CNM Short Takes

Montreal’s FNC film fest gets Sympatico siteThe Festival du Nouveau Cinéma de Montreal (Montreal New Film Festival) will partner with web portal Sympatico MSN and interactive content marketer Tribal Nova to bring the experience of web TV to the festival. Sympatico’s High Speed Zone/zone haute vitesse will host a festival microsite featuring technical information and extracts from more than 60 of the works appearing at the festival, which takes place October 13 to 23, as well as a daily schedule of events. The Sympatico presence will augment the festival’s main web site at www.nouveaucinema.ca. Mobile Operandi shows off mophoneA new peer-to-peer filesharing service for mobile phone communities from Vancouver firm Mobile Operandi made its debut this week at the CTIA Wireless and Entertainment trade show in San Francisco. The mophone platform allows users to search and legally share nearly any time of mobile content, from ringtones to games to images, and is free to join. The offering provides each member with a personal Web site from which they can drag-and-drop content onto a virtual version of their phone; the content then appears on their actual handset. Mophone operates independently of carriers’ proprietary content systems, and Mobile Operandi expects to support as many as 400 different handset models by the end of the year. MyThum and partners launch mobile portalToronto mobile media developer MyThum Interactive is claiming a first with StudentTones.com, an offering it calls "Canada’s first dedicated, SMS-enabled mobile content portal." Developed in partnership with Calgary-based mobile content distributor Wmode and Student Phones of Toronto, which provides discounted wireless phone handsets and service plans to students through more than 70 campus points of presence, StudentTones.com allows users to browse and buy such mobile content as ringtones, games and desktop images and themes. The site will give wireless carriers a run for their money, since the only way such content could previously be accessed and purchased was through carriers’ proprietary portal sites, the firm says. SAT’s season of events in MontrealMontreal’s Société des arts technologiques (Society for Arts and Technology), in conjunction with the city’s ICT industry and the Quebec ministry responsible for municipal and regional affairs, is hosting a series of nine "demo-conferences" throughout October and November. The sessions are designed to "communicate digital interface knowledge and expertise throughout the various ICT sectors," and will feature such technology topics as virtual reality, video and audio over IP networks, motion editing, robotics, mobile technology, and more. Spymac makes waves in AlbertaSpymac rolled out the red carpet for Sopranos actress and publicity stunt Leslie Bega at the recent launch of its Spymac 4 product in Lethbridge AB. The company’s bread and butter product offering is a Mac-centric online community which boasts nearly one million subscribers across approximately 140 countries. A new premium service, dubbed Spymac Club, offers members a total of 9 GB of online storage for their messages, photos and files for a US$25 annual fee. Although based in New York, Spymac has a sizable web development presence in Lethbridge, and the firm says it will expand the workforce there in the near future. PhotoChannel inks phone card dealPhotoChannel Networks Inc. (PNI) of Vancouver has signed a deal with Atlanta-based prepaid phone card provider Incomm to include the latter’s technology in the Canadian firm’s Digital Media Platform, which is already installed in more than 8,000 retail locations. The Digital Media Platform is an all-in-one vending kiosk that allows users to upload digital images for printing, and also download mobile content, games, make custom CDs, and more. PNI says the Digital Media Platform also allows retailers to clear up shelf space currently being used by phone cards, music CDs, games and other inventory that can be vended through the device. More business for Phantom FiberToronto mobile commerce provider Phantom Fiber Corp. is ramping up its exposure to the casino gambling and horse racing wagering market segments, with the firm’s partners unveiling new products. Seven new wireless horse racing offerings will be deployed at sites using Phantom Fiber’s wireless back-end, and will feature new enhancements such as affiliate tracking, an easy refer-a-friend program, SMS software delivery, mobile account activation, and more. Some of the Canadian firms existing casino partners, including Parlay Group and Real Time Gaming, will receive product upgrades due to the enhancements. Las Vegas From Home boasts poker finalistsAnother Canadian gaming firm, Vancouver’s Las Vegas From Home.com Entertainment Inc. said its Action Poker Gaming subsidiary has helped eight competitors reach the World Poker Tour’s Borgata Open in Atlantic City NJ. The poker players won their way to the Borgata Open by playing on the Action Poker Network, each winning a prize that included the US$10,000 entry fee for the tournament, airfare, accommodation, and US$1,500 in spending money. Metamedia goes Greek with Global Media dealCalgary’s Metamedia Capital Corp. recently announced a partnership with Global Media S.A. of Greece that will see the two firms bring Greek-language TV programming to markets in Greece and abroad. The two companies will set up a distributor called CosmosIPTV in Greece to broadcast on-demand IPTV content to Greek speakers around the world, with Global Media investing $2 million in the venture but turning control over to Metamedia. INTERNATIONAL BRIEFS HomePlug gains GE’s confidenceThe HomePlug Powerline Alliance, a standards organization devoted to making networking-over-powerlines a reality, said that General Electric Co.’s security division is the most recent member of the alliance’s Implementers’ Forum board of directors. GE Security’s arrival means the alliance is broadening beyond interconnectivity of networked devices and into home security systems that use the technology. File sharing makes Scooter a starAnti-war indie musician Scooter Scudieri says peer-to-peer file sharing led to his appearance at a recent rally in Washington DC. The West Virginia-based artist has apparently had 50 million searches done on his name over peer-to-peer music sharing networks, affording him promotion and publicity he never would have been able to afford otherwise. Tiger about to take North American leapTiger Telematics Inc. of Jacksonville FL was supposed to bring its Gizmondo handheld entertainment device to the U.S. and Canada this summer, but the company insists it’s nearly ready for its North American debut. The Florida firm is also filing paperwork with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that will eventually allow it to trade on the Nasdaq exchange, and says its products should be in stores before the holiday season. Tiger Telematics also announced that leading game developer Electronic Arts has released versions of two popular sports games – FIFA Football 2005 and SSX – for the Gizmondo platform. Dell debuts DJ Ditty music playerDell Canada Inc. recently introduced a line of new personal digital media products, including three wireless PDA models and an ultra-light MP3 player. The DJ Ditty weighs just over one-and-a-quarter ounces but can store as many as 220 songs; it also features an LCD screen, integrated FM radio tuner, and support for audio books and music download services such as Napster. Dell Canada, the Canadian arm of Austin TX-based Dell Inc., said the device will start at $119. Firms find value in VoIP content salesAn Israeli firm is claiming a first with an offering that allows Internet telephony service providers (ITSPs) to generate revenue through sales of digital content and services. EBiz.mobility of Bet Shemesh and London-based VoIP peering provider XConnect will partner to offer the Israeli company’s Federated Payment System to VoIP users; the system will allow users to buy content such as ringtones and music and video downloads, but charge the transaction directly to their ISP billing system for payment. Euro soccer site experiences broadband boomBroadband reigns supreme at the Union of European Football Associations’ (UEFA) website, which recently launched its Champions League group stages section for the 2005/2006 year. "Broadband users represent more than 80% of the current uefa.com user base," according to a release from the organization. "This compares with just 54% of users accessing the site via broadband in 2001 when the site was launched." The uefa.com site features broadband-intensive content such as video and an embedded media player on the homepage.

CNM Short Takes

News | 09/30/2005 4:00 am EDT

Unlock all the Canadian telecom, broadcasting and digital media news you need.

FREE TRIAL

SUBSCRIBE

Reuse & Permissions

Inside The Wire Report

Information

Hill Times Publishing

Get in Touch With Us