Village Gamer

Canadian veterans of the Secord World War and Korean War will be able to have their stories told for future generations, thanks to an investment by the Government of Canada. The Honourable James Moore, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages, today announced funding for the Historica-Dominion Institute’s Memory Project: Stories of the Korean War at an event held at HMCS York in Toronto. Minister Moore also announced an extension to the funding for the Institute’s Memory Project: Stories of the Second World War.

These projects aim to provide every living Canadian veteran who wants to share his or her memories with all Canadians—particularly teachers, students, and the general public—the opportunity to do so through an interactive and extensive website that will record and store first-hand accounts and memorabilia of individual Canadian veterans. As a result, future generations can learn about and understand what they did for their country.

“Every veteran who fought for Canada deserves to be able to share their stories, so all Canadians can remember their sacrifices,” said Minister Moore. “Our Government is proud to help our veterans tell their stories so they can be preserved for generations to come. These projects provide a unique opportunity to record this important chapter in our history from those who lived it. Knowing our history helps us understand where we came from and defines us as Canadians.”

In 2009, the Government of Canada announced funding for the Institute’s Memory Project: Stories of the Second World War through the Commemoration Program of the Department of Canadian Heritage. The project creates a definitive record of Canada’s participation in the Second World War through thousands of first-person accounts by veterans. Stories of the Korean War is the continuation of that work.

The Government of Canada has provided funding of $938,850 for Stories of the Korean War and an additional $385,000 for Stories of the Second World War (bringing total government investment in that project to more than $3 million) through the Commemorate Canada component of the Department of Canadian Heritage’s Celebration and Commemoration Program. This component provides financial support to initiatives of national significance that commemorate various aspects of Canadian history.

Arkadin Inc., a NY-based company with offices in Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal, has just launched its newest product to the Canadian market, Arkadin Express. The new service means that business owners and mobile professionals alike now have access to a top-notch audio and web conferencing service – a first of its kind on many levels.

It’s no secret that business owners across the nation have been limited to audio conferencing services, both in scope and in price. This has all changed as the availability of Arkadin Express means that businesses in Canada now have the option to communicate via state-of-the-art technology that is highly efficient and affordable.

Glenn Fleischman, Executive Vice President of Arkadin’s e-Commerce business, states, “We all know that Canada is a major hub in the world for entrepreneurial activity. What’s even more exciting now is that businesses here will be able to communicate and grow through technology and options that once never existed.”

What’s unique about the service? Fleischman explains Arkadin Express provides enterprise-level audio conferencing at prices that small and mid-sized businesses can afford. Arkadin Express is an online, browser-based service; the web conferencing service portion provided to clients is highly reliable and secure. At present, there are a large number of Fortune 500 companies utilizing this telecommunication service.

The price is also right. Along with a full-service 7 day trial, Arkadin Express customers can select the option of an unlimited conferencing monthly plan for a low monthly rate of $39.95 with local U.S. and Canadian dial-in access numbers or a Pay-As-You-Go plan offering both local and international conferences toll and toll-free dial-in access numbers costing as little as 2 cents per minute. This is now the only unlimited plan on the market that provides access numbers in Canada for a low monthly fixed fee for up to 50 participants.

Fleischman adds, “The lagging economy has prompted many business owners in Canada to continue closely monitoring their costs. Our technology, coupled with its very low cost for ongoing service, now means that businesses owners will be able to achieve their target goals for growth at home and beyond with less restrictions.”

Fleischman indicates that Arkadin carried out research from its 14,000 customers around the world – including Canada – that proved there is a distinct need for a reliable yet economic conferencing solution for professionals constantly “on the move.” Arkadin Express is also the perfect solution for mobile professionals such as consultants, lawyers, outside salespeople and others.

“With the click of a mouse on the Internet, Arkadin Express is all about creating more options and allowing people to communicate more efficiently and effectively,” says Fleischman.

OpenText™ has been named a Microsoft Global Launch Partner for SQL Server Code Name “Denali” – a cloud-ready information platform now available for community review. OpenText also announced that it has been selected as a finalist for the 2011 Microsoft ISV/Software Line of Business Partner of the Year Award and continues to deliver market-leading solutions in support of key Microsoft cloud initiatives including fax server integration for Office 365 and an Azure-based business process management solution.

The announcements were made at the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference 2011 (WPC11), the annual gathering for the Microsoft partner community to learn about the roadmap for the upcoming year. OpenText has a strong presence at the event and is exhibiting in the Solution Innovation Center in booth #435.

“Our customers are continually pushing for new and more powerful ways of dealing with the explosion of data and content across their organizations,” said Lubor Ptacek, Vice President of Strategic Marketing and General Manager of the Microsoft Solutions Group at Open Text.  “As a Microsoft Global Launch Partner for Denali we are well-positioned to help our enterprise content management (ECM) customers take advantage of new capabilities in SQL Server around performance, scalability, security and information access. We see Denali as supporting our mission to help enterprises claim, control and capitalize on content.”

As part of the agreement as a Global Launch Partner for Denali, OpenText will provide support for SQL Server Denali for core ECM products shortly after the final release of Denali.

For those in the creative fields, anticipating and adapting to change — from the tools they’re using at work to the people they’re interacting with to the audiences they’re targeting — has become part and parcel of the job. A new research guide, The Creative Team of the Future, explores key trends shaping the marketing and design fields, and how industry professionals can prepare for and capitalize on upcoming changes.

The guide is part of a new research project, which also includes video interviews with leading creative thinkers, that was co-developed by The Creative Group and the American Advertising Federation (AAF). For the project, The Creative Group and the AAF surveyed more than 500 AAF Ad Club and corporate members, interviewed industry thought leaders and conducted exclusive research to assess how marketing and design teams may operate in the next three to five years.

Key Findings:

– Nearly two-thirds (64 per cent) of AAF Ad Club and corporate members said creative professionals will have more influence on their companies’ business decisions in the future. Fittingly, one-third of survey respondents cited problem-solving skills as the most useful trait for creative professionals to develop.

– More than six in 10 respondents (62 per cent) said they expect creative professionals to work more hours over the next several years. In addition, an overwhelming 85 per cent said they anticipate being more connected to the office outside of business hours by 2016.

– As collaboration tools become more accessible and affordable for creative teams, employers may offer their staff the ability to telecommute more frequently during the work week. In fact, 84 per cent of respondents said a greater number of creative professionals will work remotely in the next three to five years.

– In today’s global marketplace, collaboration often means working with people in different countries and marketing to a multicultural audience. But the colleagues sitting next to you will likely become more varied, too: Eighty-two per cent of respondents said they expect creative teams to become more culturally diverse.

– Two-thirds of survey respondents said spending on mobile-related projects will increase significantly in the next three to five years; another 28 per cent said it would increase somewhat. Further, 34 per cent of AAF Ad Club and corporate members said mobile will be the most influential advertising medium over the same period.

Design and marketing professionals are holding more sway in their organizations as companies recognize they can do more than develop eye-pleasing designs and catchy ad campaigns. The ability to think outside the box and pitch ideas effectively will become essential for creative professionals in the near future.

“Organizations are increasingly turning to their marketing and creative teams for help generating ideas and solutions that solve business problems, improve customer service and, ultimately, grow the bottom line,” said Donna Farrugia, executive director of The Creative Group.

While smartphones, laptops, tablets and other communications tools provide employees greater flexibility, they also have made it more difficult for creative professionals to unplug from the office. “Mobile devices certainly free us up to work where we want, when we want, but they also blur the boundaries between our personal and professional lives,” said Farrugia. “Finding ‘me’ time on your calendar to relax or enjoy a hobby will become as important as juggling on-the-job deadlines and meetings.”

Creative professionals are interacting with more people than ever before, working with colleagues in different departments — and even different organizations — to concept, develop and execute multifaceted campaigns. Managing relationships with freelancers or business partners located in different cities, states or countries also will become more common. Consequently, the ability to communicate effectively with people across and outside an organization, who may or may not be familiar with design or marketing terminology, will be crucial.

“Being flexible is key to surviving and thriving in the creative industry of the future,” said Farrugia. “Professionals with an open mindset — who are willing to embrace new tools, consumer trends and work processes — will be in the best position to move their careers and businesses forward.”

To download a complimentary copy of The Creative Team of the Future, watch video interviews or find more information about the research project, please visit the study’s information page.

Digital signage provider iGotcha Media has officially launched the iGotcha Golf Network with 16 golf clubs already signed up, and to celebrate the launch, the company has also announced a partnership with the National Golf Course Owners Association (NGCOA) of Canada.

The iGotcha Golf Network uses the Web and large digital flat screen televisions to inform and entertain golfers. Strategically positioned in club houses, pro shops and other high traffic locations, these screens also provide a compelling platform for advertisers to reach a qualified, affluent and captive audience.

The iGotcha Golf Network delivers Web-based content that is updated on a daily basis, including: golf tips, golf trivia, news, weather, sports, and advertising – both network-wide and golf club specific. Entirely advertiser-supported, offering the iGotcha Golf Network represents absolutely no cost to participating golf clubs. Standard implementations include: two 42-inch monitors, all other equipment, installation, maintenance and all online content.

In addition to launching the iGotcha Golf Network, iGotcha Media is announcing a partnership with NGCOA of Canada to bring to the iGotcha Golf Network to participating members across the country.

“The iGotcha Golf Network delivers information simply and effectively,” says Alain Laforge, Regional Director, NGCOA Canada, Quebec Chapter. “For example, easy access to an up-to-date weather forecast is very relevant to a golfer about to tee-off. Also, the network facilitates direct communication. As examples, golf clubs may promote their clubhouse menus or the inventory in their pro shop. And, of course, what makes integrating the iGotcha Golf Network an easy decision is the cost – entirely free to golf course operators,” adds Mr. Laforge.

“We are very pleased to be launching the iGotcha Golf Network,” says Greg Adelstein, President, iGotcha Media. “Using this network will give advertisers direct access to one of the most affluent and coveted demographic target groups in the country. With the iGotcha Golf Network already operational at 16 clubs, we look forward to rolling out our network at golf clubs across the country – with our NGCOA partners receiving extra network time to promote their clubs at no additional cost,” concludes Mr. Adelstein.

Beginning today, all of you guys (and I mean guys in the literal sense, not the irksome collective sense used by so many that means everyone, true guy or not) living in the Greater Toronto Area now have GroupDudes.com, the first online daily-deal website that caters strictly to men, offering money-saving discounts to pubs and restaurants, sporting events and entertainment, outdoor activities like reduced green fees for your favourite golf courses and (best of all) NO SPAS.

“There are a number of online daily-deal sites that offer opportunities to save money on dining, nail salon or spa treatments, but few of these sites offer anything for guys,” says David DiGiuseppe, CEO of Group Dudes.  “For the first time ever, beer and sports loving dudes in the GTA can now get their motors running by subscribing, for free, to GroupDudes.com where guys will have daily access to discounts on restaurants, sporting events, outdoor experiences and activities….all at terrific savings of at least 50 per cent off the regular price.”

Group buying is one of the web’s fastest-growing retail platforms.  Daily-deal websites capitalize on group buying, which in turn allows consumers to take advantage of deep discounts on goods and services from local businesses.

“The concept of online deals isn’t something new to me, but finding a deal which actually appeals to me is,” says Group Dudes subscriber John Dunstan of Toronto.  “Since signing up at GroupDudes.com, I find myself checking the site daily for the next sweet deal. Whether it’s rock climbing or MMA training, I’m trying things I never thought I would … all at half-off discount prices!”

GroupDudes deals is a great way to get men out of their “man caves” and have fun doing “guy” stuff.  The site appeals to dudes (and even some dudettes) and focuses on more sports, more pubs, more fun and no spas.  Some of the current deals available include discounts on food and alcohol at pubs and restaurants, discounts to major sporting events, sports activities, such as golf, martial arts, rock climbing, ATV adventures, sky diving, paintball and more.

“GroupDudes deals are available in a limited quantity and for a limited time,” says David DiGiuseppe.  “The most popular offers sell out quickly, so it’s important to take advantage of the offering when it becomes available, or it may be gone before you know it.”

To be part of GroupDudes, register your name and email for free on the GroupDudes website to start receiving daily emails of the great deals available for you.  Also, be sure to follow Group Dudes on Twitter and Facebook, so you don’t miss the fantastic GroupDudes deals.  Remember – More sports.  More pubs.  More fun.  No spas. 

From a family’s silly holiday photo to an unflattering picture of an elephant’s wrinkles, Hallmark Canada’s first card collection created by Canadians is now on the shelves at Hallmark stores across Canada.

For the first time this past February, Hallmark Canada gave Canadians a chance to use their creativity and wit by participating in the company’s first online greeting card competition called Now that’s funny, eh?  For the chance to see their own creation on Hallmark shelves, contestants were asked to submit a funny photo with a clever caption to create a hilarious birthday card.

The 24 talented winners of the competition each won $250 and their winning cards are now available for purchase at participating Hallmark Gold Crown stores across Canada and at other select retailers including Rexall pharmacies, Loblaws and most Walmart locations.  The cards retail at $3.59 each.

Hallmark Canada recently held a second competition called Your Crazy Pets.  The winners will be announced on July 25th and the winning cards from this competition will be available in stores November 2011.

“Hallmark Canada’s first and second greeting card competitions have been such a tremendous success” says Chris Kelly, Vice-President, Consumer Solutions and Brand Experience, Hallmark Canada. “We are so excited with the creativity and the number of applicants who submitted their card ideas, that we will be running a third competition to give Canadians another chance to WOW us with their originality and humour.”

For budding writers who missed the first two competitions, Hallmark Canada will provide another opportunity to showcase Canadian talent. The third competition, Girls Gotta Laugh, begins August 1 and ends September 23. Applicants can enter the competition online and can visit Hallmark Canada’s Facebook page to keep on top of exciting contest developments.

Toronto educational developer Spongelab Interactive has opened a beta run for SpongeLab, a revolutionary new web site that is a global science community with educational games, 3D animations and beautiful images, all integrated into a sophisticated teacher management system. Stunning and detailed science content linked with powerful teaching tool stitches all elements of the classroom together in one place. Assessment and reporting is made easy using a flexible system that provides detailed analytical information about the classroom environment, everything from student progress to engagement and user behaviours.

Educators can explore free digital content that can be organized into lessons, shared with students and presented in class. The opportunity to share goes even farther. Members of the Spongelab community can upload their own teaching materials such as images, lesson plans, videos and case studies making this site a current, vibrant open place for communicating about science.

Spongelab.com is also a game, encouraging users to earn rewards in the form of credits and experience points that can be redeemed for premium resources and features. Credits and experience points are earned by every action performed on the site: searching, viewing, creating, contributing, and referring. Redeeming credits provides access to more content at no monetary cost, opening up the world of science for everyone regardless of budget.

TVO gives Facebook politics a whole new meaning and takes another step in promoting citizen engagement with the launch of Honoured Citizen, a multi-player social media game that runs on the Facebook Platform.

Developed for TVO by Lazar Entertainment, Honoured Citizen allows players to participate in all levels of civic society and demonstrates that there are many ways to become an Honoured Citizen, if you are willing to speak out, engage with issues, question, debate and vote.

“Game-based technologies can serve as powerful tools for advancing civic engagement – it’s called gaming for good,” says Christine McGlade, Manager of Interactive and Digital Media for TVO. “Honoured Citizen will immerse gamers in the political process. It’s a great example of how TVO uses digital media as a platform for civic engagement.”

Honoured Citizen is the only Facebook game that realistically simulates all aspects of the political process. Players participate as citizens, politicians, activists or lobbyists. Politicians can seek nominations and woo voting blocs. Lobbyists can wine and dine politicians. Activists can start protests and organize petitions. Citizens can raise issues and participate in polls.

The object of the game is to gain honour points by engaging with and participating in an online shadow government – discussing, debating and organizing around political issues. These points may be spent to take on different roles in the game, perform other functions, or they may be traded with other players or strategically donated. The game runs in real time and every round is one week long, with new issues in play during each round. After every four rounds, there is an election.

Set in a virtual province, Honoured Citizen offers players a chance to simulate the political process. While the topics gamers raise may be real-life issues, it’s not a place for partisan politics. The game focuses on issues of governance, and non-partisan debate.

Honoured Citizen is the most recent addition to TVO’s gaming for good efforts, which includes Inside the Haiti Earthquake, the Games for Change Festival 2010 Transmedia award-winning interactive game.

Honoured Citizen is part of TVO’s Your Vote 2011, a suite of multimedia resources designed to engage Ontarians in the lead-up to the fall 2011 Ontario election.

With business softphone adoption growing at double-digit rates annually, service providers and enterprise IT departments need to slash the costs and time spent provisioning and managing those devices. CounterPath Corporation has announced the availability of its Client Configuration Server (CCS) and the granting of U.S. Patent No. 7,958,276, which together offer IT managers more control and autonomy through a simplified management user interface that immediately increases deployment efficiencies and streamlines end-user device management.

CounterPath’s Client Configuration Server is designed to enable enterprises and service providers such as telcos, cable providers and ITSPs to deploy and manage their own CCS solution, a key node for any softphone or SIP endpoint deployment. Featuring a clean and intuitive user interface, the CCS enables service providers to automatically apply the proper configuration to each end-user device, periodically update those configurations and remotely upgrade client-side software.

“Service providers typically have to build their own configuration servers when deploying endpoints such as CounterPath’s softphones. Not only is that labor-intensive, it isn’t really within the operator’s core competency,” said Todd Carothers, Senior Vice President of Marketing and Products, CounterPath. “With CCS, operators can take advantage of a solution that’s not only off the shelf but specifically designed to accelerate deployment while increasing back-end efficiencies.”

CounterPath’s Client Configuration Server also provides:

• Five-Nines (99.999 percent) Reliability – The CCS is based on CounterPath’s Network Convergence Gateway (NCG) technology, ensuring carrier-class reliability.
• Standards-Based Security – All client communications are done via HTTPS.
• High Scalability – Customers can support millions of softphone/SIP endpoints.
• Flexibility – The CCS’s profile and template structure supports a wide variety of client types and end-user configurations.
• Multi-Tenanted Capabilities – A group hierarchy enables reseller scenarios and department-level administrative control within end-customer companies.
• Multiple Interfaces – The CCS is designed for both programmatic back-end systems and operations staff for configuration access on a per-tenant basis.

In addition to desktop softphones, CounterPath’s CCS can be applied to CounterPath’s mobile softphone applications for Apple’s iOS and Android devices. This architecture gives service providers and enterprises the ability to make changes to, and monitor subscriber usage of, their mobile applications across broader distribution channels, such as Value Added Resellers (VARs) and Value Added Distributors (VADs).

The CCS also helps major OEM channels manage provisioning scenarios that have a large number of in-channel constituents – VADs, VARs and resellers – and multiple end users. Major OEM channels also can use the CCS to help manage the distribution of revenue to agents in the channels, and provide audit capabilities to control how many licenses are being used and by whom.

CounterPath’s newly granted patent, No. 7,958,276, covers the automatic configuration of peripheral devices such as VoIP softphones, headsets and speakerphones. The CCS implements elements of this patent to significantly enhance and simplify device deployment and management within a service provider or enterprise environment. The patent enables device and software configuration to be performed automatically both when the software is started and on important events such as a user unplugging or attaching a headset.

The patent also provides the ability to save and restore multiple configurations based on a variety of conditions, a major asset in mobile environments. When combined with the CCS, this feature enables IT services to achieve zero-touch deployments across the field.

“CounterPath’s new patent enables zero-touch device configuration,” Carothers said. “The launch of our Client Configuration Server and the receipt of this latest patent together demonstrate CounterPath’s commitment to simplifying the softphone experience from implementation to end user and dedication to helping service providers be successful in their go-to-market VoIP strategies.”

A hosted version of the Client Configuration Server will be available from CounterPath in the near future.