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Tech
Harmony launches its newest phase – Calgary Herald
Single-family home lots include rear-laned, front-drive and lakeside estate homes. There are even some for walkouts.
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The multiple award-winning community of Harmony has recently launched its newest enclave. Located in Harmony’s north end, adjacent to Sunset Cove Park and just west of the 18-hole Mickelson National Golf Club, the latest phase (Phase 12) offers a collection of 87 single family homesites.
“We’re thrilled to see the continuous growth for Harmony and the new phase offers an exciting mix of builders offering beautiful home options that suit every lifestyle,” says Daisy Lieu, marketing manager and builder relations for Qualico Communities, the co-developer behind Harmony.
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Harmony’s established builder group — Daytona Homes, NuVista Homes, Baywest Homes and Augusta Fine Homes — will be offering a spread of home designs in the newest phase, including rear-laned homes, front-drive homes and lakeside estate homes. Most of the lots are flat, but there is opportunity for walkout designs on the lakefront properties.
The architectural themes in Harmony are an eclectic mix of designs and architectural forms that add character, interest and definition. Home styles include classic Arts and Crafts, prairie, farmhouse, contemporary, French country and Tudor, along with interpreted expressions and style fusions designed to bring modern representation to traditional styles. Think modern farmhouse design with its blend of textures and elements, clean sleek lines with old-world architecture, rich organic materials with contemporary fixtures.
NuVista Homes will be offering laned and front-drive two-storey and bungalow models, as well as crafting fresh plans and elevations specifically for Harmony. Its new show home — The Briar — is a case in point. With more than 2,783 square feet of living space, four bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms, an upstairs bonus room and main floor dining room, flex room, great room and chef’s kitchen, the home is “exquisite” notes NuVista’s marketing manager and creative director, Wendee Bishop.
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Daytona Homes will also be offering a line-up of laned and front-drive products. Lot widths for laned and front-drive product are generous and start at 36 feet for laned homes and 40 feet for front-drive.
NuVista’s estate division, Augusta Fine Homes, along with Baywest Homes (the builder of the 2024 Foothills Hospital Lottery Home) will be creating lakeside estate homes brimming with custom features. The estate lots range from 52 to 54 feet wide, while lakeside estate lots are even more substantial (60 feet wide) and feature their own private dock.
Combining the best of both urban and country experiences, Harmony offers a string of amenities for all ages, including two signature lakes (the first one is completed; the second, which will be 100 acres, is under construction and will be finished in 2025), the 18-hole Mickelson National Golf Club, plenty of interactive pathways (more than 25 kilometres of walking paths), and an adventure park with pump track, skate park, skating ribbon, off-leash dog park, beach volleyball and ninja obstacle course. Future amenities include a waterfront village centre with a harbour area and lake access, another beach and a beach clubhouse.
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“The evolving amenities promise a harmonious blend of modern living, ensuring cherished moments with family and friends in the heart of Harmony,” says Qualico’s Lieu.
Laurel Campbell, Harmony’s marketing manager for Bordeaux Developments, also a co-developer in the project, agrees.
“It’s the perfect balance. The current product offering and Harmony’s amenities with gorgeous Rocky Mountain views make it a truly unique place to live. It brings together the best of urban and country experiences to create a remarkable community,” she says, noting that the demand for homes in the community has been substantial.
“January has been a really busy month,” she says, adding that buyers are looking for what Harmony has to offer especially its sense of community, small-town feel and close proximity to both downtown and to the mountains.
At final build-out, the community will span more than 1,750 acres and be home to over 10,000 residents.
Home prices in the new phase start in the $700,000s for rear-laned designs, while estate homes start at $1.3 million.
The Discovery Centre (1630 Harmony Circle) and show homes are open from Monday to Thursday from 2 to 8 p.m., Saturday, Sunday and holidays from noon to 5 p.m. They are closed on Fridays.
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Health
Here is how to prepare your online accounts for when you die
LONDON (AP) — Most people have accumulated a pile of data — selfies, emails, videos and more — on their social media and digital accounts over their lifetimes. What happens to it when we die?
It’s wise to draft a will spelling out who inherits your physical assets after you’re gone, but don’t forget to take care of your digital estate too. Friends and family might treasure files and posts you’ve left behind, but they could get lost in digital purgatory after you pass away unless you take some simple steps.
Here’s how you can prepare your digital life for your survivors:
Apple
The iPhone maker lets you nominate a “ legacy contact ” who can access your Apple account’s data after you die. The company says it’s a secure way to give trusted people access to photos, files and messages. To set it up you’ll need an Apple device with a fairly recent operating system — iPhones and iPads need iOS or iPadOS 15.2 and MacBooks needs macOS Monterey 12.1.
For iPhones, go to settings, tap Sign-in & Security and then Legacy Contact. You can name one or more people, and they don’t need an Apple ID or device.
You’ll have to share an access key with your contact. It can be a digital version sent electronically, or you can print a copy or save it as a screenshot or PDF.
Take note that there are some types of files you won’t be able to pass on — including digital rights-protected music, movies and passwords stored in Apple’s password manager. Legacy contacts can only access a deceased user’s account for three years before Apple deletes the account.
Google takes a different approach with its Inactive Account Manager, which allows you to share your data with someone if it notices that you’ve stopped using your account.
When setting it up, you need to decide how long Google should wait — from three to 18 months — before considering your account inactive. Once that time is up, Google can notify up to 10 people.
You can write a message informing them you’ve stopped using the account, and, optionally, include a link to download your data. You can choose what types of data they can access — including emails, photos, calendar entries and YouTube videos.
There’s also an option to automatically delete your account after three months of inactivity, so your contacts will have to download any data before that deadline.
Facebook and Instagram
Some social media platforms can preserve accounts for people who have died so that friends and family can honor their memories.
When users of Facebook or Instagram die, parent company Meta says it can memorialize the account if it gets a “valid request” from a friend or family member. Requests can be submitted through an online form.
The social media company strongly recommends Facebook users add a legacy contact to look after their memorial accounts. Legacy contacts can do things like respond to new friend requests and update pinned posts, but they can’t read private messages or remove or alter previous posts. You can only choose one person, who also has to have a Facebook account.
You can also ask Facebook or Instagram to delete a deceased user’s account if you’re a close family member or an executor. You’ll need to send in documents like a death certificate.
TikTok
The video-sharing platform says that if a user has died, people can submit a request to memorialize the account through the settings menu. Go to the Report a Problem section, then Account and profile, then Manage account, where you can report a deceased user.
Once an account has been memorialized, it will be labeled “Remembering.” No one will be able to log into the account, which prevents anyone from editing the profile or using the account to post new content or send messages.
X
It’s not possible to nominate a legacy contact on Elon Musk’s social media site. But family members or an authorized person can submit a request to deactivate a deceased user’s account.
Passwords
Besides the major online services, you’ll probably have dozens if not hundreds of other digital accounts that your survivors might need to access. You could just write all your login credentials down in a notebook and put it somewhere safe. But making a physical copy presents its own vulnerabilities. What if you lose track of it? What if someone finds it?
Instead, consider a password manager that has an emergency access feature. Password managers are digital vaults that you can use to store all your credentials. Some, like Keeper,Bitwarden and NordPass, allow users to nominate one or more trusted contacts who can access their keys in case of an emergency such as a death.
But there are a few catches: Those contacts also need to use the same password manager and you might have to pay for the service.
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Tech
Google’s partnership with AI startup Anthropic faces a UK competition investigation
LONDON (AP) — Britain’s competition watchdog said Thursday it’s opening a formal investigation into Google’s partnership with artificial intelligence startup Anthropic.
The Competition and Markets Authority said it has “sufficient information” to launch an initial probe after it sought input earlier this year on whether the deal would stifle competition.
The CMA has until Dec. 19 to decide whether to approve the deal or escalate its investigation.
“Google is committed to building the most open and innovative AI ecosystem in the world,” the company said. “Anthropic is free to use multiple cloud providers and does, and we don’t demand exclusive tech rights.”
San Francisco-based Anthropic was founded in 2021 by siblings Dario and Daniela Amodei, who previously worked at ChatGPT maker OpenAI. The company has focused on increasing the safety and reliability of AI models. Google reportedly agreed last year to make a multibillion-dollar investment in Anthropic, which has a popular chatbot named Claude.
Anthropic said it’s cooperating with the regulator and will provide “the complete picture about Google’s investment and our commercial collaboration.”
“We are an independent company and none of our strategic partnerships or investor relationships diminish the independence of our corporate governance or our freedom to partner with others,” it said in a statement.
The U.K. regulator has been scrutinizing a raft of AI deals as investment money floods into the industry to capitalize on the artificial intelligence boom. Last month it cleared Anthropic’s $4 billion deal with Amazon and it has also signed off on Microsoft’s deals with two other AI startups, Inflection and Mistral.
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
News
Kuwait bans ‘Call of Duty: Black Ops 6’ video game, likely over it featuring Saddam Hussein in 1990s
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The tiny Mideast nation of Kuwait has banned the release of the video game “Call of Duty: Black Ops 6,” which features the late Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein and is set in part in the 1990s Gulf War.
Kuwait has not publicly acknowledged banning the game, which is a tentpole product for the Microsoft-owned developer Activision and is set to be released on Friday worldwide. However, it comes as Kuwait still wrestles with the aftermath of the invasion and as video game makers more broadly deal with addressing historical and cultural issues in their work.
The video game, a first-person shooter, follows CIA operators fighting at times in the United States and also in the Middle East. Game-play trailers for the game show burning oilfields, a painful reminder for Kuwaitis who saw Iraqis set fire to the fields, causing vast ecological and economic damage. Iraqi troops damaged or set fire to over 700 wells.
There also are images of Saddam and Iraq’s old three-star flag in the footage released by developers ahead of the game’s launch. The game’s multiplayer section, a popular feature of the series, includes what appears to be a desert shootout in Kuwait called Scud after the Soviet missiles Saddam fired in the war. Another is called Babylon, after the ancient city in Iraq.
Activision acknowledged in a statement that the game “has not been approved for release in Kuwait,” but did not elaborate.
“All pre-orders in Kuwait will be cancelled and refunded to the original point of purchase,” the company said. “We remain hopeful that local authorities will reconsider, and allow players in Kuwait to enjoy this all-new experience in the Black Ops series.”
Kuwait’s Media Ministry did not respond to requests for comment from The Associated Press over the decision.
“Call of Duty,” which first began in 2003 as a first-person shooter set in World War II, has expanded into an empire worth billions of dollars now owned by Microsoft. But it also has been controversial as its gameplay entered the realm of geopolitics. China and Russia both banned chapters in the franchise. In 2009, an entry in the gaming franchise allowed players to take part in a militant attack at a Russian airport, killing civilians.
But there have been other games recently that won praise for their handling of the Mideast. Ubisoft’s “Assassin’s Creed: Mirage” published last year won praise for its portrayal of Baghdad during the Islamic Golden Age in the 9th century.
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
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