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

Ignorance of Security isn’t Acceptable in 2014

March 13, 2014 | Comment

I noticed the other day that on one of my accounts for a company I have done business with in the past (lets call them “Marketing File” as that is what they are called) was using what I considered to be a weak password. When I went to change it I found that I couldn’t do it through the web interface but had to call their support department. At this point I could hear the sound of faint alarm bells in the back of my head.

When I called the number and explained that I wanted to change my password … Read the rest

A Life in Computers

March 11, 2014 | 1 comment

A trip to The National Museum of Computing at the weekend was a real trip down memory lane for me. You can read about our visit to Bletchley Park at a later date but I wanted to highlight some of the more significant computers that have featured in my life that were on show there. The dates are pretty loose as my memory is not what it once was!

Teletype (c. 1976)

I have written previously about how I encountered my first “computer” at secondary school. In fact this wasn’t a computer at all but basically a printer with a … Read the rest