technology
Canon SL1 may be the perfect family dSLR
As the holiday season approaches, you may be looking for a great all purpose camera and the Canon Rebel SL1 will definitely not disappoint. It is called the world's smallest and lightest APS-C dSLR. The Rebel SL1 is the smaller brother of the larger Rebel T5i. They both share the same 18MP sensor and DIGIC 5 processor. Its fantastic that Canon was able to fit all of the t5i guts into such a small body and at the same time keeping most of the Rebel family buttons intact.
Unlock your mac by knocking on your iPhone
Knock is an iPhone app that allows you to unlock you Mac by simply knocking your iphone. You will also need to install their Mac app available for free on their site. The iPhone app is currently on special at $3.99 on the appstore. Installation takes a couple of minutes and voila. The iPhone app has to be started but doesn't have to be the active app when knocking it. (and your phone can even be locked).
Find out which Canadian wireless network is the best
Root Metrics performed an exhaustive 47,000 point network test in Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver to determine which network would be crowned king. The final results show that each city had a different winner. Montreal - Bell Toronto - Rogers Vancouver - Telus They did point out that all 3 players offered reliable services throughout. <img src="https://ekiledjian2.micro.blog/uploads/2025/f0e24d8504.jpg" alt="">
Industry Canada Explains its Wireless Policy
A short video by the Government of Canada explaining that Canadians deserve more choice, more competitive pricing and better contract terms. <img src="https://ekiledjian2.micro.blog/uploads/2025/0fbcf38b17.jpg" alt=""> 15 bidders submitted bids for the upcoming 700mhz wireless auction, you can see the list here. On November 8, it will publish the list of qualified bidders that have submitted the required deposit (those who will be allowed to participate in the auction). The official statement from the government was:
Pebble to make "important announcement" Nov 6
[caption id="" align=“alignnone” width=“445”][/caption] The Pebble team seems to be working on something "important" that will be unveiled tomorrow (November 6). You are invited to watch the live stream. On the developer site, they say: "It’s no secret that we’ve been hard at work developing better software for Pebble and this Wednesday, November 6th, we’ll be making a very important announcement. You’re invited to join our livestream event at 10AM PST to hear what awesome new things we’ve been working on to make Pebble a more robust and feature-rich platform.
Nexus 5 is easily repairable
It seems everything we buy these days is disposable, Disposable phones, tablets and e-readers. Imagine my surprise when the master disassemblers at iFixIt.com gave it a repairability score of 8/10. This means that the average person can easily replace the most common consumable (battery) or breakable (headphone jack) parts. And all of this with basic easily available tools (no esoteric pentalobe screws like Apple). <img src="https://ekiledjian2.micro.blog/uploads/2025/a1320f76e4.jpg" alt=""> <img src="https://ekiledjian2.micro.blog/uploads/2025/cdd4edab8e.jpg" alt="">
Nexus 5 coming to carriers Nov 8
The Google Nexus has has been selling on the Google Play store for 2 weeks now and most Canadian carriers list it as coming (Telus, Fido, Rogers, etc.) Now we learn that it may finally switch to shipping as early as this Friday November 8. None of the carriers have confirmed the release date or pricing but we expect it to sell for between $99-149 with a 2 year contract ($499 outright without a contract).
Fido offers scheduled customer support
In an effort to differentiate itself through better customer service, Fido launched a new scheduled customer service offering called Check-Ins. It is a way to get support (for account related issues) without having to wait on endless hold. You can book your time-slot by logging into your online Fido account and choosing a date and time (up to 7 days out). Source: Fido.ca
Google Search for IOS now with 100% more NOW
After a long and painful wait, IOS users finallt get some Google Now loving... The sultan of search release an update today to its Google Search App for IOS with brings notifications, reminders, voice response and much much more. Wait... what? Voice search? Oh yes my friend. You open the Google search app and trigger it by saying OK Google then issue your command. The Google robot army will then respond accordingly. (this feature requires an iPhone 4s or newer).
Watch Google's Google+ event from today
NOTE: The event started late and you can fast-forward to minutes 13.
The secret to amazing handwriting on an iPad
Most stylus' have large tips which result in imprecise device interaction and an ugly overall user experience. Evernote wants more people to use its services and partnered with renown stylus designer Adonit to build the best stylus money can buy. Here is the Adonit Jot Script for Evernote <img src="https://ekiledjian2.micro.blog/uploads/2025/6d0be34aa4.jpg" alt=""> This is a bluetooth connected pen with an incredibly fine tip <img src="https://ekiledjian2.micro.blog/uploads/2025/85421705f7.jpg" alt=""> The pen was designed to work with Evernote's Penultimate app with advanced palm detection technology.
Microsoft Stores coming to BestBuy in Canada
[caption id="" align=“alignnone” width=“2500”]Image of a Microsoft Store in the Best Buy in Wichita Kansas, Image (c) Edward Kiledjian 2013. All rights reserved. [/caption] In an attempt to copy the Apple model of incredible sales, Microsoft will be expanding its Microsoft Store inside BestBuys by bringing this model to the great Canadian North. Over 100 of these new stores-inside-a-store will pop up across Canada in Best Buy and Futureshops. These stores will be staffed with specially trained sales and technical specialists to convince you that everyone should own a Surface tablet and should be running Windows 8.
Best in ear noise cancelling headphones
As a frequent traveler, I test dozens of noise cancelling headphones every year and typically break them down into best in-ear, on-ear and over ear noise cancelling headphone categories. <img src="https://ekiledjian2.micro.blog/uploads/2025/ca1957d18d.jpg" alt=""> The best in-ear headphone is the Bose QC20 / 20i headphones. Read my detailed review here.
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.
Fast Food Container innovation
Fast food is all about convenience and the above concept is a fantastic new convenience. Sure this won't work for people buying drive-through but for everyone else, this leans you can carry your entire meal with one hand. See this REDDIT thread
Bell will track your phone, TV and Internet usage
The Huffington Post has an interesting article that indicates that Bell will start tracking all your usage to deliver targeted ads. Effective November 16, the Bell privacy option are changing to allow them to do this to serve targeted advertising and to "improve network performance". They will track your web history (ADSL, FIBE and mobile), application usage, call metadata (similar to what the NSA did) and your location based on cell phone tower triangulation. They promise not to share your information outside of Bell but does that make you feel warm and fuzzy?
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.
Roam Mobility Liberty WIFI Hotspot Review
I travel to the US very regularly and before learning about Roam Mobility, I had to either pay my carrier exhorbitant roaming fees or try to find a temporary SIM card when I arrived in the US (which isn't always easy). Obviously having my US 3G coverage arranged before I start my trip is my prefered option and Roam has been my go to solution. I typically use the Roam Mobility SIM card with my unlocked iPhone 4s but during my last trip, I decided to take their Liberty Hotspot instead.
iPhone 5c /5s are great for travellers
A big issue for travelers is that carriers use different communication bands. Most Canadian cell phones support the "standard" bands (850,900,1900,2100 MHz). Newer Canadian providers and some American providers use other bands such as AWS bands (1700, 2100 MHz). What does this mean to you? It means that you will be able to use the fastest possible connection on more networks around the world. Previously (with an iPhone 4s), my connection sometimes dropped to 2G (or edge) networks which meant painfully slow connectivity when travelling to the US.