Microsoft to open 9th retail store in Canada on November 20 at the Eaton Centre

Microsoft is opening its latest flagship store in downtown Toronto on November 20 at the Eaton Centre. Taking over where the old Sony Style store stood for many years, the new Microsoft Store will likely replace the tiny pop-up store that seems to have served as a placeholder for when a bigger, better location was available. This will be the 9th Canadian store and the 109th store in North America.

Part of the celebrations include a ribbon cutting at 10:30 a.m. Hockey superstar Tie Domi will be on hand to play Xbox with lucky visitors. Attendees will also be able to purchase a Dell Venue 8 Pro 32 GB for just $99 or an Xbox 360 for only $99. This offer is limited to one per customer while supplies last.

Santa Claus is coming to town...with a few apps!

Text and photos by Sonya Davidson

We were invited to get a sneak peek at Santa's Secret Workshop yesterday as Mr. & Mrs. Claus, along with their elves, were busy putting on the final touches to the colourful floats and costumes! On November 16th, Toronto plays host to the 110th annual Santa Claus Parade.

Thousands of kids and families line the streets of the city and millions watch worldwide. It's touted is the largest outdoor entertainment event for families in Canada. Over 30 floats and 21 marching bands will make this the biggest parade in Canadian history thanks to the new community partnership with Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment (MLSE). 

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BlackBerry Passport launch event to be live-streamed tomorrow

As we wind down one of the most event-packed Septembers in smartphone launch history, BlackBerry is taking its turn tomorrow to launch their new Passport smartphone in an event that will run concurrently in Dubai, London and Toronto. We couldn't make it to Dubai, but we will definitely be covering the event in Toronto as early as 8:00 am Eastern time. It has been a while since BlackBerry hosted a huge launch event like this (last time was the BB10 launch with the Z10 and Alicia Keys). It also feels like forever since I've attended a huge product launch in my hometown. For anyone who wants to catch the proceedings, Blackberry is streaming the event live from http://live.blackberry.events/.

Post launch, expect to get your my first impressions on the new device as well as some hands on video and possible review to follow. Stay tuned for what we hope is a great comeback event from the company that started it all back in the day.

Sights and sounds from Hondy Indy Toronto 2014

Despite the rainy weather the Honda Indy Toronto 2014 is going strong this weeked. I had a chance to check out the trials as well as visit various attractions at the Exhibition Place last Friday courtesy of event sponsor Wind Mobile (who gave two Canadian Reviewer readers tickets to Saturday and Sunday races. Being around the Indy cars is an exhilirating experience and the best way to appreciate the cars and how fast they go is to be up close

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