take a look at the information below. It just may be what you're looking for. Deadline for the first bootcamp is February 14, 2010.Waterloo launches new bootcamp for young entrepreneurs to build future economyIf you know of a student entrepreneur that would be interested in this, please don't hesitate to pass it on.We’d like to advise you of an exciting initiative that the Ontario Centres of Excellence’s Centre for Commercialization of Research is undertaking in collaboration with the University of Waterloo to launch a new type of collaborative training camp for young entrepreneurs. The University of Waterloo recently issued a news release announcing the VeloCity Entrepreneur BootCamp (VEB) which will allow some of the most promising young entrepreneurs in Canada to learn how to help create the country's future economy. The University of Waterloo is drawing on its widely acknowledged strengths in innovation to launch the boot camp along with some funding from Ontario Centres of Excellence’s Centre for Commercialization of Research. Waterloo joined forces with the Ontario Centres of Excellence's (OCE) Centre for Commercialization of Research to set up VEB. Other key partners include the Accelerator Centre; Communitech, which will provide programming and access to their network of mentors; and the Impact Entrepreneurship Group, which will help promote VEB on campuses across the country.The initiative, which runs from May to July, will be based in Waterloo's VeloCity, a trail-blazing hybrid student residence and high-tech incubator which in less than two years has spawned several strong start-up companies in mobile communications and digital media through its teamwork approach.The VeloCity Entrepreneur BootCamp (VEB) will enable top student entrepreneurs to fast track the launch of their technology-based startups. Selected students will be mentored by some of Canada's most experienced and successful entrepreneurs. They will live rent-free at VeloCity and will work out of office space provided at no charge by the Accelerator Centre in Waterloo's research and technology park. The students will each receive $3,000 (up to a maximum $9,000 for each team) and own 100 per cent of their intellectual property. As well, they will attend seminars and workshops on important business-related topics. It is the first nation-wide, residence-based program of its kind in North America.At the end of the bootcamp, students will be ready to launch their products or services for the benefit of the Canadian economy. They will also be eligible for additional seed funding through OCE's Centre for Commercialization of Research's new entrepreneur program.We are very pleased to be part of this pioneering initiative. In aiming this program specifically at students we are helping to create a culture of entrepreneurship among young people which is critical to the long-term development of innovation. Student applicants have to email their proposals to velocity@uwaterloo.ca by Feb. 14. Besides a resume, students must submit an overview of their start-up outlining its novelty and marketability as well as a YouTube video promoting the idea. Velocity Entrepreneur Bootcamp is open to any post-secondary student in Canada.Applications will be reviewed by an expert panel and decisions made and communicated by the week of Feb. 22.For further details about VEB, go to www.velocity.uwaterloo.ca.

14 T-GAP First-of-their-Kind Technology Projects Announced

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 09:00:00 EST

On Monday, November 2, 2009, Precarn Incorporated hosted a showcase and luncheon announcing the funding 14 new T-GAP projects. Mike Lake, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Industry spoke and made the presentation of the winners. The showcase exhibited T-GAP projects creating a “buzz” that set the stage for the luncheon. Click here to view the press release.The photo below shows the winners that were present at the event.Front row l-r:Jason Gillham, 2G Robotics, Waterloo, ON; David Hickle, Xtel International Ltd., Acheson, AB; Roanne Levitte, Perceive Solutions Inc., Montréal, QC; Simon Leblond, SCL Elements, Montréal, QC; Dr. S. Murthy, SIGPRO Wireless Inc., Ottawa, ON; Babak Sardary, Trusterra Technologies Inc., North Vancouver, BC.Back row l-r: Gary Gudbranson, VP, Operations, Precarn Incorporated; Jack Scott, Precarn Board of Directors Chair, Naikun Wind Energy Group, Vancouver, BC;Mike Lake, Parliamentary Secretary to Minister of Industry, Tony Clement, Edmonton, AB; Dr. Henri Rothschild, President & CEO, Precarn Incorporated, ISTP Canada and CIIRDF; Paul Vice, Dreamcube Technologies Inc., Toronto, ON.About Precarn's Industrial T-GAP (Technology Gap Assistance Program)Precarn's T-GAP program is targeted at helping startup companies working in intelligent systems get their products to market faster. There is a recognized chasm in the commercialization of technologies especially in very small companies. It is the black hole on the 'research to reality' road where innovative and viable technologies get lost. Because the development step often lies outside the domain of traditional investment sources, many valuable technologies and ideas are needlessly shelved. In an effort to address this situation, Precarn allocates available funds to advance technologies that show commercial promise. The Technology-Gap Assistance Program (T-GAP) is the conduit through which the funds are awarded. Press coverage extended the buzz generated during the event. The following media have covered the November 2nd event:CBC Radio, Ottawa (November 2, 7:45 a.m. interviewed with Jack Scott and M. Rioux)CFRA Radio (November 2, Business at Night show interview with Jack Scott) CTV National Network (November 2, evening news) Exchange Magazine (Nov. 3)National Capital Scan (Nov. 3) - Precarn spreads the wealthNew Brunswick Business Journal(November 3) Ottawa Business Journal (November 3) Ottawa Citizen(November 3) Waterloo Record(November 2) Research Money (November 9, 2009 - Volume 23, Number 17, Pg. 7 News Briefs)Ottawa Business Journal (November 9, 2009)Vancouver Sun (November 11)NLP Website (November 11)

Confocal Creates Largest Pathology Image Ever

Fri, 14 Aug 2009 09:00:00 EST

Over at Biomedical Photometrics, they are making possible some of the highest resolution images in the medical industry. They believe they have just created the largest pathology image ever at 61 Gigapixels.In their words, here is what they say about what they do:"Now you can scan a very wide area at very high resolution.At Biomedical Photometrics, we re ushering in a new era in confocal microscopy that enables panoramic fluorescence and brightfield imaging of tissues and cells for basic research and clinical drug development. By harnessing the imaging power of telecentric laser scan lenses in place of conventional microscope objectives, our automated laser scanning imaging systems provide an imaging area more than 100 times that of a standard microscope, with the same resolution. The result: Large-specimen, high-resolution imaging that dramatically improves measurement of protein and gene expression and rapidly delivers advanced information about the molecular biology of diseased tissue."

Remco is selected for the final 15 in the Canadian "Clean 15" Cleantech Competition 2009

Fri, 14 Aug 2009 09:00:00 EST

Join us in congratulating Mark Matthews, President and CEO, and his company Remco Solid State Lighting Inc, in being selected as one of the 15 finalists for the "Clean 15" Cleantech Competition for 2009.You reach Mark Matthews at mark.matthews@rogers.com.The offlicial Clean15 website is at www.clean15.com.

CAIAC Precarn Intelligent Systems Challenge: Call for Challenge Problems

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 09:00:00 EST

As a member of the steering committee of the CAIAC Precarn Intelligent Systems Challenge, I am inviting you and your company to consider submitting a challenge problem for this exciting new competition series. I believe that your company could benefit much from being involved in this competition, and we believe that you are in an excellent position to propose a challenge problem. Please find attached a brief overview of the competition, which also describes what a challenge problem is. There are also sponsorship opportunities, which are outlined in the attached Call for Sponsorship. In order to be able to formally announce the competition at the 2009 Intelligent Systems Collaborative Conference at UBC Okanagan (25-27 May 2009) (http://aigicrv.ok.ubc.ca/), please express your interest as soon as possible, as we need to receive a preliminary proposal by April 24th. In the meanwhile, we would be happy to answer any questions you may have and look forward to hearing from you. Summarizing Next Steps:Express your interest in submitting a challenge as soon as possible, via competition@precarn.ca or call Precarn at 613 727 9507. You pose a challenge problem related to your organization or industry, by April 24. The event committee will select a set of challenges. Nationwide competition to be launched on IS 2009, May 25-27 Students specializing in Intelligent Systems will tackle your challenge Winners will be announced at the IS conference in 2010 Your company will get opportunity to transfer IP and sponsor the event With best regards, Morten IrgensOn behalf of the Steering Committee of the CAIAC Precarn Intelligent Systems Challenge

Precarn Project provides Valuable Industry Experience for Graduate Student

Wed, 18 Mar 2009 09:00:00 EST

I just completed my Masters in Computer Science at the University of British Columbia. I was fortunate to participate in robotics research at UBC as part of a Precarn-funded R&D project in the CARIS Laboratory. The CARIS lab is currently performing research on industrial robot manipulators in partnership with Braintech Inc., a local vision and robotics software company. As a computer science student in a mechanical engineering lab with a partner in industry, I had a rare opportunity to learn simultaneously from researchers from both sides of the academic/industrial divide. My research focused on planning paths for a camera-equipped robot manipulator so that it could maintain its view of a target in spite of obstacles in the workcell. The initial work was done in simulation, but it was the experiments done on a real robot arm that were instrumental to the final success. There was a certain satisfaction in watching the robot navigate around obstructions while keeping its eye on the proverbial ball. I'm very grateful not only for the opportunity to perform research, but also for the chance to test an application of that research. Working in a multidisciplinary project highlighted the challenges involved with bringing research to bear on real industrial applications. Overcoming those challenges provided me with experience I would otherwise not have been exposed to. It was enjoyable, hard, satisfying work, and was just what I was looking for.An afterword from the Webmaster:BTW Matt is in the job market... I can't think of a better candidate! That's him in the picture... Not only has he completed great research but has been part of an industrial project solving a real world problem. A great catch for employer who would like to hire a student who can hit the ground running. If you are interested he can be contacted by email, and his research is showcased at his UBC website.

2009 Intelligent Systems Challenge: Call for Participation / Défi des Systèmes Intelligents 2009: appel de participation

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 09:00:00 EST

[La version française suit en bas.]The Canadian Artificial Intelligence Association (CAIAC) and Precarn Inc are inviting students at all levels (high school, college and university) to participate in the 2009 Intelligent Systems Challenge. Computer professionals in industry and academia are also invited to pass this message to interested students and to consider advising a student team. The challenge is a programming contest where students are asked to write a program to automatically detect rendezvous between ships at sea from infrequent, irregular and possibly unreliable data. This is an important problem for the protection of Canada’s sovereignty and the enforcement of maritime laws. To participate, please visit the challenge website: http://www.intelligent-systems-challenge.ca. Download the full problem description and start programming today! Registration is currently open (till Feb 15). Cash prizes will be awarded to the best solutions in each student category (high school/college, undergraduate and graduate levels). Winners will be announced at the 2009 Intelligent Systems Collaborative Conference in Kelowna BC on May 27th, 2009.This year’s challenge was proposed by Vancouver-based MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates (MDA), the company that developed Canadarm, Radarsat-2, and the satellite image processing systems used for Google Earth. The challenge is a joint initiative of the Canadian Artificial Intelligence Association (CAIAC) and Precarn Inc. The goal of this annual competition is to promote innovation in Canada; establish and strengthen contacts between academia and industry in Canada; increase the awareness of and interest in technologies and methods from the areas of artificial intelligence and intelligent systems for addressing the challenges faced by Canadian industry, organizations and society as a whole; contribute to the development of students’ aptitude and ability through solving challenging real world problems. Pascal Poupart, University of Waterloo (on behalf of the 2009 IS Challenge Organizing Committee) and Holger H. Hoos, University of British Columbia (on behalf of the IS Challenge Steering Committee)=============================================================L’Association pour l’Intelligence Artificielle au Canada (CAIAC) et Precarn Inc. invitent les étudiants de tout niveau (secondaire, collégial et universitaire) à participer au Défi des Systèmes Intelligents 2009. Les professionnels de l’informatique en industrie et en milieu académique sont aussi invités à faire parvenir ce message à des étudiants intéressés et à servir de conseiller auprès d’une équipe d’étudiants. Le défi est un concours de programmation où les étudiants sont appelés à programmer une solution pour détecter de manière automatique un rendez-vous entre deux navires en mer à partir de données clairsemées, irrégulières et possiblement incorrectes. Ce problème est particulièrement important pour la sécurité nationale et l’application des lois maritimes canadiennes. Pour participer, veuillez visiter le site web du défi : http://www.intelligent-systems-challenge.ca/home/index_fr.html. Téléchargez la description complète du problème et commencez dès maintenant à programmer! Les inscriptions sont possibles dès aujourd’hui (et jusqu’au 15 février). Des prix en argent seront décernés pour les meilleures solutions dans chaque catégorie d’étudiants (secondaire/collégial, universitaire 1er cycle et universitaire 2e/3e cycle). Les gagnants seront annoncés à la conférence collaborative sur les systèmes intelligents à Kelowna en Colombie-Britannique le 27 mai 2009.Le défi de cette année a été fourni par MacDonald, Dettwiler et Associés (MDA), la société de Vancouver qui a développé le bras canadien, Radarsat-2 et les systèmes de traitement d\'images satellites utilisés par Google pour cartographier la terre. Le défi est une initiative conjointe de l’Association pour l’Intelligence Artificielle au Canada (CAIAC) et Precarn Inc. Les objectifs de cette compétition annuelle sont depromouvoir l’innovation au Canada;promouvoir les contacts entre le milieu académique et l\'industrie au Canada; sensibiliser et augmenter l\'intérêt pour les technologies et les méthodes dans les domaines de l\'intelligence artificielle et des systèmes intelligents pour adresser les défis rencontrés par l\'industrie canadienne, les organisations et la société en général; et contribuer au développement des aptitudes et des habiletés des étudiants par la résolution de problèmes difficiles mais réels et stimulants. Pascal Poupart, Université de Waterloo (au nom du comité d’organisation du Défi SI 2009) et Holger H. Hoos, Université de la Colombie-Britannique (au nom du comité de pilotage du Défi SI)

HandyScan becomes star on CSI:NY

Mon, 24 Nov 2008 09:00:00 EST

A Canadian technology success story, the HandyScan 3D, was a key technology used to help solve a crime during the first episode of CSI: New York earlier this fall and again on the November 19th episode. The HandyScan 3D is a product from Creaform Inc, a Québec City area firm.The HandyScan product, or today a suite of products, began its life as a research project at Université Laval. Intially nurtured by IRIS (Institute for Robotics and Intelligent Systems) T-Gap, Precarn followed this up with core funding under the Precarn Small Company Program.From its begining as a research project back in 2005, the HandyScan product suite has worldwide sales.This is one of the more visible successes of the Precarn collaborative R&D program which focuses on fostering research, development and commercialization of Canada's worldclass technology.We are interested in telling your success story. Please comment below or eMail us your success story here.

Creating Fearless Sales People out of Techies

Thu, 06 Nov 2008 09:00:00 EST

Tuesday this week I attended a 1-day course given Trevor Wilkins of Holis Associates, a course that every new entrepreneur or inspiring entrepreneur should attend! The name of the course was "Introduction to Advanced Business Communication" but it could have easily be called "An Introduction to Fearless Selling for Dummies, opps, I mean Techies..."I was attending the course primarily to evaluate it as an addition to Precarn's business mentoring services, but managed to pickup a few tricks to add to my near 25 years of experience in marketing and sales - proving even an old dog can learn something new. I was amazed at how well the course breaks down the critical elements of the sales process and provides a methodology that can be easily applied in all sorts of sales activities that the new entrepreneur can handle and apply immediately. Whether the sales activity involves customers, investors, partners or employees this course provides the tools for success, and quite frankly the confidence needed by technology-based leaders of start-ups. By pure chance, I attended the course with two executives (read techies) from a company that Precarn is currently funding. I was amazed, but more importunately these executives were amazed, how the methodology worked so well - their takeaway from the course was a set of sales tools and confidence!The ABC Sales course gives the student a step by step process which they learn, exercise and then customise to their own situation. They find that they can now quickly and fearlessly elicit what the customer wants to take away from working with them, its true, not assumed, value, and the information needed to make that person an advocate of buying what is offered. This training is not just for sales staff - the skills taken away can be employed by presales, support, management, customer service or marketing staff alike to improve the profitability and effectiveness of the operation.My TakeAway from the day is that this tool just has to be a part of the Precarn Centre for Commercialization. A second TakwAway is that if there is that much value in th eone-day introductory course the full versions must be dynamite!For more information, contact Holis Associates at www.holis.ca or email Trevor Wilkins.

Internship Program ($) Connects Students to Industry

Tue, 09 Sep 2008 09:00:00 EST

Precarn has partnered with MITACS Inc. to deliver, a graduate research internship program that connects the expertise in intelligent systems to Canadian industry. The internship program, ACCELERATE Canada Canada’s Graduate Research Internship Program, provides an excellent opportunity to apply advanced tools, techniques and methodologies to important research issues and problems facing organizations. Through the program, new research issues are brought to the academic community, a new generation of highly-qualified researchers is trained and partners are able to leverage cutting-edge research to further their organization. Graduate student interns spend 50% of their time on site with a partner, researching an issue of interest to all parties. The balance of the intern’s time is spent at their home university, further advancing the research under the guidance of a faculty supervisor. Funding for the $15,000 internship is shared equally between ACCELERATE Canada and the sponsoring company.Applications are being accepted now. To apply go to AccelerateCanada.ca.Download more information on the internships or email Sylvia Ralphs-Thibodeau at MITACS or Rick Schwartzburg at Precarn.Let us know what you think of this new program!

Getting More Commercial...

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 09:00:00 EST

There is a growing perspective in Canada that we simply must get more of our world-recognized research and development out of the lab and in to the marketplace.Hence, Precarn has just designed and released a new $2.5 Million R&D Program where there is an emphasis on R&D projects with a small "R" and larger "D" component that can demonstrate near-term commercialization potential. While a project must have a research problem to solve, it will not form the significant portion of the project. Projects that produce technologies that may be ready for commercialization at their conclusion are eligible for funding and are encouraged.Furthermore, to emphasize this commercial perspective, Precarn is looking for projects that can be completed on or before December 31, 2009.With a focus on the introduction and advancement of innovative made-in-Canada solutions, this initiative aims to fund commercially-viable projects that address the challenges of the Canadian environmental technology and manufacturing industries. Proposals need to be submitted by October 3rd, 2008. For more information, contact Derek Best and/or download the RFP.

New Fund Available for Getting to Market Faster...

Wed, 30 Jul 2008 09:00:00 EST

There is a recognized chasm in the commercialization of technologies especially in very small companies. It is the black hole on the "research to reality" road where innovative and viable technologies get lost. Because the development step often lies outside the domain of traditional investment sources, many valuable technologies and ideas are needlessly shelved. In an effort to address this situation, Precarn has allocated $500,000 in funds to advance technologies that show commercial promise. The Technology-Gap Assistance Program (T-GAP) is the conduit through which the funds are awarded.The new T-GAP fund is specifically targetted at small start-up companies, typically in the 2 to 10 person size.Proposals can be submitted at anytime, and are evaluated against the program criteria as they come in, until the available funds are exhausted.So get your proposal in ASAP!Download the T-GAP proposal requirements >>hereFor more information contact Rick Schwartzburg at (613) 727-9507 ext 231 or by eMail.I (Rick) would welcome your comments about the program!

4 Precarn Members to Celebrate and to watch...

Thu, 12 Jun 2008 09:00:00 EST

Precarn's mission is all about great R&D and commercialization of innovations of intelligent systems. This year Precarn recognized two students, a professor and a company for their contributions to these goals.Precarn is celebrating its 20 years of success by recognizing excellence in research and successful commercialization of robotic and intelligent systems. The two winners of the 20th Anniversary Awards and our student awards are examples of this excellence, and a critical demonstration of the power of the Precarn collaborative R&D and commercialization model.The Precarn 20th Anniversary Research Excellence Award winner is Dr. Septimiu (Tim) Salcudean, a professor at the University of British Columbia, which recognizes his work in the field of haptics. >>moreThe Precarn 20th Anniversary Commercialization Success Award winner is Point Grey Research for the Triclops stereo vision system. >>moreThe 2008 Gordon M. MacNabb Scholarship was awarded to Mr. Ambrose Chan, a PhD student at the University of British Columbia. Mr. Chan is currently participating in the Precarn-supported "Bin-picking" project that is led by Braintech of Vancouver. >>moreThe Best Student Poster at the IS 2008 Conference in Windsor (May 28-30) was awarded to Frédérick Jean as student at laval University. The title of his poster was "View Normalizations of Body part Trajectories". >>abstractYour perspective is valuable!What innovations, research or commercial success of a Canadian intelligent systems technology has impressed you?by...Paul JohnstonPresident & CEO, Precarn Incorporated

Why IP? - Part 3: Meaningful Patent Coverage

Tue, 03 Jun 2008 09:00:00 EST

The following is the third in the series of postings which will address the subject: " Why IP? (Why intellectual property?)">>Link to the previouspost in this seriesMeaningful Patent CoverageIt would not be wrong for a patent attorney to tell an inventor: "I can always obtain a patent for you." This is the truth. A patent can always be obtained by making the stipulated monopoly, the patent coverage that is defined by the "claims", highly specific and narrow. If a shovel with a notch in the side of the blade is not new, then perhaps the shape of the notch can be argued to be new and useful. And if not, then perhaps a secondary detail of the shape of the notch meets this requirement. If so, you can obtain a patent on a shovel with a notch with the secondary detail. Patents of this type generally fall within the categories of invention 2), 3) and 4) as referenced above. Accordingly, in managing a corporate patent strategy, a responsible Intellectual Property Coordinator must be sensitive to when the potential scope of patent coverage will have to be narrowed-down to the point where the patent will be commercially useless (other than as a publicity patent). This situation will only become apparent during the patent prosecution exercise when the patent attorney reports-back to the client and advises on the results of the patent examiner's prior art search. A good patent attorney doesn't need to be instructed by the patent examiner as to the limits of what can be patented. That should be apparent from the prior art search. This, in turn, justifies investment by a patent applicant in a thorough pre-filing patent search. Unfortunately, this is not the general rule in industry practice.Patent ValidityAssuming you have a relevant invention which consumers will seek out and which incorporates a feature with a have-to-have-it quality which is novel and un-obvious, and for which there is no close substitute in the marketplace, then the patenting exercise can still fail.Patent applicants have a duty of making a full, indeed virtually perfect, disclosure to the patent office. That is part of the contract between the government and the inventor. The patent applicant must describe how to implement the invention in a manner that will enable its duplication after the patent expires. And the patent applicant must define his own monopoly. This is done in the patent "claims" that conclude every patent disclosure document.The drafting of patent applications can be compared to brain surgery. A little slip can cause a lot of damage. There must be no false statements or false promises. And everything has to work. Furthermore, in defining the patent monopoly through the patent claims, a patent agent may inadvertently introduce a word such as "centrally" for the location of a hole, when it is not essential for the hole to be in the center. This produces a loophole for competitors (pun intended). Every word in a patent claim is a limitation. A competitor only infringes when they do everything listed. If they can avoid one item, then they do not qualify as an infringer. While the patent attorney is responsible for drafting patent claims, with support from the inventor, the inventor is responsible for bringing forward a complete "story" for the invention. It is for the inventor to advise as to the circumstances under which the invention will work. If it's a chemical invention, the inventor should stipulate the range of operability. And it is not sufficient to simply patent the best zone; patent claims should extend to the second best, and the third-best, to keep competitors from getting close with their competing products. Thus the inventor should explore the invention up to the limits of where the invention doesn't work.The Wright brothers invented the idea of twisting the ends of an airplane wing in order to make an aircraft bank to the left or to the right. They did not conceive of the idea of introducing a small, secondary, wing, an "aileron" that would do the job just as well. Luckily their patent claims were drafted in a way that covered such an alternate arrangement. Thus a well drafted patent will identify all such alternate arrangements and insure that they are captured by carefully crafted patent claims.Next Installment: 4 truths about patentsYour perspective is valuable!What have been your experiences in getting a patent?by...David J. FrenchIntellectual Property Lawyer, Miltons LLP

Why IP? - Part 2: Scope of a Patent

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 09:00:00 EST

The following is the second in the series of postings which will address the subject: " Why IP? (Why intellectual property?)">>Link to the previouspost in this seriesScope of a PatentBefore a corporation commits resources to a patenting exercise, care should be taken to address a key further consideration. Not only must the invention be relevant, but the patent must also be meaningful. What is a meaningful patent?A meaningful patent focuses on a feature of the invention which competitors will want to adopt in order to satisfy the consumer's need. A meaningful patent addresses a "have-to-have-it" feature or aspect of an invention.Please note the use of "feature or aspect". A patent is always granted for a feature or aspect of a product. A new, improved, shovel is only new because of some feature that makes it new and different from prior shovels. A patent always focuses on a specific feature. And it is that feature that has to meet the "have-to-have-it" standard in order for the patent to be meaningful.Patent NoveltyBut we still have not arrived at the decision point for seeking patent protection. Patents are only issued for inventions that have not been previously made available to the public. More precisely, patents are only issued for features and products that are new and are not obvious in view of what has been known before. The contract between the government and the inventor is that the inventor will disclose a new and unobvious inventive concept, explaining completely how the invention may be exploited, and in return the government will grant a limited monopoly, now generally established at 20 years from the date of filing. Thereafter the public may freely use the invention.And here is the biggest difficulty of all. If you have a really good idea, then it is very likely that it has been thought of before. Many people think of good ideas. If a thorough search is carried out, there is a substantial prospect that you will discover that a good invention has been previously either used publicly or disclosed in the literature or in some other form of media. That is why patents are examined: to search the prior art and determine whether the idea being patented is novel and inventive (non-obvious).But patent searches are fallible. Whether done by your own patent attorney or done by the patent office examiner, it is likely that some piece of prior art will be overlooked. Therefore, even if you obtain a patent, a patent once granted can be invalidated for failing to address a concept which is new and inventive. This means that merely obtaining a patent cannot be counted as perfect success. The object should be to obtain a patent which is valid. And this in turn, justifies investing considerably in searching the prior art to find out just what scope exists for obtaining valid patent protection. It is at this stage that many apparently relevant inventions fail to meet the test that would justify processing them as part of a corporate patent strategy.To repeat, you can have a perfectly relevant invention with a have-to-have-it character, for which there is no close substitute presently existing in the market, but, because it is disclosed or suggested by the prior art, you cannot obtain a valid patent that will have meaningful coverage.Next Installment: Meaningful Patent CoverageYour perspective is valuable!What have been your experiences in getting a patent?by...David J. FrenchIntellectual Property Lawyer, Miltons LLP

A New Kind of Science Collaboration

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 09:00:00 EST

I am a strong advocate of Web 2.0 and recently came on this interesting application of Web 2.0 concepts to support collaborative research. I have reposted a blog post by kdawson on Tuesday April 22,, 2008 at slashdot.org, and appended a few of my own words: Scientific American is running a major article on Science 2.0, or the use of Web 2.0 applications and techniques by scientists to collaborate and publish in new ways. "Under [the] radically transparent 'open notebook' approach, everything goes online: experimental protocols, successful outcomes, failed attempts, even discussions of papers being prepared for publication... The time stamps on every entry not only establish priority but allow anyone to track the contributions of every person, even in a large collaboration." One project profiled is MIT's OpenWetWare, launched in 2005. The wiki-based project now encompasses more than 6,100 Web pages edited by 3,000 registered users. Last year the NSF awarded OpenWetWare a 5-year grant to "transform the platform into a self-sustaining community independent of its current base at MIT... the grant will also support creation of a generic version of OpenWetWare that other research communities can use." The article also gives air time to Science 2.0 skeptics. "It's so antithetical to the way scientists are trained," one Duke University geneticist said, though he eventually became a convert.The article in Scientific American Magazine - April 21, 2008, titled "Science 2.0 -- Is Open Access Science the Future?" by M. Mitchell Waldrop, poses the question, "Is posting raw results online, for all to see, a great tool or a great risk?"What is your opinion?Will such an open collaborative work in your field of research? Are you prepared to reveal your research before you publish? by...Gary GudbransonDirector, Marketing & Communciations, Precarn Incorporatedthe following is a beta test - try at your own risk...

Engineers for the Flat World

Wed, 09 Apr 2008 09:00:00 EST

Since joining my company 5 years ago, I have had the privilege to be involved in the hiring process and shaping of the engineering team. Finding and retaining the right engineering professionals in today’s dynamic work environment is far from trivial. An example of a successful hire is picking out a candidate fresh out of university from the many that I met and seeing him move up to the role of a key project manager. On the flip side, one candidate vanished from the surface of the planet after day one and never to be heard again. What does it take to be a good engineering professional in this Flat World to use Thomas Friedman's term? While I do not claim to be anywhere close to a HR specialist, I will offer my view on what it takes to thrive in a constantly evolving technological and innovation driven world.1. Strong engineering fundamentals and the right background. Let me first get the most trivial criteria out the way an engineer must have the right background and sound engineering fundamentals. If the need in a project is to be filled by an electrical engineer, an accountant would not fit the position. Similarly, a software engineer would not fit the position of a mechanical engineer. Technology is changing at such rapid pace that it is unrealistic to expect any engineer to have all the right experiences. However, given that an engineer has the right background and is strong in the fundamentals, he/she can always adapt the fundamentals to solve new problems.2. Passion and attitude. Having passion in the profession and the right attitude is the most important criteria in my opinion. An engineer with the right background but limited experience has every reason to be successful if he or she has the drive, willpower, and desire to accomplish the task. On the other hand, if the engineer has all the right experience and background for a position yet has no passion and desire to accomplish the task, the probability that the engineer fails is already above 50% even before he/she starts.3. Know what you don’t know. The next most important factor is to know what you don’t know. Engineering systems and the challenges to be solved are becoming more complex than ever. While an engineer may not have all the answers, the ability to determine the critical issues early on and seek solutions cannot be valued more. Engineer who fails to recognize his/her limitation and has no idea what question to ask when facing new challenges will find it difficult to create value and thrive in today’s fast paced technology environment.4. Valley of Knowledge. Breath and depth of knowledge is the last point I’ll discuss here. An engineer with highly specialized knowledge may thrive in a larger organization. However, the same engineer may find it hard to adapt in a smaller organization where the skill sets required from project to project are typically not identical. I am not encouraging engineers to become jack of all trades. I visualize this as a valley of knowledge where at the bottom of the valley, an engineer should have depth of knowledge in two to three specialties. Moving up the valley, the engineer should be good at a few other skills, have decent knowledge in some other issues as we move further up the valley, and finally exposure to wide array of issues at the top of the valley.Disclaimer: The opinions I express here are my own and not necessarily shared by colleagues at my company.What is your opinion?What do you believe are the attributes required to thrive in today's ever changing technological and innovation driven world?by...Roderick LeeP.Eng., M.Sc., MBA candidate, Project Manager, InvoDane Engineering Ltd.

Why IP? - Part 1: Corporate Patent Strategy

Thu, 03 Apr 2008 09:00:00 EST

(Why intellectual property?)This is the first first of a series of postings which will address the subject of protecting IP. The focus of these articles will include:What you should know about intellectual property, i.e. patents, trademarks, copyrights, designs, trade secretsWhy does it matter? What should you do? The focus will be on practicalities but inevitably will deal with issues that are complex. Like riding a bicycle, at the beginning this may be difficult, but once you know how it becomes easy. And it can be fun!In this first installment we discuss: A Corporate Patent StrategySenior corporate officers, hearing all the buzz words about "patents", "intellectual property" and "Rembrandts in the Attic" are now likely to be turning their attention to establishing a corporate patent strategy within their firm. This article is intended to provide an outline as to what that expression means.Fundamental Premise: the InventionIt may sound trite, but there cannot be a patent strategy without an invention that matters. And a proper patent strategy should only be applied to an invention that matters. And such an invention must be combined with a patent that is effective.It used to be said that there were three kinds of patents:1) a valuable, a functioning, monopoly that has market impact,2) a publicity document sought by the marketing department, and3) a vanity patent.To that, we can add a fourth:4) an inertia patentAn inertia patent is the kind of patent that arises when, at the time of filing a patent application, the exercise appears to be a good idea. However, as so often happens, bad news arises in the course of the patent prosecution process. The examiner finds prior art which is quite similar, thereby greatly reducing the scope of any potential patent. At that point, rational economic logic may justify abandoning the patent application. However, human nature being what it is, many applications issue to a patent after the scope of coverage has been shrunken-down by the patent examination process. Unfortunately, such patents attract ongoing regular maintenance fee payments and give the illusion that something useful has been achieved.Deferring comment on the classes of patents under items 2) and 3), we will address item 1).A relevant invention addresses a need in the marketplace which can be technically met by a supplier at a cost which customers are willing to pay. Further, and this may be implicit in there being a "need", there should be no close substitute for the invention. Essentially: "If you make it, they will buy it". Without passing this test, an invention is not really relevant.Of course, inventions can be speculative in a sense that, although not likely to be marketable today, future circumstances may make the invention relevant. And a corporation may decide that they wish to file for a patent for publicity purposes. But for the purposes of establishing a rational corporate patent strategy, patenting should be triggered when a relevant invention has been conceived.The Patent MonopolyAssuming we are dealing with a relevant invention, this does not necessarily mean that it is worthwhile to pursue the patenting process. Patents are about obtaining monopoly rights. The essence of a patent monopoly is the ability to stop others from having access to an invention. A patent is really only relevant if a need exists for which there is no close, alternative, substitute.If a patent is akin to a gate that is erected on a roadway, it is pointless to install the gate on a road in the middle of the prairies. People will simply walk around rather than pay the toll. If competitive alternatives do exist, then this will set a ceiling on the price that you can charge for a patented product. Otherwise, people will go elsewhere. Once the impact of the competitive marketplace is taken into consideration, it may be necessary to conclude that a relevant invention is not worth patenting. The ideal situation for patenting is the case where the closest substitute product is so much less desirable than the invention that the consumer will be willing to pay a premium to have access to the invention.This is where the patent monopoly comes in. The monopoly prevents the competitor from adopting the invention and competing directly on a price and quality basis. Instead, freed of such competitive pressure, the patent owner can set his price according to what the consumer is willing to pay. In some cases, e.g. pharmaceuticals, consumers are prepared to pay amounts vastly exceeding the cost of production of the invented product. This gives rise to a "monopoly profit", which is perfectly proper in the case of a patent, based on the contract between the state and the inventor that gives rise to the granting of patents.To be continued...Your perspective is valuable!What have been your experiences?by...David J. FrenchIntellectual Property Lawyer, Miltons LLP

Precarn Announces $2.1 Million R&D Funding Boost for Environmental and Manufacturing Innovation

Wed, 26 Mar 2008 09:00:00 EST

Today Precarn announced a $2.1 million funding boost to promote the research and development (R&D) efforts of the Canadian companies applying intelligent systems to solve commercial problems in the environment and manufacturing sectors. This Request for Proposals is seeking project proposals for the development or implementation of intelligent systems technologies especially in areas related to environmental technologies (clean-tech), and manufacturing, especially automotive parts. Up to $700,000 is available per project.With a focus on the introduction and advancement of innovative made-in-Canada solutions, the initiative aims to fund commercially viable projects that address the challenges of the Canadian environmental technology and manufacturing industries. The deadline for submissions for concept documents is May 9, 2008, and for final proposals June 27, 2008. For more information about this new initiative, call Derek Best at (613) 727-9507 or email best@precarn.ca. >>download the press release>>Download the RFPby...Derek BestDirector, Research Programs, Precarn Incorporated

You will always Trade with the People you Learn with (Part 2)

Wed, 12 Mar 2008 09:00:00 EST

In Part 1 I suggested that there is a significant market and sphere of influence opportunity for Canada if we were to concentrate on staking out a major claim within the global knowledge economy around the transaction of knowledge. Let me offer a few suggestions as to how we might do this. BrandingCanada enjoys international recognition and acclaim for its education system - from its public system with its provincial and territorial flavours to its community colleges to its private vocational businesses to its universities full of foreign students and professors who once were foreign students to its distance education providers who leverage our connectivity. We need to celebrate this and focus a significant part of the Canadian brand around knowledge and learning. It is encouraging to see the Ottawa Centre for Research and Innovation (OCRI) starting to do exactly that - integrating its education organizations around a regional image. Regional images are a good start but we need to be national when dealing with the decision-making capitals of the world. ChampionWe need a trade champion within the federal government to pull together the various jurisdictions around a trade strategy. Lacking a federal Minister of Education, this must come from within Foreign Affairs and International Trade (where we promote foreign student enrollment) or Industry Canada where the origins of SchoolNet and the connectivity agenda can be found. Business ModelWe need to turn the current business model, based on the attraction of lucrative foreign students, on its ear. The information highway and its transportation metaphor conjures up different visions outside the developed world. The transportation links - railways and roads - were used to extract resources from the colonies. The new breed of young leaders warns that the information highway threatens to suck knowledge and talent out of the transitional economies. The new business model must concentrate on working with the new economies to develop their internal knowledge economies - building new institutions, modifying, distributing and licensing content, exchanging teachers and professors, implementing the communications-based learning networks and delivering industrial training. These partnerships will lay the foundations for mutual economic and trade prosperity. Choose the Market There is a dramatic economic shift occurring as the traditional markets are challenged by developing and transitional nations and economies - and these are the regions where Canada enjoys enormous goodwill. Parts of Africa, the former Soviet Union, Latin America and provinces within China and India. I say provinces because Canada simply doesn't have the scale to be a player in "China" or "India". We should focus on strategic provinces with which we can share our success in dealing with asymmetric challenges and within which we have an opportunity to be a top five trading partner. This is only a start to developing new markets in the knowledge-based economy, but start we must. What are your thoughts? by...Grant ThomasVice-president, Digital Opportunity Trust

You will always Trade with the People you Learn with (Part 1)

Tue, 04 Mar 2008 09:00:00 EST

This is a mantra that I have often promoted when I travel, particularly as it pertains to Canadian relations with developing and transitional economies where there is scope to increase Canada's sadly diminishing international sphere of influence. The premise is simple. In the global, knowledge-based world within which we now operate, transaction of knowledge is increasingly underpinning political, social and economic international relations. The countries that lead in promoting and establishing knowledge-based relationships will prosper and their international influence will grow. And, there is no country better positioned to be the intellectually invasive partner to the world than Canada with our benign blue passport, our multicultural society, our highly respected education system with its diverse flavours derived from multiple jurisdictions, our distance education systems and institutions, our bilingualism, our two legal systems, our advanced connectivity, our technology-based services, our peace-building consensus-driven personalities, our anti-acquisitor values, our network of foreign student alumni who have learned in our universities, our experience with asymmetric challenges and overbearing neighbours - all wrapped up in a still valid image of niceness.Who better than Canada, indeed. But the reality is that there are other "nice" guys out there who are eating our knowledge-based lunch, led by the Scandinavians, the Aussies and the Kiwis. They get it, and are aggressively forging partnerships with education ministries, universities and research organizations. They know that the inherent trust and respect that develops through the process of generating and sharing knowledge will lead to improved economic, trade and industrial linkages. So, do we stand back and watch another opportunity pass us by? Do we focus only on the Chinas and Indias where asymmetry ensures that we will never be a significant player? Do we turn our heads inward and debate our internal differences? Or do we strategically deliver what a big market out there would like to transact with us? What are your thoughts? Coming in Part 2 - some ideas as to how and where we can develop our knowledge-based influence and opportunities. by...Grant ThomasVice-president, Precarn Incorporated

4 Key Success Factors for Successful Commercialization of Innovation

Thu, 28 Feb 2008 09:00:00 EST

We are often asked what underpins the success of Precarn's programs. The evidence suggests that the key success factors are built into our collaborative R&D model. While the model has been targeted on innovators in the robotics and intelligent systems space, it will apply to any sector and any company wishing to capitalize on innovation: 1) Use the best research talent you can find!World class research and new and different perspectives generate innovative solutions. Canadian universities are a rich source of truly bright people, eager to solve real problems. Flexible and off-payroll, you are able to engage on-demand, just-in-time specialist research support for different aspects of a problem. 2) Validate, with your Market!Engage your potential customers or end users in your research. Continuous customer validation ensures commercial success. A first customer, with a need, involved in the early stage research, dramatically reduces risk. 3) Maintain a living business plan!Start your business planning when you start your research. The plan will adjust with new intelligence as you move toward commercialization only if you ensure that you are continuously revisiting the basic business assumptions that motivated the research in the first place. If your research changes course, and it likely will, an up to date business plan will be your decision support guide. 4) Collaborate!Even our large corporations realize they can't do it all. And small companies never have all the expertise or resources to innovate and bring new product to market. Coopetition is the new name of the game. And the Precarn model has been helping Canadian companies, large and small, bring innovation to market for 20 years.Your opinion?For our funded projects, what has been your experience with the Precarn Model?For entrepreneurs in general, what have you found to be the keys to success taking innovation to market?by...Grant ThomasVice-president, Precarn Incorporated

Have researchers' communication skills declined?

Tue, 05 Feb 2008 09:00:00 EST

The title of my graduate thesis was the "Studies of Middle and Small molecules in Human Uremia: Correlations to Clinical Complications and their Inhibitory Effect on the Maturation of Erythroid Colonies in vitro". While using this language was perfectly valid when communicating with the roughly 20 researchers in the world working in the same field of research, it was totally incomprehensible to anyone else especially those that controlled the purse strings for research funding. Even for my friends, who were bright researchers in their own right but in different fields of study, it was like I was speaking in some ancient language.Some thirty-odd years later, much of it after I crossed over to the darkside (aka industry) as some of my fellow researchers tease me, it seems scientists are still being accused of gobbledygook. In an article in November, Editor-in-chief Donald Kennedy for the journal Science is warning that he will rewrite articles on behalf of authors [read the article here]. It appears the problem has become wide spread. The catch is while scientists once wrote in plain English (anyone can read Darwin), they don't today. The writing has become more and more technical, and only a few scientists in a particular niche can understand any given article. So how do I describe my research work of thirty years ago today... To anyone that asks I say, "I was searching for the stuff in the blood of people suffering with kidney failure, and hence the material that doesn't get filtered out, that kills or slows down the growth of red blood cells." It doesn't sound as majestic but just about anyone can understand. While it is low on multi-syllabic terms, it actually tells the listener more.In my opinion, the communication skills of researchers haven't declined, we have just lost sight of who our ultimate audience is.What is your opinion?Is it important that researchers and scientists communicate well to lay readers? If it is important then what is the best way to inject a practice of more comprehensible writing? by...Gary GudbransonDirector, Marketing & Communciations, Precarn Incorporated

Should Precarn Scholars have to work for the cash?

Tue, 29 Jan 2008 09:00:00 EST

Each Precarn Scholar is required to attend the annual Precarn conference and present a poster of their work. Last year, the Precarn Conference was held in conjunction with AI, GI, VI and CRV’s annual conferences, and students were offered the choice of either presenting a poster at IS2007 or at one of the other conferences. Since some of the other conferences are peer-reviewed, acceptance of a paper or poster at those conferences is better for the student’s CV and is, therefore, acceptable to Precarn. This year we continue our realtionship with the these academic conferences so the Precarn Scholars will again be offered this option.In my opinion the posters and presentations have always been of the highest quality and a must see at the conference. Our philospohy has always been that having students present their work to their peers and to the larger academic community is a good thing. It encourages new ideas, the sharing of views and information, and generally lets students know that they are part of larger, yet common community. The question I ask is "Is requiring students to present a poster of their graduate work at the annual Precarn Conference the right idea?"In the distant past, Precarn required students to submit reports on their work instead. However, the prevaling thought that this was not as effective as presenting a poster at the conference for encouraging the exchange of ideas and information. Was this the right decision? Is it right to have the students do anything for their scholarships? ASIDE: Make sure that when you come to the conference May 27-30, 2008 in Windsor, Ontario that you visit all the student posters, those of the Precarn Scholars and those presenting within the AI 2008, GI 2008 and CRV 2008 conferences. For information on this year’s conference check out the web site at www.aigicrvis.ca. by...Rick SchwartzburgSenior Manager, Academic Partnerships, Precarn

Collaborative Research: What Works and What Doesn’t? - Part 2

Wed, 23 Jan 2008 09:00:00 EST

In Part 1 of this blog I explained how Precarn thought it would be interesting to solicit the opinions and observations of those that have been directly involved in one of our projects, by asking them what works and what doesn’t as it pertains to collaborative research. We then invited these participants from Industry, Academia, and a co-funding partner in our Alliance Program to speak at our annual conference this year and present their opinions based on their first-hand experience. Each was asked for their input in three different areas; project and partners, process, and people. Last week we presented what works, and this week we present what doesn’t:Project and PartnersAn Industry partner looking for a funding source for company operations Being impatient. Research is a risky business and does not always go the way we would like it to go Forgetting the lessons learned in other projects (do a post-mortem at the end of each project). Process Research team looking for funding to support an existing research product Commercialization as a side effect Ignoring the administrative requirements, for example, Academic institutions and Professors do not track the hours spent on the project, however, this is required by the funding institutions Small company has huge overhead in managing multiple entities (work cultures) Until preliminary results are seen, it’s hard to think of commercialization Not sharing intermediate results to the team People Over expectation from the research team Hiding problems from your partners Getting discouraged. Research partnerships require a lot of (non-technical) effort so go in with your eyes open If you have a project, or contemplating a project, and have questions about how to make your project a success, Precarn would be pleased to help. Contact Derek Best.If you have a tip, whether it be a do or a don't, for a successful project, please tell us by entering a comment below...by...Derek BestDirector, Research Programs, Precarn Incorporated

Collaborative Research: What Works and What Doesn’t? - Part 1

Tue, 15 Jan 2008 09:00:00 EST

Over the course of managing a program of collaborative research, the question has arisen on different occasions from potential applicants to our program as to what constitutes a good Precarn research project. And while I have my own opinions based on observation, we thought it would be interesting to solicit the opinions and observations of those that have been directly involved in a project. We invited the participants from Industry, Academia, and a co-funding partner in our Alliance Program to speak at our annual conference in 2007 and present their opinions based on first-hand experience. Each was asked for their input on what works and what doesn’t in three different areas; project and partners, process, and people. The following is a summary of their feedback on what works:Project and PartnersJoint statement of objectives and expected results from the partnershipThe project must be stimulating Perceived complementarities between partners Some compatible values between organizations Understanding and respect of each other’s perspective Industry partner’s active participation in the collaboration (cash and in-kind) Project must be aligned with industry partner’s main line of business Requires a stable Industrial Lead Participant to support the research and commercialization A thorough knowledge of the market need A solid understanding of the industry partners problem Knowing the boundaries of over commitment An engaged end user customer Lead time for commercialization Process A clear understanding of roles and responsibilities A project that is tightly coupled on target; loosely coupled on activities Allow people to focus on the things they do well and only bring them together sporadically Consider all of the stakeholders’ perspectives Use an agile incremental process; keep options open Think in other boxes; use analogy Effective network or partnership animation and coordination Resources must be available Equitable sharing of success’ impact amongst the partners An understanding of the academic world by non-academic partners Regular meetings Start thinking about IP and BIP right at project inception Upfront IP agreement Identify new IP as soon as it is clear that something great is coming out of the research The more partners, the more complex IP discussions are Keep looking for technology receptors during the course of the project Realize that some neat ideas may lead to unexpected products Seek advice from organizations that are used to dealing with technology Do not neglect the effort requested for timely reporting and project planning. Circulate accurate and honest technical information on problems The project plan drives the program Weekly, Monthly and Quarterly meetings: Professors and students must attend Intermediate research results shared with the team Commercialization focus from the project start Research investment risk mitigation Accelerated research People A supportive sponsor Champions able to initiate positive and visible actions Personal involvement and regular participation Balance in the share of power Openness to constructive critics Think and speak as partners Academic and Industrial partners need to learn to know each other through small short-term projects before engaging into large-scale / large budget endeavors Involve graduate students in the research Academic researcher must realize that a research partnership does not operate as conventional publication-oriented research, and that the rewards are different Involve professional research staff in the research as their participation is essential for system integration and day-to-day interaction with project partners Project managers should keep in touch with the research team in order to assess the level of project progress Students should co-locate with industry professionals if possible perform thesis research in industrial setting Students thesis co-supervised by industry employees Co-author publications with an Industry professional for a higher acceptance rate Hiring students when they complete degrees as they have trained skills ready for implementation If you have a project, or contemplating a project, and have questions about how to make your project a success, Precarn would be pleased to help. Contact Derek Best.If you have a tip for a successful project, please tell us by entering a comment below...by...Derek BestDirector, Research Programs, Precarn Incorporated

The Precarn Scholars Program... Is it working?

Tue, 08 Jan 2008 09:00:00 EST

Back in 2002 IRIS was conducting its cross-Canada consultations in preparation for its Phase 3 mid-term review. One of the messages that came out strong and clear was that universities were having a hard time hanging onto good graduate students. The question asked was if there was any way that Precarn or IRIS could help with this. It was then that the Precarn Scholars Program was created. Since its inception, over 500 students have received support through the Precarn Scholars Program. This year, 52 students shared almost $400,000 in support. So the question is: Has the program worked? As a professor, have you found that the support of the Precarn Scholars Program has helped you to retain graduate students that you otherwise might have lost? As a graduate student, has the Scholars Program helped you to stay in Canada and to continue your studies? These are important questions especially when it comes to determining if such a program should continue.Rick SchwartzburgSenior Manager, Academic Partnerships, Precarn

Are intellectual property concerns in China over-stated?

Wed, 02 Jan 2008 09:00:00 EST

My question to you is... "With regard to developing research and technology partnerships in China, are intellectual property concerns over-stated?"I have been involved in fostering and supporting research partnerships in China for a number of years and the most commonly recurring issue that has been raised is protection of intellectual property(IP). Notwithstanding all the warnings about theft of IP, it appears that just about everymajor internationaltechnology-based company is active in China, and those that aren't are questioned as to their future by being absent from China.Are all these companies just accepting such technology losses as the cost of doing business in this market; are they advancing their technology faster than it can be stolen; have they developed coping strategies to minimize technology losses, or, is it really not that big a factor in their business relationships in China, contrary to popular wisdom?What has been your experience?...Stuart WilsonVice-President, Operations, ISTPCanada

The Innovation Business is Everybody's Business

Wed, 19 Dec 2007 09:00:00 EST

An article [1] in Business World some years back had the following headline:Innovation = Economic GrowthThere was nothing surprising about it, rather the opposite. Innovative economies are creating more intellectual capital, jobs, growth, and wealth than less innovative economies. The statement is by now universally accepted. Western Economic Diversification Canada writes in a recent report that "innovation has become the major driving force in economic growth and social development" [2]. OECD claims that innovation is now the main driver of economic progress and well-being [3]. The organisation also believes innovation to be an important factor in meeting global challenges in domains such as the environment and health. A report from the Congressional Research Service to the U.S. Congress writes that "It is widely accepted that technological progress is responsible for up to one-half of the growth of the U.S. economy" [4]. The Boston Consulting Group has produced numbers showing that innovation indeed is the largest contributor to economic growth, as can be seen in the following graph from The Economist [5] who recently, devoted a special report [8] on the issue. In simple terms, in order to avoid an economic decline, Canada needs to be more innovative than its competitors. Increased globalization, communication and technology availability are increasing competition and shortening product cycles and time to market. This is not only increasing the need for innovation, but the need to innovate at an increasing rate. For instance, since the life cycle of consumer goods in the United States fell by half from 1992 to 2002, companies needed to innovate twice as fast just to keep up [6].Competition is not the only reason for the need to innovate. Internal factors include Canada's worrisome demographical development. It is estimated that in 2020 there will be 40 retirees for every 100 working-age persons, up from 21 for every 100 in 2003 [7]. Looking at this factor alone, we see that we need to dramatically increase our productivity per working-age person, and again, just to keep up.Innovation has a negative or destructive effect as new developments clear away or change old forms and practices. Organizations that do not innovate effectively may be destroyed by those that do. On a larger scale, economies (like Canada) that do not innovate effectively will decline. The headline of the Business World article could just as well been Insufficient Innovation = Economic DeclineOverall, this means that it hardly matters where you are and what you do, the policies that drive innovation will affect you and are likely to affect you deeply. To be blunt, the quality of the care you will receive when you retire is highly dependent on Canada's ability to create economic growth through innovation.On this background, it is very concerning that a report in June from the Conference Board of Canada, How Canada Performs: A Report Card on Canada [7] gives Canada a "D" in innovation. The authors write that Canada is increasingly lagging behind its international peers, and that "Above all, we show that this country is doing dismally in the critically important area of innovation".Clearly, the innovation business should be everybody's business. Morten IrgensPresident & CTO, Actenum CorporationMorten is a member of the Precarn Board of DirectorsReferences[1] "Innovation = Economic Growth", Business Week, May 28 2004; [2] "Western Economic Diversification Canada: A Catalyst for Innovation in Western Canada, March 2003[3] "Innovation And Growth, Rationale For An Innovation Strategy", Organisation For Economic Co-Operation and Development, May 2007. [4] "Industrial Competitiveness and Technological Advancement: Debate Over Government Policy, Brief for US Congress, Wendy H. Schacht, The National Council for Science and the Environment, August 2007.[5] "Special Report on Innovation", the Economist, Oct 11th 2007[6] Gil Cloyd, Chief Technology Officer at Procter Gamble, as reported in Revving up; How globalisation and information technology are spurring faster innovation, Special Report on Innovation, the Economist, Oct 11th 2007.[7] "The Demographic Time Bomb: Mitigating the Effects Of Demographic Change In Canada, Report of the Standing Senate Committee on Banking, Trade and Commerce, June 2006. Also in PDF format.[8] "How Canada Performs: A Report Card on Canada", Conference Board of Canada.

A New Precarn Website Emerges...

Wed, 12 Dec 2007 09:00:00 EST

What do you think? Are we going the right direction?I have been receiving some very positive feedback to the changes we have been making to the Precarn website over the last few months and feeling a bit smug as I knew the best was yet to come...Well today is the day! We have launched the first of many new online services including a repository of information about the intelligent systems industry, and the flagship, a matching service called the intelliFINDER service. I invite you to take a peek at these services and other services at Your R&D Network above. The online services will be supported by people - our solid staff and through partnerships with industry leaders like Reid Eddison.There is a philosophy behind the services we have launched today and will be launching in the future:Support the Precarn Collaborative Model though partnering services Create opportunities for dialog in the intelligent systems industry Make Precarn the one stop for information about the IS industry: funding/investment, mentoring, partnering, commercialization The key is the participation and contribution within the Precarn Network. Phrases like "Many hands make light work"; and , "Together we are smarter" -- give some idea of what we are trying to accomplish. The bottom-line is this is your network. It is made stronger, wider and more valuable with your participation. Have a favourite website? -- Discovered a valuable trick of the trade... -- Found a great industry study -- Willing to be a mentor -- Looking for a partner -- Have a perspective on R&D and Commercialization -- Don't be shy! Please contribute, share, partner, mentor... There are more services in various stages of development. Stay tuned - stay involved! If you have ideas on how Precarn can improve or add value, we are all ears!Cheers,Gary GudbransonPrecarn Webmaster

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