Last Updated: 12/18/2019 – Scroll to the bottom for the latest suggestions and deals
The holidays are just around the corner and I have a short list of suggestions of a high tech nature that should help you on Black Friday, Cyber Monday, or on December 24th. If you think that there’s something else that should be on the list, drop me a note and let me know.
Roku Premiere-$49.99
The new Roku Premiere is a simple way to start streaming in HD, 4K Ultra HD or 4K HDR. It features a powerful quad-core processor and comes in a low-profile form factor. In the box a Premium High Speed HDMI cable is included plus remote control with popular streaming channel shortcut buttons and a power cord.
Roku Streaming Stick + – $89.99
Powerful and portable, the Roku Streaming Stick gives the gift of entertainment on-the-go all in a powerful stick. With thousands of channels there will be something to watch for any student whether it’s Sports, Movies & TV shows or News. Choose your favorite program with the included point-anywhere remote, or just use the Roku app on your smartphone to control the action. Check out the review here.
Roku Express – $44.99
The new Roku Express is five times more powerful than its predecessor and offers easy HD streaming at an affordable price. A great gift for anyone, the Express comes with a remote control that makes finding something to watch a snap. With over 150,000 movies and TV shows available (including tons of free content), you’ll be sure to find something that the student in your life likes. Check out the review here.
TCL 4K Ultra HD Smart LED Television, 65″ – $900
TCL’s 6-Series combines stunning 4K HDR picture performance and the award-winning Roku TV smart platform in a bold, brushed metal design for a superior TV experience. Dolby Vision delivers greater brightness and contrast, as well as a fuller palette of rich colors. TCL’s Contrast Control Zone technology individually optimizes the image across up to 120 zones to yield striking contrast between light and dark areas. The 6-Series models’ iPQ Engine provides precise colour replication while HDR Pro Gamma significantly improves HDR performance in any setting. Check out the review of the 43″ version of this TV here.
Hisense R6107 Series 55″ 4K UHD Roku TV with Wi-Fi – $700
The Hisense R6107 Series 55” UHD Roku TV is an easy, convenient way to stream what you love. Watch just about anything whenever you want from free channels, paid subscriptions, or rent or buy — all on demand.
Safe by HUB6– $299
Everyone needs security. But home security systems charge ridiculous monthly fees for services that provide questionable protection. Safe by Hub6 uses the security system hardware you already have and frees you from long-term contracts or monthly fees. It redirects any alerts triggered by your system to your phone, friend, or HUB6’s Professional Monitoring when you need a back-up.
The new Science Jr STEM kits from LittlePassports.com is a different sort of gift. They’re stimulating, educational, entertaining subscription kits encouraging kids to love science, tech, engineering and math. Subscriptions start at $18.95 a month.
The Roomba s9+ with Clean Base Automatic Dirt Disposal offers customers the deepest clean yet through a combination of design enhancements, advanced 3D sensors and a powerful new cleaning system.
- Hugs edges and gets into corners with new PerfectEdge Technology that finds dirt where it hides.
- Offers the most powerful cleaning throughout the entire home with 40X the suction over previous generation Roomba vacuums.
- Features an Anti-Allergen System that traps and locks dirt, debris and allergens from escaping from the robot or its Clean Base, preventing the release of dirty air back into the home.
Pricing Details:
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- Roomba s9+ with Clean Base™ Automatic Dirt Disposal – $1,649.99 CAD
- Roomba s9 – $1,299.99 CAD
- Clean Base™ Automatic Dirt Disposal sold separately – $499.99 CAD
Braava jet m6 – $699.99
Ideal for multiple rooms and large spaces, the Braava jet m6 helps tackle all of life’s messes on hard floors. Simply attach a mopping or sweeping pad and the robot automatically takes it from there to give you fresh, clean floors.
- Uses iAdapt 3.0 Navigation with vSLAM technology and Imprint Smart Mapping to get to know the home’s floor plan, giving users total control to choose which rooms are cleaned and when.
- Features Maximized-Edge design to help the robot get into corners and along edges.
- Tackles sticky messes, grime and kitchen grease with Wet Mopping mode; and captures dirt, dust and pet hair using electrostatic force in the Dry Sweeping mode.
- Imprint™ Link Technology enables cleaning automation between the Roomba i, s, and 900 Series Robot Vacuums with the Braava jet m Series Robot Mop. Imprint™ Link Cleaning is a feature that lets your Braava jet m Series Robot Mop to begin mopping after your Robot Vacuum has completed vacuuming.
The Roomba i7+ Robot Vacuum with Clean Base™ Automatic Dirt Disposal takes convenience to a new level – automatically emptying into an AllergenLock™ bag that holds 60 days of debris and traps 99% of pollen, mold and dust mites – so you can forget about vacuuming for months at a time.
- Using Imprint™ Smart Mapping, the Roomba i7+ robot vacuum remembers multiple floor plans and room names so users can customize cleaning jobs, and direct the robot to clean specific rooms by voice, when paired with Alexa enabled devices or the Google Assistant, or via the iRobot HOME App.
- With Imprint™ Link Technology, the Roomba i7+ can coordinate vacuuming and mopping jobs with its mopping robot sibling, the Braava jet m6, for an extra level of clean.
Pricing Details:
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- Roomba i7+ with Clean Base™ Automatic Dirt Disposal – $1,349.99 CAD
- Roomba i7 – $999.99 CAD
- Clean Base™ Automatic Dirt Disposal sold separately – $399.99 CAD
Roomba e5 – $499.99
The Roomba e5 robot vacuum features a premium 3-Stage Cleaning System that uses Dual Multi-Surface Rubber Brushes, Power-Lifting suction and a high-efficiency filter to help thoroughly clean every day.
- The Edge-Sweeping Brush concentrates on edges and corners as intelligent navigation and Dirt Detect™️ technologies help the robot get around furniture and focus on areas that need it most.
- The washable dust bin design allows users to simply rinse away dirt and debris left behind.
- The iRobot HOME App allows users to control and schedule cleanings, monitor cleaning activity, view cleaning history, and directly access customer support. The app also updates the robot with the latest software, so it’s always up-to-date with the latest features.
- All Wi-Fi connected Roomba robot vacuums are compatible with Alexa enabled devices and the Google Assistant.
Merkury Innovations Smart Wi-Fi LED Bulbs Color + White – 2 Pack – $34.98
Customizable colour and white light that can be controlled from your smartphone. Great replacement for your regular 75W bulbs throughout your home as they can switch between white or thousands of vibrant colours.
Google Nest Hub – $169
A hands-free assistant that can play videos, music, control compatible devices throughout the house, and keep your calendar organized – all while doubling as a digital photo frame.
Nintendo Switch – $399.96
Get the gaming system that lets you play the games you want, wherever you are, however you like.
Nintendo Switch Lite – $259.96
A new version of the Nintendo Switch system that’s optimized for personal, handheld play. Nintendo Switch Lite is a small and light Nintendo Switch system at a great price. With a built-in +Control Pad, and a sleek, unibody design, Nintendo Switch Lite is great for on-the-go gaming.
Roomba 690 Wi-Fi Connected Vacuuming Robot – $379.98
Connect to clean from anywhere with the Roomba® 690 robot vacuum. The patented 3-Stage Cleaning System is specially engineered to loosen, lift, and suction everything from small particles to large debris from carpets and hard floors. Dirt Detect™ sensors alert the Roomba robot vacuum to clean more thoroughly on concentrated areas of dirt.
SONOS
Sonos Move – $499
Sonos’ first-ever Bluetooth enabled speaker, perfect for the holiday travelers that are always on-the-go. I took a first look at it here.
Sonos One – $249
This is the Sonos brand’s small but mighty speaker for streaming all your favorite audio content.
Sonos Beam – $499
A soundbar that will make your movie nights more epic, and your Yule Log sound the best it ever has.
SYMFONISK speakers – $149 to $249
A multi-functional line of speakers created in partnership with IKEA to make you rethink how you can decorate with sound.
TELUS is offering Certified Pre-owned phones at a discounted rate while quantities last on telus.com/cpo. For example, customers can purchase phones that are just like new for up to $360 off the in-market price. Certified Pre-owned phones have been refurbished, tested and inspected, and are backed by a one-year warranty from TELUS.
Nikon
Nikon Z 50 Mirrorless Camera – Starting from $1,169.95
Available this November, Nikon’s newest mirrorless camera is perfect for travellers and content creators who want to capture high-quality video and photos that stand out in the feeds of their friends and followers. The Z 50 puts the large Z lens mount into a lightweight and ergonomic body. 4K video, 120p slow-motion and in-camera video trimming make it the ideal camera for creative storytellers. It’s the latest camera in Nikon’s Z series, a camera system built for the future with a new generation of lenses and the ability to use Nikon DSLR lenses with an optional adaptor.
Nikon COOLPIX P1000 Camera – $1,399.95
The super telephoto COOLPIX P1000 is for people who want one camera that shoots anything they can see, with easy-to-use controls. The 125x optical zoom lens can capture details on the moon’s surface and far-off buildings, but can also pull back for portraits and even macro shots of flowers and insects. The large built-in lens is a testament to the power of optics – no phone has this range or zooming power.
Dell Canada Black Friday Deals
Dell Canada is rolling out its lowest prices of the year starting now so shoppers can get a jump start on crossing names off their gift list with early access to Doorbusters and Black Friday deals.
Below are our top picks and details on all upcoming offers:
What you need to know about Dell’s Upcoming Black Friday Sale:
- Doorbuster, Black Friday and Pre-Black Friday offers on must-have Dell and Alienware PCs, monitors, electronics and more available now!
- Shop all Black Friday offers for the top PCs and tech gifts for this holiday season and beyond
- Subscribe to the Dell newsletter for easy access to all the upcoming Black Friday deals
Doorbusters Stating on November 28 (9:00 AM onwards):
- Dell G5 Gaming Desktop $1399.99 (Save $739)
o 9th Gen /i7 / 256GB/ SSD 6GB/NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660
- XPS 15 $1849.99 (Save $500)
o 9th / i7-9750H / NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1650
- New Alienware m17 Gaming Laptop $2499.99 (Save $600)
o 9th Gen /i7-9750H/ NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 2060/ 512GB SSD
- XPS 13 $1679.99 (Save $320)
o 8th Gen/ i7-8565U /256GB Solid State Drive
- New Inspiron 15 3000 Laptop $779.99 (Save $209)
o 10th Gen/ i7-1065G7/256GB SSD
Grovemade Black Friday And Cyber Monday Deals
Grovemade from Portland produces design-driven, minimalist goods for the home and office. Here’s some great deals that Grovemade is offering this holiday season:
Black Friday – November 29- December 1
The following products will be 20% OFF:
- Apple Watch Band Bundles
- Watch 02 in Walnut
- Watch 02 in Maple
- Watch 01 (all styles)
- Minimalist Wallet in Black / Tan
- Minimalist Wallet in Black/ Black
- Minimalist Knife in Black
- Minimalist Knife in Brass
- Keyring in Brass
- Keyring in Black
- Belt Kit
Cyber Monday: December 2 – December 3
The following products will be 20% OFF:
- Planters (both sizes)
- Desk Pad (all sizes)
- Monitor Stand
- Lamp
- Dish
- Pen Cup
- Coaster in Wood and Felt
- Wireless Charging Pad in Dark
- Wireless Charging Pad in Light
- Wallhook
- Catchall
- Measure Collection Set in Black
BREAKING: iRobot just announced some deals on their cleaning robots:
- Roomba 614 – $20 off regular price beginning November 22
- Roomba e5 – $100 off regular price beginning November 22
- Braava jet 240 – $30 off regular price beginning November 22
- Braava jet 380t – $50 off regular price beginning November 22
- Roomba 675 – $70 off regular price beginning November 22
BREAKING: With Black Friday coming, Roku is lowering the price on a couple of their best players for a limited time. Starting Wednesday shoppers will save $5 on the new Roku Premiere and it will be available to consumers for $44.99. In addition to that, the Roku Streaming Stick+ will have $10 discount and retail for $59.99.
BREAKING: iRobot just announced more deals:
- Roomba 960 – $250 off regular price beginning November 29
- Braava jet m6 – $100 off regular price beginning November 29
Don’t forget to bookmark this page as I will be adding to it with more gift ideas. And I’ll be announcing updates over on Twitter.
BREAKING: Sonos’ Cyber Monday deal allows you to save $60 on One (Cyber Monday price: $189, regularly $249), $60 on One SL (Cyber Monday price: $169, regularly $229), and $100 on Play:5 (Cyber Monday price: $499, regularly $599).
Cyber Monday will also be the final day for customers to get rare savings on Sonos Home Theater products as part of their extended Black Friday deals:
- Save $180 on Sub, Playbar, and Playbase (BF price: $719, regularly $899)
- Save $160 on Amp (BF price: $639, regularly $799)
- Save $100 on Beam (BF price: $399, regularly $499)
After Cyber Monday, audio lovers can still shop on Sonos.com and save $50 on the One and One SL through Jan. 5.
Mujjo who make cool tech and travel accessories like these touchscreen gloves that I recently reviewed. If you’re in the market for their gear, use this coupon code until the 16th of December on mujjo.com for 15% off: #qualitygifts
BREAKING: Amp up your New Year’s Eve bash or bring brilliant sound to your chilly Netflix marathons with Sonos’ Boxing Week deals available from December 24th – January 5th at Sonos.com and retailers nationwide.
- Save $150 on Sub, Playbar, and Playbase (Boxing Week price: $749, regularly $899)
- Save $120 on Amp (Boxing Week price: $679, regularly $799)
- Save $70 on Beam (Boxing Week price: $429, regularly $499)
And if you need last minute gifts or want to pack your NYE party with powerful sound, Sonos is offering free overnight shipping (using the code SHIPFAST) for any orders placed from December 16-18 to make sure your gifts will be under the tree by December 25.
Canadian Telcos Preparing To Roll Out Universal Network-Level Blocking Of Calls With Invalid Caller IDs
Posted in Commentary with tags Canada on November 4, 2019 by itnerdAs a result of a CRTC directive that was made almost a year ago, Canadian telcos are preparing to roll out Universal Network-Level Blocking Of Calls With Invalid Caller IDs. What does that mean? Say you got a call with an caller ID of this:
000000
That is clearly an illegitimate caller ID. Which means it is likely a scam or nuisance call. The CRTC directive requires telcos to block this sort of call at the network level. Meaning that it will never hit your phone, and ideally it should cut down on the number of scam and nuisance calls that you get. Telcos in Canada have until December 19 2019 to roll this out. And I am seeing evidence that this is happening. For example, there’s this tweet from Rogers:
I also expect other Canadian telcos to have similar communications shortly.
So, this all sounds good. But I am going to throw cold water on this. It won’t stop the problem of scam and nuisance calls. I say this because if I look at the call history on my cell phone, not one single call that as a scam or nuisance call came from an invalid number. Instead they came from a spoofed number with a local or toll free area code. By using a spoofed number, it makes you more likely to answer the call. There’s not much that a telco can do about that as far as I know. But if you have an iPhone you can use the silence unknown callers feature to at least stop your phone from ringing. There’s a similar functionality on Android called call rejection, but that varies between Android devices. Thus you should check your user manual to see what this feature is called and how to turn it on. One thing to note whether you are on Team Android or Team iPhone, this feature can cause you to miss a legitimate call because of how they work. Thus in my case I don’t have this feature turned on and I just live with scam and nuisance calls coming to my phone by punting them straight to voice mail. And you don’t get this option on a landline phone which means that there’s nothing that you can do at home to stop scam and nuisance calls from happening.
The bottom line goes something like this. It’s nice to see that steps are being taken to address this issue. But it’s clear that more needs to be done by both the CRTC and Canadian telcos to make our lives a bit more quiet when it comes to receiving scam and nuisance calls. Thus I hope that all parties concerned do what they can to make this a non-issue.
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