Tania Samsonova

I am a translator and a technical writer. I have published several book translations (Margaret Atwood's "Life before Man", 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 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 just completed translation, for a Russian publisher, of "Nation" by Terry Pratchett. After that, I will start working on "The Year of the Flood", the latest book by Margaret Atwood. *** 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: True names and eternal questions: Vernor Vinge and the cyberspace frontier

May 6, 2010 - 11:52 pm

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Posted in - General Info, 5 Social Enabler?, 6 Cool Tech | 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

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Posted in - General Info, 5 Social Enabler? | 6 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 and [...]

CloudCamp 2. Cloud Computing: Return on Investment

May 5, 2010 - 4:15 am

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Posted in 2 Defining the Cloud | 6 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 computing [...]

MicroSkills and macro changes

April 29, 2010 - 2:28 am

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Posted in 5 Social Enabler? | 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

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Posted in 2 Defining the Cloud | 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

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Posted in 5 Social Enabler?, Misc | 4 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 in [...]

Book review: Tom Rand, Kick The Fossil Fuel Habit

April 22, 2010 - 2:02 am

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Posted in 4 Green Tech | 4 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 3 Open Data | 2 comments

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) many  groups [...]

What’s most important in enterprise IT?

March 31, 2010 - 4:14 am

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Posted in - General Info, 5 Social Enabler? | 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 code, create design specifications, [...]

Who invented the X-ray?

March 16, 2010 - 1:03 am

Posted in 1 Mobile Revolution, 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!
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Note: the hyperlink in the above text does not always appear, due to some [...]