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Toronto Coffee Shops & Pubs with Free Wi-Fi

freddie — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 03:28:38 +0000

I’ve been working from home for years now, but I go crazy if I stay at my place all day. Thus, I frequent a rotation of downtown Toronto coffee shops that have free wi-fi, allowing me to get out of the house while still getting work done. The wi-fi isn’t always that consistent, and seats aren’t always available but it’s still definitely nice to have options. While I don’t recommend you hog a seat all day, it’s nice to know where you can usually snag a spot for an hour or two to get some work done, while you enjoy your delicious coffee (or a pint!). Here’s my round up of free wi-fi spots in Toronto – mostly in the Old Town / St. Lawrence / King East neighbourhood.

» Starbucks – Front & Frederick: wi-fi works well most of the time; seats sometimes available

» Starbucks – Church & Adelaide: wi-fi is sketchy; seats are hard to come by

» Second Cup – Church & Jarvis: wi-fi works almost always; seats can be had most times

» Second Cup – Front & Church: wi-fi always works; seats can be had most times

» Starbucks – Front near Jarvis: wi-fi usually works; seats can be hard to come by

» Starbucks – Bremner & York (near Air Canada Centre): wi-fi works well; great large shared tables to work at

» Starbucks – Church & Shuter: wi-fi usually works; notorious for people with laptops

» Second Cup – King & Bay (Scotia Plaza): worked the one time I’ve been; seats available when I was there

» Starbucks – Queen & Logan: worked the one time I’ve been; seats very scarce

Where else? There are a bunch of Toronto pubs with free wi-fi as well. Below is a list of those that I’ve personally tested out.

» Betty’s – King & Sherbourne: wi-fi works most of the time

» C’est What – Front & Church: wi-fi works most of the time; password required

» St. Louis Bar & Grill – King & Church: wi-fi worked 2 times out of 2! password required

» Beer Bistro – King & Yonge: seriously sketchy wi-fi the one time I tried it there

» The Churchmouse and Firkin – Church & Maitland: wi-worked well the one time I was there; password required

» Fox & Fiddle – Wellesley & Yonge: wi-fi works super well the couple times I’ve been; no password required

» Ciros – Bloor & Lansdowne: wi-fi worked well the one time I was there; password required

» The Only Cafe – Danforth & Donlands: wi-fi worked well the one time I was there; password required

» Foggy Dew – King near Bathurst: wi-fi worked well the one time I was there; password required

» Tequila Bookworm – Queen & Bathurst: worked extremely well the one time I’ve been; password required

» The Abbot Pub – Yonge, North of Lawrence: worked extremely well the one time I’ve been; no password required

I’ll update this list as time goes on. Hope it helped!

Are Bit.ly Clicks Unique or Actual Clicks?

freddie — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 02:03:23 +0000

If you’re looking at analytics provided by bit.ly links (just ad + at end end of the short URL to view the stats) are those clicks listed as unique clicks or actual?

The click stats provided by bit.ly are actual clicks. The only time it work on a unique clicks basis is when the user is signed into bit.ly and clicks the link.

Why doesn’t bit.ly show unique clicks?

It would need cookie data in order to do so:

“For example, many people want to distinguish between total clicks on bitly links and total unique users – a distinction we can’t make without cookie data.”

Keep the above in mind if you’re paying for a cost-per-click ad deal and using bit.ly for the tracking mechanism.

Epson Perfection 610 Drivers for Windows 7

freddie — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 23:16:00 +0000

You just got your snazzy Windows 7 computer and want to use your outdated Epson Perfection 610 scanner on it. Whoops, there are no Epson 610 drivers available for Windows 7! There is one solution that worked for me and many others:

plug in your scanner

go to Device Manager (Control Panel > Hardware & Sound > …)

find your scanner (Epson Perfection 610) and right-click

select Update Driver Software > Browse My Computer… > Let Me Pick From a List of Device Drivers

select Epson and Stylus CX3200

Install the driver… and voila! Your Epson Perfection 610 scanner will work with Windows 7. No, I didn’t figure this out on my own. Other online folk did, but I present it to you here @ freddie.ca.

What TTC Stations Have PRESTO?

freddie — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 11:49:55 +0000

Since I make the trek to York Region once a week, I ordered a PRESTO card online. PRESTO is the Government of Ontario’s ‘smart card’ for transit systems in Ontario (mainly the GTA) – including GO Transit. You can fill up your card online and have it auto-refill as well so there’s never any worry for lack of fare money. Also, it’s a simple tap and you’ve paid (a la London, Stockholm, and I’m sure a zillion other transit systems in the world). The one GTA transit system that isn’t on board completely yet is the TTC. However, I noticed there are some TTC stations that *do* let you use your PRESTO card. I did a bit of research online and the list appears to be as follows (as of this posting date):

» Bloor-Yonge
» College
» Don Mills
» Downsview
» Dundas
» Finch
» Islington
» Kipling
» Queen’s Park
» St. George
» St. Patrick
» Union

Since the TTC is all one fare zone there is no need to ‘tap out’ as you leave a station or vehicle. However, on services such as GO Transit you must ‘tap out’ at your destination so the proper fare is calculated. If you take the same trip every time, you can have that trip set to be the default on your card and then there’s no need to ‘tap out’.

Sherbourne Common

freddie — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 00:15:55 +0000

There are a lot of exciting developments taking place along the Eastern Waterfront of Toronto – namely along Queens Quay between Lower Jarvis and Lower Sherbourne. From the fantastic Sugar Beach to the relaxing patio of Against The Grain. The latest addition is Sherbourne Common, with the North side (north of Queens Quay) opening just a few weeks ago. Below are night photos of Sherbourne Common – a gorgeous addition to the Toronto Waterfront project.

Sherbourne Common North

Sherbourne Common South

Sherbourne Common sits on the north and south side of Queens Quay, at Lower Sherbourne – part of the exciting Toronto waterfront development.

View Larger Map

Canadian Election Debate 2011

freddie — Sat, 09 Apr 2011 14:52:47 +0000

I literally searched 10 minutes to find this information. Seems the TV ‘consortium’ networks (or Elections Canada) need to improve their SEO. So, when is the 2011 Canadian Election Debate?

» English Debate: Tuesday April 12th @ 7pm (until 9pm) Eastern Time – on CBC, CTV, Global (possibly others as well).
» French Debate: ~~Thursday April 14th~~ Wednesday April 13th @ 8pm (until 10pm) Eastern Time.

The debate will have Harper (Conservative Party), Ignatieff (Liberal Party), Layton (New Democratic Party), Duceppe (Bloc Quebecois) all face off. The English language debate will be moderated by TV Ontario host Steve Paikin.

Toronto Group Buying Deals

freddie — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 03:02:35 +0000

Group buying sites like Groupon have been launching like crazy lately in Toronto and other major cities across North America. The idea is you sign up for the daily email (usually not on weekends – depends on the group buying service) announcing a new deal each day. If x number of people buy that deal, the deal is ‘on’. If not, you are refunded the full purchase price. I’ve actually never seen a deal that was not ‘on’ — they always get enough sales to have the deal go through. Most group deals feature discounts of around 30-50%. The deals span quite the range – from Toronto restaurant deals to Toronto spa deals to Toronto cooking class deals to Toronto yoga deals. The following services feature group buying deals for Toronto (be sure to sign up free with them to not miss out on any Toronto deals!):

» Groupon
» LivingSocial
» TeamSave
» TeamBuy
» Dealfind
» WagJag
» RedFlagDeals.com Deal of the Day
» WebPiggy

Are there more Toronto group buying sites? Yes… a quick Google search should find you more. Either that or try Group Buy United who aggregate most of Toronto’s deals. Happy deal hunting!

Google Sync Creates Duplicate Contacts for Blackberry

freddie — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 02:44:56 +0000

I wanted my Gmail contacts and Blackberry contacts to be in sync with one another, as I didn’t have all the same email addresses on my Blackberry as I had in my Gmail contacts.

Fortunately Google Sync solves this problem. It can sync automatically throughout the day (syncing your contacts and calendar items too, if you wish). I’m syncing with a Blackberry Bold 9700. Upon setting it up, Google Sync was creating duplicate contacts on both my Blackberry and Gmail upon every sync. We’re talking over 100 contact entries for each contact, before realized it.

To turn off the creation of multiple contacts, first go to your Contact settings on you Blackberry. Go to Options > General Options. Under Actions where it says Allow Duplicate Names select No. Upon doing this, Google Sync may say it can no longer sync contacts, however I’ve found you can override this. Try it again in a little bit and it will then allow you to (that’s all I can say — I can’t explain it). From then on Google Sync will no longer create duplicate contacts upon sync.

How do you then clean up your contacts? In Gmail go to Contacts > More Actions > Find & merge duplicates…. You may have to do that multiple times before Gmail snuffs out all the duplicates. Upon next sync, the duplicates should be removed from your Blackberry as well.

Letterman: Oprah – Uma / Uma Oprah Video

freddie — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 06:47:49 +0000

I don’t recall what led me to look this up, but here it is. David Letterman hosting the Academy Awards in 1995 doing his monologue that included the infamous ‘Oprah – Uma / Uma – Oprah (Keanu)’ bit. Personally, I’m busting a gut (Ok, except for the zillionth time he comes back to it), but many weren’t as impressed.

How To Know Your BBM Message Has Been Read

freddie — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 00:43:02 +0000

If you’re new to the Blackberry, you’ll likely discover Blackberry Messenger (BBM), a free app that lets you instant message for free via Blackberry’s network (with other Blackberry users). Many people seem to prefer BBM over regular text messaging as it’s free to send and receive messages. The other huge advantage is you are notified if the message recipient has received and read the BBM message you sent. How do you know your BBM message has been read? Look for the the small ‘D’ notification to say it’s been delivered, and look for the small ‘R’ notification to know it’s been read. See below for a diagram showing a Blackberry Messenger message showing as read by the recipient.