- John Criswick
John Criswick (born
December 1 ,1963 ) is aCanadian entrepreneur focused on mobile entertainment andmobile software .Biography
After receiving his
electrical engineering degree from theUniversity of British Columbia in 1986, Criswick worked as asoftware engineer for the space hardware maker Canadian Astronautics (purchased byEMS Technologies ). In the early 1990s, Criswick studied space physics atYork University and after obtaining hisMaster's degree , he worked at anobservatory inUtah . In 1991 he spent the summer inToulouse ,France at theInternational Space University , immersed in a multidisciplinary program of study centered onspace technology .In 1997, Criswick was contracted by Nortel Networks to source an
Internet browser that was agile enough to work on amobile device . When he discovered there was nothing compatible on the market, he and fellow engineer Bob Tennant asked to let them build a browser from scratch. Nortel agreed to fund the project, but by the end of 1997, Criswick and Tennant had decided to form their own company, Beduin Communications. Nortel became Beduin's first customer, paying $120,000 for a license to use the technology and in 1998, Beduin Communications' personal Java browser technology was purchased bySun Microsystems for $20 million U.S. in stock (which subsequently more than tripled in value). In 2001, he co-founded Rove Mobile (previously known as Idokorro Mobile and Planetfred), a company that specializes innetwork administration andremote access solutions forhandheld devices .In 2002 he co-founded Magmic Games, a
smartphone game publisher of which he is currently CEO. He also runs a number of Web media companies under the moniker Smoke Labs and is the owner of The Mercury Lounge inOttawa . He was a co-founder ofZucotto Wireless , a company which designed chips for wireless devices. [cite news |first= |last= |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=UPDATE: Zucotto demise inevitable, former manager says |url=http://www.ottawabusinessjournal.com/277484258667627.php |work=Ottawa Business Journal |publisher= |date=Mar 11, 2003 |accessdate=2008-06-10 ]The
Main-belt Asteroid named29348 Criswick , discovered in 1995 byDavid D. Balam , is named after him.He has signed up for one of
Virgin Galactic 's trips to space, which brought him coverage inThe Globe and Mail [cite news |first=Matthew |last=Trevisan |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=Three, two, one - commence bragging. A quick and easy trip into space may be the next frontier for the been-there-done-that traveller
url=http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070718.wspace18/BNStory/specialTravel/home/|work=Globe and Mail |publisher= |date=July 18, 2007 at 9:18 AM EDT |accessdate=2008-06-10 ] and on CTV'sCanada AM show. [cite news |first= |last= |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=Canadian books galactic ticket into space
url=http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20070625/space_tourist_070625 |work=CTV news |publisher= |date=June 25, 2007 |accessdate=2008-06-10 ]Philanthropy
Criswick's primary charity motivation is astronomy and space research as a means to spark interest in young minds' pursuit of
higher education . His main interest is theUniversity of Victoria 's department ofPhysics andAstronomy .References
* [http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/technology/story.html?id=3dc2860a-e30f-45df-a5d9-94f372fe5095 Hum, Peter. Rocket Man. Otawa Citizen, Thursday, September 28, 2006]
* [http://ring.uvic.ca/01jan05/criswick.html Software developer presents UVic with astronomical gift, The RIng, University of Victoria, Jan 5, 2001]
* [http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=29348+Criswick JPL Small-Body Database Browser on 29348 Criswick]
* [http://www.blackberrycool.com/2006/06/07/001850/ Article on BlackBerryCool]External links
* [http://www.magmic.com/ Magmic Games]
* [http://www.rovemobile.com/ Rove Mobile]
* [http://www.mercurylounge.com/ Mercury Lounge]
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