How to Donate to Typhoon Haiyan relief efforts in the Philippines

Typhoon Haiyan is one of the strongest recorded typhoons in recent history. It tore through much of the Philippine archipelago and caused widespread devastation, leveling entire towns and affecting thousands of families many of who now have no homes, no clothing, food or water.

Haiyan pummeled the Philippines with winds of up to 313 kph and the size of the storm itself was monstrous being large enough to cover most of the US.

PERSPECTIVE: A storm the size Typhoon Haiyan would nearly cover the U.S. http://t.co/efUtURMggb - @RedCross pic.twitter.com/02B9RXllDg

— NewsBreaker (@NewsBreaker) November 11, 2013

It is a desperate situtation affecting many already impoverished areas. Since the Philippines is made up of thousands of islands, getting aid to the people who need it the most has been a monumental effort.

Reports have started to come in and the effects of this unprecedented super typhoon and the images and stories are heartbreaking. Tens of thousands are feared dead or missing, and  millions more are affected by this tragedy. While relief efforts are underway, more help is needed fast.

Before and after images of the Philippine Typhoon Haiyan from Sploid

Here is how you can help.

Canadian Red Cross

The Canadian Red Cross has been assisting its Philippine counterparts since Friday, working to meet the needs of individuals in crisis.

Humanitarian Coalition

The Canadian aid coalition of CARE, Oxfam, Plan Canada and Save the Children have been working with its member agencies on the ground in the Philippines since the disaster struck.

UNICEF

UNICEF is working with its partners to provide life-saving essentials and emergency supplies to children affected by the typhoon.

Global Medic

The Canadian emergency-relief charity has departed for the Philippines and is focusing on water-purification in the affected regions.

Canadians looking for information on friends and relatives who may have been caught in the affected areas can call Foreign Affairs’ 24-7 Emergency Watch and Response Centre at 1-800-387-3124 or 613-996-8885.

Subscribers of Rogers, TELUS and Bell Mobility can donate $5 to the Red Cross by simply texting REDCROSS or ROUGE to 30333. Larger amounts can be sent through the Red Cross website.

TELUS landline subscribers in BC and AB can call Philippine landlines for free from November 8-14.

Source: The Toronto Star, MobileSyrup

Native Google Play app heading to BlackBerry 10?

It's no secret that those on BlackBerry 10 have taken to sideloading Android apps onto their BlackBerry 10 devices to fill the app void. Sheesh, one of the first things I did when I started using my Z30 was sideload Instagram onto it! Well, we have some good news care of a few leaked images that turned up in CrackBerry forums earlier: images of Google's PlayStore running natively on a BlackBerry 10 device. 

Say it ain't so? Could an influx of apps be coming to the little ecosystem that could? Highly unlikely. Word that came with the image above is that the next iteration of BB10, BB10.2, could come with the Google Play store as a native app. 

Or this could be a clever sideload job to trick everyone. No comment from Google or BlackBerry, yet, but that doesn't mean they don't intend on commenting either.

Stay tuned...

via [CrackBerry forums]

Moto G release date, specs and pricing leaked by Amazon.co.uk

Looks like Amazon.co.uk jumped the gun on the upcoming Moto G. Scheduled to be announced this Wednesday Novemeber 13 (stay tuned for our coverage right here), the Moto G is the lower cost variant of the Moto X. According to the Amazon.co.uk leak, it will be released on Novemeber 14th, and it will cost £159.99 off contract for the 16GB black model. Of course this applies to the UK, so we can't tell what the Canadian pricing will be. 

Source: Pocket Lint

Happy 12th birthday iPod!

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

It may no longer be Apple's cash cow or comeback product but there's no denying the importance that the Apple iPod holds in the company's history as well as the music industry at large. The iPod wasn't the first MP3 player, but it was the first one that really made sense. It made digital music consumption portable and cool. It gave birth to iTunes, songs sold as digital singles and it single-handedly challenged piracy by offering a legal way to distribute music digitally (although some would argue that it promoted piracy for people who didn't want to pay for music).

Still, there's no denying the original iPod (1,000 songs in your pocket) took Apple one step closer to the iPhone and the iPad. It made solid state drives a necessity and made technologies like cloud computing, FireWire and the cool clickwheel the landmark features that would set it apart from the competition.

So while the iPod's 12th birthday hasn't really been celebrated and it wasn't even mentioned in the last few Apple Events, we really need to raise a glass to this iconic and game changing device that propelled Apple beyond its computer roots as well as changed the way people enjoyed music all over the world.