Postmedia may earn an affiliate commission from purchases made through our links on this page.
Tech
Creativity and UX design are two of the top in-demand skills in today's workforce – Financial Post


Here’s how you can learn the essentials
Article content
This article was created by StackCommerce. Postmedia may earn an affiliate commission from purchases made through our links on this page.
Technology-based employment opportunities are plentiful in today’s workforce despite pandemic-related job loss. If you want to take advantage of that, you’ll need to ensure you’re focusing on the most in-demand tech skills. Two such skills? Creativity and UX design.
User experience design, also known as UX design, is the key component to making a digital space (such as a website or mobile app) work well for the people using it. UX designers combine market research, product development strategy, and design to create a pleasant experience for products, services and processes. In essence, UX is used to build a bridge to the customer, helping the organization fulfill the customer’s needs and expectations. It’s also an excellent way to apply creativity.
Advertisement
Story continues below
This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
Article content
If you’re a creative person looking for a new way to use your skill professionally, UX design is an excellent option. But in order to go down that road, you’ll need to have a full comprehension of the software used in UX design: Adobe XD. You could try cobbling together a random collection of YouTube videos to figure it out, or you could enroll in a thorough online training program that can show you the way in an organized fashion and provide you with certification as a bonus. Consider the Complete All-in-One Adobe Creative Cloud Max Suite Certification Course Bundle.
Article content
Over 80 hours of educational content will prepare you to explore a career in UX as well as provide training in a variety of Adobe software: Premiere Pro CC, Premiere Rush, Spark, After Effects, Illustrator, Lightroom CC, and of course, Photoshop CC.
Using Adobe XD (software not included), you’ll learn UX design essentials for websites and mobile apps, how to create a UX brief and persona, paper-based wireframes, workflow tricks and shortcuts, how to animate icons, buttons, forms, text, sliders, charts, and effects, responsive design best practices and more. By the time you finish the dedicated courses (all rated at least 4.5 stars by past students), you’ll have completed projects you can add to your portfolio.
Give yourself the in-demand technical skills of today and tomorrow. The Complete All-in-One Adobe Creative Cloud Max Suite Certification Course Bundle retails for over $3k and is on sale for $43.99, a discount of 98 per cent.
Prices subject to change.
Tech
Canada’s Telesat takes on Musk and Bezos in space race to provide fast broadband
|
By Steve Scherer
OTTAWA (Reuters) – Canada’s Telesat is racing to launch a low-earth-orbit (LEO) satellite constellation to provide high-speed global broadband from space, pitting the satellite communications firm founded in 1969 against two trailblazing billionaires, Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos.
Musk, the Tesla Inc CEO who was only a year old when Telesat launched its first satellite, is putting the so-called Starlink LEO into orbit with his company SpaceX, and Amazon.com Inc, which Bezos founded, is planning a LEO called Project Kuiper. Bezos also owns Blue Origin, which builds rockets.
Despite the competition, Dan Goldberg, Telesat’s chief executive officer, voices confidence when he calls Telesat’s LEO constellation “the Holy Grail” for his shareholders – “a sustainable competitive advantage in global broadband delivery.”
Telesat’s LEO has a much lighter price tag than SpaceX and Amazon’s, and the company has been in satellite services decades longer. In addition, instead of focusing on the consumer market like SpaceX and Amazon, Telesat seeks deep-pocketed business clients.
Goldberg said he was literally losing sleep six years ago when he realized the company’s business model was in peril as Netflix and video streaming took off and fiber optics guaranteed lightning-fast internet connectivity.
Telesat’s 15 geostationary (GEO) satellites provide services mainly to TV broadcasters, internet service providers and government networks, all of whom were growing increasingly worried about the latency, or time delay, of bouncing signals off orbiters more than 35,000 km (22,200 miles) above earth.
Then in 2015 on a flight home from a Paris industry conference where latency was a constant theme, Goldberg wrote down his initial ideas for a LEO constellation on an Air Canada napkin.
Those ideas eventually led to Telesat’s LEO constellation, dubbed Lightspeed, which will orbit about 35 times closer to earth than GEO satellites, and will provide internet connectivity at a speed akin to fiber optics.
Telesat’s first launch is planned in early 2023, while there are already some 1,200 of Musk’s Starlink satellites in orbit.
“Starlink is going to be in service much sooner … and that gives SpaceX the opportunity to win customers,” said Caleb Henry, a senior analyst at Quilty Analytics.
Starlink’s “first mover” advantage is at most 24 months and “no one’s going to lock this whole market up in that amount of time,” Goldberg said.
Telesat in 2019 signed a launch deal with Bezos’ aerospace company Blue Origin. Discussions are ongoing with three others, said David Wendling, Telesat’s chief technical officer.
They are Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd, Europe’s ArianeGroup , and Musk’s SpaceX, which launches the Starlink satellites. Wendling said a decision would be taken in a matter of months.
Telesat aims to launch its first batch of 298 satellites being built by Thales Alenia Space in early 2023, with partial service in higher latitudes later that same year, and full global service in 2024.
‘SWEET SPOT’
The Lightspeed constellation is estimated to cost half as much as the $10 billion SpaceX and Amazon projects.
“We think we’re in the sweet spot,” Goldberg said. “When we look at some of these other constellations, we don’t get it.”
Analyst Henry said Telesat’s focus on business clients is the right one.
“You have two heavyweight players, SpaceX and Amazon, that are already pledging to spend $10 billion on satellite constellations optimized for the consumer market,” he said. “If Telesat can spend half that amount creating a high-performance system for businesses, then yeah, they stand to be very competitive.”
Telesat’s industry experience may also provide an edge.
“We’ve worked with many of these customers for decades … That’s going to give us a real advantage,” Goldberg said.
Telesat “is a satellite operator, has been a satellite operator, and has both the advantage of expertise and experience in that business,” said Carissa Christensen, chief executive officer of the research firm BryceTech, adding, however, that she sees only two to three LEO constellations surviving.
Telesat is nailing down financing – one-third equity and two-thirds debt – and will become publicly traded on the Nasdaq sometime this summer, and it could also list on the Toronto exchange after that. Currently, Canada’s Public Sector Pension Investment Board and Loral Space & Communications Inc are the company’s main shareholders.
France and Canada’s export credit agencies, BPI and EDC respectively, are expected to be the main lenders, Goldberg said. Quebec’s provincial government is lending C$400 million ($317 million), and Canada’s federal government has promised C$600 million to be a preferred customer. The company also posted C$246 million in net income in 2020.
Executing the LEO plan is what keeps Goldberg up at night now, he said.
“When we decided to go down this path, the two richest people in the universe weren’t focused on their own LEO constellations.”
($1 = 1.2622 Canadian dollars)
(Reporting by Steve Scherer in Ottawa; Editing by Matthew Lewis)
Tech
$600K donation to boost online mental health programming in Nova Scotia


|
Nova Scotia Health’s mental health and addictions program hopes to offer more online support to people across the province after receiving a significant donation this week.
The QEII Foundation announced that RBC is contributing $600,000 toward the province’s e-mental health programming.
“It’s particularly important for the current time under all the strains of COVID,” said Dr. Andrew Harris, a psychiatrist and the senior medical director for the program.
The plan for online programming has been in the works for years, he said, but the pandemic expedited the push. Last June, the department launched a number of applications that can be used to help those with anxiety, depression and addictions.
Since then, as many as 3,000 Nova Scotians have used the site to access mental health services.
“There’s a persistent difficulty in accessing services,” Harris said of traditional models in Nova Scotia. He said those who don’t need intensive therapy may find the support they need through the online programs.
He uses the example of someone who can’t take time off work to speak to a clinician.
“It’s better for them to be able to access a service after hours or on the weekend. So our e-mental health services are tailored a little bit to meet that need.”
Calls to crisis line increase
Harris said the province’s mental health crisis line continues to see a 30 per cent increase in calls for help, so he’s trying to raise awareness that services can be accessed immediately online.
“I think everyone is aware that for a lot of people it’s much easier to talk about a physical illness than a mental illness. So there’s an allowance there for privacy, for some anonymity but still making available things that can help the person who is struggling in the community.”
The online portal has a list of programs that people can use, covering things like reducing stress, solving problems and becoming mindful. It mirrors a site in Newfoundland and Labrador that Harris said is used to help people in remote areas.
Harris said the donation from RBC will be used to continue to evaluate more services, and pay for the licensing of the products that are mostly developed by other organizations.
He encourages anyone who is struggling to test out the site, and use it as an entry point into the mental health system.
“It’s important for people to acknowledge when they’re struggling. It happens to all of us through our lives in different times.”
Anyone in Nova Scotia looking to access the tools can visit: https://mha.nshealth.ca.
Source:- CBC.ca
Tech
Samsung’s cheapest 5G Galaxy phones yet are launching this month
-
News5 hours ago
Japan’s Suga visits for Biden’s first White House summit; China tops agenda
-
Health5 hours ago
Moderna says vaccines to Canada to be delayed due to Europe shortfall
-
Health4 hours ago
COVID cases in Ontario could spike to 30,000 per day by June
-
Economy6 hours ago
Canadian economy likely to slow, but COVID-19 threat to growth low
-
News5 hours ago
GM, LG Energy Solution to build 2nd U.S. battery plant in Tennessee
-
Business5 hours ago
Canadian Business During the Pandemic
-
News17 hours ago
NATO allies to leave Afghanistan along with U.S
-
News4 hours ago
Canadas Immigration Problems Solved by Invisible Border Walls