“Mobile Application Management is changing the enterprise mobility landscape. It presents a fantastic opportunity for businesses to find new opportunities for productivity, efficiency, and agility in their organization by rolling out corporate mobile apps to field workers in a secure fashion,” said Tony Krueck, vice-president of Business Products and Services at TELUS. “By partnering with Apperian, we’re helping IT managers support their users’ ability to add corporate apps directly on employee-owned devices, while still enabling IT to enforce their policies on these corporate apps.”

Mobile Application Management gives companies the ability to secure, manage and publish corporate apps on mobile devices without inconveniencing users or requiring the installation of additional software. With this service, Canadian enterprises can manage all aspects of deploying apps in the enterprise in one secure location. Using Apperian’s cloud-based enterprise platform for managing mobile apps, IT managers can easily roll out an enterprise app store with full mobile application management capabilities. Employees can then discover corporate apps in a catalog that looks and feels similar to mobile app stores with intuitive ways to sort, search and install the corporate apps they need.

“There are many large, global, sophisticated companies headquartered in Canada that are realizing the value of employee apps, and now they can rely on TELUS to help them get their employee app program off the ground,” said David Patrick, CEO at Apperian. “Working with TELUS, we’re helping Canadian businesses eliminate the complexity of managing mobile apps — making it easy to support the ever-changing versions of apps, operating systems and devices.”

“Future Shop has seen amazing transformations in the secondary schools across Canada over the past five years.  We know the impact that technology can make on helping kids learn, be inspired and unlock their creativity,” said Andrea Farnell , Community Relations Manager, Future Shop.  “We’re excited to expand our Future Generation Tech Lab grant program to include elementary schools.”

The Future Generation Tech Lab program exists to equip more students with the right technology to keep them inspired, motivated and empowered as they learn and grow. Similar to the Tech Lab program focused on high schools, successful elementary schools will see the grant awarded as cash to be used towards technology and other equipment the schools need to improve their classrooms to help foster and advance learning.

Elementary schools can apply for a Future Shop Future Generation Tech Lab grant starting May 22 through June 28, 2013. Winners will be announced in September after a panel of Future Shop associates have evaluated the submissions.

Since 2008, Future Shop’s Future Generation Tech Lab program has awarded 48 Canadian high schools in grants totalling more than $1.5 million.

Amazon Publishing will pay royalties to both the rights holders of the Worlds and the author. The standard author’s royalty rate (for works of at least 10,000 words) will be 35% of net revenue. As with all titles from Amazon Publishing, Kindle Worlds will base net revenue off of sales price—rather than the lower, industry standard of wholesale price—and royalties will be paid monthly.

In addition, with the launch of Kindle Worlds, Amazon Publishing will pilot an experimental new program for particularly short works—between 5,000 and 10,000 words. For these short stories—typically priced under one dollar—Amazon will pay the royalties for the World’s rights holder and pay authors a digital royalty of 20%.

Beginning today, interested writers are encouraged to visit Kindle Worlds to learn more and get a head start on writing. In June, the Kindle Worlds store is expected to launch with over 50 commissioned works from authors such as #1 New York Times best-selling author Barbara Freethy, Bram Stoker Award-winner John Everson and RITA Award-winner Colleen Thompson. At that time, the Kindle Worlds self-service submission platform, where any writer can submit completed work, will also open.

World Licensors benefit from Kindle Worlds because:

• It’s an entirely new way to monetize their valuable franchises
• It allows them to extend their Worlds with new stories and characters and more deeply engage with existing fans, while also reaching new audiences
• Amazon Publishing will work with them to establish content guidelines that balance flexibility and openness for writers with what’s reasonable for the franchise

“Our books have generated a massive amount of fan fiction, and we see this as an evolution in publishing and a valuable way of broadening our brands and engaging fans,” said Leslie Morgenstein, President Alloy Entertainment. “When working with Amazon Publishing on this scale, we know we’re in good hands and everyone will benefit.”

“Seeing Pretty Little Liars fans adapt and create their own stories is both exciting and flattering and I think what Amazon Publishing is offering through Kindle Worlds is a great way to reward their ingenuity,” said Sara Shepard, author of Pretty Little Liars.

Writers benefit from Kindle Worlds because:

• Amazon Publishing has already secured the necessary licenses to write about any Kindle World
• They can earn royalties writing about established characters and universes
• The Kindle Worlds self-service submission platform is easy to use

“I loved writing the characters in this world, the dynamics of the friendship between the four girls as they deal with life-threatening situations,” said Barbara Freethy, writing in Pretty Little Liars. “I also really enjoy the ongoing mysteries and surprising twists that always keep the reader guessing. It’s great that Amazon Publishing has given those who put passion into fan fiction the opportunity to commercialize this work.”

And readers benefit from Kindle Worlds because:

• They can find a stream of new stories in Worlds they love
• They can discover new Worlds and corresponding great new stories
• As with all Kindle books these are “Buy Once, Read Everywhere”—they can read on Kindle or Kindle Fire as well as with a free Kindle app for all of the most popular devices and platforms

“At Kindle, we’re not only inventing on the hardware and software side of the business, we’re inventing new ways to create books,” said Philip Patrick, Director, Business Development and Publisher of Kindle Worlds. “Our goal with Kindle Worlds is to create a home for authors to build on the Worlds we license, and give readers more stories from the Worlds they enjoy. We look forward to announcing additional World licensing deals in the coming weeks.”

Amazon Publishing is engaged with additional rights holders from different areas of entertainment—books, games, TV, movies and music—and looks forward to announcing future deals soon.

As a board member of the OIX, SecureKey will help shape a market infrastructure for online trust with the development of a new trust framework. Working together with more than 30 of the most influential and innovative organizations in the identity space, SecureKey will also leverage the OIX collaborative model to test the interoperability of business, legal, and/or technical concepts and theories in real-world use cases.

“Trust communities will play important roles in the future of online identity, and as a board member of OIX we look forward to working with the other members to help develop systems to enable these communities to function efficiently,” said Andre Boysen, executive vice president of marketing at SecureKey. “Our briidge.net™ DNA security software, which is already embedded in third-generation Intel® Ultrabook™ computers with Intel IPT, transforms personal devices into strong, two-factor authentication tokens, and is a key ingredient of our cloud-based briidge.net identity and authentication platform.”

briidge.net is a groundbreaking solution that brings trust to mobile and online transactions by enabling people to use devices and credentials they already have to perform strong two-factor authentication. The briidge.net suite of extended enterprise federated authentication services is easy for people to use and reduces the number of user IDs and passwords they manage, without sacrificing security and privacy.

“We are pleased to have SecureKey join OIX as a board member, and look forward to their participation in addressing many of the significant challenges to create a secure online identity ecosystem,” said Don Thibeau, chairman and president of OIX. “Establishing trust in the identity ecosystem is an essential ingredient for success, and SecureKey has tremendous experience and expertise in providing innovative solutions to address this need.”

The Open Identity Exchange (OIX) is a non-profit trade organization of market leaders from competing business sectors e.g. the internet (Google, PayPal, etc.), data aggregation (Equifax, Experian, etc.), and telecommunications (AT&T, Verizon, etc.) driving the expansion of existing online services and the adoption of new online products. OIX helps develop and register trust frameworks: pre-negotiated sets of business, legal, and technical agreements that provide stakeholders with mutual assurance that their online transactions can be trusted. OIX members form a global center of excellence for the identity trust layer of online transactions sharing domain expertise, joint research, and pilot projects to test real world use cases.

“The team at Eidos-Montreal is thrilled to confirm that THIEF is coming to Xbox One. The next generation of home consoles allow us to create the best and the most immersive THIEF game ever. The feedback we have received so far is simply amazing and we can’t wait to show more of THIEF at E3 this year” said Stephane D’Astous, General Manager, Eidos-Montréal.

There is a rising tide of fear in The City. Hatred saturates every stone and whilst the rich prosper, the less fortunate face misery and repression. Ravaged with sickness and famine, they wait for something to change. Into this shadowy world steps Garrett, THE master thief in a first-person adventure featuring intelligent design that allows players to take full control, with freedom to choose their path through the game’s levels and how they approach and overcome each challenge.

In the game, players pilot ships that are sent out to destroy the opposing team’s enemy carrying ship. However, these massive structures require coordinated attacks with allies to destroy all the vulnerable areas. Battles can be won in a multitude of ways, giving players the ability to create unique tactical offensive and defense strategies within their teams.

One of the main features of the game is the intense amounts of customization offered for each of the ships.  Players will have to balance weight, energy consumption, and heat capacity when deciding the best parts for their ship.  The various parts players choose affect both the look and abilities of the craft, allowing the player to craft a custom ship that fits the role they want to play in their team. At the end of every match, win or lose, players are given a score which is then used to gain access to new parts.

Key features: 

• Fully customizable gunships built part by part, changing their look, stats and abilities
• Online multiplayer to play with friends and the community
• Four playable species with their own unique parts to choose from
• Intense tactical dogfights that require group strategies
• Multiple layers of complexity to create unique matches each time
• Oculus Rift and joystick enabled for a visual experience like none other

GoD Factory: Wingmen is boasting a tremendous amount of rewards for backers, including vanity items for the players ship from various metals and diamond decorations, exclusive to the tier they choose.  The Kickstarter project also offers ways to personalize the world in which they battle, including designing constellations, creating planets and even massive eye catching monuments that create a vivid universe unlike any other.  All created structures will be visible to players during the online matches.

The game will also offer Oculus Rift opportunities. The Oculus Rift is a virtual reality headset offering Motion tracking and stereoscopic 3D. “It was important to us to create an space combat simulator that really pushed the immersive element that the players will battle in,” states lead developer Guillaume Boucher-Vidal.   “While piloting a ship, you are sitting and controlling a vehicle, which is exactly the same as when playing the game.  The Oculus Rift gives the player the feeling that they are really in this stunning universe.”

GoD Factory: Wingmen is set for a 2013 release on PC.

“This is a great way to add free music to your iPhone or iPad. Then you can use the other great features of our music slow downer app to learn to play all your favorite tracks by ear.” relayed CTO Sean Kormilo. “Download tracks directly to your iPad or iPhone from your favourite video or audio file websites and you’ll be playing along in no time.”

With little more than a few taps on a screen, vast and diverse discographies are available to acquire and study. With features comparable to desktop slow downers costing much more, it’s no wonder Anytune Pro+ has an average rating of 5 stars across 600 ratings in the Apple App Store. As Facebook fan Ed Matthews put it “Great news for an already great product!”

Anytune’s download import is included in Anytune’s free feature set, giving all Anytune users the ability to collect their favourite songs from all over the Internet. The ‘download import’ feature is added to an already rich set of music sharing options including; Audiobus, Dropbox, Wi-Fi, through Email, to and from other apps with Open-in, and the in-app record function. Combined all of these options make Anytune the most connected practice app in the App Store.

Transcribing has also got a lot easier and more fun with the introduction of Anytune’s new transcribe mode. “Transcribe Mode” simplifies transcription work flow by changing play-pause to pause-repeat, allowing a track to be traversed and repeated phrase by phrase more easily and in a more natural way for transcribers.

Tony Wacheski CEO says, “This update adds several exciting new features to Anytune that our users have asked for. The Anytune user community continues to provide us amazing new ways to make Anytune even better. ”

Priced at $14.99 USD, the full version of Anytune 3.8 is now available for download in the App Store. There is also a limited free version available.

Language Support:

• English
• French
• German
• Spanish
• Japanese

Compatible with iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, iPod touch (3rd generation), iPod touch (4th generation), iPod touch (5th generation) and iPad. Requires iOS 5.1 or later. This app is optimized for iPhone 5.

iBiometric:

• Is the best, most intuitive Passport/Visa/ID/License photo app on the AppStore!
• Generates passport size photos with official sizes to use in your official documents (Passport, License, Visa, ID Card… you name it). Yes. It generates your Biometric Photos!
• Supports sizes for United States, United Kingdom and all European Union countries. Most of other countries worldwide (other than US, UK and EU) will accept the sizes of EU for their official documents.
• Generates one photo that can be used for your online applications, additionally, you can unlock Print Rolls for only $0.99 (available through In-App Purchase).

iBiometric 1.0 is compatible with iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, iPod touch (3rd generation), iPod touch (4th generation), iPod touch (5th generation) and iPad. Requires iOS 6.0 or later. This app is optimized for iPhone 5.

While weather radars have been traditionally relied upon by weather apps to track precipitation clouds, they provide little insight as to whether precipitation will reach the ground. Equipping SkyMotion users with a crowdsourcing platform circumvents this technological limitation, offering them an unprecedented level of accuracy.

SkyMotion’s patented nowcasting technology tells users the exact minute they can expect precipitation. It does so by translating data from hundreds of Doppler radars, every 5 minutes, into a unique forecast for every 0.6 square mile. That’s roughly 16 million zones simultaneously, every 5 minutes. Receiving weather data in real-time, SkyMotion is also the only app that is designed to sense dramatic condition changes and instantly highlight them for users.

“All current weather crowdsourcing applications have users send observations into a black hole, with little to no apparent benefit for them. That’s not the case with SkyMotion, which benefits from inheriting the large database of users who had downloaded previous versions of the app. We don’t have to build a database of observers from scratch,” said Sky Motion Research CEO, Maxime Julien. “We’re one of the most sophisticated weather apps on the market.”

SkyMotion 4.0 Features:

* Nowcasts: find out the exact minute it will rain for your location
* Get first-glance view of nowcasts, hourly, daily, and weekly forecasts in a single swipe
* Integration of ground-level observations for maximum accuracy
* Unique forecasts for every 0.6 square miles
* Weather alerts from national weather services
* Ads can be removed through an in-app purchase
* Condition highlights: dramatic changes in weather conditions now glow for your convenience
* Improved precipitation prediction for rain, snow, freezing rain, ice pellets and hail
* Be the first to share nowcasts on Facebook and Twitter
* Support for over 80 languages
* iPhone 5 & iOS 6.1.2 Compatible

Language Support:

English, Bokmal, Norwegian, Catalan, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Slovak, Spanish, Swedish, Traditional Chinese, Turkish

Skymotion 4.0 is available now as a free download and is compatible with iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, iPod touch (3rd generation), iPod touch (4th generation), iPod touch (5th generation) and iPad. Requires iOS 5.0 or later. This app is optimized for iPhone 5. S Customer care is available 7 days a week in English, Spanish, French, and Italian. A free web app is equally available at SkyMotion online.

Global Movie PTE Ltd. has licensed the Latin American digital SVOD rights to a number of DHX Media children’s series, including Arthur, Madeline and Are you Afraid of the Dark. Best known for its variety of films, Global Movie PTE Ltd. provides streaming broadcasting services and provision of telecommunication access to films and television via a video-on-demand service. .

In a separate deal, SBP Worldwide S.A. has picked up home entertainment (DVD and Blu-ray) rights to season 5 of Caillou and Caillou’s Holiday Movie for South America. Additionally, Media International Enterprises has licensed the first three seasons (65 episodes) of Naturally Sadie for its pay TV channel, Yups TV, which broadcasts across Latin America.

Competitive Advantage: The Economic Impact of Properly Licensed Software is a groundbreaking analysis that draws on data from 95 countries to demonstrate the benefits to national economies of using fully licensed software. The study confirms that increasing use of licensed software corresponds to substantial positive gains in gross domestic product (GDP), and that the economic stimulus effect of properly licensed software is significantly greater than that of pirated software.

“Using properly licensed software reduces risk and creates operating efficiencies that go directly to the bottom line for enterprises,” said Jodie Kelley, Vice-President of Anti-Piracy & General Counsel. “This study confirms that licensed software is not just good for firms — it is an important driver of national economic growth. Government, law enforcement, and industry in Canada should take every opportunity to reap these potential gains by reducing piracy and promoting use of properly licensed software.”

The study also finds that each additional dollar invested in properly licensed software has an estimated return on investment (ROI) of $73. This compares to a $46 return from each additional dollar worth of pirated software put into use.

Among the study’s other findings:

• Increasing licensed software use globally by one per cent would inject an estimated $73 billion into the world economy, compared to $20 billion from pirated software — a difference of $53 billion.
• Every country included in the study saw greater economic returns from properly licensed software than from pirated software.
• On a dollar-for-dollar basis, the return on investment from using properly licensed software is greatest in developing countries — $437 in extra GDP, on average. Still, countries across all income levels benefit: each additional dollar invested in licensed software has an average ROI of $117 in high-income countries and $140 in middle-income countries.

“Previous studies have shown that value-added services delivered with properly licensed software help firms to reduce costs and increase their productivity. This report goes one step further to ascertain the impact of software use on national production,” said Eduardo Rodriguez-Montemayor, senior research fellow at INSEAD eLab. “The results make it clear that licensed software is beneficial for business and national economies — and that licensed software has a greater economic impact than pirated software across all countries included in the study.”

Governments and enterprises wanting to embrace the economic opportunity presented by licensed software use should take action in the following areas:

• Establish strong and modern intellectual property laws that protect software and other copyrighted materials on PCs, mobile devices, and in the cloud.
• Step up enforcement of intellectual property rights with dedicated resources.
• Raise public awareness about the risks of software piracy.
• Lead by example by using only fully licensed software and implementing software asset management programs.

A full copy of the study: Competitive Advantage: The Economic Impact of Properly Licensed Software is available for download on BSA’s website: www.bsa.org/softwarevalue.

This new release focuses on improved performance to address the explosive growth and significance of Big Data within organizations. New features driven by customer demand give organizations increased power to avoid waste, inefficiency, fraud, compliance violations and corresponding financial penalties, while illustrating opportunities from statistical insight:

• GRC integration with the forthcoming ACL GRC, a cloud-based solution that highlights and quantifies risk, enabling data-driven GRC management by connecting data analysis results to enterprise risks
• Faster processing and improved performance turns minutes into seconds, as commonly-used features and analysis functions are 30% faster
• New capabilities include:
  • New “EXECUTE” command gives users the ability to trigger third-party software with automated ACL Analytics scripts
  • Native Date & Time Data Types with 17 new functions – date and time data displays exactly the way it is stored in the source data set, saving time and hassle
  • New multiple table comparison functionality allows users to toggle between data tables

“It is crucial to detect transactional inconsistencies as soon as possible in order to report the problem to the appropriate people and enact a quick solution,” said ACL customer Jeremy Clopton, Managing Consultant, Forensics and Valuation Services at BKD, LLP. “I applaud ACL for providing a means to better connect transaction-level analysis to corporate risks.”

“Our product teams have really listened to customer feedback in order to advance the capabilities of ACL’s product offerings,” said Keith Cerny, Vice President, Research & Development at ACL. “We have increased R&D investment in our core products and see immense value in progressing our integrated, end-to-end technologies.”

“We’ve been in the talent development business for more than 40 years, supporting dynamic companies and creators from across the country,” said Carolle Brabant, Telefilm’s Executive Director. “And we’re constantly innovating in our quest to find and encourage emerging talent. New Ways of Discovering Canadian Talent was created to promote the next cinematic gems. But to do this, we rely on partners who share our passion for cinema and who want to push the boundaries of development, production, distribution and marketing. That’s why we were so delighted to join with CineCoup as a collaborator in our promotional campaign.”

The CineCoup Film Accelerator is a unique model for indie filmmakers to develop, market and finance their feature films. Filmmaking teams apply to CineCoup with a two-minute trailer then advance through a gamified selection funnel that’s designed to package their projects and to build fan support on the CineCoup social Web platform.

Film fans watch, weigh in and earn votes to help their favourite filmmakers advance. Ten projects have now been optioned for development, five teams will travel to the Banff World Media Festival and, ultimately, one project will be selected for up to $1 million in production financing and guaranteed theatrical release in Canada.

Leveraging the same Absolute persistence technology used in LoJack for Laptops, once installed and activated it cannot be removed even if the device is restored to factory settings. When a protected Samsung GALAXY S4 is stolen, the Absolute Investigations and Recovery Services team will work with law enforcement globally to get the device back. Users can also remotely lock, locate their device or delete sensitive files to prevent identity theft.

Smartphone theft is on the rise, more than 40 percent of all robberies in New York City involve smartphones and other cell phones. Other major US cities have similar statistics, with robberies involving cell phones comprising 30-40 percent of all robberies. (According to FCC, Announcement of New Initiatives to Combat Smartphone and Data Theft, April 10, 2012)

“Absolute’s unique approach to investigations and theft recovery is exactly what is needed to solve this serious epidemic of smartphone and mobile device theft that is sweeping across our nation,” stated Sheriff Leon Lott, Sheriff, Richland County, South Carolina Sheriff’s Department.

“With the rapid growth of smartphone use, mobile theft has increased extensively putting consumers at personal risk. I am thrilled we can provide consumers with a solution to address this serious issue,” said Mark Grace, Vice President, Consumer at Absolute Software. “With our consumer theft recovery solution installed and activated on Samsung GALAXY S4s, users can rest assured that their device can be recovered in the event it is stolen with the help of the Absolute Investigations and Recovery Services team, which has assisted in more than 29,000 successful recoveries in 98 countries.”

The consumer theft recovery solution for Android smartphones will be available early this summer starting at $29.99 with several subscription options ranging from one year up to four years.

“WordLogic Reach is truly the first technology of its kind and opens up endless opportunities for accessing information while sending a message or entering information on a mobile or tablet device,” said Mark Dostie, Chief Technology Officer of WordLogic. “Reach signals the start of a truly intelligent age of messaging in a way that is efficient, secure and seamless. Consumers and enterprises alike will benefit from more efficient access and the ability to share the wealth of information on their mobile device or stored on their corporate data servers.”

WordLogic Reach automatically predicts when users may need to access information stored in other apps on their device or in registered web or corporate data sources, based on the context of the message or information being entered. The user is able to instantly “reach” into these apps and pull key information into the message or current application to share with recipients across texts, emails, IMs and social network updates without having to switch between apps or exit the application screen.

WordLogic Reach is applicable to both enterprise clients and mobile consumers with Android tablets and mobiles. For example, an executive can quickly and easily compose a message and share vital information held on the corporate intranet – such as contact details, meeting locations, links to cloud-based documents and other enterprise applications like HR and Payroll applications, ERP applications, or web applications like Salesforce.com and Dropbox.

Meanwhile, consumers can arrange social events with friends simply by writing a text and letting WordLogic Reach intelligently add relevant information like directions from Google Maps, times and dates from their calendar, contacts and even photo attachments.

“This new WordLogic technology goes beyond anything text input technology has offered in the past,” continued Dostie. “With WordLogic Reach, mobile users can harness the power of their device, the apps and data on it, and also external data, to supercharge how they work, share and communicate.”

WordLogic Reach is now available for enterprises to licence. WordLogic is also recruiting third-party partners to develop their own co-branded mini-apps that plug into the new WordLogic Reach framework.”

In partnership with Cineplex Entertainment, Starlight – The Canadian Movie Channel and Telefilm Canada, the Final 5 teams will be put on the hot seat at the Banff World Media Festival when they pitch their projects to an esteemed panel of industry heavyweights on June 10th at 4:30pm. The event will be webcast on LiveStream and ends with the thrilling reveal of CineCoup’s Top Project, selected for financing and Cineplex release.

CineCoup will select one Superfan from its Superfan Leaderboard to attend the Final 5 event as a panelist and represent indie film fans by asking questions from CineCoup’s live streaming Twitter feed.

Pitch Event Host: Arisa Cox from Big Brother Canada

Expert Commentators:

• Michael Kennedy – EVP, Filmed Entertainment, Cineplex Entertainment
• Robert Lantos – Producer, Serendipity Point Films
• Noah Segal – Co-President, Entertainment One

However, Avanade’s research also reveals common misconceptions when it comes to social collaboration. Those who have adopted social networking technologies in their company reported using consumer-oriented social technologies. Sixty-nine percent of Canadian companies use Facebook (74 percent globally) for collaboration while 49 percent use Microsoft SharePoint (39 percent globally), 20 percent use IBM Open Connections (17 percent globally) and 18 percent use Salesforce Chatter (12 percent globally).

But, data shows this trend may change in the next 12 months. Canadian decision makers planning to adopt social technologies report Microsoft SharePoint and Salesforce Chatter at the top of their list of collaboration deployments planned in the coming year. Though Facebook is currently ranked No. 1 among social collaboration technologies in use today (69 percent), when asked what social tools businesses wanted to adopt in the next year, Facebook fell to the very end of the list with only 8 percent of decision-makers respondents, both in Canada and globally, noting it as a priority.

Avanade’s research also shows the majority of businesses that have adopted social collaboration tools are seeing benefits and making plans to adopt more social tools in the future. Key data findings include:

• Eager adopters are leveraging social technologies at work – 87 percent of Canadian decision makers (77 percent globally) and 67 percent of Canadian end users (68 percent globally) report using enterprise social networking technologies.
• Of those Canadian businesses currently using social collaboration tools, 84 percent (82 percent globally) want to use more of them in the future.
• Across the board, IT and business decision makers, along with end users, report positive outcomes from their use of social collaboration technologies in the enterprise. IT decision makers report these social technologies make their jobs more enjoyable (62 percent in Canada, 66 percent globally), make them more productive (72 percent in Canada, 62 percent globally), and help them get work done faster (66 percent in Canada, 57 percent globally).
• With all the positive perceptions and business outcomes, a healthy minority of business and IT decision-makers (13 percent in Canada, 23 percent globally) have not yet adopted social collaboration tools in the enterprise.

“We see the rise of social collaboration technologies as a huge opportunity for Canadian companies to empower end users and see positive results when they have the right strategy in place,” said Benoit Bertrand, Avanade Canada CTO and vice president. “The presence of consumer technologies in the workplace is creating demand for new ways of working, and the majority of Canadian business and IT decision makers believe social collaboration technologies will help enable greater productivity and achieve business goals.”

To learn more about Avanade’s views on social collaboration, please visit www.avanade.com/socialcollaboration.

About the Global Survey
Avanade’s survey was conducted by Vanson Bourne, an independent specialist in market research for the technology sector. It surveyed:

• 1000 C-level executives, business unit leaders, and senior decision makers within the IT department in organizations of 1000 employees or more in the following countries: United States, Canada, Brazil, Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, the Nordics, Spain, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Australia and Singapore. This fieldwork was conducted between March 13 and April 16, 2013.
• 4000 end users in organizations of 500 employees or more in the following countries: United States, Canada, Austria, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, the Nordics, Spain, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Australia, China, Japan, Malaysia, and Singapore. This fieldwork was conducted between January 31 and February 20, 2013.
• Since the time of the survey, there have been some changes in the marketplace (including the decision by Salesforce to apply the Chatter interface to their entire application suite) that continue to highlight the business opportunity around Social Collaboration.

Canada has much to celebrate with respect to the high quality of our talent and our strength in generating new knowledge. However, Canada continues to lag in private sector investment in innovation and transferring knowledge into the marketplace, as well as deploying our STI talent to best advantage in the labour force.

“In order for Canada to create jobs and opportunity in a competitive world, we must aim higher,” said Howard Alper, Chair of STIC. “We cannot be satisfied with the status quo or incremental progress. That is why STIC members have identified five areas, in particular, where concerted action is needed to reach global leadership.”

“For each of these areas, we have identified the world’s top five performing countries and the threshold that Canada would have to attain to break into their ranks,” said STIC member Simon Pimstone, President and CEO of Vancouver-based Xenon Pharmaceuticals. “We believe that enhanced performance in these five areas will help secure Canada’s future as a global STI leader, bringing significant economic and societal benefits.”

The five key STI indicators identified by STIC as strategic areas for improvement include:

• Business Performance of Research and Development (BERD) as a share of GDP
• Business investment in Information and Communications Technologies
• Higher education expenditures on Research and Development (HERD) as a share of GDP
• Science and engineering doctoral degrees granted per 100,000 population
• Share of human resources in science and technology

“Canada continues to improve in terms of science and engineering doctoral degrees granted per 100,000 population,” said STIC member Heather Munroe-Blum, Principal and Vice-Chancellor, McGill University. “However, in 2010, Canada ranked only 15th in the OECD on this measure ?öÇ we need to continue to improve our performance if we are to compete with, and break into the ranks of, the world’s top five performing countries.”

“Canadian business investment in research and development has continuously declined over the past decade. In 2011, Canada ranked 25th out of 41 economies,” added STIC member Sophie Forest, Managing Partner, Brightspark Ventures. “Increased business R&D investment is essential to Canada’s future as a nation of innovators.”

The Council, chaired by Howard Alper, is comprised of 18 senior, highly accomplished individuals from the business, research, education, and government communities. The Council provides the Government of Canada with external, confidential advice on key science, technology, and innovation policy issues, and produces the biennial, public State of the Nation reports that measure Canada’s STI performance against international standards of excellence.

A copy of STIC’s State of the Nation 2012 report, Canada’s Science, Technology and Innovation System: Aspiring to Global Leadership, as well as biographical notes on the Council members, can be downloaded from STIC.

“Discovery Grants is the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada‘s flagship program and one of Canada’s largest sources of funding for basic research,” said Minister Goodyear. “It provides researchers with the means and freedom to pursue their most promising ideas. Our government is proud to support 10,000 researchers who are creating the advances that will drive tomorrow’s innovations.”

The awards totalling over $413 million comprise the 2013 competition results for Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Discovery Grants, Discovery Accelerator Supplements, Alexander Graham Bell Canada Graduate Scholarships, Postgraduate Scholarships, and the Postdoctoral Fellowships. Together they build a broad base of research capacity across the country.

An integral component of the government’s efforts to promote research and training excellence at Canadian universities, the Discovery Grants Program funds basic research in a multitude of scientific and engineering disciplines.

“Through these programs, NSERC provides direct support to an exceptionally strong base of scientific and creative talent in every field of the natural sciences and engineering,” said Janet Walden, Acting President of NSERC. “Our scholarships and fellowships programs help us recruit and retain the bright young minds that will lead the next generation of Canadian discoverers and innovators.”

Of the 3,808 awards announced today, 2,026 are Discovery Grant recipients. As well, 125 researchers will also receive a Discovery Accelerator Supplement. Valued at $120,000 over three years, Discovery Accelerator Supplements are awarded to researchers whose proposals explore high-risk, novel or potentially transformative concepts and lines of inquiry, and are likely to contribute to groundbreaking advances.

Since 2006, the Government of Canada has provided nearly $9 billion in new funding for science, technology and the growth of innovative firms. Of this amount, over $6 billion is in support of science and technology activities at post-secondary institutions, including increases in the budget of the Discovery Grants program. This funding has helped to make Canada a world leader in post-secondary education research and to create the knowledge and the highly skilled workforce required for a more prosperous economy.

For more information about NSERC Discovery Grants and Scholarships, please visit the NSERC web site, where you will find videos, impact stories and frequently asked questions about the program.

NSERC is a federal agency that helps make Canada a country of discoverers and innovators for all Canadians. The agency supports almost 30,000 post-secondary students and postdoctoral fellows in their advanced studies. NSERC promotes discovery by funding approximately 12,000 professors every year and fosters innovation by encouraging over 2,400 Canadian companies to participate and invest in post-secondary research projects.

NSERC Research Grants and Scholarships – 2013 Competition Results

The 2013 Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) research grants and scholarships competitions resulted in the following awards being offered:

The terms of the awards vary from one to five years.

Discovery Grants Program

The Discovery Grants (DG) Program is NSERC’s largest program and a key element of Canada’s support for excellence in science and engineering research and training at Canadian universities. The DG Program gives researchers the freedom and flexibility to pursue the most promising research directions as they arise, encouraging creative and cutting-edge approaches and international collaborations.

The objectives of the DG Program are:

• to promote and maintain a diversified base of high-quality research capability in the natural sciences and engineering in Canadian universities;
• to foster research excellence; and
• to provide a stimulating environment for research training.

Discovery Grants support ongoing programs of research (with long-term goals), rather than a single short-term project or collection of projects. Researchers are free to structure their program in the most appropriate way for their research area. The grants are awarded for one to five years, although most terms are five years.

After having introduced enhancements to the Discovery Grants peer review system in 2009 and 2010 that created a more dynamic and competitive funding system and introduce a more flexible review structure, NSERC has launched the next five-year review of the Discovery Grants program. To date, we have surveyed Discovery Grants holders, applicants and highly qualified personnel and have sought input from scientific societies and university administrators across the country. Next steps will include a survey and interviews with Evaluation Group members and chairs, followed by a thorough analysis of data, statistics and bibliometric information. These activities will culminate with a meeting of an international panel of experts to review the findings and with a report on the evaluation in early 2014.

Discovery Accelerator Supplements

The Discovery Accelerator Supplements (DAS) Program provides substantial and timely resources to a small group of researchers whose research proposals suggest and explore high-risk, novel or potentially transformative concepts and lines of inquiry, and are likely to have impact by contributing to groundbreaking advances in the area. In particular, for the purposes of the DAS Program, a superior research program is one that is highly rated in terms of originality and innovation. The timeliness of DAS support represents the potential for the researcher at this time to capitalize on an opportunity, such as a recent research breakthrough, a paradigm shift or a new strategy to tackle a scientific problem or research question. Each award is valued at $120,000 over three years ($40,000 annually) and provides recipients with additional resources to compete with the best in the world.

The Three Scholarships Programs

Alexander Graham Bell Canada Graduate Scholarships (CGS) and NSERC Postgraduate Scholarships (PGS) provide financial support to high-calibre scholars who are engaged in master’s or doctoral programs in the natural sciences or engineering. A CGS is offered to the top-ranked applicants at each level (master’s and doctoral) and the next tier of meritorious applicants is offered an NSERC PGS. This support allows scholars to fully concentrate on their studies and seek out the best research mentors in their chosen fields. Overall support is limited to four years-a maximum of one year at the master’s level and up to three years at the doctoral level.

The Postdoctoral Fellowships (PDF) Program provides support to a core of the most promising researchers at a pivotal time in their careers. The fellowships are also intended to secure a supply of highly qualified Canadians with leading-edge scientific and research skills for Canadian industry, government and universities.

Via Ingage, cable operators and service providers can offer their subscribers a unique experience by connecting with users on their second screen through advertising and promotions. In addition to smart phones, Ingage now offers a specific experience on tablets. Users can manage their accounts, browse content, control their PVR, preview and purchase shows and movies, order pay-per-view and do virtually everything from their second screen device.

The intrinsic value Ingage offers to customers is the unrestricted freedom to manage and access their accounts and services. Through the application, customers can also pay bills, manage their accounts and profile, view usage and consumption, subscribe to new services, join loyalty programs, apply for promotions and locate stores and FAQ’s.

Speaking to the new product features, Tom Beaman Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Wmode commented, “We will continue to evolve Ingage and look at TV and connected devices as an important part of our strategy. Giving service providers the ability to connect with their subscribers through a second screen is rapidly becoming a requirement in this industry. Ingage’s broad support for smart phones, tablets and other connected devices is unmatched amongst our competitors and the on-device video streaming is an important next step for the product.”

Ingage is offered as a turnkey solution leveraging Wmode’s existing app creation and network integration experience. The adaptive and component based architecture allows for seamless integration into backend systems.

EA Sports Ignite blends new technology with the best rendering, run-time physics, animation, intelligence, locomotion, and online systems from across EA into one powerful, new engine. Athletes will possess human-like intelligence for advanced decision-making, players will have the agility required to change speeds and directions with true athletic motion, and living worlds will make the game experience as rich and dynamic as real-world stadiums and arenas.

“Through years of investment and innovation, we have built technology across EA Sports to create a game engine that will deliver stunning accuracy, realism and experiences that we previously could only dream about,” said Andrew Wilson, Executive Vice President and Head of EA Sports. “With EA Sports Ignite and the power of next generation consoles, our games will come alive—with more authenticity, more emotion, more connectivity, and more fun.”

Athletes in EA Sports next gen games will be able to make intelligent decisions with human-like reaction times. EA Sports Ignite computes four times more calculations per second than previous consoles, unlocking nearly infinite potential for how players think, and enabling them to make more difficult decisions faster. Players are alive with contextual awareness and instincts—thinking, anticipating, and reacting—just like real athletes, and players are conscious of their environment. In FIFA 14, for example, a player’s sense of urgency increases as the match draws on and a goal is needed, rushing to take a free kick, corner, or goal-kick if time is running down.

EA Sports Ignite will deliver the dynamic movements and biomechanics of the world’s best athletes. With 10 times more animation depth and detail than previous consoles, and thousands of new sport-specific animations to drive new locomotion systems, players now plant, pivot and cut, quickly change speeds, and shift momentum with the agility and explosiveness of superstar athletes.

EA Sports games for the next generation will have stunning accuracy and visuals. By creating living worlds, the in-game environment is now as dynamic as real-world stadiums and arenas that change throughout a match. For the first time ever, 3D crowds and dynamic sidelines will impact the experience, and rich sports atmospheres will change organically based on the progress of a match. Player actions will change depending on the situation, and crowds will have an expectation of how a game is likely to play out, and react accordingly.

FIFA 14 and EA Sports UFC, in development at EA Canada, along with Madden NFL 25 NBA LIVE 14, which are developed by EA Tiburon in Orlando, will release worldwide within the next 12 months on Xbox One and the PlayStation 4, and will be available for pre-order soon. Madden NFL 25 will release in North America on August 27 and worldwide on August 30 on the Xbox 360® and PlayStation®3. FIFA 14 will also be available on the Xbox 360, PlayStation3, PC and additional platforms. The release date has not yet been announced and the games have not yet been rated.

“The next generation of consoles will reinvigorate our industry and make it possible for us to deliver incredible new entertainment to gamers,” said Yves Guillemot, co-founder and chief executive officer, Ubisoft. “Our teams are using the innovations in connectivity, immersion and social gaming included in Xbox One to create original and memorable next-gen gaming experiences.”

In addition to Assassin’s Creed IV Black Flag and Watch Dogs, Ubisoft will deliver a mix of new episodes of existing franchises, new IPs and digital titles for Xbox One within the system’s first 12 months on the market. More information about the lineup of games planned for the new system will be available during Ubisoft’s press conference at E3.

Assassin’s Creed IV Black Flag tells the story of Edward Kenway, a young British man with a thirst for danger and adventure, who falls from privateering for the Royal Navy into piracy as the war between the major Empires comes to an end. Set at the dawn of the 18th Century, the game features some of the most infamous pirates in history, such as Blackbeard and Charles Vane, and takes players on a journey throughout the West Indies during a turbulent and violent period of time later to become known as the Golden Age of Pirates. Assassin’s Creed IV Black Flag features a vast open world with more than 50 navigable locations. Combat combines the weaponry of the Assassin’s Order with armaments of the era, and rewards both daring and stealth. And the series’ acclaimed multiplayer experience is more varied and ruthless than ever in Assassin’s Creed IV Black Flag.

In Watch Dogs, players will be immersed in a living, breathing and fully connected recreation of Chicago. Players will assume the role of Aiden Pearce, a new type of vigilante who, with the help of his smartphone, will use his ability to hack into Chicago’s central operating system (ctOS) and control almost every element of the city. Aiden will be able to tap into the city’s omnipresent security cameras, download personal information to locate a target, control systems such as traffic lights or public transportation to stop a chase, and more. The city of Chicago is now the ultimate weapon. Fans can stay connected to Watch Dogs by visiting the official website, Facebook page and Twitter account.

“Millions of customers around the globe have already discovered the benefits of Amazon Cloud Drive to safely store and manage precious files like photos, videos and documents,” said Russell Dicker, Director of Amazon Cloud Drive. “We are proud to bring Amazon Cloud Drive to our customers in Canada. With Amazon Cloud Drive, you can manage and access files across multiple physical devices and you don’t have to worry about hard drive crashes. All of your content is stored safely on Amazon’s servers and is accessible from anywhere using a PC, Mac or web browser.”

Cloud Drive for Windows and Mac includes File Sync, which automatically synchronizes files and helps customers easily store and manage their digital content in the Amazon Cloud from a folder on their computer. The app makes it simple for users to put files in Amazon Cloud Drive and access them from any of their computers, ensuring they always have access to the latest version of their files.

The Cloud Drive Photos for Android or iOS devices makes it easy to store, share and enjoy photos from Android phones and tablets, as well as iPhones and iPod touch devices. The app automatically saves a phone’s photos to Amazon Cloud Drive, so customers never have to worry about losing their pictures, even if their phone is misplaced. In addition, any photos in Amazon Cloud Drive are available through the Cloud Drive Photos app, so photos can be accessed anytime, anywhere. Amazon’s Cloud Drive Photos app is available through iTunes for the iPhone and iPod touch and available through the Amazon Appstore for Android and Google Play for Android phones and tablets.

Amazon.ca Cloud Drive Overview:

“Game & Wario is an entertaining collection of uproarious games that uses the Wii U GamePad controller in unique and hilarious ways,” said Wario, CEO of WarioWare, Inc., and all-around amazing guy. “Wahahaha! That was my impression of a super-serious guy in a suit! Game & Wario is the best game in the history of time! It’s the year of Wario! Wahahahaha!

Fans can visit Crowdfarter.com and show their support today. In addition to the immense satisfaction one will get from supporting an incredible game that will make all Wii U users of the world howl with laughter and weep with delight, participating in the Crowdfarter.com campaign offers visitors a whole lot of great rewards. As fans continue to show support, stretch goals will be unlocked, offering fun rewards such as an exclusive video, wallpaper and even a ringtone with Wario’s melodious voice.

In addition, Wario himself is going to take time out of his busy schedule to visit Crowdfarter.com and post daily executive updates. These updates will range from not-so-helpful tips from Wario to exclusive assets from Game & Wario. Wario’s executive updates are guaranteed to make everyone’s day a gas. Be a part of gaming history! Check out Crowdfarter.com today!

“During that time, the recession caused companies to reduce advertising budgets to maintain profit margins,” says IBISWorld industry analyst Kevin Culbert. “This factor caused advertising expenditure to decline 9.0% in 2009, hampering industry growth over the past five years.” Consequently, IBISWorld estimates that the Graphic Designers industry will grow at an average rate of 0.2% per year to $2.0 billion in the five years to 2013. In 2013, the industry is expected to benefit from a 4.0% increase in total advertising expenditure, which will boost industry revenue 1.0%.

Another factor that has limited the long-term growth of the Graphic Designers industry has been the rising value of the Canadian dollar. The growing value of the dollar has reduced the amount of work coming in from across borders and has increased the amount of domestic work that is being outsourced to low labour-cost countries.

“The dollar’s value is heavily tied to commodity prices,” adds Culbert. “As such, the rising value of commodity prices over the past five years has reduced demand from the United States.” Furthermore, this industry has a significant number of non-employers. When demand declines, non-employers are able to make a quick exit. Consequently, the number of firms operating in the industry is expected to remain relatively flat in the five years to 2013, declining at an average rate of just 0.1% per year to 9,446.

The industry is extremely fragmented, and its low level of concentration reflects the on-demand nature of graphic design services. According to Service Canada, about one third of graphic designers perform freelance work and the remaining employees work at graphic design firms or in-house for an organization. By comparison, the number of individuals that work freelance for all occupations is about 11.0% on average. The number of freelance graphic designers has increased over the past five years, especially during the economic downturn when larger firms downsized and laid off employees, causing them to start their own business or freelance. As a result, no graphic design firm accounts for a significant share of the market.

In the five years to 2018, IBISWorld estimates that industry revenue will increase. During that time, the industry will benefit from the continued shift to digital media and rising corporate profit, which will contribute to an increase in advertising expenditure. Nevertheless, the industry will battle increased competition from in-house design teams and overseas operators in low labour-cost countries. This factor will limit profit growth in the five years to 2018. For more information, visit IBISWorld’s Graphic Designers in Canada industry report page.

IBISWorld industry Report Key Topics

This industry plans, designs and manages the production of visual communication to convey specific messages, clarify complex information or project visual identities. Services include printed materials, sales displays, packaging and corporate identification.

1. Industry Performance
2. Executive Summary
3. Key External Drivers
4. Current Performance
5. Industry Outlook
6. Industry Life Cycle
7. Products & Markets
8. Supply Chain
9. Products & Services
10. Major Markets
11. Globalization & Trade
12. Business Locations
13. Competitive Landscape
14. Market Share Concentration
15. Key Success Factors
16. Cost Structure Benchmarks
17. Barriers to Entry
18. Major Companies
19. Operating Conditions
20. Capital Intensity
21. Key Statistics
22. Industry Data
23. Annual Change
24. Key Ratios

“We believe that once you try Instacom, you won’t be able to live without it!” explains Daniel Zborovski, CTO of Instacom Software, “With security policies that meet and exceed compliance standards such as HIPPA, SOX, and PCI, it is the communication solution that government, healthcare, law firms, finance and all corporate organizations have been waiting for.”

Unity, the most adopted game engine, holds a central place in the videogame industry for driving the explosive growth in independent studios. By making basic add-ons tools completely free that previously cost $800, Unity is widening the path for developers looking to take steps towards creative and fiscal freedom. Individual developers and small studios using the free version of Unity can commercialize their games without buying licenses or sharing their revenues with Unity.

“We were able to make Unity free for the web and for desktop computers a while ago, but have been dreaming of doing the same for mobile for what seems like forever,” said David Helgason, CEO, Unity Technologies. “Mobile games development is possibly the most dynamic and exciting industry in the world, and it’s an honor to be able to help so many developers be so successful in fulfilling their visions and in building their businesses.”

With a high-powered engine rendering the most visually stunning mobile games, a deep and intuitive editor for fast-paced development, and ability to deploy across a multitude of mobile platforms, Unity has become the number one development tool for game developers. In 2012, Game Developer Magazine conducted a survey that found 53% of mobile developers were using Unity and Apple named 17 Unity-authored mobile titles to their “Best of” awards including The Room which was named Game of the Year on iPad.

“We’re thrilled to be hosting the inaugural Clio Cloud Conference, and even more excited to be defining a new class of legal conference that delivers compelling content from industry thought leaders, the Clio team, our partners, and our customers,“ states Jack Newton, Clio’s founder and CEO. “We are committed to helping our customers take their law practices to ‘Cloud 9’, and this conference is an important part of delivering on that promise.”

The 2013 Clio Cloud Conference promises to be an engaging and interactive affair comprising of sessions providing key insights into the state of the legal market and the adoption of new technologies, as well as giving attendees practical hands-on training on Clio’s existing features as well as exciting new features that will be released at the event. The conference will also feature exhibits from Clio’s partners, including NetDocuments, Fujitsu, FastCase, Ruby Receptionists, and Xero.

One of the focal points of the event, however, will be an “Unconference” format that will run in parallel with other conference sessions. The “unconference” format is a new and trending concept in the events industry that will give attendees a hands-on, interactive venue to engage with fellow Clio users as well as with Clio’s support and product teams.

The conference’s speakers features a list of who’s who in the legal industry and include:

?    Jack Newton, Clio’s co-founder and CEO
?    Robert Ambrogi, lawyer, journalist, media consultant, and author of the LawSites blog
?    Andy Daws, Vice President North America – Riverview Law
?    Ed Walters, CEO and co-founder of Fastcase
?    Chad Burton, founding attorney of Burton Law, a virtual law firm
?    Doug Edmonds, Assistant Dean for IT at UNC School of Law
?    Matt Homann, Founder of LexThink
?    Joshua Lenon, Clio’s Director of Communications and Outreach
?    Gwynne Monahan, Clio’s Communications Manager and Community Manager for Small Firm Innovation

Check online to learn more about the 2013 Clio Cloud Conference or follow on Twitter using the hashtag #ClioCloud9.

The 2013 A World of Smiles telethon is broadcast live from Shaw’s Coal Harbour studios in Vancouver. Viewers can tune in to the telethon on Shaw Multicultural Channel (SMC), channel 116 in Metro Vancouver, Squamish and Whistler. The telethon will also air on local Shaw TV stations throughout British Columbia and on Shaw Direct channel 299.

Hosted by Shaw personalities Melanie Pineda, Bianca Solterbeck, Dunia Tozy and Peter Verge, community host Atish Ram, and guest hosts from Global Television, the telethon features performances by local artists and dancers, celebrity guest appearances and inspiring stories of courage and hope from patients at BC Children’s Hospital.

Mandy Quon, a 29 year-old Chinese born Canadian, and Ajit Nakhwa, a 33 year-old Hindu East Indian, are among Canada’s growing number of multicultural couples. The Edmonton lovebirds, who will tie the knot in August, knew right away that it would be a challenge to plan a spiritually and culturally balanced wedding.

“Our families are very different in just about every way. Wedding traditions, religious practices, beliefs about family involvement, how they spend and save money,” said Quon. “At the end of the day, we know both cultures value family…and food! As long as there’s enough to eat, cocktails are flowing, the music is good and my mom doesn’t accidently eat anything spicy, it will be a wonderful and memorable celebration.”

Data from Statistics Canada suggests that the number of romantic pairings between individuals of different ethnic backgrounds is expected to rise exponentially over the coming years. In less than two decades, over 70 percent of Canadians living in Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver will be from a visible minority or racialized group.

“Two cultures, one party, equals tons of creative opportunities for the wedding! Everything from the colour choices, location, ceremonies and vows – couples can incorporate cherished cultural traditions and, at the same time, include their own unique preferences,” says Jennifer Bergman, a wedding planner who has observed an increase in the number of fusion weddings over the last few years.

Anaïd Productions is currently looking for dynamic, fun and interesting couples who are madly in love and want to share their inspiring stories on television.

“We are exploring the unique stories and perspectives of couples as they face unexpected and sometimes hilarious challenges throughout their wedding preparations and their big day,” says Executive Producer, Margaret Mardirossian.

Interested couples are invited to send a photo and short bio to casting@anaid.com by Friday, May 31st.

Featured Keynote Speakers

Ryan Holiday – Director of Marketing, American Apparel & Author

Topic: Trust Me, I’m Lying: Confessions of a Media Manipulator

Just how much of today’s news – even in mainstream media outlets – is controlled and distorted by blogs? In this talk, Ryan rips back the veil to expose the inner workings of our hyper-competitive media industry.

Ryan Holiday is a leading media strategist whose campaigns have been studied by YouTube, Twitter, and Google, and covered in Fast Company, Ad Age, and Gawker.

Doug Stephens – Retail & Consumer Futurist; Founder of Retail Prophet

Topic: What’s In-Store

Doug is an expert on retail business strategy and he brings his wealth of experience and in-depth knowledge to your company. What are the latest trends within the marketing industry? How are demographic and technological shifts affecting your customer base?

Arguably the most influential retail futurist on the planet, Doug Stephens’ research and insights have helped major organizations understand exactly how mega-trends in demographics, economics, technology, and media are forever altering consumer/brand relationships and what they need to do to adapt and evolve.

Lyn Heward – Director of Creation, Cirque du Soleil

Topic: The Creative Spark

In her magnificent keynote, Lyn takes you behind the scenes of Cirque du Soleil to explore the nature of creativity and innovation.

Montreal’s Cirque du Soleil is one of the world’s most innovative companies, and Lyn Heward is a major reason why: She shaped its performers, designers, and technicians into an artistic and commercial juggernaut.

Panel Session: Purple Cow Campaigns

We will share five or so outrageous marketing campaigns that the ‘expert panel’ can analyze. The session will address the how, what, and why of the campaigns. The experts will be asked to comment on whether or not they think the campaigns are effective and what they think the campaigns were intended to achieve. What experts will you hear from?

• Mike Rodenburgh – Ipsos ASI
• Tim Hassed – TELUS
• Adrian Scott – Go2 Productions

Spotlight Breakout Sessions

These smaller group sessions provide an opportunity for you to participate in discussing key industry trends and learn about how you can use existing tools to your advantage.

• Tamara Mendelsohn, VP of Marketing, Eventbrite

Topic: The Social Economy

• Mona Elesseily, Author, Search Engine Land

Topic: Site Tests You Need To Run Tomorrow

• Bob Humphreys, Country Leader, IBM

Topic: Three Mandates for New CMOs During Times of Change

WHEN: Wednesday, May 22, 2013

• 8:00am: Vision Conference
• 4:30pm: Speed Networking for Marketers
• 7:00pm: Penthouse Party

WHERE: The Fairmont Hotel Vancouver (900 West Georgia Street, Vancouver, BC, V6C 2W6)

For more event information please visit the VISION event page or register now and attend the marketing event of the year.

Developed by WB Games Montréal, Batman: Arkham Origins features an expanded Gotham City and introduces an original prequel storyline set several years before the events of Batman: Arkham Asylum and Batman: Arkham City.  Taking place before the rise of Gotham City’s most dangerous criminals, the game showcases a young and unrefined Batman as he faces a defining moment in his early career as a crime fighter that sets his path to becoming the Dark Knight. As the story unfolds, players will meet many important characters for the first time and forge key relationships.

Batman: Arkham Origins is the next installment in the blockbuster Batman: Arkham videogame franchise and will be available for the Xbox 360®, PS3™, the Wii U™ system, and Windows PC.  The game will release worldwide October 25, 2013 along with Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate™ for Nintendo 3DS™ and PlayStation®Vita.

Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Blacklist will be available in North America on August 20.

In particular, it is mobile broadband apps which have attracted much attention over the past couple of years. A stream of these new Apps and services are continually being released into the market and the entertainment and leisure sector is often the focus. The key players in this market have emerged over the past couple of years and include both Internet media and mobile industry leaders. Apple App Store and Android are examples of two app store leaders; each offering hundreds of thousands of apps. Following the iPhone phenomenon, the carriers are now trying to jump on board and provide their own AppStores for the devices they support – but it is very doubtful that they will have any chance of success in competition with these large players.

While social networks began as a basic tool to connect with friends; in 2013 these services are now available on both fixed and mobile devices and are used for much more including messaging services, gaming; business networking, e-commerce; accessing breaking news and video/photo sharing. The era of digital social media has certainly caused much disruption to traditional media industries and has also led to many very innovative new applications and services.

The popularity of SMS has remained strong on the back of the introduction of capped data changes, smart phones and bundled services. However other forms of messaging beyond text are gaining ground, particularly free messaging services offered by social networks and instant messaging mobile apps. This rise of alternative mobile apps which offer messaging services are becoming a serious threat to the carriers SMS revenue streams and are increasingly being seen as a disruptive trend.

Online gambling is heavily regulated or banned in many parts of the world, with the USA, China and Japan just three examples of large markets which have strict online gambling laws. Despite this barrier – online gambling is still a thriving industry and mobile gambling is beginning to gain popularity. The rise of smart phones and mobile wallets offering a better player interface will assist this growth in the future.

Purchasing and accessing online music has been very popular for a number of years and was one of the key drivers behind the early developments in digital media. However with faster speeds now available, video streaming is finally coming to the forefront over both the fixed and mobile networks. Digital music is still enormously widespread however and in 2013 such services are available to over 100 countries with providers such as iTunes and Spotify continuing to expand globally.

BuddeComm’s new report, Global Digital Media – Online and Mobile Entertainment are Key Drivers, provides important insights into the worldwide digital media industry with a focus on entertainment services. It includes trends, analyses, statistics and case studies. It provides insights into fixed services and the key growth area of mobile broadband digital media. Information at a regional level is provided for North America, Europe, Middle East, Latin America, Africa and Asia Pacific, written by BuddeComm’s Senior Analysts.

Examples of key insights:  

• Improved infrastructure is helping to drive both the digital and mobile media markets with high speed broadband and 4G networks continuing to be rolled out around the world.
• A stream of new Apps and services are being released in areas of entertainment, travel and finance and also m-health; m-education; m-social networking; m-gaming and so on and there are now well over a million apps available worldwide.
• Despite its huge success, Facebook has strong competition from local social networks in some countries like China, Japan, South Korea and Russia.
• The purchase of business social network Yammer by Microsoft for $1.2 billion follows a growing interest in the opportunities presented by enterprise social networking.
• In 2013 there are over 7,500 dating websites worldwide and mobile dating is expected to be a significant growth area.
• In early 2013 mobile photo messaging began to receive attention following Facebook’s launch of a mobile app called Poke which is along the lines of an already established mobile app called Snapchat.
• Popular mobile games in 2013 include Angry Birds, Talking Friends, Doodle Jump and Plants vs Zombies.
• In Australia, mobile betting sees revenue, transactions and users increasing.
• In New Zealand Facebook growth is slowing but usage time is increasing.
• Egypt has Africas largest Facebook community with over 12 million users.
• Free-to-play online games with optional micro-currency and low graphics requirements are prevalent in Latin America.
• Music service to cellular handsets is a development gaining pace in the USA. Music is typically accessed using on-demand streaming or over-the-air download services to mobile phones over the internet via a 3G or WiFi connection.
• One factor which is aiding the popular take-up of mobile entertainment in Europe is the improvements in advanced billing and security capabilities of networks, making such services more attractive to businesses and consumers.
• The internet plays a significant part in the lives of vast numbers of people across Asia. The young and tech-savvy of the region spend vast amounts of time online in their pursuit of digital media entertainment.Mobile is shaping digital media developments in the Middle East.

Data in this report is the latest available at the time of preparation and may not be for the current year.

Title Index:  

1. Digital Media Changed the Playing Field for Traditional Media

• 1.1 Insights into Digital Media’s Impact on the Traditional Media

2. Online and Mobile Apps, Social Networks, E-Books and Gaming Insights

• 2.1 Key Online and Mobile Apps, Social Networks, Entertainment and Gaming Trends and Statistics
• 2.2 Key Messaging Services Trends and Statistics
• 2.3 Insights into Book Publishing in the New Era

3. Online Video Streaming, iVOD and Mobile TV Insights

• 3.1 Key Online Video Media and Mobile TV Trends and Statistics

4. Digital Advertising and Marketing insights

• 4.1 Key Online Advertising and Marketing Trends and Statistics
• 4.2 Insights into The “New” Social Enterprise

5. Regional Overviews

• 5.1 North America
• 5.2 Latin America
• 5.3 Europe
• 5.4 Africa
• 5.5 Middle East
• 5.6 Asia
• 5.7 Pacific Region

Pricing:

• Electronic  (Single User): EUR 765
• Hard Copy: EUR 842
• Electronic  (1 – 10 Users): EUR 1530
• Electronic  (1 – 20 Users): EUR 2294
• Electronic  (Enterprisewide): EUR 3059

Ordering – Three easy ways to place your order:  

1. Order online
2. Order by fax: Print an Order form and Fax to +353 1 4100 980
3. Order by mail: Print an Order form and post to Research and Markets, Guinness Center, Taylors Lane, Dublin 8. Ireland

In the same spirit of visual excellence that has defined previously released assets for HARDWARE, this new trailer begins to explore the immense depth of the game universe’s lore, which also demonstrates the same epic art style that made Homeworld a cult classic years ago. The closed beta is scheduled to launch in Q4 2013 and is now open to applicants. Players can support the game’s development through the purchase of limited edition pre-sale packages from Blackbird’s online store.

Mobile Marketing in 2013: Stats and Figures (click to enlarge)

“The numbers are startling – the majority of companies admit to not having a mobile strategy, and my guess is that those who think that they have a mobile strategy are misinformed. They think that simply having an app or a mobile-friendly website suffices for a strategy,” says Neil Bhapkar, Uberflip VP of Marketing. “Fortunately brands are starting to get wise with things like responsive design and HTML5 web apps vs. native apps, and marketers are allocating more and more budget to mobile advertising.”

Key takeaways:

• Only 25% of brands have a mobile strategy [Econsultancy].
• 45% of companies rely solely on desktops sites to showcase their content [Adobe].
• When it comes to creating mobile websites, two design trends are dominating the market: device-specific and responsive design [Trighton Interactive].
• Mobile ad spend has quadrupled since 2009, and it is expected to keep growing at the same pace for the next 2 years [Business Insider].

The theme of Vision 2013 is “Explore the Crowd” and it will focus on how marketers must continue to uncover what makes people love or hate a brand and how to make their own brands stand out from the crowd. To help with this initiative, RewardStream is proud to offer a branded BCAMA Vision refer-a-friend program that will help spread the news about the conference and get attendees engaged and involved pre-event.

Said James Christensen, EVP of Business Development at RewardStream, “Not only did we want to show our support for one of the foremost local marketing events, but our refer-a-friend programs tie in closely with this year’s theme of driving brand awareness with fans and advocates. We’re happy to offer BCAMA a refer-a-friend program and we’re sure that the event is going to be a huge success.”

The Vision refer-a-friend program is offered to attendees as a way to spread the word about the conference to their friends and colleagues. For every friend that an attendee refers to the program who then registers for Vision 2013, both the referrer and the referee will qualify to receive a ticket to any BCAMA Evening Speaker Series event, a $50 value. The program can be found online and will run until May 23rd.

Kerry Plowman from the BCAMA elaborated on the program saying, “We used RewardStream’s referral program to drive increased attendance to our flagship event. It was amazing how easily their technologies integrated into our own, delivering a referral program that looked and felt like it was part of our own systems. RewardStream was fantastic at providing us valuable advice to ensure we had the proper incentives in place. I would highly recommend the RewardStream program to any organization that currently benefits from word-of-mouth referrals by existing customers. This is the only solution that truly compliments and grows the relationship between loyal customers and their personal networks.”

RewardStream’s sales and marketing team will be attending and exhibiting at the event on May 22 and will be available all day to answer questions about referral marketing, loyalty, and refer-a-friend programs.

Primary Color has become catering certified through the Industry Affiliation Program as part of MonkeyMedia Software’s Catering Institute, which officially launched in March. This partnership allows Primary Color to work with MonkeyMedia Software’s clients to better understand their catering needs, and provide printing and marketing solutions for their catering and off-premise programs.

“We at Primary Color are very pleased to form a strategic alliance with MonkeyMedia Software’s Catering Institute,” said Paul Wartman, Senior Vice President. “We look forward to working with multi-unit restaurant operators, franchisors, and restaurateurs to help them enhance their brand while growing sales.”

The Industry Affiliation Program is designed specifically for industry partners looking to become certified in The Five Pillars of Restaurant Catering:

1.    Leadership
2.    Centralized Services
3.    Sales and Marketing
4.    Operations
5.    Delivery

Throughout the certification process, Primary Color participated in training classes, worked through education manuals, and was given opportunities for ongoing assessment. Primary Color is now a recognized Industry Affiliate and is able to work in partnership with MonkeyMedia Software when it comes to client catering programs.

“With Primary Color as our second Industry Affiliate Partner we continue to enhance the mission of our Catering Institute,” said Erle Dardick, CEO of MonkeyMedia Software and Founder of the Catering Institute. “It is our goal to provide a strategic catering perspective to multi-unit restaurant operators and by having affiliate partners such as Primary Color we can better help those operators get catering and grow sales.”

MonkeyMedia Software launched its MMS Catering Institute™, in March 2013, as an education and certification institute for restaurants and vendors implementing, or improving, catering and off-premise operations. The MMS Catering Institute™ ensures that executive, management, leadership, and all other team members are focused on the common goal of ensuring their catering and off-premise programs are a success and maintain scalability for future growth. All of MonkeyMedia Software’s strategy and education services are now offered by the Catering Institute.

The Nintendo Direct also announced Mario & Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games for Wii U, and revealed that additional SEGA Game Gear games would be coming to the Virtual Console service for Nintendo 3DS. Outside of SEGA news, Nintendo announced that select Wii U games featured at E3 2013 will soon be playable at participating Best Buy stores, the launch date for New Super Luigi U, new Pikmin 3 game details and additional information about a variety of previously announced Wii U and Nintendo 3DS games.

“The onetime rivalry between Mario and Sonic has grown into a friendship that has never been closer,” said Nintendo of America President and COO Reggie Fils-Aime. “These announcements in conjunction with SEGA demonstrate the commitment we have to bringing great games to the Wii U platform, and set the stage for our upcoming announcements at E3.”

Today’s announcements included:

Wii U News

• Mario & Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games: The game includes a variety of events from the Winter Games, including curling, skiing, figure skating pairs and snowboard slopestyle – which will make its Olympic debut in Sochi, Russia. Different events might use the Wii Remote Plus controller, Wii U GamePad controller or both. In addition to realistic events, the game also includes those set in the worlds of Sonic and Mario that let players perform moves not possible in real life. Launch details and timing will be announced at a later date.
• Experience Games from Nintendo’s E3 Booth at Best Buy: Exclusively at participating Best Buy locations in the United States and Canada, consumers will be able to play some of the unreleased Wii U games featured at E3 while the event is occurring in Los Angeles. Details about locations and which games will be featured will be revealed in the coming weeks.
• New Super Luigi U: The Year of Luigi-themed downloadable content for New Super Mario Bros. U offers players 82 updated courses. But it also includes a new playable character in multiplayer mode: Nabbit, who steals items from Toad Houses. Nabbit can’t power up, but also won’t take damage when he touches enemies. New Super Luigi U will be released as downloadable content for New Super Mario Bros. U in the Nintendo eShop on June 20 for $19.99. But in honour of the Year of Luigi, Nintendo is also offering a standalone packaged version of New Super Luigi U that doesn’t require New Super Mario Bros. U on August 25 at a suggested retail price of $29.99.
• The Wonderful 101: The mass-action adventure from Platinum Games launches September 15. Additional details will be announced after E3.
• Pikmin 3: New playable characters Alph, Brittany and Charlie recruit the Pikmin creatures to help them gather fruit so that they can return with the seeds to save their home, Planet Koppai. Players can divide activities among the different characters, and explore separate areas in the same map with different groups of Pikmin. Using the GamePad (known as the KopPad in the game), players can view the overall map and grasp what each character and Pikmin are up to. Players also can choose their preferred control option: GamePad in conjunction with the TV, Wii Remote Plus and Nunchuk combo or GamePad only in off-TV mode. Players can also use the Wii Remote Plus and Nunchuk with the GamePad as a second-screen monitor. Pikmin 3 launches August 4.
• GAME & WARIO: The game launches in stores and in the Nintendo eShop June 23 at a suggested retail price of $39.99, and includes a number of games from WarioWare, Inc., that use the GamePad in different ways. Newly revealed games include: Island, which lets two to five people launch little creatures called Fronks onto islands in the sea to score points; Patchwork, a puzzle game that tests players’ pattern-recognition skills; and Kung-Fu, which challenges players to help Young Cricket navigate a course safely using the forward-looking view on the TV and the top-down view on the GamePad. A new Iwata Asks online feature offers more details about the game.
• Resident Evil Revelations: Capcom’s horror-survival game is launching in stores and in the Nintendo eShop on May 21. The game originally released for Nintendo 3DS, and the Wii U version offers players updated HD graphics, GamePad controls and new game content. Players can use the GamePad to view the map and change items using the touch screen without pausing their progress. Or they can play the full game on the GamePad in off-TV mode, or play with the Wii U Pro Controller. The game is Miiverse-compatible, and a demo version is currently available in the Nintendo eShop.

Nintendo 3DS News

• SEGA Game Gear: Games from the classic hand-held system are headed to the Virtual Console service. These include:
  • Columns
  • Crystal Warriors
  • Defenders of Oasis
  • Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine
  • G-LOC: Air Battles
  • Shining Force II: The Sword of Hajya
  • Sonic Blast
  • Sonic Drift 2
  • Sonic Labyrinth
  • Sonic the Hedgehog
  • Sonic the Hedgehog 2
  • Tails Adventure
  • Vampire: Master of Darkness
• Inside the Treehouse with Animal Crossing: New Leaf: Because of the vast amount of content in the upcoming Animal Crossing: New Leaf game, Nintendo’s Treehouse localization team is hosting an ongoing video series to talk about the franchise and many of the fun features of the new game. The videos will be available on Nintendo’s YouTube channel and in the Nintendo eShop on a regular basis leading up to the game’s June 9 launch. Additionally, a new Animal Crossing panel for Puzzle Swap is now available for StreetPass Mii Plaza, and fans also might find a special Animal Crossing-themed message on Swapnote.
• Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D: This game launches in stores and in the Nintendo eShop on May 24 and includes all the fun of the original Wii game, now optimized for portable play. It also includes eight new unlockable levels that are each based on one of the eight worlds from the original game. These levels will challenge players with new elements like platforms that force them to move at a faster pace, large drops of tar falling from the ceiling and giant rotating stone gears that can alter the level itself.
• A Legendary Sale: The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages and The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons arrive on the Virtual Console service for Nintendo 3DS on May 30. Because playing the games together unlocks so much additional content, Nintendo is offering them for just $4.99 each for the first three weeks after launch. After this promotion expires, the games will be available for $5.99 each.
• Mario and Donkey Kong: Minis on the Move: The game, which launched May 9 exclusively in the Nintendo eShop, challenges players to place tiles on the bottom screen to guide the Minis to their goal on the top screen. The game includes more than 180 stages, but also dramatically extends the fun of the game by letting players create their own stages and share them with others. Players can opt to try a random user-created level or one created by their friends. They can also select from the most popular levels overall or search the top levels of the week.

Another Nintendo Direct focused on future Wii U content will air around the time of E3 2013.

“We’re very proud to have completed our IPO so successfully, especially with such strong interest and support from the investment community,” said Halogen’s executive chairman and co-founder, Michael Slaunwhite. “This is an important milestone for us, one that will accelerate our position as a leading global provider of talent management software solutions for mid-market organizations.”

Pursuant to the Offering, Halogen issued 4,365,218 common shares at a price of $11.50 for total gross proceeds to Halogen of just over $50 million. In addition, 434,782 common shares were sold by JMI Equity Fund VI, L.P. at a price of $11.50 per share, for total gross proceeds to the Selling Shareholder of approximately $5 million.

“This is truly an exciting day for Halogen and I’m extremely proud of our employees and their contribution to our success,” said Paul Loucks, Halogen’s CEO. “This transaction enables us to grow our operations, invest in product development, and strengthen our balance sheet. More importantly – it enables us to expand upon what we do best — which is helping our customers build exceptional workforces.”

“While the market for talent management software solutions is large and growing, the mid-market is still underserved,” continued Mr. Loucks. “This is a $15 billion annual total addressable market. Our powerful, organically-built suite of cloud applications, combined with our go-to-market strategy and focus on world-class customer service, have made us a recognized leader in the mid-market; a great foundation to build upon.”

The Offering was underwritten by a syndicate of underwriters co-led by Canaccord Genuity Corp. and Stifel Nicolaus Canada Inc., and including Raymond James Ltd., Cantor Fitzgerald Canada Corporation and National Bank Financial Inc. (collectively, the “Underwriters”). The Company has granted the Underwriters an over-allotment option, exercisable in whole or in part at any time for a period of 30 days following the closing of the Offering, to purchase, in aggregate, up to an additional 720,000 common shares at a price of $11.50 per share.

Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP acted as legal counsel to Halogen and LaBarge Weinstein LLP acted for the Underwriters. A copy of Halogen’s final prospectus is available on SEDAR.

Follow the contest through updates on Facebook at “BDC Entrepreneur“, Twitter at @BDC_News and LinkedIn.

“The Keek community has an exciting new way to connect with each other,” says Isaac Raichyk, Founder and CEO of Keek. “In addition to sharing keeks publicly, users can now stay in touch privately with their family and friends.”

The new Keek Private Messages feature utilizes proprietary technology developed internally by Keek. This advanced system achieves new levels of speed compared to similar services and supports an unprecedented number of users chatting simultaneously on a mobile device.

The release of Keek Private Messages occurs during a thriving period for the social video network. In the last 30 days, Keek has been the #1 social networking app in 30 countries. More than 250,000 people are joining Keek daily. In April, Keek served more than 3.5 billion pageviews; users posted more than 5 million keeks and watched more than 600 million videos.

Keek is available for iPhone, Android or Blackberry.

Judy’s accomplishments include enrolment in the Women’s Executive Network Hall of Fame in 2008, Vancouver Magazine’s Power 50 Award recipient in 2008, Top 100 Most Powerful Women in Canada since 2003 in 2007, and the Lieutenant-Governor’s Award in 1993. Judy Rogers is a senior advisor to private, public, Crown corporations and not-for-profit agencies providing expertise in government affairs and communication, relationship building and managing diversity in the workplace. Judy also serves on a number of not-for-profit and Crown corporation boards.

Judy held the role of City Manager of the City of Vancouver from 1999 to 2008 – the first woman to be appointed to the position. Judy’s achievements include winning two United Nations public service awards for City programs in which she was instrumental in creating. The first award was for the Neighbourhood Integrated Service Teams, a unique project that brings City departments and outside agencies together to help residents solve difficult issues in their neighbourhood. The second UN award was given for the Vancouver Agreement, a landmark urban development agreement with the federal, provincial and city government that has been instrumental in the revitalization of the city’s historic Downtown Eastside.

She currently is Chair of the Board of LIFT Philanthropic Partners, Chair of the UBC Alumni Association, a member of the UBC President’s Strategic Advisory Council and past President of the Institute of Public Administrators of Canada. Judy holds a Masters in Public Administration and Doctorate in Laws (honourary).

The six companies forming the cohort will receive $15,000 in seed capital for their project as well as mentoring by thought leaders from the technology, business, marketing, media and product communities. In addition, founding partners Shaw Media, Corus Entertainment and Google Inc. will offer program participants strategic guidance over the course of the four-month boot camp-style program, as well as the potential for capital investment at exit.

“The deep involvement of ideaBOOST’s founding partners-Shaw Media, Corus Entertainment and Google-all of whom recognize the importance of creating opportunities for the next generation of media and entertainment innovators is what sets our accelerator apart,” said Ana Serrano, Chief Digital Officer of the CFC. “Their commitment, along with the breadth and depth of the companies vying to be part of the second ideaBOOST cohort, resulted in a decision to launch an Affiliate Program so that we could include all the companies that made our short list.”

ideaBOOST received hundreds of applications from companies in major cities all over Canada. A dynamic online selection process that identified audience interest, complemented by a professional jury that assessed business potential, narrowed the number of entrants down to just 15 finalists. The final six companies were chosen by ideaBOOST executives and founders Shaw Media, Google and Corus Entertainment.

“ideaBOOST has expanded the call to include both the stories and the means by which they are produced, delivered, and ultimately experienced by the audience,” said Scott Dyer, Chief Technology Officer, EVP Shared Services for Corus Entertainment. “With these projects we see new ways to use content to engage and shape an audience by focusing on storytelling, user generated content, analytics and more.”

“Once again, we are pleased to see the very high quality of companies applying to ideaBOOST,” said Peter Bissonnette, President, Shaw Communications. “We’re excited about the prospect of helping developers of new enabling technologies work directly with content creators to find ways to engage our audiences in innovative ways that tap into their ever-changing media and entertainment consumption habits.”

“We are in the early days of a fundamental shift in the way content is created and delivered,” added Jeremy Butteriss, Director, Strategic Partnerships for Google Canada. “For this reason it is important to catalyze both content and technology developers in Canada. ideaBOOST hopes to help in both regards with our new cohort.”

Introducing the ideaBOOST Spring Cohort:

• AlertTV
• Bemused Network
• Instaradio
• Lightning Platform
• Motion Panels
• Wondereur

ideaBOOST’s first Affiliate Program will enable companies who made it to the shortlist to participate in a select number of ideaBOOST sessions, peer-to-peer learning and strategic assessment modules. ideaBOOST’s goal is to strengthen the Canadian ecosystem by exposing a wider network of early-stage companies to potential partners and customers. For the full list of ideaBOOST companies, visit the Shortlist.

Enterprises and government agencies continue to expand their use of Microsoft SharePoint for centralized document management and employee collaboration; but, unfortunately, because IT can’t delineate between content made available via SharePoint on desktops versus mobile devices, many organizations are blocking mobile SharePoint access altogether due to concerns over corporate data leakage and potential compliance breaches. And while some solutions in the market provide advanced data encryption and user authentication on mobile devices, they lack the ability to define mobile-specific user permissions to restrict the content that can be downloaded and stored on mobile devices.

SharePlace combines end-to-end FIPS 140-2 data encryption, on-device data containerization, multi-factor user authentication, mobile-specific access permissions and geo-location policy controls into a defense-grade mobile DLP solution that enables organizations to embrace SharePoint on mobile devices without compromising security, integrity or compliance. It provides mobile-specific access control policies that can prevent specific documents from being downloaded to mobile devices. Mobile access permissions can be restricted based on the sensitivity of the information, the user profile, or the current location of the device – all without changing the user’s permissions for desktop-based access.

“Too many organizations have been left considering an ‘all or nothing’ proposition when it comes to accessing content stored in SharePoint from a mobile device due to the high risk of data leakage,” said Alan Pelz-Sharpe, Research Director Content Management and Collaboration, 451 Research. “Products like Fixmo’s SharePlace allow organizations to manage that risk while enabling mobile SharePoint access intelligently, bringing potential benefits both to employees and CISOs.”

In addition to offering advanced security and DLP capabilities, Fixmo SharePlace also offers a server-side Enterprise Gateway that accelerates mobile SharePoint access through bandwidth optimization as well as the ability to automate the synchronization of approved folders and documents down to the mobile device. Fixmo SharePlace is now available for Government agencies and enterprise customers.

“IT organizations around the world are investing in both Microsoft SharePoint and their enterprise mobility deployments, but many are becoming increasingly frustrated that there is no way to align these two strategies without heightening the risk of sensitive data leakage,” said Rick Segal, Fixmo CEO. “We’re excited to introduce Fixmo SharePlace to solve this challenge. For the first time, SharePoint administrators can create custom IT policies to restrict access to specific content on certain mobile devices, or outside of a given geographic region, without impacting what a user can do on their desktop computer.”

Taking place before the rise of Gotham City’s most dangerous criminals, the game showcases a young and unrefined Batman as he faces a defining moment in his early career as a crime fighter that sets his path to becoming the Dark Knight. As the story unfolds, players will meet many important characters for the first time and forge key relationships.

Batman: Arkham Origins will be available for the Xbox 360®, PlayStation®3, Nintendo Wii U™ and Windows PC. Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate™ will be available for the Nintendo 3DS™ and PlayStation®Vita. Both titles are scheduled to release worldwide Oct. 25, 2013.Batman: Arkham Origins is based on DC Comics’ core Batman license.

Researchers at Google, NASA and USRA expect to use the D-Wave system to develop applications for a broad range of complex problems such as machine learning, web search, speech recognition, planning and scheduling, search for exoplanets, and support operations in mission control centers. Via USRA the system will also be available to the broader U.S. academic community.

“D-Wave has made significant strides in the technology, application and now commercialization of quantum computing,” said Steve Conway, IDC research vice president for high performance computing. “The order for a D-Wave Two system for the initiative launched by NASA, Google and USRA attests to the revolutionary potential of this fundamentally different approach to computing for both industry and government. HPC buyers and users are looking for ways to speed up their applications beyond what contemporary technologies can deliver. IDC believes organizations that depend on leading-edge technology would do well to begin exploring the possibilities for quantum computing.”

As part of the selection process, Google, NASA and USRA created a series of benchmark and acceptance tests that the new D-Wave 512-qubit system was required to pass before the installation at NASA Ames could proceed. In all cases, the D-Wave Two system met or exceeded the required performance specifications, in some cases by a large margin.

“We are extremely pleased to make this announcement,” stated Vern Brownell, CEO of D-Wave. “Three world class organizations and their research teams will use the D-Wave Two to develop real world applications and to support research from leading academic institutions. This joint effort shows that quantum computing has expanded beyond the theoretical realm and into the worlds of business and technology.”

“Technology has shaped the listening behaviour of many Canadians and transformed the music industry by giving music lovers more listening choices. However, with so many options and so much music out there, it’s easy to get overwhelmed (and even discouraged) when it comes to discovering new music,” said Alan Cross, long time radio broadcaster and musicologist famous for The Ongoing History of New Music and The Secret History of Rock. “What Nokia Music offers is a seamless, easy-to-use way to listen to new and old music, all with a touch of a button.”

One of the main features of Nokia Music is Mix Radio. Consumers can stream free music from a suite of more than 150 exclusive playlists that are hand-crafted and kept up-to-date by a dedicated staff. The playlists span a wide spectrum of musical genres from franco pop to hockey songs for the rink.  Nokia Music also offers playlists created by global artists.

Beyond the curated playlists, music fans can create their own personal soundtrack by selecting up to three artists via the Nokia Music ‘CREATE’ function, which taps a library of millions of songs and generates a playlist based on, and inspired by, the artists they love.

For maximum convenience, Nokia Music playlists can also be enjoyed offline so consumers can listen to their favourite playlists anytime, anywhere – perfect for a long flight, journey to work or train ride.

To enhance their music experience further, Nokia Music’s ‘GIG FINDER’ pinpoints live shows taking place nearby, even helping consumers buy tickets, find the venue with HERE Maps and get directions – all from within the Nokia Music app.

For people that love the free service and want even more, there is also the Nokia Music+ service. For $3.99 per month, the service allows consumers unlimited songs skips on playlists and to take as many mixes offline as they want, access their music from web, mobile and laptop, and switch to high-quality audio on Wi-Fi.

“We believe that Nokia Music offers great value and will revolutionize the way Canadian music lovers can explore, discover and enjoy music,” said Jyrki Rosenberg, Vice President of Nokia Entertainment. “We are always striving to give Canadians the best service possible and we have worked extra hard to ensure Nokia Music meets the expectations of the demanding, active and inspired music fans in Canada.”

The Nokia Music app is available for download now to all Canadian Lumia owners from the Nokia Collection in the Windows Phone Store.

The transaction is scheduled to close when all necessary approvals and consents have been received and conditions to closing have been satisfied or waived. For more information, please see the joint press release of TELUS and Mobilicity issued today.

The purchase price received would be applied to repay all of the outstanding first and second lien debt of Mobilicity, with the remainder being used to repay certain outstanding unsecured debt securities issued by Mobilicity.  Upon the TELUS Acquisition Plan becoming effective, all outstanding debt securities would be deemed settled, extinguished and released and all interests of existing equity holders would be cancelled.

The TELUS Acquisition Plan provides that if first lien noteholders or certain unsecured noteholders sign a support agreement in an agreed form to support the TELUS Acquisition Plan within five days following the date of this notice (by May 21, 2013), they may be entitled to additional consideration upon the implementation of the TELUS Acquisition Plan, the amount and form of which will depend on whether they hold first lien notes or unsecured notes (other than unsecured subordinated notes).

To give effect to the Arrangement Agreement, certain revisions to the acquisition plan of arrangement described in the yellow information circular dated April 26, 2013 previously mailed to stakeholders (the Circular) have been made. The new TELUS Acquisition Plan documentation, consisting of a revised plan of arrangement, the Arrangement Agreement and a supplemental information statement to the Circular will be posted on Mobilicity’s website today.

In addition to the documents related to the TELUS Acquisition Plan, Mobilicity will also post on its website an amended Recapitalization Plan and certain related documents. Details regarding the Recapitalization Plan are described in the blue information circular dated April 26, 2013 previously mailed to stakeholders. Certain provisions of the Recapitalization Plan have been amended in accordance with the Recapitalization Plan to ensure that the transactions contemplated by the Recapitalization Plan are implemented in the most efficient manner possible. These amendments to the Recapitalization Plan are not adverse to the financial or economic interests of the security holders voting on the Recapitalization Plan. Mobilicity will pursue the alternative Recapitalization Plan only in the event that the TELUS Acquisition Plan does not proceed.

Mobilicity Meeting Postponement Details

As described in greater detail in the materials previously mailed to stakeholders, Mobilicity had called meetings of its debtholders to consider both the Recapitalization Plan and an “Acquisition Plan”. The meetings were originally scheduled for May 21, 2013. In light of the Arrangement Agreement entered into with TELUS, the meetings have been postponed until Thursday, May 23, 2013. The postponed meetings for both the Recapitalization Plan and the TELUS Acquisition Plan will be held at the offices of Norton Rose Canada LLP, Royal Bank Plaza, South Tower, 200 Bay St., Suite 3800, Toronto, Ontario M5J 2Z4, at 10:00 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. (Toronto time), respectively. The record date for entitlement to vote at the meetings in respect of both plans of arrangement will remain unchanged, being April 25, 2013. Any duly completed forms of proxy already delivered remain in full force and effect for the postponed meetings. The proxy voting deadline has been extended by Mobilicity due to the new meeting date. Proxies should be returned by no later than 10:00 a.m. (Toronto time) on May 21, 2013.

As we are all aware, in the digital economy, talent is key. As the Canadian technology, media and telecommunications (TMT) sectors are transformed by digital technologies, leadership skillsets and careers are in parallel transition.  CWC commissioned Kate Hanley of Digital Theory who, in consultation with some of the most respected and knowledgeable leaders in this huge and varied industry, produced Game Changers TMT Executive Learning Framework, a report funded in part by Status of Women Canada that is a forward-looking perspective on the key executive skills needed in the digital environment.  The Executive Learning Framework was developed with TMT industry leaders to bring the latest digital management skills and related learning themes together in a one-stop planning resource.