HOW TO KEEP AMAZON ECHO AND GOOGLE HOME FROM RESPONDING TO YOUR TV

Voice assistants such as the Amazon Echo and Google Home are pretty smart, but they’re not yet sharp enough to understand the difference between TV and reality. A Google commercial during yesterday’s Super Bowl prompted Home to play whale noises, flip the hallway lights on, and recite a substitute for cardamom. As a series of actors barked “OK Google” commands on TV, the devices started doing what they were asked to do. Android phones with Google Assistant may have done the same thing. Google Home wasn’t haunted. It was just doing its job.

Any owner of a Google Home or Amazon Echo knows that certain TV commercials prompt unwanted activity. Representatives from both Google and Amazon told us that their television advertisements use altered audio to minimize the chances of a Home or an Echo responding to an ad. Google noted the company is working on a way to make its devices ignore commercials altogether. However, some speakers are still springing awake in some homes when the ads play on the television. Thankfully, there are some ways to keep your smart speaker from listening.

There’s a Switch for That

The best way to ensure your TV doesn’t hijack your helper is to use the physical switch on the back of each assistant that turns off the microphone. This is something you need to do manually every time you’re sitting down to watch a sporting event, or some other live TV show bound to include commercials you can’t skip. It’s not a perfect solution, because you have to remember to turn the assistant’s microphone back on when the event is over.

Change Alexa’s Wake Word

For the time being, that microphone-off switch is the only way to stop Google Home from responding to your TV’s whims. Home responds to two “wake phrases,” and both of them are always active: “OK Google,” and “Hey Google.” Whenever it hears either of those phrases, it starts recording a query and processing a response.

With Alexa, you can use an alternative wake word to lessen the chance of accidental assistance. You can’t set the wake word to anything you want, but you can limit it to a non-Alexa option.

1. Go to the Settings menu in your Amazon Alexa app.
2. Pick the device you want to manage.
3. In the “General” section, tap the “Wake Word” entry.
4. Choose between “Alexa,” “Amazon,” “Echo,” or “Computer.”

Unfortunately, of the four options Amazon allows as a wake word, “Alexa” is probably the least likely to trigger accidental wake-ups. “Computer” is cool, but it’s a word you’ll likely say a lot in normal conversation, and it will likely disrupt your next Star Trek binge session. “Echo” and “Amazon” are also commonly used words in everyday chatter. But if you change it to one of those, at least those Amazon ads won’t commandeer your Echo.

There are third-party Alexa devices coming to market soon, such as LG’s Hub robot, which will purportedly let you customize wake words and even respond to the voices of different individual humans.

U.S. judge temporarily blocks Trump's travel ban

A U.S. judge has imposed a nationwide hold on Donald Trump's ban on travellers and immigrants from seven majority-Muslim countries, siding with two states that had challenged the executive order that has launched legal battles across the country.

In Seattle, U.S. District Judge James Robart ruled that Washington state and Minnesota had standing to challenge Trump's order, which government lawyers disputed, and said they showed their case was likely to succeed.

About 60,000 people from the affected countries had their visas cancelled.

"The state has met its burden in demonstrating immediate and irreparable injury," Robart said. "This TRO [temporary restraining order] is granted on a nationwide basis ..."

It wasn't immediately clear what happens next for people who had waited years to receive visas to come to the U.S., however an internal email circulated among Homeland Security officials told employees to comply with the ruling immediately. 

U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials have also informed U.S. airlines that they can once again board travellers who had been barred by the executive order. Canada's WestJet was told the same thing.

White House responds

White House spokesperson Sean Spicer released a statement late Friday saying they "will file an emergency stay of this outrageous order and defend the executive order of the president, which we believe is lawful and appropriate."

Soon after, the White House sent out a new statement that removed the word "outrageous."

"The president's order is intended to protect the homeland and he has the constitutional authority and responsibility to protect the American people," the statement said.

Trump's order last week sparked global protests and confusion at U.S. airports as some travellers were detained. The White House has argued that it will make the country safer.

Washington became the first state to sue over the order that temporarily bans travel for people from Iran, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Somalia, Libya and Yemen and suspends the U.S. refugee program.

State Attorney General Bob Ferguson said the travel ban significantly harms residents and effectively mandates discrimination. Minnesota joined the lawsuit two days later.

'The law is a powerful thing'

After the ruling, Ferguson said people from the affected countries can now apply for entry to the U.S.

"Judge Robart's decision, effective immediately … puts a halt to President Trump's unconstitutional and unlawful executive order," Ferguson said. "The law is a powerful thing — it has the ability to hold everybody accountable to it, and that includes the president of the United States."

Gillian M. Christensen, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, said the agency doesn't comment on pending litigation. The judge's ruling could be appealed the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

The judge's written order, released late Friday, said it's not the court's job to "create policy or judge the wisdom of any particular policy promoted by the other two branches" of government.

The court's job "is limited to ensuring that the actions taken by the other two branches comport with our country's laws."

Robart ordered federal defendants "and their respective officers, agents, servants, employees, attorneys and persons acting in concert or participation with them are hereby enjoined and restrained from" enforcing the executive order.

Federal attorneys had argued that Congress gave the president authority to make decisions on national security and immigrant entry.

The two states won a temporary restraining order while the court considers the lawsuit, which aims to permanently block Trump's order. Court challenges have been filed nationwide from states and advocacy groups.

In court, Washington Solicitor General Noah Purcell said the focus of the state's legal challenge was the way Trump's order targeted Islam.

Trump has called for a ban on Muslims entering the country, and the travel ban was an effort to make good on that campaign promise, Purcell told the judge.

"Do you see a distinction between campaign statements and the executive order?" Robart asked. "I think it's a bit of a reach to say the president is anti-Muslim based on what he said in New Hampshire in June."

Purcell said there was an "overwhelming amount of evidence" to show that the order was directed at the Muslim religion, which is unconstitutional.

No attacks from 7 banned countries

When the judge questioned the federal government's lawyer, Michelle Bennett, he repeatedly questioned the rationale behind the order.

Robart, who was appointed the federal bench by President George W. Bush, asked if there had been any terrorist attacks by people from the seven counties listed in Trump's order since 9/11. Bennett said she didn't know.

"The answer is none," Robart said. "You're here arguing we have to protect from these individuals from these countries, and there's no support for that."

Bennett argued that the states can't sue on behalf of citizens and the states have failed to show the order is causing irreparable harm.

Robart disagreed.

Up to 60,000 foreigners from the seven majority-Muslim countries had their visas cancelled because of the executive order, the State Department said Friday.

That figure contradicts a statement from a Justice Department lawyer on the same day during a court hearing in Virginia about the ban. The lawyer in that case said about 100,000 visas had been revoked.

The State Department clarified that the higher figure includes diplomatic and other visas that were actually exempted from the travel ban, as well as expired visas.

Ferguson, a Democrat, said the order is harming Washington residents, businesses and its education system.

Washington-based businesses Amazon, Expedia and Microsoft support the state's efforts to stop the order. They say it's hurting their operations, too.

SpaceX and Lockheed CEOs meet with Donald Trump

Lockheed Martin CEO Marillyn Hewson and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk were among a dozen business leaders who met with the president to discuss manufacturing and related issues.

Trump said he would seek to keep manufacturing jobs in the United States and cut down on regulations.

Most Facebook hacks are done by friends, finds UBC survey

Want to keep your privacy protected? Keep your eyes on your friends.

A study conducted by Wali Ahmed Usmani, a master’s student at University of British Columbia found that those who you trust the most are the most likely to hack their way into your Facebook account.

The study, which was conducted between from February and March of 2016, looked to find out how common attacks on privacy are, who is most likely to be victimized, who is most likely to attack, why these attacks happen, what the damage is, and how one could possibly protect themselves.

1,308 adult Facebook users, 59% male and 41% female from the United States filled out surveys that included questions asking if they had someone use a device of theirs to access their own Facebook account without their permission, and if they had ever used someone else’s device to access that person’s Facebook account without permission.

“It’s clearly a widespread practice. Facebook private messages, pictures or videos are easy targets when the account owner is already logged on and has left their computer or mobile open for viewing,” said Usmani to ubc.ca.

The survey found that 24% of the group had accessed someone’s personal Facebook account without that person’s permission, and 21% had their Facebook’s violated. Reasons for the insider attacks ranged from practical jokes to invading privacy and reading a person’s messages, or in some circumstances malicious attacks on peoples’ friends using that person’s identity, or even deleting everything off their accounts. A lot of those who told their stores reported a lasting feeling of mistrust, ruined relationships, and embarrassment.

“A sizable fraction of Facebook users seem to have been involved in instances of social insider attacks. The high prevalence of attacks demonstrates a need for effective mechanisms to detect and report these attacks to account owners,” reads the report.

There are multiple ways to protect yourself from outside attacks, such as adding an authenticator, changing passwords often, and ensuring you don’t tell anyone your information. But the inside attacks are a much different animal, the only sure defense is to log out of your Facebook after every use on your devices.

Others made sure to make sure their devices were locked after use and making sure no one know the passwords for their devices.

But having to re-enter my Facebook password every time I wanted to simply scroll through my news feed for a bit (which I do very often throughout the day) or just send a few quick messages would get very tiresome. Researchers involved with the study suggested a passive log that would show how long was spent browsing personal messages and other related information. This would help to discourage people with the possibility of getting caught.

“Jealous snoops generally plan their action and focus on personal messages, accessing the account for 15 minutes or longer and the consequences are significant: in many cases, snooping effectively ended the relationship.” said computer science professor Ivan Beschastnikh, who was a co-author of the report.

YouTube is testing in-app messaging to take on Facebook

Google-owned video platform is currently testing a new in-app messaging feature on iOS and Android that will allow users to exchange clips, texts and links without ever having to leave the app. 

But there’s one catch: The functionality is solely available in Canada for the time being. Google product manager Shimrit Ben Yair told Canada’s Financial Post the decision to run trials on Canadian soil has to do with the fact that it’s the country that shares videos more than anyone else in the world.

The messaging platform is pretty straightforward and has no specific video-centric features. Still, the move towards in-app messaging could have much larger implications for the future of YouTube.

A few months back, Google toyed around with the idea of giving certain channels the option to send direct messages to their audience. It also briefly tested with in-app messaging last year in May.

The move was likely aimed at encouraging creators and fans to interact more on YouTube itself, rather than resorting to other platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit.

While it’s unclear whether Google has any plans to roll out the feature to all users in the future, the experiment is a strong indication that the company hasn’t quite given up on turning YouTube into more of a social network.

In case you want to sneak a peek at YouTube’s new messaging feature, get one of your Canadian friends to add you to a conversation – that should give you an early preview.

Sleeping man wakened by heat and flames from Samsung S5 phone

A Toronto man says he woke up to "massive flames shooting out the sides" of his Samsung S5 phone on Tuesday morning.

Mario Jakab went to bed around midnight on Tuesday, and woke up from the heat and firework-like sounds coming from his bedside table. 

"I jumped out of bed, alerted my girlfriend because I wasn't sure if anything was going to catch fire," said Jakab. "I waited for the fire to go out, because I'm not touching a flame."

In a statement to CBC Toronto, a spokesperson for Samsung said customer safety was their highest priority. 

"Upon being made aware of the reported incident we began working with Mr. Jakab to investigate the matter. Until we have had an opportunity to analyze the phone we are unable to comment on the matter further."

'There were two-foot high flames pretty close to my face, shooting upwards.' - Mario Jakab

Samsung has recalled batteries on the Galaxy Note 7 models, after the devices started catching fire. The S5 model is not included in the recall. This appears to be one of the first reports of an S5 catching fire, though a lawsuit filed in the U.S. alleges the problem extends to several other smartphones.

Jakab said a Samsung engineer picked up his device on Wednesday morning. When asked if he had modified the phone, he told them the battery and charging cable were all originals that came with the phone he bought in 2014. 

"I couldn't pick up my phone or take a video of what it was doing, or even call 911," he says.

Jakab doesn't want to think what might have happened if he didn't wake up, or if the phone was in his pocket.

He wants people to learn from what happened to him and protect themselves, but said he would likely not change his own habits when it comes to charging his phone at night. 

He also worries about children playing with Samsung phones.

"Just a battery heating up can burn a young child's hands, just from holding it," he said. "Apparently they're not toys, like we thought they were."

Tesla Motors To Share More Gigafactory Details At Trade Show In March

Earlier this month, Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) held an investor event at the Gigafactory, which included a factory tour as well as a recently-released handout on the battery cell manufacturing. Yet, most of the analysts have been unsatisfied with the details the automaker has provided up till now.

Electrek reported that Tesla will spill some more beans about what will be the world’s largest factory building at its completion. Both Tesla Senior Director of Cell Supply Chain & Business Development, Kurt Kelty, and the famous battery research partner, Jeff Dahn, will give a presentation at the annual International Battery Seminar & Exhibition, which will be held in Fort Lauderdale, FL between March 20 and March 23.

Mr. Kelty, one of the top battery scientists at Tesla, will give a keynote presentation on “Gigafactory Material Sourcing and Cell Production” at the exhibition on March 22, according to its brochure. Moreover, the cell production for Tesla Energy products, Powerwall and Powerpack built at the Gigafactory, will be discussed.

Soon after, Mr. Dahn will present at the seminar on the same day. The researcher has been studying on battery cell’s voltage, which can be increased to generate better durability and higher energy density of lithium-ion batteries. This would be essential for Tesla to bring down costs of its vehicles and energy storage products.

While his work focuses on nickel manganese cobalt oxide (NMC) lithium-ion cells, which is used by Tesla for its battery cell chemistry. Mr. Dahn’s keynote will be on “Surprising Chemistry in Li-Ion Cells,” discussing ways to counter harmful reactions in battery cells to increase their capacity.

Texas family blame Apple’s FaceTime in suit over fatal crash

SAN JOSE, Calif. — A Texas couple whose five-year-old daughter died in a crash involving a driver who was allegedly using Apple’s FaceTime video chatting app is suing the tech company.

The lawsuit filed this month in Santa Clara Superior Court accuses Apple of not implementing iPhone features that would automatically disable FaceTime based on technology that calculates highway speeds.

Apple hasn’t responded to the lawsuit and didn’t immediately respond to an email Saturday seeking comment.

Moriah Modisette was killed in a 2014 Christmas Eve accident near Dallas. The lawsuit obtained by California television KTLA claims police found FaceTime running on the iPhone of the driver who struck the Modisette family at 65 mph (105 km/h).

The family claims Apple knew the risks of using FaceTime while driving because the company patented “lock-out” technology in 2008.  

Students choose Hitler as parade theme

To celebrate the 62nd anniversary of a school in northern Taiwan, students were invited to choose historical figures and “cosplay” them at a parade Friday.
Liu Hsi-cheng, a history teacher at Hsinchu Kuang Fu High School, suggested to his homeroom class that they go with famous people from Arabic culture, he told the Taipei Times.
But Liu's students had another idea: a theme based on Adolf Hitler.
Liu warned his students that such a theme would be “very controversial,” the paper reported — but ultimately “chose to respect the students' decision and did not veto it” after the class voted on it twice.
On Friday, students from the school in Hsinchu, about 55 miles southwest of Taipei, showed up to the festivities wearing Nazi uniforms and brandishing signs, arm bands and long red banners with swastikas on them.
In one photo that the school has since provided to the media, one student can be seen sitting atop a tank made from cardboard boxes, his arm (albeit his left one) raised in a Nazi salute.
As word of the school activity circulated online, the outrage was swift and widespread. On social media, people in Taiwan and abroad condemned the students' decision as “ignorant” and “a disgusting display of disrespect.”
The incident also drew sharp rebukes from both the German Institute Taipei and the Israel Economic and Cultural Office in Taipei, which handle nondiplomatic relations between Taiwan and their respective countries.
Israel's representative office issued a statement Saturday that called the parade “deplorable and shocking” and noted that, less than a year ago, Taiwan had marked International Holocaust Remembrance Day for the first time with the participation of then-president Ma Ying-jeou.
“It is deplorable and shocking that seven decades only after the world had witnessed the horrors of the Holocaust, a high-school in Taiwan is supporting such an outrageous action as we witnessed yesterday at Hsinchu Kuang-Fu Senior High School,” the statement read in part.
“We strongly condemn this tasteless occurrence and call on the Taiwanese authorities, in all levels, to initiate educational programs which would introduce the meaning of the Holocaust and teach its history and universal meaning. Israel would support such endeavors as may be necessary.”
Germany's representative office also released a statement saying it was alarmed by the Hsinchu parade.
“In the course of Nazi rule, millions of people in Europe were persecuted and killed,” the statement read in part. “The Holocaust can be regarded as one of the most heinous crimes in human history. Unfortunately, it is clear that the students are not aware that the Nazi symbol means oppression and contempt for human rights.”
That day, Taiwan's Presidential Office ordered an investigation into the incident and the country's education minister, Pan Wen-chung, formally apologized and urged all schools in Taiwan to learn from the mistake, the Central News Agency reported.
The school's principal, Cheng Hsiao-ming, said Saturday he took responsibility for the incident and would resign from his position.
Holding a sheet of paper with both hands, Cheng read aloud a lengthy statement to local reporters in which he apologized to Holocaust victims and to the general public for what had happened.
“Educational institutions have a responsibility to teach students the correct values,” Cheng said. “We should teach students to learn from their mistakes.”
In that vein, Cheng said the school would organize a series of educational activities about the Holocaust, including watching movies such as “Schindler's List” and “Life is Beautiful.” They had invited staff members from Israel's representative office to speak at the school, he added.
Cheng also asked that the public not blame the teachers and students too much, as they had received overwhelming blowback from the public already, and vowed that they would turn this into an opportunity to teach understanding.
Cheng then bowed deeply to reporters.
Liu, the teacher, told CNS that his students deeply regretted their actions — and that he regretted allowing them to proceed with their theme.
“I should have immediately rejected [their vote] on the spot,” Liu told the news agency.
Teachers' groups in Taiwan lamented the incident as a failure of the nation's education system, the Taipei Times reported.
“We feel that we have not worked hard enough, and have allowed this absurd, ignorant and indifferent attitude toward the universal value of human rights to spread and become an international joke,” said a joint statement issued by Our Story Alliance of History Teachers and Action Coalition of Civics Teacher.

West Virginia official who called Michelle Obama 'ape in heels' fired

The director of a West Virginia nonprofit agency who called first lady Michelle Obama "an ape in heels" in a Facebook post has been fired and the institution put under outside management, state officials said on Tuesday.
Pamela Taylor, director of the Clay County Development Corp (CCDC), which provides services to poor and elderly residents, drew international condemnation after her comment last month about Obama went viral.
She resigned in November but was reinstated last month, prompting West Virginia to review its contracts with the nonprofit.
Democratic Governor Earl Ray Tomblin's office said the state had secured an agreement under which the Appalachian Area Agency on Aging will manage the CCDC for six months.
"Following the state's request for specific assurances that the CCDC is following anti-discrimination policies, we have been assured that Pamela Taylor has been removed from her position as CCDC director," Tomblin's office said in a statement.
Taylor could not be reached for comment.
The nonprofit in Clay, West Virginia, a small town about 20 miles (32 km) northeast of Charleston, the state capital, receives state and federal funding.
After the Nov. 8 election, Taylor went on Facebook to praise the switch from Obama to former model Melania Trump, the wife of President-elect Donald Trump, a Republican.
"It will be refreshing to have a classy, beautiful, dignified first lady back in the White House. I'm tired of seeing an ape in heels," she wrote.
Beverly Whaling, Clay's mayor, resigned after coming under fire for replying to Taylor's comment: "Just made my day Pam."
The Charleston Gazette-Mail has reported that the nonprofit received about $1.5 million in federal funding and $363,000 in state funding in 2014.

The group trying to take down North Korea with USB sticks

A human rights organization is trying to influence people living in one of the most closed societies in the world, with nothing more than USB sticks.Earlier this year, the Human Rights Foundation launched "Flash Drives for Freedom" with the goal of changing the totalitarian system of North Korea to a more free and open society, by delivering information and education, instead of relying on diplomacy or military action.Roughly 10,000 drives loaded with "subversive" content will be delivered to the country by the end of this year."Truth is an incredibly dangerous weapon," Alex Gladstein, Chief Strategy Officer for the Human Rights Foundation.

Peel Creepy Clown Caught

Peel cops resolved a terrifying clown threat without incident this week. 

According to Peel Regional Police, students at Lisgar Middle School in Mississauga were threatened on Tuesday.

"The culprit used the ‘Killer Clown’ theme as seen on various social media outlets," police said Thursday.

"Peel Regional Police take all threats seriously and on (Thursday) identified an 11 year-old male, a student at Lisgar Middle School as being responsible for the incident. During the investigation Peel Regional Police worked alongside the Peel District School Board to ensure the safety of all individuals that attend the school."

Police stressed "that the safety of all students in the Region of Peel is paramount.

"Parents are reminded to be proactive and speak with your children regarding the effects of pranks and to continue to contact police if a threat to a student’s safety is made," police said. "Threatening to harm another person is a serious offence included in the Criminal Code of Canada; as such Criminal Charges can be laid if warranted."

Airbnb isn't hurting the Hotel Industry

Ever since Airbnb came on the scene, the hotel industry has been worried the home-sharing company could hurt the hospitality and real estate industries. 

It turns out that at least some of those concerns might be unfounded. 

Data research firm STR took a look at Airbnb data alongside hotel data in 13 US and international markets. STR compared Airbnb to the biggest hotel chains in the world, like Marriott and Starwood (which recently merged), Hilton, Intercontinental Hotels Group, and more.

The data found that Airbnb has more than double the number of listings worldwide than Marriott/Starwood and Hilton combined, but it's not actually replacing hotels.  

Comparing Airbnb and hotels in the first place is "apples to oranges," as STR senior research analyst Jessica Haywood notes in her breakdown of the data. Travelers who choose to stay in an Airbnb versus a hotel are often looking for an entirely different type of experience. They want to interact with hosts, want to be immersed in the local culture, or simply can't afford to stay in a hotel, so will only travel if they have free or very cheap accommodations. 

Beyond that, Airbnb offers accommodations that hotels don't, like shared spaces or more whimsical places like tree houses and tents. Haywood notes that those kinds of atypical lodgings may have skewed her findings. 

Still, hotels crushed Airbnb in terms of occupancy in every market measured in the study. 

Hotel occupancy was still significantly higher in major markets like Los Angeles and San Francisco — Airbnb's home town — and the gap was even larger in international cities like Mexico City and London. Haywood estimates that in US cities, Airbnb is picking up the slack when hotels are full. Hotels also saw higher growth than Airbnb in nearly every US city. 

While Airbnb may certainly be stealing a small portion of hotel guests, that portion isn't nearly enough to unseat traditional lodgings. And while the hotel industry has other qualms with Airbnb — many believe Airbnb is contributing to gentrification and impacting housing costs — there's no reason to think Airbnb will put hotels out of business anytime soon.

‘Creepy clown’ pranksters charged after leaving 4-year-old daughter home alone

A Wisconsin couple is facing child neglect charges after allegedly leaving their four-year-old child at home alone while they went out dressed as clowns to prank people.

Dash cam video released by Menasha Police Department recorded officers responding to reports of clowns chasing vehicles around 4 a.m. Friday, where two men wearing clown masks were seen standing on a sidewalk.

A 20-year-old and 29-year-old were questioned. A 26-year-old woman, who reportedly had been driving the two men around, was also located in a parking lot nearby. 

An investigation led police to charge the 29-year-old man and the woman after learning their young daughter had been left at home for several hours.

Court records show the Department of Human Services removed the child from the couple’s home.

The woman is being held in jail on a probation hold.

The 20-year-old man has not been charged.

There have been an increasing number of reported clown sightings across the U.S. and Canada, and now the phenomenon has carried over into Britain.

Police say dressing as a clown is not illegal, but using threatening weapons during a prank can result in criminal charges.

Pokemon Go Miracle

Three and a half weeks after downloading Pokemon Go, a Toronto man claims to be the city’s first bona fide PokeMaster, catching all 142 Pokemon currently available in Canada.And, on top of earning those bragging rights, Roberto Vazquez says he lost 25 lbs in the process.“Once I went on the scale and saw it, I was in shock,” Vazquez, a professional photographer, told CTV News Channel on Thursday. “Because initially you’re playing the game, you’re running around, you’re walking a lot, you don’t really notice that you’re being very active.”His quest to catch ‘em all began on July 8th and took him across Toronto to areas he’d never seen before. He made new friends, hatched plenty of eggs and reached level 24 in the game. All while clocking more than 266 kilometres on the app.Vazquez said his motivation was rooted in nostalgia.“I just started because as a child I watched the show with my friends, played the games, and it definitely brought back good memories,” he said.Since its July release, Pokemon Go has become a global phenomenon with more than 100 million downloads worldwide. The augmented reality game has made headlines for breathing new life into the 20-year-old Japanese franchise, causing a major boom (and bust) to Nintendo Co.’s stocks, and triggering a series of player-related mishaps. Two men in California tumbled off a cliffplaying the game, and other players have quit their jobs,allegedly been shot at and slapped with parking tickets.Asked about the notorious misadventures, Vazquez said it’s important to heed the game’s warning and stay aware of your surroundings as you play.“At the end of the day, it’s still a game and you’re in real life,” he said. “You want to make sure you’re being safe with others in the area.”And aside from weight loss, the professional photographer says the game has been an eye-opening experience for his job.“For my line of work it’s amazing because I get to see new locations and utilize it for my own work,” he said.His next mission, he says, is to catch the elusive Farfetch’d, a normal- and flying-type Pokemon that resembles a duck and is currently only available in Asia.His gameplay may also be given a second wind if Niantic, the company behind Pokemon Go, decides to release its legendary Pokemon – a development the company’s founder recently alluded to at San Diego Comic Con.Vazquez isn’t the first player to report health benefits from playing Pokemon Go. A British playertold CNN he lost 28 lbs. playing the game, and a University of British Columbia professor has said the game could provide significant mental health benefits for people with depression or social anxiety.

Real Madrid

Real Madrid second in La Liga  after Barcelona.

Five Earthquakes near British Columbia

There have been five earthquakes off the coast of British Columbia, since Saturday. All earthquakes have been at least 4 on the rector scale.

BCTF End Strike

The British Columbia Teachers Federation (BCTF) has officially ended their strike and public school in the province will continue on Monday for most districts. Now the real question for parents are when are we going to get our daycare money from the provincial government.

A portion of the White House Evacuated

A portion of the White House was evacuated after a man jumped over the fence on the near the west wing of the property. At the time the president was going on a trip to Maryland with his family.

B.C. teachers' strike: When will schools reopen?

A tentative deal has been reached in an effort to end the B.C. teachers' strike, but a lot remains to be done before schools can reopen.
Both sides need to finalize the details of the tentative pact, which is expected to happen sometime on Tuesday.
Then the province's 41,000 public school teachers will have to vote on the proposed contract.
A date for a ratification vote has not yet been announced, but B.C. Teachers' Federation spokeswoman Nancy Knickerbocker tweeted that teachers could vote on the tentative deal on Thursday.
David Komlenjovic, president of the Kamloops/Thompson Teachers' Association and a member of the provincial bargaining committee says he expects classes to resume next week.
"The executive still has to ratify it provincially, recommend it to the membership, and once the membership has ratified it, students could be back in school by Monday."
Lots of work to be done
Vancouver School Board trustee Mike Lombardi says school administrators have been doing what they can to prepare for a swift return to classes, but it will take time.
He says there may be specific details regarding the back-to-school protocol in the tentative deal — if that's the case, they would dictate how soon classes can begin.
Administrators need to assign teachers to classes, and then those teachers will need time to prepare for students.
School counsellors also need to draw up new schedules for students, in particular those who were unable to make up classes at summer school.
"In our secondary schools, the administrator is not the one who does the timetable. The timetable is specifically done by the counsellors, and so the counsellors are part of the union. So we're going to have to wait until we see exactly what kids' courses look like."
Lombardi says there may be difficulty working out missed summer school courses for some students.
In addition, administrators say schools, which have behind picket lines for three months, need to be cleaned.
It all suggests students could be back in school likely Monday next week.
Some schools have professional development days scheduled for Monday and it remains unclear what will happen in those cases.