Disruption

Posted on 13 May 2016 by Thor

We have lately been reading a lot of headlines shouting ‘Disruption’, so what is it about.

The definition of disruption comes in several guises and definitions, for example ‘Forcible separation or division into parts’, ‘To throw into confusion or disorder’, ’An innovation that creates a new market and value network and eventually disrupts and replaces established market and network’, and on another tack you’ll find ‘Cell disruption’ a method in cell biology for releasing biological molecules from inside a cell.

Well, we are not going there, but

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Apple iPad/iPhone Charger Plug Recall

Posted on 29 Jan 2016 by Peter Bunkall

Many of our members have Apple iPhones and iPads (incl iPad Minis) which they use constantly. Without wanting to cause any alarm (because there’s no need for any!), I want to draw your attention to an official recall of the removable plugs from the power adapter. Apparently in a very small number of cases, the international plug adapter component (called a DuckHead) has broken potentially exposing users to electric shock. You can Continue reading →

My New BFF – Siri!

Posted on 09 Oct 2014 by Kapiti SeniorNet Inc.

By Dianne Cooper (Tutor)
If you use an iPad3, iPad mini, iPhone 4S or iPod Touch 5G, or any of their successors, you have Siri on board. Siri is a voice assistant feature. Apple Support/About Siri, will provide you with pages about what Siri can be used for, and how to do it. Here’s a brief review of one user’s experience…

Siri allows you to use your voice to command the device, rather than your fingers. Supposedly, Siri understands natural speech. S/he needed some familiarization with my Kiwi accent. I did this by dictating an email (which I never sent), correcting the text manually when s/he got it wrong. Over and over. If you want punctuation in your text, you have to say the word. eg comma. I find the more I use Siri, the fewer mistakes s/he makes.

The main way to access Siri is to simply press and hold the Home button. You’ll hear a couple of quick beeps, and see “What can I help you with?”. If you don’t say anything, you will be presented with a rolling screen of examples of things Siri can do for you. Continue reading →

To rule the world or not, that is the question

Posted on 07 Jul 2014 by Thor

And quite a question it is. It is a question that Google is now seriously asking itself. Their stated goal of reaching 5 billion people in the world out of the 7 billion people estimated to be the world’s population with their Android operating system may seem farfetched, but perhaps not.
So far Google has reached more than 1 billion users, and Android is the most popular mobile operating system in the World thanks to the many manufacturers using android as the operating system in their products.

Google software is what is called open source, which means that developers are free to develop the software further, using the original Google designed Android platform. This is the case for all open source type software as e.g. LibreOffice, an office suite of programmes, or Linux, a computer operating system, and for Google it has been successful with approx. 80% of the all smartphones made and sold running on an Android operating system.

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Backing up a Tablet or a smartphone

Posted on 06 Apr 2014 by Thor

Ahh, you thought you did not have to do a back-up? Well, you should. And not just once a year either.
Backing up your data is not one of the most exhilarating things to do, and for most people not their most desirable task.

But thank goodness, technology to the rescue for it can be done more or less automatically so it won’t take up much of your time.

I have heard the argument that duplicating and storing your data is a waste of time, but protecting your data really is worthwhile for there are only two kinds of computer users: those who have lost data because their machine crashed or those who will, and then your precious photographs, letters, addresses of your contacts and important messages may have gone for good. You could also be infected by some dastardly virus that wipes your data and your system.

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