YEAR IN REVIEW
Tech talk
WirelessImage created an Android app for the World Cup soccer teams
The year’s highlights in innovation
Ąby Noa Glouberman rom fuel cells to fitness video games, solar energy to soccer apps, dehydrated food to daily-deal websites, it’s been a winning time for British Columbia’s technology industry.
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February 15, 2010: Shine on Ledalite, a Philips brand based in Langley, launched its new Shine family of highefficiency recessed lighting for sustainable buildings.
arrival times on line or at stops equipped with digital displays. May 14, 2010: Out of this world Astronauts Bob Thirsk and Frank De Winne returned to Earth after six months in space. While in orbit, they worked with researchers at Simon Fraser University to study the effects of micro-gravity on colloids: mixtures in which the particles of one substance disperse evenly throughout another.
June 2, 2010: Read March 9, 2010: Moving between the lines fitness forward Vancouverite Wahiba Electronic Arts Inc. began Chair launched the developing EA Sports Active 2. CarrotLines iPhone This PlayStation 3 fitness proapplication, which gram includes wireless conlets users scan a food trols powered by leg and arm product’s bar code to straps with motion sensors CarrotLines iPhone app find out whether the and an online hub to track product is low in fat, contains nuts or is and share workout data. (For more on EA, organic, kosher or vegan and even where see page 15.) it came from. April 19, 2010: Give a hoot June 3, 2010: High and dry Vancouver’s HootSuite Media opened its The Canadian Institute of Food Science HootSuite University, an online program and Technology recognized Vancouver’s that teaches organizations how to use the social web. April 26, 2010: Groupon think Groupon, Inc., which offers online daily deals for local restaurants, spas, sporting events, theatre and more, launched in the Lower Mainland. The inaugural deal: $20 for $40 of food at A Kettle of Fish restaurant (now closed).
EnWave Corp. for its NutraREV technology, which uses vacuum pressure and microwave energy to dehydrate fresh foods at or below room temperatures, providing a faster, cheaper, more efficient alternative to freeze-drying. June 7, 2010: Under the German sun Burnaby’s Day4 Energy Inc. started building a 725-kilowatt solar-power plant in Germany. Energy produced there will be sold to the local grid provider. June 8, 2010: In the bag Vancouver’s Solegear Bioplastics Inc. created Polysole, a plastic for use in automotive, electronic, pharmaceutical and consumer goods that can biodegrade within weeks of disposal. June 10, 2010: Guiding lights Carmanah Technologies Corp., Victoria, provided LED marine lanterns to enhance the safety of oil-spill cleanup in the Gulf of Mexico.
NutraREV technology by EnWave: faster and cheaper than freezedrying
April 30, 2010: The web on the bus The Toronto Transit Commission launched NextBus technology from WebTech Wireless Inc., Burnaby, on eight streetcar lines, allowing riders to monitor transit www.bctechmagazine.ca BIV Magazines
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