Engage Learning Systems Inc. http://www.engagelearn.com Engage Learning Systems Inc. Fri, 11 May 2012 19:26:03 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.2 An Exciting State of Mind http://www.engagelearn.com/an-exciting-state-of-mind http://www.engagelearn.com/an-exciting-state-of-mind#comments Fri, 11 May 2012 19:17:44 +0000 carey http://www.engagelearn.com/?p=1296 Read More...]]> Well, the summer is only a month away and the beaches are waiting to be flooded with flocks of people (and seagulls too).   As the weather gets hotter, so do people’s wardrobes and if you are a lady looking for the best in size 16 plus outfits, look no further than State of Mind.

State of Mind is an exciting clothing line that features the most fashionable and comfortable active, casual and swimwear for women size 16 and up.  The company was created in response to the frustrations that plus size women go through when shopping for clothing.  With the lack of selection that the founders were offered, the ladies wanted to create a line that was not only high quality, but also made their clientele feel fantastic.   As described on their website:

When you’re in the right State of Mind, we’re confident that whether you’re half way through a workout and bright red, or curled up on the sofa, if you catch a glimpse of yourself in the mirror, you’ll find yourself looking back and thinking ‘yeah, baby’!

The company recently launched their sleek website and have garnered quite the fan base.  Excited by the responses they have already received from their numerous new customers, State of Mind looks to continue to expand their fashion line, with a line of swimwear launching very soon.

For more information, be sure to check out their website: http://www.stateofmindactive.com

Be sure to follow them on Twitter: @StateofMind101

Check out the video below to learn the story behind State of Mind:


]]> http://www.engagelearn.com/an-exciting-state-of-mind/feed 0 Noront’s Chromite Deposit Exceeds Expectations http://www.engagelearn.com/noronts-chromite-deposit-exceeds-expectations http://www.engagelearn.com/noronts-chromite-deposit-exceeds-expectations#comments Thu, 22 Mar 2012 18:06:23 +0000 carey http://www.engagelearn.com/?p=1255 Read More...]]> The headquarters of Noront Resources must have been all smiles on March 20th. In a recent press release, CEO Wes Hanson announced that a drilling they conducted “exceeded expectations, resulting in a tripling of the previous resource estimate at Blackbird, but more importantly, converting a large percentage of the deposit to the measured and indicated classification.”  This recent chromite estimation is 130% greater than ones conducted in the past and elevates their measured and indicated chromite resource to 20.5 million tons.  The recent news means that Noront, who has previously discovered lucrative deposits in their Eagle’s Nest site, is now the proprietor of one of the largest chromite deposits in North America.

Even with these new findings, Noront plans to continue being one of the world leaders in environmentally sustainable mining.  Hanson announced that “the close proximity of Blackbird to our flagship Eagle’s Nest nickel sulphide deposit offers exceptional synergies as both deposits can be [mined] using the same underground infrastructure, limiting the incremental capital cost while minimizing the environmental footprint.”

Recently, at the 2012 PDAC Convention, Noront stole the show with their innovative iBook presentation.  This success, combined with their latest significant chromite discovery, is a sure sign that Noront is shaping up to becoming Canada’s new Inco and a world leader in the mining industry.

To read the Globe and Mail’s article on the Noront’s Blackbird chromite deposit, click the link here.

To get more information on Noront Resources Ltd, go to their website: www.norontresources.com

Be sure to follow Team Noront on Twitter: @NorontResources, @wchanson, @Paul_Semple, and @LeanneBHall.





]]> http://www.engagelearn.com/noronts-chromite-deposit-exceeds-expectations/feed 0 IBM: Smarter Cities for a Better World http://www.engagelearn.com/ibm-smarter-cities-for-a-better-world http://www.engagelearn.com/ibm-smarter-cities-for-a-better-world#comments Tue, 20 Mar 2012 18:18:58 +0000 carey http://www.engagelearn.com/?p=1227 Read More...]]> In 2009, the world’s largest IT and consulting services company, IBM, launched a philanthropic challenge to cities across the globe, the Smarter Cities Challenge. As described on the IBM website:

The need to use new approaches to address civic challenges has never been greater. In 2008, according to the United Nations, more than half the world’s population began living in cities for the first time. These population centers are more economically powerful, politically influential, and technologically advanced than at any time in history. But they also struggle with budgetary and operational challenges.

In response to the struggles that these highly populated regions of the world are facing, IBM knew that they had the capability to make a change for the better.  The Smarter Cities Challenge allows cities across the world to have the opportunity to put forth proposals describing the area in which their city is needing the most assistance.  These proposals cover a wide range of issues such as economic and workforce development, transportation, sustainability, health, education, and urban planning.  The selected candidates receive the amazing reward of a world-class consultation from IBM experts.  As stated on the IBM website:

IBM’s Smarter Cities Challenge is an outgrowth of IBM’s Corporate Service Corps grants program, in which IBM deploys teams of top employees to areas in the developing world to work on projects that intersect business, technology, and society. Since the launch of Corporate Service Corps in 2008, nearly 1,400 IBM employees based in 50 countries have been dispatched on more than 140 team assignments in 24 countries.

On March 15, 2012, IBM announced the next batch of cities that will receive this urban altering assistance.  The list includes two Canadian cities, our nation’s capital Ottawa and Surrey in British Columbia.  Last year, Edmonton was the premier and only city selected to receive award.  Having had a long history with hazardous road safety, Edmonton has made significant strides and changes in their organization of traffic data due to the information they received from IBM experts.

The Smarter Cities Challenge is just another demonstration of why IBM has been the world “leader in corporate social responsibility and citizenship for more than 100 years.”  Our world is expanding and changing faster than it ever has been before.  IBM recognizes this and, thanks to their expertise, they are helping to create smarter cities for a better world.

Be sure to follow our friends on Twitter: @ottawaville, @TheCityofSurrey, @CityofEdmonton, @IBM, IBM’s @DaveRobitaille, and @engagelearn.

To see the impact that IBM has had on the city of Edmonton, check out the videos below:



]]> http://www.engagelearn.com/ibm-smarter-cities-for-a-better-world/feed 0 Top Tweets of March 2012 http://www.engagelearn.com/top-tweets-of-march-2012 http://www.engagelearn.com/top-tweets-of-march-2012#comments Thu, 15 Mar 2012 17:21:20 +0000 carey http://www.engagelearn.com/?p=1160 Read More...]]> It has been an exciting month so far on the Twittersphere for Engage. Many of our amazing collaborative partners have had an exciting March and we wanted to share some of the tweets that had us abuzz at our head office. Be sure to follow all of our ‘Top Tweeters’ and friends: @NorontResources, @LeanneBHall, @alex_bushell, @DaveRobitaille, @StateofMind101, @maryhayes333, @StrathU, and @engagelearn.

NORONT becomes the buzz of the PDAC Convention with their iBook presentation.



For more information about NORONT Resources, visit their website: http://www.norontresources.com/



State of Mind launches their successful new website!


For more information about State of Mind, visit their website: http://www.stateofmindactive.com/


Learn about Kenya’s inspirational Strathmore University




For more information about Strathmore University, visit their website: http://www.strathmore.edu/



]]> http://www.engagelearn.com/top-tweets-of-march-2012/feed 0 Kenya’s Strathmore University http://www.engagelearn.com/kenyas-strathmore-university http://www.engagelearn.com/kenyas-strathmore-university#comments Tue, 13 Mar 2012 17:39:33 +0000 carey http://www.engagelearn.com/?p=1147 Read More...]]> Ever since we began, Engage has made efforts to enhance the ways in which our world conducts education. Education is the cornerstone in the enhancement of one’s quality of life, not just in North America, but across the globe. When one is educated, they have a better understanding of the world they live in and how they can make an impact within it, for the better. As the acclaimed American education reformist, Horace Mann, once wrote, “A human being is not attaining his full heights until he is educated”.

In the African nation of Kenya, located in the city of Nairobi, lies an inspirational university that is making significant strides to better the society they live in. The school is Strathmore University and is described on their website as follows:

Strathmore University is a leading not-for profit private university operating in Kenya, which aims at serving the Kenyan society to the best of its ability. Specialising in commerce and information technology, Strathmore holds a peerless reputation for quality in both academic and professional education and personal formation.

Engage had the privileged opportunity to visit Strathmore, to help share some of their numerous success stories that have come out of the ground-breaking university.

To learn more about Strathmore, please visit their website: http://www.strathmore.edu
Also, check out the video below to learn more about this amazing educational institution.



]]> http://www.engagelearn.com/kenyas-strathmore-university/feed 1 Check out Indigenous.net! http://www.engagelearn.com/check-out-indigenous-net http://www.engagelearn.com/check-out-indigenous-net#comments Thu, 26 Jan 2012 20:05:38 +0000 carey http://www.engagelearn.com/?p=1130 Read More...]]> On October 24 and 25, a groundbreaking event took place in Ottawa, the 2011 Aboriginal Entrepreneurs Conference and Tradeshow. This conference showcased some of the best in Aboriginal business. As described on the Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada website:

The Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business (CCAB), supported by Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada, hosted the Aboriginal Entrepreneurs Conference and Tradeshow on October 24 and 25 at the Westin Hotel in Ottawa.

Through networking and conference events, participants learned how to market and sell their products and services to businesses, governments and foreign partners, and find out about seizing major project opportunities across Canada.

This hugely successful event featured presentations and talks that were led by multiple entrepreneurs across Canada.  To watch the entire event for free and to learn more, we highly encourage you to visit http://www.indigenous.net.

Check out this great video, Spotlight on Aboriginal Businesses:



]]> http://www.engagelearn.com/check-out-indigenous-net/feed 0 Famous Photos and the Faces Behind Them http://www.engagelearn.com/famous-photos-and-the-faces-behind-them http://www.engagelearn.com/famous-photos-and-the-faces-behind-them#comments Fri, 20 Jan 2012 19:59:33 +0000 carey http://www.engagelearn.com/?p=1119 Read More...]]> If you were to walk into a student residence building on any North American university campus, you will most likely run into something in at least one out of every five dorm rooms.  As much as you assume I am referring to beer cans, you would be incorrect.  I am referring to a poster, more specifically an extraordinarily famous poster of John Lennon sporting a ‘New York City’  t-shirt on the roof of the Dakota building.  That iconic photo has been seen by millions of people across the world, yet few people could identify the man behind the camera, Bob Gruen.  This story remains to be true throughout the history of iconic photographs.  The photos are elevated to legendary status while the photographers remain anonymous.

Photographer, Tim Mantoani, has created an amazing book entitled ‘Behind Photographs: Archiving Photographic Legends’, which focuses on the faces behind the world’s most famous photographs.  This Kickstarter funded project is described by Mantoani:

For the past five years, I have been making portraits of noted photographers on the rare and mammoth format of 20×24 Polaroid. In each case, the photographer is holding one of their favorite or most iconic images. Neil Leifer’s image of Muhammad Ali standing over a knocked-out Sonny Liston, Harry Benson’s epic photo of The Beatles having a pillow fight and Steve McCurry’s famed portrait of the Afghan Girl from the cover of National Geographic to name a few. At the bottom of each Polaroid, the photographer has been asked to write out a short story about their image in their own penmanship. In cases, these words are as revealing about the photographer as the image itself.

The book has documented some amazing historical moments and given the legendary photos new life by showing us the people behind them.  If you are a fan of photography like we at Engage are, then check it out today.

To get more info on the project go to: http://behindphotographs.com


]]> http://www.engagelearn.com/famous-photos-and-the-faces-behind-them/feed 0 A Sign of the Times http://www.engagelearn.com/a-sign-of-the-times http://www.engagelearn.com/a-sign-of-the-times#comments Tue, 10 Jan 2012 18:11:37 +0000 carey http://www.engagelearn.com/?p=1094 Read More...]]> I remember in the late 80′s, looking forward to the upcoming release of a new movie called ‘The Wizard’. The film was essentially a ninety minute commercial for a new product being released for Nintendo called ‘The Power Glove’.  As it turned out, the glove wielded very little power and was just an over-hyped controller that never really took off.

Well, now it is 2012, and a new technological ‘power glove’ has been created for a whole different reason. As explained on thenextweb.com:

Three developers, Oleg Imanilov, Zvika Markfield, and Tomer Daniel, have come up with a glove that interprets sign language and turns it into text using a custom Android app.

This “text glove” is still in it’s development stages and is hoping to gather support in the upcoming year.  It is technological creations, such as this, that make for a better world.  Communication is a right that we all deserve to have and these technologies are helping to pave the way to a brighter future.

These three developers may not be wizards, but what they are creating is certainly magic.

To read the article:

http://thenextweb.com/gadgets/2012/01/09/this-glove-works-with-an-android-app-to-translate-sign-language-into-text/



]]> http://www.engagelearn.com/a-sign-of-the-times/feed 0 The Future in Now http://www.engagelearn.com/the-future-in-now http://www.engagelearn.com/the-future-in-now#comments Sun, 01 Jan 2012 20:08:19 +0000 carey http://www.engagelearn.com/?p=1016 Read More...]]> The future is often a hot topic for a lot of Hollywood blockbusters.  From Ridley Scott’s Bladerunner to Steven Spielberg’s Minority Report, the idea of what our future may look like fascinates audiences world-wide.  Well, if you ever had any doubts that the future was happening right now, look no further.

Makerbot is a company that has developed an amazing 3D printer.  Does that idea sound confusing?  This printer can take a image and print a solid, 3D replica of it.  To get a better understanding, check out this video of the printer in action:


]]> http://www.engagelearn.com/the-future-in-now/feed 0 UPDATE: Record Breaking Stop-Motion Animation http://www.engagelearn.com/record-breaking-stop-motion-animation http://www.engagelearn.com/record-breaking-stop-motion-animation#comments Thu, 15 Dec 2011 18:44:28 +0000 carey http://www.engagelearn.com/?p=1081 Read More...]]> If you have ever wanted to see who the most patient people are on our planet, then look no further.  Stop-motion animators create some of the most eye popping imagery you will ever witness.  From films like ‘A Nightmare Before Christmas‘ to ‘Coraline‘, this unique form of animation excites audiences worldwide.

One group has brought this, often minimally scaled art form, to a whole new level, the people of www.aardman.com.  Using a giant craned camera and a beach, the filmmakers made the world’s largest scale, stop-motion short film called ‘Gulp‘.  Here is description of the project by the collective:

‘Gulp’ is a short film created by Sumo Science at Aardman, depicting a fisherman going about his daily catch. Shot on location at Pendine Beach in South Wales, every frame of this stop-motion animation was shot using a Nokia N8, with its 12 megapixel camera and Carl Zeiss optics. The film has broken a world record for the ‘largest stop-motion animation set’, with the largest scene stretching over 11,000 square feet.

Check out the videos below:

BLOG UPDATE:

Want to create stop-motion films? We made an app for that!

Have you ever wanted to create your own ‘Record Breaking Stop-Motion Animation’ film?  Well now you can!

Here in Canada, we are blessed to have the National Film Board.  This amazing collective of creators have helped to fund and create some of our countries finest works, enhancing our culture everyday.

There genius doesn’t stop at film making though.  It seems they have a knack for creating revolutionary apps.  Thanks to the NFB’s team of web developers, you too can create your very own stop motion films using their amazing, new PixStop app.  As described on their blog:

PixStop [is] a fresh new app that enables you to make stop-motion films on your iPad 2. Designed to capture as many as 10,000 images, Pixstop allows you to create mini masterpieces up to 13 minutes long.

To buy the app, go to:

http://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/nfb-pixstop/id481791763?ls=1&mt=8

To learn more about the NFB and the PixStop app, go to:

http://blog.nfb.ca/2012/01/11/want-to-create-stop-motion-films-we-made-an-app-for-that/


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