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My Yearly Review

By Friends & Family, Gigs & Shows, Happiness & Joy, Life, Thinking, TV, Online Streaming & FilmsNo Comments

Welcome to my yearly review. 2013 has been a great year; both for me and my creative writing. There’s so much to tell you about my writing that I’ve given My Awesome Year in Words it’s own post on my Writer Website. Here I shall focus on my personal life.

Alex Memorial 1 - Chinese Lanterns In January I did Something Uncomfortable, which was attending Alex’s Chinese lantern memorial. It was something I had always avoided, and became part of my New Experiences for 2013.

In February I went to a friend’s 50th birthday party and one of my nephew’s 18th birthday party. I undertook my February Photo Challenge.

free-speech-06.03.13-E March came along and I was on TV – Live To The Nation! Although an exciting, uncomfortable and anxiety ridden experience, it was also one of great learning. Educating me in the world of the media. And unbeknown to me at the time, it wasn’t going to be my last excursion into the media world this year. Oh and I got an iPhone 5.
My Birthday Presents - Happy Birthday Cake

My Birthday Presents – Happy Birthday Cake

 I did so much in May. I had a great Bank Holiday Weekend. I celebrated my twenty seventh birthday by seeing friends and family; they got me some fab Birthday Presents. I got an extra special birthday present off the wonderful Writer Mel Bossa. I had a Cumbria Adventure. I enjoyed this Get Lucky Cover, as well as the original song by Daft Punk.
Rocky Horror Show 2013 In June, Steve came to live with me. We went watching The Rocky Horror Show. It’s a night out that I’ll remember for a very long time. I remembered Something I Forgot Along The Way.
Outside Rivington Castle - Covered In Greenery

Outside Rivington Castle – Covered In Greenery

 July was filled with good times. I bought A Flashy New Car – Olly, The Citroen DS3. I attended Pagan Con for the first time and discovered Posh Coffee: The Flavour Collection from Douwe Egberts. I had some time off work and had an adventure in Rivington (see Rivington Adventure: Lever Castle and Rivington Adventure: Ruins & The Picni). I even witnessed A Sensational Sunset.
up4ameet3 In August my iMac Hard drive failed and I took it to the Apple Store for repair. Steve and I went watching Up4aMeet? – An Evening of Naked, Gay, Laugh-Out-Loud Comedy. I started reading the Gone Series.
More Minions!

More Minions!

 In September I watched Despicable Me 2 and Percy Jackson – Sea of Monsters at the cinemas. I started Reading for Pleasure.
Me Wicked Outside Manchester In October Steve and I went watching Wicked at Manchester Palace Theatre. I had a bug, got offered a job which I initially accepted and then later declined. My contract at work got made permanent. I got interviewed on BBC Radio 5 Live.

I started regular Reiki treatments at Halsa Healing. Jayne and I went to Castlerigg Stone Circle for Samhain.
Stephen Lynch LIVE My cousin and I saw Stephen Lynch in Manchester in November. I donated to two Homelessness charities.
My Christmas Presents

Presents People Bought Me

 In December I bought an iPad, went to Manchester Christmas Market and spent Christmas with family and friends.

Blog soon,

Antony

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Saturday 28 December 2013

Whoops, I Bought An iPad Air (32GB, Space Grey)

By TechnologyNo Comments
Lit Up Reindeer I’ve been toying with the idea of getting a tablet for a while now. I wanted something I can access Facebook on, use to listen to Music and watch Films/TV Boxsets on while being in the living room with the cats.

When I saw the previous generation Kindle Fire for £99 on Amazon’s website, I wasn’t sure whether this was a Christmas offer or Black Friday offer. I wasn’t even sure if the Kindle tablet would be what I wanted. But at that price, I had to look into it.

So during my visit to Manchester Christmas Market (see Getting Into The Festive Spirit: Manchester Christmas Market) my friend and I nipped into Currys PC World to have a look at the Kindle.

I was looking at the newest Kindle the Fire HDX and the screen was just seven inches. So on the one hand the Kindle was cheap, but on the other hand the screen was far too small for what I wanted to use it for.

Undecided on cost or screen size, I spoke with my friend about it and then to mum. With some persuasion from mum, I decided to buy the much more expensive iPad Air (32GB in Space Grey). Whoops! Here are some obligatory photos:

iPad Air - Box New iPad Air - Case Boxed New
iPad Air - Cover Green iPad Air - Home Screen
iPad Air - Back

The reasons I bought the iPad Air were: bigger screen, compatible with my other Apple Products (iMac & iPhone 5), really light, great hardware specs (including better camera than most other tablets) and a massive range of Apps via the App Store.

I also splashed out on a cover. A cover, just covers the front of the iPad (the screen), costs £35, comes in a range of colours and is perfect for using the iPad at home. Whereas a case, covers the entire iPad (front & back), costs £65, comes in a range of colours and is ideal if you’re planning on taking the iPad out and about. Be careful when buying, as their package design is very similar.

I’ve had my iPad for a few weeks now, so I thought I’d give you my first impressions of some of the Pros and Cons:

Pros Cons
  • Light-weight, feels lighter than the average book.
  • Great Battery Life.
  • Charges really quick.
  • Compatible with my iPhone 5 charger and USB charging.
  • Like the Space Grey effect, reminds me of the Star Trek pads.
  • Easy to set up & use.
  • Always on, quick to check Facebook, Twitter and other social media.
  • Great Apps available on the App Store.
  • iPad specific Apps, to make the most out of the iPad Air.
  • Made for media consumption, whether it be: Music, films, TV Boxsets or ebooks.
  • Now comes with free Pages, Numbers, iPhoto, iMovie and Garage Band.
  • It just works. No crashes at all (so far), not even Apps.
  • Silent operation – no sound of cooling fan.
  • Reasonable speaker sound quality.
  • iMessage & FaceTime.
  • Can be backed up through iTunes or iCloud.
  • Updates Apps Automatically.
  • Has Siri.
  • Find My iPhone – Works for iPad, so you can detect where it is if its ever stolen.
  • iPad as a device is expensive.
  • Doesn’t come with headphones.
  • Would literately be a blank canvas without the Apps on the App Store.
  • Covers are expensive at £35. Cases are extortionately priced at £65.
  • Made for media consumption – Feels difficult and slow to create things on the iPad.
  • Inhibits creativity and makes it less likely that you’ll spend your time creating something.
  • Pages, Numbers, iPhoto, iMovie and Garage Band are all designed to help you be creative, but each takes up an awful lot of disk space.
  • iTunes doesn’t accept .avi files, so most of my movies can’t be played on the iPad. Have found a work around which I shall be blogging about soon, it’s just frustrating because I shouldn’t have to do this.
  • No way to access my wireless hard drive.
  • Doesn’t seem to want to link to my iMac through WiFi.
  • Missing the biometric security, the finger print scanner the iPhone 5S has.

One or two of the Cons might just be things I haven’t worked out how to do on the iPad yet. If you know how to do something that I’ve put on my Cons list, feel free to leave a comment.

The iPad Air 32GB Space Grey is available to buy on Amazon, on the Apple Store Online or on your local high street (at various retail outlets).

Write soon,

Antony

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Thursday 12 December 2013

iOS 7 – It Feels Like Having A New Smart Phone

By TechnologyNo Comments

iOS7 - Homescreen I downloaded iOS 7 for my iPhone 5 as soon as it came out. It made me feel like I had a new new smart phone in my hands. Now that I’ve had iOS 7 for over a month, I thought I’d run through some of the features I think are Good and Bad; alongside my overall impression and what others have said on Facebook & Twitter.

The Good Features (click the link or scroll down):
Control Centre
New Ring Tones & Vibrations
Create Custom Vibrations
Block Contacts
Automatic App Updates
Set A Song To Wake You Up
MultiTasking
Siri Is MASSIVELY Improved
Added Camera Features – Square Photo Taking and Effects
Photos – Organised by ‘Moments’
Improved Battery Life

Control Centre
A quick slide up on the home screen shows the new Control Centre. Apple have removed the steps to turn on/off Aeroplane Mode, Wifi, Bluetooth & Do Not Disturb Mode. They’ve also added Air Drop as a feature and quick access buttons for: Torch (new), Timer, Calculator and Camera. All great for timesaving.

iOS7 - Control Centre

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New Ring Tones & Vibrations
Apple have added some new ring tones that sound great. Along with some alternative vibrations to the default. The only problem with the new ring tones is that they are far too subtle to use for an alarm clock. Luckily the original tones are still on iOS 7.

iOS7 - New Ringtones iOS7 - New Vibrations

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Create Custom Vibrations
Creating custom vibrations is a brilliant new feature added in iOS 7. My iphone spends most of it’s time on silent while I’m at work. With this feature I’ll always know whose calling or who has messaged at work by the feel custom vibration pattern I’ve created important people.

custom-vibration-ios7-2

This feature isn’t the easiest to find. So to access it in iOS 7 go to:
Contacts – Select A Contact – Edit – Vibration – Create New Vibration.

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Block Contacts
Apple has finally realised that we all meet a psychopath or two in our lives. So Block Contacts enables you to block all calls and messages from a contact (or several). If the contact tries to call you – it will go straight to voicemail. I’m not sure what happens if they message or email you, as I’ve never had to block anybody. But this feature would have been very useful for me in the past. The downside is that the contact has to remain in your address book and that there’s nothing to stop the blocked contact from calling/messaging on another number.

block-contacts-ios7

This feature isn’t the easiest to find. So to access it in iOS 7 go to:
Settings – Phone – Blocked.

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Automatic App Updates
Simply switch on automatic app updates during the iOS 7 setup and the iPhone will keep all of the apps up-to-date. Another timesaving feature.

automatic-app-updates-ios7

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Set A Song To Wake You Up
We all need some inspirational music to wake up to from time to time. Apple has finally allowed users to set a song from the iPhone’s Music Library to play on their alarm App in iOS 7. It’s about time, users of other smart phones have been able to do this for years.

set-music-for-alarm-ios7

In iOS 7 Apple still doesn’t let users set songs from the iPhone’s Music Library as contact ring/message tones. Again this is something that users of other smart phones have been able to do for years.

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MultiTasking
Multitasking is much better is iOS 7. Double click the home button and there’s a preview of all the open Apps. If you tap on an App it will take you into it. To close an App you slide it in the up direction. You can close two Apps at a time by using two fingers.

multi-tasking-ios7

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Siri Is MASSIVELY Improved
Up until iOS 7, Siri always felt like a gimmick. I’d tried him a few times, but he really wasn’t very good or useful. Well in iOS 7 Siri is massively improved. Here’s a few screenshots of him telling me what he can do:

siri-ios7-1 siri-ios7-2 siri-ios7-3
siri-ios7-4 siri-ios7-5

Siri is nowhere near being perfect and still needs more work. I have a few personal gripes with it, but Apple are heading in the right direction. Siri just needs more development.

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Added Camera Features – Square Photo Taking and Effects
In iOS 7 Apple has added the feature to take square photos. It maybe handy for a profile pic, but I’ll be honest – I’ve never used it.

camera-features-ios7-1 camera-features-ios7-2

I do like the pre-taking effects feature (screenshot above). Apple has done a lot of work under-the-hood and the result is an improved quality of photos. It means less blurry photos on iOS7.

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Photos – Organised by ‘Moments’
Photos in iOS 7 are organised much better. Organised through ‘moments’ it is easier find the photo (or set) you’re searching for.

I haven’t quite worked out how to get yearly views or rename my ‘moments’ from their original date names. If you know, please comment.

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Improved Battery Life
A source of frustration in the past has been my iPhone’s short battery life. In iOS 7, Apple have managed, somehow, to improve the battery life. Very impressive.

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Now The Bad Features (click the link or scroll down):
iCal
Circular Buttons on Lock Screen
Notification Centre
iPhone Search
The Annoying Autocorrect

iCal
iCal feels less functional and looks cheap. It’s gone from being a really useful tool to being to something that’s more difficult to use.

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Circular Buttons on Lock Screen
Apple has brought out biometric fingerprint scanning on the latest iPhone. For those without the latest iPhone new circular buttons are used to unlock the iPhone in iOS 7. I’m not keen on the buttons as the circular design means less of a surface area to tap.

circular-buttons-ios7

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Notification Centre
The Notification Centre feels less efficient than before. This is because of events on iCal. If they have been marked as all-day ‘free’ events (most of the events on my iCal) they don’t appear on The Notification Centre. So it’s impossible to take a quick glance of where I need to be or what I’ve got to do today in the Notification Centre.

notification-centre-ios7-1

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iPhone Search
In iOS 7 Apple has made the iPhone Search feature more difficult to access. Rather than swiping left on the home screen, you have to swipe down. I often pull down the Notification Centre by accident.

The search results are less relevant and there aren’t as half as many results as there used to be. Essentially the search feature in iOS 7 isn’t as good as it was in iOS 6.

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The Annoying Autocorrect
The annoying autocorrect is unbearably frustrating in iOS 7. It repeatedly changes words, even after you’ve changed them back. So annoying in fact, that I’ve discovered how to turn it off.

auto-correct-off-ios7

To turn your autocorrect off, go to: Settings – General – Keyboard – Auto-Correction – Slide to Off.

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Overall Impression
I’ve spent hours on iOS 7 exploring the new ecosystem and am impressed with it. The good features outweigh the bad and it is likely to be Apple’s most successful operating system to date.

In my Technology Review: The iPhone 5 post I described the iPhone 5 and iOS 6 as being evolution rather revolution. I advised Apple needed to do some revolution when it came to the iPhone 6.

Apple has definitely done a revolution with iOS 7; it feels simplified and fresh. Apple has taken My Advice to Apple and seems to have listened to customers and developers in the beta testing of iOS 7.

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Thoughts from Social Media
The design has had a mixed response from my Facebook friends and Twitter followers. Some have said iOS 7 looks like it’s been designed by a 5 year old. Whereas other love the design. But what is noticeable is that more of my Facebook friends and Twitter followers have updated this year than last year.

Blog soon,

Antony

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Sunday 3 November 2013

My Advice to Apple

By Technology, ThinkingNo Comments
Apple-logo Since The Death of Steve Jobs, Apple seem to have lost their way. The iPhone 5 was disappointing and in my iPhone 5 Review I wrote about the disappointments and missed opportunities. I’m no technology whizz; just a customer who wants Apple to build on it’s success. So Apple this post is addressed exclusively to you. Let’s start with the iPhone shall we?

Your next iPhone release should be an iPhone 6. Forget the ‘S’ models unless you are going add something new; something more than a bit of unnoticeable Speed. No more rehashing of the previous model.

On a hardware front you need to take advantage of new technology including Wireless Charging. You need to improve the features that customers want such as a bigger screen width. In the iPhone 5 Launch Key Notes Presentation you made a point about keeping it the same width as the iPhone 4 so that it could be operated by one hand; but is this really what customers want? It seemed strange that all your competitors have widened the width of their smart phones but you haven’t.

The great thing with all your devices is that the hardware and software work in synergy. But software wise you’re to slow at making the changes customers want. Think back to the copy/paste feature, it took you far too long to add it in an update.

You need to loosen your control on the App Store, especially when it comes to your competitors Apps. When you delayed the Google Maps App and made the shambolic Apple Maps App, customers were left frustrated at not having a decent Maps App. We live in a world of convenience; so inconveniencing customers is a good way to loose them. Some customers saw it as a cynical attempt to control which software they use and taking away customers choice is another sure way to make them switch to your competitors.

We understand the need to update hardware; but let’s never have a repeat of the Lightening Connector fiasco. Support your existing customers by providing an adapter free of charge; as charging £25 for a tiny connector was seen by many as an exploitation of your customer base. Give accessory developers early access to the iPhone 6; so that when it launches customers can buy compatible accessories such as cases, speaker/dock devices, car handsfree kits, etc. It’s now several months since the iPhone 5 launch and there still aren’t many accessories around for it.

A really good way to emphasise value for money would be to put product packages together. So buy the iPhone 6 and get the latest iPad for a reduced price if bought together. For the iMac you could put a reduced price Time Capsule and so on. This would encourage your customers to spend more and give them an added sense of value for money.

imac-2012 Take the new iMac as a good example. You’ve slimmed it down, made it lighter and added loads of great features. My iMac (Part 1) is the the older version. It’s become everything I use technology for: I write on it, play music, view photos, watch DVDs/TV on it and surf the web. I won’t be upgrading as you’ve removed the DVD player and I watch DVD’s on my iMac daily. You’ve assumed that I want to download or stream all the films, TV and other media. Most people won’t spend the price of an iMac that doesn’t meet their requirements. They’d choose a different machine instead.

The key message is that you need to ask and listen to your customers. It doesn’t matter whether it’s the iPhone 6, iPod Touch, iPad, etc. you need to do market research for them all. You need to find out what customers want and need, rather than assuming you know what we want. You need to make sure your products are value for money; otherwise you’ll price yourself out of the markets.

Wishing you luck,

A Customer

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Saturday 30 March 2013
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