Author: Mobile Syrup

CRTC revokes licenses allowing international telecommunications traffic for 75 companies

Post author By Mobile Syrup
Post date 11 February 2022

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) has revoked the basic international telecommunications services (BITS) licenses of 75 companies for not following the rules.

The CRTC authorizes companies with these licenses to carry telecommunications traffic outside Canada.

Licensed companies have several conditions they must follow.

There are annual reporting requirements, and they must keep their information with the commission updated and provide notice within 30-days of any changes.

Companies also can’t engage in ant-competitive behaviour that will lessen competition in the sector.

The CRTC sent the companies with revoked licenses a notice on December 3rd. They were given until December 17th to file the requested information. They could also represent themselves to the commission and explain why they didn’t meet the conditions required of BITS license holders.

Eazy Communications, PanOrion Quebec Inc., and Telkel Inc. are part of the long list of companies with revoked licenses. You can view the complete list here.

Companies will receive hefty fines if they provide BITS without the appropriate license, the CRTC warns.

Source: CRTC

Tags Bits, CRTC, telecommunications traffic

Mobile Syrup

Western Digital lost 6.5 billion gigabytes of NAND chips, prices likely to spike

Post author By Mobile Syrup
Post date 11 February 2022

Source: https://www.westerndigital.com/

Unfortunately for tech enthusiasts, computer prices may jump again in the coming months. Thanks to contamination at NAND production facilities, the cost of storage components could spike as much as 10 percent.

According to The Verge, Western Digital reported it lost at least 6.5 exabytes (or 6.5 billion gigabytes) of flash storage due to the NAND contamination issues. NAND is a core component in storage devices like solid-state drives (SSDs). The Verge cited information from market research firm TrendForce about the potential jump in prices.

In short, consumers should expect NAND shortages and price fluctuations to hit the PC market over the next few months. Given the PC market is already straining under chip shortages and high demand for GPUs (which have also seen prices skyrocket), it could soon be even more expensive to build, upgrade, or buy a computer.

It appears the contamination was detected in January at two plants in Japan. Western Digital’s joint venture partner, Kioxia (formerly Toshiba), revealed the contamination affected BiCS 3D NAND flash memory.

Western Digital and Kioxia account for around 30 percent of the NAND flash market, according to TrendForce, and both companies primarily supply SSD and eMMC storage drives for PCs. Moreover, 9to5Mac reported that Kioxia provides NAND chips for various Apple products, including the iPhone 13, the M1 Pro and Max MacBook Pros, and the iPad Pro.

It remains unclear what caused the contamination and whether it will lead to recalls for products already on the market. It’s also unclear when production will resume. Western Digital said it was working closely with Kioxia to “implement necessary measures that will restore the facilities to normal operational status as quickly as possible.”

Image credit: Western Digital

Source: The Verge

Tags Kioxia, NAND, prices, SSD, storage, Western Digital

Mobile Syrup

Here’s how Samsung’s Galaxy S22 series benchmarks

Post author By Mobile Syrup
Post date 11 February 2022

Samsung unveiled the Galaxy S22 series at its February 2022 ‘Unpacked’ event.

I went hands-on with the Galaxy S22 Ultra ahead of its reveal and offered up my initial impressions of the device, however, now that I have the S22 Ultra in my hands, I was able to put it through its paces ahead of my full review.

It’s worth noting that Samsung’s Galaxy S22 series are the first smartphones in Canada to feature Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 processor. Qualcomm’s 8 Gen 1 focuses on 5G, AI, and uses the 4th-gen Snapdragon X65 5G Modem-RF system, which Qualcomm says can hit 10-gigabit download speeds.

In the charts above, you can see how Qualcomm’s new chipset in the Galaxy S22 series performs pretty similarly to the Snapdragon 888 in the S21 series in terms of single-core and multi-core scores.

Additionally, the iPhone 13 Pro Max’s A15 Bionic still leads the pack, with the Pixel 6′s Tensor chip coming in last.

That said, I don’t put much stock into benchmarks because a device can still offer a great experience and benchmark relatively low. For example, the Pixel 5 remains a great smartphone despite only offering a single-core score of 589 and a multi-core score of 1,603.

The Galaxy S22 Ultra’s scores are by no means low, but they are weirdly slightly under than the S22+ for some reason.

For full Canadian pricing information on the S22 line, check out this story.

Tags Android, Galaxy S22, Galaxy S22 Ultra, Samsung

Mobile Syrup

Marvel shows like Daredevil are leaving Netflix Canada on March 1

Post author By Mobile Syrup
Post date 11 February 2022

Marvel’s lineup of Netflix Original series, including Marvel’s Daredevil and Marvel’s Jessica Jones, is set to leave the streaming service’s catalogue on March 1st.

As first spotted by the #SaveDaredevil Twitter account, a new message confirming the March 1st date now plays on Netflix when you first launch an episode of one of the Marvel shows. MobileSyrup has confirmed that the same message appears on our Netflix Canada account:

For context, this applies to the following shows:

Marvel’s Daredevil (three seasons)
Marvel’s Jessica Jones (three seasons)
Marvel’s Luke Cage (two seasons)
Marvel’s Iron Fist (two seasons)
Marvel’s The Defenders (one season)
Marvel’s The Punisher (two seasons)

First launched in 2015 with Daredevil, Netflix’s suite of Marvel programming featured its “shared universe” that introduced Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage and Iron Fist in their own series before they teamed up in The Defenders. The Punisher, meanwhile, was a spin-off of Daredevil. The shows were generally praised for offering a darker, more mature spin on the Marvel universe compared to the more family-friendly films.

So what does this all mean?

*Spoilers below for Spider-Man: No Way Home and Hawkeye*

It seems as though the series have been pulled due to rights issues, given that they were originally produced for Netflix by Disney-owned Marvel Television and ABC Studios. The shows were all cancelled years ago as Disney began to pull its content from Netflix to make them available on its own streaming service, which would eventually become Disney+. There was also a period where Marvel legally couldn’t use the characters again following the shows’ cancellations, but that has since passed.

There’s a slight snag with all of this, however. Daredevil, in particular, has seen a massive bump in viewership as of late, due to the fact that star Charlie Cox reprised his role as lawyer Matt Murdock in Spider-Man: No Way Home. At the same time, Vincent D’Onofrio, who played the Kingpin on Daredevil, reprised the villainous role in multiple episodes of Hawkeye on Disney+.

While both Cox and D’Onofrio have played coy about whether they’ll return in future Marvel Cinematic Universe projects, it seems safe to assume that more appearances are in the cards, given their popularity. It also remains to be seen whether Marvel has plans for other standout characters from the Netflix shows, such as Krysten Ritter’s Jessica Jones or Jon Bernthal’s The Punisher. In any case, new audiences will no doubt continue to come to the Marvel Netflix shows as they anticipate future appearances from these characters, so hopefully, they’re made available elsewhere after March 1st.

For now, though, it seems logical that Daredevil and the other shows would eventually make their way to Hulu in the U.S. and Disney+ Canada under the Star banner. Given their mature content, Disney would undoubtedly want to make them available on a platform that skews towards adult programming.

MobileSyrup has reached out to both Netflix and Disney for comment and will update this story once a response has been received.

Image credit: Netflix

Tags canada, daredevil, Disney, Marvel, Netflix, Streaming services

Mobile Syrup

If you bought Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection, you should receive your free movie voucher soon

Post author By Mobile Syrup
Post date 11 February 2022

PlayStation Canada revealed back in January that users who purchase or upgrade to the new Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection for PlayStation 5 will be eligible to claim a free ticket to the upcoming Uncharted movie.

The promotion — which lasted until February 3rd — required you to either purchase Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection for $64.99 from the PlayStation Store or pay $14.99 to digitally upgrade via the storefront if you own Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End, Uncharted: The Lost Legacy or Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End & Uncharted: The Lost Legacy Digital Bundle.

Those who bought the new title or upgraded to it have started receiving voucher codes to claim the free Uncharted movie ticket.

The email states that the voucher allows one person to claim a movie ticket at Cineplex theatres in Canada. If you bought the new Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection or upgraded to it, check your email and head to Cineplex.com to claim your ticket.

The Uncharted movie, starring Tom Holland and Mark Wahlberg, releases in Canadian theatres on February 18th.

Image credit: Sony Pictures

Tags gaming, Playstation, Uncharted Legacy of Thieves Collection, Video games

Mobile Syrup

Bell to expand its internet services to Georgina, Ontario.

Post author By Mobile Syrup
Post date 11 February 2022

Bell is expanding its pure fibre internet service to Georgina, Ontario.

The expansion will give 14,000 locations access to all-fibre broadband and is part of the company’s capital expenditure acceleration program investing in next-generation infrastructure.

Margaret Quirk, the mayor of Georgina, welcomes the investment. “When competing with other communities to attract companies and residents, we know that high-speed internet can often be a deciding factor, and I am glad that residents have options when making that decision,” she said in a statement.

Once completed, residents will have access to download speeds of up to 1.5Gbps and other Bell services, including Fibe TV.

This announcement is in addition to the roughly $4 billion Bell spends on expanding broadband infrastructure every year.

Source: Bell

Tags Bell, pure fibre internet, rural Canada

Mobile Syrup

Is Samsung’s Galaxy S22 series a worthwhile upgrade? [SyrupCast 252]

Post author By Mobile Syrup
Post date 11 February 2022

Just hours after the end of Samsung’s latest ‘Unpacked’ event and with the Galaxy S22 Ultra in hand, Dean Daley offers his initial impressions of the smartphone to Patrick O’Rourke and Brad Bennett.

The pod squad then shifts the conversation to discussing the Galaxy S22/Galaxy S22+ and breaks down whether this year’s lower-end S series smartphones are a notable upgrade over their predecessors.

As always, you can listen to the show on your favourite podcast platform or watch the video version on our YouTube channel.

Subscribe on Apple Podcasts

Direct download link

Tags Android, Galaxy S22, Galaxy S22 Ultra

Mobile Syrup

2021 saw record number of phishing attempts in Canada: CIRA

Post author By Mobile Syrup
Post date 11 February 2022

The CIRA (Canadian Internet Registration Authority) has released new findings detailing the rise of cyber crime attempts in Canada in 2021.

In the second edition of its Canadian Shield Insights report, the CIRA notes that recorded phishing blocks quadrupled between the first and fourth quarter of 2021. Between October and December, specifically, a total of 13.3 million requests were blocked — the highest quarterly total, and a marked increase over the third quarter.

The biggest scam offenders, says the CIRA, were cryptocurrency and online streaming sites, which accounted for 21.1 percent and 15.4 percent of total blocks, respectively.

Another notable finding was the fact that cybercriminals generally attacked more often between 6pm and 9pm ET, which are considered “peak” online shopping hours.

CIRA has a stake in these findings, of course, to promote its free CIRA Canadian Shield cybersecurity service. In any case, though, these findings are a good reminder to be safe online.

Source: CIRA

Tags canada, CIRA, cyber crime, Cybersecurity

Mobile Syrup

Tesla recalls thousands of vehicles in U.S. over Boombox feature

Post author By Mobile Syrup
Post date 11 February 2022

Concha Zaspa, Ukraine – July 20, 2018: Tesla sign on the building on car sales

Electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla has recalled 578,607 vehicles in the U.S., marking its tenth recall in the country over the past four months.

The latest recall stems from pedestrians being unable to hear a warning sound when a vehicle’s approaching because of loud music played from the vehicle’s external “Boombox” feature.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) notes this as a violation of federal safety standards. Given EVs make little noise when in motion, warning signals must be emitted through the Pedestrian Warning System (PWS).

The recall includes 2020-2022 Model S, Model X, Model Y and 2017-2022 Model 3 vehicles.

“While Boombox can enhance the conspicuity of the vehicle to pedestrians, a vehicle that uses Boombox when in motion may cause the PWS to be noncompliant with [regulations], which could increase the risk of a collision,” the NHSTA notes in a document posted to its website. Tesla is not aware of any crashes, injuries or fatalities related to this.”

It’s unclear how this recall affects the Canadian market.

Image credit: ShutterStock

Source: NHTSA

Tags automotive, electric vehicles, Tesla