Author: Mobile Syrup

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Mobile Syrup

Testing out Pixel Watch bands: Stretch wins the day

I reviewed the Pixel Watch back in October. However, at the time, I only had the ‘Active Band’ that came with my review unit. Google has a variety of other bands available, and I finally got a chance to take some for a spin. Plus, I tested some cheaper options bought on Amazon since, well, the official Google bands are fairly pricey.

One thing before I dive in — all the Google bands come in a box with a little brochure detailing how to swap the bands and cleaning instructions and nothing else.

All right, let’s get into it.

Active Band

First up: the Active Band. My Pixel Watch came with the ‘Charcoal’ band colour. The band feels nice and gets the job done, but it’s far from the most stylish option on the list. If you don’t have the money to spend on another band, the one that comes in the box works well enough. Moreover, the Active Band comes in both small and large sizes — take note of which one works best for you, as the sizes for other Pixel Watch bands roughly match the Active Band.

The Pixel Watch Active Band costs $69.99 in Canada (nice) and comes in ‘Lemongrass,’ ‘Charcoal,’ ‘Obsidian,’ ‘Chalk, and ‘Hazel.’

Stretch Band

The Stretch Band is easily my favourite of the official Google Pixel Watch bands. It’s very comfortable and doesn’t have any latches or clasps to deal with. The colour I had was ‘Linen.’ I did have some concerns about it getting loose over time, but after wearing it fairly consistently for a few days (which included my seven-month-old yanking on it, as she does with any watch I’m wearing) the Stretch Band held up better than I expected.

The band is available in several sizes:

  • Extra small: Fits wrists 130–150 mm around
  • Small: Fits wrists 140–160 mm around
  • Medium: Fits wrists 155–175 mm around
  • Large: Fits wrists 170–200 mm around
  • Extra large: Fits wrists 190–210 mm around

Google also has a document available here with instructions on measuring your wrist size. My wrist is about 178mm, and the medium size felt very comfortable on my wrist. It’s also worth noting that I found the band conflicted a little with the Pixel Watch’s screen lock feature. The Stretch Band had a looser feel compared to some of the other bands I tried, and sometimes it caused the Pixel Watch to lock because it thought I had taken off the watch. If you prefer to have a screen lock on your Pixel Watch, keep that in mind when considering the Stretch Band.

The Pixel Watch Stretch Band costs $79.99 in Canada and comes in ‘Linen,’ ‘Rose,’ and ‘Obsidian.’

Woven Band

Next up is the ‘Lemongrass’ Woven Band, which looks very unique but wasn’t my favourite band (as much as I wanted to like it). My two big issues with the band were the feel and the smell. The band felt very rough to the touch. Granted, it wasn’t too bad when wearing it but definitely wasn’t as comfortable as the Stretch or Active bands.

As for the smell, the Woven band had a very strong chemical-ish odour. Even after letting air out for a few days and wearing it for a few days, the odour stayed strong. It’s still there after having the band for a couple of weeks.

Additionally, the clasp is fairly unobtrusive once you set the size for your wrist, and it doesn’t get in the way. Still, the plastic loop used to connect it doesn’t feel very secure, and whenever I have to undo the clasp to remove the Pixel Watch, it feels like I might snap the plastic.

Ultimately, the Woven Band was disappointing — I really wanted to like it, but I expect I won’t wear it often.

The Pixel Watch Woven Band costs $79.99 and comes in ‘Lemongrass,’ ‘Coral,’ and ‘Ivy.’

Two-Tone Leather Band

Finally, the Two-Tone Leather Band. This is the last Google band I tested from Google, although the company offers two leather bands. Both are fairly similar, with slightly different colour options, a different clasp and the Two-Tone band — as the name implies — has two slightly different tones.

I used the ‘Chalk’ band, which looks really nice. It’s fairly comfortable, although this is a band I’d likely save for special occasions and when I want to look fancy. I’m not a huge fan of the way the clasp sits on my wrist, but that might be a side effect of using the ‘large’ band size, which is a bit too big for me.

Moreover, for the price, I was disappointed to see the band didn’t sit flush with the Pixel Watch. It certainly wasn’t the worst offender, but all the other Google bands clipped into the Pixel Watch well with no gaps and minimal play.

It’s hard to see in the picture, but there’s a slight gap in the mechanism connecting the band to the watch.

The Pixel Watch Two-Tone Leather Band costs $109.99 in Canada and comes in ‘Chalk,’ ‘Linen,’ and ‘Charcoal.’ The other leather band, the Pixel Watch Crafted Leather Band, comes in ‘Obsidian’ and ‘Ivy.’ It also costs $109.99.

While that does round things out for the official Google bands I tried, below are some (much) cheaper bands I bought on Amazon. Generally, they work well, but they certainly aren’t up to the quality of the Google bands. Also, when I picked up the bands for this story, selection was pretty minimal, and the options aren’t great.

Qoosea Nylon Braid Sport

First up was the Qoosea Nylon Brad Sport. Overall, I was very happy with this band. It’s super basic, using a single strap that doubles back on itself and velcros in place. The velcro was secure (it held up well to my daughter yanking on it) and it felt very comfortable. My only real issue was the plastic connectors that clip into the Pixel Watch — they didn’t fit super well and there was a fair bit of play. Still, it kept the watch secure and, at the price, it’s hard to complain.

The Qoosea Nylon Brad Sport costs $20.99 on Amazon.

IDoris Adjustable Leather Strap

I also picked up an IDoris leather band from Amazon. It looks pretty good, but the leather doesn’t feel as high quality as the Two-Tone Leather Band (as should be the case, given the roughly $80 price difference). Moreover, like the Qoosea band, the IDoris strap has a lot of play in the mechanism where it connects to the Pixel Watch. It’s not ideal, but if you’re looking for a band that looks like it costs a lot without actually forking out the money for it, the IDoris gets the job done.

Interestingly, this band (and the IDoris strap below) both came with a clip-on case and a screen protector. I didn’t want to use either of these as I like my Pixel Watch naked, for lack of a better term.

The IDoris Adjustable Leather Strap costs $23.86 on Amazon.

IDoris Adjustable Stainless Steel Mesh Magnetic Strap

Another IDoris option, this strap looks super stylish. The magnet clasp works fairly well and I wasn’t worried about the band falling off. Like the other Amazon finds, the Steel Mesh strap had a lot of play in the mechanism for connecting it to the Pixel Watch, which doesn’t give me a lot of confidence in the band. Still, it looks nice from a distance (and I’ve always wanted one of these fancy magnet straps).

Unfortunately, this isn’t the most comfortable strap, but it wouldn’t really be a daily-wear option for me anyway. Like the Two-Tone Leather Band, I’ll crack this one out if I want something a little fancier looking.

The IDoris Adjustable Stainless Steel Mesh Magnetic Strap costs $20.50 on Amazon.

Cases and screen protectors that came with the IDoris straps.

There was one other Amazon band I was going to test, but according to the shipping info I have, it might not arrive until late December. I’ll add it to the round-up once it arrives.

MobileSyrup utilizes affiliate partnerships. These partnerships do not influence our editorial content, though MobileSyrup may earn a commission on purchases made via these links.


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Mobile Syrup

You can ask Siri to restart your iPhone or iPad with iOS 16

One of the small features that came along with iOS 16 is the ability for Siri to restart your device.

This works on iPads and iPhones, and if you’re like me and often forget that you need to hold down the Power and the Volume down to turn off a modern iPhone, this can help a lot. Now, whenever I hold down on the power button and Siri awakens, I can just ask it to restart my phone.

What does make this a bit annoying is that this is a two-step process. Once you ask Siri to restart the phone, it will ask you to confirm, and you’ll have to say “yes.” It’s fairly simple, but, strangely, the digital assistant can only restart the phone. If you ask to power down, it won’t do anything.

There were reports that Google would add something similar to Android in 2021, but so far, asking similar requests to my Pixel 6 does nothing.

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Mobile Syrup

How to watch Canada vs. Croatia in the 2022 FIFA World Cup today

FIFA World Cup Group F’s 2nd and 4th position teams, Croatia and Canada, respectively, are set to go up against each other today, Sunday, November 27th, at 11am ET/8am pt, at the Khalifa International Stadium in Doha, Qatar.

12th-ranked Croatia is fresh off a draw against Morocco, while 41st-ranked Canada is fresh off a 1-0 defeat against Belgium. While Canada performed exceptionally well against 2nd-ranked Belgium, the team’s failure to score a goal cost them the game. Team Canada’s coach John Herdman had some quality words to say after the matchup. “I told them [team Canada] they belong here and we’re going to go and eff— Croatia,” he said during FIFA’s official post-game pitchside interview. “That’s as simple as it gets.”

The game against Croatia is ‘make-or-break’ for team Canada. A loss today means Canada’s hope of advancing to the knockout round/round of 16 evaporates.

How to watch

The matchup between Canada and Croatia is set to take place at 11am ET/8am PT today at the Khalifa International Stadium in Doha, Qatar.

Those with a cable connection with access to TSN 1, TSN 3, TSN 4, TSN 5 or CTV can watch the game directly on their TVs in English, while those with RDS can watch the game live in French.

If you feel like watching the game on a different device, you can head to the TSN website, CTV website or the RDS website and log in with your cable credentials to stream online.

If you don’t have a cable connection, you can still watch team Canada battle it out with the number 2 ranked squad by subscribing to either TSN Direct on RDS Direct, depending on your language preference.

Find subscription plans and pricing info below:

  • Monthly Pass: Gives you access to TSN for a month from the date of subscription. The plan is billed monthly, and automatically renews every month. The plan costs $19.99 + tax.
  • Four-month Pass: Gives you access to TSN for four months from the date of subscription. The plan is prepaid, and is billed as a one-time payment for four months. Automatically renews every four months. The plan costs $49.96 + tax for the four months.
  • Annual Pass: Gives you access to TSN for a year from the date of subscription. The plan is prepaid, and is billed as a one-time payment for the year. Automatically renews annually. The plan costs $119.90 + tax for the full year.

Click here to subscribe to TSN Direct.

Click here to subscribe to RDS Direct.

Squads

Canada

Goalkeepers:

  • Milan Borjan
  • James Pantemis
  • Dayne St. Clair

Defenders:

  • Sam Adekugbe
  • Derek Cornelius
  • Steven Vitoria
  • Joel Waterman
  • Alistair Johnston
  • Richie Laryea
  • Kamal Miller

Midfielders:

  • Stephen Eustaquio
  • Liam Fraser
  • Jonathan Osorio
  • Samuel Piette
  • David Wotherspoon
  • Atiba Hutchinson
  • Mark-Anthony Kaye
  • Ismael Kone

Forwards:

  • Tajon Buchanan
  • Lucas Cavallini
  • Junior Hoillett
  • Cyle Larin
  • Jonathan David
  • Alphonso Davies
  • Liam Miller
  • Ike Ugbo

Croatia

Goalkeepers:

  • Dominik Livakovic
  • Ivica Ivusi
  • Ivo Grbic

Defenders:

  • Domagoj Vida
  • Dejan Lovren
  • Borna Barisic
  • Josip Juranovic
  • Josko Gvardiol
  • Borna Sosa
  • Josip Stanisic
  • Martin Erlic
  • Josip Sutalo

Midfielders:

  • Luka Modric
  • Mateo Kovacic
  • Marcelo Brozovic
  • Mario Pasalaic
  • Nikola Vlasic
  • Lovro Majer
  • Kristijan Jakic
  • Luka Sucic

Forwards:

  • Ivan Perisic
  • Andrej Kramaric
  • Bruno Petkovic
  • Mislav Orsic
  • Ante Budimir
  • Marko Livaja

Image credit: Shutterstock

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Mobile Syrup

Streaming in Canada on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV+, Crave, Disney+ and Netflix [Nov. 21-27]

Every week, MobileSyrup outlines some of the most notable movies and TV shows that recently hit Canadian streaming platforms.

Our ‘Streaming in Canada’ column typically focuses on new content from Amazon Prime Video, Crave and Netflix, but other services like Apple TV+ and Disney+ are mentioned when relevant. Premium video on demand (PVOD) platforms are also fair game as movies continue to come to digital early amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Finally, we’ll highlight shows or movies that are made by Canadian companies, involve notable Canadian cast or crew and/or are filmed in Canada.

Amazon Prime Video

Good Night Oppy [Amazon Original]

Ryan White (The Keepers) directs this documentary about Opportunity, a rover that explored Mars for nearly 15 years. Angela Bassett (Black Panther) narrates.

Amazon Prime Video Canada release date: November 23rd, 2022
Genre: Documentary
Runtime: 1 hour, 45 minutes

Stream Good Night Oppy here.

Everything Everywhere All At Once

A struggling Chinese-American business owner must connect with alternate universe versions of herself to thwart a threat to the entire multiverse.

Everything Everywhere All At Once was written and directed by Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert (Swiss Army Man) and stars Michelle Yeoh (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon), Ke Huy Quan (Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom), Stephanie Hsu (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel), Jamie Lee Curtis (Halloween) and James Hong (Hawaii Five-O).

Original theatrical release date: March 25th, 2022
Amazon Prime Video Canada release date: November 25th, 2022
Genre: Sci-fi, action, comedy-drama
Runtime: 2 hours, 20 minutes

Stream Everything Everywhere All At Once here.

An Amazon Prime Video subscription is included at no additional cost with an Amazon Prime membership, which costs $99/year.

The full list of movies and shows hitting Amazon Prime Video Canada this month can be found here.

Apple TV+

Echo 3 [Apple Original]

From writer Mark Boal (The Hurt Locker) follows a man and his brother-in-law as they must tap into old military experience to rescue a loved one from a secret war along the Colombia-Venezuela border.

Echo 3 stars Michael Huisman (Game of Thrones), Luke Evans (Nine Perfect Strangers) and Jessica Ann Collins (Revolution).

Apple TV+ Canada release date: November 23rd, 2022 (first three episodes, new episodes every Friday)
Genre: Thriller
Runtime: 10 episodes (46 to 58 minutes each)

Stream Echo 3 here.

Following a recent price increase, an Apple TV+ subscription costs $8.99/month in Canada.

Find out what’s coming to Apple TV+ in November here.

Crave

Love, Lizzo

Directed by Doug Pray (Art & Copy), this documentary offers a close look at the life and career of Grammy-winning singer Lizzo.

Crave release date: November 24th, 2022
Genre: Music documentary
Runtime: 1 hour, 32 minutes

Stream Love, Lizzo here.

Shaq

Robert Alexander (A Man Named Scott) offers this look at the storied life and career of NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal.

In addition to O’Neal himself, the documentary features interviews with such basketball figures as Toronto’s Rick Fox, Dwyane Wade and Pat Riley.

Crave release date: November 23rd, 2022 (first episodes, new episodes every Wednesday at 9pm ET)
Genre: Sports documentary
Runtime: Four episodes (around 45 minutes each)

Stream Shaq here.

A standard Crave subscription is priced at $19.99/month, with Starz costing an additional $5.99/month. A mobile-only subscription is also available for $9.99/month.

The full list of movies and shows hitting Crave this month can be found here.

Stream Shaq here.

Disney+

The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special [Disney+ Original]

With Quill sad about Gamora, Mantis and Drax travel to Earth to find him the ultimate Christmas present: Kevin Bacon.

The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special was written and directed by Guardians of the Galaxy mastermind James Gunn and features returning Guardians stars Chris Pratt (Peter Quill/Star-Lord), Dave Bautista (Drax), Mantis (Pom Klementieff), Karen Gillan (Nebula), Rocket (Bradley Cooper), Vin Diesel (Groot) and Sean Gunn (Kraglin), while Bacon (Footloose) plays himself.

It’s worth noting that the special leads into next May’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, which is intended to be a swan song for the Guardians.

Disney+ Canada release date: November 25th, 2022
Genre: Superhero, Christmas
Runtime: 44 minutes

Stream The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special here.

Welcome to Chippendales [Star Original]

This series follows the life and career of Somen ‘Steve’ Banerjee, the founder of the male striptease troupe, Chippendales.

Welcome to Chippendales was created by Robert Siegel (The Wrestler) and stars Kumail Nanjiani (The Big Sick), Murray Bartlett (The White Lotus), Annaleigh Ashford (Masters of Sex) and Juliette Lewis (Yellowjackets).

Disney+ Canada release date: November 22nd, 2022 (first two episodes, new episodes every Tuesday)
Genre: Biographical drama
Runtime: Eight episodes (around 45 minutes each)

Stream Welcome to Chippendales here.

A standard Crave subscription is priced at $19.99/month, with Starz costing an additional $5.99/month. A mobile-only subscription is also available for $9.99/month.

The full list of movies and shows hitting Crave this month can be found here.

Netflix

Ghislaine Maxwell: Filthy Rich [Netflix Original]

Survivors of British socialite and Jeffrey Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell detail her sex trafficking trial.

Netflix Canada release date: November 25th, 2022
Genre: Documentary
Runtime: 1 hour, 41 minutes

Stream Ghislaine Maxwell: Filthy Rich here.

The Noel Diary [Netflix Original]

While clearing out his childhood home for Christmas, an author discovers a diary that links him to a woman searching for her birth mother.

The Noel Diary was directed by Charles Shyer (Father of the Bride) and stars Justin Hartley (This is Us), Barrett Doss (Station 19) and Essence Atkins (Are We There Yet?).

Netflix Canada release date: November 24th, 2022
Genre: Christmas, romantic
Runtime: 1 hour, 39 minutes

Stream The Noel Diary here.

Trevor Noah: I Wish You Would [Netflix Original]

The Daily Show‘s Trevor Noah riffs on learning German, judging characters in horror movies and ordering Indian food in Scotland.

Netflix Canada release date: November 22nd, 2022
Genre: Stand-up comedy special
Runtime: 1 hour

Stream Trevor Noah: I Wish You Would here.

Wednesday [Netflix Original]

Wednesday Addams investigates a murder spree while making friends and foes at Nevermore Academy.

Based on The Addams Family, Wednesday was created by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar (Smallville) and stars Jenna Ortega (Jane the Virgin), Gwendoline Christie (Game of Thrones), Riki Lindholme (Duncanville) and Jamie McShane (Bloodline).

Netflix Canada release date: November 23rd, 2022
Genre: Fantasy
Runtime: Eight episodes (45 minutes each)

Stream Wednesday here.

A ‘Basic with Ads’ subscription costs $5.99/month, ‘Basic’ Netflix subscription costs $9.99/month, a ‘Standard’ subscription (HD-supported) costs $16.49/month and a ‘Premium’ membership is priced at $20.99/month (4K-supported).

The full list of movies and shows hitting Netflix Canada this month can be found here.

What are you planning on streaming this week? Let us know in the comments.

For more suggestions, check out last week’s Streaming in Canada column.

Image credit: Marvel Studios

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Mobile Syrup

This week in Canadian telecom: Black Friday deals and Rogers-Shaw hearing [Nov. 19-25]

While Black Friday might be officially over, according to our calendars, the deals are going strong. Various telecom companies are offering deals on devices, mobile plans and internet packages.

Of course, great deals aren’t the only thing coming from the telecom sector. As a recap, here’s almost everything that happened in Canada’s telecom sector this week.

Business

Innovation Canada announced it would auction several leftover spectrum licenses (2500MHz, 600MHz and 3500MHz) in the new year. Various telecom companies, including Rogers, Bell, and Telus, have applied to participate.

4 million Canadians will upgrade to 5G in the next 12-18 months, a recent report from Ericsson shows. 5G was first introduced in Canada in 2020, and its subscriber base has grown six times since then. However, awareness remains low, and there is room for ample growth.

Ian Scott, the Chair of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), says more competition in Canada’s wireless market is needed. Scott made the statement at the Canadian Telecom Summit (CTS) in what is likely his last public speech as Chair.

Without Rogers’ takeover, Shaw “didn’t see a viable path forward as a standalone company,” Trevor English, Shaw’s chief financial officer, said at the Competition Tribunal’s hearing. The tribunal is examining the Rogers-Shaw merger and has concluded its third week.

The hearing also revealed Rogers executives would receive bonuses once Rogers’ takeover of Shaw is completed. Dean Prevost, Rogers’ president of integration, accidentally revealed his bonus would be $2 million.

Government

The governments of Canada and British Columbia are funding seven high-speed internet projects in the province. CityWest will complete the projects worth $5.2 million to benefit more than 1,100 households on and around Vancouver Island.

Deals

Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals continue throughout the weekend.

Ice Wireless is offering discounts on its endless, prepaid, and home phone plans for 12 months. More information is available here.

TekSavvy is selling deals on various internet packages for some residents for Black Friday.

Koodo is offering a $45/50 GB plan for Black Friday.

Roger is offering a 100GB plan for $75/ month for Black Friday.

Public Mobile is offering a 20GB plan for $35/month. 

A round-up of all the best Black Friday deals can be found here. You can find all of the top deals at Canadian retailers here.

Image credit: Shuttetstock 

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Mobile Syrup

Pokémon Scarlet and Violet’s technical issues are inexcusable

Last week’s launch of Pokémon Scarlet and Violet was… rough, to say the least.

Quickly, players took to social media to report all kinds of technical issues with the games, including low-quality textures, choppy framerate and game-breaking glitches. As the tech gurus over at Digital Foundry put it, Scarlet and Violet are “comprehensive technical failures.”

And yet, Scarlet and Violet sold 10 million copies in their first three days, setting a record for a Nintendo game debut. What’s more, many have said they simply don’t care because they’re enjoying the open-world games. Honestly, this has all been incredibly disappointing to see because, quite frankly, it’s inexcusable that these games are in such an abysmal state.

Since the games have come out, I’ve seen a few excuses thrown around. The most common one has been to blame the Nintendo Switch itself. After all, the nearly six-year-old console is underpowered compared to other gaming hardware. But that’s only part of the picture, and two things can be true at once.

Yes, the Switch is dated, but that also doesn’t mean you can’t still do impressive things on it. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, a Switch launch title, had a big open-world yet didn’t suffer from the same technical issues. Or look at Xenoblade Chronicles 3, which launched earlier this year on Switch, features a sprawling explorable setting and while looking and running far better than Scarlet and Violet.

Digital Foundry even wrote extensively about how impressed it was with developer Monolith Soft’s optimization work on the Xenoblade threequel, which is also up for Game of the Year at The Game Awards. Ultimately, this isn’t even a question of being some sort of graphics snob — it’s simply expecting a game that plays decently well. You know, buying something and having it actually work properly. And that’s the thing — Nintendo is, on the whole, one of the best in the business for that. Part of the reason why games like Mario, Zelda or even, say, this year’s Kirby and the Forgotten Land are so well-regarded is that they’re incredibly polished. When you buy a Nintendo exclusive, that normally means high-quality — except, it seems, when it comes to Pokémon.

There’s also the fact that Game Freak should be better than this. If you didn’t know, Pokémon is the highest-grossing media franchise of all time. We’re talking bigger than Marvel, DC, Star Wars or Harry Potter. It’s not unreasonable, then, to expect better. In fact, it makes it all the more embarrassing that we see smaller developers with far less in the way of budgets or resources working on Switch exclusives who are nonetheless able to avoid releasing Scarlet– and Violet-level of broken games.

I’ve also basically seen excuses like “well, it’s fun” or “oh, it’s a kid’s game and my daughter likes it, so it’s fine,” which are likewise baffling. So many games are both fun and for kids that also just work — see practically every Nintendo first-party game, like the aforementioned Mario. Part of the brilliance of the company’s games is also that they have universal, all-ages appeal, so trying to diminish that only for Pokémon simply makes no sense. It also ignores how many adults no doubt still play the series. That’s also to say nothing of the many other “fun kids games” that simply aren’t as sloppy as Scarlet and Violet.

Only with Pokémon do we get these sorts of caveats. For months, Sonic Frontiers was lambasted for looking rough-around-the-edges, but that’s okay since the hedgehog is everyone’s favourite punching bag. People may have disappointingly forgotten it, but CD Projekt Red was rightfully mired in controversy over a disastrous Cyberpunk 2077 launch. The little indie team of Hello Games was eviscerated for mishandling No Man’s Sky. I could go on. But with Pokémon, people don’t seem to care. Why do we hold other developers, even indies, to a higher standard than the company behind the literal biggest media franchise of all time? And because people looked past Scarlet and Violet‘s issues and gave Game Freak record-breaking sales, it sends the message that such shoddiness is acceptable. Why even put in the work to polish something when you’ve been told it’s unneeded?

To be clear, I’m not calling individual Game Freak developers lazy. They no doubt work very hard on these games and developers would obviously want to release the best game possible. Instead, it would almost certainly be, as is usually the case, an issue on the business side of things. I have no insider knowledge, but it certainly reminds me of a similar issue that we’ve seen with the Marvel Cinematic Universe, where the content is being churned out at such a fast rate that individual titles suffer. In the same way that VFX studios simply can’t keep up with that pace, it seems as though Game Freak — which has maintained an annual release pattern and also had Pokémon Legends: Arceus this year — might have been spread too thin.

I also absolutely don’t fault anyone for liking Pokémon. While the series has been far too creatively stagnant for me, personally, there’s nothing wrong with playing and enjoying Scarlet and Violet. What I find troublesome is that people so willing to go to bat for a billion-dollar corporation. You can simultaneously have fun with this first true open-world Pokémon game while also not excusing its issues. The nostalgia some have for Pokémon is almost unparalleled, and it apparently prevents many from even remotely criticizing any of the series’ games.

That said, it has been nice to see some people more appropriately critical of the games. On top of Digital Foundry, it was nice to see IGN‘s Rebekah Valentine both praise the core design and call out Game Freak for the “numerous ways in which Scarlet and Violet feel deeply unfinished.” And some people on Twitter, when they’re not excusing the issues or simply laughing at them, have expressed similar statements. I just hope people remember all of this come next year’s inevitable Pokémon game and hold Game Freak to even a slightly higher standard.

Image credit: Nintendo (via @t_a_b_e_r_u)

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Fido, Virgin add $45/50GB plan for Black Friday

Fido and Virgin Plus have joined Koodo in offering a $45/mo 50GB Black Friday plan.

Like Koodo, both Fido and Virgin offer a $65/mo plan with 50GB of data plus a $20/mo bill credit for 24 months. That means customers pay $45/mo for two years with the plan.

The plans are only available for new activations and hardware upgrades, which means if you’re with one of these providers, you’ll need to swap to another one.

You can check out the Fido offer here and the Virgin offer here.

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New on Hayu: December 2022

Everyone knows about Netflix, Crave and Prime Video, but there are also other video streaming platforms in Canada for fans of niche content.

For example, NBC Universal’s Hayu is a reality TV subscription streaming service that gets new series monthly and continuing series weekly.

Here’s everything that’s coming to Hayu in December:

New this December

  • Love Without Borders: Season 1 (From Thursdays, December 1st)
  • Million Dollar Listing Los Angeles: Season 14 (From Fridays,  December 9th)
  • The Real Housewives of Cheshire: Christmas Cruising (From Sundays, December 11th)

Films

  • Liar, Liar (December 2nd)
  • Love Actually (December 2nd)
  • Dr. Seuss’ How The Grinch Stole Christmas (December 9th)
  • Patch Adams (December 9th)
  • The Best Man (December 16th)
  • The Best Man Holiday (December 16th)
  • Mamma Mia! (December 23rd)
  • Parenthood (December 23rd)

Continuing series

  • The Real Housewives of Potomac: Season 7 (Mondays)
  • Family Karma: Season 3 (Mondays)
  • Sleeping With Death: Season 1 (Mondays)
  • Snapped: Season 31 (Mondays)
  • Below Deck: Season 10 (Tuesdays)
  • Made in Chelsea: Season 24 (Tuesdays)
  • Southern Hospitality: Season 1 (Tuesdays)
  • Watch What Happens Live: Season 19 (Tuesdays)
  • Below Deck Adventure: Season 1 (Wednesdays)
  • The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City: Season 3 (Thursdays)
  • Winter House: Season 2 (Fridays)
  • Accident, Suicide or Murder: Season 4 (Sundays)

Image credit: Bravo

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This is the best Black Friday SD card deal

This will be a short one, but you can never have enough SD cards. However, the quality of your SD card can step up your game.

I’ve been using these 250/Mbps Lexar cards for all my work, and I find them excellent. They’re UHS-II styled cards, so they’re much faster than your typical SD card, allowing you to record high frame rate video, a burst of RAW files and more, all without studdering the card. When I first bought my camera a few years ago, I wasn’t paying attention to my card speeds, and I would have a lot of issues filming 4K footage at 60fps. Since stepping up, my camera hasn’t errored out similarly.

I’ll also mention that the new 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro computers also use UHS-II SD card readers, so you can offload footage efficiently from these cards.

The 128GB version goes on sale a few times a year for around $35-$40, so right now on Amazon, it’s the lowest price I’ve ever seen at $35. This is even cheaper than the 64GB version, which isn’t on sale and sits at $39.

I hate to push sales on people, but grabbing an extra for your bag or car could be a really helpful move at this price. Beyond a new window and a home internet upgrade, this is the only thing I’m buying. Happy shopping.

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Mobile Syrup

New on Crave: December 2022

Bell has announced that a ton of new content coming to Crave in December (and quite a few TV shows and movies are also leaving the platform).

Crave subscriptions start at $9.99/month for a Mobile plan, which includes access to HBO content. A $19.99/month Crave Total subscription is required to stream this content on Crave’s supported devices, like Android, iOS, Apple TV, PlayStation, etc. A $5.99 Starz add-on is also available.

December 1st

  • Gossip Girl: Season 2, Episodes 1-2
  • Branson @10pm ET
  • A Hollywood Christmas

December 2nd

  • Sundown
  • Titanic (1997)
  • Matt Rogers: Have You Heard of Christmas
  • Cocaine, Prison & Likes: Isabelle’s True Story, Episodes 1-3
  • Comedy Central’s Jeff Dunham – Me The People
  • 1Up — Starz 
  • Deep — Starz
  • Hedgehogs — Starz
  • The Powerpuff Girls Movie — Starz
  • The Hunger Games — Starz
  • The Hunger Games: Catching Fire — Starz
  • The Hunger Games: Mockingjay: Part 1 — Starz 
  • The Hunger Games: Mockingjay: Part 2 — Starz
  • A Little Princess

December 3rd

A Big Fat Family Christmas

December 4th

  • George & Tammy: Season 1, Episode 1 @ 9pm ET
  • A Christmas … Present

December 5th

  • Women Who Rock: Episodes 1-4
  • His Dark Materials: Season 3, Episodes 1-2 @9pm ET
  • I’m Glad It’s Christmas

December 6th

  • Unveiled: Surviving La Luz Del Mundo: Episodes 1-3 @ 9pm ET

December 8th

  • Doom Patrol: Season 4A, Episodes 1-2 @9pm ET

December 9th

  • Benediction
  • Marry Me
  • All I Want For Christmas
  • Mary Makes It Easy: Season 2A
  • Children Ruin Everything: Season 2A, Episodes 1-10
  • Transplant: Season 3A, Episodes 1-9
  • Paradise Highway — Starz 
  • 22 Chaser — Starz 
  • Bang Bang Baby — Starz 
  • The Great Gilly Hopkin — Starz. 
  • Trolls — Starz 
  • Richie Rich — Starz 

December 10th

  • Random Acts of Flyness: Season 2, Episodes 1-2

December 11th

  • Steppin’ Into the Holiday
  • The Rising — Starz 

December 14th

  • Mary Makes It Easy: Holiday Hang

December 15th

  • Cloudy With A Chance of Christmas
  • Sesame Street: The Nutcracker

December 16th

  • All My Puny Sorrows
    Charlotte
  • A Candy Coated Christmas
  • Dine Your Sign: Season 1
  • Comedy Central’s Reno 911!: Season 7
  • Christmas in Paradise — Starz
  • Hollow in the Land — Starz
  • The New Romantic — Starz
  • Angelique’s Isle — Starz 

December 17th

  • Celebrating Greatness: Canada’s Walk of Fame 2022 @7pm ET

December 18th

  • B&B Merry
  • Menorah in the Middle

December 19th

  • Clerk

December 21st

  • A Kindhearted Christmas

December 22nd

  • A Christmas Miracle for Daisy
  • Joy For Christmas

December 23rd

  • Peace By Chocolate
  • A Lot Like Christmas
  • The Outfit
  • Eraser: Reborn
  • MTV’s Are You The One? UK: Season 1
  • Comedy Central’s Hell of a Week with Charlamagne Tha God: Season 1
  • Acting Good: Season 1
  • Cribs: Season 19
  • Mud Mountain Haulers: Season 2
  • After the Storm: Episodes 1-2
  • Zoom — Starz
  • Treasure Hounds — Starz 

December 24th

  • The Great Christmas Switch

December 25th

  • A Christmas To Treasure
  • Letterkenny: Season 11

December 30th

  • Zero Contact
  • The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent
  • Rocky
  • Rocky II
  • Rocky III
  • Rocky IV
  • Rocky V
  • Rocky Balboa
  • 40 Years of Rocky: The Birth of a Classic
  • MTV’steen Mom: The Next Chapter: Season 1 + 2 Reunion Specials
  • Kingdom of Dreams
  • Teen Mom: Girl’s Night In: Season 2
  • Wire Room — Starz 
  • Bulletproof — Starz 
  • Racing Stripes — Starz
  • Yogi Bear — Starz 

Here’s what’s leaving Crave

  • Kung Fu Panda (December 1st)
  • Shiva Baby (December 1st)
  • Christmas In Angel Falls (December 2nd)
  • Memory: The Origin of Alien (December 3rd)
  • 7 Deadly Sins: Season 1 (December 3rd)
  • Belushi (December 3rd)
  • Brotherhood: Seasons 1-3 (December 3rd)
  • The Comey Rule: Season 1 (December 3rd)
  • Eric Clapton: Life in 12 Bara (December 3rd)
  • Moonbase 8: Season 1 (December 3rd)
  • My Psychedelic Love Story (December 3rd)
  • Naked SNCTM: Moscow (December 3rd)
  • Outcry (December 3rd)
  • Penn & Teller: BullSh*T: Seasons 1-8 (December 3rd)
  • Prophet’s Prey (December 3rd)
  • The Reagans: Season 1 (December 3rd)
  • The Spymasters: CIA In The Crosshairs (December 3rd)
  • Supervillain: The Making of Tekashi 6IX9INE (December 3rd)
  • Wu-Tang Clan: of Mics and Men (December 3rd)
  • My Salinger Year (December 4th)
  • In Vogue: The Editor’s Eye (December 5th)
  • The Queen (December 5th)
  • Identity Thief (December 6th)
  • Silk Road (December 6th)
  • Two By Two: Overboard! (December 6th)
  • Mortal Kombat (2021) (December 8th)
  • The Croods: A New Age (December 8th)
  • Christmas Encore (December 9th)
    Neil Young: Home Town (December 9th)
  • The Comedy Store: Season 1 (December 10th)
  • Episodes: Seasons 1-5 (December 10th)
  • Escape At Dannemora: Season 1 (December 10th)
  • Gigolos: Seasons 1-6 (December 10th)
  • House of Lies: Seasons 1-5 (December 10th)
  • Kidding: Season 1-2 (December 10th)
  • Love Fraud: Season 1 (December 10th)
  • Murder on the Bayou (December 10th)
  • Naked SNCTM: Season 1 (December 10th)
  • Penny Dreadful: City of Angels: Season 1 (December 10th)
  • Real L Word: Seasons 1-3 (December 10th)
  • Time of Death: Season 1 (December 10th)
  • United States of Tara: Seasons 1-3 (December 10th)
  • Who Is America? (December 10th)
  • Fatale (December 14th)
  • Felicity: Seasons 1-4 (December 14th)
  • The Affair: Seasons 1-5 (December 17th)
  • Twin Peaks (1990): Seasons 1-2 (December 17th)
  • H.Appiness (December 23rd)
  • Hunt for the Wilderpeople (December 24th)
  • Californications: Seasons 1-7 (December 24th)
  • Kill Bill Vol. 1 (December 25th)
  • Kill Bill Vol. 2 (December 25th)
  • Into the Storm (December 27th)
  • Those Who Wish Me (December 29th)
  • Everything is Copy: Nora Ephron: Scripted & Unscripted (December 30th)
  • Mushroom (December 31st)
  • (500) Days of Summer (December 31st)
  • Atn’s Tribute to 100 Years of Indian Cinema (December 31st)
  • Battle of the sexes (December 31st)
  • The Big C, Seasons 1-4 (December 31st)
  • Blade Runner (1982) (December 31st)
  • Can You Ever Forgive Me? (December 31st)
  • Conan the Barbarian (December 31st)
  • Conan the Destroyer (December 31st)
  • Dave (December 31st)
  • Death Becomes Her (December 31st)
  • Dexter: Seasons 1-8 (December 31st)
  • Elf (December 31st)
  • Enough Said (December 31st)
  • Falling
  • Freaky (December 31st)
  • Grease (December 31st)
  • Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse (December 31st)
  • The Incredible Hulk (December 31st)
  • Jackie (December 31st)
  • Kung Fu Panda (December 31st)
  • Kung Fun Panda 2 (December 31st)
  • The Larry Sanders Show: Seasons 1-6 (December 31st)
  • Let Him Go (December 31st)
  • Megamind (December 31st)
  • Mommy (December 31st)
  • Popper’s Penguins (December 31st)
  • Munich (December 31st)
  • Nancy Drew (December 31st)
  • R.L. Stine’s The Haunting Hour: Seasons 1-2(December 31st)
  • Ray Donovan: Seasons 1-7 (December 31st)
  • Remember (December 31st)
  • Shoplifters of the World (December 31st)
  • Skyfire (December 31st)
  • Top Gun (December 31st)
  • Tremors (December 31st)
  • Trigger (December 31st)
  • The Violent Heart (December 31st)
  • Wendy (December 31st)
  • Whale (December 31st)
  • The World To Come (December 31st)