Category: Winter 2008

After receiving a US $10.6 million windfall of venture capital financing in July 2007, NowPublic.com co-founder and CEO Leonard Brody boldly promised that in 18 months the participatory news site would be “by reach, the largest news agency in the world.” The small Vancouver start-up that began as an experiment in co-founder Michael Tippett’s garage,… Continue reading Everyone’s a reporter

Peter Legge is a wildly enthusiastic man. The chairman and CEO of Canada Wide Media Ltd. says he has an “exceptional circulation department,” “exceptional sales people”—just an “exceptional staff” altogether. But he has reason to be optimistic: Canada Wide (CW) is the largest independent magazine publisher in Western Canada. And the 66-year-old’s family-run company now… Continue reading Family Affair

As I pull out my high-tech Sony recorder, the producer, Elizabeth Bowie, startles me. She stares at it and says, “Oh, look at that”—and I thought Nora Young, Dan Misener and Bowie, the people behind the technology-based radio show and podcast Spark would laugh at my two-year-old digital recorder. But of course, the show’s website… Continue reading Lighting a Spark

There’s a blizzard outside, but over half of the chairs inside this Queen Street West store are full. The store isn’t just any store in downtown Toronto; it’s Conspiracy Culture, or what co-owner Patrick Whyte calls a “taboo, magic happy place” for people who are interested in everything from alien phenomena to political conspiracies. And… Continue reading Chemtrails, false flags and 9/11, oh my!