That old adage “never talk about sex, politics or religion” should never apply to a couple! Firstly, to have a healthy and satisfying relationship, a couple should be very open with each other regarding sex and religion. Think of the disastrous consequences that can arise if you withhold your views on these topics and then discover that you are polar opposites who are unable to find comfort or compromise!

Celebrating the New Year Canadian Start Ups, Tokii and Creative Couples Partner

Vancouver, British Columbia – What start-up doesn’t dream of having a nationally recognized company want to partner with them?

Given the opportunity, Creative Couples couldn’t say no. Creative Couples, the Online Magazine for Couples in Business Two-gether opened it’s virtual pages for business in February 2011. In August, the relationship management site Tokii, named Canada’s best start up during its launch by The Maple Leaf Digital Lounge at SXSW in March 2011, and Creative Couples began working on a partnership.

Tokii allows today’s busy couples to manage their relationships in a fresh and fun way, using online games and other tools. Less than 5 months after their first talks with Creative Couples, Tokii launched their first DiscoveryGame focusing on couples exploring the possibility of being in business together; the game is called Creative Couples.

“We had heard of Tokii through our networks and were thrilled to have the opportunity to work with another successful, Canadian startup. Tokii’s such a modern story – a brilliant entrepreneurial couple working together, committed to a vision that sees the use of emergent technologies as an opportunity for more, not less, communication in marriages and relationships. More couples than ever before are choosing to create business partnerships, and Karla Stephens-Tolstoy and Alexander Tolstoy lead by example,” details Creative Couples Managing Director, Megan Williams.

The first few weeks of Creative Couples the game experienced great success, becoming one of the top ten most frequently played games among the currently available 200+ DiscoveryGames. The two startups are now discussing the possibility for a sequel game in 2012.

Oakville, Ontario – Tokii, which started 2011 with a bang, is off to a running start in 2012 by continuing a successful partnership with fellow Canadian startup Creative Couples, the Online Magazine for Couples in Business Two-gether.

Creative Couples, which started in February of 2011, has quickly become the premier online destination for couples who are partners in work as well as in love. Their weekly interviews with entrepreneurial couples in varying industries and cities reveal the love, sweat and tears that go into owning a business with your spouse. The businesses they feature are as diverse as the couples who own them – proving that “when you do something you love with someone you love, you’re virtually unstoppable.”

Their first collaborative effort, the Creative Couples DiscoveryGame, experienced amazing success, becoming one of the top ten most frequently played games from over 200+ available on Tokii within a few weeks. The game helps couples explore the possibility of being in a business together.

One of the game questions addresses why couples want to work with each other. 55% of couples answered that they want to support each other’s dreams, while 25% of men and 19% of women said the reason was to spend more time together.

“We are extremely excited to work with Creative Couples, who is addressing a real need as more and more couples are starting businesses together,” states Tokii CEO Karla Stephens-Tolstoy. “Partnering with Creative Couples to create a game has given us unique insight into issues that could arise from mixing love and work, and is helping couples to address them in a fun way.”

2012 will be Tokii’s year – collaborations with world-renowned relationship experts, an ever-expanding user-base and new directions in online relationship games, and they’re happy to have Creative Couples along for the ride. The two companies are currently discussing a follow-up game for release this year.

A couple weeks ago, Sony’s Playstation Network was hacked by outside intruders, not once but twice, leaving the system down along with the information of a huge portion of its 60 million users compromised. It’s also being reported that the information of millions of credit and debit cards may be in the hands of a stranger.

While the specific details of Sony’s woes are slowly starting to surface, this event is only the latest in a recent trend of online privacy issues. Only a month ago in early April, a major email distribution service had their email system exposed allowing hackers to steal millions of email addresses registered with major corporations such as Citibank, Walmart, and Best Buy. Not to mention the privacy issues that have been brought up in regards to Facebook dating back several years, which are continually resurfacing.

Here at Tokii, your privacy is the top priority; to give you the peace of mind knowing that your information and any activities you perform on the site are yours to control. So whether you want to share your mood with just your partner or let the whole world know, we want it to be clear that it is your choice; not your partners, and certainly not ours.

In order to provide as much security for our system as possible, we have a team of programmers who are experts in building secure military-grade applications. While no network is 100% hacker-proof, the Tokii Tribe is dedicated to remaining vigilant when it comes to protecting you and your information.

So if you are thinking about using Tokii or have privacy concerns as a Tokii current member, rest assured that we are constantly doing everything we can to make your experience a private and secure one.

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Privacy vs Security, and Why They are Both Important to Tokii

Homegrown Start-ups That Prove You Don’t Have To “Move Out” To Be Successful

Tokii loves Canada. We’re not ashamed to admit it.

The entrepreneurial spirit is alive and thriving across Canada. I believe it is part of our Canadian identity. Just look at the long list of successful Canadian inventors and entrepreneurs.

Through the efforts of groups like Map le Leaf Digital Lounge and Sprouter, Canadian entrepreneurs are getting better at working together and getting more support than ever before. This week, I want to introduce you to some of the Canadian entrepreneurs behind the invigorating start-up spirit in Canada.

In Guelph, ON Ali Asaria, a former Research In Motion software engineer who created the famously addictive BlackBerry game BrickBreaker, embarked upon his own start-up Well.ca in 2007. Canada’s largest online health and beauty store was actually created in a closet in the back of Ali’s dad’s pharmacy. The next year Well.ca received the National Angel Organization award for being the best angel-funded start-up in Canada.

With support from Managing Director of Facebook Canada, and co-founder of Thunder Road Capital Jordan Banks, Well.ca has become on of the fastest growing companies in Canada.
In Montreal, Martin-Luc Archambault, CEO and Co-founder at Wajam.com may have an edge up on many Canadian start-ups because he doubles as an angel investor at Anges Quebec. Wajam is an ingenious service that merges your social networks like Facebook and Twitter to your searches in Google or Bing. So if you search for say “location-based apps” and a friend or contact Tweeted a link to a great location app earlier, it will appear above Google’s search hits. Brilliant!

Martin-Luc says that Canadian start-ups often struggle to find investors with the capital to make those large but often risky investments and sees a stronger Canadian start-up community as way to establish those connections. “U.S. companies are great at cross-promoting,” Martin explains. “They create momentum by using, and talking about each other’s products.” By adopting a similar culture of cross-promotional support, Canadian VC’s will be more willing to take risks on someone who is supported by a strong community of successful entrepreneurs.

So what about those VC’s? What do they have to say about Canadian start-ups and our entrepreneurial spirit? Stay tuned for the second half of my interviews with Canadian CEO’s and VC’s as I have them weigh on our investment climate in Venture Capital 2.0: Canadian VC’s ON Tech Start-ups And The Changing Face of Canada VC Funding.

It’s becoming increasingly apparent that there’s not much an iPhone (or Blackberry, I suppose) can’t do. Developers are working to, brace yourselves, turn the world’s Smartphones into addiction therapists. Granted my addictions end with shopping, gossiping and Coke Zero, but soon people with actual addictions like cigarettes, alcohol and drugs will be able to garner support from their trusty iPhone when they find themselves in danger of falling off the wagon.

In other words, when a guy who struggles with alcohol addiction stumbles near his favorite local watering hole, his iPhone (for all practical purposes, he’s a Mac guy) will start blowing up –not with text messages from his drinking buddies to meet them in the usual corner booth — but with messages suggesting coping strategies, and requests for support are also fired off to family, friends or sponsors, according to an article on businessinsider.com. A stylish anklet that is monitored will also help detect when the patient is craving his or her particular vice.

OK, I consider myself pretty open-minded (mostly, kind of), and while I can appreciate the “You can’t fight city hall” (if people love their cell phones so much, make their cell phone tell them what to do) approach to getting people to help themselves, this concept still seems slightly strange. Then again, if you had told me 10 years ago when I got my first Samsung flip phone that someday Apple would make the mother of all cell phones, I probably would’ve been a little skeptical as well. Technology has come a long way and continues to surprise me. Most technology can start off strange before we embrace it and it becomes a part of our lives.

Also, I don’t know about you, but I feel like my iPhone is already therapeutic. While it doesn’t help me kick a drug habit, it feeds our cravings for social interaction, and soon, with Tokii, our Smartphones will allow us to give into the craving to be loved in our own way. Stay tuned!

Craigslist.org the uber popular virtual swapmeet/ garage.bulleting/ board/ dating service/ kitchen sink has removed their ‘Erotic Services’ section. If you go looking for this part of the site now, you’ll just find a banner that reads ‘Censored’. Under pressure from 16 states in the US, CL has decided to remove their erotic ads, despite their being no legal basis at the moment for them to do so. This is a real step backwards for everyone in the online community, and sex workers throughout the US.

While the ‘Erotic Services’ section of the site has been criticized by many people as a front for prostitiution, that’s not really the case. While prostitution may be conducted through some of the ads, just as many vanilla options, like stripper-grams for a bachelor party, or a hunky fireman for a girl’s night out are available as well. In fact, although it isn’t making headlines, Craigslist is a very effective activist organization that has been working hard to improve the lives of sex workers, victims of human trafficking and violent crimes against women. Whether you agree with prostitution or not, it goes on. It isn’t known as ‘The World’s Oldest Profession’ because it’s a fly-by-night industry on the verge of disappearing.

While many of the detractors have called Craigslist a ‘virtual pimp’ or ‘e-whorehouse’, they have in fact been doing a lot to make the sex industry safer. Here’s 3 reasons why the ‘Erotic Services’ section needs to be re-instated.

1. Every single ‘Erotic Services’ ad posted on Craigslist it reviewed, by hand, by an attorney. That’s right, a living breathing, leagle eagle with credentials eyeballs them to check for anything illegal. What other website provides oversite like that? Having a human review the ads makes it easier to spot real criminal activity, and report it the authorities.
2. Craigslist has been proactive in fighting human trafficking. Though they won’t get into the specifics, to protect the victims, many law enforcement agencies have applauded the help they have received from Craiglist in tracking down and catching the perpetrators of human trafficking in the US. They have provided data, assistance and cooperation in many causes that have resulted in victims being found and freed, and criminals sent to jails. Do they sound like the bad guys?
3. Craigslist provides access to resources to keep sex workers safe. Throughout the “Erotic Services” section of CL, there are warning, links and information to help sex workers remain safe. The site provides info, phone numbers, warning and links on practicing safe sex, preventing STD’s and work programs to people who want to find a different line of work. If people are going to engage in risky behaviors, it’s better they do so well informed of the risks, and ways to make these behaviors more safe.

Since prostitution isn’t going anywhere soon, shouldn’t we make it as safe as possible? Craigslist is doing much more than the rest of the sex industry to make a difference in people’s lives. I think they do great, necessary work, and it’s time health professionals and the general public drop the moral posturing and make a decision that makes sense.

With the economy in America in the crapper lately, it’s not too surprising that the marriage rate is on a downward-slide. New data from the Census Bureau says that couples are choosing to shack up rather than tie the knot. Well, why not? If you live with your partner, you can split the rent and utilities and no one has to cough up three months salary that they don’t make for a ring. Secondly, I don’t know about you but I think couples should be living together before marriage. Marriage is a huge step and, to me, the only way to really know if it would ever work is to play house prior to saying I do. Getting to truly know someone doesn’t happen through romantic dates and occasional sleepovers. You have to really spend time with them. Travel with them, get to know their living habits. Maybe the fact that your partner leaves his socks around is a deal breaker for you. Best find that out sooner rather than later.

Not to mention, um, getting married takes a boat load of cash. The wedding industry is such a racket. I don’t blame kids for postponing. Some experts think that talk about the economics of getting married is just a cop out for a fear of intimacy and commitment. Maybe. Of course anyone can get married for very little money in a pair of jeans and a courthouse. But maybe some brides just aren’t willing to give up on their fairy tale wedding that they’ve been planning since they were 12. I wasn’t.