Village Gamer

Ottawa – The CFTPA is pleased to announce the results of its recent Board elections.  The new Board of Directors will serve a two year term commencing this June 2009 and ending in June 2011.

“On behalf of the Association I take this opportunity to thank the current Board of Directors for all of their dedication, time and effort in serving the CFTPA over the past two years,” says Ira Levy, Chair CFTPA Nominating Committee. “The Association relies upon the involvement and effective participation of its Directors.”  Norm Bolen, President and CEO, added “the current Board has been unwavering in its commitment to serve in the best interest of all CFTPA members.  We look forward to working with the new Directors of the Board who collectively bring a wealth of experience to the table.”

The 2009-2011 CFTPA Board of Directors is as follows:
Read the rest of this entry »

The Canadian Consulate General in Seattle will be a lead sponsor of Casual Connect this year in conjunction with any in-Canada partners who want to join – DFAIT can have one display table or several, depending on the level of participation. Being a part of the DFAIT contingent will allow access to the entire event (receptions, etc.), a profile on the website and the meeting scheduler, booth space on the conference floor and more.

Casual Connect is a trade show which highlights all of the great aspects of the casual game industry and is full of opportunities for established game designers and students alike. Casual Connect takes place this July 21 – 23 at Benaroya Hall in Seattle, Washington. Interested parties should contact Neil Swain at DFAIT as soon as possible. One point to remember – all travelers (air, land and sea) to the USA after June 1 must have either an enhanced driver’s license or valid passport as proof of citizenship to present to US customs and immigration inspectors.

Toronto – Kaboose Inc., one of the largest family-focused media companies in the world, today received approval from the Ontario Superior Court of Justice of its statutory plan of arrangement under section 182 of the Business Corporations Act (Ontario) (the “Arrangement”). The plan of arrangement was previously approved by the shareholders of Kaboose at a special meeting held on May 21, 2009.

With the Court’s approval of the Arrangement:

– Kaboose will sell substantially all of its North American assets to Disney Online for approximately $23.3 million in cash (subject to a working capital adjustment) (the “North American Transaction”). It is expected that the North American Transaction will close on June 1 2009, following the closing, on the same day, of the sale of Kaboose’s UK subsidiary, Kaboose Acquisition (UK) Company, to Romeo Bidco Limited, an affiliate of Barclays Private Equity Limited, for a purchase price of £54 million in cash less third-party debt outstanding at closing (expected to be approximately £10 million) (the “UK Transaction”); and

– Following the completion of a court-approved creditor claims process and liquidation, pursuant to which Kaboose expects to distribute approximately $0.65 in aggregate per common share to shareholders, Kaboose will be dissolved. The first distribution, following the completion of the creditor claims process, is expected to occur during the third quarter of 2009, depending on the nature of claims that are made during the creditor claims process. To the extent that, among other things:

(i) transaction and wind-up costs;
(ii) Kaboose’s net cash position at closing of the UK Transaction and North American Transaction; (iii) the absence of unidentified claims;
(iv) working capital of the North American business at the time of closing; or
(v) foreign exchange rates, are different than assumptions made by management, shareholders may receive aggregate distributions amounting to less than $0.65 per common share. Accordingly, Kaboose can give no assurances as to the total amount or timing of distributions to shareholders.

Ottawa – A coalition of consumer groups and telecommunications service providers has asked the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to rescind a November 2008 decision regarding the ‘shaping’ of Internet traffic and to order Bell Canada to immediately cease and desist from further interfering with the traffic of Internet users.

In April 2008 the Canadian Association of Internet Providers (CAIP) filed a complaint with the CRTC over Bell Canada’s traffic management practices of certain last-mile wholesale services used by independent Internet Service Providers to reach their customers. Seven months later, the CRTC denied the CAIP complaint largely on the basis that Bell was throttling the traffic of its wholesale customers in the same manner as it managed the traffic of its retail customers.

Today’s application asks the CRTC to reconsider their decision based on factual and legal errors in the decision and because the decision undermines the public interest in a vibrantly competitive market for Internet access services.
Read the rest of this entry »

Ottawa – Sharlyn Ayotte, President and CEO of T-Base Communications, was honoured with the prestigious Sara Kirke Award for Woman Entrepreneurship at the Annual CATA Innovation and Leadership Gala.

Sharlyn was selected by CATA’s Women in Technology (WIT) Forum as this year’s award recipient, which recognizes top women in their field who have demonstrated the most

Sharlyn Ayotte

outstanding technological innovation and corporate leadership. The award was sponsored this year by the Centre for Research and Education on Women and Work and the Sprott School of Business, both of Carleton University.

As a blind entrepreneur, Sharlyn inspired the technology behind T-Base, which provides organizations with alternate format (braille, large print, e-Text and audio) statements and documents in order to meet the diverse information needs of their aging, blind, deafblind and partially sighted customers.
Read the rest of this entry »

Gatineau – DBx GEOMATICS Inc. has announced the release of CartoVista 2.0 with new cartographic publishing tools and application extendibility through Adobe® Flex®.

The new CartoVista Publisher is a state-of-the-art desktop application designed to support every aspect of a CartoVista 2.0 deployment. The CartoVista Publisher features advanced management tools to create and maintain any maps or data used by the application. It centralizes the management of the users’ map files and style settings so that they can rapidly create maps without having to find map files each time, or reapply style settings. CartoVista Publisher provides tremendous cartographic freedom to create very high quality maps from existing GIS data.

The CartoVista 2.0 display engine features enhancements to thematic display and visualization. The addition of new color schemes, selection views and new histogram options significantly enhances the display of strategic data.
Read the rest of this entry »

Victoria – ParetoLogic took home two VIATeC plaques at the 2009 VIATeC awards gala, claiming finalist positions in the Team of the Year and Innovative Excellence categories. VIATeC, the Vancouver Island Advanced Technology Council, is dedicated expanding and improving Vancouver Island’s technical industry.

Elton Pereira, CEO and co-founder of ParetoLogic, said of the placing: “We are honored to be recognized by VIATeC as award finalists, and we see the strength of our competition as a great sign of the growth of Vancouver Island’s tech industry.”

ParetoLogic’s finalist trophies celebrate widely different achievements. The Team of the Year category recognizes ParetoLogic’s Spyware Analysis Team. With their continuing efforts to identify and destroy malware, and their commitment to sharing their knowledge with industry insiders and general users, SWAT fit the award description as ‘demonstrating outstanding initiative and service delivery.’ In a video interview played at the gala, Jerome Segura, SWAT’s Team Lead, said one of the group’s motivations was to “educate every customer and non-customer.”
Read the rest of this entry »

Toronto – New software offers first-ever solution to help protect 200 million P2P file-sharers from rampant identity theft and lawsuits; United States Federal Trade Commission warns about dangers of file-sharing.

ZapShares Inc. announced today the public release of their ZapShares software, which is the first software specifically designed to help protect the 200 million users of P2P file-sharing software who are at high risk of identity theft and lawsuits.

“Many people who use file-sharing software are at high risk of having their identity and private information stolen, or are at risk of being sued by copyright holders, and up until now there has been no solution,” said Bernard Trest, President of ZapShares Inc.
Read the rest of this entry »

Toronto – RBC today announced a call for nominations for the 2009 RBC Canadian Entrepreneur Awards program (CWEA). The RBC CWEA program will recognize the many talented Canadian women entrepreneurs who thrive despite today’s challenging economic environment.

“Women entrepreneurs are one of the fastest growing segments of the Canadian economy, and RBC is proud to help celebrate their passion and success at this annual awards ceremony,” said Shauneen Bruder, executive vice-president, Business and Commercial Banking.

The RBC Canadian Woman Entrepreneur Awards are the pre-eminent national business awards recognizing the country’s leading female entrepreneurs. For the first time since the creation of the awards program, applications received will be considered for two consecutive years.

“Whether starting a new business, sustaining the one they already have, or exploring new opportunities, Canadian women entrepreneurs continue to play a leading role in the Canadian marketplace,” explains Mike Michell, national director, Small Business and Women’s Market, RBC. “These women have incredible success stories that we believe other business owners can learn from.”
Read the rest of this entry »

Calgary – Multiplied Media Corporation, a Calgary-based provider of mobile local search services, today announced that Poynt, its award-winning application, has surpassed 400,000 users.

Every day, between ten and 15 percent of Poynt’s user base is active, performing an average of two queries each. The weekly return user number averages 40 percent and over 75 percent of users used Poynt in the month of April, generating over 1.5 million queries. As additional features, such as people and restaurant search, are integrated in the coming months, it is projected that the average number of daily queries will increase by ten percent and repeat usage will be even stronger.

“According to the February 2009 Pinch Media report ‘iPhone AppStore Secrets,’ ten percent of free iPhone application users continue to use the application after one week, only four percent are still using the application after one month and long-term audiences of average iPhone applications generally diminish to one percent of total downloads,” reported Andrew Osis, CEO, Multiplied Media. “With the repeat daily and weekly usage Poynt is experiencing, and the high percentage of Poynt users in April, we are extremely pleased to be well above industry norms in terms of continued
application usage.”
Read the rest of this entry »