Village Gamer

Cyber criminals are on the move again, and Canada is the preferred relocation haven. American-based internet security company Websense, Inc. recently conducted an analysis of Canada’s cyber security risk profile, and all trends pointed to Canada as the new launch pad for cyber criminals. IP addresses in China and Eastern Europe are highly scrutinized and undergoing intense evaluation. Hackers react by moving their networks to countries like Canada that have cleaner cyber reputations.

“Cyber crime in Canada is increasing,” said Fiaaz Walji, Canadian country manager for Websense. “Businesses today need to be able to defend against this new assault. A solution that provides content security and combines email, Web, and DLP security is key to fending off these modern threats, which often bypass traditional perimeter and endpoint security.”

According to the study, Canada saw a huge increase in the number of servers hosting phishing sites, jumping 319 percent in the last year. This tremendous increase over the last 12 months is second only to Egypt in terms of the growth of sites hosting phishing – but the US is still at number 1. Below is the breakdown:

1. USA – 2. Canada – 3. Egypt – 4. Germany – 5. UK – 6. Netherlands – 7. Russia – 8. South Korea – 9. France – 10. Brazil

“More malicious content is being hosted in Canada than ever before,” said Patrik Runald, senior manager of Security Research, Websense. “Cyber criminals are taking advantage of Canada’s clean cyber reputation, and moving shop. We’re seeing all time highs for both hosted phishing sites and bot networks. It is important for Canadian citizens to be extra vigilant on the Internet, taking extra precautions when clicking on links.”

Cyber criminals are moving their command and control centers to safer grounds. In the past eight months, Canada saw a 53 percent increase in bot networks. Canada is the only country that showed an increase in bot networks over the last eight months, when compared to the countries above. Overall increase in cyber crime – In 2010 Canada was #13 in the world for hosting cyber crime, and in 2011 Canada jumped to #6, while the USA remains in the #1 spot on both charts.  Read the rest of this entry »

Empire Theatres, a Canada-wide film exhibition company with 50 theatres, and IMAX Corp. have announced that Empire Theatres will be adding three new IMAX digital theatres to its network this year. In addition to an existing location in Halifax, the following theatres in the Empire Theatres network have been chosen to deliver The IMAX Experience^®:

Empire Theatres Country Hills, Calgary
Empire Theatres Kitchener, Kitchener
Empire Theatres Avalon Mall, St. John’s

The Empire Theatres Bayers Lake, Halifax IMAX screen will be converted from film to digital projection to allow for a greater range of IMAX blockbuster hits to be shown.

“We are excited to partner once again with IMAX Corporation to bring The IMAX Experience^® to our theatres in these markets,” says Dean Leland, Vice President, Studio & Media Relations, Empire Theatres. “IMAX delivers premium viewing experiences in both digital and 3D that our guests are looking for.”

“Today’s announcement highlights our commitment to expanding in the Canadian market, and to continuing our successful work with key partners like Empire Theatres,” said IMAX CEO Richard L. Gelfond. “With these three new systems, we are scheduled to have 22 commercial theatres operating in Canada by November, more than double the size of our Canadian commercial theatre network as of November 2010.”

The Empire Theatres Country Hills, Empire Theatres Kitchener and Empire Theatres Bayers Lake locations will be open for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2: An IMAX 3D Experience on July 15, 2011. The Empire Theatres Avalon Mall, NL location will be open in September 2011.

TransGaming Inc. (TSX VENTURE:TNG) announced yesterday that it granted options to purchase 1,800,000 common shares under the Company’s stock option plan, of which 530,000 were granted to directors and officers. The granted options have an exercise price of $0.82 (being the May 16, 2011 closing price of the shares on the TSX Venture Exchange), vest 1/4 each year on June 1 from 2011-2014, and expire on May 17, 2016. The stock option grants remain subject to acceptance for filing by the TSX Venture Exchange under Policy 4.4 (“Incentive Stock Options”) of the TSX Venture Exchange Corporate Finance Manual.

Glacier Media Inc. (TSX:GVC) is pleased to announce that, through one of its affiliates, it has entered into a definitive agreement with Rogers Publishing Limited to acquire a portfolio of media assets from Rogers’ business and professional publishing group. The assets comprise 15 trade publications and digital brands, together with their associated readership database, events and web presence. Properties acquired include established and leading publications such as Food in Canada, Le Bulletin des agriculteurs, Canadian Packaging, HPAC and Meetings & Incentive Travel (including Incentiveworks, Canada’s largest trade show for the meetings, incentive travel and promotions industry).

The assets will integrate into Glacier’s Business Information Group, a leading operator of Canadian trade publications and industry-focused web sites, and Glacier’s Farm Business Communications.

The acquisition allows Glacier to:

• Expand the company’s growing print and digital footprint in the Canadian agriculture and food media industry;
• Further leverage the operating platform of the Business Information Group (e.g. fulfillment systems, production services, web technologies);
• Utilize acquired technologies to accelerate the online capabilities and reach of the Business Information Group’s directory products, especially Scott’s Directories.

The transaction is expected to close on May 27, 2011.

Yesterday was the official launch of Opportunity CAN, a 40-day event celebrating Opportunity International’s 40-year history empowering people across the developing world to work their way out of poverty using financial tools. During the event, Canadians will use their unique skills and creativity to fulfill a personal challenge or host a meal that will help end poverty through microfinance.

“In the last year, we’ve had people parachute out of planes and hike mountains to help end global poverty,” says Opportunity International Canada President & CEO, Paula A. Curtis. “Engaged couples gave up their wedding gifts and businesses offered a ‘Toonie at the Till’ promotion. It will be exciting to see how Canadians now respond to Opportunity CAN.”

Opportunity’s goal is to raise $1 million in 40 days that will help empower entrepreneurs to work their way out of poverty. The campaign, however, “is about more than raising money,” Curtis observes. “It’s about celebrating entrepreneurship and creativity. Our microfinance clients have been demonstrating this for 40 years. Now we’re giving Canadians the opportunity to use their gifts as well.”

D-BOX Technologies Inc. has signed an agreement with Starplex Cinemas to equip its Stadium 16 theatre in Corpus Christi, Texas and Stadium 14 in Normal, Ill. with D-BOX MFX Seats.

Stadium 16 in Corpus Christi will be the first of the two to feature the motion technology, debuting 25 D-BOX MFX Seats in time for the May 20 release of Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.

“This initial agreement with Starplex Cinemas generates new opportunity for growth within the U.S. as this chain currently has a presence in California, Texas, Oklahoma and Ohio, just to name a few U.S. states,” said President and CEO of D-BOX Technologies, Claude Mc Master.

“We are very much looking forward to introducing the D-BOX experience,” said Director of Marketing for Starplex Cinemas, Traci Hoey. “It’s a means of differentiating our theatres from others in the market while maintaining our commitment to provide a high-quality, state-of-the-art entertainment experience for our guests.”

The HSBC International Business Awards are an important, new awards program that will honour Canadian firms that have made a real difference in taking their products and services to the world. The Awards were bestowed in the following categories: the HSBC International Business of the Year Award, Small and Medium Enterprise, the HSBC International Business of the Year Award, Large Enterprise, the Leadership in International Trade in Asia-Pacific, and the Leadership in International Trade in Latin America. The program was created in conjunction with Business without Borders, Canada’s newest and best source of news, analysis and practical information for companies reaching beyond this nation’s borders.

Of interest to us are the 2011 Award Winners in the Enterprise categories, because they are both from the Technology sector:

Small Medium Enterprise: ToonBoom Animation
Large Enterprise: Forensic Technology

GuestLogix, Inc., a global provider of onboard store technology to airlines and the passenger travel industry, today announced that Tom Douramakos, President and Chief Executive Officer was invited to present at the 12^th Annual B. Riley & Co. Investor Conference at the Lowes Santa Monica Beach Hotel in Santa Monica, California.

Mr. Douramakos will discuss the benefits of GuestLogix’ onboard retailing technology and merchandising platform and highlight the Company’s success in penetrating the global airline industry. He will also outline the Company’s strategy to drive continued growth. The GuestLogix presentation will take place on Tuesday, May 24^th, 2011 at 9:00 a.m. Pacific Time in Palisades D.

You can wait for Hollywood to come to you, or you can go to Hollywood and bring some home. In February, executives from the Canadian province of Ontario’s talent-rich tech cities went to the Hollywood Hills of Los Angeles promoting pixel-perfect business conditions for expanding entertainment companies. A successful meeting with American United Entertainment LLC’s CEO Robert Rodriguez (Managing Director of American United Media Fund, LLC.) has quickly created a $40 million investment in media, film and television production infrastructure representing three to four upcoming feature films, television and/or digital media projects.

Pleased to discover Ontario’s open-arms approach to the film production and digital media industries, Rodriguez, whose backers include a who’s-who of Hollywood heavy hitters including Bill Mechanic of Pandemonium Films (former Chairman and CEO of Fox Filmed Entertainment), Arnold Rifkin of Cheyenne Enterprises (Producer of “Die Hard”), Toronto-based Kevin Hicks, and Thomas Sherak of Revolution Consulting (currently President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences), who’s in charge of distribution for the company. One of American United Entertainment’s upcoming feature films is “Your Perfect Angel,” directed by comedy director Donald Petrie, who also directed Sandra Bullock in “Miss Congeniality” and Kate Hudson in “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days.”

“Toronto’s an incredible city to do feature films and digital media, and thanks to the Ontario Technology Corridor and their many government and private sector partners, we’ve had our eyes opened to the possibilities for American United Entertainment expansions in gaming, special effects and social media,” says Rodriguez. “The fact that our industry is a provincial priority and there’s a wealth of graduates from colleges and universities as well as veteran production talent and companies makes Ontario a very compelling place to expand our business.”

“We are thrilled to welcome American United Entertainment to Canada’s digital entertainment heartland,” says Gerald Pisarzowski, Vice-President Business Development with the Greater Toronto Marketing Alliance (GTMA), an Ontario Technology Corridor partner. Pisarzowski and his Ontario Technology Corridor colleague Blair Patacairk, Senior Director, Investment, for the Ottawa Centre for Regional Innovation, met with Rodriguez last February on a foreign direct investment trade mission that also included meetings at San Francisco’s Game Developer’s Conference 2011. Read the rest of this entry »

IMD, a top-ranked global business school based in Switzerland, today announced the findings of its annual World Competitiveness Yearbook (WCY), which places Canada in seventh place, retaining its position from last year. Neighboring USA, along with Hong Kong, were on the top of list as the most competitive countries, both slightly ahead of last year’s winner, Singapore.

Published since 1989, WCY ranks and analyzes how an economy manages the totality of its resources and competencies to increase the prosperity of its population.

IMD’s WCY indicates that Canada’s top key attractiveness indicators include the country’s stable policy, skilled workforce, reliable infrastructure and high educational levels. Canada’s competitive strengths lie in its high level of resilience, efficient financial system and dynamic business culture. The country also ranks first for its ‘Image Abroad.’ In terms of weaknesses, there are concerns about relocation threats and vulnerability to commodity-dependency.

Additional 2011 WCY findings:

• Sweden jumps to fourth place from sixth, highlighting the competitiveness of the Nordic model
• Germany shines and gains six ranks to tenth position thanks to increased exports and a more flexible labor market
• Qatar, Korea and Turkey continue their ascent in competitiveness

IMD also released its first Government Efficiency Gap results, which compares a country’s government and business efficiency to determine whether countries have “the government they deserve.”

According to the findings, there is little gap between government and business efficiency in Canada, showing that the two reinforce one another and are well synchronized. On the contrary, overall competitiveness in the US was ‘rescued’ by its business efficiency. Read the rest of this entry »

Toronto-based branding agency The BrainStorm Group recently launched a new brand strategy and visual identity for Connecticut-based Open Solutions, Inc.®, an innovator of core banking platforms for financial service providers across the United States, Canada and other international markets.

The new brand position, “There’s Power in Community” reinforces the open architecture of the Open Solutions platform including the newly launched DNAcreator and DNAappstore. It also reflects the collaborative nature of Open Solution’s client relationships.

The new visual identity includes an updated logo, complete brand architecture and messaging – bringing the new identity to life. It also features an iconic green “O” that brings the positioning to life through its usage across many communication mediums – including a new website.

The rebrand was launched at the 2011 Open Solutions client conference in Washington, DC, on Monday, May 2, 2011, in front of more than 1,200 attendees.

“The BrainStorm Group exceeded our expectations and created a positioning and brand identity that serves as a catalyst to our vision to become the largest global provider of technology solutions to the financial services industry,” stated Open Solutions CMO David Mitchell. “The rebranding has been enthusiastically received by our employees and clients re-energizing our company at this pivotal time.”

The BrainStorm Group was selected for the rebranding project after a competitive search process based on their proven branding process, creative approach, experience and team. The search process and oversight of the project was managed by Lovallo Communications Group LLC, Ridgefield, CT.

Moneyville.ca, a comprehensive financial resource for everyday personal finance, has partnered with the Investor Education Fund (IEF) to deliver high quality educational content that will help Canadians to make smart, informed decisions about money.  Adding to Moneyville.ca’s comprehensive editorial coverage on the financial issues that matter to Canadians, are hundreds of IEF articles, blogs and case studies.

“We have partnered with the IEF because we have the same priorities in mind,” says Adam Mayers, editor of Moneyville.ca. “Both organizations stand for the consumer and offer plain speaking, clearly written articles on all aspects of personal finance from budgeting and basic money management to buying a car, bringing up baby and buying a house.”

A non-profit agency set up by the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC), the IEF is funded by fines and settlements from OSC enforcement actions and has a mandate to improve investor education and financial literacy through the web and in schools. The IEF’s Get Smarter About Money site is a treasure trove of practical financial information including everything from budgeting to investments to lifestyle angles such as finding and losing jobs, the cost and considerations of getting married, having children and the implications for divorce and retirement.

“The consumer wins with this partnership,” says Tom Hamza, President of the IEF.  “Greater awareness of high-quality, unbiased resources will help consumers get what they need and help to avoid the financial mistakes that are so common.”

The AMD Foundation today announced grants of more than $125,000 for educational programs that mark the non-profit’s expansion into Canada. The grants were awarded to the Boys & Girls Clubs of Canada and Friends of York University at the 2011 INplay Conference.  The awards support AMD’s education initiative, AMD Changing the Game, which is designed to inspire students’ interest in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) by creating video games.

“The AMD Foundation is committed to partnering with organizations that can help us meet students on common ground to build critical STEM skills,” said Allyson Peerman, President of the AMD Foundation. “The Boys & Girls Clubs of Canada and York University are innovators in the education space and the perfect partners to help us grow educational game design curricula in Canada.”

The Boys & Girls Clubs of Canada will receive $45,000 to create two new computer labs with Acer computers powered by AMD Fusion APUs and $32,000 to deploy Game Tech pilot programs that will familiarize students with video game design principles and the STEM skills involved in the process.

“We are thrilled to have the opportunity to expand our technology learning programs for youth by enabling our Club members to access Game Tech,” said Pam Jolliffe, CEO and President, Boys & Girls Clubs of Canada. “Using game design to support youth in their learning and get them excited about learning is an innovative approach that we think will encourage our youth to be actively engaged.”

The Ontario grants are the most recent collaboration between AMD Changing the Game and the Boys & Girls Clubs of Canada. The Game Tech curriculum offers Club members ages 9-13 the opportunity to explore video game design and teaches systems thinking, introductory programming and problem-solving skills. The program is also designed to expose members to gaming career fields.

Friends of York University will receive $15,000 to create a computer lab equipped with AMD-based technology, and $35,000 to develop after school programs that encourage girls aged 13-15 to make use of video game design as a way to harness the power of new media development for under-privileged youth in the Greater Toronto/York Region.  After school programs will be enhanced with a summer camp opportunity that will provide access for additional students, supplemental mentoring and confidence building opportunities.

“York University researchers are making new breakthroughs in digital media and gaming,” said Stan Shapson, Vice-President Research & Innovation at York University. “We are excited to partner with the AMD Foundation to extend our research and outreach into the pedagogy of gaming to engage high school girls. These opportunities will provide students with technical skills while giving the participants insight into careers in the gaming and digital media industries.”

AMD Changing the Game is designed to take gaming beyond entertainment and inspire youth to learn critical education and life skills by equipping them to create digital games with social content. The program’s purpose is to promote the use of youth game development as a tool to inspire learning and improve science, technology, education and math (STEM) skills. The initiative is rooted in AMD’s long history of supporting education, along with the company’s passion and expertise in the graphics processor and gaming industries.

Since its launch in June 2008, AMD Changing the Game has:

• Funded 33 programs by 21 organizations in the United States, China, Malaysia, Germany and Canada that enable youth game development
• Co-sponsored the U.S. National STEM Video Game Challenge and joined Change the Equation in support of the US Educate to Innovate campaign
• Co-sponsored, along with the Entertainment Software Association, The Atlantic Intelligence Series Technologies in Education Forum
• Funded the creation and implementation of the Game Tech program at 10 local Boys & Girls Clubs across the country.
• Funded the creation of Level Up!, a comprehensive online teaching resource providing curricula and tools for middle and high school educators to teach students video game design and improve their STEM and language arts skills
• Funded the creation of a social impact game community within the Gamestar Mechanic game development platform
• Funded the creation of the AMD Game Zone within the Whyville.net virtual learning world
• Funded the development of the World Wide Workshop Foundation’s Globaloria game-design program for the Southwest Key’s East Austin College Prep Academy in 2009 and 2010
• Funded the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers new video game design category for the 2010 and 2011 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards
• Funded Schmahl Science Workshop’s program to develop a sustainable fishing video game to communicate the danger of over fishing to long-term human survival
• Co-sponsored the 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011 Games for Change Festival

IT solutions and services provider Softchoice Corporation has announced that a group of 15 employees will take responsibility for directing the Company’s fundraising and charitable giving activities over the next 18-months. As members of the Softchoice Cares Board, their role will be to guide and support employee-led activities aimed at raising money for access to technology and computer literacy programs across North America and around the world.

“I would like to welcome our new board and give heartfelt thanks for the hard work and dedication of our outgoing members,” said Karly Pierce, a Technical Architect for Softchoice and the new Chairman of the Softchoice Cares Board. “With our new board in place, I look forward to continuing to inspire and engage the Softchoice community in a mission that goes beyond the day-to-day management of our business.”

Softchoice Cares’ mission is to use technology to create opportunities for education and personal advancement to help people of all walks achieve their potential. In 2010, Softchoice employees raised $250,000 dollars through trivia nights, a curling bonspiel, raffles, bake sales and more. This money has been used to support a number of technology-related causes, including the creation of a computer lab for 150 children at a local primary school in Tangalle, Sri Lanka. Softchoice Cares also undertook a joint partnership with Habitat for Humanity to provide home computers to 563 families across the United States.

“I am constantly inspired by the leadership and commitment of our people,” said David MacDonald, President and CEO of Softchoice. “Through Softchoice Cares, we continue to broaden our impact as a company by helping help those in need in our local communities and around the world.”