Hasta La Gadget!

Verizon’s insatiable appetite for spectrum is legendary. The company’s most recently been eyeing Canada’s valuable 700MHz airwaves and even shown interest in acquiring troubled carriers Wind Mobile and Mobilicity. (Especially after the CRTC rejected Telus’s attempt to purchase the latter.) The Globe and Mail now reports that VZW’s chosen to delay its potential acquisitions of the two carriers until after next year’s 700MHz auction and that the US company is considering a bid for the spectrum directly. It’s unclear if Verizon is attempting to buy time, trying to push the price of the struggling operators down or simply losing interest in the Canadian market. One thing’s for sure — if the company bids in the auction it won’t be able to negotiate any deals with other applicants until next year.

[Image credit: Andrew Currie, Flickr]

Filed under: Wireless, Mobile, Verizon

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Via: Reuters

Source: The Globe and Mail

Canadians who love movies (but hate vowels) just received some good news: Rdio has launched Vdio in their homeland. The content and pricing is largely similar to what we’ve seen in the US, including major movies that cost $5.99 to rent and $19.99 to buy. There are a few glaring omissions, though — some bigger titles, such as Django Unchained and Silver Linings Playbook, are listed as “unavailable.” Vdio isn’t launching all that smoothly in the Great White North, then. Even so, its arrival is noteworthy when many online media services tend to skip Canada altogether.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Internet, HD

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Via: GigaOM

Source: Rdio Blog, Vdio

We’ve known for some time that Kickstarter would finally be opening itself up to Canadian-based projects this summer, and we now know exactly when that will happen. Kickstarter has just announced that Canadians can get to work on their project pages starting today, although they won’t be able to launch their project to the public until September 9th. In the lead-up to that, Kickstarter will be hosting a handful of events in Toronto and Montreal to get folks acquainted with the crowdfunding service, and they’re inviting folks to request an event in their own city if they can’t make it to one of those. Those interested can find what they need to get started at the source link below.

Filed under: Internet

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Source: Kickstarter

All you cool city cats on DSL, eat your heart out — a 1Gbps fiber internet service will soon be speeding up the lives of 8,500 residents in Olds, a rural community in Alberta, Canada. Around 60% of the populace can sign up for the $170 / month plan at the moment, but a new pricing scheme will bring it down to $57. That’s cheaper than Google Fiber, folks, which is made possible by the fact that the town itself owns the service. In fact, it’s the Olds Institute for Community and Regional Development (a non-profit) that took the bull by the horns, securing a $2.5 million grant from the Alberta government and a $6 million loan from the town itself to fund the fiber network construction. It’s thanks to the town’s authorities that the residents can soon rid themselves of crappy internet, while the rest of us can only look on in envy.

[Image credit: Barta IV / Flickr]

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Source: CBC News, O-Net

We’re sure AeroVelo team members think every sleepless night and pedal push are worth it now that they can add the prestigious $250,000 Sikorsky Prize to their pile of bragging rights. They’ve completely demolished all the requirements needed to win the human-powered helicopter competition during one of their recent attempts. Atlas, their flying contraption, stayed in the air for 64.11 seconds, flew at a max altitude of 3.3 meters (10.8 feet) and never meandered beyond the designated 10 x 10 meter (33 x 33 feet) area. The University of Toronto’s creation was locked in head-to-head battle with the University of Maryland’s Gamera chopper for quite some time, but it’s finally bagged the prize that had remained unclaimed for 33 long years. That’s a tremendous accomplishment for anyone, especially for a project with humble beginnings, and if Leonardo Da Vinci were still alive, he’d extend a big congratulazione.

Filed under: Misc

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Via: Popular Mechanics

Source: AeroVelo