Posted in Commentary with tags Canada on February 23, 2025 by itnerd
After posting a story about this browser extension, I’ve had a reader tip me off to Maple Scan. This is an app that when you use it to scan a product using your camera, it will tell you if the product is Canadian or supports Canadian businesses. But it also does more:
If a product isn’t fully Canadian, it will suggest local alternatives.
It will tell you if imported products include Trumps stupid tariffs or some other special tax.
The app is available for iOS and Android. Though the latter is currently being beta tested. I tested this on my iPhone 14 Pro with several products from coca powder to pens. And while it does take about a minute to come back with results, it does what it says it will do. So if you’re a proud Canadian who wants to support Canadian businesses, there’s now an app for that.
Posted in Commentary with tags Samsung on February 22, 2025 by itnerd
My wife and I got up very early this morning to attend the grand opening of the new Samsung Experience Store at Scarborough Town Center mall in the east end of Toronto. This caught my attention because traditionally, this area of Toronto has been underserved by big tech brands. For example while there is an Apple reseller in the mall, Apple themselves have always been absent from the mall. Samsung by contrast has had a kiosk in the mall for the last few years. And as of today, they’ve upgraded to having a retail space of their own.
One thing that I’d like to point out is that this store offers repairs as well a sales. That’s going to be huge for Samsung customers as up until now, you had to go to their Yorkdale location if you needed your Samsung device repaired.
The official ribbon cutting was attended by execs from Samsung Canada and it certainly created a bit of a buzz in the mall.
One thing that impressed my wife and I was that everything in the store was something that the staff had knowledge of. For example, the TV in this picture caught my wife’s attention and the staff was able to give he specs, pricing, and availability. That’s impressive.
The staff were also doing demos of Samsung AI on the brand new Galaxy Ultra S25 with the ability for you to create your own framed artwork.
If you’re in the Greater Toronto area, I’d encourage you to drop by Scarborough Town Center to have a look at the store. The closest entrance is door 4 next to the Cineplex. And I should note that the store has specials on all weekend long.
Posted in Commentary with tags Hacked on February 21, 2025 by itnerd
Ransomware gang SafePay has today claimed responsibility for a January 2025 cyber-attack against IT giant Conduent. The outage disrupted electronic money transfers and EBT payments made by its clients, which include half of Fortune 100 companies, for two days.
Paul Bischoff, Consumer Privacy Advocate at Comparitech had this comment:
“Ransomware attacks can lock down computer systems and steal confidential data. If the targeted company doesn’t pay a ransom, then it faces extended downtime, data loss, an putting customers at increased risk of fraud.”
“SafePay’s attack on Conduent is the first confirmed ransomware attack on a US tech firm in 2025, though Comparitech researchers have logged 36 unconfirmed claims so far this year.”
“In 2024, we tracked 12 confirmed ransomware attacks on US tech companies, which was a significant decline from 2023’s 44 confirmed attacks. We counted 104.4 million records compromised in 2023, compared to just 1.9 million in 2024.”
“One of the biggest such attacks in 2024 was against ITSG, which notified 900,000 people of an October data breach claimed by ransomware gang BianLian.”
Posted in Commentary with tags Bell on February 21, 2025 by itnerd
Bell and Virgin Plus both have a new limited-time roaming deals which are perfect for families heading off on March Break and spring getaways. These discounted rates on Roam Better (Bell) and Roam Sweet Roam (Virgin Plus) with Home Data offer significant savings for families travelling together.
From now until May 29th, 2025, the first account member roaming on any given day pays the standard rate ($13/day US, $16/day international). Additional members on the same account roaming that same day receive a 50% discount, paying only $6.50/day in the US and $8/day internationally.
If with Bell: This offer applies automatically to all account members enrolled in Roam Better with Home Data. For more details, please visit: Bell.ca/travel
If with Virgin Plus: This offer applies automatically to all account members enrolled in Roam Sweet Roam with Home Data. For more details, please visit: vpc.ca/sweetroam
Members can be in different Roam Better/Roam Sweet Roam international destinations and still get the discount if it is the same day. However, the offer does not apply if a member is in the U.S. and the other member is in an international destination.
Posted in Commentary with tags Rogers on February 21, 2025 by itnerd
Yesterday, I posted a story about Rogers laying off staff. Now to be clear, I found out about this earlier in the day, but I waited until I had confirmation that this was actually happening before posting anything. Now I have had additional facts about the sitaution via a source within the company who asked me not to identify them. Here’s what I have confirmed:
Roughly 400 people were let go by Rogers.
All the people who were let go worked in mostly the online chat support group. But some customer service people were also let go.
Something that I have yet to confirm is that members of Rogers social media team have been let go. If you are a member of that team and would like to speak to me about this anonymously, please reach out to me to do so.
Seeing as these are customer facing cuts, it’s a safe bet that customers will be impacted. But this might not be the end of it because another source who didn’t want me to identify them has said that the results of these cuts are not going to be the only ones, and that there are more cuts coming. I’ll be watching this closely because if that’s true, it may not be a good thing for Rogers customers.
Posted in Commentary with tags VIDAA on February 20, 2025 by itnerd
VIDAA, the smart TV platform powering Hisense, Toshiba and more than 400 global brands, is setting a new benchmark in the Canadian market with up to eight years of software updates.
VIDAA is a smart TV operating system developed by Hisense that is available on Hisense TVs in Canada. VIDAA offers a variety of apps, including Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Tubi. It also provides free streaming channels and allows users to connect their TVs to their home appliances.
VIDAA TV OS stands out as a high-performance platform, offering greater longevity and added confidence for customers compared to competitors who only update their devices every five or seven years. With up to eight years of updates, VIDAA provides a more durable solution, ensuring that Canadian users enjoy a continuously evolving smart TV experience.
The 8 Years of Updates program will keep Canadian users at the cutting edge of smart TV innovations. This initiative also includes regular bug fixes and security updates, proactively safeguarding users in an increasingly digital world.
With more than 30 million connected devices globally, this long-term support initiative demonstrates VIDAA’s leadership in the smart TV industry. By investing in sustained updates and security, VIDAA ensures that millions of users in Canada can enjoy a future-proof, dynamic and reliable entertainment experience that adapts to their evolving needs.
Posted in Commentary with tags Nelson on February 20, 2025 by itnerd
How to include Black experience and diverse perspectives in learning
February 2025
In helping educators plan for Black History Month and their lessons all year round, Nelson, Canada’s leading and longest standing education content provider, has updated a series of content in Edwin, the company’s digital learning platform.
Earlier this month, Nelson authors and brother-and-sister team Greg Birkett (history and English teacher, guidance counsellor, author and poet) and Coleen Birkett (teacher, writer and author) shared some of their thoughts with Nelson in a video interview addressing the following questions:
Why is it critical to include the Black experience and diverse perspectives in the classroom?
How does this contribute to a more equitable and inclusive learning environment?
What advice do you have for district leaders?
How can you appropriately and respectfully incorporate the Black student experience into teaching?
What are first steps for educators to apply this knowledge?
A few takeaways from Greg and Coleen:
Since Canadian classrooms are so diverse, diversity needs to be reflected in the learning and in the curriculum. Every student needs to have the opportunity to see themselves reflected in the curriculum and have the opportunity to learn about who they are in class. That helps students get along with each other and be better prepared for life.
It’s really important students are able to understand different cultures in a safe space. Often their understanding of culture is through media or sources which may have an agenda that does not always give the most accurate representation of a particular culture. That’s how stereotypes are spread. It is crucial for students to be able to engage in discussions about culture and understand culture in a safe space.
Sometimes educators are apprehensive that they may not be presenting the topic in the most authentic way. With the opportunity to use trusted and accurate materials to create content that educators can use in an authentic voice, both students and educators can have the opportunity to engage in meaningful discussions in classrooms about culture.
Teachers don’t have to depend on themselves or what they have been exposed to – which we believe is where their apprehension comes from. We often hear teachers say “we don’t know what we don’t know.” Sometimes they don’t even realize they have experts right in front of them. For example, students themselves can be experts or they have the means to bring experts or resources in through their family or community. There are a lot of Black Canadian resources available – either through Edwin or through the community. We recommend bringing in experts from the Black community and taking students out to the community on field trips.
Educators must look at how they can incorporate and infuse this learning — not just broad sweeping, general representations — into their curriculum for different subjects.
Some practical tips for inclusion for educators:
Use Real-World Examples: For example, during the hockey playoffs, show clips about the Black Hockey League and its influence on the NHL.
Highlight Diverse Black Figures: For example, in science class, include Black scientists as examples for research projects.
Collaborative Learning: Be willing to learn alongside your students. As you bring in diverse perspectives, integrate diverse resources, or go into the community on field trips to foster a sense of shared discovery.
In a recent conversation on The Dr. Vibe Show, Coleen and Greg responded to a question about how they felt about having a special platform to openly speak and teach about Black existence and its place in the world.
They said, “We are trying to have it woven into every fabric of our curriculum so it isn’t just a special month or a special class. Right now, we do have a Grade 12 course that speaks about the Black Canadian experience. We both co-authored a textbook with Rosemary Sadlier which is being used in some school boards here in Ontario and Nova Scotia. What we want to do is to take a cross-curricula approach, from kindergarten, when children are most ready, open and willing to learn and make it age appropriate, all the way up to Grade 12. We don’t want it to be a special platform; we want it to be a natural, organic part of the curriculum. It is Canadian history, it’s not Black Canadian history being taught in February in a particular class for kids with vested interest. It needs to be woven into every subject, across disciplines and across curriculum from K-12.”
Live Lesson: “Every Voice Counts: Equity in Education”
On February 26, 2025, Nelson will host a Live Lesson called “Every Voice Counts: Equity in Education” for teachers and students where they will talk about how bias shapes our educational experiences. The lesson will highlight the importance of inclusion and fairness in education and how they impact our daily lives. Through real-world examples and interactive discussions, they will uncover why inclusion matters, how to recognize and challenge bias, and the steps we can take to ensure every student feels valued and heard.
Resources for Black History Month and All Year Round
Teachers are having to do a lot more than ever and to bear more responsibility. They need accurate, vetted and consistently high quality content so they can design lessons to accommodate individual students’ education needs. Edwin contains Canadian curriculum-aligned content that teachers can use – among other resources – to plan their lessons, not having to worry about relying on GenAI, Google search or purchasing non-Canadian materials.
Please see the three collections in Edwin for users (see screen shots here):
“Black Excellence” was the #1 most accessed content in Edwin in February 2024
“End Racism Today” was the #2 most accessed content in February 2024
“Black Canadian Communities” was the #1 most accessed content overall for the last school year
Forty per cent (40%) more students and teachers have accessed Black Canadian content in Edwin, the company’s digital learning platform, this September 2024-January 2025 compared to the same period last school year
In a national survey conducted in January 2024, teachers reported saving almost one hour per week in lesson planning, finding resources and creating assessments by using Edwin, an equivalent of one prep period per week or one full week a year. They gave an A or A+ to Edwin’s subject content, classroom success and support.
The company has seen an almost 40% increase in active users in Edwin compared to this time last year.
One month into the school year (end of September), Nelson has already seen an 89% increase in the number of teachers trained on Edwin at the end of the first week of school this year compared to last year. Edwin hit a record high number of daily users ever on October 29, 2024 – a 26% increase compared to the best day of 2023.
About Nelson
For over a century, Nelson has worked in partnership with Canadian educators to develop quality resources that are tied to curricula and that meet provincial learning expectations. As Canada’s largest education content provider, Nelson dedicates its business efforts to the creation of quality, innovative solutions that empower learning success by supporting the needs of every student and educator. For more information, visit https://www.nelson.com/.
Posted in Commentary with tags Rogers on February 20, 2025 by itnerd
Bell has been catching a lot of heat over the last year or two because of mass layoffs of their staff. But it appears that Rogers is joining them on that front as I am seeing posts on Reddit which I have confirmed with people inside Rogers that there are layoffs underway. One thread has members of their online chat team being laid off. That in turn will force customers to call into Rogers. And that may not go well for customers based on what I have heard from their customers and Another thread goes further by saying that their online chat is shutting down. Still another thread indicates that members of voice tech support have been let go. Finally another thread lists the terms of severance.
Again, when I started to catch wind of this, I went to sources inside Rogers who confirmed that this is real. And I am working to get numbers on how big this layoff is. I’ll post that when I have something in terms of numbers that is accurate. But regardless of how big this is or isn’t, I can say one thing. If Bell got Canadians mad about their layoffs, Rogers is about to get the same reaction from Canadians. And I for one will be interested to see how they handle this.
Posted in Commentary with tags Hacked on February 20, 2025 by itnerd
VC giant Insight partners confirmed that they have been pwned in a cyberattack. From their statement:
On January 16, 2025, Insight Partners detected that an unauthorized third-party accessed certain Insight information systems through a sophisticated social engineering attack.
As soon as this incident was detected, we moved quickly to contain, remediate, and start an investigation within a matter of hours. We notified stakeholders connected to Insight in January to alert them and encourage vigilance and tightened security protocols irrespective of having shared data compromised. We also notified law enforcement in relevant jurisdictions.
There is no evidence that the threat actor was present after January 16, 2025. Further, there has been no additional disruption to Insight’s operations as a result of the incident.
Christian Geyer, founder and CEO of Actfore had this to say:
“While socially engineered cyberattacks are not new, the tactics involved with these attacks have evolved. For example, in the past, with these attacks, it was easier to tell from bad grammar, tone of voice, or other clues like lack of sophistication within the phishing email, or poor presentation in a baiting attempt that the perpetrator was not who they claimed to be. Now, with the advent of new AI technologies, generative AI chat bots, hackers can craft a more polished presentation that are harder to identify. This levels up the sophistication factor to make baiting or phishing attacks, to name a few socially engineered tactics, harder to spot with more detrimental and widespread effects. With the global average cost per data breach reaching $4.88 million U.S. dollars in 2024, it’s critical that organizations focus on proactive security measures, not just post-breach actions and remediation to help combat these and other kinds of cyber attacks.
Other proactive measures organizations should include the creation and maintenance of an up-to-date incident response playbook that clarifies roles and responsibilities during a crisis, so they have a preexisting plan of action in place once a cyber-attack or breach happens. Tabletop exercises can refine these playbooks to address real-world scenarios effectively. Proactive security measures should also include regular patching, vulnerability scans, continuous monitoring, and meticulous data hygiene to minimize risk further. As good practice, organizations should also have quality backups of corporate data. Implementing immutable backups—similar in concept to audit logs—can act as a safeguard against modification or deletion of data for a defined period. This immutability makes them resistant to tampering, encryption, or corruption. By preventing unauthorized changes, immutable backups provide organizations with a clean copy of their data to restore from, reinforcing their ability to recover quickly.”
This highlights the need to train users to be vigilant so that they don’t fall victim to social engineering attacks. That on top of doing simulated attacks to make sure that users learn and act accordingly to ward of a real attack.
I thought you may be interested to know that Comparitech has today published a study on Netflix pricing trends. The study looks at which countries are the most expensive and cheapest for Netflix subscriptions, worldwide.
Recently, a number of countries saw Netflix price hikes, including the UK, US, France, and some of the most cost-effective countries in previous years – Egypt, Colombia, and Nigeria. In the US, for example, the cost of a premium HD Ultra subscription with four users is now up to $24.99 per month (from $22.99).
Key research findings include:
The United States is one of the top 10 least cost-effective countries for all three Netflix subscription plans.
Pakistan and Egypt are in the top 3 most cost-effective countries for all three plans.
Canada is right up there with the US in terms of being a least cost-effective country.
Here’s An App That Will Help You To Buy Canadian
Posted in Commentary with tags Canada on February 23, 2025 by itnerdAfter posting a story about this browser extension, I’ve had a reader tip me off to Maple Scan. This is an app that when you use it to scan a product using your camera, it will tell you if the product is Canadian or supports Canadian businesses. But it also does more:
The app is available for iOS and Android. Though the latter is currently being beta tested. I tested this on my iPhone 14 Pro with several products from coca powder to pens. And while it does take about a minute to come back with results, it does what it says it will do. So if you’re a proud Canadian who wants to support Canadian businesses, there’s now an app for that.
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