Description: Friday was a tough day for McDonald’s restaurants in several countries as system issues brought business to a standstill. Very early Friday morning Brian Rice, McDonald’s Chief Information Officer, reported the chain “experienced a global technology system outage, which was quickly identified and corrected.” Temporary shutdowns appeared to be required in countries such as… Read more »
Posts By: Brent White
Saltwire Sadness
Description: The Halifax Chronicle Herald is one of Canada’s oldest continuously publishing newspapers, but its future may be in jeopardy following news that its parent company, the Saltwire Network, is seeking creditor protection. Saltwire owes about $94 million, with about one third of that on the books of its largest creditor, Fiera Private Debt. Stephen… Read more »
Wordle Imitators Beware!
Description: Lots of people love to play Wordle – the daily game featured by the New York Times. And because of the game’s popularity, as might be expected imitators have flocked in on the action. But now the Times is fighting back with take-down notices to the duplicators. The Times is seeing the imitators as… Read more »
Does Apple Owe You?
Description: Last week a judge at the British Columbia Supreme Court approved Apple’s offer to pay up to $14.4 million to settle a class-action suit regarding its iPhone 6 and 7. At the heart of the case was a contention that Apple used software updates that deliberately slowed down the old phones once the iPhone… Read more »
January Tough Month for Insolvencies
Description: Business insolvencies in January were about double of what they were in January 2023. One factor cited for the problem was the requirement to pay back loans of up to $60,000 under the Canada Emergency Business Account program by January 18. Simon Gaudreault of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business says that “Insolvencies are… Read more »
Big $ for Travelling Nurses
Description: The Auditor General of New Brunswick, Paul Martin, has decided that his Office will examine contracts for travel nurses paid for by the taxpayer. The contracts came under scrutiny after a national newspaper, The Globe and Mail, published an article on the use of high-cost travelling nurses in a number of provinces during the… Read more »
Are Campus Vending Machines Watching You?
Description: The University of Waterloo has asked for all 29 vending machines from Swiss company Invenda be removed from campus following word that the machines have a type of facial analysis capability. The matter came to light when one of the vending machines displayed an error message relating to “facial recognition,” prompting student responses on… Read more »
“Junk Fees” from Cineplex
Description: This past week saw Canada’s Competition Tribunal holding hearings on Cineplex’s so-called “junk fees.” The Tribunal is looking at whether or not Cineplex can continue to charge movie-goers a $1.50 fee for purchasing a ticket online; or, will it declare that the fee meets the definition of a harmful business practice under the Competition… Read more »
Working for Free February 29?
Description: Salaried workers may be wondering if they worked for free on February 29, the leap day. Since those on an annual salary receive the same pay whether the year has 365 days or 366, workers like Rohith Krishnan feel they are missing out for showing up for the extra day. Others, like Annie Boilard,… Read more »
20 Years and Zero Profits = IPO
Description: Online message board site Reddit, with its 70 million users, is planning to “go public” in an initial public offering (IPO). This is despite the fact that Reddit has been a consistent money loser since its launch in 2005, counting up losses of US $90.8 million in 2023 and US $158.6 the year before…. Read more »