Loonie reaches parity with U.S. dollar again

OTTAWA — The Canadian dollar was again trading at a greater value than U.S. currency Wednesday, with the loonie getting a lift from higher crude oil prices.

The loonie rose as high as $1.0025 U.S. at about 3:25 a.m. ET, but traded above and below parity throughout the morning. At 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, it was trading around $1.0004 U.S..

Meanwhile oil, one of Canada's biggest exports, has been near a 26-month high this week. At midday Wednesday, it was trading at $91.33 U.S. a barrel, down from the previous day's close of $91.49 U.S..

On Tuesday, the dollar spent much of the day above $1 U.S.. It was trading around $1.0004 U.S. at 4 p.m. ET, when the official close would normally be set by the Bank of Canada. However, the central bank and other Canadian financial institutions were closed Monday and Tuesday in lieu of Christmas and Boxing Day.

The dollar's previous official close was 99.36 cents U.S. on Christmas Eve. The loonie last closed at parity with the U.S. greenback on Nov. 10.

© The Financial Post

Canadians lead the world on YouTube

Canadians lead the world on YouTube

Online temptation is tough for Canada. Image: YouTube.

So you think Canadians enjoy nothing more than slapping the burnt biscuit during their spare time, eh? While ice hockey does have a fervent following in Canada, a new study has found that clip-sharing service YouTube is also a major source of pleasure north of the border.

More pointedly, the number crunchers over at comScore have revealed that Canada leads the world it comes to watching content on YouTube, beating out even the United States where per capita consumption is concerned.

According to comScore, around 21 million Canadians use YouTube every month and watch an average of 147 clips while perusing the Google-owned site. In terms of demographic spread, the 18-to-24 age group builds the most monthly YouTube time, watching 244 clips while logging an average total time of 18.25 hours.

Not just riding high on YouTube usage, Canada also boasts the world’s highest penetration of Internet access, with around 68 percent of the total population online—which compares to 62 percent in the United Kingdom, 60 percent in Germany, 59 percent in the United States and 57 percent in Japan.

That, in turn, feeds into the revelation that connected Canadians are racking up more than 2,500 online minutes (42 hours) each month, a leading figure that beats out the 2,300 minutes amassed by users in Israel.

thetechherald.com

Festivals in Sydney

Festivals in SydneySydney abounds with festivities and happenings for tourists and residents all year round. Off the bat, there are about 15 different popular Sydney festivals spaced out throughout the year. Here are some of the more sought after of Sydney’s festivals.

Sydney Festival – this festival takes place in January, It includes a celebration of Sydney’s culture with theater plays and performances, art exhibits, and concerts. This festival is held in different venues every year, which keeps the anticipation always on a high.

The Tropfest – Held either in February or March, the Tropfest is Sydney’s festival for short films. Open to entries from around the world, Tropfest has been named the world’s largest short film festival, and has been gaining population steadily over the years

Sydney’s Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras – Now here’s a February showstopper that always manages to catch even the most jaded by surprise. This is the world’s biggest gay festival. The Mardi Gras is highlighted by a gay costume parade on Oxford Street. Sydney’s festival for gays typically ends with a final all night party.

Royal Easter Show – Held in March or April, and coinciding of course, with the Catholic religious celebration of Easter, this Sydney festival is your typical farm show that lasts for almost 2 weeks. The Royal Easter show is usually held in Sydney’s Olympic Park and the number of tourists and residents that join this particular Sydney festival sometimes have no religious affiliation whatsoever.

Sydney Film Festival – This is one of Sydney’s festival that also draws huge crowds. Naturally, the reason being the number of celebrity turnouts during the Awards Night. Nevertheless, the quality of films shown in this film festival have been of world class, outstanding standards. The Sydney Film Festival is held in June at the State Theater.

Sydney Design Week – This Sydney festival celebrates the pride of Sydney’s art and design students and experts. Sydney is obviously well intent on giving due recognition to deserving Australians who bring honor to the country with their designs and art work.

During the month of August, you will enjoy different exhibitions and forums of art and design. Experts are invited to grace the event, and many art tours are organized to bring attention to the wonderful artistry of Sydney.

City to Surf – Also held in August, this particular festival is a project that hopes to revive running. It’s a marathon with over 50,000 athletes, residents and tourists running for 14 km around Hyde Park all the way to Bondi Beach.

Good Food Month – This special Sydney festival is a gastronomic delight. Held in the “beery” month of October, it is held in different venues and includes talks and workshops on food and food preparation, food markets, and lots of culinary delights.

One of the finest of all of Sydney’s festivals is the world famous New Year Eve Countdown in Sydney Harbour. Every December 31, video from Sydney Harbour is beamed all over the globe as one of the most exciting and extravagant displays of fireworks in the world.

Documents To Go Premium 3.0 for iPhone Now Available in the App Store

Documents To Go Premium 3.0 is the only mobile Office suite for iPhone/iPod touch with support for viewing and editing of all three Office formats (Word, Excel and PowerPoint).
Edit & create PowerPoint presentations
Edit/add bullets and text in Outline view and see changes immediately in Slide view
Edit/add speaker notes
Sort, add, duplicate and delete slides
Promote/demote bullets
And more!
Added support for Gmail attachments
Edit/view attachments using Docs To Go
Product name change
From "Documents To Go with Exchange Attachments" to "Documents To Go Premium"

RoadSync 2.0 Now Available in Android Market and Preloaded on Select Handsets from Acer, Foxconn, Huawei, HP, Sony Ericsson and ZTE!

In addition to push e-mail, calendar, contacts and attachments, the latest version of our enterprise-grade Exchange ActiveSync client now adds:
Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 compatibility
Optimizations for latest Android devices running OS 1.5, 1.6, 2.0 & 2.1
Tasks synchronization and new home screen widgets and shortcuts
Global Address List / Corporate Directory Look-up
Improved contact integration with new "Quick Contact Toolbar"
Enhanced meeting creation for inviting required attendees
Ability to store e-mail and attachments on the memory card
Now localized in over 10 languages

This update is free for all existing customers who previously purchased the software. Customers who received a version of RoadSync preloaded on their device should select the "Check for Updates" option for device specific updates.

RoadSync 2.0 is also available in Android Market as a 14-day free trial and for a limited-time price of $9.99 (regularly $19.99.)