Canoe Technology

Personal quiet sound amplifier helps you hear better

December 18, 2015 by Greg Gazin · Leave a Comment

As we get older things like your hearing start to deteriorate, especially if you worked in a noisy environment or went to too many “WHO” concerts without wearing proper hearing protection. To help out in these times Etymotic Research developed The BEAN – Quiet Sound Amplifier; it’s not a hearing aid that corrects hearing loss, but rather a personal sound amplification device that requires no prescription.

The company’s literature likens the BEAN “to wearing store-bought reading glasses that you only need to use part of the time.” Read Full Review at CanoeTech Blog.

Filed Under: accessories, Canoe Technology, GadgetGreg, Hands On, Product review · Tagged With: health, hearing, lifestyle, product review, sound

FlashXpress double infrared heating toaster oven

December 17, 2015 by Greg Gazin · Leave a Comment

For a gadget enthusiastic household who might be in the market for a new Toaster Oven, the Panasonic FlashXpress Toaster Oven might be a good one to add to the list. No, it doesn’t send notifications to your smart watch when your toast is ready, but it does offer double infrared heating (i.e. dual quartz and ceramic elements so it heats up fast, and efficiently gets your food to your plate.

Hi-Tech holiday headphone roundup

December 10, 2015 by Greg Gazin · Leave a Comment

Not all headphones are created equal so if you’re looking for some really hi-tech headphones to pop under the tree this year, then here are a few ideas that you just might find sound pretty good – pardon the pun.

Mo-Fi Powered Hi-Fi Headphones

To start off, for the devout gamer, musician or the discerning audiophile, the Blue Mo-Fi Powered Hi-Fi Headphones with built-in amplifier marries todays hi-tech with tried and true old-school technology.

At first glance they look like they would be right at home as part of a Transformer, but the robotic like look is purposeful; the formed ear cups, the multi-hinged design and adjustable headband allows the headphones to be adjusted for any head or comfort level while staying completely parallel so you block outside sound and hear the music as you are supposed to.

In fact, there’s no digital signal processing on this puppy. It has a built-in 240mW amplifier and it’s totally analog, baby! It also has three bass modes to choose from, so you can decide between passive, active or enhanced bass. Read about all Holiday Hi-Tech Headphones at Canoe Tech Blog.

Filed Under: accessories, Canoe Technology, GadgetGreg, Going Mobile, Hands On · Tagged With: Audio, gift, headphones, music

Review: iRig Mic Lav monitoring lavalier mic

December 5, 2015 by Greg Gazin · Leave a Comment

IK Multimedia’s tagline is “Musicians First,” but many of their offerings including their iRig Mic line of high quality microphones are also suitable for presenters, podcasters and videographers. But one selection missing from their line-up, until now was a lav (lavalier) mic. Keeping with their naming tradition, it’s called the iRig Mic Lav. Beyond a clip-on, this latest offering gives you the capability of monitoring what’s passing through it, as well as chain two mics together and simultaneously record to one device.

Dual-Purpose Jack

At first, it looks like your typical clip-on mic with a foam wind/pop shield, but look further down the cable and you see a dual-purpose connector that ports both a 3.5mm male and female connectors. The male goes to your recording device. The female serves two purposes depending on which selection you make to the toggle switch. Selecting the headphones option enables the monitoring option. Plug in a set of headphones or earbuds and you know that you are actually getting a recording. Toggle the switch, plug in another lav mic and now you can record two people and even monitor through the 2nd port. Read full review at Canoe Tech Blog.

Filed Under: accessories, Audio, Canoe Technology, GadgetGreg, Hands On, New Product, Product review, Review, sound · Tagged With: accessories, Audio, microphone, product review

Portable foot-powered Drumi does your laundry

December 1, 2015 by Greg Gazin · Leave a Comment

We see more devices becoming a lot more portable, but how about a washing machine? It’s called Drumi, a new Canadian invention that looks a little like Star Wars’ R2-D2 without the arms that will clean your clothes. The cool thing, is that it requires no power, electrical or otherwise and has no carbon emissions. It just needs a little water, a little detergent and some good foot energy.

Drumi is the brainchild of Yi Jiang who discovered the need when he realized the challenge of getting his laundry done living in downtown Toronto. Back in 2012, he began developing it while attending OCAD (Ontario College of Art and Design) as part of his industrial design thesis project. Read full post at Canoe Tech Blog.

Filed Under: Canoe Technology, GadgetGreg, New Product, Signs of the Times · Tagged With: Canada, indiegogo, Laundry, New product

Belkin Qode detachable app-enabled iPad wireless keyboard

November 28, 2015 by Greg Gazin · 1 Comment

Belkin Front If you find yourself using your iPad Air 2 for more of your daily tasks, you may also find a greater need to carry around a physical keyboard. If that’s the case, then it might be time to have a look at the Belkin Qode Ultimate Pro Keyboard for iPad Air 2.

While it does have an unusual name, the Qode Ultimate Pro is both a keyboard and a protective case. Unlike other Belkin models, the case component attaches with its magnetic flap so the keyboard is never permanently tethered. It’s handy, so you can quickly and conveniently detach and use your iPad in handheld mode. And should you decide to leave the keyboard at home, you can still have added protection. The case component is fully compatible with the Apple Smart Cover if you already own one. Read more…at Canoe Tech Blog,

Filed Under: accessories, Apple, Canoe Technology, GadgetGreg, Product review · Tagged With: accessories, iPad, keyboard, product review, wireless

London Drugs staff armed with price-matching iPads

November 24, 2015 by Greg Gazin · Leave a Comment

London Drugs wants consumers to know that they are armed and ready to take on their Black Friday rivals in order to ensure they get their share of Canada’s November’s retail sales, which last year rose to a record high $43.03 billion dollars.

Reuters reported this Statistics Canada figure back in January 2015 after all the dust had settled following last year’s retail holiday season.

Like other retailers, this family-owned and operated Western Canada based retail giant has already announced their Black Friday and Cyber Monday door-crashers and sales along with Cyber week offerings and early store openings. However, in a news release issued today, they were very specific as to how their 78 stores will meet their competition. READ MORE and Take the POLL at Canoe Tech Blog.

Filed Under: Canoe Technology, GadgetGreg, In the news, Signs of the Times · Tagged With: Black Friday, price matching, retail, shopping

NETGEAR AirCard instant mobile hotspot for 15

November 22, 2015 by Greg Gazin · Leave a Comment

If you’re frequently on the road and travel with a lot of gadgets or with a family who needs Internet access and Wi-Fi is not always around, then the NETGEAR AirCard 785S 4G LTE Mobile Hotspot might just be a viable solution.

The AirCard 785S is an ultra-portable device, about the size of a smart phone measuring 4.3” x 2.7” x 0.6” and weighing only 127g. It connects to the TELUS LTE/4G network through a micro SIM, which in turn allows up to 15 wireless devices to securely share the data connection and giving them all 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi connectivity. Read Full Review…at Canoe Tech Blog.

Filed Under: accessories, Canoe Technology, Hands On, Internet, Product review · Tagged With: hotspot, Internet, product review, wireless

Misfit puts a new Shine on fitness bling

November 18, 2015 by Greg Gazin · Leave a Comment

It’s no secret that wearables are becoming a pretty big thing but when I hear the term “activity tracking jewelry” it really makes me wonder. I guess keeping fit and looking sharp now go hand-in-hand as Misfit, the makers of the Shine fitness and sleep activity tracker have unveiled, just in time for the holiday season, the Swarovski Shine Collection.

The Misfit Shine has been around for a couple of years. It’s a slim fitness activity monitor that can pair with an Android, iOS or Windows app to help track your typical everyday activities like running, walking and even sleeping. Its claim to fame is both its slimness and its lack of buttons, dials and connectors. Shine uses a tap method to communicate with your wireless device using its own proprietary algorithm – which was recently redesigned to improve tap sensitivity. Read more…at Canoe Tech Blog

Filed Under: Canoe Technology, GadgetGreg, New Product, Signs of the Times · Tagged With: bling, fitness, gift idea, New product

Phiaton BT-110 funky square bluetooth earbuds

November 14, 2015 by Greg Gazin · Leave a Comment

bt110-man Every time I come across a new set of earbuds or headphones I always hear from the vendors that theirs are a little bit different. Taking the opportunity to test drive the new Phiaton BT-110 wireless compact sport Bluetooth earbuds, I have to admit that these do fit that description.

First of all, looking at them, they seem to be something you’d find as an implant on an episode of Star Trek. Rather than the typical round bodies you find on most earbuds, these are actually rectangular so they sort of cover part of your ear.

To make sure you have a good fit, you get three sets of Vulcan-style silicon ear wings, featuring their aptly named RightFit+ technology and four sizes of traditional silicon tips. Read more…at Canoe Tech Blog.