Feature

Summer may be around the corner, but you can’t always say the same thing about your Wi-Fi. And with the warm weather on its way, it’s time to think about getting a strong Wi-Fi signal into your backyard.

At last, spring is nearly upon us. Soon we’ll be able to go outside again without fear of losing toes to frostbite, or losing an umbrella to a sudden gale. On top of that, the clocks went forward (‘spring forward, fall back’) last weekend so now we have all these glorious long evenings ahead of us.   The spring is a great time to get outside and practice some photography, and today I’m going to walk you through some of the manual settings on your camera so that you can shoot with purpose, rather than just leaving it all to the camera and hoping for the best

In June of 2013, Roland announced a revamp of their popular CUBE line of guitar amplifiers. The CUBE line has been around since 1978 and has been the bread and butter of many practice and recording sessions. Randy Rhoads, Joe Walsh and Ritchie Kotzen are some of the artists who have used the amplifiers in the studio and on stage.   Roland has been a solid brand in the music industry for decades. The CUBE line of amplifiers has a great history and has served many guitarists well. Of all the smaller practice amps out there, I have to admit that the offerings from the CUBE line sure look cool. From what I heard from them at NAMM, they also SOUND great too.

I’m one of those people that like to pack the most amount of living into the least amount of space. By that I mean that I like to have all of the areas I need – corner library, play area, and even my home office, all set up on my main floor so everything is accessible.   Not every home office has to be a full room full of furniture, shelves, and filing cabinets. Some of the best home offices are simple, stylish, and compact. Here are some solutions for creating a great home office without taking up a ton of space.  

Over the past thirty years, the concept of “work” has changed dramatically. With the advent of email, the Internet, cell phones, texting, and teleconferencing, the need to get up at the crack of dawn, throw on a suit, and commute an hour to spend the day behind a desk in an office building is slowly giving way to flex time and telecommuting. In fact, the majority of those in the professional services spend at least some of their time working from home.   Throw in those among us who are self-employed, consult or freelance on the side, or who are writing the next best selling novel, and the need for a home office environment that is conducive to productivity is greater than ever.   But what makes a suitable and functional home office? Take away the bells and whistles like files, label makers, and fancy desktop accessories, and an efficient home office can be broken down into five key essentials. 

  4K TVs are the best you can get when it comes to picture quality these days, offering four times the resolution of high-definition at 3,840 x 2,160 pixels versus 1,920 x 1,080. But with all of the hype surrounding them, one question that’s not as often discussed is how lower resolution content will look on these 4K/Ultra HD/UHD TVs. And it’s an important thing to consider since that’s what most of us are still watching.

Why would you buy a gaming laptop? If your idea of playing games on your PC is Candy Crush, then you wouldn’t. But if your idea of fun is piloting a 24-foot tall Titan or taking on a Zerg swarm and you want to do it on the go (or in the smallest space possible), then you want a gaming laptop. These mobile PCs are small enough to serve as a compact all-in-one PC gaming rig, but also offer the advantage of portability. They will dramatically outperform a typical laptop or Ultrabook when it comes to video games because they are designed with one thing in mind: speed.

Daylight savings starts this Sunday, March 9. It means jumping ahead one hour to enjoy longer days of summer and signals the end of rising to work in the dark.   Why not celebrate this new time frame with a new clock? Today’s clocks have self adjusting features so you don’t have to worry about setting the right time.They are also a great way to add a personal touch of style.

TV technology just keeps getting better every year, to the point it is hard to keep track and understand it all. One of the least talked about but greatest technological improvements for LCD screens is “in-plane switching” (IPS). IPS has advanced quite a bit in recent years and is definitely worth paying attention to because it is now behind the best LCD screens. The various screen technologies can be a bit confusing so let me try to explain what you need to know about IPS vs. others.

One of the things about living in a northerly country like Canada is that we spend stretches of the year with short days and long nights. Far from limiting our options as photographers, today I’ll look at the limitless night photography opportunties that are open to us – including ‘light painting’!