Village Gamer

Reminder: IGDA Vancouver soft-launch and Global Game Jam Post-Mortem takes place tonight. More info on the event’s Facebook page.
Reminder: Ontario companies, get your submissions in for the INplay Ontario Show & Tell Kids Interactive Showcase, the deadline is April 1st. Also note that the INplay Kick Off registration rate for attendees will end tomorrow.
Reminder: There is one week left to get your nominations in for the Canadian Video Game Awards. I nominated at least a dozen, is your favourite Canadian-made-in-2010 game nominated? No? Make it so – nominate it today.

Congratulations to VFS Game Design graduate Zach Williams, who has been named as the very first recipient of the Brian Wood Memorial Internship, an internship that will be awarded three times annually to celebrate the life of Relic employee Brian Wood, who was killed in a tragic car accident last year. Zach, who has previously worked in the local industry as a QA Tester, will begin a four-month internship at Relic Entertainment.

Relic’s General Manager Jonathan Dowdeswell stated on the VFS blog that “Zach’s personal drive to become a great game developer, his broad skill base across a number of the disciplines, as well as his passion for Relic and knowledge of the culture and practices that we maintain were the things that made him stand out as a clear choice for this internship, he even had a Relic shirt ready to put on when we announced the winner to the class!”

Unless you have absolutely no interest gaming, you will be well aware that today is the launch of the demo for Dragon Age 2, available on PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.  Bioware will, as we told you last week, unlock two perks should the demo be downloaded and played by 1 million gamers before March 1st. The key to answering this Call To Arms, as the demo phase has been dubbed, is that you must sign in to your EA account. So in our house, at least, that has been achieved by two of us on two separate Xboxes. I’ve played a few minutes of the demo, and thus far Dragon Age 2 looks awesome – the only part I’m concerned about is that the text is awfully small and sometimes difficult to read on a CRT television, even with a large screen.

Of course downloading two demo files also burned up 3.96gb of our new lower monthly cap of 100gb, and upon checking our nifty new Shaw Bandwidth Monitor we are now at 80gb with two weeks still to go on our billing cycle. Yes, we’ll be over – again. We are such bandwidth hogs – especially since Shaw decided we could do with 25gb less per month, but still pay them the same amount of money. Good thing that Shaw is holding off on charging for overages until after they hold their Customer Consultation sessions. I know there will be one in Langley next month, and Shaw has confirmed that my request to attend a session, but I have not yet been emailed about the exact location and time. 

Speaking of User Based Billing, Open Media is still fighting the good fight, and have issued their own call to arms as Rogers and the other obese telecoms meet to find ways to defeat the right of Canadian consumers to have access to fair and affordable internet services. In a post on their site, Open Media asks for the support of consumers in continuing the fight for our rights, and yes, this fight will require funding. We don’t have a huge amount of disposable income in our house, but honestly I would rather help Open Media with a $20.00 donation than pay it to any telecom for an already overpriced cable plan. If Open Media can raise $15 000.00 in the next 48 hours, indie ISP providers TekSavvy and Acanac will match those funds. Please help if you can.

What really, really irks me – besides the high prices for less service, that is – is that the telecoms are telling the CRTC how we internet hogs are clogging up the interwebs so steps must be taken to curb our overuse, yet they continually come up with new “limited special deals” to sign up new customers. If those of us already using the Net are clogging it up, stop trying to sign up more people, because they’re just going to clog it up even more!

While I want to direct you over to Open Media’s site to read their plan in full, here is a quick look at their initial plan of action:

1. Unleash the creativity and ingenuity of Canadians. People from all walks of life — innovators, educators, students, entrepreneurs, and everything in between — are getting together on February 26th for a Day Of Action to educate our fellow Canadians about Internet metering.

2. Put together a united front of public interest groups, creators, indie ISPs, online service providers and half a million Canadians to put forth a well-researched, evidence-based submission to the CRTC.

I would like to add to this plan of action by asking all of you to write your MP and Industry Canada – don’t just accept the bullying of the telecoms as a done deal. We can fight back – we’ve already shown that with the delay of User Based Billing – and we can make a difference. I found an old flyer the other day when I was making an attempt at cleaning up the clutter in my office. This flyer was from our local MP, Mark Warawa (Conservative) and the headline phrase on this flyer is that the Conservatives stand up for Canadian consumers. Well? Let’s see some action behind that statement. Not sure how to contact your MP? Check here. And don’t forget – the CIRA-hosted Canadian Internet Forum being held in Ottawa on February 25th will be available via webcast (yup, burning up more of those gigabytes), so remember to tune in and watch the discussion about the future of Canada’s internet and digital economy. There is also an active discussion group on the CIF site, registration is required to view and post on it.

Ubisoft has finally confirmed a release date for the PC version of Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood. Those of you who prefer to battle the Templars and Borgia on your computers will be able to do so beginning on March 22nd.  Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood for PC will be available at retail stores and for digital download in two different versions:

Retail and Digital Standard Edition:

Main game + Abstergo Project Update 1.0 and 2.0 and The Da Vinci Disappearance

Digital Deluxe Edition:

·Main game + Abstergo Project Update 1.0 and 2.0 and The Da Vinci Disappearance

o Assassin’s Creed® Lineage: discover the story of Giovanni Auditore, Ezio’s father, by watching this three episodes short movie.

o Exclusive additional content featuring the Assassin’s Creed® Brotherhood original soundtrack, galleries, Making-of Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood…

o Exclusive unlockable content:

* One Multiplayer Character: The Harlequin, a deadly assassin lying behind a gaudy costume and a twisted smiling mask
* One Multiplayer Character: The Officer, a stealthy assassin who can assassinate his targets with a swift and powerful attack
* One exclusive single player indoor map: The Trajan Market
* One exclusive single player outdoor map: The Aqueducts map
* Ezio “Drachen Armor”

Both the Standard Digital Edition and the Deluxe Digital Edition can be pre-ordered at the Ubiworkshop Store.

Microsoft has announced that it will release a non-commercial Kinect for Windows software development kit from Microsoft Research later this spring, followed by a full commercial version of the SDK later in the year. This “starter kit” for application developers is intended to make it easier for academic research and enthusiast communities to create even richer experiences using Kinect technology. Through its collaboration with the Interactive Entertainment Business (IEB), Microsoft Research is hoping to support a growing community of academic researchers and enthusiasts who are exploring potential applications built using Kinect.

The starter kit will give academic researchers and enthusiasts access to deep Kinect system capabilities such as audio, system APIs, and direct control of the sensor. Microsoft has deep investments in R&D in natural user interfaces (NUI), which is a part of the company’s long term vision of creating computers that are intuitive to use and able to do far more for us. The fruits of those investments manifesting across many of Microsoft’s products, including Kinect for Xbox 360, Windows Phone 7, Microsoft Surface 2.0, Bing for Mobile and Office 2010 Mini Translator.

Reminder: Last chance to register for the BCTIA and Mac McIntosh Marketing for Leads and Sales sessions on February 22 in Kelowna, February 23 in Victoria and February 24 in Vancouver.

Voting is now open to elect 5 new IGDA Directors, and all eligible IGDA Members should have received a special election email with the subject line Voting has begun! – IGDA Board of Directors Election. This email will contain not only the link to the ballot page, but also the registered email and unique voting password for your membership account. The voting process will be open until March 18th, giving you time to research the candidates and issues before you cast your vote. You can also follow the discussion on Twitter with the #igdavote hashtag or you can subscribe to the RSS feed (note, this will open your RSS feed reader).

Hothead Games is holding a contest – they want to know how you would kill a Swarmite. Submit your ideas now – the winning entry will be animated and added to the game. Need some inspiration? Here are some graphic examples of ways to dispose of Swarmites courtesy of the warped minds that creep around the Halls of Hothead:

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Hg0bVLdRgA]

The National Call has gone out for Entries & Curriculum for Merging Media 2011’s Transmedia Seminar+Lab. Covering the complete value chain from “Conception to Consumption,” this inspiring one-of-a-kind syllabus presented by Merging Media Productions and CMPA-BC has been tailor-made by Anita Ondine, one of the world’s foremost Transmedia practitioners, for our rapidly evolving industry. Anita’s unique workshops for “Transmedia Next” in London, UK and the “Binger Filmlab” in Amsterdam have been highly successful in energizing the Transmedia community in the UK and Europe.

For the very first time, 20 participants will be selected from across Canada for this groundbreaking Lab. The 2 day immersive sessions will bring together select mid to senior level digital media, game design, film & television practitioners to develop projects under Anita’s invaluable guidance, while exploring essential Transmedia business & creative tools, strategies and concepts. The M+M 2011 Seminar+Lab agenda includes:

• Transmedia Fundamentals, Business + Creative Development: A Parallel Process, Identifying + Implementing your Operative Ideas
• Business Strategies: Financing Transmedia, Exploring new Revenue Streams, Pitching Transmedia Projects, and more
• Creative Toolkit: Story Architecture + Bible, Using Social Media + Technology, Involving your Audience and more

Apply now to be part of this exclusive group. Merging Media welcomes writers, film/television producers, digital media/game/mobile developers, marketing/social media specialists, broadcasters, commissioning editors and educators. Apply online and then fill in the Master Class Lab Application (PDF). Send your application to Merging Media by March 31st.

Seminar+Lab – CMPA Members: $265.49+HST, Non-members: $398.23+ HST
Seminar Only– CMPA Members/Student: $26.49+HST, Non-members: 39.82+HST

Highly subsidized rates have been made possible by our Merging Media 2011 Partners.

UBC Certificate in Entertainment Administration is offering friends of Merging Media a 10% discount on courses in its Spring term. Enhance your business and management skills for the entertainment industry with the award-winning UBC Certificate in Entertainment Administration courses in entertainment law, marketing, distribution, financing, digital media etc. See the course page for more information or call 604-822-1420. Discount code: MEDIAFILM1420 for all Spring 2011 term sessions except BC Film Orientation course.

Wired Woman Toronto is hosting a seminar titled Tap Into Your Hidden Talents: Unlock Your Potential to Build a Successful Career on the evening of Tuesday, March 1st at the Sutton Place Hotel on Bay Street. Three prominent career coaching leaders will be presenting discussion topics which will provide you with practical professional advice. At this thought-provoking event, you will have the opportunity to learn how to assess your personal skills and strengths and also gain insights into the importance of building a personal brand and creating your professional image. The scheduled speakers are Barbara Kofman, Principal at Career Trails, Nadia Baboo, Principal at The Image Factor (site currently under construction) and Donna Messer, Principal at ConnectUs Communications Canada. Tickets for this session are $35.00 for Wired Woman Members, $45.00 for non-members and $25.00 for students.

Meanwhile, Wired Woman Vancouver is hosting two upcoming seminars. The first seminar, Writing Resumes and Cover Letters that Work, features Communications Specialist and BCIT Instructor Geraldine Eliot, who will teach you how to write a winning resume and killer cover letter to get the job you want. Whether you are a recent graduate, changing careers, or want to make sure your resume is up to date “just in case”, Geraldine will focus on helping you create a targeted job application package that gets you to the top of the pile. She’ll cover the purpose of a focused job package, the dos and don’ts of resume and cover letter writing, and help you create a unique resume that gets you noticed. It is recommended that you bring a copy of your current resume to this session, which will take place on the evening of Tuesday, March 29th in the YWCA building at 733 Beatty. Tickets for this session are $20.00 for Wired Woman members and $25.00 for non-members.

The second Wired Woman Vancouver seminar will be held at the YWCA on the evening of Wednesday, April 27th and is titled A Blueprint for Implementing a Successful Mentorship Program. Dina Grskovich, Wired Woman Director Mentorship & Sponsorship will lead you through this hands-on workshop leaving you with a tangible blueprint for implementing a successful mentorship program in your organization. Dina will answer your questions about the difference between mentoring and coaching, the different types of mentoring programs and how to create a successful mentoring program. Other covered topics will include matching mentors and mentees as well as how to gauge the success of your program. Tickets for this session are $35.00 for Wired Woman members and $40.00 for non-members.  If you aren’t a Wired Woman member and taking advantage of discounted ticket prices, remember that membership is free.

A new location-based social media game has hit the mobile market from developer MobyWan. Mobeo is an app that, according to the product site,  allows you to “connect with your friends based on where you are in the real world. Leave items on your way to work or school for your friends to ‘trip’ on, ‘throw’ items at the mall or grocery store where you think your friends might be, or just leave notes at random locations around your city for your friends to discover. Mobeo pits you against your friends in a casual gaming environment to see who can outsmart who. Mobeo was developed with your privacy in mind, and includes powerful privacy controls to ensure your location is only shared with the people you choose.”

Mobeo is available now as a free download for iPhone and will be available later today in the Android Market.  The Blackberry version will be available later this year.

EA Sports™ has launched globally two major new features and over 50 improvements for FIFA 11 Ultimate Team, the massive online community of fans building, managing and competing with their ultimate football team in FIFA 11 on the PlayStation®3 and Xbox 360®. The features and improvements will be live in Asia on February 24.

FIFA 11 Ultimate Team is free-to-play (Restrictions and conditions apply – requires FIFA 11 to play) with a massive online community of more than two million fans. It is the most popular and successful DLC ever developed by EA Sports, according to internal sales data. FIFA 11 Ultimate Team challenges community members to build a squad of the world’s best footballers by earning coins from competing in weekly tournaments and then spending them on packs in the in-game store or as currency to bid for players in the very popular auction market both on console and the web app.

Some of the additional changes include updates to the auctions to make it easier to track auctions or repost expired items, Power Passing assistance is switched off by default in online matches, and a number of general stability improvements.The FIFA 11 Ultimate Team title update released today also features:

Play A Friend Challenge – enables you to test your skills against your friend’s Ultimate Team, even when your friend isn’t online. Take on your friend’s squad whenever you like with the CPU controlling their squad. Results are recorded and presented to your friend the next time they log on to their console. Now you can prove who has the best Ultimate Team whenever you are ready to play. Plus, when you return to your console, you can see who played your squad, left you a message, and challenge them to a rematch when you want to play.

Friends Leaderboards – Compare your progress in FIFA 11 Ultimate Team against friends automatically with personalized leaderboards. Catering to how you choose to play, you can now compete and compare your progress as a trader, expert team builder, top entrepreneur in the auctions, or owner of the most valuable club.

In a effort to give back to its community, EA Mobile has launched a new Deal of The Day promo that will deeply discount games or even make them free. The Deals will last all week with Saturday February 26th being the last day. The promo will include both iPhone & iPad codes over the 6 days, each day being a different mix-up of genre & style of game. You can find out what the Deal of the Day is by following EA Mobile on Facebook or Twitter. The game up for Deal of the Day, as chosen by the EA Mobile community is Mirror’s Edge, which is on sale in the iTunes app store right now for 99 cents USD.

PocketGamer has begun naming its Top 50 mobile developers for 2011 with the release of studios placed 41-50th. IUGO weighs in at #46 while two other Canadian studios are named to the list for the first time. Big Blue Bubble makes it debut at #47 and Bight Games took the #41 spot. More Top 50 developers will be added to the list during the week, culminating on the Top 10 of the Top 50 on Friday.

Reminder: Final day to vote for your choice in the Independent Games Festival Audience Award
Reminder: Final day to apply for the Astral Media Emerging Documentary Filmmakers Scholarship Program
Reminder: Final day for graduates to apply to Doc U
Reminder: Final day for Early Bird Pricing on Social Media Marketing Best Practices for Small Businesses, Not-for Profits and Organizations at BCIT Downtown Campus
Reminder: Final day to submit proposals for the SIGGRAPH 2011 Dailies, Courses, Emerging Technologies, Game Papers, Panels, Posters, Talks, Technical Papers and The Studio

Digital Alberta is hosting two mixers on March 11th – one at the Alastair Ross Technology Centre in Calgary and one at the Nexen Theatre in Edmonton. The evening’s goal is to open the door for inter-disciplinary collaboration in convergent projects, and members of both the film and interactive digital media sectors are encouraged to attend.

canWIT BC Chapter is holding a breakfast seminar on February 23rd titled How to Get Your Tech Start-up Financed. Being held at the Segal Graduate School of Business, SFU, attendees will hear about getting a start-up company up and running, financeable and financed for future growth. Tickets for this event are $15.00 each, and Thealzel Lee of Rocket Builders, Valerie Mann of Lawson Lundell LLP and Joanne Hausch of Deloitte & Touche LLP will cover:

Investment in tech in BC
How to structure your start-up
Financing options
What makes investors invest in companies
How to attract investors’ attention
Key issues to consider in the early-days of your start-up

One week remains before the Canadian Internet Forum takes place in Ottawa on February 25th. Hosted by the Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) and its partners, the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) and the Media Awareness Network (MNet), this event is an opportunity to present and examine the results of six face-to-face consultations that were held across Canada in tandem with an online discussion forum. A panel of experts will discuss the results, with topics including digital literacy, online privacy, IPv6 adoption, access to broadband, and social media, among others. Participants at the CIF will also have opportunities to provide feedback and commentary on the findings.

Experts speaking at the CIF include:

* Jacob Glick, Canada Policy Counsel, Google
* Dr. Gerri Sinclair, Executive Director, Masters of Digital Media Program at Vancouver’s Centre for Digital Media
* Marc Blanchet, Network Engineer, Viagénie
* Jim Roche, President and CEO, CANARIE
* Sally Wentworth, Senior Manager for Public Policy, Internet Society

Leading Canadian technology visionary Leonard Brody will provide the keynote address at the CIF, which is an important opportunity for Canadians to have their say on the direction the Internet should take in Canada. The results of the consultations, online discussion and the CIF will be presented to the United Nations coordinated Internet Governance Forum, a venue for stakeholders to discuss the future of the Internet, later in 2011. This event will also be webcast in English and French for those who can’t attend in person.

Hot Docs has put out a call for proposals for Doc Summit, asking Canadian producers, directors, distributors, digital and broadcast execs, and policy hawks to share their ideas on the sector’s top issues. Doc Summit is a half-day town hall forum which will be held on Friday May 6th, during this year’s Hot Docs festival, conference and market, taking place in Toronto this April 28th through May 8th.

Congratulations to everyone at Igloo Software, who picked up the Greater Kitchener Waterloo Chamber of Commerce Business Excellence Award for Innovation last evening. Igloo Software was launched in 2004 as an online network, linking researchers at the Centre for International Governance Innovation. Since that time, Igloo has evolved into a for-profit company and its social-networking platform helps clients improve employee productivity and build stronger relationships with key stakeholders.

TELETOON has launched a new online contest that will see one lucky Canadian viewer win a spot as a contestant on the English-language version of its hit Hollywood Squares-inspired animation and live-action show Skatoony, a TELETOON original production from marblemedia.

Starting today and running until Sunday, March 20, 2011 at teletoon.com, eligible kids can enter to appear alongside an assortment of well-known animated characters from TELETOON’s original productions. Hosted by the animated duo of Chudd Chudders and his sidekick announcer, The Earl, Skatoony features real-life and animated contestants competing in four side-splitting trivia-based rounds to win bragging rights as well as a terrific prize. The contest winner will receive a trip to Toronto for the filming and $1,000 spending money.

TELETOON is also running the contest for the French-language version of the series from Monday, February 28 to Thursday, March 31, 2011. Full contest rules and regulations for the English and French-language contests are available online at teletoon.com.

In anticipation of their potential rise to stardom, kids can play the new Skatoony game online at teletoon.com where they can play live against their friends. Kids can register and create their very own avatar then customize its appearance in the online “store” using Skatoony bucks earned by playing the game.

Bong of the Dead, the $5 000.00 zombie movie is in the can. Writer, producer and director of Bong of the Dead, Thomas Newman took a chance of a lifetime to complete his first feature film. Being a veteran of the special effects industry, Thomas was able to turn his love and passion for film into a movie which is now being sought after by multiple distribution companies from across the globe.

The process of creating an entire film and compositing over 350 shots himself by hand – frame by frame is typically usually the work of dozens of people. Driven by passion and fueled by his hunger for success he was able to overcome many personal and technical hurdles throughout the last two years. Along the way turning the movie into what it is today.

Here is the trailer for Bong of the Dead – while it has not been officially rated, Thomas Newman notes on the trailer title that it’s Rated R, so we caution you about the content.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gs9F9foULqk]

OpenText has completed its acquisition of global Business Process Management (BPM) leader Metastorm, adding complementary software solutions in the fast-growing BPM market. Metastorm is a key addition to OpenText’s Microsoft partner strategy and will help the company create a new generation of process improvement solutions that demand a combination of content and process management capabilities.

Baltimore, Maryland-based Metastorm is known for its leadership in BPM, but also provides Business Process Analysis (BPA) and Enterprise Architecture (EA) software—all will play a role in OpenText’s product plans. Just like BPM, Metastorm’s BPA and EA capabilities are complementary to OpenText’s and bring together comprehensive views of an organization—from the strategy and goals that drive the business, to the day-to-day systems, processes and people that run it, to the content needed to make the best business decisions. The BPM market has been a fast-growing segment of the software industry over the last few years.

Many processes involve content and thus require content management. With Metastorm, OpenText can now address any type of business process, whether the focus is content-centricity or process centricity. OpenText’s strategy is to add to existing solutions with new, uniquely powerful case management solutions used in areas such as customer on-boarding or claims processing, where the effective delivery of knowledge and content are a critical part of the overall business process.

Reminder: Banff World Media Awards submissions closes on February 18th.

Note of Interest: Are you looking for funding sources? Check out the searchable database on the MaRS Discovery District website.

Indie game developer Matt Rix has put his super-hit puzzle game Trainyard on sale in the iTunes store – and 25% of February’s profits will go to the Heart and Stroke Foundation.  The goal in Trainyard is simple: get each train to a goal station. Red trains go to red stations, blue trains go to blue stations, etc. You control the trains by drawing track for them to follow. There isn’t a time limit or even a score; the only thing you need to do is figure out a solution for each puzzle – which is often easier said than done, believe me. Trainyard is very much worth the price, plus for this month you’ll be helping to support a very important organization. If you haven’t bought this challenging puzzler yet, now would be the time.

XMG Studios has released its latest title on the iTunes App Store. Cows vs Aliens is a game of bovine protectionism.  Aliens are invading and amid all of the chaos, you need to get your cattle in the barn as fast as possible. Featuring a fun and unique multi-touch interface, Cows vs Aliens challenges your herding skills as you  squeeze as many cows through the barn doors as possible before time runs out. Not all cows are created equal, either – you’ll soon learn that some beefy beasts are more valuable than others, and the more heifers you herd at one time the higher your multiplier. Remember you are battling spacemen, though – Aliens are sneaky and determined to free you of your beef. Make sure you keep those visitors from the outer limits out of your barn or they’ll take off with your herd. Cows vs Aliens is currently priced at 99 cents USD and offers Game Center integration.

Congratulations to our Canadian developers on multiple BAFTA 2011 nominations:

Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood topped the total number of nominations, being named to seven categories: Action, Artistic Achievement, Best Games, Gameplay, Multiplayer, Technical Innovation and Use of Audio, while Bioware’s Mass Effect 2 received nominations for Artistic Achievement, Best Game, Gameplay, Original Music and Game Award of 2010.

Toronto studio Digital Extremes developed the multi-player components for Bioshock 2, and that title is nominated in the Action and Story categories. EA Sports‘ FIFA 11 is nominated as Best Game, Sports and the Game Award of 2010. Vancouver’s Smoking Gun Interactive is the developer behind 20,000 Leaks, which is a component of Kinect Adventures, and that title is nominated in the Family category.

Continuing in the awards recognition theme, this year’s winners for the Exploriem.org 2011 Bootstrap Awards (PDF) have been announced, and receiving recognition for their achievements in the interactive, digital and social media industy were:

Favequest received Gold Best Micro Business medal
Ideavibes received Gold for Most Innovative Source Bootstrap Capital, while VirtuStructure received Silver and Purple Forge received Bronze.
Zeebu Mobile received Gold for Best Guerrilla Marketing Idea/Social Marketing, while NetGen took Silver and ContestMob received Bronze.
Select Start Studios received a Silver Medal for Best Value Proposition/Value Differentiator/Pixie Dust
Threedify took home Bronze for its corporate website
NetGen also won Silver in the Most Innovative Social Enterprise Fundraiser category, while Civiside received Bronze.
Ideavibes took Silver for Most Innovative Business Model, while Arkli took the Bronze.

There is one more Bootstrap award to be presented – the top Ottawa start-up will be named at the OCRI Awards in April. IDM nominees for that award are: Purple Forge, Dual Code, Inc., GPS To Go (who also won a Bronze medal for Best Value Proposition/Value Differentiator/Pixie Dust), Blindside Networks and Pretzil.

OMDC is reporting that Ontario’s film and television industry contributed $964.3 million to the provincial economy in 2010- an increase of almost $18 million over 2009 — despite fierce competition from other jurisdictions, a sluggish U.S. economy and a high Canadian dollar. The $964 million in production activity accounted for more than 23,000 full-time direct and spin-off jobs.

The film and television industry held and gained ground over 2009, a year which experienced dramatic growth over 2008 and marked a return to production levels not seen in Ontario since 2002. Increased spending was seen in foreign television series, reflecting the continuing influence of the Ontario Government’s 2009 enhancements to the Ontario Production Services Tax Credit (OPSTC), which was expanded from 25% of eligible labour to include all eligible Ontario production costs.

Ontario Media Development Corporation (OMDC) programs also support the book and magazine publishing, music and interactive digital media industries. The entire entertainment and creative cluster supports almost 300,000 jobs and contributes $12.2 billion annually to the province’s GDP.

Calgary marketing firm Rare Method Interactive has experienced recent stock activity that prompted a statement from the company this morning, whereby “Rare Method Interactive Corp. wishes to confirm, at the request of IIROC, that the Company’s management is unaware of any material change in the Company’s operations that would account for the recent increase in market activity.

Mood Media Corporation has acquired PELIKA Business Music Oy (Pelika) for US $9.8 M, implying an acquisition multiple of 4.9 x EBITDA. Pelika is a dominant market leader in digital business music solutions in Finland, predominantly serving clients in the hospitality sector.

Endras BMW, one of Canada’s most innovative BMW retailers, is offering the ultimate job for a social media savvy, BMW enthusiast. Beginning today, anyone in the world who loves to be “in the BMW know” can attempt to make a career of it by applying to be Endras’ Ultimate Blogger at EndrasBMW.com. The most qualified and connected applicant will land the job of a lifetime. This in-house social media gig pays the chosen candidate $65K a year to drive a brand-new BMW, attend BMW events around the world, find the latest BMW news, and blog, Tweet and Facebook about it all. If these responsibilities aren’t enough to pique interest, the job also comes with a downtown Toronto condo for the Ultimate Blogger to call home for the duration of his or her contract. Stage One of the application process closes on April 1, 2011.

Reminder: Economic Development Canada and Big Fish Games are holding a webinar on February 17th, the topic is Doing Business With Big Fish
Reminder: The Hand Eye Society Social #11 is on February 17th in Toronto and will feature speakers Jason Kaplan of Game Prototype Challenge and Damian Sommer from Griddle Jam as well as Miguel Sternberg and Andrew Pilkiw Spooky Squid Games.
Reminder: Interactive Ontario is hosting iLunch 9.04 on February 25th, when the topic will be Details of the Deal: Making Sense of Interactive Digital Media Red Tape

The Centre for Creative Communications, Centennial College, is seeking innovative and forward-thinking proposals from Canadian media, interactive, creative, technology, business and social entrepreneurs for the next wave of children’s media and multi-platform projects to qualify for $50,000 federal development grants.

The new kidsmediacentre, an industry and creative content think-tank at Centennial College, will hold an information session to interested developers, on Thursday, Feb. 24 at 5:30 pm at The Centre for Creative Communications, located at 951 Carlaw Avenue, Toronto.

Centennial College’s Applied Research and Innovation Centre (ARIC) has received ten $50,000 Federal Development grants, some of which are available to help small and medium enterprises in the kids’ technology industry launch the next big idea in children’s media. The grants are part of a coordinated strategy between the federal government and colleges to accelerate innovation and productivity in southern Ontario by asking business partners to collaborate on projects and work “hands-on” with college faculty and students in developing new and innovative technologies and services. Businesses are asked to contribute at least $25,000 towards a project in cash and/or in-kind.

“Canada has been a leader in the creation and production of internationally successful children’s entertainment properties for many years,” says Nate Horowitz, Dean of The Centre for Creative Communications. “These federal grants represent an important opportunity for entrepreneurs in the kids’ animation, gaming and interactive industries to build competitive products here and on a global scale. We’re committed to helping nurture these businesses.”

Centennial College’s School of Communications, Media and Design is currently the only college in Canada offering a post-secondary program in children’s content development and is focused on writing, production and business management in the gaming, interactive, educational, publishing, TV and film industries. A key goal of the kidsmediacentre is to act as an innovation catalyst partnering the talents of the College’s students with children’s industry entrepreneurs.

The kidsmediacentre and Applied Research and Innovation Centre will work with qualified partners to ensure their early-stage businesses have the strategic counsel and creative brand development supports to move their innovation forward.

The kidsmediacentre is exploring kids’ media futures by investing in research critical to understanding their 21st century media interactions. Working with Centennial College’s Children’s Entertainment – Writing, Production and Management program and early childhood development specialists, the kidsmediacentre’s goal is to provide a range of R&D support to cross-platform, media and entertainment content providers to ensure the kids’ media industry in Canada is vibrant, indigenous and committed to the healthy growth of children. For more details or to register for the information session, contact: Debbie Gordon, Director, kidsmediacentre, 416-289-5000, ext. 8770.

Young Canadians are invited to take part in the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) ‘Financial Fitness Challenge‘, an online contest that uses videos, Facebook and Twitter tips to help youth get financially fit. The contest is aimed at helping youth increase their financial literacy and offers them the chance to win an Apple® iPad or a grand prize of $2,000.

The Financial Fitness Challenge runs from February 15 to April 15, 2011 and uses interactive tools and scenarios to raise awareness of important financial concepts such as balancing needs versus wants, budgeting, saving and investing. This year, visitors to the site will see four new entertaining and informative videos on budgeting, credit cards, investing and investment fraud.

“With close to 60,000 youth actively participating in the challenge over the past four years, the CSA has presented financial literacy education in a format that resonates with youth,” said Bill Rice, Chair of the CSA and Chief Executive Officer of the Alberta Securities Commission. “We encourage parents and teachers to continue to develop financial literacy skills in youth by using the Challenge as a fun and informative learning tool.”

The bilingual contest is open to Canadians ages 15 to 21 and offers youth the opportunity to invite friends to join the Challenge, and to compete and engage with contest participants at a local and national level. Classroom materials including lesson plans are available to download from the Teacher and Parent Resource Centre. At the close of the contest, 13 entries – one from each province and territory – will be randomly selected from eligible participants to win an Apple® iPad, and one national grand prize winner will be awarded a $2,000 scholarship.

Vancouver-based Absolute® Software Corporation will be expanding the distribution of its consumer solution LoJack® for Laptops in partnership with SYX Distribution, a company that is an affiliate of, and provides distribution services to, TigerDirect, CompUSA and CircuitCity.com.

“Our research indicates that 40% of consumers have more than seven computer devices in their homes – many of these are treasured laptops, MacBooks and PCs. These represent a substantial investment and target for would-be thieves,” said Mark Grace, vice president of consumer business at Absolute Software. “By making our solution widely available through TigerDirect’s trusted shopping venues customers use to purchase these devices, we are making it that much more convenient for consumers to get proven anti-theft protection.”

Beginning in the first quarter of calendar 2011, LoJack for Laptops will be available to consumers as part of their computer purchasing experience at major online, B2B and retail locations including: CompUSA, TigerDirect, and Circuit City. In addition, these retailers will offer LoJack for Laptops as part of all of their computer service offerings (for example, repair services, technical support services, and software installation services). The product may also be purchased as part of Service Warranty Plans and from the TigerDirect and CompUSA’s B2B sales teams.

“LoJack for Laptops gives computer owners a degree of peace of mind that contributes to a better experience owning a computer,” said Gilbert Fiorentino, CEO of TigerDirect. “This offering is a good addition to the value we can offer our customers.”

LoJack for Laptops is the industry’s leading computer anti-theft solution for home computer users. Powered by patented Computrace® technology, LoJack for Laptops is the chosen consumer theft recovery solution of the world’s leading computer manufacturers.

Features of the subscription-based service include:

* Geolocation – For day-to-day use (in non-theft scenarios), consumers can keep track of their computer on an internet-based map.
* Device freeze – If a computer is suspected to be simply lost and not stolen, customers can freeze their computer and display a custom message for whoever finds it. In addition, an unauthorized user cannot access the content on the computer, keeping private information safe in an effort to prevent identity theft.
* Remote data delete – To protect their personal information, customers can choose to delete a pre-set group of files or all files, including the operating system.
* Managed theft recovery – If a computer is stolen, the Absolute Theft Recovery Team will work with local law enforcement to recover it.

VenCorps is proud to announce the launch of the ‘Top of Toronto’ start-up challenge. The goal of the Top of Toronto Challenge is to invest $25,000 in the best tech company in Southwestern Ontario.

Making the announcement at the Ted Rogers School of Management, Sean Wise, Founding Partner at VenCorps also revealed that the Entrepreneurship department at Ryerson University would support the competition. “Ryerson is clearly a hub for Innovation and Entrepreneurship” said Wise “and we are interested in seeing which startup the Ryerson community tells us to fund.” Unlike other venture capital funds, VenCorps invests seed capital (typcially $25,000) based on the collective opinions of thousands of entrepreneurs, students, professional service providers and angel investors (whereas traditional venture funds rely on a handful of experts).

With one of the largest entrepreneurship departments in Canada, Ryerson students are taught by experienced entrepreneurs and venture capitalists that have themselves started dozens of companies and helped hundreds of entrepreneurs raise financing.

“Our department is committed to furthering a culture of entrepreneurship and the facilitation of start-ups in Canada” said Dave Valliere, Chair of the Entrepreneurship Department at the Ted Rogers School of Management, “working with VenCorpsis directly in line with other entrepreneurial initiatives at Ryerson University including our: StartMeUp Ryerson program and of course our incubator, the Ryerson Digital Media Zone.” Wise agrees, “With everything else that Ryerson is doing, it only makes sense that Ryerson be involved with the hunt for Toronto’s Top Startup” said Wise.

Launching on February 15th, 2011 the Top of Toronto challenge gives early stage tech companies in Ontario an opportunity to showcase their products/services in order to attract community member votes. The winner, as chosen by the community, will receive a $25,000 equity investment. VenCorps will take a 5% equity position in the winner and allow them to leverage the VenCorps community to facilitate rapid growth. Top of Toronto is one of twelve challenges VenCorps plans to pursue in 2011, with future challenges focusing on: mobile software, mass collaboration and women lead startups.

Registration is now open for members of the public to become community members. Participation through comments and votes earns members virtual points. Points which can be redeemed for real and virtual prizes or even a stake in VenCorps companies.

Women In Film Toronto, with the support of the Ontario Media Development Corporation (OMDC) on behalf of the Ministry of Tourism and Culture, is pleased to announce the WIFT-T Women in Digital Media Summit & Speaker Series, a two-year initiative designed to promote and celebrate women in the digital media industry.

Divided into three parts, the project consists of an international summit in October 2011, a high profile speaker series ongoing in 2012, and a web portal designed to foster local and international collaboration, research and mentorship.

“Globally, women produce, share and consume digital and interactive content at a tremendous pace,” says Susan Ross, WIFT-T Chair. “At the same time, women remain underrepresented in the digital economy. Through knowledge transfer, networking and mentorship, this initiative will recognize and encourage the participation of women so they can continue to play a key role in innovation and leadership.”

The WIFT-T International Women in Digital Media Summit will take place October 2011 in Stratford, Ontario. Presented in partnership with the University of Waterloo Stratford Campus, this three-day summit will focus on digital media content creation, implications for emerging technologies and business models, and the role of women in digital media globally.

“The Waterloo Stratford Campus is delighted to be a partner in the WIFT-T International Women’s Summit,” says Tobi Day-Hamilton, Director, Advancement. “Women are not only the leading consumers of digital media, but are also leading the field in content development and innovation. The Summit will gather visionaries from around the world to showcase talent and technologies and prepare for an exciting future in this fast-paced industry.”

The Summit will bring together traditional and digital media communities, as well as educational/research institutions from around the world, to explore innovation, skills gaps, policy and research in the content areas of gaming, mobile and social media.

At the Summit, WIFT-T will release a research report to update its 2004 study on employment trends in Canadian screen-based media. The new research will focus on the impact of digital trends and the participation of women and people from diverse backgrounds in all areas of the industry.

The Summit is made possible through the support of OMDC on behalf of the Ministry of Tourism and Culture, in partnership with the University of Waterloo Stratford Campus, City of Stratford, Dynamix Solutions, FITC and Rhyzome Networks.

Following the Summit, the WIFT-T Women in Digital Media Speaker Series will occur every three months in 2012. Held in downtown Toronto, these luncheons will feature influential women in digital media and provide guests with key networking opportunities.

Speakers will include national and international leaders in research, social media, entrepreneurship, digital content, publishing, aggregators and distribution. Keynote presentations will be streamed online via WIFT-T’s web portal, a virtual hub where conversations that begin at the Summit and Speaker Series can continue.

Featuring an active database of local and international professionals, the portal aims to foster international partnerships in research and link digital media professionals with academic institutions and mentors.

The Women in Digital Media Summit & Speaker Series will allow WIFT-T to explore the role that women play in digital industries globally, while providing female professionals with the tools they need to become key players. The initiative will highlight Ontario’s digital corridor and showcase our leading digital media professionals to the global community.

Reminder: There are 15 days left to get your nominations in for the Canadian Video Game Awards.
Reminder: There are 15 days left to submit entries for the 2011 Design Edge Canada Regional Design Awards
Reminder: Digital Media practitioners, don’t forget to fill in the industry survey over at Pixel to Product.

Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot confirmed in today’s conference call to investors that there will be a new Assassin’s Creed game this year, however we will all have to wait until May for more details.

Winnipeg studio Infinite Ammo, the co-developer of Aquaria, has posted a dev diary update for Marian and the Fantastic World of Dreams, and the game thus far looks great. In this very detailed dev diary you read about the process of meshing 2D with 3D and the trials the team has experienced thus far as the game unfolds. You can also hear a sampling of the game’s soundtrack as you read the diary post.

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

If you are unfamiliar with Infinite Ammo’s project, the game’s main character is Marian, a beautifully carved marionette who rips her strings from the grasp of ‘The Narrator’ and to become her own master. She becomes caught in the dream world between life and death, learning to her own puppet strings as a tool in her quest to discover her true identity, and in fitting with today’s universal Valentine’s Day theme, she may even find true love.

Rocket5 Studios has released the first teaser trailer for that studio’s upcoming iOS game XS Force, which the creators will be demoing at GDC 2011. XS Force is an explosive arcade shooter starring characters inspired by some of the biggest action movie stars of the 1980?s, and this trailer lets you get a glimpse of one of the XS Force heroes.

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

Rocket5’s previous titles for the iPhone and iPod Touch include Giant Moto and Holeshot Drag Racing as well as amusement apps Alien Booth and iSpoof Walken.

Source Studio has announced new DLC for the recently updated Proto Galaxy. Proto Defense, the first DLC release for Proto Galaxy, will soon be available for free via the game’s Steam page. Check out what’s coming in this expansion:

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZpW8IKPG2k]

Released in October 2010, Proto Galaxy is a turrent defense game that allows up to four players to team up and save the galaxy from an alien force determined to enslave humanity. As Earth’s last line of defense, you must put an end to the attacks and rebuild a home for the survivors.

Distribution360 has acquired rights to distribute the Cartoon Network U.K. version of Skatoony to French and German-speaking Europe as well as Spain. The company will also distribute the North American version of Skatoony—produced by marblemedia—to the same territories. Skatoony (U.K.) airs on Cartoon Network U.K.; Skatoony (North America) was commissioned by TELETOON, and premiered on the Canadian kids network in English and French this past October. Skatoony is the first animated/live-action quiz show adventure that pits tweens and ‘toons against each other in four frantic, trivia-based rounds. Set in a fantastical television studio in the fictional town of Showtown, the series is anchored by the cartoon duo of host Chudd Chudders and his lounge-singing sidekick, The Earl. Each week, they attempt to put together another show, while all manner of mad happenings occur around them. Skatoony Interactive features the “Skatoony Home Game,” a multi-player game where kids play Skatoony in real-time against other kids online.

“We’re excited to be distributing both versions of Skatoony to international markets,” says Stéphanie Röckmann-Portier, Managing Director/Head of Sales, Distribution360. “We’re looking forward to offering broadcasters a library of versioned episodes in order to identify content that best suits their needs.”

“Working with Distribution360 gives us the opportunity to exploit new territories for Skatoony,” says Michael Carrington, Chief Content Officer, Turner Broadcasting. “It’s a fantastic fast-paced game show which is sure to delight new audiences across Europe.”

In addition to Skatoony, D360’s kids slate also includes Splatalot, Ambition Skatecamp, This is Daniel Cook, and This is Emily Yeung for distribution to international markets.

Communitech’s annual Tech Leadership Conference on March 2, 2011 is the place to be for anyone in high-tech — to hear keynote speakers author Geoffrey Moore and futurist Watts Wacker, share views with journalist and author Scott Berkun, and gain insights from a high-tech power panel moderated by former Global national news anchor Kevin Newman. More than 500 people are expected to attend the largest such one-day event in Southwestern Ontario.

“It’s an action-packed day that will focus on the new fundamentals of business in an era where the power of the crowd shapes everything from marketing practices to purchase consideration, and leading-edge innovation continues to drive rapid change,” said Iain Klugman, president and CEO of Communitech.

The Tech Leadership Conference will feature a ‘BIG Conversation’ between Canadian industry leaders — MKS CEO Philip Deck, Sr. VP OSI John Ruffolo, and CTO OpenText Eugene Roman with Geoffrey Moore and moderated by Kevin Newman — addressing the major shifts occurring in the tech industry. Startup companies will also pull back the curtain on latest innovations moving from stealth mode to commercialization in the annual Tech Expo staged at the conference.

Geoffrey Moore is best known as the author of the ground-breaking book “Crossing the Chasm” and is a managing director at TCG Advisors and a venture partner at MDV. Tech leadership attendees will hear from Moore how disruptive innovation can have a positive impact on their business plans. Lecturer, best-selling author, political commentator and social critic Watts Wacker will bring a futurist’s perspective to the Tech Leadership Conference, focusing on navigating the sea of change in business.

Scott Berkun — author of three best-selling books, contributor to publications such as Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, and The Guardian, and a blogger for Harvard Business and BusinessWeek — will investigate the myths of innovation.

Breakout sessions at the Tech Leadership Conference include the following topics and leaders:

* Myths of Innovation: Scott Berkun
* Developing Your Digital Roadmap: Dan Christian, DanoDigital
* Recruiting Trends: Sharon Rudy, SpencerStuart
* Under Construction: The Sales and Marketing Organization of the Future: John Neeson, Sirius Decisions
* Life After Exit Leadership Panel: Steve Woods, Google; Yvan Couture, Primal; Ron Neumann, Dejero Labs; moderated by Greg Barratt, Communitech.

Congratulations to Toronto-based SecureKey Technologies Inc., who has received an investment from Intel Capital, Intel Corporation’s global investment organization. SecureKey designs hardware and software solutions to enable the strong cryptographic capabilities of debit, credit and identity smartcards including those within NFC based phones to be used for online authentication and online purchases. Terms of the investment were not disclosed.

Canon Canada is launching a national print and broadcast campaign, developed with JWT Canada that is uniquely Canadian – for Canadians by Canadians. The campaign, with additional online elements to be incorporated in the next several months, aims to deepen Canon Canada’s emotional connection with its consumers through the telling of important shared moments in life.

JWT Canada undertook strategic sessions with the various business units, which resulted in the notion that people need and want Canon imaging products when the output really counts; be that a photo of your child’s graduation, a retina camera that can detect early warning signs of diabetes or print-outs for an important client presentation. The campaign takes the focus off the product attributes and shines a light on the people who use Canon products.

Happy first anniversary to Snowed In Studios. The Ottawa studio is currently working with Eidos Montreal on the upcoming Deus Ex: Human Revolution and recently worked with Artech Studios on The Undergarden for Atari. The Snowed In team has also worked with two other studios on our Favourites List, Behaviour and TransGaming. Here’s to many more years of gaming goodness for the team at Snowed In!

Vancouver indie developer Josh Brown has released his first Android title. Vertigo Towers is a physics based 3D action puzzler with 3 game modes which requires the player to match sets of three or more bricks and create chains for huge points. Vertigo Tower is OpenFeint-enabled complete with a Leaderboard and Achievements. There is both a paid version (1.99 USD) and a lite version available in Android Marketplace. I would buy this game if it became available for iPod Touch.

Relic and THQ have opened up the Warhammer®40,000®: Dawn of War®II – Retribution™ BETA to anyone who has bought a Dawn of War game through STEAM or has registered a Dawn of War II product on their STEAM account. In addition, gamers can get access to the beta by registering on the Dawn of War Community site and following the instructions under the Beta Key giveaway tab.

Featuring all six multiplayer races including the new Imperial Guard faction, the beta will run through the end of February to test the new Steamworks network and matchmaking features and help balance the multiplayer mode. All new units for each race will be available in the beta along with the new multiplayer maps that will ship with Retribution. The Dawn of War II – Retribution multiplayer beta is currently planned to run until midnight on February 24th, at which point the developers will take all feedback into account to create a day-zero balancing patch.

The Cavechild checked out the Retribution Beta last week, and his thoughts thus far are: HOLY WTF WIN! FREAKIN’ EPIC OMG WEEEEEE. That pretty much sums it up, there is more and all but that is for another time.

Retribution is very very VERY pretty, it a new thought out army panter so that you can see what many of you squads will look like, they made it a little less shiney and more grungy like the old dawn of war which is freaking amazing! The sound in the game, the effects, ambiance, voices, yelling, gunfire, tanks, orcs and so on are very clear even in the middle of a giant war with 2 Imperial guard armies taking down Orcs, more Orcs and some weird looking Eldar.

In my opinion the Imperial Guard are just a little OP considering I was able to beat down the Orc Warboss pretty easy, same with the Eldar Farseer. The game play is the same as the two games previous so none of you have to worry about changing style and how to do things. If I remember correctly you are allowed to import everything for Last Stand mode which is you versus a ton of AI which aren’t too hard then casually grow in difficulty. Dawn of War II: Retribution is by far one of the best games for 2011 and the year has only started…

Congratulations to the Mass Effect 2 team on all of the hardware they picked up at last evening’s AIAS Awards, winning in three categories: Outstanding Achievement in Story,  Role Playing / MMO Game of the Year and Game of the Year – and of course congratulations to Bioware co-founders Doctors Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk on their induction into the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences’ Hall of Fame. Congratulations also to the FIFA 2011 team over at EA Sports for picking up the Sports Game of the Year award.

Frima Studio titles Widgets Odyssey I and Widgets Odyssey II are now available in Europe as a single game bundle for the super low price of £1.74 / €1.99! As PlayStation®Mini titles, Widgets Odyssey I and Widgets Odyssey II are playable on both PlayStation®3 and PlayStation®Portable. Both titles are rated as PEGI 7 (ESRB rated E for Everyone).

In the Widgets Odyssey saga, five robots aboard their space vessel have just one simple mission…to save the universe from the tyrannical Yagor and his evil henchmen! Armed with the unique abilities of Spad, Cosmo, Bruce, Helmut, and Monk, players will guide each robot along their exciting adventures filled with puzzles, mazes, minigames and intense platforming challenges.

If you’re in the Vancouver area on March 9th, you may be interested in attending BCTIA’s TechBrew event being held at the Stanley Park Pavilion. The mega-mixer invites entrepreneurs, investors, professional service providers or anyone interested in technology companies to meet, talk, and make new connections in a casual setting. Featured companies at the March event include: D2D Campaign Solutions, Gogiro, ikamobile, Jostle, Nexterra Systems Corp., NGRAIN, REV, Rx Networks, SewerVUE, Snap Technologies, Solegear Bioplastics and Wishpond. Tickets for TechBrew are $34.95 for BCTIA members, $44.95 for Non-Members or $19.95 for Students.

bant, an iPhone based application to help adolescents improve diabetes self-management by capturing, analyzing, and sharing their blood glucose data, is being tested by teenagers at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) Diabetes Clinic in Toronto. The pilot program will assess the impact that social networking and rewards that encourage and reinforce self-management behaviours have on young teens as they become more independent in managing their diabetes. The pilot will run for three months.

bant was developed by University Health Network (UHN) in collaboration with SickKids and with input from patients, families, doctors, nurses and engineers. The multidisciplinary teams from SickKids’ Diabetes Clinic and Division of Adolescent Medicine worked closely with colleagues at UHN to design the application. bant is partially funded by the Saint Elizabeth Health Care ACT research grant program.

People with type 1 diabetes need to maintain their blood glucose levels as close to normal as possible to decrease diabetes-related complications, such as kidney and heart disease. Optimal blood glucose is very hard to achieve; requiring frequent measurement of levels, detailed analysis of the results, and continued adjustments of the treatment plan.

A free version of bant is already available in 10 languages at the Apple App Store. An advanced version of the application has been developed for use in the pilot which will use a LifeScan OneTouch Mini blood glucose meter to collect and wirelessly transfer readings directly into bant using a Bluetooth adapter developed by the UHN team. The data are then displayed and organized visually. Teens can customize the tool to categorize readings according to their activities and daily schedule to enable accurate decision-making and medication adjustments. They will also be able to share their experiences in a private social network within the app and earn experience points leading to rewards in the form of iTunes redemption codes to purchase music and other apps. bant is integrated with TELUS health space, Powered by Microsoft HealthVault, giving pilot participants the ability to store, review, and control the sharing of their personal health information with their care team and family members.

Sierra Wireless has unveiled a multi-purpose wireless gateway that defines next-generation intelligent machine-to-machine (M2M) networking. The powerful Sierra Wireless AirLink™ GX400 gateway offers a leading-edge combination of features, including cloud-based device management, extensive hardware and software enhancements, mil-spec ruggedness, GPS and associated location-based services, and advanced configuration options with comprehensive expandability for both hardware and software features.

Flexible and powerful enough to meet the needs of a wide range of applications in the transportation, industrial M2M and enterprise markets, the AirLink GX400 will make solution deployment faster, easier and less expensive for mobile system operators, OEMs, application service providers and end customers. With the AirLink GX400, system integrators can standardize on a single gateway platform to serve the needs of all of their customers.

Sierra Wireless also announced AirLink Management Services (AMS), which will facilitate comprehensive cloud-based device management for the AirLink GX400, as well as other AirLink intelligent gateways and routers. Based on the Sierra Wireless AirVantage™ Platform, this powerful hosted device management service means small and large deployments can affordably take advantage of the comprehensive AMS management features from any location with Internet access.

Sierra Wireless boosted processing performance five-fold, basing the AirLink GX400’s design on an ARM 11-class microprocessor architecture operating with high-capacity DDR memory. This provides a powerful foundation for exploiting existing and new features and functionality. Other hardware enhancements include external antenna connectors, Ethernet, Serial and USB “OTG” (On-the-Go), as well as an expansion slot to accommodate future integrated add-on capabilities such as additional physical interfaces and wireless local and personal area networking and communications.

via University of Alberta ExpressNews: A joint research project between the University of Alberta’s Faculty of Education and the Department of Computing Science has found that, for high-school girls, the fun is in making video games, not just playing them.

Computing science professor Duane Szafron and fellow U of A researchers Mike Carbonaro, Jonathan Schaeffer and Maria Cutumisu say that women in computing science are rare, but their study shows that if you want to get more females interested in computing science, you have to rewrite the program, so to speak.

“There’s been a huge push throughout North America to try and get girls to go into computing science, but [educators are] having a lot of challenges convincing them,” said the Faculty of Education’s Carbonaro. “The findings are important, as they demonstrate a way to motivate girls’ interest in computing science”

In their study, the researchers wanted to see whether girls would gain as much interest in game development as they boys in the class control group. To facilitate the experiment, they introduced a group of local Grade 10 students to a program called ScriptEase, a tool that allowed them to develop and design their own games. A key factor in the study was having male participants who had more experience than the females in gaming.

Duane Szafron and Maria Cutumisu Photo: U of Alberta

Szafron says that there is an inherent creative component to computing science, and that having a student design and construct something using the tool is one way to allow them to investigate that aspect of computing science. “We thought we should have female students create games and see if they are just as excited about making games as male students and see whether it’s an attractor to computing science that is independent of gender,” he said.

Their findings indicated that female students enjoyed creating games as much as their male counterparts; further, they preferred game construction to activities such as story writing. Further, he noted the female students gained and used practical skills that are crucial to understanding computing science.

“The female students built games that were every bit as good as the male students made, even though the male students had more experience with playing games,” said Szafron. “In terms of the quality of the games developed and the abstraction skills that the students learned, which could translate to knowledge of competing science—and in terms of the amount of fun that they had—there was no difference between the two groups.”

According to Carbonaro, computing science teachers need to look at redesigning the types of projects and content they use in class to make them more “female-user friendly.”

“If you want more females in computing science, you need to radically change the curriculum. You need to provide activities that are more gender neutral so that they’ll be attracted to the discipline.”

The research study was recently published in Computers and Education.

Reminder: one week left to register for Prime Time in Ottawa

Pursuant to yesterday’s announcement by Shaw Communications in regards to their delaying Usage Based Billing, a reply from the corporation has shown up in my email box in regards to their upcoming “User Meetings”

Thank you for the Email dated February 8th, 2011.

We’re glad to hear you are interested in Usage Based Billing and want to join the conversation with regards to managing bandwidth usage. We are still setting up venues and times for the discussion so at this point we cannot say when or where they will be but we will contact you with an invitation as soon as these details have been worked out. We do expect to be sending out invitations next week so look for that in your Email.

We hope this answers your question but if you do require further assistance please feel free to contact us again by Email, Chat or Phone.

Today is release day for the third and final episode of Assassin’s Creed: The Fall, a comic book based on the Assassin’s Creed franchise and created by Karl Kerschl and Cameron Stewart. All three comics in the series are available at comic book stores or can be ordered online at the Ubiworkshop store.

For those unfamiliar with the comic series storyline, readers follow 19th century Russian assassin Nikolai Orelov as he strives to claim an artifact of immense power from the hands of the Templars, leading to a climactic and violent showdown with the ruthless Tsar Alexander III aboard a speeding train. Nikolai’s modern-day counterpart is a troubled young drifter who tries to cope with unsettling visions of a possible past life – visions that have irreversible consequences for the present.

Interactive Ontario has announced that registration for INplay 2011 is now open, and early adopters can benefit from the Kick Off ticket price of $629.00 (plus HST), which is available until February 23rd, when prices increase to $719.00 (plus HST). INplay is a conference that “connects kids creative industries with insights and opportunities in the interactive space,, encompassing all facets of the industry from the video game business to the broadcast industry, from toys to toons.”

This year’s INplay event will be held in Toronto on May 17th and 18th, and will feature three main tracks:

* Inspiration – creativity and content stream
* Investment – business stream
* Insights – research stream

INplay 2010 was held at Toronto’s Liberty Grand, welcoming 334 participants to the experience and featured three keynote presentations and 27 educational sessions lead by 106 international speakers.

Brock University has put out a call for papers for its third biennial conference on the Interactive Arts and Sciences. This year’s theme is Interacting with Immersive Worlds, with a focus on exploring the growing cultural importance of interactive media. The conference subject matter offers sessions in four different tracks:

The Challenges at the Boundaries of Immersive Worlds: creative exploration and innovation in immersive media including ubiquitous computing, telepresence, interactive art and fiction, and alternative reality.
The Critical Approaches to Immersion: look at analyses of the cultural and/or psychological impact of immersive worlds, as well as theories of interactivity.
The Immersive Worlds in Education: examine educational applications of immersive technologies.
The Immersive Worlds in Entertainment: examine entertainment applications of immersive technologies, such as computer games. Read the rest of this entry »