CNM Short Takes

New Calgary news site launched by CTV affiliate CFCNA new information portal for Calgarians has been launched by Bell Globemedia featuring news and community information at www.cfcnplus.ca. The site is the result of a content partnership between CTV affiliate CFCN and calgaryplus.ca. A media release by Globemedia indicates that demand for online content is high in the city given a 65% penetration rate for Internet access. CANARIE funds legal info onlineMyLegalAnswers has won $1.25 million in financing from CANARIE Inc. to offer online access to basic Canadian legal information. Toronto-based MyLegalAnswers is developing a platform for its database directed towards lawyers, and anticipates a soft launch in February 2002 to the Canadian legal community. Its eventual goal is to provide access to basic legal information for individuals, "enabling them to find solutions to basic legal matters." ZAQ, wideframe to co-market products and servicesMontreal-based ZAQ Interactive Solutions and Vickers & Benson Arnold Inc. subsidiary wideframe have signed a cross-marketing agreement to gain access to each others’ network of clients in both the U.S. and Canada. The pair will collaborate to deliver online relationship marketing and customer relationship management products and services. Canadian companies listed for Electronic Multimedia awardToronto-based ecentricarts inc. has won a short-list nomination for this year’s Electronic Multimedia Awards in the Learning:Reference category. The mention is for its Art2LIFE site developed with the York Region District School Board and the McMichael Art Gallery (CNM, Sep. 20/01). Other nominees for the prestigious prize include Oberon Interactive Inc. of Toronto, which was mentioned for its work on behalf of Pitney Bowes Management Services in the Business Applications/Internal Communications category. Oberon built an interactive, database-driven suite of tools to web-enable the company. It says the Internet site it built has streamlined operations there, and is now in a second phase of development. MokaSofa.ca wins grand prizeTranscontinental Media Inc.’s MokaSofa.ca has won grand prize at the second edition eCommerce Gala. The prize is awarded to a Quebec-based ecom company demonstrating innovation and know-how. MokaSofa provides lifestyle, financial and health information for women in French and English. My Virtual Model wins exclusive Plussize.com contractMontreal’s My Virtual Model Inc. has scored a contract with Plussize.com, an online shopping mall selling fashions from more than 40 retailers including Nordstrom, Eddie Bauer and L.L. Bean. Elisabeth by Liz Clairborne will be the first retail partner included in the program, an initiative expected to be launched early next year. Further partners will be announced in the coming weeks. My Virtual Model’s technology is an online visualization and sizing program that allows buyers to "try on" clothing virtually before purchasing. Plussize.com is a member of Main Street Ventures, Cincinnati OH. CDP/Innovatech fund Dream Mechanics with $2 millionDream Mechanics Inc., a Montreal company developing 3D software, has won a $2 million investment from CDP Accès Capital and Innovatech Grand Montréal for a technology facilitating ecom by representing customers as 3D characters in virtual stores. Using their virtual characters, shoppers can move from one department to another, examine merchandicse, chat with other consumers or question salespeople, also represented by virtual characters, about specific products. A media release indicates Dream Mechanics will use the funding to increase marketing, pursue R&D, and round out its production team. Kalador teams with Sprint on new wireless entertainmentVancouver’s Kalador Entertainment Inc. has delivered its new wireless gaming software to Sprint PCS. The game, Outlast!, pits 15 players against each other wirelessly on Sprint’s wireless phone network. Kalador’s game server technology provides full support for WAP while allowing for migration to third-generation PCS and java-enabled phones. Bell Canada offers plug-and-play broadband access to hotelsBell Canada has launched a new Internet service dubbed DataValet that provides plug-and-play Internet connections to hotel rooms, complete with city-specific portals. Access is provided to network-card equipped laptop computers directly to the DataValet port. The service was developed in partnership with Toronto’s ecentricarts inc., which builds the back-end data infrastructure to make content available on the DataValet portal from various Bell Globemedia properties. Airborne Entertainment bundles Wmode softwareMontreal’s Airborne Entertainment will integrate Calgary company Wmode’s micro-billing, subscription-based and licence-based payment methods into its PocketBoxOffice suite of entertainment offerings. The payment software, dubbed ClearMode, allows Airborne to charge users for wireless services and have those charges appear on the users’ phone accounts. No terms for the deal were announced. Destiny Media, Silverpop provide email video productSilverpop Systems, Atlanta, has chosen Destiny Media Technologies Inc.’s video streaming technology to integrate into its email messaging software. Destiny, based in Vancouver, will provide its VideoClipstream software for inclusion with Silverpop’s Dynamic Messaging 2.0 product line, and for future versions. The java-based Clipstream software can be viewed by over 90% of web users, say company executives. No value was released for the agreement. MediaShell wins $350,000 from Queen’s venture fundThe Kingston Whig-Standard reports that Kingston ON-based MediaShell has won a third round of financing in under two years from the Queen’s Scientific Breakthrough Fund. This most recent round, for $350,000, brings to a total of $850,000 the amount that the fund has invested in the company, which has developed a software platform that allows companies to rent or distribute software on the Internet. The fund is a $7-million investment pool with Queen’s University, Working Ventures Canadian Fund and the Canadian Medical Discoveries Fund in partnership with the Ontario government’s Small Business Investment Fund Program. NMBA continues to impressOntario’s New Media Business Alliance (NMBA) hosted another successful Smart Lunch event on Nov. 23 at Toronto’s Indian Motorcycle Club. This event, the third in a series, presented Bell Canada’s Norm Silins, GM of converged applications, discussing BCE’s convergence initiatives. According to those in attendance, Silins’ comments were well-received, if contentious. Snap Media’s Raja Khanna reportedly challenged Silins to demonstrate how content would play as important a role as infrastructure in the BCE empire, and several attendees are still awaiting a satisfactory answer. Fireworks aside, NMBA staff continue to be impressed by turnout at the events. This most recent event convinced 35 members of the new media community to pay $50 to join the proceedings. Corus in-house ad production company wins Ocean Spray nodCorus Entertainment’s newly-formed in-house advertising production arm, Pester Productions Inc, has won a Yuletide contract from beverage-maker Ocean Spray and its media agency, Genesis. Pester, which was formed to target kids, has been brought on board to develop a brand sell spot for Crantastics Cocktails. The campaign will be coordinated on air on Corus channel YTV, online, and on-pack. The television ads will run Dec. 10 to Jan. 6, when YTV will air a 60-second contest detail spot that will direct viewers to ytv.com for an opportunity to participate. Ontario gov’t recognizes Navantis for IT leadershipToronto-based IT services company Navantis Inc. was recognized by the Ontario government as an "outstanding success story" at the Premier’s technology dinner Nov. 21. The company provides consulting, design and deployment services allowing companies to manage and publish content within their online environment, and builds ecom systems as well as corporate portals. TSE launches full French Internet siteThe Toronto Stock Exchange has introduced an improved version of its French web site at www.tse.com. The site now offers access to a full range of exchange and financial information in French to better serve customers in that language.

CNM Short Takes

Broadcast | November 29, 2001

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