The First Nations people of Canada and the various levels of government have always struggled to find a level playing field when it comes to land distribution. Their have been many instances over the past 100 years where issues have arisen due to the government’s intentions to begin projects on land that various First Nations groups consider important to their traditions.

In the past month alone two instances have arisen; one revolving around various BC First Nations band urging government to reject a proposed hydroelectric  megaproject and the other revolving around the Tsilhqot’in declaring the site of a proposed New Prosperity mine a tribal park. It is my understanding that in both of these instances the issues revolve around who truly has the right to dictate the future of these patches of land. For the Tsilhqot’in they feel that the recent regulation that passed by the supreme court that encompassed 1,750 sq KM of land was not accurate in terms of representation and as such they are including the mine in their plans for the tribal park.

In regards to the hydroelectric dam the various First Nations group feel that the flooding of 83 Km of the Peace River Valley would harm their ability to gather resources such as the animals they hunt and that it would hurt their culture as they have used the land for generations as a meeting place and means to teach the next generation about their way of life.

All in all, I believe that both of these issues boil down to a difference of opinions, The government is concerned with building the industry and economy of the country while the First Nations are struggling to hold onto and protect their way of life. I feel it would be in the best interests of both sides to work together and attempt to find the best possible solution through compromise and continuous dialogue.

http://www.vancouversun.com/news/metro/Unilateral+park+declared+Tsilhqot+includes+Prosperity+mine/10192766/story.html

http://www.vancouversun.com/news/First+Nation+chiefs+stage+Site+showdown/10215965/story.html

http://ri-ir.org/2012/11/22/harper-launches-major-first-nations-termination-plan-as-negotiating-tables-legitimize-canadas-colonialism/

http://www.citynews.ca/2012/05/09/first-nations-protest-enbridges-proposed-oilsands-pipeline/

It is expected that as early as Monday news will be announced that will shape the tech landscape. Hewlett-Packard Co (HP) is expected to announce that it will be splitting into two companies to place more focus on the faster corporate service market. I believe this will be a very important step in the landscape of the tech industry and especially for HP as this is a large decision that is impacting one of the most important companies of the past 100 years and a company still prominent with over 300,000 employees.

It is HP’s plan to separate itself into two  separate entities with one focusing on computers and printers and the other corporate hardware and services. This is all coming about in my opinion because of how hard HP has found it to stay relevant in the shifting landscape of technology. This is mostly due in my opinion to more and more companies entering the field and people moving towards mobile computing which they have never specialized in. HP was once at the forefront of the tech and PC revolutions but now I believe that many people consider it the old dog in the industry as their name alone does not hold the same values it once did. This can be seen by the fact that HP has lost its number 1 position of being the biggest PC maker by shipments to the very aggressive Chinese company Lenovo and has faced many of the same struggles that Dell has faced in recent years.

I know that HP is still very successful as they still possess a market value of $66 billion but that is actually a fragment of what companies like Apple and Microsoft possess. I feel that this is the smartest option for HP as it will allow them to hopefully expand their horizons and stay relevant in the years to come.

http://ca.reuters.com/article/businessNews/idCAKCN0HU0QY20141005?pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel=0

http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2013/09/10/the-dow-just-gave-hp-another-reason-to-break-up.aspx

http://www.forbes.com/sites/ericsavitz/2012/10/08/hp-why-bill-and-dave-would-back-a-break-up-plan/

     Siri, the popular personal assistant in Apple devices may soon be calling a new company home. This is because it has recently been revealed that Apple may lose the core basics of Siri to its rival Samsung. Siri is not actually an Apple product but it’s really a product of SRI International. The personal assistant was spun out of the parent company as Siri Inc. which was acquired by Apple in 2010.

This in general would make many assume that the product was untouchable by a rival like Samsung but in reality, the voice recognition engine of Siri is provided by a separate company called Nuance Communications. This leads to the reason why Apple is afraid of losing Siri as Nuance and Samsung began merger talks back in  June 2014 and those talks have now intensified. This in my view puts Apple in a bind as if Samsung is indeed interested in merging with Nuance then Apple may be forced to outbid Samsung. This would not be in the best interest of Apple in my opinion as they would then be stuck with all of Nuance’s businesses in fields like health care and imaging which Apple would not be interested in.

     These actions by Samsung to me show that their is a cutthroat rivalry between the companies and Samsung may be doing this as leverage to either force Apple to pay a tremendous amount of money for a company they don’t really want or steal a vital part of their product. This also in effect may be a way for Samsung to discredit Apple CEO Tim Cook as losing Siri would be beyond embarrassing for both himself and the company.

http://www.itworld.com/mobile-wireless/439646/apple-about-lose-siri-samsung

http://www.phonearena.com/news/Samsung-tied-in-fight-with-Apple-over-supply-chain-control-as-only-10-of-Galaxy-S4-units-have-Exynos-chip_id43161

http://phandroid.com/2014/05/02/apple-vs-samsung-ends-with-guilty-verdict/