Village Gamer

Spending on learning and development in Canada fell 13 per cent since 2008, and is down 40 per cent since its peak in the early 1990s, according to The Conference Board of Canada’s Learning and Development Outlook 2011: Are Organizations Ready for Learning 2.0. This is the 11^th edition of the Learning and Development Outlook, which summarizes the results of a biennial survey. Conducted between November 2010 and February 2011, the survey garnered responses from 183 Canadian organizations. Read the rest of this entry »

Bonus cheques may be a little bigger this year, particularly in technology, a Robert Half survey has found. Seventeen per cent of executives whose companies awarded bonuses last year said they expect staff members to be awarded higher bonuses this time around. Within technology, nearly four in ten (38 per cent) chief information officers (CIOs) interviewed anticipate increased employee bonus levels in 2011. Across all professions, the majority of executives, 62 per cent, expect no changes, while just 10 per cent of respondents believe their firms will offer lower bonuses this year. Read the rest of this entry »

Research Infosource, Canada’s source of Research and Development intelligence, has announced that RIM, BCE and IBM Canada lead the country in spending valuable resources on research and development initiatives. Total research income for Canada’s Top 100 R&D Corporations was $9.4 billion in Fiscal 2010, down from $10.4 billion in Fiscal 2009, a 9.4% decrease over Fiscal 2009. Read the rest of this entry »

Ooma, Inc., a provider of HD-quality free home phone service in the U.S., has announced that it is expanding into the Canadian market. Beginning today, Canadians can enjoy free crystal-clear calls to any phone number in Canada with the one-time purchase of the Ooma Telo™. The innovative Ooma Telo plugs into a high-speed Internet connection and existing home phone to provide free phone calls and bundled features including voicemail, caller ID, call waiting and 911 service. After the initial purchase, customers pay only applicable taxes and fees. Read the rest of this entry »

Toronto’s Diversinet Corp., a developer of “Connected and Protected” mobile healthcare communications, was awarded a U.S. patent for an encryption method that addresses growing concerns about protecting sensitive personal data stored on a mobile device. U.S. Patent No. 8,051,297, “A Method for Binding a Security Element to a Mobile Device,” covers the security of information on a mobile device, such as a smartphone or tablet. Read the rest of this entry »

Bell Media has announced the completion of the re-alignment of its Independent Production unit, as well as key appointments to the team. Headed by Corrie Coe, Senior Vice-President, Independent Production, the unit has been re-structured to reflect development and production of original Canadian production by genre across all Bell Media properties, representing a change from the previous channel-specific model. Read the rest of this entry »

Totem, part of Transcontinental Media’s Content Solutions Group, has been recognized for creative web excellence by the W³ Awards for a second consecutive year, capturing silver awards in three categories. The W³ Awards – sanctioned and judged by the International Academy of the Visual Arts – honours creative excellence on the web, and recognizes the creative and marketing professionals behind award-winning sites, marketing programs, and video work created for the web. Read the rest of this entry »

As part of its ongoing effort to boost the number and type of original, Canadian research studies into Digital marketing and advertising trends and tactics, IAB Canada has announced a recent partnership with BrightRoll Canada to create BrightRoll’s 2011 Canadian Video Advertising Report (PDF). The study, which is based on the responses of more than 100 decision-makers and media buyers at leading Agencies across Canada, shows that although Advertisers have been slow to match to Canadians’ global-leading viewership of Digital Video with ad spend to date, Agencies expect the largest overall change in Digital media spend in 2011 to come from Online + Mobile Video advertising increases. Read the rest of this entry »

Sierra Wireless and the Eclipse Foundation have announced the formation of a new Industry Working Group to define and implement an open standard platform for the software development tools used in developing machine-to-machine (M2M) communications applications. IBM and Eurotech are also founding members of the M2M Industry Working Group, which is open to any organization with an interest in M2M solutions, including both vendors and potential clients. Read the rest of this entry »