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Mobile Miscellany: week of October 22nd, 2012

Zachary Lutz — Sat, 27 Oct 2012 19:20:00 -0400

If you didn't get enough in mobile news during the week, not to worry, because we've opened the firehose for the truly hardcore. This past week, T-Mobile announced the price and release date for the Optimus L9, carriers were announced in Canada for the ATIV S Windows Phone and ZTE released a low-priced Android smartphone for Virgin Mobile in the UK. These stories and more await after the break. So buy the ticket and take the ride as we explore the "best of the rest" for this week of October 22nd, 2012.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Samsung, LG, T-Mobile

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Rogers LTE hits 18 new regions, delivers speedy data in Saskatoon

Jon Fingas — Tue, 02 Oct 2012 02:33:00 -0400

Rogers promised that October 1st would be a grand day for its LTE expansion plans, and we're now learning that it might have been underpromising to overdeliver later. The carrier just flicked the 4G switch for 18 cities and regions, or eight more territories than it had promised just two weeks ago. Most of the coverage still focuses on the southern tip of Ontario, including London, the Oshawa area and RIM's hometown of Waterloo, but there's a much more trans-Canada bent to the official deployment. Western cities like Saskatoon and Victoria now fit into Rogers' LTE map beyond a previously announced Edmonton, while the Quebec rollout is going past Quebec City to include Sherbrooke and Trois-Rivières. All told, the one day of growth is enough to supply Rogers LTE to almost 60 percent of Canada's population -- a convenient figure when one of the year's more important LTE smartphones just became available less than two weeks prior.

[Thanks, Jon]

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile, Blackberry

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Source: Rogers RedBoard

Mischo Erban breaks skateboard speed record, captures the run with camera-equipped Recon

Zach Honig — Wed, 20 Jun 2012 11:55:00 -0400

We know Quebec well for its maple syrup, poutine and fresh mountain air, but the French Canadian province also has a more sprightly side, renewing our neighbor to the north's status in the athletic arena from time to time as well. This month, it's BC native Mischo Erban, who broke a Guinness World Record for the "fastest skateboard speed from a standing position" with a 129.94 km/h (80.74 mph) downhill run. Better yet, Erban caught the record-breaking journey with his custom-built Recon heads-up display / camera combo mounted inside a rather beastly jet-black helmet. The Android-powered HUD theoretically enabled Erban to know he broke the record before he even came to a stop, while also motivating him to keep pushing as he approached that 130 kilometers-per-hour top speed. There's no way to replicate the feeling of flying down a hill aboard a skateboard at 80 miles-per-hour without hopping on some wheels of your own, but you can get a taste of the action in the new record holder's POV video after the break.

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Canada's Videotron finally delivers tru2way-based illico TV HD DVRs

Richard Lawler — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 12:23:00 -0400

We've been waiting for the tru2way-based cable service Videotron promised since the end of 2009, and now it has finally delivered illico Digital TV. The software is being provided by Alticast, while HD DVRs available through Videotron and at retail are from Cisco and Samsung. While it's been a while and we can't quite remember where we put our excitement for all things OCAP (probably tossed when the retail availability dream died), Videotron customers can expect a new HD UI, widgets, and a 500GB DVR. At least in this initial push there's no mention of multiroom capabilities, although there is the ability to view video on demand content on PCs and mobile devices. It will start rolling out April 4th in the Greater Quebec region with other regions following soon, those interested can check out an English-subtitled trailer as well as a Francophone-only presentation video after the break.

Filed under: HD

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Wall-E gets a LEGO Mindstorms NXT makeover, tears up the dance floor (video)

Joseph Volpe — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 23:59:00 -0400

Alright, let's all be upfront here. When you saw this Pixar masterpiece you caught yourself thinking, "Destruction of the Earth? Not so bad... if that means I get my own Wall-E." It's ok, other more robotically-adept Quebecers had the same idea. Except they managed to mix it up with a LEGO Mindstorms NXT kit and create a waste-collecting romantic of their own -- sans the devastation of our world. The brainchild of Montreal-based creator Marc-André Bazergui, project w.5 incorporates six NXT bricks, 17 motors and over a thousand parts that let the lovelorn bot reanimate his motorized chassis back into our hearts. It's an impressive feat you can watch below, but note the video has been sped up -- you didn't expect building bricks to move that fast, did you?

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Videotron parent company tries to push iPhones off its TV network in Quebec

Donald Melanson — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 17:43:00 -0400

What happens when a giant media company owns both a wireless carrier and a television network? Shenanigans -- or at least that's what now seems to be going on in la belle province of Quebec, where the parent company of cable and wireless provider Videotron and television network TVA has seemingly decided to throw its weight around a bit. Apparently, some folks from Quebecor Inc. recently realized that a number of television shows produced for TVA featured iPhones somewhat prominently, which just so happens to be a phone that isn't offered by its Videotron subsidiary. Their solution? Ask the shows' producers to feature phones that are available on Videotron instead, like the Nexus One -- provided free of charge, of course. There doesn't seem to be an outright iPhone ban, however, and at least one show has apparently been given specific permission to let its characters continue using their iPhones -- although another show's producer says he "wouldn't be surprised" if such a ban was eventually put in place.

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RixRover is the cheap RC car controlled by a rather more expensive Arduino and netbook combo (video)

Tim Stevens — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 23:36:00 -0500

Driving RC cars never gets old, but driving them over the internet is truly something magical. Welcome to the RixRover, the creation of Quebecer Pierric Gimmig. It's a cheap RC truck fitted with big knobby tires that's had its ABS body removed, replaced by an Arduino board and a netbook. The car itself cost about $45, the Arduino about $30, and Eee PC 1005-series netbook about $200. But the result, being able to drive the car over remotely via streaming video, why that's quite simply priceless. Video after the break and, if you want to try your hand at this, there's some source code on the other end of the source link.

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Videotron's 120Mbps broadband is Canada's fastest, now available in Quebec City

Vlad Savov — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 07:18:00 -0400

Fittingly called Ultimate Speed 120, Videotron's latest internet access service is raising Canadian heartbeats today. Starting out in Quebec City and eventually expanding to the whole province, this broadband package will give users access to a 120Mbps information superhighway, complete with 20Mbps upload lanes. There are monthly usage caps, of course, set at 170GB down and 30GB up, but you can break them so long as you're willing to pay the surcharge. The broadband itself costs 160 Canadian bucks a month, though you can cut that down to C$150 by bundling it with a TV or telephony service. That's not exactly a bad deal, but given the choice, we'd still rather go live in Chattanooga.

[Thanks, Gary]

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Vidéotron launches mobile service in Canada, lots of smartphones in tow; iPhone in the cards?

Chris Ziegler — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 11:57:00 -0400

Canada's Quebecor has launched mobile service through its Vidéotron brand today, adding another start-up to an increasingly confusing array of new players challenging the country's legacy wireless giants, Rogers, Bell, and Telus. Like Mobilicity, Public Mobile, and WIND Mobile, Vidéotron uses AWS spectrum to offer 3G service, and the selection of devices at launch is surprisingly decent: you've got access to the Nexus One, Motorola XT720, Garmin A50, and BlackBerry Bold 9700, alongside a bunch of lower-end offerings and a data card. Though the carrier's network is restricted to Quebec, roaming deals are in place that should allow them to offer service "almost 95 percent of the country."

Perhaps the juiciest thing to come out of the launch today, though, happened during the Q&A session of the launch press conference, where one of the company's executive vice presidents apparently noted that Apple is in the process of manufacturing an AWS-compliant iPhone and that we should "expect an announcement in the coming months" regarding Vidéotron's launch. That certainly lends credence to recent rumors that T-Mobile USA is preparing to offer the iPhone -- like Vidéotron, it uses AWS 3G -- but just as with the perpetual Verizon rumors, we're going to hold off on calling this one gold until we see the units on a store shelf.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Filed under: Mobile

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Cogeco Cable picks up TSN2 HD and Canal Indigo HD in Quebec

Darren Murph — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 19:11:00 -0500

Cogeco Cable already added TSN2 HD (among other stations) in the Ontario market, but now folks located in Quebec can finally be on level ground. Starting this week, the carrier will begin broadcasting TSN2 HD (slot 542) and Canal Indigo HD (slot 500), and there's also the SD version of TELETOON (slot 90) for those obsessed with pixelated animation. As for extra costs, both of the high-def stations will be provided gratis for those already paying the monthly $2.99 HD service fee, while TELETOON will be free for those who subscribe to the Digital TV package.

Filed under: Cable, Sports, New content, HD

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Videotron ups the HD ante in Quebec

Darren Murph — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 02:39:00 -0400

Keeping the HD news from up North flowing is Vidéotron, which has just announced its plans to revamp its HD lineup. The Quebec-servicing cable provider has been able to get its illico digital television service out to over a million households, and it's vowing to "continue its digital terminal and HDTV service rollout with the upcoming arrival of RDI HD and ARTV HD in early May, with 30 HD stations, 14 of which are in French." Unfortunately, there aren't any details about channel names or anything lovely like that, but we figure a tease is better than nothing at all, right?

Filed under: Cable, New content, HD

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Quebec puts the brakes on electronic voting

Donald Melanson — Wed, 25 Oct 2006 23:25:00 -0400

While the U.S. mid-term elections are going full steam ahead with a myriad of maybe-reliable and not-so-reliable electronic voting systems in place, Quebec is pulling back from its adventures in e-voting, after the province's chief electoral officer Marcel Blanchet delivered a harsh report on the 2005 municipal elections. The voting machines were used in some 140 municipalities in the province last year but, according to the report, they went down like bad plate of poutine, suffering from blackouts and transmission errors, resulting in unreliable results -- although he adds that there's nothing that can be done about the results now except to move on. He also reported that the electronic voting machines weren't any faster or more economical than manual counting. As a result of the report, Quebec's Municipal Affairs Minister Nathalie Normandeau is accepting Blanchet's recommendation that the current moratorium on electronic voting put in place after last year's elections be maintained, apparently indefinitely.

[Via Slashdot]

Filed under: Misc

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DIY project merges VR goggles with RC airplane

Cyrus Farivar — Wed, 27 Sep 2006 06:05:00 -0400

Those crafty Canadians, they've invented everything from the beloved BlackBerry to medicalbots. Well, let's add another really sweet creation (DIY-style, this time) to the mix: a radio-controlled airplane with an on-board wireless pan-tilt camera that's linked up to a pair of VR goggles to show what the cam sees. When the terrestrial-bound viewer wears said goggles and moves his or her head, the plane-based cam will adjust accordingly -- if the viewer looks up, the cam looks up, and if the viewer looks to the left, the cam looks to the left, et cetera. Just check out the video linked below, for an amazing aerial tour of the "Club de golf Royal" in Bromont, Québec (near Montreal).

[Via digg]

Filed under: Cameras, Misc

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