All posts by Gavin Fabiani-Laymond

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About Gavin Fabiani-Laymond

President, CEO & Editor of https://gavinsgadgets.com Reviews & News of Technology

Microsoft announces the Lumia 650 for Businesses – Its a sorry affair!

Tech News, Windows, ,

Microsoft has official announced the Microsoft Lumia 650, which at £159 is clearly aimed at the business market as a low cost phone supporting Windows 10.

Key specs –

– Physical: 6.9mm thick, 122g
– Display: 5” 720 x 1280 pixels AMOLED with ClearBlack Display
– Memory: 16GB (expandable up to 128GB)
– RAM: 1GB
– OS: Microsoft Windows 10 Mobile
– Chipset: Snapdragon 212, Quad-core, up to 1.3GHz
– Connectivity: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.1 with A2DP, Micro USB, GPS, full spread of 3G and LTE bands
– Main camera: 8MP, 1/4″ sensor, f/2.2, 720p capture
– Front camera: 5MP, f/2.2
– Battery: Li-Ion 2000mAh battery, replaceable

Sorry to say but this looks like a dismal specified phone even at a price of £159. Plus there is no Continuum support.

Sickening – Hospital’s Computers are being held to ransom for $3.6m

Tech News, ,

The Verge has reported that “the computers at a Los Angeles hospital have been down for more than a week after ransomware ended up on its internal network. Patients at Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center have been transferred to other hospitals because of the outage, and connected medical devices and portals are offline, as well. The attackers have reportedly asked for more than $3.6 million to decrypt the system and the hospital’s files, CSO reports. Staff are now having to turn to fax machines and landline telephones to get work done, and medical records are being kept on paper.”

Cyber attacks are becoming more and more common. Unfortunately, when a hospital comes under a cyber attack the consequences could be life threatening and or seriously endanger a patients health. These types of attacks are sickening in my book. I do hope the hospital manages to decrypt their systems without are danger to their patients!

Shot on an iPhone – a 45.29 second long exposure photo

Apple, Tech News, , ,

Postbridge Bridge #LongExposureMode #NightcapPro #raw

Sometimes software really impresses me. I have talked a lot about ProCamera+, but there is another photography app that seems to perform miracles and that is Nightcappro. There is a free version Nightcap that allows you to get a taste of what the app can achieve.

For the above shot (click on photo to be taken to the original), I changed the settings in Nightcappro to long exposure mode, placed my iPhone 6S Plus on my tripod. My iPhone is attached to the tripod using a Shoulderpod S1. I then increased the photo quality to raw (TIFF).I then pressed the shutter button and watched the time increase and the photo start to create the silky water effect. 45.29 seconds later I stopped the shutter and voila. A perfect shot!

To see more of what Nightcap app can produce, have a look at the developers gallery.

How to Fix the iPhone 1970 Date Bug – Details plus Video

Apple, Tech News

If you have been reading the news recently, you will have read that changing the date on your iPhone to the 1st January 1970 will brick your phone. DO NOT TRY THIS.

Luckily the solution is simple and involves disconnecting the iPhone battery. To do this you will need a special pentalobe screwdriver and to follow the instructions from JerryRigEverything.

His video shows how to resolve this little issue in his 90 seconds video. Of course the easiest solution is not to be an idiot and try and change the date to the 1st January 1970 in the first place.

Apple will be releasing a software update to prevent this happening in due course.

Privacy – Is it acceptable for somebody to take your photo without consent?

Tech News, ,

The BBC had an article about Bill Murray who became enraged with people taking photos of him. His solution, lob them off the rooftop and let them smash to pieces some moments later. Not the people, their smartphones 🙂

Now Bill Murray is a hollywood star, so surely he should be expected to have his photo snapped when out and about? His phone rage anger occurred when the phone flashes were apparently going off in his eyes too much.

But this problem goes deeper. Nowadays even a rubbish cheap phone has a camera that can take a reasonable photo. Nobody is safe from being caught on camera.

So does it make it acceptable for anyone to catch you on camera, even if innocently? I am in two minds on this. Whilst Bill Murray took action to the extreme and do understand why he did it and perhaps it was the only workable solution at the time. Now you could say that is the price of fame, but is it? Surely, acting is just a job?

So what do you think is correct and where should the boundaries be drawn?

In pursuit of the perfect photo – Editorial

Android, Apple, Tech News

Snowy scenes from Princetown on Valentine's Day #iphone6splus #procamera+ #lowlighthdrmode

It snowed yesterday in my village, Princetown. Armed with just my Apple iPhone 6S Plus and Sony RX100, I went out in the snow blizzard to take a selection of photos to capture the scene. If you scroll back a few articles you will see all 17 photos snapped.

I decided that the RX100 was not going to get covered in the snowfall, so I used my iPhone 6S Plus. As it was still slightly dark, I knew the low light capability of the iPhone 6S Plus would not be fantastic. Fortunately, I have been using ProCamera+ for iOS and decided to use its low light HDR mode which combines 5 shots in to one. I used this app to ensure I got the perfect photo. And I succeeded nearly. I took 20 photos and discarded 3 which were repeats. It was tricky to see the screen sometimes due to snow but apart from 3 of the shots which weren’t in focus enough, I actually was happy with the results. The default iPhone camera app would not have achieved anything near as good in my opinion.

To capture that perfect photo, the iPhone will nail it in most scenarios accept where the lighting is lower or with moving things e.g. dogs or children. Low light moving targets is near impossible without blur. And that is where the LG V10 came up trumps. Any light, any conditions and it seemed to nail that perfect shot.

But I do wonder, is it worth changing a phone just for the camera, and all in pursuit of the perfect photo.

Look at Tim Cook at the Super Bowl. He uploaded a blurred photo shot on his iPhone. He was actually really happy with the photo and being honest, the moment was recorded and in some ways that is more important than the pursuit of the perfect photo.

I do suspect that following Tim Cook’s blurred photo, the next iPhone will take much better low light shots!

Have your bank details been stolen? – details

Tech News,

Criminals are selling the stolen credit and debit card details of 100,000 Britons on the internet in new market said to be “the largest and most brazen of its kind”.

For as little as £1.67 banking details stolen from more than a million people worldwide can be bought from the website on the open internet, rather than on the “dark web”, where much online criminality takes place, it is being claimed.

The above is story from the Telegraph following a Times investigation. It really is a sad state of affairs that data/cyber theft of this magnitude is being sold for such small amounts, yet the hardship it can cause to the victim is much larger.

I reckon the problem is significantly worse. Just think of all the companies that have been in the news following a cyber attack. Now add to that the total of companies who haven’t reported a cyber attack or are unaware they have been hacked.

Scary thought.

Source- The Telegraph

Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge – All 3 colours – Photos

Android, Tech News, ,

With Samsung poised to announce the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge on the 21st February 2016, it could end up that we know everything before the big reveal.

Well now you can even decide based on the photo below which colour S7 Edge you would like to order. Samsung is going to do an Apple this year, and have the phone ready to order on the 21st Feb, with delivery just a few weeks later.

s7 edge colours

Without a doubt, the S7 in the Edge variety will be the version I am most interested in. What about yourself?

Source – Evan Blass Twitter