Category: Apps

Apps

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Android 5.1 Woes

Having updated my Nexus tablet to Android 5 and suffered disappointment I was happy to see an update come to the tablet. I wrote about my experience with version 5 in a previous post. I even tweeted about it! I had high hopes for version 5.1. When it works its great and on the whole the later version is better. However I experience black screens and random reboots. I had this the reboot issue with 4.4.

I can’t isolate it to any one app as has been suggested online. Most of the apps that I use regularly are in fact Google apps. These include Chrome and Google Play books. The problem seems to have lessened with app updates. Still far from a smooth transition from 4.4. to version 5.1.

Anyway enough whining for now.

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Catawampus

I have moaned about this subject on another blog the bottom line is that android and iOS apps don’t work with self hosted WordPress blogs. Nuff said.

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Windows 8.1

I have installed the new version of Windows 8.1. The upgrade process was smooth and easy. I have an enterprise edition and updated from an ISO file. The ISO loaded from an  internal  hard drive so no optical drive involved. I preserved all my settings and apps; so far so good.

I did have an issue with one piece of software Pinnacle Studio 16. Being a long time user I have had previous disappointments with OS updates.  However much to my delight the Pinnacle forums had a link to a solution provided by Corel the new owners of the product. That’s the only hiccup so far.

Finally a native Facebook app for Windows and again I’m quite happy with it. I use Facebook across iOS7 Android and now Win 8.1, the iOS version is the most functional and the nicest looking.

The start menu update is welcome, clearly a response to user feedback. I do like the new arrangement whereby you have to put things on the start menu rather than everything cluttering it up.. However I still use the task bar for frequently used applications.  Then there is the return or the start menu. It is underwhelming reminding me of redundant air scoops on faux sports car. It is really not necessary.

Overall it is a good and welcome update. Windows 8 was OK not quite another Vista moment. I suppose the interwebs are already abuzz with Win 8.2 rumours.

 

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iOS 7

My first impressions of iOS 7 are positive. Everything I have tried works. I like the new camera app. It’s much simpler to use and now there is the capacity for square photos. Additionally my iPhone 5 supports the filter feature.
The new font and keyboard look great. It was really simple and easy to adjust the font size as well. The release was accompanied by a slew of new app releases. Twitter and Facebook both adopted the new look and layout on the day of release.
I haven’t mentioned the new control centre which is useful and practical. The only thing that isn’t on the up is my battery life.

 

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Feedly Frenzy

I have been using Feedly for about a month since Google announced that their reader app was going to be retired this year. I liked the reader app for its simplicity. Feedly it turns out is more complex. It took me some time to adjust. I also found that the Feedly service was overwhelmed by the surge of new users.
The Feedly service is now more settled and works fine. I now enjoy RSS feeds in a magazine style layout. The service is cross platform and I use it on a windows laptop, iPhone and a nexus 7 android tablet. Updates are consistent across versions of Feedly which means that I am always up to date with my feeds.
I like the service best on the android tablet. The service is updated regularly so all is well with RSS feeds!

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WordPress on android

This is my first post from an Android device. I have bought a Google nexus 7. So now I have another version of a WordPress app to play with. My initial impressions are good the size of the device is great. I like the keyboard with the predictive text appearing as I type.
I do find the iPhone too small for effective blogging. This device seems better. I don’t notice any real difference in sensitivity  of the keyboard.
Although the lack of a camera for quick blogging is a minor hassle there is always flickr Google+ etc to grab photos from so all is not lost.
So now I have been using the device for a for a few days now. I have installed most of the apps that I use on iOS. There are some apps that are not written for both operating system. In these instances I have sourced alternatives. Therefore I don’t feel deprived. I do think that some iOS apps are more polished. But the device is more than adequate and I quite like it. Might just be my never ending fascination with technology. I guess time will tell.

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Another day another update

Another minor update just testing from the ole iPhone. Seems good no problems with the photo this time. Well may be something from the library.

20110614-092214.jpg

this is version 2.8.2 and the photo of the pork is unrelated.

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Publishing from Office 2010

A new version of Microsoft’s perennial word processor Word 2010. This is s part of the Office 2010 suite. This version appears to me  a more polished version of Office 2007. I am not complaining as I was eligible for a nice academic discount so it wasn’t expensive. I like being able to hide the ribbon easily, but I do prefer this to the old style file menu. I think it’s easier to find things. The learning curve isn’t too steep.

I like the new file tab which is an improvement on the big button on Office 2007. That about it the main purpose of this post was to do the writing in Word and publish directly.

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Office 2010

A free mockup of the Microsoft office 2010 log...
Image via Wikipedia

I have just downloaded and installed Office 2010. On first impression Word 2010 seems faster and more responsive than the 2007 version that I have just upgraded from. Everything is in the same place and I am one of those who liked the ribbon from the start. I do however like the ability to easily hide the ribbon which frees some screen real estate. This post is being typed in Word 2010. The other feature on first use that is nice is the new file tab which gives access to all the things that you would expect in a file menu. This replaces the big button that was a feature of the previous version word.

Anyway I have managed this without resort to the instructions and all of my setting and document history have been upgraded without any problems. I also use Endnote X4 and this translated across without problems. The only thing is that I have changed my version of word in the middle of a major project. Time will tell if this has been a risky strategy.

Addit

I have noted that Word 2010 loads in a different manner and on the first load after a reboot and this seems to take longer. But once loaded hums along nicely. I might add that this is being run on a Win7 64bit notebook with an Intel core i5 2.54ghz processor.

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Video up load

Another attempt to upload video to the blog from my iPhone using the WordPress app version 2.6.5