Village Gamer

OpenText has been awarded a framework agreement for Digital Continuity, developed by Buying Solutions and The National Archives in the UK as part of the government’s project to improve digital information management throughout the public sector.

Digital continuity is the ability for an organization to use information in the way that is needed, for as long as it’s needed. Usable information is essential if the public sector is to operate transparently and legally while maintaining accountability.

The Digital Continuity Framework is part of a broader Digital Continuity Service offered by The National Archives and provides a shortlist of suppliers which can be accessed by anyone in the public sector to help them manage their digital continuity. OpenText has been awarded a framework agreement for two Lots: digital archiving solutions and data quality solutions.

OpenText’s Senior Account Manager for Central Government, Stephen Walsh, said: “The exponential growth in digital data volumes presents a challenge to any organization; but it places particularly huge demands on public sector organizations. Without effective data management systems in place, digital information can become incomplete, unavailable or unusable over time. If government bodies cannot guarantee access to this data, it can have a serious negative impact on service provision to the public – and also threatens their ability to operate legally.

“The UK government fully appreciates the necessity of managing digital continuity, but it’s often difficult for individual public sector organizations to know how to improve their digital information management, or how to procure technology and services that will help them do this. The Digital Continuity Framework is an extremely welcome tool that makes it easy for the public sector to procure the tools they need to manage this mountain of digital data,” continued Walsh.

The Digital Continuity Framework agreement is for two years, with the option to extend it for two additional one year periods. The criteria for the Data Quality Solutions Lot of the framework required technology that enables users to access data from a variety of structured data sources; relate data between distinct data sources; and profile the data using patterns, rules and statistical methods. It also required the ability to drill-down into the actual data from a profile produced by the technology; provide a range of reporting options; and suggest or fix identified data quality issues.

The Digital Archiving Solutions Lot specified technology that can acquire information from a live system into the archive; manage retention policies applied to the archived information; place archived items on hold to override any other retention policy; and ensure the integrity of the archived information. Furthermore, it must enable user discovery and retrieval of the archived information; report on the contents of the archive; control access to the content of the archive and record provenance data about items transferred into the archive.

“The award of the Framework agreement for Digital Continuity recognizes OpenText’s expertise in the field of digital data management; and we look forward to working with public sector bodies to help them ensure that key digital information remains accessible and usable in the long term,” said Walsh. Read the rest of this entry »

Congratulations to the Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood writing team who picked up the Writers’ Guild of America award last night for Video Game Writing: Story by Patrice Desilets, Jeffrey Yohalem, Corey May; Lead Script Writer: Jeffrey Yohalem; Script Writers: Ethan Petty, Nicholas Grimwood, Matt Turner; Ubisoft

TELETOON Canada Inc. is taking the original TELETOON Pilot Project concept and turning it into an online, user-generated contest called the TELETOON At Night Pilot Project, which began yesterday, February 6th. This initiative calls on aspiring and professional animators to put their creative skills to use for a chance to win $10,000 CDN and the opportunity to attend North America’s largest animation conference and festival, the Television Animation Conference and Ottawa International Animation Festival.

“The TELETOON at Night Pilot Project is an important initiative which offers a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for animation enthusiasts,” said Russell Ward, Vice President, Marketing, TELETOON Canada inc. “As an active player in the animation industry, this project gives TELETOON the opportunity to recognize and open a door of possibility to raw and undiscovered creative talent.”

From Sunday, February 6 to Friday, July 15, 2011, contestants are invited to submit original, funny and unique animation or animation-related short films. Eligible submissions must be no more than five minutes in length and can either be entered through the English-language contest on teletoonatnight.com or the French-language contest on teletoonlanuit.com. The winner of each English and French contest will be awarded:

* $10,000 CDN
* Two roundtrip airline tickets from the closest Canadian commercial airport to the winner’s residence to Ottawa
* Four nights accommodation in Ottawa
* Two delegate passes to the Television Animation Conference and Ottawa International Animation Festival

All eligible submissions will be featured in a video gallery on teletoonatnight.com and teletoonlanuit.com, where the public can select their “Fave of the Week” each week. The five final contenders selected by a TELETOON jury for each of the English and French contests will be revealed on Sunday, July 31. The public can then vote for their favourite video until Saturday, August 28. The video that receives the most votes by the end of the voting phase will be crowned the winner and revealed on-air and online on Sunday, September 18.

The original TELETOON Pilot Project launched in fall 2007, exclusively inviting Canadian producers to submit proposals to produce a pilot in either English or French to be broadcast on TELETOON. Ten projects were selected as finalists from over 200 submissions, straddling a wide range of topics, animation styles and comedy sensibilities. TELETOON recently announced that the first TELETOON Pilot Project winner, Fugget About It, has been officially greenlit for production into a 13-part series in English and French.

And just to add to the bandwidth cap angst, Sony of Canada has launched “Video On Demand powered by Qriocity™”in Canada with titles such as “A-Team,” “Get Him to the Greek,” “Inception,” “The Last Airbender,” “Salt,” and Disney-Pixar’s “Toy Story 3.”

“Video On Demand powered by Qriocity™” is a premium streaming video service that allows film fans to rent from a growing library of hundreds of Hollywood blockbusters from NBC Universal Television Distribution, Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, The Walt Disney Studios, Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment LLC and Warner Bros. Digital Distribution, as well as films from local studios, straight to their Sony 2010 and 2011 network-enabled BRAVIA® TV, Blu-ray Disc™ player, or Blu-ray Disc Home Theatre system.

Rental prices for High-Definition content will range from CA$4.99-5.99 while those for Standard-Definition content will range from CA$3.99-4.99. After renting a film, consumers have up to 30 days to start watching their movie, and once playback is started, they have up to 24 or 48 hours to watch the film as many times as they like.

“Video On Demand powered by Qriocity” started in Japan on January 26 and is already available in the U.S., France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the U.K. and is an entertainment network service platform that connects many of Sony’s network-enabled devices and allows consumers to enjoy high quality entertainment across multiple devices. Via Qriocity, Sony will deliver a variety of digital entertainment content and services that are “powered by Qriocity”, including video, music, game applications, and e-books over time. Through these services, and in combination with its networked devices, Sony aims to bring new and exciting entertainment experiences to customers.

I would like to say, before getting too deep into the raging pool that has become the User-Based Billing debate, I’m not a policy wonk, so am not as familiar with CRTC proceedings, guidelines and rules as I probably should be, and I am more than likely also lacking in knowledge when it comes to government policy as well. As the average consumer, however – I feel that the CRTC is not doing what it should to truly be making the Canadian market competitive, and I do feel that it’s time for Industry Canada to step in and write some new rules that would take effect sooner rather than later. I think that there is also more than just a little advantage-taking of those consumers who are even less telecom savvy than me.

We’ve been making use of the internet ever since it became available to outside consumers – you remember the days of placing your phone’s handset near the modem? Trying to play Doom and being killed before you could see the screen? Yes, since then. We advanced through those days of early dial-up, and snagged those first “unlimited” plans from Telus, evolving to Rogers’ cable service, migrating to Shaw when the two telecomms sliced up the country between them, basically with Rogers taking the east and Shaw taking the west – I know it’s more detailed than that, but I’m trying to keep things at least a bit simple. 

In fact we have been with Shaw so long that the CSR I was speaking with at the company yesterday had to completely reformat our bill to bring it up to date, because it was still written the old way. Of course in the process of doing so, and changing a couple of our digital channels around, she removed our third IP address, knocking the Cavechild offline. So Scott had to call Shaw again (our third call of the day) to have the IP address restored. I had called them earlier to ask why we don’t have the option of subscribing to Investigation Discovery. We used to have CourtTV, until that was removed from the selection, and the Investigation Discovery web site states that the channel is available from cable and satellite providers in Canada. Unless you’re a Shaw customer. The CSR I spoke with on that call put in his own request for the channel as well, which was amusing in its own way.

I also used that phone call to pass along my unhappiness about losing 25gb off of our previous I-Extreme cap of 125gb per month, which with the bundle we have, costs $47.00 per month (plus $10.00 for the extra IP address). It’s really hard to not get mad at the CSRs who are on the front line of consumer angst – it’s not their fault that corporate made the choice to take away our 25gb and still charge the same price. It’s even harder to not get mad when they tell us about the extra data packages we can buy – why should we have to pay more money to get back the data limits we already had?

Let’s look at Shaw’s extra data plans, just for the fun of it. These are the options we have, with Shaw’s claims that “the more data you purchase, the more you save – data as low as 20 cents per GB.”

* 10 GB for $5.00 per month
* 60 GB for $20.00 per month
* 250 GB for $50.00 for month

So an extra $10.00 per month will almost put us back to where we were before the case of the disappearing 25gb, but again, I reiterate – why should we have to pay extra for what we already had. We received no advance notice of the cap decrease, and we certainly didn’t receive a decrease in fees. There has been much discussion of late on various community forums, most notably on Broadband Reports, and the discussion is not of a happy tone.

Yesterday afternoon we were sitting at 113.96gb transfer, 13.96gb over our cap. This morning we were at 116gb – that’s with the Cavechild not being home all day Saturday, light computer use, and about 6 hours of playing Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood on the 360 (intense de-stressing treatment). It will be interesting to see what we use up today, with the Cavechild being home and gaming, on top of my using the ‘net to write this as well as uploading files to our server. Oh, and to clarify, we have three IP addresses because we have three heavy-use computers, all of which also have their own secured wireless for two laptops (three when my daughter is here), two Xbox 360s, a Wii, a DS, an iPod Touch and an all-in-one wireless printer.

Another option that Shaw suggests to its customers is upgrading to the next plan level. For us, that would mean going with Nitro, which is $97.00 per month for 175gb of transfer  and our upload/download speeds could increase. Between Extreme-I and Warp there is a difference of $50.00, which in reality we could just use to buy the 250gb data package – that makes sense, right? We certainly wouldn’t be purchasing the Nitro plan, which has a very attractive offering of 350gb transfer per month, a blazing 100 Mbps download speed and 5 Mbps upload speed – but we’d still have to pay for that third IP address. That is – we could have the Nitro option if it was available in our area with its low price point of $150.00, which it isn’t.

Going back to our phone calls with Shaw yesterday – the second phone call was a simple removal and realignment of some of our digital channels, because while we can add to our Digital TV channels through Shaw’s site, we can’t remove them. The CSR I spoke with on this call was also affected by the cap decrease, as she also suffered from 25gb of missing transfer allowance. It would be nice if we could just completely remove the channels we definitely never watch, like the French ones that our language laws require be offered in every home (sorry, Quebec), Speed, E!, Cosmopolitan TV and The Shopping Channel, along with a few others we simply don’t watch. About the only time we watch Spike is for the Video Game Awards, and if the quality of that show doesn’t improve, we won’t be watching that anymore either. If the cable companies can micro-manage what digital channels we do or don’t have, why can’t we have full choice for options on plans involving Digital TV? But I digress from the internet issue.

While searching around on Shaw’s web site for something – I can’t remember now what it was, but that happens when one gets older – I ended up skimming through some of Shaw’s previous Annual Reports from the long-past 1990’s, and it was interesting to see what the company’s outlook was at the end of the last century, when the report states that the company’s revenue increased almost four fold over the previous year:

Television – Industry Outlook: The cable industry is moving from a highly regulated environment to one based on fair and sustainable competition.

Internet – Industry Outlook: The Internet industry provides one of the most dynamic opportunities for growth in the new millennium. Internet analysts expect that the growth of the Internet and e-commerce is a global megatrend that will revolutionize the way we communicate, learn, gather information and conduct transactions – this is truly a paradigm shift of monumental proportions.

Goals and Strategies:

• To be a market leader by providing consumers with superior value through high-speed Internet access,
broadband content, exceptional service and affordable monthly cost
• Maintain market leadership including the launch of Web-enabled interactive TV and other Internet-protocol based communications services
• To leverage off the existing and future cablesystem infrastructure

Also in 1999, Shaw “completed significant network upgrades to enable two-way cable transmission for the delivery of high-speed Internet access, impulse pay-per-view, Web-enabled interactive TV and bi-directional service.”

I just found out where our 25gb went. In looking at an old “Benefits” statement from Shaw – the original file name had “0607” in it, so it’s possibly from 2007, but the Nitro transfer limit is listed as 150gb, and in the current packages listing, it’s 175gb. There are no limits stated for the “lesser” packages, though – I find this somewhat telling, don’t you? Nitro got a cap increase while all of the other plans got data transfer limits lowered. Read the rest of this entry »

Kombat Mobile and AddictiveMobility will be launching a mobile application built for  Canadian professional mixed martial artist and MMA world champion Georges “Rush” St-Pierre a.k.a “GSP”. Georges St-Pierre will be using the mobile application as an interactive media platform to connect users to his training techniques, nutrition and fitness regimens, as well as interactive mobile games. The mobile application is readily compatible with the iPad, iPod, iPhone, Blackberry and Android smart phones across the global network.

“This partnership has developed a meaningful and innovative application that reflects what is important to me,” St-Pierre said. “This is my first mobile app, and it will change the way I interact with my fans.”

“Georges has allowed us to share a variety of his interests in this mobile app,” Muzaffar Abbas, Kombat Mobile CEO said. “Fans and end-users alike can now experience the technology, games, MMA sport, fitness and nutrition matters in their highest-grade format.”

The customized platform focuses on 3 key areas:

Gaming: The patented Strike Challenge allows iPhone users to compare their punch velocity with the reigning UFC welterweight champion. Users are challenged to punch at GSP’s punch velocity, results can be pushed to social feeds. The social game engages users in a question and answer format. Participating users earn points and, have the option to push activities to Twitter. The application uses Addictive mobility’s proprietary Game Zone technology using social components for a Social Game experience. Participating users earn points for answering mixed martial arts trivia. They also have the option to push their results onto Facebook and Twitter.

Nutrition and Fitness: Users view exclusive videos of Georges St-Pierre teaching them how to cook nutritious meals. GSP’s fitness training and techniques will be available for Fightclub app users to train with. There is also a sneak preview of the GSP RUSHFIT six-part fitness series.

GSP Connect: Users can ask GSP’s trainer questions face-to-face via Twitter. This feature has a quick navigational panel for instant interaction.

“This application sets a new standard in the development of premium social based applications,” said Nussar Ahmad, Addictive Mobility CEO. “The social components of the application will build a mixed martial community centered on George St-Pierre, a figure far larger than the sport itself.”

The free standard version of the mobile application includes MMA news, GSP Connect, GSP RUSHFIT, wallpaper and photo gallery. Features such as GSP Fightclub, GSP Nutrition and GSP TV are available for $4.99. The Strike Challenge game is only compatible with iPhone and iTouch devices.

Headquartered in Toronto, Kombat Mobile creates applications for the Android, Blackberry, iPhone, iPod Touch and Windows Mobile products. Kombat Mobile custom designs and builds progressive mobile applications with the intent to transform the way clients can entertain and interact with the public. With a special focus on health and fitness, Kombat Mobile caters to mixed martial arts athletes and its industry.

Addictive Mobility™ is an award winning premium mobile advertising network with offices in Toronto and Los Angeles. Recognized with 7 industry awards in the past 3 years, the mobile ad network has leveraged their social targeting solutions to help a number of advertisers and creative agencies develop successful advertising campaigns.

Reminder: Confoo 2011 is March 9th – 11th in Montreal.

Digital Extremes, developers of the PC version for the upcoming HomeFront game is participating in a session on Video Games and the Next Generation of Literacy in partnership with the Child & Youth Network, London Public Library and the United Way of London and Middlesex. The session will take place at the Museum London, 421 Ridout Street North in London, Ontario on Thursday, February 10th from 4:30pm until 8:00pm.

There will be a Keynote presentation by Dr. James Paul Gee, Professor of Literacy Studies at Arizona State University and author of What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy. The event will also feature a panel discussion, networking and refreshments. Donations to support literacy initiatives are welcome.

Digital Extremes has also launched a new iOS title. Available now for 99 cents US, Retro Pinball includes three handpicked tables (Crash and Burn, Super Android, Pangea) from original creator James Schmalz, all with updated graphics and sound to enhance your gaming experience on your favorite Apple iOS device.

Eidos Montreal has released a new trailer for Deus Ex: Human Revolution. Take an up-close and personal look at player character and game hero Adam Jensen.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o39lpePeOp8]

Deus Ex: Human Revolution is rated M for Mature by the ESRB and according to GameStop Canada, will be in-store on April 1st.

Puzzle Pond from Little Guy Games is a featured FreeAppADay game today, so hurry over to the iTunes App Store and grab this cute match-up game. Just in time for Valentine’s Day, you play Puzzle Pond by matching two creatures with a swipe of your finger to make them kiss and explode with joy. There are three game modes, Speed, Puzzle and Zen, with the ability to conduct combos and streaks for huge points and power-ups. There are currently sixty brain teasing puzzles in this Game Centre and OpenFeint-enabled game has twenty different achievements and a leaderboard.

Mike Farah, President of Production at comedy website Funny Or Die, and key members of his creative team will deliver a Feature Panel on the future of online comedy at BANFF 2011. Farah and his team will offer an in-depth look at the production strategy behind the phenomenal success of the site, which averages 8 million unique users and over 30 million video views per month.

“In only three years, Funny Or Die has become the destination for comedy fans online, with some of the best content out there,” said Ferne Cohen, Executive Director of the Festival. “We are all looking forward to what I’m sure will be a compelling and entertaining panel.”

As President of Production, Mike Farah oversees the creative day-to-day operations of the premier comedy site, along with Funny or Die’s television and feature projects. With Funny Or Die for over two years, Farah has produced the award-winning video “Prop 8: The Musical,” the Ron Howard-directed “Presidential Reunion,” and Marion Cotillard’s “Forehead Tittaes,” among many others. Under Farah’s leadership, Funny Or Die’s creative team produces over 25 original videos each month. In November 2010, The Hollywood Reporter named Farah one of the top 35 Hollywood executives under 35.

Montreal’s gogo6 inc., a leading provider of IPv6 products, community and services has released gogoCPE version 1.0 – a small v6 adaptor for the home that can be installed and providing IPv6 within a minute. Designed to work with, rather than replace home networking equipment, the gogoCPE can be used to deploy IPv6 using IPv4 or to deploy IPv4 using IPv6 – both resulting in a dual-stack home network. Early customers of the gogoCPE include SingTel, Comcast and Globe Telecom.

The gogoCPE is plug ‘n’ play simple and designed to be installed by the end user without any support. The gogoCPE uses the same code as the gogoCLIENT which has reliably provided IPv6 to over 150,000 users of the Freenet6 service.

The gogoCPE supports the most popular transition technologies including TSP, DS-Lite, 6RD, DSTM and L2TP. It is compatible with the gogoSERVER and other manufacturer systems. Its wide technology support allows it to work in any IPv4/v6 network scenario, including:

* Providing IPv6 to existing and new customers with IPv4 home routers in an IPv4 network.
* Providing IPv4 to new customers with IPv4 home routers in an IPv6 network.
* Providing IPv6 to new customers without IPv4 home routers in an IPv4 network.

“Hands down the most difficult part of introducing IPv6 into a broadband network is the home. This is where a majority of the IPv6 costs lie and where service providers have the least control. In a vast majority of the cases the home networking equipment is either not upgradable or owned by the end user making IPv6 synonymous with installing new equipment,” said Bruce Sinclair, gogo6 CEO. “The recent depletion of IPv4 addresses from the IANA pool increases the pressure on service providers to find a simple yet effective solution to offer v6 and v4 by way of v6. Service providers can quickly introduce IPv6 into their networks with a single 1U gogoSERVER and one gogoCPE per home.”

The gogoCPE is available today after being tested by service providers around the world. In addition to being sold in volume individual gogoCPEs are available on the gogo6 website. These units are preconfigured to work with Freenet6 making them plug ‘n’ play ready out of the box. Individual units cost $99 plus shipping and handling. Volume pricing is lower.

If I owned a Mac, I would be downloading the trial version of Office for Mac from Microsoft Canada right now, because they are holding a contest in partnership with LiveNation. Entrants could win a chance to see any band in the Canadian city—and seats—of his or her choice. Please see the contest rules for complete prize and entry details.

Roaring Penguin Software has updated its CanIt Reputation List, which collects IP reputation data on e-mail servers from a worldwide network of sensors. Roaring Penguin currently aggregates this data into four DNS-based block lists:

Spam Source: A list of IP addresses that have sent mostly spam and very little non-spam.
Dictionary Attackers: A list of IP addresses that have sent to many nonexistent recipients and very few valid recipients.
Greylist Stumblers: A list of IP addresses that have been thwarted by greylisting. Such machines are typically compromised personal computers.
Good: A list of IP addresses that have passed greylisting, have sent to very few nonexistent recipients, and have sent mostly non-spam. These machines are very likely legitimate mail servers.

To these block lists Roaring Penguin has added a new list called “Mixed” for hosts that send a mixture of spam and non-spam. Roaring Penguin found that the old “SpamSource” list would often list outbound mail servers for large e-mail providers. These servers tend to send a lot of spam, but they also send a lot of non-spam e-mail. The change to Roaring Penguin’s Reputation Lists means that about 5600 machines formerly listed on the “SpamSource” list are now listed on “Mixed”. This still leaves almost 1.9 million machines listed on the “SpamSource” e-mail reputation list.

CanIt 8.0 is available as:

* CanIt-PRO, an anti-spam / anti-virus appliance or a soft appliance.
* CanIt-Domain-PRO, spam filtering software that allows service providers such as MSPs to host anti-spam for their customers.
* Hosted CanIt, a fully outsourced anti-spam solution.

The Founder of the Online Party of Canada, Michael Nicula, will be holding a press conference on Saturday February 5, 2011 in the Art Room of the Gladstone Hotel to discuss CRTC policies in the context of decision 2011-44 to impose User Based Billing (UBB) on the whole Canadian market. Nicula will be joined by Iain Calder of TorFree.Net as well as affected consumers and small ISP providers.

In a move aimed to calm angry consumers, already dissatisfied with the internet service market in Canada, the CRTC president as well as many senior MPs vowed to review or strike down decision 2011-44. Internet service quality in Canada is not a new issue; it just happened that the latest CRTC decision has touched a nerve, as consumers are now enjoying data-rich social networking, livestream and television programs more than ever before.

Online Party of Canada wants to take the opportunity to broaden this discussion. Why has Canada slipped in the world ranking of country infrastructures in terms of speed and service quality? Countries like Romania and Bulgaria clock more than twice the average speed, and the leaders Korea and Japan boast speeds as much as three times faster. Is government intervention into the CRTC the right thing to do?

Online Party of Canada (OPC) is an Internet-based Political Party, pending registration. OPC is a non-traditional political party; it focuses on issues instead of platforms or individuals. OPC operates exclusively online and promotes an innovative voting system inspired from today’s popular technologies such as like/dislike, share, tweet, comment.

Everything has led to this moment. The epic finale begins with “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1”, which arrives on Blu-ray Combo Pack, DVD and Digital Download this April 15th from Warner Home Video and Warner Bros. Digital Distribution. Setting the stage for the much anticipated theatrical release of “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2” this summer, the entire ensemble cast is back for this must-see seventh installment of the top-grossing motion picture franchise in history, based on the best-selling book series by J.K. Rowling.

Beginning February 1st, Harry Potter fans old and new can sign up to join the “Quest for the Hallows“, an exciting global online adventure throughout the year. The “Quest for the Hallows” allows participants to unlock exclusive content, including videos, photos and other exciting, never-before-seen materials, and also enter sweepstakes featuring spectacular prizes.

From celebrated director David Yates (Harry Potter series Years 5-7), “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1” brings back the highly-acclaimed cast including Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson as well as Academy Award® Nominee Ralph Fiennes (Clash of the Titans, The English Patient), Academy Award® Nominee Helena Bonham Carter (The Kings’s Speech, Sweeney Todd), Academy Award® Nominee Imelda Staunton (Vera Drake), Alan Rickman (Sweeney Todd, Love Actually), and Michael Gambon (The Good Shepherd, Gosford Park). “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1” also introduces Golden Globe® Winner Bill Nighy (The Constant Gardener, Love Actually) as Rufus Scrimgeour.

“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1” will be available on Blu-ray Combo Pack, featuring a hi-definition, a standard definition, and a digital copy of the film, for $39.99 and on Single Disc DVD in widescreen format for $31.98 SRP.

On April 15th, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1” will be available for rent On Demand through Digital Cable, Satellite TV, and select game consoles. It is also available to buy through Digital Download from digital movie retailers and select game consoles.

Also on April 15 from Warner Home Video, the adventure multiplies with the release of “Harry Potter Years 1-7 Part 1” Giftsets on DVD and Blu-ray Disc. The giftsets feature the first seven films in the franchise (“Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone,” “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets,” “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban,” “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire,” “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix,” “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” and “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1”); the Blu-ray giftset includes an abundance of spectacular special features on each movie. The “Harry Potter Years 1-7 Part 1” Giftset will be available on Blu-ray for $134.99 and DVD for $79.99 SRP .

“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1” contains the following special features:

3-Disc Blu-ray Combo Pack includes:

* Exclusive Sneak Peek of a scene from the highly anticipated upcoming film Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2
* Maximum Movie Mode – Join host Jason Isaacs (Lucius Malfoy), and other members of the cast and crew, on an interactive journey through Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1. Plus, revisit important moments from the previous films to prepare for the final battle that takes place in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2.
* Dan, Rupert and Emma’s Running Competition – While filming the escape scene from the Snatchers in Swinley Forest, Dan, Rupert and Emma engage in a little competition of their own. With colorful commentary by Director David Yates, see the competitive spirit on set and this hilarious rivalry between the three leads.
* The Seven Harrys – See how Daniel Radcliffe recreated the personalities of the different characters that transform into Harrys in the hilarious Privet Drive scene.
* On the Green with Rupert, Tom, Oliver and James – Accompany Rupert Grint (Ron Weasley), Tom Felton (Draco Malfoy), Oliver Phelps (George Weasley) and James Phelps (Fred Weasley) for a round of golf and get a glimpse into their 10-year friendship that developed while making the Harry Potter films.
* The Wizarding World of Harry Potter Promotional Trailer – Join Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson and other cast members from the Harry Potter films on their first visit to the Grand Opening of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter.
* Additional Scenes
* Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1: Behind the Soundtrack
* Standard Definition DVD of the feature film
* Digital Copy of the feature film

DVD Includes:

* Additional Scenes

Consumers who buy or rent the movie digitally will receive special bonus materials:

* iTunes – Fans that purchase the title from iTunes will receive extras including a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1” soundtrack, eight deleted scenes, and an interview with Rupert Grint, Tom Felton, Oliver Phelps and James Phelps discussing growing up on set and life after Potter.
* On Demand – Consumers that rent the film On Demand in Hi-def will have access to great bonus content where available, including Dan, Rupert and Emma’s “Running Competition,” an exclusive video that gives a glimpse of the new cast members on the set, and a deeper look at the making of the soundtrack for “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1.”

Capture the excitement and laughter as Pokémon™ fans of all ages play Pokémon™ Black Version and-or Pokémon™ White Version weeks before they launch in Canada. Special Pokémon guest, Pikachu will be onsite to greet fans along with Nintendo of Canada spokesperson Julie Gagnon.

There are two events scheduled for Canadian gaming youngsters:

Grand Court Metropolis at Metrotown in Burnaby
Saturday, February 12th 10am – 9pm and Sunday, February 13th 11am – 7pm

Kids-Fest at the International Center in Mississauga
Saturday, February 19th through Monday, February 21st 10am – 5pm

These pre-launch events will feature hands-on game play, colouring stations, face painting and Pokémon inspired giveaways (while supplies last), and those who purchase either of the new games between the March 6th launch and April 10th will be able to receive a special Liberty Pass via Nintendo® Wi-Fi Connection (broadband Internet access required), which will enable them to catch the never-before-seen Mythical Pokémon Victini™.

Victini – the Victory Pokémon – is the first Pokémon that’s both Psychic- and Fire-type and cannot be obtained through normal game play. It is said that Victini creates an unlimited supply of energy, which it shares with others. This energy source may be the secret to how it brings about victories. Victini’s unique and exclusive Victory Star ability not only increases its own accuracy in battle, but also boosts the accuracy of all a player’s Pokémon in battle. Victini is a must-have in any Pokémon battle, and is especially useful in Triple Battles, which debut in Pokémon Black Version and Pokémon White Version.

Available for the Nintendo DS™ family of systems, Pokémon Black Version and Pokémon White Version include more than 150 never-before-seen Pokémon that players can catch, train and battle as they progress through the game. Both games are now available for pre-order from major retailers throughout Canada for a suggested retail price of $34.95 each.

When Ontario’s students need answers to their research questions, or access to multimedia archives or authoritative databases, they can turn to Knowledge Ontario’s online services, and the Ontario School Library Association (OSLA) showed its appreciation of these valuable services by presenting a Special Achievement award yesterday to Knowledge Ontario’s executive director David Thornley and chairperson Peter Rogers.

“The OSLA’s Special Achievement award goes to Knowledge Ontario for its capacity-building leadership and collaborative partnerships that make it possible for school libraries in Ontario, regardless of size or location, to provide students with equal access to virtual resources and technology tools needed by 21st-century learners,” says OSLA president Ruth Hall.

KO’s services reflect many of the priorities of the Ontario Ministry of Education, such as fostering digital literacy and providing equitable access to students across the province, including students in remote, rural, northern, Aboriginal and Francophone schools.

KO’s digital services include the following:

* eResources, a range of authoritative, age-appropriate collections of information, periodicals, newspapers and other learning tools;
* Learn Ontario tech help and tutorials for teaching and quick “how-to’s”
* Our Ontario, a digital collection of heritage photographs, videos, audio recordings, newspapers and other historical records; and
* askON and ONdemande, which allow students to get real-time research assistance in English and French after school and on weekends from public library staff.

Knowledge Ontario (KO) is gratified by the recognition. “I’m delighted to receive this award, along with my colleague David Thornley, because Knowledge Ontario deeply values our close partnership with teachers, students and school boards throughout Ontario. Educators at every level tell us that our digital tools are extremely useful to students, supporting them in school and in transitioning to college and university,” says Rogers. “We thank the OSLA for this recognition.”

Since January 2007, through negotiated province-wide licences, KO has turned an annual $1.2-million investment from the Government of Ontario into a suite of e-resources that would have cost individual school boards over $10 million. Before KO, over half of Ontario’s school libraries had no online database access for their students, and many others had only limited resources. Now, students use KO resources over 6 million times each year—and it’s making a difference to their education.

“Knowledge Ontario has proven to be a catalyst for change and improvement,” says Anita Brooks Kirkland, a library consultant with the Waterloo Region District School Board. “Having a broad range of quality, reliable resources, differentiated by instructional need, topic and audience, has been a powerful motivator for deeper learning and critical thinking for our students.”

At the school board level, administrators recognize the value of leveraging collaborative investment to prepare students for lifelong learning. “Knowledge Ontario’s services help Ontario’s students develop the skills they need to thrive in an increasingly high-tech world,” says John Stadnyk, director of education with the Huron-Superior Catholic District School Board and a KO board member.

Parents, meanwhile, appreciate the fact that their children can quickly access the information they need to further their education after school hours. “Knowledge Ontario is an excellent choice for the OSLA award,” says Gay Stephenson, online communications manager for People for Education, a parent-led organization that supports Ontario’s public education system. “The research is reliable and can be found in one place! For parents, it’s the perfect homework helper.”

The February 14^th deadline to submit entries for the 2011 Weston Youth Innovation Award is fast approaching. The Ontario Science Centre is looking for young Agents of Change – Canadian youth who are actively motivating positive outcomes in the world by creating solutions for real issues.

The Weston Youth Innovation Award was established in 2008 to support and acknowledge young Canadian innovators. It provides students ages 14 to 18 a unique channel to share their ideas and get the word out to a much larger audience. The winner (either an individual or team) is granted a $2,000 cash prize and the chance to work with a Science Centre multimedia team to produce a short animation showcasing their project. This video will be broadcast in the Science Centre’s Weston Family Innovation Centre, and will also be posted online.

Entrants are asked to showcase how they have demonstrated leadership and initiative in tackling a real-world issue, for example, energy conservation or climate change, and to illustrate the impact of their efforts. Submissions will be judged on demonstration of the characteristics of innovation: inspiration, creativity, collaboration, risk-taking and problem-solving.

Last year, Kimberly Gulevich from Fort St. John, British Columbia was granted the award. Her innovative project presented a potential method of reducing the carbon footprint of small rural households that use sewage lagoons – by exploring the use of methane capture as a way to provide energy to these homes.

“The Weston Youth Innovation Award is a great opportunity for Canadian youth to showcase the work they are doing on a larger scale,” said Gulevich. “For me, winning the award was not only about showcasing my work, but showcasing how communities can come together to benefit youth pursuing science. I not only believe that we are the next generation of scientists, but that we Canadian youth are making great progress today. The monetary portion of the award was also useful, as I was able to use it to further my education and am now studying Environmental Engineering at the University of Northern British Columbia.”

Entries will undergo a two-step judging process. A panel from the Ontario Science Centre will assess all entries in February and will then send a shortlist to a second panel of external judges. The winner is scheduled to be announced on April 30, 2011 and will receive their award during a special ceremony in May where a multi-media presentation of their project will premiere.

The Weston Youth Innovation Award was named in recognition of The W. Garfield Weston Foundation’s $15 million lead gift to the Ontario Science Centre’s Agents of Change initiative. This national award honours the Foundation’s dedication to education and contribution to the Canadian cultural landscape.

From storyboard to screen, the Screen Industries Research and Training Centre (SIRT) brings it all together at a conference dedicated to previsualization and virtual production – two innovative processes that are changing the face of film and TV production. The conference will be hosted by SIRT, an initiative of Sheridan College, at its Pinewood Toronto Studios facility. It will look at how digital technology and live on-stage computer graphics are allowing film, television and gaming professionals to become more creative, collaborative and cost effective. Previsualization and Virtual Production: Bringing It All Together takes place February 24 – 25, 2011 and includes panels, presentations and technology demos delivered by industry experts.

Previsualization (also known as previs) is the application of cutting-edge digital technologies, including motion capture, to help plan and create films and other projects. The process allows directors and other key personnel to explore creative ideas, plan technical solutions to production problems, and communicate their vision to the broader production team. Day One of the conference is dedicated to previsualization with expert presentations from Ron Frankel, Founder of Proof Inc. (The Green Hornet, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse); Aaron Weintraub, Visual Effects Supervisor for Mr. X Inc. (Resident Evil: Afterlife, TRON: Legacy, and The Three Musketeers); Brian Pohl, Co-Founder of POV Previs (Star Trek, Star Wars: Episode I and II); and Darren Cranford, President and Director for Keyframe Digital (X-Men, Driven, and Zombieland).

The sexy sister of previsualization – virtual production – is the focus of Day Two with panels and practical demos covering the latest technologies. Virtual production is the process of shooting a movie with real-time computer graphics, either for all-CG movies such as Christmas Carol, or visual effects movies with live action such as Avatar.

Confirmed speakers include: Jason Walter, Virtual Production Team Consultant at Autodesk; Jim Laird, CFO, Bedlam Games; Lui Francisco, Artistic Director, Bedlam Games; Steve Hoban, Founder/Producer, Copperheart Entertainment; and David Footman, Scripted Event Director, Ubisoft Toronto.

“Why can’t people have fun at work?” asked Powernoodle Inc. Founder and CEO Deb Krizmanich, as she kicked off Powernoodle`s launch event at the renowned Stratford Shakespeare Festival Theatre. People spend fifty to eighty percent of their careers in meetings and most of that time is perceived to be wasted or ineffective. The resulting cost is billions of dollars globally each year.

Powernoodle draws inspiration from online multi-player gaming and social media, to engage people in a proven guided process that moves ideas from brainstorm to action. Long-time Facilitator and Lead Investor for Golden Triangle Angelnet, Frank Erschen described his experience using Powernoodle, “I was gobsmacked by the strength of the validation I experienced when I had a chance to use it in a real situation,” adding “it addresses head on a problem that everyone in every business in every industry experiences too often: inefficient and/or ineffective group problem solving.”

Over one hundred people gathered to celebrate Powernoodle`s launch and the Stratford ecosystem of partners that Powernoodle comes from. “Congratulations to the staff and investors of Powernoodle. Your software innovation is designed to help people to collaborate in a powerful new virtual way, whether next door or around the world,” stated John Wilkinson, MPP, Perth-Wellington. “Powernoodle is an example of local entrepreneurs striving to meet the growing needs of our new digital economy while creating knowledge-based jobs right here at home.”

Stratford Mayor, Dan Mathieson plans to employ Powernoodle as a virtual Town Hall meeting format, saying: “We are excited to use Powernoodle in our city, as a way to encourage candid and honest feedback from our citizens.”

Tony award nominated Stratford actor Scott Wentworth was Master of Ceremonies for the vibrant affair. Confucius, Caesar, Cleopatra, Joan of Ark and Queen Elizabeth circulated among the crowd, touting their missed Powernoodle moments and posing for photos with the guests, reflecting the product`s use of brilliant historical avatars to inspire people to choose a positive leadership style and to offer anonymous participation for more candid feedback. Kevin Tuer, Managing Director of the Canadian Digital Media Network (Canada 3.0) commented: “The launch of Powernoodle is yet another example of Stratford’s growing leadership in the digital world.”

Unique for using gaming principles, reward & recognition and a proven guided process, Powernoodle is for leaders interested in hearing their people’s great ideas, who want and need the views of the people around them to make better decisions. It’s for leaders who appreciate teamwork. Tobi Day-Hamilton, Director Advancement for the University of Waterloo Stratford Campus noted, “I look forward to seeing Powernoodle fill a sweet spot with the combination of technology and creativity to foster collaboration.”

Digital media elites and the entire room of government, business, tech and education partners participated in a demonstration of Powernoodle, to answer the question: What will make the virtual office go mainstream in 2011?

The Powernoodle meeting took less than an hour. As they brainstormed, ideas were captured on virtual sticky notes, arrows were launched onscreen to vote for their favourites, piles of gold were allocated to prioritize them and the best ideas were then captured in an action plan. The group chose and created an Action Plan based on three top ideas: 1-user friendly software, 2-a younger workforce accustomed to using collaboration tools and 3- the rising cost of travel.