Anglais

Watchdog forum has its eyes on Sidewalk Labs Quayside development

Published

5 années ago

octobre 26, 2018

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Sidewalk Labs’ controversial plan to build a data-driven neighbourhood on Toronto’s waterfront is probably one of the most heavily scrutinized development proposals in the city’s recent memory.

The dizzying list of groups looking into the “smart city” project include the tech and privacy experts on the digital strategy advisory panel providing advice to Waterfront Toronto, Sidewalk Labs’ data governance advisory working group, and an advisory council of urban thinkers and executives in Canada that is providing input to Sidewalk Labs.

Sidewalk also has a residents reference panel, made up of randomly selected Torontonians, and Waterfront Toronto hosts public roundtables on the Sidewalk proposal and is planning special “civic labs” where interested people can discuss concerns about the project that will feed into the roundtables.

Now another group has come together to jump into the mix.

Formed in mid-October, the Toronto Open Smart Cities Forum has no ties to either Waterfront Toronto or Sidewalk Labs.

The forum is a “self-directed” group comprised of experts specializing in areas such as the law, technology, real estate, data, and housing. While the forum is primarily focused on providing input to Sidewalk Toronto’s community engagement process, their long-term goal is providing support to the public in Canadian cities dealing with other smart city projects.

“What we’re trying to start is a dialogue that tries to establish what a more open and public kind of smart city infrastructure and policy would look like,” says the co-chair of the forum’s steering committee, David Murakami Wood, Canada research chair in surveillance studies, and associate professor in the department of sociology at Queen’s University.

Is the forum opposed to the Sidewalk project?

“It would be inaccurate to describe this as an anti-Sidewalk group,” Murakami Wood says.

He says the group is about “establishing a vision for how this might work in Toronto and elsewhere,” Murakami Wood adds.

“I don’t think there is anybody in the group who is a massive cheerleader of Sidewalk. That’s certainly true. We don’t need any more of that. There’s plenty of that going on,” he adds.

Waterfront Toronto, a body representing the federal, provincial and municipal governments, is overseeing the Sidewalk proposal. Sidewalk is expected to complete a master plan for the project, likely sometime next year. The plan must be approved by Waterfront Toronto.

Sidewalk wants to build a high-tech community on a track of land called Quayside, located near Parliament and Queens Quay. The neighbourhood would feature sensors to measure temperature and weather conditions and utilize so-call urban data — information collected from people in Quayside’s physical environment — but controversy has been raised about who will own the data, control it and make money from it.

Sidewalk, a Manhattan-based sister firm of Google, recently came out with digital governance proposals, saying no one should own the data. Sidewalk is also calling for the establishment of an independent civic data trust that would oversee and control the data.

Murakami Wood says he is “skeptical” of the Sidewalk proposal.

“They are private, for-profit companies looking to make money from individual and collective data, and that fundamentally can’t be forgotten,” he says.

“We want any development to be done in ways that are for the public good, and in ways where residents have a say and degree of control over what happens, particularly when it comes to the streets we walk on and the data collected about us,” says Brenda McPhail, a member of the forum steering committee and director of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association’s privacy, technology and surveillance project.

The forum is receiving administrative support from the Centre For Free Expression, in Toronto.

Shauna Brail, an associate professor at the University of Toronto, and a senior associate in the innovation policy lab at the Munk School of global affairs, says the forum and the criticisms surrounding the Sidewalk project are symptomatic of a larger trend.

“In many ways, this is part of what has been referred to as a techlash (a backlash against powerful technology firms) — an increasingly global phenomena,” Brail says.

The forum has members who recently stepped back from direct involvement in the Sidewalk review process, including Saadia Muzaffar, a tech expert who resigned recently from Waterfront Toronto’s digital strategy advisory group, in part over concerns about the control of data.

This past weekend, Ann Cavoukian, former Information and Privacy commissioner of Ontario, resigned from Sidewalk’s data governance advisory group, concerned that the proposed protection of personal data in the project “is not acceptable.” However, she is not a member of the new forum.

Sidewalk says it’s moving ahead with the proposal.

“No one is proposing to hand over public space to Sidewalk Labs. In fact, it is quite the opposite. A cornerstone of our proposal is that no private group, including Sidewalk Labs, will own urban data and any information gathered should be freely and publicly accessible through an independent civic data trust, which will set clear rules around privacy and how data is collected, stored, and used,” said Sidewalk spokesperson Dan Levitan.

Donovan Vincent is a housing reporter based in Toronto. Follow him on Twitter: @donovanvincent

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Related Topics:development eyes Forum Labs Quayside Sidewalk watchdog

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Anglais

Nostalgia and much more with Starburst XXXtreme

Published

3 années ago

août 10, 2021

admin

Get a taste of adventure with Starburst XXXtreme based on the legendary NetEnt Game. The nostalgic themes are sure to capture fans of the classic version as they get treated to higher intensity, better visuals, and features. The most significant element of the game is its volatility. Patience will not be an essential virtue considering the insane gameplay, and there is a lot of win potential involved. It retains the original makeup of the previous game while adding a healthy dose of adrenaline.

Starburst Visuals and Symbols

The game is definitely more conspicuous than before. The setting happens over a 5-reel, 3-row game grid with nine fixed win lines, which function if a succession from the left to the right reel is present. Only those players that that attain the highest win per bet line are paid. From a visual standpoint, the Starburst XXXtreme slots illustrates lightning effects behind the reels, which is not surprising as it is inherited from the original version. Available themes include Classic, Jewels, and Space. The game is also available in both desktop and mobile versions, which is advantageous for players considering the global pandemic. According to Techguide, American gamers are increasingly having more engaging gaming experiences to socialize to fill the gap of in-person interaction. Starburst XXXtreme allows them to fill the social void at a time when there is so much time to be had indoors.

Starburst XXXTreme Features

Players get to alternate on three features which are Starburst Wilds, XXXtreme Spins, and Random Wilds. The first appears on reels 2,3, or 4. When these land, they expand to cover all positions while also calculating the wins. They are also locked for a respin. If a new one hits, it also becomes locked while awarding another respin. Starburst XXXtreme offers a choice between two scenarios for a higher stake. In one scenario with a ten times stake, the Starburst Wild is set on random on reels 2,3, or 4, and a multiplier starts the respin. The second scenario, which has a 95 times stake, starts with two guaranteed starburst wilds on reels 2,3, or 4. it also plays out using respin game sequence and features. The game also increases the potential with the Random Wilds feature to add Starburst Wilds to a vacant reel at the end of a spin. Every Starburst Wild gives a random multiplier with potential wins of x2, x3, x5, x10, x25, x50, x100, or even x150.

The new feature is sure to be a big hit with the gaming market as online gambling has shown significant growth during the lockdown. AdAge indicates the current casino customer base is an estimated one in five Americans, so Starburst XXXtreme’s additional features will achieve considerable popularity.

What We Think About The Game

The gambling market has continued to diversify post-pandemic, so it is one of the most opportune times to release an online casino-based game. Thankfully Starburst XXXtreme features eye-catching visuals, including the jewels and space themes. These attract audience participation and make the gameplay inviting. The game also has a nostalgic edge. The previous NetEnt iteration featured similar visuals and gameplay, so the audience has some familiarity with it. The producers have revamped this version by tweaking the features to improve the volatility and engagement.

That is characterized by the potential win cap of 200,000 times the bet. Starburst XXXtreme does not just give betting alternatives for players that want to go big. The increase of multipliers also provides a great experience. If the respins in the previous version were great, knowing that multipliers can go hundreds of times overtakes the game to a new level.

Players should get excited about this offering. All of the features can be triggered within a single spin. Whether one plays the standard game or takes the XXXtreme spin route, it is possible to activate all of the features. Of course, the potential 200,000 times potential is a huge carrot. However, the bet size is probably going to be restricted and vary depending on the casino. It is also worth pointing out that a malfunction during the gameplay will void all of the payouts and progress. Overall, the game itself has been designed to provide a capped win of 200,000 times the original bet.

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Anglais

‘We’re back’: Montreal festival promoters happy to return but looking to next year

Published

3 années ago

juillet 23, 2021

admin

In downtown Montreal, it’s festival season.

In the city’s entertainment district, a musical act was conducting a sound check on stage Friday evening — the second day of the French-language version of the renowned Just For Laughs comedy festival. Tickets for many of the festival’s free outdoor shows — limited by COVID-19 regulations — were sold out.

Two blocks away, more than 100 people were watching an acoustic performance by the Isaac Neto Trio — part of the last weekend of the Festival International Nuits d’Afrique, a celebration of music from the African continent and the African diaspora.

With COVID-19 restrictions continuing to limit capacity, festival organizers say they’re glad to be back but looking forward to next year when they hope border restrictions and capacity limits won’t affect their plans.

Charles Décarie, Just For Laughs’ CEO and president, said this is a “transition year.”

“Even though we have major constraints from the public health group in Montreal, we’ve managed to design a festival that can navigate through those constraints,” Décarie said.

The French-language Juste pour rire festival began on July 15 and is followed by the English-language festival until July 31.

When planning began in February and March, Décarie said, organizers came up with a variety of scenarios for different crowd sizes, ranging from no spectators to 50 per cent of usual capacity.

“You’ve got to build scenarios,” he said. “You do have to plan a little bit more than usual because you have to have alternatives.”

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Anglais

MELS new major movie studio to be built in Montreal

Published

3 années ago

juillet 23, 2021

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MONTREAL — MELS Studios will build a new film studio in Montreal, filling some of the gap in supply to meet the demand of Hollywood productions.

MELS president Martin Carrier said on Friday that MELS 4 studio construction will begin « as soon as possible », either in the fall or winter of next year. The studio could host productions as early as spring 2023.

The total investment for the project is $76 million, with the Quebec government contributing a $25 million loan. The project will create 110 jobs, according to the company.

The TVA Group subsidiary’s project will enable it to stand out « even more » internationally, according to Quebecor president and CEO Pierre Karl Péladeau. In the past, MELS Studios has hosted several major productions, including chapters of the X-Men franchise. The next Transformers movie is shooting this summer in Montreal.

Péladeau insisted that local cultural productions would also benefit from the new facility, adding that the studio ensures foreign revenues and to showcase talent and maintain an industry of Quebec producers.

STUDIO SHORTAGE

The film industry is cramped in Montreal.

According to a report published last May by the Bureau du cinéma et de la télévision du Québec (BCTQ), there is a shortage of nearly 400,000 square feet of studio space.

With the addition of MELS 4, which will be 160,000 square feet, the company is filling part of the gap.

Carrier admitted that he has had to turn down contracts because of the lack of space, representing missed opportunities of « tens of millions of dollars, not only for MELS, but also for the Quebec economy. »

« Montreal’s expertise is in high demand, » said Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante, who was present at the announcement.

She said she received great testimonials from « Netflix, Disney, HBO and company » during an economic mission to Los Angeles in 2019.

« What stands out is that they love Montreal because of its expertise, knowledge and beauty. We need more space, like MELS 4, » she said.

There is still not enough capacity in Quebec, acknowledged Minister of Finance, the Economy and Innovation Eric Girard.

« It is certain that the government is concerned about fairness and balance, so if other requests come in, we will study them with the same seriousness as we have studied this one, » he said.

Grandé Studios is the second-largest player in the industry. Last May, the company said it had expansion plans that should begin in 2022. Investissement Québec and Bell are minority shareholders in the company.

For its part, MELS will have 400,000 square feet of production space once MELS 4 is completed. The company employs 450 people in Quebec and offers a range of services including studio and equipment rentals, image and sound postproduction, visual effects and a virtual production platform.