I’ve set up a set on Flickr with screenshots of each page of my apps. If you roll your mouse over any of the app icons on the page, a description of the app and link to its official website (if available) will appear.

Click here to view the set!

Finally this great feature is going to be coming to Canada, as stated in a bunch of news articles. Globe and Mail quotes:

“Using Street View, users can preview holiday accommodation, find meeting spots, explore neighbourhoods and properties, and look up driving directions,” the company said in announcing Street View’s Canadian version.

And if nothing else, it’ll just be cool to explore major Canadian cities in full 3D. I see myself using this when trying to figure out directions and what I should be looking for when going somewhere new. Even better, street view is supported on smart phones like the iPhone, so it is also easily accessible.

Many see this as Facebook’s attempt to battle the rapid growth of Twitter. It’s well known that Facebook failed in trying to acquire Twitter before, so it obviously sees status updates as very important. But are they really?

Here’s what I think. In my experience, Twitter and Facebook users are usually mutually exclusive (give or take an occasional visit). Chances are when you read this, you weren’t even familiar with Twitter (nerds like me aside). They are different products for different needs. People that use Facebook love it for all the applications, like photos, wall posts, notes, messaging, and countless third-part apps. Many people on Twitter have left Facebook to escape the overload of applications, enjoying the minimalistic microblogging, streamlined interface.

Yet Facebook has tried to bring the minimalism of Twitter to Facebook, which really makes no sense. Nobody ever said “Hey, I want all the applications and great features of Facebook, but lets hide them all away and pretend we only have one feature like Twitter.” What a waste of such a feature-rich web platform! Ultimately the implementation has

THE BOTTOM LINE: Twitter is more about what it isn’t than what it is. Feature-wise, Facebook has nothing to compete with. Mobile notifications and status updates have been in place on Facebook for a long time. This redesign is competing with Twitter in the only way it can: by altering the focus of Facebook to status updates for every user. This in turn is sacrificing user preference and bringing a product that isn’t really Twitter, nor is it focusing on being the feature rich web platform that Facebook should be.

And to finish, here is a hilarious video that pretty much sums up my thoughts about Twitter. As you can probably tell, my preference lies with Facebook. (If you are reading this from Facebook, click here to watch it)

DealExtreme is a great place to buy electronics and accessories with free shipping on all orders worldwide that take about 2 weeks to arrive. Get memory cards, iPod accessories, cell phone cases/headsets, and more for a fraction of the price you pay at Wal-Mart.

However, there are a few things you should avoid, such as the cheap knockoff MP3 players and cell phones that they sell. That being said, you need to use your own discretion on what should and should not be ordered from China. Things like simple cables and cases that sell for $20 in-store are obviously very basic accessories that shouldn’t cost more than a few dollars, so those are safe purchases. Additionally the memory cards sold by DealExtreme are for the most part genuine name-brand products which are also safe.

For more electronics from China, check out FocalPrice and Kaidomain.

Besides that, most other products can be found at competitive prices on eBay, and they can be purchased immediately with the “Buy It Now” option. Health and beauty products in particular can often be found for great prices. For example, try doing a search for the usually overpriced Biore Strips.

If you have any other cheap sources for buying things online, let me know in the comments!

The Mentalists play Kids by MGMT on their iPhones and iPod Touches, using only apps downloaded from the Apple App Store. Apps used Ocarina, Retro Synth, miniSynth, DigiDrummer Lite.  I love MGMT, and I love my iPhone, so naturally I love this video. More than anything, I’m just amazed that music today can even be performed with our cell phones.

If you are a web developer, a question that will undoubtedly arise from your clients at some point is how a client’s website can have a higher ranking in Google’s search results. One easy method of landing on the first page is to pay for Google AdWords, Google’s advertising program which allows your website to appear above the results for searches with keywords of your choosing. But if you are looking to land at the top of the actual search results, Google has this video explaining the basics on how it ranks its results. For more tips, Google has today launched a Webmaster Help Channel on YouTube dedicated to helping webmasters optimize and secure their websites for Google and the rest of the web. Google has a range of resources that web developers should check out, including Webmaster Tools, Analytics, and a large library of APIs and code.

A tech pet peeve of mine has always been the common misconception that more megapixels always means a camera with better quality images. This is far from the truth. In this link, a tech blog Gizmodo gives a very technical, yet easy to understand explanation on how digital cameras work and why this simply isn’t the case.

But in case you don’t feel like reading that article, at least consider this. The camera in the iPhone is 2 megapixels, an amount which was considered acceptable not all that long ago and could produce high quality shots. Yet when you view shots such as this one, you see an incredible amount of graininess, washed out colours, and blurs. Megapixels only determine how much detail is being captured in the image at once, and is only really relevant when it comes to making prints. Yet fewer and fewer photos are actually being printed these days, and even when they are, you actually only need a 3 megapixel camera to print a 5” x 7” photo! The standard of 10 megapixels today is actually overkill for most people. (For more megapixel to printing information, click here.)

So next time you purchase a digital camera, just search Google for some reviews first. Many reviews often include sample pictures taken with the camera, which is a great way to get an idea of the picture quality. Additionally, the popular photo sharing site Flickr will usually display technical information about any photo, such as the camera that was used to take it as well as the configured settings.

Then I actually signed up and learned how powerful it truly is.

The strongest feature of Last.fm for me is the music recommendations. Everyone has a certain friend who always recommends great music to them. That certain friend recommends great music because he or she has the same musical tastes as you. You probably have a lot of favorite artists in common, so you trust that friend’s judgement of music. Now take that same kind of recommendation and amplify it to thousands of users around the world to get the best recommendations possible. Your entire music library is compared to thousands of other users to determine exactly what people who like your music are also listening to.

The first thing you need to do is let Last.fm learn about your music library by downloading the Last.fm software which works seamlessly with your favorite media players and iPods to scan all your music and “Scrobble” your tracks to the Last.fm website each time you play a song. This allows Last.fm as well as your friends to know how often you are listening to which tracks to get a better idea of your tastes. I also installed a Scrobbler application on my iPhone through the Cydia installer, so I am now basically broadcasting everything I ever listen to all the time. You can also share with your friends what you are listening to through the site, via a Facebook application, or through a funky widget as seen to the side of this paragraph! Time for some recommendations!

Each time you load the Last.fm homepage, you will be recommended a new set of artists. Under each artist that is recommended, you will see the names of artists you already listen to that were used to make the recommendation to you. Every time you add friends or view other profiles, your musical compatibility with that person is rated based on how many similar artists you have. These features make it very easy to discover great new music and people with similar tastes.

Another cool thing about Last.fm is how every individual element of music has its own page. For example, one single song such as Kanye West’s Flashing Lights has one page with an audio preview of the song, lyrics, links to videos, related albums, and a wall where people can leave comments. Discussion can revolve around any element of music whether it be a song, an artist, an event, or an album.

Although the website is great for music discovery, it’s not the best for actually listening to the music. Most of the music isn’t voluntarily posted by the artists, so the site only has access to 30 second previews used in online MP3 stores. I recommend listening alongside with MySpace when browsing the site. Find an artist that has been recommend, then do a quick Google search for their MySpace to listen to some full tracks.

If you end up getting an account, feel free to add me and we’ll see how musically compatible we are!

If you own an iPhone or iPod Touch, you NEED to buy this game called Rolando. I saw a preview trailer a few months ago that got me excited, and now it is finally out. It is hands down the best game I’ve played for the iPhone. It’s not just a cheap port of an existing game or a simple game that you play when you are bored. It is a semi-lengthy puzzle adventure with a Loco Roco feel that is professionally designed and presented with appealing graphics and great music. It truly feels like a real video game on your phone, and it is one that almost anyone can enjoy. What do you do in it you may ask? Just watch the video! But here is a quote from the info page as well. Rolandoland is in peril and the Rolandos need your help! Use innovative tilt, tap and Multi-Touch controls to guide the Rolandos through four visually-distinct worlds and 36 engaging levels. Solve physics puzzles, toy with the interactive environments and evade pesky enemies as you lead the Rolandos to victory.

Google is known for its amazing work environment. It’s the dream job for every engineer, and they only take the very cream of the crop. Well now Google has opened up their first offices in Canada, downtown Toronto overlooking Yonge and Dundas, and it’s pretty interesting to see their creative and eco-friendly interior design. Have a look through the offices of the search giant, and be sure to see part two!

Whether you’re a fan of Blackberrys, Nokias, Windows Mobiles or the like, you have to admit that the iPhone has had some of the most creative applications yet. This application is an amazing idea, I got it and it’s even more versatile than a real Ocarina. This is Ocarina for iPhone by Smule.

1) Right-click on the small-sized profile picture and click Properties

2) Copy and paste the Address or Location of the image into your address bar.

3) Now just change the s at the beginning of the filename to an n and hit enter. Voila, you now have the large version.

This may only appeal to the nerds (like me!) but if you’ve been looking for a decent e-mail address without having to add weird numbers and symbols to it since the one you want is taken, Yahoo is opening up a whole new suffix of e-mail addresses for Yahoo mail today starting at 4pm. Available are both @ymail.com and @rocketmail.com addresses.

Yahoo Mail is one of the best free webmail services out there. It gives you unlimited storage, has a really nice interface, and can be accessed from almost every e-mail program and cell phone browser out there. It’s right up there in quality with GMail, and is far better than Hotmail

Remember, you can use ANY e-mail address to sign into MSN messenger by signing up for a Windows Live ID here.