Since Rick Segal asked - and I have a personal mandate to encourage technology start-ups - I'm here to tell you that the Canadian Venture Forum is being held in Toronto from May 10-12. To be perfectly honest, the show itself may not as interesting as the application process because applying is where you really capture the attention of the VCs on the selection committee that Rick is sitting on. For start-ups looking for love and money, applying is a no-cost way to finally get to those VCs who've been doing such a good job ignoring your telephone calls and e-mails. If you're a start-up with intriguing prospects, you can probably count on a phone call or e-mail from a VC before the final selections are picked (that is, if this isn't against the "rules"). The bonus for getting selected for the forum is exposure to potential investors and customers, and a chance to strut your stuff in public.

The National Post has a quasi-funny, quasi-serious story today on having "Bad Google", which looks at how your online past - however innocent or innocuous - can come back to haunt. Let's say, for example, you had a Web site as a teenager where you poured out your most heart-felt thoughts, which at the time seemed to be a completely normal part of adolescence. What happens 30 years from now when you decide to run for President or Prime Minister? In this day and age, the media could have a hey-day exposing your online past by using Google or the Wayback Machine to quickly discover a mountain of embarrassing online conversations and thoughts. As a colleague pointed out, anyone with political aspirations will have to know enough to restrain themselves from a very early age not to write or say anything online that could come back to snap them in the ass down the road. It could lead to some very dull politicians or perhaps some very smart and devious politicians who do all of their bad stuff offline.
Tags: Google

The secret project that Larry Borsato has been working on recently is MusicIP - formerly known as Predixis. Billing itself as a global music relationship engine, MusicIP is software that analyzes your music collection and then makes it easy to find new music that you'll like. For musicians, MusicIP promises to help them find new fans who are looking for music with a particular sound. At first blush, it looks like technology that consumers, artists and the labels will embrace given one of the many challenges facing the music industry is exposing new stuff at a time when commercial radio is so uninspiring, generic and targeted at the lowest common denominator. It will be interesting to see what music aficionado Fred Wilson has to say given his public love affair with music. MusicIP, by the way, was discovered by Rick Segal, who stumbled upon their small booth deep in the bowels of a major trade show.