Tania Samsonova
I am a translator and a technical writer. I have published several book translations (Margaret Atwood's "The Year of the Flood", to name just one) into Russian. I also do technical translations (IT-related, mostly, as I have been in software development for 15 years), provide SR&ED consulting (in cooperation with SRED Unlimited) and write technical documentation. I have a degree in Applied Mathematics and Computer Science from Moscow State University, an MCAD certification, and several certificates: one in Technical Writing from YorkU and two from U of T SCS (in Financial Management and in Enterprise Risk Management). I am currently working on the Russian translation of "Someone comes to town..." by Cory Doctorow (under Creative Commons license) and on "The Cornish Trilogy" by Robertson Davies, a Canadian classic. *** My page on proz.com: English - Russian Translator *** My profile on LinkedIn *** My business websites: *** Translation Services (English - Russian) *** SR&ED Consulting *** My LJ (in Russian) *** My Twitter (personal): @TaniaSam *** My Twitter (business): @SRED4you
Homepage: http://www.sred4you.com
Posts by Tania Samsonova
Book review. Switch: How To Change Things When Change Is Hard by Chip Heath and Dan Heath
May 23, 2011 - 12:00 am
Posted in 2) Strategies | 1 comment
I am sure each one of you tried to change something in your life at least once (lose weight, change the way you do paperwork so you submit your taxes on time and do not get fined, make your developers comment the code they write… you name it). The goal may be clear and theoretically [...]
Programs that help you fund your IT projects
May 17, 2011 - 12:08 am
Posted in 2) Strategies | 4 comments
If you are looking for funding to develop an IT product or hire people, here are some useful federal and/or provincial programs that may help you. SR&ED is one of the most important ones, but there are others as well, and they can make all the difference in the development of your business. Ontario [...]
Better late than never
May 15, 2011 - 2:44 am
Posted in Misc | 5 comments
It seems somewhat late to enter the competition! I hope, however, to add my voice to the beautiful choir of the participants in the remaining week or so. I probably won’t win, but I know it will be fun anyway! I hope it will be more like last year (when I took the 3rd place), [...]
Book review: True names and eternal questions: Vernor Vinge and the cyberspace frontier
May 6, 2010 - 11:52 pm
Tags: book review, cryptoanarchy, cryptography, cyberspace, key escrow, true names, vernor vinge
Posted in Blogging Idol 2010 Archives | 1 comment
This book contains “True names”, a novella by Vernor Vinge, and nine essays on deep political and technological issues underlying the novella. As it often happens with true artists, Vinge, who published his story in 1981, predicted a lot of problems that we face today. He was the first to describe cyberspace (although the actual [...]
Resources for technology-related startups in Toronto, Ontario, Canada
May 6, 2010 - 10:18 pm
Tags: Canada, creative spaces, funding, government incentives, incubators, IRAP, IT, OIDMTC, Ontario, small business, SME, SRED, startup, technology
Posted in Blogging Idol 2010 Archives | 11 comments
This article contains some useful information that I inevitably accumulated over the past few years, as a SR&ED consultant and as someone who has recently started a business. It might save you some time that took me to figure out all this. Good luck with your startup! Various camps, startup drinks, green drinks Startup entrepreneurs [...]
CloudCamp 2. Cloud Computing: Return on Investment
May 5, 2010 - 4:15 am
Tags: 6) Cloud Computing, cloudcamp, IaaS, PaaS, ROI, SaaS, startup, toronto
Posted in Blogging Idol 2010 Archives | 5 comments
This is another session from Cloudcamp that was held in Toronto on April 6, 2010. (Find the article about the first session, with links to the CloudCamp sound files and some presentations, here.) The session was facilitated by Dave Nielsen and discussed the ROI of cloud computing. The following questions were raised: What is cloud [...]
MicroSkills and macro changes
April 29, 2010 - 2:28 am
Tags: career advice, corporate culture, first job in Canada, immigrants, mentorship, MicroSkills, Wired Woman, women in IT
Posted in Blogging Idol 2010 Archives | 2 comments
About 250,000 immigrants arrive to Canada each year. Most of them settle down, and find jobs, and many of these jobs are in the IT (I’d say even most of these jobs are, or were, until recent ridiculous changes in the occupation list came into effect, but then I am an IT person myself, so [...]
Cloudcamp 1. The unpanel
April 27, 2010 - 12:26 am
Tags: 6) Cloud Computing, cloudcamp, IaaS, PaaS, SaaS, toronto
Posted in Blogging Idol 2010 Archives | 5 comments
A Cloudcamp was held in Toronto on April 6, 2010. For those of you who are not familiar with the concept of a camp, it is usually an unconference: there is little or no traditional presentations (one active presenter vs. a more or less passive audience). Instead of that, most camps are unconferences where people [...]
My Microsoft Outlook Connector suddenly stopped working
April 26, 2010 - 2:12 am
Tags: global disaster, hotmail, Microsoft, Outlook Connector, problems, small business, technology
Posted in Misc | 6 comments
Our dependency on technology becomes rather alarming. If a global disaster strikes and you live in the country in an 18-century house, you will be able to get some firewood in the forest, bring water in a bucket from the river, catch a rabbit with a snare made of your suspenders, and roast that rabbit [...]
Book review: Tom Rand, Kick The Fossil Fuel Habit
April 22, 2010 - 2:02 am
Tags: book review, clean tech, cleantech, geothermal, kick the fossil fuel, MaRS, tom rand
Posted in Blogging Idol 2010 Archives | 8 comments
Tom Rand, an entrepreneur, venture capitalist, innovator, philosopher and MaRS Discovery District advisor, just launched his book, Kick The Fossil Fuel Habit: 10 Clean Technologies to Save Our World. It talks about things like solar power, wind power, hydro power, biofuels, smart buildings, and more that are leading the way to a sustainable future. Tom [...]
Open Data and disclosures, or Beware of the leopard
April 8, 2010 - 6:43 pm
Posted in Blogging Idol 2010 Archives | 1 comment
With governments looking to do more with less, adopting open government strategies marks an ideal way to better deliver public services and foster increased confidence in government institutions through greater transparency. Michael Geist ‘Crowdsourcing’ puts many extra hands to work The move toward open government is now a fact. In Canada (and specifically in Toronto) [...]
What’s most important in enterprise IT?
March 31, 2010 - 4:14 am
Tags: acclimatization, collaboration, communication, human factor, information sharing in enterprise, mentorship, new hires, onboarding, soft skills
Posted in Blogging Idol 2010 Archives | 4 comments
What is the most important thing in enterprise IT? Some may say, budget. Others, the timely adoption of new technologies. Not really. The best technologies may fail and the lushest budget be wasted by human efforts gone astray. Imagine several new college graduates hired by a big company, as software developers. They can all write [...]
Who invented the X-ray?
March 16, 2010 - 1:03 am
Posted in Misc | No comments
According to Rick Segal, SMS technology has been around since the 1970s. This reminds me of an old Russian joke. – Who invented the X-ray? – Peter the Great. – How come? – He used to tell his courtiers: I can see right through you, you bastards!
