canada

NIAGARA FALLS, Canada--At one time, it was the largest producer of hydroelectric power on the planet. That was in 1961. Today, it is still New York State's preeminent hydropower facility, and it shares some of the glory of one of the most awesome spectacles in the world.

This is, of course, the Niagara Power Project, a hydropower producer capable of lighting 24 million 100-watt bulbs at once--2.4 million kilowatts. A ways downriver from the world famous Niagara Falls--Horseshoe Falls and American Falls--this giant project is still worth celebrating today, especially in light of the fact that people are … Read more

It's another Monday on BOL, which means breaking news interjections, stumbling analysis, and hilarious Brian Tong jokes that go RIGHT over Molly's head. Turns out you can not actually search for girlfriends on Facebook using the search term, "hot girls." Unless, of course, they self-identify. Plus, a pain ray update!

A Toronto-based law firm with a history of targeting litigation at corporations as varied as chocolate companies and silicone breast implant manufacturers has a new company in the crosshairs: Facebook.

Merchant Law Group, which has offices in 10 Canadian cities, last week launched litigation seeking class action status against the massive social-networking site, alleging the mishandling of sensitive user data--the latest development in a resurgence of action against the social network's privacy policies, after it looked for a while as if all the fuss had calmed down.

The suit alleges that Facebook changed user privacy settings and its terms … Read more

After the shortest time on market ever, the Microsoft Kin has been unceremoniously yanked from market. Which, I guess, you could see as swift and decisive action on Microsoft's part, rather than a total failure of the company's mixed-up mobile strategy. Or both. Also, Apple lawsuits, Google's uncertain future in China, and the Woot monkey finds a new home at Amazon.

Canada will phase out older coal-fired power plants to cut the country's greenhouse gas emissions, Environment Minister Jim Prentice said on Wednesday, as it moves to make natural-gas-fired plants the new clean-power standard.

The new standards, expected to be firmed up by early 2011, will force electricity producers to phase out older, high-emitting coal-fired plants and require newer facilities to match the lower greenhouse-gas emissions of more efficient natural-gas fired plants.

Canada has 51 coal-fired units producing 19 percent of the country's electricity and 13 percent of its greenhouse gas emissions. However, 33 of those plants will reach … Read more

Got tweeted milk? Cows at a farm in Ontario, Canada, are sending out Twitter messages about the milk they produce. And that ain't no bull.

"Unloaded 12.7 kgs frothy milk from my udders," says a heifer who goes by the user name Freeride Speedy. She and 11 other cows at Buttermine Farms in Brant, southwest of Toronto, are part of the Teat Tweet project coordinated by Marcel O'Gorman from the University of Waterloo's Critical Media Lab.

The tweeting herd was outfitted with RFID tags. When a heifer approaches a milking pen with a laser-guided … Read more

Canadian wireless provider Rogers is prepping for the release of Samsung's latest Google Android handset, the Galaxy Spica. While the carrier hasn't made an official announcement, rumor has it that dummy units are arriving in retail stores across the country. It should be only a few weeks before the carrier unveils the price and available rate plans.

The Galaxy Spica features a 3.2-inch AMOLED touch screen, a 3.2-megapixel camera, 200MB of internal memory, Wi-Fi, GPS, and more. Similar to other recent Samsung handsets, the Spica is powered by an 800MHz processor. The exact version of Android … Read more

VANCOUVER, British Columbia--It's a little more than an hour before the U.S. is set to take on Canada in men's hockey and the atmosphere is already beyond electric.

Although just a preliminary match, this game has taken on all the importance of a medal game. Some three hours before game time sporadic chants of "Go, Canada, Go" could be heard downtown. It's barely an exaggeration to say all of Canada will be watching.

I'm live from the Molson Canadian Hockey House, a hockey-themed pavilion adjacent to where the game is being played. Molson … Read more

Organizers of the Vancouver Olympics had a pretty simple message to the technology providers creating the massive network to power this month's Winter Games.

"We demand that this is flawless," Chief Information Office Ward Chapin said in a briefing with reporters this week. To meet that goal, Chapin said, there has been a tremendous amount of redundancy built into the network as well as thousands upon thousands of hours of testing.

"I would not want to be the individual that had to go up to Hans the ski jumper after his world record jump and say '… Read more