What’s your opinion on voice notes when you’re sending messages to friends, family or business contacts? All the major messaging apps - including WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram and even Linkedin let you hold down the mic button, record a message with your voice and then send it off. It can help with productivity - for example if you’re out a walk and want to explain something to someone, it’ll likely be quicker to say it than to type it. But perhaps it’s not so convenient for the person on the re...
Aug 25, 2022•1 min
Connecting the human brain directly to machines sounds like the stuff of science fiction but it could be closer than you think. Elon Musk is trying to raise money for his own brain chip implant company Neuralink. It’s been reported that Musk has held talks with another company in the sector about investing in his own firm to try and move things forward. Musk is said to be frustrated at the lack of progress with trials and achieving regulatory approval for the devices. Facebook’s efforts to bring...
Aug 24, 2022•1 min
Book lovers listen up, there’s a new hashtag taking social media by storm and it’s having a huge impact on the way books are sold. BookTok is a TikTok community with more than 70 billion views. People use hashtag booktok to share reviews and recommendations and connect with other books lovers, on TikTok. It’s almost like a giant online book club and one side effects is that books published years ago are getting talked about and shooting to the top of the current best sellers list. Some of the bo...
Aug 23, 2022•1 min
Really important information for Apple users over the weekend there after a security breach was discovered putting certain iPhones, iPads and laptop and desktops at risk. An urgent security patch was released and all Apple users are being urged to make sure they install it. Any attackers that knew about the vulnerability could send users to a website and then take complete control of their machine. So check your settings and if there are updates available - be sure to take them. And remember thi...
Aug 21, 2022•1 min
Flip phones were big for a while in the years before the iPhone but they’re slowly but surely making their way back, along with something very new - foldable phones. Apple hasn’t stepped into this territory yet so it’s giving the likes of Samsung a good run at it with some of its devices and of course these are all running the Android operating system. Samsung’s head of mobile recently said ‘the mainstream moment for foldable smartphones is here’ and analysts reckon the market is going to grow t...
Aug 19, 2022•1 min
Saving money is an absolute must for many of us right now and of course technology can help. It starts with keeping track of what you’re actually spending and it might be that your bank’s website or app if they have one, can actually do some of this for you. Some have an online tool that automatically tracks what you’re spending on groceries, fuel and so on and puts each expense into the right category. It might be as simple as just logging in and looking at it. Other apps worth a look include M...
Aug 18, 2022•1 min
If you’re interested in a career in nursing, there’s an unlikely source of information about the reality of life on the wards - the TikTok hashtag ‘NursesOfTikTok’. It’s had an amazing 10.8 billion views and features medical professionals sharing advice, medical information and some of the best examples of nursing work. Patient safety group Radar Healthcare has put together a list of some for he most informative and engaging UK nursing TikTok accounts, including @tiktoknurseUK and @amydarkins6. ...
Aug 16, 2022•1 min
Heads up Amazon Prime users, you now have less than one month until the price increase comes in. 15 September is the date - from that point on it’s going to be £8.99 a month - that’s a £1 increase or £95 if you pay for the whole year at once. Amazon do point out that being a Prime user does get you access to some of the Prime Music and Video streaming content - obviously they hope that you maybe cut back on other streaming service you might use. There are a lot of people who still think Prime ju...
Aug 16, 2022•1 min
Believe it or not there’s a Pokemon World Championships and it’s taking place in London, for the first time later this week with a 4 day event starting on Thursday. Players from around the world will put their Furrets, Pickahus and Bulbasaurs against each other and if you haven’t a clue what I’m talking about you can learn by tuning into the live streams - there’s one for card game battles and another for Pokemon Go players - and it’s all streamed on Twitch at twitch.tv/pokemon You might have se...
Aug 14, 2022•2 min
The Google Meet video calling app doesn’t anything like the attention given to Zoom and Microsoft Teams but there are a few new features worth a mention, as reported by TechCrunch.com Meet now has a live sharing feature which makes it easy to stream music and videos during calls from YouTube and Spotify, you can also play games like Uno and Heads Up..great when you’re chatting with friends and family but perhaps wouldn’t make you popular with the boss if you’re on a work call. Disney is celebrat...
Aug 11, 2022•1 min
Aug 11, 2022•7 min
It’s looks like you’ll soon be able to schedule Instagram posts from within the main app itself. Until now, it’s only been possible using 3rd party tools or Instagram’s Creator Studio platform but tests are underway which would allow full scheduling of everything - including main Instagram feed posts, stories and reels. That will make life much easier for small business owners or creatives looking to post more content round the clock without having to be there live. There’s an interesting tie up...
Aug 10, 2022•1 min
There’s a saying I like that speaks volumes about the pace of technological change in the world today and it is: ‘the jobs your children will do, haven’t been invented yet’. Well here’s another role that you could never imagine existing just a few years ago. Marianna Spring has just been appointed as the first ‘Disinformation and social media correspondent’ at the BBC. Marianna says she’ll be investigating the impact of fake news, trolling and all that’s bad with social media. I get the feeling ...
Aug 09, 2022•1 min
Music looks set to be at the centre of the next big technological battle. Artificial Intelligence can create music in less than a second and increasingly, our ears can’t tell the difference. Whether it’s backing music for a film or TV show, a commercial promoting a product or something appearing in the middle of a playlist to get you singing a long, there’s huge interest in what could soon become a multi billion pound new industry. If you’re interested - have a look at an app called SongStarter ...
Aug 08, 2022•1 min
If you’re not one for celebrity gossip, cat videos, motivational gurus and perfect bodies then Pinterest might be the social media platform for you. The Pinterest share price rocketed this week after the company reported its latest earnings - which show a 9% growth in revenue and a steady number of users. Those figures are OK in a challenging environment, but what’s got the experts really excited is that Pinterest is making more money on average out of every user - a 17% jump in every region it ...
Aug 05, 2022•1 min
Sometimes, computers stop working - or ‘crash’ for no apparent reason and it’s usually highly frustrating, just when you’re in the middle of something important. There are a few things to keep an eye on that might help you prevent these incidents happening again. One of the main ones is the CPU usage - this is the computer’s central processing unit - basically its brain and by clicking in the right place you can see how hard its working. Sometimes if there’s too much of a strain on your system, ...
Aug 03, 2022•1 min
Have you seen this interactive map that shows the birthplaces of notable people around the world? Zoom in on your hometown and you’ll see the names of prominent figures from business, politics, sport, science and more. It’s been put together by researcher Topi Tjukanov pulling data from Wikipedia and other sources. Check it out on Twitter using at the hashtag digitalminuteUK. Elon Musk’s ‘Starlight’ satellite internet service has been in the news. The entrepreneur is launching thousands of satel...
Aug 02, 2022•1 min
England’s European Championship winning footballers are the toast of social media right now after their nail biting extra time 2-1 win over Germany. Hashtags including ‘itscomehome’ and ‘womensfootball’ have been trending across Twitter and Instagram alongside of course #lionesses. Video clips going viral include the players gatecrashing manager Sarina Weigman’s post match press conference and the winning goal from Chloe Kelly. If you’re interested in finding out more about women’s football on s...
Jul 31, 2022•1 min
Let the games begin! A spectacular Commonwealth Games Birmingham 2022 opening ceremony has been dominating social media over the last few hours. One of the major talking points was the giant Brummie Bull which served as the focal point for the show, there’s also widespread praise for Duran Duran who performed, some 40 years on from their first hits. There’s a partial victory for the campaigners I mentioned earlier this week who were pushing Instagram to go back to its old ways and rely less on a...
Jul 28, 2022•1 min
You might have heard the phrase ‘the great resignation’ to describe the apparent phenomenon where large numbers of people quit their jobs during the COVID lockdown and never went back. There does seem to be a lot of unfilled vacancies at the moment and something of a scramble on recruitment websites to try to fill them. That appears to have had a knock on effect on Linkedin - the social network dedicated to careers and work - which is reporting record levels of engagement. Parent company Microso...
Jul 27, 2022•1 min
The Commonwealth Games opening ceremony takes place tomorrow - in Birmingham and runs until the 8th of August. You’ll find the official website at www.birmingham2022.com The games have a presence on all the major social media accounts and organisers are promoting the hashtag ‘B2022’ and ‘Birmingham2022’. On TikTok you can check out @commonwealthsport and see athletes from around the world trying their best British accents. A petition calling for Instagram to be more like Instagram and stop tryin...
Jul 27, 2022•1 min
Technology shouldn’t be causing us stress, but sometimes it does. There’s nothing more frustrating than forgetting a password and having to go through a laborious ‘reset’ process when you want to access something quickly. ‘Password Managers’ are designed to make life easier. ‘Keeper’, ‘Zoho’, ‘LastPass’ and ‘1Password’ are some of the well known trusted sites to help with password management. Some are free, others with more advanced features are paid for. They’ll often sync passwords across your...
Jul 26, 2022•1 min
Long before the internet was an entertainment platform, it was almost entirely built around information and learning. It can still be an extremely powerful educational tool - like an entire reference library wherever you want it. ‘Think With Google’ is a series of articles focussed on technology, marketing and leadership, designed to provide some thought provoking substance to your daily reading habits. And now, you can have those articles read out loud to you, with Google’s new audio narration ...
Jul 24, 2022•1 min
Listen up Amazon Prime users - you might notice some changes to the look and feel of the platform next time you log in. A report on TheVerge.com says Amazon is rolling out a brand new look for Prime Video across many of its apps and devices. The layout should be less cluttered and more intuitive - in fact it looks quite similar to Netflix and crucially, should be easier to find whatever it is you’re looking for. Big changes are on the horizon for Snapchat with the launch of its desktop version. ...
Jul 22, 2022•1 min
It’s getting easier to shop inside YouTube. The video sharing platform has announced a new partnership with Shopify which will let people running Shopify e-commerce websites integrate their products across their YouTube channel. This should be good news for lots of retailers but you’ll need 1 thousand subscribers on your channel in order to access the new features so now is the time to build up those videos and start making the most of your Youtube channel. This is also a sign of other players i...
Jul 21, 2022•1 min
A friend of mine got a fright the other day when she found an entry in her Google calendar from someone she didn’t know. I had to explain to her that by default, Apple, Google and Microsoft calendars are set up to accept calendar invitations from anyone. This makes them an easy tactic for spammers and scammers, especially if the calendar invite they send you includes a link. It’s tempting to click it, thinking it might help explain what the invite is all about. This, of course is what the spamme...
Jul 20, 2022•1 min
Jul 19, 2022•1 min
Google Maps is to start providing tailored directions depending on what type of vehicle you’re driving. A new software update will take into account hybrid and electric vehicles and offer the most efficient path. Users will be asked to give details of their vehicle and the experience will be optimised from then on. On the subject of cars - Amazon Garage is a useful feature if you’re using the online shopping giant. If you’re browsing for products but aren’t sure they’ll fit your vehicle you can ...
Jul 18, 2022•1 min
In this special episode of the Comsteria podcast, Colin Kelly explores the potential of a more immersive internet of the future and share some ideas regarding how we might choose to represent ourselves online. Want to know more about The Metaverse, NFTs and cryptocurrency? Join our live, jargon free webinar coming soon. Find out more at the Metaverse page on the Comsteria website.
Jul 16, 2022•13 min
The cost of living crisis is real and it’s probably going to get tougher before it gets better so let’s see if our technology can help us. The first thing to look at is what you’re not using. That could be old phones, laptops and accessories gathering dust in a drawer. Or DVDs and CDs you never play. Now, there are many web sites which will buy them for you but they tend not give you much money unless they’re extremely rare. And of course you could list then for sale yourself using sites like eB...
Jul 15, 2022•1 min
