While trying to put a rosy glow on its business results as of the calendar year-end on December 31, skill game provider FUN Technologies Inc. also cautioned that its current cash reserves may not be enough to continue to fuel its growth. While a statement from the Toronto-based company said that while its 2007 revenue should meet analysts’ projections, its gross margins will likely be thinner, meaning an injection of capital may be necessary. "Possible sources of that funding include non-core asset sales or equity funding either from external sources or from the company’s parent, Liberty Media Corp.," a media release reads.
FUN Technologies is also currently finalizing calculations of the goodwill that was on its balance sheet when Liberty Media bought a majority stake in the firm last year. Using Canadian generally accepted accounting principles, the company says it will have to write off a sizable portion of its goodwill and post a significant non-cash charge as a result.

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Vancouver blogging software firm Marqui Inc. has parlayed its west coast connections into a deal with the National Basketball Association’s Phoenix Suns, home of Victoria favourite son, Steve Nash. Marqui’s blog management product is now powering the team’s official blog and serving up exclusive content including commentary from players, trainers, commentators and dancers, as well as stats, game results, and other data. "Not only did we feel it necessary to involve different elements of the organization – players, commentators, et cetera – but we needed a product that would allow us to easily interact with the blog site and push out content," said the Suns’ VP of interactive services Jeramie McPeek in a release announcing the deal. "Marqui was chosen as it not only provided us with robust functionality, it also allowed us to quickly deploy the product so that our site was up and running before the start of the 2006-2007 season."

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Charlottetown’s Telos Productions Inc. has been awarded authorized developer status by Nintendo of America Inc. "Our government has targeted video game development as an emerging sector of our economy and this announcement by Telos Productions is another example of the endless potential for jobs and opportunities here in Prince Edward Island," Mike Currie, the province’s minister of development and technology, said in a media release. The company, which employs nine staffers at the Atlantic Technology Centre in Charlottetown, has also benefited from support from Telefilm Canada.

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Online classifieds network LiveDeal.ca has made a deal of its own with the Lycos.ca online community. Toronto-based LiveDeal will provide its co-branded classified advertising platform to Lycos.ca users, allowing the latter to buy and sell goods and services within the community. "LiveDeal is delighted to partner with Lycos.ca, one of the Internet’s original brands," said LiveDeal.ca GM Simon Jennings in a media release. "LiveDeal.ca’s online classifieds platform is a strong fit with Lycos.ca’s current e-commerce offerings, and we look forward to increasing site stickiness and user loyalty." Incorporated in 1995, the Lycos Web portal was one of the earliest Internet businesses in the world. Lycos Canada is owned by Smart Media Works of Montreal.

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Torstar Digital has announced that its Olive Canada Network is partnering with Gesca Digital, which will add Gesca’s French-language websites and ad sales to the network. "We can now offer advertisers more than 13 million unique Canadian visitors per month, or 60% of online Canadians, all of it exclusively on premium websites," said Simon Jennings, Olive Canada’s GM, in a press release. "The addition of Gesca Digital’s top-tier network in Quebec further enhances Olive Canada Network’s ability to offer advertisers deep, premium reach in both English and French Canada." Olive Canada’s list of American and Canadian premium, branded sites include thestar.com, CNET.com, Toronto.com, ArtistDirect.com, MaximOnline.com and LiveDeal.ca.

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Montreal-based Internet and desktop search engine firm Mamma.com has signed up Entrieva of Reston VA to provide contextual ad serving on its products. Entrieva’s ClickSense will provide search-based text advertising on the Canadian company’s Mamma.com online search engine and its Copernic Desktop Search software. The ads will be driven by users’ search requests, and should help Mamma.com get the most out of its advertising revenues.

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Although online networking is commonly considered to be a phenomenon driven by the under-25 set, a Leger Marketing study commissioned by online local advertising firm Kijiji Canada says that nearly three-quarters of Canadians 30 and older look to the Internet for local news, products for sale, and other information. Other findings include that 70% of respondents 30 years old say the Internet is their main go-to source for information on local services, and 20% of respondents have met someone online who lives in their area. British Columbians proved to be the most enthusiastic about online community resources, Ontarians reported they did the most online searching for purchases, and Quebeckers made the greatest use of online classifieds. Perhaps more disturbingly, 28% of all respondents said they feel more at home in their online "neighborhood" than in their bricks-and-mortar one.

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Nielsen SoundScan Canada and Nielsen BDS have announced their 2006 Canadian year-end sales and airplay monitoring data for the 52-week period ending December 31, 2006. In that time, the report states, digital music sales rose dramatically, with digital track sales totalling 14.9 million units for the year, an increase of 122% over the 6.7 million units sold in 2005. Sales of entire albums digitally increased from 462,000 in 2005 to over one million in 2006, also a 122% rise. Sarah McLachlan’s Wintersong album was the top selling digital album for the year, with fellow Canuck Nelly Furtado’s Loose ranking seventh. Universal Music Group captured a 35.05% market share of Canadian digital album sales, which was down from its 39.68% share in 2005, but still well ahead of second-ranking BMG’s 10.31%.

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