Village Gamer

Waterloo – Research In Motion today announced new and enhanced tools for developing web applications for BlackBerry® smartphones. The tools include the new BlackBerry® Web Development Plug-in for Eclipse and the BlackBerry® Plug-in for Microsoft Visual Studio version 1.2. These tools are part of a complete portfolio of BlackBerry® developer tools for web and Java development and a rich set of APIs that enable developers to easily create a wide variety of mobile applications that connect BlackBerry® smartphone users to the information they care about. The BlackBerry application platform also incorporates significant advantages, including real-time push technology, unmatched security and highly efficient data compression and network bandwidth utilization, allowing developers to deliver optimized applications on the most powerful, secure and efficient platform in the industry.

“The BlackBerry developer tools portfolio aims to bring together the best of Java and web development for the creation of web applications that are integrated with core BlackBerry smartphone functions for a seamless, intuitive and robust user experience,” said Alan Brenner, Senior Vice President, BlackBerry Platform Group at RIM. “The evolving portfolio of web development tools for the BlackBerry platform allows developers to work in familiar development environments to create, debug, profile, test and optimize their web applications for BlackBerry smartphones.”

The BlackBerry Web Development Plug-in for Eclipse is a new plug-in that allows developers to create web applications and content for BlackBerry smartphones within the familiar Eclipse 3.4 environment. Using this plug-in, developers can debug and profile Internet/intranet web pages displaying HTML and CSS content in addition to more complex rich internet applications using AJAX, Silverlight, PHP, ASP, Ruby on Rails, JSP, and Python.
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Vancouver – Yummy Interactive, Inc. today announced the release of GameShield Version 4.5 that provides protection and licensing options for Flash-based games. By supporting Adobe® Flash applications, GameShield’s Digital Rights Management system delivers new distribution and revenue opportunities for game developers and publishers who create content with Adobe® Flash.

“Flash developers can leverage GameShield in order to sell their Flash content alongside other types of games on retail websites, or on their own websites, in ways they may not have considered before,” said Christopher Hennebery, Director of Software Distribution at Yummy Interactive.

With GameShield Version 4.5, Flash application executables can now be protected and packaged in the same way as standard Microsoft Windows® executables are. SWF movies can also be directly protected with minimal effort. Unique to GameShield’s wrapper technology is the ability to embed resource and peripheral files, such as audio, video, dlls and data, along with the source code, into a single wrapped executable.
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Montreal – MyEvent.com, the leading provider of do-it-yourself event websites, announced it has reached over 10 million dollars in sales from event ticketing. Ticket sales occur on websites built using the class reunion, family reunion or any any event website builders.

All MyEvent.com websites include communication tools to help develop the website into a hub where everyone can view details of events, maps, hotel information, and much more. The website tools allow the organizer to manage guest lists, send emails, accept registrations, and sell tickets (by credit card) right on their website. There are also fun features such as photo albums, quizzes, polls, a guest book, music, video, and many other great website features.

The ability to sell tickets right on the website has been a critical part of the success of events that are being planned on MyEvent.com. In addition to being able to accept credit card payments without a merchant account, MyEvent.com allows event organizers to track all their statistics and create useful reports that are essential to managing a successful event.
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Waterloo – The majority of people consider browser history to be private, but that is no longer the case. Any website you visit can determine your browser history by exploiting the very features designed to enhance your Internet experience, a fact many people are not aware of.

Sample Collage - Not From Our PC

Web2.0collage.com is a new site designed to illustrate how easily browser history can be sniffed by compiling a list of popular (and safe for work) websites illustrating which ones the user has visited. Once this list has been compiled it is used to produce a visual collage representative of the user’s browser history, providing an artful reminder to all who visit that their private history really isn’t all that private.

The first version of Web2.0collage.com was created in a weekend by Holden Karau (a.k.a. pantsd), a University of Waterloo student. What started as a quick hack to learn new programming techniques quickly gained momentum as interest in the privacy implications of the project spread by way of Slashdot. The University of Waterloo Computer Science Club (CSC) graciously provides the computing resources necessary to keep Web2.0collage.com online. As traffic to the site increased Anthony Brennan (a.k.a. hatguy), a fellow student and CSC sysadmin, quickly offered to help resolve critical scalability issues resulting from the crushing load of curious users. For the technically inclined the source code is made available for review under the terms of the AGPL.
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Canada – As always, it’s nice to start our Fridays with some cool links and information from our favourite tech info guru, Bradley Shende of MEDIA2O and ConnectedLife. Bradley appears every Friday morning on Global BC’s morning news show. Today’s cool links included BoardTracker and BoardReader – two great services for busy people. Be sure to catch his segment next week for more great info. You can view past GlobalTV ConnectedLife segments on Global’s site – just scroll down the index and choose Connected Life. Also, congratulations are in order to Bradley and Sarah, who are expecting twins in a few months’ time.

Ubisoft has launched the official dev blog for James Cameron’s Avatar The Game. There isn’t very much content up yet, but UbiGabe is working on it. The dev blog promises the latest news, links and info regarding Avatar. UbiGabe says he is also looking forward to telling some of the secrets which have been kept, well, secret about the game. Avatar is also available now for pre-order at most game store locations, and will be available for Xbox 360, PS3 PSP, DS and Wii.

Also announced by Ubisoft today is a chance to win a trip to Ubi Montreal to play Assassin’s Creed 2 with the developers. The cryptic details were released on Twitter, with a coded URL to follow. We will share the link with you right here – good luck in the contest. All you need to do is have an account on Ubi.com, grab and share the widget and hope you win. If you win, take us with you – we’d greatly appreciate it.

Sheridan Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning has released their comments about the recent Ubisoft Toronto announcement.
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Vancouver – Techneos Entryware 6.4 mobile survey software was released today; we at Village Gamer can see many uses for this product within the game industry – especially at conferences and expos. Providing seamless compatibility with Windows Mobile devices and enhanced capabilities for mobile research, Entryware 6.4 provides a powerful set of capabilities for both face-to-face interviewing and diary studies using a wide range of mobile devices. This release, combined with the recent announcement of Techneos Entryware mobile survey software running on the Palm Pre, strengthens Techneos’ position as a global leader in mobile survey software. Techneos also provides rich tools for engaging people at the point of experience using Windows-based tablet PCs, Netbooks and Ultra-mobile PCs, as well as PDA and Smartphone devices running the Palm Operating System.

Highlights of this Entryware 6.4 upgrade include: improved look and feel for all handheld surveys; photo capture on Windows Mobile devices; 5-way navigation allowing for quicker and easier movement through a questionnaire; and an optional new “diary engine” which enables research managers to lock down Windows Mobile devices so that other applications cannot be accessed by mobile users.
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Celebrate the 80th Edition of the All-Star Game with Strategy First today

Montreal – Strategy First and Out Of The Park Baseball 10 invites Baseball Fans and Gamers everywhere to take advantage of this limited time give away. For the first time ever Strategy First will release a five hour interview featuring Red Sox Hall Of Fame Pitcher Bill ‘The Spaceman’ Lee.

In four separate sit down interviews with Strategy First’s Emanuel Wall and the Red Sox Hall Of Fame pitcher covers the highs and lows of his career and personal life. The entertaining, and informative interviews cover a wide range of controversial topics and interesting stories as seen through the eyes of Bill ‘Spaceman’ Lee.

“Bill ‘Spaceman’ Lee is an incredible person and we are thankful to have been able to conduct these interviews. Very few things in this world are free and we want to offer Gamers and Baseball fans alike an opportunity to watch these incredible interviews and no purchase is necessary, feel free to celebrate the all-star game with us.” Says Business Development Manager Emanuel Wall.
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Waterloo – Open Text™, a global leader in Enterprise Content Management (ECM), today announced the immediate availability of Open Text Web Solutions 10, the latest release of Open Text’s industry-leading Web Content Management (WCM) software. The new release allows organizations to intelligently manage and deliver a broad set of corporate information to users over the Web, and features extensive usability upgrades, a new technology foundation, and deeper and more comprehensive integration with the Open Text ECM Suite and the SAP NetWeaver® Portal component.

The role of WCM has significantly expanded from a place to store and publish external-facing content to a vital tool in helping to support organizational business goals in such areas as sales and customer support. This means that WCM must deliver a highly personal customer experience and be able to tap into content housed in many different enterprise systems. And as digital assets have become less expensive to create, companies need better ways to manage rich media such as audio and video.

“Sites like iGoogle, Twitter and the many social Web offerings have raised the bar on the type of intuitive, flexible and personal experience users expect when visiting Web sites,” said Jens Rabe, Vice President of Web Solutions at Open Text. “With Web Solutions 10, we are bringing the full Web 2.0 user interface to both the people editing content within the company and to the consumers of this content. The many enhancements and deep ECM and digital asset management integrations in this release will help customers save costs and produce more compelling and effective websites.”
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Vancouver – Absolute® Software Corporation, the leading provider of firmware-based, patented, computer theft recovery, data protection and secure IT asset management solutions announces support for Windows 7 and its Sensor and Location platform, which facilitates access to geolocation devices installed on a computer.

“We’re thrilled that Absolute Software has chosen to build their computer tracking and recovery application on our platform,” said Bill Mitchell, corporate vice president at Microsoft Corp. “By providing a consistent framework API for any GPS or location device that works with Windows 7, the Location platform in Windows 7 simplifies the process and speeds time to market for software developers.”

Absolute’s flagship IT asset management and computer security solution Computrace® utilizes several location determination methodologies including GPS and Wi-Fi triangulation to give customers unprecedented capabilities for tracking and managing their mobile computers. With geolocation capability, customers can see both the current and historical locations of their computers or handsets plotted on a map within the Absolute Customer Center. This functionality is particularly useful in locating computers that are missing but are not believed to have been stolen. It is also used by the Absolute Theft Recovery Team to aid in stolen computer investigations.
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Vancouver – Aftercad Software is pleased to announce the Beta signup for its ground breaking 3D Workspace for collaboration in Digital Prototyping and Building Information Modeling (BIM) projects.

The Aftercad 3D Workspace is a Software as a Service (SaaS) offering that allows businesses to upload, view, mark-up, manage and publish large and complex 3D CAD files onto the web, without the need for proprietary viewers, providing easy and instant access to 3D project information by non-CAD professionals.

“With the development of the 3D Workspace Beta we have achieved our goal of bringing a complete online file system to our customers so that they can collaborate on all project documents including stunning 3D visuals,” said Chris Boothroyd, CEO of Aftercad. “The goal of the 3D Workspace is to quickly centralize, visualize and annotate what it is you are trying to build so that your clients can come to decisions faster and easier. Each 3D Workspace has its own secure online file system, event notification and sharing tools so that you can easily invite clients or partners to collaborate with you on a 3D project.”
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