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

Slideshare Participates in Rip-off Britain

November 8, 2011 | Comment

Slideshare is one of a number of online services that allow you to post and share presentations to a wide audience. We have been using it at work to promote some of our own presentations for a while now. It works well but has a major drawback on the free edition in that it looks ugly and is full of ads. That’s fine as I get something for free and if I want I can upgrade to get rid of the ads. So this is what I decided to do – upgrade our account and get a better looking page.… Read the rest

Business Card Reader Apps

November 3, 2011 | Comment

If you are anything like me then over the years you will have collected a vast number of business cards.

Originally these were held in special wallets and then when they became full stacked in a piles on the window sill!

Now they get put into either my contacts or my CRM system and despite there being huge advances in technology nothing seems to have replaced the good old business card (perhaps we need Apple to reinvent it!).

So I need a good way to quickly and accurately scan these cards without spending a fortune, so that ruled out a … Read the rest

Steve Wouldn’t LIke it (but I do!)

July 17, 2011 | 1 comment

It has always struck me that the iPad is just crying out for some form of alternative input device other than my finger. This is not a view that I share with Apple CEO Steve Jobs, who famously asked the question “Who wants a stylus?” when launching the original iPhone. Of course, Steve’s dislike of styluses doesn’t stop people wanting them or companies making them. And to prove the point (no pun intended) I own not one but three of them.

In my search for the ultimate stylus I have shelled out £31 and now think that I … Read the rest