Village Gamer

Score Media Inc., home of sports app ScoreMobile®, has announced the launch of an optimized application for the BlackBerry® PlayBook^TM tablet. It will provide sports fans with access to real-time scores, stats, news, live blogs and original video.

The perfect sidekick for sports fans, the app offers features for TV companion viewing including interactive live blogs and Twitter streams of sporting events.  The BlackBerry PlayBook version of the ScoreMobile app is designed specifically for the tablet form factor and features full support for both portrait and landscape modes.

“ScoreMobile for BlackBerry smartphones launched two years ago,” says Dale Fallon, Vice President, Digital Products, Score Media Inc. “Due to the overwhelming success to date it was clear that an app for the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet was an essential part of our mobile strategy.”

“The BlackBerry PlayBook is elegant and powerful, which is very much how we think of ScoreMobile,” says Fallon.  “Our fans have extremely high standards in terms of usability, and we’ve worked hard to deliver a stunning overall experience on this exciting new platform.”

Built from the ground up for the BlackBerry PlayBook using HTML 5 and the BlackBerry WebWorks SDK for Tablet OS, ScoreMobile is a comprehensive multi-sport app covering top worldwide leagues including MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL, EPL and PGA.

“ScoreMobile applications have found great success on the BlackBerry platform and we are excited about the launch of the ScoreMobile application for the BlackBerry PlayBook,” said Tyler Lessard, Vice President of BlackBerry Global Alliances and Developer Relations at RIM. “With real-time updates, interactive features and original video, the application is optimized for the PlayBook’s form factor in either portrait or landscape mode.”

As with previous apps for BlackBerry smartphones, Score Media partnered with innovative Toronto-based mobile software developers Five Mobile Inc. The new version of ScoreMobile is available for download today on the BlackBerry PlayBook by visiting BlackBerry App World.  Tablet OS version 1.0.6 or higher is required.

Sand Technology Inc., provider of an advanced column store database, has announced that Sand Analytics has passed MicroStrategy’s comprehensive test suite, certifying it as a supported database for the MicroStrategy platform.

“Sand and MicroStrategy are the ideal combination for enterprises that need to handle big data for big user populations,” said Richard Grondin, CTO and VP of R&D and Deployment at Sand. “Sand has worked with MicroStrategy for years, but official certification means even greater support for MicroStrategy’s large end-user BI community, and industry leading integrated reporting, analysis, and monitoring software. In return, Sand’s massive, concurrent user scalability and the ability to efficiently drill down to detail data and execute large summarization, perfectly fits MicroStrategy environments.”

“With social data, machine data, and structured data being an increasing competitive requirement for Enterprise, you need an analytic database that can support multiple new data types,” said Mike Pilcher, Chief Operating Officer of Sand. “Further, that database needs to scale to support everyone in the enterprise – thousands to tens of thousands of concurrent users – with tools to mine the data. Together, Sand and MicroStrategy customers get best-of-breed reporting and analytics, at lower cost, with less effort, and scalability unmatched by any other solution.”

“We are pleased with Sand’s official certification as a MicroStrategy partner,” said Sanju Bansal, MicroStrategy Chief Operating Officer. “MicroStrategy’s high performance BI platform helps companies with some of the largest data volumes in the world gain valuable insights and make informed business decisions.”

Imagine having your child’s immunization record at the click of a mouse, as well as email alerts when they need a vaccination. Or using your cell phone to track the care that you need during pregnancy, your due date, and your ultrasounds.  Or using an app to manage your diabetes, with helpful advice on how to improve your results. These are just a few of the winning ideas submitted to the ImagineNation Ideas Challenge, which asked Canadians how they would improve health and health care through innovation in information and communications technologies (ICT).

“Canadians are passionate about our health system, and we wanted their ideas on how digital solutions could strengthen health care,” said Richard Alvarez, President and CEO, Canada Health Infoway (Infoway).  “The calibre of entries we received surpassed our high expectations and the range of ideas on leveraging ICT to improve access, safety, and efficiency of care is inspiring.”

When the Ideas Challenge was launched in March 2011, Canadians were asked to submit their ideas online. An independent panel of judges selected the top five bold and innovative ideas through two rounds of judging.

The first place submission and winner of a $10,000 award is a web-based system to record and schedule immunizations, based on the latest recommendations from the Canadian Immunization Guide.  The idea comes from Dr. Christopher Clarke based on his experience as a family doctor in Puslinch, Ontario. “I imagined a website where each patient would open an account to contain their comprehensive immunization history. More important, the website would continuously update a personalized plan for each patient’s future immunizations, using the latest Canadian guidelines and including any new vaccines,” said Dr. Clarke. “Modern IT is ideal for communicating this sort of complex information to both patients and clinicians.”

The Canada’s Choice Award winner – determined through thousands of votes cast by Canadians – is “Mom2B”, a mobile telephone app for expectant mothers based on health guidance from Canadian experts. It would offer help at every stage, from fertility planning to tracking contractions. The “Mom2B” idea was submitted by Jeff Biletchi and colleagues at Niagara Region Public Health.

The following three submissions round out the top 5 winning ideas.  Each entry has earned a $5,000 award:

• “Empower persons with diabetes interactively with enhanced reporting on iPads,” including tracking their health condition, viewing information from their health team and lab results, and receiving personalized advice to reduce the risk of complications (submitted by Jonathan Lapointe, Montreal)
• “Head Home, Speak Up:  Empower patients and health care providers with an online voice at discharge” to improve the hand-off between hospital and home (submitted by Pamela Chan and Richard Norman, Toronto)
• “Connected health care…The whole life EHR” to track key health information for individuals with chronic conditions, such as vital signs or medications dispensed, and make it available to them and their health team (submitted by Donna Byrne and her team from Quebec)

“Innovation is a driving force behind what we do at Infoway – and is key to the future of health care,” added Dr. Jennifer Zelmer, Senior Vice-President of Clinical Adoption and Innovation, Infoway. “The ImagineNation Ideas Challenge identified some great ideas and helped to get Canadians thinking and talking about health care in the digital age.”

Transcontinental Interactive has partnered with innovative wireless network Wind Mobile to provide short code connectivity to its customers across the country. Short codes, significantly shorter telephone numbers that address SMS and MMS messages to and from a mobile phone, are often used to receive news and alerts, as well as to donate to charitable organizations or send information to some emergency services.

Some of the services Wind Mobile customers will now be able to subscribe to include transportation short codes for the TTC in Toronto and TransLink in Vancouver, Airport information for both Toronto Pearson International Airport and Montréal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport as well as news alerts from CBC.

Transcontinental Interactive is a leader in strategy, content and multi-channel delivery systems. It is recognized for its quality of partnerships, flexibility, and ability to anticipate consumer demands using new communications platforms, including mobile, making the partnership with Wind Mobile a perfect fit.

“At Transcontinental Interactive, we are proud of the solutions we deliver and the relationships we have developed with companies such as Wind,” said Christian Trudeau, President of Transcontinental Interactive. “It is an honour to have such innovative businesses recognize Transcontinental as a company that is trustworthy and that delivers on its promise. We are thrilled to work with Wind.”

The Wind partnership represents another way that Transcontinental Interactive is demonstrating leadership in technology and marketing solutions. By working with Wind to provide short code connectivity for consumers, Transcontinental Interactive continues to extend its commitment to providing day-to-day solutions for its clients and end consumers.

“We chose to work with Transcontinental Interactive because of their expertise, reputation and exceptional service,” says Scott Campbell, CMO of Wind Mobile. “As well, we are impressed with Transcontinental’s ability to connect to other areas of the industry that will ensure the best possible platform for our consumers.”

Vancouver-based CrowdFanatic is a relatively new web site with a strong and diverse team behind its development. This somewhat unique venture is full of trolls, but unlike other sites, trolls are (mostly) welcome here, provided they follow the protocol of being a troll with some honest debating skills. One of my first concerns was about those users who often like to take their opinions too far, falling into the nasty side of trolling, but CrowdFanatics does have its own moderation system and terms of use in place.

Unlike other debate-based sites, CrowdFanatic is far more lenient than many “traditional” debate communities and as such does not have a page (or pages) full of rules. To be honest, I really don’t feel that it needs formal debate rules. As I mentioned above, there are moderators, and a well-respected community tends to police itself quite efficiently. Like the majority of societal groups, CrowdFanatic members tend to keep the debates somewhat respectful without overly quelling the passions many people feel for their topics.

Here is a full description of what CrowdFanatic is, from the company’s blog:

“We’re bringing something new to the table in social media. Have you ever wanted to stand as a Democrat and take on a group of Republicans? Have you ever wanted to fight with a group of Yankees fans and tell off a group of Red Sox supporters over a social media battlefield? Now you have the opportunity to do that.  CrowdFanatic is that arena for you to stand tall as a group and confront your opposition. Do you want to be an opinion leader? CrowdFanatic is the perfect place to promote your group’s agenda and stand out from the crowd. All the tools that you need to be heard in the online world are at your disposal on CrowdFanatic.”

The topics (known as Confrontations) open for debate are wide and varied, from the predictable sports team rivalries to the hotness (or not) of stars and celebrities. There are political and religious debates, and of course the age-old Canada vs the USA debates. Each topic has supporters and detractors (a.k.a. rivals), as does each user. There is a rating scale for said support or non-support, and it’s easy to see who are the top debaters, you just need to look at the LeaderBoard. Every debater’s profile has a plethora of information in regards to Confrontations, Groups, posts and comments. The whole idea of the site, like any debate club competition, is to use logic, common sense, facts and a smattering of passion to support your argument, thereby winning support for your opinions.

For many, such debates are a way to educate themselves (or the masses) or to expand their own understandings of any given topic – and this is particularly true for many of the topic areas on CrowdFanatic. In fact it’s very difficult to look through the site without wanting to enter into many of the arenas open for participation and put thoughts to keyboard. If you can’t find a topic that quite fits what you want to discuss, members can open new topics (or Confrontations, as they are called on CrowdFanatic) and invite debate. Every Confrontation is a sub-category of an Arena, and of course the top Arena today is full of Google+ vs Facebook discussions.

The Hot Arenas and Hot Confrontations are constantly in flux – since I took the screenshot to the right about 45 minutes ago, the top four topics have changed, with the screenshot to the left showing the current Hot Arenas. Note that the Canucks Group is still in the top four – it is the over-all top ranked group on the site. Such a passionate group, Canucks Nation. By the time you read this, the rankings will again be different – there is never a dull moment on CrowdFanatics.

On each Arena page are listed the top discussions for the subject matter, along with the top supporter and top rival. Each Arena page also shows related topics of discussion, in case you want to branch out into other areas. Confrontations can also be found through Groups, which are another top-level category feature, and again, if you can’t find a Group that fits your area of interest, you can create a new one.

Users can even find Confrontations based on geographic location. According to the map feature on the home page (as shown in the top right image in this article), BC is an area full of Hot Confrontations. This is not surprising with many Vancouver Canucks discussions remaining consistently near the top of the popularity scale, even two weeks after the season’s final game. Oh, and yes, there are Confrontation topics in regards to the Game Seven Riot.

The CrowdFanatic team holds no topic sacred, and even took on the CBC Dragon’s Den team earlier in May, but with the network remaining mum on what transpired during the taping of Season Six, we’ll most likely have to wait until the Fall to learn more of what occurred on that Confrontational day.

CrowdFanatic is not for the timid and faint of heart – if you are not able to handle criticisms of your logic, are easily offended or can’t debate in an intelligent – albeit passionate – manner, then CrowdFanatic may not be the site for you. Personally I find the site quite intriguing, although I have not taken part in any of the debates myself, I believe the CaveChild hangs out there sometimes. That boy loves to argue.

I find CrowdFanatic to be a somewhat in-depth, cross-measuring look at the global modern society, and I also find it interesting to see what lengths people will go to in order to win – or refute – an argument. At the end of the day, I do encourage you to at least visit the site and take a look around; you never know, you may just find a topic that you’ve been itching for a good argument on, and CrowdFanatic is definitely the place to do it.

Intertainment Media Inc. has announced that its desktop app KNCTR® (pronounced “Connector”), a key program of Intertainment’s wholly owned division itiBiti Systems Inc., has seen its unique North American installations break through a major milestone of 1 million in only its first 14 weeks.

KNCTR® saw over 90,000 new unique installations throughout North America over the previous week period, a new record weekly high. The program continues to deliver extremely solid daily user engagement minutes that have remained over the 13 minute mark since the launch of the platform. The active user engagement continues to make the KNCTR® platform a key tool for brands and consumers alike. The app features video content, integration of social media and the ability to make FREE long distance phone calls to cell phones and land lines to anywhere in North America.

KNCTR® is the next generation of social communication and entertainment applications that allows users to aggregate their social media(s) and voice services into one location on their desktop. Unlike Skype, the telephone feature on KNCTR® is completely free to the consumer, allowing Free local and long distance calls to mobile phones and land lines. KNCTR® is a premium advertising model that allows for branded sponsorship, pre-roll and display advertising opportunities for brands and service providers alike.

With the projected impact that tablets will have on the personal computing space, with over 50 million units to be sold within the next two years in North America alone, KNCTR® is positioned to enhance the functionality and usability of these devices by allowing them to become a fully functioning phone unit.

“We have achieved a major milestone with KNCTR® in a very short amount of time” said Brad Parry, CMO Intertainment Media Inc., “To have over 1 million unique installations happen within only 14 weeks, is a true testament to the adoption and acceptance of the platform. KNCTR® has truly become a mainstay of consumer’s daily digital habit.”

Notably, the itiBiti desktop app has been hailed by Microsoft Corp. as “the next generation of integrated social media applications – easy, scalable and fun.”

Hip Digital Media, Inc., a California-based company with offices in Vancouver and Toronto, along with Sony Music Entertainment Canada Inc., has successfully launched a large scale digital music promotion for Old Dutch® Potato Chips and Dutch Crunch® Kettle Cooked Potato Chips.

Nearly eight million PIN codes good for one free digital music download each have been slated for the star-studded campaign that was designed to drive sales for the popular brands within grocery and convenience stores across Canada. The chip bags feature custom designed packaging that invite consumers to visit the Old Dutch web site where every customer has the chance to enter online for the grand prize VIP Concert Experience giveaway. Customers also have a chance to win a free digital music download at Old Dutch’s custom branded store.

In order to craft a promotion of this scale LPi Group, Old Dutch’s agency of record, called on Hip Digital to deliver not only the fulfillment for the promotion, but also the technology for the digital music platform. “Hip came back to us with the Sony Music library,” stated Erin Gunther, Account Director at LPi Group. “Since we are primarily targeting males between the ages of thirteen and 25, the opportunity to showcase the Sony Music artists that appeal to this group was a big plus.”

Chris Hardy manages Brand Partnerships for Sony Music Entertainment Canada Inc., who concurred, Sony Music has a vast catalogue of local and international artists that cross all genres and we were able to suggest artists that best fit their target consumer.”

The companies look forward to also providing two VIP Concert Experience grand prizes worth $5K (CAD) each, in which the lucky winners will be able to choose from a selection of concerts performed by major Sony Music artists. The grand prizes include round trip airfare, accommodations and limousine transportation to and from the concerts. Stated Hardy, “Hip Digital is one of our key partners for digital music distribution, and we worked well together in delivering this digital music experience to their client.”

Score Media Inc. has launched a Spanish edition of ScoreMobile® FC .  The makers of ScoreMobile, a top 5 free sports app worldwide on Android™, BlackBerry® and Windows® Phone, are proud to now offer detailed coverage for Spanish-speaking soccer fans just in time for Copa America, Latin America’s most important soccer event.

With comprehensive coverage of over 60 leagues and competitions including Copa America, Copa Libertadores, Copa Sudamericana, and leagues in Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Colombia and Spain, the Spanish version of ScoreMobile FC will have die-hard soccer fans covered.  Just like the original ScoreMobile FC, the app is a free, comprehensive source of information offering:

• Live scores, stats and standings
• Real-time push alerts sent directly to a user’s device
• Breaking news, top stories and game odds
• Interactive live blogs for key games

“With over 3 million monthly users, ScoreMobile has been a hit with fans in many countries,” says Dale Fallon, Director, Mobile, Score Media Inc.  “Through our audience feedback, we have heard loud and clear that Spanish is the most popular choice for additional language support and we are proud to make Spanish our company’s first offering beyond English.”

ScoreMobile FC in Spanish is now available on the BlackBerry platform and will be available imminently for iPhone users.  Also coming soon are the Android and Windows Phone versions of the app.  Other popular languages will be offered later in 2011.  Download the Spanish version of ScoreMobile FC from BlackBerry App World™

Karta Mobile has announced the release of version 1.2 of its leading personal productivity solution for BlackBerry® smartphones and Microsoft® Outlook®. The latest version of the Viira Outlook Suite™ brings faster synchronization as well as numerous new features and productivity enhancements to both the Outlook plugin and BlackBerry client part of the suite. The Karta Mobile development team has brought all new features from their leading BlackBerry GTD software app Viira™ 3 to the Viira Outlook Suite including enhanced touch-screen support, reminders, fast iterative search and the option to hide completed tasks, among many others.

The Viira Outlook Suite is the first personal productivity solution to bring together the power of Microsoft Outlook and a BlackBerry smartphone in order to help users get organized and stay on top of their commitments from wherever they are. The suite is comprised of a BlackBerry client and an Outlook plugin who provide support for all key aspects of personal organization and the principles of Getting Things Done® (GTD®). The suite leverages the BlackBerry cloud infrastructure by propagating updates wirelessly over the BlackBerry Enterprise Server; synchronization can be performed via USB sync and with third-party task sync tools.

The Viira Outlook Suite comes with a 14-day free trial and is supported on all modern BlackBerry devices with OS 4.6 or later as well as on Microsoft Outlook 2003, 2007 and 2010.

Microsoft Outlook and BlackBerry smartphones are the productivity platforms of choice for many professionals, executives and knowledge workers around the globe who strive to achieve higher personal productivity and organization and incorporate the principles of Getting Things Done in their day-to-day lives. The Viira Outlook Suite provides a much-needed solution to many who until now have not been able to leverage the full power of a GTD Outlook system because of the lack of wireless synchronization with their BlackBerry smartphone.

“Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity” is a New York Times bestseller by David Allen (and one I recommend) that shows readers how to effectively organize information, tasks and communications in an effective and stress-free way. The principles of GTD have been embraced by busy professionals, executives and knowledge workers around the world.

Cloud-based point of sale (POS) company ISISPOS recently received $2 million in funding from Canadian communications giant CaTech Systems. ISISPOS develops software that operates on iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, is a leader in the hospitality industry and is also backed by top technology companies Apple and Amazon.

ISISPOS offers portable restaurant software using devices such as iPad and iPhone, creating innovative and efficient ways for restaurants to do business. Its iPad restaurant POS solution has made it possible for servers to take orders right at the table, transmit those orders directly to the kitchen, show customers a visual of what they’re ordering, or get instant pairing recommendations to increase sales. By using the iPad tablet and this point of sale solution, servers can accept credit card payments, split checks, void items, and reward repeat customers with coupons without walking to and from crowded computer stations.

ISISPOS assembled a team of executives with over 50 years of combined experience in the POS industry. The team also has substantial restaurant experience in everything from waiting tables to management to owning and/or operating, therefore understanding the need for innovative software and a better guest experience. ISISPOS assigns as many as 13 programmers to development projects at once. With over 20 years of experience, CaTech Systems consists of a team of certified technicians, network specialists, wireless specialists, and certified project managers. The combined industry expertise of these two companies should prove successful for future software endeavors.

ISISPOS is a global operation; its installations are also established in Europe, Asia, and Australia. With this application, restaurants in any location have the opportunity to go totally wireless. “We offer a truly anyplace, anywhere, anytime environment and eliminate the need for restaurant-based, back office computers,” says EVP of ISISPOS, Paul Perri.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlbbIW_e8rw]