tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75523766469040255722024-03-05T23:09:55.974-08:00Scooby1970Personal website of Mark Adams - Gamer Extreme - Music Lover - Blogger & Freelance Writer.Mark G Adamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12621472090637023161noreply@blogger.comBlogger139125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7552376646904025572.post-38116023083796095672017-02-28T11:32:00.000-08:002017-02-28T11:32:06.417-08:00Xbox One S Review<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJPRBm_dLzXkw-cfcjPi7TF-ewxt7Ylj8oElsmTx0rPdlP14flzHPnmUnxBsv-hwtZgDBfJnRUB39jvpkSq6rY2naI1tFgI3m6h8OX0K2S5NQHkNtFRPisPsFQXbqA-7vFv4Q6zbH6q-w/s1600/IMG_20170224_152757.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="287" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJPRBm_dLzXkw-cfcjPi7TF-ewxt7Ylj8oElsmTx0rPdlP14flzHPnmUnxBsv-hwtZgDBfJnRUB39jvpkSq6rY2naI1tFgI3m6h8OX0K2S5NQHkNtFRPisPsFQXbqA-7vFv4Q6zbH6q-w/s400/IMG_20170224_152757.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
It's been awhile
since I had a console, the last one being a Sony Playstation 3 which
I sold last year. It was time time for a new console and a change, so
having gone through weeks of research and talking to people the
decision was made… For the first time ever I was going to have a
Microsoft console, and not the base model but the newest Xbox One S
with 1TB of storage and to free games (Forza Horizon 3 and Gears Of
War 4).</div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
There were a few
things I wanted in a console that led me to my choice.
</div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<ul>
<li>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The primary
one was that it needed some sort of 4k support, and it does this
with its 4k UHD Blu-ray player, streaming video and some games
up-scaled.</div>
</li>
<li>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Secondly I
wanted a game catalogue different to what I was used to. The Xbox
One succeeds two-fold with its Xbox Exclusives and the fact it has
the ability to play a huge selection of Xbox 360 games.</div>
</li>
<li>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Thirdly I
wanted media and streaming of some sort. This has excelled my
expectations with the ability to play many codecs of music and
video, plus almost replace my new Chromecast as well as the ability
to stream games to my laptop to play anywhere in the house!</div>
</li>
<li>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Fourth and
finally I wanted it to be a at piece of kit that just looks awesome,
and I believe the Xbox One S is the greatest looking console since
the Sega Dreamcast.</div>
</li>
</ul>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<b>Technical Specs</b></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The Xbox One S is a
pimped up Xbox One in a 40% smaller body. It's tiny! Compared to my
original PS3 it looks very small, with a stunning white finish with
little dimples and sharp edges.</div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
It has three USB 3
ports, two on the back and one on the front, HDMI out, HDMI in (for
complete integration of the system with your TV), Ethernet connection
and digital audio out.</div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Internally it has a
1TB hard drive and has been tweaked and sped up since the original
Xbox One. In real terms this means games run better, and the console
can output 4k and HDR with compatible to televisions. The extra grunt
in the machine means games can run up to 7% faster (from 27fps to
36fps) while the majority will run around 3%-4% faster (source
Digital Foundry).</div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The controller has
also been tweaked, and now can run via Bluetooth so that it can be
used with a PC (useful when streaming).</div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ5UGiAD_hBmJxbiqp-NhyKxYOltKVI77a00doMOHCwYf_y8Vh5P6mQFpHnlIPKWzlFjN7WVT1Qq2bLC80_yVr-P_HotD4hI1vT7J76FkgCS0Y75EjSvPDV8JyPNB4_yxrCXwRKWcXL4w/s1600/Xbox+One+%25282%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="190" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ5UGiAD_hBmJxbiqp-NhyKxYOltKVI77a00doMOHCwYf_y8Vh5P6mQFpHnlIPKWzlFjN7WVT1Qq2bLC80_yVr-P_HotD4hI1vT7J76FkgCS0Y75EjSvPDV8JyPNB4_yxrCXwRKWcXL4w/s400/Xbox+One+%25282%2529.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
There is also a 4k
UHD Blu-ray player as standard, meaning you can make the most of the
new UHD Blu-ray discs and watch them in glorious 3840 x 2160. I've
clicked through Independence Day 4k and it's quality far surpasses
steamed 4k which is more akin to a 1080p picture. Normal DVDs and
Blu-ray discs look spectacular when played through the Xbox One,
which has amazing up-scaling when using either 1080p out 2160p. HDR
is catered for also, and should make a difference to films and games.</div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<b>The Games</b></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Most games are cross
platform these days, and side-by-side comparisons with the
Playstation 4 show them to play identically. It's with the exclusive
titles and backwards compatibility where the Xbox One shines.</div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Forza Horizon 3 is
arguably the best looking and playing racing game on this generation
of console. Gears Of War 4 is one of the best looking and playing
third person shooters, while the console is home to the amazing Rare
Replay collection, Halo Collection and more.</div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Unlike the previous
generation, each game needs to be installed on the machine and take
up huge amounts of space, what's more they can take ages as they can
also download data. Gears Of War 4 took around 78gb to download,
which to hours even on a fast connection (it was a digital download,
but others games have also downloaded around 40gb as well as the
disc!)</div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The console has
another trick up its sleeve though backwards compatibility. Even more
games I've missed out on such as Left 4 Dead series, the Banjo Kazooi
series and so much more. There are hundreds of compatible games, and
the list gets bigger monthly.</div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Graphically games
look nothing short of stunning in full 1080p or upscaled 4k. If you
have HDR, then this adds more depth of colour. There is little to no
stutter or lag when playing even the most intensive of game.</div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Similarly audio is
outstanding, and with a great subwoofer the games take on a whole new
dimension.</div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<b>Media Support &
Streaming</b></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSbsbErQYXKiU55-1BA2rkVPk_19VE6GszHqbaLR2KJB1WHZssEOE3_pxPQ1M3uQTgaWse9tf4jw4JW0s4TXdAwuUXooqK-v0JpuRqpR-yqDD5pRRwif7m4g0YWzyBiSeAUSTaCjNYrQA/s1600/Xbox+One+%25281%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSbsbErQYXKiU55-1BA2rkVPk_19VE6GszHqbaLR2KJB1WHZssEOE3_pxPQ1M3uQTgaWse9tf4jw4JW0s4TXdAwuUXooqK-v0JpuRqpR-yqDD5pRRwif7m4g0YWzyBiSeAUSTaCjNYrQA/s320/Xbox+One+%25281%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
As well as the
already mentioned 4k Blu-ray player the Xbox One S excels in other
areas. You can plug in USB sticks, USB hard drives or use good old
CD, DVD or Blu-ray.</div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Should you wish to
stream content to the Xbox One from your phone or PC, click on the
Chromecast button and select “Xbox One”. If you already have a
Chromecast, you'll have the option to stream to either! This feature
alone is amazing, meaning you can stream films and music from apps
and play them on your TV through the Xbox. What's more, internet
connection seems much faster on the Xbox than a Chromecast.</div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Possibly the
greatest streaming feature though is the “Stream” to Windows 10
option. Simply download the Xbox app on your laptop or PC, connect to
your Xbox and hit the Stream button. It's amazing to see games with
these graphics playing on a laptop, with little to no lag depending
on your connection (on my 42mb connection the Xbox picks it up as
33mb and 95% of the time there's no lag, but you do get the odd
hiccup). Just remember to use a Xbox controller on your laptop.</div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<b>Conclusion</b></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
I took a gamble when
buying the Xbox One S. Everyone I know have Playstation 4's. Everyone
I asked said get a PS4. There were games I wanted to continue playing
in the series such as Uncharted, Killzone and more, but making a list
of pros and cons only made me realise more it was time for a change.</div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The Xbox One S is
aesthetically pleasing console, with a quiet fan, great feature-set
and a promising future. It runs on a version of Windows 10, meaning
you also get Edge browser and a ton of other Windows goodies. The
console is so much more than I dreamt it would be, with some killer
features and most importantly, does everything and more that I wanted
it to do. </div>
Mark G Adamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12621472090637023161noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7552376646904025572.post-6995583871552697632016-12-13T12:55:00.002-08:002016-12-13T12:57:06.088-08:00Mark G Adams Photography<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi02K0i7SqYJHhT5eWz-eovII8Q4hFU-mfNbwM7qZdHDwX4LO1oD4HD-Ux0TMlGXzhi8uqSs4Dy2hi1qC6MVrLSC2Kwp1VTg8Pgo4c9BNOCb2Gx7FGNqOVJJfuIOtlaQ-RygJ-Z_Zv5yNo/s1600/Header.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi02K0i7SqYJHhT5eWz-eovII8Q4hFU-mfNbwM7qZdHDwX4LO1oD4HD-Ux0TMlGXzhi8uqSs4Dy2hi1qC6MVrLSC2Kwp1VTg8Pgo4c9BNOCb2Gx7FGNqOVJJfuIOtlaQ-RygJ-Z_Zv5yNo/s400/Header.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<b>Photography Facebook Page</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
I have created a new Facebook page highlighting my photography skills. It contains photographs taken at various events, street photography and plenty of landscape photography.<br />
<br />
Please make sure and visit <a href="http://www.facebook.com/markgadamsphotography">www.facebook.com/markgadamsphotography</a> While you are there please make sure to LIKE and SHARE the page. Doing this will entitle you to one free photograph of your choice which you may enlarge and use as a print or a canvas.<br />
<br />
Please feel free to browse the page and enjoy!Mark G Adamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12621472090637023161noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7552376646904025572.post-75763064664312951812016-05-11T02:13:00.000-07:002016-05-12T02:37:59.379-07:00Huawei P9 Review<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhO_6wdhmb622cgq6zP9_Jc7WxAhMv4HVzTvVmDl_5h7QR9daqVHZDKHnje32LzLx_zKRohqMOGf7qj1XX4Ar5VPxF62JPE6KMPwsYXE61af0a5vv7I7XvIe7NIGxvx965xfH28Hz-xM1g/s1600/P9+Main.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="272" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhO_6wdhmb622cgq6zP9_Jc7WxAhMv4HVzTvVmDl_5h7QR9daqVHZDKHnje32LzLx_zKRohqMOGf7qj1XX4Ar5VPxF62JPE6KMPwsYXE61af0a5vv7I7XvIe7NIGxvx965xfH28Hz-xM1g/s320/P9+Main.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Introduction</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Every two years I have the arduous task of choosing a new mobile phone. Last time I had the choice of two phones, the Samsung S5 or Samsung Galaxy Note 3. I wanted a bigger screen and awesome specs, so went with the Note. The phone served me well, but this time I wanted something a little bit different, I wanted the best phone on the market for taking photos, with high specs and a market leading flagship. Oh, one more thing, I didn't want a Samsung</span></div>
<b id="docs-internal-guid-49fcf782-9f0c-6a52-4764-8d0307f711b8" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The logic behind my decision is twofold. Firstly having a Samsung every upgrade three of the last four upgrades (the other was a HTC) meant I didn't feel like I was having anything different, just a little upgrade each time and no excitement. Secondly, I'd used my wife's Huawei Honor 7 and immediately fell in love with everything about it. It was different, it was quality and it ticked all the right boxes!</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Huawei P9 General Hardware Specs</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Released on Three on Friday May 6th 2016, the phone comes on an unlimited calls and text plan with 2GB data for just £28 a month. My data usage used to be higher, however over recent months it has dropped dramatically.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The P9 has a 5.2 inch 1080p screen, and the dimensions are </span><span style="background-color: #fafafa; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">152.3 x 75.3 x 6.8 mm (6.00 x 2.96 x 0.28 in)</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. It is only 6.8mm thick, meaning it's thinner than a Samsung S7, but still manages to hold a 3000ma battery.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Powered by Huawei’s in-house Kiran 955 processor with 3GB of memory, it's a powerful handset which scores higher than 810 processors of other phones, but is slower than 820 processors in single core mode, and faster in multicore mode. Benchmarks are pointless as they never give true performance results. The phone is very fast, and an example of this is how quick it installs new software! Instantly in most cases.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Around the left of the phone there are no buttons, only a pinhole for the SIM card(s) and SD card slot. On the top of the phone is just a microphone for noise cancellation. On the right hand side of the phone is the volume rocker and a textured power button, while the bottom of the phone houses a USB C connection, headphone jack and mono speaker.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">On the front of the phone there is a earpiece speaker, where there is a notification light built into which changes various colours depending on what the phone is telling you that you have missed.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The back of the phone houses two 12MP camera modules and Leica branding, a two tone flash and a fingerprint scanner.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh88x1qXVsJ98-oEvo9LxKyN9XajHbiHWP9rLHakLTt3752nqukh6f4_l-KUDbR4Pa2TsBgkx6kBbJDmhZSt0ag3X-QnXZXO7zW1j8nEA3RIdy5TnfxeI35FeGnKC-zMgZxWuSi5Yn26ZY/s1600/P9+Main+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh88x1qXVsJ98-oEvo9LxKyN9XajHbiHWP9rLHakLTt3752nqukh6f4_l-KUDbR4Pa2TsBgkx6kBbJDmhZSt0ag3X-QnXZXO7zW1j8nEA3RIdy5TnfxeI35FeGnKC-zMgZxWuSi5Yn26ZY/s200/P9+Main+1.jpg" width="120" /></a></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Screen</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">With a 1080p resolution screen, the Huawei P9 does not match the 4k screens of some other flagships. However, it's hard enough to spot differences on a 50” TV of 1080p vs 4k, so on a 5.2inch screen it's almost impossible. Side by side with a Samsung S7, it's impossible to see the pixel difference when in normal use.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The screen is very bright, and can easily be seen in bright sunlight. Unlike other makes, Huawei use LCD screen technology, which produces deep blacks, and more realistic colours. So many phones these days have over saturated colours, the Huawei has bold colours without local unnatural.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There are a myriad of options for changing the colour of the screen tones etc, to suit your personal needs. The screen also has auto brightness, which works better than on any phone I've ever used before.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5CGgfG1rYPRHvE3H98lVuk-KIZUyHGhs8SOU9VIG_6C-V0JNvQp83zrJccXq3mWT-1B6CWrhXYvUVTqkynoE83eScnwy2d9NBxYcNINK_M6n5KNE1IT8PHJlw0bg_tBhMoTXgYGGs1fI/s1600/P9+Main+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="107" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5CGgfG1rYPRHvE3H98lVuk-KIZUyHGhs8SOU9VIG_6C-V0JNvQp83zrJccXq3mWT-1B6CWrhXYvUVTqkynoE83eScnwy2d9NBxYcNINK_M6n5KNE1IT8PHJlw0bg_tBhMoTXgYGGs1fI/s200/P9+Main+2.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Camera</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This is where the phone really shines. The P9 contains two 12MP Leica branded lenses. The Leica name is synonymous with high quality photography, so the P9 has a lot to live up to. Thankfully in use the P9 is simply awesome. Photographs look realistic, with grade contrast and colour. The P9 does not push to produce unreal popping colour photos similar to the Samsung S7, instead it focuses images that look exactly like they are seen with your eyes.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The two camera’s mean that the black and white sensor can be used to gather more light, and thus add more detail to photographs, it also can calculate depth of field, meaning you can take photos with the blur effect found on professional cameras. Thanks to some clever software, if you are not happy with the blur after you have taken the photo, then you can adjust the photos to your hearts content.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The black and white sensor can also be used to take balck and white images. This sensor alone is worth the price of the phone, and produces spectacular monochrome images, in a way only a camera can produce (as opposed to turning colour photos black and white).</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The camera has loads of different options such as the mentioned black and white and normal camera, plus HDR, Beauty, Panorama, Night Shot, Light Painting,Time-Lapse, Slow-Mo, Watermark and more.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">For fans of taking selfies, the P9 comes equipped with a 8MP front facing camera which knocks the spots off any of its competitors. Photos taken with this camera are bright and colourful, and full of detail. It even takes photos in Beauty Mode as standard, so you'll always look your best.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Where the phone loses to it’s contemporaries is its video mode, where its highest recording resolution is 1080p and 60 frames per second. There is software image stabilising which works well when filming.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Software</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Running Emotion UI 4.1, the Huawei P9 has a heavily modified Android skin that many people take a dislike to without even trying to get to know it.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">HTC use Sense and Samsung UAE Touchwiz, EMUI is unlike either, and unlike stock Android in most respects. It has no app-drawer and takes a few of the best features of both Android and iOS. Usually I use Nova Launcher and tweak it to be a supes-up almost stock Android experience, but I find EMUI to be very respectable in what it does.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The UI is fast and responsive, and is really simple to use. It also looks really nice and has customisation features such as changing the home screen size and themes. It's all done in Huawei style, and when it works it fantastic.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Sound</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Housing a small speaker at the bottom right of the handset, the sound quality although mono is quite loud and has a fairly rich tone to it, with even a little bass to be heard.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When using headphones things are much better. Not mentioned in most reviews, the Huawei P9 uses DTS when headphone listening. Bass is nice and deep, mids and treble are rich, and the soundstage is really wide. Using the bundled headphones gives a nice sound even if the fitting is a little off for my ears, while using a pair of Sony over-the-head ZX-600’s gives amazing sound quality when listening to most music types.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBUpYKGuu9Nx4918c5J57tuZl6ww03Sgb3cOeipoy70jjYpkNqh3jJ-m1W5h3lHeG8fa6uZgHfAuIefpkJL3xgq88tpjILog17h5x575SOEYBe1YnNUAksGllnHyzbZCR3KMYdH5dtOR4/s1600/P9+Main+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBUpYKGuu9Nx4918c5J57tuZl6ww03Sgb3cOeipoy70jjYpkNqh3jJ-m1W5h3lHeG8fa6uZgHfAuIefpkJL3xgq88tpjILog17h5x575SOEYBe1YnNUAksGllnHyzbZCR3KMYdH5dtOR4/s320/P9+Main+3.jpg" width="234" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Fingerprint Scanner</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A review of a Huawei phone cannot be complete without a review of the fingerprint scanner. Huawei are World leaders when it comes to this technology, the fingerprint scanner is a Class 4 scanner, meaning it can read even more information about your fingerprints than any other scanner.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Placed at the back, it's positioned exactly where your pointing finger lays, and it makes so much sense! Other companies place their scanner on the front, but that doesn’t make much sense, and it’s really inconvenient, something you’ll notice once you’ve used a back-situated fingerprint scanner!</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It is instantaneous in use, and is accurate 100% of the time. It can be used for more than just unlocking your phone though, as you can pull down your notifications menu and scroll through the gallery with it. Really interactive, and something once used, you will miss when you go elsewhere.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Battery Life And Call Quality</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">With such a large battery it's easy to get a day's use out of the phone. With a combination of social media use, YouTube, some light game playing, a few minutes of calls and plenty of texts, along with using the camera and looking at photos I usually have around 30% left at the end of the day for night time browsing etc.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Making calls is easy with the dialling software included, and call quality is loud and rich. No calls have been lost as the P9 boasts a special three-way antenna system to improve calls.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Overall</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Huawei P9 won't appeal to many people for a couple of stupid reasons. The first reason is because many have not heard of Huawei (who happen to be the third largest mobile phone manufacturer), while the second reason is the phone isn't a Samsung!</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Fear not though, the P9 is an extraordinary mobile device with a wealth of features. It has powerful battery saving features, is customisable out of the box, has stunning performance of its cameras, has great sound and video playback and is a lot cheaper than the closest spec'd Samsung or HTC.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Once you've used a Huawei device, it's hard to think about going back to what you were used to as the whole experience just grows on you quickly, and before you know it you're in love with the best phone of this generation.</span>Mark G Adamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12621472090637023161noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7552376646904025572.post-1865481170390965232016-03-03T12:54:00.003-08:002016-03-03T12:55:41.907-08:00Microsoft Office Alternatives 2016<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFTWJ5kS6R7NPqO19RT5CQ87hllQhQPnc_7uAy-h-sD51Od9vc73vVf7engH00LY2Vxl4ShS_KId8G8FYTluWnrmYL1WGgYLp_3x4IzyDXgpwqCPTL6-_XU9AnopGyfpNju1vhIOiS3-8/s1600/microsoft-office1.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFTWJ5kS6R7NPqO19RT5CQ87hllQhQPnc_7uAy-h-sD51Od9vc73vVf7engH00LY2Vxl4ShS_KId8G8FYTluWnrmYL1WGgYLp_3x4IzyDXgpwqCPTL6-_XU9AnopGyfpNju1vhIOiS3-8/s320/microsoft-office1.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><u>Introduction</u></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I first wrote this article in 2014, however since then a lot of things have changed in the World on Office alternatives. Some free packages have got better with time, while others have been crippled by imposing limits of their free versions.</span></div>
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<b id="docs-internal-guid-06d62bf4-3e33-cb98-5d83-ad95f4d9c4c8" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Also, since writing the first article, the United Kingdom Government has decided to adopt the .ODT Open Foundation format for all its documents. This means, if you need to download any paperwork from Government websites, they will now open perfectly in OpenOffice or Libreoffice.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Also, since the last article, it's not only the Government that have changed from Microsoft, but many smaller organisations have followed suit. It's not just cost cutting, as these Microsoft Office alternatives are really capable pieces of software.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Here we look at the top five free Microsoft Office alternatives. You really don't have to spend to have a quality experience.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><u>Google Docs</u></b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Why Use Google Docs?</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As a writer, the number one office suite that I use for my writing is Google Docs. The reason being? I can sign into any computer using my Google account and carry on whatever I am writing, wherever I am. Simply choose the document you were working on and as it saves after each key-press, carry on from where you left it. There’s no need to carry around a hard-drive or memory-stick as it’s stored on Google’s servers, so the only thing you need is an internet connection. Regardless of it’s my laptop, work PC or mobile device such as a tablet or phone, it works perfectly.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Features</b></span></div>
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<b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6jelYnPnGcNDFDFSGdxmKsQfm1kcN32Ght5zN90BLLVqdQ7rezc8FNF6SnooeD-4PNFQucXxajrZCyRLtmSy0D3HcWDShR2Qj8CPP81brtq512Lgl2SuMkrf-2tJNsKBfnxQ1qSslZHc/s1600/Google+Docs.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="188" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6jelYnPnGcNDFDFSGdxmKsQfm1kcN32Ght5zN90BLLVqdQ7rezc8FNF6SnooeD-4PNFQucXxajrZCyRLtmSy0D3HcWDShR2Qj8CPP81brtq512Lgl2SuMkrf-2tJNsKBfnxQ1qSslZHc/s200/Google+Docs.jpg" width="200" /></a></b></div>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Google Docs may be have less features than other office suites in this list, but it handles everything you throw at it easily. The word processor (Documents) handles Microsoft's .doc and .docx as well as the Open Format .odt files, .txt files and can save files as .PDF’s. In a couple of years use as a main source of handling word files from other companies, Documents has yet to let us down.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Google Docs also handles Powerpoint Presentations with it’s Presentation program, Excel Spreadsheets with it’s Spreadsheet program and so much more. Although not as feature rich as Microsoft’s complete Office suite, Google Docs is a formidable force that can handle day to day tasks quickly and easily. Files are automatically stored in the cloud, and should you wish, you can download files in the required Microsoft format to your PC.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><b><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Look And Ease Of Use</span></b><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Google Docs looks basic, with just the one row of icons for formatting text. However, that combined with the pull-down menu options for adding photos and tables etc, means it’s very easy to use. So simple to use in fact, that anyone can create a document in no-time at all.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><u><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>LibreOffice 5</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span></u><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Why Use LibreOffice?</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">LibreOffice is as close to Microsoft Office as you can get when it comes to features. LibreOffice comes with it’s extensive word processor Writer, it’s Excel matching Calc, it’s amazing Powerpoint beating Impress and Base (Database), Math (Equation editor) and Draw (Diagrams and sketches) programs.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">For all intents and purposes, LibreOffice 5 is a free version of Microsoft’s Office. It can handle all the file-types that MS Office does, and although it doesn’t have the ribbon-look of the latest MS Office, it does everything quickly and easily while keeping a bit of familiarity of MS Office.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjv_kqqVtToL7VKs7LOfvaiSLFUAmgGWrNN7bFLS4DHOqlIs5gefPia-TrlOd6eJl-Fg20msJkYuY8kMwhtd4BqqDbz-1bcUmP86iBZKHblTvNj8n-izd6moaKzRNyRIprg0KG3QA43RQo/s1600/LibreOffice.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="132" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjv_kqqVtToL7VKs7LOfvaiSLFUAmgGWrNN7bFLS4DHOqlIs5gefPia-TrlOd6eJl-Fg20msJkYuY8kMwhtd4BqqDbz-1bcUmP86iBZKHblTvNj8n-izd6moaKzRNyRIprg0KG3QA43RQo/s200/LibreOffice.png" width="200" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As a Writer, Libreoffice 5 is used to format documents and books, it gives a. Much cleaner saved file when transferring a book to eBook, meaning the formatting usually acts the way you want it to.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Features</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">LibreOffice is split into the programs that are mentioned above. The main programs, Writer and Calc have all the features of Microsoft’s Word and Excel. In every-day use, opening files from other business’, and sending files to people who have MS Office is error-free, and the recipients of any formats on MS Office and LibreOffice will not know which software suite the information was written on.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As an office based software suite, for business or students, LibreOffice 5 offers remarkable features and compatibility, and as available on Windows and Linux, so there is no reason why anyone concerned with sharing documents between systems should avoid this suite. It’s free, it’s fully-featured and quite simply amazingly mind-blowing to think that it is free!</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Looks And Ease Of Use</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Although LibreOffice has a somewhat dated look, with rows of icons and the ability to customise the icon space, it’s very reminiscent of MS Office from previous versions prior to 2013. It’s not a bad thing, as a lot of people dislike Microsoft’s ribbon-style interface. LibreOffice is suitable for beginners to advanced users, and is as hard or easy to use as you want it to be.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><u>Softmaker FreeOffice</u></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Why Use Softmaker FreeOffice?</b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">FreeOffice is a light weight Office Suit that's low on resources but high on functionality. It's small footprint means it can be used on less powerful machines with ease.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Features</b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">FreeOffice contains only three productivity programs, TextMaker (Word processor), PlanMaker (Spreadsheets), Presentations (Powerpoint). The software works well, looks good and is very compatible with MS Office. Why should you download this software over the other options though? Well, it’s available on Windows, Android and Linux, so those on Linux who want a similar experience to Kingsoft Office could use this as a substitute.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Looks And Ease Of Use</b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">FreeOffice looks a lot like older versions of Microsoft Office, which is not a bad thing. There is a consistent sidebar on the right of the screen, which you have to manually remove each time you start the program should you not wish to see it.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It's a simple office suit to use, with all the regular features that are offered by other packages. Sadly you cannot open or save .odt documents, only FreeOffice’s own extensions and Microsoft's extensions. This means it lacks some of the power of other programs mentioned here if you need to open files from various sources.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><u>Apache OpenOffice</u></b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><b><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Why Use OpenOffice?</span></b><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Another piece of software worth considering is Apache’s OpenOffice. Although once regarded as the must-have free office suite, when it forked into two, with one-fork being LibreOffice, OpenOffice’s development slowed down a little. It’s another great package, and one that gives an experience just as good as MS Office for the average user who needs it for everyday use.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Features</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">OpenOffice, just like LibreOffice is split into Writer, Calc, Impress and Base The main programs, Writer and Calc have all the features of Microsoft’s Word and Excel. In every-day use, opening files from other business’, and sending files to people who have MS Office is error-free, and the recipients of any formats on MS Office and OpenOffice will not know which software suite the information was written on.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Looks And Ease Of Use</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Although OpenOffice has a dated look, with rows of icons and the ability to customise the icon space, it’s very reminiscent of MS Office from previous versions prior to 2013. It’s not a bad thing, as a lot of people dislike Microsoft’s ribbon-style interface. OpenOffice is suitable for beginners to advanced users, and is as hard or easy to use as you want it to be.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><u>Microsoft Office Web Apps</u></b></span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><br class="kix-line-break" /></b></span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Why Use Microsoft Web Apps?</b></span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If, after reading this article, you still yearn for Microsoft’s products, then there is a free alternative by Microsoft themselves. MS Office Web Apps allows you to open, edit and create documents online in a similar mold to Google’s documents. However, where Google Docs is quite comprehensive for an online productivity suite, Microsofts own version is a little lacking in almost every department when compared to the alternatives. Perhaps this is a way that Microsoft want users to upgrade and pay for their services? Regardless, it’s an option, and will no doubt suit some people who feel the need to be tied into the Microsoft ecosystem.</span><br />
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<b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbhVNC_NoAFiGYVzljhqPb_yugTSj4ie23eOu4qUayLAioefqHld3XsstvRszmMhM1Q71tBxu7BxifzQtnZH3oXtRJIfPlutrQ1D6YwQ7A9OzWcFZ5kw6T-1TQTrB9q66jdkSh7fNLV24/s1600/microsoft-office-logo.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="112" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbhVNC_NoAFiGYVzljhqPb_yugTSj4ie23eOu4qUayLAioefqHld3XsstvRszmMhM1Q71tBxu7BxifzQtnZH3oXtRJIfPlutrQ1D6YwQ7A9OzWcFZ5kw6T-1TQTrB9q66jdkSh7fNLV24/s200/microsoft-office-logo.gif" width="200" /></a></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">You get a very cut down version of the main Microsoft Office Suite apps. You get Word, Excel and Power Point (along with various other applications such as Mail, Calender and Sway). All these programs work in a similar way to Google Documents, however the experience is not as slick and over years of testing I have come across many problems such as documents not being synced properly, or general errors in formatting etc when writing articles.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Looks And Ease Of Use</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">These web applications look and act like the full versions of Microsoft Office, however the work is done in the cloud instead of saved and run off a computer. It's simple to use, and a familiar experience if coming off Microsoft Office.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="font-family: "arial"; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Final Comments</span></b></span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Whichever productivity suite you decide to use, remember that there are some amazing free versions of Office Software. Just because something is free, doesn't mean it is no good. These above Office Suites have been tested by myself over many years in personal and business use and all do the job perfectly. As they are free, feel free to download them all and see which one you prefer, you have nothing to lose.</span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Which alternative to MS Office would I choose? Well, I use a combination of Google Docs to write all my documents as it means I can continue my writing on laptop, work PC, mobile phone or tablet with a real continuum experience. For formatting I exclusively use LibreOffice Fresh (Currently on version 5.1).</span>Mark G Adamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12621472090637023161noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7552376646904025572.post-2299300003030534652016-02-05T11:09:00.001-08:002016-02-05T11:09:23.794-08:00Bush LE-50Gy15-M1 Review<div dir="ltr">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQhzO8UnwbTkeykSGPjeZKZZmH5F2fzjskmrc91rWnk0vmuXSm4xCXAMSAlV7yXzeQ-kVasMVMEVNQ5P-Knx7jjbo1kjoa4m0_TsJcoYK-EZOW-xW5GsTmQmj67RCQww0pifd31SpQg-8/s1600/TV+Generic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQhzO8UnwbTkeykSGPjeZKZZmH5F2fzjskmrc91rWnk0vmuXSm4xCXAMSAlV7yXzeQ-kVasMVMEVNQ5P-Knx7jjbo1kjoa4m0_TsJcoYK-EZOW-xW5GsTmQmj67RCQww0pifd31SpQg-8/s200/TV+Generic.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
There came a time when I had to upgrade my old 720p LG flat screen TV to a new TV, so I had the daunting task of searching high and low for a TV that suited my needs. Everyone's needs are different, so in this review I'll go through each need an how the 50" BushTV handles it. </div>
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<b>TV Size</b></div>
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First of all the TV needed to be of a good size. For research I viewed many screens from 48" to 60". Our living room is roughly 15 feet by 25 feet, with the TV being against the wall, and the sofa back facing the window. This means, once the TV is set up, and you take your seat, you are approximately 12 feet away from the tv at its most average point, with it being slightly further away or slightly closeras you move along the sofa from left to right. </div>
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Moving up from a 39" TV, and based on the distance for viewing, after measuring the area and sitting to decide which size, a nice 50" TV was perfect. Anything bigger was too big, and anything smaller was not worth the upgrade.<br />
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<b>TV Specifications</b></div>
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For the price, we also thought a 4k screen was worth the upgrade in order to future proof the TV for when 4k transmissions become more popular. </div>
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Tests of 4k video have been outstanding, and when more 4k video becomes available, the TV should really come into its own.<br />
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This is not a smart TV, though it does play USB memory sticks video, photos and Music. A smart TV just has more things to go wrong with it, and an Android box or attached other device is a much better solution.<br />
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The TV has 4 HDMI connections, USB, PC and Scary connections. In this day and age, four HDMI cables really is necessary, with this TV using them for Sky, Android box, Bluray player and Chromecast.<br />
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<b>Picture Quality and Sound</b><br />
The Bush had a nice bright screen, with vivid colours and sharp picture. Although the TV has a number of presets, the user defined option allows you to tweak to your hearts content.<br />
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120 Frames Super Smooth seems to be all the rage for TV's, it sounds great in theory but makes all your programs look unrealistic as motion is so smooth! As all the technical sites say, turn it off!<br />
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Using Sky as the first example, the HD channels look stunning in 1080i and really do the TV justice. The non-HD channels however don't look anywhere near as good even if they are upscaled. There's only so much you can do with a 570i image!<br />
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Bluray look stunning in 1080p. Some of the slow motion scenes in the Resident Evil films really show off the screen quality.<br />
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The sound quality is however a let down. The documentation and sticker on the front of the TV claim DTS sound, and although it gets very loud, it is a little too thin with not much bass. Thankfully the TV allows easy connection to a soundbar or stereo and this makes a huge difference.<br />
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<b>Overall</b><br />
If you're on a budget, this TV can be picked up for under £500 when it is on offer. It's not got any bells or whistles, so there's less to go wrong with it.<br />
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It's strengths are great picture quality with minimum bezzel surrounding the screen and it has plenty of connections.<br />
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IMAGES TO FOLLOW OF TV IN ACTION</div>
Mark G Adamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12621472090637023161noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7552376646904025572.post-45182481865907741662016-01-16T11:25:00.003-08:002016-02-05T11:09:56.444-08:00The Last Of Days<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihkauj24cMk_CrnIqFnKkgOxAs9JIhJsC-ITJxeiW83g8XF_zrSvmDXNQzXe4V4iUvvZCTAnQBTyuU-7Dv4PKNXo3vUuNWnZwIIHEQ3HbxfYUp7u10M_KqVCowrHSkFRaDl6CgCovFuPQ/s1600/Cover+Image.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihkauj24cMk_CrnIqFnKkgOxAs9JIhJsC-ITJxeiW83g8XF_zrSvmDXNQzXe4V4iUvvZCTAnQBTyuU-7Dv4PKNXo3vUuNWnZwIIHEQ3HbxfYUp7u10M_KqVCowrHSkFRaDl6CgCovFuPQ/s400/Cover+Image.jpg" width="260" /></a></div>
<span style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "utopia" , "palatino linotype" , "palatino" , serif; font-size: 15.4px; line-height: 21.56px;">Today see's my first book</span><b style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15.4px; line-height: 21.56px;"><i>"The Last Of Days"</i></b><span style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "utopia" , "palatino linotype" , "palatino" , serif; font-size: 15.4px; line-height: 21.56px;">being released on Amazon. It's a short story, and Amazon are quoting 22 pages in length, but I'm not sure what that is based on! Either way, it's short and to the point. The true story of how Cancer took my father in the last few days of his life. For anyone who has lost someone to cancer, or someone who is going through it now, this book can give you an insight into how people feel.</span><br />
<br style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15.4px; line-height: 21.56px;" />
<span style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "utopia" , "palatino linotype" , "palatino" , serif; font-size: 15.4px; line-height: 21.56px;">This book is biographical, and was written with much emotion just after the event. Recently I added to it and tidied it up, making it presentable to the public.</span><br />
<br style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15.4px; line-height: 21.56px;" />
<span style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "utopia" , "palatino linotype" , "palatino" , serif; font-size: 15.4px; line-height: 21.56px;">Please download the sample that is available on </span><b style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15.4px; line-height: 21.56px;">Amazon </b><span style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "utopia" , "palatino linotype" , "palatino" , serif; font-size: 15.4px; line-height: 21.56px;">at the least, if not please support me and buy the book, it's only .99p/.99c depending where you are in the World.</span><br />
<br style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15.4px; line-height: 21.56px;" />
<span style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "utopia" , "palatino linotype" , "palatino" , serif; font-size: 15.4px; line-height: 21.56px;">If you don't download it, please share any links to it as to spread the word of the book.</span><br />
<br style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15.4px; line-height: 21.56px;" />
<span style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "utopia" , "palatino linotype" , "palatino" , serif; font-size: 15.4px; line-height: 21.56px;">Here are a few paragraphs from the book:</span><br />
<br style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15.4px; line-height: 21.56px;" />
<i style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15.4px; line-height: 21.56px;"><b><span style="font-size: medium;">"</span><span style="font-size: xx-small; line-height: 11.5px;">It was like something you hear about but never believe. The doctor at Singleton hospital actually ringing 999 and calling out an emergency ambulance! While waiting for the ambulance they took my father into a waiting room where they took his vital statistics such as blood pressure etc. Thankfully the ambulance did not take too long to turn up, and he was whisked off to Morriston Hospital in Swansea within the hour.</span></b></i><br />
<i style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15.4px; line-height: 21.56px;"><span style="line-height: 17.71px;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><b><br /></b></span></span></i><span style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "utopia" , "palatino linotype" , "palatino" , serif; font-size: 15.4px; line-height: 21.56px;"></span>
<div align="left" class="western" style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15.4px; line-height: 17.71px; margin-bottom: 0.35cm;">
<i><b><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Once at Morriston Hospital, as he was so ill he was taken straight into A&E where he was hooked up to various monitors and questioned and studied by no end of doctors and nurses. He stayed in that section for at least five hours while they worked out the best plan for his condition. While standing with him I heard one of the doctors mention the cancer to his colleagues on a couple of occasions. It was as if they thought they could not do anything because of his cancer. Eventually though he was moved into Ward R, which is a cardiac ward. At the time, they were worried because his blood pressure was so low, and his heart was beating very slowly and felt this was the correct location for him.</span><span style="font-size: medium;">"</span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"> </span></b></i></div>
<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Last-Days-biographical-event-changed-ebook/dp/B01ANR8EMA/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1452971435&sr=8-5&keywords=mark+adams" style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #888888; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15.4px; line-height: 21.56px; text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: red;"><br /></span></a><span style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "utopia" , "palatino linotype" , "palatino" , serif; font-size: 15.4px; line-height: 21.56px;"></span>
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<div style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15.4px; line-height: 21.56px; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Last-Days-biographical-event-changed-ebook/dp/B01ANR8EMA/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1452971435&sr=8-5&keywords=mark+adams" style="color: #888888; text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: red; font-size: medium;"><b>Visit Amazon now to SAMPLE or DOWNLOAD this book.</b></span></a></div>
Mark G Adamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12621472090637023161noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7552376646904025572.post-66265218768384456862016-01-15T03:59:00.002-08:002016-01-15T03:59:39.170-08:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKjiTZDQ25voUPvCIoGNgBs2ptNFrcVl8qNpfGT9y1qvQaMZI7my7PZa3rOx1sfNWoYxRqO5OzU6fG_-XZOY5mutKiEkPJOwnJylsbzKtXnNYs-q2xZvivCbMp1H-I8mTTA3omQe_t6m8/s1600/Cover+Image.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKjiTZDQ25voUPvCIoGNgBs2ptNFrcVl8qNpfGT9y1qvQaMZI7my7PZa3rOx1sfNWoYxRqO5OzU6fG_-XZOY5mutKiEkPJOwnJylsbzKtXnNYs-q2xZvivCbMp1H-I8mTTA3omQe_t6m8/s320/Cover+Image.jpg" width="208" /></a></div>
"The Last Of Days" will be available from Amazon from 17 January 2016 for just 99 pence!<br />
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This is a short story of the final days of my father going through cancer. It tells of the events leading up to his death, plus the aftermath that it caused.<br />
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Please support me and visit the Amazon Kindle store, or purchase on your computer to view on your computer.<br />
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A link will be issued once the book goes live on Amazon.<br />
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This is my first of Three books to be issued this year. This one is the shortest story, but it packs a lot of punch!<br />
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Coming soon will be a much heftier book titled<span style="font-family: inherit;"> <b><span style="line-height: 20.24px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“</span><span style="line-height: 20.24px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A Selection Of Words - </span></b><span style="font-style: italic; line-height: 20.24px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Lyrics, Poems & Words (Books 1 & 2)”</b>. </span><span style="line-height: 20.24px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> This is a diary in the form of lyrics, poems and words, with notes on events. It is an ideal light read and delve into the mind of a teenager. It shows how creating lyrics can be a complex affair, with trial after trial until something special happens.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 20.24px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span><span style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 20.24px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Later on in the year, with a possible June release will be </span></span><i style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 20.24px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>"The Blue Light Diaries"</b></i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 20.24px; white-space: pre-wrap;">, a new take on science fiction, with a story mixing classic sci-fi </span></span><span style="line-height: 20.24px; white-space: pre-wrap;">story-lines</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 20.24px; white-space: pre-wrap;">, with a host of popular belief of how things really took place on earth during it's creation thrown in for good measure. Expect the unexpected, with no time for love and romance, but plenty of time for panic and extreme... excitement!</span></span></span><br />
<span style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 20.24px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></span><span style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 20.24px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Don't forget to follow me on Twitter, Facebook and Google+ for all the latest updates!</span></span></span>Mark G Adamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12621472090637023161noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7552376646904025572.post-50110746672356537442015-11-06T11:12:00.000-08:002015-11-06T11:12:03.395-08:00iPega 9023 Review<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhW5wa7tvMm7sNU2ghGrirMZjacjRIuq773RRwdzqhLfFmBKY2OQLCP8SAkCeGMAFATTvEVz4Sy90vF6khrOo4O95eJY-rY0608H9Ia8GBWuP99oMFLH9erEwOGneu2BneHoSHRCuGTXpM/s1600/20150927_204136.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhW5wa7tvMm7sNU2ghGrirMZjacjRIuq773RRwdzqhLfFmBKY2OQLCP8SAkCeGMAFATTvEVz4Sy90vF6khrOo4O95eJY-rY0608H9Ia8GBWuP99oMFLH9erEwOGneu2BneHoSHRCuGTXpM/s320/20150927_204136.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">iPega running Tekken 3 on ePSX Emulator</td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Introduction</span></div>
<b id="docs-internal-guid-a7508592-de31-22e9-ee44-0340b9270d11" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Having used mobile gaming devices for many years, the power of modern day tablets and mobile phones led me on the quest for a joypad/gaming stick that I could use with my Samsung Galaxy Note 3 or Tesco Hudl 2 Android devices.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">At first, I tried using both a PS3 and Xbox/PC gamepad, which although worked fine meant that the Note 3 or Hudl 2 had to be placed somewhere secure on a stand, so I could play the game properly. Wouldn’t it be ideal if I could mimic some like the Nintendo DS or Sony PSP consoles!</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">My search led me to research many different gaming pads, all of which meant the tablet or phone would need to be a separate entity. That was until I found the iPega range of bluetooth gaming pads. A pad that encases your phone and makes it look like a large PS VIta, or even your tablet making it a huge handheld device.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwiZIhUNP9RQKgiWtEFj9DEIrm3bbv1pijB4uZV8qzxT87K_kU5hda2iU9p8Rp-7cE-xn6liTUjondkO08WzztF-55hiVsYOwydyrxjjLfUITdeNNWG7IQoe7HVLeIrsKYvfxFyKFZ6JM/s1600/20150927_202802.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwiZIhUNP9RQKgiWtEFj9DEIrm3bbv1pijB4uZV8qzxT87K_kU5hda2iU9p8Rp-7cE-xn6liTUjondkO08WzztF-55hiVsYOwydyrxjjLfUITdeNNWG7IQoe7HVLeIrsKYvfxFyKFZ6JM/s320/20150927_202802.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">iPega 9023 running GenPlusDroid on Hudl 2 8" Tablet</td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Build</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The iPega 9023 is a large looking device when not connected to anything, the reason for this is that you can slip your mobile phone or tablet into it’s cradle, and then the controller parts surround the edge of the device. The iPega 9023 can take device’s from 5 inches through to 10 inches which makes it perfect for phablets and tablets alike.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The iPega stretches open, and the device is placed into the centre of the pad. The device of your choice is held snugly in place with rubberised edges of the pad, and there is also a clip at the bottom of the pad to help hold larger screens. The iPega snaps shut with it’s locking system, and a further switch under the pad locks into position to stop the pad expanding. It’s very easy to use and the pad can be ready in seconds.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The layout of the pad is very much like a cross between a PS3 and Xbox controller. It has the usual buttons found on a modern controller, including the front lower and upper triggers. The pad also has the select, start and home buttons, plus a brilliant d-pad and a selection of button that allow volume control and play controls for music etc.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The twin sticks have a nice feel to them, with a nice give and plenty of movement. As mentioned, the d-pad is superb, and for older games played with emulation, it is very responsive and perfect for classic 8-bit and 16-bit games. The buttons consist of A, B, X & Y, and again have a sturdy and quality feel to them, without being too spongy.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The iPega 9023 feels good without a device attached, but once something is attached to it, it takes on a whole new feeling, and feels strong and well-made, without having too much weight. The difference from when connected to a device and when not is quite surprising, and when you first get the pad, you’ll laugh at it’s size. Once connected, your laughing stops and the games begin.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Set-up</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The iPega 9023 is simple to set-up. It has four modes, where it can perform differently, these are accessed by holding down the “Home” button in conjunction with either the A,B, X or Y buttons.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Full functioning Gamepad mode is the only mode you really need, and this is accessed with holding “Home” along with the “X” button. Further turning on of the controller is as simple as just pressing the “Home” button.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The other modes are there if you should ever need them, “Home” and the “Y” button puts you in SPP + iPega mode which is used for iPega apps, “A” is Keyboard mode where keys act like certain letters of the alphabet and “B” is for iCade mode. I have never used any of the other modes, or have any software to try them with, so I have no idea how these work.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Performance</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What good is a gamepad if there is a delay between pressing any of the buttons or joysticks? Well, with many hours of testing with Android games (Asphalt 8, Final Freeway 2, Modern Combat 5, Raiden Legacy, Sonic 1 & 2), plus emulator software and games (Playstation, Atari, PSP and MAME) the gamepad worked flawlessly, with no lag between button presses and action on the screen.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The d-pad is especially responsive to the touch, and is one of the best d-pads I've ever used. The buttons have the right depth to them for quick button-bashing and the sticks work perfectly well also. Overall there is no faulting the gamepads performance.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Overall</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The iPega 9023 us an affordable gamepad that screams quality. It's layout, build and fixtures to mobile devices is second to none, and the package brings a whole new life to playing games.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The majority of games on the Android store, plus all the emulators I tried work well with the iPega. The controller will probably be used most by those gamers wanting to recreate the good old days of gaming using emulators for 8-bit and 16-bit machines. There's no doubt that this gamepad will bring that unique feeling back when used.</span></div>
<br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This is possibly one of the best gaming investments of the last few years, and should be considered by anyone who has even the slightest interest in gaming.</span>Mark G Adamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12621472090637023161noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7552376646904025572.post-51166574558670367092015-07-26T08:23:00.000-07:002015-07-29T04:16:30.089-07:00Bush Spira D1 5.5 Review<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsIP8nnVUXE30tm9r007gRC8VxHDkbirY5mMtQSE9fPRMtk8mfIMsKijWEhQ_L-k-o-hqoFwBWYhX0Sw86OMesG5f-dy7Twket52l8R9SEOOJAw8e5V7JMZA1FESQtl8e1ZIF72OPQyVc/s1600/Spira+5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsIP8nnVUXE30tm9r007gRC8VxHDkbirY5mMtQSE9fPRMtk8mfIMsKijWEhQ_L-k-o-hqoFwBWYhX0Sw86OMesG5f-dy7Twket52l8R9SEOOJAw8e5V7JMZA1FESQtl8e1ZIF72OPQyVc/s320/Spira+5.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Introduction</b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Mobile phone technology has come on a long way in the last few years, and while Samsung and Apple like to fly the flag for technology, other companies are making lower cost tech that really has a lot of bang-for-buck.</span></div>
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<b id="docs-internal-guid-77bd2342-caed-e384-371f-e8be6504cd8b" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Bush, through outlet store Argos in the UK have forayed into the tablet and mobile phone market in the past, but have just started a new assault on the public by releasing a couple of new Android mobile phones with the </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Spira C1 5</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and the </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Spira D1 5.5</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. This review looks at the latter Spira D1 5.5.</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfECoeQFaCz54YkJZQc2VQn9DjN5YZW5OdNl7RntepRje6zSMsTzWYxkyZ3zI0XtoCy_efd8iH742Ar8hbRaFwVELP8BqcX4o35kd2zAFkVbt99SKVx8rXlMrHBox7ABnYEFd51W-Hav8/s1600/D1-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfECoeQFaCz54YkJZQc2VQn9DjN5YZW5OdNl7RntepRje6zSMsTzWYxkyZ3zI0XtoCy_efd8iH742Ar8hbRaFwVELP8BqcX4o35kd2zAFkVbt99SKVx8rXlMrHBox7ABnYEFd51W-Hav8/s200/D1-1.jpg" width="112" /></span></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw1I9WtWjkcdV4cskemAS0aQ9wFU4ZvCLBZgcgfmiz2f9STuMTmgpDiCpHy6oYTfcbvY1ty7mVH0LG3P0lW3s_yo-OUXX7pXbJVG9wguLodsIntG3eQyU6g2w8OK37pwbxseXychIZ7CM/s1600/D1-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw1I9WtWjkcdV4cskemAS0aQ9wFU4ZvCLBZgcgfmiz2f9STuMTmgpDiCpHy6oYTfcbvY1ty7mVH0LG3P0lW3s_yo-OUXX7pXbJVG9wguLodsIntG3eQyU6g2w8OK37pwbxseXychIZ7CM/s200/D1-2.jpg" width="112" /></span></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT2bBXcwYs81UxrH7QIhyphenhyphenDLRHGQcB-iB0yw3-49fgF9VDc2zBngXp42qiMNudAFpW9ZSbuR8gTbcQg-HHIVG5-15nSYlRtFb3e7n3luNprb3YZwF8D9znYTPAQkOXmvN1pw_Wg6o5RN8Y/s1600/D1-3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT2bBXcwYs81UxrH7QIhyphenhyphenDLRHGQcB-iB0yw3-49fgF9VDc2zBngXp42qiMNudAFpW9ZSbuR8gTbcQg-HHIVG5-15nSYlRtFb3e7n3luNprb3YZwF8D9znYTPAQkOXmvN1pw_Wg6o5RN8Y/s200/D1-3.jpg" width="112" /></span></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW0ai70GIeYqAwCFZSHumMeiK_IAVfL6KFmXqVCoRYLN0Y69Uqob0MXx3M6WZQhA9YQGfqkEx8_ngeDtoeiI_X3TVUah6B9jaEgBzZ11pZjs5WlT3CJl8jDqsEAA74ccsTTYw7p7TE0Pk/s1600/D1-4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW0ai70GIeYqAwCFZSHumMeiK_IAVfL6KFmXqVCoRYLN0Y69Uqob0MXx3M6WZQhA9YQGfqkEx8_ngeDtoeiI_X3TVUah6B9jaEgBzZ11pZjs5WlT3CJl8jDqsEAA74ccsTTYw7p7TE0Pk/s200/D1-4.jpg" width="112" /></span></a><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px; line-height: 1.38;">First off, this a 5.5” phone almost identical in size to the Samsung Galaxy Note 3. It sports a fabulous IPS display at 1280x720 resolution, which may not be 1080p or 2k, but looks very impressive close up. The screen is bright, and while not as bright as a Samsung panel, it comes pretty close. Colours are also a little more subdued than a Samsung, but a lot of people will appreciate that.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Spira D1 comes with 1GB of ram, a Mediatek ARM-64 processor clocked at 1Ghz and just 8GB of internal memory, 4GB of which is left for the user to install apps. As standard the phone comes with a 16GB Micro-SD card, which of course you can move apps to to save phone space.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px; line-height: 1.38;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px; line-height: 1.38;">The Spira D1 can take two SIM cards, and you can allocate which SIM to use for each task, such as for mobile data, texts or calls. This is a very nice feature, and one that more and more lower-end phones are doing, while more expensive phones seem to be ignoring the feature altogether. SIM slot 1 can handle 2G, 3G and 4G SIM’s while SIM slot 2 only handles 2G. The phone is unlocked to any UK network</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></div>
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<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14.6666666666667px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The camera on the D1 is a 13 megapixel shooter, and the front facing camera is a 5MP. The camera performs admirably for general shooting, and the front facing camera does a good job on Skype calls and selfies. For the money, the camera is very impressive… And at this point I must point out that the 5.5 version of the phone is only £129.99, plus comes with £10 free credit on a Lebara SIM.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14.6666666666667px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px; line-height: 1.38;">There are three hardware keys for the usual Android navigation which light up when touched, a volume rocker and power button. There’s a standard 3.5mm headphone jack and a micro-USB port. The entire build feels solid, and the phone has a nice weight to it. The speaker is on the back of the phone, although the sound from it is loud and well balanced, sounding nicer than many more expensive phones out there with more bass and clearer mid-frequencies.</span></div>
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<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14.6666666666667px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The battery is only a 2400mh but seems to last well, although it does take a while to charge up to full capacity.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Software</b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14.6666666666667px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The phone runs Android 5.1 with no custom overlay. This is pure Android at it’s very best, and because of this it runs very smooth on the phones specifications. The phone comes installed with all the Google Apps you’ll ever need, plus very little else, and the only bloatware is the Argos application, which for some reason doesn’t actually work on this device. That said, everything that was tested on the phone worked perfectly without hiccup and programs such as Facebook, Google Photos and various games just worked. Pure Android at it’s finest.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Conclusion</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px; line-height: 1.38;">The Spira D1 5.5 cost just £129.99, is unlocked to any network, has a great screen, pure Android 5.1 Operating System and a quad-core processor. Although it only has 8GB memory, it comes with a 16GB memory card which you can move applications to. It has some great looks at comes with a screen protector, soft case and £10 free credit.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;">If you’re phone usage is low and you’re not one for downloading tons of app’s, then this could potentially be the mobile phone for you.</span></span></div>
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</span>Mark G Adamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12621472090637023161noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7552376646904025572.post-90558301808851550632014-08-31T06:47:00.000-07:002014-08-31T06:47:07.361-07:00Streaming Movies In Chromecast<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP-1tGfEsx8nBYopjL-QHkeWR60Osp10M90383NPOmZUfJGVPZa2cDAHggNlCnAs7g2Lo-7ruUuNk8gO4QUhfze5bz1oYo2bhqV3Rhvc-FAp9qMpPbJ70XO3qvVjptXr1gpyrbFaZUVU0/s1600/Google-Chromecast.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP-1tGfEsx8nBYopjL-QHkeWR60Osp10M90383NPOmZUfJGVPZa2cDAHggNlCnAs7g2Lo-7ruUuNk8gO4QUhfze5bz1oYo2bhqV3Rhvc-FAp9qMpPbJ70XO3qvVjptXr1gpyrbFaZUVU0/s1600/Google-Chromecast.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Google’s Chromecast - An Introduction</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Google’s Chromecast is an awesome piece of technology. It’s a simple streaming box that can be used to stream audio and video to your TV from your PC or mobile device. What this article looks at is streaming video from your Android Phone to your Chromecast with perfect results.</span></div>
<b id="docs-internal-guid-3675208f-2c4f-5b0e-5f96-b0fd56558318" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There are a lot of movies apps that work with the Google Chromecast such as Netflix, Now TV, Wuaki, Amazon Prime etc. All of these work perfectly fine, but many people want to stream movies and TV shows for free. A lot of people use XBMC, but there’s a better alternative for your movies when it comes to streaming quality.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It Can Stream</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Chromecast has the ability to mirror your Android’s device to your TV, meaning that anything it plays is also on your TV. While this sounds good in practise, applications that are not specifically made to work with Chromecast can sometimes play with some annoyances such as the odd flicker, out of sync audio or minor defects.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ideally, an app such as XBMC (or Kobi as it is now known) should be able to play on your phone or tablet and be able to stream to your TV. Sadly, the authors of XBMC have not tweaked the program to work with Chromecast, and you cannot change the default XBMC video player, so it is not always a complete success when streaming.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Watch Movies & TV Shows With Show Box</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Along comes </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Show Box</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, a simplified version in the spirit of XMBC. No complicated add-on’s to get it to work, simply download the app and click on the film or tv show you want to watch and it works! Getting it to stream to your Chromecast you’ll need to download </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">BubbleUPnP</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, which when set to Chromecast allows perfectly smooth streaming.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It really is as simple as these 3 following steps:</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Click on “Show Box” App</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Click on the fim or TV show you want to watch</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Click “Watch Now”</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As easy as 1,2,3! Now you can watch the shows you want, on your big screen using your mobile device. Show Box has been taken off Google’s Store, although a quick Google search will take you to the site where it can be downloaded from. BubbleUPnP is a free download on the Google store, and as well as being used with Show Box, you can load up videos stored on your device into it and stream them in perfect quality.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Buying A Chromecast</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The great thing about Google’s Chromecast is the fact that it is very cheap. At full price it’s just £30 from Google and other retailers. I bought it from Wuaki.TV for the price of the </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Game Of Thrones</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> box-set which was £23.99 and a free Chromecast. At present, some retailers such as Tesco are selling the Chromecast for just £18! It’s the bargain of the century, and in this world where everyone owns a mobile device or tablet, it’s the perfect combination for your TV.</span></div>
<br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As well as casting from your mobile device, it can also receive casts from your PC’s Google Chrome browser. This means on your TV you can view websites, listen to music and video and more, all with the touch of the cast button!</span>Mark G Adamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12621472090637023161noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7552376646904025572.post-62486834486136204942014-06-20T03:21:00.004-07:002014-06-20T03:21:47.770-07:00Z Launcher By Nokia - A Preview<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmSTC2_RH4nDkDiaxRidAXL9ChxC4scoIlBls1H38K5ekP5xA6jebUe_9YPOEk9phjlt27lrZcM2Zt_frhyphenhyphenNzTYnjL2kaOIuR6EA4a7-491k0iSuRFiivTMglwL6kWHAJZLqKRorSyii4/s1600/Z+Launcher+Logo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmSTC2_RH4nDkDiaxRidAXL9ChxC4scoIlBls1H38K5ekP5xA6jebUe_9YPOEk9phjlt27lrZcM2Zt_frhyphenhyphenNzTYnjL2kaOIuR6EA4a7-491k0iSuRFiivTMglwL6kWHAJZLqKRorSyii4/s1600/Z+Launcher+Logo.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Nokia’s Z Launcher</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Nokia are not well known for their Android software or applications, so when they announced to the World their new launcher, titled </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Z Launcher</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, the entire Android world were taken aback for a second.</span></div>
<b id="docs-internal-guid-9b3d3178-b8c4-24a6-26ac-43e70cd64f0b" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Z Launcher</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> is a stand alone third-party replacement launcher for your Android device, and as long as you are running Android 4.1+ and have a Google+ account, you can try out this app before it’s final release.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Characteristics</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Unlike other launcher’s, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Z Launcher</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> is a single screen, simple launcher with ease of use being the main selling point. The screen consists of the time on the top left of the screen, calendar appointments on the top right and a selection of the six most used apps laid out down the centre of the screen. Under this you get the usual system tray with access to calls, texts and photo’s etc.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The unique selling point of this launcher is your ability to swipe a letter to instantly bring up lists of apps, contacts and other items starting with this letter. You can swipe up-to the first four letters, making sure you always get the application that you want. If you swipe your finger backwards, this will delete your last letter. Another option is to hit the Apps launcher icon, and this will display a list of all your applications.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFj7_Vfryyya8sqR0gye9ufxBjRlgj6gedeKRXl5SQtSjuIUkshBJLkYN9Qd_ddsHaqKLDs5eKDhF37_VYhmsA0Lt0IBV2_92X96mAK0-HZM72fHCMkd-k_xoELSGPDJXJWQgB7qhM3rM/s1600/Z+Launcher.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFj7_Vfryyya8sqR0gye9ufxBjRlgj6gedeKRXl5SQtSjuIUkshBJLkYN9Qd_ddsHaqKLDs5eKDhF37_VYhmsA0Lt0IBV2_92X96mAK0-HZM72fHCMkd-k_xoELSGPDJXJWQgB7qhM3rM/s1600/Z+Launcher.jpg" height="352" width="400" /></a></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As mentioned, the screen lays out the six most used applications. This is a dynamic list, that will change by the hour depending on your usage of your phone. Nokia says that the launcher will learn how you use your phone, so the six applications will always be relevant no matter what time of day it is.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Who Will Use Z Launcher?</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Z Launcher is amazingly simple to use. It has the most simplistic interface, and is quick and powerful at what it does. As a replacement for TouchWiz and other overlays, it’s a giant leap in a different direction. </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Most people fall into one of two categories, either you’re a geek who will want to tinker with your phone and try out all sorts of launchers and applications, or you’re just a normal user who downloads the odd application and leave the phone mostly as it is. Because of this it is hard to imagine who would want to use Z Launcher, as it’s too simple for the geek, and won’t really interest someone already used to using their phones interface.</span></div>
<br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Z Launcher is unique, and perhaps installed in a phone as standard may be the only way to get it’s simplistic power out to the masses. For further information, visit </span><a href="https://www.zlauncher.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">https://www.zlauncher.com/</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and give the launcher a test run!</span>Mark G Adamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12621472090637023161noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7552376646904025572.post-14245725160198089012014-06-15T03:35:00.003-07:002014-06-15T03:35:51.366-07:00Samsung Galaxy Note 3 Review<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4HVyAsMFynlgowfw3VOqPAdywMKL8BOcPiVcJxsXB4gmtbDlAIlRSKvbyqy9t9Vkl58gIHqMrn6iesib97PNIgWEy6uW3bMXOBMCguf57BHokOsn1BJg09gRiL4X0zZHKg9LMs5x43DI/s1600/Note+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4HVyAsMFynlgowfw3VOqPAdywMKL8BOcPiVcJxsXB4gmtbDlAIlRSKvbyqy9t9Vkl58gIHqMrn6iesib97PNIgWEy6uW3bMXOBMCguf57BHokOsn1BJg09gRiL4X0zZHKg9LMs5x43DI/s1600/Note+3.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Decisions Decisions!!!</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Samsung Galaxy Note 3 is not a brand new handset, it was released on September 25th 2013, however it was my mobile phone of choice when I upgraded the phone in the middle of June 2014. Rather than focus on a full review, this looks at the reason why I chose this phone over the Samsung S5, the Sony Z2, the HTC One (M8) and the Oppo Find 7a, all worthy contenders but in the end they lost out to my choice of the Samsung Galaxy Note 3.</span></div>
<b id="docs-internal-guid-824a36a9-9f14-e0ae-eb04-6a399050206f" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I spent many months researching my next mobile phone handset, and not only looked endlessly at the specs, but also spent a lot of time on the handsets on the various stores. Many hours were spent deciding what I wanted, what was the best handset available, and the best tariff to make the most out of the phone.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Specs</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Galaxy Note 3 is no slouch when it comes to specifications, sporting 4G capabilities, removable battery and micro-sd cards, Gorilla Glass 3, 1080x1920 pixels on a 5.7inch screen giving 388dpi, 32GB storage, 3GB RAM, 13MP camera, Android 4.4.2 and a Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor clocked at 2.3ghz with Adreno 330 graphics.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Yes, the newer phones have the Snapdragon 801 processor, but the Note 3 has the 3GB RAM which makes a huge difference. Looking through the internet, the Galaxy Note 3 bench tests are very impressive, and are on a par with the latest released phones. In real-term tests, where benchmarks mean less, the Note 3 is a stellar performer thanks to that extra RAM. Since having the phone, it has never skipped a beat, and compared to my old Samsung S3, it’s like chalk and cheese.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The screen resolution means that the text is crisp, and you cannot see individual pixels, while the screen is nice and bright without being over-saturated like other Samsung phones. The main reason I picked the Galaxy Note 3 over the Samsung S5 is the screen size. It’s a huge 5.7inch of screen, which contrary to popular belief, is still perfectly usable with one hand! It’s gorgeous, and combined with the S-Pen, makes an ideal screen for work and play!</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Of course, I tend to stream all my content these days, however the phone comes with 32GB of storage, plus I have added my old 8GB card meaning I have 40GB of storage, more than enough for keeping loads of films, music and photos on my phone at all times and for taking content on holidays on on my travels.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The camera is 13MP, and gives some amazing results. The camera is quite important to me, as although I use a Nikon D3200 as my main camera, having a camera on me at all times is something I need. The results of the photos are impressive, and to be fair, even the camera on the Samsung S3 was great. These added megapixels mean the choice of a wide-screen photos or the usual square photos, plus Samsung has added extra features such as live-filters, surround-shot, panorama, erase (takes out moving objects from background), HDR and much more.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Graphics and graphic handling are once again fantastic, due to the extra RAM, and the latest games load quickly and play fast. The same can be said for the software in general, with everything opening instantly and running as smooth as silk.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Other Features</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Samsung Note 3 comes with something called an S-Pen. The phone can work perfectly without it, but using it opens up more options. Taking the pen out of the holder instantly opens a menu with various options. The most useful option is Action Menu, which brings up a box in which you can write.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Whatever you write can be manipulated in a number of ways, you can write numbers and then dial, add contacts, send text or email, open webpages, find places or simply add a note. Word recognition is accurate, and even in my scrawl it will open the right web page or convert my writing to text with hardly any mistakes (mistakes are because my writing is so bad).</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">You can cut parts of the screen and save the content to a scrapbook, draw a square and open applications within it, take screenshots and much more. The S-Pen is ideal for artists, as using the latest technology it can sense everything from hovering over the screen to pressing at infinite different pressures. Using the included Sketchbook Pro, you get a sense of how powerful this pen is, as you can draw as if using a real pencil, with thick and thin strokes depending on how hard you press.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Hovering over parts of the screen while using different apps on your phone will open up little windows with summaries of it’s contents, while of course swiping to text is even easier than when using your fingers. The pen really is that good that once you find a use for it, it’s hard to live without it.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">S Health is also inbuilt to the phone, and your phone will look after everything from your diet to how many steps you’ve walked in the day. The step-counter is especially useful, and seems to be extremely accurate in counting steps. The app also tells you the temperature and the humidity of the air, plus a whole lot more that I’ve yet to discover.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In Real Use</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A lot of people are worried about the size of the phone. At 5.95 x 3.12 x .33 inches the phone looks huge compared to others on the market. That said, because of the software, one thumb operation while typing is easy and feels no difference to any other phone once you’re used to it. I do not have huge hands by any means, but feel the phone fits nicely into the hand. Any bigger though, and it would be a struggle, and in the smaller hands of a woman, I can see two handed operation being the norm.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Battery lasts a full two days of moderate to high use if switched off overnight. The screen is bright, so can be turned down to half to conserve battery. The sound volume is nice and loud so you will never miss a call or text, while the vibration is very noticeable on even the lowest setting.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The phone comes with a lot of Samsungs own software built in, and although some may see it as bloatware, if used properly it’s all good stuff. Of course TouchWiz UI is installed by default, however it is simple to replace with stock Android launcher should you feel the need to. I did for a short while, but soon realised with all this power, TouchWiz works so much better and works without fault at all times.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As far as my contract, I get 2600 minutes of calls, unlimited texts and internet plus I can use my phone abroad in a host of countries as if still in the UK as part of Threes “Feel At Home”. 0800 numbers are free and 084 numbers are just 5p a minute, better than any other network, and all for just £38 a month.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Overall</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Galaxy Note 3 is an exceptional piece of kit, and combined with Three’s unrivaled coverage and data-plans, it means the phone kicks some serious butt. Not restrained to watching my data or talk and texts, the phone excels in every area thrown at it. 3G is fast, and 4G is super-fast, meaning tasks are always done quickly and efficiently.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Call quality is great, with people sounding loud when you are talking to them, while they can hear you perfectly too. Due to Samsung’s keyboard designed for the Note 3, texting is fast and accurate, while the swipe-to-type feature seems to be even more reliable than Google’s own keyboard.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Running Android 4.4.2, the phone can install all software on the Android store written for it, while being simple to run other launcher’s if you are not happy with TouchWiz. The phone is fast, and the battery lasts. The screen is beautiful and the S-Pen works. Overall, the Samsung Note 3 is an amazing phone if you are after something larger and with unique features and are a technology-geek who likes the best that technology has to offer.</span></div>
Mark G Adamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12621472090637023161noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7552376646904025572.post-77534304914364344462014-06-12T07:13:00.001-07:002014-06-12T07:13:20.085-07:00Keeping Your PC Free From Virus & Malware<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6CjBheVr6lY16BHQh5Ps_ZCyUlqDbHmE44I7SbPYQMT4ys930BPTzTVTDpQy9HgSaipqUESaKaPamWepiQ_fl-n1UcVaMblN5QmQ2cJiQhz-08utgeuVWVdcqJZANLwvBhFUDy-4y5Yk/s1600/Secure.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6CjBheVr6lY16BHQh5Ps_ZCyUlqDbHmE44I7SbPYQMT4ys930BPTzTVTDpQy9HgSaipqUESaKaPamWepiQ_fl-n1UcVaMblN5QmQ2cJiQhz-08utgeuVWVdcqJZANLwvBhFUDy-4y5Yk/s1600/Secure.png" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Virus & Malware</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Computers are a part of everyday life. It doesn’t matter who you are, or what you do, it’s likely that you will use a computer on a daily basis. Indeed, if you are reading this blog, then you are savvy enough to use a computer at it’s most simplest level.</span></div>
<b id="docs-internal-guid-094abbfc-9068-7d48-762b-af0e99574082" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Many people will talk about antivirus software, and most PC’s get bundled with a free 12 month free trial or less of some sort of antivirus software. However, a lot of people are scared into buying their antivirus at great cost, when (as with other software) there are free alternatives out there that will protect you.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">New computers with Windows 8 and above on them have Microsoft Security Essentials on board, which antivirus developers regard as baseline protection. That is to say, it will give you basic protection against threats, but it is not as good as having a dedicated antivirus program by a third-party company.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhU9rz5yvVaS7yDEARrYUF9MAjRy9opTNFHyr_xD6nkAwSpjFmLmZ3-llv65BTABFVi_NHaITRDxPB0e3d_vRF_VQ52bxMfVeh2AOsWHCj2HMZjLzDuxJn2CXx7VG6FWgwyf3HtQhH88Fw/s1600/avast_06.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhU9rz5yvVaS7yDEARrYUF9MAjRy9opTNFHyr_xD6nkAwSpjFmLmZ3-llv65BTABFVi_NHaITRDxPB0e3d_vRF_VQ52bxMfVeh2AOsWHCj2HMZjLzDuxJn2CXx7VG6FWgwyf3HtQhH88Fw/s1600/avast_06.png" height="150" width="200" /></a></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What’s the difference between paid for and free antivirus? - Avast!</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Usually there is very little difference between the paid for versions and the free versions of antivirus software. As the name suggests, the antivirus part of the program will protect you against virus definitions that are being released daily and is included as standard in free versions.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As an example for this guide, we will look at </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Avast!</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Antivirus and </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Spywareblaster</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Avast! is available in a free version, plus various variants of paid-for versions. But what extra’s do the paid-for versions include?</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Well, the free version has Intelligent Antivirus, Anti-malware protection plus the excellent </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">web-reputation </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">as standard, while the paid for versions have a </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">SafeZone</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> for payments, a </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Firewall,</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">anti-spam</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> for emails, plus options for having the software keep your computer programs up-to-date and enhanced data-shredding software. The last couple of items are not needed by the average person, but we will look at the paid for item that are not included with Avast! Antivirus Free.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">SafeZone</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. This basically runs a web page in a safe place that acts like a virtual machine. This means that access to the secure web page is totally prevented from outside programs. It is in effect a walled garden that ensures safety when making secure payments and banking. For all intents and purposes, as long as you only visit a trusted website, have Avast! Free running and have the web-reputation plug-in enabled, you should be perfectly safe.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Firewall.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Again, the paid for version of Avast! has a program that already exists on your PC. Windows firewall is perfectly sufficient in protecting outside programs reaching your PC. Make sure it is enabled (it is by default), and you will be safe.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Anti-Spam</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Avast! offers a program to try and stop you receiving emails with potential phishing programs attached to them. Phishing is the art of obtaining information from the user by pretending to be someone they are not. For example, you could have an email that say’s it’s from your bank, and it is asking you to confirm your bank details. Never do this! Anti-Spam software stops these emails, however, email providers these days usually supply some kind of safeguard against phishing.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Of course, no amount of antivirus or malware protection will be 100% effective if the user is not also careful. There are some guidelines that I personally follow, and have always followed, that have ensured that I have not been hit by a virus in many years (yes! I learned in my naive early days the hard way!).</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Only visit websites that are tried and tested (rely on you web-reputation plug-in’s and your common sense!)</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Do not download programs off sites that are not the original source of the item you are downloading.</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Remember to uncheck any boxes that ask if you want to install any extra software when installing a program from the internet.</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Never turn your antivirus off!</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Most importantly, use common sense and don’t give any information to anyone that just asks for it!</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7uV8S-d8LUyHQ6y4EU5AoPqmueL4qven8OuSM4fb86CfjDZwoNHKTxBFegpb4nMqStZgGKofWqJ2BOesirR055dKuSKtu92uwux46xy7FTHUHOvfAoLm5Uho67XiU7sPOYIBxIKUT9cc/s1600/spywareblaster-logo.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7uV8S-d8LUyHQ6y4EU5AoPqmueL4qven8OuSM4fb86CfjDZwoNHKTxBFegpb4nMqStZgGKofWqJ2BOesirR055dKuSKtu92uwux46xy7FTHUHOvfAoLm5Uho67XiU7sPOYIBxIKUT9cc/s1600/spywareblaster-logo.png" height="200" width="200" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">SpywareBlaster</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In addition to Avast! Antivirus Free, the other recommended program to run alongside to add to your protection is SpywareBlaster. SpywareBlaster is a simple program that helps prevent software doing nasty things to your computer.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">First of all, SpywareBlaster will prevent the installation of ActiveX-based Spyware and other potentially unwanted programs. Secondly it will block spying and tracking cookies from being used on your computer, while last but not least it will restrict the actions of potentially unwanted or dangerous websites.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">While this sounds complicated, SpywareBlaster is a passive program that just works alongside your antivirus. It basically updates your web browser so that it blocks thousands of unwanted sites from installing ActiveX instructions and cookies onto your PC. It’s simple and effective!</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Final Thoughts</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There are numerous free antivirus software programs available, and I recommend Avast! Antivirus Free as the program of choice because not only is it effective against virus infections, but it is simple to setup and use, and has low demands on system resources.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">SpywareBlaster is something that you must remember to update manually once a week or so, but again is simple to use and very effective. Again, this has been used for many years and as a result my PC’s have stayed virus and spyware free.</span></div>
<br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The most important thing to remember when trying to be safe on the internet is common sense. Make secure passwords, don’t give out information, don’t click on links simply because they ask you to, and stick to the websites that are tried and tested. Using the programs I have mentioned, and making sure Avast! Web-Reputation is available (this will tell you if a website is trustworthy in your search results), you should have years of safe surfing.</span>Mark G Adamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12621472090637023161noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7552376646904025572.post-42080611106189158082014-05-28T05:39:00.002-07:002014-05-28T05:39:16.206-07:00Making Google+ Work For You<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcpalPVWlVNBfj967EBsujmiYmJv1oB3hRvvcIy1T11yKz_VXwK5u726O0MbB9_9lYyHCH6WiMb0nboML0guroLDmg_a4WWlGKtzQiyFq3I2fqF3PwB9vzxc1YXsA3WnEOLW0TI3yQfJ8/s1600/google_plus_2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcpalPVWlVNBfj967EBsujmiYmJv1oB3hRvvcIy1T11yKz_VXwK5u726O0MbB9_9lYyHCH6WiMb0nboML0guroLDmg_a4WWlGKtzQiyFq3I2fqF3PwB9vzxc1YXsA3WnEOLW0TI3yQfJ8/s1600/google_plus_2.jpg" height="320" width="294" /></a></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It wasn’t too long ago that I wrote an article called “Where Google+ Is Going Wrong”, after a while on Google+ I was struggling to get followers and people interested in joining me on Google+, so I decided to take a different approach and see if that made a difference in my Google+ experience.</span></div>
<b id="docs-internal-guid-fba5a660-42d6-f5b3-8627-7ffc0787e3fb" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">First of all, I have to tell you that I am heavily into Social Network sites, and I have been prolific on both Facebook and Twitter over the years. Twitter in particular was fun for a long time, until it just became a news-feed of people talking about themselves. Of course, with Facebook, that is made of of family and friends, and people who do not generally share the same interests as myself.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Google+ looked like something different, and after a bit of research, and studying how Google+ worked, the formula for success in getting friends and having interaction was very simple with these three simple steps;</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Interact with other peoples posts.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It’s simple to click on +1 and show your appreciation</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A quick comment in the “Add a comment…” box is fun and rewarding.</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Share things you like by clicking the “Share” arrow, people like discovering new things.</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Add people who have similar interests.</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If people +1 a comment or photo, add them to your circles.</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If people comment on your post, reply to them and +1 them and then add them to your circles.</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If people share your posts, add them, because they are interested in what you do!</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Join “Communities” and repeat 1 & 2.</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Google+ has one big advantage over other Social Network sites, “Communities”, search for a subject you like, join the community, and share with people a subject you all have in common.</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Take all you’ve learned from all these steps and re-apply each time you visit Google+ and watch your followers grow.</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Go to step 1 and repeat adnauseum.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Google+ really is that simple to use, and the rewards are that you actually feel as if you are part of one huge, sometimes helpful, sometimes funny, but always relevant community of fellow Social Media fans who genuinely enjoy reading what you post on a day to day basis.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Google+ has everything going for it, it look stunning, is simple to use, has a load of different aspects to it such as Communities and excellent easy to use features. Google+ when used right is a powerful tool that can really help you stay in touch with friends, families and collegues.</span></div>
<br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Of course, for even more interaction, Google+ is connected directly to Google Hangouts, where you can have video calls with anyone you wish, or you can simply use Hangouts as a messenger service. The possibilities are endless, and the experience is priceless.</span>Mark G Adamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12621472090637023161noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7552376646904025572.post-26771763809171488392014-04-23T01:16:00.003-07:002014-04-23T01:16:58.907-07:00Sony ZX600 Headphone's Review<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixDoNfe0y3NznX64OI_WTajvIuKyvLbPMfyc5N6lsLpukGVm0CvbiIv_9FiwhfWxNQ1QC-kch6a0jcL5AvnlnGJ6Pq4TjeUAMJ2e78VznIzEN2rm-K1OuXjXfVfISLHRVYqKLAc_nqkEw/s1600/Headphones.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixDoNfe0y3NznX64OI_WTajvIuKyvLbPMfyc5N6lsLpukGVm0CvbiIv_9FiwhfWxNQ1QC-kch6a0jcL5AvnlnGJ6Pq4TjeUAMJ2e78VznIzEN2rm-K1OuXjXfVfISLHRVYqKLAc_nqkEw/s1600/Headphones.jpg" height="195" width="320" /></a></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">For the love of music</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I love music, and everywhere I go I have music playing on my portable iPod or Mobile Device. Although I’d had a decent pair of headphones for a few years for home use, I’d only used good quality in-the-ear headphones for travelling. A time came when I needed over-the-ear headphones that would match my needs. The boxes that had to be ticked were first and foremost good sound, with a punchy bass, and clear mid and top ranges, plus good looks and a price that was affordable.</span></div>
<b id="docs-internal-guid-1e0c39ad-8da5-ff97-2c20-ad28a9c075e9" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So over a few weeks, I spent much time doing numerous side-by-side sound test’s of different headphones. Thankfully, the local HMV has a gangway of 20 pairs of headphones all lined up, and with 3.5mm connections to attach your listening device (in my case this was a Samsung S3 with MP3 files ripped at 320kbps, and a wide variety of headphones from the very cheap (£15 Sony’s and Skullcandy’s) to the very expensive (£350 Beat’s Audio).</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I listened to a variety of styles of music, from pop to rock, and even a bit of classical. I also listened at different volumes, and with my graphic equaliser on and off at various settings. My ideal headphones though would have sounded perfect with the equaliser turned off, giving off the qualities I wanted.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Specifications & Quality</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There was one pair of headphones I kept coming back to, the Sony ZX600’s. With their 40mm neodymium drivers and 6Hz-25kHz frequency range, along with their stylishly good looks, these headphones sounded simply stunning with everything I threw at them.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The cheaper headphones, and even some of the more expensive models sometimes had not enough bass and way too much treble, while some of the more expensive headphones (and I’m pointing at you Dr Dre!) had way too much bass and an average mid and top end. The £60 Sony ZX600’s stood out because they had excellent sound at all range’s no matter what they played.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As can be seen in the photograph, the ZX600’s are good looking headphones, they are not too heavy, but have a good weight, while the ear-pads fit over the ears perfectly. The cable is of a thin and flat type, meaning that it does not get tangled when stored. The headphones themselves do not fold, although the ear-pieces can be turned to make the headphones fairly flat.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Overall</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Sony ZX600 headphones were put through some strict tests before buying, competing with headphones from all manufacturers, and all costs. Each time I kept going back to them, because on a price-per-performance level they outshone every other pair of headphones that I tried. Without telling a few people who I looked around the store with, I asked them to try the headphones, and they came up with the same conclusion.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Listening to the headphones in the home environment, especially when the room is dark, the headphones shine like no other headphones I’ve tried. They have great stereo-separation with the music literally filling your brain, and the bass is thumpy without giving you a headache. As for the mid and high ends, you can hear every cymbal splash, every cow-bell and every guitar note plucked clean and crisp. Even on the go, they sound amazing, and when played at high volume, they do not let any sound escape, so you don’t annoy anyone around you.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Overall they’re an amazing buy, and are available from time to time on special offer, which ,ake them even better value!</span></div>
Mark G Adamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12621472090637023161noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7552376646904025572.post-65859709487816898872014-04-21T05:55:00.000-07:002014-04-21T05:55:01.833-07:00The 5 Best Photo Editing Software Programs<span id="docs-internal-guid-e836b975-8455-370e-d856-d4a2c1bbb308"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">People are taking photographs more and more these days, in no small part to the fact that their mobile devices such as phones and tablets now have very good quality camera’s built into them. For a lot of people though, there is a need to edit photographs, allowing you to perform things such as layers, or take objects out of the picture or simply change the colours to make them more vibrant, or even just black and white.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There are a wealth of options out there today, but this article looks at the five best free photo editing software programs that are out there today. Each one has been used extensively by myself, and each one has a reason why it has been used more or less than the other programs.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">For many people, the holy-ground of photo editing and manipulation is the PhotoShop program. An expensive and complete package that many professionals use. However, there are other programs that professionals and nonprofessionals alike use which do the job without the overkill of PhotoShop. Some are simple to use, others very similar to PhotoShop, but all are free to use and do the job more than adequately.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">GIMP 2.8</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">No photo editing list would be complete without GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program) on the list, and for a good reason too. GIMP 2,8 is used by professional photographers more and more because of it’s free nature, it’s feature-packed options and the fact that it does things that PhotoShop doesn’t do, and with the addition of free-add-on’s, it forever getting better and more customisable.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">To a lot of people the idea of a free program that is as good as PhotoShop is quite absurd, however GIMP is that program. As of GIMP 2.8, it now features a single-window mode, which means that it’s even more accessible to people without much knowledge of such packages, and it looks great too!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Feature-wise we’re talking major league programming here, with an infinitely customisable interface, rich photo-enhancing capabilities, multiple layers, advanced digital retouching, hardware-support for almost any device imaginable, a huge range of file formats that it can deal with and it’s available across Windows, Linux, Mac Operating Systems and more.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It’s a great program, with a lot to offer, although for many it has a lot of features that the average person will just never use (just like PhotoShop). GIMP has a high learning curve, and is ideal for people with a bit of a background in photo manipulation programs. It can’t be faulted, and it is updated on a regular basis meaning it always has the newest features fast.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">PhotoFiltre 6</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Although a little known program, PhotoFiltre is the go-to photo manipulation program for myself. It is available in a number of versions, catering for all levels of ability. Even the most basic version of PhotoFiltre though (version 6) is an absolute beast when it comes to helping you with your photo editing.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">PhotoFiltre can be thought of as PhotoShop without all the crap that you don’t need, put nicely into a well designed package that allows you to edit photos quickly and effectively. It’s fast, well supported and will have your photo’s looking better after just a few minutes of use.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As for it’s features, PhotoFiltre is now slouch, as it has all that you need to edit your photos, with a great range of filters, selection tools, retouching tools, various brushes and paints to edit photos and the ability to add additional plug-in’s to the program to the things that you need. The more advanced versions also have layer support.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">PhotoFiltre really is a great program, and one which deserves to be used a lot more by people. It’s available for Windows in various versions from the basic free-version, a more advanced free version and a paid versions, and there is also a Linux version which is currently in the works. Each of them is ideal for anyone interested in working with photographs and making them look even better.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Pixlr Editor</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Unlike GIMP and PhotoFiltre, Pixlr Editor is a browser based photo editor that runs quite happily on any machine as long as your browser supports it. Pixlr Editor is quickly becoming my second-most go-to photo editor, as being in a browser, it’s quick to access and simple to use.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Compared to the previous offerings, Pixlr Editor is on a similar standing on what you can achieve with it, and as it’s browser based, it keeps getting updated itself, and you can edit your photos no matter what machine you are on, even if it normally struggles with photo editing software.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Pixlr Editor features a host of great editing features, with a great array of filters (including Vignette without having to add a plugin or add-on as you have to in some other programs), colour adjustments, layers and a wide selection of touch-up tools. There are not as many file options as in other editing programs, however the most common file formats are supported.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Pixlr Editor is quick and easy to use, and has some good quality features that are simple to use and give a good result. While it may not be as customisable as the others, it’s great to use when you want something done quickly and want a good result.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Paint.Net</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Where Paint.Net excels is it’s ability to be a middle ground for all of the above programs that have been mentioned. Paint.Net is like a combination of everything you love about GIMP, PhotoShop, Paint, PhotoFiltre and Pixlr Editor, lovingly packaged and quite simple to use.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Paint.Net has a great selection of tools to enable your photo’s to be edited quickly and simply. The designers of Paint.Net have tried to make the fasted photo editing software available, and to some extent, Paint.Net does feel fast, however, it’s all about preference, and for some reason I’ve never really got-on with Paint.Net as much as other software, that said, it’s a great program with a lot to offer.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Picasa 3.9</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Google has this wonderful offering, a simple yet powerful photo editing software program that has some great results. Although it doesn’t have all the features of a GIMP 2.8 or PhotoFiltre 6, it does have some nice filters and simple cropping effects that allow you to make an effective looking picture very quickly.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Picasa 3.9 concentrates on the most popular filters, such as fading or colourising photo’s and adding vignette effects to them. As a stand alone program, Picasa will load in all the photos on your PC, thankfully there is the ability to hide any photo’s or albums that you do not wish to have in your editing list.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As mentioned, this is meant to be a quick fix for photographs, with minimal cropping tools, you won’t be able to copy and paste or crop to your hearts content, or even resize your photograph easily, however you will be able to get good results and send them quickly to a new folder or to Google+.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Picasa 3.9 is a good alternative program to have on your PC, and although not used as the main photo editing software on my PC, it is there for times when I want something done quickly and differently.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Overall</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There is no one piece of photo editing software that everyone is going to like. Some people have different preferences for different programs mentioned in this list, while others will only ever use one piece of software.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If I was to recommend one of these photo editing programs, it would be PhotoFiltre. It is the easiest to use, and gives the best results, and once you’ve added all the plugin’s, it becomes a very powerful piece of software that you’ll find yourself using daily.</span></div>
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</span>Mark G Adamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12621472090637023161noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7552376646904025572.post-72543184791396233342014-03-28T08:42:00.000-07:002014-03-28T08:42:12.215-07:00Installing Linux To Make An Old PC Better<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLKWJZY3wcnrIGhOPzpWQQKANLrnsAmussuB2gv8S8x0E7BlelXrJXuNjgmlo5uK7yaztQoQHTaMLlAWJX5Ia8FBhIpb36hsQfIQHw1vLTXFcz9g0MPJbP83dJeRsvhB-FJTPA_c6bzm0/s1600/Bad+Computer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLKWJZY3wcnrIGhOPzpWQQKANLrnsAmussuB2gv8S8x0E7BlelXrJXuNjgmlo5uK7yaztQoQHTaMLlAWJX5Ia8FBhIpb36hsQfIQHw1vLTXFcz9g0MPJbP83dJeRsvhB-FJTPA_c6bzm0/s1600/Bad+Computer.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">You have an old PC or corrupt version of Windows...</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Many people use their PCs and Laptops until the machine slows down to a halt and dies. This slow-down of machines is caused by many things, usually because the hardware can no longer keep up with the demands of modern software, plus a full hard-drive full of unused programs, viruses, Trojans and general age of the Operating System meaning it’s no longer a viable option.</span></div>
<b id="docs-internal-guid-ca9395de-0947-cbbd-aa7a-3ac891ed506d" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">You can of course go out and buy a new laptop (we’ll stick to laptop’s, as this is what the majority of people buy now, and everything applies to both them and PCs), although that will cost you a lot of money. There is another option which can bring even the oldest netbook (low-powered mini-laptop) back to life and alive and kicking. It’s a simple process, but one which many people are afraid of, because it involves that scary word “Linux”.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Do not be afraid of “Linux” though, as these days there are many versions around, and it is now a fully-fledged and tried-and-tested Operating System that is on the same level as the new Windows versions that are currently in use. The reality is, once the hard part has been done, and your old PC has a shiny new Operating System on it, you won’t even realise it’s not Windows! New versions of Linux are simple to use, intuitive, and run straight out of the box, usually bundled with a host of software, meaning that you don’t even have to download anything!</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPv1tA5pBu2ND4sTisxEzyy8RkK1r50AjdUJz8V4UPq7zwJoGJJMEE24U7YkZnEWg9oT-he7PtdOy8s3bwhImqWpiTBenaLz0to8tRMay195YsgnTUbWcyaOGYP2IJ-wcnY6DRsnPHmEk/s1600/Linux.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPv1tA5pBu2ND4sTisxEzyy8RkK1r50AjdUJz8V4UPq7zwJoGJJMEE24U7YkZnEWg9oT-he7PtdOy8s3bwhImqWpiTBenaLz0to8tRMay195YsgnTUbWcyaOGYP2IJ-wcnY6DRsnPHmEk/s1600/Linux.jpg" height="176" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What are the best versions of Linux out there?</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">To make things as simple as possible, I will only look at three versions of Linux, each of them based on one particular type of Linux, but all very different. Don’t be afraid of the term “Linux”, it’s just the same as “Windows”, in that it’s just a shell that runs the programs you need.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">My first choice is Linux Mint 16 Cinnamon Edition, the most complete and user-friendly version of Linux. Once installed, Windows users will be instantly familiar with the interface, it’s slick and modern, and looks very similar to Windows 7. It’s requirements for running very low, at only 512MB of RAM, 5GB of hard-drive space, a graphics card capable of 800x600 resolution, and a CD or USB drive. Once installed, Mint runs smoothly, and really does have everything you need readily installed.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Secondly, for those wanting to experiment a bit more to play with, and a different experience, there’s Ubuntu 13.10 with it’s Unity interface. This Operating System looks a little different to a normal Windows set-up, but is again intuitive, and super-fast compared to Windows. Minimum requirements are a 700mhz processor, 512MB of RAM, 5GB hard-drive space, a graphics card capable of 1024x768 screen resolution and a CD or USB drive. Ubuntu is more for the power-user, but is a great replacement for those who want more.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">My third option is Puppy Linux, which is ideal for those with a really old and low powered laptop or PC. System requirements for Puppy are only a 333mhz CPU, 64MB of RAM, minimal disk space and a graphics card that works! Puppy Linux looks like Windows, but is much faster and although basic compared to the other versions mentioned, it will resurrect your old netbook or Laptop and make it work in ways you never thought possible.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">How do I install Linux onto my old machine?</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The first thing you need to do is go to the downloads page of your select Linux and download the correct version of Linux for your machine. All this means is either the 32-bit or 64-bit version, which will usually be a .iso disk image file.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Once you've downloaded the .iso file, you need to burn it to a CD/DVD (you can use USB drives, Google for how to create an image with a USB drive). Simply click on the downloaded .iso file and the computer will burn the image of the Linux distribution that you want to CD or DVD.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Insert the newly burned CD/DVD into the machine you want to install Linux on, and for best results turn the off and then back on again. The CD/DVD will then begin to load, however, do not worry, as this will not usually install Linux on the machine, but give you a Live CD that let’s you use the machine as if Linux was installed onto it.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If you’re happy with the way your computer is working, simply click “Install” from the desktop, and follow the on-screen instructions. It’s that simple! After a short while, your old laptop or PC will be as good as new with your chosen version of Linux on it.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What next?</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Have fun! If you've chosen Mint as an Operating System it’ll be instantly familiar to you, as will Puppy Linux. If you've installed Ubuntu, then don’t be afraid to experiment! Which ever Linux you have installed, visit the Store which can be found in the options, and start downloading programs! For the most part they are free, and depending on which version of Linux you installed, there will already be a selection of programs installed ready for you to run, such as Libre Office (to replace MS Office), Chrome or Firefox browser (to replace Internet Explorer), Gimp (to replace Photoshop) and so much more! They may have different names, but these programs do the same thing!</span></div>
<br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">You’re machine with Linux freshly installed will be like a new machine. If you don’t like the version of Linux you have installed, simply put another version on there, although if you stick with Linux Mint 16 Cinnamon you shouldn't go far wrong to having the perfect computer, as it’s a stunning OS that’s leaps and bounds better than Windows. If you want to download your favourite WIndows program, there are many alternative in the Store on your new Linux. For most people though, just using the internet is all that a laptop or PC is needed for, so go ahead and surf!</span></div>
Mark G Adamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12621472090637023161noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7552376646904025572.post-59370826527714297482014-03-25T04:11:00.001-07:002014-03-25T06:30:54.420-07:00Life With A Chromebook (2014)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjl2htIqeRXKpQ7ti8HiR4t0dduwZicn8wjs3t-ZvqNI9uzQt0ML1O_azGpc22zbTqr0TCwAYxKriYt_s37xX4Icgyc3RfkfFMBygwcOEUies31II9bI6qnDGssYBQ_5Rf0_RpCOo_LZ-I/s1600/Chromebook.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjl2htIqeRXKpQ7ti8HiR4t0dduwZicn8wjs3t-ZvqNI9uzQt0ML1O_azGpc22zbTqr0TCwAYxKriYt_s37xX4Icgyc3RfkfFMBygwcOEUies31II9bI6qnDGssYBQ_5Rf0_RpCOo_LZ-I/s1600/Chromebook.jpg" height="230" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Back in October 2013 I looked at Chromebooks, and how easy it was to live with them. Since that original article, Chromebooks have been becoming more and more popular as companies increase their hardware power and people get used to the idea of working from within a web browser all of the time.</span></div>
<b id="docs-internal-guid-4caf3c3a-f8e5-f7c0-33fa-13d5e8a53304" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Chromebooks are a form of PC that run on a Linux variant called Google OS. This is Google’s own Operating System, which is basically no more than a Chrome web browser. They usually come with around 16GB to 32GB of onboard storage, a low end mobile-based processor (which is all it needs to be as it’s just a web browser), either 2GB or 4GB of RAM and various USB ports and SD card slots. Remember, as Chromebooks are based on using web technology, you will get a minimum of 15GB Google Drive web space from Google to upload your documents and file, although some special promotions mean you will get 100GB.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Chromebooks do not run Windows, however Windows isn’t the must-have system that it once was, and for the average user, anything that can be done on a Windows PC can be done on a Chromebook, but usually faster and more efficiently.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">For a lot of people, trying to get their heads around a PC that is almost entirely a web browser based Operating System compared to the full Windows environment is daunting. Because they are so used to using Windows, they assume nothing else is as good. However good for Microsoft that may be, the plain truth of the matter is that Google’s Chromebooks are ideal for most of the people, most of the time. Unless you’re a serious power-user who uses dedicated software for business or a hard-core gamer who needs the latest graphics cards, Chromebooks could just be for you.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">To put this into context, think about how often you are in a browser, whether you are on you’re on your PC, tablet or mobile device. The answer is going to be a hell of a lot of the time. When the internet goes down and you can’t access the internet, most people turn off their PC’s, because they rely on it to do whatever they are doing.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Chromebooks for the most part need to be always connected to the internet for their apps, although as time goes by more and more things can be done in offline mode. These day’s however, it doesn’t matter, as if your home or work internet stops working, a lot of people will then just se the data on their mobile devices. We consume the internet at an unbelievable rate, so why would you be afraid of using a laptop which needs to be on the internet to work?</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Life with a Chromebook is 2014 is easier than ever, and the change from a Windows machine to a Chromebook should be simple. Chromebooks take less than a second to wake up from sleep mode, and under 10 seconds to wake up and be completely usable from being totally shut down. Screen quality on Chromebooks is getting better, as is the sound quality, while the styling of them means that you’ll own one of the best looking machines available.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Below is a comprehensive list of applications that replace the equivalent WIndows versions. For anyone who has used Chrome or Google’s launcher (which now installs when using Googles products on Windows machines), the Chromebook environment should simple to use and intuitive.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6jelYnPnGcNDFDFSGdxmKsQfm1kcN32Ght5zN90BLLVqdQ7rezc8FNF6SnooeD-4PNFQucXxajrZCyRLtmSy0D3HcWDShR2Qj8CPP81brtq512Lgl2SuMkrf-2tJNsKBfnxQ1qSslZHc/s1600/Google+Docs.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6jelYnPnGcNDFDFSGdxmKsQfm1kcN32Ght5zN90BLLVqdQ7rezc8FNF6SnooeD-4PNFQucXxajrZCyRLtmSy0D3HcWDShR2Qj8CPP81brtq512Lgl2SuMkrf-2tJNsKBfnxQ1qSslZHc/s1600/Google+Docs.jpg" height="188" width="200" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Document Handling - Google Documents</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Word, Excel, Powerpoint are all at your fingertips, these can be opened in Google Docs. If you don’t have access to Microsoft's Office then you can just go ahead and use Documents, Spreadsheet, Presentation and more (</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="http://scooby1970.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/microsoft-office-alternatives-2014.html">more can be found in this article</a></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">). The software has come on leaps and bounds over the last few months, and compatibility is hardly an issue. For the everyday user this suite will be more than enough to get the job done, and indeed, this blog is written and put together using Google Documents, as well as all my other writings of reviews and other websites etc.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What’s more, the documents sync to all your devices so you can start where you last finished off from any machine. This is probably the best part of Google Docs, in the event of a power-cut, or accidentally switching off the document you are writing, everything is saved in real-time, so you just switch back on and you are in exactly the same place as you left off!</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIXp1cq8DMftqdO31WRYRn4a6uDQylhh6GJN9N0fk6uPdsYlyWegD9H02FIefGMQNFmz6g_q9rD30JN7OIvHVrN20fq7tF6tTJM0hHw9asF8LQBCQJr_WORNPkVtr5vKBIVC3Pn9GiIhI/s1600/music.icon_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIXp1cq8DMftqdO31WRYRn4a6uDQylhh6GJN9N0fk6uPdsYlyWegD9H02FIefGMQNFmz6g_q9rD30JN7OIvHVrN20fq7tF6tTJM0hHw9asF8LQBCQJr_WORNPkVtr5vKBIVC3Pn9GiIhI/s1600/music.icon_.jpg" height="96" width="200" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Playing Music - Google Music</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Google Play Music offers storage of 20,000 music tracks on their service. You simply sign up to the service and upload your albums (</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="http://scooby1970.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/google-music.html">more can be found in this article</a></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">). For me, Google Music has replaced iTunes, simply load up the player and your entire collection is at your fingertips. Adding music couldn’t be easier, and as your music is stored on the cloud, you can delete your hard-copies on your PC and stream everything, anywhere on your Chromebook, or any other device that is attached to the internet!</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe8ssA_AJouMuJ7TCZb6L5piAmSixx2U8Vq0wDiY2kuxHbMJGEqoNo5ZH4ofdWJGs52-GxUcysIYGfIj-zQ7JKMxnkphIGvGZE0o3Z7UZn4sugSLjpYqQf78jcksol1VTapzSgXpTUz74/s1600/googcal.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe8ssA_AJouMuJ7TCZb6L5piAmSixx2U8Vq0wDiY2kuxHbMJGEqoNo5ZH4ofdWJGs52-GxUcysIYGfIj-zQ7JKMxnkphIGvGZE0o3Z7UZn4sugSLjpYqQf78jcksol1VTapzSgXpTUz74/s1600/googcal.png" height="200" width="188" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Keeping Dates - Google Calendar</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">For many people, a calendar or schedule application is a necessity in life. Thankfully, Google Calendar is simple and powerful and can be used for all your scheduling needs. Never miss a birthday, or appointment again as notifications can come straight to your Chromebook, or synced mobile device.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Note Writing - Google Keep</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Need to write a note? Google Keep is the perfect notebook, as you store notes on your Chromebook, they will automatically be synced with your mobile devices, meaning while doing your work on your Chromebook you can write a shopping list on Google Keep as you remember what you need, and then it will sync to your mobile device for you to view while you are out shopping. As with all other Google applications, Google Keep works seamlessly, so you can just get on with what you're doing while Google shares it to your other devices.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Drawing Programs - Sumo Paint</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">For most people, Microsoft’s paint is not quite enough, while Photoshop is too much. For many, Paint.net is a middle-ground, and this is where Sumo Paint comes in. It’s the equivalent to Paint.net, and is actually fairly powerful. It offers everything a drawing program should have, plus there are more advanced featured such as layers, enabling you be ever more creative. Sumo Paint is a great program, and one which once used, you’ll go back to on a regular basis as it really is that good.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWhapTlmb8weRjrzO6fGz9j19YoK2Y6XevEbSqw0DyjnUufn7_uioLmADV5FbEepE0VcgRD3rlRdbWSzh7uTYtinCZ9WeMTH82oci5vNRjJayU9hPfs4E88IElaTvt2TqjCt4r3TBDbZc/s1600/Pixlr.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWhapTlmb8weRjrzO6fGz9j19YoK2Y6XevEbSqw0DyjnUufn7_uioLmADV5FbEepE0VcgRD3rlRdbWSzh7uTYtinCZ9WeMTH82oci5vNRjJayU9hPfs4E88IElaTvt2TqjCt4r3TBDbZc/s1600/Pixlr.jpg" height="112" width="200" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Photo Editing - Pixlr Editor</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Again, many people find something like Photoshop a bit too daunting to edit photographs, and as a Chromebook doesn’t run Photoshop there’s a good reason to use the wonderful Pixlr Editor. Once again everything is run in the browser, you load up your image and in front of you is a powerful User Interface giving you a wealth of options to make your photographs look better than ever.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Pixlr Editor comes with all the usual tweaks for colour, saturation and contrast plus it comes with a whole host of useful filters that really do work just as well as any off-line photo software. For that professional touch you can add vignette, HDR, blur effects and so much more. Layers are catered for too, so you can do colour splash effects easily. It can’t be underestimated just how powerful Pixlr Editor is, so much so that once used, you’ll never need to use another photo editor program again. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Video Editing - Pixorial Video</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Although video editing on the Chromebook won’t be as swish or exciting as on a PC, things are moving along fast, and thanks to Pixorial Video Editor simple video editing can be done. Again, most people just want to do simple things with their videos, and Pixorial allows this with a selection of options to make your video look better than ever.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_ziPyJa1JBFm3FrIxYC66VC5CRa5M4u3YtnsH2I_OLhiOGL6Hs-IeA-pAIwoxzYzxW57GZ1pD62NBEDtWoV9mwAg4AJCCzr1ds7f7AvTn3eXFScWwSoRiuRHDuak8oOLzu1mTdW6j-2o/s1600/hangouts.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_ziPyJa1JBFm3FrIxYC66VC5CRa5M4u3YtnsH2I_OLhiOGL6Hs-IeA-pAIwoxzYzxW57GZ1pD62NBEDtWoV9mwAg4AJCCzr1ds7f7AvTn3eXFScWwSoRiuRHDuak8oOLzu1mTdW6j-2o/s1600/hangouts.png" height="200" width="200" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Video Calls - Hangouts</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Google’s very own Hangouts is an exceptional piece of software, with a wealth of functions and the ability to chat to a group of friends using video chat. Chromebooks don’t run Skype, as Microsoft owns that technology, however don’t worry, because Hangouts is far superior in every way, its reliable, video calls are good quality, and very simple to use.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Browsing The Internet - Chrome</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Finally, all this would not be possible without the ability to browse the internet in the first place. This is where Google’s Chrome excels as a web browser. Compared to the others, it’s fast, secure, has a wealth of add-ons, customisable and syncs with all your other Google devices. There are people who have their favorite browsers, however, you can’t go far wrong with Chrome, it’s the best of all the browsers out there at the moment, and has never let this writer down at any time.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Each day the Chrome store is seeing more and more alternatives, while existing programs are getting better with each new update. If I’ve missed something, or you know of alternatives, then why not let me know in the comments box.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Chromebooks are here to stay, and as technology moves on, there’s no doubting that one day they will be as popular as cheap Android Tablets are now. Microsoft are scared, and so they should be, as Chromebooks offer a real alternative to machines running Windows. They’re cheaper, start in seconds, and offer the complete package in one intuitive package. </span>Mark G Adamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12621472090637023161noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7552376646904025572.post-57218326187711071642014-03-03T10:43:00.000-08:002014-03-29T04:58:27.611-07:00Google Music<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvphUwcAKhjXD0V6HpPqKEfBQTJSYFX8Yn4FTDzOoQalJx3gOvzTx3f6l5NFViExaqDfrGb1YPsMgTaiEGCvNY4iizh41lt0fIQaLNaL2UyM8Hik2vue_PnSS4cBciPCQYL2uvDNcg2Ts/s1600/music.icon_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvphUwcAKhjXD0V6HpPqKEfBQTJSYFX8Yn4FTDzOoQalJx3gOvzTx3f6l5NFViExaqDfrGb1YPsMgTaiEGCvNY4iizh41lt0fIQaLNaL2UyM8Hik2vue_PnSS4cBciPCQYL2uvDNcg2Ts/s1600/music.icon_.jpg" height="155" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">[</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>This article was updated on 29 March 2014</i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">]</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The world is relying more and more on The Cloud. The cloud is of course a whole bunch of servers where data from your PC is held remotely. These last couple of years have seen Cloud related applications used more than ever, and personally I use Dropbox for backup of all my photographs and videos, and Google Docs for everything else.</span></div>
<b id="docs-internal-guid-7ce7412f-893f-c69a-fef2-d44e1c5aa3fa" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Google has another service that, quite simply, is mind blowing when you consider what it achieved with my music collection. To put things into context, I have 11,654 songs, equating to 484 albums stored on my 80GB iPod, which in turn is obviously stored in my iTunes library on my computer.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Connecting to Google Music</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The first thing you have to do is open a Google Music account which will be tied to your Google account. You need a credit or debit card, but no money is taken off this card, and it’s just to verify that you have the one account as Google’s Music service offers so much.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Once you’ve joined, you</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><strike> then have to download the uploading client which will be used at all times in the future for you</strike></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><strike> to</strike></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> upload your music to Google Music. Once you run the up-loader, it will ask you where your music library is stored and begin it’s search of your tracks. This is a brand new feature of uploading via the web browser instead of a dedicated client can be turned on in the Labs section of your settings.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The clever thing is that Google Music doesn't upload all your music, but instead points any albums you have that are on the Google Music server, thus eliminating hours and hours of uploading. Within a few minutes, 95% of my 11,654 were showing as being uploaded, however the final 5% took a while to upload, however these were very obscure albums. For the majority of people who buy standard music available anywhere, Google Music should not need to upload hardly any music.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">That’s all there is to it. Now which ever device you sign into with your Google Music account will have access to the songs. On your PC, your internet browser will be the music player, in a very nice layout.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">You’ll have options to “Listen Now”, “My Library”, “Instant Mixes” and of course “Shop” plus a few other options depending on your device. Using a Mobile Phone or tablet (either iOS or Android) gets a more simplified version, however the Android is very slick, while the iOS version is very basic.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Performance</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">On a PC. Google Music could easily replace iTunes as a music player as it’s slick, intuitive and streams without any hiccups. Prolonged play has proven that the web-player is very capable and ultra-quick to use when choosing and playing songs.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">On an Android phone the experience is just as good, and in use out in the “wild” it proved capable of playing back good quality music while on the move on foot and in transport. Even with low signal areas where the likes of Spotify struggled, Google Music keeps on pouring out your music with no stutter or errors of any kind. The Android experience is very nice, with a great app that looks awesome and is very easy to use while on the move. The iOS app does the same job, however doesn't look half as good.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The mobile apps give the choice of streaming quality, with Low, Normal and High settings. In my test’s on transport and foot, streaming was seamless using the High setting, and the songs sounded pretty amazing. I have recently gotten an even better experience with a new pair of Sony ZX600 headphones, these showed the sound quality to be exceptional while on the move using high sound settings, with the equaliser turned off.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Overall</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Google Music is the kind of service that once you've tried, you cannot live without. As my iPod is a fixture in the house now due to the fact that my phone does everything, having Google Music on it means I have all the songs without taking up any of the valuable room that so much music would take up.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Google Music allows you to upload 20,000 tracks, which for most people is a substantial amount that they will probably never reach. The web-player allows editing of track and album details should there be any mistake, plus album artwork can be amended. Less than 1% of my uploaded albums had errors in track, album or album artwork., however Google Music displays a picture of the artist taken from it’s records, and this can sometimes be wrong! It’s no big deal, and only a small percentage of the 1% of errors, and I’ll find a way of fixing these errors one day!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If you like music, have access to the internet at all times via WiFi or mobile data, then Google Music is a no brainer. It’s simple to use, performs exceptionally and can be accessed anywhere on any device. Awesome.</span>Mark G Adamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12621472090637023161noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7552376646904025572.post-70466634747923239742014-02-18T07:55:00.000-08:002014-02-18T07:57:22.189-08:00Microsoft Office Alternatives 2014<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEim7hz_YWrc0hT8TXOzQ7esrjmLGffCZWOD-GVuR1-ELCYjQmc5Jta88h9sJ4x864bCJNFRJwIgsI6sRsAxcoB6S14ZzSKgw1Yu7LZQkRCn4tJcdDyWBMZ6ISWX3tH0IBAiTWndJnDs_Z8/s1600/microsoft-office1.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEim7hz_YWrc0hT8TXOzQ7esrjmLGffCZWOD-GVuR1-ELCYjQmc5Jta88h9sJ4x864bCJNFRJwIgsI6sRsAxcoB6S14ZzSKgw1Yu7LZQkRCn4tJcdDyWBMZ6ISWX3tH0IBAiTWndJnDs_Z8/s1600/microsoft-office1.png" height="320" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Introduction</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">For many people, Microsoft Office is the holy-grail of productivity suits. The one piece of software that parents have to get for their children when they’re in school or university, the one piece of software that business’ pay a fortune for so they can write neat letters and keep basic spreadsheets, and the one piece of software that writers buy to write a great novel.</span></div>
<b id="docs-internal-guid-526b0034-45a6-18ac-9c66-ad59260f83f7" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">However, the day of the Microsoft behemoth being a necessity is finally over, as the more tech-savvy students, business’ and writers realise that there are a wealth of totally free alternatives to Microsoft Office, that for 99.99% of the population will be more than adequate, and almost identical to the payed for software by Microsoft.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As a writer myself, and someone who has a job in the real-world, dealing with other business’ from around the World, I have taken it upon myself to try-out and utilise these free offerings in the real workplace. Each and every product I mention has been used by myself, in the business’ where I have worked, and by friends and family. Speaking for myself in particular, I have been using these free alternatives for many years, a lot of the time seeing them progress from cheap-imitations of MS Office and blossom into fully functioning and highly desirable products that based on a cost-to-performance ratio, blow Microsoft’s products clean out of the water.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There is an office suit out there for everyone, and I have included a variety to suit each individuals needs.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXaJThyphenhyphenoHeFTI1dN644B6pEL_1pij95wTOrPvfBdjBLFQsdekGXL4D72fsXGlFLr-xnqktBRFNf9MeF4jSRhUdbvijktWpZSwmN6DUAnNQ-icRxn6kkRuh9AG0oob9abAJtgRHuKP3epA/s1600/Google+Docs.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="color: black;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXaJThyphenhyphenoHeFTI1dN644B6pEL_1pij95wTOrPvfBdjBLFQsdekGXL4D72fsXGlFLr-xnqktBRFNf9MeF4jSRhUdbvijktWpZSwmN6DUAnNQ-icRxn6kkRuh9AG0oob9abAJtgRHuKP3epA/s1600/Google+Docs.jpg" height="188" width="200" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Google Docs</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Why Use Google Docs?</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As a writer, the number one office suite that I use for my writing is Google Docs. The reason being? I can sign into any computer using my Google account and carry on whatever I am writing, wherever I am. Simply choose the document you were working on and as it saves after each key-press, carry on from where you left it. There’s no need to carry around a hard-drive or memory-stick as it’s stored on Google’s servers, so the only thing you need is an internet connection. Regardless of it’s my laptop, work PC or mobile device such as a tablet or phone, it works perfectly.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Features</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Google Docs may be have less features than other office suites in this list, but it handles everything you throw at it easily. The word processor (Documents) handles Microsofts .doc and .docx as well as the Open Format .odt files, .txt files and can save files as .PDF’s. In a couple of years use as a main source of handling word files from other companies, Documents has yet to let us down.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Google Docs also handles Powerpoint Presentations with it’s Presentation program, Excel Spreadsheets with it’s Spreadsheet program and so much more. Although not as feature rich as Microsoft’s complete Office suite, Google Docs is a formidable force that can handle day to day tasks quickly and easily. Files are automatically stored in the cloud, and should you wish, you can download files in the required Microsoft format to your PC.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Looks & Ease Of Use</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Google Docs looks basic, with just the one row of icons for formatting text. However, that combined with the pull-down menu options for adding photos and tables etc, means it’s very easy to use. So simple to use in fact, that anyone can create a document in no-time at all.</span></div>
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<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN1AJoOI65m1QRRrO8JEW8FKIRWAw9PlU1mM3-FeRSQMJk2yd5ZvJ9kW6fmNbCuGeL8xtQ0pr-En1BZnr7IVUIPqIXCywZcRPSn73ugnXSLONsLznH30SZZjLuj2u3chl4sKe_arXcl1s/s1600/LibreOffice.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="color: black;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN1AJoOI65m1QRRrO8JEW8FKIRWAw9PlU1mM3-FeRSQMJk2yd5ZvJ9kW6fmNbCuGeL8xtQ0pr-En1BZnr7IVUIPqIXCywZcRPSn73ugnXSLONsLznH30SZZjLuj2u3chl4sKe_arXcl1s/s1600/LibreOffice.png" height="132" width="200" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">LibreOffice 4.2</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Why Use LibreOffice?</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">LibreOffice is as close to Microsoft Office as you can get when it comes to features. LibreOffice comes with it’s extensive word processor Writer, it’s Excel matching Calc, it’s amazing Powerpoint beating Impress and Base (Database), Math (Equation editor) and Draw (Diagrams and sketches) programs.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">For all intents and purposes, LibreOffice 4.2 is a free version of Microsoft’s Office. It can handle all the file-types that MS Office does, and although it doesn’t have the ribbon-look of the latest MS Office, it does everything quickly and easily while keeping a bit of familiarity of MS Office.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Features</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">LibreOffice is split into the programs that are mentioned above. The main programs, Writer and Calc have all the features of Microsoft’s Word and Excel. In every-day use, opening files from other business’, and sending files to people who have MS Office is error-free, and the recipients of any formats on MS Office and LibreOffice will not know which software suite the information was written on.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As an office based software suite, for business or students, LibreOffice 4.2 offers remarkable features and compatibility, and as available on Windows and Linux, so there is no reason why anyone concerned with sharing documents between systems should avoid this suite. It’s free, it’s fully-featured and quite simply amazingly mind-blowing to think that it is free!</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Looks & Ease Of Use</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Although LibreOffice has a dated look, with rows of icons and the ability to customise the icon space, it’s very reminiscent of MS Office from previous versions prior to 2013. It’s not a bad thing, as a lot of people dislike Microsoft’s ribbon-style interface. LibreOffice is suitable for beginners to advanced users, and is as hard or easy to use as you want it to be.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEialpAA4EGPnk1_mKpi3HbWGXcCpwxtcttX4lMNPUhED0vrLofIRpGgf4EUzo5KToknHM78zrRXwXrrtRQDqShZqwEWVz3Md0fjMYl1SAA4OJ6FDdb7UG7E3GhVlcGlZZ_pGTXlZ_f4dro/s1600/Kingoffice.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="color: black;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEialpAA4EGPnk1_mKpi3HbWGXcCpwxtcttX4lMNPUhED0vrLofIRpGgf4EUzo5KToknHM78zrRXwXrrtRQDqShZqwEWVz3Md0fjMYl1SAA4OJ6FDdb7UG7E3GhVlcGlZZ_pGTXlZ_f4dro/s1600/Kingoffice.png" height="200" width="200" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Kingsoft Office Suite 2013 (Free)</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Why Use Kingsoft Office 2013?</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Unlike LibreOffice, Kingsoft Office 2013 is not crammed with additional modules. But what it does do is come with three of the most popular productivity packages, and concentrate all their energy and know-how into making the most compatible MS Office software around.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Kingsoft Office 2013 comes with it’s fully fledged word processor known as Writer. For those familiar with MS Office, Kingsoft Office not only matches MS Office’s features, but looks very similar in the way it is designed, making it a perfect replacement for those who write a lot of documents. Excel copy Spreadsheets handle’s all your spreadsheet needs, and again is meant to be highly compatible, and once again looks awesome. While it’s Powerpoint copy is titled Presentation, and is probably the weakest part of this suite.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Features</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Kingsoft Office’s strength is its concentration on it’s word processing software. If you’re a writer like myself, the word processor is the most important part of productivity software. Kingsoft Office looks perfect, has endless amounts of features, is stable and is compatible with most file formats (although .odt files are not supported for some reason). It’s my number one choice for word processing software, and that includes Microsoft’s offering. File compatibility is meant to be better than even LibreOffice, although trying to “break” the software to find out just how incompatible it is, is very hard, and I’ve yet encountered a document that Writer cannot handle,with all justification, underlining and formatting coming out perfect from any documents written on different programs. It’s that good.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Once again, it’s Spreadsheet’s program that replaces Excel is also top-notch, and a key-feature is once again it’s compatibility. As for Presentation, this program for some reason does not support the latest .pptx formats. However, that does not cripple in a way that would make it useless. Overall, Kingsoft Office 2013 is a powerful suite, and one well worth consideration.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Looks & Ease Of Use</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Kingsoft Office 2013 looks like MS Office more than any other package here, and because of that is very easy to use. A great combination of power and presentation mean it’s a winning formula.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><i>Other software worth considering...</i></b></span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Apache Office</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Quick Overview</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Another piece of software worth considering is Apache’s OpenOffice. Although once regarded as the must-have free office suite, when it forked into two, with one-fork being LibreOffice, OpenOffice’s development slowed down a little. It’s another great package, and one that gives an experience just as good as MS Office for the average user who needs it for everyday use.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Microsoft Office Web Apps</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Quick Overview</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If, after reading this article, you still yearn for Microsoft’s products, then there is a free alternative by Microsoft themselves. MS Office Web Apps allows you to open, edit and create documents online in a similar mold to Google’s documents. However, where Google Docs is quite comprehensive for an online productivity suite, Microsofts own version is a little lacking in almost every department when compared to the alternatives. Perhaps this is a way that Microsoft want users to upgrade and pay for their services? Regardless, it’s an option, and will no doubt suit some people who feel the need to be tied into the Microsoft ecosystem.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Softmaker FreeOffice</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Quick Overview</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">FreeOffice is similar in it’s ways to Kingsoft Office 2013, containing only three productivity programs, TextMaker (Word processor), PlanMaker (Spreadsheets), Presentations (Powerpoint). The software works well, looks good and is very compatible with MS Office. Why should you download this software over the other options though? Well, it’s available on Windows and Linux, so those on Linux who want Kingsoft Office could use this as a substitute. Once again, it’s quite capable and best of all, its free!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><u>Final Comments</u></b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Whichever productivity suite you decide to use, remember that there are free versions. Just because something is free, doesn't mean it is no good. These above Office Suites have been tested by myself over many years in personal and business use and all do the job perfectly. As they are free, feel free to download them all and see which one you prefer, you have nothing to lose.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Which alternative to MS Office would I choose? Well, I use a combination of Google Docs (as used to write this article) and Kingsoft Office 2013 (as used on other projects). For overall effectiveness and convenience I use Google Docs, as its auto-backup feature is a feature to die-for, and one that has saved my documents on so many occasions.</span></span><br />
Mark G Adamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12621472090637023161noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7552376646904025572.post-82080821639376043642014-02-07T03:22:00.003-08:002014-02-07T03:22:30.027-08:00Where is Google+ going wrong?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIFaPqk7JxE0BZOhsVWbLaC6Q2DfXSxtKANMleTBGLS1AUnd10he6mZsnoGCsMAQEaZPmPCwMURHEDLfEsAYVs7pxklksg62aj7_wPm4tZcyNgxcUkMTiJE2u6ya75YQJaaKSDwMpAK4s/s1600/google_plus_2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIFaPqk7JxE0BZOhsVWbLaC6Q2DfXSxtKANMleTBGLS1AUnd10he6mZsnoGCsMAQEaZPmPCwMURHEDLfEsAYVs7pxklksg62aj7_wPm4tZcyNgxcUkMTiJE2u6ya75YQJaaKSDwMpAK4s/s1600/google_plus_2.jpg" height="320" width="294" /></a></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There are many social network sites that people use, but the majority of people seem to be on Facebook or Twitter. Of course, there are other social media sites out there, and Google have been pushing their Google Plus social media site for a long time now, but it just does not seem to have taken off in the way other networks have.</span></div>
<b id="docs-internal-guid-5cea76f3-0c13-ea78-9afa-14f7f2afa7a9" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Let’s have a look at what Google Plus offers us first, as to be honest, it offers a lot more than other social media sites, plus it looks pretty damn modern and sexy next to the likes of Facebook and Twitter.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Google+ - What It Offers</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">FIrst of all, you have what Google call “Circles”. These are basically group categories where you place friends and acquaintances you have met in order to limit where your posts go, or in order to target particular groups. These circles can be named whatever you like, however the basic categories are “Friend”, “Family”, “Acquaintances” and “Following”. An obvious addition here could be “Work” or “Club”, but the possibilities are endless.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The second import part of Google+ is the way you can post comments. It may not look much different to Facebook, but sharing your updates is easier, with a fantastic layout and a much more intuitive design and the sharing capabilities work wonderfully.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I have already touched on the design of Google+, and it’s a feature that cannot be overlooked, the whole layout is perfect. Nice big chunks of space filled with text and pictures, and if you’re viewing on a mobile device it’s even nicer, with great animations of the incoming updates. It modern, it’s sexy and it puts all the other social network sites to shame.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Finally there’s Hangouts. Google Hangouts are a video chatting service with a difference. First of all, its highly integrated into your Google ecosystem, secondly it works seamlessly among all devices regardless of if they are a PC, mobile phone or tablet, and secondly you can video call just one person, or as many as you want in a real virtual hangout! This is a service I use a lot of, video quality is excellent, audio quality is outstanding, and it works every time, flawlessly without fault! </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Google+ - Where Is It Going Wrong?</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So, Google+ offers all the above, plus it’s simple to add friends and find new friends, Google even give you your own personal named Google page (mine is </span><a href="https://plus.google.com/+MarkAdams1970" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">https://plus.google.com/+MarkAdams1970</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">), so where is it going wrong?</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I have been on Google+ since it’s inception, and I follow quite a lot of people on it, but for some reason, unlike Twitter and Facebook, people do not follow back on a similar ratio. I believe the one problem of this is that Google+ does not have a system such as Facebook where people add friends and they instantly become friends of each other, both following regardless.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Some people may see this as a Google+ plus point, however it just means that everyone lives in their own little bubbles, with little to no interaction for the the majority of the posts. Google need to act on this now, and give people the option of unfollowing once the initial follow has been made. Google+ at the moment is like a colourful newsfeed, very much like Twitter on steroids. That is a shame, and one which Google could easily rectify.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Where Next?</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I'm going to stick with Google+ and hope that one day it will catch on in a way other social networks have. There has to be a way of making Google+ the go-to place for social media, after all, it does everything so perfectly except making people follow each other in an open and constructive way.</span></div>
<br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">No doubt Google know their flaws, and someone will read this blog post and let me know if I’m just doing something wrong, or if Google really is doing something wrong. Please let me know in the comments below, or on any posts where the link to this blog is posted.</span>Mark G Adamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12621472090637023161noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7552376646904025572.post-72013638063008139582014-01-01T04:22:00.000-08:002014-01-01T04:22:03.184-08:002013 A Writing Year In Review<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TfAB2pUclgY/UsQIV_U53jI/AAAAAAAAAw4/hDd7WF3mQs4/s1600/2013-year-in-review_med.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="162" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TfAB2pUclgY/UsQIV_U53jI/AAAAAAAAAw4/hDd7WF3mQs4/s320/2013-year-in-review_med.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">2013 was a busy year for my writing, as everyone knows, I write for Gaming Illustrated and my own blog. Writing for a gaming website is fun, not just because I enjoy gaming, but because I enjoy writing too. I get to play game genres I would never have thought to have played before, which in turn helps me write things in ways I could never have imagined.</span></div>
<b id="docs-internal-guid-37c23d00-4dbf-3536-1ffe-d1e3cf48043b" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This article though is mostly about my blog writing, and and highlights the topics that mattered most to me throughout the year of 2013. Most of it, in fact all of the writing was about technical or otherwise Geeky topics, but that doesn't matter as you are all well aware that this is what my blog contains anyway!</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So here are the highlights of my reviews.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<a href="http://scooby1970.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/revo-axis-radio-review_15.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Revo Axis Radio Review</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This is a review of the amazing, all singing all dancing Revo Axis digital radio. It supports all kind of music streaming and listening such as via FM, DAB, Internet Radio, Streaming from DNLA devices and so much more. If you’re after a radio, you could do worse than take a look at this. And it’s not a bad price now either.</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<a href="http://scooby1970.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/my-google-life.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">My Google Life</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> 2013 seen me using Google products more and more. The reliance on Google for so many things means everything is synced perfectly and everything just works. Google is more than just a search engine, and this article takes a look at it in more depth. There’s a Google product for everyone, and once you’ve tried them, you can never turn back!</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<a href="http://scooby1970.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/the-demise-of-pc.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Demise Of The PC</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> The year of 2013 was a hard year for PC’s, and items such as Chromebooks, Tablets and Mobile Phones with all their power meant that the PC had a hard year this year. This article takes a look at how and why.</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<a href="http://scooby1970.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/living-with-chromebook.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Living With A Chromebook</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> The Chromebook is a new type of computer. It’s fast, runs exclusively in a web-browser based OS, and is selling like hotcakes at the moment. Don’t underestimate it’s seemed lack of real Operating System or storage, as the Chromebook could indeed be the future of the modern PC.</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<a href="http://scooby1970.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/google-keyboard-for-android.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Google Keyboard For Android</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> It’s an alternative to the standard keyboards on Android devices. It’s accurate with guessing words, its fast and reliable and it’s totally bloody awesome! Use the Swipe-To-Type feature and your texting skills will change forever.</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<a href="http://scooby1970.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/why-now-is-time-to-use-cloud-services.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Why Now Is Time To Use Cloud Services</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Google Drive, Dropbox and so much more are now on offer as online storage. But why should you use them? Take a read and once again change your life forever.</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<a href="http://scooby1970.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/android-as-desktop-operating-system.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Android As A Desktop Operating System</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> One day Android will take over the World. Well, it is a Linux derivative isn’t it!</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<a href="http://scooby1970.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/why-im-not-excited-about-new-generation.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Why I’m Not Excited About The New Generation Of Consoles</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> PlayStation 4, Xbox One. Pah!!!! Why needs them? Am I being grumpy or is there just nothing on offer at the moment?</span></div>
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<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There should be something there for everyone, and hopefully 2014 will be an even more productive year in writing.</span></div>
<br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Whatever you decide to do in 2014, please keep visiting my blog, spread the word and have a good time.</span></div>
Mark G Adamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12621472090637023161noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7552376646904025572.post-37421181835730525272013-12-29T07:40:00.001-08:002014-01-05T07:17:23.026-08:00Tesco Hudl Review<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsDF941-7b7ElSe9ahi-0Y3xEyyoszJoopL6pwb-FUJNpTz55SFbpwxC15LnhRYDSkIcmhgMc_6iMLjDnXqZDT5hEcVWUY5G0IqtvGWxdUNNiAhyVg14yscqvqn9ssC6ZAMrWkSMHD4HM/s1600/Hudl_colours_front_thumb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsDF941-7b7ElSe9ahi-0Y3xEyyoszJoopL6pwb-FUJNpTz55SFbpwxC15LnhRYDSkIcmhgMc_6iMLjDnXqZDT5hEcVWUY5G0IqtvGWxdUNNiAhyVg14yscqvqn9ssC6ZAMrWkSMHD4HM/s320/Hudl_colours_front_thumb.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Android Tablets</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This Christmas (2013) has seen Android tablets outsell their Apple iPad equivalents. This is because of course not everyone can afford an Apple device, and because people are more aware of what they are now buying, and know that just because it's an Apple iPad, it doesn't mean it's the best device on the market.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Thanks to Android tablets such as the Tesco Hudl,consumers now have a choice of quality tablets at low prices. The Hudl may only be £119, but don't think for one second that it's a budget tablet, because beneath its cheap price point is a quality tablet that can run side by side with the rest of the pack.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">General impressions</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">On opening the Hudl and turning on the machine, the Hudl updates to the latest software version (4.2.2) and swiftly kicks into action. The first thing you'll notice about it is the quality of the build. The Hudl feels like a premium device, with a rubberised back panel, and a sturdy build that feels good in the hand, with nice weight behind it, without being heavy.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And then you notice the screen, this £119 device has a screen which really is beautiful. With a resolution of 1440x900 pixels on a screen of 7 inches, it gives a pixel density of 242ppi. For those of you who don't know what that means, it means the screen looks damn lovely, and everything is crisp and sharp. The screen can be turned up very bright, and the colours are bold and lifelike. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Power and Graphics</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Hudl runs an almost pure version of Android, meaning that there are no overlays such as HTC's Sense or Samsung's TouchWiz. This means that everything is fast and fluid, and it looks as Android should. Tesco have added some widgets, but these are easily removed, and the only thing that gives it away as being a Tesco tablet is a small "[T]" in the bottom right of the screen.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Hudl's internal power is not representative of the £119 price point, as it runs a 1.5ghz A9 quad-core processor, with 1GB of RAM and a Mali Quad-core GPU. To give you some ideas of that power, it more powerful than the 2012 Nexus 7 which was a powerful tablet, and it can run games such as the various Grand Theft Auto's, Rayman Jungle, Minecraft, Angry Birds Go, Dead Trigger 2 and N.O.V.A 3 with no problem at all. Of course, with this power, it also means that running Chrome browser, YouTube and other such applications is a breeze.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sound</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The sound quality of the tablet is pretty good too. With the volume turned up loudest, it can easily fill a room with music without distorting. The tablet sports a pair of 1 watt speakers, which while doesn't sound much, is quite adequate.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Extra Ports, bits and pieces</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Hudl once again belies it's price with the extra bits and pieces that can be found on and in it. Of course, there's the usual headphone socket for the sound, plus the standard mini-USB connection for charging and exchanging data. There is also a mini-HDMI port for attaching the Hudl to a large screen TV. Not even some of the more expensive tablets have this option and it's good to see.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">For some, 16GB will not be enough, so the Hudl supports a micro-SD card slot for upgrading the memory. Having this option is something that too many tablets forget to add, and is a must for adding movies and music to your tablet. Of course, you can always stream from services such as Blinkbox and Spotify, and use your Google Drive but the option to hold data on a card is most welcome.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Bluetooth 4.0 and GPS are supported, as is WiFi (2.4GHz and 5GHz) 802.11 a/b/g/n. So there's nothing really that this tablet is missing. It's all there, it all works well and it's all for a bargain</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Final Thoughts</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">After using an iPad for so long, and stuck with the constraints of the Apple ecosystem, using the Hudl has been a joy. Android has been ahead in customisation and general ease of use for a while, and using a tablet rather than a mobile phone really shows the power of Android.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The smaller 7 inch size of the tablet is ideal for general use, and makes it especially ideal for gaming, as you don't get cramp in your hands as much as you do with a larger iPad. For work with documents, because of the high screen resolution, once again the tablet is a joy to use.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Battery life is good, and with installing tons of apps, and playing GTA while running Fusion music player in the background, the battery lasted around 6 hours after it's initial charge. That's not bad for a game that is pushing the machine so hard, plus music playing in the background.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This tablet can be recommended to anyone, whether on a budget or not. For the price, there is no comparison between a Hudl and an iPad mini, as the Hudl is just as good, and even more customisable and user friendly than any Apple product. Compared to other Android tablets, again, with price versus quality, the Hudl is a clear winner, unless you desperately need a larger screen.</span></div>
<span id="docs-internal-guid-517f2791-3f02-15b0-1934-c9f7618a5381"></span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Highly recommended and a full five stars for Christmas present of the year 2013!</span></div>
Mark G Adamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12621472090637023161noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7552376646904025572.post-9689015085761565652013-11-24T01:47:00.002-08:002013-11-24T01:47:37.458-08:00Why I'm Not Excited About The New Generation Of Consoles<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-M918n-1v-9k/UpHLFscqHjI/AAAAAAAAAsU/QYaU9yfDQRQ/s1600/Consoles.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-M918n-1v-9k/UpHLFscqHjI/AAAAAAAAAsU/QYaU9yfDQRQ/s320/Consoles.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It’s time that you can now test-drive the new Xbox One and Playstation 4 in the gaming shops, you can pick up the controllers, play the games on the huge sixty-inch 1080p LCD screens that they have them displayed on and look at the new sheen that the extra processing power of the new consoles brings.</span></div>
<b id="docs-internal-guid--58fd045-897f-c617-805d-4bc079ddb940" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I’ve not picked up a shiny new console at launch yet, but have watched and played quite a few games on one of these demo-units. Playing retail versions of game, the one thought that comes to my mind is “Hmmmm, haven’t I seen this before, like… One million times!”.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The new consoles may have better specifications, but as far as new games goes, it’s just more of the same. Sure </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Killzone Shadow Fall</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> looks damn sweet,as does </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Forza Motorsport 5 </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">but it’s just more of the same with a slight graphical improvement over the Xbox 360 and PS3, less frame rate-issues, better colours and of course better lighting and particle effects.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But graphics do not make a better game! Yes, they give you those “wow” moments, but in all honesty, the difference between the new Xbox One and Playstation 4 graphics and PS3’s flagship </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Last Of Us</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> is miniscule.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Until these new consoles give us new experiences, and what I mean by this is jaw-dropping moments such as never been-seen before, then I’m going to hold off buying one. We need far better games, with many new IPs, we need better graphics, we need better media capabilities unlocked on the machine.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It’s early days yet, however that said, the jump from Playstation to Playstation 2 was big, from Playstation 2 to Playstation 3 was a bit smaller, and the jump up from there seems to be smaller, and indeed gone backwards a step in some areas.</span></div>
<br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So, I'm not excited at the moment, a lot of the excitement I had at the announcement of the new consoles has faded and it will take time for something special to happen with the new consoles before I feel excited again.</span>Mark G Adamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12621472090637023161noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7552376646904025572.post-9292730256487744912013-11-17T07:24:00.000-08:002013-11-17T07:24:41.224-08:00Android As A Desktop Operating System<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Y3DN6eOF77Y/UojfaDygiVI/AAAAAAAAAnI/RwTTAK98T-k/s1600/Android.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Y3DN6eOF77Y/UojfaDygiVI/AAAAAAAAAnI/RwTTAK98T-k/s320/Android.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There are numerous Operating Systems for desktop use, Windows 7 & 8, Mac OS, various versions of Linux and more. Android is currently a Mobile Device Operating System competing with the likes of Apple's iOS and Window phones.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Take a closer look at Android though and you'll see that underneath its mobile device skin, there is potentially an Operating System that could be used on a Desktop PC. It already does everything a PC can, and the advent of Android gaming consoles such as the Ouya shows that Android is more than capable of being shown on larger screens.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Imagine a world where your desktop OS and mobile phone was identical... oh yes, Ubuntu have already done that! So there's no reason at all why Android 4.4 KitKat could not be used on a desktop environment.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Let's think about this. Productivity suites such as Microsoft Office, these can be done with Google's very own Documents, so that would work perfectly. Music and video players, these work perfectly in Android so again no problem on a laptop. Then there's downloading things from the internet, again, Android is more than capable with even Torrent clients being simple to use.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As a web browser, Chrome works perfectly on an Android machine, and if you're not a fan of a Google browser or product then there are plenty of alternatives. As for storage, we all know you can easily attach a USB drive to your mobile device, so again there's no problem at all and Android can cope admirably.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So, what's stopping Google releasing Android as a desktop Operating System? It's not even as if Android needs huge specifications on a machine to run. Simple answer is, I have no idea, but I believe in the coming years Google will release an Operating System. They already have Google Chrome OS which works on Chromebooks, surely with a few tweaks it would be easy enough to get a complete Android system working.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There are USB stick based mini-computers that actually run Android on your TV. These work usually with Android version 4.0 or so using very low spec chips. They are basic, but prove that it is indeed possible for this mobile OS to work on a big screen.</span></div>
<span id="docs-internal-guid-45c137f2-66a3-7500-5198-f83ee33f06f1"></span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">How many years until Google release Android as a desktop OS? Let's just hope it's in the pipeline because potentially it'll be an Operating System that anyone can just pick up and use.</span></div>
Mark G Adamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12621472090637023161noreply@blogger.com