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).

This black magic uses low power Bluetooth and the transaction is done over a secure connection.

The company     is working  on a Windows version as well. 

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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.  

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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. 

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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: 

"Today, Industry Canada published the list of applicants for the 700 MHz spectrum auction scheduled for January 14, 2014. This high-quality spectrum will soon be deployed across Canada, providing Canadians with dependable, high-speed wireless services on the latest technologies.
"Well before this summer's public debate on wireless policy, our Government introduced a number of measures to create more choice in Canada's wireless market and to defend consumers. As a result, prices have come down, the number of jobs in the wireless sector has increased and consumers have more choices. This trend will continue as a result of January's auction.
"In addition to this auction, our Government will continue to aggressively pursue policies that ensure consumer interests are at the core of all Government decisions." - link

Pebble to make "important announcement" Nov 6

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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. To tune in, visit https://www.getpebble.com on Wednesday morning after 9AM PST to obtain a link for the livestream. After the live broadcast hosted by Eric and our very own Thomas, we will be leading a Reddit AMA discussion at noon (12PM PST) to answer any lingering questions you may have."

I love a good surprise and can't wait to see what they will unveil.

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).  

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Fido offers $45 unlimited Canada-wide plan

Consumers always win with competition and now Fido is becoming even more aggressive to win new customers. You can now get a $45 a month plan with unlimited everything plus 1GB of wireless data. 1GB not enough for you? There have the same thing in with 3GB for only $55.

These are Quebec only deals and are likely very temporary so jump on them while the getting is good. 

Source: Fido 

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).

It can also trigger notifications using the IOS native notification system for appointments, reminders, news, tasks or unusually heavy traffic for your drive home.

Overall a wonderful update that warmed my heart

Watch Google's Google+ event from today

NOTE: The event started late and you can fast-forward to minutes 13.

Most popular posts this week

Here are the most popular posts (for the last 7 days): 

  1. REVIEW OF ALIEXPRESS.COM
  2. REVIEW OF THE BOSE QUIETCOMFORT QC20 / QC20I
  3. D-LINK WIRELESS RANGE EXTENDER (DAP-1320) REVIEW
  4. REAL WORLD TEST AND REVIEW OF THE NIKON AW110
  5. MICROSOFT STORES COMING TO BESTBUY IN CANADA
  6. SAVE UP TO 60% OFF SHAVING RAZORS NOW
  7. REAL WORLD TEST AND REVIEW OF THE BOSE QUIETCOMFORT 15 (QC15)
  8.  BOSE SOUNDLINK MINI IS THE BEST MID-SIZE BLUETOOTH SPEAKER
  9.  BEST HEADPHONES UNDER $60
  10.  PLAY FLASH VIDEOS ON IPHONE/IPAD WITH THE PUFFIN INTERNET BROWSER

I found it rather surprising that 3 of the top 10 posts this week were related to different Bose products. 

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

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This is a bluetooth connected pen with an incredibly fine tip

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The pen was designed to work with Evernote's Penultimate app with advanced palm detection technology. I can't stress how important palm rejection is. Palm rejection means you can rest your hand on the screen while writing and the software is intelligent enough to disregard it. Because my Nexus 7 doesn't have it, it is impossible to do "good" handwriting on it.

Before you panic though, Adonit is making the enhanced functionality available to third party developers through its developer kit (I expect most ipad apps to include this going forward). 

Because the pen's advanced powers come from its Bluetooth connection, it needs juice and that juice comes from a user replaceable AAA battery.  

The Stylus can be ordered today (but will ship early November) for $75. 

Evernote says. Mobile auteurs can buy the stylus today for $75, and the corresponding Penultimate app is available for free.

You can pre-order it from Adonit  or from the Evernote Marketplace.

A fitness wristband that automatically tracks your food

The quantified self via wearable tech is the next frontier and everyone wants a piece of the action. Typically the trinity is the tracking of exercise, sleep and pule (for exertion estimates and stress). For nutrition (aka calorie count), you typically have to enter the information into the devices smartphone app which means you will forget or just give-up after the first week.

Now a new entrant promises to track your calorie intake automatically. YES AUTOMATICALLY, as in without you having to do anything. How is this black magic accomplished you ask? The company describes it like this

"Nutrition is monitored using different wavelengths of light to look into the blood stream and detect metabolites as they are released while and after you eat. This allows AIRO to measure caloric intake and even the quality of meals consumed, providing recommendations on ways to improve nutrition."

So the wristband is supposed to know the nutritional breakdown of what you ate (protein, fat, carb) and then monitors what it does to your body. The company admits it cant differentiate between simple and complex carbs (we all know they are different) but they are conducting additional experiments in the hope that they will be able to fine tune their detection algorithms.

I have been using an iPhone app called Stress Doctor (from Azumio) that uses the timing and intensity of my pulse to detect stress levels (low, medium, high) and it seems Airo does the same except automatically. If it detects elevated stress levels, it will vibrate to encourage you to relax and provides recommended breathing exercises in the app to guide you. 

It also combines all of the sensors to measure the intensity of your workouts (similar to what the Amiigo is supposed to do).  My constantly monitoring you vitals, the app is also supposed to recommend rest days if it feels you are over-exercising.

The Airo is supposed to use your physiological indicators to measure quantity and quality of sleep. It will vibrate to wake you up at the best possible time (since it knows your sleep cycle).

An interesting distinction with this product is that it not only turns your life into a measurement game but also provides a game plan in response to what it is detecting. You no longer have to play doctor.

You can pre-order AIRO today and it is expected to ship fall 2014 (but remember these types of devices are notoriously bad at meeting their shipping dates. Amiigo is almost 6 months late thus far). The device pre-order costs $US149 but will cost $199 in stores when it hits retails.

You can pre-order the device here.

Related Articles

Save up to 60% off shaving razors now

Give away the razors and make money on the replacement blades...

This is the mantra used by razor manufacturers and no where is this truer than with the Gilette Fusion razor (which owns 40-55% of the reusable razor market). A typical user spends between $20-$40 a month on replacement razor blades (especially when they are name brands).

A mil-order mens supply company called DollarShaveClub offers to send you cheaper (equivalent quality) razors and replacement blades on a monthly subscription plan and they truly are cheaper than the name brands you buy from Walmart or the pharmacy. But they have a dirty little secret... They are simply reselling the products of a company called Dorco (aka the manufacturer).  

Dorco has its own online store where you can pickup your razors and replacement blades even cheaper. 

Walmart

You can buy the main razor with 1 cartridge for $10.97

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A 4-pack of replacement razors costs another $17.47 (bringing the cost of the razor and 5 replacement razors to $28.44.

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Dorco

Dorco has a slightly superior razor with 6 blades (instead of the 5 on the Gilette Fusion)  for $15.70 (which includes 10 razor cartridges instead of the the 5 you would get with the Gilette Fusion).  

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Then you can buy a special 24 pack of replacement razor cartridges for only $29.32. 

What if you want to try another type of Dorco shaving blade? No problem... Every Dorco blade fits in every one of their handles.  

Quality of the razors

Having tested the Gilette Fusion, Schick Quatro Titanium and Dorco, The Dorco is just as good as the other name brand products and often much better than the cheaper pharmacy brands.

I know a handful of people that have made the switch to Droco and every single one of them is happy and keep's recommending Dorco to their friends and family. You can't get a stronger endorsement than that. 

Special Offer

If you use this referral link, you will get 15% off your Dorco order so the price is even more compelling. 

http://dorcousa.refr.cc/V56XRB5 

Free Shipping

If you spend $25 or more, shipping to the USA is free. 

If you spend $40 or more, shipping to Canada is free.

Weird Food - Smalahove

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Smalahove isn't something you will find on the Ikea menu because it is a Norwegian dish typically served for Christmas. Because nothing exemplifies joy, happiness and world peace like a sheep's head. 

Preparation is simple: 

  1. get sheep's head
  2. burn all the skin and hair off
  3. remove brain
  4. salt
  5. boil or steam for 3 hours
  6. serve with mashed potatoes and rutabaga

I would love to see Martha prepare this one day. 

Weird Food - A-Ping (aka fried tarantulas)

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In North America, we looooooove frying animals and eating them... Would you be surprised to learn other countries love frying food too? In some Cambodian cities, you can buy a wonderfully crisp fried tarantula called a-ping. 

The spiders are often bred specifically for this and once they reach the right size (often the size of your palm, they are spiced (MSG, sugar, salt, garlic) and deep fried in hot oil. They cook it until the legs are stiff and until the contents of the abdomen aren't running anymore. Most street vendors sells this "delicacy" for under$US0.10 each

I know... All of this makes you want to buy a ticket and try a dozen of these with a side of french fired and a cola. Who needs the colonel? 

Weird Food - Thousand Year Old Egg from China

The Thousand Year Old Egg is also called the Century Egg and is a Chinese delicacy.  

It is an egg (duck, chicken or quail) that is "preserved" in a special mixture of clay, ash, salt, quicklime and rice hulls.  I have heard that these can be stored for weeks or months.

Like the Balut, this is incredibly difficult for westerners to stomach. Unlike Balut, I have tried this and it is a taste I did not like. Just thinking about it makes me gag.  

Microsoft Stores coming to BestBuy in Canada

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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 8.1.

Weird Food - What is Balut

Balut is a fertilized egg embryo that is typically aged for 16-21 days (depending on which country you eat it in) then boiled like a hard boiled egg and eaten. It is supremely popular in the Philippines and Vietnam.

I have encountered it often in those countries but just couldn't get myself to try it. My western palate just can't stomach this.

It is such a difficult concept for us that it was even a Fear Factor even

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.

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The best in-ear headphone is the Bose QC20 / 20i headphones. Read my detailed review here.