Retro appeal and memories of a youthful cross-Canada road trip fuel Calgarian’s love for car(s) of his dreams
As a young man working a summer job digging up old cable, Ralph Hindle was introduced to the Ford Mustang. This was 1973 in the Ottawa area, and one of Hindle’s workmates was fanatical about Shelby Mustangs. The workmate owned a 1970 Boss Mustang, but would always point out a Shelby at any opportunity.
“I got to drive his Boss when he lost his driver’s licence for six months,” the Calgarian recalls. “And then, I bought a blue 1965 Mustang fastback. That car had lots of issues — the floors were rusted out, it would overheat, and it used oil.
“Every time I stopped for gas, I’d put in a quart of oil and fill the radiator. There were leaks all over the place.”
But that didn’t prevent Hindle and his high school friend Mike Grant — with whom he’s still friends — from driving the car across Canada, making it to British Columbia and back to Ontario.
Hindle, an analytical chemist, moved to Calgary in 2000 and was kept busy with motorcycles for several years. During that time, he didn’t have a hobby car. However, he’d long dreamed of owning a Porsche Carrera until his long time high school friend, Mike Grant, also now in Calgary, showed up in a brand new 2006 Mustang fastback.
“This fifth-generation Mustang (introduced in 2005) had a retro appeal and had the looks of the car we’d driven across Canada,” Hindle says.
After selling his share of a lab he’d helped open and operate, Hindle had a few extra dollars in his pocket.
“My wife said to me, ‘Buy the car of your dreams,’” he recalls.
Instead of the Porsche, Hindle was so enamoured by the fifth-generation Mustang that he began searching for a 2007 Mustang Shelby GT500. Wanting a road trip, he was looking to buy a car from a dealer far from Calgary. He found a black 2007 convertible in Hamilton, Ontario, worked out a deal and flew east to drive the car home.
Is one ever enough, though? Hindle didn’t think so, and he started looking for a ’07 Mustang Shelby GT500 coupe. “I found a blue coupe at a dealer in Las Vegas, and Mike and I flew down to pick that car up. We drove it home,” he says.
The 2007 Shelby GT500 was a product of Ford’s Special Vehicle Team and Shelby Motors. The recipe included a more powerful engine — a supercharged 5.4-litre DOHC V8 good for 500 horsepower paired with a six-speed manual transmission — in a Mustang imbued with better handling and braking capabilities.
But Hindle wanted more Shelby, and after purchasing both of his GT500s he booked his cars at Shelby Automobiles in Las Vegas for the addition of special packages – the blue coupe for the 40th Anniversary package, followed by the convertible and the Super Snake package.
He drove the coupe down first and flew home, leaving the GT500 in Las Vegas while Shelby Automobiles installed the 40th Anniversary package. Six weeks later, when it was ready, Hindle drove the convertible down for its Super Snake package and returned home with the coupe. Of course, he flew back down again to retrieve the convertible when Shelby Automobiles was finished.
“After the Shelby modifications, which included many changes such as upgraded brakes, suspension and on the coupe, a Kenne Bell supercharger that was good for 725 hp, the cars started and drove the same, but they weren’t the same anymore,” Hindle says. “You don’t really know what you have until you put your foot into it. The coupe, especially, is like it’s had too much coffee and always wants to go.”
Since buying the cars, Hindle has tried to do one summer road trip per year in each. He occasionally commuted in them, too, however there are only 45,000 kilometres on the convertible and 17,000 on the coupe.
“I don’t drive them as much as I used to, and I’ve listed the convertible for sale,” he says. “The blue coupe, because it reminds me of the 1965 Mustang that Mike and I drove across Canada, is the one that interests me the most.”
Greg Williams is a member of the Automobile Journalists Association of Canada (AJAC). Have a column tip? Contact him at 403-287-1067 or gregwilliams@shaw.ca.
The federal government is ordering the dissolution of TikTok’s Canadian business after a national security review of the Chinese company behind the social media platform, but stopped short of ordering people to stay off the app.
Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne announced the government’s “wind up” demand Wednesday, saying it is meant to address “risks” related to ByteDance Ltd.’s establishment of TikTok Technology Canada Inc.
“The decision was based on the information and evidence collected over the course of the review and on the advice of Canada’s security and intelligence community and other government partners,” he said in a statement.
The announcement added that the government is not blocking Canadians’ access to the TikTok application or their ability to create content.
However, it urged people to “adopt good cybersecurity practices and assess the possible risks of using social media platforms and applications, including how their information is likely to be protected, managed, used and shared by foreign actors, as well as to be aware of which country’s laws apply.”
Champagne’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment seeking details about what evidence led to the government’s dissolution demand, how long ByteDance has to comply and why the app is not being banned.
A TikTok spokesperson said in a statement that the shutdown of its Canadian offices will mean the loss of hundreds of well-paying local jobs.
“We will challenge this order in court,” the spokesperson said.
“The TikTok platform will remain available for creators to find an audience, explore new interests and for businesses to thrive.”
The federal Liberals ordered a national security review of TikTok in September 2023, but it was not public knowledge until The Canadian Press reported in March that it was investigating the company.
At the time, it said the review was based on the expansion of a business, which it said constituted the establishment of a new Canadian entity. It declined to provide any further details about what expansion it was reviewing.
A government database showed a notification of new business from TikTok in June 2023. It said Network Sense Ventures Ltd. in Toronto and Vancouver would engage in “marketing, advertising, and content/creator development activities in relation to the use of the TikTok app in Canada.”
Even before the review, ByteDance and TikTok were lightning rod for privacy and safety concerns because Chinese national security laws compel organizations in the country to assist with intelligence gathering.
Such concerns led the U.S. House of Representatives to pass a bill in March designed to ban TikTok unless its China-based owner sells its stake in the business.
Champagne’s office has maintained Canada’s review was not related to the U.S. bill, which has yet to pass.
Canada’s review was carried out through the Investment Canada Act, which allows the government to investigate any foreign investment with potential to might harm national security.
While cabinet can make investors sell parts of the business or shares, Champagne has said the act doesn’t allow him to disclose details of the review.
Wednesday’s dissolution order was made in accordance with the act.
The federal government banned TikTok from its mobile devices in February 2023 following the launch of an investigation into the company by federal and provincial privacy commissioners.
— With files from Anja Karadeglija in Ottawa
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 6, 2024.
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
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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Is there a tech challenge you need help figuring out? Write to us at onetechtip@ap.org with your questions.
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.
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