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Telefilm Canada and the Rogers Group of Funds are pleased to announce the extension of their partnership for the Theatrical Documentary Program for 2011-2012. The upcoming program deadlines are September 2, 2011 for French-language projects and September 30, 2011 for English-language projects.

The goal of the Theatrical Documentary Program is to increase Canadian audiences for Canadian feature films, by encouraging the production of high-calibre feature-length documentaries for theatrical distribution. Telefilm Canada and the Rogers Group of Funds have joined forces to underwrite this Program with the intent to support projects that will be commercially successful.

Since 2007, this unique public-private partnership has supported some 27 productions including critically acclaimed and award winning titles. Among them are Reel Injun (Reel Indian), Last Train Home, Le Coeur d’Auschwitz, La nuit, elles dansent and Genius Within: The Inner Life of Glenn Gould.

Applicants may apply for funding support for production and post-production stages. For production funding, the minimum production budget requirement is $600,000 for English-language projects, and $500,000 for French-language projects. There is no minimum budget requirement for applications for post-production assistance.

“Telefilm Canada is delighted to be renewing its agreement with the Rogers Group of Funds to support documentary filmmaking, a genre in which Canadians have long excelled on the international scene,” said Carolle Brabant, Executive Director of Telefilm Canada. “In so doing, Telefilm upholds its commitment to support a diverse range of projects for the screen. We eagerly await the new crop of documentaries destined for theatrical release, and look forward to the unique perspectives they will bring to their subject matter.”

Robin Mirsky-Daniels, Executive Director of the Rogers Group of Funds, added: “Rogers continues to honor its commitment to support documentary production in Canada. We are proud of the role we have played in the financing of hundreds of Canadian documentary films and will continue to do so with the renewal of this program.”

Please note that changes have been made to the eligibility criteria for English-language projects. The requirement regarding the broadcasting licensing threshold has been reduced and is harmonized with the Canada Media Fund’s requirements for their English POV Program (point of view).

Reservations Software provider Book4Time, Inc. has named US company TripCraft as its mobile development partner, announcing the launch of powerful mobile solutions for both consumers and spa operators later this year. This partnership provides Book4Time customers with world-class mobile capabilities on the TripCraft platform, seamlessly integrated into Book4time’s leading cloud-based spa solutions. Book4Time currently operates in 16 countries, with many of the leading international spa brands utilizing its robust platform.

“We’re excited to launch both consumer and business mobile solutions for our clients, extending our industry leading cloud-based spa software offering into mobile commerce,” remarked Roger Sholanki, CEO of Book4Time. “Leading the industry with the first web-based spa software platform and processing the first real-time online spa reservation, mobile solutions provide a new landscape to continue our innovation and market leadership.”

“This partnership with Book4time is incredibly exciting. We believe our mobile capabilities paired with Book4time’s robust spa solutions makes a powerful offering for spa operators looking to engage guests in new and compelling ways,” says Mike Murray, Co-Founder of TripCraft.

Book4Time’s web-based spa management system has completed over 20 million real-time spa appointments and currently averages over 500,000 appointments every month, peaking at nearly 40% coming from Book4Time’s reservation portals.

The Harvard Business School Club of Toronto Alumni New Venture Contest winner, CardSwap, advanced to the ‘final 3’ out of 12 companies at the global finals hosted in Boston. The competition brought together regional finalists from HBS Alumni Clubs worldwide, including U.S., Brazil, Germany, India, Shanghai, South Africa and the UAE.

CardSwap is Canada’s largest online platform to buy, sell and donate gift cards. In Canada, each year over $1.0B of gift cards go unredeemed. Canadian’s can now convert their unused gift cards, and merchandise credits, into cash. Savvy shoppers can further save money by purchasing gift cards for leading Canadian retailers at discounts of up to 30% off and even be notified when a discounted gift card for one of their favourite retailers becomes available.

“The response to our business was very enthusiastic and the educational sessions really helped us refine our model,” said Frances.

CardSwap recently announced partnerships with selected Canadian Charities, including the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation – Ontario Region and Covenant House Greater Toronto, where donors can now donate their gift cards to support these worthwhile causes and receive a tax-receipt for their gift card donations.

“We were delighted to have the opportunity to represent the HBS Club of Toronto and Canadian entrepreneurship at-large,” said Zaheed.

The Harvard Business School Club of Toronto is the official organization for the 600+ HBS alumni living in the GTA. The Club organizes educational, social and community services activities for alumni.

Montreal’s OneDesk helps businesses become more social by connecting customers, partners, and employees to the product and service development process. OneDesk is leading the market in providing solutions that help companies realize the benefits of social product development, co-creation, and customer-driven innovation.

This blended suite of SaaS applications enhances a company’s ability to:

Engage with customers and take action. Right now, customers are online discussing your products and services. OneDesk helps you leverage social media (Facebook, Twitter, blogs, discussions, etc.) and other web media (email, portals, etc.) to discover what is being said about your brands, industry and competitors.

OneDesk’s feedback and ideas management tools lets you easily capture customer suggestions, keep on top of conversations, reply to them, and feed customer input directly into the development process. With OneDesk, no feedback is misplaced or lost; instead it is properly categorized, responded-to, and acted upon.

Reduce customer service costs. Building strong customer relationships involves quickly resolving customer issues. OneDesk’s integrated help desk solution allows you to automate your customer service, tap into the knowledge base from employees, partners & customers, while creating and managing a community of loyal contributors.

Simplify the requirements and project management processes. OneDesk lets you easily manage and prioritize product and service requirements. Comprehensive project management and collaboration applications addresses the needs of Project Managers and their teams.

Structure the conversation and get the job done. It is important to structure the conversation between employees partners and customers to deliver business value. OneDesk’s social collaboration tools are directly connected to business goals.

Huawei has won a competitive bid to build a WiMAX network for Manitoba NetSet Ltd. A two-phased project, this network will extend fourth generation WiMAX coverage to rural areas of Manitoba, providing essential broadband Internet access to more than 5,000 new households within the first year.

“There are more than 22,000 households in the southern portion of the province that do not have access to carrier-class broadband Internet services and we are committed to delivering this service to all residents of Manitoba,” said Charlie Clark, owner of I-NetLink Wireless and President of Manitoba NetSet Ltd. “We conducted a laborious search for the right technology partner to help us fulfill our goals. We ultimately selected Huawei as they have a proven track record in WiMAX deployments around the world and have demonstrated their commitment to our project and share our passion to build out Manitoba’s first fully licensed wireless carrier network. Another major part of our decision was that we wanted to ensure that we were able to ‘future-proof’ our network. Our selection of Huawei means that our network is fully upgradable to LTE, once the design standards are ratified.”

Manitoba NetSet is a consortium of the most prominent Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in rural Manitoba which have teamed up to expand broadband network coverage across the province. Its mandate is to serve the regions of the province typically out of reach of the traditional land line services.

“The product portfolio developed by Huawei is providing us the platform required today, and for rolling out future applications of tomorrow,” says Bryan King, one of the founders of the company.

Manitoba NetSet required a cost effective carrier-grade wireless solution designed to maximize coverage for the region by utilizing the company’s 3.5 GHz licensed spectrum.

“Having affordable access to the Internet not only delivers the crucial connectivity demanded by today’s world, but also enables educational and business opportunities, and inspires innovation that in turn will fuel Manitoba and Canada’s economy,” said Sean Yang, President of Huawei Canada. “Internet access is important for all Canadians – no matter where they live – and we are very excited about working with Manitoba NetSet to expand Huawei’s WiMAX coverage across Manitoba and Canada.”

Huawei’s initial engagement with Manitoba NetSet will cover the southern portion of the province reaching from the Saskachewan border to the west, the Ontario border to the east, the U.S. border to the south, and services will also be made available to regions as far north as The Pas. The network will use Huawei’s industry leading SingleRAN base transceiver stations (BTS), which leverage advanced technologies to deliver high-speed access and rich services experiences for both its customers and end-users.

 Craft supply outlet Michaels is redefining its online and social media customer experience with the introduction of several new digital marketing channels. New additions include: mobile phone coupon acceptance, interactive online ads, a mobile iPhone app launch, Quick Response (QR) codes, a mobile website and text message alerts.

Michaels’ new interactive online weekly ad allows North American customers to view by department or brand, with select products linked to projects and/or how-to videos that enable customers to visualize the final product. Created specifically to make customer’s crafting experiences at Michaels as efficient as possible, the ad provides inspiration, organization and capabilities unlike any other retailer. The online weekly ad also gives customers the ability to share products and projects through social channels such as Twitter and Facebook.

Weekly ad deals can also be seen in Michaels recently launched, free iPhone app for customers that includes coupons, a store locator, the ability to create shopping lists, a QR code reader and in-store event lists. Customers can also access project and product information as part of its company-wide initiative to provide customers with more inspiration and convenience. A free Android app will follow in September 2011. Mobile phone coupon acceptance allows stores to easily scan coupons from customer’s cell phones.

“Our customers are a passionate, connected community and these new channels allow for more tailored and relevant communication,” said Michaels Sr. Director of Digital Marketing Anthony Price. “We know that roughly half of our customers use smart phones and the new online and mobile tools are designed for them to help provide increased inspiration when and where they are looking for it.”

Michaels understands that customers continually look for more ways to engage online, through smart phones and social media. A recent Michaels survey showed that 57% of customers connect to Facebook daily to read or post messages.

Additional ways for Michaels customers to interact through digital media include:

— Text message alerts – customers can now receive coupons, project ideas and special event information through their mobile phones.
— Increased social media presence – Michaels uses its Facebook page, YouTube channel and Twitter feed to give customers the opportunity to share their creativity and directly inspire others in the Michaels crafting community.
— Webisodes – Michaels.com hosts how-to webisodes featuring Michaels Creative Expert Jo Pearson and others demonstrating crafting techniques, products and ideas.
— E-Newsletters -tailored to provide ideas, techniques and instructions on the go.

OpenText has acquired Global 360 Holding Corporation, a provider of process and case management solutions. The acquisition continues OpenText’s expansion into the fast growing business process management (BPM) market, adding to its technology, talent, services, partner and geographical strengths, as well as giving the company important new capabilities in dynamic case management.

The transaction purchase price is approximately $260 million (1), subject to customary purchase price and holdback adjustments.  Global 360 has generated approximately $90 million in trailing twelve months revenue and is profitable.  The transaction has closed in the first quarter of fiscal 2012 and is not part of the fiscal 2011 fourth quarter and year-end results of OpenText. The management team of OpenText will provide further information regarding the future plans of the combined company when it provides fiscal year-end results on August 10, 2011.

“Many global organizations – about sixty percent — already connect their Enterprise Content Management (ECM) and BPM projects under a single strategy.  Customers are moving in this direction and we are accelerating our investment in leading content, process and case management solutions as a result,” said John Shackleton, President and Chief Executive Officer of OpenText. “With the addition of Global 360, we will be able to offer organizations a complete spectrum of solutions from a strong, independent and global solutions provider.”

Global 360, headquartered in Dallas, Texas with customers in 70 countries, is known for its case management solutions, its document-centric BPM, and its emphasis on usability and user experience in its software.  In February 2011, OpenText also acquired Metastorm, a BPM leader with strong and complementary capabilities, including support for human-centric BPM.  Metastorm also offers other solutions that complement Global 360, such as business process analysis and enterprise architecture software.

This increased investment in the BPM market demonstrates OpenText’s focus on strategic acquisitions of technologies that build out its extended portfolio of solutions. The two acquisitions bring an extended base of expertise – some 300 people in R&D alone – dedicated to BPM and dynamic case management solutions, plus a further reach in key verticals such as financial services, energy, government, life sciences and other industries.  OpenText can now solve a much broader range of customer requirements, and at the same time extend its reach across all facets of solutions involving content and business processes. Read the rest of this entry »

From ACETECH: Are you a the founder of a new technology company wondering how to validate your new product in the market?

The deadline to apply for this program has been extended to Friday July 15th.

Only 20 spots available  –  Apply Online

ACETECH is delivering a go-to-market boot camp for very early stage technology companies.  The program provides a structured process and one-on-one mentoring from an experienced technology CEO to help you get to market faster with less risk.

After successful completion of the Market Validation Program, ACETECH can refer you into the BCIC Mento Program to receive ongoing mentoring.  The BCIC Mentor Program is entirely funded by BCIC and ther is no cost to participate for 12 months.

The program includes:

• 3 full-day interactive, educational sessions
  • September 20
  • October 18
  • November 15
• 3 one-on-one mentoring sessions with an experienced technology CEO (one session per month – September to December) – to be scheduled with the mentor.

You leave with:

• A completed positioning statement and value proposition
• A strategy to go to market
• Priorities identified to achieve early adopter customers
• Training to sell to early adopters
• Actionable tools and templates
• Access to contacts and resources

Who’s eligible:

• Technology company CEO/founders
• Less than 10 employees
• Pre-revenue
• Must have a product or an early working version of the product

Program Cost & Application

The application deadline is July 1, 2011 July 15, 2011.  Your application is not a formal registration for the program.  All applicants will be contacted by ACETECH once the application has been reviewed.

As pretty well everyone in the industry already suspected, Electronic Arts Inc. has now publicly confirmed an agreement to acquire PopCap Games.  Well-known for its blockbuster titles like Plants vs. Zombies, Bejeweled, and Zuma, and a proven ability to create new hits, PopCap is a leader in the fast growing market for casual digital games with locations in Dublin, Vancouver (which creates all those PopCap Hidden Object titles), Seattle, San Francisco, Shanghai and Tokyo.

PopCap Games was founded eleven years ago by John Vechey, Jason Kapalka and Brian Fiete, three young gaming geeks who followed their passion – to make games. John and Brian met when they were both attending Purdue University before working for Sierra. Meanwhile the token Canadian in the trio, Jason, graduated from the University of Alberta and had worked as a Senior Producer for Pogo.com – another casual game portal that was swallowed up by the EA publishing empire just as PopCap was getting its start.

“EA and PopCap are a compelling combination,” said EA CEO John Riccitiello. “PopCap’s great studio talent and powerful IP add to EA’s momentum and accelerate our drive towards a $1 billion digital business. EA’s global studio and publishing network will help PopCap rapidly expand their business to more digital devices, more countries, and more channels.”

“We picked EA because they have recast their culture around making great digital games,” said David Roberts, CEO of PopCap. “By working with EA, we’ll scale our games and services to deliver more social, mobile, casual fun to an even bigger, global audience.”

“PopCap has a proven financial trajectory with sustained revenue growth and double-digit operating margins,” said EA CFO Eric Brown. “On a non-GAAP basis, this deal is expected to be at least ten-cents accretive in fiscal year 2013.”

PopCap is one of the largest and most respected digital and social gaming companies with more than 150 million games installed and played worldwide on platforms such as Facebook®, RenRen, Google™, iPhone™, iPad™ and Android. In calendar year 2010, approximately 80% of PopCap’s revenue was on high growth digital platforms.

EA will pay approximately $650 million in cash and $100 million in shares of EA common stock to be issued to certain stockholders of PopCap. In addition, the PopCap sellers are entitled to additional variable cash consideration, contingent upon the achievement of certain non-GAAP earnings before interest and tax (“EBIT”) performance milestones through December 2013, EA’s third fiscal quarter end.

At the upper end of the earn-out, the performance targets for EBIT are approximately $343 million in total PopCap standalone EBIT generated over the two-year period through December 2013. The exact earn-out calculation is subject to adjustments. EA will also provide up to $50 million in long-term equity retention awards to PopCap employees to be granted over the next four years.

Transaction and Financial Highlights

* The transaction is expected to close in August 2011, subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals.

* On a non-GAAP basis, the acquisition is expected to be EPS neutral to EA’s fiscal year 2012 results, as a result of one-time transaction costs, and at least $0.10 accretive to EA’s FY 2013 non-GAAP EPS.

* For the first quarter of fiscal year 2012, EA is announcing preliminary results of approximately:

*$500 million to $525 million in non-GAAP revenue versus guidance of $460 million to $500 million of non-GAAP revenue.

* ($0.40) to ($0.37) in non-GAAP diluted loss per share versus guidance of ($0.49) to ($0.44) in non-GAAP diluted loss per share.

EA is reaffirming its full year fiscal year 2012 non-GAAP guidance of $0.70 to $0.90 diluted earnings per share. EA is also increasing its full year non-GAAP revenue guidance to a range of $3,800 million to $4,025 million to account for the inclusion of PopCap for a portion of FY12. EA is announcing preliminary guidance for the second quarter of fiscal year 2012 of non-GAAP diluted loss per share ranging from ($0.15) to ($0.05).

EA has executed a commitment letter for a $550 million senior unsecured bridge facility with Morgan Stanley Senior Funding, Inc., J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, J.P. Morgan Chase Bank, N.A., UBS Securities LLC, and UBS Loan Finance LLC, that EA may choose to draw upon prior to closing the acquisition. EA expects to explore permanent financing options in connection with the funding of this acquisition. Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC provided EA’s board of directors valuation advice in connection with the transaction. EA was also assisted by UBS Investment Bank.

In addition, the $600 million share repurchase program that EA announced in February, 2011 remains in effect. As of July 1, 2011, EA has repurchased 7.1 million shares for a total of $149 million under this program. EA is not obligated to repurchase any specific number of shares under the program and the repurchase program may be modified, suspended or discontinued at any time.

Intertainment Media Inc. has announced that its social media, real time, experiential translation platform Ortsbo generated over 68 Million minutes of user engagement for the second half of June 2011 along with 12.8 Million Online Sessions, 53 Million Page Views and 9.6 Million Unique Users in only 15 days from June 15^thto June 30th. This represents a significant increase to the previously reported numbers, as Ortsbo has made the initial transition to Microsoft’s Windows Azure platform, providing a Cloud environment allowing virtually unlimited technology growth opportunities.

Over the past 45 days, Ortsbo has been transitioning its systems to the Cloud to provide a more robust user experience and will continue through Summer 2011 to improve the services. To date, these improvements have increased the speed and access to the Ortsbo platform allowing users to spend more time engaged in the experience. During the initial overhaul process, Ortsbo suspended number reporting, as it rebuilt and retooled the entire system. On a go forward basis, the reporting of metrics is expected to be twice a month.

“The move to the Cloud with Microsoft Azure has allowed Ortsbo to accelerate growth and we are seeing the results immediately,” said David Lucatch, President of Ortsbo and CEO Intertainment Media.

Intertainment has acquired rights to a United States patent application with respect to the automated translation within a browser in consideration for a payment of $200,000. The company has taken over all the rights associated with the patent application as well as any derivatives thereof. The vendor will receive additional payments upon the issuance of the patent and any continuation or continuation-in-part claiming priority from the patent application. In addition, the vendor will be entitled to receive 10% of any licensing revenue generated in connection with the patent.

“We believe that the acquisition of the patent application and the associated rights will further strengthen Intertainment’s portfolio in the area of automated online translation and communication,” commented Lucatch.

Ortsbo has appointed New York based translation industry veteran Mr. Matthew Grotenstein to lead global business development and partner acquisition. Mr. Grotenstein brings over 10 years experience growing businesses in the communications, social media, and management consulting space. Most recently, Mr. Grotenstein led US Business Development for CLS Communication, one of the world’s largest language translation providers.

“We are excited to have Matt onboard to lead our global commercial business development and partner programs as he brings a wealth of industry knowledge and relationships to the Ortsbo team,” said Lucatch. “We are eager to combine our current successes with Matt’s industry leadership. His first objective will be to monetize the brand across a commercial landscape.”

Together with the recently integrated Commobility team, Ortsbo has upgraded a number of technology parameters allowing the company to update its previously filed mobile version of Ortsbo for the Apple iPhone. Ortsbo to Ortsbo, or “O2O”, for which a patent has been applied for, is nearing completion for application and commercialization through Apple iTunes.

Recent upgrades to the Ortsbo platform have resulted in a streamlined process for mobile implementation. Together with its pilot for the Apple iPhone, Ortsbo is now piloting an Android version of its Ortsbo applications with other system applications expected through Summer 2011.