Category: General

Tribit XBoom becomes the Tribit StormBox

Before the world fell apart we did our top gadget awards and the “Best Bluetooth Speaker” gong went to the Tribit XBoom. We reviewed it here and it was quite pricey at the time. Don’t let that put you off though, because it’s still an utterly brilliant bit …

Masts on fire as insane 5G coronavirus conspiracies continue

We spoke about the wild rumours connecting 5G to coronavirus cases over a month ago and, well, we got some “interesting” emails after that (mainly threats). Over the weekend, in the midst of a global pandemic and a lockdown here in the UK, some people have taken it …

Vodafone offering 30 days of unlimited data to NHS staff

NHS staff are having to suffer quite a bit at the moment. There’s concern over a lack of protective equipment, COVID-19 testing, and their own already-long hours and stress. This has led Vodafone to launch an unlimited data initiative for NHS staff. Their existing 30 day unlimited data …

No more O2 deals with Carphone Warehouse

Although physical stores are closed right now, you can still get a phone or a SIM-only deal online. Networks available with Carphone include Vodafone, Voxi (sitting on Vodafone), Virgin Mobile (on EE masts), their own iD Mobile network (using Three infrastructure), EE and, until yesterday, O2. Carphone Warehouse …

Cool little timer – Ticktime

Asking Alexa to set a timer is one thing, but what if you had a gadget that took less time to set and went with you everywhere? This is Ticktime. The makers tell me that it’s “more than just a timer” and they’ve reinvented how timer looks and …

Coronavirus – Emergency government texts being sent

If you’re in the US, you’ll probably be familiar with emergency broadcast messages. However, here in the UK it’s rather unusual to receive a text with an emergency update. These, though, are not “usual” times. Today all mobile networks will be sending out emergency messages to keep everyone …

Vodafone announce new coronavirus measures

If you’re at home and fighting over the broadband bandwidth, Vodafone have some options. The first is their short-term and mobile broadband packages. These can deliver solutions such as the Vodafone Gigacube, giving you fast broadband via the Vodafone masts. Secondly, Vodafone have also got in touch with …

Coronavirus – Online supermarket Ocado closes

If you’re looking to shop online right now, you can either put on some padding and go to the insane scrums at the local supermarket or try and get an online delivery slot. The latter is becoming an incredibly rare thing, and until the delivery capabilities are boosted, …

Everything is changing..

Just a few short days ago I doubt we knew quite how life-changing this situation would be. The coronavirus outbreak has become a massive health and economic emergency across the globe. Now, today, we’re coming to terms with the hard realisation that nothing will be the same for …

Learning card games on your phone

Look on the Android or iPhone app store and, if you want to give card games a try, there’s a stack of options. I started, as most kids do, with “Snap”. It’s an easy game and you can download this to your phone and re-live those times by …

Shared rural mast network – a bit delayed, but back on.

Last year we covered the new shared rural network but things hit a bit of a wall when operators objected to the cost of using the EE equipment. The plan was to share masts and other infrastructure in areas which wouldn’t normally be considered as “beneficial” or cost-effective. …

Smartish – Samsung Galaxy S20 Cases galore

The lovely people at Smartish have sent us some Samsung Galaxy S20 cases. We don’t, however, have any Samsung Galaxy S20 handsets to put them on. We’ve opened up the box of cases they sent and we’re going to take an up-close look at them here. You’ll see …

Win yourself a Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G and more

Vodafone are launching a new Augmented Reality (AR) game which gives you the chance to unlock thousands of tech prizes. Called “Find Unlimited”, you can also win one of 25 new Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G handsets. You’ve got to find and interact with AR “V-Atoms”, which have …

N100 from DOOGEE comes with a huge 10,000 mAh battery

The China-based phone manufacturer DooGee today announced the company’s latest smartphone, the N100. The DOOGEE N100 is an affordable smartphone packed full of features including a whopping 10,000 mAh battery, giving a claimed 100 hours of talk time and 350 hours of standby. Other specs include: 5.99″ full …

Yowser. We created a bit of rage!

Following our look at the various coronavirus conspiracy theories, we’ve received a number of quite angry emails. Angry emails aren’t new to us, believe me. We’ve been online since 2002 and, in that time, we’ve had swearing, takedown notices and all manner of threats and criticism. The internet …

Coronavirus – Will tech will save us?!

With the UK just moments away from crazed panic-buying and a full lock-down thanks to endless click-bait hype-tastic news stories, there’s no shortage of “opportunities” for those wanting to make a swift profit from it. This week we’ve had online stores doing Flash Deals on face masks (which …

Health insurance goes digital – Monitoring your well-being in 2020

Have you seen or tried a smartwatch or smartband? It’s perhaps a good indicator of how we’re all keeping an eye on our health now. Health apps, which often go alongside those fitness gadgets, can keep a track of your fitness and your sleep. In addition, there’s stress …

We might see the Surface Duo sooner than expected

In October last year Microsoft released to the world its dual-screen, Android-powered phone, the Surface Duo. It was stated that this device would be officially unveiled during this October’s Surface event and hit the market during the 2020 shopping season. Well, we are hearing rumblings that we might …

Farewell dear reader…. for now

Some of you may have noticed that I have been less active on the site lately and now it is time to fill you in on the reason. I have taken on new employment and, with the demands of the job and learning new skills, it’s been all-consuming. …

TCA Sportswear – From the streets of East London

As you may know, I’m trying to sweat it out at the gym right now. It’s a constant battle to just get up. A nice warm bed at 6AM, or a freezing cold gym with the music cranked up? Anyways, TCA approached me and said, “Hey can you …

Grab £100 cash-back with giffgaff Samsung kit

If you’re looking at getting any of the following phones, it’s definitely worth looking at these giffgaff deals. Right now they’re giving up to £100 cashback, which is available online until March 31st. You can pay either by one up-front payment or pay monthly via RateSetter. Upfront payments …

Fancy getting to work in a drone?

We all know that drones are becoming more useful. The police are using them now and they’re continuing to grow in popularity, even with the increase in regulation. But, what about building one big enough to sit in? You could get to work in that in no time. …

Two-way translation – Pocketalk S

Yes, you can use the Google Translate app or, if you’re heading around Europe and you have yourself £259, you can get the Pocketalk S. It’s got a built-in SIM, a text-to-translate camera, a bigger touch screen, noise-cancelling microphones and two high-quality speakers plus a useful conversion feature. …

Speedy 5G. “Downloading” will be a distant memory.

Back at college I vividly remember writing an essay about the future of the internet. The conclusion was that everything was going to get faster, and there’d be more content. Up until fairly recently, that conclusion has been fairly accurate. As the years have gone by, we’ve moved …

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip. Get yourself a bespoke micro bag!

The Galaxy Z Flip is, without doubt, a stunning handset. We took an up-close look at it on the launch day but we’ve not exactly been bombarded by case manufacturers selling covers for it. Step forward designer Ashley Williams, who’s launched an exclusive new Galaxy Z Flip accessory …

Ofcom to try and manage the internet

You’ll have probably seen us mention Ofcom quite a bit here. They are the communications regulator in the UK and currently cover TV, radio, video, telecoms, mobiles and postal services to name just a few. Today the government here will add social media to that list, as they’re …

MWC – I have a funny feeling…

We’ve had yet another email this morning and Intel have now pulled out of the big Barcelona bash. The reason, once again, is the threat of the coronavirus. Our list of companies that are changing their commitment to the Mobile World Congress is now growing almost by the …

EE become an exclusive BritBox partner

You may have heard about BritBox. It’s a video subscription service created by BBC and ITV which delivers TV entertainment from the main UK public service broadcasters across the UK, USA and Canada. It’s different to the BBC iPlayer and ITV Player because older content is included. Today …

BT make 5G available to all customers

With BT swooping in some time back to buy EE, it’s unsurprising that they’re pushing hard with 5G – both as “EE” and “BT”. This morning BT announced that they’re making 5G available for all customers, with 5G BT plans and 5G smartphones from Samsung, OnePlus and Huawei …

Start a call on your phone – direct from your PC

Been browsing on Chrome recently? If you were trying to find a number or call a business, you probably did the same as me this morning. At the weekend, and with the aid of alcohol, my filling fell out. So, I had to call the dentist this morning. …

Vodafone SIM-only deal. A tenna a month for 10GB

Not bad this and another SIM-only offer that you should definitely take a look at. Grab yourself a phone and then slap this SIM in. If you’ve already got a contract or a deal with someone else, just do the text to switch thing – it’s really easy. …

Yet more speed

There’s no big IT team behind this site. We don’t have SEO specialists, marketing teams or designers. So, it usually falls to me to do all that. In addition to writing the stories, the server setup and the database back-end is something I’ve constructed. In the last few …

Why HTML5 is the future of web

Over the last week I’ve been playing with the next phase of Remote Desktop Services. What is that exactly? Well, for those of you who have used a “SaS” (Software as a Service), you might already know. It’s the way of delivering desktop applications to your machine via …

EE wins Best Network again

Yet again EE have grabbed the top spot in performance as part of the RootMetric’s testing results. The network, now owned by BT, is obviously pretty happy about all, with BT CEO Marc Allera telling us.. We’re continuing to invest in our network to help keep our customers …

JBL launch some swish AirPod challengers

These are £99.99 and available right now from the boys at JBL. They’ve got a good pedigree too as Harman are the company behind them. They offer a “Pure Bass” sound and the ability to switch tracks by merely tapping the button on the left or right earbuds. …

How to make a traffic jam without a car

Google Maps, without doubt, is fantastic. After the company bought Waze for a huge amount of money seven years ago, it’s integrated a lot of the Waze crowdsourced driving features into Google Maps. The result is definitely beneficial for Google Maps users and we’re now used to seeing …

Keeping your old router will cost you dear on BT, EE and Plusnet

Our very own BT has announced that customers will now face a £50 charge if they choose not to return the supplied broadband router once the contract ends. It comes as the company tried to reduce waste and mirrors a similar scheme by Virgin. BT have added a …