Toronto Electricians and Electrical Contractors

At the end of every year, people share predictions about the next big thing for the coming year. They examine trends and sales forecasts then form their opinions and throw the dice. After all, isn’t a prediction just an informed gamble? Instead of gambling, I’d rather reflect on 2018 and comment on what Schneider is working on for 2019. Let’s usher in the new year with a roadmap of the technology and solutions we are offering and implementing to make business simpler and better for our customers. Here’s my preview for how we will be driving success for clients as we continue to master our brave new age of digital transformation this year, next year, and every year that follows. Battery Energy Storage Systems One trend we are seeing a lot of is decarbonization and it has driven the proliferation of renewable energy derived from wind and solar. For the grid to remain stable, we need the addition of energy storage. Benefits of energy storage include the ability to smooth out the...

Victories in the State Legislatures: 2018 In Review States are often the “laboratories of democracy,” to borrow a phrase from U.S. Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis. They lead the way to react quickly to technological advances, establish important rights, and sometimes pass laws that serve as a template for others across the country. This year, EFF worked—and fought—alongside state legislators in California and across the country to pass legislation that promotes innovation and digital freedoms. Increased Transparency into Local Law Enforcement Thanks to the passage of S.B. 978 , California police departments and sheriff’s offices must post their policies and training materials online. This will encourage better and more open relationships between law enforcement agencies and the communities they serve. Californians also now have new rights to access recordings from police-worn body cameras, with the passage of A.B. 748 , which EFF supported . Starting in July 2019, the publi...

Year in Review: Airport Surveillance Takes Off in a New, Dangerous Direction In 2018, we learned that expanded biometric surveillance is coming to an airport near you. This includes face recognition, iris scans, and fingerprints. And government agencies aren’t saying anything about how they will protect this highly sensitive information. This fall, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA)  published  their  Biometrics Roadmap for Aviation Security and the Passenger Experience , detailing plans to work with Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to roll out increased biometric collection and screening for all passengers, including Americans traveling domestically. Basically, CBP and TSA want to use face recognition and other biometric data to track everyone from check-in, through security, into airport lounges, and onto flights. If implemented, there might not be much you can do to avoid it: the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has said that the only way we ...

Victories in the State Legislatures: 2018 In Review States are often the “laboratories of democracy,” to borrow a phrase from U.S. Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis. They lead the way to react quickly to technological advances, establish important rights, and sometimes pass laws that serve as a template for others across the country. This year, EFF worked—and fought—alongside state legislators in California and across the country to pass legislation that promotes innovation and digital freedoms. Increased Transparency into Local Law Enforcement Thanks to the passage of S.B. 978 , California police departments and sheriff’s offices must post their policies and training materials online. This will encourage better and more open relationships between law enforcement agencies and the communities they serve. Californians also now have new rights to access recordings from police-worn body cameras, with the passage of A.B. 748 , which EFF supported . Starting in July 2019, the publi...

Year in Review: Airport Surveillance Takes Off in a New, Dangerous Direction In 2018, we learned that expanded biometric surveillance is coming to an airport near you. This includes face recognition, iris scans, and fingerprints. And government agencies aren’t saying anything about how they will protect this highly sensitive information. This fall, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA)  published  their  Biometrics Roadmap for Aviation Security and the Passenger Experience , detailing plans to work with Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to roll out increased biometric collection and screening for all passengers, including Americans traveling domestically. Basically, CBP and TSA want to use face recognition and other biometric data to track everyone from check-in, through security, into airport lounges, and onto flights. If implemented, there might not be much you can do to avoid it: the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has said that the only way we ...

Bloggers and Technologists Whose Voices Are Offline: 2018 in Review This year, we refocused our attention on Offline , our project that seeks to raise awareness of and provide actions readers can take to support imprisoned bloggers, digital activists, and technologists. Originally launched in 2015, Offline currently features six individuals from four countries whose critical voices have been silenced by their governments. Take Eman Al-Nafjan , the Saudi Arabian blogger and women’s rights activist who has long been critical of her government’s human rights abuses while living in the country. In May, Al-Nafjan was arrested along with several other women while filming a woman driving a car—just one month before the ban on women driving was officially lifted. A report from Human Rights Watch has found that a number of the women imprisoned in the crackdown have faced torture and sexual harassment in prison. Although Saudi Arabia has always been restrictive of speech, this year has...

Europe Speeds Ahead on Open Access: 2018 in Review Open access is the common-sense idea that scientific research (especially scientific research funded by the government or philanthropic foundations) should be available to the public—ideally with no legal or technical barriers to access and reuse. EFF is a longtime supporter of the open access movement: we think that promoting broad access to knowledge and information helps to ensure that everyone can speak out and participate in society. For over five years now, EFF and our allies in the open access world have been campaigning for the Fair Access to Science and Technology Research Act (FASTR, S. 1701, H.R. 3427). Despite broad support from both parties and barely any opposition from anyone besides major publishers, Congress continues to snooze on FASTR year after year. While Congress dragged its feet on important legislative fixes, the most exciting changes came in Europe and at the state level. This year, though, something cha...