Month: February 2018

Budget Says Some Paper Currency Will No Longer Be Legal Tender – Politics – CBC News

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The Liberal government announced Tuesday — in an item buried deep in its 367-page 2018 budget document — that some paper currency will no longer be accepted as legal tender. The $1000 bank note will no longer be legal tender, pending the introduction of legislative changes. The Bank of Canada will still accept the bills for an exchange. (Bank of Canada) While the Bank of Canada stopped printing the $1,000 note in 2000, there are still about 700,000 of those bills still in circulation across the country. As part of a plan…

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What Happened After The US Moved To Chip-Embedded Payment Cards? | Ars Technica

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The US began its transition to chip-based credit cards in earnest in October 2015, after high-profile credit card hacks in the previous years at Target, Home Depot, Michaels, and other big-box retailers. Today, although only 59 percent of US storefronts have terminals that accept chip cards, fraud has dropped 70 percent from September 2015 to December 2017 for those retailers that have completed the chip upgrade, according to Visa. On the other hand, fraud dropping 70 percent for retailers who install chip cards seems great. Chip-embedded cards aren’t un-hackable, but they…

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Bell Customers Say Sales Reps Misled At The Door: ‘Guaranteed’ Price For Services Keeps Going Up – Business – CBC News

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A Toronto man feels misled by telecom giant Bell Canada, after signing up at the door for services he says he was guaranteed would remain the same price for two years, but increased after just six months. Gianmarco Minichillo was eating dinner with his family last May when a sales agent for Bell Canada knocked on his door, touting the fact that Bell had just installed fibre-optic cable in his neighbourhood, and offering a promotional package for TV, internet and home phone services. “He told me it was a guaranteed…

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Expect Longer Border Waits After Marijuana Legalization, CBSA Report Warns – National | Globalnews.ca

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The legalization of marijuana could lead to longer waits at Canada’s border crossings as officers deal with “cannabis tourists,” warns an intelligence report obtained by Global News. The declassified Canada Border Services Agency document also said that illicit exports of marijuana “are expected to increase” after legalization, putting additional strain on officers. “Unless exemptions are made for personal amounts of marijuana, cannabis legalization may increase workloads for officers and translate into longer border wait times, particularly at land borders,” it said. Border delays will be particularly bad during summer months…

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TD Bank Becomes Latest To Bar Customers From Using Credit To Buy Cryptocurrency – National | Globalnews.ca

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The decision follows moves by several U.S. banks to stop allowing credit card purchases of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. The value of bitcoin soared last year, trading for more than C$20,000 per bitcoin. The value of the cryptocurrency has since come off its all-time highs and trades for around C$13,000, but remains up significantly from where it was a year ago. Read full story here: TD Bank Becomes Latest To Bar Customers From Using Credit To Buy Cryptocurrency – National | Globalnews.ca  

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CRTC Rejects Call For Public Inquiry Into Aggressive Telecom Sales Practices – Business – CBC News

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A consumer group is protesting the CRTC’s refusal to hold a public inquiry into numerous claims of aggressive and misleading sales practices by some of Canada’s major telecoms. The telecom regulator says there’s no need for an inquiry. But the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC), a non-profit agency based in Ottawa, says the decision hurts consumers. “CRTC throws consumers to telco sales dogs,” PIAC’s executive director, John Lawford, said in a statement. “The CRTC refusal to inquire into the shocking sales practices of Canada’s major telecommunications and broadcasting companies says to consumers, ‘You’re…

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Blockchain And Cryptocurrency: Everything You Need To Know – CNET

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Here’s everything you need to know about the technology powering the bitcoin cryptocurrency today and, soon, a myriad of services that will change your life. This is part of “Blockchain Decoded,” a series looking at the impact of blockchain, bitcoin and cryptocurrency on our lives. These days, we’re having a harder and harder time trusting each other. Trust is an essential part of ordinary living, whether it’s picking mechanics based on Yelp reviews, sliding credit cards into gas station fuel pumps or heeding our doctor’s advice. But our trust has…

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Nova Scotia Power Testing Tesla Batteries In Electrical System – Halifax | Globalnews.ca

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Nova Scotia Power is testing Tesla batteries in a pilot project exploring how they can be used to provide a more reliable power supply. A couple dozen battery compartments, each about the size of an enclosed portable toilet, have been installed at an electrical substation in Elmsdale, N.S. The modular arrangement is called a Powerpack system; essentially a giant rechargeable battery. A smaller-scale system was installed in Australia. “The wind blows when it blows, the sun shines when it shines, but people like to watch TV at night,” Jill Searle, the NSP’s…

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Dog Bites: It May Not Be Them, It Could Be You – Health – CBC News

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Having a nervous personality could boost your chances of being bitten by a dog. Results from a recent survey compiled by the University of Liverpool show that those who scored as being more “emotionally stable” on a personality test were less likely to be bitten by a dog. The research could have consequences for anyone who has ever cowered in the presence of a dog, even if they may not be able to control their emotional responses enough to avoid being bitten. Experts say that although a dog’s reason for becoming excited or upset…

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Forget $9,000… Bitcoin Falls Below $7,000 [Updated] | Ars Technica

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Further ReadingMore bad news pushes bitcoin’s value below $9,000If there were any lingering doubts about whether the Bitcoin bubble was over, those should be gone now. After falling below $9,000 last Thursday for the first time since November, Bitcoin has fallen south of $7,500 as of this writing. Bitcoin was trading at right around $8,250 at the start of Monday, so it’s down nearly 9 percent so far today. Bitcoin had rallied a bit over the weekend, peaking at nearly $9,500 on Saturday, but Monday’s news that Lloyds Bank has…

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