In search of the Startup of the Year, TechCo has scoured the country for the best ideas, the most qualified teams, and the most revolutionary products on the market today. And trust us, we did not disappoint, as this year’s batch of startups is poised to impress even the most critical of judges. From game-changing artificial intelligence to impressive cybersecurity, these startups will make the entrepreneurial hair on the back of your neck stand on end....

Meltdown and Spectre are two fundamental, unrelated flaws in how chipsets are designed. Though both were uncovered in the summer of 2017, the public wasn’t made aware of the issue until January 2018. Both flaws leave computing devices open to theoretical security threats — importantly, neither have been exploited by hackers, to date. Chip manufacturers (principally Intel) and computing and OS brands have been racing to apply fixes to patch the security threats....

With the new Snapdragon Wear 3100 processors finally finding their way into smartwatches, the health tech business has really started to take off for companies such as Fossil and Fitbit. Larger tech companies such as Samsung and Apple also have a keen eye on the wearables market. With 125.5 million wearables sold last year, it’s safe to say the health tech trend isn’t going anywhere. That is, of course, unless you’re Microsoft....

Since the start of the pandemic, business resources like Microsoft Teams have been updated and improved at break-neck speeds in service of making life easier for all the newly remote employees around the world. Microsoft Teams is arguably the most update out there, adding a wide range of new features on a regular basis. Now, you can add another extremely helpful feature to the pile, with live translated captions arriving to Microsoft Teams to facilitate more communication across teams....

That’s virtually all of Libra’s payment service members gone, all in the space of a single weekend, and what’s worse, a G7 report has just dropped outlining the severe risks of cryptocurrencies as a whole. What led to the mass exodus, what’s next for Facebook ahead of Libra’s planned 2020 launch, and is this all really as dramatic as it seems? The G7 Report A new G7 report just issued a warning against the type of currency Facebook is trying to launch, outlining a series of risks that digital currencies pose to the global economy....

The IT Boom Canada’s IT industry is seeing some serious growth. The demand for IT professionals is rising while industry salaries are increasing along with it. This is because the law of supply and demand works the same in Canada as it does everywhere else. That is what is happening for people with ‘third platform’ skills like mobile technology, big data with analytical skills, the Internet of Things, social media, the Cloud, and DevOps....

According to a recent NASA study, people find the buzzing sound that drones make to be notably more annoying than that of cars or trucks, even when they’re at the same volume. While the researchers originally believed the difference would be minimal, the results proved that people were not going to put up with drones flying around everywhere in the same way they are with cars and trucks. This far from spells doom for drones, but it certainly doesn’t help....

Here are the most interesting takeaways from a study by tech job network Paysa on the subject. Netflix Pays Ten Times More Than the Next Corporation Netflix is head and shoulders above the competition when it comes to this category: They’ll shell out way more money to attract the employees they need. The average increase in salary offered by the streaming service is $198,360 — a 166.6 percent increase over employees’ previous positions....

The timing, as many are happy to blindly point out, is nothing if not suspicious. After all, both the coronavirus outbreak and the rollout of 5G networks occurred at approximately the same time, and both have direct ties to Wuhan, China, right? However, if you’re basing an aggressively misinformed conspiracy theory on a mere coincidence rather than the opinions of medical experts, technology authorities, and reputable organizations, well, we don’t really know what to do other than explain to you the facts....

Now, more than ever before, we are only a few clicks away from initiating a conversation. Yet there’s more to it all than standards like Gmail or Facebook Messenger. Whether you’re a business owner looking to make interoffice communication more efficient or simply want better ways to interact with friends and colleagues online, there are plenty of offbeat tools out there that you can utilize. What do I mean by offbeat?...

One of the common challenges facing universities is receiving student inquiries that are difficult to validate or are fraudulent. The current system is unfriendly to universities and customers alike, because unscrupulous companies defraud colleges through providing false leads while stealing personal data from prospective students. According to one of the founders of Performance Demand Marketing, Justin Smith, fraud is estimated to be 10 to 17 percent of a $5 billion dollar student inquiry market....

PetPlate is the New York-based startup that is making gourmet pet meals a reality. Considered the Blue Apron of dog food by many, this company and its founder, Renaldo Webb, believe that ingredients are the key to a high quality dish. Webb is aiming to completely change the pet food industry with this move. Not only are they providing quality ingredients in gourmet meals for dogs, they’re also delivering them to your front door in containers that would make Cheesecake Factory look like an actual factory....

Why are they called trolls? Well, because like the troll under the bridge in the Three Billy Goats Gruff, you have to pay them a fee to cross the bridge to the other side and be free to sell your products or engage in other activities they accuse of infringing their IP. Some people prefer to use the term non-practicing entity (NPE) instead. The idea is the same: they haven’t commercialized a technology or created an original copyrighted work, but they extract a fee from others who do....

Purchases that expose weakness or demonstrate fallibility are no big deal to some people, but many consumers feel uncomfortable highlighting their weaknesses, and that uneasiness can cause them to avoid the purchases they need most. This can create one of the most difficult sales challenges for a company. That being said, you can’t expect your potential customers to purchase your service simply because they need it. Unfortunately, what’s best doesn’t always matter when people make purchase decisions....

To say Salesforce is a powerhouse in the CRM business would be a dire understatement. The company represents nearly 20% of CRM market share, making it bigger than its next four competitors combined. Now, with the power of Slack behind it, businesses will be able to truly ramp up productivity to reach their professional goals, no matter how aspirational they might be. Now, a mere month later, Salesforce has already begun integrating the popular messaging platform into its even more popular CRM platform, creating an all-in-one hub for any business looking to improve productivity and organize daily processes....

The event is normally accompanied by huge amounts of hype and speculation (as well as a load of leaks). And this year, of course, was no different, with a full line up leak of the new S21 phones hours ahead of the official launch. Still, the new S21, S21 Plus, and S21 Ultra models look set to be some of the most impressive phones of the year — though the latter has some, shall we say, interesting design details....

To say the least, it was a smashing success. In fact, this year’s event was heralded as one of the largest and most robust SDSW events to date. A big part of that success was due to the strong cohort of sponsors and partners that helped make the event epic: The Port of San Diego, Holonis, Zeeto Media, Ashford University, The Irvine Company, Ideator, and The City of San Diego....

Thus, Sawbuck was born. But first, about that name: Back in frontier times, a sawbuck was another name for a sawhorse, which then became slang for a $10 bill. Homes + money = Sawbuck. Pretty clever. Sawbuck’s brand new app, HomeSnap, goes way beyond moving “home search” to a smaller screen to answer “What’s the deal with THIS HOME right in front of me?” You might not even know the name of the street, but if you snap a picture, the app will tell you all about that house....

As social media activity has engulfed consumers’ online activities over the last few years, brands have engaged in a race to claim their place within this social experience. The path for brands has been a well-documented rocky one, as we have all embarked on a path to figure out the best ways to engage, deliver content and keep consumers interested in our brands within this social space. What can brands, businesses and individuals do to push the limits of Facebook and Twitter beyond wall posts and tweets?...

In fact, I don’t think fall lasts long enough. That’s because the NFL season seems to start and end with the blink of an eye, and with it goes one of the most fun aspects of the year: fantasy football. We’ll see the Atlanta Falcons on Hard Knocks (although it should have been the Rams) and news coverage about how Peyton will redeem himself from last year’s super bowl, but most importantly we’ll draft a season winning fantasy team (after all, how many years can you lose in a row?...