Archives for January 7, 2019

Garmin adds LTE to its Vivoactive 3 Music watch

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But it sounds like it can’t stream music over LTE, so what exactly is the point?

Garmin has made plenty of smartwatches in recent years, and today the company is introducing its first with LTE. It’s an update to the existing, awkwardly-named Garmin Vivoactive 3 Music that can connect to Verizon’s LTE network for a variety of features including text messaging, some safety-focused features and, naturally, music. Although judging by Garmin’s press release, the music streaming capabilities sound rather unintuitive.

As with the non-LTE version of the Vivoactive 3 Music, the new model works with Spotify and Deezer. But rather than let users access their library and playlists to stream whatever they want from the watch, Garmin only says users can “download their favorite songs or playlists.” Rather than work at standalone apps, it sounds like you’ll still need to decide what music you want to sync to your watch from your phone first. That would mean that adding LTE to the equation adds exactly nothing to the music experience on this watch.

That’s disappointing, but the LTE-capable Vivoactive 3 Music does have a few tricks that might justify paying Verizon for a data plan. Chief among those is a safety feature that lets users send an alert to pre-selected emergency contacts; sending that security alert also turns on real-time location tracking so an emergency contact knows where you are at all times. There’s also a non-emergency “LiveTrack” setting that lets your contacts see where you are while you’re out on a workout. Finally, the watch’s “incident tracking” feature can detect unusual impacts when the user is running, walking or biking and will again alert your emergency contacts and share your real-time location.

As for other communication features, Garmin mentions text messaging in its press release, but offered zero details on whether users could send messages from the watch or only receive notifications from incoming SMS. The only other LTE-capable feature the company mentions is its Garmin Pay virtual wallet, definitely a handy feature to have on a smartwatch. But based on this initial info, it’s hard to see how LTE really adds anything to the experience aside from the safety and tracking features. We’ll check the device out here at CES to see if we can get any more details on how music playback works and anything else the Vivoactive 3 Music can do with its LTE connect. But as there’s no price or release date yet, anyone interested will probably do just fine with the existing model.

Belkin’s latest Wemo light switches work natively with HomeKit

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You don’t need a bridge to integrate them into an Apple-centric home.

Until now, using one of Belkin’s Wemo Light Switches with Apple’s HomeKit has meant attaching a bridge. No more: Belkin is introducing new Light Switches that take advantage of Apple’s software-based authentication to offer native HomeKit support. In other words, you don’t have to think much about your setup — you can flick a switch and know that it’ll turn on all the lights in your Home app rooms. This isn’t completely novel (Philips added HomeKit support to the Hue Tap in 2017), but it’s certainly helpful.

The new Wemo Light Switches will arrive during the spring and summer in $40 single-pole and $50 three-way versions. While that’s not trivial, it could be justifiable if you don’t always want to pull out your phone (or talk to Siri) just to illuminate your way.

HyperX’s first standalone microphone is built for game streamers

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The Quadcast is aimed at vets and rookies alike.

HyperX is taking on the likes of Blue and Razer with its first standalone microphone for the game streaming set. The “Quadcast” is aimed at aspirational streamers and influencers alike, claims the company. It comes complete with an anti-vibration shock mount and a 3-metre cable with a headphone jack connection, allowing you to hook it up to your platform of choice (be that a PC, console, or Mac).

The Quadcast’s features include four selectable polar patterns to capture audio from different angles, tap-to-mute functionality, and LED lighting to show broadcast status. These days, however, you can snag headsets that combine a mic — like the Razer Ifrit — if you want to do away with peripherals. But the focus here is on better quality audio, theoretically anyway, which aims to meet the demands of serious Twitch, YouTube, or Mixer streamers. And because it’s not an XLR mic, it doesn’t require a mixing board, so set-up should be as easy as plug and record for newbies. It’ll arrive in March with a $140 price tag.

Aside from its debut mic, HyperX is also launching more gaming headsets in the form of the wired Cloud Orbit ($300) and Cloud Orbit S ($330). Both pack the same 100mm planar magnetic drivers for more natural audio featured in Audeze’s wireless Mobius model ($400). The Cloud Orbit S also pinches Mobius’ head-tracking tech for 360-degree sound — justifying its higher price. The two headsets come with USB-A, USB-C, and an analog 3.5mm connector out of the box, a detachable noise cancellation mic with pop filter for voice chat, and boast up to 10 hours of battery life.

Additional inbound headsets include the $60 HyperX Cloud Alpha in purple in the second quarter and the Hyper X Cloud Mix, which will be available globally at the same time for $100. What’s more, HyperX’s Predator DDR4 — which use infrared light to sync their RGB illumination — is now available in 16GB modules in speeds of 3000MHz, and 3200MHz as individual modules and kits of two and four up to 64GB, at $167. Also on the cards is the company’s first 11-button gaming mouse designed for MOBA players: the Pulsefire Raid RGB (priced at $60 and available in the second quarter).

Linksys’ Max Stream router can be the center of a mesh network

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You might see its 2.2Gbps speeds at the other end of your home.

It’s CES, and that means it’s time for Linksys to unveil yet another WiFi router — but this one could be particularly important if you’re tired of dead spots in coverage. Its new Max Stream AC2200 is a typical (if quick) tri-band router with 2.2Gbps of combined bandwidth, but includes built-in mesh networking support. If your WiFi bogs down in the bedroom, you can add Velop nodes to keep things humming. You don’t have to buy a dedicated mesh system (or litter your home with full-size routers) to guarantee consistent speeds.

Linksys hasn’t said when the Max Stream AC2200 ships. However, it’ll cost you a not-too-unreasonable $200 when it goes on sale through Linksys, Amazon and Best Buy. While that’s more expensive than the base units for many mesh networks (Google WiFi starts at $129), you’re also getting a router that makes more sense on its own.

Ex-ambassador says issue of Canadian detainees should be on agenda for China trip

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Entrepreneur Michael Spavor, left, and former Canadian diplomat Michael Kovrig were arrested in China last month – a move widely seen as retaliation for Canada’s arrest of Chinese tech executive Meng Wanzhou.

MP taking part in delegation says he will raise the issue of the ‘arbitrary’ detentions

One of Canada’s former ambassadors to China says the parliamentary delegation in Shanghai is “completely wrong-headed” for not putting the plight of two detained Canadian men on the agenda.

David Mulroney, who served as ambassador from 2009 to 2012, said he was astounded and concerned to hear that the issue of Michael Kovrig’s and Michael Spavor’s detentions are not specifically on the delegation’s itinerary.

Sen. Joseph Day, who is heading the mission hosted by the Canada-China Legislative Association, said the men’s detentions are “not on our agenda but it may well come up,” adding that the delegates and Global Affairs Canada see eye-to-eye on the benefits of the trip.

“The Chinese, I’ve learned through my many years involved in Canada-China relations, they build on long term-relationships. Mutual understanding and mutual benefit comes after we get to know one another,” Day told CBC News before his flight took off.

David Mulroney, Canada’s former ambassador to China, prepares to testify to a commons special committee back in 2009. Mulroney says he thinks it’s wrong to send a message that the Canada-China relationship is ‘business as usual.’

Mulroney, now a senior fellow at the Munk School of Global Affairs out of the University of Toronto, said China wants Canada to believe that it’s important not to say or do anything that will upset the long-term relationship.

“That’s completely wrong-headed … What we have essentially is a Canadian delegation using China’s talking points,” he said.

‘Not business as usual’

“At a time when we should be saying, ‘It’s not business as usual. The most important thing for us is to secure the freedom of these two people who have been wrongly detained.’ We’re saying, ‘Well, you know there are these embarrassments that come up every now and then but we have to stay focused on the long-term relationship.”

Members of the delegation said the trip’s itinerary (mainly meetings with policy-makers, legislators and local citizens’ organizations) was set weeks ago, but it comes amidst flared tension between Ottawa and Beijing.

It’s been nearly one month since Michael Kovrig, a former Canadian diplomat and an adviser with the International Crisis Group, and Michael Spavor, an entrepreneur, were taken into custody in China.

For weeks, Canada has called for their immediate release and referred to their detentions as “arbitrary.”

But China’s top prosecutor said late last week he had “no doubt” the two Canadians had violated Chinese law. China has been arguing that both men are suspected of engaging in activities that undermined national security.

Thinks trip should have been deferred

Their arrests came shortly after Canadian officials arrested Meng Wanzhou, chief financial officer for Huawei Technologies, on an extradition request from the U.S. She was later granted bail and is now awaiting court proceedings in Canada on her extradition.

Day said Chinese legislators from the Canada-China Legislative Association paid Canada a visit a few weeks ago and the delegation is now returning the favour.

Mulroney said he thinks the trip should have been deferred based on the tone so far.

“To suggest somehow this is about parliamentary process and the rule of law, at a time when China is so manifestly ignoring the rule of law, is also not just confusing but harmful,” he said.

“While we shouldn’t pound the table, we should send people who are focused really clearly on Canadian objectives and are going to advance those objectives as a priority with steely discipline in the private meetings.”

Michael Cooper, one of the MPs making the trip to China, told CBC News on Sunday that the trip was initially meant to be an opportunity to talk with local officials, NGOs and businesses about the bilateral relationship. But Cooper also said the detention of the two men means “this is not an ordinary parliamentary delegation any longer.”

“The elephant in the room, so to speak, is the arbitrary detention of these two Canadians.”

Cooper said he will be raising the issue, and expects other members of the delegation will, too.

While the officials they will be meeting with won’t be those at the centre of this case, Cooper said he assumes the officials they do speak to will be “reporting up.”

Another former Canadian ambassador to China said he thinks it’s good the delegation went ahead, but agrees the parliamentarians should be forceful in raising Canada’s concerns.

‘It’s a question of values’

“They may not agree, but at the same time I think the delegation has to impress that we won’t be able to continue to have normal relations until this has been resolved,” said Guy Saint-Jacques, who was posted between 2012 to 2016.

Guy Saint-Jacques served as Canada’s ambassador to China between 2012 and 2016. He said China should know that ‘we won’t be able to continue to have normal relations until this has been resolved.’

“We are at the stage where, in fact, we have to think creatively about how we can pass messages.”

“Let’s remember it’s a question of values and Canada is a country governed by the rule of law, so this is an opportunity to repeat to the Chinese that we have no choice but to abide by the terms of the extradition treaty that we have with the United States.”

Along with Day and Cooper, Sen. Victor Oh and MPs Geng Tan, Majid Jowhari and Chandra Arya will be on the trip.

Meanwhile, federal ​Tourism Minister Mélanie Joly put off a planned trip to Beijing last month after Canada and China agreed to postpone a ceremony marking the end of their joint year of tourism.

The Canada-China Year of Tourism 2018 was developed as a partnership to promote travel between the two countries. Joly had planned to be in Beijing for the closing ceremony, set for Dec. 17 to 20.

Gidimt’en in northern B.C. anticipating RCMP action over anti-pipeline camp

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Cody Merriman, who carries the name Wedlidi, in the cook tent at the Gidimt’en access point camp constructed in northern B.C. to oppose the construction of a natural gas pipeline.

First Nations group is calling for support as it anticipates enforcement of court injunction order

Dozens of Indigenous people and their supporters have set up camp in a remote part of northern B.C., using a strategic access point to control who can get into the territory, as RCMP officers set up nearby.

Standing in a cooking tent at the Gidimt’en camp, people mill about making soup, brewing coffee and chatting. Some sit huddled around a small fire outside, snow falling all around them.

But they’re not sure what will happen next, after more than a dozen RCMP officers have checked into a hotel in Houston, the nearest town to the Gidimt’en camp.

The camp was built following an interim injunction from the B.C. Supreme Court in December to support Coastal GasLink with starting construction on a nearly 700-kilometre pipeline through the territory.

Coastal GasLink has said it needs access to the area as soon as possible to meet construction deadlines for its role in an estimated $40-billion natural gas pipeline and transformation plant.

The Gidimt’en camp is the latest move to assert opposition to the construction of oil and gas pipelines in Wet’suwet’en traditional territory.

The Gitimd’en are one of five clans that make up the Wet’suwet’en. In total, there are 22,000 square km of Wet’suwet’en traditional territory in this northern region of B.C., an area that was part of the landmark Delgamuukw case where the Supreme Court of Canada confirmed the Indigenous nation’s land rights and title had never been extinguished.

“I am very honoured to have all my brothers and sisters here with us to stand with Gitimd’en,” said elder and Gitimd’en clan member Chief Grizzly Mama.

Chief Grizzly Mama, sitting in the cook tent, said she’s honoured to see support for the anti-pipeline cause.

Coastal GasLink has made agreements with all of the elected Indigenous band councils along the pipeline route and says it’s been consulting with hereditary leadership of the Wet’suwet’en for years about the project.

But a release put out by the Gidimt’en camp states, according to Wet’suwet’en law, the company “has never received permission from the proper title holders to access any Wet’suwet’en territories.”

‘This is where we live our lives’

The Gidimt’en access point camp was established a couple weeks ago and has grown quickly to include several permanent structures to accommodate the people staying there.

About 20 kilometres away sits the longstanding Unist’ot’en camp, which was established in 2010 and has long stood in opposition to oil and gas development in the territory.

A cooking tent, heated with a wood burning stove, was the first structure built at the Gidimt’en access point camp in December.

Both camps are opposing the building of the Coastal GasLink pipeline, designed to transport natural gas from northeastern B.C. to a liquefied natural gas plant slated for construction in the north coast community of Kitimat, B.C.

Several of the people at the new Gidimt’en camp have come from Indigenous communities across Canada and the U.S. to support the Wet’suwet’en. They say Coastal GasLink is not welcome to build a pipeline in their territory without the consent of the hereditary leadership.

Cody Merriman is Haida and married into the Gidimt’en clan. He said he’s supporting the camp as part of his obligation to protect his wife’s territory for their two children and the clan’s hereditary leaders.

“This is where we live our lives … this is where my kids learn to hunt, this is where they learn to snare,” he said.

Coastal GasLink says it needs immediate access

The anti-pipeline group says logging companies and others are given access to move through their gate without issue.

This gate is the second of its kind to be constructed on the planned pipeline route.

Merriman said they’re not sure what to expect from the RCMP in the days ahead. He said he realizes what they’re doing is being characterized as unlawful activity.

“And I think back … you know what, the RCMP lawfully assisted in taking our kids to residential school,” he said.

“My argument is, whatever is lawful, doesn’t mean it’s right.”

In an emailed response to CBC on Sunday January 6, RCMP media relations contact Madonna Saunderson wrote that she understood there are ” less than a dozen officers in the Smithers area, including our Division Liaison Team (DLT)” but that “you may notice an increase in resources in the detachment area this week/month.”

She confirmed that the injunction and police enforcement order recognize the RCMP’s discretion to decide how and when to enforce the injunction, and that they are “hopeful that there will not be violence or disorder as we enforce the court order; however, the safety of the public and our officers is paramount when policing demonstrations, particularly due to the remote area in which the bridge is located.”