Stories by Austin Blake

Telus is using artificial intelligence to alter the accents of its call centre agents in real time through its subsidiary Telus Digital, and the backlash has been swift. Labour advocates are calling the practice deceptive, and the federal government is being urged to require disclosure whenever the technology is used. Rogers and Bell, meanwhile, say...

Moving money in Canada is about to get a lot more modern. Visa Canada and Wealthsimple are piloting a new payments system that uses stablecoins to settle transactions, a first for the Canadian market. Under the program, Wealthsimple can use USD Coin (USDC) to settle certain financial obligations with Visa, using blockchain to move funds...

Canadians should prepare for their phones to chime and televisions to broadcast a test signal tomorrow nationwide. Alert Ready, the national emergency alert system managed by Pelmorex (they own The Weather Network), has scheduled a test for Wednesday, May 6, 2026. The coordinated event is designed to ensure the system works effectively during real life-threatening...

Google has just announced that The Android Show, I/O Edition, coming next week. This virtual event is set for May 12 at 10am PT/1pm ET and will showcase why "this is one of the biggest years for Android yet," according to a spokesperson to iPhone in Canada in an email. The Android Show will hit...

Thousands of residents across northwest B.C. are currently without phone or internet service after a failed attempt to steal copper cables cut off crucial Telus fibre lines. The outage began around 3 a.m. Monday near Sheraton, B.C., roughly 20 kilometres east of Burns Lake. According to Telus, vandals targeting copper cables accidentally cut through the...

A legal dispute between Telus and a Manitoba family is drawing public attention after the telecom giant filed a defence that takes direct aim at the man whose death sparked the lawsuit. Dean Switzer was 55 years old when he suffered a heart attack at his Fisher Branch home on the night of March 23,...

Roborock sent us the Saros 20 to put to the test. After several weeks of cleaning runs every few days, we are rethinking everything we knew about robot vacuums. We spent weeks watching this robot navigate real-world home chaos to see if it actually lives up to the hype. This robot vac first debuted at...

Tesla has officially relaunched the Model 3 in Canada with a new Premium Rear-Wheel Drive trim and a record-low starting price of $39,490 CAD. As reported by Tesla North, the pricing overhaul marks one of the most significant shifts in Tesla's Canadian strategy in years, and it has some interesting implications for anyone who has...

Toronto-based fintech Wealthsimple is making its biggest push yet into active trading, announcing a suite of new tools on May 1 that bring professional-grade features to everyday Canadian investors. The announcement came during The Trade Show, an event that drew more than 100,000 traders online and in person. The timing is deliberate. A survey Wealthsimple...

Apple just dropped its latest financial results for its second quarter, and the numbers are massive. The company brought in $111.2 billion US in revenue for the quarter ending March 28, 2026, which is a 17 per cent jump compared to the same time last year. Profits also saw a nice bump, with earnings per...

Toronto-based fintech KOHO has launched support for crypto trading, now allowing Canadians to trade digital assets through its app. KOHO partnered with Calgary regulated exchange Ndax to debut the service, which is now available to its 2.5 million users. This move falls in line with crypto trading that is also supported by Wealthsimple, another Toronto-based...

YouTube is bringing a major mobile update to its global audience by expanding picture-in-picture (PiP) support to more users. The feature, which allows a video to continue playing in a small floating window after exiting the app, is rolling out worldwide over the coming months. According to a YouTube, the update specifically changes how the...