Don’t feel too bad for the world’s most valuable company, but the new year is increasingly shaping up to be a challenging one for Apple. 

What happened: A report that the US Justice Department is preparing to file a major antitrust lawsuit against Apple is the latest troubling news for the tech giant. 

Space, a market estimated to be worth $1.3 trillion by 2030, is getting pretty crowded with companies trying to snag a piece of the galactic money pie.    

Driving the news: On Monday, Peregrine mission one — named after the world’s fastest animal — will launch from Cape Canaveral in Florida and head toward the lunar surface. If successful, it would become the first U.S. lander on the moon since NASA’s Apollo program. 

We know you’ve heard this before, but this could be the year VR actually hits the mainstream.

Like a group of children left alone with a box of Oreos, Google is making a bunch of cookies disappear.

What happened: Google has begun blocking third-party cookies for 1% of Chrome users (~30 million people) as part of a test for its plans to eliminate them entirely by the year’s end.

To ensure you can shoot off a text from anywhere in the world, telecoms are looking to the skies (literally) for answers. 

Driving the news: SpaceX has successfully launched its first set of Starlink satellites that will provide cell service from space, reports Reuters, a milestone for a joint project among several global telecom giants, including Canada’s Rogers. 

From VCRs to search engines, copyright fights have long been a rite of passage for tech — and it’s one AI will face this year.

Better late than never: Canada is starting to pour more cash into its defence strategy.

What happened: Canada will invest nearly $2.5 billion to acquire 11 remotely piloted MQ-9B SkyGuardian drones for the Royal Canadian Air Force. The move will beef up capabilities for domestic military missions, as well as missions with its closest allies, including the U.S. 

A silly name isn’t keeping the fediverse from picking up momentum.

What happened: Flipboard, a news and magazine story aggregator app, is integrating with ActivityPub, a protocol being used to enable “the fediverse” — a decentralized network of interoperable online services.

It may now be several years before a new Crown corporation starts its work funding innovation in Canada, which could put its fate in the hands of a new government eager to cut costs.

What happened: The federal government pushed the launch for the Canada Innovation Corp. (CIC) to “no later than 2026-27.” 

The end of the road for gas-powered vehicles in Canada is fast approaching.

What happened: The Canadian government will require that all new cars sold are zero-emission vehicles by 2035, according to a report from The Toronto Star.