Now that the Canadian wireless auction for the 700 MHZ band is over, we can list the winners and losers. 

The first big winner is the Canadian government making a cool 5.27B$.

The biggest surprise was Videotron by winning licenses in Ontario, Alberta and BC. Which clearly means they have expansion plans like I wrote about here (link).

The biggest spender was Rogers with 3.3B$ next was Telus spending 1.1B$. Rogers spent more than Telus and Bell combined because it bought the largest number of paired blocks. Paired blocks are the preferred choice because they simplify deployment and improve interoperability between carriers. 

700MHZ auction results (link)

Stephen Elop just announced (at the Mobile World Mobile Conference in Barcelona) that Blackberries popular cross-platform mobile messenger app is coming to Windows phone "in the coming months". 

BBM them sent a press release clarifying that BBM for Windows Phone will be available this summer. Additionally we learned that BBM will also be available for the new Nokia X Android phone also. The press release also confirms that all BBM 2 features will be available at launch (BBM channels, voice, video, etc).

BBM Press Release (link)

Google took the covers off of a 5" smartphone prototype called Tango. This very special device is equipped with specialized sensors that allow it to "see" the world in 3D (taking 250,000 measurements a second). since the device is a smartphone phone factor (unlike the Microsoft Kinect) they have paid particular attention to designing the system to be low power consumption. Like most bleeding edge Google projects, this started with 2 questions:

1. Can it be done?
2. What can the world develop for it once its available?

There are tones of immediate use cases from better indoor navigation (where GPS doesn't work) to helping the visually impaired live more independent lives.  The reality is that developers will find new and innovative uses for this technology once they get their hands on the special dev kits being prepared for distribution.

I'm really excited to eventually see this in a mass distribution commercially available smartphone. It is innovation like this that makes me question why I still have an iPhone. Sure the iPhone is still better than Android today (for my use cases) but that line is getting thinner and thinner. 

Early last year, many countries were able to use Apple's two-step verification feature for their Apple IDs. It seems today, without much fanfare, Apple released this feature for a bunch of new countries Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Italy, & Spain. 

Go to my apple id (link)

You can enable this new feature (and you really should) by following these steps:

1 - Select “Manage your Apple ID” and sign in.

2 - Select “Password and Security.”

3 - Under Two-Step Verification, select Get Started and follow the onscreen instructions.

Everyone is trying to capitalize on the success of Facebook and Twitter but this is the first time I see a food company trying to do it. BirdsEye is create a new product called Mashtags (Mas#tags). tIt is a potato based snack that will provide your government recommended daily intake of #, @, <3 and other familiar social media shortcuts.

UK residents will be able to chow down on these gr8t treats in March for £1.75 a bag.

Via : PocketLint

Apple has regular users that just find the platform more convenient then they have super fans. These are people that eat Apple, think Apple and dream Apple. They are the ultimate fanboys. One such fanboy is designer Tomislav Zvonaric who created the work of art you see above. It is his homage to Apple. In true Apple fashion, he has spent considerable time working out even the smallest of details (look at the spoon or the leaf handle).

The saucer isn't just a regular plate. It is a USB connected hotplate to keep your beverage nice and toasty while you use your Mac to create your next masterpiece.

Unfortunately this is still a concept and it's doubtful Apple would ever approve this product.

Via FoodBeast

Canadians love to flock south during the winter to thaw out and get some colour. One of our favourite destinations is Cuba because its close and cheap. Now Telus has updated its Travel Pass for Cuba (offering more for less).

I am typically the first person to say "Unlock your phone and buy a pre-paid SIM when you land" but that simply isn't practical for Cuba so this is a nice option.

• $40 Plan - Get's you 50 minutes of talk, 50 text messages and 50MB of data.
• $65 Plan - Get's you 150 minutes of talk, 150 text messages and 150MB of data.
• $100 Plan - get you 300 minutes talk, unlimited text messaging, and 300MB of data.

This isn't cheap by Canadian standards, but it isn't expensive for Cuba. Cuba still uses satellite connectivity to the internet, so don't expect LTE type speeds.

Telus (link)

The Syrian Electronic Army has now [reportedly] stollen 1 million user credentials from Forbes.com. 

Re/code (link) saw multiple tweets where the SEA took responsibility and published various screenshots as proof. Forbes has confirmed the compromise, they are recommending users change their password and they are implementing additional phishing controls (which is likely how they were compromised in the first place). 

We read about the "horrors" of online tracking everyday. We hear about how our privacy is being invaded by "big bad data hungry" online companies and what they could be doing with all that data.

Most consumers don't realize that they are handing over extremely personal information to retailers every time they do shopping. Retailers have jumped on the data analytics bandwagon and are collecting and analyzing this data in the hopes of determining what you want and when you want it.

Target is one such mega retailer that has figured our how to determine you are pregnant way before you start buying baby items

A NY times reporter did a fantastic story in 2012 about how Target (link) uses this data to lure in about-to-be parents right when they are most likely to become loyal shoppers. The reporter talked to a Target statistician, Andre Pole, about the signals that tip Target off. It is important to note that Target became much more secretive about its data analytics capabilities once that story was published. Understandably some consumers freaked out about all this.

Target, like most other retailers, assigns a unique key to each customer tied to their name, credit/debit card, email address of other unique identifier. This key is then used to associate all of the signals they collect about you (or buy about you). Andrew Pole performed some detailed purchase analysis using this key on customers that had signed up for the Target baby registry.

"[...]ran test after test, analyzing the data, and before long some useful patterns emerged. Lotions, for example. Lots of people buy lotion, but one of Pole’s colleagues noticed that women on the baby registry were buying larger quantities of unscented lotion around the beginning of their second trimester. Another analyst noted that sometime in the first 20 weeks, pregnant women loaded up on supplements like calcium, magnesium and zinc. Many shoppers purchase soap and cotton balls, but when someone suddenly starts buying lots of scent-free soap and extra-big bags of cotton balls, in addition to hand sanitizers and washcloths, it signals they could be getting close to their delivery date."

"As Pole’s computers crawled through the data, he was able to identify about 25 products that, when analyzed together, allowed him to assign each shopper a “pregnancy prediction” score. More important, he could also estimate her due date to within a small window, so Target could send coupons timed to very specific stages of her pregnancy."

Target started sending out pregnancy related coupons to these would be parents. Understandably some of them freaked out because they had not "done" anything to notify Target they were expecting. How did big red know?

To continue targeting these high value customers, they started mixing up coupon offers to confuse customers.

“Then we started mixing in all these ads for things we knew pregnant women would never buy, so the baby ads looked random. We’d put an ad for a lawn mower next to diapers. We’d put a coupon for wineglasses next to infant clothes. That way, it looked like all the products were chosen by chance."

This pretending to not know means customers are less likely to freak out but make no mistake, they know you are pregnant and are actively targeting you.

This type of profiling is done online and offline. It is done by Internet behemoths (aka Google) and traditional retailers (target). The only way to prevent it is to buy everything cash and ensure you never mistakenly provide them with any personally identifying information (email, address, loyalty card, etc).

Facebook and Google are data companies. They use have some of the world's best data scientists analysis their user data looking for patterns. On Friday, Facebook announced (link) that they can predict when 2 users are about to change their relationship status to "in a relationship".

3 months before a couple updates their relationship status on Facebook to announced their undying love, there is a steady increase in the number of timeline posts shared amongst the 2 lovebirds. This cross-posting will peak 12 days before the actual change is made. It seems once the relationship status is updated on Facebook, the number of timeline posts between the 2 drops.

"We observe a peak of 1.67 posts per day 12 days before the relationship begins, and a lowest point of 1.53 posts per day 85 days into the relationship. Presumably, couples decide to spend more time together, courtship is off, and online interactions give way to more interactions in the physical world."

A Kickstarter project called ,The Dash, is offering the superhero of bluetooth earphones. The two small buds are packed with sensors such as an accelerometer, thermometer, capacitive touch, bone mic, Infrared LED and optical sensor and more.

All of this so you can listen to music (from a phone or from the onboard 4GB of storage) and track your exercise (speed, pace, distance, heart rate, oxygen saturation, etc.

It naturally blocks ambient sound (noise isolation) but can let through some sounds so you don't get hit by a car.

the product page spends a lot of time describing these interesting earphones that can be had for a mere $199 investment.

Kickstarter (link)

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.

Sony has installed these vending machines in places where its target demographic likes to frequent (gyms, pools, etc). The packaging conveys a clear message that is understood immediately and they get a 100 points for originality. 

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

So keep checking your app store.

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:

1. Energizer Ultimate (Lithium)
2. Energizer Advanced  (Lithium)
3. Duracell Quantum (Alkaline)
4. Duracell Ultimate (Alkaline)
5. Kirkland signature (Alkaline)

How did I build this list? Easy I did real world tests. I bought the freshest batteries I could find (about 20 different brands from name brands to store labels) and then I performed the following tests:

• hours of use in a incandescent bulb Maglite flashlight
• hours of use in a LED bulb LedLenser flashlight
• number of pictures in a point and shoot camera
• hours of use in a kids toy

Above you see the very best performers in the disposable battery category. Good rechargeables typically perform best in high drain devices but that is a different article for a different day.

Related Articles:

• SANYO ENELOOP RECHARGEABLE BATTERY REVIEW

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

Click on the plus sign to add a new shortcut

And create a shortcut with this information

For the keyboard shortcut, choose anything you want (as long as it is not already taken). I chose the same shortcut as a Windows machine.

Now every time I use that shortcut, a new Finder window opens up without having to click on the finder from the dock. Joy!

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).

Is WhatsApp down? 

You can check the status of the WhatsApp service by visiting their special Twitter account page (link)

Is Google Apps down?

You can check the status of Google Apps services by visiting their special Service Status Dashboard website (link)

Is Microsoft Live Down?

You can check the status of Microsoft services by visiting their special Service Status Dashboard website (link)

Is Apple down?

As a Macbook owner and an iPhone user, I get the a cold sweat down my back when key Apple services are down. Is iMessage down or is it just me? Is Facetime down or is it my internet connection?

All good questions that can be easily answered by visiting Apple's detailed service status dashboard site (link).

Is Twitter down?

Everyone loves Twitter and it now breaks news faster than any other news distribution outlet. When it goes down, many news agencies panic. If you want to know if Twitter is really down, head over to their service status page (link).

Is CloudFlare down?

CloudFlare has become the last line of defence between many small or medium internet sites and hackers. Do you want to know if their service is operating fully, check out their special webpage (link).

In the above image, you can see a couple of sites re-routing traffic to other locations. This could be because of scheduled maintenance.