Village Gamer

Kobo Wireless eReader is now available at Best Buy Canada, both in-store and online. You can pick up the Onyx, Pearlized Lilac or Metallic Silver eReaders for $149.00 each from Best Buy, Chapters-Indigo or Walmart stores across Canada.

The 2011 Canada 3.0 conference has opened registration for this year’s event, which will take place in Stratford on May 2nd through 5th. The Early Bird rate of $495.00 + taxes and service charge will be available until midnight on March 3th, when ticket prices will go up to $695.00 + taxes and processing charge. There is a StartUp/Small Business/Non-Profit price available for $225.00 + taxes and service charge as well as ticketing options for students. If you register before February 18th you will automatically be entered for a draw to win a copy of MacroWikinomics, personally addressed and signed by author Anthony D. Williams. Please see the Canada 3.0 web site for this year’s confirmed speakers.

Monde Media and Bug Tracker have made two personnel announcements this morning – Jean-Robert Michel, Monde Media’s former General Manager has moved into the dual role of Production Director for both Bug-Tracker and Monde Media, while Monde Media’s former COO has become the new Client Relationship Director for both entities.

In other comings and goings, the BC Technology Industry Association announced today that its President, Pascal Spothelfer will leave the organization June 30^th to return to the corporate sector. Spothelfer was appointed President & CEO of the BC Technology Industry Association in November of 2007, and since that time has successfully raised the level of recognition of the organization and BC’s technology industry through his leadership, commitment to collaboration, and tireless advocacy efforts.

“My past three years at the BCTIA have allowed me to get to know our technology community on a very different level. It has been most rewarding both personally and professionally,” said Spothelfer. “I have met and worked with incredibly smart, engaged and inspiring people – experiences that will fuel my passion to assist in the further growth of BC’s technology industry not just until my departure from the BCTIA, but in whatever role I pursue in the future. “

Paul Gorton, Chair of the BCTIA commented, “We will greatly miss having Pascal’s passion and vision. On behalf of the Board, I thank Pascal for his commitment to the BCTIA, and we wish him the utmost success in the future.”

Pascal will continue to lead the BCTIA and work with the board on the leadership transition until his departure at the end of June. A formal search has been initiated by the BCTIA and will be facilitated by Odgers Berndtson. Please contact Caroline Jellinck at 604 602 2556 for more information.

Canadian developers seem to have a thing for hippos – here is some info from three Canadian enterprises which contain “hippo” in their names.

Rock Hippo Productions Ltd has launched the second closed beta for its cartoon-style third person action shooter, MicroVolts. This second phase of testing will continue for approximately two weeks in preparation for the official release day. In addition, the company has released all-new screen shots of the game and is holding a special “Free-for-All” tournament which will kick off Saturday, February 5th. Winning players will be awarded their choice of any weapon they want to use with the launch of the Open Beta. Players who visit the game’s website will be able to learn more about the game and the events as well as register for a beta key.

MicroVolts features fast paced, third person shooter action and pits players against each other in a secret battle that has been waged and going unnoticed right in our own backyard for years. No one knows for sure when or where the first toy declared war but rumor has it that the uprising began with four original limited edition figures, code named MicroVolts. Battle lines were drawn when Naomi, Knox, Pandora, and C.H.I.P.-the prototypes a-were soon joined by an endless number of modified versions. Now, toy figures around the world are engaged in an all-out war for valuable battery resources and supremacy of the Micro World. All we can do now is stay out of their way and wait for a champion to be declared!

With a ton of weapons, inventive character designs, and a huge list of customization features, MicroVolts is destined to invigorate and re-energize the Free2play space. Intuitive controls and a third person view make the game easy to play and fun for both newcomers and veterans of shooter games. Game modes include Free for All, Team Deathmatch, Item Match, Capture the Battery, and many more featuring various maps designed by toy concept.

Tiny Hippos, a start-up based in Waterloo, has a product which will be of interest to all of you mobile developers out there. According to its site, this product, which is named Ripple Emulator, is a multi-platform mobile environment emulator that runs in a web browser and is custom-tailored to HTML5 mobile application testing. Ripple aims to reduce the challenges being faced by mobile developers caused by today’s platform fragmentation in the marketplace.

Ripple is built as a Chrome extension, running as part of the Chrome browser and takes advantage of our back-end services to perform some of the more complex operations. It offers the ability to look under the hood of your mobile applications, gaining full visibility into what your it is doing. It also allows for the use of existing tools to perform JavaScript debugging, HTML DOM inspection, automated testing, as well as multiple device and screen resolution emulation in real-time without having to redeploy the mobile application or restart the emulator.

Meanwhile, just down the highway a bit from Tiny Hippos is Mercury Grove, an Ottawa-based developer who has an enterprise called Network Hippo, which according to Mercury Grove’s site connects to users’ email, address books, and social networks to consolidate all of their professional contacts, remind them to stay in touch with important people, and makes it easy to connect online or through email. Mercury Grove also offers a service called Web Collaboration, which is an online workspaces for internal teams, partners, and clients. Unlike other team sharing services, Web Collaboration can be setup in minutes and requires no download, installation or administration.

Another collaboration-style service I stumbled across is Vancouver-developed Jostle. I found this site because the person behind Jostle’s Twitter account retweeted one of my Game Design Expo live tweets. According to the Jostle web site, a People Engagement Platform™ that glues enterprises together. This platform enables innovative companies to clarify their organization, reveal hidden expertise and engage their employees. Jostle is enterprise software that is accessible from any web-enabled device and works like a website, without the need to install software.

Toronto’s Blue74 Labs has released a statement announcing that IIA, the studio’s critically acclaimed real-life massively multiplayer “outdoor” role-playing game sold tens of thousands of memberships in the first 48 hours of its release, making it the fastest-selling ARG game of all time. The IIA Spy Game is being compared to blockbuster hits “The Game”, “Spy Game”, and “Halting State”, a book by Charles Stross.

The IIA (International Intelligence Agency) is a real life multi-player game that gives players a real life, real feel, “off computer” role-playing game. Players don’t know about the actual game play until they are engaged in the game, which was made globally available on January 24th via a small posting on the popular “Ycombinator: Hacker News”, a web site for Internet start-ups. Expectations were less than 100 memberships to be sold the first day, Mike Curry noticed a very heavy load on his web server – realizing the game had gone viral. Registration for the game is $5.00, which interested players send via PayPal.

The company does have an official site for the game, however they are not releasing the information until its members exercise a critical classified mission. It’s believed that the mission entails a Remote Controlled UAV helicopter taking aerial photographs of the building that houses their website. It’s believed they are doing this to ensure the security of the building.

In an article released yesterday on Gamasutra, Nexon America VP of Business Development Won Il Sue spoke with reporter Chris Nutt about the million dollar Nexon iNitiative, during which the publisher asked for game dev submissions from studios around the world. Coming out at the top of heap with signed deals: One2Tribe from Poland, and Ontario studio Antic Entertainment. Nexon did not reveal exactly what type of game the London, ON Antic team is working on, other than to say one of the studios is working on a Facebook game and that both games, while somewhat of an unusual nature for Nexon, will be of the social media genre. In the meantime, check out Antic’s free to play Junk Battles, a browser-based free-to-play fast-paced vehicle combat game.

All’s fair in love and war in cartoon-land as TeleToon Retro couples pursue the love of fans and a spot in TeleToon Retro’s Hall of Fame as the Top 5 Sweethearts in honour of Valentine’s Day. Starting today and running until Sunday, February 6, viewers can vote online for their top 5 favourite cartoon love matches, for a place in TeleToon Retro history.

TeleToon Retro has narrowed the field to 18 classic animated admirers and is inviting fans to select which couples are the Top 5 Sweethearts of all-time. The list of nominees for the Top 5 Sweethearts is made up of the following cartoon couples:

Following the voting period, the Top 5 Sweethearts will be announced on Friday, February 11 and a special programming marathon featuring all five couples will air as part of the “Retro Rewind” programming block on Sunday, February 13 from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. ET. These winners will be inducted into the TeleToon Retro Hall of Fame, joining the Top 5 favourite cartoon characters of all-time as chosen by the fans in December 2010.

This initiative in Ontario is an example that should be implemented in every region of the country and around the world. Preserving our past before it disappears is an important part of remembering where we came from and how we got here. Of course, all of these digital files will be shared across what is rapidly becoming a very expensive internet. If our government fails to rein in the Canadian ISPs and the CRTC overlords, none of us will be able to afford to spend much time surfing around the museums learning about humanity and downloading files that allow us to hear the voices of our fore-bearers – never mind those of us who need to be able to download & upload large files in the course of what we do. Read the rest of this entry »

There is a ton of news coming out of the Canadian Creatisphere today. Grab a coffee and let’s take a look at what’s going on so far. Congratulations to the team over at Capcom Studios Vancouver whose Dead Rising 2: Case Zero game was the top selling title last year on XBLA with 689 000 units downloaded to Xboxes around the world. Congratulations also to the Assassin’s Creed team over at Ubisoft Montreal for being named as the Guinness world record holder with Assassin’s Creed II being featured on 127 international publications between April 2009 and April 2010.

A free version of The Balls! Extreme Sports Ball Busting has been released by Savant Inc. The Balls game is compatible with the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad; the paid version is listed at 99 cents USD. The free version offers OpenFeint and the same great graphics, audio, and frantic gameplay as the paid version, with a teaser for another mode coming in the future.

Riese: The Battle for Eleysia by Genius Factor Games has had an update to its features, along with a bug fix. Add features include the addition of Head-to-Head Multiplayer (via local wifi), stability improvements and aforementioned bug fixes, along with updates to the battle screens, How To Play help and screen-flow for editing decks. Riese: The Battle for Eleysia sells in the iTunes App Store for $2.99 USD.

Drift Mania Championship is now available worldwide on the Mac AppStore for $2.99. This new high-resolution version includes all the in-app purchase items that are available as options in the iOS version. As with all previous platform versions, the Mac AppStore version is loaded with new features like real drifting, as well as the ability to compete with users who are on other iOS or Android devices. Experience longer burnouts, taking 11 different vehicles through 3 levels of difficulty on 8 tracks as you compete to take over the global leaderboards.

ACM SIGGRAPH Vancouver has just announced its latest event, which will be held on February 8th in the Djavad Mowafaghian Cinema at the SFU Woodward’s campus on West Hastings. Tron – Cult Favourite to Franchise will feature two presentations that will take a look at this convergence of  Vancouver film and game development teams. The first presentation will cover the visual effects used in the making of TRON and TRON: Legacy. This session will be presented by TRON animator and programmer Frank Vitz and Darren Poe, Digital Supervisor at Digital Domain Vancouver.  In the second presentation, former Propaganda Games Technical Art Director Gary Snyder and Art Director David Patch will share their experiences working with the TRON: Legacy film team to recreate the TRON assets and storyline in the video game TRON: Evolution. Tickets for this event are $25.00 for non-SIGGRAPH members or $15.00 for members and include a pre-event social mixer.

Hothead Games has released part two of the Ask Dr. Mike video series with Dr. Mike Hayward. Watch this intense and dramatic documentary which studies the habits of Swarmites as they weave their way through diabolical and unrelenting gauntlets of death and destruction, attempting to be the last pudgy blue moron still standing. It is highly recommended that those who are planning to take over their own Swarm colonies study the video series closely, so that you will be prepared for any situation into which your Swarmites will undoubtedly  place themselves. If you have the opportunity to practice herding cats, I suggest you take advantage of the experience.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ySRKr8omkY]

As part of the PlayStation®Network “11 for 11” sale, players can grab Big Sandwich’s thrilling dragon-themed game HOARD™ for half-price until January 31st. With game play for 1 to 4 players, HOARD™ combines action and strategy elements to create an innovative gameplay mix unlike anything else on the store. The game features over 35 levels, 4 game modes, 100+ badges to earn, trophy support, leaderboards, and any combination of couch and online players. Best of all, HOARD™ puts the dragon in the hero’s role, where he must strive against cruel knights, fierce wizards, conniving burglars, and even rampaging giants.

Critics and consumers alike have appreciated HOARD’s unique design. IGN recently honored HOARD™ with the “Best Quick Fix” Best of 2010 award, and the game was also nominated in the “Best Competitive Multiplayer” category. Joystiq says “HOARD’s gameplay shines,” and 1UP reports “the game hides a surprising layer of complexity and strategy.”

“If you’ve been keeping an eye on HOARD™ but have been waiting for the right time to try it, now’s officially that time,” says Glenn Barnes, Big Sandwich’s Creative Director. “For less than 8 bucks you get a proven, acclaimed game with over 20 hours of gameplay. It’s a no-brainer.”

Don’t forget to get your nominations in for The Technology Impact Awards. The BCTIA will be accepting submissions for BC’s top technology innovations, companies and individuals from all sectors until March 11th. The TIAs will be held on the evening of June 9th at the Vancouver Convention Centre. The Award categories are as follows:

Technology Awards: Most Promising Pre-Commercial Technology, Excellence in Product Innovation and Best Application of Technology

Company Awards: Most Promising Start-up, Emerging Company of the Year and Company of the Year

Personal Recognition Awards: Team of the Year, Community Engagement and Person of the Year

The Canadian Marketing Association invites you to attend the 2nd Annual CMA Awards Case Study event, where attendees will join Master of Ceremonies Aldo Cundari in a close-up look at some of today’s top creative works and better understand how they came to be CMA Award winners. The Case Study event will be held in the Victoria Room at  Toronto’s Metropolitan Hotel on February 2nd from 3:30 – 5:30pm, with a networking social immediately following the session. All-inclusive tickets are $75.00 each for CMA members or $95.00 earch for non-members. Tickets for the cocktail party only are $25.00 each for CMA members or $30.00 each for non-members.

Merging+Media has announced that there will be a Spring session featuring Anita Ondine-Smith, who will present an exclusive Transmedia Seminar + Lab on April 28th and 29th at the VanCity Theatre in Vancouver. The focus of this session will be a 1/2 day Seminar with a 1 ½ day hands-on in-depth lab on the full cycle of Transmedia development, writing, production and distribution from Conception to Consumption. Event participants will obtain a framework for production as well as Creative Toolkit and Business Strategies for Transmedia production. This Transmedia theory, Case studies and architectural workshop is designed to provide tools to create successful transmedia productions. The seminar portion of the event will be open to 100-150 people, while 20-24 producers, writers, broadcasters, commissioning editors will be selected to take part in the workshop.

Merging+Media has also confirmed that the next full conference and master class will be returning in October. Like the first conference held last fall, this event will feature world class speakers and experts who will present “Best in Class” case studies and high calibre discussions on the business of cross-media production. The two day programme will include a Masterclass + Conference, International B2B Matchmaking, Networking receptions, M+M Socializer + Digital Gallery to showcase our latest local technology. The Merging+Media 2011 Masterclass will include the Merging+Media Pitch and Development Prize. Keep an eye on the Merging+Media site for confirmed dates and speakers.

The Canadian Telecom Summit has early bird pricing available until February 28th, which means you can save $200.00 off the regular registration price. The 10th annual Canadian Telecom Summit will be taking place in Toronto on May 31st through June 2nd and offers three days of discussion regarding the key issues and trends surrounding the Canadian Telecom industry.

Group buying site SwarmJam, which launched across all Postmedia Network properties in December has expanded to the Winnipeg area through a partnership with the Winnipeg Free Press. The promotion-based system uses a platform through which consumers are connected with local businesses. SwarmJam’s group buying service offers savings of 50% or better, which for some deals can actually grow progressively better as more people sign onl For “progressive deals”, when the offer closes, the number of cumulative purchases determines the actual discount. So, these deals become better as subscribers share the promotion with friends, family and people in their social network. Users of the service simply sign up for a free subscription to get the SwarmJam Winnipeg Daily Deal emailed directly to their inbox. They can then click on deals they like, pay online, print the certificate and visit the business to redeem it. There are currently thirteen major urban and suburban areas which offer SwarmJam deals.

Wicked Interactive, publisher of Mission Against Terror, has launched Occupation Mode with a twist. Alongside the hotly anticipated new game mode which brings hardcore, capture-the-flag-style gameplay comes the chance to win the most unique and priceless weapon so far seen in the popular, free-to-play shooter – the Golden AK-47.

“We have been saving this announcement for just the right moment,” said Sam Ho, Director, Wicked Interactive. “With the frenzy of excitement over Occupation Mode, it seemed like the perfect time to blow everyone’s minds with this news. The Golden AK-47 is the ultimate showpiece for the M.A.T. community.”

The Lottery System enables players to take a break from a raw competition of Occupation Mode. Just like any other lottery, players step up, lay down their ticket and spin an actual wheel that appears right in the middle of the screen. The Golden AK-47 is merely the ultimate prize; there are plenty more for those who are feeling lucky.

“There are a whole assortment of weapons that the Lottery System offers,” added Ho. “Many, like the Golden AK-47, are one-of-a-kind items that cannot be purchased. We hope the M.A.T. Community enjoys the new System. It’s our way of helping them forget the winter doldrums.

Congratulations to the team behind Moderation Town. The web series, along with the show’s producers Stitch Media picked up the nextMEDIA Digital Launch Pad Award at this year’s NATPE conference which just wrapped in Miami.

One of my favourite new shows on HGTV Canada, Design DNA, which is produced by  Toronto’s Castlewood Productions has been picked up by Australia’s Beyond Distribution for international television distribution. If you haven’t yet seen the show, here is it’s official synopsis: Design DNA combines the simplicity of “How It’s Made”, the popular manufacturing show, with high style design. This show focuses on the amazing stories of the world’s most extraordinary and ordinary pieces of home design. From the first spark of conception throughout the trial and error of design, to the factory floor, and finally to a stunning reveal in a magnificent home, each episode features the life story of three iconic and sometimes not so iconic pieces of home design. Who knew that one of the garbage cans in our house was inspired by classic art design – certainly not us when we bought it – but we do now. 😉

The Quebec Technology Association (AQT) has launched a broad survey of CEOs and executives of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) companies across Quebec. Christened “AQT Barometer”, this survey will provide a picture of business practices and key issues, while also highlighting the growth requirements of this sector which is of strategic importance to the Quebec economy. Data collection will continue through the following weeks and the results will be unveiled in May 2011.

“The ICT industry is a powerful lever for the entire economy, explained Nicole Martel, Chief Executive Officer of AQT. The AQT Barometer will enhance our understanding of the sector’s evolution, making it possible to develop strategies to effectively support the growth of some 2000 Quebec ICT companies. In addition, the study will allow the AQT to better tailor its programs and tools to the needs of its members.”

The AQT Barometer will provide a detailed profile of ICT companies operating in Quebec and identify indicators to form a basis for comparison to track the sector’s progression. These indicators will also serve to develop the AQT Index which will be used to measure the annual growth of the ICT sector based on data relating to human resources, innovation, income, and ICT exports. The survey will be conducted by the SOM survey firm. Participants in this survey will get a customized report comparing their own business to similar ones in Quebec. ICT companies willing to take part in the survey may obtain their password to the online survey by communicating with AQT.

Go Explore Canada is a multimedia app available as a free download from both the Apple App Store and Android Market. The app resulted from a joint effort of brothers Jon and Mark Pedersen who have years of Canadian film and television production experience, including the Canadian Antiques Roadshow, documentaries for CBC, CTV and IFC and Jon’s feature film Tuesday, Wednesday.

Go Explore Canada covers travel anywhere in Canada (including the high Arctic) with extensive listings in all ten provinces and three territories, many with multimedia, and the producers – Go Explore Everywhere Inc – have loaded it with the top natural wonders and travel attractions of Canada. They also sell listings to the top restaurants, hotels and clubs, and it already has 5,000 locations with more being added every day.

Users of Appolicious say Go Explore Canada is one of the top 10 Canadian apps: “So you’ve arrived in Canada. What next? This app has tours based on your province, city, and what kinds of tourism you’re into. I definitely can vouch that the Toronto tour hits all the major amusing activities/sites in the city and surrounding areas.”

The producers of Go Explore Canada have streamlined the latest version with new Category searches that allow users to easily zero in on what they want to find anywhere in the country. One of the challenges was to build an app this big while making sure it doesn’t crash. Working closely with their software developers, the producers have come up with an app that occupies little space on the phone but still runs fast.

“We wanted to make an app that’s the one to have if you’re travelling in Canada,” says Mark Pedersen, one of the two Maritime brothers who have expanded their media production company to include multimedia apps.

The more than 5,000 Points of Interest are searchable by province, territory and city with sections for nature and adventure, history, fun things to do, eating, sleeping, night life, transportation, essential services and more. Each POI has a pin on the map, address, phone number, description and direct link to its web site that can be surfed without losing your place on the app tour. The sites can also buy embedded multimedia that plays instantly off their listing.

Go Explore Canada has been so successful that the producers have also begun selling branded map-based apps to other clients in three different sizes. All their apps come with patented Tour Builder software developed by their U.S. partner, Bar Z Adventures. The software allows app clients to change the content as often as they like simply by logging on to the dedicated server with their password.

Creativeworks Productions is pleased to announce that their video In Your Own Words was a gold award winner in this year’s prestigious Pixie Awards competition, which honours outstanding creativity in motion graphics, FX and animation. The In Your Own Words video was created for Seneca College, where for almost 45 years, Seneca’s commitment to quality post-secondary education has provided the foundation for students to become successful career-ready graduates in business, industry and the communities in which they live. The video was created to launch a multimedia campaign for Seneca College students aimed at obtaining their opinions in a fun and engaging format while also giving them an opportunity to hear and see their new President.

“Seneca’s In Your Own Words campaign gave students an opportunity to tell us in their own words the type of Seneca they want”, said Seneca’s President, David Agnew. “The need for student involvement in designing Seneca’s future community is a critical component. By using new media such as the green screen video and special effects, In Your Own Words achieved excellent results. We’re thrilled with the recognition received by the video produced by Creativeworks Productions. It played an important role in the success of this project.”

Creativeworks Productions’ President Doug Hohener says, “This video was part of an exciting multimedia student engagement program for the College. The challenge we were given was to target college students with an “out of the box” solution that was fresh, innovative, fast-paced and engaging, while communicating the College’s key messages. The result seems to have hit the mark!”

The Pixie Awards are sponsored by The American Pixel Academy, whose goal is to connect creative visual professionals in the pixel media with educators and judged by top industry professionals, all of whom have won significant awards for their work.

The Female Eye Film Festival (FeFF) launches its 9th annual showcase and celebration of films directed by women with a bang! This March 16 to 20, 2011, join us as we take a look through the lens at sex, violence and politics through the Female Eye. This years’ line up, slated to be unveiled at the Female Eye Media Sizzler which will be held at Toronto’s Gladstone Hotel on February 24th, will prove to be both a mainstream and unusual mix of salacious, revelatory and provocative cinema.

The Female Eye Film Festival is recognized around the world as an opportunity for both established and first-time filmmakers to experience an international independent film festival, meet and interact with internationally recognized directors and showcase their work. “There are very few festivals that give you the opportunity to spend quality time with your fellow filmmakers and to make what we’re sure will be long-lasting personal and professional relationships,” reflected Richard Wilson, L.A. Producer of FEFF 2010’s closing night gala film Nothing Special.

Attendees of the festival will enjoy five full days of extraordinary films along with Script Readings, Industry Panel Discussions, the Directors Round Table, The 3rd Women In The Directors Chair Career Advancement Module, Best in The Biz Series and the Honorary Director Brunch and Tribute. An Opening Night Gala will kick off the festival followed by exciting parties each night leading to the closing night awards reception and gala. All screenings will take place at the Rainbow Cinemas Market Square, 80 Front Street East, while the FEFF hotel partner, the Novotel Toronto Centre, 45 The Esplanade will host all panel discussions, workshops and award ceremonies. Party & other venues TBA.

Trellia Networks a Montreal-based provider of enterprise mobility management solutions, today announced the “Enabling iPhone and iPad for the Enterprise” webinar on Thursday February 3, 2011. This session is designed for organizations looking to overcome the cost and security challenges associated with embracing iOS devices for business use.

The consumerization of mobile devices in the enterprise is an unstoppable trend, with iPhones and iPads leading the way. Chances are that in almost every enterprise a handful of mobile users are already asking IT to support them. On the other hand, some enterprises recognize that these devices represent a powerful new set of tools: from new presentation options to custom applications, iOS devices present the enterprise with an opportunity to take their mobile business to a whole new level. If your organization is considering support for iOS devices, whether corporate or personal, this webinar is for you.

Best Buy Mobile, the mobile specialty retail unit of Best Buy Canada, announces the launch of Free Phone Fridays at all stores across Canada. Beginning February 4 and running every Friday in February, Best Buy Mobile will feature two to three free mobile phones in all Best Buy and Best Buy Mobile specialty stores across Canada.

Each week will feature at least one high-end, in-demand smart phone for free with a new, in-store three-year activation. Reward Zone members will receive 2,500 points for every new, in-store activation or renewal (based on new in-store three-year activations. Minimum voice and data plan required. See in-store and online for details). The free phones will be announced every Thursday to the company’s Facebook fans and Twitter followers.

Best Buy Mobile has become a leading destination for smart phones and accessories, in part because of the promises the store offers its customers: better choice of phones and networks; impartial, informed advice; straightforward pricing; and someone to be there for the life of the phone. In addition, Best Buy Mobile offers an array of services aimed at improving the mobile phone buying experience, including:

* Upgrade Checker: A quick and easy service that gives customers the ability to see when they are eligible for their next phone upgrade. Best Buy Mobile Specialists can review customers’ current plan to determine which upgrade options they are eligible for and can help customers change plans or providers if they are unhappy with their current carrier plan.

* Walk Out Working™: Free in-store smart phone setup by a Best Buy Mobile Specialist who will sync personal email accounts, set up Bluetooth headsets, transfer contacts and activate other services to allow the customer to leave the store with a fully functional new smart phone.

The Walrus Foundation and Aeroplan have launched The Walrus Foundation Amateur Travel Photography Contest. Sponsored by Aeroplan, this nationwide contest will be judged by acclaimed photographer Edward Burtynsky, The Walrus magazine’s art director Brian Morgan, and the Canadian public. The contest is open to Canadian residents, and the winning photo will be published in The Walrus magazine. The winning amateur photographer will also receive 100,000 Aeroplan Miles courtesy of Aeroplan, and an invitation for two to The Walrus Foundation Gala in January 2012. In addition, a full gallery of photographs from the runners-up will be showcased on the contest page.

“This is a great opportunity for photography fans and travelers alike to get out and snap photos of their favourite destinations, unique landscapes and off the beaten path locations or even be creative in their own city,” said David Klein, Vice President, Marketing, Aeroplan. “For the last few years, through our partnership with the Art Gallery of Ontario, we’ve been trying to raise the profile of photography with the Grange Prize. Aeroplan is thrilled to be a part of this contest and to be working with The Walrus Foundation to encourage participation in this important art form.”

For those unfamiliar with The Walrus Foundation, it is a charitable non-profit organization with a mandate to promote public discourse on matters vital to our country. The Foundation is dedicated to supporting Canadian writers, artists, readers, education, ideas, and debate. First and foremost, we achieve these goals by publishing The Walrus magazine ten times a year. We also produce public debates, leadership events, and run an intensive internship program training the next generation of leaders of media and the arts.

“The Walrus Foundation is a keen supporter of Canadian artists, both established and emerging,” said The Walrus Foundation’s executive director and co-publisher Shelley Ambrose. “We’re delighted to be working with Aeroplan and Edward Burtynsky to showcase Canadian photographers and their unique perspectives on our world.”

The Walrus Travel Photography contest begins today with the release of the March issue of The Walrus, and officially closes on May 31, 2011. Judges will select a shortlist of ten photos Between May 31 and July 1, 2011. Throughout the summer of 2011, readers of The Walrus magazine and visitors to the contest page will be asked to vote for their favourite photo. The winning photo will be selected on August 27, 2011, and will be featured along with a short essay in the special double winter January/February issue of The Walrus.

January 19, 2011 – The Walrus Foundation Amateur Travel Photography Contest sponsored by Aeroplan opens
May 31, 2011 – The last day for entrants to submit their travel photos to The Walrus Foundation
July 1, 2011 – Judges Edward Burtynsky and Brian Morgan release shortlist of ten photos, and public voting opens
August 26, 2011 – Public voting ends, and the winning photo is selected
December 5, 2011 – The winning photo will be published in The Walrus magazine
January 18, 2012 – The winning amateur photographer and a guest will attend The 4th Annual Walrus Foundation Gala

As public favour of the CRTC begins heading for an all-time low with growing complaints about its lack of action in regards to Canadian ISPs, the Commission has reaffirmed its support for the Commissioner for Complaints for Telecommunications Services (CCTS), an agency that works to resolve disagreements between Canadians and their service providers.

“Following an extensive review, we are satisfied that the CCTS is doing a good job of resolving complaints on behalf of consumers and small businesses,” said Leonard Katz, the CRTC’s Vice-Chairman of Telecommunications. “An independent agency like the CCTS is an essential intermediary in a market where competition is growing by the day and the majority of telecommunications services are no longer regulated.”

As part of its review, the Commission found that the CCTS’ governance structure and mandate remain appropriate, and extended the membership requirement for a period of five years. Moreover, to ensure that a greater number of Canadians are able to benefit from the agency’s complaint-resolution services, all telecommunications service providers must become members of the CCTS. The Commission had previously only required companies with annual revenues over $10 million to join the agency.

The Commission has also asked the agency to include more details in its annual report regarding the types of complaints it receives. This information will enable a better assessment of trends, the agency’s complaint-resolution activities and the effectiveness of public awareness activities.

Consumers and small businesses must first attempt to resolve any disagreements related to an unregulated telecommunications service directly with their service provider. If the matter remains unresolved, they may file a complaint with the CCTS.

A group of leading Ontario digital media companies and venture capital investors will head to New York City next week as part of a delegation organized by MaRS Discovery District. As part of the visit, delegate companies will present at the prestigious OnMedia NYC 2011 conference. OnMedia NYC 2011 is a two-and-a-half day executive gathering held on Jan. 31 – Feb. 2, 2011. The conference features some of the most innovative companies, eminent technologists, influential investors and respected tech journalists in the digital media market. The conference is hosted by Tony Perkins, founder and editor of AlwaysOn, and features keynotes from media personalities such as Mark Cuban, billionaire investor and Internet entrepreneur.

Prior to the OnMedia sessions, MaRS will host an investor luncheon on Jan. 31 featuring CEO presentations from the MaRS delegation. Several Canadian investors will attend from firms such as Blackberry Partners Fund, GrowthWorks, iNovia Capital, MaRS Investment Accelerator Fund, Real Ventures, Rho Ventures, Rogers Ventures and Verdexus. Notable investors from the NYC area will also be in attendance. Following the luncheon, the delegation will visit prominent digital media startups in the Union Square area.

“We are bringing a group of companies focused on digital media innovations that add considerable value for customers in key areas such as marketing, branding, advertising, research and public relations,” said MaRS CEO Ilse Treurnicht. “New York City is a key market where innovators, influencers and investors are shaping the digital media sector on a global scale. With our mission focused on building Ontario’s next generation of innovative companies, MaRS is committed to facilitating targeted investor introductions and business development for high-potential clients in these select markets.”

The companies in the MaRS delegation are bringing innovative technologies and business models to market that focus on everything from optimizing organic search; hyper-local advertising for user generated news; next generation live event sports gaming; advertising supported small business accounting software; and social engagement ranking platforms to measure media influence.

The Ontario companies attending are:

* gShift Labs – search engine optimization
* InGamer Sports – live event social gaming
* OpenFile – user-generated online newspaper
* PostRank – social engagement and influence ratings
* Viafoura – online user engagement
* Wave Accounting – free accounting application for small businesses

Speaking of business assistance, if you are a BC company you need to check out The BCIT Commercialization Assistance Program (CAP), a fund which provides financial assistance to BC SME’s and entrepreneurs. The fund looks to stimulate innovation by increasing access to business and technology expertise.

The Fund can assist your business with the following:

* Acquire business and professional services required to facilitate the commercialization process (IP, development of business plans and market or technology studies)
* Access to technical assistance and facilities (Product design, prototyping, testing, verification, certification and demonstration)

The Fund offers the following amounts:

* Up to $10,000 assistance for business and professional consulting services
* Up to $50,000 assistance for technical assistance and facilities

The deadline to apply is November 20, 2011. Please see The Fund’s information page for complete information.

D-Box Technologies is continuing its trend to take over the US one theatre at a time, announcing today that the company has signed a third agreement with Premiere Cinemas to equip its Orlando, Florida location with 22 D-BOX MFX Seats.

“During the last few months of 2010, we advanced our market share in the eastern U.S. with new theatre partners and are now continuing along that path with the expansion of our cooperation with Premiere Cinemas and adding the Orlando location,” said President and Chief Executive Officer of D-BOX Technologies, Claude McMaster.

“This will be our third theatre with D-BOX,” said Gary Moore, President of Premiere Cinemas. “Known for providing a state-of-the-art entertainment experience, moviegoers who frequent our Texas theatres have provided an overwhelmingly positive response to D-BOX and we anticipate similar results once the innovative motion technology is unveiled in Orlando this February.”

Mobilicity and Facebook today announced that Mobilicity is offering their customers another way to stay connected with a new Facebook mobile application for Java-powered feature phones. Mobilicity is also sponsoring the launch by enabling customers to download and use the application for at least three months from the time of the launch. The length of the offer is at the discretion of the mobile operator.

This new Facebook application provides a better experience for feature phones than other similar applications and mobile sites. It brings the popular features and user experience already deployed on Facebook mobile applications for smartphones to the world’s most popular feature phones, and is optimized for speed and performance on Mobilicity’s network. It includes several new and unique features that enable people to stay connected through Facebook including:

* Viewing photos from your mobile phone
* Synchronizing your local address book contacts with your Facebook friends
* Facebook login to third party services within the application, such as news, sports, games, and weather

The new Facebook application is optimized to use as little data as possible while providing the great user experience mobile applications offer. The application uses less data than other similar applications or mobile sites, enabling it to be much cheaper for people to use when the trial period ends. The new Facebook application is a collaboration between Facebook and Snaptu, whose platform brings leading web services to millions of people around the world on more than 2,500 different types of mobile devices via the Snaptu app.

If you have children who are interested in animation, check out Toon Boom Animation’s version 5 of the very popular Flip Boom Classic animation software. Version 5, which costs $39.99, includes a brand new sound library whose audio files can be easily dragged and dropped into your child’s project – or your young animator can use voice recordings to bring life to his or her 2D animations.

QuickPlay Media Inc. has joined the Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem (DECE) LLC, a cross-industry consortium dedicated to creating a consumer-friendly open market for digital content distribution. With DECE’s UltraViolet™, consumers will have an easy and consistent way to collect and watch movie and television content across multiple branded platforms, such as computers, connected TVs, game consoles, smartphones and tablets.

According to research by Nielsen, consumer demand to watch TV and movies anywhere, at any time is growing, and DECE will help accelerate this trend by providing those who purchase UltraViolet-branded media and services with a high-quality and convenient entertainment experience. Through the UltraViolet Account system, each household will be able to create an account for up to six members who can access their household’s UltraViolet movies, TV and other entertainment via participating retailers, streaming providers and devices. Consumers will also be able to register up to 12 UltraViolet devices and then easily download or share content among them. In addition, UltraViolet streaming access will enable consumers to access their collections via set-top boxes and most places where they can access the web.

QuickPlay Media’s experience includes powering premium mobile video services for live TV, video on demand (VOD) and radio services for many of the world’s largest communications providers. The company’s offerings include PrimeTime2GoTM, an award-winning premium TV service, and a complete suite of solutions for the delivery of high-quality video across multiple platforms. QuickPlay’s Multi-Screen Movie Solution provides seamless switching of movie viewing between devices, and includes a feature-rich storefront with options for customization of branding, merchandising, navigation and billing integration. Its Multi-Screen TV Solution delivers a fully-integrated entertainment experience with unified delivery of download and streaming DVR capabilities for live TV and VOD.

TVO has launched of a number of new and innovative connected TV apps for Boxee and Yahoo! TV that bring the Internet to the traditional TV screen. Boxee is the newly released set top box which allows the user to connect their TV to the internet, while the Yahoo! TV widget engine is built into several new TVs at the point of manufacturing and allows for web content to be viewed on the TV screen. TVO has released three apps for Yahoo! and Boxee, including:

* Gisèle’s Big Backyard for ages 2-5,
* The Space for ages 6-11, and
* TVO.org video content including Allan Gregg In Conversation, Big Ideas, Think Again and The Agenda with Steve Paikin.

In addition to the three new apps, the Boxee TV Show Library also features episodes of The Agenda with Steve Paikin.

Based on the Ontario school curriculum, all TVOKids content, including Gisèle’s Big Backyard and The Space, is teacher tested and developed in conjunction with TVO’s in-house educational specialist.

These advancements come out of the “IdeaShaker” digital innovation lab, which is TVO’s incubator for new talent, ideas and products. Students from Sheridan College’s Interactive Multimedia post-graduate program have worked alongside TVO staff on both connected TV projects from conception to launch.

Based on this success, TVO is excited to partner with Sheridan’s post-graduate program to nurture and develop new talent who will contribute to cutting-edge technology advances in public educational media. As part of the partnership, students gain employment experience through TVO and help develop new media applications from the ground up.

Your grandmother’s or mother’s life could be saved by a new smartphone application developed by a joint venture in Ottawa. Taynaxa Software and Flare Consulting have created “Rescue Me!“, an emergency application that will automatically send a distress message if your loved one is incapacitated and doesn’t cancel it at a certain time.

The phone can be configured with a pre-set “Rescue Me!” message to be sent at a specific date and time (and repeated daily or weekly, for example). At the pre-arranged time, the phone prompts the user to cancel the message. If it is not canceled it will be sent to two contact numbers.

The benefit of “Rescue Me!” over monitored “panic buttons” with high charges is that it requires intervention NOT to send a message. As a result, if the user is incapacitated through a fall or other mishap, the distress message can still be sent at the appointed time.

Monitoring systems can cost over $100 every month, and still rely on an elderly person pressing a button to summon help. Version 1 of “Rescue Me!” is currently for sale online in the Android Marketplace store for just $1.99. The application will be equally as useful to outdoor enthusiasts such as hikers, climbers, and skiers or even to people going on a blind date or setting out on a drive in potentially bad conditions. All the user has to do is estimate when they expect to be back safe and sound and, if they don’t confirm that all is well at that particular time, “Rescue Me!” will alert their key contacts to the potential problem.

Mood Media Corporation has announced that its retail point of sale division, Somerset Entertainment, has partnered with Encore, Inc. (Encore), a wholly owned subsidiary of Navarre Corporation, to launch Sony Online Entertainment’s multi-million selling Wheel of Fortune® games to its increasingly popular casual games retail program. Under the agreement with Encore, Wheel of Fortune®, Hoyle® and other well-known Encore games will be sold through Mood’s interactive displays at retail, which allow customers to sample the games via interactive video before purchasing.

Antarctica Digital has launched Future Flow Media, a new division of the North Vancouver digital marketing service provider that will offer multi-channel list rental email and mobile services that advance digital marketing campaigns. Future Flow Media will focus exclusively on email marketing campaigns and specialized, integrated marketing support. The company’s target market includes media agencies, advertising agencies and corporate marketing professionals across all verticals.

“Antarctica Digital has years of proven experience in providing list-growth techniques such as contests, sweepstakes, and coupons,” said Chris O’Neill, director of business development for Antarctica Digital. “Due to the success we’ve had with email marketing campaigns, we saw the need to create a separate entity that’s focused solely on providing a service offering that helps clients acquire new email opt-ins and expand their subscriber bases through permission-based directories.”

Future Flow Media is not just a data aggregator — the division is a full-service marketing provider. If needed, Future Flow Media can provide best practice recommendations to enable clients to integrate mobile and email marketing campaigns with custom microsites, online contests, coupons, and social media programs. The company’s consultants will help clients boost the overall quality of email campaigns in efforts to acquire new customers, expand their marketing databases and increase brand loyalty.

The Eastern Ontario Wardens’ Caucus (EOWC) as part of their $170 million dollar regional broadband project, has awarded a contract to Barrett Xplore Inc., through its Xplornet brand, to provide immediate and more affordable broadband access via satellite to residents across eastern Ontario.

For many people and businesses that today cannot access high-speed Internet this new arrangement makes access to the possibilities of broadband a reality. Starting on January 24, 2011 Barrett Xplore Inc. will begin offering residents an up to 1.5 Mbps package for $69.99 per month with an upfront one-time cost as low as $99 depending on contract length.

EOWC residents will benefit from new technologies as the Barrett network evolves. Starting in 2012, Barrett’s new 4G network will be available in the EOWC region. This network will use High-Throughput Satellites that will be capable of speeds up to 25 Mbps, and will offer even better value for end-consumers. Xplornet satellite customers who sign up for this new offer will have the option in 2012 to upgrade to the new 4G network. At the same time, EOWC’s work on an ultra high-speed, fibre optic telecommunications grid for Eastern Ontario is continuing on schedule.

Shaw Media and Global Television have announced that its original drama series Combat Hospital has been picked up by ABC. The 13 episode series, the second Global series to be picked up by the US network, will air in simulcast with ABC this summer.

Set in a hospital inspired by the Role 3 Multinational Medical Unit (MMU) at Kandahar Airfield in Afghanistan, Combat Hospital charts the frantic lives of the hospital’s resident doctors and nurses from Canada, America, the UK and other allied countries. This candid, entertaining and sometimes brutal series follows Canadian trauma surgeon Rebecca Kincaid as she experiences relentless life and death battles on the surgeon’s table that transcend politically-charged stereotypes and is confronted with making the tough decisions that come with the realities of frontline medicine

Combat Hospital is a joint production of Canada’s Sienna Films and the UK’s Artists Studio with Carrie Stein at 3 Arts Entertainment and Simon Vaughan at Lookout Point heading up international sales. Executive Producers are Jennifer Kawaja and Julia Sereny for Sienna Films (The Cry of the Owl—with BBC Films, MACT Productions, Diamonds—CBC/ABC, with Buffalo Gal Pictures, Alchemy Television and Philo Films, How She Move—Paramount Vantage/MTV Films/Mongrel Media), Gub Neal, Justin Thompson-Glover and Patrick Irwin for Artists Studio; Executive Producer/ Showrunner Dan Petrie Jr. will head up the writing room on the show originally created by Jinder Chalmers and Douglas Steinberg.

Meanwhile, CTV announced today its international hit series FLASHPOINT will conclude its third season with a shocking season finale immediately following SUPER BOWL XLV (Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Green Bay Packers) in all markets on Sunday, Feb. 6. In the gripping cliff-hanger episode, Canada’s favourite TV cop unit is threatened like never before as the fate of Team One and the life of one their own hangs in the balance. The season finale guest stars renowned actor Victor Garber (ALIAS, ELI STONE) as an elite military psychologist who sets his sights on destroying Team One.

The scheduling comes following a remarkable mid-season run on Tuesday nights this Winter, where FLASHPOINT has won the 10 p.m. timeslot on CTV against new simulcasts of THE GOOD WIFE (Global/CBS) for two weeks in a row. Premiering with 1.7 million viewers on Jan. 4, the series has seen impressive double digit growth (15-24%) in the three, key adult demos compared to last season, and series’ high audiences among A18-34.

Last year’s SUPER BOWL broadcast was watched by more than 6 million viewers on CTV. CTV’s SUPER BOWL coverage kicks off at 2 p.m. ET on Sunday, Feb. 6 with the pre-game, followed by SUPER BOWL XLV at 6 p.m. ET.

Congratulations to everyone on the FlashPoint team for the U.S. syndication deal. FlashPoint is the uncontested favourite crime drama in our house, and apparently there is more news coming soon from the producers. Yesterday there was a teaser put out on Twitter that this news is something Canucks fans will like.

I’m very keen to find out what it could be – the team gets taken hostage by an angry fan? A former Canuck makes his acting debut? How to drive a Gemini crazy – say you have news, then don’t say what it is. 😉

The Documentary Organization of Canada is taking its National Fair Dealing Road Show again in 2011. The first stop is coming up in Toronto in January, followed by Ottawa in February, Edmonton and Vancouver in March. The cross-Canada event is a comprehensive effort to educate the documentary community, foster dialogue and identify common positions, or points of contention, around the issue of Fair Dealing and documentary filmmaking.

A little known exclusion to the Copyright Act, Fair Dealing allows for free use of otherwise copyrighted material under certain conditions. For example, some visual archives in a documentary with clear critical purposes could possibly invoke the Fair Dealing exclusion and be exempt from having to obtain clearances.

But how many of us know or understand this finer point of law and when to apply it? More often than not, producers are counseled by their risk-averse lawyers, sometimes at great and unnecessary cost to their clients, to “clear everything all the time.” This can be so costly as to inhibit the production or release of certain documentary films altogether. Whether filmmakers, producers, lawyers or insurance brokers, Fair Dealing and its advantages remain obscure to many of us and underutilized in general.

The National Fair Dealing Road Show aims to introduce potential users to DOC?s Copyright and Fair Dealing – Guidelines for Documentary Filmmakers (PDF), published in May 2010. Filmmakers are encouraged to share their experiences with copyright and to engage on case studies presented for discussion. Lawyers, visual researchers, insurance brokers and broadcasters are invited to take part in the conversation. This is an exercise in building community-based consensus on best practices where panelists and members of the audience discuss copyright myths and argue whether a particular use of copyrightprotected material would meet the Fair Dealing exclusion or not.

Given that copyright law is a federal responsibility, it is necessary to cast this as a national event to gather as many views as possible and present the federal government with a nation-wide consensus, where possible. It is DOC’s experience that the realities of production vary greatly from region to region yet the benefits to the industry from this initiative will accrue nation-wide.

The Road Show plans the following pit stops where local and invited experts will lead panel discussions:

January 27 – Ryerson University – Eaton Theatre – 80 Gould Street, Rogers Communication Centre, Rm 204
February 12 – Halifax – TBA
February 16 – Ottawa – TBA
March 1 – Edmonton – TBA
March 2 – Vancouver – TBA

Panel details and venue information will be listed on the DOC site as it becomes available.

The Canadian Innovation Exchange (CIX) is pleased to present the Canadian Technology Accelerator, a one-of-a-kind opportunity for three emerging Canadian companies working in Information Communication Technology or Digital Media to get unparalleled access to the tech community in Silicon Valley. In partnership with the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade of Canada and the Consulate General in San Francisco, selected companies will be given the opportunity to spend three months beginning in June, 2011 working rent-free in the Plug and Play Tech Center (PnP) in Sunnyvale, CA. Selected companies will also receive one complimentary registration to CIX 2011, taking place December 2011 in Toronto.

To submit a company profile to be considered for the CIX Canadian Technology Accelerator, you need an account. Once your account is created, you can log in as necessary to revise your submission(s). The deadline for entries into the CIX Accelerator Program is Friday, March 11, 2011, with recipients to be announced early-April.

The second instalment of the social media networking event, the Edmonton Social Media Breakfast (SMBYEG), will be held on Friday, January 28 at 8:00 a.m. at the CBC Centre Stage. Based on the overwhelming success of thirteen Calgary Social Media Breakfasts, McQ Design Strategies is pleased to organize this second Edmonton event.

This month’s speaker will be Mike Spear who presents regularly at conferences around North America on such varied issues as social media, science communications, and genetic testing. He’ll bring his social media, science communication and extensive media background to bear on the two solitudes that seem to exist between mainstream media and social media. He feels that the two camps often live in their own bubbles and forget that they need each other to be successful.

Seating is limited and fills up quickly so hurry to book your place, as only those with advanced reservations will be permitted to attend. Stay after the discussion to network and share ideas within the realm of social media. Marketers, PR pros, entrepreneurs, bloggers, podcasters, new-media fanatics, and online social networkers are all welcome to attend.

Amazon.com, Inc. is extending the 70 percent royalty option to include books sold to Canadian customers through the Kindle Digital Text Platform, which will soon be known as Kindle Direct Publishing. This new option will allow authors and publishers around the world to receive a 70% royalty, net of delivery costs, for books sold to Canadian customers via the Kindle Store for Kindle, Kindle 3G, Kindle DX, or one of the Kindle apps for iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, BlackBerry, PC, Mac, Windows Phones and Android-based devices. Kindle Direct Publishing is a fast and easy self-publishing tool that lets anyone upload and publish their books for sale in the Kindle Store.

The National Post, on the heels of its successful launch on iPad, is proud to announce its second offering, the Financial Post Magazine App, is available now on the App Store with IBM as the exclusive launch advertiser.The first edition of the Financial Post Magazine for iPad is highlighted by the annual “Canada’s Outstanding CEO of the Year” feature.

“The content and design of the Financial Post Magazine App was a natural fit for the functionality and interactivity of iPad,” said National Post Publisher Douglas Kelly. “We received positive feedback for our first National Post App and our audience clearly wanted the innovation to keep coming.”

The Financial Post Magazine App takes full advantage of iPad’s large, high-resolution display and innovative Multi Touch interface, delivering an enhanced reading experience with exclusive embedded multimedia content including video, photo galleries and timelines. The app also includes Financial Post’s award-winning editorial content and features.

Vancouver’s Destiny Media Technologies, Inc., developer of the Play MPE® system has released an update in its lawsuit against Toronto-based Yangaroo, John Heaven and Clifford Hunt filed May 4, 2007. Destiny had claimed CDN$25,000,000 in damages for defamation and injurious falsehood, breaches of the Trademarks Act and Competition Act, and interfering with Destiny’s economic interests. Yangaroo had filed a counterclaim with similar allegations against Destiny Media and Destiny’s CEO, Steve Vestergaard.

Destiny filed a motion to have the counterclaim dismissed in its entirety as frivolous and the motion was heard in court on October 28th, 2010. On Jan. 20, 2011, Mr. Justice Stanley Kershman announced his verdict. Summary judgment was granted in favour of Destiny in respect of the torts of injurious falsehood and interference with economic relations. Additionally, summary judgment was granted in respect of all claims brought against Mr. Vestergaard in his personal capacity.

The judge also added that, in his view, many of the statements made by Destiny that Yangaroo counterclaimed for were clearly either not defamatory or were justified based upon the evidence filed in the motion. He names a number of statements in his ruling that cannot be fairly characterized as “false or misleading” citing statements that Destiny’s system predates Yangaroo’s patent and that MPE does not have the essential features necessary to infringe on Yangaroo’s patent.

Destiny CEO, Steve Vestergaard reflects on the lawsuit win, “We are pleased that after looking at the evidence, the judge was able to dismiss so much of Yangaroo’s counterclaim. This is the second major decision in our favor in our ongoing dispute with this regional competitor. In June 2010, Destiny successfully won a fast track motion to dismiss a frivolous patent infringement case.”

Destiny’s $25 million claim against Yangaroo remains unchanged and will proceed to trial.

Manitoba Premier Greg Selinger and the Honourable Lynne Yelich, Minister of State for Western Economic Diversification, today helped launch a provincial network of Cisco TelePresence™ video conference sites linking UWinnipeg, Brandon University (BU), and University College of the North (UCN) in The Pas.

Other dignitaries taking part in the landmark ceremony at UWinnipeg included Mr. Nitin Kawale, President, Cisco Canada; Dr. Lloyd Axworthy, President and Vice-Chancellor, The University of Winnipeg; Dr. Deborah Poff, President and Vice-Chancellor, Brandon University; and Dr. Kathryn McNaughton, Vice-President (Academic & Research) University College of the North, The Pas.

The Cisco TelePresence system, which promotes energy conservation by reducing travel and delivering measurable energy savings, enables high-quality distance education and more effective collaboration with research sites in Manitoba and around the world.

“An investment in education is an investment in Manitoba’s future; I’m honoured that our government has been able to assist in providing technology that will link students from across the province and around the world, allowing research, information and ideas to be shared,” said Premier Greg Selinger. “This is just one of the many ways that our government works to support and promote green innovation and education in our province.”

“Our Government is committed to building a competitive advantage for Canada and Manitoba based on excellence in science and technology,” said the Honourable Lynne Yelich, Minister of State for Western Economic Diversification. “Through investments in key public-private partnerships, we are helping to support knowledge-based research and development with a focus on the commercialization of new products, technologies and services.”

The Government of Canada and the Province of Manitoba supported the establishment of this Cisco TelePresence network through an investment of $7 million announced in January 2010 under the Canada-Manitoba Western Economic Partnership Agreement (WEPA).

“The Cisco TelePresence system is transformative in the way the Internet has been transformative. The Internet allowed us to instantly retrieve and share information in ways we could not imagine even 15 years ago,” said Dr. Axworthy. “TelePresence shrinks our world even further with tremendous implications for our students and faculty, for citizens of Winnipeg, Manitoba, and Canada in advancing solutions to the many global challenges facing us today. There is also enormous potential to grow this collaborative technology into a viable commercial unit to benefit business, governments, and others in our community.”

Cisco donated two TelePresence virtual meeting systems to UWinnipeg, making it the first university in Canada with this advanced technology.

One TelePresence endpoint will be based in the new Richardson College for the Environment and Science Complex in the coming months. The second will be located inside UWinnipeg’s Faculty of Business and Economics at the newly opened Buhler Centre. UWinnipeg is acquiring additional TelePresence technologies for future use.

“Establishing UWinnipeg as a centre of excellence for innovative collaboration technologies, like Cisco TelePresence, is already reaping benefits in global leadership, economic development, and cost savings,” said Mr. Nitin Kawale, president, Cisco Canada. “As the Cisco Innovation Centre for Collaboration Technologies continues to evolve at UWinnipeg, we look forward to continuing to work with the University, the Province of Manitoba, and the Government of Canada to help academic leaders and government policy makers extend expertise, share resources, and reduce environmental impact.”

The Province of Manitoba, under the Manitoba Research Innovation Fund, has contributed $2 million over 8 years to supporting UWinnipeg’s Cisco Endowed Research Chair for Collaborative Technologies.

VM6 Software, Inc., provider of the only all-in-one IT virtualization infrastructure software, today announced that its flagship product, VM6 VMex 2.1, has won a Bronze Award in the virtualization platforms category of the SearchServerVirtualization.com 2010 Products of the Year. The awards were presented by the editors of TechTarget’s data center and virtualization Media Group and judged by the SearchServerVirtualization.com editorial staff in conjunction with a team of users, industry experts, analysts and consultants.

The SearchServerVirtualization.com 2010 Products of the Year winners were chosen according to the following six criteria: ease of integration into existing environments, functionality, innovation, manageability, performance and value. VM6 VMex 2.1 was selected because of its ability to replicate storage among local disks on disparate virtualization hosts. This feature provides significant value to smaller shops that cannot afford shared disk environments.

“SMBs have gone through their first phase of virtualization adoption and are now demanding more advanced functionality,” said Claude Goudreault, CEO and founder of VM6 Software. “By removing the requirement for a SAN and simplifying the installation and operation of the virtualized infrastructure, VMex makes high availability affordable to SMBs.”

VM6 VMex 2.1 software offers small- to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) an all-in-one IT infrastructure solution that is designed to fully leverage the benefits of virtualization to manage, provision, consolidate and protect distributed servers and desktop environments at a fraction of the cost of traditional solutions. Judges selected the Products of the Year from among virtualization-related products introduced and shipped after November 1, 2009 and before October 15, 2010.

marblemedia interactive and Teletoon have flipped the On switch for Skatoony’s web page, which is filled with games, show information, downloadable craft projects and videos. Skatoony is a combined live action and animation quiz show for kids. Each week the two hosts, Chudd Chudders and The Earl pit 3 animated characters against real kids who hope to survive the show’s shenanigans, temperamental producer and environmental challenges to be declared victorious.

Several Canadian titles have been named as finalists for the AIAS Interactive Achievement Awards which will be presented at DICE Las Vegas this coming February 10th. The dev teams from EA Canada will be competing against each other in the Sports Game of the Year category with both FIFA Soccer 11 and NHL 11 receiving nominations. The debut title for United Front Games, ModNation Racers, has been named to the Racing Game of the Year category.

Relic Entertainment’s Dawn of War 2: Chaos Rising has been nominated in the Strategy Game of the Year category, while Ubisoft Montreal action title Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Conviction is competing in the Achievements in Animation category. Bioware has been named to the Outstanding Character Performance category for Mass Effect 2 – Male Shepard, while Mass Effect 2 was given the nod for both the Outstanding Achievement in Story,  Role-Playing/Massively Multiplayer Game of the Year and Game of the Year categories.

Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood has been nominated for an Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Composition Award as well as Adventure Game of the Year and Outstanding Achievement in Online Game Play. The Ubisoft Montreal blockbuster will also be going head to head with Bioware’s blockbuster Mass Effect 2 as they compete in the  Outstanding Achievement in Game Direction category. Best of luck to all of our Canadian nominees!

Vancouver Film School graduate Nicholas Yonge has officially launched his indie game development studio krangGAMES, which will initially be focusing on flash games with an eye to expanding its products to other platforms in the future. The studio is currently developing DotGuy vs The Galaxy, which is an action-puzzle game where the player must successfully guide DotGuy out of a damaged spaceship. According to the game’s description, DotGuy vs The Galaxy will feature a campaign mode, unlockable modes of play, multiple playable characters, and user-made content via the Assembly Level Editor. krangGAMES also developed a game named Prior, which was created for the Ludum Dare Competition #19. Prior is a msyterious 2D platformer that was built in Adobe Flash, and in following with the LD19 theme of Discovery, players must navigate through a dark facility in an effort to figure out who they are, what has happened, where they are, and why they are there, developing their story piece by piece.

Hothead Games has brought Swarm creator, Dr. Mike Hayward, out of his dark and windowless office for a few short minutes to explain how players can control their “Swarm” in this first edition of “Ask Dr. Mike.”

Since Dr. Mike tends to speak in programming code without even realizing it, Hothead brought in “man of the people” and “regular guy”, Lead Designer, Pete Low, to bridge the gap and explain to us laypeople the unique and fun way to control your Swarm. Swarm is the upcoming and ultra addictive action game from UTV Ignition and Hothead Games set to release early this year. Dr. Mike did his PhD research in the field of artificial intelligence, and while his research didn’t directly relate to causing the horrific deaths of little cute and pudgy blue creatures, he has harnessed his work to realize that vision in Swarm. In the newly released video, Dr. Mike shows us everything from how to jump, group up, huddle and even stack and bash your Swarmites.

[youtube:http://youtu.be/IeWVU-eVMAU]

Swarm gives players control of 50 utterly fearless Swarmites and drives them through an intense and often suicidal battle of survival. Swarm is the first game to feature mass character control, where players move all the Swarmites at once. Steer the flock of pudgy, clueless little blue morons through the game and they naturally flock and flow around obstacles. Creatively combine swarm moves to work your way through a relentlessly dangerous and hilariously brutal environment. Compete against friends to get the high score by deftly moving through the world and cleverly solving puzzles the game throws your way. Swarm is rated T for Teen by the ESRB

EA SPORTS™ and Virgin Gaming™ have penned a new agreement which names Virgin Gaming as the official worldwide provider of online tournaments for EA SPORTS. The agreement covers all head-to-head competitive play, pay-to-enter and sponsored tournaments for select EA SPORTS console video games.

As part of the agreement, the Virgin Gaming tournament platform will integrate directly with select EA SPORTS titles offering seamless web functionality and enhanced community tools for competitive gaming across Xbox 360® and PlayStation®3 consoles. The first tournaments will begin early 2011, with details to be announced in the near future.

“EA SPORTS is the leading sports video game brand and publisher in the world, and we are thrilled to offer our members the opportunities to compete in some of their very best multiplayer sports games,” said Rob Segal, CEO of Virgin Gaming. “Virgin Gaming is a unique convergence of competitive gaming, video games and social/community networking, and we are excited that EA SPORTS shares our vision for the platform and its potential.”

“Competitive online gaming is an increasingly popular component of our industry and a great way for EA SPORTS and Virgin Gaming to help connect gamers around the world through the global language of sports,” said Peter Moore, President of EA SPORTS. “Virgin Gaming demonstrates the system-wide integrity we desire, and this is a great opportunity for EA SPORTS fans to experience secure and impeccably managed online tournaments for some of our top titles.”

Wicked Interactive and Mission Against Terror (M.A.T.) today offered a first look at Occupation Mode, the eagerly anticipated update which brings hardcore, capture-the-flag-style competitive action to everyone’s favorite free-to-play shooter.

“Gamers have been extremely curious,” said Sam Ho, Director, Wicked Interactive. “Since there hasn’t been an Old School hardcore competitive title in quite some time, gamers seem like they can’t wait to get their hands on Occupation Mode. We hope that these screenshots hold them over until Occupation Mode goes live, which, we promise, will be very soon.”

What’s New in Occupation Mode:

· New maps
· Territory capture and control – the two essential ingredients of a competitive title
· New team-based action and coordination
· Ability to set time-challenges – game creators determine how long one team has to hold all points on map for the win
· Opportunity to test out recently purchased or unlocked weapons in new, challenging environments

“With Occupation Mode, we offer players a great mix of flexibility and raw competition,” added Ho. “Some players want an experience that is nothing less than a fight to the death, with matches lasting countless rounds until one team finally emerges victorious from the firefight. For others, it’s about light, scrimmage with friends. We are proud to serve both communities of gamers with this latest update to M.A.T.”

Mobile IT management solution provider Rove has announced the rapidly growing adoption of its award-winning solution, Rove Mobile Admin, a secure smartphone- and tablet-enabled IT management solution giving IT staff unprecedented mobile access to incident detection, diagnosis, triage and resolution.

Spurring the surge of interest and uptake has been Rove’s Dashboard, functionality that aggregates alerts, alarms, notifications and tickets from IT monitors and incident management systems, presents them to IT administrators directly on their mobile device’s screen, and makes it possible to drill down quickly into problem details to identify the cause and implement a fix.

“We use Microsoft’s System Center Operations Manager to monitor a wide variety of security and server health issues,” said Jeff Rountree, Global Network Manager for Dover’s Pump Solutions Group (PSG), a world-leading manufacturer of industrial pumps and compressors. “While email alerts for warnings and errors are available to us, setting them up takes a number of steps and our time. With the Rove Mobile Admin Dashboard my team can view alerts directly, without the need for any email escalations. The added value is being able to receive alerts regarding our Exchange and/or Blackberry servers even if they’re offline – as long we have network connectivity we can get the Rove Dashboard alerts and begin taking corrective action.”

“There is a growing awareness within IT organizations that robust, proven mobile solutions are required to effectively manage their networks and infrastructure,” said Russell Ure, President and COO, Rove. “Rove Mobile Admin is increasingly seen as the preferred solution to address these needs.”

Interactive Ontario (IO) in partnership with The G. Raymond Chang School of Continuing Education, Ryerson University, is pleased to announce the launch of EDGE: Education for Digital and Games Entrepreneurs. This part-time academic program will deliver targeted business-skills training to video game and digital media entrepreneurs. It will pilot in the spring with a full launch in the fall of 2011.

The goal of EDGE is to help grow the interactive digital media industry by providing in-depth business knowledge to video game entrepreneurs. EDGE will provide the training needed to make key business decisions and will teach entrepreneurs skills in training, leadership and administration.

“The EDGE program will be of huge value to digital entrepreneurs because the key to being a successful creator or innovator lies in your ability to navigate an ever-changing business environment,” says Ian Kelso, President and CEO, Interactive Ontario. “Ryerson is uniquely positioned to combine world class business training, a solid digital media focus, and an embedded entrepreneurial spirit which will ensure this program will add tremendous advantage to anyone trying to grow an interactive digital media business.”

Worldwide, the gaming industry is expected to grow 9.1 percent annually. Canada will benefit from this boom with profits estimated to be in excess of $346 million in 2012. The funding for the EDGE project was underwritten by Ontario’s Ministry of Economic Development and Trade.

“Ontario is rapidly becoming viewed as a leader in digital media and gaming,” says Dr Gervan Fearon, Dean of The G. Raymond Chang School of Continuing Education at Ryerson University. “Recognizing this growing market, The Chang School is pleased to be a partner with Interactive Ontario to offer programming to help prepare the next generation of leaders in this innovative industry.”

EDGE will specialize in areas relevant to the business aspect of the digital media sector, including courses on Business Strategy and Tactics, HR/Labour Relations, Project Management, Finance and Marketing. The program will feature industry experts from Canada and around the world. It will also provide opportunities to network and forge select business relationships.

WaveFront, DFAIT and Nokia are taking the Introduction to Nokia Platforms and OVI Services breakfast seminar across the country, and would like to invite Ottawa, Toronto and Montreal developers to these free sessions. (Pour la version française, s’il vous plaît clic ici). As we told you earlier this week, the seminar will also be held in Vancouver on February 8th.

Montreal – February 1st in the Mt-Royal I Room at the Centre Mont-Royal, 2200 Mansfield Street
Ottawa – February 2nd at the Brookstreet Hotel, 525 Legget Drive
Toronto – February 4th at the MaRS Centre, 101 College St (Breakfast: Cafe | Seminar: CR-3)
Vancouver – February 8th at 1055 W Hastings St, Conference Room, Lower Level

This introduction to Nokia platforms and OVI Services is an opportunity to bring your Canadian apps to the world’s largest application distribution network – the Nokia OVI Store. Attend this seminar to receive an end-to-end overview of Nokia platforms and OVI services which reaches hundreds of millions of consumers in over 190 countries downloading over 3 million applications per day. Developers and publishers will learn about the latest Nokia OVI business opportunities and receive practical advice on how to develop and port your mobile application/content on Nokia platform and publish it to the OVI Store, an easy way to distribute and monetize your applications and content to Nokia users all over the world.

OVI store makes it easy to distribute and pay for your Canadian apps:

• Consumers can browse and purchase content from Ovi Store in more than 190 countries through credit card billing
• 91 operators in 27 countries support integrated mobile billing
• Publishers from more than 90 countries are distributing their content through Ovi Store

This is a must attend for Canadian mobile app developers and mobile content publishers to network with business and technical specialists from Nokia and local developer peers. All attendees will receive copy of “Foundations of Qt Development” and can enter draw for several Nokia N8 smartphones that are being given away.

Attendance at this seminar will also give you an opportunity to set up a one-on-one engagement meeting with Nokia during and after each seminar, so please also let us know if you would like to set-up a meeting when you register. Mr. Johan Nyman, DFAIT Trade Commissioner from Helsinki, Finland will also be available for one-on-one meetings (between 9:30-11:00am) to discuss Finnish market opportunities.

Toronto’s PadWorx Digital Media Inc. and The Juno Company, a leading children’s digital media publisher based in San Francisco, have begun working together on The Juno Company’s 2011 series of music education gaming apps and eBooks. This collaborative partnership will see The Juno Company and PadWorx Digital Media develop and publish eight music education apps, games and eBooks based on the Juno franchise of DVDs and books, all of which will be released in 2011. The first app in the series is scheduled to launch in March; more details will be released in the coming weeks. The Juno eBooks will be narrated by actress and dedicated mom Brooke Shields.

“PadWorx’s technical expertise and design aesthetic is rocket fuel for our creative content as we roll out our line of children’s apps,” said Barrett Cohn, CEO of The Juno Company. “We are raising the bar in 2011 in terms of fun, engagement and learning for children with our eBooks, apps and games; we’re looking to make a significant impact in the children’s new media world!”

The Juno Company was founded by mom and composer Belinda Takahashi, Ph.D., and is dedicated to inspiring a lifelong love and appreciation for music in children. The company is best known for its Emmy Award-winning Juno Baby line and its newly released Juno Jr. line of products, which include DVDs, CDs, books, digital apps, toys and apparel. The Juno Company team is a blend of senior technologists, top children’s creatives and leading children’s educators.

“The creativity and design aesthetic we used to develop our award-winning eBooks creates an immersive, user-driven experience, and that’s exactly what fans of the Juno franchise are going to see with this new series of apps,” said Jeffrey Alan Schechter, CEO of PadWorx Digital Media, Inc. “Through the combination of text, animation, gameplay elements, touch screen interaction, original music, and sound effects, children will gain the ability to interact with the Juno characters they love in an entirely new way.”

Regina’s NetSecure Technologies is growing, and to support that growth the company has announced a new website to better reflect the company’s strengths and expanding product line – developing breakthrough security solutions for online transaction security.

With hackers becoming more sophisticated, antivirus software is no longer enough to protect consumers. NetSecure’s product suite, powered by its patented Dynamic SSL technology, provides complete protection from endpoint security threats by ensuring that sensitive information is never present in the data stream until the point of encryption.

The company’s award-winning SmartSwipe, an online purchase security system, enables consumers to swipe their credit cards at home for secure transactions while shopping online. According to a recent survey of 1,000 consumers and small businesses, there is a clear demand for such devices with nearly 70 percent of respondents indicating they would use one if their financial institution or credit card company offered it.

NetSecure’s newest PINCheckout, a chip and PIN technology solution, enables card issuers and financial institutions to offer their customers a secure online shopping environment for their chip and PIN transactions. Research has indicated that more than half of consumers would feel more comfortable making online purchases if offered a secure shopping solution. With PINCheckout, e-commerce transactions are secured by encrypting sensitive information through an external device and remains protected throughout the entire transaction. NetSecure offers this viable solution via licensing options, with or without hardware.

“NetSecure Technologies is at the leading edge of e-Commerce solutions, protecting consumers where they need it most: the point of origin,” said Daniel McCann, president, NetSecure Technologies. “We are dedicated to providing consumers the very best in protection technology, but also believe technology should be user friendly and follow the mantra “simplicity, speed, security and compatibility.” Our solutions embrace those elements to provide better and solid Internet security, and are proven by the growth we’ve realized since our inception. As we enter 2011, we look forward to even more growth as well as contributing to a safer online environment.”

Included in the new website is NetSecure’s blog, highlighting company news as well as emerging security threats, providing solutions and security best practices to readers. In addition, the site features a tool called “Ask an Expert,” allowing site visitors to ask questions regarding data security. Each week, NetSecure features the question and provides an answer.

Once again the internet has made business easier. In this case it’s show business – the business of Shakespeare with William On Web. It’s now easy to get your own copy of either a Classic (Free) or Director’s Choice ($19.97) version of the most popular plays of all time -thanks to the innovation of a local Vancouver social profit enterprise. For professional companies, community theatres, academic or school productions, the editorial expertise contained in a Director’s Choice is a huge benefit. It streamlines the editing process by offering industry insider professional editorial suggestions coupled with a custom built online editor from Vancouver’s PointyHat dev team. The website offers versions of Shakespeare’s most popular plays including A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Twelfth Night, Much Ado About Nothing, As You Like It, Romeo & Juliet as well as Hamlet, King Lear, The Tempest, Comedy of Errors, Macbeth, Love’s Labours Lost, Julius Caesar and more.

Most Shakespeare scripts, with 40-plus roles and running times over 3 hours, rarely get performed as-written in modern productions. But what to cut? Editing is a daunting process that may leave a director struggling with characters’ motives and plot flow, and requires time-consuming manual reformatting. To help solve these problems, WilliamOnWeb created their Director’s Choice scripts to suggest specific cuts which help you reduce cast size and running time while maintaining the integrity of the script.

This new production edition draws on every credible version of the plays, from the original Folio to today’s academic gold standard, the Arden. Unlike academic works, the scripts have been carefully crafted to work for directors and producers preparing from production. Accurate and faithful to the originals, these scripts also offer industry expertise on what and where to cut, delivering modern clarity to the characters and stories.

“We think of our project as bringing Shakespeare into the 21st Century”, stated COO James Pollard. “This new edition of his plays and Scriptivate — our custom-built online script editor — represent the first real change in the way to work with the Bard’s plays since he wrote them 400 years ago.”

Scriptivate, an online script editor free with both Classic and Director’s Choice versions, allows you to customize these scripts for your production. Scriptivate preserves all formatting of Shakespeare’s text — showing suggested cuts as strikethroughs — and lets you accept, reject or make your own cuts and additions. Once you’re satisfied, accepting your changes lets you e-mail or print your revised script in a rehearsal-ready format. Scriptivate works with modern web browsers on any computer connected to the Internet. Scripts are stored online “in the cloud”, bringing the process of editing Shakespeare into the digital age.