Busy day? Here are five stories to help you catch up.
The voice behind Siri
If you’ve ever travelled with Delta Airlines, chances are that “Siri” has given you an update on your flight. Even if you don’t own an iPhone.
That’s because the original voice of Siri and the voice of the airline’s gate announcements come from the same person: Susan Bennett.
A 65- year-old voice-over actress, Ms. Bennett has been the voice of GPS systems, telephone on-hold messages, instructional videos and advertisements for more than three decades, Susan Krashinsky reports.
She can switch to a pitch-perfect Siri voice on demand, although Apple changed their Siri voices starting with iOS7.
The new Siri is much more generic, she says. “She doesn’t seem to have as much attitude. The first one was pretty funny. Definitely more cheeky, for sure.”
But do people still ask Ms. Bennett to do Siri for them? “Oh yes.”
One year later, Alison Redford speaks out
After a year in political exile, former Alberta premier Alison Redford has broken her silence.
Some highlights from her interview with Gary Mason:
- On reflection: I didn’t understand it at the time but I understand it now: I’m a polarizing figure.
- On being a female leader: If the man is tough he’s strong and if the woman is tough she’s a “b” – it’s just always been like that.
- On being unknown: I was not the establishment choice and was not expected to win and quite frankly I was a fairly young, new politician.
- On travelling with her daughter: Those times that Sarah and I were together certainly didn’t at all compare to the amount of time that even other ministers were travelling with their spouse.
- On reading the signs: The reason you are the leader of the party is because you have the confidence of the caucus and the party and if that starts to change and can’t be corrected then in my mind the writing is on the wall.
Find the full interview here.
CRTC’s pick-and-pay ruling could make Internet more expensive
The unbundling of Canadian TV could be bad news for your Internet bill.
The CRTC announced Thursday that by the end of 2016, television distributors will have to offer a basic package capped at $25 and give customers the ability to pick-and-pay for individual channels or small bundles.
But what on the surface looks like great news for TV lovers could come at a cost for online streamers, Christine Dobby reports.
While analysts expect customers will still use online programming services like Netflix on top of the new cable options, they also predict television distributors will likely increase the amount they charge for Internet services to help make up for this migration.
Ironically, the CRTC might have to hold another hearing two to three years from now to consider high Internet prices.
Hundreds of students in India cheat using paper planes
There’s a reason your teacher probably had a ban on throwing paper planes in the classroom.
An image of dozens of men climbing up the wall of a four-story test center in eastern India and throwing the paper-plane answer sheets into the windows of the classrooms has gone viral. And about 600 high school students have been expelled for it.
Such blatant cheating right under the noses of their supervisors exposes flaws in the much-maligned education system of the impoverished eastern state.
Exams held by the Bihar School Examination Board are viewed as make-or-break tests that could transform the lives of millions growing up in poverty. And many friends and family-members will help test-takers cheat at all costs.
Already this year, more than 1,000 students were caught cheating in three days. The tests end on March 24.
Author documents results of an open marriage experiment
What’s an open marriage like? Just ask Robin Rinaldi, whose new memoir, The Wild Oats Project: One Woman’s Midlife Quest for Passion at Any Cost, documents her experiment trying it out.
Over the course of the year, Rinaldi took 12 lovers, returning to her husband on weekends so they could make dinner and do brunch.
Zosia Bielski spoke with Rinaldi from Los Angeles. Some highlights:
- On an open marriage: For a while, we both had our cake and ate it too. It’s hard to do and usually you have to pay for it.
- On coming home on the weekends: You would think it would feel extremely strange or upsetting but it wasn’t. I was relieved to be home.
- On seeking other sexual partners: I hadn’t sowed enough oats before I married – no one’s fault but mine.
- On making an open relationship work long term: I wasn’t built for it on any long-term basis. From what I’ve seen, it seemed that the couples who start off that way tend to do better.
- On what she would do differently: If I could go back, I wouldn’t change the open marriage, but I would not cheat and I would not lie.
This feature is a work in progress. What do you think of it? Tell us by tweeting with the hashtag #GlobeCatchUp
Follow Kat Sieniuc on Twitter: @katsieniuc