This week, how technology is changing voting in the coming federal election, Harry Potter gets a bit more added on, and some thoughts on the Star Wars Battlefront beta.

Technology and the Canadian federal election

I took advantage of the advance poll opportunity on the Thanksgiving weekend to exercise my right to vote, and the process is as low-fi as ever. I was handed a piece of paper and a tiny pencil. It was all I needed.

Technology isn’t yet impacting the way we cast our vote, but in this 2015 federal election, technology is certainly impacting how Canadians are deciding for whom to vote.

Social media and the Internet are making it more easy than ever for strategic voting to take place, and the “Anybody but Conservative” movement, also known by “Stop Harper”, is mobilizing.

In the last election, Harper and the Conservatives had just 39 percent of the popular vote, but because of the way our electoral system works, ended up with a majority and have been – in my opinion – running the country into an anti-science dark age.

We can’t change the system, but we can find ways to make it work to our advantage.

Vote Together and Strategic Voting are two sites that are tracking swing ridings and making recommendations on which candidates have the best chance to defeat the running Conservative.

And there are two organizations set up to manage vote swapping:

• Vote Swapping
• Voteswap Canada (Facebook page)

Vote swapping is a process by which two voters agree to vote for the other’s favoured party so each vote can keep Conservatives from winning seats.

If I want to vote Green, for example, but in my riding the Liberal has the best chance of beating the Conservative Candidate, then I agree to vote Liberal, while in another riding someone who would normally vote Liberal agrees to vote Green, because the Green candidate has the best chance of beating the Conservative.

And then there’s the Votes 4 Nudes initiative, which, upon receiving proof of you voting will send you a personalized nude photo. The initiative was started by a group of females who are anti-Harper, and lots of the (very NSFW) photos at the Tumblr site are, too. But organizers say they will send nudes to anyone who proves they voted, regardless of who they voted for. How democratic.

Get yourself a bit more Harry Potter

Seven books in J.K. Rowling’s series are being sold in Apple’s iBooks Store as enhanced editions, which include, according to Apple, “interactive animations and elaborate artwork bringing these beloved stories to life in a unique way. Harry Potter fans will also find annotations throughout their literary journey, written by the author herself.”

The books sell for only $11.99, and you can read them on iPads, iPhones, iPods, and even Mac computers.

You may have read the Harry Potter books, but you’ve never read them like this before.

Thoughts about Star Wars Battlefront after the beta

Well, I have to say that playing the Star Wars Battlefront beta sure made me feel like I was in a Star Wars movie. And the graphical fidelity of the game is unbelievable.

This weekend, as the beta was wrapping up, Electronic Arts announced details of the various modes that are coming when the game is released on November 17.

There are four missions that are playable by yourself or with a friend: Training, Survival, Battles, and Haro Battles, where you get to become Luke, Vader, and other iconic characters.

But Battlefront is built for multiplayer, and there are 9 different modes for groups of players ranging in size from 8 to 40 (including Fighter Squadron, the video for which is below).

While playing the beta, I got killed a lot in the multiplayer. It’s par for the course, but it gets frustrating. It’s not something I’m going to do a lot.

So if the only other thing to do in Battlefront is the missions, well, that’s really thin. There’s not a lot there. There certainly isn’t any narrative there. It’s just a big sandbox. Which is fine, for a while. But it’s not the kind of thing that’s going to have me wanting to play it every day.

More “This week in video games” at the Straight

Drex keeps referring to video games as “computer games”. Sometimes I wonder what generation he belongs in.

But he humoured me last night as we talked about how Lego Dimensions keeps the fun of playing with pieces of Lego even as it moves the experience into a video game. We also wondered why there’s been no talk about the technology sector during the federal election campaign.

And then I talked about why the new iPhone 6s and 6s Plus are much more than an incremental upgrade. 3-D Touch will change the way we use mobile devices, and Live Photos will sell iPhones, because once people see them they’re going to want to take them.

For now, anyway, you can only do that with a 6s or 6s Plus.

This week, my early impressions after spending a few days with the new iPhone 6s Plus, the technology sector in B.C. is mobilizing for the federal election, and this week in video games.

Hands-on with the iPhone 6s Plus

I’ve had the new iPhone 6s Plus for less than a week. I was convinced of its superiority after a one-hour demonstration.

During a briefing in Toronto last week, I got hands-on with the new iPhones and was able to test out the new 3-D Touch functionality. It is wondrous.

Apple claims that the iPhone is the world’s most popular camera, and while I haven’t checked that fact, I’m inclined to believe them. The 6S and 6S Plus have a new, 12 MP camera that has astonishing low-light performance.

It can record 4K video, too, and two channels can be edited together directly on the device.

During the demonstration, an Apple representative said that the company’s research indicated that some of the most interesting moments happen just before or immediately after a photo is taken.

That was the inspiration for Live Photos, which adds short video on either side of a photo. These can be used on the lock screen of an iPhone or Apple Watch, and can be shared with:

• anyone using an Apple mobile device running iOS 9
• anyone using a Mac running OS X El Capitan

Apple has also released an API so that other developers can support Live Photo viewing. Facebook has already indicated it will allow for Live Photo sharing.

The new iPhones have a new chassis with better aluminium and glass, too.

Apple set another new record for smartphone sales in the first weekend the 6S and 6S Plus were released. With new features like 3-D Touch, it’s no surprise.

Tech companies in B.C. flex their muscle as federal election approaches

The various hi-tech industries in B.C. employ more than 80,000 people, and generate more revenue for the province than forestry, mining, and extraction industries combined.

And they hire well-educated employees that earn high salaries and tend to have large disposable incomes.

Which makes them an important demographic in the coming federal election.

TechVoteBC is a website to galvanize the people who work in those industries, to get out their vote.

And they are also calling on the four major federal parties to publicly account for how they will support the tech industries in B.C. and Canada.

This week in video games: Lego Dimensions, Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection, Broken Age

Playing Lego Dimensions, becoming Nathan Drake on the PS4, and how to get Broken Age for free.

Playing Lego Dimensions

There are a few ways that Lego Dimensions separates itself from the other toy-based video games, Disney Infinity and Skylanders.

Primary among them is that up to seven toys can be put on the platform and brought into the game at any time, and they can be any mix of characters, props, and vehicles.

But the developers at TT Games, knowing what makes Lego so much fun to begin with, made sure to incorporate real-life Lego building into the game itself.

So before you progress too far into the game you’ll find yourself building the portal that Batman, Gandalf, and Wildstyle – the three characters included with the starter kit – travel through in the first part of the game. Not long after that, you’ll build the game’s version of the Batmobile, which is necessary to get through the first level, which is set in the land of Oz.

Patience is needed when first getting into Dimensions, because there’s a lot of watching and not as much playing during the first hour of play.

Like the other toy-based games, there are some areas of the game that you can’t access without needing to purchase other characters. These are not necessary to progress, of course, but do add more play to the game. For a price.

But for kids – of all ages – who are fans of Lego, Dimensions will scratch that itch and give you a sigh of satisfaction.

Broken Age available for free to PlayStation Plus members

Becoming a member of Sony’s PlayStation Plus program is essential for PS4 players who want to play games like Destiny and the multiplayer modes of Call of Duty.

But it also gives players access to free games, and this week, Broken Age is on that list.

The adventure game from Double Fine is a twisting tale of two youth coming of age and cultures colliding. It’s a delightful game, made even better when you’re getting it for free.

Uncharted

The Uncharted games have always charmed with clever writing, nuanced acting, and wild action sequences. With The Nathan Drake Collection, just released, the first three games in the franchise, originally developed for the PS3, are available to play on the PS4 for the first time.

Developed by Naughty Dog, the action-adventures feature Nathan Drake, a rakish relic hunter who has more in common with the wily Lara Croft than the academic Indiana Jones.

The games are set in breathtaking venues from around the world, and provide opportunities for players to fight, navigate, and explore. The chance to be Nathan Drake on the PS4 is not to be missed.

Purchasing the Uncharted collection also grants players exclusive access to the Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End multiplayer beta which will be made available between Dec. 4 and Dec. 13.

Here’s a gameplay trailer from Uncharted 4, to whet your whistle.

I visited Drex in studio this week, and our conversation ranged from the announcement of evidence of water on Mars, to Ridley Scott’s new film, The Martian, to Elon Musk and the new Tesla Model X. We also talk about the latest update to Apple’s OS X, El Capitan, and my hands-on experience with Google’s router, the OnHub.

This week, NASA surprises us all with another amazing discovery, Tesla reveals a new electric vehicle, Apple’s newest iteration of OS X, El Capitan, is in the wild, and my hands-on experience with Google’s new OnHub router.

There is liquid water on Mars

NASA is sure doing a good job of making sure people know that it is an important organization, even if it’s given up space flights for humans. This week, the institution let on that scientists have uncovered strong evidence that there is liquid water on Mars

Random thoughts on motor vehicles

Elon Musk was touting the new Tesla Model X SUV last night, but I’m more interested in the Model III. That’s going to be the Tesla that the average person can own, and Musk wrote on Twitter the other day that we will see it in March 2016.

Sure, the Model X is a beautiful vehicle. And I love those Falcon doors. But I’ll never own one of those. I might be able to own a Model III, which Musk said will cost $35,000.

Research conducted by the American Automobile Association found that 80 percent of drivers believed they were competent at parallel parking vehicles, and three-quarters of people would not trust a vehicle that could park itself.

But self-parking cars consistently outperformed the humans. They hit fewer curbs, could park closer to the curb, could park more quickly, and with fewer maneuvers.

Recall that nearly all of the accidents involving Google’s autonomous cars were caused by humans driving other cars.

Sometimes we humans are just stupid.

El Capitan released for Mac computers

The latest update to Apple’s OS X operating system for Mac computers is now in the wild. It includes a number of nice iterations to built-in features that make things better.

The Spotlight searching app is much more robust, and can be used to search information on the Internet, not just your computer, and Safari gets updates that make it much more usable.

There are a number of features that are common on mobile devices that have found their way to the desktop, too, like swiping to delete email messages.

And the upgraded Notes app, which makes cross-device syncing more robust, is sure to make Evernote less relevant than ever.

The other thing that El Capitan has is the San Francisco font that Apple commissioned, and which I quite like.

If you’re using Yosemite, don’t hesitate to make the move to El Capitan.

It’s free, in case you were wondering.

Hands on with the Google OnHub router

Google built a router, and damn but it’s something. It’s built for regular people, which means it is easy to set up, and even easier to use.

The first thing you’ll realize is that you don’t use your computer to configure the OnHub. You use a smartphone or tablet. The OnHub app is available for both Android and iOS

To set up the OnHub, you simply plug it into your modem, plug it into power, and then use your mobile device to connect to the router. Change the name of the Wi-Fi network, pick a password, and you’re ready to go.

You can even run a speed test right in the app, to find out what your download and upload speeds are at for both your Internet connection, and also your Wi-Fi.

At a glance you can see how many devices are connected to the OnHub, and you can prioritize a device, so if you’re watching Netflix on your iPad, you can make sure it’s getting enough of the bandwidth for hi-def viewing.

If there’s a limitation with the OnHub, it’s that it only has one ethernet port. If you still like to have a hard line into your computers, you’ll need an ethernet switch. This router was built for wireless communication.

The range of the router seems to be about average. In my home, it performed as well as other high-end routers I’ve tried. I’ve read that where the Onhub really shines is in urban environments where there may be dozens of Wi-Fi networks in competition. The Onhub automatically does the job of finding the best frequency so you don’t have to.

At a cost of $270, the OnHub is priced similarly to other premium routers. The cylindrical design, and the Nest-like glowing LEDs, make the Onhub something you won’t mind having on your bookshelf.