Amazon's new Vancouver office to bring 3,000 jobs, vote of confidence in Canadian talent

Photo from THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan HaywardBy Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

There was huge news coming out of Vancouver yesterday as Amazon announced it is opening a new office that will employ 3,000 Canadians bringing Amazon's Canadian workforce to over 9,000 by 2020.

This is a huge vote of confidence in Canada and the Vancouver area.  Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, welcomed Amazon’s announcement that it will create 3,000 new jobs in Vancouver. Combined with the 1,000 new jobs announced by Amazon in November 2017.

Amazon, which is based out of Seattle, Washington, a neighbour to Vancouver with similar climate, is the third most valuable company with a market capitalization to $702.46 billion.

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CIRA: One-third of businesses have leaked sensitive information to cyber thieves

The Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) released its 2018 Canadian Internet Security Survey which provides an overview of the Canadian cybersecurity landscape. The findings of the study are alarming and reveal that more of our personal information has been leaked to cyber thieves by businesses. The full survery can be found here.

In late 2017, CIRA reached out to .CA registrants who identified as either businesses or institutions (this includes non-for-profits and government) to ask them about their cybersecurity concerns, challenges, and awareness. Nearly 2,000 responses from the Canadian business community helped provide insight into the threat landscape in Canada to determine where the challenges are, what gaps exist, and how businesses are coping.

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Microsoft's Build Conference returns to Seattle on May 7

Microsoft's Build developer's conference returns to Seattle, Washington on May 7-9. Registration for developers opens on February 15, 2018. Build was usually held in the Bay Area but is now heading back to Microsoft's home state.

Expected to be discussed at Build are the upcoming versions of Windows 10 Fall Creators Update, including Windows on ARM and hopefully a glimpse of some new hardware, possibly a sneak peak at the anticipated 'Andromeda' folding tablet with telephony device.

Microsoft to double size of Montreal research lab to bolster machine learning and deep learning tech

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau discussing Canadian expansion and AI at Davos

“Montreal is really one of the most exciting places in AI right now,” said Jennifer Chayes, a technical fellow and managing director of Microsoft Research New England, New York City and Montreal.

Microsoft announced plans to significantly expand its Montreal research lab, starting with the hire of renowned artificial intelligence expert, Geoff Gordon as the lab’s Research Director.

The expansion comes as Montreal is becoming a worldwide hub for groundbreaking work in the fields of machine learning and deep learning, which are core to AI advances. Upcoming plans include doubling the size of Microsoft Research Montreal within the next two years, to as many as 75 technical experts. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau met with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella today in Davos to discuss Microsoft’s plans for the Montreal Research lab and Montreal’s AI ecosystem.

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