Smart tech
Voice-controlled helpers, usually found in smart speakers such as Google Assistant, Apple’s Siri, Amazon’s Alexa and Microsoft’s Cortana, are helping us control our surroundings by merely lifting a finger (or just using our voice).
Carrot Rewards is an app that lets you accumulate points with programs such as Aeroplan Miles, More Rewards Points and SCENE Points by taking quizzes and surpassing daily walking goals when connected to devices like the Apple Watch or a Fitbit.
Frozen pipes, overflowing toilets or flooding can be the stuff of nightmares. Consider installing smart water-leak detectors in multiple areas that might be prone to water damage.
What gets measured gets managed. This time-honoured saying rings especially true now that apps allow us to track things that were previously unmeasurable and manage how we spend our time. Not only does this bring valuable self-awareness, it lets us set goals for self-improvement and measure our progress. Maybe you...
Fuelling up an electric vehicle (EV) is as easy as putting a plug into a socket. The amount and speed of your charge, however, depends on the technology in place. Right now there are about 1,000 public charging stations located in cities and towns across B.C. About 80% of charging...
Perhaps you’re on the Sunshine Coast and want to find an electric vehicle charging station in Sechelt for your Nissan Leaf or your Kia Soul. Or maybe you want to find out, in real time, whether the EV charging station closest to your weekend home near Kamloops is in use.
Technology with a personality seems like a futuristic idea, but we’re already living with it: Apple’s Siri, Microsoft’s Cortana and OK Google are all smart, responsive personal assistants or “digital butlers” that live in our phones and tablets. These smart assistants are also gaining new ground through expanded functionality. Siri is...
As creatures of habit we often follow patterns of behaviour from the minute we wake up in the morning. It’s an automatic life driven by ever-evolving technology that makes us more efficient even as we manage and monitor our lives more than ever. IFTTT, which stands for “If this, then that,”...
It’s difficult to gauge what you can’t see. Consumption of vital, everyday commodities, such as electricity and water, might seem intangible or altogether invisible. And that can have negative consequences, as we’re more likely to waste something we can’t monitor or measure. The trick is to make the intangible tangible, and...
As we’ve become increasingly aware of the inherent wastefulness of bottled water, more and more of us now simply grab a reusable drinking receptacle before heading out the door, thus preventing yet another single-use, non-biodegradable plastic bottle from living its eternal life in a landfill. The only potential downside to this...