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.
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 Telecomtoday 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 all780+ 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
To mark the launch of their new website, the Irish Research Council have this week unveiled ten striking images from their awardees’ research.
Researchers were invited to submit an image captured during the course of their research to be featured on the new homepage. A total of one hundred and twenty-four entries were received. The final ten images selected were:
Abulaiti Hairisha, Irish Research Council Scholar, ‘Simulating the controlled growth of polymer thin films by molecular layer deposition’.
Chiara Mizzoni, Andrew Grene Postgraduate Scholar in Conflict Resolution, ‘A group of FARC fighters watch a game of afternoon football at a demobilisation and transition camp in Icononzo, Colombia’.
Pierre Jolivet, Irish Research Council Scholar, ‘Visualisations from open sound control driven inputs to virtual reality environments’.
Ross Lundy, Irish Research Council Scholar, ‘Deforest gold micro-mushrooms on copper meadow’.
David Cichon, Irish Research Council Scholar, ‘Garment workers in Phnom Penh marching for a living wage and collective bargaining rights on International Labour Day 2017’.
Sven Batke, Irish Research Council Fellow, ‘A bromeliad plant from the same family as pineapples which grows on top of tall tropical trees’.
Maria Velasco, Irish Research Council Scholar, ‘The cerebellar network between neurons (red), astrocytes (yellow) and microglia (green) in a mouse organotypic slice culture’.
Ross Lundy, Irish Research Council Scholar, ‘Copper oxide nanoblades’.
Sajad Alimohammadi, Irish Research Council Fellow, ‘Refractive index matched PIV applications: Velocity profiles for flow around an array of cylinders’.
Flic is a wireless Bluetooth button. It gives you the ability to simply press a button to control the things around you. This initially sounds like a gimmick that’s a nice idea but in practice would not be used. After using the button for a few weeks this became part of everyday use.
Supported OS: iOS 9+, Android 4.4+, Mac OSX Sierra
Weather proof soft touch silicone to be used indoors or outdoors.
Clip-on and re-useable adhesive included.
Hundreds of features, new functionality added monthly.
The Flic has a small watch battery which advised will last for 18 months these batteries CR 2016 are easily available from Pound / euro shops. This save having to use a usb charger to charge another product. You can attach the Flic to a wall / table etc via the adhesive sticker or via the “clip” option to your belt etc.
Setup:
Setup is easy, Download the App Flic (Flic app which is available for Android and iOS.) then run the app enter the usual name email etc. The App has got a good rating of 4 out of 5 from 1,006 total reviews. The app is paired with your smartphone, which can then perform a multitude of tasks. Once installed you are given 3 sets of options,You can set different functions to happen for these button commands:
Single press
Double press
Hold
There is a variety of option which can be set up, e.g. Uses
Find my phone
Turn off lights
Control my music
Send a text while driving, on my way home etc
Read incoming text android
These are just a few of the options available
The Flic smart button is different doing the simple things well and easy. This unit is not marketed to those with a disability but they may find it very beneficial. This Flic was set up initially to find my phone and turn on lights, changing the shortcut was easy. After a couple of weeks of use I have become used to it using in daily for variety of shortcuts. If you’re in to technology and cool new gadgets this is certainly of those. Further information available from https://flic.io/ The buttons are available to purchase directly from Flic.io and a pack of 4 buttons currently retails for $99. https://www.amazon.co.ukFlic Wireless Smart button..
Our good friends over at Mobile Fun have sent us over this wee little nano drone to check out so today we will just have a quick unboxing and check out the features and specs of the BuzzBee Nano Drone which is said to be the Worlds smallest quadcopter. Now before you purchase one of these you do require 2 X AAA batteries for the remote control and the flight time is said to be 5- 8 mins and charge time 20-30 mins..
Check out the image gallery and unboxing below and if you have any questions fire away below or on social.
We have gone through quite a few dashcams over the last year and today we bring you a new model from the good folks at Garmin, This is the Garmin 65W which is small discreet and compact but loaded with plenty of features to boot…
When I say its small its much smaller than most of our previously reviewed dashcams and this is a good thing for many reasons such as not cluttering up your windscreen and it is not noticeable from the outside and you would only find it if you where looking for it and with most vehicles these days they do have a black tint around the edges so it can blend in nicely here for instance.
Check out the unboxing and image gallery below and we will leave a link for some more info in the interim and as always if you have any quesitons feel free to ask..
180-degree field of view captures more of the environment, including cross traffic
High-quality 2.1 megapixel camera with 1080p video capture; works even in low-light conditions
Forward collision and lane departure warnings plus alerts for nearby red light cameras and speed cameras
Includes lifetime safety camera updates
GPS-enabled with automatic incident detection (G-sensor) saves video footage on impact to show when and where events happened
Voice command allows you to start/stop audio recording, take a still picture or start/stop the Travelapse video capture feature
Guaranteed Irish to host free workshop on best employment practices
Business membership organisation, Guaranteed Irish, is holding a free workshop for businesses on best practice in employment law and how to safeguard your business. The workshop, ‘Safeguarding your Business’ is being run in partnership with Guaranteed Irish member Peninsula and will take place at Guaranteed Irish offices at 1 Fitzwilliam Place, Dublin 2 at 8.30am Tuesday, 12th September.
The workshop will explore topics including the latest updates in employment law, how to increase staff performance and what the correct procedures for redundancy issues, and will be delivered by an employment law expert.
Commenting in advance of the workshop, Brid O’Connell, CEO of Guaranteed Irish, said: “At Guaranteed Irish, we’re acutely aware of the challenges our member companies face. Every company, no matter what size it is, will face employment law, HR and health and safety issues at some stage over its lifetime, and how they handle these issues will determine their success as a business. Our workshop will equip businesses with the tools they need to safeguard against these issues, and it’s not just for Guaranteed Irish members – all businesses are welcome to attend, they simply need to register in advance.”
Moira Grassick, Head of Commercial at Peninsula, added “The time and effort needed to ensure that your business complies and follows the most recent rules and regulations can be huge. The free workshop will show business owners how to comply with employment law legislation whilst allowing them to what they do best – run their businesses.”
Pitching opportunity
Ms. O’Connell continued: “New for September’s Masterclass, we’re delighted to announce our exciting initiative – ‘GI’s Perfect Pitch’! We’re offering two companies the chance to present their business pitch to a room full of Ireland’s leading brands. Attendees will be invited to vote using a smartphone app for who they feel had the ‘perfect pitch’. The winning company will be part of Guaranteed Irish’s online marketing campaign.”
To get involved in GI’s Perfect Pitch, companies need to simply:
Register their attendance for the event;
Tweet to @GuaranteedIrl, summarising their business pitch in 140 characters and using the #GIPerfectPitch hashtag.
The top two tweets will be selected by a GI judging panel and will then be notified that they have been selected to deliver their ‘perfect pitch’. In advance of the masterclass, the two companies will be profiled across Guaranteed Irish’s social media profiles platforms.
Google and Toyota Keynote Energy Independent Vehicle Event
When giants such as Google, Toyota and Nissan gather to consider something new it is time to pay attention. This “next big thing” is energy independent electric vehicles (EIVs) by land water and air. Their impact on society and industry will, in due course, be seismic. The event is the world’s first that is dedicated entirely to “Energy Independent Electric Vehicles”. It is at the Technical University of Delft in the Netherlands September 27-28.
More than half of the world’s population is still without Internet access. Project Loon by X, founded by Google, is a network of balloons traveling on the edge of space, designed to extend Internet connectivity to people in rural and remote areas worldwide. They have solar powered steering and they may be able to loiter. The result will be prosperity and education transformed, empowering the disadvantaged but of course enabling much more as well, much of it unpredictable. The company reports,
“We aim to launch and maintain a fleet of balloons to provide Internet coverage to users on the ground, with our Autolauncherscapable of safely and consistently launching a new balloon every 30 minutes. We have flown over 19 million km of test flights to date since the project began – with one of our record-breaking balloons surviving for 190 days aloft in the stratosphere. High speed internet is transmitted up to the nearest balloon from our telecommunications partner on the ground, relayed across the balloon network, and then back down to users on the ground. We have demonstrated data transmission between balloons over 100 km apart in the stratosphere and back down to people on the ground with connection speeds of up to 10 Mbps, directly to their LTE phones.
Project Loon balloons are designed and manufactured at scale to survive the conditions in the stratosphere, where winds can blow over 100 km/hr and the thin atmosphere offers little protection from UV radiation and dramatic temperature swings which can reach as low as -90°C. Made from sheets of polyethylene, each tennis court sized balloon is built to last more than 100 days in the stratosphere before returning to the ground in a controlled descent.
Project Loon has taken the most essential components of a cell tower and redesigned them to be light enough and durable enough to be carried by a balloon 20 km up in the stratosphere. All the equipment is highly energy-efficient and is powered entirely by renewable energy – with solar panels powering daytime operations and charging a battery for use during the night.”
Raghu Das, CEO of IDTechEx, says
“Google’s parent company has other energy independent vehicle technologies such as the energy positive tethered drones of Google Makani making up to 600 kW of electricity from the stronger, more consistent winds at 200 meters or more. We have four companies presenting on their energy positive drones. Another part of X had an energy independent solar drone to fly at 60,000 feet to beam the internet but that was abandoned, Facebook continuing with that type of EIV. The event cover all this and many other EIVs being trialled and even sold on the open market for land, water and air, bypassing electricity utilities and charging stations. Sometimes they need less battery or no battery. We reveal all the enabling technologies. At lower levels, electric aircraft are tapping wind and sun as are planned cars, actual boats and more. Eventually the largest ships will become energy independent using tide, wave power, sun and wind in many ways to make their electricity and saving the emissions of millions of cars for each ship. We show how. It all adds up to an addressable market of hundreds of billions of dollars. Of course, initial progress will be slow but it is vital to be in at the beginning”.
Tianyi & Francois co-founded Stack Shuttle Ltd in March 2016. Who are both are software engineers. They love programming, open source software and believe in software craftsmanship.
The bottom line is they love what they do. They want to bring this feeling to other people and they think the best way to do this is to create a company with these qualities. The guys at Stack Shuttle tell us a bit more so please read on.
What’s it like working in Stack Shuttle? What culture are you trying to create?
We want to work with people who resonate with us. We want to create a diverse and friendly environment where everyone can be friends with each other. When you work with the people you like and do the work you love,you will create the work you’re most proud of. If you spend 40 hours every week in work, why not work alongside people you call your friends?
So, what do you actually want to do for your customers?
We are a passionate bunch of designers & developers committed to bringing the best solution to market for each client.Our modern approach to projects allows our clients to test what works in
real life, gathering valuable feedback throughout the whole project. This fine tunes everything nicely together & allows us to bring them the best package possible, in an incredible turnaround time.
What’s it like being a software engineer?
It’s a privilege to be a software engineer. We live in a digital world now; we are so lucky that we can use our skills to create products that people use and love. We know there are many people out there, they may not be running world-changing businesses, but they all try to improve the lives
around them. We want to help those people to build their vision, to fulfill their potential. We believe this world is about relationships, either you’re selling or buying, you’re dealing with people and the most important thing in our society is to build relationships between you and other people.
What do you want to accomplish with Stack Shuttle?
We want to help bring ideas to life, bring people’s businesses to another level. We will use our expertise and experience in product design and development. Our clients don’t need to know programming, but we will help them understand that programming is not magic, we’re there to bridge that gap between business and technology.
What services do you provide? So what do we do?
● Product research and design.
● Mobile applications (IOS and Android) development.
● Web applications development.
● Chatbots development.
We have expertise in:Python, Django, Ruby, Ruby on Rails, Angular, React,React Native AWS and more. We guarantee the quality of the software we deliver; we take pride in our work!
Do you have anything to say to our readers?
Thanks for your time and if you’re thinking of setting up a business let’s grab a coffee and have a chat about your ideas or businesses! We love talking to people who’re passionate and love what they do; it energises us,fuels us! We promise that we will offer our candid advice and hopefully,that will start off our relationship.
