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Lifestyle

Think of this page as Better Homes and Websites. Your computer or smartphone can help you with your travels, your entertaining, your hobbies and even your fine, fine fashion sense. I share some of my ideas for how networks can help make life easier, more fun and more stylish.

Should you buy an iPad?

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Last weekend we made the great pilgrimage across the border so that we could get iPads on the day of their release. The iPad won’t be available in Canada until the end of the month, and it seemed unfathomable to wait 20 days for a product that actually describes itself as “magical”. As we cruise [...]

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10 things to do in a hotel room other than eating the minibar’s peanut M&Ms

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Try to fix the aspect ratio on the TV screen so the people don’t look double-wide Re-route the ethernet cable on the desk so that it reaches the bed Marvel at the prices of the TV system’s content-on-demand Post mini-reviews of the complimentary toiletries to Twitter Iron your underwear Copy edit the room service menu [...]

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Web services and software for creating family albums and scrapbooks

I’ve been writing about my wish for a family scrapbook solution that would create photobooks that use tweets as captions, and I’ve described the features I’d like. Fuelled mostly by incredulity (surely something like this must exist) I’ve worked my way through lots of options. Commercial album creation services from Shutterfly, Apple, Lulu, Qoop, Scrapblog [...]

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Feature set for a social media scrapbook

Last week I wrote about the non-existent web application that is currently at the top of my wishlist: a social media scrapbooking service. But I have looked into a bunch of photobook and blogging services, and nothing quite fits the bill. And after a bunch of “have you tried…” conversations, I realize I need to [...]

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How I’m going to go

This weekend has helped me identify the most likely scenarios for my own demise: Buried under mismatched wineglasses. Suffocated by a dishtowel avalanche. Arm spontaneously separates after 18 continuous hours of drilling ceramic tile. Food poisoning from leftovers stored in plastic food containers that didn’t precisely match the companion lids. Trapped under Ikea display unit [...]

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Wanted: Social media scrapbook service

Our parents and grandparents recorded their memories in baby books, year books, photo albums and Super 8. We have Twitter, Flickr, Facebook and blogs. Our tools have the virtue of immediacy: 140-character updates and cell phone cameras make it quick and easy to add to our collections, and the web enables real-time sharing. Until Apple [...]

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7 innovations that make travel easier

After seven years in which out-of-town travel was a relatively infrequent (and rushed) experience, I’m struck by how much easier air travel is now compared to my pre-parent days. Here are a few of the non-social-media innovations that make travel much better than it was in 2002.

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Vancouver’s 12 best wifi cafés and restaurants

In my search for the perfect Internet café I’ve tried more than my share of Vancouver’s wifi-enabled cafés and restaurants. Just like Vancouver’s neighbourhoods, its wifi cafés and restaurants range from the scruffily hip to the chicly modern.

In this post I round up (and map!) the best of the good-to-great. Every place on this list has reliable Internet service, at least a few accessible power outlets, and decent coffee; on

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The 10 ingredients that make a great wifi café

Some people prowl the earth in search of the world’s greatest Don Giovanni; others look for the finest shoemaker, the best bookstore, the ideal glass of Pinot Noir. I put my energy where it counts: the search for the perfect wifi café. While I’ve yet to find my Holy 802.11b-enabled Grail, i have pinpointed what makes for the perfect, laptop-friendly coffee spot.

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