Category Archives: Tech News

NFC – Unlock your Doors – Would You Use it?

At present several android phones have NFC built in. I used it when I had the Samsung Galaxy S3 with tags. These little tags were programmed to do certain actions. So when I got in the car, one swipe over the tag meant my S3 had been switched into Car Mode, Bluetooth on and volume at full blast. When I got home, I swiped the NFC tag by the hall table. Wifi was switched on, vibrate and silent turned on, Bluetooth turned off and my news feeds started fetching the news.

NFC can also be used to pay for services. But now there are plans a foot to use NFC as your car and house keys. One swipe over the lock and your car is unlocked and the same for your front door.

Now this all sounds good but what about the security implications. 10 years ago if you lost or had your phone stolen, it was a pain but that was about it. Nowadays if you have your phone stolen, it is more likely to be a smartphone worth £300-£700. So first up you have the actual cost of replacement. Then there is all the sensitive data and data apps hold on your device. Would you then feel happy if your phone was also the keys to your property and car?

Sadly, the way technology is moving forward this is more than likely to happen.

What do you think?

To Use a Case or Not – Are we Mad?

You have just unboxed your new device. It looks amazing. It’s so thin and feels wonderful.

So what do you do next? Buy a case and conceal its beauty. Do you use a Otterbox Defender type case and bury your phone is heavy duty protection. Or do you go still for some form of protection but not as over the top as the Defender range.

But it doesn’t stop there. You can then decide on a slim back cover or bumper style. In fact the options are endless. You have colours and materials to choose from, the size, protection and design and so much more. For each phone I have owned I have over time had 30-40 cases. It was like trying to find the perfect device made of the perfect material and designed so well it adds to the device rather than take away any style. There are aluminium cases and bumpers. These do look ok and some cost the earth. They also reduce your signal strength. This to me is a poor design. Why build a case that reduces the signal strength.

I currently use an iPhone 5 and have around 12 cases. However I have settled on 2 so far. A Gear4 Tread GT for lightweight protection and a Trident Aegis for full blown protection.

I also like using the iPhone 5 without any case.

What do you like to use and why?

Apple Store Paris – Armed raid at 9pm New Years Eve

4 armed raiders wielding handguns raided the Apple store in Paris and made off with £1m worth of Apple devices.

One member of staff was hurt in robbery at flagship store on New Year’s Eve.

French Police reckon it was extremely well organised as it happened when police resources were heavily diverted to deal with New Years Eve revellers.

Apple make the most desirable products and surely now measures need to be put in place to make a stolen device unusable permanently.

This would reduce raids like this and thefts from people.

iOS 6 Secret Tips – Email & Safari

Every week I am going to publish a few less known tricks with iOS 6.

First up is finding a word on a web page. For this example I have gone to the Apple store on safari. Then I go to the search box top right and search for iPad.

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If you scroll down you will see find words on this page. Tap there and then all the safari will highlight one at a time your search word, and also let you known how many are left on the page, as shown below.

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Fairly neat trick when you need to find a word on a huge web page.

Now for my next trick, go to the mail app. If you press and hold the new mail icon, bottom right, instead of bringing up the new mail screen, you actually get a list of saved drafts. See screenshot below

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Look out for more useful tips, and if you have any yourself, please let me know in the comments.

Samsung is about to revolutionise TV – has it beaten Apple to Re-Inventing the TV?

Samsung has just released a CES teaser that it is about to revolutionise TV’s as we know them. Below is the photo added to the teaser release.

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From what I can fathom the TV looks translucent and is portrait in design. My other thoughts are that Samsung is trying to beat Apple to re-inventing and innovation TV’s as we know them.

CES is looking like its going to be superb in 2013.

Blackberry Z10 & X10 phones

A new round of photos have emerged of the new handsets from Blackberry featuring the long awaited and overdue BB10.

First up is the Z10. This is an iPhone like touch phone. It doesn’t look IMO anything special or different, but maybe BB10 is fantastic.

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Next up is the X10, which features the traditional thumb keyboard that blackberry made themselves famous for.

20121231-075803.jpg source of photo <a N4BB/ .

It’s only a month away before Blackberry themselves reveal the full glory to the world. However, I am sure we will see many more leaks.

Are you excited about the new Blackberry handsets and operating system?