Village Gamer

WinMagic^® an innovator in full-disk encryption (FDE), has announced that in response to rapidly-increasing Global demand for its SecureDoc full-disk encryption technology it has opened an office in Frankfurt am Main in Germany to better serve the German, Russian and Eastern European markets. The Canadian company is deploying a knowledgeable local sales force and increasing its local marketing activities to significantly expand its services to mid-size and large enterprises in Central Europe over the next year.

WinMagic is the sole manufacturer to specialize in data security for portable devices. WinMagic’s SecureDoc is a powerful solution designed to protect sensitive data stored on laptops, tablets and removable media, such as USB thumb drives, CD/DVDs and storage cards. SecureDoc enables administrators to encrypt entire hard drives and provides convenient management and configuration options. Its central administration makes the creation and distribution of keys extremely simple. In addition, SecureDoc provides options to further protect encrypted data using new authentication technologies such as biometric systems.

WinMagic is the first vendor to support network connections in the pre-boot phase (PBConnex), thus permitting encryption to be introduced without the need to adapt existing IT processes. All new Opal-compliant self-encrypting drives (SEDs) are also supported. Furthermore, WinMagic is the first producer to offer high-performance, secure encryption for solid-state disks (SSDs). SecureDoc is compatible with all current versions of Windows, Mac OS X and Linux – making it simple to implement uniform security standards in heterogeneous environments.

“As an independent manufacturer of mobile data security solutions, WinMagic is currently experiencing tremendous growth in demand in its home market Canada, as well as in the United States and Japan, mainly due to its outstanding technology,” explained Georg Gann, WinMagic Director DACH & Eastern Europe. “Despite enterprises in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and the rest of Europe placing particular value on technologically-advanced products, numerous competitors have lost their product development focus due to the consolidation in our industry, and as a result many customers are dissatisfied,” Gann continued. “WinMagic is totally focused on providing innovative solutions that simplify strong data protection for both users and administrators, and so we are confident that WinMagic and its distribution partners can meet all the expectations of increasingly-demanding customers far better than the antivirus vendors.”

Despite various global economic challenges, the digital media and video game industries continue to thrive. People like to play games – especially in tough times. Over the past two years, Canada’s gaming industry has expanded 11 per cent annually and is forecasted to grow 17 per cent in each of the next two years. Executives from the Ontario Technology Corridor are at GamesCom to demonstrate the province’s “winning combination” of talent and tax credits. Canada is one of the world’s top three game producing nations.

Larry MacKinnon, Director of Business Development for Technology in London Ontario and member of the Ontario Technology Corridor, says “Ontario continues to offer the talent and the financial incentitves that make this region such a strong part of the digital entertainment industry. Our job at GamesCom is to add to our tremendous home-grown crop of companies and help demonstrate that Ontario is a prime destination in North America for gaming investments.”

Federal and Ontario provincial research and development tax credits combine to give Canada the most favourable tax treatment among G-8 countries — giving Ontario innovation companies the ability to cut R&D expenditures by up to 63%.

In 2011 Ontario’s gaming advantage has scored several wins:

Arkadium Inc.

On July 19, 2011, this global leader in online games opened a Toronto office to focus on mobile gaming titles. Company executives stated “key factors” in the move were assistance from the Ontario government and the Digital Media Tax Credit, plus help from the Greater Toronto Marketing Alliance. Arkadium’s Toronto office has a goal of producing ten new games to introduce to the market within the next 12 month.

Gameloft Inc.

This France-based company has started hiring 205 people for a new Toronto office that will be a state-of-the-art gaming studio. The company also confirms the key role played by the provincial tax credit. The company’s General Manager for Canada, Mario Poulin says, “We remain at the top of our game by partnering with jurisdictions like Ontario where there is a real interest backed by sound policies to make the gaming sector a strong contributor to the economy and the creation of jobs.“ Gameloft posted 15 per cent revenue growth in the first part of  2011.

Silicon Knights Inc.

Also in July, Silicon Knights announced it will nearly double its staff by adding 80 new jobs. Ontario government tax credits combined with the company’s own invesment will allow the studio to improve its technology, create new products and become a self-publishing company.

Morro Images Inc.

Morro is working with Silicon Knights as Morro Images expands their current visual effects operation in St. Catharines. Morro is a sister firm to Morro Images of Potsdam-Babelsberg, Germany, and is also a supporter of nGen, the Niagara Interactive Media Generator, a hub for business development of digital media companies. nGen hosts the Generator at One motion capture facility which will serve as headquarters for the new Ontario Augmented Reality Network.  Brock University recently received funding from the Ontario Media Development Corporation to develop the Network.

Ontario’s lead agency for provincial incentives in digital media is the Ontario Media Development Corporation (OMDC).  Darius Basarab, Senior Business Development Specialist with the Ontario Ministry of Economic Development and Trade is headed to GamesCom and says, “Ontario is well positioned to compete with other jurisdictions who are trying to attract gaming firms and we have a lot to offer – that will be one of my message at the conference.” To date the OMDC IDM Fund has contributed $7.7 million to 76 projects with budgets totaling $32.7 million – and continues to offer the following incentives:

• Ontario Interactive Digital Media Tax Credit – refunds 35-40 per cent of eligible production costs
• Ontario Computer Animation and Special Effects Tax Credit – refunds 20 per cent of labour costs
• OMDC Interactive Digital Media Fund – up to $150,000 in project production funding, up to a maximum of 50% of the project budget.

Ontario’s fast-growing entertainment and creative cluster employs nearly 300,000 while contributing $12.2 billion to the province’s GDP. In addition, 22 Ontario colleges and universities produce18,000 graduates per year from174 specialized digital media programs including 3D animation, film studies, advanced computer programming, math, and hardware engineering.

The C.D. Howe Institute, which studies social and economic policies, notes Canada’s international reputation as a destination for capital and investment is better than it has been for a generation.

Canada’s federal corporate income tax rate will fall from 18 per cent in 2010 to 15 per cent by 2012 — less than half of the top U.S. federal marginal corporate income tax rate, and the lowest in the G7 plus the lowest R&D costs in the G7, with a 12.9 per cent advantage over the U.S. Canada also has the world’s soundest banking system according to the World Economic Forum.

The Honourable Denis Lebel, Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities and Minister of the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec, has announced that the First Nations of Quebec and Labrador Economic Development Commission (FNQLEDC) has been granted $98,201 in non-repayable funding for the establishment of First Nations young entrepreneur clubs.

“The Government of Canada supports the creation of these clubs, whose primary mission will be to stimulate entrepreneurship among young members of the First Nations,” explained Minister Lebel.

Allocated over a three-year period, this financial assistance will enable the FNQLEDC to hire a coordinator to organize a variety of activities for First Nations community members between the ages of 18 and 35. These will include, among other things, conferences with Native entrepreneurs, enterprise visits, networking events, information sessions on the resources available to young entrepreneurs looking to start a business, and a series of training sessions. In the first year, the clubs will draw their clientele from various Native communities, including those in Lac Simon, Kitigan Zibi and Uashat.

This contribution from the Government of Canada has been granted through the Community Diversification program.

MoboVivo has appointed Stephen Butler as its first Chief Financial Officer. Stephen brings to Mobovivo almost a decade and a half of financial expertise and business building experience, both as an advisor and principal.

“Stephen is a perfect fit for a dynamic company like Mobovivo at this stage in our development,” said Trevor Doerksen, Mobovivo’s founder and CEO. “His financial and deal experience are essential as we work through our next stage of growth and financing. He’s been in the trenches as a business manager in highly fluid competitive situations, where he’s displayed the right mix of creativity and commitment to the vision.”

Stephen’s formative career was with The Boston Consulting Group, a global management consulting firm and the world’s leading advisor on business strategy. He advised Fortune 500 customers on issues of strategy and performance improvement, particularly in financial services and telecommunications, with a focus on responding to paradigm shifts brought about by the rise of e-commerce.

In 2001 TMX Group hired Stephen as group director of corporate development and key member of its “IPO team”, guiding the development of the growth and diversification strategy with which the company went public in 2002. He subsequently built and led a corporate development team that oversaw the evaluation, negotiation and implementation of several investments that took TMX beyond its traditional core. This included the 2004 acquisition of NGX, Canada’s leading energy exchange and the largest physical clearing facility in North America. Stephen joined NGX’s senior leadership team, where he helped the company return to healthy double-digit growth.

Stephen holds a joint honours B.A. in Economics and Political Science from McGill, and a Ph.D. from Cambridge.

DBI Technologies Inc., a provider of interface design and scheduling component software for the development community, has released Studio Controls for COM v2.1.  This new release provides traditional application developers with an advancing set of interface design and appointment scheduling components. ‘There are many commercial applications in the market place developed in traditional IDE’s, and in our current economic climate, many organizations are giving new life to their products with new features that can be quickly implemented.”

DBI has seen an incredible increase in the interest of Scheduling and User Interface design component software for COM based development environments over the last number of months. “We’re pleased to be able to respond to our customer requests for additional enhancements that are now found in release v1.2 of Studio Controls for COM”, said Craig Gluck, senior VP of  product development.  “The 62 royalty free components that comprise Studio Controls for COM are a perfect choice for commercial software companies and consultants offering packaged solutions for their customers.”  Studio Controls for COM adheres to Microsoft standards delivering design and operational performance wrapped in an advanced developer experience.

Value is more important than ever and competitive advantage even more critical in our current business climate. The combination of Value and Competitive Advantage can be found in Studio Controls for COM v1.2 offering benefits for Windows developers and for their end-users.  Value also includes being able to provide an outstanding developer experience, which is a tenant of good business and a point of pride for DBI. The release of Studio Controls for COM v1.2 offers Windows developers the latest in Windows styles and themes, a new set of data presentation features, as well, DBI’s industry respected high level of customer service.

The release of Studio Controls for COM v1.2 continues DBI’s market support for Windows developers offering nine logical groups of components covering: Scheduling, Data management (Lists, Trees and Grids), Masked Edits, Calendaring, UI Design, Navigation, Presentation, Dialogues and  general app styling.  Each current license of a DBI component product includes annual product updates, upgrades, new component releases and technical support on an annualized basis.  DBI has made managing a set of third party component software easy through the product’s integrated Product Manager.   The Product Manager becomes a single point of developer access to all of the product’s assets; components, help files, demo’s and sample applications, licensing, online software activation, product updates and related news items are all available from a single double click.

A single developer’s license of Studio Controls for COM starts at $749. Complete product details including samples with integrated PEM viewers in Visual Basic and Visual FoxPro formats can be found on the  DBI Technologies web site.

CDI College has opened a new campus in Victoria BC, making it easier for residents of the Island to get the career training they need, without having to travel to the Mainland. For more than 40 years, CDI College has provided thousands of Canadians with the skills and knowledge they need to successfully pursue new careers.

The new campus in Victoria will bring that wealth of experience to a wider range of students and allow them to train closer to home. With increased growth on Vancouver Island, there is greater demand for well-trained professionals in many communities. Applications are now being accepted for all programs at the new Victoria campus.

“Our graduates are in high-demand across the country, and we’re excited to offer residents of Victoria and the surrounding communities the opportunity to train with us,” says Bohdan Bilan, VP of Academics. “Students who enroll at CDI College will benefit from our small classes, industry-experienced instructors and our hands-on method of teaching.”

The new Victoria campus will offer several programs including Accounting and Payroll, Health Care Assistant, Paralegal, Addictions and Community Services Worker, and many more. With start dates staggered throughout the year, CDI College in Victoria makes it easy to head back to school, no matter what your situation.

Randy Cox, President of CDI College attributes Vancouver Island’s growth in the last several years as the reason for expansion. “Recently, we’ve seen huge demand for trained professionals in the areas of business and healthcare across the Island. This makes it the perfect time to open our latest campus in Victoria.”

CDI College grads become part of an extensive alumni network composed of thousands of professionals in the business, technology and healthcare fields. These connections prove invaluable when starting out in a new career field. With 21 campus locations across Canada, CDI College grads are recognized throughout the country.

Vancouver Freelance Camp is having their second annual, information packed UNconference on Saturday, September 10th at The Network Hub New Westminster, which is situated at Unit 205 – 810 Quayside Drive. Experienced business personnel and successful local freelancers will be sharing their stories as well as insight on how to grow a freelancer’s business.

This is a true UNconference, the schedule is created the morning of when the attendees arrive. The camp will open at 9:00am with guests pitching to be presenters for the day and the freelancers vote on who they want to hear speak. Registration for Freelance Camp is just $10.00 +HST, with the proceeds going to charity.

Topics from landing a freelancer’s dream project to dealing with the nitty gritty details of doing business will be discussed. The Freelance Camp is the opportunity to make connections with like-minded people across many fields. Over 130 people attended last year’s event, including freelancers from Victoria, Kelowna and Seattle. The UNconference hosted 22 presentations where 196 cups of Waves Coffee was consumed. You won’t leave empty handed either because $5400 worth of goodies and $448 worth of door prizes were given to attendees last year to make being a freelancer even better. Attendees were also part of a wave of social broadcasting with 1478 tweets mentioning the event and were also a top trending topic in Canada on twitter for three hours.

The success of Freelance Camp raised $1100 last year and donated all its proceeds to Mental Health Camp – a conference on examining the possibilities of using social media to achieve and maintain mental health. It is important to Freelance Camp to give back to local initiatives and was excited to have Mental Health Camp as the benefactor.

The satisfaction of last year’s event has propelled Vancouver Freelance Camp to make this year’s event even bigger and accessible to more freelancers. We’ll be the first local event to use Google+ Hangouts to engage a maximum of 25 attendees per session off-site. Through live streaming video, participants can view and ask questions in Google+ Hangout allowing for 725 online viewings.

I don’t know how I missed hearing about this event, but if you work in social media, Social Media Monetization is probably a workshop you’ll want to participate in. The guest speaker is Rochelle Grayson, who always delivers powerful presentations full of relevant and useful information. Presented by Social Media Unplugged, the workshop will take place at the Jewel Ballroom this Saturday, August 20th from 9:30am until 4:00pm. The Jewel Ballroom is located on the 4th Floor at 1495 West 8th Avenue in Vancouver. Tickets for this event are $179.00 plus tax if purchased online or $249.00 plus tax at the door.

Workshop Information From The Event Page:

In this seminar Rochelle will help you sort through and make decisions about your social media strategy in order for you to build and successfully monetize an online community through social media. You will learn the fundamental building blocks, such as presence, reputation, relationship and identity that define online communities, and explore business models such as advertising, digital merchandising, and branded content that best suit these different communities.

Attendees will walk away with concrete tools to help define and establish communities that match their business goals, as well as the appropriate business models to maximize success.

By the end of the workshop, participants should be able to:

· Describe the fundamental building blocks for what people pay for
· Differentiate between advertising and transactional online monetization models
· Understand which models best suit the behaviours of specific customers
· Establish a monetization strategy
· Describe monetization best practices

The Canadian Innovation Exchange (CIX) is opening with the strongest program yet, featuring a full day of live presentations from Canada’s hottest emerging companies, insightful sessions and valuable facilitated meeting exchanges. On December 1st, CIX 2011 will bring leading international investors, companies and entrepreneurs together at MaRS Discovery District in Toronto, once again showing why it’s the best place to access the most forward-thinking companies and key players shaping the marketplace today.

The CIX Top 20, Canada’s elite index of innovative companies will be showcased at CIX 2011. The culmination of a coast-to-coast search, these intensive showcases offer a realtime look at the newest developments in the information and communication technology (ICT) and digital media sectors. The CIX Top 20 showcase is a valuable platform to celebrate Canadian innovation and are designed to give you unprecedented access to Canada’s sharpest people and technology-driven ideas. The CIX 2011 Kick Off Rate ends Friday, September 23. Register today and save $200 off the Regular Rate.

CIX features inspiring keynotes and meeting exchanges offering the opportunity to connect directly with key players bringing exciting new products and initiatives to the marketplace. This year’s program will include comprehensive platforms for both structured and informal networking among participants, allowing you to develop meaningful relationships that ultimately lead to partnerships, investments and other opportunities for scalable growth.

Check out who is coming to CIX 2011:

• Ossama Hassanein – Senior Managing Director, Newbury Ventures
• David Spector – Partner, Sequoia Capital
• Pedram Mokrian – Venture Advisor, Mayfield Fund
• Phil McBride – Innovation Manager, P&G Company
• Steven Xanthoudakis – Director, Merck & Co.
• Charlie Lax – Managing General Partner, Granbanks Capital
• Joe Catalfamo – Managing Director, Summerhill Venture Partners
• David Henderson – Managing Director, XPV Capital Corporation
• Amar Varma – Managing and Founding Partner/ Founding Partner, Extreme Venture Partners/Xtreme Labs
• Jordan Banks – Managing Director, Facebook Canada
• Howard Gwin – Venture Partner, Bridgescale
• Ilse Treurnicht – CEO, MaRS
• Duncan Stewart – Director, Deloitte Canada (TMT)
• John Ruffolo – Senior Vice President & Head of Knowledge Investing / CEO, INKEF Capital OMERS Strategic Investments
• Sara Diamond – President, OCAD University
• Roger Chabra – Partner, Rho Canada
• Paul Lee – Managing General Partner, Vanedge Capital Partners Ltd.
• Charles Lax – Managing General Partner, GrandBanks Capital
• John Albright – Co-Managing Partner, BlackBerry Partners Fund
• Patrick Eggen – Senior Investment Manager, Qualcomm Ventures
• Janis Koyanagi – Vice President, Business Development & Strategy, Toronto Stock Exchange/TSX Venture Exchange
• Claudia Fan Munce – Managing Director/VP, IBM Venture Capital Group/IMB Corporate Strategy
• Salvatore Tirabassi – Partner, M/C Ventures
• Paul Kedrosky – Senior Fellow, Kauffman Foundation
• CIX Co-Chair Robert Montgomery – CEO, Achilles Media Ltd. and First Maximilian Associates
• CIX Co-Chair Rick Nathan – Managing Director, Kensington Capital Partners Ltd.
• CIX Co-Chair Chris Arsenault – Managing Partner, iNova Capital Inc

Preschoolers and their families in Ottawa and Nepean will have a chance to share the magic of reading with TVOKids host Gisèle, star of TVO’s early learning program block Gisèle’s Big Backyard, when her Read with Gisèle tour visits two branches of the Ottawa Public Library on Friday August 26 and Saturday August 27 (venues and times listed below).

The Read with Gisèle tour showcases Gisèle reading the book of the month from her Big Backyard Book Club at libraries across the province in an effort to inspire children and their families to read every day. Preschoolers can watch the Book Club on television, participate in the club online at tvokids.com, and now enjoy it in person as Gisèle reads accessible, easy-to-read-aloud books by Canadian authors.

Gisèle will read the book Augustine, written and illustrated by Mélanie Watt. With inviting illustrations, the book tells the story of a shy young penguin who is nervous about moving from the South Pole to the North Pole with her family, but makes new friends by sharing her love of drawing and painting. Each child attending the reading will receive a book bag, a bookmark and a free copy of the book. Kids will also have a chance to meet Gisèle and have her autograph their book.

“I’m thrilled to be bringing the Big Backyard Book Club to life at libraries across Ontario. Reading aloud with children is a great way to develop their early literacy skills, so I hope the Read with Gisèle tour will inspire kids and their families to enjoy reading together every day,” says Gisèle Corinthios, host of Gisèle’s Big Backyard.

Kids can also participate in Gisèle’s Big Backyard Book Club online at tvokids.com, where they can watch videos of Gisèle reviewing books and see kids answering questions about the stories, share feedback on how the stories made them feel, and submit their own reviews of books they have read.

Read with Gisèle events are free and admission is on a first-come, first-served basis as seating is limited. Below are the details for the Ottawa and Nepean readings:

Read with Gisèle!

Gisele will also be visiting the Georgina Public Library Keswick Branch at 90 Wexford Drive in Keswick on Saturday September 10th at 1:30pm.