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Vol 1, #39, Dec. 8, 2009 |
Canada's online real estate destination goes mobile One of Canada's most popular sources for real estate information is going mobile. REALTOR.ca, a part of the real estate industry for over 13 years, is now available for REALTORS(R) and consumers on their mobile phones for the very first time. Keeping REALTORS(R) and homebuyers informed on the move, the new beta version of mobile.REALTOR.ca means that users can access a snapshot of property listings wherever they are. "Mobile.REALTOR.ca v1 was designed to be used by REALTORS(R) and consumers who are driving or walking around, see a property and want more information about it," says CREA's Director of Marketing and Member Services, Marc Lafrance. "It was not designed to facilitate extensive searching of large areas or to search using a broad variety of criteria. It was designed to facilitate a quick reference when people see a property and want more information about that particular property right away." For REALTORS(R) and homebuyers, who happen to see a property, the portal offers them the ability to find out more details including price, location, directions and the selling agent information. The mobile version of REALTOR.ca has been designed to function with Blackberry and Windows mobile operating systems. Users will be able to access the site by connecting to beta.mobile.realtor.ca. Top of Page Vancouver entrepreneurs Mark Chadwick and Neil Currie will face the fire and present their company, VantageWire.com (www.vantagewire.com), this Wednesday at 8:00 pm on CBC. Dragons Den is into its fourth season now with $15 million worth of investment deals. "We're excited and a little bit nervous to see what the editing room has done with our footage. I can safely say we gave them all the ingredients for a very entertaining television show," said Mark Chadwick, President of VantageWire.com. "We just hope the producers allow some time to focus on the business and not the 'drama' amongst the Dragons and us in our episode!" said Neil Currie, Vice President. VantageWire.com is the first and only website to provide investor with free real time stock prices and data on all Canadian and US stock markets. Real time information on stocks can cost investors up to $100 per month. Giving that information away to investors with a simple sign up process has spurred rapid growth for the Vancouver based website company. "We have taken the Google & Facebook business models of giving the end user something useful for free and creating a platform for advertising to generate revenue," said Chadwick. The company was launched in early 2008 just before the stock market crash yet the website has maintained its steady growth since its inception. Dragon's Den continues to be a barometer for the economy. Past seasons saw waves of mom and pop eco-preneurs. This season, the stakes are even higher as victims of the economic downturn step into the Den. Laid-off employees of Ontario's auto sector and British Columbia's mining industry are looking for capital to start their own empires. In today's economic reality, only the best businesses stand a chance at surviving the Dragons' gruelling grilling. The Dragons are after an idea that will make them an instant fortune so candidates must be smart, prepared and persuasive. Let's hope Mark and Neil can face the fire and come out victorious in one of the most exciting opportunities of their lives. Top of Page Samsung Mobile beefs up Touch Line with Forever Samsung Mobile has announced the arrival of Forever, a premium touchscreen device offering users an instant connection to social networking, messaging and multimedia features. The Forever features multiple messaging options such as Mobile Email, IM and MMS and comes equipped with a 2.0 megapixel camera with camcorder, perfect for capturing those spontaneous moments. Users experience a tactile response with haptic feedback and know when they accurately press a virtual button. The full virtual QWERTY keyboard, with sensitivity adjustment, is easy-to-use with clear letters, numbers and symbols. "Forever is a great mobile companion for the design conscious consumer who wants a stylish device for snapping photos, watching videos, listening to music and, of course, staying in touch with their friends," said Paul Brannen, General Manager, Mobile Communications, Samsung Electronics Canada. "Forever is another great example of how Samsung Mobile is creating premium devices that offer big functionality and connectivity without a big price tag." The Forever is designed for the customer who desires an enhanced and convenient multimedia experience without paying extra for features that won't be used. Boasting a large display at 3.0 inches, the Forever offers larger icons and a simpler structure, making navigation a snap. The device's innovative TouchWiz 1.5 touch-optimized User Interface ensures convenient, high-speed multi-tasking and users can customize their home screen with downloadable drag and drop widgets. The Samsung Forever offers a wide range of multimedia features:
Manage IT infrastructure from your iPhone Rove Inc, the leader in IT infrastructure management from smartphones, announced that its award-winning mobile enterprise IT management solution, Rove Mobile Admin, now supports the Apple iPhone. The Rove Mobile Admin client for iPhone is available immediately for download from the Apple App Store and can be used to access Rove Mobile Admin version 5.0 server software. With the availability of the iPhone client, Rove Mobile Admin now supports all major types of smartphones including BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, Symbian and iPhone. Rove Mobile Admin is available in 2 versions:
"The iPhone client for Rove Mobile Admin has been hands-down the most used app on my iPhone," said Paul Urfi, Director, MIS/IT at Cadec Global Inc, the market leader in advanced mobile-technology services, GPS satellite tracking and advanced solutions for management of distributed assets. "The user interface makes it simple to manage my IT infrastructure and I can do my job wherever I'm located. I give it 5 stars!" "Rove is the only company offering the ability to manage the entire System Administration workflow natively from virtually any smartphone, now including the popular Apple iPhone," said Rob Woodbridge, President and CEO of Rove Inc, "We invite all IT administrators to download a trial version of Rove Mobile Admin and use it with the smartphone of their choice to help manage their IT networks during the upcoming holiday season." Rove Mobile Admin features a client-server architecture that is engineered to scale to any size enterprise, with a fully integrated security model. The Rove Mobile Admin client provides secure access to over 500 different monitoring and management functions through an intuitive interface designed specifically for smartphones. The Rove Mobile Admin Server is installed behind the corporate firewall and connects to dozens of different types of servers, platforms, devices and monitoring systems, automatically discovering the services that are running on them. To date, over 2500 customers worldwide, including more than 75 Fortune 500 companies and five of the world's 15 largest banks have deployed Rove Mobile Admin to help busy staff manage their IT infrastructures. Rove Mobile Admin augments current network administration and support practices with mobile IT management capabilities, integrating with existing monitoring and ticketing systems to provide companies with the following benefits:
McAfee, Inc. reveals riskiest web domains Africa's Cameroon (.cm) has overthrown Hong Kong (.hk) as the Web's riskiest domain, according to McAfee's third annual Mapping the Mal Web report, released today. At the opposite end, Japan (.jp) is the safest country domain, landing in the top five safest domains for the second year in a row. The most heavily trafficked Web domain in the world, commercial (.com), jumped from the ninth to second most dangerous domain, while government (.gov) is the safest non-country domain. "This report underscores how quickly cybercriminals change tactics to lure in the most victims and avoid being caught. Last year, Hong Kong was the riskiest domain and this year it is dramatically safer," said Mike Gallagher, chief technology officer for McAfee Labs. "Cybercriminals target regions where registering sites is cheap and convenient, and pose the least risk of being caught." Cameroon , a small African country that borders Nigeria, jumped to the number one spot this year with 36.7 percent of the .cm domain posing a security risk, but did not even make the list last year. Because the domain .cm is a common typo for .com, many cybercriminals set up fake typo-squatting sites that lead to malicious downloads, spyware, adware and other potentially unwanted programs. Following aggressive measures from .hk's domain managers to clamp down on scam-related registrations last year, Hong Kong fell 33 spots from the most risky domain in 2008 to the 34th most risky domain in 2009. Now only 1.1 percent of .hk sites pose a risk, whereas last year nearly one in five .hk Web sites were risky. Among country domains, the People's Republic of China (.cn) and Samoa (.ws) remained in the top five most dangerous places in the last two years.
Additional findings from the 2009 Mapping the Mal Web report include:
Just in time for the holidays, Aeroplan announced the launch of the eStore Gift Card Boutique. Featuring a wide choice of gift cards from more than 40 retailers in 9 categories, Aeroplan Members can now earn miles when they purchase gift cards through the Aeroplan eStore from popular retailers like Banana Republic, Cineplex, Home Hardware, Starbucks, The Body Shop, Winners and many more. Canadians love gift cards. According to a recent study by Deloitte, more than 60 per cent of Canadian shoppers will be purchasing gift cards this holiday season. The Aeroplan eStore Gift Card Boutique makes it easy for members to earn miles on these popular gifts. Members simply log-in at www.aeroplan.com/estore and click on the gifts, flowers and food category to be directed to the boutique to make a gift card purchase that earns members one Aeroplan Mile per dollar spent. "Gift cards are one of the top merchandise rewards at Aeroplan, so we're pleased to offer our members the opportunity to also earn miles when they purchase gift cards this holiday season," said Sylvie Bourget, Senior Vice President, Marketing and eBusiness, Aeroplan. "Most Canadians and thus most of our members are online shoppers, even more so around the holidays; the eStore with its new Gift Card Boutique is another way we're making accumulating miles even easier for our members. That is smart shopping - earning Aeroplan Miles for free travel or merchandise." Gift card categories include: Activities & Entertainment, Apparel & Accessories, Books, Music & Movies, Electronics & Computers, Gifts, Flowers & Food, Health & Beauty, Home & Garden, Sports & Outdoors and Travel. For a full list of participating retailers, visit: http://www.aeroplan.com/estore and follow the links to be redirected to the eStore Gift Card Boutique. Right now until December 15, 2009, Aeroplan Members can earn Bonus Aeroplan Miles when shopping through the eStore:
*Purchases made through the eStore Gift Card Boutique count as 1 retailer Top of Page Small business owners take page from Facebook strategy SBI! 2.0 is an all-in-one system of processes, tools, and support designed to help every-day entrepreneurs build successful e-businesses around issues about which they are passionate. As more and more Americans look for creative ways to increase their household incomes, your readers are sure to be interested in learning more about how they can create income-generating online businesses. Virgin Mobile Canada sticks it to broadband Virgin Mobile Canada announced today the launch of Broadband2Go, a rocket-fast new 3G nationwide wireless Internet service without an annual contract or activation fee. Virgin Mobile is breaking new ground yet again with the first data stick of its kind in Canada, letting surfers control their costs and pay for access only when they need it. Delivering a lightning-fast internet punch in a very small package, Broadband2Go will be available at Virgin Mobile stores, virginmobile.ca and Future Shop starting on December 3, 2009. "Forget about long-term contracts, monthly bills or looking around for a Wi-Fi signal to jump on. Prepaid mobile web access is perfect for students, families on the go and anyone who needs to jump online in a flash," said Robert Blumenthal President and CEO, Virgin Mobile Canada. "We've already shown the huge benefit of no annual contracts and giving our customers the freedom to control their costs and chose the services they want. Broadband2Go is yet another way we're delivering big time value, flexibility and convenience to Canadians." Just like Virgin Mobile Canada's phones, activation is simple and easy. At virginmobile.ca, web surfers can keep their service going by topping up when they want right from their registered credit card or they can set up automatic payments so they're always good to go. To kick off the launch, Virgin Mobile's special intro offer gives new Broadband2Go users their first month or 1GB at no charge if you activate on-line! After that, top ups are just $45 for 1GB or for 1 month of use, whichever comes first. "We're delighted to work with Virgin Mobile Canada to deliver a great wireless Internet service providing their customers the choice of a prepaid option for mobile Internet access," said Rob Hadley, CMO, Novatel Wireless. "Featuring fast download speeds, reliable performance and flexible top-up options to fit the user's needs, the world's smallest EV-DO data stick offers Canadians an unbeatable way to access the web." Top of Page MFC Global launches Canadian website MFC Global Investment Management ('MFC GIM'), the institutional asset management arm of Manulife Financial Corporation, today announced the launch of a new Canadian Separately Managed Account ('SMA') website to better serve its sub-advisory client relationships. The new SMA website is accessible at www.mfcglobalsma.com. MFC GIM provides sub-advisory investment management services with many of the leading SMA providers in Canada. With an SMA, financial advisors create an individual portfolio for clients, investing in stocks, bonds and other vehicles that takes into consideration individual risks and objectives. "Reflecting our commitment to being a premier global provider of institutional investment solutions, we are very proud to launch our new website as a means of providing Canadian advisors with key information on the sub-advisory mandates we manage for them. We want to make doing business with MFC GIM as efficient and effective as possible so that financial advisors can best serve their clients' needs," said Frank Saeli, MFC GIM's Head of Sales and Relationship Management. "The new website is an exciting new part of our infrastructure, showcasing the breadth and depth of our global investment management capabilities." Earlier this year, MFC GIM revamped its global site, www.mfcglobal.com, as part of its ongoing institutional sales and marketing effort. MFC GIM's web site provides in-depth economic and investment research and market views and insights from its experts around the globe. It also includes information about the firm, its investment strategies, leadership team and regional contact information. Top of Page |
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