Posts tagged “mobile”

Which do you take to bed, laptop, mobile phone, both or other — Dec 3, 2007
We’re living in a permantly more wired world and our conversations are no longer reserved to the workplace, bar or ski slope. As a result electronic devices are making their way into the bedroom more and more frequently. How many of you are on twitter. Is twitter the first person you say good morning to. Are you a Seesmic morning person or a seesmic goodnight person. Here are the answers I got within a few minutes. melissah @warzabidul Laptop for me. 08:14 AM December 01, 2007 from twitterrific in reply to warzabidul ruperthowe @warzabidul if i take a laptop to bed, i get threatened with a red card. phone just feels a bit creepy. so i just stay up through the night. 09:02 PM November 30, 2007 from web in reply to warzabidul Documentally @warzabidul i am more a book/notebook and ipod touch in bed man. 09:02 PM November 30, 2007 from web in reply to warzabidul sizemore @warzabidul: Every night I take to bed with me a girl, a laptop, an archos, a book and occasionally a cat. I don’t get much sleep. MaggieConv @warzabidul I take both! 03:56 PM November 30, 2007 from txt in reply to warzabidul dungeekin @warzabidul: laptop/WiFi devices don’t go upstairs with me. Phone does, but only as an alarm clock. 09:19 PM November 30, 2007 from web in reply to warzabidul So if you thought you were the only one taking your laptop, ipod touch or mobile phone you’re not the only one. There are many of us doing the same....
Which do you take to bed, laptop, mobile phone, both or other — Dec 3, 2007
David Fisher - Dec 2, 2007...
Vericorder and mobile video editing on the iphone — Jun 16, 2010
Waiting for the iPhone4 to come out in the hope to do mobile video editing is not necessary. Vericorder have come out with an app for that. The app is a simple to use video, recording and voice over recording app that allows for video editing and distribution to be possible on the move. There are three modes, record video, take photographs and record voice. Each of these modes allows you to gather material, name the clip and then record the next shot. The project tab allows you to add video clips to the sequence, shortening and sorting the videos in the order you want. After that is done go to the voice ovee app, record the audio, transcribe what you have said before adding the audio track to the timeline. Once that is done save the project. Export the video, chose send as video and you will have a finished edited news item. It is intuitive to use. Within ten minutes of use I understood how it works and simplz need to find events furring which to test the applicAtion....
Using an Xtorm Solar Charger — Apr 17, 2017
While in Spain for three weeks I was playing with the Xtorm solar Charger. I found that it worked well for the charging of tablets and e-book readers but not mobile phones. [caption id=“attachment_3462” align=“aligncenter”] Solar charger and external battery For years I have wanted to play with solar power. I have wanted to buy a solar panel that I could fix to my bag or that I could use to charge devices. I often looked at the price and weight and changed my mind. I don’t want something that adds kilos to my load, especially if I am climbing. With a small device like the one pictured above you can carry it with you and use it to charge devices. When you drive to the hike or climb, or when you stop for lunch or a drink you can take out this device and start charging your phone, gps, led lights or other devices. if you want to charge devices to 100 percent then I would recommend charging ipads, ebooks, gps watches and other devices with this device. I found that it’s great for providing a phone with a top up charge but that because of my mobile use patterns it will only provide one full charge per day. When we hear people speak about solar power we always hear about “How do we store the power we generate so that we can use it when we need it?” and I found a way. When I woke up in the morning I would put the solar charger near a window or outside if there was no chance of rain to charge up to over 75 percent. When it reached this charge I connected the solar charger to a 10,000mah external battery. It is by using this technique that I have been able to keep my external battery fully charged with no need to plug it in to mains power. In effect it means that I can charge the ipad, the phone or the e-book reader without using mains power....
Two very different types of Qik videos — Jul 13, 2008
Today both a friend and I are among the top qikkers of the day. Whilst Documentally of Ourmaninside.com was in Milton Keynes getting an iphone 3g and streaming a number of videos on the experience I was filming dancers at the Geneva lake Parade. Both these events have appeal for different reasons. We’re used to watching videos of Americans getting the iphone and doing a variety of geek events and for once we had the English experience. It’s not a very visual occurrence but at least it’s been streamed and shared. He also took the opportunity to speak about lifecast, a new way of sharing the media you generate over a day. The Lake Parade is a very different type of event. It’s the type of event photographers and camera oeprators go to in order to get video and photographs of girls dancing to music. It’s only once a year and previous years have been better. I like the fact that I can go to the event with a phone, stream video straight to the web and all without the hassle of a camera and laptop. I’m commenting on the latter because it’s the second time I see someone walking with a laptop in order to do some live streaming of an event whilst I’m very light. I could have shot in high definition but everyone’s doing that. What interests me is going to an event, finding some action, sharing it live as it happens and not have any real post production concerns. In general live streaming from mobile phones is an interesting way of covering events that does not get much publicity. As a result the audiences are not as large as they could be but that will change. It’s just a matter of getting people used to the idea of webcams and live streams being more interesting than a static twenty meters from where the action is happening....
Twitter's broken again — Mar 31, 2008
Yes, it’s happened yet again, twitter is broken again but in an entirely new way. At first it appeared that twitter had crashed in the old way, that is to say no server response. This time is different though. We’ve got the WML website version showing. The mobile version is now on the web version. Does this mean we’ll see the replies tab on twitter mobile? I really hope so. I want to see how people respond, no point in tweeting if you’re not listening. Thanks twitter, for finding yet another interesting way in which to break. —update— nothing broke, same crap mobile interface as always....
Twitter's broken again — Mar 31, 2008
Roland Hesz - Apr 2, 2008...
Traxx.fm app — Mar 24, 2011
Traxx.fm is a music station I’ve been familiar with for over a year but only recently downloaded and used as an iPhone app. It was developed by a friend in Geneva. The fitness centre where I go uses traxx.fm for background music. The advantage of this online live streaming option is that you have 20 themes and the playlists are compiled from a number of sources. As a result there is a wealth of music to be discovered without the drawback of over-exuberant presenters. There are also no commercials. If you pay for the HD version you are helping to fund them. The reason I like the app is that it offers what last.fm used to offer to its users before being bought by AOL, continuous music you could start listening to and enjoy for the next three hours or more....
Transport tycoon Deluxe as a PAF — Mar 29, 2011
Transport Tycoon, the popular game, is now available as a portable application file. This means that you can install it on a USB key and play the game from anywhere. This comes alongside the openTTD which is an open source movement to keep the game around for us to enjoy. The aim of the game is to create a transport empire using, trains, trucks, buses, planes and boats. As you build more networks so you gain more money and your services can expand. It is a management game to help you see the hours away in your free time....
Touch typing on the N95 8GB — Oct 3, 2008
Whilst at a number of concerts I had to type fast, very fast on a mobile phone keyboard. Within a very short time I began touch typing. I can type whilst looking around. That’s a useful feature of certain phones. It’s useful because it means the keyboard is well designed. Are there many mobile devices that you use and can you touch type on them. Do you touch type on your blackberries, iphones or other devices or do you see that as the preserve of computer use?...
TomTom Go and the diminishing cost of live traffic data when driving — May 5, 2015
Today with Tomtom Go you pay 20CHF per year for the maps and traffic information. When I first bought the TomTom Europe apps for iOS and Android they cost about 170CHF an operating system. If my memory serves me well traffic information would cost an additional 100 CHF per year. As a result of the high cost for traffic information I was in the habit of using Waze. As long as you have a data connection you get maps and traffic information for free. It would save you 270 CHF initially. When you live in the french speaking part of Switzerland you are just minutes from France and within hours you can be in Germany, Austria and Italy. As a result having maps pre-loaded in to your navigation is useful. That’s where Tomtom at 20CHF per year becomes interesting. The maps available are for individual countries, for Western, Europe, Eastern Europe, the whole of Europe, The Caribbean, North America and South America. Each of these maps can be downloaded ahead of a trip and used. This means that once you’ve paid your 20 CHF you have maps for the world, not just for your daily commute. I am so convinced by Tomtom’s new philosophy that I have uninstalled Waze and will now use Tomtom primarily and Google maps as a backup....
thoughts typed on a mobile phone — Dec 27, 2006
There are times in life when a little peace and quiet are the perfect thing. When you know that the people who are getting drunk are there for one night then the motivation is lacking. Add to this a language and sound barrier and what you get is an unmotivated individual. It’s not that I’m being anti-social. What’s the point of these intellectual and language barriers being formed. I’m glad that I spent a few evenings working in the uni library so that I could work on becoming integrated into a culture and ethnic group I would otherwise have less to do with. One of the weaknesses in this global society is that the individuals are not open enough to learn the languages and break out of the shackles of their father and mother culture. These idiots should adapt to inherit a new culture. One where it does not matter what social background you’re from, what country or ethnic background. Everyone should be outward-looking. This is especially true of those living abroad. What is the point of coming to Switzerland simply to be stuck with the same people and language as if you were in the nation of origin? Forget those who travel without adapting because they are a waste of time and energy. Those are the views I hold whilst listening to some music in a bar/nightclub. goodnight...
Thoughts on the Oculus Quest — Sep 12, 2019
During the World XR Forum I had to carry six or more Oculus Quest devices from a car to the conference centre and then help with setting up at least one of these devices. At first I thought it was like most VR headsets where the phone is the display....
A theoretical Seven Minute Workout a day — Jan 9, 2018
Seven Minute Workout for 36 days...
The summer eccentricity. — Jul 2, 2010
There are four phones on my desk that are well adapted to tracking hikes. There is the nexus one, the e51, n95 and n97. The reason I mention this is battery life. In my experience if you go on a long hike at least one of the phones will die. You could buy an extra battery or two to make sure that this never happens but a more practical solution is to take all of your phones, install the tracking application on them and swap phone once the battery dies. Of course this would involve taking three chargers with you but at least this way you could track the hike in terms of chapters and somehow aggregate the data for a true hike map....
The N95 8gb, google maps and navigation — Dec 18, 2008
If it’s something geeky you’ll see me learn how to use it. The most recent thing I’ve played with is the n95 8gb and google maps. This time though it was from a car rather than on foot and as a result it was far quicker to correct a mistake. I took care to locate the satellites before leaving home so that when I arrived to Lausanne I could stop by the side of the road, load google maps, press 0 and the gps in the phone would automatically locate me within 30 kilometers. I then had to type the address of where I wanted to go and confirm it was correct. Within seconds I had a track. I looked at it. Saw where I was and where I needed to go and that was that, very easy. Once or twice I overshot but within just a few seconds I knew and finding the place was a piece of cake. Of course I didn’t use the device whilst the car was moving. I made sure to keep both eyes attentive to the road conditions and only when I was stopped did I check. It worked really well....
The best edit suite is the one you have with you. — Sep 10, 2018
You remember the old saying. The best camera is the one that you have with you. Today the same can be said about “edit suites” that you carry in your trousers or jacket pocket. I’m speaking of edit suites that work with your iphone or ipad. Lumafusion is one such example....
The 3g golden Goose and it's noose. — Jul 14, 2008
You see, 3G is the golden goose for wireless carriers. It’s technology that turns their networks from boring voice systems to multi-functional data systems. They’re going from being a diner offering three specials/day to a restaurant with a huge buffet. This buffet is enticing and offers something for pretty much everyone but you’ll have to pay for it....
Strava Now Has Rock Climbing, Hiking And More — Aug 31, 2016
Strava now has rock climbing, hiking and many more sports. Sports tracker, movescount and other applications already allowed you to do this but it is nice to see one more network provide us with this option. [caption id=“attachment_3340” align=“aligncenter”] Strava expanded the number of sports you can track Up until now I had to make sure to go for a bike ride or three per week to keep people updated on what I did. During week days I am likely to go for bike rides. On two to three evenings per week I may go climbing and on the weekend I may go hiking or for a walk. As a result I can track the diversity of my activities. [caption id=“attachment_3341” align=“aligncenter”] Strava has updated the list of sports With rock climbing I would like them to add two or three more fields. I would like them to add an option to add the grade of the climb we did. This would need to use the European and the American systems. It would help us track our progress and even track how hard we worked if we’re wearing a heart monitor as we climb. In effect it could provide us with a way of seeing who else is climbing and whether we match their skill level. In the long run this could contribute to new groups. I have created a group for Swiss Via Ferrata in anticipation of via ferrata practitioners joining the network and sharing their climbs. Until recently I would only track cycling and running. Now that walking, hiking and climbing have been added I can track a number of new sports. It should result in people using the app more frequently. It could be fun to see climbing and hiking heat maps. We will see how they adapt the input section to match the sports....
Strava Now Has Rock Climbing, Hiking And More — Aug 31, 2016
David - First of May 2018...
Sony and Crosscall Mobile phone advertising — Sep 11, 2015
The Sony Xperia Z5 compact is for women who blog about fashion and the Sony Xperia M5 is for baristas who dream of owning a sports car but can’t quite pay for it yet. These adverts will never hook me in to wanting their products. I’m the type of person who lives in the countryside and spends his weekends in the mountains on adventures. I want the Sony Xperia Z5 because of it’s fast autofocus, it’s new technology and it’s 4k recording technology and new image sensor. The geek press gave me information about the device and that’s what woke up my interest. Marketing to geeks is all about the specs and the technology. Marketing to normal people is about “This is the lifestyle you have and this device will survive it”. In the land of Sony people live in cities. Now to contrast with crosscall. Crosscall make rugged strong mobile phones and their advertising is more in line with my own lifestyle.In the space of one month I shattered three screens on two phones. Two of those screen shatters were as a result of playing Ingress. In one case I stood up and the phone slipped from my lap on to the floor, bounced and then fell down again. It fell about two metres and the screen became unresponsive. In the second case I tripped on a step and fell with my hand rotated so that the screen took the impact rather than my wrist. I was so disgusted with myself for the incident that I was tempted by the Crosscall Odyssey+. The phone is rugged and would probably survive such a fall. It has excellent battery life but it’s data connection leaves to be desired especially when playing location based games like Ingress. Crosscall advertise their devices as rugged, for the adventurous among us. They use runners, surfers, climbers and snowboarders as brand ambassadors. It’s through one of Xavier De La Rue’s posts on Facebook that I learned of the brand and that my curiousity was peaked. The Crosscall Odyssey+ is a niche device. The Trekker X1 has a better chance of appealing to a broader audience. I love that devices by Sony and Crosscall are being advertised as weatherproof now. As an iphone user I liked that Lifeproof provided me with weatherproofing. I appreciate that brands are making their devices weatherproof by default. Soon it will be possible to throw people in to pools without warning once again… once autumn and winter have left place for next summer, of course....
Some more playing with Flixwagon. — Jun 11, 2008
These streams are to illustrate how easily you can record some video as live of a walk and upload them one you get to a wifi hotspot to avoid paying the data rates offered by most mobile operators....
Some Android apps. — Jul 16, 2010
To see which apps I have just take a look below....
Social conversations and the social media — May 1, 2015
If you read “How to Win Friends and Influence People” you see how important it is to take notice of other people, to be positive and to be interested in what they are doing. That can be a challenge for everyone. We all have different priorities so putting other people first is a challenge. The World Wide Web is a place where we can listen and talk at the same time. We listen to a conversation and then we comment. We can start our own conversation and wait for others to see it and respond. As a result we are both engaging with others and letting others engage with us. There is a bilateral trade which leaves both parties feeling good. Social media, today a misnomer, was a conversation place. Everyone talked with everyone and everyone became familiar with everyone else. The Global Village that Marshall McLuhan wrote about looked like it would become a reality. At the time when this reality looked the most feasible was the time before mobile phones and proper data plans. At this time we used computers from a fixed location, either at home, an office, university or other places. With Wifi we had some freedom but nowhere the freedom that smart phones and data plans have provided us with. That’s why people’s feeling that mobile phones are disconnecting people is such a ridiculous notion. In my vision of the world, in the adoption cycle that I observe the mobile phone is the great connector. We meet people online, we appreciate them, we meet them in person. Seesmic and the early days of twitter were very good tools for this lifestyle. As data plans included more and more data so it would follow that social media websites would be about individual to individual conversation. It would logically follow that people would feel more at ease conversing online as their friends adopt the technology and have chats. Facebook, twitter and Google Plus should be social web forums where people are interested in the people they follow. What I see, as data plans and smartphone adoption rises is the opposite. People share links and promote rather than converse. Social media should be rebranded as Ego Media, brand media or advertising media. The platforms that should have made us conversational have been overtaken by advertising. It’s a good time to continue blogging. It’s a monologue until you contribute a comment. The World Wide Web is a de-centralised conversation tool and we move from platform to platform looking for the places where the personal connections are strongest. As the social media days fade in to history now is the time for each of us to blog, to write about what we feel passionate about....
The Paradox of "kicking smartphone addictions". — Mar 9, 2017
It’s amusing that people think of “kicking smartphone addictions”. We now have a decade of experience in the current social media landscape. We have a decade of using smartphones rather than feature phones. In effect we have had a decade to adapt our lives to the age of the ubiquitous smartphone. We can ignore the Blackberry and Nokia ages where phones were for phone calls, playing snake and business rather than pleasure. [caption id=“attachment_3418” align=“aligncenter”] Those that see social media as a disease usually have partners. People who see smartphones or social media as addictive usually have one thing in common. They have a “partner”. They spend their free time with a specific individual. “It’s about finding balance. I became conscious of what matters to me, in my life. My smartphone is still a part of it, but it’s no longer the boss.” I have never been addicted to the device as such. My passions lie with what I can do with the device. I was passionate about Twitter when it was a social network. I was passionate about facebook when it was a way of keeping up with friends. If Twitter and facebook become ego-networks for marketers and public relations professionals then the “addictive” aspect of smartphones vanishes. As social media goes from a conversation to a broadcast and a monologue it delivers another opportunity. It gives us the chance to go back to reading books. As we no longer “socialise” with smartphones the “addiction” is gone. We loose nothing by spending time “offline”. You don’t need to give up the smartphone or any apps. If you’re like me you can pick up an e-book reader and replace Facebook and twitter with reading. If you’re going to passively read an e-book reader is an interesting alternative....
Skype through a mobile phone — Jan 12, 2007
I just ran a test and skype with my mobile phone works fine. It means that when in range of open wifi hotspots without restrictions I can take advantage of free phone calls....
Qik, Snowfall — Dec 31, 2008
Here, some qik snowfall, on the last day of the year...
Qik, Snowfall — Dec 31, 2008
Documentally - Dec 3, 2008...
Paléo Festival De Nyon images, Nexus and Olympus — Jul 24, 2010
Here are some images of the Paléo festival. These pictures were taken with the Nexus One [flickr-gallery mode=“photoset” photoset=“72157624569201440”] And these pictures were taken with the Stylus tough 8010 minimu tough 8010. [flickr-gallery mode=“photoset” photoset=“72157624567505952”]...
One Hundred Million Geo-Tagged Images — Feb 6, 2009
One Hundred Million is the number of photographs geotagged on flickr. That’s an impressive number. There’s an article about the news here but I want to explore the fun side of things. Whenever I take photographs with my mobile phone they’re geo tagged so where ever I am in the world I can pinpoint within five to twenty meters where it’s been taken. As a result if I go for a walk every day for a year I can take pictures of the different seasons and how the landscape changes, from snow to spring to summer and more. It also means that when you’re going on holiday to some of the top tourist destinations you can find all the images taken around there and see the area before you arrive, scouting out where you would particularly like to go. It’s also a way of keeping your own record. We’ve all heard that sentence, “hey that’s a great picture, where did you take it” but the photographer never remembers. Now there’s no worry. You’ve automatically kept track. Listening to a recent "This Week in Tech I heard mention of GPS units that are smaller than a nail, meaning that they could be put into all devices by default. Whether you share that information is entirely up to you, as is clear in flickr. I’m looking forward to more geo-cached images of the area around which I live, then when you’re tracking me with latitude and I upload images to flickr they are automatically placed on the map in real time....
On social determinism and the media — Jan 30, 2007
My week started at 10 this morning and was over by 1300 this afternoon. It was a lecture and a seminar about Brian Winston and social determinism in relation to the media. It’s a theory which is exploring whether social factors affect the technology that we use. I was taking notes during that lecture but not with pen and paper and without a laptop. Instead I was using the O2 XDA minis. It’s a really nice device and I’ve had it for over two months now. What I love about it is it’s size, being about the size of my palm it’s large for a fun but tiny for a laptop. It’s got a big display and a sign out keyboard. It’s also got a good scribling interface which makes handwriting notes just as easy as typing. It’s a friend that played with this feature and I’m quite impressed. The reason I love it is that it’s got all the features you’d expect from the i-phone but in the windows operating system and for a European market. The fact it’s got a keyboard makes it ideal for fast typing of sms. I often find myself writing over 200 characters because it’s so simple. Checking e-mail is a doddle. Simply download the gmail interface and connect to the web. The download of messages is easy and intuitive. It’s a shame that data transfer over gprs is still expensive otherwise it’d be perfect. I’ve made a skype call with it and it’s worked well. I was able to make a phone call to a mobile phone and talk and hear myself at the same time. Being alone that’s complicated but I know it works. I bought a program and that makes the synchronisation extremely straight forward. I have contacts, pictures and some word documents synced on the ibook and the mobile phone this way. It’s perfect for students and I really enjoy using the device. I’m speaking as someone who’s owned at least 5-10 mobile phones over the past few years....
Mountain streams — May 11, 2008
Whilst some people are perfectly happy sitting at a desk chatting to others via webcams I prefer to be out and about streaming daily life. Today was one example of what I like to do. I went up to La Dole for a walk with the n95 and streamed a few landscapes for people following me on twitter to see. We finally got caught out by some hail and thunder but my phone survived. I want more people to do this type of thing. Come out and have fun, stream life as it happens. Show us what’s outside your living room or home office....
Mobile phones and video streaming to the web — May 10, 2008
Computing is mobile and as I sit in the garden to type this post someone else is currently streaming some lions live from his mobile phone. It’s not about you sitting at a desk and typing, now it’s about going out, having a nice day and sharing it with others as they enjoy their day....
Manu Chao At Paléo — Jul 24, 2017
The Manu Chao Concert...
Lebara Spain — Dec 29, 2014
If you visit Spain and get a lebara Spain sim you need to set up two access point names. One is for internet access and the other is for MMS. I only point this out because dozens of sites tell you what the configuration requirements are but non indicate that you are setting up two access points. APN 1: Name: lebara internet APN: gprsmov.lebaramobile.es username: wap apn type: default, supl APN 2: name: lebara MMS APN: mms.lebaramobile.es mms proxy: 212.73.32.10 MMS port: 80 MMSC http://mms.lebaramobile.es/servlets/mms...
Lebara Spain — Dec 29, 2014
David Seifert - 5th of April 2016...
It's a question of Gravity - Twitter on S60 — Apr 10, 2009
Gravity is a twitter client for the s60 and I recently installed it on my N95 and so far I’m very happy with it. With an intuitive interface it makes being logged in to two twitter accounts and one identica account very easy. What is especially nice is that you select which account you want to look at and by scrolling left and right you see the friend’s timeline, the replies, your tweets, your DM and finally searches if you want. That’s automatic and for every account. It’s far better than the other twitter clients for s60 that I’ve tried so for the moment that is one twitter client I would recommend you use. I know what I’m talking about. I tweet from anywhere without it slowing down my social life. Also if you pay for this app after the ten day trial period you’re helping demonstrate that it’s not just the iphone which has people willing to pay for the applications...
Interbine - Free your Mobile video - delivery via Wifi... — Apr 19, 2008
is an automated service that grabs videos from RSS feeds and converts them to 3gpp for easy download to the N95 and other mobile phones running the s60 OS. There are a number of default shows including MobuzzTV, Zefrank, National Geographic, DiggNation, Rocketboom and a number of other well known shows. In the right hand column you have another four methods of accessing content, searching, browsing according to keywords, highest rated or what’s new. The second option is to browse through the directories they have selected to find the categories that are closest to your particular interests....
Ingress and the Sony Xperia Z3 — Dec 14, 2014
Ingress is a game that requires a data connection, GPS data and the screen to be on. As a result of this battery consumption is high. Earlier today I took the Sony Xperia Z3 out in the rain and played for two solid hours non stop walking from portal to portal and the battery was at 50 percent. This is excellent compared to other devices. The phone is also waterproof to a depth of one meter therefore the rain we had this afternoon was no hindrance to game play. Every so often I had to wipe the screen as the touch screen stopped functioning as well as it should due to the signals it was getting from the rain....
I'm going to play with Flixwagon — Mar 26, 2008
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Hike near Leysin in the Canton De Vaud — Nov 27, 2011
Today was a warm day. With a group of people we went to Leysin for a hike. Here are some pictures from the event. [flickr-gallery mode=“photoset” photoset=“72157628177774925”]...
Google Latitude — Feb 4, 2009
Google latitude is an interesting app available at least on Nokia phones that allows you to see where your friends are according to their mobile phone. At the moment it’s limited just to your gmail friends but expand to include more. What makes this application interesting in the near future is that as more of the early adopting friends of yours install this app you’ll see which city they’re in quite easily. If the friends are in a public space then you can get more accurate directions. It’s an interesting application....
Google Latitude — Feb 4, 2009
warzabidul - Feb 5, 2009...
Google Latitude and Automatic stalking for only your closest friends — Jul 1, 2010
Google latitude is the perfect tool for anyone that works and has a life where logging into locations would be an unsightly thing to do. By that I mean that you can’t arrive at work and log into the location. It gives colleagues the impression you are not serious about your work. Now take this same situation in a social context. You go hiking and the people around you are not necessarily as passionate about technology. They’re walking around with paper maps after all. That’s where Google latitude comes into it’s own. Location is tracked 24 hours a day, 7 days a week every single day that your device is on. Why am I doing this? Am I not mad? Do I not have this location information to hide, and no shame? Well of course I have things to hide and shame but with this network only your closest friends can see where you are. And they only know your current location, not your previous locations. That’s where the service differs from foursquare, gowalla, yelp and all the others. Your location history is private. Only you have access to it. Then why use it in the first place? Well that’s simple. It’s a lifelog that’s not broadcast. You can keep track of how much time you’ve spent at home, at work and out socialising. Once a week I get to find out whether I was at work for more than fifty hours, whether I was at home for too many hours. More importantly i get to see whether I should not be a little more active in going out, from a personal life point of view. That’s where I’m lacking at the moment. Google latitude’s dashboard will help change that. Now, how could it improve? First of all automatic location check in. If I’m by starbucks in Geneva airport log me in if I’m seeing that network more than ten minutes. If I’m at the apple store for that amount of time log me in there. If I’m at a bar and I lose signal in that region due to poor network coverage then assume I’m in that bar. By being automatic and private location information could be quite a bit more interesting. More to the point that data is being collected anyway by mobile operators so why not take advantage of this? I believe this to be the future of mobile geo-location. With more android phones out there and more devices capable of multitasking this could easily become the norm....
Google chrome as a PAF — Jul 1, 2010
PAF is not just the way you discribe something hitting something else. It is also used to define a portable application file. These are self contained executables that you can use for mobile versions of your favourite browser. One of my personal favourites at the moment is Chrome, it’s fast, light, and behaves the way I want it to. Better still it incorporates flash into the code. This means that I can view flash content without it being installed on the computer I’m using. Get it here...
Gmail V 2.0 on the N95 8gb — Oct 24, 2008
Having just noticed that the new gmail application for S60 is out I have noticed some interesting new features, the most interesting of which for some of you may be the accounts tab so that you may use more than one gmail account at once. Other features include Chats, outbox, mobile drafts, Chat, contacts and more. One of the more interesting options now is that you can search through your e-mails straight from the application on the phone rather than using the website. As a result it’s far easier to find that particular e-mail with flight information or the route you were planning on taking....
From One Screen to the Next and the Next — Sep 25, 2008
A good video looking at the evolution towards the fourth screen...
From Mobile to train station display live. — May 3, 2008
If this isn’t a hoax then this is pretty fun. A guy claims to have hacked into the video display at a train station and is streaming live....
Flightradar24 — Feb 22, 2011
Flight radar 24 is an iphone app that allows you to see where aircraft are on google maps. It shows the callsign, registration, altitude and a lot more. It is a fun app for plane spotters. [caption id=“attachment_1326” align=“aligncenter” caption=“Planes approaching Geneva airport”] Sit on a city roof or at the top of a mountain and as you see a plane fly above you you will know where it’s coming from and where it’s going. Next time I have to pick someone up at the airport I will be using the flight tracker to know exactly where the plane is. Boredom will be of a different type. [caption id=“attachment_1327” align=“aligncenter” caption=“Flight information”] The information about what the plane is doing is quite complete. The only thing missing would be a live radio feed of the ATC communications....
Flightradar24 — Feb 22, 2011
Charles Sharkey - 14th of Jul, 2020...
Flight to the Monzino Refuge and hike. — Sep 12, 2010
A short helicopter flight to a mountain refuge in Aosta, on the Italian side of the Mt Blanc. Good fun, walk to the glacier and back. I also tested my Iphone 4 phone....
first post from the touch — Nov 21, 2007
this is a post typed from the iPod touch to see how easy it isto use. Aside from not having a proper keyboard it seems to work fine. Great for blogging on the move....
Finally re-united with my Macbook pro — Jun 11, 2008
After over a month without the macbook pro it finally appears to be working again. Both the motherboard and the superdrive have been replaced. i’ve upgraded to the procare package and I’ve decided to have a secondary machine running linux as a backup. It’s a shame that apple authorised resellers would take over a month to put my machine right bt now it’s done and I’m not going to think about upgrading mac machines for the next two years… unless I come to a large amount of cash in which case I’d rethink that. What I am more interested in now though is what can be done with mobile phones and mobile devices. In particular I was really happy to have the N95 8gig because it allowed me to cut out the laptop all together. The point is that now all devices should be self contained, able to do everything without the need for a laptop. For weeks I couldn’t get the latest podcasts or keep up with feedreading. Even checking e-mail was less practical. Now is the time to see how far we can go in doing everything from a portable device....
Feedly for iPhone — Mar 29, 2011
Feedly is an application that takes google reader’s feeds and displays them in a more appealing manner. The browsing experience is more enjoyable as a result. The first item is displays on a splash page as ou see on the left. Flick to the right and you get a list of articles. This list fits articles to fill the screen. You must flick to the right to get to the next article. Click on the article and the text goes full screen. You can then bookmark articles, like them or share. Sharing is the standard tweet, mail, copy url, open in browser and mobilize. ![Feedly navigation](/content/images/2011/03/20110327-115128.jpg "navigation.jpg) Feedly navigation is done via the bottom left corner of the screen as you see in the image to the right. Click on this and you get a list of feeds you have subscribed to. This is the google reader list. Reading of feeds can be either by individual rss feed or by category. The number of unread posts is visible to the right. Active feeds can be read individually. ![Automatic feed creation](/content/images/2011/03/20110327-121811.jpg "automatic.jpg)One of the most interesting features of feedly is it’s ability to auto-generate smart lists of interesting blog posts according to popularity/buzz, whether they were saved for later, essentials, latest and more. Buzz allows you to see which of the posts are most interesting according to popularity within the RSS feeds you and your contacts are subscribed to. There is no ability to comment on articles at this moment in time and integration into google buzz is not possible yet. As a result you can quickly skim through articles but should you want to offer an opinion you will have to resort to another app. Everything that Feedly offered to it’s users on computers and laptops is now available to it’s users via the mobile application. As a result your user experience will be the same across both platforms. With the iPhone version of this product you can read all articles while on the move, on trains in cars, or when waiting for a queue to move forward....
Don't rely on twitter in case of Emergency. — Mar 4, 2009
Snowboarding is a fun and safe sport as long as you know what you’re doing. Occasionally of course we push the limits. A few years ago whilst snowboarding with someone around La Dole we decided that rather than go back down via St Cerque we would snowboard home by passing over the ridge and down the other side. For decades both us had hiked those slopes so we knew them well. I took one step and felt myself falling. I was face down in the snow and I called to the person I was with to know whether he could see me. He could, so I knew there was no problem. We both strapped our snowboards on and from that point we snowboarded down the slope. In Verbier a 29 year old Entrepreneur lost his life after falling from a cliff into a rive below, from a few articles I’ve read. The conditions are unclear at the moment. What is clear though is that the people did not have a proper contingency plan or experience of the mountains. If the conditions are adverse the last thing you want to do is go off piste, especially when you’re not with a local guide who knows the mountains. The reason I’m speaking about this particular story is that these people had some of the latest technology at their disposal. GPS enabled iphones and twitter, as is written in this article. If you’re lost in the mountains with this type of device you can get a geo loc within twenty meters of where you are. You can see a satellite view of where you are and you can see which way would be the best to get home. You can also stay put and let rescuers find you rather than attempt to make it back down. If your GPS location is within 20 meters it’s not that complicated to find two people. The other reason I’m speaking about this is that some of those who were part of the group were tweeting the adventure. One tweet speaks about the great time they were having and how they “finished the ski day due to complete whiteout”. The next is about the 2 people missing. Screen grabs of the tweets are here. This demonstrates the weakness of the iphone and the GPS functionality. With my phone whenever I go outdoors the GPS tracks my exact location within 20-60 meters. What this means is that if I go missing within a minute you’ll see exactly where I am if you’ve added me on Google latitude. On that note I’ve invited a few more people to follow me on google latitude. If you have an S60 Symbian phone maybe you could do the same, just as a backup. It’s a shame it had to happen to anyone, especially since that type of accident is easy to avoid. It’s even more of a shame that Hermioneway, whom I met at LeWeb in Paris is one of those that had to go through the experience. Switzerland is a beautiful country for all those that enjoy outdoors sports and beautiful landscapes so it’s a shame that it’s overshadowed by that event....
Blackberry torch as a new toy. — Feb 20, 2011
Blackberry is the latest phone operating system I have played with. So far my impressions of the OS are not that favourable. In particular what confuses me is the inability to setup the mail client, twitter and facebook out of the box as I can do with symbian, android, iOS and one or two other mobile platforms. What I do like is that the battery is meant to last a long time. I have a virtual and physical keyboard and I quite like optical scrolling. ¨ We will see how long it takes before I feel at home with this new operating system....
An Autumn walk at the foot of the Jura. — Oct 26, 2011
An Autumn walk at the foot of the Jura. It was earlier today as I was doing the later shift. [flickr-gallery mode=“photoset” photoset=“72157627857326021”]...
About the Ipad, which I will refer to as the Itablet in this post. — Jan 28, 2010
Designers must understand that user interface as well as ease of use are the two most important features of any electronics device. The more intuitive the device the more likely people are to keep using it. As a first generation Ipod touch user and an iphone 3gs owner I see the value of simple, intuitive confident design. Looking at the itablet (ipad) what I see in this design are three key qualities, ergonimcs, ease of use and versatility. All of these combined make this device one of the most interesting on the market at the moment. The smooth, slick design reminds us of the macbook air but without the keyboard. As it is a laptop we will expect less from it but get more out. The macbook air is running the same OS as the Macbook Pro therefore we expect it to do the same things but when it cannot then we say it underperfoms. The tablet doesn’t have that problem. It’s sold as a slate that has a touch screen that can serve as a multimedia device. Ease of use is another key feature. When you’re using a netbook, an N97 or many other devices you need some understanding of how things work. You need to understand how to configure an exchange server, you need to type the right character to complete the word and if you want to transfer files you need specific software. Of course the tablet has the same thing, you need itunes to do this. That’s an advantage and a dissadvantage. The advantage is that whenever you connect to any laptop (With the right library key) you can update podcasts and other content intuitively. The second advantage is that the app store is so much easier to use on the mac than other platforms. We are used to buying apps and music on that device. Who hasn’t downloaded 10-15 apps for their iphone or ipod touch already? Imagine the facebook app on the tablet, or the flickr app. In fact think about the day after a party. Hundreds of pictures were taken and you want to show them to friends, and have a good laugh. With the computer you can do this but you’re stuck at the desk, or you’re sitting down to be more comfortable. With the Ipad you hold it comfortably and a few people can stand around to see these images. Of course it’s less intimate than showing them on an iphone ;-). It’s also a way of demonstrating your picture portfolio or your multimedia showreel. Versatility is the last point of interest for this device. If you want to use it for picture viewing then it could double as a photo frame, if you want to use it as a calendar and e-mail client then you can. If you want to play games then the larger screen means that all the games you already have for the iphone and ipod touch can be used. Finally you can dock a keyboard to the screen and it becomes a 750 gram laptop. The advantage of this device’s keyboard, bought seperately is that you now have a laptop. You’re free to tweet, blog, sort through pictures and edit documents if iworks works well on the device. Now the question you’re wondering, would I buy one? Not until July 2010 after the summer keynote. I want to see how they implement these new features into their line of futre laptops. Will they give us a dual screened laptop where the keyboard and mouse are replaced by a second touch screen or will we get the conventional keyboard and monitor where the screen is now touch based? That’s the point at which we can decide whether the tablet or a new laptop make more sense....
A gorge and a Railway tunnel — Oct 29, 2011
Today I went exploring the French Jura in the hope of capturing some of the Autumnal colours. I drove an hour into the Jura and arrived at this place. They say that it’s a one hour walk but it took me less than that to cover. There is information along the path for children to learn about features of Gorges and how they’re formed. What I found more interesting was a sign for the Tram Jurasienne railway line. In June there is a race along the path where the railway line once passed. Like Julia Bradbury in her British Railway walks I walked over a viaduct and along some lines until I arrived at a tunnel. I enjoyed that documentary series and as a result I would like to follow the line further. It will require some research. So far I see that it was the first Jurassic tram. I also know that the race with the same name is 29 km long. What I don’t know is where it starts and where it ends. I also don’t know how much of the path is walkable. That is part of the time. More information Some more information Aerial view of the line [flickr-gallery mode=“photoset” photoset=“72157628003227616”]...
A chevreuil in 4K — Sep 12, 2015
Yesterday I went for a walk around the foot of the Jura and there is an enclosure where deer are kept waiting to be slaughtered for meat. As the Chasse season is coming up this park might not be as busy. This video was shot using the Sony Xperia Z3 compact. The image is a little blue for my liking. I look forward to testing the Xperia Z5 compact with it’s improved sensor and new image stabilisation technology. I have no 4K monitors on which to assess image quality at the moment....
81st International Motorshow Geneva, as seen via a blackberry torch 9800. — Mar 6, 2011
I went to the car show today and despite the crowds I was able to test the blackberry torch. You can see the results here. [flickr-gallery mode=“photoset” photoset=“72157626208238848”]...
7000 youtube views — Jul 30, 2008
Over the past month I have seen an increase of 7000 views in relation to the videos I have posted on youtube. The two events that helped make this a reality are the Geneva Lake Parade and the Paleo Festival. For the Paleo Festival scantily clad girls were an attractive proposition. As to the paleo it was taking video I had streamed live on qik and sharing it via a number of video sharing websites of which youtube was one. To give an idea of the audience peaks we saw over 900 views for the Lake Parade footage and over 1300 views for Manu Chao. That’s a respectable audience. The question is whether there are any events you would like me to cover (via live streaming from a mobile phone) and whether that would attract a big enough audience....
On PhotoSync and Photo Uploader for Photoprism — Feb 18, 2026
Photosync is a photo uploading app that allows you to upload to various devices and cloud solutions with ease. Photo Uploader for Photoprism is a specialist app for Photoprism. The reason for which I bring up both of these apps is that they allow you to sync to photoprism....
Galaxus and Roaming in Europe with Maya — Jan 13, 2026
It is when you roam with your phone across Europe that you realise how much data an iPhone gets through. In the space of a week I burned through almost 3 gigabytes and 7 more gigabytes before controlling which apps could use data. At the same time I reset the data counters and looked at the option of using dual esims at once....
On the Importance of Media Literacy in the Smartphone Era — Sep 3, 2025
Within the last two weeks children have headed back to schools. As a consequence of this schools, towns, villages, and ‘states’ are banning mobile phones for children and teenagers. In theory this is a fantastic, and simple solution. In practice this is failing society....
Switching from Swisscom To Galaxus — Apr 1, 2025
This morning the transition from Swisscom to Galaxus was completed. I moved from Swisscom to Galaxus because it’s up to 50 CHF cheaper. Whereas I was paying about 70 CHF with Swisscom I now pay 19 CHF per month when I am within Switzerland, and I can pay 39 CHF per month when roaming in Europe. The one issue with this is that if I switch to roaming then it lasts for two months, not one before I can switch back....
Playing with Galaxus Mobile — Jan 25, 2025
There is a chance that I have had the same Swisscom contract since 2003 or 2007 non-stop. In that time I have been very happy with network coverage. What I am less happy with is the price. At seventy or more francs for unlimited data it becomes very expensive on a yearly basis. Recently I noticed that I could get “unlimited data” for nineteen francs per month within Switzerland so I took a subscription in parallel to run some tests....
Sliding from iOS to Android — Nov 29, 2024
Recently I switched from an Iphone SE from 2020 for a Fairphone 4 and the migration has been easy, except for two apps. Whatsapp and Signal. With Android it’s easy. You backup to Google Drive and you can slide between Android devices with ease. With iOS the backup is in iCloud so sliding between devices should, in theory, be easy to, but I don’t remember finding it that much fun. If it wasn’t for this apps we could slide from Android to iOS and back without a second thought....