Feature

Everyone who has children wants to inundate you with their list of must-have gear. Here are 3 essential tech items that are must-haves for any parent, plus a few honourable mentions.

Summer is in full swing and it’s time to enjoy the beautiful weather and all the fun activities summer has to offer. With the nice weather comes extra safety precautions to be had. Read on for my must have summer survival tips for the outdoors.

More people are cutting their cable ties by capturing free over-the-air (OTA) TV signals that are broadcast in full HD. Doing that plus Internet streaming is making it easier all the time. To capture those free OTA signals requires a good antenna, which may be hard to judge until you buy one, so why not look at what consumers are saying are the best antennas?

I don’t know what the weather is like where you live, but right now we are going through a pretty epic heat wave here on the west coast. Don’t get me wrong, I live for summer, but when it’s hot and humid like this I find that a number of my otherwise “normal” activities often take a backseat to more pressing issues, like searching out air conditioning and cold bodies of water. For example, blow drying and straightening my hair (not going to happen), cooking anything in the oven (it’s already a million degrees in my apartment), and sadly, romance (there’s no way we are cuddling). But believe it or not, you can actually amp up the summer romance with a movie night at home, regardless of how unbearably hot it is outside; all you need are a few essentials to improve your home theatre room and you’re set!

If the term “never leave home without it” applied to any one material item or product, it would have to be the smartphone. Some estimates suggest the average user looks at their smartphone screen as many as 1,500 times per week. Travelling without a handset in tow seems to be getting increasingly difficult, simply because of everything it can do. From taking photos at some exotic locale, uploading them to Instagram and messaging friends and family back home, the smartphone is a versatile tool anywhere and everywhere.

I have a confession to make. The first time I went camping as an adult was two summers ago. Before that, I was seven and my parents shipped me off for the weekend with my Brownie troupe to learn all sorts of life skills and earn all sorts of badges. I cried the whole time. But when one of my closest friends convinced me to join her annual camping trip—which meant no electricity, no WiFi, and no plumbing—I decided to put my tiara away for a few days and suck it up; and as it turns out, it was one of the best times I’ve ever had.

Have you ever thought about what it might be like to fly? Well we don’t quite have jetpacks yet like we’re all hoping for but we do have quadcopters and drones these days. They are getting less expensive and more versatile very rapidly, and so there has never been a better time to try one out. They are easy to use, and there is so much variety so that pilots of any budgets or skill level can find something to make use of. Whether you just want to play around with controlling something in the air, or want to take professional grade aerial video, we’ve got you covered.

Summer is, without a doubt, my favourite time of year. In fact, I’m such a summer girl that I’ve often wondered why I haven’t moved myself to a more temperate climate where the hot days and warm nights stick around for longer than a few months. But perhaps it’s precisely the short shelf life we have on summers here in Canada that makes me itch to spend as much of them outside as possible.

Don’t underestimate how important sound is for your home entertainment system. Today’s TVs, especially the new 4K Ultra High Definition sets, have bigger screens and such great pictures you might just think that is all you need. But having crystal clear sound with a great balance of those low and high notes will make any movie experience so much better. For the best sound in your home, seriously consider a premium audio receiver. The overall cost of ownership is not much more at all, the sound is noticeably better, and they usually come with many useful features.