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THE SMARTCITY BLOG
Home: Welcome
WELCOME TO THESMARTCITY.BLOG
Hosted by Alan Cross - A Journal of Musical Things
Co-Hosted by Grant Furlane - CEO LocoMobi World Inc.
TheSmartCity.Blog is a technology podcast that looks at how buildings, cities and
communities are getting smarter, more efficient and more connected.
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The podcast is aired twice per month with guest speakers and subjects range from Smart City infrastructure, buildings, transportation and smart communities. The goal is to tackle the challenges of the ever-changing world of Smart City initiatives.
Listeners are encouraged to tune in and send in their Smart City questions for this panel of experts.
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Home: About
WHO WE ARE
Home: Team Members
GRANT FURLANE
40 year veteran of the transportation and parking industry and early champion for the Smart City.
LOCOMOBI WORLD INC.
LocoMobi World Inc. is a cloud-based Smart City technology company specializing in parking, tolling & transit.
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Episode 70: Anthony Furey
We're starting to see a greater stratification when adopting new technologies.
TheSmartCity.Blog
Nov 11 min read
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Episode 69: Carrie Soave: Using and Navigating AI in Real Estate Workflows
Carrie Soave has a real estate background. Then along came artificial intelligence.
TheSmartCity.Blog
Nov 11 min read
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Episode 68: Tim Hudak - CEO of the Ontario Real Estate Association
Technology is forever disrupting established businesses and markets. Real estate, with its millions of human brokers, could be a target--or is real estate an arena where AI will be helpful? That's one of the questions we posed to Tim Hudak, the CEO of the Ontario Real Estate Association. We reached him at his office. Show more
TheSmartCity.Blog
Nov 11 min read
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Episode 67: Virginia Klausmeier of Sylvatex
What do we do about battery manufacturing when it comes to the move towards electric vehicles? And I'm not talking about the batteries. I mean the components that go into making the batteries. This is a complicated business, most of which is centred in China. Sylvatex is an American company that thinks it has some solutions. Virgina Klausmeier is the CEO of Sylvatex. We caught up with her at her home office in Eugene, Oregon.
TheSmartCity.Blog
Nov 11 min read
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Episode 66: Ted Maulucci of Smart One
Smart One is a Canadian company that's been around for at least 15 years. One of their mantras is "building stuff that matters." In this case, we're talking about designing the systems that power smart buildings and smart comunities. They're in no fewer than 80 communities across the Canada. Ted Maulucci is the company's co-founder and president. He's making a return visit to the Smart City Podcast with news of recent innovations.
TheSmartCity.Blog
Nov 11 min read
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Episode 65: Marc Saltzman
Alan first met Mark Saltzman more than 30 years ago when he was reviewing video games. These days, he's a consumer tech expert with podcasts, radio shows, and books that help us sort out our gadget dreams. He came into Locomobi world headquarters to talk about a very hot product category: Wearables.
TheSmartCity.Blog
Oct 311 min read
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Episode 64: Alan and Grant look ahead to 2024
This time, it's just me and Locomobi CEO Grant Furlane reviewing what happened in 2023 and what's on the agenda for 2024. Let's see if you agree with any of this anaylis and any of these predictions. We touch on smart city topics, but we also go much further.This time, it's just me and Locomobi CEO Grant Furlane reviewing what happened in 2023 and what's on the agenda for 2024. Let's see if you agree with any of this anaylis and any of these predictions. We touch on smart cit
TheSmartCity.Blog
Oct 301 min read
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Episode 63: Shaun Ghafari: Dean of Engineering at Humber College in Toronto
The Faculty of Engineering at Humber College in Toronto has an incredible facility that's just begging to be used for all kinds of R&D. Locomobi and Humber have partnered up to push all kinds of technological envelopes. This is the first in a series of podcasts that will look at what Locomobi and Humber will do in the future, starting with the electrical grid. We talked with Shaun Ghafari, the dean of the faculty.
TheSmartCity.Blog
Feb 29, 20241 min read
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Episode 62: Jason Tan
If you're in business, you're probably on LinkedIn. I mean, you almost have to be because it's where so many important B2B connections are made. You know you should comment on certain posts, but that can take a lot of time. And what should you post? You want to sound intelligent plus you also want to get some kind of a reaction. That's the key to further engagement. But that can take a lot of time and energy. Jason Tan has come up with an AI-powered solution that frankly, is
TheSmartCity.Blog
Dec 27, 20231 min read
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Episode 61: David Ly: Iveda Chairman and CEO
When Iveda started up about 20 years ago, the company's main service was to offer hosting for things like security cameras and so on.. Today, Iveda can do much, much more with their sensor-and-monitoring technology. It is being applied today and it's already making life much more secure for their customers. We found David Ly, Iveda's chairman and CEO, at the company's head office in Phoenix.
TheSmartCity.Blog
Oct 30, 20231 min read
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Episode 60: Adam Tank of Transcend
Civilization is based on infrastructure. You can't have a city, town, or modern society without it. Infrastructure projects aren't always sexy but they're important, they're complex, they're expensive, and they're essential. Transcend is a mult-national software company operating in 65 countries that deals with the intricacies of critical infrastructure. To talk about what they do, we got in touch with Adam Tank, one of the company's co-founders.
TheSmartCity.Blog
Oct 28, 20231 min read
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Episode 59: William Muller of Seoul Robotics
Keeping everything and everyone moving in an urban area is becoming increasingly complex. More vehicles and people on the road. Choke points. The lack of real-time data about what's actually happening. Seoul Robotics, a company based out of South Korea has some solutions. We spoke with William Muller, the vice president of Business Development.
TheSmartCity.Blog
Oct 27, 20231 min read
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Episode 58: Bruce Irwin and Daniel Weng of Parsons
Parsons is a giant construction and infrastructure company that works on the the really, really BIG stuff including a science fiction-level project for the government of Saudia Arabia called The Line. Wait until you hear about that. We welcomed Bruce Irwin the CTO for the company's mobility solutions in North America to our offices along with Daniel Weng, who is on Bruce's team and leads a lot of partnership initiatives. Show less
TheSmartCity.Blog
Sep 30, 20231 min read
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Episode 57: Robbie Mair of EcoTank Canada
If you have a car, you know how annoying it is when you run out of windshield washer fluid. It's a small thing, but it's one of the things that go along with owning and maintaining a car. It turns out that the whole universe of windshield washer fluid can be very environmentally unfriendly--and this is a problem that needs to be solved. Robbie Mair is the CEO of EcoTank Canada and he will explain everything. Show less
TheSmartCity.Blog
Sep 30, 20231 min read
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Episode 55: Colin Chan of JLL
Colin Chan is from JLL, an international company with 80,000 people spread out in offices worldwide, that aims to help clients make the most out of the real estate they own. One area where they excel is the use of data and analytics to determine the best uses–or alternative uses–where people park their cars in a responsible and sustainable way. We found Colin at his office in London.
TheSmartCity.Blog
May 28, 20231 min read
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Episode 54: Matan Dubrushin of Otorio
This episode will look at a company called Otorio which is looking to make the world more secure.Every second, the world becomes more connected. And with infinite inter connectablity comes infinite risk. There are people--from guys in their mom's basement to ransomeware gangs to shadowy state actors--with a mission to break into systems to wreak havoc. Focus on cybersecurity has never been more important--and as we'll hear, will only become more important which each passing d
TheSmartCity.Blog
Apr 26, 20231 min read
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Episode 53: Arif K. Rafiq - Esri Canada
Arif K. Rafiq works for a company called ESRI. It's a Canadian outfit that believes geography is critical to decision-making. Arif is an expert in the digital systems that manage roads, highways, and public transit infrastructure, things that (unfortunately) often do not talk to each other. But what if they did? What if there was some way to incorporate all the data and analytics from the ways we move? Could this make our roads safer, more secure, more reliable, and sustainab
TheSmartCity.Blog
Mar 29, 20231 min read
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Episode 52: Flavio Volpe and Project Arrow
We packed everything up and headed to the Canadian International Auto Show in Toronto to check out Project Arrow, a proof-of-concept plan to showcase all the amazing tech available from Canadian manufacturers when it comes to the cars of the future. The hope is that existing manufacturers will take advantage of what Canadian companies have to offer--and to inspire someone to create a domestic EV brand. We have the tech, the knowledge, and the worker base, to why not? Locomobi
TheSmartCity.Blog
Mar 8, 20231 min read
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Episode 47: Michael Mazur of Colu
Getting people to do certain things can be tough. It's only natural to do things in your self-interest. Online shopping can be more convenient and cheaper instead of shopping locally. Taking your car from point A to B can be faster. So how can a city change this? By incentivizing the desired behaviour. Okay, how? Michael Mazur is with an Israeli-based company called Colu. They're working with towns and cities to change behaviours and mindsets. Michael is a dynamic and forward
TheSmartCity.Blog
Jan 11, 20231 min read
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Episode 46: Cyrus Tehrani, Chief Digital Officer and Director of Innovation for the city of Hamilton
Chief Digital Officer and Director of Innovation for the city of Hamilton. That's the job of Cyrus Tehrani. His department works with all the other departments across the city to help introduce smart city technology which is happening in areas in which you might not expect. This is a massive job and one that requires a tremendous amount of vision. We caught up with Cyrus in his office.
TheSmartCity.Blog
Dec 22, 20221 min read
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