Tag Archives: Featured

Featured

Daily Planet hosts pick their top tech toys of 2015

It’s one of the most anticipated weeks of the year for Daily Planet fans and it returns next week. “High-Tech Toys” week, airing next Monday to Friday, spotlights the outrageous, mind-blowing and exciting gadgets and gear of the year.

And while items like the Gotham Golf Cart, Flying R2-D2 and Mannen Caravan certainly look cool—and are shown next week—we decided to get Daily Planet‘s co-hosts, Ziya Tong and Dan Riskin, to give us their Top 5 picks for High-Tech toys they’d love to see under their Christmas trees.

Ziya

 

Ziya Tong

Aira – For me, this sounds like a dream: a sweatshirt that gives you a soothing massage. Developed by a team out of Singapore, the idea behind Aira clothes is to have a massage therapist on-the-go with you. It comes with a smartphone app that controls small air-pressure units sewn into the back. So if you’re travelling and sitting for a long time, or just getting achy sitting at your office desk, this is the perfect one-click pick me up.

Zombie222 – Ask anyone at work and they’ll tell you that I’ve always wanted a ’68 Camaro, but being an environmentalist, this has not been an option—until now! We’re featuring a team that takes classic muscle cars and turns them into lean, green, electric machines. The Zombie222 is actually a ’68 Mustang, and this thing is fast. It goes 0-60 in 1.79 seconds!

Volvorii smart shoe – Move over Imelda Marcos, these new digital shoes will save you money and closet space, because they are multiple shoes in one. Designed with electronic ink technology, the shoes change colour and patterns to match your outfits. It’s kind of like wearing a chameleon on your feet. iShuu Technologies, the company behind the heels actually won the Louis Vuitton Prize for the design.

Triton subs – This is one high-tech toy that is seriously out of this world, and at a few million bucks a pop, well beyond most people’s price ranges. But if you’ve ever dreamed of being Jacques Cousteau and exploring the underwater world, this is the best way to do it. Triton subs fit three people inside and you’re surrounded by a glass bubble so it’s a 360 view. The deepest ones go down 36,000 ft! You can descend into an alien universe in just a couple of hours.

X2 Underwater jetpack – For the underwater adventurer, here’s something that’s a whole lot more affordable: the X2 underwater jetpack. Essentially it’s a system of high-powered thrusters that you wear on each arm. As a scuba diver, I love this because quite often when you’re swimming with sharks or dolphins, they are so much faster than human swimmers. Perhaps with these babies on I could catch up, and who doesn’t want to feel like Aquaman, or rather, Aquawoman. ;)

Dan

 

Dan Riskin

The toy industry is a major driver of technology. I mean, just consider the link between video games and computer processor speeds. So High-Tech Toys is a great way to not only see what the fun gadgets are this year, but to glimpse where tech is headed in general. Here’s my list of five toys it’s hard not to be excited about.

Thor Hammer – This is actually a one-of-a-kind piece built by Allen Pan in California. You know in the movies how only Thor can lift his hammer, Mjolnir? Well, Allen has made that happen by putting huge batteries, an electromagnet and a fingerprint reader into a Mjolnir just for him. So long as its placed on metal, it won’t release until his fingerprint is scanned. That means any other hero can lift with all their might, and never pick it up, while Allen can swing it around like Thor himself.

My very own Death Star – There’s a 3.2m Death Star sitting in Lafayette California that I should also have. It lights up and everything. It was built by a nerdy dad by hand out of electrical conduit pipe. It took a 70-foot crane to put it up. He did it for Halloween originally, but now that it’s up, why not leave it for Xmas, right? Anyway. I need that at my house. Then my neighbours can put up an Alderaan and we can see what happens.

Rumour has it we’ll have a couple of Inmotion V3 Electric Unicycles in the studio. I haven’t gotten on one yet, and there’s good reason to think I’ll break a leg trying to ride one, but there’s something about dangerous things that draws me in. Besides, if I master this thing, I’ll be able to ride it around the office. Just imagine the improved productivity. I can channel my inner “guy from the BC Comics,” and zip around all High Tech Toys Week. (That, or I’ll be on crutches).

There’s also Avalanche Project, a snow-mountain-bike with two side-by-side skis in the front and a tread on the back wheel, like a tank. It’s actually a prototype built by some students at L’Université de Sherbrooke. The genius behind this is that the front skis vary from parallel to snow-plow as a braking mechanism.

And I guess my fifth would be the R2-D2 drone, which flies just like R2 did in the prequel trilogy. This was built by the same guy who last year built a flying witch-on-a-broomstick (with my co-host Ziya’s face on it, of all things). Our video about that went viral on Facebook with tens of millions of views. I have a feeling flying R2 might hit a similar chord this year.

Daily Planet‘s “High-Tech Toys” Week airs next Monday-Friday at 7 p.m. ET on Discovery Canada.

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedinmail
Featured, Industry News

The Road to Discoverability

12 Comments

Is there a road, a path, dare I say it, an information highway to discoverability?  With a multitude of channels and platforms, how can producers and broadcasters make sure that audiences can find their program and that audience members can find the programs they want?  The CRTC is trying to figure this out with their Discoverability Summit to be held next May in Toronto.  The first of two lead up events happened yesterday in Vancouver (the second, in French in Montreal, happens December 3, 2015).  “En Route to the Discoverability Summit:  Content in the Age of Abundance” was live streamed for those who couldn’t get out to Vancouver or hadn’t known about it.  I livestreamed it and I’m going to share my overall thoughts with you.

Tony Chapman, marketing expert and frequent speaker, gave the keynote.  As you would expect from a marketing guy, the talk was all about the power of brands and a shift from brands going through broadcasters to the consumers, to going directly.  Gary Maavara of Corus asked Chapman for specific advice for broadcasters.  He said Corus should delete one of their U.S. programs, take the money and commission three programs from teams of Canadian producers and brands.  The brands would then distribute the programs globally.  To me, that sounds like the brands are the owners and the producers are service producers.  That would not be good for the independent production sector.  I don’t see the upside for broadcasters in doing that either, unless they had a share in the global revenues.  And I’m not sure what that would mean for the content, if it became a glorified product sales tool.  There are good examples of branded content (i.e. “Carmilla” and Kotex) but being limited to product promotion does tend to stifle creativity.

That conversation set the theme for the session as the roundtable (Sara Diamond of OCAD, Tessa Sproule of Vubble, Ling Lin from YouTube Canada, Nathan Wiszniak of Spotify, Ashkan Karbasfrooshan of WatchMojo and Moyra Rodger of Magnify Digital) also spent a lot of time talking about the disintermediation of the content supply chain (to use marketing-speak). The new paradigm is apparently the content producer (either funded by brands or a self-funded YouTube creator) reaching the consumer directly.

However, there were no answers to the question of the day, which is how will consumers find the content that they want in this new universe?  It was clear that everyone is struggling with this problem but there were no new solutions presented (sorry but ‘transmedia’ and ‘gamification’ are not new ideas, particularly when the terms are misused).  I’ve been saying to anyone who will listen that I want a site or an app that will tell me where to find the programs that I want, whether they are on broadcast or iTunes or Shomi or CraveTV or Netflix.  I am tired of bingeing a show on one platform only to find myself a season behind and not know where to find the next season.  Apparently there’s a word for what I’m looking for – universal search.  We have all agreed that it is needed but no one has yet figured out how to do it.

I found it very odd that the CRTC would host a session that said that the future of content was going to bypass the broadcasters.  Based on the responses from Bell Media in the Q and A I think they were too.  They see themselves and their brand as a necessary filter or guide in the very crowded content universe and until I get my universal search app I think that’s going to be true.

We should hear details on the next stage in this process, the Discoverability Summit, in the coming weeks.  We’ve been promised a unique and international event.  Stay tuned.

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedinmail
Bachelorette Canada, Featured

The Bachelorette Canada looks for love … and eligible fellows

At long last, The Bachelorette Canada will be a reality. After two go-rounds of The Bachelor Canada with Brad Smith and Tim Warmels, it’s time for a lass to seek love out of 20 available men. And after two seasons airing on City, the franchise jumps to Corus’ W Network; a much better fit for the reality program.

“This is a show that the W Network had been hoping to bring to their service for a long time and we’re thrilled,” says Claire Freeland, executive producer and owner of Good Human Productions, Inc., the folks behind the Canadian franchise. “It’s long overdue and we’re excited for Canada to see all of the eligible men from across the country.” Those men will be chosen from an open casting call taking place online now and during an upcoming cross-country tour set for January.

As for who the Bachelorette will be, Freeland is keeping that—and the locations the production will visit—under wraps for now, though she revealed cameras roll in Vancouver in March before jetting to national and international locations and wrapping in May. Those locations, Freeland explains, are chosen dependant on being a short flight or drive away in order to maximize different scenarios—beach days, high-adrenaline dates and romantic interludes—and are interested in having the franchise film there. (Bachelor Canada host Tyler Harcott has moved on to other projects and a new host will be named soon.)

And, like the locations they choose, Freeland has a checklist for dudes looking to participate in The Bachelorette Canada.

“We want to get guys from across the country who are at a life stage where they’re prepared to get engaged or settle down with someone,” she says. “We’re looking for guys who are prepared to be open with us. You have to be willing to share and be expressive, prepared to go through this process and experience the adventure of travelling around the world on this quest for love.”

And, one assumes, there for the right reasons.

The Bachelorette Canada will air on W Network next fall.

 

Are you someone, or do you know someone, who is looking for love and want to participate in The Bachelorette Canada? Head to W Network’s website to apply or nominate a buddy.

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedinmail
Cardinal, Featured, Houdini & Doyle, Podcast, Schitt's Creek

TV, eh? podcast episode 194 – Fighting My Cats for the Friskies

Diane, Anthony and Greg look at the results of our year-end Favourite Canadian TV Shows of 2015 poll so far (cast your votes here), followed by a look at some of the shows ending their seasons and series in December.

After a side-conversation about our favourite holiday TV shows and films, we get back on track and cover the casting news surrounding Cardinal, some cool guest casting in Season 2 of Schitt’s Creek and co-production Houdini & Doyle filming their final two Season 1 episodes in Southern Ontario.

Want to contribute to the discussion? Post links and discussion topics on our Reddit page.

Listen or download below, or subscribe via iTunes or any other podcast catcher with the TV, eh? podcast feed.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedinmail
Featured, Schitt's Creek

Schitt’s Creek expands in Season 2

2 Comments

One of the big surprises in Season 1 of Schitt’s Creek were the relationships. Far from being a formulaic comedy series hitting viewers with a rat-a-tat-tat of jokes, Dan Levy’s co-creation showed real heart among its characters … when they weren’t caught in cringe-inducing situations.

By the end of the rookie go-round, David Rose (Dan Levy) was speeding out of town in a stolen truck after breaking up with Stevie Budd (Emily Hampshire) and Alexis Rose (Annie Murphy) was trying to decide which man she wanted to be with: stoic, stable Ted (Dustin Milligan) or rough and tumble Mutt (Tim Rozon). Johnny Rose (Eugene Levy) and Moira (Catherine O’Hara), meanwhile, were plotting to get the family out of Schitt’s Creek. When Season 2 returns to CBC in January with two back-to-back episodes, three days have elapsed since David disappeared and Alexis decides to cut Ted loose.

“Ted returns a changed man after going on a honeymoon by himself,” Dan says with a smile while O’Hara cackles with glee. “Ted goes away to a sunny resort and learns a lot about himself.” The same is true of the other major characters; Johnny is plans to sell Schitt’s Creek but opens up an office in the meantime, Moira attempts to inject the town with some sophistication and David goes looking for a job. Now that the writers’ room members know more about the characters, they can interplay and explore other parts of the town.

“We definitely went into this season saying, ‘OK, let’s go with some different pairings,'” Dan says. “We see a really lovely episode between Moira and Alexis halfway through the season.”

“They wrote a great story,” O’Hara says. “Alexis gets sick and Moira doesn’t know how to mother her. There was always someone there to take care of Alexis when she was growing up. These are new experiences for Moira.” O’Hara is quick to point out Moira is forced into these mothering situations; there is no forethought or plan to make her a better mom. Or cook, as illustrated in Episode 2 of Season 2, when Moira’s attempt to re-create a Mexican dish from her own mom’s recipe turns into a fiasco in Jocelyn’s (Jennifer Robertson) kitchen.

David, meanwhile, goes on a job hunt, which leads to the introduction of a new character played by former Saturday Night Live and SCTV actress Robin Duke.

“David gets a job at a clothing store and she plays Wendy, the manager of the store,” he teases. “The store is struggling, so she is balancing the reality of an unstable business with having hired David, who wants to redo the whole store. His ideas are not coming from a business mind.” Also on tap? More Twyla (Sarah Levy), thanks to a group activity that starts happening in the town.

“Again, this was a way of showing our characters in different lights and providing a different through-line that was outside of the areas we’ve associated them with.”

Schitt’s Creek returns Tuesday, Jan. 12, at 9 p.m. on CBC.

Plus: Vote for Schitt’s Creek for Favourite Canadian TV Series of 2015.

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedinmail