canada

According to stereotypes, Aunt Jemima (maple syrup), Bauer (hockey equipment) and Ski-Doo (snowmobiles) ought to round out the top three brands in Canada. But that's not the case. A new poll by Ipsos found that Microsoft and Google actually top the ... list. Ipsos, a global market research company that investigates advertising, marketing, and media content trends, regularly polls consumers to learn more about markets, from technology to tattoos. In fact, the company recently found 22 per cent of Canadians and 21 per cent of Americans have "tats". Facebook, YouTube Join Microsoft, Google ... (view more)

A lot of people are comfortable using their credit card online to purchase items -- but would they feel comfortable voting via the world wide web? Right now, Elections Canada is mulling over that very idea, and may implement an online voting system ... within the next two years. According to Canada's chief electoral officer, Marc Mayrand, testing for an Internet voting platform could be ready for the federal by-election in 2013. In a report filed earlier this summer, Mayrand noted that Canadians have demonstrated a desire to make the voting process easier. And let's face it, voting in one's ... (view more)

A coalition of Canadian singers and songwriters have demanded that the Copyright Board of Canada immediately start awarding royalties at the expense of popular online media destinations that continue to host content. The Society of Composers, ... Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN) filed an interim tariff application after royalties were given to Access Copyright, an organization founded in 1988 by a group of authors and publishers for the purpose of "protecting the value of their intellectual property and ensuring fair compensation when their works are copied." SOCAN now ... (view more)

You can "blame Canada" in a good way for Facebook's recent decision to stiffen its privacy controls. In response to demands from Canada's Privacy Commissioner, the social networking site revealed new guidelines that target third party applications ... and the information they're allowed to access. Back in July, the Canadian Privacy Commissioner's office hastened a campaign to identify and publicize the concerns many people have with Facebook's policy towards third-party applications. In the past, some of these applications have been able to access a significant amount of member private data, ... (view more)

According to most copyright protectors, movie, TV, and music pirating is out of control. Let's face it, just about everyone owns a burnt album, television season, or film on CD or DVD -- heck, maybe even Blu-ray. How do you fight this if the problem ... is so rampant? Simple, say Canadian lawmakers: increase the cost of blank discs. According to reports, Canada's Copyright Board has green-lighted an increase in levies placed on blank CDs by 38%. Part of the reason for the jump is an increase in music compression and the continued rise in songwriter royalties. As the cost of making an album ... (view more)

If copyright boards in the United States are to ever tax our downloaded music files, we'll have one Big White scapegoat. If and when that day comes, you can BLAME CANADA. I don't mean to be a jerk, but the Copyright Board of Canada has indeed set ... the precedent for similar American bodies to follow. Given the immense popularity of legal downloading sites like iTunes and Napster, there surely is good reason for boards to impose an excise. So, what are the Canadians charging? The tariffs will be charged to companies that legally distribute music over the web. For Canucks, this will mean the ... (view more)

Attention, Canadian Residents: Those Loonies and Toonies ($1 and $2 coins) jingling around in your pocket may include more than just bronze and metal. Tiny radio frequency transmitters have been found inside Canadian coins, according to a recent ... U.S. intelligence report. This all sounds like something out of a spy movie -- and like any good espionage thriller, the facts of this case are a mystery wrapped in a riddle. This is what the report *didn't* say: The coins are from Canada, but the U.S. government isn't saying (or doesn't know) who's doing the tracking -- or why. How the Pentagon ... (view more)

Statistics Canada announced that Canadians only purchased $7.9 billion worth of goods and services over the Internet in 2005. This figure is rather low, considering that $762 billion was spent on online goods and services worldwide in the same year. ... (Source: technology.canoe.ca ) Other data revealed that nearly 7 million Canadians 18 years or older placed actual online orders, while in excess of 9 million Canadians logged on primarily to browse the products available. The most common online purchases included hotel reservations and car rentals, followed by books, magazines and various ... (view more)