Recently I had cause to renew my passport – I thought I had better get it up to date as it was due to run out the early part of next year. Whilst researching the most efficient way to do this I came across the option now available to renew online and was pleasantly surprised at how easy and straight forward it was – I thought I’d take you through the process this month. Read this entire article »
Last month we looked at how you could physically connect your mobile phone to your telescope so that you could take pictures of the moon (and other night sky objects). If you decided to have a play then you will have taken a number of videos of the things you saw and you should, quite rightly, be very pleased with them. Read this entire article »
With the nights drawing in and things getting darker earlier and lighter later, my thoughts turn to the skies. You may (or may not) be aware that we live in some of the best areas for stargazing in the world. Its not that difficult to find a “dark area” within easy walk/drive of most of our homes here on the Costa Blanca. There are plenty of nature reserves and areas without street lighting that enable us even with the naked eye to see some of the wonders of the Universe. Alternatively, if you want to see even more – further afield, down in Almeria, we have the Calar Alto Observatory – www.caha.es where you could visit and look through their state-of-the-art telescopes. Read this entire article »
Are you lucky enough to be the proud owner of an apple iPhone or iPad? Then you probably have been receiving messages about a new operating system. It’s called iOS 11 and it’s free to download if you have an iPhone 5S or an iPad mini 2, Pro or Air or newer. This month we will look at some of the advantages of this new system but also some of the things you should check before you decide to press the upgrade button. Read this entire article »
Those of you that know me well, know that I am a gadget freak through and though – if it’s got a screen or flashing led’s then I will be interested in it!
This month we look at the growing trend in wireless speaker technology. More and more of us are using our mobile devices (tablets and smartphones) to listen to music. The problem is that the speakers that are integrated into these devices usually are not of great quality. Adding a wireless speaker to your device will give you both better quality and a longer battery life (because the tablet isn’t having to use its battery to play the music). Read this entire article »
A couple of years ago, we wrote about the Generalitat Valenciana website pages that help you book your medical appointments online. Although the website worked, it was, however ‘protected’ with some digital certificates that caused problems for so many people that for many it was simply unusable.
Now there is a new and more friendly option if you have a smartphone or tablet – which I know many of you do. GVA + Salut is a mobile app that our regional governers have created to help make booking online easy – well easier anyway! The app, understandably is only available in Valenciano or Castillano, but its much easier to use than the website. Read this entire article »
So, many of you realise that I have a keen interest in things “not of this world”. Here is more computer based astronomy stuff for you.
Most people will be aware that Google have mapped pretty much most of the planet we live on, Google Maps and Google Earth are great applications that can be used for many things from simply looking up places on the planet to using your phone as a satelite navigation tool for getting around.
What many people won’t be aware of is that Google haven’t stopped just mapping our planet, but they have been merrily mapping our satelite (i.e. the Moon) and Mars (the red planet) and the rest of the nights sky. Read this entire article »
As you probably already know, I have a penchant for cycling and this month I managed to mix one of my favourite sports with my other love – computers!
Zwift is a piece of software that allows you to connect your bike, an indoors trainer and your computer, the most sensors you have, the more the integration works. If you have a smart trainer (one that connects to your computer) then Zwift will change the resistance based on the terrain that you are cycling through!
Ok I hear you ask, you live in Spain, why on earth would you want to cycle indoors? Well that’s a good point and at first I thought the same thing, however there are some days when its either too windy, too rainy (not many haha) or too hot to safely cycle outdoors, so this system gives you an alternative. Its’ quick, easy and really handy if you have room to have it set up perminantly like I do – I can finish work and be on the bike cycling around Watopia (the name of the island that you cycle around in Zwift) in a matter of a few minutes without ever leaving the house. Read this entire article »
If, like me, you have to take pills every day and you keep forgetting to take them then I have the solution for you – a great app called MediSafe . You see I increasingly find it difficult to remember to keep “taking the pills” and recently after I had my leg in plaster I also had to remember to take a whole lot more of them – and a daily injection!
Some of the medication had to be taken once a day, others had to be taken several times a day and to be honest with you I was so busy and so uninterested in taking the medication that I regularly forgot. I had to find a way to ensure that I kept taking them for obvious reasons and being never more than an arms length away from my trusty smart phone I decided to see if there was a app that I would be able to use to replace my failing memory. Read this entire article »
Now that smart phones are becoming more ubiquitous it seems normal to think of using them first for all sorts of things – for example when I want to find the answer for something, need a torch, find directions or even just to keep a note of something I use my smart phone. I realise that I may rely on my phone more than most but it has now become quite natural to turn to it first for many of its useful functions. So, in that light its not surprising that there are now many social apps that take advantage of this ‘always at hand’ nature of our touch screen friends – this month we look at a couple of those apps. Read this entire article »