Wifi Hifi - December_January 2018.pdf

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| December/January 2018
The
Year
in
Review
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CONTENTS
|
THE YEAR IN REVIEW
04
06
12
PUBLISHER’S NOTE
December/January 2018
12
SHORT BITS
The coolest new tech products that would make great gifts.
By Christine Persaud
AV YEAR-IN-REVIEW
|
CE on the Rebound
After several tough years, we’re now seeing growth in the consumer electronics industry.
TV dollar sales are being buoyed by the move to ultra-high-definition, while high-res audio
is attracting new customers to hi-fi.
By Gordon Brockhouse
MOBILE WORLD
|
From Smart Phones to Smart Homes: The Year in Review
Apple and Samsung are king, but new competitors are creeping in. Meanwhile, the mobile
category is being redefined as attention shifts from the handsets to the growing ecosystem
of products that we use with our phones, and, in some cases, even without.
By Christine Persaud
TOP 10 TECH GIFT PICKS
After 12 months of testing and enjoying tons of tech gear across various categories, some of
our writers have devised their lists of 10 favourites.
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22
30
David Susilo’s Top 10 Tech Gift Picks
32
Christine Persaud’s Top 10 Tech Gift Picks
34
Steve Makris’ Top 10 Tech Gift Picks
36
COMPUTER AUDIO
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Making Music: Audio Software for PCs and Macs
Good music-management software can turn a PC or Mac into a serious audio component.
Familiarity with these programs can lead to sales of DACs, headphones, speakers and amplifiers.
By Gordon Brockhouse
KODI BOXES
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Will They Change Television?
No-name boxes running Android and the Kodi media player are becoming extremely popular,
and have tremendous potential to re-invigorate the digital media player category. But they have
also become portals for illegally streaming copyrighted material.
By Frank Lenk
TALKING SHOP
Stampede plans for major developments in Canada; Ecobee opens new Toronto HQ; Hisense
purchases Toshiba’s TV business, and more in this month’s column.
HANDS-ON REVIEW
|
NAD C328 Integrated Amplifier
A true entry-level audiophile amplifier, the NAD 328 can fulfill a variety of music needs.
By David Susilo
HANDS-ON REVIEW
|
Kanto YU6 Powered Speakers
Small but mighty, the author was sceptical about the performance capabilities of powered
speakers on the whole – until now.
By David Susilo
CANADA NIGHT 2018
Join us for Canada Night, the evening the Canadian industry gets together every year during CES!
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42
48
58
60
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December/January 2018
3
PUBLISHER’S NOTE
SILVER LININGS
AMIDST THE CHAOS
TRUMP, NAFTA, BREXIT,
the alt-right, Russia, hacking, terrorism,
men behaving badly, North Korea, political correctness gone too far,
storms and fires – those are just some of the trigger words that have
dominated the headlines in 2017. Polarizing may be the word that
best describes what we have endured over these last 12 months.
Yet amid such global unrest and uncertainty, 2017 has been a great year to own stocks, particularly
in the tech sector. The Dow Jones, S&P index and Nasdaq Composite Index all moved to record
highs. Had you bought Apple, Alphabet, Google, Microsoft or Facebook at the beginning of the
year, you would be up a tidy 30% as you close your portfolio for the December holidays. Shopify,
the Canadian company that assists small business with point-of-sale and e-commerce platforms,
started the year trading at $50 and is now at $130. Silver lining, indeed!
Another silver lining: year-to-date, consumer electronics sales are up 3.5%. That’s great news given
that, as Gordon Brockhouse reports starting on page 12, our industry has been flat or in decline
for the past decade.
Could it be that consumers are actually consuming? According to a
BNP Paribas World Payments
report, there were 433.1 billion debit and credit card transactions globally last year and it is
estimated that this year, 161 billion non-cash transactions will take place in North America alone.
Debit cards account for 46.7% of all non-cash transactions while credit cards follow with 19.5%.
So much for the old saying “cash is king.”
Interestingly, BNP estimates that by 2019, half of the transactions carried out using a credit card
will be made online or through a mobile phone. The phone’s growing dominance in our lives
this year overall is covered extensively by Christine Persaud starting on page 22. There’s a silver
lining there, too. The worldwide phone hardware market saw moderate growth in 2017, and year-
to-date, more than 7.8 million smartphones were shipped in Canada – great news, even if the
majority of them were Samsung Galaxy devices and iPhones.
It’s not so much about the phones, though, as it is the myriad of devices that connect to or work
with them. By 2021, more than 15 billion consumer electronics devices will be connected, ranging
from smartphones themselves, to smart speakers, televisions, headphones, and more.
While we focus this issue on the year that was, it’s hard not to get excited as we look in the crystal
ball towards the year ahead. Our next issue, released after the 2018 CES, will give plenty of insight
into that, as CES provides a great glimpse into what’s to come for the year ahead.
As we close out 2017, the
WiFi HiFi
team would like to wish all of our readers a safe and happy
holiday season. And for those who will be making the annual pilgrimage to CES in January, we
look forward to seeing you at Canada Night on Wednesday January 10th at Drai’s (same location
as last year) in the Cromwell Hotel. Stop in any time from 7-10 p.m.
Wishing you all the best for the season,
John Thomson
jthomson@wifihifi.ca
PUBLISHER / EDITORIAL DIRECTOR
John Thomson
Cell: 416-726-3667
jthomson@wifihifi.ca
@wifihifimag
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Christine Persaud
cpersaud@wifihifi.ca
@ChristineTechCA
EDITOR-AT-LARGE
Gordon Brockhouse
gbrockhouse@wifihifi.ca
CREATIVE DIRECTOR
David Topping
CONTRIBUTORS
Vawn Himmelsbach, Ted Kritsonis, Frank Lenk,
Steve Makris, David Susilo
DIRECTOR OF DIGITAL CONTENT
James Campbell
jcampbell@wifihifi.ca
DIRECTOR OF SPECIAL EVENTS
Cathy Thomson
cthomson@wifihifi.ca
Melsa Media Inc.
194 Robinson Street
Oakville, Ontario
L6J 1G3
Advertising Inquiries:
John Thomson
jthomson@wifihifi.ca
LET’S STAY IN TOUCH!
Website:
www.wifihifi.ca
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Copyright 2018. WiFi HiFi is a registered brand of Melsa Media Inc.
and is published ten times each year. All rights reserved. The contents
of this publication may not be reproduced in whole or in part
without the written consent of the publisher. The views expressed
by advertisers are not necessarily those held by the publisher.
Publications Mail Agreement Number: PM42710013
Business Number: 81171 8709
4
www.wifihifi.ca
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