technology
My Evernote feature wish list
Those who know me or have read my blog probably know that i love Evernote. December 2011, I wrote a blog entry about the features I wish Evernote added to its products. Most of the items in my wish list still haven't been implemented so they are staying on my wish list but if I had to choose my most wanted features, they would be: Add semantic intelligence to my Evernote data (similar to what SpringPad does but I expect better things from the Evernote team.
Fax 50 pages for free per month with Google Drive
Hellofax is a well known online virtual faxing service and they have now integrated with Google Drive. This integration means you can fax any document from Google Drive (and Google Docs) and even receive faxes directly into a special Google Drive folder. In addition to the faxing, they also offer the ability to edit and virtually sign documents (eliminating the need to print, complete, scan then fax). They have a promotion where you get 50 free fax pages per month and unlimited signature request and document signing as long as you sign up for the service using your Google Drive enable Google Account.
Google has granted you 10 GB of free GMAIL Storage
When GMAIL started 8 years ago, we were astounded that the King of Search would graciously offer us 1GB of free storage. After all, the big players (like Hotmail and Yahoo) were offering a paltry 25-50MB. Why would we EVER need 1 GB of storage? Well just a couple of years later, the King of Search has yet again blessed its citizens by offering them an additional 2.5GB of storage bumping users to 10GB of GMAIL space. Here is theoriginal Google blog post about the increase.
How to enable Google Drive for Google Apps Domains
Google drive was finally released with fanboys finally breathing a sigh of relief. Their beloved Google has finally delivered an affordable alternative to Dropbox. As a Google Apps Domain customer, I realized there was no way for me to enable Google Drive but to ensure you get it as quickly as possible, make sure you log into your domain management page here: [www.google.com/a/cpanel/...](https://www.google.com/a/cpanel/YOURDOMAIN.com/Dashboard) ** replace YOURDOMAIN.com with your actual domain name of course ** Click on DOMAIN SETTINGS Go to the New User Features and ensure Automatic is selected
PersonalBrain for iPhone and iPad coming
After making this request for years, I was extremely happy to see a tweet from Harlan Hugh (CEO of The brain) that PersonalBrain (TheBrain) will be coming to the iPhone and iPad soon. TheBrain on iPad and iPhone is coming soon. Been working on it for a bit. It'll be workth the wait… @vanmorrison2 @hshomestaging @ekiledjian — Harlan Hugh (@HarlanHugh) April 24, 2012
Test 3G speed of a laptop versus a Playbook
I havent been RIM's biggest Playbook fan and even with their 2.0 OS upgrade, it feels unfinished and rough to use. I wanted to see how the Playbook would perform compared to a Windows 7 laptop when using WIFI sharing of my iPhone's 3G connection. THE SETUP I closed all the apps on my iPhone 4s, did a force shutdown and restard. I placed my phone 4 inches away from my Wilson cell phone booster and it had a full 5 bars.
HTTPS Everywhere helps you browse safely and securely
Whenever you browse the web, your internet browser uses a protocol called http. Now the secure version of this protocol is called https and head to any bank website and you’ll see them add the s to http when logging in. Why is this important? Anytime you enter sensitive information, you want to make it as hard as possible for the “bad guys” to steal it. By using https, you encrypt the data as it swirls through the internet. It is easy to see why you should like and use this more secure protocol when logging into your bank, facebook or webmail account.
iPad 3 announcement March 3
Let's not put on the party hats just yet, since nothing has come out from Cupertino. Most analysts and Apple watchers now believe the iPad will be announced at an event early March. Although we have seen all kinds of crazy rumors, the most reliable sources believe it will look like the ipad 2 but will contain a higher resolution display, slightly faster processor (A5x), an 8 megapixel camera and a bigger battery. Now we wait and see. What do you want to see?
Google bypasses Internet Explorer's privacy settings
Last week, researchers found that Google (and other online advertising services) had found a way to bypass Safari’s privacy settings. At the time, Google said it was using know functionality to delivery services to signed in Google users. Another week, another claim, this time by Microsoft. Microsoft claims that Google is using the same technique to bypass the privacy settings of its Internet Explorer browser. The Microsoft claim is that Google misrepresents its cookies allowing them to bypass Internet Explorer’s security settings.
Ghostery warns you about all the networks tracking your web habits
Anytime you talk a walk down the information superhighway, creepy companies track your every move so that they can offer more targeted behavior based advertisements. To pull this off, they need to track you as you move across the web. If you have ever wanted to know how many of those systems are tracking you, check out a free Firefox / Chrome add-on called Ghostery. Whey say “Ghostery tracks the trackers” and that is a great way to describe it.
Why I cancelled my Sirius XM Satellite Radio subscription
After having been a loyal XM radio Canada subscriber for many years, I finally decided to cancel my subscription, and I wanted to share my reasoning (hopefully someone from Sirius XM will read this). For those that do not know, Sirius XM is a premium satellite radio service that promises crystal clear sound, unmatched variety and commercial free programming on the music channels. Why I cancelled: Each subscription is attached to a single device. Because I subscribed to their service using my car’s built in receiver, I could not listen to the programming anywhere else.
Dell Voice offers free VOIP calling to most Canadian cities
Dell Canada has teamed up with Fongo to offer free VOIP based calling to many Canadian cities through it new iphone/Android/Windows (RIM coming next month) application. After you download the app, you complete a simple registration and validation process and voila, free calling. You also get a free telephone number, caller ID, voicemail and e911 service. Their long distance rates also seem very reasonable. Dell voice website. Android iPhone Windows
Google may launch online storage "soon"
As a traveller, I carry multiple photocopies of all critical documents (passport, credit cards, driver’s license, tickets, itinerary, etc.) In addition to the paper copies, I also store a copy of these documents on one of my online storage services just in case. There are dozens of online storage service providers but the most popular are the likes of Dropbox, and Box.net. Unfortunately most of these services charge a premium price when the cost of storage is dropping like a rock so imagine my excitement when the Wall Street Journal reported that Google would soon release its long rumored Google Drive service.
Veho 360 Bluetooth speaker review
Although this is primarily a European product, it is often easily available on ebay and I wanted to conduct a quick review for my readers. I received this as a christmas gift and have been using it daily for about 3 weeks now. Quick look The Veho 360 is a small cylindrical battery powered speaker. It stands 5 cm tall and 4cm in diameter. The device has a 2.2 watt speaker that shoots sound out from the top. On the side, it has 2 ports: a charging port and a 3.
LifeProof Iphone 4/4s waterproof case review
I love my iPhone 4s and use it everyday. It has become one of the most important productivity tools in my arsenal and I would be lost without it. I’m always looking for ways to keep the little guy safe and happy so I jumped on the LifeProof case as soon as it became available. What is the LifeProof case? This is a thin case the company claims is waterproof, dirt proof, snow proof and shock proof. The fact is, I put the case through months of real world use before I wrote this review.
Airports may be hazardous to your Kindle
Over the last couple of days, we have been hearing more and more complaints from Kindle owners about airport X-Ray machines killing their beloved eReaders. The UK Telegraph reports some travellers claiming their device was bricked after going through the X-Ray. The devices were nonfunctional with blank screens. Amazon is denying that there is a design issue but seems to be replacing affected devices. Some specialists believe it may not be the X-Rays themselves but more a static discharge from the machine’s thick rubber conveyor belt.
Weather Trends 360 predicts weather 1 year out
My local news station weatherman seems to have a 50/50 success rating predicting the 5 day forecast. Imagine my surprise when I learned about a company called Weather Trends International that claims to provide weather prediction for up to 365 days into the future. At first I thought this was another fly by nights hocus pocus type website, then I checked out their client list. It includes names like Walmart, Loblaws, Target, Coca Cola, Heinz and many more. The prediction
Forrester says companies should support Apple Computers
When we thing of Apple computers, we usually think graphic arts departments or young hipsters but what would you say if a major research organization endorsed it as a productivity tool? Could it be? Has that day come. Oh yes my friends it has… Forrester Research calls Apple users within corporations “Highly Empowered and Resourceful Operatives”. They claim that this 17% of the corporate population is the one that pushes the most innovation. For non subscribers, the report costs $500 but you can read the most important snippets on this blog.
Apple's SIRI comes from a 10 year military research project
When talking about Apple’s new iPhone 4s, most users immediately think about the Apple Siri Assitant and the new 8 megapixel camera. Siri is a cool feature but did you know it comes from a DARPA military project called COLO? The lineage Although we only heard about Siri a couple of years ago (as a stand-alone iphone app), it is actually research that started 10 years ago in a DARPA funded project called Personalized Assistant that Learns. DARPA awarded the contract to a company called SRI, who dubbed their internal project Cognitive Agent that Learns and Organizes (CALO).