For a very long time, I have always exclaimed the benefit of buying a smartphone outright in lieu of signing a contract. The reason has always been freedom of movement and bargaining power with the carriers, who have no qualms about gouging consumers. Apple’s keynote was a four-product rollout lasting over two hours, but it’s the pricing of the new iPhone 6s and 6s Plus that has me thinking they’ve built a bridge too far.

It’s not my beat to write movie reviews, and I’m not even sure this constitutes one, but as a fan of the Terminator franchise, I figure it’s best to get my thoughts written down. After watching Terminator Genisys on its first day in theatres, I’m still gathering my perspective on what I’ve just seen.

Jay-Z’s bizarre, yet highly orchestrated, press conference anointing him and his fellow multimillionaire musicians as music streaming arbiters was focused in the wrong direction.

It is truly amazing what can happen in the space of one week. Jian Ghomeshi has gone from beloved radio host to an accused sadist in effective self-imposed exile in Los Angeles. A media firestorm that started out with Ghomeshi’s pre-emptive Facebook post outlining his habitual sexcapades, has blown up with a barrage of women coming out alleging that his actions were anything but “consensual” on their part.

In my career as a journalist, my beat has been technology, but I am a bit of a self-proclaimed political and military historian in my own right. I don’t have the accolades or even the experience of a foreign correspondent or war reporter, but I do try to understand a situation based on the dots that connect. The current crisis in Iraq has me mesmerized, and a big reason why is because of how political decisions from 100 years ago can have such a lasting impact on the events of today.