Apple Buys Beats Electronics

Apple yesterday confirmed that it is buying Beats Electronics for $3 billion (£1.8 billion approx), Beats Electronics are the company that teamed up with HTC for a line of beats Audio Android Phones. When HTC dropped the beats Audio line last year in favour of their newly developed Boom Sound that first appeared in the HTC One M7, Beats then developed the Subscription based streaming music service beats music which is currently only available in North America at present like Apples own iTunes Radio.

Hacking Into Peoples Email Accounts: What's The Point?

After having to change the Password on my main Google Account that I use for some personal Email, my Google+ Profile, my YouTube Account, my Google Drive Account & ultimately use as the only user Account for my Chromebook due to suspicious activity caught by Google I thought I'd write this Article.

Basically what's the point of attempting to hack into someone's personal Email Account(s), it's not like anyone's going to have anything of interest in their personal Email or Google Drive Account that's worth stealing by a hacker unlike Corporate Email and possibly Google Drive that's likely to have Contact details of employees and clients along with confidential documents.

The only real benefit of hacking into someone's Email Account is for the contacts lists that open up a huge resource of people to send Spam email to, and by gaining control of the hacked Email Accounts people who receive the Spam are going to think it's from the person who's on the sender line of the Spam Email and its also not going to get caught by Email Spam filters as it's not from a known Spam Email Address.

Sunrise Calendar For Android Beta Review

After using Sunrise Calendar for Android Beta to me it seem lacking compared to other Calendars on Android.

Sunrise Calendar has a lot of cool features like I mentioned in my combined review, but only having two different Calendar views seems like the developers are trying to create a one size fits all Calender for all the supported Mobile OS's especially since Android Cell Phones come in more varied Screen Sizes than iPhone's meaning that  they could have created a totally different version that for Android that caters tor the varied Screen Sizes that Android devices come in instead of doing what seems like port the iOS version over to Android.

Although I prefer the stock Android Calendar to the Sunrise Calendar for Android Beta I'll keep it installed on my Google Nexus 7 & maybe do a follow-up post if anything changes during the Beta or do a follow-up post when it comes out of Beta.

but for now there are plenty of better Calendars available on Android that beat Sunrise on features, even if they don't have the cool features that's part of Sunrise Calendar.

Roland

Sunrise Calendar For Chrome/Chrome OS Review

After using Sunrise Calendar for Chrome/Chrome OS for a week I prefer Sunrise Calendar over Google Calendar as it looks more modern than Google Calendar and is more in keeping with the rest of the Google Apps suite than Google Calendar, the multiple Calendar from multiple Calendar services is a bonus for anyone who needs to view and edit a Calendar from a different Calendar service such as iCloud which isn't available in Google Calendar and Offline mode is a huge bonus.   Sunrise Calendar has more unique features that I mentioned in my combined review, but at present I'm undecided whether to stick with Sunrise Calendar as my default Calendar, use Sunrise calendar and Google Calendar together or since I'm nearly always Online only use Google Calendar.   It’s been nice using Sunrise Calendar, but I’m not sure if it’s the right Calendar for me since I can use the other Calendar services that I use through their own websites.

Roland

Spam Comments: What's The Point?

After getting a rather harsh Spam Comment accusing me of copying material for an Article that was 100% my material I approved the comment and requested the person that made the comment to cite the source for the allegedly copied material, to which I was met with no reply I've decided to write this article about Spam Comments.

this isn't the first time that I've written an Article about Spam Comments, but it's definitely the first time that I've been accused of copying material from another source be it in a legitimate Comment or a Spam Comment.

Accusing someone of copying material from another source that's 100% the Authors own work is a serious accusation to make, even if the Comment is a spam Comment as not all Blogging Platforms provide a Spam Filter like WordPress does, even a self hosted WordPress Blog ether self hosted or via a hosting Company doesn't provide Spam filtering unless the Akismet Spam filter Plugin enabled.

Sunrise Calendar for iOS Review

After using Sunrise Calendar for iOS for a week i’ve hardly used it compared to the stock iOS Calendar.

 Sunrise Calendar on iOS is ok but compared to the stock iOS Calendar it’s a little lacking, but the biggest thing lacking from Sunrise Calendar is missing from all third-party iOS Calendars and that’s the ability to launch a third-party Calendar from the Notification Centre. This problem isn't caused by third-party Calendars not being coded properly for iOS 7 but iOS not having the ability to set a third-party Calendar as the default.

 If Apple introduced this feature it’d make iOS a little less strict than it is, but then it might cause people to move away from the stock iOS apps to third-party ones which could then introduce problems for iOS and Mac OS X users that use say Sunrise Calendar on their iOS device and the stock Calendar on their OS X computer leaving potential problems with syncing between Calendars.

 I like Sunrise Calendar in Chrome/Chrome OS, and if the iOS version had the same month view as the iOS version then I might be inclined to stay with sunrise Calendar over the stock iOS Calendar.

 Sunrise Calendar has many good features that I mentioned in my combined review, but the lack of the ability to make Sunrise Calendar as the default Calendar makes it a deal breaker for me, and I can always add my Google Account onto my iPhone to get my Google Calendar events on the stock Calendar.

 Roland

What's On My Chromebook Shelf Right Now (Late May 2014)

THE MOST USED APPS ON MY CHROMEBOOK, AND

WHY THEY'RE THERE

This is my latest Chrome OS shelf line up that I'll probably stick with for at least the near future. While my iPhone and Google Nexus 7 Tablet are mainly used for leisure, my Chromebook is used mostly for work, I spend I've most of my day, it's what I use to update this blog and work on various other projects. So I thought I'd do a post in the style of the what's on my Mac Dock and why, but for Chromebooks, so here's what's on my Chromebook Shelf and why. First off we'll cover some of the stock Chrome apps, and there are a few. The first is Chrome as it's permanently placed on the Shelf by default, Files as it's easier than having to go through the App Drawer to find it, finally I've got the Wallpaper Picker as it's convenient for quickly changing my Desktop Wallpaper. Now onto the rest of my Apps.

• Clock Calendar.  Clock Calendar adds a nice convenient Month view Calendar and Clock that can be used like a widget.

• Google Calendar. I Use Google Calendar on a daily basis, not always to add events. So it's essential to have Calendar in easy reach.


• Google Drive. It's essential for me to always have quick access to all of my work with more advanced features than using Files.


• Full Screen Weather. I use Full Screen Weather, because it's always nice to keep an eye on the weather.


• Google+ Photos. I use Google+ Photos as it's a nice simple way to view all my photos that are backed up on Google+& even shared to Google+.


• Google Play Music. I use Play Music as a lot of my music is already stored on Play Music, and having it on the Shelf makes it easy to use when I want to listen to anything.


• Hangouts call. Hardly ever used, but it's still there if I need it.


• iCloud. I've replaced WeVideo with iCloud since I never did my Home Office Tour video, an since I've started using my iCloud email address as well as my Hotmail,Outlook & GMail addresses I thought that I might as well add it to my Shelf line up and maybe I'll get some use out of the other iCloud features.


• OMG Chrome. As it's nice to keep an eye on the latest Chrome & Chrome OS news.


• Spotify.  I like using Spotify & it's nice to be able to use Spotify from the Shelf.


• Sunrise Calendar. I've started to use Sunrise Calendar on my iPhone and the Android Beta on my Google Nexus 7 for review purposes, so I thought that it makes sense to use the Chrome/Chrome OS version as well and it has some nice extra features that you don't get in Google Calendar, so Google Calendar has taken a back seat for now.


• WeVideo. I've added WeVideo to my shelf as I'm planning on doing a tour of my Office/Desk at some point during the next week and thought that it would be an ideal time to experiment with WeVideo, so it's gained a place on my shelf for at least the next few weeks.


• WordPress.com. Since my blog is hosted on WordPress.com it makes sense to keep the WordPress.com app on the Shelf.


• YouTube. I watch YouTube videos nearly every day, so keeping the YouTube app on the Shelf makes sense.


• Google Play Music Mini Player. Having the Google Play Music Mini Player on the Shelf means that I can get access to some of the Google Play Music features without having to go into the Google Play Music app, would be nice to be able to use the Google Play Music Mini Player while the Google Play Music app is closed though.

That's everything on my Chromebook Shelf. I've got loads of other apps on my Chromebook, but the list I've provided in this post are the select few that I use enough to allow to grace a spot on my Shelf. That's enough about my Chromebook, what about you? Be sure to share your Chrome Shelf setups in the Comments.

Roland