Village Gamer

Intertainment Media Inc., creators of real time experiential translation platform Ortsbo, has begun the full roll-out of  its multi-language application for the world’s most popular email platform, Microsoft Outlook. Users who register at Ortsbo.com for the free trial of Ortsbo for Outlook, or “O4O” will receive the ability to send and receive emails in over 50 languages. Later this year, Ortsbo will release Ortsbo 2.0 expanding the entire platform of services with 80 languages and enhanced email, online, mobile, portable, translation and learning based language services.

All currently registered and new O4O users who register by early August 2011 will be eligible to participate in Ortsbo’s Cruise Into Translation promotion and have the opportunity to win 1 of 5 trips on the KISS KRUISE in October 2011. Ortsbo is making available up to 10 Million copies of O4O beta for initial free trials and users who choose to convert to the full version of O4O will be entitled to initial introductory pricing of as low as $29.95 US for the application.

Ortsbo has also begun to ramp up its activation of users on its cloud computing based Windows Azure Platform, providing global users of Ortsbo the ability to connect through any desktop, mobile or portable computer browser. Ortsbo for Azure is a HTML based platform and does not require any downloading, allowing users in both consumer and commercial settings to use the program. Recent tests of the updated platform have seen the daily traffic accelerate by up to 150% over the previous records set for Ortsbo engagement and without the time delays experienced with the Silverlight version of Ortsbo. The Company is confident that Windows Azure will allow virtually unlimited global connections and immediate response for the Ortsbo platform. Ortsbo plans to release additional user statistics as it completes testing of the new platform. Read the rest of this entry »

The next generation of connected entertainment continues with the launch of the Shaw Gateway experience for Edmonton customers, who join  Shaw Gateway customers in Calgary, where the new program was launched; other Canadian markets will have access to Gateway soon.

The Gateway brings customers a shared PVR experience and more than 1,200 HD Video On Demand titles. The PVR supports the recording of up to six programs at once, while playing back up to three previously recorded programs – all in HD.

“The Gateway is the first product of its kind in Canada and brings customers a totally new way of experiencing technology and connectivity,” said Peter Bissonnette, President, Shaw Communications Inc. “We’re excited to launch the product to our Edmonton customers and provide them with the ultimate in entertainment with the Shaw Gateway.”

Customers can seamlessly pick up recordings on another TV and resume playback without missing a beat. The Gateway also enables customers to maximize HD/SD recordings with Shaw’s PVR expanders. An enriched Program Guide with content filters and enhanced search is one of the Gateway’s key features. Customers can access VOD titles through a live TV storefront, along with on-screen video games and live Shaw Pay Per View events.

In the coming months more features will be available on the Shaw Gateway, including:

• Integration of web content, providing customer access to Internet content through their TVs
• Remote PVR scheduling that allows customers to set up program recordings online and on their handheld devices
• Global Content Search of live TV, recorded TV, VOD and PPV content, and PC files on PCs and laptops
• Home sharing allowing customers to share pictures and content from their computer onto their television

The Shaw Gateway brings together broadband and HD technology with DLNA (Digital Life Network Alliance) standards to deliver the industry’s best in-home entertainment. The product launched in Calgary on May 3, and will be available in Vancouver and throughout the country during summer 2011.

The Gateway is available with the Shaw Easy Own program for $17 per month over 36 months or $598.

Mobio Identity Systems, an international mobile payment and marketing company, is pleased to announce the launch of its flagship Mobio App for BlackBerry. This enables BlackBerry devices with all the mobile payment and identity management capabilities found on Mobio for iPhone and Mobio for Android applications. Mobio is the only mobile payment and identity management application on App World and the only one that leverages QR barcode technology. All BlackBerry Pearl, Curve, Bold, Tour, Torch and Style models are supported.

With the addition of Mobio for BlackBerry to its offerings, the Company will be able to engage an additional 2.8 million Canadian Smartphone users who are loyal BlackBerry fans. According to ComScore’s latest survey on Canadian Smartphone usage, RIM’s BlackBerry operating system is the most popular with a 42.0 percent share of the country’s Smartphone subscribers.

To celebrate Mobio’s recent listing on BlackBerry App World, the Company is holding its first national interactive TV contest. Together with exclusive broadcast partner, Shaw Media, the contest will be available to 14 million Shaw viewers across Canada. For a 2-week period beginning June 20, 2011, Mobio barcodes will be displayed on three of Shaw’s most popular channels – Action, Diva and Showcase. Using their Smartphones, viewers will be able to scan the barcode off the TV screen to be instantly entered to win a tablet PC. Viewers are encouraged to watch often and enter as many times as they like.

“We are excited to celebrate the launch of Mobio for BlackBerry with an exciting national Mobio-enabled TV contest,” said Clovis Najm, CEO of Mobio Identity Systems. “Now virtually all 6.6 million Smartphone users in Canada will be able to benefit from Mobio’s payment and identity capabilities as well as participate in interactive multi-media contests and promotions.”

Mobile local search service provider Poynt Corporation has announced a multi-year agreement with mobile ad-server Mocean Mobile (NYC) to create a complete advertising solution for direct local marketing campaigns targeted to smartphone users when and where the consumer is searching for specific goods and services.

The Poynt application is a convenient and timesaving GPS-enabled mobile application that connects consumers to local businesses, events, restaurants, movie theaters, gas prices and weather information at the moment they are looking to buy or acquire products. Poynt provides consumers the ability to move beyond discovery of their local area to view movie trailers and reviews, buy movie tickets, click-to-call businesses, get directions, browse listing websites and read reviews and book dining reservations. Poynt Corp. has content partnerships with Citysearch, Yellow Pages, Superpages, OpenTable, Movietickets.com and many more.

“We drive revenue and conversions for established global media operators by helping them reach the right audience,” said Andrew Osis, CEO of Poynt Corp. “Our implementation through the Mocean Mobile service will give us the much-needed infrastructure to easily and effectively run our advertisers’ campaigns from soup to nuts, ultimately driving revenue and conversions for individual advertisers.”

The Mocean Mobile platform is used by some of the largest publishers and content providers in the world to streamline their mobile revenue opportunities on all mobile devices. Poynt Corp.’s implementation of the platform will give their advertisers the ability to engage with users most relevant to the advertiser’s needs through dynamic and rich media creative campaigns on mobile. Poynt Corp.’s mobile marketing partners will also have the best available tools at their disposal for executing direct campaigns, as well as conducting mediation where needed through Mocean Mobile’s fully-integrated capabilities.

“Poynt is an exciting and incredibly useful application. We are pleased to be chosen as the solution that can best help Poynt Corp. effectively serve relevant ads to their users and as their monetization platform,” said Tony Nethercutt, GM North America for Mocean Mobile. “Given the level of due diligence Poynt Corp. put into selecting their ad serving partner, it makes us all proud that our technology came out on top. We look forward to a fantastic and lasting relationship.”

Poynt is available as a free download for iPhone and iPod Touch, Android, Nokia QT, Windows Phone 7, BlackBerry smartphone and BlackBerry PlayBook tablet users in Canada, the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy, France, Spain and Australia from the respective App Stores. Poynt is also available via over-the-air download at m.poynt.com.

Sonomax Technologies Inc. has signed an agreement with JAM Industries Ltd., North American distributor of products to the Musical Instruments & Professional Audio channels (MI&PRO). JAM owns and operates American Music & Sound (AM&S) based in Los Angeles. AM&S will distribute sculpted eers™ in the U.S.  Erikson Audio, another division owned by JAM and headquartered in Quebec, will distribute sculpted eers™ throughout Canada. JAM reported sales of $230M in 2010 and distributes to 3,800 dealers in North America.

“We have been evaluating this technology for close to a year now and believe that the market is ready for this product,” said Martin Szpiro, JAM’s Chief Executive Officer. “We are watching the product launch that is currently underway, very closely.  Our goal is to learn as much as possible about the product and the consumer experiences, so that we are very prepared for the second phase of the Sonomax launch, which is planned for this fall,” added Szpiro.

“There are so many advantages to doing business with a company like JAM,” said Nick Laperle, CEO of Sonomax. “They have offices across the U.S. and Canada, and a huge dealer network.  They also cater to one of our core niche markets, the amateur and semi-professional musician, who understand that getting custom earphones or in-ear monitors, as they are known in the industry, is a 3 to 4 week process that can cost anywhere from $400 to $3,500. With sculpted eers™, musicians can walk in and out of a store with custom-molded earphones in minutes, for between $199.99 and $299.99, based on the model they choose.  How cool is that?” Laperle added.

Sonomax reminds shareholders of its Annual & General Meeting to be held tomorrow, Tuesday June 21^st at 10:00am, Hotel Vogue, 1425 De La Montagne Street, Montreal, Quebec. Martin Szpiro, JAM’s CEO will be at the meeting to discuss the agreement and provide outlook for 2011-2012.

Two Toronto companies will have greater opportunities to develop new technologies thanks to a Government of Canada investment of nearly $2 million announced today by the Honourable Gary Goodyear, Minister of State for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario (FedDev Ontario).

“The Government of Canada is investing in the people, businesses and communities of southern Ontario to create jobs and encourage economic growth,” said Minister Goodyear. “New businesses face many challenges getting access to capital. Today’s investment will help these companies develop new ideas and bring them to market.”

Nulogy Corporation will receive a contribution of up to $954,687, which will allow it to be first-to-market with its ‘PackShop’ software that is used to customize packaging design for marketers and retailers. The company has also received support from the growth equity investment company Klass Capital Corporation.

“Nulogy will use this financing to expand as we secure new customers and enter new markets around the world,” Jason Tham, Chief Executive Officer of Nulogy Corporation. “Living and investing locally, while competing globally, has always been important to us, and we are very grateful to be able to continue our journey with great partners like FedDev Ontario and Klass Capital.”

Maintenance Assistant Inc. will receive a contribution of up to $975,000 to enhance its Collaborative Computerized Maintenance Management software to help businesses better maintain equipment and machinery, as well as procure parts and services through a web-based format. The company has also received support from accredited angel investors.

“I am extremely pleased to receive this federal funding through Investing in Business Innovation,” said Marc Castel, Chief Executive Officer of Maintenance Assistant Inc. “In combination with our angel investment through the Golden Triangle Angel Network and the Niagara Angel Network, the government support will allow us to focus on our growth objectives and build a world-class enterprise software company for equipment maintenance.”

Investing in Business Innovation is a direct result of feedback from business leaders, academics and community leaders from across southern Ontario, who suggested FedDev Ontario take a leadership role in encouraging entrepreneurs and investors to take the risks necessary to put southern Ontario businesses on the map.

FedDev Ontario was created as part of Canada’s Economic Action Plan to support businesses and communities in southern Ontario. Now in its second year of operation, the Agency has launched a number of initiatives to create a Southern Ontario Advantage and place the region in a strong position to compete in the global economy. These initiatives are designed to support businesses and other organizations through partnerships and investments in skills and training; innovation; research and development; and increased productivity. 

Telefilm Canada has awarded its Guichet d’Or Prize to the director of Piché: entre ciel et terre, Sylvain Archambault, as well as to the film’s writer, Ian Lauzon. The prize comes with a cash award of $20,000 for each of the winners. The Guichet d’Or has been awarded annually for the past four years to the Canadian writer and director of the French-language feature film with the highest-grossing domestic box-office sales during the previous year. In 2010, Piché: entre ciel et terre was a major success, taking in $3.7 million at the Canadian box office.

“Normally, prizes that reward box-office performance are given to a film’s distributor or producer,” said Carolle Brabant, Executive Director of Telefilm Canada. “At Telefilm, we believe it’s crucial to also congratulate the artists behind the camera, those who bring movies to life. This prize, awarded for a fourth year running, enhances the visibility of our industry’s success stories, which underlines our goal of stimulating demand for Canadian content.”

The film’s director, Sylvain Archambault, added: “I’m extremely touched by Telefilm Canada’s initiative in awarding the Guichet d’Or. By honouring artists in this way, Telefilm proves that it is deeply committed to supporting, not only the film industry, but the creative forces that ensure the industry’s continuity—which is so important for our culture. Bravo!”

“As a screenwriter, I am very humbled by the award I am receiving today,” said Ian Lauzon, the film’s screenwriter. “It seems to me that my role in the project was simply to serve as an air-traffic controller. I didn’t invent the life we see onscreen. That life was lived—and continues to be lived—by Robert Piché. So it is with much humility that I accept the Guichet d’Or.”

Piché: entre ciel et terre was produced by Pixcom’s André Dupuy and stars Michel Côté. The cast also includes Maxime Leflaguais, Sophie Prégent and Normand D’Amour. The film received funding from Telefilm Canada through its Canada Feature Film Fund.

About Piché: entre ciel et terre (produced by Pixcom, distributed in Canada by TVA Films)
The films tells the story of pilot Robert Piché who, drawing on his keen instinct as well as his rowdy past, finds the strength and the presence of mind to safely land his plane after it has run out of fuel, thereby saving the lives of his 306 passengers. While subsequently seeking treatment for alcoholism in the aftermath of his heroic act, Piché must relive the momentous event as well as the time he once spent in jail. Only by accepting his past will he ever be able to make sense of his life.

The film Piché: entre ciel et terre recounts how this man, yearning for adventure, was always able to land on his feet. The movie also shows the human being behind the man who saved his passengers in 2001, the man who continues to fascinate, to attract large crowds wherever he goes, the man whose biography sold 65 000 copies. The human being behind the hero, with his feelings and his weaknesses, all of which make him seem both more real and larger than life.

The 2009 winners of the Guichet d’Or prize were Émile Gaudreault, director and co-writer of the hit comedy De père en flic, and Gaudreault’s co-writer, Ian Lauzon.

SIGGRAPH has announced the Computer Animation Festival’s Best in Show, Jury Award, and Best Student Project recipients for the SIGGRAPH 2011 Conference taking place in Vancouver this August 7th – 11th. A total of 77 films will be shown during the Computer Animation Festival. Nominees were chosen by an expert panel of jury members from 891 submissions representing 44 countries.

“The level of quality and technical expertise exemplified by this year’s submissions continues to raise the bar for the extreme innovation and leading technology the Computer Animation Festival delivers year after year,” said Joshua Grow, Computer Animation Festival Director and 3D Stereo Coordinator for The Creative-Cartel. “The submissions selected to be featured at SIGGRAPH 2011 are a true testament to the leaps and bounds the Computer Animation Industry has achieved since the Computer Animation Festival first debut at SIGGRAPH and promises a very exciting road ahead.”

The Computer Animation Festival is recognized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences as a qualifying festival. Since 1999, several works originally presented in the Computer Animation Festival have been nominated for or have received a “Best Animated Short” Academy Award. This year’s selections will be featured during the Computer Animation Festival through a series of daily Festival Screenings and the iconic Electronic Theater allowing attendees to get a glimpse behind the making of computer generated effects, visualizations, and animations.

Best In Show Award

The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore

Directed by William Joyce and Brandon Oldenburg, Moonbot Studios

The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore is a poignant, humorous allegory about the curative powers of story. Using a variety of techniques (miniatures, computer animation, 2D animation) William Joyce and Brandon Oldenburg present a hybrid style of animation that harkens back to silent films and Technicolor musicals.

Jury Award

Paths of Hate

Directed by Damian Nenow, Platige Image

Two pilots, driven by blind hate, chase each other in their airplanes and thereby write cryptic messages of madness into the firmament. On their way into the abyss they transform into inhuman and distorted creatures that finally become part of the history of hate.

Best Student Project Prize

Flamingo Pride

Directed by Tomer Eshed, The Konrad Wolf Potsdam-Babelsberg Film and Television University

Frustrated being the only straight flamingo in a gay flock, our hero falls in love with a lady stork that flies by. Unable to convince her of his serious intentions he isolates himself and goes through an identity crisis. An intensive encounter inspires him to make a bold move.

Jury Award Runners-Up

Escape of the Gingerbread Man!!!

Directed by Tod Polson, The Monk Studios

A young storyteller challenges the old master in a pub on the Irish west coast. The “Escape of the Gingerbread Man” is a mad romp through the Irish countryside. As well as a subtle commentary on the changes in traditions, and culture that is happening throughout the “emerald isle.”

The Experience of Fliehkraft

Directed by Till Nowak, frameboX

Humans mount themselves onto gigantic robots and try to get centrifuged through space. Sounds like science fiction, but it is what happens in theme parks. Machines with the power of tanks offer five minutes of anti-gravity therapy. An attempt to escape this world … driven by 10,000 horsepower.

Best Student Project Prize Runners-Up

DreamGiver

Directed by Tyler Carter, Brigham Young University

A regular night of dream delivering turns into a literal nightmare when an orphan’s book of Ancient Aztec Mythology comes alive. The Dreamgiver must save the orphan from his own nightmare!

Sweater Dog

Directed by Gina Moffit, Ringling College of Art and Design

A normally happy go lucky dog is put into a restricting sweater by his owner but tries to go on with his normal every day activities.

Big Blue Bubble Inc. is pleased to announce that Paper Munchers, an explosively new physics-based game has officially arrived on Apple’s iPad (Lite Version), iPhone and iPod Touch (Lite Version), as well as on Mac OSX via the Mac App Store.

That’s right, the Paper Munchers are here, they’re hungry and it’s up to you to make sure they get fed. Use the explosive power of your touch to match deliciously cute monsters with the ferocious mouths of the Paper Munchers. Use your arsenal of bombs to launch those delicious monsters into the jaws of the malicious maws.

Explode your way through five worlds and 75 levels of munching mayhem! Paper Munchers is packed full of explosive physics, unique characters, and 5 Worlds with a whole feast of new content to come!

Features of this monster eat monster world:

• 75 explosive levels with more on the way
• 5 Beautiful Paper Craft Worlds of nom nom nomming
• Tight physics based gameplay
• Game Center Achievements
• Tons of explosions and carnivorous action

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiiixY1RsC8]

BC’s Technical Solutions Inc. has released a new modular touch-screen computer product line. In three simple steps, choose your LCD screen (with matching adapter board), computer module, and I/O module and you have the guts of a touch-screen terminal customized exactly to your needs.

• pick your display (it comes with a matching display interface board supporting LCD, touch, back-light, plus some optional extras)
• pick your computer power, from 500 to 1000 MIPS, with or without on-board Ethernet
• pick your mix of I/O and power-supply. From POE to a super-low-cost 2-board option powered by USB, there’s a range of boards coming.

Using the latest i.MX processors from FreeScale Semi-conductor of Austin Texas, Techsol’s engineers have applied 25 years of experience designing low-power CMOS computer systems for commercial, industrial, medical, automotive, and defense applications to the long-standing challenge of “why not all 3”. All TSCM products run Techsol’s Medallion Linux, one of the oldest and most stable Linux distributions exclusively targeting ARM processors. Display options currently supported include 3.5″, 4.3″, 5″ WVGA, 7″ WVGA, 7″ Hi-Brite, and 10.4″ SVGA LVDS with more coming.

Conceived in 2007, designed starting in 2009 (there was a recession providing time :), optimized in 2010, and now rolling out in 2011, the Touch Screen Computer Module (TSCM) simplifies the creation of your next product at low-cost, with low-risk, and with fast time-to-market. Plus, Techsol still offers custom design services should you require a unique mix of interfaces or power-supplies on your I/O board or support for a new display.

Embedded Engineering is the same all over the world. Engineers face the same challenges of having too much to do, and not enough time or money to do it with. Techsol’s Medallion Classic and TSC modules address this issue and provide a solution that extends into the production stages of a product, not just the proof-of-concept stage like most SBCs.

The Medallion Single-board computer product line encompasses multiple CPUs, and different configurations with the same CPU. However, the pin-out and form-factor remain the same, even after 10 years, and the TSCM will also have a long availability for “planned NON-obsolesence”.

By designing with the Medallion system, you are effectively out-sourcing your CPU design and Linux porting with no up-front NRE fees. That lets your team concentrate on the hardware and software portions of your product that your customers see. The result is that you can create a higher-quality product in a fraction of the time and cost of designing everything yourself from scratch, with interchangeable modules extending product life-cycle times.