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Last night, Drex and I talked about the latest Deloitte Technology Fast 50, which features Frank & Oak at the top of the list.
Other topics: Ronda Rousey, the Canadian Videogame Award finalists, and the recent update to Xbox One which brings, among other things, backwards compatibility, which lets gamers play Xbox 360 games on the Xbox One.
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This week in technology, Frank & Oak celebrate ridiculous growth, Ronda Rousey loses and wins, a gift-guide battle between BB-8 and R2-D2, Xbox One consoles get backwards compatibility, Canadian Videogame Aware finalists announced.
Montreal-based menswear retailer Frank & Oak was named the winner of this year’s edition of Deloitte’s Technology Fast 50.
The company got its start as an online-only retailer, but has expanded operation and now has 12 bricks and mortar locations in North America, including an atelier on Abbott off Hastings in downtown Vancouver.
Frank & Oak earned its top spot because of revenues over the past four years that were up 18,480%.
Richmond’s Corvus Energy was named second, with revenues that have increased by 16,943% since 2011. Corvus is bringing renewable energy solutions to the marine shipping industry with battery and hybrid power options.
Other B.C. companies on the list include
PHEMI, a data warehousing company in Vancouver, was named to the “companies-to-watch” list.
EA Sports announced last week that Ronda Rousey will be on the cover of UFC 2, a video game developed in Burnaby at EA Canada.
In a statement, Rousey, who lost her bantamweight championship the next day to challenger Holly Holm, said that she was “really happy to be involved with it”.
“As a gamer myself, it’s pretty surreal to be on the cover of the game and to have a woman on the cover of a UFC game shows a lot of progress,” she said.
On December 6, in Toronto, the Canadian Videogame Awards will be given out. The annual celebration of video game development in Canada received more than 100 nominations, and some 54 games are among the list of finalists.
The event is open to the public (get tickets).
Among the finalists are a couple of games from Ubisoft (Assassin’s Creed Syndicate, Far Cry 4), Square Enix Montreal (Hitman: Sniper, Lara Croft GO), and BioWare (Dragon Age: Inquisition)
Vancouver studios named as finalists include:
See the full list of finalists.
Late last week, Xbox One consoles started to get operating system upgrades that make it possible to stream your console play to any computer on the same network. So if someone in the house wants to watch The Walking Dead, you can still play Halo 5.
The console update also brings backwards compatibility and more than 100 Xbox 360 games can now be played on the Xbox One.
In addition to the feature, Microsoft announced that all future Games with Gold titles for Xbox 360 will be backwards compatible on the Xbox One, starting this month with DiRT 3 and Dungeon Siege III.
Games with Gold is a benefit for Xbox Live members that provides free and steeply-discounted games each month.
And for a limited time, you can get game bundles that include Xbox One and Xbox 360 games, which can all be played on the newer console:
Here’s the full list [http://www.xbox.com/BackCompat] of Xbox 360 titles that will be playable on your Xbox One.
The picks this week are for two cute little robots from two different Star Wars experiences.
Everyone knows and loves R2-D2, from the original trilogy and those other three movies. Well, R2 exists as a remote controllable robot from Thinkway Toys, and available at Toys R Us ($199). It’s also voice activated, so you can have a conversation with R2.
Okay, maybe “conversation” is overstating it a bit.
This R2 spins, walks, and moves, and even spins his head when he chirps at you.
Or maybe you’re more interested in the new droid from the new film. Well, there’s a robot for you, too.
The BB-8 from Sphero is also voice activated. Or you can control it with your smartphone, planning a route that it will then navigate autonomously. And just like R2, BB-8 has its own distinctive personality.
There’s a cheaper, radio-controlled BB-8 being sold at Amazon that does not seem worth the money, so don’t be fooled. Insist on the Sphero.
And because the resellers of the Sphero BB-8 on Amazon have spiked the price, you should just visit Best Buy to pick one up ($190).
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This week, my thoughts on the new Apple TV after using it for a week, why my wife and kids probably won’t see me for the next month (hint: it’s because of Fallout 4), and this week’s holiday gift guide item, the Philips Wake-Up Light.
The latest iteration of the Apple TV is a fantastic upgrade. The box itself is a bit bigger, but you won’t really notice that. The tvOS operating system is cleaner, at least until you start cluttering it up with icons for apps (more on that later),
It still does all that it used to do. Namely, play videos and music that you’ve purchased through the iTunes Store, stream video from iTunes libraries connected to the same network, and play media from mobile devices using AirPlay.
What’s different with this fourth-generation device is that Apple decided to have it operate in the same way as its smartphones and tablets. It’s opened up the operating system to third-party developers, who can create apps for the Apple TV. There’s an entire App Store for tvOS.
Which means that we’ll get better-designed and developed apps because they’ll be made by the companies who want you to use them. The home shopping apps have taken an early lead in this because they have a vested interest in getting customers.
But news organizations and media companies aren’t far behind.
And Plex, which is fantastic media management software, makes its first appearance as an app on Apple TV.
On top of all that, you can play games on your TV through this new box. Already, a bunch of notable titles are available, and if you already own the game and have been playing it on your iPad or iPhone, you may be able to download it and play it on your Apple TV.
For example, I’ve been playing Alto’s Adventure and Skylanders: SuperChargers. Every day, more titles become available.
You can use the new Apple TV remote as a game controller; it works much the same as a Wii U remote does. To enable multiplayer gaming, you can get any iOS game controller that connects through Bluetooth.
Steelseries has developed a version of its Bluetooth controller for exactly this. The Nimbus is designed to work with Apple TV. My other Steelseries controllers, the dainty Stratus and the bigger Stratus XL, while intended for use with iOS mobile devices, also connect to Apple TV and worked great.
All in all, I’m really happy with the Apple TV upgrade.
Not that I’ll be watching much TV in the next while, because Fallout 4 is in my console and will be sucking up all of my free time for the foreseeable future.
This game, an action, role-playing game, is a massive achievement for designer Todd Howard and the publisher, Bethesda Softworks.
Available for PS4, Windows, an Xbox One, the game itself is huge, and can easily take 100 hours to play if you spend any time at all developing a character. Hell, I spent two hours just creating my character.
Set in the Boston area, Fallout 4 is notable for having a fully voiced protagonist for the first time. And the thousands of lines of dialogue have been recorded by both male and female voices, because this series is one in which you can choose the gender of your protagonist.
The game is accompanied by a smartphone app that lets you access your character even when you’re not playing. It’s available for Android and iOS.
And everyone who bought the Pip-Boy Edition of the game can snap their smartphone into the wristband, and have their very own Fallout artifact.
For those of you who need a note to excuse your absence, Bethesda Softworks’ Pete Hines has you covered with this clever doctor’s note.
This is just the best way to face the morning. The Wake-Up Light is a combination LED light and alarm clock.
About 20 minutes before you want to wake up, the light starts to glow. And, just like the sun rising above the horizon, the light gets a bit brighter as your time approaches.
When the alarm goes off, it’s not a bell, or a buzzer, or some other obnoxious sound. It’s either the sound of birds chirping or sounds from a busy forest scene.
We started using this in my home a few weeks ago, and it’s incredible the effect it’s had. Getting up at six in the morning, especially at this time of year when it’s so dark outside, is not natural. But it feels a lot more natural using the Wake-Up Light.
A couple of weeks ago I mentioned Ubisoft’s Rainbow Six Siege tournament that was happening in Richmond.
Well, last week, 5G, the team representing Vancouver at the finale in Toronto won top honours, and a cheque for $5,000.
Here’s a look at the event in Vancouver.
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Last week, I told Drex how Apple has got me wearing a watch again. We also talked about Call of Duty: Black Ops 3, and a perfect video-game marriage: Trailer Park Boys and East Side Games. And we kicked off the holiday gift guide series with a tech-enabled pet feeder.
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This week, we kick off the holiday gift guide with a pet feeder, what it’s like to wear the Apple Watch, details of the new Call of Duty game, and the Trailer Park Boys make their way to mobile.
Ricky, Julian, and Bubbles are getting their own video game.
East Side Games, famous for its mobile game Pot Farm, is already working on Trailer Park Boys: The Mobile Game, with a planned release date of spring 2016.
This just seems right in so many ways.
More than ten years ago I stopped wearing a watch. At the time, I was flying a lot, and found the cross-continent trips interminable because I was looking at the time every five minutes. Those flights were all the same length, but they seemed to last forever. When I stopped wearing a watch, my time in the air never seemed so long.
Besides, if I needed to know the time, we were all starting to carry around these mobile devices.
But Apple gave me a watch to wear a few weeks ago, and I am surprised at how quickly I’ve adapted to it.
The watch provides an easy way to get notifications, which it can do with a tone and with a tap on your wrist (the technical term is haptic feedback), and it’s fun to configure the different settings (every day I’ve got a new watch face, for example).
I have to say that I’m not yet using the Apple Watch for all it can do. The truth is that it’s a new operating system with new controls, and I haven’t had time to learn how to use it. I know there’s a lot the Apple Watch can do that I’m not using it for.
And if I’m being honest, I don’t know that the Apple Watch is quite there yet. I want to be able to go for a run and leave my iPhone at home and listen to podcasts, but for now the only thing you can put on the Watch to listen to away from your iPhone is a short playlist.
But it’s not leaving my wrist anytime soon. Because there are ways I’ve been using the Apple Watch that I don’t want to lose.
For one, when you use your iPhone for navigation, while driving, for example, the Apple Watch taps you on the wrist when you’re approaching a turn, which helps to keep eyes on the road.
The notifications, too, are invaluable. I was in an all-day workshop after being away for a few days, and was able to stay tuned into what was going on outside the room without having to rudely disrupt everyone else by pulling out my iPhone to check messages. When I felt a tap on my wrist, I had only to lift my hand to see if I needed to excuse myself to respond.
And while it might be the least exciting feature of them all, my Apple Watch has become my new alarm clock. The gentle chime is sufficient to wake me without rousing the rest of the household.
Could the Apple Watch be improved? Sure. But everything can be improved. And with software and firmware updates, today’s Apple Watch will be better next month, as more developers find ways for us to use it.
Is the Apple Watch for everyone? No. The price point alone is difficult to justify unless you have plenty of disposable income or you know how it’s going to make your life better.
Apple got me wearing something on my wrist after all these years. Anything is possible.
It’s November, which means there’s less than two months until Christmas. Barely enough time to talk about all the fun gadgets and gear you can put on your wish list, or get for that special someone.
Each week from now until Dec. 22 I’ll have a suggestion or two for you.
This week, it’s the SureFeed pet feeder. This device pairs with a radio frequency identification chip embedded in a collar and only opens when the correct RFID is detected.
This keeps other pets – or your toddler – from stealing food. And it can help keep down the smell of the pet food.
The same company also has flap doors for your home that will only open for pets with the proper ID signal. Perfect for urban environments where pets run rampant, or for suburban homes where racoons might think there’s something tasty in there.
Also releasing this week, on Friday (November 6), is Call of Duty: Black Ops III, from Treyarch and published by Activision. The latest game in the franchise takes place in 2065 and features robots and super soldiers and guns and explosions and so much more.
The popular Zombies mode is back, too. Shadows of Evil is a completely unique story set in a film noir-inspired 1940s era city and featuring four archetypes: the femme fatale, the magician, the cop, and the boxer.
There’s a new look with multiplayer, with players choosing one of nine specialist characters to play, each with its own weapons and powers.
Note that the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions of Black Ops III do not include the campaign, only the multiplayer and zombie modes.
There’s a soldier in all of us.
The Mind Control Division is the intelligence arm of Blaine Kyllo's Solo Corps Creative Incorporated. This department conducts investigations and experiments into media and technology culture.