The Peak Daily

A who’s who of global leaders are landing in New Delhi as the annual G20 Summit starts tomorrow… or later today if you factor in the time difference. Imagine this: You’re a company, and your second-biggest market, which generates almost a fifth of your revenue, suddenly enacts a partial ban on your products. Cars are packed to the gills with technology these days, leading to various problems like...

The Bank of Canada held its policy interest rate steady at 5% yesterday, but don’t call it a pivot—they’re ready to hike again if that’s what it takes to whip inflation, and they want to make sure everyone knows it. As Labour Day fades from sight in the rearview mirror, more Canadian employers are telling, not asking, employees to return to the office for at least a few days of the week. For artis...

Athletes: They’re just like you and me. They eat, sleep, and are painfully aware of how many views their latest Instagram story is getting. At an international summit of Asian countries, the Prime Minister of Indonesia got a custom Team Canada basketball jersey , and Canada got a shiny new foreign partnership. As the US-China chip continues to run hot, a new smartphone has entered the chat. Celebr...

It’s back to school for students across Canada, and teachers are preparing to contend with a new presence in the classroom that’s shaping up to be more disruptive than the class clown: Artificial intelligence. While Canadian troops have been used to fight unprecedented wildfires this summer, some say there’s a better solution. As renters start to echo the concerns of  Jimmy McMillan   (read: the r...

Canadian mortgage balances are making like a gym bro and getting swole. The newest location of Canada’s largest bookstore is set to offer  a lot  more than books. Robots have never been welcome on the internet—think of all the crosswalk photos waiting to stump us in a CAPTCHA—but that’s never been more true in an era of web scraping bots. Like two mismatched cops assigned to work the same case in...

If your top skills include “counting, like,  really  high” then boy, does the government have a job for you. The newest location of Canada’s largest bookstore is set to offer  a lot  more than books. It might be time to cut back on the spaghetti carbonara… not because you need to watch the carbs, but to save on your grocery bill. Celebrating something? Let us know here: https://thepeak.typeform.co...

Google and Microsoft are duking it out to become  the  provider of AI tools for your office. Montréal is famous for its bagels, poutine, and… apartment-swaps? The emergency alerts you get on your phone are facing fierce criticism, and not just because they frequently scare the living daylights out of you with that  blaring siren sound . Celebrating something? Let us know here:  https://thepeak.typ...

As the West and China’s geopolitical relations grow tenser than our vocal cords during a big podcast recording, academic relations are also under strain. As the labour market slows down, the “ job-hopping generation ” is deciding to stay put. Here are our early predictions for what will be hot in 2024: Lavender mocktails, tube tops, middle-distance running, aaand rampant cybercrime. Celebrating so...

Ever played SimCity and thought it might be fun to try your hand at creating a city from scratch in real life? You aren’t alone: A growing cohort of entrepreneurs backed by deep-pocketed financiers are giving it a whirl. A scientific breakthrough could shed light on some of the biggest threats facing men's health. How are scores of Americans trying to lose weight affecting Danish monetary policy?...

The exact causes of the plane crash believed to have killed Russian warlord Yevgeny Prigozhin have not been found, but there are plenty of theories beyond bad turbulence. Like Carlos Alcaraz at Wimbledon this year, Nvidia’s recent performance has launched it into household name status. Today, in unsurprising news, dumping nuclear wastewater into the ocean is controversial. Celebrating something? L...

An exclusive economic club between Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa is officially open for new members. Cold drinks are hot right now, and it’s all because Gen Z thinks they’re totally mother … are we using that right? Québec didn’t waste any time shooting down the fed's latest proposal for tackling the housing crisis. Celebrating something? Let us know here: https://thepeak.typeform...

Like vinyl records, lunar exploration is a 1960s fave that’s back in a big way. For anyone who tries to get by with only **speaking English on vacation, Meta has introduced new technology that could help you keep the ball rolling. For sale: One lightly used sandwich chain. Price tag: About ten billion dollars. Celebrating something? Let us know here: https://thepeak.typeform.com/to/MNdYA3TO

In today’s episode of ‘Canadian housing gone wrong’: A 2021 Montréal bylaw meant to lead to the construction of over 1,200 new social housing units has produced zero. In the first five months of the year, overall global fine art sales have dropped by 14% compared to the same time last year, while sales at the Big Three Auction houses (Sotheby's, Christie's and Phillips) dropped a whopping 20%, per...

British Columbia introduced travel restrictions and expanded evacuation orders over the weekend as wildfires continue to rage in the province, but officials expressed optimism yesterday that fire crews were turning the corner in the battle to contain the blazes. Big Tech may not have any interest in complying with Canada’s recent attempts to regulate them, but the European Union is having more luc...

Someone call Ramit Sethi from Netflix’s How To Get Rich, because Canadian cities need financial rescuing. Looking to cut back on drinking? There’s an app for that. It’s been about a year since a pair of US laws triggered a flood of incentives for investments in clean energy production and semiconductor manufacturing. Celebrating something? Let us know here: https://thepeak.typeform.com/to/MNdYA3TO

More Germans could soon be putting down the stein of pilsner in favour of  der marihuana-zigarette  as the country approaches recreational weed legalization. You’re probably already letting AI autocomplete your sentences or choose what you watch next on Netflix… but would you lean on a chatbot to give you life advice? Are you a lonely heart? Do you have some serious cash burning a hole in your poc...

With a new mandate to cut billions in federal spending, cabinet members might have to skip the icebreakers and head straight to the whiteboard at their team retreat next week. You can now add ‘higher prices’ to the list of reasons to put off your next visit to the dentist, alongside ‘awkward small talk’ and ‘pointy tools.’ We regret to inform you that it’s finally time to talk about Donald Trump’s...

Nearly nine months after the release of ChatGPT, Canada is progressing toward increasing safety and transparency around generative AI. With rents hitting record highs and the school year incoming, start-ups are helping students find rooms where they can live, study, and hang posters of Quentin Tarantino movies. Waters in Nova Scotia were glowing pink last Thursday, and no, it wasn’t a viral market...

Nothing quite says romance in the year 2023 like sending sweet nothings to an AI chatbot. In the past month, Canadians have broken Guinness World Records for the deepest  underwater model photoshoot  (6.4 metres), most  pancakes served  in eight hours (17,182 flapjacks) and, most impressively, the largest  dinosaur costume  dance party (1,187 costumed dinos). The US is stepping up its effort to cr...

Good luck, indeed. As we enter the final day of ticket sales for Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour shows in Toronto, we wish luck to anyone trying to snag a ticket… but also caution you not to get your hopes up. What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas… unless it's at this weekend’s AI hacking competition in the City of Sin. The US is stepping up its effort to cripple China’s advanced high-tech sectors. Celebr...

Whom amongst us hasn’t spent a little too much on something we really wanted? The federal government certainly has on its newest pipeline. If you’ve ever wanted to hear Iron Maiden sing Taylor Swift’s “Shake it off,” you may soon be in luck. While here in Canada we contend with eye-popping price increases, on the other side of the world, people in China are facing a different pricing problem: De f...

With one year to go until the 2024 Paris Olympics, the event’s budget has already  ballooned to €8.3 billion , up from an estimated €6.8 billion in initial costs. Thinking of extending the long weekend without taking time off work? You’re not alone. There’s nothing like waking up after a long weekend to learn that while you were busy throwing small bean bags onto a wooden board for points, scienti...

With one year to go until the 2024 Paris Olympics, the event’s budget has already  ballooned to €8.3 billion , up from an estimated €6.8 billion in initial costs. Thinking of extending the long weekend without taking time off work? You’re not alone. There’s nothing like waking up after a long weekend to learn that while you were busy throwing small bean bags onto a wooden board for points, scienti...

Wind and solar are the [fastest-growing sources]( https://www.cnbc.com/2023/04/12/wind-and-solar-generated-a-record-amount-of-global-power-in-2022.html#:~:text=Solar was the fastest-growing,electricity demand of South Africa.) of electricity in the world. Too fast, if you ask Alberta. Many contests over the years have been dubbed the “Fight of the Century,” but Walmart vs. Amazon might live up to...

Fitch Ratings has downgraded America's credit rating from the highest-possible “AAA” to a meagre “AA+”... just like its northern neighbour . “Four-score and seven years ago, I snagged a great deal on Marketplace!” In space, no one can hear you scream… about how great your business venture is going! Celebrating something? Let us know here: https://thepeak.typeform.com/to/MNdYA3TO