Village Gamer

CarrotLines, an iPhone application developed by Vancouver’s PortaLife Solutions, Inc. that helps Canadians make healthier choices is partnering with local food brands in the natural, health and organic segments after attending Grocery Showcase West and Canadian Health Food Association Expos, where the app received overwhelming interest. In conjunction with its one year anniversary, CarrotLines invited select local health and specialty brands – including Bremner Foods, Maggie’s Gluten Free, and Hansells Foods Canada – to join its platform.

Joining CarrotLines allows for the brands’ products to be scanned by the CarrotLines App – giving customers the ultimate tool to get informed about their products, and while more than half of consumers check food labels before buying a food product for the first time, reading food labels can be downright deceptive. CarrotLines isn’t about judging brands and products. Its goal is to help shoppers make educated decisions on food products that suit their lifestyle. Shoppers have been scanning products using the CarrotLines App for nearly one year, and the platform contains information on over 20,000 Canadian Food Products and 2000 brands. Carrotlines is available in the iTunes App Store for $2.99 USD.

Toronto-based Asigra Inc., a cloud backup and recovery software provider since 1986, has joined with Intel to offer hybrid cloud backup as part of the Intel® AppUp™ Small Business Service. The new solution delivers the advantages of offsite backup with the security and performance of an onsite server for both local and remote recovery. Asigra Cloud Backup™ is one of a select group of applications pre-loaded for shipment with the new Intel solution.

A strong endorsement for cloud computing, the Intel AppUp Small Business Service is a subscription-based service for providing a locally-hosted server on a pay-as-you-go basis. The new hybrid cloud solution allows small businesses to rent the application server and software they need at very affordable rates. The Intel AppUp Small Business Service features a mix of local and cloud software with an Intel® Xeon-based server that comes pre-loaded with tools for remote management, firewall, VoIP/PBX and backup. Expanding this pre-loaded toolset is as simple as selecting from an ever-expanding list of applications, using Intel’s cloud-based service.

“We developed the Intel AppUp Small Business Service to create a foundation on which industry leaders like Asigra can add their own innovations,” said Bridget Karlin, General Manager, Intel Hybrid Cloud. “The goal is to give small business customers a better user experience. This solution offers an attractive new way to take business to the next level of IT, without buying their own server or hiring their own IT staff.” Read the rest of this entry »

Vibes IT Dance & Urban Video Remix Community launched this month, providing a unique video service catered to Dance and Urban music lovers.  The Vibes It website contains over one hundred channels for every type of dance & urban music genre, with over 30,000 video remixes. The core focus of the company is to provide its visitors with the best video remixes, megamixes, and mashups available, and current technology has made it possible for amateur and pro Dj’s alike to easily create video mixes. The popularity of Video Mixing is growing at a rapid pace, and many night clubs, such as Rumours in Niagra Falls, remix videos all weekend long.

DJ’s have the ability to upload their entire video mixes directly to the Vibes IT website, without the worry of time limitations, like what Youtube imposes on its members. Members can create their own playlists, and can interact with other members on the site similar to Facebook or Myspace. Each member can customize their profile, share their playlists, join and create chat rooms, share their mixes instantly with all of the popular social networking sites and much more. DJ Bobby Ryan, the Vibes IT CEO promises a lot of cool modifications and new features over the next few months.

Vibes It encourages Dj’s to upload as much as possible, new or old video mixes, rewarding them for their hard work through weekly and monthly giveaways for best uploaded video mixes.  The Vibes IT unique platform has already generated much interest from Dj’s around the globe, and they hope to become the leader in Dance & Urban Video Remixes. Vibes It has a broad range of music. From Top 40 and the latest Lady GaGa, Rihanna or Britney Spears remixes to the hardcore techno or Trance, there are many channels catered for specific niche genres. Vibes IT believes that content is king, and they work night and day to find the best remixes from around the globe.

Pizza Pizza has made its mark on mobile shopping with the launch of its first-ever iPhone app. This month, the Canadian-based pizza chain was honoured with a Webby Award, a prestigious international web-based award that recognizes excellence on the internet. The company’s one-of-a-kind smartphone ordering application was named the best shopping tool for a handheld device, just over a month after its launch.

The win comes in the category of mobile shopping for handheld devices. Other nominees considered for the award included big-box American retailers Target and Walgreens. Pizza Pizza and Plastic Mobile, the mobile marketing agency that developed its app, are the lone Canadian companies to receive a Webby award in this category this year.

“We’ve really made a push to enter the online world through our web ordering system and now our mobile app,” said Pat Finelli, Chief Marketing Officer for Pizza Pizza. “This is a big win for us. It proves that we’ve delivered when it comes to reliability and convenience, which are characteristics of ours that customers have really come to expect and value.”

The easy-to-use, interactive app was launched earlier this year, the first of its kind from a national Canadian-based pizza chain. The Pizza Pizza app is available at no charge for all iPhone^(R), iPod touch^(R) and iPad^(TM) models that run iOS 3.0 or later.

Xplornet Communications Inc. (formerly Barrett Xplore Inc.), is pleased to announce that it has successfully completed a $230 million private financing.  One of the largest Canadian telecom financing announcements this year, the funds will be used to support and aggressively expand Xplornet’s broadband network across Canada to the 2.4 million households that do not have access to real, affordable broadband.  A start-up just 6 years ago, Xplornet is now one of Canada’s largest telecommunications companies.

“This is an investment in rural Canada that will be nothing less than transformative,” said Xplornet’s Chief Executive Officer John Maduri. “This will allow us to complete a job we started 6 years ago -bringing affordable broadband to every Canadian who wants it, no matter where they live.  That is a monumental accomplishment in the telecom industry.  Not only is this a ringing endorsement of our business model, it will permit an historic leap forward toward the full digital engagement of rural Canadians.”

This funding comes on the heels of Xplornet’s recent announcement that it had successfully started activating its new national 4G network.  The company, which by the end of 2012 will have a total of approximately 1,000 towers, is deploying a 4G WiMAX network and two next-generation 4G satellites.  This network will allow Xplornet to reach 100% of Canadians with fast, affordable broadband by the end of 2012.  “Wireless is the future of digital telecommunications,” said Maduri, “and only Xplornet has invested this significantly in a hybrid satellite and fixed wireless network for Canada.  The fact that we can reach anyone on the second largest country on Earth – despite all the geographic and topographic difficulties – at an affordable price to customers – proves that wireless is the answer to Canada’s rural broadband challenge.”

The ability of Xplornet to secure a financing of this size reflects the willingness of investors to bank on a market that is both large and which has significant pent-up demand.  Gerry O’Reilly, Chief Financial Officer for Xplornet added, “This funding, which includes a very attractive refinancing of some existing debt, will enable Xplornet’s continued aggressive growth in rural Canada, and position us for continued success as one of Canada’s leading telecommunications companies.”

Absolute^® Software Corporation, provider of firmware-embedded endpoint security and management solutions has announced that the company has signed a million dollar deal to provide a leading K-12 school district with the Company’s Computrace^® and Absolute Manage offerings, validating the requirement for organizations to apply both security and management best practices to all of their endpoints.

“The endpoint security and management markets are converging,” said John Livingston, Chairman and CEO of Absolute. “Customers have long told us they need to be able to securely manage their PCs, laptops and now tablets and smartphones in a more simplified, reliable and cost effective manner. With the addition of Absolute Manage to complement Computrace’s leading device tracking and data protection capabilities, we are evolving our offerings to meet this need. This contract win demonstrates that the expansion of our product base is delivering results.”

The customer had identified a need for lifecycle management for their entire estate of PC notebooks. In a competitive marketplace, the customer selected Absolute Manage due to its unique persistent PC capability, and its ability to securely manage their PC population with the addition of Computrace. By combining Absolute Manage with Computrace, the customer is able to rely on valuable cloud-persistent tracking and emergency response services to ensure their PCs can be reliably and securely tracked, managed, and protected.

Mr. Livingston continued: “It was the synergies the customer could realize by combining our security and lifecycle management solutions that tipped the scales in our favor.  This illustrates how Absolute Manage is creating new customer acquisition opportunities for Computrace. We believe our unique ability to provide organizations with both endpoint security and management tools for their computing assets and other mobile devices has us well positioned to emerge as a leader in the broad endpoint security and management market.”

The Canadian Centre for Child Protection wants families of missing children to know that they don’t have to search alone. On the eve of International Missing Children’s Day, the Canadian Centre is launching MissingKids.ca – Canada’s national missing children resource centre.

MissingKids.ca complements the important work of law enforcement by offering families additional resources to help find their missing children. The service provides a central place for families to register their missing child to request support from a trained caseworker, as well as critical educational information to help prevent children from going missing.

“Today’s launch of MissingKids.ca signals an important step forward in the effort to find children who have tragically gone missing,” said the Hon. Rob Nicholson, M.P. for Niagara Falls, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada. “Our Government is committed to doing our part and will continue to work with our partners to keep our nation’s children – our most valuable treasures – safe and free from harm.”

Using new technologies, MissingKids.ca uses innovative online search tools that bring a modern approach to the traditional way of searching for lost or missing children. From the online registration process to the use of social media and wireless technologies, the service helps parents understand and leverage these helpful tools to locate their missing children. The Canadian public can also sign up to receive missing child alerts so individuals may become a part of the search for the nation’s missing children.

“We live in a different world today than the one we lived in just five short years ago. New technology and social media tools have not only profoundly changed the way we live and interact with one another, but they have created new opportunities in the search for missing children,” said Lianna McDonald, Executive Director of the Canadian Centre for Child Protection. “MissingKids.ca will provide a national voice on missing children issues and a coordinated approach in the search for missing children. It will capitalize on new technology and coordinate prompt, efficient dissemination of public alerts.”

This past March marked the 20^th anniversary of the disappearance of Michael Dunahee, who was four years old when he disappeared from a Victoria, BC sports field on March 24, 1991. His mom Crystal said the MissingKids.ca program will bring new hope to searching families.

“Twenty years is a long time to be searching, but with MissingKids.ca – we have renewed hope of receiving new information to help us find Michael,” said Crystal Dunahee. “Any time families can access new resources to assist them in locating their child gives them reason to be hopeful and optimistic.” Read the rest of this entry »

CounterPath Corporation, a provider of desktop and mobile Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) software solutions, has launched an online certification program for Internet Telephony Service Providers (ITSPs). The CounterPath ITSP Partner Program enables ITSPs to certify their service with CounterPath’s mobile softphone, Bria iPhone Edition, and provide a pre-provisioned service option within the softphone client.

By participating in the ITSP Partner Program, ITSPs can provide their customers with a premier softphone option that is easy to activate and use. The program also helps ITSPs expand their market reach by leveraging the CounterPath softphone user base.

“Joining CounterPath’s ITSP Partner Program and certifying our OnSIP Hosted PBX service with Bria iPhone Edition was an obvious choice for us,” said Robert Wolpov, President and Founder of Junction Networks. “OnSIP was specifically designed to provide small and medium-size businesses with access to enterprise-grade PBX systems. Partnering with CounterPath has now given us the ability to offer these services within a first-class, enterprise-grade mobile softphone.”

Registration for the CounterPath ITSP program is free via the CounterPath website. ITSPs receive an Acceptance Test Procedure (ATP) to complete and, once approved, the ITSP Partner will appear in a list of pre-provisioned VoIP providers within the mobile softphone application. CounterPath Certified ITSP Partners also gain exposure on CounterPath’s website and receive a CounterPath Certified logo for use in their customer collateral. Read the rest of this entry »

PEI developer Timeless Technologies (2007) Inc. has announced the beta release of a new online tool called DomainHole which is designed to help people find great domain names. During the beta release, Timeless hopes to test the stability of servers and ensure DomainHole can scale properly. Timeless is also looking to get feedback on the user interface and effectiveness of the current tools.

DomainHole provides a set of web based tools to help eliminate the pain of not being able to find an available domain. One of the flagship tools that DomainHole offers is the Expired Domain Search. There are approximately 60,000+ new domains that expire every day, and DomainHole maintains this full list of expired domains in a searchable database. Using this search tool, you are able to find keyword rich and high Search Engine Optimization value domains by entering just a few search values.

“We are very excited to announce our public beta testing launch of DomainHole,” stated Brad Pineau, CTO of Timeless Technologies. “Over the past few years, we’ve been developing internal tools to help us find great domain names, so we’re excited to finally share these tools with everyone. We’ll be rolling out several more tools over the next few months.”

DomainHole provides users with additional domain related tools. These tools currently include: a name spinner, instant availability check, and name generator. The name spinner combines a keyword search with hundreds of words to get domain name ideas. The instant availability check tool checks the availability of domains in real time to quickly find a domain name. The name generator tool generates random, unique, brandable and pronounceable domain names. The DomainHole team is currently working on several other tools to help people in their search for a great domain.

Uk-based emuse and Toronto’s ES3 have announced the establishment of an exclusive partnership that will see emuse’ Raven Advanced Advertising System pre-integrated into ES3’s award-winning suite of TV applications for Microsoft’s Mediaroom IPTV platform.

“We are very excited about this partnership,” said Douglas Edwards, Chief Executive Officer, ES3. “emuse and ES3 are the two leading developers in our respective areas, coming together to drive a powerful offering that accelerates revenue opportunities to TV operators via their TV apps and 3-screen strategy. As the two original “Global Premier Partners” on the Microsoft Mediaroom applications platform, we’ve always worked closely and now feel that our combined knowledge, experience and access to our respective markets will be advantageous to both companies and our customers.”

Raven provides digital television platform operators and content owners with an end-to-end advertising decision, delivery and reporting solution, and has been deployed globally in many major markets. ES3 has developed the world’s largest catalog of turnkey IPTV applications for the Microsoft Mediaroom platform. Under the new partnership, the companies will continue to collaborate and initiate a program to pre-integrate the Raven ad delivery and decisioning capabilities into ES3’s current and future products. This native integration will provide operators with the ability to drive targeted advertising to the TV applications under a seamless model.

“We are tremendously excited about the partnership between emuse and ES3,” commented Patrick Rainsford, Chief Executive Officer, emuse. “We have consistently maintained that two essential elements in any successful digital TV offering are a broad range of compelling apps coupled with the ability to monetize these through advertising support. Bringing together ES3’s app portfolio and Raven’s advanced advertising capabilities now allows operators to launch apps which are immediately revenue generating. This is a hugely positive development for subscribers, operators, advertisers and agencies.”

The partnership will focus on the Microsoft Mediaroom IPTV platform. Mediaroom is currently the world’s most broadly deployed IPTV platform and is available on over 14 million devices through TV services delivered by 36 operators including AT&T, Deutsche Telekom and TELUS. As the most widely deployed existing Mediaroom developers, the emuse and ES3 partnership is intended to provide a business model for the deployment by operators of increasing numbers of consumer apps and in particular to support new developments like app stores.

“This partnership between emuse and ES3 represents an important milestone in the evolution of applications on the Mediaroom platform,” said Andreas Mueller-Schubert, general manager, Interactive Entertainment Business, Microsoft Corp. Combining emuse’s capabilities to pair targeted ads globally with ES3’s proven creative applications is a win-win for advertisers, and adds another important dimension to our Mediaroom end to end IPTV platform for operators.”