Wednesday
Nov082017

Tech4SickKids fundraising initiative hopes to raise funds for SickKids

The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) is launching a new initiative to upgrade its facilities to meet the needs of its patients. Called #Tech4SickKids, the initiative is calling on the help of the tech and innovation community of Toronto to help raise $25 million for the improvement of child healthcare at SickKids. They will be hosting a launch event on November 15, which you can purchase tickets for from this link. A panel discussion will be held with SickKid experts entitled “SickKids: The other Canadian tech hub.”

The fundraising effort will help with things such as support for the first Chair in biomedical informatics and artificial intelligence in Canada; make SickKids the first children’s hospital in Canada to make use of data intelligence to improve efficiency of health care delivery and help cut down patient risk; as well as provide the funds to build a new campus complete with a state-of-the-art Emergency Suite. SickKids is currently housed in a 1949 building, which isn’t the best facility for furthering modern day, cutting edge child health care.

Wednesday
Nov082017

iPhone X measures up nicely against $2,000 camera in 4k video tests

The camera crew at FStoppers pitted an iPhone X against the Panasonic GH5, a professional 4K camera that's used to shoot videos and photos. Mostly a video comparison test, the video above shows the iPhone X's considerable chops as it manages to meet and even surpass some of the GH5's videos in various conditions. iPhone X output seems punchier with more colour depth and the testers also noted they were impressed with the optical image stabilization on the iPhone X, specially in tracking shots. 

Granted, the GH5 (which costs $2,000 for the body alone), does better in terms of bitrate and has more detail when your zoom in, FStoppers says that for most of the videos they make (some of which are commercial quality), the iPhone X or even older iPhone models are going to work just fine, provided the scenes are well lit. I've started to use the iPhone X more like a camera for a standalone camera review and find that it does take stunning and punchy photographs in most conditions. It's good to know the video aspect is also top notch.

Source: Daring Fireball

Wednesday
Nov082017

Thoughts on the BlackBerry KEYOne Black Edition

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

TCL and BlackBerry Mobile are going a completely different direction from the smartphone industry and it is quite refreshing. The BlackBerry KEYOne, now available in a Space Black edition (as well as a Black Edition), truly goes against the grain. The latest smartphones are removing physical buttons, stretching screens, deleting bezels and yet this BlackBerry Mobile device relishes its QWERTY keyboard legacy as well as all the additional buttons and function keys included.

Click to read more ...

Wednesday
Nov082017

Snap Inc. says they’ll start paying top creators

A platform is only as good as the content it produces. And while it might be a bit late, Snapchat is looking to put a bit more effort to support its pool of creators. Aside from revamping its Android app, Snapchat’s parent company, Snap Inc., plans to start paying its top creators, similar to what YouTube does with its star YouTubers that are encouraged to create videos in exchange for advertising revenue. Snap Inc.’s CEO Evan Spiegel acknowledges in his prepared quarterly remarks that they have “neglected the creator community on Snapchat that creates and distributes public Stories for the broader Snapchat audience.”

Spiegel says they plan to develop more distribution and monetization options for its creators over the next year. Snapchat might also introduce professional tools and help facilitate sharing beyond friend groups.

Source: The Verge