Have you ever wondered what you could learn from a computer pioneer? You'll have your chance to find out when Michael Dell rolls into town for a free speaking engagement at Convocation Hall later this month. Okay, so Dell isn't exactly a pioneer: he's famous not for inventing anything, but merely for improving the process of assembling a bunch of parts into a serviceable computer, shipping it somewhere, and making a boatload of money while......

In Tuesday's news round-up, we told you that the plan to sell McDonald's the land at Bloor and Avenue had been halted until January 18. It's a good thing, too, as there are many questions that must be answered before the $3.38 million sale is finalized. Is it in the best interest for Toronto taxpayers? Is the sale a smart corrective action to the bungled 1971 lease agreement or another dumb move we'll regret for......

A Milton woman went on a rampage with a samurai sword on Sunday, injuring her boyfriend and an off-duty firefighter, smashing windows at a gas station and hacking at a parked car. While Torontoist doesn't condone senseless irrational violence, you've got to give her points for style. After a firestorm of criticism, the City has put the brakes on their controversial plan to sell land in Yorkville to McDonalds. The problem is that since there's......

Few companies inspire the kind of product lust that Apple does, and it's no secret that Mac users can be somewhat evangelical about the company from Cupertino. To many Apple fans in Canada, it's sheer torture that TV shows and movies aren't yet available in the Canadian iTunes Music Store, or that the iPhone is taking so damn long to cross the border. In the United States, the iPhone has been the must-have tech......

The price of oil scaled new heights yesterday, climbing up over $80 US for the first time ever. That's good news if you're an oil company, but bad news if you're a regular folk who likes to go places, or do things, or eat stuff. McDonald's Canada is going upscale. Influenced by popular chains such as Starbucks, the fast-food giant will renovate its restaurants to make them more "comfortable," creating cosiness with leather chairs,......

Photo by Amy the Nurse from Flickr. Torontoist's slumber was interrupted just the other night by the jovial and raucous yells of dozens of inebriated teens. In early September this can only mean one thing—frosh. This got us to thinking of our own days in university and, being hungry at almost all times, this quickly led us to think about the food that kept our brains going through those four (or five, or six)......

Michael Moore’s much anticipated Sicko hits, and having seen it, we can say it’s not particularly essential for Canadian viewers to watch, unless you want to feel smug about our lovely health care system, or slightly surprised that it only takes an hour or so in London (Ontario) to be seen in an emergency room. Yes, the film is chock-a-block with anecdotal evidence, and it’s probably to the film’s fault that, as usual, Moore......

Have you checked out the officially unveiled ROM Crystal yet? Some cool dudes like David Foster, Deborah Cox, Jann Arden, K'naan, Natalie McMaster, David Suzuki and Governor General Michaëlle Jean [AND CLAY AIKEN!!!—Ed.] were on scene for the dedication. A 18-month-old boy is dead after falling off of a 28th-floor balcony of an apartment building near Victoria Park and Danforth Avenue yesterday. Stephane Dion to One Cent Now: No. The Buffalo News on Toronto:......

Microsoft's brilliant marketing installation, an 1800sqft ice house in Dundas Square, tells you precisely what will happen when you install Vista: your computer will freeze. Perhaps the Redmond, Washington-based software company believed Canadians, who all live in igloos, would feel right at home in their icy digs. We kid, but when three University of Toronto students saw the house that Gates built, they immediately thought "house party". SSRI and N3554 of Überave, known for......

We're a little late with this week's music listing--blame the election! Er, okay, maybe someone just got immersed in learning a bit of Flash and let it slip. It won't happen again. If you're looking for some local flavour, you've got a few really good choices this week, including Melissa McClelland, Ohbijou, Elliott Brood, and the Great Lake Swimmers. All highly recommended, particularly Melissa--her voice is like honey. On the not-so-local side, Axl Rose......

Ahem. Yes, this week there are other films out than that film that we refuse to name in this post because we’re covering it enough already. There are plenty of other options, folks. Your first choice should be, because you are a PATRIOT, something Canadian (natch). And we have to say when Torontoist first saw the trailer for Bon Cop Bad Cop, a two fish swapping water buddy cop flick set in both Ontario......

Who Is DJ Cyber-Rap? Depending what circles you run with, this question may have been nagging you for quite some time. If you’re a member of Stillepost, the message board that plays hosts to almost all of Toronto’s scenesters, you’ve known about DJ Cyber-Rap since 2005. That’s when the 59 year-old widower (born Robert “Ronald” Marie MacDougall) first started posting in the Toronto forum of Stillepost from internet cafes, using painfully effortful internet jargon in......

Been on break for a while, but we came back with a great show last week live from the Harbourfront Centre. It was the Roots Remix festival, and we had artists, musicians, kids, tons of people rolling through the tent to say hi. We previewed Cassius' new one, 15 again, look for that in August. And our fake debate show, The Final Solution, explored just how gluttonous you can get at McDonalds. We're talking..."give......

Not that any of you would care, but Stephen Lewis is the key note speaker at University of Toronto's Natural City Symposium tonight. Okay, maybe you do care, but you can't go because it's almost definitely sold out. Stephen Lewis, of course, is the U.N.'s departing Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa. He'll be teaching at Mac sometime soon, but that doesn't take away from the fact that the man was a Special Envoy ("I......

Now, Torontoist has absolutely no intention of getting into the whole Sienna-Miller-playing Edie Sedgwick debacle, because well, we have more important things to do with our time then to babble about celebrity fodder. Yet, Edie was a pretty fascinating mix of American socialite, debutante, heiress and lest we forget, Andy Warhol's muse. Their relationship did not last through an entire calendar year, yet Edie's inspiration on pop culture has lasted longer than anyone would've......

Let's just whip around the world to see what the other -ists are up to... SFist can finally admit it: It's possible that Bary Bonds juiced.  Is Bay Area artist (tempted to put quotes around that) Thomas Kinkaid "kinda crappy" or "explosively crappy" or does he just like marking territory?  SFist wonders.  Technology comes in the form of new Mac goodness and a broken cell courtesy of the mayor of Oakland.  Also check out a......

By reading just about any business or tech writing (Wired comes to mind), you'd know that Sony-BMG is in some HEAT. But we don't hear much about the who's and the what for's, do we? Well, here's some answers: The affected CD's include the latest Bad Plus and Neil Diamond, as well as some horrible albums that no Torontoist readers would consider buying (hopes-fully). As of last Friday, all 52 titles are now listed on......

When tipsters aren't writing in to tell us that local weekly editors were spotted eating burritos, they write in to tell us even more mundane things - On Monday David MacFarlane was seen walking down College Street, possibly exiting a dry cleaning shop. But fresh on the heels of Zoilus' announcement that a NYTimeser was in town to do a piece on this town's musical lights, we get word that a certain Vanity Fair writer......

Le Mercredi Mixtape returns. Yep, it's *sixeyes sharing music on Torontoist with you the Torontoist readers. So, put a plug in it, plug in and listen up while Torontoist plugs some recent discoveries and some favourites. 1. Kyle Andrews - "Sushi" Nashville indie-pop upstart, Kyle Andrews, sounds like he's having fun telling us about a Sushi bar and asking, "You gonna save me or not?" Uh, will listening over and over save you? Then,......

This is an actual drink at Mac's Milk. Shocking, really.......

Vince Carter’s career continues to become increasingly similar to a soap opera, as a disturbing story has just surfaced that will forever vilify the New Jersey forward to Raptor fans. It appears that Tracy McGrady has given an early Christmas gift to cousin Vince Carter this year as T-Mac has handed over the reigns as the Air Canada Centre’s Public Enemy Number One to his former teammate. A story published in a Seattle area paper......

The Raptors recorded just their second road win of the young season last night in a tough battle against conference favourite Kazaam and the Miami Heat. With Vinsanity hardly contributing with just five points on 2 for 9 shooting, the win was fueled by the return of Donyell Marshall who added sixteen points to the (almost) full team effort. Marshall’s return adds size inside along with gifted outside shooting. The Raps will to continue their......