Stories by Austin Blake

Air Canada has locked out about 10,000 flight attendants after their union, CUPE, launched strike action early Saturday morning. The lockout started at 1:30 a.m. ET on August 16, less than an hour after the union walked off the job. The airline had already issued a 72-hour lockout notice in response to CUPE’s strike notice....

Bell says crews are still working to fix major damage to its network in Oakville after a road construction crew, not affiliated with the company, cut into its infrastructure on August 13. The incident damaged fibre cables about 30 feet underground, affecting customers in Burlington, Oakville, and Hamilton. On August 13, Bell posted on X:...

Public Mobile customers will soon see smaller perks from the carrier’s rewards program, marking another cutback under parent company Telus. In an email to customers and seen by iPhone in Canada, Public Mobile said that starting October 15, 2025, the points-back rate will drop from 5% to 2%, and the annual anniversary bonus will be...

Rogers announced today it is selling its portfolio of nine Rogers Business data centres to InfraRed Capital Partners, a digital infrastructure investor owned by Sun Life. Even after the sale, Rogers will keep selling data centre services on InfraRed’s behalf and will continue providing network connectivity to the facilities. Terms of the deal were not...

NOMAD sent us a few of their Sport Bands to try, and after weeks of testing, they’ve proven to be better than Apple’s own stock Sport Bands in both comfort and style. Design & Build These are made from compression-molded FKM fluoroelastomer rubber, the same kind of high-performance material used in diving gear and other...

A new Eminem-produced documentary exploring the lives of his most devoted fans will premiere on Paramount+ in Canada, the U.S., Latin America and Brazil on August 26. The U.K., Australia, Italy, France, Germany, Switzerland and Austria will get it on August 27, followed by Japan on October 3. STANS, directed by Emmy winner Steven Leckart,...

McDonald’s Canada will update its MyMcDonald’s Rewards menu on September 16, 2025, adding cappuccinos and Filet-O-Fish to the lineup—but also removing many popular food items and increasing the points needed for some drinks, according to an email sent to customers and received by iPhone in Canada. The program, which launched in 2021, originally offered a...

The federal government is putting more than $25 million into 33 projects to expand electric vehicle charging, cut freight emissions and develop new technology for medium- and heavy-duty trucks. Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) is providing $9.7 million for 23 projects to install over 850 EV chargers across the country through its Zero Emission Vehicle Infrastructure...

The flanker brands of Rogers, Telus and Bell have tweaked their plans this month, bringing some changes compared to July. Fido has started offering 10GB of bonus data for its plans, trying to entice new customers to subscribe. Virgin Plus also has matched Fido saying its plans now include a 10GB data bonus. Check out...

AI startup Perplexity says it’s ready to pay a whopping $34.5 billion US ($47.5 billion CAD) to buy Google’s Chrome browser, according to the Wall Street Journal. The offer is nearly double Perplexity’s own $18 billion US valuation, with the company claiming several big investors have agreed to fully fund the deal. The timing is...

The federal privacy commissioner has released updated rules on how organizations in Canada should handle biometric data such as facial recognition scans and fingerprints. The guidelines, aimed at both public and private organizations, come after a public consultation held from November 2023 to February 2024. Officials say the technology can make access to services more...

Grok 4, the latest version of xAI’s chatbot, is now free for everyone — with limits. “The free tier allows a small number of queries per day. Beyond that requires subscription,” said Elon Musk. Paid plans include SuperGrok at $300 per year and SuperGrok Heavy at $3,000 per year. The free version of Grok lets...