• OPINION

  The world knows where you've been

  Life, James Hein, Published on 16/01/2019

  » A reminder for those operating in the digital world. This includes the internet, your phone, social media and basically anything in the public sphere. You can all but guarantee that everything you post online is eventually available to everyone. It doesn't matter what promises your provider might offer -- and maybe they're even being as honest as they can be -- eventually your data will turn up on a public server somewhere. The golden rule is simple: if you don't want everyone to see something, then don't post it anywhere on public networks.

• OPINION

  Burning issues and great expectations

  Life, James Hein, Published on 19/12/2018

  » Another year almost gone, another year of IT improvements, advancements and lower prices. It was a year of missing graphics cards, where Bitcoin data miners snapped up the market for a while.

• OPINION

  Huawei still some way behind rivals

  Life, James Hein, Published on 21/11/2018

  » I've had some feedback expressing surprise that I invested in a smartwatch. Yes, I didn't think I'd see the day either, but it does function very well as a watch with changeable faces and at a price point that's far below some of the faces it can duplicate. The always-on test was a success in that I only turned the watch off when I wasn't using it on some evenings. It also does sleep tracking, which perhaps provides a sterner test, but it still provided a week's worth of use making it usable for many. On a longer trip you would need to take the charger along. Note that for both tests, I kept Bluetooth on the whole time.

• OPINION

  Cloud tech is no castle in the sky

  Life, James Hein, Published on 06/06/2018

  » So, who has the best cloud? Gartner has been looking into that for you and the results are in. Amazon's Web Services and Microsoft Azure are the top two with a combination of maturity, ability to execute and a completeness of vision. As cloud technologies have evolved people are no longer looking for simply some rented space for data storage but are demanding more functionality. They also want stable availability, good security along with great performance. Of the eight vendors examined, IBM and Oracle finished at the bottom showing that just having a long history doesn't necessarily keep you near the top.

• OPINION

  Potential legal trouble for Apple over old batteries

  Life, James Hein, Published on 17/01/2018

  » The first couple of weeks of 2018 have provided a series of revelations. It started with Apple finally confirming that they have been throttling the performance of their older phones. The official line is that they do this to ensure that as the batteries degrade, the retarding of performance ensures that their devices won't overheat. Some people weren't buying what Apple was shovelling, and there is a series of class-action lawsuits in the making.

• OPINION

  Looking into IT's crystal ball

  Life, James Hein, Published on 03/01/2018

  » So it is that time again when I try and gaze into the crystal ball and guess what 2018 will bring the IT world.

• OPINION

  A techie Xmas to one and all

  Life, James Hein, Published on 20/12/2017

  » Another year has passed, and it is time to take a look back.

• OPINION

  Recognising the limits of recognition protection

  Life, James Hein, Published on 06/12/2017

  » So how good is biometric protection really? In a recent TV series, I watched as the good guys artificially massaged the bad guy's heart to activate the biometric-fingerprint system on his phone. Many modern biometric systems require some evidence of life to work, so the old system of just severing a finger is no longer reliable.

• OPINION

  Upgrading to the Samsung S8

  Life, James Hein, Published on 05/07/2017

  » So, I finally went for the smartphone upgrade and ordered a Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus. The Chinese phones are not quite there in terms of feature set, and the prices on them keep rising. The next article will cover some of the issues I faced moving from my current S5, and the wonders of the new phone as I discover them. After that, the next question will be "Do I get the docking station and VR kit or not?".

• OPINION

  Google Android refreshes itself

  Life, James Hein, Published on 07/06/2017

  » Android 8 -- or O -- will be coming out soon, with the beta already available for lucky Nexus and Pixel users. Google is introducing "Fluid Experiences" that include picture in picture, Notification Dots, autofill and smart-text selection. The first will allow you to have an app open but with also, say, a small window running a YouTube video, just like TVs can do. Notification dots show that you have an app notification. A long press will bring up the item, which is useful. You have all seen autofill on forms and for passwords; this is finally appearing in Android. As has been the case for the last few versions, Google is also focusing on maximising security, optimising boot times and app performance, and intelligently limiting background activity for apps to save battery life. These are all welcome enhancements.

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