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Broadband / Telco

🇨🇦 Stakeholders not worried by Ontario’s delay of total broadband connectivity - The Ontario government’s announcement that it will not hit its December 2025 deadline of connecting everyone in the province to broadband did not come as a surprise to all industry watchers. It had long been regarded by some as a fanciful goal, especially after the cancellation of the government’s contract with Space Exploration Technologies Corp.’s (SpaceX) Starlink satellite service. The new goal is 2028.

My Take: My keyboard is full of blood from biting my tongue so hard. 2021 was a long time ago.. Stakeholders may not be worried, but what about all those people waiting for service?

🇨🇦 TELUS Launches Quantum-Safe VPN Service Designed to Future-Proof Customer Security Against Emerging Cyber Threats - TELUS has announced the launch of its Quantum-Safe VPN service, reinforcing the company's position as a cybersecurity leader by offering commercial Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC) protection to Canadian businesses. The innovative service aims to address future cyber threats from quantum computing technology, delivering next-generation security solutions today.

My Take: What’s the cost premium on “Quantum?” Is the near-term threat real enough to need this now?

🇨🇦 BCE lays off almost 700 staff, mostly management roles, in latest round of job cuts - The layoffs include approximately 650 management positions across Bell Canada, representing just under 2 per cent of its total work force excluding Bell Media, and 40 roles at Bell Media, representing just under 1 per cent of the subsidiary’s employees, the telecom and media company said in a statement Thursday afternoon.

My Take: That’s a lot of management people.

Local Fiber Expands Radius to Canada, Offering Household-Level Internet Serviceability Across North America - Local Fiber announced the expansion of its Radius serviceability API to Canada on November 13, 2025, becoming the first tool with household-level internet provider data nationwide. Radius now maps 2,723 providers across North America, delivering precise, real-time serviceability info. The company has opened the wait-list for its upcoming Radius Channel Program to connect regional providers with major sales channels, boosting broadband access and market reach.

My Take: Someone in Canada test this and let us all know how it works.

🇨🇦 Joanne Levy to the Canada’s Rural and Remote Broadband Community conference - We have gathered here to discuss connectivity in our rural and remote communities and how we define it. I look forward to discussing how we can work together to achieve our shared goal of full connectivity for all Canadians – especially in our traditionally underserved communities in rural, remote and Indigenous areas.

My Take: I often wonder why they speak when they can just send people what they’re going to say. With very few exceptions, it’s word for word, and that’s it.

WISPs clap back at Ookla report on FWA speeds - A new report is calling into question the speeds delivered by wireless Internet service providers – or WISPs. But the WISP world disputes the report's findings.

My Take: The argument is that subscriber choice does not equate to network capacity, so if people subscribe to a less expensive lower-tier of service, it’s negatively reflected in the testing. Interesting. How do you test capacity vs selection?

Carriers face 'yawning mismatch' between FWA revenues and data usage - FWA remains a key growth driver for carriers, but there's a huge gap between the capacity that FWA services use and the revenues they generate, a new analysis shows. That gap could widen as AI usage becomes more pronounced.

My Take: “study shows that fixed wireless services from Verizon and T-Mobile are chewing up more than a fair share of the capacity but driving only a small fraction of their respective wireless revenues.”.. 50% of the traffic, 3% of the revenue.

BEAD hopes are high as NTIA is now approving plans - NTIA announced Tuesday it approved the final proposals for 18 states and territories and that one state – Louisiana – now officially has access to its BEAD allocation. The approved states and territories are: Louisiana, Wyoming, Iowa, American Samoa, Georgia, Arkansas, Delaware, Guam, Maine, New Hampshire, Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands, Connecticut, South Carolina, North Dakota, Hawaii, Montana, Rhode Island and Virginia.

Reminder: What BEAD Final Proposals Looked Like When Submitted to NTIA - Today's big news is that the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) approved 18 Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program Final Proposals.

My Take: Some collective sighs of relief?

🇨🇦 CRTC brings high-speed internet to communities in Saskatchewan - The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) has announced that it is helping bring high-speed internet to 27 communities in rural Saskatchewan.

My Take: ICYMI. Money is still flowing, or at least being announced.

Verizon’s Leadership Shift Signals a Deeper Problem Across U.S. Telecom - After spending more than three decades in telecom and the last 20 years inside Verizon, the recent CEO change and the announcement of 15,000 layoffs did not surprise me. What surprises me is that it took this long.

My Take: Speed and agility. It’s hard to stop a massive ship and change course. Time for a smaller, more nimble ship.

🇨🇦 Telus went all in with Huawei – now it's all in with open RAN - Canada's Telus has been switching from Huawei to a Samsung-led but multivendor open RAN. Here's how it's going.

My Take: Everyone loved Huawei, until they didn’t. Anyone remember Wind mobile?

AWS wants to control its own data center transport destiny - AWS wants more out of its fiber infrastructure as AI places more demands on its data center networks. But it’s not waiting for optical vendor partners to deliver solutions. The cloud giant has built new in-house transponder tech for long-haul routes to boost security, reliability and aid efforts to automate its global network.

My Take: And they recently announced Fastnet, their subsea cable connecting Maryland, US and County Cork, Ireland. I think their whole fiber network is a strategic differentiator for them in the pending war against Starlink.

🇨🇦 CRTC dismisses Rogers complaint over MVNO decision - The CRTC has rejected an appeal by Rogers Communications Inc. seeking to overturn a ruling over mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs). The dismissal was announced on Wednesday, Nov. 19.

My Take: The focus is on IoT, M2M and the like. Everything is so tightly regulated.

White Paper: The Need for Ongoing Network Performance Monitoring by U.S. States - Billions of dollars have already been deployed in the last several years to close the digital divide through state-directed projects with funding from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) and the Capital Projects Fund (CPF). In 2026, we will finally start to see deployments begin with funding from the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program. State broadband offices are managing this unprecedented influx of federal funding, overseeing projects that are reshaping local economies, and transforming how communities access education, healthcare, and jobs.

My Take: Download the paper.

Gigapower is now officially in the open access game - It’s happening. Gigapower inked a contract with Flume, which will be the second ISP – after AT&T – to join Gigapower’s now-officially open access network.

My Take: Why are they so surprised? Wasn’t it always supposed to be at some point?

Fiber Sensing

Distributed Acoustic Sensing Interrogator Market to Reach USD 3200.0 Million, With CAGR of 11% During the Forecast Period of 2025 to 2035 - The Distributed Acoustic Sensing Interrogator Market is witnessing strong growth with increasing adoption in security, pipeline monitoring, and smart infrastructure. Fiber-optic sensing advancements enhance real-time detection, accuracy, and coverage for industrial and defense applications.

My Take: Maybe it was science fiction years ago, but not anymore. Software and algorithm improvements continue to drive meaningful, impactful real-world outcomes.

How to enhance offshore wind farm security – and what it will cost - Aegir Insights’ modelling shows the cost of integrating advanced surveillance and defense systems into offshore wind farms that could find themselves increasing targets of grey zone warfare

My Take: Security is a key use case for fiber sensing. Even underwater!

Rising Threats to Critical Infrastructure in the U.S. - Modern conflict is evolving faster than our preparations. Today’s emerging battlefields are digital, silent, and without borders – where cyber warfare can be waged with a single keystroke from virtually anywhere. The next battle may not begin with explosions, but with a silent strike: a data breach, a blackout, or a system compromise. If we continue to train solely for yesterday’s wars, we risk being blindsided by tomorrow’s threats. 

My Take: Early detection is key, including the physical asset.

Is Hollow Core Fiber Becoming Mainstream? - Recent news about hollow core fiber (HCF) indicates that it is becoming more widely accepted, not just by users but by major fiber manufacturers who are adding it to their product lines.

My Take: Yes. Use it. Love it. I’m sure it’s not without its operational challenges

Webinar Redux: Why Cities Can’t Afford to Wait on Smart Infrastructure -
A city utility manager, an economist, and a fiber technologist walk into a virtual webinar And what followed was a deep dive into why delaying investment in smart city infrastructure is increasingly costly.

My Take: I haven’t watched it yet. Was a late addition. But if Paul is part of it, there’s sure to be some great insights shared!

Data Centres

AI Data Centers: Meta’s $600B Plan, Oracle’s $18B Loan & Google’s Island Plot - Despite Michael Burry’s latest grim bet against the artificial intelligence (AI) sector—a short bet of $1.1 billion against NVIDIA (1 million shares worth $187 million) and Palantir (5 million shares worth $912 million) during Q3-2025, which also saw big tech stocks crash and wipe $730 billion in a day—AI companies continue investing big to boost AI technology like the lives of their companies depend on it.

My Take: The amount of money.. What happens when the house of cards comes crashing down? Reminds me of when Nortel accounted for 35% of the entire TSX market cap.

Data Center Resistance: Stopping the Corporate AI Offensive - Hyperscale data centers are a social and ecological disaster, and communities across the country are now organizing to stop their construction and operation.

My Take: Social and ecological disasters sound bad. Maybe they’re not pretty enough.

Rising Opposition Against Data Center Developments in the US - A new report by Data Center Watch, an initiative of AI security company 10a Labs, highlights a significant rise in local opposition to data center developments across the United States. The report reveals that from March to June 2025, community pushback blocked or delayed projects worth $98 billion.

My Take: The uprising begins. Noise? Emissions? Not in my town? Behold, the Data Centre Resistance.

Future data centers are driving up forecasts for energy demand. States want proof they’ll get built - The forecasts are eye-popping: utilities saying they’ll need two or three times more electricity within a few years to power massive new data centers that are feeding a fast-growing AI economy.

My Take: “Lawmakers and regulators are pushing back, asking whether these projected data-centre builds are “real” or speculative. The concern: if the builds don’t happen, ratepayers might nonetheless pay for grid upgrades or extra capacity that isn’t needed.” Well, yea. So get them to pony up for power like they do in Ontario, for example.

Meta Plans Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, Data Center Operations - American multinational technology company Meta plans to establish operations in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin. The $1 billion project is expected to create more than 100 jobs.

Google to invest $40 billion to build new data centers in Texas - Google says the move will expand the tech company’s cloud and AI infrastructure and support thousands of new jobs.

My Take: Just some data points.

Big data, big footprint - ’Intangible assets’ come with all-too-tangible costs thanks to the ever-expanding energy and water needs of the digital mega-repositories powering the AI ‘revolution’

My Take: Manitoba’s move to become a data-centre and AI hub makes a lot of sense: cheap hydro power, cold climate

LightRiver on Gigabit Fiber’s AI-driven expansion for the data center era - Gigabit Fiber’s new southwest long-haul build — connecting Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, and Phoenix — may look like another regional transport expansion. But to LightRiver, the engineering partner behind the deployment, the real story is how AI-enabled automation, software-driven optimization, and factory-built integration are reshaping what fiber operators can deliver, and how fast.

My Take: AI-ready transport – automated planning, faster turn-up of new circuits, and the ability to spin up high-capacity waves for GPU clusters in days instead of months. Lighting up 400Gbps in days only works if the right automated foundation is in place. They should make sure to add awareness to that critical infrastructure with distributed fiber optic sensing!

🇨🇦 Canadian developer looks to build data center in Toronto - Ground could break on the seven-story facility next year if an anchor tenant is secured, according to the company. Further details weren’t shared.

My Take: Looks like this will be just another non-descript building, but won’t look like a datacentre. They don’t mention anything about power.

Canada Data Center Networking Market Forecast to Reach USD 980 Million by 2030, Driven by Hyperscale Expansion and 400G/800G Ethernet Adoption - Mordor Intelligence has published a new report on the Canada Data Center Networking Market, offering a comprehensive analysis of trends, growth drivers, and future projections.

My Take: More forecasts.. take them for what they’re worth.. All indicators.

What’s Happening In Space?

What’s in Space This Week?

🇨🇦 A Higher Orbit: How Canada can build and finance a bolder space strategy - Canada has an opportunity to grow its space economy to $21 billion by 2035

My Take: Canada has the talent, research, and location to be a real leader in the space economy. But if we don’t move faster and grow our space companies at scale, other countries will take the lead while we stay stuck as a parts supplier.

🇨🇦 Kepler Announces Launch Date for First Tranche of Optical Satellites - Kepler Communications today announced it will launch ten 300-kilogram-class satellites for its optical data relay network aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 from Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, in Jan. 2026. The launch marks the beginning of Kepler’s next-generation operational constellation, designed to provide real-time connectivity, advanced on-orbit compute, and hosted payload services for government and commercial customers.  

My Take: Kepler’s January 2026 launch is big for Canada’s space sector. It shows that a Canadian company can build space tech, not just follow others. Having said that, the real challenge starts after the launch. They need to prove the system works, that they can get customers, and that they can grow the network.

Power limits are now a key hurdle for LEO growth - Power limits – not just lack of spectrum – are a key bottleneck for low earth orbit (LEO) satellite deployment, panelists argued at a New America policy event.

My Take: it’s not just “how many satellites” or “what spectrum”, it’s also “how much signal you’re allowed to send”

New Glenn vs. Falcon 9 - The world is witnessing the construction of two colossal, reusable rockets: the Falcon 9 and the New Glenn. These aren’t just comparable machines; they are the physical embodiments of two radically different visions for the future of humanity, championed by two of the wealthiest and most driven individuals of the modern era.

My Take: Economically, New Glenn is pitched as offering a lower price per Kg thanks to its larger capacity, even if the upfront launch cost is similar. For example, New Glenn might cost $60–100 million per launch for 45,000 kg -> ~$2,222/kg; Falcon 9 at ~$70 million for 22,800 kg -> ~$3,070/kg.

Amazon to take on Starlink with Amazon Leo: 5 key things to know - Amazon Leo, formerly Project Kuiper, is Amazon’s global satellite internet system designed to bring fast, reliable connectivity to remote and underserved areas. With over 3,000 low Earth orbit satellites planned and speeds up to 1 Gbps, the service will roll out to enterprise users in 2025 and the public in 2026.

My Take: Not much new in here. So much for “you people” who were willing to bet the farm on “Prime Internet.”

Chinese Satellite Crushes Starlink With 2-Watt Laser Fired From 36,000 KM in Space - Using a laser weaker than a fridge light, it quietly achieved something five times faster than Starlink—from a place most experts thought was impossible.

My Take: If there’s no video, it didn’t happen ;)

🇨🇦 Fuelling development: NordSpace receives $1 million in Canadian Space Agency funding - Ontario-based company NordSpace still hopes to launch rockets into space from the spaceport complex it’s building on NL’s south coast

My Take: If nothing else, the development of Canadian IP is key.

How Many Starlink Satellites Have Fallen Out Of The Sky? - What do you get when you cross exceptional amounts of solar activity with a fleet of low-Earth orbiting satellites? A crash course in how the sun is always the victor. Since SpaceX first launched the Starlink program back in 2019, there have been well over 500 atmospheric reentries that were unplanned.

My Take: All of them, at some point. 1,024, though, is the number. I want one for the cottage. I’d mount my rotary dial payphone on it and turn it into a beehive.

DOJ Issued Seizure Warrant to Starlink Over Satellite Internet Systems Used at Scam Compound - A new US law enforcement initiative is aimed at crypto fraudsters targeting Americans—and now seeks to seize infrastructure it claims is crucial to notorious scam compounds.

My Take: Does any carrier really know how their services are being used? There’s no such thing as burner Internet.

Hunt Energy Company Selects Amazon Leo for Secure Satellite Connectivity to Transform Energy Operations; Announces New Division, Skyward - Hunt Energy Company, L.P. (Hunt) announces today a strategic agreement with Amazon Leo to implement secure, reliable satellite connectivity across its energy management operations. This collaboration will enable Hunt to digitize and modernize operations, even in the most remote environments around the world, significantly improving operational efficiency and security.

My Take: Just a datapoint. Seems they may be focused on B2B to start, and not residential until they have more capacity and critical mass? They have the whole AWS network underlay at their disposal.

The next generation of radar needed to detect micro-debris and enable a safer LEO - As someone deeply involved in the space sector, I’ve seen firsthand how low Earth orbit (LEO) is becoming increasingly congested. Satellite operators, space agencies and aerospace companies are all facing a growing threat from orbital debris. With more than 10,000 active satellites already in orbit and millions of smaller fragments accumulating, the risk of collision is rising sharply.

My Take: Yes. Something that has been discussed for quite some time, and then there’s the need to coordinate movement between satellites, like V2V for cars.

🇨🇦 Canada Deepens Space Ties with Europe Through Historic Investment - Today, at the SpaceBound 2025 Conference, the Honourable Mélanie Joly, Minister of Industry and Minister responsible for Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions, made the historic announcement that Canada will increase its investment to European Space Agency (ESA) programs by $528.5 million.

My Take: Clearly, between this announcement and other notes, space is a strategic asset and not a science project.

Starlink’s method of dodging solar storms may make it slower, for longer - Researchers have found Starlink’s efforts to mitigate the effects of solar storms can create degraded performance that persists for a day or more after geomagnetic conditions ease.

My Take: Do they have a choice? Can they live-stream the whole thing? It would be cool to watch these things maneuvering out of harm’s way,

🇨🇦 Federal government’s millions for Canada’s commercial space race marks a new chapter - Interest from the federal government is marking a new and potentially lucrative chapter in Canada’s bourgeoning commercial space race.

My Take: Space matters, and the Feds know it - and it can’t all be applied to military and defence applications.

SpaceX Expands Its Cheaper 'Residential Lite' Starlink Plan Even More in the US - SpaceX's Starlink has expanded access to its cheaper $80-per-month Residential Lite plan in more parts of the US.

My Take: That’s likely enough for most people, at the price point of FWA, I would think? - “The downside of Residential Lite is that it offers slower download rates, mainly between 80 to 200Mbps, although this is often enough for some subscribers. In contrast, the regular $120-per-month Residential tier typically offers speeds from 135 to 305Mbps, but can go as high as 400Mbps, according to SpaceX. “

He Wants to Build the Outernet in Space. Beijing Wants to Steal It. – The Epoch Times - This is Declan Ganley’s vision for Outernet, a self-sustaining data ark in space that promises to host the most vital global digital communications—a backup internet.

My Take: This is an interesting story. Net of it all, 2026 is right around the corner. Have they even started building anything? Do they have launch capacity booked? Did they get the billions they were looking for?

SpaceX resumes early evening launches after FAA restrictions lifted - SpaceX launched of a batch of Starlink satellites on Tuesday, its first early-evening flight since the FAA lifted restrictions on commercial launches prompted by the government shutdown.

My Take: I still want to see a launch one day. Maybe Starbase is the place to go.

Direct To Device

🇨🇦AST SpaceMobile’s positive smartphone tests prove ready for Bell Canada’s connectivity - The technology goal is to provide coverage in remote areas and is expected to be commercially launched by 2026, improving service in hard-to-reach regions and supporting industries such as mining and agriculture. 

My Take: I wonder how many people have been using Rogers’ service?

Skylo takes unique approach to satellite-based texting - There are three different approaches to how companies are delivering direct-to-device (D2D) satellite texting to consumers, and it can seem like you need a white-board to sort it all out. There are already big names, using two different approaches. But Skylo, a company that has flown under the radar, is taking a different angle.

My Take: Skylo doesn’t own satellites; instead they partner with GEO satellite operators (e.g., Viasat/Inmarsat, EchoStar) and build their own terrestrial infrastructure (RAN, core network, SIM management, billing) to deliver the service via L-band and S-band non-terrestrial network (NTN) frequencies.

Global Direct-to-Cell Market Size, Share, Industry Analysis Report By Service Type - The direct to cell market has expanded rapidly as satellite connectivity begins to integrate directly with standard mobile devices. Growth is supported by advancements in non terrestrial network technology that allow smartphones to connect to satellites without special hardware. The market is evolving into an important part of the global communication ecosystem as demand for seamless connectivity increases across remote, rural and underserved regions.

My Take: And, so?

Orange becomes first European operator to offer satellite SMS service using "direct-to-device" technology - During the Orange OpenTech event in Paris, Orange announces the launch of “Message Satellite”, a service that allows its customers based in mainland France to send and receive SMS messages as well as their geolocation via satellite when mobile or Wi-Fi coverage is unavailable.

My Take: The real-world exprience data will be juicy.

Enabling AI

Jeff Bezos Creates A.I. Start-Up Where He Will Be Co-Chief Executive - Called Project Prometheus, the company is focusing on artificial intelligence for the engineering and manufacturing of computers, automobiles and spacecraft.

Elon Musk Calls Jeff Bezos ‘Copycat’ For Reported Launch Of $6.2 Billion AI Startup - Musk—founder of his AI firm xAI—responded briefly to the news in a post on X, writing, “Haha no way” with a laughing emoji, followed by “Copy” and a cat emoji.

My Take: Aren’t they buddies?

Piloting group chats in ChatGPT - Collaborate with others, and ChatGPT, in the same conversation.

My Take: Its like a watch party, only for prompting,

Google releases Nano Banana Pro, its latest image-generation model - Google is upgrading its image-generation model with new editing chops, higher resolutions, more accurate text rendering, and the ability to search the web.

My Take: Isn’t this like the 3 release in two weeks? It is pretty cool, though. In case you’re wondering, “The name "Nano Banana" originated as an arbitrary, late-night placeholder codename used by a Google employee during anonymous internal and public testing of an AI image generation model. The name was not the result of a planned marketing strategy but was embraced after it went viral online. “

EU to delay 'high risk' AI rules until 2027 after Big Tech pushback - The European Commission proposed on Wednesday streamlining and easing a slew of tech regulations, including delaying some provisions of its AI Act, in an attempt to cut red tape, head off criticism from Big Tech and boost Europe's competitiveness.

My Take: The real risk now is not deploying AI slowly, but deploying it unsecured

🇨🇦 TELUS Sovereign AI Factory named Canada’s fastest and most powerful supercomputer - TELUS today announced that the TELUS Sovereign AI Factory in Rimouski, Quebec has been named Canada's fastest and most powerful supercomputer by the prestigious TOP500 list, which ranks the world's 500 most powerful computing systems, making TELUS the only telecom provider in Canada to receive this distinction.

My Take: #78. The real test and turning point will be real-world outcomes — innovation, research, jobs and value.

Grok 4.1 - Grok 4.1 is now available to all users on grok.com, 𝕏, and the iOS and Android apps. It is rolling out immediately in Auto mode and can be selected explicitly as “Grok 4.1” in the model picker.

My Take: I don’t use Grok. Maybe I should try it.

No firm is immune if AI bubble bursts, Google CEO tells BBC - Pichai said in an interview with the BBC published on Tuesday that the current wave of AI investment was an "extraordinary moment" but acknowledged "elements of irrationality" in the market, echoing warnings of "irrational exuberance" during the dotcom era.

My Take: If you’re riding the AI wave without checking how deep the water is, you could be caught off guard when the tide goes out - and the tide will go out at some point.

What agentic AI means for cybersecurity - Agentic AI technology promises a more autonomous and proactive approach to protecting enterprise assets. But deploying tools that require less human intervention also carries risk.

My Take: Better to train the system and the humans than to deal with a runaway agent in the middle of a breach. Do we have the right metrics and controls to govern agentic AI in security operations?

Google launches Gemini 3 with new coding app and record benchmark scores - Coming just seven months after the Gemini 2.5 release, the new model is Google’s most capable LLM yet, and an immediate contender for the most capable AI tool on the market. The release also comes less than a week after OpenAI released GPT 5.1, and a mere two months after Anthropic released Sonnet 4.5 — a reminder of the blistering pace of frontier model development.

My Take: “The launch also introduces a new development platform named Antigravity, designed for “agent-first” coding — meaning the AI can take multi-step tasks, write code, use tools like a terminal and browser, and manage tasks more autonomously” ☠️

The State of AI: How war will be changed forever - Military commanders hope for a digitally enhanced force that is faster and more accurate than human-directed combat. But there are fears that as AI assumes an increasingly central role, these same commanders will lose control of a conflict that escalates too quickly and lacks ethical or legal oversight.

My Take: Yea, that’s what we need. Losing control of automated warfare.

Brookfield Launches $100 Billion AI Infrastructure Program - Brookfield will anchor the program with the Brookfield Artificial Intelligence Infrastructure Fund (“BAIIF” or “the Fund”), which launches today with a target of $10 billion of equity commitments to invest in the backbone of artificial intelligence (“AI”). BAIIF has already received $5 billion of capital commitments from a select group of institutional and industry partners, including Brookfield, NVIDIA and KIA.

My Take: $100B. If you control the infrastructure, you shape the outcome.

This and That!

🇨🇦 Canada’s digital sovereignty is crumbling under aggressive U.S. lobbying - It is axiomatic of Canada’s recent sovereignty discourse that we talk fiercely about standing up to the United States before we fold. Rescinding the Digital Services Tax on Big Tech just to restart trade negotiations. Removing countertariffs on USMCA-compliant goods, even while the U.S. keeps tariffs of their own. Canada bluffs. The U.S. calls. We fold.

My Take: Canada wants to set its own digital rules, but it feels like U.S. tech giants have more say than Canadians do. Meanwhile, space.

🇨🇦 Canada’s Emergency Alert System Test Highlights Connectivity Concerns - Today, Canada conducted a nationwide “Canada emergency alert system” test, drawing attention to key issues in network coverage and device compatibility. This recent “Alert Ready test” aimed to ensure public safety, but uncovered several flaws that could hinder response efforts in real emergencies. Such challenges highlight the need for enhancements to meet “CRTC requirements” effectively, ensuring every citizen receives critical alerts promptly.

My Take: Which is first, 50/10 for every Canadian (which is severely outdated) or emergency alerts? Don’t the MNOs have agreements with satellite D2D providers to address this? Can they close the gaps? All of them? Maybe everyone should just own a weather radio and use that instead. I guess no one is really watching TV anymore, so that doesn’t work. I know. A Bat Signal!

Report: Tim Cook could step down as Apple CEO ‘as soon as next year’ - According to the FT’s sources, Apple’s board and senior executives have “recently intensified” the company’s succession planning for its top role.

My Take: Not sure anyone would know the difference. Everything just looks the same, only more expensive.

Cloudflare apologises for outage which took down X and ChatGPT - Cloudflare said the "significant outage" occurred after a configuration file designed to handle threat traffic did not work as intended and "triggered a crash" in its software handling traffic for its wider services.

My Take: if we keep relying on a few big companies to hold up the whole system, we’re taking a real risk. At least they owned up to it all and are being very transparent.

#42 LinkedIn Algorithm Report! October Update Crushed it! - We dropped the Updated LinkedIn Algorithm Report earlier this week — and it landed with a bang. Within 24 hours, my inbox was overflowing:

My Take: Ya, like anyone really understands how it works, but for 150 euro, you can find out. Or you can give me $10 to watch me shrug my shoulders. 🤷‍♀️

Europe must not cede digital sphere to US, China, warns Germany's Merz - German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Tuesday called on Europe to take swift action to avoid ceding the increasingly important digital sphere to the United States and China in future.

My Take: If Europe doesn’t do something now, they’ll soon be playing second fiddle to others.

Tiny spiders that build giant 'puppet' decoys from disembodied prey discovered in Peru and Philippines - Researchers have documented the strange antics of two tropical spider species that build giant, arachnid-shaped decoys out of silk, plant matter and prey remains in their webs.

My Take: Nature is freaky, like when parasites take over other animals and control their minds.

Infographic Of The Week

My Take: With 671 GW of prospective solar capacity, China alone represents nearly 35% of the global pipeline, more than the next five countries combined. Is there irony that the world’s largest polluter has such renewable capacity?

Podcast Recommendation

The US Golden Dome programme offers a significant prospect for satellite manufacturers and related players. This proposed multi-layered network of satellites aims to improve and consolidate the US military’s security and prevalence in space, via a large number of highly capable satellites and support infrastructure. Manufacturers and vendors capable of delivering on time, at cost and with competitive offerings will benefit from the significant budget allocations. However, there have been challenges related to manufacturers and supply chains for similar programmes. Such challenges must be properly navigated in this programme to best meet the opportunity ahead.

Listen Here!

Movie/Streaming Recommendation

IMDb: 7/10

JMDb: 🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿/10 (It was O-Tay! .. but not great)

“Being Eddie” offers a warmly entertaining but somewhat superficial glimpse into Eddie Murphy’s journey from SNL breakout to Hollywood icon. The documentary shines brightest when Murphy candidly revisits comic milestones and opens up about the weight of fame and cultural impact, powered by affectionate tributes from comedy legends like Chappelle and Rock.

Director Angus Wall keeps the tone celebratory, resulting in energetic, nostalgia-rich storytelling filled with humour and insight, but also noticeable restraint when it comes to probing Murphy’s controversies or deeper flaws.

Audiences looking for a polished highlight reel of Murphy’s comedy legacy will find it immensely watchable and satisfying. However, those seeking a penetrating or critical exploration of Murphy as a person may be left wanting, as the documentary tends to avoid the more challenging questions.

Overall, “Being Eddie” is an affectionate homage, lively and enjoyable, but ultimately lighter than fans of more revealing profiles might hope.

Until Next Time

Comments here are my own and do not represent the opinions, views or thoughts of any person, company or organization that I may be associated with.

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