Village Gamer

San Francisco-based social game developer TheBroth announced today that Victoria, BC mobile and social media game monetization company Playboost, a subsidiary of NeverBlue, has developed Gamebar, a custom game-play monetization toolbar for Barn Buddy, a top game on Facebook with 1.8 million monthly users and the #1 game on Hi5. The new Barn Buddy “Gamebar” toolbar was officially launched on September 3, 2010. The toolbar is uniquely designed to add new income streams for TheBroth beyond revenue share off of search feeds, plus increase Barn Buddy’s user engagement.

“With Barn Buddy, TheBroth is clearly at the top of their game and has captured the imagination and market share of Facebook fans,” said Chris Dykstra, Head of Strategic Partnerships at Playboost. “It’s exciting to work with a group of individuals that challenges us to find new solutions for revenue and user engagement. Their attitude and drive underscores why TheBroth is a leader in Facebook farm games.”

The newly created Gamebar is even further engaging its most avid fans. “I find even I‘m playing the game more! We look forward to increased monetization with Playboost’s Gamebar,” said Markus Weichselbaum, CEO at TheBroth.

In addition to Playboost’s successful Gamebar product, the studio recently launched their Mobile Offer Platform which allows Android and iPhone game developers to monetize their free to play games.

The bookshelves at 155 public school libraries across Canada will now receive a much needed boost in books through the second annual Indigo Love of Reading Foundation Adopt a School program. From September 12th to October 2nd, Indigo, Chapters and Coles stores across Canada “adopted” public schools in their communities. Through the generous donations of customers and employees school libraries were rejuvenated with funds raised by in-store activities and donations.

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Ahoy, mateys! Global video game publisher 505 Games and developer Artificial Mind & Movement (A2M) today announced the latest downloadable chapter for Naughty Bear is available now for Xbox LIVE® Arcade and PlayStation® Network. The new pirate-themed Chapter 9 pits the naughtiest bear around in a bid to lay siege to the Island of Perfection with even more mischievous action, including all-new characters, costumes and challenges.

Filled with exclusive hidden treasures, deadly weapons and brutal buccaneers, Chapter 9 serves up four new challenges to swashbuckle while taking up arms against baddie bears and their leader, Admiral Giggles, as well as The Pirates and their leader, The Great Bear Beard.

To commend their efforts in combat, Chapter 9 players can dress Naughty in his own version of the Pirate Bear costume or even assume the identity of The Great Bear Beard, find two new hats and collect the lethal cutlass, with unique ultra-kill capabilities.

Naughty Bear is available now for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 and also for iPhone & iPod Touch through the Apple App Store for $2.99 CAD. The downloadable Chapter 9 is available now on Xbox LIVE Arcade for 400 MS points and on PlayStation Network for the equivalent of $4.99 USD.

Sierra Wireless today announced a multi-year strategic agreement for the company to provide M2M (machine-to-machine) Services Management for Telus. Telus will integrate the Sierra Wireless AirVantage™ Services Platform into their network operations to provide M2M customers with online access to a comprehensive suite of M2M service creation, delivery and management capabilities, making it simpler and faster to bring M2M services to market and opening new service opportunities for Telus and its partners.

ABI Research forecasts M2M connection revenue in Canada to grow at a rate of 26 per cent per year from 2010 to 2015, to a total of $575 million (M2M Market Forecasts, ABI Research, Q3 2010, Total Cellular M2M Connection Revenue by Region, World Market Forecast 2007 – 2015 ). M2M services cover a wide range of applications, including remotely collecting vehicle data, remotely monitoring equipment such as pipelines and wind turbines, wireless point-of-sale devices, and connecting innovative consumer devices such as e-book readers, personal navigation devices, and cameras. Read the rest of this entry »

Toronto’s BlueCat Networks, the IPAM Intelligence™ company, has won a prestigious Pilot Award at the 2010 American Security Challenge (ASC). Under the auspices of the National Security Initiative (NSI), the ASC is the largest U.S. competition devoted to bringing the latest and best security technologies to market for homeland security – making it the center of gravity for security technology stakeholders looking to improve long-term U.S. national security. Pilot award selection by ArcSight, a leading global provider of cybersecurity and compliance solutions, underscores BlueCat Networks’ position as the IP Address Management (IPAM) leader in the U.S. government sector.

The ASC is focused on increasing the visibility of innovative technologies so that they can more quickly reach both the public and commercial marketplace. The ASC Pilots provide challengers with the opportunity to have their technologies thoroughly tested by qualified potential customers who have ready contract vehicles and funding. These customers may include various groups within the Department of Defense, Fortune 500 and members of the Intelligence Community. By quickly identifying solutions to mission critical and highly visible issues, the ASC public/private partnerships are helping to secure U.S. citizens, U.S. assets and the U.S. economy.

“BlueCat’s innovative solutions are exactly the type of technology the customer believes can deliver real and immediate security advancements today,” said ASC Chairman Roger London. “We don’t simply award demos just to benchmark technology performance, but rather we set up true pilots with qualified and engaged customers to accelerate the introduction and ultimate deployment of valuable technology by connecting innovative vendors like BlueCat with legitimate customers who might not otherwise meet,” London continued. “Technology is wasted and our national security is unnecessarily exposed if great technology stays on the shelf – so, expediting the adoption and deployment of valuable security technologies, such as BlueCat’s, helps safeguard our technology networks protecting America’s citizens, assets and economy.”
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The Canada Media Fund (CMF) today announced the appointment of Catalina Briceño to the position of Director, Industry and Market Trends. In this newly created role, Ms. Briceño will ensure that the CMF’s policies for supporting the production of Canadian television and digital media content are aligned with emerging trends and developments in the industry in Canada and internationally. She will monitor key trends and developments in terms of emerging technologies; business models and production financing; and regulation in order to provide the CMF with market intelligence to develop effective policies.

With over 13 years of experience in the audiovisual and new media industry, Ms. Briceño comes to the CMF from Salambo Productions, where she helped build the strategy and business model behind the internationally acclaimed, multiplatform project Têtes à claques as Producer and Director of Operations. She began her career in 1997 when she founded Caliope Communications Inc., which developed, coordinated financing for, and produced audiovisual content using evolving new media technologies, from digital visual effects to 3D animation to convergent web applications. Over the years, she consulted for various private and public funds and instructed a number of workshops through INIS on new media financing for audiovisual students and professionals. She is regularly invited to speak at conferences about the challenges and opportunities linked to using web and interactive applications in the entertainment sector.

Until joining the CMF, Ms. Briceño served as Vice Chair of the Board of the Regroupement des producteurs multimédia (RPM). In 2008, she received the Prix Séville de la Relève from the Association of Women in Film, Television, and New Media.

Ms. Briceño will join the CMF on October 25, 2010.

Woozworld, a virtual world powered by tweens, announces today it now has more than 1 million avatars created in over 80 different countries, and 2 million user-generated virtual spaces in just over eight months since its late December 2009 launch.

“We are extremely proud of what Woozworld has accomplished in just eight short months,” said Eric Brassard, CEO of Woozworld. “Through our highly engaging worlds that offer relevant user experiences to our tween and teen audiences, a safe online environment where parents can let their kids have fun and learn at the same time, and a smart business model, we’ve made Woozworld a success in less than a year.”

Targeted for kids ages nine to 14, Woozworld provides an engaging and interactive experience by letting them create their own world where they can fashion their own characters, make new Woozworld friends, do virtual business, set-up activities and essentially drive the show. All personal information is protected and Woozworld strictly conforms to the Children’s Online Privacy Protection act.

In addition to hitting more than 1 million profiles in eight months, Woozworld has also partnered with some of the leading companies today, including Facebook;  Wallie Card, a payment method card for Internet payments; and Zong, the leading mobile payments platform for digital goods and services sellers.

“We’ve worked with many different companies and we truly believe in our partnerships given what they represent and have to offer,” says Mathieu Lampron, VP of Operations for Woozworld. “In fact, we’ve seen our sales rapidly climb in the last few months; we’re excited to see our business relationships grow.”

Moneyville.ca has opened the town gates to financial empowerment. With Canadian-focused content, interactive tools and an online community, Canadians now have access to everything they need to take control of their finances, all in one place. Moneyville.ca will draw on experts to provide the straight talk on personal finance for Canadians at every stage of life.

“We are overloaded with complicated financial information, and often don’t have the tools available to fully understand how the news of the day will impact personal finances,” says Adam Mayers, editor of Moneyville.ca. “With fresh content offered daily, Moneyville.ca will be a trusted resource giving visitors the tools they need to be successful.”

This week on Moneyville.ca:

• Author of The Wealthy Barber, David Chilton, gives an exclusive peek at his new book, The Wealthy Barber Returns: Significantly Older and Marginally Wiser, Dave Chilton Offers His Unique Perspectives on the World of Money.
• Federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty shares five tips he is giving his three 19-year-old sons.
• Mutual fund expert Gordon Pape takes us through the deadly sins of investing.
• Veteran financial journalists Ellen Roseman and James Daw share the most important lessons they’ve learned in 25+ years of covering personal finance.

Moneyville.ca will cover a wide spectrum of personal finance topics, such as budgeting, saving, borrowing, investing, retirement, insurance, tax and real estate in relationship to every stage of life. The “Moms on Money” columnists will arm families with the information they need to nurture the financial health of the whole family. Well-known television personality Alison Griffiths kicks off her new column with a series of videos on investing. And, setting 20 and 30-somethings on the right track to financial know-how, bloggers Adam Goodman and Krystal Yee will share their secrets to turning their finances around.

Whether you’re wondering if your investment philosophy makes sense, or thinking about going fixed or variable on your mortgage, Moneyville.ca will give visitors access to more than 30 tools and calculators.

According to a recent survey conducted on thestar.com, two-thirds of people feel comfortable with their finances, but only one-third feel in control. “I feel passionate about helping people get to a point where they feel they can count on themselves to be in control of their own financial situation,” says Alison Griffiths. “You have to devote a bit of time up front to get the money side of your life in order, particularly with respect to investments, which are a big mystery to most people. But after that it only takes 30 – 60 minutes a month to stay on top of your financial goals.”

Future Shop is using a modern form of recruitment to hire more than 4,000 tech savvy seasonal associates by turning to social media channels such as Facebook and Twitter. Canada’s largest consumer electronics retailer and e-tailer currently employs nearly 10,000 in its 146 stores, meaning its seasonal hiring blitz will add more than 40 per cent more employees to stores across the country.

“To find an educated team of associates to help shoppers find the most exciting gifts this holiday season, Future Shop’s recruitment plans go beyond traditional job postings,” said Chris Taylor, Vice President, HR, Future Shop. “We recognize that most of our customers and associates are social media savvy, so what better way to recruit them through channels they frequently use.”

Future Shop’s hiring blitz begins nationally at the start of October, allowing the company enough time to properly train the thousands of seasonal associates that will support our current full and part-time Product Experts and Associates. The new hires will be in stores until January to help customers find exciting gifts in all areas including Cellshop, appliances, gaming and mobile audio.

“With the holidays being Future Shop’s biggest and busiest season, we’re thrilled that we can create thousands of new jobs for Canadians as we prepare for another successful shopping season in our stores and on our website,” said Taylor. “There are currently nearly two million employees in Canada’s retail trade and we are proud to be a major player in that space.”

Interactive Ontario (IO) is pleased to welcome Patricia McCutcheon and Armen Karapetyan to its growing team and is bidding farewell to Sarah Baird, VP Programmes and Operations.

Patricia McCutcheon will be taking on the role of Director of Programmes where she will oversee programming for the upcoming iLunch 9.0 series, GameON: Finance and INplay 2011 conferences. Armen Karapetyan is IO’s new Director of Operations, and will be primarily responsible for IO’s financials, forecasting and human resources management.

Patricia McCutcheon was the National Organizer, Digital Media for ACTRA National for 4 years. She was with ACTRA for 7 years prior to that holding various positions within the Commercials department for ACTRA Toronto. After leaving ACTRA, Patricia had short-term contracts with the OMDC, Allstream and most recently as Director, Business Development at Spark Inc. a corporate event management company. Patricia studied Commerce with a major in marketing at Concordia University. She has also studied Business and New Media at Ryerson University.

Prior to his move to Canada and current role with IO, Armen was the Operations Director of the Barthelmes Conservatory of Music in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Before leading Conservatory operations, Armen also served as finance and grants manager for several international relief and development organizations, such as Feed the Children, Open Society Institute and Jinishian Memorial Foundation. Armen holds a Master’s degree in Physics from Yerevan State University in Armenia and Master’s degree in Business Administration from American University of Armenia.

“We are very excited to have Patricia and Armen join our team. With their wealth of knowledge and experience, I know they will strengthen IO’s efforts to better the interactive industry in Ontario,” said Ian Kelso, President and CEO, Interactive Ontario.

IO also notes the departure of Sarah Baird, who joined Interactive Ontario in 2005 as the organization’s first full-time employee. Over the past five years Sarah has overseen the programming and logistics for all IO’s efforts. In this time IO has successfully hosted over 750 speakers at over 70 events ranging in size from industry networking events to multi-day/multi-stream conference such as IN. Since Sarah joined the organization, IO has grown from just over 50 companies to more than 260 companies at present.

“Sarah’s contribution to IO has been critical to its success. Her passion and dedication to the industry and to our mission as an organization has always been exceptional. We certainly wish her the best and thank her for her many years of service,” says Kelso.

Taking on an expanded role within the organization is Max Berdowski, now Vice President, Business Development & Communications. In addition to developing partnerships, Max takes on responsibility for IO membership, communications and marketing. As well, Communications Director, Danielle Engels, who has been with IO for 2.5 years adds IO’s marketing efforts to her portfolio.

Vancouver developer Themis Solutions’ web-based practice management application Clio is celebrating its second anniversary. In two short years Clio has grown from a handful of early-adopters to a thriving community of happy customers numbering in the thousands. These firms are collectively managing millions of contacts, matters, tasks, documents and bills with Clio’s easy-to-use cloud-based software. This number has expanded due to Clio’s recently released e-mail integration, which is now indexing over 100,000 e-mail messages and communications, and growing by thousands of messages per day.

The past year has been one of exceptional growth and recognition for Clio. At LegalTech New York, Clio was the first and only cloud-based practice management system to bring home a Law Technology News LTN Award in the practice management category. Clio was also named to the ABA TECHSHOW’s “Best in Show” list for the second year in a row. In addition, more than 95% of Clio’s users said they would recommend the software to others according to the company’s latest Customer Satisfaction Survey.

In May 2010, Clio was the first SaaS case management product to launch a partner program, namely the Clio Certified Consultant Partner Program, which now has a total of 80 companies among its ranks including legal technology luminaries like Ross Kodner of Microlaw, Adriana Linares of LawTech Partners, Nerino Petro of the Wisconsin Bar and John Heckman of Heckman Consulting.

New features and additions to Clio in the past year include:

* New Billing Template and Batch Billing systems
* New e-mail integration with “e-mail dropbox” technology
* Dramatically improved Clio Calendar capabilities
* Mobile technology support for iPhone, iPad, Palm Pre and Android-based phones

According to Clio President Jack Newton, “I’m tremendously proud of what we’ve been able to accomplish over the last two years. The explosive growth we’ve seen is yet more evidence that cloud computing is entering the mainstream, and that our efforts to innovate rapidly and deliver top-tier customer support are paying off. We’re grateful to our customers, partners and friends that have contributed to the strength of Clio and look forward to an exciting 2011.”

The Canadian Toy Association and Waste Management will be providing a free collection event to recycle broken and end-of-life electronic toys (toys with a battery and/or electrical plug) on Saturday, October 2, from 9 am to 3 pm (that’s tomorrow) at the Walmart Supercentre, 3585 Grandview Highway in Vancouver.

This is the first electronic toy recycling event in British Columbia and is a trial event to assist the Canadian Toy Association in developing a new type of electronics recycling program to meet B.C.’s Recycling Regulation. The program, which is under development, will provide B.C. consumers with a convenient and environmentally responsible way to recycle used, unwanted, obsolete or damaged electronic toys.

Waste Management’s Greenplug™ project team will also pilot a new and exciting Greenopolis reverse vending kiosk at the event. This return kiosk has been designed especially for the Canadian Toy Association and is consumer interactive. Canadian Toy Association members will also be on hand to assist with drawings for gifts and prizes for children who return their electronic toys for recycling.

“The Canadian Toy Association is taking a proactive approach to helping consumers responsibly dispose of end-of-life electronics by offering this free collection and recycling program to Vancouver-area residents,” said Jeff Hurst, chair of the Canadian Toy Association. “This trial event will help us develop a province-wide sustainable solution for the recovery of electronic toys to divert them from the waste stream.”

Acceptable Electric Toys:

o Plush Textile Toys with Electronics
o Hard Plastic Toys with Electronics
o Electronic Powered Trains
o Electric Car Racing Sets
o Electric Cars and Trucks (remote control)
o Electric Ride-on Toys
o Hand-held Electric Game Devices
o Gaming Devices with PC/TV

Please do not bring toys which are not either battery or electrically powered.

The electronic materials received by the Canadian Toy Association will be processed at approved e-waste processing facilities that are ISO 14001 and 9001 certified. In addition, Waste Management recycling partners agree to conduct their electronics recycling programs transparently and in accord with rigorous environmental and worker safety standards, and to adhere to measures that prevent the export of hazardous eWaste to developing countries.

“We see this as an opportunity to help communities recycle electronic waste responsibly, conveniently, and economically, as part of our broader sustainability partnerships across B.C. ,” said Dean Kattler, area vice president for Waste Management. “It is our way of demonstrating a shared commitment with the community, by providing outstanding customer service and environmental stewardship.”

“The Recycling Council of British Columbia (RCBC) enthusiastically supports this event and we look forward to a full-time program,” said Brock Macdonald, RCBC executive director. “Industry stewardship programs such as this not only provide an environmentally safe alternative to disposal, but help recoup valuable resources that can become the feedstock for new products. It’s a huge step forward to further reducing our carbon footprint.”

For more information about the event, please call the B.C. Recycling Hotline at 604.732.9253 from 9am to 4pm Monday through Friday. The Recycling Council of BC would also like to remind everyone that October 18 – 24th is Waste Reduction Week across Canada.

Toronto-based start-up DrinkBox Studios today announced that their alien-invasion-themed co-op platformer Tales from Space: About a Blob will be released in early 2011 as part of Sony Computer Entertainment America’s “Pub Fund” program.

Developers looking to release a game through the Pub Fund initiative must be prepared to build it to completion and commit to a period of console platform exclusivity. In return, approved developers receive a development-budget-matching royalty guarantee from SCEA. A number of popular PlayStation®Network games, including Burn Zombie Burn by DoubleSix and Joe Danger by Hello Games, have already been released through the program.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M44usucUWpg]

DrinkBox CEO Ryan MacLean had this to say about the initiative: “Pub Fund has been a good fit for us. The royalty guarantee and other Pub Fund terms have allowed us to confidently focus on finishing our game while retaining ownership and artistic control over the project. Working with SCEA has been a great experience in general: The advice they have given us over the course of development has helped us build a better game. We’re excited to be working with them on this project!”

Moncton software developer DOVICO Software has announced DOVICO Planning & Timesheet, a new software product from the makers of the industry leading DOVICO Timesheet. Building upon DOVICO’s Time Tracking foundation and user experiences, this new product answers the need for customers who want quick answers to simple questions such as: ‘Who is available and who is not?’, ‘How long will this project REALLY take to complete?’, ‘How much will this project cost us?’.

“Our goal for DOVICO Planning & Timesheet was a simple and easy project planning tool that satisfies a manager’s need to have a good insight into employees’ current and future availability – while keeping our core time tracking features in place.” said Bob Gorham, Product Manager at DOVICO. “Equally important is the ability to uncover what is keeping everyone occupied and , more significantly, a method to try ‘what if scenarios’ when planning a project and seeing the impact of these before moving ahead.”

DOVICO Planning & Timesheet: It’s easy to try and the first 30 days are free.

Immediate Benefits

* Determine whether you should take on a project or not.
* Ensure that your proposed project plan is accurate and profitable.
* Know which of your employees are being under/over utilized.
* Easy transition from a spreadsheet template such as MS Excel, simply copy and paste!
* Affirm that your best talent is working on your mission critical projects.
* Save time and costs in the planning process with our innovative tool that unites project planning and resource utilization.
* Reduce project overruns with our project forecasting tools so you can fix any issues proactively.
* Shorten billing cycles and get paid sooner.
* Deliver projects on time and on budget.
* Easily shift project priorities with our resource reassignment tools.
* High employee adoption with our intuitive time tracking solution.

I just received information from DFAIT that due to its relationship with San Diego’s high tech industry organization CommNexus, Canadian companies are welcome to apply to participate at MarketLink, which takes place in San Diego this November 17th & 18th. The deadline for interested companies to apply is October 22nd 2010. In conjunction with this invitation to participate, Verizon Wireless is looking for companies who specialize in these areas:

Privacy/identity management
Collaboration tools
Personal health & wellness monitoring
Consumer Cloud-based services (content sharing, gaming, etc.)
Mobile security
Mobile Services and Applications marketing tools
Mobile Application Development enablers (API management, porting, voice APIs, context awareness, mash-ups, etc)
Customer Analytics
In-car mobile experience
Hardware innovation
Voice innovation

Random House of Canada is pleased to announce its move into the mobile screen space with a first-of-its-kind app based on interesting and fun facts from new and bestselling books from Random House of Canada and McClelland & Stewart.

Conversation Starters is a first in the book publishing industry, an insightful collection of fun and interesting facts from new & bestselling books presented in an easy-to-use Did You Know format. Created for both the iPAD and iPhone/iPod touch, this free application has a leading edge mobile user experience and design technology with a personality of its own, engaging users both 1:1 with the app and 1:many when users of the app take what they have learned and share with others to spark conversation.

Conversation Starters allows people to boost their knowledge and keep the conversation flowing, and to share facts and tidbits with friends through email, Facebook and Twitter. Users can also read an expanded selection from each book with just one click, and to keep reading, they can easily connect to online retailers.

“This is just the beginning of our foray into the rapidly growing mobile space” says Lisa Charters, SVP, Director, Digital for Random House of Canada who oversaw development of the app. “We want to reach and engage with readers, providing them content from our books on the go and in an interactive fun way. We set out to build a unique app that people would keep coming back to on a regular basis. Conversation Starters is also another way we can help readers find the next right book for them and to help spread the word of mouth about our authors and their books.”

Deborah Hall, Managing Director at Web2Mobile, who worked with Random House of Canada on the development of the app commented, “Conversation Starters combines the best in breed digital content with a robust and innovative technology platform created by Web2Mobile. Our team is really proud of this project design and immersive digital experience unique for both the iPhone/iPod and IPAD platforms.”

Along with the launch of this app, Random House of Canada has optimized key content areas of the Booklounge.ca site for small mobile screens – the highest trafficked pages on the site such as bestsellers, new releases, and books in the news can now be found here http://m.booklounge.ca.

The iconic Mega Bloks® system, beloved by parents and children around the world, turns 25 and to mark this milestone, MEGA Brands is launching its biggest promotion and giving North American families the chance to win $25,000 towards their children’s future.

“We want to celebrate Mega Bloks®’ 25th birthday by giving back to the families who have helped us become the world leader in preschool construction toys,” said Stephane Boulay, Marketing Director at MEGA Brands. “We are thrilled to provide families with the chance to win $25,000 towards their children’s future, one of 25 Mega Bloks® prize packs valued at $500 each, as well as offering them $5 off their next Mega Bloks® purchase, which is all available in over 700 thousand 80-piece Mega Bloks® bags throughout North America.”

From October 1 to November 30, 2010, North American families can participate in Mega Bloks®’ birthday contest through two possibilities: in-store and online. At all major retailers in North America, participants can simply purchase the award-winning 80-piece Mega Bloks® bag and peel off their in-pack peel off contest card to instantly get the chance to win the grand prize of $25,000 for their children’s future or one of 25 Mega Bloks® prize packs valued at $500. Participants also have another chance to win one of 25 Mega Bloks® prize packs valued each at $500 by going online and registering at www.megabloks.com/25.

The 25th birthday promotion is one of the many marketing initiatives supporting Mega Bloks®’s 25th Birthday. The company is also celebrating this occasion through retail events at Toys “R” Us throughout North America, a Mega Bloks® 25th Birthday feature shop in Toys “R” Us Canada, and a new and exciting Mega Bloks® iPhone and iPad application for preschoolers ages two to five.