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Domain: newswire.ca
Stories and comments across the archive that link to newswire.ca.
Stories · 10
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Will Donglegate Affect Your Decision To Attend PyCon?
theodp writes "Its Code of Conduct describes PyCon as 'a welcoming, friendly event for all.' But will the post-conference fallout from this year's 'Donglegate' debacle and proposed remedies affect your decision — one way or the other — to attend next year's PyCon in ironically naughty Montreal? And even if not, could 'Donglegate' influence the-powers-that-be whose approval you'll need to attend? How about conference sponsors?" -
Canada No Pirate Nation: Global Leader In Music Download Sales
An anonymous reader writes "The IFPI, the global recording industry association, recently released its Recording Industry in Numbers 2012, which provides detailed sales data from countries around the world. While CRIA talks about 'rebuilding the marketplace,' the industry's own data indicates that Canada already stands among the global leaders in digital music sales. Michael Geist digs into the data and finds that Canadians purchased more single track downloads than Germany or Japan, and more than double the sales in France, despite the fact that each of those countries has far larger populations. In fact, Canadian sales were larger than all the sales from Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Finland, France, Greece, Ireland, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, and Sweden combined. Not only is the Canadian digital market far larger than virtually every European market, it continues to grow faster than the U.S. digital music market as well. In fact, the Canadian digital music market has grown faster than the U.S. market for the past six consecutive years." -
Canadian Mint Claims Rights To Words "One Cent"
knorthern knight writes "A weird intersection of copyright/trademark with politics is playing out in Canada. Short background: various Canadian cities and municipalities have launched a publicity/lobbying campaign seeking a fixed take from the GST (Goods and Services Tax, a national Canadian sales tax similar to European VAT). The amount sought is 1 cent for each dollar of the purchase price. This is summarized by the slogan 'One Cent of the GST NOW.' According to a press release, the Royal Canadian Mint (the federal agency that prints Canadian paper currency and stamps Canadian coins) has demanded from the City of Toronto $47,680 in royalties for use of the phrase 'one cent', and the image of the Canadian penny. $10,000 covers the use of the words 'one cent' in the campaign website address (www.onecentnow.ca) and email address (onecentnow@toronto.ca). An additional $10,000 is demanded for the use of these words in the campaign phone number (416-ONE-CENT). The remaining $27,680 covers the use of the image of the Canadian penny in printed materials such as pins and posters." Here's a National Post article on the brouhaha. -
Toshiba Boosts Hard Drive Density By 50%
An anonymous reader writes "Toshiba has unveiled a ground-breaking technology that boosts recording density by 50% on an 80-GB, 1.8", single-platter drive. Using what it calls Discrete Track Recording technology, Toshiba was able to pack 120 GB storage on a single 1.8" platter. The new development will hugely benefit media player, UMPC, and ultra-portable laptop segments where 1.8" drives with maximum possible capacity are in great demand." -
Women Live Longer Because Men Are Dumb
stevesliva writes "CNEWS Canada reported on Sept. 30th that, 'If men dropped their risky ways and bad habits they would live just as long as women.' The story was an interesting spin on a study by the Canadian Institute for Health Information, which spun the study very differently. (Thanks to ThisIsTrue for bringing the respun spin to my attention.)" -
Phoenix Headed for Martian North Pole in 2007
jschuur writes "After narrowing down the selections to 4 finalists, NASA has chosen the Phoenix Mars lander design for its 2007 Scout Mission to the planet Mars. Phoenix, a joint project between the University of Arizona and Planetary Laboratory was designed after the doomed 1999 Mars Polar Lander and recycles much of its design and instrument ideas. A staggering $325 million grant was awarded to the University of Arizona for the project, which will also include Canadian participation. Phoenix is scheduled to land on Mars in May of 2008." -
Canadian Bureau Charges Registrar With Deception
Greedo writes "In a follow-up to the previous story about sleazy marketing tactics by domain registrars, the not-so-friendly folks at the Internet Registry of Canada (same folks behind Domain Registry of (Canada|America|Europe) got a wake-up call today as the Competition Bureau laid charges against IRoC and its principals under the Competition Act's misleading representations and deceptive telemarketing provisions." -
Linux-Based OS For Palm Hardware
slash.monster writes: "I was reading through Canadian Newswire today and came across this. Quoted from their press release: 'Linux DA O/S replaces the Palm O/S within the actual handheld device but still remains fully compatible with Palm's hardware, proving that Linux DA O/S is a flexible and powerful operating system. Using the open source Linux kernel, Empower Technologies has designed Linux DA O/S to be the first Linux compatible O/S scaled down for the Motorola Dragonball CPU platform used by Palm handhelds.'""I've got a Palm Vx, but I'm gonna get some friends to check this out. Should be interesting to see if thier claims are true." There is a free DEMO (their caps) version to download, says the release, but the final version will be payware.
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Linux-based Convergence Boxes From Rogers Cable
nilstar writes: "Rogers Cable wants to dump (slow) WebTV and move to linux based boxes to connect all the major appliances in your home: stereo, tv, computer, etc. via broadband using rogers@home in a service called "triple play". Will this really happen after MS invested C$600 in Rogers? Here is the press release. As the article here on the star says: 'Rogers Cable Inc. will begin testing a new service next month that turns all the communications, computing and entertainment devices in a home into a high-speed smorgasbord of interactive experiences."' Why do I bet these would only be useful with one company's cable service? -
Reusable Disposable Cameras?
Darth Cider asks: "A friendly film developer showed me how to open a disposable camera. Nothing to it, just pry them open. They're reloadable, and the flash versions contain two ordinary AA batteries, worth keeping. The film can be removed without tools for developing whether you return the camera or not. So I'm wondering about Kodak's Max HQ, with two-element aspherical lenses said to be as good as those in their 35mm cameras. Advanced flash unit, too. Haven't found one on the shelf to check it out. Anybody tried to hack this camera? Retail price is said to be under $20." This might be something to look into if your planning any photo projects for fun.