State Of The Race

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Bell’s parent company, BCE, filed a claim to block Rogers' planned takeover of Shaw Communications, per the Globe. 

Catch up: In March, Rogers agreed to buy its smaller rival Shaw Communications for $20 billion, which raised concerns from regulators and consumers that the deal would stifle competition. Rogers justified its acquisition of Shaw Communications on the grounds that it needs more resources to bring 5G services to customers. 

Bell argues that if Rogers were to acquire Shaw, it would dominate around 47% of the English-language TV broadcasting market. 

Tit for tat: BCE said that was the same reason the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), Canada's telecom regulator, blocked their first attempt to acquire Astral Media in 2012.

What’s next: BCE wants to have their word about the takeover during the Parliamentary hearing for the Rogers-Shaw deal that’s scheduled for November 22.  

Apple unveiled new product updates at their annual fall event yesterday.

What’s new?

Apple announced mostly minor changes to their line of products, with potentially the most significant being extended battery life for the new iPhone.

Bottom line: Apple had planned to announce a new iPad Pro, but is holding off because of the global semiconductor chip shortage. The other new gadgets will be available to order starting on September 24 and its latest software update, iOS 15, on the 20th. 

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In some more ominous Apple-related news, the tech giant updated its iOS software yesterday after Toronto-based Citizen Lab flagged a loophole for a ‘zero-click exploit’ on their devices. 

A zero-click what? Israeli-based tech firm NSO Group developed the zero-click spyware, dubbed Pegasus, for smartphone surveillance. It’s called ‘zero-click,’ because it lets Pegasus onto iPhones via iMessage without requiring you to click on an image or file. 

Apple hurried to patch up the flaw on iOS after Citizen Lab notified them of the potential security threat. 

Bottom line: The potential security risk may affect over 1.65 billion Apple devices. If you own an Apple device, here’s your reminder to install the latest software update. 

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Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) head Gary Gensler discussed regulating the cryptocurrency market in a U.S. Congressional hearing yesterday. 

What exactly is a cryptocurrency? That question is at the heart of the debate between regulators and cryptocurrency companies. Similar to Canadian regulators, the SEC considers them securities, like a stock or bond.

Now that cryptocurrency companies are beginning to offer some of the same services that traditional banks do, like lending, regulators are worried that most of the market still operates outside of the SEC’s purview.  

What happened: Gensler has been pressing Congress for more resources and funding to regulate the cryptocurrency market and reiterated this during the hearing, saying investors need better protections in the cryptocurrency market as it is “rife with fraud, scams, and abuse in certain applications.”  

The Mu variant of COVID-19 has crept up in dozens of countries, including Canada. Here’s what you need to know about this new variant of interest.

What do we know about Mu? Researchers tracked down the first cases of the Mu variant in Colombia as early as January. The World Health Organization designated it as an official variant on August 30th. 

Should Canadians be worried? The Mu variant makes up just under 3% of new reported cases, while the delta variant still makes up most COVID-19 cases in Canada.

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