Monthly Archives: June 2014

Bop to our Beats

Calvin Harris – Summer | Listen for free at bop.fm

We love music. At Canopy we are constantly searching for new and different ways to access it. Streaming services, such as Spotify and Pandora, have become increasingly more popular. But, when it comes to curating personalized playlists and sharing our music, there are some limitations.

Bop.fm, which is still in beta, is an awesome service that streamlines the process of sharing songs and playlists. Instead of signing up for each service individually, you can use Bop.fm to play music from Spotify, Beats Music, Rdio, Soundcloud and/or YouTube. Playlists can be shared through social media, and unlike other streaming services, these playlists can be enjoyed by anyone, with or without an account. The playlists are embedded into Twitter and can be played without leaving your feed.

We’re excited to announce we’ll be sharing our office playlists on social media starting this Friday, be sure to check them out!

What Sparks our Fire: An easy way to share music with our dedicated followers.

Will you share your playlists using Bop.fm?

Can You Spot Me $5?

Splitting a cab just got so much easier.

The app Venmo has grown rapidly in popularity over the past few years and is making waves in how we handle money between friends. For years we have been spotting our friends, and trusting they’ll pay us back. Now you don’t have to go through awkwardly reminding them they owe you $8 for the cab you split in the summer of ’13, and can simply charge them. The app allows you to connect to a bank, debit card, or credit card to then collect and charge your Facebook friends and email contacts.

As someone who prefers to pay for most things by card, I rarely carry cash on me. I’ve been using Venmo ever more frequently to help not only keep track of what I owe my friends, but to easily pay them back.

Not to mention, the comments provide much needed comic relief on a rainy day like today.

What Sparks Our Fire: A quick and easy way to spot our friends and get paid back.

Would you use Venmo to pay and charge your friends?

Brew on the Go

You already know we love coffee. You also know we love smart innovations that make our lives easier, and more caffeinated. Hey Joe Coffee is here with the newest product to make our coffee addiction even more convenient.

Hey Joe Coffee has created a brand new mug that brews coffee on the go. You no longer need to stop by your favorite coffee shop after leaving your house in the morning. Instead, you can now easily brew it from a portable 14oz mug. Has your coffee cooled off from sitting on your desk? Hey Joe will also heat it up for you just as easily.

The ability to brew a fresh cup on the commute in, now that’s what we call killing two birds with one stone.

The Kickstarter campaign is currently receiving funding and they hope to start shipping this fall.

What Sparks Our Fire: Companies continually being able to find ways to fuel our coffee addiction that much more conveniently.

How often would you brew on the go?

Marc-eting 101: Wearable Tech Trends

We asked Canopy’s Managing Director, Marc Sampogna, “How do you see wearable tech influencing marketing?” Here’s what he had to say:

Wearable technology is clearly on the rise and the ceiling has yet to be cast. From blazers that guide you to your destination, to sports uniforms that enable you to feel the action of your favorite player live, sky is literally the limit for where this can go. Brands, if they haven’t already, will capitalize by setting up advertising platforms where messaging and physical interaction with consumers will take place. For example, how cool would it be if while wearing the NAVIGATE Jacket from We:eX, you commanded it to guide you to the closest shoe store, and based on your ad buy, the top payees would get first dibs at that customer — meaning the jacket would direct them to their store, and push promotions and deals in real-time. This would certainly take the fuss out of searching on your phone for directions, and even the internet for deals. Needless to say, this is in the works, and will change the face of how we directly market to on-the-go consumers.

Other brands I’ve seen capitalizing on wearable technology: Virgin Airlines — piloted a program using Google Glass, smart watches and smart phones to enhance and personalize the travel experience for first class flyers; Spotify — using sensors to stream customized music based on a listener’s heart rate and motion; Ray Ban — partnered with Google Glass, to develop something way more stylish and trendy, and lastly, Huggies — created a clip on humidity sensor and app to alert parents when their little one has had an “accident”. The list could go on and on, but this is a blog, and I don’t have many characters left before you stop reading…

A New Internet

We all know the internet today is not nearly as secure as it should be, especially with all of the private information we share such as credit card and social security numbers. It seems ever more frequently we hear of another data breach, where personal online data has been hacked. Maidsafe is here to create a new internet – one that removes the issues of the internet today and creates one that is safe, secure, and free.

Maidsafe is a new internet that doesn’t rely on external servers to store data – instead it takes advantage of the enormous amount of unused space on everyone’s computers. The data is distributed in bits and pieces randomly through a complex algorithm and then is stored on different computers across the network, which can only be accessed by you through a password. No one knows where the data is stored – making it unaccessible to anyone trying to steal it. Maidsafe also removes all third parties from the management of the internet by steering clear of using the Domain Name Service that controls URLs. This makes the internet safe from hackers.

What Sparks Our Fire: A more secure and safe internet, so we no longer have to live in fear of our information being stolen.

Do you think it’s time for a more secure internet?