Canada is partnering with Huawei on a long-term project leaving some critics stunned, Netflix is is eyeing Toronto and Vancouver for its new outpost, and Reddit has become the unofficial unemployment hotline.
It’s all the tech news that’s popular right now. Welcome to Hashtag Trending! It’s Tuesday, February 16, and I’m your host Alex Coop.
The Globe and Mail is reporting that the federal government is partnering with Huawei to sponsor leading-edge computer and electrical engineering research at Canadian universities. The National Sciences and Engineering Research Council, a federal agency, is collaborating with the Canadian arm of Huawei Technologies to fund the studies. It’s worth noting that universities in the U.S. and Britain have decided that giving research money to Huawei is a big no-no due to IP and national-security concerns. The federally funded council is putting up $4.8-million for research partnerships that include Huawei. The technology giant would not divulge its contribution but would only say it is “greater than $4.8-million. Jim Balsillie, former co-chief executive of Research In Motion and founder of the Centre for International Governance Innovation, said It boggles the mind that in 2021 we continue to use taxpayer funds to advance China’s priorities at the expense of our economy, security and Five Eyes partnership.”
Netflix is taking what it calls a “big first step” towards creating original Canadian content. The streaming giant is considering Toronto and Vancouver for its new office and hopes the move will improve the company’s relationship with the country’s content creators and storytellers. The Globe and Mail is reporting that Netflix plans to hire a local executive to oversee programming and expand its operations in Canada to include marketing and publicity.
And lastly, As unemployment claims shot up early in the pandemic, so did posts on r/Unemployment. The New York Times did a deep dive on the subreddit, noting it once had fewer than 10 posts a day. That ballooned to nearly 1,000 posts a day in April and May and as the crisis wore on, posts and comments spiked in the weeks and in January, nearly 10 months after the first lockdowns, the forum had one of its busiest weeks ever, driven by delays in payments and uncertainty around legislation signed late last year. As of this week, roughly 70,000 people were subscribed to the forum.
That’s all the tech news that’s trending right now. Hashtag Trending is a part of the ITWC Podcast network. Add us to your Alexa Flash Briefing or your Google Home daily briefing. Make sure to sign up for our Daily IT Newsletter to get all the news that matters directly everyday in your inbox. I’m Alex Coop, thanks for listening!