The Peak Daily

Blackberry is selling tens of thousands of patents for US$600M to a single company to turn its focus towards its core business: cybersecurity and software used by automakers—yeah, it’s been a while since they’ve made money from smartphones. A new Canadian Airline called Lynx Air has emerged, as new competition between low-cost airlines and its larger counterparts—Air Canada and WestJet—heats up. Consumer brands like Walmart and Procter & Gamble (P&G) are jumping on the metaverse bandwagon, even though the concept is still fuzzy for many people. Celebrating something? Let us know for a shoutout here: https://thepeak.typeform.com/to/GuHjLDoa The Peak Daily is produced by 306 Media Productions. Hosted by Brett Chang and Jay Rosenthal.

Wireless plans in Canada are (finally) getting cheaper—or are they? A new federal government report shows progress on price cuts but the full picture is a bit more complicated. Apple reported its best quarter ever—partly because they have a supply chain advantage. Facebook has found a new way to make money from your face according to new patents filed by the company. Celebrating something? Let us know for a shoutout here: https://thepeak.typeform.com/to/GuHjLDoa The Peak Daily is produced by 306 Media Productions. Hosted by Brett Chang and Jay Rosenthal.

Uber has struck a deal with Canada’s largest services sector union to represent the ride-hailing company’s Canadian 100,000 drivers and delivery workers. Canadian high-end car, plane and boat makers are bracing for cancelled orders under the Liberal government’s luxury tax, per The Globe and Mail. Apple will soon roll out a feature that turns iPhones into payment terminals, eliminating the need for extra hardware, per Bloomberg. Celebrating something? Let us know for a shoutout here: https://thepeak.typeform.com/to/GuHjLDoa The Peak Daily is produced by 306 Media Productions. Hosted by Brett Chang and Jay Rosenthal.

Canadian National (CN) Railway named a new CEO after an activist investor waged a months-long campaign for the railroad to juice up its financial and stock performance. The latest company to enter the war between fintechs, startups, and tech giants for talent? Big banks. You know you're doing something right (or horribly wrong) when the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) starts paying attention as the FTC fines fast Fashion behemoth Fashion Nova for suppressing specific reviews. Celebrating something? Let us know for a shoutout here: https://thepeak.typeform.com/to/GuHjLDoa The Peak Daily is produced by 306 Media Productions. Hosted by Brett Chang and Jay Rosenthal.

A new non-profit group wants to help 129 Indigenous groups pursue ownership of the Trans Mountain Pipeline (TMX), making it 100% Indigenous owned. Companies have had to increase their budgets on Super Bowl LVI ads, the biggest advertising event of the year, as Omicron disrupted commercial shoots and drove up production costs. Google scrapped their controversial plans to replace traditional tracking cookies with Federated Learning of Cohorts (FLoC), and instead announced a new proposal called Topics.

Canadian lawmakers prepare to pursue internet-related legislation next week, a Canadian Google executive has cautioned that such proposals could dramatically worsen people’s online experiences, per The Globe and Mail. Toronto-based startup BenchSci raised US$50 million to expand its AI-enabled platform that makes drug research less of a hassle. activist investors that have built stakes in consumer goods giant Unilever, Kohls and Peloton are now pushing for corporate changes to improve performance. Celebrating something? Let us know for a shoutout here: https://thepeak.typeform.com/to/GuHjLDoa The Peak Daily is produced by 306 Media Productions. Hosted by Brett Chang and Jay Rosenthal.

Desperate for cattle feed, Canadian farmers are importing record amounts of corn from the US. Prices of bitcoin and ethereum, the two largest cryptocurrencies by market cap, have dropped by 23% and around 35% since the start of the year. Intel announced it would spend US$20 billion to build a new semiconductor manufacturing plant in Columbus, Ohio as part of a broader industry-wide effort to alleviate a chip shortage that has disrupted swathes of the economy (and made it such a pain to get a new car) Celebrating something? Let us know for a shoutout here: https://thepeak.typeform.com/to/GuHjLDoa The Peak Daily is produced by 306 Media Productions. Hosted by Brett Chang and Jay Rosenthal.

Canadian and US trucking industries are grappling with driver shortages, straining already-fragile supply chains. Facebook’s parent company Meta could be making its first foray into the non-fungible token (NFT) market. Amazon will open its first physical clothing store in Los Angeles later this year. Celebrating something? Let us know for a shoutout here: https://thepeak.typeform.com/to/GuHjLDoa The Peak Daily is produced by 306 Media Productions. Hosted by Brett Chang and Jay Rosenthal.

Show Notes: Toronto-based password manager 1Password raised US$620 million round, marking the largest round raised by a Canadian company. In another effort to rein in the US’ biggest tech companies, the White House is weighing support for the bipartisan American Innovation and Choice Online Act, a bill designed to stop big tech companies from stifling competition. Energy consumption around bitcoin mining is gaining more attention, with a top EU financial regulator calling for an outright ban on the main form of bitcoin mining. Celebrating something? Let us know for a shoutout here: https://thepeak.typeform.com/to/GuHjLDoa The Peak Daily is produced by 306 Media Productions. Hosted by Brett Chang and Jay Rosenthal.

Pen maker Bic has announced a deal to buy Toronto-based temporary tattoo startup Inkbox for US$65 million. Microsoft has agreed to acquire game publisher Activision Blizzard, bringing together the two video game forces to create the world’s third-biggest gaming company by revenue, behind Tencent and PlayStation maker Sony. Canadians’ confidence in their personal finances has dropped to a record-low, per the latest MNP Consumer Price Index. Celebrating something? Let us know for a shoutout here: https://thepeak.typeform.com/to/GuHjLDoa The Peak Daily is produced by 306 Media Productions. Hosted by Brett Chang and Jay Rosenthal.