Hashtag Trending

“Insider” Jimmy Apples says OpenAI is going to launch a search engine to compete with Google, Intel is losing billions of dollars a year. Hackers Stole Data on Up To A Third of Americans,Things are wrapping up in what might be the trial of the century. No not that one. We’re talking about the Google Antitrust Trial All this and more on the “how do you like them Apples” edition of Hashtag Trending. I’m your host, Jim Love.

Security firm Okta warns of an unprecendented password stuffing attack that is piggybacking on regular user’s mobile and home devices, the UK is banning obvious passwords, Chrome has moved to “post quantum” encryption and maybe the cure for password issues is to finally get rid of passwords. All this and more on the “QuertyUIOP” edition of Hashtag Trending. I’m your host, Jim Love.

The US federal government relaxes the requirement for university degrees for cyber security professionals, a new study finds that AI may have more empathy that human therapists, Elon Musk lays off an employee who slept in his car near the plant so he could work longer hours and if you think that cancelling that credit card is the way to end all of those online subscriptions – think again. All this and more on the “some days, you can’t make this stuff up” edition of Hashtag Trending. I’m your host, Jim Love.

The TikTok battle may be just beginning. A major European cloud company makes its simplified cooling system open source. Microsoft Xbox sales continue to tank. Meta gets hammered by the European Union for not tacking Russian disinformation and the sheer scale of disinformation and misinformation my blow your mind. All this and more on the “truth or consequences” edition of Hashtag Trending. I’m your host, Jim Love.

93% of first responders experience issues with their mobile devices, New York state mandates $15.00 a month internet for those with low incomes, Google issues a warning to update Chrome for Windows, a new study that indicates Canadians are increasingly demanding better online government services and is the “dumb-phone” making a comeback? All this and more on the “mobile love and hate” edition of Hashtag Trending. I’m your host, Jim Love.

Summary Canada is facing a productivity gap and a lack of innovation despite significant investments by government in research and development. The Council of Canadian Innovators has released a report titled 'Buying Ideas: Procuring Public Sector Innovation in Canada' that highlights the need to leverage government procurement to drive innovation and productivity. The report identifies several problems with the current procurement system, including over-specification, risk aversion, and a lack of focus on the demand side of innovation. The report makes six recommendations to address these issues, including implementing an SME procurement target for innovation and creating an innovative public procurement program. The conversation explores the importance of innovative procurement in government and the need for improved procurement practices in Canada. Laurent highlights the Finnish model of procurement, which provides funding and expertise to government departments and agencies to pursue innovative projects. Our guest also emphasizes the need for innovative procurement standards and the role of standards in governance. The conversation touches on the challenges in the Canadian healthcare system and the potential for innovation in healthcare procurement. He also emphasizes the importance of spending public money well and the need for more collaboration between government, business, and academia. Some of the takeaways: Takeaways

OpenAI wants you to think about them as critical infrastructure. Meta’s stock tanks as Zuckerberg delivers his future vision to investors. IBM acquires infrastructure management firm HashiCorp for 6.4 billion dollars and their stock drops. Spotify misses targets and confesses to struggling after layoffs – and their stock goes up. All this and more on the “who said life was fair” edition of Hashtag Trending. I’m your host, Jim Love.

Times up for TikTok – or is it? A whirlwind of news in AI this week. And an incredible story of the creativity of those who keep legacy tech alive. All this and more on the “firehose” edition of Hashtag Trending. I’m your host, Jim Love.

Pushing back against rising cloud costs – one CEO make big savings, Microsoft makes it clear that it doesn’t want Windows 11 on older hardware, Apple’s Vision Pro is showing disappointing early results and Google makes it clear that it needs to up its game. All this and more on the “we’re not gonna take it” edition of Hashtag Trending. I’m your host, Jim Love.

Deutche Telekom is using what they call “digital humans” for customer service and claiming great results. Mark Zuckerberg gives some insight into Meta’s different approach to AI strategy in recent interviews and Elon Musk suffers quality issues on two offerings which may have been rushed to market.” All this and more on the “Murphy was an optimist” edition of Hashtag Trending. I’m your host, Jim Love.

Capital Gains tax in Canada gets criticized by tech sector. Amazon drops 100,000 jobs while vastly increasing its use of robots. Tesla’s luxury Cyber Truck faces a huge recall. AI Rapidly Catching Up to Humans Across Benchmarks, AI Hallucinations Could Be Solved Within a Year, Was the AI incident with Air Canada’s chat bot really AI? All this and more on the “take the money and run” edition of Hashtag Trending. I’m your host, Jim Love.

We’ve heard a lot about Quantum computing and somehow it seems like it’s nuclear fusion - there’s all of these great advances that make the news, but the idea of actual use in business seems a long way off. For me, it seems… I understand it conceptually. I just can’t figure out why its possible. Maybe its’ because I grew up being able to see transistors and how they work and so even though the ability to put thousands and possibly millions of transistors on a silicon chip is a feat of engineering, I still sort of know how it works. But quantum. It’s seems more like magic. Things that exist as probabilities, that can be linked over potentially vast distances and affect each other even without a know connection. Things that only truly exist in their state of uncertainty until you observe them. How does that work? Why does it work? So you hear about it, but it doesn’t seem real somehow. I go back to my nuclear fusion parallel. Great idea. You can sustain it in some big lab for a couple of seconds but that’s it. But lately, there are signs that quantum might be more real than we think. While we’ve heard of these quantum processors in large laboratories, IBM just announced that a US university will be getting an IBM quantum computer for research and teaching - and that they are going to do the same for several other universities in the US. Suddenly it seems a little more real. And as always, I’m interested in what’s happening out in the big world, but I’m also wondering what is happening in Canada. And it turns out that there is some work being done here, advancing the idea of Quantum Computing in commercial usage. Quantum Algorithms Institute is a collaboration between government, the academic community, and Canada’s growing sector of quantum computing companies. We work with companies across industries to build experience in the real-world application of quantum solutions. My guest today might make that even more real - she’s with a program that is planning on teaching students to program for quantum computers. She’s a professor at Wilfred Laurier University and the Chief Technology Officer of the Quantum Algorithms Institute My guest is Dr. Shohini Ghose...... Note: The link to the Quantum Algorithms Institute

Meta’s new AI release sparks a debate about open versus closed source AI, major legislation expanding US government surveillance capabilities goes largely unnoticed, big questions about how accurate these AI launch videos are, and before you book that next business trip, a former Boeing manager says he won’t fly on some Boeing planes. All this and more on the “flying under the radar” edition of Hashtag Trending. I’m your host, Jim Love.

More Windows PCs previously blocked are now able to upgrade to Windows 11. Apple has fallen to number two in terms of iPhone market share. Salesforce makes news with a possible acquisition of Informatica. And a new AI wearable device gets savage reviews. All this and more on the “winners and losers” edition of Hashtag Trending. I’m your host, Jim Love.

YouTube clamps down on third party apps that block ads. Experts predict a new cyber-war between Iran and Israel. Elon Musk backs down on his fight with the Brazilian government and Broadcom makes concessions in the face of customer outrage and European regulatory scrutiny of its new VMWare pricing. All this and more on the “who blinks first” edition of Hashtag Trending. I’m your host, Jim Love. Let’s get into it.

Solar power is the largest source of new US electricity generation for the sixth month in a row, Microsoft is hiking prices on Dynamics 365 business apps by up to 16.7%, VMware's Desktop Virtualization products rebranded as "Omnissa", Tesla is laying off over 10% of global workforce amid delivery slump and the U.S. government gets some scathing criticism over Microsoft's cybersecurity failures All this and more on the “price might not be right” edition of Hashtag Trending. I’m your host, Jim Love.

Google Enhances Browser Security with AI and announces a New Paid 'Premium' Version, Google users report account lock outs that beat their two factor authentication. Google Blocks California News Access Amid Fight Over a Journalism Payment Bill and Gen Z Ditching Google for TikTok and YouTube Searches** All this and more on the “too much Google” edition of Hashtag Trending. I’m your host, Jim Love.

Welcome to HashTag Trending, the weekend edition. I’m your host Jim Love. I can understand if many of you get frustrated about politics. What we see for the most part is a lot of BS. Ask a politician a simple question and you’ll get a lot of non-answers, talking points ways that their political opponents have it wrong. Yes, that’s true even in Canadian politics. So what do we do? We can get involved and try to change the process. I’ve certainly done that. I’ve worked for every political party at one point. I’ve worked for the NDP - Neil Young - not the musician and Bob Rae, I’ve worked to support the Liberals under Stephane Dion, one of the most incredible people I’ve ever met, I’ve been a riding president of a Progressive Conservative riding which led me to meet and grown to like Joe Clarke for the authentic person he is. I know what you are thinking. What’s wrong with this guy? Can’t he take a side? And the clear answer is no. I can’t take sides. There is only side - and that’s what’s best for Canadians. So I’ve never been a believer in party labels. I wanted to work with authentic people who wanted to make Canada a better nation and make a future for our children. And the need was never greater. Canada is in crisis. Our productivity numbers are plummeting. Regardless of what you get fed from government sources, we are not a leader in AI, or in digital government. But equally, the stuff that the opposition parties are feeding you - that’s nonsense as well. The reality is if you strip away the party lines, if you talk to the smartest people in Ottawa, you’d know the truth. We are in crisis. Our future standard of living is in real jeopardy. And yet, we are an incredibly resilient people, we have so much going for us, that if we could get it together we could fulfil that quote of Wilfred Laurier - the 21st Century belongs to Canada. But what do we do? Fortunately, we have a structure in our Government where parties don’t really have to matter. It’s called the Senate. For my American listeners, you have a Senate as well - it’s called the body of “sober second thought.” The difference in Canada - our senators are actually sober. I say that in jest, but in our Senate, and I’m not taking political sides, but credit where credit is due, our Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, said he would no longer make political appointments to the Canadian Senate. He would appoint knowledgeable people and challenge them to “challenge the government’s thinking.” In other words, he would try to make the Senate truly a “body of sober second thought.” A place where non-partisan citizens would join with only the best interests of the country at heart. A place where people who weren’t politicians could offer their experience and expertise to the governance of our nation. There’s nobody you will meet that embodies this more than my guest, Colin Deacon. Senator Deacon is a serial entrepreneur and someone who knows technology and knows how to build businesses that export to the world in a digital economy. And we’re lucky to have him - both in the senate and for this interview. I met Senator Deacon at the Digital Governance Council, another group of non-partisan, business and government leaders who also have one objective - to help Canada become a leader in the digital economy. I was totally impressed by him and asked if he’s sit for an interview with us. I hope you’ll be as inspired by it as I was.

US Internet providers must now display clear pricing and product information. HP Ink controversy continues to stain the company’s reputation with consumers. Is the EU’s competition legislation working? Early numbers seem to show it might be. And there’s a 10 million dollar bet that Elon Musk is wrong about AI. All this and more on the “all bets are off” edition of Hashtag Trending. I’m your host, Jim Love. Let’s get into it.

Google unveils its “Code Assist” tool into what is becoming a crowded and competitive market. Anthropic claims that AI is not only smart, it is at least as persuasive as humans and maybe more so. LinkedIn takes action against phoney AI enabled recruiters and US legislators continue to put the squeeze to big tech and AI. All this and more on the “fool me once” edition of Hashtag Trending. I’m your host, Jim Love. Let’s get into it.