Canada’s Tech Boom: Reshaping Industries and Society

Technology

Canada’s burgeoning tech sector is making waves beyond Silicon Valley, with implications for various industries and society at large. From Toronto to Vancouver, Canadian innovators are driving advancements in artificial intelligence, clean energy and digital entertainment. This article explores the broader impact of Canada’s tech revolution on the global stage.

The tech industry in Canada is experiencing unprecedented growth, positioning the country as a formidable player in the global digital landscape. While areas like online gaming have seen significant advancements, the impact of Canadian innovation extends far beyond entertainment. This surge in technological development is reshaping multiple sectors and raising important questions about the future of work, privacy and social interaction.

The Rise of Canadian Tech Hubs

Recent years have seen a dramatic expansion of Canada’s tech scene, with cities like Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver emerging as major innovation hubs. According to a 2022 CBRE report, Toronto added over 88,900 tech jobs between 2016 and 2021, ranking it the third-fastest growing tech hub in North America.

These tech centers are attracting both domestic and international talent, fostering a diverse ecosystem of startups and established companies. While gaming and entertainment have benefited from this growth, sectors such as healthcare, finance and environmental technology are also seeing significant advancements.

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

Canadian companies are at the forefront of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning research. Montreal-based Element AI and Toronto’s Vector Institute are pushing boundaries in AI applications, from improving medical diagnoses to enhancing cybersecurity measures.

However, the rapid development of AI technologies has raised concerns about job displacement and ethical considerations. Critics argue that without proper regulation, AI could exacerbate existing social inequalities.

Clean Tech and Sustainability

Canada’s tech boom is also driving innovation in clean energy and sustainability. Companies like CarbonCure Technologies in Nova Scotia are developing carbon capture technologies, while Vancouver-based General Fusion is making strides in nuclear fusion research.

These advancements position Canada as a leader in combating climate change, though challenges remain in scaling these technologies and ensuring their economic viability.

Digital Entertainment and Online Gaming

The entertainment sector, including online gaming, has seen significant growth due to Canadian tech innovation. Companies are leveraging technologies like virtual and augmented reality to create immersive experiences. The best paying online casinos in Canada are implementing blockchain technology to ensure transparency and fairness.

However, the expansion of online gaming has sparked debates about gambling addiction and the need for stricter regulations to protect vulnerable individuals.

Challenges and Controversies

Despite its successes, Canada’s tech industry faces several challenges. The “brain drain” to the United States remains a concern, with many skilled workers attracted by higher salaries and larger markets south of the border.

Additionally, issues of data privacy and cybersecurity have come to the forefront. The use of personal data by tech companies has raised questions about individual privacy rights and the need for more robust data protection laws.

As Canada’s tech industry continues to grow and innovate, its impact on various sectors and society as a whole becomes increasingly significant. While opportunities for advancement abound, addressing challenges related to ethics, regulation and societal impact will be crucial in shaping the future of Canada’s tech landscape.

Prep of the Week: Fernley’s Keeshawn Love etches name into Nevada record book

Arts & Culture, Books

Every Thursday during the high school season, Nevada Sports Net will spotlight one local for our weekly “High School Prep of the Week” honor, a feature presented in partnership with America First Credit Union. Learn more about this week’s honoree below.Keeshawn LoveSchool: FernleySports: Football, track and field, wrestlingAccolades: Set the 3A state record in most rushing yards in a game (526), second most rushing yards in a game in NIAA history (526), second in most rushing touchdowns in a game in NIAA history (7), 2024 3A state runner-up in 110M hurdles, 3A second team all-state at running back.Story in short: Keeshawn Love etched his name into the NIAA record books after an outstanding game against Lowry on October 11th. The junior rushed for 526 yards on 35 carries with seven touchdowns which is good for the 3A record and second in state history. Love is a multi-sport athlete and excels in his other sports. He placed second in 110M hurdles in the 2024 3A state finals in track and field. He is in his third season on varsity with head coach Anfernee Sloan, who pulled him up as a freshman. Love’s rushing yards added to the Vaqueros 727 rushing yards during their win against Lowry.Quote to note: “When something like that happens right on a football field, it’s a pretty remarkable thing. I kind of sat back that night because I don’t think he necessarily realized what he did and I reflected on that night and I was just like, ‘oh my.’ That’s a once in a lifetime thing. Everybody here in this (Fernley) community is very passionate about that young man because he does do a lot for the football program. And not just the football program, it’s the wrestling team. He’s a very good athlete there. He ran for two state titles (in track and field) and the last two years, he was the runner-up. You watch him in the school and the way that he communicates with the instructors and the admin, he’s got a good relationship with everybody.” — Anfernee Sloan, Vaqueros head coachWatch the full feature on Keeshawn Love below.

Sunnier outlook: SA travellers ready to book their end-of-year breaks

Travel

Global tourism has reached 96% of pre-pandemic levels; tails are up

The Reserve Bank’s decision to cut the repo rate by 25 basis points in September may not mean much in terms of disposable income, at least in the short term, but our tails are up. The first cut in four years signals rising confidence, and as South Africans head into the last quarter of the year — and our peak holiday season — we’re buoyed by the promise of more cuts to come (with economists anticipating another 25 basis points by November), softening consumer inflation, lower fuel prices, a working GNU (Government of National Unity), a strengthening rand, and a stable energy grid (thanks to almost 200 days without load-shedding).   

For Euan McNeil, Managing Director Flight Centre Travel Group (FCTG) this means an increase in traveller confidence too. 

For many South African families, international holidays are still out of reach.

“The majority of South Africans book their December holidays between two and four months in advance,” explains McNeil. “This means people are starting to plan their end-of-year break now, with factors like inflation, the cost of living, fuel prices and disposable income all playing a role.”

Interestingly, McNeil notes that while consumer confidence is important, travel has a way of influencing one’s financial decisions. “A survey published by BDO Global in March 2024 shows that travel has the highest rate of spend intention among discretionary or non-essential expenditure categories — including entertainment, subscriptions, beauty, and hobbies. This is a global trend, but we can see it in South Africa too,” says McNeil. “South Africans want to travel, especially over December and January. They need the break.”

With just over two months to go until the end of the school year, McNeil expects to see the following trends play out:

Local travel: According to McNeil, travel within South Africa accounts for 65% of FCTG’s booking numbers. Budgets, exchange rates, and actual leave time etc. all play into the “stay local” vs “fly international” decision. For many South African families, international holidays are still out of reach and McNeil says we can expect more local exploration, road trips and staycations — which is great news for the local hospitality industry.

South African travellers are more and more interested in destinations like India, Thailand, Vietnam, Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia.

Fam favourites: For families who are able to travel beyond our borders, Mauritius, Zanzibar, Thailand, UAE and the US remain popular. The average lead time for holiday packages, for example, beach breaks over Christmas and New Year, is slightly longer than other holiday types, so McNeil suggests getting in early. “Chat to your travel expert as soon as possible, as there may still be some options available, but your window for the December holidays — especially when it comes to the Indian Ocean Islands — is closing fast.”

Value for money: South Africans, young and old, still appreciate value for money and McNeil says the demand for tailored, cost-effective packages continues to grow. “People tend to allocate funds for travel, even when times are tight,” says McNeil. “So, Flight Centre works with key partners to ensure we can offer great deals, including all-inclusive packages, cruises, and tours, to ensure customers get the best out of their holiday.”

Southeast Asia: Couples and solo travellers are important segments for FCTG, and while domestic travel remains strong, McNeil says they’re seeing more and more interest in destinations like India, Thailand, Vietnam, Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia. “All are relatively rand-friendly, and tick the boxes when it comes to climate, culture, food, beaches, adventure and exploration,” says McNeil.

South Africans are not the only ones feeling optimistic. According to the UN World Tourism Organization’s (UNWTO) World Tourism Barometer, 790 million tourists travelled internationally in the first seven months of 2024 — about 11% more than in 2023 and 4% less than in 2019. This means global tourism has reached 96% of pre-pandemic levels. And according to the barometer, 47% of tourism experts “expect better performance for the sector in the last four months of 2024, while 41% project similar performance and only 11% worse”.

If arrivals at Cape Town International Airport are anything to go by, the last four months of 2024 could be very busy indeed. Wesgro reports that Cape Town’s international terminal saw a year-on-year growth of 11% in the first eight months of the year, with over 1.97 million passengers moving through the international terminal. The domestic terminal reported a 7% year-on-year growth at the end of August, with over 4.64 million passengers moving through its gates. 

The 2023/2024 cruise season was also successful, with 80 257 passengers departing from the Cape Town Cruise Terminal (from six local and 53 international calls) according to Wesgro. Durban also got in on the action, with Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA) reporting that the Port of Durban exceeded its planned vessel calls by nearly 50% this year, surpassing the expected 33 vessels.

Of course, the fact that South Africa is coming into summer only fuels that holiday feeling. “There really is only about eight weeks until the closure of government schools and the start of the traditional ‘builders’ holiday’,” says McNeil. “The time to book is now. There’s an appetite for travel and you don’t want to be disappointed.”

FOBLA Book Sale and Woodland Queen Fall Festival

Arts & Culture, Books

Body
The Friends of the Bristow Library Association will be having a used book sale. The sale will be Friday October 25 from 12pm-5pm and Saturday October 26 from 10am-2pm. Hardbacks are $1.00, paperbacks and children’s books are $0.50. We will have a wide variety of fiction and non-fiction books for sale and all proceeds will benefit thebBristow Public Library. You can also find out how to become more involved in yourb library and join Friends of Bristow Library while you are there! Membership is $5 for an individual and $8 for a family. On Saturday the library will also be holding the 4th annual Woodland Queen Fall Festival with many family friendly activities as well as local vendors and food trucks. One of the favorite events is the pet parade where pets display their unique costumes. Other events include a pumpkin decorating contest, balloon art, a cupcake walk, and several other games and crafts. So come in your favorite costume or not but join the fun at the Woodland Queen Fall Festival.

Robert Redford named the best movie of his career: “Really well made”

Arts & Culture, Film & TV

(Credits: Far Out / Alamy) Wed 16 October 2024 3:00, UK Robert Redford is known for his countless contributions to the silver screen, whether through his acting, unwavering support of independent cinema through the creation of the Sundance Institute, or his stunning directorial work. He’s a multi-faceted creative, and the reverberations of his legacy can still be felt in the film industry today, with his last movie being released in 2018. Despite starring in nearly 50 films, actors are often reluctant to watch back their own work, with many talking about the struggle of objectively watching your feature and the self-criticism that comes with seeing your face stretched over the big screen. However, when Redford was asked if there was anything from his own filmography that he enjoyed watching, he named one film that he found himself being surprisingly impressed by. Redford is perhaps most known for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Way We Were, and All The Presidents Men, collaborating with Paul Newman and Jane Fonda on multiple projects. He has an infectiously boyish charm that makes him the perfect lead in any romantic drama, with many people suspecting real-life relationships between himself and Fonda due to the natural chemistry of their sizzling on-screen relationship. However, to some, he is best known for Ordinary People, his astonishing directorial debut that was released in 1980, which won the Academy Award for ‘Best Picture’. The film follows a young man and his family as they react to the death of his older brother, each dealing with grief and trauma in a very different way. In contrast to his often laid-back character work, the film showed a different side to Redford and his creative versatility, making a film that is layered and emotionally intelligent in its exploration of grief. But when asked which of his films he watches himself, Redford spoke of The Sting. Released in 1973, the film swept most of the awards during the Oscars, a ceremony that was famously interrupted by a streaker who ran across the stage during the announcement. The film is one of the most famous of Redford’s collaborations with Newman, with the pair playing a couple of criminals as they seek to avenge the murder of a mutual friend.  When asked about both films made with Newman, Redford said, “I enjoyed making both of them, but if I were to step way back and be truly objective, I would say, as much as I love Butch Cassidy, I think The Sting is one of the finest films ever, and that belongs to [director] George Roy Hill. He’s the guy who designed it, who came up with the music and did everything. I hadn’t seen it for many, many years until recently when my daughter wanted me to see it again, and when I did, I realised, ‘God, this is a really good movie. Really well made.’” While many people emphasise the importance of critically evaluating your work, I would say it’s equally important to step back and appreciate what you’ve achieved, looking at the wider picture and giving credit where it’s due. [embedded content]Related TopicsSubscribe To The Far Out Newsletter

After Executive Exodus, OpenAI Nabs One of Microsoft’s Top AI Scientists

Science and Health

News

After Executive Exodus, OpenAI Nabs One of Microsoft’s Top AI Scientists

By Gladys Rama10/15/2024

Sébastien Bubeck, a Microsoft Distinguished Scientist and its vice president of artificial intelligence, is leaving the company for OpenAI.

Bubeck announced his departure to Microsoft’s staff on Monday, according to a report by The Information. Microsoft subsequently confirmed Bubeck’s departure, saying that he “has decided to leave Microsoft to further his work toward developing AGI.”

AGI, or artificial general intelligence, refers to the concept of AI systems that are so proficient at learning and reasoning that they can perform a wide variety of tasks as competently as humans. AGI is currently a hypothetical milestone, though a select but growing roster of AI companies is hoping to reach it.  

Bubeck, who spent 10 years at Microsoft Research, specializes in what he calls “the physics of AGI,” which describes how various components of a large language model (LLM) contribute to its behavior. “I am now more focused on understanding how intelligence emerges in large language models, and how to use this understanding to improve LLMs’ intelligence, possibly towards building AGI,” he said in this bio.

His new company is arguably at the forefront of the AGI race. OpenAI’s latest AI models, the “o1” family, are designed to perform as well as human experts on complex, reasoning-intensive problems involving math, chemistry, physics and biology.

However, OpenAI’s approach to AGI has not been without controversy. CEO Sam Altman’s brief but dramatic ouster late last year is widely thought to have stemmed from the board’s concerns over his aggressive pursuit of AGI. Six months later, Altman effectively disbanded OpenAI’s AGI safety team. Combined with a recent wave of executive departures, including that of CTO Mira Murati, these developments have left industry watchers questioning whether Altman’s AGI strategy is pushing his researchers to their limits.

OpenAI may instead put Bubeck’s talents to work on its small language models (SLMs) like GPT-4o-mini and o1-mini. As the name suggests, SLMs are scaled-down versions of their LLM counterparts. Typically, SLMs are more cost-efficient and consume fewer resources than LLMs, making them ideal for specialized tasks and for running on edge devices.

Bubeck was a pioneer of Microsoft’s SLM efforts, particularly the Phi-3 model family launched this past spring. He is listed as an author in this Microsoft research paper that describes Phi-3 as “a highly capable language model locally on your phone.”

As of this writing, neither OpenAI nor Bubeck have shared his new title.

The partnership between Microsoft and OpenAI has been one of the most lucrative in the modern AI landscape. Since 2019, Microsoft has contributed over $13 billion to OpenAI’s coffers, gaining near-unrestricted access to OpenAI’s technology in return. Meanwhile, OpenAI received near-carte blanche access to Microsoft Azure, enabling it to tap into the cloud platform’s vast compute resources to train its AI models.

Despite the mutually beneficial relationship, however, the two companies consider themselves competitors.

In its statement about Bubeck’s exit, Microsoft said it “look[s] forward to continuing our relationship through his work with OpenAI.”

Do You Have News to Share? Get It Published.

Science and Health

Reach Millions With One Click

Go out on the wires, get syndicated, delivered to newsrooms,
posted to social media and on mobile devices.

Watch Video To See How It Benefits You

Get published on Google News, AP News, Benzinga, over 100+ NBC, FOX, ABC & CBS affiliate sites and more

Target specific countries and industry verticals

Get into the most important news databases and news wires

Reach journalists and media influencers

Attain long-term visibility in search engines & SEO benefits

Send releases in any language

Cost-effective, affordable budget options

No subscriptions – buy only what you need

Powerful.
Timely.
Effective.
Affordable.

Go out on the wires, get syndicated, delivered to newsrooms,
posted to social media and on mobile devices.