Waterloo students create WatVision to help visually impaired to read touch screen

The Waterloo student teams create products in their fourth year and I was impressed with my son and his group - WatVision. 

Their product is to help visually impaired people read a touch screen. The idea developed as a visually impaired person talked about how the new coffee maker at work had a touch screen which he could not use, unlike the old coffee machine.  

This product has been created to help a visually impaired person use a touch screen. Check out the video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HI3hGIS06DM&feature=youtu.be

The video shows Craig demoing how to use our system. Here is a breakdown of how he did it.

1. Start the app and point your phone camera at the touch screen you are trying to use
2. Listen to the app, it will guide you to aim the camera at the entire screen. It will give commands such as “Move Left” or “Move Up” to help the user capture the whole screen.
3. Place the finger wearing the ring on the touch screen and begin exploring!

That’s all it takes, let the app do the reading for you. When your finger moves over text or buttons, the app reads out what its for so you as the user can decide whether you want to use it or not.

Interesting in trying it?

We are looking for participants to try out the system and give us feedback as we continue to develop. If you or someone you know has a visual impairment and would be interested in trying out the Watvision system, contact us at watvisionteam@gmail.com.

Annual Investment Luncheon at The Empire Club

2018 Investment Outlook Luncheon

I was honoured to be invited to join the head table at the Annual Investment Outlook Luncheon held at the Empire Club. We were joined by the CFL players who impressed me with their knowledge of blockchain and crypto-currencies.

@Empire_Club 2018 Investment Outlook Luncheon #gold #investment #outlook2018

Top Forecast awarded by Bay Street Finance Club to Jacoline Loewen

Jacoline Loewen with trophy for #1 Forecast

It was thrilling and humbling to be awarded the #1 Forecast.  There were 150 competing financial experts, many of whom run leading funds and who are pre-eminent names in the investment industry.

My forecast made at the beginning of 2017 was the most accurate. As a result, I get this huge trophy with darts as the symbols on top.  You can surmise why the use of darts as an understanding of the accuracy of forecasts.  Many people have made or lost their fortunes using the forecasts of experts, including Ray Dalio.  My name has been engraved on one of the markers which is an honour to join the list of top forecasters of the Canadian economy.

This finance club has been going since 1929, and will no doubt carry on for another 100 years, and so it is a great honour to be able to win top forecast. I was told that lightening does not strike twice and this is forecasting, after all. However, I have seen in my business that there is some methodology and process that certainly helps to predict the road ahead.

If you are curious about the forecast itself, there were market indicators to predict and a list of stocks to choose as going up or down.

I did have access to my bank's economic views which were different from the Canadian banks, being a global player. No doubt, access to that gave me a proverbial leg up but in the end, I did put in the time and effort to really look at the upcoming year. Now, let's see how my 2018 forecast fares!

Top 10 Questions for Families with Wealth

Family is important.
We can agree with that sentence as family relationships nudge, bump. poke at our course in life. You have heard the quality of your life is determined by the quality of your relationships. I would add, "family relationships." Many factors shape family relationships and money is one of them. Both when it is abundant and when it is scarce, money is key in shaping family relationships.
Money and its impact causes problems in family relationships. Who gets the money? Who receives the information about the family's wealth? Who actually has the control over that wealth - is it really family wealth or one person's wealth?
Tough questions that many choose to skip with resulting drama that fills movie scripts but also real lives.
Money also brings the opportunity to discover what money means to a family. It can be an open discussion to discover how a family can work together and clarify their thinking about the purpose of the money.

Family

What is money's purpose? What does money mean to the family?
Rather than divide the family, money can have a beneficial affect on bringing together a family and have a surprisingly beneficial effect on family dynamics. Relationships can be cemented.
In fact, the hardest issues facing families are usually not the money but the family relationship based and family based. You can begin to set a positive family dynamic by asking yourself questions and your family members these probing questions about finances and philanthropy.
In my experience, there are questions to get the process started. You can pose these top ten questions to each of your family members. What is most important is to listen and observe how family members respond is more important than the answers.

1. What challenges do we face in regards to our family and to our money?
2. What is our vision for our family's future?
3. What is our family's definition of success?
4. What principles will guide our decisions about asset allocation?
5. What has been our experience of the family working together?
6. How do we prepare our children to steward a financial inheritance?
7. Should we bring our son or daughter in law into the conversation on finances and philanthropy?
8. What are our core philanthropy interests and how did these become so important to us?
9. How may we enable the next generation to create a shared dream with a family foundation while also fulfilling the founder's vision?
10. How do we promote a togetherness while also promoting the individualism of each family member?

What do you think of these questions? Are there any more that you would add?

How the developing world is shaking up tech from Mexico to Chile and Kenya

In New York with Wondereur for Fintech Finals

Fintech early stage companies were part of my company's Global Fintech challenge last year which I got to roll out and manage across Canada. What was surprising to our head office was the sheer number of good fintechs in Canada, not just Silicon Valley. That is what struck me as I read this article about how Silicon Valley and Canada are no longer the only place where fintechs are growing - Mexico with its lack of banking is shooting ahead with Fintechs too.

The magazine Unlimited has an interesting article on technological development outside of Silicon Valley and how fintech in the developing world is gaining traction.

I had been surprised last year, when the head of Blockchain in my company told me how Africa had played a huge role in developing blockchain as there were so few legacy banking systems in place. There you have it, straight from the horse's mouth about blockchain and developing countries technology sectors.

Here's the article...

Today earbuds can translate foreign languages in real time, while scientists are developing ‘living’ solar panels that can be printed on paper. Meanwhile, tech pioneers are setting their sights on still grander goals, like enhancing the human brain with implants raising the possibility of telepathic communication.

The pace of change in the sector continues to accelerate. In the US alone, the number of tech-related patents has doubled over the past decade.But, while expertise has been concentrated around California’s Silicon Valley, in the coming years technological disruption is increasingly likely to blossom in the developing world. Emerging markets are already undergoing a radical transformation. A decade ago the tech industry accounted for only 10% of the benchmark MSCI Emerging Markets index. Now that figure has nearly tripled to 29%, with four of the index’s five largest-capitalized companies coming from the tech sector. 

In China, the education system currently produces three million science and engineering graduates each year – five times that of the US – and the nation is already on the way to joining the long-standing tech leaders, Taiwan and Korea.In neighbouring India, already a global player in the IT services industry, the government now has the world’s largest biometric identification system, with fingerprints and iris scans of more than one billion residents. 

Yet, the technological shift is not being limited to Asia. Coordinated public and private efforts to foster tech start-ups in Chile have earned the country the “Chilecon Valley” moniker, drawing comparisons with the famous California innovation hub.Mexico has also made progress in promoting start-ups through the creation of the National Institute of Entrepreneurship, with similar programs running in Colombia and Peru, now beginning to trigger rapid start-up growth in cities like Bogotá, Medellín and Lima.Given the large population in Latin America who are without banking services, a key growth area is fintech. According to Finnovista, the number of fintech start-ups in the region recently surpassed 1,000.

Read the full article here.

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