Reviews Posts

After traveling the world for almost 2.5 years, I’ve become pretty knowledgable, mostly through trial and error, about which technology is useful to bring along during a trip and which should simply stay at home. It’s not always obvious, as evidenced by about 2 pounds worth of technology currently in my suitcase which I haven’t made use of in a long time. But one item that I’ve found practically indispensable is a portable external hard drive, especially since many of the new laptops (such as my Macbook Air) have a limited amount of built-in SSD storage. The best external hard drive for travel or whenever you are on the go, in my opinion, is the WD My Passport series of drives, as they are dependable and affordable compared to other drives with a similar capacity. I also find that they are quite light, which is really nice when you find […]

Anyone who uses an iPhone knows that under normal usage the battery rarely lasts a full day. When I’m at home relaxing, the battery life issue is not really that big a deal since I can simply plug my phone into the USB charger half-way through the day and top the battery up to full, usually in an hour or so. But unfortunately when I’m traveling (which is quite often as most people know), plugging my phone into an outlet isn’t always an option . Sometimes when I’m working from coffee shops it simply isn’t possible to find a plug. Occasionally an airplane will have a USB port in the chair ahead and one in a while an actual plug, but mostly it’s not really possible to charge items on airplanes on trains. Years ago I went looking for an external battery pack for my iPhone and ended up purchasing […]

So last month when I was in eastern Europe I saw that Square released their Square credit card reader that plugs into the headphone jack on iOS devices and can be used in Canada. Apple has always had a mobile credit card system at their Apple stores, but it’s something that’s been harder to obtain for the rest of us. I look at this type of device as a potential game-changer, since it essentially puts commerce into all of our pockets. I have quite a few friends that have written books – now they can sell them at events and take credit cards there. Other friends of mine are in bands – they can sell merch themselves at events now. Have a restaurant or a pub – you can now impress customers by letting them pay using an iPod or an iPad. Today was the day I got to take […]

In August I decided to finally upgrade my Olympus E-PL2 micro four thirds camera (henceforth referred to as u4/3). While that camera had served me well for a few years, there was still something that really bothered me about its performance, and that was how it handled low light. If you have no idea what a u4/3 camera is, then read on. Basically a few years ago some of the major camera manufacturers decided to come together and agree on a specification for a camera system that would have interchangeable lenses. Why this is important is that with the u4/3 system you can buy the camera body from one company and make use of a lens from another company. For anyone locked into a Nikon or a Canon system, this type of freedom will likely be a breath of fresh air. Another major benefit is that u4/3 cameras employ sensors […]

I picked up a new book while camping this weekend, Lords Of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World. Given that I can usually get through most books in a few hours, I’m a bit surprised that I’ve spent nearly a full day reading this new book and still have about half to go — so it must be fairly large. Lords Of Finance is essentially a history of the modern financial system, with emphasis on the major players throughout the years. I’m currently reading about the Great Depression, and some of the decisions that led up to that. It seems pretty clear that nobody really understands how the global financial system works. Even some of the experts described in this book differed in their interpretations of events and their recommendations for helping stabilize the system. Many of them also teetered on the brink of personal bankruptcy throughout their life, […]

I’ve been a pretty loyal user of Apple’s Macbook Pro line for the last few years. I purchased my first one after Northern Voice in 2007, mostly because the laptop that I recently had Vista installed on failed to work for me during a presentation. Since then I’ve probably been through three or four of them, often upgrading every year or so to keep up with technology. The first few were the 15″ model, and the last Macbook Pro I purchased was a 13″ model. While the Macbook Pro is a great computer, the Macbook Air has always intrigued me. Most of my uber techie friends have one, and I’ve always thought it was cool how small and light it was. But other than its startling good looks, the Macbook Air line has always been underpowered compared to the Macbook Pro line. And while I don’t really do anything computationally […]

While the weather in Vancouver hasn’t exactly been stellar lately, I’ve still managed to get out for a bike ride from time to time. Given that I envisioned myself wanting to take my bike to Stanley Park from time to time or out to Chilliwack, I decided a while ago that I would need some type of bike rack. The easiest option for my Mazda 3 was a roof rack. The Mazda 3 already has a built in header that allows a rack to easily be mounted onto it. But truth be told, the idea of having a bike floating way above my car has never really sat easy with me. First, it means I would really have to be careful when driving into parking garages. I’ve heard plenty of horror stories of bikes being sheared while trying to enter a parking garage or other low clearance areas. Given that […]

Funny. The last post I did in the photography section of this site was titled “SLR Owner, No More.” That was written in New York City back in March right after I sold my Canon SLR and purchased my micro four-thirds system. That said, it’s always been my intention of buying some new higher-end camera gear when I had a chance. The Canon 40D I had was quite old when I sold it, and while it was still a decent camera, many advances have been made since I purchased it almost two years ago. I’ve also hinted many times about switching to Nikon, and I finally got around to doing that a few weeks ago. London Drugs actually had a sale on for the Nikon D7000 body, and I decided to pick one up. It cost me just shy of $1,200, which is still a rather great deal in my […]

I’m up to a little over 60 kilometres worth of biking on my new bike, and so far I’m really enjoying getting outside again. The first few rides I did were pretty painful, both from a muscle perspective and also from a cardio perspective. But I’m up to about 16 kilometres a ride now, and I can see myself doing a 25 kilometre ride fairly soon as well. I’ve actually been using the RunKeeper application on my iPhone to track my progress. It’s a free application as well as a free service (there’s a paid upgrade option). I don’t think I’ll upgrade, mainly because I don’t think I’d need any of the perks at the higher level. That said, I get enough out of RunKeeper that I would gladly pay for it if some features become available that I think I might use. Part of why I like it is […]

Between the ages of 17 and about 21 or so I was actually pretty big into biking. I used to have a Specialized mountain bike, and would hit the trails on the weekends or ride around Chilliwack with my friends. Unfortunately that bike got stolen one day when I accidentally left the garage door open overnight, and I didn’t have money to replace it at the time. About five years ago I decided to pick up a bike in Vancouver, and ended up getting a cheap $150 hybrid just to try and get some exercise. I’m not sure if it was because it was pretty much a piece of garbage or the fact that it wasn’t really adjusted for my body, but it was like dragging a tank through the streets and I basically never rode it. When I moved to Chilliwack from Vancouver I gave it to my mom. […]