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.

Clear your browsing data. New powers could let others see it… #Browsing #Data

In the UK Sky News reports that there is new powers brought in so that Police and Security Services can check your mobile without any warrant and store it on file for up to a year,this is also something that could happen here which will not go down to well…

The web browsing history of every person in the UK will be recorded for a year, under new legislation being announced by the Home Secretary later.

Police and security services will be able to access that data – which will include all the sites a person visits, but not the individual pages within that site – without a warrant.

The new draft Investigatory Powers Bill is an attempt to bring many different surveillance powers of the security services and police under one comprehensive piece of legislation.

sky

Chris Phillips, the former head of the National Counter Terrorism Security Office, told Sky News: “The world has moved on so quickly: people communicate on many different means, whether it’s WhatsApp, whether it’s Facebook, whether it’s email or telephone.

Read more at Sky News

What do you think of this and would you be bothered if it came into effect in Ireland?

 

Funky Stamp allows businesses create their own branded app. #FunkyStamp #irishbizparty

Kieran Fitzgerald from Limerick has been looking for an on-line business opportunity for some time now and has recognised the ongoing growth of smart technology and the internet as a whole.Kieran has set up a new company called Funky Media Group to roll out the funkystamp business model nationwide.

 

“Funky Stamp allows businesses create their own branded app for smartphone or tablet with the use of a unique stamp that is pressed against a customer’s smartphone to register a transaction on the loyalty program. Allowing them to discard the loyalty cards that we all carry in our wallets and eventually forget where we left them when we need them.” Says Kieran..

 

“When we create an app for the customer, the name Funkystamp does not appear anywhere and as far as the customer is concerned the business went off and got their own app built by a web developer.”

The long term goal for the business would be to develop a reseller community where we would provide them with their own website identical to FunkyStamp.com such as: FunkyStampGalway, FunkyStampCork etc around the country and further afield such as FunkyStampLondon, FunkyStamp Glasgow etc. These resellers would be in business for themselves but all admin etc would be done by a dedicated account manager from the Funky Media Group which will allow the resellers to focus on generating new customer sales in their own county location only with all account activity for their county handled by Funky Media Group.

 

This is a really nice idea and brings the loyalty card to the current era,current loyalty cards are not really effective as they have been for many years,they can get lost and damaged,cant be tracked,costly to the company that uses them,take for example your typical free coffee at your petrol station,I loose these all the time and often the case you see them on the floor,this idea eliminates the need to carry any card which also makes you wallet lighter too rather than stuffed with countless cards that get thrown out after a while.

Check out funkystamp.com for more and let us know what you think.

Twitter changes their star icon to a heart. #Twitter #TwitterLove

Twitter has rolled out a new feature today which removes the star icon which indicated a favourite,they say this measure was brought in to make things less confusing especially for new users of the platform,for any Twitter user I do not see how its confusing for a newcomer as all is pretty much self explanatory..This has angered much of the community.

Twitter could do with some real new ideas such as themes and being able to edit your tweet and some more but for now its all about love…You can however install an extension to bring back the star or pick some other icons.

The heart, in contrast, is a universal symbol that resonates across languages, cultures, and time zones. The heart is more expressive, enabling you to convey a range of emotions and easily connect with people. And in our tests, we found that people loved it.

https://pbs.twimg.com/tweet_video/CS5UGH3VEAAXKjC.mp4?_=1

Starting today it will roll out across Android,iOS and more..

Source

 

Quality Time App. Curb and monitor your smartphone addiction. #DigitalDetox

There has been several studies of late on how much time we spend on our smartphones and truth be known we are all getting sucked in well most of us,we now spend more time on our devices and this in turn could have an effect on your personal life and your relationship,Social media and browsing would be the most common things used on our mobiles but we just cant get enough and day by day more time is being spend with our heads stuck in the screen..

QualityTime offers a unique and in-depth analysis of your smartphone activities by tracking total usage, screen unlocks and individual apps with hourly, daily and weekly summary reporting options.

The app provides the ability to curb your habits by using actionable features allowing you to set your own time restrictions like ‘alerts’, ‘take a break’ and ‘scheduled breaks’.These features can help you manage and control your usage when needed.

Discover Your Smartphone Habits:
• Daily and Weekly Usage summary of total device usage, screen unlocks and your top apps with time spent on each app and number of times accessed – your “digital diet”.
• Automatically receive a recap of the previous day’s usage summary every morning (can be disabled).
• Zoom in to hourly usage view for the selected date.
• Tap any app to track app-specific usage history pattern by time or access frequency.
• Customize and exclude tracking by apps; pause tracking at anytime.
• Share my top apps feature.
• Quick glance of today’s usage status with the QualityTime dashboard widget.

 

 

Manage Your Digital Diet:
• Create device usage alert (usage time and screen unlocks) and app usage time alert (e.g. addicted social or games app).
• “Take a Break” to immediately unplug from your smartphone; one-click access via the “Take a Break” widget.
• Plan your “Take a Break” in advance (Scheduled Breaks) with repeating schedules.
• Define your own QualityTime Profiles to customize your “Take a Break” (restrict access to your phone).
• Create different QualityTime Profiles and customize how you want to unplug your smartphone during “Take a Break” or “Scheduled Breaks”; options to block notifications, reject incoming calls with auto-reply text messages, define exceptions to allow incoming calls from ‘whitelist’ contacts, permit access to certain apps during those restricted periods.
• “Missed notification” center – captures all your missed notifications during “Take a Break” or “Scheduled Breaks” so you won’t miss anything important.
• IFTTT (ifttt.com/qualitytime) support to provide valuable if-this-then-that recipes that lets you set personalized alerts with your favorite online services or Internet of Things (IoT) when you exceed your device usage limit.

Download on Android

Wi-Fi signals can see through walls. #WiFi #Tech

Wi-Fi – wiffy or whatever you want to call it is great,we love it,we seek it and we cant live without it..But now Wi-Fi is itself is going to a new level and that’s been able to see through walls…Now this maybe a problem though.. PRIVACY.But it can be also good,it can protect the elderly and more.

Sky news reports..

MIT computer science researchers have developed a sensor that sends radio signals through a wall and can identify the shapes of people who are on the other side.This is planned to launch commercially in 2016.

It works by monitoring the radio signals as they bounce back off a person, and the device stiches these signals together to create an identifiable silhouette.

The system isn’t perfect – yet. It can identify between five people with 95.7% accuracy and 15 people with 88.2% accuracy.Researchers also managed to identify which body part someone was moving while standing almost three metres away.

Source

 

 

Global Monster Scanner App for iPhone.. #Apps #iOS #HappyHalloween

There is tonnes of apps out there now for Halloween which can give you some pretty horrific looking effects and they are popular at this time of year being a tradition,Between dressing up and calling on doors its an exciting time for the children and even adults,it only happens once a year so it would be rude not to get involved..

John Keane creator of Find your local Garda Station App  has created this new app for Halloween and it can be also used outside the Halloween period called Global Monster Scanner and it will cost you a small amount to get hold of it..

If kids are scared of monsters put their minds at ease by scanning for monsters! This app uses your phone’s camera & flash to scan for potential Monsters…Mummies, Zombies, Ghosts, Vampires, and more….guaranteed to return a monster free environment!!! Great Sounds Effects for all Monsters!

Download on iOS

Apple launches Android and iOS app for Beats Pill+ #Apple #Beats

Apple has launched an Android app, clap clap but its for the beats pill bluetooth speaker and of course the app is on iOS too,the app just gives you some extra functionality and you can pair two speakers yo your device,Apple should really be dishing out more apps like Microsoft does but Apple will always be Apple…

 

Like the Beats Pill+ speaker, the app has a sleek interface and is intuitive to use.

– Connect to your Beats Pill+ from two audio sources.

– Unlock more ways to play with two Beats Pill+ speakers for even more dynamic sound.

– Keep track of your Beats Pill+ power levels so you always know how much battery is left.

– In Amplify, adjust the volume of two speakers wirelessly from your external Bluetooth® source.

– Get additional software updates and product support.

Download on Android    Download on iOS

Microsoft’s arrows launcher exits beta and hits Play store. #Android #Microsoft

Arrow launcher from Microsoft has been on beta for some time now and its officially available now to download from the play store,the launcher will focus on the users and make life that bit easier when it comes to finding apps,You will have your home-screens full of what you use and priority apps and contacts etc.

Arrow has been a garage project so it will be interesting to see if updates flow from here on in..

Key Features: Made for You
Arrow is designed for simplicity, and personalized to your usage habits.
• Apps: No more wasting time finding the app you need – your apps are automatically arranged based on your usage
• People: Easily find and contact the people who matter the most to you
• Reminders: Never forget to pick up milk or call your spouse with integrated reminders
• Recent: Quickly get back to your recent photos, file downloads, app installs, and even dropped calls

Other Features: Customization, Elegance and Performance
• Page Management: Re-arrange pages, show/hide a particular page, and set a specific page as your home page.
• Widgets: Arrow is compatible with all your favorite widgets, organized on one page
• Customizable Dock: Conveniently access your favorite apps in the dock from any screen.
• Bing & Custom Wallpapers: Receive a beautiful new wallpaper every day or customize your own.
• 3rd Party Icon Pack Support: Theme your icons with a third party icon pack.
• Performance: Arrow is lightweight, and optimized for battery life and speed to help you enjoy your phone all day.

Download on Android

 

Amazon Appstore – £45/€63 worth of apps for free for Halloween. #Apps

If you are short on apps or fancy a few new ones there is a few treats on the Amazon App store now,however there is lots of apps there that have been there in the past along with some new apps to check out,the offer does not last too long so if you are interested head over to the store now..

Head over HERE for a peak