Mobile Tech For 2015



Okay, okay. I know I did say earlier this month I was going to be sorting out my flashlight situation, but I had a good opportunity to replace my now non-existent Nexus 7. I had been looking for a while to replace it due to poor quality memory (Either controller or flash) causing the thing to be slow as dirt for multitasking. It served me well for 2.5 years, but ended up leaving me as a gift to someone else. As a result, I've been tablet-less since Christmas, and I definitely missed not having one.

I really wanted to replace the Nexus 7 2012 with another Nexus device. The first possible choice was the Nexus 7 2013 which improved on the 2012 in pretty much every way. The only issue though is at this point it's close to a 2 year old tablet, and the SoC (System on Chip) is getting a bit long in the tooth. A new 2 year old tablet started at 250 bucks, and there were better options for a bit more. On top of that, I wanted something just a bit bigger in the screen department. The next stop was the Nexus 9. Although it was a lot newer and faster, the 8.9" 4:3 screen was a bit of a turn off, and the price point felt a bit high for what you were getting in a device.

Final stop for my tablet search is what you see above. In my opinion, it's what the Nexus 9 should have been. It's the Nvidia Shield tablet. The specs are:


  • 2.2GHz quad core Nvidia Tegra K1 w/ 192 core Kepler based GPU

  • 2GB RAM

  • 16GB storage (MicroSD expansion available)

  • 8" HD IPS display (1920x1200)

  • 5MP front and rear facing cameras

  • 6700mAh battery

  • 390g weight


Also included are dual front facing speakers, a stylus, micro HDMI output, and your usual array of connectivity options. The cherry on top of the package is it runs on stock Android Lollipop with a few Nvidia goodies baked in. I can't really offer much beyond initial impressions, but compared to my Nexus 7 2012 this device is night and day difference. I was initially fearful that the 8" size would be almost as unwieldy as a 10" tablet like my Transformer, but it I was wrong to be afraid. The 8" size makes it more appealing to grab compared to my phone when I'm looking to do reading or browsing. On top of that, it still retains similar portability of the Nexus 7, however I will need to look into a new sleeve for it.

The screen is considerably better and the resolution is exactly what I wanted. Though 2560x1600 would be nice, 1920x1200 is plenty high res for an 8" device. Color reproduction and contrast is good and there aren't any dead or stuck pixels. The back light is very bright, and goes down to very dim as well. The front facing speakers outperform just about any other tablet solution I've come across, making for good and clear audio even in noisy environments like the kitchen. Build wise it feels good in hand with no real flex or play. My only complaint with the hardware is the power and volume buttons. They're very shallow travel and take time to get used to pressing, but I feel I'll get used to this in due time.

Performance wise the tablet flies. I've experienced no real issues with lag or stuttering with normal multitasking. The specs on the tablet also ensure some future proofing, with the SoC currently being one of the fastest on the market when it comes to gaming and general day to day use. Although the tablet is marketed as a "The ultimate tablet for gamers", my reason for purchasing wasn't gaming. The device is arguably the ultimate 8" stock Android tablet on the market currently. My only issues with performance would be in regards to battery life, which is a bit middling. This is to be expected considering the SoC in the tablet. I can estimate I'd get a good 8 hours worth of screen on time for browsing and general usage, dipping down to 2-4 for gaming depending on the title. Standby drain however is pretty exceptional, dropping only about 5% a day idle. So for casual use, I could expect the battery to last a few days, but only a day if I'm using the thing constantly.

The Nexus 5 and the Shield make for a very powerful and very portable Android pair. I don't think I'll have many complaints related to speed in 2015, that's for sure. For now I don't plan on adding anything more beyond accessories. Perhaps a sleeve, the Shield cover, a Bluetooth keyboard, and perhaps the Shield controller. Just enough gear to make things a bit more usable while on the go. Later in the year, if I plan on blogging a bit more, I may add a Windows or ChromeOS notebook. There are some things that the notebook form factor and "non-mobile" operating systems do better, and content creation is one of them in my eyes.

February Coffee: The Roasters Pack and Parachute



It's been a dark few months... Cafe Eureka closed up shop due to lack of interest in exotic coffees in the surrounding area, and I haven't been able to find a really great local bean since. Any of the local retailers in Sackville sell some of the more locally available goodies - Just Us, Laughing Whale, Full Steam, etc. None of it features a roast date however, and none of it is really roasted to my liking. The end of January rolled around and I hadn't used any of my coffee gear since December, and I was really disappointed. A few slow evenings at work lead to some researching and reviews, and suddenly I was subscribed to two wonderful Canadian coffee subscriptions. Both very different, but both offering exactly what I wanted: A consistently fresh and good cup of coffee, with monthly variety.

First up, The Roasters Pack. The Roasters Pack curates three exceptional coffees every month, packs them in wonderful resealable bags, bundles them with some nice information on each coffee, and ships them express to your mailbox for $29.95. Now, The Roasters Pack is definitely more expensive than Parachute, however it gives me one of the major things I want: variety. You get three four ounce bags of coffee from a variety of roasters across Canada. The examples this month were fantastic: A Costa Rican roasted by Phil & Sebastian out of Calgary, a Colombian roasted by Bows and Arrows out of Victoria, and a Kenyan roasted by Anchored in Dartmouth! Each bag is good for about 5 cups of coffee (I use a 17:1 water:coffee ratio, and generally use about 20g of beans in a cup) which gives you lots of time to play with different brew methods or just dial in a great cup. I can safely say the tasting notes on each bag are pretty spot on! It's not overblown or outrageous, just well documented notes that come out in a proper brew. The included info cards are awesome too, and there are included discounts for each bag of coffee, which is shipped direct from roaster when ordered. For variety and quality, The Roasters Pack should definitely be considered.

Parachute Coffee is similar to The Roasters Pack, except they curate a single coffee each month and ship a 12oz bag directly to you for $25.00 flat. Parachute gives me 12oz of good coffee that I can reliably brew 15 cups out of. This month's coffee was a Costa Rican from Detour Coffee! Notes are smooth, buttery, tangerine, and I definitely get that in the V60. There's some nice brown-sugar, nougat-y flavors in there too. Parachute also includes some really well done info cards inside, giving you some basic brew tips, and the roaster's thoughts on the coffee. For something different every month at a reasonable price, Parachute is a good choice!

Goodnight, My Old Friend



I first purchased my Galaxy Nexus in February of 2012 as a hardware upgrade from my HTC Desire Z. I was really tired of the small issues with the Z, and found myself not using the hardware keyboard all that often. It was a big toss up between the Nexus and the Galaxy S II, however the newer, stock software and the HD screen ultimately won me over. From that point on it was my constant daily companion. Pictures? Handled. Scheduling? No problem. Games? Sure! The list could go on in regards to what functionality that phone provided me, but let's keep it short. The phone was hands down the best smartphone I've owned in my lifetime, though that doesn't say much.

In late 2012, the Nexus 4 was released. Although I wanted one, I couldn't justify it over my then speedy Galaxy Nexus. The glass back had durability issues, and the camera, battery, and screen weren't really much of an upgrade over what I already had. In late 2013, the Nexus 5 was released. This was what I could consider an upgrade, but again, the Galaxy Nexus was functioning fine, and I couldn't justify the additional cost, even though just about everything would be considered an upgrade over the Galaxy Nexus. Once again, my Galaxy Nexus was getting slower and less shiny, but was still a satisfying device.

Over the years many software upgrades were seen. The jump from 4.0 to 4.3 brought a slightly slower device, but more fun features. When 4.4 Kitkat hit, I was flashing the latest custom ROMs, as Google's support stopped at Jellybean. But things were slower. There's only so much that can be done with a now unsupported dual core processor from a now non-existent company and a gigabyte of RAM. In 2014, discovering Ingress, I found the phone was functional for the game, but overall the GPS performance wasn't great, and the battery was definitely suffering. Day to day performance wasn't spectacular for me either, with newer apps causing lag, and an overall poor multitasking experience.

In late 2014, the monster known as the Nexus 6 was released. Although Android 5.0 Lollipop was attractive, and the specs on the phone were amazing, a 6 inch device is a bit too big for me. So again, the Nexus 6 didn't cause me to leave my Galaxy Nexus. What did cause me to abandon the phone is failing hardware. The power button appears to have suffered from some water ingress, causing it to intermittently work. I could only take this for so long before deciding an upgrade was finally necessary. But what to upgrade to with the Nexus 6 being too large, and none of the common flagships supporting stock Android? I'd love to have a Play Edition Galaxy S4 or HTC One M8, but they're expensive and not easily available in Canada. Everything else felt like it had bloated software or silly features. Look at Sony's Z3C - The phone is perfect hardware wise, but the dated manufacturer's skin makes it less of a pleasure to use.

I quickly narrowed my choices down - I needed a phone that was affordable off contract (Forget a hardware upgrade through Bell... I'd be shafted by the pricing on the new plans), and one running stock, or close to stock Android. Ultimately, my choices came down to the OnePlus One, and the Nexus 5. The OnePlus One was a very new and very affordable phone, with flagship specs. Unfortunately, it's hindered by most things a new company has trouble with - Supply, quality control, and poor/slow support. They work (Or did at the time I was considering buying one) off an invite system. You need an invite to buy the phone, which most are either giving away sparingly, or selling. This is a bit hard to get a hold of, so one needs to hunt a bit to be able to buy the phone. On top of this, if you receive a poor device (screen problems, camera issues, etc), chances are you're going to be fighting with poor/slow support just to get a replacement. To top it off, the screen is 5.5", and after handling a Galaxy Note III (Approximately the same size), I determined it'd be foolish for me to own a phone that couldn't fit in my pocket.

So, process of elimination, the Nexus 5 was my choice. It's an upgrade in every way to the Galaxy Nexus, and I can openly say I'm pleased with my purchase. It may be over a year old now, but I can easily say it's one of the best performing budget smart phones on the market. A quick rundown of the specs:


  • 2.3GHz quad core Snapdragon 800 CPU w/ Adreno 330 GPU

  • 2GB RAM

  • 16GB storage

  • 4.95" True HD IPS+ display (1920x1080)

  • 8MP camera with OIS (Optical Image Stabilization) and LED flash

  • 2300mAh battery

  • 130g weight


As soon as I received the phone I sideloaded the Lollipop update and was happily on my way. I feel I should have unlocked and rooted at the same time, but for now, stock is treating me well. Performance is better as expected with multitasking being very fluid - There's no noticeable lag switching between apps or opening games, and all the animations run flawlessly at 60 frames per second. Reception is definitely improved as well - The radios are much better than the Galaxy Nexus. I get better reception in areas at work that I never did before, and I rarely lose signal in our basement apartment. The camera, although not as good as some other flagships, still performs well for me. Color balance is natural and low light performance is decent, but not great. This still puts it way ahead of the Galaxy Nexus when it comes to shooting photos. To top it all off, it's thinner and lighter too, while maintaining the same approximate size. This means it still fits in my pocket great, and doesn't add any more weight to my pockets.

My only issues with the phone are the same that most have had with it. The battery life is a bit mediocre, although this definitely should improve when developers start implementing the project Volta API into their apps. The phone still gets me through a whole day, and on WiFi I can probably expect about 5 hours of screen time. On mobile data, depending on signal quality, 3 hours seems to be the norm.  Poor signal drives that number down of course, and even with the improved radios, signal quality isn't great at work. It's definitely enough to get things done though, and I'm never too far from a power outlet or my Anker. My other issue can't be fixed, that being headphone port placement. It's on the top of the phone, which makes placement in my pocket a bit odd. A minor nuisance, and I'll get used to it over time. My final small problems are software related, but should easily be patch-able in the near future. One being the current issue with Lollipop memory leaks, and the other being the camera/LED flashlight going non-responsive if the light is left on for too long. Reboots resolve this issue, and they don't come up too often, thankfully.

Overall I'm pleased with my decision. It's an affordable device that should last me at least another year or two, until a better sized Nexus comes out. I like it so much however, that it might end up staying with me until I wear it out.

Phone Updated





Finally up to date when it comes to Android. Figured I'd do something productive today and update. Still using my Galaxy Nexus, I decided to wander away from stock again and picked up LiquidSmooth 3.0. It's based on Kitkat 4.4.2, making me up to date with the latest version. Along with LiquidSmooth, I also went ahead and flashed Fancy Kernel for some added quickness/stability. It was surprisingly quick too! I really could have done things just with the phone itself, considering I was able to install TWRP recovery from their app. After that, it was just a download of the latest ROM, Google apps, and kernel, boot to recovery, and queue up the files to flash.

My reasoning for updating is a bit silly. I was just tired of the OTA update notification, and too lazy to get rid of it. I suppose the added advantage of this is I get a faster phone with newer features. Lastpass, my preferred password manager, recently released an update for their Android app, allowing autofill to apps and Chrome. Autofill to Chrome was only supported on Android 4.3 or higher, so that's another good reason. Also, why didn't I play with DPI scaling before? 280dpi makes it feel as though I have a lot more room on my homescreen. May switch back to 320, but I'll give 280 a try for a bit.

Getting Started With Coffee





Coffee can be expensive. It's really unavoidable. There is a crazy number of brew methods on the market, and they all vary in price. What a lot of people don't see however, is that a quality setup is actually a lot cheaper than they think. My starting gear was a Hario mini mill, and an Aeropress. That was plenty enough for me to get bitten by the coffee bug, and it kind of ballooned from there. Of course, for someone just getting started, finding a solid source for what you need and don't need can mean a lot of reading. I decided to collate what I've learned over the past year and put it into one big post, to help others who are just starting.

Getting Started: The Gear

There are many different ways to brew coffee, some very cheap, some very expensive. I've decided to throw together a couple of pieces of gear that are multipurpose and easy to get the hang of.

Scale: Why is a scale important? You want to measure things by weight. Weight is the most constant way to measure something. The volume of coffee may change based on the roast level, size of bean, etc. What does this mean? A tablespoon of Colombian coffee beans is going to weigh differently than a tablespoon of Ethiopian beans. A scale makes your results more repeatable. Any scale will really do, as long as it's accurate. It can be gram accurate, or .1 gram accurate, it doesn't matter a whole lot when it comes to brewed coffee. The big thing is to make sure it weighs to an adequate weight, it's accurate, and it doesn't time out and shut off too quickly. You may also want to look for something that's quick. I recommend the above scale, the AWS-2KGA, mainly because it's pretty reliable, fairly cheap, and operates on either AC or battery. This makes it rather portable, but at the same time something good for the counter top. Bonus: Scales are great for baking too! Just like coffee, a cup of bread flour weighs differently than a cup of all purpose.

Grinder: Grinding fresh is very important with coffee. Coffee begins to "stale" as soon as it's ground. More surface area exposed means more rapid oxidization. Grinding fresh means a better tasting cup of coffee. Of course, you could go for a blade grinder, but that just smashes coffee inconsistently and generates a bunch of heat. Unevenly ground coffee leads to poor extraction, which means bitter and harsh coffee. A better option is a conical burr grinder. Good electric options are expensive, and you may not want to invest in that when you're just starting. Luckily, there are manual options. My recommendation is a Hario Mini Mill. It's slim and portable, grinds to a pretty wide range, and is good for about 30 grams of coffee. Grinding that much takes anywhere from two to four minutes, depending on how quickly you grind. The perfect thing to do while waiting for your water to boil. The plastic body is pretty durable, and the ceramic burrs grind consistently, and should stay sharp for a while.

Brew Method: As stated above, there are many different ways to brew coffee, all with different tasting results. I'll cut to the chase and just provide my recommendation of the Hario V60. It's a cheap option with the plastic cone coming in around 10 dollars, and it teaches patience with coffee. It can be a bit frustrating at first, however once you get a method down you can get some pretty fantastic results. The V60 can do anywhere from one to two cups, so it's even perfect if you want to share with someone. I'd recommend the plastic over the glass or ceramic, as you don't need to worry about heat loss, and the molding process seems to make more pronounced ridges than what you see on the ceramic or glass. Now, there are many different, more beginner friendly options than the V60. Something like a Clever dripper is basically set and forget, or you could even look at a Bonmac or Melitta cone. I believe the V60 is going to be the better option though, as it's going to teach you more.

Kettle: A vessel to heat and pour water is also a very important investment when starting coffee. Any kettle will really do, heck, even a 2 cup Pyrex measuring cup and a microwave is fine. My recommendation however is a gooseneck kettle. A gooseneck is going to give you a lot more control over the speed and intensity of your pour, which is something that's going to improve the V60 a lot, as it lets you control the speed of your brew. This carries over into a lot of other pourover methods such as the Chemex and Kalita Wave. A basic gooseneck is fine, and really not that large of an investment at about 35-40 dollars. Of course, if you want to combine your pouring kettle with your day to day kettle, Bonavita offers electric versions, both a basic one and one with variable temperature control.

The above is what I would consider a really good starting point for someone who is really interested in better coffee. The scale, grinder, and kettle are usable for other brew methods too, so you're not stuck with the v60 if you decide it's not your cup of
teacoffee. The above recommendations should come in between 100 and 120 bucks. Pretty serious, but when you think three of those four things you won't need to buy again, it's not so bad.

Getting Started: The Coffee

My biggest tip is finding a local roaster who roasts to order. Most of the stuff that's on a grocery store shelf has been sitting there for a while. A nice local roaster who roasts to order is going to be the biggest quality improvement in your coffee. Chances are pretty good too that the roaster you find is going to be very helpful in recommending beans to try. Most people in the business are very passionate about what they do, and love to talk about their product. What to choose? Blends, single origins, whatever, it doesn't matter. Just get fresh roasted quality coffee beans and you'll be fine. I'd recommend if you're buying, to get enough coffee to last you around two weeks, and no more than a month. Even in whole bean format, coffee still stales, and even a month is pushing it on the quality side of things. If you can buy weekly, do it. Oh, and try new things. The great thing about coffee is there are a lot of different areas in the world where coffee is grown, which leads to a lot of different flavor profiles.

Getting Started: Brewing

There are a few things you want to keep in mind regardless of your brew method, the first being your water source. Clean filtered water is going to result in a better cup of coffee, as you don't have to worry about chlorine or any other funny tastes mucking up the flavors of your coffee. Bonus: Cleaner water means a cleaner kettle. No mineral deposits, less cleaning. On top of clean water, you're also going to want to remember to rinse your filters, which has the added benefit of warming whatever vessel you're brewing into. Finally, keep in mind your ratios. You won't know what's perfect for you until you experiment, however for me, a 17:1 ratio is what I consider the best. What does this mean? For every 17 grams of water, I use 1 gram of coffee. Depending on your preferences, you might prefer a 16:1 or an 18:1. Heck, you might even prefer something completely different. Oh, and keep a timer/calculator handy. You have a smartphone, right? Perfect.

The actual process with the V60 is pretty easy. The technique is what takes time to master.

Weigh your coffee/heat your water: With the above setup, you can weigh your coffee right into the mini mill on the scale. While you're weighing and grinding your coffee, you can also start heating your water. The ideal grind size for the V60 is about the same as table salt. Grind your coffee and set it aside. By the time you're done that, your water should be boiling.

Rinse: Shut off your burner and rinse your filter (which is hopefully sitting in the V60 on top of your brewing vessel) with your now boiling water. Don't be shy, you can't over rinse. You're doing double duty by heating your brewing vessel and rinsing away any paper taste. When you're done this, empty your rinse water, set everything up on the scale, and zero it. Add and level your coffee, maybe making an indent in the center. You'll need to experiment to decide what works best for you. Don't forget to zero again.

Pour: By the time the above is completed, your water should be between 195 and 205 Fahrenheit. This is the perfect temperature range for brewing most coffees. You can start by adding a bit of water for a bloom. This is a pre-infusion that allows CO2 gas to escape from the beans, and wets them for better extraction. You'll probably want to start your timer when you start pouring. My recommendation is about twice as much water as there is coffee, however, use as much as is required to just barely wet the grounds. You'll notice the coffee is getting rather bubbly. This is a sign of freshness, and should be something to look for when brewing. Once your timer hits around 30-45 seconds. start the rest of your infusion. Slowly add water in a circular motion, being careful not to hit the sides of the filter, and try not to stay in the center. The addition of the rest of the water should take another minute or so, and your final brew time should be between 2:15 and 2:45. When all the water is gone from the filter, you should see a nice flat bed of coffee grounds.

Enjoy: Pretty self explanatory. Remove the V60 from your brewing vessel, and enjoy. Smell it, taste it. Fresh and properly extracted coffee shouldn't be very bitter, and you'll probably find flavors you don't normally notice. Keep in mind, coffee is a lot like wine, developing a palate can take a long time, however the results of a fresh cup are going to be noticeable even to a beginner.

Troubleshooting: It's inevitable that your first few cups with the V60 will probably be less than perfect. It's a big learning process, however keep in mind there is a lot you can adjust. Finishing the brew too quickly? Try grinding finer or pouring slower. Too slow? A coarser grind may be in order. Seems flat? Maybe your water wasn't hot enough. Try changing one thing the next time you brew, and see where it goes. If you're serious, try keeping notes as to what worked and what didn't. Once you develop your technique, perfect cups will start coming every time you brew.

The above post would really be what I was looking for when I started. Multiple sources and exhausting research can really turn someone off of something so great. Once you have the gear and a basic brew method down, enjoying good coffee on a daily basis is easy and fun. Expanding based on what you already have is easy too. I hope this helped you get started with coffee, and I hope to expand on this post at a later date.

New Coffee For March, And New Gear!





A new month, a new batch of coffee from Cafe Eureka! This month I was once again adventurous with my half pound choices. Along with my full pound of Ethiopian Kochere Teklu Dembel, I also grabbed half a pound of Yemen Mokha Mattari, a Colombian microlot grown by Jose Amir Medina, and some Flores Bajawa Ngura. I split an order with my friend Eric, so I also grabbed 25 grams of the Cuban Turquino from him. So far I've done the Cuban in the Chemex, which was fantastic - Very tea like peppery finish. I've also done the Ethiopian and the Yemen in the V60. The Ethiopian is very fruity with those nice hints of caramel and butter, with the Yemen reminding me of chocolate, smoke, stone fruit, and when cooling, a bit of grape. It's going to take a bit to get used to the v60, but overall it's fun.


On a side note, I've also received my Eight Ounce Coffee order. I'm not pretty well kitted out as pictured above. I don't think there's a whole lot else I want right now. As you can see above, I have a Bonavita gooseneck (from what I've read it's actually more accurate than the Hario, and cheaper to boot), a plastic V60-02, an Aeropress, an 8 cup Chemex, a french press, a Bodum Santos vac pot, and of course my AWS 2KG scale. I might replace my current press with a Bodum Chambord or an Espro, but beyond that I think I'm set for gear until I hit espresso, which won't be until we find a larger apartment.

New Coffee Gear Soon!

Another year, another bonus. After bills were paid, and a new laptop purchased for Karyn (RIP Timeline X, you will be remembered), I had a bit of cash flow left over for some things for me. Not quite enough for something like a new ultra-portable ultrabook, or a Nexus 5, but enough for some of the coffee equipment I've been looking to get a hold of. This should really do me over until I start looking at serious espresso, which should be no time soon.

I've ordered an 8 cup Chemex (pictured above) along with the filters for it, a Hario V60-02 in plastic with the filters for it, and a Bonavita gooseneck kettle. The Chemex and the V60 are both pour over methods of making coffee, however they offer widely different results. The Chemex filters are much thicker and remove a lot more sediment, and the pour is generally more foolproof, whereas the V60 filters and design rely a lot more on pouring technique when it comes to the result of your brew.

Also, a quick shout out to Eight Ounce Coffee here in Canada. It's been my pleasure to deal with them for any of my coffee gear! It seems as though every time I order I find a little issue, and of course this time was no different. This isn't a bad thing though, as their customer service is fantastic. When I ordered, Paypal was able to complete my purchase, however the website returned an error. Jen from Eight Ounce Coffee promptly replied to me, offering a technical explanation of the issue, refunding my Paypal purchase, and advising me to redo my order. For my issues, she said she'd throw in some free swag! No issues with that at all. However I do have to wait for Paypal to clear the funds, which will hopefully be Monday. Really looking forward to receiving my Chemex, V60, and kettle. Hopefully I can get some pictures up of the brewing process.

In Gaming: Battlefield 4 Updates, Pokemon, And Titanfall Beta

Lots going on in gaming for me over the past few weeks, including playing a fair bit of Team Fortress 2 and Counter Strike: Global Offensive. These are great games that are quick to pick up, easy to play a round or two, then put down. Nice for those nights where I want to play something, but I don't have a lot of time. I've also been playing Far Cry 3, but that's another post.

DICE has recently decided to make things better with the community and try to make up for the rocky release of Battlefield 4. They've declared February to be player appreciation month, and have been running events, doing open communication with the community, and getting feedback on balancing. I honestly thought the game wasn't really rocky to begin with, but this is coming from someone who played Battlefield 2142 for a number of years. It's nice to see DICE engaging the community, and balancing/fixing things. They've also announced that the Second Assault DLC will be available Tuesday, February 18th for premium players, and Naval Strike, the next DLC will be out sometime in March. With the release of Naval Strike, they're re-imagining titan mode from 2142 with the game mode carrier assault. This is pretty exciting. Along with this comes 5 new weapons and a few new gadgets. New weapons are always nice to see in game, and here's hoping DICE keeps it up for all of the future DLC releases.

I've also picked up a 3DS! Pokemon was just far too attractive a title to pass up, so along with the 3DS, I grabbed Pokemon Y. As for the handheld, the hardware feels well built, it's easy to use, and the battery life is very reasonable. Karyn has been using it for Nintendogs, however I've been going pretty hard on Pokemon. They've added a lot of new stuff in Y to make it a lot more user friendly, however there is still that sense of nostalgia when playing through the game. The online features are well implemented (Wonder Trade, anyone?), as is Pokebank (cloud storage for your Pokemon, AND a way to migrate Pokemon from older games to X/Y). I've put a fair bit of time in so far, and still haven't become bored with it. Hopefully it stays that way!





Titanfall beta is also out. Looks like a pretty solid game, hope to play some of that today. Ended up getting a beta key from a friend. The game is basically 6 vs 6 multiplayer deathmatch with bots. Players can call in "Titans" to fight in, which are giant mech suits. From what I can tell, controls look pretty tight, and it looks like a gorgeous game. Surprisingly, it's based on the Source engine too. Perhaps I'll post up my impressions.

New Coffee For February!



I may not have mentioned in previous posts, but I've become a bit of an enthusiast when it comes to specialty "third wave" coffee. This all started with beans from The Black Duck downtown, a Hario slim coffee mill, and an aeropress. It quickly snowballed, and now I have a bit more gear, including a Breville smart grinder, two french presses, a pour over, and a Bodum Santos vacuum pot. The Black Duck beans got a bit boring after a while, so in typical Jon fashion, I went to the internet. After a bit of searching, I came across Cafe Eureka out of Moncton NB. Denis, the roaster, has a wonderful collection of coffee oddities, ranging from Californian to stuff from the Canary Islands, along with all sorts of single origin beans from many different countries. I had a relative pick up a bag of his Columbian Flor de mi Tierra, and well, the rest was history. Denis roasts to order, sources quality beans, and is very passionate about his work. It definitely shows in his finished product.

This time around, I picked up a pound of Ethiopian, which was has been blowing my mind, along with half a pound of Chinese (This particular coffee is the first from China to obtain specialty designation), and half a pound of Sumatran. I tend to order a pound of what I know is good, along with half a pound of two other coffees to try. If you're at all interested in high end single origins, I'd highly recommend checking out Cafe Eureka and putting an order in today. It won't disappoint.

Dropbox Screenshot Sharing





Seriously, how did I not know about this earlier? This was apparently included in the Dropbox update in September of 2013, however I just noticed it last week. It's pretty darn easy to share screenshots now with Dropbox. You can now set it up under the Dropbox preferences import tab to automatically save any screenshots taken to your Dropbox folder when you press the print screen button. Holding down the ctrl key while pressing print screen will copy the link to that screenshot to your clip board for sharing. You can even add the alt key in there and it'll only screen shot the active window (as usual with Windows, of course). This makes things a lot easier in regards to sharing screen shots with friends.

If you're interested in signing up for Dropbox, and taking advantage of screenshot sharing, automatic photo upload, and just a good general purpose online file storage, use this link, and we'll both get some additional storage space!

Desktop Update!



If you’re in touch with the gaming world, you’ll know that Battlefield 4 was released at the end of October. If you know me at all, you’ll know I’m a pretty big fan of the Battlefield series. With previous blog posts, you can see that the release of a new Battlefield title almost requires a new hardware update. This release was really no exception.

From my post on my ESXi host, I listed my desktop specifications. Now, the HD6850 I had was an absolute trooper. I was able to play Skyrim and BF3 with few issues, and the overall desktop experience with the Catalyst drivers was actually really good. Honestly, both Nvidia and AMD have very mature drivers with few issues (that I can see). I figured I’d be able to carry my HD6850 over into Battlefield 4 and maintain a similar performance level without having to upgrade. How wrong I was…

I fired up the open beta, and was instantly disappointed. I was running at 1920x1080, ALL low, and barely maintaining 45 frames per second average. Even playing with resolution scaling didn’t work too much. I struggled through maybe 2 to 3 rounds, before deciding to just set it aside for now and look at it once launch day came. (Silly me, I should have updated my drivers). I preordered, the night before updated my video drivers, and was up at 6AM for some launch day fun.

The performance difference was astounding. It’s almost like that short beta worked out a lot of the frame rate issues, and suddenly I could play on all low, with 95% resolution scaling, and maintain a fluid, playable, 60 frames per second. However on the larger maps, I was getting some frame drops during large “Leveloution events”, or when there was a ton of action on screen. This really wouldn’t do for a more performance oriented player, and dropping the resolution scaling any further would result in an extremely poor picture, and put me at a huge disadvantage. So, naturally, I decided to upgrade.


My processor was fine, my RAM and hard drives were fine, it was just the video card. Buying new was out of the question. I don’t need a cutting edge r9 or 7xx series card, so I took to the Hardware Canucks forums as usual. After browsing for a few days, I settled on a really good deal for a GTX 670 FTW Signature 2, by EVGA. The install was easy, and after a clean driver install, I was up and running and good to go.

I started Battlefield 4, jumped in game, and pushed my settings to a mix of high/ultra. Frame rate was definitely better, but I was still getting these really stupid frame drops. I tried pushing my processor from stock to 3.6GHz. Still the same results. Tried running on low, vsync’d, etc. Same problem. I tried practically every fix I could find on the internet, and still the same results. I wasn’t pleased. My last ditch option was Windows 8.1. So, Sunday afternoon, I spent the 2-3 hours pushing the update to my desktop. And you know what? Problem solved.

I run a current mix of ultra/medium settings, with my frame rate capped at 70. I see occasional dips into the 60s, but beyond that, it’s almost always pinned at 70 frames per second. And to be quite honest, Windows 8.1 is pretty awesome too. Resource usage is lower, the task manager is considerably better, being able to pause file transfers is a nice feature, built in Hyper-V will be awesome to play with, and the interface is a bit more mature feeling. Everything can be configured so you rarely have to see “Metro” apps too. I’m really glad I made the jump.

Lab update

Just dropping a quick post to say everything has been running great! A few hiccups, but it's been a learning process!

The base infrastructure of my network includes Linux based virtual machines, all running on Ubuntu server 12.04 LTS. These lovely little virtual machines let me do more on my main rig without tying up resources. Currently for my main, every day virtual machines I'm running:

  • One BIND based DNS server for internal name resolution

  • One Serviio streaming server with a web interface (I can also control this from an app on my phone/tablet - Sweet!)

  • One web server running with a LAMP stack. This currently hosts my mediawiki install where I keep track of any configuration I do for future reference.

  • One server running the Deluge daemon for downloads. Has a 500GB virtual drive dedicated to it. I access this via either web client or desktop client. (Desktop client actually feels completely local)

  • One Minecraft server running Minecraft My Admin. This can be a bit flaky, but I learned that a custom built one was much better than the turnkey appliance I downloaded initally.


I also have two other resource pools dedicated to testing and labbing. In the test pool I'm just playing around with Server 2012 R2 as a home domain controller (Thinking of moving both my DNS and DHCP to it), along with a couple other random virutal machines. In my lab pool, I have a full suite of Server 2012 R2 machines running various features in the same domain. All of the Server 2012 virtual machines run off the file server, which has provided exceptional performance.

As for the hiccups, I ran into some instability once in a while with Backtrack and USB pass through. The host would go completely unresponsive from time to time with nothing in the logs. After moving Backtrack to my desktop and running it with USB pass through in Workstation 9, the instabilities went away completely. There was also the issue with Deluge constantly crashing after downloading for a few minutes, but it ended up being a bad file.

The Minecraft server is another issue flat out. I was running it as a turnkey virtual appliance for a while, as I didn't want to bother with the configuration at that moment. That was until it broke. Luckily I was able to mount the drive in another virtual machine and recover the data. Once the data was recovered, I hand built the next instance of the server, which has so far been a lot more stable. (Issue this morning with an MCMA update, however it was resolved rather quickly by killing and rerunning the process, and accepting the upgrade.)

In the future I have plans on implementing Puppet or Chef, however that won't be for a little while. I hope if I do that I'll be able to document it!

Initial File Server Build Complete!



I got drives on drives! This being said, the 3TB drives arrived on a Wednesday, 2 days before expected arrival. I didn't even have to walk down to the post office to get them, as they were waiting in the mail box. After a quick install, including moving the 40GB Intel SSD from the ESXI host to the file server, we were up and running Open Indiana. I configured for static (after struggling with the BSD way of things) and installed Napp-It. Once that was done, I logged into the web console and started configuring the disks and setting up the shares, which took all of 10 minutes. My single pool consists of two striped mirrors currently, with half the SSD for use as an L2ARC (Basically a read cache). A quick test of transferring an ISO from my desktop to the server showed that I could definitely pin gigabit speeds with sequential writes, which was what I was looking for.

The fun part was moving the data from the old file server to the new. Although it was on a gigabit line/NIC, it still struggled due to the fact that the NIC was Realtek based, and the disks were a Western Digital Green JBOD. It took 7 hours to move 2TB of data, but it's finally done. I quickly decommissioned the old server, recycling the 1TB and 2TB Western Digital Greens for use in the ESXI host. I know, I should have fast local storage for the ESXI box, but these two drives will make good datastores for low IO/mass storage virtual machines. The drives will do until the next phase is eventually rolled out. Honestly, I'm surprised the old file server was still working. I should have taken it offline a couple of times to get it dusted out. It was an old mATX Acer case with a single 120mm fan jury rigged onto the side panel. This intake led to more dust than necessary being brought into the case, and it was pretty evident; the heatsink was absolutely caked. I feel it would have operated fine for a while longer, but I'm glad our data is off the JBOD and onto something a bit more safe.



After finishing with the file transfer, I quickly rewired the home network, and took advantage of the multiple NICs on my many devices to segregate traffic until I can get a managed switch. A quick trip to the dollar store downtown netted me four 25 foot lengths of CAT5e cable with ends for $3.50 a roll. They had longer rolls too, which I'm definitely keeping in mind for future projects. I used my existing gigabit switch  for the management and storage network. This gives my workstation and the ESXI host direct access to a single gigabit port on the file server, and allows me to make management unavailable to general traffic.

I ran into a few problems with the file server along the way. The first was installing the drives. I really should have used right angle cables and thinner SATA power adapters, but I unfortunately didn't have enough on hand. This made it a bit of a pain to close the side panel. The cable management inside the case wasn't great either, as the SATA cables are too long. My plans are to eventually swap the current SATA data/power cables for better options. The other issue with the file server was when it was powered on right after rewiring the network, the static configuration didn't stick, and my brand new pool was missing. I redid the static configuration, and was able to import the existing zpool in Napp-It, all was well, but a mild panic attack. Overall, Open Indiana and ZFS are a learning experience, and so far it's been fun learning along the way.

The next few phases are going to be both easy and difficult. We should have enough remaining storage to get us through for the rest of the year, however beyond that we're looking a bit cramped. With storage currently being a non-issue however, I'll more than likely be investing in increasing speed and infrastructure. For the file server, I have plans on adding a ZIL cache, most likely a 20+GB SLC flash based SSD, more RAM, and a dual port Intel NIC in the near future. This will fill the existing SATA port and pave the road to the next set of drives and adding the 8 port HBA. I have eventual plans on adding four more 3TB drives and four 2.5" drives, most likely SSDs or 1TB+ HDDs. As for infrastructure, I think I'm going to try to consolidate my networking with a nice managed switch. By then I should have another dual gigabit NIC in the ESXI host, which should allow me to aggregate the links on the desktop, file server, and ESXI host.

I'll be sure to keep the blog updated on any changes I do or issues I may have.

How About Some More Pictures?

Still playing around with the camera a lot, just thought I'd post up some of the images and give a few comments on them. Hoping to have a full review in about a month. Maybe some new lenses by then too! I'm pretty much decided on my two lenses, going to be going with a Sony SEL35f18 prime with optical steady shot, and an SEL55210 telephoto, also with optical steady shot. These should give me the perfect range for shooting lowlight, and longer range!


I find the depth of field effect is really nice. The large sensor really helps in slightly lower light situations. The white balance isn't the auto white balance isn't the greatest, but I think that's more of a limitation of the kit lens. Setting the white balance for incandescent gives a much better effect. I think this image turned out really well though.


This was a nice daylight shot, inside. I think it was just slightly cloudy outdoors. This was shot with auto white balance. The camera performs really well in natural light. The nuts ended up very well detailed.



Again, the camera performs great in natural light. the level of detail is astounding. The cat is normally a tough shot, just because he moves around so much. We can hardly keep him still, but the ISO performance of this camera is great. You can bump up the shutter speed and the ISO a bit, and resizing, you wouldn't even notice it. It's very low noise up to about ISO 3200.



This was shot using the speed priority mode. It was really, really sunny out, so unfortunately most of the detail was lost in the original, however after cropping and some playing with contrast/levels, it turned out to be an alright picture. My mistake was leaving the aperture wide open at f/3.5. I should have stopped down a bit, while keeping the same 1/4000 shutter speed. Overall though, the camera does really well with motion, and even though the original image was completely blown out, it was recoverable.


This is the seat from the girlfriend's bike. It was shot on a nice sunny morning, and unfortunately I forgot to change the white balance back to auto. I think it turned out pretty good though. The composition ended up nice. It also reminds me I need to dust. I played with the exposure compensation on this one too, dropping to to -0.7.





New Camera





That background blur. Expect better photos on the blog starting with whatever comes next for a post! Hope to have a full, non-professional review of this awesome camera up in the near future.

M-Audio AV-30: My Review


Heading back to an apartment, I knew that the Logitech X-530 speaker set I had for years wasn’t going to be cutting it any more. It wasn’t just the extra noise factor from the subwoofer, it was also the extra speakers that just weren’t being used, and the audio quality wasn’t up to par with my headphones.

My search for affordable speakers started in August of 2012. I knew I wanted something that was a lot more flat than what the bass heavy X-530s were, and also something that was a bit more space saving. I didn’t want to spend an arm and a leg, so AudioEngines were out of the question. I had looked at the M-Audio AV series for a while, and after deciding the extra bulk of the AV-40s wasn’t worth the extra cash, and the fact that the AV-30s were available in store, I purchased them in Moncton.

The Hardware:Overview And Opinions

The speakers are a nice solid wood cabinet, with a 3” woofer and a 1” tweeter. On the front of the left speaker (where the amp is housed) is the volume knob, which is illuminated with blue light when the speaker is on for easily identifying power state. Also located on the front is a 3.5mm headphone jack, and 3.5mm line in. The sides and tops are bare, however, the back houses the bass reflex port, the speaker wire terminators for linking the speakers, the power on/off switch, and also the standard ⅛” RCA jacks. On the bottom of each speaker is a thin foam pad that absorbs any vibrations.

Overall the speakers sound great. They’re similar in response to my HD555s, which is what I was looking for in a speaker. The crossover between the woofer and tweeter was engineered great, with little discernable crossover. Lows fade really well into highs. In listening to my daily playlists, which can consist of anything from rock to pop to dance, the speakers performed admirably, and I was pleased with the reproduction of audio in comparison to my headphones. They perform awesomely for games as well, specifically real time strategies where I don’t want to wear headphones for an extended period.  I also like the fact that there is a headphone out and a line in on the front for easy access. The standard ⅛” RCA jacks on the back mean I can connect these to many different pieces of equipment if necessary. The magnetic shielding ensures they don’t interfere with my monitors and other electronics in the room.

One thing I don’t really like about them is the power switch is located in the back. This isn’t a huge deal if you’re just leaving them on, and it’s nice to have a physical switch to turn them off. I believe better positioning may have been combining power with the volume knob, or instead a separate button on the front. Another thing would be that they don’t handle vocals quite as nicely as I’d like them to. I’d like to be able to keep youtube videos at a lower volume while still having the voices clear, however, I find I need to turn the volume up. This is more than likely just the way they set the audio channels on the videos, but I do wish these would handle vocals better without the need to turn them up. EQing may solve this problem, however I haven’t played with it yet. It could also be fixed with proper positioning, but my desk doesn’t currently support it.

Conclusion

If you’re looking for an affordable pair of balanced studio monitors that still pack a decent punch, the AV-30s may satisfy you. Expect them to fill a small to medium room with decent sound, but don’t expect much beyond that. The size makes them semi-portable as well, so it wouldn’t be a huge deal bringing them to a hotel room if travelling.

Stuff I Like: Global Knives



I really enjoy cooking. Not only do I enjoy cooking, but I also enjoy the science behind it, and the gear involved. If someone asked me about the one thing in the kitchen that is the most important to me, the one thing I couldn’t live without, I’d have to say it would be a good knife.



I’ve always had a few different knives in my kitchen, but never anything considered high end or “good” to most. I’d always wanted something a bit better, and after looking at a bunch of different options, I settled on the brand Global. Global is a Japanese knife brand from the company Yoshikin, and tends to come in a bit cheaper than knives by the likes of Shun or MAC. Overall the knives have a very handsome look to them, and are sure to catch eyes when you have guests over. The knife is all stainless steel with a dimpled, hollow, sand filled handle for balance, and a razor sharp blade set at 15 degrees. This makes for a knife that is comfortable and balanced for extended use in fine tasks like mincing or dicing, but can also be used for heavier tasks like breaking down meat and large root vegetables.



The edge keeps rather admirably, as I’ve only had to run it over the fine stone of my Minosharp+ once to restore the edge to it’s original condition. This is partly due to the custom steel they use, called Cromova 18. The steel is apparently ridiculously hard, which is evident from my usage. Even though the blade is stamped, it still feels like a forged blade in use. I personally believe that in this day and age, as long as it’s manufactured at a high enough level it really doesn’t matter if it’s forged or stamped, either blade will perform the same.

Overall, Global blades come highly recommended from myself, a lot of professionals. Reading through Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain (again), I noticed he recommends Global knives due to the price point and high quality. I can completely agree. If you’re in the market for a new knife, consider a Global blade.

Check out the Global Knives website here [Link], and Kitchen Confidental on Google Play here [Link].

Back to stock

A while ago, with the release of Android 4.2, I decided I wanted to try it out on my Galaxy Nexus. I was also extremely lazy at that point in time, and decided it was a really good idea just to dirty flash 4.2.1 over my 4.1 install. Everything was great, phone worked fine, but I found that performance was spotty. Some of the issues included connection speed dropping, making it unbearable to stream Rdio, interface lag, and poor battery life. Silly me put that to issues with 4.2, and my Galaxy Nexus being slightly outdated, but that all changed last week after a backup and clean flash.

Realizing that I had probably made a mistake dirty flashing the phone, I did my duty and backed up my text messages, then played around with fastboot. After downloading the stock 4.2.1 image from the Google developers page, and some platform tools for fastboot from eFrant’s back to stock instructions on the XDA forums, I was back to a fully clean stock experience. Well, I did have a bit of a hang up with driver installs, but all in all, I was back to where I should have been in about an hour. A few days later, I got the OTA for 4.2.2. All is well.


The best part about being back to stock is all the fun stuff that actually works now! The camera is quick again, the interface is nice and smooth, and along with that, Google Now actually works! I was amazed to see movie times posted the other night for my local theatre, and that there are weather notifications in my notification bar. Battery life is once again awesome. I did a whole 2+ hours of screen on time with the stock kernel, which I think should be considered a basic benchmark for any phone I own.

Speaking of kernels, Ezekeel is back from a long hiatus. He was off recovering from a broken leg, followed by a very hectic work schedule. You’ll probably remember me mentioning his work; the GladOS kernel, from back in my Galaxy Nexus review. I’ve been running GladOS on my Nexus for the past few days, and I’m actually a bit disappointed this time around. I don’t find it handles idle and low signal areas great, even though any screen on time is awesome. For instance, I had 35 minutes of screen on time this morning after waking up, and my battery only drained to about 90%. I also find there’s a little bit more lag with this compared to the stock kernel, however, I’m going to leave it for a few more days to see how things go.

I still do feel the Galaxy Nexus is aging. It’s been an awesome phone, and it’s treated me great. I’ve had the opportunity to discover a lot about Android and the phone community with it, and for that, I’ll probably always remember it. I do feel it’s getting close to the time to replace it. The Nexus 4 was released, and I can’t help but salivate over a phone with those specs, especially one that’s practically the same size. I won’t go into detail, as I think I’ll save those for an eventual review. Suffice it to say, my next device will definitely be a Nexus, and it’s probably going to be the Nexus 4.

New PC



Well, not a new computer for me, but instead a new machine for the girlfriend! My brother decided that he no longer has the time or desire for PC gaming, so I put in an offer, and he accepted. His rig is the same one I helped build over the years. Hell, I remember when it was an Athlon x2 and an 8800GT. Those were the days. Anyway, below are the specs:
Intel Core i5 750 w/ Noctua NH-U12P
Gigabyte P55M-UD2
4GB Mushkin Silverline Stiletto DDR3 RAM
Gigabyte Radeon HD6850 Windforce edition
150GB Western Digital Velociraptor
Coolermaster HAF912 w/ 4x Yate Loon 120mm
Antec Earthwatts 430w PSU
22” Samsung 1080P LED LCD
Logitech G110 keyboard + G500 mouse

Overall, it’s a pretty well rounded machine with a fair bit of gaming potential, even in this day and age. It’s a little light on the RAM side of things, but for what the girlfriend is playing/doing, it shouldn't be an issue. I was absolutely surprised by the feature set of the motherboard. For being a UD2 board, and using the mATX form factor, it’s a pretty loaded board. Looking through the BIOS settings revealed a lot of potential for overclocking.

The only thing we didn't like about adding the machine to the apartment was the inability to run a length of CAT6 to it. Unfortunately, the path between the router and the living room has a doorway in the way, making it undesirable to run. Connecting it wirelessly has been a pain, as we've had to rely on my Alfa USB wireless adapter. Although the adapter is great for what I use it for (Great for Backtrack), it doesn't seem to perform quite as well under Windows. Time will tell what we end up doing with the machine. The girlfriend will keep using it for another month or so, and if we find she isn’t using it enough, I’ll get to re-purpose it into something else. (Virtual platform anyone?)

Things I like: Rdio

Rdio is a multi platform music streaming application, designed to make managing your music collection easier.



I used to have a vast collection of lossless music, taking advantage of the extremely large storage space available to the iPod Classic line. Coupled with my Etymotic ER6i earbuds, I was in audio heaven. Obtaining a smart phone however, made things a bit different. No longer did I want to carry around a second device solely for music, and my smart phone didn't play back ALAC files, and didn't have the storage space for them either. Although I kept my music, I ended up selling the iPod and the Etymotics, and dealing without music on the go for the longest while. I however decided to give it another try, grabbing some new Etymotics, the HF2s, and playing with playlists that would fit on my phone. Re-encoding was a pain, managing playlists was a pain, and dealing with different players was a pain. I'd have to go through my entire collection, pick out which songs I wanted on my device, re-encode them to 192k MP3s, then move them via USB to the device. You can imagine that this could be an extensive undertaking, and most people would have just given up and purchased an iPod and dealt with having another device solely for music.



Mid 2012, after getting tired of the playlist management, I looked at other alternatives. Rdio seemed rather well received, and although I wasn't a fan of spending per month just for my music, it was quickly justified when looking at what I would normally spend on an album, followed by what would have to be done to have that new album loaded onto my device. With the cogs moving in my head, I quickly signed up for the 7 day trial and fell in love. For once, the music on my desktop was all accessible from my phone. Hell, it was accessible from anywhere I wanted it. This was a revelation. Rdio ended up showing me that I really couldn't tell the difference between an ALAC encoded song and one streamed from their service, which as far as I know, is encoded in MP3. Even with my accurate HF2s and Sennheiser HD555s, I really couldn't tell a difference. Adding new songs was as simple as searching for the artist and clicking the plus sign. Making playlists was simple, and there are even some social networking aspects, with the ability to follow other listeners and artists, subscribe to their playlists, and discover new music.



Rdio wasn't without it's bumps however. Initially the Android app was fairly buggy. I ended up getting 2 weeks of free service out of them for a bug which caused the app to stop playback after 3 songs. It's still not a perfect solution, but they're constantly working on it, adding nice features, like collection shuffle, a smoother user interface, and the ability to use the mobile app as a remote control. Overall, it's been pretty bug free for the past little while. The only real disadvantages to the service would be with the data usage for streaming, and the inability to stream with no network connection. Although I don't find it uses ludicrous amounts of battery, it definitely does make use if my 6GB of data from Bell. I stream music for at least half an hour a day, 5 days a week, and with the high quality setting, I can see Rdio using about a gig of data on its own. Coupled with my regular browsing and streaming habits, I can see that 6GB creeping up rather quick. Those of you without good data plans can make use of offline sync however, storing playlists on your device for playback without a network connection. This also mitigates that issue with poor/no signal quality.

Just last month, I removed all of my local music from my computer. I uninstalled iTunes. It feels good. All of my music, plus more than I could ever want, now lives in the cloud, and I'm satisfied again.