Quebec
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Canada will get its first universal quantum computer from IBM
Canada is getting its first universal quantum computer thanks to a team-up with IBM.
Bitcoin miners turn Quebec's cheap energy into cold cash
Bitcoin mining is a weird industry. Vast banks of dedicated computers solve complex equations to generate hashes worth a fraction of a coin, consuming huge amounts of power in the process. For such operations to be economically feasible nowadays, miners need the cheapest electricity possible.
Uber decides against leaving Quebec over tough ridesharing rules
Uber vowed to leave Quebec if it starts implementing stricter rules on October 14th. A few hours before the deadline, though, the ride-hailing firm has changed its tune: Uber has decided to stay, hoping to have a "constructive dialogue" with new Transport Minister André Fortin. Quebec is requiring Uber drivers to undergo 35 hours of training similar to the one taxi drivers go through. It also wants drivers to be background-checked by the police. The company obviously wasn't happy with these proposed rules and is likely aiming to sway the young transport chief, who's only been on the job for a few days, in its favor.
Uber vows to leave Quebec over tougher regulations
Uber appears to be making its second big exit in as many weeks. The ridesharing company intends to shut down operations in the Canadian province of Quebec if stricter rules are implemented for the October 14th renewal of a pilot project that lets Uber run in the region. Quebec wants drivers to go through the same 35 hours of training as a conventional taxi driver, get background checks from police (not private companies as they do today) and go through vehicle inspections once every year. Uber had already threatened to leave if it was regulated like taxis, so it's clearly willing to follow through on this promise.
4 billion year-old fossils found in Canadian quartz
Scientists have found new evidence of life's origins on Earth, in Canada no less. The newest record of our primordial past are fossils of bacteria that Phys.org says lived on iron and were encased in layers of quartz. The current estimate is that these microorganisms are at least 3.77 billion years old -- a tad older than the Greenland stromatolites announced last August.
Canadian cops admit to monitoring six journalists' phones
Authorities in Quebec, Canada have admitted that Patrick Lagace wasn't the only journalist they spied on in recent years, according to The Star. Capt. Guy Lapointe, the spokesperson for the province's national police, has revealed that warrants were taken out to monitor the incoming and outgoing call and text log info of six local French-language journalists in 2013. While he didn't mention any names, five of the six found out through their own sources and came forward to identify themselves. One of them is Denis Lessard, the National Assembly bureau chief for La Presse, the same French-language newspaper that Lagace writes for.
Quebec contemplates mandating home EV charging stations
The Quebec government announced on Friday that it is currently considering a new mandate that would require every new home built within the province -- as well as existing rentals -- be outfitted with a 240V charging station for electric vehicles. The government has already started an impact study, the results of which are expected to be published by the start of this summer.
Guy hoverboards across a Canadian lake and into history
No, this isn't some guerilla marketing campaign for Back to the Future's upcoming pseudo-anniversary. It's a world record-setting flight by Canadian inventor Catalin Alexandru Duru aboard a homebrew hoverboard. He recently piloted this prototype nearly 1000 feet across a Quebec lake to set the record. "The prototype can be used anywhere," Duru explains in the video below. "But is usually tested over water because of how dangerously high it can fly (which is ironic considering that the movie joked that it can't)." There aren't many details about the device available though it would appear he controls it by shifting his bodyweight back and forth like a geeky Green Goblin. There's also no word on when (or if) the device will ever make it to market -- no matter how hard you wish for it.
Ubisoft investing $28 million more in Quebec, adding 100 new jobs
Ubisoft is expanding its operations in Quebec with an investment of $28 million CAD ($25,266,816.09 USD) over the next three years. The goal is to fill 100 new positions focusing on AAA next-generation development at Ubisoft's Quebec City studio. The government will assist Ubisoft Quebec City's growth with $10,000 as part of the ESSOR program – the same program that also helped WB Games to set up shop within Canada's largest province. WB Games Montreal shipped its first AAA game last year, Batman: Arkham Origins. The Quebec City studio was formed in 2005 and has worked on entries in the Assassin's Creed, Prince of Persia and Might and Magic series. Back in September, Ubisoft announced it would invest $362 million in Quebec over the next seven years, in the hopes of creating 500 new positions.
WB Games Montreal investment to create 100 new jobs
WB Games Montreal will add 100 new jobs as it continues to grow beyond its original scope, receiving $1.5 million from the Quebec government. Announced in 2010, the studio was positioned to work on social and mobile projects, but is now on the verge of releasing its first triple-A game, Batman: Arkham Origins. "By the end of five years, it'll be 2018, there should be 500 people here and I think we'll be one of the best-known studios in the world," said Warner Brothers Interactive President Martin Tremblay. The studio currently has 325 employees, according to CTV. The WB Games grant comes hot on the heels of another major investment by Quebec in publisher Ubisoft. The $373 million CAD ($362 million USD) Ubisoft investment is expected to add another 500 new jobs to the region by 2020, bringing Ubisoft's employee total in Quebec to 3,500.
WB Games Montreal gets $1.5 million investment from government
Quebec's government has invested $1.5 million in WB Games Montreal, developers of the upcoming Batman: Arkham Origins, as part of a five-year, $63 million expansion which will create 100 jobs at the company. WB Montreal Studio Chief Martin Carrier predicted the studio would play host to 500 people and "be one of the best-known studios in the world" by 2018, CTV News reports. Premier Pauline Marois, who announced the grant, also said that the game development scene in Montreal was the top market in Canada, and that Montreal itself is one of the top three cities in the world leading game development.
Ubisoft invests $362M in Quebec over 7 years, plans to add 500 jobs
Ubisoft is concentrating its American operations for online games in Montreal, Quebec, expecting to add 500 new jobs to the region by 2020. This investment over the next seven years focuses on online infrastructures and the expansion of Ubisoft's motion capture technologies, and it will bring Ubisoft's employee total in Quebec to 3,500. The 500 new jobs include standard video game production roles, along with "community and network management specialists, business intelligence analysts, mathematicians, telemetry experts, systems operators, and monetization and interactive marketing specialists," Ubisoft explains. It's a $373 million CAD ($362 million USD) investment overall. Tax breaks in Quebec make it sensible for Ubisoft to operate its American services from Canada. "We firmly believe in the importance of creative industries for our economy and are pleased to have been supporting Ubisoft since their arrival in Quebec, in 1997," Quebec Premier Pauline Marois said. "Their growth and concrete economic benefits for the Quebec nation are true sources of pride. The project announced today, bringing about important job creation, allows us to foresee success in the future."
Moving 'for rent' sign uses camera, motorized mount to track pedestrians (video)
Even in prime locations, vacant stores can go tenantless for months or years, costing landlords quite a bit in uncollected rent. One real estate owner in Sherbrooke, Quebec is hoping to move a property a bit more quickly, though, using a creative hack to attract attention to an otherwise ordinary "for rent" (à louer, in this case) sign. A standard red placard is mounted to a motorized horizontal track, with a camera keeping tabs on passersby. As pedestrians walk down the sidewalk, the sign slides to match their position. It's a clever trick for sure, but with "many abandoned shop fronts" in the area, according to Niklas Roy, the project's lead, it may be entertaining tourists for some time to come.
Mobile Miscellany: week of October 22nd, 2012
If you didn't get enough in mobile news during the week, not to worry, because we've opened the firehose for the truly hardcore. This past week, T-Mobile announced the price and release date for the Optimus L9, carriers were announced in Canada for the ATIV S Windows Phone and ZTE released a low-priced Android smartphone for Virgin Mobile in the UK. These stories and more await after the break. So buy the ticket and take the ride as we explore the "best of the rest" for this week of October 22nd, 2012.
Rogers LTE hits 18 new regions, delivers speedy data in Saskatoon
Rogers promised that October 1st would be a grand day for its LTE expansion plans, and we're now learning that it might have been underpromising to overdeliver later. The carrier just flicked the 4G switch for 18 cities and regions, or eight more territories than it had promised just two weeks ago. Most of the coverage still focuses on the southern tip of Ontario, including London, the Oshawa area and RIM's hometown of Waterloo, but there's a much more trans-Canada bent to the official deployment. Western cities like Saskatoon and Victoria now fit into Rogers' LTE map beyond a previously announced Edmonton, while the Quebec rollout is going past Quebec City to include Sherbrooke and Trois-Rivières. All told, the one day of growth is enough to supply Rogers LTE to almost 60 percent of Canada's population -- a convenient figure when one of the year's more important LTE smartphones just became available less than two weeks prior. [Thanks, Jon]
Mischo Erban breaks skateboard speed record, captures the run with camera-equipped Recon
We know Quebec well for its maple syrup, poutine and fresh mountain air, but the French Canadian province also has a more sprightly side, renewing our neighbor to the north's status in the athletic arena from time to time as well. This month, it's BC native Mischo Erban, who broke a Guinness World Record for the "fastest skateboard speed from a standing position" with a 129.94 km/h (80.74 mph) downhill run. Better yet, Erban caught the record-breaking journey with his custom-built Recon heads-up display / camera combo mounted inside a rather beastly jet-black helmet. The Android-powered HUD theoretically enabled Erban to know he broke the record before he even came to a stop, while also motivating him to keep pushing as he approached that 130 kilometers-per-hour top speed. There's no way to replicate the feeling of flying down a hill aboard a skateboard at 80 miles-per-hour without hopping on some wheels of your own, but you can get a taste of the action in the new record holder's POV video after the break.
Canada's Videotron finally delivers tru2way-based illico TV HD DVRs
We've been waiting for the tru2way-based cable service Videotron promised since the end of 2009, and now it has finally delivered illico Digital TV. The software is being provided by Alticast, while HD DVRs available through Videotron and at retail are from Cisco and Samsung. While it's been a while and we can't quite remember where we put our excitement for all things OCAP (probably tossed when the retail availability dream died), Videotron customers can expect a new HD UI, widgets, and a 500GB DVR. At least in this initial push there's no mention of multiroom capabilities, although there is the ability to view video on demand content on PCs and mobile devices. It will start rolling out April 4th in the Greater Quebec region with other regions following soon, those interested can check out an English-subtitled trailer as well as a Francophone-only presentation video after the break.
Wall-E gets a LEGO Mindstorms NXT makeover, tears up the dance floor (video)
Alright, let's all be upfront here. When you saw this Pixar masterpiece you caught yourself thinking, "Destruction of the Earth? Not so bad... if that means I get my own Wall-E." It's ok, other more robotically-adept Quebecers had the same idea. Except they managed to mix it up with a LEGO Mindstorms NXT kit and create a waste-collecting romantic of their own -- sans the devastation of our world. The brainchild of Montreal-based creator Marc-André Bazergui, project w.5 incorporates six NXT bricks, 17 motors and over a thousand parts that let the lovelorn bot reanimate his motorized chassis back into our hearts. It's an impressive feat you can watch below, but note the video has been sped up -- you didn't expect building bricks to move that fast, did you?
Videotron parent company tries to push iPhones off its TV network in Quebec
What happens when a giant media company owns both a wireless carrier and a television network? Shenanigans -- or at least that's what now seems to be going on in la belle province of Quebec, where the parent company of cable and wireless provider Videotron and television network TVA has seemingly decided to throw its weight around a bit. Apparently, some folks from Quebecor Inc. recently realized that a number of television shows produced for TVA featured iPhones somewhat prominently, which just so happens to be a phone that isn't offered by its Videotron subsidiary. Their solution? Ask the shows' producers to feature phones that are available on Videotron instead, like the Nexus One -- provided free of charge, of course. There doesn't seem to be an outright iPhone ban, however, and at least one show has apparently been given specific permission to let its characters continue using their iPhones -- although another show's producer says he "wouldn't be surprised" if such a ban was eventually put in place.
RixRover is the cheap RC car controlled by a rather more expensive Arduino and netbook combo (video)
Driving RC cars never gets old, but driving them over the internet is truly something magical. Welcome to the RixRover, the creation of Quebecer Pierric Gimmig. It's a cheap RC truck fitted with big knobby tires that's had its ABS body removed, replaced by an Arduino board and a netbook. The car itself cost about $45, the Arduino about $30, and Eee PC 1005-series netbook about $200. But the result, being able to drive the car over remotely via streaming video, why that's quite simply priceless. Video after the break and, if you want to try your hand at this, there's some source code on the other end of the source link.
