Crowdfunding has become a legitimate avenue for entrepreneurs and artists to raise money for their unique ideas or projects, but anyone crowdfunding needs to know that the CRA can tax you on the money raised.

If a person received money for their business or project, such as a movie, and they receive the completed product or a promotional item, but not equity or a cut of the profits, then that's considered to be business income. But whether those crowdfunding expenses are deductible or not depends on whether they follow the Income Tax Act.

There continues to be debate in Canada about the pros and cons of crowdfunding, but the latest statistics by research firm Massolution show that $2.7 billion was raised worldwide for more than one million campaigns in 2012.

Meanwhile, both the Ontario and Saskatchewan governments are looking into equity crowdfunding, which would let startups and small businesses attract potential investors through crowdfunding.

The telecom company announced it would sell the latest BlackBerry after social media furor to news that Rogers wouldn't sell the BlackBerry Z30.

A week ago, the Rogers said it wouldn't offer BlackBerry's flagship phone, but many Canadians were upset that the company wouldn't support another Canadian company. Many users threatened to cancel services with one of the country's largest carriers.

The company has now said that the Z30 can be bought on its website and national reservation system.

Let's be real. BlackBerry is facing a dire situation. It looks like the company's future in smartphones is over with a possible $1 billion write off in unsold touchscreen phones, along with the possible sale and breakup of the company.

Oops. That's probably what some investors thought when they accidentally purchased stock in TWTRQ, Tweeter Home Entertainment Group, an electronics chain that liquidated in 2008.

With investors buzzing about the latest news on the upcoming Twitter IPO, some silly traders helped the defunct company's stock rise to a value of about 1,400 per cent. On Thursday, the stock closed at one cent, but on Friday it rose to as much as 15 cents. The OTC finally head to step in and halted trading on the stock at 12:42 p.m. on Friday. This is after details about Twitter's financial situation was revealed through a prospectus filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Unfortunately, investors were over eager and it turns out that the Q behind the stock means that the company is bankrupt, but can continue to be traded, according to CNN.

If you regularly visit Yelp.ca to help you decide whether you should eat at a restaurant, you might want to do more research before visiting. The customer review website says that a quarter of its online reviews could be fake, according to the BBC.

The company commented after a Harvard business school study stated that 20 per cent of online reviews on Yelp were fake. The company has an automatic filter for fake reviews, but that doesn't mean it catches all of them.

Forget meet and greet.

Now it's connect and tweet.

According to a new study, LinkedIn and Twitter are emerging as the top social channels for many business leaders.

The 2013 CEO.com Social CEO Report found that 5.6 per cent of Fortune 500 CEOs are now on Twitter compared to just 3.6 per cent last year, and 27.9 per cent are connecting on LinkedIn, up from 25.9 per cent in 2012.

Fast food giants are wowing kids with their enticing marketing tactics including  talking dogs, kooky clowns, and colourful cartoon and crowned characters.

And don't forget, each kids' meal comes with the latest and greatest toy.

The list goes on. And so does the obesity.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), childhood obesity is not improving.

The organization points the finger at advertising as the main culprit specifically targeting children via television, social media and smart phones.

Who knew government surveillance programs could encourage people to read more?

Dystopian classics such as George Orwell's 1984, Aldous Huxley's Brave New World and Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 have been flying off the shelves since news broke that the United States government has been undertaking secretive surveillance systems targeting phone and internet messages.

As a matter of fact, Orwell's 1984 novel, featuring a totalitarian futuristic society under the watchful eye of Big Brother, is listed as one of Amazon.com's top 200 bestsellers.

We are being watched and followed at every move. Whether, it's us willingly inputting data about ourselves on Facebook, LinkedIn or into the Twitter sphere...our information is out there for everyone to see.

There are surveillance cameras wherever we go. Shopping, offices, workplaces, streetscapes. Then there's Google maps where you can just zoom in on anyone's personal space.

There are even enthusiastic candidates who want to be under the watchful eye of Big Brother, the Canadian TV show, for millions to see their every movement.

And who is out there gathering our data and perhaps using our personal information?

Security is always a concern, especially as we move forward into a cashless society with debit cards, credit cards, swiping and tapping out our information in stores and over the internet.

We're seeing, hearing, and watching world events as they unfold. Not just through news agencies, but now through average citizens with their mobile devices in hand and on the scene at any given moment.

But who is watching the watchers? And what happens when someone does blow the whistle like Edward Snowden, a former U.S. National Security Administration (NSA) contractor?

Remember, Big Brother is watching you.

By Donna Donaldson, MSN Money

What do you think about government surveillance?

You can order pizza, shop and do your banking right from the convenience of your home computer.

But what about depositing cheques into your bank account with your mobile device?

Well, select credit unions across Canada are launching a new mobile app that lets you do just that.

All you have to do, they say, is tap, snap and send.

Just like the music charts, celebrity names pop in and out of favour. Scammers know this, which is why they use the top names as lures for malware scams and identity theft.

Famous names are used for a whole host of tricks, from people actually posing as celebrities to bogus endorsements of products and events, says Scambusters.  

One of the most prevasive stunts is to use the name of a well-known figure in emails or messages on social media like Facebook and Twitter to lure victims into clicking an attachment or a link that downloads malware onto their PCs.

However, it turns out that not all celebs are equal when it comes to the popularity of their names as bait for click tricking. And, like celebrity status itself, the names change over time.

If it sounds too good to be true -- it probably is.

The Competition Bureau wants consumers to be aware of scams as part of its 2 Good 2 Be True campaign during Fraud Prevention Month in March.

Among the various scams out there, the Competition Bureau wants consumers to recognize false online testimonials and subscription traps on mobile devices.