Village Gamer

Montreal’s Amaya Gaming Group Inc., an entertainment solutions provider for the regulated gaming industry has been awarded an exclusive, 20-year contract with the National Lottery of Moldova to provide a full range of gaming solutions. Amaya will leverage its innovative technology platform to implement and support national gaming programs including: lottery, video lottery terminals, sports betting, and digital gaming.

The agreement represents a significant milestone as Amaya’s first comprehensive government mandate spanning the complete range of gaming programs and activities. The contract has the potential to generate recurring revenues in excess of $20 million annually.  Implementation is scheduled to begin in the fourth quarter of 2011.

“We are very pleased to begin a long-term relationship with the National Lottery of Moldova that promises to be fruitful for both parties,” said David Baazov, President and Chief Executive Officer of Amaya Gaming Group.  “Our technology is designed to offer a full range of gaming solutions from a single platform, and we believe our breadth of capabilities was a key reason we were selected, along with our ability to ensure the integrity of the system.  While Moldova is the first customer to formally select us for this wide range of gaming activities, our strategy is to expand our relationships over time with new and existing customers by offering more gaming technologies in their jurisdictions.”

The partnership will provide the National Lottery of Moldova with new sources of revenue, including funds that are currently leaving the country for off-shore gaming activities. One of the features of Amaya’s technology is designed to ensure the authenticity and accuracy of data collected from devices across the gaming network.  The system will enable government authorities to receive real-time, accurate accounting reports that are free of human error, manipulation and/or fraud, while providing the framework for implementing responsible gaming features, including the strict prohibition of underage gaming.

Uniserve Communications Corp. has announced that it is now accepting users for its Free Uniserve Cloud Beta offering. Targeted at anyone who runs a computer for a server, the Uniserve Cloud Beta will give users two free months of access to one of the top public cloud platforms in Canada on the Uniserve Cloud, powered by US-based Joyent Software. Uniserve’s Free Beta offer is scheduled to run until November, but could go longer depending on demand.

“Whether you’re a web app developer or a Python or Ruby coder, our 1 GB SmartMachine is ideal for anyone looking for an application platform,” said Bruce Sanderson, Uniserve President. “By leveraging Joyent’s six plus years in the Cloud computing space we’re able to deliver an easy to use, fast, and reliable Cloud solution that is hosted in Canada. A highly optimized, virtual compute container with guaranteed resources, our SmartMachines allow users to experience burstability, elasticity, and speed not normally found from other providers.”

Uniserve hopes to spread the word about their new Cloud offering with their Free Beta trial, stating that “we’re very excited by our Cloud product. We know we are using the best Cloud platform in Canada which is why we are looking for users who want to take the Uniserve Cloud for a free test drive. We know once you do, you’ll be hooked.”

Poynt Corporation and the Missing Children Society of Canada (MCSC) have gone live with their previously announced geo-targeted notification system to push Child Search Alerts to Poynt users globally. Child Search Alerts are available to Poynt users on BlackBerry smartphones, iPhone and Android devices, putting the ability to stop child abductions directly into the hands of people while they are going about their day.

Judy Peterson, mother of Lindsey Nicholls, advocates for technology that will help in the recovery of missing children. Lindsey vanished on August 2, 1993 on her way to visit friends in  Comox Valley and has not been seen or heard from since. Unfortunately, her story is not uncommon as more than 50,000 children are reported missing in Canada every year.

“The concept of reaching out to all Poynt users in a specific region and being able to ask for their help is amazing. I can’t help thinking that if this technology existed 18 years ago when my 14-year old daughter vanished, we would have had answers,” said Ms. Peterson. “The contrast between the power of this technology and my desperate search using the telephone and trekking around town with my stack of homemade posters and roll of scotch tape is overwhelming. Parents will have the comfort of knowing they are not searching alone and that there are millions of people out there who care and will now have the ability to actively help find their child.”

Have you seen Lindsey Nicholls?

A first-of-its-kind geo-targeted notification system through a mobile app, Poynt will assist in the timely location and recovery of missing or abducted children. When a child goes missing or new information on their whereabouts is received, time is of the utmost importance. By pushing geo-relevant Child Search Alerts to Poynt users already in the vicinity of a missing child, Poynt and MCSC will be able to quickly disseminate important information to aid in the recovery of missing children. The Child Search Alerts will direct Poynt users to a mobile website where they can view information about the missing child including pictures, a physical description, background details, information about other potential people who are with the child, as well as the areas where the child is thought to be located.

The Missing Children Society of Canada, a registered Canadian charity, will enter information that will create a child search alert containing timely information on a missing child which will in turn be sent to Poynt users in a specified geographic area. Poynt users will then be notified via push notification that a child has been potentially sighted within a relevant radius of where they were last sighted. Users do not have to be using Poynt at the time to receive a notification; notifications will be made based on the Poynt users last known location. On iPhone, a pop-up dialogue will appear notifying the user that a missing child might be in their area. On Android and BlackBerry smartphones a notification icon will appear at the top of the phone. The system will have an opt-out option which can be found in the menu on each device.

“Being socially responsible and giving back to our community is an important part of how we feel we can make an impact. We value our families and locating missing children is a cause near and dear to us,” said Andrew Osis, President and CEO of Poynt Corp. “The capabilities of our location technology to target an area at a critical moment where a child’s life can be saved, is the perfect fit for us. The addition of Child Search Alerts enables our users to positively impact their communities in a simple yet highly effective manner, and that really has a greater societal impact.”

“We know that this push system will bring children home,” said Amanda Pick, Executive Director of MCSC. “Being able to immediately engage people in a pin-pointed area where we are conducting an investigation or where a missing child has recently been sighted is a game-changer in the search for missing children.”

“Increasingly, our investigators are working parental abduction cases that cross international borders,” continued Pick. “The ability to connect with Poynt’s existing, engaged 10 million users around the world is a huge asset to our investigation team. Most importantly, it’s a huge asset to our searching families.”

“Whether a child has been missing for 5 minutes or 5 years, communicating time-sensitive information in a case’s breakthrough moment is going to make the difference in bringing that child back to safety.”

Founded in 1986, MCSC is the only non-profit organization in Canada that has an in-house team of former law enforcement investigators that actively search for missing children. If you have seen Lindsey Nicholls or know of her whereabouts, please call 1 (800) 661 6160 or email tips@mcsc.ca.

Shaw Communications Inc. has announced the results of its strategic review of the wireless business opportunity, including the potential value of wireless in the traditional cable bundle, the rapid evolution of wireless technologies, the capital needed to build a competitive wireless network (including additional spectrum requirements), recent changes in the wireless competitive environment, and the impact that wireless would have on long-term shareholder value.

When the corporation first started looking at the wireless opportunity, it saw wireless as a complementary product in a world where broadband Internet access is moving increasingly to wireless devices (smartphones, tablets, laptops, netbooks, etc). A wireless offering could give Shaw a platform from which to extend current services and leverage its broadband, video, voice and content/programming businesses. Editor’s note: this could also translate into a bonus for Canadian programming like Endgame, the Gemini Award-nominated crime drama which many are hoping will be renewed for at least a second season.

However, the economics of a conventional wireless business as a new entrant are extremely challenging. New entrants lack the economies of scale and scope to compete effectively against well established incumbents with ubiquitous coverage, extensive device ecosystems, deep spectrum positions and large retail networks. Even with Shaw’s established base and considerable strengths and assets, the company could not justify a wireless network build at this time.

The corporation believes that a more prudent approach is to provide a managed Wi-Fi network that will allow customers to extend their Shaw services beyond the home. This will achieve the company’s objectives without risking well over $1 billion in capital expenditures on a traditional wireless network build.

As a wireless broadband technology Wi-Fi is evolving rapidly with significant improvements in throughput, coverage and reliability. Wi-Fi technologies are now capable of providing seamless hand-off and extensive metropolitan area coverage. Wi-Fi is in virtually all portable consumer devices and customers are actively seeking Wi-Fi hot spots to reduce data costs and improve their wireless broadband experience. The vast majority of tablets sold to date are Wi-Fi only devices. Wireless broadband is increasingly viewed as a portable and nomadic service for the consumption of media rich content and video.

Major wireless carriers worldwide are deploying Wi-Fi as means of offloading 3G/4G traffic thereby reducing network build costs, and improving capacity and coverage. Shaw believes that cable operators are uniquely positioned to take advantage of Wi-Fi.

In addition, given that Wi-Fi spectrum is free and there are no device subsidies, Shaw can build extensive Wi-Fi coverage at a substantially lower cost relative to a traditional wireless network and still provide customers with an excellent broadband wireless experience.

“We have decided to focus on strengthening our core business and leveraging our media and programming assets to support our leadership position in broadband and video,” said Brad Shaw, Chief Executive Officer of Shaw. “Our decision not to pursue a conventional wireless business is consistent with this strategic approach and our focus on shareholder value.”

Shaw held a conference call earlier today to discuss additional details regarding the announcement, with further news forthcoming.

KMWorld Magazine has named the OpenText ECM Suite 2010 a “Trend-Setting Product of 2011” along with business process management (BPM) offerings from OpenText Metastorm and OpenText Global 360. Multiple OpenText products have been named to the KMWorld list of trend-setting products over the years, and in recognition of the company’s ongoing innovation KMWorld last year inducted OpenText into its Hall of Fame.

KMWorld’s Trend-Setting Product awards were first launched in 2003. This year, more than 800 products were assessed by KMWorld’s judging panel, which consisted of editorial colleagues, analysts, system integrators, vendors, line-of-business managers and users. All products selected demonstrate identifiable technology breakthroughs that serve the vendors’ full spectrum of constituencies, especially their customers.

“We’re consistently impressed by the level of innovation and product excellence OpenText has demonstrated year after year,” said KMWorld Editor-in-chief Hugh McKellar. “That said, we take a fresh look at every product in compiling this list, and once again OpenText’s ECM and BPM offerings stood out as true trend-setters in knowledge management.”

OpenText products named to the KMWorld list included:

OpenText ECM Suite 2010 – Representing the largest innovation effort in the company’s history, the latest release of the OpenText ECM Suite is the industry’s most comprehensive, fully integrated ECM solution suite. It adds wide-ranging new functionality linked through numerous integration points covering 90 products and modules, and spanning compliance, portals, enterprise information archiving and mobility.

OpenText Metastorm – The latest OpenText Metastorm software, enhanced by extensive Social BPM capabilities, delivers a complete business transformation platform for enterprise and business architecture, business process analysis, and business process management to help companies outperform their business goals. It helps organizations close the gap between strategy and execution and includes support for requirements gathering, design, deployment and optimization of complex business processes.

OpenText Global 360 – By tapping into all the advantages of the cloud, OpenText Global 360 introduces enterprises to collaborative process discovery driven by friendly wizard-based guides based on BPM best practices and extensive research. Using Global 360, organizations can design Microsoft Visio® process models and simulations, develop a reusable knowledge base, inform stakeholders of the latest discovery efforts, and track projects milestones and deadlines.

“If there’s one thing you can count on in the knowledge management market it is rapid change, and to stay relevant as a vendor continual innovation is a must,” said Lubor Ptacek, Vice President, Strategic Marketing and General Manager for the Microsoft Solutions Group at OpenText. “Therefore, it is important for us to always be pushing forward with new product capabilities and driving innovation that helps our customers, and this award reflects that commitment.”

Email may soon become the new snail mail, a new Robert Half Technology survey suggests. Nearly half (48 per cent) of chief information officers (CIOs) interviewed recently said real-time workplace communication tools will surpass traditional email in popularity within the next five years.

The Canadian survey was developed by Robert Half Technology, provider of information technology (IT) professionals on a project and full-time basis. It was conducted by an independent research firm and is based on telephone interviews with more than 270 CIOs from companies across Canada with 100 or more employees.

CIOs were asked, “In the next five years, do you think real-time workplace communication tools – for example, Instant Messaging, SharePoint, Yammer, etc.,  will be more or less popular than email among employees?”

Their responses:

• Much More Popular……………….. 15%
• Somewhat more popular……………. 33%
• The same……………………….. 38%
• Somewhat less popular……………. 6%
• Much less popular……………….. 1%
• Don’t know/ no answer……………. 7%

Robert Half Technology outlines three benefits a transition to real-time tools could have on the workplace:

• Speed: Instant messaging (IM) allows employees to have conversations at the click of a button, without opening emails or waiting for responses. IM also enables employees in different locations to have real-time conversations, thus resolving issues more quickly.
• Convenience: Many programs include a host of features like IM, microblogging, forums, and document collaboration and management. This eliminates the need to switch between separate programs to communicate. Not only does this have the potential to improve efficiency, but it can increase collaboration on projects and reduce the need for meetings.
• Social Aspect: Enterprise social networking sites, such as Yammer or Chatter, are useful for collaboration and sharing ideas and best practices within the company. This technology also has the potential to foster teamwork and camaraderie among employees.

“Although there is a definite place for email in the workplace, using real-time tools allows workers to solve problems and get the answers they seek much more quickly than constructing an email and waiting for a reply,” said Lara Dodo, a regional vice-president for Robert Half Technology in Canada. “IT professionals need to be sure to keep pace with new technologies – as expertise in these real-time tools can enhance their marketability and stay competitive in the job market.”

Electronic Arts and Euroleague Basketball have announced a licensing partnership that makes the global interactive entertainment software company an official partner under the video gaming category. Under this agreement EA Sports will include Turkish Airlines Euroleague players in the upcoming release of the mythical arcade game NBA Jam: On Fire Edition.

This is the first time that European clubs will be officially represented in the NBA JAM franchise, one of the most successful video games in sports history. All fans will be able to choose any of the four participating teams in the last Turkish Airlines Euroleague Final Four. Dimitris Diamantidis and Mike Batiste of Panathinaikos Athens, Lior Eliyahu and Sofoklis Schortsanitis of Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv, Bo McCalebb and Ksistof Lavrinovic of Montepaschi Siena, Sergio Llull and Carlos Suarez of Real Madrid will be amongst the players representing the four Euroleague teams in the 2–on–2 basketball games.

Currently in development at EA Canada,  NBA JAM: On Fire Edition will change the way players play this iconic franchise. All your favorite moves, spins and dunks are still available but now includes a host of gameplay improvements.  NBA JAM: On Fire Edition brings you even more to this basketball arcade classic.  Enhanced gameplay, ground breaking artificial intelligence and exciting online features continue to bring countless hours of enjoyment to this over-the-top experience.  The game will be available via digital download.

Frima Studio and Build-A-Bear-Workshop® have announced that Bearville.com™, the online virtual world extension of the Build-A-Bear Workshop brand, has surpassed 20 million avatars. Bearville™ is a premier virtual world experience for children, families and fans of the Build-A-Bear-Workshop brand. Co-developed and maintained with Frima Studio, Bearville is a free online virtual world and entertainment destination where Guests bring their furry friends to life, interact with other users, play games, take on virtual jobs, buy virtual items and explore.

Since its launch in 2007, Bearville has entertained millions of young fans and earned a spot as one of the top children’s virtual worlds. With exciting adventures, avatar customization and mini-games, Bearville has solidified Build-A-Bear Workshop as a leader in kids interactive entertainment. With the success of Bearville, the company continues to extend its brand from retail shops into e-commerce, online virtual worlds, mobile entertainment apps, and more.

“We’re extremely proud to reach the twenty million avatar milestone with Bearville and are thankful to all of our loyal fans who visit the virtual world each day,” commented Maxine Clark, Founder and Chief Executive Bear of Build-A-Bear-Workshop. “This achievement reinforces our commitment to provide a fun, interactive experience for our guests.”

“Frima Studio has been a critical partner for us in developing the online world on Bearville.com. From concept to twenty million Guests, Frima has been with us every step of the way,” noted Dave Finnegan, Chief Information Bear, Build-A-Bear-Workshop. “Their strategic partnership, creative thinking and technical expertise have been essential to the success of Bearville.”

“This has been an exciting project for us from the start and we’re honored to have been a trusted partner of Build-A-Bear-Workshop for almost five years now,” remarked Steve Couture, CEO, Frima Studio. “Bearville is one of our biggest projects here at Frima, an incredible family brand and a very forward thinking entertainment company.”

Halifax studio DHX Media has appointed Universal Pictures UK as home entertainment partner for Rastamouse, the CBeebies stop-motion animated series, which is scoring high ratings on the UK channel and BBC iPlayer. Universal will release the first Rastamouse DVD on 3 October 2011. It will feature six episodes including Da Crucial Plan, Bakin’ an Breakin’, Mice Camera Action, Da Rhymin Teef, Pie Widout Cheese and Toots Re-routes alongside exclusive bonus content: three sing-along songs from Rastamouse & Da Easy Crew and fun printable activities. The Rastamouse DVD will retail at £12.99 and will be supported by a TV advertising campaign.

Jessica Horne, A & R Manager for Universal Pictures UK commented: “We’re delighted to be releasing Rastamouse on DVD. In a crowded market, this is a pre-school series with a genuine USP. Rastamouse is the coolest licensed character on the market and the show’s humour and musical content really connect with pre-schoolers and their parents.”

Josh Scherba, SVP Distribution at DHX Media added: “There is a significant demand for Rastamouse DVDs in the UK and in Universal we feel that we have the right partner on board to handle the home entertainment element of the brand. With the album available via EMI and toys set to hit the market through Character Options in the Autumn, there is a growing consumer presence for the brand in the UK which is supported by a strong performance of the series on CBeebies.”

Rastamouse, the animated series based on the critically acclaimed books by Genevieve Webster and Michael De Souza, launched on CBeebies in January 2011 and has since engaged a following of preschoolers and parents alike. The series features Rastamouse, Scratchy and Zoomer of Da Easy Crew, the mystery-solving, reggae-playing band who always make a bad ting good and live by their motto “redemption, not retribution.”

A Rastamouse Company Production for CBeebies, Rastamouse is produced by Greg Boardman and Eugenio Perez of Three Stones Media, in association with Dinamo Productions, Little Roots and DHX Media, which handles worldwide TV sales (excluding the UK) and worldwide licensing and merchandising.  The production is supported by the Wales Creative IP Fund.

Destiny Media Technologies Inc. is pleased to announce that a provisional patent application was filed on August 17th for a new invention that renders video to web browsers on all computers and devices, including mobile, without requiring advance support or permission from that device or manufacturer.

Because there is no standard format for online video, content owners currently have to provide a separate version of their media file to support each device and operating system.  This transcoding process is labor intensive and expensive and requires multiple copies of the exact same content to be stored redundantly in different formats.  Compression artifacts are cumulative, so transcoding causes a progressive loss of quality with each successive generation, known as digital generation loss. Destiny’s invention provides a cacheable, cross platform standard compatible with all web servers and browsers, saving up to 90% on bandwidth costs, while ensuring a nearly 100% playback rate without any effort from the consumer.

Comments company CEO, Steve Vestergaard, “The summer of 2011 has seen a flurry of activity surrounding the so called “smartphone patent wars” being waged in the US and elsewhere.  Some of the largest technology companies in the world have been buying up patent portfolios and stepping up their efforts to enforce their IP rights against their competitors, so we’re very pleased to file an application for an invention in the space which we believe will be very valuable commercially.

Online video for mobile is growing rapidly, but because of a lack of standards, it’s costly for publishers to create content that works cross platform.  Either customers don’t have the right CODEC or plug-in player installed or their device doesn’t provide support for that format at all.  The proposed HTML 5 standard, which will eliminate the need for maintaining and updating plug-ins, will make the process somewhat easier for consumers, but video producers will still be required to create multiple copies of the same video in proprietary formats to support various browsers.”

Popular video players such as Windows Media Player, Quicktime and Flash are implemented in different versions for each operating system and CPU and in the case of mobile, can require that they are explicitly supported ahead of time by the device.  In a heartfelt letter posted to Apple’s website in April 2010, Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple, explained why he will not allow the most popular video format, Flash, on iPhones, iPods and iPads.  Flash also doesn’t play on Windows Phone 7 and Android 2.1 or less devices.

Destiny’s invention will enable publishers to create a single high quality video which will confidently play on any device and operating system that can access a web page.  A commercial version of Destiny’s solution is expected to be released by the end of the year.  Destiny’s current streaming video solutions, branded as Clipstream®, require Java to be included as part of the browser, so although they are cross platform, devices which don’t support Java, such as the iPhone and iPad do not support them.  This new solution will work on all operating systems and devices.