The Web 2.0 Innovation Map uses Google Maps to show how Web 2.0 companies are spread across North America. It's interesting but it would be far better if you could see the city and company names when you moved over each location. Then, we would get a real feel for who's doing what across the land. I'd also like to see some more Canadian Web 2.0 start-ups...that is, if they exist.

Don Dodge had a chat recently with Gabe Rivera on why he started memeorandum.com, how it compares with other news aggregators, and the secret sauce that drives the service. One question Rivera danced around is memeorandum's business model. All he would offer is there are "certain kinds of sponsorships" and "other opportunities" to generate revenue but he did not into specifics.  There are probably several routes Rivera could take such as selling banner ads given the service's focus (technology and politics) and its heavy traffic. Rivera could also leverage the memeorandum platform - and the revenue opportunity - by expanding into other sectors (advertising/marketing, automotive, health, travel, sports, etc.) It all comes down how far Rivera wants to commercialize memeorandum and whether a move into advertising would deter users if the interface lost some of its clean look and feel. It's hard not to get the feeling Rivera is taking his time before taking the next move. I suspect he's trying to build a viable business rather than positioning memeorandum for an acquisition by Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, etc.
Update: Richard MacManus' interview with Digg founder Kevin Rose can be found here.

I wrote a feature that appeared earlier this week in the National Post looking at how some of Canada's high-tech communities - Waterloo and Ottawa - have come back to life in the past couple of years. In Waterloo, the revival can be seen in a new industrial park where three new buildings have sprouted up on land where farmers grew corn a couple years ago. While Waterloo isn't a new story, it's interesting to see how people are excited again as Google moves into town and RIM continues to expand its footprint in the city.