Village Gamer

Wi-LAN Inc. has announced that Everex Electronics has signed a six-year running royalty license agreement related to LTE, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and CDMA technologies for use in Computers, Notebooks, Tablets and other consumer electronic devices.

“Everex is the 115^th company to license patents in our growing wireless portfolio,” said Jim Skippen, Chairman & CEO. “With over 1000 issued and pending patents related to current and next generation wireless technologies, licensees are gaining great value from our technology portfolio.”

WiLAN’s wireless technology patent portfolio includes over 500 issued and pending patents related to 4G. The Company’s portfolio also includes patents related to 3G, CDMA, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, MIMO and antenna technologies.

In acknowledgment of exceptional service and sales performance, Alberta’s Serenic Corporation, a publisher of financial management and business operations software for nonprofits, international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and the public sector, has been named to both the 2011 Microsoft Dynamics Inner Circle and the 2011 Microsoft Dynamics President’s Club, reflecting Serenic’s success in extending the Microsoft Dynamics platform to drive business advantages in companies worldwide. Both achievements are a direct result of Serenic’s outstanding dedication to customer satisfaction through the delivery of innovative business solutions.

The prestigious 2011 Inner Circle for Microsoft Dynamics is an elite group made up of approximately the top 1 percent of Microsoft Dynamics partners from across the globe with sales achievements that rank them in the highest echelon of the Microsoft Dynamics global network of partners. Members of the Inner Circle for Microsoft Dynamics have performed to a high standard of excellence by delivering valuable solutions that help organizations achieve increased success. 2011 Inner Circle members are invited to the Inner Circle retreat, at the breathtaking Fairmont St. Andrews in St. Andrews, Scotland, Aug. 7–10, 2011, where they will have a unique opportunity to share strategy and network with Microsoft Dynamics senior leaders and other successful Microsoft Dynamics partners from around the globe.

The Microsoft Dynamics President’s Club honors high-performing Microsoft Dynamics partners whose commitment to customers is reflected in their business success and growth. This prestigious group represents the top 5 percent of Microsoft Dynamics partners worldwide. Membership is granted based on their continual, committed efforts aimed at offering solutions that meet the needs of their customers.

This recognition came during the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference (WPC), the company’s annual premier partner event, which took place this year in Los Angeles. WPC provides Microsoft Corp.’s partner community with the opportunity to learn about the company’s road map for the upcoming year, establish connections, share best practices, experience the latest product innovations and learn new skills.

“We’re excited to recognize Serenic as a leader in the Microsoft Dynamics global partner community for promoting and delivering solutions that drive customer success,” said Doug Kennedy, vice president, Microsoft Dynamics Partners. “By providing the highest level of sales and innovation, customers can have absolute assurance they are dealing with the ‘best of the best’ when working with Serenic.”

Serenic is dedicated to helping customers find the best solutions and services to accommodate their business needs and further their success, while excelling in customer satisfaction. By collaborating with the teams at Microsoft, Serenic maintains a comprehensive understanding of the Microsoft Dynamics platform to provide innovative solutions, services and unparalleled value to Microsoft Dynamics customers. Previous honors include Serenic being named the 2007 and 2009 Microsoft Dynamics Outstanding ISV of the Year and earning membership in the 2007, 2009 and 2010 Microsoft Dynamics Inner Circle and the 2007, 2009 and 2010 Microsoft Dynamics President’s Club.

“Serenic is honored to receive Microsoft’s highest recognition acknowledging the company’s continued performance,” said Randy Keith, Serenic’s president and CEO. “The entire Serenic team, our customers, and our dedicated partners are responsible for our continuing success and for this accomplishment.”

Seven Arts Pictures PLC has announced an agreement with Prodigy Pictures, Inc. to jointly produce and distribute the highly-anticipated motion picture “Neuromancer,” based on the best-selling science fiction novel by William Gibson.

Prodigy hopes to arrange substantial financing for the film, which is expected to have a production budget of approximately $60 million. Prodigy’s Founder and CEO, Jay Firestone, will be the lead producer on “Neuromancer,” and will supervise all elements of production for the film.

“Jay Firestone has a long and well regarded reputation in the industry,” said Peter Hoffman, CEO of Seven Arts. “I firmly believe that Jay’s savvy and expansive relationships will lead to strong investment, and a sharp production.”

Published in 1984, “Neuromancer” was the first winner of the science fiction “triple crown,” receiving the prestigious Nebula Award, Philip K. Dick Award and the Hugo Award. “Neuromancer” was also listed on Time magazine’s list of 100 best English-language novels written since 1923. By 2007, William Gibson’s archetypal cyberpunk novel had sold more than 6.5 million copies worldwide.

The film adaptation of Gibson’s novel will be written and directed by Vincenzo Natali, whose directorial credits include the 2009 science fiction horror film, “Splice” and the 1997 psychological thriller, “Cube.”

“Having Vincenzo on board has been exhilarating for us,” said Jay Firestone, founder of Prodigy Pictures. “His distinctive vision has added a striking new dimension to William Gibson’s already thought-provoking story.”

Principal photography on the film is expected to begin in the first quarter of 2012.

Project Box LLC, creator of Pocketbooth has announced a special summer promotion. From July 25th to August 22nd, Pocketbooth will be specially priced at 99 cents in the Ovi Store (pricing may vary by local market). Pocketbooth perfectly replicates the intimacy, spontaneity, and hilarity of a traditional photobooth. Take it to your next party and watch as your friends strike a pose. Meticulously designed to emulate the experience of a 1950s-era Model 11 Photobooth, the Pocketbooth mobile application is as beautiful to look at as it is fun to use. The interface makes taking self-portraits a snap.

Pocketbooth allows users to choose between the front-facing or rear-facing camera on Nokia smartphones and take pictures in color, black and white, sepia, 1975, or antique filters. The application automatically saves photostrips and can export them to the camera’s photo library. Users can then share the photostrips via Facebook or Twitter, and email them to their friends around the world.

“We are excited to offer Pocketbooth to Nokia smartphone users around the globe at a special lower price during this summer promotion, and to make it available in five additional languages. Pocketbooth is the perfect showcase for the best-in-class camera technology on devices like the Nokia N8,” said Tim Garrett, CEO of Project Box.

Pocketbooth is currently available in the Ovi Store and is compatible with Nokia models C6-01, C7, C7 Astound (from T-Mobile), E6, E7, N8, and X7. The application is available globally and is now available in six languages (English, Chinese, Spanish, German, French and Italian)

Ottawa digital content distribution company International Datacasting Corporation has announced a vendor financing package and a follow-up on contracts with the Wananchi Group Ltd., for the rollout of a Direct-to-Home (DTH) broadcast service in Africa.

International Datacasting announces that it has successfully secured a vendor financing package, which establishes a revolving credit facility for Wananchi. This credit facility was developed in cooperation with Export Development Canada (EDC) and a Canadian financial institution.

Wananchi Group Ltd. launched the first triple-play network in Africa, and recently added Zuku Satellite to bring video, voice and data services to consumers in the Sub-Saharan region of Africa.

Richard Essex, Chief Development Officer of East Africa Capital Partners (EACP), and Africa Telecommunications Media and Technology Fund (ATMT) stated, “We believe that this unique structure acts as an important cornerstone for our relationship going forward. Canadian technology is already playing a key role for Wananchi as it launches its pay TV service. We have broken new ground and as the business grows, we look forward to this facility growing along with it.”

EDC’s July 2010 investment in ATMT under its international equity program, along with this new credit facility, demonstrates EDC’s continued participation in investment opportunities in East Africa.

In addition to financing, IDC was awarded two new contracts worth nearly US$1 million. The first contract is a multi-year Support Agreement for equipment and software support, valued at US$299,000 in the first year. The second contract, valued at US$591,000, covers a 12-month period for the supply of Operations and Technical Assistance for the Zuku DTH satellite platform in Kenya.

“IDC and Wananchi worked well together with EDC to structure this unique financing,” stated Frederick Godard, President and CEO, IDC. “This is an important step in the growth path of IDC Systems Group. We will look to expanding this credit facility for Wananchi, and to pursuing other viable opportunities within this new framework.”

In June 2010, IDC announced an initial contract with Wananchi that includes broadcast products, and IDC Systems Group services for the development, build and roll-out of the network. The contract includes head-end equipment that will enable a satellite-to-set-top box distribution platform for the delivery of a secure broadcast system to homes throughout the region.

Intertainment Media Inc. is celebrating the first anniversary of its social media, real time, experiential communications platform Ortsbo with major milestone achievements. The service has generated over 367 Million Minutes of User Engagement, 303 Million Page Views, 111 Million Online Engagements from over 71 Million Unique Users, from over 170 countries and territories during its first year.

On July 21, 2011 Ortsbo expanded its intellectual property portfolio submitting a provisional patent application to the United State Patent and Trademark Office titled “System and Method of Translating Instant Messages”. The comprehensive patent application covers many of the innovative features found in Ortsbo’s product and services suite including the ability of translation of instant messages on multiple instant messaging networks and enabling language translation of instant messages where only one of the parties is a user using the translation enabled system. This is the 5th patent application submitted directly by, or purchased by Ortsbo in the past 60 days and provides a foundation for Ortsbo’s leading edge intellectual property multi-faceted experiential communications platform.

Intertainment entered a binding letter agreement, effective as of July 21, 2011, to purchase 100% of shares of SaaS Technologies Inc. which shares will be transferred to Ortsbo Inc. after the closing of the acquisition, making Ortsbo the sole owner of all of its technology and services offerings. The letter agreement provides for ownership and rights of several existing and new technologies where formerly Intertainment and Ortsbo had partial ownership agreements and exclusive licensing arrangements with management and development staff of SaaS remaining onboard. The purchase is valued at over $27 Million in a combination of cash and common stock of Intertainment with final details to be reflected in closing documents between the parties. This transaction and final agreements are subject to final board, escrow and regulatory approval.

Ortsbo’s social media offering continues to accelerate achieving record results for the first half of July 2011. Below are the reported results for Ortsbo’s first year together with semi-monthly results for July and Estimated Yearly Growth Trends based on the comparison of the reported results.

“This has been an amazing first year for the Ortsbo team. We achieved Facebook’s first 3 years of growth in 9 months, established a Guinness World Record for Most Nationalities in an online chat, and had world wide Live & Global events with KISS and Steve Nash, along with the development of a world class product, technology, marketing and execution team,” said David Lucatch, President of Ortsbo / CEO Intertainment Media “As we look towards our 2nd year, we continue to accelerate Ortsbo at record pace, have 5 patent applications in process, numerous branding activities underway with partners like INDYCAR and Variety, upcoming mobile releases and a bevy of revenue opportunities emerging. Amongst all this, it’s the emergence of our loyal users and supporters who have been the most exciting achievement as together we tear down the global language barriers.”

Perplexus Rookie and Perplexus Epic, the bendy, trendy, can’t put it down 3D game mazes by PlaSmart Inc., have been awarded multiple top toy awards this summer from some of the industry’s most influential experts: PTPA (Parent Tested Parent Approved) Media™, ASTRA (The American Specialty Toy Retailing Association) and Creative Child Magazine.

Both Perplexus Rookie and Perplexus Epic are new for 2011 and both have won numerous awards this summer signaling a great start to the busy fall holiday season toy season ahead:

• The PTPA Media™ Winner’s Seal of Approval was awarded to PlaSmart’s Perplexus Epic™. PTPA Media™ has North America’s largest volunteer parent testing community, with over 40,000 parents and is rated the Most Trusted Seal by 22,000 parents.
• The American Specialty Toy Retailing Association (ASTRA): 2011 Best Toys for Kids Award named Perplexus Rookie™. Over 500 of America’s top independent and neighborhood toy retailers meet at ASTRA’s annual convention to hand-pick the most engaging, unique, open-ended, fun, and safe toys for children.
• The Creative Child Magazine: 2011 Game of the Year Award was given to PlaSmart’s Perplexus Rookie™ and Perplexus Epic™. Two days each year, the family-centred US national publication has over 100 guest reviewers consisting of moms, music educators and early education professionals test more than 1,000 categorized toys at the Henderson, Nevada convention centre.

“This is a great start to the year,” said Timothy Kimber, President, PlaSmart Inc. “PlaSmart’s mission is to deliver ground-breaking and fun products that bring families together. We are thrilled to see our top two new toys – Perplexus Epic and Perplexus Rookie – both recognized as among the toy industry’s best and brightest new products this year and are very excited about what this holds for the upcoming holiday season.”

Perplexus Original™ launched in 2010 as the world’s first 3D maze game. It challenges players with multiple paths and 100 barriers to manoeuvre through in a 3-dimensional maze that will enthral every player. The new Perplexus Epic™ adds to the excitement with 125 barriers to overcome. The new Perplexus Rookie™, which is for younger or less experienced maze experts, is still an incredible challenge with multiple paths and 70 barriers to conquer.

Now I know what I can get my Dad for Christmas. 😉

Quebec’s OroLogic Inc. has released the latest version of their time tracking software for customers world-wide. The main focus of OroTimesheet 7 is performance improvements, ease-of-use and the addition of important new features. This release shows OroLogic’s attention to customer feedback as it incorporates many features requested by current users.

“Ever since the beginning, we have taken strides to always improve the quality of our software,” said Guylain Plante, president of OroLogic Inc. “We did it again with this new version by including highly requested features such as exporting invoices to QuickBooks and Simply Accounting.”

CIBC has furthered its mobile innovation for clients by launching its mobile stock trading App to investors across the country. The new CIBC Mobile Brokerage App will empower investors by giving them the opportunity to make trades on the go through their mobile device, in addition to a wide range of features to help clients stay on top of the market including real-time quotes, portfolio monitoring, and more.

“We are excited to be the first bank in Canada to deliver a mobile stock trading App to Canadian investors through our new CIBC Mobile Brokerage App,” said Michael Martin, Senior Vice-President, Alternate Channels, CIBC. “Investors will now be able to receive market information and make trades in real-time through their mobile device, without having to get to their computer. We know from research that there is huge demand for the benefits that this App will provide. It will change the investing landscape across Canada.”

The CIBC Mobile Brokerage App is available to clients using an iPhone, BlackBerry, or Android device, and offers features to meet the growing demand from Canadians to have access to their finances while on the go, including the ability to:

• Buy and sell stocks
• View cash and margin balances, book values, and market values for individual account holdings
• Search for stocks
• Transfer cash between your CIBC brokerage and bank accounts
• View market indices, commodities and exchange rate information
• Get quick quotes on stock prices
• Create/modify Watch Lists for an at-a-glance view of stocks
• View the status of your trades and cash transfers, and
• View the transaction history for your account

“The market can move quickly, and our clients are increasingly looking to stay connected to market developments at all times,” added Mr. Martin. “The new CIBC Mobile Brokerage App represents the next level of access and choice for investors in how they manage their portfolios. Clients will be able to execute trades while they are away from their computer, on the golf course, or even from their deck at the cottage.”

Mobile trades made with the new App using a CIBC Investor’s Edge account are eligible for $6.95 per trade pricing for investors with combined balances of $100,000 or more in CIBC products. This pricing structure was introduced in January for online trades and has proven very popular with investors. “Not only are we introducing mobile trading to Canadian investors, but we continue to offer outstanding value to clients through our $6.95 per trade pricing for CIBC’s Investor’s Edge clients,” added Mr. Martin.

Today’s launch is the latest in a series of mobile innovations from CIBC. In February 2010, CIBC launched its mobile banking App, and client feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. More recently, the bank launched the CIBC Home Advisor App, free to all Canadians homebuyers. The App provides access to neighbourhood pricing trends and demographics along with the ability to access mortgage calculators and advice.

Adconion Media Group has announced the expansion and enhancement of Joost’s innovative video offerings in Canada effective immediately.  Refreshed with a new logo, Joost is committed to building brands online by providing premium brand solutions for Canadian advertisers and marketers seeking to reach their targeted audience with engaging and high impact in-stream and in-banner video advertising.

Joost offers a suite of advanced products to help advertisers obtain greater reach and scale with online videos. Joost products include pre-roll, in-banner video and expandable and Splash Ad video units. It also provides exclusive site and inventory representation, and offers full page overlays, roadblocks and custom site skins and integrations – all providing a more comprehensive set of powerful tools to better achieve partners’ ROI.

Supporting Adconion Canada’s growing video market share is its recent VAST 2.0 certification.  Adconion is one of the first ad networks to become IAB VAST 2.0 compliant in Canada. The objective of VAST is to overcome the challenge of the various technologies in play by providing a standardized communication between ad servers and video players. IAB research over the last two years has indicated that in-stream video has grown and VAST will play a significant part in its roll out.

Understanding and adopting the leading industry’s authority in video standardization, Adconion Canada now can greatly improve 3^rd party video integrations by making the process more effective and seamless to both publishers and networks. Campaigns will run more efficiently across multiple properties. And by being at the forefront of marketplace change, Adconion Canada is poised to significantly increase the number of pre-roll ads it can serve, as well as allowing it to accept 3rd party ad serving redirects.

“We are committed to bring to market the best brand solutions for our partners,” said Tina Mooney, VP of Adconion Canada. “With Joost’s cutting edge products and adopting the industry’s latest practices, we know that we can shift brand metrics from TV to online. And this is just the beginning.”

In Canada, Adconion reaches more than 14 million unique monthly visitors. Globally, Adconion reaches nearly 325 million unique users, or one-quarter of the global Internet population, every month.