Feb. 28 & Mar. 1, 2026 Show Notes
🎙️ Show airs live
Saturday: 10:05am-Noon PT
🔁 Rebroadcast
Sunday: 1:05pm-3pm on C-FAX
🎧 Podcast
Anytime
Your crew this weekend:
1) If you have a Triangle (Canadian Tire / Mark's / SportChek / Party City) account, change your password
Back in October, hackers got into the customer database of Triangle, the parent company of the Canadian Tire, Mark's, SportChek and Party City chains, downloaded info on all their customers, and demanded a $100,000 USD ransom.
The company refused to pay, and now HaveIBeenPwned.com says the hackers have publicly dumped online the account info — including passwords — of all 38.3 million customers.
If that includes you, we recommend you log into your account and change your password.
Have I Been Pwned
Have I Been Pwned: Canadian Tire Data Breach
In October 2025, retailer Canadian Tire was the victim of a data breach that exposed almost 42M records. The data contained 38M unique email addresses along with names, phone numbers and physical addresses. Passwords were stored as PBKDF2 hashes and for a subset of records, dates of birth and partial credit card data were also included (card type, expiry and masked card number). In its disclosure notice, Canadian Tire advised that the incident did not impact bank account information or loyalty p
2) To find out if any of your account passwords have been dumped publicly online, register for free with HaveIBeenPwned.com
That's not a typo — "pwned" is a tech word that means 'owned as a prank".
When an organization or company is hacked, hackers will sometimes publicly dump online the info they stole, to show how good they are at hacking, and when that happens, they've been "pwned".
HaveIBeenPwned.com is a website that keeps track of all these hack dumps, and can tell you if any of your email-&-password combinations are included. You can then change those passwords ASAP.
The non-profit website was created in 2013 by Troy Hunt, an Australian security researcher and Microsoft Regional Director. His wife, Charlotte, manages it as a free public service.
We recommend you register each of your email addresses (it's free), so they can notify you if your info turns up in a new dump, which is what just happened with the Triangle/Canadian Tire dump…
3) Discord is shelving its planned rollout of facial age verification, and will instead use AI-powered "age inference".
Following a wave of criticism, the online communication platform Discord has decided to delay its global age assurance rollout until the second half of this year. This move comes after many users expressed fear that they'd be forced to hand over government IDs just to keep using the app.
In a recent blog post, Discord co-founder and CTO Stanislav Vishnevskiy admitted the company made mistakes in how it handled the announcement. He noted that the way the news landed made many people believe they were being forced into invasive solutions. “The fact that so many people believe it tells us we failed at our most basic job: clearly explaining what we’re doing and why. That’s on us,” Vishnevskiy wrote.
The original plan, which was set to start in March, would have defaulted many accounts to a restricted “teen” experience unless they used facial age verification software or provided government ID to prove they were adults. For Canadians who value their online anonymity, this felt like a step too far.
Discord now says it will use a more subtle approach called "age inference", and claims that for 90% of users, nothing will change. Most adults will be automatically verified by the system without having to do anything at all. However, if the system cannot tell if you are an adult and you try to enter an age-restricted server, you will be asked to verify your age.
Privacy is a major concern here, especially since a past data breach involving a third-party vendor exposed the IDs of 70,000 users. To prevent this from happening again, Discord is setting a higher bar for the companies it works with. Any partner that provides facial age estimation must now do all the processing on your device. This means your biometric data should never leave your phone or computer.
Tech Deals This Weekend
Malwarebytes Premium: $20 off at London Drugs this weekend
We're big fans of Malwarebytes anti-malware, as it does a great job of blocking bad stuff, automatically updates, and has virtually no impact on performance.
And this weekend, London Drugs has a three-licence Malwarebytes Standard pack (used to be called Malwarebytes Premium) on sale for $35 (save $20). Good for any combination of three devices — Windows, Mac, or Android (not needed for iPhones or iPads). Available in-store and online.
Tech News Of The Week
Items start at #10, so the numbers don't get thrown-off if we add more security items above!
Tip: if an item in these Show Notes has the icon on the right in the upper-right corner, you can click/tap on it to make the additional info open in a new tab.
10) Freedom Mobile is now offering a 100GB Canada/USA/Mexico plan for just $40/month and it includes 120+ country Roam Beyond
Quebec-based Freedom Mobile has updated its plans, and is now offering a $40/month plan which includes 100GB/month of 5G Canada/USA/Mexico data, plus unlimited calling to and in Canada/USA/Mexico, plus unlimited international texting…
Freedom is also offering other plans with even more data, plus a budget $35/month plan, and they now all include "Roam Beyond" calling and data-roaming in 120+ countries…
- $35 month for 10GB/month 5G Canada/US/Mexico + 1GB "Roam Beyond" coverage
- $40 month for 100GB/month 5G Canada/US/Mexico + 10GB "Roam Beyond" coverage
- $50/month for 150GB/month 5G Canada/US/Mexico + 20GB "Roam Beyond" coverage
- $60/month for 200GB/month 5G Canada/US/Mexico + 30GB "Roam Beyond" coverage
- $70/month for 250GB/month 5G Canada/US/Mexico + 50GB "Roam Beyond" coverage
In response, Rogers-owned Fido and Telus-owned Koodo have dropped their rates, and now offer 60GB/month plans for $40/month.
However, both are Canada-only plans, and don't allow you to share your data with other devices (Koodo will let you do that, but for an additional fee).
Public Mobile, which is the self-serve budget carrier owned by Telus, is matching Freedom's 100GB-for-$40 rate if you switch to them before Mar. 2…
The plans are $40/month for 100GB/month of 5G data in Canada/US/Mexico and $50/month for 150GB/month 5G data in Canada/USA/Mexico. Both include unlimited calling and unlimited international texting, plus 500 monthly long-distance minutes to China, Hong Kong, India, Pakistan, Philippines, Taiwan, and the UK on the $40/month plan and 1000 monthly minutes on the $50 plan.
We still recommend Freedom: Public Mobile is self-serve online only so you can't call them, you can only message them, while Freedom has stores across Canada and you can call them 24/7. Also, Freedom customers get to roam seamlessly at no cost onto Rogers, Telus, and Bell towers when they're beyond the range of a Freedom tower, so you get superb coverage.
11) Kini Mobile is offering a 25GB/month plan for $25/month, plus more bonus data, the longer you remain with them
Kini Mobile is a MVNO — Mobile Virtual Network Operator — they pay Telus for their customers to have access to the Telus network. Kini Mobile markets its service to the Canadian Filipino community, offering great budget plans including some that include two phone numbers — one for use here in Canada, and one for use when calling people back home in the Philippines.
Kini's most popular new plan is $25/month, and that gets you 25GB/month of Canada-wide calling and data, plus unlimited international texting…
The new feature is Kini's Data Appreciation Rewards program, which get you an extra 10GB a month if you remain with them for three months, an extra 20GB/month after one year, and an extra 50GB/month after two years. That means you'd be getting 45GB/month for $25/month after one year with Kini, and 75GB/month for $25/month after two years!
Alongside the $25/25GB plan, Kini also has $29/33GB, $40/60GB CAN/US and $60/100GB CAN/US plans, which also qualify for the Data Appreciation Rewards.
12a) Update for dual citizens heading to the UK or Ireland: if no time to get a new UK/Irish passport, there's a possible workaround
On Feb. 1, the UK and Ireland began requiring dual citizens to only use their UK or Irish passport to enter and leave, and no longer allowing them to use their Canadian passport in either direction.
The change is because non-citizens of the UK and Ireland (including Canadian citizens) now have to get a £16 digital ETA (Electronic Travel Authorization) for short visits, and UK and Irish citizens cannot get an ETA.
This change has resulted in a flood of applications from dual citizens needing to get their UK or Irish passports renewed, as they can't travel to the UK or Ireland without one. So many people are applying, that the wait to get one could be up to three months.
To avoid people cancelling their trips because of that, the UK government is now offering a potential workaround: if dual citizens have an expired UK/Irish passport issued in 1989 or later,and a valid passport from a country like Canada that qualifies for admission via ETA, airlines are allowed to let you fly to the UK and Ireland — provided the info on both passports matches.
Note that airlines may choose to not allow a dual citizen to fly with an expired UK/Irish passport and a valid Canadian passport…it's their decision. If you're in this situation, we recommend you check with the airline, and shown them this new info (link below) before booking your flight!
12b) If applying for a UK ETA, only use the official UK ETA app — and not one of the private ones that charge you a lot more
An ETA (Electronic Travel Authorization) is a new digital travel permit that is mandatory for citizens of countries that can visit England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland without a visa for short trips. This includes Canadian citizens.
A UK ETA is valid for multiple visits for either two years, or when your passport expires — whichever comes first.
ETA's cost £16 — that's about $30 CAD.
Applying for a UK ETA is entirely online and paperless. Canadian applicants can complete the application in less than 20 minutes. You do not need to visit consulates or visa offices for an in-person interview or to submit documents. Important note: in order to get a UK ETA, your passport must not expire within six months of your expected departure from the UK.
There are numerous apps and websites where you can apply for a UK ETA, and they charge a variety of rates. Be aware that some try to get you to apply through them by (falsely) claiming that they can get you expedited approval.
We recommend you only use the official UK ETA app.
It usuallly takes three days to process an ETA application. You'll receive a decision, whether approved or rejected, via the email address you provide when applying. Most airlines flying to the UK now require you to provide proof that you have an ETA (unless you have a British or Irish passport), before they'll let you check-in. Check-out the info below, and then you can apply for an ETA online via their app.
For iPhone users: Apps.Apple.com/ca/app/uk-eta/id6444912481
For Android users: Play.Google.com/store/apps/details?id=uk.gov.HomeOffice.ho3&hl=en-ca
13) Samsung's new flagship Galaxy S26 phone models: mostly just a spec bump, except for a new digital privacy screen on the S26 Ultra
Samsung this week unveiled the three phones that make up its Galaxy S26 lineup: the S26, the larger S26+, and the S26 Ultra. At first glance, they're hard to differentiate from the S25 models they replace, and that's because the changes are virtually all internal.
The S26 phones have faster processors, better AI performance, and quicker charging.
The base S26 model starts at $1250 CAD — $50 more expensive than the S25 — but it comes with twice the base storage — 256GB vs. 128GB on the S25.
The S26+ starts at $1530 CAD, which is $90 more than what the S25+ cost when it was released.
The S26 Ultra starts at $1900 — $80 more than the S25 Ultra cost when it was released a year ago.
The feature that's getting the most attention is a digital Privacy Shield which you can activate only on the S26 Ultra. It uses horizontal pixel blanking when activated, to prevent anyone on either side of the user from seeing what's on the screen. It can be set to activate whenever specific apps — like banking or dating apps — are opened, or when notifications pop-up. You can even set it to only make specific parts of the screen — like a password box — be unreadable by anyone off to the side.
The new S26 series phones will be available on March 11, but in the meantime, Samsung is offering double the storage for the same price if you pre-order online from them…
14) Credit card tip: if you misplace your credit card, unstead of calling to have it cancelled, lock it to give you time to try and find it
Three clients of mine just this week contacted me for help in updating the credit card number they have on file with various companies, because they'd misplaced their card and had called their bank in a panic to cancel it and get a new one.
If you think you've just misplaced your credit card, instead of calling to have it cancelled and replaced, check online to see if you can temporarily lock it, so it can't be used by anyone, while you see if you can find it.
Here are screenshots of the Lock option on my RBC VISA card and my CIBC Costco Mastercard…
If you find the card, you can return and unlock it and carry on, and avoid the stress of having to wait for a replacement card and then having to contact all the companies and servies that have your old card on file!
Two of the three clients who called me for help after calling to have their missing card cancelled and replaced, have since found that missing card, and could've avoided the stress by just locking it!
16) Starting in October, you'll have to pay 7% PST on cable TV and home phone services here in BC
The BC goverment's new budget unveiled this week eliminates the 7% sales tax exemption on cable TV and home phone services, effective October 1.
Some professional services that are currently exempt from PST will also lose those exemptions:
- Accounting services, including bookkeeping and assurance services
- Architectural services and engineering and geoscience services
- Security services, including private investigation services
- Non-residential real estate services, including commissions related to buying and selling non-residential real estate, rental property management services and strata management services
With home phone service on the way out, this is a good time to consider cancelling yours before the 7% increase takes effect this fall! If you want to hold onto your home phone number, in most cases, you can port it over to a mobile phone.
17) Apple expected to unveil five new products this coming week
A more-powerful new base-model iPad, a new entry-level iPhone 17e, a new budget MacBook, and an M5-powered MacBook Pro are among the new products which Apple is expected to announce early next week.
They'll then all be showcased on Wednesday at invitation-only media events in New York, London, and Shanghai. Although nothing is official, here's a quick run-down of what's expected…
- The new 12th-gen base-model iPad is expected to get MagSafe charging and a more-powerful chip so it can run Apple Intelligence; the big question is whether the soaring demand for chips and drives will push up the current $499 CAD price. Possibly also a new mid-price iPad Air model.
- The iPhone 17e, which will succeed the entry-level 16e, is expected to run on the A19 processor that powers iPhone 17 models. A better camera is also expected, and again, the question is whether it'll come with a price higher than the current $899 price.
- A new entry-level MacBook is expected; to get the price down to an expected $949, Apple is believed to be planning to power it with an A-series iPhone chip instead of a M-series Mac chip. It'll likely have a slower (more affordable) SSD, and slower Wi-Fi and Bluetooth and a cheaper camera.
- A new cutting-edge M5-powered MacBook Pro is also expected.
18) Apple has reportedly agreed to pay Samsung double the current price to secure an ongoing supply of iPhone 17 memory chips
Here's another sign of the impact that the huge increase in the number of massive AI datacentres being built is having on consumer electronics: Apple has reportedly agreed to pay Samsung twice as much for the LPDDR5X memory chips that it needs for ongoing iPhone 17 production.
A report from Korean outlet Dealsite says Apple recently held emergency meetings with Samsung's semiconductor division to negotiate delivery volumes of RAM for the first half of this year.
The 12GB LPDDR5X modules used in the iPhone Air and iPhone 17 Pro have already roughly doubled in price since early 2025, rising from around $30 USD to approximately $70 USD. If that price is being doubled, Apple will be paying $110 USD more per iPhone 17 than what it was paying a year ago.
Samsung is said to have originally planned to push for a 60% price increase on LPDDR5X modules supplied to Apple. Instead, however, Samsung opened with a 100% markup as a negotiating tactic – and Apple apparently accepted it on the spot.
If the publication's industry sources are accurate, Apple's immediate acceptance just goes to show how desperate smartphone makers have become to lock down memory supply. Chipmakers like SK Hynix and Micron have been redirecting production capacity toward high-bandwidth memory (HBM) for AI servers, and that has left mobile DRAM in extremely short supply.
MacRumors
Apple Reportedly Agrees to 100% Price Hike on Samsung Memory Chips
Apple has agreed to pay Samsung twice as much for the LPDDR5X memory chips that it needs for ongoing iPhone 17 production, claims a report from Korean outlet Dealsite. According to the report's sources, Apple recently held emergency meetings with Samsung's semiconductor division to negotiate delivery volumes of RAM for the first half of this year.
19) Panasonic, like Sony, will no longer make its own TVs
Panasonic, the Japanese tech giant once highly-regarded for its plasma TVs (remember those?), is now giving up on making its own TVs.
Instead, Panasonic has entered into a partnership with China-based Shenzhen Skyworth Display Technology Co., Ltd., which will take over the manufacturing, marketing, and sales of Panasonic TVs.
Skyworth is currently the world's third-largest producer of OLED panels.
This may set off alarm bells for people who are fans of Panasonic’s reputation for premium picture and sound quality, but both Panasonic and Skyworth have stressed that the company will “provide expertise and quality assurance to uphold its renowned audiovisual standards with full joint development on top-end OLED models.”
Last month, Sony announced that it had struck a deal with China-based TCL, the world's second-largest TV maker, to have TCL takeover manufacturing, marketing and sales of Sony and Bravia TV's.
21) If you want to know precisely what time it is, install the free Atomic Clock app
The app, which was created by Timo Partl, synchronizes with atomic time servers, such as the NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology) server in Boulder, Colorado.
If you want, you can turn-on a top-of-the-minute or top-of-the-hour countdown.
It's available for free for iPhones/iPads and Android devices, but has ads. You can upgrade to an ad-free version which also unlocks a myriad of additional clock-faces for a one-time fee of $10.
It's also available as a free app for Windows 11 computers…
Microsoft Store - Download apps, games & more for your Windows PC
AtomicClock • Clock with NTP Time - Free download and install on Windows | Microsoft Store
Ever wanted to know exact current time to celebrate someone's birthday or New Year's Eve? Or simply to synchronize clocks? AtomicClock provides exact times based on NTP servers which are getting their time directly from atomic clocks! • Current time in correct time format • Analog & digital clock • Choose from different time servers • Acoustic ticking & Greenwich Time Signal (GTS) • Choose between different clock faces • Select any timezone or UTC • Picture-in-picture overlay window • Windows 1
23) Man (accidentally) gains control of 7,200 robot vacuums
A software engineer’s earnest effort to steer his new DJI robot vacuum with a video game controller inadvertently granted him a sneak peak into thousands of people’s homes.
While building his own remote-control app, Sammy Azdoufal used an AI coding assistant to help reverse-engineer how the robot communicated with DJI’s remote cloud servers.
But he soon discovered that the same credentials that allowed him to see and control his own robot vacuum, also provided access to live camera feeds, microphone audio, maps, and status data from some 7,200 other robot vacuums across 24 countries.
The backend security bug effectively exposed an army of internet-connected robots that, in the wrong hands, could have turned into surveillance tools, all without their owners ever knowing.
26) We've also started compiling a list of our favourite phone apps
The "Our Favourite Apps" list — which will have a lot more added in the coming weeks — is on our home page, and you can also get to it by going to Tech-Talk.ca/apps.
27) Kathryn's Paleontology News Item of the Week: the new AI-powered DinoTracker app can tell which dinosaur made a footprint
A newly-developed app powered by artificial intelligence (AI) is giving scientists and the public a new way to identify dinosaur footprints left behind millions of years ago
With the new DinoTracker app, researchers and dinosaur fans can upload a photo or drawing of a footprint using a mobile phone and receive an immediate analysis. The app evaluates the shape and structure of the track to estimate which type of dinosaur likely made it.
The AI system was trained on nearly 2,000 real fossil footprints, along with millions of additional simulated examples. These extra variations were designed to reflect realistic changes, such as compression and edge displacement, that occur as footprints are preserved over time.
The model learned to recognize eight key features that distinguish one footprint from another. These included how far the toes spread, where the heel was positioned, how much surface area contacted the ground, and how weight was distributed across different parts of the foot. After identifying these variations, the system compared new footprints with known fossil examples to predict which dinosaur most likely made the tracks.
When evaluated, the algorithm matched the classifications made by human experts about 90% of the time, even for species that are considered controversial or difficult to identify.
ScienceDaily
This AI app can tell which dinosaur made a footprint
Dinosaur footprints have always been mysterious, but a new AI app is cracking their secrets. DinoTracker analyzes photos of fossil tracks and predicts which dinosaur made them, with accuracy rivaling human experts. Along the way, it uncovered footprints that look strikingly bird-like—dating back more than 200 million years. That discovery could push the origin of birds much deeper into prehistory.
Sofía, our Grade 10 homestay student from Madrid in Spain, just got back from a three-day school field trip to Carcross,Yukon, where she got to experience an Arctic winter, going dog-sledding in -20° weather, and seeing the Aurora Borealis!
…and finally, our "Sign Of The Week"…
And so it goes…