Google's quest to squash SPAM isn't stopping with email. The sultan of search is now pushing an update to some Nexus and Google One devices to warn users when they receive a potentially SPAM call.

The feature allows you to block the number or report it. The Use caller ID & spam protection will be turned on by default. 

The feature was launched with a post on the Nexus Google+ forum.. Yes Google+... Yes THAT Google+.

As a Canadian, I read about cool new services available to our American friends with envy. Some eventually make their way north but many do not. When I read about Amazon testing its drone delivery service in the US, I was jealous. The thought of ordering a product and not having to wait 2-3 days is incredibly enticing and would dramatically change the way I shop.

Imagine my excitement when I heard about a Toronto based company called Drone Delivery Canada that reportedly conducted a success test of its drone delivery service. We don't have too many details but they did state that the delivery time and ability to carry the planned payload exceeded their expectations.

As a new Torontonian, I was excited to learn that the company is working with shop.ca and the city of Vaughan to setup commercial delivery services. 

The company did state that they will expand testing and work closely with Canadian regulators as they expand their functionality to Beyond Line of Site. 

Pokemon Go is an incredible phenomenon encouraging people to get outside, walk and socialize. For all its faults, it has tones of positive attributes. The challenge (and what keeps the game interesting), is the fact you never know where Pokemon are going to pop up. 

Here is the stampede that ensued when a rare Vaporeon Pokemon showed up in central park. Notice the guy that just leaves his car in the middle of the road and rushes in.

While its a great game, many get too enthralled in the game and forget to stay alert and aware of their surroundings. This is why we have heard of a handful of issues from injuries to theft. Now the Ottawa police are urging Canadians to stay alert after an attempted theft Wednesday (reported by the Winnipeg Free Press).

Due to the unprecedented success of this game, police agencies have started blogging safety tips for players. The Regina Police have an interesting blog post. 

The Irving Police department released a hilarious Pokemon Go safety video

The moral of the story is go outside, have fun but stay alert.

The problem

As a "light prepper", lover of camping and traveler, I have been looking for the ultimate water filter/canteen/bottle for years.  I have tried over 50 different solutions over the last 10 years and although some did better than others, most left me wanting more. 

Most of my readers are young professionals so here is the scenario for you. You just finished a long day while travelling and finally came back to your hotel room. All the shops nearby are closed and you want some fresh clean water. Do you drink tap water (which often tastes bad) or do you pop open one of those $8 bottles the hotel strategically places in your room?

Now until recently, my solution was to use the Sawyer Mini in straw mode, that way I didnt have to trust the (likely dirty glass in the room) or the bad tasting water. It did a decent job but wasn't practical and didn't improve the taste of the water, 

Now imagine the situation when  you are travelling overseas. The water quality is often questionable. This meant I had to filter the water with the Sawyer mini first then zap it using Ultraviolet light (UV Sterilization) with my Steripen. Taste didn't improve, the solution didn't remove contaminants but at least I was unlikely to get sick. But my onebag travel (carryon only) means I sacrificed other comforts to make room for these 2 devices.

The Solution

Following the recommendation of a trusted acquaintance, I picked one up during one of my trips to the USA (I picked up the Quest model but all of them filter exactly the same way). The Grayl promised to filter and purify the water easily and in a compact package.

• Filtration: Filtration means the water is cleaned from contaminants
• Purification: Purification means the water is safe to drink

This one product is performing the same task as my Sawyer Mini and Steripen. All without any pumping, batteries or extra containers. They claim (and have independent lab tests to prove it):

•  Removes 99.9999% of viruses (e.g. Rotavirus, Hepatitis A)
• Removes 99.9999% of bacteria (e.g. E coli, Salmonella)
• Removes 99.999% of protozoan cysts (e.g. Giardia, Cryptosporidium)
• Filters particulates (e.g. sediment, dirt), many chemicals (e.g. chlorine, benzene) and heavy metals (e.g. lead, arsenic)

Now the level of filtration depends on which filter you attach, so let's talk about those...

The Grayl Filters

The Grayl water filter and purifier offers 3 very different filters (all filters will work will all models). The filters are Tap (blue), Trail (green) and Travel (orange).

I use the Tap (blue) $15US filter when in locations with known clean tap water to remove  some chemicals (e.g. chlorine, iodine) and heavy metals (e.g. lead, arsenic). Anywhere else, (Camping or travel), I use the orange $25US Travel filter that provides the maximum filtration. Using the tap filter costs about $0,10US/L while the Travel costs $0.17/L. Each filter is good for 150L. 

The Trail filter cost's $20 but is being discontinued.

I tried the Travel filter in a local lake and it worked like a charm. I tried it with very strong smelling well water (caused by Hydrogen sulfide) and the resulting water, using the Travel filter, was clean no smell fresh tasting water.

The Process

The process is simple and straight forward. No sucking, squeezing, or zapping. You fill the outer container with your tainted water, insert the middle section and press down. The Tap filter is easier to push and takes about 7 seconds. The Travel filter provides more resistance, more filtration and therefore takes a full 30 seconds.

You don't have to count, the resistance from the filter will guide you. You just press down with a reasonable amount of force and let it do its job. You can then drink directly from the top of the bottle or pour it into a canteen (which I don't do).

Important additional notes

You fill the outer shell with the "dirty" water then press the inner-core filter section down like a french press. It is important to make sure dirty water from your hands doesn't contaminate the inter tube (where the fresh clean water is stored).

If using water with lots of sediment, I recommend using a handkerchief or bandana as a pre-filter, to prolong the life of the filter. 

My version is the Grayl quest with a plastic outer shell and a stainless steel inner shell (weighs about 16 oz). The full stainless steel version ,the Legend, weighs in at 20oz. The new Ultralight is all plastic and weighs only 10oz. If you are an ultralight camper or traveller then go with the Ultralight but I prefer to store my water in a stainless steel vessel and am fine with a little extra weight,

The Grayl fits in a standard car cup holder or the bottle holder of most bags I have tried it with, so no worries for day to say use. 

Complaints

It was hard to find anything negative to say about the Grayl. It has become my everyday carry water bottle. 

There is no automatic reminder to change your filter. They say it is about 3 months of use when used 3 times a day but it will be easy to lose count in the field. I don't know how they can add a counter but it is something to keep in mind.

Because of the design, it holds less water than you would expect at first glance. It carries 473ML. This is in no way a show stopper but something to keep in mind if using it in areas with limited water, You may need to carry additional untreated water in another water bag.

See that sleek advertising billboard? It's actually a modern day replacement for the 1960's telephone booth. Meet LinkNYC. 

Each big beautiful device delivers 1 gigabit of glorious WIFI(serving hundreds of WIFI users simultaneously). To deliver this much high speed goodness, CityBridge is laying thousands of miles of fiber-optic cable).

 Since it is replacing the old style phone-booth's it's only fitting that the LinkNYC station also allow anyone to make free unlimited calls to anywhere in the US thanks to a deal with Vonage. Call's can be made via the built in speaker and mic or via your own headset (plugged in) . 

What if your device is dead? Are you out of luck? Not you're not. Each device has a power only USB plug which means you can use the station to charge your power-hungry smartphone or tablet. 

And each device has a touch screen tablet that can be used to browser the internet or lookup city services. 

There are over 200 LinkNYC stations currently deployed and more are on the way. I know some readers are freaking out. How can a city force tax-payers to subsidize something like this? Well they aren't. These kiosks are self funded through advertising and may even generate a little extra income for the city. The revenue is from advertising shown on both sides of the kiosks.

The solution is packaged by SideWalk Labs which is a wholy owned subsidiary of Alphabet Inc. 

And that my friends is how a modern tech savvy city does it. Democratizing technology while being cost neutral to the city. 

Remember the "iCcloud hacking" where celebrity photos were stolen and published? Well the man behind it (aka Celebgate) was convicted of accessing more than 300 iCloud and Gmail accounts (30 of which belonged to real legitimate celebrities). You can read the district attorney brief if interested.

Now this is the story that wasn't... While most media outlets were shocked that Apple would allow hackers to "break into" iCloud accounts and steal pictures, it turns out, Apple couldn't have done much. The attack relied on good old fashioned phishing.

So iClous was never compromised but Apple probably could have done more to detect the unauthorized access' and protect its user data. 

So the moral of the story is :

• be extra vigilant where you use your passwords
• never re-use the same password for more than one site
• use complicated (non dictionary) passwords
• turn on 2 factor authentication

I don't normally post about games on my blog but a game I really enjoy is free today on the iTunes AppStore for IOS devices. Not 1 but all 3 games in the series are free today so download them fast:

• Infinity Blade I
• Infinity Blade II
• Infinity Blade III

Great way to spend some time unwinding with a good game.

We assume most North Americans just drink the clean municipal tap water available freely everywhere. Then you learn that 50 billion water bottles were consumed last year in the US alone. So obviously some people have concerns about the quality of their water, You add to this travellers, campers and preppers. 

Regardless of why you want clean water, there are hundreds of options. Over the last 10 years, I have tested several dozen and have spoken to scientists & survival experts about their preferences. Thats when I learned about the Sawyer water filters.

The Sawyer mini weighs in at a paltry 1.4 ounces and can filter 100,000 gallons (from any freshwater source). This is an unheard price-usage ratio. 

Reliability

Reliability is critical when you are talking about water filters. A single drop of contaminated water can ruin a vacation and make you horribly sick. With a 0.1 micron hollow fiber membrane, this little wonder filter removes 99.99999% of all bacteria, such as salmonella, cholera and E.coli; removes 99.9999% of all protozoa, such as giardia and cryptosporidium. All of this without any moving parts, no batteries, and no chemicals.

I recently spoke to a water quality engineer for a major US city and he confirmed that during his tests, the Sawyer water filters (the mini and its older bigger brother) performed exactly as advertised. Who am I to argue with science.

It's important to note that the Sawyer mini does not remove chemicals, heavy metals or virus. Virus' aren't a concern in North America but can be if traveling to countries with bad sanitation. If virus' are an issue where you are going, you will need a different type of filter (like the sawyer SP-194 0.02 micron filter or a Steripen UV Sanitizer).

For multi-day use, the only maintenance you have to perform is to periodically back-flush the filter (using the provided syringe) with clean water. 

Use

The other important fact about the Sawyer mini is it's ease of use. You can attach the straw extension and drink from a stream (like you would on a LifeStraw). 

The mini's input side has a standard water bottle threaded screw which means you can use it with most commercial plastic water bottles.

The filter comes with a foldable flexible plastic flexible roll-up water (16 oz) bottle. You can use this to carry water with you and you can then squeeze water from the bottle to a canteen or you can drink straight from the clean end of the filter.

The third option is to use the Sawyer mini inline with a backpack water bladder. To use this technique, you cut the drinking hose of the bladder and insert the mini between the drinking sout and the cut hose. Using this technique means you are in survival mode because you are introducing contaminated water into the bladder which means you are always committing to use it with the Sawyer mini (not the best choice but options are good).

Some filters introduce a delay between wanting water and being able to drink. You have to either pump until your arm falls off. You have to chemically treat your water with tablets. Or you have to use one of the larger gravity feed systems. With the Sawyer mini, you simply attach and drink. No waiting, which is great while sweating. Plus typically water from a moving stream is cool so drinking it immediately mean it is also refreshing.

Conclusion

After everything is said an done, I now carry a Sawyer mini and Steripen anytime I travel and the Sawyer actually stays in my Everyday Carry bag. It is cheap ($25), effective 99.9999% against bacteria, fast, easy and reliable. When travelling to questionable locales, I'll fill a canteen up from the Sawyer then zap it with my Steripen for added piece of mind (to ensure there are no virus').

The only filter I want to test but haven't yet is the Grayl Water filter. The Sawyer mini get's 2 thumbs up. 

There has been a lot of discussions about Chill Telecom and it’s young founder (Roujeh Ramadan). And much of the rhetoric has been negative some verging on distasteful. Wanted to present a fair and balanced view, I reached out to Mr Ramadan (who was in Israel) and had a pleasant conversation.

Too young to lead a company

Like many observers, I noticed that his Facebook page indicates he is 20 years old and he confirmed that he was 19. He explained that he started working for a large multinational internet company at the age of 16 (in Israel) then moved to the UK at 17 to join a major engineering organization.

He understands why people may be concerned about his age but assured me he is an experienced engineer with a strong technical background.

Failed IndieGoGo campaign

Many bloggers (myself included) quickly found a failed IndieGogo campaign for his other company’s car heads up display campaign (the Nuuk from Sirius Plus). Mr Ramadan acknowledges that the campaign didn’t go as planned but he assured me that Sirius Plus is a well funded organization with good support in Israel. He also mentioned that the company had a very successful show  in Tel Aviv recently where the product was the star of the show.

$$He acknowledged that his strengths lie in engineering and that he will need to hire business people to handle the non-technical aspects of his business (business development, marketing, communications, etc).$$

Why is the website so bad
 

A regular complaint is that the launch site is poorly designed and poorly copy-written with clear grammatical mistakes. Mr Ramadan acknowledged this gap and said he speaks 4 languages and his proficiency in writing marketing material is lacking. To compensate, he recently hired a specialist to revamp the website and ensure the content is appropriately written in local English.

He started the company only 8 days ago and didn’t expect the kind of media splash he received. He extended he would have a measured ramp up period but instead he has been thrust into the limelight.

Where is he?
 

Many blogs refer to his location tag on Facebook that says he is in the UK. Mr Ramadan confirmed that he has moved to Canada (as of 2 months ago) and intends to build the business based out of here. He setup shop in a technology incubator in Kitchener and believes that is the perfect environment to launch his company. He said the location is geared towards tech companies, he city offers highly trained resources and it is in proximity to Canada’s business center (Toronto).

The avalanche
 

He reiterated many times that the response was overwhelming and completely unexpected. He received 200,000 registrations on his website in the first week and secured $180,000 from early adopters.

He expected a soft launch where he could slowly build his website and marketing/PR material but the coverage was almost immediate and overwhelming.

The demand was so strong that 2 major Canadian carriers took notice and initiated partnership discussions. MR Ramadan will ultimately chose one of them to start the service but isn’t ruling out the possibility of having multiple back end network wholesalers (if the price and terms make sense).

The price
 

I asked Mr Ramadan about his confidence in being able to offer an unlimited everything plan with international roaming for $45 and he said the business case is solid.

He says he intends to copy the model of an Israeli provider that built a similar model and was sold 4 years later for several billion dollars. He says the model works.

As an example, he said he did not have a Canadian cell phone for the first 2 months he was here because his Israeli provider offers free international roaming within Canada.

His longer term vision is to become an well rounded telecommunications company offering television, home phone, home internet and mobile phone services.

Time frame
 

Mr Ramadan understands the excitement around his company and will try to bring the service to market as quickly as possible but the current launch timeline is sometime in 2017.

The team
 

The company was started 8 days ago but currently consists of 5 people (2 business specialists and 3 engineering specialists). They hired a web specialist today to update their website and web content.

The hope is to continue steadily increasing the team (which should reach 20 people in the next 4-5 months)

No Twitter?
 

I asked why they didn’t have a twitter account and was told the team is already overwhelmed with email and FB support. Mr Ramadan is not ruling out Twitter support in the future.

Conclusion
 

My conversation with Mr Ramadan was pleasant and felt genuine. He clearly intends for this to be a real business and only time will tell if he can get it off the ground. Truth be told, the Canadian wireless telecom market is in deep need of competition and we shouldn’t frighten brave newcomers.

I am not willing to bet the farm on this venture but am more inclined to  believe the team will try to make this venture work.

The content in this article was double checked with Mr Ramadan before publishing to ensure I properly captured his views and explanations. He did not influence the questions and did not ask me to re-write any sections.

There have been countless reports stating the obvious: Wireless rates in Canada are absurdly high due to lack of competition. So anytime I hear the whisper of a new competitor I get excited. Chill Telecom (and its very childishly cheap looking web page) promise to save Canadians from the giant telecom tyrants. 

Chill Telecom seems to be a Telus MVNO (reseller of Telus network services) making some lofty claims. So I started looking at basic information about the company.

It's domain was registered on GoDaddy on June 9 2016.

Just because I don't like Godaddy, I won't hold that against them. The domain was registered by a person called ROUJEH Ramadan (who some say is the CEO of the Kitchener based company). The company address is listed as 151 Charles St W, Kitchener which looks like a multi-tenant commercial building based on Google StreetView.

The LinkedIn page for the "ceo" is very light and shows very little business experience.  His Facebook page says he is 20 years old and lives in the UK. 

This visionary CEO tried to sell a car head up display via IndieGogo and only managed to raise $183. So obviously it's not looking too good for Mr Ramadan.

Their website is hosted on Squarespace.

A "Chill Telecom" engineer posted this statement on Reddit

Notice the horrible english.

Although they will offer 2 plans, their claim to fame seems to be the $45 a month unlimited everything plan (even unlimited 4G data). 

•  Unlimited Data Anywhere in Canada - ( Full Speed 4G )
• Unlimited Talk&Text - Locally & CanadaWide All DAY
• Unlimited International Calls&Texts to Mobile and Landline to +55 Countries
• Free International Roaming , Unlimited Text+Talk & Data - All DAY

Unlimited international calls and texts? Unlimited free international roaming with data? Don't get me wrong, I would sign up right away but when something seems too good, it probably is.

I still signed up for updated on their website to see what happens but I say this is most likely a scam or social experiment. 

This has all the makings of scam or social experiment. Unless Mr Ramadan comes from a wealthy family, I doubt any investor or bank would lend him the money he needs to get this off the ground. I could be wrong. This may turn out to be the company that revolutionizes wireless telecom in Canada... but... Let's just say I won't be holding my breath. 

A local Quebec french language newspaper (Journal De Montréal) has an interesting report about a hacker exploiting a critical flaw in the PLQ (Quebec Liberal Party) video conferencing system allowing him to eavesdrop on private strategy discussions. 

Lucky for the PLQ, the hacker is a white-hat (good guy) and informed employees of the flaw. He also proved his exploit by sharing videos taken from the private discussions.

A black-hat could have exploited this information for personal gain or to make a political statement. The flaw he exploited was contained in a software being used and the PLQ had left a factory default password enabled.

The PLQ has since patched the bug and changed the password, but this is a cautionary tale for all home and office users of videoconferencing technologies (remember most laptops have cameras these days).

• Tape over your camera when not in use
• Update your software regularly 
• Uninstall software you don't use
• Be vigilant

American federal authorities have charged a Chinese developer (believed to be an ex-IBM employee) with stealing source code from big blue. The defendant, Xu Jianqiang was arrested by the FBI in December and since they have raised the indictment to 6 charges (from the original one):  3 x economic espionage and 3 x theft of trade secrets. 

The prosecutor claims the source code was stolen to benefit Chinese authorities and are "a product of decades of work". He was caught while trying to sell his stollen assets to 2 undercover law enforcement agents. The american claim is that he also intended to sell it to  the National Health and Planning Commission of the People's Republic of China.

If he is found guilty of all charges, he could end up in prison for 75 years. 
 

I have written about the virtues of RoamMobility countless times (here, here, here, here, here). I have written about them because roaming fees are the scourge of travelers. Regardless of what roaming plan your carrier offers, you will likely be limited to slow speed, data caps or other conditions which mean you have to think twice very time you pickup your phone. RoamMobility was a nice easy solution that offered an affordable way to get virtually unconstrained normal use.

Then came with their travel SIM sticker, which offers good global pricing and coverage but costs more if you travel to the US. 

RoamMobility and KnowRoaming are excellent for travelers to the US but require some planning:

• RoamMobility - You have to buy the SIM, activate it and load it with your preferred plan specifying your travel dates and times. I once made a mistake and started the plan too soon and there was no way (according to support) to fix it once an order is placed online. Did I mention SIM cards expire if not used for 6 months? Plus you have to manually configure your smartphones data connection.
• KnowRoaming - KnowRoaming requires that you purchase their kit and install their sticker on your SIM. Then using their app  you register the virtual SIM and load money into your account. Then once you travel and arrive in your destination, you open the app and it configures your phone for local use.

Welcome ZipSIM to the world

Otono, the company behind RoamMobility USA, RoamMobility Canada also created ReadySIM. ReadySIM was a burner style SIM card and wireless service that only required a ZIP code for activation (any US zip code). 

According to the company, ReadySIM was an instant hit with travellers and large corporations. Why wouldn't it be. You can purchase a stack of them in varying configurations and activate them only when needed. (Good for travelers or EDC practitioners). 

To keep up with demand, Otono partnered with a global electronics distributor and rebranded ReadySIM to ZipSIM. 

So ZipSim is also a good choice for US citizens looking for a quick and easy burner service that doesn't collect personal information (such as name, address and credit card information). Remeber that your smartphone itself leaves a breadcrumb of information so you'll want to be careful there.

American lawmakers would like to pass laws forcing carriers to identify buyers of "burner" prepaid services but these laws haven't passed yet. Additionally I reached out to the company asking about their customer data protection rules and how/when they turn over data to law enforcement but I have not received a response yet. Will update this post when a response is received.

The technical stuff

Like RoamMobility, the ZipSIM service runs on-top of the T-Mobile network. The network has dramatically improved over the last 2 years and call drops and slow data are things of the past. I have tested T-Mobile service (in the last 3 months) in Los Angeles, Silicon Valley, San Francisco, Chicago) and service has been exceptional.

Additionally you need an unlocked smartphone to use ZipSim (or any other carrier's SIM) but your phone's should always be unlocked. Most carriers will do it for customers in good standing for a nominal fee.

Comparing ZipSIM and RoamMobility

How does the little brother compare to its older sibling? ZipSim is more expensive for less data:

• ZIPSIM - A 7 day ZipSim card costs $US25 and includes 500MB of data, unlimited US talk, unlimited global text & voicemail
• RoamMobility - A similar 7 day plan costs $CAD34.65 (~$US26) and comes with unlimited US/Canada talk, unlimited global text, voicemail, 3.5GB of LTE data.

There is one other important distinction. With RoamMobility, if you consume all of your allotted LTE data, you continue to get unlimited data at 2G speeds while on ZipSim you are cut-off. 2G isn't great but it is fast enough to send emails, text messages and use asymmetric instant messaging (Whatsapp, Facebook Messenger, etc).

ZipSIM Pricing

• 7 Day Talk+Text+Data with 500MB 4G LTE — $25
• 14 Day Talk+Text+Data with 1GB 4G LTE — $35
• 21 Day Talk+Text+Data with 1.5GB 4G LTE — $45
• 30 Day Talk+Text+Data with 2GB 4G LTE — $55
• Data-only 500MB 4G LTE — $15
• Data-only 1GB 4G LTE — $25
• Data-only 2GB 4G LTE — $40

Includes nationwide calling anytime. Text includes incoming and outgoing text to over 200 countries. Talk+Text+Data plans include voicemail, call waiting, and call display. 4G LTE data is unthrottled and includes hotspot tethering with other devices. All prices in US dollars.

Conclusion

If you are an EDC prepper, this is a good solution to keep a secondary, instant activation, no registration SIM card ready.

If you are an infrequent traveler to the USA and have modest data requirements, this is definitely and easy solution.

If you have spontaneous last minute travel to the US, this is a good solution.

If you don't need the privacy of ZipSim and have planned trips to the USA, I still believe RoamMobility is the best option. Better pricing and more flexibility. As I write this, they have a promo on their SIM cards and offer international shipping.

November 2012, I wrote an article about the Steripen. The Steripen is still part of my travel kit and something I rely on regularly. If you have't read it, you should.

Why do I need to clean my own water?

The question I get asked most often is why? If you are someone that stays in nice hotels and buys expensive bottled water, you shouldn't have any issues? Wrong! Many years ago I lead a technical team undertaking a massive global IT deployment and everyone in my team got sick at the same time in Thailand. They were staying in 5 star hotels and were instructed to drink bottled water purchased from the hotel.

We enlisted the help hotel security to determine what had happened and after 2 weeks, we found the culprit. 

How did my employees not notice, they snapped the water bottles open, so no one would suspect foul play. If you look under your standard 500ml water bottle, you will notice a little clump of plastic in the centre. They basically made a hole there, replaced the water and then used superglue to seal it back up.

So the moral of the story is, I don't trust bottled water anywhere. Everywhere I go, my Steripen is used to sterilize and give me peace of mind. 

Everything in 2s.

The first rule of survival is everything in 2s. You should plan to have at least a backup for every critical function. So how do you backup water sanitization? You certainly won't carry a second Steripen with you. One option is water sterilization tablets.  These are standard issue even in military survival kits because they are cheap, portable and easy to use.

Review of the Aquamira water purifier tablets

Having talked to a dozen survival experts, read hundreds of comments on various forums and product review sites and tried out a handful myself in the field, the best water sanitization tablets are the Aquamira ones (I chose tablets because the liquid version isn't travel friendly). The tablets provide the benefits of liquid chlorine dioxide in an easy to carry format.

Each tablet can purify 1 liter of water and each tablet is individually sealed. Using them is super simple:

• Fill a canteen with 1L of water
• wipe off excess water from rim and the outside
• drop in a tablet
• wait the prescribed time

Each pack provides enough tabs to purify the recommended amount of water for 1 person for 5 days. The water will have a small taste but nothing too dramatic.

If you can boil water, that is still the preferred route (rolling boil for at least a minute) but that is typically not possible during a disaster or in a hotel room.

Other tabs like Potable Aqua, MSR Aquatabs and Katadyn Micropur are as effective but the Aquamira is small but not too small and therefore easier to use and carry. 

Some survivalists recommend the use of household bleach, but bleach is messy, heavy and not practical for travel. Using pre-measured tablets is my first choice. Additionally many bleach products sold in retail are not pure and using bleach for extended periods of time is not healthy.

Over the last 2 years, I have had the honor of training with some of North America's best survival teachers and every single one of them recommended Aquamira when tablets were discussed. 

Do you use a Steripen and Aquamira?

The answer is no. My primary method of water disinfection is the Steripen. It is fast, easy and doesn't change the taste. If my Steripen fails, the tablets are my backup plan. 

Remember that neither of these will remove contaminants from water such as fuel, metal or chemicals. You have to make sure your water doesn't contain these types of contaminants otherwise you will have to use a water filter (article coming in a couple of weeks).

Anyone who has travelled for business knows the feeling of feeling "un-fresh" and not having access to a shower. Anytime you need a clean freshening up and don't have access to soap/water, you need an alternative solution: enter body wipes.

I recently went searching for the best wipes (for travel or EDC) and read hundreds of reviews online (websites, blogs and retailer comments) and ordered 30 different brands. what I was looking for was:

• large surface area
• thick wipe that won't easily rip
• something environmentally friendly
• something with a mild perfume and no alcohol
• something that comes in a resealable container

After all my testing, the ones that really stood out were the Action Wipes. They come in 9x10" sheets and are thick sheets. The wipes come in a resealable pouch. Another thing that really caught my interest is the openness the company has regarding their ingredient list. The company says their formula is ECOCERT, USDA National Organic Program (NOP) and Oregon Tilth Certified Organic (OTCO). The wipes contain natural ingredients, they are not tested on animals and they do not contain alcohol (which means it won't dry your skin).

The wipes I bought had a very pleasant tea tree and eucalyptus smell. 

Overall these are expensive but worth it. They are fantastic and a great way to clean up without soap.

I received a handful of emails asking me to company the new T-Mobile Tourist plan with the Roam Mobility talk+text+data plans.

For $US30, T-mobile gives you:

• a single use disposable SIM (valid for 21 days)
• 1000 minutes of local USA calling
• 2GB of high speed LTE data
• Unlimited international text messaging to 140 countries

For $CAD4.95 a day, Roam Mobility gives you:

• a reusable SIM (expires after 6 months without a plan)
• unlimited nationwide calling (USA) and Canada
• Unlimited international text messaging to 140 countries
• ~400MB of LTE Data a day 

What happens when your SIM expires

With the T-Mobile and Roam Mobility plan, when the SIM expires, you lose your assigned number and need to get a new one. T-Mobile give you one free with their plan while Roam Mobility charges you $CAD9.99 per SIM.

Data usage

Both companies give you unlimited data over 2G and limit the quantity of LTE data provided. T-Mobile gives you 2GB to use anyway you want. You can use all the data in the first week and then end up stuck with low speed 2G for the remainder of your trip. The only way to get more LTE data is to buy a new plan.

Roam Mobility allocates about 400MB of LTE per day of service purchased. If you buy 21 days of service (3 weeks like T-Mobile), you get 8.4GB of data. If you manage to consume it, you drop to unlimited 2G data. 

Neither service gives you the option of adding additional LTE data capacity easily but the Roam allocation should be more than adequate for 98% of users.

What about WIFI Hotspots like a Mifi

T-Mobile will allow you to use your SIM in an unlocked WIFI hotspot but you will likely consume your LTE data allocation in no time. The Roam Mobility service isn't built for this type of use but they do allow you to enable the Hotpost function on your smartphone.

Calling from the USA to Canada

T-Mobile does not provide any international calling in the existing tourist plan. Roam Mobility gives you unlimited calling back to Canada.

Calling from USA to International locations

Neither providers allow you to make international calls. You will have to rely on VOIP type solutions (Skype, Hangouts, Facetime, etc).

Conclusion

Neither solution is perfect but I believe the Roam Mobility solution is still a better value.

I am also testing the KnowRoaming service but their current unlimited $7.99 data package is limited to 3G and relies on T-Mobile's older, slower, less reliable non LTE-network. 

T-Mobile just launched a plan for tourists visiting the USA. Go into any T-Mobile store with an unlocked GSM phone and buy this $30 plan. It is active for 3 weeks and does not auto-renew.

• You get 2GB of LTE data
• Unlimited texting to 140 countries
• 1,000 minutes of domestic calling 
• a free SIM card

This will complete directly with companies like Roam Mobility and KnowRoaming. Let's see if they respond with cheaper plans.

Source

USB Cables are a dime a dozen. Lightning cables are more expensive but come in all shapes, sizes and quality. Most cables are perfectly acceptable sitting on your nightstand at home but if you carry it with you (EDC) or travel with it, then you need to make sure you pickup something that can withstand the torture it will endure.

Native Union is a boutique accessory maker that seems to put some thought in their designs and charges accordingly. No $2.99 cables here. The question is :

A colleague was nice enough to lend me his cables for testing. He had bought them from Amazon.com for $25US a piece.

Specifications

Let's get the basic specifications out of the way. 

• comes in 1.2M (belt) and 3M (belt XL) variants
• It is a tangle free braided cable
• has a leather cable tidy
• is apple MFI certified so you won't get an accessory not supported message (on Apple products) like many cheap Amazon copies.

Cables are cables, don't expect anything revolutionary. One side connects to a USB power brick (or computer) and the other to your device. The difference between a good cable and bad one is the quality of the material and workmanship.

Native Union seems to have used to shelve high quality materials which makes the cable feel sturdy. The "belt" leather strap is functional but nothing to write home about. It works by keeping your cable organized.

Using the Native Union Belt USB & Lightning Cables

First I tested the power output of the Native Union lightning cable connected to an Anker brick capable of pushing 2.4A/5V with an iPad Air 2. The original Apple provided cables was able to transport 2.4A/5V (measured with a USB power meter.) The Native Union lightning cable performed exactly the same.

I then tested transferring files from a Moto X 2016 using the Motorola cable and then the Native Union cable and transfer times were similar. 

The cable is more stiff than the original Apple or Motorola cable so using the device while connection will need some getting use to but nothing too dramatic.

After use, wrapping the cable and tidying it with the belt is simple. The ultimate durability test was throwing it in my main laptop bad accessory pocket (a RedOxx CPA bag) and using it day in day out. While most cables break after a couple of weeks, the Native Union Belt actually looked as good on day 20 as it did on day 1. 

Conclusion

I'll be the first to admit $25 is a lot to spend on a cable but it is worth it for the business user or traveler that relied on his gadgets being charged regardless of where he/she goes. Obviously Native Union chose premium materials (except the belt felt a bit cheap) to design a cable that will last many many years soI wouldn't be gun shy to recommend buying these. Unfortunately there isn't a USB-C option yet but I have to believe one is on the way.

So my closing remark is buy it if you can find it. I know the USB version is out of stock on the Native Union website and is selling at a premium on Amazon ($30). The Lightning version seems available everywhere.