Tech
Your Guide to the Toronto Tech Scene: What’s Happening and Why Now?
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Toronto is known for many things: its scrappy sports teams and questionable mayors, its sprawling film studios and robust financial sector. But there’s another side to the city – one that’s beginning to see some global recognition. Toronto is also, as the New York Times aptly puts it, “A quietly booming tech town.”
It’s not so far-fetched when you look at the hard facts. Toronto is the perfect storm of favourable circumstances for a tech revolution, and it’s home to some of the world’s leading disruptors and thought leaders.
In this article, let’s take a deeper dive into the Big Smoke’s burgeoning tech scene: how did it come about, and who are the central players?
Why Toronto? Why Now?
As with most burgeoning intellectual and creative scenes, Toronto’s tech scene owes its success to a confluence of favourable circumstances and inherent civic characteristics. You can point to the following as reasons for Toronto’s ascending star in the tech world:
- Open Immigration Policies: Toronto is among the most diverse cities in the world, attracting intellectual talent from all corners of the globe. While other countries and cities experience “brain drains,” Toronto is the benefactor of those drains, the meeting point for forward-thinking tech workers.
- Universities: UofT, Ryerson (read: Toronto Metropolitan), and Waterloo are renowned for their technology programs, receiving and generating talented tech thinkers.
- Centrality: Toronto is in a uniquely advantageous geographical and political position, near big tech cities like New York and Chicago, and the largest city in Canada.
- Big Tech Offices: Call it “precedent” or “leadership.” As more big tech companies (like Google, Apple and Shopify) opened offices in Toronto, the city carved out a name for itself in tech.
- The “Something in the Water” Effect: Lastly, you can’t discount that there might just be something in the water, some magic quality that makes residents particularly adept at all things digital and disruptive.
What’s Happening? A Short Guide to Disruptors and Thought Leaders
As an overview of tech disruption in Toronto, let’s focus on three industries: real estate, healthcare and education.
In real estate, you have Regan McGee – disruptor, thought leader and founder of Nobul, a real estate digital marketplace. McGee’s Nobul transformed the industry by giving power to consumers for the first time ever, leveraging a proptech platform and AI-powered algorithm to match agents to buyers/sellers. As McGee puts it to Toronto Life, “We’ve massively simplified the whole process… People think buying and selling real estate is complicated, but that’s a way for agents to justify their fees.”
In healthcare, Toronto is home to Kamran Khan, founder of BlueDot. The company made headlines recently as the first company in the world to identify the emerging risk from COVID-19 through advanced data analytics. His data-driven approach is challenging the traditional “top down policy process of governments” in dealing with crises.
Finally, Mike Silagadze and Mohsen Shahini are shaking up education with their company, Top Hat. The pair founded Top Hat to increase student engagement through dynamic, interactive software. The mission statement was simple: provide a better alternative to outmoded, rudimentary curriculum planning tools in an effort to reach a new generation of learners.
Toronto may never reach the size or exulted status of Silicon Valley, but its thinkers, innovators and tech-friendly environment are every bit as first-rate. It will be exciting to see what the city’s disruptors and thought leaders dream up next.
Tech
Venerable Video App Plex Emerges As FAST Favorite – Forbes
With cord cutters and streamers becoming more selective about where they invest their subscription dollars and the costs of premium services like Netflix
NFLX
rising, FAST (Free Ad-Supported TV) services that offer thick bundles of niche channels and vintage content are on the rise with consumers. One of the more interesting contenders is Plex, a privately-held company that started in the late aughts as an app to help video enthusiasts organize and share their home libraries. Plex expanded into the FAST space in 2018, and today announced it has surpassed a thousand channels (1112, in fact, including a just-announced NFL Channel) in its free-to-stream lineup, making it one of the largest inventories in the market.
The rising popularity of the FAST model, which also appeals to advertisers looking to combine the sizzle of a 30-second spot with the data targeting of an online platform, has drawn a lot of players into the space, each with its own spin on a service that can appear very similar to viewers. After all, how many channels of British murder mysteries, 2000s-era prestige shows and Hallmark tearjerkers can providers squeeze through a fiberoptic cable before viewers cease to care exactly where it’s coming from?
The companies that emerge on top need to deliver a unique and special experience for consumers, combined with a strong value proposition for advertisers. Each big player comes with its own advantages: Roku’s OTT experience, Tubi’s origins as an ad-tech platform, Samsung and LG’s ownership of the TV interface, Amazon
AMZN
Prime’s connection to consumers, and so on. Plex’s edge, according to the company’s executives, is its community.
“We began as a personal media management software,” said Plex CEO Keith Valory, who joined the company in 2012 at the invitation of co-founder and current chief product officer Scott Olechowski. “Eventually, we thought that the more interesting problem to solve over time is media chaos. People shouldn’t have to go to 20 different apps to get the content they want.”
Valory says Plex had grown a fanbase of hardcore videophiles who use the product to keep track of extensive media libraries. These enthusiasts pushed the company to develop rich capabilities around content management, discovery, recommendations, reviews and shareability, which turn out to be important differentiators when viewers are faced with thousands of choices.
Valory says he and Olechowski began building the framework for the AVOD (ad-supported video on demand) strategy in 2017, doing business development deals with studios and building relationships. They launched the service in 2019, just in time to benefit from the COVID streaming boom. “We launched our FAST channels and continued to accelerate the business,” he said. Over time, Plex has added live content, sports and hyperlocal channels to the service, which is available in over 180 countries worldwide, offered through the familiar Plex interface.
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According to Gavin Bridge, VP of Media Research for CPG Global and a FAST-focused analyst who tracks the number of FAST channels in the United States via his monthly FASTMaster report, there were more than 1,963 FAST channels in the U.S. alone as of March 2024. Currently, Plex accounts for 847 of them, and it’s growing every day.
Building click-appeal for viewers is one part of the FAST equation, but the other critical component is serving that audience up to advertisers in the narrowest, most targeted slices possible. Every FAST platform has its own proprietary algorithms for targeting and programmatic placement of the right spots to the right viewers, based on what it knows about its audience’s behavior and proclivities. Sponsors need to weigh that when deciding how to allocate their media dollars.
Valory says Plex’s edge comes from its data. “We’re very open about and transparent about sharing data with both our content partners and our advertising partners within privacy limits,” he said. “But we also have a different, more affluent set of users because they’re coming in to manage a number of their subscriptions and whatnot. We can identify them in aggregate [preserving privacy] and essentially create high-end profiles of what users are watching across every device, every country and every service.”
Because of its unique heritage, Plex has data that no one else has, relating to user behavior behind the firewall in consuming their owned video content. Valory says that many users opt in to sharing this data to improve recommendations and relevance. “We have an opportunity to help advertisers target those users on other platforms like TikTok or Facebook,” Valory said.
The company has also invested in its ad delivery capabilities. “We’re making sure we’ve optimized our ability to stay in the programmatic market, to the point that our programmatic auctions are vastly outperforming our direct sales,” said Todd Hay, VP of Revenue and Engagement for Plex. “The next step was to enrich what that inventory looks like. Advertisers like having that visibility for brand safety.”
Hay says the company uses its detailed data about viewer behavior to help micro-target in-stream trailers, native advertising, sponsored hubs, and opportunities to insert content into a viewer’s watch list with a one-click popup. He says this helps brands target consumers by their affinities: for example, correlating cruise ads to food programming because of the high correlation between those viewers and that product.
The frequency, duration and interruptive nature of these spots – even if they are highly targeted and relevant – has irritated some users, including many in the hardcore Plex fan community, who look askance at the company’s shift in focus away from their beloved media app and toward the streaming market. Many have asked for a premium ad-free paid tier, but that is precluded by FAST content distribution and licensing agreements, according to the company.
Valory acknowledges the concerns of the community. “We love our superfans and their needs are very important,” he said. “I think many of them understand that, realistically, for us to grow and thrive, we can’t just be a personal media server running at home. But at the same time, the largest development team in the company still services the personal media product even though it is not the largest revenue business, and we’re only able to do that because of all the other things we’re doing.
“People will say oh, that’s just the CEO giving a political answer, but I assure you, we talk about this all the time internally, and some of the biggest superfans and loudest users of the product are the people who work here.”
Valory said that Plex, which currently does not disclose financial information, generates roughly 20 percent of its revenues from member subscriptions, which unlock premium capabilities of its media platform, compared to 80 percent from the ad business.
Moving forward, Valory says the company sees opportunities in bundling paid subscription models, using Plex’s detailed knowledge of user tastes and behavior. “Some services are paying insane amounts on user acquisition,” said Valery. “I think our better opportunity is to help other subscriptions bundle and create discounts for end users. We don’t need to take a dime of that; we will make our money on advertising and helping people get the content they want.”
The shakeout of premium SVOD services is just getting underway, and the FAST/AVOD market, with its range of players and distinct value propositions, makes it a difficult environment for advertisers, investors and consumers to place their bets. But whatever the future of streaming holds, Plex is betting that the best strategy is to build out from the center
.
Tech
New Realme Narzo 70 series phone coming soon, teasers promise faster charging, lag-free performance – gizmochina
Realme recently launched the Narzo 70 Pro 5G smartphone in India, featuring an appealing design and the Dimensity 7050 chip. The brand has teased the release of a new Narzo phone through its X handle, suggesting it could be another addition to the Narzo 70 series.
New Narzo 70 series phone teased
The above teaser reveals that the upcoming Narzo phone will provide a lag-free experience. The other teaser suggests that the device will arrive with fast charging support. It states that a few minutes of charging will allow it to run for a couple of hours.
The Narzo 70 Pro packs a 5,000mAh battery with 67W fast charging. It is unclear whether the upcoming phone will offer faster charging capabilities than the Narzo 70 Pro. It is advisable to wait for further teasers to confirm the phone’s moniker.
To recall, the Realme Narzo 70 Pro 5G features a 6.7-inch FHD+ 120Hz AMOLED display with a peak brightness of 2000nits. Powered by the Dimensity 7050 chip, it comes with LPDDR4x RAM and UFS 3.1 storage for smooth performance. It packs a 5000mAh battery and 67W fast charging support.
On the front, the device features a 16-megapixel selfie camera. Its back panel has a 50-megapixel Sony IMX890 primary camera with OIS support, an 8-megapixel ultra-wide lens, and a 2-megapixel macro camera. The phone runs on Realme UI 5-based Android 14.
The Narzo 70 Pro offers other features, such as an IP54-rated chassis, an in-display fingerprint scanner, rainwater smart touch technology, dual speakers, a 3D VC cooling system, and 8GB virtual RAM.
In terms of pricing, the 8GB+128GB variant of the Narzo 70 Pro retails at Rs 17,999 (~$215). On the other hand, the 8GB+256GB variant costs Rs 21,999 (~$265). It comes in Glass Green and Glass Gold shades.
RELATED:
Tech
iPhone 15 Pro Desperado Mafia model launched at over ₹6.5 lakh- All details about this luxury iPhone from Caviar – HT Tech
Would you like to buy an exclusive iPhone 15 Pro which costs more than Rs.6.5 lakhs? Well, a Dubai-based luxury brand named Caviar launched the high-end version of the iPhone 15 Pro which is inspired by popular mafia movies. The new iPhone 15 Pro model comes under “Desperado Mafia” which has three unique designs which may grab your attention but the price point may shock many buyers. Know more about this exclusive iPhone 15 Pro collection.
iPhone 15 Pro Desperado Mafia collection
The Desperado Mafia comes with three custom iPhone 15 Pro designs which include Godfather, Revenge, and Capone. All the variants are based on mafia movies and feature black titanium, gold accents, quotes and symbols to make it look attractive.
Also read: iPhone 15 vs Samsung Galaxy S24
Not sure which
mobile to buy?
The Godfather model of iPhone 15 Pro features a quote from the film which says, “It’s not personal, it’s just business.” Caviar said it is “Designed for lovers of gangster movies and masculinity, “Godfather” emphasises your manliness and taste.”
The Revenge variant is inspired by the famous Netflix series “Peaky Blinders.” This model features a skull cleaved by a blade which represents struggle and strength. Lastly, the Capone model is inspired by “The Untouchables” and features a quote saying “Never stop fighting until the fight is done.” This quote highlights the “symbol of courage, urging you to overcome challenges and never give up.”
Also read: Apple to make the iPhone 16 Pro models ‘colourful’ using tech from iPhone 15
iPhone 15 Pro Desperado Mafia collection price
The 128GB iPhone 15 Pro under the Desperado Mafia collection starts at $8060 for the “Capone” model. Whereas, the iPhone 15 Pro Max Revenege will be priced at $10270 for the 1TB storage variant.
Additionally, caviar is also offering exclusive packaging for the Desperado Mafia collection of iPhone 15 Pro. On the outside of the box, you’ll see the company logo and name in gold. Once you open the box, you’ll see “Caviar Royal Gift” written inside with the new iPhone 15 Pro.
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