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PAINFUL TRUTH: Is the internet boring now?

It’s been around for 30 years, has the online world lost all its cool?

 

File - People stand outside of the Steve Jobs Theater before an event on Wednesday, Sept. 12, 2018, in Cupertino, Calif. If Apple unveils a widely anticipated headset equipped with mixed reality technology at the theater on Monday, it will be the company's biggest new product since the introduction of the Apple Watch nearly a decade ago.(AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez, File)

Apple is expected to unveil a sleek, pricey headset. Is it the device VR has been looking for?

Apple appears poised to unveil a long-rumored headset that will place its…

 

FILE - Attendees visit the Meta booth at the Game Developers Conference 2023 in San Francisco, Wednesday, March 22, 2023. European Union hits Facebook parent Meta with record $1.3 billion fine over transfers of user data to US. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File)

Meta fined record $1.3 billion and ordered to stop sending European user data to US

The European Union slapped Meta with a record $1.3 billion privacy fine…

 

This photo, in New York, Thursday, May 18, 2023, shows the ChatGPT app on an iPhone. The free app started to become available on iPhones in the U.S. on Thursday and will later be coming to Android phones. Unlike the web version, you can also ask it questions using your voice. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

ChatGPT makes its debut as a smartphone app on iPhones

ChatGPT is now a smartphone app, which could be good news for…

This photo, in New York, Thursday, May 18, 2023, shows the ChatGPT app on an iPhone. The free app started to become available on iPhones in the U.S. on Thursday and will later be coming to Android phones. Unlike the web version, you can also ask it questions using your voice. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
Canada’s electronic waste has more than tripled in the last two decades and is expected to continue rising, researchers have found, prompting calls for better e-waste management to reap its economic benefits and reduce environmental harm. Wires and electronic e-waste is pictured at the North Vancouver, recycle depot, Thursday, Oct. 4, 2018. THE CANADIAN PRESS Jonathan Hayward

Canada’s electronic waste more than tripled in 20 years, study indicates

University researchers find e-waste per person up from 8.3 kg in 2000 to 25.3 kg in 2020

Canada’s electronic waste has more than tripled in the last two decades and is expected to continue rising, researchers have found, prompting calls for better e-waste management to reap its economic benefits and reduce environmental harm. Wires and electronic e-waste is pictured at the North Vancouver, recycle depot, Thursday, Oct. 4, 2018. THE CANADIAN PRESS Jonathan Hayward
British Columbia’s attorney general Niki Sharma has sent a letter to major technology companies warning they could soon face orders to stop the distribution of intimate images of B.C. residents shared without their consent. Sharma speaks during a ministers meeting in Ottawa, on Friday, March 10, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Spencer Colby

Attorney general alerts online companies to B.C.’s new image-sharing law

Intimate Images Protection Act will create new mechanisms to limit online distribution of images

British Columbia’s attorney general Niki Sharma has sent a letter to major technology companies warning they could soon face orders to stop the distribution of intimate images of B.C. residents shared without their consent. Sharma speaks during a ministers meeting in Ottawa, on Friday, March 10, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Spencer Colby
The PRIMED facility at Blind Channel will be a testing ground for clean energy projects. Photo courtesy PRIMED

B.C. research lab working to harness the power of the tides in the Discovery Islands

Clean energy project to be showcase for coastal communities looking to get off diesel

The PRIMED facility at Blind Channel will be a testing ground for clean energy projects. Photo courtesy PRIMED
A Quebec Superior Court justice has ordered Google to pay $500,000 to a Montreal man after the company restored a link to a post falsely accusing him of being a pedophile. The Google app on an iPad in Baltimore is seen on March 19, 2018. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP, Patrick Semansky

Google ordered to pay $500,000 to Montrealer over links to post calling him pedophile

Man first discovered the link in 2006, had it removed, but then it was restored

A Quebec Superior Court justice has ordered Google to pay $500,000 to a Montreal man after the company restored a link to a post falsely accusing him of being a pedophile. The Google app on an iPad in Baltimore is seen on March 19, 2018. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP, Patrick Semansky
A BellaBot robot at the Noodle Topia restaurant heads back to the kitchen after a table is cleared on Monday, March 20, 2023, in Madison Heights, Mich. Sales of robot servers have been growing rapidly in recent years, and tens of thousands of robots are now gliding through dining rooms worldwide. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

Are robot waiters the future? Some restaurants think so

Gimmick or the future of addressing the industry’s labour shortage?

A BellaBot robot at the Noodle Topia restaurant heads back to the kitchen after a table is cleared on Monday, March 20, 2023, in Madison Heights, Mich. Sales of robot servers have been growing rapidly in recent years, and tens of thousands of robots are now gliding through dining rooms worldwide. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)
(Photo source: Twitter)

Bob Lee, Cash App founder and MobileCoin exec, slain at 43

Bob Lee, a technology executive who created Cash App and was currently…

(Photo source: Twitter)
A Waymo driverless taxi stops on a street in San Francisco for several minutes because the back door was not completely shut, while traffic backs up behind it, on Feb. 15, 2023. Cruise, a subsidiary of General Motors, and Waymo, a spinoff from Google, both are on the verge of operating 24-hour services that would transport passengers throughout one of the most densely populated U.S. cities in vehicles that will have no one sitting in the driver’s seat.(AP Photo/Terry Chea)

Robotaxis aim to take San Francisco on ride into the future

San Francisco could become the first U.S. city with two totally driverless services

A Waymo driverless taxi stops on a street in San Francisco for several minutes because the back door was not completely shut, while traffic backs up behind it, on Feb. 15, 2023. Cruise, a subsidiary of General Motors, and Waymo, a spinoff from Google, both are on the verge of operating 24-hour services that would transport passengers throughout one of the most densely populated U.S. cities in vehicles that will have no one sitting in the driver’s seat.(AP Photo/Terry Chea)
(Black Press Media Creative)

TikTok fined $15.9M by UK watchdog over misuse of kids’ data

Britain’s privacy watchdog hit TikTok with a multimillion-dollar penalty Tuesday for misusing…

(Black Press Media Creative)
This combination of images show gardening apps, from left, the Seed to Spoon mobile gardening app by Park Seed, from left, the Google Lens app that has image-recognition technology to identify plants, and Apple's AI-powered Visual Look Up feature to identify flowers. (Park Seed’s From Seed to Spoon/Google/Apple via AP)

Gardening help in the palm of your hand: 5 apps, phone tips

You’re in your garden and notice a beautiful, new-to-you flower that has…

This combination of images show gardening apps, from left, the Seed to Spoon mobile gardening app by Park Seed, from left, the Google Lens app that has image-recognition technology to identify plants, and Apple's AI-powered Visual Look Up feature to identify flowers. (Park Seed’s From Seed to Spoon/Google/Apple via AP)
Minister of Canadian Heritage Pablo Rodriguez prepares to appear before the Senate Committee on Transport and Communications on Bill C-11 in the Senate of Canada Building in Ottawa on Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2022. The bill, also known as the Online Streaming Act, is one of several problematic Canadian initiatives tech leaders in the U.S. want President Joe Biden to raise with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau this week. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang

Take hard line on Canada’s digital tax, online laws, tech associations urge Biden

Online Streaming Act, Online News Act troubling for American industry coalition

Minister of Canadian Heritage Pablo Rodriguez prepares to appear before the Senate Committee on Transport and Communications on Bill C-11 in the Senate of Canada Building in Ottawa on Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2022. The bill, also known as the Online Streaming Act, is one of several problematic Canadian initiatives tech leaders in the U.S. want President Joe Biden to raise with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau this week. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang
Harjit Sajjan speaks with a reporter during an interview in Ottawa on Wednesday, November 18, 2015. THE CANADIAN PRESS/ Patrick Doyle

Feds spend $26M on growth and innovation of Vancouver-based companies

Funds to assist development of power drills and virtual reality, among other advancements

Harjit Sajjan speaks with a reporter during an interview in Ottawa on Wednesday, November 18, 2015. THE CANADIAN PRESS/ Patrick Doyle
Ryker Ulansky (left) and Jake Ulansky (right) make up half of the U-BOTS team that built a water-powered vehicle and won the Core Values Award First Place at the FIRST LEGO League Challenge BC/Yukon Championship on March 11. (Brandon Tucker/The News)

PHOTOS: Winners of 2023 FIRST LEGO League BC/Yukon Championship heading to USA

A Nanaimo team was the top-ranked group at this year’s competition

Ryker Ulansky (left) and Jake Ulansky (right) make up half of the U-BOTS team that built a water-powered vehicle and won the Core Values Award First Place at the FIRST LEGO League Challenge BC/Yukon Championship on March 11. (Brandon Tucker/The News)
Apps like Checkout51, Caddle, Drop, Eclipsa offer gift cards, points and cash back in exchange for uploading receipts, tracking purchases or completing surveys. Fresh produce and groceries are shown at Summerhill Market in Toronto on Wednesday February 2, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Frank Gunn

Cashback, reward apps helping Canadians save, but where is the data going?

Customers submit receipts, track purchases and complete surveys in exchange for deals

Apps like Checkout51, Caddle, Drop, Eclipsa offer gift cards, points and cash back in exchange for uploading receipts, tracking purchases or completing surveys. Fresh produce and groceries are shown at Summerhill Market in Toronto on Wednesday February 2, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Frank Gunn
People carry umbrellas while crossing Robson Street as rain falls in Vancouver, on Thursday, January 6, 2022. Canada’s intelligence service warns that technological innovations adopted by municipalities could be exploited by adversaries such as the Chinese government to harvest sensitive data, target diaspora communities and interfere in elections. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

CSIS warns ‘smart city’ technology can open door to attacks, foreign interference

AI platforms for things like traffic lights, energy use, transportation create security risk

People carry umbrellas while crossing Robson Street as rain falls in Vancouver, on Thursday, January 6, 2022. Canada’s intelligence service warns that technological innovations adopted by municipalities could be exploited by adversaries such as the Chinese government to harvest sensitive data, target diaspora communities and interfere in elections. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
FILE - Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk speaks at the SATELLITE Conference and Exhibition, March 9, 2020, in Washington. After nine days of being locked out of his Twitter work computer, Haraldur Thorleifsson tweeted at owner Elon Musk, Monday, March 6, 2023, to find out whether or not he’d been fired. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)

Elon Musk apologizes after mocking laid-off Twitter employee

If you’re not told you are fired, are you really fired? At…

FILE - Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk speaks at the SATELLITE Conference and Exhibition, March 9, 2020, in Washington. After nine days of being locked out of his Twitter work computer, Haraldur Thorleifsson tweeted at owner Elon Musk, Monday, March 6, 2023, to find out whether or not he’d been fired. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)
A visitor speaks with a PAL Robotic robot during the Mobile World Congress 2023 in Barcelona, Spain, on Wednesday, March 1, 2023. After three years of pandemic disruption, MWC, also known as Mobile World Congress, kicked off Monday in Barcelona, Spain, with mobile phone makers showing off new devices and telecom industry executives perusing the latest networking gear and software. (AP Photo/Joan Mateu Parra)

Best of MWC: Screens that roll, ChatGPT interactive glasses

The father of the cellphone was there. So was Huawei and a…

A visitor speaks with a PAL Robotic robot during the Mobile World Congress 2023 in Barcelona, Spain, on Wednesday, March 1, 2023. After three years of pandemic disruption, MWC, also known as Mobile World Congress, kicked off Monday in Barcelona, Spain, with mobile phone makers showing off new devices and telecom industry executives perusing the latest networking gear and software. (AP Photo/Joan Mateu Parra)