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Welcome to the Canadian Tech Podcast. A weekly show on what’s going on in the tech scene from a Canadian perspective.

Thanks to our sponsor this week Orpheum Hosting Solutions.

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Hosts
Stuart Clark
Jamieson Roberts
Carmi Levy

Lots of new products the last two weeks.

Microsoft-Apple redux: the empire strikes back
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hzwkD3D581WxeW6IuZFL5_IALOgg

Disruptions: You Know You Can’t Live Without Apple’s Latest Glass Rectangle
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/10/28/disruptions-you-know-you-cant-live-without-apples-latest-glass-rectangle/

Apple releases new products
Ipad Mini review
http://launch.co/story/jason-ipad-mini-review-awesome-been-using-the-ipad-mini-all-last
Additional thought: Is the iPad mini killing the full-sized iPad? – Apple says it sold 3 million iPads and iPad minis combined in its first weekend of sale (they hit stores Friday.) Interesting thing is they haven’t broken down the proportion of either, but some estimates say between 2 and 2.5 million of those were minis. Which begs the question of whether the smaller, cheaper device is killing off the bigger, more expensive one.

Some people talking about waiting for a mini with a retina display, will that be an ipad killer at that point?

Some early reviews of the Microsoft surface.
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/blogs/right-click/microsoft-surface-rt-review-roundup-people-saying-windows-165959818.html

Only a few places you can get the Surface in Canada right now.
http://goodereader.com/blog/tablet-slates/where-to-buy-the-microsoft-surface-in-canada/

iOS 6.0.1 now available, iPhone 5 users need to download installer
http://www.tuaw.com/2012/11/01/ios-6-0-1-now-available-iphone-5-users-need-to-download-install/

Tech survival – Superstorm Sandy and her aftermath have taught us many lessons about keeping connected even after the power goes out. Would you know what to do if a major storm – or similar disaster – threw you into the dark for days at a stretch? Might be a good time to talk about some of the tips and tricks that can keep you up and running. Things like inverters for the car, solar power chargers, crank-powered chargers for small devices, juice packs, common charging cables, public resources like libraries and fast food restaurants, etc.
http://pogue.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/11/01/how-to-keep-electronics-going-with-no-power/

The Stephen Orser Effect – Our colourful city councillor has stepped in it again, with a controversial posting to Facebook about convicted Tori Stafford murderer Michael Rafferty and suicide. This is only the latest example of London’s elected officials behaving badly in social media, and it illustrates, yet again, how important it is for our civic leaders to get a clue before they reach for that smartphone. We’ve had Twitter arguments and insults break out from within the council chambers, and now this. It’s distracting everyone from the job at hand, and makes us, to the outside world, look like rank amateurs.
http://www.lfpress.com/2012/11/04/ghastly-comment-posted-via-mayoral-defenders-facebook-account

Another example. http://zone0fsilence.wordpress.com/2012/11/05/asking-the-mayor/

Change your PayPal password. Now. – The shadowy hacker group, Anonymous, is at it again. This time, they claim to have stolen account information of 28,000 PayPal account holders – names, email addresses, etc. While PayPal itself denies there’s been a breach, it reinforces just how important it is for us to change our passwords regularly. Because a PayPal account is like a bank in that it holds actual currency. It’s UNLIKE a bank in that if it’s raided, legislation doesn’t require PayPal to reimburse you.
http://gizmodo.com/5957682/anonymous-claims-to-have-stolen-28000-paypal-passwords

Android grows. Again. – Just-released figured from research firm IDC show Google’s mobile operating system is now installed on 3 out of every 4 smartphones sold today. Think iPhone rules? Think again. It’s got only 14.9% global market share. The Google borg shows no signs of slowing down.
http://www.canadianbusiness.com/article/105293–idc-android-on-75-pct-of-smartphones-in-3q

Canadians want their digital wallets. – A just-released survey shows 47% of Canadians are ready to start paying with their smartphones. The survey, co-sponsored by CIBC, was released coincidentally at the same time as the CIBC-Rogers payment partnership was launched. Still. the future is coming whether we like it or not. The kicker? CIBC won’t charge you for the service, but Rogers now has access to your personal financial data being stored on your phone’s SIM card. Just like supposedly “free” services like Facebook and Google, the real currency is private data, and we’re basically giving it away to megacorporations.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/technology/canadians-increasingly-open-to-digital-wallets-survey/article4852298/

Balders Gate enhanced edition due out nov 28th
http://www.tuaw.com/2012/11/02/baldurs-gate-enhanced-edition-due-out-november-28-mostly/

Halo 4 released on Tuesday.  Matthew Hoy from The Games Day Podcast reports lines forming already.

Picks of the Week

Stuart – Duplicator – Great WordPress plugin to move a wp site from hosts or from dev to production.
Jamieson –Letterpress – game for iOS
Carmi –DocScanner – available for iOS and Android