There could be a new category for your Spotify Wrapped this year: number of new skills and concepts mastered. 

What happened: Spotify has launched a pilot in the U.K. offering video learning courses to users, available both on mobile and on desktop. The classes fall into four wide-ranging buckets: “make music,” “learn business,” “healthy living,” and (vaguest of all) “get creative.”

We’re one step closer to being able to fly from Vancouver to Tokyo in 6 hours — barely enough time to get through two in-flight movies (or one recent Scorcese flick).

What happened: Boom, an aviation startup building supersonic commercial jets, completed the first test flight of its prototype aircraft, the XB-1. 

A drastic Donald Trump campaign promise has got the feds in a frenzy (and no, it’s not about building a really big border wall). 

Driving the news: Over a dozen Canadian diplomats spent last week in Washington meeting with U.S. lawmakers to discuss the implications of a potential Donald Trump presidency. 

 This week, we’re revisiting an older episode of Free Lunch by The Peak where William Huggins from the DeGroote School of Business breaks down everything about productivity.  

Donald Trump claims he has almost “$500 million in cash” at his disposal, which sounds like a lot until you realize what the guy is forking over in legal fees. 

What happened: Yesterday, investors approved a plan to take Trump’s struggling social media business public next week, which would unlock a potential US$3 billion windfall for the former U.S. president as he looks to drum up cash to cover his massive legal costs. 

Money can’t buy happiness. But enough of it can buy you a home, which we’re slowly learning is pretty much the same thing. 

What happened: This year’s rankings of the world’s happiest countries revealed that while Canada is still one of the happiest in the world — ranking 15th overall — the happiness gap between younger and older populations is the widest seen in every country on the list.

Before we get too far into it, let’s answer a burning question: Yes, someone dressed as Reddit’s alien mascot rang the NYSE’s opening bell on Thursday.

What is retail media?

It’s when retailers use their customers’ purchase data to target ads across the internet. If you buy peanut butter, your grocery store might start hitting you with peanut butter ads when you visit websites, social media platforms, and even while watching TV.

An app store that was meant to get more developers and users interested in AI might be doing just the opposite.

When it comes to temporary residents in Canada, the government now feels that 2 million is company, but 2.5 million is a crowd.

What happened: For the first time, Canada will set a target for non-permanent residents (NPRs) as it looks to reduce the number of them in the country by 20% over three years. This means cutting the number of NPRs by 500,000, down from 6.2% of the population to 5.0%. 

Apple just got thrown into a real-life game of Monopoly that it probably wants absolutely no part of. 

What happened: The U.S. Justice Department and 16 jurisdictions filed an antitrust lawsuit against Apple that alleges the tech giant uses its dominance in the smartphone market to deter and prevent iPhone users from accessing rival software, services, and devices. 

This budget season, provinces are primed to rack up more debt than us during the holidays.

Driving the news: As the 2024-25 provincial budgets roll in, new research from the National Bank of Canada estimates that provinces facing deficits will be $130 billion in debt this fiscal year. That’s a 21.5% surge from the year before and, excluding 2020, the highest tally in at least a decade.

Canadians who say they don’t have the time to vote could soon be left looking for a new excuse. 

What happened: The government has tabled an election reform bill that looks to increase voter turnout, an effort that is reportedly part of the supply-and-confidence agreement between the Liberal and NDP that has kept the Trudeau government in power.

We tried to avoid this, we really did. But it’s gotten to the point that it can’t be ignored.

It’s time to talk about Kate Middleton.  

Driving the news: A recently published video showing Kate Middleton (or Catherine, Princess of Wales, if you’re fancy) and Prince William shopping has done little to dissuade conspiracy theorists that she is dead, ill, or otherwise indisposed and replaced by a double.

Did you hear that? It’s the sound of over a million real estate agents questioning their line of work.

What happened: Late last week, the U.S. National Association of Realtors settled an antitrust lawsuit alleging the trade group worked to artificially inflate sales commissions for years. Now, it will do away with its restrictive rules guaranteeing 6% commission for brokers.

The next phase of the AI boom may not be about what it can do, but where it runs.

The problem: Nature-loving Canadians have to be extra diligent about their post-hike tick check thanks to climate change. Longer summers let more ticks survive and reproduce, mild winters mean tick season is starting earlier, and animals looking for new habitats are carrying ticks to more places. All of this adds up to higher rates of Lyme disease, for which there is no human vaccine.

Newfoundland and Labrador’s health authority has launched a pilot to cut back on one of its most expensive indulgences: Out-of-province travel nurses from private staffing firms. 

Driving the news: Union staff nurses at public health institutions can now take on extra work as temporary fill-ins in rural areas. While the nurses can only do this during their days off, they are rewarded with an overwhelming sense of goodwill… and an extra $25 an hour.