technology
Audiofly AF-33 In-Ear Headphones Review
Who is Audiofly? The website says Audiofly is an Australian company that is comprised of musicians trying to deliver the best possible headphones to consumers. The headphones Audiofly sent me a pair of AF-33 (AF33) headphones for testing and review. As always, I only commit to testing and writing the review. My reviews are always honest and impartial. The testing process I consider myself an audiophile and own over a dozen in ear monitor (IEM) style headphones and a handful of over the ear large headphones.
Mac App ColorStrokes free for a limited time
MacPhun has announced that it is giving away free copies of their mac photo editing app, ColorStrokes for Mac. This freebie is being made available to celebrate the launch of MacPhun's new online store. What is ColorStrokes? It is a simple all that allows users to color palette - Smart Brush lets you add new tones to the image and play with colors the way you want enhancements - Variety of additional editing tools let you adjust lights, add special effects, vignette and more Download the free app here.
NSA is using Google, Facebook, Apple, Youtube, Dropbox to spy on users
The Guardian broke one of the biggest most important stories ever. It reported that the NSA has been collecting huge amounts of user data from internet giants such as Google, Apple, Skype, Yahoo, AOL and Youtube. The Guardian alleges that plans are in place to add Dropbox to the list of data providers. To be clear, all this collection seems to be done without a court order and performed with direct access to the servers of these companies. Based on a document authenticated by the Guardian, the NSA was secretly storing and analyzing search history, emails, file transfers, chats, stored documents, voice calls and more.
NOKIA LUMIA EOS PureView 40 MegaPixel Lens Shutter Action
The leak source of other Nokia EOS PureView camera leaks is now back with a limited video showing only a snapshot of the mechanical shutter. Here is hoping this is an actual Nokia product and not some fake wish based video.
Nokia EOS Windows Super phone leaks
I've said it before and I'll say it again, the most important use of my smartphone is as an always on me camera. So I get very excited when a manufacturer (or rumor) announced a revolutionary camera in a mass market consumer smartphone. What you are looking at is the rumored upcoming Nokia Smartphone with the unbelievably wonderful PureView 41 megapixel sensor. From what we know, this is the next generation smartphone super-camera that follows the PureView 808. In addition to the wonderful sensor, it seems it may come with a Xenon flash, come in a polycarbonate body, have a 4.
Play with this IOS 7 on an iPhone 5s simulator
The developers at Recombu have merged all of the IOS 7 rumors to create an IOS 7 simulator using standard internet technologies (CSS, HTML,Javascript). The simulator is a fun and clever to immerse users into one possible IOS 7 world now. They have even included a new notification tray Head over to their website and have a couple of minutes of fun.
BBM for Android and IOS coming June 27
May 14th, I wrote a blog post about "Blackberry Chat (BBM) Coming To IOS And Android". Why would you want Blackberry Messenger on your new shiny IOS or Android device? Because it is backed by a larger and established company that is known for security and privacy. T-Mobile in the UK tweeted
The best Android and iPhone weather app
So I lied just a little bit, Forcast.IO is actually an HTML5 web page built to look and act like an app.It works on any platform with an HTML5 compliant platform (iphone, ipad, Android, Windows, Mac, Linux). It is so well designed that it has replaced all of my platform specific weather apps. Forecast.io is beautifully simple, clean, easy to use but also accurate. What is Forecast.io? Forecast.io was created by the programming braintrust from DarkSky, a realtime rain/snow prediction app.
Google Search Updated to version
Google just published an update to Google Search on IOS (to version 3.0.1). It is a minor upgrade but fixes one major bug introduced in the April redesign. They finally fixed the GPS battery draining bug so you can now leave the location detection on all teh time which makes the Google Now much more relevant.
Cortex Camera versus NightCap comparison on iphone
What is NightCap You can read my review about the NightCap app here. What is Cortex Camera The developer description ofCorex Camera (Cam) is Tired of the grainy photos you get when using your device’s camera in low light? Cortex camera combines dozens of images to create a sharp image without the low-quality noise that shows up when using the default camera. Please note that your subject must be still during exposure, which takes 2-10 seconds. The comparison I wanted to see how well each would perform in a low light situation.
Recordium record and edit audio on the iPhone or iPad (free today)
There are dozens of times each week when I use my iPhone as an audio recording device (meetings, ideas, etc) but typically finding relevant information in a long recording is difficult. Recordium is a clean little app that allows you to record, edit and find pertinent information all on your iPhone or iPad (it is a universal app). Once you have perfected your masterpiece, you can export it to Dropbox, Evernote and other storage services. Recordium is free until June 1 so go download it it from here now!
Tekiki shows best free IOS apps
There are dozens of apps in the iTunes AppStore that help you find "the best free apps" on itunes but the number is dindling. It seems Apple is on a crusade to rid itself of this "evil" by using the terms of service developers accept when submiting apps. A couple of weeks ago Apple started its crusade by killing the AppGratis app and there is no sign Apple will stop until it get's every last one of the "free today" promotion apps.
An Olloclip for $10?
I wrote an article about the Olloclip here. I own the original Olloclip (that costs $US69) and love it. It seems some of my readers just learned about it from my blog post and love the idea but find the cost prohibitively expensive. They wanted to know if there are any other alternatives. WARNING: I haven't bought any of these so buyer beware If you want something like the Olloclip but don't want to pay the price of the original, you can always take a look at Olloclip "
Cook: Apple may port Apps to Android
Tim Cook presented at the WSJ All Things Digital conference yesterday. We learned that the Apple head honcho is open to porting Apple apps to Android as long as it makes sense for Apple and its users. We don't know if, when and what but this is still very encouraging. This could be a new stance from Apple because its competitors are moving cross platform (Blackberry messenger coming to IOS and Android, Hangouts coming to IOS, WhatsApp working on everything, etc).
Free Olloclip app for iPhone
I love my Olloclip iPhone lens kit. What is the Olloclip? The Olloclip is an add-on lens kit for the iPhone (4/4s and 5 versions exist) which includes: It looks like this: I use my iPhone more for photography than anything else so I love iphoneography accessories and the Olloclip is in my top 3. What is the free Olloclip app? The free Olloclip app is available now on Apple iTunes AppStore and allows you to edit pictures taken with Olloclip.
Surface Pro heads to Japan with 256GB of storage
Everyone's favouring "tablet" (said sarcastically of course), the Microsoft Surface Pro, will be shipping in Japan on June 8th and come in a new 256GB storage model. The 256GB version will be available for 119,800 yen ($1,175) and customers will be able to pickup the touch or type covers. The Microsoft pressure sensitive pen is included with all bundles. Read translated release here.
Blackberry Playbook may get Blackberry 10 in a few weeks
If you were unlucky enough to buy a Blackberry Playbook like I did, you quickly realized how bad an experience it is and how limited the functionality is. It is pretty much useless. Now we see a tweet from the official Blackberry Mexico account that promises an upgrade to BB 10 in the next few weeks. It offers some hope for an otherwise crappy tablet but it was strange that something like this wasn't announced at the last Blackberry live.
The White Nexus 4 is now official
After weeks of rumors, LG has now officially confirmed the white Nexus 4 phone and at the same time has said it won't be making another Nexus branded device for Google. The white Nexus 4 .... well... white and that's the only difference compared to the existing black one. LG said it will come to North America sometime in the next couple of months but didn't specify who will sell it (Google, carriers, etc). More shocking for me was the fact that they finally admitted that they did not want to make another Nexus device.
What is white, black and flat?
As we get closer and closer to Apple's WWDC (starts June 10), the rumor mill is speeding up. Everyone wants to hedge their bets and publish their predictions. It's no secret that responsibility for the User Interface of IOS (iPhone, iPad and iPad Mini) was handed over to Jony Ive (head of industrial design). Looking at his track record, it is clear he doesn't believe in skeuomorphism so we expect a heavy redesign of the next major release of IOS, IOS version 7.
Real world: Panasonic Lumix DMC-TS5 Review
I have spent the last 15 years traveling the world as world as a business consultant (I have conducted business in at least 30 countries) and advanced PADI certified scuba diver. I picked up my first digital camera in Singapore in 2000 (a rectangular 2 megapixel device) and worked my way up various semi-pro Canon dSLRs and scuba diving cameras. The Trip Mid April, I was heading to CUBA for a beach vacation with my family (wife and 2.5 year old) and started to think about what camera I wanted to take.