Village Gamer

Canada – Underwriters Laboratories (UL) is notifying consumers that the “Airspan” Ethernet Adapter, identified below, bears an unauthorized UL Mark for the United States and Canada. This product has not been evaluated by UL to the appropriate standard for safety and is not authorized to bear the UL Mark. It is unknown if this product complies with U.S. and Canadian safety requirements.

Name of Product: “Airspan” Indoor Ethernet Adapter, Model SDA-1 Type 2

Number of Units: Unknown

Manufacturer: Unknown

Date of Manufacture: Unknown

Identification On the product: The product has a label with a UL Mark for Canada and the United States, along with the following information.

SDA-1 Type 2
c (UL) us AC Input: 100~240Vac
LISTED 50/60Hz
I.T.E. DC Output: 48VDC / 500mA
POWER SUPPLY P/N:09200080
E151748 YCL
3T57

This product may also be marked “AIRSPAN” on the face cover.

Waterloo – The majority of people consider browser history to be private, but that is no longer the case. Any website you visit can determine your browser history by exploiting the very features designed to enhance your Internet experience, a fact many people are not aware of.

Sample Collage - Not From Our PC

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

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

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

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

Sheridan Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning has released their comments about the recent Ubisoft Toronto announcement.
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Celebrate the 80th Edition of the All-Star Game with Strategy First today

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

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

“Bill ‘Spaceman’ Lee is an incredible person and we are thankful to have been able to conduct these interviews. Very few things in this world are free and we want to offer Gamers and Baseball fans alike an opportunity to watch these incredible interviews and no purchase is necessary, feel free to celebrate the all-star game with us.” Says Business Development Manager Emanuel Wall.
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Toronto – In a just-concluded press conference held at the Isabel Bader Theatre, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty, with an introduction by the Honourable Sandra Pupatello, Minister of Economic Development and Trade, announced a 263 million dollar commitment and a 10 year partnership with Ubisoft to open a new development studio which will employ a staff of 800 people. Ubisoft’s net investment in the new studio will be over half a billion dollars in the new studio, which will begin operations in late 2009.

“Today’s announcement marks a strategic move for Ubisoft as we continue to expand our internal

Premier McGuinty

development force,” said Yves Guillemot, president and chief executive officer at Ubisoft. “We are in an excellent position to grow and after extensive analysis we are thrilled to have reached an agreement with the government of Ontario to found our new studio in Toronto. The city is one of North America’s economic and cultural epicenters and our expectations are high. We’re excited to be able to count on the exceptional local talent, who will contribute to our accelerated growth and will have a profound impact on the video game industry with the excellence of their creativity.”

Three years in the making, Premier Dalton said that some of the primary reasons Ubisoft chose Toronto for their newest studio was the amazing talent, innovation, and ties to the movie industry enjoyed by Toronto’s creative industry. Collaborating with local film industry veterans to enhance video game production and extend Ubisoft’s convergence strategy, Ubisoft Toronto will contribute to Ubisoft’s global plan of extending its brands to complementary platforms and mediums, including books, comics, short films and other products.
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It’s not about gaming, but it’s still fun and educational

Britannia Beach BC – The BC Museum of Mining (BCMM) has launched an advanced new website offering a host of multimedia features and downloadable material. With online archival images and historical newsletters, BC Museum of Mining Online is the place to learn about the history and the future of BC Mining.

The new website was created to enhance communication with visitors, students and teachers, and history enthusiasts looking to learn more about the Britannia Beach community, current exhibits and collections, and mining in BC. The easy to navigate new site offers a searchable database of archives, calendar, press area, tour information, and links visitors to the Museum’s social media pages such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.

Future plans will see the Museum offering further online activities to engage our audience, such as: The Curator’s Blog, high-resolution image library, video footage, additional archives, and new collections.

The Britannia Historical Society, the governing body of the British Columbia Museum of Mining (BCMM), is a non-profit society. The society was established in 1971 to preserve the material and social history of mining in British Columbia, and to educate the public about mining. It is a registered charity. The Society is essentially self-sufficient in its ability to earn revenues to maintain its operation.

Calgary – A recent survey of more than 28,000 iStockphoto customers found that search and quality of collection are two of the top reasons for choosing iStock. Enter Best Match 2.0 and the Vetta™ Collection. The Best Match algorithm provides more relevant results and saves people time when searching. Seventy-eight percent of customers found it reduced search times — 20 percent of those said search times were reduced by more than 50 percent. Vetta is a collection of top-quality iStock images hand-selected for exquisite art direction and intelligently executed concepts.

“Part of why we remain the microstock market leader is because we challenge ourselves to do two things: keep iStock’s collection the highest quality in the world, and help customers find the right files faster,” said Kelly Thompson, COO of iStockphoto. “By improving search efficiency and relevancy with Best Match 2.0 while launching the high-caliber Vetta Collection, we’re again improving the customer experience.”

Best Match 2.0

Best Match 2.0 is a new proprietary search technology. As it constantly learns from customer behavior, the advanced algorithm returns some of the most accurate and relevant search results in the industry.
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Ottawa – Media Awareness Network (MNet), Canada’s leading not-for-profit media literacy organization, is pleased to announce the Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) has joined the organization’s team of supporters as a Silver Sponsor.

“We are honoured that CIRA recognizes the importance of media literacy in the lives of children and youth,” said Cathy Wing, MNet’s Co-Executive Director. “These funds will help MNet to continue to develop high quality media literacy programs and resources that support the healthy development of young Canadians.”

“As the Internet becomes more integrated in our daily lives, it is now more important than ever to ensure young people are equipped to make safe decisions when using the Internet,” says Byron Holland, President and CEO of CIRA.  “The Media Awareness Network provides an important and necessary service to educators and parents and as the steward of Canada’s domain and Internet space, CIRA is proud to be a sponsor of MNet’s vital programs.”
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Toronto – Stealth.com Inc. (Stealth Computer) a leading ISO 9001 manufacturer of industrial rugged computers and peripherals has released the new Model WPC-500F, a waterproof rugged, small footprint, fanless computer for environments where ordinary computer hardware won’t survive.

WPC-500F

The new Stealth WPC-500F is a rugged PC that is completely water-tight, surviving liquids, chemicals, dust and dirt intrusion, meeting IP67/NEMA 6 environmental specifications. Designed without cooling fans the internal CPU is cooled through advanced heat pipe technology. The rugged aluminum chassis also acts as a heat sink to dissipate internal heat and provide noise free operation.

Stealth’s WPC-500F extreme environment PC offers tremendous power in a tiny package that measures only; 7.51″(W) x 11.37″(D) x 2.97″(H) or (191 x 298 x 75.5 mm) yet surpasses the performance of most industrial and embedded PCs available today. Systems utilize Intel’s latest Atom processor technology for maximum performance and power efficiency.
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Longueuil – D-BOX Technologies Inc., a leader in innovative motion technology for the entertainment industry, announces that it has entered into an agreement with Cineplex Entertainment LP, the largest motion picture exhibitor in Canada, to equip a section in one of its auditoriums at the Cineplex Odeon Queensway Cinemas located in Etobicoke, Ontario with a D-BOX Motion system.

The Canadian premiere will allow moviegoers to feel the motion and on-screen action right from their very own seat. This unmatched, realistic and immersive experience is created with breakthrough D-BOX Motion Code technology in which the movie is coded, frame-by-frame, to create customized motion effects resulting in subtle, refined movements that work in perfect sync with the action taking place on screen.

“Supported by an overwhelming level of satisfaction from moviegoers, D-BOX has partnered with Canada’s largest motion picture exhibitor to equip one of its flagship locations in the Greater Toronto Area. We are pleased to work with Cineplex Entertainment and look forward to an ongoing relationship with them,” stated Claude Mc Master, President and Chief Executive Officer of D-BOX Technologies Inc.
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