NEW YORK, NEW YORK and LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA and SAN MATEO, CALIFORNIA and TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - Oct. 17, 2011) - Intertainment Media Inc. ("Intertainment" or the "Company") (TSX VENTURE:INT)(OTCQX:ITMTF)(FRANKFURT:I4T) announced today that its subsidiary, Ortsbo Inc. (www.ortsbo.com) has launched a proprietary real time multi-language plug-in for Wordpress (www.wordpress.org and www.wordpress.com) allowing blogs to be instantly translated, in real time, into over 50 languages. Over 300 Million people each month read over 2.5 Billion blog pages created through Wordpress, the world's leading blogging software. To date, there have been over 225 Million downloads of Wordpress plug-ins globally.
Each day, Wordpress users create over 500,000 new posts and over 400,000 comments on desktop, mobile and other portable computing devices. Ortsbo's software allows posted content to be instantly and seamlessly translated, and Ortsbo's sophisticated and patent pending platform allows comments posted by users, in almost any language, to be localized, making all the dynamic contents available in a single user selected language regardless of what and how many languages they were posted in.
More than just a simple plug-in, this solution is part of the same technology suite that powers Ortsbo's solutions for Twitter and Facebook, allowing users to instantly translate and read any Tweet or Facebook comment in almost any language while maintaining the comment's proprietary information. Ortsbo is also testing, and in negotiations with, leading Entertainment, Gaming and Sports brands to provide these organizations and their users with customized experiential language solutions that will allow instant, real time and localized chat board communications.
The Ortsbo Wordpress plug-in was initially developed to support Ortsbo's initiatives with IndyCar, allowing fans all over the world to consume and engage a blog based fan engagement program tested this year as part of Ortsbo's 2012 IndyCar sponsorship program, Social Racing Grid (www.socialracinggrid.com). Social Racing Grid.com includes behind the scenes interviews, video, pictures and other exclusive content and can be instantly translated into over 50 languages with just one click using Ortsbo. The same technology behind this new initiative is now available on a pilot basis to leading blogs powered by Wordpress with a full global rollout expected by the end of 2011. Some of Wordpress users include Yahoo!, Wired, TechCrunch and CNN.
"Our Wordpress plug-in is just part of Ortsbo's commitment to development and create new tools and services that break down the language barrier, allowing people around the world to instantly communicate in real time, regardless of their geographic location or native language",said David Lucatch, President of Ortsbo / CEO of Intertainment Media Inc.
On October 14, 2011, Ortsbo's parent, Intertainment Media Inc. published its Corporate Update for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2011 and commented that in the past year, management and the board have rejected 2 independent offers for Ortsbo to effectively divest primary ownership of Ortsbo. The US investment market for social media acquisitions and public offerings continues to grow. The investment markets have seen highly successful IPO debuts of several social media companies and the much anticipated potential IPOs for Zynga and Facebook are continual newsworthy items.
Given the performance of Ortsbo, management and the board feel that the current overall corporate and shareholder value does not reflect the enterprise value of the sum of the divisions, especially Ortsbo. The Company is currently reviewing strategy and opportunities where Intertainment will potentially unlock maximum valuation for Ortsbo while retaining significant ownership and future benefits from the continual growth and performance in the program while potentially creating a special dividend for shareholders, rewarding them for the continual support of the Company. The Company will report on these efforts in due course.
The entire Ortsbo team extends it deepest sympathies to the family and friends of IndyCar driver, and IndyCar Live & Global host Dan Wheldon, who passed away from injuries sustained in the IndyCar World Champion Race in Las Vegas, on October 16, 2011. Everyone at Ortsbo was honoured to have had the opportunity to work with Dan. He was a great professional and friend. He will be truly missed by all who knew him.
Upcoming Events:
October 30, 2011 – Stocks 2011 Vancouver, BC - David Lucatch, CEO of Intertainment Media Inc. will be a guest speaker at Stocks 2011 (www.stocks2011.ca). Stocks 2011 is an investment conference featuring expert insight into the stock market - from specific sectors and stocks to macroeconomic trends that affect the market. Small cap and emerging growth stock situations will be highlighted, with resource, clean & green tech, technology and industrial issuers offering upside potential to private and professional investors.
To become a Facebook Fan of Ortsbo, sign up at www.facebook.com/ortsbo
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For the Company's corporate blog, please visit www.intertainmentmedia.com/blog
About Ortsbo Inc. www.ortsbo.com
Ortsbo (www.ortsbo.com) enables real-time conversational translation in over 50 languages and seamlessly integrates with today's most popular social media platforms.
Ortsbo Inc. is a subsidiary of Intertainment Media Inc., a Rich Media Applications leader, focused on delivering leading edge technology and marketing solutions enabling clients to power enhanced branding, loyalty initiatives and consumer engagement. Selected as a Microsoft Global Agency Initiative partner, Intertainment has joined an elite group of interactive agencies worldwide that Microsoft recommends to its Partners and Customers.
Ortsbo's flagship product for social media (www.ortsbo.com) supports global communications with instant translation capability, real time multi-lingual social media chat connects to PC and Mac computers, mobile browsers as well as all major search engine chat platforms including Microsoft, Google and Yahoo! along with Facebook, iChat, AIM, ICQ, Gadu-Gadu, Ovi, Lotus Sametime, LiveJournal and Tencent QQ and QQ International, China's largest chat platforms and Twitter.
Ortsbo allows users to communicate with family, friends and colleagues around the world, providing users with the ability to break down language and cultural barriers through its easy to use, language centric interface. User demographics have continued to favor the BRIC countries with China remaining the number one usage country for Ortsbo followed by Brazil, the US, South Korea, Canada, Taiwan, Germany, Argentina, Russia and India. Ortsbo's Top 10 user countries have a combined population of over 3.4 Billion people.
International rock legend, accomplished global entrepreneur and one of the world's most recognized personalities, Gene Simmons (www.genesimmons.com) has endorsed Ortsbo.com, having signed on as a business partner and to serve as Ortsbo's official spokesperson.
The personification of today's globally connected, multi-cultural citizen, Simmons is fluent in five languages, including English, Hebrew, Hungarian, and German, as well as some Japanese and he's working to add Mandarin to his repertoire. Simmons will lend his legendary personality to help spread the word about Ortsbo's unique, translator experience platform that integrates seamlessly with the most popular social media platforms to enable users from around the world to instantly send and receive messages in their native language.
Two-time NBA MVP Steve Nash to become an official spokesperson for Ortsbo. Leading Ortsbo's global sports fan program, Nash will present and participate in a number of online fan chats with international athletes from a number of sports disciplines.
Intertainment Media owns and operates a number of key properties including Ad Taffy, itiBiti, Ortsbo and Magnum. For more information on the Company and its properties, please visit www.intertainmentmedia.com.
Headquartered in the Toronto, Canada region, with offices in New York, Los Angeles and San Mateo, CA, Intertainment Media Inc. is listed on the Toronto Venture Exchange under the symbol "INT" (TSX VENTURE:INT) and in the US on the OTCQX under the symbol "ITMTF". Intertainment is also traded in Europe, on XETRA under the symbol "I4T".
This news release may contain certain forward-looking information. All statements included herein, other than statements of historical fact, is forward-looking information and such information involves various risks and uncertainties. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate, and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such information. A description of assumptions used to develop such forward looking information and a description of risk factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from forward-looking information can be found in the company's disclosure documents on the SEDAR website at www.sedar.com. The company does not undertake to update any forward-looking information except in accordance with applicable securities laws.
This release may contain forward looking statements within the meaning of the "safe harbor" provisions of US laws. These statements are based on management's current expectations and beliefs and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward looking statements. Intertainment Media Inc. does not assume any obligation to update any forward looking information contained in this news release.
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