Rumours emerge that hints of an iPod with a 4” screen which further gives credence to the iphone 5 4” screen rumours

July 25, 2012 by

Rumours have emerged from a Japanese tech blog Macotakara that hints of a fifth generation iPod with a Lcd 4” screen is coming in the Autumn. This will further add credence to the iPhone 5 4” screen rumours, because apple will need to keep to the same screen size for all new devices that they intend to launch, because it will keep the fragmentation issues to the minimum which seems to plague the Android platform . 

The new iPod will be getting a design change and it will also feature the same duel core A5 processor what is used in the  current iPhone 4S phone according to Macotakara, which will be an upgrade from the A4 chip that is used in the current generation of the iPod. The A5 processor will deliver up to two times more power and seven times faster graphics, this will ensure what ever demanding tasks you throw at it it will handle them with ease and smoothness. The new iPod will also most likely feature the smaller doc connector that is rumoured to be included in the up and coming iPhone 5. No news as of yet have been released concerning the camera specifications, but it will most likely be getting the same camera that came with the new iPad , which was a 5 mp camera.  

The fifth generation of the iPod will probably be released the same time as the Iphone 5, that will most likely be either September or October. These devices are likely to come with the new iOS 6 software that will also come with the new apple map software.

 

 

Filed Under: Iphone XS and G8 news Tagged With: , , ,

Sky Go now is compatible with the Samsung Galaxy S3

July 23, 2012 by

The Sky Go on demand application which permits Sky customers  to access channels and a variety of on-demand programmes  and movies in line with their subscription, has now been rolled out to the top end Samsung Galaxy S3. This app now works with a total of 11 Android smartphones,which includes models such as the HTC Desire, HTC Desire S, HTC Desire HD, Incredible S, HTC Sensation,HTC Sensation XE,Samsung Galaxy S, Samsung Galaxy Nexus, Samsung Galaxy Note and the Samsung Galaxy S2.

It’s worth pointing out that this app will only ever be able to run on a minority of Android devices. This due to many of the Mid end and Low not being able to meet the minimum requirements that is required to be able to run the app in terms of processing power and ram. 

If you interested in giving this application a try, just  head over to the Google play store. If you are a PC or Xbox360 owner just download it. iOS users can head over to the app store to download it. If your on other platforms such as Windows Mobile and the Blackberry OS, sorry at the moment you are out of luck, but who knows if what will happen in the future. 

 

 

 

 

Filed Under: Android Tagged With: , , , , ,

Apple users in the UK and some other countries can now store their itunes movies in Apples iCloud

July 21, 2012 by

Apple have announced that Apple users in the UK, Australia,New Zealand and Canada, along with several in Latin America and the Asia Pacific region, can now store their movies that they have previously purchased from iTunes in the iCloud. Previously iOS users in these countries have only been able to back up books and music, TV content and app purchases to Apples iCloud.

This  service is ideal for those who don’t want to rely on their pcs to backup their content. This service has also the added advantage of allowing  you to download your content across all your iOS devices. The only disadvantage is that there will be a yearly cost involved. Users will most likely need to purchase more than the free 5GB of storage what Apple gives you for free.   

Apples iClould has been rolled out to many as 37 countries around the world. But due to licensing agreements not being initialised or finalised in some of these countries, iOS users will not have the opportunity to backup up movies music and TV content in the iClould. 

 

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Microsoft announces the launch date for its Windows 8

July 19, 2012 by

Microsoft has just announced the launch date for its Windows 8 operating system which is going to be on the 26th of October. 

 

Microsoft  is pinning its hopes on the fact that the Windows 8 operating system will also be able to run on the desktop and Arm based tablets, which it hopes it will give it an  advantage over other platforms such as Apple and Android, due to the fact that they cannot do that. Also the more integrated and broader eco system that it will have to offer that will include an app style app store, will also allow it to further compete more effectively with the likes of Android and Apple.

Microsoft have also gone that extra step in other ways to make sure that they can compete successfully by introducing a family of it’s own branded tablets called the Surface family of tablets.  

However after they were launched by the chief executive Steve Ballmer, Steve Ballmer has since took the opportunity to reassure his company’s hardware partners, describing Surface as “a design point” that would have a place within a “broad Windows ecosystem”.

Whatever the case, investors seem positive about the companies future prospects. 

 

Colin Gillis, senior technology analyst at BGC Partners told the BBC”Microsoft’s stock is up 17% since the start of the year in part because of anticipation for Windows 8 and Surface,” . 

“We’re also still seeing nearly one million PCs sold worldwide a day so that’s a sizeable marketplace for them.” Source BBC

 

However in reality whether it can compete successfully against the likes of  the iPad,  Amazon’s Kindle Fire and the likes of the Android Nexus 7 which has had positive reviews will depend on a number of factors such as user experience, App availability etc, only time will tell who will be able to take a large slice of the cake.

Filed Under: Microsoft Tagged With: , , , ,

Texting in the UK is now more popular than making a voice call

July 18, 2012 by

Texting on a mobile phone in the UK is now more become popular than making a voice call according to new research which has been released by the telephone regulator Ofcom

According to Ofcom’s Communications Market Report of 2012 that the  use of texting has doubled within a 4 year period. Last year as much as 150 billion texts got sent out, now the average person sends as much as 50 texts a week making it an average of 2,600 texts over a period of a year.

The group leading the way with this trend from making traditional voice calls comes from the younger 16 to 24 age group in the UK.  Ofcom found that as much as 96% of 16 to 24 years olds are now using some kind of  text based application to communicate, they also found that traditional SMS texting has proven to be more popular than using social networking site applications to communicate, only 73% used a social networking site like Facebook and Twitter to chat compared to 90 % that used SMS. Only 67% of this age group actually made calls on a daily bases making it the least popular to way communicate when using a mobile phone.  

 

James Thickett, Ofcom’s director of research, said: “Our research reveals that in just a few short years, new technology has fundamentally changed the way that we communicate.

“Talking face to face or on the phone are no longer the most common ways for us to interact with each other.

“In their place, new forms of communications are emerging which don’t require us to talk to each other – especially among younger age groups.

“This trend is set to continue as technology advances and we move further into the digital age.” Source Ofcom

 

Overall the number of mobile and land line voice calls made is on a continual slide year after year. This seems to come down to the rapid growth in popularity over the years of  social networking sites and internet enabled devices, such as tablets, smartphone and notebooks in which the average home has now at least 3 devices. In 2011 Ofcom states that the time spent on the phone by UK adults fell by as much as 5%, this is reflected in  a 10% fall in the volume of calls made from landlines, and for the first time ever, Ofcom has even seen a fall in the volume of mobile calls (by just over 1%) in 2011. 

 

Filed Under: Other tech news and developments Tagged With: , ,

Apple fixes a glitch that causes apps to crash after they have been updated

July 8, 2012 by

Apple has apparently fixed a glitch that has caused apps to crash after they have been updated. This problem was raised last week by Apple users and developers.

Apple spokeswoman Trudy Muller says that ”only a “small number” of users had been affected by the problem, which was caused by wrongly-applied digital rights management (DRM) code.

“We had a temporary issue that began yesterday with a server that generated DRM code for some apps being downloaded,” Apple said. 

“The issue has been rectified and we don’t expect it to occur again. 

“Users who experienced an issue launching an app caused by this server bug can delete the affected app and re-download it.”

 

Muller goes on to say that the problem was first raised on the 4th of July, by an app developer called Marco Arment, who is the creator of an app called Instapaper. Who blogged and tweeted that he started receiving lots of complaints of his app crashing from angry customers who had just updated to the latest version of his app, which was version 4.2.3. He went on to state that even totally removing the app and reinstalling it did not fix the problem. Arment goes on to claim that this then quickly totalled up to over 20, 000 complaints over a short period of time.  He also documented that this problem seems to have effected over 120 of other iOS apps including “Angry Birds,” Huffington and GoodReader.

This raises suggestions that Apple has appeared to have downplayed the incident, who really knows what was the exact magnitude of the problem with the exception of Apple. 

 

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A new mobile broadband service launches in the UK that’s offering free internet

July 5, 2012 by

There is a new mobile broadband service called Samba, has just launched in the UK that’s offering free Internet. But there is a catch, the user will need to watch video advertisements in order to qualify for the free Internet service. The user will be able to choose what adverts he or she wants to watch. The customer will get to accumulate credit based on the amount of adverts that they watch. There will also be a battery indicator to help keep check on the amount of data the user has. The service seems to offer very good value for money, for example, just watching 2.5 minutes per day of adverts will get the user a data allowance of 517MB per month, which is more than enough for the average user. 

“Samba is the perfect solution for people who need internet data on the go and don’t want to be locked into contracts with monthly charges and additional costs for excess data usage,” says Ben Atherton who is the CEO and founder of Samba.

“With Samba you earn the credit watching ads at a time that is convenient for you and then have access when you need it. It also marks an end to that hunt for a coffee shop, pub, hotel or library to get on line  with Samba you can be online anytime, anywhere”.

“We want Samba to be a quality product that our customers will enjoy using. We have the best connection and internet speed possible and carry premium ads from brands such as Agent Provocateur, Sims, Volvo, Clinique, Nissan, Paramount Pictures, Xbox Kinect, Pot Noodle and Dell.” continues Atherton.

This broadband service should be able to offer a fast and reliable connection, due to the company using the 3 mobile network, which has been specifically built from the bottom up to run on a minimum of 3g data speeds.  

This is the UK’s first free broadband service to launch to date, whether this business model will prove to be a success only time will tell.  Keep your eyes peeled and watch this space.

If you want to join, you will need to go to  www.sambamobile.com and register where you will be required to purchase a £5 sim card or a 3G dongle with a sim card which will set you back £25. If you want to use the service with your laptop, then you will most likely need to take the dongle with the sim card option. 

Filed Under: Amazing deals, Other tech news and developments Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

VideoLAN releases the VLC media player on Android

July 3, 2012 by

 The VideoLAN team has just released it’s popular Windows VLC media player on the Android OS platform. This will be welcomed by the Android community, because this media player is very versatile by being able to play most codecs that gets thrown at it.  However the VideoLAN team warns that at the moment the app is only at the beta stage, so be prepared a few teething problems, such as various playback issues like stuttering from time to time on certain codecs. But it’s developers say these problems will be be ironed out soon with future updates.

The App comes with a simple interface and that is packed with many features such as, direct browsing of directories, network streaming, support for subtitles and audio tracks, headphone control and gestures that can control the volume. 

It’s however worth noting that the current beta version of the app only works with devices that are powered by ARMv7 processors that support NEON instructions.  ARM V6 and Tegra 2 will be supported soon, you will also need to be running on Android 2.1 (Eclair) and above.

The app is available for download from the Google play store in most countries with the exception of the US and Canada play stores. However if you live the US and Canada and you still want to download it, you can get it directly from the VideoLAN server. If you want to know more about the capabilities of this app, just go to the VideoLAN website for more information.

 

Filed Under: Apps Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

Nokia announces it has started rolling out a software update for it’s Lumia phone range

July 1, 2012 by
The WiFi tethering feature will bring a much needed missing feature to the phone, now it will be possible to turn your phone into a WiFi hotspot and it will be able to support up to 5 devices.
The flip-to-silence feature will work when the phone is simply put face down, then all your calls and alerts will be silenced.
The Camera Extras app will add a number of much needed new features to the phones camera. This app provide the user with an option to choose from various different modes when taking a photo, this will include a Panorama mode option for landscape shots, users will also get a mode called Group Shot which will take five photos, there will also be an Action Shot that snaps a burst of shots in quick succession so you can then choose the best of them. Last but not least there will be a also Self-Timer added to the camera list of functions. 
There will also be a feature called Contact Share added that lets you send business cards using SMS.
Users will also be able to make use of an app called Play To, this app will allow the user stream their media content over to any DLNA compatible device up to HD qualty.
The Tango update will continue rolling out to the handsets until the end of July, the owners of the 610 and 900 models should receive their update shortly after. In order to get this update you will need to fire up the Zune software on your computer and plug the phone into your pc. 
Filed Under: Microsoft Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Google is to release a tablet called the Nexus 7

June 28, 2012 by

Google has announced it is to release a tablet called the Google Nexus 7 soon, which has been a collaboration between Google and Asus.  This tablet will be powered by Android Jelly Bean, which is the latest version of Android to be released. The Nexus 7 will have a 7 inch screen that has a resolution of 1280-by-800 pixels resolution that represents a pixel density of 216, it’s also comes packed  with a Tegra-3 chipset, quad-core CPU,12-core GPU and 1GB of ram. These chips will provide the user with a super sleek experience what ever you choose to throw at it. The tablet also weighs in at a very reasonable 340 grams or 3/4’s of a lb. 

The other features will include NFC technology a 1.2MP front facing camera, micro phone, Wi-Fi connectivity, bluetooth support and it will be the first tablet to come preloaded with Googles Chrome browser, which has been specially optimised for a tablet. The Google Nexus 7 4325 mAh battery promises over 8 hours of running time, which is excellent.

The Google Nexus 7 can be bought for $199 (£159) for the 8GB model or $249 (£199) for 16GB.

This tablet simply blows away the competition within it’s target market, such as the Kindle fire and the the Barnes & Noble Nook tablet. It is not only lighter but it also comes in a thinner form factor too than these tablets. The nexus 7 also beats off the competition when it comes to the resolution of the screen, the resolution of 1280-by-800 pixels resolution that represents a pixel density of 216 simply cannot be matched.   This tablet is also the fastest in the field too thanks to the lightning fast 1.3GHz quad-core processor. 

This tablet offer great features for it’s price, if you buy it you will not be disappointed. Because it seems to offer what people want most in a tablet which is small form factor, great performance and battery life.

 The only negative points that can be found with this tablet is that it does not have an expandable memory slot, this could hinder the devices capability.  It’s worth also noting that Google s Android OS for tablets still does not offer the same of amount of apps as iOS does. Android does also lack in polish too compared to Apples iOS, but it is catching up fast on these fronts with Apples iOS in leaps and bounds as time goes on.     

This tablet can be now pre-ordered through Google Play. It will be available from Mid July in the US, Canada, Australia and the UK. 

Filed Under: Android Tagged With: , , , , ,