The Canadian Tourism Commission posted a whole bunch of Youtube videos about Toronto recently. They’re quite good and worth having a look – discover a new area of Toronto. All of them have pretty good production value and are in HD.

The winners in each division of the Car of the Year awards were announced today. Out of this list, the overall Car and Truck of the Year will be announced at the Toronto Auto Show.

The Ford Taurus is the only domestic nameplate that won a category. The VW group owns VW, Audi and Porsche and took six categories including both performance car categories. Interesting to note that all six VW winners feature engines with direct injection and forced induction.

• Small Car Under $21,000: Mazda3
• Small Car Over $21,000: Mazda3 Sport
• Family Car Under $30,000: Volkswagen Golf Wagon TDI
• Family Car Over $30,000: Ford Taurus
• Luxury Car Over $50,000: BMW 335d Sedan
• Prestige Over $75,000: Porsche Panamera Turbo
• Sport/Performance Under $50,000: Volkswagen Golf GTI
• Sport/Performance Over $50,000: Audi S4
• Convertible: Audi A5 Cabriolet
• SUV/CUV Under $35,000: Subaru Outback
• SUV/CUV $35,000 to $60,000: Volkswagen Touareg TDI Clean Diesel
• SUV/CUV Over $60,000: Lexus RX450h

Today the LCBO highlights the following wines from it’s October 28th release. The full release is on their website.

• Testarossa Sanford & Benedict Chardonnay 2007, Santa Rita Hills, California $39.00
• Camelot Highlands Chardonnay 2007, Santa Maria Valley, California $44.00
• Domaine Servin Montée De Tonnerre Chablis Premier Cru 2007, Burgundy, France $35.00
• Pond Paddock Hawk’s Flight Pinot Noir 2006, Martinborough, New Zealand $29.00
• Chateau Ste. Michelle Canoe Ridge Estate Cabernet Sauvignon 2006, Horse Heaven Hills, Washington $39.00
• Pelissero Long Now 2005, Piedmont, Italy $45.00
• Santbru Carinyenes Velles 2006, Monsant, Spain $44.00

The Toronto Star listed the 10 least healthy cereals recently. Almost all the top choices were kids cereals – so you’d better watch what your kids are eating.

If you’ve been lamenting that you can’t get an iPhone because you are with Bell or Telus, next week everything is going to change. On Nov. 4th, Telus starts selling the iPhone, and Bell will follow suit.

Prices are exactly the same as Rogers, and come with a 3 yr contract. There is a non-contract price but I don’t think many people will be willing to go for it.

• 8GB 3G for $100 or $600 without contract
• 16GB 3GS for $200 or $700 without contract
• 32GB 3GS for $300 or $800 without contract

Buying factory navigation systems have always been a difficult proposal. Not only are they expensive, but the offerings are usually one-generation behind most aftermarket offerings. Moreover auto manufacturers do not update their offerings once the car is sold, leaving most owners with an older built-in system that doesn’t keep up with the latest navigation offerings (such has turn-by-turn instructions, overhead maps, etc.).

This are slowly beginning to change. Nissan just refreshed the Versa and Sentra sedans and included navigation as a $400 USD option. That’s a great price! Hopefully more manufacturers will be charging a fair value for navigation systems. Canadian pricing wasn’t available yet.

Well winter is approaching and it’s time to do biannual car checkup. The time that you put on your winter wheels is the perfect time to do a walkaround and check everything else on the car.

Check your oil level. Yes cars come with oil lights but those don’t really warn you when the oil is low, only when the oil pressure is low. Those are not the same thing. If low, top it up. Check when your last oil change was. If it’s been over 6 months change it, regardless of the mileage.

Check your washer fluid. Now would be a good time to drain the summer fluid and put in a winter fluid that has antifreeze in it.

Check  your tire pressure. The manual should say how mcuh pressure should be in the tires. If you regularlly have the car full of passengers, the manual will probably recommend an increased tire pressure. Low tire pressures can hurt fuel economy and make your tires wear out prematurely.

Check your tire tread. Is the tread even? Uneven tread is a sign of poor wheel alignment. Is the tire tread too low, consider getting new tires. Keep in mind that some special winter tires have tread that don’t work past 50%. Be sure to follow the tire’s guidelines.

Check that all your lights are working. This includes accessory lights in the trunk, hood, doors, etc. Lights are generally easy to replace and can be done yourself.

Emergency Supplies. Make sure your have a spare or a tire pump kit in the trunk. Also good is a pair of thick gloves, a shovel, snow brush, ice scraper and a bag of sand/kitty litter. A lot of people recommend having a blanket and candle in the car in case you get stuck.

Happy Driving!

Did you just get Windows 7? Well head on over the Microsoft’s Personalization Gallery for some free themes to customize the look of your new OS. This includes free themes from sports car companies Ferrari and Porsche amoung others.

Today Microsoft launches the newest version of their operating system, Windows 7. Yes, it’s worth the upgrade. No, it’s not as bad as Vista. Put simply, it has all the good features of Vista, and all the bad features have been replaced and several new features in the user interface will be welcome by all. More importantly, it’s not as expensive as Vista was, and there are some good pricing options including a “family pack” of 3 licenses per household for only $199.

If you bought a computer after June 2009, you are eligible for a free upgrade. Sorry you netbook buyers, computers with Windows XP do not get the free upgrade.

Having run both beta and release candidates of Windows 7, I can honestly say it’s worth the upgrade – something that I could not say with Windows Vista.

Both Nikon and Canon introduced new top-of-the-line SLR’s this week:

Nikon D3s – the “s” model of the D3 indicates not a new model, but more of an update to the original D3. The D3s keeps the 12MP resolution but the new sensor is capable of much cleaner high ISO ranges. A 720p/24f movie mode is added, similar to the D90 and D300s. Many other new features are listed on dpreview.

Canon 1D Mark IV – yesterday the Mark IV was announced. It features a new 16MP sensor capable of much of the same new ISO range as the D3s. Also new is a 45-point autofocus system. The Mark IV continues the 1D line’s commitment to 1.3x crop factor.

Both cameras offer the best low-light, high-ISO, fast shooting bodies that money can buy. A full comparison of both is available on dpreview’s side-by-side compare tool. However with $5000 price tags and 1200g body weights, I’m not rushing out to buy either of them.