It’s not easy to imagine big sound coming out of a small package, which is what Sony endeavours to deliver here with its wireless Bluetooth Speaker Ball. The SRS-BTV5, which is the product’s actual model number, is a bit like a baseball, except it’s lighter and much more colourful. It’s meant to be versatile, but what it outputs in sound is what makes it tough to listen the way you’d like to.

It’s already widely known that Vevo is the go-to app for watching music videos on a smartphone or tablet, but what if you wanted to watch music videos based on songs you have in your own collection? MusicTV is a neat little app that does just that; it scours YouTube and plays a music video that matches the song you’re playing.

Picture this: After a long day at work and a hurried commute, you arrive home, light some candles, turn on some soft music, and sink into a shiatsu massage chair that kneads your achy back. Immediately, the day's anxieties begin to melt away!  Sounds downright dreamy, right? 

Luckily, you don't have to go to a day spa each time you need relaxation and stress relief. With busy schedules and tightened purse strings, more and more people are turning to products like massage chairs to create a home spa experience, and to take better daily care of their mind, body and soul.

Even if you don't have space for a massage chair in your home, you can still create a great home spa experience with a few essentials...

Are you looking for a Valentines gift idea for your sweetie?  OK, let's face it. Roses die.  And chocolates?  Well, they get eaten (and fast!). So why not give him or her something that will last? Show your love with one of these Valentines gift ideas that will bring endless hours of enjoyment!

Funky photo editing apps seem to pop out all the time in Apple’s App Store, but that isn’t always the case for video, which is why Game Your Video piqued my interest. This app offers some basic editing, but is more of a standout for the filters and effects it offers in turning a video into something far more interesting. For $0.99, it’s worth every penny.

Ion is a company known for making smartphone and tablet accessories that are a little unusual, but plenty of fun. The Party Rocker is a big standing speaker that can play music wirelessly from any Bluetooth-enabled music player or via a standard 3.5mm line-in cable. The light at the top projects lights like a disco ball onto the walls and ceiling of a room, and can change the colours and patterns based on the beat of the music you’re playing. There’s also a microphone for those who want to go all-out and start singing along.

If you use the Facebook Messenger app on your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch, download the latest update and you’ll find a new feature that lets you call someone on your Friends list using VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol), the same technology Skype uses. It’s a pilot project that Facebook has launched and surprisingly enough, Canadians will be the only ones who get to try it out for the next few weeks.

Last year, Apple rolled out a “12 Days of Christmas” campaign wherein they offered a free item from the iTunes Store each day, and this year has been no different. Granted, we’re already halfway through this year’s list of freebies, but today’s is Sonic Jump, a solid game (normally $0.99 in the iTunes Store). It’s available now until midnight, when the clock ticks into a new year because each free item is available for 24 hours. With six days left after this, there could be a couple more gems to look out for.

Being in the middle of the holidays, it’s the ideal time to be shooting videos of family and friends enjoying time off work at gatherings or out and about somewhere. The YouTube app on iPhone and iPod Touch lets you watch videos, of course, but there hasn’t been an official app from Google for creating and uploading them yourself. YouTube Capture is a new app that does just that.

A lot of people were waiting for this, and it has finally arrived. Google just released a new standalone Maps app for the iPhone and iPod Touch (but not the iPad — yet) that was “designed from the ground up” to make it even better than it was before. After taking this for a spin myself, it’s pretty clear that this is a definite improvement over the one that graced the iPhone for all these years.

If you have a Sonos sound system, you will be interested to know that you can now stream music and podcasts you have stored on the device directly, instead of having to do it through your Mac or PC. Update your Sonos Controller app on your iOS device and you’ll see your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch appear under the Music menu.

If you’re like me and you remember certain video games in the late 1980s and early 1990s, then you no doubt pumped a lot of quarters into the Street Fighter II games and the classic X-Men arcade. Now, for just a handful, you can get them on your iOS or Android device.

The ingenuity in accessories for iOS devices is something easy to acknowledge when you see just how the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch are utilized for any number of nifty gizmos. Ion Audio is one company that looks for these unique and consumer-friendly opportunities to turn an iOS device into something else. The iCade Mobile gives the iPhone or iPod Touch the traditional handheld gaming treatment, while the All-Star Guitar makes the iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch the main part of a toy guitar.

If you have a Sony Reader device, or even just an account, you can now read eBooks through the brand new free app Sony just released for the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. Transfer over your entire account settings and library of titles over to your iOS device by logging in, but you won't be able to actually buy any new ones through the app.

Renting and buying movies online has been around for years, especially since Apple’s iTunes Store changed the industry and caused some very notable video rental stores to go belly up. CinemaNow first entered the Canadian market last year, and recently expanded its scope in the country with new apps for iOS and Android.