Technology

The Week in Canadian Press Releases: 10 Stories You Need to See

Published

2 years ago

October 18, 2024

A roundup of the most newsworthy press releases from Cision Distribution this week

TORONTO, Oct. 18, 2024 /CNW/ – With thousands of press releases published each week, it can be difficult to keep up with everything on Cision. To help journalists and consumers stay on top of the week’s most newsworthy and popular releases, here’s a recap of some major stories from the week that shouldn’t be missed.

The list below includes the headline (with a link to the full text) and an excerpt from each story. Click on the press release headlines to access accompanying multimedia assets that are available for download.

Alignvest Student Housing REIT to be Acquired by Forum REIIF, Creating the Leading Owner and Developer of Purpose-Built Student Accommodations in Canada
Alignvest Student Housing Inc. (“ASH”) is pleased to announce that it has entered into definitive agreements with Forum Asset Management (“Forum”) for the acquisition of substantially all of the assets and liabilities of Alignvest Student Housing Real Estate Investment Trust (“ASH REIT”) by Forum Real Estate Income and Impact Fund (“Forum REIIF”) for a total purchase price of $1.686 billion payable in cash and units of Forum REIIF, a substantial premium to ASH REIT’s current net asset value.Now Available in Canada: Tactacam’s Defend Cellular Camera for Property Surveillance
“After a successful launch in the U.S., we’re excited to expand this offering to our Canadian customers, ensuring business and property owners across North America have access to our technology,” said Kelly Hover, Chief Experience and Marketing Office. “We recognize the unique challenges our customers face in securing assets in remote areas or places without Wi-Fi. With Defend, they can have peace of mind knowing that their property is protected with the most advanced cellular camera technology available for simple security anytime and anywhere.”Privately-held for decades, rare Emily Carr watercolour heads to Audain Art Museum in Whistler
The Audain Art Museum announced today the acquisition of an exceptional historical watercolour painting by revered Canadian artist, Emily Carr. Held for many years in private collections, War Canoes, Alert Bay, circa 1908, was unveiled alongside another painting of the same name at a ceremony in Vancouver. The newly acquired watercolour on paper was paired with an iconic oil on canvas from the Museum’s Permanent Collection, signifying the extraordinary reunion of two closely-related Carr masterworks, more than one hundred years after they were first painted.Incyte Announces Health Canada Approval of OPZELURA® (ruxolitinib) Cream for the Treatment of Atopic Dermatitis (AD) and Nonsegmental Vitiligo
“Up until this point, we’ve had very limited options for vitiligo treatment. Health Canada’s approval of OPZELURA marks a critical milestone and step forward in supporting Canadians with vitiligo,” said Dr. Harvey Lui, Professor, Department of Dermatology & Skin Science at the University of British Columbia. “As a dermatologist who sees the impact of vitiligo of patients and their families first-hand, I’m excited to be able to offer patients this completely new treatment option and approach.”Breaking the Ice: e.l.f. Cosmetics Partners Up with Toronto Maple Leafs
“Partnering with the Toronto Maple Leafs, the most globally recognized hockey team, was a natural extension of our commitment to inclusivity,” said Patrick O’Keefe, Chief Integrated Marketing Officer of e.l.f. Beauty. “45% of the Leafs’ fan base is female and the EYES.LEAFS.FACE. campaign allows us to connect with these incredible women in a way that’s rarely been done before. We love creating unique, tailored experiences that resonate with them directly.” Auto thieves target Atlantic Canada as claims soar across region
“Atlantic Canada is in the midst of an auto theft crisis and without action it will only get worse,” added Dean. “We need provincial governments to work swiftly with the federal government to implement the recommendations in the national action plan. Specifically, we need investments in Atlantic ports to make it more difficult to export stolen vehicles. We also need the Atlantic provinces to provide more resources for inter-agency law enforcement that’s focused on auto theft.”Electricity Demand in Ontario to Grow by 75 per cent by 2050
The accelerated pace of demand growth in this year’s forecast is primarily attributed to the industrial sector, which includes additional electric vehicle supply chain manufacturing; and energy-intensive data centres, a trend that is quickly emerging around the world to support the proliferation of artificial intelligence. An increasing population and focus on electrification are other factors continuing to escalate electricity demand across the province.A&W’s Masala Veggie Burger rolls out nationwide due to record-breaking demand!
“Our purpose at Nanak Foods is to bring together communities who share the same love for food,” says Gurpreet Arneja, President of Nanak Foods. “We are excited to partner up with A&W for the Masala Veggie Burger in helping to share the South Asian flavours to a wider Canadian market. As a South Asian Canadian business, we love to see brands like A&W be more innovative and expand their menu items with the growing taste of Canadians, giving guests access to flavours from across the world.”Cedar Leaf Capital, Canada’s first majority Indigenous-owned investment dealer, has received regulatory approval to begin operations
Cedar Leaf Capital, Canada’s first majority Indigenous-owned investment dealer, announced plans to open its doors later this month to foster greater Indigenous participation in Canada’s capital markets. The partnership between Scotiabank, Nch’ḵay̓ Development, Des Nedhe Group, and Chippewas of Rama First Nation, first announced in February 2024, has received all required regulatory approvals.Prop Tech Startup Lamarr.AI Raises $1.1 Million in Pre-seed Funding to Bring Disruptive Building Diagnostics Technology to Market
“The interest from real estate companies in what we’ve built has been incredibly rewarding after perfecting the technology for nearly a decade in our lab,” said Tarek Rakha, CEO of Lamarr.AI and Associate Professor at Georgia Tech’s School of Architecture. “We are leveraging advances in drones, thermal imaging, and AI to autonomously detect building defects at scale, and with unprecedented accuracy. This innovation is enabling property owners to address faults before they become expensive headaches or environmentally unsustainable threats.”

Read more of the latest releases from Cision, see our resources for journalists, and stay caught up on the top press releases by following @cnwnews.

About Cision Canada

Cision is a comprehensive communications platform enabling more than 100,000 public relations and marketing professionals around the world to understand, influence and amplify their stories. As the market leader, Cision enables the next generation of communication professionals to strategically operate in the modern media landscape where company success is directly impacted by public opinion. Cision has offices in 24 countries through the Americas, EMEA and APAC, and offers a suite of best-in-class solutions, including Newswire, Brandwatch, Cision Communications Cloud® and Cision Insights. To learn more, visit www.cision.ca and follow @CisionCA on Twitter.

SOURCE Cision Canada

Technology

From China Mobile’s Call Upgrade to the Commercial Launch of “Calling + AI” by Leading Operators: AI Is Reshaping the Value of Native Calling

Published

15 minutes ago

July 25, 2026

BEIJING, July 25, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — On June 15, 2026, China Mobile announced a comprehensive upgrade to its traditional calling services, ushering in a next-generation calling experience defined by HD, intelligence, and security. This milestone not only marks a major leap in telecommunication innovation but also reflects a global, inevitable shift: the transformation of basic communication into intelligent, inclusive services.

Breaking Experience Barriers and Redefining the Paradigm of Basic Calling

Overcoming the limitations of traditional, voice-only interactions, China Mobile has leveraged its mature VoLTE/VoNR network foundation to deeply integrate AI models with HD audio and video capabilities. Without requiring users to change their phones or SIM cards, seven core AI functions are now seamlessly embedded into the native dialer interface.

These upgrades include Live Captions bridge communication gaps for the elderly and hearing-impaired; HD video calls and AI noise reduction create a crystal-clear, immersive calling experience; AI anti-fraud intercepts high-risk calls in real time to safeguard users’ assets. Furthermore, the introduction of Data Channel (DC) technology and visual call menus transforms standard calls into agile, interactive service windows, enabling multi-party collaboration and seamless business transactions directly within the call. Through this initiative, China Mobile has successfully evolved traditional calls from a mere voice pipeline into a secure, integrated information hub.

“Calling + AI” Becomes a Strategic Consensus Among Global Leading Operators

From a global perspective, China Mobile’s call upgrade is not an isolated milestone, but a microcosm of the global telecommunications industry’s broader transformation. Throughout 2026, major operators worldwide are accelerating the commercial deployment of “Calling + AI” solutions:

Deutsche Telekom launched Magenta AI, leveraging artificial intelligence to enhance calling across all scenarios;T-Mobile US introduced a network-side, real-time translation service covering over 80 languages, effectively breaking down cross-border communication barriers;Saudi stc rolled out English-Arabic bilingual simultaneous interpretation, which has now entered large-scale commercial trials;South Korea’s LG U+ launched its ixi-O intelligent calling assistant, shifting the user experience from passive responses to proactive smart interactions and earning three prestigious GLOMO industry awards.

The synchronized efforts of these global leaders confirm that basic calling services have officially entered a new era of AI integration. Deeply empowered by artificial intelligence, “Calling + AI” has become the definitive blueprint for the intelligent transformation of the global telecommunications industry. As operators continue to refine these native capabilities, the traditional voice network is poised to reclaim its position as the most secure, ubiquitous, and valuable entry point in the AI era.

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/apac/news-releases/from-china-mobiles-call-upgrade-to-the-commercial-launch-of-calling–ai-by-leading-operators-ai-is-reshaping-the-value-of-native-calling-302834622.html

SOURCE China Mobile

Technology

Trip.com Group Sincerely Accepts Administrative Penalty Decision Issued by the State Administration for Market Regulation of the People’s Republic of China

Published

3 hours ago

July 25, 2026

SINGAPORE, July 25, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Trip.com Group Limited (Nasdaq: TCOM; HKEX: 9961) today announced that it has received the administrative penalty decision issued by the State Administration for Market Regulation of the People’s Republic of China.

Trip.com Group sincerely accepts the decision and will adopt rectification measures in accordance with applicable laws and regulations to implement the decision’s requirements. The Company will strengthen its long-term governance mechanisms and strive to contribute to the sustainable development of the travel industry.

Trip.com Group’s management team will host a conference call at 8:00 AM U.S. Eastern Time on July 27, 2026 (or 8:00 PM Hong Kong Time on July 27, 2026).

The conference call will be available on Webcast live at: http://investors.trip.com.

All participants must pre-register to join this conference call using the participant registration link below:
https://register-conf.media-server.com/register/BIb78e08d8f18340c4882a7e4ab961906b.

Upon registration, each participant will receive details for this conference call, including dial-in numbers and a unique access PIN. To join the conference, please dial the number provided, enter your PIN, and you will join the conference instantly.

For further information, please contact:
Investor Relations
Trip.com Group Limited
Email: iremail@trip.com

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/tripcom-group-sincerely-accepts-administrative-penalty-decision-issued-by-the-state-administration-for-market-regulation-of-the-peoples-republic-of-china-302834599.html

SOURCE Trip.com Group Limited

Technology

NAVER Partners with Brookfield and NVIDIA to Expand Korea’s National AI Factory Infrastructure Buildout

Published

5 hours ago

July 25, 2026

SAN FRANCISCO, July 25, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — NAVER, Brookfield and NVIDIA announced an expansion of Korea’s sovereign AI factory infrastructure. New investments will increase the initial NVIDIA DSX™ AI factory deployment from 55 megawatts to 200 megawatts.

Announced during Korea President Jae Myung Lee’s AI Summit visit to San Francisco, the planned 200-megawatt expansion will be built with the NVIDIA DSX platform at NAVER’s GAK Sejong hyperscale data center in Sejong, South Korea. The expanded infrastructure will provide Korea- and U.S.- based AI innovators with access to production-scale AI compute for building next-generation models, agents and AI-powered services.

Under the terms of the agreements, Brookfield will fund up to $9 billion as the exclusive capital partner, NVIDIA will invest $1 billion and NAVER will fund the remaining amount to finance the $10 billion project.

This builds on NAVER’s June announcement to extend its GAK Sejong data center with NVIDIA DSX, with a long-term path to gigawatt-scale sovereign AI infrastructure serving Korea’s enterprises, industries, government organizations and global AI cloud customers. Combining Brookfield’s capital with NVIDIA’s computing platform, the investment supports NAVER’s AI factory deployment.

“NVIDIA’s strategic investment and our infrastructure supply agreement with Brookfield have propelled NAVER’s vision for the AI Factory business into a robust execution phase,” said Haejin Lee, Founder and Chairman of NAVER. “Leveraging the solid partnerships with our global partners, we will drive technological innovation, foster a sovereign AI ecosystem, and spearhead efforts to strengthen South Korea’s AI competitiveness.”

AI Factory Expansion and Open Model Collaboration to Fuel AI Innovators

NAVER, as an NVIDIA Cloud Partner, provides deep expertise in operating hyperscale infrastructure powered by the full-stack NVIDIA AI platform. The 200-megawatt AI factory, featuring NVIDIA Vera Rubin and Blackwell platforms, will establish a dedicated resource pool for emerging AI companies, providing the compute, software and support needed to develop and deploy competitive AI models and applications at scale.

This expanded infrastructure also builds on NAVER and NVIDIA’s collaboration on open model development for agentic and physical AI. NAVER is advancing its HyperCLOVA X models to be based on NVIDIA Nemotron™ 3 Ultra open models with its proprietary data and training expertise. NAVER is also the first Korean company to join the NVIDIA Nemotron Coalition, contributing to open model development across pretraining, post-training and reinforcement learning.

NAVER plans to launch an AI agent platform in Korea in the second half of the year, powered by NVIDIA Agent Toolkit software including NVIDIA NemoClaw™ blueprints. NAVER is also developing a Seoul World Model using proprietary urban street-view and spatial modeling data, built on NVIDIA Cosmos™ world foundation models.

About NAVER

Founded in 1999, NAVER is Korea’s largest Internet company and one of the world’s top tech companies. Leading cutting-edge technologies, NAVER operates the No.1 search engine in Korea and holds various business portfolios encompassing commerce, fintech, cloud, AI and robotics.

NAVER recorded sales of KRW 12.04 trillion (USD 8.18 billion) in 2025. TEAM NAVER continues to enhance its business portfolio and expand its global presence across Japan, North America, and Europe, while pursuing innovation through continuous research and development in future technologies.

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/naver-partners-with-brookfield-and-nvidia-to-expand-koreas-national-ai-factory-infrastructure-buildout-302834577.html

SOURCE NAVER