iOS 5.1 Disturbing my Sleep

March 12, 2012 | Comment

Released at the same time as the new iPad was an update to the devices operating system, iOS 5.1. I don’t always update the OS on my devices but a number of the apps that I use would only continue to work if I upgraded, so I did.

One of the things listed as being included in this release was better battery life, although since upgrading I haven’t noticed any improvement and if anything it is slightly worse. However, I have been slightly taken aback by something that wasn’t listed in the release notes. It seems that since doing the … Read the rest

iPen on its way

March 10, 2012 | Comment

After a much longer delay that had been expected in getting approval from Apple (now there’s a surprise) the iPen is finally on its way. Got this update this morning:

This tracking update has been requested by:
Company Name: Cregle Inc.
Name: Cregle
E-mail: [email protected]
________________________________________________________________________________

CREGLE of CREGLE INC. sent NEIL THOMPSON 1 FedEx International Economy package(s).
This shipment is scheduled to be sent on 03/09/2012.

I look forward to receiving it and reporting on just how well it works.… Read the rest

iPad 3

March 8, 2012 | Comment

So the all new iPad was announced yesterday. Not called the iPad 3 at all, as the title suggests, but back to plain old iPad.

Irrespective of the naming convention I just cannot find myself getting excited about what the latest iteration has to offer. Which seems to amount to putting a higher definition screen into the same body. This gives the same “retina” display that the iPhone 4 has.

Now I have an iPhone 4S and maybe it’s my age and that my eyesight is going but I cannot see a great deal of difference between that and the … Read the rest

iPhone Gloves

January 28, 2012 | Comment

These gloves were a godsend last weekend. We were away in the frozen north of Newcastle where I wanted to simultaneously take photos with my iphone and keep my hands in my pockets – a difficult trick to pull off. iPhone gloves to the rescue!

Normal gloves are great at keeping fingers warm but don’t work on the touch screens used in most smartphones but these do. As you may be able to see from the picture the tips of the fingers are a different colour and material that allows them to work on the touch screen. And they work … Read the rest

Was there ever a time when ‘Daring Fireball’ was ‘Daring’?

January 17, 2012 | Comment

As I have previously pointed out, as part of my love of all things tech I read many technology blogs and sites. Most of these provide information of real interest, albeit usually the same information repeated over a number of sites. And then there is John Gruber’s Daring Fireball.

Gruber’s site has some sort of cachet but I have yet to figure out exactly why. The vast majority of the posts are links to articles on other sites. Often this is accompanied by a direct quote from the article and maybe a short sentence from Gruber. His comments are frequently … Read the rest

The Content of this Post May be Inaccurate

December 30, 2011 | Comment

As part of my love of all things tech I subscribe to and read a lot of technology blogs and there are some exceptional ones on the web. The problem is that there are an awful lot of blogs chasing the same information and sometimes information is in short supply. This in turn leads to the publishing of some pretty questionable posts.

Nowhere is this more evident than around mythical products and, in particular, those that Apple may or may not be releasing. Apple’s products are so in demand that there is a huge market for information on the next … Read the rest

Say Hello to Evernote Hello

December 18, 2011 | Comment

I really like Evernote I really do. It is probably one of only a handful of apps that I use every single day without fail. But I just don’t get their new app Evernote Hello. I think this quote from a ReadWriteWeb article sums it up:

It’s completely awkward for any social encounter where you’re meeting two or more new people at the same time.

I just cannot imagine saying to someone “do you know I am really likely to forget who you are so do you mind if I take your picture?”. That’s going to kill the conversation right … Read the rest

iPhone Tripod Adaptor

December 14, 2011 | Comment

Everyone’s talking about iphonography – taking pictures with your iphone rather than a standard camera. As the now well worn phrase goes “The Best Camera Is The One That’s With You”.

The iPhone camera is pretty good for a phone, particularly on the 4S, and it is always in my pocket so available in a way that my “other” camera isn’t. That said there are times when I just want to do things other than point and shoot and that is where this little gadget comes in.

It’s serves two purposes as you can see from the pictures below. Firstly … Read the rest

Rapportive

December 6, 2011 | Comment

What I love about Google Chrome the most is that it has a vast number of really great extensions to do almost anything. Not only that there are also competing extensions so you get choice too.

One are where there is plenty of choice is in the personal profile space, in fact Google has it’s own extension for this too. In this context I am talking about the ability to display detailed personal information for a contact alongside an email that you receive from them. There are a number of players in this space including Xobni and Google themselves but … Read the rest

Build an app by all means, but please remember to support it

November 14, 2011 | Comment

Everyone is building mobile apps these days. They are the must have accessory for every company that wants to be seen to be leading edge and that includes my own company.

Apple seem to have managed to succeeded where I singularly failed a few years ago in persuading people that mobiles where it’s at. And that’s great, I really “get” mobile and applaud anyone who wants to be seen in the hands of every user. But, but, writing the app is only half the story.

Let me explain with a practical example.

On my iPad I have a great … Read the rest