Good riddance to telemarketers

The National Do Not Call List will be launched by the end of September, making those pesky telemarketing calls a thing of the past.

According to the federal government, if you register with the list, the amount of unsolicited calls you receive should drop drastically. Your number will appear on one list and this information will be forwarded to telemarketers.

Bell Canada was given a five-year contract to operate the national list. They will be responsible for registering numbers, providing telemarketers with an up-to-date version of the list and dealing with any complaints consumers have about telemarketers.

But the list will not block calls from all telemarketers. Here are examples of organizations exempt from the program:

-Newspapers can still call to sell you a subscription

-Political parties and political candidates

-Pollsters and market researchers

-Companies that you already deal with, like phone and credit card businesses

-Registered charities

For exempt groups, you have to ask to be added to their do not call lists.

When the program is up and running, there will be a toll free number citizens can call from the number they want to register for the list. An online signup will also be available.

There will be a similar system set up for faxes and mobile phones will also be able to register.

Once registered, numbers will be on the list for three years from the date of signup. Following that, each number will have to register again.

Digital cameras

Capturing a toddler's smile can be as challenging as getting the family cat to pose in a Halloween costume.

But not anymore.

While many cameras offer face recognition technology, a handful now has "smile technology."

Using a "smile wall," testers from Consumer Reports checked cameras to see how good they were at recognizing a grin. Turns out smile recognition works pretty well.

"We think it's a very cool feature," said Paul Reynolds of Consumer Reports.

"You set the smile mode, select the face, press the shutter -- and the camera actually waits for the person to smile to take the photo."

Not all cameras performed equally and some had lengthy shutter delays.

When purchasing a camera, you want to make sure it responds quickly so you do not miss the moment.

As well, you also want a camera that can handle bright and low light, since real life is not always perfectly lit.

Consume Reports found several great cameras, including the $300 Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-T70. The camera has a very quick shutter response and a big LCD display, along with smile recognition.

If you want to spend a little less, Consumer Reports recommends the Canon PowerShot A720 I-S at $220.

Wayne Barstch of Lens and Shutter agreed.

"(The Canon) certainly has a lot of good things going for it," he said. "A long zoom is important to a lot of people today. Easy operation. Eight mega pixels are enough to make 16 by 20 inch prints the average person would be very happy with."

The Canon has a large three-inch screen and a viewfinder for the times when you're in bright light, but the LCD screen is hard to see. It also uses AA batteries, which some people like, but you should use rechargeable batteries to save money.

For more information on digital cameras, check out the Consumer Reports' link attached to this story.

With a report from CTV British Columbia's Chris Olsen