Movers & Shakers: Lunar New Year at Burnaby's Lougheed mall

Celebrate the Lunar New Year at Lougheed Town Centre this weekend.

To welcome the Year of the Dog, the mall is hosting a party featuring a drum performance by Cheondoong Performing Arts, dancing, martial arts and free Chinese calligraphy. The icing on the cake? A traditional Chinese lion dance.

Guests will also get a fortune cookie and a lucky red envelope containing a $5 Lougheed gift card (there’s a limited supply of gift cards, so arrive early).

The festivities get underway at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Feb. 10. Lougheed Town Centre is located at 9855 Austin Ave. For more info, go to tinyurl.com/LunarYearEvents.

There’s an app for that

Hands up if you’ve ever gotten lost in Metropolis at Metrotown?

Me too.

Well, the folks at the mall want to help change all that. They’ve developed an app to help guests navigate the more than 1 million square feet of retail space.

The Metropolis at Metrotown app features an interactive map of the mall, including its nearly 400 stores that allows you to mark your parking spot and make the most of a trip to the mall. It also lets you create a personalized profile, browse deals, find dining options and movie times, and get the latest mall news and event info, according to a press release.

Download the app today at the Apple App Store or on Google Play. For more info click here.

A winning idea

Burnaby’s own Cypress Solutions has won $10,000 to turn its smart gateway technology into a reality.

The money is part of $50,000 given to five winning tech companies whose proposals wowed the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure and the B.C. Innovation Council during the recent Internet of Things competition.

The challenge, presented at the 2017 #BCTECH Summit, tasked companies from across the province to come up with solutions to improve safety and transportation, according to a government press release.

Cypress Solutions’ proposal aims to gather sensor readings from multiple collection points, process the data and send it to the government in order to provide more thorough information about roads in remote areas to help improve road maintenance response times.

“Every day, we rely on thousands of sensors and cameras throughout the province to provide real-time information, so people can plan their travel safely, no matter the conditions,” said Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure Claire Trevena in the release. “It’s exciting to engage with local tech talent to find out-of-the-box ideas that will improve traffic flow, relay road conditions and keep our highways well maintained.”