Canadians have now been working from home for over a year and many are feeling stuck in a rut. There are so many tips out there about renewing your workspace or integrating new activities to your routine but, is any of it working?

Samsung Canada is providing Canadians with tangible tools to inspire them to get creative throughout the work day so they can be more productive. See below for our top 3 tips for making sure you can take a break while working from home!

• Sourcing tech devices that can support you throughout the workday and during your personal time is very important. As I’m sure you’ve heard, Samsung Canada just announced the brand new Mystic Navy colour for Galaxy Tab S7 and Tab S7+ and the latest One UI 3.11 update.
• More than just a software update, One UI 3.11 improves the Galaxy Tab S7 and Tab S7+ users’ connected experience and lets them do more with their tablet.
• Pro tip: The new update includes the ability to move across devices more seamlessly than ever, so you can use your Mystic Navy Tab S7 as a second screen when working on your PC, or even copy text and images from your Galaxy S21 directly onto your tablet.

• Take yourself back to high school and block your day in periods so that you can schedule time during the workday to do something just for you!
• Go for a walk, do a meditation, bake something special or play your favourite game! When you take a moment to step away from your work, you come back to your desk feeling refreshed and ready to tackle your to-do list.
• Pro tip: you can use the Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 and Tab S7+ to engage in any of the above activities! With the 120Hz refresh rate, most powerful chipset on a Galaxy tablet, and the Dolby Atmos Quad speaker – you will be immersed in whatever you choose to do on your play time.

• Looking for a way to decompress during a busy day? Some of the best ways include drawing, colouring or even journaling!
• On your lunch break or during your afternoon coffee break, take some time to put pen to paper (or screen!) and express your creativity.
• Pro tip: On the Galaxy Tab S7 and Tab S7+, you can use the S Pen and experience ultra-low latency so that it feels like you are writing on paper! This multifaceted S Pen can be used to write notes, draw masterpieces, and take control of your device remotely with Air Actions.

Think getting good cellular service on Earth is hard? Try doing it on the moon or Mars. A team of Simon Fraser University researchers are hard at work to make LTE/4G and Wi-Fi communications systems on the moon a reality by 2022.

A group of nations, including the US and Canada, are presently working on the return of humans to the surface of the Moon by 2024, under the umbrella of the Artemis Program. In October, NASA selected Nokia Bell Labs to build an LTE cellular test network on the moon, with the goal validating the technology for building up a communications infrastructure that can be used to support Artemis and to prepare for future human missions to Mars.

But before that can happen, the technology required for the network has to be proven to work effectively between various space agencies and there needs to be international recommendations for the use of LTE, 5G and Wi-Fi technologies for space missions. Suggested standards then need to be tested before they become agreed to internationally.

NASA and the Canadian Space Agency have entrusted that critical testing to scientists at SFU’s renowned PolyLAB for Advanced Collaborative Networking, led by Stephen Braham.

Together with partners Kevin Gifford and Siddhartha Subray at the University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder), SFU operates the Canadian component of the Exploration Wireless Communications (ExWC) testbed out of Vancouver’s Harbour Centre, which is capable of testing interoperability standards to ensure future cellular and Wi-Fi networks in space can be connected to by any device.

“It sounds like far out stuff, building networks on the moon, Mars, and even further out in our solar system, but we’re actually testing Nokia’s technology right now here at Harbour Centre,” says Braham.

“ExWC is what will allow us to build the ladder of technology standards needed to get cellular networks off Earth and into the solar system. Before space agencies can adopt these technologies, we need to prove that we can operate between multiple vendors and different agencies, which is why NASA and CSA supports the ExWC testbed.”

The ExWC testbed was created in 2018 specifically to help NASA and CSA hone high-speed wireless communications in space, especially around 5G-forward LTE solutions and advanced Wi-Fi. Both SFU and CU have their own radio networks which communicate with control networks, called cores. SFU radios, in the lab and on masts and mountains in BC and the Yukon, talk both to the SFU-based core and the CU Boulder core, which talks back to SFU.

Testing is being conducted between vendors, including Vancouver-based Star Solutions International, and across national borders at CU Boulder, where the Nokia components are. SFU is also using a range of cellular client devices, such as LTE and Wi-Fi gateways of Sierra Wireless, another local company, that allows Braham to prototype and validate vehicle-based communication.

Because of its ability to send huge amounts of information quickly over great distances, Braham has been an early advocate for the wireless technologies that would become known as Wi-Fi, LTE and 5G networks today.

“I remember telling people what we could accomplish with cellphones before we had broadband cellular data networks, over 20 years ago, when it seemed like a very improbable stretch for devices that could, then, only do voice and text,” he says.

“People would ask how astronauts could receive information and Gifford, myself, and our colleagues predicted it would be on small computers that look a lot like the smartphones we have today.

“These technologies will work in space the exact same way you and I use them on earth now. We are very excited to see these missions to use these networks on the surface of other worlds in our solar system finally moving forward with NASA selecting Nokia for the first lunar cellular network experiment”

Braham, in collaboration with associate professor Peter Anderson, who directs the SFU Telematics Research Laboratory which contains PolyLAB, has a long history working on communication studies and analogue systems for NASA and the Canadian Space Agency.

Their work includes extensive research on predecessors to cellular and modern Wi-Fi networks in the Canadian High Arctic with the SETI and Mars Institutes, dating back to 1998, and developing the SFU PlanetNet architecture for exploring the surfaces of other worlds. Other collaborators have included Canadian space technology company MDA and the Canadian Communications Research Centre. Collaborations with CSA and MDA include communications studies for a Mars communications orbiter, Moon and Mars surface wireless communications, lunar rover direct to Earth and orbital relay communications missions.

Braham and CU Boulder’s Gifford have published several papers on how LTE and 5G technologies can be applied for next-generation space missions, especially for crewed missions that need spacesuit and rover communications.

Anderson and Braham have been integrating related concepts since 1997 for next-generation public safety communications, building on many decades of work by Anderson. This work has been a major component of the development and testing of concepts for a Canadian Public Safety Broadband Network and for international standards for operating just-in-time deployable cellular networks for major emergencies.

They are presently operating pilots in B.C. and the Yukon for such networks, including working out how to manage them during the COVID-19 pandemic. This work is supported by Defence Research and Development Canada’s Centre for Security Science and Emergency Management British Columbia. Other key partners include the Yukon Emergency Measures Organization, E-Comm Emergency Communications for British Columbia and the BC Search and Rescue Association.

InDro Robotics’ Drones can now ship cargo 25 km with research underway to be able to fly 200 km

Just like shipping your precious parcels via plane or vehicle, there is now the capability to ship via Drone.

A first in Canada, the Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA) has approved InDro Robotics Inc. to operate a domestic air service, using drones for the carriage of cargo.

“This permission until now has only ever been issued to airlines and paves the way for (literally) much wider range of Drone use,” says Philip Reece, CEO InDro Robotics Inc. “We have had several successful missions carrying medication and other health-related items to remote areas.

This new license means we can ship anything up to 10KG (other than people and animals) – important documents, artwork, jewels – basically anything a manned aircraft could.”

With the new cargo carrying license, the InDro Heavy Lift Wayfinder Drone will ship increased cargo over longer distances. InDro has extended distances approval from Transport Canada for 25km and InDro’s researchers are working and hopeful this distance will expand to 200 km in the very near future.

“Our Canadian researchers and technologists together with the efforts of the CTA, and Transport Canada continue to advance Drone technology at a record pace,” said Reece. “We believe in the very near future our aircraft will be able to travel further and with more weight load, expanding Drone capabilities.”

On November 2nd, InDro Robotics was awarded a top award in Canada’s Drone industry. At the Umanned Systems Canada (USC-STC) virtual conference, InDro Robotics was selected to receive the USC-STC Organization Award for its extraordinary contribution to the Remotely Piloted Aircraft System (RPAS) industry, extraordinary collaborative spirit, and always being at the forefront advancing RPAS technology.

Over the past few months InDro Robotics has been working closely with regulators, air operators and the Vancouver Island Health Authority to establish a rapid way of providing COVID related Drone support to a number of communities, hospitals and medical centres in British Columbia.

And in 2019, InDro Robotics together with Canada Post and London Drugs, were the first to successfully test Drone delivery of emergency medications over the Pacific Ocean. The Drone travelled over the Pacific 6 km in 11 minutes from Duncan B.C. to Salt Spring Island.

Almost half of all businesses plan on increasing their technology expenditures in 2020. The reason being that many have identified tech as the most efficient way to get out ahead of the competition and ultimately, boost profits.

If you’re a business owner that’s looking to make key technological investments, you may find yourself quickly overwhelmed by all of the options you have.

“Which technology in business investments make the biggest impact?” “Where would I be best served to invest my limited capital?”

These are questions we hear all the time as owners of small, medium, and even large companies fumble through how technology is being applied to today’s marketplace and what that could mean for them. To help bring some clarity to your technology questions, below, we walk you through key ways technology is being integrated into company settings in hopes of inspiring you!

Whether you mean to or not, it can be easy to get complacent when you’re working 5 days a week, 8 hours per day. That complacency often leads to falling behind on projects and costly overtime requests.

As a business owner, it behooves you to know how efficient your team is being and where improvements need to be made. Companies are investing in tools like time tracking software that can analyze employee’s activities throughout a shift and share detailed reports on what’s working and what isn’t.

These reports are instrumental in determining who needs assistance staying on task and who is providing the most value to your organization.

Business success rarely emanates from a single individual. Success almost always comes from a collective of talent that has been assembled and allowed to work together to do incredible things.

Technology in business has made that kind of special collaboration much easier over the last decade. Several cloud-based applications let employees work on the same files at the same time.

Furthermore, sharing files has become as easy as directing team members to a communal “share folder”. That has eliminated the need to email attachments and manually track updates.

Imagine if all of your company’s key documents, intellectual property data, and customer information were saved on a single computer. Now, imagine that computer was destroyed in a fire.

How would your company recover?

For many, that question is one they’d prefer not to answer and as such, they’ve invested in technology that automatically backs up their systems to on-site and off-site servers. Today’s best backup technology automatically runs backups across all of your company’s machines so team members don’t have to bother with engaging backup mechanisms manually.

Sending out invoices can be a hassle. A lot of that hassle comes from having to manually itemize charges in a template, emailing that template to clients, and hoping to receive a response.

Today, companies can integrate with bookkeeping software that lets them invoice straight from within the application. Those invoices are pre-generated per charges you enter into the system and can be tracked to see when they’ve been opened.

Even better is the fact that clients can pay your invoices with their credit/bank cards straight from your digital invoice!

No matter how much technology you throw at filing taxes, managing that task is likely to remain a headache. Still, technology has made accurately filling out and filing taxes more streamlined.

Technology in business has integrated bookkeeping and tax filing solutions into all in one systems. That has allowed businesses to use tools like a receipt scanner to automatically track expenses and deduct those expenses from tax documents as well as manage other typically time-consuming tasks.

Even filing your taxes with federal and state authorities can be as simple as pushing “send!”

Brick-and-mortar operations used to be limited to selling to people in their immediate vicinity. That’s no longer the case!

eCommerce makes it so even the smallest of businesses can develop a robust online presence and sell to customers all over the globe.

That reality is becoming increasingly important to a company’s bottom line as competition gets to be more global and local consumer saturation starts to be a problem.

Imagine a world where you’re able to market to a customer based on what they purchase, where they live, and their spending habits? This kind of customized, high conversion marketing is 100 percent a reality.

Over 60 percent of the customers you engage expect personalization to be part of their shopping experience. By investing in technology that enables that end, you’ll meet expectations. You’ll also give yourself a great chance of heightening consumer engagement.

Companies that embrace technology in business give themselves a much better opportunity of growing and surviving adversity. Keep that in mind as you juggle what your technology budget might look like this year and beyond.

Technology solutions are in a constant state of evolution. Feel free to keep up to date on all things new by browsing the content available on our blog!

Never before has being able to access your office remotely been more important. Several tools that allow chatting, file sharing, accessing desktops remotely, and more work together to make your office available to your team members no matter where in the world they are.

If you want your company to make it through today’s challenges and tomorrow’s, you’d be well served to have an excellent work from home plan in place. That plan should be powered by cutting edge digital tools.