The trees are starting to change, pumpkins and gourds are available in the grocery stores, the morning air is becoming crisp; it must be fall. The arrival of fall brings the return of our favourite TV shows and the launch of some notable new ones! If you are wondering what shows are playing when this fall, look no farther.  We have the ultimate guide to help you find out when your favourite shows air and on what channel!

Sunday

Fear the Walking Dead (AMC) – Sept. 10

The Walking Dead (AMC) – Oct. 22

Ten Days in the Valley – Oct. 1

Outlander (W –Network) – Sept. 10

Heartland (CBC) – Sept. 24

The Simpsons (Global) – Oct. 1

The Deuce (HBO) – Sept. 10

Vice Principles (HBO) – Sept. 17

Monday

Murdoch Mysteries (CBC) – Sept. 25

Alias Grace (CBC) – Sept. 25

Lucifer (Fox) – Oct. 2

Big Bang Theory (CTV) – Sept. 25

Young Sheldon (CTV) – Sept. 25

The Good Doctor (CTV) – Sept. 25

The Gifted (CTV) – Oct. 2

The Voice (CTV) – Sept. 25

The Brave (Global) – Sept. 25

Tuesday

This is Us (CTV) – Sept. 26

Law & Order: The Mendez Murders (NBC) – Sept. 26

NCIS (Global) – Sept. 26

The Mayor (ABC) – Oct. 3

Fresh off the Boat (ABC) – Oct. 3

Kevin (Probably) Saves the World (ABC) – Oct. 3

American Horror Story: Cult (FX) – Sept. 5

Wednesday

Arrow (CTV) – Oct. 12

Criminal Minds (CTV) – Sept. 27

Seal Team (Global) – Sept. 27

Modern Family (ABC) – Sept. 27

Speechless (ABC) – Sept. 27

Designated Survivor (ABC) – Sept. 27

Thursday

Dargon’s Den (CBC) – Sept. 28

Coronation Street (CBC) – Sept. 14

How to Get Away with Murder (CTV) – Sept. 28

Grey’s Anatomy (CTV) – Sept. 28

Will & Grace (NBC) – Sept. 28

Scandal (ABC) – Oct. 5

Chicago Fire (Global) – Sept. 28

S.W.A.T. (Global) – Nov. 2

Friday

Kindred Spirits (TLC) – Sept. 25

Blue Bloods (CTV) – Sept. 29

Once Upon a Time (CTV) - Oct. 6

Marvel’s Inhumans (ABC) – Sept. 29

Saturday

Halt and Catch Fire (AMC) – August 29

Saturday Night Football (ABC) – Sept. 2

 

There are so many great shows on this fall that you can curl up under a blanket and watch with the colder weather on its way.  Miss your favourite show? We have you covered! Use the Cloud-DVR or the Catch-Up feature with Link TV and enjoy TV anytime, anyplace! Happy Watching!

“… a total eclipse of the heart” is what runs through my head every time I hear someone mention the eclipse that is about to happen this afternoon. That’s right, there is a total solar eclipse happening today, although certain areas of the world will see the total eclipse while others will only see a partial eclipse. If you happen to be in Huston, Idaho, Casper, Wyoming, or Lincoln, Nebraska, you will be lucky enough to see the total solar eclipse, but if you are like me up and live in Southwestern Ontario, we will see a partial solar eclipse. So now the questions are when, what, and how?

When:

The solar eclipse will take place today, August 21, 2017 between 1:06 pm to 3:48 pm. The max coverage that we will be able to view will occur at 2:29 pm. The last time a total solar eclipse happened was in 1979, 38 years ago!

What:

A total (or partial) solar eclipse occurs when the moon passes between the sun and earth and blocks either all of or part of the sun (depending on where you live). The longest time period that the sun will be completely covered is 2 minutes and 40 seconds. The eclipse is dangerous to be viewed with bare eyes except for when the sun is completely covered by the moon.

How:

An eclipse is not safe to watch with your bare eyes, sunglasses, or even through your phone (although you can take pictures with your phone as long as you don’t look at the sun yourself and have a filter over your lens). The dangers of watching the solar eclipse without protection is injury to your eyes or even blindness. If you are one of the geniuses who prepared for this global event and purchased solar eclipse safety glasses, go you! If you are behind on this, well it is time for arts and crafts! To safely watch the solar eclipse, you can either use eclipse glasses, solar filters for binoculars/ telescopes, or a projector. So how do you make your own projector? Look below to find two easy ways:

Box Projector:

What you will need: a long cardboard box (or two taped together) or tube, scissors, duct tape, aluminum foil, a pin, a sharp knife/ paper cutter, and a sheet of white paper.

What to do:

1. Cut a rectangular hole at the end of the box (the longer the box, the larger the projected image will be).
2. Cut a piece of aluminum foil slightly larger than the rectangle you cut out in the box (make sure your foil doesn’t crinkle).
3. Tape the foil over the rectangle and poke a tiny hole in the center of the foil.
4. Tape your sheet of plain white paper inside the box across from your rectangle.
5. Stand with your back to the sun and place the box on your head with the pin hole facing the sun while you look at the white paper.

Tip* if you are using a tube, put the pinhole at one and the white paper at the other. Then cut a rectangle at the end with the white paper for you to look through at the white paper. Stand with your back to the sun and the pinhole facing the sun. 

Simple Card Projector:

What you will need: 2 pieces of stiff, white cardboard or 2 pieces of plain white paper and a pin.

What to do:

1. Make a tiny hole with the pin in one piece of the paper or cardboard.
2. With your back to the sun, hold the paper with the hole above your shoulder so that the sun will shine on the paper.
3. Hold the second piece of paper or cardboard at arm lengths away allowing the image of the sun to project onto that piece of paper.  The farther away your second piece of paper is, the larger the image will be.

Binoculars Projector:

What you will need: binoculars, duct tape, a sheet of white paper, and cardboard.

What to do:

1. Put the binoculars on a tripod of some sort and use the duct tape to secure them.
2. Trace the lenses of the binoculars on the cardboard and cut out the holes.
3. Tape the cardboard in front of the binoculars so that the lenses stick out of the holes (make sure there is no space between the cardboard and the binoculars).
4. Direct the binoculars toward the sun and place the sheet of white paper on the ground below the eyepiece.
5. Move the paper around until you are able to see the sun’s image projected on the paper.

If you do not have solar glasses or time to make a projector, you are always able to watch NASA’s live stream of the solar eclipse at: https://www.nasa.gov/eclipselive/#NASA+TV+Public+Channel

So go outside, or stay in and enjoy watching this celestial event!

 

Sources:
https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/make-pinhole-projector.html
https://eclipse2017.nasa.gov/eclipse-who-what-where-when-and-how

I don’t know about you, but I have days where it seems like my battery will never die and then other days it where it seems as though I just started to use my phone and it is dying already. Then there is the situation we have all been in: you’re out and about shopping, hanging with friends, bowling, or at the beach with a phone that is about to die. You rush to close all of the apps you have open and turn on low power mode to help that battery last just a tad longer, but it never seems to do much. So what else can you really do to make the battery last longer?

To start, there are three simple steps you can take with any phone to increase the overall battery life of a phone.

First, and contrary to popular belief, don’t wait until your phone is dead or has a really low battery level to charge it. Due to most phones having lithium batteries instead of nickel batteries now, letting your phone go all of the way down to 0% can actually damage its ability to hold a charge.

Second, fully charge your new battery. Before you even consider using a brand new phone or battery, charge it to 100%. For most lithium based batteries, the optimal time to charge it would be more than a few hours. For nickel based it would be 10 plus hours! Letting the new battery charge for a long period of time will help it obtain an optimal capacity of charge.

Third, if you leave your phone out in the sun, whether you are at the beach or in the car, your battery can be damaged. Exposed to direct, hot heat for an extended period of time can actually cause permanent damage to your phone and battery. Overheating during usage or while charging can also cause damage to your battery. If this is happening, consider purchasing a new charger or stop using your phone for a short period of time to let it cool down. The optimal temperature for the battery to work and last is room temperature.

So what can you do to have your battery last longer when you see it is starting to get low? Try a few of these little tricks and see what works best for your phone and battery life.

Turn down your screen brightness and turn off auto brightness. This will help extend your battery life as not as much energy will be needed to light up your screen.

Turn off notifications and auto refresh on apps that you use. A fair bit of battery is used by apps auto refreshing in the background and notifying you of everything happening on social media.

Turn off your location services, Bluetooth, and your personal hot spot.

Look at what is using a lot of battery life. If you see that it is apps you aren’t actually using, delete those apps.

Turn your volume all of the way down or off and don’t have vibrate on. It is surprising how much energy it takes to have your phone vibrate for every text or notification you get.

Try not to use dynamic backgrounds and stop motion animations, especially as your back screen. These use a surprising amount of battery and that’s the last thing you want when your phone is going to die.

Shorten your auto-lock time. Instead of having your phone wait 30 seconds to lock, shorten it to 10-15 seconds. This will allow your phone to use less battery than when the screen is lit up and working. 

I’ve tried closing my apps and turning on low-power mode; although it keeps my phone alive a little bit longer, it never seems to last long enough. Trying a few of these little tricks, I have already noticed a difference in how long my battery will last for. I hope you find these tricks as helpful as I have! 

 

These days it feels like we are constantly called by unwanted telemarketers trying to sell us something. Are those annoying calls from air-duct cleaning companies ringing a bell? Yes, these calls are irritating but even more serious than this are the calls from someone trying to get your personal information like your credit card number. Yikes!

This is exactly the scary situation that we’ve learned about recently. Some of our customers have reported that they have been called by 519-700-7000 and the caller has claimed they are from Execulink and asks for their credit card information.

We want you to know that this is not Execulink calling or any other company associated with Execulink. This telemarketer is using a technique called Caller ID spoofing and has altered the display phone number in order to trick you into answering the call. Execulink cares about your security and would never call you and ask for your full credit card number.

How do you protect yourself against spoofed calls?

• When in doubt about the company calling, we recommend that you hang up and call the company back directly.
• Don’t give out personal information to a caller.
• Register your telephone number on the National Do No Call List
• Block or filter unwanted calls if you have the calling features to do so.
• Report the call to the CRTC and the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre.

Trust your gut and if your gut is telling you that the call seems odd, then it likely is. Take the necessary precautions and protect yourself from these spam calls and don’t be their next victim.