Posted in Commentary with tags KOHO on February 8, 2022 by itnerd
KOHO Financial Inc, the rapidly growing Fintech company, announces today that it has closed a C$210 million Series D funding round. This investment was led by Eldridge, a holding company headquartered in Greenwich, Connecticut, with an extensive network of finance. entertainment and technology businesses. Existing investors Drive Capital and TV Capital made renewed commitments, with additional investments from HOOPP, Round13, and BDC. With this capital infusion, KOHO plans to accelerate growth, expand into new product verticals, and increase employee headcount from 250 to 400.
KOHO’s growth reflects the rising consumer demand for alternative ways to manage money. With 53% of Canadians currently living paycheque to paycheque, KOHO is meeting Canada’s need for affordable, customer-centric and intuitive financial products and services. In the last year, the Company launched Instant Pay, Earn Interest, and Credit Building.
KOHO is a Fintech company on a mission to make financial products that are transparent and intuitive. KOHO offers a full-service spending and savings account with no hidden fees that gives cash back on every purchase, and an integrated app that helps users spend smart and save more. KOHO is a Fintech company, not a bank. KOHO partners with a variety of banks and federally regulated financial institutions to deliver their products.
Posted in Commentary with tags Apple on February 8, 2022 by itnerd
Earlier today, Apple announced plans to roll out “Tap to Pay on iPhone” which is their way of opening up contactless payments to partners without having them hop through hoops or have them create hardware of their own to do this. The service will start in the US for now and both Stripe and Shopify have signed on as partners for this.
It allows Apple to use the argument that they are opening up the NFC chip to third parties and use Shopify and Stripe as examples that they can trot out at any time.
By starting in the US, this fits Apple’s traditional playbook as it could be years before this feature appears anywhere else. And Apple could always blame regulators, banks, etc. for that.
Both of the above will leave the EU in a position where their argument isn’t as strong as it was. And the threat of anti-trust action will reduce or disappear.
Apple wins.
So while I am sure that small business in the US will eventually benefit from this, Apple will benefit way more as they won’t have to worry as much or at all about anti-trust issues in the EU.
Salesforce Canada’s newly publishedDigital Skills Index reveals that 81% of Canadians are currently struggling with learning the digital skills needed for work with that sentiment increasing to 86% in the next five years.
According to LinkedIn, many of the top 20 growing jobs in Canada for 2022 require digital-savvy skills such as an e-commerce coordinator or data science specialist. However, the Digital Skills Index reveals that respondents rate themselves as ‘beginner’ in many of the skills needed for these growing job titles: AI (78%), coding and development (73%), and product management technology (60%).
Key highlights of the report include:
Nearly three-quarters of Canadians (81%) don’t feel equipped to learn the digital skills needed by businesses nowand even more (86%) don’t feel equipped for the future.
Younger respondents have the greatest confidence and ambition to learn new skills – 17% of Gen Z is actively learning and training for skills needed over the next five years compared to 8% of Baby Boomers.
According to the Index, skills in collaboration technology are viewed as the most important skills needed by businesses today and over the next five years, but only 19% of Canadians rate themselves ‘advanced’ in those collaboration technology skills needed for the workplace.
For further details here’s a link to the Digital Skills Index data dashboard here.
Posted in Commentary with tags Telstra on February 8, 2022 by itnerd
Telstra Broadcast Services (TBS) has named Emory Strilkauskas as Head of Business Development for the Americas, responsible for expanding the company’s professional broadcast and media portfolio across the United States, Canada and Latin America.
Strilkauskas will focus on strengthening relationships and developing new partnerships with international broadcasters, rights owners, channel partners and service providers. As part of Telstra’s ambitious growth plans for the broadcast market, he will also work closely with product, network and engineering teams to bring the best of Telstra’s innovative network connectivity and infrastructure solutions to customers across the Americas region.
In his new role, Strilkauskas will draw on his diverse background covering broadcast, telecommunications and all aspects of live sports production. His 30-year career includes a Technical Emmy win and a successful track record of executing engineering integration strategies, developing solutions-driven technical workflows and managing complex system deployments.
Previously, he was managing partner of network operations for Brklyn-Media, a virtualized media company he co-founded to focus on camera-to-consumer cloud workflows and software applications. A majority of Strilkauskas’ career was spent with ESPN/Disney, holding a range of positions covering product management, programming, engineering, operations, transmission, contribution, affiliate distribution and direct-to-consumer offerings. He also served in the United States Navy as an Intelligence Cryptologic Technologist.
Posted in Products with tags Apple on February 8, 2022 by itnerd
February is Black History Month and Apple over the last couple of years has released a limited edition Apple Watch band. Last year they released a Black Unity Sport band which was… Ok. But it didn’t make me want to run out to get one. But the 2021 version which is a Black Unity Braided Solo Loop is different and made me order one on Apple.com.
Before I show the band, let me talk about the solo loop watch band. The Braided Solo Loop is made from recycled yarn interwoven with silicone threads. It’s a soft matte-finish stretchy band in one piece, making it especially comfy because there are not clasps or buckles attached. Assuming that you get the right size. More on that in a few minutes. But now let’s look at the band. Starting with the packaging:
Unlike Apple’s non-Nike watch strap packaging, this packaging is black and shows off the watch band in its glory.
On the back of the box is this notice that Apple supports organizations that are dedicated to advancing racial equity and justice. Which is positive.
Inside the box, there’s a piece of paper with the same design as the band with some text on it that you can barely read. But I’ll help you with that. It says the following:
“This watch band is inspired by Afrofuturism. It honours generations of who have been seen and unseen, and symbolizes a communal belief in the necessity for a more equitable world.
Afrofuturism is a philosophy that explores the experience of the African diaspora through a narrative of science, technology, and self-empowerment. It aims to dismantle systemic inequalities by creating better conditions for the present generation of Black people.”
That same text is on the back of this card in several languages.
Now let’s get to the band. It’s wrapped up in instructions at the top for how to get it onto your Apple Watch.
There’s a matching watch face that you can get here by either scanning the circular QR like code or you can get it here via opening that link on your iPhone as long as you are running watchOS 8.3 or higher and iOS 15.2 or higher. And if you want to complete the look on all your iDevices, there’s matching wallpaper for your Mac, iPhone, and iPad as well.
Here’s the Black Unity Woven Solo Loop on my wrist with the Unity Lights watch face, which is one of the better watch faces that Apple has released. While you can’t customize it all that much, it’s great because it leverages the graphics capabilities of the Apple Watch to look stunning. As for the Black Unity Woven Solo Loop band, it is black with flecks of red, yellow and green. It’s a subtle and appealing design. I should also point out that this is the only woven solo loop that Apple makes that has black in it. I can easily see myself using this for more formal events as well as for daily use. Plus seeing as it is water resistant, you can use this for working out with.
While this picture is a bit blurry, it does say “Black Unity” inside the lugs, which are space grey for the record.
Now about the sizing. I am a size seven. And I figured out by not using the Apple sizing tool that’s available online because according to that, I am a size eight. Instead I used this guide by John Gruber of Daring Fireball who has a far better way of determining your exact size. When you get your size right, these woven solo loops are insanely comfortable and snug without being tight. Not to mention breathable seeing as it is woven. And I should mention that I was also able to get my Road ID onto it as well without an issue. Your other option to get the size right is to go to an Apple Store if you can and let them get it right for you.
The only thing that might keep you from getting one is the price. In Canada, you can expect to pay $119. And for the record, the 41mm model fits 38mm and 40mm Apple Watches, and the 45mm model fits 44mm and 42mm Apple Watches. The price is steep. But the Black Unity Braided Solo Loop is a Apple Watch strap that has a meaning and a message. Thus for me, all of that was an incentive for me to grab one. Just make sure that you get your sizing right and you’re good to go.
UPDATE: There is a round version of the Unity Lights watch face that unlike the square version, it allows for four complications. One in each corner.
Posted in Commentary with tags Spotify on February 8, 2022 by itnerd
Clearly Neil Young is not done with Spotify just yet. As if to stir the pot some more, Young posted on his official website a number of thoughts. Including this:
To the musicians and creators in the world, I say this: You must be able to find a better place than SPOTIFY to be the home of your art.
To the workers at SPOTIFY, I say Daniel Ek is your big problem – not Joe Rogan. Ek pulls the strings. Get out of that place before it eats up your soul. The only goals stated by EK are about numbers – not art, not creativity. Notice that EK never mentions the Medical Professionals who started this conversation. Look, one last time – at the statements EK has made.
Then be free and take the good path.
Seeing as Spotify employees have had some issues with the course that CEO Daniel Ek has taken, this isn’t going to help Ek in terms of quieting things down. And as for musicians taking their music off of the platform, that only works if you either own your music or have control of it. But it is a provocative statement that may find some takers in the coming days.
Yesterday Meta/Facebook made a threat to pull out of Europe if they don’t get the right to process data belonging to Europeans on US based servers. It was a curious threat and I wondered what the EU would say to that.
“After being hacked I’ve lived without Facebook and Twitter for four years and life has been fantastic,” German Economy Minister Robert Habeck told reporters at an event alongside French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire in Paris on Monday.
“I can confirm that life is very good without Facebook and that we would live very well without Facebook,” Le Maire added. “Digital giants must understand that the European continent will resist and affirm its sovereignty.”
The pair were responding to comments in Meta’s annual report published Thursday, warning that if it couldn’t rely on new or existing agreements to shift data, then it would “likely be unable to offer a number of our most significant products and services, including Facebook and Instagram, in Europe.”
The European Union “is such a big internal market with so much economic power that if we act in unity we won’t be intimidated by something like this,” Habeck said.
Well, if Meta/Facebook were thinking that the EU would bow to its will, this suggests that they might have played that wrong. And that maybe they might have to play nice with the EU, or at least rethink it’s strategy as clearly, threats aren’t going to work.
The Washington State Department of Licensing has reported a database breach which has potentially exposed personal information of millions of licensed professionals, ranging from real estate agents to auctioneers, after it detected suspicious activity on its online licensing system:
During the week of Jan. 24, 2022, the Department of Licensing (DOL) became aware of suspicious activity involving professional and occupational license data. We immediately began investigating with the assistance of the Washington Office of Cybersecurity. As a precaution, DOL also shut down the Professional Online Licensing and Regulatory Information System (POLARIS) to protect the personal information of professional licensees.
At this time, we have no indication that any other DOL data was affected, such as driver and vehicle licensing information. All other DOL systems are operating normally.
We are working with the Washington Office of Cybersecurity to protect the licensing data and bring POLARIS back online as soon as possible. With the support and assistance of nationally recognized cybersecurity experts, we are investigating what happened and what data and people may be affected.
This isn’t a good look for Washington State. And I’d love to know what data was exposed or stolen. And Saryu Nayyar, CEO and Founder, Gurucul agrees with me.:
“While there are few details in the report, it appears that very sensitive personal data has been stolen, including social security numbers. Detecting a massive data set stolen is rare. Often organizations are blind to data being stolen over periods of time till it becomes apparent a large set of data has been stolen. Attackers effectively hide and trickle out data in many cases because most traditional SIEM or XDR solutions have great difficulty in understanding this trickle is part of a large attack campaign. Organizations need to research solutions that are more effective at not just thwarting attacker efforts early in the kill chain before data is exfiltrated, but can correlate small bursts of activity spread across time as a long-standing data theft operation by a clever threat actor.”
Hopefully Washington State investigates this fully and presents the results to the public. That way everyone knows how bad this breach is.
Posted in Commentary with tags Hisense on February 7, 2022 by itnerd
When the action on the field is fast, but you are at home on your couch, you want to be watching it on a TV that keeps pace with what is happening in the game.
And when that game is one of the Top 10 most watched sporting events in the world, you don’t want to miss a snap. Quick facts: in 2021, nine of the top 10 most watched TV programs in the United States were NFL games (President Joe Biden’s inauguration was the only non-NFL event to crack the Top 10, coming in at No. 7). The NFL’s championship game is consistently the most watched program in the U.S. year after year, and it is annually among the most watched programs in Canada — typically only bumped from the top spot by Olympics, a Canadian NHL team in the Stanley Cup final, the Toronto Raptors winning the NBA championship and, once, by the Academy Awards.
“When the game is that big, you don’t want to be a second behind what is going on,” says Lindsay Takashima, Vice-President of Sales, Consumer Electronics, for Hisense Canada. “It’s easy to think bigger is better when it comes to watching sports on TV, but you should be giving it more thought than that. Professional athletes move quick. You don’t want your big screen lagging or blurring. You want crisp, clear and bright colours with contrast that makes it look like they are playing right in your living room.”
When shopping for the best TV for watching sports, Puneet recommends looking for the following:
Laser — If you have the budget, the new generation of laser TVs are the way to go. Hisense’s Trichroma laser engine in the L9G reaches up to 3,000 lumens of peak brightness, earning it the title of King of the Ultra Short-Throw Projectors. Laser TVs offer massive screens, with true-to-life images that exceed the standard 4K colour range. The image produced by the laser light is precise without unwanted light dispersion, meaning the image on the screen looks more natural.
QLED — Quantum dots are semiconductor nanocrystals that produce pure red, green and blue light. In a Hisense QLED TV, that means a display that is brighter, with sharper contrasts between the more than one billion colours it projects. The picture is pure and close to real. A TV with quantum dot technology is almost 20 times brighter than your standard computer monitor. Hisense’s quantum dot TVs come equipped with Dolby Vision® and Dolby Atmos® for enhanced colour and more immersive sound.
Sound — What you hear from the stadium is a huge part of the viewing experience in football. The cadence from the quarterback, the crunch of a hit even the roar of the crowd — all provide the backdrop to the action. Surround yourself with the sounds of the game with a compact sound bar — big sound without taking up a lot of space, and without having to run wires all across your room. And added subwoofer will ensure you hear and feel the crunch of every hit. Absent a sound bar, or separate home theatre system, look for a TV with Dolby Atmos or dbx-tv® for a superior audio experience right from the television.
Clarity — Most TVs nowadays boast 4K resolution, but the more important feature you should be looking for is HDR — short for High-Dynamic Range, it means the TV has a massive range of colours, which appear brighter and in greater contrast, and provides more detail to the image on the screen — think seeing the blades of grass on the field swaying gently in the wind.
Smoothness — Football moves fast, and if your refresh or motion rate is low the images on the screen will blur. Look for a refresh rate of 120Hz for a crisp, clear view of the wide receiver streaking up the sideline. Also look to see if it has an MEMC chip (Motion Estimation / Motion Compensation). MEMC is used to interpolate extra images on your TV, which is a fancy way of saying it works with the refresh or motion rate to smooth out the picture and reduce the risk of blurred action on the screen. The HDR10+ feature runs a scene-by-scene adjustment sequence for brightness, colour saturation and contrast to produce an image that is far more realistic.
“There is a lot to look for if your primary use of the TV is going to be watching sports,” says Lindsay. “Get the most of your purchase by doing some research and getting the features that are best suited to what you want to watch.”
Meta/Facebook is doing the baby throwing a tantrum and throwing its toys out of the stroller routine because they may not be able to shuffle data back and forth between their US servers and European customers. Thus they would have to pull out of Europe. Here’s the details:
If Meta is not given the option to transfer, store and process data from its European users on US-based servers, Facebook and Instagram may be shut down across Europe, the social media giants’ owner reportedly warned in its annual report. The key issue for Meta is transatlantic data transfers, regulated via the so-called Privacy Shield and other model agreements that Meta uses or used to store data from European users on American servers. The current agreements to enable data transfers are currently under heavy scrutiny in the EU. In its annual report to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Meta warns that if a new framework is not adopted and the company is no longer allowed to use the current model agreements “or alternatives,” the company will “probably” no longer be able to offer many of its “most significant products and services,” including Facebook and Instagram, in the EU, according to various media reports, including in iTWire, The Guardian newspaper and Side Line Magazine.
Sharing data between countries and regions is crucial for the provision of its services and targeted advertising, Meta stressed. Therefore, it previously used the transatlantic data transfer framework called Privacy Shield as the legal basis to carry out those data transfers. However, this treaty was annulled by the European Court of Justice in July 2020, because of data protection violations. Since then, the EU and the US did stress they are working on a new or updated version of the treaty.
Now to be clear, this is all about Meta/Facebook being able to do targeted advertising. After all, that’s how they make most of their money. And the fact that they are willing to go nuclear if they don’t get their way is perhaps a sign that all is not well with Meta/Facebook as evidenced by their earnings flop that they reported last week. I for one will be interested to see if the EU tells them where to go and how to get there, and if Meta/Facebook follows through on this threat.
KOHO Closes $210 Million Series D Funding
Posted in Commentary with tags KOHO on February 8, 2022 by itnerdKOHO Financial Inc, the rapidly growing Fintech company, announces today that it has closed a C$210 million Series D funding round. This investment was led by Eldridge, a holding company headquartered in Greenwich, Connecticut, with an extensive network of finance. entertainment and technology businesses. Existing investors Drive Capital and TV Capital made renewed commitments, with additional investments from HOOPP, Round13, and BDC. With this capital infusion, KOHO plans to accelerate growth, expand into new product verticals, and increase employee headcount from 250 to 400.
KOHO’s growth reflects the rising consumer demand for alternative ways to manage money. With 53% of Canadians currently living paycheque to paycheque, KOHO is meeting Canada’s need for affordable, customer-centric and intuitive financial products and services. In the last year, the Company launched Instant Pay, Earn Interest, and Credit Building.
KOHO is a Fintech company on a mission to make financial products that are transparent and intuitive. KOHO offers a full-service spending and savings account with no hidden fees that gives cash back on every purchase, and an integrated app that helps users spend smart and save more. KOHO is a Fintech
company, not a bank. KOHO partners with a variety of banks and federally regulated financial institutions to deliver their products.
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