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How to get Internet access while travelingConnected while traveling

How to get Internet access while traveling

Published by admin on July 17, 2014

Most people today need to be connected while traveling or on the road, this is often a challenge despite that wireless networks are popping up virtually everywhere. Follow our tips to stay connected while on the move.

Free Wi-Fi

This one is a no-brainer, but the world is littered with free Wi-Fi spots, they are most often found in coffee shops, fast food restaurants, airports and train stations. Some common global coffee shops with free Wi-Fi are; Starbucks and Costa Coffee (in the UK). McDonalds and Burger King often have free Wi-Fi in their restaurants around the world.

Getting free Internet access in airports might prove to be more problematic, often the first hour is free and then you pay a fee. Beware of fake Wi-Fi-networks when in public places designed to steal information, they may often be named “Free public Wi-Fi” or similar.

Mobile broadband

Going abroad and surfing using your current data plan is not recommended, most carriers charge heavily for using data abroad, it can get really expensive. Check with your carrier to see if they offer data packages for going aborad, many of the major carriers do, such as AT&T.

Get an extra sim from a local carrier

If you are going to be in a region for a longer period, your best option may be to purchase a prepaid SIM card with a data plan from a local carrier. Just make sure that your phone is unlocked and can handle other carriers.

KeepGo, WorldSim and other similar services

There are multiple global SIM-data card providers. One of them is KeepGo, which have a number of packages depending on the region you are visiting. With KeepGo you also have the option of renting a a phone while on the road, or buying a portable WiFi router.

Another neat option is using a WorldSim data card, which is a prepaid SIM card with a data plan that can be used in most countries around the world. The SIM card can be inserted into an IPad, phone or laptop. Other similar providers are Maxroam and GoSIM.

 

Slow Ipad? Speed it up!Slow Ipad? Follow these tips to speed it up

Slow Ipad? Speed it up!

Published by admin on December 30, 2013

Is your Ipad slowing down after otherwise being fast and snappy? Try our advice to restore its former glory.

A common cause for a slow Ipad is that too many apps are running in the multitask bar. This is disputed, but many users report increase performance when keeping the apps in the multitask bar to a minimum. Even-though you may not have an app open they might still be running in the background, this is done so that the app will open faster the next time you use it.  Try opening the apps currently running by double pressing the home button, close down the apps by tapping the red X close icon. In iOS 7, instead of clicking the red X close icon simply drag the apps upward to close them.

Before trying the tips below, try to do a hard reset by turning off the Ipad and then on again by holding down the On/Off button, and then slide “Turn off”.

If your Ipad is slow it might be running out of disk-space, to check how much is left go to Settings -> General – > About.

If the available disk-space is low you can start by clearing the web-browser cache. For Safari on the Ipad go to Settings -> Safari and then tap Delete cookies and data.

For Chrome on Ipad go to the Chrome app, tap the Chrome menu -> Settings -> Security. Then tap Clear cache memory and Clear cookies.

If your Ipad continues to perform slowly try cleaning out any apps that you don’t use to save disk space.  This is good to do on a regular basis.  To uninstall an app, tap and hold over the app you want to uninstall, after a while the red X close icon will appear.

If you have a lot of photos and videos on your Ipad another way of saving disk space is to transfer some apps to your local computer and remove them from the device.

Another cause for a slow Ipad might be the network settings; it’s possible to reset them by going to Settings -> General -> Reset network settings.

If you are using a more recent Ipad, always keep up to date with the latest version of iOS and app updates. For older Ipads that are close to their end of life new iOS updates may not always be beneficial to performance, and may in some cases even cause them to become slower. In that case updates should be considered with care.

Using Google Chrome incognito modeGoogle Chrome incognito window

Using Google Chrome incognito mode

Published by admin on October 6, 2013

One of many neat features in the Google Chrome browser is the incognito mode, it enables you to surf the web without leaving a trace on the computer used. Normally when surfing the net you will leave cookies, web and search history etc on your computer, which other users of the system may see.

In some situations when sharing devices for example in a family, dorm etc, it’s not optimal to have the web history available for every user to access. This is where the incognito mode comes in handy.

It’s important to notice that the incognito mode is not the same as secure surfing, all sites and other information you access is still recorded with your ISP.

Activating the incognito mode in Google Chrome is done by opening a new Incognito window:

1. Click the Chrome menu in the upper right corner.

2. Select “New incognito window”.

New incognito window Google Chrome

3. A new window will open with the incognito icon in the upper left corner.

Incognito icon in Google Chrome

A quicker way of opening an incognito window is by using the keyboard shortcuts. In Windows/Linux or Chrome OS press CTRL+SHIFT¬+N or if you are on a MAC press ⌘-Shift-N.

Google Chrome incognito window

What’s New in Windows 8.1

Published by admin on September 28, 2013

On the 17th of October Windows 8.1 will be released, it’s less than a month away (the preview version of Windows 8.1 can currently be downloaded here). For current Windows 8 users the new version will be available as free upgrade. Continue reading to find out what’s new in Windows 8.1.

 

Start menu

One of the common complaints that Microsoft regarding Windows 8 was the absence of the start menu, it’s back, sort of. The new start button is added to the familiar left corner, but it’s not a menu rather it takes the user back to the start screen of Windows 8.1. It’s understandable but still a bit weird since hovering the mouse cursor in the lower left corner until the start-screen thumb appears and then click on it has the same effect in the original version of Windows 8.

 

3D Printing

3D printing is here to stay, and Microsoft is betting on that the technology will be in people’s home in the future by adding 3D printing features to the operating system. Most people who have already 3D-printed know that it is often conversion between different file formats involved, sometimes the conversion makes you lose important data about the 3D print. In Windows 8.1 the user will just hit “Print” and Windows will take care of the rest.

The file format used will be 3MF ( 3D Manufacturing Format), the 3D printing software sends the data to Windows in 3MF, which then sends it to the 3D printer. Microsoft also claims that 3D printers will work with plug and play, as regular printers do.

To find out more about 3D printing in Windows 8.1 watch the video below:

 

Internet Explorer 11

A new version of Internet Explorer, 11 will be launched with Windows 8.1. New features in the browser include a reading view, do not track support , WebGL, enhanced developer tools, improved user experiences on touch devices and improved overall performance when it comes to loading objects and JavaScript.

In the reading view font styles, size, colors and zoom levels etc can be changed. The do not track options include an option of sending do not track requests to website visited, but also the option of limiting third party cookies and location data sent.

 

New mail app

Apparently there are still people who use a desktop version of e-mail, in Windows 8.1 Microsoft has revamped the mail app. The new design and features are more oriented towards Outlook.com than the previous version, according to the company.

Watch this video from Microsoft with some of the key features in Windows 8.1:

Have you upgraded to Windows 8.1 or are you running the preview version? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Three promising Crowdfunding tech campaigns

Published by admin on September 8, 2013

Crowdfunding is all the rage and small businesses are lining up to get a piece of the action. We have sifted through the wide range of app  crowd-funding campaigns, below you will find three campaigns that seem promising.

 

Ubuntu Edge

Perhaps the most obvious one. Canonical is looking for a whopping $30 000 000 in financing for their future device and platform Ubuntu Edge. The Edge will basically be a mobile with a desktop in one device. It will run Android, Ubuntu Mobile, and Ubuntu Desktop, have 128 GB of storage and 4 GB RAM.

Since the Ubuntu Edge will be able to run Android its users will already be able to use a vast number of apps, had Canonical only chosen Ubuntu Mobile and Desktop they would be in the same situation as Windows Phone, without any apps.

Ubuntu Edge is an interesting project with many backers already, however we have seen attempts of it in the past, failing because of the trade-off and compromises that has to be done when developing a mobile and yet being able to use it as a desktop. However the potential is also huge, we haven’t forgotten the great Nokia phones running Linux.

 

MailPile

MailPile is a project with the aim of creating a web-based and desktop e-mail client with user friendly support for encryption such as OpenPGP. This project is interesting, especially since given the different privacy concerns on the Internet.  It also has a number of other aims regarding creating a user friendly interface with themes and a platform for plug-in development.

Unfortunately the project is currently developing for Linux  and MAC, which is a fraction of the Windows operating systems on the market, if the project is backed there will be a Windows-version as well.

 

Ghost Blogging Platform

Ghost is a Kickstarter project with the aim of developing yet another open-source blog platform and content management system.

One of the key benefits with Ghost is publishing and the attempt to make it easier to write your own blog posts within the actual platform. In order to do this there will be a split screen, on the left side it’s possible to write a blogpost in markdown, with a preview of the post on the right.

Another interesting feature is the built-in statistics dashboard, which will not only show the number of visitors, bounce rate etc, but also social media statistics and subscribers to newsfeeds.

The Ghost project also have the aim of improving the actual content management part of the blogging experience, the inspiration is the way email is handled with different labels and drag and drop. Expect a review on Syntax30 when the Ghost blog platform is released.

 

 

Top 5 Joomla Extensions

Published by admin on August 5, 2013

One of the best parts with the Joomla CMS are the extensive number of extensions available, below you will find the top 5 extensions for Joomla, that will give your web-site that extra shine.

 

 

Easyblog

If you don’t want to run WordPress side-by-side with Joomla for blogging, Easyblog is the answer. The extension comes with basic blog functionalites such as tagging, commenting, easy to use media management (integrated with Flickr) etc. Some of the more advanced features are however what makes this extension worth it. For example it comes with a migration tool from Joomla articles or WordPress, and possibility to create themes specifically customised for the blog section.

As your site grows it’s also possible to add multiple blogs, and assign different teams of users to different blogs. Easyblog also comes with MailChimp and Windows Live Writer integration.

Easyblog, blog extension for Jomla

 

Community Builder

Community Builder from Joomlapolis is a social networking extension complete with profiles, registration, member search etc. It can come in very handy if you are looking into creating your own social networking site. While the extension doesn’t look that great from the a fresh install it’s a good base for community development, there are also a couple of style templates available.

It is possible to extend Community builder with modules ranging from Facebook-integration to galleries and captchas.

 

Akeeba Backup

Working with Joomla sometimes require a lot of configuring and testing, sometimes things go wrong and that’s when you wished for Akeeba Backup.

Akeeba Backup automatically backs up your site, both on the server-side but also to cloud services such as Dropbox and Amazon S3. It’s possible to roll-back without much hassle. Another benefit is the possibility to duplicate or move Joomla sites for different usages, for example if you would like to do testing in separate environments etc.

Akeeba backup for Joomla

 

 

K2

Joomla’s power is not in the out of the box article and content management, K2 solves all those problems by adding more interactive content features. After installing K2 you will get image management, tagging, commenting, videos etc. If you are planning on building a content rich site, such as an online magazine K2 is an essential extension.

 

K2 for Joomla

 

 

Mobile Joomla

A lot of Joomla themes already comes with responsive design when building a site from scratch, but if you want to enable mobile browsing on your existing Joomla site there is nothing like Mobile Joomla. The extension comes with a lot of powerful features such as customising the content depending on mobile device (Iphone, smartphone or feature phone). The developers claim that Mobile Joomla also can increase loading times by as much as 400% on responsive themes.

Do you know any other good Joomla extensions? Don’t hesitate to share in the comments below.

Mural.ly – Visual collaboration in the cloud

Published by admin on May 26, 2013

A lot of collaboration is taking place online in geographically dispersed teams, one common problem for all those collaborators is the lack of having the in-office whiteboard, Mural.ly might be the answer.

Mural.ly visual collaboration and mind-mapping tool

Mural.ly is basically a virtual whiteboard enabling sharing ideas, drawing, images etc. It’s available for Chrome, Firefox, Safari and uses HTML 5. We mainly used the Chrome app, which the developers had support from Google to integrate, but there is similar integration for Firefox and other browsers.

Mural.ly contains a number of objects such as sticky notes which can be dragged and dropped anywhere, basic drawing tools, sets of predefined stickers etc. It’s possible to embed images, videos, web content (inserting by entering the URL) and documents.

The collaboration features includes inviting other users to a mural, commenting with reply functionality, a chat and email notifications when other participants update the mural.

Using Mural.ly is a breeze, it’s very easy to get started and pretty soon you realise that there are almost an infinite number of usage areas, such as wireframing, plans, brainstorming, creating designs etc. The app comes with some predefined templates for business plans, 5 whys, lean canvases, empathy maps etc.

There are some limitations in the basic version of Mural.ly. For example in the PRO-version it’s possible to download the murals as images or a .zip-file, sharing secure murals using a password, and organising the creations in different rooms for different teams. However the PRO-version is not that expensive, $100 for a year, or $10 a month.

Overall we really like Mural.ly, it’s a must for smaller dispersed organisations, development projects, designers or for just organising your own personal ideas and projects in a visual way. It’s also a very easy to learn and use tool. A major limitation right now is that Mural.ly is not available for the Ipad, the developers are working on a version, which should be coming soon.

Mural.ly features post-its and a series of different objects Mural.ly let's you drag and drop web content to the workspace

Top 5 Outlook.com Tricks

Published by admin on May 1, 2013

Microsoft is taking a shot at Gmail replacing Hotmail with their revamped e-mail service Outlook.com, including a new interface and various other options. Of course there was an outcry in the Hotmail community for changing the interface, but the service now have 25 million users.

Continue reading to find out how you can be more effective when using Outlook.com (most of our tips are located in the “More mail settings section”).

 

1. Sweep it

If your inbox is like mine, that is a dark hole of endless messages, it’s often time consuming to clear it up. Outlook.com features a simple feature called “sweep”, it works basically the same way as the label system in Gmail where messages with certain characteristics are filed or deleted. It’s also possible to schedule sweeps.

For example it’s possible to file messages from a specific sender or delete them all together.

Outlook.com Sweep

 

 

2. Use Skydrive to send attachments

Outlook.com has a limit of 25 MB when sending attachements, anything above that and the service will suggest using Skydrive, which means that your attachement is uploaded into Skydrive and sent with a URL to the location instead.

If you often send large attachments or if you don’t want to clog people’s inboxes it’s possible to have Skydrive set as default for attachments.

 

3. Customize the layout

Outlook.com comes with a set of options to customize the layout of your inbox. For example it’s possible to change colors and the location of the reading pane (right or bottom). Another nice feature is the Group by conversation option, which basically creates conversation threads instead of displaying individual messages.

Outlook.com Group By Conversation

 

 

4. Keyboard shortcuts

Outlook.com has a set of keyboard shotcuts as most mail services do. However if you are coming from Gmail or Yahoo! Mail, there are also mapped keyboard shortcuts for those services.

Outlook.com Keyboard Shortcuts

 

5. Security, connect your mobile

We recommend connecting your Microsoft Live Account with a mobile device, this means that if you have lost your password or if you account has been hacked you can still access the account from a code recieved by text message (two-step verification).

Top Alternatives To Google Reader

Published by admin on April 14, 2013

Google recently announced the discontinuation of Google Reader, a product with a vocal following now scrambling to find alternatives. Of course a lot of people have already voiced their opinions about Google keeping products like Google Sites and Correlate open while discontinuing Reader. Others are asking if RSS is already dead benefiting Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

We have compiled a few alternative RSS readers for you when Google Reader close down July 1, 2013.

 

Feedly

Feedly were quick in trying to catch Google Reader users, with a feature where users can connect their Google Reader account with Feedly and get the same setup and feeds as in Google Reader. This works like a charm with just a click, and takes a few seconds.

Another interesting feature with Feedly is the updated user interface, Google Reader wasn’t the prettiest product on the market but Feedly really looks great and displays the subscribed feeds in a beautiful way, almost making RSS fun again.

It’s possible to customize the main page of Feedly, for example adding widgets displaying stock market movements, your Facebook or Twitter feed.

Feedly is available in the browser or on mobile devices (Android, iOS and Kindle).

Feedly RSS reader screenshot

 

Netvibes

Netvibes is not entirely a RSS-reader, but a dashboard application for following almost anything online. Getting started is quite easy, you don’t even need to create an account. Start by entering a topic that you want to follow, Netvibes will then compile a set of standard widgets. The widgets include sources such as Twitter, Facebook (open posts), Google blog search, Yahoo News etc. It’s then possible to add sources of your choice using RSS.

Netvibes has two different modes, widget and reader mode. The reader mode has the classic RSS-reader feel to it. Beside using Netvibes in the browser there are also apps available for Android and iOS. It’s possible to import your Google Reader data to Netvibes, but the process is a little bit more difficult than Feedly’s. (http://blog.netvibes.com/easily-migrate-from-google-reader-to-netvibes/

Overall we like Netvibes, but mainly from a monitoring perspective where it really is shining.

Netvibes RSS reader screenshot

 

 

NewsBlur

NewsBlur is another browser based RSS-reader alternative to Google Reader, also available for Android and iOS. The app is updated in real-time when new stories from an RSS-feed is added. An interesting feature is the blurblog, each user gets an individual public feed where it’s possible to share stories.

We think the interface has too many options and buttons for it to be compelling for a wider audience, but this is of course individual preferences, and we know some users like these kind of interfaces.

NewsBlur RSS reader screenshot

 

The Old Reader

The Old Reader is perhaps not as well known as the alternatives above. It’s a light-weight browser based RSS-reader, with no other real options but we really like the minimalistic interface. It used to have Google Reader import but according to their blog they had to turn it off temporarily to be able to handle the traffic. There are also no mobile apps for the Old Reader.

Banjo – Social discovery

Published by admin on April 5, 2013

Banjo is a location based social networking app released in the summer of 2011, and has since then managed to attract 4 million users. It’s available on Google Play and in the App Store, while the app initially was intended for pure mobile devices Banjo recently updated their apps to be usable on Ipad and Android-tablets.

Banjo

So what is Banjo really in practice? Banjo imports posts from most major social networks and then makes it possible to sort them by location. For example if someone not in your network posts a public Facebook post nearby it will show up in Banjo An additional feature is that it’s also possible to select other locations than just nearby, so if you want to see what’s going on in Hong Kong Banjo will do it for you.

As most social networks are built around the notion that you communicate with a network of followers or friends, Banjo extends to discovering completely new connections, which is refreshing. But it’s main selling point in our opinion is the possibility to monitor events such as the Academy Awards or different news events, and see what is being said in various social networks and locations.

However most of the connections discovered in Banjo is not really aware of that they are being discovered using Banjo, which is a stark reminder of the impossibility of flying under the radar in social networks (which of course is contradictory to the whole point with social anyway).

Banjo connects with Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Foursquare and Google+.

Banjo friends update Banjo Places Banjo friend in common

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