All posts by Steve Makris

Air Canada Altitude, Frequent Flyers, Travel

IT WILL COST MORE TO BE AN AIR CANADA FREQUENT FLYER MEMBER

November 24, 2015 Steve Makris Leave a comment

Air Canada will make it twice as hard to reach its Altitude Qualifying Status for 2017.

Starting next year, Aeroplan members will also have to achieve Altitude Qualifying Dollars (AQD) spending minimum dollars on ticket purchases, on a sliding scale, on top of the current AQM miles flown and AQS segments to achieve their overall Altitude Status.

The new requirement starts at $3,000 minimum spending on tickets for Prestige 25K up to $20,000 for 100K Super Elite.

Air Canada Boeing Dreamliner Business Seats

Continue reading IT WILL COST MORE TO BE AN AIR CANADA FREQUENT FLYER MEMBER →

Adobe 2015, Creative Computing, Design, laptops, Photography, smartphone technology, Technology

Adobe Creative Cloud Embraces Mobile and Touch

October 6, 2015 Steve Makris Leave a comment

At Adobe MAX 2015 in Los Angeles today, Adobe outlined its vision for Creative Cloud — a “connected creative canvas” where people create and share their work from anywhere.

Adobe dazzled some 7,000 attendees with new powerful mobile apps. It showed how cloud-based Adobe CreativeSync allows users to save and share their work, app settings, tools and more, between multiple devises as well as with co-workers.

“The power to be creative is no longer for the few” said Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayan.

Continue reading Adobe Creative Cloud Embraces Mobile and Touch →

Design, lifestyle, Office, Office practices, smartphone technology, Technology

Mobile and cloud-hip Office 2016 is here

September 22, 2015 Steve Makris Leave a comment

Today’s worldwide launch of Microsoft’s Office 2016 has something for everyone, from consumers to enterprise – and for a good deal.

That’s because the from-the-ground-up re-worked Office suite will be affordable as a free upgrade to current subscription-based Office 365 users. Office 365 is starting to populate beyond students and consumers. Small businesses find the subscription model cheaper and more hassle-free to administrate compared to the traditional fully paid-for client version. Office 365 Home only costs $99.99 a year and can be used in up to five large and small devices.

Excel 2016 - New Tree Map Chart — Excel 2016 – New Tree Map Chart

Continue reading Mobile and cloud-hip Office 2016 is here →

Design, health, lifestyle, smart watches, smartphone technology, Technology

IFA Berlin 2015 delivers on the newest smart watches

September 4, 2015 Steve Makris Leave a comment

IFA Berlin 2015, one of the largest annual global tech shows, is again the launch base for the world’s coolest technologies.

Although IFA covers a broad spectrum of technologies and trends at home, work and play, the first two days are particularly exciting as global tech giants announce their newest technologies.

One hot item showing at IFA, are smart watches, with some 40 million to be sold this year. Half of that is expected to be Apple Watches. That still pales in comparison with the 1.5 billion smartphones that will ship this year.

Continue reading IFA Berlin 2015 delivers on the newest smart watches →

lifestyle, Photography, smartphone technology, Technology

A closer look at today’s best camera phones launched last week

August 24, 2015 Steve Makris Leave a comment

Hi folks, this is a follow-up on my first quick impressions, published last Friday, on the launch of new “super camera phones” in the Canadian market today. My take on how good the camera is on the just released Samsung S6 Edge +, Note 5, Moto X Play, joined be the recent LG G4 and Sony Xperia 3, has not changed. But here is a deeper dive on what makes these camera phones so good.

LG G4

The LG G4 Panorama Mode produces amazingly sharp 102 megapixel images with HDR imaging in shadowed areas on the right

Continue reading A closer look at today’s best camera phones launched last week →

lifestyle, Photography, smartphone technology, Technology

The best phone cameras for the money

August 21, 2015 Steve Makris Leave a comment

Happy Friday folks. Say “cheese” to the newest wave of top quality camera phones, with two new models available in Canada, starting today.

These phones are the best money can buy, although one is surprisingly affordable. They are basically great for any cutting edge challenges mobile users will run into today. But today’s blog is about camera quality and what features make them shoot better pictures.

They are all Android-based but will likely be joined by Apple’s scheduled iPhone 6 “s” update, weeks away, with a still rumoured 16 megapixel camera, long overdue.

What makes these phone cameras so good, leaving the fancy marketing mumbo jumbo aside?

It’s not just the megapixel number. The size of the photo sensor and the quality of the lens determines the picture quality. Additionally, camera processing software, often third party, can make or break a photo, especially in poor lighting conditions.

The speed of the lens, is more about bragging rights rather than final picture quality. Unlike traditional digital camera lenses that feature adjustable apertures and shutter speeds for proper exposure, phone cameras have a fixed large open aperture. The LG G4 currently features the fastest f 1.8 aperture, while most phones range from f2- f2.8.

Here’s my take from a photographer’s perspective on this new breed of phone cameras.

16MP Samsung Galaxy Note 5, 16MP LG G4 and 21MP Moto X Play

Continue reading The best phone cameras for the money →

smartphone technology, Technology

Two new phones, one budget and the other for hardcore business and play

August 10, 2015 Steve Makris Leave a comment

NEW PHONES ARRIVE FOR NEWCOMERS AND HARDCORE BUSINESS

Motorola continues its production in high gear with a flurry of new affordable phones over the past year. It heats up the competition in affordable phones you can buy outright with no plan.

The LTE-capable Moto G features IPX7-rated protection and scratch resistant Corning Gorilla Glass for the 5” HD display. Its water proof in up to 3 feet of water—for up to 30 minutes. It has an all-day battery and the 13 megapixel camera can turn on with the flip of your wrist. The 5” HD display and Quad Core processor to keep up with today’s mobile demands. It feels nice to hold with careful edge wedging and a non-slip front surface. The Moto G is available in more than 60 countries throughout North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia Pacific. In Canada it’s available for as low as $200 outright or free with a two year plan at TELUS, Bell Mobility, Koodo, or Virgin Mobile and soon at Wind Mobile.

Continue reading Two new phones, one budget and the other for hardcore business and play →

cars, lifestyle, safe driving, Technology

Ford’s future mobility is not just about cars

August 4, 2015 Steve Makris Leave a comment

The next time you buy a Ford you may have a MoDe:Flex E-Bike option to take along in the trunk of your new car.

Welcome to Ford 2.0 where not everyone has to own a car. The car maker is cognisant about how its core product will fit in emerging lifestyles, especially in megacities – huge built-up urban areas where the traditional car ownership model is changing.

At the recent Further with Ford 2015 event in San Francisco, Ford didn’t talk much about new car models. Instead, it was about mobility in growing congested environments, where public transportation, walking, biking and off course the occasional need for a car (hopefully a Ford) all come into play.

Elizabeth Baron uses Virtual Reality headgear to probe layers of a car that isn't there at the Ford Silicon Valley Research and Innovation Centre in Palo Alto — Elizabeth Baron uses Virtual Reality headgear to probe layers of a car that isn’t there at the Ford Silicon Valley Research and Innovation Centre in Palo Alto

Continue reading Ford’s future mobility is not just about cars →

Uncategorized

Tech Bytes of the week

July 26, 2015 Steve Makris Leave a comment

With SlashGear co-driver Vincent Nguyen testing Ford's new G-Max Energi in San Francisco — With SlashGear co-driver Vincent Nguyen testing Ford’s new G-Max Energi in San Francisco

Did you know that trying to find parking in large metro cities consumes one quarter of your car’s gas? In a recent visit to Ford’s Silicon Valley Research Centre, I found out the car maker is into a lot more than just selling cars, like phone apps to help you find parking, ECO bikes to throw in your trunk and new ways to get around town with shared cars. Check my special report this Tuesday, August 4,

Checkout my GlobalNews.ca Tech Talk TV and blog segment this Sunday on the New Windows 10. With only three days to go, Microsoft is still updating its public Windows Insider Program version with new security updates. Will Microsoft get a home run on its Windows 10 launch? Like millions, I have been running it on an Acer Aspire V 11 Touch with no problems. It looks like the new OS will continue to be work in progress and might keep its “10” name for a long time. BTW, there is some erroneous information circulating online about who gets the free upgrade Windows 10 Home or Windows 10 Pro.

Here’s the skinny: If you currently have Windows 7 or 8/8.1 Home or lower, you get Windows 10. If you currently have Windows Pro, you get Windows 10 Pro. If you have Windows Enterprise, you got to talk to your IT manager or pay for that upgrade.

If you are trialling Adobe Photoshop/Lightroom, which is worth doing, for free, you can also use Lightroom for your mobile iPhone and Android devices. Brighten shadows, flag and share favorites, organize photos — just like the desktop app! And everything you do automatically stays in sync from device to desktop. The trial is like the real thing which costs a reasonable $9.99 US

At the IFA Spring Global Press Conference 2015 in Malta I attended last April, IFA analyst Juergen Boyny reported that e-Readers where showing a steady decline for the past five years. He was right! Folks of all ages are reverting back to the analog book, because it feels right to hold, touch smell and read. Research shows looking at text on paper has a more soothing effect than reading of e-readers. And no power required!

London Drugs (sorry my GTA friends) is selling an affordable 3D printer, the UPmini for $849.99. Check it out. How about sharing the cost with interested friends to start 3D printing!

YouTube is getting a face lift on its mobile apps. Android, available now, and App Store, available soon will make it easier to find and create videos.The update introduces three new tabs:

• Home: Easily explore and discover videos you’ll love with recommendations based on your watch history as well as playlists personalized just for you.

• Subscriptions: Find the latest videos from your favorite channels and creators on the new Subscriptions tab. And to help make sure you never miss an upload, you can now tap the bell icon on the channels you love to get a notification as soon as a new video is posted.

• Account: Check out your playlists, watch history, and the videos you’ve uploaded all in one spot.

Canadians are huge consumers of YouTube. In fact, they watch over 24 hours of online video a month — five more hours than Americans. Today, more than half the views on YouTube happen using mobile devices. In Canada, 20% watch online video on their smartphones daily, and 30% of Canadians watch online video on their smartphones weekly.

Earlier this year TELUS and CIBC launched a new co-branded CIBC TELUS Rewards Visa card that enables TELUS customers to earn and redeem reward points on their everyday spending towards a selection of TELUS products and services. Now customers can apply for the CIBC TELUS Rewards Visa Card at participating TELUS locations and get approved instantly.Customers can earn rewards points on everyday card purchases which can be redeemed for a selection of TELUS products and services including the latest smartphones and tablets, charitable donations, travel passes and TELUS prepaid cards that can be used on a variety of products, including wireless accessories.

Here’s the breakdown:

· Earn one point for every dollar spent using the rewards card

· Earn 1.5 points on all rewards card purchases at grocery and gas retailers

· Earn 1.5 points on TELUS purchases made on the rewards card – paying their monthly bill, purchasing accessories or mobile devices, etc.

· Enjoy no annual fee

· Redeem points for a selection of TELUS products and services including the latest smartphones and tablets, charitable donations, travel passes and TELUS prepaid cards that can be used on a variety of products, including wireless accessories

For a limited time, customers who apply for the card and activate/renew on a 2-year plan in-store, will receive up to $100 off their smartphone purchase plus 5,000 TELUS Rewards points, worth $50 that can be redeemed towards their next device. For more info go here

Technology

Last minute super gifts for Father’s Day

June 21, 2015 Steve Makris Leave a comment

Its Father’s Day morning and you need some great gift tech ideas on short notice. You’ve come to the right place! Even if you can’t pick some of these gift ideas at a store here, you can order it online, print out the order slip and slip it into an envelope for Dad!

You can’t go wrong with a Sonos WiFi speaker. For more than a decade, Sonos has been the standard of quality wireless speakers. Often copied by multinational companies but never equaled, Sonos has a range of five speakers for single speaker rooms to multiple speaker theatre setups, controlled by iOS and Android apps. Sonos key to quality wireless music is ensuring a constant flow of music signals through your home WiFi network, even in hard to get rooms. No blips, slowdowns or music interruptions.

Even the most affordable and smallest Play:1 Sonos speaker – get a two room or stereo starter set for $379 – has smooth and rich sounds and surprisingly penetrating bass from the get-go. Every Sonos speaker made can still be functional with today’s newer models making a Sonos component investment long term. With 27 streaming music services support including the latest Spotify beta Android update enabling the Sonos Controller App to enjoy, in every room, genres + moods, time-of-day recommendations, and the ability to start a radio station from any artist or track. Nice.

US based Ventev has been making quality mobile accessories from cases to car chargers and smart portable battery chargers. They are quality made with a velvet touch grey colour texture complemented by orange highlights. You won’t see them in many brick and mortar stores in Canada but Ventev products are available online at crackberry.com and Amazon.ca

I particularly like the new compact Ventev powercell 3015+ battery charger which also charges directly off an outlet and can charge two phones.Look for the Ventev Powercell 6000mAh workhorse portable battery that charges directly off a wall outlet with 1 and 2 Amp ports or the smart dashport 2100c charger with micro USB cord for charging two phones.

Canadian based farbe technik has a whopping 12,000mAh Dual USB dual Mobile Charger which automatically adjusts the charge rate to twice the speed for newer phones. – White $79.99 and smartly designed wallet cases for popular phones through Best Buy.

This is a winner. A portable WD 2 TB USB 3.0 compact drive for backing up (with a free trial program) or simply dumping data on the go for $104 at Staples

The Epson Perfection V550 Photo Scanner, $219.82 also at Staples, with 6400 DPI resolution for scanning old photos, negatives and slides. It has quickstart technology and can automatically upload scans to popular cloud services.

For the ultimate SD camera memory card, check out the Kingston Technology 256GB SDXC Class 10 UHS-I, 90 Read 45 Write Flash Card for $366 on Amazon.ca

Happy Father’s Day

Tech Untangled