Blog Posts by Tori Floyd

According to a study commissioned by the Financial Times, more instant messages were being sent by the end of last year than text messages.Five years ago, if you wanted to send someone a message, there’s a good chance you wrote them a text. But with the growing popularity of messaging apps for iOS, Android, BlackBerry and other devices, that’s increasingly no longer the case.

According to a study commissioned by the Financial Times, more instant messages were being sent by the end of last year than text messages, FT.com reports. Looking at trends around the world, consulting group Informa expects messaging through apps to more than double this year to 41 billion per day, which is more than twice the number of text messages expected.

And it’s not surprising, if you look at the apps currently gaining popularity in Canada. WhatsApp Messenger was the top paid iPhone app in Canada last week, and Kik Messenger is quickly gaining ground too, announcing earlier this month that it now has more than 50 million users. Social networking giant Facebook clearly has its sights set on the messaging market with its new Chat Heads messaging

After a long and heartbreaking battle, a Brazilian judge has ordered the removal of Juliana Ribeiro Campos’ Facebook page. Campos passed away in May 2012, and her Facebook page had been changed to a memorial page after her death.

Campos’ mother, Dolores Pereira Coutinho, said that the messages, songs, and photos of her daughter that Campo’s friends were still able to post were too painful for her to see.

“This ‘wailing wall’ just makes me suffer too much,” Coutinho told the BBC, “On Christmas Eve many of her 200 friends posted pictures they had taken with her and recalled their memories. She was very charismatic, very popular. I cried for days.”

[ Related: 104-year-old grandmother gets apology from Facebook for having to lie about her age ]

After trying to delete the page on her own and campaigning for several months to have her daughter’s Facebook page removed, Coutinho says that she contacted the Sao Paolo office of the social network directly to no avail, so she filed the lawsuit to

Karen Stintz, chairwoman of the Toronto Transit Commission, unofficially unveiled on her Twitter account that the TTC will soon be getting Wi-Fi and cellular service underground at two of its stations.

TTC spokesperson Brad Ross confirmed that St. George and Yonge/Bloor stations will both be getting underground wireless Internet access by the end of the year, after Stintz tweeted this out:

For tech geeks, check these @transitwireless download/upload speeds underground at Times Square Stn. Soon at #TTC. twitter.com/TTCchair/statu…

— Karen Stintz TTCteam (@TTCchair) April 25, 2013

Stintz was testing out the new service just unveiled in New York City yesterday, which will bring cellular and Wi-Fi service to 30 stations in the MTA subway system, Mobile Syrup reports. The same technology will be installed in the two TTC stations before the end of the year, and will be rolled out to 61 stations in total over 2014.

[ More Right Click: ‘World’s most expensive iPhone’ will cost you $15,000,000 ]

The wait is over for BlackBerry fans who have been holding out for the feature that has long set BlackBerry devices apart: a physical keyboard. With the BlackBerry Z10 having been on the market for almost three months now, customers have had the chance to test out BB10 on a full touch-screen device, but for those who stood firmly by the physical keyboard experience, you’ll finally get your wish next week.

On May 1, BlackBerry will be debuting the Q10 across Canada through Rogers, Telus and Bell for $199 with a three-year contract. It looks like the UK will once again get the phone a few days earlier (the Q10 will hit stores in Britain on April 26), but that won’t stop loyal Canadian fans from eagerly picking up the BlackBerry Q10 soon after.

[ Related on Y! Finance: BlackBerry’s road map: Life after Z10 and Q10 ]

Now that various news outlets have had a chance to go hands-on with the new smartphone, we’ve rounded up all the things you need to know about the BlackBerry Q10 before it hits

New technology is making it easier than ever to pay for goods and services in a hurry. You can pay for your lunch with a tap of your credit card or buy a new pair of shoes with a wave of your smartphone. But you may be paying a price for that convenience: an investigation by CBC has found just how easy it is for scammers to get your credit card information, thanks to that technology. And all they need is a smartphone and close proximity to your wallet.

The CBC investigation found that the Near-Field Communication (NFC) antenna included in some phones, like the Samsung Galaxy SIII that they used for their test, was enough to pick up the numbers of credit cards enabled with EMV chip technology. If you’re using the Visa payWave system or the Mastercard PayPass system, then you’ve got an EMV chip in your credit card.

[ Related: iMessage encryption ‘impossible’ to intercept by government agency: document ]

CBC’s investigators downloaded a free app available in the Google Play store for the

Reps Rogers and Ruppersberger, who introduced CISPADespite calls by Anonymous for a an online blackout in protest of CISPA, it seems that many are still in the dark about what the U.S. cyber-security bill is exactly about, and why they should care.

The Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) is a bill being reintroduced in the U.S. House of Representatives that would allow private companies to voluntarily share information with the government in the event a cyber attack is suspected, PC World explains. Its aim is to better protect companies and private citizens from cyber attacks, particularly in light of recent attacks reported to originate from China.

Those who are against CISPA say that it would allow companies to disregard the privacy agreements they hold with their customers and clients (specifically that part that says “we won’t share your information with any third parties”) and information isn’t guaranteed to be protected during transmission. An amendment to the bill would require data to be anonymized when

According to The Verge, the Start button might be making a return when it releases Windows 8.1.Microsoft has given the Start button the old college try, attempting to convince users that it really isn’t something they need, but it looks like they might be finally caving to public pressures.

According to The Verge, the Start button might be making a return when it releases Windows 8.1. It won’t be quite what those who miss the old style of Start button are used to, instead linking the Start Screen instead of the Start Menu more familiar to users of Windows 7 and prior. The Verge says that the flag will look almost identical to the current Windows flag in the Charm Bar.

[ Related: Windows 8 launches with a bang, but will users get it? ]

This potential change comes shortly after other sources reported the new Windows 8.1 will include a straight boot-to-desktop option. Since the ‘Metro’ style interface tends to be the biggest obstacle many have reported as having when getting accustomed to Windows 8, many users opt to switch to the Desktop mode instead, as it looks more like

We’ve all seen those people at concerts or sporting events, hoisting their 10-inch iPad to snap a few pictures or take a video, and in turn, blocking the view of those around them. Generally, it’s a pretty jerk move.

If this guy hadn’t been taking a few photos at this softball game, however, he could’ve ended up with a very nasty injury.

[ Related: iPad survives wild ride after getting lodged in a car’s bumper ]

CNET came across this video of a man taking pictures at the University of Northern Iowa women’s softball tournament, and if he hadn’t been using his gigantic substitute for a camera (which, in fairness, he was unobtrusively holding on the railing), he would’ve ended up with a very nasty surprise:

The iPad takes the foul ball full on, and yet, still seems to work well enough to carry on snapping pictures after the fact. That probably wouldn’t have been the case had he taken the ball to the face.

So next time you’re sitting at a game and think, “man, what a jerk, blocking