Stories by Austin Blake

The federal government wants to get public servants off ChatGPT and onto homegrown tools built in-house, according to a report from The Logic. Ottawa is developing its own AI systems to reduce the use of commercial platforms that could pose privacy risks or violate federal data rules. Many government workers are already using generative AI...

Back on Friday, we told you Telus-owned Public Mobile updated its website with an end date on its Canada-US-Mexico promo plans, set to end on June 16. Fast forward to today, and Public Mobile has indeed updated its website with changes on these 5G plans, in the form of price increases. While 4G plans saw...

A hiker with an ankle injury near Della Falls was rescued on June 13, after using their iPhone’s satellite emergency feature to call for help, according to the Alberni Valley Rescue Squad (AVRS) last week. Della Falls is located within Strathcona Provincial Park on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Apple’s Emergency SOS via satellite lets users...

Spotify is seeing a surge in French-language streaming, and Quebec is leading the charge. The company’s 2025 Francophone Report, released on Monday, June 16, highlights a wave of local and global interest in French music, podcasts, and audiobooks—much of it powered by Quebec talent. In 2024, over 123 million users around the world listened to...

Walmart Canada says it has cut the prices of hundreds of grocery and household items this year, as the cost of living continues to rise across the country. Since February, the retailer has lowered prices on everyday essentials such as fresh produce, ground beef, cheese, bottled water, toilet paper, shampoo, and more. The company claims...

Apple’s next-gen Siri demo at last year’s WWDC wasn’t just misleading—it may not have actually existed in any meaningful form, according to multiple engineers inside the company. John Gruber of Daring Fireball says he’s spoken with trusted unnamed Apple software engineers off the record who were stunned by the 2024 keynote. Why? Because they’d never...

WhatsApp says it is adding new ways for users to follow creators and businesses—while also opening the door to advertising and paid content on the platform. The new features are rolling out inside the Updates tab, which already houses WhatsApp’s Channels and Status. Meta says there are over 1.5 billion people who use this tab...

Bell Media is ramping up its battle at the CRTC, filing complaints against both Rogers and Telus for what it says is unfair treatment of its rebranded TV channels. In separate filings, Bell alleges its rivals are favouring Rogers’ new Discovery-branded channels while downplaying or sidelining Bell’s own content, which includes renamed versions of former...

Telus-owned Public Mobile has just set an end date for its latest 5G Canada-US-Mexico promo plans. The 5G plans with bonus international minutes are set to end on Monday, June 16, 2025. It’s likely these plans will see international minutes come to an end and likely a price change or revamp. As for Public Mobile’s...

Apple is now targeting a spring 2026 release for its long-delayed upgrade to Siri, which means don’t expect it by the end of the year as previously reported. That’s according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, citing unnamed people familiar with the matter. It marks another slip in the Apple's push to modernize Siri and show it...

Rogers has finished a $10 million internet upgrade that brings faster and more reliable service to about 3,000 homes and businesses across Pender, Mayne and Galiano Islands in southern British Columbia, just north of Victoria. The company installed a nearly 8km fibre-optic cable under the ocean to connect the Southern Gulf Islands to the mainland....

Quebec recently introduced a new bill to regulate streaming platforms like Netflix and Spotify—but critics say it’s both legally shaky and likely to reduce what Quebecers can actually watch or listen to. Bill 109, introduced by Quebec’s Culture and Communications Minister Matthew Lacombe, aims to boost visibility of French-language content online. But it goes much...