Happy 10th Birthday Us!

June 5, 2014 | Comment

So I have been blogging on technology now for just over ten years it would seem, the first post was June 5th 2004. It’s somewhat ironic, however, that I am today writing this post in WordPress and the very first post was about Noah Grey’s excellent Greymatter another great CMS. This also means that I have been connected for about 20 years launching my first website in May 1996 – The Williams Database.

How things have change in that very short space of time. That first site was launched on the “free” 0.5 mb of space that was provided … Read the rest

A Tale of Two Chromebooks

May 30, 2014 | Comment

A couple of years ago I spent weeks searching high and lo for a Samsung Series 3 Chromebook which was the first of the really affordable cloud laptops. I finally found one and paid £240 – nothing compared to the price of some Windows and especially Mac laptops.

Initially I was amazed at the start-up time of seconds and the fantastic battery life. I found that I could access my email and calendar through the browser (as I had been for a while since ditching Outlook) and do all my general web-browsing. I was hooked and decided that, away from … Read the rest

A Potentially Dangerous Experiment

May 27, 2014 | 1 comment

Being mobile means I have to work in a number of different places on a number of different machines. The one constant is that no matter where I am I want and need to have my files with me. While I have Dropbox and Google Drive and and iCloud and Box and OneDrive and OwnCloud accounts I found that files that were in the Documents and Downloads folders on my iMac weren’t available to me on the move.

This led to a light bulb moment. What if I could store my Documents and Downloads folders in cloud storage? And so … Read the rest

Cocoon SLIM vs Wenger SwissGear Synergy Backpack Review

May 14, 2014 | Comment

For years I have been lugging my kit around in a Wenger Swiss gear backpack, which has been a real rugged workhorse. The thing though is massive and even after years of use I still don’t think I have found all the pockets!

The problem is that because it could carry so much there has always been a temptation to overfill it – you never know when you might need that widget and so in the bag it goes. This became an issue for me because the Wenger is heavy when it is empty let alone when full. So began … Read the rest

Acompli Email Client for iPhone Review

May 7, 2014 | Comment

Almost since the day I got my first iPhone I have been looking for a better email client and preferably one that also worked on the iPad too. I think I have tried pretty much all of them and the only one that has stuck is Sparrow which is sadly no longer maintain since Google bought it, grr.

A few weeks ago I was introduced to Acompli which merges email with the calendar, something that is so blindingly obviously that it is a surprise it hasn’t been done before. While the jury is still out on whether it stays or … Read the rest

Internet Explorer (the joke)

April 29, 2014 | Comment

My son sent me this today:

Internet Explorer users at risk from major bug

“All four users have been informed” a source said.

I thought that it was a joke until I subsequently saw this. (Obviously it is a joke but the problem clearly isn’t).

While IE usage is not as high as it once was it it still high enough that this is going to affect many people, particularly as the bug seems to be in versions 6 through 11.

Setting aside the issue itself this, and the recent Heartbleed bug, highlights just how easy it is for … Read the rest

I don’t want a thinner iPhone 6 and here’s why

April 14, 2014 | Comment

So the rumours have moved on and now the leaks are coming thick and fast. A new iPhone is on the way. Of course nobody knows what Apple are going to deliver but all the leaks point to a device with a larger screen… And thinner.

Why?!

It is pretty much acknowledged that battery technology hasn’t kept pace with all the other components in a smartphone. I have an iPhone 4S and have to charge it at least twice a day. That’s a real pain as it means I have to carry with me the means to deal with that. … Read the rest

Microsoft Office for iPad

March 30, 2014 | Comment

Now here’s a funny thing. I have deleted my iWork apps from my iPad and replaced then with their Microsoft Office equivalents. More than that I am also considering an Office 365 subscription just so that I can edit Office docs on the go. Why on earth would I do that?

Quite simply because Office is the defacto standard for work documents and while there is a real convenience to Google Docs (the real-time collaboration is unbeatable) nothing renders an Office document better than Office and that includes iWork.

While I have dabbled with iWork on my Mac I regularly … Read the rest