Latest News

As competition heats up, the CRTC loosens up! Effective October 6, 2008, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) has allowed the traditional telephone companies (Rogers, Bell, Telus) to change most of their telecommunications rates without the CRTC’s approval… and take effect the day they are filed. The only stipulation is that the telecoms must stay within the existing pricing rules.

Leonard Katz, the CRTC’s Vice-Chairman of Telecommunications said: “While the new procedure eases the regulatory burden for traditional telephone companies, it does not permit them to exceed the pricing limits previously imposed by the Commission for regulated services. This change enables the traditional telephone companies, as well as the CRTC, to streamline their operations without any impact on consumers.”

With increasing amounts of accidents due to texting while walking, driving, eating and bathing(?)… SpinVox, a service that converts voice messages into text, has found a creative way to get press and also give tips on how to practice safe texting. Here are the 5 useful tips:

1. Before texting, survey your surroundings. If there is a chance of something striking you, such as a ball near a basketball court, move to a safer location.

2. Never text while your body’s in motion. Texting while driving can be fatal, but even a sidewalk can present many hidden dangers to the distracted. You could walk into a telephone pole, trip on a crack in the concrete, or skate into a dog’s leash.

3. Don’t just consider your own safety — consider the safety of others as well. You may think you’re safe from serious injury while texting on the go, but more serious injuries could result from walking into a small child or an older person with a cane. Never text when you have younger children with you — it is easy to get “lost” in a cell phone screen.

4. Don’t text while in the middle of cooking, mowing the lawn or other dangerous chores.

And finally – the sales plug – otherwise known as “Tip #5″:

5. Take advantage of new voice-to-content services such as SpinVox, which allow users to speak messages that are then converted to text and delivered simultaneously to as many people as they want.

Earlier this week a video was released on How to take apart your BlackBerry Bold. Now a video has shown up on how to re-assemble your dismantled BlackBerry Bold. See it here

Want to possibly win a brand spankin’ new white HTC Touch? Register for the “Great Canadian Giveaway: HTC Touch” here

We briefly had a conversation with RIM VP Patrick Spence about the Bold. He’s enthusiastic about the newest addition to the BlackBerry family and showed us how video looks on his Bold. See it here

If you got some extra cash laying around, you might want to invest in the Canadian Wireless Trust, they have declared a cash distribution of $0.034 per Trust unit.

Rogers officially released the long awaited BlackBerry Bold – A North American first and we were there to witness and video this event.

Started off with a video presentation of the Bold and its capabilities, then a short speech by John Boynton, Rogers Wireless Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, and RIM Vice President Patrick Spence. See it here:

The BlackBerry Bold is available at Rogers from $399.99 on a 3-year voice and data plan of $45 or more. More info at Rogers here.

We spoke with Mike Nykoluk from Unify4Life – the makers of the first BlackBerry Universal Remote. They just started their beta program and he is excited and ready for the October, early November release date. In our exclusive interview he gives us an insight into why Unify4Life was created, and what they are currently doing today will be the norm in 5 years. Listen here

This is messed up! As Canada patiently waits for the BlackBerry Bold, people are already taking the beast apart. Check out this video

The latest marketing tactic by Fido is to take over Toronto with 2 massive 4 storey dolls (one male and one female).  The dolls were placed at either end of Toronto and will eventually meet up on August 27th in conjunction with a new concept called “Fido Art Session.”  These new sessions feature quarterly events around art, culture, design and fashion.