Business

Chief Technology Officer at Digiflare

Posted by jldavid on Jan 16, 2012

I’m excited to announce I’ll be moving to Toronto & taking on the role of Chief Technology Officer at Digiflare (http://www.digiflare.com) starting February 1st. I’ll be putting on two hats – supporting the technology efforts within the company for an amazing roster of clients (http://digiflare.com/work), along with bringing new products to market for consumers.

I’d like to thank Bradley Wing, Matthieu Houle, Stephane Marceau and Nicolas Gaudreau for hiring me on to work as a Senior Manager in the kickass YellowAPI and mobile team at Yellow Pages Canada – it was a fantastic & valuable experience, I’m truly grateful. I’ll miss working with everyone in Montreal! Keep an eye on YellowAPI, lots of exciting things to come this year: http://www.yellowapi.com

Note – I’ll be in town for the next two weeks (my last day at YPG is January 27th) and flying out to Toronto on January 31st.

Serendipity vs Personalization

Posted by jldavid on Jan 7, 2012

I’ve noticed that many new startups try to include an element of serendipity in their products. If you look at Wikipedia, the current definition of serendipity is “a happy accident or pleasant surprise; specifically, the accident of finding something good or useful without looking for it”. My good friend Lenny Ratchitsky did a great talk at TEDxCondordia entitled “Losing Serendipity” which explains how serendipity is important in our daily lives, and how he integrated elements of discovery and chance in Localmind (you can view his presentation on YouTube here).

With this in mind, there are two different approaches you can take with a product:

• The Serendipity approach, in which you can surface useful information that your users are not expecting. A good example of this is Foursquare’s Explore feature. It shows you interesting locations around you ranked by your friends checkins and tips. Using explore, you can discover an interesting restaurant or cafe based on recommendations.
• The Personalization approach. Using this approach, you can profile the user and determine his/her likes and dislikes. Using these signals, you then provide information that is the most contextually appropriate for the user. Hunch (which was recently acquired by Ebay) is an example of a recommendation engine which statistically looks at your likes/dislikes and provides tailored recommendations. Another example, Facebook made changes to their News Feed a while back to display only “Friends and pages you interact with most” (which was partially rectified with the recent Timeline update).

Technology Predictions for 2012

Posted by jldavid on Dec 29, 2011

Inspired by Marc Andreessen, putting my thoughts down in a few bullet point:

• IPOs will keep driving interest in startups. The upcoming Facebook and Yelp IPOs are stirring up the market. When you look at successful examples like LinkedIn, it’s increasingly clear that new startups have more options than just looking to be acquired. Having spent a lot of time in San Francisco in 2011 & talking to local entrepreneurs, you get a sense that there is a definite boom happening as apartments are getting harder to come by and competition for talent is fierce. More of the same in 2012.
• Mobile app growth will be exponential. If you look at stats such as Android and iOS Now Control Over 80% of Smartphone Sales in U.S. and recent studies, it’s obvious that mobile apps are exploding. At work, I’ve observed the trend that our mobile web apps are on track to outpace native apps for iOS and Android in terms of traffic and usage. Mobile app development is made easier for developers with frameworks such as jQuery Mobile, Titanium and PhoneGap. We are quickly approaching the point where there is “an app for that” for most things, get ready for a slew of creative new apps for scenarios you haven’t even dreamed of. Update: Looks like Gartner agrees with my assessment.
• The “Quantified Self” will become more mainstream. We are early days with portable sensors – most have been focused on fitness up till now (witness the successful FitBit, and the unfortunate rise and fall of the Jawbone Up). Platforms such as Arduino have brought microprocessor and sensor hacking accessible to mainstream coders – witness hack a day. Raspberry Pi and other projects are very exciting and hint at the potential of portable computing devices. Expect advances in smart clothing and portable motherboards.
• 80′s retro tech will be cool. My generation is currently at the reins of popular culture – expect TV/movie references to Commodore computers (recently relaunched as a modern PC by Commodore USA), TRS-80′s, Ataris. Expect remakes of popular 80′s movies such as Wargames (TRON anyone?). SID (Sound Interface Device) music is heard in dubstep songs by Skrillex. I’m waiting for the movie adaptation of Impossible Mission (not to be confused with Mission Impossible). What is old becomes new again.
• DVDs & CDs will finally become obsolete. Case in point, I’m in the process of digitizing and discarding my entire CD collection. Of course, I fall in the “Innovator/Early adopter” demographic rather than “Laggards” in the Technology Adoption Lifecycle. But consider this – popular devices such as iPads, tablets, phones, and netbooks intentionally exclude optical disc readers. As revenues increase from digital channels such as iTunes, Netflix, Rdio, Spotify, production of physical media will decrease except as a niche product for top selling artists & for special collectors sets (like it happened for vinyl).
• More Organic Design. If you look at the background for the Siri app, you’ll notice that it has a very distinctive cloth like look. Hot apps such as Path2 have also adopted a cloth like interface, and I foresee more naturalistic interfaces & materials coming up to match natural experiences.

Happy new year everyone!

Mission Statements from Famous Tech Companies

Posted by jldavid on May 8, 2011

• Google - Organize the world‘s information and make it universally accessible and useful.
• Microsoft - A computer on every desk and in every home.
• Apple - Designs the best personal computers in the world, leads the digital music revolution, reinvented the mobile phone and is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices.

Inspiring Core Values From Successful Tech Companies

Posted by jldavid on Apr 14, 2011

Here is a list of compiled core company values from well known technology companies. Do you know of others?

Apple

• We believe that we’re on the face of the Earth to make great products.
• We believe in the simple, not the complex.
• We believe that we need to own and control the primary technologies behind the products we make.
• We participate only in markets where we can make a significant contribution.
• We believe in saying no to thousands of projects so that we can really focus on the few that are truly important and meaningful to us.
• We believe in deep collaboration and cross-pollination of our groups, which allow us to innovate in a way that others cannot.
• We don’t settle for anything less than excellence in every group in the company, and we have the self-honesty to admit when we’re wrong and the courage to change.

Ubisoft

• Play Fair
• Build a Winning Spirit
• Challenge Yourself
• Initiate
• Share
• Drive Consumer Satisfaction

Zynga

• build games you and your friends LOVE TO PLAY.
• meritocracy LEVEL UP.
• BE CEO own outcomes.
• move at ZYNGA SPEED.
• ZYNGA FIRST decisions for the greater good.
• INNOVATE on best of breed mechanics.

Zappos

• Deliver WOW Through Service.
• Embrace and Drive Change.
• Create Fun and a Little Weirdness.
• Be Adventurous, Creative and Open Minded.
• Pursue Growth and Learning.
• Build Open and Honest Relationships with Communication.
• Build a Positive Team and Family Spirit.
• Do More with Less.
• Be Passionate and Determined.
• Be Humble.

Microsoft

• Integrity and honesty.
• Passion for customers, partners, and technology.
• Open and respectful with others and dedicated to making them better.
• Willingness to take on big challenges and see them through.
• Self-critical, questioning, and committed to personal excellence and self-improvement.
• Accountable for commitments, results, and quality to customers, shareholders, partners, and employees.

Electronic Arts

• Be Bold
• Think Consumers First
• Create Quality and Innovation
• Act with Integrity
• Be Accountable
• Learn and Grow

Facebook (internal)

• Move fast and break things.

Facebook (public)

• Freedom to Share and Connect.
• Ownership and Control of Information.
• Free Flow of Information.
• Fundamental Equality.
• Social Value.
• Open Platforms and Standards.
• Fundamental Service.
• Common Welfare.
• Transparent Process.
• One World.

Netflix

• Judgment:Your judgment calls turn out well (people, technical, business, and creative judgment calls). Your insights are influential and important. You are an expert at what you do and a source that other employees look upon for guidance.
• Productivity:You are very effective in getting work done. What you accomplish amazes people.
• Creativity:You are inventive. You re-conceptualize issues to come up with innovative but practical solutions to hard problems.
• Intelligence: You think broadly and strategically. You make subtle connections others miss. You absorb large amounts of information rapidly. You learn fast. You can change directions rapidly when appropriate.
• Honesty:You are known for your candor. You avoid partial truth and tinted truth. You are non-political and straightforward when you disagree with others. You only say things about people you will say to their face.
• Communication:You are effective communicating both in meetings and 1 to 1. You practice Seek First to Understand, then to be Understood.
• Selflessness:You are perceived to be guided by what you think is best for Netflix, rather than best for yourself. You are ego-less when it comes to finding the best ideas and interacting with others.
• Reliability:Colleagues perceive they can depend upon you. You are not prone to flakiness, anger, or impulsiveness.
• Passion:You care deeply about Netflix success and your colleagues know it. Your thirst for excellence is infectious and inspiring.

Google (internal)

• Don’t be evil.

Google (public)

• Focus on the user and all else will follow.
• It’s best to do one thing really, really well.
• Fast is better than slow.
• Democracy on the web works.
• You don’t need to be at your desk to need an answer.
• You can make money without doing evil.
• There’s always more information out there.
• The need for information crosses all borders.
• You can be serious without a suit.
• Great just isn’t good enough.

Motorola

• Customers – I earn their business every day. Customers are first, last and everything in between.
• Innovation – I celebrate the breakthrough idea. We were the original high-tech start-up. We’ve changed the world before, and we will do so again.
• Principles – I do the right thing. We operate ethically, and there are no excuses for doing anything else. We treat people with respect and seek out and promote diversity.
• Performance – I am here to win. We’re not settling for anything except the Number 1 spot. We will not only excel, we will also win.
• One Motorola – I work for one company with a shared vision. We work for one company, with one vision, one brand, one stock and one exciting future.

Samsung

• People – Quite simply, a company is its people. At Samsung, we’re dedicated to giving our people a wealth of opportunities to reach their full potential.
• Excellence – Everything we do at Samsung is driven by an unyielding passion for excellence—and an unfaltering commitment to develop the best products and services on the market.
• Change – In today’s fast-paced global economy, change is constant and innovation is critical to a company’s survival. As we have done for 70 years, we set our sights on the future, anticipating market needs and demands so we can steer our company toward long-term success.
• Integrity – Operating in an ethical way is the foundation of our business. Everything we do is guided by a moral compass that ensures fairness, respect for all stakeholders and complete transparency.
• Co-prosperity – A business cannot be successful unless it creates prosperity and opportunity for others. Samsung is dedicated to being a socially and environmentally responsible corporate citizen in every community where we operate around the globe.

The Mobile Ecosystem – APIs & Opportunities

Posted by jldavid on Apr 11, 2011

Here is my presentation from Mobile Monday Montreal: