Top ten stories of 2013

I hesitate to even make a list, because it leaves too many people out and fails to mention other important stories. But I thought it would be fun, since this is the time of year to look back and reflect. I’ll write a proper review post before year end like 2011 and 2012.

But for now, in no particular order, here goes my take on the top 10 stories of 2013 in the growing Hamilton-area software industry:

 

WPTouch Pro 3 launches

The WPTouch WordPress plugin created by BraveNewCode (@BraveNewCode) is used by millions to produce mobile-friendly versions of WordPress websites, including some pretty high profile users like CNN Tech Fortune. In 2013 the BraveNewCode team launched WPTouch 3 and paid version WPTouch Pro 3, showing us all again that you can make a great globally-used software product in Hamilton. As I write this article now the plug-in is sitting at 8th (edit: now 6th) on the “most popular” WordPress plug-in listing. Incredible.

 

 

McMaster outreach program obtains NSERC PromoScience funding

While McMaster University’s Computing & Software department has had an active outreach program for several years now led by Christopher Anand, in 2013 it obtained NSERC PromoScience funding for the first time ever. This new funding allowed the program to greatly expand its reach… 1500-2000 Hamilton-area children this year alone. Elementary school classes in the grade 6-8 range were bussed onto campus where they took part in fun workshops aimed at increasing their interest in computer science.

As a disclaimer, I’m biased as I was involved in the early stages of this program in the summer of 2010. It’s been wonderful to see what it has grown into with the help of this new funding.

I would note in particular that the program has always been focused on getting underrepresented groups interested in studying computer science, especially women, and the activities have always been designed with these goals in mind. The program targets students in the grade 6-8 range by design, as this is when career directions are forming. The outreach program at McMaster University isn’t just doing a great thing for the long term benefit of the community, it’s doing it the right way too.

 

 

Nix Color Sensor successfully crowdfunds $70k

Founded by McMaster students and alumni Matthew Sheridan, Andy Li and James Strack, Nix Color Sensor (@NixSensor) is a smartphone accessory that allows users to tap the device on objects to obtain the object’s colour. The team was able to successfully crowdfund $70k to help turn the concept into reality!

 

 

WordCamp comes to Hamilton

WordCamps are a series of conferences that take place around the world focusing on WordPress. Everything from using WordPress more effectively to developing plug-ins for WordPress. Given the popularity of WordPress in Hamilton and the importance of the platform more broadly speaking, it was wonderful to see WordCamp come to Hamilton in 2013. The inaugural event was a smashing success that brought in over 100 attendees to listen to a day long line-up of WordPress oriented talks.

 

 

Woof app hits 20k users in 2 weeks

Woof (@mydogwoofs) was co-founded by McMaster students David Elsonbaty and Adrian Domanico along with Dan Seider, the mobile app allows dog owners to track dog walks, share and rate dog photos, find other local dogs and more. Within 2 weeks of launch the app was featured on the front page of the iOS app store and had reached 20k users. Rumour has it some exciting things are in store for Woof in 2014, and they couldn’t deserve it more. Great job guys.

 

 

Zombie Moon launch

Hamilton-based Snakehead Games (@SnakeheadGames) has so far been best known for its web-based Star Pirates game and community. This year they launched Zombie Moon for iOS and Android platforms utilizing their new StarCrash Engine. Located on James North in the refurbished Hotel Hamilton above the Mulberry Cafe, Snakehead Games blends art and tech in a way that expands Hamilton’s arts and creative sector revival in a cool new way. Zombie Moon and the direction Snakehead Games is pursuing are critical steps to ensuring that expansion continues.

 

 

New leadership at Innovation Factory and Chamber of Commerce

This year Ron Neumann stepped down as Executive Director of regional innovation centre Innovation Factory (@itbeginswithIF) after co-founding and leading the institution, and was replaced by David Carter (@dkrcarter). Also this year at Innovation Factory, Julie Ellis (@3ellis) of Mabel’s Labels has replaced Mark Chamberlain as chair of the board. Finally Keanin Loomis (@KeaninLoomis) has moved from his role at Innovation Factory to become President and CEO of the Hamilton Chamber of Commerce (@hamltonchamber).

It’s healthy for leadership to change at these sorts of ‘pillar institutions’, as new perspectives can be brought in to tackle old problems with different approaches. Successful leadership of these pillar institutions can be hugely important to the community at large as they bring people together around common causes and offer important support services. David, Julie and Keanin are all excellent people that bring a lot of talent to these roles. Let’s wish them luck in these new roles and help them be as successful as possible.

 

 

Shadow of the Eternals Kickstarter

This year Precursor Games (@PrecursorGames) twice attempted to crowdfund Shadows of the Eternals, a spiritual successor to the widely acclaimed Eternal Darkness. Precursor Games itself is made up of former members of Silicon Knights that developed Eternal Darkness (published by Nintendo on the GameCube). Eternal Darkness wasn’t especially commercially successful and could be considered a cult hit amongst the more hardcore gaming crowd who appreciated its gameplay innovations.

The crowdfunding effort started off great with $100k raised in the first day, but later on it was temporarily cancelled and the second effort was also unsuccessful. The concern that a Kotaku article could have negatively impacted the campaign prompted a response from chief creative director Dennis Dyack.

In any event, the popularity of Eternal Darkness led to this story being not only one of the more fascinating stories taking place in Hamilton, but also a story that was highly covered by the video game industry press at large. There’s a lot of experienced talent at Precursor Games, and though they are “taking a break” at the moment, hopefully new opportunities arise for them to build great new video games.

 

 

Ladies Learning Code comes to Hamilton

Ladies Learning Code is a non-profit that runs a highly successful series of learn to code workshops. The events started in Toronto only a couple years ago but quickly spread to chapters all across Canada. In 2013 Hamilton hosted its first ever Ladies Learning Code workshop, and the excellent event was completely sold out. Ladies Learning Code has started a regular chapter in Hamilton, with another event conducted in 2013 and more events being planned for 2014. Increasing the number of women in computing is hugely important, as is increasing the sheer number of people in the field in general. Hosting a chapter of Ladies Learning Code is a great big step in the right direction.

 

 

VIZIYA continues its meteoric rise

For the second year in a row VIZIYA was named one of North America’s top 50 fastest growing technology companies by revenue growth. VIZIYA creates Enterprise Asset Management software, which might not have the sex appeal of other types of tech startups, but it can definitely be a money maker. In fact, VIZIYA was actually able to acquire Global PTM, the world’s largest implementer of Oracle eAM. It’s a huge struggle to build a business successful enough to be acquired, let alone to become the acquirer of another successful startup. All this growth has led to VIZIYA making new hires as they have posted more positions than any other firm on the Software Hamilton job board this year. It’s an amazing success story that again shows you can build global industry-leading products in Hamilton.