Month: August 2017

NI’s Causeway Coast & Glens Borough Council maps the real-world Westeros for Game of Thrones fans

The season seven finale airs tonight, and fans are no doubt wondering how they’ll spend their Monday nights until season eight premieres!

Esri Ireland, the market leader in Geographic Information Systems (GIS), today announces that Northern Ireland’s Causeway Coast & Glens Borough Council has used its digital mapping platform to create an interactive map of the key filming locations from hit television series, Game of Thrones.

With 38 Emmy Awards, Game of Thrones is one of the most popular and successful TV series ever made. Largely filmed in Northern Ireland, some of the show’s most dramatic scenes have played out against the backdrop of the region’s rugged coastlines, historic castles and expansive plateaus.

 

The new map, created by members of the Causeway Coast & Glens Borough Council’s IT team, allows fans of the show to locate the real-world settings of some of their favourite scenes. Providing the precise locations for many of the show’s most iconic settings, the map enables people to visit Dragonstone, the King’s Road and the Iron Islands for themselves.

Nial McSorley, digital services manager, Causeway Coast & Glens Borough Council, said: “Game of Thrones has captivated audiences all around the world, and the show’s use of some of Northern Ireland’s most iconic scenery plays a large part in its ability to hold the attention of viewers, season after season. In creating this map, our team wanted to encourage fans of the show to come and visit the real-world locations of some of their favourite scenes and discover the beauty of Northern Ireland for themselves.”

Paul Synnott, director and country manager, Esri Ireland, said: “Game of Thrones has significantly raised the profile of Northern Ireland as a tourist destination and now, with this map, fans of the show from across the world can embark on a road trip that will take them through some of the series’ most impressive locations. Attractions such as The Dark Hedges near Stranocum, Ballintoy Harbour, and Downhill Beach have all been mapped out on Esri’s ArcGIS platform, providing a convenient point of reference for visitors to the area.”

Those who wish to use the map can do so at http://arcg.is/2vXy59A

Review – ELP COMS 800TLV IP Camera by @Pat_Seery It aint really what it says it is.

I was given this camera to review and to say its left me a bit perplexed is a bit of an understatement. It says on the box its an IP USB Camera but theres no network connection or WIFI aerial on this at all.

One not to be defeated I did some research and fiddling about with the product and it isnt what it says on the box, It does work through USB (I plugged it in to a computer and it was recognised as a USB camera in Windows 7) but nothing about networking or WIFI came up in device manager at all.

Heres what you get in the box and its pretty much the camera some mounting screws and thats it. No instructions or any other information was supplied with the product.

So after plugging it into the laptop (Windows 7 Ultimate installed) I went into device manager and it does show up so I loaded up skype to see if it would be reconised as a webcam and yes indeed it was.

 

The quality isn’t bad but its not great either but if you were just going to use it as a webcam it would work fine (I`m assuming you`d need an external microphone to use along side it)

 

So in summing up :
Is it an IP Camera ? Well no it isnt
Does it work as a webcam ? Yes.

For the specs well just take a look… We will just leave it there.. You can pick it up HERE

Model ELP-USB100W05MT-DL36
Sensor OV9712
Lens Size 1/4 inch
Pixel Size 3.0um X 3.0um
image area 3888 µm x 2430 µm
Max. Resolution 1280(H)X720(V)
Compression format

MJPEG  / YUV2（YUYV）
Resolution & frame

1280X720 MJPEG@ 30fps YUY2@10fps/ 960X720MJPEG@ 30fps YUY2@15fps

800X600 MJPEG@30fps YUY2@20fps/ 640X480 MJPEG@ 30fps YUY2@ 30fps

352X248 MJPEG@30fps YUY2@ 30fps/ 320X240 MJPEG@ 30fps YUY2@ 30fps

176X144 MJPEG@30fps YUY2@ 30fps/ 160X120 MJPEG@ 30fps YUY2@ 30fps
S/N Ratio 40dB
Dynamic Range 69dB
Sensitivity 3.7V/lux-sec@550nm
Mini illumination 0. 1lux
Shutter Type Electronic rolling shutter / Frame exposure

Connecting Port type

USB2.0 High Speed（Support USB2.0 HS/FS, USB2.0 OTG）

Free Drive Protocol

USB Video Class（UVC）

AEC

Support

AEB

Support

AGC

Support

Adjustable parameters

Brightness, Contrast, Saturation, Hue, Sharpness, Gamma,
White balance, Backlight Contrast, Exposure

Lens Parameter

Standard 3.6mm, optional 6/8mm

LED

24PCS LEDs

Audio input

Support

IR CUT Connector

Support  2P-1.25mm socket

LED board test connector

Support  2P-1.25mm socket

LED board power connector

Support  2P-2.0mm socket

Power supply

USB BUS POWER  4P-2.0mm socket

Power supply

DC5V

Operating Voltage

100mA~120mA

Working current

 -10～70℃

Working temperature

-20～85℃

size /Weight

Cable

Standard  3M / optional 2M，5M

Operating system request

Win XP/Vista/Win7/Win8

Linux with UVC（above linux-2.6.26） MAC-OS X 10.4.8 or later

Android 4.0 or above with UVC

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

First look and unboxing. Cubetto,A wooden robot for coding. #kids #coding #robots

Coding is a thing these days and has been some years now,With kids learning at an earlier age that you could think its no wonder there is now toys available to tap into this talent. Cubetto is a freindly wooden robot designed for kids 3 and over to get involved in coding and its also a learning curve for those who want to get their kids invovled.. NOTE this requires 6X AA Batteries.. Not included. 

Cubetto

Made of tactile and hard-wearing wood he’s your child’s guide into the world of coding. Screenless, friendly and ready to play.

Coding Blocks

A coding language you can touch and manipulate like LEGO®. Each block is an action. Combine them to create programs.

 Forward  Left  Right  Function   Backward  Negation  Random

Control Board

Place the blocks on the board to tell Cubetto where to go. Hit the blue button and Cubetto executes your very first program.

Maps and Books

Expand play time with world maps, educational story book and challenges that take your child on epic coding adventures.

See more over at https://www.primotoys.com/

Any question in the interim just give us a shout..

A Dozen Must- Have Medical Apps ( Infographic ) #Apps #Medical

It’s great to see so many apps available these days to help doctors keep up with a wealth of medical information. For example, on Doximity, doctors can review drug prescribing and safety information on thousands of different drugs – it just isn’t possible to memorise all of this information so this is a wonderful little app. There is also a great app called ‘MyChart’ that allows for doctor/patient interactions without the need to always schedule an appointment. Very handy for quick interactions and feedback between doctor and patient.

Aris Grigoriou, is a Student Recruitment Manager at Study Medicine Europe who has sent us this infographic check it out…

 

 

Australian #Startup @Art_Drawberry Revolutionizes International Art Shopping. #Art #Photos

A new Australian Start Up Makes Getting Your Custom Art is Easy

All you need is a photo you love saved in digital format and an idea in your head of what kind of painting you want it to be turned into. Get your custom painting in 3 easy steps:

Upload your photo and specify the kind of painting you want to get, Have artists place bids on your order, then look through their profiles to choose the best person for the job. You get a photo of your painting to approve before your one-of-a-kind work of art is shipped to your door.

The Drawberry service has hundreds of artists participating from different corners of the world. A person from any country can upload a photo, from which they want a custom painting made, and get bids from artists all over the globe. They can then select an artist to work with by the bid amount, the artist’s professional skills or the artist’s portfolio of previously painted works.

Drawberry’s unique offer is in the way art ordering works. The service has hundreds of artists participating from different corners of the world. A person from any country can upload a photo, from which they want a custom painting made, and get bids from artists all over the globe. They can then select an artist to work with by the bid amount, the artist’s professional skills or the artist’s portfolio of previously painted works.

“Drawberry welcomes both artists and art shoppers from anywhere in the world!” says Anna Lind, Drawberry’s PR Representative. “You can order Impressionist-style paintings in France, ink-wash paintings in China or Japan, and what’s best – you can choose from dozens of artists who all work in the style you want. Art shoppers win every time, as they get the best price from the best artist.”

Drawberry.com lets art shoppers choose the style, genre, medium and other options for their painting. Photos can be used as a starting point, but ordering reproductions of famous paintings or getting artwork in some unusual style or a mix of styles is also a popular trend on the site. Users can communicate the details with their selected artist beforehand and keep in touch throughout the art creation process. When done, the painting is shipped to the customer wherever they might be in the world.

The safety of all transactions is ensured by Drawberry’s strict security mechanisms, by the use of PayPal for all payments and by a team of moderators working 24/7 to resolve any issues or disputes. The service employs a rating system and collects user feedback to help other art shoppers make informed decisions.

Drawberry is an Australian startup that began as a project within a well-known publisher of PC optimization software. A team of driven individuals had worked on the Drawberry project for over a year and finally launched it in early 2016. Since then the service has acquired a large audience of both artists and shoppers, and the online community has been growing every day. More information on the Drawberry service is available at www.drawberry.com

 

8 Top tips to make your home safe when on Holiday. #Security #Blink #Holiday

Holidays are a break from the normal routine and chance to get away from every day worries. But for some, leaving home unattended for weeks at a time can be a major worry in itself. There is ways to help and this fits in with our current home security regime which we are halfway through now but we have got some more sound advice so check it out…

There are many proactive and affordable security measures that can be put in place before your holiday, to help prevent burglaries. Don Shulsinger from Blinkforhome, manufacturer of Blink, the video home security and monitoring system, gives advice on some simple steps to take.

Tell Trusted Neighbours and Friends

Let them know you will be away so that they can keep an eye out for any suspicious activity while you’re gone. Leave them your contact details, a spare set of keys and the code for any alarm so that they can drop by to close curtains, switch lights on and off, water plants and the lawn if needed and make sure there is no post poking out of the letterbox or parcels left on the doorstep.

Keep a secret from social media

Don’t post travel plans or photos while you’re away as this will publicly notify people that you have an empty home. Be sure that your kids also understand that they should wait until after you have returned home safely to share those holiday selfies. Recently the footballer John Terry was burgled after he posted holiday photos on his social media feeds.

Cancel Services

Cancel any regular grocery, newspaper, milk and other deliveries while on holiday. If you forget to do this, these could be left on your driveway or by your front door, making your home an obvious target for a break-in.

 

Wireless Home Security and Video Monitoring System

Believe it or not, some of the most sophisticated wireless home security systems can cost less than the hotel room you’ve booked. A home security monitoring system will provide an enhanced level of security and peace of mind while you’re away. An easy to set up wireless option is Blink, which sends temperature and motion alerts along with recorded or live video clips to a smartphone, anytime and from anywhere. You can be instantly alerted to a break in through the Blink app on your iOS or Android device. You can even find out what the cat is up to while your family is away!

Hi-Tech Door Locks

Keyless locks offer amazing security features, like Bluetooth and the ability to see who’s knocking at your front door on your smartphone’s screen. Many of these locks allow you to give access by simply inputting a phone number or sending a text from anywhere in the world.

Security Lighting

Thanks to automatic switches, you can make it appear as if you’re home when you’re not. Set up some internal and outdoor lights on automatic switches, and be sure to pay special attention to entry points. These lights are generally inexpensive and easy to install, but double-check that they are working properly before you go.

Check Insurance and Banking Services

Ensure that your policies are paid up for homeowners, car, and medical insurance. If necessary, advise your bank and credit card companies that you will be away so that they can alert you to any unusual account activity.

Contact Your Alarm Company

If you have the more formal home (and expensive) surveillance service instead of a DIY system, be sure that they have the current key holder details in order to prevent any false alarms interrupting your holiday. Has the alarm been serviced? Update the local authorities if you’ve registered your alarm with them.

And after you have done all that, go away and relax, safe in the knowledge that you have done all you can to protect your home. Have a great holiday.

See the full e-book here: https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/1537/7265/files/Blink_UK_Holiday_eBook.pdf?15167089689653515888

blinkforhome.co.uk/

How Mobile Technology Can Impact Your Sales (Infographic) #Tech #Sales #Business

4.3 billion – or 58.7% of  the world’s population – is the estimated number of mobile phone users across the globe in 2016. And while the user growth is slowing, the number of mobile phone users is also expected to climb to 4.78 billion in 2020. It has also shown here in Ireland how e-commerce has jumped massively year on year for the last several years due to items mostly costing less online and the trend is set to continue. 

For most people, this is just a normal phenomenon brought by the rapid evolution of technology, but for business owners, the immense usage of mobile technology in the society has an equally massive impact on their sales as well. Check this infographic out which Neal Cabrera from healthy business builder has sent us, take a look at the different ways mobile technology can impact your sales, and if it really changed the business for the better.

Pure Telecom parents survey: Almost half of children being held back by poor school broadband.  

From where I sit stuck between two cabinets this comes as no surprise. Currently I enjoy really poor speeds and have done so for quite some time now and been told I’ve fibre. Laughable at best..

Pure Telecom today announces the results of a survey, which shows that 46% of Irish children are being held back in their educational achievement due to poor internet at school, according to parents. The online research*, carried out by Censuswide on behalf of Pure Telecom, surveyed parents of primary and secondary school children from a group of 1,001 adults.

The survey revealed that two-thirds of parents (67%) believe the internet supports children’s learning – and many consider it a factor in their choice of schools. Some 34% of parents would consider moving their child to a school with better internet availability if their current one didn’t have satisfactory broadband access or speeds.

The research also found that 16% of the typical child’s homework relies on the internet. On average, parents spent €213 per child on internet-connected devices and tools intended for schoolwork this year.

Almost half (48%) of children use laptops or tablets for some or all of their classes, but one-in-four parents (26%) believe their child’s school isn’t doing enough to encourage learning via internet-connected educational resources.

Under the Schools 100Mbps project, the Government rolled out 100Mbps broadband to all 780+ post-primary schools in Ireland. Earlier this year, the Minister for Education and Skills, Richard Bruton T.D., launched the Digital Strategy for Schools 2015-2020 Action Plan 2017, which includes €30 million in ICT grants to schools, as well as a programme to enhance high-speed broadband connectivity in primary schools.

Pictured with Paul Connell, CEO, Pure Telecom, are Klara Keating and Tadhg Higgins. Pure Telecom today announced the results of a survey that found that 46% of parents believe substandard or no school internet is hindering the quality of their children’s educational achievement.

Paul Connell, CEO, Pure Telecom, said: “Access to internet-connected digital tools and resources is vital for all children living in a modern society, so it is concerning that so many parents believe their child’s educational achievement is being stunted by poor broadband speeds and access in school. Not surprisingly, our research showed that the majority of those parents are living in areas outside of Dublin.

“It is great to see the Government investing in a digital strategy for schools including technologies such as interactive screens and cloud-based learning tools. The availability of high-speed broadband in all – not just secondary – schools across Ireland will be crucial to its success.”

 

“Broadband access is a basic need for all Irish citizens, no matter where they live. But at the moment, the infrastructure isn’t in place to deliver broadband to everyone. We have agreements with several of Ireland’s major wholesale telecoms providers, which allow us to bring broadband to any location that has a fibre network. However, we must rely on the rollout of the National Broadband Plan in order to provide broadband to Ireland’s harder-to-reach locations. Unfortunately, until the National Broadband Plan is implemented, we will continue to see schoolchildren hindered 

Review – The Y-CAM EVO home camera system. #YCAM #Security #tech #Mobile

We have several reviews coming up on home security which is something many of us need to up our game in, With the dark nights creeping in fast and again the darker mornings security is a must and with todays available technology this does not need to come at a cost and it can be affordable.

The Y-CAM EVO is on of those examples which is similar to the Blink system we reviewed a while back,Its portable small and not in the way and can be placed anywhere and you can do everything from your smart phone via an app an its easy to set up too and does not require much tech know how to get up and running…

Like I said its small as you can see in the unboxing above, its light,portable and works via USB cable which is plugged in a nearby socket or wherever suits you depending on where and what you want monitored..

The app is simple to use with a simple UI which is good,some of these apps I have seen can be cumbersome and not really self-explanatory especially when it comes to whats on offer and how things are buried in submenus.  With this app its a breeze and its also quick,Even with my bad Wi-Fi issues it loaded almost immediately when checking in away from home.. At times though the app did freeze and its happened several apps with similar so it can be expected,This can happen any app on your phone to be fair.

The quality of the footage is good too and with an array of settings to suits ones needs you will be assured of safety at all times, In the app settings you have audio,night vision/on/off motion recording and notification settings be it push,email or both. You can also turn off notifications which is an option should you not be using the camera or otherwise..You can also set motion zone settings and if you have more than one of these in your house you can set the sensitivity of each zone,we just have the one camera here. Also you have the option to set the camera to detect inside or point outside you will see these options on setup.

Video quality can be also set with two choices which are Standard quality and High Def.. Overall the is excellent and when watching LIVE in High Def is testament to this when viewing from your smart phone or tablet it’s really really good.

 

A real bonus here is that you get free 7 days rolling cloud storage FREE for three years which is excellent and does not require you to have extra or sufficient storage on your device nor are you limited like some alternatives can be,this is a real bonus.. Overall the Y-CAM is a great package and can act as a deterrent be in sat in your window due the LED light atop or if it’s in your home tucked away in a corner, if you have more than one unit it would be much more ideal but just the one pointed in the right place is also enough depending on your requirements however do not forget its portable to and can be easily moved to another room or area in your house with ease once you have a plug at hand.

TOP FEATURES

  • Evo Indoor HD Wi-Fi Security Camera

  • FREE rolling 7 day cloud storage for 3 years

  • Safe and Secure

  • Quick & Easy set up

  • Relevant Notifications

  • Access on the go

If you have any questions you would like asked fire away below or get me on social. you know where to find me..This at the time of use was very handy when away whilst I had alerts set up and you would find you will use it more in these instances rather than being at home unless you have a sick person in your home or caring for someone elderly perhaps again this could be used in other ways other than securing your property it can be a tool to keep an eye on family or even pets you might own when out.  You can purchase this exact model right HERE for €179.99