This week, TV manufacturer TCL announces a push into Canada, as does video streaming company Roku with its Roku Channel. Plus, two Canadians made a splash at San Diego Comic-Con with an unauthorized film, and two announcements about digital entertainment.

The big digital news from San Diego Comic-Con

Last week in southern California, fans of genre entertainment descended to celebrate the things they love.

The annual San Diego Comic-Con started out with comics, but has mushroomed to include movies, television, and video games.

There were two announcements that could impact your digital life.

The first is that Star Wars: The Clone Wars is coming back with new episodes.

The animated series first aired in 2008 and masterfully bridged the gap between Episode 2 and Episode 3, showing the lives of Anakin Skywalker, Obi Wan Kenobi, Padme Amidala, and other characters created for the series, like favourite Ahsoka Tano.

The Clone Wars, which filled in the details on how Anakin gets to the point where he can become Darth Vader, was cancelled after five seasons, and in the middle of the story.

The new episodes, which may have been triggered by the recent success of Star Wars Rebels, will air exclusively on Disney’s streaming service, which is expected to launch next year.

Meanwhile. Marvel, which has been releasing comics in digital form for years, has announced a new line of digital-only titles the publisher is calling Marvel Digital Originals.

The first four series are based on the characters Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, and the “Daughters of the Dragon”, Colleen Wing and Misty Knight. All characters have been featured in Marvel’s Netflix Originals series (Wing is in Iron Fist, while Knight is in Luke Cage).

TV manufacturer TCL is coming to Canada

If you’ve ever found yourself looking at the ads and promotions in the U.S. around televisions, wondering why we don’t get those same deals up here, that may be about to change.

TCL has announced it is expanding its TV business into Canada. It already sells BlackBerry devices in Canada having purchased the brand from BlackBerry Limited (which is what remains of Research in Motion).

For years, the company has been manufacturing and releasing highly-rated sets that provide image quality and features that are equal to, and sometimes better than, TVs that cost hundreds of dollars more.

One of TCL’s key partnerships is with Roku, which manufactures streaming players and software. TCL Roku TVs use the Roku operating system, and starting this fall, Canadians will be able to consider them when they start shopping for a new screen.

Just in time for the holiday buying season.

Roku’s going to help you find free movies and TV shows

Speaking of Roku, the company revealed on Monday that it’s launching the Roku Channel in Canada. Roku wants you to use its streaming devices, and has created a service to make it easy for you to do just that.

The streaming service is free, and does not require users to subscribe or log in. It will be supported by advertising.

What the Roku Channel delivers is access to the free movies and TV shows that are out there in the digital space. You can also access paid streaming services with your Roku, including Crave, Netflix, and Prime. The company claims that at the moment, the channel delivers “more than 5,000 free and paid for channels that offer access to 150,000 movies and TV episodes.”

The Roku Channel has started to roll out to devices in Canada. You can add the channel from the Roku Channel Store on your device.

Nathan Fillion is a perfect Nathan Drake

Nathan Fillion has become a popular Hollywood star, but the humble Edmonton native continues to support emerging artists.

Case in point is a new fan film starring Fillion as another Nathan. In “Uncharted: Live Action Fan Film,” he is Nathan Drake, the protagonist from the series of video games developed by Naughty Dog and published by Sony for the PlayStation game consoles.

The short was released just prior to Comic-Con last week, and Fillion and Toronto director Allan Ungar were in San Diego talking it up.

The vehicle serves as a concept of sorts, featuring some innovative ideas from the young director. In the video game, when things shift from cutscene to player-controlled action, the camera view slides in behind Drake to provide a third-person perspective that allows players to control the character.

Ungar does the same thing in his film, which is elevated by note-perfect performances by Fillion as well as Stephen Lang as Victor “Sully” Sullivan and Mircea Monroe playing Elena Fisher.

Sony does have Uncharted in development as a film, but it seems to have been stalled recently. Company representatives have made no official comment on Ungar’s short, or on the possibility of Fillion as a credible Drake.

But it’s sure fun to speculate what might come of it all.

Last night on The Shift with Drex, we talked about Google’s massive fine from the European Union, the problem with social media, World Emoji Day, and Medimap.

This week, the emoji takeover, Medimap makes getting sick slightly less terrible, and the influencers need to stop influencing. But first, Google sets a record for biggest fine: US$5 million.

European Union slaps Google with massive fine

Google has “cemented the dominance of its search engine” says Margrethe Vestager, who heads up the European Commission for Competition. As such, the company has been handed a US$5 billion fine,

The commission actually found Google guilty of three types of illegal restrictions:

• Bundling the Google search engine and other apps into the Android operating system
• Preventing mobile device manufacturers from running variant versions of Android
• Paying manufacturers and mobile networks for exclusivity on smartphones

This has shades of the decision against Microsoft for bundling Windows Media Player and Internet Explorer within the Windows operating system.

Those decisions led to the creation and popularization of alternatives like Firefox and Chrome.

The difference here is that Google’s advertising revenues rely on the search engine. Reducing the impact of Google’s search engine could have a profound affect on the company.

Vestager said Google has 90 days to stop or face further action. The fine could have been up to $11 billion.

Google says it will appeal the decision.

The problem with social media

• Rooftopping
• Shark attack
• Selfie fall
• Invasion of privacy

Happy World Emoji Day (yesterday)

It’s almost like we’ve found ourselves in Ancient Egypt and the era of hieroglyphs. Emoji have become central to how we communicate today.

Yesterday was World Emoji Day. There are currently 1644 of them. Another 1145 include skin tone variants

Emoji were invented by Japanese designer Shigetaka Kurita. The first one, in 1999, was a heart for use on pagers.

In Canada last year, Twitter determined that the most popular sport emoji was a basketball. The hockey stick and puck came second.

There was even a movie featuring emoji as characters, which may have been the worst idea for a film ever. Somehow, The Emoji Movie won Golden Raspberries for Worst Picture, Worst Director, Worst Screen Combo, and Worst Screenplay, and still grossed more than $200 million.

Reactine Canada wants you to have an allergy emoji and has started a petition by way of encouraging the Unicode Consortium to add it to the library.

Find out the wait time at your local medical clinic before you leave home

There’s nothing worse than feeling terrible and having to sit in an uncomfortable chair with a bunch of other sickos while you wait to see a doctor.

Medimap is changing that.

The online service collects information from walk-in medical clinics in Canada and gives you wait times for the clinics closest to you. More and more clinics are participating because they know first hand what it’s like to have to deal with the frustrated patient who has shown up only to find out there are no more spots open for the day.

You can’t book an appointment using Medimap, but using it means you don’t have to call the clinic and pester the overworked receptionist/nurse to ask how long the lineup is.

Last night on The Shift with Drex, we talked about Prime Day 2018, Microsoft’s new Surface Go, the 10th anniversary of Apple’s App Store, and Segway’s e-Skates.

This week, the App Store turns 10, Microsoft announces the Surface Go, and Segway announces the existence of “e-skates”. But first, getting ready for Prime Day 2018.

Prime Day 2018 is next week

The retail steamroller that is Amazon just keeps rolling along, and to prove the point the company has expanded Prime Day 2018 to be 36 hours long.

It all starts at noon Pacific time (3 p.m. Eastern) on Monday, July 16, and ending at midnight Tuesday, July 17.

If you don’t already know, Prime Day is when Amazon offers up all kinds of exclusive deals to members of its Prime service. Exactly what will be on sale is always a bit of a surprise, but you can always find something that you can justify needing. Maybe you want to join the Instant Pot bandwagon. Or add to your Blu-Ray collection. You can get clothes, electronics, and kitchenware. You can even get books, in digital and print formats.

New this year are 30% discounts on Whole Foods products sold at Amazon.ca, and $10 off in-store purchases over $50 starting today and through next Tuesday. That’s what we get when Amazon buys companies.

You can spend your day staring at the Amazon storefront, or you can “Watch a Deal” and get notified when something you fancy goes on sale.

Only Prime members get to take advantage of this extravaganza. It costs $79 for a year and as a member you also get free two-day shipping on purchases, access to Prime Music, and Prime Video, which has exclusives like Goliath, The Man in the High Castle, and starting next season, The Expanse.

Apple’s App Store has been around for 10 years

For ten years, Apple has been making software for its mobile devices available through its exclusive App Store. What a decade it’s been.

One of the early iOS games that really proved what mobile gaming could be was Toy Bot Diaries, from Vancouver studio IUGO. More recently, the developer has become known for Knights & Dragons.

Other B.C. stalwarts include RAC7 (Splitter Critters) and Frosty Pop Corps (cranking out various apps and games at a rapid pace).

Hothead Games and Klei both got their start making console games but have pivoted to mobile titles with, respectively, Kill Shot and Don’t Starve, among others.

And that’s just on the west coast. Across Canada there are hundreds of other developers making games and productivity apps for iOS devices. Millions of people around the world are on those devices, using those apps.

We’re reading newspapers, magazines, and books, watching TV and movies, and listening to radio and podcasts all through software acquired through the App Store.

Critics might talk about the problem with the walled garden system, but it does benefit both developers, who have a consistent technology to work with, and consumers, who have a secure, curated space in which to shop.

As Apple’s mobile devices continue to advance, new experiences are becoming possible through the App Store. Augmented reality, in-real-life (IRL), and educational apps are the next wave.

Microsoft’s Surface Go starts at $529 in Canada

Microsoft’s Surface devices are hybrids, a little bit laptop and a little bit tablet.

Some of the models, like the Surface Book 2 ($1,599) and the Surface Pro ($1,049), are a little more laptop because they run the full version of Windows 10. The Surface Laptop ($949), weird given its name, is a little more like a tablet with a keyboard.

Surface Go is smaller, with a 10-inch screen, and has a lower end processing and graphics capability. The idea is to provide a cheaper and more portable Surface option.

While it’s priced at $529 (you get double the processing and hard drive space for $699), to get the laptop-like functionality with the Surface Go, you’ll be spending an extra $130 or so for a keyboard cover.

The Surface Go is available for preorder now and will be shipping on August 2. Microsoft says a model with LTE cellular functionality is coming later this year.

Forget rollerblades, Segway’s created electric skates

The Drift W1 e-Skates (what is with the product naming strategies these companies are using?) appear to be using the same self-balancing technology that the Segway scooter uses.

No word on pricing, but there’s a press conference in L.A. on July 24 when we should get more details on cost and release dates.

These seem to be made for Canadians, who already know how to skate.