Is this the world’s most expensive charger?

April 9, 2019 | Comment

One of the disappointments of the new iPad Pro was that all those lightning charge cables and accessories that I’d accumulated over the years immediately became useless. However, the move to USB-C meant that the iPad had a bit of a trick up its sleeve – charging. As you can see from the image above here it is charging my Apple Watch.

The iPad Pro can charge accessories such as your watch, iPhone etc. at a 7.5W charge rate – providing that you have the right cables. To do so requires a potentially expensive outlay in new USB-C to lightning … Read the rest

Recording who clicks which link when on Sendy eMailer

February 25, 2019 | Comment

For many, Mailchimp is a reliable mailer for sending newsletters and other automated email campaigns. And for some it might even be cost effective but unless you are sending very few emails I’d suggest not. Whatever your views on costs it is very easy. However, if you’re already using Amazon’s AWS then there are other services that, with a little effort, might well be cheaper. These take advantage of the fact that you get a generous free sending limit with your account.

Sendy is one such service which does much of what Mailchimp does. It can send nicely formatted emails … Read the rest

Kablecard – The Swiss Army Utility Card for Charging on the go!

October 1, 2018 | Comment

Kickstarter has been a bit hit and miss for me but occasionally it does turn up a real gem and Kablecard is one of those.

I have to say that when I saw the video and spec list (multi-head charging! sim tool! kick stand! back light! memory storage! credit card sized!) it did seem a bit unbelievable and I wondered if it was a scam. But no, I did end up with one and it really can do all the things that it claimed.

Included inside a quite thin case is a main cable which is USB-C … Read the rest

Why I Dropped Edit for Notes on iOS

August 29, 2018 | Comment

So, this is me…

I wrote recently about dropping Drafts for the Edit app on iOS. In this post I said, and I quote:

Edit is a universal app (do we still use that phrase?) and the only feature I would like is sharing of text between the iPhone and the iPad otherwise I am set.

Of course there is already an app that does just that and what’s more it also syncs to the Mac as well. So what is this app? It’s Apple’s own Notes app of course!

I’m not sure why I missed this but, in … Read the rest

Let’s Play Spot the Difference

September 7, 2017 | Comment

Can you tell the difference between these two seemingly identical bills I received by email from Virgin Media?

I have to admit that initially I couldn’t. It was only when I saw the bill total of £498.52 and did a double take that I took a closer look. When you do that it becomes clear that:

my account details are missing
the email address, while valid, isn’t correct
when hovering over the View Bill button it wouldn’t have taken me to the Virgin Media website.

I consider myself to be pretty internet savvy but I was shocked at how well … Read the rest

Going Secure via Cloudflare (and a Warning)

August 15, 2017 | Comment

Forced to be Secure by Google

The more observant amongst you may have noticed that the site is now “secure”. Quite why a blog needs to be so I am not sure but Google is starting to insist on such things so I am in the process of converting all my sites to load via https.

To be honest it has been a bit of a trial, partly because this site runs on a WordPress multi-site installation and that has thrown up a few peculiarities. Anyway, the change from Google has forced me to look at all my sites and … Read the rest

Pebble Time vs Apple Watch

July 7, 2017 | Comment

As regular readers of this blog will know I am a huge fan of the Pebble smart watch. So it was a great disappointment when the the company collapsed and the assets were bought by Fitbit. Pebble did at least return the money that had been pledged on Kickstarter for the next generation and, due to currency fluctuations, I actually received marginally more back than I put in. However, that’s not much consolation for not getting what was looking like a great watch.

For a few months I persisted with the Pebble Time but as time went on it … Read the rest

Siri Idiot

July 5, 2016 | Comment

I was persuaded by a mate to take a look again at Apple’s Siri, the personal assistant on iOS. I have to say that I have some deep seated psychological dislike of shouting into my phone in order to get it to do stuff but I promised to take a look at it again as he felt I was missing out.

The first thing I struggled with once turning Siri back on again was just what would I say to here. I could ask the weather forecast but I have apps for that and I find looking out of the … Read the rest

A Bit of a Curve Ball

June 28, 2016 | 4 comments

Much of the banking system is still based on procedures and practices from the 20th century and so, like many other areas of life, is ripe for modernisation through technology. One company trying to bring some innovation in this space is Curve.

Curve is billed as the one card to replace all your cards and feels a little bit like Apple Pay in that you scan your existing cards into their (iOS only) app and then swap between them when making payments.

The Curve is currently in “beta” and only available to those working for small businesses. There is an … Read the rest

Google Cardboard. VR – the Future or Passing Novelty?

June 7, 2016 | Comment

A friend of mine turned up recently with a Google Cardboard a, well, cardboard phone holder that allows you to watch virtual reality content. I was interested to have a go but skeptical as to the longer term possibilities of the technology.

As you can see from the picture above the box has a place to put your phone which is held a few inches in front of a couple of lenses. You need specific apps in order to see the content which create a sort of stereoscopic effect. Although this is made of cardboard it is pretty robust although … Read the rest