Every house should have this. Review – Beyond products multidevice charging station. #tech

When it comes to phones in my house there are lots not only just me which is the main culprit but the rest of the family. There is always a rush for the charger and fights over plugs etc etc. Given I have more than the average plug ports in my place there is still never enough but now this product fixes that problem many people have today at home with mobile phones invading them.

This product is simple and compact and serves more than you might think. Its got multiple charge ports for all devices and tablets included. On the front is a wireless charge mat and the whole top of the unit is covered in a rubberized material which is nice to feel and this acts as a grip for your devices so when they are sat in there or placed on the mat they will not budge.

The unit is not huge by any means its small enough and can be fitted anywhere in the house or office. With the 5 ports to the right they take a standard USB connected cable which also can be purchased from the company which I recommend you do as they are short and keep things tidy. You will see the difference compared to long cables around your desk or counter top which get in the way and is very annoying.

This product is executed well with its compact design and functionality and you can charge more than your phones with it too. If you have smaller tech products with any compatible connection you are good to go which is great and again it saves space and a bloody mess.

Features

  • 4 USB charging ports
  • 1 Qi wireless charging pad
  • Smart charging for the quickest charge rates – automatically adjusts for each individual device
  • Only takes up one household socket – much more cable management friendly option
  • Soft touch high grip materials – devices won’t vibrate or slip off the station
  • Perfect for the family – fits neatly into any living area
  • Awesome addition to any man cave
  • High quality – CE, ROHS and FCC certified

BUY HERE 

Lifestyle, eating habits, technology… How much “sleep debt” are we in. #Tech #Sleep

Most Brits love a weekend lie-in, and there’s no better time to focus in on getting enough time between the sheets than Sleeptember. But, before the whole nation reaches for the snooze button, it’s worth factoring in what we give up when we sacrifice our free time to dreaming.

New research from bedroom experts Furniture Village has revealed that the average Brit loses a mammoth two years of free time to catching up on the ‘sleep debt’ they build up in the week, affecting travel plans, education and even reality TV ambitions. Along with a new calculator designed to show each user their own personal sleep debt, they’ve teamed up with sleep experts to advise on the best ways to re-set your sleeping habits – and keep some time in reserve for achieving your dreams, instead of just having them.

Sleepy Sacrifices

70% of the UK sleeps below the recommended amount, losing an average of 41 minutes of sleep every week night, with the pressures of deadlines and early starts responsible for less snoozing in a jam-packed week. Multiply that by five, and the UK is almost five hours behind what their bodies need to function by the time the weekend rolls around, causing most people to oversleep in an effort to ‘pay back’ their body for the missed time.

This payback schedule, however, has a huge impact on British free time and productivity. In the time spent catching up on those precious hours of sleep, the average Brit sacrifices the time it would take them to:

  1. Visit 37 countries
  2. Make 45 new friends
  3. Study 2 Bacherlor’s degrees
  4. Learn 19 languages
  5. Qualify as an airline pilot 6 times

With so much already written about the impact of loneliness, thwarted dreams and less relaxation on British wellbeing, why are we still doing it? The short answer is because we’re too tired to do anything else. If we didn’t catch up on that sleep, the accumulation of minutes and hours spent out of bed would eventually have physical and mental ramifications, leading to a nation of health problems, or even just a nation of office workers asleep on their desks come Monday morning. The secret lies in resetting our attitude to sleep in the week.

Resetting The Weekday

Luckily for everyone, health experts reckon that there’s a few very easy steps you can take to calming your mind and setting a bedtime routine that cancels out your sleep debt, negating the need to pay it back. Some easy tips that everyone can follow include:

Exercising at least 3 times a week. Exercising can help improve your ability to fall – and stay – asleep. And it’s not just a case of fatiguing the body! Studies have shown that regular exercise across a 16-week period can cause significant improvements in the quality and duration of sleep.

  • Cutting out caffeine after 2pm. Caffeine can stay in your blood for over 7 hours after you consume it — so that 4 o’clock espresso could be what’s keeping you from drifting off at 11PM. How long our bodies take to process caffeine varies from person to person, but by cutting it out after 2PM you can be sure it won’t be interfering with your sleep!
  • Setting aside screen devices for 2-3 hours before bed. The blue light emitted by devices like computer screens and mobile phones suppresses melatonin – a vital hormone for regulating sleep. Giving yourself as much screen-free time as you can in the hours before bed allows your body to relax and get ready for sleep.
  • Embracing mood lighting. Light is one of the main ways your body knows whether it’s meant to be awake or asleep – so if you’re sitting in a brightly lit room for hours before sleep, you’ll find it harder to wind down. Mood lighting’s a great method for letting your body and brain know that bedtime is on the way.

Calculate Your Sleep Debt

The quality of your sleep can have a huge impact on your day-to-day life, so don’t let anything get in-between you and forty winks. To calculate your own personal sleep debt, and get personalised recommendations for improving your sleeping life, check out Furniture Village’s sleep debt calculator here.

The Nokia 8110 4G drops into power city. #Nokia #Ireland

The Nokia 8110 is now widely available across the country and power city now have the device listed in stock. With power city the device will of course be sim free and contract free too costing €89.95 which is an average sim free price in Ireland. The device comes in both Yellow and Black and available throughout their stores.. Check out my review on the revived bannana phone HERE and see POWER CITY for more.

Review – Blips lens digital microscope kit for your smartphone. #tech #blips

The Blips Full kit comes with a variety of pieces to allow your smartphone to become a microscope. The Blips lenses are fundamentally small lenses placed on a sticky pad applied to the smartphone’s camera / iPad. There are lenses with different magnifying power allowing difference magnifications. The Blips Full kit 2018 comes with a stand and light source to better illuminate the object.

 

Contents:

  • 1 Macro lens
  • 1 Macro Plus lens
  • 1 Micro lens
  • 1 Ultra lens
  • 1 smartphone stage
  • 2 plain microscope slides
  • 1 prepared microscope slide
  • Free App (iOS, Android & Windows Phone compatible)
  • Spare, multi-usable adhesive tape included

Lens supplied:

The kit comes with two lenses for turning your phone into a powerful, digital magnifying lens, plus two lenses for real microscopic observations

  1. Blips Macro Plus allows you to take high definition macro pictures, with an optical magnification of about 5 times. It is extremely thin, less than 1 mm (≈1/25 inches), and very user-friendly. It allows you to take crystal clear pictures of insects, flowers, small objects, details of everyday life. It’s working distance, i.e. the distance between the lens and the focal plane, is of about 20 mm (≈¾ inch).

 

  1. Blips Macro allows you to take high definition macro pictures, with an optical magnification of about 10 times. It is extremely thin, less than 1 mm (≈1/25 inch). This is the first step from “standard” photography toward portable microscopy. Its working distance, i.e. the distance between the lens and the focal plane, is of about 12mm (≈1/2 inch).

 

  1. Blips Micro helps you enter the realm of smartphone microscopy. Blips Micro allows you to recognize details of about 4.5 micron using your smartphone. BLIPS Micro, 1.2mm-thick (≈1/20 inch), turns your phone into a real digital microscope. You need to keep 6mm (¼ inch) between the lens and the sample under observation to discover tiny details at high definition. With the use of digital zoom, it is possible to achieve magnification over 100x.
  1. Blips Ultra permits the use of your smartphone for real microscopy applications.

Blips Ultra allows to recognize details of about 3.5 microns; you can see cells or other inhabitants of the micro-world, on your smartphone. BLIPS Ultra is less than 1.6mm-thick (≈1/16 inch), and it turns your phone into a real digital microscope. You need to keep ⅛ inch (3mm) between the lens and the sample under observation to discover tiny details at high definition. With the use of digital zoom, it is possible to achieve magnification over 150x.

1 / 10

 

Setup:

The setup involves attaching the (1 of 4 supplied) lens to your smartphone like a piece of tape, the lens required to be carefully centered on the smartphone camera. The stand option can be used to stabilize your view on the object as required,

The fact that the lens just sticks onto your phone with tape makes it quick and easy to set up. Once the lens is fitted this removed the option to use the standard camera on your smartphone.  The kit comprises a variety of small pieces which fit together, these have the potential to get lost is not packed away correctly. The stickiness of the tape could get worn down from a few weeks use ( if it gets dirty )  or fall off when in and out of a pocket The lens required to be fitted exactly centred.  

The stand and light that comes with the kit can be used for stationary images while the smartphone  camera can be used on its own holding it close to the image that requires magnification.  The light source which can be positioned directly beneath the camera using the supplied bracket. Those that want a mobile magnifying power in a microscopic weather for curiosity or educational purposes would find this a technology with abundant features without breaking the bank.

https://www.smartmicrooptics.com/

First look at the Urbanista Chicago Sport wireless headphones #headphones #urbanistalife

Today we checkout a new pair of headphones from Urbanista. We have checked out all their headphones to date and they are impressive and well priced to boot. Their range also comes in an array of colours to pick from which are in some cases unique. Check out the unboxing below and as always if you have any questions feel free to ask..

Chicago is the latest addition to its wireless sports earphone range. A collaboration of refined sound and elegant lightweight design, the Chicago is the athlete’s perfect sidekick with 7 hours battery life and phenomenal audio. Equipped with two types of unique GoFit buds that offer increased sound isolation or more environmental awareness.

BUY HERE

Review – My thoughts on the Nokia 8110 4G, We all need to take a break. #Nokia #8110

The Nokia 8110 is another nostalgic device HMD and Nokia gave us some months back but many people do simply not get the gist of such a device. It is not a smartphone as such but gives us some access to the web and it might get WhatsApp soon.

I have seen reviews with people saying it does not have Instagram of all things and other features you find in a smartphone which we are all custom to today. GET OVER IT people it is not designed or intended to be a fully fledged smartphone.

This device like the NOKIA 3310 from last year is aimed to keep things simple and help you tone down on social media and more it has become a real problem now with people having their heads buried in their phone on the bus,train or walking down the road but that’s fine.. Go into a coffee shop or restaurant where people once did to talk to each other and what do you see?? Yes the same fucking thing that’s become a huge problem.

It’s not all that bad though. The 8110 has a camera it has internet connectivity and it has TWITTER and other internet features on it yet the typing is a problem at first but you will quickly rememeber how it was in the NOKIA 3310 days

The 8110 does offer quite a bit when it comes to basic needs and still is a useable phone other than calls and sms but I like how getting things are slow compared to modern phones and its good to keep us away from the typical smartphones we have today which are fast great for multitasking.

 

 

The design is great keeping it to its original device dubbed the matrix phone back in 1996 but smaller more compact but with a bigger low res screen. The build is tough and should take a few knocks if you have not hopped it off a wall already being one of the snowflakes not understanding the purpose of the phone.

There is only one button on the 8110 which is enough and this powers it on the rest is hidden under the slider portion which gives us a nice flat keyboard with a dpad control panel that works very easily.

 

 

So what does it have.. You can make calls, text, there is a game store albeit limited for now,there is a camera,snake, YouTube, Assistant, A music player, Browser,email, Clock, Video player, Google, Maps,Calender, Note,Calculator , Recorder, FM Radio, Unit converter and wait for it “TWITTER” which is on the app store social page.

Another handy feature of the 8110 is it has a Wi-Fi hotspot so if you are stuck for a signal being a 4G device you can connect to this for an internet connection.

The main thing here is how you will need to revert back to the old texting format to get things done which in fairness is not that hard and you will fly along but the difference here is it is much slower than we are now custom to and the same applies to loading times which is faster than I was expecting but that’s how it is and for me it a good deterrent keeps me off the phone more than on it given I spend much of my working day on a phone constantly and a laptop.

I spoke to TRT WORLD about the Nokia 8110 during the year see that clip – HERE 

The screen is too small but thats not the point the camera is not mind-blowing but again not the point of this device but they are there to tide you over and get the job done, You can take videos and pictures and look at a screen and look on the web but it’s not the same experience you would get from a standard phone which is great.

I can understand to a point though with some criticism of the 8110 like why bother at all putting these features on it. However to pick some items NOT on the phone comparing to what is on it is simply nothing more than a baby that dropped their soother out of the pram because it did not have X and Y and has A and B. You do not understand the market this is aimed at and need to re-evaluate yourself.

 

For me the 8110 is a new lease of life like the 3110.. I can have calls and text at any time and should I need some more its there if I need it. I use my main smartphone during the day because I need it and to swap over to the 8110 I am free of constant notifications and the urge to pick it up and go looking for things,the phone just sits on the table or couch and I wait for it to get a call or text rather than me posting things on social and checking notifications from all my social accounts.

The battery is also great I only have to charge it once a while with my current usage and perhaps that will change as I am now trying to keep a phone out of my hand more than before and I can check my messages etc once a day and get back to having a life other than having me head stuck in a small screen.. The Nokia 8110 might be seen as a nostalgic tug on the heartstrings by some like the 3310 was but its a nice form factor and has plenty to keep you going without the fuss and its easy to use and will keep you from social and perhaps talk to your family,friends and collauges face to face for a change.

The Nokia 8110 4G is available nationwide and we will have updates on any new news on the device. In short its a great phone with enough to keep you going and keep you with your head up rather than buried in your phones screen and perhaps you might just talk to someone face to face for a while because currently things have gone to far and we no longer communicate face to face… Take a break people…

New Irish app aims revive the postcard #Postaselfie #Apps #Selfie

The mobile phone has become so powerful today it has replaced many things over the years and it is having an effect now on laptops and camera sales which are in decline some time and there is no sign of this slowing down as the mobile phone will continue to eat away at things we currently use today. You can look at that as being a bad thing and a good thing..

An effort to revive the old printed image format is also a thing today with Polaroid and FUJIFILM for examples with cameras on sale today but they have been re-designed for the digital age today and offer users to print off images but there is a cost behind it. When was the last time you sent a disposable camera or SD card into a shop to be processed and when did you last send a postcard though?

OK we can transfer our images to a laptop and that’s all grand and dandy or we can continue to post them on social media including your latest meal which being honest has got too annoying these days and everyone knows everything about everyone which I get but really we need to give it a rest and put the god dam phone away some more.

This new app is here for a similar reason and that is to revive the postcard.. When did you last send one?? I for one can’t remember and I bet a good deal of you don’t either.. Fear not though you can use your smartphone for this app not only to send images to family and friends but you can send a postcard too guys.. Aint that great!!! There is people out there that might still do and for the older folks that have no interest in powerful smartphones they love to recieve the humble postcard. Now is your chance to change things.

How does it work..

Post A Selfie couldn’t be easier to use. Simply take your photo or choose a photo from your library. Edit mode allows you to perfect your shot. Crop, customise or add a personalised message. Once you are happy, simply add the recipients address and send! The history tab keeps track of past postcards you have sent and you can even keep a record of your favorite shots.

OK so there is a cost but look at the brighter side..You dont have to go to a store to find a card, You dont have to settle for the postcards on offer in the said store, You dont have to queue in the store to pay for it. Also the cost involved. This app alows you to use your own images so you can customise it all by yourself from your mobile phone with no hassle and all done there and then without having to go looking eslewhere.. You can use it anywhere in the world too..

We have 10 FREE POSTCARDS to give away right now on Android head to our Twitter page and retweet and reply with #postaselfie and winner picked next FRIDAY.

Check it out and download HERE

Bluesound Unveils Gen 2i: the Next Generation of Streaming, High-Res Wireless Audio.

Bluesound, the leader in wireless, high-res, multi-room music systems, announced Bluesound Generation 2i (Gen 2i), building on the success of the brand’s previous platform. Gen 2i continues to strengthen the Bluesound line with dual-band Wi-Fi 5, Apple AirPlay 2 support, upgraded Bluetooth codecs, improved amplification and acoustics, and more, while maintaining value for consumers with minimal changes to retail pricing.

Bluesound’s new models are: NODE 2i (US$499 / £499 MSRP), POWERNODE 2i (US$799 / £799), VAULT 2i (US$1199 / £1099), PULSE 2i (US$799 / £749), PULSE MINI 2i (US$499 / £499), PULSE FLEX 2i (US$299 / £299), and PULSE SOUNDBAR 2i (US$799 / £799 in Black, US$899 / £899 in White). There are no changes being made to the PULSE SUB. As before, all Gen 2i models will be offered in a choice of Black or White finishes. All models are available now, with the exception of the PULSE SOUNDBAR 2i, which will follow in November.

All Bluesound models feature BluOS™, an award-winning, music management system that connects, organizes, and controls your music. Choose music from your favorite streaming service or from a music library connected to your home network. Bluesound integrates all these sources and sends the music to every room in the home. Featuring a family of dedicated multi-room, wireless streaming digital music players, Bluesound delivers a compelling high-resolution wireless digital music system with an audiophile-grade feature set.

New features common to all Bluesound Gen 2i models are as follows:

Apple AirPlay 2 Support

All Bluesound Gen 2i models are designed to support AirPlay 2, which will be delivered to Gen 2i owners via an upcoming software update.  With AirPlay 2, Gen 2i owners can stream just about any sound from their iPhone, iPad, or Mac to their Bluesound system — all in sync. Customers can stream music, books, and podcasts from their favorite Apps, or watch videos on their Apple device while streaming the audio through to their Gen 2i Player – imagine watching Netflix or YouTube on an iPad while filling the room with premium sound from a Bluesound system.

AirPlay 2 also gives users more options for control, including using Siri voice assistance. Once you add your Gen 2i Player to the Apple Home App on your iPhone or iPad, Apple Music subscribers can use their iOS device or HomePod to say things like: “Hey Siri, play smooth jazz in the Living Room” or “Hey Siri, turn it up in the Kitchen.”

By grouping a Gen 2i Player with older Bluesound Players in the BluOS App, existing customers can add AirPlay 2 compatibility to their entire BluOS system.

AirPlay 2 will be available for Gen 2i Players in an upcoming software release.

TWO-WAY BLUETOOTH

Gen 2i contains Bluesound’s most advanced take on Bluetooth to date – two-way Bluetooth, featuring both Receive and Transmit functionality. Receive capability allows users to wirelessly stream from their device to a Bluesound Player just like they’re used to doing with Gen 2. The Transmit capability means the user can now use their Bluesound Gen 2i Player as a source, sending what they are listening to via Bluetooth to a pair of wireless headphones. One exception: Bluesound PULSE FLEX 2i only supports the Receive functionality via Bluetooth.

aptX HD BLUETOOTH 

While Bluesound has improved the Bluetooth connectivity in Gen 2i, engineers also made sure that audio quality improvements are part of the Gen 2i Bluetooth story. The advanced Qualcomm CSR8675 chip used in these new products also supports aptX HD Bluetooth wireless audio. aptX HD is an enhanced codec that supports 24-bit audio over Bluetooth and has been engineered to improve the signal-to-noise ratio, resulting in lower background noise. With the ability to support streams up to 24bit/48kHz, a customer streaming from an aptX HD compatible device to a Gen 2i Player is actually able to listen to better-than-CD quality, wirelessly. It all fits into the Bluesound story – modern wireless convenience without sacrificing quality. Note that the PULSE FLEX 2i only supports aptX Bluetooth.

DUAL-BAND WI-FI 

Bluesound has also upgraded the Wi-Fi chipset technology in its Bluesound Players to the latest and greatest Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac) dual-band offering. Best-in-class products deserve best-in-class connection; with the new Wi-Fi chip onboard, Gen 2i owners can take advantage of the less noisy 5 GHz band if needed. This results in faster connection times and fewer interruptions from other network traffic.

PULSE FAMILY AMPLIFICATION

Who doesn’t like more power? All-new, custom-designed digital amplifiers in Bluesound’s  PULSE 2i and PULSE MINI 2i effectively double the available power used to drive these speakers. The difference is dramatic with improved bass response and more powerful sonic soundscapes as the new norm in Gen 2i.

New driver configurations in the PULSE 2i, PULSE MINI 2i, and PULSE FLEX 2i complement the upgraded amplification; the PULSE 2i and PULSE MINI 2i in particular now function as true stereo speakers.

Users also have better control over their audio settings with the PULSE 2i and PULSE MINI 2i. Popular DSP settings like Wide Mode, Late Night, and Dialog, much-loved and much-used in the Bluesound PULSE SOUNDBAR, are now available to these updated Gen 2i speakers.

The innovative mix of amp upgrades, driver re-configurations, and updated DSP settings breathes fresh life into the PULSE speaker lineup and reflects Bluesound’s commitment to creating the best wireless, multi-room home audio experience available.

The POWERNODE 2i now features two TOSLINK/3.5mm Optical and Analog inputs while the PULSE SOUNDBAR 2i now includes HDMI (ARC and eARC). These provide improved connectivity and flexibility.

“Ever since Bluesound’s exciting debut five years ago, we have listened to the marketplace and worked hard to make significant improvements throughout the line.” explained Matt Simmonds, Bluesound’s Product Manager. “Gen 2i represents another leap forward with major technological enhancements that make this generation of Bluesound products even more compelling. Best of all, Gen 2i is compatible with existing Bluesound systems.”

BluOS 3.0

All BluOS users, including Bluesound users, will receive a prompt to update their Players and their app on October 1, 2018. Updating to BluOS 3.0, all BluOS users will gain access to new music services like SOUNDMACHINE and Taihe Music Zone (China only) and an easier guided set-up process. As well, the release will include the plumbing for BluOS’s first voice integration, Amazon’s Alexa voice assistant, with the corresponding library of skills to launch soon.

BluOS 3.0 also contains specific support for Gen 2i features like two-way Bluetooth with aptX HD, and enhanced audio EQ settings including wide mode and deep bass. Software updates to support AirPlay 2 will come in a later release.

Key Features of Bluesound Gen 2i:

1. AirPlay 2 Support (coming soon via software update)
2. Two-Way Bluetooth
3. aptX HD Bluetooth
4. Dual Band Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac)
5. PULSE Family Amplification – more power and enhanced driver complement
6. Addition of HDMI ARC/eARC in the PULSE SOUNDBAR 2i

Further Information: 
Follow Bluesound on: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

The Nokia 8110 4G lands on Tesco Mobile. #Nokia #8110 #Ireland

The Nokia 8110 4G has just landed on Tesco Mobile for €79.99 The 8110 is the refreshed matrix phone if you will and has some features to keep you going but without the fuss of full access to social media and so on and it also has a smaller screen a camera just in case you happen to see something.

Key features

  • 2.4″ Display
  • 2MP Rear Camera
  • 4GB Internal Memory
  • Up to 32GB External Memory
  • 1500mAh Battery

Like the 3310 this device cuts out latest options available on smartphones today and will keep you off your phone and actually interact with people face to face.It does has a catchy look and with the possibility of whats app coming soon it might be just enough to replace your current handset and you can once again enjoy life without your head buried in a screen all day.

BUY HERE