Village Gamer

Absolute to feature real-life computer recovery stories of LoJack for Laptop customers

Vancouver – Absolute(R) Software Corporation, the leading provider of firmware-based, patented, computer theft recovery, data protection and IT asset management solutions, is showcasing its home office computer security service, Computrace(R) LoJack(R) for Laptops, at MacWorld Expo and the Consumer Electronics Association’s CES 2009.

Absolute is an industry leader in anti-theft and security solutions for mobile computers. Throughout MacWorld and CES, Absolute will provide the opportunity for media and attendees to learn about Absolute’s real-life computer theft recovery stories, as well as its IT asset management, managed theft recovery and data protection technologies.

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Toronto – YANGAROO Inc., the industry’s leading secure digital media distribution company, is pleased to announce that it has received allowance of its United States Patent Application #10/431,854 titled “Content Distribution System and Method” from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). The formal Letters Patent grant is expected to follow shortly.

The patent in the U.S. for “Content Distribution System and Method” covers a method of distributing digital content, such as music and advertising, to selected individuals over the Internet, in which the uploading content provider selects the individuals that are entitled to access the content and sets release conditions, like a time and date, and where the identities of the selected individuals are verified at login and are provided with access to the uploaded content if the release conditions are met.
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Unique Wireless and Powerline home connectivity solutions powered by ExtremeUSB will be showcased at Parks Associates Connections Reception, and the DS2 Booth on the CES Show Floor

Burnaby – Icron Technologies (TSX Venture: IT), leading providers of USB extension and bridging solutions, today announced that it will be demonstrating new and innovative PC to TV connectivity solutions based on its patented ExtremeUSB(R) technology at CES. Demonstrations will take place on the CES show floor at the DS2 Booth (Booth No. 26129, South Hall 2) and at the Parks Associates CES Connections Summit Reception, taking place at the Las Vegas Hilton on Friday, January 9th from 6pm-8pm.

Icron’s Interactive PC to TV connectivity solutions demonstrate the ability for home users to interactively access all PC content and applications, including real-time Internet content, on TVs throughout the home. The solutions combine HD quality PC video along with full USB functionality, including mouse, keyboard, flash drive, webcam, and other USB peripherals, and extends them over standard 802.11n Wireless or Powerline networking technologies, enabling a true PC experience on the TV.
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Storage Appliance Corp.’s Latest Breakthrough Turns Any External Hard Drive from Any Manufacturer into an Effortless, Clickfree Backup Solution, Eliminating the Risk of Losing Precious Photos, Videos, Music and Data Forever

Richmond Hill, ON – Storage Appliance Corp., the company whose portable backup systems made the otherwise laborious task of backing up computer data manually a thing of the past – today announced another breakthrough with the launch of its Clickfree Transformer Cable. The new Transformer USB cable instantly turns any competitor’s external hard drive into a Clickfree automatic backup device, completely eliminating the hassle and confusion of installing and configuring backup software. Like all Clickfree products, there is no software to install or configure, it is truly automatic – right out of the box.

“The Clickfree name has become synonymous with effort-free computer backup. Regardless of what the competition claims, our new Clickfree Transformer Cable is the only way to make a regular external hard drive easy to use, requiring no software or configuration, and immediately backing up everything that matters from your computer’s hard drive,” says Storage Appliance Corp. CEO, Bryan McLeod. “The Transformer Cable works with any manufacturer’s USB external hard drive to deliver automatic, no-click backing up. Finally, you can stop avoiding backup because it was too much trouble!”

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In less than one year, the browser-based parody RPG Forumwarz has attracted more than 100,000 users. Supported primarily by user donations, it is one of the first browser-based games to successfully use a “shareware model” to sustain itself.

Toronto – Forumwarz, a parody role-playing game that takes place on the internet, recently confirmed that it has surpassed the 100,000 sign-up mark since its public launch in February, 2008.

The game, which has been described by Wired News as “an offensive but deadly funny approach to lampooning the poor grammar, childish humor and bad manners of the web’s underbelly,” managed to attract a surprisingly large niche mostly through reputation, word-of-blog and favorable reviews from such sites as Gawker, The Onion A.V. Club, Digital Journal and Gamasutra.

Forumwarz skewers both internet culture and traditional MMORPG tropes by combining the two in an off-color and sometimes deliberately offensive mash-up. Players can choose classes such as Troll, Hacker, Emo Kid, Camgirl or Noob, while using a World of Warcraft-like attack bar to derail or “pwn” various internet forums.

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Toronto – What kind of a future does 2009 hold in store for voice overs and the language services industry? Quite a bright one indeed according to the 2009 Report (PDF) released by the experts at Voices.com, revealing that $10.9 billion was spent in 2008 on language services and voice recording, an industry that is expected to grow by 7.5% to $11.7 billion in 2009. Voices.com is an online workplace that connects buyers with sellers of voice over and audio recording services.

Alongside rising sales for MP3 players, mobile phones and gaming consoles, the demand for voice acting in podcasts, audiobooks and video games has naturally increased as a result, becoming even more relevant to everyday consumers as the applications soar in popularity and reach new market demographics.

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Due to an increasing number of Canadians who shop online, Amazon.ca has just finished its busiest holiday shopping season in six years. Canadians had purchased gifts for friends and family not only in Canada, but around the world. Amazon.ca shipped holiday gifts to 120 countries around the world, including Algeria, Aruba, Australia, Bulgaria, Costa Rica, Egypt, Jamaica, Kyrgyzstan, Macedonia, Malawi, Pakistan, Romania, Slovakia, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Vanuatu and Zambia. Within Canada, gifts were sent as far north as Grise Fiord, Nunavut, as far east as St. Brendan’s, Newfoundland, and as far west as Beaver Creek, Yukon.

“At Amazon.ca we are constantly working to offer our customers the best possible shopping experience, not just around the holidays, but throughout the entire year,” said Julie Todaro, director of Amazon.ca. “We are thrilled that we were able to provide our customers with an increased variety of products by opening the Electronics Store in time for the holidays, and would like to thank all of our customers for their support. We look forward to continuing to
offer great prices, a seamless shopping experience and one-stop convenience in the coming year.”

Amazon.ca’s five bestselling items during the holiday season in each product category (based on units ordered since Nov. 1, 2008) were:

Video Games

1. Nintendo Wii includes Wii Sports
2. Nintendo Wii Nunchuk Controller
3. Nintendo Wii Remote Controller
4. “World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King” Expansion Pack
5. “Mario Kart” Wii with Wii Wheel
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Kelowna, BC – Two-and-a-half million Club Penguin players embraced the spirit of the season and displayed their passion for helping others this holiday by participating in a unique online giving opportunity that let them donate virtual coins to support real world causes.

The second annual Coins for Change campaign, which ran from Dec. 12, 2008 through Dec. 22, 2008, encouraged the kids who play Club Penguin to donate the coins they earn playing games within the popular virtual world in support of causes dedicated to helping children.

At the end of the campaign, players had donated three billion virtual coins. The virtual donations served as votes which were tallied for New Horizon Foundation, an organization started by the founders of Club Penguin, to help it determine how to allocate $1 million amongst charities dedicated to helping children. New Horizon Foundation has selected the following charities to receive a portion of its donation:

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Vancouver – Webnames.ca Inc. is pleased to announce that it has acquired Montreal-based registrar Papa.ca.

Papa.ca was previously a wholly owned subsidiary of Linnk Technologies, a full service web development company. Papa.ca was a CIRA certified registrar only offering .CA domain names.

“We are very excited to be able to service this new customer base,” says Stephen Smith, President of Webnames.ca. “Not only will they have access to Webnames.ca’s unparalleled customer support, but a full-range of domain name extensions and web services that were not offered by their previous registrar.”

With the acquisition of Papa.ca and new services introduced in 2008, including the .ASIA TLD, Webnames Privacy and the upcoming .TEL launch, Webnames.ca is looking forward to expanding on its past successes and remains committed to be the leader in domain name registration and management across Canada and internationally.

Toronto – The public is being invited to play a real time giant video game using BlackBerry Pearl Flip smartphones from Rogers Wireless to communicate with the Outdoor Broadcast Network’s massive video board on the Toronto Eaton Centre Media Tower at Yonge?Dundas Square – the first interactive video game promotion of its kind Canada.

The Outdoor Broadcast Network (OBN) secured the exclusive rights (for Dundas Square) to software distributed by Montreal’s iGotcha Media and took the idea to Rogers Wireless through its agencies, MediaCom and Publicis. The “Dial to Play” software has been integrated into the operating system of the 40’ x 30’ video board on the Toronto Eaton Centre Media Tower that overlooks Dundas Square, enabling users of the new Rogers Wireless BlackBerry Pearl Flip smartphone to interact with the giant video board.
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