Month: June 2015

Ireland is forking out much more on mobile charges than our EU counterparts. #Mobile #Bills #Killbiller

As the title says we are forking out much more than our EU counterparts,its true and prices are still on the up with 3 recently upping prices and more hikes could be on the way,in fact most likely..

The Indo talks to Killbiller about the topic.

The costs work out at 50pc more than the EU average, according to a new analysis by phone comparison app developer Killbiller.com.And the cost of calls, texts and data combined are six times more expensive in this country compared with the cheapest EU rates.Killbiller co-founder Bart Lehane, who carried out the research, said Irish people also paid far more for mobile phone services than it costs in countries in Europe that were similar in terms of population and size of economy. I tend to agree here myself. BUT Industry body Irish Cellular Industry Association (ICIA) rejected the Killbiller findings.

Factor in the mobile penetration rate here and our size compared to other countries look at the plans,they are indeed at times odd and you will get caught out somewhere along the line no matter what you pick.One thing in particular is our data plans,we now use data more than ever yet our data caps are quite modest if not poor compared to others especially on 4G contracts,3G is a bit more fair but its something the consumer needs to watch and if you are on 4G keep your eye on the data,it burns up rather quick…moral of the story here is do your homework before you decide what is right for you be it a bill or prepay plan..

Pay as you go contracts are generally quite good if you can manage them,if you can stick to your €20 p/m or €30 p/m rolling contracts again  not so bad but we still fair higher ,go to the UK and you can get similar deals for almost half the price,yes the market is bigger but there is more competition. On that topic An Post have launched a new campaign aiming to hit the data hungry folk on recently..

The findings are

Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) research found that Ireland is up to 42pc more expensive for mobile phone services than other countries.

But

ICIA director Torlach Denihan said independent research using OECD-approved methodologies published last March found Ireland was the second cheapest when compared with five countries – Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain and the UK – for a basket of pre-paid mobile calls.

“Ireland is the third cheapest of these countries for a basket of bill-paid mobile calls and 29pc cheaper than the average price for these countries.”

Source

Oh! And just in case you have not tried Killbiller for yourself and save money download the app on Android and iOS

It may be possible to charge your mobile with Wi-Fi soon. #Mobile #Tech #Wifi

There is always going to be talk about charging your devices and there is always ideas and gadgets to help do this,NFC if one way which is wireless and we recently spoke about battery anxiety on RTE with the Consumer Show about alternative methods to keep our devices charged.Now WI-Fi tech is here to help in the near future.Until then we may stick with charging banks,USB and our humble wall plug..

US engineers recently developed technology known as ‘ambient backscatter’ that taps into Wi-Fi signals and transforms it into power – and have now created a prototype router.

During trials, these so-called PoWiFi routers powered battery-free cameras 17ft (5 metres) away and did so without interfering with the homeowners’ web speeds.The technology was first showcased by researchers at Washington University in August but lead engineer Shyam Gollakota recently demonstrated the prototype router at the EmTech Digital conference.

Ambient backscatter transforms existing wireless signals into both a source of power and a communication medium.It enables two battery-free devices to communicate by backscattering existing wireless signals.Since it uses the ambient radio frequency signals that are already around us, it doesn’t require a dedicated power infrastructure.The router used in the tests sent out radio waves which was then converted into a direct current voltage using what’s known as a ‘rectifier.’ A DC-DC converter was then used to increase the voltage level of the signal to match the requirements of the sensor or microcontroller.

Eventually, the technology could lead to networks of devices and sensors that send data by reflecting existing signals to exchange information, without the need for batteries.

Source

 

 

Amazon Debuts Free Shipping on Small Goods, No Minimum Order,tech included.#eCommerce #tech

Amazon would be a place where most people buy tech of some sort be it mobiles or accessories and more,even myself i buy quite a bit from Amazon and often spend a small fortune on shipping depending on the items origin. For the best deals on cases and phones i find the FR or DE sites the best .When it comes to cases in particular you would spend a fraction of the price you pay here but get crippled on shipping fees.

Bloomberg reports

Amazon.com Inc. is introducing free shipping on thousands of popular, smaller items — makeup, mobile phone accessories, earplugs — in its Web store, without requiring a minimum order.

The new initiative applies to all customers, including those not enrolled in Amazon Prime, the annual membership program that includes two-day shipping, the company said on Tuesday. Amazon is using the free shipping program to target cost-conscious shoppers, a group that EBay Inc. is courting.

-1x-1

The new offer gives online shoppers an opportunity to order inexpensive goods one at a time without worrying that shipping costs are more than the price of the item or feeling compelled to buy additional products to meet a free-shipping threshold. The service covers items that weigh 8 ounces (230 grams) or less, which usually cost no more than $10. Delivery will take four to eight business days from a new shipping hub in Florence, Kentucky, specifically stocked for the program dubbed Fulfillment by Amazon Small and Light.

Most of the inventory will come from hundreds of third-party merchants that give Amazon a cut of each sale for handling storage, packaging, delivery and customer service. It is Amazon’s latest move as an online marketplace and logistics company connecting buyers and sellers.

Offering free delivery of low-cost items is a move to gain market share from competitors such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Target Corp., but it won’t help Amazon become profitable, Mulpuru said.

Source

The BlackBerry Classic – First thoughts,gallery,unboxing and walkaround. #BlackBerry

We have had the Blackberry Leap and the Passport and now its time for the more standard form its the BlackBerry Classic that’s just arrived at techbuzz headquarters. Typical with its language design lets take a look..

Today we shall unbox the Classics and take a look at it too and enjoy the image gallery and video below,any questions just fire away and stay tuned for more in the coming fortnight whist we take the Classic on a test run and see how it performs..

 

The Classic brings home some welcome favourites if you are coming from older versions with the trackpad button,also we have and phone call key,menu key,back and end keys which are all physical,these work well alongside the qwerty keyboard,again physical..

Top features of the BlackBerry Classic that drive productivity, communications and collaboration include:

  • BlackBerry® Keyboard & Trackpad – The QWERTY keyboard has stood the test of time as the iconic BlackBerry feature that users know and trust. Crafted for optimal speed and accuracy, the BlackBerry Classic’s QWERTY keyboard gives users the control and confidence to communicate quickly and clearly using one hand with a trackpad and classic navigation keys.
  • BlackBerry® Browser – The BlackBerry 10 web browser is amazingly fast and astoundingly beautiful. That’s why HTML5TEST.com rates it amongst the top mobile browsers for web fidelity.* Access your favorite online content as it was meant to be seen, faster than ever before and with unlimited browser tabs.
  • Screen & Battery – The BlackBerry Classic offers a form factor optimized for power communicators with a 3.5-inch touch screen display, 294 dpi HD resolution and Corning® Gorilla® Glass 3 for greater durability. The BlackBerry Classic also offers a large battery capacity and state-of-the-art battery optimization software. With up to 22 hours of battery power, you can be confident that BlackBerry Classic will be ready to deliver results when you need it.**
  • Premium Components – The device is built with durable materials mixed with top-of-the-line technology. This includes a 1.5 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon Processor, 2GB RAM, 16GB of device storage (expandable by up to 128GB via uSD), and a 2MP front- and 8MP rear-facing camera with enhanced optics and upgraded imaging sensors.
  • BlackBerry® 10 OS 10.3.1 – The BlackBerry Classic comes preloaded with the BlackBerry 10.3.1 operating system, offering a fresh look that incorporates updated icons and an instant action bar so that each user’s most commonly accessed functions are in the center of their screen. With this new operating system, users gain access to powerful features, including:

SipSup is a uniquely designed mobile connected drinking glass. #SipSup #Mobile #Kickstarter

 SipSup is uniquely designed mobile connected drinking glass that works as a reminder of your past adventures

SipSup is uniquely designed glass that can be used for much more than just drinking. Great looking piece of glassware is suitable for more or less any drink and enables you to enjoy special moments with your beloved ones even more.

“Almost every one of us has their favourite glass or cup they like to drink from. The market is full of beautiful cups but when it comes to glassware, uniquely designed glasses are hard to find. There is a reason behind every design detail of a SipSup. After many prototypes we came up with the curve shaped design that fits your hand perfectly. The base resembling a ripple of a drop falling into the water is telling you more than meets the eye.” SipSup explains.

SipSup glasses are crafted in collaboration with Slovenian glassworks Steklarna Hrastnik. Besides its outstanding design, the glassware also received a Vitrux certificate because of the outstanding optical properties and its resistance to machine washing.

Eva Stopar tells us about SipSup

SipSup is a young start-up company that grew from the idea of 3 friends and co-founders. In need of a female touch on the project the team expanded with 3 new members. We believe that our enthusiasm and the great energy within the team and will reflect on the SipSup.

For more on the upcoming Kickstarter tune in on the 19th June 2015

Thanks to Eva for getting in touch and check out their website HERE

 

 

 

Imgur image app hits Android now on the Play Store. #Imgur #Android #Apps #Imaging

Imgur has finally hit Android proper and its now on the Play Store there has been some attempts of this app in the store that mostly never worked,hopefully this works as good as it does on iOS in which its been out for some time now the iOS version is due to be updated soon.

You can upload and share your content and check out others too also its based on cards galleries so swiping gives you options such as commenting and voting and you can enjoy Gifs pics and memes.

 

Description

Instant access to the stream of hilarious, fascinating, informative and adorable images being shared on Imgur daily. Join millions of Imgurians to explore cute kitten GIFs, share motivational posts, and discuss tutorials on things you’ll favorite and forget. Our official app is perfect for your commute, procrastinating in class, and whenever you should probably be doing something else. What a time to be alive!• Easily browse and discover awesome visual stories with a fast and smooth card-based experience
• Create and share visual stories with others
• Comment and vote on your favorite posts to bring them to the top
• Navigation gets out of the way to put the content front and center{Download on Android }

Batteriser – A $2.50 gadget that extends disposable battery life by 800% #Charging #Batterriser

Batteries ,disposable or rechargeable they are always going to be around like it or not but when it comes to recharging your standard battery of course we have solutions but some not so good and often an expensive one,rechargeable batteries too are often not cheap,now we have new gadget for $2.50 to charge our standard batteries.

How Batteriser gives your batteries 8 new lives

A completely new alkaline battery is rated to generate 1.5 volts, but once its output drops below 1.35 or even 1.4 volts, it effectively becomes useless to many devices. The battery’s chemical cocktail is still loaded with juice, but the circuitry in many gadgets (especially more sophisticated ones, like Bluetooth keyboards and bathroom scales) considers the battery dead.

This is where Batteriser comes in. It’s essentially a voltage booster that sucks every last drop of useable energy from ostensibly spent batteries. So, instead of using just 20 percent of all the power hidden inside of your Duracells and Energizers, Batteriser makes effective use of the remaining 80 percent.

Voltage boosters are nothing new, but Batteriser scales down the technology to the point where it can fit inside a stainless steel sleeve less than 0.1 mm thick. Roohparvar says the sleeves are thin enough to fit inside almost every battery compartment imaginable, and the combined package can extend battery life between 4.9x for devices like remote controls and 9.1x for various electronic toys.

“The Batteriser has boost circuitry that will boost the voltage from 0.6 volts to 1.5 volts and will maintain voltage at 1.5—which is a brand new battery,” Roohparvar says. “There’s actually no IP [intellectual property] in the boost circuitry. Our technology is really a miniaturization technique that allows us to build the sleeve. We have some IP in some of the IC circuits that are in there, but the key is we’ve been able to miniaturize the boost circuit to a point that no one else has been able to achieve. “

Squeezing energy from the bottom

To explain how Batteriser works, Roohparvar uses a toothpaste tube analogy: If you buy a new tube of toothpaste and only squeeze from the very top, you’ll extract just a small portion of the paste in the tube. However, if you squeeze from the bottom and keep pushing upward, you’ll extract much more of the toothpaste—or in Batteriser’s case, energy—that you paid for.

Eventually the battery’s natural, unboosted output drops to 1.3 volts—but Batteriser keeps it at 1.5 volts for another month. Now you’ve realized a 3x increase in battery life. And so on, and so on. Roohparvar says Batteriser can continue to deliver a 1.5 volt charge in batteries that have discharged down to 0.6 volts. There are more than eight 0.1 volt steps between 0.6 and 1.5 volts, so, in grossly simplified terms, the Batteriser can extend operational battery life somewhere around a factor of eight.

See more at macworld

Bus Fuss – An app that gives timetables,realtime data and information. #Travel #Apps #Irish #Android

Waiting for a bus can be a pain and with the advancement of technology things are changing and its now possible to time buses via apps and more,With Bus Fuss created by Fireside apps The Bus Fuss app will let you search for your stop by name or ID and then through the magic of advanced GPS bus tracking technology will inform you when the bus will arrive..

The Bus Fuss app will let you search for your stop by name or ID and then through the magic of advanced GPS bus tracking technology will inform you when the bus will arrive. If the bus fails to arrive, leaves early, arrives late, is dirty or the driver is rude/offensive we’ll even help automate a complaint for you to send by mail or tweet. You can also search for timetables and get information on fares for all Bus Eireann journeys.

Key Features:

– Search for bus stop by name or ID
– Review all routes arriving at that stop with up to the minute data for their arrival.
– If the bus fails to arrive, leaves early, arrives late, is dirty or the driver is rude/offensive we’ll automate a complaint to Bus Eireann for you.


– Add frequently used bus stops to Favourites (Long press to remove).
– View bus stop location on a map.
– Search for scheduled timetable by route ID. Blank search to review all available timetables.
– Calculate fares for different journeys. Blank search to view all available journeys.

 

{Download on Android today}

Man fined for using his Apple Watch whilst driving. #Apple #Watch

Jeffrey Macesin is believed to be first person fined for using Apple Watch while driving, but plans to appeal as he claims it’s not a handheld device. It was a matter of time really and with new laws it wont be the last time it happens.

The Telegraph reports….

Jeffrey Macesin, from Pincourt, Quebec, in Canada, was given a $120 (£63) penalty and four points on his licence after police spotted him using the gadget to change a song that was playing on his iPhone.

“I have it in the bag charging while the auxiliary cable is plugged in to the radio and this controls my phone to play the music,” he told CTV Montreal. “So I was changing songs with my hand on the steering wheel.”

“Going towards Vaudreuil [a city west of Montreal], there was a cop car behind me and he didn’t have his lights on yet. Then he turned them on and I thought maybe he just wanted me to get out of the way. I was just confused.”

He is appealing against the fine and penalty points because his device was on his wrist and not in his hand.

“It’s not so much handheld. It’s a watch. It’s on my wrist. That’s where it gets controversial. It’s like, ‘Is it? Is it not?’ but I think this needs to be talked about.”

Via