2013
Telus has happier customers and more revenue
[caption id="" align=“alignnone” width=“1062”]Creative Commons License by Stella Blu [/caption] Telus is flying high with a good subscriber count, revenue increase and a reduction in user complaints. When Telus announced their Q3 results, we learned that they had a 5.2% increase in wireless revenue (compared to a year ago). They added about 100,000 subscribers (now counting 7,810,000 subscribers). For the first time, Telus also included coverage information in its report. We learned that their HSPA+ network reaches 34.9 million Canadians. The Telus LTE network reaches 27.
12 qualified bidders for Canada's 700mhz spectrum
700mhz is an incredible band that every carrier wants to get a hold off. It goes through buildings like a hot knife in butter. It reaches much further which is great for providing coverage is rural areas. Canada is about to auction is highly prized band and 15 bidders wanted in on the action. Now Industry Canada has published the final list of qualified bidders. The auction starts mid-January and the government is hopeful this will spur wireless competition. Bell Mobility Inc.
Laserpointer add-on for your iPhone
the iPhone is a wondrous device that has thousands of uses thanks to all the 3rd party peripherals and apps available in the ecosystem. Now you can add laser pointer to the list. <img src="https://ekiledjian2.micro.blog/uploads/2025/b21e07e985.jpg" alt=""> You plug the device into the headphone jack and instantly convert your $800 smartphone into a $30 635nm laser beam. When you plug anything into your headphone jack, the phone thinks you have headphones plugged in so it redirects are outgoing sounds and incoming sounds to the headphone jack, which is typically bad.
Most portable USB or Lightning charging cable
Plusus is releasing a very portable charge cable solution called Lifelink which is the size of a credit card and 2 credit cards thick. <img src="https://ekiledjian2.micro.blog/uploads/2025/b1eb9752d6.jpg" alt=""> Once opened up, it give you almost 7" of cable so you don't need to shove it next to the charge source (laptop, adapter, etc) <img src="https://ekiledjian2.micro.blog/uploads/2025/e7f2cd594d.jpg" alt=""> The flexible cable is reinforced with unbreakable Teflon so it will last a long time. when clipped to your keys, it is light and you will hardly know it is with you (until you need it).
Motorola Moto X Motomaker coming to more carriers
Moto Maker for all. pic.twitter.com/wLJsnViV2D — @evleaks (@evleaks) November 8, 2013 EVLeaks has reported that Motomaker is coming to more US carriers which means more Americans will soon be able create customized Moto X Google Android smartphones.
Now you can buy a bulletproof suit
Sure most of us don't need a bullet proof suit but it sure sound very James Bond-esque. Garrison Bespoke uses a special carbon nanotube material so that the suits are flexible and normal. The minute a bullet makes contact with the material, it hardens to protect the principal wearing this magical clothing. The material is 50% lighter than Kevlar (the traditional bullet proof material) and was tested to stop .22 and .40 caliber bullets. Before you run out to buy one, its important to remember that this wondrous tech costs about $US20,000 but I'm sure the intended customers can easily afford this additional layer of protection.
Break Clubs help people cope with their frustrations
Have you ever been so frustrated that you wanted to break something? Through plates on the floor, hit a screen with a bat or jump on a laptop? There are better ways to deal with your emotions but it you want the satisfaction of primal destruction then you are in in. There are now special clubs called "break clubs" where you can go and break stuff. These clubs are popping up around the world.
Unrealistic beauty
We have seen hundreds of posts about magazines using Photoshop to "unrealistically beautify" models but now a video shows the complete process (sped up). The process starts with makeup and hair styling then moves to digital editing. Before all the improvements <img src="https://ekiledjian2.micro.blog/uploads/2025/03851db21e.jpg" alt=""> After all the improvements <img src="https://ekiledjian2.micro.blog/uploads/2025/f0be4f90c2.jpg" alt=""> you can watch the entire transformation here:
What are the most popular links on Facebook and Twitter?
Rad URL is an interesting website that lists the 100 most popular links being shared on Facebook and Twitter. You can sort the list to see Facebook or Twitter only lists or watch the entire combined glorious list displaying the sentiment of the internet. The list is updated every 15 minutes but major changes to the list happen every hour or two. RadURL
Canon SL1 may be the perfect family dSLR
As the holiday season approaches, you may be looking for a great all purpose camera and the Canon Rebel SL1 will definitely not disappoint. It is called the world's smallest and lightest APS-C dSLR. The Rebel SL1 is the smaller brother of the larger Rebel T5i. They both share the same 18MP sensor and DIGIC 5 processor. Its fantastic that Canon was able to fit all of the t5i guts into such a small body and at the same time keeping most of the Rebel family buttons intact.
Unlock your mac by knocking on your iPhone
Knock is an iPhone app that allows you to unlock you Mac by simply knocking your iphone. You will also need to install their Mac app available for free on their site. The iPhone app is currently on special at $3.99 on the appstore. Installation takes a couple of minutes and voila. The iPhone app has to be started but doesn't have to be the active app when knocking it. (and your phone can even be locked).
Find out which Canadian wireless network is the best
Root Metrics performed an exhaustive 47,000 point network test in Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver to determine which network would be crowned king. The final results show that each city had a different winner. Montreal - Bell Toronto - Rogers Vancouver - Telus They did point out that all 3 players offered reliable services throughout. <img src="https://ekiledjian2.micro.blog/uploads/2025/f0e24d8504.jpg" alt="">
Industry Canada Explains its Wireless Policy
A short video by the Government of Canada explaining that Canadians deserve more choice, more competitive pricing and better contract terms. <img src="https://ekiledjian2.micro.blog/uploads/2025/0fbcf38b17.jpg" alt=""> 15 bidders submitted bids for the upcoming 700mhz wireless auction, you can see the list here. On November 8, it will publish the list of qualified bidders that have submitted the required deposit (those who will be allowed to participate in the auction). The official statement from the government was:
Pebble to make "important announcement" Nov 6
[caption id="" align=“alignnone” width=“445”][/caption] The Pebble team seems to be working on something "important" that will be unveiled tomorrow (November 6). You are invited to watch the live stream. On the developer site, they say: "It’s no secret that we’ve been hard at work developing better software for Pebble and this Wednesday, November 6th, we’ll be making a very important announcement. You’re invited to join our livestream event at 10AM PST to hear what awesome new things we’ve been working on to make Pebble a more robust and feature-rich platform.
Nexus 5 is easily repairable
It seems everything we buy these days is disposable, Disposable phones, tablets and e-readers. Imagine my surprise when the master disassemblers at iFixIt.com gave it a repairability score of 8/10. This means that the average person can easily replace the most common consumable (battery) or breakable (headphone jack) parts. And all of this with basic easily available tools (no esoteric pentalobe screws like Apple). <img src="https://ekiledjian2.micro.blog/uploads/2025/a1320f76e4.jpg" alt=""> <img src="https://ekiledjian2.micro.blog/uploads/2025/cdd4edab8e.jpg" alt="">
Fido offers $45 unlimited Canada-wide plan
Consumers always win with competition and now Fido is becoming even more aggressive to win new customers. You can now get a $45 a month plan with unlimited everything plus 1GB of wireless data. 1GB not enough for you? There have the same thing in with 3GB for only $55. These are Quebec only deals and are likely very temporary so jump on them while the getting is good. Source: Fido
Nexus 5 coming to carriers Nov 8
The Google Nexus has has been selling on the Google Play store for 2 weeks now and most Canadian carriers list it as coming (Telus, Fido, Rogers, etc.) Now we learn that it may finally switch to shipping as early as this Friday November 8. None of the carriers have confirmed the release date or pricing but we expect it to sell for between $99-149 with a 2 year contract ($499 outright without a contract).
Fido offers scheduled customer support
In an effort to differentiate itself through better customer service, Fido launched a new scheduled customer service offering called Check-Ins. It is a way to get support (for account related issues) without having to wait on endless hold. You can book your time-slot by logging into your online Fido account and choosing a date and time (up to 7 days out). Source: Fido.ca
Google Search for IOS now with 100% more NOW
After a long and painful wait, IOS users finallt get some Google Now loving... The sultan of search release an update today to its Google Search App for IOS with brings notifications, reminders, voice response and much much more. Wait... what? Voice search? Oh yes my friend. You open the Google search app and trigger it by saying OK Google then issue your command. The Google robot army will then respond accordingly. (this feature requires an iPhone 4s or newer).
Watch Google's Google+ event from today
NOTE: The event started late and you can fast-forward to minutes 13.