Village Gamer

Submit: This is the last week for Award Nomination Submissions for the BC Technology Awards. The deadline is March 11th.
Enter: The PayPal X Developer Challenge for Android. Cash and publishing up for grabs, see the Challenge Rules for complete details.
Enter: The Great Canadian Appathon, a 48-hour hackathon where students across the country will compete for some incredible cash prizes and publishing opportunities this March 11th – 13th. Register now. The Great Canadian Appathon is primarily an online event, but there are 6 schools across the country who will be hosting in-house events with free food, representatives from the sponsoring companies and more! There will be expert developers from XMG Studio at each of these locations to help provide insight into the mobile game development process as well as free SWAG bags for the first 100 people to show up at a hub location. The six hosted locations are: triOS College, UBC, Carleton University, Nova Scotia Community College, University of Ontario Institute of Technology, University of Waterloo, Concordia University and TELUS House Toronto.
Participate: OpenMedia will be talking with the Honourable Tony Clement, the Minister of Industry, on March 8th and they would like to know if there are any questions you would them to ask regarding User Based Billing and Canada’s Digital Economy. Visit the OpenMedia site to find out how you can get involved.

TVO has launched two free apps for BlackBerry® smartphones for early learners and school aged- kids. Both games support learning objectives from the Ontario school curriculum, have been teacher and classroom tested and are designed for BlackBerry® smartphone devices with OS 5.0 and higher.

Polka Dot Shorts is a sequence matching game for kids aged 2-5 that supports the early-learning and kindergarten math curriculum. The app features TVO’s beloved children’s character Polkaroo and challenges players to find a sequence of dots and rewards them for the correct answer.

Flower Frenzy is an entertaining and educational game with three levels of progressive difficulty that uses pictures of flowers to help kids ages 6-11 learn to create sequences. Both Polka Dot Shorts and Flower Frenzy teach kids pre-cursors to patterning skills which help build the foundational knowledge required for mathematics in later years.

TVO is also a proud member of the BlackBerry® Alliance Program which gives TVO access to a wide array of benefits to help support, market and distribute their applications for BlackBerry smartphones. Both games were developed with the expert advice of TVO’s in-house educator, and BlackBerry Alliance Program partner Sweet Caesar.

Speaking of interactive entertainment for kids, Loud Crow Interactive has just released its latest eBook to the iTunes App Store. Sandra Boynton’s The Going To Bed Book is available now for the iPhone and iPod Touch ($1.99 USD) and the iPad ($2.99 USD).

The Going to Bed Book app has all the magic and appeal of a traditional pop-up book, offering lively interactivity and thoroughly mesmerizing discovery. Imagine! An ark that rocks. Characters that respond to touch with sound and movement. Tap water that turns on and off, and steam that fogs the screen. Can you write your name in the steam? Of course! There are teeth to brush, and a group exercise session with ten pajama-clad animals (big and small) each with its own unique exercise. Help the little piggy turn off the lights, then rock to sleep to the music box sound of twinkling stars. There’s something wonderful to discover on every page.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AybZlVgT6Qw]

The Going To Bed Book allows young readers to touch, pull, and turn animals and objects to make them move, or they can tilt the device to watch things slide and cascade. The ebook is narrated by Billy J. Kramer and features the same original text and illustrations as that found in the actual board book. Enable the “Big Guy Reads It” option with word highlighting to help improve reading skills, or use “I want to read it myself” and hear individual words pronounced with the tap of a finger.

Vancouver developer Kerberos Studios has unravelled more mysteries of the universe in a new video interview with Martin Cirulis, the lead designer of Sword of the Stars II: The Lords of Winter, sequel to Kerberos’ hit 4X science fiction strategy game.

Cirulis gives an introduction to the dangerous Lords of Winter and underlines how the Sword of the Stars II universe has evolved since the first game. Learn how Kerberos uses mechanics to enhance narrative and get an introduction to what the new Mars 2 engine brings to the table. Cirulis also talks about the different ways to kill your enemies and how diplomacy has evolved to take into account the needs of an established empire.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhjCEFmlo5M]

A Bigger, better, stronger, faster Sword of the Stars II will be coming to your corner of the galaxy this autumn.

Another Canadian-made game in the Paradox Interactive stable is Supreme Ruler: Cold War, and BattleGoat Studios has released a new developer interview for this upcoming historical grand strategy title. In this latest video, BattleGoat Studios Lead Designer David Thompson gives players a bit of insight to what they can look forward to in the latest addition to the Supreme Ruler series.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HeJDPWakpk]

Supreme Ruler: Cold War is the next installment in the Supreme Ruler series and gives players control over a 1950’s United States or Soviet Union as they try to lead their country to glory. Players make economic, diplomatic, domestic, and military decisions to grow and modernize their nation to ensure its place atop the rest of the world.

Scotiabank, in partnership with the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB), have launched the Small Business Big Impact Challenge, which shines a spotlight on small business owners who are positively impacting their communities in the areas of employment, innovative products and services, as well as leadership.

“At Scotiabank, we recognize that small businesses play a vital role in building strong communities. Much more than just a place to purchase food or to get a car serviced, they contribute in ways which make our communities better places to live, for each one of us,” said Islay McGlynn, Managing Director and Head, Scotiabank Small Business. “With the Small Business Big Impact Challenge, we want to recognize and reward small business owners who have made an impact on their community by going above and beyond to meet not only the needs of their customers and employees, but the community at large.”

“Small businesses are small in name only,” commented Aron Gampel, Deputy Chief Economist, Scotiabank. “Small businesses are the backbone of the Canadian economy, providing big support to the nation’s G7-leading performance. Small businesses are not only big generators of jobs in goods and services throughout the country, but they are also big contributors to the investments and exports that are important drivers of growth.”

To qualify for the Small Business Big Impact Challenge, entrants must demonstrate how their business has made a difference in the community where they live and work in one of the following three categories:

• Providing Employment: Implementing employment practices that reflect and support community needs as well as employment opportunities.
• Offering Products or Services: Creating new industries or ways of doing business, or offering unique products or services that benefit their community.
• Demonstrating Leadership: Taking a leadership role in initiatives for their community that ultimately makes it a better place to live and work.

“Beyond their indispensable role as job creators and innovators all across Canada, small businesses start as the heart and soul of their neighbourhoods and have a hugely positive impact on community prosperity and identity,” enthused CFIB president, Catherine Swift. “In conjunction with CFIB’s 40^th anniversary and during 2011, the federally designated Year of the Entrepreneur, we are delighted to be partnering with Scotiabank in support of those small business owners who stand out amongst an already outstanding group of peers.”

The challenge ends on April 30, 2011. All Canadians are encouraged to visit the website as everyone can vote for their favourite small business. The top 15 entries, five in each category, will be presented and evaluated by the Expert Small Business Judging Panel, which will then select the three finalists to be awarded $10,000 each.

The Expert Small Business Judging Panel consists of:

• Islay McGlynn, Director and Head Small Business, Scotiabank;
• Kaz Flinn, Vice-President Corporate Social Responsibility, Scotiabank;
• Catherine Swift, CEO, CFIB;
• Tom Sloan, Vice President Small Business and Commercial Markets, Export Development Canada; and
• Greig Clark, PROFIT Magazine columnist, and founder of College Pro Painters.

The Honourable Rob Nicholson, P.C., Q.C., M.P. for Niagara Falls, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, welcomes the passage by Parliament of Bill C-22, An Act respecting the mandatory reporting of Internet child pornography by persons who provide an Internet service. The legislation will help protect children from online sexual exploitation.

“The creation and distribution of child pornography is an unspeakable crime which will not be tolerated in Canada,” said Minister Nicholson. “Our legislation will assist police in tracking down Internet sexual predators, and rescuing children from sexual exploitation.”

In September 2008, the Federal/Provincial/Territorial ministers responsible for Justice agreed that Canada’s response to child pornography could be enhanced by federal legislation establishing mandatory reporting of online child pornography by providers of Internet services.

Bill C-22 applies to suppliers of Internet services to the public, including those who provide electronic mail services, Internet content hosting services, and social networking sites. It requires them to:

• Report, to a designated agency, tips they receive regarding Web sites where child pornography may be available to the public; and

• Notify police and safeguard evidence if they believe that a child pornography offence has been committed using an Internet service that they provide.

Failure to comply with the duties under the legislation will constitute an offence punishable by graduated fines. For individuals (sole proprietorships), the maximum penalty is a fine of $1,000 for a first offence; $5,000 for a second offence; and for third and subsequent offences $10,000 or six months imprisonment, or both. For corporations and other entities, the maximum fines are $10,000 for a first offence; $50,000 for a second offence; and $100,000 for third and subsequent offences.

“We all have a role to play in the protection of children from sexual predators,” said Minister Nicholson. “This legislation will improve the collaboration between internet service providers and police to better protect children from online sexual exploitation.”

The Canadian Council of Learning (CCL) has launched a new online tool that allows users to measure the state of two crucial components of financial literacy—numeracy and document literacy—in more than 52,000 neighbourhoods and communities across the country.

The two new interactive maps produced by CCL, in partnership with DataAngel Policy Research Inc., provide literacy profiles for neighbourhoods across Canada, highlighting at-risk communities where residents lack the basic literacy skills needed in today’s knowledge-based society. The maps were produced using estimates generated by DataAngel Policy Research Inc. using data from the 2003 International Adult Literacy and Life Skills Survey (IALSS) conducted by Statistics Canada and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and the 2006 Canadian Census. These new literacy domains add to earlier maps CCL released on health literacy and prose literacy.

The results show that 55 percent of adult Canadians (aged 16 and over) had low levels of numeracy and 49 percent had low levels of document literacy. (This is based on the number of people who scored below Level 3 on the International Adult Literacy and Skills Survey (IALSS), a survey conducted by Statistics Canada and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.)

Numeracy and document literacy are essential parts of what many consider “basic literacy” and provide a key foundation in developing a more sophisticated set of financial literacy skills.

“Canadians are increasingly faced with a complex array of financial decisions in their everyday lives—from choosing a mortgage and retirement planning to managing consumer debt and funding post-secondary education,” says Dr. Paul Cappon, President and CEO of CCL. “Yet, many Canadians do not have the financial literacy skills needed to make informed decisions related to money and investment.”

Numeracy is the ability to use basic math skills in everyday life. It includes such skills as calculating a tip at a restaurant, balancing a bank account or determining the amount of interest on a loan from an advertisement. Document literacy is the ability to find and use information in forms, charts, graphs and other tables. Financial literacy involves the use of multiple literacies—prose, document, numeracy—often simultaneously.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) defines five levels of literacy with level 1 being the lowest and level 5 being the highest. Level 3 is internationally accepted as the level of literacy considered necessary for meeting the demands of everyday life and work in an information-based society.

“The first step in any process of improvement is to be able to accurately measure change over time. CCL’s innovative maps help Canadian communities, and the country as a whole, determine current literacy levels,” says Cappon. “I hope that decision-makers and individuals throughout Canada will use these maps for the purpose of continuous improvement.”

The building blocks for the next generation of stereoscopic three-dimensional (S-3D) gaming are being put in place thanks to a major funding announcement by the Ministry of Tourism and Culture through the Ontario Media Development Corporation’s (OMDC) Entertainment and Creative Cluster Partnerships Fund along with support from Ontario Centres of Excellence (OCE).

Together, OMDC, OCE, industry and academic partners will provide more than $635,000 in funding to Interactive Gaming Ontario 3D (iGO3D), a new collaborative effort that brings together the expertise of five universities, one college and a wide range of gaming industry partners whose mission is to drive the growth of the province’s digital media content industry. iGO3D’s primary partner is the University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT), where Dr. Andrew Hogue, assistant professor, Faculty of Business and Information Technology will serve as iGO3D project leader.

“We thank the Ontario Media Development Corporation and Ontario Centres of Excellence for their investments in this important and timely initiative,” said Dr. Michael Owen, associate provost, Research at UOIT. “The collaboration between universities, colleges and industry partners will create an advantage for Ontario’s gaming industry, enhance their competitiveness and provide learning opportunities for our students who will be the next generation of game developers and entrepreneurs.”

iGO3D’s research efforts will include investigative issues related to comfort, effectiveness, audio and how the stereoscopic viewing experience impacts gameplay from both the player’s and developer’s perspectives. Other aspects of iGO3D’s mandate include development of a game test facility, further S-3D vision and auditory research with a view to establishing game design parameters and disseminating this information to Ontario’s gaming industry through focused webinars and conferences.

In addition to UOIT, additional partnering institutions include York University, the University of Waterloo, University of Western Ontario, the Ontario College of Arts and Design University (OCADU) and George Brown College. Industry partners include The S-3D Gaming Alliance (S3DGA), Electronic Arts Canada, Bedlam Games, Big Blue Bubble, Digital Extremes, Interactive Ontario and Junction VFX.

“Modern 3D video games are designed according to research done on 3D movies and gamer opinion studies are telling us this isn’t the right way to go,” said Neil Schneider, executive director, S3DGA. “Ineffective stereoscopic 3D viewing negatively impacts hardware sales, game sales and ultimately customer satisfaction. iGO3D will provide us with the ability to change all that with repeatable research and direct industry involvement.”

While iGO3D was founded as a research platform for stereoscopic 3D games on desktop displays and 3D HDTVs, efforts are in place to add a specialized division for mobile 3D gaming markets on smart phones, mobile gaming devices and tablets. Interested game developers and technology enablers are encouraged to contact the S3DGA for available iGO3D partnership and sponsorship opportunities.

S3DGA is the official voice and standards body for stereoscopic 3D gaming, and as a non-profit organization, it provides for standards discussions, consumer promotion, education, and awareness. S3GDA’s membership is comprised of organizations and individuals with an interest in developing S-3D hardware and software solutions.

Event: Early Registration for Canada 3.0 2011 has been extended until March 17th.
From GDC 2011: Congratulations to the Bioware Mass Effect 2 team for picking up the Best Writing award at the GDC Choice Awards and to the University of Montreal for winning at the IGF Awards with FRACT being named as the top Student Game.

Catching up with Big Blue Bubble this morning, the studio has released Geeks Unleashed to the Mac App Store for $3.99 USD. This game is a strategic puzzle game that pits the player against some of the smartest, yet geekiest opponents on the planet. The storyline, which for some reason makes me think of Big Bang Theory, follows the player as they enter a collecting convention, attempting to accumulate collectibles from different categories such as Sci-Fi, Fashion, Comics, Plush Toys and Role Playing Games.

Another popular Big Blue Bubble game also made its debut on the Mac App Store this week. Home Sweet Home, available now for $4.99 USD, is a game that invites you to play Interior Designer. You choose the furniture, patterns, and colors to create a masterpiece that will blow your client away. You can email photos of your newly designed rooms to yourself or your friends, and you can also replay levels or your designs.  With simple controls, a fun graphical style, and an easy to use interface, Home Sweet Home allows you to nurture your creative side.

Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney has launched a fun and educational Facebook application that tests your knowledge of Canada’s history, values, symbols and political institutions. The quiz can also be downloaded to mobile devices like iPhone, Blackberry and Android. The 20 questions are randomly selected from a bank of 122 questions, allowing the quiz to be played more than once.

“Download the app, take the quiz, and share it with your friends,” Kenney said. “You might be surprised to find out just how Canadian you are!”

The initiative is part of an on-line resource called “A Fun Path to Learning” that was launched in April 2010 by Citizenship and Immigration Canada for students and teachers. The educational tool draws from material in the popular new citizenship study guide Discover Canada: The Rights and Responsibilities of Citizenship and aims to help students from grades five to 12 learn about Canada’s history and political institutions through games and activities. There are a number of learning resources on the Youth page, making learning about Canada’s history fun.

The “How Canadian Are You, Eh?” application is a cross platform application that can be found within Facebook, at the iTunes app store, in the Blackberry app world, and in the Android marketplace.

Radian6 has announced Radian6 for Salesforce, bringing new social capabilities to the Salesforce Service Cloud experience. Monitoring the overwhelming volume of social conversations that matter to enterprises, and connecting them to existing sales, service and marketing processes is a major challenge for companies today. To address this challenge, the Radian6 integration will connect the social capabilities within both the Salesforce Service Cloud and the Radian6 platform, enabling enhanced social customer service.

The Radian6 platform monitors social media, including blogs, forums, comments, photo and video sharing sites, Twitter, public content within Facebook and more. Radian6 leads the industry with its ability to surface social metrics on everything it gathers, enabling valuable time savings through sorting and prioritization. With its pending arrival on the AppExchange, Radian6 for Salesforce will let agents work entirely within the Service Cloud, with fully automated case creation that adds social media content to Salesforce based on the customizable Radian6 workflow rules engine.

In addition to the recently added feature that allows users to interact with Salesforce Chatter directly within Radian6 Engagement Console™ additional capabilities that leverage the Service Cloud will include the ability to create new or view existing cases, leads and contacts from within the Radian6 Engagement Console™. Radian6 for Salesforce is currently scheduled to be available to early adopters in April 2011 while a full public release is currently scheduled for Q3 of calendar year 2011.

zipzoom is a brand new patent-pending anonymous communication technology changing the way consumers and businesses find each other. The service was officially launched today in Simcoe County, choosing Barrie because it is one of the fastest growing cities in North America.

“A dynamic, friendly and booming community like Barrie is the perfect place to launch this revolutionary service,” said Reg DesRosiers, the founder of zipzoom.com. “We offer residents the ability to make quick, informed decisions about any products or services they need, while also providing new streams of customers to Barrie’s local businesses and salespeople.”

zipzoom.com recently launched a beta version of its site, which acts like a personal shopper for overwhelmed consumers. zipzoom.com-registered consumers just make an anonymous personal inquiry and zipzoom immediately, through its exclusive communication platform, sends the inquiry to all relevant contacts and businesses using a brilliantly designed product keyword search association, saving time, money and effort. Businesses and salespeople also benefit by having direct access to “ready-to-buy” customers 24/7 without increasing their advertising costs. zipzoom is free of charge to register for consumers, businesses, service providers and salespeople. zipzoom finally answers the question consumers ask themselves every day: “How can I find the best deal, person or business to work with?” On the vendor side: “How do I consistently find ‘ready-to-buy’ customers?”

In addition, zipzoom is offering weekly giveaways via their social media networks on Twitter and Facebook, where randomly chosen registered vendors will receive a no-charge lifetime membership subscription.

Staying true to its friendly, down-to-earth and down the street philosophy, Original Joe’s has announced that, starting today, it will be providing a free pound of wings to each individual who ‘likes‘ them on Facebook.

“Each person who decides to participate by liking Original Joe’s on Facebook will be able to print off a coupon which they can redeem at any of our 37 locations for a pound of wings on us,” says Derek Doke, President of Original Joe’s. “We appreciate the support and loyalty of our existing customers and this is one way to express our gratitude to our regulars while encouraging newcomers to find out for themselves why so many people choose Joe’s as their preferred neighbourhood pub.”

Joe’s is expecting thousands of individuals to take advantage of this promotion, and are prepared to give away up to $100,000 worth of wings (estimated Canadian dollar amount based on 10,000 pounds of wings and gift cards). With more than a dozen wing flavours available ranging from dill pickle, Caribbean jerk and industrial strength, to the more traditional honey garlic or salt and pepper, Joe’s has something for everyone.

Note: The Toronto International Film Festival (September 8 – 18th) is now open for submissions.
Event: WaveGuide™ Technical Workshop: Samsung Bada Code Camp presented by WaveFront. This free seminar takes place tomorrow in Vancouver from 1:30pm – 8:00pm. Pre-registration is required.
Event: Global Insights Conference is taking place in Victoria on March 17th.
Event: The Basics of Intellectual Property is a free seminar on March 10th presented by the Canadian Intellectual Property Office and hosted by nGen.

Vancouver’s Decapod Studios, creators of one of my favourite XBLIG games, Murphid, has released iStopwatch for Windows Phone 7. The free app is a simple, fast and elegant stop watch. It features a stopwatch timer, split timer, lap timer and countdown. It supports logging unlimited split and lap times and shares results via email.

The studio has also submitted an update for its measurement units converter app, Convert Units PRO for Windows Phone 7. The update includes faster application loading and adds in-app feedback options. The update will be available for free for all existing users once it receives Microsoft certification.

Convert Units PRO features include:

• U.S., Imperial and metric units.
• Convert length, mass, area, volume and temperature with ease.
• More than 100 measurement units are supported.
• Rarely used and old units are available.
• High precision conversion.

Industrial Brothers has released a new 99 cent USD game on the iTunes Store. 2Bit is a challenging retro-inspired puzzle game that will challenge your nerves and co-ordination as you try to navigate through The Grid, a landscape full of dangers. Yes, that’s right, The Grid is rife with shooting turrets, trip wires, hydraulic plugs, screwblades and more dangerous too frightening to talk about. At launch, 2Bit offers 20 challenging levels contained within 2 Grid areas, each with 10 levels of puzzles to negotiate.

2Bit’s current features include:

• Select between 2D or 3D views
• Personal High Scores and Global Leaderboard and Online Registration
• Original retro-themed sound effects and music
• Additional Grids and Levels to be released over the next few weeks at no extra cost

The Cavechild has released his first non-narrated gameplay video for Dawn of War II: Retribution by Relic Entertainment. His army is the one decked out in patriotic red and white, in Last Stand on The Anvil of Khorne as the Space Marine Captain.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDDh1az2NxU]

Strangeloop has partnered with Exclusive Concepts, Inc. to offer its proprietary Site Optimizer service to Yahoo! store merchants worldwide. Yahoo! Merchant Solutions is the largest hosted platform for ecommerce stores, with more Internet Retailer® Top 500 retailers using Yahoo! than any other hosted solution. Exclusive Concepts, the leading resource for online stores seeking to convert online shoppers into loyal buyers, provides a breadth of marketing services – from advanced search engine marketing to conversion testing – to more than 800 merchants around the world. As an authorized Yahoo! partner, Exclusive Concepts will be the exclusive provider of Strangeloop’s website acceleration technology to this market.

The Strangeloop Site Optimizer, utilized by companies such as Petco, Travelocity, Visa, Sodexo, and O’Reilly Media, is the only automated web performance optimization solution that functions at the scale demanded by global ecommerce sites and enterprise applications. Through partners like Exclusive Concepts, Site Optimizer can be offered as a hosted service, making Strangeloop’s advanced optimization technology accessible to businesses of all sizes.

Calgary tech company Vaenco, Inc. has officially launched its interactive media platform called ZoweeTV. An end-to-end multi-screen media platform that delivers movies, TV shows, music, games and other interactive media to Internet-enabled devices including TVs, Blu-ray players, media extenders, set-top boxes and game consoles for both ‘over-the-top’ delivery as well as integrated solutions for service providers and operators.

Key features include a fully integrated cross-platform user interface that includes a media management system for consumers as well as social networking capabilities through ZoweeTV’s proprietary system-wide network. ZoweeTV was built for content owners by content owners, offering a fully customizable content management system enabling dynamic ‘self’ distribution with a turnkey content management dashboard including asset management, metadata integration, windows, pricing, territories and other key policies with detailed ‘back-end’ reporting.

According to recently released In-Stat research, Web-to-TV Video content revenue will grow by 750% to $17 billion by 2014. “We built ZoweeTV from the ground up, built for complete customization for any platform, any video format on any device, anywhere in the world — ZoweeTV will optimize content distribution opportunities for content owners and deliver a robust, quality user experience to the end user” said Ronald Domes, CEO.

ZoweeTV will be widely available to consumers Worldwide by Summer 2011 through strategic partnerships with device manufacturers as an operating system or through stand-alone apps and web browsers. More announcements will be made in the upcoming weeks.

Four initiatives that support northern innovation and knowledge will move forward thanks to investments by the Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency (CanNor). The Honourable John Duncan, Minister of the Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency, has announced an investment of $426,000 for research and training projects to help the Northwest Territories and Nunavut strengthen information technology (IT), energy, and educational sectors of the economy. With additional contributions from project proponents and the Territorial governments, the projects have a total value of more than $500,000.

“The Government of Canada recognizes that by investing in research and training, we are enabling the long-term sustainability of communities and businesses across the North,” said Minister Duncan, who is also Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development and Federal Interlocutor for Métis and Non-Status Indians.

“Research has shown that there is a strong positive correlation between investments in IT infrastructure, capacity development and economic growth,” said the Honourable Leona Aglukkaq, Member of Parliament for Nunavut, Regional Minister for the North and Minister of Health. “These investments will create new educational, social and business opportunities in both territories that will provide long-term benefits for northerners and northern businesses.”

CanNor’s funding will support four projects in the NWT and Nunavut, including new mining and remediation training programs, research into the potential to use local willow as biomass fuel, and two projects to assess and support the potential for establishing broadband internet in Nunavut.

Funding for these projects came from CanNor’s Strategic Investments in Northern Economic Development (SINED) program, which provides funding for northern projects that contribute to long-term economic growth, economic diversification, and capacity building in the three territories. SINED is one of a number of economic development programs delivered by CanNor in Yukon, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut.

On this past Sunday, February 27^th, members of the London RCMP Detachment Federal Enforcement Section seized thousands of pirated DVDs from a booth at the Gibraltar Trade Centre on Dundas Street East in London.

Pirated DVDs in flimsy plastic sleeves were openly displayed for sale at space rented by the accused at the Gibraltar Trade Centre, where it is alleged they sold the pirated movies. The accused were found in possession of approximately 4000 movies for sale including recently released DVD movies, movies still in the theaters and others yet to be released. Titles included: The King’s Speech, The Fighter, Black Swan, True Grit, and Inception amongst many others.

“This isn’t a victimless crime,” stated Inspector Dwight Blok, Officer in charge of the RCMP London Detachment. “We are committed in our efforts to combat this type of criminal activity.”

The accused, a 25 year old man and a 24 year old woman from Toronto, face charges under the Copyright Act for allegedly offering for sale an infringing copy of work where copyright subsists. If convicted the accused could faces fines not exceeding twenty-five thousand dollars or imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or both.

Bits Republic Technologies, Inc., a Vancouver-based developer of cloud security applications and licensed technologies, has unveiled the new name for its popular ultra-secure Document Management System. The application formerly known as MOnet has been renamed PrivyDocs in order to better reflect the complete privacy that this application provides.

PrivyDocs is entirely browser-based. Unlike past versions, PrivyDocs requires no software installation and can be run on Mac or PC through most major browsers. This represents a major unique advance in cloud computing in that security and privacy are so complete that neither the application host nor storage hosts have access to stored data, yet control by the user extends to file sharing with other parties replete with advanced file and folder permissions.

“PrivyDocs is designed to replace a key part of in-house systems; that part that deals with guarded data dissemination both within and outside the organization.” explained Charles Chung, owner and founder of Bits Republic Technologies, Inc. “In the past, placing such data online and managing it `through the cloud` has necessitated complete trust in the application provider – they can see your data. With our solution, professionals and enterprises retain control of their sensitive data and the providers have no access to it. Our solution enables the users to control advanced permissions by file, to track file access and versions, and even to customize the look and feel of the application for their particular needs”.

PrivyDocs uses the patent-pending Bits republic security engine which provides a very flexible platform for client-side encryption and server side ‘blind’ hosting and management. This technology assures that only authorized users are able to access secured data and metadata, and that not even the application or storage hosts have access to it themselves.

DHX Media Ltd has been authorized to purchase at market price up to 3,629,576 common shares of the Company being approximately 10% of its public float of 36,295,762 common shares as of February 28, 2011, and representing approximately 5.9% of its issued share capital, by way of a normal course issuer bid (the “Bid”) through the facilities of the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX). As of February 28, 2011, there were 61,617,565 common shares issued and outstanding. DHX is making the bid to reduce the number of outstanding shares in the corporation and to improve earnings per share. The Bid will commence on March 4, 2011, and end no later than March 3, 2012, observing the purchasing restrictions during ‘black out’ or ‘close’ periods.

The Company intends to implement an automatic share purchase plan to allow it to purchase shares under the Bid while in such ‘black out’ or ‘close’ periods. The Bid will be funded from the Company’s existing cash resources. Any shares purchased under the Bid will be cancelled. The TSX rules permit DHX to purchase daily, through TSX facilities, a maximum of approximately 26,467 common shares under the Bid, being 25% of the average daily trading volume of 105,870 over the last six months.

In the opinion of the Company’s board of directors and senior management, DHX shares may occasionally trade in a price range which does not adequately reflect the value of underlying assets based on the Company’s business and financial position. Consequently, the Company may, from time to time, purchase common shares of the Company under the Bid. DHX has not purchased any shares of the Company pursuant to a normal course issuer bid during the preceding 12 months.

Calgary-based Veer, a provider of affordable visual elements that makes it easier to be creative, today announced the launch of an exclusive new font collection named Agency 26, as well as the addition of fonts from the Filmotype foundry and several other leading designers.

Other new additions to the Veer font collection include:

•   Steinweiss Script – Known as the father of the album cover, Alex Steinweiss’ distinctive “scrawl” has been faithfully recreated by Michael Doret in homage to the original. Available in three weights, each including a number of variations including simple, fancy and tilting. Steinweiss Script is part of the Umbrella Collection.
•   Yana – Designer Laura Worthingon set out to create a versatile, swashy serif usable in logos, headlines and body copy. Along the way it gained an old-style Victorian aesthetic, upper and lowercase characters, over 200 swash capitals, and regular, bold and italic variants. Yana is part of the Umbrella Collection.
•   Torino Pro – Originally designed in 1908 by Alessandro Butti, Torino is a modern italic Didone that has been revived, redrawn and expanded by Jason Walcott. It contains a large number of elegant swashes, discretionary ligatures and lining figures. Torino Pro is a Veer Exclusive and part of the Jukebox Collection.
•   Hiatus – This is a contemporary script that blends casual and formal elements with the warmth of hand lettering. Stephen Rapp’s low body height and full connection of the characters make for a versatile script. Hiatus, which includes a large number of swash alternates and ornaments, as well as extensive international language support, is a Veer Exclusive from the Umbrella Collection.

Rethink Canada has released a free app on Apple’s iTunes App Store designed to help you create. Dubbed the Realizer, the tool allows you to create realistic presentation prototypes of apps that can be easily displayed on actual iPhone or iPad screens. The prototypes include working “buttons” that give a realistic simulation of the final user experience.

The app, in beta testing since November, was created by Rethink in partnership with Nascent in Toronto. “We initially designed the Realizer for ourselves as a way to better communicate our vision when presenting app concepts to clients,” says Rethink Creative Director Dré Labre. “It proved so indispensable, in fact, we felt it a shame not to share the app with the rest of the ad and design community.” Labre says the Realizer can be used for everything from quick renderings of pencil sketches to fully designed comps. Its intended market includes designers, art directors, developers, testers and clients.

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“We loved helping bring this idea to life,” says Shawn Konopinsky from Nascent. “Apps are a new form of communication that can be difficult to simulate at the concept stage. We wanted to create a tool as simple and intuitive as these new platforms themselves.” Konopinsky says the Realizer will eventually be available on other mobile platforms, including Android. “There’s a real open-source spirit behind this venture,” he says. “We’re counting on our users to help us make this tool better and better.”

Today is the first day of the 2011 CorelDraw International Design Contest. With over $75 000.00 in prizes, it’s worth a try, particularly if you are a designer. If you don’t own CorelDraw X5, you can download the trial, because it will permit you to save your work so that it can be submitted and seen by thousands of people around the world. If I could draw, I would certainly be entering, because the Grand Prize is Roland VersaCAMM SP-300i printer, something we could desperately use in this office. Click here to read the full prize list in a PDF.

Contest Categories:

• Advertising/Marketing: Flyers, brochures, logos and other designs related to advertising, marketing or point of purchase (POP)
• Signs/Awards/Personalization: Designs to be used in sign making, engraving, awards, dye sublimation and other related industries
• Vehicle Wraps: Designs to be used for car, truck, boat or other vehicle wraps
• Textile/Fashion Design: Designs for fashion, embroidery and direct-to-garment printing
• General Illustration & Fine Art: Artistic, creative and unique designs
• CorelDRAW Marketing Campaign: Create a design to be featured in a CorelDRAW marketing campaign. Entries can be of any style, and will be judged on creativity and overall theme

Students: In addition to the Grand Prize and category winners, Corel will present a top student award in each of the categories above.

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This contest runs until June 30th, 2011 and open to residents of Canada (except Quebec) over the age of majority in their respective province. Please click here to read a PDF of the complete contest rules.

The Competition Bureau will also be participating in Fraud Prevention Month, which this year focuses on the growing problem of online fraud. Fraud Prevention Month is an annual education and awareness campaign held in Canada and around the world.

One of the first activities during Fraud Prevention Month is the conference Preventing Fraud in a Digital Age, which will be held in Ottawa on March 7 and 8, 2011. This conference will unite participants from the private and public sectors, consumer groups, and law enforcement organizations committed to cracking down on this growing concern. Conference attendees will learn more about the current state of fraud in Canada and abroad, identify the most at-risk groups, share best practices on recognizing and preventing fraud, and ultimately provide recommendations that the partners in fraud prevention can implement to help protect consumers and businesses from online fraud.

The conference is being hosted by the Fraud Prevention Forum, which is co-chaired by the Competition Bureau. The Fraud Prevention Forum is a group of over 100 private sector firms, consumer and volunteer groups, government agencies and law enforcement organizations, concerned with fighting fraud aimed at consumers and businesses. During Fraud Prevention Month, Forum members will participate in a number of targeted activities across the country, designed to raise awareness among consumers and businesses about the dangers of fraud.

In addition, the Competition Bureau’s Web site provides important education and prevention information including a new interactive quiz designed to test consumers’ and businesses’ fraud awareness. Visitors will also learn more about some of the various types of scams that they should watch out for: job opportunity scams, fake news sites, fraudulent health products, prize scams, and advertisements on social networking sites.

The RCMP would like to remind all of you about the top five scams currently in play around the world. Mass-marketing frauds use the internet, email, mass mailings, personal phone calls, texting, television, radio, and all forms of social networking to rip you off. The RCMP has an excellent, highly detailed anti-fraud resource site, please make use of it to protect yourselves and your family.

1. Advance Fee Fraud. This is the scam that victimized John. The most common variation is the prize pitch, or lottery scam. You are told you have won a large sum of money or a big ticket item but to collect you must pay fees or taxes in advance. You will either never hear from the organization again or receive more and more requests for money.

The criminals sometimes include a cheque to cover “taxes.” The victim is told to wire the “tax” amount to the criminals and take the rest for themselves. Just like in the Overpayment Scam, the wire transfer will leave the victim’s account before the cheque is returned as counterfeit.
In another variation of the Advance Fee fraud, criminals exploit the economic crisis by offering guaranteed loans in spite of your bad credit-rating, but with an up-front fee for processing costs.

Solution: If you have won a prize in Canada there are no fees or taxes to be paid. If you have doubts about any organization, contact the Better Business Bureau for further information.

2. The Grandparent or Family Emergency Scam generally targets seniors. Fraudsters will call the potential victim and claim to be a grandchild or other close family member and will ask for money to help with a serious situation. Common themes have been that the grandchild has been in an accident or arrested and the money is needed for hospital bills or bail. The victim is told not to tell other family members as the “grandchild” is embarrassed or doesn’t want to alarm anyone else in the family.

A variation of this scam involves the misuse of hijacked email accounts, where the fraudster sends an email claiming to be the email account holder to everyone on the compromised contact list. The email will claim that the sender has been robbed while traveling abroad and needs money to get home or for living expenses.

Solution: Before you send money anywhere, check the facts. A quick call to other family members can quickly confirm or disprove the information provided by the fraudster.

3. Overpayment Fraud, also known as Cash Back Fraud, usually starts when you advertise something for sale- often on a free online classified site. The criminal sends you a cheque, money order or bank draft. The sum is much larger than your asking price, and you are asked to wire transfer the difference. Since cheques take longer to clear than electronic bank transfers, the money leaves your account before the cheque is confirmed as counterfeit or forged. Lawyers, realtors, gift shops, restaurants, and especially landlords are targets.

Solution: Don’t wire money to strangers. Always be wary of buyers offering more than your asking price.

4. The Nigerian/West-African Scam has been around for years:

* You receive an “urgent” business proposal “in strictest confidence” from a Nigerian/West-African civil servant /businessman.
* The sender has come into possession of profit from real estate, oil products, over-invoiced contracts, cargo shipments, or other commodities, and needs an offshore partner to assist in transferring the money out of his or her home country.
* Since their government/business position prohibits them from opening foreign bank accounts, the senders ask you to deposit the sum, usually somewhere between $25-50 million, into your personal account, and you will receive between 15-30% of the total.
* You are told to provide your bank name and address, the name of your beneficiary and, of course, your bank account numbers.
* The criminals will ask for money to pay for shipping costs, bank fees or bribes, and may even resort to threats and intimidation.

Solution: Unsolicited letters are not to be believed. If in doubt, contact E Division RCMP Commercial Crime Section, your local Better Business Bureau, or the Canadian Anti-Fraud Call Centre.

5. The Mystery Shopper Scam usually starts with an unsolicited letter containing a cheque. You are told to deposit that cheque, make a few small purchases, and wire transfer the balance to an account controlled by the fraud artist. The cheque that you deposit will be returned as counterfeit, forged or stolen and you are on the hook for the money that you wired.

A variation is the Work from Home Scam where an “international company” wants to expand but needs someone with a bank account in Canada to process its cheques and keep a small percentage for themselves. Once again, this scam relies on the lag between the time the cheque is deposited and the time that the cheque actually clears.

In all of these scams, fraudsters stress the need for confidentiality. They will tell you that your reward will be lost if you don’t keep the transaction secret. This is to keep you from discovering that you are being scammed.
The solution here is the same as with all scams and frauds. Victims are either blinded by the opportunity to make a quick buck or are too trusting. Victims often represent the most vulnerable members of society- the elderly, the lonely, the poor. Be aware, be skeptical, and do your research. Make sure you have a conversation with your loved ones, and make 2011 fraud-free.

Legal IQ, a division of IQPC, announces the 2nd Annual eDiscovery Summit Canada being held March 28-30, 2011 at the Toronto Marriott Bloor Yorkville Hotel in Toronto, ON to develop practical skills required to comply with electronic record management regulations.

With the eDiscovery rules in Ontario, British Columbia and Alberta in full operation, the climate for eDiscovery in Canada is changing fast. The eDiscovery Summit Canada brings together in-house counsel, IT experts, document management, law firms, solution providers, judges and regulatory experts to demonstrate how to improve your eDiscovery processes, while saving time and money despite heightened regulatory scrutiny and onslaught of litigation.

Each year, Clearwell predicts the top trends for e-Discovery and in 2011 they examined evolving technologies and the global landscape. There are clear challenges when it comes to the cloud, social media and the global marketplace. Clearwell’s article on the top 5 trends in eDiscovery is available on the event’s website.

Discussions at the event include:

* Lessons learned from the GasTOPS v. MxI and Enbridge Pipelines Inc. v. BP Canada Energy Company cases
* Protect your intellectual property during eDiscovery
* Minimize privacy risks during eDiscovery to ensure compliance with privacy principles
* Explore how global companies are successfully implementing eDiscovery principles
* Effectively manage the burdens and cost of eDiscovery
* Address the importance of overcoming in-house politics to implement eDiscovery solutions

Tom Allman, Senior Counsel of Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw LLP and Former SVP and General Counsel of BASF Corporation commented on the event: “This is a very distinguished and comprehensive program! Very thorough, very impressive.”

Participating organizations include:

* Bell Canada
* KPMG
* TD Bank
* Vale
* Xacti
* Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada
* City of Toronto
* Sedona Canada
* Seventh Circuit Electronic Discovery Pilot Program, Illinois
* Davis LLP

Enterprises will now have an easier time keeping their global workforces productive with the release of Exceed onDemand 8 by OpenText™, an X11 window server that gives users fast, reliable and secure remote access to applications over any network connection. Exceed onDemand 8 offers support for the popular Mac OS X platform along with a number of performance and productivity enhancements that enable customers to centrally distribute and manage access to UNIX, Linux and Microsoft Windows applications.

Trusted by millions of enterprise users, the Exceed family of products is known for its dependability in mission-critical environments and “pixel-perfect” screen and color rendering capabilities. Exceed onDemand offers companies a centralized, scalable and load-balanced platform to manage the distribution of critical line-of-business applications to a geographically disparate user population. Exceed onDemand offers an all-in-one remote application access solution for stock trading, electronic design automation (EDA), computer-aided design/manufacturing (CAD/CAM) and high-end 3D modeling, among others, and delivers such benefits as lower infrastructure costs, improved security and easier team collaboration.

“Enterprises are facing increasing pressure to deliver better results on time and on budget. Exceed onDemand helps them improve the performance of their business operations by simplifying and extending their application delivery infrastructure – and we’re continuing the momentum with this new release,” said Eugene Cherny, General Manager for OpenText’s connectivity solutions. “Its industry-proven architecture offers automatic workload balancing and scalability, helping to accelerate access to business applications while boosting user productivity through real-time team collaboration.”

The new version of Exceed onDemand offers a number of significant enhancements:

* Empowers the growing population of Apple Mac OS X users with high-performance remote application access
* Helps enterprises take control of the distribution of Microsoft Windows applications on UNIX, Linux and OS X platforms
* Enhances access security through the integration with LDAP based enterprise directory services
* New dynamic screen scaling capability offers superior user experience and improved productivity

“Exceed onDemand 8 supports the Cadence EDA360 vision by empowering engineering teams to collaborate virtually, fully realizing complex designs as efficiently as possible in a globalized work environment,” said Steven Lewis, Product Management Director of Cadence. “We’ve worked closely with OpenText to ensure that Exceed onDemand 8 works smoothly with the Cadence Virtuoso custom IC technology, maximizing both design throughput and resource utilization, while lowering overall hardware costs.”

Make Technologies® Inc. is proud to introduce the Make Technologies® Enterprise Suite, an end-to-end solution for application portfolio modernization. Customers can expect to dramatically reduce the amount of custom code in their legacy portfolio without changing workflows or the way they run their business.

The Make Technologies® Enterprise Suite is built on top of Transformational Legacy Modernization (TLM®), the company’s proven modernization platform. TLM® is fit-for-purpose software guided by a mature methodology and supported by the best practices of our modernization experts.

The Make Technologies® Enterprise Suite allows customers to build a pragmatic application roadmap that is closely aligned with the strategic initiatives of its business, based on strong data points such as code dependencies and application usage patterns. The result is a marked reduction in code maintenance, giving CXOs the freedom to pay more attention to essential business matters while gaining a competitive edge in their industry.

“The challenge with all organizations is their ability to do more with less and in a resource-constrained environment companies are finding it challenging to support and maintain legacy applications and simultaneously innovate. As noted in Forrester’s Enterprise and SMB Software Survey, North America and Europe, Q42008 showed that a fairly stunning change has taken place in IT leaders’ plans and priorities. Application modernization supplanted the hot topics of prior years: eBusiness, Agile, Lean, cloud, etc. In fact the three most important software initiatives for IT decision-makers all focused on application modernization: 1) update/ modernization legacy applications; 2) upgrade enterprise applications; and 3) consolidate or rationalize enterprise applications. The data highlights a sharp turn in IT leader’s thinking, with them coming to realize that streamlining bloated application portfolios is no longer an optional activity. Rather, modernization is the best new opportunity to cut waste on low-value applications and thus free the corresponding resources for new projects and innovation.” (A Workable Application Modernization Framework is Job No. 1 Now Forrester Research, Inc. independent Report April 26, 2010)

Make Technologies® Enterprise Suite allows businesses to:

* Lower the cost of application maintenance by lowering the amount of custom code and creating an easy to maintain application.
* Maximize the speed and quality of implementation with state-of-the-art, integrated tools supporting collaboration, analysis, code generation and data migration.
* Control the output quality continuously throughout the engagement.
* Verify the functional completeness of the modernized applications.

“As legacy systems continue to age and the speed of business continues to increase, the need to modernize enterprise-level IT is at a record high,” said Bill Bergen, CEO of Make Technologies Inc. “Many companies are investing millions of dollars into a modernization project and cannot afford setbacks or failure. Organizations are looking to understand what they own – to quantify the business value and maintenance of their applications so as to devise a rational plan for streamlined modernization efforts. Make Technologies® Enterprise Suite ensures complete project success through its combined software, methodology, and best practices.”

Canada Post announced today the launch of CentrSource.ca, a new online marketplace that connects advertisers and consumers instantly – where they live. This pay-for-performance model means that small to medium-sized businesses can effectively target consumers in their neighbourhood by offering products and services online and in-store that are relevant to them. It is also possible to search the entire network for offers from businesses across Canada. Until now, there has been a gap for consumers in getting targeted, local, time-sensitive content from traditional search engines.

“CentrSource.ca is an attractive tool for businesses of any size – especially small and medium-sized businesses. It helps them promote their products and services in the online marketplace, even if they don’t have a website, and makes it possible for them to compete on equal footing with larger competitors,” says Laurene Cihosky, Senior vice-president, Direct marketing, Advertising & Publishing business. The newly launched initiative is the result of a strategic alliance between Canada Post and CentrSource SA, a progressive Swiss-based company that provides e-commerce platforms.

“The power of CentrSource.ca is that it benefits both advertisers and consumers equally. Advertisers can reach customers instantly with offers that are geo-targeted, and consumers can improve their online shopping experience with searches that return time-sensitive offers on products and services only in the neighbourhoods they want to shop,” says Bob Westrope, Founder and CEO, CentrSource SA.

Through CentrSource.ca, national businesses such as Walmart and local businesses such as Calgary’s Community Natural Foods have unprecedented access to every type of consumer. This is made possible through the partnership of dozens of media/communications companies that make up the CentrSource network such as AOL Canada and Reader’s Digest. Today, CentrSource.ca features tens of thousands of offers from small businesses and large retailers across Canada. New offers are added daily in the language(s) chosen by the retailer and are targeted based on the location of the business’ customers.

As part of its vision to deliver a modern post, Canada Post is seeking new and compelling ways to extend their services by connecting businesses with their customers – whether it is through physical or electronic channels or a combination of both. CentrSource.ca is part of a growing number of online initiatives recently launched by Canada Post.

Another Telecom wants you to increase your data usage by offering another digital product. Five dollars per month gets you 10 hours of Mobile TV.

Fans of Vancouver Whitecaps FC will be able to get closer to their team anytime and anywhere thanks to Bell’s commitment to make all Whitecaps FC matches available live on Bell mobile phones. It’s the first time ever that all home and away matches of a Major League Soccer (MLS) Club will be available live on mobile.

“Being a fan of the Whitecaps just got better with Bell,” said Loring Phinney, Vice President, Corporate Marketing for Bell. “We committed to an enhanced experience for soccer fans when we announced our jersey sponsorship, and we’re thrilled to assist the Whitecaps in being the first MLS club with access to live matches on the screen of the fan’s choice.”

With TSN already announced as the MLS Official Broadcaster, Whitecaps FC fans will have their choice of watching matches in High Definition on TSN and TSN2, all Whitecaps FC games on the regional broadcast and now on Bell mobile phones and tablets with Bell Mobile TV.

“We promised Whitecaps FC fans that, together with our partners, we would provide a unique experience for our inaugural season in Major League Soccer and today, thanks to Bell, we’re delivering on that promise,” stated Paul Barber, Chief Executive Officer, Vancouver Whitecaps FC. “Bell is a world leader in creating great experiences across multiple screens in top level sporting environments. With this historic announcement, our club and our fans will be the beneficiaries of Bell’s innovative market leadership.”

In addition to all Whitecaps FC matches, Bell mobile customers will also have access to 24 MLS matches featuring Toronto FC and Vancouver Whitecaps FC on TSN and TSN2, as well as the MLS All-Star Game, MLS Playoffs and the MLS Cup.

Bell Mobility customers can purchase 10 hours of the Mobile TV Sports package for $5 per month. This includes access to live games and highlights from the NHL, NFL and now MLS Official Broadcaster matches and Vancouver Whitecaps FC.

The Canada Media Fund (CMF) has just announced its investment of $11.5 million in 36 new innovative interactive projects submitted in the second round of its Experimental Stream. The CMF offers financial assistance to support projects at various stages of their completion: production, development or marketing.

In production, the CMF is investing $8.6 million in 17 new projects: 8 games, 4 websites, 4 mobile applications and 1 software application. Six of these projects are in English, 3 are French and 8 are bilingual. The average commitment to each project is $509,000. Two projects are being carried out in British Columbia, 1 in Manitoba, 6 in Ontario and 8 in Quebec.

In development, the CMF is investing $1.9 million in 13 projects: 4 in English, 4 in French and 5 are bilingual. The average amount offered for each project is $150,000. Two will be developed in British Columbia, 3 in Ontario, 7 in Quebec and 1 in Nova Scotia.

Finally, in terms of marketing assistance, the CMF is investing $960,000 in 6 projects, with an average contribution of $160,000. Three of the projects are in English, and 3 are bilingual. Three projects are from British Columbia, 1 from Manitoba and 2 from Quebec.

“We’re proud to announce our participation in funding these projects. The wealth of content and technological innovation demonstrated in the selected projects is truly remarkable”, said Valerie Creighton, President and CEO of the CMF. “The new approaches found to engage with users truly enrich the quality of our project portfolio. It’s a statement to the creativity and vitality of the Canadian interactive digital media industry.”

Projects were evaluated using the following criteria : innovation (40%), production team (15%), business plan (30%) and distribution strategy (15%). For projects at the production stage, the innovation and production team criteria (55% of the evaluation) were assessed by a jury of Canadian and international industry specialists (see their bios on our website): Wendy L. Bernfeld (Amsterdam), Lynda Brown-Ganzert (Vancouver), Sylvain Carle (Montreal), Jean-Pierre Faucher (Montreal), Dré Labre (Toronto), Lucie Lalumière (Toronto), Gavin McGarry (New York) and Catherine Warren (Vancouver). The remaining factors for the production projects, as well as the applications for development and marketing funding, were evaluated by analysts from the CMF Program Administrator|Telefilm Canada. All decisions made by the CMF are final.

Since the creation of its Experimental Stream in 2010, the Canada Media Fund has invested $27 million in 81 innovative interactive projects.

List of approved production projects:

via Telefilm Canada, who is pleased to announce its support of 30 Canadian companies attending the 2011 Game Developers Conference (GDC) and Game Connection America in San Francisco. Taking place February 28th to March 4th, GDC is the world’s largest industry-only event dedicated to the advancement of interactive entertainment. Game Connection America (March 1st to 3rd) is an international marketplace for game developers, service providers and publishers looking to expand their network and find business partners.

For 2011, Telefilm Canada will provide each of the 30 eligible companies with a grant of up to $1,500 to help with individual or booth registration fees, or event-related travel and accommodation expenses.

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“In an increasingly competitive global context, helping Canadian game developers attend and leverage GDC is part of Telefilm’s objectives to support international sales and partnership opportunities for Canadian businesses,” said Florence Moureaux, Telefilm Canada’s Interim Director, National and International Business Development. “This initiative is part of our industry development mandate to help build a sustainable home-grown industry in today’s fast-changing interactive media marketplace.”

In addition to the grant, selected participants will also benefit from a number of on-site business development activities organized by Telefilm and its partner the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada (DFAIT). Activities include the popular Canada Networking Event where some 600 industry representatives will congregate. Once again Telefilm will co-host the Canada Business Lounge with DFAIT on March 1st to 3rd featuring open, semi-private and private meeting facilities for Canadians doing business at GDC.

In January Telefilm hosted a GDC orientation Webinar for Canadian participants who received market intelligence on emerging trends and business opportunities, a contact list, and other useful resources.

“Support from Telefilm for an independent developer like us is crucial to our success,” said Sarah Thomson, VP of Business Development of Vancouver-based IUGO Mobile Entertainment. “Assistance with key conventions and promotion at events has contributed to IUGO’s growth and elevated our reputation in the mobile game development market.”

“Attending GDC is central to our business development efforts,” said Neil Smolar, President and Co-founder of Montreal-based Web game developer NDi Media. “We are convinced that the Canadian program’s excellent design and implementation – from the grant, powerful consulate networking event and visibility program, to the orientation webinar and meeting support – will help ensure our success at this event.”

Canadians are vying for conference awards, including:

Independent Games Festival Awards

• Retro City Rampage from Vancouver’s Vblank Entertainment Inc. is a finalist in the Excellence in Audio category
• Fract from the University of Montreal is a finalist in the Student category

Game Developers Choice Awards

While there are no Canadian companies nominated, there are important nominations for two games produced in whole or in part by teams working on Canadian soil:

• Mass Effect 2 from BioWare is nominated in several categories: Best Game Design, Best Technology, Best Audio, Best Writing and Game of the Year.
• Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood from Ubisoft Montreal is nominated for Best Visual Arts and Game of the Year.

via OCRI: To use a hockey metaphor, the Ontario Technology Corridor has dropped the gloves on Canadian modesty. Executives from Ontario’s talent-rich tech cities are promoting pixel-perfect business conditions for expanding digital media companies. The C.D. Howe Institute, which studies social and economic policies, immodestly states that Canada’s international reputation as a destination for capital and investment is better than it has been for a generation.

“As a country Canada is firing on all cylinders,” says Blair Patacairk, Senior Director, Investment, Global Marketing, for the Ottawa Centre for Research and Innovation (OCRI). “Canada’s federal corporate income tax rate will fall from 18 per cent in 2010 to 15 per cent by 2012 — less than half of the top U.S. federal marginal corporate income tax rate, and the lowest in the G7. We have the world’s soundest banking system according to the World Economic Forum. And Canada has the lowest debt-to-GDP ratio and the lowest R&D costs in the G7, with a 12.9 per cent advantage over the U.S.”

In Ontario’s collaboratively linked technology regions of Toronto, Ottawa, Waterloo Region, London and Niagara, 22 universities and colleges are pumping out more than 18,000 graduates per year. Graduates come from 174 specialized digital media programs including 3D animation, film studies, advanced computer programming, math, and hardware engineering.

Ontario’s digital media tech talent bank has attracted international companies like Ubisoft, Electronic Arts and Capcom Entertainment. Animation, special effects and mobile apps talent from homegrown firms such as Starz Animation, XYZ RGB, Digital Extremes, Silicon Knights, and RIM also help create exciting cross-platform entertainment products. These products run on everything from gaming devices to smartphones to Internet tablets to personal computers and 3D cinema screens.

In addition to a deep talent pool and strong economy, targeted tax incentives helped the Ontario Technology Corridor push Canada past the UK last year as the world’s third largest centre for video-game development talent, trailing only Japan and the United States. Ontario’s Media Development Corporation (OMDC) is the central catalyst for the province’s cultural media cluster – to date the OMDC IDM Fund has contributed $7.7 million to support 76 projects with budgets totaling $32.7 million – and continues to offer the following incentives, including:

· Ontario Interactive Digital Media Tax Credit – refunds 35-40 per cent of eligible production costs
· Ontario Computer Animation and Special Effects Tax Credit – refunds 20 per cent of labour costs
· OMDC Interactive Digital Media Fund – up to $150,000 in project production funding, up to a maximum of 50% of the project budget. So far in 2011, the OMDC has announced $2.0 million in funding support.

Employing nearly 260,000 people among 6,400 companies within Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sectors, the Ontario Technology Corridor includes the Greater Toronto Area, Ottawa Region, Waterloo Region, City of London and the Niagara Region. The Corridor also welcomes in partnership the Province of Ontario’s Ministry of Economic Development and Trade as well as the federal government’s Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada.

The Corridor is supported by the Greater Toronto Marketing Alliance (GTMA), Ottawa Centre for Research and Innovation (OCRI), Canada’s Technology Triangle, the London Economic Development Corporation and the Niagara Economic Development Corporation.