Paid Apps and the Freemium model

July 1, 2009 | 2 comments

Over the years I have tended to avoid paying for applications because the up-front cost was prohibitive. So I either went without, used an older version that may have been given away with a magazine, or found an open source equivalent. However, I am now finding myself committing to a number of applications because of the small up-front cost and, quite often, after a period of using the service for free – the so call freemium model. The question is whether that is good value for money.

The applications below are all ones that I use on a regular basis, … Read the rest

Netbook v3

June 29, 2009 | Comment

So I am in the market for a new Netbook (some would ask when am I not in the market for a new gadget). This would be my third, therefore I think that you can safely say that I am a convert to the form factor.

There have already been two iterations of Netbooks. Version 1 was the original Asus Eee PC 701 device that introduced the Netbook to the world. This had a 7" screen and ran a specially customised Linux OS. I had one of these and loved it but found Linux to be hard work.

The … Read the rest

UK Folding Plug

June 26, 2009 | Comment

UK Folding Plug Concept Those people that live in the UK or have ever travelled here will know that we can proudly boast one thing that is bigger than anything offered by the USA and that is our plug – it is huge! If you have travelled with any electrical equipment that requires the UK adaptor then you will know how much space it takes up. That’s why I have invested in so many local cables that I can swap out for the UK equivalent when I travel.

Now, however, someone (it is not clear who) has come up with a neat design for … Read the rest

Twitter Spam

June 23, 2009 | 2 comments

Is it just me or is Twitter spam on the increase? I have had a stream of notifications of today telling me that someone is now following me. You can tell that these are spam accounts as they have only one update and multiple followers. Oh, and the scantily clad woman in the picture is also a bit of a give away! You can block these individually but what would be really good would be if I could reject anyone who has, say, less than 10 updates.

There is a Twitter feed with advice and guidance on spam (@spam… Read the rest

Schmap – online destination guides

June 20, 2009 | Comment

Schmap is a great online destination guide that allows you to explore a city or area and find the best things to see and do. I have used the application on my iPhone in the past and intend to use it when I am on holiday in Australia later in the year.

I was surprised and pleased (in equal measures) when an email arrived from Schmap this morning letting me know that they had selected a picture of mine from Flickr to include in the guide. You can see the picture in the application on the left and the original … Read the rest

Moblin – the Netbook OS

June 17, 2009 | Comment

I have been playing around with a new OS interface that is optimised for netbooks and specifically those running on the Intel Atom processor, which is most of them. Moblin has a simplistic and very appealing interface that quickly gives you access to all the functionality that you are likely to need from a Netbook. This means that web browsing, IM and Twitter are all quickly accessible from a menu bar at the top of the screen. Panels on the “home” page present information and quick links to other areas such as media.

It looks fantastic, as you can see … Read the rest

Apple iPhone Economics

June 12, 2009 | Comment

So the waiting is finally over the new iPhone has been announced and in a weeks time you could have one in your hands. Come the day of the announcement pretty much everything new about the device had leaked out and so there were little surprises: compass, tethering, video and MMS to name but a few. There were also price cuts for the existing 3 model which is to be an entry level device.

All good news. Well, no, not quite. For a start if you live in the UK then there is no discount on the entry level model. … Read the rest

Slingbox for iPhone

June 8, 2009 | Comment

I’ve had a Slingbox at home for a while now and it allows me to watch my home TV not matter where I am in the world. Having also got a Tivo it also allows me to catch-up on TV that I might have missed. To date this has all been from the client on my laptop but recently a version was released for the iPhone/iPod Touch.

The launch of the iPhone player was not without some controversy as initially the company had said that the player wouldn’t work with older Slingbox Classics (like I have) and that it wouldn’t … Read the rest

Netbook as a eReader

June 2, 2009 | Comment

Always on the lookout for ways to extract the most from my Netbook and having eyed up the Sony’s eReader in Waterstones I thought I would see whether the former could act as the latter.

eBooks are all the rage at the moment, particularly in the states where Amazon’s Kindle seems to be doing a roaring trade. I have to say that I am not a particularly big reader and so to have the ability to carry and number of books around and dip in and out what the mood takes me appeals to me. Also I carry my netbook … Read the rest

Owed Two a Spell Chequer

May 29, 2009 | Comment

I first published this poem on my personal blog back in December 2004 and was reminded of it again today when reading about Google’s Context-Sensitive Spell Checker.

A more intelligent spell checker is part of a new service to be launched later this year by Google called Wave. This takes a fresh look at communication and builds something brand new. What the creators have done is rather than build on what we already have (email and IM) they started with a clean sheet of paper designing something for the way we communicate today.

This is an interesting approach … Read the rest