Despite our best efforts compute clusters and robots still need help and TinEye can’t build all it needs on its own. So we need help. We are hiring for a number of positions but our first need is live on our website: we are looking for an awesome system administrator. Learn about Idée, TinEye – our great reverse image search engine – and our environment before dropping us a note. Would love to hear from you!

Hello, fellow nerds and geeks! If you:

a) looooove technology

b) are a STUDENT (proof required)

and

c) live in the Greater Toronto Area

Then you’re in luck! Because we’ve got two student tickets to meshU burning a hole in our collective pocket, and they’re up for grabs!

For those out of the loop, meshU is “…a one-day event of focused workshops on design, development and team management given by those who have earned their stripes in the startup game”. You will get to hear from–and hang out with–some pretty cool peeps in the technology arena.

The TinEye team is all about technology love, and the execution of great ideas. So if you’re interested in scoring a ticket for the big day on May 17th, drop us a line and tell us why you want to go. What tools and technologies are you into? What cool projects are you working on? What are your plans for world domination?

The two most interesting responses (as judged by our staff of robots) will each receive one ticket. We will be accepting entries until Wednesday May 5th at midnight, EST. Winners will be announced the following day! Remember, you must be a student to use these tickets, and meshU will ask for identification.

Oh, and this probably goes without saying, but meshU is a small event and tickets sold out… so if you won’t be able to make it to Toronto for the 17th yourself, please be a dear and wait for the next TinEye giveaway. Thanks!

Yesterday the National Post poked fun at the cover of the new City of Toronto “Fun Guide”. The image of a smiling family on the cover was photoshopped to replace the original man in the photo with someone else.

A graphics editor at the National Post saw the suspicious-looking cover and decided to run it through TinEye. Sure enough, TinEye was able to locate the original image.

Compare the original image with the Fun Guide version by rolling your mouse over the image below.

As we mentioned last week, the sleeveface contest at the idéeplex during our TinEye Music beta release party was a ton of fun. Now it’s time to select the winners of our sleeveface-off.

To // Sleeveface // : one or more persons obscuring or augmenting any part of their body or bodies with record sleeve(s) causing an illusion.

Here’s the official “How to Sleeveface” video:

As we told our friends at the iParty, the best of the sleeveface snapshots will win a prize.  Jen Dodd clearly pulled off a winning sleeveface with her Nina Hagen look below, so she’s queued up for a prize for sure.

Who else do you think deserves a little something for their sleevefacing efforts? Leave us your comments with your top two picks from the photos below and we’ll tally up the votes and award two more prizes.

Okay, so those are our contestants for the prizes.  But wait! I have a few more snaps for you – here are the idéalists avoiding work on a Friday afternoon by sleevefacing:

If you are diggin’ the sleeveface you can see more on Flickr and Facebook. Even fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld is into sleeveface (kind of anyway).

Happy sleevefacing friends! If you try it out remember to post a link to your photos in the comments, we’d love to see them.

Last week we gave you a heads up about the upcoming AWS Start-Up Tour. Here are a few more details about the Toronto stop.

The team from Amazon will be in town on September 15th (that’s been changed from the 16th) and our CEO and CTO will be speaking at the half-day meet and learn event showcasing companies and technologies that use AWS services.

Last year’s AWS Start-Up Tour featured AideRSS, Geezeo, Renkoo, SmugMug, Slideshare, Animoto, Ooyala and more. You can check out a number of their presentations from the 2007 tour over on slideshare.

If you are interested in attending this year’s event here in Toronto, head on over to the Start-Up Tour site to learn a bit more or register today.

Where: MaRS Discovery Centre

Who: Local CEOs, CTOs, founders of start-ups and investors

When: 2pm-5pm, followed by a networking reception

Event Schedule:

2:00-2:20    Opening Statements by Adam Selipsky, VP, Amazon Web Services

2:20-3:00    AWS Presentation by Mike Culver, Evangelist, Amazon Web Services

3:15-4:05    Presentations:
Carlos Barrettara, Co-Founder, Polar Mobile
Ilya Grigorik, Co-Founder, AideRSS
Chris Thiessen, Founder, Zoomii
Leila Boujnane, Chief Executive Officer, Idee Inc. (that’s us!)
Farhan Thawar, Chief Software Architect, I Love Rewards

4:05-4:35    Q&A

4:35-5:00    Closing Statements by Adam Selipsky, VP, Amazon Web Services

5:00-7:00    Cocktail/Networking Reception

If that doesn’t sound like a slam-dunk of an event for start-ups in the early stages of a project that might benefit from the AWS offerings, I don’t know what would.  See you there!

Amazon’s Web Services Start-Up Tour will be stopping in Toronto this month for a half-day meet, greet and learn event. Idée’s CTO Paul Bloore and CEO Leila Boujnane have been tapped to present to entrepreneurs and developers interested in learning more about how local startups have been innovating on the AWS platform.

From Amazon:

What does every tech start-up need, besides a great idea?  The ability to scale their business and their infrastructure – on demand.  Amazon Web Services provides entrepreneurs access to Amazon’s robust infrastructure and technological resources via services such as Amazon EC2 and Amazon S3.

Amazon Web Services is holding several half-day events, in start-up “hot spots” around the country. Come learn how Amazon Web Services empowers entrepreneurship, innovation and sustainable growth.

The AWS Start-Up Tour is a great opportunity for founders and leaders of start-up/early-stage companies and VCs to find out more about Amazon Web Services through the real-world experiences of others who have developed unique and creative ideas that incorporate the AWS platform (like our recently released image search engine, TinEye).

The event will be held on September 15th from 2-5pm and ends with a cocktail/networking reception from 5-7pm.

Involved with or thinking about a project that might benefit from the AWS offerings? This event might be for you. Learn more or RSVP.  Don’t forget to say hello to our CEO and CTO while you’re there!