Hanging out with friends in Tomodachi Life

By Sonya Davidson

I have to admit that when I first heard that Nintendo’s latest game Tomodachi Life was launching, it sounded a little familiar. Only it turns out to be quite the humorous adventure that my 9 year old son has been playing in past three weeks.

Launched on June 6 for Nintendo 3DS, this game sets out to bring a fun "hanging out" with friends style experience into the gaming system. Players create their own playable Mii characters in the game – my son has created his brother and a few friends along side his own character. He’s customized what they wear and their living spaces and they all have their own unique personalities – likes and dislikes. But each time he plays, the characters are brought to life with scenarios that are often funny… apparently his brother now has a girlfriend, and yes, they can even get married, maybe later.

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San José Implements Intel Technology for a Smarter City

The city of San José and Intel Corporation are collaborating on a public-private partnership to further the city’s “Green Vision” goals. The project, known as Smart Cities USA, is expected to help drive San José’s economic growth, foster 25,000 clean-tech jobs, create environmental sustainability and enhance the quality of life for residents.

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BlackBerry signs new agreement with EnStream to strengthen mobile payments system

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BlackBerry has entered a new three-year deal with EnStream LP to provide a secure platform for transaction services between consumers and banks. EnStream will make use of BlackBerry’s infrastructure to allow financial institutions such as TD Bank Group, CIBC, Desjardins, and Royal Bank of Canada as well as mobile operators to provision sensitive payment card credentials securely into any smartphone with Near Field Communication technology. EnStream is a mobile payments joint venture owned by Bell, Rogers, and TELUS.

“EnStream, with BlackBerry, is already serving a number of banks and mobile operators, and is becoming a hub for payment credential delivery to smartphones in Canada,” said Almis Ledas, Chief Operating Officer, Enstream LP. “We expect most major Canadian banks and mobile operators to connect through this platform to meet consumer demand for efficient and safe digital transactions.”

Samsung debuts new premium Galaxy Tab S tablets

Samsung has introduced its new premium flagship tablet at its Unpacked event in New York held today, June 12. The new Galaxy Tab S is touted as the company’s thinnest and lightest tablet (at 6.6mm thin it is 1mm thinner than the iPad) to date that packs in a few firsts from the company including a Super AMOLED display and up to 128GB of external storage via microSD.

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