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

iOS 6.1 new speaker bug

Apple, Tech News

The iOS 6.1 update fixes many huge bugs like the wifi and no service but it has introduced a new one that stops the loudspeaker from working with iOS 6.1. It doesn’t impact everyone but there is a workaround, well sort of.

Firstly you might find that not all audio is crippled. Voice Memo app may well work ok and you will also be able to hear your phone ringing and the speakerphone will function fine during the conversation, but you’ll get no sound from a music track, video file or game.

Restarting the iPhone doesn’t work. So what do you do? and where is the giveaway sign there is a problem. If you have access to AirPlay, you’ll notice something odd that the choice offered to you is usually the local AppleTV and your iPhone, but now the iPhone option alternates between it and Dock Connector. This means that your iPhone believes it’s connected to a Dock and insists on rerouting the sound to a non-existent extension.

So all you can do is restore from fresh. This will wipe your phone and data. If this doesn’t work it’s a trip to the Apple store or Apple support. Not ideal, but then it’s not affecting many people either.

iOS photography apps – iPhoto tip

Apple, Tech News

Today I thought it would be useful to highlight a useful feature from iPhoto iOS app. Over the next few weeks, I will periodically select a few apps and pick a feature out that I hope you will find useful. iPhoto has many editing functions, but my favourite is using the repair brush. Look at the 2 photos. The original has a TV mast on the top left. Using the iPhoto repair brush I have been able to remove it as per second photo.

If you have any tips you would like to share, please let me know.

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Tweet using your Amex Card to Buy Goods

Tech News

American Express cardholders can now link their cards to their Twitter account which will allow the cardholders to purchase products, like a new Xbox or a gift card, simply by tweeting. Sounds crazy but it’s true.

Even more crazier, Amex cardholders can link their account to a number of social networks, like Foursquare, Facebook and Xbox Live, for the chance to unlock discounts.

Starting today, all cardholders will have do do is register to participate, to provide a physical address for delivering products.

After that, it is fairly easy to buy something. For example you will be able to buy a $25 American Express Gift Card for $15 this afternoon by tweeting #BuyAmexGiftCard25. American Express will reply via Twitter, asking the user to confirm the purchase in a tweet. All products will be shipped via free, two-day shipping.

Starting Wednesday, more items will go on sale, including an Amazon Kindle Fire HD for $150 and an Xbox 360 4GB console with three months of Xbox Live for $180. All deals will be offered for a three-week period.

Apparently American Express plans to expand this to other social networks like Facebook.

I wonder if other card companies will follow suit and in the UK whether this will be used by Amex. And who using Amex nowadays? That seems to be a weakness in this whole idea.

Do you believe this will work?

Google pays Apple $1bn

Tech News

Apple and Google have a “per-device” deal rather than a revenue sharing deal, according to Devitt’s report, titled “The Next Google Is Google.” So for every $1 of search revenue Google makes on iOS, Apple gets 75 cents. This is to simplify accounting and allows Apple to collect its payment up-front.

This deal also allows Google to be the default search engine on Apple devices.

Tim Cook Live Today

Apple, Tech News

Apple has announced that CEO Tim Cook will speak at the Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet Conference, and his presentation will be streamed live tomorrow, February 12 at 10:15 a.m. Eastern on Apple’s site.

While Cook will probably discuss Apple’s business, it’s rumoured who will announce 2 new products. Personally I doubt it. More a case of gloating on the sales figures of the iPhone and iPad if anything at all.

Microsoft Surface Pro sales figures – just how good are they?

Tech News, Windows

Shortly after the Surface Pro went on sale, Microsoft announced the 128gb version was sold out in many locations. This seems fairly similar to a situation when the Zune went on sale, then sold out and ultimately didn’t sell too many.

When sales speech like this occurs, it is not really possible to believe anything unless you are given the hard numbers of actual sales, and not shipped items. Microsoft hasn’t released the actual numbers yet, but just states it working hard to replenish stock at its retail partners.

According to feedback on forums and blogs, many people were left frustrated as stores like Best Buy had less than 5 units in some cases. Or most cases if you believe some of the posts. It is no surprise that they were flying off the shelves. It must have been a stampede to get to the few stock items first!

Now don’t get me wrong the Surface Pro is a decently designed bit of kit albeit expensive and remember if Apple had stock shortages, it would get heavily criticised by the media and investors.

And if you are looking to get a 128gb model, just remember the available space is just over 83gb.
Do not be alarmed by this as this is normal for any product on any platform to allow space for the operating system.