Okay this is definitely the weirder of surveys that I have seen in a while and the fact that it is coming from Rogers, a Canadian wireless and cable provider, makes it a little bit more disconcerting.

It seems that Rogers thought it would be a good idea to team up with Angus Reid, a Canadian survey taking company, to find out  some more information about who is using texting to hookup with someone or to dump their current partner.

The survey was done between January 13 to January 23 2012 and looked for 1,403 random Canadians who owned a smartphone or tablet and used texting, social networks, video calling, email, or instant messaging. The stated goal of the survey was to find out if the “passion for gadgets and social media hurt human interaction or improved it“.

Here’s some of the results:

• 25% say the use of technology to stay connected keeps their relationship exciting
•  Quebecers were the highest with 31% agreeing with the above statement
•  18-24 year olds spend 2.5 hours/day using tech to communicate to their boyfriend/girlfriend
•  48% of those surveyed have been asked out over the phone
•  18% of those surveyed admitted to being dumped over the phone
•  31% of 18-24 year olds surveyed said they’ve been asked out via a social networking (Facebook)
•  60% of 25-34 year olds surveyed have been asked out over the phone
•  27% of 18-24 year olds think it is fine to ask someone out on a first date through a text message
•  40% of 18-24 year olds say they’ve been asked out in a text message
•  12% of those surveyed have been dumped via text message

Want more, then head over to Rogers for more of the scoop.

via MobileSyrup

Rogers Canada has the lowdown on who’s hooking up and who’s getting dumped via text is a post from: The Inquisitr

Mohammad Shafia, his wife Tooba Yahya and their son Hamed were found guilty of four counts of first degree murder in the case of an “Honor Killing” in Canada.  The family was found guilty of planning and killing Shafia’s three teenage children and his co-wife from a polygamous marriage.

The jury, after 15 hours of deliberating, returned their verdict after hearing the prosecutions case where the three of the Shafia’s took the girls to a deserted area of road, drowned them in a river and then put the bodies in a Nissan and rolled it into a lake to make it look like an accident.

Prosecutors said the reason the family committed the murders is because the girls refused to adhere to the family’s ultra strict version of Islam and because immodest in their dress mannerisms and they went online.

Honor killing are a lot less rare in Afghanistan where the family originated from.  In Afghanistan women are often killed by their families for offenses such as marrying outside of the arranged marriage set up for them, being raped, have premarital sex or even become less devout in public.

There have been some convictions in Western countries by immigrants from these countries, but it has mostly been confined to isolated incidents.

This type of case is extremely rare in Canada.

Mohammad Shafia, speaking through a translator,professed his innocence and said,

“We are not criminal, we are not murderer, we didn’t commit the murder and this is unjust.”

His wife Tooba also said,

“I am not a murderer, and I am a mother, a mother.”

Their son, Hamed, said,

“I did not drown my sisters anywhere.”

the prosecution played the jury tapes made of the Shafia’s talking on the phone to relatives after the girls died.  The father was heard saying the girls had betrayed the family immensely and calling them treacherous and whores and invoking the devil to defecate on their graves.

What do you think should be done with the Shafia family?

Canadian Jury Finds Afghan Family Guilty of Honor Killings is a post from: The Inquisitr

Teodora, the world’s largest cut emerald will go up for sale at Western Star auction on Saturday in the town of Kelowna, Canada. The stone weighs 57,500ct or approximately 11.5 kilograms.

Shaped almost like a watermelon the name of the stone translates to “God’s Gift” and was discovered in Brazil. While the exact location of the stone has been kept secret the gem wholesaler responsible for the auction believes it was discovered by a small mining company.

The stone is the fifth largest emerald ever found and the largest cut emerald, it was cut in India and then shipped to Canada after wholesaler Regan Reaney of Calgary purchased the stone on January 13.

While the stone has been valued at $1.15 million the wholesaler and auction organizers are hoping for $2 million to $2.5 million by the end of auction time on Saturday the 28th.

Here’s a video showcasing the emeralds massive size:

Do you believe that Teodora is worth the $2.5 million price the auction and seller hope to receive?

World’s Largest Cut Emerald To Be Auctioned Off On Saturday [Video] is a post from: The Inquisitr

Anyone who lives in Canada, is involved in the tech and internet industry, and has Rogers as their broadband access provider this news probably won’t come as any surprise.

It has been long rumored, sometimes proven, that Rogers Communication loves to screw with your access and charge you some premium prices for the privilege of being screwed by them so this news from the CRTC is more confirmation than anything else.

In a post today on Professor Michael Geist’s blog we find out that the CRTC (Canadian Radio and Telecommunication Commission) has sent Rogers a written notice that its investigation into the company’s practices has concluded and they have found that Rogers Communication violated Internet traffic management rules.

From the letter:

Based on the preliminary results of our ongoing investigation, Commission staff is of the belief that Rogers Communications Inc. (“Rogers”) applies a technical ITMP to unidentified traffic using default peer-to-peer (“P2P”) ports. On the basis of our evidence to date, any traffic from an unidentified time-sensitive application making use of P2P ports will be throttled resulting in noticeable degradation of such traffic.

Rogers has been given two weeks within which they can rebut the evidence or they must become compliant with the law.

This has caught more than a few tech watchers in Canada off-guard as this is really the first time that the CRTC has actually investigated a company and then enforce the net neutrality laws based on what they find.

I’m not holding my breath that this is a complete turn-around for the CRTC when it comes to dealing with companies like Rogers and the Internet but it sure would be nice to see.

Rogers caught violating Net Neutrality rules in Canada is a post from: The Inquisitr

When you buy a new gadget, like an iPad 2 for example, you take it home with the expectation that, at the least, the product you wanted will be inside. For several Canadians who shopped at Best Buy and Future Shop, that wasn’t the case–instead, they received fake iPad 2s.

Not just any fake iPad 2, either. The “product” as many as 24 customers received, according to a report by CTV, was modeling clay. Both companies were skeptical at first, and ran under the assumption that it was the victims themselves that were trying to scam them. After CTV broadcasted a story about the scam, Best Buy and Future Shop changed their tune.

“It was all sealed properly and everything,” Dayna Chabot, a victim of the scam, told CTV. “It was the shape of an iPad. They even had a piece of clay where the charger went and everything. Like, they knew what they were doing.”

Unsurprisingly, this little goof has prompted the two companies to launch a major fraud investigation to track down the source.

“Customers don’t expect to receive this kind of product from Future Shop, so it’s a very serious matter and something we are addressing right away for anyone who has been impacted,” Future Shop spokesman Elliott Chun told CTV, adding that saddens his company that some people “stoop to be this opportunistic and make money in this kind of organised way”.

via Silicon Republic

Fake iPad 2s mistakenly sold at Canadian Best Buy, Future Shop stores is a post from: The Inquisitr

The State Department is preparing to reject the proposed reroute of the Keystone XL oil pipeline today.  The Keystone XL Project is intended to be a direct route for Canadian Crude to make it to Gulf Coast refineries.

During the contentious debate over the payroll tax cut extension in December, Republicans managed to attach a rider that said the State Department had 60 days to make a decision on the Keystone XL Pipeline.  The State Department has already had three years to investigate whether the proposed route, which takes it through a sensitive Nebraska Aquifer, but they claim that they will reject the route because the 60 days given to them by Congress is not enough.  They claim that environmental impact statements need to be completed first.

It was rumored that the State Department was going to approve the project which set off a large backlash by the Environmental Lobby.

Canada has openly said that if the United States can’t get its act together quickly it is going to build the pipeline to the West Coast and sell the crude to China.

President Obama’s own Jobs council gave a stamp of approval to the project last year saying,

“[America should ]expeditiously, though cautiously, move forward on projects that can support hundreds of thousands of jobs. We think this all-in energy strategy can create significant economic growths and significant job creation,”

The project is estimated to be able to produce more than 100,000 jobs almost overnight.

House Speaker John Boener is a big supporter of the project and accused Obama of trying to put off the decision until after the election.  He said,

“If we don’t build this pipeline to bring that Canadian oil and pick up the North Dakota oil and deliver it to our refineries in the Gulf Coast, that oil is gonna get shipped out to the Pacific Ocean and will be sold to the Chinese. This is not good for our country. The president wants to put this off until it’s convenient for him to make a decision. … The president’s got an opportunity to create 100,000 new jobs almost immediately. The president should say yes.”

Do you think the President should approve the Keystone XL Oil Pipeline?

State Department to Reject Keystone XL Pipeline Reroute is a post from: The Inquisitr

I don’t think that the allure of technology has had the same effect in Canada among the general consumer than it it has to our American cousins to the south of the 49th Parallel but if a new survey conducted by Ipsos Reid on behalf of Advertising Week this maybe changing.

In a study conducted between November 23 to November 30 2011 Ipsos Reid surveyed 1,013 random Canadians adults (can the jokes about that being the extent of our population) and using 6 factors to determine what the term “leading edge” meant (brand influence, trustworthiness, relevance, presence, corporate citizenship, and engagement) they found that the top 10 companies in Canada were:

1. Apple

2. Google

3. Ikea

4. Microsoft

5. Cirque de Soleil

6. Coca-Cola

7. President’s Choice

8. Tim Hortons

9. YouTube

10. SONY

For those of you not familiar with the names – Tim Hortons is like your Starbucks except not as cool, President’s Choice is the leading “no-name” grocery brand that costs as much as regular brands. However the fact that Apple is at the top of the list doesn’t really surprise me as much as it might other Canadians although Ikea is a dismaying choice.

via Mobile Syrup

Canada loves it’s Apple is a post from: The Inquisitr

Canadian traveler Martin Reisch realized when he reached the Canada border into the United States that he had left his passport at home, lucky for the tech savvy traveler he had the next best thing, his iPad Passport or at least a scanned copy of his passport on the Apple tablet.

Upon recalling that he had scanned his passport and placed it on his iPad he produced the device and handed it over to a Customs agent who according to the Canadian Press  took the gadget and returned several minutes later from the border office with an “all clear” message for Mr. Reisch.

When asked about his quick thinking which led to the iPad Passport idea Martin said:

“I figured I’d try, and in the worst case, I would have to go home.”

He does admit that the border agent looked a little annoyed when he first made the request but after a few minutes he said the experience was positive and he was allowed to travel on his way to Vermont.

While border patrol has not yet said digital copies will become a matter of policy at border crossing locations between Canada and the United States the happy traveler noted:

“I think a good part of it had to do with the fact that it was the holidays and I seem like a nice-enough person.”

Would you rather have a digital copy of your passport with you at all times such as an iPad Passport? I can see the battery failing just as you need to board a flight, forcing you to wait hours for another plane to departe.

iPad Passport Scan Allows Canadian Traveler To Enter United States is a post from: The Inquisitr

On March 21, 2012 the Toronto Raptors will take to the courts of their home game while wearing camouflage uniforms, a salute to Canada’s active military members. Coachs and employees for the team will also sport poppies on their clothing in support of the troops.

The game will take place against the Chicago Bulls and the uniforms (pictured above) will only be worn for that game.

Joseph Casciaro of Raptor Blog however doesn’t think the uniforms honor Canada’s troops in the right way, writing:

On Remembrance Day, you can wear a poppy, donate to various charities and legions, and do countless other things to show your support. But I’d bet that if you walked around in head-to-toe camouflage, it would be seen as unnecessary, and in fact, might even be seen as making a mockery of the whole day.

To me, this is the same thing, you don’t have to parade your team around in camouflage to prove that you care about the armed forces. Make no mistake, these uniforms will enhance the Raptors’ reputation as league laughing stock in some circles more than they will do any good for our troops and veterans.

I have to disagree with Casciaro in part, yes it is true that the team could use a more “modest” approach to honoring their troops, however the uniforms, as ugly as they may be, send a strong statement that raises awareness about the men and women who serve in Canada’s armed services.

Do you think the Toronto Raptors “remembrance” uniforms are gaudy and uncalled for or a nice gesture on the teams behalf?

Toronto Raptors To Honor Canadian Military With Camouflage Uniforms is a post from: The Inquisitr

While now more than ever, kids have broad access to diagnosis and treatment of chronic conditions, it also seems that complaints among young people of chronic pain are on the rise, a new study has observed.

Resulting in missed school, abandoned extracurricular activities and other withdrawal from normal childhood activities, chronic pain not only has short-term consequences, but could lead to longer-term difficulties with anxiety and similar conditions. The data was culled by researchers from more than 32 epidemiological studies and found that “persistant and recurrent chronic pain” was becoming a larger problem since researchers began to collect data in 1991, and that there were some notable patterns in the data. Researcher Sara King, PhD, an Assistant Professor at Mount Saint Vincent University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, commented on the findings:

“We found that persistent and recurrent chronic pain is overwhelmingly prevalent in children and adolescents, with girls generally experiencing more pain than boys and prevalence rates increasing with age. Findings such as these argue that researchers and clinicians should be aware of the problem and the long-term consequences of chronic pain in children.”

The types of pain measured by the study include what may seem to be garden variety child and teen complaints, including stomach ache or abdominal pain, back pain, headaches, combined pain, musculoskeletal pain and general pain. Researchers considered psychosocial variables- included among them were socioeconomic status, anxiety, low self-esteem and depression. King noted:

“By shifting focus to factors associated with chronic and recurrent pain, it may be possible to identify the most salient risk factors, leading to early and intensive interventions for the most at-risk groups.”

In the study, headaches were the most commonly cited form of chronic pain in children and teens.

[Image: Shutterstock]

Chronic Pain in Kids on the Rise, Study Says is a post from: The Inquisitr

In a move sure to drive more than a few music business mogul running and screaming it seems that the Songwriters Association of Canada (SAC) has come out and said that they think that legalizing file-sharing might not be such a bad idea.

Now before you go claiming that this must be a bunch of crazy people who don’t know what they are talking about it is important to know that SAC has some pretty big names from the music business as part of the organization.  People like Bryan Adams, Randy Bachman, and Carole Pope along with 1,500 other Canadian musicians all of whom have some pretty strong views on the industry, and opinion that doesn’t seem to coincide with the labels.

SAC believes that consumers should have access to all the music in the world, something that only file-sharing sites provide today. So instead of shutting these sites down the songwriters association wants to legalize file-sharing, while compensating the artists whose works are shared.

“People have always shared music and always will. The music we share defines who we are, and who our friends and peers are. The importance of music in the fabric of our own culture, as well as those around the world, is inextricably bound to the experience of sharing,” SAC writes in a detailed proposal.

via TorrentFreak

There are times when I am really proud of my country.

Oh those wacky Canadians and their wanting to legalize file-sharing is a post from: The Inquisitr

If true this move by EB Games, otherwise known as GameStop everywhere else, is indeed true the proverbial shit is going to hit the fan; or possibly not given this apparently is only happening in Canada, so far.

It seems that an employee of EB Games forwarded some rather interesting information to the Kotaku game news blog. According to this information it seems that employees of the EB Game stores are being told to mix in “used” games with the “new” games. Not only that but that the old “used” games must be placed at the top of the pile with the “new” copies at the bottom of the pile.

Yes you read that right. Now when you go into an EB Games store you won’t be able to tell if you are buying a new version of a game or if in fact you are buying a copy that someone has returned for whatever reason.

While Kotaku is still waiting for confirmation from EB Games about the facts regarding this another tipster has apparently reached out to the site with additional confirmation that this is indeed happening. The employees have also been told to get rid of all advertising materials to do with used games.

If true this is going to prove to be a huge PR problem for the company, especially heading into the holiday shopping season.

[Rumor Mill] EB Games in Canada mixing used games with new ones is a post from: The Inquisitr

The future of broadband in Canada is happening out in British Columbia right now where the province’s advanced network and shared IT services, also known as BCNET, has been doing some serious pushing of the high speed envelop.

Along with Canada’s Advanced Research and Innovation Network (Canarie) and the University of Victoria they have successfully transmitted one petabyte of particle physics data over an optical connection in just 24 hours. To put this in perspective what they have done by pushing this one petabyte of data would be the equivalent of transmitting 13 years of HDTV video along that fiber optic cable.

while this was primarily just a demonstration of what is possible they did it to showcase the province’s ability to build one of the fastest and most advanced networks in the world.

Here’s a few more points to highlight just how big this one petabyte would be:

• 13.3 years of HDTV video
• 10 million yards of books on a shelf
• 20,000,000 four drawer filing cabinets filled with text
• 250 million MP3 songs

Additionally if you could maintain 100 gigabits download speed on your pitiful home network connection to the Web you could download 6 movies per second.

via TechVibes

Canada is pumping some massive high speed broadband that no one can use yet is a post from: The Inquisitr

The Bank of Canada this week will begin the distribution of plastic $100 bills. Made out of a secret polymer substance the new bills are replacing traditional paper bills as the old bills go out of circulation and the new bills go into circulation.

Globe and Mail is reporting that the countries mint plans to release $50 Polymer bills in March which will then be followed by $20, $10 and $5 billion in 2013.

Made out of multiple layers of plastic the bills are almost impossible to tear which will mean the country will need to print less paper money. The bills are also super difficult to counterfeit and they are recyclable.

Speaking about the increase in the number of “cashless transactions” currently underway the central bank’s governor said of the new bills:

“Reports of the death of cash are greatly exaggerated,” and therefore “Canadians … need a currency that they can trust.”

Canada isn’t the first country to use polymer bills, Australia unveiled their polymer money in the 1980s and nearly 30 other countries have moved away from classic paper currency.

Here’s a great video explaining the new $100 polymer bills:

Do you think other paper currency based countries should move towards polymer based cash?

Canada Now Offering Plastic $100 Bills is a post from: The Inquisitr

Almost half of wealthy Chinese citizens are planning to move, with the United States and Canada as most popular destinations.

A report by Bank of China and Hurun Report, the publisher of luxury magazines, revealed that 46 percent of Chinese with assets of at least $1.6 million were considering emigrating. About 14 percent have already started moving.

Most of those who are planning to move said that they are seeking better education for their children. They were also concerned with the security of their assets in China. Because of this, they are also looking at bringing investments to the country where they intend to move. Some have already invested.

China has 271 billionaires as compared to 189 last year and there are 960,000 with at least $1.6 million. The country’s booming economic growth have allowed more Chinese to build their fortunes.

Of the 960,000 Chinese millionaires, 55% derived their wealth from their private business; 20% are property speculators; 15% are stock market gurus; and the remaining 10% are high earning salaried executives. It should be noted also that 30% of the millionaires are female.

Rigid education system, rising living costs and corruption is what’s playing against China and pushing millionaires to look for their place abroad.

Half of Chinese Millionaires Leaving China is a post from: The Inquisitr

This is a story that will likely never be duplicated, while examining ultrasound pictures of a testicular tumor researchers in Canada noticed somethings strange, a ghostly face was staring back at them.

Speaking to the National Post one doctor said of the photograph:

“It was almost like art coming out of this patient’s testicles,” while adding, “It was an amusing finding”—which was published in the journal Urology under the title “The Face of Testicular Pain.”

Unlike many chance occurrences that people claim to be of deity’s the general consensus this time pointed to a mere coincidence.

Writing about their findings the researchers said:

“The residents and staff alike were amazed to see the outline of a man’s face staring up out of the image, his mouth agape as if the face seen on the ultrasound scan itself was also experiencing severe epididymo-orchitis.”

In a happy ending the tumor was benign and the patient is said to be doing well regardless of the ghost that’s apparently living inside his testicle.

It’s not everyday a group of Urology researchers get published in a Urology journal with the words “amusing finding” attached to their work.

Do you think the image looks like a face?

Testicular Ultrasound Finds Face Inside Tumor is a post from: The Inquisitr

Oh man this has got to hurt the old pocket book but it seems that a Florida woman has just got socked with a $201,000 cell phone bill after her two deaf-mute brothers got back from  a trip north of the US Canada border.

Apparently the brothers thought it would be a great idea to spend two weeks in Canada and as was their habit the two brothers texted each other and their sister Celina Aarons, who was still at home in Florida, as well as downloading a few videos to watch.

Unfortunately though Celina forgot to change her cell phone data plan with T-Mobile to the semi price friendly international roaming data plan which meant her usual data plan that included her brothers went a little over the normal $175 she was use to.

Like a couple hundred thousand over.

Needless to say Celina contacted T-Mobile about the bill and hopefully for a bit of a break on the amount but T-Mobile said that was her bill and they expected payment promptly. No breaks at all.

So Celina decided that even though she knew that it was only fair to have a higher than normal bill and she did make the mistake of not changing her plan T-Mobile could have been a little more considerate of the situation. Running out of alternatives she contacted her local television stations, Miami TV station WSVN, to see if maybe they could help her out with some public pressure.

Well after running the story and contacting T-Mobile the carrier agreed to lover the bill from $201,000 to $2,500 and give Celina six months to pay the bill instead of just one month.

via TechVibes

A $201,000 cell phone bill, and no it’s not Canada’s fault is a post from: The Inquisitr

Resident Evil actress Milla Jovovich took some time on Tuesday to visit an injured female extra in the hospital after the extra plummeted two stories to the ground when a stage shifted during shooting.

After visiting with the extra Jovovich tweeted:

“I jst [sic] saw akiko (who goes by April btw) and she’s in a lot of pain. She injured her back,”  and added “Thank god she’s moving her hands and feet and not in critical condition.”

Milla says she’ll continue to check up on the actress, one of 16 people who were injured during the accident.

“She’s a piano player. Her brother plays the violin. I promised her that I would come and see her every week while I’m here to give her support and strength in her recovery,” said Milla while adding, “I can’t believe she said she wants to come back and finish her part, she’s incredible.”

The accident happened at “camp evil” during a zombie chase sequence for the movie Resident Evil: Retribution 3D.

After the accident and her subsequent visit to the injured extra Milla Jovovich told her fans that most of the extras were treated on set and returned to their roles almost immediately following the two-story fall.

While a major disaster was adverted it still has to be a scary moment for any of those extras who plan to get back up on that platform to finish the interrupted scene, although I have a feeling better safety precautions will be taken the second time around.

Milla Jovovich Visits Injured Extra In Hospital is a post from: The Inquisitr

Brits, Aussies, Canadians: prepare to gorge on cheap (or even free) e-books. Though it’s taken a while, Google’s E-book Store has finally made it to the UK, Australia, and Canada, after a period of US exclusivity.

That means those with a Kindle or an Android handset (an Android app is already available, though version 2.1 or later is required) can choose from millions of e-books, plenty of which are free public domain classics.

Here’s Google blowing its own trumpet:

“Readers in the UK now have access to the world’s largest e-books collection, with hundreds of thousands of e-books for sale – from major UK publishers like Hachette, Random House and Penguin – as well as more than two million public domain e-books for free.”

So there you go, yet another way to read books. If you head to the Android Marketplace now, you’ll see a ‘Books’ section has been added, alongside the usual ‘Apps’ and ‘Games’ icons.

The books should work on phones, tablets, laptops, and e-readers. I severely questions the point of reading a book on a tiny smartphone screen, but then I’m clinging on to paperbacks for as long as I can manage.

So, who in the UK, Oz, and Canada is spending the day downloading the whole of Shakespeare’s back catalog later today then never read it? Let us know in the comments!

Google’s E-Books Store Finally Launches in UK, Australia and Canada is a post from: The Inquisitr

According to the latest update from the National Hurricane Center, Hurricane Ophelia – now downgraded to Tropical Storm Ophelia – continued to weaken as it traveled over the cold Atlantic ocean over the weekend.

The most recent readings put Ophelia’s wind speeds at around 60 mph, but Ophelia started to speed up slightly as it moved towards Newfoundland at around 35 mph.

Tropical Storm Ophelia is currently situated around 65 miles west-northwest of Cape Race, Newfoundland. A tropical storm watch is currently in effect for the Avalon Peninsula. The National Hurricane Center expects that as Ophelia crosses the Avalon Peninsula, it will continue its weakening trend.

The Canadian Hurricane Center expects the eye of Tropical Storm Ophelia to pass over the Avalon Peninsula area of Newfoundland early Monday. Large swells from Ophelia are expected to hit the southern coast of Newfoundland on Monday, and the largest waves are due to hit sometime around noon. The swells on the southern coast of Newfoundland could get up to 5-7 meters (16-22 feet), officials say.

via CNN

Hurricane Ophelia gets downgraded, headed towards Newfoundland is a post from: The Inquisitr