Digital Devices

Motorola Motoluxe hits the UK in February

Alan — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 20:25:00 +0000

In January, during the Consumer Electronics Show, Motorola’s confirmed that its Motoluxe smartphone would be coming to the UK in February.

The smartphone is not particularly developed in terms of its specifications but it is a very attractive device. The phone is also very affordable and has been targeted towards people who use social applications often.

The phone is very light, weighing in at just shy of 125 grams. It is also just one centimetre thick and despite this it manages to fit in a large and bright four inch screen. Also inside the small case is a camera capable of HD recording as well as taking eight megapixel still shots.

The device is not going to come with the latest Android operating system but it will be able to be upgraded to it when it is released. The software on the device is intelligent and it learns from the actions that you make most frequently. For example, if you contact a certain person often than they will be prioritised in the phonebook. Furthermore the phone is capable of doing this with the photographs you view, as well as the music you listen to.

The phone is also utilising a new user interface by the company called MotoSwitch which lets you know which friends you are interacting with the most and which applications you use most frequently.

The device is running an 800 megahertz processor and comes with half a gigabyte of RAM. It has an expansion slot as well as 3G and Wi-Fi capability. For video calling there is also a front facing camera. The phone is set to be released before the month is out.

Advantages of having an iPad

admin — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 17:46:35 +0000

There are a wide range of advantages of having an iPad. iPads are amazing gadgets that have made so many people’s lives a lot easier on a day to day basis for a number of reasons. Obviously, each person will have different reasons why they own an iPad and what they see the advantages of owning their own Apple iPad is. However, if you aren’t too sure whether you’d get enough use out of an iPad, here are just some of the reasons why so many people decide to purchase an iPad:

Mobility – In general, iPads are much easier to carry around with you than let’s say a laptop. Of course you can bring a laptop with you on the bus or train every morning, but it would be a lot easier to have an iPad rather than a laptop. Firstly, the iPad is much lighter than just about every type of laptop, weighing in at just 0.6kg. If you’re going to be carrying it around all day you’ll barely notice this extra weight in your bag!
Internet – It’s so much easier to check a few things on the internet on your iPad instead of a laptop or a computer. Take this for an example; you want to check to see if a friend has emailed you (like they promised!). Usually you’d have to set up your computer which would take a couple of minutes, go to your browser, get to Yahoo or whoever you use and log in. On the other hand, if you have an iPad all you have to do is unlock the screen which takes a second or two and tap the “Mail” icon. Quite a bit of difference between the two, right?
Battery Life – iPads are well-known to have a very good battery life. The battery life that you’ll get out of your iPad depends on what you’re using it for, for example: If you’re watching a movie it would use much more of your battery in comparison to listening to music. But the average person would get around 10 hours or so from their iPad. This means that most people could get around a week without charging their iPad!
Access to lots of Content – There’s no other device in the world that allows you to have access to as much content as you can get when you own an iPad. Apple has just about everything that a person could want. Whether you want games, books, music, films etc. Apple has got you covered! This means that an Apple iPad is perfect for any family since there are usually people in a family that love watching movies while others might prefer to read a book. Whatever you want to use it for, you can be sure that Apple has provided it for you on the iPad. What’s even better about this is that there is so much free content available to you, so you don’t necessarily have to pay to enjoy all of the good stuff!

Virgin Media surprised at popularity of TiVO

Alan — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 04:34:25 +0000

Virgin Media has revealed that the cable TV and TiVO system has proven to be even more popular than the company had predicted.

The system, which was created to compete with Sky+, was used over a billion times in 2011 by viewers wanting to watch their chosen TV shows at a more convenient time, an increase of almost 14% on 2010′s figures. Virgin Media subscribers watched an astonishing 49 million hours of TV-on-demand and, according the company’s press release, it would take one person 56,000 years to watch this much television.

Among Virgin viewers, The Vampire Diaries was the most-watched complete drama series, while long-running soap Coronation Street was the most popular “catch-up” broadcast; with customers using the TiVO system to record episodes for a later date. Simon Pegg’s sci-fi comedy Paul was the most recorded and watched film of the year, while Jessie J’s hit Price Tag took the prize for the most viewed music video.

Virgin’s TiVo system doesn’t just compete with Sky+ and other digital recorders however, as it goes further and offers access to the internet as well as various TV-on-demand systems like iPlayer and 4OD. This has helped the company’s marketing department to reach more customers with promotional material about upcoming broadcast, building engagement among subscribers ahead of new series or major film premières.

Statistics show just how much Virgin customers are using TiVO to exercise control over what appears on their TV screens, with almost 90% of the one million searches each month being carried out for TV shows that were outside the BARB Top 50 for 2011. Television is a very personal choice, and TiVo allows customers to personalise the content which appears on their TV screens more than any other system.

TiVo can even suggest shows that the viewer may enjoy, based on their previous choices and searches, and the hardware has a 500GB capacity or around 90 TV shows, split between those which TiVO has recorded based on previous viewing habits and those chosen by the customer themselves.

Despite being able to hold 90 programmes, it is recommended that viewers keep only around half this on the system to improve viewing experience, and it seems that most subscribers are following the expert advice as 45 is the average number of recorded shows on each Virgin TiVO system.

The suggested viewing is a big hit with Virgin subscribers; within a few months, viewers are using TiVO’s suggestions more regularly than the standard TV guide and have started to use the “thumbs up” or “thumbs down” options to rate TiVOs’ choices an average of 8 million times each month.

While the number of homes which are regularly using TV-on-demand has only increased by 200,000 over the last 12 months, in the households which are using TiVO the system is being more widely used then ever, becoming the standard way that many people watch TV. Listings are a thing of the past, as there is little or no restriction in the reply to the question “What’s on TV?”

Kids really are the gadget experts

Alan — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 11:16:02 +0000

The idea of the child being the only one in the house able to programme the VCR was a staple joke for sitcoms in the 1980s, but a new survey has revealed that that could be closer to the truth than many people realise

According to ParentPort, a website set up by public bodies including the Press Complaints Commission, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) and the Office of Communications (Ofcom), one in six adults don’t know how to work many of their children’s favourite gadgets.

Sixteen per cent of parents also admitted in the survey that they had bought films or computer games for their children that were classified for over 15s or over 18s, while many more allowed them to watch unsuitable films on television. Over 40% of British children regularly watch television shows or films that are supposed to be for older children or adults.

Almost 2,000 people took part in the survey, which was carried out with the support with two of the largest parenting websites in the UK, Netmums and Mumsnet. Despite the admission that so many parents allow their children to access unsuitable media, most adults insisted that they nevertheless closely monitored which websites their kids were accessing and that they control which films their youngsters are allowed to watch.

The survey revealed that parents’ biggest concern when it came to the media was the fact that today’s young people are so comfortable using smartphones and laptops; and that they may be able to access adult material using these devices because parents lack the technological know-how to make sure they are safe.

ParentPort has only been in existence for a few months, but Ofcom chief executive Ed Richards believe the results of this study vindicates the decision to set up the organisation. Designed to give parents a channel through which to make official complaints about unsuitable content on all media, ParentPort’s findings reveal just how difficult it is for parents today to fully control what their children see and hear on television and on the internet.

New data storage system for hard disks

Alan — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 12:59:17 +0000

A new technique for recording information onto hard disks could potentially speed up the data writing and reading rates by hundreds of times. A team of international experts has worked out that it is possible to record information to a hard disk using only heat. It is expected that this will not only make hard disks much faster but it will also make the more energy-efficient.

Thomas Ostler, a physicist from the University of York has commented, “Currently, hard disks use a magnetic field when recording information but we have found that information can be recorded by using just heat. This technology will allow us to record thousands of gigabytes of information every second which is hundreds of times faster than the current technology allows. The lack of a magnetic field also means far less energy is consumed when recording the data.”

The discovery is particularly surprising to the researchers in the rest of the computing world because it was previously thought that heat would not be able to write data, only destroy it. Currently, data is written to hard disks through magnetism as a small part of the disk is switched to either an up or down position which, when enough of them are gathered together, adds useful data to a disk.

The researchers found that it is possible to use a very short pulse of heat to invert the positions of the switches without using magnetism. The laser light is used to heat up a material very quickly which means that the atoms inside don’t lose their magnetisation.

When the material cools the magnetism is once again reversed. The fact that an electromagnet is no longer needed in the process is essentially the reason why this technique is going to be much more efficient in both speed and energy.

Samsung announce Galaxy successor

Alan — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 17:33:41 +0000

The first Android mobile to come out from Samsung, the Galaxy S2, received five stars from most reviewers when it first hit the market. The rave reviews were not much of a surprise given the fact that it had a great processor packed inside of the case and even featured a great little camera even though the casing was one of the slimmest on the market.

Following its success Samsung kept releasing press releases detailing their great global Galaxy sales, which is why it is not that much of a surprise that Samsung is planning a sequel to come out this year.

While the company has not yet confirmed officially that there will be a Galaxy S3, there are plenty of hints picked up by those who watch the industry closer. For example, it is easy to see the developments that they have made with their standard processor and the Exynos cores that the company kept announcing over the course of last year is quite possibly what is going to be placed inside of the Galaxy S3.

It’s a pretty safe bet that the new Galaxy will have at least a dual-core processor, but now it looks like Samsung may be working on a quad-core processor which also would be a great addition to toss into the new mobile.One thing about the mobile industry is that it is quite predictable with most high end models announced near the end of February at the Mobile World Congress and then most mobiles actually hitting the open market by the time the spring rolls around in April.

Samsung managed to do this with the Galaxy S2 last year, and the educated guess is that they are going to attempt to pull off the same successful marketing strategy for the Galaxy S3 as well . Of course, it took a little bit longer for the S2 to actually make it overseas to the US since Samsung reworked the features and designs to be a better fit for US customers and the mobile network providers.

Therefore, while the S2 is still pretty new to most of American mobile customers it is only logical to expect that Samsung is going to hold off launching the S3 for a while so that they can get the most out of the S2 sales as possible. This is one great reason to live in the UK, because the country is one of the first to debut new mobile models.

Given the fact that the phone has not yet been officially announced there are not any pricing details, but it is possible to make an educated guess. The Galaxy Nexus was priced at £520 when it first launched and then dropped down to £36 in a few weeks for those who were willing to sign into a contract. Therefore, for a high end device such as the Galaxy S3 the prices will most likely be in a similar price range or if the marketing is done well enough, possibly even more.

LG Prada 3.0 mobile phone.

Alan — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 15:06:04 +0000

The designer brand Prada has taken a step in an entirely new direction with the launch of the new LG Prada 3.0 mobile phone. Far from being just a regular mobile plastered with tacky Prada logos, the LG model is actually an impressive piece of kit – although it is unclear how much the fashion house had to do with developing the functionality and technological side of the handset or whether their role was limited to design choices when it came to available colours.

At first glance, the LG Prada 3.0 looks and feels very similar to the LG Optimus 3D and the two handsets also share a lot of the same technological specifications too. However, in the new designer model, the dual-core, dual-channel processor is boosted with a memory capacity of 1GB, rather than the inadequate 500MB available with the Optimus.

Using an Android running system, the LG Prada 3.0 also provides all the usual features, such as Bluetooth, Wifi, GPS and slots for memory cards, but anyone can get that from pretty much every mobile phone on the market today. There is only one reason that consumers will be interested in this latest LG model and that is the magic of the Prada name.

Previous collaborations between designer labels and mobile phone companies have been less than successful, with common complaints being that the handsets may look good but they are so far behind the curve when it comes to functions and apps that no self-respecting fashionista would be seen dead with one in her handbag. By focusing on the technology first and the brand name second, LG and Prada have come up with the first impressive designer mobile phone.

As you would expect from a phone with the Prada name, the LG Prada 3.0 looks fabulous, thanks mainly to the Saffiano design on the back of the handset. It feels nice and light too, and features some classy touches such as a hidden power button, a sliding switch to uncover the USB port and 4.3inch NOVA screen, which is apparently much easier to use in bright sunlight.

The only innovation that hasn’t quite hit the mark is the decision to do away with an external camera button, forcing users to take pictures using the touch screen. Only a small complaint, but many people still like the feeling of pushing a button to take a picture. There is nothing that revolutionary, technologically, on the LG Prada 3.0; what is revolutionary is finding all these as-standard functions on a fashion phone.

Featuring a Prada-branded overlay and a unique black and white theme, complete with its own style of icons and widgets, the handset does still feel like something of a fashion accessory rather than a major step forward in the mobile phone market. If fashion conscious consumers can get themselves a decent-looking phone that also works well, however, then surely everyone is a winner.

The LG Prada 3.0 is due to be launched in UK shops during the first quarter of 2012 and, as yet, no details of pricing have been revealed. Handsets of this standard without the Prada label are available on monthly contracts priced at around £35, but that kind of price would make the mobile phone one of the cheapest Prada products in the world.

LG are likely to capitalise on the joint venture with their famous partners by pushing up the price, even though the technology contained within that famous exterior doesn’t justify it.

Cheap Mobile Phones

admin — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 17:22:06 +0000

Practically everybody these days is concealing something in their pockets or their bags as they go about their daily business, these are their mobile phones, and some use them so often they are an extension of themselves that they feel they simply cannot live without. The mobile phone revolution of the past few decades now have us with phones where making calls come second to taking pictures, shooting videos or accessing the net.

New phones are coming out seemingly every week, with more and more technology being packed into their ever shrinking bodies, and carrying outrageous price tags for those who don’t want to be tied into long term, expensive contracts. There are still those, however, who simply want a phone that they can call on, receive calls on, and send the odd text, the good news is that these still very much exist.

For those looking for fantastic value cheap mobile phones dialaphone is the perfect place to start. This great website, which is very user friendly, has some amazing deals from all the top manufacturers such as Nokia, Samsung, HTP, Sony Ericsson etc. The filters make it easy for you to narrow the choices too, so you can select a phone from Samsung for less than £70 on Vodafone and get several results to choose from.

While smart phones are all the rage at the minute with their flashy features and touch screens, those who are smart with their cash are heading to dialaphone for the some of the best deals on mobile phones available anywhere. Just because a phone is cheap doesn’t make it in any way, shape or form inferior in quality to the smartphones either, it is simply a case of them being a mobile phone intended to be just that.

With prices ranging from £10 for a basic model, you can’t beat the prices offered by dialaphone. If you do want a phone to access the web or take decent photos you can pick one of these up for around £50, hardly a fortune. So now you know where to go for the best cheap mobile phones deals around; go to dialaphone.

Article for dialaphone

Samsung Galaxy Player 5

Alan — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 16:39:26 +0000

Anyone who wants to stick with the Android operating system for using applications, playing video and listening to music will see the Samsung Galaxy Player 5 as a very attractive device. It is targeted at people who don’t want the mobile phone contract that comes with the mobile phone from a network provider.

This new player from Samsung is clearly targeted to be in the same market as the iPod Touch but unfortunately the audio quality lets it down somewhat. Samsung’s player is heavier and larger than the latest iPod Touch but it has the feeling of a very high build quality. The bezel on the back of the device has a silver tone and unfortunately it does scratch quite easily, a problem that has been seen on previous players by Samsung.

The screen measures five inches across, hence why it has been named the Samsung Galaxy Player 5. This is quite a bit larger than the 3.5 inch display that is seen on the iPod Touch. Unlike its iPod counterpart the Samsung device has an expansion slot for Micro SD cards.

This is located on the top of the device which makes it very convenient to access. Unfortunately, the device does not have a removable battery which was seen on previous players by the company.

When you navigate the device you can see that it operates in a very similar way to any phone running the Android operating system. In order to use the device you must login with your Gmail account and this will allow your information to be synced with the device as long as it is connected to a wireless network.

It is running the Gingerbread version of Android which was the latest version before Ice Cream Sandwich. Samsung have not commented about whether they are intending to update the phone to run the new operating system.

The system has a single core processor with 1GHz of power. This is supplemented by half a gigabyte of RAM which allows for a very good response time.Unfortunately, as with many single core devices, when it comes to playing video you might experience a minor lag very occasionally.

Some apps might take a couple of seconds to load but this is only usually when you are running many applications at the same time. As long as you don’t overuse the processing power everything keeps running very smoothly.

As this device does not have a connection to a mobile network, users will have to bear in mind that some applications won’t work. Fortunately most applications do run fine without an internet connection but some of them require it. The device also does not have a GPS chip so if you are using facility with preloaded maps then you are not going to be able to use it for navigation on a turn by turn basis.

The device has been rated as doing eight hours of video on one charge or 60 hours of audio playback. Independent testing has shown that these figures are accurate but the device does take a long time to charge, expect this to take four or five hours.

The device comes with several pre-installed applications including an office document manager called ThinkFreeOffice which generally gets very positive reviews. It is also capable of acting as a file browser on the device and allows you to install applications that are not found in the Android Market.

The device is overlaid with software from Samsung so users who are familiar with Samsung devices will feel very comfortable with the interface they are presented with and it will feel very natural to use.

MyPhotoSchool, courses and a FREE photography website

Alan — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 13:48:38 +0000

MyPhotoSchool, courses and a FREE photography website

Registration for the MyPhotoSchool website is now open now, and interested photographers should now sign up to receive all the benefits that comes with being a member.MyPhotoSchool, is a new online photography school , and each of the courses is taught by one of the world’s leading photographer. Student will get access to to to photographers and professional critiques, as well as their own photo website, for free.

You can now register on the MyPhotoSchool website before the first courses start running in April, you can book your place on the course of your choice from the 4th February.

The team behind MyPhotoSchool is Associate of the Royal Photographic Society and member of the British Institute of Professional Photographers, Duncan Heather; and ex eBay and Skype Director, Elspeth Briscoe. The team also launched the world’s first online gardening school, MyGardenSchool, last year. They bought all of their experience in perfecting an online school model to bear when creating MyPhotoSchool: outrageously good tutors; a keen understanding of the mindset and skills required for effective teaching and learning in a digital world; compelling content; and the very latest in technology.

Duncan Heather said: “When we were creating MyPhotoSchool we looked at the competition and asked ourselves, ‘What don’t they offer? What more could we give our students? We came up with quite a comprehensive list.

“We wanted to offer a wide variety of photography courses, for every level of expertise and experience, from the novice to the hobbyist to the aspiring professional. We wanted to enable our students to get 1-to-1 feedback with the best photographers in the world, and to be able to build camaraderie with fellow students in our online classrooms. We wanted to be able to provide our students with their own free photography website, together with the tools and templates to create a professional design, on which to display work – and ultimately sell, if they chose to upgrade. We wanted to provide a themed competition every month, with the winner’s work promoted on the main website. These were our aims, and I am proud to say that we have achieved them all with MyPhotoSchool.”

MyPhotoSchool courses cover everything from getting to grips with the equipment, understanding light and exposure, perfecting composition, professionally editing and making money from photography. Tutors at MyPhotoSchool, include world renowned wildlife photographer Heather Angel, former president of the Royal Photographic Society (RPS); David Newton, professional photographer, journalist and author of technical guides to photography; Nigel Hicks, Associate of the British Institute of Professional Photography (BIPP), professional photographer and author; Tony Worobiec, Fellow of the Royal Photographic Society, founder member of Arena, journalist and author; and Paul Harcourt Davies, professional photographer, author and conservationist. For more information on all of the MyPhotoSchool tutors and the courses that they teach, please go to theMyPhotoSchool courses page.

MyPhotoSchool will also run a monthly themed competition for members registered to its website. It will feature 8 categories: Landscape & Nature; People; Abstract; Digital Manipulation; Travel & Architecture; Garden & Flower; Macro; and the Monthly Theme. The first place winner in each category will have their work displayed on the MyPhotoSchool homepage for a month, receive a £25 coupon code to spend against any MyPhotoSchool course, and be entered into the People’s Choice Award for the best photo of the year. The winner of the annual competition will win a DSLR camera.

All MyPhotoSchool courses cost £120, last four weeks and begin on the first Saturday of every month. The beauty of the course being online is that students learn at their own pace, and in the comfort of their own home. Each course includes step by step video tutorials, downloadable course notes, and the facility to chat with tutors and fellow classmates online, in a ‘virtual classroom’. The classroom may be ‘virtual’ but the camaraderie is real, and the technology is very intuitive and easy to use.

World renowned photographer Sue Bishop will be teaching ‘Flower Photography’ and ‘Improve your Landscapes’ courses at MyPhotoSchool, and is also a tutor at MyGardenSchool. She says: “MyPhotoSchool is a great opportunity for me to share my passion for photography, using the very latest digital means, with students from all over the world. I know from my experience at MyGardenSchool that it’s an energising experience to have enthusiastic new students every month, and I look forward to welcoming them at MyPhotoSchool.”