Tech Blog

Sonos is a company that’s been pretty visible to me lately. First, I had one of their Play:3 speakers in my place for about a month, and then I got to speak with them at CES to discuss their plans for Canada in 2012. They’re looking to be more visible with you, the consumer, as well, and the Play:3 is one of the key products to make that happen. How does it stand up as a standard-bearer?

There are few feelings like the times when you discover something unexpectedly. This is how I stumbled upon Jango Radio after browsing through some of the music apps in Apple’s App Store on my iPhone. For a free app that streams full-length songs based on artists you like, it performs far better than you might expect.

Earlier tonight, Apple announced that iTunes Match, the cloud-based service that allows you to stream any music you have that matches what’s available on the iTunes Store, is now available in Canada.

Are you still using the Apple headphones that came with your iPhone or iPod? Are they good enough? I am sure most people would say that they are. But they’re not. Sorry. I know the white Apple earbuds are ubiquitous with everything that is cool and hip about owning an iDevice.  Heck, Apple even used them as the main focus of a whole series of iPod advertising campaigns.  But in reality, the stock headphones you get in the box aren't really that good. Their sound quality is pretty low, they fit rather awkwardly in your ear, and have a pretty short life-span (just look at all the bad reviews here).

At this juncture, I should also mention that it’s not just Apple’s stock headphones that are of lower-quality. Most phone and MP3 player-included headphone are sub-par. However I’ll be looking specifically at replacement ones that are iPhone/iPod compatible in this post.  

Now that I've finished my tirade, it’s time to start looking for a new set of earphones -- I guarantee that once you hear the difference between those white monstrosities, and a set of much higher-quality earphones, you’ll never want to use the stock headset again. Now I know some of you are thinking that I am some kind of audiophile snob who is just being overly-fussy, but I assure you I am not.  Trust me when I say that music and calls will sound better to anyone’s ear with a good set of headphones, and you don’t have to spend a fortune either (prices begin at around the seventy-dollar range). The challenge, though, is finding out which headphones are best-suited for you, since Future Shop has almost fifty different types to choose from!

Today I am going to look at the Klipsch Image One headphones, S5i and S4i earbuds with an iPhone/iPod remote, and the S3 earbuds.

Have you updated your iOS device to iOS 5 yet? No? According to early reports 30% of devices that could update to iOS 5 did so in the first week alone (C|Net). Beyond everything you can consider Apple hype and fanboyism, that’s still pretty darn impressive. Still, a lot of people hold off on updating for good reasons. Some want to wait until the first point release (5.0.1 or something) to fix any little bugs. Others don’t see the big deal and “will get around to it eventually”. Well even if iMessage and better Notifications (much better, like not annoying any longer) don’t sway you, how about faster browsing with Safari?

When the late Steve Jobs unveiled the first iPod back on October 23, 2001, he did so in front of a small crowd in Cupertino, CA that bore no resemblance to the aura and showmanship that was to follow years later. And no one knew it at the time, but that launch would initiate a series of events that revolutionized entire industries.

For all the iOS junkies out there you know that one of the essential parts of using an iOS device is iTunes. Sure, sure iOS 5 is going to bring wireless syncing, but you have to have the newest version of iTunes to do it. That latest version is 10.5 and it’s available now.

The griping about the iPhone 4S—which the more I think of it is a great update to the iPhone 4—has overshadowed the real stuff that is going to make us love our iOS devices more—iOS 5, iCloud, and the Lion updates to support them. By all accounts, iOS 5 fixes how freakin’ annoying notifications are on iOS devices as well as being able to do more without your machine. Yeah, automatic backups to the cloud is going to save a lot of bacon, let me tell you. Access to Camera on the lock screen? Finally! Volume button to take a picture? About time. These incremental—and arguably overdue—features are the what in some ways brings iOS closer to Android devices but in others what pushes beyond them.

In the midst of Apple’s event yesterday to unveil the iPhone 4S, there was time to talk about a new line of iPods, except the details were all too familiar. The iPod line has reached a point where it exists, but won’t be part of any serious upgrades for the foreseeable future. The current line is almost exactly in line with what was offered last year.

The headline is what everyone wants to know first, isn’t it? Okay the ever-important “Yeah, how much?” is next, but I’ll get to that in a moment. Today Apple announced the a bump to the iPhone 4 dubbed the 4S which has a faster processor, faster graphics, better camera, HD video recording, and Siri your personal assistant. Ballpark prices are going to be $199 for 16 GB, $299 for 32 GB, and $399 for 64 GB. Those are the US prices given during the event and assumedly with a contract. Fear not, the iPhone 4 isn’t going away, it’s down to $99 for the base model (on a plan) and the venerable 3GS (yep, still alive and kicking) free with a plan.

Now for some details…

Before you wonder “Who would need to charge and sync 30 iPads at once?”, remember more and more schools and businesses are deploying iPads en masse. Can you imagine keeping all those iPads charged andsynced (i.e. updated and backed up) if you had to do them one at a time? A nightmare. True tech nightmare. Actually, I’m scared just thinking about it, hold me.

Oh, wait, Griffin has it covered with their new Multidock. I feel better now.

If you’re familiar with the magicJack, then you already know that it’s a VoIP device and service giving you free calls throughout Canada and the U.S. The iPhone app that I originally saw at CES in Las Vegas in January has finally come to life, and it offers free calls in both countries without having to own a magicJack or pay anything.

If you’ve become totally accustomed to using the “iPod” app on your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch, you might want to think about trying something new. The only reason I say that is because there’s an app that pretty much does everything the iPod app does, but manages to actually make the music you listen to sound even better.

Some iOS reviews for you, including one of something that isn't actually a game but will help you access potentially hundreds.



The lack of Flash is probably the one feature that everyone points to when talking about the shortcomings of Apple’s iOS devices. That’s why it’s hardly surprising that all the other competitors push that out in the open when marketing their tablets. Those of you who have an iPad, iPhone or iPod touch might really like Skyfire’s VideoQ app to bring those Flash videos to life.