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
Hootsuite announces collaboration with WHO to combat global health crises misinformation
Vancouver-based social media management company, Hootsuite has announced a strategic partnership with the World Health Organization (WHO) to manage misinformation, particularly on social media, surrounding global health crises.
Hootsuite will offer its pro bono services, including digital tools and its on-demand Hootsuite Academy to the WHO Digital Channels team, as part of this collaboration.
Part of WHO’s tech taskforce, Hootsuite seeks to apply key lessons from the surge of misinformation that spread on social media throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, the Ebola outbreak in Uganda and recently monkeypox.
By engaging a network of influencers across the health community, including scientists, doctors, and frontline workers, and implementing Hootsuite’s tools, notably, social listening services and Insights, WHO aims to execute a social media strategy that helps scale important information to audiences globally and boost WHO’s social reach and engagement.
Hootsuite says it will also provide WHO with early access to innovative tools and product launches to attract a large online audience.
Toronto-based home sharing platform receives C$1 million in funding
Home sharing platform, Sparrow has received a total of C$1 million in funding, including C$500,000 from the Government of Canada as part of the National Housing Strategy Innovation programs, and another C$500,000 from information technology company, Accenture.
Sparrow’s platform is designed to match Canadians with spare bedrooms to those looking for accommodation for a minimum of two months, enabling hosts to generate passive income, while renters can access housing at below market rates.
While the National Housing Strategy seeks to address the pressing housing issues in Canada, Accenture aims to help startups realize their full potential.
The investment has funded a core team of four employees at Sparrow, including founders Oren Singer and Gavin Servai, as well as the platform’s development and pilot launch. The team seeks to expand to all neighborhoods in need across Canada.
New Visa collaborations enable installment payments at Canadian retailers
Financial company Visa has announced that it will be collaborating with Montreal-based global payments technology company Nuvei and middleware payment solution Tender Retail to bring Installments at Canada’s largest retailers such as Simons, Canada Computers, Soft Moc and Trevi.
Installments, enabled by Visa allows eligible credit card holders to convert qualifying purchases into smaller, predictable installment payments made over a defined period.
Visa research found that the option to pay in installments allows customers to increase their spending power and complete their purchases.
Installments will be available in the coming months at the aforementioned retailers.
MediaSmarts brings back the House Hippo in new Break the Fake campaign
Ottawa-based non-profit organization focusing on media and digital literacy MediaSmarts has launched a new campaign called Break the Fake to combat misinformation and help consumers to think critically and fact check online content before sharing.
The campaign is embodied by the House hippo, the subject of a 1999 Canadian television public service announcement (PSA) produced to educate children on critical thinking and remind them to not believe everything they see on television.
The campaign features multiple workshops, quizzes, fact-checking tips, videos and posters, designed to help online users “spot the fake” or differentiate between fake and factual information online.
This campaign is funded by the Government of Canada, Bell Media, and media companies Corus Entertainment, Family Channel and APTN (Aboriginal People Television Network).
Airport wait times dashboard now available at Pearson Airport in Mississauga
Toronto Pearson International Airport travelers can now see all real-time wait times of everything from security to baggage claim on their new airport wait times dashboard.
Users can see how long it will take them to get through security to U.S customs in terminals 1 and 3, see whether the area is “normal” or “busy”, and display all airline counters, including which ones are closed. Passengers can also look at baggage status (lost, delayed, delivery in progress), as well as flight number, terminal, and the carousel on which travelers can expect their bags to come.
On the arrivals side, the dashboard shows how long the line is at the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) at each terminal.
However, the website reads, “Wait times can vary. All provided wait times should only be considered an estimate. You may experience longer wait times than indicated.”
The dashboard comes after the Pearson airport was ranked one of the worst large airports in North America in overall satisfaction, according to J.D. Power’s annual customer satisfaction survey, mainly due the number of flight delays, cancellations, long lines, and lost baggage.
More to explore
Stanford names Mila’s founder third most influential scientist in the world
Professor Yoshua Bengio, scientific director and founder of Mila, the Quebec artificial intelligence (AI) institute, has ranked third on the list of the most recognized and influential researchers in any field published by Stanford University in California.
Meta threatens to cancel news sharing over Bill C-18
The lobbying has escalated and now the real question is whether Bill C-18, the Online News Act now being debated by a parliamentary committee, will end up being revamped or stay as is when an eventual vote takes place in the House of Commons.
Fireside chat at MapleSEC: IOSecure CEO on lessons learned
Tom Jacoby could write a book about what he has learned and experienced in the cybersecurity space over the past almost 30 years. The Coquitilam, B.C. company he founded – IOSecure Internet Operations Inc. – came into being in 1994 and then, as now, it was an IT services company that focused on online security.
Project Bonsai cornerstone of new TCS, Microsoft initiative
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has launched a collaboration with Microsoft Corp. that will see it develop AI-powered solutions for industrial controls on Project Bonsai, a low-code AI platform available on Microsoft Azure Cloud.
Worldwide IT spending to grow five per cent in 2023: Gartner
Gartner’s latest forecast reveals that worldwide IT spending is projected to total US$4.6 trillion in 2023, an increase of 5.1 per cent from 2022.
Hamilton employee mistakenly sends email blast with all names and addresses visible
The carbon-based units are again responsible for a huge breach of security controls at an organization.
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.
MapleSEC session examines how best to end email havoc
It is both a daunting and alarming figure. Over the course of 2022, according to Statista, it is estimated that a staggering 333.2 billion emails will be sent and received globally, a number that will come in at 347.3 billion next year and hit the 376.4 billion mark by 2025.
Total business spend on SIEM to exceed US$6.4 billion globally by 2027: Juniper Research
UK-based market research company Juniper Research predicts in a new study that total business spend in Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) will exceed US$6.4 billion globally by 2027, from just over US$4.4 billion in 2022.
Listen to the latest episode of Hashtag Trending
Hashtag Trending Oct. 25 – TikTok, Facebook have major misinformation problems; Starlink for Iran; Big Tech under scrutiny in South Korea due to network fees
Listen to the latest episode of Cyber Security Today
Cyber Security Today, Oct. 24, 2022 – A new ransomware data removal tool is found, a warning that exploit proofs-of-concepts in Github may not be safe, and more
Listen to the latest episode of Hashtag Tendances (Hosted by Direction Informatique)
If you live in Quebec, or prefer to consume the latest technology news in French, our sister publication Direction Informatique has you covered. Follow them on Twitter as well.
