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  1. Wave Goodbye

    November 23, 2011 by admin

    Google has announced that it will be dumping “Google Wave”.

    In it’s Official Blog it announced the culling of 7 of its products that simply didn’t take off as they originally expected.

    Having been a person who tried and failed to make any sense of Wave when it first came out, I can quite understand its muted response from the world at large. On the few occasions I used it, I was left feeling underwhelmed and slightly confused. In a world in which Google usability reigns supreme, Wave was a thorn in it’s own side.

    The good news of all this, is that (apparently) this will free up resources to concentrate on the development of Google’s other fledgling services. (Read Google+)

    You have to hand it to them. When Google knows it was wrong, it admits it. Eventually.

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  2. Facebook users average 3.74 degrees of separation

    November 23, 2011 by admin

    Forget Kevin Bacon, forget “6 degrees”, in the world of Facebook its only 3.74 degrees. This means that a friend of your friend knows a friend of their friend.

    Ever wondered why/how you get those Facebook reccomendations…. well now you know.

    It’s a small Facebook world out there!

    More reading

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  3. Real Time Google Analytics

    November 21, 2011 by admin

    Having a close look at the new Beta version of “Real-Time” analytics data on my websites this morning. I have to say, that Google have surpassed themselves. The data is updated avery second, so you can see exactly how many people are on your site in real time, and what they are looking at.

    The Geographic map shows that America is firmly asleep right now! (09:54am GMT)

    Well done Google…. keep up the good work. Web developers love you!

     

    More reading

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  4. Tesco in-store Wi-Fi

    November 12, 2011 by admin

    Today I discovered that Tesco now offer free in-store Wi-Fi for their clubcard users. Just get your iPhone out and open up the browser, and you will be asked to log in with your clubcard number and your home postcode. Authentication takes seconds and you are up and running and able to check their competitors prices on goods in no time at all!

    I actually used it to get some recipe ingredients info today, and was fully expecting to have a painfully slow web browsing experience as usual on “Edge” at best signal.

    So well done Tesco for giving your loyal customers something for free that could actually be very useful indeed!

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  5. Adobe kill Flash Mobile

    November 10, 2011 by admin

    Great news for developers all around the world. There is now a single path for website development for mobile devices (read: all websites being built or redeveloped) and that is HTML5.

    With Adobe finally admitting that their long standing technology just doesn’t lend itself to low powered mobile devices you have to wonder if the technology will in fact survive at all.

    HTML5 will now become the defacto standard for web development, so why would you then also create a Flash version for desktop machines, when the world is steadily getting more and more mobile, either in phone or tablet form.

    Personally, I think this is the beginning of the end for Flash. It was good while it lasted, but that time has most definitely ended now.

    Flash will remain the preserve for business applications using Flex technology perhaps, but for the rest of us it’s time to move onwards.

    It’s quite exciting to see a company as big as Adobe take such a step though. Shows that perhaps they will be a bit more dynamic and forward thinking in the future. Lets hope so, because I am a huge fan of their application based software.

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  6. New IPhone 4S

    November 2, 2011 by admin

    Picked up my new iPhone today from the Apple store, and my first impressions are very good.

    It’s very very quick, and the camera is stunning. Detail like I have never seen before on a phone.
    I know its 8 Megapixel and all that, but as any good photographer will tell you, it’s much more about the sensor itself, and this one seems to be an absolute cracker!

    Click on the photo below to see it in full Resolution. This picture shows off the depth of field capabilities quite well.

    Firework display tomorrow, should be interesting to see how it handles that!

    Siri has been a bit of fun already and shows some great promise. I asked him/her (?) to send an email to my wife saying “I love you”…. below is how it went….

    ———————————————-

    Me: “Send an email to my wife saying “I love you”

    Siri: “I don’t know who your wife is. please tell me”

    Me: “Jackie Bingley”

    Siri: “I will now remember that Jackie bingley is your wife.  Sending a text to your wife saying ‘I love you’. Would you like me to send it?”

    Me: “send”

    Siri: “Text sent”

    10 mins later………….

    Me: “Who is my wife?”

    Siri: “Jackie Bingley. I will bring up her details”

    Her photo and contact details were then displayed.

    —————————————

    Pretty good huh?

    Its good for simple things too, such as….

    Me: “Set a timer for 5 mins”

    Siri: “timer set for 5 mins”
    Timer then displayed on phone, and begins countdown.

    —————————————

    Now, I know I am quite a geek when it comes to gadgets, but that is by far the best voice command technology that I have ever used. Congratulations Apple. It’s so good…. I may even remember to use it!

     

     

     

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  7. Shock: New iPhone is faster and better.

    October 10, 2011 by admin

    So the new iphone 4s is announced, and its twice as powerful, with 7 times faster graphics, and a vastly improved camera, and yet the world criticises Apple for daring to wrap it all up in the same form factor as the iPhone 4.

    Why?  The iPhone 4 looks great. There are loads of accessories already out there that will fit it and it is simply following the exact same release schedule that Apple have used before.  Remember the iphone 3 and the 3GS ?

    Plenty of time for the iPhone 5 people…. just be patient!

    Other companies like HTC, Samsung and Blackberry seem to release new models of mobile phone every few months, yet nobody gets upset because its always a “new” phone. (regardless of the shared technology within)

    Remember Nokia? (sure you do, have a think…. )  How many different models of phone did they used to have on the market at any given time? 10? 20? 30 even?  How many of those phones shared the exact same technology within?  10? 20?  30 even?!

    Just because Apple settle on a form factor its no reason to berate their incredible technological strides. The iPhone 4s is a HUGE leap over the 4, and anybody who bought the 3GS (and is out of contract) is probably extremely excited about the prospect of the upgrade.

    I know I am!

     

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  8. Kindle Fire Tablet

    September 29, 2011 by admin

    Me: Oh wow… a new gadget

    Amazon: Yes. We are very proud of this.

    Me: Cool…. I see its half the price of an iPad

    Amazon: Yep. We think it is priced perfectly, even though we are rumoured to be loosing $50 per unit sold

    Me: Wow, thats excellent. So it does books and movies too?

    Amazon: It sure does

    Me: and it syncs to the cloud invisibly?

    Amazon: Yes. We think thats the way to go.

    Me: this is amazing!

    Amazon: Glad you like it!

    Me: And its a full screen touch interface running on Android… so I can get all those apps on it

    Amazon: Absolutely

    Me: Wow.  How much is it again?

    Amazon: It will be only $199

    Me: Wow. What will it cost in the UK?

    Amazon: Oh….. you’re in the UK?…. erm

    Me: Yeah…. not a problem is it? We are one of the worlds largest consumers of tech

    Amazon: Erm…. well…. you see its like this……

    Me: WHAT?

    Amazon: If you live outside of the USA, you can’t buy one. Because, quite frankly, we dont really care about you.

    Me: You have GOT to be kidding?  Don’t you realise that all the tech in the world is making the world smaller? Dont you realise that your competitors sell their products to a GLOBAL market? Aren’t you one of the worlds biggest on-line global shops?

    Amazon: Erm…. yeah…. errr well…. you could always buy one in the USA on your next business/pleasure trip!

    Me: OMG. How short sighted are you?

    Amazon: Pretty short.

     

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  9. New Facebook GUI – Its all about “Lists”!

    September 22, 2011 by admin

    So you may be a little bit annoyed about the new Facebook update that has turned your homepage upside down. Apparently you are not alone in the world, and there is the now standard “Give us our old facebook” campaigns already started up!

    Let me tell you a little secret…….. it’s all about Lists people…. its all about Lists.

    What is Lists? Its a new feature in Facebook which is their half way house attempt to respond to the excellent “Circles” that you get in Google+.

    Take a few minutes (it really wont take too long) and add your family to your default family list, and add your “close friends” to another, and your “work” collegues to anther etc etc.  (You can add the same person to multiple lists, dont worry!)

    You can then, with a single click in the left column, switch your view to concentrate solely on the members of that particular list.  Not only does this restrict your feed, but it also removes that new “ticker” on the right hand side of the page which is a genuine shocker that Facebook have introduced!  A win-win situation!

    So……… think about it……. if you REALLY want to, you could create a VERY big list that holds literally everybody you are connected to, and just use that list all the time when using Facebook.

    “Top Stories” by Facebooks definition will simply disappear! woo hoo!

    The added benefit of all this sorting and listing is that it extends to your smart phone facebook app, which lets you set a default list as your view. Thereby rendering all that rubbish “Top stories” stuff to history.

    So, dont just sit there moaning and groaning about the new Facebook, spend a few minutes to set up your lists, and then live with it for a few days/weeks. You might even like it.  If you still dont, switch to Google+ !

    Having said that… why are you not on Google+ already? Have you not heard? It’s out of Beta and free for all. Give it a go. It’s brilliant!

     

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  10. How to get to Berne

    September 20, 2011 by admin

    If you ever find yourself in the UK, and you need to get to Berne, you should check out www.flyskywork.com

    They fly modern turbo prop planes out of London City airport, and…. get this…. they give you an iPad for the duration of the flight, loaded with in flight entertainment and games!

    Now, I already have an iPad…. so for me…. no big deal… but this company should get a good pat on the back for being so up with technology. It’s great to see a company go the extra mile to make themselves slightly more unique in the world of european travel.

     

     

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