canada

Square, a red-hot mobile payments service that allows nearly anyone to accept credit cards, is now available in Canada.

The service works on iPhone or iPad and Android devices, and aims to upend the traditional credit card system -- which has usually required a merchant account -- by charging a flat 2.75 percent fee and letting users take Visa or MasterCard with a dongle that attaches to their mobile devices.

The San Francisco company is building a roster of merchants that accept its service, with Starbucks joining forces next month. That should get Square in front of a very … Read more

Not content with a robot arm and a handyman on the International Space Station, ever-aggressive Canada is aiming for a bigger slice of the space pie with some new rover prototypes.

The Canadian Space Agency recently showed off the fleet of vehicles designed to inspire machines that will explore the moon and Mars.

They include mini-rovers that can act as scouts, as well as larger vehicles that could do double-duty as astronaut transporters. NASA is hoping to work with some of the vehicles, but the earliest that they would be aboard a mission to Mars or the moon would be 2020. … Read more

Popular music-streaming service Spotify is expanding to Canada, a new report claims.

The Wall Street Journal is reporting today that it has obtained a filing made by Spotify Technologies, the music service's holding company, claiming that it will launch its service to Canada. In addition, the company says that it will expand into "countries in Asia and South America."

According to the Journal, Spotify filed its plans in a management note in April. That note became public this month.

Spotify made its name in Europe, offering a streaming-music service that customers in the U.S. were dying … Read more

Starbucks is expanding its Android mobile app access to the United Kingdom and Canada, the company announced today.

The app allows customers to pay with their phones, locate stores and check their reward points, just like the original app. Additionally, it has some new features, including a widget, the ability to use PayPal (in addition to any major credit card) to reload your card, pin code protection and a rewards history dashboard to see how many points you've earned. U.S customers can also access the features with an app upgrade.

"The expansion of our mobile payment footprint … Read more

There's about to be a whole lot more Angry Birds played at the Opus hotel in Vancouver.

The hotel is in the process of swapping out its hotel room phones for iPhones, USA Today reported today.

The hotel hopes that its guests, particularly the ones from the U.S., will know how to use them and enjoy using a Canadian phone that won't stick them with international roaming fees. This means guests will be able to take the iPhone from their rooms and use it as they would their own while they're guests of the hotel.

It … Read more

On today's 404 episode, we'll solve the mystery of phantom cell phone vibrations and why we're so often tricked into thinking our phones have a mind of their own. One psychologist from the University of Sydney thinks that it has to do with electrical currents running through parts of the body surrounding the phone, while another professor of psychology believes it's in ours heads, that our addiction to technology has made us paranoid about e-notifications.

Walking around New York in this heatwave is enough of a workout for anyone these days, but some gym-goers in Canada are so sick of skinny people making them look bad that they've issued a ban on anyone that can't be described as "plus size."

According to the NY Daily News, Body Exchange gym in Vancouver claims to be a "safe haven" for overweight people that feel scrutinized when they work out next to those without an addiction to food. Unfortunately, we'll have to defer to Richard to comment on this story, as neither Jeff nor I have ever been inside a gym.… Read more

Some friends of mine recently bumped into a member of the Canadian Secret Service. He said he spent most of his time gardening because Canada doesn't really have enemies.

Perhaps the northern sister of the U.S. has decided to give its security forces a little more to do, as Ottawa airport will now be graced with bugging microphones.

No, these aren't necessarily being strategically placed where suspicious people might gather -- wherever that might be. And yes, they will be capable of recording conversations between any travelers (or airport employees) who happen to fall within their range.… Read more

I bet New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg would like to teach sugary drinks a thing or two with this power glove.

Actually, Canadian designer J.P. Rishea's device is a gauntlet -- the Exo Gauntlet 2.0 to be precise -- which makes it all the more badass. It's billed as having a grip strength "strong enough to break hard plastic cups and crush empty cans."

Rishea's Bionic Concepts Web site is offering this exoskeleton accessory to would-be cyborgs for roughly $3,200. … Read more

According to the Montreal Gazette, a local lawyer has seized an opportunity to sue Apple on behalf of any Canadian citizen who has purchased an e-book over the last two years, piggybacking on the U.S. Department of Justice's recent lawsuit (video), claiming Apple and its publishing partners colluded to fix the prices of e-books and drive down competition.

The Canadian class action suit was filed in February in Quebec Superior Court by Montreal lawyer Norman Painchaud, asserting that Apple (in tandem with its publishing partners) had conspired to raise prices of e-books from the $9.99 previously commonly … Read more