You might have all read my Mobilicity Review for Vancouver which was over a year ago now. With all the comments on that post I figured it was time to try a cheap network again. I have been with Bell since my terrible experience with Mobilicity but some of you have been telling me how much better they have become. I couldn't face them again but the latest advertising campaign from Wind Mobile in Vancouver made me think that my expensive plan with Bell could be beaten by a $30 plan from Wind and that they were a more robust network. May I start this by saying my attitude was positive and I wanted the best from this experience. I support any efforts by any network to challenge the big 3, and I outline at the end how these networks, Wind and Mobilicity, might work for you.

So, the connection. The experience was good. Although I went into the Willowbrook Mall location in Langley and the first agent was quite rude to another customer as I waited which was disappointing. However, the guy I spoke to was brilliant. Friendly, helpful and he knew his way around my Samsung Galaxy (Vibrant) incredibly well. A good start, I was confident and expectant.

So you have a flat or house and you need a roommate. You want the right roommate, not the guy who smokes in the kitchen or the girl who has the Dog that urinates on the Couch weekly. Find me a Room is about finding a roommate but getting an idea about what your getting in your other roommates. See what your potential flatmates are into, or not into and get an idea of the house, flat to let.

It's free and it includes handy maps, is open to anyone and can handle multiple languages. It's also global so it doesn't matter where you live.

Find me a Room, or find you a room, or find us a roommate, or find you a flatmate or....you get it.

Let me know what you think.

My take on the SHURE SE215 earphones.

Good heapdphones are like a good yoga or gym session, they give you happiness and can calm the mind. Bad headphones are like a day at a daycare centre with 20 screaming infants and hardwood floors. It's stressful, straining and damaging to the ears. 

I would not say I am an audiophile but I do like music to be played as close as possible to the way it was intended. With my limited time recording in studios I appreciate that what the musicians get out of their gear will often then be distorted by the perceptions of the audio engineer, the mixer, masterer and producer. So I figure it's probably important not to further murder their efforts by using crap headphones. Can't afford them? Then save up and don't spend less in the meantime. You'll be glad you did.

I have the best android iCloud alternative below but sorry, iCloud for Android doesn't technically exist, and iCloud for Blackberry doesn't either - but here is something equally useful for Android and Blackberry users. This is how you can get the iCloud experience without the ios5 device.

I have an iPad and an Android phone (Samsung Galaxy S). I work on a PC at work and a Macbook at home. So for me iCloud is awesome but useless as it doesn't cross over all my devices. If you are looking for the easier cross platform/device alternative there is a simple answer: SugarSync

SugarSync is cooler or as equally cool as iCloud and Dropbox for the following reasons:

• Works on android, iphone, blackberry, symbian, mac and PC.
• You can choose what folders to sync (dropbox is great but tends to focus on your one dropbox folder)
• You get 5GB free up front
• It has a great online interface

So you've finally realised the value of Cloud Computing. Overall you seem to think it is a solid, sound, affordable solution for your computing, storage and business needs. More importantly you have chosen a SaaS provider (Software-as-a-Service) for different parts of your business. In fact you may have even chosen a PaaS provider but that is for another post.

It used to be you went to facebook to share all the interesting and mundane elements of your life. Friends, family and acquaintances were all subject to your mood, your pictures, your daily rants and philosophical murmurings. Since the advent of Google+ however it seems things have gone a little quiet. People are straddled between facebook and google+ no knowing where to post to ensure the right people see their message. The notifications icon at the top of facebook seems strangely quiet and it seems some people are worried they have lost the 'audience' and 'friends' they once had. The obvious issues seem to be:

• Google messed up the launch and not everyone got on to G+ at the same time
• Google+ while simple and nice is not always clear about who you are sharing what with.
• Google+ operates a little different and posting on peoples walls is not possible in the same way it is on facebook
• People want to post and get responses but if you only want to post once then where do you post?

The Rugby World Cup is coming up this year in New Zealand. The question on every ex-pats lips is how can we watch the Rugby World Cup online? And even better how can we watch it Live in HD?

There seem to be a large number of dodgy sites online offering subscriptions to watch the rugby. Once you sign up they offer different links you can use to watch online. This, I expect, is sub-par, a little risky and not worth it.

There is nothing on the official Rugby World Cup website (http://www.rugbyworldcup.com/) so I am looking further afield. There is nothing on the BBC site or ESPN but hope that someone will offer this online, even for a fee. I just don't want to sign up for Cable or a full subscription. I am wanting to pay for the service for the two months the games are on.

Anyone have any ideas? And don't post links to lame sites like the ones mentioned above. If I want to watch average quality sports online live I can find free sources for that.

QR Codes are back. The UK tried to launch them about 5 years ago but they didn't take off. In South East Asia they have been using QR Codes for a long time very successfully. What's all the buzz about and how do you generate them? The good news is a QR Code is free so they are easy to generate. Basically you can enter a website address and a QR Code is generated that is a 2D barcode. You scan this code with your phone and the link is pre-loaded taking you to the website. They can also be used for business cards, scanning text and more but that's the gist of it.

You can trial or generate QR Codes for real at http://getquickcodes.com if you want to see what all the fuss is about.

If you are wondering what the heck you would use QR Codes for then you can read more at this post about using QR Codes.

Or, if you feel brave get out your Android, Blackberry or iPhone and scan the image on this post and off you'll go!

If you have any suggestions as to anything worthy of winner the illustrious Parrott 2011 Application of the Year please let me know. Comments below.

2009 was Spotify
2010 was Boxee
2011 is .......

There has been a recent flood of spam on facebook and I can't understand why people are not making a bigger deal of it. Isn't this the equivalent of facebook being hacked?

Consider all the personal and private data you may have on facebook. If some has the ability to spam people you are friends with from your account should there not be an uprising of concerned facebook members?

If someone can hack into your account and take control how can we ever trust facebook to hold and manage our information?

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