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Technoparc Montréal is thrilled by the City of Montreal’s 2011-2017 Economic Development Strategy, spearheaded by Mayor Gérald Tremblay and Executive Committee Vice President, Richard Deschamps, an initiative aimed at capitalizing on the knowledge and creativity already present in Montreal.

Technoparc Montréal is fully behind the City’s commitment to increase strategic partnerships and alliances with a view to building bridges between businesses and to increasing innovation and creativity in Montreal. The City’s ongoing PR@M Industry program and new PR@M Innovation are also excellent tools that will help support Montreal’s future development.

Today’s major international cities must offer nearby services and dynamic employment zones that serve multiple purposes and are readily accessible to workers. “The advantage of living in an urban environment is the ability to work, live and play in the same general area,” explains Mario Monette, President and CEO of Technoparc Montréal. “The City’s new strategy will keep Montreal young and relevant on the eve of its 375^th anniversary and will shore up its positioning as a premier city of creativity and innovation.”

Technoparc Montréal’s mission is to support the Island of Montreal’s economic development through the emergence of world-class innovation poles and research centres in the following sectors: aerospace, life sciences, information technology, clean technology, agri-food and renewable energy.

FreshBooks has come up with a unique solution to ensure the rotating postal strike does not affect small business owners in Toronto. Mail delivery has been drastically affected since the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) commenced a strike in Toronto on June 13th.

“We recognize that delivering invoices is a lifeline to independent business owners,” says FreshBooks CEO Mike McDerment. “We want to show our commitment to making billing activities as painless as possible. Our customers are looked after since FreshBooks allows anyone to send their invoices online. We thought this was an interesting way to help out other people who are affected and show them that we’re serious about our commitment to helping everyone get paid.”

FreshBooks is offering to pick up and hand-deliver invoices to anywhere in Metro Toronto area. The company has equipped a special vehicle to safely transport invoices today. This offer is available to any small business affected (not just FreshBooks customers) and exclusively for invoices.

A delivery day is scheduled for Wednesday June 15^th contingent on Toronto mail services remaining restricted and for people sending invoices within the Metro Toronto region. Delivery can be arranged by contacting freshbooks with pickup details.

“To us,” says McDerment, “painless billing means that you can rely on the systems supporting your business even during periods of uncertainty.”

Adlib Software has announced the general availability of the Adlib Content Transformation Platform, the industry’s first complete, automated transformation solution for the enterprise. The Adlib Platform is uniquely designed to streamline document-intensive business processes to improve efficiency, mitigate compliance-related risks and reduce costs. It is deployed as a shared service and can scale enterprise-wide, enabling centralized content-to-PDF transformation capabilities to multiple applications, departments and lines of business.

Today’s enterprises are challenged with increased content management demands, and struggle to find efficient ways to capture, manage, preserve and share content. Enterprise Content Management (ECM) systems including Microsoft® SharePoint® help ease these challenges. However, these solutions don’t always provide the necessary content transformation capabilities needed to enable the efficient automation of document-centric business processes that are important in removing time-consuming, error-prone and costly manual intervention.

Adlib turns volumes of content and intellectual property into digital assets that can be easily accessed, shared, leveraged and archived. For example, a leading international insurance company is using Adlib to increase sales by being faster than their competitors in delivering personalized customer quotes in PDF format. In addition, Pfizer, the world’s largest research-based pharmaceutical company, is turning patents into profits by speeding time-to-market for its drugs by streamlining and automating the creation of submission-quality PDFs and eliminating the need for time-consuming, costly and error-prone manual quality control reviews. Read the rest of this entry »

Summer 2011 will see two new titles on many platforms coming from the Ludia game studios. The first announcement comes from Ludia Inc. and FremantleMedia Enterprises, who announced today that Hole In The Wall will be available worldwide exclusively for Kinect™ on the Microsoft Xbox 360^® and will be available for purchase from Xbox LIVE Arcade. Based on the global television game show phenomenon, Hole In The Wall is one of the trickiest, fastest and funniest games on the planet where agility and a hearty sense of humor are essential tools to survive.

Players must contort their bodies to fit through bizarrely shaped holes in themed moving walls hurtling towards them. Competitors attempt to clear the walls in order to boost their scores, or risk being swept away into a pool of water. Hole In The Wall will also incorporate online play, single and multiplayer game modes, as well as image captures of the outlandish player movements performed within the game and hilarious bonus videos from the TV show.

“Ludia is thrilled to create an immersive, controller-free Hole In The Wall game play experience that is perfectly suited to leverage Microsoft Kinect technology,” said Alex Thabet, Founder and CEO of Ludia Inc. “This first title is just the beginning of Ludia games for Kinect on Xbox 360, and serves to further reinforce our multiplatform game strategy.”

“The Hole In The Wall television show has been highly successful in dozens of countries worldwide, so we are very pleased to work with Ludia to extend the franchise to Microsoft’s Xbox 360, said Olivier Delfosse, Director, Interactive, FremantleMedia Enterprises, licensor for Hole In The Wall. “We are sure that fans of the show and wider audiences alike will enjoy partaking in a fresh and exciting new Hole In The Wall experience.”

The second development announcement came from Ludia and Mark Burnett’s One Three Television LLC. The development studio will publish games based on the multiple-award winning Are You Smarter Than A 5^th Grader?® TV game show. The North America-wide, multi-year will result in games for Facebook and mobile platforms including iPhone™, iPod touch™ and iPad™.

“We are excited to have the opportunity to create Are You Smarter Than A 5^th Grader? games for the millions of people that play games on Facebook and mobile devices,” said Alex Thabet, Founder and CEO of Ludia Inc. “This new license helps amplify the Ludia portfolio of game show games, which has been a highly successful category for us and one we believe has strong on-going potential across platforms.”

The Are You Smarter Than A 5^th Grader? games will feature the favorite game play elements of the television show as contestants vie to earn money by answering trivia questions from a set of ten grade school subjects in a quest to earn the top prize. The games will also incorporate real-time multiplayer competition as well as other unique social features that will result in high dynamic and entertaining game play experiences.

“We are pleased to add Ludia as a licensee to our Are You Smarter Than A 5^th Grader? licensing program. We look forward to working with them on 5^th Grader games for social media and mobile platforms,” said Mark Burnett. “We are thrilled to see the franchise thrive so that fans of the show and wider audiences alike can enjoy their very own Are You Smarter Than A 5^th Grader? game experiences.”

Canadian small business owners say they are spending a lot of time sweating the small stuff when they could be focusing on the big picture of how to grow. According to the quarterly American Express Small Business Monitor, entrepreneurs recognize planning, hiring, and marketing as key business functions but admit to spending a big part of their day on tasks such as office administration, cleaning and repairs. It would appear a big part of Canada’s business backbone is caught between planning for success and maintaining the status quo.

More than half (59%) of respondents to the latest survey, conducted by Angus Reid Public Opinion, say their business would be in a much better position if they could spend more time doing what they’re good at. Specifically, small business owners say more than a quarter (26%) of every day is focused on activities they don’t consider core to their business. Almost half (48%) report that they can’t concentrate on growing their business because they are spending too much time running it, and many remain reluctant to hire outside help to share the workload.

“We know small business owners put their heart and soul into everything they do, so a reluctance to rely on others is only natural,” said Eric Nielsen, Vice President & General Manager, Small Business Services Canada, American Express Canada. “But looking for outside help for even a few tasks can allow owners to focus on the work they love and the reason for starting their own business in the first place.”

Exactly what non-core tasks are small business owners taking on themselves? Findings show owners are spending valuable time on such tasks as secretarial work (49%), technical support (48%), office/property repairs and cleaning (40%), and doing their own website construction (30%), rather than hiring outside help. Control is a key consideration for them: 56 per cent don’t want to give up control over any aspect of their business, even if it means doing everything themselves.

It’s not that small business owners don’t recognize the dilemma: 38 per cent of respondents say they waste a lot of time doing things that other people would be more qualified to do. Nevertheless, they are reluctant to outsource for a number of reasons, including a desire to maintain quality (38%), and the time it takes to hire and manage outsourced contractors (24%). The single greatest factor, though, is that outsourcing is seen by more than half (52%) as too expensive. Read the rest of this entry »

Canada’s top educators are expanding their traditional teaching methods to reach beyond reading, writing and arithmetic.  The new cornerstones of learning in their classrooms include social media, cyberspace and digitized projects.

Twenty-two remarkable teachers from across the nation are receiving national attention for bringing ‘history to life’ for their students.  These passionate educators are encouraging their students to digitally record interviews with World War II veterans and Holocaust survivors, create multimedia resources on Indian Residential Schools, and produce a film featuring Canada’s connection to the fatal voyage of the Titanic.

For their innovative and interactive teaching approaches, Canada’s History Society has selected the following twenty-two educators as the finalists of the 2011 Governor General’s Awards for Excellence in Teaching Canadian History.

Lindsay Anderson, Niv Stilman & Yossi Suissa – Calgary Jewish Academy – Calgary
Kimberly Bartlett – Pickering College – Newmarket
Raymond Bédard – D’éducation Internationale de McMasterville – McMasterville
Sarah Beech & Chad Howie – Valley Creek Middle School – Calgary
Gregory Birkett – Nelson A. Boylen Collegiate – Toronto
Shantelle Browning-Morgan – Walkerville Collegiate Institute – Windsor
Pam Calvert – Oakville Trafalgar High School – Oakville
Marie-Laure Chevrier – École Anne-Hébert – Vancouver
François Desmarais – École Secondaire de Mortagne – Boucherville
Flora Fung – Oshawa Central Collegiate – Oshawa
Cynthia Mundell Hahn – Wes Hosford Elementary School – Sherwood Park
Clint Lovell – Eastview Secondary School – Barrie
Scott Masters – Crestwood Preparatory College – Toronto
Gilles Paulin – Centre Scolaire et Communautaire La Fontaine – Neguac
Elizabeth Phipps – Mayfair Community School – Saskatoon
Sylvia Smith – Elizabeth Wyn Wood Alternate High School Program – Ottawa
Andrew Stickings – École Grosvenor Wentworth Park School – Halifax
Michael Sweet & Raymond Tomasino – Lester B. Pearson High School – Montreal

Now in its 15^th year, the Awards recognize the outstanding contributions of Canada’s history teachers, ranging from elementary grades through to secondary schools.  Deborah Morrison, President and CEO of Canada’s History Society says, “Teachers like this years finalists not only change students’ perceptions of Canadian history, but they’re changing our perceptions of teaching as well.”

A national judging panel will next select six recipients out of the 22 finalists, based on a submission outlining the nominee’s innovations and achievements in the field of teaching Canadian History or Social Studies.  Those six recipients will receive $2,500, a gold medal and a trip this fall to the Awards ceremonies at Rideau Hall.  Their respective schools will also be awarded a cash gift of $1,000.  The program, including the Awards prizes are made possible through the generous support of TD Bank Group.

“Few things are more powerful than a teacher’s passion for their subject.  Their in-class enthusiasm can excite, inspire and even transform the lives of their students,” says Frank McKenna, Deputy Chair, TD Bank Group.  “TD is proud to support the 2011 Governor General’s Awards for Excellence in Teaching Canadian History recognizing the incredible contributions our Canadian history teachers are making in the classroom.”

NASCAR Team Properties and Toronto toy company Spin Master Ltd. have joined forces to connect with, and help build, a new generation of fans for the sport. In a strategic effort to build its merchandising program and to further its reach with the youth demographic, NASCAR has chosen Spin Master to inject excitement, innovation, and fun into its toys and merchandise. As the primary toy licensee, Spin Master’s line of products will begin hitting store shelves in 2012.

The multi-year agreement provides Spin Master with exclusive licensing rights for NASCAR branded toy categories including replica vehicles, play sets, action figures, remote control items and much more. Not only will these Spin Master NASCAR items be sold at mass market retailers, but also at online e-commerce sites and specialty retailers nationwide.

“Spin Master is not only one of the largest toy companies in the world, they are renowned for creating innovative products that combine play and technology in an interactive manner rarely seen in the industry,” said Blake Davidson, vice president, NASCAR licensing and consumer products and board member of the NASCAR Team Properties. “The NASCAR products that Spin Master will produce will be original and relevant to our sport and will be products that our young fans can connect with in a fun and creative way. We are excited about what really is a new era beginning for NASCAR, and the role Spin Master will play in helping us to reach new NASCAR fans at an early age.”

“Spin Master is going to stimulate energy into NASCAR branded toys like never before which will help young fans develop a deeper attachment to our drivers and teams,” said Scott Hammonds, vice president of licensing for HGJ Licensing and a member of the NTP board. “This partnership is a great testament to what forming NASCAR Team Properties has meant to the business of NASCAR.”

“It’s very exciting to be partnering with an iconic brand such as NASCAR,” said Craig Sims, VP of Global Licensing at Spin Master. “This partnership will allow us to work hand in hand with the sport. There is so much passion and lots of storytelling opportunities that we can capture and translate to toys. We’re looking forward to the amazing long term potential we have with this partnership.”

Spin Master’s Air Hogs, the largest radio-controlled toy brand in the world, is a sponsoring partner with Jr. Motorsports, and will be the primary sponsor of driver Josh Wise and the #7 Chevrolet car at the Nationwide Series race at Michigan International Speedway this Saturday, June 18.

Teletoon Canada Inc. has announced its lineup of new and returning Canadian original series recently green-lit or currently in production. The announcement was made at the Banff World Media Festival where Teletoon is a Gold Partner, sponsoring the Kids & Animation program.

“Teletoon has always been proud to showcase the great animation and kids television talent that our country has to offer and we’re thrilled to announce our new lineup of Canadian programming,” said Alan Gregg, Director, Original Content, Teletoon Canada inc. “With four new shows and three more renewed Canadian-made series, Teletoon continues to expand its repertoire of animated and live-action/animated series for kids 6-11, co-view audiences and adults.”

Highlights of Teletoon’s new lineup of Canadian original productions are as follows:

New Series:

FUGGET ABOUT IT
9 Story Entertainment • 13 x 22 minutes
Scheduled for Fall 2012 on Teletoon at Night

Teenager Petey Falcone’s father, Jimmy Falcone, was once the head of a large crime syndicate. But when Jimmy refused to whack his good ol’ Uncle Cheech, the Falcones were forced into witness protection in Canada. Petey, who was finally starting to figure out life in New York, now lives as Petey “McDougal” in Regina, Saskatchewan. In their new life, the Falcones must come to terms with the fact that they are no longer respected neighbourhood big-shots – they’re just regular schmucks. Fugget About It is an animated comedy aimed at teens and young adults that was originally developed for the Teletoon At Night Pilot Project in 2007.

JUST KIDDING KIDS
Just For Laughs Gags • 6 x 22 minutes
Scheduled for Winter 2013 on Teletoon

From the creators and producers of the smash TV hit, Just for Laughs Gags, comes Just Kidding Kids, an all new spinoff with an age-old difference. Just Kidding Kids puts kids in the driver’s seat and lets them loose to concoct preposterous pranks on unsuspecting adults. The kids work together to ensure that one victim after another falls for the ploy. The audience is in on the scheme and won’t be able to resist roaring with laughter as unwary victims take the fall and their candid reactions are all caught on camera. Just Kidding Kids is sure to be a favourite for the whole family.

SPLATALOT
marblemedia • 26 x 22 minutes
Scheduled for Fall 2011 on TÉLÉTOON (French)

Splatalot is a hilarious family-friendly medieval-themed physical game show featuring a larger-than-life extreme obstacle course with more splats and spills than ever imaginable. Each episode features a different group of 12 thrill-seeking teen contestants, dubbed Attackers, competing in three hilarious rounds: Cross the Moat, Escape the Stockade and Capture the Crown. The Defenders of Splatalot, an international squad of nine costumed gladiators, do their best to protect the castle from the Attackers – leaving only one to be crowned King or Queen of Splatalot.

ROCKET MONKEYS
Breakthrough Entertainment • 26 x 22 minutes
Scheduled for Fall 2012 on Teletoon

Meet Wally and Gus. Best friends and NOSA-trained monkeynauts on an odyssey through outer space. Blasted into strange new worlds on a unique and specially equipped rocket, these two simians experiment with new technologies and discover alien species never seen before. Despite Dr. Chimpsky’s instructions for space travel, neither the optimistic Wally nor the brainy Gus has a clue as to how to pilot their ship, but somehow they have the right stuff to complete their mission. New life forms, techno-gadgets and collisions with space pirates all add up to a zany, fun-filled series for kids 6-11. It’s close encounters of a primate kind.

Renewed Series:

CRASH CANYON (Eight additional episodes ordered)
Breakthrough Films & Television • 8 x 22 minutes
Scheduled for Fall 2012 on Teletoon at Night

When the Wendell family leaves for a vacation in their camper trailer, only one thing can happen: disaster. Motoring between tourist attractions, scenic vistas and the occasional point of interest, the trip turns to catastrophe when the family vehicle goes off a cliff. As the Wendells stumble out, they realize that not only are they alive, but also that they are not alone as the same fate has befallen several others before them, forming a community known only as Crash Canyon. This comedy series is produced by Breakthrough’s Ira Levy, Peter Williamson and executive producer Joan Lambur with Joel Cohen (Co-Executive Producer, The Simpsons). These eight additional episodes bring the total to 26 for the Crash Canyon series on Teletoon. Crash Canyon premieres on Teletoon in fall 2011 as part of the adult-oriented “Teletoon at Night” programming block.

DETENTIONAIRE (Season Two)
Nelvana • 13 x 22 minutes
Scheduled for Fall 2012 on Teletoon

Lee Ping is about to start grade 10 – the best year of his life – when he is blamed for pulling off an epic, mind-blowing practical joke and sentenced to spend the rest of the school year in detention. It’s goodbye freedom, goodbye girls and hello worst year of his life. Detentionaire follows Lee in his attempts to uncover the mystery behind the practical joke and clear his name. Detentionaire is created by Daniel Bryan Franklin and Charles Johnston and produced by Tracey Dodokin. The addition of these 13 episodes brings the total to 26 for the Detentionaire series aimed at kids 8-12, with the first 13-episode instalment premiering in fall 2011 on Teletoon.

MUDPIT (13 additional episodes ordered)
Cookie Jar Entertainment Inc. • 13 x 22 minutes
Scheduled for Fall 2012 on Teletoon

This animated and live-action comedy series tells the story of four teens who form a virtual rock band in hopes of becoming real rock stars. Using a new high-tech videogame called Muzika, ubergamer Reese and power drummer Geneva create avatars to rock the online world for a chance to win a recording contract and world tour. This kid-friendly series stars Jesse Rath, Carleigh Beverly, Vas Saranga and Daniel Magder. These 13 additional episodes bring the total to 26 for the Mudpit series on Teletoon. Mudpit premieres on Teletoon in winter 2012.

Ontario’s Information and Privacy Commissioner, Dr. Ann Cavoukian, and Kim Cameron, a leading digital identity expert, have released a new joint publication called “Wi-Fi Positioning Systems: Beware of Unintended Consequences – Issues Involving the Unforeseen Uses of Pre-existing Architecture.” In this white paper, launched at the SC Congress Canada 2011 Conference in Toronto today, Cavoukian and Cameron call for the use of Privacy by Design to protect the privacy of mobile device users.

Mobile devices are becoming more crucial in our daily lives, with people now carrying them and using them practically everywhere. Whenever an individual uses location-based services on his or her mobile device, a unique identifier of nearby traceable Wi-Fi access points called a Media Access Control (MAC) address is relayed. This raises privacy concerns because this location information may be compiled into a profile of an individual over time, such as where they have travelled to, shopped, eaten or banked.

In addition, potential unintended consequences stem from the intrinsic nature of MAC addresses that are at the core of current networked communications. For instance, with minimal time and resources, one may be able to associate MAC addresses of mobile devices to physical addresses, and then to a specific individual.  Furthermore, depending on future developments, it may even be possible that individuals using geolocation services could inadvertently report the MAC address (and, simultaneously, location) of mobile devices belonging to friends, family or co-workers – creating an unintended ‘unknowing informant’ model of data collection.”

“Privacy must be designed into Wi-Fi positioning systems to prevent unintended consequences,” says Commissioner Ann Cavoukian. “I’ll repeat the message I gave about the Apple and Sony controversies – don’t practice privacy by chance. Companies should practice Privacy by Design – they should address privacy proactively and put control squarely in the hands of the users, where it belongs.”

“What companies, government departments, people and systems will be able to follow our physical movements and activities, five or ten years from now?  How will what they see change the way we are treated? Will individuals have any protections?  That is what location technology is about,” says Kim Cameron, co-author of the paper. “When you look into this, it becomes clear that location technology must embrace our human need for privacy.  In this paper we try to point to ways that can come about.”

The authors caution that when designing an architecture (e.g. wireless networks), the question of unintended uses, inadvertently introduced through the existence of that architecture, should form part of a privacy threat risk analysis. In no case, should the MAC address of end-user devices be collected or tracked without the consent of the owners of such devices.

McGill University today announced an $8.3-million CDN contract with IBM in Canada to acquire a supercomputer cluster able to support the data-intensive research activities of the CLUMEQ High Performance Computing Consortium, making it the most powerful supercomputer in Quebec and the second-most energy-efficient data centre in Canada, based on the current Top500 list which was announced in November 2010.

The first phase of this McGill project, funded by the Canadian Foundation for Innovation (CFI), aims at building Canada’s capacity to undertake world-class research and technology development to strengthen its position in today’s knowledge economy. According to a recent report issued by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, the province of Quebec is a hotbed of research and development, making the city of Montreal an ideal location for the project

Gaining an efficient, relevant understanding of mountains of data will be one of the biggest challenges for organizations in the 21^st Century. McGill’s CLUMEQ will provide high-performance computing (HPC) capabilities to fully support the research activities of the Quebec and Canadian university communities in several data-intensive sectors. McGill’s focus includes high-energy physics, nanotechnologies, computational fluid dynamics, climate research, brain imaging, biology and life sciences. The cluster will leverage the processing power necessary to facilitate the efficient capture, storage, search, sharing, analysis, and visualization of vast amounts of industry data. CLUMEQ will also support the Atlas research project linked to the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) project. Read the rest of this entry »