3 mifi with OLED screen

August 21, 2010 | Comment

Received my new 3 mifi dongle yesterday. This one is basically the same as the previous module with a few important differences:

1. It has an OLED screen giving much more information than before, including the amount of data this session.

2. It now has a web interface that allows you to both configure and monitor the device. This save you having to flash the device yourself with the worry that you will brick it.

3. There is now only a single button. You switch it on. It connects. You’re good to go. Much better

4. It’s now a trendy … Read the rest

Cheap and Cheerful iPad Stand

August 3, 2010 | Comment

Yes, another iPad post. I’m sure that I will get it out of my system eventually…

So I saw this post about a cheap and cheerful iPad stand a while back which suggested using a desktop business card holder. What a great idea, I thought! Except that it was only available from Office Depot in the States and no amount of searching either online or in bricks and mortar could turn one up. Then a colleague of mine went on vacation to Florida and so I asked her if she wouldn’t mind spending some of her precious holiday time in … Read the rest

iPad on tour – Photo Management

July 27, 2010 | Comment

Continuing the theme of ditching the laptop and using only the iPad, at least on holiday, today looking at the iPad as an amateur photographers best friend.

With its massive, bright, screen the iPad is perfect for viewing photos and coupled with the camera kit it is unbeatable. I have been able to hook up a number of cameras using both the USB and SD connectors, including getting pictures off the iPhone. The iPad has recognised them all and imported successfully. This process is painless and then using the existing photo app it is possible to view and enjoy. Unfortunately … Read the rest

iPad on Tour

July 24, 2010 | Comment

So I am away on annual leave in beautiful Tuscany but the big question before we left was what tech to bring? In the recent past I have always taken a laptop of some description but this time I decided to go with the iPad alone. That meant also taking Apple’s camera kit in order to get my pictures off my camera in order to do anything with them.

The camera kit is interesting as the name suggests it is for connecting cameras, which it is. However, I was also able to successfully attach both a USB headset and a … Read the rest

iPad Backing up – please wait.

July 20, 2010 | 1 comment

Is your iPad taking forever to backup? Mine is. After several aborted attempts I finally got a full backup done taking a massive three hours and that was after I had deleted off some large apps. Three hours for a device that is less than half full.

Feeling that there had to be a solution to this once again took me to the net and I quickly discovered that I was not the only one with an issue, but nobody had an answer. There is, however, what I consider to be a workaround and that is turning off backups altogether. … Read the rest

Killing an App in iOS4

July 2, 2010 | Comment

Oh there are so many problems with iOS4 but I won’t repeat them here but my biggest problem with it (after the horrendous battery life) is the multitasking. In particular the way that now when you close down an app it goes to the background. This is fine for the most part but for some apps they continue to process (yes I know that’s what multitasking means but not in Apples universe.) An app that is sent to the background saves its state and sleeps. So i have a radio app that when you close it down it continues … Read the rest

The Shocking Price of eBooks

June 30, 2010 | 1 comment

So it seems that content producers still haven’t learnt the lessons from the music industry’s move from physical product to electronic equivalent. Below is a great example of how they just don’t get it.

Juliet Naked is the latest novel by Nick Hornby. I’ve read it (in paperback format) and it’s a good book and a return to form for Hornby in my opinion. However, I would rather have read it on my Sony Reader but is it really worth £11.10 to have it in an electronic format? I think not. More to the point does it cost the content … Read the rest

Call that Multi-tasking?

June 29, 2010 | Comment

Maybe it’s me but I just don’t get iOS4’s “multi-tasking”. Multi-tasking is supposed to be a time saver not a confusing pain in the arse.

With the introduction of iOS4 you get (limited) support for apps running in the background. Correction! You get support for certain features running in the background, such as streaming music or uploading a file. For anything else the app is put into suspended animation. These apps are put into, well what can only be described as a system tray. Double clicking the home button now brings up a display of all your running apps.

After … Read the rest

iOS4, We Have a Problem

June 25, 2010 | Comment

Last Monday, like many others, I sat in front of iTunes repeatedly pressing the check for updates button willing iOS4 to be available so I could upgrade my iPhone. Unlike many others it went very smoothly for me taking hardly any time at all to backup the device and then carry out the install. In fact the slowest part was the download itself.

As you can see from the screenshot left one of the first things I did was to change the wallpaper. I then had a play with the folders and a general explore of the more obvious new … Read the rest

Subsonic vs. Spotify

May 30, 2010 | Comment

I wrote in my previous post about the really rather wonderful Subsonic and how it was part of my armoury in the battle to rid myself of iTunes. Well I discovered today that it is rapidly becoming a complete replacement for Spotify too.

In my short(ish) life I have seen a number of changes in the music world as it transitioned from records to cassettes to CDs and lately to MP3s. Now there is a new revolution in town – streaming. Up to now you have always owned what you played, or perhaps to be more strictly accurate, you have … Read the rest