Marketing Magic to a Thumping Beat.

It’s tough to find new ways to bend traditional forms of music like “The Blues” into a unique, personal and original approach that honours the blues rich history and tradition, but is wholly one’s own. Paul Reddick has been pulling off this mighty and under-appreciated feat since his dearly departed Toronto band “The Sidemen”. The songs on Sugar Bird resonate with earthy blues tones that are twisted, hammered and shaped into stunningly modern takes on a musical from so often stuck in a stylistic rut. Accordions wheeze under Garth Hudson’s fingers as Colin Linden’s gritty guitars and Reddick’s bruised vocals and ever-present harmonica paint grey landscapes shot through with flickers of quivering light. Ashen dreams mix with fresh hope to create a new vivid blues perfect for the 21st century.

Adult pop, contemporary jazz or adult contemporary take your pick of labels. Daniela Nardi is a pianist and vocalist that prefers her music soft and soothing. It is sophisticated, but a little dull with muted guitars deadened piano, endless drum machines, tapped congas and been-there-done-that synth pads. “The Rose Tattoo” lacks passion and somewhere along the line I came away feeling distant and uninspired. Making music too refined is a bit like making sugar. Pull out all the funkiness in the refining process and you end up with a pure white sweetness that adds little complexity to the resulting flavour.

When I open my iTunes and look at the song that received the most play at my house Snow Patrol’s Chasing Car’s has a lock on the number one slot. I never play it, so I have to assume the women in my life are the perps. Crack the Shutter’s is the first single off the new record from a band that lives and dies on airplay. This band has their formula down pat and all potential singles start out quiet and build to the rather obvious crescendo. Take Back the City is the best of the bunch with a staccato guitar line and rousing chorus built for radio. Get ready ladies, Dr. McDreamy (Patrick Dempsey) will be puckering up to this tune on Grey’s Anatomy this season.

Drifting back to back to the 1920’s and 30’s is easy to do on these hot tropical winds. Cuba’s most famous export The Buena Vista Social Club make a triumphant debut at Carnegie Hall on this outstanding recording. Many of these musicians are in their 70’s, 80, and even 90’s but they can still swing in a graceful, yet passionate, style that is more refined than much of today’s Latin music and is the better for it. Congas, pianos, guitars trumpets and cowbells propel each cha-cha, mambo or bolero. It’s all infused with joy and a showmanship not seen since the heady days of America’s flagship big bands. Many songs are from the original recording, but who cares, it still sounds fresh, fun and alive.

The protest song, a dusty vestige of the ‘60’s or a contemporary tool of social change? Jackson Brown has spent the better part of his nearly 60-years taking on those who wield power. “Time the Conqueror” tackles the big issues like the drums of war, the Cuban blockade and hunger. But, it also dives into the more personal like men’s sexual appetites, the progression of time and looking backwards to see things going forward. Browne’s voice is rich and familiar while the arrangements remain reminiscent of his best pop-folk.

Calgary Jazz troublemakers Heather Blush and the Uppercuts take us on a tour of life’s dark side from drinkin’ and addiction to busted hearts and broken lives. Blush’s smoky voice slides flat on occasion and because the instrumentation is sparse, I found it frequently annoying. It’s odd that with all the ProTools and studio tricks that no one bothered to ensure her vocals stayed in tune. The band is great providing that late night, slightly inebriated, laidback vibe that goes down like a beer chaser after a night of paling around with Mr. Jack Daniels.

Hoist is a gentle rock/pop band that has a thing for certain pink plastic pig that graces the cover and every photo in the disc. Two Alexiuk brothers, Luke and Rick, and Brad Cerasani use keyboards, guitars and drums in creative ways on this, their debut, to present an interesting and engaging bit of Rock lite. The solos are crisp and purposeful and all these guys can play. Vocally they are stronger than most young bands and this alone invites listen. Their writing is solid and obtuse enough to invite speculation. You can have the window seat is a solid first effort from a new band.

Blonde bombshell Welsh singer Duffy is riding the Amy Winehouse 60’s girl group sound. The album opens with the title song the slow to build burner “Rockferry”. Amie Duffy’s uses her lower register to begin the song and then busts out singing higher and stronger propelling the song to new heights on just the strength of her beautiful, husky voice. Standout tracks include “Mercy”, “Warwick Avenue” and “Stepping Stone”. Duffy is going to be huge and may have the best album of 2008 on her hands.

Darrell Scott is a Nashville insider who pens tunes for country stars looking for songs deeper than the usual “New Country, Big Hat” crowd. Here, Scott pays respect to those who influenced him from Canadian’s like Gordon Lightfoot, Leonard Cohen and Joni Mitchell to Americana idols like Kris Kristofferson, Paul Simon and Hoyt Axton. Clever arrangements, simple melodies that are sung with feeling adds up to a great set of covers lovingly renewed. Highlights include Lightfoot’s “All the Lovely Ladies” and Mickey Newbury’s “Frisco Depot”.

Guys, we all know we basically suck at getting Holiday gifts for those in our lives. It’s not that we don’t care; it’s just that we HATE shopping. If we could do all our shopping at the Tim Horton’s drive through we would. “Get in and Get out” that’s any guys shopping motto. So let’s get at it… here’s the list and where to get ‘em. The Wife or Girl Friend She probably has an iPod you bought her a couple of years ago right. But what guys don’t get is the feminine set care more about having an assortment of colours than they do about how many GIG’s it holds. It’s an accessory, like shoes, a necklace or earrings they have to have more than one to match their mood, outfit, or … yes their shoes. Apple has just released a new series of iPods in a pile of cool new colours from pink, red and purple to yellow, green and orange as well as silver and black. Want to shuffle the songs… give it a shake, turn it on its side and the display changes from portrait to landscape perfect for those “Young ...

Late November, time to hit the malls looking for the perfect tech toys for all the good people in your life. This year getting it on sale should be no problem so let’s jump in Santa’s sleigh and go through his big red bag of goodies. Flash Drives These little hard drives have tumbled in price and soared through the roof in capacity. It’s no problem to find 1 or 2 GB models from Kingston, VGI, SanDisk, and others for less than $20. I have seen 4 GB and 8GB models for $40 and 16 GB’s for under $100. 16 GB is larger than the hard drive in my first apple laptop back in the 1990’s. They attach using a USB port and are the perfect little transport or storage devices. USB hubs If you use a laptop you know how frustrating it can be when you have more toys to plug in than you have USB ports available. The Source caries the Nexxtech 7 port powered hub that will give you all the space to plug in your gadgets you’ll ever need for around $30. Computer Games Are you worried the grandkids will become...

Time Magazine recently released their choices for top websites and while the list was interesting and I have included many of them here, I think they missed a bunch that you might find interesting and useful. Music Reviews Pitchforkmedia.com and Exclaim.ca are the sites for new music, but if like me, you like a little local and a few old favourites thrown in try Uptownmag.com. Internet Radio Live360.com, iTunes, and Last.fm all stream online radio. But if you want to have a bit of fun head for the college stations like CJAM 91.5 out of Windsor/ Detroit. http://web2.uwindsor.ca/cjam/index.html. Classified ads I have had some success with Craigslist and Kijiji locally but you can’t go to wrong with the Winnipeg Free Press site either at http://www11.xpresssites.com/fp/wfp/classified/def.jsp How To Need to know how to adjust the derailer on your 10-speed or how to refinish a table? Check out Howcast.com or Fixya.com Shopping Gasbuddy.com is becoming more popular with every cent gas prices...

Little Feat have always produced funky, greasy rock that had swagger. But since the death of Lowell George things have not been the same for the Feat. Paul Barrere and Fred Tackett’s guitars are immediately recognizable and Richie Heyward’s drumming is inspiring but it never seemed to be enough. “Join the Band” was a Jimmy Buffett idea to put the Feat together with other artists and let them work their magic. The result is some outstanding versions of classic Little Feat tunes featuring Dave Matthews, Vince Gill, Chris Robinson, Jimmy Buffett and Emmylou Harris. If you miss “Dixie Chicken” and “Feats Don’t Fail Me Now” pick up “Join the Band” and relive the Feat’s glory days.

Does anyone remember the Northern Pikes? Would you call them legendary, iconic or even memorable? I would be generous labeling them as a third-tier 80’s rock band. Heck, they didn’t even have big hair. Jay Semko was the lead singer and bassist. More recently, he is “credited” with creating the music for the TV series “Due South”?! Semko has just released a moronic country recording laced with worn clichés, trite ideas and pedestrian lyrics that is supported by a limp country sound that is too pop to be alternative and too cheesy to retro. If this is some global plan to wreck every musical genre in one’s lifetime, Jay Semko is well on his way.

Instrumental music unless it’s jazz or classical rarely finds an audience. There seems to be a musical disconnect without the human voice for many of us. Steve Dawson guitarist and newly minted pedal steel player tries his very best to keep us interested and for short periods he can. Each composition is pleasing and different than the one preceding it, but after 3 or 4 tunes my mind begins to wander and it all becomes background music. “Speaker Damage” and “The Gunslinger Retreats and Lurks Underground” are the most original cuts.

The “Shuffle” on my iPod is the perfect generator of a mixed tape. I am no longer constrained to listening to songs in a specific order or in fact listening to a whole album. Music is sliced diced and mixed. Its blended and reconfigured. Is this a step forward or a step back to the 1950’s when all music was consumed as singles that our parents saved thier weekly allowance to buy and played on their RCA portable record players in their “Happy Day’s” bedrooms? I have a 4th generation, 30 Gig iPod with 5,204 songs on it. When going for a walk I use the “shuffle” feature that takes my library of songs and randomly chooses and plays a selection. But I don’t think it’s random at all. The selected tracks are perfectly matched to my mood and my tastes. Each song flows into the next both thematically and musically. It grabs songs I have just added combining them seamlessly with more familiar tunes and brilliant obscure selections from albums or artists I have not spent enough time with. I find ...

This column is a bit like your mother telling you to wear your gloves, eat your vegetables, and pick up your socks. We know it’s the right thing to do but we put it off and don’t get around to it. Backing up our computers sounds like a fun way to spend a Sunday doesn’t it? My cautionary tale happened a few years back to my trusty Dell tower that I nicknamed “Big Dog”. I was busily writing a marketing plan for a client when suddenly the hard drive started to make funny noises. I saved the work (thankfully) and within minutes the whole drive just gave up. I had no back-ups at all. Over 3 years work was on that drive. I nearly cried. I carefully shut it down and called my trusted repair guy. He listened carefully, calmed me down and arranged to come by later that afternoon. I spent a few hours worrying and pulling my ancient Mac laptop out of mothballs. When the service guy arrived I hovered over his shoulder as he unpacked his kit and opened the cover of Big Dog and laid it on its side. ...

Do you have something to say? Are you passionate or extremely knowledgeable about a subject? Do you want to share you views with the world? Do you travel and want to share your daily experiences with family and friends? Blogs are online places where people post their thoughts, images, videos and sounds. They are mini-websites that can be accessed by others who share your passions. There are blogs about health issues, travel experiences, vintage car collecting, politics, learning guitar, if you can imagine it, someone is blogging about it somewhere in cyberspace. It is all about two-way communication as those that visit your site can post back their thoughts and share their experiences. Follow me online to www.blogger.com and here you will find a simple FREE 3-step process that will have you blogging in minutes. The resulting blog is hosted on Bloggers site for free as well, so what have you got to lose? Getting a blog going is easy, but having something interesting to say, is far more...

Winnipeg has always had a healthy music community, but as the industry shifts from selling CD’s to download free music our musical community is under stress. How do you make enough money to live on if all your songs are available free to anyone with a computer? Winnipeg bands are a resourceful bunch and they understand that to be successful you need to play live, sell off the stage and they use their tunes to entice buyers and market themselves. Lets help them out this fall. Buy a local bands CD, get out and see a show, pick-up a T-shirt, button or sticker, or just by the band a beer. Careful care and feeding of our local musical crop will reap future harvests of great music. Here are some of the best new releases. Hard Rocking Bands Sick City - Nightlife Winnipeg’s Sick City upholds the cities well deserved reputation for churning out great rock bands check out the clips for “XX and XY” or “In the Millions” with its Metallica influenced grinding guitars on MARIA’s website (www.manitob...

Neil Young has legions of fans called “Rusties” for whom Neil’s music has played a roll in shaping their lives. Some survived adolescence, drug dependency, others divorce, and all found new meanings in well loved songs as they grew older. This bond has many Rusties looking for ways to get closer to their idol. Author Kevin Chong decided the best way to explore his “Neil Fetish” was to retrace Neil’s famous journeys from Winnipeg to Toronto, Toronto to LA and to chronicle his journey in this book. Living in Vancouver, Chong had to get to Winnipeg first. Chong wanted to make the trip in an old hearse just like Young had. In true slacker fashion things didn’t work out and a brother’s Suzuki Grand Vitara subs for the far cooler and authentic hearse. Kevin Chong recruits a couple of high school buddies for one last “guys only” road trip. Fearing that their youth was slipping away in the unrelenting glare of marriage, children, and careers this assortment of slackers and stoners jumped at th...

Danny Michel has been described as “Tom Waits meets Cheap Trick” and the packed house at the West End Cultural Club on an unusually warm Sept. night certainly got to experience some well-crafted tales and stunning guitar work. Showcasing his sixth release, Valhalla, Danny wandered on the stage to an eruption of cheers. This was an audience familiar with his wry songs and witty stage presence and you could tell they where ready to be entertained. He is a physical performer using his slim frame as punctuation and counterpoint to the lyrics. He mocks himself, he cheerleads, he dances with his guitar and puts himself out on a limb risking it all to endear himself to his fans. Danny Michel’s songs range from country-laced tales of a jailed man with 13 days left in the joint and bragging alcoholics to quirky pop songs about feeling invisible and hard-learned tales of life on the road. Danny is a master of the loop box able to produce dense layers of sound building from thumping bass/drum l...

Laid back, understated and devastatingly honest Shelby Lynne strips the pop sheen off Dusty Springfield’s 60’s catalogue showing the strength in each song by laying it bare. It feels like the songs where done late, very late, in a shuttered jazz club after the patrons have left, the chairs have been put up on the tables and night creeps toward dawn. Shelby’s sensual voice is right there in front of you, so close you can almost reach out and touch it. Simple finger picked guitars and upright bass slip around her like wisps of smoke. Beautiful. Chris Brown

Summer for Dad’s in Winnipeg means getting outside and hanging out on a community field somewhere watching the kids play soccer, baseball or football. Many of us use the time to socialize with the other parents which is great until about the 5th week when another round of listening to some guy talk about his off shore investments just makes my head explode. It’s time to get out the trusty iPod and it’s 5,509 tunes and do a power walk circling the park while the off-spring chase a ball across emerald green grass. Bring your dog and he will love you forever. You poop and scoop right? You want to find music that gets you moving and this summer some good bets are: American Flamewhip “Activate”: You must hear the raged, savage snarling guitar licks of Winnipeggers America Flamewhip. Why? Because you gotta like any drummer that performs in a Mexican wrestling mask and a chick with more tattoos than Guns n’ Roses. The Roots, “Rising Down”: Hard-core, angry and raw The Roots lay down seriou...

On April 1st 1978, to the driving beat of Deep Purple’s “Highway Star”, radio in Winnipeg changed forever as a young upstart rock FM station called CITI FM tried to blow the collective minds of a cities youth. CITI FM was the first hard-rock station on the FM band in the “Peg” and they were determined to make their mark. But no one could have predicted the impact it would have on a cold, isolated, prairie town full of teens itching for something new, fresh and relevant to their generation. Winnipeg had a reputation as a hard rockin’ town and new bands like Streetheart, Mood Ja Ja, Harlequin, and the Pumps had begun to pack clubs in River City building on a previous generation of trail blazers like the Squires, Guess Who, Sugar and Spice, Mongrels, the Fifth and Brother that had come before. Hotel bars like The Norlander, the St. Vital, and the Zoo shook with the Winnipeg sound. Line-ups around the block in 40 below weather where common and at times out drew the touring acts foolish eno...

www.wailinjennys.com Winnipeg’s Wailin’ Jennys have released a deeply personal set of songs on Firecracker. This new recording reaches back to honour the tradition of both the place they come from and the traditions of the female folksinger genre. There are echoes of other Winnipeg songwriters here like Heather Bishop and Nancy Reinhold formerly of the Wyrd Sisters. Yet it presents each of the Jenny’s three writer’s individual style clearly and creatively. Nicky Mehta’s direct songs of love and growth, Ruth Moody’s beautiful and delicate images sung with her country tinged soprano and newcomer Annabelle Chvostek’s complex and crafted offerings. Musically these women continue to explore as Nicky adds harmonica to her usual guitar work. Annabelle brings fiddle and mandolin to the mix and Ruth adds banjo to a couple of tracks. Even with the exit of the talented Cara Luft the Jenny’s have delivered a recording that cements their place as Canada’s finest folk vocal group. Chris Brown

www.amywinehouse.co.uk Rehab, the first song on Back to Black never made addiction sound so good. Amy Winehouse is the kind of soul singer I have not heard since Macy Gray’s breakout album. When a she intones in each chorus “What kind of fuckery is this” in Me and Mr. Jones well that’s just poetry ain’t it? Farting horn work, choppy guitars, driving bass and poppin’ drums make this a funky stew that Amy eats up like a gourmet meal. The style harkens back to the girl groups of the 1960’s and is both confessional and blunt. Amy’s voice is rich and mature as she shuns the vocal acrobatics so common to R&B singers. Back to Black is filled to over flowing with pain and heart break. Love is a Losing Game speaks from experience and hard-won wisdom about the futility of loving the wrong man. Perfect. Chris Brown

www.amoslee.com The first thing that hits me about Amos Lee is that he has a voice that sneeks up on you. He has a silky upper register that gives him a Motown feel while his regular voice is rootsy and relaxed. Lee lets his simple folk based tunes find a gentle soulful place and most have a subtle groove that will put a smile on your face. Songs like Freedom speak the truth with lines like “Freedom is seldom found, by beatin’ someone to the ground”. Night Train feels like a song you’ve known and loved for a long while. Supply and Demand is about balancing your life between work and family cause “you know you ain’t comin’ back down”. If you are old enough to remember James Taylor or young enough to have discovered Xavier Rudd you might like Amos Lee too. Chris Brown

www.corblund.com Corb Lund is a country throw back…way back…past Dwight Yoakam, past Elvis, to Buck Owen, Bob Wills, and Wilf Carter. Lund’s songs sound like 1940’s traditional country twang tunes as they spin out tall tales about obsessive card playing, crazy Calgary cowgirls , pick-up trucks stuck in the mud, hurtin’ Albertans, Oiler hockey games, and drinking before noon. Each tune is seriously twisted with lines like “good Copenhagen is better than bad cocaine” or “always keep an edge on yr knife son, cuz a good sharp edge is a man’s best hedge against the vague uncertainties of life”. This country music will make those quaffed and squeaky clean Nashville country stars pale and puke which to me is a good thing. If your guilty pleasure is listening to chicken picking guitar and old western music while sippin’ a beer, feet up on the railing of the porch, and pullin’ your dirty ball cap down over your eyes… Corb Lund is your boy. Corb Lund plays the West End on Sept. 24th. Chris Br...

www.dannymichel.com I admit it; I am a huge Danny Michel fan. He is one of those artists who you just KNOW has a monster album in them and with each release I hold my breath hoping that this is the breakthrough that will make Danny a star. Well …. Valhalla ain’t it. Not that there aren’t great songs here. The single Midnight Train is catchy and accessible. Black Tornados offers lines like “She sells gun shells by the sea shore” and “I’m coming home to your sweet potatoes and black tornados”. The Danny Michel shows I remember (9 and counting) have been just him playing one of his numbered tele’s and over working a smoking loop machine creating dense layers of sound above which he delivers each gem of a song. On his albums you lose that unpredictability and his off-kilter phrasing, Danny has to make room for other instruments, structure and personalities dumbing down his best qualities. Damn! Chris Brown

www.dwightyoakam.com Dwight Yoakam has never strayed from his deep country roots and that’s a great thing. The songs on Blame the Vain are thoughtful, playful and soulful. Girls getting wild with spray paint, heartbreak, drunken reasoning, Elvis impersonations, and denial are all are bathed in twangy, vibrato soaked, guitars and mournful harmonies. Dwight’s time in the spotlight seems to have past, but listening to this disc he seems not to have noticed or to care. She’ll Remember has an unexpected synth and spoken word opening that morphs into a straight country my-baby-broke-my-heart tune that plays with tempos and styles. When I First Came Here is a gritty, pounding tune that embraces the memory of a good woman and is one of the gems on this collection. There are more good songs here than bad and in a time of such disposable music I will return to this disc for years to come. Chris Brown

www.johnmayall.com Straight up, this is the best John Mayall recording in years. This disc is full of hard driving blues from the opening note of the Freddy King classic You Know That You Love Me until the furious and fabulous instrumental Cannonball Shuffle. Living in the Palace of the King is a joy and features Mayall’s high-pitched vocals, Robben Ford’s fiery, spitting guitar leads and big horn section blasts. Mayall dedicates this record to his idol Freddy King and he does him proud. I learned to play harmonica listening to Mayall harp lines from 1970’s USA Union and I have to say this record had me running for my harp box, mic and Garnet amp. Mayall even tells us what key the band is playing in on every song. Here’s to keeping the neighbors awake. Chris Brown

www.amyrigby.com Little Fugitive is a quirky record from a smart, cynical, and thoroughly likeable singer/songwriter. American Amy Rigby is a talented and mature songwriter who has written tunes for artists like They Might be Giants, Ronnie Spector, and Laura Cantrell. On this album she captures perfectly the weirdness of liking your ex’s new wife, dancing with Joey Ramone, and dealing with needy men. Amy is biting, sarcastic and humorous while being incredibly insightful. Sonically, she is part rock, part pop, mixed with a little punk and a dollop of folk. Give this cocktail a good shake and pour into 12 perfect little tunes. There are no throwaways here. So, if you are looking for a whip-smart record that’s poignant and makes you smile Little Fugitive is a gem. Chris Brown

Cordless phones have taken over from the corded models on most of our homes and if you remember them as having a limited range and poor sound quality you need to take a look at the latest models. The biggest change has come in the frequency range they operate in. The oldest version operated in the 46-49 Megahertz range and due to the small number of bands in this range there was lots of cross talk and little privacy. Analogue phones moved up to 900 Megahertz range but still had problems with sound quality. If your neighbor happened to have their baby monitor on they could periodically hear you on your cordless phone. Digital phones entered the marketplace at this time featuring voice encryption and an enhanced signal strength letting you use them in the backyard or garage. The third generation of cordless phones operated in the 2.4 GHz range and suffered from interference with microwaves and home WIFI wireless systems. Range was again extended and voice quality improved. The newest tec...

With our ever-increasing digital life it seems we have more and more cables to deal with. You can free yourself from a few of them by investing in a wireless router and connecting all the computers, printers, back up drives and even your TV wirelessly . Let’s start with the cheapest and easiest solution the wireless internet and email connection. First you’ll need a high-speed connection from MTS or Shaw and their free supplied cable box, a computer with a free USB port, or built in wireless modem and a wireless router. Many companies make routers and I have used D-Link, Belkin , Linksys and Apple and I have found some to be so tough to set-up I have had to call in experts ( Linksys ) and others so simple I was up and running in minutes. These days I like Apple’s Time Capsule, which works with both PC’s and Macs. I like it because it combines the latest Wireless G technology with a server grade hard drive for backing up your precious files. Many router companies make wireless route...

Online Chat, its something your kids can do without thinking but does it have an application for a more mature user? This week’s column will delve into the online chat world and show you how you can make good use of this technology both at work and at home. Online chat is live communication between two or more people online. It can be typed text, live audio or streaming video. Most PC users will be familiar with Instant Messenger and Mac users will know iChat. As with most internet related issues the speed of your internet connection will determine which type of communication will work the best for you. Hi-speed internet connections through MTS or Shaw allow those with a camera attached to their laptop or desktop to engage in two-way visual communication. To make use of this technology you need a webcam (many PC and all Mac laptops come with one built in) the software program (iChat is free with any Mac purchase as part of the iLife suite) a speedy internet connection and finally an a...

Over the next two issues I will be discussing some additions to your digital life that can make things easier, more convenient or more useful. Laptop users If you own a laptop and work on it regularly at home you’ll notice a few things. The screens can be a bit too small for office work, the keyboards feel cramped and some keys may be missing or do double duty, and the audio quality out of your laptops speakers may not be the best. Adding Visual Real Estate By adding a monitor to your setup you can increase the amount to screen space you have making working on a laptop much more enjoyable. Monitors range in size from 17 inch to 30 inches or more. There are many to choose from so what’s important? The first thing you want to look at is what is the maximum size your laptop can drive? My 13-inch Apple MacBook can drive up to a 24-inch screen while my MacBook Pro can drive over a 30-inch display. Native resolution is the resolution that your new screen feels most comfortable displaying. LC...

Internet café’s like Bar Italia on the Corydon strip are the perfect place to take your new laptop out for a cup of coffee. The place is packed with officeless workers checking email, surfing the net or writing the next great Canadian novel. Mini meetings abound as small groups of folks get together Friday afternoons to run through their To Do lists over a cappuccino, diet coke, glass of red or a cold beer. Many have their ears covered by headphones pumping in their own brand of motivation as they type. I like light, smaller over-the-ear headphones and my current favourites are a set of iGrados. If you’re in the market for a new laptop going to an Internet café and looking at what other people are using is a good way to do some practical research. A quick look around today reveals two black Dell laptops, a grey Toshiba, two silver Apple MacBook Pros and a white Apple MacBook. When you fire up your laptop and ask it to look for a network to join you will soon find that it has spotted th...

Last issue we looked at some of the less well-known features of iTunes. This issue I thought it might be fun to show you how to turn your computer into a wonderful stereo system and add a great portable MP3 player. iTunes will be at the heart of each system as it makes finding, organizing, playing and getting music simple. iTunes is available free from Apple at: http://www.apple.com/itunes/download/. It can be used on PC’s or Macs and you don’t need an iPod to take full advantage of having music available on your computer. The Budget System You can get a great basic computer from Dell Canada (www1.ca.dell/com) for as little as $319.00 plus the cost of a monitor. If you want a Mac you can grab a Mac Mini for $649.00 but you will need a keyboard, mouse, and monitor. Both these computers have a soundcard that would put to shame most expensive computers from only a few years ago. Purchase a set of Altec Lansing VS2120 speakers for $9.99 from Future shop and you’re rockin’. An iPod shuffle...

If you are one of the many people who found a new iPod under your Christmas tree this year you’ll want to get it connected and start downloading music, videos, audiobooks and movies. We’ve all looked at iTunes but even if you’ve had an iPod before many people have never purchased from iTunes or discovered its many secrets. Let’s dive in and have a look. The INFO window. Have you ever got a CD from a friend filled with new music and popped it into the computer only to be confronted by Track 1 to 12 with no song titles and no artist names? You can’t import the songs without this info, as it won’t be properly filed. Fixing this one is easy. First don’t say yes when the dialogue box appears say NO. Then if the CD is all the same artist and album highlight all the songs on the CD and right click. See the Get info line? Click it. Here is your info window. You need to select the INFO tab and there you want to fill out the Artist, Album Title, Year and Genre. Then click OK. Now the whole CD ha...

Ultra light laptops have become quite the status symbol with jet setting business types. All are lightweight, but too many are light in features too. The latest ultra lights do away with large capacity hard drives, DVD drives, multipul USB ports, and screen size trying to shave ounces and save users shoulders and backs. Let’s have a look at one of the most technologically advanced Apple’s new MacBook Air to see what the future holds for ultra portables. The Macbook Air weighs only 3 pounds as compared with the 5.4 pounds of the MacBook Pro. It sports a 13.3 inch screen the same as a MacBook but is only .76 of an inch thick at its thickest and an amazing .16 at its thinnest point. Many ultra lights use much smaller keyboards with tiny keys. This can be a problem for many users who are conditioned to typing on a full-sized keyboard. The MacBook Air comes with a full-sized keyboard that illuminates in darkened airplanes or study halls. Multi-touch track pads are soon coming to a laptop ne...

If you’ve ever tried to move a huge file through email you know what a huge pain it can be. Most email programs might let you exchange a photo or two by email but anything bigger gets rejected. So how do you move those huge files like movies, videos or presentations? Bit Torrents that’s how. Bit Torrent is not a program it’s a method of transferring huge files using a peer-to-peer file sharing system. Much of the Bit Torrent traffic is the illegal sharing of copyright protected materials but there is lots of legal and interesting public domain stuff out there too from episodes of your favourite TV Shows to educational how to videos. Bit Torrents are different from Napster, Limewire and Kazaa file sharing software you may have seen before. Bit Torrents download bits of the program you want from a multitude of hosts not one. It breaks down the file into a multitude of packets and grabs packets of data from whoever has them. Even as you download a file parts of your new file are being sha...

Purchasing a new TV has got a lot more complicated than ever before and the last few years has birthed a whole pile of new myths so lets have a look shall we? TV Types CRT’s Your Dad’s TV is now called a CRT Television. There is nothing wrong with this tube type of TV if all you do is watch broadcast TV, use a VCR to tape your favourite TV shows and rent the odd DVD. The best news is that these sets have tumbled in price and a 27” is less than $300. LCD TV’s This technology is the same as the screen on your laptop. They range in size from 20 inches up to 60 or so. The good news is they are great in sunny rooms (less glare) and use 20% less energy. Plasma TV’s These have really improved in the last couple of years. They have better blacks than LCD’s but are very reflective, heavier than an LCD and use more power. There used to be a concern about how long they’d last but the newer models will go for over 60,000 hours or 24 years. LCOS Same as an LCD but uses silicone for extremely long l...

Last week the Jumbo Video store at Stafford and Pembina began to sell off its movie stock and prepared to close their doors for good. You may have noticed that there are fewer video stores in your neighborhood as they find it harder and harder to compete with online offerings and the looming switch from DVD to Blue-ray discs. Does this mean that you will finally have to give up your VCR and purchase something new? Well, yes and no. If you are looking for movies to rent you figured out a few years ago that all the video stores had switched over to DVD. But if all you want to do is record your favourite TV show, videotape is fine and there is no indication that videotape will become harder to find. If you currently own a DVD player will you have to invest in a Blue-Ray player this year? No, Sony’s Blue-Ray has just won it’s protracted battle with it’s rival Toshiba’s HD-Disc and customers have been sitting on the sidelines waiting for there to be a clear winner before investing in either...

The cellphone used to come in two flavours - a simple phone with maybe a cheap camera or a “smartphone” that gave you access to your email. The problem with the later was there was little that was “smart” about these devices. They had challenges linking up with your computer to sync to your address book; the email worked fine, but the small keyboards and typing with your thumbs made for some hilarious messages; the menu’s where endlessly deep and useless features abounded. When was the last time you used your cellphone as a calculator? I hindsight it is clear that this was a technology ripe for revolution and, as we have seen in American, that revolution came in the form of Apple’s iPhone. Recently analysts have revised their sales projections up from 14 million phones sold worldwide in 2008 to over 14 million, while 2009 is expected to be even better, with 24 million iPhones sold. Why? What is it about this phone that makes it the phenomena that it is? Every one has a theory, but the...