Village Gamer

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

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

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

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

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

Canadian-poker.ca reports that Full Tilt Poker, which was involved in the April 15 online poker shutdown in the U.S., has just had its license to operate suspended by the Alderney Gambling Control Commission (AGCC).

PokerStars, another major online poker site involved in the April shutdown, still has its license. The poker room released an official statement assuring that players will not be affected. Full Tilt Poker’s suspension is completely unrelated to the operation of PokerStars, which will continue unchanged, the statement confirmed. For players in Canada, the Full Tilt Poker site is currently listed as undergoing “scheduled maintenance.”

According to Canadian-poker.ca spokesman Leon Daniels, it might take time until Full Tilt Poker resolves its licensing issues. “In the meantime, there are plenty of other options for us Canadian poker fans, and at this point we can only trust sites run by publicly traded companies who won’t risk their reputation or stock value.”

“Take 888 Poker for example; it’s remained online and reliably in operation while other sites struggle with lawsuits and regulators. In fact, 888 Poker is winning back the hearts of Canadian poker players who were swept away to other poker rooms, but who are now realizing it’s best to stick to a strong company.” Leon also remarked that 888 is now offering players in Canada special bonuses for “returning home” from other poker sites.

Party Poker is another example of an operation that has remained reputable and reliable throughout this period of online poker turmoil, and is an option for players looking to play at an established institution. Party Poker recently merged with Bwin Poker and players can enjoy both brands under the same protection of a strong, publicly traded company.

Despite Leon’s concern, Canadian-poker.ca is convinced there is no reason for Canadian players to be concerned over the latest Full Tilt news. Companies like 888 Poker, Party Poker, and Bwin continue to operate as usual, and online poker in Canada is as strong as ever.

Vancouver Social Games and Full Indie have gotten together along with Frank the Accountant to present an evening designed to offer accounting tips, suggestions and how-to hints to game developers and business owners. For the very nominal fee of $10.00, interested parties are invited to this evening event on July 18th. At this writing, there were only 9 tickets remaining, so register quickly. The location for the seminar is yet to be decided, but bring along your portable computing device for this workshop-styled session where you will get both visual and hands-on assistance as you try to navigate the world of business accounting.

Shaw Communications Inc. has completed its acquisition of the cable system assets of Sun Country Cablevision Ltd. and its affiliated companies Armstrong Cablecom Ltd. and Enderby Cablecom Ltd. The Sun Country Cablesystems are located in the central interior region of British Columbia.

“Sun Country has built an excellent system which represents a terrific addition to our existing cable properties and we are excited to expand our presence in the Interior of British Columbia” said Peter Bissonnette, President of Shaw.

Sun Country began operations in 1984 and has grown over the years to provide television, phone and internet offerings to its customers. “We are very pleased to join forces with Shaw”, said Michael Hall, Managing Director of Sun Country. “Shaw has a reputation of providing exceptional and innovative products and services to their customers.”

The world’s most popular dance game, Just Dance^®, will launch its third title, Just Dance 3, worldwide on October 11. Developed by Ubisoft^® Paris and Ubisoft Montreal, Just Dance 3 will mark the game’s debut on Kinect™ for Xbox 360^® and the PlayStation^® Move for PlayStation^®3. The new title will also be available on the latest Wii™.

In addition to the game’s exciting 40-track song list, Just Dance 3 introduces exclusive new game features such as four-player choreographies, a DJ feature that allows custom mixing, freestyle dance options, a new “Shout Out!” feature on Kinect where players can score extra points by belting out their favorite songs – and much, much more!

“As part of the highly anticipated launch, Just Dance 2 will be featured in Katy Perry’s new music video ‘Last Friday Night’. The game will also become an official sponsor of Katy Perry’s 2011 North American California Dreams Tour,” says Lucile Bousquet, Director of Marketing and Communications for Ubisoft Canada. “Our fans really connect with Katy Perry, and we’re excited to be teaming up with such a renowned hit singer.”

The Just Dance 2 concert sponsorship includes a contest where fans can win a once-in-a-lifetime chance to meet Miss Perry. The ‘Just Dance Your Way to Katy Perry’ contest challenges fans to record themselves and their friends dancing to Katy’s ‘Firework’ on Just Dance 2^® in an effort to win VIP tickets and meet-and-greet passes to Katy’s U.S. and Canadian shows. “I’m a fan of Just Dance 2^®, and I’m glad it brings people together to dance, just like I get to do on my tour,” says chart-topping Katy Perry.

The Canadian leg of the California Dreams Tour begins in Toronto on June 29^th and ends in Vancouver on July 19^th.

To round out the pre-launch excitement, a Canadian Facebook contest will be unveiled in late July, where one lucky winner and a guest will be flown to Toronto for a VIP experience complete with accommodations at a hip hotel, a shopping spree, dinner at a trendy restaurant and tickets to a top concert.

Featured tracks in Just Dance 3:

• 2 Unlimited – “No Limit”
• Black Eyed Peas – “Pump It”
• Duck Sauce – “Barbra Streisand”
• Groove Century – “Boogie Wonderland”
• Gwen Stefani – “What You Waiting For”
• Katy Perry – “California Gurls”
• Kiss – “I Was Made For Lovin’ You”
• Laura Bell Bundy – “Giddy On Up (Giddy On Out)”
• LMFAO featuring Lauren Bennett and GoonRock – “Party Rock Anthem”
• MIKA – “Lollipop”
• Taio Cruz – “Dynamite”

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

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

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

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

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

Ottawa’s Elliptic Technologies has partnered with Amos Technologies, an Israeli representative company for best-in-class IP and EDA vendors, to bring Elliptic’s portfolio of security solutions to the Israeli market.

“We are very proud to partner with a global leader in security IP,” said Moshe Stein of Amos Technologies. “We see a great synergy between the IP solutions of Elliptic and the need of our ASIC, SoC and embedded system customers to address security issues on their products. The tight collaboration with Elliptic will enable us to offer our customer base complete, robust and top-of-the-line security solutions that can be seamlessly integrated into their custom devices with silicon validated IP and fast time-to-market.”

“We are very pleased to partner with Amos to better serve the security needs of our current and future customers in Israel,” said Vijay Dube, President and CEO of Elliptic. “Amos has a proven track record of providing excellent quality and customer support to the semiconductor market in Israel. The partnership will further strengthen Elliptic’s ability to market and support its advanced embedded security IP, software and platform solutions in Israel.”

Amos is an established independent representation company in Israel. Semiconductor and embedded system designers value Amos as an independent and reliable source for best quality IP from around the world. Amos offers complete, proven and high quality IP by providing a range of services from its elite Partners. The new Amos/Elliptic partnership adds more than 60 proven IP cores and security middleware to Amos’ technology base.

Elliptic is widely recognized as a top security IP supplier that provides highly tuned, customer specific security solutions built on a combination of software and semiconductor hardware engines. Elliptic offers the industry’s broadest portfolio of security engines ranging from random number generators, a wide variety of cryptographic cores such as AES, Snow 3G, Kasumi, ZUC and SHA, RSA and ECC public key accelerators, to protocol processors for IPsec, TLS/SSL/DTLS and MACsec. Software solutions include embedded cryptographic middleware, embedded systems firmware, hardware device drivers and software APIs for security applications. The company also has a comprehensive portfolio of Platform Security solutions such as Secure Boot and Virtual Security Modules.

Elliptic’s products are featured in LTE-Advanced and WiFi wireless security applications, digital rights management and conditional access, storage and military/government applications such as Suite B. They are perfectly suited to the requirements of Israeli companies and Elliptic has successfully licensed cores to several established and startup customers in Israel.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Vancouver’s web safety and security provider SparkTrust Systems has officially launched its flagship services, SparkTrust Certified and eTrue Reviews. Together, the two services provide website owners and online shoppers a new level of safety and security on the Internet. SparkTrust Certified defends online merchants against hackers, exploits, and malware attacks, while eTrue Reviews provides an outlet for verified customers to share their purchase experience.

“I’m very pleased to see SparkTrust go live today, on schedule,” said Gregory K. Amlin, General Manager at SparkTrust. “We’re on a mission to make the Internet safer, and SparkTrust Certified and eTrue Reviews will make that happen – particularly because we offer the primary services for free. We think cost shouldn’t keep anyone from safety and security.”

SparkTrust Certified, now in open beta testing, offers website owners top-tier security scans. The service provides webmasters with thorough scans to protect against malware and vulnerabilities as well as meet PCI regulatory commitments. Along with the scan comes SparkTrust Certified security specialists, who walk owners through the steps to keep their site protected. Website owners are encouraged to display the SparkTrust Certified badge, proving their commitment to safety and security.

Focusing on the social aspect, eTrue Reviews is fully live for online shoppers and website owners. The social review tool allows online shoppers to share their experiences, and read recommendations from other customers. Setting it apart from similar services, eTrue Reviews verifies customers before they leave a review. Not only does this improve review rates, but it also ensures that reviews posted come from actual customers.

“The Internet can be a scary place, particularly when you start dealing with credit details and online payments. Website owners need to take the extra step to make their customers feel safe. Not only are protected customers more likely to return, but they are more likely to do business with an online merchant in the first place,” said Amlin. “By combining security technology with social intelligence, we can provide true web safety.”

Website owners can sign up for the SparkTrust Certified open beta now, and online shoppers and online businesses can start reviewing online with eTrue Reviews right now.