Archive for August 26, 2014

First Look: Kobo Aura H20

Posted in Products with tags on August 26, 2014 by itnerd

My wife and I attended a Kobo press event tonight in Downtown Toronto that allowed us to get up close and personal with the new Kobo Aura H20 eReader. What makes this eReader different than anything else on the market is this:

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It’s waterproof. As in IP67 certified waterproof. That means you can keep it underwater (no more than 1 meter) for up to 30 minutes with the port cover closed.

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Here’s a look at it on dry land. The screen which is a 6.8” Carta E Ink HD infrared touchscreen with a resolution of 1430 x 1080, 265 dpi. I found it to be very sharp when I was reading The Hunger Games on it. It was also easy to read regardless of the lighting conditions. So I don’t think you’ll have a problem reading books on it indoors or outdoors. It comes with 4GB of RAM and it’s expandable to 32GB so you can store all the books you want. Plus it has 802.11 B/G/N WiFi as well as Micro USB so that you can add to your digital library. As for battery life, it tops out at two months. That’s not a misprint.

My wife and I both test drove it and we both liked it. My wife in particular who reads a lot and isn’t a fan of eReaders because she prefers the feel of paper books was quickly converted to the other side because of how light it was, how sharp the screen is, and the fact that it was waterproof. The latter was a big selling point for her as it meant that she could read anywhere. In the hot tub, on the beach, while taking a bubble bath among other places.

The Aura H20 will retail for $179 CDN online and in-store, starting October 1st in Canada, the US, the UK, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, and Spain with more countries to follow. Beginning tomorrow, select retailers will offer pre-orders, and as of September 1st, pre-orders will be available at Kobo.com in Canada, the US, and the UK.

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Texting And Driving In Ontario Can Net You A BIG Fine

Posted in Commentary with tags on August 26, 2014 by itnerd

Take note if you drive in the Province of Ontario, if you dare to text and drive and you’re caught by the cops, look out:

Drivers who text behind the wheel face fines of up to $1,000 and three demerit points under tough new provincial legislation coming this fall.

Transportation Minister Steven Del Duca said the sweeping law aimed at curbing distracted driving will be introduced after the legislature resumes Oct. 20.

“It’s an increase on the fines and also the demerit points,” Del Duca said in an interview Monday.

In fact, scofflaws in Ontario would be slapped with the stiffest penalties in Canada for talking or texting on handheld cellphones while driving.

My reaction to this? Good. Texting and driving is dangerous. Anything that can be done to eliminate it is welcome. The $1000 fine is expensive, but the three demerit points can cost you thousands of dollars in insurance fees as insurance companies charge those who have demerit points more for their policies. So my advice would be to pull over if you really must text someone while you’re on the road.

 

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HP Recalls Power Cords Due To Fire Risk

Posted in Commentary with tags , on August 26, 2014 by itnerd

If you bought a HP or Compaq or mini notebook computer between September 2010 through June 2012, you need to look closely at this picture and compare it to your cable that plugs into your laptop’s AC adapter:

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If you see the “LS-15” marking molded into the connector that plugs into the AC adapter, then you need to stop using it and surf to this site. These cords have the potential to overheat, posing a fire, and burn hazard. Now this is a standard cable, so you can swap it out with one from Radio Shack so that you can continue to use your laptop. But please take immediate action if you are affected.

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Rogers And Shaw Announce Netflix Killer

Posted in Commentary with tags , on August 26, 2014 by itnerd

A while ago, I wrote about a rumor that Rogers was working on a Netflix killer seeing as Netflix is causing people to “cut the cord” in the US and Rogers would like to not have to deal with that here. It now appears that the rumor is fact as Rogers has teamed up with Shaw (which I guess makes them frenemies seeing as they are competitors?) to announce shomi (pronounced show-me). This is a streaming service that’s aimed squarely at Netflix:

shomi was created for entertainment lovers by entertainment lovers. It features prior seasons of the most popular shows on TV today, iconic series from the past, cult-classic and fan-favourite films, as well as a library of family-friendly kids programming.  With exclusive past-season streaming rights to titles – such as Modern Family, Sons of Anarchy, Sleepy Hollow, Shameless, 2 Broke Girls, Vikings, New Girl, 24: Live Another Day, Chicago Fire, The Strain, and American Horror Story – along with first-window premieres, it’s more bang, less blah.  shomi combines a team of programming experts with algorithmic technology to help you pick what you actually want to watch – whether it’s finding hidden gems, rediscovering old favourites, or remembering why you fell in love with a title in the first place. 

At launch there will be:

  • 14,000 episodes and titles
  • 11,000 hours of TV shows
  • 1,200 movies
  • 340 TV series
  • 30% of content is Canadian, including TV shows and classic films

The service will be available initially on tablet, mobile, online, Xbox 360 and set top boxes. A beta will be available first to Rogers and Shaw Internet or TV customers, then  shomi will be available starting the first week of November at a suggested retail price of $8.99 per month. Which is right within the price range of Netfilx.

My  take? It’s hard to have a meaningful opinion based on a press release. Thus I will have to see the service in action before I say that this could be a threat to Netflix or not. But on paper, it does sound interesting.

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Facebook Doesn’t Want You To See “Click Bait” Headlines In Your Newsfeed

Posted in Commentary with tags on August 26, 2014 by itnerd

It appears that Facebook is trying to solve the problem of “click bait.” That is an article that has a catch headline, but when you click on the link to read the article there is little to no substance. Here’s what the company is going to do:

One way is to look at how long people spend reading an article away from Facebook. If people click on an article and spend time reading it, it suggests they clicked through to something valuable. If they click through to a link and then come straight back to Facebook, it suggests that they didn’t find something that they wanted. With this update we will start taking into account whether people tend to spend time away from Facebook after clicking a link, or whether they tend to come straight back to News Feed when we rank stories with links in them.

Another factor we will use to try and show fewer of these types of stories is to look at the ratio of people clicking on the content compared to people discussing and sharing it with their friends. If a lot of people click on the link, but relatively few people click Like, or comment on the story when they return to Facebook, this also suggests that people didn’t click through to something that was valuable to them.

This sounds good on the surface. But if you think about it, what Facebook is doing is analyzing what you are doing and reacting to it. Seeing as this company has had problems with privacy issues in the past, that may not end well for them. Another view of this is that this is about viral marketing and Facebook ad revenue. If they orevent people from seeing naturally shared articles, that will prevent things from naturally going viral. In order to get views marketers will need to pay for views. Who would they have to pay? Facebook.

Either way, to quote Han Solo “I have bad feeling about this.”

 

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