"Gadget" Greg Gazin Demystifies Tech & Life in a useful, fun & practical way!
If you were an early adopter of the iPhone 5 and are experiencing some issues with battery life, then there’s some good news for you. You may be eligible to get your battery swapped out for free under Apple’s iPhone 5 battery replacement program.
According to Apple support, Apple has determined, “That a very small percentage of iPhone 5 devices may suddenly experience shorter battery life or need to be charged more frequently.”
Read more…at Canoe Tech Blog
Today, Apple provided a Media Advisory update with respect to their celebrity photo theft investigation. According to the company, after more than 40 hours of investigation, they discovered that “certain” celebrity accounts were in fact compromised.
This comes after various reports that intimate images of celebrities like Hunger Games’ Jennifer Laurence and Kate Upton and more than 100 others were stolen over the weekend as a result of an alleged iCloud hack and posted on the Internet. Some reports say that certain individuals claim the pics were fakes, while others confirmed they were authentic.
According to Apple’s investigation, none of the cases came as a result of any breach in their own systems including iCloud or Find My iPhone. They said it was a very large targeted attack by a practise that now seems to be a common everyday occurrence – attacking user names, passwords and security questions.
This comes after outlets like the UK Daily Mail Online reported yesterday has that actor Kirsten Dunst of Spiderman fame is angered and, “Has become the first celebrity to publicly criticize Apple after it emerged that a flaw in the ‘Find My iPhone’ function of its iCloud service may have helped a hacker to steal nude photos of her and ‘100 other celebrities.”
Apple maintain they are working with the authorities in an attempt to identify the culprits.
In the meantime, Apple is stressing to people that to help keep themselves from getting hit this way is to always use a strong password and enable two-step verification. Information on how to do both of these can be found at the Apple ID: Security and your Apple ID support page.
It looks like it’s official. September 9th is the day for Apple’s much-anticipated fall event. According to the Street Insider’s invitation, Apple has sent out their round of invites to a select few. And as Apple has always done in the past they’ve included a foreshadowing short message, tagline or teaser of some sort that often give some indication as to what will be happening at the event. This time, it’s a little more cryptic as all the invite states is, “Wish we could say more.”
Read more…AT CANOE TECH BLOG
Labour Day is almost upon us but there’s still time to have a little bit of summer fun before back-to-school and the Swann Xtreem Bubble Bomber RC Helicopter can help you do just that. Instead of firing bullets, it dispenses bubbles. How much more fun could it be? Read full article at CanoeTech Blog.
Two weeks ago, I had an incredible opportunity to be a guest on Your Life Unlimited a radio show on Winnipeg‘s CJOB 680 with host Stephanie Staples. We had an opportunity to chat about gadgets for travel and back to school. As well, we had a chance to talk about my 1st book, Corey OutSMARTs the Butterflies.
I’ve followed up with a guest post that gives mention to a number of gadgets that fit the build along with a description of my book.
You can read the full post here as well as listen to the entire show here.Your Life, Unlimited with Stephanie Staples, Greg Gazin and Kassy Bouchard
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My 25 year old microwave still has numerous features which befuddle me. I am banned from using the remote control. You guessed correctly that I am not a gadget girl, well you can’t be good at everything.
Enter Greg Gazin aka the Gadget Guy who shared will us some of his top picks as well as his latest offering for personal growth, his new children’s book, Corey OutSMARTS the Butterflies.
You can listen to the whole show here…Your Life, Unlimited with Stephanie Staples, Greg Gazin and Kassy Bouchard and enjoy Greg’s guest blog below.
Gadgets
Blue Driver by Lemur Vehicle Monitors is an advanced diagnostic scan tool similar to those used at car dealerships and vehicle repair outlets to troubleshoot and diagnose car trouble even the mysterious Check Engine light. It plugs into a socket typically located under your dash that reads all the codes and basically can send the data right to your Android or iOS device.
The Dyson Cinetic DC78 Turbinehead, is the latest offering hot of the press by Dyson featuring their bend new Cinetic technology, which takes the cyclone technology to a whole new level. Not only does it do away with the need for vacuum bags, this new model amazingly removes the need to clean or even change filters.
Earbuds can be lost and the cables frayed – something you wouldn’t want to happen while on holidays. It’s always a good idea to carry a spare pair and maybe even a gadget like the Wicked Audio Splitter that allows you to share the audio from a single device. You may also want to look into wireless or Bluetooth options and do away with the dangling cords. Gadgets like the Tenqa Fit Wireless Sports Earbuds, fit the build. For a more traditional style headphone, the Phiaton CHORD MS 530 features Bluetooth and noise cancelling features.
Speakers themselves can also be Bluetooth and suitable for your home, office or even attached to your keychain or backpack. The Divoom Voombox Travel is a small rugged and weather resistant wireless speakerphone with a large key ring for easy portability. The HEX XL by 808 has a detachable carry strap and looks like a mini speaker monitor for a stage. iLoud by IK Multimedia features a whopping 40W output and has an input for a guitar. And finally, the Fluance Fi30 has a sleek wooden speaker cabinet designed for elegance and style. As you can see the options are endless.
In the event you might lose your phone or drop it in the water, the SanDisk Connect Wireless Flash Drive allows you to backup your files wirelessly. And if you don’t want to fill your phone with too many movies, the Connect also allows you to store them and stream them back to your phone. You can wireslessly connect up eight devices and stream, three different movies the same time. It’s ideal for the kids on a long trip. The SanDisk Connect Wireless Media Drive also allows connection to eight devices but offers up to five simultaneous HD media streams.
And finally, while not really a gadget, remember that thermal mugs like those made by Contigo have double walled insulation and can keep not only keep your morning coffee hot, it can keep your juice or water cool all day. Models like the Randolph and Aria even lock to avoid accidental spillage.
Also exciting for me to announce is the launch of my first book, Corey OutSMARTs the Butterflies. It is written in a storytelling style suited for the young reader market, the message can help anyone eight to eighty build their confidence & communication skills.
In a nutshell, the story is about a young boy who’s been taunted by his peers and afraid to do his show and tell at school. He meets Milo, an older boy who in the past also experienced the fear and helps Corey learn a secret method to help him effectively and confidently tell his story.
Greg Gazin is a Syndicated Tech Columnist and Small Business and Technology Speaker, Author and Past Toastmasters District Governor. He can be reached at GadgetGuy.CA or on Twitter @gadgetgregor at 780-424-1881. To find out more about the book visit OutSMARTing the Butterflies.com.
Stephanie Staples, CSP* is the author of When Enlightening Strikes – Creating a Mindset for Uncommon Success and an internationally acclaimed motivational speaker. She empowers audiences & clients across North America to bring their ‘A’ game to work and to life. Stephanie has a special interest in working with and empowering nurses and healthcare providers. She happily calls Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada home. You can get loads of complimentary resources to help with issues such as work/life balance, wellness, stress management and happiness in general, as well as find out more information about her coaching and speaking services at http://www.YourLifeUnlimited.ca.
* Certified Speaking Professional (CSP), conferred by the National Speakers Association is the speaking profession’s international measure of professional platform proficiency. Less than 10 percent of speakers have earned this credential and are recognized as some of the best in their fields. Stephanie was one of only five professional speakers in Canada (and the only woman) to attain this designation in 2013.
After having recently reviewed the iRig Voice, IK Multimedia’s basic voice recording microphone which pairs nicely with karaoke apps and their own EZ Voice, I was pleasantly surprised when they skipped over to the other end of the spectrum and unveiled iRig Mic HD, a high-def digital handheld condenser mic.
This changes their microphone game in that, unlike their other two handheld analog offerings, this one is totally digital – meaning audio goes right to your device in digital format. As you speak or sing into its electret condenser capsule, it’s built-in pre-amp and the built-in 24-bit audiophile grade analog to digital (A/D) converter gives you good crisp clean audio sound eliminating any added noise or sound degradation of analog mics and doing away with the need for a separate A/D box.
Check out the full review at Canoe Tech Blog Read more…
August 22, 1964. Photo by Owen Coppin. From the private collection of Red Robinson
The Fab Four’s first appearance in Canada 50 years ago was cut short because of a near riot
EDMONTON, AB, Aug 21, 2014/ Troy Media/ – While February 7, 1964 was the day The Beatles crossed the big pond to conquer America, it was on August 22, 1964, the day before the legendary Hollywood Bowl Concert, that The Beatles made their first appearance north of the 49th Parallel. That concert was held outdoors at Empire Stadium in Vancouver, B.C.
Legendary broadcaster and Disc Jockey Red Robinson, inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in1994, had previously introduced the likes of Elvis Presley, Bill Haley and Buddy Holly to the general public. But it was on that night in Vancouver that Red emceed the show that would go down as an unforgettable date in Beatle’s history.
Robinson, then 27, was at the time the Program Director and DJ at CFUN Radio in Vancouver. “It was a great day,” says Robinson. The concert was held on a football field on the site of the Pacific National Exhibition (PNE), built in 1954 for The British Empire and Commonwealth Games. It was during those games that Roger Bannister and John Landy broke the four-minute mile. [Read more…]
It never ceases to amaze me as to how creative manufacturers can be when trying to differentiate a product from the thousands already available. This is particularly true right now with the Bluetooth wireless speaker market. There are so many out there, many of which I simply gloss over, but the 808 Hex XL Portable Bluetooth Speaker by Voxx International, did catch my attention.
Depending on your perspective, the Hex XL can either look like a miniature version of a speaker monitor that you’d find on stage at a concert or perhaps the latest fashion purse on display at a downtown boutique.
Since I rarely talk about purses, it must be closer to the former. The 808 Hex XL (SP920) is a Bluetooth wireless 2.1 stereo speaker featuring two mid-drivers and a mini down-firing subwoofer at the bottom. It’s adorned with a black mesh grill, with mini honeycomb shaped cutouts that you can see right through to the speakers. I suspect the origin of the name Hex comes from “hexagonal” and that fact that honeycombs have six sides. READ FULL REVIEW at CANOE TECH BLOG
James Dyson is about to make headlines once again. You’d probably be hard pressed to find anyone who hasn’t seen his famous face in a TV commercial, starting about 20 years ago, telling us how inefficient vacuums are because they lose suction because of this culprit – the ugly dirty dusty vacuum bag. And now there’s a new story.
Back in 1993, Dyson realized that bagged vacuums lost suction as the bag’s pores clogged even before it was full. So they did away with them by introducing cyclonic technology that spins the dirt right into a bin. The technology evolved over time but they realized that they were still losing suction – the blame now was put on the clogged filter that was still necessary to capture the dust. Fast forward two decades and the filter, which we hate to clean or change and is also a culprit in the war against suction loss, is now too going the way of the dodo bird.
No More Filters
Dyson is making this possible by the introduction of their next generation vacuum in North America that uses its newly patented Dyson Cinetic cyclone technology.
“Getting rid of bags solved the frustration of my vacuum losing suction. But washing filters – or worse – buying them, is still a nuisance. Dyson Cinetic cyclones are so efficient at separating microscopic particles that everything gets thrust into the bin, and you can forget about fussy filters,” says James Dyson.
Read more…and Full Review at CANOE Tech Blog
Google Maps Android and iOS app users will be able to more than just search with Google’s new ‘Explore’ feature that will help Canadians uncover their surroundings with the tap of a button.
According to Google Canada, App users will be able to use Explore to see different places and activities that adapt to each area and moment throughout their day, whether they’re searching for a new lunch spot, travelling to a new country or wondering what time their train is scheduled to arrive.
Also available via AMAZON
