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Everyone knows it’s better to give than to receive, and on May 7^th, Coca-Cola will celebrate its 125^th anniversary by hosting free live concerts in Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal.   Recording artists These Kids Wear Crowns, Kardinal Offishall, and Duke Squad will perform in their respective cities in concerts which will also stream live on iCoke.ca.

Leading up to the tri-city musical celebrations, special Coca-Cola Happiness Trucks will deliver moments of happiness to unsuspecting Canadians in Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal. No matter where they are, Canadians can follow the Happiness Trucks and find out where happiness will strike next on Twitter @CocaCola_CA (at press time this account was protected, I’m hoping it is unlocked soon, because protecting a marketing account really doesn’t make sense).

“Sharing happiness is at the core of Coca-Cola and has been for 125 years” said Bobby Brittain, Vice President, Marketing with Coca-Cola Canada. “With these surprise deliveries and free concerts, we aim to bring a little more happiness through these random acts and musical celebrations.”

This isn’t the first time that random acts of happiness have struck.  As part of its 125^th global anniversary campaign, Coca-Cola (@CocaCola on Twitter) has celebrated happiness around the world, most recently in Brazil and the Philippines with surprise visits from the now infamous Happiness Truck

The concert performances will take place the evening of May 7^th at the following locations:

• Vancouver: These Kids Wear Crowns will perform at Robson Square at 3:00 p.m. PST
• Toronto: Kardinal Offishall will perform at Yonge and Dundas Square at 6:00 p.m. EST
• Montréal: Duke Squad will perform at Stationnement Centre-Ville, located at the corner of Boulevard de Maisonneuve Ouest/Rue de la Montagne at 6:00 p.m. EST
• Digital Live Stream: iCoke.ca/125 and iCoke.ca/125ans

Coca-Cola is thrilled to be celebrating its 125^th with some of Canada’s most exciting performers.  Vancouverites will be entertained by Chilliwack’s own These Kids Wear Crowns who were first introduced to fans through the popular MuchMusic series, DISBAND.  The six member band is known for their energetic live show and recently completed a cross Canada tour with Fefe Dobson in support of their debut release Jumpstart.  In Toronto, Canada’s hip-hop ambassador Kardinal Offishall will take the stage at Yonge and Dundas Square. Best known for his distinctive reggae and dancehall-influenced style of hip-hop, in 2007, his hit Dangerous peaked at #5 on the Billboard Hot 100. In 2010 he sang in the Young Artists for Haiti’s version of Wavin’ Flag to raise money for disaster relief.  In Montréal, fans will be delighted by the pop-rock style of The Duke Squad who hail from Québec.  The band’s second album Infamous was launched in March 2010.  Both videos from that record went to #1 On Musique plus and the band’s tv show has been aired on Vrak tv.

Fisher-Price Canada has launched Fisher Price Play, a site where moms and gift-givers can easily find the right toy that matches the recipients’ developmental milestone. Also on the site is a Fisher-Price Play Panel, comprised of eight Canadian moms from various locales across Canada who  test Fisher-Price toys with their little ones and will blog and tweet about their experiences. Canadians can “meet the moms” virtually on the site by reading their bios and reviewing their posts. Fisher-Price encourages all Canadian moms to join in on the conversation and register on-line to receive play-time tips as well as special offers from Fisher-Price Canada.

“Being a Fisher-Price Canada Mom Ambassador was an easy fit for me, given Fisher-Price is a brand I have used with my kids for many years,” said Tammi, Fisher-Price Mom Ambassador and mother of three young children from Red Deer, Alberta. “I look forward to sharing the experiences me and my kids have with the products to other moms around the country.”

With Mother’s Day just around the corner, Fisher-Price wants to celebrate moms and their tots with its new Celebrating Milestones contest. Canadian moms and caregivers are invited to register information about themselves and their children on fisherpriceplay.ca for a chance to win a “Celebrating Milestones” prize pack of Fisher-Price toys valued at $200, plus a spa gift card valued at $200 for mom to get pampered for all of her efforts. One prize pack will be given away each month for a total of six months. Winners will be drawn on the last day of each month, starting on May 31 until October 31, 2011. Winners will be contacted directly by email, and may be asked to share a special milestone story at that time.

“As a leader in the toy category, Fisher-Price recognizes what moms want for their babies and toddlers when it comes to playtime and helping them grow and develop through play,” said Riza Javellana, mother of two young children and Manager – Marketing for Fisher-Price. “This year, with the Celebrating Milestones contest, Fisher-Price not only recognizes what moms want for their children when it comes to play, but rewards the special milestone moments moms and their little ones share and discover together that contribute to their child’s overall growth and development.”

To help launch the milestone program across the country, Fisher-Price has developed special PlayCentral kiosks that will be set up during special events and in malls across Canada from March to November 2011 that give mall-goers access to a fun-filled space where children can play with the latest and greatest Fisher-Price toys while moms can receive information on the latest products through catalogues and by using the Fisher-Price touch-screen Toy Selectors.

Deadline Extension: The final closing date for the Canada Media Fund English POV Program has been changed from May 9th to May 20th 2011.
Final Deadline: Online Registration for Canada 3.0 Forum closes today.
Live Tweets: Are you like me and couldn’t attend Merging Media? Follow the live tweets at #mergingmedia and #transmedia.

Source Studio has released their space shooter game ProtoGalaxy on Impulse for the PC, giving you arcade action, smart puzzles, space exploration and a built-in level editor for only $9.99.  In ProtoGalaxy, up to four players can team up, configure their ship and upgrade their weapons in order to defend Earth from powerful alien invaders. Throughout the game players will brave fierce battles, solve challenging puzzles and explore the far reaches of the galaxy in order to end the attacks and rebuild a home for the survivors.

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

“ProtoGalaxy is an intense space themed dungeon crawler,” said Alex Brown, company founder. “The game includes a built in editor which allows players to easily create entirely new levels. Players can share their creations online and download other people’s levels for endless game play,” Brown added.

Game features:

·         Level editor to create new galaxies
·         Single and multi-player mode (up to 4 players)
·         Array of weapon choice
·         Ship customization with large selection of parts
·         Use physics to solve problems
·         Includes free DLC: Proto Defense

Game publisher and distributor G4Box Inc. has announced the results of the donation drive for victims of the disaster in Japan hosted by its popular online military shooter, Cross Fire. G4Box and Cross Fire held the month-long “Cross Fire For Japan” charity drive from March 24th to April 24th and donated 10% of all sales of the game’s Panda and Japan Name Card Items to the Red Cross Japan Disaster Relief Fund. The Cross Fire player community showed their love and support for Japan by sporting Panda items and Japan Flag Name cards in-game and collectively helped Cross Fire and G4Box to donate more than $5,000 to the Red Cross Japan Disaster Relief Fund.

“The people affected by the tragedy in Japan are still facing so many tribulations and our community really stepped up to support them and donate to the cause during their time of need,” said Jason Yang, CEO of G4Box Inc. “We are lucky to have a very loyal and caring Cross Fire community who gladly supported this very important cause.”

Cross Fire is a free online military first-person shooter for Windows PCs. Players assume the role of either a Black List or Global Risk operative and compete in various modes of play including Team Death Match, the Mutant infested Mutation Mode, attack and defend Escape Mode, and the exclusive stealth-action Ghost Mode. Cross Fire includes a military ranking system, in-game friends lists, an integrated clan system, deep character customization options and social media integration via the Cross Fire website. Cross Fire is part of the Z8Games platform of free-to-play games.

Another Toronto publisher, Game Bridger Entertainment, has revealed two more playable character classes in its upcoming Free-to-play MMORPG Brawler, Aida Arenas. In these dual gameplay trailers, the Gladiator and the Priestess, after a brief warm-up, venture into Aida’s seedy underbelly to fight some baddies and round up some treasure.

When it comes to swords, the Gladiator has no problem wielding a blade almost twice his size. The bigger the better is his motto; just remember to hold on tight with both hands.  Overall, the Gladiator is a well-rounded class that can hold his own against monsters and arena PvPers alike.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcUzhG4PYak]

With her faithful pet Cocoli and a library of magical knowledge at her disposal, the Priestess comes equipped with a spell for just about any situation. On a story quest or in the competitive PvP arena, the Priestess is an essential part of any complete party.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0n9wwv2B-aU]

Create a hero, explore dungeons, fight monsters,compete  with friends and discover hidden treasure in AIDA Arenas, the new MMORPG Brawler from GamerKraft. Combining elements of the classic beat ’em up arcade genre with the character progression and social features of modern MMORPGs – Aida Arenas offers an action-packed game-play experience unlike any you’ve seen before.

Well this makes me feel somewhat better, even though only one Canadian company made the Top Fifty list and most of these women started their businesses years ago. They aren’t currently trying to mash a whole slew of ideas into one cohesive business unit while trying to extricate oneself from an unrelated family business.  The Women Presidents’ Organization (WPO), in partnership with American Express OPEN, the small business division of American Express, has released the fourth ranking of the 50 Fastest Growing Women-Owned/led companies in North America. The Top 50 generated a combined $4.1 billion in 2010 revenues (mean of $82.7 million) and collectively employed 24,650 in 2010 (projected average for 2011 is 557 employees).

The lone Canadian company on this US-dominated list is SIMAC Canada, Inc., an Ontario-based company lead by President and CEO Gloria Bajkumar. SIMAC is a company that co-ordinates independent medical assessments.

“The Top 50 list includes a group of trailblazing women entrepreneurs who represent a variety of industries ranging from staffing to electronic systems providers, language services to security,” said Marsha Firestone, Ph. D., president and founder of the WPO. “We are pleased to partner with American Express OPEN to honor these powerful women and recognize their triumphs.”

In order to help the Top 50 continue to seize even more business opportunities, each of the honored business owners will be offered a Business Platinum Card⁽based on approvals) from American Express OPEN. The card will include 100,000 Membership Rewards® points, which may be used on capital investments including: the funding of employee recognition programs, business travel or the purchase of office equipment and supplies.

“Based on American Express OPEN’s ‘State of Women-Owned Businesses’ report, there are an estimated 8.1 million women-owned businesses in the United States, generating nearly $1.3 trillion in revenues and employing nearly 7.7 million people,” said Nancy Hood, Vice President at American Express OPEN. “We at OPEN are honored to support this elite group of women who diversify the full spectrum of industries and have become leaders within the women business community.”

All eligible companies were ranked according to a sales growth formula that combines percentage and absolute growth. From this list, the 50 Fastest were selected. To be qualified for the ranking, businesses are required to be privately held, woman-owned/led companies in the U.S. or Canada and have reached revenue of at least $500,000 by the first week of 2006 and $2 million in 2010.

More about the 2011 Top 50:

• Founded the Business: 90%
• Current CEO is actively involved in the day-to-day operations: 100%
• Average years in business: 16
• Average age: 47
• Average Number of Projected 2011 Employees: 557

All 50 companies will be honoured tonight at a special event hosted by American Express OPEN at the 2011 WPO Annual Conference taking place here in Vancouver. The awards reception will take place from 6:30PM to 9:30PM at the Fairmont Vancouver Hotel.

Last night the Canadian Public Relations Society Toronto (CPRS Toronto) honoured the best and brightest of Toronto’s public relations community at the annual Achieving Communications Excellence (ACE) Awards gala. For the winners, the benefits of winning an ACE Award go well beyond the trophies and a short appearance on stage. You can check out the Gala Photos on the CPRS Toronto Flickr Feed.

“The value of these awards comes from the nature of the judging process,” said Martin Waxman, President, CPRS Toronto. “The ACE Awards are judged by experienced professional communicators. Being scored by industry peers adds a level of credibility and validation to the ACE Award brand that the winners can benefit from, especially in today’s competitive market.”

Companies that have been successful at capturing ACE Awards often see positive returns on the time and effort put into their submission. Receiving an ACE Award can help with market differentiation and raise the winning company’s profile which can lead to the growth of existing relationships or help to attract new business. This year, Strategic Objectives and Yum! Canada captured the PR Campaign of the year for their KFC double down campaign, while Edelman captured the award for best creative campaign of the year for their work on Red Bull’s Crashed Ice campaign.

“Being recognized as an ACE Award winner can help to open doors for any business. Many winners display their trophies in lobbies as a marketing tool showcasing a job well done to visiting clients, prospective employees or even to enhance employee morale,” said Chantelle Bernard, ACE Awards Chair, CPRS Toronto. “When it comes to the ACE Awards, the benefits of winning often far exceed the effort put forth through the application process.”

Congratulations to the 2011 ACE Award winners:

Leadership Awards

• PR Professional of the Year: Lawrence Stevenson, APR
• PR Student of the Year: Oluwadamilola Omolade Okunlola
• Young PR Professional: Erick Bauer

Best Creative PR Campaign

• Edelman Canada – Red Bull Crashed Ice 2010

PR Campaign of the Year

• Strategic Objectives/ Yum! Canada – KFC Canada Double Down Read the rest of this entry »

Autodesk invites Canadian creatives to see what’s new in the company’s 2012 product line-up.  There will be three events across the country featuring speaker sessions, demonstrations and a continental breakfast:

Vancouver – May 3 at the Sheraton Vancouver Wall Centre
Montreal – May 10 at the Hyatt Regency Montreal
Toronto – May 12 at the Toronto Congress Centre

The standardized agenda for each event:

8:00 a.m. –   9:00 a.m. Registration/Expo/Continental Breakfast
9:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m. Industry Sessions: Manufacturing, Building, Infrastructure
10:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. Expo/Break
10:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. Industry Sessions Continue

What you can expect from product updates:

New Integrated Design Suites: Delivering valuable design, simulation, management, and visualization tools, the new family of design suites provides the most complete creation and production solutions available — at an exceptional value.

A Powerful Leap in Productivity: From simple changes like faster startup times and graphics acceleration to astonishing visualizations and an improved learning experience, you can get more done in less time.

Robust Analysis and Modeling Tools: Evaluate what you are creating before it gets built — from energy use and structural integrity to stress points and final assembly — to save time and money on costly changes.

Enhanced User Interfaces That Are Intuitive and Easy to Use: You will find new tools and enhancements this year, such as updated ribbon interfaces, quick access toolbars, direct object manipulation, a marking menu, highlighting, automation user interface, and many more. All of which make it easier to get from concept to creation.

Better Ways to Work Together: With accelerated timelines and dwindling budgets, coordination among all team members is critical. And Autodesk is making it easier, with improved visibility into projects, better collaboration tools, and easy-to-access design information. All of which helps you deliver projects that are on time and on budget.

As you saw on the schedule above, there are three industry sessions. The Business Session will be presented by Caesar Ruest, Jay Ayala and John Janzen. The Infrastructure Session will be presented by Pete Southwood, Steve Stamatoplos and Neal Niemec, and the Manufacturing Session will be presented by Daryl Corelli. Registration for this event is free and I would recommend registering as soon as possible to reserve your spot.

marblemedia has launched Storm, the newest browser game for its hit YTV show Splatalot. Head on over to the Splatalot site and test your luck in dodging the obstacles as you battle your way to the castle. The bonus is that unlike the show’s competitors, you get to stay safe and dry. If you haven’t yet watched Splatalot, you really should check it out. YTV and Danone has also paired up to give kids a chance to be a contestant on the show – details are on the Splatalot Winalot page.

Those of you who are still celebrating in the euphoric cloud of last night’s Canuck win over the Blackhawks may not be aware that scheduling service Tungle has been acquired by Research In Motion. In a statement on the company’s blog this morning, Tungle CEO Marc Gingras stated that “We’re really excited about this. We know there isn’t an industry more exciting than the smartphone and tablet markets, and RIM is a dominant player in this space. As of today, the entire team is joining the ranks of RIM. It’s playoff season and the Tungle team is focusing on putting the puck in the net for you, our customers. You have kept us on our toes, given us great ideas and most importantly, have been great supporters. For that, we thank you. Our objective is to keep innovation at the forefront – to be rebels in our own way. Think, Create, Innovate.”

Roaring Penguin Software Inc. has announced the availability of CanIt Archiver, an e-mail archiving and e-mail business continuity software program for small business.  CanIt Archiver automatically archives e-mail and makes it available from anywhere via a web-based user interface, making it an ideal tool for e-mail business continuity.  In the event that your e-mail server disappears, it is comforting to know that you will be able to read your e-mail.

CanIt Archiver allows you to search based upon the date range, message subject, sender, recipients, message body, attachment filename and many more advanced criteria.  It also allows you to perform nested searches to narrow down your search criteria.  Also, CanIt Archiver can find “related messages” which finds all messages referred to by a given message.  This allows you to easily follow the thread of a conversation.  Best of all, CanIt Archiver allows end users to search their own archives, saving system administrators time and effort in tracking down old e-mails.

CanIt Archiver allows you to specify how long mail should be retained, thereby tailoring your e-mail retention policy to match your organization’s policies or regulatory requirements such as the Freedom of Information Act, HIPAA, SOX, etc.

CanIt Archiver is integrated with:

* CanIt-PRO, an anti-spam software solution suitable for small and medium business.
* CanIt-Domain-PRO, spam filtering software for MSPs to host anti-spam for their customers.
* Hosted CanIt, a fully outsourced, hosted anti-spam service.

I find this to be somewhat ironic, coming from a telecom that is just as guilty for high prices on telephone, mobile and internet fees as the other big companies, but Telus has submitted a proposal to the CRTC for safeguards to protect Canadian TV viewers from anti-competitive practices of the large broadcasting companies which now control Canada’s television industry.

In the past year there has been an unparalleled concentration of content ownership resulting from large corporate acquisitions highlighted by BCE’s $3 billion purchase of Bell Globemedia and Shaw’s $2 billion purchase of CanWest. As a result, Canadian broadcasting content has become largely owned and controlled by Canada’s largest cable and satellite providers.

“The unprecedented concentration of market power in the broadcasting sector created by the common ownership of programming services and distribution platforms requires regulatory safeguards to protect consumers,” said Michael Hennessy, senior vice-president Regulatory and Government Affairs at Telus. “The potential for abuse of market power is real and the risk to consumers is significant. Without proper regulatory safeguards consumers could soon be facing increased costs and reduced choice in their TV viewing options.”

The proposed safeguards include:

• Distributors should not withhold content from competitors. This will prevent anti-competitive programming blackouts.
• Preferential or exclusive programming rights should not be permitted in Canada. Consumers should not have to switch suppliers to watch their favorite shows.
• To ensure fair competition, vertically integrated broadcasters should not benefit from a head-start in launching new programming services.
• Fees charged for a programming service should be in line with fees charged for other services of equal value to consumers to ensure consumer costs do not skyrocket.

A recent survey by Harrisdecima found that an overwhelming 88 per cent of Canadians support federal government rules that require all content to be made equally available to all distributors. Such rules are required to ensure consumers can watch any program they choose, no matter which company they buy their TV, internet or wireless service from.

Toronto-based Hobby Star Marketing Inc., organizers of the largest combined gaming, horror, comic, science fiction and anime event in Canada, Fan Expo Canada, today launched a lawsuit against American sports promotion company, Zuffa LLC and event organizers Reed Exhibitions Limited of the U.K. for trademark infringement.

The company’s statement of claim seeks to establish that Zuffa LLC’s use of “UFC Fan Expo” is a confusingly similar use to Hobby Star Marketing’s registered trade-mark, Fan Expo Canada, and that such use infringes on Hobby Star Marketing’s exclusive rights in Canada in its trademark, causes confusion and depreciates the value of the Fan Expo Canada brand.

In documents filed in Federal Court, Hobby Star Marketing is requesting an immediate injunction to block organizers from using the name “UFC Fan Expo” and the accompanying slogan, “Ultimate Fan Experience” in Canada. This claim follows the December 2010 announcement of the first-ever UFC Fan Expo in Canada to be held in Toronto later this month.

“For the past 17 years, Fan Expo Canada has been the only event offering unique experiences and opportunities to interact with icons, industry leaders, and other enthusiastic fans across a variety of genres and modes and we intend to grow dynamically in coming years,” said Aman Gupta, President of Hobby Star Marketing. “We will do everything possible to protect our intellectual property and maintain the integrity of our event and our brand.”

Owned and operated by Hobby Star Marketing, Fan Expo Canada offers fans the chance to meet their favourite celebrities and pop culture heroes at autograph and photo sessions. Attendees can also participate in informational workshops with industry experts offering advice, tips and portfolio reviews, and shop for exclusive Fan Expo Canada offers, collectibles and memorabilia from more than 600 vendors.

Hobby Star Marketing Inc. was founded in 1992 and has quickly become one of Canada’s premiere sports and entertainment marketing companies. Since its inception, Hobby Star Marketing has secured a niche in the industry by specializing in professional sport and entertainment celebrity placement at a variety of venues and events.

Predictive analytics software and solutions provider Angoss Software Corporation a global leader in delivering powerful , today announced the issuance to it by the US Patent Office of a patent for a method and system for interactive decision tree modification and visualization.

The invention with patent number 7,873,651 describes a method and system of modelling decision trees within a client-server environment. Decision trees are used as a visual and analytical decision support tool. They provide intuitive capabilities that allow users to segment populations and understand the key drivers of outcomes based on their business data. Angoss Software Corporation’s extensive experience with decision trees and its unique approach to their construction and visualization has now been recognized by the US Patent Office.

This latest patent covers technology in connection with the company’s KnowledgeSTUDIO® product and all of its interactions between the user, the client and the server when building and modifying a decision tree model. For example, to execute a “Find Split” operation, after receiving a user request, the client sends a command to the server which then finds the optimal variable to split on and how the data should be grouped to get the most predictive distribution. Once the server finds the answer, it is returned to the client to be displayed to the user for further interaction and modification.

“Today’s marketplace is growing increasingly competitive with the introduction of new data mining and predictive analytics technologies, and the most successful businesses will be those who leverage their intellectual property to give customers the assurances they are looking for when buying technology based products and solutions,” said Martin Galligan, President and CEO. “Our ability to bring the power of advanced predictive analytics to business users cannot be challenged.” Advanced analytics is no longer the exclusive domain of statisticians and quantitative analysts. This innovation progresses the ability of sales and marketing organizations to apply predictive analytics to their business to improve sales and marketing performance.” Read the rest of this entry »

Mobio Identity Systems, an international mobile payment and marketing company, is pleased to announce its exclusive partnership with Shaw Media to be Mobio’s first and only Canadian broadcast sales representative. For an initial term of 15 months, Shaw Media will be the official broadcast reseller of Mobio payment and marketing applications to advertising agencies, media buying services and direct clients across the country. The Mobio Smartphone app is available now via the company’s web site.

“Mobio’s innovative approach to interactive marketing and advertising gives Shaw Media an added edge in our highly competitive sales environment,” said Errol Da-Ré, Senior Vice President Sales, Shaw Media. “Together with Mobio, we will be able to deliver a uniquely personalized and valuable broadcast experience to all of our customers and clients.”

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfMmajHMWR8]

Broadcasters and advertisers are quickly recognizing the potential for QR barcodes to change the face of their industry. With media fragmentation pulling the attention of consumers in multiple different directions, advertisers are having a difficult time reaching and meaningfully engaging their customers. By leveraging their core assets, Mobio and Shaw Media will bring broadcast media to life in two very powerful ways, engaging customers like never before through:

• Interactive Marketing – Allowing viewers to exchange information and receive personalized offers by scanning a barcode directly off of a TV with a Smartphone
• Processing Payments – Allowing viewers to securely purchase products and services by scanning a barcode directly off of a TV with a Smartphone

“According to our recent research, 77% of QR barcode scanning is occurring digitally – both online and on TV – so partnering with a high profile broadcaster like Shaw Media is a tremendous opportunity,” said Mark Binns, Chief Marketing Officer, Mobio Identity Systems, Inc. “This partnership will allow our collective customer base to engage on a whole new level, adding massive value for viewers and significant revenue potential for advertisers and brands.”

FIRST Robotics Canada is pleased to announce that a total of 26 schools from Canada have qualified for the FIRST World Championship in St. Louis. The competition starts today and runs until April 30th at the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis. This is the largest robotics competition in the world and we are proud that Canada will be represented by some of our brightest and most innovative students.

The following Canadian high school teams will compete at the FIRST Robotics 2011 World Championship:

• Governor Simcoe Secondary (St. Catharines) – GTA East Regional Chairman’s Award and GTA East, Waterloo and Pittsburgh Regional Winners
• St. Mildred’s Lightbourn Girls School (Oakville) – GTA West Regional Chairman’s Award and Pittsburgh NASA Engineering Inspiration Award
• Near North Student Robotics Initiative (North Bay) – Waterloo Regional Chairman’s Award
• Westlane Secondary (Niagara Falls) – GTA East and Pittsburgh Regional Winners
• Bishop Grandin Secondary (Calgary) – GTA East Regional Winner
• Orchard Park Secondary (Stoney Creek) – GTA West, Waterloo and Rochester Regional Winners
• Kincardine Secondary (Kincardine) – GTA West Regional Winner
• Trafalgar Castle Girls School (Whitby) – GTA West Regional Winner
• Sir Wilfred Laurier Secondary (London) – Waterloo Regional Winner and Rookie All Star Award
• Eastwood Collegiate (Kitchener) – Wisconsin Regional Winner
• Rick Hansen Secondary (Mississauga) – GTA East Engineering Inspiration Award
• Kingston Collegiate (Kingston) – GTA West Engineering Inspiration Award and New York City Regional Finalists
• Oakville Trafalgar High School (Oakville) – Waterloo Engineering Inspiration Award
• Oakridge Secondary (London) – GTA West Rookie All Star Award
• Woburn Collegiate (Toronto) – GTA East Regional Finalist
• Crescent School (Toronto) – GTA West Regional Finalist
• Algoma School Board (Sault Ste. Marie) – Previously Qualified

FIRST Robotics high school students were given six weeks to design, build and test a robot within size, weight, cost and other design guidelines. At the competitions, these robots must work cooperatively and in competition in a game that challenges the limits of the robots and the students. Some 340 teams out of 2,075 in total have qualified to attend the 2011 World Championship.

The following Canadian middle school teams will compete at the FIRST Lego League 2011 World Championship:

• Team 2359, The Hurricanes, Victoria, British Columbia
• Team 8405, The TechnoVikings, St. Mary’s, Newfoundland
• Team 529, The Three Blind Mice and Their Lost Cousin, Aylesford, Nova Scotia
• Team 2977, The TechnoSurgeons, Mississauga, Ontario
• Team 3663, The Sentinels, Oakville, Ontario

In total some 17,100 FLL teams from 57 countries participated in this year’s program.

The following Canadian middle school teams will compete at the FIRST Tech Challenge 2011 World Championship:

• Team 245, Roberts Creek Xtreme Robotic Minds, Roberts Creek, British Columbia
• Team 349, FIX IT, Victoria, British Columbia
• Team 521, BSS Thunder, Wainwright, Alberta
• Team 527, The Ghosts from Calgary, Alberta.

FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) is an international non-profit organization designed to inspire students to pursue further studies and careers in science, engineering, computers and technology. Students develop skills in problem solving, innovation, leadership and teamwork as well as design, manufacturing, programming and testing. FIRST’s programs reach 250,000 students in 57 countries. FIRST Robotics Canada, a Canadian non-profit started in 2002, now reaches some 7,000 Canadian students.

FIRST Robotics Canada is supported by the Ministry of Education, Government of Ontario and is sponsored by Bruce Power, Hatch Limited, University of Toronto, Imperial Oil Foundation, TD Bank, Bell Canada, Magna International, SYNNEX Corporation, University of Waterloo, City of Mississauga, Johnson & Johnson, Yves Landry Foundation, Discovery Channel and others. The 2011 Waterloo Regional was sponsored by RIM, University of Waterloo, Toyota Canada, TD Bank, Discovery Channel and others. The 2011 FIRST LEGO League Ontario Championship was sponsored by Ontario Power Generation, RIM, UOIT and others.

Intertainment Media Inc. has announced that Ortsbo, its social media, real time, language translation platform, continues to accelerate, reaching 13.1 Million Unique Monthly Users, month over month for the period ended April 25, 2011. Since launch in late July 2010, Ortsbo has recorded over 183 Million minutes of User Engagement, over 129 Million Page Views, approximately 40 Million Unique Users and in excess of 58 Million Online Sessions. All of the Ortsbo performance metrics are validated independently through 3^rd party verification including Google Analytics.

In the past week, Ortsbo has generated over 17 Million minutes of User Engagement, 12.9 Million Page Views, 6.2 Million Online Sessions and 4.8 Million Unique Users, a new record of Unique Users.

According to Google Analytics reports, over 80% of users visit Ortsbo web sites directly and are not using search engines or third party referrals. With over 110,000 Facebook Fans, over 15,000 joining this week, and over 12,500 Twitter followers, the Company continues to experience viral growth opportunities.

On April 20, 2011 Ortsbo announced that together with international rock legend, accomplished global entrepreneur, Ortsbo business partner and spokesman, Gene Simmons and sponsor Live Nation will present Gene Simmons Live & Global, an interactive global event allowing people all over the world to chat with Mr. Simmons in 53 languages. The event will be broadcast from the Rodeo Ballroom of the Beverly Hills Hotel on Friday, May 20, 2011 beginning 7:30 am Pacific. Users can register online for the event.

Unlike other social media platforms that may experience limited revenue opportunities, Ortsbo has been developed with the ability, in time, to generate revenues from a number of key sources, including, but not limited to:

Social Media – as with many other social media platforms like Facebook, MySpace and Twitter, Ortsbo has initiated advertising and sponsorship programs, allowing advertisers to reach users, through customized offers, on demand and targeted advertising. To maximize long term value, Ortsbo has made advertising available to companies around the globe and has been sharing its independently verified analytics with existing and potential advertisers.

Email – Ortsbo has developed an email translation platform that simply “plugs-in” to existing email applications. The first of these coming to market shortly is Ortsbo for Microsoft Outlook, or “O4O”. The product allows instant translation of email with original language attachments. Ortsbo has launched a pilot web site and expects to make it publicly available shortly. The email plug-in module will retail for $29.95 US. Ortsbo also offers a secure, multi-user, multilingual chat module for the commercial market. Read the rest of this entry »