Entries by Nicole Batac (11834)

Monday
Oct212019

Costco Canada offers an almost 20% discount on iTunes gift cards

Now is the best time to get an iTunes gift card from Costco. The retailer is offering almost 20 percent off the gift cards. There are three price tiers it's available on: the $25 card goes for $20.99, the $100 card goes for $83.99, and the $200 card goes for $167.99. The caveat is this offer is only available online for members only. There is also a four-card limit per person. Costco will email a digital code for the gift cards. This offer is available until October 27. As MobileSyrup points out, one great way to spend it is on getting either an Apple TV+ or Disney+ subscription.

Monday
Oct212019

OnePlus 6, 6T gets Android 10 open beta

The OnePlus 6 and OnePlus 6T are the latest devices from the company to get access to the open beta of OxygenOS based on Android 10. To download it, you'll need a minimum of 3GB of storage. As with any beta release, this version is unstable, so practice caution when installing this update. Make sure you aren't putting it into your primary device. OnePlus has instructions on how you can roll back to your existing version of Android.

The update brings with it a new UI design, improved location permissions for privacy, new Game Space feature, and icon customization in the Quick Settings. There are now inward swipe gestures to go back, and a bottom navigation bar to let you switch left or right for recent apps. It's now also possible to block spam by keywords in the Message app, and the Ambient Display gets new information based on specific times, locations, and events.

Monday
Oct212019

Shaw's FreeRange TV app is now called BlueCurve TV

Calgary-based telecommunications company Shaw changes the name of its FreeRange TV app to BlueCurve TV. There are no changes to the mobile application beyond the name, but now it's more in line with its offerings like the BlueCurve Pods. The service still lets current cable TV subscribers watch live TV from their smartphone or tablet. And it allows users to download kids' shows for offline viewing.

BlueCurveTV app is still based on Comcast's X1 cloud platform, which is used by Rogers and Videotron as well. The BlueCurve TV app is available on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store for free.

Source: iPhone in Canada

Sunday
Oct202019

Google explains why it opted to use Wi-Fi 5 for the Nest Wifi

The two most notable things about the new Nest Wifi is that it comes with a built-in smart speaker and digital assistant in all its nodes and that it uses Wi-Fi 5 instead of Wi-Fi 6. Google defends this option by saying that there isn't that big of a real-world difference between the two, especially with the majority of consumer devices still stuck on older protocols.

Nest Wifi Product Manager Chris Chan told VentureBeat"You do see a lot of routers with Wi-Fi 6 built in, but it charges quite a bit of a premium in order to get that, and in fact, you need to have Wi-Fi 6-compatible other devices in order for it to be a faster experience." Google isn't the first to go this route with its Wi-Fi router, though. Amazon's new Eero models are also still using Wi-Fi chipsets.