Stories by Austin Blake

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) says it’s stepping up efforts to make phone, Internet, and broadcasting services more reliable after recent high-profile outages left Canadians cut off—in some cases from 911. The regulator announced three measures. First, Internet and wireless providers will now face new reporting rules for major outages, so public safety...

Govee has announced a series of new smart lighting products at IFA 2025 in Berlin, including upgrades for TVs, outdoor setups and creative indoor displays. The Govee TV Backlight 3 Pro introduces what the company says is the industry’s first HDR triple-camera colour-matching system. It captures on-screen colors more precisely, using HDR imaging for improved...

Apple is developing its own artificial intelligence-powered web search tool that could launch next year, reports Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, citing people familiar with the matter. The system, known internally as World Knowledge Answers, is expected to debut in the spring as part of a major Siri overhaul. Described by some Apple executives as an “answer...

Google has announced a set of new Android updates as part of its September 2025 Pixel Drop, that adds AI-powered writing, more emoji options, and easier ways to share audio and files. Android’s keyboard app, Gboard, now includes built-in AI to help improve your writing. Users can tap to adjust tone—making a message more formal,...

Instagram has released a dedicated app for iPad, answering a long-running request from users who wanted the photo and video platform on larger screens. That's 15 years after the original launch of the app. Talk about making people wait. The new app is designed for iPads running iPadOS 15.1 or later and is now available...

The Quebec government has officially ended its financial support for Northvolt’s planned electric vehicle battery plant in Saint-Basile-le-Grand and McMasterville. The project, once billed as a cornerstone of the province’s battery strategy, will not move forward. In a statement on Tuesday, Minister Christine Fréchette said (translated), “Today, we are ending funding for Northvolt in Québec....

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) is investigating a network failure that allowed some phone calls in the Niagara Region to be misrouted or intercepted this summer, leading to reports of people overhearing private conversations. The problem began on July 24, 2025, at around 10 p.m. ET, when Rogers reported that a suspected lightning...

Telus is set to take full control of Telus Digital, buying all remaining shares it doesn’t already own for $4.50 US per share, valuing the deal at about $539 million US ($743.4 million CAD). The move gives Telus closer integration with Telus Digital to expand AI and cloud-based software across telecom, health, agriculture, and consumer...

Bell Media's Crave is rolling out a special Labour Day promotion for new and returning subscribers, offering discounted streaming plans for the first three months. The most expensive plan, Crave Premium, is ad-free and includes offline downloads, live channels, and streaming on up to four devices in 4K, is available for $7.99 per month for...

Apple has released Xcode 26 beta 7, bringing updates to its developer platform for building apps across iOS, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS, tvOS, and visionOS. The major new features this time are new AI coding tools from OpenAI and Anthropic. Xcode users can now integrate their paid Claude accounts, with support for Claude Sonnet 4 available...

Most earbuds try to shove sound straight into your ear canal. The Shokz OpenFit 2 takes a different approach with an open-ear design, which means they sit just outside your ear and let air flow. That might not sound exciting, but if you’ve ever had sweaty ears and ended up with an ear infection from...

WhatsApp has patched a security bug that could have let hackers mess with linked devices, like a Mac or iPad connected to your iPhone. The issue affected older versions of WhatsApp for iOS (before 2.25.21.73), WhatsApp Business for iOS (before 2.25.21.78), and WhatsApp for Mac (before 2.25.21.78). The flaw could have been abused along with...