To ensure you can shoot off a text from anywhere in the world, telecoms are looking to the skies (literally) for answers. 

Driving the news: SpaceX has successfully launched its first set of Starlink satellites that will provide cell service from space, reports Reuters, a milestone for a joint project among several global telecom giants, including Canada’s Rogers. 

From VCRs to search engines, copyright fights have long been a rite of passage for tech — and it’s one AI will face this year.

Better late than never: Canada is starting to pour more cash into its defence strategy.

What happened: Canada will invest nearly $2.5 billion to acquire 11 remotely piloted MQ-9B SkyGuardian drones for the Royal Canadian Air Force. The move will beef up capabilities for domestic military missions, as well as missions with its closest allies, including the U.S. 

A silly name isn’t keeping the fediverse from picking up momentum.

What happened: Flipboard, a news and magazine story aggregator app, is integrating with ActivityPub, a protocol being used to enable “the fediverse” — a decentralized network of interoperable online services.

It may now be several years before a new Crown corporation starts its work funding innovation in Canada, which could put its fate in the hands of a new government eager to cut costs.

What happened: The federal government pushed the launch for the Canada Innovation Corp. (CIC) to “no later than 2026-27.” 

The end of the road for gas-powered vehicles in Canada is fast approaching.

What happened: The Canadian government will require that all new cars sold are zero-emission vehicles by 2035, according to a report from The Toronto Star.

What are push notifications?

Unlike regular notifications that pop up when an app is open, push notifications are only sent when an app is closed. When an “event” — something the app wants to tell you about — happens, it sends data to Google and Apple’s servers, which then sends it to your phone to wake the app up.

Why are they a security issue?

It’s up to developers whether or not they encrypt push notification data, which is left behind on Google and Apple servers. Last week, U.S. Senator Ron Wyden said he got a tip that foreign governments had been pushing the companies to share that data, suggesting it was for surveillance purposes.

Threads might not be the first app you open in the morning, but Meta is still plugging away at its attempt at a Twitter replacement.

What happened: Threads had a busy week, which started by debuting its version of hashtags and kept rolling from there:

A building block of the global advertising industry is about to crumble.

What happened: Google set January 4th as the day it will turn off third-party cookies for 1% of Chrome users, or about 30 million people, with a full phase-out coming in the second half of next year.