Village Gamer

Two years after We Live in Public, a film that portrays our willingness to sacrifice our privacy in an online world, American film-maker Ondi Timoner, Director at Interloper Films, once again aims her camera at the Internet. This time her focus is on Internet startups in an era of almost complete transparency. It’s a film about big ideas and big data, from the first back of a napkin to the billionth user. But it’s also about how those businesses can modify our behavior, convincing and coercing us to do their bidding through the power of public, social interactions.

The documentary will kick off filming at the International Startup Festival in Montréal, July 13 to 15, 2011, where hundreds of founders, investors, and successful entrepreneurs are gathering to tackle the business of launching new ventures.

The International Startup Festival is a two-day dynamic event of networking, learning, new ideas that focus on the business of startups. It brings a global audience together to cover the entire startup lifecycle: early-stage innovation; scaling the business; and achieving a successful exit.

The next DigiBC MoMoVan event takes place on July 11th at the Centre for Digital Media and will feature speaker Scott Michaels, Vice President, Client Services at Atimi Software, Inc. Scott will be sharing his views on industry trends, publishing, Apple store and best practices.

Atimi Software, Inc. focuses their technology insight on the quickly changing Apple market and is one of the largest independent Macintosh development houses in the USA. Scott Michaels has worked with many Fortune 500 companies to bring their products to the mobile space and has assisted in restructuring their marketing plan to include mobile.

He is a vital force behind the Atimi team that has developed more than 35 applications currently on the market for some of the leading brands in North America including the New York Times, HBO, and the Vancouver Canucks. Having worked on the front lines of software development and project management for over a decade, Scott champions the need for a cohesive strategy for companies bringing products to the mobile space.

MoMoVan July will start the evening with three to four quick entrepreneurial pitches – if you are interested please contact DigiBC president Howard Donaldson in advance. Tickets for MoMoVan are free DigiBC members, Sponsors, Partners and Students. Tickets for all others are $25.00 each. Space is limited to 70 people, so register soon.

If you’re in Alberta, you are invited to AccelerateAB, presented by The C100, A100, Startup Calgary, StartUp Edmonton, Calgary Technologies, and TEC Edmonton, who have all joined together to present this transformative community event on July 13th at the Roderick Mah Centre for Continuous Learning, Mount Royal University.

Focused on the topic of “Building World Class Companies” this conference will offer Alberta tech entrepreneurs relevant and practical content to grow their companies up to the next level.

Albertans are also invited to the launch of UrtheCast, a multi-country initiative between Canada, Russia and the United Kingdom. UrtheCast is building and will exclusively operate the world’s first ever live streaming HD video camera mounted on the International Space Station (ISS).

Join Digital Alberta and special guest speakers for lunch on June 28th from 11:30am to 1:30pm at the Calgary Chamber of Commerce. Come be inspired by Astronaut Dr. David Williams as he discusses space flight, exploration, technology, performance, risk management and environmental stewardship. Tickets for this event are free, but space is limited to 200 attendees.

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

UrtheCast will supply video data and imagery of Earth collected by two HD cameras on the Russian module of the Space Station. This data and imagery will be down-linked to ground stations around the planet and then displayed in real time on the Internet and distributed directly to UrtheCast’s exclusive partners and customers.

The UrtheCast web platform will allow Users to constantly track the location of the Space Station, anticipating when it will pass over a particular geographic location. Users will be able to search for videos of a particular location, type, or theme and will have the ability to interact with the HD video feed from the UrtheCast servers. They will be able to zoom in and out, virtually steer the camera from side to side, rewind, and fast forward as they check out areas and things of interest on Earth. UK based Rutherford Appleton Labs is building two high definition cameras. A medium resolution camera will provide a three colour image with a swath of 45 kilometers and a resolution of 5.5 meters. The high-resolution camera will offer a video image with a frame rate of 3.25 frames per second with a resolution that is comparable to much of Google Earth. This will allow Users to see man-made objects and groups of people.

As a result of all this unique functionality, the UrtheCast web platform will spark a great deal of awareness, creativity, and unique user events from around the world. The UrtheCast website will feel like a blend of Google Earth with the video playback and search functionality of YouTube. The UrtheCast web platform will combine a consumer centric website, mobile application for smart phones, and an open Application Program Interface (API). The API enables third party developers to create their own applications and upload them to the UrtheCast web platform.

“Users will be able to view Earth from space. It will operate seamlessly with social media sites like Facebook and Twitter,” explains Scott Larson, President of UrtheCast. ISS is a low orbit, human-inhabited satellite. The station travels at 26,000 km/h, orbiting Earth sixteen times per day, at an altitude of approximately 350 km. The ISS is a collaborative project between the Russian, Canadian European, Japanese, and US space agencies. UrtheCast has signed an exclusive agreement with RSC Energia, who maintains operational control of the Russian segment on the ISS. RSC Energia will take UrtheCast’s cameras, install them on the outside of the ISS, and provide the necessary maintenance and transfer of the data. The cameras are being built by UK based Rutherford Appleton Laboratories (RAL), who is a world leader in building cameras for aerospace and satellite purposes.

“Being part of a project that not only taps into the recent renewed interest in space, but also provides a connection between people and the rest of the world is what is most intriguing about this project,” Richard Holdaway Director, RAL Space.

Join BCIC-New Ventures for their second annual golf tournament on July 19th. This year they’re golfing at Kings Links by the Sea, a traditional par 72 links style course with spectacular views of the surrounding Coastal Mountains.

Play Texas Scramble rules. Create your own foursome, or let BCIC put you in a group. Open to all levels, this is a great chance to network with the New Ventures community in a fun setting.

Your golf tournament fee includes a round of golf, dinner, and prizes. Tee-offs start around 12:30pm. You will be notified of your tee-time in advance.

Early Bird Registration by June 30: $90 | Regular Registration by July 13: $105 | Dinner-only: $25

Annex Pro will be hosting a free seminar session along with Atempo titled Managing Digital Content Throughout Your Workflow with Backup and Archive. This July 7th evening session will be held at the Annex Pro office on Dunlevy in Vancouver, and will teach attendees how to:

• Preserve and protect your digital content throughout the workflow
• Optimize your SAN or NAS storage by rolling out a low cost disk or tape archive
• Create a content archive that’s easily accessible to all your users
• Reduce clutter in shared work areas through automatic archiving
• Manage your content’s metadata for more effective search and retrieval

This event is recommended for:

• Creative or IT professionals who manage digital content and/or the storage systems supporting creative workflows
• Anyone looking for a better way to control storage growth, especially HD, 3D and stereoscopic
• Anyone wanting to simplify content reuse and monetize their existing content

The doors will open for registration, refreshments and networking at 5:30pm, with the speaker session running from 6pm to 7pm.

Located in downtown Toronto, Liberty Studios will officially open to musicians, producers, editors and film makers on June 27th.  Named by Mix magazine as “The Class of 2011:  A Collection Of This Year’s Hottest New Studios”, the Martin Pilchner designed, multi-million dollar studio, surpasses any facility of its kind in the city providing the ultimate one stop shop in audio and visual production.  Situated in Liberty Village, the 6,000 square foot media facility, blends top of the line innovative design elements alongside functionality, catering to every imaginable need.  Client services include production, composition and arrangements, recording and mixing tools, sound design, video / audio editing and video capture.

Liberty Studios contains a 1,600 square foot soundstage / live room aptly named The Liberty Ballroom.  It includes three isolation booths for sound control, an expansive drum room, an automated 16:9 screen and a 5.1 surround sound system. The sheer size caters to large-scale live recordings, lectures, film screenings, product launches and private events. The studio also includes a 600 square foot control room specifically designed for surround recording, a series of production rooms to create, record, edit and mix both audio and video, as well as a commercial kitchen.

Liberty Studios not only offers clients premier equipment, but also an experienced and accomplished staff that provide highly trained and seasoned services.  Newly appointed Vice President of Business Development and Sales, Brian Hetherman, brings his diverse experience to oversee client acquisition, client management and the creation of new business strategies.  Hetherman’s career highlights include Director of A&R at Universal Music, Head of MCA Music Publishing, Executive Director of the Radio Starmaker Fund, President of the Music Managers Forum in Canada and Vice President of Industry Affairs at FACTOR.  He also owns a management company, Cerberus Artist Management, and record label, Curve Music.

Hetherman joins Liberty’s President John Payne, a man with three decades of music industry knowledge in roles such as producer, engineer, technician, consultant and philanthropist.  In the early eighties Payne became Chief Engineer for S.O.L.A.R. Records’ roster of artists as well as many others including Bobby Brown and Paula Abdul.  In 1991, he co-founded the largest hip-hop label in history, Death Row Records, launching the careers of 2Pac, Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg.  Payne remains the owner of a production company, Payne Productions and Engineering LLC, a management and consulting company, END Management and Consulting LLC, and a publishing company, GJTM Publishing.

In addition to a space that caters to those in the entertainment industry, Liberty Studios is also a new event space in the city, perfect for music showcases, photo and video shoots, non-profit fundraisers, and private corporate events of a variety of sizes.

OpenText™ has announced the availability of the next major release of OpenText Social Workplace, a fully integrated social collaboration environment designed to help purpose-driven teams assemble, stay connected, and achieve breakthrough results.

The announcement was made at the Enterprise 2.0 Conference in Boston. During a keynote presentation, Tyler Knowlton, of the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade for Canada (DFAIT), showcased how Social Workplace is helping the G-20 improve collaboration among delegates from member countries around the world. Also at the conference, OpenText announced the Prize for Purpose-Driven Business, a contest to recognize organizations that are effectively dedicated to a purpose.

The Prize for Purpose-Driven Business is an initiative to showcase those teams and individuals who embody what it means to be a purpose driven organization and have in-turn used social collaboration tools to help achieve their missions. The Prize for Purpose-Driven Business is open to all organizations, whether they are current OpenText customers or not.

OpenText Social Workplace is a new kind of people-centric enterprise application that works through either SaaS or on-premise deployment. It helps cross-functional teams form quickly and collaborate effectively with minimal training or technical support. The latest release has a number of new features including optional integration with OpenText ECM Suite 2010 for comprehensive records management and governance, chat, and important additions to the wiki editor, among other enhancements.

“In a purpose-driven organization, teams are not limited by geography, function, hierarchies or management structure.  They form by bringing the right people together for the right reason at the right time. These teams need new ways of collaborating and getting work done,” said James Latham, OpenText’s Chief Marketing Officer. “With this new release, OpenText Social Workplace is even more adept at supporting a fluid model of collaboration that allows teams to organize quickly and tap each person’s expertise to fulfill the team’s purpose.” Latham discusses how Social Workplace supports purpose-driven organizations in a new OpenText News Podcast posted today.

The Social Workplace experience is designed from the ground up to work the way people want to work, starting with a personal dashboard to drive personal productivity and provide easy access to everyone’s profile, status and blog. From there, community spaces unite distributed teams with the appropriate level of access. New microblogging capabilities provide an ambient level of awareness of activity throughout an organization. It now also incorporates chat to facilitate quick, real-time touches among one or more team members.

Compared to social media offerings from start-ups or smaller vendors, Social Workplace is backed by OpenText’s deep experience in delivering enterprise-class content management solutions. One way organizations can tap into that experience is to connect Social Workplace communities to OpenText ECM Suite 2010. This new option makes it possible for content created during a project to be automatically archived in compliance with an organization’s regulations and policies with full records management control to an enterprise content repository with minimal intervention from technical staff.

Inside the community, Social Workplace offers a number of tools for creating content using wikis, information feeds and document management, images and video repositories. With the latest release, wikis have been enhanced with support for tables and version comparison capabilities.  Document handling is more robust with advanced commenting, versioning and comparison functionality.

Modern workforces require flexible access to content. Social Workplace can be accessed from any Web browser and mobile devices. Pre-built apps for iPhone and BlackBerry devices are available with support for the new release and allow people to log-in from any location, check tasks, review project details, update status and search for information.

Beginning in June 2011, teams will be invited to submit their most compelling stories about how having a clear sense of purpose impacted their team’s success. Entries will be accepted through September 30th, 2011. The entries will then be screened and finalists judged by a panel that includes the speakers from the OpenText Purpose-Driven Speaker Series including Simon Sinek, Andrew McAfee and John Seely Brown.

The new release of OpenText Social Workplace, version 2.0, is available now either for download or as a cloud-based solution.  The Fast Start program offers a low risk way to get started and includes a 60-day full-version Social Workplace license for up to 950 users. OpenText also offers the public Social Workplace Sandbox community that allows people to experience the product at any time.

Merging Media Productions has added three new 2011 Advisory Committee Members who will be assisting with advice and support for the upcoming October 2011 Conference+ Masterclass:

• Katie Jeffs Director Membership Development and Outreach, CMPA (National)
• Jonathan Carringan, President & Co-Founder, MOBCOM Consulting Inc.
• Lynda Brown, CEO/Founder of ZuluMe

Merging Media also extends its gratitude to its 2010 Advisors Betsy Chaly, Ravi Singh, Fiona McAuley and Ted Nugent for their generous support during their 2010 event.

Merging Media Productions Inc. in partnership with the Canadian Media Production Association BC is proud to be a part of SIGGRAPH 2011 this August 7-11 in Vancouver. Merging Media and CMPA will be facilitating the International B2B Matchmaking Program that is being organized by the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada (DFAIT) and the Government of British Columbia. If you’d like to meet visiting International Media professionals during the event, here are the full details:

• B2B Matchmaking Program – August 8 – 11

The Business to Business Matchmaking Program will help facilitate meetings between Canadian domestic companies and international/ US companies attending SIGGRAPH. The B2B online platform will allow you to profile your company, view the profiles of other companies and request meetings with international/ US companies of interest. Meeting requests will be coordinated through the Canadian Media Production Association and booked into meeting rooms reserved onsite (unless otherwise specified).

• SIGGRAPH Welcome Reception – Sunday, August 7

Supported by BC Film, DFAIT will be hosting an International Delegate Welcome Reception from 6-8pm on Sunday, August 7th. The welcome reception will offer an opportunity to meet some of the US & International business delegates at SIGGRAPH 2011 as well as local industry and support organizations. This event is invite only with limited capacity, so please indicate your interest to Marc Coderre if you would like to be added to the invite list.

• Transmedia Vancouver Meetup – June 29

The Transmedia Vancouver Meetup Group will be having its first Guest Speaker event featuring Merging Media’s Advisory Board Member Matt Toner of Zeroes to Heroes on Wednesday June 29th, 5pm at CMPA-BC. This is a not to be missed event for those keen on meeting like-minded folk involved in Transmedia.

SIGGRAPH has announced the Computer Animation Festival’s Best in Show, Jury Award, and Best Student Project recipients for the SIGGRAPH 2011 Conference taking place in Vancouver this August 7th – 11th. A total of 77 films will be shown during the Computer Animation Festival. Nominees were chosen by an expert panel of jury members from 891 submissions representing 44 countries.

“The level of quality and technical expertise exemplified by this year’s submissions continues to raise the bar for the extreme innovation and leading technology the Computer Animation Festival delivers year after year,” said Joshua Grow, Computer Animation Festival Director and 3D Stereo Coordinator for The Creative-Cartel. “The submissions selected to be featured at SIGGRAPH 2011 are a true testament to the leaps and bounds the Computer Animation Industry has achieved since the Computer Animation Festival first debut at SIGGRAPH and promises a very exciting road ahead.”

The Computer Animation Festival is recognized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences as a qualifying festival. Since 1999, several works originally presented in the Computer Animation Festival have been nominated for or have received a “Best Animated Short” Academy Award. This year’s selections will be featured during the Computer Animation Festival through a series of daily Festival Screenings and the iconic Electronic Theater allowing attendees to get a glimpse behind the making of computer generated effects, visualizations, and animations.

Best In Show Award

The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore

Directed by William Joyce and Brandon Oldenburg, Moonbot Studios

The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore is a poignant, humorous allegory about the curative powers of story. Using a variety of techniques (miniatures, computer animation, 2D animation) William Joyce and Brandon Oldenburg present a hybrid style of animation that harkens back to silent films and Technicolor musicals.

Jury Award

Paths of Hate

Directed by Damian Nenow, Platige Image

Two pilots, driven by blind hate, chase each other in their airplanes and thereby write cryptic messages of madness into the firmament. On their way into the abyss they transform into inhuman and distorted creatures that finally become part of the history of hate.

Best Student Project Prize

Flamingo Pride

Directed by Tomer Eshed, The Konrad Wolf Potsdam-Babelsberg Film and Television University

Frustrated being the only straight flamingo in a gay flock, our hero falls in love with a lady stork that flies by. Unable to convince her of his serious intentions he isolates himself and goes through an identity crisis. An intensive encounter inspires him to make a bold move.

Jury Award Runners-Up

Escape of the Gingerbread Man!!!

Directed by Tod Polson, The Monk Studios

A young storyteller challenges the old master in a pub on the Irish west coast. The “Escape of the Gingerbread Man” is a mad romp through the Irish countryside. As well as a subtle commentary on the changes in traditions, and culture that is happening throughout the “emerald isle.”

The Experience of Fliehkraft

Directed by Till Nowak, frameboX

Humans mount themselves onto gigantic robots and try to get centrifuged through space. Sounds like science fiction, but it is what happens in theme parks. Machines with the power of tanks offer five minutes of anti-gravity therapy. An attempt to escape this world … driven by 10,000 horsepower.

Best Student Project Prize Runners-Up

DreamGiver

Directed by Tyler Carter, Brigham Young University

A regular night of dream delivering turns into a literal nightmare when an orphan’s book of Ancient Aztec Mythology comes alive. The Dreamgiver must save the orphan from his own nightmare!

Sweater Dog

Directed by Gina Moffit, Ringling College of Art and Design

A normally happy go lucky dog is put into a restricting sweater by his owner but tries to go on with his normal every day activities.

From the telephone to the BlackBerry, from satellites to walkie-talkies – it’s all telecom, and it’s all Canadian. Today, Canada’s Telecommunications Hall of Fame proudly announced that the 2011 Telecom Laureate Awards will be held Wednesday evening, November 2nd, 2011 at the new Ottawa Convention Centre in Ottawa. Mark your calendar now and plan to join over 400 telecom business and government luminaries to celebrate excellence in Canadian telecommunications and to honour the Class of 2011 Telecom Laureates who have made significant contributions to the industry throughout their careers.

The Telecom Laureate Awards gala is the annual flagship event staged by Canada’s Telecommunications Hall of Fame, the not-for-profit organization with a mission to safeguard, promote and celebrate the past, present and future excellence of Canadian telecommunications. The Telecom Laureate Awards Gala is an important celebratory night for the telecommunications industry featuring extensive networking reception opportunities, speeches and awards presentations by key industry and government leaders, as well as exciting audio-visual staging and lighting. It is one of the few annual events where the industry can unite together to celebrate its success and promote its future.

“We are expecting an excellent turn-out for our 7^th annual gala dinner and induction ceremonies,” says Lorne Abugov, Founder and Director of Canada’s Telecommunications Hall of Fame. “Over the years, our guests have included senior executives from Canada’s largest telecommunications companies, suppliers to the telecommunications industry, Government of Canada and Provincial officials, members of the CRTC, Industry Canada and the Competition Bureau and the family and guests of the Telecom Laureates and award winners. This is a premiere networking event.”

The Class of 2011Telecom Laureates and a Special Recognition Award recipient will be officially inducted into Canada’s Telecommunications Hall of Fame joining a prestigious list of 42 other remarkable Laureate and Special Recognition Award inductees who have received the industry’s highest distinction since 2005. Profiles of previous inductees can be found in the virtual Hall of Fame, along with photo and video galleries that display images of the past six Awards gala events.

“The Telecom Laureate Awards gala is always the culmination of a year’s work for Canada’s Telecommunications Hall of Fame, and we are very pleased this year to have secured one of Canada’s most spectacular event venues in the new Ottawa Convention Centre”, adds Lorne Abugov. “On behalf of all of our volunteers and the members of our Board of Governors, I cordially invite all of those who serve within or support this great Canadian industry to gather on November 2^nd in Ottawa for what has quickly become Telecom’s Golden Evening.”