Polluters to face greater liability for offshore drilling spills

The federal government is set to bring in a new law to make resource companies pay more if they have a spill during off-shore drilling.

Environment Minister Peter Kent told reporters this week his government is about to bring in "significant" changes to liability for polluters.

He wouldn't go into details but said there is a need for change.

"I can't break cabinet confidence, but I can assure you we are well aware, not only as it pertains to diversifying markets and increased pipeline traffic, but in terms of liability for offshore drilling," Kent said Tuesday.

Sources familiar with the process say the federal government has been consulting with resource companies and environmental groups about the new legislation. Minister of Natural Resources Joe Oliver is taking the lead and is expected to go to cabinet for approval by the spring.

The sources also said the new law is a result of growing government concern over public protests against resource projects such as the Northern Gateway Pipeline, and the feeling that there's a need to reassure the public it won't be on the hook for possibly billions of dollars to clean up any future oil spills.

It's not clear what the new caps will be in Canada, but sources have told CBC News the government is promising to bring in a "world-class system" with liability caps "in the billions."

Right now there is no cap on liability where a company is at fault or there is proof of negligence. But where there is no negligence involved there is a $30-million cap on liability for companies drilling offshore in the Atlantic and $40 million for companies drilling in the Arctic. Any costs incurred over that amount would be paid by taxpayers.

But the huge cleanup costs for recent events like BP's Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico have prompted new discussions about company liability.

Recent estimates for the cleanup costs of that spill are more than $40 billion US.

Travis Davies, of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, said his organization has been consulted but said the industry group hasn't decided what the new liability caps should be.

"We are working with our members to determine a position on changes to the existing regime and once we've worked through that process we hope to be consulted further when/if government determines what changes are being contemplated," Davies said in an email to CBC News.

Oliver touts 'polluter-pay'

Oliver, who is still away from work recovering from heart surgery, responded to CBC News in an email that the changes are a priority for his government.

"Our more recent initiatives to increase environmental protection include increasing the number of inspections of federally regulated pipelines by 50 per cent, doubling the number of annual audits, a requirement for double-hulled tankers, mandatory pilotage of vessels and enhancing requirements for navigational tools," Oliver wrote.

"In Canada, the foundation of our environmental liability regime is polluter-pay. Our government is committed to periodically assessing financial liability to make certain that Canada's polluter-pay system remains among the strongest in the world."

That's probably not going to convince environmental groups to support it. Organizations such as Ecojustice have been pushing for unlimited liability for resource companies, arguing that all cleanup costs should be paid by the companies.

"Oil companies should face unlimited absolute liability for spills, in accordance with the polluter-pays principle," said Will Amos, an environmental lawyer with Ecojustice.

"The industry's dirty little secret is that oil spills can never fully be cleaned up. The oil and environmental devastation that accompanies an offshore spill lingers forever."

The timing of the new liability law is probably no accident.

The Federal Environment Commissioner is bringing out a new report next week that includes an in-depth look at the federal systems in place to protect taxpayers against the costs of accidents in the mining, nuclear, offshore oil and gas, and marine transportation sectors.

By drafting this new law, the government can say in response to the commissioner's report that it is "working on it."

Corrections and Clarifications

• A subheadline on a previous version of this story said the government promised a liability system with liability caps in the billions. In fact, the government has not outlined the details of the liability cap. Jan. 30, 2013 | 7:37 p.m. ET

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BlackBerry review: The good and bad of the new Z10

The long-awaited new BlackBerry is almost here, with the touch-screen Z10 going on sale through most Canadian carriers on Feb. 5.

Fans of physical keyboards will have to wait a little longer. The company formerly known as Research In Motion — officially renamed BlackBerry on Wednesday — is saying the Q10 QWERTY-model will follow in a few weeks.

After spending a day with the Z10, it's clear the new BlackBerry is a complete and fully baked product.

It's slick, fast and good looking, with only a few noticeable holes. Here's a rundown of some of its best features — and some things that need work.

The good stuff

Speed and interface: BlackBerry touts its web browser as faster than competitors, and it sure looks like it. The loading speed extends beyond just websites though — many apps and even email messages also open faster than on other phones.

The speed blends well with BlackBerry's "Flow" interface, which eschews buttons for swiping. There's no home button on the Z10, with left-to-right and up-and-down swipes controlling all of the navigation.

It takes some getting used to because it's different from other smartphones, but once you get into the swing of it, the horsepower and interface combine to create a smooth experience that's kind of fun.

Feel: It's not quite as light as the iPhone 5, but at 137 grams the Z10 isn't too hefty either.

It also has a textured back so it feels nice in your hand and is a little less likely to slip than many other smooth-backed phones. The 4.2-inch screen also boasts 356 pixels per inch, which is sharper than many competing devices on the market.

Hub: Other phone makers have taken stabs at a unified inbox, but the Z10 gets it right. All of your accounts, from email and Facebook to Twitter and LinkedIn, not to mention text messages, notifications and BBM pings, are found in one location, which can be accessed by swiping in from the left of the phone.

The Hub also lets you filter down to each individual account by tapping on its heading, which is good for when all that incoming gets overwhelming.

Ready to work: The new BlackBerry comes office ready, with several pre-installed productivity apps, such as Evernote. Docs To Go lets you create documents, spreadsheets and PowerPoint presentations, while Dropbox and Box cloud storage both come integrated.

That means less set up and they work more smoothly with the phone as a whole.

I had no problems opening all sorts of documents, photos or audio files. Print To Go and File Manager also let you easily keep track of files on the phone and transfer them to or from a computer. These aren't just tacked-on apps — they're designed to work well with the phone's overall software.

Ports and things: In terms of plugging things in and taking things out, the Z10 is everything the iPhone is not. There's a removable battery, in case it goes belly up, as well as an SD card slot to add to the 16 gigabytes of included storage.

It also has a micro HDMI slot for connecting to a TV or monitor, so no extra adapters are required to pipe video from the phone.

Needs work

Apps: BlackBerry surprised virtually everyone by announcing it now has 70,000 applications available — many observers were expecting considerably fewer.

While the company has done well in ensuring some key apps are available, such as Facebook and Twitter, plenty are absent. There's no Instagram or Netflix, for example, despite movies and TV shows being available through the BlackBerry World store.

And although the company says the likes of Skype and Kindle are "committed," they're not there yet.

BlackBerry chief executive Thorsten Heins said he wants the company's phones to be the centre of the "internet of things," or the emerging web of interconnected every-day devices, but Apple and Android are far ahead in this regard.

Maps: Apple got a ton of grief for replacing Google Maps with its own creation, but even its flawed app is better than the Z10's.

While BlackBerry's maps app is functional, it's limited in its bells and whistles. It has turn-by-turn navigation, but fewer points of interest and no walking or transit directions. The maps themselves also aren't that interesting to look at.

Predictive typing: BlackBerry engineers have come up with an impressive tool that predicts the next word you're likely to type. The word appears over the keyboard's letters and, if it's indeed the one you want, you swipe it and it appears in whatever you're writing.

When it works, it works well and can speed up typing, but I often found myself actually slowing down to read the words, which are quite small.

This may be another learning curve that can be overcome over time, but it's harder to get used to than the simpler Flow interface. The Q10, with its physical keyboard, may therefore be the phone that hard-core BlackBerry fans will prefer.

Not tested

At the time of writing, battery life, near-field communications capability and BlackBerry Balance had not yet been tested extensively enough to include in this review. These functions will be added over the next few days.

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New York Times says Chinese hackers breached its network

Chinese hackers repeatedly penetrated The New York Times' computer systems over the past four months, stealing reporters' passwords and hunting for files on an investigation into the wealth amassed by the family of a top Chinese leader, the newspaper is reporting.

Security experts hired to investigate and plug the breach found that the attacks used tactics similar to ones used in previous hacking incidents traced to China, the report said Thursday.

It said the hackers routed the attacks through computers at U.S. universities, installed a strain of malicious software, or malware, associated with Chinese hackers and initiated the attacks from university computers previously used by the Chinese military to attack U.S. military contractors.

The attacks, which began in mid-September, coincided with a Times investigation into how the relatives and family of Premier Wen Jiabao built a fortune worth over $2 billion US. The report, which was posted online Oct. 25, embarrassed the Communist Party leadership, coming ahead of a fraught transition to new leaders and exposing deep-seated favouritism at a time when many Chinese are upset about a wealth gap.

Over the months of cyber-incursions, the hackers eventually lifted the computer passwords of all Times employees and used them to get into the personal computers of 53 employees.

The report said none of the Times' customer data was compromised and that information about the investigation into the Wen family remained protected, though it left unclear what data or communications the infiltrators accessed.

"Computer security experts found no evidence that sensitive emails or files from the reporting of our articles about the Wen family were accessed, downloaded or copied," the report quoted executive editor Jill Abramson as saying. A Times spokeswoman declined to comment further.

Chinese official denies report

A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman called the Times' accusations groundless and reiterated the government's position that China also has been hacked repeatedly.

"To rashly jump to conclusions based on investigation results which have not been proved by evidence is totally irresponsible behaviour," the spokesman, Hong Lei, said at a routine daily media briefing. "China is also a victim of cyber-attacks. Chinese laws specifically stipulate that cyber-attacks are prohibited."

The Chinese Defence Ministry asked for questions to be submitted in writing but initially declined comment.

The Times, in its report, quoted the Defence Ministry as saying that Chinese law prohibits hacking and other acts that damage Internet security and that accusing it of "cyber-attacks without solid proof is unprofessional and baseless."

China has been accused by the U.S., other foreign governments and computer security experts of mounting a widespread, aggressive cyber-spying campaign for several years, trying to steal classified information and corporate secrets and to intimidate critics.

Foreign reporters and news media, including The Associated Press, have been among the targets of attacks intended to uncover the identities of sources for news stories and to stifle critical reports about the Chinese government.

"Attacks on journalists based in China are increasingly aggressive, disruptive and sophisticated," said Greg Walton, a cyber-security researcher who has tracked Chinese hacking campaigns.

China's cyber-spying efforts have excelled in part because of the government's "willingness to ignore international norms relating to civil society and media organizations," he said.

The Times reported that executives became concerned just before the publication of the Wen investigation after learning that Chinese officials had warned of unspecified consequences. Soon after the Oct. 25 publication, AT&T, which monitors the Times' computer networks, notified the company about activity consistent with a hacking attack, the report said.

After months of investigation by the computer security firm Mandiant, experts are still unsure how the hackers initially infiltrated the Times' computer systems, the report said.

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How your cellphone contract could change for the better

The vast majority of Canadians own a cellphone, and judging by the ubiquitous sight of people constantly fiddling with their touchscreens, the technological devices have become an integral part of daily life.

Nearly 80 per cent of Canadian households have a cellphone, according to a 2010 survey conducted by Statistics Canada.

But one thing Canadians would gladly do without is the phenomenon of "cellphone shock" — being hit with unexpected charges and large bills, in part due to confusing and complicated cellphone contracts.

Well, here's some good news: a remedy might be in the works.

'Canadians haven't had the benefit of any type of wireless regulation... This is the first time that we're seeing the regulator step up.'— Janet Lo, of the Public Interest Advocacy Centre in Ottawa

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission on Monday released a draft "wireless code" that would establish rules for cellphone contracts across the country. Proposals in the draft code include allowing customers to cap their monthly bill and giving them tools to monitor their usage and avoid incurring extra fees before it's too late.

"Canadians haven't had the benefit of any type of wireless regulation, really, in memorable history," said Janet Lo, of the Public Interest Advocacy Centre in Ottawa. "This is the first time that we're seeing the regulator step up and try to level the playing field by providing clearer contracts and clarity around any number of issues that, clearly, consumers are frustrated about."

Here are five things you need to know about the proposed regulation:

What exactly is the 'wireless code'?

It is a set of mandatory guidelines that wireless providers will need to follow when providing services to customers in Canada. In general, these are national regulations aimed at making cellphone contracts straightforward and easy for Canadians to understand. The new rules will apply to cellphone customers on a fixed-term contract as well as to those who purchase cellphone services on a month-by-month basis.

The CRTC released a set of draft regulations on Jan. 29, 2013, based on thousands of comments submitted by Canadians to the commission in writing and online and is seeking public feedback on the draft proposal before finalizing the rules.

What are some of the proposed changes in the code?

The draft regulations address a wide range of issues, including how much wireless companies can charge to unlock customer's wireless devices and tools to help consumers monitor and control the fees and charges they incur.

Here are a few highlights from the proposed rules:

• Monitoring usage: Customers must be given tools to monitor their usage compared to the limits of their plan in order to be aware of extra fees they might incur if they go above the limits.
• Bill caps: Customers must be allowed to restrict features that could incur additional fees and have the ability to cap their monthly bill at a certain amount. Once the user hits the cap, the service provider would suspend services that could result in extra fees.
• Personalized summary of terms, conditions: Customers must receive a personalized summary of key terms and conditions in their contract, such as how much they would pay in cancellation charges at different times during their contract and what tools are available to help them monitor their usage of different services.
• Unlocking wireless devices: Wireless providers are required to give customers the option to unlock locked wireless devices. The fee that can be charged for this option and the time frame in which devices could be unlocked would vary depending on whether or not the cost of the device is subsidized by the provider.
• No fine print: Policies governing the terms or use of service "must be written in clear, easy to understand language" and in an appropriate font size.
• Advertised prices: Advertised prices for a contract must include the total monthly amount the customer must pay on a recurring basis and indicate whether the figure includes sales tax and government-mandated fees.
• Cancellation of service before contract is up: Early-termination fees can only include the subsidies the provider has absorbed to lower the price of mobile devices and discounts the customer received for signing a fixed-term contract.

What other legislation is already in place to regulate cellphone contracts?

Several provinces already have regulations governing cellphone contracts or are working to implement them.

In 2009, Quebec was the first province to roll out legislation to better protect customers when they sign up for cellphone contracts. As part of Bill 60, which amended the province's Consumer Protection Act, wireless service providers are prohibited from renewing contracts without a customer's written approval. Quebec providers are also required to disclose the total cost of goods and services offered to ensure that customers aren't caught off guard by expensive text messaging fees or charges for services they don't want.

In Manitoba, new rules governing cellphone contracts came into effect in September 2012. The provincial legislation is similar to that of Quebec and to the rules the CRTC has proposed. For example, companies are required to fully disclose and explain all fees, charges and terms and must allow customers to cancel their contracts at any time for a "reasonable cancellation fee." As well, the minimum monthly cost on a cellphone contract must be included in all advertisements.

Newfoundland and Labrador passed legislation governing cellphone contracts in April 2012. Under the new law, service providers must outline the terms and conditions of cellphone contracts in plain language and disclose the total monthly cost in all advertising.

Nova Scotia introduced plans in April 2012 to regulate cellphone contracts with legislation that would cap cancellation fees at $50 and force wireless providers to seek a customer's permission before changing fees or service options. The bill, amending the provincial Consumer Protection Act, received royal assent in May 2012.

In Ontario, the provincial government in April 2012 committed to introducing legislation governing cellphone contracts. A private member's bill proposed new regulations that would oblige wireless providers to use all-inclusive pricing in their advertisements and notify consumers of any change to their contract. However, when the Ontario government was prorogued on Oct. 15, 2012, progress of the bill stalled. The legislature is expected to be recalled by Feb. 19, but the bill will have to be reintroduced if the government wants to pursue the regulation. "It's actually, effectively, dead in the water," said Lo of the Public Interest Advocacy Centre.

In New Brunswick, a private member's bill regulating cellphone contracts with clauses similar to those in Quebec and Manitoba has been tabled.

The multitude of rules in different provinces has been complicated and costly for wireless service providers, which is what prompted the companies to seek clarity from the CRTC.

Bell Canada said it and other providers would welcome a national code of conduct.

"We believe a uniform national code will put all Canadian consumers on an equal footing with wireless choices while allowing the industry to adhere to one set of national rules rather than implementing different regulations in different provinces," the company said in a statement.

The CRTC's proposed regulations would not supersede existing rules governing cellphone contracts, meaning that a consumer could either use the national code or the provincial rules — whichever is more favourable to the customer.

What regulations do other countries have?

It is difficult to compare Canada's telecommunications market with that of other countries, many of which have much more competitive environments with a greater number of wireless providers.

Regulation of wireless services varies around the world. The European Union, for example, recently capped roaming charges to reduce the cost of data and calls for those travelling throughout Europe.

Australia has national regulations in place that include several provisions that are similar to those proposed by the CRTC, said Lo. It requires wireless providers to give customers the option of capping usage, provide a clear summary of contract terms and use all-inclusive pricing when advertising expected monthly costs.

In the U.K., a fixed-term contract cannot exceed 24 months, compared to Canada where cellphone contracts can last as long as 36 months.

When will the 'wireless code' come into effect?

It is unclear when, or in what form, the proposed wireless code will come into effect. The CRTC says it plans to have a final version of the regulations by this spring.

'The code needs to apply to everybody, not just new contracts. Otherwise, consumers who just signed their contract the day before the code comes into force will need to wait another three years.'— Janet Lo, Public Interest Advocacy Centre

Based on what it has indicated in the draft version of the code, the commission would likely start enforcing the rules six months after the code is published, said Lo. But it is unclear whether it will apply only to customers with new or renewed contracts or also retroactively to those who are already locked into a plan.

"We think the code needs to apply to everybody, not just new contracts," Lo said. "Otherwise, consumers who just signed their contract the day before the code comes into force will need to wait another three years before they can benefit from the content of the code."

Lo says she hopes the legislation is put in place as soon as possible.

"We've heard consumers saying that they want this code for years," she said. "In our view ... we needed this code yesterday." With files from the Canadian Press

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RIM's BlackBerry 10 ready to launch

The eyes of the technology world will be focused squarely on Research In Motion today as the company launches BlackBerry 10, the hotly anticipated line of smartphones with the potential to make or break the company.

RIM is hosting simultaneous live events in New York, Toronto, London, Paris, Dubai, Johannesburg, Jakarta and Delhi, unveiling a line of new smartphones the company hopes can help it win back market share in the competitive mobile space. CBCNews.ca will be livestreaming the launch starting at 10 a.m. ET.

After pioneering the smartphone concept in the early 2000s, RIM has seen its grasp on the sector slowly erode ever since Apple released the iPhone in 2007 and several manufacturers followed quickly to market with Android-powered devices tailored to the consumer market.

"They're not really perceived as being hip or cool," Queen's University business professor Barry Cross says of the company's recent woes.

From a high of over $150 in the summer of 2008, RIM shares fell steadily to the $6 range on the TSX as recently as September before a round of analyst optimism over RIM's chances with BB10 pushed the stock into the teens.

Recent data suggests RIM has less than five per cent of the North American market share, and the company has pinned its hopes on BlackBerry 10 to halt that slide and take back the dominance it once had.

Two phone versions

RIM is set to launch two versions of the phone on Wednesday, but has promised more will follow in quick succession — including at least one with a physical keyboard.

Among the rumoured features on the devices are something the company is calling BlackBerry Balance, which will allow one machine to be switched between work and personal user accounts.

The company is pitching the technology as a way for consumers to be able to have only one device with multiple personas — a personal one full of apps and tools for personal use, and a corporate one that can safely house sensitive corporate material.

"You can just switch from work to personal mode," Scotiabank analyst Gus Papageorgiou said. "I think that is something that will attract a lot of people," he said.

Another feature is BlackBerry Hub, a technology that will allow the user to swipe between multiple apps with the touch of a finger. That's something the current round of BlackBerry phones haven't been able to do, but it's seen as key in the multitasking environment.

Analysts and reviewers who've seen the device suggest the company has revamped its web browser to the point where it competes and might surpass those available on iPhones, Android or Windows phones. It also boasts the BlackBerry Messenger instant messaging technology that helped make BlackBerrys so popular in the first place.

The company has already promised a revamped app store, called BlackBerry World, which will have more than 70,000 applications at launch. That's barely a tenth of what's available in Apple's App Store, or on Google Play, but it's a step toward bridging the gap.

"If they launch this well, it's got the ability to start to create some buzz around RIM again," Cross says.

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New web-based Microsoft Office goes on sale

Microsoft is aiming its redesigned Office software at the growing number of people who expect their favorite applications to be at their fingertips, wherever there's an internet connection.

In an attempt to extend a lucrative franchise beyond personal computers, the world's biggest software maker is selling a retooled version of Office as an online subscription service to consumers for the first time. It's a departure from Microsoft's traditional approach of granting permission to install Office on solitary machines for a one-time fee.

Tuesday's release comes six months after Microsoft previewed the new-look Office, which includes popular word processing, spreadsheets and email programs, and almost two years after the public beta version of the web-based service launched.

'The technology needs to be able to move with you'—Chris Schneider, Microsoft

"This is a fundamental shift in our business that began a several years ago," Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer wrote in a blog post.

The revamped Office boasts touch controls, just like the redesigned version of the Windows operating system that Microsoft Corp. released three months ago. The company, which is based in Redmond, Wash., is trying to ensure that its products retain their appeal at a time when people increasingly rely on mobile devices instead of personal computers.

To tap into that trend, Microsoft is promoting Office 2013 as a program tailored for use over the internet. All information is automatically stored in Microsoft's data centres, allowing for access to the same material on multiple devices. The content also can be stored on the hard drives of devices.

No iPad, Android tablet options

The revamped Office boasts touch controls, just like the redesigned version of the Windows operating system that Microsoft Corp. released three months ago. (Mike Blake/Reuters)But Microsoft still isn't trying to get Office on the largest number of devices possible. Office 2013 doesn't include an option that works on Apple Inc.'s iPhone and iPad or smartphones and tablet computers running the Android software made by Google Inc. That leaves out the majority of smartphones and tablets sold in the past two years.

Microsoft is offering Office 2013 in a $100 annual subscription package, called 365 Home Premium, which includes online access on up to five Windows devices or Apple's Mac computers.

The company believes Office 2013 is currently best suited for Windows devices, said Chris Schneider, Microsoft's senior public relations manager for Office. Microsoft is limiting Office's reach as it tries to grab a bigger piece of the mobile market with its own operating system for smartphones and tablets.

Option to install on single machine remains

Office will still be sold under a one-time licensing fee that allows the software to be installed on a single machine. Prices for that option start at $140 and range up to $400. People who don't need the entire Office bundle can buy individual programs such as Word, Excel and Outlook for $109 apiece. Microsoft outlines its pricing options in its online store.

Office 2013 is the first overhaul of the software suite in three years.

The bundle of programs has become a staple on desktop and laptop computers, providing a rich vein of revenue for Microsoft.

The Microsoft division anchored by Office generates about $24 billion in annual sales, accounting for nearly one-third of the company's total revenue.

Extra storage, Skype credits included

Besides getting access to the suite's programs, 365 Home Premium subscribers receive 20 additional gigabytes of storage on Microsoft's SkyDrive to supplement the seven gigabytes that the company gives away to accountholders for free.

Subscribers also will get 60 minutes of free international calls on Microsoft's Skype service for Internet phone calls and video chats.

College students and teachers will be able to buy Office 2013's online product for $80 for four years, which works out to about $1.67 per month. This option requires proof of student status. A variety of Office subscriptions are also being offered, with monthly fees ranging from $6 to $20 per user.

The online push reflects Microsoft's recognition that people want access to documents and email on whatever internet-connected device they might have, wherever they may be, whether it's at work, home or a store while running errands.

"The technology needs to be able to move with you," Schneider said.

It's the first time that Microsoft has tried to persuade consumers that a recurring online subscription is the best way to buy and use Office. Microsoft had previously sold online Office subscriptions primarily to small businesses.

"Over time, the majority of the billion plus people using Office will be using the Office 365 service," Ballmer predicted in his blog post.

7 years after Google's cloud-based office suite

The attempt to sell online Office subscription to consumers comes nearly seven years after Google unveiled its own internet bundle of word processing, spreadsheet and email programs. Google gives away a basic version of those applications, and charges subscriptions for more sophisticated packages aimed primarily at small businesses.

Microsoft's decision to reshape Office into an online service makes sense, although it may take customers a while to embrace the concept, said Edward Jones analyst Josh Olson. He suspects major companies that rely on Office probably will be among the last users to make the switch.

"This is a good innovation, but the uptake may be slow to begin because it is so different," Olson said.

Revenue in the Office division fell from the previous year during the three months ending in December, partly because many prospective buyers have been awaiting the latest version.

Microsoft's stock gained 14 cents to $28.05 in Tuesday's late afternoon trading. The shares are up by less than one per cent since Microsoft released Windows 8 to great fanfare three months ago. Meanwhile, the benchmark Standard & Poor's 500 index has climbed by about seven per cent.

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Tablets, Netflix top list of popular Canadian tech trends

Tablet ownership is growing explosively in Canada, according to a new report on tech trends, which also notes that Netflix continues to sign up new subscribers.

The Media Technology Monitor conducts regular surveys to chart changes in the use of technology in Canada. Its latest report based on a poll from the fall suggests 28 per cent of anglophone Canadians owned a tablet at the time of the survey, more than double the 12 per cent who had one in the fall of 2011 and seven times the 2010 figure. About 60 per cent of those tablet owners had an iPad and almost 20 per cent had an Android device.

About 55 per cent of the anglophone population had a smartphone, which accounted for two-thirds of all cellphone users.

Streaming video

The report backs up Netflix's claim that Canadians are enthusiastically signing up for the video streaming service. According to the survey, 21 per cent of anglophones were Netflix subscribers in the fall, up almost 50 per cent from the spring of 2012.

A number of different digital-viewing habits are growing, according to the report, including watching full-length TV shows online (24 per cent of anglophones do it), watching TV on a smartphone (seven per cent, up from four per cent in 2011) and watching TV on a tablet (six per cent of all surveyed, 22 per cent of tablet owners).

Not many are giving up on conventional TV, although the numbers are growing ever so slightly, the report notes.

The number of anglophone Canadians who only watch TV content online numbered five per cent, up from four per cent in 2011 and three per cent in 2010.

The report is based on surveys of 4,001 anglophones between Oct. 3 and Nov. 24 and is considered accurate within plus or minus 1.5 percentage points 19 times out of 20.

Tech trends have traditionally been adopted more slowly by francophones and that hasn't changed, according to the report.

Tablet ownership was at 17 per cent among francophones, watching TV on a tablet was at four per cent, and smartphone ownership was at 39 per cent.

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BlackBerry 10 aims to catch up with competition

The maker of the BlackBerry smartphone is promising a speedier device, a superb typing experience and the ability to keep work and personal identities separate on the same phone. It's the fruit of a crucial, long-overdue makeover for the Canadian company.

Thorsten Heins, chief executive of Research In Motion Ltd., will show off the first phone with the new BlackBerry 10 system in New York on Wednesday. A marketing campaign that includes a Super Bowl ad will accompany the long-anticipated debut. Repeated delays have left the once-pioneering BlackBerry an afterthought in the shadow of Apple's trend-setting iPhone and Google's Android-driven devices.

Now, there's some optimism. Previews of the software have gotten favorable reviews on blogs. Financial analysts are starting to see some slight room for a comeback. RIM's stock has nearly tripled to $16.18 from a nine-year low in September, though it's still nearly 90 percent below its 2008 peak of $147.

Most analysts consider a BlackBerry 10 success to be crucial for the company's long-term viability.

"The old models are becoming obsolete quickly," BGC Financial analyst Colin Gillis said. "There is still a big user base but it's going to rotate off. The question is: Where do they rotate to?"

'Historically there have been areas that have not been our strongest points. Not only have we caught up, but we may even be better than some of the competition now.' —Rick Constanzo, RIM

The BlackBerry, pioneered in 1999, has been the dominant smartphone for on-the-go business people. Corporate information-technology managers like the phones because they're relatively secure and easy to manage. Many employees loved them because of physical keyboards that were easier to type on than the touch-screen iPhone. President Barack Obama couldn't bear to part with it when he took office. Oprah Winfrey declared it one of her "favorite things." People got so addicted that the device was nicknamed "the CrackBerry."

The BlackBerry began to cross over to consumers. But when the iPhone came out in 2007, it showed that phones can do much more than email and phone calls. They can play games, music and movies. Android came along to offer even more choices. Though IT managers still love BlackBerrys, employees were bringing their own devices to the workplace — a trend Heins acknowledged RIM was slow to adapt to.

Suddenly, the BlackBerry looked ancient.

Shipments plummeted since 2008

Even as BlackBerry sales continued to grow in many parts of the world, many BlackBerry users in North America switched to iPhones and Android devices. BlackBerry's worldwide subscriber based peaked at 80 million in the quarter that ended Sept. 1, before dropping to 79 million in the most-recent quarter. In the U.S., according to research firm IDC, shipments of BlackBerry phones plummeted from 46 per cent of the market in 2008 to two per cent in 2012. Most phones in use today are either iPhones or Android devices.

RIM promised a new system to catch up, using technology it got through its 2010 purchase of QNX Software Systems. RIM initially said BlackBerry 10 would come by early 2012, but then the company changed that to late 2012. A few months later, that date was pushed further, to early 2013, missing the lucrative holiday season. The holdup helped wipe out more than $70 billion in shareholder wealth and 5,000 jobs.

Although executives have been providing a glimpse at some of BlackBerry 10's new features for months, Heins will finally showcase a complete system at Wednesday's event. Devices will go on sale soon after that. The exact date and prices are expected Wednesday.

RIM redesigned the system to embrace the multimedia, apps and touch-screen experience prevalent today.

"Historically there have been areas that have not been our strongest points," Rick Costanzo, RIM's executive vice president of global sales, said in an interview. "Not only have we caught up, but we may even be better than some of the competition now."

Costanzo said "no one else can touch" what RIM's new system offers.

Better multitasking promised

The new operating system promises better multitasking than either the iPhone or Android. Simply swipe a finger across the phone's display screen to switch to another program.

All emails and notifications from such applications as Twitter and Facebook go to the BlackBerry Hub, a nerve center accessible with a finger swipe even if you have another application open. One can peek into it and open an email, or return to the previous application without opening the email.

"You are not going in and out of applications; you're flowing through applications with one simple gesture of your finger," Costanzo said. "You can leave applications running. You can effortlessly flow between them. So that's completely unique to us."

That said, multitasking will still be limited. If you're watching a video, it will still run while you check for email. But it will pause if you decide to open an email and resume when you are done.

The BlackBerry's touch-screen keyboard promises to learn a user's writing style and suggest words and phrases to complete, going beyond typo corrections offered by rivals. See the one you want, and flick it up to the message area. Costanzo said that "BlackBerry offers the best keyboard, period."

Gus Papageorgiou, a Scotiabank financial analyst who has tried it out, agreed with that assessment and said the keyboard even learns and adjusts to your thumb placements.

The first BlackBerry 10 phone will have only a touch screen. RIM has said it will release a version with a physical keyboard soon after that. That's an area RIM has excelled at, and it's one reason many BlackBerry users have remained loyal despite temptations to switch.

Work mode and personal mode

Another distinguishing feature will be the BlackBerry Balance, which allows two personas on the same device. Businesses can keep their data secure without forcing employees to get a second device for personal use. For instance, IT managers can prevent personal apps from running inside corporate firewalls, but those managers won't have access to personal data on the device.

With Balance, "you can just switch from work to personal mode," Papageorgiou said. "I think that is something that will attract a lot of people."

RIM is also claiming that the BlackBerry 10's browser will be speedy, even faster than browsers for laptop and desktop computers. According to Papageorgiou, early, independent tests between the BlackBerry 10 and the iPhone support that claim.

Few apps compared to iPhone, Android

Regardless of BlackBerry 10's advances, though, the new system will face a key shortcoming: It won't have as many apps written by outside companies and individuals as the iPhone and Android. RIM has said it plans to launch BlackBerry 10 with more than 70,000 apps, including those developed for RIM's PlayBook tablet, first released in 2011. Even so, that's just a tenth of what the iPhone and Android offer. Papageorgiou said the initial group will include the most popular ones such as Twitter and Facebook. But RIM will have to persuade others to make a BlackBerry version, when they are already struggling to keep up with both the iPhone and Android. Like many analysts, Papageorgiou recently upgraded RIM's stock, but cautioned that longtime BlackBerry users will have to get used to a whole new operating system.

He said RIM can be successful if about a third of current subscribers upgrade and if the company can get four million new users overseas, especially in countries where the BlackBerry has remained popular. IDC said smartphone shipments grew 44 per cent in 2012. If those trends continue, it will be possible for the BlackBerry to grow even if iPhone and Android users don't switch.

"This doesn't have to be the best smartphone on the planet to be a success for RIM," he said. "I think the big question though is, if it fails, is it just too late? Are the other two ecosystems just so advanced that no one can catch up? That's a big risk."

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Wireless fee, contract guidelines proposed by CRTC

A public hearing on the draft code will take place Feb. 11 to 15. (Canadian Press)

Wireless providers would face limits on early termination fees and must unlock phones under "reasonable terms" under new draft guidelines released Monday by Canada's telecommunications regulator.

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission is asking the public for feedback on its draft "wireless code" via an online discussion that will remain open until 5 p.m. Feb. 15, the last day of a public hearing in Gatineau, Que., on the code. The hearing begins on Feb. 11.

Some of the proposals in the draft code, based partly on 3,500 comments submitted by Canadians to the commission in writing and 600 posted in an online discussion forum, include requiring that:

• Customers receive a personalized summary of key terms and conditions in their contract, such as how much they would pay in cancellation charges at different times during their contract and what tools are available to help them monitor their usage of different services.
• Wireless providers be required to unlock customers' wireless devices under "reasonable terms." Options for those terms include fees and time frames.
• Customers be given tools to monitor their usage compared to the limits of their plan in order to be aware of extra fees they might incur if they go above the limits.
• Customers be allowed to restrict features that could incur additional fees, and the ability to specify a cap to their monthly bill. Once the user hits the cap, the service provider would suspend services that could result in extra fees.
• Early termination fees can only include subsidies on the price of phone or other mobile device and discounts the customer received for signing on to a contract of a specific length.

Under advertising guidelines in the draft code, wireless providers would still be able to advertise plans with some limits as "unlimited," but would have to explain "whether there are limits to the 'unlimited' plan and whether the service provider retains the discretion to move the consumer to a 'limited ' plan if usage limits are exceeded."

'Good first draft'

Consumer groups and wireless providers alike gave the plan an initial thumbs up.

"This draft code is a good start to work from," said Shawn Hall, a spokesman for Telus.

He added that the company will provide input once it's had a chance to review the draft in more detail and it thinks a national wireless code of conduct is "the right thing to do."

Lindsey Pinto, as spokeswoman for Open Media, a Vancouver-based public advocacy group that has campaigned for better treatment of wireless consumers by their mobile service providers, called the document a "good first draft."

The group, which will testify at the upcoming hearing, was particularly happy that the guidelines specify that they won't prevent customers from benefiting from provincial laws concerning wireless contracts that benefit the consumer. Pinto noted that some provinces, such as Quebec and Manitoba, have existing rules that are good for consumers.

One of the group's only concerns, she added, is that it would like the code to specify that termination fees can be made as monthly payments rather than a lump sum. The draft code allows wireless providers to charge a customer for the amount their mobile device was subsidized by the service provider when they signed a term contract – such as an iPhone that is "free" with a three-year contract. Pinto wants assurances that consumers don't get "slapped with the $700 cost of a phone" all at once.

"The more specific the code is … the less room big telecom companies have to basically go around it and apply what is a defacto termination fee."

However, not everyone was impressed with the draft code.

Technology journalist and blogger, Pete Nowak, tweeted that it "does little that isn't already happening."

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RIM targets loyalists on eve of BlackBerry 10 launch

They call them the BlackBerry loyals: long-time smartphone users who have clung to their aging Curve and Bold models through the most turbulent days of the company.

In the coming months, Research In Motion is certainly going to need them.

Despite what some critics suggest, there are still plenty of smartphone users around the world who sport BlackBerrys. In fact, there's about 80 million of them according to RIM's most recent quarterly subscriber numbers.

Among them are millions of enterprise customers, mostly employees at government, corporate and private businesses who were handed a BlackBerry by their employer. Together, they were the BlackBerry users who helped the device become a symbol of mobile communications innovation, and kept the company relatively stable as its share of the consumer market tumbled in North America and Europe.

Core users

It's a factor that RIM hasn't ignored in preparation for the unveiling of its new smartphones on Wednesday, though the battle to keep enterprise customers won't be easy.

Competition for the highly lucrative corporate smartphone market has heated up, and while RIM has maintained a stronghold on it for years, other smartphone companies are seeing an opportunity.

Last week, an investment wing of Samsung Group — the leading Android smartphone maker — announced a "strategic investment" in Toronto-based Fixmo Inc., a software maker that specializes in data and device security.

Apple Inc. executives also made a point of emphasizing the popularity of their iPad tablet with major banks and government agencies. The iPhone has also gained traction in the enterprise market, they said on the company's earnings call last week.

"The other vendors do smell blood in the water a little bit here, and they know that RIM is vulnerable," said Zeus Kerravala, telecom equipment analyst at ZK Research in Boston.

"What was once RIM's anchor business is showing signs of cracks."

Competitive market

A number of factors helped the BlackBerry remain triumphant in the business sphere over the past several years.

The simplicity and security of RIM's network structure has generally kept corporate IT desks satisfied, but a combination of service outages and the growing trend of bring-your-own-device to work has left the BlackBerry vulnerable to its competitors.

"I heard more negative backlash from chief information officers and IT leaders about RIM last year than I did in maybe the last 10 years combined," said Kerravala.

One of the BlackBerry's greatest strengths is its design. In the business community, the Bold model is championed for being small, sleek and sturdy. But when BlackBerry loyals talk about why they've held onto the phone, the conversation almost always shifts to its physical keypad.

"It's got that professional feel," said Kriss Stallabrass, a longtime BlackBerry user who works as a cruise manager in the Netherlands.

"I don't know how to explain it, but when (I've got) my BlackBerry out, I'm working. I have an iPhone for personal use and for me it's like a toy. I don't game on my BlackBerry."

Almost accidentally, the BlackBerry has cornered a segment of the market that prefers a tactile smartphone experience akin to working on a computer.

"My office is now saying, 'We'd prefer you get an iPhone,' because they like the way it interfaces with the network," said Daphne Burt, manager of artistic planning at the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa.

"But I'm holding onto my 'Berry still. I don't know why I'm so attached to that keyboard, but I am."

Ongoing challenges

Not everyone is happy though. Since the launch of the iPhone in 2007 the touchscreen market has skyrocketed in popularity and now comprises the majority of smartphone users. In response, the BlackBerry is treading into territory that its executives once swore it never would by creating a full touchscreen phone that will be a priority over the keypad version.

The new BlackBerrys will arrive in stores first with a touchscreen device expected sometime over the next six weeks. RIM will then release an updated physical keypad design a few weeks later. The official dates will be announced on Wednesday.

The staggered launch has been a sticking point for some analysts who are concerned about those loyal fans who stuck it out for the keypad version. Many of the users who would prefer touchscreen have already switched to a competitor, they suggest.

"It's indicative to us of the missteps that RIM has made so far," said Craig Fehr, Canadian markets specialist at Edward Jones in St. Louis.

"To have all these delays and still have to stagger the launch between the keyboard and the non-keyboard is, to us, far more indicative of the fact that they've really, to some degree, lost their way and are kind of scrambling to play catchup."

But in the enterprise world change is often at a snail's pace, which could give RIM an opportunity. The BlackBerry is still used by more than 1 million government clients in North America, and at 90 per cent of Fortune 500 companies, according to RIM's own data.

And while RIM has lost contracts with major corporations like Halliburton and a number of government agencies, the company has managed to convince others to stick with the BlackBerry, even when they were planning to abandon ship.

Revamped app store

In December, RIM announced that the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement was joining a pilot project for its new operating system, an about-face from a decision from the agency weeks earlier to end its contract with the BlackBerry maker.

Many of the features on the new smartphones are angled towards the business customer, including its BlackBerry Balance technology, which allows a single phone to operate as both a business and personal device entirely separate from each other.

Business customers also have options if they don't want the new BlackBerry. Last week, RIM announced it has opened up its secure enterprise service to other smartphones like the iPhone and Android devices for the first time in its history.

And 1,600 businesses have registered for a program designed to prepare companies for the launch of the operating system.

To help drum up enthusiasm, RIM will launch an international enterprise roadshow on Feb. 4 to meet with major customers for a hands-on demonstration of the new BlackBerrys and the operating system.

On Monday, RIM announced that the rebranded application store — now called BlackBerry World — will include movies that will be available the same day they are released on DVD and current TV shows a day after they're broadcast.

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Iran claims monkey launched into space

Iran's Press TV reports that a monkey was launched into space on Monday in what has been described as a major step forward for the Islamic republic's aerospace program. (Reuters)

Iranian state TV says the country has successfully sent a monkey into space in what's described as another step toward Tehran's goal of a manned space flight.

Monday's report said the monkey was sent up in a Pishtam, or Explorer, rocket to a height of 120 kilometres. It gave no other details on the timing or location of the launch, but said the monkey returned safely.

Iran has said it seeks to send an astronaut into space as part of its ambitious aerospace program. In 2010, Iran said it launched a rocket into space carrying a mouse, turtle and worms.

The U.S. and its allies worry that technology from the space program could also be used to develop long-range missiles that could potentially be armed with nuclear warheads.

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Megacities' urban heat may warm up Canadian winters

Heat rising up from cities such as New York can affect high-altitude currents in the atmosphere that dictate prevailing weather, a computer model shows. (Mary Altaffer/Associated Press)

Heat rising up from cities such as New York, Paris and Tokyo might be remotely warming up winters far away in some rural parts of Alaska, Canada, and Siberia, a surprising study theorizes.

In an unusual twist, that same urban heat from buildings and cars may be slightly cooling the autumns in much of the Western United States, Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean, according to the study published Sunday in the scientific journal Nature Climate Change.

Meteorologists long have known that cities are warmer than rural areas, with the heat of buildings and cars, along with asphalt and roofs that absorb heat. That's called the urban heat island effect and it's long been thought that the heat stayed close to the cities.

But the study, based on a computer model and the Northern Hemisphere, now suggests the heat does something else, albeit indirectly. It travels about 800 metres up into the air and then its energy changes the high-altitude currents in the atmosphere that dictate prevailing weather.

"Basically, it changes the flow." said Guang Zhang of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, California. He wrote the paper with Aixue Hu at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo.

No effect on global temperature averages

This doesn't change overall global temperature averages significantly, unlike man-made greenhouse gases that cause global warming. Instead it redistributes some of the heat, the scientists said.

The changes seem to vary with the seasons and by region because of the way air currents flow at different times of the year. During the winter, the jet stream is altered and weakened, keeping cold air closer to the Arctic Circle and from dipping down as sharply, Hu explained.

The computer model showed that parts of Siberia and northwestern Canada may get, on average, an extra 0.8 to 1 degree Celsius) during the winter, which "may not be a bad thing," Zhang said. The effect isn't quite as much in northern North Dakota and Minnesota, where temperatures might be about half a degree warmer (0.3 degrees Celsius), and even less along the East Coast.

In contrast, Europe and the Pacific Northwest are cooled slightly in the winter from this effect. The jet stream changes prevent weather systems from bringing warmer air from the Atlantic to Europe and from the Pacific to the U.S. Northwest, thus cooling those areas a bit, he said.

The biggest cooling occurs in the fall, but Hu said he's not quite sure why that happens.

Experiments needed to confirm theory

Several outside scientists said they were surprised by the study results, calling the work "intriguing" and "clever." But they said it would have to be shown in more than one computer model and in repeated experiments before they could accept this theory.

"It's an interesting and rationally carried out study," said David Parker, climate monitoring chief of the United Kingdom meteorology office. "We must be cautious until other models are used to test their hypothesis."

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Greenland ice core hints at Earth's next big melt

An international team of scientists has drilled down through 2.5 kilometres of Greenland ice and uncovered a surprising picture of Earth's last big melt, a picture that suggests how today's ice caps will affect sea levels as polar regions get warmer this time around.

The new results were published online in the journal Nature this week in an article co-authored by an international collaboration of researchers known as NEEM (North Greenland Eemian Ice Drilling). The group includes scientist Jocelyne Bourgeois from Natural Resources Canada.

The NEEM researchers analyzed snow that fell during the last interglacial period, called the Eemian, around 130,000 to 115,000 years ago.

Researchers from Natural Resources Canada spent two seasons helping drill an ice core five times as deep as the CN Tower is high — the first core that has ever provided information about the entire Eemian period in Greenland.

The collaboration discovered that during the Eemian period, Greenland was about 8 C warmer than it has been for the past 1,000 years. That's about 6 degrees warmer than climate models had predicted, said lead author Dorthe Dahl-Jensen of the University of Copenhagen.

At the same time, the data also showed that only 25 per cent of the volume of the ice sheet melted, which suggests that the melt didn't contribute as much as expected to the rise in global sea levels, which was four to eight metres higher than they are today.

On one hand, that's good news, as Greenland has undergone alarmingly rapid warming in recent years. According to the NEEM scientists, Greenland's average temperature has been rising five times faster than the global average, but the new results suggest the impact on the oceans may not be as dramatic as others have predicted.

Blame Antarctica

On the other hand, the results suggest that melting in Antarctica was likely the cause of the bulk of the sea level rise in the Eemian period, and that Antarctic melting could well give the oceans a boost during this current period of warming as well.

Researchers from Natural Resources Canada spent two seasons at the NEEM camp to help drill the ice core. (NEEM photo archive)

"That's bad news because, in Antarctica, several parts of the ice sheet are unstable," Dahl-Jensen said, implying that these massive sheets could break apart and change global sea levels quickly.

The NEEM findings also suggest that scientists need to keep a closer eye on melting in Antarctica.

Canadian scientists played a key role in developing the techniques to help tease information from the ice core, which was no easy feat, Dahl-Jensen said.

For example, she said, the Canadians took many surface core samples that helped scientists understand how the atmosphere imprints itself in the ice.

Based in part on the Canadian work, the scientists figured out that the proportions of different varieties of oxygen called isotopes are related to the surface temperature when the snow was falling. By analyzing the oxygen in the ice core, they were able to figure out the average temperature during the Eemian period.

To figure out how much the ice shelf melted, the researchers analysed the pressure of air trapped in bubbles in the ice. Air is thinner at higher elevations.

"By measuring the pressure of the bubbles, we can reconstruct the elevation," Dahl-Jensen explained.

Canadians' work unfinished

According to Natural Resources Canada, its scientists did analyses of trends in climate and atmospheric contaminants and contributed to the first pollen record from a Greenland ice core.

Dahl-Jensen said analysis of the pollen and DNA from the ice core, which provide information about the plants that lived in Greenland during the Eemian, were a focus for the Canadians and isn't yet complete.

"Unfortunately, Canada has decided to tune down their activities of ice core research," she added. "To be honest, I don't know if they will ever achieve those goals, which is really sad."

Natural Resources Canada said its geosciences program is currently focused on understanding the geological response to a changing climate in priority areas for northern infrastructure development and the monitoring of "key glaciers" as indicators of climate change.

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Astronaut Chris Hadfield hopes to inspire young Canadians

Chris Hadfield was nine years old when Neil Armstrong first walked on the moon, and after that, space travel became the young Canadian's life mission.

Decades later, Hadfield is now living aboard the International Space Station as the spacecraft's first-ever Canadian commander.

One of Hadfield's goals in his role is to inspire and instill wonder in today's children by sharing his out-of-this-world experience through online tweets, photographs and live chats with elementary school students.

Hadfield talks to CBC's Peter Mansbridge from the International Space Station.

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U.S. government site hacked to avenge internet activist

Aaron Swartz, seen here in 2008, hanged himself in his Brooklyn apartment on Friday. The Reddit co-founder was facing federal charges for allegedly stealing millions of scientific journals. (Noah Berger/Reuters)

The FBI has launched an investigation after hacker-activist group Anonymous says it hijacked the website of the U.S. Sentencing Commission to avenge the death of Aaron Swartz, an internet activist who committed suicide.

The website of the commission, an independent agency of the judicial branch, was taken over early Saturday and replaced with a message warning that when Swartz killed himself two weeks ago "a line was crossed."

The hackers say they've infiltrated several government computer systems and copied secret information that they now threaten to make public.

Family and friends of Swartz, who helped create Reddit and RSS, say he killed himself after he was hounded by federal prosecutors.

U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz, in the wake of the suicide, said she believed the case was conducted "reasonably" and "appropriately."

Officials say he helped post millions of court documents for free online and that he illegally downloaded millions of academic articles from an online clearinghouse.

The FBI's Richard McFeely, executive assistant director of the Criminal, Cyber, Response, and Services Branch, said in a statement that "we were aware as soon as it happened and are handling it as a criminal investigation. We are always concerned when someone illegally accesses another person's or government agency's network."

Swartz's supporters believe Ortiz's office was overly aggressive in charging Swartz with 13 felonies for tapping into the computer network at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to download nearly five million articles from an online clearinghouse for academic journals.

Swartz's lawyer, Elliot Peters, said prosecutors were insisting that any plea deal would involve Swartz pleading guilty to all 13 felony charges against him and serving four to six months in prison.

Ortiz has said her prosecutors did not demand that Swartz plead guilty.

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Greenland ice core hints at Earth's next big melt

An international team of scientists has drilled down through 2.5 kilometres of Greenland ice and uncovered a surprising picture of Earth's last big melt, a picture that suggests how today's ice caps will affect sea levels as polar regions get warmer this time around.

The new results were published online in the journal Nature this week in an article co-authored by an international collaboration of researchers known as NEEM (North Greenland Eemian Ice Drilling). The group includes scientist Jocelyne Bourgeois from Natural Resources Canada.

The NEEM researchers analyzed snow that fell during the last interglacial period, called the Eemian, around 130,000 to 115,000 years ago.

Researchers from Natural Resources Canada spent two seasons helping drill an ice core five times as deep as the CN Tower is high — the first core that has ever provided information about the entire Eemian period in Greenland.

The collaboration discovered that during the Eemian period, Greenland was about 8 C warmer than it has been for the past 1,000 years. That's about 6 degrees warmer than climate models had predicted, said lead author Dorthe Dahl-Jensen of the University of Copenhagen.

At the same time, the data also showed that only 25 per cent of the volume of the ice sheet melted, which suggests that the melt didn't contribute as much as expected to the rise in global sea levels, which was four to eight metres higher than they are today.

On one hand, that's good news, as Greenland has undergone alarmingly rapid warming in recent years. According to the NEEM scientists, Greenland's average temperature has been rising five times faster than the global average, but the new results suggest the impact on the oceans may not be as dramatic as others have predicted.

Blame Antarctica

On the other hand, the results suggest that melting in Antarctica was likely the cause of the bulk of the sea level rise in the Eemian period, and that Antarctic melting could well give the oceans a boost during this current period of warming as well.

Researchers from Natural Resources Canada spent two seasons at the NEEM camp to help drill the ice core. (NEEM photo archive)

"That's bad news because, in Antarctica, several parts of the ice sheet are unstable," Dahl-Jensen said, implying that these massive sheets could break apart and change global sea levels quickly.

The NEEM findings also suggest that scientists need to keep a closer eye on melting in Antarctica.

Canadian scientists played a key role in developing the techniques to help tease information from the ice core, which was no easy feat, Dahl-Jensen said.

For example, she said, the Canadians took many surface core samples that helped scientists understand how the atmosphere imprints itself in the ice.

Based in part on the Canadian work, the scientists figured out that the proportions of different varieties of oxygen called isotopes are related to the surface temperature when the snow was falling. By analyzing the oxygen in the ice core, they were able to figure out the average temperature during the Eemian period.

To figure out how much the ice shelf melted, the researchers analysed the pressure of air trapped in bubbles in the ice. Air is thinner at higher elevations.

"By measuring the pressure of the bubbles, we can reconstruct the elevation," Dahl-Jensen explained.

Canadians' work unfinished

According to Natural Resources Canada, its scientists did analyses of trends in climate and atmospheric contaminants and contributed to the first pollen record from a Greenland ice core.

Dahl-Jensen said analysis of the pollen and DNA from the ice core, which provide information about the plants that lived in Greenland during the Eemian, were a focus for the Canadians and isn't yet complete.

"Unfortunately, Canada has decided to tune down their activities of ice core research," she added. "To be honest, I don't know if they will ever achieve those goals, which is really sad."

Natural Resources Canada said its geosciences program is currently focused on understanding the geological response to a changing climate in priority areas for northern infrastructure development and the monitoring of "key glaciers" as indicators of climate change.

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Frogs burn ample fuel while freezing solid

Wood frogs freeze so solidly that you could "use one as a doorknocker or something like that," says researcher Brent Sinclair. (EmilyK/Wikimedia Commons)

Frogs that cope with winter weather by freezing into a solid lump may be hit hard by climate change, Canadian researchers have found.

Wood frogs, which hide in the leaf litter of forests through much of North America, have the amazing ability to freeze their bodies into hard, icy little pucks when the temperature drops below 0 C.

"You could use one as a doorknocker or something like that," said biologist Brent Sinclair in an interview with Quirks & Quarks that airs Saturday on CBC Radio One.

The frogs thaw out and hop away when it warms up again.

While freezing looks as simple as a matter of keeping still as the temperature plunges, Sinclair, a professor at Western University in London, Ont., and colleagues including at Carleton University in Ottawa discovered that it's not as easy as it looks. In fact, freezing and thawing burns a surprisingly large amount of energy, the researchers reported in a recent issue of the Journal of Experimental Biology.

The researchers measured the frogs' energy consumption in the lab during freezing and thawing.

While other cold-blooded animals slow down their metabolism consistently as temperatures drop, wood frogs suddenly increase their energy consumption when temperatures drop to about a degree above zero, the researchers found. The frogs' metabolism increased suddenly again when they completely thawed out after being frozen, just before they start to breathe again.

By putting temperature sensors in the ground in an Ottawa-area forest during winter, the researchers discovered that the frogs freeze and thaw 15 to 25 times per winter, and calculated that the process consumes a large portion of the energy that a frog burns over the winter.

The problem is that the energy molecule used to fuel the freezing and thawing — glycogen — is the same one used by the frog to manufacture the glucose antifreeze that protects its cells from frostbite while the spaces between them are filled with ice. If the glycogen is depleted, the frog won't have enough antifreeze to survive the next freeze-thaw cycle.

Sinclair said that means the frog may be vulnerable to changes in snow cover and snowfall that are expected as the climate changes.

In areas where there is less snow cover, the frogs may go through too many freeze and thaw cycles to survive the winter, he added.

"We may see some counterintuitive patterns where places that become warmer actually become less habitable for the frogs because of the number of times they freeze and thaw during the winter."

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Astronaut Chris Hadfield hopes to inspire young Canadians

Chris Hadfield was nine years old when Neil Armstrong first walked on the moon, and after that, space travel became the young Canadian's life mission.

Decades later, Hadfield is now living aboard the International Space Station as the spacecraft's first-ever Canadian commander.

One of Hadfield's goals in his role is to inspire and instill wonder in today's children by sharing his out-of-this-world experience through online tweets, photographs and live chats with elementary school students.

Hadfield talks to CBC's Peter Mansbridge from the International Space Station.

22.11 | 0 komentar | Read More

Advertised internet speeds not backed up by data

Consumers believe they can expect to receive maximum advertised internet speeds in their homes most of the time, but the data to show how often that actually happens doesn't exist, a new study has found.

"There really aren't any comprehensive tests that are done at the retail level … to confirm what speeds they're actually able to get consistently," Janet Lo, co-author of the study by the Public Interest Advocacy Centre, said in an interview Thursday.

In fact, she said, there is "some data that suggests there might be a gap" between advertised speeds and those achieved in the home, as found in other countries that have actually made the measurements.

Lo said the non-profit consumer advocacy group undertook the study after hearing complaints from consumers who weren't sure if their internet connection was measuring up to advertised speeds.

It hired polling firm Environics to find out how consumers interpreted advertising by internet service providers and made decisions about what packages to subscribe to, given that advertising tends to focus on maximum speeds, using phrases such as "up to 175 megabits per second."

The study found that among 2,002 Canadian adults shown actual ads for internet packages during an online survey in October 2011:

• Seventy per cent thought the maximum advertised download speed is the maximum speed what would actually be delivered to their own internet connection.
• Fifty-six per cent said they expected to get the advertised maximum download speed most of the time.
• Eighty-three per cent said download speed was very important or somewhat important when choosing an internet service provider for their home.

"I think consumers do expect that there would be a guarantee for the speed that's advertised," Lo said.

However, when PIAC spoke to internet service providers, they said they did not know what speeds actually received by customers were on a household-to-household level.

Lo noted that Canada's Competition Act prohibits false and misleading advertising.

"I think it certainly speaks to how speed should be advertised if they cannot confirm that the consumer can receive this speed at home," she added.

Rogers testing customer connections

Jennifer Kett, spokeswoman for the internet service provider Rogers, said the company agrees that customers deserve to know how well their internet services are performing.

In fact, she said in an email, this past November, Rogers signed an agreement with broadband performance testing firm SamKnows to conduct ongoing measurement of broadband internet speed based on customer data. However, the company said it is too soon to discuss results, as the tests are ongoing.

Lo said there has been some evidence that the maximum speeds customers actually receive are lower than that advertised.

For example, Lo said, at a time when the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development listed the average maximum advertised internet speeds in Canada as 20 megabits per second, the average internet speed among Canadians who used Google's Measurement Lab to test their internet connections was just three megabits per second.

However, Lo cautioned that there was no way to know what the advertised connection speed was for those who logged into Measurement Lab and that no such online tools to measure connection speed are completely reliable.

Albert Lee, spokesman for Bell, said actual internet speeds can be affected by factors such as the distance between the customer's home and the internet service provider's switching equipment or the configuration of the customer's equipment.

"Bell is very clear with customers about any potential speed variance," he said in an email, "including providing both minimums and maximums for each internet service offering."

Lo said other countries have found a "pretty substantial gap" between advertised and delivered speeds. For example, a study in the U.K. found that at a time when the average advertised speed was16.3 megabits per second, the average maximum achievable by a given consumer was just. 8.2 megabits per second and the speed they received on average over time was 7.6 megabits per second.

Advertising maximum theoretical internet speeds is not the only option for internet service providers.

Telus does not advertise maximum speeds like other ISPs do, but the range of speeds that customers can expect to receive, said company spokesman Shawn Hall in an email.

"To our knowledge we are the only ISP to offer that clarity," he added. "We think that is better for our customers."

In general, the PIAC report suggested that:

• The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, which regulates telecommunications providers, should collect its own data on what internet speeds are delivered to consumers and how they compare to the advertised speeds.
• Internet service providers should provide more complete information to consumers about the factors that affect internet performance and the reliability of their advertising claims.
• The Competition Bureau of Canada should consider enforcement guidelines for how internet speed performance claims are advertised to consumers.

PIAC's study received funding from Industry Canada's Contributions Program for Non-Profit Consumer and Voluntary Organizations, but it noted that the views in the report are not necessarily those of Industry Canada or the Government of Canada.

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Controversial brain test of awareness questioned

Doctors should resist the temptation to use an inexpensive tool that probes the brain's electrical activity when evaluating vegetative patients who can't communicate.

Drs. Adrian Owen and Damian Cruse of the Centre for Brain and Mind in London, Ont., promoted the use of electroencephalography or EEG that can be used at a patient's bedside to determine if there's neurological activity in people in a vegetative state — those who are unresponsive in traditional tests of awareness.

Dr. Damian Cruse adjusts EEG sensors that his team uses to check for neurological activity in people thought to be in a vegetative state. (Courtesy UWO)

In a letter published in Thursday's issue of the medical journal The Lancet, Dr. Jonathan Victor of Weill Cornell Medical College in New York and his co-authors reanalyzed data shared from Owen's 2011 paper in the same journal.

"I think we'd be very, very cautious about using this technology as it stands now," said Victor.

Both groups agree the use of EEG technology remains promising to evaluate patients. The challenge, Victor said, is researchers can't be certain about their interpretations when faced with families trying to communicate with their loved ones, including for end-of-life discussions.

The critique casts doubt on the original statistical approach and assumptions, which didn't hold when analyzed with a different model.

In a rebuttal, Owen's team defended its approach as the only way to draw valid conclusions from vegetative patients and account for their variations.

"There are few 'known truths' when attempting to detect covert awareness," Owen's team wrote. "Some are likely to be truly vegetative, while others may appear to be vegetative behaviorally, but are in fact, covertly aware."

Ryan D'Arcy, a neuroscientist at Simon Fraser University and Surrey Memorial Hospital in Vancouver, is part of a team developing a similar device to detect consciousness.

For D'Arcy, the challenge is turning a laboratory procedure into a test that can be used on patients.

"You need to be able to convert the data which are very sophisticated and complex into a valid clinical score," D'Arcy said.

The teams' discrepancies could lead to vastly different approaches to caring for patients, anesthesiologists George Mashour of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and Michael Avidan of Washington University said in a journal commentary.

The critique's authors "present a compelling argument that this claim of neurophysiological responsiveness has a questionable statistical basis, potentially undermining the interpretation of two studies by Cruse and colleagues," Mashour and Avidan wrote.

The pair commended the two teams for sharing their data and publicly debating the controversy.

Victor is working with Owen's team to figure out the best way of interpreting the signals.

With files from CBC's Kim Brunhuber and Pauline Dakin

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New B.C. telescope to make massive 3D map of universe

A Canadian telescope bigger than six NHL hockey rinks is expected to help scientists understand the expansion of the universe and the role of mysterious dark energy.

The $11-million project is being built at the Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory southwest of Penticton, B.C., where the official groundbreaking took place this week. The radio telescope will use components from the cellphone industry to capture and turn radio waves emitted six to 11 billion years ago into a massive three-dimensional map of a quarter of the observable universe.

'It's almost like time travel.'—Kris Sigurdson, UBC

It's the first research telescope built in Canada in more than three decades and includes scientists from the observatory, the University of British Columbia, McGill University and the University of Toronto.

"It's almost like time travel," said Kris Sigurdson, an astrophysicist from UBC and co-investigator on the project. "It's looking back into the past and how the universe was at that time and it's just amazing."

Sigurdson said scientists know the universe is expanding but they don't know why, and they're also trying to learn more about the composition of "dark energy," which makes up about 70 per cent of the universe.

2,560 receivers

According to a UBC media release, the project is known as the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity-Mapping Experiment and will eventually boast a 100-square-metre collecting area — described as "larger than six NHL hockey rinks" — filled with 2,560 low-noise receivers built from components adapted from the cellphone industry.

Mark Halpern, an astrophysicist from UBC who is also the project's principal investigator, said a NASA project known as the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) found the universe has expanded by a factor of 1,000 in every direction since the light we currently see was given off.

Halpern said the radio telescope will collect information in the northern half of the sky, from the equator north, specifically related to the universe when it was one-third to one-half of its present size.

"I think people have always wanted to know how did the universe begin," said Halpern. "Why is it the size and shape that it is? Why is it so big? How did it ever get to be this old?

"I'm not saying we'll answer it, but we're moving that way."

'Try-before-you-buy'

Gary Hinshaw, an astrophysicist at UBC and a co-investigator, said workers have now cleared snow from the site and started on the foundation holes for a "pathfinder" telescope, a smaller instrument about 40-by-35 metres in size.

Workers will put in the concrete footings and erect the trusses next week that will support the telescope, he added.

Hinshaw said scientists will build a radio telescope next year about 100-square-metres right next to the pathfinder.

"We're going to be getting our feet wet with the pathfinder, starting right now, and building on that to make the full-size one," he said.

Hinshaw said scientists will place receivers on the pathfinder, making a "plausible version" of the full instrument.

Doing so will help scientists make sure the components works well in the environment and are as sensitive as they should be before all the equipment is ordered, a "kind of try-before-you-buy approach," said Hinshaw.

The Canada Foundation for Innovation has contributed $4.6 million towards the project, and while many of the scientists have participated in other international products, they are proud of the work that's underway.

"Canada has been very, very effective in astronomical research but this is a standalone, entirely important Canadian experiment and we're proud of that," said Halpern.

Artist's rendering of the CHIME telescope, shown to scale with adult human (CHIME)

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Outdoor rink climate change project gets hundreds of citizen scientists

An Ontario university's research that involves recruiting outdoor rinks to help track climate change has now signed up hundreds of volunteers, in a citizen science-driven project that is far surpassing its creators' expectations.

Climate scientists at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ont., created a RinkWatch website (rinkwatch.org) to draft participants for the project launched 2½ weeks ago. Since CBCNews.ca first reported on RinkWatch last Friday, the number of frozen puddles, ponds and backyard arenas involved has increased by 50 to 425 as of 2 p.m. ET Wednesday.

"We were sort of running this off the side of our desks just as a project to see, 'Is there any interest, let's try it out,'" said Robert McLeman, an associate professor of geography and environmental studies at the Waterloo university.

'The winters are different now than they were 20, 40, 60 years ago, and these [rinks] are things that they make a connection with personally.'

—Robert McLeman, Wilfrid Laurier University researcher

"We launched on Jan. 8, and the phones lit up and the website crashed several times."

Average people building their own rinks or using neighbourhood ones are asked to keep a log about the conditions on their favourite ice surface.

"We can start to track what's going on with skating conditions across the continent and then by default track what's going on with winter climate trends," explains McLeman.

Rink project modelled on birdwatchers' efforts

McLeman helped conceive the rink-tracking concept with his colleague, Colin Robertson, and Haydn Lawrence, one of his graduate students.

"Everyone understands what's going on in their backyard," said McLeman about what drove the idea for the project.

"The winters are different now than they were 20, 40, 60 years ago, and these [rinks] are things that they make a connection with personally."

McLeman says the project was modelled on the efforts of birdwatchers, who have been conducting backyard bird counts for decades. A forum on rinkwatch.org allows "rinkwatchers" to swap advice and discuss their ice pads with each other.

For first-time home rink builder Stewart Fast, RinkWatch isn't just about monitoring climate change.

"Anything to brag about your rink is fun," jokes Fast in his Ottawa backyard.

But on a more serious note, he remarks "it is a different way of thinking about your rink."

"I'm very much more aware of changes in the temperature, especially stuff around zero degrees," explains Fast. He particularly likes the idea of tracking climate data from a personal level.

The Rideau Canal's algae factor

This is RinkWatch's first year, and one year of data isn't enough when trying to examine changes in climate.

In Ottawa, there is one outdoor ice pad that has decades of data about its winter conditions: The Rideau Canal.

There are decades of data about the winter conditions of the Rideau Canal, making it easier to track the effect of climate change on the Ottawa canal. (Fred Chartrand/Canadian Press)

Climate change's effects on the canal are there, but from an unlikely source: Algae.

"It affects the integrity of the ice because it grows right through the ice, and in the springtime, it actually speeds up the rotting process of the ice," says Marc Corriveau, the National Capital Commission's director of Urban Lands and Transportation, the department responsible for the world famous iceway.

Warmer summers make it easier for algae to bloom. Because of algae's threat to the ice, the NCC harvests the green slime every year.

Meanwhile, backyard rinkwatchers are helping science achieve a broader understanding of the effects of climate change.

"Citizen science really is the idea that science doesn't need to be conducted in laboratories, in institutions by professional scientists alone. What we really need is public involvement, public engagement," argues McLeman.

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Internet speed claims need more scrutiny, group says

Canadian regulators are being pressed to force Internet companies to prove their service performs as good as they claim.

The Public Interest Advocacy Centre says Canadians have high expectations of advertised Internet speeds.

However, the Ottawa-based group says customers get little information from providers to judge actual speeds.

The group wants the CRTC to collect performance data on Internet speeds, and compared them with advertised claims.

It says 83 per cent of Canadians who were surveyed feel download speed is important when choosing a provider.

However, 75 per cent of Canadians don't know which Internet speed tier they have.

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Shakespeare sonnets encoded in DNA

The ones and zeroes of digital data were converted into sequences using the four-letter alphabet of DNA. The sequences were then encoded into synthetic strands of DNA. (iStock)

It can store the information from a million CDs in a space no bigger than your little finger, and could keep it safe for centuries.

Is this some new electronic gadget? Nope. It's DNA.

The genetic material has long held all the information needed to make plants and animals, and now some scientists are saying it could help handle the growing storage needs of today's information society.

Researchers reported Wednesday that they had stored all 154 Shakespeare sonnets, a photo, a scientific paper, and a 26-second sound clip from Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech. That all fit in a barely visible bit of DNA in a test tube.

Researcher Nick Goldman, showed here hold in a vial of DNA, suggested that in a decade, it could become feasible for consumers to use DNA to store information they want to have around in 50 years, like wedding photos or videos for future grandchildren. (European Molecular Biology Laboratory/Nature/Associated Press)

The process involved converting the ones and zeroes of digital information into the four-letter alphabet of DNA code. That code was used to create strands of synthetic DNA. Then machines "read" the DNA molecules and recovered the encoded information.

That reading process took two weeks, but technological advances are driving that time down, said Ewan Birney of the European Bioinformatics Institute in Hinxton, England. He's an author of a report published online by the journal Nature.

DNA could be useful for keeping huge amounts of information that must be kept for a long time but not retrieved very often, the researchers said. Storing the DNA would be relatively simple, they said: Just put it in a cold, dry and dark place and leave it alone.

Ideal for large archives

The technology might work in the near term for large archives that have to be kept safe for centuries, like national historical records or huge library holdings, said study co-author Nick Goldman of the institute. Maybe in a decade it could become feasible for consumers to store information they want to have around in 50 years, like wedding photos or videos for future grandchildren, Goldman said in an email.

The researchers said they have no intention of putting storage DNA into a living thing, and that it couldn't accidentally become part of the genetic machinery of a living thing because of its coding scheme.

Sriram Kosuri, a Harvard researcher who co-authored a similar report last September, said both papers show advantages of DNA for long-term storage. But because of its technical limitations, "it's not going to replace your hard drive," he said.

Kosuri's co-author, Harvard DNA expert George Church, said the technology could let a person store all of Wikipedia on a fingertip, and all the world's information now stored on disk drives could fit in the palm of the hand.

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'Naked' airport scans could undergo revamp

Canadian airports are still using the so-called naked full body scan images being removed from airports in the United States because the three-dimensional images are considered too revealing.

But that could eventually change, said Canadian Air Transport Security Authority (CATSA) spokesman Mathieu Larocque.

CATSA is currently testing automated target recognition software on the scanners, he said.

"It essentially generates just a stick man image … that will highlight an area of the body that could need more inspection, like the ankle, for example, or the elbow," said Larocque, who is based in Ottawa.

"We don't have a specific timeline for potential deployment, but this is something that we're looking at," he said.

There are 51 scanners at 18 airports across Canada, including one at the Greater Moncton International Airport.

Margot Ward, who was travelling between Moncton and Toronto on Monday, described the full body scans as "scary."

"I don't think I'd want it, no," she said.

U.S. dropping 3D scans in June

U.S. officials have installed automated target recognition software on all millimetre wave technology scanners to enhance privacy by eliminating passenger specific images. (Joerg Sarbach/Associated Press)

The U.S. Transportation Security Administration announced last week its X-ray scanners will be removed from airports this summer because the company that makes them can't resolve privacy concerns raised by the 3D images.

U.S. Congress had ordered that the scanners either produce a more generic image or be removed by June. The manufacturer, Rapiscan, acknowledged it wouldn't be able to meet the deadline.

The U.S. will continue to use another type of body scanner, which uses millimetre wave technology instead of X-ray technology.

The scanners being used at airports across Canada also use millimetre wave technology, said Larocque.

But the U.S. has applied the automated target recognition software to the scanners, which produces a generic outline of the passenger instead of the 3D image, he said.

'It is a commitment that we made when we unveiled these machines that we'd continue to look at other ways to ensure that the perception of the privacy of passengers is kept.'—Mathieu Larocque, CATSA

"In Canada, we haven't had these types of [privacy] concerns," said Larocque.

Passengers who are randomly selected for secondary screening are always given the choice between a full body scan or a physical search, he said.

"We've had a satisfaction rate for the full body scanner that is pretty high. A lot of passengers in our customer satisfaction survey have indicated that they're quite comfortable with the technology."

Still, the automatic target recognition software is being looked at, said Larocque.

"It is a commitment that we made when we unveiled these machines that we'd continue to look at other ways to ensure that the perception of the privacy of passengers is kept and just generally look at new technologies that are improving the delivery of service, including at the full body scanner level, and that's what we're doing," he said.

The machines, which can scan through clothing, allow a screening officer to see whether someone is carrying plastic explosives or other dangerous items.

They were installed at Canadian airports about three years ago to comply with new U.S. security protocols, implemented after a man snuck explosives onto a flight originating in Nigeria and bound for Detroit on Christmas day in 2009.

In Canada, the screening officer examines the images from a separate room and does not have a direct view of the traveller before, during or after the screening process.

The officer receives no personal information that could associate the image to the particular traveller, according to the CATSA website.

To further protect traveller privacy, the images are deleted after they are viewed, the website states.

With files from The Associated Press

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