To the US, Mexico, or…

Deciding on, and then entering foreign markets requires homework, careful analysis and best practice. If you’re in the oil and gas services sector in Red Deer, industry-based direction setting is available, in this new free “get abroad right” certificate training.

By Lesley Young

Good advice on getting abroad? There’s a wealth of experience from local industries.

For more than a year, Jerry Raduy researched whether to take his small, Calgary-based drilling company, Clear Directional Drilling Solutions, into the Middle East.

After travelling to a free trade zone in the Persian Gulf and investing in professional service firms to investigate what’s involved to do business in Iran—from accounting to shipping equipment to legal and insurance concerns—Raduy recently decided to put the expansion plans on pause… temporarily.

“We don’t know what’s going to happen yet with Canada and U.S. relations when it comes to some Middle Eastern countries,” said Raduy, adding that his research also revealed there were too many unknowns beyond the political uncertainty.

“We don’t want to be first. We want to be a close second. Let somebody else go through the pain and misery to pave the path,” he said. So why did they bother at all? The promise of future growth—day rates for oil and gas services in some Middle Eastern countries are three to four times what they are in North America—is tempting despite the risks, such as waiting six months to a year for receivables.

“It’s high risk, but it’s also high reward,” said Raduy.

Expanding into other markets isn’t for everyone. That’s all the more reason why small to medium-size enterprises (SMEs) need to be smart about their plans to enter foreign markets, said Edy Wong, director of the Centre for International Business Studies at the Alberta School of Business

“Internationalization is not for everyone or for every business. An SME should diversify, but only if they have a product that is truly competitive and if they can reap benefits from economies of scale,” he said. “Having said that, the economy is now global. So, any business should consider how the global market may become part of their business plans over time and have a long view on that.”

After two earlier training sessions, the Petroleum Services Association of Canada, in partnership with Alberta Economic Development, Alberta School of Business, and the Red Deer College Donald School of Business, will be hosting a 1.5-day training program for Central Alberta’s oil and gas service and technology SMEs to share and expand on international market entry essentials.

What were some of the tips gleaned from these earlier workshops and cases? There were many, such as “choose your time”, “make sure you have money to spend”, “find a partner”, or “consider cultural differences.” From participants’ feedback though, what mattered most, even beyond such key takeaways, “was the full joint experience of this training.”

For more information and to register go to: www.psac.ca

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‘Trouble in Toyland’ report sounds alarm on AI toys

Artificial Intelligence

‘Trouble in Toyland’ report sounds alarm on AI toys

Published on November 30, 2025

Todayville

From The Center Square

By Glenn Minnis

Parents should take precaution this holiday season when it comes to artificial intelligence toys after researchers for the new Trouble in Toyland report found safety concerns.

Illinois Public Interest Research Group Campaign Associate Ellen Hengesbach said some of the toys armed with AI raised red flags ranging from toys that talk in-depth about sexually explicit topics to acting dismayed when the child disengages.

“What they look like are basically stuffed animals or toy robots that have a chatbot like Chat GPT embedded in them and can have conversations with children,” Hengesbach told The Center Square.

The U.S. PIRG Education Fund report also points out that at least three toys have limited to no parental controls and have the capacity to record your child’s voice and collect other sensitive data via facial recognition.

“All three were willing to tell us where to find potentially dangerous objects in the house, such as plastic bags, matches, or knives,” she said. “It seems like dystopian science fiction decades ago is now reality.”

In the face of all the changing landscape and rising concerns, Hengesbach is calling for immediate action.

“The two main things that we’d like to see are more oversight in general and more research so we can see exactly how these toys interact with kids, really just identify what the harms might be and have a lot more transparency from companies around how are these toys designed,” she said. “What are they capable of and what the potential risks or harms might be. I just really want us to take this opportunity to really think through what we’re doing instead of rushing a toy to market.”

As for the here and now, Hengesbach stressed parents would be wise to be thoughtful about their purchases.

“We just have a big open question of what are the long-term impacts of these products on young kids, especially when it comes to their social development,” she said. “The fact is that we just really won’t know what the long-term impacts of AI friends and companion toys might be until the first generation playing with them grows up. For now, I think it’s just really important that parents understand that these AI toys are out there; they’re very new and they’re basically unregulated.”

Since the release of the report, Hengesbach said one AI toymaker temporarily suspended sales of all their products to conduct a safety audit.

This year’s 40th Trouble in Toyland report also focuses on toys that contain toxins, counterfeit toys that haven’t been tested for safety, recalled toys and toys that contain button cell batteries or high-powered magnets, both of which can be deadly if swallowed.

Artificial Intelligence

Google denies scanning users’ email and attachments with its AI software

Published on November 30, 2025

Todayville

From LifeSiteNews

By Charles Richards

Google claims that multiple media reports are misleading and that nothing has changed with its service.

Tech giant Google is claiming that reports earlier this week released by multiple major media outlets are false and that it is not using emails and attachments to emails for its new Gemini AI software.

Fox News, Breitbart, and other outlets published stories this week instructing readers on how to “stop Google AI from scanning your Gmail.”

“Google shared a new update on Nov. 5, confirming that Gemini Deep Research can now use context from your Gmail, Drive and Chat,” Fox reported. “This allows the AI to pull information from your messages, attachments and stored files to support your research.”

Breitbart likewise said that “Google has quietly started accessing Gmail users’ private emails and attachments to train its AI models, requiring manual opt-out to avoid participation.”

Breitbart pointed to a press release issued by Malwarebytes that said the company made the changed without users knowing.

After the backlash, Google issued a response.

“These reports are misleading – we have not changed anyone’s settings. Gmail Smart Features have existed for many years, and we do not use your Gmail content for training our Gemini AI model. Lastly, we are always transparent and clear if we make changes to our terms of service and policies,” a company spokesman told ZDNET reporter Lance Whitney.

Malwarebytes has since updated its blog post to now say they “contributed to a perfect storm of misunderstanding” in their initial reporting, adding that their claim “doesn’t appear to be” true.

But the blog has also admitted that Google “does scan email content to power its own ‘smart features,’ such as spam filtering, categorization, and writing suggestions. But this is part of how Gmail normally works and isn’t the same as training Google’s generative AI models.”

“I think the most alarming thing that we saw was the regular organized stream of communication between the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security, and the largest tech companies in the country,” journalist Matt Taibbi told the U.S. Congress in December 2023 during a hearing focused on how Twitter was working hand in glove with the agency to censor users and feed the government information.

If you use Google and would like to turn off your “smart features,” click here to visit the Malwarebytes blog to be guided through the process with images. Otherwise, you can follow these five steps courtesy of Unilad Tech.

Open Gmail on Desktop and press the cog icon in the top right to open the settings
Select the ‘Smart Features’ setting in the ‘General’ section
Turn off the ‘Turn on smart features in Gmail, Chat, and Meet’
Find the Google Workplace smart features section and opt to manage the smart feature settings
Switch off ‘Smart features in Google Workspace’ and ‘Smart features in other Google products’

On November 11, a class action lawsuit was filed against Google in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. The case alleges that Google violated the state’s Invasion of Privacy Act by discreetly activating Gemini AI to scan Gmail, Google Chat, and Google Meet messages in October 2025 without notifying users or seeking their consent.