Every Monday morning at 7:10 am, I am a guest contributor on CHOM 97.7 FM radio out of Montreal (home base). It’s not a long segment – about 10 minutes every week – about everything that is happening in the world of technology and digital media. The good folks at CHOM 97.7 FM are posting these segments weekly on i Heart Radio, if you’re interested in hearing more of me blathering away about what’s going on in the digital world. I’m really excited about this opportunity, because this is the radio station that I grew up listening to, and it really is a fun treat to be invited to the Mornings Rock with Terry DiMonte morning show. The segment is called, CTRL ALT Delete with Mitch Joel.

This week we discussed: 

• Wired Magazine is reporting that Montreal has reinvented itself as the world’s artificial intelligence startup powerhouse! How exciting. From the article: “According to PwC Canada, the city raised more venture capital money than any other in the country in 2017, with $800 million (USD) invested across 63 major deals. That’s still small fry compared to rival startup cities in the US and across Europe, but Montreal is growing fast.” Google, Facebook and Microsoft have all invested heavily in recent years. Plus the Canadian government has also pledged more than $200 million of funding to further boost Montreal’s AI scene. The news comes hot on the heels of Samsung announcing the opening of an AI Center in Montreal.
• Speaking of AI… the AI doctor will see you now. Would you do it? I would. Think about the mass amounts of information and learning that these AI’s will have over one doctor’s knowledge. Technology Review suggests that your next doctor’s appointment might be with an AI: “The idea is to make seeking advice about a medical condition as simple as Googling your symptoms, but with many more benefits. Unlike self-diagnosis online, these apps lead you through a clinical-grade triage process — they’ll tell you if your symptoms need urgent attention or if you can treat yourself with bed rest and ibuprofen instead. The tech is built on a grab bag of AI techniques: language processing to allow users to describe their symptoms in a casual way, expert systems to mine huge medical databases, machine learning to string together correlations between symptom and condition.” Technology… it’s changing everything.  
• App of the Week: Dark Reader.