A Website And Podcast You Can Trust
have you heard that Apple has opened that official Apple News feed on Twitter? Neither did I but a few quick looks on the Twittersphere proves it’s true.
Continue reading → @applenews Apple News Account Goes Live on Twitter
Sure there are plenty of Bluetooth speakers on the market but not like the Edifier Rave MP700 which contains bluetooth 4.0 and NFC so you don’t have to pair your speakers all the darn time.
Continue reading → Edifier Rave MP700 Speakers Bluetooth4.0 and NFC
ShutterBee serves as a travel journal and photo sharing platform in one. Users post photos from their past and current trips, share unusual travel experiences, create a personal travel map, keep a bucket list of places to visit and a lot more.
The 2016 update brings a complete redesign of the app’s interface, simplifying navigation and making it even more visually pleasing. Browsing through other users’ posts can be done via more ways, including searching by hashtags, sorting by most popular, latest or nearby.
Version 2.0 introduces the feature many users have been asking for: it now allows logging past trips even without uploading photos. Users can simply add countries, cities or places they have been to directly to their personal travel map by selecting them from a list. Besides this feature, the new version responds to numerous user requests by making sharing past and current travel experiences simpler and more convenient. The introduction of a rating system lets users compare their travel experience level to others and get motivated to travel more.
“Many users had reported the inability to add past trips as the only drawback preventing them from rating the app 5 stars,”
says Anna Clark of ShutterBee.
“We have listened and I’m really excited to announce that this feature has now been added. We believe ShutterBee version 2.0 is very close to being perfect and with feedback from our loyal users we will do our best to improve it even further and make it work great for everyone.”
ShutterBee’s userbase is comprised of travelers from over 80 countries. Every day they post photos from destinations that may be off the beaten track. This makes the app attractive for users who may not be able to travel a lot, but who get the chance to explore new destinations through other travelers’ eyes. The app is receiving positive feedback from reviewers online and offline.
The ShutterBee app is available for free from the Apple AppStore – . More information on the app can be found at shutterbee.com, promotions are often run on the app’s Facebook page at facebook.com/shutterbee.travel or through various travel blogs and online magazines.
I love being on the open road. Traveling the country lanes of our fair nation is a joy. Obviously I am blanking out the many times I’ve been stuck in horrendous traffic jams or the freezing cold days punctuated with that really annoying drizzle.
In the grand old days a driver, for entertainment, could only count on their radio, CD/tape collection or watching the antics of drivers owning certain Germany manufactured vehicles. Today it is all rather different thanks to the wonderful little (well, maybe not so little since the 6S+) iPhone.
This device, and I’m sure many other mobile devices, has revolutionised how we both inform and entertain ourselves while chewing up the miles. Let me explain the tools, tricks and tips that I use everyday as a digital road warrior…minus leather jacket.
The most important aspect for any road warrior is data. You need lots of it. Fortunately many carriers now offer _Unlimited Data_ tiers. These are usually a little more expensive and it pays to shop around if you can but they are a lifesaver. I can usually get by without having to call or text someone but I always need data. Personally I go with 3’s all you can eat data add-on. This costs me £20 a month and I get 300 mins talk time, 3,000 texts and, most importantly, all I can eat data. I’m sure there is probably a cap on this service somewhere but I’ve yet to run into it.
*UPDATE: I was contacted today by 3 and informed that the £20 All You Can Eat Data plan will be increasing to £25 very soon.
Once the data requirements are met it’s time to focus on the hardware.
There are so many iPhone holders on Amazon. Some clamp your phone and others that you slide in and secure. I have used many of these in the past but have recently discovered the joys of magnetised holders. These usual consist of a metal disc you stick on the back of your device or a metallic card that you slip inside the back of your phones case, if it’s not too thick.
You want to get a fairly strong magnet or you invite the risk of your phone falling from the cradle if you transverse a really bumpy road.
The main benefit of the magnetised cradles is the simple ability to snatch your phone from the magnet as you leave the vehicle and the subsequent ease of reattachment when you return. Nothing to fiddle with, just plop it on and pull it off when needed.
When you are on the road using navigational apps, streaming music or even making a call you are constantly draining your battery. As a result a USB car charger is a must. Again these devices are plentiful on Amazon but I would recommend a named brand when it comes to plugging power related items into your mobile device.
This, along with the next item, will ensure your battery is always charged and your device ready for action.
This completes your iPhones charging needs. Once again, as this is responsible for feeding power to your device, I’d recommend a named brand. These might be a little more expensive but they should also be more reliable and safer.
(e.d Speaking from experience I’ve seen first hand what happens when you buy the cheapest of the cheap cables. They tend to get warm and just a little bit melty)
Obviously the phones strong point is the amount of apps that can transform it from a navigation device to a media streaming device to a communications device. Here I will list of applications that find invaluable while on the road each day.
Apple’s digital virtual assistant has come a long way and can now perform so many more functions than when it first introduced to us. However, there is a big caveat that needs to be taken into consideration, you need to have a quiet vehicle environment for SIRI to understand you. The few times I have had such a vehicle I have been astounded by just how well SIRI performed.I was having new messages read to me, dictating back responses, setting reminders, asking questions, calling for playlists and many other activities. Unfortunately if you environment is noisy SIRI becomes your digital virtually useless assistant, only occasionally performing the tasks you request, which is a virtual shame.
For years TomTom was the king of navigation with close competition from Garmin. There dominance came to a halt with the addition of GPS technol ogy built into phones. Once Apple allowed access to the GPS signal it allowed many applications, very often free, to challenge the old guards stranglehold.I have tried numerous apps over the years, starting out with TomTom’s very own. I tried Google maps, Apple Maps (no, I never got lost…honest) but I always return to Waze.
Waze is a crowd sourced service that studies what all of its users are doing and translates that into the corresponding traffic conditions they are facing. As a result, when you ask it for directions it bases it’s results on the activity around you and does it’s best to route you through less congested roads.
This is most effective in heavily populated areas as the more users engaging with the service creates a more comprehensive snapshot of the current road conditions.
This is the app I use the most. It has saved me so much time over the years by pulling me off motorways before I get ensnared in a horrendous tailback. If you only ever try one of the apps listed here make sure it is this one.
As stated above this app is constantly placing great demands on your phones battery so either use it sparingly or in conjunction with the charger and cable above.
A long drive usually is a lot less of a drag if you have some entertainment. Fortunately with the plethora of todays streaming music apps you have access to far more tracks that you could ever carry around in a CD Wallet.Spotify is still the most popular choice out there but Apple Music is gaining fast. I personally use Apple Music because of the integration with SIRI. Although many have complained about a confusing user interface I have never found it problematic and the ability to simply say ‘Hey SIRI, play some Gun’s N Roses’ or whatever band comes to mind, is wonderful. It also keeps both my hands on the wheel and, hopefully, in full control.
A note to remember is that both services don’t only offer Music. Just recently I have rediscovered listening to stand up comics while driving as both these services offer many wonderful comedy albums. I spent a pleasant long drive recently listening to both Bill Hicks and Jasper Carrot, as one often does.
Sometimes music and comedy is not enough and I want something a little different. I have been a member of Audible for a few years now and have amassed a pretty large library of audiobooks.Once a month I get a new credit and I take to the store to see if there is anything I want. I am a thriller and horror story fan so I have recently had the pleasure of listening to some old and new classics from Stephen King, James Herbert, Tom Clancy and many others. Of course Audible offer more than just fiction and I have enjoyed more factual books will driving which help to expand ones knowledge of various topics.
Don’t be put off by the many ads you hear for Audible on Podcasts, it really is a fantastic service and well worth the subscription.
Obviously I would be getting to podcasts eventually and here we are. There are a number of podcast players but my personal favourite is Overcast.
Overcast does have one pretty big omission though in that it doesn’t play video podcasts. For me this isn’t such a big deal as, with the possible exception of some TWiT shows, I have very little interest in watching Skype conversations between often middle-aged men with poor lighting and the room of their spare bedroom as their backdrop…Yes, I know I’ve have done this myself…let’s not dwell on it shall we?
However Overcast does offer a number of other features that I find really useful. The creator took the time to create his own audio engine which sounds great. This also means that is you speed up the audio it still sounds good but will allow you to get through longer podcasts that much quicker without missing any of the content or making the hosts sound like Pinky and Perky. To further speed up episodes the app also automatically takes out long pauses (if the producer hasn’t already done this) thus keeping all shows nice and snappy.
Having your own content on demand is always nice but sometimes you want to join in with the world. Although I could listen to a number of radio stations as I travel none of them really tend to focus on the music genres I like.
This is where a nice global radio app comes in handy. Within moments you can search for artists, countries, genres or shows and discover pretty much anything you want. I personally use this for find Country Music stations (yeah, I said it) while driving around Bedfordshire, or anywhere else my travels take me.
Regardless of what kind of radio show you like you can always find something here.
This handy little app allows you to share you location with someone else and allows them to see your progress virtually in real-time. I have used this several times when I am supposed to arrive at a certain place for a certain time. If I have the relevant contact information I can send the customer/associate a link and they can watch my progress. After a user controlled alloyed time the link goes dead so they can’t track you forever. Again, as this is constantly using the GPS aspects of the phone it is a bit of a battery drain so again it is probably wise to have your phone plugged in and charging if you plan to use the service for any extended period.However, be prepared to explain what app you used when you arrive at your destination as it generally invokes such a request.
That’s my list of hardware and apps I use every day while chewing up the miles., I hope you find them useful. What about you? Do you have any apps that you absolutely need while out on the roads? If so please comment below and share your favourites with the rest of us and until next time, safe driving.
The world can feel a pretty scary place these days and so I guess it’s understandable that those who have laws allowing them to own and carry firearms think they are their best protection again bad guys. I am not going
Sometimes something arrives for review at the most fortuitous time. At the start of almost every year I seem to end up having to do a fair amount of travelling. So the arrival in my reviewer’s box of Gopili, an app that promises to Find Cheap Tickets for UK and European Journeys could not have come at a better time. What better way to test a travelling, route planning and discount finding app than to test it in the real world.
Find Cheap Tickets for UK and European Journeys is the strap line on the website. Gopili caters for all the usual planes and trains but it also includes coaches and car sharing, something you don’t find in most other apps of this ilk.
<img src="http://static1.squarespace.com/static/57388caab09f95c3fbe348ae/5738974dc2ea512278cd96c8/5749992d6dc69519c7a27977/1464441315207/1459251803_thumb.jpg" alt=""/>
<img src="http://static1.squarespace.com/static/57388caab09f95c3fbe348ae/5738974dc2ea512278cd96c8/5749992d6dc69519c7a27975/1464441314820/1459251793_thumb.jpg" alt=""/>
All travel journeys are started by choosing the departure date and time. Perhaps I am missing something but I couldn’t see any way to add a return leg to the journey. I reached out to the developers and this is what they came back with:
As our services aim to find the best option for the journey among all modes of transport, it is quite often that the cheapest option for a return journey will involve using different modes of transport. For example, using the bus from Bristol to London, and using the train to come back to Bristol. By displaying the cost of the return journeys by train and the return journeys by bus, it might prevent users to identify the cheapest option: bus on the first trip and train on the way back that is why on the desktop version of the website, the 2 searches are separated (1st search: departure, 2nd search: return).
Testing was problematic. My nearest train station wasn’t available at the time of review but speaking to the developers it is on the list to be added. Gopili would default to coach planning at times or not show any search results at all.
Again talking to the developers, who genuinely seemed to appreciate the feedback, they have been upfront to say that Gopili is more aimed at the major cities and towns for now but there are regular updates happening, working on getting the best results for your journey rather than covering everywhere.
So heading from my nearest city of Swansea to Bath for a job interview the results were as I expected for Trains. National Express coaches were on the list along with the local budget bus provider, Megabus. This is where Gopili can help you to make your journey cheaper. As long as you put a bit of thought into your travelling plans.
Megabus couldn’t take me all the way to my chosen destination, but given how cheap the service is it actually worked out cheaper for me to travel to Bristol by Megabus, and then to continue the journey from Bristol to Bath on the train.
Granted to some this may seem likea lot of hassle. For the budget conscious though, this is an incredibly handy addition. Having all the times, prices and durations on an easy to read screen certainly helps to make those decisions.
Flights.
Gopili scrapes the major airline services and found me a couple of flights, which I already knew about, going from Cardiff to Munich. There were no options for train, coach or car travel but this is hardly surprising given my location. If you have used a flight scraping service before it’s worth using Gopili to see other options.
A cursory check of London to Munich showed train services I’d never heard of before with a huge 50% saving versus flying on selected date. Granted it’s a 12 hour train journey instead of a 2 hour flight but at least you can have option. For some travellers the price can be more important than time – if a 12 hour journey on the train means you can afford to make a trip you might not otherwise manage then maybe that is a small price to pay .
Car sharing.
This seemed to be a feature which popped up quite rarely but nonetheless gave me the option to travel with someone in a car in my fictitious journey of Bristol to London.
Pricing varies from £15 onwards depending on the person, time of day and the journey. Again seeing the pricing and times helps to work out effort vs time, vs hassle. BlaBla car turned out to be much cheaper than going on the train but only marginally more expensive than the bus but was over 2 hours quicker.
If you’re lucky enough to plan a journey where you have the option of planes trains and automobiles you can adjust the filter at the bottom of the screen to tailor to your preferred travelling method.
It does take a few seconds to collate the results for your journey but it is responsive enough not to border on being frustrating. Best of all even though it is scraping many sites you are not going to be bombarded with endless pop-up windows and adverts.
Journeys and bookings are done by taking you to the Gopili webpage via in app Safari browsing. This of course means you’re not handing over any personal or payment information to Gopili
A Few Problems
On a few occasions trying to book through the app, which forwards you to the bookings section of your chosen transport method would hang. Even if on Wifi or 3G using my iPhone 5s netted the same result. To me that’s not a big issue as once I have travel plans in mind I can easily jump on the desktop. The developers have responded, very quickly I might add, to say they are aware of this issue. At times it can take up to 30 seconds to get a response from the providers server and they are working on a fix for this.
Overall on GoPili Finding Cheap Tickets For Journeys
If you’re looking for an all in one travel planner which is quick, efficient, and scraping all of the sites you would probably do yourself manually then Gopili should be a first app to check. So long as you are in a supported area or at the very least, near to one.
<
p id=”yui_3_17_2_1_1464441459031_21307″>Gopili – Cheap tickets for train, coach, flight and ride share is available from the App Store.
img-574999206dc69519c7a27667
Sometimes something arrives for review at the most fortuitous time. At the start of almost every year I seem to end up having to do a fair amount of travelling. So the arrival in my reviewer’s box of Gopili, an app that promises to Find Cheap Tickets for UK and European Journeys could not have come at a better time. What better way to test a travelling, route planning and discount finding app than to test it in the real world.
Find Cheap Tickets for UK and European Journeys is the strap line on the website. Gopili caters for all the usual planes and trains but it also includes coaches and car sharing, something you don’t find in most other apps of this ilk.
<img src="http://static1.squarespace.com/static/57388caab09f95c3fbe348ae/5738974dc2ea512278cd96c8/5749992d6dc69519c7a27977/1464441315207/1459251803_thumb.jpg" alt=""/>
<img src="http://static1.squarespace.com/static/57388caab09f95c3fbe348ae/5738974dc2ea512278cd96c8/5749992d6dc69519c7a27975/1464441314820/1459251793_thumb.jpg" alt=""/>
All travel journeys are started by choosing the departure date and time. Perhaps I am missing something but I couldn’t see any way to add a return leg to the journey. I reached out to the developers and this is what they came back with:
As our services aim to find the best option for the journey among all modes of transport, it is quite often that the cheapest option for a return journey will involve using different modes of transport. For example, using the bus from Bristol to London, and using the train to come back to Bristol. By displaying the cost of the return journeys by train and the return journeys by bus, it might prevent users to identify the cheapest option: bus on the first trip and train on the way back that is why on the desktop version of the website, the 2 searches are separated (1st search: departure, 2nd search: return).
Testing was problematic. My nearest train station wasn’t available at the time of review but speaking to the developers it is on the list to be added. Gopili would default to coach planning at times or not show any search results at all.
Again talking to the developers, who genuinely seemed to appreciate the feedback, they have been upfront to say that Gopili is more aimed at the major cities and towns for now but there are regular updates happening, working on getting the best results for your journey rather than covering everywhere.
So heading from my nearest city of Swansea to Bath for a job interview the results were as I expected for Trains. National Express coaches were on the list along with the local budget bus provider, Megabus. This is where Gopili can help you to make your journey cheaper. As long as you put a bit of thought into your travelling plans.
Megabus couldn’t take me all the way to my chosen destination, but given how cheap the service is it actually worked out cheaper for me to travel to Bristol by Megabus, and then to continue the journey from Bristol to Bath on the train.
Granted to some this may seem likea lot of hassle. For the budget conscious though, this is an incredibly handy addition. Having all the times, prices and durations on an easy to read screen certainly helps to make those decisions.
Flights.
Gopili scrapes the major airline services and found me a couple of flights, which I already knew about, going from Cardiff to Munich. There were no options for train, coach or car travel but this is hardly surprising given my location. If you have used a flight scraping service before it’s worth using Gopili to see other options.
A cursory check of London to Munich showed train services I’d never heard of before with a huge 50% saving versus flying on selected date. Granted it’s a 12 hour train journey instead of a 2 hour flight but at least you can have option. For some travellers the price can be more important than time – if a 12 hour journey on the train means you can afford to make a trip you might not otherwise manage then maybe that is a small price to pay .
Car sharing.
This seemed to be a feature which popped up quite rarely but nonetheless gave me the option to travel with someone in a car in my fictitious journey of Bristol to London.
Pricing varies from £15 onwards depending on the person, time of day and the journey. Again seeing the pricing and times helps to work out effort vs time, vs hassle. BlaBla car turned out to be much cheaper than going on the train but only marginally more expensive than the bus but was over 2 hours quicker.
If you’re lucky enough to plan a journey where you have the option of planes trains and automobiles you can adjust the filter at the bottom of the screen to tailor to your preferred travelling method.
It does take a few seconds to collate the results for your journey but it is responsive enough not to border on being frustrating. Best of all even though it is scraping many sites you are not going to be bombarded with endless pop-up windows and adverts.
Journeys and bookings are done by taking you to the Gopili webpage via in app Safari browsing. This of course means you’re not handing over any personal or payment information to Gopili
A Few Problems
On a few occasions trying to book through the app, which forwards you to the bookings section of your chosen transport method would hang. Even if on Wifi or 3G using my iPhone 5s netted the same result. To me that’s not a big issue as once I have travel plans in mind I can easily jump on the desktop. The developers have responded, very quickly I might add, to say they are aware of this issue. At times it can take up to 30 seconds to get a response from the providers server and they are working on a fix for this.
Overall on GoPili Finding Cheap Tickets For Journeys
If you’re looking for an all in one travel planner which is quick, efficient, and scraping all of the sites you would probably do yourself manually then Gopili should be a first app to check. So long as you are in a supported area or at the very least, near to one.
<
p id=”yui_3_17_2_1_1464441459031_21307″>Gopili – Cheap tickets for train, coach, flight and ride share is available from the App Store.
Fortune has named Apple’s CEO one of the 50 greatest leaders in the world.
Continue reading → Fortune has named Apple’s CEO one of the 50 greatest leaders in the world.
Something new was turned on in iOS 9.3 for AT&T customers this week. Eligible customers received a text message this week letting them know that Wi-Fi calling now works for calls back to the states when traveling abroad
Continue reading → Wifi Calling For AT&T customers Enabled in iOS 9.3.. with some caveats
Having been knee-deep in the iPhone 5C hoopla, the US has kind of forgotten about Britain’s proposed investigatory powers bill. Surely you can’t have forgotten about ‘The Snooper’s Charter’?
Continue reading → U.S. Tech Companies Make Requests Regarding UK Investigatory Powers Bill
Apple could well reworking on on building its own servers with one reason being concerned over prying eyes. Given what’s happened recently who wouldn’t blame Apple for being a touch overly paranoid. I particularly like the part of suppliers having to photograph motherboards and explaining what each chip is and why it’s there.
Continue reading → Report: Apple Building Its Own Servers to Prevent Spying
The FBI says NAND Mirroring is not the technique it plans to use to access the San Bernardino iPhone. The FBI Director James Comey was speaking Thursday at a press conference that was not supposed to be about the phone used by Sand Bernardino short Syed Farook.
Computer World says the press conference was held to announce the indictment of seven Iranian nationals on charges of launching cyber attacks against US banks and accessing the computerized control systems of a dam north of New York City. But, you know, as long as the press is there and the Director of the FBI is there, why not direct a few questions about the most talked about iPhone 5C since the first one?
According to the piece, the reporter asked Comey about speculation that the most probable method of cracking the iPhone would rely on using numerous copies of the iPhone storage to input possible passcodes until the correct one was found. “I’ve heard that a lot,” Comey replied, then shook his head and added,
“It doesn’t work, we’ve had lots of people come forward with lots of ideas, and now we have one.”
Not surprisingly, the Director declined to identify the third-party helping the bureau, nor would he discuss their method, saying simply,
“We tried it on Sunday, and it looked like it might work, and so we wanted to alert the court immediately.”
Apple music has an interesting sounding docu-series being produced with vice Tech crunch says the two outfits are putting out a series called “The Score” it’ll reportedly look at some really diverse sounds from techno coming out of South Africa to hip-hop coming out of Minnesota’s Native American nations.
Episode one follows the music found on the Red Lake reservation in Minnesota called Reservation Wrap inspired by the culture and the history of the Ojibwa people
The piece as other episode will show the vice crew traveling to places like Brazil Iceland and Vietnam among others.
The second cool part about this is that Apple music will make a special playlist to accompany each episode, if you like the snippet you hear you can hear more. Of course you will need to be an active Apple Music subscriber to access this but good luck.
I say good luck because find this new docu-series isnt exactly easy. I did a search for “the score” on Apple Music on my iPhone and then a search for “Vice” with no results found. Only searchnig for Vice The Score was I able to find the two episodes and the reservation wrap playlist.
So who’s looking forward to some South African techno?
Now might not be the best time to go out and get a new Macbook if reports are to go by. Thanks to the latest version of OS X server, references have been found for disk images relating to a new Macbook.
This leak comes curtoset of the OS X server 5.1 update which got it’s release along a whole load of other updates on Monday 22nd March.
The model number of the computer is listed as MacBook and 9,1 and when you consider the original machine had a model number of MacBook 8,1 this could actually mean something significant. As for the end of April bit the reference in OS X server 5.1 list the 12 MacBook as early 2016.
For Apple products early indicates January through April mid indicates me through August and late indicates September through December.
No it’s not a guarantee however it is a decent sized indication that a new 12″ MacBook will be out soon.
Update: Pike’s Universum has done some more digging and discovered which processors Apple plans to use in its 12-inch MacBooks this year:
Pike’s website also has some serious data around the Skylake processors we’ve all been waiting for to come to the Macbook line.