If your country didn’t offer Netflix streaming, chances are after today’s announcement it probably might as the Netflix tap was turned on today to more than 130 additional countries, bringing the total number around the world to 190. And interestingly enough, the service went live as co-founder and Chief Executive Reed Hastings delivered his keynote at International CES 2016. Read more…at Canoe Tech Blog
CES 2016 Fold-up scooter, broadcast mounts and instant touch screens
January 5, 2016 by · Leave a Comment
There will be thousands of products announced, unveiled and displayed at this year’s International CES 2016 and here are a few to begin with that really caught my attention. Three in particular are; a cool little fold-up scooter, a professional smartphone mount and a gadget that gives your PC notebook instant touch functionality.
Fold-up Smart Scooter
Smart-Rhino unveiled their cool little Xcooter, which you have to say real fast to get right. As you’ve probably guessed, it’s a scooter and if you look closely at the picture, it’s designed in the shape of an X.
Its body is made of a full aluminum alloy and fairly lightweight. It’s designed with their own-patented technology to fold up along with the handlebar in one second making it space efficient and quickly storable. Although it does weigh just under 42 lb (19 kg), but a folding size of only 21 ¼” x 7 ¾” x 38″, you could theoretically throw it in your car or take with you so you don’t have to worry about locking it up. Read more… at Canoe Tech Blog.
Winter Inspired Holiday Headphones
December 15, 2015 by · Leave a Comment
Let’s face it, we take our music seriously and take it everywhere – rain, shine or even in the dead of cold. So with the holiday season right around the corner here are a few winter inspired holiday headphone gift ideas, ideal for keeping the tunes streaming and some to take and make calls when the temperature drops below zero.
Wireless Earwarmers
At first glance, the 180s Earwarmers look like simple earmuffs, but under that insulated poly-spandex shell with polyester lining is a Bluetooth enabled set of wireless headphones, so you’re just as likely to find them in a place that sells gadgets as one that offers outdoor wear.
They don’t have a lot of bells and whistles but they also don’t add a lot of bulk to your winter attire. But don’t let that fool you. Under the padding are high definition speakers plus they are Siri and Google Now friendly so your hands can keep more time in their mitts. They are also designed to sit behind your head than over the top so you could call them “toque-compatible”. The headband is adjustable plus they fold down for quick storage. SEE FULL POST at G4TV Canada.
ShiftWear: Customized Sneakers with Built-in Screen
December 1, 2015 by · Leave a Comment
If you get tired of your desktop image or screen saver, you can easily change it, so why can’t the same be true for your runners? Well, with Shiftwear, soon you can. In fact, the company says that if you can display it on your screen, you can display it on your runners allowing you to customize your runners to match your attire and for any occasion.
So how do they do it? Well the runner acts like a wireless external monitor, but instead of an image being transmitted to your TV, it’s basically sent to your ShiftWear runner that features a built-in flexible display.
Runners certainly wear out faster than screens. So to help them last longer the soles are coated with a layer of Kevlar Fibre, the same stuff found in bullet-proof vests. They’ve even managed to make them waterproof, too. The runners will have a built-in eco-friendly battery and with its own Walk-N-Charge Technology, you’ll always have power.
There will be three models; the Shiftwear L1 Classic, Shiftwear M1 Classic and the hi-top Shiftwear H1 Classic.
The company launched an Indiegogo Campaign to raise $25,000 U.S. to finish their prototype and move the products into mass production. They’ve already raised over $86,000 U.S. and are at almost 350% of their target with three weeks still to go.
If you’re interested in a pair, the campaign prices, pardon the pun, run $150, $250 and $350 respectively for the L1, M1 and H1. All prices are in USD and are 50% of what they will eventually retail for.
Portable foot-powered Drumi does your laundry
December 1, 2015 by · 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.
London Drugs staff armed with price-matching iPads
November 24, 2015 by · 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.
Misfit puts a new Shine on fitness bling
November 18, 2015 by · 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
Amplio: Retro radio inspired bamboo smartphone amplifier
November 11, 2015 by · Leave a Comment
Amplio is a cool sounding name for the latest smartphone sound amplifier dock trying to make its way to market through an upcoming Kickstarter campaign. The name implies amplification, but that tells you only part of the story. Amplio is totally wireless, eco-friendly and requires absolutely no power because it’s made from bamboo.
creator Vlad Butucariu, is a designer from Rotterdam, Netherlands who has been working on the project for the past six months. His goal was to create an amplifier for smartphones that had a unique modern desirable design yet still maintain the flavour inspired by the minimalist classic designs of radios from yesteryear. Read more…at Canoe Tech Blog.
Remembrance Day: The Homefront in Alberta (archive)
November 11, 2015 by · Leave a Comment
The Second World War was hard on the men fighting on the front lines as well as those they left behind.
FROM THE ARCHIVES
EDMONTON, AB, Nov. 4, 2008/ Troy Media/ – While the Second World War was hard on the men and women fighting on the front lines, it was also hard on those they left behind.
This is important to remember this Remembrance Day.
It’s two sides of the same coin, said Dr. Adriana Davies, Executive Director and of the Heritage Community Foundation. “The front (line) was only one side of the coin. The home front was the other side,” she said.
World War II: The Homefront in Alberta, one of the newest sites within the Alberta Online Encyclopedia – albertasource.ca, contains powerful and compelling stories of the realities faced by the people who were thousands of kilometers away from the actual war front. The project is a result of a partnership with the Canadian Militaria Preservation Society and the Royal Alberta Museum. READ FULL POST at Troy Media.
Less to carry around with Celluon Epic laser projection keyboard
September 25, 2015 by · Leave a Comment
You enable the virtual keyboard by placing a palm-sized (20 mm x 35 mm x 70 mm) gadget on a flat surface, like a table or a countertop. Then, you pair it wirelessly to almost any Bluetooth 3.0 compatible device and using a red laser diode it projects a full-sized English QWERTY keyboard pattern (sans numeric pad) onto the surface. (It can also project a German QWERTZ keyboard pattern as well)
And it’s fast. According to the specs, it’s capable of recognizing 350 characters per minute. That’s a lot faster than I can type – seriously! Read more…at Canoe Tech Blog.
