Elon Musk shows off free speech commitment by banning journalists

Under self-proclaimed “free speech absolutist” and CEO Elon Musk, Twitter has banned the accounts of several people, including journalists that were critical of him. The platform completely shut down the popular Spaces feature after journalists confronted Musk in a Space, and also suspended the account of rival social media network Mastodon. Moreover, Twitter now marks links to Mastodon as “potentially harmful.”

These very obviously pro-free speech moves come after Twitter suspended the ‘@ElonJet’ account run by ‘@jxckSweeney,’ whose account was also suspended. As a quick refresher, Musk has had an issue with Sweeney and the ElonJet account for a while since the account shared publicly available information about which airports Musk’s private jet flew to. Since then, Twitter has banned other accounts that track flight locations, including some that track other billionaires like Jeff Bezos or Bill Gates. Sweeney operated many of the accounts.

On December 14th, Musk claimed a stalker used information from the ElonJet account to follow a car carrying Musk’s son, X Æ A-Xii, thinking Musk was in the car. However, the LA Times reported that no crime reports about the incident had been filed with the LAPD.

Shortly after, Twitter hastily introduced a new policy banning accounts from sharing other people’s private information, such as “real-time and/or same-day” location information (sometimes called ‘doxxing’). The policy also covers links to third-party URL(s), which is likely at least part of the reason why Twitter is blocking links to Mastodon — Twitter suspended Mastodon’s Twitter account after it shared a link to ElonJet’s Mastodon account. Moreover, several of the journalists who received suspensions shared links to ElonJet on other platforms like Mastodon.

Banned journalists join a Twitter Space, Musk kills Spaces

The Verge reports that several of the banned journalists were able to join a Twitter Space on December 15th where they discussed what was going on. Musk also joined the Space and answered some questions. During the conversation, Musk accused journalists who posted links to ElonJet on other platforms were evading the ban, which is why they also got banned.

The Washington Post’s Drew Harwell asked Musk how his decision to ban ElonJet and accounts sharing links to ElonJet differed from Twitter’s treatment of the Hunter Biden laptop story in 2020, something Musk previously called “incredibly inappropriate.” As a reminder, Twitter blocked links to the New York Post’s story about the alleged Hunter Biden laptop — that event became a cornerstone of Musk’s first ‘Twitter Files’ release, which included internal Twitter documents about the moderation decision.

Musk responded to Harwell by saying, “You dox, you get suspended. End of story, that’s it.” He then left the Twitter Space. Since then, Twitter shut down the Spaces feature — Musk claimed in a tweet that Spaces was shut down to fix a “legacy bug” and that the feature should return on December 17th. Presumably, that legacy bug was the ability for banned accounts to join a Space.

Of course, I’d be remiss not to point out that Musk’s new anti-doxxing stance apparently doesn’t appear to apply to him or his allies. For example, the first Twitter Files release doxed Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey’s email address, while Musk himself posted a video of the alleged stalker, which included the person’s licence plate, and asked if anybody recognized the person. And if you need more proof that Musk is a hypocrite, here’s his tweet from November 6th, 2022, saying he was so committed to free speech he wouldn’t ban the account following his plane (plus a screenshot below in case Musk decides to delete the tweet, as he tends to do).

Per The Verge, Musk ran a poll asking if he should unsuspend accounts that “doxxed my exact location in real-time,” but the ‘now’ option won was winning with about 43 percent support. Musk then tweeted there were “too many options” and restarted the poll with the options ‘Now’ and ‘In 7 days.’ At the time of writing, ‘Now’ was winning with 58.6 percent of the vote. Musk certainly likes to base moderation decisions on polls, such as when he broke his promise and reinstated former U.S. president Donald Trump’s Twitter account.

Screenshot of Musk’s redone poll. Via: The Verge

EU sanctions

Finally, the EU is planning to sanction Twitter over the arbitrary bans, with the EU Commission’s vice president of values and transparency, Vera Journova, tweeting that the suspension of journalists “is worrying.”

According to Mashable, tweets from some suspended journalists didn’t violate Twitter’s policy, including the publication’s own Matt Binder. Binder said his account was suspended after sharing a screenshot of a tweet from CNN’s Donie O’Sullivan about the LAPD’s statement regarding Musk’s stalker claims.

So, to sum things up: Twitter banned the ElonJet account after Musk said he wouldn’t ban it, banned journalists who tweeted about ElonJet getting booted, banned rival social media platform Mastodon that was hosting the ElonJet account, as well as put warning labels on links to Mastodon. Now the EU Commission is looking into what’s going on and might sanction Twitter over the suspensions.

You can keep up with all things Musk and Twitter here.

Via: @VeraJourova, The Verge

Nintendo’s ‘Critically Acclaimed Partner Sale’ discounts up to 70 percent off

Nintendo’s Critically Acclaimed Partner Sale discounts various notable titles, including Hades, Okami HD, Hollow Knight, Celeste and more. These games are on sale until December 18th.

Below are some of the deals:

Hades: now $15.74, was $31.49
Okami HD: now $12.49, was $24.99
Tetris Effect: Connected: now $ $26.59, was $53.19
Shin Megami Tensei V: now $39.99, was $79.99
Hollow Knight: now $8.49, was $16.99
Disco Elysium – The Final Cut: now $26.59, was $53.19
Doom Eternal Deluxe Edition: now $29.99, was $119.99
Celeste: now $6.12, was $24.51
Diablo III: Eternal Collection: now $39.99, was $79.99
Death’s Door: now $13.29, was $26.59
Hyper Light Drifter – Special Edition: now $13.74, was $24.99

Source: Nintendo

Samsung to reportedly focus on competing with Apple in 2023

Samsung is trying to compete better against Apple, according to reports from South Korean news outlet Hankyung (via SamMobile).

The South Korean company’s vice chairman Han Jong-hee reportedly told the company to come up with ways to better compete without reducing costs. “Think about ways to strengthen the competitiveness of smartphones without getting caught up in cost reduction,” said Jong-hee.

The chairman also explained that “cost reduction is something that even latecomers like Chinese companies can do without difficulty.” Instead, Samsung departments should focus on being more competitive rather than spend time and resources on developing cost-reduction strategies, instructed Jong-Hee.

Samsung has been working on A series smartphones for the better half of the past decade in an effort to better compete against Chinese manufacturers. However, in 2023 Samsung will focus on the flagship market and place less emphasis on its China-based rivals, which it hopes will allow it to better compete against Apple, says Hankyung.

As part of this strategy shift, Samsung is expected to use a Qualcomm Snapdragon chipset for the entire Galaxy S23 series, instead of splitting between the Snapdragon and Exynos processors based on region. Further, this shift to using only Qualcomm’s chip will allow the company to focus on making its own in-house chipset for flagship smartphones in 2025, according to the report.

With this focus on competition, the Galaxy S23, Z Flip 5 and Z Fold 5 should be Samsung’s best smartphones in years. However, we already know that the S23 and S23+ will be very similar to the S22 series, so maybe Samsung will implement this strategy for its Galaxy S24 series instead.

Source: Hankyung Via: SamMobile

Canadian Government announces a hybrid work model for the Federal Public Service

Starting next year, Canadians working for the federal public service will have to spend at least two or three days per week in the office, Treasury Board president Mona Fortier announced Thursday. 

Fortier said that the new “hybrid work model,” will ensure employees return to the office for between 40 and 60 per cent of their regular work schedule.

The announcement also noted that since the pandemic restrictions began to lift, a portion of Canada’s 335,000 federal government employees have already returned to working on site for a few days each week.

“Creating a new work model was always going to require learning and evolution. This new approach is about refining how hybrid is applied,” the government wrote in its announcement. “Departments and agencies have been experimenting to see how a hybrid work model can best support our mandates, and many have already introduced models similar to the direction provided. During this process, we have seen the need for coherence in how hybrid work is applied across organizations. To ensure consistency for our employees and those they serve, we are introducing a common hybrid work model.”

A post on the government of Canada website stated that the new model will apply to all of the core public administration. It also “strongly recommended” that other agencies adopt a similar strategy.

To allow departments and employees to smoothly transition to a common hybrid model, a phased introduction will begin January 16, 2023, with full implementation by the end of March. 

The government outlined some possible exceptions to this model, including employees who were hired to work remotely prior to March 16, 2020. It would also allow Indigenous public servants whose location is critical to their identity to work from their communities. Employees who, with the permission of their assistant deputy minister, are working remotely 125 km or more from their designated worksite are another exception noted. 

However, a statement from the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) shared that it is not in favour of this move.

“The government’s decision doesn’t have the best interest of workers at heart and is completely at odds with the direction the government has been moving towards for remote work,” the statement notes. “It’s unacceptable that right before the holidays, workers will be scrambling to make new arrangements for child care, transportation, and possibly relocating if they’ve been hired remotely and are now being asked to come into the office.”

The union added that it is demanding the government to “halt” its plan, adding that federal public service workers have proven they can deliver the services Canadians depend on, whether working remotely or in the office.

A story from Global News also reported that the union had reportedly argued that any planned return to work should be part of collective bargaining conversations.

“Remote work is a key issue at the bargaining table for PSAC’s 165,000 federal workers this round of bargaining, and unilaterally changing the terms and conditions of our members’ employment during negotiations is an egregious violation of workers’ collective bargaining rights,” PSAC said.

The post Canadian Government announces a hybrid work model for the Federal Public Service first appeared on IT World Canada.

Santa’s list for the IT Pro-ho-ho

Wondering what IT professionals have on their Christmas list? I asked for suggestions from a number of readers, and here’s what they’d love for Santa to bring them. I’ve selected the most popular items from their lists.

The Apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree. 

No surprise, there were a lot of suggestions for everything Apple – Air Tags, Air Pods, Apple Watches. It’s hard to go wrong. Even the most dedicated Android, or even PC, user could have a Mac or iPad. So you probably can’t go wrong with something Apple.

But if you want to try something a little more creative in your major gift-giving, here are some gifts that are bound to please any tech pro.

MetaQuest Pro

Source: Meta.com

 

MetaQuest Pro presents itself as the ultimate in virtual reality headsets. It comes in at a pretty stiff price (starting a C$2,299.99) so you better have been extra good this year. The website notes that “Meta Quest Pro comes with all the goods and then some, so you can start working, creating and collaborating — Meta Quest Touch Pro Controllers, charging dock with rapid USB-C power adapter, 10 advanced VR/MR sensors, 256GB storage, 12GB RAM, and a Snapdragon XR2+ Qualcomm processor.” For twenty-three hundred bucks, we sure it comes with everything!

Sonos Wireless Speakers

Source: Amazon.ca

Sonos Wireless Speakers are the audio/technophile’s “to die for” present. Sonos made its name by using wireless connections to connect speakers in a network, versus the classic “Bluetooth” connections for wireless speakers. Wireless makes for much better coverage and connections, even when your speakers are some distance away from your wireless router.

Sonos has a wide range of speakers available. Some are battery-powered, and some use plug-in power. Some have WiFi only, and some have Bluetooth as well as WiFi ,so you can take them into the yard or anywhere outdoors. You can get them as speakers only or they can include a “smart speaker” package making them Alexa or Google-compatible.

But as a basic gift, you can get a simple pair of stereo speakers (pictured above) or anything up to a full package for a home theatre setup. No matter what you purchase, you are getting an amazing speaker that will satisfy even a real audiophile. As a musician myself, these are the speakers I have throughout my house.

The package above retails on Amazon.ca for C$499.00 for the pair. They are not exactly cheap, but they are top-rated speakers, and compared to the MetaQuest headset, they are a bargain.

Oura Ring

Source: Oura.com

Oura Ring – For the person who wants a comprehensive health and fitness tracker, but hates wearing a watch, the Oura Ring is an elegant alternative. It has a sleep tracker, a fitness tracker and even what they term a “holistic picture of health” delivered from the ring to an app on your phone.

Unlike the clunkier Fitbit, this is all delivered via a very stylish piece of jewelry, and everything about this screams elegance – from the design of the ring to the phone app. Two styles are available, listing for US$299 and US$349.

Not only is it a beautiful alternative, but if you believe the website, the ring is more accurate than the wrist-mounted alternative since it reads its data from your finger.

SanDisk Portable SSD

Source: Amazon.ca

SanDisk 1 TB Extreme Portable SSD – What do you buy the person who has everything?  How about somewhere to store it all? Whether you buy the SanDisk that one of our team of readers suggested or some other brand, this is a thoughtful gift, whether it’s for home backup or as part of a home network.

The solid-state drive makes it a great replacement for that aging magnetic drive that some of us still have that holds photos, videos, music, or backups of our data. More than that, it’s portable and durable. You can toss it in your pocket and take it anywhere. It costs C$134.99 on Amazon.ca.

Wacom Smartpad

Source: Henrys.com

Wacom Smartpad Digital Notebook – When it comes to IT professionals, you may discover that they have many talents and interests that go beyond technology. One of our team suggested that they love to draw and express ideas visually. For that, they felt the Wacom notebook was a great choice. Unfortunately, the notebook they most liked was either discontinued or out of stock. Wacom has a number of options on their site – but unless you have lots of patience, I’d only recommend this site to someone on the naughty list.

Instead, you might want to support a great Canadian business – Henry’s. I found the Wacom One 13” tablet for C$399.99 and there are a number of models on the site. I haven’t been to a Henry’s in a while, but they used to be famous for having great helpful staff. I learned about SLR photography by talking to them at their downtown Toronto location. Just to see if they still had that special touch, I called them, and got a call back from a very friendly staff person who could either answer all my questions or assured me they could get answers from one of their experts.

If Wacom isn’t available, or just not what you’d consider, there are alternatives. Huion is another popular brand, and there is a number of models in a similar price range. The iPad and reMarkable tablets are alternatives, but are significantly more expensive. The reMarkable, while it has many exceptional qualities, only operates in black and white, but for the compulsive doodler or for simple black and white sketches it’s great, and it has a “paper-like” feel.

Breo Box – The ultimate in surprise gifts?

Source: Breobox.com

Breo Box – The reader who suggested this called it “a mystery box full of tech stuff.” This is exactly what it is. Breo Box sends a package of 4 – 8 cool tech items or gadgets to that special person on your list. What’s in the box? That’s part of the fun. They don’t tell you.  You can see what they’ve sent in the past, and there’s even a “spoiler alert” showing two of the items from this month’s box. But overall, it’s just a great surprise.

You can choose a single box for US$159.00, or prepay for 4 boxes and at US$144.75 per box and have a new gift delivered every quarter.  There’s even a small “stocking stuffer” version for under US$100.00

There are mixed messages about whether this is available for Canadian delivery. One site announces a special fee for Canada, and another says that delivery is not available to Canada. We are checking with the company to get a clear answer.

Kobo e-reader

Source: Chapters.Indigo.ca

Kobo e-reader – Tired of trying to figure out what book to give? Have they already read it? If so, the Kobo e-reader is another great suggestion from our panel. There’s a full range of devices that you can give, from a simple e-reader to a powerful unit that will also play audiobooks over Bluetooth connections, and even one with a pen that allows the reader to make notes as they read. And – bonus – all Kobo users can borrow e-books from their public library directly on the device.

Kobo e-readers range from just over C$100 to the ultimate device at C$500. So you can give someone a starter kit, or surprise them with a big upgrade to their current reader.

And if you want to add that little something extra, you can pick up some great ebooks like, say, something on Digital Transformation?  Okay, it’s a shameless plug for Fawn’s and my book, and it would only compound that to say that “it’s available for Kobo, and also on Kindle as well as a printed book from Amazon.ca.”  Hey, you can’t blame an elf for trying

Digital Transformation in the First Person

Final thoughts

These are the most popular suggestions from the group of IT pros we consulted. But as one of our panel noted, “my parents taught me to say thank you to any gift, as the thought itself is truly appreciated.” Another sent a note saying that a great gift was a donation to charity.  We can’t agree more.

So with these thoughts and in the spirit of the season. While it’s fun to do a list like this, many of your IT Pros already have a lot of stuff. If they are like me and if they’re also totally honest, they don’t use it all.

So why not give the gift of giving some of the old stuff away? There’s a tremendous need for recycled electronics by charities, and by those who may benefit from technology but aren’t as blessed. Check out this article from IT World Canada that talks about this issue and features one company, ERA, that recycles tech for use by charities.

If anyone would ask what I’d want for Christmas? Here’s what I’d say: Take the money for that gift and give it to your local gift program for kids. Or donate a few dollars to a local food bank. There are a lot of people with kids who don’t have a lot, or may be struggling with food costs and gas costs and just trying to keep a roof over their heads. I don’t know about you, but technology blessed me with the ability to make a good living and there’s not a lot that I need. The thought that someone else could have some joy is, as the Mastercard ad used to say, priceless.

With that, thanks and Merry Christmas from me and the team of IT pros that put this together – Greg Kaufman, Ion Drumea, Bruce Tuncertain, Michael Morris, Raiman Dilag, Tal Vilenski and more.

The post Santa’s list for the IT Pro-ho-ho first appeared on IT World Canada.

Fido is offering a $35/20GB plan, though YMMV

Rogers-owned Fido is offering a $35/20GB plan to some customers.

As shared by RedFlagDeals user ‘tubezleb,’ Fido offered the promotion to them via message, as seen below:

The message, as translated from French to English, reads, “Exclusive offer that you wouldn’t want to miss! Get 20GB for $35/month with this limited-time offer.”

Several people on the thread commented with affirmation that they were able to get the offer, but your mileage may vary depending on if and what promotion Fido offered to you via Message.

Subsequently, you can wait for Fido to offer lucrative promotions as we approach Boxing Day. Check out currently available Boxing Week offers from Canadian carriers here.

Image credit: RedFlagDeals (tubezleb)

Source: RedFlagDeals user (tubezleb)

Cyber incident may cost Empire supermarket chain $25 million

Canadian supermarket chain Empire Co. may have to take a charge of C$25 million to its finances for costs not covered by cyber insurance from the cyber attack it suffered last month.

The Nova Scotia company, which owns the Sobeys, IGA, FreshCo, Farm Boy and other brands, made the statement Thursday in a news release accompanying its latest quarterly financial results. It had net earnings of over C$189 million in the quarter on sales of C$7.6 billion.

Empire continues to be mum about what kind of “cyber incident” it suffered, although several media outlets, including Bleeping Computer, say it was ransomware.

Over a month later, the company is still systematically bringing information and administrative systems back online in a controlled, phased approach, the statement says.

“Empire has been able to operate its retail network with little disruption and no disruption to the supply chain,” it adds. “This cybersecurity event and the precautionary response caused some temporary problems. For example, pharmacy services were shut down for four days while some in-store services, such as self-checkouts, gift cards and redemption of Scene+ points were impacted for approximately one week. Other than this, customers would have noticed very few changes to their normal shopping experience.”

Upon discovery of the incident on Nov. 4, Empire activated its incident response and business continuity plans, the statement said, including the retention of outside experts. It isolated the source of the attack and implemented measures to prevent its further spread.

That included shutting certain IT systems “out of an abundance of caution.” During restoration efforts, the company established certain workaround processes to ensure continuity of supply, costing and retail pricing.

“The company takes the protection of personal information as critically important,” the statement also says. “The company continues to investigate this matter and, if a conclusion is reached that applicable data has been removed from the Company’s systems, the company will take all required steps with privacy regulators and impacted individuals.”

“This cybersecurity event has reinforced the importance of the investments already made in the cybersecurity area, as well as upcoming investments in the IT systems and people,” it adds. “Continuous enhancement of the company’s IT infrastructure will strengthen its defense against future such incidents.”

The post Cyber incident may cost Empire supermarket chain $25 million first appeared on IT World Canada.

Valve’s The Game Awards Steam Deck giveaway has been extended

During Geoff Keighley’s The Game Awards event, which took place on Thursday, December 8th, Steam was offering users free Steam Decks for just watching the event online.

During the event, Valve was giving away one Steam Deck a minute to a random user. The Steam Decks being given away were the 512GB ones, which normally cost $819 and sport a premium anti-glare etched glass.

Users needed to be in ‘good standing’ and be situated in Canada, the U.S., the UK or EU to be able to participate in the giveaway.

Now, according to the official SteamDeck page, Valve was reportedly “blown away” by the response it received to the event, and it has decided to extend the giveaway.

This time, however, you don’t need to do anything. “We just drew 171 more names from all the registrants who tuned in (over 980,000 of you!),” reads the Tweet.   “Check your email to see if you won!”

For reference, if you’ve been selected for the second round of giveaways, the email you receive should look a little something like:

Source: Steam Deck

Let’s talk about the The Game Awards 2022 [SyrupArcade Cast 2]

The 2022 Game Awards were only last week, so we at MobileSyrup thought it was only fitting to talk about the ceremony.

Brad Shankar was at the event, contributor Chris Brown watched remotely as a casual viewer, and Dean Daley also took in the event from home.

In episode two of the SyrupArcade Cast, we talk about everything The Game Awards-related, including some of the weird nominations, the games we didn’t want to win and the coolest trailers we saw at the event. And yes, that means I just gushed on about Cameron Monaghan and how good he looks in his role as Cal Kestis in Star Wars Jedi: Survivor.

You can find our first episode of the SyrupArcade Cast focused on God of War Ragnarök here.

As always, you can listen to the SyrupCast below or find the podcast on your favourite streaming platform.

Subscribe on Spotify

Subscribe on Apple Podcasts

Direct download link

Image credit: Bandai Namco

Here’s how to stream Black Adam in Canada

Black Adam is now available on Crave.

The superhero movie, which stars Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Noah Centineo, Pierce Brosnan, Aldis Hodge and more, is now streaming on the Bell-owned Crave.

You can also purchase the movie from iTunes, Google Play, the Cineplex Store, YouTube, Amazon and more for $29.99. Renting the film for $24.99 is also available from the above platforms.

Black Adam is a DC antihero character like Deadpool who’s often viewed as a villain and doesn’t care about things getting messy. He often fights against the magical hero Shazam as their powers come from a similar source, though from an Egyptian origin compared to his nemesis’ Greek magic.

The Warner Bros.’ film initially hit theatres in Canada on October 21st, so it makes sense it’s making its way to streaming services now, given that movies like Wonder Woman 1984 landed on Crave within eight weeks of their release.

Crave subscriptions start at $9.99/month for a Mobile plan, which includes access to HBO content. A $19.99/month Crave Total subscription is required to stream this content on supported Crave devices like Android, iOS, Apple TV and PlayStation.

Image credit: Crave