Tag: companies

News Technology

Microsoft Launches New Tablet To Compete With iPad

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When Apple introduced the iPad tablet, it was unique.

It had a large flat glass viewing screen which you touched to move and open files, it was extremely light and thin, and it had a magnetic cover that not only protected it but it shut it down as well.

When new technology comes along–and proves to be popular and successful–it’s not long before other companies try to duplicate it. They try to improve on the other company’s product if they can.

That’s the case with Microsoft’s new tablet called Surface.

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Lighter News Technology

UK Insurance Company Has An Email Accident

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Lots of companies use email to communicate with their employees.

Most companies create email “distribution lists.” A distribution list is a group email, that lets a company send a message to many employees at once, with just one email.

Aviva is an insurance company in the United Kingdom.

Recently, someone in the company sent an email to one of Aviva’s employees who was being let go, or fired. The email gave instructions to the employee about what they needed to do, now that he’d been fired.

However, the email was accidentally sent to everyone in the company.

Aviva has 1,300 employees around the world.

That means that 1,300 people who work at Aviva were all sent an email that implied they had been fired.

Everyone.

But it wasn’t true.

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Breaking News News Technology

Do You Want to Buy A Piece Of Facebook?

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Facebook is the most popular “social networking” website in the world and it may be for sale soon. Or at least part of it.

A “social networking” website is one that lets people meet and chat with each other—not face-to-face, but over the Internet. Facebook and Twitter are two popular social networking websites.

Mark Zuckerberg started Facebook with some university friends in 2004. Recently, he decided to “go public” with Facebook. In this case, that means people he doesn’t even know will be allowed to buy a share (part) of the company.

Right now, Facebook is privately owned by some individuals and companies. Zuckerberg himself owns 24 per cent or almost one-quarter of Facebook–the largest portion.

When a company “goes public,” it is given a value (for instance, Facebook is said to be worth $100-billion) and that value is divided into “shares.” Those shares, which each represent a tiny piece of the value of the company, are then offered for sale.

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Ellen DeGeneres and her Mascot
Arts Entertainment Lighter

Mascot Creator Helps Ellen DeGeneres Be In Two Places At Once

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In one episode of her popular talk show, Ellen DeGeneres bemoaned the fact that she couldn’t be in two places at once.

Lots of people wanted her at events, but her schedule was packed.

John Kernaghan was listening to her show that day.

He’s a Toronto-based mascot maker. His company, Hogtown Mascots, makes life-sized puppets that are used as “mascots” for companies and sports teams.

He decided to make it possible for the entertainer to be in two places at once.

John created a giant mascot costume that looked just like Ellen DeGeneres. And then he sent it to her.

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News Sports

Maple Leafs, Raptors, and TFC Sold

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Some of Toronto’s most popular sports teams including the Maple Leafs, Raptors, and Toronto Football Club have new owners.

They have been bought for more than $1-billion by Rogers Communications and Bell Canada, two Canadian companies that sell phones and TV and internet services. Bell and Rogers also own the country’s two main sports-only channels, TSN and Sportsnet.

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News

Subaru Canada Apologizes To Truckers

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The car maker, Subaru Canada, has had to take one of its radio ads off the air.

The ad tells people that “roads are an unpredictable place, so drive with confidence.”

It then tells people that Subaru cars are very safe.

To demonstrate what it means by “unpredictable place,” the ad describes a truck driver who hasn’t slept in two days and is nearly asleep at the wheel.

The trucker is also described as eating a bag of ketchup potato chips while he’s driving.

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News

Inventor, Innovator, Genius – Steve Jobs’ Legacy

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Steve Jobs changed forever the way the world views, and interacts with, technology.

Jobs passed away last week, at the age of 56, from cancer.

Jobs helped to invent many products including the Macintosh computer, the iPhone, the iPod and the iPad. Along with Steve Wozniak, he founded computer company Apple.

It may be difficult for young people, who may have never known computers and phones before Steve Jobs changed them, to understand the massive impact he made.

A 1984 video of Jobs unveiling a brand-new product called the Macintosh computer, gives some idea.

To us today, the technology seems horribly outdated, clunky and… can you believe it? the images on the tiny computer screen aren’t even in colour!

But listen to the audience in the video as Jobs walks over to a small bag and takes the computer out. It has a handle! It’s small enough to carry! It has graphics, not just text! The audience gasps, cheers and claps because no one has ever seen anything like it.

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News Sports

Blue Jays New Logo “Leaked” Online

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The Blue Jays baseball team is changing its logo.

Teams often change their logo when they want to portray their team in a new way.

In this case, the Jays likely want their logo to emphasize the fact that they are Canadian.

Their new logo design is a big secret. They don’t want anyone to know what it will look like until they unveil it to the media and the public at a big event.

The logo they posted on their site looks quite a bit like an old logo they used to have, with the Canadian maple leaf quite a bit bigger.

However, the website Uni Watch (Uni stands for uniform) has obtained what it says is a copy of the proposed logo.

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Lighter News

The 20 Richest People In The United States

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Every year, Forbes magazine publishes a list of the 20 richest people in the United States.

This year, the 20 richest people are even richer than last year’s list. Together, they own $52 billion more than the top 20 did in 2010.

At the #20 spot on the list is the Mars family, the owners of the world’s largest candy company. Mars also makes Uncle Ben’s rice and Whiskas cat food.

The three family members have more than $13 billion each.

At #15 are the co-founders of Google (the company that owns the Internet search engine), Sergey Brin and Larry Page. They have $16 billion each.

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Lighter Science

LEGO Figures In Space

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In August, a rocket was sent to deliver a space probe, called Juno, to Jupiter to study the planet.

The probe carried three unique stowaways.

Three special LEGO figures, made of aluminum, are accompanying Juno on its five-year mission. The figures look like the Roman god Jupiter, his sister Juno and the Italian astronomer Galileo.

Jupiter carries a lightning bolt. Juno has a magnifying glass to help her search for truth. And Galileo carries a telescope and a model of the planet Jupiter.

People at NASA approached LEGO and asked them to design the special minifigs, which cost about $5,000 each. They had to build them very carefully so they didn’t interfere with any of the probe’s sensitive instruments.

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