Technology & Business
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.
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.
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?
71% of iDevices upgraded to IOS7
[caption id="" align=“alignnone” width=“961”] Mixpanel IOS7 adoption chart [/caption] After about 30 days of availability, Apple's IOS7 is on 71,75% of all iDevices according to Mixpanel. IOS6 has 24.83% of the base and earlier versions only account for ~3%. IOS7 has been the fastest adopted IOS upgrade to date and its a clear win for Apple because it minimizes OS fragmentation making app development and support easier. This may be why Google keep numbering its OS upgrades as minor .x upgrades (trying to bring everyone to version 4).
Safari provides best mobile browsing experience
Fixya just released an interesting report about mobile browsing experience and declared Safari the big winner. The Fixya team combed through 60,000 help requests for mobile web browsers and found that Apple's Safari mobile is the "most usable web browser". In second place came Chrome found in stock Android. Some of the positive characteristics of Safari mobile, as highlighted by Fixya, were: simple user interface ability to perform multiple actions with a specific webpage (adding bookmark, adding to home-screen, mailing the link, sharing the link, printing the page, etc) the powerful reading list feature built into the browser.
MotoX coming to FIDO soon
Although the MotoX wasn't the superphone we were all expecting (based on the rumors), it turned out to be a very solid phone that most users are extremely happy with. It is the always listening Android phone that is ready to respond to your every [voice] command without you every having to touch the actual device. <img src="https://ekiledjian2.micro.blog/uploads/2025/1d9748d848.jpg" alt=""> Rogers has been the exclusive home of the MotoX in Canada but now we get this tweet from Fido. OK, Google Now!
Rogers has the fastest mobile network in Canada
The PCMag team visited all corners of our great country to determine who has the fastest network. After all the testing and analysis, it turns out the Canadian king of speed is none other than Rogers. You can read their full article here. As you intuitively realize, not all networks perform the same in all markets but overall the editors of PCMag determined that Rogers provided the fastest overall connectivity on the 2600Mhz LTE band. Big Red was followed closely by Bell and Telus.
How to watch Google Play Movies on IOS
If you are an Apple only smartphone (or tablet) user then you likely buy your movie content straight from the king himself but there may be times when the content is only available on Google Play Movies or that it is simply cheaper there, Would you be surprised to learn that you can play Google Play Movies on IOS with the original Google Youtube app? First caveat is that you can only stream content using this mechanism (aka you won't be able to download the content and play it while offline).
Apple event confirmed for October 22
[caption id="" align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Apple October Event Invitation [/caption] We have been expecting it and now Apple has confirmed that it will hold another launch event on October 22 at the Yerba Buena center in San Francisco. Apple will be holding a simultaneous even in London (a live stream of the event plus a test area for whatever is announced). What are we expecting? We expect to see a new very slim and light iPad. I expect a colorful but non-Retina iPad mini, the launch of the Mac Pro and maybe a quick shout out to OS X Mavericks,