Welcome! Issue #3 / Jan 26 2024

So many things to write about this week, and I even added a new section!

Check out "And In Other News" for a few off-the-beaten-path items. I don't look for this stuff. It finds me. Algorithms and all that.

By the way, the Rubik's Cube turns 50 this year. Over 465 million have been sold worldwide since Hungarian sculptor and architecture professor Erno Rubik created the puzzle in 1974. Oddly enough, 50 is also the number of times threw mine at a brick wall out of frustration. It is truly the original fidget spinner.

With that alone you've already likely learned a few new things today. Mission accomplished.

Enjoy the rest of Issue #3!

Broadband in Canada

Telus reportedly appeals to EV owners to speak on CRTC’s wholesale internet decision

(There's no need to re-read that headline. I did it for you. You read it correctly.)

"Telus is handing out a template letter addressed to Innovation Minister Fran?ois-Philippe Champagne. The letter reportedly says the CRTC’s November ruling could impact charging infrastructure for EVs."

"Telus points to the complex connectivity needs to operate the infrastructure and the dependence on fibre-optic networks for speed and reliability in emerging capabilities, iPhone in Canada?reports."

"The letter further states that fibre investments will “dry up” if wholesale access rates are “too low” and impact profit. This would reduce any future investment in charging infrastructure."

And finally, in other news, Tesla share plunge wipes?out $80 billion in market value, after dour earnings call.

CIRA and National Capital FreeNet team up to bring free and secure internet to low-income communities in Ottawa

"As part of its Net Good initiative, CIRA is proud to announce a $250,000 two-year investment to support National Capital FreeNet’s Community WiFi Network pilot project helping those living in low-income communities in Ottawa bridge the digital divide by offering free WiFi and digital skills support.??"

"HIBOO NETWORKS, Ottawa-Gatineau’s first municipally owned fibre optic-based telecom provider, is also a project partner, providing 18 months of free 1Gbps fibre backhaul connectivity."

As a reference point, we have the Connecting Families Initiative program in Canada to address low-income families and the need for critical access to the digital world. For as low as $10/month (for 10/1), eligible Canadians can subscribe to services from an eligible provider. By the way, the ACP (Affordable Connectivity Program) in the US is out of money.

This deployment confuses me a little as it's not immediately clear if this is a primary service or additional coverage where "The network will deliver free, secure, fast and high-quality WiFi in indoor and outdoor community spaces where residents live, socialize and access social services"..

Either way, it's a good thing.

The digital divide is felt in the North

Majority of rural, remote people left without high-speed internet, despite feds boasting of wide coverage, says Blue Sky

"Northern Ontario is broken into 12 districts. The Kenora District, the largest of the three districts in northwestern Ontario, consists of 59 communities, the?majority of which are remote fly-in First Nations. Eight communities out of 59 have 75 per cent of household internet of 50/10 megabytes per second (MBPS) coverage.

The Thunder Bay District has 33 communities. Nine communities have 50 per cent household coverage of high-speed broadband and eight communities have 75 per cent access to 50/10 MBPS.

The Rainy River District has 25 communities. Four have 50 per cent household coverage while three communities have 75 per cent access to 50/10 MBPS.

“The plan is to go to 98 per cent and that's great, but what that still represents is a massive number of people across the country who live in predominantly rural and remote communities —?they are the ones that haven't had broadband for a very long time,” said Church."

..and then 5 days later...

Government of Canada invests over $1.1 million to support broadband, technology and workforce solutions in Northeastern Ontario

"As part of the announcement, FedNor funding of $1,034,050 will support the ongoing operations of Blue Sky Net (BSN) for a three-year period, enabling the organization to deliver a variety of information and communications technology (ICT) activities in the Nipissing–Timiskaming, Sudbury East, Manitoulin and Parry Sound East regions. As part of the initiative, BSN will work with local stakeholders to assess ICT trends and talent gaps, identify and implement solutions to increase skilled talent to support digital industries. They will also coordinate local and regional broadband deployment and help increase digital technology adoption and awareness."

Susan Church from Blue Sky Net participated on a panel that I moderated at the 2023 CRRBC Conference in North Bay, Ontario, that addressed connectivity issues in Northern Ontario head-on. The issue is real. The economics are challenging. Is a solution coming?

Technology

John?Deere Announces Strategic Partnership with SpaceX to Expand Rural Connectivity to Farmers through Satellite Communications

Is this Space? Is this Technology? It's both, so it gets placed in my Technology section of the newsletter.

"Deere & Company (NYSE: DE) announced it has entered into an agreement with SpaceX to provide cutting-edge satellite communications (SATCOM) service to farmers. Utilizing the industry-leading Starlink network, this solution will allow farmers facing rural connectivity challenges to fully leverage precision agriculture technologies."

The SATCOM solution will connect both new and existing machines through satellite internet service and ruggedized satellite terminals. This will fully enable technologies such as autonomy, real-time data sharing, remote diagnostics, enhanced self-repair solutions, and machine-to-machine communication, all of which help farmers work more efficiently while minimizing downtime.

All of the Precision Agriculture Technology is managed by the John Deere Operations Center.

Precision Ag Technology fuels the farm with data to improve yields and profitability. John Deere breaks it down into these areas;

• Data Management - Improve application rates, fuel economy, input placement, and land stewardship with John Deere displays and StarFire? receivers
• Remote Management - See how your machines are performing and how jobs are progressing, anytime or anywhere.
• Guidance -Did you know AutoTrac? hand-free guidance pays for itself in two years?
• Variable Rate Application - Save inputs – and money – by putting down seed and chemical only where you need it most.
• Field and Water Management - Manage your most precious resources with automated field and water management.

If you think John Deere is a tractor company and Dyson makes vacuum cleaners, fans and hair driers, think again. They're technology innovators.

The pace of innovation will only be accelerated by developments in all areas of automation. It's all about the data and what you do with it to predict, react, and drive intent.

Look, all I know about farming is that animals smell and beef is yummy, but I do have an opinion or two about technology - and this stuff is pretty cool. Now that the space folks are involved, the sky is the limit (sorry..), and beware of the Robots.

Space

Starlink Community Gateways

"Deliver fiber-like speeds from space to the most remote places on Earth."

For a one-time cost of US$1,250,000 and US$75,000/month/Gbps you can buy a "kit" from Starlink. All you need is space, power and lifting equipment.

"With Community Gateways, Starlink satellites are able to deliver fiber-like speeds with local providers distributing connectivity to homes, businesses, and governments using last-mile fiber, fixed wireless and mobile wireless.

The Community Gateway traffic transits through Starlink's global laser mesh network and utilizes our high bandwidth Gateways operating in a dedicated Ka spectrum band."

The first Community Gateway has been installed in Unalaska, Alaska (home of the port of Dutch Harbor, for any "Deadliest Catch" fans). Some quick research shows that about 4,500 people live there. They are housed in 957 homes.

Seemingly served by TelAlaska with DSL only, this is a game changer for them.

Comments:

1. This seems to make some sense, I think. Of course, there are infrastructure costs to build fibre or "fibreless, towerless" services, but in the end, even initially providing 1Gbps to support 957 homes is a FAR cry from 3Mbps DSL.
2. Quick back-of-the-napkin math -- assuming 800 connected homes - $1,500 per home passed for some infrastructure, $150/month access fee, $1.25M one-time cost, $75,000/month for 1Gbps - year 6 or 7 seems to become somewhat break-even (but they'd likely need to subscribe to additional b/w). Either way, it makes some sense.
3. No, I don't think 4,500 people could buy individual Starlink terminals in that density and besides, this would be a better solution overall.
4. How much market will this erode for providers like OneWeb and TeleSat's pending Lightspeed constellation targeted for 2027? Project Kuiper isn't far behind.

Mage Networks Signs Memorandum of Understanding for Telesat Lightspeed Services

Mage Networks plans to leverage Telesat Lightspeed to expand broadband internet services to unserved and underserved communities in Canada.

Under the "Capacity Pool" program, highly subsidized services can be provided to ISPs and MNOs to deliver 50/10Mbps service with unlimited data to subscribers in remote communities.

I don't know what "highly subsidized" means, but it may be much less than $75,000/Gbps and seemingly without the one-time "kit" cost associated with StarLink's Community Gateway solution.

The real difference that I can see is this -- Starlink is now. Lightspeed is slated for 2027. Did Mage speak with OneWeb?

SpaceBound 2023 Content

SpaceBound 2023, Space Canada’s annual conference held in October, welcomed over 400 people to Ottawa during the 3-day event.

Thanks to CPAC's end-to-end coverage of SpaceBound 2023, you can now watch any of the conference’s sessions here:

• Lisa Campbell Delivers Keynote Address
• Fireside Chat with Brig.-Gen. Mike Adamson
• Defence Minister Bill Blair Delivers Keynote Address
• Perspectives on the International Space Economy
• The Challenge of Remote Medicine
• Fireside Chat with Kevin O’Connell
• Space Exploration & Perspectives from the Private Sector
• Space Exploration & Government Perspectives
• Fireside Chat with Marc Garneau
• Canada’s Role in the New Space Economy
• Building an Inclusive and Strong Space Workforce
• The Economic Impact of Canada’s Space Industry
• Earth Observation Satellites and the Health of Our Planet
• Fireside Chat with BGen Chris McKenna
• Innovation in Defence, Leveraging Commercial Space Capabilities

Cool Companies

Until I saw this headline pop up in my LinkedIn feed - and a rather impressive one at that - I'd never heard of these guys.

Samsara Inc (IOT) Surpasses $1 Billion in ARR with Strong Q3 Fiscal Year 2024 Results

$1 Billion in ARR. So who are they?

"Samsara’s mission is to increase the safety, efficiency, and sustainability of the operations that power the global economy. We are the pioneer of the Connected Operations Cloud, which allows businesses that depend on physical operations to harness IoT data to develop actionable business insights and improve their operations."

Think fleet and asset management, etc.

In summary - Samsara, a cutting-edge technology company, specializes in improving industrial operations through innovative hardware and software solutions. They provide an array of products, including GPS tracking devices, cameras, and environmental sensors for vehicles and equipment. Additionally, they offer systems for efficient energy management. These tools gather real-time data, offering crucial insights for businesses to enhance safety, efficiency, and sustainability. By simplifying complex industrial tasks, Samsara's user-friendly digital solutions transform how companies manage their physical operations and resources. Of course, the value is in the data they collect and integrate.

https://www.samsara.com/

AI

I bet you don't know why these images are scary...AND why you need to be aware of these.

"At first I didn't see it, they just look like ordinary photos of normal people. Wrong - They don't even exist."

I've mentioned Nat Choprasert before. Her AI content is great. Click on the link above to learn why she proposed the following lessons;

• Set up 2-step verification with an authentication app
• Agree on a safe word with your loved ones
• Make your password different on different apps (it's hard I know) + change it regularly.

Create videos with text prompts

I played with invideo AI very briefly after seeing it linked in another "AI guru" post. Figured I'd give it a shot and see what happened.

I decided to ask to make a video about Broadband in Canada, closing the digital divide and a summary of the key market players. The paid version removes all the watermarks, etc. I didn't edit or regenerate anything, although the prompting to edit is powerful.

And finally, as with all generative AI, you're output is only as good as the input prompting. There are so many guides out there on prompting. My point is that this is what you get when you provide two sentences of instruction. It's pretty impressive from a 30-second input effort. The images aren't always properly contextual and, again, can be edited, regenerated etc.

Take a peek;

A Space-Time Diffusion Model for Video Generation

I'll have more to say about LUMIERE from Google Research next week. It's pretty amazing.

And In Other News

"Subway’s footlong sandwiches are finally getting sides to match – and the company is hopeful the new menu items will aid in its turnaround efforts.

The chain is making a big update (literally) to its menu with the addition of three 12-inch snacks consisting of a chocolate chip cookie, a Cinnabon churro and a soft pretzel from Auntie Anne’s. Yes, they all are foot-long in size (and served hot)."

Does anyone really need a foot-long Chocolate Chip Cookie? (well, of course, they do)

"The Molson Coors brand is now selling mints with the same taste as Miller Lite, only without the beer, to individuals 21 and older."

Take it with a Nicorette, and you can have a beer and a smoke at the same time. Anywhere.

Podcasts I'm Listening To

CanadaLand

"The best newspaper in Canada is a Podcast"

#954 The Dangers Of Dumb AI

Activist Esra’a Al-Shafei has gone to extreme lengths to keep her image offline. But one day, that privacy was breached — or so she thought.?

Her story is just one of many of the real-life impacts of our development and use of artificial intelligence.?

Can Canada create a guardrail good enough to protect us — and our data — from these kinds of harms? Or have we passed the point of no return?

https://www.canadaland.com/podcast/954-the-dangers-of-dumb-ai/

On Orbit Podcast

On Orbit is a technology-focused podcast that provides in-depth information and discussion about the socioeconomic value of space and satellite capabilities.

On Orbit is a problem-solving podcast, with a mission to educate listeners on the real human value of space and satellite technology and works to answer, What’s our future in space?

https://www.satellitetoday.com/podcast/

Events - Pay Attention! ;)

The Canadian Rural and Remote Broadband Community Conference - Sponsorship opportunities are now available!

The CRRBC conference series continues into 2024 with two announced dates and locations. Mark your calendars and register early!

"Beyond Connectivity: Building Prosperity in Rural Communities".

"Let's shape the future together through engaging discussions on community economic development, workforce development, regulatory policies and the latest in technologies. Explore the limitless possibilities of broadband access in rural and Indigenous communities—from boosting tourism and advancing remote healthcare to fostering digital literacy, exploring data sovereignty, and laying the groundwork for Smart Communities. Your presence can make a difference! Mark your calendar now for a transformative dialogue that paves the way for a connected and thriving rural future.?"

• May 27-29th, Casino Rama, Orillia, ON
• November 3-5th, Delta Grand Okanagan, Kelowna, BC

Watch this space for updates. Feel free to contact me to learn more about sponsorship opportunities.

Movie/Streaming Recommendations

Dumb Money / Prime

"Dumb Money," a satirical comedy, brilliantly captures the frenetic energy of the 2021 GameStop stock market saga. It humorously depicts the collision of amateur investors, social media, and Wall Street, showcasing the absurdity and unpredictability of the financial world. It is a sharp, entertaining take on a modern financial phenomenon. Technicals don't matter anymore. Social media drives the markets.

House of Lies / Netflix

Premiering in 2012, and running for five season, "House of Lies" is a sharp, biting satire on corporate America, centered around a group of management consultants who stop at nothing to get business deals done. Led by Don Cheadle, the show blends dark humor with a critique of capitalism, presenting a fast-paced, morally ambiguous world of high stakes and deception. It's both addictive and very entertaining.

Next on my Theatre watch list - ISS

"ISS" is a gripping space thriller set aboard the International Space Station. It masterfully blends suspense and science fiction, exploring the isolation and psychological strain of astronauts. The film's intense narrative is enhanced by stunning visual effects, portraying the vastness and peril of space with a hauntingly realistic touch.

Until next time

Comments here are my own and do not represent the opinions, views or thoughts of any person, company or organization that I may be associated with.

Feedback, comments and ideas are welcomed. DM me on LinkedIn or contact me at [email protected]