U.S. Border Guards Can Search Your Phone: Here Are Some Details On How – Technology & Science – CBC News

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In one of several testy exchanges during a U.S. Senate hearing this week, the country’s secretary of homeland security was pressed to explain a new policy that allows customs agents to examine the cellphones of travellers at the border. “I want to make sure I understand this. I live an hour’s drive from the Canadian border,” said Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy. “If I go to Canada and visit some of my wife’s relatives, and I come back … they [can] say, ‘We want your laptop and your phone and your pass…

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Why you should switch to LED lightbulbs right now, before the law requires it – The Washington Post

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When Jason Chroman relocated from San Francisco to the suburbs, he and his family moved into a bigger, newer house. It was all very exciting until their first electric bill arrived. “The house was maybe 30 percent bigger, but the electric bill was something like 200 percent more,” Chroman said. So he started looking around to figure out what could be using so much power. He found the answer when he looked up: “Because it was a new house, it had a lot of recessed lighting, all of which was…

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Ottawa’s New Carbon Pricing Plan Will Reward Clean Companies – Politics – CBC News

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The federal government added more meat to the bones of its core environmental policy Monday by releasing draft legislation on how pricing carbon pollution will work in Canada. The new legislation is the federal backstop and will apply to all provinces that haven’t created their own system and put it in place by September 2018. Here are three things to take away from the proposed legislation: The price on carbon pollution will start at $10 a tonne this year and increase to $50 a tonne by 2022. Environment Canada is launching…

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Rogers Employees Say Managers Turn A Blind Eye So Call Centre Workers Can Lie And Cheat Customers – Business – CBC News

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Call centre employees working for Rogers Communications say the telecom company is pressuring them to try to make a sale on every call — even to elderly people who don’t understand or need certain products or services. In emails and interviews with Go Public, dozens of Rogers workers say they’re under “extreme pressure” to hit sales targets or risk termination. Their claims come on the heels of Bell Canada workers revealing similar pressures to upsell customers, often at the expense of ethics. “You’re supposed to look at a customer’s account and…

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Chinese Bitcoin Miners Eye Sites In Quebec, Manitoba | CBC News

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China’s Bitmain Technologies is eyeing bitcoin mining sites in Quebec, a company spokesperson told Reuters, as expectations of a potential Chinese crackdown on cryptocurrency mining make the energy-rich province an attractive alternative. China has grown into one of the world’s biggest sources of cryptocurrency mining but there are signs Beijing is increasing scrutiny of the sector’s players and may ask local authorities to regulate their power use. Bitmain Technologies, operator of some of the largest mining farms in the country, is among several companies looking to expand overseas. Bitmain spokesperson Nishant Sharma…

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Navy Dropping ‘Draconian’ Policy On Warship Wi-Fi, Admiral Says | CBC News

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For the navy’s most senior enlisted man it was a seminal moment. It was — in today’s terms — the most ordinary of scenes, but the fact it was taking place in a mess aboard the frigate HMCS Charlottetown was extraordinary. Chief Petty Officer 1st Class Michel Vigneault was amazed to see a sailor having a Facetime conversation with family back home on a smartphone. The moment neatly captured the conundrum he and the top brass have faced in making the navy, which has for a decade been perpetually short of…

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What Is Bitcoin? Here’s What You Need To Know About It | Digital Trends

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Bitcoin. It’s a word that was once merely discussed as an academic idea among technology enthusiasts, then became a hushed mention among law enforcement tackling online drug trades – and most recently it’s the latest craze for those looking to make a quick buck. But what is bitcoin? Why are people so interested in it? People buy bitcoin for all sorts of different reasons. It’s a store of value, a transactional medium, and an idea that some claim could change the future of economics entirely. Most notably, it’s not a…

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Driverless Cars Became A Reality In 2017 And Hardly Anyone Noticed | Ars Technica

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On November 7, Waymo announced it would begin regularly testing fully driverless cars—without a safety driver—on public roads. It was a momentous announcement. A technology that had seemed like science fiction a decade earlier became a reality. And the announcement was greeted with a yawn by much of the media and the public—if they noticed at all. Consider this December 7 article by Eric Adams, a writer for The Drive. Adams wrote that “Level 4 technology”—that is, a car like Waymo’s that can operate with no driver in a geofenced area—”is…

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Renewable Energy Growing In Canada But Solar Installations Lagging Behind – CityNews Toronto

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by Mia Rabson, The Canadian Press OTTAWA – Although the cost to build solar power has plummeted over the last decade, a new report suggests Canadians aren’t rushing use the sun to make electricity. The National Energy Board today released its annual look at the state of renewable energy in Canada and it says solar energy accounts for just 0.5 per cent of all Canada’s generated electricity. And almost all of that exists entirely in Ontario, the report notes. NEB chief economist Shelley Milutinovic said the trend in Canada is…

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Bell Says CRTC Promise Of Free Phone Unlocking Doesn’t Apply To Everyone – Business – CBC News

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Canadians were supposed to be freed from cellphone unlocking fees come Dec. 1, but some with a Bell-locked phone have found they’ve had to fight for their freedom. That’s because the telecom giant will only unlock phones free of charge for current and former customers. Its policy excludes anyone who never signed up with Bell but acquired a second-hand phone that happens to be locked to its network. Bell also turned down Laura Train-Fraser even though she says she was once a customer. Because the telecom couldn’t confirm this, it refused to…

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