Leading real hands on tech review site in Ireland with technology, business news and more. Jim O Brien Tech.
Author: Jim O Brien/CEO
CEO and expert in transport and Mobile tech. A fan 20 years, mobile consultant, Nokia Mobile expert, Former Nokia/Microsoft VIP,Multiple forum tech supporter with worldwide top ranking,Working in the background on mobile technology, Weekly radio show, Featured on the RTE consumer show, Cavan TV and on TRT WORLD. Award winning Technology reviewer and blogger. Security and logisitcs Professional.
We will be doing a few reviews on home tech to secure your home over the coming weeks. This is the second such option here now on techbuzz and this iis quite a nice little no obtrusive camera that can be placed anywhere which is exellent it can also be placed clevery where it would not be seen by those who might want to enter your property and catch them in the act. With the dark evenings coming soon security is a key factor and having such devices in your house could help prevent or catch those thugs who want to rob you of your goods..
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
Read more of the functions and features HERE there is alot on offer with this little piece of tech… Any questions fire away while we test it out over the coming fortnight or so.
Be it festivals,travel or whatever the case maybe its always good to be prepared and have the right tools for the right job and tech heads are included here too and the good guys over at bitmore have sent us over a festival kit packed with goodies which of course includes some nice little tech bits and of course some other items we would need on such occasions. Check out the products below and hear that speaker its pretty cool for its size and packs a puch and any questions fire away below…All the essentials you need are here in one pack at a very decent price considered the contents here..
CONTENTS
Waterproof over shoulder drawstring bag
Bluetooth Speaker – 3W with Mic for handsfree calls
Wired universal Selfie Stick – capture those amazing moments!
3000mAh re-chargeable Powerbank – you never know when you will need that boost of power!
Waterproof Disposable Poncho (yes, it may rain this summer!)
In-ear Headphones with mic
Quick dry Micro Fibre Towel
Emergency Tooth Brush & toothpaste (just in case you wake up in the wrong tent!)
Eye Mask
3 x Foam Ear Plugs
Neck Phone Hugger – keep your phone hanging on this lanyard for quick access
BUY HERE AND USE Use Promo Code: 25OFF at checkout
Formerly Withings, We are aware that Nokia purchased the company and now have a line of health/fitness products. Given this has been reviewed hundreds of times under the Withings brand here is my take on the Nokia Steel which I have been wearing a couple of weeks now..I like it.
Firstly I must admit I always thought the watch looked nice,its slim elegant and has a timeless look but at the time I was not so hype on wearables, I do have several and a big collection of watches but one thing I longed for,for so many years was a watch with simply “Nokia” on it.. It took years for it to happen but that day finally came a few weeks ago and I can wait to try the next model soon…
Firstly.. This is not a fully fledged smartwatch. Its an activity and sleep tracker and at the time there was multiple people complaining about the old version of the app so I can’t comment on that but can comment on their updated app which I have used to track my activities which for me worked perfectly fine delivering my daily updates on time every time and giving me my readout, People will say that such readouts are not 100% accurate and I tend to agree to an extent on comparing to my MOTO 360 for example this gave me step counts that you couldn’t make up even on a quite day here in the office it had questionable results.. The Nokia Steel though gave me what I would call realistic measures..
Has anything changed since apart from the name, Well apart for app features NO. And then the only notable change is the Nokia Branding of course. Questions have been asked why use the typface they did rather than the actual logo we all love and know so well. Perhaps this is something they will consider going forward…
Features
Activity tracking: steps, distance, swim (water resistant to 5 ATM), running and calories burned.
– Sleep monitoring: sleep cycle analysis (light and deep sleep) and silent alarm.
– Automatic synchronization: Follow your data on your smartphone.
– Stainless steel case with silicone strap.
– No charging: battery lasts up to 8 months.
Does it do what it says on the tin?
For me it did anyway, Pairing the watch at first was a bit trouble some taking several attempts and since I have changed phone between now and the first day I had it that issue was present,However if you come across this just keep the watch and device close to each other and if there is an issue toggle your bluetooth on and off and ensure location is on, Nokia do not track this. There is a reset key on the back, Again if you swap devices you just use the reset key provided to wake the watch and it will all go fine from there just follow the onscreen instructions on the app itself.
Because the watch has no buttons,keys or winders several asked me when the seen it “How on earth do you change the time etc etc.. Again you do it on the app its fun actually moving the dials from your smartphone and watch it happen in from of you. You just need to set all hands to ZERO and the magic happens.
Build quality
For me its small,smaller than what I typically wear with watches I have around 20 and all are big faced ones. This however was probably an eye opener for me as from wearing this I could feel the difference and historically I take my watch off going to bed, With this I didnt even know it was there after wearing it a few hours this is how light and thin it is. The strap also is very thin for me but again got over this but had this constant worry if the strap would break as it’s typically the first thing that goes for me,the strap has stood the test of time so far and is all well,its flexible and robust. I have broken several new watch straps within days of purchase and its cost me.. I would like to see a thicker strap and bigger face or give options for the customer as we all are made in different sizes and shapes
Would this suit anyone?
Well yes and no it depends on what your needs are and being honest as I said earlier I am not smartwatch mad but want to give whats out there a better chance and like many things I need a kick in the ass when it comes to things and health is one of them, With now sporting a watch with NOKIA on it this was my kick because I wear it,use it and set goals and it does plenty for me,perhaps I would have prefered some more on it but this is what I have been using and it works for me and i take note of my daily activity etc. Perhaps that I am a long time Nokia fan it might sound a bit biased but again as mentioned its something I longed for and now its hear but then again I am brand conscious,there is multiple offerings out there that can do what this does but I like my Nokia phones and just like people like fitbit for example or similar and would not choose another product over it because of the brand. For what it does it does it well and harmoniously just like other similar products would do and for me its a perfect match minus the offerings on the Steel HR which I would like going forward.
What I like about the Nokia Steel.
Thin, Sleek,Looks well,Simple dials and not cluttered. Solid build quality, NO CHARGING believe me this is great not having to worry about charging daily. Battery life is said to be 6 months but obviously I can’t verify yet. Daily reminders..You can pick and chose these..
What I didnt like.
No date on it,Small face,Perhaps the Nokia logo but would love to see their own one on it.. These trade offs are nitpicking at best but just suggestions on my time with it and what others have said and perhaps a few more colours would be nice to broaden its appeal and get people wearing such products with a simple form and functionality..
Not available in Ireland yet it you can pick it up HERE
AMI carried out the survey to find out how companies are dealing with end-of-life IT equipment, and whether or not they are taking the right steps to dispose of this equipment in a secure manner. The results reveal an interesting contradiction between companies spending thousands on network security, etc., yet exposing themselves to the risk of data breach at the end of life stage by failing to ensure that data is wiped properly.
AMI’s survey found that even companies that use third-party IT retirement services are failing to take the necessary precautions; one-third don’t get formal confirmation that their data has been completely erased. This, in turn, exposes them huge fines under GDPR regulation which comes into force on MAY 25TH 2018, so if you have not marked this date yet,now would be a good time..
In their press release….
– AMI survey finds that 32% of companies that use third-party IT retirement companies don’t get formal confirmation that their data has been completely erased
– 25% of companies leave end-of-life IT assets on premise for more than one year
– 47% claim to manage specialist data-destruction process themselves
– 77% of companies say they would be seriously affected by data theft from old equipment, with 8% saying they would go out of business
The survey reveals that many Irish companies have overlooked the risk posed by failing to properly dispose of end-of-life IT assets. Some 47% of those surveyed stated that they manage data-destruction themselves and wipe or physically destroy data on site. As well as this, a quarter of respondents said that end-of-life IT assets remain on their premises for more than one year, highlighting that many organisations do not have established processes in place for managing the disposal of old IT equipment.
Despite these practices, the majority of organisations accept that the consequences of data theft from a retired device would be very grave, with 77% of those surveyed stating that it would have a serious effect on their company. Of those companies, 8% believe that their company would be forced to cease trading as a result.
Of those organisations that do have established processes for handling end-of-life assets, just over half (52%) send retired assets to a third-party specialist. A further 43% donate the equipment to employees, schools or charities.
For this reason, it’s clear why 71% of respondents say that security of data disposal is their most important consideration when it comes to choosing a means of disposal for data-bearing devices.
GDPR will introduce more stringent guidelines around where data flows and how it is processed. In the event of a data breach or compromise, companies who are unable to account for the whereabouts of their data could face fines of up to 4% of global turnover or €20 million, depending on which is greater. This will require companies to closely review supplier processes and policies to safeguard their interests. However, according to the survey results, 39% of those who work with a third-party IT retirement provider never audit the provider’s security processes.
The survey also found that despite the significant value of old IT equipment, 70% of businesses say that they don’t recover any value when retiring old assets. More than half of these (37%) would consider it in the future.
Philip McMichael, managing director, AMI, said: “It is extremely clear from the results of this survey that Irish organisations are leaving themselves vulnerable at the end-of-life stage by failing to securely manage the retirement of their old IT assets. Companies need to establish processes for disposing of this equipment and dramatically reduce the amount of time that it spends in storage, as this increases the risk of data going missing. It also devalues the equipment, so it’s in companies’ own interest to manage this process effectively.
It’s interesting to see that so many companies claim to manage and carry out data destruction themselves as this is a specialist security process that requires advanced tools to ensure that data-bearing equipment is erased to the most stringent global standards. Unless companies have trained specialists in place using the correct software and carrying out data erasures, they should reassess their ability to carry out this process themselves and align themselves with a specialist IT retirement provider.
Those that do work with IT retirement companies need to ensure that they receive formal confirmation that their data has been destroyed, as organisations that are happy to hand over data-bearing devices without a certification process in place are putting themselves at real risk of a data breach.
Companies that work with an IT retirement specialist can benefit from the creation of a new revenue stream that can be used for a variety of purposes, such as upgrading IT equipment or even charitable donation. However, the primary focus for Irish organisations now has to be plugging the security gap stemming from current and past failings to securely tackle IT retirement.”
We have got out hands on the Nokia 6 dual sim and have been using it for a few days now and we wanted to check it out first and load it up with apps before we take a closer look at it. So far its been quite impressive and especially the camera and it been working fine with plenty of apps on board and the usual social media accounts and so on..
Build quality here is quite good and it feels solid in the hand and it also looks well its got some familiar traits of old too but overall its solid which is important,the screen is big which is good for media consumption however a bit on the dark side I find in fact similar to the Blackberry KeyOne but its no big deal for me. I will be testing this further over the coming weeks and using it as my daily driver so it will be interesting to see how it goes over time with the heavy usage I tend to give my devices. For now so far so good but time will shed a light no doubt, It is good though to finally sport a device I can use with the Nokia logo atop and so far any that have seen it like it too. With a 5.5 inch screen, 3000 mAh battery and built-in fingerprint scanner on the home key, 16 MP shooter has it enough? Any questions fire away below or get me on social. We still have no date for launch in Ireland yet but the Nokia 3 is set to launch August 2nd if you cant wait or dont want to spend some more on your next phone that has that famous Nokia branding.
With cybercriminals costing the global economy £345 billion last year alone, Digital threat management leader RiskIQ has examined the growing volume of malicious activity on the Internet to reveal the inaugural ‘Evil Internet Minute’. In a single evil internet minute, close to £656,393 is lost to cybercrime and 1,080 people fall victim. Despite businesses’ best efforts to guard against external cyber threats, spending up to £109,942 in 60 seconds, bad actors continue to proliferate online.
Colin Verrall, VP EMEA, RiskIQ comments, “As the Internet and its community continues to grow at pace, some people have been trying to make the vast numbers associated with it more accessible by framing them in the context of an ‘Internet Minute’. As the same growth applies to cybercrime, similarly, we have framed malicious Internet activity, leveraging the latest research as well as our own intelligence to define the darker happenings across the web in 60 seconds.”
The threats are complex with tactics ranging from malware to phishing, and intentions including monetary gain, inflicting large scale reputational damage or perhaps even to entertain. Cyber criminals continue to find success deploying tactics from 818 pieces of unique malware, 1214 ransomware attacks and over 100,000 phishing emails in just one evil internet minute.
RiskIQ’s research has also uncovered additional malicious activity, ranging from blacklisted mobile apps to malvertising:
New blacklisted mobile apps: 0.3 per minute
New phishing pages: 100 per minute
Malvertising: 14.5 incidents per minute
Pirate content: 4,300 people globally exposed to malware from content theft sites per minute
Colin Verrall, VP EMEA, RiskIQ comments, “Sophisticated cyber criminals continue to expand their digital armoury, lurking behind more online activity than we might expect. Websites, emails, mobile apps, online videos or even digital advertisements; all have become regular methods of entry for malicious online activity. The digital footprint of a business is always larger than perceived and with such happenings, control is often relinquished. It is crucial then for organisations to be aware of their entire digital footprint and make it a priority to close any critical security gaps. It is only way to adequately secure a business, its employees and customers.”
Black Duck, the global leader in automating the security and management of open source software, today announced a new technology collaboration with Pivotal® and the launch of its Black Duck Hub product as an integrated service for Pivotal Cloud Foundry®, one of the world’s most powerful cloud-native platforms. This is the first open source-focused security management integration with Pivotal Cloud Foundry, enabling enterprise customers to embrace open source in their applications with automated visibility, intelligence, and control.
Black Duck and Pivotal have collaborated to integrate Black Duck Hub and Pivotal Cloud Foundry to deliver a Secure DevOps process and user experience for building and deploying applications to Pivotal Cloud Foundry.
Enterprise customers can find Black Duck as a tile on the Pivotal Network.
Black Duck Hub Service Broker enables the integrated use of Hub with Pivotal Cloud Foundry. Black Duck Hub interacts with the Pivotal Cloud Foundry build and application deployment process (‘cf push’) to automatically scan, analyse, and monitor applications and their contents.
Enterprise customers can automate their Black Duck scans with third-party Continuous Integration (CI) tools such as Jenkins, Bamboo, Team City, and Microsoft VSTS/TFS.
Enterprise customers can deploy Black Duck Hub product either in their private cloud or in a public cloud, such as Google Cloud.
Using Black Duck Hub, enterprise customers can automatically identify all the open source components; detect and analyse known security vulnerabilities, compliance issues, and code quality risks; and enable policy management to control risks and their remediation. Additionally, Hub dynamically monitors the scanned code and provides alerts on newly discovered vulnerabilities or policy violations. Enterprise customers can also use Hub to access Black Duck KnowledgeBase™, the world’s most comprehensive data store of open source components and risk intelligence.
“Open source comprises 80 to 90 percent of the components in a modern cloud-native application. Integration of Black Duck Hub with Pivotal Cloud Foundry provides automated visibility and control into that open source,” said Black Duck CEO Lou Shipley. “This helps increase enterprises’ confidence to increase their production deployment of cloud-native applications.”
“Fortune 2000 companies are facing tremendous pressure to build and deliver cloud-native applications – faster, on a larger scale, and at lower cost,” said Nima Badiey, Head of Business Development, Pivotal Cloud Foundry. “Combining Black Duck Hub with Pivotal Cloud Foundry helps our customers automate the security and licensing processes in their application deployment pipelines, enabling agility and innovation at cloud-native speeds.”
Availability
The integrated solution is available for Pivotal customers. Pivotal Cloud Foundry users can find Black Duck Hub Service Broker on the Pivotal Network.
Use of Black Duck Hub with Pivotal Cloud Foundry requires an active Hub license from Black Duck.
In addition to the new integrated solution for Pivotal Cloud Foundry users, Black Duck today announced that Pivotal has become a Black Duck Hub customer for Pivotal’s internal use. Pivotal uses Hub as part of its internal Pivotal Cloud Foundry development and security processes to help secure and manage open source components in the Cloud Foundry project.
Award winning specialist audio manufacturer 1MORE today introduces its H1707 Triple Driver Over-Ear Headphones to the UK. The headphones feature advanced Piezo ceramic driver technology and audiophile, oxygen free, copper wiring to ensure a high fidelity listening experience.
With audiophile cabling and phenomenal build quality, the H1707 headphones look as good as they sound!
1MORE uses the latest patented designs and materials to enhance sound, comfort and aesthetic appeal. From aerospace grade materials to genuine Swarovski crystals, 1MORE takes no shortcuts to maintain a standard of modern excellence in both function and form.
Expertly tuned by Grammy Award winning sound engineer Luca Bignardi, the 1MORE H1707 headphones feature a Piezo driver which, when combined with a 40mm aerospace grade composite driver and a powerful, fast bass reflex, deliver a high frequency resolution extension that reaches up to 40kHz for high resolution files. This technology has been recognised by the High Resolution Association of Japan who have given official certification to the H1707 headphones to replay high resolution (better than cd quality) music.
Not only do the H1707 headphones feature great technology, they have also been manufactured using top quality materials. The black and gold machined metal complement each other perfectly whilst the sturdy but comfortable ear clamps with luxurious padding, echo that of a high end sports car, allowing for long listening sessions without any discomfort. The clamps can also be folded inwards and also rotated inwards by 45° so the headphones can fit snugly into the included high quality case and internal bag whilst travelling.
Special consideration has also gone into the cabling used, with a 99.99 oxygen free copper wiring with left and right independent channel, straight through design and a tough non tangle Kevlar sleeve ensuring a lower transmission loss and higher fidelity listening experience.
Available for just £199.99, the 1MORE H1707 Triple Driver over-ear headphones deliver a spectacular sound at amazing value when compared to other headphones of similar specifications available in the market. 1MORE are proud to be superior to the industry standard.
The 1MORE Triple Driver in-ear headphones are available for £199.99 from http://uk.1more.com
Hot on the heels of their recent FUZE Studio for Nintendo Switch announcement, FUZE Technologies Ltd are extremely proud to announce an exciting new collaboration with ASUSTeK.
Launched in 2013, FUZE Technologies set out with one goal – to make coding as easy and accessible as possible for everyone. Since then, the FUZE team has achieved great success in teaching young people how to code using the FUZE personal computer and their accessible, easy to use programming language FUZE Studio.
FUZE is now proud to announce two new models to their FUZE Workstation range powered by the recently announced ASUS Tinker Board.Additionally the ‘powered by’ ASUS Tinker Board editions have replaced the Raspberry Pi versions of the FUZE Workshop units used across the
country in schools and STEM events.Matt Stewart, ASUS Product Manager commented “ASUS recognise that learning to code is incredibly valuable; we’re really excited to be working with FUZE and bringing the ASUS Tinker Board into UK schools.”
The new units are, the FUZE-TB-R priced at £249.99 including VAT. It comes complete and ready torun out of the box. Included is the FUZE Special Edition case & keyboard, ASUS Tinker Board, FUZE IO Board with built in analog, 16GB boot SD card, the FUZE Component pack, solderless electronics breadboard, mouse and mouse mat, 250 page reference guide (PDF), worksheets (PDF) and the ever popular USB Robot Arm kit.
About the ASUS Tinker Board: The ASUS Tinker Board is a Single Board Computer (SBC) in an ultra-small form factor that offers class-leading performance while leveraging outstanding mechanical compatibility. The Tinker Board offers makers, IoT enthusiasts, hobbyists, PC DIY enthusiasts and others a reliable and extremely capable platform for building and tinkering their ideas into reality.
Specifications:
CPU Rockchip Quad-Core RK3288 processor
Memory 2GB Dual Channel DDR3
Graphic Integrated Graphics Processor ARM® Mali™-T764 GPU*1
Storage Micro SD(TF) card slot
LAN RTL GB LAN, Wireless Data Network, 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth V4.0 + EDR
Audio RTL ALC4040 CODEC
USB Ports 4 x USB 2.0
Internal I/O 1 x 40-pin header(GPIO, SPI, I2C, UART, PWM, 5V, 3.3V, GND, S/PDIF, DSI, CSI
The second unit is the FUZE-TB-D priced at £149.99 including VAT. Included is the FUZE Special
Edition case & keyboard, ASUS Tinker Board, FUZE IO Board with built in analog, 16GB boot SD card, solderless electronics breadboard, reference guide (PDF) and worksheets (PDF).
“The ASUS Tinker Board perfectly complements the FUZE’s existing design and dramatically improves performance. Running FUZE it’s roughly twice as fast as the Raspberry Pi editions and has far superior audio hardware and RAM capacity. The Tinker Board enhances the FUZE’s learning capabilities, and partnered with FUZE Studio, provides the ideal environment to learn and ‘tinker’ with coding, gaming, audio, electronics, robotics and more.”
Stated Jon Silvera, CEO of FUZE Technologies Ltd.
A multi-award winning and highly accessible coding workstation, the FUZE is intended for students of all ages and also for teachers and parents. Anyone learning to code on the FUZE will find out that real, text based coding is not as complicated as they may have thought. FUZE’s unique method ensures children as young as six can learn to code using a real text based language, setting them up to eventually move onto more complex languages such as Python and Java.
It requires no previous experience, and is a self-contained coding and electronics workstation that will keep kids, and adults, motivated and wanting to learn more.
FUZE Studio is the perfect stepping stone between visual coding simulators currently usedin most primary schools and realworldlanguages like Python, Java and C++/# etc. FUZE Studio comes
with everything you need to learn to code in one app. Users can
code their own games and share the experience with friends and family. Tutorials are included, as is a 250 page reference guide.
One reason for FUZE’s success in educating young people to code is the wealth of support content included and to download. Worksheets, projects and a very comprehensive reference guide are all
included and more are being added all the time.
