Is it the end-of-days for the humble headphone jack? As Apple prepare to remove it from their next iPhone - with Android manufacturers no-doubt following suit - I thought now would be a good time to look at the previous occasions when smartphone makers have tried to kill the headphone jack. This is a non-exhaustive history, mostly drawing from my industry experience and drawers full of old phones! Firstly (although not chronologically) special mention must go to… The original iPhone! Yup, i…
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A couple of months ago I was giving a talk in Romania - the organisers had set up a technology expo showing off some great local start-ups. One which caught my eye was TinTag. Terence Eden is on Mastodon@edentTintag is pretty clever. BLE beacon but has built in Qi recharging. Very useful. thetintag.com#DevTalks pic.x.com/sjizdew274❤️ 3💬 2🔁 010:29 - Wed 11 May 2016 I've previously reviewed the Chipolo - which is a similar beacon/tracker. So I thought I'd give this one a go. At the airport…
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Remember when PayPal was a cool new company dedicated to radically improving online payments? Seems like it was ages ago. Now PayPal is little better than then bloated banks it sought to overthrow. Arcane bureaucracy, impenetrable fees, and a lamentable approach to security. I was minded recently to switch on 2-Factor-Authentication (2FA) for all my accounts. Whenever I want to log in, I give my username and password - then I receive a text message which can only be used once. Searching…
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A few years ago, Google introduced a new image format to the world - WebP. It purports to be a superior image format for the web but, like all new toys, it takes a little while for the bugs to be ironed out. I found a curious case where some WebP images are rendered upside down! On the left is Opera for Android, centre is Chrome for Android, and on the right is Firefox for Android. Firefox is the only one which renders the lower image correctly. The upper image is also WebP. This also…
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I am an idiot. I am a Grade A+, certified, undeniable plonker. The man in the hire car office looked at me with barely concealed contempt. Fair, really. He'd asked for my Driver's Licence and I'd collapsed to my knees at the sudden realisation that the slim plastic card was 1,700 miles away from the Canary Islands. "I am sorry sir, but there is really nothing I can do." My wife was hobbling around on crutches due to a sprained ankle and we were staying in a villa literally off the beaten…
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I like to go on holiday in order to read books. After last year's post a few people expressed surprise that I hadn't included many female authors. I felt compelled to rectify that, so I decided to read only female authors this holiday. I only had 7 days, and did quite a lot of sight-seeing, so there's only 6 entries here. Will try for a more relaxing holiday next year! First up, "Station Eleven" by Emily St. John Mandel. A cracking "end of the world" novel, neatly tied together via…
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A former advisor to the Prime Minister was recently convicted on charges of downloading indecent images of underage girls. I don't want to go into detail about whether or not his punishment is adequate, but I would like to talk about this curious remark made by the Judge during his sentencing: beginning today and lasting for two years, you are prohibited from using any device capable of accessing the internet unless it has the capacity to retain and display the history of internet use and you …
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Like many people, I can't be bothered using Facebook's mobile app. I live my life in the browser and don't need a battery-hungry, always listening, contact stealing app notifying me every five minutes. I check Facebook Messages when I want. If it's urgent, there are many better ways to contact me than Messenger. Until recently, all was well in the world. I happily used Facebook's mobile web site. Then this happened. That, frankly, is bullshit. Why do I need an app to display messages? …
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Parking in London is a pain in the arse. As I drive an electric car, I'm spared the cost of the Congestion Charge, but I still have to stalk the back-streets looking for an available parking bay - or pay through the nose for an NCP space and hope I can squeeze in between the concrete pillars. That's where London-based startup Vallie comes in. On-demand car parking in London for £5/hour - with a maximum charge of £25 per day. Here's how it works: Use the Vallie app (Android or iPhone) t…
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