Coffee Briefings are timely deliveries of the latest ITWC headlines, interviews, and podcasts. Today’s Coffee Briefing is delivered by IT World Canada’s editorial team!
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What’s new this week
Cathay Pacific selects Canadian tech startup to power its first wellness program
Hong-Kong based travel brand Cathay Pacific today launched its Cathay Wellness Journey, and has selected Canadian health tech startup Sprout Wellness Solutions as its exclusive partner in building out a new wellness program that rewards customers for achieving their health and wellness goals, not their transactions.
Cathay is a new travel lifestyle brand launched by Cathay Pacific in 2021 that aims to bring everything people love about travel together with everyday lifestyle, including spending, dining, shopping, hotels, and wellness. Cathay Pacific says that Cathay will only be available in Hong Kong initially. The company explains members can earn miles daily by completing six daily goals to improve aspects of their mind, body and diet, such as achieving 10,000 steps a day, doing 20 minutes of yoga, eating enough fruit and vegetables, getting at least seven hours of sleep, and more. First-time wellness journey users get 100 miles upon profile completion, which also provides them with their personal Health Score.
LG Electronics joins IBM Quantum Network to advance industry applications of quantum computing
LG Electronics (LG) yesterday announced it has joined the IBM Quantum Network to advance industry applications of quantum computing. By joining the IBM Quantum Network, LG will receive access to IBM’s quantum computing systems, as well as to IBM’s quantum expertise and Qiskit, IBM’s open-source quantum information software development kit. In addition, LG will be able to use quantum computing hardware and software advances and applications as they emerge, in accordance with IBM’s quantum roadmap.
Using IBM Quantum technology, LG says it aims to explore applications of quantum computing in any areas requiring processing a large amount of data, including AI, connected cars, digital transformation, IoT and robotics applications.
Telus program receives global privacy recognition
Telus has been awarded the HPE-IAPP Privacy Innovation Award by the International Association of Privacy Professionals in recognition of its Data for Good program, which was launched in April 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. With this program, Telus says it aims to enable all levels of government as well as public agencies (health authorities and qualified academic researchers) to use de-identified customer data from Telus Insights to measure progress and assess additional opportunities to help stop the spread of COVID-19 and “flatten the curve” without compromising the personal privacy of Canadians. The HPE-IAPP Privacy Innovation Awards recognize unique programs and services in global privacy and data protection in the private and public sectors, and serve to recognize organizations that integrate privacy in such a way that elevates its value as both a competitive differentiator and a centerpiece of customers’ and citizens’ trust.
With this,Telus becomes the only Canadian telecommunications company to receive the HPE-IAPP Privacy Innovation Award, in addition to being the only Canadian telecom company to achieve the Privacy by Design Certification through the Professional Evaluation and Certification Board (PECB) for its Insights platform.
Ontario firm wins a telematics contract with the U.S. Air Force
Oakville, ON.-based global Internet of Things (IoT) and connected transportation firm Geotab yesterday announced it has been awarded a sole-source contract by the U.S. Department of the Air Force, the air service branch of the U.S Armed Forces, for vehicle fleet-wide deployment of telematics. As part of this contract, the Department of the Air Force will equip its over 21,000 general-purpose vehicles with Geotab’s fleet management technology. Geotab says the features of the technology, including Automated odometer capturing, engine diagnostics, predictive analytics, fuel data, custom reporting, GHG reduction dashboards, and fleet right-sizing reporting, will help the U.S. Department of the Air Force more effectively manage its vehicles.
York Regional Police becomes the first Canadian police service to go for e-notes digital transformation
York Regional Police yesterday announced that it will be implementing the use of new policing software called Intelligent Mobile Patrol (IMP) throughout its service. With this, the York Regional Police becomes the police service in Canada to adopt a cryptographically enhanced electronic notes and investigative cross-platform solution, thereby transforming its current paper-based process.
Designed and developed by Canadian company Digital Mobility Inc., in conjunction with a team of ex-and-current law enforcement officers, IMP runs on mobile phones, mobile workstations, and desktop computers, and connects to central police databases, creating efficiencies and modernizing a historic duty note taking paper process.
More to explore
CES 2022: HP Elite Dragonfly Chromebook aims for the high-end
HP’s gorgeous Elite Dragonfly business laptop lineup has received a new member; the HP Elite Dragonfly Chromebook brings enterprise-grade performance on Google’s Chrome OS.
BlackBerry phone with keyboard is not dead
OnwardMobility, the Texas-based firm that picked up the hardware license for BlackBerry smartphones after previous licensee TCL decided to produce its own phone designs instead, has finally broken its almost year-long silence to announce that it is still alive.
Critical vulnerability in H2 database console discovered
IT administrators with the open-source Java-based H2 SQL database in their environments are being urged to update to the latest version after the discovery of an “extremely critical” vulnerability in its console.
Channel Bytes January 7, 2022 – two acquisitions; a merger; an integration; and more
Staying informed is a constant challenge. There’s so much to do, and so little time. But we have you covered. Grab a coffee and take five while you nibble on these tidbits.
Getting digital transformation right
A study published in the Toronto Star highlights how digital leaders spend up to 50 per cent more on technology than their competitors and they’ve achieved a striking return on investment. For instance, digital leaders are more than three times better at driving revenues and profits, four times better at capturing operational efficiencies and five times faster in launching new products to market.
SMBs: Invest for the business you will grow to be
Most small and mid-size businesses (SMBs) have growth on their minds, and often it is investments in technology that advance that goal. Yet, when growth happens more rapidly than anticipated, flawed technology decisions can snowball into challenges down the road. This problem is especially evident around security purchases.
Microsoft rushes fix for Exchange ‘year 2022’ bug that blocks email
Some Microsoft Exchange admins coming to work today may be facing their first challenge of the new year: Installing a patch to fix jammed messages that started at midnight on January 1st.
Will agile take off in 2022? Five ways we’ll know for sure
Is agile software development delivering enough value, or is agile simply an exaggerated buzzword that conveniently obscures all attempts at performance measurement of software development teams?
ITWC Podcasts
Listen to the latest episode of Hashtag Trending
Panasonic announces a four-day work week in Japan, a clean energy fund aims to raise $15 billion, and Facebook is hit with accusations of inciting violence.
Listen to the latest episode of Cyber Security Today
This episode reports on USB keys used to distribute ransomware, employee pleads guilty to charge in theft from Monsanto and more.