Technology & Business
National Geographic uses iPhone 5s photos
National Geographic recently published a beautiful photo essay about Scotland using only the camera on Apple's iPhone 5s. Photographer Jim Richardson has a great quote: "With intense use (I’ve made about 4,000 pictures in the last four days) I’ve discovered that the iPhone 5S is a very capable camera. The color and exposures are amazingly good, the HDR exposure feature does a stunningly good job in touch situations, the panorama feature is nothing short of amazing—seeing a panorama sweeping across the screen in real time is just intoxicating.
Blackberry launches cloud based Mobile Device Management
Unless you work in IT for a medium to large sized company, this article really won't interest you. Even my grandmother knows that Blackberry is doomed as a device manufacturer. As it attempts to recreate itself as a services company, we are seeing some interested moves (the failed BBM for Android and IOS) and now they enter the cloud based Mobile Device Management field trying to convince companies with BYOD policies to give them a chance. Blackberry calls its service Enterprise Mobility Management which is a cloud hosted (and rebranded) Blackberry Enterprise Server.
Your smoke detector is finally sexy... and smart
Nest is the company that made the unsexy thermostat cool again and now they have decided to tackle another unsexy device, the important smoke detector. Enter the Nest Protect, a smoke and carbon monoxide detecting internet connected wonder. Not only are Nest products sexy , they are smart and the Protect is no exception. The fact that this device has WIFI means you can remotely (via the iPhone, Android or Kindle app) check the status of the device, check battery life and it even allows multiple devices to talk to each other (if you live in a multi-story home).
Chromecast now shipping to Canada
Chromecast is still a US only device according to Google but Amazon.com seems to be willing to ship it to the great white north I call home (aka Canada plus the UK, Australia, Hong Kong and Germany are confirmed). I bought a unit during a trip to Wichita last week and set it up over the weekend. Because the device is not officially available to international customers, you will have to be creative to find the Google Chromecast configuration app (since it is only available on the US Google Play Store and US Apple iTunes store.
Developers laughing at the iPhone 5c
I downloaded a Camera+ update yesterday and the developer was poking fun at the less than stellar sales of the iPhone 5c
Apple's itunes Radio coming to Canada early 2014
I previously wrote that Apple iTunes radio would be coming to Canada shortly. Now Bloomberg is reporting that iTunes Radio will expand internationally early 2014 beating rival Pandora. "Apple is moving faster than Pandora because it forged agreements for international rights with Vivendi SA (VIV)’s Universal Music Group and other record companies, said one of the people. Pandora, which doesn’t have such deals, relies on rights granted by government entities, limiting service to the U.S., Australia and New Zealand." Read Bloomberg article here.
Videotron releases 2 new all you can talk plans with data
Competition is a wonderful thing for consumers and nowhere is this more needed than in the Canadian telecommunication business. Videotron has been a wonderful addition to the Quebec market forcing the BIG 3 (Rogers, Bell and Telus) to respond quickly by offering much more competitive plans [than they would normally]. Videotron has introduced 2 new all you can talk Canada Wide plans. These plans include all of the usual suspects including Voicemail, CallerID, Text Messaging and Canada wide calling. The only difference between the 2 is the amount of monthly data : 1GB or 6GB ($59.
Nexus 5 specs leak in service manual
The fine reporters at Android Police seem to have found (what is claimed to be) the service manual for the purported upcoming 2013 Nexus phone. Based on the provided information, the device will be produced by LG and come with a vanilla Android operating system (Pure Android Experience). The original article on Android Police has removed the above image at the request of LG (add tense movie music now). Here are the purported specs for this device: 4.95" display 2GB RAM 2.
Apple iTunes Radio coming to Canada
[caption id="" align=“alignnone” width=“859”] Apple’s iTune Radio Service [/caption] Apple's iTunes Radio is far from revolutionary and often feels like a "me too" product competing with Slacker, Songza, etc. What makes it so interesting is that it is a free service already built into your device's operating system. Like most Apple services, iTunes Radio launched in the US first but Eddy Cue, Apple SVP, has previously said that eventually it will launch in 100 countries but when will we get it in Canada?
Facetime Audio is one of IOS7's best features
VoIP is a fantastic way to freely (or cheaply) connect to friends and family flung across all 4 corners of the world. But even with all of the technological advances made in recent years, VoIP calling is not pleasant and comes with dozens of gotchas: Does the person use the same VoIP platform? Does the person have the VoIP app open? Many apps have poorly implemented codecs which lead to bad voice quality and the sound cutting-in and out Facetime (implemented in IOS 6) was a fantastic way to keep in touch with family and friends.