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Apple

iPhone Transition and Recommended Apps

After my last exam of the semester, I took the earliest train to Toronto the next morning, eager to finally pick up a new phone. Though my excitement was interrupted by a transportation-related delay, the shopping experience that followed was unlike any other. I finally got to browse though Yorkdale’s new extension, including Canada’s first Microsoft store, which was great because I’m a PC.

Photo Source: Mashable

Buying a black 16 GB iPhone 5, which’ll be protected by a black OtterBox Defender, was a fantastic way to start my winter break. The case is so mightily thick that my friends have been teasing me about how the phone looks, but having peace of mind makes it worthwhile. During the initial activation of my phone, it was immediately apparent that using it is as intuitive as people say. Once my contacts were transferred from my BlackBerry Tour 9630 (3 years old, with a trackwheel!), I could proudly call myself an iPhone owner.

I’ve had a lot of fun downloading and testing out apps. Here’s a list of 20 apps I recommend, sorted categorically:

Social Networking & Photo: Twitter, Facebook Messenger, Foursquare, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Instagram, Skype

Entertainment & Music: Flixster (w/ Rotten Tomatoes), GetGlue, Cineplex, Shazam, IMDB

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December 30, 2012 by

Concert Review: Chantal Kreviazuk

The setlist at Chantal Kreviazuk’s show Friday night at Centennial Hall made it seem like fans were privy to a unique live performance of soundtracks from popular films of the 90s and early 2000s. When she wooed everyone by playing popular hits like “Time,” this brought back memories of watching MuchMoreMusic before the channel’s re-branding, not to mention climactic melodramatic scenes from Dawson’s Creek.

Her career may have peaked in the 90s, but Kreviazuk’s commentary between songs was definitely timely for a concert in 2012. While introducing “Feels Like Home,” she shared that many couples gush about it being their wedding song, and then emphasized how divorces and multiple marriages have changed how people feel about it. Her anecdotes can be summarized by the themes of remarriage, rowdiness and rock stars’ lifestyles. Evidently an Apple customer, Kreviazuk also spoke about how much she loves FaceTime, especially when either she or her husband, Raine Maida from Our Lady Peace, are touring.

Early on, Kreviazuk made self-deprecating remarks about forgetting lyrics 12 times, joking that she needed a teleprompter, even though such errors weren’t noticeable. What was more frustrating, however, was how Kreviazuk repeatedly faced the orchestra rather than the paying ticketholders. Although she was understandably impressed by the orchestra’s seamless collaboration, it would have been nice to see more of her facial expressions while singing emotionally-driven lyrics, no matter how “honoured” she was to play with them. Apparently she assumed everyone was a major Orchestra London supporter, but the weak applause when she acknowledged them indicated otherwise.

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November 13, 2012 by

Rewind and Re-watch: Legally Blonde

To kick off a new category and series of HOTS blog posts, I’ve revisited one of my favourite chick flicks: Legally Blonde.

I first saw Legally Blonde at a theatre at The Eaton Centre, which isn’t there anymore. It was 2001. Little did I know at the time that the film about a blonde sorority girl disproving others’ perception of her by going to Harvard Law School would spawn sequels and propel Reese Witherspoon’s career much further than Election could accomplish alone.

As I re-watched it for the umpteenth time on DVD, I was more attuned to the product placement. Not just the Red Bull that Elle’s sorority sister drinks while exercising or the stack of Cosmopolitan magazines on Elle’s dresser, but especially the OPI nail polish bottles scattered across her colourful room. Even when Elle has the revelation at a nail salon to enroll in law school to win Warner back, the back cover ad on the magazine she’s reading is for OPI. I also thought about the contrast between Elle’s nerdy classmates on black PCs and her brand new orange Apple iBook.

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September 23, 2012 by

Smile and Share

Noticed a lot of blue and white lately? It’s probably because The Hospital for Sick Children’s SickKids Foundation launched their ‘Doing the Happy’ campaign – a great way to jumpstart the joyful season that is summer.

The excitement surrounding the campaign validates Globe writer Simon Houpt’s observations about what made the KONY 2012 video go viral. “Everyone loves kids,” he wrote.

Influencer engagement has been all the rage for a few years now, but tapping recognizable Canadian media personalities provides a nationalistic undertone, which helps enlist support. Though I couldn’t help but notice a slant toward featuring broadcast journalists from Bell Media, it was refreshing to see actors such as Ashley Leggat, whom I hadn’t seen since Toronto’s production of Dirty Dancing.

Houpt also urged marketers not to underestimate people’s attention spans. I predict that the campaign’s combination of a fun premise, worthy cause and clean visuals will lead to many more views for their 4+ minute long video.

Doing the Happy isn’t the only neat thing SickKids is doing in the digital space. Cundari recently developed a fantastic iPhone app that engages young patients. Through gamification, the app encourages kids to fill out pain diaries and report which medications are working best.

May 12, 2012 by

I Creeped Rashida on MTV, But I Ain’t Following Her

It’s one thing to upload only the photos that showcase your most attractive features or selectively tweet links related to your industry, but it’s quite another to publicly over-share the minutiae of your daily life. Too few social media users consciously filter the information they post online – a pattern which MTV Canada’s producers are capitalizing on to capture viewers’ attention in the network’s latest show, Creeps.

MTV used their ever so popular Jersey Shore as the lead-in for Creeps’ series premiere on January 5. Creeps proves that Canadian broadcasters indeed have a knack for creating engaging, interesting and timely original content, as it revolves around the over-sharing trend that we are all too familiar with in 2012.

Each episode examines young Canadians’ social media profiles and introduces viewers to Facebook-aholics and Twitter junkies. For example, in the first episode, we met Rashida James (@thatsSOrara) who has 300+ Twitter followers. In a recent tweet, she admitted she “doesn’t know 90% of the people” appearing in her news feed.

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January 10, 2012 by