Tech Blog

I'll be the first to tell you that I'm not an Apple fanboy. At the same time, I'll also be the first to tell you that I am not an Apple hater. I like technology. I like gadgets. And I have no real brand loyalty, aside from maybe Nintendo. I'm willing to go to whoever happens to have the most appealing product (to me) at the time.

Which is why I don't own an Apple iPad. I also don't have a MacBook or an iPhone. It's not that I don't think they're good products -- they're good for what they claim to do -- but I don't think they're anywhere near where the hype may lead us to believe they are.

It may be the dog days of summer, but hockey season is always on in Canada. Here's a list of social media tools to make sure you're ready for the puck drop. Read more...

Yes, I still have my increasingly bedraggled looking Blackberry Curve. Yes, I still want an iPhone 4. I know lots of you have them now, especially if the lines around stores is any indication at all. Okay not to mention several cell providers saying that they are so way sold out that it's almost best just not to ask. Sure fine. In the meantime, I caught this pretty handy post on TUAW about what to check for on your new iPhone 4 (if you are so lucky as to be able to get one):TUAW Tips: 25 ways to check the hardware on your iPhone 4. Let's take this advice a step further and talk about checking all new gadgets you buy. Read more...

A couple weeks ago I wrote about Apple's new battery charger and how I thought it was the cool thing to buy from the recent announcements—Forget other new Apple devices, I want the battery charger—and one of our respected users, XL, pointed out that he thought the Apple batteries were Sanyo Eneloop batteries. Turns out, he might have been right. Read more...

Yes! Another article about Scott Pilgrim vs. The World! But not about the game! This time it's about the movie. If you're like me, you've probably become a little sick of the constant media blitz on the film, what with all the advertising, TV spots, premieres, etc. etc. and when it comes down to it, as a cultural event my attachment to the property is such that Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (the movie) is the biggest thing to happen to me since Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. But was I crushed when I walked out of the theatre? Read more...

One of the ways the MacBook Air, netbooks, and other devices conserve battery power and get a little speed edge is using a Solid State Drive (SSD). An SSD works like your little USB flash drive in that there are no moving parts and the data is stored in memory on chips instead of physically on drive platters. So, SSDs don't generate as much heat as mechanical drives and because they are memory-based, the read-write and access times are often vastly superior to a mechanical drive. All of this is great, but there is a little detail: cost. So the question is then, Are they worth it?

Part 1 of 3 in a blog article series, breaking down the grassroots essentials on how to become a successful DJ. Read more...

Video games are just as important (if not more so) in today's culture as movies, television, and music. Yes, I'm a little biased, since I've been "a gamer" since I was barely out of diapers, having rocked everything from the original Atari to the Nintendo 64. Most recently, I find myself playing with the Xbox 360 more than any other system.

You may have also noticed that Microsoft announced a new "slim" version of its Xbox 360 during the E3 2010 conference in June. This is a touch smaller and a little sleeker than its predecessor, but it also comes a little bit of a premium in terms of price. With that in mind, is it really worth the extra money? Or are you better off snagging the older version of the system from the clearance bin?

It seems that around this time of year, the dog days of summer, friends and relatives start pinging me with questions about buying new computer hardware. I’ve come to call this time of year Computer Shopping Season. My own unscientific observations of this trend have concluded that there’s a bit of a marketing push happening as retailers clear out older models to make room new ones in the production queue; to be featured in the ‘back to school’ and upcoming holiday shopping season. Read more...

Good pixel art is absolutely one of my favourite things, but it's being seen less and less in games these days, with even handhelds such as the Nintendo DS going all in on 3D graphics. So I was pleased over the past couple of weeks to see two really high profile games full of pixel art come out: Scott Pilgrim vs. The World and Castlevania: Harmony of Despair. Reviews within! Read more...

Apple has announced the release of iOS 4.0.2 and 3.2.2 for iOS-driven iPod touch and iPhone units. This update seals a PDF security hole that could enable the hijacking of either type of device. The only practical application in the field at the time of writing was disrupting Apple's device security through a process commonly known as "jailbreaking". By sealing this security breach, Apple has effectively cut off the ability jailbreak for owners to their handsets should they upgrade.

The process of jailbreaking has been under much scrutiny of late, with the US legal system ruling that jailbreaking specifically does not violate the DMCA. Canada's currently proposed Bill C-62 would still make this process illegal, should it pass. Jailbreaking is a grey zone for hardware owners; while it opens the door to applications that Apple could not or would not permit on the App Store, it can also leave users more vulnerable to malicious attack, and is also seen as an avenue to application piracy.

When's the last time you checked your cellphone plan? If you're like the average person, you likely signed up for a cellphone plan when you got your current cellphone and you likely haven't checked things out since. But you could be missing out on some great deals. I made a recent discovery with my carrier that is not only saving me money, but giving me more for what I pay. Here are some suggestions for ensuring you get the best value.

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As most BlackBerry users know, one of the biggest addictions on the BlackBerry is BlackBerry Messenger. Well, your favorite BlackBerry instant messaging app has been updated. Users can now download BBM version 5.0.1.38 (previous version was 5.0.0.57).

If it’s true that gamers are a unique group of people that share a passion for something that not everyone in the mainstream can fully understand, then a dating site to bring them together should make sense. This was the idea that brought the site Gamer Dating to life. Read more...

The challenge for the Flip MinoHD is for it to make the case for you to take it with you. Chances are you own a smartphone - and if you’re a Future Shop customer, it’s probably a pretty sexy smartphone with lots of GBs, a video camera app, and a data package that lets you upload stuff to YouTube. That’s a lot for the MinoHD to overcome, so the question is: should you take it with you? Read more...

Tonight Edmonton had a wicked summer thunder storm. Huge downpour flooding many underpasses, golf-ball sized hail, and one heck of a light show. The storm marched through Edmonton from south to north, and I was able to follow its development by using some high-tech tools... Read more...

Last week Nicholas Negroponte was quoted as saying that the physical book would be dead in 5 years—Nicholas Negroponte: The Physical Book Is Dead In 5 Years—which I thought is pushing it a little. Sure I love ebooks, and would rather have an ebook version over a paper version now, but gone in 5 years? Now I don't know if it was just kismet of timing, around the same time, Kobo announced that it was dropping the price of its eReader device from $150 to $128 dollars. Hmm, okay, that's just competition with other eReader devices. Well today I read on Ars Technica something that to me finally tips the scale to the full-on decline of paper—Mass romance novel publisher going all in on e-books. Read more...

Want, as I am, to always find new and cool things for my machine and my workday, a post title like—Pomodoro Desktop puts a tomato in your menubar—is bound to catch my attention. Tomato? Really? Okay, I'll bite, what's this all about. Turns out it's not about fruit at all (remember tomatoes are technically fruits), but an interesting approach to getting things done during the day. The essence is working for 25 minutes on a particular, specific task then taking a 5 minutes break. Yes, there are some details to making it all work, but that's the guts of it. The guts of The Pomodoro Technique—The Pomodoro Technique™. Read more...

The landscape of Canadian wireless providers is slowly but surely changing with the arrival of a few new competitors. The big three -- Rogers, Bell, and Telus -- now have to face the likes of Wind Mobile, Mobilicity, and Public Mobile. To address these changes, Bell is shifting its Solo Mobile brand focus a little further down market and Rogers has already launched the Chatr brand as a "cheap" unlimited alternative.

So, what is Telus doing? Are they going to shift Koodo Mobile a little further down the scale? Are they going to create a new sub-brand like how Rogers did. No. They don't want to go any cheaper.

The entry of new wireless carriers into Canada’s wireless landscape was long overdue, and though the shockwaves we came to expect haven’t materialized yet, there has been one area where the new guys have made a difference — long distance calls.

You'll see a lot of stories over the next few days that will start with the line "Steve Jobs must be furious...", all reporting the emergence of Flash on Apple's protected iOS platform. Don't kid yourself, Steve is cool as a cucumber right now; Jailbreakers and Flash porters are playing right into his hands.

What?! No ebooks in coffee shops? Wave bye bye to Wave... Read more...

Oh man! It's been ages since I've written an indie spotlight, but I couldn't resist as this week sees the release of Privates, Zombie Cow Studio's latest game which, created for Channel 4 in the UK, is a game that manages to both be very educational but also, almost certainly, not safe for work. Read more...

So many Canadians use Facebook, Flickr and SkyDrive to upload photos and videos on a daily basis, but there are limitations and flaws in the process. Photos aren’t in their highest resolution, and video is really limited to the short clips viewers can snack on. I’ve recently discovered a much better alternative to sharing photos and videos that offers unlimited storage.

App developers are riding the iPad wave. The bigger device is demanding bigger prices, 2 to 3 times the price of iPhone / iPod Touch apps in most cases. Here are some ways to wander through the app store to find the deals and save some money. Read more...