2013
Most popular posts this week
Here are the most popular posts (for the last 7 days): REVIEW OF ALIEXPRESS.COM REVIEW OF THE BOSE QUIETCOMFORT QC20 / QC20I D-LINK WIRELESS RANGE EXTENDER (DAP-1320) REVIEW REAL WORLD TEST AND REVIEW OF THE NIKON AW110 MICROSOFT STORES COMING TO BESTBUY IN CANADA SAVE UP TO 60% OFF SHAVING RAZORS NOW REAL WORLD TEST AND REVIEW OF THE BOSE QUIETCOMFORT 15 (QC15) BOSE SOUNDLINK MINI IS THE BEST MID-SIZE BLUETOOTH SPEAKER BEST HEADPHONES UNDER $60 PLAY FLASH VIDEOS ON IPHONE/IPAD WITH THE PUFFIN INTERNET BROWSER I found it rather surprising that 3 of the top 10 posts this week were related to different Bose products.
The secret to amazing handwriting on an iPad
Most stylus' have large tips which result in imprecise device interaction and an ugly overall user experience. Evernote wants more people to use its services and partnered with renown stylus designer Adonit to build the best stylus money can buy. Here is the Adonit Jot Script for Evernote <img src="https://ekiledjian2.micro.blog/uploads/2025/6d0be34aa4.jpg" alt=""> This is a bluetooth connected pen with an incredibly fine tip <img src="https://ekiledjian2.micro.blog/uploads/2025/85421705f7.jpg" alt=""> The pen was designed to work with Evernote's Penultimate app with advanced palm detection technology.
A fitness wristband that automatically tracks your food
The quantified self via wearable tech is the next frontier and everyone wants a piece of the action. Typically the trinity is the tracking of exercise, sleep and pule (for exertion estimates and stress). For nutrition (aka calorie count), you typically have to enter the information into the devices smartphone app which means you will forget or just give-up after the first week. Now a new entrant promises to track your calorie intake automatically. YES AUTOMATICALLY, as in without you having to do anything.
Save up to 60% off shaving razors now
Give away the razors and make money on the replacement blades... This is the mantra used by razor manufacturers and no where is this truer than with the Gilette Fusion razor (which owns 40-55% of the reusable razor market). A typical user spends between $20-$40 a month on replacement razor blades (especially when they are name brands). A mil-order mens supply company called DollarShaveClub offers to send you cheaper (equivalent quality) razors and replacement blades on a monthly subscription plan and they truly are cheaper than the name brands you buy from Walmart or the pharmacy.
Weird Food - Smalahove
[caption id="" align=“alignnone” width=“2272”]Image shared by Wikimedia Commons by PerPlex [/caption] Smalahove isn't something you will find on the Ikea menu because it is a Norwegian dish typically served for Christmas. Because nothing exemplifies joy, happiness and world peace like a sheep's head. Preparation is simple: get sheep's head burn all the skin and hair off remove brain salt boil or steam for 3 hours serve with mashed potatoes and rutabaga I would love to see Martha prepare this one day.
Weird Food - A-Ping (aka fried tarantulas)
[caption id="" align=“alignnone” width=“800”]Image courtesy of Viajar24h.com [/caption] In North America, we looooooove frying animals and eating them... Would you be surprised to learn other countries love frying food too? In some Cambodian cities, you can buy a wonderfully crisp fried tarantula called a-ping. The spiders are often bred specifically for this and once they reach the right size (often the size of your palm, they are spiced (MSG, sugar, salt, garlic) and deep fried in hot oil. They cook it until the legs are stiff and until the contents of the abdomen aren't running anymore.
Weird Food - Thousand Year Old Egg from China
The Thousand Year Old Egg is also called the Century Egg and is a Chinese delicacy. It is an egg (duck, chicken or quail) that is "preserved" in a special mixture of clay, ash, salt, quicklime and rice hulls. I have heard that these can be stored for weeks or months. Like the Balut, this is incredibly difficult for westerners to stomach. Unlike Balut, I have tried this and it is a taste I did not like. Just thinking about it makes me gag.
Microsoft Stores coming to BestBuy in Canada
[caption id="" align=“alignnone” width=“2500”]Image of a Microsoft Store in the Best Buy in Wichita Kansas, Image (c) Edward Kiledjian 2013. All rights reserved. [/caption] In an attempt to copy the Apple model of incredible sales, Microsoft will be expanding its Microsoft Store inside BestBuys by bringing this model to the great Canadian North. Over 100 of these new stores-inside-a-store will pop up across Canada in Best Buy and Futureshops. These stores will be staffed with specially trained sales and technical specialists to convince you that everyone should own a Surface tablet and should be running Windows 8.
Weird Food - What is Balut
Balut is a fertilized egg embryo that is typically aged for 16-21 days (depending on which country you eat it in) then boiled like a hard boiled egg and eaten. It is supremely popular in the Philippines and Vietnam. I have encountered it often in those countries but just couldn't get myself to try it. My western palate just can't stomach this. It is such a difficult concept for us that it was even a Fear Factor even
Best in ear noise cancelling headphones
As a frequent traveler, I test dozens of noise cancelling headphones every year and typically break them down into best in-ear, on-ear and over ear noise cancelling headphone categories. <img src="https://ekiledjian2.micro.blog/uploads/2025/ca1957d18d.jpg" alt=""> The best in-ear headphone is the Bose QC20 / 20i headphones. Read my detailed review here.
Best headphones under $60
I am often asked what headphones I would choose costing under $60 and my answer may surprise you... It's a $8 pair from monoprice called the 9927. <img src="https://ekiledjian2.micro.blog/uploads/2025/ac2c4dc691.jpg" alt=""> You can read my detailed review here.
Fast Food Container innovation
Fast food is all about convenience and the above concept is a fantastic new convenience. Sure this won't work for people buying drive-through but for everyone else, this leans you can carry your entire meal with one hand. See this REDDIT thread
Bell will track your phone, TV and Internet usage
The Huffington Post has an interesting article that indicates that Bell will start tracking all your usage to deliver targeted ads. Effective November 16, the Bell privacy option are changing to allow them to do this to serve targeted advertising and to "improve network performance". They will track your web history (ADSL, FIBE and mobile), application usage, call metadata (similar to what the NSA did) and your location based on cell phone tower triangulation. They promise not to share your information outside of Bell but does that make you feel warm and fuzzy?
MS Surface 2 now available in Canada
[caption id="" align=“alignnone” width=“1131”]Microsoft Surface 2 Family [/caption] Yesterday was a busy tech announcement day and in all the hoopla, the availability of Microsoft Surface 2 and Surface Pro 2 was lost. If you are looking to overpay for a laptop that claims to be a tablet then you can now pick on up at a Microsoft store or in participating Canadian retailers. Surface 2 (originally called Surface RT) is available for $449 and Surface Pro 2 sells for $899.
Uber launches its Taxi service in Montreal
The super popular Uber taxi service is testing its offering in Montreal (Quebec). Uber taxis are limited during this testing phase but it shouldn't be "too" difficult to hail a taxi within a reasonable time-frame. What is Uber? [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="514"]<img src="https://ekiledjian2.micro.blog/uploads/2025/f2517a497e.jpg" alt=" Uber iPhone app "> Uber iPhone app [/caption] It is a smartphone app that allows you to hail a taxi. The app tells you where your taxi is and notified you when it arrives to pick you up.
Roam Mobility Liberty WIFI Hotspot Review
I travel to the US very regularly and before learning about Roam Mobility, I had to either pay my carrier exhorbitant roaming fees or try to find a temporary SIM card when I arrived in the US (which isn't always easy). Obviously having my US 3G coverage arranged before I start my trip is my prefered option and Roam has been my go to solution. I typically use the Roam Mobility SIM card with my unlocked iPhone 4s but during my last trip, I decided to take their Liberty Hotspot instead.
iPhone 5c /5s are great for travellers
A big issue for travelers is that carriers use different communication bands. Most Canadian cell phones support the "standard" bands (850,900,1900,2100 MHz). Newer Canadian providers and some American providers use other bands such as AWS bands (1700, 2100 MHz). What does this mean to you? It means that you will be able to use the fastest possible connection on more networks around the world. Previously (with an iPhone 4s), my connection sometimes dropped to 2G (or edge) networks which meant painfully slow connectivity when travelling to the US.
Roam Mobility offers best US roaming deal for Canadians
Since learning about Roam mobility, I never travel to the US without one of their plans (a review of their Liberty hotspot coming shortly). They offer competitive pricing and great customer service. The team over at Roam has made a change that makes me even happier now : Roam Mobility is now offering more data and cheaper prices They are actually offering up to 3x more data for the same talk+text+data prices and significantly reduced their data only offering prices. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="600"]<img src="https://ekiledjian2.
Windows 8.1 upgrade issue
So I decided to upgrade my main PC to Windows 8.1 yesterday and the upgrade is painfully slow. But once it was installed (on a non touch based traditional PC), I was greeted with these: <img src="https://ekiledjian2.micro.blog/uploads/2025/26749e9f1c.jpg" alt=""> Then when I started the desktop, I was greeted with: <img src="https://ekiledjian2.micro.blog/uploads/2025/3b5b1844d6.jpg" alt=""> Problem is I do not have a touch device and getting rid of these message with my mouse was challenging. Come on Microsoft, why don't you make this easier?
Google helps man find lost family 25 years later
Technology has empowered us to do incredible things and Google's quest to index all human knowledge has been an incredible multiplier. Now a 30 year old man of indian origin shares his story on Youtube. He lost touch with his Indian family at 5 years old and was adopted by an Australian foster family. 25 years later, he used fragments of old memories and the power of Google earth to find his original village, make his way back to that location and find his birth-mother.