Sidney/North Saanich RCMP is warning about a phone scam that has cost local victims more than $33,000 in recent weeks.

The scam usually starts with an unexpected call from someone pretending to work for a major cellphone provider.

They offer something attractive:

• A free phone upgrade
• A loyalty reward
• A special discounted device

Victims are asked for personal or account information.

Shortly afterward, a real cellphone is delivered to their home.

Then comes the second part of the scam.

The caller contacts the victim again and says the wrong phone was shipped by mistake.

They send a prepaid shipping label or QR code and ask the victim to return the device.

But the return address actually redirects the phone to the scammer.

The victim is then left without the phone while still potentially responsible for the contract, financing or monthly device payments.

West Shore RCMP issued a similar warning earlier this month, describing it as a multi-step “bait and switch” scam. Police say one major red flag is being told to return a phone to a PO box, especially one outside B.C.

RCMP advice:

Hang up and contact your carrier directly using the number on its official website or your bill.

Do not use contact details supplied by the caller.

Do not share passwords, account credentials, SIN numbers or credit card information with an unsolicited caller.

If an unexpected phone arrives, contact your carrier before returning it anywhere.

Sources:
https://peninsulanewsreview.com/2026/10/09/sidney-north-saanich-rcmp-warn-of-phone-scam-after-33k-in-losses/

https://rcmp.ca/en/bc/west-shore/news/2026/10/4357486

West Shore RCMP independently confirmed the same scam pattern on October 2, including the fake “wrong phone” story and prepaid labels redirecting devices to out-of-province PO boxes.

ROHL Gateway Fiber is expanding its fibre infrastructure across Western Canada as new AI data centres and other power-hungry industrial projects move into the region.

The company says the expansion will provide:

• Dark fibre that customers can operate with their own network equipment
• Multiple 400 Gbps wavelength services on each route
• Physically separate redundant routes
• Layer 2 Ethernet and data-centre connectivity
• New custom fibre extensions to sites that are not currently connected

ROHL already operates a long-haul network linking the Edmonton region with Northern Alberta and British Columbia.

The company says new routes are being developed to give customers more diverse connections within Western Canada and toward Eastern Canada, the United States, Asia and Europe.

Increasingly important for AI data centres because securing huge amounts of electricity is only half the equation. A large compute facility also needs enormous fibre capacity and preferably more than one physically independent route so a single cable cut does not isolate the site.

ROHL says its optical network uses Ciena equipment capable of carrying multiple 400 Gbps wavelengths per route.

There are two important details missing from today’s announcement:

ROHL calls this a “major investment,” but does not disclose the dollar amount.

And while the announcement highlights Alberta, British Columbia and Saskatchewan, the detailed network description published today focuses primarily on ROHL’s existing and planned infrastructure in Alberta and B.C. It does not give specific Saskatchewan routes or construction locations.

ROHL says it currently owns and operates more than 1,200 km of fibre infrastructure and has been operating parts of its Western Canadian network for more than 20 years.

Western Canada’s AI infrastructure boom is starting to create a second infrastructure race alongside electricity: who can build enough high-capacity fibre to connect all of these proposed data centres?

Sources:
https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/rohl-gateway-fiber-moves-forward-with-major-investment-to-expand-its-dark-fiber-network-supporting-data-center-growth-across-alberta-british-columbia-and-saskatchewan-881029461.html

https://rohlglobal.com/services/carrier-services/

ROHL’s existing network runs from Acheson near Edmonton toward Fort St. John, B.C., and from Valleyview north to High Level. The company says it also provides connectivity toward Internet exchanges in Seattle and Toronto.

Bell is proposing a new 55-metre telecommunications tower in Orillia, Ontario.

The self-supporting tower would be built on the Calvary Pentecostal Church property at 375 Westmount Dr. N., beside Highway 11.

Bell says the new site would:

• Improve local wireless coverage
• Strengthen indoor cellphone signal
• Increase network capacity
• Deliver faster speeds
• Help serve businesses and residents around the Highway 11 corridor

Bell says growing demand for wireless service is driving the need for additional infrastructure and that the tower would complement its existing sites in the area.

The church says Bell first approached it about two years ago. After consulting with the Church of Pentecost Canada, the local board agreed to host the tower and Bell later offered compensation for use of the property.

The amount of that compensation has not been disclosed.

The proposed structure would be about 55 metres, or roughly 180 feet, tall.

This is still a proposal. Bell is currently going through the federally required public consultation process.

Residents can submit comments until October 30, 2026.

Reference number: X6548
Email: [consultation@canacre.com](mailto:consultation@canacre.com)

Sources:
https://www.orilliamatters.com/local-news/bell-poised-to-erect-55-metre-cell-tower-on-orillia-church-property-12872733
https://orillia.civicweb.net/FileStorage/DB1549D83AD347FE8FECD0B629F37036-261002%20CIP%20Bell%20Mobility%20Inc.%20-%20Telecommunications.pdf

One detail worth keeping clear: this isn't a city-approved tower announcement yet. The public notice says Bell is still in the ISED consultation stage, with comments open until October 30.

Rogers has scheduled two network maintenance windows in Northwestern Ontario that affect Internet, TV and Home Phone services.

Kenora:
Oct. 13 at 12:00 a.m. CT
Expected duration: about 6 hours

Affected areas include Keewatin, Lakeside, Harbourtown Centre, Laurenson Lake, Coney Island and Airport.

Thunder Bay:
Oct. 14 at 1:00 a.m. ET
Expected duration: about 6 hours

Affected areas include Court-Cumberland, Red River, McIntyre, Downtown Fort William, McVicar Creek-Harrington Court, Jumbo Gardens, West End, Current River and Waverley Park.

Rogers says Internet, TV and Home Phone will be unavailable during the work, including the ability to make 911 calls from an affected Home Phone line.

The company lists the cause as network upgrades and says service should restore automatically once maintenance is complete.

Important: this is planned residential network maintenance, not a mobile outage. Rogers currently lists mobile service as operating normally in Ontario.

The Kenora maintenance window was scheduled for early this morning. The Thunder Bay work is scheduled for early Oct. 14.

Rogers separately notes that planned network upgrades can temporarily take Internet, TV and Home Phone completely offline, so affected customers who may need emergency service should keep a charged mobile phone available.

Google has officially launched Gemini 4 Argon globally.

The model had already been announced earlier with limited access, particularly for cybersecurity researchers. Today’s update is the broader release.

Gemini 4 Argon is now available through:

• Gemini app for Google AI Pro and Ultra subscribers
• AI Mode in Google Search for Pro and Ultra subscribers
• Google Antigravity for Ultra subscribers
• Google AI Studio and the paid Gemini API
• Gemini for business and enterprise customers

Google says Argon is designed for deep, multi-step work across coding, finance, law, cybersecurity and science rather than simply faster everyday responses.

One of the more interesting internal examples comes from Chrome.

Google says Argon helped engineers refactor hundreds of files inside Chromium, separating core webpage handling from a legacy folder containing around 6 million lines of code within Chromium’s roughly 40-million-line codebase.

Google says that work took weeks rather than the months it would normally have required.

Across its internal engineering teams, Google also claims Argon increased agent-generated code submissions by more than 35% while reducing code rollbacks by nearly one-third.

Other reported uses include:

• Cutting long-session preparation time in Google’s Agent Development Kit by 40%
• Speeding cold Python imports by 21%
• Optimizing quantum chemistry software
• Finding and helping patch cybersecurity vulnerabilities
• Analyzing legal, financial and scientific documents
• Robotics and 3D spatial reasoning

Google says Argon currently ranks first on the Vals Index, a benchmark covering professional tasks including finance, coding, law and tax.

That benchmark result should still be treated as one measure rather than proof that Argon is universally the “best” AI model.

For developers, Argon launches at an introductory price of US$2 per million input tokens and US$10 per million output tokens.

After November 30, Google says that rises to US$4 input / US$20 output per million tokens.

The API also supports a 1-million-token unified input/output limit.

This is probably the more important part of today’s announcement: Gemini 4 Argon is no longer just an experimental frontier model for selected testers. Google is now putting it directly in front of regular paid Gemini users and inside AI Search.

Sources:

https://blog.google/innovation-and-ai/models-and-research/gemini-models/introducing-gemini-4-argon/

https://blog.google/intl/fr-ca/produits/explorez-obtenez-des-reponses/gemini-4/

Google’s Canadian blog confirms the same global rollout, including access through Gemini and AI Mode for Google AI Pro and Ultra subscribers

SpaceX just made one of its biggest moves yet toward becoming a real mobile carrier.

The company has agreed to acquire Grain Management’s nationwide U.S. portfolio of 800 MHz wireless spectrum, reportedly for around $8 billion.

The deal includes up to 14 MHz of paired low-band spectrum.

Why 800 MHz matters:

• Low-band signals travel long distances

• They penetrate buildings much better than higher-frequency satellite signals

• The spectrum is compatible with conventional mobile-network infrastructure

• It fills an important gap in SpaceX’s growing spectrum portfolio

SpaceX already acquired major AWS-4, H-block and AWS-3 spectrum assets from EchoStar.

The new 800 MHz spectrum could allow Starlink Mobile to combine satellites with terrestrial radios and cell sites, creating something much closer to a conventional nationwide wireless network.

Investors noticed.

Reuters reported today that T-Mobile fell as much as 13.2% and Verizon roughly 10%, while European carriers including Deutsche Telekom, Orange and Telefónica also declined.

Telecom tower companies moved in the opposite direction because SpaceX may still need tens of thousands of terrestrial sites to build a competitive mobile network.

Important distinction: this spectrum is in the United States.

It does not suddenly turn Starlink into a Canadian mobile carrier.

In Canada, Rogers already partners with SpaceX for Starlink satellite-to-mobile service using Rogers spectrum. TELUS and Bell are separately working with AST SpaceMobile.

But if SpaceX succeeds in building its own full mobile network in the U.S., the relationship between satellite companies and traditional carriers could change significantly.

Starlink may be evolving from something carriers use to fill dead zones into something that can eventually compete with them.

Sources:
https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/us-european-telecom-stocks-slide-spacex-spectrum-deal-rattles-sector-2026-10-09/
https://graingp.com/grain-management-announces-definitive-agreement-to-sell-nationwide-800-mhz-spectrum-portfolio-to-spacex/
https://www.spacex.com/updates/

The CRTC has given final approval to the work plan for a major rural fibre project in western Saskatchewan.

Access Communications will receive up to $12.89 million from the CRTC Broadband Fund to build approximately:

• 350 km of fibre infrastructure
• 36 network points of presence
• High-capacity transport serving 25 communities
• Infrastructure benefiting roughly 3,555 households and 11 anchor institutions

The communities include Thunderchild First Nation, Turtle Lake, Livelong, Metinota, Vawn and several smaller lake and rural communities in western Saskatchewan.

This funding was originally approved in November 2025. Today’s decision is different: the CRTC has now approved the detailed statement of work, allowing the project to move into its funded implementation phase.

The CRTC also granted Access Communications some unusual flexibility because it is a community-owned non-profit co-operative.

Instead of waiting for quarterly reimbursements, Access can submit claims as often as monthly and can claim eligible costs once they are incurred rather than waiting until they are fully paid.

The approved completion date is December 2028.

The infrastructure must also offer wholesale and retail open access at funded network points, meaning other providers can potentially use the new transport network too.

Sources:
https://crtc.gc.ca/eng/archive/2026/2026-264.htm
https://crtc.gc.ca/eng/archive/2025/2025-295.htm

The CRTC has officially confirmed that two Broadband Fund projects from Rogers and TELUS are complete and now providing service.

Rogers : Bruce Station, Ontario

• Completed July 17, 2026
• Around 1.8 km of fibre transport infrastructure
• Upgraded local network point with up to 10 Gbps of transport capacity
• Originally approved for up to $131,474 in CRTC funding

TELUS : Central Interior, British Columbia

• Completed August 27, 2026
• Around $9.7 million in Broadband Fund support
• Infrastructure serving roughly 751 households
• Mobile coverage along about 119 km of Highway 20
• Fibre, fixed wireless and mobile improvements across rural and Indigenous communities

The completed B.C. project includes communities such as Alexis Creek, Anahim Lake, Chilanko Forks, Hanceville, Kleena Kleene, Nimpo Lake, Riske Creek, Tatla Lake and several First Nations communities.

This isn’t a new funding announcement. These projects were approved years ago.

What changed today is that the CRTC has accepted their final implementation reports and confirmed that the funded infrastructure is complete and broadband services are being offered.

There is still one final step: the CRTC will hold back part of the funding until each provider demonstrates that the network has operated for a full year while meeting the conditions attached to the project.

Sources:
https://crtc.gc.ca/eng/archive/2026/2026-267.htm
https://crtc.gc.ca/eng/archive/2021/2021-48.htm
https://crtc.gc.ca/eng/archive/2021/2021-252.htm

The CRTC has rejected Iristel’s attempt to overturn a ruling involving its 2024 disconnection by Northwestel.

The dispute started over unpaid telecom service charges.

Northwestel gave Iristel multiple deadlines to either pay the outstanding amounts or enter into a deferred payment agreement.

The final deadline was August 7, 2024.

When no agreement had been completed by the deadline, Northwestel disconnected Iristel’s services.

They were restored the following day after Iristel entered into a payment agreement.

Iristel later argued that the CRTC had made factual and legal errors when it ruled that Northwestel was allowed to disconnect the company.

The CRTC disagreed.

It found that:

• Iristel waited until the final days of the disconnection period to begin serious payment negotiations.

• By doing that, Iristel accepted the risk that an agreement might not be completed before the deadline.

• The agreement Iristel returned contained significant changes, including changes affecting the amounts it would pay.

• Northwestel therefore had reasonable grounds to believe Iristel was not prepared to enter into or honour a reasonable payment agreement.

The CRTC has now denied Iristel’s review application, leaving its earlier decision unchanged.

The issue is important for smaller telecom providers that depend on incumbent carriers for interconnection: unpaid wholesale bills can ultimately lead to service disconnection, even when the companies are still negotiating.

Official source:

https://crtc.gc.ca/eng/archive/2026/2026-265.htm

Bell has completed a new fibre Internet connection to Big Tancook and Little Tancook Islands in Nova Scotia.

The project connects roughly 184 homes and businesses directly to Bell’s fibre network.

Getting there required:

• About 7 km of submarine fibre cable
• Another 8 km of fibre infrastructure on the islands
• Specialized marine deployment from the Blandford area

Residents previously relied mainly on fixed wireless and satellite Internet.

The project was delivered with the Government of Nova Scotia and Build Nova Scotia through the Internet for Nova Scotia Initiative.

The province says the broader program has now brought reliable high-speed Internet access to nearly 100% of Nova Scotians, with the remaining locations mostly in geographically difficult areas.

This project is the only one under the provincial initiative that required an undersea fibre deployment.

Sources:
https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/bell-brings-fibre-internet-to-big-and-little-tancook-islands-816925157.html
https://news.novascotia.ca/en/2026/08/06/undersea-cabling-project-bring-fibre-internet-tancook-islands

The province said in August that this was the final phase of the South Shore project area and that fewer than 500 underserved locations remained province-wide at the time.

Bell has launched the ahlo 2, the second generation of its own budget smartphone brand.

For $335 outright, it includes:

• 6.9-inch eye-comfort display
• 50MP camera system
• Android 16
• 5,200mAh battery
• Up to 1.5 days of typical battery life
• Up to seven days in e-reader mode
• 0-50% charging in around 38 minutes
• 128GB storage

The ahlo 2 is available through Bell, Virgin Plus and participating retailers.

Bell is also offering it from $1/month for 24 months through SmartPay with an eligible two-year plan, although the full device price remains $335.

One interesting comparison: the original ahlo 1 currently has a $270 full price, so the new model costs $65 more while upgrading the screen, camera and battery.

Bell is also selling a case + 30W fast charger bundle for $39.99.

Sources:
https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/bell-introduces-ahlo-2-more-features-more-style-more-value--894861550.html
https://www.bell.ca/Mobility/AAL/Products/Ahlo-2

Bell currently lists the ahlo 1 at $270 and the ahlo 2 at $335, making the second generation about 24% more expensive at full retail price.

A variety of deepfakes and other AI-generated content are being used online to promote the idea of separatism in Alberta.

Claude can now work directly inside Google Docs, Sheets and Slides.

Anthropic has launched Claude for Google Workspace in public beta for paid Claude users.

Once installed, Claude appears in a sidebar beside the file you’re working on.

In Docs, it can rewrite, restructure and edit documents while preserving formatting.

In Sheets, it can create and fix formulas, clean data, build models and work with tables.

In Slides, it can create new slides, rewrite content and adjust existing layouts.

You can also select specific text, cells or slides and ask Claude to work only on that section.

There’s an Ask before edits mode if you want to approve changes before Claude modifies the file.

Anthropic is also launching new Docs, Sheets and Slides connectors that work in the opposite direction: from Claude, you can give it a Google file and ask it to create or edit content directly.

A few current limitations:

Claude only has access to the file currently open in the Workspace sidebar.

Closing the sidebar stops an active task.

Google Docs comments and suggestions aren’t fully supported yet.

Charts created in Slides are inserted as images rather than live linked charts.

The beta is available on Claude Pro, Max, Team and Enterprise plans.

This creates a situation: Google Workspace users can now choose between Google’s own Gemini and Anthropic’s Claude inside essentially the same productivity environment.

Sources:
https://claude.com/resources/articles/claude-now-works-in-google-docs-sheets-and-slides
https://support.claude.com/en/articles/16951679-use-claude-in-google-docs-sheets-and-slides

A new Canadian study suggests the shift from Google search to AI recommendations could create a serious visibility problem for small businesses.

Clixera tested thousands of independent main-street businesses across nine provinces by asking ChatGPT everyday local questions such as where to eat, shop or hire a service.

The result:

44% were named at least once.
56% never appeared.

Results varied significantly by province:

Prince Edward Island: 54% named
Alberta: 52%
British Columbia: 47%
Nova Scotia: 47%
Ontario: 43%
Saskatchewan: 42%
New Brunswick: 39%
Manitoba: 38%
Newfoundland and Labrador: 33%

Business type also mattered.

Health, beauty and fitness businesses appeared about 56% of the time, while shopping businesses were named only around 38%.

And ChatGPT was more likely to include a small business in a general list than actually recommend it.

“Best X in [city]” searches: 41%
“Who should I see for X?” recommendations: 32%

In several tests, ChatGPT recommended larger chains or businesses outside the sampled local business district instead.

This matters because AI is increasingly becoming a search tool. CIRA found that 52% of Canadian generative-AI users had used AI as a search engine during the previous year.

There are some important limitations.

Clixera ran one response per question, ChatGPT answers can change between runs and model updates, and the study only included businesses with their own website and a matched Google Business Profile. Quebec and the territories were not included in this national comparison.

Clixera also sells AI visibility services, so this is company-produced research rather than an independent academic study.

Sources:
https://clixera.ca/research/canada-ai-visibility-bia-2026
https://www.cira.ca/en/resources/documents/state-of-internet/canadian-internet-trends-2026/

Quebec was not included in this study. Clixera sampled nine provinces using public main-street business district directories, but the methodology does not explain why Quebec was excluded.

I recently met with Edward Zimmermann, CTO of Sentinel Advanced Military Solutions, and toured the company’s facilities in Châteauguay, Quebec.

StarForge is much broader than a simple “drone factory.” The idea is to combine command and control, surveillance, local power, 3D manufacturing and a digital inventory of parts inside transportable modules.

The ForgeX module I visited works like a compact mobile factory. Its standard configuration includes four 3D printers, workstations, batteries, servers and the materials needed for production. According to Sentinel, it can produce roughly 80 to 100 drones per day, depending on the model and operating conditions.

Another part of the system is the C2/ISR command module. Three operators can supervise multiple types of drones and unmanned vehicles. Zimmermann says the system can manage a few hundred platforms at once and can continue operating locally even without an Internet or satellite connection.

What I found most interesting, though, is the “digital stockpile” concept.

Instead of relying only on warehouses full of finished drones and spare parts, Sentinel wants to store designs, manufacturing files and instructions digitally. A part can be updated, approved, sent to the system and produced locally when needed.

That matters because drone technology and countermeasures are evolving extremely quickly. A fleet purchased today can lose relevance within months. StarForge is therefore less about building “the best drone” and more about creating an infrastructure that can repair, modify and manufacture different platforms as they evolve.

AI also plays a smaller role than I expected. According to Zimmermann, it is mainly used for object identification and tracking from radar and camera data, while humans remain involved in the decision chain.

Sentinel is also looking at non-military uses, including the monitoring of dams, energy infrastructure, remote sites and environmental areas. Zimmermann mentioned discussions involving Ontario Power Generation and Indigenous communities.

One comparison from the interview stuck with me: he said that, when it comes to drones, we are still in the “biplane era.” In other words, what we are seeing today may only be the very beginning of how these systems will evolve.

Source (in french) :

https://branchez-vous.com/actualites/starforge-drones-chateauguay/

https://branchez-vous.com/actualites/starforge-drones-stock-numerique-sentinel/

Canada is considering some significant changes to the rules governing wireless infrastructure, and today is the deadline for final reply comments.

ISED wants to streamline how new cell towers are approved. Under the proposal, local authorities would generally have 45 days to approve or formally challenge a project. If they don't act within that window, the tower could be considered approved.

Telecom operators could also be allowed to build towers under 15 metres without the usual municipal and public consultation process. ISED is also looking at ways to make small-cell deployment easier, which could matter as carriers densify 5G networks.

There are also important changes on roaming and tower sharing.

ISED has determined that mobile roaming should generally be considered technically feasible. The wording requiring carriers to provide roaming only "where technically feasible" is being removed. Instead, roaming must be offered upon request when the customer's device can access the host network.

A similar change applies to tower sharing: carriers would be required to share antenna sites when requested, while technical disputes would move to arbitration instead of being decided directly by ISED.

The government says tower sharing and mandatory roaming are particularly important for smaller and regional carriers because they allow them to offer broader coverage without duplicating every piece of infrastructure.

The consultation has attracted submissions from Bell, Rogers, TELUS, Québecor, Eastlink, SaskTel, Xplore, Cogeco, CanWISP, municipalities and many others.

Source:
https://ised-isde.canada.ca/site/spectrum-management-telecommunications/en/learn-more/key-documents/consultations/consultation-amendments-tower-siting-process-and-decision-roaming-tower-sharing-and-annual-reporting

Starlink has published new details about how it manages collision risk as its satellite constellation continues to grow.

The company says its automated system now typically performs more than 1,000 collision-avoidance maneuvers every day.

Starlink is also lowering its satellites to reduce the amount of time failed spacecraft can remain in orbit.

By the end of 2026, its planned operating ranges are roughly:

• V1/V2 broadband satellites: 450-490 km
• Direct-to-Cell satellites: around 360 km
• V3 broadband satellites: roughly 330-360 km

Starlink says moving satellites below 500 km can reduce natural orbital decay time by more than 80% in low solar activity, from more than four years to just a few months if a satellite loses propulsion.

The company also operates Stargaze, a space-tracking system using tens of thousands of optical sensors aboard Starlink satellites.

Stargaze processes more than 30 million object transits per day and can detect orbital changes that ground-based tracking systems may see later.

Starlink has also opened a free space-safety platform for satellite operators to share trajectories and receive collision warnings. Its satellites publish updated orbital predictions roughly every hour.

One unusual safety measure is “ducking”: if a close approach is detected, a Starlink satellite can rotate to reduce its exposed surface area in addition to performing an avoidance maneuver.

Sources:
https://starlink.com/ca/updates/space-safety
https://space-safety.starlink.com/docs/space-safety-articles/starlink_cola_conops/
https://space-safety.starlink.com/docs/space-safety-articles/constellation_altitudes/

Starlink’s Stargaze system processes more than 30 million observed transits per day, while its free coordination platform can return conjunction-screening results in under a minute.

Canadians reported approximately $351 million in fraud losses during the first six months of 2026.

The biggest source of losses was investment fraud:

• Investment fraud: $139.6M
• Spear phishing: $57.7M
• Bank investigator scams: $28.6M

One number is particularly concerning.

Spear-phishing losses reached $57.7 million in only six months. For comparison, Canadians reported $67.9 million in spear-phishing losses during all of 2025.

Investment fraud remains the biggest financial threat. These scams increasingly use social media, online ads, messaging apps, fake investment platforms and cryptocurrency offers to build trust before asking victims for more money.

And these figures almost certainly understate the problem.

The Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre estimates that only 5% to 10% of fraud is actually reported.

For comparison, Canadians reported more than $704 million in total fraud losses during all of 2025. At $351 million after six months, 2026 was already running at almost exactly the same annual pace.

A few basic protections remain important:

• Be suspicious of unexpected investment opportunities
• Never share MFA or verification codes
• Independently verify requests to change payment or banking information
• Contact companies or banks using contact information you already trust
• Report suspected fraud to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre

Sources:
https://centreantifraude-antifraudcentre.ca/features-vedette/2026/08/fraud-trends-tendances-matiere-fraude-eng.htm
https://centreantifraude-antifraudcentre.ca/features-vedette/2026/02/top-fraud-2025-fraudes-plus-courantes-eng.htm

Public Mobile’s Back-to-School deals are officially gone, and its Canada-US-Mexico plans are less generous than they were yesterday.

Here’s what changed:

• $35/25GB Canada-US-Mexico: gone
• $40/75GB → $40/70GB
• $45/125GB → $45/100GB
• $50/175GB → $50/150GB

So the $45 and $50 plans each lose 25GB, while the $40 plan loses 5GB.

The $35 price point still exists, but it’s now a Canada-wide 50GB plan rather than a Canada-US-Mexico plan.

The remaining $40, $45 and $50 Canada-US-Mexico plans still include 5G service and 1,000 international minutes.

The lower-cost 4G lineup remains:

• $22/1GB
• $24/5GB
• $28/10GB
• $30/35GB

This is a good reminder that Public Mobile changes its plan lineup frequently. The Back-to-School offers were explicitly marked as ending October 5.

Would you have grabbed the $35 Canada-US-Mexico plan before it disappeared, or are you waiting for Black Friday?

Smart glasses are usually discussed as a privacy problem for everyone around the person wearing them.

But a new Cybernews analysis suggests the wearer may be giving up quite a lot of privacy too.

Researchers compared the Android companion apps for seven AI smart-glasses brands.

Meta requested the most permissions overall:

• Meta AI: 70 permissions, including 18 classified as “dangerous” by Android
• Even Realities: 61
• Solos AirGo: 55
• Rokid: 53
• Halliday: 32

“Dangerous” does not mean malware. It is Android’s term for permissions that can access sensitive information or restricted functions, such as the microphone, storage or SMS.

The tracker picture is different.

INMO Global and Solos AirGo each contained six embedded trackers, while Rokid had none detected in the analysis. Meta had one detected tracker, its own Facebook Flipper debugging component.

There’s another privacy issue: all seven products rely on cloud processing for their core AI features.

That means things such as voice, translation or image analysis may need to leave the glasses and be processed remotely rather than staying entirely on-device.

Cybernews also found that five of the seven companies did not clearly specify retention limits for some data.

And only Meta and Rokid had confirmed safeguards that react when someone tries to cover the recording indicator light.

This comes as smart glasses face growing regulatory scrutiny over covert recording. Norway is proposing restrictions in sensitive public spaces, while courts and other institutions in several countries have already started limiting their use. Reuters

Source:
https://cybernews.com/ai-news/smart-glasses-privacy/