Village Gamer

Griflens, the new startup that hopes to spark a playground craze, are the winners of Startup Weekend Maker Edition Toronto. Their team beat out stiff competition from ten other innovative hardware startup ideas to win the contest that empowers entrepreneurs to launch businesses in a single weekend. They impressed judges with their 3D printed story beads that combine to tell an interactive online story that changes depending on which beads you have in your collection. Read the rest of this entry »

The Banff Centre has issued a call for applications for WIDC Aspects of Camera and Post Production, a mini master class led by award-winning cinematographer and senior picture editor (TBA)Roger Vernon. Beginning with the end picture in mind, this class is facilitated by Women in the Director’s Chair producer Carol Whiteman and will be run January 15th through 19th, 2014 – the application deadline is December 11th. This program is open to up to eight Canadian women directors. Read the rest of this entry »

Vancouver Film School (VFS) is pleased to announce that it will be adding a brand-new, one-year program to its educational roster. Starting March 2014, VFS will offer Programming for Games, Web & Mobile, a course that is all about becoming a better, smarter, more versatile and hireable developer. This one-of-a-kind program teaches individuals how to create and bend programs; to develop software that is impressive, innovative, and entertaining. Students graduate with a high-powered portfolio along with the skills to impress professionals and recruiters from an incredible range of industries. Read the rest of this entry »

The next generation of game developers are here – and they’re already hard at work on the next big thing. Today, Mind Pirate and the Canadian Film Centre (CFC) announced the four participants selected to participate in the ideaBOOST/Mind Pirate Production Lab: a three-month boot camp that gives developers the resources to create games and apps for wearable technology devices.  The four winners selected to participate in the ideaBOOST/Mind Pirate Production Lab consist of high caliber developer talent from both the United States and Canada. The winners are: Read the rest of this entry »

MaRS Innovation (MI), a Centre of Excellence for Commercialization and Research, has announced a new collaboration with Johnson & Johnson Innovation and its affiliate Janssen, Inc., in Canada to advance early-stage technologies related to human health in therapeutics, medical devices, and diagnostics. Through the collaboration, MaRS Innovation and technical experts from the Johnson & Johnson Innovation Center in Boston will jointly identify and fund high-potential opportunities emerging from well-validated scientific research discoveries within MaRS Innovation’s 16 member institutions, which include the University of Toronto and its affiliated teaching hospitals. Read the rest of this entry »

Arlene Dickinson, CEO of Arlene Dickinson Enterprises (ADE) and YouInc.com, has announced the formation of AK Technology Group (AKTG), a partnership with Kinetex, a leading North American Marketing and Sales Tech consultancy. AKTG will focus on fueling entrepreneurial innovation in the technology sector. Recognizing that entrepreneurs have unique and diverse needs in bringing their innovations to market, AKTG will offer a range of services that will enhance the commercialization process and accelerate time to market. With a vast wealth of experience, AKTG provides expert counsel to technology companies for business planning, product design (ODM), marketing, manufacturing, sales and distribution. The first global innovation from the new partnership will launch in early 2014. Read the rest of this entry »

Toronto is poised to host its sixth Startup Weekend, an event bringing together entrepreneurs, designers and developers to participate in 54 hours of taking innovative business ideas from concept to launch. This time around makers have been added to the mix, and teams will be using a fleet of 3D printers, laser cutters and an exciting array of rapid prototyping tools to bring their product ideas to life. Hardware, wearable technology and robotics are the order of the day, and teams will be competing to win their very own MakerBot 3D printer alongside a host of other prizes to help them build their startup. Read the rest of this entry »

The Whistler Film Festival (December 4th to 8th) will present its inaugural Aboriginal Filmmaker Fellowship, a two-day creative and business intensive designed to advance emerging Aboriginal writers and directors from British Columbia, as part of this year’s industry programming. Read the rest of this entry »

The Canadian Film Centre (CFC) is calling on filmmakers across the country to show audiences the contribution movies make in our lives with The REEL Challenge: Movies Matter – The Big Picture. A grand prize of $10,000 will be awarded, with a runner-up prize of $5,000. The contest runs until January 26, 2014. Read the rest of this entry »

On June 8, 2013, the Canadian media industry lost a champion, a creator and a good friend. Alan Sawyer was a policy wonk who had an extraordinary grasp of the interconnected worlds of technology and creativity. During a varied career that embraced many platforms, he helped many of us in the Canadian media environment make sense of the changing landscape. You are invited to help celebrate the launch of the Alan Sawyer Memorial Award at the Brazen Head Irish Pub in Toronto on the evening of December 5th – swap a story, share a drink and see how you can help honour Alan’s memory by supporting the future of the work he was so passionate about. Read the rest of this entry »