Every Monday morning at 7:10 am, I am on air at 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, digital media and culture. 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 on about what’s happening in the digital world. I’m really excited about these weekly hits, 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:

• Smart speakers continue to grow and people continue to use voice assistant technology. So, if you had to guess, what is the most popular location for smart speakers? Kitchen? Living room? Home office? Car? Guess again… (source: Voicebot.ai – Yes. The Bedroom is Now the Most Popular Location for Smart Speakers. Here’s Why and What it Means).
• Shopify is growing like crazy. The Ottawa-based company (their COO, Harley Finkelstein, is a Montrealer and a close friend) is on a massive winning streak. Want to see what a thriving business looks like during a pandemic? Their stock surged over 65% in April alone. Over 190% since last year. They have a valuation of over $100 billion, and just recently became the second largest company is Canada by market capitalization. The only company that is bigger is RBC (yes, they have a bigger market cap than the other big four banks in Canada). And, they are very close to being number one. Shopify is double the market cap value of eBay. There are over one million merchants who use their ecommerce platform and marketplace to sell, and this results is over $160 billion of commerce every year. They are doing as much commerce every day during this pandemic as they do on a Black Friday. And, all of this is happening in a world where ecommerce is still less than 15% of all commerce. What happens from here? Should we be worried that Shopify is the next Nortel or BlackBerry? I don’t believe so. Last Sunday, I had Harley as a guest (for the first time ever) on my podcast, and the conversation was compelling. (source: Six Pixels of Separation #720 – Harley Finkelstein On Shopify And The Future of Commerce).
• App of the Week: Shop – Shopify’s new mobile app – a massive marketplace for entrepreneurs to sell together.

You can also listen in via I Heart Radio.