As you know, I co-host a weekly podcast with David from UKMobileTech called Gav & Dave’s Tech Podcast. It is a light hearted tech podcast broadcast bi-weekly. To subscribe click here for iTunes or copy and paste this link into your favourite podcast app.
Episode 10 is now live.
If you get a moment and have enjoyed the podcast, please leave some feedback in iTunes. Thanks.
Just done a loudspeaker sound decibel reading of the Sony Z1 Compact, IPhone 5S and Samsung Note 3 using podcasts and music.
Which loudspeaker was loudest? Which order do you reckon?
Samsung spent a lot of money during last night’s Academy Awards promoting everything from phones to TVs. It wasn’t even commercials because the host, Ellen DeGeneres, promoted them as well. She even took a selfie of herself and a few audience members using a Galaxy Note 3 that ended up being retweeted and on all the news channels.
Except one big thing.
She really uses an iPhone!
CarPlay announced by Apple is a system that integrates your iPhone apps with your car’s digital systems, allowing you to control them and your device, more easily.
Simply plug your iPhone into your car via USB, which instantly handshakes with your vehicle. You can then use the functionality of your iPhone without having to fumble around with it and take your eyes off the road.
Play your iPhone’s music through your car’s audio system or use all your iPhone’s functionality without actually touching it. So that includes playing your music, navigating to the shops, taking phone calls, reading text messages and even watching YouTube videos.
Apple’s plan is to allow third parties to build CarPlay compatibility into their apps, making them usable through the system.
Confirmed apps with CarPlay features incoming are: Spotify, Podcasts, Beats Radio, iHeartRadio and Stitcher.
Manufacturers confirmed are Ferrari, Honda, Hyundai, Jaguar, Mercedes and Volvo. In the pipeline are BMW, Chevrolet, Ford, KIA, Land Rover, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Opel, Peugeot-Citroen, Subaru, Suzuki and Toyota.
Will you car dictate your phone in the future?
Business Week had an interesting piece of how technology is changing ordering or flagging down a taxi.
“Ray Markovich started driving a taxi in Chicago three years ago after shuttering his struggling wireless phone store. Driving a cab wasn’t particularly gratifying or lucrative—he had to pay $400 a week just to lease his 2011 white Ford Escape. It was predictable if monotonous work.
Well, there’s nothing monotonous about it now. In June, Markovich, a thin, well-dressed man with short brown hair and spots of gray in his mustache and goatee, walked into the local office of Uber, the San Francisco-based taxi technology startup. Uber put him through an hour of orientation, gave him a free iPhone that carries its car dispatch app and some gear to mount it on the windshield, and sent him on his way.
Since then, Markovich has had to dodge flak from traditional cabbies who complain that they can no longer pick up riders in the city’s tonier neighborhoods, and he’s receiving a constant flood of e-mails from Uber itself, offering steep discounts on new cars and other perks to secure his loyalty. At the same time, he has increased his earnings by about 20 percent and says he’s simply evolving along with his customers. “No one under the age of 40 with a smartphone is going out and getting a cab anymore,” says Markovich. “I say if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em.”
Well worth a few moments to read rest of this article at Business Week.
I have used a number of launchers over the years from Nova, Apex, Go Launcher and some odd ball ones too. I asked on twitter the other day for any recommendations other than Apex and Nova.
The results included Mi Launcher, Go Launcher EX, Next Launcher, ADW, Action Launcher, Aviate and Themer. There was strong support for Nova as being the class leader. The Nexus Launcher also had a vote.
I own the Pro versions of both Nova and Apex despite the fact that they are really close in feature count with just some minor variances. I had Nova installed on my Samsung Note 3 but kept getting redraw and crashes, all memory related. So I wanted to try something different and after trying all the above, I have moved to Apex Launcher.
Apex is not crashing every time I change the theme and so far hasn’t had any redraw issues. It also allows me to customise the icon size for the app drawer, home screen and dock independently, something Nova doesn’t feature. There are a few other minor improvements but the memory usage over Nova makes it worthwhile alone.
So what launcher do you use and why? And what phone is it installed? If you are using an iPhone I know you can’t have themes unless jail broken. If you are JB then can you recommend some themes again?
Tim Cook at its shareholders meeting states-
“It’s a little more difficult to call it a hobby these days,” Cook told shareholders at the company’s headquarters in Cupertino.”
That little black Apple TV Box made Apple $1bn in 2013.
Don’t we all wish we had a hobby like that?
A reminder.
As you know, I co-host a weekly podcast with David from UKMobileTech called Gav & Dave’s Tech Podcast. It is a light hearted tech podcast broadcast bi-weekly. To subscribe click here for iTunes or copy and paste this link into your favourite podcast app.
Episode 9 is now live.
If you get a moment and have enjoyed the podcast, please leave some feedback in iTunes. Thanks.
Palmaddict is a favourite site of mine are giving away a Macbook Pro.
So head over for full details. Looks very simple to enter as well.
Android Beat has a great article about adding a heart rate monitor via an app to your smartphone. The recommended android apps are Runtastic Heart Rate (my favourite) or Instant Heart Rate.
Another reason not to buy the new Samsung Galaxy S5.
If you have an iPhone don’t panic, there are apps that do the same thing as well. A good app is Heart Rate Monitor.
Gavin's Gadgets & Photography 