Author: Doug Groves

dougplanet.com is his personal blog, which is withering on the vine. If you poke around it, you’ll find out that he’s an animator and broadcast designer by trade, usually pushing pixels in either After Effects or Lightwave 3D. If he absolutely had to pick a favourite all time writer, it would be Harlan Ellison more days than any other. If you don’t know who Ellison is, then Doug weeps for you. Doug also likes long walks on the beach, mainly to collect improperly discarded medical waste for an undisclosed project of epic proportions.

Bell bringing 3D Masters to Canada

April 9, 2010April 9, 2010 Doug Groves 3D, Bell, HD, Samsung, satellite3 Comments

Bell announced today that it will broadcast a 3D HD version of the Masters golf tournament, at least in a limited time frame. This marks the first 3D HD broadcast in Canada since January’s Consumer Electronics Show rode the Avatar wave to make 3D an important check box in the tech specs. Bell will be showing 2 hours of the tournament in 3D, between 5pm and 7pm Eastern, on channel 1000. To watch it, you have to be a Bell HD subscriber with the right package, and don’t bother looking…

Cineform closes, at least for now

April 8, 2010April 8, 2010 Doug Groves Cineforum, Reg Hartt, Toronto0 comment

If you’ve spent any time looking at the myriad posters put up in downtown Toronto, you’ve surely seen the black and white letter-sized flyers for some of Reg Hartt’s film festivals and presentations, such as The Sex & Violence Cartoon Festival, Triumph Of The Will and Kid Dracula (which uses Radiohead’s Kid A as a soundtrack for F.W. Murno’s Nosferatu). Some of these Reg Hartt presentations have been around for decades. Now, Reg Hartt has had to shut down his unique film location Cineforum, after receiving a notice of violation…

Palm ditches ad agency Modernista

April 6, 2010April 6, 2010 Doug Groves advertising, Modernista, palm, Palm Pre1 Comment

Palm has decided they’ve had their fill of ads that either miss the mark with the female demographic, or just plain give a lot of people the willies. Though I was personally a fan of the initial dreamlike, David Lynch-esque ads with Canadian actress Tamara Hope, most people found them creepy. This is what Modernista co-founder and executive creative director Gary Koepke, who created the ads, had to say when they launched… “We weren’t trying to creep people out, but one thing I have learned now in this digital…

The Pure Pwnage Showcase Premiere

April 2, 2010April 2, 2010 Doug Groves Bloor Cinema, Jarett Cale, Joel Gardiner, Pure Pwnage, Showcase5 Comments

Ryan and Dave head over to the Bloor Cinema to check out the TV premiere screening of Pure Pwnage. Though there were no wedding proposals this time around, Ryan did get a chance to talk to Jarett Cale and Joel Gardiner about working on a TV schedule and a lot more.

XBLA Inventory Blowout Sale

April 1, 2010 Doug Groves Arcade, marketplace, XBLA, Xbox 3600 comment

Even though it’s all bits in the datastream, Xbox Live Arcade is having an Inventory Blowout Sale starting today, and ending on April 7th. Title Regular Price Discounted Price Save South Park 800 400 50% Super Street Fighter II HD Remix 1200 560 53% Defense Grid 800 400 50% Rocket Riot 800 400 50% Mad Tracks 800 400 50% Track & Field 400 240 40% Lumines Live 800 400 50% Age of Booty 800 400 50% Schizoid 800 400 50% Wallace & Gromit episode 1 800 400 50% I haven’t…

Steam on Mac and E3 predictions

March 31, 2010 Doug Groves Mac gaming, PC gaming, Portal 2, PS3, Steam, Valve4 Comments

Alex and Doug talk more on Steam for Mac, and make some E3 Valve predicitons. Will the company reverse it’s position on PS3 support?

AvP: Apple vs. Predator

March 25, 2010 Doug Groves Apple, HTC, lawsuit, video5 Comments

Inspired the litigation launched by Apple against phone maker HTC, Rick Kelvington of CNet’s Buzz Out Loud chatroom came up with the above trailer regarding Apple and the prior art argument. The video kind of says it all.

Rogers and Fido to allow free tethering with most data plans

March 24, 2010 Doug Groves canada, Fido, mobile data, Rogers, tethering5 Comments

That’s right. Rogers was running a promotion that allowed data users to tether their phone’s data to laptops and other devices for free. There was some concern that once this promotion ran out, customers would be paying extra to basically use the data that they’re already using. If you’ve got a smartphone but have no idea what tethering does, in a nut shell it allows you to use your phone as a modem while on the road, so that you don’t have to search for open WiFi spots. Rogers had…

Game With Fame: teh_pwnerer wants to pwn you

March 23, 2010 Doug Groves Game With Fame, Microsoft, Pure Pwnage, Xbox, Xbox Live0 comment

Every week or so, Xbox has been hosting the Game With Fame series, where you can have a chance to play against, well, someone famous, be it musicians ranging from Busta Rhymes to Weird Al Yankovich or game designers and UFC fighters. This Thursday, Xbox Canada’s Game With Fame is none other than teh_pwnerer himself Jeremy, known IRL as Jarett Cale, and the game of choice is EA’s NHL 10. You have to send a friend request to the GamerTag PurePwnageGWF at 7:30pm Eastern, and the session itself starts at…

Warner Interactive coming to Montréal

March 22, 2010March 22, 2010 Doug Groves Montreal, Warner Bros., Warner Brothers, WBI0 comment

According to a report from Game Focus, it looks like Montreal can add a new game studio to its roster. Warner Brothers Interactive announced that they will be opening a new studio that will focus on making games based on DC Comics licenses. It’s not surprising, given the initiatives that various provinces and the Canadian federal government have been using to lure studios over the past few years. The new studio, to be christened WB Games Montreal, and plans on a staff of over 300, headed up by current Warner…

Copy and paste in Windows Phone 7 coming, just not now

March 19, 2010March 26, 2010 Doug Groves copy, Microsoft, paste, Windows Phone, Windows Phone 7, Windows Phone 7 Series, WP7S0 comment

A minor storm of controversy, at least in some quarters, has broken out as it was reported that Microsoft was excluding copy and paste from Windows Mobile 7. Sure, only a small minority make use of it, but it’s still a feature that long time Windows Mobile users want. It’s also somewhat ironic, since it took a couple of years for the Apple iPhone to get this basic feature. So, when Engadget reported that it wasn’t coming, and that they had “super-double-ultra-plus-confirmed” this, it’s not surprising that hands started flailing…

Viacom vs. Youtube… and Viacom?

March 18, 2010 Doug Groves funny, legal, Viacom, YouTube4 Comments

Back in 2007, media giant Viacom launched a lawsuit against Youtube for allegedly violating copyright when users posted clips of Viacom properties to the video sharing site. Normally, the procedure for determining the rights goes a little something like this… Person posts a clip to YouTube. Copyright owner tells YouTube to remove it. Person can challenge this with a letter. YouTube re-instates the video until the legalities are sorted out. This is generally the standard operating procedure in most cases. Zahavah Levine, chief counsel for YouTube has posted an article…