Despite the amount of cool technology I own (iPads, iPhones, etc.), I actually don't really spend much money on anything else in my life, other than plane tickets when I travel. While I appreciate new clothes, my brain rarely comes up with the idea that I actually go buy some new ones. The one exception to that is socks - whenever I see a nice pair I generally always buy them. Which is why I probably own about 100 pairs (and even then it's hard to find a matching pair from time to time). That said, one personal item I have been shopping for recently is a new wallet. I can't say that I've ever ...

I used to wear a watch all the time, probably since I was around 18 years old. My first watch was some tacky gold-plate Seiko that I took a fancy too around that age, but over the years I slowly upgraded to more stylish options. That changed around the time I purchased my first iPhone though, when I suddenly stopped wearing one. I guess at the time I figured wearing a watch was a bit redundant since my phone could show the time with just a single click of a button. But last year I started noticing other guys wearing watches again, and I thought it looked sort of cool. I looked around my apartment ...

I'm currently in Europe travelling around with my girlfriend, and our plan is to be here until December. Since she was adamant that she didn't want to bring a full computer with her on this trip, we decided we could make due by sharing my Macbook Air for various tasks. That meant that whoever wasn't on the Macbook Air would have to make due with one of our two iPad Minis. I don't mind using my iPad Mini at all, but typing on it gets a bit tiring, especially when you're trying to work on a document (such as an eBook), or put together a presentation. I thought in this case that it might be a good ...

I first heard about the Drobo Storage Array from my friend Tony a few years ago. A Drobo Data Array is basically a self-contained RAID-5 data storage array in a box. For anyone that doesn't know what that means, it's basically a fault-tolerant form of storage where you can lose any one drive completely and still recover all of your data. Unlike most RAID-5 software or hardware systems though, the Drobo unit is intelligent in that it will work with different sized drives, and expand accordingly in the future if you pop a new drive in. My business partner picked up a Drobo about six months ago, ...

I recently returned from Brazil, and decided to stock up on some new electronics. While down at the Apple store I managed to grab a new bluetooth keyboard for my iPad Mini, as well as a few other gadgets. That's when my eye caught some of the Fitbit devices on display in the Apple store, and I decided to get one. What Is The FitBit Zip? The Fitbit Zip is basically a pedometer, a device that measures and records each step you take. If you wear it around during the day you can log how many steps you take, and in term how many calories you burned during the process. Fitbit Zip: Wireless Activity ...

Last year I sold my Nikon DSLR and replaced it with an Olympus OM-D M5 micro four-thirds camera. While I've had a few of the micro four-thirds cameras, the Olympus OM-D camera was the first one where the image quality seemed on par with my DSLR, not just for outdoor photos with tons of light, but also for low-light photography as well. As a former wedding and concert photographer, it was a bit challenging to go from my Nikon and Canon gear (where most of my lenses were f/2.8 or faster) to my micro four-thirds lenses, where most zooms are f/3.5 or slower. The lack of a built-in flash on the OM-D ...

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. WD My Passport The best external hard ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

I originally wasn't going to bring my SLR along at all on my trip, mainly because it would take up a pile of room. As the departure day loomed in front of me though, I just couldn't bring myself to travel the world with only my point and shoot. As a compromise I decided to bring along the Canon EF 28mm f/1.8 lens, which I bought right before coming. On a 1.6x crop factor it acts more like a 44mm lens, which is close to a standard lens but slightly wider. I was hoping that would be a useful field of view for most situations. I find it a little long for walking around the city, but it's decent enough ...

My friend Dale picked up a Seagate Momentus XT 7200 RPM hybrid drive not that long ago and put it in his Macbook Pro. Shortly thereafter he was raving about how fast it was, so I decided it would be a good idea to put one in my computer as well. Dale brought one down to Mexico, but unfortunately neither of us had a Torx screwdriver to change out the one on my computer. So I took it home with me and did the surgery on my computer a few days ago. For those of you that don't know, a hybrid drive is a cross between a normal hard drive and a solid state drive. While hard drives are fairly slow (and ...

A while ago Epson asked me if I'd like to take their relatively new Epson Stylus Pro 3880 printer for a spin. Since I'm obviously into photography and the printer can easily accommodate colour prints, I thought it would be fun to test it out to see what it could do. First of all, I should say that this is a BIG printer. When the courier arrived to drop it off you could tell he was having a hard time moving it. Once it was in my apartment, it basically blocked the entire front door. Being a typical bachelor I of course left it blocking the door for the majority of the evening, but eventually decided ...

I went down to Mountain Equipment Co-op (MEC) in Vancouver a few weeks ago with the intention of buying a new backpack for travel. While I'll be living fairly normally in Buenos Aires, I wanted to have a backpack that would allow me to take the occasional weekend trip without carrying too much or too little. Since I have a camera and a laptop, I also wanted a bag which could accommodate both of those, since I know one or two people who have had camera's stolen from checked baggage over the last few years. Most travel books I've read go out of their way to remind people not to pack too much. Most ...

A few months ago, Darren Barefoot put up a proposal on his blog asking for west-coast bloggers to review a few Brother printers. Since I love getting my hands on new technology, and have never really used a color laser printer before, I signed up for the challenge. Brother Printer for Review A few weeks later the Brother HL-4050 CDN Printer arrived at my office place. First of all, let me just say that nothing could have prepared me for not only how big the box was, but also how insanely heavy it was. I seriously had a hard time moving it from the front door over to the spare desk next to me. That's ...