Today is the day that Canadian telcos at the request of the CRTC are to start blocking scam/nuisance calls. Or at least try to do so as I am dubious that this will really solve the issue. But pushing my own skepticism aside, here’s a quick primer as to what to expect from this effort.
What telcos like Bell and Rogers are going to do starting today is automatically block calls based on the caller ID information using the following criteria.
Numbers with more than 15 digits.
Numbers that can’t be dialed (such as a string of letters or 000-000-0000).
The net result is that calls from those types of numbers will no longer make your phone ring. Telus is doing something entirely different though.
As an alternative, telcos can offer subscribers “filtering services” that provide more advanced call-management features, which is what Telus is doing for its wireless customers. I was looking for details on that from Telus and couldn’t find anything online. Thus I reached out to them for more information and this is what I got back via their Twitter support team:
Now here’s why any of these measures isn’t going to make much of a difference from where I sit. This is only going to stop the low skilled scammers who for whatever reason can’t spoof numbers. Meaning that they don’t forge their Caller ID information to make it look like the call is coming from a real number such as a government agency or the police in order to make you more likely to answer the call. And the majority of nuisance calls that most of us get are spoofed. Thus all that these efforts are likely to do is to thin the herd of scumbags just a tiny bit. Now spoofed numbers are to be addressed by the end of September of 2020 by the rollout of additional tech to stop spoofing. But as I’ve written about previously, I am still dubious that even those efforts will make nuisance calls go away. But one could argue that any effort to cut down on the number of nuisance calls is better than making zero effort whatsoever.
I’d love to know if you notice a difference in terms of the number of nuisance calls that you get. Please leave a comment with your observations or reach out to me on Twitter with what you see.
This holiday season preemptively gift the afterthought, “What if I lose these tiny earbuds? They are like $200”, with Trackeroo. Trackeroo can you help you find AirPods even while enclosed in the case with the additional built-in pouch to hold any tracking device. Trackeroo has a side loop designed specifically for a keychain ring or carabiner, to help keep your AirPods close to you at all times.
They come in a wide variety of colors like black, white, blue, red, pink, green, and glow in the dark. They are $9.99 USD on Amazon. Check them out!
ChristanaCare’s CritiTrac iOS application, which supports real-time documentation during a Code Blue emergency, has been recognized with a 2020 FutureEdge 50 Award from IDG’s CIO.
A Code Blue is when a hospital care team rapidly responds to resuscitate a person in cardiac arrest. CritiTrac is designed to reduce variability, better coordinate care delivery and improve data collection during Code Blue events. Developed at ChristianaCare’s Health & Technology Innovation Center, the iPad app is designed to be standard equipment on ChristianaCare’s Code Blue resuscitation carts, which are pre-staged throughout the hospital to ensure readiness for Code Blue events.
Through the iPad app, signoff is done electronically, and caregiver and patient identification is performed using bar code scanning with the built-in camera.
The FutureEdge 50 award is given to organizations pushing the edge with new technologies to advance their business for the future.
The FutureEdge 50 award is another example of how ChristianaCare is a digital leader in health care.
Headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware, ChristianaCare is one of the country’s most dynamic health care organizations, centered on improving health outcomes, making high-quality care more accessible and lowering health care costs. ChristianaCare includes an extensive network of outpatient services, home health care, medical aid units, two hospitals (1,227 beds), a Level I trauma center and a Level III neonatal intensive care unit, a comprehensive stroke center and regional centers of excellence in heart and vascular care, cancer care and women’s health. It also includes the pioneering Gene Editing Institute and was rated by IDG Computerworld as one of the nation’s Best Places to Work in IT. ChristianaCare is a not-for-profit teaching health system with more than 260 residents and fellows. We are continually ranked by US News & World Report as a Best Hospital. With our unique, data-powered care coordination service and a focus on population health and value-based care, ChristianaCare is shaping the future of health care.
Posted in Commentary on December 18, 2019 by itnerd
This morning it was announced that Apple, Amazon, Google, and the Zigbee Alliance have formed a new working group that plans to develop and promote the adoption of a new, royalty-free connectivity standard for smart home products. In other words, someday you won’t have to choose whether you want devices that support HomeKit or some other standard. Everything will just work together. Or at least that’s the goal.
This whole effort is called Project Connected Home over IP and the goal is laudable as having different standards doesn’t do much to advance the concept of the connected home. As long as all these companies with competing interests play nice with each other as there has often been times where efforts like this fall apart due to the fact that companies sometimes can’t play nice in the sandbox with other companies. We’ll have to see how far this effort gets and if anything that benefits the consumer actually appears on store shelves.
If you’re Canadian and used Life Labs to get something like a blood test or some other medical test, I have bad news for you. According to CTV News, they’ve been the victim of hackers and the details are not good:
Hackers may have obtained the personal data of 15 million LifeLabs clients after a systems breach, and this includes addresses, passwords, birthdays, health card number and even lab results.
And:
The letter said the majority of these customers were in B.C. and Ontario, with relatively few customers in other locations.
There are no details about how long the hackers were in the Life Labs IT environment or who the hackers were, but needless to say this is bad. Hopefully people like the Privacy Commissioner of Canada are paying attention as this is something that needs a robust investigation and remedial action if it is found that Life Labs screwed up in some way to allow this to happen.
By the way, isn’t it beyond time that Canada get GDPR style regulations to ensure that companies up their game when it comes to securing data so that we don’t keep talking about this?
UPDATE: The Star is reporting the company paid a ransom to get the data back….. Which is kind of scary….. And they have more details.
UPDATE #2: CBC News is reporting that Life Labs have had data breaches before.
Posted in Commentary with tags LogMeIn on December 17, 2019 by itnerd
LogMeIn has entered a definitive agreement to be acquired by affiliates of Francisco Partners and Evergreen Coast Capital Corporation, two leading technology-focused private equity firms that are known for helping companies realize their full potential, for approximately $4.3 billion, or $86.05 per share, in cash. You can learn more about the announcement by reading the press release, but here is some additional context on why this is happening.
In Francisco Partners and Evergreen, LogMeIn will gain experienced partners that believe in and are supportive of their growth and focus on customer-centric innovation. They believe that our partnership with Francisco Partners and Evergreen will help put LogMeIn in a position to deliver the operational benefits that they need to tackle even more of their customers’ most pressing and essential needs.
This proposed transaction is anticipated to close in mid-2020 and is subject to shareholder approval, regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions. Until the closing, LogMeIn remains an independent, publicly traded company.
Posted in Commentary with tags NIM on December 17, 2019 by itnerd
NIM is the first and only exclusive matchmaking service geared toward the Muslim community which allows women to initiate the conversations. The app will launch this month in the US, UK, Canada, France, Turkey, Dubai, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
Today, the Muslim community faces numerous challenges with finding a compatible partner as a result of cultural differences in traditional family values. Due to this, founder and tech entrepreneur Snaullah Niazi set out to create a Modern and Modest community for those who are looking to take the next step of commitment in a private, secure way.
Although the matchmaking service is geared toward the Muslim community, NIM caters to other Faiths as well. The app offers a Sharia-compliant feature of adding a chaperone to your profile to monitor conversations. Another feature allows your circle of friends and relatives to see your matches and provide suggestions within the app. NIM allows women to initiate the conversation as a pair is matched. Video calling is also included so no need to share personal contact information.
The app uses algorithms and real relationship experts to personally hand-pick your matches, making this a unique experience for those who are ready to find their other half. Once you and your match accept, a private encrypted chat is created between the two, so users can chat with the comfort of knowing the interaction is secure. Every profile goes through an intensive verification process to eliminate any catfish accounts.
The application process includes a screening to ensure members fit and agree with NIM’s core guidelines and values. Applications are reviewed by a group of committee members who are anonymous to one another varying in a range of backgrounds, ages and interests. Decisions can take anywhere from a day to a few months. Once approved and profile is complete, users can select a membership plan to move forward. Price is $9.99/month or $34.99/6 months. The first 100 accepted users will receive a one-month free membership. NIM is available for pre-order now from the Apple Store or Google Play (coming soon).
Posted in Commentary on December 16, 2019 by itnerd
Sci Innovation, a leader in building bridges for Canadian businesses with China based companies, investors, and international partnerships with some of China’s Shenzhen based leading companies, kicked off its 2020 plans with its notable expert and prestigious Advisory Council members, announcing its already successful competition is now ready to go national due to demand.
Leading the agenda was the highly anticipated competitors launch dates and schedule still to be determined (TBD) for the SCI INNOVATION COMPETITION, which runs annually and fosters creativity for the last four years in hi-technology and sciences to further develop innovative initiatives and solutions for the global marketplace. With the full schedule, cities and entry dates for the competition soon to be announced, the CEO revealed the plans for a newly national goal and resources to provide further more opportunities for Canadian companies wanting a chance to make the cut for the annual Global Grand Finals in Shenzhen which takes place in April 2020. Last year Canadian companies took all three top spots in first, second and third place prizes, winning thousands of dollars of cash and, access to some of the leading investors and advisory experts in science, technology, international trade and commerce, and start-up investment. (Full list of Canadian Companies that won and the 20 that participated in the finals in 2019 in Shenzhen can be provided upon request.)
ADVISORY COUNCIL IN ATTENDANCE: At the SCI INNOVATION EXPERT ADVISORY COUNCIL ANNUAL MEETING last Saturday, some of those who attended also had made the trip with SCI INNOVATION to the Hi-Tech Fair in Shenzen, China. They include: Mr. Reza Moridi, Honorary Chair of the Sci Experts Advisory Council; Mr. Benton Leong, entrepreneur and co-developer of the System for Performing Advanced Mathematics using Symbolic Algorithms, University of Waterloo, and Mr. Ozan Isinak, President, Keiretsu Forum Canada and a serial entrepreneur and investor with over 25 years of international experience within the angel investment, venture capital and private equity sectors.
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Other council members who will be in attendance are: Dr. Songnian Zhou, a fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering and co-founder and former Chairman and CEO of Platform Computing Corporation; Mr. Bruce W. Wong, co-founder and managing partner of Collective Agreement, branding innovative startups who is also a Chartered Professional Accountant and seasoned business executive; Dr. Kevin Ming, who is the interim Executive Director of Haltech Regional Innovation Centre, has patented his PhD medical device project and founded and continues to lead a food allergy start up; Mr. Lorne Gross, a corporate lawyer and leading authority on Chinese cross-cultural negotiation and strategy, presently working on the ground with SMEs locally and internationally including with prominent clients in the Shenzhen central business district; Mr. Peter Zhang, a licensed foreign legal consultant with Gowling WLG with over 20 years of experience in private equity investment, IPO and cross border M&A as well as having worked at China International Capital Corporation as a banker for several years; Mr. Bruno Maruzzo, who has over 25 years’ experience working with small to medium sized technology companies in the medical, computer and electronics fields as well as having worked in venture capital specializing in technology companies; and Professor Hugh Liu, a full professor at the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies and also is currently the Director of the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Collaborative Research and Training Experience (CREATE) Program on Unmanned Aerial Vehicles and Centre for Aerial Robotics Research and Education.
Further building on Sci Innovation’s success this past 2019 was this past November, SCI INNOVATION led a delegation of 15 Canadian businesses to Shenzen, China for the China Hi-Tech Fair, the largest tech fair within China with over 500,000 visitors and 3000 international exhibitors. Canadian companies such as Invacare, Spectra Plasmonics,Episome Healthcare Investing and Consulting Services, Quthero, QEA Tech, Destiny Copper Inc., Spindle Biotech Inc., Synergy Disc Replacement Inc., AB GROUP INC., MBC Canada Inc., Gowling WLG (Canada) LLP, Kingdom Developments, OTT Financial, Costone Development Inc., and Keiretsu Forum participated to explore potential partnerships within their own niche markets, and other attendees included Denzil Minnan-Wong (Deputy Mayor and Councillor – Ward 16 Don Valley East), Michael Thompson (Deputy Mayor and Councillor – Ward 21 Scarborough Centre), Cynthia Lai (Councillor – Ward 23 Scarborough North), Susana Vaz (Economic Development Officer – Asia) and Wen Run (SCI Innovation Representative).
SCI INNOVATION further highlighted Toronto as a destination for technological collaboration amongst countries and led a forum Building an Innovation Community – Energize the First Demonstration Area, where Deputy Mayor Minnan-Wong addressed the business attendees.
Posted in Commentary on December 16, 2019 by itnerd
Chemicals commonly used in smartphone, television, and computer displays were found to be potentially toxic and present in nearly half of dozens of samples of household dust collected by a team of toxicologists led by the University of Saskatchewan (USask).
The international research team, led by USask environmental toxicologist John Giesy, is sounding the alarm about liquid crystal monomers—the chemical building blocks of everything from flat screen TVs to solar panels—and the potential threat they pose to humans and the environment.
In a first-of-its-kind paper published Dec. 9 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Giesy’s research team assembled and analyzed a comprehensive list of 362 commonly used liquid crystal monomers gathered from 10 different industries and examined each chemical for its potential toxicity.
The team also further tested the toxicity of monomers commonly found in six frequently used smartphone models.
The researchers found the specific monomers isolated from the smartphones were potentially hazardous to animals and the environment. In lab testing, the chemicals were found to have properties known to inhibit animals’ ability to digest nutrients and to disrupt the proper functioning of the gallbladder and thyroid—similar to dioxins and flame retardants which are known to cause toxic effects in humans and wildlife.
To understand how common these monomers are in the environment, researchers tested dust gathered from seven different buildings in China—a canteen, student dormitory, teaching building, hotel, personal residence, lab, and electronics repair facility. Nearly half of the 53 samples tested positive for the liquid crystal monomers.
Ninety per cent of the monomers tested had concerning chemical properties. They either accumulate in organisms, resist degradation in the environment, or are easily transported long distances in the atmosphere. Nearly one quarter of the chemicals tested had all three troubling characteristics.
Researchers Huijun Su, Shaobo Shi, Ming Zhu, and Guanyong Su of China’s Nanjing University of Science and Technology, along with Doug Crump and Robert Letcher of Environment and Climate Change Canada, worked with Giesy to conduct the research. Guanyong Su, who leads the research effort in China, was a former student with Giesy at USask and then a post-doctoral fellow with Environment Canada.
LCD panels are almost exclusively produced in three Asian countries: China, Japan, and South Korea. It’s estimated that 198 million square metres of liquid crystal display were produced last year—enough to cover the entire Caribbean island of Aruba.
In his previous work, Giesy was also the first researcher to identify that toxic perfluorinated and polyfluorinated chemicals were widespread in contaminating the environment. His research ultimately resulted in the entire class of chemicals being banned globally.
The research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, other Chinese research funding programs, and Environment and Climate Change Canada.
Giesy, professor at the USask Toxicology Centre, was also supported by a Distinguished Visiting Professorship in the environmental sciences department of Baylor University, Waco, Texas, U.S.
Posted in Commentary with tags Codota on December 16, 2019 by itnerd
Codota, a leading platform for AI-assisted software development, has completed the acquisition of TabNine, a popular code prediction tool. The acquisition creates a comprehensive AI platform for software authoring, as well as the only one which fully supports nearly all popular programming languages – Java, JavaScript, Python, C, HTML as well as many others. Codota’s platform already serves hundreds of thousands of developers every month and the number is doubling every few months.
TabNine was founded and is run by Jacob Jackson, a 22-year-old computer science graduate from the University of Waterloo in Canada and a recipient of the IOI gold medals in 2014 and 2015. TabNine’s AI-driven code autocomplete product won huge praise from its users. As a truly language-agnostic solution, TabNine supports over 23 programming languages across five code editors (“IDEs”).
Applications like Codota and TabNine automatically provide developers with AI-driven code predictions within their native environment. The two companies already correctly predict 25% of the code written by users and with the acquisition, this percentage is expected to further increase.
The TabNine product will continue to operate independently, and the combined technological stack will be used to power both products. The combined technology provides prediction precision and completeness that far exceed each individual engine. Codota already offers an initial combined code prediction for Javascript on WebStorm and IntelliJ IDEs in beta.
Codota, backed by Silicon Valley’s Khosla Ventures, developed an AI infrastructure that emulates the human understanding of computer code. Founded in 2015 and based on extensive research at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, the Israeli startup analyzes millions of code repositories, to generate insights to scale and boost developer productivity.
The synergy between Codota and TabNine is expected to further increase development speed and efficiency.
Codota bases its AI-based autocompletion on a semantic approach with an emphasis on building a model for the meaning of code. TabNine took a different approach, treating code textually. TabNine focuses on Integrated Development Environments (IDEs) which have become the key applications used by developers to create, edit and upgrade software.
Here’s What To Expect From Today’s Rollout Of Tech To Block Nuisance Calls
Posted in Commentary with tags Canada, Scam on December 19, 2019 by itnerdToday is the day that Canadian telcos at the request of the CRTC are to start blocking scam/nuisance calls. Or at least try to do so as I am dubious that this will really solve the issue. But pushing my own skepticism aside, here’s a quick primer as to what to expect from this effort.
What telcos like Bell and Rogers are going to do starting today is automatically block calls based on the caller ID information using the following criteria.
The net result is that calls from those types of numbers will no longer make your phone ring. Telus is doing something entirely different though.
As an alternative, telcos can offer subscribers “filtering services” that provide more advanced call-management features, which is what Telus is doing for its wireless customers. I was looking for details on that from Telus and couldn’t find anything online. Thus I reached out to them for more information and this is what I got back via their Twitter support team:
Now here’s why any of these measures isn’t going to make much of a difference from where I sit. This is only going to stop the low skilled scammers who for whatever reason can’t spoof numbers. Meaning that they don’t forge their Caller ID information to make it look like the call is coming from a real number such as a government agency or the police in order to make you more likely to answer the call. And the majority of nuisance calls that most of us get are spoofed. Thus all that these efforts are likely to do is to thin the herd of scumbags just a tiny bit. Now spoofed numbers are to be addressed by the end of September of 2020 by the rollout of additional tech to stop spoofing. But as I’ve written about previously, I am still dubious that even those efforts will make nuisance calls go away. But one could argue that any effort to cut down on the number of nuisance calls is better than making zero effort whatsoever.
I’d love to know if you notice a difference in terms of the number of nuisance calls that you get. Please leave a comment with your observations or reach out to me on Twitter with what you see.
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