What Canadians need to know about the Distracted Driving Law

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

Starting this week, Police officers in Ontario and British Columbia have started enforcing the distracted driving law and meted fines and demerit points to drivers using handheld celfones or other mobile devices while driving.

Ontario’s Distracted Driving Law came into effect on October 26 and British Columbia followed suit on January 1. Up until now, however, both provinces have only issued warning tickets with no fines or demerit points attached. Here's what we need to know about  the distracted driving law.

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Mobilicity set to launch in Spring as Canada's 7Th wireless carrier

It is about to get a bit more crowded in Canada's wireless provider landscape. There's a new player in town called Mobilicity (formerly Dave Wireless) is set to launch its 3G service in Spring. A combination of "mobility" and "simplicity," Mobilicity is aiming to offer unlimited data plans and contract-free signups. Moblicity's network will be AWS (advance Wireless Service) 3G which is similar to Wind Mobile and which, incidentally, is compatible with the Google Nexus One smartphone.

In addition to offering simple, value-packed unlimited plans, Mobilicity will feature an outstanding lineup of reliable, name-brand handsets from leading manufacturers, like Research In Motion (BlackBerry) and Nokia – without any contracts that lock customers into service plans.

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Rekindled: Amazon's eBook Reader comes to Canada

Amazon's Kindle eBook reader went global to 100 countries a month ago but for reasons unexplained, Canada wasn't included in the roll out. Better late than never, it is now.

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Microsoft launches Security Essentials

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla From the better-late-than-never files, Microsoft has taken to guarding its own backyard with MS Security Essentials Beta. Antivirus and anti-spyware applications are a part and parcel of the Windows computing experience. Aside from the bloaty Nortons and beefy McAfees of this world, many users have been relying on free applications like Avast! Home Edition, Ad-Aware, and AVGFree to keep their systems secure. Changing the face of freebies somewhat, Microsoft recently launched Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE), a free application evolved from its subscription based Windows Live OneCare suite of antivirus, antispyware and firewall programs. MSE is compatible with Windows XP, Windows Vista and the upcoming Windows 7. "This new, no-cost offering will give us the ability to protect an even greater number of consumers, especially in markets where the growth of new PC purchases is outpaced only by the growth of malware," claims Microsoft. Microsoft appears to be taking protection seriously. The company constantly monitors malware as seen on its protection center website (microsoft.com/security/portal). Ease of installation and on-demand update capabilities, plus the fact that it is tightly integrated with the Windows OS, makes Microsoft Security Essentials an attractive option. Currently offered as a beta download, to date there is no indication that MSE will be bundled with retail versions of Windows 7 or continue to be made available as a free optional download. As for upsetting antivirus and anti-malware software makers by offering a free competing product, the likes of Windows Defender and Windows Firewall from Microsoft have been available for free since 2005, so coexistence with commercial antispyware and firewall solutions is expected to continue without much conflict (or cries of MS monopoly).

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