blogTO | Posts by Tim

Get to know a Toronto startup: MyTaskRunner

Tim — Fri, 18 May 2012 21:35:34 EDT

Need someone to mow the lawn? Paint the fence? Help you lift that sofa up three flights of stairs? MyTaskRunner, a web site that launched at the beginning of May, might be able to help. Headquartered in Vaughan, this new spin on Craigslist is trying to make it easier to connect qualified people looking for work ("TaskRunners") with those who need their assistance.

I recently connected with founder Albert Vaisman who filled me in on what MyTaskRunner is up to.

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Cottage rentals near Toronto

Tim — Fri, 11 May 2012 11:01:23 EDT

Cottage rentals near Toronto this summer are quickly getting snapped up as we get closer to the Victoria Day long weekend. With popular weekend water destinations within a 2-4 hour drive of the city, renting a cottage for a few days or a week each year is more feasible than you'd think, especially with web sites like Cottage Country that make finding a suitable getaway that much easier.

The latest web site to get into the cottage rentals game just launched on March 30th at the Spring Cottage Life Show in Toronto. I caught up with co-founder Adam Brind who gave me the lowdown how his site, TwoHoursNorth.com, differentiates itself from the rest.

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Hotel Tonight brings last minute hotel deals to Toronto

Tim — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 11:05:25 EDT

Hotel Tonight launched in Toronto today. The popular mobile app (available for the iPhone and Android) offers last minute one-night deals to hotels in various cities across North America. Canada marks the first country outside the US to be included in the app with deals being offered today in both Toronto and Vancouver. Participating hotels in Toronto so far are slim pickings with only The Thompson and the Cosmopolitan currently represented in the app.

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Why so secret, Templar Hotel?

Tim — Sun, 22 Apr 2012 22:04:53 EDT

The Templar Hotel is Toronto's secret boutique hotel. Have you heard? It's been around for a year and a half yet still isn't "officially" open. The owners have generally shied away from any media and haven't responded to any of our inquiries other to say they're not ready to talk about it.

Anyone who has spent some time in the Club District will likely have seen the building. It's a modern, 8-story structure on Adelaide, just west of Peter St. But good luck trying to spot anyone going in or out of the building - unless, that is, you happened to be nearby during one of their many private parties.

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Toronto through the eyes of James Chatto

Tim — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 14:15:01 EDT

James Chatto knows a lot about food. As Toronto Life's scribe for two decades, he rivaled Joanne Kates as the pre-eminent food critic in this town. After he and the magazine abruptly parted ways a couple of years back, Chatto didn't disappear from the printed page but instead started wearing many hats. He's Editor of Harry Magazine, Senior Editor at the LCBO's Food & Drink magazine, restaurant columnist for Zoomer and food and culture columnist for ROM magazine. Not busy enough? He manages to find time to work with Gold Medal Plates as National Culinary Advisor, helping put together events across Canada that raise funds for Canada's Olympic and Paralympic athletes. And in whatever free time Chatto has left he writes for his own site, jameschatto.com, where (as he puts it) he can "write exactly what I please".

Up next, Chatto will be making some public appearances talking up the new, updated version of his restaurant book and hopping across the pond to England where someone is re-publishing his 1998 ode to classic Greek Cuisine A Kitchen in Corfu. On April 23rd he'll take on the role as Master of Ceremonies at the annual Terroir Hospitality Industry Symposium at the Arcadian Court in Toronto. Here, I connected with Chatto about the event, his worst-ever Toronto meal and what restaurant trend needs to end now.

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The Spot on Queen to bring mini market to Queen West

Tim — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 10:32:17 EDT

A new mini market is slated to launch on Queen West this summer. The Spot on Queen is currently seeking vendors to fill the mezzanine level at 627 Queen West (nextdoor to the Burroughes building and the new CB2 furniture store) for a fashion and food market that will be open from June through August. They'll be sharing walk in traffic with current 627 Queen tenants including Gallery CC and Norman Felix.

Earlier this week I emailed with Spot on Queen founders "Brett and Mel" who describe themselves as fellow artisans who want to give other young artisans and entrepreneurs a chance to sell their goods to the public. They're offered prospective vendors 4-6 feet racks and tables on which to sell their wares for a three day (Fri-Sun) fee starting at $150. The market concept, of course, isn't anything new. The Arts Market is alive and well in Leslieville and the Queen West Market tried unsuccessfully to launch a similar mini marketplace a few years ago in what is now the Twist Gallery space.

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Shitter prints your tweets on toilet paper

Tim — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 09:18:59 EDT

Twitter and toilet paper together at last! For those who missed the big news yesterday, a start-up called Shitter makes it easy to turn your tweets into toilet paper. News of the product launch got plenty of play in, um, the Twitterverse in the last 24 hours, not to mention other social media and web circles. Turns out the latest and greatest invention of the must-have bathroom supply actually has a Toronto connection.

Ian Ha is a software engineer at Blu Trumpet in Toronto. He also wrote the code that makes Shitter possible. He and some friends came up with the idea last year and have been working on development since January. They all have full time jobs so it's been something they've been plugging away at during their spare time. It officially launched yesterday. For $35 (plus shipping), Shitter will send you four rolls of toilet paper with the latest tweets from any Twitter feed. Already they've received several dozen orders. I caught up with Ha late last night and asked him to fill me in on some of the finer details.

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The Toronto Tempest is Toronto's first iPad magazine

Tim — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 21:39:40 EST

Toronto has its first iPad-only magazine. On Friday, the Toronto Tempest unveiled itself to the world in tablet form, packed with theatre reviews, poetry and discussion of feminism and anti-violence in a Toronto high school. Sound high-brow enough?

I spoke with Toronto Tempest Editor and Publisher Simon Wallace earlier this week who likened his new publication to a "less boring version of the Walrus". He's aiming to bring to market a bi-monthly dose of long form journalism tackling subjects that, say, a Toronto Life would never touch. Instead of society photos and articles about upper-middle class couples spending beyond their means, the Toronto Tempest will feature short fiction and feature articles with a left-leaning political bent.

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Uber car service now available in Toronto

Tim — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 10:11:27 EST

Uber has arrived in Toronto. In a somewhat surprising move, the San Francisco-based car service has picked Toronto as its second international location. This follows earlier expansion to Paris late last year and operations in seven US cities. While there's no official word from the company, last month Toronto popped up as a secret destination on the Uber web site and tweets have been flying fast and furiously over at the Uber Toronto Twitter feed. On Sunday, they made somewhat of a splash driving VIPs and volunteers to and from the Toronto Underground Market.

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Swallow Food is Toronto's newest food web site

Tim — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 10:34:34 EST

Swallow unveiled itself last week to a throng of hungry party-goers at the Drake Hotel. Founded by veteran food writer Ivy Knight along with pastry chef (and web developer) Kristina Groeger and barfly Kerry Knight, the new web site aims to provide a new spin on local (and international) food coverage with recipes, chef interviews, restaurant reviews and wine writing. Far from a daily blog, Swallow promises updates three to five times per week and to provide a perspective that only those who work in Toronto's restaurant industry can bring to the, um, table.

I recently connected with co-founder and Editor-in-Chief Ivy Knight who gave me a rundown of what Swallow is all about.

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Is this the future of coffee loyalty cards?

Tim — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 14:28:47 EST

Coffee loyalty cards have always been a pain. Writing from personal experience, inevitably my card gets lost, ripped or disintegrates in the wash before I accumulate the ten or whatever number of stamps required to get my free latte. Some cafes like Te Aro have tried to solve this problem by keeping the cards on file, but even this isn't an ideal solution. There has to be a better way.

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New blogTO iPad and iPhone apps ready for download

Tim — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 12:49:47 EST

blogTO now has an iPad app, as well as a significantly upgraded iPhone app experience. These new apps, approved by Apple yesterday and now available for free in the iTunes app store, are the best way for mobile and tablet users to experience blogTO. In fact, both apps offer a number of useful features not yet available on this web site.

The iPhone and iPad apps share a lot of the same content and functionality but each have been designed to optimize the user experience on each device. The apps are divided into four main modules (News, Best Of, Places and Events) and are built around a new profile system that allows you to create to-do lists, check-in to stores and restaurants, rate local businesses, mark favourites, bookmark articles and events; and share all of this with your friends. Each of these features is explained below in detail using accompanying screenshots from the iPad app.

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Join blogTO on Google+

Tim — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 12:50:30 EST

blogTO is now on Google+. If you're a Google+ user make sure to add us to your Circles to view our latest updates. What can you expect from us? While we'll likely experiment a bit with the platform, our current plan is to use Google+ to provide a behind the scenes look at what we do here. You won't be finding an RSS dump or links to posts we publish on blogTO. Instead, it will be stuff you won't find on our Twitter or Facebook page. Today's sneak peek of our soon-to-be-released iPad app is an example of this.

We hope to see you over there soon.

Winston car service launches in Toronto

Tim — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 13:46:35 EST

There's a new taxi/limo option in Toronto today. Winston, a car service modeled loosely on Uber which operates in five US cities, has 20 cars in its fleet for launch with plans to add up to 50 more over the next couple of months. To use the service, all you need to do is download their free app from iTunes and create an account.

I spoke with Co-Founder and CEO Aidan Nulman earlier today about their launch. It's something they've been working on all year as a result of their affiliation with the Next 36 program. While they plan to eventually offer service to select corporate partners, Winston begins its life today as a consumer facing offering with cars able to pick up customers at the airport and between Bathurst, the DVP, Eglinton and the lake.

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AndroidTO proves there's serious buzz about Android

Tim — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 21:22:16 EDT

It was the tech event of the month on Tuesday as the Android community descended on 99 Sudbury to learn, debate and discuss all things Android. Twelve months is a long time in the tech world and this time last year the world's most widely adopted mobile platform was still playing second fiddle versus the more sexy iOS. Not any more. While iOS might still have the savvy marketing of Apple fueling its buzz (and usage), Android powered devices now account for more than half of all smartphone sales south of the border.

If there's proof in Toronto of Android's rise it's that AndroidTO drew 300% more attendees this year compared to the inaugural conference in 2010 (about 620 vs. 225). Of this, about half the tickets sold were to non-developers indicating that entrepreneurs, marketers and other business types are paying closer attention to the platform.

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