*Steve Makris is a technology expert who does a weekly Tech Talk segment during Edmonton’s Sunday Morning News. You can watch his segment above.
This week we’re continuing our weekly Tech Talk Gift Guide with two more giveaways. A Blurb.ca $50 book-making startup account and an iPad mini 2 Retina display to help you create your personal photo book on the go. We are also giving away a speedy HTC Desire 510 smartphone.
Blurb online book publisher
Online self-publishing Blurb.ca lets anyone with no previous experience create bookstore quality books starting at just $4.99. You can use multiple platforms and the excellent guide will help you create and “publish” your very own book.
Your book can be the standard printed version like any other table-top book, but your online eBook version can be interactive with media snippets and live links so you have the best of both worlds. You can also save your book in PDF format for a small additional fee.
It goes further. Blurb can help you sell your book online through Direct Sell, Amazon, globally through Ingram and the Apple iBook Store.
Think about it, you can create a family photo book, cookbook, notebook, wedding album, even a planner with personalized photos. They make great gifts and keepsakes. I guarantee pictures in a photo book will outlast the old print-stacked Kodak shoe box and the ones you have forgotten about in cameras, computers and tablets.
Planning your photo book can become your New Year’s resolution. Add more life in those static pictures!
HTC Desire 510
The HTC Desire 510 is the perfect affordable phone with a high-priced feature: lightning fast 4G connectivity. Free with a two-year plan, or just $200 outright, it has a 4.7-inch bright display, although it’s not as sharp as much more expensive models. But when it comes to streaming movies and downloading games and apps, it rocks.
4G speed comes in handy with HTC’s own magazine page, Blinkfeed, which feeds off more than 1,000 global media partners, integrates Facebook and Twitter feeds and shows relevant and immediate at-a-glance bulletins from all the places that matter to you.
The Desire 510 is easy to hold with gentle edges and a non-slip matte finish. It’s available at Fido, Rogers, TELUS, and Virgin Mobile Canada.
Our giveaway winner will have to decide which provider the Desire 510 should be delivered in, TELUS, Rogers or Virgin Mobile.
Lenovo Yoga Tablet 2 Pro
In a saturated and competitive tablet market, makers are expanding into crazy mode. The new Lenovo Yoga Tablet 2 Pro, $549.99, arriving in stores now, features a huge laptop size 13-inch super sharp QHD 2560×1440 screen and a fourth generation Intel Atom processor, running Android 4.2.2. It’s fast!
What also makes it different, is the unique built-in Pico projector, hidden in the otherwise 3.7mm thin rounded edge. It comes with 32 GB memory and MICRO SD expansion slot, a front web and 8-megapixel rear camera.
The rounded tablet’s thick edge makes it easy to hold – like a book edge – and features a hinged stand for viewing at variable angles, upright or surface position. A new “hang” mode, dangles the tablet from a hook, nail or tree branch. The front facing 8 -watt Dolby Audio and Wolfson Master HiFi and built-in subwoofer sound great.
You get three hours of projected movie watching to an equivalent 50-inch screen on any wall or sheet, and up to 15 hours of battery life in normal mode. Impressive. It auto adjusts angled projection but requires manual focus with an “analog” slider.
The projected image sharpness is not to the level of real projectors but the big screen movie experience with matching sound is good enough and is fun.
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