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Adobe enhances its secret superpower, its cloud-based marketing platform

National Post Tech Desk - Fri, 03/20/2015 - 14:55

SALT LAKE CITY – Adobe Systems Inc. may be best known to IT for its software, ranging from 25-year-old graphics mainstay Photoshop to the problematic Flash, but as it showed at its annual Adobe Summit digital marketing conference here last week, it has a secret superpower: it has a cloud-based marketing platform that serves top media companies, all ten of the top U.S. commercial banks, and businesses of all kinds, including much of the Fortune 500. It handled 30.4 trillion transactions last year through its Marketing Cloud, and hosts 384 billion dynamic creative assets. Adobe says that it’s the world’s largest marketing cloud.

Its growth is due in large part to the explosive growth of mobile, and the mantra is customer experience, Brad Rencher, Adobe’s senior vice-president for Marketing Cloud. “Experience is the brand,” he noted during his keynote. “Customers expect a continuous and consistent experience. Experience defines brands, today and tomorrow. Consumers commit to brands as long as brands commit to them.”

Adobe took advantage of the conference to announce a series of enhancements to the Marketing Cloud, all designed to make the platform more comprehensive and integrated.

Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) customers will soon be able to take advantage of Screens, which uses large touchscreens as a canvas for marketers to use to develop, refine, and execute campaigns. The screens talk to the AEM server, which serves content to everything from a giant display to the screen on a gas pump, and can be triggered by the proximity of a customer and content keyed to his or her interests thanks to iBeacon technology.

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Two existing products, Adobe Audience Manager and Adobe Primetime, have been added to the Marketing Cloud. Audience Manager will provide the ability to buy and sell anonymous data via the new Audience Marketplace. Primetime gives programmers and operators modular capabilities to stream, protect, analyze, and monetize video across desktops and devices, and is used by NBC Sports, Comcast, Turner Broadcasting, and others. It has been enhanced with cross-device frequency capping that knows when a user watching a program on one device switches to another, and makes sure the users doesn’t get multiple repeats of the same ad on each platform.

The new Adobe Analytics, which provides customer intelligence and predictive analytics, joined the suite, and mobility also got a boost with the addition of Adobe Mobile Services, which pulls together mobile apps in the Marketing Cloud as well as adding partner app tools to the mix.

Adobe Target received support for digital content testing, optimization, and personalization not only for browser-based content, but across devices in the Internet of Things (IoT). Brands can serve content to screens on gas pumps, ATMs, game consoles, car dashboard displays, appliances, or anything else with a display and a connection. Adobe Target leverages predictive, yet anonymous data including CRM and third-party sources to personalize content in real-time. In addition, Mobile Core Services and Adobe Analytics let marketers measure and analyze customer engagement within content and apps across IoT devices using the new IoT SDK, which is an extension of the Mobile SDK.

Also new to the suite: Adobe Social, which builds, publishes, manages, measures, and analyzes social campaigns.

 

Cheaper cable – but at what cost? More expensive Internet could be on the way for Canadians, analysts say

National Post Tech Desk - Fri, 03/20/2015 - 09:07

TORONTO — Consumers could see their Internet costs edge higher as cable companies look to maintain their profits in light of a ruling that forces them to unbundle television channels.

The CRTC ruled Thursday that television distributors will have to offer customers a “skinny basic” cable package for no more than $25 per month.

Customers will also have the freedom to add on individual channels or small bundles of channels under the “pick and pay” model.

Desjardins Securities analyst Maher Yaghi says television providers will look to make up some of the lost revenue by increasing the cost of Internet service.

Yaghi says most customers will see some cost savings, as they will no longer need to pay for as many television channels as they have in the past.

He also notes that Internet is a higher-margin business, so companies like Bell, Rogers and Telus don’t need to replace each dollar of lost television revenue with a dollar of Internet revenue.

That means cost increases on Internet bills will not be too dramatic, Yaghi says.

“It’s not a dollar for a dollar in terms of the bill for the consumer,” he said.

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CRTC’s mandatory pick-and-pay TV aims to give Canadians more choice, but is it too little too late?

National Post Tech Desk - Thu, 03/19/2015 - 15:25

Canadians are about to get more choice when it comes to the television channels they pay for, but a lot of them will probably stick with what they know, analysts say.

On Thursday, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission announced it will require cable companies to allow customers to pick-and-pay for only the channels they want, or only the small bundles of channels they want, on top of a stripped-down, $25 basic package by December 2016.

The announcement was highly anticipated because it’s expected to have the biggest impact on Canada’s cable companies of all the decisions related to the Let’s Talk TV hearing into the future of television held in the fall.

One rationale for the pick-and-pay decision is that cable companies need to start offering consumers more choice if they’re going to stop them from cancelling their subscriptions and signing up for online-only services like Netflix Inc. instead. Edward Jones analyst David Heger said the announcement probably isn’t enough to convince young people who have never bothered to pay for a cable package to sign up now, however.

“We’ve seen subscriber levels decline for several years,” he said. “I think we’re going to continue to see paid TV households dwindle off.”

Mr. Heger pointed out that just because consumers will be able to pick and pay for the channels they want doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll be saving money. Because the CRTC decision allows customers to keep the cable packages they have now, a lot of people may decide it doesn’t make sense to pay the same amount of money or more for fewer channels and take a pass on pick-and-pay, he said.

Maher Yaghi, an analyst with Desjardins Securities, said the fact the decision doesn’t fully come into effect for a year and a half will likely mean a larger share of cable customers will keep their existing packages out of inertia or lack of knowledge about the option. He said the long time frame was important to allow the cable companies time to figure out what to do about their existing commercial contracts, but a lot will change by the time pick-and-pay comes into full force.

“By then, you’re going to have so many other options as a consumer – Sony, AppleTV, Netflix, Hulu, Amazon,” he said. “Probably the December 2016 time frame is too long for them to wait for.”

This is both good and bad news for the major cable companies. While the decision may have a limited impact on stemming subscriber decline, Mr. Yaghi said the CRTC could have implemented measures that would have hit profitability a lot harder, such as requiring them to include U.S. channels in a low-cost skinny basic channels.

In a statement, Shaw Communications chief executive Brad Shaw was mostly upbeat about the announcement.

“While this new regulatory environment will not be without challenges, the Commission has provided real opportunities for Shaw to continue delivering the best content experiences possible,” Mr. Shaw said in the statement. “We support the Government’s direction and the Commission’s commitment to maximize choice for Canadians.”

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Rogers Communications Inc. spokeswoman Patricia Trott said the decision would not be a major departure from the company’s existing strategy.

“We know consumers want more flexibility and we started down this path several years ago,” she said in an emailed statement. “We already offer dozens of services a la carte and in theme packs. This decision gives us more certainty so we can offer customers even more choice.”

Bell Media declined a request for comment. The share price of all three companies declined Thursday, with Rogers down 1.93% to US$34.07, Bell Media parent company BCE Inc. down 1.27% to close at US$42.05, and Shaw down 1.66% to US$22.48 when the New York Stock Exchange closed.

Whether consumers choose pick-and-pay or not, Public Interest Advocacy Centre legal counsel Alysia Lau said she was glad the regulator was at least offering them the option. Consumers have been frustrated by the available cable packages for a long time, she said.

“PIAC, obviously, would like to see these kinds of choices as soon as possible so consumers can access them,” she said. “We’re just happy to see new steps that will allow Canadians to choose how they want to access their TV service and how much they want to spend on it.”

Resident Evil Revelations 2 review: Capcom’s low-budget horror series shows respect for the iconic series’ roots

National Post Tech Desk - Thu, 03/19/2015 - 14:52

Now that it’s over and done, I can’t say I rightly understand why Capcom chose to initially release Resident Evil: Revelations 2 as a series of four episodes rather than just one game.

I enjoyed having a little classic-meets-modern (but mostly classic) Resident Evil treat each Tuesday over the last month, but I don’t see how it was a boon to storytelling or play. If anything, the experience felt shoehorned into the format, with environments and story designed to fit a certain space rather than to naturally fit the flow of the adventure.

That said, the series — now available as a compilation in boxed format for $39.99, complete with all of its many unlockable modes (including the surprisingly compelling mission-based Raid mode, which has players fighting through waves of enemies for rewards and respect) – contains several lengthy sequences of old school Resident Evil bliss. The latter halves of the third and fourth episodes in particular are nice, thick slices of survival horror heaven.

Capcom

Set between Resident Evil 5 and Resident Evil 6, Revelations 2 begins with Claire Redfield and Moira Burton being drugged and kidnapped from an office party, then waking up in a creepy prison on a remote ocean island. Barry Burton – Moira’s semi-estranged dad – shows up on the island six months later in search of his daughter, and joins forces with a strange young girl named Natalia.

Each episode is broken into two parts; one with Claire and Moira, the other with Barry and Natalia. Barry and Claire play like traditional Resident Evil characters, while Moira and Natalia – whom you can switch to at the tap of a button or have a second player control via local splitscreen play – are used mostly to open locked boxes and detect hidden stuff, the former with her flashlight, the latter with a weird ability to perceive the presence of zombies.

The first few episodes see the two pairs covering much of the same ground, but they explore the same spaces in different ways based on their abilities. That said, there are times when it feels like Capcom cheaped on us a bit, trying to wring twice the mileage from some environments by having us play them twice over.

I also found myself occasionally frustrated playing as Claire and Moira (whose chapters always precede Barry and Natalia’s) because I didn’t know whether I was supposed to be able to figure out a way to, say, reach a gun parts kit I spied sitting in a high recess, or if I was meant to just leave it and hope Barry and Natalia would come through the same area and find some way to get to it.

Capcom

But things get better as the story progresses. In fact, the two-hour-plus back halves of the third and fourth episodes made for some of the best original Resident Evil experiences I’ve had since 2005’s Resident Evil 4.

These chapters see Barry and Natalia covering only a small amount of ground originally explored by Claire and Moira. What’s more, the older man and young girl spend some of this time chatting and bonding over a sad anecdote that explains why things went sour between Barry and his daughter. It’s about as legitimately emotional as things get in Resident Evil.

Then you’ll find yourself working through a series of smartly conceived areas that make great use of the pair’s differing but complementary skills.

The first of these is a sewer system that separates the two, putting Natalia in charge of opening sluices as Barry runs through them. It’s methodical but tense.

Barry uses his formidable arsenal to defend himself and his partner (from afar) while Natalia tiptoes along the scaffolding, using her keen eyes to spot treasures for Barry to collect in the waterway.

Natalia also has to keep an eye out for invisible floating zombies – a challenging enemy unique to Revelations 2 – only she can see can see and only Barry can attack.

Capcom

Their adventure only gets better as the game marches toward its conclusion.

You’ll encounter environments cleverly designed as giant navigational puzzles; find yourself forced to make smart use of sparse ammunition (you’ll need to use Natalia to find week spots on zombies, then switch back to Barry to shoot them); and – in a level that harkens back to the game that started it all – you’ll explore a small location designed as a kind of mansion, complete with underground research facility.

Unfortunately, as Barry and Natalia’s story ramps up, Claire and Moira’s declines. The sudden introduction of a group of male companions in the second episode is jarring and poorly explained, and their final chapter – sandwiched between those two great Barry and Natalia episodes mentioned above – lasts less than half an hour and ends with a frustrating timer-based escape sequence.

There are also some black hole-sized gaps in the plot only partially explained by a pair of “bonus episodes” that come with the boxed edition (in which you basically replay maps as Natalia and Moira, trying to be stealthy as the former and a one-woman zombie slaughtering machine as the latter), as well as some important questions left unnecessarily unanswered, even with the a semi-cliffhanger ending.

Capcom

Resident Evil: Revelations 2 has its fair share of issues – I’ve not yet mentioned its low texture world and blurry cut scenes that don’t even make a pretense to current generation presentation – but I still felt compelled to play each new episode the night it released.

I chalk it up to its creators respecting the series’ roots.

Much like the original Resident Evil: Revelations for Nintendo 3DS, this sequel – weird episodic format notwithstanding – is a deferential nod toward Resident Evil’s origins. It’s both a step backwards and a step forwards; proof that that sometimes the best way to correct a franchise’s mislaid course is to double back a couple paces and start on a different path.

There’s still no word on what shape Resident Evil 7 – the next entry in the series proper – will take, but if Capcom is clever it will subtly steer its flagship series in the direction of Revelations 2, the little survival horror spinoff that could.

Capcom

TeraGo buying RackForce for $33 million

National Post Tech Desk - Thu, 03/19/2015 - 14:06

TeraGo Inc., a provider of Internet connectivity and storage services to businesses in Canada, announced Thursday it agreed to acquire Kelowna, B.C.-based RackForce Networks Inc. for $33 million in cash and stock, making good on CEO Stewart Lyons’ pledge last month to “increase the pace by which we seek to close meaningful acquisitions.”

The purchase will help expand the Thornhill, Ont.-based company’s data centre and cloud computing offerings, a fast-growing and increasingly competitive market that also includes the likes of Telus Corp. and Open Text Corp.

RackForce’s price tag – $31 million in cash and $2 million in common shares of TeraGo – represents about 10 times annualized adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization for the three months ended in December, TeraGo said in a statement.

TeraGo will take on $35 million in additional debt to finance the transaction, which is expected to close around March 27. TeraGo’s stock rose 2.5% to close at $6.15 in Toronto.  Its shares have dropped nearly 6% this year.

CRTC to require pick-and-pay TV channels, basic package with $25 cap from cable providers

National Post Tech Desk - Thu, 03/19/2015 - 13:21

GATINEAU, Que. — Cable and satellite service providers will soon have to offer consumers an “entry-level” television service, at a cost of no more than $25 a month.

Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission released the new requirements on Thursday, following its lengthy Let’s Talk TV hearings last fall.

The new, trimmed-down basic packages must include local channels in each service area, as well as channels currently on the CRTC’s mandatory distribution list such as public interest, educational and legislature channels where they’re available.

U.S.-based channels that are currently free over the air in most major Canadian markets near the border — so-called 4-plus-1 channels — will also be included.

It’s the first time television service pricing has been regulated in Canada since 1999 and makes it the only jurisdiction in the industrialized world to require that TV distribution companies offer a basic selection of channels.

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The national broadcast regulator says the requirement to offer a trimmed-down basic package will take effect by March 2016.

The CRTC says TV viewers will then be able to supplement the so-called “skinny basic” package with either individual channels available through a pick-and-pay model, or what it calls small, “reasonably-priced” bundled channel packages.

But service providers will have until the end of next year to offer both a la carte channels and theme packages.

Customers who are happy with their current TV offerings won’t have to switch.

“Canadians will have the choice of keeping their current television services without making any changes, if these continue to meet their needs and budgets,” the CRTC said in a statement.

CRTC chairman Jean-Pierre Blais said technology has changed Canada’s TV industry to the point that viewers are taking it upon themselves to choose what they want to watch, when they want to watch it.

“Viewers are in control,” Blais said.

“Today’s decision is not about making choices for Canadians,” he said.

“Rather, it’s about setting out a road map to give all Canadians the freedom to choose the television content that meets their unique needs, budgets and realities.”

Under the new system, service providers will not have to offer free audio services, such as local radio stations, although they can include them if they want.

The $25-a-month price won’t include the cost of renting or buying a cable or satellite set-top box. Nor will it include taxes. But service providers could offer an even lower price.

Rogers flirted with entry-level pricing when it test-marketed a digital basic package in the London, Ont., area from Nov. 2011 until Feb. 2012, at a cost of $19.99 a month.

To make sure the big networks don’t shut out independent broadcasters from basic services, the CRTC also introduced a code of conduct for the industry Thursday.

The Canadian Press

 

This Swiss luxury watch brand has teamed up with Google and Intel to take on the Apple Watch

National Post Tech Desk - Thu, 03/19/2015 - 11:22

TAG Heuer said it will present a smartwatch with Google Inc. and Intel Corp. later this year, becoming the largest luxury Swiss watch brand to go on the offensive against Apple Inc. in making timepieces with new electronic functions.

The unveiling may take place between October and December, said Jean-Claude Biver, who heads the watchmaking activities of TAG Heuer’s owner, French luxury-goods maker LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA.

“Silicon Valley meets Switzerland,” Biver said at a press conference at Baselworld, the largest watch and jewelry trade fair.

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Apple will begin adorning consumers’ wrists next month with gadgets that can send and receive data, phone calls and serve as a substitute for keys and credit cards. The new market’s potential has been too large for the Swiss watch industry to ignore. Researcher Strategy Analytics forecasts 28.1 million smartwatches will be sold this year, almost matching the 28.6 million Swiss timepieces that were exported last year.

The list of Swiss watch brands adding electronic features has been increasing to include Swatch, Breitling, Montblanc, Frederique Constant, Mondaine and Festina.

TAG Heuer’s smartwatch will be assembled in Switzerland though won’t be able to have the “Swiss made” label on it since the microprocessor will come from outside the country, Biver said.

Last year Google said it would work with manufacturers and chipmakers in bringing Android software to smartwatches. Partners in the “Android Wear” project have included Intel as well as smartwatch makers Samsung Electronics Co. and LG Electronics Inc.

This isn’t TAG Heuer’s first foray into electronic devices. In 2008, the brand introduced a mobile phone called the Meridiist. In the 2013 America’s Cup sailing races, the Oracle Team USA wore TAG Heuer electronic wristwatches whose indications included boat speed and wind direction.

Yahoo Inc leaving China in new cost-cutting move, affecting as many as 300 jobs

National Post Tech Desk - Thu, 03/19/2015 - 10:05

BEIJING — Yahoo Inc. is closing its Beijing research and development centre and leaving China in a new cost-cutting move.

The company said Thursday the Beijing office’s functions would be consolidated in other locations. It gave no details of how many people would lose their jobs but said they would be “treated with respect and fairness.”

The Sunnyvale, California-based company has cut jobs elsewhere in a sweeping corporate overhaul as it tries to catch up with Internet users who have shifted to using smartphones and tablets instead of laptop and desktop computers.

Yahoo had about 12,500 workers worldwide at the end of 2014. While the company didn’t say how many would be affected in China, it employed 200 to 300 people there, a person with knowledge of the matter told Bloomberg.

Yahoo turned over control of its China operations to its partner Alibaba Group in 2005 as part of a corporate tie-up. Yahoo stopped offering services in China in 2013.

Yahoo’s profit for the quarter ending in December fell 52% from a year earlier while revenue dipped 1%.

Yahoo is looking for new ways to trim expenses as it comes under pressure from investors, such as Starboard Value LP, who have called for cost-saving measures. Chief Executive Officer Marissa Mayer said in January the company has focused on efficiency by keeping its employee numbers little changed even as it invested in products and made acquisitions that added staff at the portal, whose revenue growth has stalled since 2008.

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Global Cuts

“An R&D facility like this is a huge cost, and for a company as weak as Yahoo is now, it doesn’t make sense,” said Shaun Rein, managing director of China Market Research in Shanghai. “Yahoo doesn’t have significance in China. Yahoo can’t really recruit top people and Chinese firms are not going to advertise on Yahoo.”

For Yahoo, based in Sunnyvale, California, the exit closes a chapter on a sometimes difficult history in China. Executives came under criticism from human-rights activists and U.S. lawmakers after the company turned over information to the Chinese government on journalist Shi Tao, who was later sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Yahoo sold its Chinese operations to Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. in 2005.

Last month, Yahoo cut about 1% of its workforce, or about 125 people, including editorial staff in Canada. The company also closed its office in Amman, Jordan, and eliminated about 400 positions at its site in Bangalore, India, in recent months.

Alibaba Spinoff

Yahoo shares have gained 13% in the past year, buoyed in part by the company’s stake of about 15% in Alibaba, China’s largest e-commerce company. In January, Mayer unveiled plans for Yahoo to spin off its Alibaba holdings, which are valued at more than US$32 billion.

So far, Yahoo is keeping its US$8 billion stake in Yahoo Japan Corp.

The closing of the China office wasn’t related to any government concerns, said the person familiar with the plan. The move was reported earlier by the South China Morning Post.

Yahoo’s move is the latest in a series of retrenchments by U.S. technology companies operating in China. Last month, gamemaker Zynga Inc. said it will close its Beijing office, terminating 71 employees.

Microsoft Corp. said in December it was shutting phone factories in Beijing and Dongguan as part of a consolidation of its Asia manufacturing in Vietnam.

With files from The Associated Press, Bloomberg

CRTC to require cable, satellite companies to offer basic package with $25 cap: report

National Post Tech Desk - Thu, 03/19/2015 - 10:02

GATINEAU, Que. — The country’s broadcast regulator is coming out with new rules Thursday that will require cable and satellite companies to offer customers a trimmed-down, basic channels package, sources have told The Canadian Press.

The cost of the so-called “skinny basic” package is to be capped at $25, said one source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission is to announce details of its decision later today at 4 p.m. ET.

The ruling is the latest result from the CRTC’s Let’s Talk TV hearings held in the fall.

The Harper government had pushed the regulator to allow for a so-called pick-and-pay system that would allow consumers to choose and pay only for the individual channels they want.

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However, the CRTC hinted late last summer that it would be open to a pick-and-pay option built on top of a lighter mandatory service than what is currently being offered widely in the industry.

It’s not clear whether skinny basic would be an all-Canadian service that includes local stations and provincial educational channels, or a service that includes American networks as well.

Critics including the C.D. Howe Institute have warned that any proposals to mandate pick-and-pay channel choices would be an exercise in futility, in light of technological change. They say it could harm the industry and actually end up costing consumers more rather than less.

The CRTC has been criticized — and taken to court — over recent decisions from the Let’s Talk TV hearings, including a move to ban the simultaneous substitution of Canadian advertising for American commercials during the Super Bowl.

The regulator has also been both commended and panned for its decision to reform the rules governing the Canadian TV programming that goes to air.

How Canadian app developers are gearing up for Apple Watch’s release

National Post Tech Desk - Thu, 03/19/2015 - 09:39

Apple Inc.’s press conference that provided more details on the Apple Watch was supposed to explain why consumers need the company’s first wearable device, but many remain unconvinced.

The initial driving force behind the iPhone’s monumental popularity level was the device’s must-have applications, all available in one convenient location, the App Store. But when it comes to the Apple Watch — just weeks away from the device’s April 24 release — it’s still unclear exactly how many apps the smartwatch will launch with, and whether any of these applications will be the app to convince consumers they need Apple’s pricey $449 device in their lives.

“To use any hardware you need software and this is where the ‘killer app’ idea comes in,” said Toronto-based wearable tech expert and We Are Wearables founder, Tom Emrich.

“It won’t be just one app, of course, but its this notion that there is at least one thing specific for each user that they feel is adding value to their life… Don’t get me wrong, the sensors, chips and design are wholly important, but like the waves of computing before – it will be software that will bring these devices to life and unlocks their potential in changing our lives.”

True to Apple’s reputation for ensuring third-party developers remain silent about upcoming devices until the company gives them the go ahead, the teams behind popular Canadian-developed applications such as Transit App, Tab Payments and Quick Fit, were mostly only able to speak broadly regarding their future plans for the Apple Watch.

But one point remains abundantly clear – developers see significant potential in the Apple Watch.

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“There are a lot of things we can’t say yet, but we’re very excited about the Apple Watch. We think that our use case is really well geared for that type of device and we’re pretty excited Apple highlighted us during their watch event,” said, Jake Sion, leader of strategy and development for the Montreal-developed application Transit App, one of the most popular mobile transportation-focused applications.

While refraining from going into specifics, according to Mr. Sion, the Apple Watch would work perfectly with Transit App’s focus on giving users quick, at-a-glance information related to public transportation routes.

But can your Rolex do this? pic.twitter.com/MFVleF5Dbn

— Transit App (@transitapp) March 9, 2015

Co-founder and CEO of Toronto-based Tab Payments, Adam Epstein, also spoke vaguely regarding his company’s future plans for Tab and the Apple Watch, explaining he sees tremendous potential in the wearable, especially in the mobile commerce space.

“One-touch experiences is where mobile watches or wearable watches will really provide their biggest value to consumers. So ordering your Uber taxi or creating a new tab at a restaurant – those are instances where it’s really one touch or one specific use case will bring the most value to users,” said Epstein.

AP Photo/Eric RisbergApple CEO Tim Cook explains the features of the new Apple Watch during an Apple event on Monday, March 9, 2015, in San Francisco.

Epstein also emphasized that while his company currently isn’t developing an application for the Apple Watch, he expects his studio will create one eventually.

“Us building an app for the Apple Watch is an inevitability. We will do it. With us being a small team and a local startup, we have to manage our resources very efficiently and strategically. While we won’t rush to do it, we’ll certainly do it in the very near future. We want to be early adopters – creating seamless mobile commerce experiences is exactly what we do and it’s exactly what the Apple Watch would provide us,” said Epstein.

Tab allows users to split restaurant bills with ease and pay for meals using only their smartphone. The app has partnered with a variety of restaurants in Montreal and Toronto.

Robleh Jama, the CEO and founder of Toronto-based app developer Tiny Hearts, said he feels the Apple Watch is set to give his studio a new platform to expand their existing app’s functionality.

David Paul Morris/BloombergIt's unclear if the Apple Watch will be as successful as previous Apple products.

“With Quick Fit we have guided workouts that you can do anywhere and at any time without any equipment. We’re extending this functionality with the watch [Apple Watch] by making a workout timer that guides you through the routines like the seven minute workout, or short app workout or four-minute workout right from the watch,” said Jama.

Jama also explained his team is well into development on an Apple Watch companion app, and plans to launch it simultaneously when Apple’s first wearable device hits store shelves next month.

When asked about the possibility of releasing an application designed for Android Wear smartwatches as well as the Apple Watch, Transit App’s Sion indicated his company’s future plans will likely also include Google’s popular smartwatch operating system.

“It’s definitely something we’re exploring and thinking about,” said Sion.

According to various developers, the initial version of the Apple Watch development kit is confined in terms of what kind of applications can be created, limiting the focus of apps to notifications or simple apps that offload processing to the iPhone.

Other Canadian-developed Apple Watch apps are also reportedly on the way from Desjardins Group, Air Canada, WestJet and theScore.

“You could argue that the fact that Apple entered the wearable space is a game changer in itself. All eyes were on Apple prior to the Apple Watch announcement to see if they would ‘bless’ the category. Launching a smartwatch means that they are committed to this new wave of computing and that is the boost of confidence the space needed to move on,” said Emrich.

“We only have to look back to 2007 when the iPhone debuted to understand what to expect on April 24. There was much doubt around the success of Apple’s first smartphone just as there is now around Apple’s first wearable. Time will tell.”

Tales from the Borderlands: Episode Two review — Rapid-fire dialogue and on-target jokes buoy a plot that merely treads water

National Post Tech Desk - Thu, 03/19/2015 - 07:11

Telltale Games has become a juggernaut of an indie game studio.

It has two active series – Tales from the Borderlands (based on Gearbox’s popular sci-fi themed FPS-cum-RPG) and Game of Thrones – plus at least two others – Minecraft: Story Mode and the third season of The Walking Dead – in production and likely to launch in 2015. And all of them are based on some of the biggest licenses in pop culture, spanning games, books, and TV.

But while I’m happy to see the American Studio flourish and take on exciting new projects, it’s hard not to blame its crammed docket for the unusually long stretch – nearly four months – between the first and second episodes of Tales from the Borderlands.

At this rate, the five-episode arc won’t conclude until some time in early 2016.

The result of such a lengthy break between fairly short (roughly two hour) episodes is that it’s hard to keep track of what’s going on. It’s the polar opposite to binge watching TV (my preferred method), where you’re hyper aware of every character motivation and plot twist from one episode to the next throughout each season.

And as I started playing Tales from the Borderlands: Episode Two – Atlas Mugged, I found myself struggling to recall what happened in the first episode, which I played seemingly forever ago (weeks before I even started shopping for Christmas presents last year).

Happily, the second episode kicks off with a proper primer – not just a collection of clips, but a sequence rendered specifically for recap purposes.

The story, in case you forgot (as I did), started off with Hyperion employees Rhys and Vaughn choosing to double-cross their murderous new boss and track down a priceless Vault key. This little misdeed led the duo to cross paths with Fiona and Sasha, a pair of wily con artists who eke out a fishy living on the hardscrabble planet of Pandora. It all plays out as a kind of he-said/she-said thing, with Fiona and Rhys relating events from their own points of view to a villain who’s captured them at some point in the future.

More specific details of their adventure came back only gradually as I worked my way into the second episode. I started off feeling a bit confused as to where Rhys and Fiona were and why they were there, but some generous dollops of dark humour helped ease me back into the Borderlands world.

The first hour or so of Atlas Mugged had me giggling aloud through a series of wonderfully unlikely events that range from Fiona digging into a guy’s corpse with a spork to Rhys realizing he’s the sole member of the group who can see the digital ghost of his deceased hero. The writing is sharp. Jokes fly fast and hit their mark much more often than not.

The only semi-slow parts come when Fiona and Sasha split away from Rhys and Vaughn midway through the episode. Much of the humour, it turns out, is predicated on the ineptitude of the male protagonists. When Fiona and Sasha – seasoned hustlers who know what they’re doing and give us little reason to laugh at them – are alone together things become a little more serious and a bit less fun.

Even then, though, there are still a few amusing moments, such as a scene in which the girls take advantage of a well-meaning hillbilly mechanic. Play your cards right in the dialogue tree and you might even be able to get him to pay for the repairs he makes to Fiona and Sasha’s ride.

However, while the humour generally satisfies – and sometimes downright tickles – the plot supporting it is a little weak. Not much happens this episode, which focuses mostly on our heroes simply trying to get from one place to another.

The travelling allows for a couple of entertaining, joke-laden action sequences – including a great set piece in which the four are driving away from a house-sized monster while avoiding balls of fire raining down from the sky – that use (and don’t over-use) Telltale Games’ standard quick-time event interface, which has players pressing left or right or rapidly tapping a button to make their characters do stuff at the proper moment.

Still, I was left with the feeling this episode simply fills the space between the first and third, moving our heroes from one important location to another without much of consequence happening along the way.

I’m still very much anticipating what this series has in store. I haven’t laughed so loudly and so frequently while playing a game since last spring’s South Park: The Stick of Truth.

But I hope when the next episode arrives – and hopefully sooner than another four months – Telltale will shift its witty sci-fi adventure into high gear.

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