Linkblog - 2026-05-03

Week of Apr 27 - May 3, 2026

How many products does Microsoft have named ‘Copilot’? I mapped every one | Tey Bannerman

A few weeks ago, I tried to explain to someone what Microsoft Copilot is. I couldn’t… because the name ‘Copilot’ now refers to at least 75 different things.

Apps, features, platforms, a keyboard key, an entire category of laptops - and a tool for building more Copilots. All named ‘Copilot’.

I went looking for the full list. No single source had all of them. Not even Microsoft’s own website or documentation. So I pieced it together from product pages, launch announcements, and marketing materials.

The visualisation below maps every one, grouped by category, with lines showing how they connect. It’s interactive - click around. Try to find a pattern. I couldn’t.

I’d written a snarky post about how many copilots there were but wasn’t even close. This is insane. Jesus Christ, Microsoft.

Tags: via:Grant Potter, Microsoft, Copilot

Added: 2026-05-03 17:22

Sysco’s $29 Billion Restaurant Depot Deal: What It Means for Independent Restaurants

Sysco is buying Restaurant Depot for $29B in 2027. Here’s why the FTC will let it through and what it means for independent restaurants.

Selected text

The clam chowder in a New England diner and the clam chowder in a Florida diner come out of the same Sysco can. The biscuits at a Tennessee breakfast joint and the biscuits at a Wisconsin one come from the same frozen case

Tags: via:Grant Potter, enshittification, food, capitalism

Added: 2026-05-03 08:54

Edu tech firm Instructure discloses cyber incident, probes impact

Instructure, the company behind the widely used Canvas learning platform, has disclosed that it recently suffered a cybersecurity incident and is now investigating its impact.

Tags: via:Eric Likness, Canvas, Instructure, cybersecurity

Added: 2026-05-01 20:53

Dr. Dwayne Donald - 2024 UNBC Teaching and Learning Conference Keynote

A keynote given at UNBC’s T+L conference. His 2026 UCalgary keynote builds on many of these ideas - it’s interesting to see the evolution of his presentation!

Tags: person:Dwayne Donald, via:Grant Potter, video, presentation, UNBC

Added: 2026-05-01 14:53

ARTEMIS II PHOTO TIMELINE

An interactive photo timeline of NASA

The photos taken of and by astronauts during Artemis II, on a chronological timeline.

Tags: Artemis, photos, via:Nick Heer

Added: 2026-05-01 13:39

Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide For Over 800,000 Years

A chart by Zach Labe showing atmospheric CO2 over the last 800,000 years (combining data from Mauna Loa and ice core samples). Yes, there are cycles. And what we’re seeing in the last few decades is unprecedented.

Tags: person:Zach Labe, climate, CO2

Added: 2026-05-01 12:55

AI Framework for Carleton University

This framework aims to build on and extend the university’s earlier work. It draws from a variety of additional resources: The University of Saskatchewan’s AI Principles and Guidelines Revised, the Australian Framework for AI in Higher Education, the Higher Education Strategy Associates’ (HESA) AI Observatory, a humanistic architecture for AI by Paul Tiyambe Zeleza, and both academic and non-academic publications in the post-econdary sector.

Tags: AI, framework, Carleton, via:Natasha Kenny

Added: 2026-04-27 14:01

Course Deletion Progress

a simple visualization of the # of courses in our Brightspace instance, to track the “course deletion” process that will start running soon.

Tags: person:Cody Baxter, D2L, dashboard, UCalgary

Added: 2026-04-27 11:46