On Friday, I spoke to Mark Murphy on the Morning Show on BBC Radio Suffolk about the breaking news story concerning the massive data breach at Yahoo, possibly converning over 500,000,000 user accounts and by far the largest leak in history.
Listen to the short interview where I explain what I think happened and what Yahoo users should do to ensure their accounts are kept safe and secure from now on.
Yahoo has released a statement concerning the breach, we can be read here
Grumpy Old Gits came to an end a couple of weeks ago. Here’s the episode from 9th September 2016 with Matt Porter, Neil Bowles and Tim Edwards all kept in order by Mark Matthews!!
Edifier produce a wide range of high quality audio equipment, from the tiny Bluetooth MP211 portable speaker with built in microphone to the earth shaking S760D 5.1 surround sound system.
Edifier C2V Speakers Review
This last couple of weeks I have been testing and enjoying the Edifier C2V 2.1 Speaker System aimed primarily at gamers and utilising their Intelligent Distortion Control.
In the box you find a main control unit with remote, two satellite speakers with 3-inch midrange and ¾ inch tweeter and a lovely 6.5-inch subwoofer which produces amazing bass! The speakers and equipment are enclosed in wooden MFD boxes, so no chance of buzzing from nasty plastic parts here.
Edifier C2V Speakers Review
The speakers produce a total of 36 watts output, connecting to your PC/Mac or other sound source using either RCA or AUX connectors along with a headphones connector for keeping the neighbours happy.
You can adjust the Volume, Bass and Treble using either the amplifier or remote control giving a wide range of sound options to suit your gaming or music needs.
Edifier C2V Speakers Review
I really enjoyed playing some of my favourite music through the C2V, I was particularly fond of Orbital Live at Glastonbury, their is nothing like Dr Who rocking out late on a Friday afternoon
I also watched a number of movie trailers, I was particularly taken by Suicide Squad especially using my 4K iMac Retina display!
The C2V speaker system is aimed at gaming and therefore Bluetooth and other related technology is not included which is not great loss when you are sitting speakers either side of your gaming machine.
All in all, the C2V is a great set of speakers and at around £89, it’s very good value for money. After a quick look around online, they are available at most high street stores.
Thanks again to Edifier for the loan of the speakers for review and Katherine at KL Associates for bringing it all together.
This week the Gog’s discuss Shared Driveways, England’s Football Kit, Profiteering from Bad Luck, Music on Hold and many more!!
PAUL GASCOIGNE has the contents of the water bottle pored into his mouth by Alan Shearer as Steve McManaman and Jamie Redknapp join in his goal celebrations. EURO CHAMPIONSHIPS 1996, ENGLAND v SCOTLAND, 15/6/96. WEMBLEY CREDIT: COLORSPORT / ANDREW COWIE
Grumpy Old Git’s it broadcast every Friday between 11am and Midday on Mark Murphy’s Morning Show on BBC Radio Suffolk.
The Apple iPhone is a very popular device indeed and has played an integral part in the explosion of the Smart Phone and Tablet market over the last 9 years since its launch.
Transcend JetDrive Go 500G – Lightning Plug
Apple have however played it safe with regard to storage though, happy to keep the iPhone, iPad and iPod firmly enclosed in milled aluminium with internal access to only the SIM card. Hard wiring (or soldering) components into a device means the manufacturer doesn’t need to includ memory and battery adapters which take up space and more importantly depth in the phone. Consequently Apple devices are therefore nice and thin.
Transcend JetDrive Go 500G – USB 3.1 Plug
Disallowing additional memory means users have to closely monitor their phone storage. It doesn’t take long for those high bitrate 4K videos to start eating into an iPhone internal storage, meaning you need to start archiving videos and photos to another device such as a Mac or PC (or cloud storage if you have the time and data bandwidth) to stop the memory being used up. Worse still, If you are out and about and run out of phone storage, you are going to be looking at dumping what might be precious footage stored on your phone to make space for new photos and videos.
Transcend JetDrive Go 500G – plugged into a iPhone 6S Plus
This is where Transcend step in with their JetDrive Go 500G Lightning / USB 3.1 Flash Drive, a very nifty device (or dongle) that plugs directly into your iPhone or iPad’s ‘Lightning’ port and allows you to copy or move your photos and videos straight off your device onto a flash drive and thus free’s up your phone for more film making and photography. You can even take photos directly onto the flash drive if you wish using the Transcend Go App which is automatically downloaded when you first plug the device into your phone or tablet.
Transcend JetDrive Go 500G – plugged into a iMac
The jetDrive Go 500G is different from standard flash drives in as much as it both Lightning and USB on the same device which a connector mounted at end. The lightning ‘end’ plugs directly into your iPhone or iPad and allows you to copy data at speed of up to 20MB/s onto the drive. At the other end of the flash drive is a USB 3.1 connector (recognisable by its blue colour) which connects directly into a PC or Mac and copies data up to an amazing 130MB/s, so again no delays in copying your video and photos over to your desktop or laptop.
The drive comes in two sizes, 32Gb and 64Gb and in either Silver or Gold zinc alloy. These two storage options are going to be a dream come true for those of us with smaller internal storage options and may even delay that dreaded phone upgrade.
Transcend JetDrive Go 500 – Go App
Package wise, the flash drive comes in a simple package along with clear instructions, a wrist strap and two plastic caps for either end of the device to protect the connectors. From opening the package, plugging in the device to downloading and running the small “Go” App, I was up and running in literally two minutes.
Transcend JetDrive Go 500G by a 50 pence piece
The device worked flawlessly for me and it wasn’t long before I was zooming around the house, backing up the kids iPads and my wife’s iPhone, it really was very easy to use.
I was certainly surprised how something that could be considered fairly insignificant to look at could actually be a bit of a godsend for the iPhone community. This is an excellent Apple MFi certified product and comes highly recommended from us.
Priced at £50 for the 32gb model and £67 for the 64gb, you can purchase directly from Amazon using the link alongside this text. Other options are available from other manufacturers and outlets, take care to ensure plugin peripherals are certified before using them.
Following successful events featuring Microsoft and Google, Coderus and Innovation Martlesham are hosting the Apple WWDC Watch Party at Adastral Park in Ipswich, sponsored by BT and the IP Network.
The event is being held at the John Bray Lecture Theatre on
Monday 13th June 2016 from 4.30pm – 9pm and features Apple demos and the chance to network, the live streamed Keynote starts at 6pm with a panel discussion at 7.45pm with the event wrapping up at 9pm.
We’re told that places are limited and registration closes on
12th June 2016, so if you are interested in attending you will need to REGISTER soon!
This is a FREE event, but because Adastral Park is a secure site attendance is by registration only. Upon registration attendees will be issued a security pass, which must be shown on arrival.
4.30 – Door Open
4.45 – Apple Demos & Networking
5.45 – Move to Auditoium
6.00 – Keynote Presentations (Live Stream)
7.30 – Keynote Finish (subject to change) – break
7.45 – Panel Discussion
9.00 – Close
To register for the event, click HERE or contact Coderus to discuss your requirements.
I was back on air this morning with Mark Murphy and James Hazell to talk about drones and the immense rise in their popularity.
With popularity comes a degree of public worry and a much larger degree of press coverage. Should drones be licensed? Should people need to take a proficiency test to use them? All of this was covered on BBC Radio Suffolk this morning along with interviews with The Civil Aviation Authority and local pilots.
Drones or Unmanned Aerial Vehicles come in all shapes and sizes and can range in price from £10 to literally thousands. Many of the more expensive semi professional drones have ‘Geo Fencing’ which stops the drones from flying in banned areas or ‘No Fly Zones’.
Of course it is possible to build your own drone. Kits are widely available and many people have built their own drones from scratch using light weight computers such as the Raspberry Pi. In this case, no licensing is going to stop the production of these kinds of drones and increasingly advanced techniques such as GPS ‘way point’ route planning means that the pilot does not need to be in radio contact during the flight and therefore distances of 7km possible before battery charging is necessary.
Currently in the UK, I can’t see how any ‘proficiency’ testing can be brought in being, it would be far too costly and reliant of the purchaser of the drone. Tracking the drones is equally difficult without elaborate (and expensive) tracking transmitter/receivers being added to the drone.
Consequently, it lays with the manufacturers of these devices to ensure that their equipment is safe, easy to use, legal and abides by any global no fly zones.
I will be reviewing the Parrot Bebop 2 camera drone very soon, so stay ‘tuned’.
I’ve finished testing the Parrot Bebop 2 camera drone. A fully review is coming up shortly. In the meantime here is a selection of footage I have taken over the last couple of weeks.
For the first time just about any computing device can be used to program games and apps, control robotic devices, interact with sensors and experiment with electronics. The FUZEBOX doesn’t care if you have Windows, OSx, iOS, Android or Linux, or if you are using a phone, tablet, laptop or PC. It simply connects to your device via USB, Bluetooth or WiFi and allows you to get coding straight away.
Loaded with sensors such as heat, humidity, light, pressure, a microphone and camera, infra-red, gyro and more, you can transform the FUZEBOX into almost anything. For example, a thermometer, weather station, games controller, TV remote, motion sensing camera, spirit level, tilting maze puzzle game, synthesiser keyboard and much more – you write the code, you make it happen!
Passionate about coding, the FUZE team have designed the FUZEBOX to make coding accessible for anyone. Schools teaching coding now don’t need separate computers for the children to use, all the need to do is plug in the FUZEBOX to existing equipment. The language used with the FUZEBOX – FUZE BASIC, provides the perfect stepping stone between Scratch and Python, and puts sensors right at children’s fingertips so they can interact with the sensors and code they have written themselves.
Not just a cool coding gadget, the FUZE team want the FUZEBOX to inspire our younger generations to understand and love coding.
Most of us use our smartphones to take pictures instead of carrying around a camera. Miggo have spent over a year researching and developing Pictar – an iPhone grip enclosure that brings the control of a DSLR right to your fingertips. With features that marry a traditional DSLR with your iPhone, Pictar gives you the ability to take your iPhone photography to the next level.
Designed to replicate the familiar feeling of holding a camera, you can comfortably use Pictar to take photos with one hand without worrying about dropping your phone whilst taking a photo. It is coated with anti-slip material, and can be connected to either a wrist strap or neck strap. The Pictar has been designed to fit most existing models of the iPhone, and the expanding design means it should fit future models too.
· Zoom ring – no longer do you need to pinch the screen to zoom in and out. Use the rotating zoom ring to zoom in and out with just one hand.
· Selfie button – switch between front and back camera
· Multi state shutter release – half press to lock focus and exposure, or full press for immediate shutter release
· Exposure Compensation Wheel – quickly and easily control the brightness level before taking a picture
· ‘Smart’ wheel – in default mode this control 7 preset modes to let users easily adjust the iPhone to any situation while focusing on taking the shot. Preset modes are auto, portrait mode, landscape mode, sport mode, snow mode, selfie mode and video mode. For the more advanced photographer you can choose between 3 advanced modes – shutter priority, ISO priority and manual.
· Virtual wheel – control different modes such as flash mode, shutter speed and more.
· Cold shoe mount to attach LED lights
Tripod attachment
Most of us use our smartphones to take pictures instead of carrying around a camera. Miggo have spent over a year researching and developing Pictar – an iPhone grip enclosure that brings the control of a DSLR right to your fingertips. With features that marry a traditional DSLR with your iPhone, Pictar gives you the ability to take your iPhone photography to the next level.
Designed to replicate the familiar feeling of holding a camera, you can comfortably use Pictar to take photos with one hand without worrying about dropping your phone whilst taking a photo. It is coated with anti-slip material, and can be connected to either a wrist strap or neck strap. The Pictar has been designed to fit most existing models of the iPhone, and the expanding design means it should fit future models too.