We Are Q Inc.

Crossmedia Toronto will take place on February 21st, 2013 at the Toronto Reference Library. It’s a 1-day conference with a twist: twenty-six leaders in technology, mobile, gaming, and music present 7-minute demos throughout the day. The day is jam-packed. It will be hard to walk away empty handed with the proposed line-up of international demo-ers. [...]

nextMEDIA Toronto is happening week, Monday and Tuesday, December 3rd and 4th at the Carlu (Younge & College). This annual mini-conference is a great one-stop shop to connect with executives working in the Canadian digital market. Attendees are a mostly decision makers of the content creator, media buyer and publisher elk. Day 1, Monday, December [...]

Yesterday, I watched Felix Baumgartner prepare his checklist, detach his oxygen, move his chair back, open the capsule, stand up and jump out into outer space. As I witnessed this moment in history, live on my iPad, I thought about the incredible level of technology, talent and team work that goes into making something like [...]

Is anything really original? Do we build on each other’s ideas and in so doing innovate and riff on each other’s creations? In this great video, Kirby Ferguson explains in 15 minutes what can take hours to understand. Recently the vagueness of software patents is causing upheaval among some of the world’s biggest technology companies, [...]

Most people instinctively avoid conflict, but as Margaret Heffernan shows us, good disagreement is central to the creative progress. She illustrates (sometimes counterintuitively) how the best partners aren’t echo chambers – and how creative teams allow people to deeply disagree. By creating some level of conflict in collaboration, in fact thinking is created. Because we [...]

3D printing is incredible, mind-blowing even! Does this mean, manufacturing can one day be a DIY endeavour? The answer is Yes. Here the designer prints a number of small and giant wrenches from a CAD design to workable wrench, complete with moving pieces. The wrenches are printed in the toughness and rigidity of commercial grade [...]

Brainstorming as we know it – is the harvesting of ideas (good and bad) through a non-threatening, non-critical dump of ideas by a group. Right? In the early 50′s, Alex Osborn of BBDO popularized Brainstorming in his surprise best selling book Your Creative Power. His ideas have permeated popular culture and even given rise to institutions like [...]

I’m excited to be moderating the Social Commerce panel at nextMEDIA conference in Toronto, December 6th, 2011. Post your questions to @marinamann We have a superb panel line up and what promises to be a heated discussion on social commerce including a few case studies, insights and strong opinions. Social Commerce, The New Normal Influence Economy  [...]