Holiday Kit

October 21, 2013 | Comment

This holiday I took with me a lot less technology that I have previously. For the the first time in years I didn’t take a laptop at all and relied solely on my iPad Mini. One reason that I needed to take less was simply because of the miserly luggage allocation on the flight.

So I thought it would be useful to explore what worked and what didn’t.

Firstly here is the list of “tech” I took with me:

iPad mini
Kensington Ultrathin keyboard case
iPhone 4S
Slingshot
olloclip
Kindle
Bose Quietcomfort 2
Panasonic TZ5

The combination of the iPad … Read the rest

Authorising 3rd Party Apps with Passcode Lock on in Evernote

October 10, 2013 | Comment

On iOS Evernote provides a useful facility to be able to protect your notes by adding a four digit passcode lock that you have to enter before you can see them. You can also choose how long before the code is asked for on subsequent opens, such as immediately, after one minute etc.

Once enabled this means that you will be initially be asked for your four digit code on opening and then on subsequent opens after the time out period has expired unless you have chosen “immediate” as your option in which case you will always be asked for … Read the rest

Diary Apps

October 7, 2013 | 5 comments

For some time now I have been keeping a personal diary for which I have been using a Moleskine page a day diary. This has worked well and I like the process of actually writing into the book but I am also trying to go paperless.

There are a few reasons for moving from paper to an electronic diary. The first and most important reason for me is to be able to backup my entries and out of choice I would want the entries to go to Evernote. Secondly, it is easier to be able to type a quick entry … Read the rest

Microsoft Accelerator – Week Three

September 26, 2013 | 2 comments

So this week has turned out to be much quieter than the previous two. For me it is also shorter as I am off on holiday for two weeks from this evening. Consequently I will miss two weeks of the programme, which is a pity, but the leave has been planned a long time. It also means that I won’t be blogging during this period.

Two highlights on the programme this week for me. Firstly we got an opportunity to meet and talk with a number of the other residents of Central Working. It was a an interesting cross section … Read the rest

Quickly Get to Top of All Notes in Evernote

September 25, 2013 | Comment

One thing that has bugged me for a while in Evernote is that there didn’t seem to be a quick way to return to the top of the All Notes list.

If you have several thousand notes and you are a long way down, perhaps because of a search, I found myself having to do some little finger dance to get back to the top.

Yesterday, quite by accident I found that if you click in the grey space either side of the “All Notes” title you magically get taken back to the top of the list.

A real time … Read the rest

Microsoft Accelerator – Week Two

September 23, 2013 | Comment

So week two is over already, a week when the focus was very much on getting the message across to your audience. This was a series of session facilitated by Rob Fitzpatrick author of The Mom Test which, kudos to him, he didn’t push at all.

Here’s the interesting thing you are almost positively encouraged to pitch your idea to anyone that will listen. Family and friends will give you positive feedback because they want you to succeed and others you will want to tell because you think your idea is a great idea. No here’s the funny thing. You … Read the rest

Odd Favicon appearing in Google Apps

September 17, 2013 | 3 comments

Something odd has happened to my Google Apps favicon. It is no longer the familiar Gmail envelope but some gear and spanner (wrench) combination. The image above shows the new and old icons and you can see the new icon better below.

This has only appeared in the last week and only seems to affect Google Apps mail and not Gmail itself, as you can see from above.

A quick search online shows that others are seeing this too with all sorts of speculation as to what it could be. Myself I think it is simply a mistake – what … Read the rest

Microsoft Accelerator – Week One

September 16, 2013 | 1 comment

Three weeks ago the company that I am CTO for, SpeakInConfidence, was given the opportunity to join the pilot for Microsoft Ventures’s twelve week UK accelerator programme.

There was much discussion internally about the merits of accepting the offer as the business has reached a stage where we are beginning to see real fruits of our labours and there were question marks over whether this would be a distraction we could do without. On the other hand this was an exceptional opportunity with a chance to tap into resources and learning that we just wouldn’t get anywhere else. We … Read the rest

To Avoid Phishing Please Sing In

September 13, 2013 | Comment

I am occasionally asked by family and friends to give advice on whether an email is genuine.

These are not emails from Nigerian kings looking to transfer out money via your bank account but emails that appear to be from companies and government departments that you would recognise and may have account and dealings with.

Of course this recognition is exactly what phishers are aiming at. You are thrown that your bank has sent you an email requesting that you login and view an important message from them.

There is actually a pretty easy well to tell if the email … Read the rest

Designed by Jony from Chingford

September 6, 2013 | Comment

Opening up the latest Wired magazine yesterday I was struck by the double page ad Apple had placed on the inside cover. The ad was the print version of that shown above highlighting that their products are “designed in California”.

Apple are rightly proud of their Californian roots and I’m sure that plays well in the home market (although “Made in the USA” might be better) but I just don’t get the relevance to anyone outside of the US. Why would I care? Especially when the products are made in China and are actually designed by a team led by … Read the rest