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Netflix developing new series with Toronto’s Mae Martin

Netflix has ordered Tall Pines, a new thriller series from Toronto’s Mae Martin.

On top of starring in the series, Martin will serve as creator, co-showrunner (with Servant‘s Ryan Scott) and executive producer. Toronto-based Sphere Media (Sort Of) is co-producing the series.

Per Netflix, the series is “set in a bucolic but sinister town that explores the insidious underbelly of the troubled teen industry and the eternal struggle between one generation and the next.”

Martin is the co-creator and star of the acclaimed British series Feel Good, a semi-autobiographical story about a Canadian comedian who goes to the U.K. and falls in love with another woman. The series streams internationally on Netflix, including in Canada. Martin also appeared in several episodes of HBO’s The Flight Attendant and was a featured comedian in Amazon’s LOL: Last One Laughing Canada.

A release date and other casting information for Tall Pines have not yet been revealed.

In other Canadian Netflix news, the streamer greenlit a new Nunavut-set Indigenous comedy series last week.

Image credit: Netflix

Via: Barry Hertz

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Mobile Syrup

Spotify plans to shut down its independent live audio sharing app

After years of tinkering with ways to incorporate live audio sharing with its users, music streaming giant Spotify has announced that it will be shutting down Spotify Live, one of the company’s standalone apps.

The app previously known as Spotify Greenroom launched in 2021 after the company acquired Betty Labs. Much experimenting with branding was done to the solo app, including renaming it to its current moniker, Spotify Live in April of 2022.

The company also began to integrate some of its features into the main Spotify app around this time. This included live audio conferencing and allowing independent artists the ability to live stream their music within the app. “We believe there is a future for live fan-creator interactions in the Spotify ecosystem; however, based on our learnings, it no longer makes sense as a standalone app,” a Spotify spokesperson told Music Ally.

Spotify did not rule out the possibility of pursuing other means of live audio sharing, however. The company said that it will “continue to explore moving forward to facilitate live interactions between artists and fans.” Despite this, the digital music service did confirm its plans to shut down Spotify Live (via Tech Crunch).

Even with the concept of live audio showing real promise, including being backed by CEO Daniel Ek just a few years ago, Spotify hasn’t managed to effectively put it into practice yet.

The decision to shut down Spotify Live comes not long after the termination of a handful of live audio shows in December 2022, indicating the company may be second-guessing its plans for live audio implementation.

It should be noted that Spotify is not the only company that has started to shy away from live audio. Facebook’s parent company Meta announced its plans to shut down select audio products, such as the audio-sharing tool Soundbites, in May 2022.

Source: Music Ally Via: Engadget

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Mobile Syrup

Patent reveals Apple might be working on a touchscreen AirPods case

A new Apple patent offers hints about a potential upcoming AirPods case that could be the company’s most interactive yet.

The new patent, which was published last week by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, indicates that Apple is interested in developing an AirPods case with a touchscreen display. The case would essentially allow users to control applications connected to the AirPods, like Apple Music, directly from the case.

The patent reveals that it was filed back in September 2021, and credits Darius A. Satongar, William D. Lindmeier and Per Haakan Linus Persson as the inventors.

The case would reportedly allow users to control audio options, provide haptic feedback, display connected devices, show notifications and more.

JBL showed off a similar earbud case at CES this year. Called the JBL Tour Pro 2, the earbud’s case has a touchscreen LCD display that would allow users to customize audio settings. The earbuds are expected to be available this spring.

As for the touchscreen AirPods, it is currently unclear if and when it will come out.

Image credit: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office

Source: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Via: CNET

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Mobile Syrup

Cybertruck production line gets Musk’s stamp of approval

Late in March, Tesla’s Cybertruck was spotted on the roads, undergoing a stringent steering test.

Now, a week later, Tesla CEO Elon Musk is hyping up the long-delayed truck.

According to a tweet, Musk recently toured the Cybertruck production line in the Texas Gigafactory, and he was impressed with what he saw. In a reply to his own tweet, he also said that the production line “Feels like the future.” Musk does not mention what aspect he was impressed with, or what part of the production line feels like the future.

Considering that the early production for the Cybertruck is planned for mid-2023, it might be that Musk is impressed with how quickly the line was put together, or it could be that the anticipated electric vehicle (EV) will hit the road sooner than initially expected.

The Cybertruck has recently been spotted in other locations as well, so it might be that the automaker is done with the delays and will stand good on its ‘mass production in 2024’ and ‘early production in mid-2023’ promise.

It’s worth noting that when the truck was first revealed in 2019, Tesla quoted a $39,900 USD (roughly $54,400 CAD at the time) price tag for the vehicle.

During a Tesla shareholder’s meeting last August, Musk said that “a lot has changed” since then and the Cybertruck’s price and specifications will shift.

Source: @elonmusk

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Mobile Syrup

Where to stream ‘Til Death Do Us Part Kourtney & Travis in Canada

Disney has announced that the next entry in The Kardashians saga, ‘Til Death Do Us Part Kourtney & Travis, will begin streaming on Disney+ Canada under the Star banner on April 13th.

The announcement came as part of a new trailer for the special. In it, we see snippets from the Portofino, Italy wedding of Kourtney Kardashian Barker and Travis Barker, featuring appearances from Kris Jenner, Kim Kardashian, Khloé Kardashian, Kendall Jenner and Kylie Jenner.

The special is part of Disney-owned Hulu’s larger deal with The Kardashians, which includes the eponymous reality series that also streams on Disney+ in Canada.

In Canada, a Disney+ subscription costs $11.99/month or $119.99/year.

Image credit: Hulu

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Mobile Syrup

Turo survey shows the current economic climate favours hybrid, electric cars

The cost of inflation has not been kind to Canadians recently, especially those in the market for a new car.

However, despite concerns about high costs, some people are considering making the switch from a combustion engine vehicle to a hybrid, or even fully electric model.

Canada’s leading car-sharing marketplace Turo conducted its second annual Car Ownership Index in January 2023. The Car Ownership Index is a “benchmark study” used to analyze the current state of car ownership and usage in Canada.

The study found that 39 percent of those surveyed are less likely to buy or lease a vehicle as a result of the current increase in inflation rates.

Those that are in the market for a new vehicle, are looking at those that support non-traditional energy sources such as hybrid and electric vehicles.

And it’s not just a handful of Canadians that are interested.

Over half of Canadians surveyed are looking for an alternative to combustion vehicles, with 38 percent favouring hybrid models and 16 percent interested in buying or leasing fully electric vehicles (EVs.)

That’s 54 percent of the total survey that is considering making the jump.

Although 26 percent of those surveyed are interested due to the environmental benefits proposed by driving non-combustion vehicles, a much larger amount of those considering hybrid and EVs are doing so because of one main reason — the cost.

In fact, the survey showed that 38 percent of those interested in buying or leasing EVs are driven by a desire to save money on gas.

Unfortunately for those with growing interest, there are some lingering doubts about transitioning to an EV.

The primary concerns about buying or leasing an EV include the cost, the availability of charging stations, and the charging frequency for the vehicles.

The survey was conducted for Turo by Leger, the largest Canadian-owned market research and analytics company. It ran from January 9th to 18th, 2023 and consisted of a sample of 1,500 English or French-speaking Canadians that were 25 years of age or older.

Source: Turo

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Mobile Syrup

Apple to lay off some employees from its retail store division

Up until now, Apple has been able to avoid layoffs amid a time when every other big tech company have been letting go their employees. However, that is reported to soon change.

According to a new Bloomberg report, the Cupertino-based company will lay off a small number of employees from one of its retail teams.

The number of employees being laid off is reportedly “very small,” especially compared to other tech companies like Google and Spotify.

Back in February, Apple CEO Tim Cook said that he views layoffs as a “last resort kind of thing.” He added that while layoffs can’t be completely ignored, there are other ways to reduce costs and that Apple is “managing costs very tightly and is curtailing hiring in certain areas while continuing to hire in others.”

It’s worth noting however that with the upcoming layoffs, Apple is reportedly aiming to improve operations instead of cutting cost.

The layoffs are reported to affect employees that handle the building and up-keeping of retail Apple stores.

Apple doesn’t necessarily want these employees to not be a part of the company. Employees have been told to apply for a different position at the company by the end of the week, in case they want to remain a part of Apple. For those uninterested in continuing to work for the tech giant, Apple is offering up to four months of severance pay.

Image credit: Shutterstock

Source: Bloomberg Via: The Verge

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Mobile Syrup

Telecom complaints increased by 12 percent in recent months, CCTS’ mid-year report shows

Telecom complaints have dramatically increased in recent months, according to a report from the Commission for Complaints for Telecom-Television Services (CCTS).

The report, covering data between August 1st, 2022 and January 31st, 2023, shows complaints rose by 12 percent, with Rogers accounting for most of the platforms (17.4 percent), taking the position for the first time.

The report shows loss of services drove the company’s position, with 187 of its 1,294 complaints geared towards the July 8th outage. Customers were displeased with Rogers issuing five days of credit for the outage. Anger from the outage resulted in problems at CCTS as well.

“On July 8, 2022, the CCTS received nearly double the number of calls and chats from customers,” the report notes. Some calls were not able to connect to us, as our circuits were overwhelmed by the call volume.”

Bell had the second most complaints, followed by Telus, Fido, and Koodo. A majority of the complaints focused on wireless services. Internet issues received the second most complaints.

Compared to the CCTS’s 2021-2022 mid-year report, Telus saw the largest increase in complaints, at 81 percent. Its flanker brand Koodo had the second-highest complaint increase.

Despite Bell having the second-highest count for accepted complaints, the company saw its overall complaints drop by six percent compared to the last report, the only company in the top five to see a decrease.

Image credit: CCTS

Code breaches

The wireless code is made up of a set of rules service providers must follow, covering everything from contracts to issues with mobile devices. The report confirms 36 wireless code breaches, up from the 24 reported in the last mid-year report. A majority relate to providers failing to give customers proper notices with all relevant information before disconnecting services.

The recent report also reports 4 breaches of the internet code.

Image credit: Shutterstock 

Source: CCTS

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Mobile Syrup

Amazon’s The Rings of Power cost $500 million, but less than half of viewers finished it: report

Amazon’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power hasn’t quite been the big hit the company was hoping for, according to a new report from The Hollywood Reporter.

While streamers like Amazon typically don’t reveal viewership data, THR reports that only 37 percent of those who watched Prime Video’s The Lord of the Rings series in the U.S. actually completed it. That number does rise to 45 percent overseas, although the outlet notes that per insiders, a 50 percent completion rate would be “solid but not spectacular.”

Assuming this data is accurate, the majority of people not even finishing an eight-episode season of a highly-publicized show wouldn’t bode too well for Amazon. According to Variety, Amazon has already spent around $465 million USD (about $625.9 million CAD) on the first season in the hopes of building out a five-season Game of Thrones-level tentpole. That also doesn’t include the $250 million USD (about $336.6 million CAD) cost to purchase the LOTR rights from the Tolkien estate, publisher HarperCollins and New Line Cinema.

Another metric to gauge the Rings of Power‘s performance is Nielsen, which tracks the number of minutes watched in the U.S. for popular TV shows. According to the firm, Netflix held the top 10 spots in the 2022 most-watched streaming shows list, with Amazon’s own The Boys even coming in higher (11th) than The Rings of Power (15th). While it’s unclear exactly how much Amazon spends on the Toronto-shot The Boys (reports peg the first season budget at around $10 million USD/$13.5 million CAD), it’s undoubtedly a lot less than The Rings of Power. THR also notes that 2022 was actually an improvement for Prime Video, as 2021’s top 15 most-watched streaming shows, per Nielsen, didn’t include anything from Prime Video.

Clearly, then, Amazon has already invested an ungodly amount of money into the series — believed to be well above what any other company has spent on a series. As THR notes, The Rings of Power has also failed to be a major awards contender, whereas Game of Thrones alone netted HBO 59 Emmy wins across a variety of categories, the most of any drama series.

Speaking to THR, Amazon Studios boss Jennifer Salke denied reports that The Rings of Power has underperformed. “This desire to paint the show as anything less than a success — it’s not reflective of any conversation I’m having internally,” she told the publication. She went on to say that the second season, which has been filming since October, presents “a huge opportunity” to grow the property after a lot of setup was required in its freshman outing.

The discussion surrounding The Rings of Power came as part of a larger THR piece on Amazon’s entertainment business. In it, the outlet reports that a variety of creatives call Amazon Studios “a confusing and frustrating place to do business,” citing uncertainty surrounding the types of content it wants to produce.

“There’s no vision for what an Amazon Prime show is. You can’t say, ‘They stand for this kind of storytelling.’ It’s completely random what they make and how they make it,” says one showrunner who’s worked a lot with Prime Video, per THR.

The full THR feature can be found here.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

Image credit: Amazon

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Mobile Syrup

Xbox unveils a new controller for Earth Day, featuring recycled parts

Xbox is celebrating Earth Day early with the announcement of a new green wireless controller made out of recycled materials and recovered plastics.

The ‘Xbox Wireless Controller — Remix Special Edition’ is a unique take on Xbox’s traditional wireless controllers. It’s comprised of a mix of “post-consumer recycled resins” and a regrind of previously molded coloured parts.

Xbox uses mechanically recycled Xbox One controller parts that have been generated into raw materials used to make up parts of new controllers. This is known as regrind, and it’s one of the main components of Xbox’s newest controller offering. This accounts for 33.3 percent of the controller to be comprised of regrind and reclaimed materials, which is 100 percent awesome.


Aesthetic-wise, Xbox has gone with earthy, olive green tones for the body and “subtle variations, swirling, markings, and texturing,” adding to the uniqueness of the controller.

The D-pad, Xbox button and front case are inspired by “lichen found in the Pacific Northwest Forest,” with the triggers, bumpers and side grips sporting a tactile landscape pattern.

The company has doubled down even further on its support of Earth Day with the included Xbox Rechargeable Battery Pack. This allows users to play without disposable batteries and grants up to 30 hours of battery life with a single four-hour charge.

The controller also comes with all of the bells and whistles that are expected with a premium Xbox controller, including a 3.5mm stereo headset jack for headsets and Bluetooth technology that allows for wireless gaming on PC and mobile devices.

The Xbox Wireless Controller — Remix Special Edition will be available for pre-order worldwide on April 18th and will retail for $84.99 U.S. dollars (Approximately $114.34 Canadian dollars.)

For more weird Xbox controller variants, check out this plaid gamepad, released for a contest by Xbox Canada.

Image credit: Xbox

Source: Xbox