WhatFinger


Jim Bray, CFP Automotive Editor

Jim publishes TechnoFile Magazine. Jim is an affiliate with the Automobile Journalists Association of Canada and his careers have included journalist, technology retailer, video store pioneer, and syndicated columnist; he does a biweekly column on CBC Radio One's The Business Network.

Jim can be reached at: bray@technofile.com Older articles by Jim Bray

Most Recent Articles by Jim Bray, CFP Automotive Editor:

Momoa's Aquaman 2 in 4K a mesmerizing but meandering mishmash


What is it with the DC comics universe? What should arguably be a comic franchise that's at least as compelling and fun as Marvel's seems to have a real problem making compelling and fun movies based on their comics. Meanwhile, Marvel has had a, well, Marvelous track record, at least until Avengers End Game (to be honest, I haven't seen a Marvel film since then).

- Saturday, March 16, 2024



Beware Governments' help in regulating cars and traffic

What happens when a government mandates things for drivers and carmakers, supposedly to help ensure our safety behind the wheels of our vehicles?

Well, sometimes it could be a good thing— the use of seat belts comes to mind, though I would argue that they shouldn't be mandated by law—but sometimes what I like to think of as "the law of unintended consequences" rears its ugly head.

- Sunday, February 4, 2024

iFly's flying leaps a real soar spot for wannabe sky divers


I had a skydiving experience just after the new year's celebration, and I didn't even have to get in a plane to do it!

Nope, thanks to my dear wife (as opposed to the rest of them…), I got a gift certificate to iFly, an indoor skydiving adventure thingy that set up in my home town of Calgary a couple of years ago. It was an intriguing notion, and one with which I've been very familiar for decades, though I'd never tried it.

- Monday, January 22, 2024

Film Masters scores with two Roger Corman classics in a fun Blu-ray package

Two new Blu-ray titles may not have a lot of thrills and chills, but there's some creepiness coupled with laughs in the two-disc package.

Film Masters, to mark the 60th anniversary of Roger Corman's The Terror, has paired it with one his most famous other flicks, a horror comedy that also inspired a classic musical.

- Saturday, January 6, 2024

Slim LG Gram laptop is light and capable


LG's new Gram line of laptop computers is very light, very easy on the eyes, and offers good battery life.

Laptop computers have certainly come a long way since the days of Kaypro and Osborn, PC's that were slightly more portable than the desktops of their time but still were a pain to pack around and had tiny little monitors I remember squinting at back in the day. That may be why I need reading glasses now!

- Saturday, December 16, 2023

James Cameron's Big Boat Blub-blub gets a fantastic set of new visual clothes for its 4K disc incarnation

Titanic at the box office, titanic in its scope and in the honours it has earned, James Cameron's epic tragedy comes to 4K disc looking absolutely magnificent.

I expected this, since the film looked great in every other video version since its original theatrical debut 25 years ago. It was a fantastic DVD, and an even better Blu-ray, but with this 4K with HDR disc – just in time for Christmas! –it almost seems as if I were watching it for the first time. And that's something, since I've seen this cinematic masterpiece enough times to practically know the lines word for word.

- Sunday, December 10, 2023




Mission Impossible delivers predictable thrills in 4K


Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning part 1 is a rollicking ride in the home theatre.

It's also very much like cotton candy – fun to consume but with little nutritional value – not that that's necessarily a bad thing. And, as is traditional in this series, it's a lot of fun to watch and full of really nifty action, stunts, and locations.

- Sunday, November 5, 2023

Are Canadians really ready for Electric Vehicles?

Electric vehicles are supposedly languishing on dealers' lots, as the great unwashed masses apparently eschew electrified autos in favour of the evil gas-powered ones.

Why do you think this may be?

Well, according to a survey done for BrokerLink, a subsidiary of Intact Financial Corporation—which claims to be one of "Canada's largest property and casualty insurance brokerages”—it's because those great unwashed don't know what's good for them.

- Saturday, October 21, 2023

New on 4K disc: Beastly Transformers makes for nonsensical fun – while Rosemary's Baby never looked scarier


Paramount Pictures' latest kick at the Transformers cat, er can, is more fun than I expected, and it's an interesting counterpoint to the studio's other major release for this week: Rosemary's Baby.

As with Bumblebee before it, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts is a throwback in time, this time to the 1990's, before the Michael Bay-driven original set of movies were supposed to have happened. This time, the Autobots are tasked with saving the earth from some new threat that could wipe out the entire planet, taking the hero Transformers out as well as the human race these Autobots have yet to discover can be allies.

- Friday, October 13, 2023

New MotoMaster winter tires promise an affordable and safe snowy drive


My son has just retired.

Not from his job, mind you (though I'm willing to bet he'd love that as well!), but from his aging winter tires to a brand new – and surprisingly affordable to these eyes – set of full winter tires from Canadian Tire. The new rubber appears to be a sequel to an earlier model because the folks at Canadian Tire have named them "MotoMasterWinter Edge II" so I assume these are an upgrade to an earlier version.

- Friday, October 6, 2023

Obscure giant critters get a new lease on life thanks to new film restoration and distribution company

Well, they may not have been huge box office successes, though the supplements accompanying this two-disc Blu-ray set say the producer made his investment back multiple times over, but The Giant Gila Monster and The Killer Shrews are well worth your "guilty pleasure" time even though they have never gained the kind of adoration of such contemporaries as Forbidden Planet, or even Them!

- Sunday, September 17, 2023


Top Hughes and Wyler films make their way onto 4K disc


Paramount has released another round of popular titles to their growing library of 4K discs and, while they may not be the most spectacular examples of the 4K disc medium, they both shine on the ultra high-definition discs and are well worth seeing and/or owning.

- Thursday, August 17, 2023


Warner Bros. releases sparkling new versions of a classic western – and a classic "eastern" – on 4K disc


One of the great westerns of all time, Howard Hawks' Rio Bravo, has made the transition to 4K disc, and it was worth the wait.

Ditto for "East of Eden," Elia Kazan's take on John Steinbeck, a movie I didn't like very much but which many others seem to think is equally classic to Rio Bravo. Those people are wrong, of course, but at least fans of the film now have a much more state-of-the-art version to be bored by.

- Saturday, August 5, 2023

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