Automate Your Life with IFTTT

I ran across a pretty slick service the other day that allows you to setup electronic triggers for performing certain automated tasks. The fast growing “If This, Then That” (IFTTT) service ties into a myriad of other services such as Facebook, Gmail, Google Calendar, Dropbox, SkyDrive, and many more. Anytime an action occurs in one of those services ("If This"), you can instruct the service to automatically perform a certain task ("Then That"). Many mundane tasks can be performed automatically by IFTTT, saving precious time each day.

Can Bitcasa Challenge Dropbox?

I think I must be slowing down in my “old” age, because I managed to completely miss an announcement last year on the new cloud storage service Bitcasa. At the time, the small start-up had recently started accepting public beta testers. It wasn't until they came out of beta and formally launched the service a couple of weeks ago, that I realized Dropbox may have some serious heat to contend with.

Bitcasa is similar to Dropbox in many ways, but dissimilar in one very important way; infinite storage. If you've read my Dropbox post, you’ll know that I absolutely love Dropbox, but ultimately that loves comes at a price.  Currently I’m paying $100 a year for 100GB of Dropbox storage (not counting referrals). If I want more space, I’m forced to spend an additional $100 a year for 200GB. With Bitcasa, that same $100 gets me unlimited amounts of space. Done deal right? Cancel Dropbox and make the switch? If only life in the cloud were so simple.

Maximize the Value of Google Voice with Talkatone

My last post was all about using Google Voice to replace your landline. This week, I wanted to tell you how you can get even more value out of Google Voice by using it to make free calls over WiFi from iOS or Android. If you've ever seen the insane rates mobile carriers charge while roaming, you’ll quickly see why this could be of incredible value.

Right now you might be thinking, “Can’t I already do that from the Google Voice app?” Actually no you can’t, and that's one of the most common misconceptions people have about Google Voice. Let me attempt to clear that up if possible.

Say Goodbye to Landlines with Obihai

It seems like fewer and fewer people these days have a landline phone. There is something to be said about having one in certain emergency scenarios, but I think for most, the $30 to $45 a month costs are simply too much to justify. Years ago, I thought I’d try to save a little cash and go with a Vonage line. It worked well for a while, but costs steadily rose and I found myself using it less and less. Eventually, I decided that even paying $18 a month for my entry-level Vonage plan was a waste of money. Thankfully, I found the perfect solution that allows me to retain my phone number without having to spend a dime in monthly fees.

A Beginner’s Guide to Taking the DSLR Plunge

I recently had the opportunity to upgrade my DSLR through an awesome online deal. In the process of setting up and playing with my new camera, I got to thinking about the road I've taken from casual point-and-shoot photography to using more serious photography gear. I decided that rather than bore you to tears with a deeply technical review of the camera, I thought I’d take this time to relate why I finally took the DSLR plunge and cover some of the things that you should consider if you’re on the verge of taking the same plunge.

My recent upgrade involved moving from a Canon T2i to a Canon T4i for only $130. I did this by purchasing the deal described in this post, and then selling my T2i body plus the 18-55mm lens from the T4i kit. It was a relatively minor upgrade, but I ended up with a camera that has a faster processor, articulating touch screen, wireless master capability, and better low-light performance for a relative pittance. Wait, $130 is a pittance? Not really, but once you take the DSLR plunge, you’ll see why it starts to feel that way.

So why do I call it a plunge? Aren't we just talking about buying a nicer camera in the same way that one might compare a Honda Accord to a BMW 5 series?

No, not at all.

I was once guilty of thinking that way about DSLRs, but I've come to realize that they are really more like Pandora’s box than a simple camera upgrade. A DSLR most definitely is a nicer camera than a point-and-shoot, but you won’t necessarily end up with better pictures, and it can’t always replace a point-and-shoot. It took me a very long time to realize why, and I’d like to help others avoid some of that frustration. Read on to find out what I mean and learn if you're ready to take the plunge.

SanDisk Pushes the SD Card Speed Barrier

I love photography. I might be horrible at it, but my fondness for recording my experiences runs unabated by my lack of talent. It closely compliments one of my other loves, travel. Anyone who knows me, and knows how much I love to travel, has probably heard me say that I don’t buy souvenirs when I travel. The only souvenir I like to take home with me is my photographs. They allow me to capture memories that I’ll still be enjoying long after a cheap souvenir has been relegated a storage bin.

To be sure that I don’t miss a shot, I like to have both a nice camera and a fast memory card. I’m not an expert in the memory card space, but I've long been happy with the speed and reliability of SanDisk cards. Not long ago, I purchased the SanDisk Extreme Pro 16 GB SDHC UHS-1 card (wow, that’s a mouthful). It might be overkill for some, but I like knowing that if anything is slowing me down, it’s not something I can easily control like the memory card. So how fast is it?

Goodbye Canon S95, Hello Sony RX100

You might be surprised to read that title if you've read my Canon S95 post. The fact is that I even surprised myself by switching camera vendors after having bought nothing but Canon for the past eight years. About a month or so ago, I sold my beloved Canon S95 and purchased the highly praised Sony RX100. This was not a decision I made lightly, and I spent months deciding what camera I could buy that would give me as close to the DSLR performance of my T2i as possible, without sacrificing the extreme portability of a point-and-shoot. At least for the time being, the RX100 is the best camera I could find in my price range that met that goal.

In addition to being surprised, you might recall how wowed I was by the Sony RX1. In that same post, I referenced the also impressive Sony NEX-6, and lamented the RX100’s high megapixel count (relative to its sensor size). Ultimately, it was budget that won out over all other considerations. If I wasn't spending the equivalent monthly salary of 37 Thai rice farmers each and every month on daycare, this post might have been all about the RX1 instead. The thought of putting my kids through college pushed me to reconsider my aversion to the RX100’s megapixel count, and I’m glad I did.

The RX100 is a VERY impressive camera. That said, at $648 it’s still FAR from cheap. However it's cheaper than the alternatives I considered. There may come a day when a mirrorless NEX-style camera might come back into consideration, but for now that style of camera isn't quite ready to replace my DSLR (with its arsenal of lens options), and not quite small enough to function as a point-and-shoot alternative.

Okay, enough background. If you're reading this, you probably have some interest in photography and/or gadgets. So why the RX100? Is it really worth the equivalent of THREE garden-variety point-and-shoots (or 11 months as a Thai rice farmer)? Read on to find out what’s so cool about this camera and why I was drawn to it.

Windows 8, Love or Hate?

I started my Windows 8 experience with a great deal of trepidation last weekend. We’ll come back to the experience part of that sentence in a minute, but for now let’s focus on the trepidation. My reason for concern was that I had installed both of the early versions of Windows 8 that were made available to customers this past year. Each time I came away afraid and wondering what in the world the people at Microsoft were smoking when then came up with this new OS. 

The new Start menu looked like something I’d expect to see on a child’s LeapFrog tablet, and the new swipe from the left and right gestures gave me the impression that Microsoft had focused so squarely on combating the iPad that they had forgotten about the hundreds of millions of keyboard and mouse users out there. The technology blogs were raving about it, but I was sure that consumers would reject it. At that time I could confidently say that I hated it.

Hello my name is Emmanuel Canaan and I am a former Windows 8 hater. The first step to recovery is admitting that I was wrong. I can now say that while I am not madly in love with it just yet, I like it well enough that for the first time since the release of the iPad, I’m actually open to the idea that my next tablet might not be an iPad. That’s a significant accomplishment for Microsoft considering that I love my iPad.

So what changed? What was so different between the consumer preview version of Windows 8 and the final release?

New Baby Tech Kit

I was recently asked by a family member to provide some recommendations on what “tech” to buy when expecting a new baby. Much of this is subjective, and there are so many arguments as to what one actually “needs”, but I thought I would repeat those recommendations for the benefit of anyone that might be expecting a little bundle of pain…err.. I mean joy. If you can’t spend money on your own tech anymore, you might as well invest your time and money on stuff that can benefit your child, or even preserve your own sanity.

So here is the list of what I like in no particular order. Some of this isn't strictly “tech” but I thought I would include it anyway. Links are provided for Amazon in most cases, but all are available elsewhere:

The New Kindle Paperwhite: Gift from the Tech Gods, or Paperweight for the Desk?

This past week saw Amazon’s new E Ink Kindle devices finally unleashed into the hands of eager consumers. As someone that loves to read novels, I was one of those eager buyers. I've loved Kindles since they were first released, and as ridiculous as it may sound, I can’t imagine going back to reading paper books. I also can’t imagine reading for any length of time on popular LCD-based devices like the iPad, that just plain make my eyes hurt after a while. Many might disagree with me, but the E Ink technology used by  Kindles is the way to go for a comfortable reading experience.

The new Kindle Paperwhite has done nothing to diminish the allure of tossing my bulky paper books aside, but it isn't perfect and there are some things you should know before buying. Read on to find out why I think the Kindle Paperwhite is a great e-reader, but isn't all sunshine and rainbows like some would have you believe.

My Thoughts on iOS 6 and the New iPhone 5

Barely one week has elapsed since the release of the iPhone 5, along with its accompanying iOS 6, and we’re already seeing some amazing numbers. It took just three DAYS for iOS 6 to be downloaded over 100 MILLION times. Wow! Thanks Apple for over the air updates and tight control over the hardware!

In contrast, Android’s latest 4.1 Jelly Bean release has only managed to touch 1.2% or about 6 million of the 500 million Android devices worldwide in two MONTHS. You can thank Android’s massive fragmentation problem for that.

Also, in just two days Apple managed to sell more than 5 million units of the iPhone 5. Those are numbers any other company would be downright giddy over. I’m sure Apple is plenty excited about it, but they've had such a string of successes this past decade that they’re probably used to it by now. My wife was one of those lucky 5 million and I’ve had a chance to steal her phone away from her from time to time (I’m ‘stuck’ on the 4S for at least another year).

There isn’t much I can add to some of the already fantastic reviews of the iPhone 5 and iOS 6 that are out there, but I thought I’d at least share some thoughts on the things that stood out for me:

Critical Flaw in Apple's iOS?

When I switched to an iPhone a year ago and ditched my BlackBerry, I thought I had also left crippling issues like RIM's famous widespread network issues far behind as well. As it turns out, even Apple has a glaring flaw that can disable a very important feature on the phone; WiFi.

I excitedly upgraded my iPhone 4S to iOS 6 today (more on my impressions in another post) and was fine for most of the day, only to come home and find out that I couldn't connect to my home WiFi connection without getting this annoying prompt: 

So what was the problem?

Sony RX1 (Wow, Wow, and Wow)

Sony announced the new RX1 camera this week, and it literally made my jaw drop. If you’ve read my S95 post, or if you’re a photography fan, you likely know very well how important image sensor size can be in a digital camera. It was for that reason that I let out my first “Wow” while reading the RX1’s press release and saw that they have managed to stuff a full frame image sensor in a body that’s not much bigger than your typical point and shoot camera. That is a truly incredible engineering feat.

Check out the massive difference in sensor size below between a point and shoot like the popular Canon S100, the Sony RX1, and the pro-level Canon 5D Mark III:

Beating the Itch with Therapik

Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think that a gadget from a website as cheesy and poorly designed as therapik.com, would ever prove to be useful. Thanks to a review from Gizmodo, I can now say that yes ladies and gentlemen, there actually is a gadget out there that can effectively mitigate the annoyance and itchiness that come from mosquito bites.

As a full time resident of the Midwestern United States, I am very familiar with mosquitos and the persistent annoyance they leave behind long after they've sucked the life out of me. It was for this reason that immediately clicked on an article titled “Bug Bite Relieving Gadget Review” a few weeks ago. If not for the effusive accolades that Gizmodo gave the device, I would have run for the hills after seeing the Therapik website. It’s just one “buy now and get a mini Therapik free” claim away from being a late night infomercial. Thankfully though, the review’s praise and the low price of $12.95 made me think “What the heck? I might as well try it.”

It’s late in the blood-sucking season for my hometown’s unofficial state bird, but just the other day I FINALLY got a bite! I can’t believe I am saying this, but for the first time in my life I was excited to get bitten. Now I could try the Therapik out! 

Bing It On Microsoft. I'm Ready!

Much in the same way that the word Kleenex has become synonymous with facial tissue from all brands, and Tivo has done the same for DVRs, so has Google become the de facto standard term used to describe an Internet search. Just “Google it,” you’ll often hear people say. Ever since 1998, Google has been the search engine of choice for many (myself included), much to the chagrin of former search titans like Yahoo, Lycos, Alta Vista, and Ask Jeeves.

Not to be outdone, Microsoft also jumped into the game in 1998 with MSN Search. This later became the horribly named Windows Live Search, then just Live Search. I suspect one day someone at Microsoft with some guts (and influence) must have finally said “this is just stupid; we need a catchy name and unique features.” And so it was that just over 10 years after their failed attempts with MSN search, Bing was born in June of 2009.