2014
Hack chrome OS and win cold hard cash
Google is sponsoring the Pwnium 4 hacking competition taking place at the CanSecWest conference in Vancouver in March. Like previous years, Google will use this contest as an opportunity to confirm the security of its Chrome products or find bugs that need fixing. El Goog (aka the sultan of search, aka Google) is offering : $110,000 USD: browser or system-level compromise in guest mode or as a logged-in user, delivered via a web page. $150,000 USD: compromise with device persistence: guest to guest with interim reboot, delivered via a web page.
Apple to scrap iPhone 5c according to WSJ
[caption id="" align=“alignnone” width=“1024”]Image by Janitors under Creative Commons License [/caption] Another day, another Apple rumour. This time the Wall Street Journal (link) is reporting that Apple will unveil 2 new iPhones this year. One with a display larger than 4.5" and another one with a display larger than 5". Of course these rumour come from "people familiar with the situation" so take it all with a large block of salt. They are predicting a model that looks similar to the iPhone 5s with a metal casing and a standard October launch.
A $50 unlocked android phone from Motorola?
[caption id="" align=“alignnone” width=“1024”]Image by Hades2K under Creative Commons License [/caption] 2013 was the year of Motorola. When most Android manufacturers were competing on specifications (processor, memory, storage, screen size, etc), Motorola decided to take a different angle and built a well designed, customizable, reasonably priced android device. This device, the MotoX, came with an almost stock Android OS with some small but powerful usability add ons. I'm an iPhone user and have been from the very beginning but the MotoX was the device that almost made me switch.
Using Non-US cloud providers doesn't protect data
[caption id="" align=“alignnone” width=“1024”]Image by Jaaron under Creative Commons License [/caption] My day job is in security so I read every Snowden leak with great interest. It is fascinating to see how well funded intelligence agencies can collect the data they need. All these these leaks seem to have tickled a nerve with some non American corporate IT managers who are now demanding that their cloud providers store their data outside of the US. But does that really make a difference?
Netflix will implement 3-tier pricing for new members
[caption id="" align=“alignnone” width=“1024”]Image by BrianC under Creative Commons License [/caption] A recent Netflix shareholder letter and an interview with GigaOM (link) makes it clear that Netflix is evaluating different tiered pricing plans. On page 2 of the shareholder letter (link) , the CEO explains: "Last April we introduced a 4-concurrent stream $11.99 option to begin our evaluation of plan tiering. Since late last year, we have also been testing 1-stream and 3-stream variants, as well as SD/HD variations, at various price points.
Atlas identifies and tracks all your exercises
Most fitness trackers are glorified pedometers. The same pedometer technology we have been using for 30 years with some extra software to make it look more modern. To really track your workouts and help you improve, you need a much deeper level of information collection and a more mature set of data analytics tools. Over a year ago, I loved the idea of a fitness tracker called Amiigo (link). <img src="https://ekiledjian2.micro.blog/uploads/2025/f50ac2f850.jpg" alt=""> Unfortunately the Amiigo is more than a year late to deliver their product and updates aren't very comforting.
Whatsapp reaches 430M Users
A Whatsapp cofounder came clean and praised Android for its openness. He further explained how much easier it is to add new features to its Android version compared to IOS. And to top it all off, he confirmed that Whatsapp has more Android users than IOS. They have managed to collect 430M users (up almost 30 million since December). The company has 50 employees of which half work on localization and translation. Whatsapp is a lean organization which keeps costs low and has a steady revenue stream of $0,99 per account per year.
Rogers MotoX Kitkat update coming soon
Motorola shook up the smartphone business when it released the revolutionary MotoX. It wasn't revolutionary because of its specs but rather because of the built in value-added features it brought (Moto assist, Moto migrate, always listening, etc). One complaint Android owners have had for years is the huge unexplainable delay between a new version of the OS being released by Google and when it was made available to consumers through the carriers. Some updates take 12-18 months. Motorola used this as a potential differentiator and promised a Kitkat update to Its phones quickly.
54% of Canadians use their smartphone to make purchase decisions
[caption id="" align=“alignnone” width=“1024”]CC Image - Flickr Jason A Howie [/caption] BrandSpark has released its annual Canadian Shopper Study which polled 100,000 Canucks. On the mobile front, 54% of Canadians report using their smartphone to make a purchase decision. 31% of users admit to using their smartphone to check competitor pricing (aka show rooming). 17% of users said their used their smartphone to lookup product information. 13% of users searched product reviews before making a purchase. CNW (link)
New Samsung UI may bring predictive cards
Everyone's favourite Tweeter leaker, @evleaks (link), has now provided an alleged view of the upcoming updated Samsung Android User Interface (aka skin). More from that Samsung home screen. pic.twitter.com/5Z0jKKxXYN — @evleaks (@evleaks) January 19, 2014 These predictive cards remind me of the Google Now cards. It looks like Samsung's cards are much more integrated with social media sites allowing you to check-in or share your location. <img src="https://ekiledjian2.micro.blog/uploads/2025/7ec00549d5.jpg" alt=""> Based on what we have seen so far, this still seems like a design mockup therefore it is likely subject to significant changes.
Adobe Lightroom coming for Apple's iPad
9to5Mac (link) is reporting that Adobe will release an iPad version of its Lightroom photo management app. The discovery was made when Lightroom for mobile briefly appeared on Adobe's website. The information was pulled when 9to5Mac asked Adobe for comment & clarifications. <img src="https://ekiledjian2.micro.blog/uploads/2025/38daba2025.jpg" alt=""> The Adobe webpage didn't mention the iPad but an Adobe employee confirmed it was iPad centric to 9to5Mac. Looks like Lightroom for iPad will sync with the full Lightroom via the Adobe creative cloud which means it will require a subscription and 9to5Mac reports that it will cost $100 a year (which seems fairly steep).
Microsoft fixes Surface Pro 2 battery & sleep issues
In December, Microsoft released a horribly tested problem causing patch that was quickly withdrawn. Now they have released an updated patch which Microsoft assures fixes the biggest Surface Pro complaints such as battery life and a randomly waking up device. It doesn't fix all the issues but it is a step in the right direction. Just head over to your software update applet and enjoy some free device improvement now.
Samsung Galaxy S5 secrets revealed
With an expected release around April, sites around the internet are buzzing with claimed spec leaks for the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S5 smartphones. So far, we believe Samsung will release 2 version of the Galaxy S5: One in typical plastic sold for around $800 off contract One with a premium metal body that will release for around $1000 off contract Leaks also indicate that we will see a Samsung Galaxy S5 mini and an S5 zoom Spec wise:
Telus CEO is paid in shares not cash
Nothing says confidence in oneself and ones company more than a CEO heavily compensated in company shares. The President and CEO of Telus, Darren Entwistle, will once again be paid in shares rather than cash (5th year in a row). In a recent press release it states that Mr Entwistle is agreement to share only compensation because of his confidence in Telus' short, medium and long term performance. It also shows a clear alignment between his personal priorities and those of his Telus shareholders.
Google buys Nest for 3.2B$
In December, I wrote an article (link) about Google working on a smart thermostat as a play for the connected home. A couple of days ago, we learned that Google has acquired the 800-lb gorilla in smart thermostat technologies, Nest Labs. Nest is the first company to successfully break into the home automation mass market with its smart internet connected thermostat and fire detector. It brought the promise of long term energy savings through intelligent automatic temperature control and the ability to control it via your Android or IOS smartphone.
Videotron Mobility may be expand outside of Quebec
Videotron has been a fierce competitor in the wireless space in Quebec and has forced other wireless carriers into creating Quebec only low cost monthly plans to stay competitive. This is exactly what the Canadian government wanted to do when they decided to foster competition. Videotron spent a cool $500M during the last AWS auction spectrum (for Quebec and some parts of Ontario). The latest stats indicate that they have picked up about 500,000 loyal wireless subscribers making them the 6th largest Canadian wireless carrier.
Effervescent Bacon Drink
Bacon is a magical food. It makes everything taste better. You can eat it, sprinkle it, brush with it, etc. Now you can drink it! Oh ya, drink it. Enter these wonderful Bacon flavoured effervescent tabs. You simply drop one into a glass of water and enjoy that bacon flavour. I found these little wonders on Amazon here (link) I have provided a link for convenience and this is not a referral link. I get no compensation for providing this link.
Safespot is your personal safety concierge
Safespot is an Android app that helps keep you safe in unsafe situations. The way it works is like a deadman switch. You choose a group to notify and a virtual button shows up on the screen. You keep your finger on that button as long as things are safe. The minute you let go of the button (in the event of an emergency), it notifies that selected group that you're in trouble and provides a Google Map link to your exact location.
Socrates rule for success
<img src="https://ekiledjian2.micro.blog/uploads/2025/c8213f2a94.jpg" alt="">
Rogers to launch Netflix competitor for Canadians
[caption id="" align=“alignnone” width=“818”]CC Image Flickr User A ustinEvan [/caption] Cartt.ca is reporting that Rogers is spending more than $100M to design and launch a Canadian Netflix competitor. The report states that Rogers has already signed licensing agreements with Disney/ABC, Warner Bros, 20th Century Fox, plus a handful of Canadian content owners such as Bell Media and Shaw. The always trustworthy (said sarcastically) anonymous source said " They are buying up all the rights, all the windows, to everything in order to keep them out of the hands of Netflix in Canada.