Items tagged with canada
Our neighbors to the north are looking to make sure that all of its citizens have access to high-speed internet. The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) this week announced that it is investing an additional $750 million (which will complement existing and future commitments) to upgrade broadband infrastructure across the country. This initiative not only applies to fixed broadband connections to homes and business, but also to mobile wireless technology (particularly along Canadian roadways). The primary focus will be to ensure that “underserved areas” are connected, like citizens that live in rural sections of the country. These Canadians “do not have access to...
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Ubisoft has found itself in a bit of a bind. Ideally, the company would like to remain independent, able to be more agile, and not have to answer to some overlord. But as time passes, it looks more and more likely that Vincent Bolloré, Chairman of Vivendi, will get his way and absorb Ubisoft into his mammoth media conglomerate. A couple of years ago, Bolloré made an unsolicited takeover offer for Gameloft, a mobile-focused game developer that happened to have the same owners as Ubisoft -- the Guillemot brothers. Now, Gameloft is effectively under Vivendi's wing, and Bolloré would like to own a majority share of Ubisoft as well. While Ubisoft was founded in France, Canada has some pride in the...
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T-Mobile today unveiled the second part of Un-carrier Amped program. The first piece of the puzzle was JUMP On Demand, which allows customers to upgrade their smartphone at any time. Today, T-Mobile upped the ante by extending voice and data coverage for Simple Choice customers to Canada and Mexico at no extra charge. The new initiative, called “Mobile Without Borders,” even brings with it 4G LTE data speeds which is a big plus for T-Mobile customers that regularly cross the border to the north and south of the United States. “Last year, a full 35% of all international calls and 55% of all international travel from the U.S. was to Mexico & Canada alone,” said T-Mobile. “Over 70% of international...
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After a lengthy U.S.-only rollout, Google Play Music streaming is now available in Canada, and the timing comes on the verge of Canadian Music Week. "Canada you have spoken and we have heard you loud and clear,” said Google's director of global music partnerships Zahavah Levine on Monday. “I could not be more thrilled to announce Google Play Music is launching in Canada this afternoon.” $9.99 per month (with a $7.99 per month introductory rate) gets Canucks unlimited listening to Google’s 25 million or so tracks and radio channels; up to 20,000 tracks from your own music collection stored in the cloud; and track sharing via Google+. Apparently, Google has sorted out the...
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We haven’t learned many specifics yet about the upcoming Motorola Moto X smartphone other than the fact that handsets sold in the U.S. will be manufactured in Texas and that some aspects (likely the back plate color and maybe some text engraving, and hopefully some specs options) of the device will be customizable, but a leaked photo indicated that Rogers will have an exclusive on the Moto X in Canada. Further, the phone will run on Roger’s LTE Max network and be available in Q3. The Rogers version, at least, will reportedly run Android 4.2 (Jelly Bean) and feature a 4.7-inch full HD display, NVIDIA Tegra 4i chip, and 16MP/5MP rear- and front-facing cameras. Mysterious Moto handset...
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Verizon Wireless is reportedly looking to expand its wireless service north of the border into Canada. Should VZW go through with it, Canadian mobile phone subscribers would then have access to four major wireless carriers to choose from, as Big Red would be competing against Telus Corp, BCE Inc's Bell Unit, and Rogers Communications. According to The Globe and Mail, Canada's government is very interested in having a fourth major wireless player. Working towards that goal, the government officials reportedly relaxed foreign ownership restrictions last year in an attempt to beef up competition in the wireless sector, in part because smaller companies like Wind Mobile and Moblicity haven't been...
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In a way, America and Canada have a lot in common. Including a ton of land borders, and some pretty great political relations. It's hardly a surprise that visitors from the Great White North visit the U.S. quite a bit (and vice-versa), but technology lovers have no doubt found it frustrating when crossing from one nation to another. Despite our similarities, our mobile networks are very different. They're compatible, sure, but the roaming rates you'll pay can be completely outrageous. Rogers, a Canadian carrier, is hoping to ease some of that pain. The company announced this week a new plan to launch a more affordable roaming rate for its customers who will be traveling to the U.S. According...
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Can there ever be enough Wi-Fi in the sky? Conventional wisdom says "no," and it's a good thing, too. Gogo, the company responsible for providing in-air Internet to the vast majority of U.S. domestic flights, is doing everything it can to provide similar services in Canada. The goal here is to provide seamless connectivity service between U.S. and Canada for both commercial and business aviation, and considering just how many flights there are between the two nations each day (not to mention those flights to Alaska that spend most of their time in Canadian space), it's probably a goal worth pursuing. Announced this week, Industry Canada has issued Gogo a subordinate license for Canada's air-to-ground...
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Oh, those lucky Canucks. Today, Roku announced that the Roku 2 XD and Roku 2 XS set-top streaming players are available in Canada. The Roku 2 XD connects to the Internet via WiFi and offers 1080p video; the Roku 2 XS offers the same, as well as a remote control with motion control, an Ethernet port, and a USB port. The players include over a hundred channels of entertainment, including sporting events, Netflix, music, photos and video, news, weather, and even (casual) games. Roku says more channels are coming, bringing Canadian Roku users closer to the 450 channels available in the U.S. The Roku 2 XD costs $89.99 (CAD), while the Roku 2 XS is available for $109.99 (CAD)....
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Net neutrality. Throttling. Shaping. Data discrimination. Lots of weird terms, and plenty of headaches for Internet users. ISPs are looking to all sorts of methods in order to curb usage and abuse where possible, but Bell Canada is taking a rather unusual approach. But now, according to a letter to Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission, the ISP has decided to "withdraw the shaping of P2P traffic" on their networks starting March 1st. Here's the reasoning: With the increasing popularity of streamed video and other traffic, P2P file-sharing, as a proportion of total traffic, has been diminishing. This is not to say that it no longer has an impact on network congestion. Nevertheless,...
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There's lots of great news in the Netflix camp today. The DVD rental service is just getting bigger and better, and it's looking like the Blockbuster of the new generation. Now, there's just expansion on the mind. Netflix has taken over a significant part of America, and the world is the company's oyster. An announcement today from the company has informed us that Netflix members in Canada can now instantly watch thousands of movies and TV shows streamed from Netflix to the TV via the Xbox 360. This was one of the major selling points to the new Xbox Dashboard, and now it's available in Canada. All users need is a console, Xbox Live members, and a Netflix membership. All Netflix members...
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We frequently hear from our Canadian friends about how much they are reamed for their cell phone plans. The New American Foundation's Open Technology Initiative (OTI) has done a study and confirmed that. The U.S. is second most expensive, but trails by quite a bit. The report's conclusion, unsurprisingly, is that those countries with the most regulation and the most competition have the lowest rates. A cell phone package that includes text, data, and voice would cost users in Canada $67.50 (in USD), the study showed. The U.S. was second, with users paying at least $59.99. On the low end, India and Hong Kong came in with the cheapest complete plans, at $12.90 and $13.50 respectively. In terms...
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Netflix's first streaming-only service is now online and rolling out films to movie buffs all across Canada. The company confirmed a few months back that they were shooting to launch this fall, and now it looks like all of the approvals have been acquired. Starting now, Canadians can finally take part in the Netflix festivities that Americans have been enjoying for years, but only the streaming aspect. Honestly though, that's probably the best aspect. With the invention of Redbox, it's easier than ever to find new release DVDs nearby, and it's far quicker than waiting for an envelope in the mail as with Netflix's by-mail DVD rental service. And since it's obvious that digital downloading is the...
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Have you ever had a child run out into traffic in front of you? It would have been a frightening experience. A new safety campaign in West Vancouver, Canada, aims to make that point, graphically. Beginning next Tuesday, drivers along 22nd Street will be confronted by a 3-D image of a young girl chasing a ball into the street. As a driver approaches to within 100 feet, the image, which from afar will be an unviewable mark, will become clear: a girl chasing a ball. David Dunne of the BCAA Traffic Safety Foundation said: “You’ll see this image start to rise off the pavement and it will look like a little child is crossing the street. As you get closer to the image, the image recedes...
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Both the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia are set to ban some functions of BlackBerry devices used in their countries. At issue is the inability of both countries to easily monitor data traveling via various features on the phone. BlackBerry data, unlike that of most phones, is both encrypts its data and routes it through an overseas data center, in this case, RIM's network center in Canada. The UAE says that because of this, it will block emails, Internet access, and instant messaging to other Blackberry handsets. Negotiations with the UAE fell apart when the suggestion of a proxy server in the UAE was rejected by RIM. The UAE ban is set to begin in October. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia...
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This announcement is bigger than it seems. On the surface, just about 33 million people would care that Netflix is coming to Canada. But think of the larger implications. As of right now, Netflix streaming is only available to consumers within the United States, but starting in the Fall, that same service will be available in Canada. And given that this marks the first entry for Netflix into another country, the rest of the world can't be far behind, right? That is definitely the hope of those in Europe, Asia and beyond, who have to live with just hearing about Netflix from their friends in the U.S. When Netflix streaming hits Canada, it will offer users unlimited movies and TV episodes streamed...
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Oh, Canada. What are you teaching those American regulators? While most consumer-oriented Americans (as in, the consumers themselves) are doing everything they can to resist the evil known as "data throttling," Canada's main telecommunication agency has just okayed the process. We're hoping this doesn't set some sort of precedence, but honestly, who knows how this will affect other nations (including America). The CRTC, which has also been a recent pain for companies look to light up new high-def channels, has just passed regulations that will enable Internet providers to "throttle" traffic of its users. Of course, this rule only allows throttling--which involves the general slowing of throughput...
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ASUS and Sam’s Club Canada Join Forces to Deliver Green Computing to Canada-- World’s first bamboo notebook to be sold exclusively at Sam’s Club Canada -- Fremont, California (November 10, 2008) – ASUS, a world leader in the notebook design and one of the fastest growing notebook brands, today announced that Sam’s Club Canada will give eco-friendly Canadians a chance to purchase a limited number of ASUS’ highly-anticipated U6V bamboo notebook. The partnership is a “win” for ASUS, Sam’s Club Canada, and consumers, as it allows ASUS to expand its market presence further into Canada, and gives Sam’s Club Canada and its Members access to an exquisite, environmentally-friendly notebook that truly...
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