Village Gamer

The Quebec Technology Association (AQT) invites managers and partners in the information and communications technologies industry to recommend candidates for the third year of its 1-2-3 GO! program. Each year, the program provides 33 business startups with the opportunity to take advantage of a free AQT membership, a targeted support program and substantial savings on the registration fee for other training and AQT Accelerator networking services.

“We offer 33 free memberships per year, based on recommendations from our members who want emerging businesses to learn from experienced managers. This way, startups in accelerated growth mode can avoid potentially costly errors”, says Nicole Martel, President and General Manager of the Quebec Technology Association. Read the rest of this entry »

Preo Software Inc. has entered into a company-wide site license agreement with TELUS Communications. This 24 month agreement, with an option for an additional 24 months, allows TELUS to deploy Preo’s Printelligence MPS to all TELUS Team Members across Canada to help reduce the amount of paper used for printing as part of the corporation’s social responsibility program.

“We are proud to be able to count TELUS, one of Canada’s leading telecommunications companies, as one of our largest customers,” said Randy Coates, Chief Operating Officer of Preo Software. “Our ability to help monitor and manage geographically disparate end-user print is emphasized with a customer like TELUS.” Read the rest of this entry »

On September 1, 2011, the Canadian Technology Accreditation Board (CTAB) granted national accreditation to four of the Information Technology programs at Centennial College’s School of Engineering Technology and Applied Science. This brings the total number of CTAB accredited programs offered by Centennial to 21, putting the College in the number one slot for nationally accredited Engineering Technology and Applied Science course offerings.

“Centennial College applies quality standards through rigorous program evaluation tools and continues to earn the highest number of external accreditations for our programs,” says President Ann Buller. “We are committed to preparing people for the new world that awaits by offering students programs with national accreditation that is portable across the country and internationally. Accreditation makes it easier for students to complete their certification and to gain employment in these disciplines.” Read the rest of this entry »

ViXS Systems Inc. has announced that it is the first silicon vendor to implement the CryptoFirewall™ security core by Cryptography Research, a division of Rambus, and demonstrate it with the SypherMedia International (SMI) Kernel security code. CryptoFirewall™ and SMI technology will be demonstrated on XC4210 Soc in the ViXS Suite at IBC.

“The collaboration with Cryptography Research and SMI demonstrates our leadership and commitment to develop next generation platforms with advanced security solutions for the Pay TV market,” said Sally Daub, president and CEO of ViXS. “We plan to work closely with Cryptography Research and SMI to enable manufacturers and service providers to maintain high levels of security at the platform level.” Read the rest of this entry »

BCIC and Wavefront have announced the twelve companies chosen to participate in year two of the entrepreneurship@Wavefront program. This 12-month program is designed to support and nurture early-stage B.C. wireless companies from product concept to market entry. The successful applicants were evaluated and selected by a panel comprised of individuals from Wavefront, BCIC and the investment community.

“We were impressed with the range and quality of solutions presented this year,” commented Jim Maynard, President of Wavefront. “We saw cross-sector wireless innovation with concepts ranging from enterprise Machine-to-Machine (M2M) applications for the agriculture and health sectors to consumer applications spanning education, gaming and fashion.” Read the rest of this entry »

Richmond’s Hosting Controller, developer of Cloud Automation Solutions, has launched support for IPv6 and Exchange 2010 SP1 Hosting Switch in its unified control panel. This release is part of HC control panel 8.12 update that supports Exchange 2010 SP1 Hosting Switch and IPv6 on Windows & Linux servers.

Exchange Server 2010 SP1 is the first multi-tenant ready Exchange Server version that enables hosting service providers to create and manage multiple organizations in the same Active Directory forest. The recent release of HC control panel offers comprehensive support for Microsoft Exchange 2010 SP1 Hosting Switch in a shared multi-tenant environment that includes automatic provisioning of new accounts. The solution comes with a comprehensive self-serve portal for end customers. Read the rest of this entry »

Corel has released the latest version of its award-winning photo editing software, Corel® PaintShop™ Pro X4, which delivers ‘DSLR’ power at a ‘point-and-shoot’ price while offering an uncompromising depth and selection of pro-quality tools to expertly manage, adjust, edit and share your entire photo collection.

Launching simultaneously with this latest release of PaintShop Pro X4 is the Ultimate version of the product, which includes additional pro-level tools such as Nik® Color Efex Pro™ 3.0 Filters, royalty-free images from Fotolia (7-day subscription period), a custom photo book from Blurb® and a premium collection of Picture Tubes™, Corel PaintShop Pro X4 Ultimate provides exceptional value and countless creative possibilities. Both Corel PaintShop Pro X4 and Corel PaintShop Pro X4 Ultimate are available now in English, German, French, Italian, Dutch and Traditional Chinese with additional languages to follow.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VA0OQamojwM]

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The Canadian Public Relations Society, Calgary chapter and the Communications + Public Relations Foundation have signed an agreement to partner in the establishment of the $1,000 Calgary Legacy Scholarship to be awarded annually to a student studying public relations/communications in a recognized program at one of Mount Royal University, University of Calgary, or SAIT Polytechnic.

Eligible students from those educational institutes will have completed year one of their studies and be entering second year, demonstrated overall understanding of public relations and communications, its theoretical and practical elements, values and principles. They must hold a student membership in CPRS Calgary. Read the rest of this entry »

The Toronto International Film Festival is just days away and the future looks bright for the film industry, according to PwC. The firm’s study shows global consumer spending on filmed entertainment will grow at a 5.9% compound annual rate over the next five years reaching US$114.8 billion in 2015 from $86.2 billion in 2010. This growth is strongest in markets showcased at TIFF, and Canada’s biggest film festival will screen more than 300 films from over 60 countries.

Producers from both major and emerging markets like China, Vietnam, Romania, Russia and India will see high compound annual growth rates ranging from 10% – 26%, between now and 2015. At the same time markets in North and South America, Europe and the Middle East will see moderate to strong gains between 3% and 9%.

“Revenues for filmed entertainment will be fuelled by the youth market and a variety of options for consumers to access movies. Watching movies online and via mobile devices will supplement box office spending on filmed entertainment,” says Michael Paterson, partner in PwC’s Entertainment & Media practice. “Expect to see higher quality film experiences for consumers as the industry looks for new ways to stay competitive by differentiating the way we access movies and enhancing the movie going experience.”

*Includes consumer spending at the box office, cinema advertising, in-store rental market, physical sell-through market, and electronic distribution.

According to PwC, worldwide box office spending will increase from US$33 billion in 2010 to US$48.7 billion by 2015, an 8.1% compound annual interest gain, supported by the growth in 3-D film screens. The increase in the number of 3-D screens will raise average prices which consumers will pay, keeping movie admissions steady. In 2010 in Canada, there were 350 3-D screens and the average price of a single movie ticket rose 5.5% over 2009, the first gain of more than 5% since 2000.

“While consumers may become more selective in choosing to see a 3-D film over the next few years, we believe 3-D and other innovations will have a long-term positive impact on admissions because these enhancements help to distinguish the theatrical experience from the home video and online experiences of watching a movie,” says Paterson.

In Canada, film and TV production generated about $6.8 billion in GDP in the Canadian economy in 2010 and led to the employment of over 117,000 individuals on a full-time basis across the country. North America will continue to be the biggest region for filmed entertainment, growing at 5.2% from US$39 billion in 2010 to over US$50 billion by 2015.

Ontario, British Columbia and Quebec have the highest share of total volume production in Canada at 39%, 27% and 25% respectively.

“Tax incentives are a critical part of the growth of the film industry, including domestic and international co-productions,” says Tracey Jennings, PwC’s Canadian Entertainment & Media Leader. “PwC continues to assist clients to obtain these tax credits which help to offset the cost of production in Canada. We have also seen many of the provinces enhance, and others introduce, digital media tax incentives which are becoming more important in a world of digital convergence. “

marblemedia has appointed Blake Tohana to the newly created role of CFO & COO. He will be working closely with Partners/Executive Producers Mark Bishop and Matthew Hornburg to lead the company’s growth and execute its strategic plan.

Blake will oversee the expansion of new divisions and departments, including marblemedia’s Interactive group and its International Sales & Distribution arm, Distribution360. In addition, he will be responsible for growing the company’s newly-created Factual & Lifestyle division, which is launching its first cross-platform property—What’s in a Name?— on History Television (Canada) on September 12^th, 2011.

“We’re very pleased to welcome Blake to the marblemedia team. Over the past decade, we’ve been fortunate to have grown significantly from a two person start-up to an award-winning multi-platform production studio. Blake will be implementing strategies to further expand our business in Canada as well as in international markets,” said Mark Bishop and Matthew Hornburg, Partners and Executive Producers at marblemedia.

Blake has nearly 15 years of senior management experience in the media and entertainment industry. Prior to joining marblemedia, he spent seven years as Executive Vice-President and CFO of Magna Entertainment Corp., which was North America’s largest horse racing company with media operations that included a U.S. television network and Internet wagering business. Prior to that, he held various senior management positions (including CFO) at Fireworks Entertainment Inc., which was a film and television production and distribution company that he helped take public before it was subsequently acquired by CanWest Global Communications Corp. Blake got his start in the industry as Corporate Controller of Alliance Communications Corp., which was Canada’s largest filmed entertainment company at that time.

Blake currently sits on the Board of Directors of the Ontario Media Development Corporation. He is a Chartered Accountant and has an MBA from McMaster University and a B.Sc. from The University of Western Ontario.