2014
Sony MP3 Walkman sold in a bottle of water at gyms and pools
The Sony W series is a completely waterproof (up to 2 meters) mp3 player that Sony has been offering for a while. they actually market it for swimmers but its great for anyone exercising in wet, humid or outdoor environments. The marketing whiz-bangs at New Zealand ad agency DraftFCB came up with an original bottled Walkman concept. The Walkman is sold from a vending machine stored inside a bottle of water. <img src="https://ekiledjian2.micro.blog/uploads/2025/5391b4c754.jpg" alt=""> Sony has installed these vending machines in places where its target demographic likes to frequent (gyms, pools, etc).
Save money when renting a car
[caption id="" align=“alignnone” width=“1219”]Image by aldenjewell under Creative Commons License [/caption] Renting a car while travelling often feels like getting a endoscopy done. It always feels like you get quoted one rate (in the ad) and end up paying 2 or 3 times as much. but why? Why does it cost so much and how can you save money on your next rental? The catch I used Avis.com and checked the price of a 7 day rental at LAX in July.
Now you too can smell like pizza
Do you have a pizza fetish. Do you eat, sleep and dream of pizza? Are you jealous of the pizza man because he always smells like fresh pizza pie? Now Demeter brings you Pizza Cologne ($US20). What does it smell like? Tomato sauce, cheese and oregano. This is sure to make you irresistible to the ladies. surprisingly, the customer reviews are positive. You can buy it straight from the manufacturer (link).
BBM 2.0 for IOS and Android coming today
Blackberry promised us BBM 2.0 early 2014 and it looks like they are delivering. The update is expected to be available on the Google Play store and the Apple itunes AppStore today. It wasn't available when I checked but they confirmed it is coming. What does BBM 2.0 bring? BBM Voice : is a cross-platform VOIP system BBM Channels : is a twitter like BBM only one-to-many messaging system BBM Location: location sharing now available via Glympse Attachments: Ability to attach voice notes, calendar events and contacts to a BMM message Dropbox integration for file sharing <img src="https://ekiledjian2.
Top 5 best disposable AA batteries money can buy
[caption id="" align=“alignnone” width=“1024”]Image by deanj under Creative Commons License [/caption] One of the questions I get asked the most is about what batteries types and brands readers should buy. I wrote an article in December (link) explaining the difference between high/low drain devices and when you should use alkaline/lithium batteries. I'll wait here while you go and quickly read that article... Go on... I'll wait. OK. So my top 5 favorite batteries are: Energizer Ultimate (Lithium) Energizer Advanced (Lithium) Duracell Quantum (Alkaline) Duracell Ultimate (Alkaline) Kirkland signature (Alkaline) How did I build this list?
How to open a Finder window with a keyboard Shortcut
On a Windows 7/8 computer, I can press the Windows Key + E to open a new explorer window. I couldn't find an equivalent shortcut on the Mac so I created one. If you're looking for a quick way to open a finder window, here are the steps: Open System Preferences Search for Keyboard shortcuts In the Keyboard window, Choose App Shortcuts <img src="https://ekiledjian2.micro.blog/uploads/2025/876674fab8.jpg" alt=""> Click on the plus sign to add a new shortcut And create a shortcut with this information
How gym's can protect your locker
[caption id="" align=“alignnone” width=“1024”]Image by West Midlands Police under Creative Commons License [/caption] Like most of my readers, I am trying to live a healthier life by (trying) to eat better and going to the gym. Over the years, I have spoken to dozens of gym owners after some type of locker robbery and most have admitted now knowing what to do. I believe I have a good solution to this problem that I wanted to share. As the Chief Information Security Officer for a large multinational, my team is constantly searching for new mechanisms to protect our company assets.
Is [add name] down for everyone or is it just me
[caption id="" align=“alignnone” width=“1600”]Image by arkaitz.zubiaga Under Creative commons Lincese [/caption] We have become increasingly dependant on our online services and when they go down , we are lost and the world loses meaning. Ok.. maybe its not that bad but we still want to know whether the service is down or it's just us. The next time your online service isn't working, check out their online services status dashboard and rest easy knowing its not your fault (unless your internet is down, in which case you should panic).
Going Paperless Part 5 - Backing up your data
[caption id="" align=“alignnone” width=“1944”]Image by Martinluf under creative commons license [/caption] First go here and read my article on the 3-2-1 backup rule. There are 2 types of backups: Offline backups Online backups <img src="https://ekiledjian2.micro.blog/uploads/2025/0c21103e22.jpg" alt=""> An Offline backup is simple, it is an external hard disk or USB key you use to periodically keep an extra copy of your data. As an example you plug it in once a week to copy the information over then unplug it.
Going Paperless Part 4 - What to do with that PDF
So far we have: Reduced the paper clutter by throwing out needless items and switching from paper to digital where possible Bought a scanner and installed the scanning software Started scanning some of the paper and converting it to PDF Most scanners have an OCR option and that option should be enabled. On the Mac If you use a Windows PC, jump to the next section. I recently switched my main everyday laptop from a Windows machine to a Macbook Pro.
Going Paperless Part 3 - Choosing the best file format
[caption id="" align=“alignnone” width=“744”]Image by xmodulo under Creative Commons License [/caption] This article is going to be short and sweet. It will answer one question "What format should I scan my documents to?" Regardless of the scanner or scanning software, typically they can save documents in JPG, GIF, PNG, PDF. The answer is PDF, end of discussion. PDF is an industry standard, allows for the inclusion of multiple pages and is accessible almost on every device in the world.
Going Paperless Part 2 - Choosing the right scanner
[caption id="" align=“alignnone” width=“576”]ImageTrac 5300 [/caption] Before we talk about the different methods to capture information and workflows with digital information, I am going to talk about scanners right upfront. Like everything electronic, scanners come in all shapes, sizes and prices. On one end, you have the single sided, single page portable scanners (like the Doxie Go) <img src="https://ekiledjian2.micro.blog/uploads/2025/b2b82384b4.jpg" alt=""> Or you can splurge on a high quality, high volume, fairly automatic, double sided scanner with built in sheet feeder
Going Paperless Part 1 - Reducing your paper exposure
[caption id="" align=“alignnone” width=“634”]Image by Joybot under creative commons license [/caption] A couple of years ago, I made the switch (personally) from a paper filling system to an all electronic document management system. There are a bunch of benefits by going digital that include: free up lots of space make finding information faster and easier easily transferring or sharing information I want to help you go paperless and the best way for me to do this is to slowly break-up different tips and recommendations over a series of articles.
Collection of Travel tips to keep you safe and save you money
[caption id="" align=“alignnone” width=“1324”]By Martin Abegglen under Creative commons License [/caption] Save Money while travelling KNOWROMAING CUTS MOBILE COSTS WHEN TRAVELLING XCOM GLOBAL NOW OFFERS AN UNLIMITED 40 COUNTRY EUROPEAN DATA SERVICE ROAM MOBILITY OFFERS COMPETITIVE US ROAMING FOR CANADIANS Keep your stuff safe LOKSAK KEEPS YOUR VALUABLES DRY EVEN WHEN DIVING WINESKIN IS THE IDEAL WAY TO BRING BACK WINE FROM YOUR TRIP General Travel Tips 6 TIPS FROM AN EXPERIENCED TRAVELLER HOW CLEAN IS AIRPLANE AIR AVOID DEHYDRATION WHEN FLYING TRAVEL TIPS WHEN TRAVELLING ALONE HOW TO TRAVEL LIGHT WITH ONLY A CARRY-ON BE SAFE WHEN STAYING IN A HOTEL (PART 1) Tips To Make Your Life Easier when Travelling
EASYBREATH SNORKELING MASK for everyone
As a scuba diver I love the water. On vacation, all I want to do is go diving or grab my mask and snorkel looking for fish, lobster and coral. Every trip, I meet vacationers who profess their love for snorkelling but admit not being able to use the traditional snorkel (breathing from your mouth). The new Easybreath (link) is a fantastic option for these people. The Easybreath fits over your entire face allowing you to breath normally, has an air intake high above your head (so you don't have to worry about keeping the snorkel straight) and has a one way valve to prevent water from seeping in.
EVER Pininfarina Cambiano Inkless Pen
Pininfarina is synonymous with beautifully functional desire that plays with peoples emotions. They are best known for designing cars like Ferrari but they have also produced buildings and consumer products. Now they bring their magical design skills to a pen, the Pininfarina Cambiano Inkless Pen (link). Looking at the above picture, you can see how simple, clean and beautiful the pen is. The tip is made with ethergraph which is designed to write forever without having to replace ink cartridges.
Draft Beer flavoured Jelly Beans
As you mature from a teen to an adult, your taste buds change. You develop a more refined palette and search for more delicate & exquisite flavours... Or at least some of us do. It seems the fine folks at Jelly Belly have been receiving requests for beer flavoured jelly beans "for decades". After years of research and development, you can now enjoy the wonderful taste of draft beer anywhere alcohol is not allowed. To be clear, these taste like draft beer but contain no alcohol.
A Bic pen for your tablet
I come from a generation where cheap Bic pens were plentiful and the go to tool anytime you wanted to write something. There is something nostalgic about using one of this pens these days. Imagine my surprise when I learned that Bic was releasing the above Bic Cristal Stylus pen. It looks exactly like the Bics I remembered except this one has a nib at the end for your tablet or smartphone. These pens sure bring back a lot of memories.
Fongo working on a VOIP client for Blackberry 10
I first started using Fongo when it was powering a free VOIP service for Dell Canada called Dell Voice (link). The premise was simple. It offered a free IOS and Android app that provided free calling to most Canadian locations with free calledID and free voicemail. The Dell deal ended but I continued using it when travelling or when selling something on kijiji (when I don't want to give out my personal number). Now we learn that Fongo is working on a Blackberry (BB) 10 client.
Samsung to release a Galaxy lookalike windows phone
Windows Phone 8.1-powered Samsung SM-W750V "Huron" for Verizon Wireless. pic.twitter.com/UsBp7a0tju — @evleaks (@evleaks) February 4, 2014 evleaks is at it again. This time we learn that Samsung will release a brand new (2014) Windows 8.1 phone that looks like ... well... a Galaxy phone... This Verizon device will support LTE have a 5" 1080p capable screen. Expect this device to be showcased at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona alongside Samsung's other Android devices. It seems Samsung really wants to have a device for everyone in every possible size.