If you’re not familiar with the Sony RDP-XA700IP, it’s one of the latest AirPlay audio docks on the market today.  In addition to blasting music streamed from an iOS device (I used my iPhone 3GS and iPad 2), it can also play music wirelessly via WiFi network, which is a really great option if you don’t need to charge your device mid-stream. 

Earlier this year—and frankly I didn’t remember reading this—Dropbox started experimenting with having the photos you take be automatically uploaded to Dropbox from your camera—Your photos, simplified (Part 1). The idea was simple and elegant, take a picture with your smartphone (then only for Android phones) and have it automagically uploaded to a special folder on Dropbox for you. Slick, easy, and to encourage people to use the feature Dropbox gave the people who tried it extra free space as a bonus. Yesterday Dropbox took the wraps off the final product—Your photos, simplified (Part II)—with updates for OS X, Windows, and Android. I tried the new feature yesterday—and claimed my extra 500 MB of storage thank you—and can say without a doubt that it’s freakin’ painless, awesome, and you should do it. Like now…I’ll wait.

Intel is rolling out its latest generation of processors this year, dubbed Ivy Bridge. The successor to the hugely popular Sandy Bridge processors bring some interesting changes and since we’re going to start seeing them in many of the new PCs entering the market it’s a good time to take a moment to get familiar with what they’re all about.

But can it run Crysis? Back in 2007, the game was the yardstick that all PC gamers measured their PC’s against. Crysis, a first-person shooter set in a tropical paradise – with aliens! – was one of the most technically-demanding games ever made up until that time. The fact that my killer PC could run the game well was a source of pride for me. I would scoff at console gamers, telling myself that they could never play a game like Crysis on their lowly systems. Then Crysis 2 came out last year. On PC. And on Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. Oh, dear.

Crysis 2 was certainly a marvel of coding by its developer, Crytek. The fact that they managed to squeeze the level of graphical detail that they did out of technically-underpowered systems like the 360 and PS3 was amazing. However, in order to achieve this, there had to be some sacrifices made. Unlike the huge, wide-open tropical island levels of Crysis, Crysis 2 took place in a New York City under attack by aliens. This allowed for more compact gaming environments that could run better on consoles, but the setting also sacrificed the open sandbox play of the first game. One criticism of Crysis 2 was that, while it was a beautiful-looking game, with great action gameplay, it was a little too linear and the Nanosuits powers were weaker.

This week, Crytek and EA announced Crysis 3 (now with bows!), and much to everybody’s surprise the game returns us to New York City. You can read more about the game and watch the awesome launch trailer after the jump. 

Blades of time launched somewhat under the radar without a huge ad campaign or hyped spectacle to announce its presence so you would be forgiven for not having noticed it until now. Let's take a much deserved closer look at this action-adventure game and find out what it is all about. 

Since the last time I looked at home Routers, home networking has gotten more complex. These days, folks are hooking up almost everything to their home network, either wired or wirelessly: game consoles, audio systems, tablets, handheld gaming devices... the list goes on. And older routers have occasionally been cranky when mixing brands and types -- causing more network headaches.

That being said, home networking just got much easier with the recent introduction of the new smart Wi-Fi router lineup from Linksys.

Over the next few posts, I'll be looking at three members of this linup -- starting with the powerful Linksys EA2700.

The Canadian Videogame Awards (CVAs) held its third annual show this past Saturday, with all the glitz and glamour you'd expect from the prestigious Canadian gaming event.  Celebrities from across Canada, and around the world, walked the red carpet at the Vancouver Trade and Convention Centre to watch the very best in the Canadian gaming industry get recognized.

It's Mother's Day season and the beauty of ordering something from FutureShop.ca for Mom is that it doesnt matter where you are and she is, a couple clicks online can get her a beautiful gift with the elves at FS handling the packaging and mail.  

We're also not just geeks, yes Mom's tech tooth can get her fix at Future Shop, but there are some web only deals  that will bring her a smile and make you look like a star.  Wine glasses? Luggage? iPads? Spa time?  Yup - we've got it all covered.

Move over, Alex Mercer, there's a new virus-infected protagonist in town. Activision's much-anticipated follow-up to 2009's Prototype has hit Future Shop stores across Canada, giving fans a second chance to enter Manhattan (now renamed New York Zero) in attempt to rid the borough of the destructive Blacklight virus.

Android tablets have had it quite rough over the past year. When the first Honeycomb (Android 3.0) tablet (the Motorola Xoom) launched last year, Google hoped that its first real stab at a tablet OS would stop the iPad juggernaut. Unfortunately, a combination of an un-optimized interface, a lack of native tablet Android apps, bulkier hardware (especially compared to the iPad 2), and uncompetitive pricing meant that Honeycomb tablets never really took off. Acer’s first Honeycomb tablet, the A500/A501 10.1” tablet, was more competitively priced than some of the other Honeycomb tablets, but suffered from being a bit bulky, and a little too plasticky compared to the iPad. It did, however, have some compelling features, like a full-sized USB port, and once it was upgraded to Android 3.2 (which fixed a lot of Honeycombs initial bugs), it was one of the better Android tablet choices.

Now Acer has announced the sequel to the A500, the Iconia Tab A510 tablet, which has updated with a quad-core CPU and runs Android 4.0. It is coming soon to Future Shop, and you can read more about it after the jump.

A long time ago, we informed you about the new Portal 2 "Perpetual Testing Initiative" DLC which will allow you to play, create and share your custom Portal 2 levels via the Steam Workshop.  I'm sure many of you have been waiting anxiously for this new DLC and, luckily, its release is finally becoming a reality.  Come May 8, you will be able to download and create to your heart's content.  

The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings came out last year for PC players and has been raking in the awards ever since. Finally console players can get in on the fun with the release of the Enhanced Edition on the Xbox 360 earlier this month. The Witcher RPG series takes players through a rich non-linear storyline where each decision the player makes effects the game.

Lifeproof cases are a life saver when it comes to having a rugged, waterproof exoskeleton for your fragile iPhone 4/4S.  But with this rigid protection comes an inability to play nicely with other accessories.  Lifeproof does have a roster of attachment cases so you can safely bring your iPhone where you need to go.

If you're a runner, or swimmer, you'll want to grab the Lifeproof Armband, provided you're not too buff. 

Xbox Live, eh? It's a bit of an irritant, let's be honest. You have to sign up for it and pay a monthly fee to access all the online goodness related to online play, Netflix and that sort of thing, something I noticed recently when I've been playing Iron Brigade with absolutely no friends as I'm currently "between subscriptions." If you're like me and are looking for a reason to re-subscribe, Xbox Live is running a sweepstakes right now where buying a subscription can get you access to prizes from a Limited Edition Star Wars Kinect Bundle to 10,000 Microsoft Points.

In this increasingly security conscious online world, consciously practicing online security is becoming more and more difficult. How many of us use the same password, or set of passwords for many of our online activities? Or look have software license keys stored in random locations? And have yet another browser app or plugin to help avoid malicious websites?

Earlier this week a new entry appeared in the personal privacy and security space -- Norton Identity Safe.

While the presentation and hype around Unpacked 2012 is somewhat similar to what usually precedes Apple’s events, the main difference in this case is that Samsung is doing the teasing. Although the teasing seems to have been short-lived, since the companion Android app for the Samsung Unpacked 2012 event in London seems to reveal that the Galaxy S III (or maybe under a different name) will be the star of the show.

If you haven’t heard of Otterbox, you are likely to hear more about the company moving forward. The reason why is because they keep making cases for smartphones and mobile devices that are equal parts sleek, sophisticated and durable. The Defender Series for the iPod Touch 4G is an improvement from the previous version, and is arguably one of the most reliable cases available for the device.

Sony’s Cyber-shot line is famous for good-looking, easy-to-carry cameras. With the Cyber-Shot DSC-HX30V Sony has taken the line further than ever with some cool features like Wi-Fi, long zoom, an enhanced Exmor R CMOS sensor, and in-camera GPS.

Built from 99% recycled materials, the HX30V may be black on the outside, but it’s green on the inside.  It’s packing a 20x Optical Zoom lens, which Sony has with it’s “G”-series branding. It’s got a fairly wide-angle at the wide end, giving you a 25mm-equivalent, and it zooms in to an impressive 500mm-equivalent when pushed all the way out. There’s Optical Steadyshot to help keep your pictures clear, but with the maximum aperture at full zoom being only 

I've been traveling a lot lately so being in Vancouver this past weekend was a good thing. I saw fellow Tech Blog writer and founder of Nextgenplayer.com, Paul Hunter, attended the first ever Fan Expo Vancouver and was a part of the Future Shop team to bring the third annual Canadian Videogame Awards (CVAs) to life. 

Over the last few weeks we've read that hundreds of thousands of Apple Macintosh computers running OSX have become infected with the Flashback trojan, which is a type of virus that could, through a hole in Java security, infect your Mac and connect it to a botnet of over half a million other Macs.

The problem is, the Flashback malware is pretty tricky and, it seems, is able to hide from Apple's latest fix.

Three years ago Microsoft Game Studios released Trials HD to the Xbox Live Arcade Marketplace. The game has since sold over two million copies to become one of the top Xbox Live Arcade games of all time. Well after much anticipation, the sequel is finally available for purchase. Trials Evolution is here to claim the throne.

All the game news that's fit to print!

If you're doing anything at all creative with your computer, you're likely aware of the excellent suite of creative tools from Adobe (coincidentally called the Adobe Creative Suite).

Well earlier today, Adobe announced a huge upgrade to the suite, Adobe Creative Suite 6 -- CS6 -- which contains a lot of new features to all products within the suite and is also designed to drive Adobe users to their new subscription-based (and also announced today) Creative Cloud service.

Your smartphone, tablet, MP3 Player, cameras, portable gaming gadgets and even Bluetooth headsets all come with chargers and adapters that are necessary but just add to the clutter at home or at work. IDAPT's I4 Universal Charger is a neat solution that up to four devices organized and juiced.  It is  currently Available at Future Shop for $69.99.

The newest version of Nikon’s much-loved D3000-series DSLRs is coming to Future Shop in two sophisticated colour options (red and black) in the form of the newly announced D3200. Each bundle is going to be shipping to stores with Nikon’s 18-55mm stabilized VR lens.

The D3200 is going to run side-by-side with the ultra-popular D3100, being positioned as a step-up option instead of a replacement. Under the hood Nikon is touting a 24.3 megapixel APS-C-sized sensor, giving users a lot of options for cropping and framing. It’s ready to record information with Nikon’s Expeed 3 processor, showing how technology moves through the hardware pipeline from higher end cameras like the D800 and D4 to the more accessible space occupied by the D3200. Nikon was also quick to point out that the Expeed 3 will offer faster processing speeds, better quality Full HD video, and the ability to shoot lower noise shots. 

As a cheaper alternative to the stellar Asus Eee Transformer Prime, the new Transformer Pad TF300T, announced today by Asus, is a compelling triple-threat tablet option in the market. Here's a fast quad core tablet with an optional keyboard dock that features the latest ICS (Ice Cream Sandwich) build of Android, all for an expected price that is substantially less than its predecessor.