Samsung Galaxy Note 3 & Gear

1973 saw the very first mobile handset in action. It weighed 1 kilogram and cost around R40,000. Since a more commercially acceptable handset was developed in the late 80’s, cellphone subscribers grew from 12 million to over 6 billion to date. Which brings us to the invention of a great little gadget called the ‘Gear’. It’s part and parcel of the new Samsung Galaxy Note 3 and is going to change the way we use cellphones forever.

It’s a bit like Dick Tracy meets James Bond in this cloak & dagger scenario where you can now make phonecalls, receive and reply to text messages and even take photos & videos all by using this watch!

  

I’ve had the pleasure of using the phone & watch for the past week and it’s been just that. Let’s start with the phone. To be honest, it took me a few days to get round the interface. There are so many different pages, apps, news sources, system settings, a camera with about 10 different ways of taking pics, a new type of stylus, and so many different ways of personalizing your phone it’s really very hard as to know where to start. If you’re not patient, then forget it…stick with an iPhone. However, if you’re up for the challenge, then you’ll be in for some great surprises.

Now I could bore you with all the tech specs but frankly speaking, I want to know how easy it is to use and if I’m going to enjoy it! First of all the screen truly is beautiful and the resolution is outstanding! You can rent or buy videos through the Samsung Hub and watch them quite comfortably. The camera takes amazing pictures but don’t worry about all the options, they’re just frills. The stylus, with it’s new options, also comes with its difficulties but once you’ve mastered them then you’re golden! 

I also like the convenience features like easy access to wi-fi & blue tooth and to the notifications. My biggest gripe, however, is the fact that this is more of a tablet than a phone and is not very easy to handle. I have big hands and it’s still not manageable. If you’re comfy with never putting it in your pocket and walking around with it like a 90’s Filofax, then fine. Oh and another thing…it’s gonna kick you off wi-fi if it feels that the internet connection is too slow. So while you think you’re using wi-fi, you could just be using your own data. So be careful, there’s a setting to switch that off hidden somewhere in the different millions of setting options the phone has.

Now onto the watch. It’s water resistant, neat and quite fashionable coming in a variety of colours including, green, orange, white & black and on it’s home page you can view the time and the weather! You can make and receive phone calls & text messages although it’s near impossible typing on the small screen. There is a camera for taking both photos & videos but of it’s poor position you have to take it off before the right shot can be taken. The speaker & microphone is housed in the same place and is quite surprisingly enough very clear. It is however for the moment, only compatible with the Galaxy Note 3 so don’t go just buying it willy nilly, ok? You won’t even be able to tell the time if the Note 3 isn’t anywhere close by.

I’m an Apple fan and have been for quite some time, but I can tell you this, if an iWatch doesn’t come soon…you may just see me wearing this little gear soon.

Halloween Gadgets

It’s not traditionally a South African holiday… but celebrating Halloween is gaining popularity under our African sun….

Yes, it’s kind of American to dress up in sheets and demand sweets from your neighbours… but truth be told, there is a little part of me that enjoys this time of year, but I’m too old and mature to dress up so I’ve moved on to the next best thing, gadgets! And this year I’ve discovered 3 cool little toys that’ll make the festivities just that much more bearable.

You remember the Addam’s Family right? Well, say hello to ‘Thing’. The lovable little hand that saved the family’s fortune and gave Gomez a head massage. This realistic little gadget will only move once it hears a noise. Which means that it can lie somewhere undetected until *clap* ready to move on and scare unsuspecting victims…at R255 it’s not bad value. I think I’m gonna have more fun with this with my cat.

On to this little device. You know in horror movies when you hear this *SFX (wolf howl)* or how about this *SFX (blood curdling scream)*, well now you have that power in your hands! All you do is push some buttons and you can have heaps of terrifying sounds at your finger tips ready to startle and send shivers up the spines of those little trick or treaters…at R155, it’s worth it.

And finally, my personal favourite. While sitting comfortably on my couch, listening to ‘Trick or Treat’ from the neighbours kids going from house to house, I can quite simply drown out the noise whilst slurping some coffee from my heat changing zombie mug!! It says, I don’t care about Halloween but I do care about Halloween all in one but for R115…I’d rather go and buy some sweets, leave them outside in a bucket and stop being bitter about the whole thing. I mean, if you think about it, we’re just jealous we’re not outside doing the same thing.

Webfluential

With the world moving towards a total online existence and the massive expansion of social networking, it’s no surprise to know that companies are hitching a ride on both to make money!

Take Webfluential for example. A product developed by South African company, Retroviral that marries celebs, brands, advertisers and pr agencies together to form a mutually beneficial relationship where everyone, including the normal Joe on the street, can get in on some action!

Mike Sharman aka The Sharmanator, is the founder of Retroviral and realized the need for brands that want to associate themselves to what he calls: ‘Online Influencers’.

Here’s how it works:

I so happen to have over 1000 followers on Twitter (the minimum amount of followers needed to become an ‘influencer’), which makes me eligible to sign up.

Once I’ve signed in I need to create my social profile where I give my age, area I live in, interests, etc From there, any company who have also signed up to Webfluential, looking for a 30 something year old guy who enjoys playing the guitar and lives in Joburg, can send me a mail whereby I can decide whether or not to choose to participate in the campaign.

The site is still in the beta stage but from what I can see, there is no doubt in my mind that this is definitely the way of the future. Now I just gotta figure how to get more twitter followers…

www.webfluenti.al

http://www.enca.com/show/tech-report

Apple TV

Apple TV & Mac

Since wireless became a way of life, the introduction of the Apple TV saw mac geeks from around the world, including myself, become hooked onto the fact that it was now possible to stream movies, music & photos through the wireless universe in our homes from our iTunes, iphones & ipads straight to our TV’s.

Now yes, there are a number of media servers available around, heck you can even use your PS3 as a media server, although I don’t advise it as the streaming speeds are slow. Which isn’t an issue with the Apple TV. The streaming speeds are second to none, you can access & download youtube videos, tv shows, music & movies directly off of the integrated iTunes software and all of this straight from a gadget that’s no bigger than a block of cheese. A black mouldy piece of cheese!

And now, with the introduction of the new operating system ‘Mountain Lion’ for mac, as well as the new IOS7, you can now ‘mirror’ your entire computer, iPad & iPhone’s contents to your TV.

Before the mirror add-on, integration between your apple devices was still on point what with being able to swipe through your photos on your iphone whilst viewing them on your tv or playing music through your iTunes on your computer, but now, the option of being able to completely view all your contents from your computer or phone is just simply marvelous. Reasons:

I want to show everyone this wonderful photo slide show I put together.

I want to type a letter so that everyone can see what I’m typing.

I want to see my facebook and twitter feeds up close!

The biggest of all though is no stupid third party apps! The reasons are endless and truth be told, it’s easier viewing youtube this way rather than using the youtube you’ll find in your Apple TV device.

Now how do we make this work. Simple, make sure that all your devices and Apple TV are on the exact same wireless network. A little ‘Airplay Mirroring’ icon will appear either at the top of your  computer screen or simply pull up the shortcut menu on your iPhone or iPad. Click it, select Apple TV and let the mirroring begin!

The only drawback, is it’s price. I’m sure you could find another type of media server for R300, but it’s not Apple and the integration between devices is seamless. So for these ‘advantages’, you’ll be looking in the region of about R1200 which is not THAT bad!

Now even though I mentioned it’s amazing streaming speeds…my only issue, streaming video that I recorded using my phone is still something to be desired.

Nevertheless, I’ve never been happier and cannot wait to see what the geniuses at Apple come up with next…the iWatch…?

http://www.enca.com/show/tech-report

How To Start a podcast

First things first, get yourself suitable recording software. For this example I’m going to use Audacity which is a free piece of software you can find on the net. Mac users can use Garage band if they want and quite frankly, you can use any audio recording software.

Secondly, have the right recording equipment. For this example I’m going to use the internal microphone on my computer. This is definitely not advisable and to ensure a high quality production, you need the right microphone, environment, etc

So now, let’s record something: blah blah blah

Now although Wav is by far the clearer quality, unfortunately iTunes will only accept mp3 this is mainly due to the size of the file. Wav can be enormous whereas MP3 is a whack smaller. So make sure you’re able to convert your audio file to MP3. You can easily find MP3 convertors on the net. Audacity however, has one already built in.

Ok, so that’s the easy part. You now gotta get yourself an iTunes account, a google account and a blogspot account. Got it? iTunes, Google & Blogspot. The reason is because you need to have an iTunes account to upload your podcast, a google account to access Feedburner and Google Drive and Blogspot because you need a blog.

I’m going to make this as simple as possible:

1. Log into Blogspot and start a new blog. We’ll call this one: Tech Report then add the address of your blog. We’ll call this: techreporthowto.blogspot.com.
2. Now click on your blog and on the left hand side click the ‘settings’ menu and make sure that Enable Title Links and Enclosure Links’ is marked as ‘YES’.
3. Right, let’s start a new post: This will be called, How To Start a Podcast. Ok, so good so far?
4. Now, open a new window and go to Google Drive. This is where your mp3 podcast will live.
5. Create a new folder called: ‘Podcasts’. Right click on it and share it with the world! (make it public)
6. Next, click into the folder and upload your mp3 from your computer.
7. Once uploaded, right click on the file and also, share that with the world! Right click again and then click 'details'. You’ll then notice on the right hand side of the screen, under the ‘Hosting’ heading will be a link starting with: ‘googledrive.com/host/ etc and ending with .mp3’. Copy this link.
8. Let’s go back to our post and click ‘links’ on the right hand side menu bar and paste our link into the area marked ‘Enclosure link’
9. Then, as a fail safe, click ‘link’ in the menu bar just above your blank post page and paste your link in the ‘web address’ area and in the ‘Text to display’ area you can type: How to start a podcast. Click ok and then publish. Don’t worry about sharing on Google share. You can do that in your own time.
10. Right, off to ‘Feedburner’we go. Now since you have a Google account, you should automatically get signed in. If not, put your password in that you created for your google account and log in.
11. In the ‘Burn your feed this instant’ area, type in your blog address i.e. ‘techreporthowto.blogspot.com, click on ‘I am a podcaster’ and click next.
12. Check the ‘Atom’ selection. Too complicated to explain why, just do it.
13. Continue through the steps optimizing your podcast. A bit of a process but this will ensure your podcast gets the most exposure.
14. After about 3 pages you’ll get to the last page that says ‘You have successfully updated the feed
15. Then on the same page just under your feed heading, you’ll see a little symbol to the left (looks like a wi-fi symbol), click it. This’ll bring up a new page where you should be able to see a little ‘play’ button where you can hear your podcast. On the right hand side of this page, you’ll see an address that reads something like: ‘http://feeds.feedburner.com/etc’ Copy it. This is the link you’ll be using when submitting to iTunes.
16. Finally, go to the iTunes store inside iTunes, click ‘Podcasts’ and then click the ‘submit a podcast’ link on the right hand side. Paste your feedburner link into the area…and VOILA! You are now a ‘podcaster’

Example Podcasts:

• How to do everything
• Stuff you should know
• Here’s the Thing
• History in 5 minutes
• How did this get made

http://www.enca.com/show/tech-report