iPhone user enjoys his Words with Friends

Josh Ortiz

The iPhone has grown in popularity over the years mainly because of the apps that have been created for it. Most of the available applications are designed either to entertain or educate, and so it really is up to you to determine what you are looking for. There are plenty of apps to choose from. Some are free or come with a small charge. My favorite app would have to be Words With Friends, and it's one of the most addictive games on smartphones today. That's the game that Alec Baldwin refused to stop playing as he waited for his American Airlines flight to take off a few weeks ago: he refused to stop playing so they threw him off the plane!

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New app designed to reduce drinking and driving

intoxicheck™ takes guesswork out of judging impairment

Innocorp, Ltd's new iPhone app, intoxicheck™, leads users through a simple set of before and after reaction, judgment and memory challenges so drivers clearly see how impaired they are in an effort to stop drinking and driving. Because it works on a smartphone, users have convenient access to the new iPhone app anywhere.

Excessive alcohol consumption makes both driving and walking unsafe. In 2005, the Injury Prevention reported that New Year's Day is deadly for pedestrians. From 1986 to 2002, 410 pedestrians were killed on New Year's Day. Fifty-eight per cent of those killed had high blood-alcohol concentrations, to say nothing of passengers and motorists killed by drinking and driving.

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Mobile shoppers use smartphones to browse but laptops, tablets to buy: survey

Shoppers are more comfortable making online purchases from their home computers than from their smartphones: laptop shoppers also buy different products than smartphone shoppers.

TechBargains.com, a leading deal curation website for electronic products, released its 2011 Holiday Mobile Shopping Survey, revealing that while the number of mobile shoppers is increasing dramatically, they are using their mobile devices to research products more than they use them to make purchases. Shoppers are comfortable making purchases from their home computers, but are more hesitant using their tablets and mobile phones to buy online.

The survey found that 58 per cent of shoppers have made purchases via their mobile phone as compared to 94 per cent who have made purchases via laptops and 75 per cent via tablets. For those who shop with their phone, 79 per cent use it to research products, 73 per cent to browse stores and 77 per cent to compare prices. 

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Rogers Innovation Report reveals top technology predictions for 2012 and beyond

Canadians' dependency on smartphones is high with 85 per cent saying they are attached to their devices. The number is expected to grow as more and more functions migrate to the mobile devices. 

Canadians predict faster network speeds, smaller laptops and purchases over their wireless device in 2012 and beyond, according to a new survey commissioned by Rogers Communications. The survey finds that most Canadian smartphone or tablet users feel technology will improve their lives in the future.

There are high expectations for technology in 2012, with young men being the most optimistic that the power of technology will improve their lives. The poll was conducted by Vision Critical in December 2011 among more than 1,000 adult Canadian smartphone or tablet users. This survey is the first of the Rogers Innovation Report, a regular survey commissioned by Rogers to explore Canadians' habits and views on technological innovations.

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46 per cent plan to shop online for Boxing Day sales

Almost half of Canadians plan to shop online for Boxing Day sales this year.

eCoupons.ca survey shows Canadians searching for Boxing Day Deals throughout December

Millions of Canadians will click on Cyber Boxing Day on December 26 with close to half of online Canadians planning to shop online for Boxing Day sales according to a new survey performed for eCoupons.ca. Interest in online Boxing Day sales grew steadily from December 4 to Christmas Day and peaked between December 26 and  December 31. Eight per cent planned to wait until January 2012.

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Top ten software glitches of 2011

Computer glitches have wreaked havoc across the globe this year, with heavy consequences. Unclaimed tax revenue, stolen government secrets and loss of company revenue are just a few of the after-effects of software failure. And no one is immune. Software glitches have hit everyone from individuals to global corporations RIM and Sony to the U.S. and UK governments. WebLayers, the leading provider of automated software governance tools, names the top ten software glitches of 2011.

1. Millions of RIM BlackBerry Users Lose Service

http://www.cnn.com/2011/10/12/tech/mobile/blackberry-outage/index.html

2. Software glitch costs UK tax office millions in lost revenue
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/software-glitch-costs-tax-office-millions-in-lost-revenue-2200152.html

3. Amazon's cloud collapses 
http://www.cnn.com/2011/TECH/web/04/22/amazon.cloud.mashable/

4. Hacker attacks Sony Playstation Network account holders
http://www.cnn.com/2011/TECH/gaming.gadgets/04/26/playstation.network.hack/index.html

5. Citigroup customers' information breached
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43389964/ns/technology_and_science-the_new_york_times#.Tt0YP_JVmQo

6. Pentagon details major cyberattack 
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-14157975

7. Computer glitch sets 450 highly dangerous prisoners free
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1391454/Computer-glitch-led-450-highly-dangerous-inmates-released-California-prisons.html#ixzz1fgxFkFN8

8. Mercedes-Benz cars recalls 137,000 SUVs
http://money.cnn.com/2011/04/05/autos/mercedes_m-class_recall/index.htm

9. More than 400,000 UK organ donation details stored incorrectly
http://www.itpro.co.uk/630274/over-400-000-organ-donation-details-stored-incorrectly

10. Bug allows HP printers to be remotely hacked 
http://www.scmagazineus.com/bug-allows-hp-printers-to-be-remotely-hacked-set-on-fire/article/217784/

WebLayers' automated, cross platform governance framework improves software quality, helping organizations to ensure against damaging software glitches, reduce costs, and speed the development and deployment of applications from the cloud to the handset. Learn more at www.weblayers.com.

Consumer alert: the real speed on your 4G smartphone is much less than advertised

Speeds like these are nowhere in sight for consumers, but advertisers still tout them.

Reprinted with permission from Condo.ca

A US-based consumer advocate that specializes in broadband issues warns that consumers may be disappointed to find that “not all 4G Internet connections are created equal and none currently live up to the marketing hype.” Broadband Expert CEO, Rob Webber, commenting on the need for the alert, said that carriers that advertise 4G Internet services use several different technologies, and consumers may not be aware that they could be signing up to a completely different technology depending on which carrier they choose. More importantly, the high speeds advertised are in all cases theoretical: actual, real-world speeds achieved are mere fractions of these.

For example, while Verizon, AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile all market 4G services, three different technologies are behind these 4G networks, all of which have differing theoretical (and real world) top speeds.

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Top 25 Black Friday bargains from FatWallet

Acer Aspire One 10.1" Netbook 1GB RAM, 250GB: $157 at Target: one of FatWallet's Black Friday top 25 bargains.

FatWallet, the online shopping resource, names the Top 25 Black Friday Deals and Steals of 2011. FatWallet's deal hunters search the internet 365 days a year to find the best deals, coupons and store offers available and present them each day on FatWallet's Today’s Best Deals and Deals by Category pages.

Said David Varble, FatWallet Tech Expert, “The best Black Friday deals would preferably be the lowest prices we’ve seen, but shoppers can find a comparable selection of items online as well as in-store.”

This top 25 list was chosen from more than 15,000 retail ad items found in FatWallet’s 2011 Black Friday Deal Finder.

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Bestselling author's "enhanced book" called first rock opera for ebooks

Nightingale, by New York Times bestselling author David Farland, is being called the first rock opera for the "enhanced book." The novel makes use of the enhanced book technology, combining a riveting story with entrancing music, art and animations. Just as rock opera in its heyday combined the use of dance, rock, singing and plays, Nightingale combines a riveting story with music that is integral to the plot, and art and animations in every chapter.

With Nightingale, author David Farland purposefully crafted a storyline that would make use of the technology and thanks to a new type of publisher, East India Press, Farland was able to produce a work in which music and art fit the story and speak to the intended audience.

The story is about a young man who wants to be the world's greatest guitarist and venerates the music of Joe Satriani. The 45-minute album created by the head of the American Composer's Guild, James Guymon, sounds like it could have been produced by Satriani, in the style of Pink Floyd, bringing the music in line with the story. The enhanced ebook also contains video interviews with the author, as well as photographs of the setting the story takes place in.

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Mobile app enables VoIP calling for iPhone, iPad, iPod touch users

eVoice® and j2 Global Communications, Inc. today announced their latest mobile application for Apple® devices. With eVoice, users can make and receive phone calls via a WiFi connection or a 3G/4G network using VoIP. This saves precious cell phone minutes while helping to reduce the chance of dropped phone calls.

eVoice app’s new VoIP features allow users to:

• Reduce cell phone minute usage (and bills) when making and receiving calls over a data connection using WiFi or a 3G/4G network
• Answer every call appropriately with the ability to see caller ID and the extensions dialed on your incoming calls
• Easily connect with important contacts with eVoice’s unique Intercom feature
• Choose the way calls are placed or received with an easy “on” “off” VoIP calling feature

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"Internet of things" growing faster than human users

500 million IP smart object network (IPSON) devices by 2016

Smart objects that communicate using Internet Protocol (IP) will be the fastest growing segment for sensor networking over the next decade, increasing 450 per cent faster than non-IP based sensor network technologies during this period, according to ON World.

Within the next decade, devices connected to the Internet will eclipse their human users many times over. Smart objects are a special class of Internet connected devices that are self-aware, self-upgrading, communicate with other smart objects, and are massively scalable. Since the completion of the 6LoWPAN specification, the transformation to the “Internet of Things” has been accelerating. A breakthrough came in the summer of 2011 with the advent of a new Web services model called CoAP, a routing protocol called RPL, and a cross-industry collaboration on using these protocols.

The migration to IP smart object networks is underway. This is demonstrated by the in-progress Smart Grid standards, IPv6 Smart Home platforms by Google and RWE, and a growing number of sensor network systems that communicate using IP.

A few examples include Smart Grid platforms by Cisco/Itron, Silver Spring and ERDF/Sagemcom; WiFi thermostats by 3M/Golden Power, Ecobee, Intwine and Nest Labs; IPv6 enabled light bulbs by GreenWave Reality and Lighting Science Group; and an IP connected weight scale from Withings.

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New battery adds 8 per cent capacity for smartphone users

Mugen Power Batteries is releasing a new extended battery for smartphone users, designed specifically for Sprint Samsung EPIC 4G Touch. The new battery, HLI-D710SL, increases capacity from 1800mAh (milliampere-hour) to 1950mAh. It has 8 per cent greater capacity than standard batteries.  

HLI-D710SL is a Lithium-ion based battery, popular in all kinds of consumer electronics because of their high energy-to-weight ratios, lack of memory effect—that annoying phenomenon whereby batteries discharge to a certain level of capacity and then "remember" that capacity and won't run below it— and low discharge when not in use. Besides delivering longer battery life, the manufacturer claims that HLI-D710SL is also exceptionally reliable. All of Mugen Power products undergo vigorous QA procedures and have CE and RoHS approval.

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WIND Mobile expanding in Southern Ontario, GTA

Allstream, a Canadian provider of IP communications, is to provide IP Connectivity services to WIND Mobile, the wireless telecommunications provider operated by Globalive Communications Corporation.

WIND Mobile, which provides voice, text and data services on a next-generation wireless network, is utilizing Allstream's Managed Wavelength service to support its network expansion into southwestern Ontario and the Greater Toronto Area.

Allstream's Managed Wavelength service provides customers with fast, reliable and secure point-to-point IP connectivity. Users of Wavelength services communicate between two sites using a dedicated line, reducing the risk of data compromise and mitigating service interruptions.

PayPal now available for SelectCore mobile customers

SelectCore Ltd., a prepaid telecom and financial services transaction processor for the "under-banked" and "credit challenged" consumer market, is now accepting PayPal on its recently launched Facebook Social Time platform. Social Time users can now top up the mobile accounts of others, the "banked" funding the "unbanked."  

The recipient instantly receives notification via text message and their Facebook inbox that their account has been topped-up in their local currency. Recipients can also request a top-up from their friends through their Facebook account. The platform currently supports mobile top-up for many of the major international and domestic carriers including Telcel, Digicel, Claro, Lime, Movistar, Vodafone, Rogers, Telus and Bell to name just a few.

With over 100 million active PayPal subscribers and 800 million active Facebook users, Social Time is now integrated with both the world's largest social media and e-commerce payment platforms. Over 350 million Facebook users access their accounts via their mobile device.

PayPal operates in 190 markets and in 24 currencies, allowing Social Time to reach well beyond its domestic market.

Ooma enters Canadian market with free home phone service

Ooma, Inc., provider of HD-quality free home phone service in the U.S., is expanding into the Canadian market. Beginning today, Canadians can enjoy free calls to any phone number in Canada with the one-time purchase of the Ooma Telo™. The Ooma Telo plugs into a high-speed Internet connection and existing home phone to provide free phone calls and bundled features including voicemail, caller ID, call waiting and 911 service. After the initial purchase, customers pay only applicable taxes and fees. In Ontario today, that comes to $3.98, according to Ooma's online calculator.

Based on an average Canadian phone bill of $40 per month, the Ooma Telo pays for itself in just six months and customers will save, according to Ooma, more than $200 in the first year, more than $600 in just two years and nearly $2,000 in five years. Ooma says that since they began offering the free home service in the US three years ago, their subscriber base has grown quickly, doubling in the last year alone.

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Computers still #1 among business people: survey

Results of survey are expected to change as more and more business people realize that mobile devices afford the same functionality and security as the computer.

Business people cannot live without their computers, and they would give up all their other devices before parting with the computer. Such are the findings of a survey carried out by Intermedia, a cloud-based service provider to small and medium-sized businesses.

The business communications survey conducted by Intermedia asked respondents the desert island question: if you could keep only one device, which one device or service could you not live without? Computers were the overwhelming favourite, more popular than smartphones, TVs and tablets combined.

The survey of over 1,300 adults, conducted online by Harris Interactive from May 12­16, found that if a person could keep either their computer, TV, smartphone or tablet device:

• 52 percent would keep their computer
• 23 percent choose their smartphone
• 19 percent want to keep their TV
• 6 percent choose their tablet

Acknowledging the somewhat surprising results, Intermedia president Michael Gold says he expects their survey results to be "dramatically" different one year from now. More and more business people, he says, are discovering that smartphones and tablets offer the same business capabilities as computers, including secure email, applications and conferencing. He says there has been an "explosion" in smartphone and tablet adoption: tablet activations increased 119 per cent in their customer base over the past summer. 

Mobilicity lures customers with $100 trade-in and phone recycling plan

Mobilicity, which markets itself as "Canada's smart mobile carrier," created to bring cheaper wireless and North American coverage to consumers without locking them into contracts, is launching a "green" initiative aimed at the majority of Canadians who don't recycle their used smartphones.

Starting today, wireless customers will get a $100 trade-in credit for switching to Mobilicity and recycling their used phones through the Mobilicity program. Calling the offer "101 reasons to switch to Mobilicity," the company promises to recycle the used handset "in an environmentally responsible manner" and also give each participant the $100 dollars. The credit is available to new customers who trade in their old phones and switch to Mobilicity, for a limited time—not yet clear how long that is—at stores across the country. New customers who switch without trading in an old phone will get a $50 credit.

The phones will be handled through Recycle My Cell, the national recycling program for mobile devices designed to raise awareness of recycling and keep handsets from entering Canada's landfills. The program is run by the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association (CWTA.

Rogers brings first LTE smartphones to Canada

The Samsung Galaxy S II features a 4.5-inch Super AMOLED Plus (800x480 pixels) touch screen, a 1.5GHz dual-core processor, and 16GB of internal memory, with an expansion slot. It has an 8-megapixel camera capable of 1080p HD video capture and a front-facing 2-megapixel camera. 

Rogers Communications Inc. has activated the first Long Term Evolution (LTE) smartphones in Canada. The first Samsung Galaxy S II™ LTE smartphones were shipped on Tuesday to the first customers on the company's national reservation system.

Customers using the Samsung Galaxy S II LTE will get speeds similar to broadband connections making it easier to use their devices to download apps, stream HD videos and music or play online games, with virtually no delays or buffering.

According to Rogers executive vice president John Boynton, more than one thousand customers have already signed up for the service.

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Social media a serious security threat in the workplace: survey

A new survey titled "Canadian Survey on Social Media Risks" reveals a dangerous gap in corporate social media security. Of the more than 400 IT and IT security respondents in Canada, 70 per cent said that social media in the workplace represent a serious security risk, yet only 31 per cent report having the necessary security controls in place to mitigate it. More than half (51 per cent) of Canadian respondents report an increase in malware due to social media use.

The research, conducted by the Ponemon Institute© was part of a global survey of more than 4,640 IT and IT security practitioners with an average of 10 years' experience in the field. These practitioners were located in Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Italy, Mexico, Singapore, United Kingdom, and the United States.

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Businesses lagging in ICT, online selling: survey

Most businesses are connected to the Internet but few take full advantage of ICT marketing possibilities such as mobile and social networking. 

Canadian SMEs are well connected to the Internet, but are not taking full advantage of the Web and information and communications technologies (ICT) to increase their productivity and their revenues. These are the main conclusions of the 2011 edition of the NetPME country-wide survey of 2000 business leaders conducted by CEFRIO (Centre Francophone d'Informatisation des Organisations). The aim of the survey is to determine how much SMEs use ICT in their business practices.

The survey shows that 92.8 per cent of Canadian SMEs are now connected to the Internet. More than 59.3 per cent have mobile devices such as smart phones or digital tablets, while 40.1 per cent have none.

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