Author: Editor-in-Chief

Shopify, one of the most popular e-commerce platforms, faced a major outage on Cyber Monday, disrupting the operations of numerous merchants and leaving them unable to fulfill transactions. Cause and Resolution of the Outage According to Shopify’s status page, the company has identified and fixed the issue, which was related to its login authentication flow. This explains the challenges merchants faced in logging into their Shopify accounts and accessing point-of-sale (POS) systems. Shopify has confirmed that it is now seeing signs of recovery and will continue to monitor the situation. Impact on Merchants The exact number of affected merchants is…

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith during her speech to the United Conservative Party’s annual general meeting in Edmonton on Saturday. Credit: Screenshot of UCP video The Boo Heard ‘Round Edmonton At the UCP’s recent annual general meeting (AGM) in Edmonton, delegates loudly booed Premier Danielle Smith during her address — a raw display of dissatisfaction from within her own base. The source of the backlash? Her decision to sign a high-stakes energy deal with the federal government, which many hard-line separatists view as a betrayal of Alberta’s autonomy. What Triggered the Backlash Energy Deal with Ottawa The deal struck with Ottawa…

Danielle Smith and Mark Carney, all smiles Credit: Alberta Newsroom Expect an Alberta Election Call Before Anyone Notices the Prince Rupert Pipeline Is Doomed The Political Clock Is Ticking Alberta’s political machinery is humming with the unmistakable signs of a government preparing to head to the polls. From pre-campaign spending announcements to carefully managed public appearances, the governing party appears eager to seize a narrow window—one that may close quickly once scrutiny intensifies over stalled infrastructure ambitions, particularly the not-so-quietly imperiled pipeline proposal to Prince Rupert. The Pipeline That Won’t Disappear—but Likely Will Not Materialize The idea of a westbound Alberta…

High interest savings accounts are a type of savings account that offers a higher interest rate compared to a traditional savings account. Top High Interest Savings Accounts in Canada Some of the top high interest savings accounts in Canada include: * EQ Bank Savings Plus Account: 2.50% interest rate, no monthly fees, and unlimited transactions * Wealthsimple Savings Account: 2.20% interest rate, no monthly fees, and no minimum balance requirement * Tangerine Savings Account: 2.10% interest rate, no monthly fees, and no minimum balance requirement These accounts are offered by reputable Canadian banks and financial institutions, and are insured by…

Mounting Concerns Over Shrinking Provincial Budgets Public health leaders across Ontario warn that years of constrained or declining funding have pushed crucial services—such as infection control, vaccination outreach, and chronic disease prevention—toward a breaking point. While the province continues to face pressures from population growth, aging demographics, and post-pandemic recovery, experts say investment has not kept pace with need. Frontline Services Feeling the Strain Local public health units report that budget pressures have forced them to scale back or consolidate programs once considered core to community safety. Cuts Affect Preventive Care Immunization clinics Sexual health services Food safety inspections…

Rad Power Bikes has informed its employees that it will shut down in January if it is unable to find new funding or get acquired, according to an internal staff email viewed by TechCrunch. The company’s leadership is “still fighting to find ways to continue,” and “the cessation of Rad’s operations is not a forgone conclusion,” according to the email, which was sent by Rad Power’s “people team.” Rad Power employees were told there had been a “very promising” option to keep the company alive that “appeared to be likely to close,” but the deal — which was not specified…

Nearly seven years after announcing its first fund, Sapphire Sport — the venture fund focused on sports, media, and entertainment — is spinning out from Sapphire Ventures. The fund will rebrand as an independent venture firm, 359 Capital. The firm’s new name is a tribute to the sub-four-minute mile, a feat once deemed humanly impossible but ultimately achieved through rigorous dedication and perseverance. 359 Capital co-founder and managing partner Michael Spirito said that the name reflects the firm’s core principle of helping its portfolio founders achieve the impossible. The separation from Sapphire Ventures, an investment firm with about $11 billion…

Gamma, a startup that creates AI-generated presentations, websites, and social media posts, announced on Monday a $68 million Series B round at a $2.1 billion valuation led by Andreessen Horowitz. Co-founder and CEO Grant Lee posted on X that the company has profitably hit $100 million in ARR, with 70 million users. The startup hit $50 million profitably in its first two years, Lee previously posted. Gamma last raised a $12 million Series A round led by Accel in 2024. Gamma isn’t exactly a new-to-the-scene AI startup (at least by AI standards). It was founded in late 2020, according to Lee’s LinkedIn, with its product first launching in 2022. Its more cautious raising trajectory (by AI standards) helped it hit a double-unicorn valuation on a total fundraising of about $90 million. This was achieved…

Wikipedia on Monday laid out a simple plan to ensure its website continues to be supported in the AI era, despite its declining traffic. In a blog post, the Wikimedia Foundation, the organization that runs the popular online encyclopedia, called on AI developers to use its content “responsibly” by ensuring its contributions are properly attributed and that content is accessed through its paid product, the Wikimedia Enterprise platform. The opt-in, paid product allows companies to use Wikipedia’s content at scale without “severely taxing Wikipedia’s servers,” the Wikimedia Foundation blog post explains. In addition, the product’s paid nature allows AI companies…

For more than a decade, makers of government spyware have defended themselves from criticism by saying that their surveillance technology is intended to be used only against serious criminals and terrorists, and only in limited cases. The evidence gathered from dozens, if not hundreds of documented instances of spyware abuse all over the world, however, shows that neither of those arguments are true. Journalists, human rights activists, and politicians have repeatedly been targeted in both repressive regimes and democratic countries. The latest example is a political consultant who works for left-wing politicians in Italy, who came out as the most…