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.

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.

GO Transit has joined the mobile game with launch of their official smartphone app, GO Mobile. The product of a partnership between Ryerson University and the transit provider, the app was designed by six of the school's students and one recent grad in the Digital Media Zone, a start-up incubator out of which a lot of exciting stuff has been coming of late.

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.

Toronto entrepreneurs, marketers and other business-types looking to do a little learning and to get in some crucial networking time can look forward to a range of events over the next few weeks. Here are three events not to miss.

StartmeUp Ryerson
Sleeman Breweries may have lost its indie cred when it was bought by Japanese giant Sapporo back in 2006, but there's still no denying that founder John Sleeman remains one of the most recognizable brewery honchos of this generation. A fixture on radio commercials during the last decade, Sleeman will be speaking at this Ryerson sponsored conference on November 15th, taking place at the Ted Rogers School of Management. Tickets are only $5, less than a price of a pint of Sleeman at most local establishments.

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.