Samsung Jack Cell phone review

• Author: DigitalMind
• Filed under: Techie Toys'n'Games
• Date: Dec 1,2008

After a year of using a cell phone that hangs up on half the people that call me, my cell phone contract has finally expired and it’s time to get a new phone at a huge discount.

My Cell phone carrier, Fido, has never sold blackberry services. (Which is strange because they’re owned by Rogers who was the first to offer blackberry service here in Montreal) I’m an email addict and this has been a pain.  About 6 months ago they finally offered a service like the blackberry, (Called blackberry connect) but was only supported on a specific Nokia brand telephone.  (Although lots of people have been successfully able to use the fake fido blackberry service with unlocked blackberries)

After a visit to the nearest Fido Store in downtown Montreal, I’ve discovered that things have finally changed! (Fido used to have a very easy to use website with all the information that is needed, now they’ve completely changed it and I can’t find anything I wanted on it.  So I had to go in person. Fido, if you’re reading this, what were you thinking?!)

Despite their now crappy website, I’m a big fan of Fido.  They give good service and have affordable prices.  I was happy to hear they now supported the 3G Wireless High speed Network.  They had 2 phones that I could see myself using.   The Iphone, and the Samsung Jack. (Also knows as the Samsung Blackjack 2, or the Samsung i616)

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World Wide Flash Mob (WWFM IV) - Geocaching

• Author: DigitalMind
• Filed under: Techie Toys'n'Games
• Date: Nov 15,2008

On November 8th, 2008 at 12:58 pm Eastern Standard Time geocachers worldwide took part in Flash Mobs at various locations.  The Wikipedia describes a flash mob as “a large group of people who assemble suddenly in a public place, perform an unusual action for a brief time, then quickly disperse.”

I took part in the Laval Flash mob which was organized by a well known geocacher called Landbehrt.  Over 100 people suddenly arrived at the Montmorency metro (subway) station and got onto the same wagon at the same time.  We basically had a mini geocaching party that lasted about 15 minutes in the metro wagon.  We exchanged geocoins, gave out toys and candy to the children, and had a great time meeting other geocachers from the area !

If you don’t know what geocaching is, you should read my past post about it here !

This is the video montage, courtesy of TechieNATION, about the WWFM Laval event. (GC1GRC4)

If you would like to download the high quality video, please right click this link and “save as”.

Drug-dealers vs software developers

• Author: DigitalMind
• Filed under: Techie Toys'n'Games
• Date: Aug 15,2008

I did not write this myself, I simply stumbled upon it on this site but found it funny enough to post.

Geocaching featured in the Montreal Mirror newspaper

• Author: DigitalMind
• Filed under: Techie Toys'n'Games
• Date: Jul 31,2008

A few weeks ago I was contacted by Erik Leijon, a writer for The Mirror. (A local, free, montreal newspaper that is read by many, including myself)  He found me via TechieNATION, and told me he was writing an article on geocaching and asked if I had time to answer some questions and maybe do a cache with him.  I was glad to help spread the word about geocaching so we set an appointment to meet near the newspapers office downtown by the old port. (If you don’t know what geo-caching is, please click here to read my post about geo-caching)

There were 3 cache’s within about 4 small city blocks of his office. Oddly enough, I have never been out looking for these ones even though I’m in the neighborhood often. I was a little nervous that the cache’s might be gone or that I couldn’t find them, but it was not the case.

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My Razor E200 Electric Scooter review

• Author: DigitalMind
• Filed under: Techie Toys'n'Games
• Date: Jul 29,2008

Last Thursday I was at a customers and noticed this tiny little electric scooter inside the IT guy’s office.  I asked him about it, and he told me that he uses this scooter to get to and from work regularly during the summer.  By car, it would take him 20 minutes to get to work.  He comes in with the scooter, then plugs it in his office to recharge so that it’s ready to go back at the end of the day ! Wow !

Needless to say I went online and started looking into this scooter.  It can go up to 12 MILES per hour for 40 minutes.  That’s more or less a 15 km drive with a single charge !   The selling point for me was the low price tag:  $200 dollars !  I bought one the next weekend.

I went to a couple of stores that were supposed to sell it, but they were all out.  I lucked out to find this one, the last one on the shelf, at Toys’R'Us. (I can’t believe this thing is made for children 12 years old and up!)  The box was in bad shape so I was worried about the contents, but everything was fine.

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Cool toys for the outdoor Techie

• Author: DigitalMind
• Filed under: Techie Toys'n'Games
• Date: Jun 11,2008

My Sister and her Hubby recently got me a really cool Monocular. This got me looking into other fun techie toys and I came across opticsplanet.net’s website.

OpticsPlanet is one of the leading optics suppliers with a wide selection of sport optics, tactical and military gear, microscopes, and even Prescription Sunglasses! They have a huge selection of binoculars, spotting scopes, night vision, telescopes, rangefinders, laser sights, flashlights, tripods, radar guns, digital camera binoculars and much more!

One of the things I find the most interesting is the DIGITAL BINOCULARS. Normally, when you go hiking, bird watching, geocaching, or camping, you might take a high end digital camera or expensive binoculars. Instead, take an inexpensive digital binoculars camera and capture the moment while you enjoy the beauty of nature. Integrated Digital Camera binoculars not only bring objects closer, binoculars digital camera let you take digital photo pictures, and, with many models, capture video, that you can share with friends, send to relatives, and keep a memory for years to come.

OpticsPlanet’s site is a great place for people to explore, learn about their hobbies and find the best gear to suit their needs.  The site has a Best Price Guarantee offers Free UPS Shipping on most orders over $29.95.  Check it out !

Travel Bugs, Geocoins, and other geocaching trackable items.

• Author: DigitalMind
• Filed under: Techie Toys'n'Games
• Date: May 1,2008

Geocaching is a great hobby for Techie’s, Families, animals … I guess what i’m saying, is that it’s a game that everyone can enjoy for one reason or another. Travelbugs and geocoins are items that are trackable via the geocaching.com website and add an interesting twist to the game. If you have no clue what geocaching is, read this article.

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Montreal Urban Geo-Rally video

• Author: DigitalMind
• Filed under: Techie Toys'n'Games
• Date: Apr 28,2008

Bugsyves, one of the 2 organizers of the montreal urban geo-rally made a great video that he put on Youtube…

Here it is !! There are a few pics of me there, the best ones at the very end …

Geocaching Montreal Geo-Rallye 2008 - GC1953F

• Author: DigitalMind
• Filed under: Techie Toys'n'Games
• Date: Apr 28,2008

Last saturday, in Montreal, Incomer and Bugsyves organized a geo-rallye. For those of you who don’t know what geo-caching is, read this text that explains it. The rallye consisted of about 13 teams of 4 or 5 people that had a series of geo-caches to find, and lots of very tricky clues to solve.

I had volunteered to help with the Rallye instead of being part of one of the teams. My job was to play a homeless man, in downtown Montreal. I was essentially sitting on a LARGE cache that was covered in a blanket. A Teammate, (Narquois) who was in the park across the street would give me a sign when geocachers were heading my way. At this point I would pretend to sleep, on the cache, and wait for one of them to decide to wake me (in hopes that I was in fact part of the game). I had a cardboard sign next to me that said (in french) “Need 20$ for a steak please” that I only put out when the geocachers where near. It was very fun listening to the team members debating if I was in fact sitting on the cache, and if I was part of the game or just bad luck on their part that I was sitting there. I didn’t make it easy either I must admit.

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Airhogs Havoc Remote Controlled Mini Helicopter review

• Author: DigitalMind
• Filed under: Techie Toys'n'Games
• Date: Apr 7,2008

My friend told me about a very affordable remote controlled helicopter that is meant to be used indoors ! (Approx. 25$ at Walmart) As a techie, I’ve always loved all things remote controlled, and always wanted a remote controlled plane or helicopter. I rushed to Walmart and picked one up. I wasn’t expecting much.

The Havoc Helicopter is about 5 inches long, and 2 inches high. It’s body is made of Styrofoam ! (That kind of worried me, but it turns out it’s a GREAT thing) There is a blue LED in the helicopter that blinks when turned on, it’s a great help with helicopter salvage missions when it’s stuck behind a cabinet amongst a mess of wires!

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