Recently there was a scam via SMS or email going around telling people that they are entitled to some kind of tax rebate, this though was not true and Revenue have also been proactive about the matter unlike others when these scams come to light..
Revenue have commented about this on their site saying……
This week the Revenue Commissioners have become aware of fraudulent emails and SMS (text messages) purporting to come from Revenue seeking personal information from taxpayers in connection with a tax refund or seeking credit/debit card details.
These emails and text messages did not issue from Revenue.
Recently I spoke to Joe Duffy on #liveline about the latest scam about Super Valu and its vital that people read up and become a bit more savvy about these because there is vulnerable people out there still…
Subject: [News] We may need some information in order to process your claim.
We have successfully recalculate your fiscal activity
Our team will be reviewing your application after your sign-up.
Please be advised the evaluation process may take some time.
We have sent you a document , please read and fallow the steps.
Best regards,
Irish Customs % Tax Team
A second example of this email is as follows below..However the image attached in this mail is identical as seen before.
From: Irish Tax-Customs <test@idrottensspel.se> Date: 28 January 2017 at 23:10:00 GMT To: ” Subject:Refund on pending , account sign-up process needed.
Your temporary sign-up link is in your notification.
It will remain valid for 1 week.
To use and benefit just open your pdf notification
and navigate to the page on the Revenue website.
Select ‘Sign-up’
Enter and confirm your details.
You will then be asked to set a new password.
You are now signed in and ready to use and recive your pending claim.
Important
Your password allows access to your records, so be very careful with it.
FLAVR, the new fashion brand from global mobile accessories and connected devices specialist, STRAX GmbH, today launches a brand new range of phones cases for iPhone 5/5SE, 6/6S, 7, and Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge. The Real Flower collection includes real, pressed flowers in each transparent case so that every case made is individual. The cases are not only colourful and pretty but also have a great texture. The new cases will be available for £12.99 from Carphone Warehouse.
Also launched is the The Pop collection from FLAVR is in line with the latest trends from the catwalk – florals, tropical motifs and tattoo-style motifs. The transparent case still shows the Apple logo but also adds a bright design and personal touch to a phone. The Pop collection will also be available from Carphone Warehouse at £12.99
Sengled, the smart lighting specialists. The Pulse Link adds to the already successful Pulse range and is ideal for music lovers to provide an enhanced audio experience.
Sengled today announces an addition to its product portfolio for the smart home, with the the Sengled Pulse Link now available to purchase in the online store. The new Pulse adapter has already been presented at the Consumer Electronic Show (CES) 2017 in Las Vegas and received the Innovation Award in the category ‘smart home’. With the Pulse Link starter set, through the adapter, two Pulse satellite bulbs may be connected to the TV to create an improved audio experience.
The Sengled Pulse Link adds to the already hugely successful Sengled Pulse range. The Pulse Link is ideal for music lovers as it can be connected with the Pulse bulbs with built-in JBL Bluetooth® speakers, providing an enhanced audio experience. Through the Pulse Link adapter, which can be connected to a receiver or TV, audio signals can be transmitted wirelessly to all Pulse satellite light bulbs. This way, users are able to experience high-quality stereo sound through various light bulbs. Using the additional 3.5mm jack connection, many more music sources can be connected with the Sengled Pulse system.
The Sengled Pulse Link set is currently available as a bundle for 199.90 EUR. It contains two Pulse satellites and a Pulse Link adapter. The adapter is available separately at an RRP of 99.90 EUR.
This has been a long long tiresome battle and will eventually see out those nasty charges we face but this have been a major revenue generator for telecos for years so what will replace this huge loss? Yet to see how we will fair out here here is what has been outlined given wholesale caps have been agreed.. As is we have seen free calls and so on within the EU region also we have seen data ad ons being introduced some time ago which allowed data to be used but this has been mostly capped and little on offer too.. Data hungry customers often come home to bill shock after a trip and the main usage now on mobile is in fact data and our traditional SMS is dying year on year thanks to messaging apps and the likes of Facebook messenger..
Wholesale price caps define how much telecoms operators can charge each other for using their networks to carry cross-border “roaming” calls.
Miapetra Kumpula-Natri (S&D, FI), who is steering the legislation through Parliament, said:
“People all over the EU have waited for us to drop roaming charges in June 2017. Now all the negotiations are ready and we can deliver what was promised. Like consumer organizations all over Europe, we, too, see this as a great victory for the European consumers.”
“The agreed caps ensure cost coverage for efficient operators throughout Europe but are low enough to sustain competition on the European telecom markets”, she added.
“Consumers will continue to benefit from competition and will be able to use more data when roaming than with the original proposal from the Commission. I’d like to thank political groups and the member states for constructive co-operation and flexibility”, she concluded.
Parliament and council have agreed on the following caps outlined below…
€0.03 for voice call, instead of the proposed €0.04,
a gradually decreasing cap, from €7.7 (15/06/2017) to €6 (01/01/2018), €4.5 (01/01/2019), €3.5 (01/01/2020), €3 (01/01/2021), €2.5 (01/01/2022) per gigabyte instead of €0.0085 per megabyte (or €8.5 per gigabyte), and
Unfortunately, no more details on what to expect so far (so, hold on your horses if you want a new gaming smartphone for the summer), but we know the company will continue working as an independent department inside Razer.
“In order to reach a wider audience and continue our mission, we decided to join with a larger brand,” –Tom Moss, Nextbit Systems Inc. Co-founder and CEO
That’s what the company is aiming for after the deal was closed earlier this month.
And even when phones nor accessories are no longer being sold on the official channels, Nesbit promised to fulfilled warranties for 6 more months, and software updates and security patches until February 2018.
There’s a lot to expect from this deal, but What are your thoughts? What would you like to see on the next Nexbit smartphone?
Sound off below or join us over Twitter, stay tuned for more info and what to expect for the rest of the year.
Even though we knew there was not going to be a Galaxy S8 during the first big trade show this year, the Mobile World Congress (MWC) is set to have a Samsung presentation nevertheless.
No words yet on what to expect during the presentation, but for the teaser unveiled by the team responsible for one of the best Android Tablets available, it seems pretty possible we are going to get the third generation of the Galaxy Tab S series..
The Galaxy Tab S3 has been long rumored lately, and the image leaves nothing else to imagination.
Details of it are not clear yet, as we don’t know if it will come with Snapdragon or Samsung’s own Exynos 700 series processor on board, or we’ll get two variants for different markets.
Different products will be unveiled as well, but names have yet to be said for us to know the new toys from Samsung.
Set to happen on February 26 (Sun) 19:00 CET at Palau de Congressos de Catalunya, Barcelona.
You can find all the information about the products and availability right here after, so stay tuned for more coverage as well everything related to #MWC2017
I have been using the Google Pixel the last few days and so far its been pretty impressive although I have found the battery a bit on the weak side not seeing a full day having said that I am a power user so its not often I get a FULL days use from any phone without having to top up at some stage in the day.
With Nougat 7.1.1 out of the box it comes with some nice touches within the UI like tapping an app for instance and sub menus pop up on screen,this is akin to Apples force touch,hopefully more apps have this feature, the is also a few gesture features built in too like the fingerprint scanner acting on the double dragging down your top menu.
The two tone look on the back is actually nicer in person than seeing it in images and I like it although its a fingerprint magnet (the top piece is glass) however most people will put a case on the device so you can excuse that,We do have some case reviews on the way so stay tuned for those.
The camera set up is not bad either featuring an 8MP front facing camera and 12MP rear camera and it shoots decent snaps, USB TYPE C maybe a caveat for some which means having to change all cables at home but I am now in transition here with having 3 devices using this type but was slow off the mark and its here to stay and we may get use to it,It will be better in the long run with faster charging and data transfer..
The build quality is good its kind of a hybrid between the iPhone and a HTC with both looks and feel,Though the antenna lines take the look off it its solid and very light it must be said. We have the headphone socket present and then on the bottom we have ONE speaker, Given it loos aesthetically better with the two ports this long used technique is now becoming annoying leading some folk to believe you have dual firing speakers when you dont,the speaker itself is not as loud as other but its not bad either..The downfall on its placement is its downward firing so if in a shirt pocket or playing games you will block it..
Overall given its 5 inch display which is smaller that what I am custom too I have gotten use to it and can manage fine but will look forward to the XL later on this month. So far its been impressive apart from the battery life (2770mAh) but its super quick and smooth and if I am honest it still does not deserve the asking price, Google need to wake up here and think about what they are doing next and dont follow Apples lead with unrealistic pricing if they want to gain foothold..
BT Halo Twin The initial view of the packaging was big & heavy, the Twin handsets are larger and longer than a standard phone. The handset felt sturdy, curved with a comfortable rubber earpiece. The microphone fits snuggly around the mouth There is a metal base for charging with the answer machine built in. When the handset is removed from the base, the handset lights up making it easier to see in the dark. The number buttons have a backlight. The box comes with all the cables connections in different shapes ensuring they can’t be mixes up making the job of setting up easy. This Box came with contents and manual.
This model has the facility to Block nuisance calls. (You must have caller ID enabled) You can also opt out of marketing fixed-line (landline) calls by registering free on http://www.tpsonline.org.uk/tps/number_type.html . Mobile customers can register their mobile by sending a text ‘TPS’, followed by their email address to the shortcode 85095. ROI Customers can have their telephone number included in the NDD Home Phone – National Directory Database (NDD), this is an opt-out register via their telephone line provider, eir, Virgin, Sky etc. These are not part on the call blocking technology but useful to be aware of. Should you use the phone, when the phone is set up initially, If the contact is not stored on the phone, trueCall asks callers to state their name and then press the hash key on their phone allowing you to know who is calling. This feature can be turned Off or On but may confuse your callers at first until their numbers are stored in the phone book,
BT Halo Twin – Pairing to smartphphone
BT Halo Twin – Pairing to smartphone This is one on my favourite features, pairing this to my smartphone with the Halo over Bluetooth, this allows all contacts on the smart phone to be copied directly to the BT Halo. This took about 3 minutes having close to 1000 contacts on my phone, I would recommend having a purge of your contacts on your smartphone first to ensure old obsolete numbers are not copied to the handset. You can register up to 2 mobile phones with 1000 names / numbers in each. This gave the choice of calling from the home phone number or my mobile each time I wanted to place a call. Answering a call on my smartphone is also possible when within Bluetooth range (Bluetooth’s range is limited to 10m) of the house phone. The call quality was far superior on the BT Halo than using the smartphone as I placed my smartphone in a good signal location and used Bluetooth around the house, previously on the stairs my smartphone would break up while there was no change in call quality using the BT Halo. The BT Halo also had a superior comfortable feel especially on long calls.
Features
A great feature on both base stations is 2 separate 1 amp USB charging sockets allowing e.g. your mobile to be charged beside the phone. This means 1 less power socket plugged in, removing unnecessary clutter. There is also a find button which would help should a handset fall behind the sofa. I have read some reviews which mentions poor call quality on the handset, this may have been an older version of the handset software or incorrect filters on the telephone. The call quality on the Handset landline and when used via the Bluetooth via my Smartphone has been of good quality. There is a backlight on the base station which if located in the bedroom is low enough not to disturb sleep. There is a large structured menu with a reset button, if case you accidentally set up any setting not required. A useful feature is the alarm clock which can be used as a standard alarm clock (this does not have the facility to automate the alarm turning off at the weekend, this is done manually). The battery life is Up to 21/ hours talk time/240 hours standby. The volume button on the side is easy to use, the answer machine buttons look stylish and easy to use as part of the base. There is the usual variety of ring tones, key pad tones and other features.
BT Halo Twin Features Register 2 mobile phones at any one time Store 1000 numbers on your Halo contact list, plus 1000 contacts from each of your synced mobile phones (register 2 mobiles at any one time) Copy telephone contacts between Halo handsets 1.8″ Vibrant Colour Screen Hands-free speakerphone on handsets Up to 60 minutes of message recording on answer machine Do not disturb mode with one touch call blocking PIN controlled outgoing call blocking so that you can block premium, mobiles or international calls. Clear Back-lit keypad Long range reception up to 300m outdoors, 50m indoors Up to 21 hours of talking and 240 hours on standby Easy access to BT calling features (3 way calling, call divert) See and hear if you have a second call waiting.
Twin set
If deciding on a product, (& money is not the key requirement) going for the Twin option, a 2 handset is highly recommended as try taking a call on a Saturday morning with the handset downstairs, placing one handset upstairs and one downstairs worked well, call quality on both was excellent. The handset which was left upstairs required no wiring just plugged into the standard mains socket.
BT Halo Twin
ROI use This phone comes with the BT Logo and a comes with a UK cable designed for the UK, In ROI you can use the standard RJ11 cable with the phone. The phone will operate similar with the only different been the answer machine and call waiting different numbers which will work. Note eir dropped their SMS service on fixed landline so this feature will not work in Ireland if with eir. Cost Is it worth it? If you receive Nuisance calls and this becomes an issue, then a product of this nature is a must. If this is for a non-techie, this phone can be used as a normal phone but expensive to be used as a basic phone.
To get the best from this phone utilising the array of menu its worthwhile. Regarding the cost, we pay 100s of Pounds / euro for the latest smart phone (albeit subsidised by the networks) which will be obsolete in about 2 years. This model, I would expect to get a least 5 years of use, without the need for an upgrade, while only comes with 1 year warranty. Most manufactures of cordless phones only provide a 1 year warranty which is a shame as many other product come with a 3-year warranty.
Note: If there is no power to phone, Electricity is gone, calls cannot be made or received, nor 999. 112 calls. Technical support If required is available via the Free BT Helpdesk on 0800 145 6789 or via the email link on the product page at www.bt.com/producthelp.
This product is available in the UK & Ireland fromCurrys , Argos and ShopBT
This is a fantastic new app just launched which converts speech into text and vice versa.. The app will in short help people with hearing problems communicate with just about anyone..The app is called Be Warned – Connect..
The app is free and now available on both Android and iOS platforms. On trying out the app there today it does pick up what you say fairly accurately using the speech option like you would see on the likes of google assistant for example and its pretty good. Also there is some templates baked into the app which you would select and the device will then call out these to the person its intended for… You can also create your own personal templates too
Description..
The app converts speech into text and vice versa. For example, if you want to order something in a café, you can write your order in the app and it will utter your text immediately. When a waiter replies you, their speech will be converted into text on your screen.
The app contains a number of templates to reach someone really fast and easy. Users are also allowed to create an unlimited number of their own templates for situations they experience everyday.
-recognize the speech a hearing person uttered
-voice the text you want to say
-use templates to communicate even faster.
