30th October 2008

CRTC Paving The Way For A Digital Future

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) today introduced new policies to prepare the Canadian broadcasting industry for the transition to a fully digital environment. In developing these policies, the Commission has simplified its regulation in order to foster a more coherent and well-calibrated broadcasting system.

“Following a comprehensive review, we have streamlined a number of rules and eliminated those that were no longer necessary,” said Konrad von Finckenstein, Q.C., Chairman of the CRTC. “These measures will contribute to a more dynamic broadcasting system, which will be in a better position to respond to the opportunities and challenges presented by new media. They will also make it easier for viewers to choose the programs they want.”

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30th October 2008

Women in Film Festival Accepting Submissions

Women in Film and Television Vancouver is accepting submissions for the 4th annual film festival. The festival is an internationally affiliated non-profit society committed to advancing and celebrating women in screen-based media. The festival seeks submissions in the following categories: Narrative and Documentary, Shorts and Features, New Media, Music Videos, Video Poems, and Experimental. Any genre, animated or live action, will be considered. Eligible films must have women in creative control, and films featuring female characters and stories are encouraged.

This year’s festival will be dedicated to new media and we are accepting submissions for a wide variety of projects such as visual/ audio installations, mobile films, nonlinear narration, and online projects. Two days of the festival will feature new media projects and dedicated panels and workshops discussing the future of women in the new media industry.

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28th October 2008

The Embassy’s Work On Terminus Nominated for The AEAF Awards

Vancouver VFX studio The Embassy has been nominated and short-listed in the AEAF Awards for their work on the short film Terminus. The list of finalists were narrowed down from over 200 submissions in 11 categories. Award winners will be announced at the AEAF Awards ceremony on November 12th, which is held in conjunction with Sydney, Australia’s Digital Media Festival. Terminus was also an Official Selection at last year’s Toronto International Film Festival and was chosen as the Best Canadian Short Film at the 2008 Montréal ‘Just for Laughs’ Comedy Festival. Terminus was directed by Trevor Cawood and co-written by Jason Cawood.

According to writer Jason Cawood, Terminus is about a 1970’s businessman who, after he unknowingly offends “a strange entity that accosts him on his way to work, quickly finds himself in the midst if a bizarre predicament. What follows is a rapid descent into madness, a journey both eerie and darkly humorous. The exact nature of the businessman’s tormentor is purposefully ambiguous, lending itself to a variety of interpretations. Is Terminus a surreal critique of human alienation in the modern urban environment? or is the protagonist’s struggle an internal one, his mysterious stalker a manifestation of his repressed subconscious mind? Either way, Terminus’s innovative visual effects and distinctively vintage atmosphere make it a highly engrossing experience.” From the IMDB listing for Terminus

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28th October 2008

Festival Arcadia Merges Videogames and Fashion

Montreal – In conjunction with Festival Arcadia, a Virtually Fashionable evening will be held at 9 p.m. on Saturday, November 8, at the Society for Arts and Technology [SAT]. For this world first event that merges the fashion and videogame industries, ten of Quebec’s best-known fashion designers are creating costumes for famed videogame icon Lara Croft. Two of these outfits will be incorporated into Lara’s official wardrobe as downloadable content for Tomb Raider: Underworld post launch. At the show, Bodybag by Jude, Complexgeometries by Clayton Evans, Denis Gagnon, Helmer, Marie Saint Pierre, Philippe Dubuc, Tavân & Mitto, Travis Taddeo, Valérie Dumaine and Yso will unveil designs that have been made specifically for the heroine’s upcoming new adventure.

Attendees of Virtually Fashionable will get to see the designs on real life and virtual models as they strut down the catwalk to music mixed by event sound designer Frigid. After the show, a jury that includes Cynthia Cooper, Curator of the McCord Museum, Herby Moreau, host and journalist, Stephane Le Duc, Editor of Dress to Kill Magazine, and Sandrine Belleteste, fashion consultant, will decide on one outfit that will be incorporated into Lara’s official wardrobe, with the designer taking home a $3,000 purse. A second outfit will be chosen by the public and both will be made available for download via Xbox LIVE® (Marketplace for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft®) so gamers will have the chance to play through the entire Tomb Raider: Underworld experience in a new award-winning outfit.

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28th October 2008

Sitemasher Launches Partner Program

Website Platform Enables Designers To Boost Revenue and Reach New Markets

VANCOUVER – Press Release –Sitemashers new online website platform puts the focus on the website and not the programming and IT development needed to create it. Today, Sitemasher goes one step further in letting professional web designers be web designers and not IT people by launching a partner program aimed squarely at firms focusing on website design, development, and brand marketing and consulting. With Sitemashers website building platform, partners will be able to earn more revenue by speeding the design and development process and to access new markets by maximizing the skills of the entire team.

Sitemasher changes the game in building and managing websites. Traditionally a sophisticated, interactive site requires several people, including a designer, developer, back-end IT administrator and a project owner, to implement a full project. But the Sitemasher website platform enables designers to create pixel-perfect, full-featured custom sites that can be implemented easily without programming and IT integration.

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27th October 2008

Greenhouse Unveils Nitrogen Software Dev Kit

VANCOUVER, British Columbia – Greenhouse Interactive today announced that the Nitrogen Software Development Kit (SDK) is now available free of charge to independent developers seeking to enhance their games selected for the Greenhouse digital distribution service. Major tools offered in Nitrogen include the social networking functionalities of ‘triumphs’ and ‘standings,’ which will allow developers to reward players for their in-game accomplishments and then display them for the rest of the Greenhouse gaming community.

Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness, Episode Two, scheduled to launch this Wednesday for Windows®, Mac® and Linux®, will be the first title on the service to implement the new Nitrogen SDK and offer gamers triumphs and standings to enhance their gameplay and Greenhouse community experience.

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27th October 2008

Copyright Board Issues Internet & Music Decision

OttawaThe Copyright Board of Canada issued a decision dealing with the second part of the Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN) Tariff 22 with respect to the communication of musical works on the Internet.
The first part of that tariff was issued on October 18, 2007 and dealt exclusively with online music services. This second part sets rates for other music uses over the Internet such as the websites of radio and television stations as well as other sites that use musical works as part of their Internet activities. As was the case for the first part, this second part of the tariff sets the rates to be paid to SOCAN for the period 1996 to 2006.

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27th October 2008

Seeker Solutions Announces the Launch of Sprout

Todays Answer to Delivering Hyper-Personal News Content

VICTORIA – Seeker Solutions announced today its official release of Sprout 1.0, a free, online, personalized news aggregator software that allows users to obtain the latest top news stories and blogs tailored to their unique and individual preferences. Seeker Solutions created Sprout to solve the challenges of trying to sift through mass amounts of information online. As Internet users become more pressed for time, Sprout enables every user to effortlessly find news articles or blogs that are relevant to them.

Seeker Solutions unique relationship-based software engine that powers Sprout allows users to easily access a wide-range of content from thousands of news sources and blogs. Once Sprout is conveniently downloaded to the users computer, users are able to immediately begin training their Sprout interface with their individual interests.

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25th October 2008

Microsoft Adds To Reward for Missing Teen

As police continue their investigation into the disappearance of Barrie, Ontario teen Brandon Crisp, Microsoft doubled the reward money for information leading to the location of the 15 year old. Microsoft donated $25 000.00, bringing the reward to $50 000.00. As previously reported in mainstream media, Brandon disappeared from home after his parents took away his Xbox 360 as

Missing Teen Brandon Crisp

Missing Teen Brandon Crisp

the amount of time he spent playing Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare was interfering with Brandon’s school attendance and grades. At last report, police officers were concentrating their search in the Shanty Bay area, as that was the last place where anyone can confirm seeing Brandon, who left home on October 13th. A woman out walking on a trail spoke with Brandon, who was having problems with his bike, which he left in a ditch along the trail.

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24th October 2008

Creativeworks Productions Wins Gold and Silver in International Video Award Competition


Creativeworks Productions, a Toronto-based agency wins three awards for their excellence in video animation work in this year’s Crystal Vision Awards competition.

Toronto – Creativeworks Productions Inc. is proud to announce that they have won two gold and one silver award for their excellence in video animation work in this year’s Crystal Vision Awards competition. This impressive win brings Creativeworks Productions award tally to six since 2005.

The Crystal Vision Awards, an International video contest honoring the best in television and film productions hosted annually in the U.S., gives thousands of creative artists from around the world the opportunity to receive recognition for their productions. The members of the CVA judging panel are selected from a vast cross-section of broadcasting, film and video disciplines. Read the rest of this entry »

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